you're watching r t a very warm welcome to you it will be a soul searching weekend for the euro zone with a credit rating agency standard and poor's downgrade ing nine countries the biggest blow was to france the currency union second largest economy which has been stripped of its top notch status along with all stripped the e.u. commission has described the decision as inconsistent so also has more now from brussels. this comes at a time when often as it was just about growing up when it comes to the euro zone with some positive data coming out first week of two thousand and twelve well clearly a new such as this would again dampen investor confidence and stall that process now france one of the countries is leading the efforts and bringing about this fiscal compact agreed upon by the european leaders now this downgrade of france was

not entirely unexpected i mean s. and p. had given it warnings the last year and even a lot of the analysts we've been talking to had said that a french downgrade was imminent so now that it has actually happened still the markets reacted negatively to all of this is happening because of france's role in the bailouts is one of the reasons in the role in the bailouts of greece of italy through the european central bank as well as of portugal so it has left the financial system the banking system of france in a very vulnerable position now what it comes to italy now this is one of the countries that has been considered too big to fail at it it comes just days after the premier mario monti had met in berlin with german chancellor angela merkel and french president nicolas sarkozy where they stressed the growth prospects when it comes to credit ratings agencies there's a lot of indignation coming from e.u. leaders there saying that all of this is happening at a time when the eurozone is trying to get out of the crisis and they've put out bad news like this and in the past they have attempted to limit the influence of credit

ratings agencies in the financial markets and if you remember they go back to the question the credibility of these agencies going back to two thousand and eight financial crisis the role that they played in that crisis where they had backed assets as well as financial instruments that were essentially junk still the investor confidence one of the most important aspects of all of this which is more often than not psychological than rational and if this is affected we can see a chain of events unfolding and unfortunately it might more most likely be negative . vestment out of this to apache young says the downgrade has been a long time coming in a disastrous news for the euro it's been deserved frankly for several years i mean the french government has been economically incontinent for the course of several decades they've lived in never never land they have no concept of how to run a reasonable economy in terms of not spending more money than they can afford it's

a disaster for mr sarkozy but then again it's been coming since the start of his presidency it's been building for twenty five years and he did nothing about it so he's just as culpable as everybody else in this issue on the future of the euro everything is not up for grabs again it emotionally destabilizes every single aspect of the euro because we still have no leadership in the eurozone we've got situations like greece needing fourteen and a half billion euros to refund in march alone the euro cents on the precipice tragically and that's a terrible thing for all our viewers throughout the world italy dropped two notches in the latest downgrade decisions but in that starbucks kaiser and stacy herbert expose those who are still raking it in despite the tough times. by how it is number one bank as crisis bites the sky mary on monday. running italy here a leg breaker with ties to goldman sachs goes back years already so he's

a capital capital you know he's of course he's asking that gone more or in the course of north korea from the south to come up north baby we've got a lot of people here you can financially rape with your predatory loans mario monti's says the three card monte. this year is marking the first anniversary of the revolution that triggered the arab spring and change the face of the entire region and while the country can boast a peaceful transition radical religious ideas are on the rise. may have looked like a successful revolution getting rid of all authoritarian regime while retaining its westernized facade but in parliamentary elections that followed tunisians voted for another and islamist party which now firmly holds the majority of seats in the new parliament. political culture. of the first

experience. making the choice between. political programs it was hard. pushed people to choose either with muslims than muslims. but western tourists need to have nothing to fear the party's leaders say beer and bikini's irregular staples of tunisia's holidays hotspots are here to stay yet recent events at the maneuver university one of the largest in the country show the tunisian ways are indeed changing their protests that erupted right here we're going to verse three several female students came in wearing which is that this the islamic head dress which covers most of the face leaving does the eyes open we're going to first of the authorities have evidence that's had. so the students went on strike saying their freedom was being oppressed. the majority of students were

