thanks. the e.u. credit rating agencies after a downgrade of portugal's debt to junk status leads world markets panicking over a fifth bailout and the knock on effect elsewhere. high profile photographers arrested in georgia are suspected of spying as nine others are convicted for espionage the country's opposition says the government is muzzling the press to cover up its own problems. and agrees to taint the last of the boats headed to blockaded gaza and the un is expected to publish a long awaited report on israel's deadly assault from last year's clotilda. and russia's foreign minister describes nato role in libya as cynical saying it's come

to a higher price of civilian deaths and continued stalemate. international news and comment live from moscow this is. unjustified and unfair but with the power to determine the fate of entire countries that's the verdict of germany's finance minister on the world's big three credit rating agencies after portugal had its debt downgraded to junk status the move is having a disastrous effect on the e.u. ripping apart the relative calm wrought by a second greek bailout and panic is proving contagious with fresh fears emerging that also need another cash injection it comes as germany the biggest economy the brits the very legality of the bailouts for the only fault of the ratings agencies is that they didn't downgrade portugal and greece any sooner that's according to

writer and editor patrick young. the european union to three years ago said the problem with credit ratings were that their their ratings couldn't be trusted then all of a sudden when they actually come up with plausible ratings against the european union suddenly the finance ministers such as mr shaw are saying that oh these are discrete small companies because actually they're trying to get at the truth but actually one of the biggest things that they got wrong was the fact that they weren't being pragmatic enough when it came to the debt under debt problems of the european union not their being on the streets and suddenly the politicians want to shut them up realistically i think the question the ratings agencies must ask themselves because they were faulty or was why they didn't give better returns a couple of years ago when it was absolutely clear to a large number of us that the european union has really significant problems and they were caught up in the way of your real euphoria that was going on at that stage and actually the e.u. itself has been dragging its feet for eighteen months over problems in portugal and

greece and the difficulty therefore is that the e.u. hasn't up to fast enough and hasn't tried to cure the situation and i think greece well you know what i mean everyone ultimately gets fed up with someone who just keeps passing the begging ball back in their fears with comprehensibly doing something to try and help the situation and i think that it will be a very very neat thing you are willing to sell their gold reserves because at least that would show some willing to write their economy to deal with their taxation problems and to do with the fundamental problem of the public services. well the cash strapped e.u. is giving christina guard much to think about in her first days in charge of the i.m.f. she told reporters that she's picking up the baton from her predecessor to deal with the problems and reforms that began under the many strands car but as artie's and christine reports there's still more interest and muckraking than money matters . from violence on the streets of the middle east. to protests in north africa to europe. for portugal's credit rating has been

deemed junk. and in greece. for unemployment hovers at about sixteen percent and the debt crisis has sparked anger nearly all of this anger stemming from poverty and failed economic policies in the us as well high unemployment sits atop a mountain of problems like housing prices and slow financial growth this is the world christine legarde inherits as she begins at her new post as managing director at the international monetary fund and her first formal meeting with the press at the i.m.f. headquarters in washington she seemed optimistic in her hopes the international monetary fund is here to serve and to provide services to its hundred and eighty seven members if not those that feel good news story but will be in on the world cup i'm pretty new managing director of the i.m.f.

there garner quite a bit of media attention most likely it had less to do with christine lagarde herself and more to do with the reason why she's here. and what lessons do you think about what could be drawn from the way the u.s. legal system to handle this trust time case we could be any reforms in the human rights and human resources policies here do you plan any changes in them in light of the controversy over mr strauss kahn the controversy of course with dominique strauss kahn accused of raping a hotel maid in new york that case now starting to crumble after it turned out the maid had credibility problems back to the i.m.f. or lagarde will take over the next year of a couple of issues what will resume the most well guarded her best to stay on message we cannot be only driven by the hope to. reduce fiscal deficits and organize fiscal consolidation in

a big way whether you look at advanced economies or whether you look at emerging markets or low income countries the issue of employment is a critical one the one hundred eighty seven nation organization has already lent one hundred sixty billion dollars to cash strapped nations many of which have little hope for paying it back. so the real questions are manifested here on the streets of some of the nation suffering the most are accepting aid from the i.m.f. has been presented at times as the only option as a series of measures are now being put into place the questions too are in the dollar and how its value may or may not change under her watch her managing the debt crisis around the world will fall at the top of her agenda as the rest of the world watches with hope first ability in an unstable world in washington christine freeze out our team. well still ahead for you this hour an hour to you why seeing

the light could be deadly. pilots of a passenger airliner arriving from istanbul were done as old by popple green light that the aircraft by someone on the ground might be nothing but wrong but it's b.s. it's a matter of time before that like accident occurs. that story story come for you here in r.t. four people have been arrested in georgia suspected of spying among them high profile photographers including the president's personal slapper the country's opposition has described the arrest as a publicist and it follows the heavy sentences handed out there for spying earlier this week to a group of russians and georgians. reports now on what might be behind the arrests . here i started to late on a wednesday and went on until early thursday and some really high profile

