into the alliance of moving forward. right that defense budgets have been steadily declining across the nato alliance its overall average trying to one point six percent last year with. their own goals of spending two percent of g.d.p. friends. this report. the organization was created to counter the soviet union with soviet union long gone it has to keep easy over the years nato has gone from being a defense organization to becoming an offensive force with a missions that go far beyond north america and europe they refer to those ambitions as out of area operations which have included of ghana's stand in libya now part of nato the very powerful part which includes the u.s. the u.k. and france pretty much see those out of area operations as the future of the organization but. suzi has to go global it doesn't sync well with all twenty eight members of the alliance who know they will have to foot the bill the lack of consensus showed when germany by far europe's strongest nation refused to provide resources for nato as lea

defense secretary leon panetta he said that if this trend does continue that the alliance could be in danger of moving into what he called a collective military irrelevant so there's the question of whether or not they too will actually still be relevant given the decrease in its capabilities and opinion also. echoed by the former u.s. defense secretary robert gates the problem that nato is facing when it comes to budget is no small matter if we just look back to more than a decade ago it. had a goal of having sixty thousand troops for instance available for battle in the so-called in so-called core however today we see that these battle groups range from about fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred clearly a huge difference from the initial intention of the number of troops that they had planned to have the cuts that we're seeing it. clearly is because of the year the euro zone crisis the priorities have clearly shifted and there's not much enthusiasm to increase spending in the military alliance some sort of equal burden sharing the united states share has increased from fifty perce

defense secretary robert gates he said that if this trend does continue to be alliance it could be in danger of moving into what he called a collective military relevance so there's the question of whether or not. still be relevant given the decrease in its capabilities and there are signals coming from the u.s. that they are not keen on continuing that kind of partnership with this sort of inequality and also looking at the u.s. his own budget costs as well as its shift in priority especially after we've heard that pivot to asia so they have their own concerns so they're questioning the kind of the new line of the kind of partnership that they have especially with european countries moving forward they're also facing some lack of enthusiasm from european members such as germany france very eager to contribute to any military operation so again. the nato secretary general has come out saying that the capability of nato will be impacted and there is a question of critics on the actual relevance of the alliance. there's not much enthusiasm from its members to contribute or to to give mo

reports now from brussels the rift between alliance members is growing. the nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen had actually come out and warned its partners against the danger of defense spending cuts as we've already seen especially from its european partners this opinion was also echoed by a u.s. defense secretary leon panetta he said that if this trend does continue to be alliance it could be in danger of moving into what he called a collective military irrelevance so there's the question of whether it will actually still be relevant given the decrease in its capabilities and opinion also . echoed by the former u.s. defense secretary robert gates the problem that nato is facing when it comes to budget is no small matter if we just look back to more than a decade ago if. you had a goal of having sixty thousand troops for instance available for battle in a so-called in so-called core however today we see that these battle groups range from about fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred clearly a huge difference from the initial intention of the n

percent of the total and as all of these tests are still a report from brussels the rift between alliance members is growing of a paying for a rather unclear future. the nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen had actually come out and warned its partners against the danger of more defense spending cuts as we've already seen especially from its european partners so this opinion was also echoed by the outgo a u.s. defense secretary he said that if this trend does continue to be alliance it could be in danger of moving into a military government so there's the question of whether nato will actually still be relevant given the decrease in its capabilities and opinion also. echoed by the former u.s. defense secretary robert gates and there are signals coming from the u.s. that they are not keen on continuing that kind of partnership with this sort of inequality and also looking at the u.s. his own budget costs as well as its shift in priority especially after we've heard that pivot to asia so they have their own concerns so they're questioning the kind of the new line of kind of partners

defense secretary leon panetta he said that if this trend does continue that the alliance could be in danger of moving into what he called a collective military irrelevance so there's the question of whether or not it will actually still be relevant given the decrease in its capabilities and opinion also . echoed by the former u.s. defense secretary robert gates the problem that nato is facing when it comes to budget is no small matter if we just look back to more than a decade ago if you. had a goal of having sixty thousand troops for instance available for battle in the so-called in so-called core however today we see that these battle groups range from about fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred clearly a huge difference from the initial intention of the number of troops that they had planned to have the cuts that we're seeing it. clearly it's because of the year the euro zone crisis the priorities have clearly shifted and there's not much enthusiasm to increase spending in the military alliance some sort of equal burden sharing the united states share has increased from fifty per