against the strike but they were threatened by those in the minority we held out on principle we are against girls wearing head dress in lectures and during the exams it's a question of security and of trust professor believe be acknowledged as students right to wear whatever they please after all she says this is the essence of freedom but in the case with niqab she felt a different from the simple issue of dress code since usually head dress serves to protect the woman from possible unwanted advances and activists for women's rights in the country believe the underlying political tendencies are thinly veiled by the strikes at maneuver university. the battle whether a woman wears any cop or whatever else this thing's an important i'm not afraid of women's desire to wear head dress i'm afraid that this issue may be used to provoke other problems the parliamentary opposition meanwhile fears this may mean bad news for the newly born tunisian democracy because it had the cold war worried that we

may slump down to a new head germany ruled by one of the representative parties and not to receive forty percent of the seats in the assembly the post of prime minister is also there's every tunisian is afraid that confrontations and riots may occur. a lot of leaders have with us this year and says that they're not going to turn to media interest to sharia law states but meaning the country are already saying that the worrying signs are here. r t tunisia. middle east expert eric how he told r.t. that the new islamist leaders are indulging in emotional populism instead of trying to bring any practical change the way in which the army's been operating that we're . extremely unintelligent president market will see has been operating and the way in which the new justice minister than the slow

minister going social and moral pressure to decide what can go on and what can even go on and what shouldn't go on television is awarding the real problems of photogrammetry which are social and economic problems and the plan needs to be implemented the goal of the people who outreach aapl the dictators goes back to be so-called moderate islamists are basically concentrating on moral censorship and what people should do in general is a sign of bankruptcy it's because they are not other people anything else so they are proceeding along. meanwhile in syria there's a warning from the head of the arab league for the conflict torn nation is sliding into civil war it comes as tens of thousands rallied on the streets after the largest civilian opposition group decided to boost cooperation on action western leaders need to put pressure on president assad's regime the debate is now a priority when the russian proposed resolution on the table but actually burn the

lebanese base all told out west is more interested in with huge change this is actually a project very much about regime change and the aim of it is that it's part of the war on iran which is effectively started and there were comments by the national security advisor from the us tom donilon by jeffrey feltman in his testimony to congress which has basically been very explicit about the regime change agenda of the u.s. they've been very careful up till now to acknowledge any kind. being perpetrated by any others apart from the government forces in syria but i think just a few days ago the u.s. ambassador did admit that actually there is violence there is there are. actors active who are not government forces. and with anti-government feeling it now rising rapidly in nigeria off an oil subsidy was axed the fear is an arab spring

started to ation lies ahead. first mass movement. revolution right on the program we ask how the situation might turn out one of the biggest oil supplies to the united states. but how is this for a nutritious lunch in american schools we explore why petes is classed as vegetables country where one in three kids are overweight. a leaked cia report says the situation in afghanistan is mired in stalemate contradicting recent optimistic pentagon statements sobering conclusion is deepening divisions between u.s. intelligence and the military about the outcome of the decade long war well the report also claims that attempts to improve security are being undermined by corruption competent governance and taliban fighters operating safely from neighboring pakistan let's talk now to carl nuri who is the co-founder of the world

strategies coalition and american based think tank that working towards a peaceful solution for afghanistan thank you for joining us here on our team now as we mentioned the report paints a far from optimistic picture what does this mean for america's military reputation do you think. well the way i see it is is it is it is a start made and corrupt government a government was which was now. true by the majority of afghans and the same time it has been ten years that has not unified the country i said should happen it looks like there's no chance for the americans to see your government standing on its feet however this could prolong americans be honest on for quite a number of times many years. i would say and the years are unknown at this time but it looks like it's going to be a long time because there's

a corrupt government cannot function in a way that it is right now yes you mentioned the government functioning on not that the report also says the government in kabul may not survive off the u.s. troops pull out i mean how do you see things developing in that i mean it's very mirror copy of what is your post soviet withdrawal of us despite the fact that not to pull us government at the time had a formidable a very strong army and it survived for three for three years after the soviets pulled out i'm just highlighting that scenario with this this is nowhere close to what not cheaper laws government was so this is going to search this is not going to survive the karzai government is not going to survive. as strong as what what its government wants well kabul has been holding us back talks with the taliban off the ten years of war now is the us reading again terms of defeat.

