russians would be so much brighter if you knew more about someone from phones to freshens. whose friends don't totty dot com. first. legal immunity outrages spog throughout russia over claims of influential figures using bad connections to evade justice. preparing for their work with eye watering cuts in the u.k.'s public service is said to be revealed some economists

predict the country could plunge even deeper into recession. the big apple split into an even slices just released shows the gap between the rich and the poor in new york is now wider than that of the society in india. and coming up in the business update of the great athlete in vietnam in venezuela his russian venture to pay for nearly two billion dollars to have the details in about twenty minutes time. live from moscow but this is all it's welcome to the program the daughter of a powerful siberian official will be retried over a horrific car crash that left one woman and another paralyzed a public outcry was sparked when initially it was revealed that it. was not going

to be charged over the incident which took place a year ago c.c.t.v. footage showed a very onto the pavement and then the cars driver only checking for damage ignoring the critically injured pedestrians. pregnant at the time of the crash got a three year suspended sentence and was given time to raise a child it was alleged high profile mother original electoral committee official could have tipped the case in her favor and as sarah firth reforms say it's not the first time a kid with connections in russia. i've been accused of a scraping justice. when valarie three day it was no use down by a car it was the beginning of a long and very difficult road to recovery it was this bus stop the following was not seriously injured but that was five years ago and since then we've seen our neighbor to pay but investigated he suffered horrific injuries and the memories of

that day still very clear in his mind. i remember exactly how it all happened moment by moment my friend oh yeah and myself we're standing here as we parted he looked across the street on the green light i remember the green light vividly i had turned and began walking in that direction when i heard a sound and saw something flying towards me the driver of the car was eighteen year old. daughter of a former high ranking f.s.b. officer for larry's case or they being denied a criminal trial did make it to the civil courts. we asked for one hundred thousand dollars in compensation but at the time of the trial she claimed she was just a poor student with twenty dollars monthly allowance so she was ordered to pay three thousand dollars to me and she did in installments but even before the trial she was actually a major shareholder in a commercial bank in moscow. so larry made eight attempts to have criminal

proceedings launched but was refused every time. if an ordinary person had been in her place they would have faced criminal punishment long ago the incident is too serious to refuse to open a criminal case there seems to be a consider of the population in russia which is immune from criminal prosecution for larry's repeated attempts to get the case tried in the criminal cause of lead to accusations against him with the abuse of the family claiming he jumped in front of the car and was trying to extort money from the in response to larry made an online play to president dmitri medvedev. i'm hoping for your objective help mr president. an investigation into the legitimacy of the refuses to launch criminal proceedings has now been ordered. never to and. i made my

own life statement not because i want compensation for my hills but because i've been falsely accused and because of all the corruption i want justice. with the full investigation yet to be conducted abuse of her remains in the driving seat whilst the larry left to slowly rebuild his life with the help of friends and family surface r.t. cheney had been squeege in. to talk more about this now i'm joined in the studio by a correspondent for the christian science monitor fred ware good to see you so if this case in siberia just sparked massive public outrage due to outlets like the internet and c.c.t.v. chief thing come there was a growing awareness of incidents like this and is it helping to combat them well i think the answer is probably yes you know this is not an unfamiliar scenario in a lot of places it is perfectly calm and in almost every country that the rich get a better ride in legal systems if only because they can hire better and lawyers and

and find their way navigate through the system better and i noticed lately in the united states there have been these cases of celebrities people like lindsay lohan and paris hilton they get arrested and the thing you notice is that the intensive press coverage on that. forces the authorities to make a show of treating them equally and even then you see that so so the answer is yes the more publicity the more light that shone on this the better the better it will be so you think with publicity and richer people certainly in the west they're getting a smoother easier ride with the law but let's talk about russia here people with connections they really above the law here in russia do you think well until quite recently they certainly were mean for a thousand years russia was the kind of system that was divided into two people the privileged class and everybody else and i can well remember that in the soviet union a party member could not be arrested it doesn't mean that party members could get

