and belgium it is the next euro zone country to follow a crisis hit ireland and greece in athens meantime workers have once again flooded the streets in protest against massive cuts. a very warm welcome to you this is our life from moscow russia is stepping up efforts to help nato's a struggling campaign in afghanistan it's agreed to allow the alliance's armored vehicles through its territory to afghanistan reducing the reliance on volatile pakistan well confirmation came from a russian foreign minister put off during talks with his afghan counterpart here in moscow. pledged to keep up the battle against the drugs flow as aunties alexy reports. 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 learned that 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 vegas and president karzai during their last meeting at the summit of made in 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 so it's 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. 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 twentieth levon and this visit of the afghan foreign minister in moscow is preparing that presence a visit in the upcoming january. reporting of well the head of the foreign affairs committee in russia as a lower house of parliament constantine cause such off says sits in moscow's own interests to expand cooperation with nato in afghanistan as a russian politicians i defer to support. for providing the russian territory for the transit for the simple reason is equally interested in having this as a success story this is not the case here because of these appearing in our view is

meant to solve two problems one is to combat terrorism coming from the territorial for going to start and second one. combat production of drugs coming from the. in most cases we see that the problem does not. become lower it continues to grow in both cases but to create additional problems for nato in this sense would mean that we should just promote more problems of the same kind which is not in the interest of russia and this is why we have supported beautification this is why i believe we should further on support any other forms of this cooperation the military transit included and the transit coming from of going to stand back to the counters which are participating in this should also include. meanwhile the violence in afghanistan has reached an all time high during the nine year u.s.

led war that's according to the latest pentagon report american military chiefs admit progress across the country is on the phone with just modest gains against the taliban. looks at the mass relocation of american forces that latest attempt to break that. i will try to purchase time in iraq is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train assist and he quickly iraqi security forces sure their own wants to go home that's for sure no one knows whether once they hear the jealous 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 route. 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 does the lord of the. 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 is 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 then building the americans leaving iraq also sends the wrong message to insurgents the afghans seeing the americans withdrawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we have a hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter how real to quote she's already been told he'll be going from iraq back to. it will be his second time there and he's not looking forward to it i would definitely say that afghanistan is

a lot more difficult so the terrain is a lot more heavier in the mound this region so we have to do a lot more walking and whether the beefed up presence in afghanistan will help troops meet mixtures didn't mean to pull out or make it more difficult is still unclear the guys didn't just come back from a patrol everything went to the company x. one point. coming up for you in the next few minutes here on r.t. american celebrity is why here in the security debate. 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 something you like i'll squeeze it one of my one not all americans are taking thanksgiving down with such good humor with something that rather stay at home than submit to such an invasion of privacy . thousands of people have gathered in front of the georgian

parliament demanding out with the old in with the new the opposition's also joined the rally calling for the resignation of president mikhail saakashvili so forth reports. we're here at a gathering today outside the parliament building in tbilisi and there's a movement has been organized by a group known as the people's gathering now this is a great this headed by public figures and they've been joined by a number of opposition party saying that the main aims according to democratic elections and eventually the resignation of president saakashvili and his government the main goal of this is. join join international community. as the government really did. which will. proceed with amazement say they were a few a place to hold this assembly can say they've taken it to the streets there really

is a huge amounts of people here today thousands of people have joined in the main aim today is to bring together these different opposition parties the people and members of the public and to discuss the policies that they feel and most important to me is the country full of calling this a verdict of distrust they do not feel that the government at the moment doing what they should and they really want to show you today the power and the well to change things that i've been the traditional month when these rallies are pals and all day the the. people here say there's a lot of support for the people who would speak a peaceful movement the people will remember the two thousand and seven when a peaceful protest rally that was violently inserted by the place take gas and rubber bullets we certainly there's not a huge evidence of police presence here today there are some around the main focus as we said here today it's really for these opposition parties to come together

discuss the policy that everyone here will be really high paying at that they will be a catalyst for real change in the country. are you sorry for the reporting of well there are fears that belgium could be next on the growing list of euro zone countries teetering on the edge of economic collapse international bond investors are now sounding the alarm after the country's debt level equaled its annual national income it comes hot on the heels of islands monumental bell out and a mass strike in portugal where the country is on his knees now hundreds of greek serve also taking to the streets to protest tough austerity measures workers organized a three hour strike which disrupted public transport and state sector services but this march is war by those seen in the spring which were marred by violence with police in may the e.u. and the i.m.f. approved a survival package for the debt ridden nation in return for which the government

