leaders following the deal pushed through by athens we get reaction on this development shortly here on r.t. . international news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. with the twenty four hours a day syria's exiled opposition has once again rejected a call for dialogue with the assad regime saying the crisis requires a military solution and diplomatic appeal for talks this time came from the u.n. arab envoy kofi annan who's set to arrive in damascus this weekend and while the battle on the ground continues the war has moved on line and salties were reports. i think. once purely a day of prayer friday has become one of the finds cross the arab spring countries in syria this new tradition has gone even further with activists online giving every friday its own very special name through flicked the opinion of the street or of the syrian people and to also send a message to the external world about the syrian situation or the opinions of same people but the days of names like dignity and honor from last march have come to an end with calls to arm the rebels and kill the president bec

lisbon is being compared to a crisis-hit athens.eople are saying portugal might be the next greece. is that the driver is feeling the pinch. he started work at 4:00 a.m., and six hours on the job, he has only had two customers. in his 30-year career, he has never known things to be this bad, and he is not the only one who is suffering. >> i work all day, and it is not worth it. i earn seven euros a day, and at the same time, everything is getting more expensive. >> petrol, in particular, takes almost all my profits. >> the portuguese are fed up with being both pete and blamed for the eurozone's problems -- pete and blamed. they are well aware of their country's economy. the country's record unemployment rate is just one example of that. marques is torn between edgar and dejection. >> europe is a good idea, but where do we stand now? portugal is doing badly. spain, too. greece's a disaster. where is it going to lead? i do not know. >> there's evidence both for and against the theory that portugal is heading in the same direction as g

just briefly do you think that athens successfully convinced those investors to take part in this is a sign of some sort of optimism for the future or they doing it on the pressure. this certainly doing it on the pressure there was a lot of arm twisting but at the end of the day would have been worse for them if he if they was a calamitous the fall when they got absolutely nothing there was a lot of pressure from governments central banks and it was in their own interest to keep some stability in the international financial system itself. i just briefly yesterday i noticed that market reaction hasn't been exactly enthusiastic i've been is i'm sure you read much into that. i read certain things it's worry if you look at the periphery euro bond markets. are doing a lot better so that is positive a lot of the other markets today taking some sort of gains that we've seen across the week it's a bit of you know foreign rebuying now sell on the fact that there are still some question marks in greece we don't know whether we will be heading to shore now to talk alexion process which could be

do you agree with the way the government's been handling the so far there in athens are until it going yes but i think that the greek government and the group political elite has lost the most crucial point of the grace that is not only how cool and sober the peace girl is the difficulties of the quick over the hood i think we go because i brought us into the most crucial question will power and placements will come in threes congress voted it will govern greece and the forces lugar not only the greek government ok we will do the copilot this whole the correct answer our service questions they may they may be amended or split the measures or they both have ulcers of the most simple but i think what the kids of the said probably get that by the simple and the same pair question of how to best answer do you agree that the bailout plan which looks as if it's going to be excepted now do you think that really is the answer to greece and that investment can build and as a result of that in injection of money i think the do it wrong yes but they think that this has a bed and i was where i thi

in the long run you're going to see what's happening right now athens and burning people setting fires you know that does not exactly bode well for tourists unless i know people come to greece to see ruins but they want to see the ruins on talk of the acropolis and not in downtown athens. meanwhile public anger over unemployment in spain is so intense that it's even caused the official commemoration of the two thousand and four madrid train bombings to be postponed by a day all because of nationwide rallies called by the country's two biggest trade you switch of drawn thousands on to the streets and they're outraged over reforms that make it easier and cheaper for companies to fire workers the country's unemployment rate is currently soaring with more than one in five spaniards are. and in other world news here on r t a suicide bomber in northwest pakistan has attacked a funeral being attended by an anti taliban politician at least thirteen mourners have been killed and thirty others wounded the politician did escape unhurt however the secular leaning our army national party holds powe

athens time. and then tomorrow 3:00 p.m. athens time, 8:00 a.m.ew york time, there's going to be a conference call with the euro group finance ministers where we presume they will make a decision about whether or not they're going to trigger the credit default swaps. one piece of news out in the last hour, the ministry of finance, the public workers there, their pension fund has refused to go along with the debt deal. they will not tender even though it's the ministry of finance that's actually working on this deal. that's either tragic or ironic, both of which are greek words. >> i don't want to sound cute, but are there any people that you've spoken to, michelle, out there who perhaps secretly or not so secretly hoping that maybe greece just defaults anyway? just gets it over and done with? >> reporter: it brings on a hard default, there are economists who say that while it would be exceedingly painful in the short-term that ultimately it would be beneficial in the long-term for the simple reason that greece needs real debt relief. and think abo