photographers have been detained including the personal photographer or president mikheil saakashvili the official photographer off the georgian foreign ministry and according to worst this man has gone on a hunger strike in protest to his detention also a photographer from the european total press agency was detained as well and one from the associated press although we did receive who are bad he was released after having been questions via relatives of the good team see that they could be charged with the ask your knowledge their homes have been searched their computers and cameras have been seized and now human rights groups in georgia say that this is a direct violation of the freedom of press and are demanding their immediate release on wednesday nine people were found guilty by georgian authorities for being a part of a spy ring and supplying secret information to the russian intelligence service and they were given some really heavy chill sentences ranging from eleven to fourteen

years of imprisonment the almost one was given to our russian citizen you east really girl who is believed to be by the georgian authorities to be the head of all for this aspiring and also its connection with the russian intelligence service once a lawyer say that this man is greedily ill and his relatives say that they can't even picture him being a spy because this man could hardly use a mobile phone but in general very aspiring scandals and controversially conspiracy theories are not new in georgia they've been happening quite often since president mikhail saakashvili came to power one of the biggest scandals was probably a few years ago when georgian authorities announced that he prevented a coup at one of the country's military bases. what the opposition says there are these are probably city stance of being conducted by india authorities to divert

the public's attention away from a real economic and political problems and they do exist as was just remembered a recent violence clashes between anti-government protesters and police in d.c. . by the way we have more on the stories we're covering here on screen t.v. dot com that's all web site online all the time here's a quick look at what's there for you at the moment how a man doesn't sell out of a grave to take revenge on the man you're trying to can. cause a huge traffic jams on one of moscow's busiest roads as dr was rushed to pick up fake money more or less an ati dot com. rebel fighters in libya have blamed a lack of ammunition and a lack of nato support for their failure to advance towards the capital tripoli it comes just days after libya reportedly intercepted two vessels with bills from weapons intended for the rebels or for more about what's going on now and it's not close live to tripoli and dr franklin lamb he's the director of americans concerned

for middle east peace thanks very much indeed for joining us that lie in tripoli now from what you've seen on your visit there is the nato bombing helping the situation in libya or hindering it. no no i think it certainly enjoying it because peace sides the fear that we're seeing here of the young people and the children i just came from a meeting of the children's foundation here no longer than half an hour ago and the numbers of trombones for the children and the fears and the medical attention needed for some of the psychological consultation. in rice uprise in that that's just to do with the children but no doubt the bonding needlessly puts the population on edge it increases anxiety and anger if they do is try. and to weaken the regime it seems to me that as history teaches us when you have bombed the population it is often the you guy behind the government of the day and rather than

breaking the connection between the people and the leadership it seems to increase it so i can see of no value of virtue was so ever about the nato bombing that's been happening here since we've arrived later this is not nato says it's not bombing the population in bombing military targets from your visit what you're seeing there so far is that true yes no that's not true and i can give you five examples one is the down syndrome children center which was completely demolished by bombs that serves over five hundred thousand children around this country and their headquarters was bombed as you know secondly as you know the killing of eleven shakes up in breakdown who were on a peace mission they were bombed the microcassette was bombed two weeks ago that killed nine people know they are hitting civilians we had a report this afternoon from

a fellow from human rights watch who estimated that for every one military person that was supposedly a casualty there were ten civilians why i can't get any to that at the moment i let me just ask you on a civilian matter a little family who lost five relatives in a nato air strike which the alliance admitted was a mistake they are now taking legal action over those tests now i understand you've met other victims' families a lot of pain tell you are very going to try and follow suit now. well well if that's right and in every story your pay your people the media here knows where you sit with a family it's it's heart wrenching. when the member loses a lot of family here the same as around the world so there are that family you mentioned pursuing legal action but also others who are exploring that possibility of. holding nato responsible because nato and their commanders do not enjoy impunity what they want of people all around the world i think for any sort of

crime like this and it is a crime of killing civilians is not excusable however many collateral damage arguments we have with the kind of precision weaponry and the laser targeting this is inexcusable it's careless is negligent it's criminal so i suspect that there will be. lawsuits and litigation filed against out of those responsible dr lam i'm holding my hand an article you just posted from tripoli and counted in titled countdown to invasion is they really a feeling among the peons a particular around the tripoli area an invasion is imminent and if so for whom well yes i would like to say that. we've gone to a lot of meetings have you talked to a lot of people and that's baby key topic now and the argument goes like this nato cannot afford this was it was a mistake obama who said election may be on the line cannot afford

