was spent on defense long running tensions between greece and turkey as cited as the reason greece spends so much since the one nine hundred seventy four turkish invasion of cyprus athens is spent an estimated two hundred sixteen billion or. considers that it's it's facing a threat from turkey. and that we need to maintain a. credible military force is that threat and one of the key places where greece shops for its defense needs is germany is orders make up around fifteen percent of berlin's arms exports the most in europe despite germany's repeated belt tightening mantra in my point of view there's no justification that greece continues to spend so heavily on military equipment but of course it's export earnings for germany of nato interests and so it's just being done and this is not being talked about so much every once in a while a topic pops up distrust being done and politicians in germany are not really questioning it with greeks enduring a dire financial. with little sign of reprieve is there an element of hypocrisy in germany calling for cuts while encouraging greece to buy its

many germans believe that greece will ultimately have to leave the euro. they are also a little puzzled, i think, that greeks do not seem as grateful as many germans believe they ought to be about germany's financial contributions to back up greece. they feel that money is being wasted and ordinary greeks seem to be ungrateful to boot.% >> thanks very much for that. -- and grateful to -- the economy is shrinking at a rapid rate of 6.5%, so how are company's managing to keep their head above water at all? here is one example. and he urgently needs new foreign customers. domestic sales have collapsed by 80%, but the engineer is finding it harder than anticipated to do business abroad. right now, he is trying for a foothold in india. >> even the farthest indiana backwater we try to sell to has heard of the crisis. people get the information from the internet and local media. they hear about the crisis and naturally, they have reservations. >> hydraulic presses to form metal are just one of the products this firm turns out. he is sure his company will survive,

trashers greece's plan to deal with this massive deficit is the e.u.'s last line of economic defense celebrates one year and. we look at how the two main runners in the u.s. presidential race plan to deal with the powerful israeli lobby and tell of the fundamental to bomb iran. twenty four hour world news live from moscow this is are with me rory sushi and goings of foreign mercenaries reportedly from the gulf states and turkey have joined the assault on bani walid in libya has been gathering first hand accounts of the situation in the besieged town traditionally loyal to the toppled khadafi regime more on this now towards he's paula syria. while fighting continues in the besieged libyan city of baghdad where it has been on the go for more than three weeks now we are beginning however to hear disturbing reports that a foreigner troops and snipers could be used in the assault on the city. they told something dangerous that. the snipers the flood and not the nuclear maybe if it got out of the key of the room somewhere inside the city today to look to fit

we have been looking at those problems in greece. greece is apparently not alone, in fact the whole world is kind of in trouble. and more evidence of this kind of shift to the emerging market. >> absolutely. a i shift of wealth. this is a stark warning. the international monetary fund and the latest assessment. saying look unless the u.s. and europe and the global economy could fall into a steeper slowdown. they are saying confidence is being damaged. damaged confidence that discourages businesses from investing and damaged confidence stops consumers from spending. so the i.m.f. downgraded the overall growth for this year to 3% in july. so only a few months they had to downgrade the forecast basically. the i.m.f. also highlighted what you and i spoke about yesterday. the new rescue fund, the permanent rescue fund for the euro zone. they said it's very important and the leaders need to start using that fund to rescue banks. in terms of the united states, the i.m.f. was blunt and said congress needs to sit down and sort out the budget

spent on defense greece three considers that it's it's facing a threat from turkey. and that we need to maintain credible military forces to that threat and one of the key places where greece shops for its defense needs is germany athens is old is make up around fifteen percent of billions arms exports the most in europe despite germany's repeated belt tightening mantra of courses export earnings for germany and nato interest there. so it's just being done and it's not being talked about so much every once a while the topic pops up but this just being done and politicians in germany are not really questioning it with greeks enduring a dire financial plight with little sign of reprieve is there an element of hypocrisy in germany calling for cuts while encouraging greece to buy its weapons. not all of berlin's elected representatives buying into their gun peddling government's priorities for them social spending cutting is the first you know the thing that comes to their mind for me as a queen the first priority that comes to my wife is cutting into defense sector as a

