live from the center of moscow this is r.t. if everyone welcome to russia is a committed to ensuring the government of afghanistan is in full control of the country as soon as possible the afghan foreign minister is in moscow where he met his opposite number sort of a loved one off to discuss russia's role in the stabilization of afghanistan moscow pledged to continue to financial and military aid and to provide the tools to stem the flow of drugs. he has been following the talks for us. the two foreign ministers meeting today in moscow or c. seem to be pretty happy about the way the corporation is going this cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking has been very strong of late we know that russia has donated twenty thousand kalashnikov rifles to afghanistan to the interior troops in afghanistan to fight the spread of drugs as well as the recent joint u.s.

russian operation in afghanistan after which almost one ton of herion was destroyed and several drug labs were shut down in the country so obviously the two ministers said that now the cooperation is going well and it will expand in the future according to mr lavrov so that we just launched in the cooperation between russia afghanistan and the united states in combat in drug trafficking will continue and the creation of relevant international laws is of crucial importance as the u.n. security council resolution adopted this october has already qualified drugs coming in from afghanistan as a threat to international safety and stability the war against narcotics remains one of the biggest problems in the ties between the two countries that's why that was something underlined by president veda and president karzai during their last meeting at the summit of nathan lisbon where president have said that as long as the drugs are being transported through the russian territory from afghanistan into

europe this problem has to be dealt with and has to be dealt with now well we heard from mr lavrov that there's been a certain problem coming from the nato side on the transportation of russian helicopters the ones which russia is donating to afghanistan and this problem has to be dealt with and obviously it will be dealt with in the nearest future other than that we know that this cooperation will also expand we know that russia is allowing nato to transport its war toys through its territory into afghanistan russia will supply the nato troops stationed in afghanistan with electricity and mr lavrov also spoke about further steps in that direction the nation russia and nato agreed continued cooperation towards a. afghan settlement program to train pilots and other security forces will be expanded with the aim of boosting security in the country and finding the drug flow easier conditions for transit across the border will be extended to armored vehicles clearly all that issues will be discussed between the russian president dmitry medvedev and he's afghan counterpart mr karzai when he comes to moscow in

january twenty seventh and this visit of the afghan foreign ministry in moscow is preparing that presence visit in the upcoming january. reporting world meanwhile the violence in afghanistan is at an all time high according to the latest pentagon report even so u.s. military chiefs are claiming a modest gains despite the tallis by the taliban having a four fold increase in clashes since two thousand and seven. the mass relocation of american forces the latest attempt to break the deadlock. i will trick which is time in iraq is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train assist and equipped iraqi security forces sure their own wants to go home that's for sure no one knows whether want to stay here until it's not just movement of troops and equipment since world war two the u.s. army is moving its supplies from iraq to afghanistan certain equipment such as are

in rap. mine resistant vehicles our humvees are those types of equipment a lot of our rolling vehicles rolling stock of course and some generation that equipment yes will be dedicated towards the mission in afghanistan but critics warn that moving troops won't help much that. we're now going people see u.s. forces inside their country it brings in paganism and makes them turn to terrorism and al qaeda so as more american troops come here from iraq it will just make things worse i don't believe the americans will leave for another fifty years they have two of the main military bases here and they're now building the americans leaving iraq also sends the wrong message to insurgents the afghans seeing the

americans are drawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we got a hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter i will quote she's already been told he'll be going from iraq back to afghanistan it'll be his second time there and he's not looking forward to it i would definitely say that afghanistan is a lot more difficult and so the terrain is a lot more heavier and the mountainous region is we have to do a lot more walking there and whether the beefed up presence in afghanistan will help troops meet mixtures deadline to pull out or make it more difficult it's still unclear the guys didn't just come back from the patrol everything went to cover next one. r.t. is coming to you live from moscow it's good to have your company today and still to come too close for comfort. now men can be judged by their package find out why some americans opting to go cold turkey on thanksgiving and ditched

all of their travel plans. while karma is being restored in central london after a day of violent protests thousands of students took to the streets to demonstrate against the government plans to increase university tuition fees and slashed teaching budgets the widespread on arrest assault missiles being hurled at police windows smashed at whitehall and several people injured to say over thirty arrests were made for criminal damage and public disorder school and university students engaged in a local rallies all across the u.k. all of adam from the e.u. referendum campaign says ordinary people are being made to pay for downing street so that decision making. people angry enough they're actually doing something about doing something about their anger fed up with with a government that is basically saying you know we've got no choice but to do this