looks like it's in a point of weakness s. plus for us we can see that where united states is standing at this point but may not make it to the fact that they are in. and that stage are at that position however what we are seeing here is that the election is coming in and. there's no political solution whatsoever obviously there's not been any military solution. so they are seeing that at the same time things are picking up with iran in a different direction they're kind of scrambling with time to pull out all the troops as they can some the fact is that there's a friction in the white house right now get some more say no basically the pentagon going military is the one that's calling off the. st i know we should not really her rush in fast as we can now pakistanis bounds of

major role after the us pulls out well pakistan be part of the solution or part of the problem. looks like the fact is that we have a majority pushed through that is ready to take over and talk to stand extending its its strategic arm through its proxies. and it's highly likely that they're going to fuel whelming. country and what they're what they're the power that has given that. it doesn't look good in him and the fact is that what the war nor its in the north are massing up with their caches of weapons that's shows a very glib and. a dark future that

they are looking for. just another war in a civil war and recently just in berlin there was there was a talk with congressman. dana rohrbacher. war nora's. and also much on the suits brother zero masood they were all in berlin talk and and apparently the outcome has not come out yet to see what really was behind the door but what discussed and some were in a panic that maybe we should talk about what do we do when we get out how would how do we have to solve this issue that we're not going to be slaughtered and it is looking really bad and graeme at this time i'm talking about solving issues and the un report says the opium poppy harvest in afghanistan increased by one a massive so. won't percent in the past year alone what will happen to the drugs business when the foreign soldiers have gone through your pain well the drug

business it's run by the wal-mart's independent obviously the people that they are working back and forth between so we keep in. the former soviet union states and also that we've got to get it makes its way to iran it looks like that that is going to go through but the fact is if i can elaborate on this issue that it's the best interest of. people saying so we keep union it's not soviet union it's russia and it's best interests of russia if if russia can help united states to to. to help in this logistics for its military supplies through russia that russia can demand from the americans look i think we can help if you could eradicate the drugs in afghanistan that's which is killing thirty five thousand people out of the unites fluffs russia and that would be

a good win win situation for all for everybody at the same time that the u.s. can and can also help out in talk about that if the missile defense shields in czech republic and also in in poland and see if that can work out on the other hand it's hard to understand that what georgia and ukraine are going to do because they want to join the nato if that can work out too i think the drug eradication will be a good solution in that sense that if united states could work with the russians and come up with an agreement ok with after leave it there we're out of time out co-founder of the. coalition thank you you thank. fewer foreign wars while battling more issues on the home front appears to be what most americans want from their presidential candidates but half of this is now us voters in new york whether they think the upcoming election will bring any tangible

change to u.s. policies. this year the us has the opportunity to elect a new president are they ready for radical change this week let's talk about that changing that much i just don't think is realistic at all we don't move that quickly it's not the way our system works i think we'll move in different directions over time but i don't think it's going to happen do you think that's a detriment to us that everything takes so long. maybe but it's the way the system works and i think that those checks and balances in the way that it moves slowly actually is good in the long run well they thought they were ready four years ago for radical change do you think they had radical change so far i feel like they had a radical change in the wrong direction so what direction do you think it should go in the way of the people which is what which is when the government actually works for us not for themselves the change i would like to see would be probably they

would be complimentary because there are some libertarian ideas that are great but you just can't fool the social fabric out from the folks that need it you can't do it i'm i really hard time with the fed and i think we should be out of all countries you know we should be occupying anything but we need to take care of our own i think you need somebody who is prepared to stick his head out and do big changes like to say do you think that the u.s. people would get behind the leader that that that if they get desperate enough because of the split that's happening with people who are employed not employed to have money and no money they desperately nuff you look at it whether or not the u.s. needs radical change the bottom line is it remains to be seen whether or not they'll vote for it. after all unions in nigeria warning they'll shut down all crude and natural gas

production the country on sunday if the government doesn't replace a fuel subsidy to keep prices down situation is threatening to turn nigerian to the next arab spring style trouble spot. only in the sewer or on the sahara reporters dot com and news magazine tells r.t. axing the subsidy was the straw that broke the camel's back but it's clear that this is not some kind of mass action or strikes juden by the unions only well you know this is the nigerian people rising up years of dictatorship corruption and mismanagement of the our resources and it was driving the fight against the government now it just happened to remove the subsidy gosselin it was the stock. movement i used so you could become revolution. nigeria as the first african country of black people we were about to lose their leader and the nigerian

