spending the year in iraq as a military journalist i saw some of the ways to go and u.s. contractors there is kind of wasting their time trying to get killed three and. a and. i thought all lost the link to the museum about five hundred miles. it would take me about twenty seven days and knew going to publicize it and people invited the more i think the hope believes these people started the bait of a dialogue in the just. chanting the slogan or when the sun in some states. are all. the way.

as japan approves of second disaster recovery budget devastated communities psychological support and fears grow over radiation levels in the area around fukushima. and the euro's woes take a turn for the worse with portugal that gets downgraded to junk status with panic spreading over where it will lead. a diplomatic dustup between russian from moscow reportedly hit south of the french libyan rebels saying it was a violation of the u.n. resolution that calls details just ahead. from a business. continues to put the financial crisis behind it. at its.

international news and comment live from moscow this is. almost four months since the massive earthquake and tsunami tore through japan's northeast the daunting task of rebuilding homes and lives continues efforts have been boosted by the passing of a second emergency budget of almost twenty five billion dollars but as well as financial assistance traumatized advisors are also in desperate need of emotional support thomas now reports. as the waves cruise ship damaged the seawall on the japanese coast volunteers work tirelessly to clean up the debris and bring some sense of normalcy back to the area. i want to tell people we need more help more suppliers and things are still found here. beyond the physical destruction of there is a distressing psychological factor as well the city if you want he is right on the

edge of the twenty kilometer exclusion zone for radiation contamination in fact in a recent study by japan's nuclear safety commission forty five percent of one thousand children tested in any walk and may bring cities have tested positive for thyroid radiation exposure a figure that has parents appalled that the government has reset the great syria for safety and they're not concerned with the consequences their reaction is only to help the governments they face but they don't actually take care of the damage and the people here first there was the earthquake then the devastating a wave which rushed in and destroyed this part of the coastal city of it walking also there are the nuclear radiation waves that are coming into this area as well the volunteers that are coming in to rebuild this city certainly have their work cut out for them but just like the city itself the people who live here the community they need to have their spirits rebuilt as well. that.

again in an effort to keep the community emotionally strong organizers have brought this acting troupe in from tokyo bay save their goal is to provide something that beyond a simple intertainment or we have a certain japanese pride and this destructive situation i would like to bring good things and present the spirit of japan and japanese pride by bringing people together and making people smile. throughout shared community experience there is a sense of hope that the city of milwaukee can indeed recover. pretty close to its. unique. and with an understanding that there is still much more work that needs to be done the people here are working to keep their community together. i just want them to stay where they want. and they can be helpful that are keep doing it rebuilding the city one step at

a time any walky city japan sean thomas or t. . in the wake of the crisis in japan is going to stress test all of its nuclear power plants to determine how well the reactors could withstand natural disasters but it was also aimed at assuring people that the facilities a safe body spoke to the director general of the world nuclear association who blames the media for starting up public panic in japan this interview is coming up later this hour we're also in the program this hour selling weapons or selling out germany is reportedly planning to export two hundred tanks to saudi arabia in a move sparking human rights concerns and condemned by opposition politicians are illegal. but first diplomats from russia and france have reportedly clashed over nato's handling of the libya crisis at a meeting of the un security council held behind closed doors it's believed moscow criticized the french decision to deliver weapons to gadhafi rebels which russia

says was a violation of the u.n. resolution when it's get more now from. she joins us now live from washington it seems like this was something of a diplomatic quarrel what else do we know about what happened at this u.n. security council meeting. well as you said it was a meeting behind closed doors so no official statements but we do know that there was a discussion and russia says such actions violate the arms embargo that was imposed on libya and the weapons supplies also breached the un mandate that was given to establish a no fly zone and protect the libyan civilians the u.n. authorization was given in the middle of march and since then nato bombings have killed scores of libyan civilians undermining the goal of the operation speaking of goals western powers have their logic of understanding the goals of the operation they say in order to protect the civilians they need to get rid of kadafi in order to get rid of gadhafi they need to weaken his strongholds which means intense bombing of the country and that's what the forces are now actively engaged in but

by all means alone they say will not bring it desirable and to the conflict which is ousting qaddafi so there needs to be action on the ground but the u.n. resolution explicitly says no foreign troops on the ground in any form and that's why they arm the rebels according to france for example but critics say that logical change takes us very far from the initial goal stated in the u.n. resolution which was to stop the massacre and nowhere in that resolution that is a forceful regime change many say nato is actions and that all we're meant to stop the massacre have brought about a lot of destruction not to mention that it's a direct and now a long lasting involvement in a civil war we've also been reports that the u.s. was in directly libyan rebels what more can you tell us about that. well bill there have been reports earlier that the gyptian military has been shipping arms over the border to leave be unraveled and they gypsies military is very much influenced by washington as we know but those reports were never officially confirmed france was the first to acknowledge weapons supplies to the rebels in

