strategy he was seriously pursuing ricardo fabiani thank you very much for your time thank you still to come on counting the cost it's bigger than apple alphabet and amazon combined we take a dive into saudi aramco is financial. but first an actor who once played the president of ukraine and a hit t.v. show is leading the race to unseat president petro poroshenko whoever wins the second round run off will inherit a deadlock conflict in the east with russian backed faces now into its fifth year the war has hurt ukraine's most economically important region drained public resources and exhausted voters and there's no end in sight now to zero as jonah hole reports now from the city of mary a pole where the conflict is never far away. crane's war zone a new breed of entrepreneurs. alexi used his disability payout as an injured veteran

to set up a pizza business. being given a motivator in war people are happy to spend their money rather than save it because they know anything can happen at any moment. he's not particularly enthusiastic about the upcoming presidential election. and back. because of their spinelessness it took volunteers to protect this country where the leadership was too weak to protect it at all soldiers like alexi from the port city of mariupol formed the hours of but talon in two thousand and fourteen famous for preventing russian backed separatists from extending their territorial gains in the donbass region all the way to the sea but mario poll has paid a heavy price its once busy port sits idle empty of the cargo ships that carried steel and coal produced here to international markets russia's efforts to disrupt sea traffic off the annexed crimea peninsula include illegal cargo inspections and

a bridge built across the current strait that's too low for larger vessels heading for mariupol to pass beneath you more but if. they can forgive us that our country is in the band until zenda stands that ukraine is a free and democratic country unfortunately it will be hard to establish these. then late last year an unprovoked russian attack on three ukrainian navy boats twenty four captured ukrainian sailors are still being held in moscow and international shipping is far less frequently seen in these waters since last november's attacks on those ukrainian naval vessel suggested russia had new territorial designs by strangling traded ukraine's two main port from the sea of as of russia has taken effective control of this inland sea off the coast of crimea. in response president petro poroshenko declared martial law in the east if he

thought that would win him votes he was wrong with more than thirteen thousand dead this country is no longer united behind a war it can't win anna knows that despite losing her brother on the front line in two thousand and fifteen she says it's time for peace. he died for ukraine to be trained for the ukrainian language to be spoken to the crane to be an equal strong european country that hope of a bright future has begun to fade on the shores and battlefields of eastern ukraine now more and more americans are struggling to pay their rent on the problem isn't just limited to major cities eight million people in one hundred fifty two rural communities are struggling without decent homes poverty job losses and a lack of government programs are fueling the crisis gallica reports from florida. across rural communities in the us a crisis is unfolding with potentially

catastrophic consequences affordable housing is in desperately short supply while the rents for existing homes which are often in disrepair a rising to one affordable rates. it's a story that panetta al gray may knows all too well like many in rural communities she's paid minimum wage and will be facing a branch of close to two thousand dollars if she had found help her message to politicians is simple everything is so high. expensive and we don't get pay more. so everything goes up but our pay doesn't get goes up they say we still get paid as a minimum wage so we can afford it panetta and his family now live here at rural neighborhoods in homestead rents a subsidized by the government as the projects like hitting are in woefully short supplies if we lose business and if we lose businesses. the hoods

president stephen kirk says if issues like funding new construction and government intervention on to dressed the future for rural communities is bleak it may just require low interest loans that may require. some police ferenc but without the we're we're killing rural america we're killing rural towns and people have to leave to find jobs in other places and then they face a similar problem in urban america across the u.s. newly arrived migrant workers the elderly and the poor a facing a crisis that if left unchecked will have consequences for the entire nation in many places food banks are busier than ever direct effect of the rising cost of living what projects like rural neighborhoods do for families is give them dignity and security but the picture for eight million others across the u.s. is growing increasingly desperate experts say one in four rural communities is now facing an affordable housing crisis set to get worse if it's not addressed. as

india prepares for elections prime minister there under modi is fighting his campaign on security the threat of terrorism from pakistan rather than his economic track record but a former governor of the indian central bank has cast doubts on the country's growth numbers rajon said that he doubted that india was really growing at seven percent the respected economist warned the greatest problem for the country was job highlighting twenty five million people had applied for just ninety thousand jobs on the roadways he called on the government to improve the collection of jobs data despite those concerns most investors expect modi's ruling coalition to retain power the widely followed s. and p. b.s.e. sensex stock index roared to a record high which is surprising as of the last month it was one of the region's worst performers so what's behind the surge well international investors have snapped up a net four point three billion dollars in indian stocks in march the biggest

