live from moscow you're watching r t welcome my name is kevin zero in our top story the eleven pm here the french finance minister insists it's not a catastrophe but the markets are indicating otherwise a slew of credit ratings downgrade says rock to europe to private in france and austria of the prized aaa grades and slashing the scores of seven other nations to hear leaders hit back at standard and poor's the agency behind the move calling the decision in comprehensible europe correspondent tess reseller 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 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 to 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 bailout is one of the reasons and of its role in the bailouts of greece of 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 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'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 we 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 than most likely be negative. a test for a seller there will reactions been pouring in from europe today with some expressing disbelief while others including german chancellor angela merkel warn of a long road ahead so a lot will endure the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris spoke to me earlier he says that this may spell the end he thinks of the so-called a cozy alliance the downgrading of france but not of germany obviously means

that the franco german axis is no longer a tenable proposition what we see in the euro zone 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 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 we will see this day this announcement that downgrading of france and as having been one of the decisive moments. italy the economy too big to fail is also being dropped two notches by a sympathy many there are adjusting of course to the reality of a stereotype of muslim countries notorious mafia two more involved in the cause a report on here a twenty one thirty g.m.t. . mob here now italy's number one bank as crisis bites the primary on monday. running italy he is a leg breaker with ties to goldman sachs goes back years already so he's a dick capper dicaprio you know he's of course he's asking the girl more and of course i know 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's says the three card monte you know is the global aspiration to be a gangster on a wall street make predatory loans extort money. thousands of to take the streets of the country's capital exactly one year since the popular uprising brought an end to president ben ali's calling for freedom of the media and more democratic values while chanting revolutionary slogans many believe little change since banally was ousted cheers you still play with crippling economic problems the country seen a wave of suicide protest attempts before people serve themselves alike in the space of just the stars week. reports many say the only real change since the revolution has been a 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 a new idea and islamist party which now firmly holds the majority of seats in the new parliament. political culture. their first experience. making the choice between. political programs it was hard. but it's a good campaign. that pushed people to choose either with muslims and non muslims. but western tourists need to have nothing to fear the party's leaders see beer in bikini's irregular steeples of tunisia is full of these hot spots here just yet recent events at the university one of the largest in the country show the tunisian ways are indeed changing there's a protest there up that right here at the amman that we're going to versity several

female students came in wearing which is the traditional islamic headdress which covers most of the face leaving just the eyes open they can ever say authorities have prohibited such headdress 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 there was threatened by those in the minority we held out. on principle we are against girls wearing head dress in their travels and during the exams it's a question of security and of trust and professor believe he acknowledged the student's 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 just 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 head to a rule by one of the representative parties and not i received 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 tunisia interesting sharia law states but many in the country are already saying that the worrying signs are here. are tunisia middle east expert tara galley told r.t. the new islamist leaders are indulging in emotional populism instead of real solutions to the country's workers. the way in which the you know i mean it's been operating the wind which is extremely unintelligent present and mark was the thing that

has been operating and the way in which he knew just as well as a minister of glowing 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 of photogrammetry which are social and economic problems i look at and needs to be implemented with the ball of the people who outreach aapl to the interest of fact 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 of the people anything else. receding along. the m.e. of catarrh has become the first arab leader to openly support the idea of military intervention in syria he says arab states should send in armed forces it follows

reports that syria's deputy army commander fled to turkey two weeks ago becoming the highest ranking officer therefore to defect so far let's discuss this with associate editor of inforce dot com patrick henningsen is on the line now bible banned from london patrick evening so why is the any of catarrh calling for military involvement by an arab army contingent of all peaceful means of solving this conflict now officially as far as he's concerned been exhausted. well i think let's look back at libya qatar played a crucial role in the destabilization of libya and actually provided one thousand five hundred one thousand six hundred troops on the ground during the libyan uprising ok taller also was the was the country that signed the deal back in february two thousand and eleven to market the crude oil from libya this is wayne advance of the toppling of gadhafi so i think with qatar they do have an alliance with nato they're aligned with the u.s. as you know toward doha hosts u.s.

centcom central command so there's definitely synergy there with whatever america's agenda is with regards to syria will be lockstep with the u.s. so part of what does this now mean then for all that arab league observers mission in the country does it have any future role in light of these calls for intervention way right now. well the thing about the arab league that's quite interesting is they are forming a observer group but the majority of the countries that represent the arab league or petro monarchy dictatorships so it is far as judging the democratic democratic process is and so forth i don't think the arab league really has a real democracy mandate in terms of what we understand freedom in the west it's a bit of a oxymoron really the oblique what's the state of the syrian army now we're hearing about this reported defection of the top syrian army general mentioned just now just one of the latest in

a line of military figures to switch sides why are we seeing defections at this stage ten months on from that initial revolt. well this is a really murky area this issue of distracting military defectors and so forth with regards to the united states and britain normally what they do when they're destabilizing the country was what we saw in iraq the main incentive was financial ok they shipped in a lot of dollars and they managed to buy off and this is admitted by dick cheney oh huge portion of the iraqis national guard revolutionary guard with regards to libya the promise that nato made to the national transitional council prospective leaders was that they'd be given a major seat at the table in a new libya so there's power broking going on behind the scenes and i salute lee wager that the same thing is happening with syria they've either been bought off financially or they've been promised a major role in

a new syrian regime one army defectors while claiming in a recent interview that syrian forces he didn't think anyway would be capable of withstanding any foreign intervention that with all the internal divisions that we're talking about could we see the syrian army remain side sometimes. well if you continue this destabilization and this is not an organic. color revolution we're witnessing in syria libya has sent fighters to join the free syrian army that's reported in the mainstream news ok the united states is net with this opposition group hillary clinton in geneva a few months ago. they're being financially supported of being materially supported by turkey ok this is a rogue militia paramilitary army comprised of foreign fighters ok these are not all syrians ok as we saw in libya kevan we had a lot of guys who are from other arab countries so who are involved in the libyan