libya we're talking about rocket launchers will solve machine guns and anti-tank missiles there are several aspects that analysts point out in france is this dispatch apart from the fact that he very clearly breaches the arms embargo that was imposed on the one their radical elements among among those radicals while and there are unlikely to show mercy for their opponents and those arms supplies most certainly inflame the situation even more and the way it was done the weapons were parachuted from planes who knows who got hold of them it could be kids it could be criminals but it seems nobody cares as long as the rebellion and that's the phrase used by the french as the reasoning behind the airlift to boost the rebellion but many libyans now say the last thing they want is a boost to the civil war that has taken so many lives and has torn their country apart and the other aspect that experts point out is that. make it almost impossible for the two sides to sit down and talk and find some kind of a political solution because of the constant bloodshed any ma city is growing and

the rift between the libyan people is getting we're going to thanks very much indeed for that from washington d.c. well let's get more analysis on the developing situation there in libya we're joined by records old he's a political blogger and understand we can go to him live right know is. able to join us. can you hear me rick can you hear me. we can hear you fine thanks for joining us now first from submits it's been dropping weapons and no it says there's no need to do anymore of. why this change in their approach to things. you know i do i'm not i have no contacts in the inner circles of the french government of course but i assume you don't believe the logic of that statement is sufficient weapons have already been provided to rebel forces in libya so that they don't require any further ones by i don't know what other conclusion to draw from that what i mean like weapons coming from other countries for example we've just

been talking from to got a check on their washington speculation that the u.s. has been directly been supplying weapons already the u.k. of course have been supporting fronts over this argument with russia does that do you think implied pay to have actually been supporting rebels with ammunition and not admitting to it i think you're correct there and we have to assume that we have to look at the template there of the model of this you know in one thousand nine hundred ninety u.s. and its nato allies were arming training and assisting the so-called cost of the liberation army and the serbian province of concert of you know during the seventy eight day bombing campaign against yugoslavia similar. covert actions or special operations missions were used of course of afghanistan with forces with the northern life alliance in two thousand and one there overthrow the taliban at the r.v. run again with a select committee of salaries in northern iraq the u.s. i'm sure of special forces on the ground working with them in the for all you to

the nation of iraq in two thousand and three so this would be a scenario played through the play and i think that you know the fact that the french defense minister. are a long day and others have openly acknowledged that they didn't air dropping the weapons and so again as your commentary said earlier a very motley had a genius you know that in many ways dangerous what i said of why why is it wrong to drop weapons to civilians the french say they they want to boost the rebellion that process is bringing the conflict to to an end date have been humanitarian reasons why they've been dropping weapons to civilians so so what is the problem about that. that's a curious statement you know providing weapons to civilians i assume that weapons are used by military forces you know whether a government or otherwise united nations resolution monkeys seventy is quite clear it is quite deep you. know male military equipment even matter of dual use or secondary use and so forth is to be provided to the end of the nation of libya the

curious thing about that resolution which i'm quite certain was offered by the united states is that it believes it's somewhat ambiguous over whether the arms embargo it was aimed at the nation of love you know or the government if you will but in any event you know to provide arms in an already tense situation were for military involvement is not already in the standard time today with the three month extension you know authorized by the north atlantic treaty organization which is much like leaving matches or perhaps even more exciting for me or our americans than any six sorry i don't let me just ask you wait i've got an awful lot of time he will blogs make the case against nato his actions and you won't be alone it's to stop this campaign but is there really any alternative now to minatory intervention . i mean continued military intervention intervention by third parties by outside forces are simply going to continue the fighting it's going to continue the loss of

human lives the destruction of the infrastructure of a country that's going to occur there and better and divide the body lation of livio servant of reconciliation and regarding our efforts are going to get more difficult as a result i understand that the west doesn't want to lose face of ruin of knowledge that they've not been bombing a country five hundred ten days of the country one of the six and a half million people haven't succeeded but there have been calls from the african union from select figures in the arab league from other nations and what we need is a mediated peaceful resolution of the conflict and not an intensification of military actions by outside forces meaning the north and. req i'm not the only one who wants to talk to clearly somebody on the phone trying to get hold of him. thanks very much indeed for joining us live there rick ross all thank you thank you . well to more on controversial arms flows germany is reportedly selling two hundred tanks to saudi arabia talk of

a deal has caused outrage among germany's opposition politicians who claim the government would be breaking its export rules yun van auken he's a foreign affairs expert from germany's left wing party as told me earlier that the move compromises the country's position on democracy and human rights we know that even in the ruling parties there's a lot of opposition against this because you know it was this government in the past couple of months that went to egypt went to. always say if we have to promote and support the movement for democracy in the arab world and everybody here knows and talks about that it was saudi arabia who invaded baccarin with tanks by the way . to fight in a bloody intervention the democracy movement so it's even in the ruling party to that there are a lot of members who say we can do this if we know also to our modern tanks to saudi arabia to that really human rights violator then we lose any kind of credit in the arab world so don't do it but whether the government or not will make a u.

