russia and the u.k. team up as oil giants rawson have been b.p.'s swaps dogs and a multi-billion dollar deal to explore the untapped natural reserves of the arctic . federal employees at the heart of the u.s. capital live the high life new figures show they are taking home double the money of their colleagues in the private sector struggling to make ends meet across the prices country. and students in indian run kashmir choose school verse separatism in defiance of violent warnings to stay away from class. coming to you live from moscow i am here on marina joshie welcome to the program

two of the largest oil companies in the world russia's ross nafta and british petroleum are joining forces they have sealed stock swap and agreed to extract the untapped riches of the arctic sea bed together the deal said to be worth billions of dollars and is being endorsed by both governments argues laurie amid reports from london. rosneft and b.p. are calling this deal a groundbreaking strategic global alliance it's the first major equity linked partnership between a national and international oil company when the deal is completed will own five percent of b.p.'s shares valued at nearly eight billion dollars and b.p. will own almost eleven percent of rosneft prime minister putin says the russian government's behind the deal. so i would like to let you know that the government of the russian federation supports this joint operation this is a project that could become global and have a significant influence on the world's oil and gas industry russian's arctic reserves are estimated to be five billion tons of oil and ten trillion cubic meters

of. such a project may require tens of billions of dollars of investment and state of the art technology and we are fully aware of the risks involved which together the two companies are going to explore and develop three areas on the russian arctic self the arctic's a massive resource although as yet unproven already owns the license for the field which cover around one hundred twenty five thousand square kilometers r.t. spoke exclusively to deputy prime minister igor following the signing of the deal. is working on a new strategy aimed at transforming the company into an international energy holder or deal with b.p. is of course part of the strategy they've gained a great deal of experience including the gulf of mexico oil spill cleanup operation b.p. has learned from this experience and our joint venture will be carried out with the greatest level of measures aimed at protecting the environment we've been working

with b.p. for many years they're competent and have strong experience of russian companies arguably a deal with rosneft improves the case energy security and it also puts b.p. on a firm of financial footing following last year's massive oil. in the gulf of mexico but the question on everyone's lips is whether b.p. is a suitable partner for developing the textile following that huge environmental disaster that b.p.'s c.e.o. bob dudley says the company learnt a lot from that and they're ready to move into the delicate environment has been working with ross now for twelve years now and we've been working on the arctic for since two thousand and five working with cycling you know our capabilities our exploration capabilities and i think to be honest we learned a lot about what happened in the gulf of mexico shaken the company to the core we're going to renewed focus on safety risk management and the technology that's new for the environmental care what we do the deal is

a two way street the russian governments probably say creates a favorable economic environment meanwhile b.p. hopes it will improve russia's investment climate. reporting there and now x. birds are calling the deal a huge boost for both companies and countries international trade consultant says b.p.'s plenty riding on russian potential b.p. has invested so much in russia they cannot step away. and russia still needs the expertise of western oil companies in its mutual interest and it's interesting because you know they have to sell a lot of has said it's all spill in the gulf of mexico to put money aside for the recovery from well they are saving their money for russia and selling this thing and they're investing more so it means that b.p. is there for the long term the potential of russia is so huge if it's not them it's going to be somebody else so it's really a question of who gets in first and they were world position we put aside their

difficulties from the first then decide to move forward. atika give more on this story in our business bulletin a little later in the program here in our team. our government workers in washington are taking home on average double the wages of their private sector colleagues according to the newly revised u.s. census meaning the very people in charge of getting the nation out of its financial hole are living the high life our desperation later looks at whether they're really working twice as hard. across the united states unemployment lines and lines at food pantries and homeless shelters has marked what's been called one of the worst recessions in u.s. history but there is one special place that remains untouched welcome to washington d.c. the city full of power players pundits and politicians outpace nearly every other city in the country when it came to job growth this past year one thing is sure about this recession is that the public sector employees have been relatively

sheltered compared to the private sector so just how well are federal employees doing according to the latest census numbers the average federal employee made a whopping one hundred twenty three thousand dollars last year in compensation and benefits a private sector employee cashed in that almost half that sixty one thousand dollars public employees i mean is are a powerful you know voter base for pro-government vision so of course they're they're very unlikely to go after them wait a second wasn't on wall street that you saw greedy fat cats sucking away america's cash at the expense of everyone else remember what president obama said about those guys i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of their fat cat bankers on wall street while politicians in the media seemed obsessive lee focused on the lavish payouts on wall street who knew that at the peak of the recession last year federal workers in washington got an average

