in italy, we are about 6%, so much, much lower. [abrami] i think that as far as the specific aspects of marriage, italy is very different from other european countries, even different from some southern european countries, like portugal, for example. in italy, still 95% of births occurs inside marriage. so the postponement means postponement of marriage and after marriage, perhaps postponement of childbearing. but i mean, marriage is still, for the time being, a must, apparently, for italian couples. [speaking italian] [translator] yes. my priority is to get married and have children, rather than pursue a career. yes, of course, but first i intend to finish my studies, and then i'll be thinking of having a family. i think that, um... the value of the family is something that can't be surpassed and comes probably before everything, even before a career. women students in italy still expect to have children. the reality is that the birth rate is still falling. [montanari] i believe that the italians are still interested in having big

what part of italy does that name come from? >> northern italy. it comes from a little town which is 35,000 people. 30 miles southeast of mill an in lombardi. that's where my family comes from. i still live there. i live in this country, this town. i lived in moscow, london, brussel. but back home. >> what do you do for a living full time? >> that's a good question. i'm a journalist. i used to be like a staff journalist. i've buena foreign correspondent. then i write books and i have my own television program in italy for italian television and do i some radio. it is not unusual, what i do for america. someone in america, i know people that have similar jobs in a way. for instance, mike kinsly, he's been an economist asist. i've been an italian correspondent for six years. i'm still learning. in america, in my professional position, it wouldn't be unusual. it is unusual in italy. the columnist, that's what i am, it can hardly be translated into italian sort of a job market. >> what's this book about? >> your country. >> where did you get idea? >>

asking italy to trim its budget deficit. tax collection and decrease spending if not if they cannot do is. guess what basically what you see you. and italy seems to have given in a little bit. with the situation right now in italy has much choice. well you know you mentioned dropping out of the euro zone in fact there are growing calls from other european countries for the struggling states apart from italy there is also spain and portugal. to leave the euro zone but is this actually likely to happen given that there is technically there is no mechanism for leaving the euro zone is there. well i don't think it will happen because of one thing only if these countries like greece spain. italy portugal stay in the eurozone they can finance their national debt much more cheaply if in. italy is paying something like five point six percent for a ten year or five year noakes if they if they drop out of the euro zone people may have to pay up to ten percent so that is a big big difference and politically economically i don't think d

company coming to get years so italy. china solve from the c.i. c. to buy some actually not buy some or buy huge amounts of it because china has about three trillion u.s. dollars of foreign exchange basically it to the ones trying to. solve. this why when joe said this. today but i think i think it is also time for china to flex economic muscle and gain some advantage not by a lot of italian. so to give the market a little bit of confidence. there have to be fired by europeans them south. well they'll be an interesting scenario of course now and we also know that italy said that a fire sale of state assets is on the table if a sterile fails so what is it i mean is it a way for italy to provoke its neighbors to helping rome more perhaps rather than risk china buying our critical assets in the heart of the e.u. what does this move driven by in your opinion. well i think it clearly is the european. economy cannot afford to be out of the euro's think it would be dishonest or italy if it drops out of the euro so because it will not be able to fly. at the

and standard and poor's cuts italy's long and short-term sovereign debt ratings by one notch citing the country's weakening growth prospects. hello and welcome. in seoul,... i'm eoh jin- joo. and i'm devin whiting. president lee myung-bak left for the united states on tuesday... to attend the un general assembly... as well as a high-level nuclear safety meeting in new york. on the sidelines of the meetings,... president lee will hold summit talks with other heads of state and make a stop in seattle before returning home on saturday. arirang's yoo ji-hae tells us more. president lee myung-bak left for new york tuesday... to attend the united nations general assembly and other events. upon his arrival on wednesday, korea time... the president will receive the world statesman award presented by the appeal of conscience foundation... for his contribution to world peace, democracy and human rights. the following day... lee will make an official visit to the un headquarters... to deliver a keynote speech at the 66th un general assembly. in his speech... lee is expected to speak about koreas p

kevin owen with a top story for you tonight and italy is taking a beating from ratings giant standard and poor's which downgraded the country school by one notch today it says its growth outlook is negative two prime minister silvio berlusconi criticize the decision as being the result of media hype and was out of touch with reality when i simply said it was driven by italy's poor growth and concern over rome's ability to reduce spending despite the budget cuts it's just to prove it's pushed up italy's borrowing costs with the threat of contagion are once again hanging over the entire euro zone over in greece the e.u. and the i.m.f. of issued a final warning to ramp up budget cuts there if it wants to avoid going bankrupt very soon euro zone leaders are already holding back the next eight billion euro bailout decision until october let's give some reaction to this developing news today that from british your m.p. paul knuckle is on the line from london thanks for being on r.t. international polls good see you tonight so that effectively asks for a bailout can europe or for the trillio

