tough spending cuts the top stories this hour. international news and comment live from my headquarters here in central moscow this is. unsold issues in russia u.k. relations should not stand in the way of healthy and profitable cooperation that's what their leaders of the two states concluded after their meeting at the kremlin and he said no he has more on the outcome of the first official visit by british prime minister to russia for six years. president called the talks direct and constructive david cameron called them axel would the two leaders have pretty much agreed to disagree on their sticking points and saying that they have to be able to move forward in other spheres especially business a lot of talk at least in the news conference

a lot of questions about the litter in games ok somehow that will if it will really continue to in fact ties to remind you alexander litvinenko was a former russian security officer who was poisoned with polonium and died in the london eye diplomatic spat broke out between the u.k. and russia after that british authorities want to tax to buy russian citizen on facebook oh boy but according to the russian constitution in fact article sixty one which president medvedev reminded david cameron once again today doesn't allow for the russian federation to extradite its citizens to another country to be tried both sides saying that they don't want litvinenko to effect any further growth i david cameron went as far to say that the issue is not parts but we will continue to grow in other spheres let's take the us it remains an issue between britain and russia and we haven't changed opposition about that and the russians haven't changed their position but i don't think that means that we freeze the entire

relationship that's not parking issue is just recognising there is a disagreement that hasn't changed the two countries are changing their arrangements because of it but we should work on our relationship beyond it to get through the years of course work together in many different formats including the g twenty the g eight the un security council and both sides spoke about that in terms of the most pressing international issues they spoke about livia and it turns out they spent most of their time speaking about the situation in syria david cameron mentioned that he believes that that sanctions should go even further and president medvedev. to doubt that he or you would read it doesn't think what's happening in syria is right and something needs to be done but by no means can this turn in to another libya let's just get russia believes the resolution in syria should be tough but at the same time balance to address to both in the syrian conflict president assad and the opposition only then can such

a resolution succeed it should be tough but not automatically included sanctions syria is already under un u.s. sanctions he doesn't need additional pressure so certainly no major breakthrough in british russian relations but a very positive atmosphere considering that a british official at that level hasn't been in moscow on a visit like this in so long positive atmosphere lots of laughs in fact one of the last questions asked at the news conference by the b.b.c. to david cameron asking him about rumors that he was possibly recruited or attempted to be recruited into the k.g.b. back in the ninety's cameron said he doesn't think he would be a very good k.g.b. agent president medvedev beg to differ david i'm pretty sure that david would be a good k.g.b. agent but in this case he would never have become the u.k.'s prime minister the official visit at this level ended on quite a light no lots of laughs there after that joke about the k.g.b. and david cameron also met with prime minister vladimir putin and members of the

civil society where the focus there was on human rights and the scenario reporting there a professor of politics at the university of kent dr adrian pep says the u.k. and russia are currently facing many similar economic difficulties which together they could overcome. britain and russia suffer from a lack of diversification just as britain depends too much in financial services to russia the pens too much on certain natural resources like oil and gas birth economy need to diversify but this is not just a national issue for them this is also a global issue we know there are huge imbalances there's lots of hot money circulating that money needs to be channeled into productive activities in britain in russia and elsewhere and i think there is mutual benefit from cooperate in areas like technology where britain can certainly help russia explore some of its natural resources we know this from energy and other areas but also you know russian investment in britain is also important in all sorts of areas like civil aviation

even the car industry where the two countries couldn't visit some form of technological exchanging need to do i think much factoring in in the industrial base across europe and it seems to me that britain and russia have a lot to cooperate on precisely in this field as russia and the u.k. mull their differences over approaches to the crisis in syria moscow is steaming ahead with its efforts to mediate peace there russian lawmakers are hosting a delegation from damascus after holding talks with the opposition last week president bashar al assad's advisor says the country would appreciate a fact finding mission by russian officials which moscow has promised to send any day now the government demonstrations in syria flared up in march with the regime responding with brutal crackdowns on these two thousand six hundred people are said to have been killed and the u.n. to take action that would push the building sides towards dialogue and says assad needs more time to implement democratic reforms that the u.s. and its allies what a more aggressive approach target the regime and have already called for assad to

step down. ron's bushehr nuclear power plant has officially begun operating and is now providing electricity to the country's national grid it's the first such facility in the entire middle east region and going to show has been following the launch in bushehr. this is a truly historic day for iran as its first nuclear power plant in bush era is joining the the national energy grid it's going to start operating at thirty five to forty percent of its capacity that is the thirty five to forty percent of energy and it's going to reach the hundred percent potential within the next couple of months now this is something that has been in the making for a very long time this is a joint russia iran venture russia's adam story expert has been vigorously helping the rhenium side of construction of this nuclear power plant specially since the one nine hundred ninety eight the opening of the plant has been attended by russia's energy minister sponsor and also by the head of story expert both of whom