and he is welcome to come to talk to us at the alliance. i also am supportive of golf because i never got much of a chance to play it but i have enthusiasts in my family. thank you. >> next speaker please? >> good morning, supervisors. my name is asha monet. i would support this and ask you, and i am to support it also because in the area it is south park and there are residents over there. and the area if i am not mistaken is up and coming and it is getting better. so i would ask you to support it. thank you. >> thank you, sir. next speaker please? >> good morning supervisors my name is (inaudible). i would like to say once again, that on philosophical grounds i think that it is an obvious contradiction that the city was against plastic bags, cars on polk street, etc., again, seems to be in favor of issuing new liquor license one after another. now whatever happened to the idea of transferring a liquor license to this applicant? i don't know whether that was considered or even possible but i would like to bring that up for discussion here

. >> matt aggradey executive director of the san francisco parks alliance. we are the independent partner to the city for parks and open space. i am here to support this project. for centuries a core aspect of life is have a commons, a central place to gearkt, convene, share stories, to socialize. in modern times we filled that need through town squares and other spaces. san francisco is a city of neighborhoods, each deserving of its own commons. noe valley is one of the larger neighborhoods but didn't have its own commons until now. residents of noe valley town square lead by todd david has been pursuing this possibility for years. they're a fiscally partner of the parks alliance and working to pursue this vision and bring it to reality. the proposed noe valley town square is a creative and financially viable solution and approach to provide this vibrant neighborhood with its own commons. the parks alliance is happy to provide independent confirmation as you heard from dawn that this project does indeed meet the commission's criteria and priorities for acqu

>> we went to the community leadership alliance. the alliance for better district 6 and we also contacted the union square on business improvement district. >> when you say you contacted them what does that mean exactly? >> we have a letter of support. >> did you make a presentation? >> no. we spoke to them and met with them. they met with the owner. some of them did. the only one that has any res reservation was a concern from someone outside of the district. >> did you go to their meeting? did you meet with somebody? how did that conversation take place? >> the community leadership alliance is here tonight to speak on behalf of the restaurant. >> i was asking you. the application states you went to the meeting. >> i didn't read that question carefully. they were contacted. >> okay. that's what i was trying to clarify. >> they were contacted. >> so i guess what we are trying to clarify is contacting them and making a presentation and making your intentions known so the public can voice their concerns or people other than the leader

security alliance ever since he took office.he's trying to strengthen relations by proceeding with this plan. but many residents are skeptical. they're not convinced that relocating bases within okinawa will reduce their burden. abe needs their support if he's to strengthen the alliance. >>> emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence, the push for peace, the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok only on nhk world "newsline." >>> the bangkok international motor show currently taking place is just one example of thailand's booming economy. and it's a useful indicator of the positive economic outlook for this year. at the show, it's increasingly clear that more and more young drivers are willing to splash out on luxury vehicles. nhk world's dhra dhirakaosal has more. >> reporter: the ten-day event is one of the largest motor shows in southeast asia. 36 car makers from ten countries are ta

-japan alliance is the cornerstone of security and prosperity.anese] >> our focus here today is on our defense. i should note that the united states renounces to asia. our two nations are taken steps to economic and look ties -- including progress towards japan joining the trans-pacific partnership trading negotiations. [translating in japanese] >> strengthening our security alliance is also critical to achieving the goal of the u.s. rebalance enhancing prosperity and promoting peace and stability in the region. [japanese translation] >> the most obvious threat to stability in the region is the provocative behavior of north korea. [japanese translation] we agreed that continued closed -- close coordinationbetween u.s. and japanese forces would be essential to a moderate any further provocations, particularly any cooperation on missile defense. [japanese translation] >> today we made progress on plans to deploy its second 52 radar in japan, which will help protect both of our nations from the threat of north korean ballistic missiles. [japanese tr

and alliance security. in particular, we will continue to provide the extended deterrence offered by the u.s. nuclear umbrella, and will ensure that all of our capabilities remain available to the alliance. as secretary hagel announced, we are also taking actions to strengthen our missile defenses in order to keep ahead of north korea ballistic missile development. these include the deployment of 14 additional ground-based interceptors in alaska, and the plan deployment of a secretary tip d-e-2 radar to japan which will provide improved early warning tracking of any missile launched from north korea towards the united states or japan. in recent weeks we have also moved the guided missile destroyers, u.s.s. john s. mccain, and decatur to locations in the western pacific where they are poised to respond to any missile threats to our allies or our territory. last thursday we announced that we will be deploying a termal high altitude area defense system, lipids system to guam in the coming weeks as a precaution

