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nato's relevance in the changing world rushing out of strategy for afghanistan. with russia as alliance members. but. this comes at a time when critics say the sixty one year old military base is an identity crisis it can they find themselves have more life and live. dangers lurking beneath. it so we investigate what potentially deadly poison could leak. and also

a glimmer of hope for russia's minor offenders who could soon have the option of a fine community service instead of a stay in an overcrowded prison. the twenty four hour news from russia and from around the world this is in moscow defining nato relevance today and in the future what to do in afghanistan and engaging russia the key issues to be discussed at a crucial meeting for the alliance in portugal the meeting comes at a time for the group of nations which is facing an identity crisis sixty years after being created to oppose the soviet union well off to florida joins me now live from the portuguese capital it's been laurent tell us what can we expect from this meeting. expect leaders to really try to defend what the reason is for nato to

be in this day and age this is a time when analysts internationally are asking why it still exist what its purpose is what its place is in the world at a time when we've seen its mission in afghanistan for example go on here ten years with countries reevaluating their resources and its rising casualties amidst tough budget decisions where countries facing austerity may need to cut their military budgets so these are the questions that leaders here in lisbon will be trying to answer or at least that people will be looking at them for to try and figure out what the direction is for nato moving forward into the twenty first century we have more details on that take a look. at the biggest and oldest military alliance in modern times but when you think about what it's places in the world today. the answer. the answer doesn't come easily and not just for one speechless american official decades after the cold war ended with no common enemy originally supposed

to define i defend western europe against the soviet union nato allies have been at a loss for a new one and at a loss for a clear purpose because whatever identity crisis for a while we can severely by the seemingly endless afghan war with nato members growing weary in countries such as canada and the netherlands pulling troops out the power of the block is in question. in many of the places in the world we're seeing because of the lack of. ability to transform. the depths and perhaps the consequences of a growing group of now twenty eight nations driven together but still largely led by the interests of one of the united states is trying to use need to. directly tries to use need. to feel. american missions yet everyone feels the strain and with goals not laid out since before the attacks on nine eleven which

drove the alliance into war there's not much that's concrete to guide an organization seemingly in crisis which is just one reason why now when lisbon this meeting matters here at the nato summit the alliance will try to buy from modern relevance with the promise of new strategic goals but also here in lisbon are another group of international critics who believe that there is no place for nato and the twenty first century reiner brown is planning an anti nato protest you know i think there is no place for nato i think there is no place for me who lives any longer in the world because you consols and you know the global problem with military. and nato is now looking to an old foe for help solving its problems with all drop which. emerged as a basically a one of the global players it's impossible to deal

with such. issues like the war on going war in afghanistan they're looking to russia for help with supply routes in fighting the drug trade and now an organization that famously touted a mission of keeping the russians out and the americans in needs the russians in afghanistan to help americans get out i'm not sure what nato is in the twenty first century and i think it's i was dated and without a major rethinking of its goals policies and missions and alliances looking for a new place in the world may find itself. the answer. fumbling along without one. the russian president dmitri medvedev will also be traveling to lisbon raising hopes that a new impetus can be injected into nato russian relations so what exactly will the two sides be focusing on. well to be focusing on a number of things which nato and russia are hoping they see eye to eye on in terms

of global challenges that they both face now although president medvedev is not here yet already nato russian relations are a key subject we've seen u.s. president obama come out with an editorial in the entered international herald tribune calling for nato to reset relations with russia in the way that the u.s. has saying that this is key here at this summit to show that nato views russia as a partner and not as an adversary di dated cold war era thinking so here they'll be discussing a number of issues one of course being afghanistan which nato is looking to russia for cooperation on already russia is helping in those efforts with supply routes in with helping to combat the drug trade in afghanistan also on issues that they share nuclear nonproliferation or disarmament which are a concern both for nato members as well as for russia and of course the issue of missile defense which has been a sticking point between nato and russia for years now nato is taking a different approach trying to bring russia on board saying that this is an issue

that they both face in terms of the threat of ballistic missiles and that they will see if they can tackle together now political analysts say that russia does have the political will but there are a number of questions that are unanswered that nato will be needing to answer in order for there to be progress forward but of course we will have to wait and see when that those talks get underway. plenty more to come here from lisbon over the next day or two thanks very much indeed in the meantime norm this there in lisbon thank you. so interests fear of the told the chernobyl nuclear disaster still has the potential to cause an even greater catastrophe concrete bunker covering the area is nearing the end of its life and no one can be sure just how bad the these student is but it has this report. almost quarter of a century since the chernobyl fallout a special confinement structure called the circle for gas is still preventing more