trashes greece's plan to deal with its massive deficit has that used last line of economic defense celebrates one year in service. and we look at how the two main runners in the u.s. presidential race plan to deal with the powerful israeli lobby and television on the relenting edge to bomb iraq. thank you for joining r.t. this friday on charon terror it's twelve o'clock here in moscow well gangs of foreign mercenaries reportedly from the gulf states and turkey have joined the assault on bani walid libya this is according to ali for all his relatives are trapped inside the siege town which is traditionally loyal to the country's toppled colonel gadhafi regime he's currently in egypt and we're discussing his identity over safety concerns. they told something dangerous there. in the snow but as a as the photo and not the new t.v. and maybe if it got out of the degree of the room somewhere else inside the city and you have media do it go through the snow but you know i mean really if. you slow down. and use google nor by the. google if you didn't know do today to look if you think it's a bit of y

a storm of a different sort is happening in greece.. the latest on how greek residents are battling back against a tough new round of spending cuts. plus, mega millions-- how pac money is changing the tone of this year's election. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning. it's tuesday, october 30th. i'm angela miles. hurricane sandy takes down the market. broll: wall street sign, empty streets around cboe for the second day in a row-- major trading exchanges including the nyse and cboe remain closed. it's the first time that's happened since 1888 when a blizzard blew through new york. the storm is bringing one benefit. in north carolina a ski resort is opening earlier than ever as sandy drops off several inches of fresh snow in the mountains and a shake up at apple. the senior vp of iphone and the head of retail are both leaving the company. with that we turn to larry shover of sfg alternatives-- it's the second day in a row that the major exchanges wi

greece and if greece doesn't make it mean for spain italy portugal and. we're going to help greece and we're going to help with some of those government and that's why it's very significant that she's here today what a change of rhetoric you know back a couple of years ago and merkel was saying you know that these things coming out of to me is that we should be punished for its behavior and now you know it's a very big change because she realized there's no other way out it's. a bit more time that it should have taken. but they're putting their hands deep in the. brain and it. is the right thing to do greece needs to be supported because once greece gets stabilized. the markets in italy and in spain and portugal. the very important stand here in greece they were going to see some positive developments today i think we're going to see a very positive development. not just the government to push on reforms and saying do that and i'm right next to you the fact that's is coming here is very positive in itself even if nothing. the fact that this show you suppo

just when the austerity ravaged people of greece thought things couldn't get any worse the universal health care system got dismantled and turned into an american styled death system as the york times reports this week the greek health care system that ensured coverage for all of its citizens before the financial crisis it has today been completely decimated by conservative technocrats and austerity pushers in the past greece provided universal care thanks to employers individuals and the government contributing to a fund to administer medical services for the entire nation even though those even those greeks who lost their jobs still received health benefits for a year and after those benefits expired greece made sure those individuals still received the health care they needed at no cost to them but then as we all know the banks toure's swept into greece and swindled the country and when the global financial markets went bust greece was left with a debt crisis and the banks demanded all of their failed investments back so the banks decided to suck whatever money they could out of g

they like to take the put greece inside like a larger european union and say greece's problems are about austerity and it's something that we can relate to with other countries in europe but it's not i mean greece is its own country with its own unique history its own problems and in fact austerity which is really just you know the cut the deficit is really just something that spark the powder keg that had been accumulating all that gunpowder to be accumulating for all these decades in greece and all of a sudden. they woke up and they said after all this after all this looting of all this money for all these years that all this money to get out of the country for big counts all these people really rich all these years making money through government all the sudden now we're going to have a depression as a result of all the stuff that you guys say all these years it's ridiculous but that's the real story is that's what people are so angry people would not be so angry just because of some budget deficit cuts right and more than that well it is a lot more than now but i think that what we s

so while politicians in greece and the e.u. mull over what to do next in russia it's about what not to do cracking down on stupid the russian parliament moves to filter out bills that have no hope of passing an effort to clamp down on reckless populism you can read more on the bills that have angered lawmakers on our website or to dot com. also there nelson comfort for new election monitors texas threatens to arrest international observers if they dare set foot polling stations on voting day. and we've got more on the upcoming presidential vote for you in just a few minutes. nineteen iranian channels have been banned in the countries that's called iran for not tolerating free speech among other things well played lads well played i love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning personally a bit of censorship doesn't bother me that much because there has always been censorship and there were always be censorship if there are any words or symbols or opinions that could get you bumped off the air or legal trouble in your country the g

