claim more than eight hundred civilians have died in nato raids the nine people they say were killed in sunday's bombardment of the city have become the first civilian casualty is officially acknowledged by the alliance only on saturday nato has also admitted another mistake in a strike this time on rebel forces near the levin oil port of bragger with a number of casualties not been disclosed we who are nato who hold mr cameron mr sarkozy was going to score any mr obama has already found good dispensable for the deaths of these innocent children innocent was a hero an innocent fathers and mothers you cannot justify this at dikika the enemy was. sunday's fatal error he carries in with the rising concerns within nato about his operation in northern africa only eight out of its twenty eight members have joined the mission to protect civilians in libya which raises the question how many

would support one to kill them. r t tripoli with civilian casualties in libya mounting a no end in sight those paying for intervention might be stumping up more of a bargain for the u.k. has announced that it's taxpayers might see one point six billion dollars of their hard earned cash diverted to fund the intervention i was at is more about reports though there's little patience left about an already dissolution public. there are already calling it the billion pound war it's calculated that if the war in libya goes on for six months it will cost the british taxpayer one point six billion dollars but that initial humanitarian mission is now get rid of gadhafi operation and that could take a lot longer assuming that their goal is to simply oust him from power one imagines this is not going to end until he skill or until he leaves office so this could potentially drag on for months more and as we've seen they've already extended the

operation by another three months that's unlikely to be popular with the british public that's watching government spending like a hawk already fearing seeing services and jobs slashed even so downing street swore while it is open and it's taking the lead in libya data gathered by britain's guardian newspaper from defense ministries and news reports shows that britain has flown twenty five percent of all sources in libya second only to the u.s. by the second week of may six thousand strike missions had been ordered blogger daniel rennick says the u.k.'s likely to have weighed up the cost but with a warm wind blowing west towards from libyan rebels and us movements britain reckons a billion pounds is a pretty good investment it's about having control of north african resources particularly. or to be made for the transitional council that seems to be very clear some bombs cost up to one and a half million dollars each and with the u.k.

cutting defense spending analysts say they may not be replaced and when you're dealing with such big numbers small things make a big difference your fight it out food costs maybe one hundred thousand pounds per hour to fly so small changes in the number of hours us to produce big changes a cost estimate for the operant given what we're seeing wars are always expensive but the costs back home. could prove harder to afford next in line to strike a million public sector workers who are being asked to work more and get less the disruption to services could run in two weeks the commitment to continue in libya for however low suggests a blank check at a time when there is little in the kitty the deployment of apache helicopters doesn't appear to have given nato the tactical advantage it hoped for and every time a plane takes to the sky or drops a bomb the cost for britain and its beleaguered european neighbors create higher

and higher your avatar to be. a repeat of the libyan scenario in syria would be unacceptable and everything was prevented prevented that's the view of russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov. russia will do everything it can to prevent a libyan scenario happening in syria where together with the international community we can urge bush and the serbs to put the reforms into practice as soon as possible and to call on the opposition not to ignore suggestions to discuss these reforms but to start negotiating them. well those comments came as syria's president bashar assad addressed the variation with his third major speech sense of respite care in the country of mid march if assad promised liberal reforms but it declined to go into detail and that was something was picked up by the opposition the president stuck to his stance the foreign influence was behind the uprising and that no change was possible until the violence died down experts say the speech could become a turning point if the president does follow through on his promises. zero verges

on stopping syria with more sanctions it could be setting itself up for more than i bargained for says joshua landis he's director of the center of a mideast studies. assad made it very clear there isn't regime change is not on the books he is going to lead the future he said he said he is in control of events and events are not controlling him he tried to strike a tone of confidence at the same time as saying that he understood that there was need for many reforms upon syrian a showdown this is a very stark line in a sand and they were seen as asking people to trust him and to side with him and the opposition are going to ask people to side with them if europe wanted to starve syria they could do it in the same way that europe starved iraq of course once you go down that road if the government doesn't crumble as it didn't do any iraq then you have to take military intervention because you can't just start people forever

it's hard to read the future of syria the situation could bubble on the way it's going now for some time and you think that things are going to reach a climax they're going to be regime change and there aren't we saw this in libya we saw a rock we're seeing it in iran that you increase the pressure but things just grind along in a very unhappy situation and that that could be the future of syria for some time. coming up in the program president to meet with veterans thoughts on the conflicts in syria and libya from an interview with the financial times and he gave the also shared his thoughts as well the second term big question ever asking but he states that chad that he gave the paper there it's the people who have the final word still announce where they'll stand again but did rule out a face off with prime minister. a five day long nuclear security forums kicked off in vienna the japanese atomic crisis has prompted a comprehensive discussion about the future of nuclear power delegates from most of