a defeat and the victory comes like it's supposed to be as it is saddam and osama you've gotta kill the bad guy so it looks to us like it's now a game of targeting the leadership otherwise nato loses if nato loses the consequences are enormous there's enormous trillion dollar financial consequences for those members of the nato countries who are seen as aggressors and invaders here so the feeling is that they've got to do something the only thing they can do possibly to achieve a victory is either assassinate khadafi and some of his circle ordered to end to do that they might have to come on the ground having said that there's worry about this i don't think there's a belief that it's going to happen i think it's it would be a disaster as a colleagues are advising the same. and levanon as you know i did i basted hubbard on the only reason israel has an invaded he cannot afford the casualties and the

price we think the same thing is likely with with nato ok cannot take the casualties are the world opinion that would result from boy who lack an invasion let me just take it from your experience the feeling that if an imminent invasion isn't imminent by nato what about as we hear reports about rebels in circling and getting closer to tripoli what's the feeling among the civilian population there and how are they preparing for this. yes well i spent the last week visiting neighborhood committees says think of them as neighborhood watch over a million have been armed i've seen women here some as old as in their sixty's a one woman understandably training i think we're going to see a popular movie shop popular army. emerge from the neighborhoods as if it's an invasion so that kind of a condition which we all see then if that's the case do they not welcome those arms shipments coming in from foreign sources they they need those on stage thank you they're not welcome there is reported on as deliveries. i think an issue or

question i don't know what the root rebels do the rebels do is i think they want the arms shipments of course the people here considered out of betrayal and a violation of u.n. security council resolution one nine hundred seventy three but france and qatar are supplying weapons it exceeds the mandate as you know of that revolution of that resolution as far as the rebels advancing i'm frankly ignorant of the degree to which the doing of the reports are that nato could clear an area and i sure there are a few kilometers nato leaves and then there's a struggle and sometimes they get pushed back but it is clear that mabel from my point of view that nato has joined the side of promoting the rebels against the government again a clear violation of thousand nine hundred seventy three dr franklin lamb we'll have to leave it there thanks very much indeed for joining us live there in tripoli . my pleasure. russia's foreign minister slammed nato for its cynical

actions in libya in an interview with russian t.v. so. his tactic of bombing the country after he steps down has inflicted too many unjustified civilian deaths. what. we heard from a very vocal sigil of today really criticizing what he sees as the essential mission creep of the ongoing outside intervention into the libyan situation though he too comparisons between what's happening in libya and the bombing of the former yugoslavia and fight saying that the campaign by nato against colonel gadhafi is actually going on far longer than the bombing campaign that was conducted against the former yugoslavia. it's obvious that politics is a cynical matter we hear from the western capitals that the bombing should go. back but the human cost of these political statements is very high. while it wasn't just

libya that was on the agenda for of to speak about he also brought up syria he did say that he was concerned that the focus seems to be wholly on the assad government and how to get rid of. this isn't acceptable that the opposition should resort to violence provoking peaceful protesters to join acts of violence and therefore making them a target for police or security forces a message that russia has been wanting to put across has been that they want to hear voices not violence to try and come to peace in the middle east and in north africa as well concerning libya. a french ship bound for gaza with aid has been stopped in crete it comes as the un is due to report on last year's israeli raid on a humanitarian fertility which killed nine turkish activists the report has been held back because of the rare between israel and turkey which part of the attack neither side can agree on the wording of an apology has

a point to sneer and explains. when i come out of the dispute is the whole question of an apology and here is the bill is insisting that tel aviv apologize for its role in events so far these raids have refused to do this the israeli foreign minister in particular i do even insisting that israel will not apologize because you must leave because these raids off fearful that it will open the floodgates for whole flows of legal claims to be made against the jewish state instead israel says it will express its word great for the loss of life now for the last few days almost round the clock israeli and turkish representatives have been meeting in new york to try and hammer out some kind of agreement that is acceptable to both sides we understand that the sticking point is over the wording of the document now no doubt both sides want to reach some kind of agreement quietly here in issuing this report because it will help in terms of we conciliation it will be much harder for that reconsideration to be made after the report is issued but we do understand at this stage is that the view is that the u.n.

report states that the blockade is not illegal but it does criticize israel for existing use of force and you need to remember that that excessive use of force to lift nine turkish citizens on board the largest ship them out the mamma did athens has imposed a blanket ban preventing any ship from sitting sail if it plans to sail to gaza what we do know is that one of the ships the french both which is called the dignity that has some eighty twelve people on board it states sail this debate wednesday but today when it's up to the feeling crease there it was stopped by the greek authorities and that a ship known as the audacity of hope its american captain was immediately changed the charges were that he was in danger and the safety of passengers he has been released but that is not necessarily a good sign of who because another ship the canadian ship that is known is that he met that ship did see it sail it seems to be in full statement turned to greece and made all the passengers and all the crew on board have been detained at the same