they deliver support for greece to stand. handoff and despite the fact this is a difficult path, it will prove worthwhile. if you don't get to solve the problems now, they will reoccur later in a much more dramatic way. >> in difficult times lie ahead. greece has to make further savings to qualify for more funding. without it, the country runs out of money in november. they said greece is likely to miss the target. >> for more on the less than hospitable welcome she received just a short time ago, seeing those pictures in the report of people wearing uniforms, it makes you wonder if it is possible for germany and greece to be in the same financial house. >> there are many that would ask that. the intense anti-german feeling, references are not the overwhelming opinion. there are the other greeks that say that he had can't blame germany for our problems, we elected a government that mismanaged the situation and borrowed money that we did not have. that intense animosity is now predominantly felt here. from the government, and

trashes greece's plan to deal with its massive deficit as that use the last line of economic defense celebrates one year in servants. and we will get how the two main runners in the us presidential race plan to deal with the powerful israeli lobby and tell of the eaves unrelenting gets to bomb iran. a very warm welcome to your home karen tara she joining us friday and it is ten o'clock here in moscow where gangs of foreign mercenaries reportedly from the gulf states and turkey have joined the assault in bani walid in libya this is according to ali for russia's relatives are trapped inside the besieged town which is traditionally loyal to the country's toppled colonel gadhafi regime is currently in egypt and we're discussing his identity over safety concerns. they told something dangerous that. the flood and not the nuclear maybe if it got out of them somewhere else inside the city and you have the media to get it goat maybe the snow but you know i. don't. know why the world. if you didn't know do today to look if you're going to be a beautiful you know and b. today to talk of that if

the thing is if they support greece, they will give greece more money. greece needs more money.ird bailout. greece says we need more time to hit our deficit targets. well, time is money. they have to borrow every single day. if they can't pay the bills, the money has to come from somewhere. so if it is going to be two years more before they balance the budget, somebody has to fill the hole. it doesn't mean the germans or the rest of europe will write the check. what a lot of individuals believe will happen is there will be a back door bailout via the ecb. remember, greece still owes the ecb 25 billion euros roughly over the next three years that really like the ecb to delay receiving payment. that's not going to happen. at least it is highly unlikely. what's likely to happen, carl, is greece to going to go to the short-term markets. they're going to issue t bills or short-term notes and their banks will buy them and bring them to the greek central bank and the greek central bank will bring them to the ecb and they will be paid back with the very money they're giving back to the

>> greece will definitely have on to do restructuring. the question is do they get one as part of a deal or do they take one. >> worth pointing out george will be joining us later on set. meanwhile, the ecc president draghi has been vowing to back the eurozone. he's announced proposals be put ford to deal with bank risk in the first half of next year. >> protests are take being operati taking place in athens ahead of a visit of merkel. merkel insisted she was also there to to offer the greeks her support. cath ly carolyn roth is in and thens. when i left, she was carolyn schobel. thank god it's roth now. >> thank god i got married, right? i'm extending my honeymoon. >> we know that's what the security is there for. >> right. i was going to say i was extending my honeymoon. i went to greece without my husband, though, one person who is not on honeymoon, that's ms. merkel. she's arriving here as you said in a little bit more than two hours. and the reception here is less than luke warm because two biggest unions here in greece have actually

with greece failing to deal with. unemployment. presidential election in the united states. iran. libyan forces are now using. their assault on the town of bani walid the traditional stronghold of the toppled the regime this according to sources who spoke exclusively to. just days after washington objected to a u.n. call for a peaceful solution. well fighting continues in the besieged libyan city of baghdad where it has been on the go for more than three weeks now we are beginning however to hear disturbing reports that a foreigner troops and snipers could be used in the assault on the city. they told something dangerous that. maybe if it got out of them somewhere inside the city do. you know. now earlier in the week there were conflicting reports that the city had fallen these reports have proven untrue but not before thousands of bani walid residents tried to make their way back to the city now we are hearing from our sources on the ground that these people have been stopped by roadblocks that have been set up by militias at the entrances and exits to the city that there has bee