filipino italy back to this hour's breaking news story an explosion at a nuclear facility in mark we in southern france for we're going live to our king is daniel bushell joining us in brussels. daniel so at this time has there we know whether or not there is a radiation leak or tell us more about that. you haven't been told or been only. there is no link. why are. we are really you're. you're you're only going to germany and. france but it was. probably nearly all nuclear energy to fall through the green berets and we didn't have that there are going to. be a part of asia and. i'm going to be like. oh commented. british leader. all right is daniel bushell live for us from brussels and those details what check back in with you later. turning now to other news we're covering on r t has warned israel that it faces a growing regional isolation as the turkish prime minister heads for a visit to egypt recip tape aired over and is expected to cement closer ties with cairo with both countries having recently strained relations with tel aviv on friday night a raging mob in egypt in capitals

italy possible debt burden is running at 120% of gross domestic product. -- italy's debt burden is running at 120% of gdp. s&p does not think that the targets can be easily achieved. growth is forecast at 1.1% this year. there is widespread speculation that the forecast will be scaled back to 0.7% for the year. traders on the floor of the milan stock exchange say that this might have a positive impact in the long run. >> maybe this a valuation will force the politicians to implement reforms that they have not put into place. >> average italians seem to have lost all confidence in their government. >> we have had enough of this joker berlusconi and the rest. they need to be sacked. >> if rome can implement their austerity package is, many will lose their jobs. unemployment among the country's youth is already 30%. >> european stocks when higher on thursday even though bond yields on the italian debt rose. >> italy's downgrade by s&p has been expected but there has been some reaction at the bond markets to where the italian yields went to near 6% as a reaction to this downgrade on the frankf

and italy moving closer to the center of the eurozone debt crisis as it's crucial all stare.

>> italy. they need to decide how they are going to handle italy. italy has a series of fiscal issue, not yet a crisis. it needs to make adjustments in a responsible manner. and perhaps that they provide italy with financial assistance, but the exact terms of that have yet to be decided. i do not even think they have started a conversation about it. >> italy is interesting, because when you think about the situation there, the fiscal policies that have been unfolding over the years, and the political dimension to it, how much is reform going to be key to an economic solution in italy? >> that is an interesting question. before you get to political reform, you have to find a way to grow. the italian economy has barely registered growth in real terms adjusting for inflation is over 10 years. they have a large amount of debt and interest rates are high, even with the help of the ecb. italy has to find a way to grow in a time when the world is slowing down and wind austerity and fiscal cuts are in italy's future. >> a mysterious outbreak caused by taint

party tonight italy's got the point for not moving fast enough a credit ratings giant loses face in butter scoldings budget ability while these eurozone partners are left wondering who's next. but just over forty eight hours to go before the palestinians appeal for a seat at the un israel maintains its firm opposition and begins reinforcing its borders here in a wave of protests. also in new york president obama seeks to boost libya's new leadership of the general assembly by pointing out progress in the country but questions over whether the nato the actions in libya complied with the u.n. resolution looms large. mrs arty's eight pm right now here in moscow my name's kevin owen with a top story for you tonight and italy is taking a beating from ratings giant standard and poor's which downgraded the country school by one notch today it says its growth outlook is negative two prime minister silvio berlusconi criticize the decision as being the result of media hype was out of touch with reality less than p. said it was driven by its at least poor growth and concern over rome's ability to red

. >> italy has had their credit rating downgraded. eu leaders are looking for rome to provide a credible plan. >> this puts italy in the center of the debt crisis. they are the third largest economy in the eurozone and they are struggling with the second- largest island dead. the rating agency has doubts about rome possibility to implement their austerity program and they said there is an underlying problem of stagnant growth. silvio berlusconi is defiant. he says that the downgrading is mostly a reaction to media reports. italyossible debt burden is running at 120% of gross domestic product. -- italy's debt burden is running at 120% of gdp. s&p does not think that the targets can be easily achieved. growth is forecast at 1.1% this year. there is widespread speculation that the forecast will be scaled back to 0.7% for the year. traders on the floor of the milan stock exchange say that this might have a positive impact in the long run. >> maybe this a valuation will force the politicians to implement reforms that they have not put into

