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 will have a better 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 tally in 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 and tells and the 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 force on 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 and the crane to be an equal strong european country that hope of a brighter future has begun to fade on the shores and battlefields of eastern ukraine now more and more americans are struggling to pay their rent and 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. here i'm yet to hear it's a story that panetta al grey may knows all too well like many in rural communities she's paid minimum wage and will be facing brants of close to two thousand dollars if she had found help her message to politicians is simple everything is so high you know everything is expensive and we don't get paid 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 in a family now live here at rural neighborhoods in homestead rents a subsidized by the government as the projects like hitting a rainbow fully short supplies are we lose business and if we lose businesses.

the hood's 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 railways 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 u.n. 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 and vekoma 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 this 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 but 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 the relationship between india and pakistan to show you that must because you suggest 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's actually one of the sort of least geopolitically affected markets with an emerging market 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 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 because every when we started seeing these tensions varying up so i think that it's not always looking out 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 virgin 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 and 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 in your growth and office 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 mobil 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 part of wield 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 deal 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 savage 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 salaries are prepared to offer their crown jewel 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 the you know make claims against it and i think a lot of people said it would have 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 sole man's ambitious

vision twenty thirty the investors who look at these all of these aspects technical influence on government interference and government in their 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 adrian figured from the whole team here and thanks for being with us the news on al-jazeera is next.

twenty one the teenager left behind still trying to find a place trying to fit in to the whole picture and adult hood begins to take form i did cook occasionally but doesn't really want me do you want me to stay off my feet in two thousand and six south africa revisits the children of apartheid for the third time and much has changed over the past fourteen inas twenty one up south africa. and. india is in the midst of a high tech revolution with over one billion. yet in

a country where one in four current leader how can this technological boom be holidays to the common good. challenges a digital to devise an easy to use for struggling. county find a way to bring the two worlds together fly from smoke while harvest on al-jazeera. the head of libya's un back to. the trial as his troops advance on the capital tripoli. welcome to al-jazeera live from a headquarters in doha the thing it is

a fraud and also ahead six people were killed in saddam's biggest anti-government protest and moms and you don't demonstrate. venezuela president and opposition leader one why don't their supporters and every wants the u.s. to get its plans to designate its a revolutionary guard as terrorists. the head of libya's un back on the run has accused war lot of the trail over has been the true offensive on the capital promise to fire his forces will confront troops with determination the two sides have been locked in fierce battles about thirty kilometers from the center of tripoli from where i had reports. of gunfire on the outskirts of libya's capital. forces loyal to the have to

trying to push their way to desist city. they say they have seized some areas south of tripoli these claims have been denied by the tripoli and the recognized government on saturday the you and bag the prime minister. to remain firm against have to discourses. we reiterate our call to all libyans throughout the country east to west north to south to the necessity of giving priority to the interests of the country unifying the ranks and working together to lift libya out of this crisis i say to the international community that it should not equate between the aggressor and those who defend themselves or between those who seek the militarization of the state and those committed to a democratic civilian country or. the u n recognized governments are said to have been deployed from the city of misrata to the west and south to fight have to his forces. therefore asked like but we suffered no loss for dollars it's reported that

one family area was hit believed. that we held back on the use of air force in order to protect civilians and public and private property any dead fighter flying or to police will not be allowed and will be targeted the airbase it came from in order to be targeted the u.n. secretary general and to new good turkish has been in tripoli area of talks on rebuilding libya's fractured political system has been forced to leave the un says the talks will still go ahead. we will not give up this work quickly i know very well that holding the national conference in the conditions of escalation fighting is difficult but we will insist on holding it on time unless other circumstances interfere so. libya has been divided between two competing governments since twenty fourteen the talks are seen as one of a few options for peace in libya the only explanation available to us that he probably wanted to shift the. balance or you know to his favor

just days before the reconsideration conference so he can get advances demands during this conference because. they are reflections of. on the ground in france foreign ministers of the g. seven group of countries have been voicing their concerns several foreign governments have been wanting to leave have to his forces not to attack tripoli they say that have to support the talks which are still expected to start on the fourteenth of april with the hope of using elections as a way out of libya's a two year conflict g. seven foreign ministers attending a meeting in france also issued a statement saying that libya's oil facilities must not be used by any faction for political gain if libya's opposing forces continue this latest battle for control

the route to a political solution will become more difficult for the. tripoli well television is a research fellow at the chatham house and he says it's difficult for half hour to back down from the offensive. i think we're entering a more and more dangerous phase in the last twenty four hours i think what we're seeing is an escalation. after us forces seeking to support the offensive and in response for the forces being sent from misrata to the capital to oppose that offensive so unfortunately it looks like momentum is gathering and that major clashes could be could be witnessed i think it's interesting to understand the motivations for this offensive because in some ways it seems quite a surprising move in fact a lot of the discussion was how a political settlement might be coming in the near term and that it might heavily favor half there and actually what we've heard in recent weeks is a lot of criticism from have to opponents saying that after is effectively being

