the u.k. faces a loyalty test in a full clinch referendum exacerbating the standoff with argentina over sovereignty and all. last two years on the nuclear sentiment gets stronger in japan is the country marks the anniversary of one of the world's worst nuclear disasters with many unsatisfied with the speed of the clean up operation. and a hostage drama resolved in syria the ukrainian journalist kidnapped by rebel forces the sky after being held captive. for almost six months.

i get to have a company you're watching live from moscow. the disputed four can darden's are voting on a second day of a referendum on whether or not to remain a british territory but a loyal pro british sentiment among many islanders leaves little doubt as to the outcome while argentina who still lay claim to the islands have called the vote a sham polly boyko reports now on the toxic mix of nationalism politics and oil. these are some very far flung islands from britain a tiny territory now nevertheless the islanders are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favor of remaining a british overseas territory but this isn't just a question of national identity we know that the argentinian government's already dismissed the vote as a propaganda exercise cooked up in london but there's the prospect of all that a lot of people are talking about now they're speculating surrounding how much oil

there is an estimated sixty billion barrels of oil potentially to be found in the full cleanse basin and that's worth about one hundred sixty seven billion dollars to compare that with britain's oil reserves well they seem scant in comparison the u.k. has an estimated two point eight five billion barrels of oil so if this estimation proves to be correct if the falkland islands do indeed have these sixty billion barrels then we're talking about more oil than the reserves of the usa could tar or even libya to talk about this i'm joined in the studio by ken hurst he's a journalist came to what extent is this dispute a question of resources for both the british and the argentinian government well it could be argued that it's always been questionable whether it's morally or logistically sustainable to try to protect. a colony that's eight thousand miles away. added to that is economically sustainable and he wore ships and so on and so

forth but of course the oil rather changes all that but it only changes if you believe it's morally justifiable to go on what we call it you know a colonial plundering mission something we did in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries and personally i don't happen to believe it is but a lot of people are saying that this is a question of domestic politics for the argentinean president because there is a flailing a colony at home and you know picking up the question of the island sovereignty is going to increase her ratings back home well that may or may not be true certainly south america as a bloc may be having its economic issues but it's certainly becoming generally an economic powerhouse a part of the the the brazilian the russian the indian the chinese the rise of those nations and it's part of all of that and we've had issues haven't we about.

vessels carrying our flags not being allowed into some some of those ports so there is that issue around it but you know i don't know how sustainable that is it isn't trying to ramp up the argentinian claim to the islands just a way of increasing popularity at home well it may be but you've got to remember that president cristina fernandez actually had a landslide victory herself in the two thousand and eleven election i think it was so she's probably more politically stable than david cameron is and finally do you think the referendum is going to resolve this dispute referendums don't resolve disputes actually negotiation resolve disputes and that's what really needs to happen down there in the in the falklands or the melbourne or whichever you call them. well an r.t. dot com we're asking you what you think argentina's next step will be if the falkland islanders decide to stay british and these are the results so far at the moment forty percent of you say that argentina will declare the vote rigged or

illegitimate sightly few of their think the falkland is will be told to move to britain by their south american neighbor around fifteen percent expect argentina to announce a new referendum in a few years while just eight percent believe one is aries will finally back off from its claims so you have got time to tell us what you think when you can do that by casting your vote at r.t. dot com. meanwhile domestically in the u.k. economic hardship appears to be sparing no one coming up we've got the story of world war two veterans whose families are forced to sell their mementos and memories just to pay for basic care. japan is grieving the death of over nineteen thousand people killed during a devastating earthquake and tsunami it is two years since the tragedy which triggered the world's worst atomic disaster in twenty five years the fukushima

plant saw a nuclear meltdown and the release of radioactive materials r.t. sean thomas was in japan and witnessed the aftermath. when i first arrived what struck me the most is that the scale of the disaster was much larger than what many people may even remember in fact what you had was you had the earthquake you had the tsunami then you had the nuclear disaster and then the lingering disaster after the fact so traveling to the coast homes destroyed villages decimated and the people doing what they could to try and pick up their lives people we spoke to have a great distrust for the government they don't at that time they don't feel that they were getting all of the information that they needed to for their safety and i can tell you that from the get go there was a lot of mistrust in the government about how the situation was being handled on the ground the nuclear tragedy also sparked massive protests all over the globe against the use of atomic energy. and investigates if the world is ready to wean