monthly total in two years so why are overseas investors buying indian stocks let's find out joining us now from london un thompson ewan's the head of emerging market equities at neptune investment management and runs an india fund good to have you with us so we've got this full reserve bank of india governor calling into question the real rate of growth in india what does that mean to you as someone who invests in the country. but then you look at india you've got a country which is always demonstrating really a was a growth premium in terms of economic growth relative to the rest of merging markets i think what you get with india is always this this great premium you get an earnings premium you get an hour a week premium so it was a very attractive market i think right now in the short is clearly a lot going on in terms of the political roadmap ahead with elections coming up and i think the results of that will obviously have a particularly significant impact on the reform goes and where growth goes i think in the short term that there is obviously

a question of election how that will play out in terms of growth i think when you take a step back you've also got to consider that no india really has that level of growth which is frankly pretty consistent regardless of who is in power so you actually get five six percent growth as ready as a bedrock and then you can get that extra growth on top of that so i think you know within emerging markets over a longer term if that growth rate is pretty consistent there obviously right now there is quite a high degree of uncertainty whether it's from outside of india the fed looking at bond yields looking where the dollar is looking where oil prices are i don't see within india in terms of where the election is going to sort of come out in the end of may in about a month's time as an investor does that not make you nervous and the relationship between india and pakistan to show that must be cause is just us here i think when you look at india one of the things i want to keep given what's happened with kashmir is that india actually one of the sort of least geopolitically affected markets within emerging markets so clearly within each you have

a number of markets which are extremely sensitive to the broader geopolitical events and actually what you have in india is largely a country which is removed from most of the major geopolitical issues now what you do have clearly is the frictions across the border with pakistan particularly surrounding kashmir therefore it's actually quite ironic in a way that since these tensions most recently fled in february you actually see that the markets behaved relatively well. and actually that this situation is to diffuse to an extent so actually this is the one geopolitical issue that can sort of arise for india it actually india's been one of the better performing markets since this has kicked off and actually as. tensions really settle down this is really sort of moved out of the headlines which is an extremely rich showing as an investor so in a way this flash point we've seen recently is very very happy to see that that has sort of defused as the last month has gone on but also we see that actually f.b.i. investors have actually put about six or seven billion dollars in india over the

last six or seven weeks which is from the point in me if every when we started see these tensions varying up so i think that it's not always because looking at it sort of geopolitical tensions are running for the door actually we've seen quite the opposite over the last month and a half there's no doubt that the country has huge potential well educated population a entrepreneurial class if you like as an investor what is it that you're looking at when you make investment decisions in the country absolutely so i think you know we opened the conversation just now talking about the elections coming up we're also talking about the sort of the growth rate prospects in the short term for me as an emerging market investor looking over the longer you know with my eyes of broader hats on and looking at a wide array of urging markets the thing that makes growth really sustainable is just meet the the quality. of the people the quality of the companies that we're investing in i think when you look at india so from my perspective i see release of the best companies best run companies in emerging markets i see

a very very talented workforce of huge demographic potential of the country and i see a strength of institutions and i think that really can't be overestimated the importance of having a strong and independent central bank you want to have an independent judiciary and oversee as we see with the election india is. you know the world's largest democracy and that is going to be done. straighted new billion people go to the polls in the next month so i think really that long term framework for growth in terms of institutions in terms of that demographic growth potential i think that's what you're getting as well as the talented people who run the companies that are in the workforce that's really what you're accessing when you're looking at new growth and of the in the short term there is all this noise but think of the longer term that's really where the capacity to have that high return on equity comes in here and really good to talk to you on counting the cost many thanks indeed for being with us thanks for having me saudi arabia has released financial details for the first time since the one nine hundred seventy s.

the data shows the reserves of the world's number one oil firm a much lower than expected despite that saudi aramco has still overtaken apple road dutch shell and exxon mobile to become the world's most profitable company some of the java deports. one of saudi arabia's most highly guarded secrets is out or at least partly revealed the state oil company has unveiled data for the first time since the one nine hundred seventy s. saudi aramco had to publish the information in a prospectus for potential investors as it prepares to raise capital and buy a petrochemical company called sobbing the data also raises questions about the size of saudi oil reserves betrayed by the revenue to run the kingdom that of our oil field is one of the world's largest surprise in the prospectus is that the around close its production capacity is three point eight million barrels a day now that still is far away the largest feel in the world what people are