people are calling this inner join hammer town as opposed to the arab spring united states has a close eye on what's happening in nigeria as it depends heavily on the nation's oil i think you know me i think i had to tell the pan-african newswire has told r.t. that washington has every reason to be concerned. we have to keep in mind that right now as far as the united states is concerned some twenty five percent of the all that's being imported right now into the united states is coming from the african continent nigeria is the number one export into the united states and poland is number two in fact. all of that is exported from africa inthe united states now see. a lot of this is that exported from the entire arabian peninsula so u.s. is very much concerned about maintaining stability in nigeria for the simple fact that it is heavily reliant upon the all that's being imported from nigeria into the

united states. well now what else is making news around the world and first to iraq where fifteen pilgrims have been killed by a suicide bomber in the city of basra there among hundreds of thousands of shia muslims from across the country and abroad are making their way to a holy shrine in a city of karbala and observing a high point to just one hundred thirty thousand iraqi security forces are on high alert in the area to try and avert. a cruise ship with more than four thousand people on board has grounded off italy's northwest coast at least eight people are known to died most of those on board the costa concordia were evacuated from the vessel after it hit a reef and are in the video they ate on friday several others are missing after jumping overboard as the ship began listing passengers reported a loud bang during dinner and were told the ship had stopped because of electrical

problems. or gas has exploded into a boiling point during a crash which killed at least eleven people carrying dozens of passengers when it hit a cement only i don't cotton to massive explosion when on board suffered severe burns when recovery teams say they're having trouble identifying some of the worst affected victoria is not one to group was committed. millions of american children are classified as obese as a result the u.s. government is making sure they get a full serving of nutritious vegetables from the school cafeteria but there are still some unhealthy definitions making the menu in the guidelines what is very important are explains why. it's a super sized crisis impossible for america to disguise an insatiable love for food and big portions has served up a nationwide majority of overweight children and none of us wants this future for

our kids as first lady michelle obama attempts to tackle the epidemic by advocating more exercise healthy eating and penning a book about the white house garden u.s. lawmakers are getting kudo's first stirring the house problem which i applaud in a single woman tension fear will go nowhere given the allure of the. recent decision by the congress to send pizza was a vegetable you heard correctly the greasy cheesy cheap meal known as pizza is served as a lunch vegetable to thirty two million public school children how because u.s. department of agriculture guidelines qualify to tablespoons of tomato paste as an official veggie serving in november u.s. congress rejected a request from the department that would have changed requirements and ultimately removed pizza from school menus congress has really shown who controls them and

that's the big corporations and the big food corporations companies like. these are the makers of the frozen pizza and they have huge financial interests in that obviously according to published reports food companies spend five point six billion dollars this year lobbying specifically to keep pizza friendly u.s.d.a. guidelines in place the social consequence of overweight kids has a million scurrilously battling diabetes and millions more vulnerable to heart disease and shortened life expectancy granted issues such as corporate control and obesity are not new problems for america but over the years the hunger for profits has compromise. the health of an entire generation the u.s. department of defense says twenty five percent of young americans are too overweight to join the military and epidemic so bad experts say threats to national

security for. our short but quite telling unscientific poll found americans picking logic over the world of their lawmakers like pizza. he doesn't want it to mean a. group which are too small to the surface but that's not just what it's like it's much made of beer at all that's what. that's what the nutritional value in this. period whatever it is i don't buy whatever they're feeding in the cheese is terrible knowing that u.s. leaders have a hand in cooking up the ingredients can also leave a bad taste in many mouths in a port in iowa r.t. new york. roams a russian influences are explored in a few minutes south of recap of the headlines just about.

now it's not about spilling blood. it's the war

a barricade from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over. is he used to. be.

now you without a time for the headlines the euro suffers a fresh financial blow as the nation is going to downgrade credit ratings instead of imports france and australia have lost their. markets into. the single currency hitting its market over. the museum box yet since president ben ali was crossing also spearheading the reagan revolution as the world sort of breakthrough mood is being mocked by.