no choice but to do that and really what the government is saying actually is we know better than you and your opinions don't matter and these students who seem through that finally and so hopefully you know this snowball and other people that at the moment for example are unhappy that we're prepared to give billions away to other countries just to kind of try and shore up their credit rating rather than invest it in education and transport and jobs back here perhaps they will start to take to the streets and you know something more will develop from it what would help the austerity measures of course some people would say would be for example leaving the e.u. . we spend forty eight million pounds every day in state in the e.u. portugal is almost certainly going to meet bailing out and the big problem of course is playing because it's a huge country so we could seriously be seeing a collapse of the of the euro and

a lot of people would say that not before time and why should britain be bailing out countries that were foolish enough to join the euro in the first place. and elsewhere in europe public discontent is melting as the single currency plunges into deeper crisis it's feared a portugal could be next in the line for e.u. aid the country was a paralyzed by a twenty four hour general strike on wednesday at a parliamentary vote on a tough new budget due later this week meanwhile the irish government has unveiled a four year plan to save fifteen really new roads and stabilize the economy the country will adopt the harshest austerity measures it's ever faced including massive job cuts and tax rises it comes as dublin negotiates a bailout package from the e.u. and i.m.f. but some experts say a new approach to the single currency is necessary for total recovery. people

forget that before this budget cuts we had other budget cuts in portugal we are going to the third round of budget cuts and i will on the while ago people were telling us that they have already done the most that they were. in budget cuts and still markets do not believe in peace so what happens is that you as institutional weaknesses that are witnesses not only of the briefs or economists each other very different from the other but difficulties weaknesses of the whole common currency should be addressed as a whole. by pinpointing budget cuts in one on or the other economy if the interests keep raising well what happens is that budget cuts that we are doing today will be ineffective tomorrow and we've seen this movie already so i think that's. a whole new approach is needed well your sturdy protest group of europe some say it's time to go back to the drawing board and reform the e.u.

a little bit later in the program here on our t.v. we'll hear from a british m.e.p. who says the masters of the union are leaving it down to or dead. they're trying to create a country where the people who are creating the country for have no more particular desire to have a country called europe created and one day there could be such a train wreck. over this whole issue it will stop functioning and then there will be slow or realisation. that it stopped working and really start working and a crisis comes like we have recently because we saw there was no european response it was the germans believe the greeks or somebody else coming in to bail out somebody else but it was not an easy you think less europe in all of these we are supposed to have created of this economic block a trading block. a very powerful block when there is

a crisis it is individual member states who have to pick up the pieces and slowly beginning to dawn on their leads to run all this but this is not working. and you can watch the full interview with the british army pete no interest of a fifteen minutes time right here on r.t. . well it's about a roast now where thousands of protesters have taken part in a band march in the heart of the capital there demanding the president step down three leading candidates in next month's presidential election were at the forefront of the rally. the. protesters called for a fairer and more democratic vote the current head of state alexander to look up for reelection after sixteen years in power he's been criticized for quashing the opposition and independent media one of the presidential hopefuls of. has

nationwide demonstrations if the government fails to carry out a transparent vote. the presidential election on december nineteenth we're planning a mass protest it's very likely that he will do that because he doesn't have enough support to win in the first room so if he proclaims victory saying he's gained more than seventy percent of votes which he's already claiming now it means the election was rigged and we're going to have to defend our rights and. there's no other way to do that than to stage a protest. this is r.t. live from moscow let's get to some other international news embry for you now and at least twenty one people have died in a wave of violence between police and gang members in brazil the rio de janeiro thousands of officers have been dispatched to deal with the gunman who have been blocking a main road robbing motorists on burning cars since sunday officials say drug

traffickers are fighting back against police operations aimed at tackling violence in the city slums brazil's a pacification program plans to improve security in the run up to the two thousand and fourteen world cup. mexican police say they have caught the alleged successor to the jailed drug lord known as la barbie. carboy mayor is suspected to have taken over the organization in august he reported. the gang was responsible for the death of twenty one mexican tourists kidnapped in september we were the victims of mistaken identity the bodies of the men were found in a mass grave earlier this month. south korea says it will increase the number of its troops on the border in preparation for further attacks from north korea the shelling of a southern island by north korea two days ago killed two civilians and two marines and prompted an international calls for calm the north has threatened further

military action if south korea continues on what it calls a part of a military provocation. cambodia is holding a national day of mourning for the more than three hundred fifty victims killed during monday's stampede in. hundreds of people including government officials lined up to offer flowers and incense sticks to remember those who died monday's a tragedy hope and on the narrow cold pitch grid shows crowds gathered to celebrate the end of the annual water festival most of the victims were crushed while others suffocated during a mass panic caused by that swaying. the members of the shanghai cooperation organization a group with increasing global influence are now meeting in tajikistan the group unites russia china and four central asian nations representing over one and a half billion people lot of native putin is there for the discussions on how to smooth economic relations and keep the massive borders of its members secure. is

