live from moscow you're watching r t welcome my name's kevin though in our top story at nine pm the french finance minister insists it's not a catastrophe but the markets are indicating otherwise a slew of credit rating downgrade has rocked europe depriving france and austria of their prized aaa grades and slashing scores of seven other nations e.u. leaders hit back at standard and poor's the agency behind the move calling the decision in comprehensible. as more of the wider implications. this comes at a time when often as it was just about going up when it comes to the eurozone 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 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 and of its role in the bailouts of greece and italy through the european central bank as well as support trickle so it has left the financial system the banking system of france in a very vulnerable position now when it comes to italy this is one of the countries that has been considered too big to fail and 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 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 we go back to the question the credibility of these agencies going back to the 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 . reactions were pouring in from europe today with some expressing disbelief while others including the german chancellor angela merkel warn of a long road ahead but your local of the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris told me this he thinks the end of the so-called road cozy alone. that downgrading of france but not of germany obviously means that the franco german axis is no longer tenable proposition what we see in the euro zone is that there's

only one country calling the shots not and that's germany there's no doubt that it will strike a terrible blow for sarkozy is only real chance of winning the election was to show himself as a safe pair of hands as the devil you know in a crisis now it's clear that france has both a crisis and the devil that they know i mean it's true that these agencies are not above reproach they've made a lot of mistakes in the past and goodness knows the financial services industry including the ratings agencies is far from perfect but i think that european leaders are being completely paranoid when they blame the ratings agencies for their problems any fool can see that there is a massive debt problem in europe the fact is there's been a lull in the crisis but that was really to do with the christmas and new year holidays they have assessed the situation and they have come to the conclusion as have many other people that the situation in the eurozone is untenable and i think

when the euro finally collapses as it will do surely within i would think probably the next year that we will see this day this announcement that downgrading of france and as having been one of the decisive moments well it's really the economy too big to fail also being dropped too not his bias and pay many there are adjusting to the reality of a stereotype among them is the country the tories mathy have got more on there than the cars reported twenty minutes. mafia now italy's number one bank as crisis bites the sky mariel monti is not running italy. a leg breaker with ties to goldman sachs goes back years already so he's at the capital cap oh you know he's of course he's asking the girl maura and the cosa nostra from the south to come on up north baby we got a lot of people here you can financially rape with your predatory loads mario monti says a three card monte you know it's a global aspiration to be a gang step on

a wall street make part of our loans extort money. thousands of taken to the streets of the country's capital exactly a year since the popular uprising poured in and the president ben ali rule they were calling for freedom of the media and more democratic values while chanting revolutionary slogans many believe little change since ben ali was ousted still plagued by unemployment and crippling economic problems the country is in a wave of suicide protest attempts before people sort of themselves are like just the space of the last week but it's actually really good reports mixed when he said the only change since the revolution has been a surge of radical religious ideas. it may have looked like a successful revolution getting rid of 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 he. knew for the first experience. making the choice between. political programs it was hard especially political campaign. that pushed people to choose either with muslims and then muslims. if you. don't believe but western tourists need to have nothing to fear the party's leaders see beer and bikini's irregular steeples of tunisia's follow these hot spots are here just yet recent events at the maneuver university one of the largest in the country show the tunisian ways are indeed changing their protests erupted right here at the amman they were going to verse thirty several female students came in wearing any which is the traditional islamic headdress which covers most of the face leaving just the eyes open they're going to verses the authorities have prohibited from being worn

on campus 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 headdress in their journals and during the exams it's a question of security and of trust and professor believe he acknowledged the 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 the new beginning versity. 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. we're worried that we may slump down to a new hedge of money 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 are. they not a leaders have made numerous assurances that they're not going to turn to media interest or sharia law states but many in the country are already saying that the worrying signs are here. r t tunisia middle east expert eric elie told r.t. the new islam is leaders are indulging in emotional populism instead of real solutions to the country's woes. in which the. operating that we're. extremely unintelligent president mark good to see has been operating.