away with anything it's just that the party would judge them first and if it judged that they should be arrested and tried for a crime they would be expelled from the party before they would go into the justice system so that's only like twenty years ago you did have this system in law in russia now that's gone but other but it certainly is probably still fixed in every policeman's mind that certain people are untouchable and that's a problem in this case. others like it is simply part and parcel of a corrupt system because medicare that has pledged to clamp down on corruption do you think progress is being made well. you know i think that since there are no privileged people under the law in russia anymore you do have one law for all in theory the thing that sustains this de facto privilege is corruption people who can use their connections buy their way escape justice i sure that's it and everybody knows of lots and lots of cases and if everybody tells the truth

they will tell of cases where they've dated traffic tickets and all kinds of problems by paying a bribe but that is a fundamental fact of life in russia is it changing you know i have to say i don't think so now some russians have taken their cases to the international courts when they call find justice here in russia is it even worth it. well yeah i think i think that any pushing. push back. that's kind of democratic civil society is is worth it because what we know historically in the west and in societies that perhaps work better in these terms than russian society does that that's how it was done isn't that they were made that we are born that way it's that they built their societies from the ground up people pushed they got it done and that became their customary way of doing things that's how to do it right fred we're journalists from the christian science monitor thank you thank you. well

coming up a storm is looming on the british horizon. the difficulty is that when you've drunk three bottles of vodka then you may well think that you're capable of putting the world to right but at the same point in time you know you're going to wake up in the morning with a hangover is that you as you can fight rather to recover from the credit crunch some say nothing's been learned. the worst is yet to come. global security and fighting terror threats are in focus with the leaders of russia france and germany they are meeting in the french resort of the e.u. to discuss how to make the continent's fragile economic recovery sustainable caterina us out of our reports on this. the tranquil setting of the french seaside town of derby is expected to be the perfect backdrop for the so-called troika dialog meet them and visit and his colleagues in the protests are cozy and marco

are expected to discuss many issues not only relating to european matters but also those concerning the international community specifically the tasks that lay before the group of eight and the group of twenty stability in the middle east the ongoing situation with afghanistan and of course iran's nuclear ambitions but they're bringing a lot more to these discussions. promoting unity in the international community and improving existing international security institutions are fully aligned with the goal of economic and political modernization in russia such an approach requires overcoming old stereotypes and i think we've had some successes in this area cool the recent development of our ties with the us improving relations with poland the recent border deal with norway and many other of our foreign policy initiatives all demonstrate how this approach works but there are other items on the agenda as wealthy can on the crisis and its effect spawning europe on by a lot of old and european trades with russia of course the framework with which

russia is prepared to cooperate with nato the north atlantic treaty organization and various other aspects of cooperation between russia and nato as well. to be talking about life in europe and european security as my idea about signing the european security treaty fits nicely into these efforts we hope this possible document and other efforts taken by our country to provide security will receive an adequate response in the world. a visa free regime for russian citizens is expected to be brought up in the discussions the citizens at the moment are requested by the get agreement to acquire it be said before entering european states russia forces long been negotiating a visa free regime for its citizens and that issue is definitely going to be touched upon by the russians. all of. this. is very helpful. and therefore.

the chance to speak. that way. security not being part of the e.u. or nato well that's according to political expert. who says that that's why pushing for a joint security alliance. goal is to make the european security . situation that russia which is an important country in europe. state or european security system as of today the european security system is nato this is part of it so. proposal of me to build the security space. to bring russia and some other countries which are still crain into the european. security decision making.

and you can watch the. often around fifteen minutes time right here on. well the u.k. is bracing itself to hear about public spending cuts worth tens of billions of pounds the coalition government will reveal the comprehensive spending review on wednesday it aims to dramatically cut the budget deficit and put the country on the road to financial recovery but some economists say that the worst is yet to come and that reports. the start of a new working week in the city of london in the eye of an economic storm life goes on as normal but those who work here know that the financial crisis is far from over. you know a lot worse to come i think worse still to come i think the worst of it there is more to come how much a lot more they're talking about the financial crisis we've already had but

according to some economists we ain't seen nothing yet certain respected finance is the saying that rather than solving the issues that caused the last financial crisis governments and central banks like the bank of england behind me i actually leading us towards an even bigger meltdown and they can see even seem to agree on a lot to do in europe the powers that be are stopping the money printing machines over in the u.s. the federal reserve has just announced another round of quantitative easing but who's right nobody is right i mean that's really the problem the difficulty is that when you've drunk three bottles of vodka then you may well think that you're capable of putting the world to right but at the same point in time you know you're going to wake up in the morning with a hangover this is the point where we're working up in the morning with a terrible hangover in a new book the gathering storm a group of finance he has got together to say that governments have learnt nothing