time there is something happening. it's being called a flight and that is an expectation of some six hundred activists from fifty european destinations flying into israel's largest airport thing going on tomorrow friday many authorities as you can well imagine are on high alert israeli police is reporting that they have the names of some three hundred people who plan to fly in the israeli police are not confirming that but no doubt they will be a lot of attention tomorrow on the airport where people plan to show their support not only for the fertility but for the people of gaza and palestinians in general. they're reporting that their line is are at their most vulnerable during takeoff and landing and while there's an increasing threat from the ground with a beam of light or travel reports on the police and for the hooligans with laser pointers which blind pilots the worst possible moment i very clear proof that the dazzle of a laser in the eye can be a major distraction the food bill or christian right now do it meant i missed the

consequences could be catastrophic if someone it's targeted well flying an aircraft with hundreds of passengers on board blinding pallets by laser beams has become an increasing use is in russia over fifty attacks registered since the beginning of the year. the latest incident was that this north port on the pilots of a tuple of passenger allied arriving from istanbul were burgled by paul full green light aimed at the aircraft by someone on the ground just later probably. lucky nothing wrong but it's only a matter of time before that accident occurs we were going to during landing just a hundred meters above the ground when we were only a kilometer away from the runway as a result we were in danger of losing control the crew was dazzled in

a catastrophe could have happened. in the worst case scenario parlous can land automatically but not full aircraft can land on autopilot and even if they do those in the cockpit need to remain in control and be able to see. the effect of a laser beam on a pilot can be compared to that of lightning it blinds you potentially lethal laser guns imported from china can be bought in russia for as little as a hundred dollars firing a laser beam as far as five kilometers they can burn through paper and even plastic . in the u.s. sales of such devices are banned russian legislators are also considering outlawing them and toughening punishment police advance though some are shining a spotlight on the police calling for more action acquittals and good everyone's waiting for new laws but there's no excuse for police and action on the ground our

current legislation is good enough is allows for the arrest and imprisonment of such fools for up to ten years in prison as of now there has been only one arrest in russia for intentionally targeting an aircraft with a laser well this suspect still under investigation attempting to down a plane but are the means would be classed as terrorism public concern in russia is rising about the potentially equally serious waste from laser allowed and their high tech hooliganism it fit in a grouch over fourteen. well it's a check on the global markets business news is next with kareena. welcome to business our thanks for joining me europe is and it's tightening is tightening the belt the e.c.v. has decided to increase its clear interest rates by twenty five basis points in order to call inflation the move could help you have strong colonies to avoid

overheating but could also mean a significant increase in borrowing costs for korea for all countries james astley from r.b.c. capital markets believes inflation is the main author. if you look at the levels of debt there are perfect stay in a bill for the year as a whole look at this a difference which really reaches a whole and the individual home is really complete where it's a total g.d.p. that's followed in the u.s. in this quarter comparable to that in the u.k. the real issue is with some of the individual calmly such as we saw in the portugal that was the second point and perhaps even more important when you see these perspective is that the debt problems are fiscal problems require fiscal solution we see these mandate as months of policy and the living state reflation of the medium term horizon if you see any interest if you show i think that does require further time even to policy so easy can operate in a bubble it has to take into account the fact that these debt problems are continuing and that is having spillover effect since the financial markets and the

real economy in certain pockets of the euro area but nonetheless when you look at the inflation outlook are in charge of malaysia also he is still required. let's take a look at the markets now or prices are climbing up to two new reports offer some positive news about jobs but sweet is trading at around ninety nine dollars a barrel of brant at one hundred seventeen dollars per barrel u.s. stocks continue to rally boosted by better than better news on jobs recovery but reported thursday that the number of people making first time claims for unemployment benefits was below was in seven weeks and european indices closed in the black that's after the european central bank raised main interest rates to one a half percent and hinted at more increases and coming months the bank of england has kept its key interest rate unchanged as worries about the economy's recovery outweighed concerns about target person in london hedge fund manager battle group rally three percent after reporting record sales of nine billion dollars in the

latest in the last quarter. russian markets closed with biggest gains in two months and that one point nine percent in the black bottom isaacs and it over two percent higher let. have a look at some individual moves on the rise thanks we're seeing gains in the energy sector amid stronger crude oil ended over two percent and the black and gas problem gained over three percent spread back with also offset the supported by news of may see a record net profit in the first half of the here seems fresh and called head of equity sales that were also it wraps up a string. of the morgan to court stronger more senses of more than two percent. across the board species a good sign i mean there are a few major drug use we have seen quite the substantial old fool money from so-called e.t.f. and shame traded funds linked to russia but the truth is this old floor scheme to numb second factor i believe is

a temporally relief of the greek problem then finally purely on technical room people who for the workers believe that in the dream while boosts her is a good time to pick up and. that's all for now stay with us for headline news with well coming up next.