live from moscow you're watching r t well welcome to you my name is kevin now in our top story at ten pm here the french finance minister insists it's not a catastrophe but the markets are indicating otherwise a slew of credit rating downgrade says rock to europe depriving france and austria of their prized aaa grades and slashing with 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 but if you're a correspondent tess or a seller has 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 through the european central bank as well as supporter girl 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 been pouring in from europe today with some expressing disbelief while others including the german chancellor angela merkel one of a long road ahead john laughlin to the institute for the moccasin corporation in paris told me to. spell the end of the so-called murder cozy. the downgrading of france but not of germany obviously means that the franco german axis is no longer

a turn of all proposition what we see in the eurozone is that there's only one country calling the shots not two 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 you 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 italy the economy too big to fail is also being dropped two notches by s. and p. many there are adjusting to the reality of a stir it is we've been reporting for the last six months among them to the country's notorious one that theer more of that of the kaiser report coming your way at twenty one thirty g.m.t. . here now italy's number one bank as crisis bites the sky mary on monday. running italy here a leg breaker with ties the goldman sachs goes back years already so is a recap of the capital you know he's of course he is asking that got more or. and of course the north from the south to come out of north baby we've got a lot of people here you can find actually rape with your predatory loads these are

the three card monte you know is the global aspiration to be a gangster on a wall street make predatory loan to extort money. as is the chin is used to take to the streets of the country's capital exactly a year since the popular uprising put an end to president ben ali's rule they were calling for freedom of the media and more democratic values while chanting revolutionary slogans many believe little change since banally was ousted years you're still plagued by unemployment and crippling economic problems become true seen a wave of suicide protest attempts before people saying themselves alive in the space of just the last week a desire to reports now many say the only real change since the revolution has been a surge in 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. of the first experience. making the choice between political programs and towards hard. pushed people 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 university one of the largest in the country show the tunisian ways are indeed changing lives or protests that erupted right here we're going to versity several female students came in wearing what is the traditional islamic

head dress which covers most of the face leaving just the eyes open they're going to verses the authorities have prohibited such head dress from being worn on campus so the students went on strike saying their freedom was being oppressed by 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 and during the exams it's a question of security and of trust and professor believe me acknowledge 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 headdress serves to protect the woman from possible unwanted advances and activists for women's rights in the country believe the underlying political tendencies. by the strikes at the new beginning versity. well there were only one whereas any cop whatever else this thing's out on 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 born tunisian democracy because. you're worried that we may slim down to a new head to have a rule 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 this year and says that they're not going to turn tunisia interesting sharia law states but many in the country are already saying that the worrying signs are here. r t tunisia the middle east expert tariq ali told me that the new islam is leaders are indulging in emotional populism and set of real solutions to the country's woes. the way in which the young meats been operating that we in which this extremely unintelligent president mark was the

king has been operating and the way in which the new justice minister than the slow minister of going social and moral crozier 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 to help the boy of the people who outreach aapl addicted to the fact to be so-called moderate islamists are basically concentrating on moral censorship and what people should do in general is a sign of your own complete bankruptcy it's because they are not other people anything else so they are receding along these flights. will egypt was of course one of the countries have followed it is here in toppling its leader now the former head of the un's nuclear watchdog mohamed el baradei called off his bid for presidency there he had been seen by many as the front running liberal candidate

one of gyptian commentators says that el baradei is sending a message to the old regime has never really gone away. stance to to not run for presidency and withdrawing his candidacy is an extension to stand 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 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 there's a campaign called has a boon which means they're 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 still coming up with a program military optimism way sober intelligence the pentagon's top official says the u.s. is doing well right now in afghanistan and the taliban is losing ground while a cia report says the campaign is ma it is stalemate. and we're also looking to what america says is good nutritious food for children find out how pizzas classified as a vegetable in american schools where one in three children is dangerously overweight. 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 unions threaten to stop all crude natural gas production this sunday. reporters dot com says financial decisions made by the

government have driven people to the wall. but it's clear that this is not some kind of mass action or strikes didn't buy the union only well you know this is the nigerian people rising up years of dictatorship of corruption and mismanagement of their resources and it was driving the fight against the government now just happened to remove subsidy gosselin who was the spark what are you smart movement there used so you could become a revolution. that you as the best we can country a black people we were about to lose a leader and in a year people are calling this an urgent how maternal as opposed to the arab spring . all the affairs of the total shut down of oil exports from nigeria could deal a major blow to the world's already wobbling economy the editor of the pan-african news wire has told r.t.

