today's top stories in review of the week on r.t. massive protests in spain were soaring unemployment threatens to put the country in financially with greece ireland and portugal. and now with former head of the international monetary fund bomb explodes car no longer at the top there are fears the future of the bailout could be. also the streets of the georgian capital turned into a battlefield with people greeted by tear gas and rubber bullets as they demand president saakashvili steps down. and the question of the meter and various plans for another term in office remain unanswered that is the russian president hold back during a. q.

and a session. eight pm sunday evening you're watching the weekly roundup of the week's top stories with me kevin zero in and first out the government protesters of massacres in spanish cities despite the official ban on political demonstrations ahead of elections the country's casting ballots in regional polls with the ruling socialist party set to suffer major losses over thirty thousand people have occupied madrid's central square to protest the government's economic policies and skyrocketing unemployment people have also come out onto the streets in other cities including barcelona valencia and seville as the country struggles to overcome the crippling recession and its artists are a first reports now if the situation doesn't change soon spain could be next in line for rescue package. first greece then ireland

and now portugal as the usa is bailouts growing number there are now serious concerns that spain could be the next to topple. a testis throughout europe and carrying to the pace even more taxpayers' money being plowed into rescuing others was. think again getting back to think of it. i don't. see that it. was forty three percent event it's like if i was out of what i didn't like the whole labor market the problem was decided was i think that this is going to be sad this is only. the moment we will be saying well we will be millions and if the year is a problems weren't enough there is now talk of greece defaulting on its loans even potentially accepting the gather and portugal's recent bailout is reported to be

worth around seventy eight billion year but spain is the euro zone's fulfill largest economy different challenge altogether if it fails. if the situation happened in the markets would not manage it going out of spins that is the most catastrophic scenario for the e.u. what will that you do i think and many experts share my opinion that the e.u. will do the utmost to avoid the scenario would any cost because spain is too big to fail. then we've got to come up you know the big question now is just how much longer and here is a continued bankrolling there is going bust as the spiraling debt crisis continues to escalate here is a ministers are struggling to maintain a united front noid. the financial survival for such countries are spain seriously in danger. it could lead to the use of two currency zones in europe

a strong group of countries using the euro and the rest not using it or think it's anything like speculation. on seat. belt problems continue greece. and now portugal possibly it is. do you think it's a. real threat and right now your kid like the reality. of the state. of the. eurozone bailouts could be compromised by the arrest of the international monetary fund's chief on charges of sexual assault stunning stroh's carnes since resigned and is in new york awaiting trial meantime french finance minister christine lagarde merged as the front runner for the i.m.f. top job but that is only a partial reports without stross car europe's financial revival now hangs in the balance. no strauss called no euro that's what bankers the whispering off the

police charged the now ex i.m.f. course with the attempted rape of a hotel maid very differently the possibility that some countries could decide to leave europe pushed out of the euro and there we've got to understand that. belief that the euro could and should be saved in the face of north steel resistance from richer states stroll scorned led this week's bailout of portugal germany and france insist on oil and raises its low corporation tax p.s.k. as he's known was the man arguing it's what is saving your rich economy i think these allegations are going to be. of the i.m.f. as an institution. is definitely going to be missed. strobes call and even persuaded greece's leader to stick with strict spending cuts disappoint royals on the streets but he. says some of you have stated

governments made a difference he has good contacts for example to the greek prime minister on thursday greece asked for more loans on better terms but no heavyweights europhile the s.k. has gone few back another bailout. greece should leave the euro zone that has put under strain the joy is one of the imus top backers contributing tens of billions of euro he ruled it wants is an asian chief who is not likely to be as europe friendly a strong he has been very personally very important in getting the i.m.f. and bold and assisting in designing these bailout packages but also coaxing and encouraging politicians to do the reforms necessary now you may not get the equivalent behind a person with the same kind of convictions coming from the emerging markets when one of the. biggest investment banks filled three years ago it triggered

a global recession we're still reeling from today but it's still the driving the euro to extinction make matters worse the consequences probably would be higher and national you know that was for instance as a bankruptcy of fleeman in two thousand and eight with e.u. economies that this is all just a team goals that toppling the world's leading banker comes at the worst possible time this is not just the end of a career dominique strauss kahn was instrumental in the eurozone most troubled states is a risk to seem to threaten the end of the euro itself and see paris. still ahead of the program with me kevin oh in a revolution unrest hosni mubarak's regime may have gone but are egyptians really rejoicing in life after post revolution we try and assess and find out if britain can resist the strong scottish calls for freedom. in georgia riot