the way in which the new justice minister than the slow minister of going social and moral creature to decide what can go on and what can even go on and what shouldn't go on television is awarding the real problems which are social and economic problems on the planet needs to be implemented to help the boy of the people who outreach aapl dictators go back to be so-called moderate islamists are basically concentrating on moral censorship and what people should do in trimble is a sign of bankruptcy it's because they are not of the people anything else so they are receding along. course egypt was one of the countries which followed here in toppling its leader now the former head of the un's nuclear watchdog mohamed el baradei has called off his bid for presidency there he had been seen by many as one of the front running liberal candidates let's talk

a bit further now and go live to cairo there wireless can there egyptian journalist and blogger while things are going on r.t. el baradei says that he's dropping his candidacy in protest of the current winter rules what exactly are these grievances and what is the how to achieve. stance to to not run for for presidency and withdrawing his candidacy is an extension to stance during the mubarak rule where he refused to be a presidential candidate in light of corruption so what he actually means by withdrawing his candidacy is to send a message out that the regime has still not fallen and that the scaf are mubarak's extension and that the regime is extremely corrupt and so he hopes to bring light to the fact that nothing has changed in the regime by withdrawing his candidacy so what does this decision go to me now does it change anything and indeed it did the day how realistic

a chance did he actually have in the first place of being elected president under this current regime. he didn't have much of a chance under the current regime because it's still the same chances as he had during the mubarak regime the military wants to maintain control over every aspect of egypt's political life and so they will not gamble with someone like him but are they who will who will put their interests before before the egyptians he will probably not do everything in his power to keep them in power and that's why what they're afraid of they will look for another presidential candidate that will be more willing to turn a blind eye to their crimes and their violations and to their. to the way they've been ruling the country so far so you figure on like a disease with such a liberal outlook feeling that so-called liberal void. there there is there's going to be a lot of problems in the next presidential. elections because

they was a tough choice for a lot of the liberals and right now here his withdrawal puts them. the rest of the candidates are really difficult to choose from it's also. really. a lot of doubt on the legitimacy of the next presidential elections with that withdrawal because because of these grave allegations so at the moment. it's really difficult to say how the void will be filled either in the presidential. run or through the revolution on the ground you mentioned just there brother support he had is this the last we'll see of it politically do you think it will be back on the stage sometime soon. he was always on the stage as an opposition figure and he was an opposition figure to mubarak on officially right now i think what he will do is also be on officially on the real opposition to the scuff

which which was the first this is they have a really big problem because this real opposition combined with what's happening on the ground is going to cause them a lot of problems later on because now everyone knows that they're not. you know the sabotage the transitional process completely and. i think you will be around calling them out on that well you know we've watched for the last year gyptian as your fellow countrymen ousted mubarak but are still finding it harder to bring about any real meaningful change how much determination is there among the people there to see that that still happens the change real change comes about. it's difficult to say when real change will happen but at the same time when for subverting protests and media people are still. are spreading their

brutality all over the country there's a there's a campaign called has a boon which means liars which shows how the military are lying actually about. everything they've said so far and their brutality against egyptians so that there is says been more dissent in one year against the military than mubarak has garnered over thirty years so there's a lot of work to be done for people to topple them but at the same time people are more people are working to do that your thoughts while eskander gyptian journalist a blogger on the line tonight from a cairo. coming up on the program military optimism outweighs sober intelligence the pentagon's top official says the u.s. is doing well with afghanistan's taliban. but a cia report that the campaign is binary stalemate we will also look at what america says is good for issues food for children find out with us how peace is classified as a vegetable in american schools where one child is very dangerously go away.

next though powerful unions in nigeria plan to resume talks with the government after five consecutive days of nationwide protests against skyrocketing fuel and food prices the move comes after the unions threaten to stop all crude natural gas production this sunday on the dollar so worry from the sahara reporters dot com says financial decisions made by the government drove people to the war. what is clear that this is not some kind of mass action or strikes didn't buy the union a little you know this is the nigerian people rising up years of dictatorship corruption and mismanagement of their resources and it was driving the fight against the government now it just happened to be that if you remove the subsidy gosselin it was the spark for the smarts movement. so you can because if

revolution nigeria has the best we can country a black people we were about to lose their leader and you know young people are calling this inner journey how my turn as opposed to the arab spring. their affairs the total shutdown of oil exports from nigeria could deal a major blow to the world's already wobbly economy yet a true of the pad african newswire told r.t. the west 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 all that's being important right now counting united states is coming from the african continent nigeria is the number one on our exports to the united states and poland is number two in fact. all of that is it's poor form africa and the states now seen them are on the basis that exporters are from the entire weekend so he was very much concerned about maintaining stability in nigeria for the simple fact that

it is heavily reliant upon the organs being imported from nigeria into the united states. so with the tensions in the middle east and oil fears dominating the world stage we invite you to keep up to date with the latest developments on our web site r.t. dot com running twenty four seventh's for you among other stories there tonight take a look at the departing dignitaries often plan to treat your two when they leave or it's nice when it be remembered isn't it and that's exactly what russia's former envoy to nato wants to do with the alliance headquarters but he failed to mention that the trees that he had in mind share the name with russia's newest nuclear interested to find out more and the natives would at our web site r.t. don't often hear about this the i phone craze that in china is probably proud pelted one of apple's flagship stores with a snow prompted the tech giant to shut down its operations in beijing they were not happy although the board r.t.