turn we will see and we had the first demonstrations today i hope that there will be a larger movement and then yes maybe we can stop it. coming up in a few minutes here on our net gain this. one may be seen as a convenience in the last being utilized by indian fisherman revolutionizing their business and turning them into entrepreneur and businessman in their communities we report on what it takes to turn a traditional trade into a high tech enterprise. that's still to come this hour but first europe's ongoing struggle to save the euro has been dealt another blow as portugal has had its debt downgraded to junk status moody's the credit rating agency behind the move says a default is likely unless the country is given another bailout many analysts of question the logic of saddling struggling economies with more debt a speculation grows over whether the e.u. is ready to come to portugal's rescue again well to discuss what the future might

hold for an embattled e.u. we're now joined by michael moore sees an economic analyst and author he's in berlin thanks so much for joining us interesting developments there in germany we understand that germany's actually begun to review the legality of these bailouts but they've already been handed out these massive amounts of money so what would an illegal ruling achieve. first and foremost we will have to say that not every money has been handed out so far some billions this is enough but now the constitutional court here has to do it if this is legal or not legal you don't be you don't have to be the chairman of a constitutional court to find out that it is completely legal because it's acting treaty it's also against elizabeth it's against everything we have a nor bail out clause in europe and everybody is breaking it and furthermore it is

interesting how the outcome of this court will be and already the chairman of the constitutional court has said that he is not going to deal with economical issues if it is in his words. the task of the politicians to solve this debt crisis and this of course is a very elegant way on pulling out their responsibility and the question if it is legal or not legal at the end of the day they don't decide about it this is to feel that many criticisms critics have here in europe. commentators call this constitutional court nothing else but as a prostitute of the german government well germany's been one of the countries least affected by the ongoing financial crisis of course the strongest economy there in europe is this legal review perhaps a sign that taxpayers and politicians and activists getting fed up with what's

going on in the rest of europe. more and more taxpayers are of course getting fed up with what is going on here but if you listen to the media and read the newspapers it's not the number one topic most of the germans. regarding this is a very big problem of course because the economy is booming here in germany unemployment is under thirty year law so this is not in the spotlight this problem by the spotlight for example carol carol so. it will be in the spotlight for example next year when. experts already forecast a downturn in the economy and then we will see what is going on but as you say germany in a strong position but if as a result of this legal hearing germany was to withdraw its support what impact would that have what would be the implications for the eurozone. i mean it's

a better solution if germany. for the euro many experts say you have to drop greece or portugal or even ireland or the southern periphery of europe but what there's been at the end of the do it would mean that they will have their debts in europe and. the local currencies there will be devalue it or the euro will go up and then the problem is even higher if germany pulls out of the euro then there are some situations totally different then dues your debts will decrease or will be devalued and this is exactly that what those countries need i could i just make an historical observation here after the second world war greece was among the countries that waved war reparations from berlin so that germany could recover economically isn't it time now for germany to return the favor with no strings attached. i mean this is a very political question we have to deal here with economical for example if.

you don't play with the right cards tied to some critical economical figures and then you open your hand and want some money this is a totally different case i mean the southern pole refinery in europe let's face it had a party that was going on for ten years from the very law into the swiss and it's sort of constantly doing to spend billions and billions and billions but this would not go on forever everybody knew that right in the beginning so at the moment it's not german it's the responsibility of germany in order to help greece but at the end of the day they. think it's a political will here instead of the critics criticism that we have some economic economy commentators the politicians doing what they want no matter what it costs no matter if it is legal or not and very looking into the future and very not so

optimistic if at the end of the day also the man under street will cover this politics and put politics thanks for your thoughts on this michael michael ross economic analyst and author joining us live there in berlin thank you. the mobile phone has become an integral part of everyday modern life but what's seen as a fund gadget in some countries has proven enough to revel revolutionize the lives and livelihoods of many people elsewhere are reports now on the indian fishermen who are costing the next generation network for their catch. up his engine for a day of fishing off the coast of carolina the southernmost city in india. i studied in school until the seventh grade but then i had to leave school because we were not economically well off so i had to help my dad fishing kumar is one of thousands of fishermen the state who wake up at one o'clock in the morning to. earn a living for decades fishermen like kumar relied on luck and prayers to find