police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government protests the opposition have rallied for a second day now in the capital tbilisi about a president saakashvili steps opposition leaders say hundreds of people have so far been arrested one of georgia's opposition parties called the twenty fifth of may a day of rage designed to force the government to resign saturday thousands marched from georgian cities to say they've been robbed of their freedoms and presence in the whole region. according to opposition groups thirteen people were injured and several detained this police raided one of their offices in the middle of the night opposition leader you know budget now this is the government's prison on actions the revolt in motion. evolution is building on we've got and it's not like the government began with a chain link government began to terrorize people like government. hundreds of. absolutely innocent evil government it beats very seriously. look some

people would say confiscate it's property of the citizens and its last legs secret ballot what peaceful nation i would like to remind you that this money is the action by the state of the government and i would like to mention one thing that we have fighting for democracy we decided that we are continuing rally tonight too so we have to keep exist in our place if. we would be ready to model to model you believe the radio the day of your model lake city up to tomorrow you will be ready thank you if you will x. twenty feet it's like it will be not very long process so we will it in your wrist you. a series of explosions of hit the iraqi capital baghdad leaving at least sixteen people dead and this comes as the british military operations ended after

more than eight years in the country the last group of all navy training staff poured out the u.k. joined the us invasion of iraq in two thousand and three under the pretext of destroying saddam hussein's weapons of mass destruction but when w m d's were never found the war fell out of favor with the british public even more so with the death of one hundred seventy nine soldiers during the conflict most of the u.k.'s military forces withdrew two years ago let's talk more about this with john's forbode he's co-founder of the surge project for iraq body count thanks for being on r.t. this sunday evening is pretty shaded with multiple civilian casualties maybe two hundred british was the talk and billions of pounds spent most of the yukos involvement in iraq really worth it. well the play is purely a symbolic moment i mean britain's real influence on this conflict ended back in two thousand and seven when it would do its combat troops and i think the british public and most of the rest of the world has already made up its mind about this conflict what we've been able to do today home on this symbolic moment is do

a summation of not the british troops who were killed which are very well known but what is known about the iraq is who died in the part of iraq where the british had influence the southern provinces including. you know what is the figure it's ranging from what about one hundred ten thousand on your site to other estimates putting that figure maybe closer to a million well a hundred ten thousand is the total documented civilian deaths for the whole of iraq for the whole of this period but if we just take the four provinces where person was supposed to be maintaining security then some three thousand three hundred deaths occurred in the period when they were in charge there to about another one thousand six hundred during the invasion that means over five thousand iraqis died as it were on the british watch in that part of iraq and more significantly about one hundred twenty four of those are known to have been directly killed by british troops some of them in circumstances of jupiter's legality now you've you criticize the john chilcot inquiry for not taking that into

account or making more of it yeah. well one of the interesting things is that commentators or whatever political persuasion were for or against this conflict are kind of united in a clear and so even casual treatment of the iraq the cost of this and we believe that this will not be laid to rest properly until there is a full and detailed inquiry into the iraqi deaths that are being caused do you agree with the pm gordon brown summation of it that the operation was a success. i don't think it's for someone like me to. judgment or judgments which have already been made by senior politicians and commentators in this country for example i noticed today that david miliband performer foreign secretary. was quoted as saying that the minuses were greater than the pluses and our own deputy prime minister nick clegg has also called this an illegal war so i think that the jury has has come in on this what we now have to

do is reflected very carefully on our involvement in this war and learn the lessons for the future but also come to terms fully with what actually happened in the past and that's where i think the chilcot inquiry has a responsibility and we hope it will live up to that because the oral hearings really skated very cynically over the issue of iraqi casualties they hardly arose at all but john what are your thoughts about the success of the operation in that did it bring freedom did it bring democracy to the people of iraq. well i would simply return to the issue of those who lost their lives and wounded whatever benefits may have accrued to some people in iraq and these are highly contested people who died absolutely the ultimate losers of this conflict we should know all we can about that and understand that and try ensure that in any future engagement of our military forces we do better in terms of saving human lives talked about

those of all the navy officers pulling out today despite that final pullout as far as britain is concerned is still going to sound very full of major roles ongoing in afghanistan now in libya does it mean that british interventionism is likely to continue. it's clear that person considers itself a major player in the world and that means putting its troops and forces around the world. we very much hope that in conflicts it's currently engaged in such a list and pays more attention to the civilian casualties which it claims politically and trying to avoid it so far as willing to do don't support a co-founder of the research project iraq body count joining us from london thank you for your thoughts on the program. next pretty stale would he go that is what many were trying to ask president dmitry medvedev as the twenty top

