an. high profile photographers arrested in georgia suspected of spying after nine of as a convicted on the same charge the country's opposition says the government is muzzling the press to cover up its own problems. britain's biggest selling newspaper shuts down in response to revelations its journalists were hacking into the phones of terror and murder victims. the e.u. heads out of credit rating agencies are preparing great of portugal's debt to junk status leaves world markets panicking over a fifth paid out and the knock on effect elsewhere. russia's foreign minister describes nato role in the cynical saying it's come at

a price of civilian deaths and continued stalemate. and in business russia's gazprom electricity generating business with another national energy major i.e.s. holding strong company control twenty five percent of the country's generating capacity journey for a full business bulletin in twenty minutes time. international news in comment live from moscow this is anti russian hysteria that's held georgia's opposition has described thursday's arrest of four people suspected of spying and long leading photographers including the president's personal snap and this comes after nine russians and georgians were handed lengthy prison sentences for government activity earlier this week but as you got to sort of reports now on

what might be behind the arrests. the arrest started the late on a wednesday and went on until early thursday and some really high profile photographers have been detained during the personal photographer of president mikheil saakashvili the official photographer off the georgian foreign ministry and according to this man has gone on a hunger strike in paul just to his detention also photographer from the european total press agency was detained as well and one from the associated press although we did receive word that he was released after having been questions via relatives of a good team see that they could be charged with espionage 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 of being

a quarter 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 longest one was given to our russian citizen you east really go who is believed to by the georgian authorities to be the head of all for this the spy ring and also its connection with the russian intelligence service what's a lawyer say about this man is grieving the deal and his relatives say that they can't even picture of him being a spy because this man could hardly use a more well 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. but the opposition says that these

are probably cities being conducted by india authorities to divert the public's attention away from a real economic and political problems and they do exist was just remember the recent violence clashes between anti-government protesters and police in d.c. . one of georgia's main opposition leaders says the arrests are a way for the country's president to hang on to his job. writes novels the continuation of. hysteria see the basis for. the most. and mean and i'll agree is that why he should appear in power because the second carol. she's going to her. explanation for you here's

why georgia is so contrary why. do you always. she she keep georgia and. he's going to get. russian agents or some spice or. here with r t could you live from the russian capital still to come in the program attains the last of the boats headed to blockaded gaza while the un is expected to publish a long awaited report on israel's deadly assault on last year's flotilla. still to come but first unjustified and unfair but with the power to determine the fate of entire countries as the verdict of germany's finance minister on the world's big three credit rating agencies are off to portugal had its debt downgraded to junk status the movie is having a disastrous effect on the e.u. ripping apart the relative calm brought by

a second greek plato panic is proving contagious with fresh fears emerging that also need another cash injection it comes with germany the biggest economy debate the very legality of these payouts but the only fault of the ratings agencies is that they didn't downgrade portugal in greece any sooner that's according to writer and editor patrick you know. the european union to three years ago said the problem with credit ratings were that their their reactions couldn't be trusted and all of a sudden when they actually come up with plausible reason to use against the european union suddenly the finance ministers such as mr shaw are saying that all these are discreet school 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 and the debt problems of the european union not their being on the strikes and suddenly the politicians want to shut them up close realistically i think the question the ratings agencies must ask themselves because they were faulty or was why they didn't get better

returns a couple of years ago when it was absolutely clear to a large number of us that the european union had really significant problems and they were caught up in the we have a neural euphoria of what was going on at that stage and actually the e.u. itself has been dragging its feet for eighteen months for the problems in portugal and greece and the difficulty therefore is that the e.u. hasn't acted 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 bowl back interferes with comprehensibly doing something to try to help the situation and i think that it will be a very very neat thing if greece were willing to sell their gold reserves because at least that would choose some willing to write their economy to deal with their taxation problems and to do with the fundamental problem of the public services still ahead here this hour in r.t. why seeing the light could be deadly. for pilots of a passenger airliner arriving from istanbul were that the old by heart all green