i am joined from athens by the president of the athens chamber of commerce. can i ask you first of all if you get sort of a feeling of a collective sense of relief at the deal that has been done? >> this is, as you said, it is a deal, but i did not think this is a time for celebration. there is a weight that has been lifted off the crisis that we have been living through and the last two or two and a half years. it is a relief from what the society has had to deal with the last few years. >> but still having to square this impossible circle of cutbacks, combined with the need to stem this dreadful recession. >> this is said exactly the case, and this is the reason why this second rescue package recently passed both by greek parliament and ratified from the finance ministers' meeting, we need to enhance growth measures into this bad deal because the target that has been set, according to the rescue package, essentially speak for 129% debt against the gdp by the year 2020, when in 2009, we were down to 118 percent. you can imagine austerity upon austerity simpl

the country's pressing athens to secure its borders. fails, a return to border controls should be a possibility, since germany. >> of the country fails to fulfill its obligations under the agreement, then there has to be the option of reintroducing border controls. >> but before resorting to that, the interior ministers say they want to help greece deckle its persistent migration and asylum issues. -- to tackle its issues. >> our dw correspondent has been following the interior minister's meetings and joins us from brussels. nina, what more can greece due to police the border? >> it is true that greece has had problems controlling its borders for years now. it is not a new phenomenon. greece has always blamed it on the turkish authorities. greece says that turkey simply lets in it to many people. so it cannot do anything. now the europeans are saying, ok, you need to sit down and discuss with your turkish counterparts in the work more closely together so that you are in fact doing more. because it is not about money. it is about getting

here's how they're looking now with athens leading the pack up by .5%. paris cac and ftse basically hanging in there. they're on the flat line. the other news, the u.s. job numbers are quite rosie. we'll have to wait to see for a few hours. anyway, in terms of greece, things have certainly turned sunnier in the global equity markets. monday and tuesday were negative sessions. can this new positive move be sustained? let's get some perspective from will heddin, a sales trader. will, presumably a sigh of relief all around there? >> yes. good morning. a sigh of relief. we did mention we had some rough days. we still are negative for the week for most european indices. i think as what happens from the isde happens as we expect it to, they do call this an orderly default, i think we've avoided a bigger catastrophe for the short term and worries that this would have caused overall for the debt market. >> what do you think is the broader market view of this? is this something that had to happen that was regarded as an inevitability? at least the eu could pull t

let me first get your take on athens. do you see the economic conditions being desperate, on the ground? how does it feel in greece? >> it does. there are about 20,000 people who are now homeless in the streets of athens. and you see a rise in the demonstrations every day. unemployment rate is 22%, and rising, almost 50% among the young. the recession is becoming a depression as the face of economic activity is there. and insolvent even after the psi. they need to restructure again. greece will be the first country to exit the eurozone. not this year, but maybe later next year. in order to restore growth, it can only return to the domestic currency. >> portugal exits and italy, i don't think italy is ever going to exit the euro, we spoke with prime minister mario monte a couple of weeks ago and he's adamant that italy is not going anywhere. >> any of them might require a currency restructuring. and any commission of them, eventually some of them might exit. restructuring after greece, i think portugal is going to require

in athens? what's the reaction? >> reporter: you know, there's two mainstream newspapers that have been covering this here in athens and talking about the psi the last couple of days. from a general perfespective in the population here it's not been on the radar. it doesn't affect their day-to-day lives at least for now. they're focusing on dealing with what we already heard about the further austerity measures. certainly on the ground it's not really that big an issue. as you said, what the focus now is, of course, the meetings we have going on later today and just whether the clauses will be implemented. as you said, if they are, then the participation rate jumps to over 95%. the first look or the initial take on that, 83% overall on the psi debt will not be enough so it does make the cac implementation highly likely. we know that the imf have looked at the participation rate or estimated participation rate of 95% in order to do their debt sustainability access. credit suisse had a good analys