have underlines the importance. for both countries now russia's energy minister has said that all exhibits here of course conducted by russia and iran should be used with international standards together with the rate in comp of parts went through difficulties and problems building the plant and today we can be proud to the results that are drawing the attention of the whole world i'm sure for the cooperation in operating the station and developing now the nuclear energy projects who would be distinguished by the atmosphere we created while working together you have to remember that this is the first nuclear power plant in the middle east so we should never underestimate its importance it's absolutely integral to iran no russia is going to supply the fuel for the power plants and it's also going to discard all the fuel this is going to continue for the next three years so russian engineers and specialists will stay at the plant will stay in iran for the next couple of years but then afterwards they will slowly hand it over to the iranian side and then by two thousand and fifteen. the plant will should become fully

operated by iran on its own like we said this is a very important venture for both iran and russia and. there is a lot of hope for this power plant which is which has just become operational in share in iran. well let's talk more and more to iran's nuclear power plant will mean with the photo in the research at the school of oriental and african studies at the university of london thanks very much indeed for joining us here on our team after so many years of building the bush air power plant as we know it's finally operating our correspondent said it's an historic day tell us how significant do you think this is for iran then i think it's quite significant first of all because iran as or also your correspondent mentioned has now the first nuclear power plants which is operational in the whole region not only in iran and secondly it's important because it has been. brought to operation against the background of

political interference by many powers are tied powers in the law since the nine hundred ninety s. actually and so today is a happy day because it's so that we are now at the completion level in what way will the people of iran benefit from this. i think. as you see also in the western developed countries. you know energy is procured also from nuclear energy so it's also important for the for a source of energy for the iranian economy and also for the society so i think. this would also be profitable if it was handled responsibly especially when it comes to safety issues and i think it's important that safety issues have to be dealt with responsibly when it comes to the bush era nuclear power plant both from russian and iranian authorities what you

a little earlier alluded to the diplomatic and political tensions between iran and the international community because of the uncertainty that iran is not or is perhaps using enrich uranium for peaceful purposes as it claims and clearly there is that concern that it could be using that uranium for the development of nuclear weapons so why is that question still hanging over everyone why hasn't iran convince the international community that this is not the case. well you know you we have now a decades long standoff between iran and the west and over it the iranian nuclear program and if we just listen to the most authoritative source when it comes to analyzing the iranian nuclear program which is the international atomic energy agency and if we read their reports we see that there is no evidence for any weaponization and also this is confirmed by numerously and on numerous occasions by

the u.s. intelligence services and very recently so as well so actually this has been very hyped up the nuclear issue for political reasons in order to be able to garner support to put pressure on iran for achieving other political and so i think the nuclear issue in iran is still being hyped but it loses much credibility against the evidence that we have. but never those recently sorry to interrupt the sanctions have been posed and still remain on the country. may also indeed bashir is actually finally working in effect it has sacrificed itself to undergo the pressure of these sanctions in order to reach this level of electricity electricity and energy i mean as it been worth the sacrifice do you think. well i mean i don't see the sanctions issue in direct relationship to the nuclear program although where some politicians tend to. go for such

a discourse i think the sanctions issue is more of a geopolitical into a canonic nature the basic rational as i see it and as i had been researching the sanctions issue in the last few years is the russian the russian oil for outside powers here most notably the united states that if you cannot control or influence a country you might go for isolation and weakening of the country in the best way to do that is through economic sanctions economic sanctions and this is the rationale of sanctions a lot of there is still some people in the policy circles who say that the sanctions issues related to the nuclear issue. in that it had been helping to halt or just. to slow down the progress of the iran's nuclear program but i think you have to mention also bear in mind that there have been targeted assassinations that are against iranian nuclear scientists and also sabotage acts mostly coming from

the united states and israel that have been mainly responsible for that so the sanctions issue is not something that has been you know use to primarily hold the program just very briefly that pressure of course could go beyond sanctions many companies commentators say look we've seen nato campaign in libya syria is perhaps next in line and then the next pressure on iran what would you say to that military pressure foreign intervention in toppling the regime there. well the only danger i see is that if because there is that there is a mechanism now in western policy circles and you see it in the case of syria that whenever something has to be done they go for sanctions and in the case of iran of course the comprehensive sanctions regime is historically the strongest one imposed on iran and if at the certain point. the already been comes up you know well if there are no more sanctions to impose on iran because there are so vast so let's go

