very warm welcome to you i'm karen tara broadcasting live from the heart of moscow . rochelle switches of the north stream natural pipeline marking anywhere and secure and energy supplies to europe president medvedev chancellor angela merkel and other partners performed the official opening in germany allowing fuel to flow directly from serbia to europe we have the longest underwater gas pipeline in the world then you wrote means russia can bypass traditional transit countries such as train in poland to avoid possible energy supply disruption artie's daniel bushell reports from has stark ceremony. it will provide long term energy security for europe which have been affected by previous transit rails with the likes of ukraine and belarus it will also fill a shortfall in gas which is projected to reach some one hundred million homes by

twenty thirty now this is a europe wide project why european leaders are here is because french dutch german companies energy firms have taken stakes in the north stream pipeline that will guarantee supply to homes in those countries for the next fifty years at least the last time of this current project there are plans to send this gas in and then also the existing european network on to countries like the united kingdom as well is that is that with these russia is always going to great lengths to fulfill its energy obligations because it's our highest priority we will continue to supply our european partners without interruption in the future in order to attract more investment for the project i'm convinced that such involvement will minimize risks along the entire energy supply chain. but you know this should also provide cheaper gas for homes in europe with no transit fees to be paid for the likes of ukraine and belarus with gas going direct for the first time from russia to the e.u.

german shores langley merkel is optimistic about the future relations between russia and the european union. when speaking about energy supply security we also speak about diversification and russia is one of our most important partners. of supply have to be safe and the demand from europe is also guaranteed we need russian gas for the economic development of our continent and this means that we will be closely linked to each other for decades to come. it is the longest pipeline the gas pipeline in the world it took some engineering brilliance just for one example compress the stations which keep the pressure in gas pipelines usually there are several across the route this one just has has one the beginning of the route it's been planned since the ninety's ninety's construction did start a few years ago the second law and will come on stream next year and we've just spoken to some of the heads of the of the project who say the line will be discussed by shareholders very shortly because they expect demand for gas to grow

and to keep growing even through this crisis the euro crisis that we're seeing to keep growing through the e.u. in the coming years while i'm gassed expert in the overland says that the new pipeline is a guarantee that european consumers will not have to relive the nightmare of energy cuts i think there was a great need for this project as several incidents of shown over the last three four five six years we need as much diversification as we can of energy in europe and this project helps us to reach that and i think the successful implementation of the project shows of what has always been quite clear is that critical standpoints arguments didn't have much basis in reality they were driven by some kind of. prejudice the contribution of norse the minute self will be positive because it reduces the clout of transit countries to some extent which means that they can take less a smaller cut from the overall price so in this sense it's positive and consumers

are not only part of our price they're also worried about. the security of supply and north stream again is one contribution to making everybody feel a bit more relaxed about security of supply. russia has called the release of the un's atomic watchdog report on iran as inappropriate says the new findings suggest her own has been working on developing nuclear weapons and has credible evidence to prove it the report has sparked a controversial reaction around the world u.s. officials insist iran should answer questions raised in the report or there will be new sanctions against it and iran's president mahmoud money just criticized it and said that won't stop its peaceful nuclear development this comes as russian president warned that militant militarist rhetoric in the middle east could lead to a catastrophic war in the region. former cia officer philip giraldi says that the i.a.e.a. report is based on the u.s.

and israel israel's allegation as the two countries try to cast a shadow on iran. so it's quite clear that it's the united states and israel that are basically trying to turn the heat up on iran and i would be very skeptical about this report that's coming out from the international atomic energy agency because the i.a.e.a. doesn't really have any intelligence capabilities of its own and if it's relying on reports that are coming from other people i would rather suspect those reports are coming from the united states and israel so it's a it's a it's you know an endless cycle of trying to prove the unprovable in this case does iran have a bomb you know does iran have the intention to get a bomb no one knows that except the iranian leadership so i think this is a this is again this is a whole situation that's being overhyped in an effort to get some political leverage out of it there are many countries in the middle east egypt saudi arabia

turkey that have what they describe as breakout capability the ability technical ability to develop a nuclear weapon but it's only iran that seems to be in the focus and this is because of the perception that iran is a threat to israel israel is very capable of using its friends in the media and in the u.s. congress to heighten this sense of threat and i as i said before i i believe very firmly that this sense of threat is much overstated. at a time when israel is threatening around with military action confidence in the strength of the jewish states army is crucial but every year more and more israelis are seeking ways to avoid conscription choosing to defend themselves rather than their country policy or reports on why the young generation is turning its back on military service. for years it's been the cornerstone of the country's security but these days there's a real risk these rady defense forces could be left defenseless conscription is at an all time you know about fifty percent of recently jewish males. don't

