one o'clock on a tuesday afternoon here in russia's capital moscow glad to have you with us this is r.t. western europeans can rest easier this winter with an uninterrupted flow of russian gas to keep them warm the nord stream pipeline will pump fuel along the baltic sea floor and straight to e.u. customers without relying on transit countries like ukraine and belarus president medvedev is in germany and will soon start to flow. there. the pipeline is well as you have said is the longest one in the world it's more than twelve hundred kilometers long it's an offshore pipeline so goes along the bottom of the baltic sea and when fully operational it will provide more than fifty five billion cubic meters of gas of russian gas to european customers now today the first part of the two pipelines will actually start working this second one will become fully operational by the end of next year so at that point european customers will see

all that russian gas coming for and then from russia one of the most important parts is that there will be no intermediaries so there will be no chances for gas to be abruptly shut off at places like bellers or ukraine the pipelines cost is around seven point four billion euros but you have to remember that that actually comes at no extra cost for the european taxpayers because the consortium the nordstrom consortium shareholders will provide about thirty percent of the cost and seventy percent will be financed by the international begs the construction began in two thousand and five in russia the undersea portion of the pipeline is actually going from we bought all the way to germany and today only the first pipe of the two pipes will be turned on but the second pipe is already seventy percent complete so there is not much time there's not too much time left to wait for the european customers before the rest of the pipeline will start working very interesting and significant event for europe and for russia alike. and she's eating

a political reporting for us there now and business are to you know around twenty minutes time discover journey from dream to reality and in the next hour former german chancellor gerhard schroeder who's now chairman of the nord stream project tells us why it means everyone here is a winner. the european union needs russia geopolitically but the reverse is also true it's not a question of the time has come just don't go through it and stop. looking back on body logical differences or niches in a situation where you could ship gas to china and all of asia and europe you know i hope russia never has to make a choice the russian government is evidently pro european or europe cannot keep pushing russia or way it hurts russians pride we have to keep in mind all russia has the alternative leadership he just or europe has no such alternative europe's geo political position would be approved or if it manages to enter

a tight partnership with russia under the same time grand a session a turkey or that would be a sound strategy again or into the future the rest of us work to basically name. and you can see the full interview with a former german chancellor and chairman of nord stream hard shoulder in just over an hour right here on r.t. . great leaders are struggling to decide who should become of the new prime minister to lead a crisis coalition george papandreou has agreed to go but is locked in a rout with the opposition leader over who should replace him athens is under enormous pressure to act fast and push through cuts before it can get more emergency cash sarah firth has asked the greeks how they assess the mess that their end. as the year is saying crisis rumbles on greece is once again found itself the focus of international attention and it seems like everyone's had an opinion about the situation here in the country we decided to come to syntagma square which is

really beat me up and it's so much of this year a crisis the find out what the people of greece have to say about it all. so we sense that the camera and the mike. to. let the people of greece take it away alone we are. well. all the people. are doing. everything they've. actually it's like they're trying to frighten our. hi my name's vicky canadian i've been living in greece for ten years now my grandfather fought for this country and it saddens me that. right now there's a chance you might lose everything that we know in this country and. there's really not much we can do and i want to. if all the european snow but all

these dead cannot be paid back. why do they lend his money plus don't they want their money back the thing with the situation right now to greece is that we don't feel real secure about anything but our salaries our health and you know in my aids thing about the timber i'm going to make and the decisions i have to do from then from now it's really sad because. everybody here things that you know the things could be better there are something more than the there's something more there are great because there is a lot of fun employment in greece now. that the people in greece are very skeptical about the euro i think ok there it's better we are in euro. of course definitely but there are so some serious problems. because a lot of people lost they lost their jobs you don't know what. you can do you can

plan your life i'm twenty years old and don't have job ah i have to leave with my parents i don't have money i can leave i hope for everybody to be calm and. try to get out of the crisis and i really hope everybody can help us to do that is a european country in greece and europe is a great quote a great work i hope something can be done so we can save this beautiful country and be able to pass it on to our grandchildren and the children after that the people of greece the steps up to the mike and had a chance to have a say the question now is whether anyone is going to be ready to listen to them whether decisions again to keep being made behind closed surface syntagma square and. well next in the fine. anshul firing line in italy where debts are piling up