and so let's look out how this fraud and austerity measures are being imposed across the world italy cuts tax on high earners from austerity package so you know silvio berlusconi it announced a sixty six billion dollar or forty five point five billion euro austerity package and part of it was a tax on people earning over ninety thousand euros a year apparently he's getting rid of that leaving all the other stuff for the job bag and donuts but that number forty five point five billion euros max made me think of something from two years ago melanne police seize u.b.s. j.p. morgan deutsche bank funds now this was due to the fraudulent toxic assets or lent fake assets that were sold to milan and six hundred italian municipalities were sold thirty five point five billion euros in toxic derivatives that's right so these municipalities in italy were sold fake securities that went to zero in value because they were fake to begin with and now oh here's berlusconi saying he needs approximately the same amount of money imposed in austerity measures to basically pay now for the toxic securities

s thinking on italy now. and you notice no other agencies have downgraded them its share their their political situation is is is in flux i don't see that as the reason for the downgrade to answer you question about with other downgrades follow obviously spain is in the same boat and spain has got very healthy banks quite frankly the whole the whole reason for all of this is what are called the drill bit of trade which is totally unregulated everywhere and because of that. investors especially stock market investors don't know what the liability reliability is there in fact insurance wops is what they are but they're totally unregulated they don't have any kind of capital backing and because of that it makes everyone nervous dangi question in brief spain would be the next one if it if it should happen but spain is quite frankly quite healthy now you alluded to a similar downgraded recently in the u.s. what are the potential knock on effects for this rating downgrade for europe's fourth largest economy in ital

also southern europe braces for austerity italy and spain try to push through more savage cuts while the arduous effort to save greece and. suspends all trade military ties with israel is relations things with them you know because israel will apologize for killing nine activists in last year's gaza flotilla raid. some past eleven pm time next max and stacey take on those who are robbing the poor to pay the rich but the bankers who deal in toxic assets yet still expect taxpayers to bail them out yes report is on the. this is the kaiser report. seems to be drawn and quartered. yeah you know i'm talking about probably more states ever max i have a feeling you read this first headline here banks still expect taxpayer to for their failure this according to paul fisher of the bank of england's executive director for markets and he disclosed that quote some banks have told us that they think they should not be required to hold capital and liquidity to deal with such extreme tail of events leaving the public sector to be the capital provider of last resort this contradicts what these banker

italy moves closer to the center of the eurozone debt crisis as its crucial austerity package enters a final stage triggering a new wave of protest and tough spending cuts. five pm in moscow i matras are going to have you with us here on r t our top story we're covering breaking news on r.t. an explosion at a nuclear facility in markkula in southern france one person reportedly killed several injured authorities say no radiation leak has been reported the explosion followed a fire in a storage area for radioactive waste according to the live figaro newspaper the facility is in the garden region it's a major site involved with decommissioning nuclear facilities and operates a pressurized water reactor we'll bring you more on this breaking news story shortly unsolved issues in russia u.k. relations should not stand in the way of healthy and profitable cooperation that's what the leaders of the two states concluded that their meeting at the kremlin artie's a nice and now a has more on the outcome of the first official visit by a british prime minister to russia for six years. president

southern europe braces for sturdy anger as italy and spain try to push through more savage cuts all the arduous sufferers to save greece appear to be on tackling. also turkey's a stands all trade and military ties with israel as relations sink to a new low because israel won't apologize for killing by activists in last year's gaza flotilla raid. and the dinner put in throws the switch from a new undersea gas pipeline to europe curbing ukraine's status as a possible middleman which it's news to negotiate discounts rates on spots. all next is the car's a report where max kaiser and stacy herbert expose the bankers who deal in toxic assets and still expect taxpayers to bail them out when trading goes wrong well that's something that's an artsy. easy. this is the kaiser report. the only good bank. to be drawn and quartered. you know what i'm fighting about probably more studies ever max i have a feeling you've read this first headline here banks still expect taxpayer to for their failure this according to paul fisher the bank of england's executive director for markets and he disclosed that

thirty five point five billion euros in toxic derivatives that's right so these municipalities in italy were sold fake securities that went to zero in value because they were fake to begin with and now oh here's berlusconi saying he needs approximately the same amount of money. imposed an austerity measures to basically pay now for the toxic securities that were purchased to begin with and this is a pattern we see over and over around the world it's happened when fishing towns in norway it's happened in alabama in america it's happened all over italy happens all over the world the municipalities the governments the local banks buy securities german banks but trillions of dollars society in general was decided general going to declare bankruptcy in the next ten days because they bought fake securities from wall street they created fake securities they bought them with themselves they bought them with the b.n.p. they exchanged to fix it carries with each other for a fee then that fees paid them as a bonus and now however the implosion is taking place due to the revelation that there is no