a good catch but all that has changed since the introduction of the mobile phone in the state more than ten years ago the boy. if the fish is not available where we go fishing fisherman in other parts of the sea call us and tell us where we might be able to find a good catch then we go to that particular place. in addition because of the new ease of communication kumar is able to find out how much demand is that is local market and the prices that buyers are offering in order to determine where best to sell his fish today he is making double the amount of money he was making before he started using a mobile phone he now owns his own boat and says he is able to send his three daughters to college india has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world in the most growth is happening in rural areas what may be seen as a convenience in the last is being utilized by indian fishermen revolutionizing their business and turning them into entrepreneurs and businessmen in their

communities most of these fishermen have been doing this work for generations and never imagined they'd become so tech savvy they had watched their fathers and grandfathers come home from sea several times with no fish at all but today that never happens you know about it a little there's a lot of difference between the times when we used to go fishing with stick boats and now when we go fishing with engine but after the arrival of the phone it's become easier for us as studies show that mobile phones aren't just empowering the fisherman in the community more competition means better prices for consumers on average they fallen by four percent it's a new quality of life for the people of this community who never dreamed that they would escape poverty. most fishermen they're illiterate but we want to give a proper education to our children and that is possible because of the earning we get from the fishing business there's no doubts that mobile phones have helped. providing new opportunities by advancing their tradition with technology preassure

either r t carola india. lawyers for the former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn and meeting the prosecutors in his case of alleged sexual assault in a new york hotel maid reportedly pushing to get the charges dropped after the woman's credibility was called into question during the investigation meanwhile prosecutors back in france are weighing up whether to prosecute strands come on similar charges you complaint was filed by a writer he says he tried to rape back in two thousand and three charles cullen is a problem member of the french socialist party and was seen as a leading contender in next year's presidential election before the scandal broke out but even if he's presidential hopes and now over the paris bureau chief for newsweek magazine says there are still options for him to continue his political career. is certainly a huge story it's dominating all the news it's dominating all the lead up to the presidential elections next year there's a socialist primary that's supposed to be taking place there is even questions about whether strauss kahn will register for that primary which he would have to do

before the thirteenth of this month other people think there's a conspiracy against him maybe a conspiracy that involved even the president nicolas sarkozy all of the while this kinds of claims and counterclaims are being made right now and it is completely dominating the political life of the country in truth it doesn't look like he could pursue the presidency that would really be a strange new twist in this but he does want to have a political career and there are various possibilities that will come up over the next year or two or three there's a very good chance that there will be a socialist president although not strong scarred and that if he is cleared or at least of all the charges are dropped against him could serve in that president's cabinet he could also run for president of the european union there are a lot of possibilities that he probably believes are open to him and that might well be if he is absolved of these charges. to bridge up to the moment business is next with kareena.

welcome to our business bulletin the currency wars are not over the drive to find a way out seems to be fading brazil's finance minister says he's ready for extra steps to stem the damaging rise of the reality according to get a big economies have failed to agree on guidelines to manage their currencies. capital says russia has no reason to join the battle. russia seems to be in a slightly better position than some of the other developing nations will forget that these emerging economies have been emerging economies only last few years or so. russia's been around a lot longer although russia has a huge trade balance inflation is not really a major issue in russia and it does have a more developed economy there so if there is a currency war between developers into developed economies and emerging markets called least i don't think russia will be dragged into it as soon as the place.

let's have a look at the markets now a stronger dollar and high interest rates from china pulling oil low or high rates may slow economic growth and demand for oil u.s. energy department is to release a report on thursday that could show that crude stockpiles dropped to a half million barrels last week stocks are edging in the u.s. in midday trading as investors shrug off and said back in the u.s. service sector visit you for supply management said business growth slowed u.s. service as u.s. service providers in june the report followed a broad selloff in europe and now the interest rate hike in. the european stocks were down for the same reason or to close down grade and try as rate hike the four to last half percent on the dax was down a quarter of a percent bagging stocks are putting pressure and london would be standing over four percent at world bank of scotland over the side and here in russia equity

markets closed in the red with banking and energy stocks under pressure let's have a look at something to me to share moves on the my six energy majors were among the main losers from last one percent banking stocks were also under pressure with the t.v. setting nearly two percent bucking the trend was part of gold it finished over four percent in the back supported by stronger precious metals. russian automaker continues to put the financial crisis behind it it's increased sales twenty five percent year on year in the first five months of two thousand and eleven the results have kept place with the. two thousand and ten when it will turn to profit boosting this news is gases agreement to. cars. but gas c.e.o. . says this is just. we had a short term need to find products for our work because obviously the danish we

know would know it's filled up. so i can focus for us not always we have to improve our own products because that's what we have. so it's a new c.b.s. new bosses a new tripes and if we can help someone else we will do that but it doesn't fix the problem commercial vehicles that's where our focus is and we will take it from there. that's it for this hour we'll have. with us for headline news with bill. you're.