a major record borrowing costs prime minister berlusconi rapidly losing support but insists he won't quit he is resolute that he's the one to get vital cuts through but even his former allies are not so sure one greek financial analyst says italy's politics are worse off than in his own country i think italy and spain apparently still that's the largest threats to the eurozone and certainly italy is very concerning given the political situation there is more unstable than it is in greece and then borrowing rates are reaching very unsustainable levels i think there are many good reasons to worry for other countries and even cool countries like france who may well lose their aaa rating at some point in the future what they do have to do of course other than just bailing out some countries and putting up some defenses in the short to have a really good look at the trees and the infrastructure of the whole project and see

if there is some reform they can make it more workable of course when you have seventeen different very different economies in very different countries setting one uniform monetary policy is always going to be haphazard and when the e.c.b. itself count lane countries then things can be very problematic. still ahead for you this hour when confrontation is not an option. we look at how israel's military muscle flexing and a fearsome foreign policy is turning its own people against signing up for service . and why russia is the rest of the north caucasus rising from the ruins with a powerful p.r. machine helping to attract thousands to the region. for activists protesting against america's plans to use a new south korean base for the u.s. navy have been arrested at the site opposition to the base is mainly from locals who fear it could destabilize south korea's relations with china as well as it

damaging the environment matthew hoh who is near the base says the voices of discontent are going unheard with government not playing fair. this was a small demonstration they went to the conference to deliver a message to deliver a statement about their concerns of the new. leaders and bits that are this moment there's a bar graph being held but they say what people at least station where they're currently being detained this is going to be one of the largest military bases in the world the naval bases their capacity it was bases twenty large destroyers two aircraft carriers. and it would be outdated aegis missile defense system where our hair are less than three hundred miles away from the chinese mainland this is a very attractive location for the united states military initially there was a boat of just eighty seven people that led to the instruction of the base protested they held another vote ninety four percent of the residents said they didn't want the base government said that they weren't going to abide by that

results about recently the provincial government demanded that construction be stopped the military said no inviting for five years. they had been incarcerated the mayor is currently in prison but i've been here is that the villagers of just about every legal option were fighting a very sound rational nonviolent resistance the government simply isn't listening in the now playing fair russia has issued a clear warning to israel over a possible attack on iran the foreign minister was responding to the israeli president's suggestion that a military strike on iran is more likely than diplomacy sergey lavrov said any such attack would be a serious mistake with unpredictable consequences or you move the nuclear watchdog is about to report on iran's nuclear activities where it is thought it will reveal computer models of an atomic warhead and other weapons related work israel's main ally the u.s. says it will focus on diplomacy but is ready to keep all options open political

analyst i bet you it says washington is unlikely to support israel's push for an attack. in china when mao and the chinese got nuclear weapons mao made direct threats to nuke the united states and of course lyndon johnson explored military options etc and of course they didn't take the chinese nuclear weapons out so i think you can deter this we have thousands of nuclear warheads russia has thousands of nuclear warheads i think the iranians could do what japan has done because japan has taken it all the way up to actually building a nuclear weapon and they haven't done it they've shown they have the capability it's or maybe that's what iran is trying to do maybe iran will never build a weapon they've shown that they can design a warhead that will fit on a missile getting the missile over here we've seen north korea had a lot of problems with that so we're not in the panic mode yet but i think what the foreign minister said there is absolutely correct there's no good military option here if you want to make sure you get all the stuff you have to launch a ground invasion which would make the invasion of iraq look nice and right and it

look easy runs a much bigger country the terrain the people there are not in a good mood towards america or you'd have a lot of a lot of problems and of course they could attack by air israel or the united states could do that and that's the that's the fear i think but there's just no good option it's israel's increasingly tough talk that's driving away the very people it would need to defend itself that's on top of recent aggressive foreign policy moves such as the ground invasion of lebanon in two thousand and six and gaza three years ago paula slater reports on the israeli conflicts that are repellent that's conscripts. for years it's been the cornerstone of the country's security but these days there's a real risk the israeli defense forces could be left defenseless conscription is at an all time you know about fifty percent of. jewish males. serve in the military. spend most of the year and