serve in the military twenty connor spent most of the year and a half he was in the army trying to convince his superiors to release him on medical grounds they eventually did but only after he'd wasted months searching around he says doing nothing while in uniform get drafted for a. because of this feeling that it would be parathyroid if i wouldn't and a couple months later i realized that i just couldn't take part in a longer in what's called the israel defense forces which has nothing to do with difference other than my name and a growing number of israelis agree with him or friedman made sure she scored low on her army entrance tests so instead of serving as a soldier she's not doing civil service working as an art instructor in the center for the mentally disabled i have our friends in the army and they saw. how they were when they first came to them in how they are now and it's

a lot of brainwashing actually and they just take you down from your identity and make you basically a soldier ten years ago the refusenik movement started in israel youngsters refusing to serve in the army on political grounds add to that the nearly fifteen percent of potential draftees who don't serve because of religious reasons and a recent series of scandals also so public trust in the military decline state it's about just. this video posted on you tube says a true israeli doesn't evade the truth in other words a true israeli avoids conscription fifteen or twenty years ago an advert like this would have been unthinkable in those days not serving in the army was something shameful but now young's. those have role models like activia nodded a copy of former girlfriend israeli model barbara faily who evaded service and gave it legitimacy violations of human rights. and are by israel absolute

disrespect of international law it's crystal clear there's no question about it studies show that by twenty twenty the number of military age jewish israelis who will not be serving will be the highest ever the growing trend has the military worried it won't have the troops it needs especially now as the region heats up and the army needs all the soldiers it can get r.t. tel aviv. our news can be found at any time on our website r.t. dot com like these stories. a costly mistake microphones accidentally left switched on during a conversation between sarkozy and obama reveal to the whole world just what they think about israeli prime here. moscow's dome of the other airport has launched an innovative aroma project aimed at calming passengers preflight nerves.

the italian prime minister says he will resign after parliament passes the twenty twelve countries budget and implements key economic reforms demanded by the e.u. the initial vote in italian senate is scheduled for next wednesday so their battle scarred me earlier lost his majority in parliament in a vote over public finances and faced multiple calls from the opposition and even his allies to resign experts warn the political turmoil could to italy towards even greater instability the country has been in the eye of european financial turmoil as the borrowing cost on its spiralling sovereign debt a spike to the highest level since the euro over ten years ago leo good at the of the university of reading in england says that italy needs not only bit of scotty's resignation but structural changes to survive the deepening crisis. it's very naive

to fall accuse the entire political debates just been buried of school and better sauna i think that count three is going through a very difficult time and what is required is a say to the students political debate on what's kind of measure it's one to think to talk to the krises a it's not so much about what reschooling the italian people in caves should warts and the side what their replacements should be their day and the being down through parliamentary gimmicks i. i think that should have stepped down at least one year ago and been able to sort of arrive just because the option and the bribery in italian parliament is so widespread that these has been possible but honestly i think that's what is required is serious change and serious change just through going back to the people and asking them what's. the school and he should be but joe wasn't all of business insider magazine says that berlusconi just wasn't

capable of leading the country through the financial chaos and italy's only rescue hope is the european central bank because position was just totally untenable. have been surging nobody trusts him he's embroiled in all kinds of domestic scandals and bottom line is that the kind of reforms and leadership that italian the italy needs he was no longer capable of delivering so this was it was the right it was on the walls so there's a it was over for him if he were to go the way of greece and really have a collapse it would have huge impacts on the rest of europe and probably the united states i think italy is simultaneously too big to fail and too big to rescue those hold was that b e c b which you know technically does have unlimited amounts of money thanks to the fact that it controls the printing press and europe could step in in a big way i think people are thinking that has to be the end game and maybe there's a chance now that berlusconi is gone that the e.c.b. will do more meanwhile in greece first reports suggest former european central bank