given too much so in that context and only ten days out from the national conference that have to launch an offensive was the u.n. secretary general is in tripoli certainly has caught people by surprise i think at the same time it seems likely that if that was the play and controlling that tripoli was the goal then the hope would have been that it would have happened quick and now that this is set in and forces are being mobilized it looks set to be a much more sustained campaign certainly following the speech that have to made on thursday announcing the advance on tripoli it's very hard for him to back down and see how he gets out of this position i think it's difficult to make too many predictions on the ground at the moment because we see that in libya often alliances can be quite fleeting and shifting but you would certainly say that at this present time it's unlikely that have to forces are going to prevail in tripoli and that raises a whole host of questions. let's move on to other news now and six people have been

killed insofar as protests against the president turned violent one died and on the man while the other deaths occurred in the capital car for their demonstrators marched on president omar al bashir his residence and the nearby army headquarters in drama and a quiet has more. the they are calling for revolution and these protesters headed for the army headquarters in khartoum the latest in a way for protests that began in december over the price of bread and escalated into calls for an end to president omar bashir is three decades. the longer it takes for a bishop to step down because the protests will get if you walk down the street it was just five years old up to fifty or sixty years old you know coming out of the same thing you want to step down security forces have responded to the protest movement with a fierce crackdown killing at least sixty people since the protests began according

to an international human rights group. despite the tough response to dissent the protests continue. an activist posted this video of herself on you tube and that many will take back our dignity and will take back our country as well the people's will is above everything you need to understand that the people have spoken thats it. as one points there was sounds of gunshots also than that to say the protest on saturday with peaceful. president bashir has stepped down as head of the ruling party in the hope of coming to protest but the demonstrators insist they won't give up until he resigns a president each moment to quit al-jazeera. was a sudanese american journalist and activist who helped organize protests against officiate in the u.s. and has been lobbying u.s.

politicians for their support our message is incomplete alignment with what the protesters are saying. and we're also campaigning for freedom peace and justice that sudanese americans we have our first amendment right to freely assemble freely protest today we had a protest in new york city where people marched from times square all the way to the united nations on a second avenue last week we had a protest in washington d.c. and the week before that we were as has been cisco so our messaging is in complete alignment with the people back in sudan and they're saying her yes a lot a lot ally which translated of course translates into freedom peace and justice that's my message and so we've taken that message to congress a lobbying representative we were meeting with jennifer elected just a week ago in washington d.c. at her office and she said that she also supports the fact that the bashir issue needs to follow we got good news on friday we saw

a bipartisan letter that was issued by you know presidential candidate cory booker who is a democrat we also saw ted cruz in marco rubio who are also republicans all of the foreign relations committee signed a letter saying that the peaceful demonstrations have certainly shown that the people no longer support this year. to venezuela now where there been mass protests for and against the president the rallies followed days of power failures what nicolas maduro is blaming on his political rivals or shortly we'll hear from jamal and child his whether whether or support his supporters but first a latin america editor lucien newman reports from a valley led by opposition leader on why though. this is what opponents of nicolas maduro call the first stage of what they've labeled operation liberty in actual fact it's an attempt to gauge just how successful they can continue to bring supporters out onto the streets not just here but throughout than israela. they

want to show that they have not grown tired or afraid despite increased threats from armed paramilitary groups loyal to the government to fire tear gas and he didn't bullets at protesters but but this if it is says she's not afraid. but you know is incompetent he talks about socialism but he lives like a millionaire like an imperialist but we haven't had any water in my neighborhood for more than a year. and i. apologized for the improvised stage and the poor sound quality he said intelligence police operatives have confiscated for generators and two trucks for the rally and arrested the drivers are going to run in let me. tell you it's just not water and electricity that we are demanding no we are here to demand freedom and democracy food education and the future and nothing will stop us until we achieve it.

but nearly three months into the standoff is on the offensive tuesday the supreme court which is loyal to the government stripped of his legislative immunity which means he can be arrested at any moment despite warnings of retaliation from the united states the sign reads the new. next exit is meet a flautist meet a fellow this is the presidential palace but it is wishful thinking if these people believe that president nicolas maduro is going anywhere any time soon and so the real task of the opposition leaders now is to try to keep these people out on the streets for the long haul. the large demonstration in caracas was peaceful but in the northern city of daraa riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters why the admitted that more sacrifices are needed. but his most sobering message was directed at those who are calling for u.s. military intervention.