the hundred fifty member states of the international atomic watchdog the i.a.e.a. or at the gathering they aim to work out tighter universal safety regulations for reactors japan's expect to be criticized for its slow response to the fukushima disaster it's already submitted a report admitting it wasn't prepared for an accident of the scale of what it saw r.t. shaun thomas traveled to a city forest that's well outside the official exclusion zone but where nonetheless locals are still concerned over high radiation levels. the ominous and constant ticking of geiger counters scientists working in fukushima city concerned. i'm in charge of the group of radiation detection and survey from fukushima university where now thinking very creation protocol and process set up by the japanese government is not enough and myself i think i should evacuate from this area but because of my job at the university i can't my family and my friends' families are evacuating. officially fukushima city is in

a safe area eighty kilometers from the day to plant reactor one in a full sixty kilometers outside the bend danger zone but still radiation levels here are much higher than normal. just to give you an idea of the consistency right now the battleground is really quite tonight micro ring it's about thirty times what it is more than the accepted level but if you come down here to where i just saw it all and i'm not quite to the regular quickly jumped up but it's still climbing earlier we got a reading of night and now i look at my car and it's going to us about a thousand times more than what is an acceptable level of strict regulation. but in order to claim that fukushima is truly safe from leaking radiation the japanese government has had to be creative with the numbers but the government did they change the redish on quantum level standard the levels from one. minute. to twenty minutes even twenty times. the. standards

before the accident and now. they raise the. the standard so that they can say it's safe but actually it's a standard house change the new higher levels mean that fukushima can be classed as being outside of the exclusion zone some say that evacuating the city would be simply impractical given the huge numbers of people affected to try and mitigate the circumstances to some degree a group of scientists have teamed up to find a simple ways to reduce the radiation levels. we're just trying to do a pilot project and do d.d. contamination. by ourselves and we are not to using our special equipment we just use normal child. scoops. you just. a small effort to bring some security to

a community facing a scary and uncertain future in fukushima city sean thomas r.t. . well the discussions around fukushima at the vienna conference will be held behind closed doors with only summaries being released and we're holding information from the public doing nothing to shore up public faith in the nuclear authorities says malcolm grimston he's of former information officer of the u.k. atomic energy authority and he's currently a policy analyst at the chatham house think tank in london. understandably all of us want to know as much as we can about the present situation clearly sometimes you need discussions behind closed doors to. try to discuss things that may not be the case but which would cause a lot of fear if if they were announced until an hour later not to be the case but for such a major and meeting of this sort i do believe that a demonstration of openness is extremely important but i think this is the wrong

decision people are going to think there are details they don't want to come out even if it's not the case i don't believe personally that we've seen a massive cover up of information coming from japan what we have seen though i think is a very slow response to questions and attitude which has been far too backward looking about this is what we think might have been happening two or four weeks ago instead of this is what we think might happen in two or four weeks time and when that is the attitude. people are going to think will be all four of these are sitting on the information of they don't want to release were that on line first line r.t. dot com we also welcome your thoughts in all the stories you see on our channel just to drop by if you've got a minute and write your comments down there is good if me and also online if you are visiting our site news of a shock at the top of russia's football premier league story broke yesterday as leading goalscorer gets a jolt from a policeman find out the details of what exactly happened at r.t. dot com also who's next in the terrorist crosshairs we ask al qaida.

this head to the fields and u.s. politicians more about him online tonight for us. in greece workers at a state owned electricity company have gone on a forty eight hour strike against austerity measures it comes as e.u. finance ministers failed to agree on conditions for releasing the next installment of last year's bailout package for the country the decision was postponed till july now with the stipulation that athens implements for. budget cuts workers of utility rang grid government plans to privatized the company as part of a steroids emergency is crucial if the country is to avoid a default fears of greece defaulting may british banks hold back tens of billions of euros from the lending market this spring into the conversation you would have done with most member of the european parliament thanks for being with us mr darwin sir i mean is this a sign that the british banks have finally given up on europe's economy and you no longer think it's worth saving well i mean i can't really speak for the british