by the greeks i was talking to the federation police chief the police protesting here in central athens they're usually on the other side of the barricades and he was telling me that some of his members of facing a terribly bleak future not even able to put their meals on the table and he didn't said the police federation wouldn't rule out even perhaps withdrawing some of its services essentially a partial strike from the police this is the strength of feeling here and they want to try and send the message that these economic measures must not come without consideration for the human cost here. and yesterday anger has been resonating across the e.u. even blocks political engine room brussels hundreds of union members gathered in the city center in paris thousands took to the streets in support of all europeans affected by the painful budget cuts their mass attack in portugal and spain with thousands of students protesting against reduced education spending and where and professor of constitutional law george car trunk the us says what's happening on the streets of europe shows greece ca

left but a year off was virtually unknown before the two thousand and four athens summer games it's agood day i guess danny just six months to storm to the olympic summits and four years later in beijing he did it again you know. everyone already treated me more seriously at the beijing olympics so naturally i had to be more inventive i had to use my head and brain to find a way to outwit my rivals it's very difficult to beat an opponent who knew to like a back of the hand. but zero began his international career in the fifty five category when he took the highest honor in athens but he moved up the weight to the sixty kilos class cory's beijing triumph the next target working flat out to reach the top of the podium in the sixty six k. class at the london summer games. i do my best to win a fertile and big medal in order not to have regrets that i missed my chance of course it's going to be harder this time because i'm older and my health got worse my father also wants me to participate in london so i want to please my parents to mum let's bother i love dean is known throughout they d

among the greeks who call themselves captives of the economic crisis argue some garden reports from athens. the greek parliament you can see behind me is no stranger to protests and indeed there have been protests throughout the day and throughout greece doctors have staged walkouts as have many public sector workers local councils were occupied across greece with the message really these cuts in pay these cuts in pensions are simply going too far we're talking about a twenty two percent cartoon that wages across the board in the minimum wage and unions have turned out very very concerned over that protesting outside the parliament and outside the european commission's building here a lot of flak being directed at perceived interference from brussels from other eurozone capitals in what is perceived to be a greek problem that should be sorted out by greeks i was talking to a federation police chief the police protesting here in central athens they're usually on the other side of the barricades and he was telling me that some of his members are facing a terribly bleak future not even able t

it's been a week of sharp ups and downs for the greek economy athens managed to talk private creditors into accepting a crucial deal that's considered the biggest write down in history the agreement seemed to loosen the noose around athens neck for reducing the debt burden by another one hundred billion euros e.u. leaders praised the deal to the skies claiming a solution to the crisis had at last been found but just hours later the euro crisis suffered. just slap in the face by the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch declared greece and to fool the markets back the sentiment by showing no signs of optimism anderson so your professor from the state university is resolutes in his assessment which is difficult whatever you settle with your creditor for less than what you. have agreed to do it i don't care how systematic it is or how complicated these debt swaps are we are dealing with it we'll live by default everybody knows that just because sir cosey claims that it isn't a default means absolutely nothing he's a politician don't believe you also have to deal with the fact that f

live from athens good to see you today as i was saying earlier greece is due to receive its first batch of the second bailout and we're talking thirty five point five billion euros many are saying the money is coming in like water would come into a bucket with a hole in it how long can this money last. the plan is that it should last this until about the end of two thousand and fourteen and out of this particular loan that we're getting this month twenty five billion of it is going to go to recapitalize banks which we hope will have a positive effect on the economy so they can start being credit can flow and so economic activity can improve and hopefully so can growth and employment five billion is to pay off a loan that we had which is in the form of a bomb that was worth fifteen billion but after the here we only need to pay five billion which helps significantly and of course there is another five billion in interest loans that we have to pay as well but certainly greece can expect to rely on bailout money for ever how does the country plan that actually generate growth and finally g

rule recent showing a second day of strikes across europe as a walkouts paralyzed transport from athens to rome there are some of the biggest public demonstrations in recent history protesting against desperate government cuts to budgets designed to appease international paymasters and the measures are taking their toll and saudis time bottom reports the austerity sentiment is reverberating all across europe. in belgium protests saying austerity cuts have gone too far in cities all across france and especially big demonstration in paris with the same message thousands of students on the streets in spain wanting to reverse cuts in education spending there and huge demonstrations in portugal spain and portugal people they're really feeling the pinch here as their governments try to balance budgets and cut spending that's left them it really exposed to this debt crisis and no more so than here in greece in the parliament behind me the lawmakers have once again sat late into the night having to really make savage cuts to their spending all across the sectors of the economy twenty two percen