raise of four percent. more than double the national average they have more vacation they have job security lots of things that the private sector doesn't have in the first year and a half of the recession private sector jobs shrank by almost seven percent however here in washington federal civilian employment grew by almost ten per cent the divide between washington and the rest of america is even more evident if you take a ride to the sprawling suburbs just outside the city home to d.c.'s influential lobbyists and lawyers with the potomac fairfax virginia if there is one man who knows the montra location location location it's eric stewart one of d.c.'s luxury realtors seven and a half million dollars over ten thousand square feet it's in one of the best locations in all of potomac from it's a great school district very desirable for the average american consumer stuart isn't worried about sales we're sucking jobs into the washington d.c.

area which is causing prices to actually have stability and it's not just stylish digs that d.c.'s fat cats can afford. this upscale restaurant in georgetown the reservation list for a weekday dinner is fall into lisa right side of the same table mrs clinton you know who is now secretary of state came many times just a lot of people come from the hill and big big law firms while one in seven americans rely on food stamps at me shelvey shard citron now an average couple isn't shy to shell out what most couples make in a month on a meal with a tax on the difference of a six hundred dollars range or whatever it may be and some nights we do as many as forty fifty. and people love it at a time when most are struggling to survive it seems like the lucky in washington are living it up preassure either r. t. washington d.c. . a little later this hour here and he will show you how one event of russian is rewriting the rules of winter travel.

this pond skater can spice up the cold season for you with speeds of up to one hundred fifty kilometers per hour or land ice snow and even mud. before that a russian journalist at a white house briefing asked cause something of a media stir with a question some half compared to the cold war rhetoric after offering his condolences over last week's arizona shooting rampage under a seat off asked if the spree was an avatar bowl byproduct of american style freedom press secretary robert gibbs responded firmly that the actions of the gunmen were totally on american saying the nation's values never allow for violence and a gunman is in custody after opening fire at a political rally in a two song grocery store alas saturday six people were killed and thirteen more injured including representative gabrielle giffords sit off told r.t.

he thinks the u.s. is oversensitive when foreigners dare to question its domestic policies. after the briefing i was approached by a number of people and they talked to me very professional very calmly i would say in some instances even sympathetically they definitely knew where i was coming from and i was coming from the simple desire for the media can still have a discussion of this that is a complete sense of and that would help prevent such incidents in the future what i was surprised later was to find in the blogs and by could respond from the white house press corps that many of them treated this as a resurgence of the cold war i think this is a rhetoric that was definitely misplaced it looks like there is a double standard here where an american journalist in moscow was asking about internal politics of russia is a hero and the defender of human rights and democracy and if russian journalist in washington d.c. touches up on

a sensitive subject of internal politics here then he's somehow and then you have the american people. russian scientists will reportedly not be taking out the invitation to tour iran's nuclear facilities a follows the insistence of russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov that such visits shouldn't be substituted for official u.n. inspections iraq stand on the invite to representatives from the e.u. china and other members of the un's nuclear watchdog but not the u.s. . western powers say the offer was an attempt to divide them and there is international concern over iran's nuclear ambitions but to iran insists its program is peaceful and the offer was merely a goodwill gesture but x.-prize believe any such attempts are doomed to failure. they do so from ever there has been a start in negotiations or talks or whatever and didn't have a doubt certainly there may be some people who thought that they could create the fish are already if but. you never managed to really break up.

five plus one formula. the behavior of russia and china just shows once again that it doesn't work i think it's half expected such and such a reaction however the iranians wanted to show two things to their own domestic public that this we are ready to negotiate you have to see it with a second step the iranians did it again it's their own public namely to boost. the blast about their own new newly achieved technological progress which is not true but again it sends a message to do also of course inside iran who are highly critical of any engagement with the international community that both things iran can be solved comfort them it wants to negotiate are important now is take a look at some other stories from around the world and tunisia's president ben ali has fled to saudi arabia after weeks of unrest and violence the country's prime