from this crisis policymakers are applying old models in their economic projections and that could lead to inflation hitting ordinary people hard debt will have to be repaid and restructuring will have to big. when but in the city there's a fear that people are in denial false sense of security i think yeah i think it's very convenient from a political perspective and overall feel good like. to feel better you know people want to feel better you know but it's the fundamentals are not great people are still in denial but. when they're from the tax man starts chasing people who can't pay then they'll be a problem that idea may come home to roost is early is this week when the government announces extensive cuts to public services we shouldn't assume that the period of extreme global weakness which followed the lehman brothers collapse is the worst episode in this long drawn out depression there could be much worse

episode still to come. and here in the city of london that would really put the cat among the pigeons nor am it london. still ahead for you in the program it's a rich man's world find out how new york's wealthy and glamorous are leaving some homeless and hungry. heart tom out of check out some other stories making news around the world this hour and thousands are fleeing their homes after a super typhoon hit the northern coast of the philippines meteorologist warned that the typhoon news capable of causing catastrophic damage. has already drowned in a state of emergency has been declared it's been four years since another storm of similar strength triggered mudslides and left dozens of people dead. students have blockaded entrances to schools and said vehicles on the fire in paris and march say they are drawing nationwide protests against government pension

reform by nearly a quarter of a. cross france have run out of petrol truck drivers throw their weight behind the strikes are also fears the charles de gaulle airport in paris could be left with a. fuel workers say they won't stop protesting until the pension bill is abandoned senate is to hold a deciding vote on wednesday. an indian high court has begun hearing an appeal by the only surviving gunman of the mum by terror attacks from two years ago pakistani national mohammad who is expected to condemn the contest the death sentence handed to him in may he is accused of mass murder committing a terrorist act waging war on india. and his accomplice were convicted for the bloodiest part of the attacks killing more than fifty people hearing is due to last several months. new york's economy may be on an upswing but not everyone is reaping the benefits recent figures suggest the wealth gap between new yorkers is now wider

than ever. reports on how the big apple is split to the core. the lucky few are shopping for shoes where thousands of dollars to chanel's and just a wave of a wallet away for just a few steps away a person with their entire life belongings in a shopping cart blue curious lifestyles that rich people in new york are richer than rich people most places are living side by side with those for whom surviving in a tough economy has become a full time job according to recent published report the gap between the rich and poor in the big apple is greater than india country where the majority of the population lives in poverty relieving a winner take all society where there's a small number of stars who make vast salaries and where the majority of people have too much month left at the end of the money last year one and a half million people were registered living in poverty in new york meanwhile the

city's richest are still enjoying the high life the rich people in new york are flying around on private planes eating caviar renting yachts the net worth of the less than sixty richest new yorkers has recently spiked by an entire. nineteen billion dollars one percent of the population controls seventy percent of the returns to wellesley it's never been that high it's never been that bad but this somehow ends up being reflected only on the less fortunate i can spend five thousand dollars on that piece of jewelry or a handbag would you ever buy a bag for five thousand dollars. i don't think so housing is one of the main symbols of this wealth gap we're in front of. the project right now with the average we're going to. have buildings to. use parity. realtors selling luxury property are

not afraid of going out of work probably the most expensive cafferty i've sold is about eight million thankfully new york has rebounded quicker from their protection in two thousand and nine than any of the other major american cities but that's mostly true for the rich every night about one thousand people sleep in the subway system of new york meanwhile the most expensive hotels are doing as well as ever something the rich definitely like to splurge on the new york city of luxury hotels if you have an extra buck to spend in your wallet why not spend it on a hotel room for twenty two hundred dollars a night or platinum massage in your room for a mere three hundred dollars this is thousands across new york fill homeless shelters with no room to spare three times one hundred eighty five i put you to one hundred eighty five with each meal while the number of people relying on