radioactive emissions into atmosphere this structure the circle focus was built in one thousand eight hundred six just months after the disaster that you know build nuclear power plant back then experts predicted that this would last for only twenty years until two thousand and six that is but it was strengthened and improved extending its lifetime for five more years the biggest question is how much nuclear fuel remains under the surface some experts believe that there is none as most of it did vaporize into the atmosphere and was spread around the chernobyl exclusion zone but many experts believe that there are ninety five percent of nuclear fuel still remaining under the surface and that could be tons and tons of nuclear material. we believe that the nuclear fuel under the sea configures is no longer a solid mass like it was twenty four years ago there now is more like three layers of dispersed dust so should the presence or cause for good scripts we could see a very powerful explosion at the facilities as powerful as

a nuclear one. in order to avoid another catastrophe europe invested in the building of a new confinement in two thousand and seven french company was allowed to start the construction of an arch like steel structure to cover the facility three years later the project is underway with more than five hundred engineers building the new circle for gas next to the contaminated plant it won't be just the crane yeah it will be a technological complex as multi-functional crane system will be installed inside the new structure eat. a final stay at the new safe confinement should provide the safety environment for the works in far the project's initial cost was thought to be half a billion euro now sources in chernobyl report that figure has almost doubled but in the fight for the continent's safety no some is too much the new confinement is

expected to be completed by the year twenty thirteen and is expected to last for another hundred years the only question is what is the fate of the nuclear power plant in chernobyl some say that it may be dismantled under this new dome but that is only a speculation for now we only heard that this is a process which may take another seventy years and there are no technologies to this date which would allow this to happen. see reporting from the church noble exclusion zone in ukraine. well still to come on the program here in r.t. new hope for russia's first time offenders reforms to the prison system could see fines and community service replace jail sentences for minor crimes. in democracy u.s. style americans the government over the brilliance of taxpayer money used to fund that regime change abroad the first in a series of reports ahead. in the meantime there's been little sign of

improvement in russia's volatile north caucuses according to president dmitri medvedev he's meeting security forces and local leaders in southern russia to discuss how to bring stability and over is following the visit to keep for us. terrorism cannot be counted singlehandedly to successfully applied terrorism is the task of many this was the main message as the leaders of the north caucuses gathered for a meeting with the russian president dmitry medvedev the talks were devoted to security in this russia's most volatile region they were mostly held behind closed doors the president opened the session with very harsh criticism of the work of russia's police and security services there indeed twenty ton was a very top number of terrorist attacks group fourfold compared to two thousand and nine according to the country's national counter-terrorism committee some sixty terrorist attacks were prevented this year and over three hundred terrorists were

destroyed by the russian president said today that to the great people the districts in russia are not something he would fully trust. statistics so often misleading there's no trust in them i want to once again draw the attention of rural forces to this fact there is no trust in the statistics that often just a week leading into a ministry with. police this in the works now to make it possible to make the statistics exact. all according to the statistics which the president doesn't find trust worth enough it's been relatively stable in chechnya this year but violence has been on the rise in the republics of english and traditionally peaceful cover deniable carrier there were over one hundred terrorist crimes carried out there six times more than in two thousand and nine the president today called this upsurge in violence as russia's biggest domestic problem

a year ago when a similar meeting was called in he ordered a full rasha full of local law enforcement also as part of the measures to improve the situation as separate antiterrorism group was formed which now works along with a national counter-terrorism committee also the president formed to get. these republics saw russia's. new federal district and many saw this mass it at the crime and is now stepping away from military force approach and is now going to focus on social and economic development that we. moscow says it wants a fair trial for russian businessmen vick to boot the president's aide says russia will continue to provide consular assistance but has made no judgment over whether or not he's guilty which is accused by the u.s. of trafficking in terrorism charges he denies after being extradited from thailand earlier this week he's now in solitary confinement in a new york jail he could face life behind bars are found guilty and he's trying to

sit next. to you can check out more stories on our website as our two don't come help you keep up to date with all of these and here's what's. moment feeling down about lighting up a new survey reveals russia has more smokers per capita than anywhere else in the world find out about the. problem. plus customize classes for getting the hundreds of american men enroll in a pick up camp to learn all the tricks for meeting women from or to store in plenty of other features and articles since. russia's pretty criminals and first time offenders may soon see jail time swapped for fines and community service as part of ongoing reforms to the country's criminal code designed to put an end to unfair sentences and relieve overcrowded prisons or to katrina czar of explores now the alternatives in store for some of the inmates