that 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 the all i think important right now into the nine states is coming from the african nigeria is the number one export to the united states and poland is number two in fact. all of that is. from africa and the states now see them are on the basis that exporter 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 all that's being imported from nigeria into the united states. with the tensions of the middle east and all fears dominating the world stage it goes keep up to date on the latest developments on our website r.t. dot com there are some other stories you might be interested in departing dignitaries often like to plant a tree or two when they leave office and that's exactly what russia's former

boyhood later wanted to do with the alliance headquarters lovely idea he failed to mention though the trees he had had my share their day with rush's newest nuclear missile nato and so they did say that the reactions on our web site also and i phone craze that turned ugly in china disgruntled crowds pelting one of apple's flagship stores with the eggs prompting the tech giant now to shut down its operation in beijing which is in the delivery of a new photo was late they were happy the details at r.t. dot com. he was defense secretary leon panetta says the american campaign in afghanistan is suppressing taliban activity and is heading in the right direction but that's in direct contradiction to a league cia report presented to the white which cast doubt on the optimistic

rhetoric suggesting that the u.s. operation sunk into stalemate several top commanders indeed have signed a letter and dissent in response to that paper saying it doesn't show it understanding of taliban tactics it is based on the floor never that the cia report concludes that troop reinforcements have been ineffective because of corruption incompetent governance and attacks by taliban fighters who are hiding out in neighboring pakistan this may result in an even longer stay by american troops beyond the planned withdrawal of twenty fourteen according to cali alluring of the new world strategies coalition. it has been twenty years now unified the country i said should have been it looks like there's no chance with the americans to see your government's. standing on its feet however this could prolong americans be on a stone 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 function in the way that it is right now the fact is that there is 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 know its name to know we should not really rush in fast as we can be watching r t for bosco coming up in the program an expert entrepreneur means business we meet the woman who created the most profitable recruitment agency in russia and shares the secrets of success with this wealth from some of them anyway join in a few minutes in the latest of our part find a series. of the city's long but a major problem for many children across america and while many look for solutions the government's now standing accused of turning a blind eye to a trend that's causing diabetes and heart disease but of course it also spells profit for the giant food corporations what is more important tasted what's on the menu in u.s. public schools. 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 none of us want 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 her efforts 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 survey 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 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 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. mys 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 that experts say threats to national security see. 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. make sure to say to me sir it's. not like it's much made of beer at all. that's what the nutritional value or. 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 the ingredients can also leave

a bad taste in many mouths porton iowa r.t. new york. who took first world news stories in brief now and first off the emmy of cats. been coming for all funny it's become the first arab leader to openly support the idea of forward military intervention in syria speaking of c.b.s. news into news here you said the daragh state should send in military forces to end months of bloodshed in the country this comes as a top opposition leader and syria's claim that the country's deputy army commander fled to turkey two weeks ago becoming the highest ranking officer to defect so far . three people have been confirmed dead after a cruise ship run aground off italy's northwest coast the victims were two french tourists and a peruvian crew member over seventy others are still unaccounted for most of the four thousand people on board the costa concordia were evacuated on lifeboats source from ashore the vessel here to sound near the island of giglio which according to the care. it wasn't marked on maps. and suicide bombers have attacked