i wish we had more time for this attorney a professor of constitutional law joining us live from athens thank you thank you very much. this is r.t. now thousands of construction workers in the u.k. have discovered they were placed on a secret employment blacklist which enjoyed police support the illegal files deemed the victims many of whom had complained of safety standards to left wing and troublesome and later their sackings and made reemployment nearly impossible now these details and i want to explore a smith. from working for speaking the truth these trade unionists and whistleblowers all fighting back after years of wondering why they couldn't get a job he's skilled engineers now know their names were on an illegal blacklist. in two thousand and four former union organizer steve hadley was mysteriously sacked and for the next four years he wanted why he couldn't get another full time job then a friend told him about a blacklist held by a private company and accessed by some of the u.k.'s biggest construction firms sure enough he uncovered a sixteen page file on himself. to approa

athens may have hoped to have the state the gallows but it seems the noose may have been tightened further around its neck that's after the moody's credit rating agency declared greece in the fourth of its debt it comes in response to the country carving out a deal with private creditors that will write off over one hundred billion euros moody's reaction runs counter to that of e.u. leaders who held the agreement to be the end of greece's economic woes and whether another rating group fitch slammed the euro kratz efforts and showed no mercy to the struggling greek economy quite downgrading athens to restricted default christophe's and try lists and athens based journalist told me anything he believes the bailout plan will collapse and the government finally starts to look into the core issue of attracting investment into the country. i think that the greek government. clearly shows logs the market. is that this is not of all the whole. of the fiscal because these are the group. because of the absolute of the most crucial question. is. if they really loud loud it's not right vestment spirit

also optimism about the greek debt write down proves premature as athens suffers a fresh downgrade from fitch ratings agency with moody's going even further and declaring greece and default. going to be one of my concerns were around you run is he wanted to. accuse of stoking fear or to get the american public in the mood for a new war a military strike so to ron are firmly back on the table. it is eleven am in the russian capital thank you for watching r t joshing the man having the international efforts to and violence in syria wanted immediate cease fire involving both rebels and government forces and open talks the call comes from the chief of the arab league and the u.n. arab. who were meeting ahead of allan's mission to damascus but also spoke out against any move toward sleepiest all foreign intervention but as maria financial reports from syria their forces out work to hold the opposite view. i heard of his visit to syria kofi annan who's traveling to the country as the joint u. and arab league envoy has announced that his mission's main goal will be to end the violence by persu

also optimism about the greek debt write down proves premature as athens suffers a fresh downgrade from fitch ratings agency with moody's going even further declaring greece in default also. may be might turn. around the world should be accused of stoking fear to get the american public in the mood for a new war military strikes on iran are firmly back on the table. parties bring me worldwide news with me rory suchet live in moscow welcome to the program the u.n. arab envoy kofi annan is holding talks with syria's president he wants to negotiate an immediate cease fire involving both the rebels and government forces and a round of open talks and the efforts though have been back by the chief of the arab league before his trip to damascus both men spoke out against any move towards a libya style foreign military intervention that maria financial reports from syria seem to be forces at work who hold the opposite view. the joint u. and arab league envoy has announced that his mission's main goal will be to end the violence by persuading the warring sides to speak to each other he's also sa

slammed the euro kratz efforts and showed no mercy to the struggling greek economy by downgrading athens to restricted default christophe's from travis in athens placed journalist told me earlier that he believes the bailout plan will collapse unless a government finally starts to look into the core issue of attracting investment into the country. and the group. has laws. because these are the group. i think because of the lawsuit that was going to school. the rest of us will come as congress voted to do it if. it's not. first moves then we will call absolutely still ahead this hour next kaiser and stacy herbert looked back a decade to reveal the scheme which helped greece join the euro zone by moscow its massive debt and how it's orchestrated packed a tidy profit. called in secret greece alone shows two centers as client unravels on the day the two thousand and one deal was struck the government of greece owed the bank about six hundred million euros more than that two point eight billion euros of power rode by then the price of the transaction a derivative that disguised the loan and t