i'm also the chair of the san francisco economic development alliance and this is amazing alliance of everyone you will hear about today and plus a few more organizations. we came to advocate together, to partner and make sure the city is gaining access to the businesses -- accesses to the resources that we have to provide. we welcome the opportunity to come back and present to you as the san francisco economic development alliance if that would be helpful for you, and finally i just included -- oh also it's small business week which you named which is great and we will have a happy hour mixer and we invite you to that and i included an overview of job creation and impact and fund businesses that i encourage to you take a look at and enjoy. thank you so much for this opportunity to present to. >>you thank you. >> any questions? >> do we have any commissioner questions or comments? commissioner rodriquez. >> yes. i know you're speaking about san francisco and you noted the other -- that you served many other communities but can you just mention for a minute the other cities that are no

. >> germany's green and social democrats renewed their alliance for the upcoming election, but can they win out chancellor merckel? >> well, italy has a new government. the prime minister has confirmed he's putting together what he believes will hopes will be a workable coalition. it is a big risk bringing together as it does oleds enemies in the form of the center left party and sivio berlusconi's center rights. the cabinet due to be sworn in on sunday morning. >> to get the latest from rome, joined from the tal jan capital by john hooper. john, this is a coalition that abrings together unlikely bedfellows. can it hold? can it sphere italy into calmer waters? >> in the short-term, i think it can. its life speck tansy -- expeck tansy will determine whether the two parties can work together. the first is the center-left democratic party. in the short term, they won't have any progress in bringing down one of their number. but in the longer term, there is a problem. this party is very disunited. it has been tearing itself to pieces in recent weeks, particularly over the presidential elect

>> i understand that that there is an alliance of some mechanism there. i don't know the specifics of how it would be implemented but i believe there is that has been widely speculated that north korea is an ally of china. >> well, here's the scenario that keeps me up at night. north koreans torpedoed a ship, a south korean ship. south koreans seem to have a high level of intolerance for this kind of activity tan they have in the past so there's a response from the south koreans, some kind of strike in north korea. there's then a response from north there is a response of more severity in the south. >> what happens next? >> what does worry me is the guns of august phenomenon. we stumbled into a world war because of a series of alliances based upon what could be considered in significant incidents. what is next? let's pause an attack on seoul or some large population in south korea. what happens? >> i share your concerns about the seriousness of a provocation that will lead to a list -- miscalculation or escalation that would go up and out pretty quickly.

contributions to the alliance are a means of buying influence. the fact that the us is paying seventy five percent of the expenses of nato is not so surprising considering what the us gets out of the us purchase you know the political loyalties of countries and other conditions are for a moment just one thing that particularly those in eastern europe after the collapse of the socialist war the us recall twelve new members of nato in the post cold war period all incorporated into nato within one decade from one thousand nine hundred two thousand. and these are countries that have been forced to send troops into an act of war zone the individual armed forces of each nato nation are going to become less and less national more and more international more and more sort of subservient to brussels and ultimately to washington a more designed for expeditionary the adventure of such as those in libya afghanistan in the indian ocean in the mediterranean sea in the balkans and so forth to protect their own lives. i mean there is how website for a lots more

for leaving the united states to bear the financial burden of keeping the alliance salute as he plans cuts jeopardize its effectiveness. or his politicians in europa and the u.s. are stepping up their game after accusing syria of using chemical weapons against rebels damascus calls of the charges of brazen wise reminiscent of the buildup to the invasion of iraq and weapons worse who are now asking the questions first off they say witness accounts from an alleged sarin gas attack do not match the actual effects of the guess the origins of soil samples said to be contaminated in such a struggle also obscure and they form a basis of the accusations but washington or london and paris who remain on daunted demanding action now to secure syria's chemical weapons stockpiles independent journalist robert heinous says says a chemical scare provides the perfect cover for more aid to rebel forces. they clearly cannot do colin powell stunt in the united nations security council like they did with iraq because everywhere you go for the last thing that this is my choice to stick a good piece of new

for leaving the united states to be there the financial burden of keeping the alliance afloat as defense cuts jeopardize its effectiveness. hawkish politicians in europe and the u.s. are stepping up their game after accusing syria of using chemical weapons against rebels damascus though calls the charges brazen lies are innocent of the build up to the invasion of iraq and its weapons experts who are now asking the questions first off they say witness accounts from an alleged sarin gas attack do not match the actual effects of the gas the origins of soil samples said to be contaminated in such a strong role so obscure and they formed the basis of the accusations of washington long and paris for undaunted demanding action now. syria's chemical weapon stockpiles for historian gerald horne this all sounds very similar it's deja vu all over again we will remember the disaster as an adventurous u.s. and british invasion of iraq in two thousand and three based on allegations weapons of mass destruction that proved to be faulty therefore we must ask some very difficult and searching questions fo