slashed pensions and salaries all of adam from the e.u. referendum campaign believes it's all signaling an end to the year a. lot of economists there's an article in grocers today the sound that top school is almost certainly going to meet bailing out and the big problem of course is spain because it's a huge country and it's not really as easy to bail out to somewhere like ireland or portugal you know this is a huge country in the structure slightly different there so we could seriously be seen a collapse of the of the euro and a lot of people would say that not before time but if you look at it our campaign the e.u. referendum campaign we've got thousands and thousands of people who have now signed up pledge e.u. referendum campaign dot com signed up pledge demand in the government give us an in out referendum on our membership of the e.u. and that is growing and so it's things like that you know anyone can go in

a home and sign up in their own facebook crew example it's things like that that people start and say actually we're not happy with what's going on we want change and we want to have our say we're not going to listen to the government anymore with this sort of we know better than you attitude. meantime british conservative m.e.p. inodes diverse says it's the political elite that wants to maintain the european union while ordinary people have no use for it at all. 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 so the elites want a country called europe created and they're stealing on ahead with it but the people not caring the people and one day there could be such a train wreck. over this whole issue and when you say ten at what the moment it

will stop functioning and then there will be slow realisation but it stopped working. really start working the crisis columns like we had recently with the financial crisis we saw there was no european response it was the germans believe the greeks or somebody else coming in to be able tomatillos well the e.u. . and now we have the chinese coming to bail out the greeks and save the euro zone. europe in all of this. and you can watch the whole interview with murder in just over an hour's time right here on r t well it's just now it's quarter past the hour here in moscow and there are plenty more stories to be discovered on our website that's our two dot com and is a taste of what you can find online waiting for you right now because the u.s. would be about her comeback sarah palin may have lost out on her bid to be vice

president with issue now setting their sights on the top job for two thousand and twelve. and it may sound like a hollywood blockbuster but this is a very real and titanic effort to save the world's biggest wildcat leonardo dicaprio star praise from the russian prime minister. right now let's go to some other stories making headlines around the world this hour and tackling terrorism and extremism are the main issues on the plate for the members of the shanghai cooperation organization they've come together in the capital for the c.e.o.'s and you will summit the group unites russia china and four central asian nations representing over one and a half billion people iran india pakistan and mongolia the associate members russia's prime minister vladimir putin came to discuss ways to smooth economic

relations keep the massive borders of its members secure the participants in the summit also focus on developing agricultural trade and humanitarian cooperation as well as fighting the consequences of the global financial crisis while the c.e.o. is not a military ally and its top priority is the regional security of its member states . so let's go to some other stories now right here on r.t. and south korea's defense minister resigned in the aftermath of a firefight with the north korea on tuesday to south koreans killed during the exchange of fire has been returned to the mainland china has publicly called for calm from both sides while the u.s. condemned the actions sending an aircraft carrier to the region tensions are still high on the peninsula with sold anything up its defenses and pyongyang threatening to retaliate against any provocation. iraqi president jalal talabani has

given the country's prime minister the green light to form a new government the official request will pave the way to end an eight month deadlock following inconclusive march elections which led to a power vacuum and an upsurge in sectarian violence prime minister nouri al maliki now has the task of forming a cabinet within the next thirty days that is expected to include all of iraq's rival factions. from odeo is holding a national day of mourning for the more than three hundred and fifty victims killed in a stampede in the capital the government officials were among those who lined up to offer flowers and incense in memory of the dead the tragedy happened on monday as crowds gathered on the bridge to celebrate the end of the annual water festival a mass panic broke out when the bridge began to sway and many were crushed or suffocated. everyone from politicians to celebrities have been giving their two cents worth of

a new airport security measures in the u.s. something called a naked scanners and pat downs infringe upon personal space but in the lead up to america's busiest holiday because off he finds out whether everyone is opposed to these tighter checks. here's another case of outrage over t.s.a. pat downs the fury 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 patted down their test by just going to have your rest since nine eleven air travel in the united states has undergone quite the security changes in 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 really for the time i didn't get the scanner fine i walk through 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 as the afford to buy or not i don't know it's just 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 putting up with or even enjoying it does it matter who's patting you down i 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 celebrity is 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 something you like i'll squeeze a one of my i want to. but to some americans it's no laughing matter it's difficult that we live in a society where we are so afraid of what's going to happen that we have to have these invasive search for seizures 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 leaf along with some powdered metal will ease the embarrassment when 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 that most of these travelers could care less about due to go soft ski r.t. washington d.c. . ard well in just a moment sharon is here with all the latest business news. hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news maker.