itself off nuclear power. if we look at japan first of all there before the before this leak nuclear energy made about twenty five percent of japan's energy needs afterwards all nuclear reactors were suspended some have since been restarted to try to cope with blackouts far away in germany the public and politicians were horrified by what they saw unraveling in japan and that led in part to the blunders tag's decision in may two thousand and eleven to end all nuclear power in germany by two thousand and twenty two in france a very different policy since the one nine hundred seventy s. france has really pushed nuclear energy as a clean and safe provider of energy it still makes up nearly eighty percent of france's and energy needs and there although public opinion has changed slightly

it's still more in favor of nuclear power than it is in japan if we look at japan again the new government is more pro nuclear energy than the previous government was but they're going to have a big a big time trying to convince the japanese population that it is worth it one thing they have on their side is that nuclear power is demonstrable cheaper than other alternatives and fossil fuels or renewables there just isn't enough of those renewables yet to try and cover the gap. and you can read about how japan is fixing the consequences of the fukushima tragedy at r.t. dot com as well as raid expert opinions on the country's nuclear future.

after almost six months in rebel captivity a ukrainian jew in this working in syria has escaped and is reportedly on her way to damascus they kept threatening to kill her unless they got a fifty million dollars. they are mission that are two causes coming from a hard question as ex-husband who cost can tech dark channel and said that his but his ex-wife seems odd to have escaped her captivity in home sincerely after she has made a post in her live journal a column saying that to and i'm quoting alice is back with more details to follow on her question as ukrainian journalist who has been taken captive in a cobra by the free syrian army rebels who threatened to kill her unless the korean

government paid the fifteen million dollars ransom that didn't happen and the rebels did not proceed with their threats on her question what was incredibly critical off of the syrian rebels six to tease us throughout the entire conflict and she has been very active in showing her support for the syrian president bashar al assad now when it comes to syrian opposition the syrian opposition of course has been largely disjointed in their efforts to overthrow the regime of the syrian president aust said ah but they haven't shown any unity of whatsoever and one of the as one of the leaders of one of those fragments of the syrian opposition has been in last go on a monday talking a to russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov there have been reports in western media very recently about u.k. france and the united states military personnel training some of the still syrian ever read all forces there in jordan primarily training them to use

anti-tank weapons and this sort of training according to this of member of the syrian opposition is something that is only is only making this syrian crisis worse in an interview to artie's arabic channel he has made that statement. oh good two of them and i want the opposition to be united for at least we would know who to negotiate with but unfortunately there are many small armed groups we are trying to establish contact with the most rational and far seeing opposition representatives who respect international humanitarian law and the basic constitutional principles that unite us the syrians whose actions aren't based on religious beliefs or malicious murders there's much. aside what is your view on the main political problems of the syrian crisis for example the preservation of

assad's presidency civilian death and their position being supplied with weapons. it will have so hello to well first the arms supply should be stopped completely both for the rebels and for the syrian army second concerning the presidency we need time syria needs a boat ten to twenty years a parliamentarian ism to eliminate the idea of destroying one person and the role of the president so we can see that the majority of syrian support our program that will redistribute power from the president. so for aren't you afraid of clashes with a government which is going to be formed in istanbul and it is considered to control so-called free districts mostly now you have. we are far from it still i think that if a project starts with the french foreign minister statement and then was discussed in istanbul's lobbies over three months is the project doesn't have any future it is likely to be a farce. and it will actually be much better if it is not realized at all because

it won't gain any support or respect they still don't have a worthy candidate for prime minister they don't have any political modesty the correct way of thinking or political experience. that is if god's will is preventing someone from going to war coming up on our say anger among secular jews is growing is the ultra religious are exploded from compulsory military service claiming threat is equally important for the country security that's coming up after the break.

do we speak your language or not a day of. school music programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn to angles stories. for you here. to try to alter the spanish find out more visit actuality. i.