vice president lucas papademos and set to be named as the country's new prime minister earlier members of the current cabinet offered the resignation to speed up the formation of a new unity government. george bush on the show will stand down as prime minister once his replacement is officially announced and interim government will leave the country until elections expected to be held in february chris is under pressure to ratify a one hundred thirty billion euro emergency rescue package and its political crisis that's put the entire eurozone in jeopardy our correspondents are first been asking greeks for their take on the situation and the prospects for their embattled country. as the euro zone crisis rumbles on greece is once again found the focus of international attention and it seems like everyone's had an opinion about the situation here in the country we decided to come. which is really be me up is that it's so you much of this year i quite fit the find out what the people of

greece have to say about it all. so he says that the camera and the mike. to. let the people of greece take it away alone we are. well. all the people who. are saying. everything is made money board and. it's like they're trying to frighten us or something like that hi my name is vicky. navy and i've been living in greece for ten years now. my grandfather fought for this country and it saddens me that. right now there's a chance you might lose everything that we know in this country and there's really not much we can do and i want to ask. you for all the european snow but poles this did not be but. why do the olympics money don't they want the

money but the thing with the situation right now it's greece is that we don't feel secure about anything but our salaries our health and. you know in my age thinking about the tinder i'm going to make and the decisions i have to do from then from now it's really sad because. everybody here things that you know the things could be better there is something more than the there's something more very very angry because there is a lot of fun in greece now. that the people in greece out a very skeptical about the euro i think. it's better we are in the euro. of course definitely but there are so serious problems. because a lot of people lost they lost their jobs you don't know what. you can do you can plan your life i'm twenty years old and i don't have

a job. i have to leave with my parents i don't have money i can leave i hope for everybody to be calm and. try to get out of the crisis and i really hope everybody can help us to do that goose is a european country in greece and europe is a greek word a greek word that i hope something can be done so we can save this beautiful country and be able to pass it on to our grandchildren and the children after that the people of greece the steps up to the mike and had a chance to have a say the question now is whether anyone is going to be ready to listen to them or the decisions again to keep being made behind closed doors surf. syntagma square and. more world news for you this hour in india where at least twenty people have been killed and dozens injured after a stampede broke out during

a religious ceremony in the north of the country the incident happened when tens of thousands of hindu pilgrims rushed toward a holy site offer their prayers some of them tripped and fell while those behind continued to push forward many women and children are reported to be among the dead in. deadly stampedes are common in india last january more than one hundred people died on route to. syria's opposition has reportedly appealed for international presence in the central city of homes where activists say at least eleven people were killed on monday this comes after damascus refuse the u.s. of being involved in the violence and asked the arab league for support on the issue the u.n. claims at least thirty five hundred people have been killed in the crackdown since anti-government protests started in march. the u.s. republican presidential candidate front runner herman cain says he won't pull out of his bid for the white house despite sex assault allegations it comes a day after a fourth woman became the latest refuse him of inappropriate sexual behavior the

woman says cain demanded intimacy in return for a job five years ago however the politician claims he is perfectly innocent and ready to take a lie detector test. hundreds of people in bolivia have flocked to a cemetery with the skulls of their loved ones to celebrate the annual state festival event marks the end of religious commemorations for the roman catholic all saints day this festival also known as the day of the skulls comes from the belief that each person has seven souls one of which resides inside the human skull and protects the person. russia has launched an unmanned probe on the mission to reach the martian moon phobos and to fly samples of its soil back for study the dusty debris should should like all the genesis of the solar system. run probe soared into space from the baikonur launch pad in kazakhstan on wednesday

morning it's also carrying china's first mars satellite which will be released into an observation orbit around the red planet the moon samples could be back on earth in just under three years time. as north stream gas enters western europe for the first time we talk next with the man who's been at the head of the ambitious project former german chancellor gerhard schroeder tells us why the pipeline is so important for all sides involved.

gerhard schroeder was charles love germany from two thousand and five he's no chairman of the board at nordstrom's russia's new gas pipeline under the baltic sea to europe mr further why should the e.u. increase its dependence on gazprom. opinion. we're not talking about a dependence on the show we're talking about cooperation between russia on the one side and the european union on the other in the energy sector. north stream is viewed as a priority project by both russia and the e.u. because it's been part of europe's energy networks since two thousand and six is recognized by the european parliament and the e.u. council of energy ministers or meant. that the energy minister to nordstrom pipelines have already been laid what top of the third one will be added and what will be its capacity we haven't yet that we currently have at least two pipelines