fails meaning greece leaves the euro greece has failed horribly greece is basically a failed state but they say of greece fails the euro will fail and europe will fail all of this by itself is wrong and in this connection is also wrong so we have to ask again who benefits from that state of affairs is there a chance though that we could see a champions league monetary union created with the likes of germany austria the netherlands and other countries with underneath that a second tier of money there's some proposals out there to really split the euro into a northern europe the southern euro southern euro or. there are some proposals out there to really split the euro zone into another and so on and the southern so on but that's not really working that will not work for political reasons you cannot split france and germany event france will be really let's say insulted that's just not politically feasible if you do that then you might as well get rid of the euro completely so france would have to stay in the champions league and so that by definition would be very difficult in that sens

is a pleasure to have you with us here on r t today i'm live in moscow greece will have to introduce another one hundred and fifty economic reforms to please its international creditors that's according to a leaked report from its lenders greece has been locked in talks with the troika for weeks over the crucial austerity package it would need to introduce to be saved from bankruptcy by mid november let's discuss this further now with your hand of an overt felt editor in chief of trends business magazine good to see you today so the whole proposed austerity package is already struggling to pass through greek parliament or what if another one hundred and fifty changes on demand. well huge problem that's obvious because everybody agrees now that greece needs more time but nobody seems to be prepared to put up the money that is necessary to bridge the two extra years that would be granted to greece people talking here about something like twenty five billion euros in terms of extra money. all of the money that has already been given or promised to greece that's one problem another probl

greece they've gone to bail out the banks in france and elsewhere in the e.u. better are technically in insolvency because of their exposure to this so william if indeed it is the banks as you're saying if it's the bank's fault why athens continues to fail in its promises and then why is it being forgiven each time it fails to fulfill what its promised well it is somehow or. i can imagine if you if you understood mary or you get everything wrong in the way that the e.u. governments have done in the last four years of this crisis for three and a half years but from the get go they have shied away from any resolute action on the banks involved in the in the dodgy lending in the first place during the financial bubble years so those banks remain the source of the problem there's no lending going on to the real economy and that's what is the root cause of twenty five percent unemployment in spain and greece and elsewhere across the e.u. so the austerity that's being demanded by e.u. governments like germany is having the effect on the irony is this is what really d

for the scale of her popularity or lack of it in greece. greece already is a barter economy it has ceased to function as a normal capitalist or even socialist economy even even profitable companies in greece get all of pain letters of credit because they're registered companies and so the the whole idea is that you'll have situations where profitable companies will be forced to say german larger german corporations at rock bottom prices in order to and they will act on themselves into an even greater colony than they already are if it goes on in other parts of europe but i think we've got the makings of huge social dislocation from greece in itself is only about two percent of the euro zone's g.d.p. but a much greater concern has to be countries like spain or italy and spain i think you've not only got the fourth largest economy in the eurozone but you've got a relatively immature democracy and i say that with no disrespect to the spanish but obviously as you pointed out this is a country that was run by the generals until the mid seventy's

. >> greece claims it has succeeded in extending the terms of its bailout, but the european union says no deal has yet been reached. >> organizers of the tour de france unveiled a route for next year's race that will be a big test for cyclists in the mountains. a memorial to the roma and senti people has been unveiled in berlin. it took 20 years before the project was completed. >> an estimated 500,000 were killed by the nazi regime. german chancellor angela merkel says that chapter of german history filled her with sorrow and shame and pledged to protect minorities in today's germany. >> it features names. a poem has been engraved on the edge. finally, recognition for the group's suffering, but even today, roma and senti say they are victims of racism. >> it is not just partisan groups that give voice to this racism. it is increasingly becoming a mainstream phenomenon, and the way that politicians deal with violent far-right ideology is is a litmus test that shows us which lessons we learned from the war and the holocaust and if we have learned them. >> the nazis killed up to 500,000