currently serving time. the fourteen hundred women serving time here have one thing in common at some point in their life they all made a bad choice. i went over to my friend's house to get some wine and back that he owed me but he refused to pay up so he didn't have any says so his canary bird sitting there and i took it as collateral later the police came and said i stole it after breaking and entering the price for a stolen canary bird that's instead of that i was sentenced to stray years in prison and i'm currently serving out my first. this extreme aspect of russia's legislation has been questioned by many including the country's lawmakers a system of alternative punishment for lesser crimes in the works with people found guilty of minor law violations facing fines and house arrest rather than jail time used to put it on me you can't put someone in prison because they still two chickens are legal system no deals with these things and effectively there are

harsh punishments for small misdemeanors and in some cases punishments which are too late for me ger kramer's we need to balance out the system because despite recent statistics crime is on the rise. add that to overflowing prisons abysmal health conditions on the inside tougher integration into society after serving time and the true nature of this problem becomes even more evident even financially that reform makes sense according to official data over a million people are currently imprisoned in russia with twenty percent serving up to three years for misdemeanors substituting their jail time with house arrest will free up the prisons lessen the burden of taxpayers and most importantly not give people that stumbled a reason to fall. if a person goes to jail following some silly act of his or other certain circumstances he comes out as a lifelong criminal we have relevance to the backslide amounts to thirty to forty

percent at the very least i mean almost half of them later become criminals. but there is much to do before these amendments get implemented into the legal system the electronic surveillance bracelets for example will rely on russia's glowing ass positioning system and it's not yet ready neither is the legal system with law enforcement not yet capable of the required fishable surveillance the proposition to stop throwing those found guilty of minor crimes behind bars is something that the women in this penitentiary can definitely get behind but even if the law is implemented the people serving time now may have to face the fact that they will have to serve and pay their debt to society in full without enjoying the benefits of an alternative punishment catarina r.t. moscow region. not some other world news this hour to new zealand and an explosion has ripped through a. cell phone and twenty seven people missing five others managed to return to the

surface with minor injuries rescue workers are at the scene trying to make contact with the minus countries emergencies minister says the cause of the blast is not yet clear. in haiti just as a. for the u.n. peacekeepers on the streets of port au prince and the cholera outbreak in the country was. told cocktails and rocks where soldiers responded by using tear gas the speakers from nepal have been blamed for bringing the deadly epidemic into haiti something the un strongly denies more than a thousand people are being confirmed dead from the outbreak so far. to china and i'm usually heavy small this is the capital there would be reduced visibility causing widespread destruction you have missions come from a growing number of factories and villages built on the outskirts of beijing two major highways linking the city to the north have been closed health officials have asked people with spiritual problems to stay at home until the small is dispersed by a cold expected saturday. while i watch the u.s.

is stretching its finances to fall into costly overseas walls huge amounts of cash are also going towards extending its global influence in more subtle ways of many americans wondering whether it's a justifiable use of the tax money in the first of a series of reports on fees explains what's at stake but. this is what u.s. backed regime change used to look like back in the days in a bid to ensure u.s. political and economic interests were safeguarded cia backed coup d'etat was ousted democratically elected leaders from him and most of back in iran to sell the door again day in chile was in their place all too often brutal dictatorships and governments that committed heinous crimes against their people. to replace the overt support for dictatorships a new concept for regime change was born one that sounds and looks better democracy promotion we do this through surrogates and we do this through non-governmental

organizations and we do it through people who are. less suspecting the evil that may lurk behind their actions perhaps they were before. have we learned some lessons of our guard your bad. do we do it better you bet is it still just as highness as it always was you bet the concept of democracy promotion is simple finance train and politically back local opposition forces around the world that support washington's agenda in america in eastern europe with the velvet revolutions in africa. the middle east or really all over the world and so the us set up these different mechanisms now for penetrating the civil societies and the political systems that have countries that are going to be intervened and to assure that the outcomes would be pleasing to to washington's foreign policy objectives so while the goals remain the same it's no longer the cia but the u.s. agency for international development usa id and its partners spearheading this