lights aimed at the aircraft by someone on the ground but did nothing back from back yards appeared at some of their maps of time before that accident occurred it's. a friendship for garza with a it has been stopped in crete it comes as the un is due to report on last year's israeli raid on a humanitarian for turner which killed nine activists reported being held back because of the raw between israel and turkey which followed the attack the other side could agree on the wording of an apology as they're now explains. well at heart 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 the baby's so called these raids have refused to do this the israeli foreign minister in particular avigdor lieberman insisting that israel will not apologize presumably because the israelis off fearful that it will open the floodgates for a whole foes of the legal claims to be made against the jewish state instead israel says it will express its would be great for the loss of life now for the last few

days it was wrong because 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 looting of the documents 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 the conciliation it will be much harder for there to be consideration to be made to the report is issued but we do understand at this stage is that the view is that a u.n. report says that the blockade is not illegal but it does criticize israel point six the use of force and you need to remember that that excessive use of force if nine turkish citizens on board the largest ship among the mamma did athens has imposed a blanket ban preventing any ship from sitting sail if your plans to sail to gaza what we do know is that one of the ships the french both which is called dignity that has some eighty twelve people on board it's

a sale at least to date wednesday but today when it's got to be feeling crease there it was stopped by the greek all pharmacies and now the ship known as the audacity of hope its american captain was ready to take the charges word that he was in danger in the safety of passengers he has been released but that is not necessarily a good sign of all because another ship the canadian ship it is known is that the net that ship did state 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 there is an expectation of some six hundred activists from fifty european destinations flying into israel's largest it will be in billion tomorrow friday night mediocrities 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 israeli police are not confirming that but no doubt they will be a lot of attention tomorrow on the airport where people now and she showed support

not only for the teller but for the people of gaza and palestinians in general. where we have more of the stories we're covering here at r.t. dot com here's a quick look at what's there for you now the moment you can find out how a. part of a grave to take revenge on the man who tried to kill him. before the web site of the moment a prank calls a huge traffic jams on one of moscow's busiest roads as drivers rush to pick up a fake money more that. dot com. their most vulnerable during takeoff and landing and now there's an increasing threat from the ground with a beam of light catarina good job reports on the police from the laser pointers which blind pilots at the worst possible moment. there is

clear proof that the does all of a laser in the i can be a major distraction before blur question or knowledge and. the consequences could be catastrophic if someone is targeted while flying an aircraft with hundreds of passengers on board and blinding khaled's by laser beams has become an increasing use is in bush over fifty attacks registered since the beginning of the year. the latest incident was that this was. when the pilots of a passenger allied arriving from istanbul were dazzled by a possible green light aimed at the aircraft by someone on the ground where it's late and now the ad probably. but i think what's wrong but yet it's only a matter of time before that that little accident occurs to me 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 traveled in a catastrophe could have happened. in the worst case scenario pilots can land automatically but not all at fault can land on autopilot and even if they do those in the cockpits 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 a blind 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 for the said finance bill some are shining a spotlight on the police calling for more action the question of everyone's

waiting for new laws does not excuse for police inaction in the grounds of 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 with this suspect still under investigation attempting to down a plane by other means would be classed as terrorism public concern in russia is rising about the potentially equally serious risk from laser lots and they're high tech cool again is it in a grouch over all right. britain's biggest selling newspaper the news of the world has announced it's shutting down this sunday in response to a phone hacking scandal the tipping point came as it emerged that the paper had been hacking into the phones of murder and terror victims as well as dead soldiers papers a jewel in the crown of rupert murdoch's global media empire and a public inquiry has been promised by the government that's now across two artes

nor and it in london for the latest details laura it's not just about a newspaper this goes right to the heart of british politics as well as police forces carry on title for us some of the main details of the story. it does really and i can i can try my best in the short time that we have it started off relatively. really with just we understood the news of the world had been allegedly hacking into the phones of celebrities and politicians and to be honest no one in this country really cared about that very much we will think these and politicians are sort of fair game as far as that kind of thing is concerned but then of course it escalated when it was alleged that the sunday version of the newspaper attacks in to the telephones of relatives of soldiers killed in combat and also that those caught up in the two thousand and five loaves and bombings got a version of which it is today in fact. the most shocking thing really for a lot of people in the first thing that was revealed was that news of the world