dot com. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta says the american campaign in afghanistan is suppressing taliban activity and heading in the right direction but that's in direct contradiction to the leaked cia report presented to the white house earlier which cast doubt on the optimistic rhetoric suggesting that the u.s. operation is indeed sunk into stalemate several top commanders of side a letter of dissent in response to the paper's saying it doesn't show an understanding of taliban tactics and is based on flawed evidence the cia report concludes the troop reinforcements have been ineffective because of corruption incompetent government and attacks by taliban fighters who are hiding out in neighboring pakistan now this may result in an even longer stay than by american troops beyond the planned

withdrawal of twenty fourteen according to cali all nuri is of the new world strategies coalition. it has been ten years that has not unified the country i said should have been it looks like there's no chance for the americans to see a government standing on its feet however this could prolong americans be on a stand for a quite a number of 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 the way that it is right now the fact is that there's a friction in the white house right now that some more say no basically the pentagon going to a treaty is the one that's calling up that same day no we should not really rush in fast as we can. just ahead few with popular disapproval of u.s.

war with growing abroad americans will soon have a chance to vote for change and. changing that matter i just don't think it's realistic and we don't move that quickly is not the way our system works in presidential elections you later this year we ask what policies americans are looking for whether they think they'll get. obesity has long been a major problem for many children across america and while many look for solutions the government stands accused of turning a blind eye to a trend that's now causing diabetes and heart disease but of course spells profit for those giant food corporations i think what important taste of what's on the menu in u.s. public schools. it's a super sized crisis impossible for america to disguise and insatiable love for food and big portions has served up a nation wide majority of overweight children 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 how problem which i a poor innocent girl will. feel will go nowhere given the allure of the. recent decision by the congress to send pizza was a vegetable you heard correctly a 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 from school menus congress has really shown who controls them and that's the big corporations and the big food corporations companies like con agra and she

wants these are the makers of the frozen pizza and they have huge financial interests in that obviously ok we're going to publish 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 millions currently 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 car. for my eyes 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 the damage. experts say threats to national security.

our short but quite tally unscientific poll found americans picking logic over the world of their lawmakers like pizza. it doesn't look good to me. to be certain it's. like this much beer it all. that's what the nutritional value of. whatever it is i don't think whatever they're feeding in public schools is terrible knowing that u.s. leaders have a hand in cooking up being greedy and can also leave a bad taste in many mouths in a port in iowa party new york are the stories making headlines now around the world tonight the. probably fell funny has become the first arab leader who openly support the idea of foreign military intervention in syria speaking to c.b.s.

news in june is he he said that arab states should send their military forces to wed ten months of bloodshed in the country it comes as a top opposition leader in syria's claim that the country's deputy army commander fled to turkey two weeks ago becoming the highest ranking officer to defend. the people of the bed after a cruise ship ran aground off its leaves northwest coast victims were two french tourists and a peruvian crew member over seventy others a still unaccounted for tonight most of the four thousand people on board the costa concordia were evacuated on lifeboats or swam ashore the vessel had a sound. which according to the captain wasn't marked on. gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked a police station in northwest pakistan it sparked a firefight that left at least three officers dead up to ten attackers dressed in police uniforms besieged the building and two suicide bombs were detonated during a battle no words claimed responsibility for the attack of the taliban at

a base in the neighboring region until a military operation in two thousand and nine. fewer wars abroad and more action on pressing issues at home they're among the most popular demands for americans of the presidential candidates laurie half mistakes the streets of new york asking whether it's change though that they can believe in. 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 and it will 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 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 pull the social fabric out from the folks that need it you can't do it i'm a 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 a leader that did 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. this is just a few minutes much because this is the tough times of austerity reflecting it's only so badly right now that even the mafia. i'm going to tighten their belts because report on the way after a very quick break and a recap of our headlines on r.t. .

wealthy british style. is not i'm not surprised by. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has

been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are on the day. it's. the headline up. top story in the years since president. accused of ignoring the real if you take it in favor of spreading a radical religious agenda. despite the great says it's not in the wake of losing its top credit rating. of the poor increasingly unfit to deal with its debt crisis.