effort millions and millions of u.s. taxpayer dollars go every year into funding for political organizations from campaigns in different countries around the world that promote u.s. agenda and most us citizens are unaware of the fact that that's how their money is being spent to meddle and influence and interfere in other nations affairs the concept of facilitating regime change to democracy promotion has garnered widespread criticism congressman ron paul once wrote it is particularly orwellian to call us manipulation of foreign elections promoting democracy how would we americans feel if for example the chinese arrived with millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to china for years terrible we used taxpayers' money to go over and use our military and our cia and these programs to say this is what you ought to do and influence and there's no authority for that it doesn't work it was a lot of people to despise us and tomorrow segment we'll introduce you to the

political figures who became national and international stars of the help of u.s. democracy promotion funding and explain exactly how the system works our team was going to end this thing. ten minutes from now we'll be meeting the son of two holocaust survivors who's struggling to find his place in the world before that we've got the latest from the world of business with you. hello and a very warm welcome to the program trade between foremost states has accelerated shop later this year at a meeting of c.i.s. prime ministers in st petersburg but about the thirty percent increase was evidence of improved corp the customs union of russia and kazakhstan forms the new. trait and is a threat to whole reports although some thorny issues remain progress is being late . gearing towards full scale integration and speeding up the

next phase of the customs union the single economic space with a free trade area and a common external trade policy the meeting of the prime ministers of the three countries is taking place within the framework of the u. region economic community which also includes kyrgyzstan to because to moldova or of india and ukraine some of these countries are also showing interest in joining the customs union now the key document is a final agreement on the single economic space of russia belarus and kazakhstan which is due to start functioning next year and to provide more mutually beneficial opportunities for its members in a free trade area now i'd like to remind you that the customs union the trilateral union of russia belarus and council which came into effect this year has been designed to simplify the movement of capital between the member countries under a unified tariff and customs territory now the creation of the customs union has

stirred up the long lasting negotiations on russia's accession to the world trade organization after russia said it would see the accession in a joint. account of stone now according to russia's president would be its a few questions remaining in the negotiations with the european union on the matter and they should be solved quickly at the same time the first year of the customs union has revealed some serious discrepancies currently existing export duties on russian ballerinas almost brought the countries to an oil war belarus annually buys about twenty million tonnes of russian at domestic prices for two years as only a fraction of it at home most of it is being refined. to europe at much higher prices feeding the belorussian budget today's meeting may finally put an end to the conflict as the russian prime minister has promised to lift all. for belarus on

russian soil once all the documents on the single economic space are science or. the customs union doesn't come without costs finance minister alex it could really believes russian oil companies may have to pay an extra fifteen billion dollars and you choose to tax harmonization whole whether national companies will be compensated for these costs by either subsidies or if it creates an extraction texas. well there's no point in privatizing russian general motors for the time being that's according to the head of the state corporation which controls several hundred enterprises in russia. lay showed him a bit of it is that it's not reason to be privatized russian technologies for the time being i would even say could be home for privatization would hinder the development of the enterprise under our control we first have to transform the enterprise system to joint stock companies create holdings and distribute companies between them and help them develop financially. but let's take

a look at the equity markets here stocks are lower friday morning following another round of tightening from china that raised investors the potential impact on demand for commodities. stocks in europe slipped on friday extending the second straight week to drop and wanted to see it as china told banks to set aside more results in an effort to curb inflation. and a look at the russian markets the russian equity markets closed positive on friday they are chance sixteen hundred point benchmark finishing just a tenth of the cent of them i said up and down session and just a bit higher. looking back at the last week the worst markets were pulled in both directions with virtually equal force economic data from the hugh s. encourage the bulls while inflation wars in china fueled the bad. the markets and

that of the week. down but largely unchanged the past week has seen. the continuation of the tug of war between the blues and the berries you know there are people who are seeing a lot of beat economic data coming out of the u.s. coming out of asia a lot of quality a peals a big general motors which is very well received there a lot of good news in the market and good developments but the biggest fear now is inflation is special in china where the central bank had to act to stop the rapid increases in prices there's also told that both china and hong kong can take measures to arrest the wreck of the growth in real estate prices to prevent the bubble and the soul but between these two kind of big positive all the improving global economics and certain positive corporate developments and the fear of rising inflation in china and therefore maybe elsewhere in the world these two opposing

factors have resulted in the share prices and in the week slightly down a bit essentially flat. that's the business bulletin for now but you can get more store a small web site r.t. dot com slash. move it over.