presidential campaign in russia draws closer and the president's latest q. and a session then was a perfect opportunity to throw that question into the ring but he threw it straight back out again artie's katrina reports. one hundred thirty seven minutes eight hundred journalists seventy two questions and one man to answer and. question president meet him and he did have his first major press conference on wednesday giving many a chance to voice their questions but while some are serious which is is there a chance to give to each of our actions well deserved accommodation and sound more light hearted. i know that your wife is to parking lots and i have no right to park my own car so maybe i could borrow one is that it is wishing that. it was the question of a possible second term that everyone including the president expected the most extreme year fields the decision over the presidential race is not made in this

kind of format it should be made when the situation is right this will have a greater political impact and i will follow this principle so if i want to make a statement i will make it if the mystery of whether current president madrid or for former president clinton will run for office in two thousand and twelve has become moscow's most debated topic according to a minute if the two men share a lot of views but also have their differences that ship meshing yes my aim my relationship with my colleague and political partner of god to me a put in is not just something that people call a tandem actually we've been working together for over twenty years and we know each other well we think alike and all views on key issues in our country's development are very close but this doesn't mean we always think the same way we have different views on modernization and i think this process could be much faster because it was getting sidestepped the most intriguing topic when it it still took

time to focus on major domestic and international issues and archie's question about syria pounded him to make a very strong statement he said as if a serious yes i will not support real. solutions on syria frankly speaking they were disregarded by the actions that some states took even though initially russia supported the first resolution and didn't veto the second what happened afterwards demonstrated that these kinds of resolutions can be manipulated this is deplorable because it undermines the all thirty of the u.n. . but it shows according to some a growing unease with decisions made concerning the middle east this commitment have appeared somewhat to regret russia's support of the resolution on libya was quite strong in saying that the actions are currently going beyond what he thought he was voting for. so i think internationally people take note of that because it will signify russia's increasing our knees i think about what's going on in libya

and more broadly in the middle east but i didn't detect a sense from mr medvedev that the security council wasn't the proper forum in which these things should be discussed with a lot of regional journalists present many questions focused on domestic matters but one subject of great interest to the media both in russia and abroad is the imprisonment of former oil tycoon. he could of course released who he did in georgia society that was a short question and the old saw with equally sure that no absolutely not the president's use however i'm likely to influence the sentence i don't think it means you're going to be released and after all it's not the president who put him in jail and i don't think it will be politically easy for me to be a coup. or parole. although he has such a possibility according to war but you know these sort of things happens very

rarely in any country in court in russia so i think basically what mediator wanted to say is that he doesn't dispute their decisions over the court might he doesn't consider this person a danger. as the press conference came to a close reporters debated its success after nearly two and a half hours with a little bit of bait the press farewell and headed back to the kremlin but the question that remains unanswered is will he stay there after twenty twelve cashiers are artsy glasgow. well as he called out with the reach of press secretary straight after the conference to tell it to make over explain why the president is taking a side once the question on everyone's lips who got the interview interview for you coming up in about ten minutes startling fact tonight here on out. egypt's fragile interim leadership spring tested was sectarian violence keeping the country on the edge since the popular uprising toppled hosni mubarak's regime christians have been targeted now in several attacks by muslim radicals with churches torched and dozens

killed the result is ready for national explains many egyptians are disillusioned with the change the revolution has brought so far. president. but there is little satisfaction in the teeth of free egypt. previously unified on their sleeves square three common enemy and barak's resignation so egyptian muslims and christians turn on each other. we want justice we want equal rights. in institutions in businesses elites in army and in politics. for centuries the coptic christian minority has felt discriminated in a country dominated by eighteen million muslims the revolutionary euphoria has brought a desire for change. people of this and freedom and they like it and now we are kind of fed up with the situation. tensions in the past month have left

dozens killed schools injured and several churches burned his muslim woman and her entire family had been welcome in liberation until her twenty four year old son was killed in the street. by a greek thrown during sectarian clashes in baghdad and all the flashpoint as years of syrian religious tension over. how we know mubarak was a dictator maybe he was corrupt but at least we have been able to sleep and our children were alive we never saw the before we couldn't have even imagine something like this happening yes from this point of view i miss the old regime me out as glorify the genie revolution in london the muslim brotherhood then under mubarak today to the country's only well organized political group with a president a gun they moved from jail cells to this luxury building in central cairo the revolution given them a long awaited voice at. the radicals are triggering the transitions the

