average rediscovered in the state of israel there's a joke in israel that when moses led the jews out of egypt he took a one turn on his way to the promised land bringing them to the one spot in the middle east that has no oil but that punchline might need to change because it seems that moses might not have been so wrong after all in two thousand and nine israel announced the discovery of a first major natural gas field off its coast but the most recent reports from the giant live eight and natural gas site of the coast of haifa point to a potential for billion barrels of black gold we will be able to base our future. energy. it will be less expensive which is how important. from political. appointee we were surely we should be less dependent on the. import of foreign oil but it's not only israel name came to the reserves greek cyprus to keep and lebanon also say the oil is and one international law allows

a country to drill in the so-called continental shelf off its coast the fact that israel and lebanon have never agreed on maritime boundaries makes it clear that israel in and lebanon begins i know the club about how its version of think the border line will pass if and when they will have a negotiated i don't know that the answer has its own version or the impulse but they're not the agreement on whether and because the two countries are enemy states is unlikely to be any agreement anytime soon both have threatened to go to war over the issue obviously this is an israeli company. as an israeli company and. will not be allowed to enter into lebanese territory or will have any part of their connection with ration of lebanese gas lebanon filed a complaint with the united nations after israel placed floating markers extending

two miles into the sea and weighing in on the conflict hizbollah crucible as the major political actor in lebanon. and his strongest supporter from the syria. and it would seem if we take statements and public positions seriously which we are. they will interest and form an activity creating tension israel has the upper hand for now it's already struck a deal with cyprus and is preparing to start extraction levanon still needs to sort out the boundaries of its economic zone with cyprus and syria and it will be years before it has the evidence it needs to show that israel's fields extend into lebanese territory policy r.t. television still ahead for you this hour on r.t. woring new facts about crime in russia. about eighty percent of syria's juvenile crime stick placed in me all night when children in syria are

supposed to be looked after by their parents investigate what's put russia at the top of the youth crying table. but first russia is seeking to prevent nato from placing major forces close to its borders moscow's presented the plan which would limit the alliances military presence in its youngest member states and has more now from moscow. roll show wants to prevent nay say from placing any major full says close to its border it wants to set a formal limits i count on that the amount of the alliance's forces of that all place close to its borders particularly in its new members states which do light that bit closer to the russian our borders in doing this russia believes that it simply asking for nato to keep the promises it's made to the then soviet president mikhail gorbachev back in one thousand nine hundred when it promised not to move quite as much as the thumbs which further to the east say russia simply things that

they are all saying nato to keep to that promise that was made all those years ago other cording to foreign ministry buildings this plan was actually put forward as far back as december and has been in the ever since but will now seriously be on the table in the next months allow mugg russia nato meetings take place in lisbon and possibly even before that when they take secretary-general anders fogh rasmussen visits moscow well one the particular area in which both russia and they can cooperate is in the own going issue of afghanistan and maintaining peace in that area and also in the ongoing fines against drug trafficking that comes out of afghanistan earlier this week several leading u.k. newspapers and made the statement that russia would be sending it troops back into the country to help in training afghan forces now russia's envoy they say to be

at ruggles and has flatly denied that he said that russia will no account be re entering afghanistan russia of course for a bit said decade long war in afghanistan from nine hundred seventy nine to nine hundred eighty nine and to be as i call it in the house said the russia has no wish to go back into the country what she has said russia will be doing though is. possibly supplying helicopters to the ongoing fight in afghanistan and will also potentially help in the training of afghan forces and also in afghan and pakistan of police forces in their ongoing fight against the drug because but that training will not take place on afghan soil another area of potential cooperation is in the future discussion on the europe world missile defense shield in the spirit of improved russian made so of friendship nato has said that it very much wants nature

to be a russia rather to be a part of that discussion on how best to implement that missile defense shield across europe. and us about their mosco well for more on this i'm joined by dr adrian pabst he's a veteran politics in the university of kent joining us in the london studio. this reported call for nato to limit its military presence close to russia's borders what are the chances that moscow's demands will be met. i'd be very surprised if nato gave any formal commitment to reducing its troops close to the russian border it seems more of a negotiation tactic i think ahead of the summit try and make clear that this is a new phase of engagement that we're now talking between partners that have equal rights and that the atmosphere has changed profoundly since the russian georgian war two years ago so i don't think nato. make any promises or pledges but i do