a police station in northwest pakistan sparking a firefight that's left at least three officers dead up to ten attackers dressed in police uniforms besieged the building and two suicide bombs were detonated during the battle no one's claimed responsibility for the attack that the taliban did have a base in the neighboring region into the middle trop aeration in two thousand and nine. featured more trailblazers among russia's expert on super nurses they share some of the stories of success with us. and in russia for a job seekers have often been preferred over local talent terry linda burke created a staff well recruitment agency took many of the country's homegrown ungifted candidates out of the shadows and she says she and they have never regretted it. i

am really fortunate that i've had a really good run with our business in russia i started sefl in two thousand and that was still during a time when it was a little bit of a crisis here after the ninety eight financial crisis and i think the key to being successful one of them a very we had an excellent chief accountant who really helped us set up the whole financial side of this business and that to me for going to set up any company in russia you have to have a good finance team we have one competitor here who set up their business right at the beginning of the actually right before the crisis so they came in about two thousand and seven and they really i mean they did not survive i mean they're here but they've had to downscale their offices like a skeleton crew and that's because they i mean some of the things that they did you know they did wrong they had management that was not successful they had huge huge expenses right now i mean we're still in an upswing at staffel which means that recruitment is moving along nicely we just need to get through the election period

and then things will probably go very smoothly with any business for it to be successful you've got to constantly be on top of it and constantly motivate everyone to just keep going if you want to succeed no matter what the market environment is i think there's a lot of opportunities here you have to have the you have to have the drive to do that you know and that's what i think you know naturally in the world russia as well as anywhere else sometimes there's a fear of putting that drive into place or there's there are some you know barriers maybe but but anything can be done here if you just put your mind to it i mean look at me i open my company and it's you know one of the strongest recruiting firms in russia and who was i you know i don't have the big education or the big experience but i have the drive and i had the will and i had a love of what i did and i wanted to succeed and i just pushed myself and i worked extremely hard day and night nonstop and i loved every single minute of it so that's the key when i come on. so really heavily engaged in sports here in russia

so i had to take wanda i play broom i will go bowling i play softball so a lot of different sports i'm involved with a metal really helps the first of all networking and the focus that a lot of it brings is really great like the type i know for instance for me it takes away a lot of the stress that i may have sometimes on different things and i can bring it in here and just be much more focused and i am i'm always accomplishing it i think my family is you know it's extremely important to me and that's one of the things that has kept me here obviously is we're here they're very happy here and now i get a lot of support from them in terms of i mean everything i do it's for them really you know the love of my life my little boys are just incredible and i really have a great family and very close and that's why you do everything i think you know in life so it's very positive place to be and that makes me happy i think it makes a lot of people have. worked out for us but coming up in the next half hour we've

got a special report about journalists caught in the crossfire of the war in iraq reports on here in about five minutes time off your recap of the major news stories this saturday night is coming up no two exactly twenty six minutes past moscow time.

if they shoot something inappropriate for public they can easily be. casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has. been a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what does their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and it's clear what happens with such witnesses i got on my site. many checks to. hirsch's shooting.

good. news is. when an uncomfortable question leads to a great accusation the world sues moore's you know fog the president who isn't supposed to hide anything. or it's someone asking him why do you make a secret of it when the powers to be suppress the voice of those who think different culture when you go experiencing very serious problems off of the

saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and three but the book that was when the problems began piling up. interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were all from beason up and humiliated in public and one of the attempt to protect property puts life in real danger is that we have been deprived of the only means of earning a living and i have gone to the regionals of all the papers. the at the little ice the ownership rights on the basis of companies freedom becomes just a stage prop. the

headlines from r.t. mosco tonight defiance despite the downgrade france says it's not panicking in the wake of losing its top credit rating status as standard and poor's deems the eurozone increasingly unfit to deal with this debt crisis. a year since china's he is president ben ali was ousted the new islamist leaders are accused of ignoring the real issues of poverty and unemployment in favor of spreading a radical religious agenda. and riots in nigeria bring the situation to boiling point sparking fears of a violent arabs.