following the forum for us. this is a regional security organization in the first place and how else to deal with real problems he has convening around the table there's a russia china and the central asian republics kazakhstan uzbekistan kyrgyzstan and . this is the second time the shanghai cooperation organization is meeting this year and demonstrating its relevance among member states there is a drive to enhance trade overcoming the ongoing global economic crisis this is where the shanghai cooperation organization sees a great future also it has to be remembered that the cornerstone of. what is called the evil forces terrorism extremism and separatism and these of course includes the war on drug trafficking at the moment drug trafficking and islamic radicalism stemming from again a stoner of the two main security threats for russia the shanghai cooperation

organization is all from come to nato but this comparison is grossly mistaken the organizations influence comes from the fact that it represents a quarter of the world's population but the difference being is that the seal is not a military alliance and it doesn't see its aims beyond its members. it's focused on regional security in the first place and another thing which makes the c.e.o. so unique is that to have the weights russia and china working together to ensure peace and stability among organization members on the sidelines of the summit russian prime minister vladimir putin will be meeting among others with rose up and why have a president of kyrgyzstan become true that has been through so much as nick strives recently and it has gone through seemingly successful democratic elections and it is now coming to terms with the new directions of the country and today we expect the russian prime minister to refer russia's desire to see peace and stability in

this struggling country. to get a job of reporting while americans are in full. giving mode as they celebrate turkey day but not everyone is thankful traditionally one of america's busiest travel periods the holidays saw protesters gather in airports to rally against what they call invasive security checks because he has more. here's another case of outrage over t.s.a. pat downs very very over the pat downs not exactly dying down it's the t.s.a. versus t.n.a. skaters are turning the tables now men can be judged by their package according to the media the american people don't appreciate being scanned or down it takes much going to have you arrested since nine eleven air travel in the united states has undergone quite the security changes and last year's christmas day bomber didn't help matters much either because americans usually fear for their safety and welcome heightened security measures when it comes to nudity or even being patted

down many folks don't seem to be too aroused i think it would discourage me from flying even more so really what they had before this is too invasive it just appears to be too invasive but most people didn't share that sentiment i believe. and i think the skin is fine and i want true and that was it i mean there was no scanning there was no pat down there was nothing you have to go through a scanner i didn't disappoint why why not i don't know such such a big drama about it for nothing the drama as collated with a loosely organized internet boycott national opt out day for those bashful of their lady or man parts they could choose a pat down instead of a scanner the story became a media frenzy as far as creating a frenzy at the airport not so much it is inconvenient it is uncomfortable but when you go to the doctor and he examines you they put their hand all over the place and you don't like it but you put up with it putting up with or even enjoying does it

matter who's patting you down i'd rather have a choice between a male or female who would you choose a female so you'd like to be patted down as long as it's a female yes while others actually opted for the scanner i'd much rather be scanned and patted down and read as my feelings about their touching or looking even our favorite celebrities don't see the big deal it's not the way that i would like to live but if it's going to. keep me from getting blown out of the sky you can check anything you want and if you feel some you like a squeeze that one of my warning. but to some americans it's no laughing matter it's difficult that we live in a society where we're so afraid of what's going to happen that we have to have these invasive search procedures i think it shows a real weakness in our foreign policy and wherever there is frustration with the government or media hysteria there's money to be made case in point fig leaf underwear brought to you by a las vegas businessman who says this strategically placed

a leaf along with some powdered metal will ease the embarrassment of having to go through the scanners would you have a rock rocked underwear. personally i think it's a little out of proportion and. not a fan of figleaves not another fan of figleaves hiding private parts to protect privacy rights and most of these travelers could care less about dina go soft ski r.t. washington d.c. . just twenty now twenty two minutes twenty two minutes that is past the hour here in moscow you are with r.t. and there's a plenty more to be discovered on a website that's r.t. dot com you'll find exclusive coverage opinions and analysis including one of the real father frost is drawing off his festive should you will some unlucky muscovites have already bumped into his colleagues as a gang of bad scientists was caught and robbing pedestrians at gunpoint. and in the recent nato summit in lisbon french president nicolas sarkozy couldn't get any