said it was driven by italy's poor growth and concern over rome's ability to reduce spending despite the budget cuts it's just approved it's at least boring cos with the threat of contagion once again hanging over the entire usa over in greece the e.u. and the i.m.f. have issued a final warning to ramp up budget cuts if it wants to avoid going bankrupt very soon euro zone leaders are already holding back the next eight billion euro bailout decision until taper does he have a view from berlin now on financial writer it's a failed many things is joining us here in our scheme is a bill that is this downgrade the kick in the teeth that could prove irrepairable for italy. i don't think it's a repairable only it certainly is a kick in the teeth after all. something that economists to be mourning about for a long time which is that italy has an enormous debt i mean it's one hundred twenty percent of its g.d.p. that's the accumulated debt and if you simply work it out six percent of it is an enormous amount for italy to find interest payments every year and the likelihood is that that is goi

ask italy. wait, don't ask italy. now, the european central bank could solve this problem by printing lots of money, but germany doesn't want to because after world war one, they printed so much currency that inflation exploded and just to buy a left of bread, people had to fill a wheelbarrow with money. ironically, the price of a wheelbarrow was an ox cart full of bread. [laughter] flg this economic chaos brought about the rise of the nazi party, so basically germany is saying to the rest of europe, we're mild-mannered bruce banner now, but if we're exposed to the gamma rays of inflation, we could become fascist hulks. [laughter] don't make me hitler. you wouldn't like me when i'm hitler. and for some reason poland takes germany's "we might become nazis" thing pretty seriously. their finance minister said this crisis could lead the war in ten to 20 years. ten to 20 years. and that's in celsius. folks, europe has been torn apart by war so many times, and for it to happen again would be so wonderful. because world war

>> i think they are probably going to provide some funds to italy and spain. in retrunurn, they will definitely ask for some political favor. if you remember a couple of months ago, the chinese government provided some funds to spain. in return, the chinese government asked the spanish government to support their removal of arms sales ban in china. i am pretty sure that if china provides any kind of funds to italy and spain, and they will ask the same kind of condition. >> apart from lending to these debt-riddle economies, but china's want to invest. do you think that the americans and europeans will allow the chinese to invest their cash, which totals $3 trillion in foreign exchange currency reserves in their companies? >> i think there's no restriction for the chinese government to invest in any kind of assets. i think probably the chinese government will probably choose this moment to make some investment, but the point here is this -- this is a crisis. europe faces a serious crisis. and the chinese government will seize this opportunity to take advantage o

meanwhile italy's parliament has approved a fifty four billion euros of cuts to try and keep europe's third largest economy afloat now the package includes changes to pension slashing government spending as well as a new tax on the rich but as iver bennett discovered there is one town that isn't willing to take it lying down. welcome to filipino a small town in the middle of italy it also claims to be an independent principality and support it it's even started printing its own money the man on a new note says town mayor lucas a lhari now self-proclaimed prince i guess everyone dreams of being a prince when they're a little boy and so did i now i get to live that dream filleted knows going solo in protest over government plans to slash council funding he wants all towns to merge having the number of local authorities with a population of just six hundred filipino and its mayor of for the chop. it's a terrible idea because it makes no economic sense we have everything here to be autonomous and besides the neighboring towns are at least thirty kilometers away so it's not practically pos

situation right now italy has spent much choice and as a. guest itself the growing crisis and italy is not unique in the united states especially this great engine of the world's economy the once mighty shrinking american middle class and more in costs all coming your way in about twenty minutes time it has a pretty. i was amazed to discover when i got to the united states that everybody who's in the trade union is considered middle class you just mean guys with jobs that's what you mean about your very own terrible family capital or capital gains or whatever you just mean people who make money from money and people only money from work most of these middle class people make money from work and they should cast their lot in with the poor people. who appoint who are being employed it means middle class well i want. them to do i know in golf one said very briefly that for him working class men people who didn't want to work. was an inferior when it collapsed and i would put it the other way around when you get a crisis the middle class becomes