for a military option i think this is something that we have to seriously deal with but on the other front i don't think that the united states for example is in any position to militarily intervene in iran since also there is no justification to do that. but still there are hardliners in israel who contemplate about launching an attack on iran but they need a green light to support some way of support from the united states and i don't see washington giving support at this moment i also note that also within the israeli military and intelligence establishment there is also this realisation that there is no effective military solution to the iranian to the iranian case so the world has to face that iran as other developed countries has a nuclear program which is peaceful according. to all the evidence that we have ok ali we'll leave it there ali fadhil and research at the school of oriental and

african studies at the university of london thank you for your time you're welcome . and shortly to come for you israel in growing isolation in just a few minutes from now here on our to report on how some of the jewish state's neighbors brimming with israeli sentiment in the wake of the arab spring. still to come for the first global markets on monday of affairs that italy's debt crisis is worsening as the country's fifty four billion euro sturdy package goes before the lower house of parliament for final debate the government plans to make changes to the way its rural communities are run but some people are beginning to lose faith in the government's ability to make the right decisions. went to one rebellious town that wants to break free from the rule of. welcome to filipino a small town in the middle of italy that also claims to be an independent

principality and to prove it it's even started printing its own money the man on the new note says town mayor lucas a lhari now self-proclaimed prince i guess everyone dreams of being a prince when they're a little boy and so did i now i get to live that dream filipinos going solo in protest over government plans to slash council funding it wants small towns to merge having the number of local authorities with a population of just six hundred philip tino and it's mayor of but the chop. it's a terrible idea because it makes no economic sense we have everything here to be autonomous and besides the neighboring towns are at least thirty kilometers away so it's not practically possible it wouldn't even save that much money most regional administrations do nothing we should get rid of them instead italy's in deep debt one hundred twenty percent of g.d.p.

the second highest in europe but unions are furious with the cuts accusing the government of punishing those already at their poorest even some of silvio berlusconi's own allies now oppose them with amendments piling up but filipinos fed up determined to be the next san marino a constitutional republic within italy that has no national debt a rare thing in europe the methinks the town can live off its natural resources of wood and water but currently profits go to private companies there are constitutional hurdles but since autonomy is not illegal it could just be a matter of time at the moment these notes aren't legal tender they're just souvenirs but the plan is for two theory to be worth one euro and for this to be the only currency they could be spent in the shops and restaurants here big. this is always been slow in this sleepy town but shopkeepers hope the new money will bring new cash. i'm sure that once we start using the new

currency the economic situation here will significantly improve it will have a positive effect on tourism of course attracting more people to the town. far from being a p.r. stunt filipino means business and berlusconi knows it he's visiting the town later this month to stave off the rebellion and he'll have a fight on his hands villa tino's the source of rose water supply and that mayor is threatening to cut it off if he doesn't get what he wants either bennett r.t. filipino italy. as financial words echoed deeper inside the euro zone fears are growing that greece could be heading away from the euro unable to contain its debt crisis your hand van overtveldt she's the editor in chief of belgium's leading business magazine the trends things that greece should jump ship. the greek economy is in an outright depression now g.d.p.

is shrinking at the moment at seven to eight percent on an annual basis unemployment is officially at sixteen percent but in reality it's more close to twenty five percent what we hear from people from the i.m.f. informally is that the budget situation is out of control so there's no way that greek greece can escape from this situation unless there's a somewhat orderly exit from the eurozone followed by a huge devaluation of the new greek currency i think we have passed the point now where we can argue that we can say for greece within the euro zone greece will ask to exit it can be organized in an orderly way but the risk is of course that there will be contagion in the direction of countries like for example cortical maybe ireland and of course i'm not even mentioning here that would be an enormous problem countries like spain. ankur is warning israel it faces growing regional isolation as the turkish prime minister arrives on

a visit to egypt and i tell you everyone is expected to cement closer ties with cairo with both countries experiencing recently strained relations with tel aviv on friday night a raging mob in the egyptian capital stormed and sent the israeli embassy forcing its staff to flee the event specifically by television refusal to apologize for killing several egyptian soldiers by mistake last month. expelled israeli diplomats last week over some of its refusal to say sorry for gunning down nine turks during last year's raid on the garden around eight. pm says attack was a cause for war but his country chose to refrain from aggression. political analyst be bison feels that israel shouldn't be surprised that egyptians and turned against it. killing. all jews by israeli security forces that you. pour the. fire so that's why we have him back is really