a half he was in the army trying to convince his superiors to release him on medical grounds they eventually did but only after he'd wasted months searching around he says doing nothing while in uniform get drafted for a. because of this feeling that i would be sorry if i would and. later i realized that i just couldn't play. with difference other than my name and a growing number of israelis agree with him friedman made sure she scored low on her army entrance tests so instead of serving as a soldier she's not doing civil service working as an artist structure in the center for the mentally disabled i have our fans in the army and they saw. how they were when they first came to them in how they are now and it's. brainwashing actually and they just keep you down from your identity and make you a basically a soldier ten years ago the refusenik movement started in israel youngsters

refusing to serve in the army on political grounds add to that the nearly fifteen percent of potential draftees who don't serve because of religious reasons and a recent series of scandals also so public trust in the military decline state. just. this video posted on you tube says a true israeli doesn't evade the truth in other words a true israeli avoids conscription fifteen or twenty years ago an advert like this would have been unthinkable in those days not serving in the army was something shameful but now young's. those have role models like activia nodded a copy of former girlfriend israeli model bar refaeli who evaded service and gave it to timoci violations of human rights. turned on by israel's absolute disrespect of international law it's crystal clear there's no question about it study showed that by twenty twenty the number of military age jewish israelis who

will not be serving will be the highest ever the growing trend has the military worried it won't have all the troops it needs especially now as the region heats up and the army needs all the soldiers it can get to be our team tell of it.

in the meantime police continue to.

well the obama administration seems to think that it was stock market is surging that everything is ok but the truth is that or more big keep increasing last year two point six million more americans slipped over the poverty for those of most americans but all of the poverty. and if you look back and this is part of a long term trend to back your true dolls and you have one out of every line of americans living in poverty today we have one out of every seven americans living in poverty. and we don't really want to give them the systems and food stamps and so on but those are only temporary solutions what they really need are jobs but those jobs are leaving this country by the millions who is winter many older americans are going to have to choose between heating their homes putting food on the table or getting their medicine was

a real tough choice made our correspondent lucy catherine off will continue to report from inside the occupy movement protests follow artie's twitter stream to keep in touch now look at some more world news for you this hour in india over twenty people were killed and fifty injured after a stampede of broke out during a religious ceremony the incident in the north of the country happened when tens of thousands of hindu pilgrims rushed towards a holy site to offer their prayers crushing many of the victims stampedes triggered by panic are not uncommon in india last january over one hundred worshippers died in route to a shrine. michael jackson's doctor has been convicted of killing the king of pop the jury took two days to find conrad murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter by administering a lethal dose of the painkiller fall there was an emotional reaction inside and outside the court as the verdict was delivered murray faces four years in prison

and has lost his medical license. a woman who accused u.s. presidential hopeful herman cain of sexually abusing her has gone public with her accusations bialik has said to the republican groped her when she asked for his help finding work in the one nine hundred ninety s. it is the fourth allegation of sexual misconduct against the candidate cain denies all the charges but it has not stopped support from being away. was president is cruising towards a third term in office with most votes now counted in the election daniel ortega has secured over sixty percent of the ballots so far that's more than double his nearest rival conservative. who's rejecting the results and accuses of voter fraud . for many rushes caucuses has been synonymous with violence for years its biggest battle now is convincing people that times are changing for the better attracting tourists is a key goal with luxury ski resorts among the developments taking place as medina

over reports the p.r. is paying off. thank you i these glamorous and extravaganza shows are the morgan face of the caucasus where anxious traditions vie for attention with the razzmatazz of twenty first century life and for many started hand with the beautiful game not long ago local football club biggest county and she was barely known outside the region and now it regularly makes international headlines with its doubles on the global transfer market. just ahead i'm starting from scratch i want all the trophies possible in europe as a player but here it is starting new because i've played it a bunch of problems before and he told me a lot about russian football and i do look forward to joining with the words of the camera man star striker and more importantly the record price they were prepared to pay made the local team one of the most ambitious clubs and the world and

a mission is almost everything and the caucasus discovered the land of opportunities fine for the world crawls out on sports results in the new iraq as the northern caucasus is coming. and there are actually more than a dozen ski resorts hamp but all currently stand empty and the states now aiming to turn that around france has already signed up to the project with one important condition the dresher guarantees the repayment of funds if the security situation worsens or if there is a major incident the first brand new how it's also due to resit for the upcoming ski season so there's not much time left to boast people's confidence in the safety of a holiday in the caucasus and that sense of a much harder task than building five star accommodation. indeed terrorism anti terror raids and armed attacks are often the first things that come to mind when you think of the caucasus because that's mostly what we hear in the news. but real