right tom thanks very much indeed for bringing us this update on barc reporting there from athens. lawyer and professor of constitutional law george says what's happening on the streets of europe shows greece can no longer be singled out. again for the good people of the people of this of. the expansion or for that is that of good people shows clearly that the goose is not an exception of the it is not the great basin of europe is in a way the mirror of the future for those of europe if the european model is used to this experience of a newly but i mean it's just an experiment or the most it makes the game measures of the big ones of the markets problem is that the reaction of the people because look at the first leave it to of the political left in the opposition is fragmented . minus the two. but i hope for the future because this movement of the people from below i'm sure that we are good in the political foreground new political powers. now these latest protests to place on the eve of the e.u. summit starting later today and have the meeting the e.u. commission president jose m

dot com athens may have hoped to have discreetly gallows but it seems the noose may have been tightened further around its neck. that's part of the movie's credit rating agency declared greece in default of its debt it comes in response to the country carving out a deal with private creditors that will write off over one hundred billion euros moody's reaction runs counter to battered e.u. leaders who held agreement to be the end of greece's economic woes however another rating group fitch slammed the year kratz efforts and showed no mercy to the struggling greek economy by downgrading athens to restricted different christophe's detritus and athens based journalist told me earlier that he believes the bailout plan will collapse unless the government finally starts to look into the core issue of attracting investment into the country i think that the greek government and the group would clearly shows as the model. that this lot of all these folks who saw the piece go if you go this other group who i think we call because people are sort of the most crucial question how investments will co

first of all, tell us why you're trying to counter this souring dialogue between brussels and athens?ncerned are you about the souring relations even though greece has gotten its second bailout? >> we or very concerned. we believe that greece has an opportunity to really change the business and economic model that has been in effect for 30 years. we or working very hard to promote another greece and to implement change, and that's why we're trying to pass an image of another greece, a greece that believes in europe, a greece that believes in reform, a greece that wants to be democratic, that believes in private initiative. that's the sort of greece we're dreaming about. that's the greece we're fighting for. also we're trying to promote all the sacrifice that is have already been made. a lot of emphasis has been put on what greece has not met in terms of objectives. we believe that not enough has been -- not enough attention has been paid on what greece has achieved. this is the most ambitious -- what we've done up to now in the last two years is the most auspicious program in the last

athens may have hoped it had escaped the gallows but it seems the news may have been tightened around its neck and that's after the images credit ratings agency declared greece in default on its stead that comes in response to the country carving out a deal with private creditors that will write off over one hundred billion euros mooches reaction runs counter to that of the e.u. leaders it helps the agreement to be the end of greece's economic buzz how about another rating group stage slams the euro class effort sense showed no mercy to the struggling greek economy by downgrading athens to restrictor default and christos are trying to it's an athens based journalist believes the bailout plan will collapse unless the government finally starts to look into the. our tracking investment into the country. i think that the greek government a big group will go a little close to the one. that is not the only problem who could be sure that these go if the difficulties of the group who are you going to believe because now there are simply watching where you are already invested which is very go

>> significant news today in athens, maria. we've learned from announcements from bond holders that at least 50%, more than 50% have said they are going to agree to the deal. the 50% is a key level for the possible imposition by the greek government of what's known as cacs. if the greek government imposes them, it will force the deal on a large number of bond holders. that means the deal is more likely to happen. it also means that they're likely to trigger credit default swaps. there's still a lot of things that could go go wrong. we don't know if we'll get too many no-votes. there's lots of permutations here. the 50% level was crossed today. we wait now to see what happens 3:00 tomorrow, about whether or not this deal is finally successful. >> so michelle, give us a sense of what happens next. you've got the big payment due march 20th. so what happens next? >> if this deal is successful, that march 20th payment, which right now is $14.5 billion, gets reduced by half, right? to 7. -- roughly $7 billion. because they're imposin

just a few more hours to sign up for a swap which will allow athens to get a new bailout and stay inurope and. >> no senior official in syria yet. the deputy oil minister resigned and joined the rebels. >> on international women's day, germany finds itself close to the bottom in the class in europe when it comes to women bosses. for change? ♪ >> it is a decisive day for greece. private investors have until this evening to decide whether not it will accept a massive write-down of grease's debt. >> they are being asked to exchange their greek bonds for new ones. the swap would effectively erased nearly a third of what greece goes -- owes. >> the chances still looked uncertain as recently as wednesday, but newspapers expressed opposite -- optimism thursday. private investors must decide today to accept the terms of a complex deal that will cut more than 100 billion euros off greece's debt. major players have already agreed. on wednesday, eu leaders met in luxembourg. they projected an assurance that the deal would go through. >> i am very confident with this. >> the great stock-market a