concerned about as it used to produce well referred to in those days what we've understood over the years is that this is an intentional reduction of capacity in the war the sabbath purchase comes after saudi aramco plans for a public share offering their i.p.o. was put on hold last year it was meant to be the world's largest which saudi arabia evaluated at two trillion dollars the i.p.o. is not only going to be about whether those interests it's also going to be about whether the salaries are prepared to offer their crowns or will their most important company the thing that is very rabia provides all the revenue for the country or the bulk of it are they willing to really put that overseas and put them in a position where you know people could potentially have lawsuits against it you know make claims against it and i think a lot of people sorry we don't think very carefully that's what they want to do. the data shows that tax pays to the state has been greatly reduced to investors there are also questions about crown prince mohammed bin solomon's ambitious vision

twenty thirty the investors look at these all of these aspects technical influence on government interference and government in the oil company operations and then of course the overall sustainability of saudi regime in the next ten twenty years money raised from around cause business and potential sell off is at the heart of diversifying the saudi economy which so far remains a distant vision and that's our show for this week if you'd like to comment on anything that you've seen you can get in touch with us tweet me i'm at a finnigan on twitter use the hash tag c.t.c. when you do or you can drop us a line counting the cost of al-jazeera dot net is our e-mail address as always there's plenty more few online at al-jazeera dot com slash c.t.c. that takes you straight to a page day of fight individual reports links even entire episodes for you to catch up on but that's it for this edition of counting the cost of a very unfettered for the whole team here and thanks for being with us the news on

al-jazeera is next. twenty one the teenage years are left behind still trying to find my place trying to see where i fit in to the whole picture and adult hood begins to take i do cook occasionally but doesn't really want me to you wants me to stay off my feet in two thousand and six south africa are revisits the children of apartheid for the third time and much has changed over the past fourteen years twenty one up south africa on al-jazeera. being located outside that western centrex fair. we're able to bring a different perspective to global events when you peel away the lists a covert military in the financial darkening you see the people in those words and those policies are affecting see the emotion on their faces the situation they're

living in that's when our viewers can identify with the story. benjamin netanyahu is fighting for a fifth term as prime minister of israel using his friendship with trump's fears over security and race but he faces corruption charges and a trio of army chiefs trying to get a two one seat at the podium so it's a chance in the upcoming israeli elections get the latest on al-jazeera. this is zero. carry this is the news hour live coming up in the next sixty minutes they had of the united nations says he is leaving libya with a heavy heart as battles south of tripoli. hundreds of thousands of

algerians continue to protest saying they want a complete change to the old guard. whether it's asylum whether it's anything new on illegal immigration. sticking at the u.s. border with mexico donald trump says the u.s. is full. and the pharmaceutical family under pressure in the u.s. from the art world its supporters. begin this hour in libya were fierce battles have taken place near the capital tripoli forces loyal to warlord khalifa haftar have captured tripoli international airport that's on the southern outskirts of the city airport has been largely abandoned since two thousand and fourteen meanwhile at least one hundred forty five of pop tarts troops have surrendered to pro-government forces and so we are west of

tripoli and secretary general antonio terrace has tried to defuse a situation he held discussions with the u.n. backed government and also met with top tar in his eastern stronghold caetera says he is deeply concerned about the military escalation. head has more from the capital tripoli. the prime minister of libya as you and back to government face meeting the troops thirty kilometers west of tripoli i was in earlier fighters loyal to the world khalifa haftar attempted to enter tripoli but eventually surrounded dozens of their vehicles will seized a setback for her third who has ordered his troops in his words to liberate tripoli it's raising fears of a major confrontation with the u. and recognized government the united nations secretary general antonio arrived in tripoli this week he flew to eastern libya to meet hafter in an attempt to ease tensions he also visited tobruk whom to libya's parallel parliament which is backed

by have to i still hope it be possible that a lot of station in and around tripoli. and united nations remain. available facilitate political solution able to uni fi the libyan institutions here in tripoli libyan officials say the capital remains calm and the reassuring people who live here that government forces are ready to repel any attack on the city now that the very problem the situation is normal and there is no form of fighting prime minister fires satirized has given orders to the air defense to stand up to any possible threat to the lives of civilians. libya has been in turmoil since the need to bag the removal of its long time ruler into an eleven and since twenty fourteen it has had two competing

governments have to do we need to the east of libya leading a lose alliance of factions but his repeatedly except present his intention to marshawn tripoli beyond his military ambitions some analysts say. if there is a good is a loud voice in diplomatic efforts to secure a peaceful future this and now this minute this moment is just because the national conference is coming in ten days or so time i don't think you're going to be seeing any pitched battles and he may be working the media narrative in a way that makes him appealing to some groups but then there's going to be a backlash against others who don't want to see him in tripoli would have to move towards tripoli and he goes she hated settlement to this crisis looks more difficult but the u.s. and other world leaders will apply more pressure to try to pull libya back from the brink and would have to hit al-jazeera tripoli you hours ago the u.n.