banks but i mean what they seem to be doing or indeed what they seem to have done is to reduce their exposure to greece which it seems to be eminently sensible not a great vote of confidence in the e.u. though is it. well there's a distinction between the e.u. and the euro zone i mean as you know the party which i have you on the honor to represent believes that britain would be much much better off outside the you and basically that that's what we stand for but as far as the euro zone is concerned and the countries in the euro zone it was always it was always a project driven by politics not by economics and now the economic birds as it were are coming home to roost that's really what's happening now what about this big rescue plan i mean why do you think even officials haven't managed to agree on the conditions to bail out greece once again is it because they genuinely think greece is there in their bed or do you think more likely they've got cold feet over the whole deal well i think that that they've got they've got frozen feet about. about

the whole deal i mean greece is really not a very large economy and what are they talking of in the present seventy billion with probably more to come in twelve months time and i mean look where is it all going to when i mean the what's basically happening is that the taxpayers of northern europe particularly germany are going to have to pay up. to to stop greece should default and the german taxpayers don't and the taxpayers know new york don't particularly like it we already saw in the last finnish election that a particle the truth in short probably more aware of it must be the most people came came from nowhere to get twenty twenty percent of the vote and that was on the platform specifically on the platform of no finish contribution bailouts for greece and we are we will see more movies and the european officials know this and that's

why they're getting very very very cold feet about giving any one so what is the face of greece what's going to happen to it. well i mean i'm not an economist so my chris my crystal ball isn't really much better than anyone else's but but the terms of trade and economic logic is that greece would default which greece has defaulted before i mean basically what always used to happen is that country is that. investors who lent their money to each other some of the season interest rates in recognition of the risk of the full. greek interest rates are currently sixteen and a half percent they were eighteen percent on friday so the markets are signaling the fall for greece. it's easy to talk about this is a charge so i guess is it but you know we think about the actual paper the losing their jobs at a fairly difficult to pay their bills we've seen these mass protests in spain and

france over the austerity measures also looking in italy what might happen there people are very clearly worried for their future is it possible for anyone to give them any guarantees they'll be ok well they will i think i'd like to put it another another way which is that the the obsession the near fanaticism of the european elite for the political project of united states of europe on a common currency has resulted in a terrible terrible human toss. people. the the famous nineteenth century american politician made a famous speech the cross of gold speech saying with which said mankind will not be crucified on this process go all right well go. for it could your party or for these people what was right but what words of comfort could your party offer these people. well the words of comfort that we that that we would offer is that we have everybody has a tremendous emotional commitment to greece as the cradle of western civilization

and and and the people and if the if there is a greek default the people who would suffer would be the holders of greek sovereign debt who are basically banks institutions and the like is sort of the people who are suffering now who are who who are principally private the two million private sector employees in greece who are actually bearing the brunt of these draconian austerity cuts and also where these are serious cuts actually going to lead i mean the tax base in greece apparently is decreasing. or i will of dharma things be on the program sure and also a member of the u.k. independence party. thank you thank you president of still keeping russia the rest of the world guessing whether he'll make a bid to stay chief of the kremlin for a second term however that interview with london's financial times paper he appeared to rule out putin and medvedev face off in next year's election he's catarina of the reports next them and what else the president had to say. it's

definitely the question that the russian president has been asked most frequently in the recent odds with the way they decided to keep the suspense of the will. but if you do i'm the leader especially one who walked past the president's seat has to be willing to run for reelection however it's not a question of whether he would make that decision for himself i suggest waiting a bit longer and keeping the intrigue. of course the main intrigue of the twenty two of the presidential election still remains with him and they did did answer some questions in relations to who will run for office and one thing is certain both he and with him approaching will not run for the same office it will just be one man or still remains to see who will that man but. it's hard for me to imagine putin and i both running for president of the same time for at least one reason the thing is we strictly speaking represent the same political force competition

between us would bring harm to the goals and tasks we've been working on for the past several years it wouldn't be good for russia and it wouldn't be good in this particular situation it was a very long interview that the russian president gave to the financial times that were so many issues were raised about the course of it of course retaining to russia's national and foreign policies many of us think that our interesting. people living in russia those observing from the specifically of course questions relating to the goals that the president set out for himself during his term in office are they say should that only option which no interviews that is taken by western media source has gone by without the issues that were sealed will try to speak raise us president reiterated his position that that was his release that it happened not in any way be a danger to society like any russian citizen serving time that holds. has the right

to an appeal person wasn't just matters of domestic policy that were touched upon the russian president speaking quite harshly about t.v. nato military intervention in libya saying that some of russia's partners basically chose misinterpret the resolution passed by the united nations security council resolution that russia. hoping that it will be observed and kept as it is worded but of course the mediators said that basically a very good resolution turned into a meaningless bit of paper with nature's military intervention in libya and that precisely because of that no resolution will be asked on syria but the. serious matters of course that were discussed we do know that the russian president is very fond of his gadgets he's barely see without a fight and he did slip that he has a special on it that lets him monitor exactly what his employees are doing and