the finance ministry in athens put participation and almost 86%. by signing up for the deal, private investigators agree to forgo more than half the value of their holng it is a watershed moment in dealing with the eurozone debt is, according to the imf had a christine lagarde. >> i bie tres a way out if everyone does but they need to do. >> although their financial future remains far from ry, thsuess of a bond swap allows that tends to receive a second bailout from the eu and the imf wth 130 million euro. without that money, greece could have defaulted by the end of the month. >> the greek government is breathing a sigh of relief, but what do ordinary citizens think? th ith question i put earlier to our province correspondent, natalie. >> they definitely wco the deal. they understand it is one-third of their debt being written off, essentially. they'reereaulf what will be asked in exchange. they are pounded by two years of very harsh austerity. th he sn ei wages plummeted and austerity grow. the biggest question for them is will the european lde i

this as reports athens has secured more than 50% of participation ahead of this evening's deadline. >>> japan's current account swings to a record deficit. the country is relying on pricey crude imports to make up for its nuclear power shortfall. >> all eyes on mario draghi. the ecb president expected to say he's done enough to help europe's ailing economies after pumping ltro money in a the financial system. >>> and we'll speak to the ceo of standard bank first on cnbc as africa's biggest lender by assets sees four-year profits rise by 23%. that's coming up in 30 minutes. >>> a very good morning. you are watching cnbc's "worldwide exchange" with christine tan. i'm ross westgate. jackie will join us later from the united states. greece has seen a strong take-up of its bond swap offer. according to a greek government official speaking to reuters, the pace has been pretty good and the percentage of bondholders agreeing is what they describe as very high. private bondholders have until 2100 cet tonight to sign up for the debt swap that aims to wipe around 75% of the value of their holdin

and optimism about the greek debt write down proves premature as athens suffers a fresh downgrade from free trade in his agency with moody's going even further and declaring greece in default. and that the city next we explore the luxury of scholars and plastic surgery spots right here in the russian capital moscow is not. the wrinkles. is at least one reason for vanity but what about the other people obsessive beauty and passive surgery various sniffing type procedures and non-surgical things are gaining more and more popularity every year in russia and around the world the off battle against nature part gray hair. i give up. the world of the plastic fantastic botox face lifts chemical peels in the competitive world today everyone wants to look younger and more attractive while some men and women are creams good diets and lots of exercise others go under the knife the aim of turning back time. to see the huge recently with age defying mine a major treatments and with increased media attention abusing perfection celebrities and those alike are turning for plastic surgery more and more

the bbc's europe editor gavin hewitt has more details from athens. >> we won't get the precise figures until early tomorrow morning, but all the estimations are that between 80, 85, even 90% of private investors have agreed to take steep losses on their holdings of greek debt. what does this mean? well, for the first time since this whole crisis in greece started, tonight greece's debt is not actually going up. indeed, it will be cut as a result of this deal by over 100 billion euros, also at the e.u. and the i.m.f. almost certainly will now go ahead with a second greek bailout and therefore the country will stave off bankruptcy. so there is some relief here tonight that so many private investors appear to have agreed to accept their losses. >> gavin hewitt in athens there. now tributes have been paid to the six british soldiers killed by a bomb while traveling in an armored vehicle in afghanistan on tuesday. five of the group were under the age of 22 and they had only been in the country for a few weeks. their commanding officer described them as incredibly brave men. rico, it was one

here is our athens correspondent. >> the last few months have been some of the darkest in greece's modern history. the recession has deepened, and so has the despair of the greek people. rioting, poverty, a loss of faith in political leaders, all pushing this country to the brink. endless meetings in brussels have tried to work out a solution to break the deadlock of debt. now, a rare glimpse, a deal struck to lessen the debt burden and spare the country from imminent default. >> this agreement we have reached with the private sector is excellent. it is an historic day for greece, for the greek parliament, for the greek people, and the national economy. >> this is the largest debt restructuring ever recorded. 107 billion heroes of debt will be written off as old bonds are exchanged to new. over 85% of bondholders agreed to it, cutting the face value of investments by half. securing the deal was essential for greece to get its next bailout, which it needs within weeks to avoid bankruptcy. germany's finance minister warned against hasty optimism. the great crisis has not been resolved, he s