security council wrapped up an emergency meeting on libya and called for hothouse forces to stop there and fans for more on that let's go to mike hanna who is at the u.n. in new york so mike what do we know about what came out of this emergency meeting well the security council was briefed by the special envoy for libya the special u.n. representative rahsaan salaam a he gave information about the situation as he saw it in libya it's also understood that he reported back on the meetings that the secretary general antonio the terrorists had had with various political figures one of those was with khalifa haftar and it does not appear that that meeting went particularly well diplomats indicating that huffed was described as confident and defiant and indicated that he was not going to back down on this very bad news for the a u.n. diplomats hoping to secure some kind of pause or or end to this ongoing conflict

the german ambassador as president of the security council had the statement after the meeting. the members of the security council expressed their deep concern that the military activity. near tripoli which risks to be instability and prospects for un mediation and a comprehensive political solution to the crisis. they called on any forces to halt all military movement. they also called on all forces to deescalate and halt military activity that can be no military solution to the conflict. now there was supposed to be a u.n. sponsored conference in libya later this month that conference was aimed to kick start a political process ending in national elections obviously that process is now in

dire jeopardy because of this upsurge in conflict and great concern to the reported position of huffed clearly indicating that he is not going to back down indicating that he will not give in to pressure from the united nations among others the to withdraw in this upsurge in conflict ok mike hanna live for us from the united nations thank you mike david mack is a former deputy assistant secretary of state for near east affairs and a scholar with the middle east institute he's also a former u.s. ambassador to the u.a.e. he joins us via skype from washington d.c. mr ambassador replay shade it we also know you have a lot of experience when it comes to libya how much further do you think this confrontation will go we have had some analysts who say this will not be a traditional battle he doesn't think it's going to go that far you've had other analysts who would disagree what do you think. well i think the good news so far as it there's been very little bloodshed there's been

a lot of posturing by field-marshal khalifa have to are and i think he was counting very strongly on being able to get some kind of negotiated surrender in which militias in the tripoli area would join with him and basically he would be invited him to be the sort of number one leader in tripoli just as he has managed to become the number one leader in eastern libya after about three or four years of fighting out there. i think he lost that gamble to the as best i can tell how does in fact. well the militias in the tripoli area basically. ended up lining up against him which is why he thought he was going to be able to walk into zawiya which is this city on the coast west of tripoli

and that he would there be from the from there he would be able to put pressure on the political situation in libya and he would basically be invited in as the conquering hero and that didn't happen the militias. in the tripoli area in western libya ganged up against him. he was am his forces were ambushed over a hundred of them were taken prisoner. this call to mind what happened some decades ago when come if i have to are was was taken prisoner by chaddy and forces . along with four hundred other libyans and that was the end of his. libyan military career at that point he's had a little bit of a resurgence but i think he has lost his bet that there isn't he's easy way for him to put pressure on the political factions inside western

libya and be invited in ok take charge but he's clearly still not not going anywhere so having said that what do you say the international community the u.n. being able to do about this particularly what they talk that are set up and the next ten days this is change what needs to happen there. when we come to the really bad news now which is that it seems increasingly young likely that this peace conference which had the full backing of the united nations' personal backing of the secretary general of the u.n. who has been in libya and actually met with have to are on friday. it seems very unlikely that it can take place in libya now and if it takes place at all it would have to take place in tunisia or someplace else that would be a great setback to efforts to get some kind of negotiated solution in which after would take some role in the government but subordinate to the civilian control

that's been basically the strategy of the u.n. it's not clear that that can win out there because it at some point i mean libya can't continue to exist in this way where this one man controls a significant part of the country and and the government has someone else's support at some point this will have to be dealt with. you know i'm i'm sorry i i think that point may be a long ways away in the future i think we could continue to have a standoff for some time i think this is a big setback for me if i have to are i don't think he's going to be able to maintain him selfe for any significant period of time in western libya i think we may well go back to the kind of divisions that we saw previously that's unfortunate but the libyans to a certain extent have gotten used to that oil oil production has gone up it's gone down be international community can't really depend upon it but there has been

enough income generated over recent years in order to set a sustained the libyan economy and. i think the key thing that we have to bear in mind is that it wasn't just the u.n. security council and secretary general who were backing the government of national accord in tripoli and some kind of international conference but also in this latest round you had the government of the united arab emirates joining the united states united kingdom italy and france to support a call first that having the u.n. mediated process so that the way that also has supported huffed are. so well and that just shows how complicated and nuanced.