which of his tasks have already been fulfilled is a very useful thing i personally plan to check out the app store to see whether it's been specifically custom made for the president or whether it's available for the general public katrina's out of the reporting but also today prism of other cities condolences to relatives of the internationally renowned human rights activist and then a bona fide in the u.s. . for serious illness but it was a widow of the late soviet this is the nobel peace prize winner of the relatives said she'd be buried here in moscow we've got more detail on that story on our web site out called. twenty four hours when it's possible to have a few minutes we'll look at where the foreign intervention of the arab world actually brought improvements for the people who live it first times business with katrina. hello and welcome to our business bulletin increased demand for gas in europe has largely benefited the russian state company gazprom but the company has been criticized for

charging far more than the market spot prices alexander medvedev deputy c.e.o. of gazprom believes however that the disparity between spot prices and long term contract prices will soon be minimal. but. in the next two years we can expect prices to grow significantly higher because futures will we do to him to love and twenty twelve and twenty thirteen if they're not already higher will be around four hundred dollars per thousand cubic meters this is equal to the price for you know long term contract. despite the lower european and asian markets the u.s. markets are trading in the black monday those speculation that they will fall throughout trading is high due to continuing concerns over the debt crisis in greece. and bearish sentiment dominated the russian markets monday the s. and the mind six close more than one percent in the red looking at individual share

moves on the my six now ross telecom lost almost eight percent after a rally early this morning when she has rose thirteen percent analysts attributed the rise to the inclusion of telecom shares in the r.c.s. index and on expectations that the stop will soon be included in the m s c i index and as you may just suffered losses dragged down by the oil price gazprom in the red despite its announcement of a twenty six percent increase in its forecast for this year's european exports banking stocks were also under pressure to spur bank one point six percent during the day getting. the capital that monday's trading. after the markets half close or rather lost there are. strong positive more swell of course the markets do try to find some ground. but still too much optimism i think is cannot provide certainty with greece on friday we had moderately positive.

german french or the picked common position regarding greece or nor single nor strong decision has been made so about section of the man problem for the markets which. markets rebound. the first russian insurance i.p.o. may happen as soon as this year the country's largest insurer ross gus truck has taken a six hundred forty million dollar loan to prepare for the listing analysts say the company could be worth more than two billion dollars. the ten billion dollars russian direct investment fund has come into action just after it was officially launched at the same petersburg economic forum last week vladimir dimitri have chairman of the bank outlines the funds plans for this year. i think that will do one of two deals before the year and i don't think the. which is around two billion dollars will be fully. well they have the feeling that will raise about half

a billion dollars to implement specific projects sometimes and that brings you up to date with business for now but you can always keep up to date online. business stay with us for headlines next. mission to free credit taishan free transport charges free. range month

free risk free. two types free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects free medio dog r t dot com. wealthy british scientists are told some time it was time. for the. markets. scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name two guys a report on r.t. .

hello this is our team from moscow it's kevin owen here with a headline update for you nato admits it launched the strike that killed nine civilians in a tripoli suburb while british taxpayers weary of reckless spending out of the bill for three months bloody stalemate. the international atomic energy agency is expected to slam japan for poor handling of the fukushima crisis but nuclear safety form opens in vienna and improving safety regulations and try to prevent a repeat of the japanese. and europe's finance ministers for spota decision a fresh bailout for greece the same morris territory is needed in the country already shaken by protests against pending cuts. coming away just ahead artie's people of elena's guest discuss whether the international presence in libya and

other african countries is really likely to improve life for the people who live there crosstalk went on to less than half a minute from now. we'll . bring you the latest in science technology from. the future. can. blow and welcome to cross talk i'm peter all about africa in the new great game outside interest in this continent is immense rich in natural resources and a growing middle class china the us europe and other powers are scrambling for

influence and wealth there can africa avoid another wave of imperialism and neocolonialism. you can. see. the rostock the future of africa i'm joined by robert guest in london he's a business editor at the economist and author of the book the shackled continent africa past present and future in washington we cross to jendayi frazer she's a professor at the carnegie mellon university and in oxford we have photos manji he is editor in chief of the pound those who can news all right this is cross lady and gentlemen and that means you can jump in anytime you want and i know they have difference of opinion so i want my viewers to see it if i go to you first in oxford i do like to go to the term africa in the new great game the scramble for influence because a lot of people are saying this right now as africa is stepping up its development some countries are getting ahead while some are not.