think it helps some people pad negotiations around the table at the nato summit in november. nevertheless as you mentioned there are signs of corp and particularly we've noticed that there were rumors in need newspapers that russia will be helping nato militarily in afghanistan and now that is a sign obviously of further relations improving and cooperation but i mean if that is actually true in what way do you see russia being involved with the campaign in afghanistan but i don't think this is a tall charitable act on the part of moscow i think hardcore security interest that moscow is quite legitimately defending is two things one is terrorism moscow is worried that extremism from afghanistan pakistan will spread across central asia and also perhaps fuel conflict in russia and secondly the flow of drugs which is a major security and health issue because it of course is part of organized crime and

causes such terrible social and. physical damage among drug users in russia so russia's got a legitimate interest it's defending them and it's just right it does so but in what way would it be involved russia said categorically that russian troops will certainly not be involved within any combat zone within afghanistan so how do you see this help actually developing even further where we see russia cooperating in helping nato with this afghanistan campaign. well i think russian troops and afghan soil will be counterproductive. people don't forget history very easily of course there's a lot of resentment still in afghanistan about the soviet invasion occupation so be unhelpful to send troops but training can happen outside the country information exchange in the fight against organized crime and terrorism is so crucial can be started again between russia and nato countries and securing the northern border i

think that can be done with with all sorts of. ways that don't involve sending russian troops into afghanistan itself just how far do you see just finally this cooperation between the two developing i mean obviously there are still major divisions between the two but how do you see the relations between russia and nato developing in the near future but i think there's two significant developments oneness of course the bilateral development between the u.s. and russia. between president obama and president putin has clearly worked it's create a much better atmosphere and there's trust again on both sides secondly i think there is also emerging security dialogue between russia and european nato countries such as france and germany they met last week in northern france to discuss see european security framework that is a response to present mediators proposal for a treaty on european security so we are seeing two things better bilateral relations and the beginnings of a european takeover of nato and i think that is very interesting the americans are more interested in the asia pacific rim and they were interested in the middle east

it's now up to europe that is both western europe and russia to make sure that it comes to better security arrangements inside the wire to europe and that's why i think all these developments are so if you're. joining us live there in london a lecturer in politics in the university of kent we appreciate your time in r.t. thank you. many facts the un has urged investigation into claims of torture in iraqi prisons following the latest revelation from wiki leaks the whistle blowing web site also raised concerns that kurdish controlled northern iraq could be plunged into bloodshed when u.s. troops withdraw and sebastian meyer now reports many in the country do fear the twenty eleven deadline is too soon for local security forces to cope on their own. a dawn raid a race against time to catch militants off guard in the iraqi province of kirkuk where in the suburb of duck cook and the police have just a few minutes to get into position before sunrise. daybreak's in the raid begins police under the supervision of the u.s.

army go door to door searching rooms and checking residents against lists of unknown terrorists. dominated heavily by kurds have been remarkably successful recently they have cut terror attacks by over fifty percent in the past few months these guys are very good they are very good and they're very good at intelligence and develop they are gathering intelligence and developing intelligence and the other see a very strong police force not worried about it but others mainly the city's non kurds are here in downtown they're going to give them life with her charity turkmen with their own historic claim on the kirkuk is a unique city in iraq a true melting pot of all the different ethnicities in the country but this mixture continues to lead to extremely volatile ethnic tensions a two thousand and nine field report that was recently leaked by the whistleblower wiki leaks states that without strong and fair influence likely from a third party these tensions may quickly turn to violence after the u.s.

forces withdraw all of this in terms of security when the u.s. leaves it will be no independent security force right now the securities from the kurdish side of the city this is the truth when the u.s. leaves things will get worse it will be conflicts arabs will stand up and prayed and we should say with third and this will buy loads by god forbid both wars will begin between the ethnic groups as. an example of this violence wasn't long in coming no more than five minutes after we finished the interview a roadside bomb targeting the police detonated in the center of the city. luckily for the police the terrorist nest it appears that despite the gains that the police are making. the american troop withdrawal could easily lead to a return to sectarianism in kirkuk for kurds arabs and turkmen alike the consequences of the u.s. led war have left the future very much uncertain sebastian cook.