we're also focusing on greece, the athens composite as you can see. up three quarters of one percent, they are coming back in the forefront of investors attention. the international monetary fund agreed late on thursday to contribute a further 36.5 billion toward that crucial second bail out for greece alongside funds coming from other places like the european uni union. investors will be weighing that against another warning from the imf telling athens this market there is no wiggle room when it comes to making any missteps in implementing the economy reform program. that market has been trading and that one up three quarters of 1%. >>> nina, here in asia, basically flat would be the order of the day. only the shanghai composite providing any interest here. investors cautious while they weigh stronger u.s. economic data against signs of slowing growth. numbers and the comments we have been get out of china. the come pos sit up by 1.3. expectations there will be no let-up in the restrictions on the property market in china. but a little bit of hunting

michelle caruso-cabrera is in athens. and michelle, i know you're hearing lots of commentary about the speculation of what the participation rate was. what do you think it was? >> so reuters is reporting that 85% at least of the greek debt bonds has been tendered. there's two kinds of greek debt, maria, greek jurisdiction debt and noninjurjurisdiction. 86% of the outstanding debt is under greek jurisdiction. what reuters is reporting is that they've gotten nearly every single one of those greek bonds to be tendered if reuters is correct. we have one more question we need answered, what percentage of the non-greek jurisdiction debt has been tendered. if they get 4% to 5% of that debt, you hit 90%, and then in theory, we see no triggering of credit default swaps. that's what we're waiting to see. if that's what happens, that was unexpected. and it will show that greece's advisers played a masterful manipulation game when it comes to the markets. so we wait to see. we find out maybe at 1:00 a.m. eastern time. bottom line, th

to get some more on this and how it all works, i spoke to the bbc's mark lowen in athens. >> well, it would be over 100 billion euros of the 206 billion euro that is greece owe s to its private creditors, so it would be a major hit. in order for this to go through, the greek government wants a large majority of bond holders to accept the deal. it would be a bond swap, so the creditors will hand in their own bonds and receive new bonds, new greek government bonds with a lower value, which would mature over a longer period. now, the greek government wants 90% to go ahead with this in order for the deal to go through. if it gets about 66% or more of the bond holders to accept the deal, then it would basically force the minority of bond holders who refuse to go with it to actually accept it through a clause called a collective action clause. the problem with that is that by forcing the majority of bond holders to accept it, it becomes no longer voluntary, and it looks like a default, which would probably trigger insurance known as credit default swaps, and they were largely responsible fo

the year across efforts and showed no mercy to the struggling economy by downgrading athens to quote restricted to four in the next hour here at r.t. boxcars and stacy herbert look back a decade to reveal the scheme which helped greece join the euro zone by masking its massive debt and how its orchestrator banked a tidy profit. goldman secret greece loan shows to sinners as client unravels on the day the two thousand and one deal was struck the government of greece owed the bank about six hundred million euros more than their two point eight billion euros of power owed by then the price of the transaction a derivative that disguised the loan and that goldman sachs persuaded greece not to test with competitors had almost doubled to five point one billion euros this was greece's nine eleven the day they met goldman sachs it was them hacking the sovereignty and the future of the nation of greece penalties no martinis yes. because reporters are later today here in artsy for now though signs of nationwide unrest a still clearly visible in kyrgyzstan the central asian country soared to blo

considered the biggest debt write down in history the agreement seemed to loosen the rope around athens natal reducing the debt burden by more than a bunch hundred billion euros has praised the deal to the skies claiming a solution to the crisis had at last been found just hours later the year of cuts suffered a major slap in the face from the credit rating agencies as moody's and fitch both declared greece indifferent william anderson associate professor from forsberg state university police that the e.u. politicians are just putting their heads in the sand and unwilling to admit the obvious. this is a before i'm going to whatever you settle with your creditor for less than what you . have agreed to do it and you do it i don't care how systematic it is or how complicated these debt swaps are we are dealing with a real live before everybody knows that just because sir cosy claims that it isn't a deep thought means absolutely nothing he's a politician i don't believe the european leaders are trying to put a political spin on this but what you have in the end is in fact the taking of asse