life is. as always much more complicated there is another side to living down hand that's barely even heard of beyond the region but which is well worth making the effort to discover your i never thought it would be mostly in search is sure isn't this time what's happened in some kind of miracle i can believe moyes and it's not just soaring skyscrapers and business centuries popping up hand sin that have been tim and while some like actress hilary swank may have been forced to explain her visit the full ounce only have to put the region on the front page it's the p.r. machine spinning and first beat because where the stars go the cameras from my do not push no artsy reporting from the north caucasus. and on the way our special report on how medical emergencies in los angeles could see a fire truck turn up instead of an ambulance that's after the business update with

current. thank you sean hello and welcome to business here and as has been reporting russia is set to start pumping gas to europe. though the newly built nord stream pipeline well across the launch for you throughout the day but now nick paul explains how the world's longest underwater gas tank came to fruition. russia's been selling gas to europe for half a century with the first pipeline running to austria completed in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven trading survived a long list of upheavals even the depths of the cold war failed to disrupt supplies however the breakup of the soviet union brought a new set of problems much of the energy infrastructure became the property of countries bordering russia with their own political and economic ambitions this resulted in a couple of so-called gas wars with ukraine and the old bust up with bella ruse which is where north stream comes in the pipeline runs beneath the baltic linking

russia directly to germany it's the longest subsidy pipeline in the world at over twelve hundred kilometers and it bypasses all transit countries that nine billion euros it's undoubtedly expensive but a pipeline last for up to fifty years so there's plenty of trying to make a return to the immediate benefit does it provide security of supply to europe which gets twenty five percent of its gas from russia and after thirteen years of planning and two years of construction the first delivery is about to be made through nick poole business r.t. . that energy minister sergei shmuck outlines why the north stream pipeline is destined to be a financial success. but despite the fact the project was developed in under favorable market conditions it had no problems in the truck to six point four billion euros of investments and it did not involve any financial help from either russia from any european countries to produce budget in total reach seven point two

billion euro involving companies from russia and eleven you countries in this respect we think the military has already proven to have been highly economically efficient. as they come up in the markets now oil is trading at the highest level in three months with prices little change since monday nights where it is currently trading at around one thousand nine hundred over ninety six dollars a barrel actually while brand is a one hundred fifteen dollars a barrel and stocks in asia struggle for direction on tuesday with most major indexes ending lower japanese and korean shares closed in the red on the eurozone debt anxieties exporters were among the leading decliners in tokyo and hong kong the hang seng gave up early gains ending the day flat stocks in europe open higher with investors continuing to events in italy and greece banking stocks among the main advances towards banking group rose three point eight percent societe generale was up three point seven percent and vodafone group is up one a half percent as profit beat us expectations here in moscow the markets are

gaining power the r.t.s. is up nearly a percent six is up over half a percent and here's a quick look at some of the shambles of allies x. energy majors bounce back from earlier losses is up almost two percent while gas problem is over one percent in the black as well the company's all subsidiary gas has boosted its net profit by sixty four percent in the first nine months of the year and russia's biggest lender is a bear bank is on the rise getting almost three percent. that's all we have time for at this hour i'll be back with more about twenty five minutes time.

from los angeles to chicago to birmingham twenty trauma centers have closed since two thousand severe problem is not enough inpatient beds not enough urgency department beds and not enough nurses to man those deaths to take care of all the people who are the only real health care system that we have in the city of los angeles is the los angeles fire department in fact when i started my venture is a firefighter i didn't want to be around so i started out running just do firefighting it's about eighty two percent of what we do the far the problem is medical i've had to rescue a couple weeks ago waited for hours for

a bit i've waited sometimes three hours but i was it's a safe francis and we went for four hours and fifty minutes standing against a wall of patients and we have a federal law that mandates that you can't turn no one away who seeks care in an emergency room. we have the most expensive health care system in the world and it's probably valued the least. couldn't take three. three. three. three. three. three.

and with. the. president. later on tuesday. for the rest. fifteen weeks of making the necessary. to.