hello welcome to our business program i'm sure on a qian later in the program a new russian european joint venture that hopes to become one of europe's top and travel companies but first to our top story this hour. we start with an exclusive to our t. what rolls royce engines say it's gearing up to become a founder member of russia's titanium valley vladimir putin signs a decree next week to create a vast technology ha been a year also around the world's top titanium supplier the s.m.p. of this month. the british changes giant is hammering out a deal with top officials for a new special economic zone which will enjoy tax breaks and custom free trading. to tame bally initiative skolkovo yes they had meetings with the ministry of economic development and they're setting up special zones if the numbers look right and we like the part and we're able to work closely together there's absolutely no reason

why we shouldn't be very very involved if the research and development operation is successful rules rules shift production here as well what we haven't been doing in russia is is manufacturing engineering supply chain and research and development. and that's the area that i think we're interested in in exploring you know developing new technologies for gas turbines. new forms of engines i mean we haven't had. that many major technological shifts in the aerospace industry you know in the hundred or so years that we've been flying. the world is ready for some new new developments recently dmitri medvedev says fighting corruption is his number one priority have you received in your surety is that you will be spared red tape if for example you enter staying in bali we know there's a commitment to changing business practices in russia and we welcome that and we

can already see some of the practical practical effects of that there are some very dynamic private sector entrepreneurs who are aware because they operate all over the world they're aware of how russia compares with with other industrial. now let's take a look at the markets the u.s. markets are of course closed for the holidays but let's take a look at european markets the footsie is up sixty five percent boosted by gains for the mining sector shares an extra are over two percent newspaper publisher daily mail and general trust dropped two point four percent after reporting its annual results thomas cook group rose over one point five percent after agreeing a joint venture in russia more on that in a moment. and here in russia both the r.t.s. and my sex closed up on the day it closing boosted by energy majors most of the blue chips gained with gazprom and also nickel objects one just under two percent

on the r.t.s. bucking the trend bt lost more than half a percent on the my sex despite upgrading its profit forecast. and europe's markets may be up today but the fear about debt is still dominating sentiment arlin now looks set to receive a bailout package after it announced the harshest austerity budget in. a stereotype rather budget in its history the big concern is this will not be the end of it and that portugal and spain will need help joining me now to discuss how this is playing out is angus campbell head of sales at my new capital. well mr campbell thank you for joining us. mr campbell how strong our concern is the debt contagion will actually spread. there very strong. situation here where the euro has depreciated quite dramatically and now there's even concerns that this situation could spread into even countries that weren't normally expected

to be affected by belgium is now becoming a bit of a concern so we seen just a few things that really have started to shift the balance now and the first was yesterday when the spanish ten year government bond yield. five percent and that in the cost has been sort of point of no return for greece we saw it for ireland and if it's happening to spain spain is one of the biggest economies in europe so that's a serious concern absolutely i mean if if we're thinking about belgium and spain do you think there's sufficient money to bail out a country as large a spain. no good to see is sufficient money to bail out the likes of ireland the likes of greece possibly portugal and you know if it gets to belgium but spain is a different kettle of fish it's it's a big country big economy its g.d.p.

is over twice that combined of these smaller countries if the money set aside already at the moment will simply not be enough to cope with any sort of bailout should spain need it certainly a country with a g.d.p. that large would certainly have had problems in getting a bailout would you say the crisis is increasing the attractiveness of emerging markets. while emerging markets have been attractive for some time now and of course they are very much the driving force behind. and global growth but certainly western investors are looking more to the bric countries is as they've been classified in brazil is certainly a very popular emerging market amongst western investors russia not so much interesting lee but there's a lot of talk now that you know russia is getting

a little bit of attention even seen a relatively undervalued market when you compare it to the likes of brazil which has been so popular so this should shift the focus but of course there will be has been a great deal of focus on emerging markets already. and in your opinion in worst case scenario where eurozone nation defaults or even the single currency starts to break up where my investors find a safe haven where probably not the year of the sea gold has been very very. seen rapid appreciation in its price at the moment just a little bit of weakness sets into the price of gold but it's it's had some sharp moves higher but having said that you know there are certain pockets of western economies that remain attractive and equity markets certainly in the u.k. still look attractive to see one hundred of the heavily weighted in emerging

market type stores you've got a lot of mining large mining sector in. which is how to make it remain quite strong so there are certain little pockets in the areas that you can place your money in and exposure to equities is no bad thing right now but it would seem to lose if we do see contagion and we do see a split up will be the euro. thank you very much and yes that was a. great help and that was mr angus campbell head of sales of london capital group. and that and that's all the update we have for you at the moment but we'll be back in less than one hour so. so will be. thank you for thank you for joining us we'll be back and you can you can check us on our headlines archie dot com slash business.

we're coming to you live from the russian capital this is our headlines now moscow a pledge of support for afghan stability rushers foreign minister holds talks with his afghan counterpart here in moscow. thousands of gathered on the streets of georgia's capital tbilisi to call for political change the opposition is calling for the resignation of president saakashvili. and in athens people have also taken to the streets this time to protest massive austerity cuts meanwhile belgium could soon follow greece and ireland down the path towards an e.u. i.m.f. bailout. my colleague bill dog will be here in half an hour's time before the main .