minister has taken over as interim leader the aunt of president ben ali's twenty three year rule. marks the first time an arab leader has been deposed by popular protests demonstrators have been calling for more political freedom a better economic conditions clashes with police left at least twenty dad was human rights groups claiming that the number may be as high as sixty. fresh rains are hampering ongoing rescue efforts in southeastern brazil following the worst floods ever seen in the country at least five hundred people have died of the natural disaster and thousands have been left homeless mountain villages have been swallowed up by landslides and officials say the death toll is likely to rise. officials in india say over one hundred pilgrims have been crushed to death during a stampede at a religious festival in the southern state of carola scores more were injured the

worshippers were on their way back from visiting a hindu shrine when the accident happened reports say the stampede was triggered by a car driving into the crowd sparking panic. the u.k.'s former ambassador to kabul has slammed british army commanders in afghanistan he accused them of caring more about saving their forces from spending cuts than actually winning the war or his military contributor says that's not the only thing her majesty's armed forces should be blamed for. the former u.k. ambassador sir coper coles has shined the wiki leaks to be of his latest revelations regarding his interaction and experience with the brave british military in afghanistan the british military used their nato mission in afghanistan as a military safari to enhance and to expand the u.k. military budget and one of the best it or has failed to say is that it was the

british military presence on the ground in helmand province that in fact the jump started exponentially expanded the opium production from southern afghanistan to all across the country under the watchful guidance and protections of the rave british soldiers are just military can to get a crew shelved they are. now schoolkids won't be getting their four month winter break in indian administered kashmir this year they are being forced to make up at academic days lost over the year due to massive demonstrations against indeed rule which saw at least one hundred protesters killed are just current saying that one of the young victims of the latest separatist attack in the area. in srinagar this is all that remains of a school bus it was walking forcing a general strike called by separatists in the capital of

a new to mr bush meat luckily the only child on the bus six year old. was rescued by first they poured petrol under the bus then they smashed the windows the bus driver picked me up and took me out of the bus then those people so far that this attack was meant as a warning to schools which would mean defeat would strike school just won independence after news spread of the bus attack many schools shut down for the day but not the issue of school i wanted to show. those miscreants maybe every feel if you. had to live difficult to survive separatist leaders have condemned the attack which is at the center of a public backlash separatist independence for which has been administered by india since british rule in india with most parents ignoring this rankles any

separatists are we considering that it should not be counterproductive i mean we are giving a strike call because we believe that we do present a party to present people in it and i think if people are giving you a response that you need to think something else you need to have an alternate means other four hundred dollars than just strikes you need to come out with something else that's where we need to sit together and farm out a threat of during the widespread violence of children what i'm evil to a school for four months and last. year. i got the love of god it was no wonder then that with the violence easing know better that you school militants like it or not we should be proud of our own thing that the people in kashmir. any serious about educating their there tonight. and especially the girl the girl child. has four children.

fifteen and spends most of her day off the glass in extra dushan. polities meanwhile have decided to keep school during the meeting so that students can recover the last. one is happy with this decision but infrastructure in question is so poor and it's all so pathetic that schools that they were don't have windows and doors how can you help you know how can you hit them how can you own them it's going to be freezing cold and it's not i mean it's. to have a window because it's not i mean they wanted as you know when they had to but then the suffering if we had nothing to do with the as i leave you going to. go next to this people. these children we caught up in the political if these cool. whether or not the academic future is going to be impacted lies

entirely in the hands of the little button saying r.t. . had to come from war stories and we are in line for you twenty four hours a day here's a taste of what you'll find there right now. moscow is demanding london either charges or freeze russian national academy as a tool of it are accused of spying for the kremlin although released on bail shasta bass strait conditions while waiting for taishan hearing told her. get it can get in cash is difficult when a bank a.t.m. machine is fading and that's what people in ukrainian capital kiev had to learn the hard way. and clots fifteen million dollars worth of arda stolen from a russian businessman country residence including paintings by if i have you ever happened and if you find out who's to blame.

now it's the season for getting your skies and skates out but if you are looking for a faster way to get around you might want to check out the winter craft invented by russian aviation engineers and glides over the snow at speeds of over one hundred kilometers per hour righties worry if a national went to try it at. russia's snow drifts in the winter oh impossible slashing the screen can make life hard for many but on this one can go just about everywhere. it was. was. was. was. the russian punk