a free meal has gone up by fifty percent over the last year others are not even keeping track of their spending three thousand four thousand more than working on a story about the gap between the rich and poor knew you were. what do you consider yourself to be. the possibility of the wealth gap narrowing is far from being around the corner right now we're debating about whether or not to give tax breaks to the richest americans to keep this kept going to keep growing but if this gap widens even more new york me soon be split into two different planets a big one with tens of thousands struggling for survival and a small one with a very lucky few this future for the big apple could not be far especially while the city's mayor is considered the second richest person in town and. new york. now you can always get the latest on everything we're covering here on our web site

that's called when it let's take a quick look now at what's online for you one of the. russian capital cools off after a hot summer the city's cut so heating up designers from all over the world are displaying their spring summer collections for russian fashion week. and just who are the russian mafia take out to see if your knowledge of these wiseguy seems good enough to get you into a closed cycle. and charlotte is coming your way in just a few moments with the business. hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. every

month we give you the future we help you understand how we'll get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world join your knowledge update on our g. hello welcome to the business program here on artsy with me charlotte i was folly b.p. has agreed to sell in venezuela as russian a joint venture to pay one point eight billion dollars the deal in phase b.p. stakes in three venezuela and two gas fields in vietnam they say as part of the peace plan to raise up to thirty eight billion dollars by the end of two thousand and eleven to help the company meet is financial obligations to go next but also the acquisitions will find us wanting k.b.p.s. own whistle says i won't require additional debt. this is all part of

a global expansion plan to make a big p. . was adopted for itself in an attempt to diversify itself out of russia and become become a true global company. so as a starting point i think the first step towards that goal. grow to a modest sized modestly sized acquisition might be just the right size. the main page and has been praising the performance of the russian economy to a group of foreign businessmen investors the prime minister said growth was returning of the budget deficit was likely to be smaller than expected this year. corporate profits grew by more than seventy seven percent through january to july compared to the same period last year production increased eight point nine percent in the first nine months of two thousand and ten we expect gross domestic product to grew four percent this year maybe a bit in two years' time we are going to recover growth we lost during the crisis

we hope the budget deficit this year we much lower than the forecast five point three percent next year we are expecting to be around three percent so much. times have a look at the markets now in russia they are. mixed most of the blue chips are in the red with energy shares posting biggest losses on foreign oil prices bucking the trend they were spared banking shares are rising two percent by a strong financial support for the first nine months of the year and over in europe stocks traded shares of philips electronics nearly five percent after the group offered a cautious outlook for the rest of the year. and weighing on shares in london the foot see. some news in free for you now russia's largest food retailer chain magnates has increased profits by more than a third almost two hundred forty million dollars the first nine months of the year

turnover was five point four billion dollars that's a jump of thirty five percent of the previous year results are considerably better than analysts forecast but. top gain is on the r.t.s. . the previous regime for foreign car makers in russia is likely to come to an end next february is one of the conditions for the countries the sessions the world trade organization and future manufacturers will have to make calls locally sourced parts rather than simply assembling foreign produced components ports. for japanese companies to rad opens a joint plant with gas group subsidiary risky machining to produce heating element another car parts. currently our strategy is based around one consumer gods we do plan to extend our business in russia and work with japanese and other foreign carmakers our goal is to find new consumers by twenty twelve. foreign spare part makers are more than welcome johnson controls. are among those working in

russia but it's easier for them to enter the russian market with the help of a local giant we have a very good supply base today. as we need new technology. for importers. this september the ministry of industry and trade announced new rules for car makers who should raise output to three hundred thousand cars a year twenty five thousand and double to sixty percent the parts that they obtained locally this would boost the local component industry but industry insiders say it's too much too soon these requirements could be made by very few companies for example these are most in that the russian o.e.m.'s who have the largest volumes and potentially some of the. good market share already are selling above one hundred thousand close to one hundred fifty thousand in the ministry of economic development piece not favoring. very strict

regulations and they are proposing an alternative which is smush more flexible however not well defined in there so i would imagine the ultimate decision will be some sort of a compromise few cars nowadays have a national identity they contain parts from around the globe ironically international car makers sourcing more of their parts in russia could turn out to be more russian than the better known domestic brands. business or to. not show up they can always find more stories on our website.