journalists are deliberately hacked into the telephone of a missing girl milly dowler who was later found had been murdered and what they had done was hacked into her voicemail not just listen to it but also deleted messages that were already that clear out her voicemail box to receive all the messages from people who were looking for her desperate to find her and thereby get leaves for stories that they write saying we also now know that allegedly senior police officers have been brought by the news of the world to tip offs on criminal investigations and other confidential information which is of course a crime now newspaper insiders i think it's fair to say are called smart by the decision to close the news the news of the world down as you say it's the june the crown of rupert murdoch's empire but of course it does take the heat off news corp and if you think about it it was really one of the only options that rupert murdoch himself had it was turning what was a. news corp in a very big brands toxic just by its very presence and would have continued companies withdrawing their advertising from the news of the world which would be

less than very short of revenue in a very short space of time i read told newspapers like the support of servicemen and their families of course that would have been that if it comes to light if it's been proven. they had hacked into the phones of relatives of dead soldiers and of course the rest would have been made in connection with bribing the police very high profile arrests so really there are two things that we should take away from this for now one of them is already this kind of action couldn't have taken place without an ok from the very highest level and in fact i spoke to someone today who knew just how the current editor of the news of the world rupert murdoch said to her you have to keep this paper in high circulation around four million copies a day and you have to do it by any means possible so it's almost like he was giving the green light to that from the very beginning we don't know that of course and also is this an isolated instance is tapping attacking something that goes on throughout news corp and is this an isolated incident within news corp or are there

other newspapers in fact in the u.k. who engage in that kind of those kinds of behavior those are the questions we should be asking nora thanks very much indeed. in london. 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 while nato claims it targets only military facilities or dr franklin lamb a director of americans concerned for middle east peace told me a little earlier here in r.t. but that doesn't match what he's seen for himself in tripoli. but i can give you five examples one is the down's syndrome children center which was completely demolished by bombs that serves over five hundred thousand children around this country their headquarters was bombed as you know secondly as you know the killing of eleven shakes. of who were on a peace mission they were bombed the micro bus that was bombed two weeks ago that

killed nine people you know they are hitting civilians we had a report this afternoon from a fellow from human rights watch who estimated that for every. military person that was supposedly a casualty there were ten civilians it's not excusable however many collateral damage arguments we have with that kind of precision weaponry and the laser targeting this is inexcusable it's careless is negligent it's criminal. from on the situation in there i'm joined by andrew having national from the center for research on globalization in montreal thanks very much indeed for joining us now let's talk about these recent reports of alms being delivered to live if you think come supplying of alms to libyan rebel fighters would actually help bring the end of this conflict any closer. bens way you define the end depends on the agenda of nato countries the end is securing libya as a protectorate

a client state so it's not a humanitarian mission it's an area and arms funding supplying arms to the rebels will increase that agenda as we saw just a day the rebels advance in the west into at least one to two pounds and that's against the french arms that were coming in and we know from other reports early in march before the nato operation even again egypt was a brain arms to the rebels with us not legion of perth where it is egypt that their weapons and arms from the united states are there it's not the first reported in early march states and a secret agreement the saudi arabia the computer chip or fire arms to the rebels. and of course it's are also in the admits that they are in the rebel groups so the agenda is to arm them to fuel this civil war to find that side and to give them the

means to you. again expand this war so a puppet of military let me just ask you apart from military support what about vocal support you'll there in canada your country has officially recognized the transitional national council as the legitimate representative of the living people now that in effect is taking sides well business of course and there was a nato video or a nato meeting video released recently in which you see a comedian gus will intercept a rebel about in the waters they found in the sky over times and arms on the bessel and then they left in twenty to go on its way and continue with its mission so not only are they getting a little support but they're actively facilitating the arms transfers so it's one and the same it's not just a rhetorical it's very on the ground actual support for the rebels i was talking a little earlier you probably saw the reports talking to a guest live from tripoli just an hour ago and he was saying that people there are