skate to can travel at speeds of up to one hundred fifty kilometers per hour and make an entire deal as a snappy runaround or a had turning hobby emotion courts decide varian man bought one his house is on one side of the linda river his body out on the other which he said i'm so lazy to travel over with gary is it so easy to report of the issues when mom called me and asked whether we cannot a trailer with two beds in the hatch inside the cockpit for fishing on the ice. garry's was designed in the town of she cough ski ham to russia's annual international asho and buy for my avocation engineers not surprising than it has a lot in common with its weened brothers or some of. its patented features a great handling and improve safety it's got a very strong roll cage even if you capsize only going to get is lots of adrenalin we're thinking about installing an airbag another bit of know how is the propeller

that's mounted up front or it's covered so there's no chance of a scarf getting into it and dragging its owner into the blades besides it's warm and dry in there. the rock currently only four gary says in the world but soon its creators say it could become mass common as scooters of bicycles. there are plans to start mass production next year now we're looking for sponsors and facilities as for those who want one they're queuing already so there's no problems with demand just for. today it may only be two seats floatin and a question of add but if you floated up great idea past the engine years they're more than happy to listen that is of course if his stump up the twenty thousand bucks price tag if the carries floats your boat. or if an ocean r.t. moscow region. later in the program martin and his takes us back to the u.s.s.r.

in his weekly tour around the russian capital but first let's check the top financial stories of the day with your ear. hello and welcome to your business update b.p. and ross net have agreed to jointly develop a number of projects on russia's arctic shelf the fields potential have a capacity around three and a half percent of the world's proved oil reserves and roughly five percent of the world's gas reserves world majors have also agreed to swap shares b.p. will provide five percent of its shares worth around eight billion dollars in exchange for nine and a half percent of ross net or corresponded to go to school of takes up the story. this is truly a massive project according to the russian prime minister vladimir putin it may affect the entire global energy industry russia's oil company and britain's energy giant british petroleum have reached several agreements in joint projects in

developing offshore oil and gas deposits in russia and in third countries at this point we don't exactly know which third countries they were talking about how we do know that the russians arctic shelf was also mentioned this is one of the last great unexplored hydrocarbon basins on the planet and so we know it's highly prospective it's large in size we need to do the seismic work and interpret it and then begin drilling wells so what we're talking about is the beginning of a fifty year project that could be producing hydrocarbons every five to ten years they're talking about deposits up to five billion tons of oil and up to ten trillion cubic meters of gas these or quite impressive figures and according to the russian prime minister they do still need to be checked but he did seem confident that they reflect the reality both. b.p.

have agreed that such an ambitious project will need big investment and new technology and for that they've agreed to create a new scientific centers in st petersburg any movement which will monitor this project on all of its stages but peace on the. deal will help. expertise of working shells in hundred locations in the arctic region british petroleum does have this expertise and we're sure this project is strategically important for. last year's environmental catastrophe involving b.p. in the gulf of mexico was also discussed and the company's chief executive robert dudley has said that b.p. has taken its lessons from that disaster and it will. much more attention when it comes to environmental management especially when it comes to the arctic shelf it's a unique environment b.p. has been working with the russian companies for two decades now and both sides have

agreed to that has been. said that this latest project will be no exception and need for technical expertise to access oil and gas deposits in hard to reach offshore areas of andriy corkin from where of b.p. will be able to provide no harm while sharing in their we source bonanza the importance is in. rosneft gaining access to shelf fields have not been developed so far and probably can but develop without major international partner with years of experience offshore rush's show of water is probably have plenty of potential to talk about billions of tons of all equivalent potentially but so far we've only see development limited to a few areas and. sold them led by

a russian company. and here in russia the markets saw a slight correction on friday but the week from isis gains three point four percent and the r.t.s. around five percent making rush of the best performing emerging markets off to get today. and the russian stock markets came out strong in their first week of trade after the prolonged new year holidays especially with one of the traditional drivers oil a two year high sales trade to join highs all from citibank explains. to the stocks they were the main drivers i would say this week were deft these stocks and a lot of the large energy names in two thousand and ten lagged the market in general this week both of those stocks traded above key resistance levels and were able to hold those levels we saw quite a bit of demand of them and one of the reasons why the russian market did so well this first week commodities are generally very strong crude oil held above the

ninety dollars level for w.t. i was seen brant closing in on the hundred dollar level once again so as i was a very supportive for the russian market also metals were quite strong. that's all we have time for now but you can always find more stories on our website r.t. dot com slash business. news of the world.

her. mum. mum. mum. come on come on. this history still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal the truth in the soviet finals house on the embankment and on t.v. . wealthy british style. sometimes. margetts why not.