revolution united people and they want to ruin and i don't want to see egypt strong and independent but i'm sure there will disappear after the parliamentary elections of the congress if you want me in batteries chiros poorest district is home to millions of people surviving on just a couple of doors a day full of in the pre-revolution egypt's immune system has been a weekend dramatically economies in critical condition the army is running the country when this happens the symptoms strike the most vulnerable first and the question now is just how far the damage might spread and what egypt can ever recover and. refresh our cairo. or for more on how the rest of the arab world is rumbling on check out our web site of. his we've got wind of you right now about that the u.s. campaign in libya's now officially illegal as the operation passes its sixtieth day

without official who said from congress but it doesn't go by washington is losing sleep over that we've got a report about it on the inside out of gobs of guilt. also find out how to wash your hair is zero gravity we caught up with an american astronaut gearing up for another mission into war but it's more of the challenges of life in space revealed . as well. in scotland's independence is something many in edinburgh been dreaming on for a very long time now with the recent election victory of the country's scottish national party this may become a reality looks at what sovereignty would mean for the celtic nation. the starting pistol sounds in the race for independence for scotland the scottish national party now has a surprise majority in parliament and their hell bent on a referendum on breaking away from the u.k. gained control over a resource. ability for the problems with peace in our country and to be able to

stand up to the issues that matter to us. taking charge at home and making sure that we have a voice abroad revenues from oil and gas in the north sea are worth an estimated twenty one billion dollars to the u.k. treasury every year scotland says the reserves are in their waters it's hard to imagine the u.k. would let the oilfields go without a fight particularly as westminster wouldn't be legally obliged to honor a yes vote proper scottish people the union jacks days flying outside the scottish parliament could be numbers scotland's ditching the united kingdom would mean the u.k. treasury lost valuable oil and gas revenues and it could be the inspiration for historically less peaceful independence movements in europe like the basques and the northern irish to follow suit and further destabilize an already weak e.u. the s.n.p. would support other european movements in their own struggle sprinter pendants

including wales and northern ireland if they so choose it's for the people of those countries to say what we want to do we would never support or condone violence in any shape or form clearly a for the country's wish to pursue an agenda then the deal of sympathy for losses and even those who don't want the u.k. to break up say it's a sense of wanting to reclaim individual nationhood striving the movement it's just an argument. it's not by the route you richard it's all about whether you feel that we are scottish and british we want to be and we've been caught up with a union which i think you served. well through for three hundred years the s.n.p. still has work to do if it wants scotland separate away even the most optimistic polls show only around forty percent of scots would vote yes and on the streets of edinburgh people are divided the oil industry and you know say you'll get for

school and all the oil is that angle of this we can go. on it generally a day will still not. be there to other people with all the scorn the self professed cotton cattle by the. way this was caught and as much as close to risk. because of all the feature of how off you are in short we should have ration the venues. will be praying that they're all day run work. doing well enough are going to get you to do a lot of things that i could boot one world the other the s.n.p. has time to bring the on shore ground it's putting off a referendum until the second half of its five year government it would be the beginning of a new era for scotland which has been independent since seventeen zero seven but it's always retained a strong and distinct national identity something the s.n.p. will be playing on with all its might know and its policy and timber.

so as national news stories for this hour in a speech to the pro israel lobby group president obama said israel the face growing isolation without a credible middle east peace process taking washington he repeated his call for the jewish state returns nine hundred sixty seven borders with the palestinians including mitchell months website sprigs of the conflict. flatly rejected here but show the territory occupied by israel is considered the greatest. houseless imposed local flight banning closed its main airport after the country's most active volcano erupted soon covered nearby villages and farms and even reached the capital however experts say some. likely to cause widespread destruction where traffic light last year when the eruption of another volcano led to the closure of a large section of european air space. in the laziest search teams have rescued nine children after a landslide in an orphanage sixteen people were killed when the building near the capital kuala lumpur was very all but one of the victims were children aged from

seven to eighteen police asked people to leave the area amid concerns of further. if you minutes tonight we hear from president bush media spokes person we ask her about his plans for the future and legendary boxer and there found favorite over the world roy jones jr was knocked out by russia's best fighter on saturday we got more about that sport at eight forty five moscow times that so the next half hour looks here at r.t. from moscow this sunday evening twenty second and. all.

the. crew cool review of the latest in science and technology from. going to the future coverage. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to look for a shelter all day.