convinced that a ground invasion really is imminent now do you think that is likely. i think it's actually quite likely yes we also have to understand that there have been certain ground forces in libya. and western ground forces in libya since before the nato bombardment in early march the cia and i six in britain on a special forces from both the u.k. and the u.s. were on the ground further in april france italy and the united states agreed to send military advisors into libya and this is you know drew a lot of parallels yet not on their first military advisors resends later the troops quote it so again the parallels are there also recently that the fire which is an israeli publication with close links to israeli intelligence reported that at the top levels in western governments. ground a full scale ground invasion is being discussed and they made it according to this

publication it may even be launched within the next few weeks other military sources in the united states have said that they are preparing for a ground invasion by october so i think that the the process is under way france openly admitting that they are dropping arms of the rebel groups is again a process in exposing the wider agenda in pushing it to the next steps taking it further for so again the next process is going in actively supporting the rebel groups again also even al jazeera reported recently that they had video footage of western advisors on the ground in the media advising and leading essentially these rebel groups so are there already and it could and that's laying the groundwork for a larger invasion which i think is and all right yeah well we'll have to leave it them afraid tom is upon us and kevin marshall thanks very much of you giving us your thoughts on this from the center for such

a globalization that in montreal thanks for your time if you. russia's foreign minister of nato for actions in libya in an interview with russian t.v. said that the alliances tactic of bombing the country. has inflicted too many unjustified. has been following what to say we heard from a very vocal today really criticizing what he sees as the essential mission creep of going outside intervention into the libyan situation now he drew comparisons between what's happening in libya and the bombing of the former yugoslavia in fact saying the bombing campaign by nato against colonel gadhafi has actually gone on far longer than the bombing campaign that was conducted against parts of the former yugoslavia. it's obvious that politics is a cynical matter we hear from the western capitals bombing should go on until

gadhafi backs off but the human cost of these political statements is very high. well 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. is next now to bring you the latest from. hello and welcome to business here in the with me creen mail account thanks for

watching rushes guessed wrong has announced. its emergency electricity generating business with another national energy major i.e.s. holding by the end of the year the german company could control twenty five percent of the country's generating capacity and will be worth around fifteen billion dollars they are not a group controlling the ice that's holding will hold a blocking stake in the combined utility and gas from will hold the rest of the company say they may sell shares of the new giant through an i.p.o. david hearn from investment consultancy telecom advisors explained payoffs for the cards and. for gas pump clearly it's a way to expand to leverage off of the team that they've spent some time building up or read over it's always basically start messing around with these assets dealing with operational companies anywhere in the world is complicated and it's even more complicated here for them it's probably a good

a good deal you know it's a way to to stop operationally having to deal with all the household and retain the upside broadly speaking people thinking about it exist for years right it's a question of getting it the right person. let's have a look at the markets now prices are climbing up the two new reports offered some positive news about jobs light sweet is trading at ninety nine dollars a barrel while brant is at one hundred seventeen dollars a barrel here stocks one hundred in buy better news on jobs the government said thursday that the number of people who made first time claims for unemployment benefits last week dropped to the lowest level and seven weeks that's a sign that employers are laying off fewer workers target and other retailers are rising after reporting strong sales and european stocks and higher on thursday led by. portugal after the european central bank suspended collateral rules on the nation's debt strong u.s. and poland they also contributing to their gains earlier markets had been largely

unmoved by the e.c.b. his decision to leave and frustrate sky a quarter of a percentage point to one a half percent the bank of england has kept its key interest rates unchanged as worries about the economy is recovering concerns about a bus stop inflation. the russians dogs surge the most into months on thursday to buy high oil prices and also after the bank of america increased prices to nuts for some metal and mining companies the r.c.s. and at one point nine percent in the black otherwise it's and it over two percent higher now let's have a look at some individual movers on the rise x. we're seeing gains in the energy sector on stronger crude book or rose over two percent and gas probably gained over three percent straggles off supported by news it may see a record net profit first off here. that's all for now i'll be back with some more updates in about forty five minutes from now thanks so much.

for g.e. years ago.