that can really generate which i would call it multiple the world alliance with russia alliance china but most importantly alliance with in latin america the bulb or an alternative to america's infrastructure green instead exclude explicitly united states we make a mention about it being a multi-polar world i mean the candidates themselves have polar views despite the problems in venezuela all being the same do you think capitalism deserves a chance to make a difference in venezuela. capitalism have a long chance of venezuela and failed miserably. what about the circumstances you think of the short election campaign mean that the two candidates were but perhaps picked on a bit of a russian and maybe they won't last long. i mean well in this in the case of lasting long i think the question is cop really is whether or not he will be in the kind of six years from now that's a good question because many say this is sort of a death a death sentence to run this election and those who come to lose what little on the other hand will be elected probably i think on the be elected for six years

alliance. there's not much of. its members to contribute or to to give more into a into the alliance moving forward well that was archies test for our seal reporting . and now to an update on the story developing about journalist matthew keyes now this to say he's pled not guilty on charges of conspiring with the hackers group anonymous by granting them access to the websites of his then former employer of the tribune company in order to attack the okies dispute these allegations saying that his involvement with the group was purely for professional reasons and he acted as an embedded journalist now he's pled not guilty a day after. dismissal from his current post as deputy social media media media editor at reuters now initially suspended the company decided to lackeys go citing reasons unrelated to the indictment among them his unofficial coverage of the boston marathon bombing now keyes was very vocal of the process posting the following on his personal tumblr saying quote we're readers also said say tweets that

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> we are strengthening this alliance.inister onodera, thank you. please proceed. thank you. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i had a very good discussion with secretary hagel today. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: with the outcome of the meeting of president obama and prime minister abbÉ in february secretary hagel and i confirmed this significance of leavening up our bilateral cooperative relationship to a next step. considering the situation of north korea, we continued our bilateral close cooperation, as well as trilateral close cooperation of japan, u.s. and south korea. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: on this sankaku islands i explain japan's explained japan's basic position that the islands are clearly and inherent part of the territory of japan in light of historical facts and based upon international law, and that japan is determined to protect its land, water and air. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: secretary hagel and i confirmed that article

their northern alliance knew how to deal with them. we helped them with some arms, we imbedded less than 500 special operations people in intelligence. and within three or four months, the northern alliance ad defeated the taliban. and then as i learned in my first meeting with northern alliance leaders some years ago , we told them, give us back the significant weapons we've given you, because we're america, we will make sure you're safe now, we'll make sure afghanistan is safe and peaceful now. so they turn in the weapons, they trusted the united states and now they find an administration that had reviously been offering to buy elegant international offices in qatar in the middle east, to give the taliban, who still want to kill americans and destroy our way of life, but to give them international standing by giving them a first-class office space in an elegant setting. classing them up in their efforts to kill americans and destroy our way of life. and what does the northern alliance get for their loyalty, for defeating the taliban

-china alliance?uch of an alliance with china but we sure have an important relationship there i think already, because of this bluster by the north koreans, the threatened missile launches, we have started to thicken up the antimissile defense. that cannot come as in news to the chinese, and they have to look at the time north koreans who started this dance, and there are many signs the chinese are getting kind of sick of north korea, like the rest of us. >> i meant to say relation, not alliance with china. last question. is your worry here that they may peddle one of their nuclear weapons to terrorists? >> you know, i don't rule anything out with the north koreans. they'd puddle their own mother. the problem is we don't know for sure, and that's why we have to be vigilant. but to me the real danger here is the danger of a kind of inadvertent incident. i don't think the north koreans want to go to war with the united states of america. they just want to look tough. but if they get up to the line, the

and groups with religious and political connections, like the conservative evangelical cornwall alliance what we call the green dragon has become one of the greatest threats to society and the church in our day. >> it's twisted view of the world elevates nature, above the needs of people. of even the poorest and the most helpless. with millions falling prey to its spiritual deceptions, the time is now to stand and resist. >> it's complete nan sense. can you go into scripture and find that god put adam in the garden to till it and to keep it. we ar the gardeners, we have not done a very good job. and i would dispute anything that is behind the green dragon. >> the cornwall alliance produced the resisting the green dragon series and sent it to churches around the country. >> the average poor household spends a much higher percentage of its budget on electricity and other energy sources than does the average middle class or wealthy household. that means that when we raise the price of energy, we're hurting the poor more than we hurt everybody else. >> dave hunter takes a view opposite the c