a sentiment the government officials. people are very very upset of. in fact the family execution of ma in turkish activists in international waters what made it worth of course. and again. not really taken the north. down because not to go around killing people and especially from that line activists. took out. thirty five bullets and many of the united nations security council. indicate from a close range there were shot there people are very angry. twenty three minutes past the hour now here in the russian capital let's have a quick look at some other news from around the world before we get the business news with marina thirty two people close to libya's former leader moammar gadhafi

have fled in the past ten days a new front in the ongoing fighting between rebels and loyalist troops in bani walid one of the colonel's last strongholds located one hundred forty kilometers southeast of the capital could have his fighters ignored the surrender deadline given by rebels which expired last week gadhafi son saadi has also fled tunisia while the whereabouts of libya's fugitive leader who vowed to stay in the country until the very end remain unknown. about a hundred people have reportedly been killed by far the pipeline in kenya's capital of nairobi more than eighty were injured and rushed to nearby hospitals that tipline passes through a local slum first on monday morning the suspects some of the victims may have been draining fuel from the type when the fire started. and it's been an explosion at a nuclear facility in southern france one person has been confirmed killed and several others injured officials earlier warned of

a possible radiation leak but say no emissions have been detected the facility handles nuclear waste with low levels of radioactivity. back with a recap of our main news for you very shortly in the meantime marina's here with the latest business update as promised stay with us live here in moscow. hello and welcome to business here on our team now deals worth more than three hundred million dollars have been signed during the visit of the u.k. prime minister david cameron to russia the delegation includes blue chip companies like world dutch shell b.p. and british airways british d.i.y. retailer kingfisher has unveiled a plan to open nine stores in russia total investment could reach one hundred eighty million dollars also engineering firm rolls royce has agreed to jointly develop nuclear power with the russian state energy corporation. and among other

notable deals the russian state nanotechnology corporation is fine a forty to fifty percent of the london based pro bono bio for an undisclosed amount the financial times describes the company as a new medical company launching the world's first molecular scale nanotechnology treatments pro-ball the bio plans in moscow and london within four years. british oil major b.p. wants to continue doing business in russia despite its current problems in the country and that's according to a senior kremlin eight sites in the british prime minister the company is stuck in legal battles with its russian partners in the joint venture to be earlier this year they blocked the deal between b.p. and ross that he jointly explore the arctic and now they are seeking compensation from b.p. for breach of their shareholder agreements meanwhile tony hayward the former c.e.o. of b.p. is stepping down as a non-executive director of team caden and that's less than

a year after taking the post. let's take a look at the markets that almost started with oil prices are mixed as the u.s. dollar and that scale up earlier against the partial recovery came as the organization of petroleum expo. when countries set out some of its numbers could lower production as a slowing economy weakens the allied sweetness currently trading at eighty seven dollars and sixty five cents while the brunt is at one hundred twelve dollars and forty two cents per barrel all in the us markets are trading in negative territory as fears mounts over europe's debt problems especially after a credit rating downgrade of french banks. and european markets heavy losses shares in the u.k. lenders were on the plus after the independent commission told banks there would have to ring fence the retail office for one of the credit crisis. and european that worries of weight on the russian markets as well indices extended last week's

losses in monday's trade in my six close over one of the half percent down while the arts he has lost more than three and a half percent and let's take a look at some of the individual share moves on the my sex energy majors lost ground with gas from shutting almost two percent banking stocks were also on the pressure with russia's largest losing over one percent but north local of the better i head of its board meeting on wednesday i don't choose there either and that was to discuss a buy back off company's shares from i know it's a share holders call michael aside from other financial corp says the russian market is being led by a global sentiment. russian equities are sharply lower today importing both from volatility and share price weakness from european markets which are down on average of three to four percent today and it's more concerns about the fate of the euro and it's more concerns about euro zone banks and stability in the markets we see

particularly weakness in the big cap highly liquid stocks like gas problem a spear being a metals and mining stocks are also weaker as those companies are exposed to global steel prices and a potential slowdown in demand i'd also note today's weakness in the oil price so with oil now within one percent of its two hundred day moving average this has a few investors concerns and this is one reason why the ruble has also been weak today. well that's all this is for now the headlines are next.

move.

if you're just joining us a very well welcome all to life here moscow top stories now this could help cost the our strong relations for mutual benefit you can agree not to and they divided opinions on the scandal of the resolution of the syrian crisis to stand in the way of that put it to. economic partnership. generating. the national grid facility at bushehr was built with the help of russia and will reach its full capacity at the end of the year. moves closer to the center of the eurozone debt crisis as it's crucial. triggering a new wave of protests that. fifty billion euro program is aimed at balancing the country's budget and triggering growth.