philip tino italy. to our breaking news story this hour an explosion at a nuclear parcel facility and mark you all in southern france for a while as we go live our it is daniel bushell live for us in brussels. so then what do we know about the incident and how serious is the situation at the plant right now. because one person is reported dead a male worker is the been found carbonized according to one local paper the french atomic safety rules thirty said that an explosion had taken place in an of who used to milk waste you know after the recent accidents the nuclear accidents in fukushima in japan countries like germany and switzerland had promised to phase out their nuclear power but france is called for europe's biggest atomic power producer and it has strongly defended its decision to keep on producing nuclear before this accident took place is heavily dependent on nuclear energy to produce its heat and electricity and french leaders had said the fukushima power stations are extremely safe and some

on the ropes the euro zone's third largest economy takes a hit as italy's credit rating goes down sparking fears of an even deeper by the actual crisis across europe and. israel calls for urgent peace talks with palestinians but has mines on its border added the palestinian bid for a seat at the u.n. this friday had some more you could open a pandora's box. multiculturalism under the microscope turkey's president visits berlin trying to break down a wall of issues facing immigrants in germany. it's one pm in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story italy's credit score is taken and knocked financial ratings firm standard and poor's has downgraded the country one notch deepening the euro zone's economic woes the agency also gave a gloomy forecast for the country's ability to get itself out of trouble tahlia premier silvio berlusconi criticize a decision calling it out of touch with reality s. and p. says this move was prompted by italy's weak economic growth and fears the government will fail to deal with its huge debt despite parliament recently passing an aus

italy was a divided -- it was not even a country. it was divided among five major powers and a host of duchies and principalities and petty states. florence was the weakest of the five. it was the most centrally located and probably the weakest, weakest of the kingdom, the duchy of milan of venice. you had naples to the south ruled by a spanish born family, then you had the papal states which surround florence on three sides and it was a precarious position for florence and during machiavelli's youth, lorenzo de'medici was a very adept politician, very adept diplomat, and he managed to keep all these balls in the air, managing to keep italy at peace and more importantly, the foreigners out, and with his death comes the calamity when the foreigners sweep in and cause chaos and destruction. host: in your footnote, you say machiavelli lived to be 88. guest: he lived to be 58. host: maybe it's a misprint. guest: he died at 58. michelangelo lived to be 88. 58 for a man of that era is an average, perhaps above average lifespan. lorenzo de'

filipino italy. as financial worries echo deeper inside the euro zone fears are growing that greece could be heading away from the euro unable to contain its debt crisis. the editor in chief of belgium's leading business magazine the trends thinks that greece should jump ship but the greek economy is in an outright depression now g.d.p. is shrinking at the moment seven to eight percent on an annual basis unemployment is of crucially at sixteen percent but in reality it's more close to twenty five percent what we hear from people from the i.m.f. informally is that the budget situation is out of control so there's no way that greek greece can escape from this situation unless there's a somewhat orderly exit from the eurozone followed by a huge devaluation of the new greek currency i think we have passed the point now where we can argue that we can see for greece within the euro zone greece will have to exit it can be organized in an orderly way but the risk is of course that there will be contagion in

filipino italy. it has warned israel it faces grabbing isolation in the region as they text prime minister has for egypt where the one is expected to cement closer ties this congress with bus countries experiencing recently strained relations with tel aviv on friday night ever a genome in the gyptian capital stormed sunscreens rain embassy forcing style to meet on this well difficult for few steps apologized for killing several egyptian security force members by mistake last month expelled israel's ambassador last week i let a country's refusal to say sorry for gunning down nine actually it's going to take a ship trying to bring aid to blockade. they talk piano says that talk was a fool but his country chose to refrain from aggression and political analyst from talking. that egyptian talking have. you killing the egyptian soldiers by. force. for poor of the. ongoing. so that's why we. use really the. people of variability. in fact with family. activities internationally built to. what made it worth g

mayor is threatening to cut it off if he doesn't get what he wants other than its artsy guillotine italy. faces faces rather growing isolation in the region as they take a spawn minister heads for egypt their jet type to one is expected to cement closer ties with cairo with both countries experiencing recently strained relations with tel aviv on friday night of raging mob in the capital strong downed signs the israeli and the sea forcing staff to flee under swelled after telling for he stopped projects for killing several egyptian security force numbers by mistake last month and correct spelled israel's ambassador last week i would a country's refusal to say sorry for gunning down nine activists and attack a ship trying to bring out a blockade of gaza last year the turkish pm says that type was a cause of very low but his country chose to refrain from aggression political analyst. from turkey feels israel shouldn't be surprised that the gyptian isn't tags have turned against it. in the killing of more. soldiers by. force. so that's why we. use really a. government official. our people ar