nicole mentioned the san francisco economic development alliance. renaissance is a partner so if you really plug into the services in the city and continuum gets larger. we partner with la cocina. we partner with working solutions to get access to capital. we became a trustee for the new keepa zip program so they are having a local program interest free loans that are crowd sourced. people can go on the website and donate $25 and once you have the full amount can you get the interest free loan and doesn't reflect on your considered which is good and a bad thing. >> >> so things that the city can do to improve the environment for women business owners i would say recognize it's job creation. i don't think people think enough of it like that and unemployment is really high on the national agenda and on the city's agenda and thinking of self employment as a remedy to unemployment i think is a really positive step. small businesses also need incentives. nicole mentioned the grant programs for opening brick and mortars. that was a great program. many wom

went to various political parties about three hundred sixty thousand euros went to the european alliance for freedom of which you are a member. so notaro yes this is our money it's our money i want to say that this is the least move things madame's as what is it that is an m.e.p. for because someone. to sell the pinnacle of the bunch of people what is happening is someone has to fly well as in this is sin by being as fast as it is it and quietly if i was trying to wanted from outside i would have less power when it comes to money that is granted from the european union i want to remind them that it is not of them money they don't create that money so don't come up with anything this is our money we give twenty children in numerous to the european union every year and they implemented measures this is destroying our economy and our social system so it is perfectly legitimate that there is a part of this money that comes that you can then on the fukushima of the electorate that we represent to this european party the european alliance for trade in but which is made up of parties of patrona

and especially deaths among women and children he's pleaded with the united states and with the alliance in general to stop targeting populated areas to stop killing innocent lives taking innocent lives basically. unfortunately these operations are still taking place and over the years it's believed that nearly twenty thousand civilians have lost their lives throughout the years of nato's presence in afghanistan and signal is why the united nations that every year the amount of women and children unfortunately still rise which is. difficult to believe since pretty much the most volatile part of this whole operation seems to be over nevertheless these figures we're still seeing them and just for example to give a couple of examples of what happened last year with these airstrikes for instance in february two thousand and twelve seven children or young adult killed by an airstrike then made two thousand and twelve six children two women from the same family member eight women and basically this this list really goes on and these are only examples which have been can. firmed by nato and the

in order to keep the alliance afloat he's accused the block of getting a free ride with washington barry responsibility for the majority of defense spending nato has already suffered cuts amounting to forty five billion dollars which equals germany's entire military budget the military alliances a popularity among european soldiers is also nosediving as their number in the blog has plummeted they too survivals are now depend almost entirely on u.s. spending which makes up almost seventy five percent of its budget hole god now head of the department of international and now a corporate of politics at the american university of paris says the gap between the u.s. in the e.u. is growing wider to pool resources because of the fact that the europeans are so cutting so drastically and by the way so far the american beginning to cut it in europe and europeans only spend about twenty one twenty five percent of nato's overall the first so that i use the pool resources but there's a lot of problems in that and you have to come to agreement as to which resources should be american and which resourc

the sierra club, black human rights council and golden gate alliance, san francisco green party, sanrancisco agricultural hemorrhage and green action for health and environmental justice. west of twin peaks council. cool valley improvement coalition. council for community housing organizations and take back our parks just some of those 41 organizations that have put in sweat here. we need to have the time to fix this went and i appreciate your giving you the time today and because of the schedule for historic preservation we're going to ask that you put you all of this about a month to three weeks out until kim's legislation can go through both planning and a historic legislation. thank you very much >> let me read a few more names. (reading names)

annual military exercises with south korea, including full eagle and key resolve to make sure the alliance is operationally ready to meet the security challenges that confront us in the region. as the president has made clear, there is a path open to you -- to north korea to peace and economic opportunity, but to get on the past, north korea must abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons and abide by international commitments. with that, let me return to the broader theme of today's discussion, which is how we are implementing the defense rebalance across the asia- pacific region. i would like to be providing strategic context. after a decade of necessary intense preoccupation on two wars of a particular kind in iraq in afghanistan, one that finished and one that will wind down to an enduring presence over the next two years, we are turning a strategic corner. we are turning our attention on the challenges and opportunities that will define our future. we know that many -- what many of these challenges are, continued turmoil in the middle east, in during threats like weapons of mass destructi