of course, they will be conducted in the light of our expectations of greece. agreements exist between us. now we must make sure they are implemented. >> some in her coalition have spoken openly about their wish to see greece exit the eurozone. such talk has stirred controversy, but they agree there should be no new concessions. >> they would be doing themselves a favor if they stick it to the measures agreed upon. we want to see greece succeed. >> the opposition in berlin urged merkel to talk about ways to ease the plight in greece and not just insist on more austerity. >> this is long overdue. i hope she uses this to talk to the greeks and not just about them. she needs to express sympathy with their economic sacrifices. >> tension is palpable in athens. thousands of police officers have been deployed to prevent an outbreak of violence. >> is that time of year again when the nobel prize are announced. it has been awarded to two pioneers of stem cell research. >> their work has revolutionized the understanding of how cells in organisms develop. adult cells can

isn't greece the u.s. is not stuck in a currency zone where it has zero control of its monetary policy i mean love it or hate it the u.s. does have a fed printing money and setting interest rates also the u.s. dollars. the global reserve currency and the u.s. is benefiting from kind of a weird global situation where the u.s. dollar and u.s. debt is kind of a safe haven even though many would argue that ultimately it isn't but these are kind of a weird set of circumstances that make the u.s. very unlike greece and terms of the near term and that can tend to i think low people to sleep but it but it is a longer term issue in terms of the debt and deficit does need to be addressed i think that just the u.s. is greece scare tactic is a little just a lot just right right right now let's talk about the eurozone in general i mean a lot of people also paint this whole thing as it's the eurozone crisis and it kind of crosses all across the countries that are indebted to the euro at this point i mean what do you thi

euro nobody was saying greece should leave the euro it's as if the political class in greece and in spain and in portugal are like rabbits in the headlights of an oncoming car no one's got the self-confidence all the car you think everybody is terrified of the alternative yes it says sticking with these measures i think if somebody comes along it's a serious business figuring greece was to come along and say look this will be painful but hey it's painful anyway we may suffer inflation it may be difficult for the first year or two but actually the only hope we've got is if we get our currency back we're able to become much more competitive again i think once that leadership is given the people would follow but at the moment it's absolutely ok and what if this does continue we just saw a report from the i.m.f. coming out saying that if policymakers aren't able to fulfill all of their promises that they have given that they will have to deal average it if you can even call it the leverage because because they've gotten bailed out that is far more to have trillion dollars in assets at t

but first, why a chinese business is thriving in greece. we'll hear from a reporter who is on the frontlines, next. european leaders left athens on good terms yesterday before heading into a critical meeting today about greece. members of the so-called troika report the cash-strapped country is making progress toward obtaining another bailout. greek officials say they will run out of money next month without more aid. the troika, made up of officials from the imf, european commission and european central bank, meet today to talk about the status of greece. meanwhile, greek workers are set to stage another round of general strikes. the financial crisis in europe is providing an opportunity for china. liz alderman, a writer with the new york times, joins us this morning via skype with a report on a chinese shipping company. good morning to you. > > good morning. > > how successful has this shipping company, known as cosco, been so far in greece? > > it's an interesting story. this chinese basically state- run shipping company came in here abo

greece owes germany about 40 billion euros. if there was a hair cut, that would have a bad effect on the german budget. further on, investors also fear this probable hair cut would lead to the fact that investors lose their confidence into the european bond market in general. >> we know that hurricane sandy has brought wall street to a virtual standstill. how is that storm affecting uropean markets?m affecting >> first, of course, there is no impact. investors are worried about the damage that sandy might cause. airline shares are down. re-insurers are hit hard. the tax is down by nearly 1/2 of 1 -- the dax is down by nearly 1/2 of 1%. the euro stoxx 50 is losing by nearly one-fourth -- by nearly 1%. >> thank you for that update from the frankfurt stock exchange. do not go away. we will be back with lots more after a short break. >> welcome back. the race for the white house is in its final stretch. both candidates are working on the final push of their campaigns. energy independence has been a big topic. >> president obama wan