and explore. the moment. with its twenty fourteen winter olympic preparations a massive construction reveal secrets of ancient. plates all racing to. young couples in india before now it's for taking money to. there rising hopes a two decade long frozen conflict between a million and as a by john could be coming to an end russian president dmitri medvedev has been meeting the leaders of the two countries and says all sides agree settlement principles will be reached within

a month and also agreed to the immediate exchange of prisoners and the bodies of those killed in the conflict the confrontation into the disputed territory. broke out in one thousand eight hundred eight when the region sought independence it was part of the soviet republic of as a by john but was mostly populated by armenians and the early ninety's it escalated into a war that killed about thirty thousand people following a cease fire nine hundred ninety four russia has been the main mediator in peace talks. going on it's a quick look at some other stories making headlines around the world this wednesday aid workers and relief supplies are finally reach remote indonesian islands a ten foot tsunami a massive wave which killed at least two hundred seventy people has swept away entire villages relief operations have been hampered by bad weather and rough waters the tsunami was triggered by an offshore earthquake. and unocal portably b. to reportedly to be from osama bin laden has been released to the media in it he threatens to kill french citizens over the country support of the u.s.

led war in afghanistan stage four is the kidnapping of five french citizens in last month recording claims it was in response to france's injustice towards muslims that you closed book about the authenticity of the tape has yet to be proven. and so the parliament has given the go ahead to raising the retirement age from sixty to sixty the senate and national assembly have both approved the text paving the way for it to become law it follows two weeks of protests and strikes which to continue president nicolas sarkozy is expected to sign the bill into law next me. the time to bring the budget deficit down has sparked unrest in the u.k. as well. but while the government plans to slash public jobs and benefits some analysts say it's squandering billions of euros on e.u. membership well that's the view of the e.u. lobbyist talk to leave the room and you can watch the full interview with him in

just about ten minutes from now but before that let's have a quick look at what he has to say. the treasury writes a check to the european union every fortnight to the sum of eight hundred million pounds the overall bill for business and for the country could be as high as two hundred billion pounds a year the problem is that nobody knows this because there has not been a cost benefit analysis if you membership it's about a new hospital every three days i think it pays for the world family in two days i think it's something like every five days is the equipment to repairing every single cathedral in england it's just search is astonishing waste of money. russia has the highest rate of youth crime in europe that's according to a world health organization report tracking crimes committed by minors across the continent with more details here is that a pushover. then you should show us on the dole where exactly you stabbed him with

the knife it was here how many times. i don't remember roughly seven or ten times. in this reconstruction the suspects sharing police just what happened when his gang carried out a brutal death the main perpetrators would soon joins is in one of russia's sixteen young offenders institutions i live close enough has already said more than half of his sentence for committing a racial man he was a fifteen year old skinhead when both his friends attacked a four in the youth subtle motion muscle the guy's noise lying next to him i suddenly thought he must have been using this knife to cue us in our struggles i stepped into ice water given posta to my three friends each knife to him stabbings account for almost half of the homicides carried out by youngsters in the european and central asian region according to a report by the world health organization and it puts russia with the highest rate

of violence among the set of aid age group ten to twenty nine. minute change in psychology or irrelevant even moral values all this contributes to an extremely high crime rate which out by the activities of religious sex and i'm sorry just say this by all media including television which story is full of blood in russia around five thousand seven hundred minus a qantas serving prison sans the majority either from a one parent family or an all financial experts say about eighty percent of serious juvenile crimes take place in the evening or night when children in theory are supposed to be looked after by their parents however in reality many children often end up on the streets searching for their own entertainment. and that's primarily alcohol which is fueling so much of today's youth driving this situation among. mine is is actually slowly improving things that make i'm dealing with the underage

crowd and in the past five years have seen a considerable decline of juvenile crime is a grim statistics among those squalid beach takes for itself while many of these young boys hope they will be able to survive cries for any future it may be done to those on the other side of the barbed wire to show they divide the gum and other girls' generation's dowry push r.t. moscow. terpenes up today with a moment here naughty stephanie will be here with the business update that's coming your way in just a few moments stay with us. nothing the international association of russian language and literature teachers who hold the world festival of russian language. are you interested in a better understanding of russian language and culture can you sing russian songs well. become a participant of the world festival of russian language and really exciting trip to

st petersburg in russia. for more information visit the festival website. hello and welcome to the business bulletin that the american company responsible for running operations that sucker being one may be swapped for a russian company exxon left to gas has twice asked the government to raise subsidies for the already gas project production has fallen the order chamber says involving russian companies in similar ventures has previously raise production and cut costs but according to the energy minister the issue of replacing the operator hasn't been considered yet. top russian still produces a concentrating on domestic consumers to boost profits recent changes in tax law and other government incentives have made the market more attractive this is also giving a competitive edge to russian companies over their european and asian peers but in