with a total capacity of fifty five billion cubic metres the question of whether a third or even fourth pipeline will be laid should be answered by european stock holders of as you know we have gazprom on the one side and hollins got sunni france's g.d.s. suez and germany's and b.s.f. windowsill on the other if investors decide to build a third and fourth pipeline through privately financed mind you we're not talking about stink financing then it could be done i do not know whether they will make such a decision as it was not part of my work line of. brussels wants all russian energy companies not just gazprom to be allowed to export gas to europe what are the implications of that for gazprom and europe. regulator reprovision is not the issue that the e.u. germany and the rest of the e.u. nations need gas to sensibly reform their energy policy with russia on the other hand has to sell gas to keep its budget in order so there's a codependency which is

a good thing i would be happy to see european companies invest into russia and european markets open up to russian companies it's a good free market economy is good for truck what do you think of the recent new raids on gazprom and its partners in europe think about the or gas i think europeans need gas gas has many uses with the political uncertainty in north africa it's good to have a stable partner that you can rely on and russia is one of these you know better than anyone else for instance that britain recently switched from export to india old europe needs a gas supply to maintain a stable mix of energy sources that it's climatic conditions require and it needs norway's gas price but also russia's gas and therefore i think opening the market up to question companies would be. wisemen of. the name to do some e.u. officials oppose russia whatever it does yet as is ford's all that's most money i guess it's so we have to admit that way but i hope we will get over it it's

understandable the european union needs russia geopolitically but the reverse is also true there's no question about it the time has come to start cooperating and stop looking back at ideological differences if that was for the could russia switch supply east to china if brussels keeps up its hostility was that it's unknown as it were to your informants of wishes in a situation where it could ship gas to china and all of asia and europe i hope russia never has to make a choice the russian government is evidently pro european but europe cannot keep pushing russia away it hurts russians pride and we have to keep in mind that while russia has the alternative of shipping to asia europe has no such alternative and europe's geopolitical position will only improve if it manages to enter a tiny hard to ship with russia one and at the same time grant only u.s. session to turkey that would be a sound strategy aimed into the future the rest is yesterday's debate eyeless and

is dead but haven't guessed that if russia does decide to go east could that mean the gas shortfall for europe does vitter snake no that will not happen russia was an exceptionally reliable supplier during soviet times so no one has to worry about that john ging i will say again that europe kamarck it is incredibly important for russia to keep it logic balance among other things therefore we're not talking about dependency here but a codependency to get that we've heard plans to lay an electricity route alongside the nord stream project could germany and european in your opinion be interested in importing electricity from russia if i say anything i've not heard about such plans you want to have long since been rumors about it but so far the talk has been detached from reality i doubt the plan. it will ever be realized but ultimately it's up to the pipelines owner's not the chairman of the stockholders committee for that and progress in shipping liquefied natural gas. makes europe less dependent on

pipelines can that affect this project and. i don't think it would have a negative effect on the project as europe's liquefied gas market is quite limited to move there's nowhere to sally's in germany or poland has a developing market important is that it's in no way a danger for us and that's not the reason i'm criticizing is the indication that there are alternative sources the low spot prices on gas their support deals can be of no more gain than long term supply agreements in the short run but they do not offer stability for three to five plague of course in the wake of the fukushima disaster germany is closing all its nuclear power plants do you support that and how will it change germany's energy mix. have been damaged mind consider this me and my team are the people who would rigidly negotiated that deal with our energy suppliers and we had agreed to make a sensible exit out of nuclear strategy that was followed by a short period when the federal government thought our agreement should be overturned and of course they've since gone the other way and started supporting

what i had negotiated on this does not mean bridge technologies like nuclear energy cannot be used until energy efficiency is sufficiently developed that we need gas as an interim energy source for the sake of energy security that's the reason we need to buy gas from new york from other countries but primarily from russia and the reason we need to build a gas power station. gerhard schroder chairman of the board for the north stream gas pipeline thank you for speaking with r.t. . wealthy british style. guide.

market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on our.

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brush and switches on the longest underwater gas pipeline in the world to fuel pump and to pump fuel direct to germany and beyond making european energy supplies more secure. the u.n. atomic watchdogs report alleging iran's running a nuclear weapons program starts criticism from moscow russia says publication is inappropriate while the u.s. is preparing new sanctions against iran. and controversial italian prime minister silvio berlusconi promises to step down but only after the parliament approves the country's budget for next year and crucial economic reforms to grapple with the spiraling crisis. now on our team max and stacey ask whether a man who's lost hundreds of millions of dollars of people's money deserves the pope's praise the kaiser report is up next on our two.