rebel army that was backed by nato so this is this is a rigged game and i think syria if they keep. the pressure on like they did with libya. in other parts of the world we've seen the same thing eventual the regime will fall it's engineered the beginning and then it becomes a real crisis the us their allies are really wagering on this being the case so the regime will float as you said from the inside patrick having some friends who was dot com thank you thank you. still ahead for this military optimism outweighs sober intelligence the pentagon's top official says the u.s. is doing well in afghanistan and the taliban is losing ground while a cia report says the campaign is mired in a stalemate more of that ahead. the corrupt legacy of the ousted former president forces one of the main liberal candidates for a place in the pull out of the race. 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. from her reporter's dot com told us financial decisions made by the government drove people to the war. what is clear is that this is not some kind of mass action or strikes didn't by the unions or little you know this is the nigerian people rise in the begins years of dictatorship of corruption and mismanagement of their resources and yet it was driving the fight against the government now it just happened to be the removal of subsidy on gasoline it was the spark for the smarts movement to you soon so you could become a full revolution. there just as it first began country of black people we were about to lose it gives it a leader and in the gym people are calling this inner journey how my turn as

opposed to the arab spring for the earth is that the total shutdown of oil exports from nigeria could deal a major blow to the world's already wobbly economy the editor of the pilot for a kid news wire 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 the all that's being imported right now into the united states is coming from the african continent nigeria is the number one export of the united states and its number two in fact. all of that is. from africa in the united states now i'll see you tomorrow obviously exported from the entire hour we're going to some of us is very much concerned about maintaining stability in nigeria for the simple fact that it is so heavily reliant upon the all that's being imported from nigeria into the united states. but the tensions in the middle east and all fears dominating the

world stage we invite you to keep up to date with latest developments on our web site r.t. dot com lot of mere few include these stories as well not related but interesting nonetheless departing dignitaries often planning a tree or two when they leave office and that's what russia's former envoy to nato wanted to do with the alliance headquarters very nice then it appears he failed to mention the trees he had in mind share the name with russia's newest nuclear missile nature's reaction well website also the i phone craze turns ugly in china describing called crowds help one of apple's flagship stores there with eggs prompting the tech giant to shut down its operation in beijing got details on that too and r.t. dot com tonight. to egypt now where the former head of the un's nuclear watchdog mohammed or paradise

called off his bid for presidency he had been seen by many as one of the front running liberal candidates want to gyptian commentators says that el baradei sending a message that the old regime is 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 sky are mubarak's extension and that the regime is extremely corrupt as though 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 want 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. of a few minutes on our t.v. it's often deemed delicious but really regarded nutritious father why pete has been classified as a vegetable with american schools where one in three children are dangerously overweight a slice of the bizarre just ahead. but next u.s. defense secretary panetta says the american campaign in afghanistan is suppressing taliban activity and heading in the right direction that's a direct contradiction to the league cia report presented to the white house earlier which cast doubt on the optimistic rhetoric suggesting that the u.s. operation sunk into stalemate to date several top commanders have signed a letter of dissent in response to the paper 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 governance and attacks by taliban fighters who are hiding out in neighboring pakistan it may result in a longer stay by american troops beyond the planned withdrawal in twenty fourteen noori 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 is no chance for the americans to see your career government 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 cannot 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 or say no basically the pentagon

good military is the one calling no it's named no we should not really rush in fast as we can now some of the stories making headlines around the world fifty three reported dead over one hundred wounded in a bomb attack on shia pilgrims in southern iraq according to local officials a terrorist in police uniform approached a checkpoint and blew himself up in the middle of a passing crowd hundreds of thousands of shia believers of making their way to stride in the city of karbala to mark a religious festival scores of pilgrims are reportedly been killed in sectarian violence in the past few weeks despite security being stepped up. three now confirmed to have died after a cruise ship ran 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 to the lifeboats on the slam ashore the vessel hit a sand bank near the island of giglio which according to the captain was told maps

. gunmen and suicide bombers attacked a police station in northwest pakistan it sparked a fire fight the left at least three officers dead up to ten attackers dressed in police uniforms besieged the building and two suicide bomb detonated during the battle a detonator during the battle rather no one's claimed responsibility for the attack though the taliban had a base in the neighboring region until a military operation in two thousand and nine. but the city has long been a major problem for many children across america ribs 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 spells profit for the giant food corporations what is really important i tested out 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 for 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 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 swans 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. compromised 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. our short but quite tally unscientific poll found americans picking logic over the world of their lawmakers like pizza. he doesn't want it to mean. the two tables to the surface but that's not what it's like this much made of beer at all that's what. that's what the nutritional value of. tearing up whatever it is i don't buy whatever they're feeding in public schools is terrible knowing that u.s. leaders have a hand in cooking up these greedy and can also leave a bad taste in many melts in a port in iowa r.t. new york. coming up to spotlight host all gone off talks to one of the world's most legendary boxers who pulls no punches as he analyzes the future of the sport and

russia's heavyweight role in it before that over a couple of the stories for you here on r.t. from moscow after this very quick break it's now coming up to twenty seven minutes past eleven moscow tague.

thanks. to. jim gets a chance. to .

in russia. which brightened if you move the bounce song from files to impression it's. starts on t.v. dot com. he. says.

all hello i'm kevin i will be watching r t four moscow and all top stories defiance despite the downgrade from says it's not panicking in the wake of losing its top credit rating status started of course deems the eurozone increasingly unfit to deal with this debt crisis. a year since china's he was 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.