a collection of reports. top russian national producer sever stock has opened to new plants and the moscow region to supply can manufacture the first house to you is just one of a number of fans that are ramping up production to profit from growing domestic demand. is upgrading its plant in that we're all mountains while i am m.k. funds to invest up to three billion dollars in the country to boost capacity with them we're going to put it towards we are planning to produce ten million tons of great. medal this year we're going to increase the output by some twenty percent by twenty one of them by another twenty percent the year after our aim was to restore the pre-crisis output recent changes in tax more have made it more profitable for russian companies to sell processed muscle to domestic consumers rather than export . in addition to the state has gone for tax breaks to foreign carmakers if they buy

supplies from russian producers it's a part of the government's plan to encourage manufacturers to produce cars from start to finish with locally sourced materials the russian market is recovering has recovered and sure enough struggle ext year to consume more finished and therefore make the russian steel makers even better positioned competitors compared to the global still makers. selling croissants still in russia can be three times as profitable as sounding in abroad but the market is being destroyed by government intervention worldwide the demand for it still has yet to recover from the financial crisis and prices remain weak so producers here have little reason not to take advantage of the situation and i didn't question the business on. a list of the top fifty most influential russian businessmen has been published the russian paper and these are v.c. my guys set up mission the list from head alexei miller russian railways boss

vladimir couldn't undersell c.e.o. like that of past the top thirty seven experts compiled the survey from a total of one hundred and seven candidates placing them in four categories of influence minimal moderate high and very high. on the sun on the equity markets european stocks are still trading lower following some weak u.s. manufacturing data for two years down the more than one cent but mine is needing the declines and in frankfurt tech stocks are dragging on the docks. on wall street . this is low early in the eleven states session that follows that week durable goods data and investor speculation that the federal reserve may take a more cautious approach to stimulating the economy times. and here in moscow the russian markets have been just low on what they put in to see shedding more than one percent of all the blue chips finished in the red banks are among the worst performance be to be slow moving to dissent on the my sex plus nafta also

underperforms down two percent. russian railways' to set the i.p.o. price range for shad when it should return contain a seventy nine to ninety nine dollars per share the company could raise as much as five hundred million dollars. and russia's biggest mobile phone retailer gaffer said it's considering selling thirty percent of its chest on the london stock exchange in march the company has already started discussions with banks to underwrite the offer but it still needs to get the agreement of some of its biggest shareholders. about one fifth of russian insurance companies are facing bankruptcy the insurance watchdog said out of seven hundred firms up to two hundred fifty are in financial difficulties but the major market players say the industry is in need of some rationalization though so not a very will. be as most old leaves a market april market hurls of good news through the whole of the market though for

example there's i believe probably thirty five posts so a real cost of ours will. strongly be affected by this killing of the market. global car production this year could reach pre-crisis levels according to pricewaterhouse coopers the number of cars produced this year could reach seventy million and here in russia it could rise to one point seven million cars. pre-crisis in two thousand and seven global manufacturing was about just under seventy million units and it looks as though we estimate that it will come back to seventy million units globally in two thousand and ten so we're back to where we were pre-crisis book but there's a big difference because the bric so-called bric countries were just under twenty percent of the two thousand and seven production but it's going to be up to about

thirty percent of two thousand and ten in other words has been a bit of a shift from the rest of the world basically to the bric countries. and also the business but of course you can always find a. website. that. wealthy british style holds. on to the fine.

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periods in hotels jerusalem. could have with us is r t coming from the russian capital top stories now. a showdown looms between israel and lebanon over recently discovered all reserves in the eastern mediterranean with turkey and cyprus also staking their claims with clearly defined maritime borders experts predict the countries are likely to reach agreement. tensions high in northern iraq over affairs ethnic violence when u.s. troops leave the kurdish controlled region concerns intensified after the whistle blowing web site we can leaks release documents highlighting cases of hostility between kurds and arabs. and russia are seeking to prevent nato from placing major forces close to its borders with

a proposal that would limit the alliances military presence in its newest member states he said the mines have a closer cooperation with moscow particularly on european missile defense and afghanistan. when next he talks to dr lee roth a veteran from behind the scenes of u.k. relations to find out if membership of the european union is worth the cost that's all special interview coming up next. thank you very much for talking now first of all tell me how much it costs the u.k. to be a member of the well that's of both a very important question a very tricky question to ask in the first instance the treasury writes a check to the european union every fortnight to some of a two hundred million pounds now that's not the whole picture because that is basically that's the contribution some of that money comes back.