sleep at his hotel due to an excessively noisy party but it turns out the delegation of georgia through a sizzling social with no less than eighteen ladies of the night into. or your career is now here with the latest business news hello to you carrillo rory so you mentioned earlier i heard europe's second largest tool operator thomas cook has agreed on a joint venture in russia now south of the big deal to me just just how big it had time to go vacation as well the u.k. based company has been trying to get into the russian market for years i'm not going to disclose the figure but it plans to invest millions of dollars in the new joint venture with interest and more of that coming up in a moment but first eight billion dollars of new deal sealed at the fifth russia china economic forum in moscow on wednesday after thirteen contracts were signed in

different areas of the economy but in the question of reports on the deepening trade ties between russia and china. banking timber mining and television these are just some industries where the chinese and russian business have got to get out this year and most of them are agreements between russia's me dolly investors shipping are an order to china worth three hundred twenty million dollars u.s. economic sanction chinese state development bank attracting investment into building would persisting plants and many other us as part of the developing trade between the two nations russia's my six exchange will launch trading in the chinese us against the ruble next week i think it's very important that we stop it but i don't think it's going to be overwhelming and good compared to other current fair. markets would have like a little for example but i think it's a good it's

a good thing for the trade route into the country itself for those people who do transactions with china and being here and the government here once chinese firms to participate in the upcoming privatized program which will involve the russian state selling up stakes and hundreds of firms the private sector is also candy aware of the importance of china both a somali kids and as a manufacturing base by gene keadilan of vice president of the industrial equipment division at the coin hugo says the main challenge for many russian companies as the vast territory and a bewildering choice of potential partners when you go with by the way it's very difficult to find a good company that is suitable to work with however i can say that chinese changing rapidly the quality of their output is increasing now we're seeing better managed companies with high tech skills emerge technologies that were not present

in the country before but were trade volume between the two countries is expected to return to pre-crisis levels by the end of the year russia is devil's defying. it's economic ties and it's presence and the asian pacific region the main focus is china and the scale of this forum shows how much russia's hopes for future prosperity in trade laws with the east might in a question altie moscow russia is out of the canadian dollar to its international reserves before the change the reserves comprise forty seven percent us dollars forty one percent of euros ten percent of british pounds two percent japanese yen and a small amount in swiss francs the deputy chairman of the central bank says the initial holding in canadian dollars is small but russia may increase it within a few months the international reserves currently total four hundred ninety billion u.s. dollars. dollars have a look at how the markets are doing asia stocks are mostly higher on thursday

japan's nikkei end of the trading session half a percent in the black oil for arms of the region high on strong crude futures woodside petroleum up point four percent while petro china one two percent talks in hong kong were as well up as well help line overnight rally on wall street. and in europe stocks are also gaining the footsies up point three percent boosted by gains for the mining sector shares in xstrata are up over two percent newspaper publisher daily mail and general trust dropped two point four percent after reporting its annual results group grows over one and a half percent after agreeing a joint venture in russia on that in a moment. here in russia both reality as it was except trading in the black boosted by energy majors all the blue chips are gaining with gazprom up the most over two percent the new call up over eight percent notice to kill is also one point one percent higher on the r.t.s. . russia's leading travel company in tourist and europe second largest tour

operator thomas cook have announced a new joint venture the u.k. based operator which has been trying to get the put holds in the russian market for years to invest. forty five million dollars in the newly created company thomas cook will also get a controlling stake a fifty point one percent interest expects the joint venture to become one of europe's top ten travel companies. ireland has unveiled the harshest budget measures in its history planning to call back fifteen billion euros within four years now the plan is a condition for the debt stricken country to get an international loan totaling one hundred fifteen billion dollars ireland hopes the measure will provide its deficit to fall to three percent of g.d.p. by two thousand and fourteen from thirty two percent expected this year public spending will be cut taxes raised but the country's low corporation tax shield. will stay as it is. the twelve and a half percent corporation tax will remain unchanged over the planned period our

day to day spending will be reduced by seven billion in the next four years and that brings expenditure back three years in terms the numbers of public servants will be reduced by almost twenty five thousand. and that's all we have time for this hour but you can always find most always on our website r.t. dot com slash that's.

sweet and clean. salty and very useful. radioactive and dangerous. and even dead and desolate. fail to keep their unique secrets there are bumps unique lakes on our team hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on.

the wall with all its see your headlines no afghanistan's a foreign minister is meeting here's a russian counterpart here in moscow to discuss prospects for. the two countries hope. military time identifying keith strategies in the fight against the afghan drug trade. as london recovers from violent protests over austerity measures there are fears it's just the calm before the storm across europe and as the single currency plunges deeper into crisis public discontent grows across the continent and. americans facing a thanksgiving ports are not happy with many opting to go cold turkey on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year they claim to have border security measures including details scanners and hands on.