hello again israel is witnessing a widening religious divide with a difference secular jews who have to do military service claim it's unfair that the ultra religious are excluded from such juicy the latter though say their contribution to the country's security is no less important parties paula slid spoke to people on both sides. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is struggling to form a government five weeks after parliamentary elections he can't get potential coalition partners to agree the stumbling block whether or not ultra religious orthodox jews should serve in the i.d.f. the religious parties are certainly beginning to understand things have changed they're going to find themselves challenged on many fronts military service is going to be one of them and as a result they will have to conserve their political capital to fight on the things they care about most most ultra religious jews have never been in the israeli army

and religious political parties have never been pressed on the issue like they've been now but january's parliamentary elections saw new players coming to the fore on yahoo needs in his coalition if he's to form a majority government but they're insisting the religious played a part. like this woman who spearheaded a campaign with other like minded israeli mothers they're fed up with what they call an injustice that the children should serve one others don't to thirty no guards that something is very unfair that we are going to give our children to the army not knowing if we are going to get them back in fifty percent of the mother or the new. do not have to warry because their children do not go to the army iran is twenty eight years old married with two children while others his age were doing their national service he was here studying far from being apologetic he feels the contribution he makes is as important if not more for him. the backbone of the

jewish people i think my obligation first of all is to preserve the jewish intellect and the jewish mind for our city for this country's sake and for the generations to come and yes while i might be not putting my life at risk and also contributing to this country's security they also say which doesn't make any sense for me that for it's the third in that study the torah is soldier is not getting killed so if you are taking a twenty two thousand eight hundred soldiers that were created until now for independence day and. what does it mean if you didn't study enough but the frustration among secular israelis who make up most of the population goes beyond just army service they complain ultra religious jews don't work or pay taxes while receiving disproportionate government support just about every city in israel has a religious neighborhood like this one in ten israelis is all too also ducks the

challenge remains how to include it in a society that is increasingly hostile to them whether netanyahu eventually chooses to include religious partners or leave them out of his coalition there's no running away from the growing internal divide in an already divided country policy r.t. jerusalem. online view right now surprising claims that hitler wasn't all that almost half of all polled recently claimed they see some benefits to hitler's nine hundred thirty eight and. also on our website be high ranking both gary priest selling his pricey rolex watch to pay church wills was a good deed but his congregation think otherwise tell me why.

having fought for their country's freedom some world war two veterans in the u.k. and i'm struggling to financially survive or sterrett in skyrocketing living costs are leaving even the most decorated heroes with no other choice but to sell their metals just to make ends meet sarah ferguson has the story. i fired a short burst from five hundred feet producing strikes on the port engine a dull flame and. soon it began to dive steeply exploding into the ground these are the private extracts from the flight logs of world war two night pilot brand burbridge despite being a highly skilled and decorated pilot his story has remained largely untold until now ninety two and suffering with outsiders prances in a nursing home and his family struggling with high care costs have put the

incredible mementos up for sale i said that these are your medals we're selling them and there was a smile and there was a sort of recognition that. you know this this is what he things were his so i have no doubt that he's probably got some understanding of this happening the family hyping to raise more than one hundred thousand pounds at the auction with their father's nursing home costs averaging around fifty thousand pounds a year and third as it is the money will go a long way to paying for their father's treatment the ice and tell the remarkable story of a man he began the war as a conscientious objector but he wended it is arguably one of britain's most prolific night flies and the story. absolutely true he never. met him because you only have room for the engines. who mobilize would be so.

pleased to see. a parachute mode from the me so this is prances pilots flying logbook and slowly unusually he also includes his combat reports now this particular one you can see describes one of his exceptional achievements during the war where in one night alone he shot down for enemy german planes now that was absolutely remarkable and was described by a fellow night flying eighth as one of the most exceptional sorties flown during the war even now when he looks at planes there's that recognition that that's part of his life of the. people so quickly so those that. yeah i think it's yes the elderly care i think man needs to be more funding for i would really care so that they don't have to sell all their possessions and all their what they

fought for of their home you know in order to pay for their care and that's that's the hardest thing which is better and do receive a tax free pension that was sky high living in care costs and often that's simply not enough. shockingly and it's estimated that ex service personnel account for around one in ten the u.k.'s homeless politicians are criticized for abandoning buttons in the hour of need leaving it to charities to pick up the slack we have hundreds of people who come to veterans and their dependents who contact us every year who need help with care looking at the aging population it's not likely that those the number of people we help would go down anytime soon every year in the u.k. there are a key take a page from the people in die for their country but in the nation where everything north of only added to the number of veterans needing from brown fervor to story is

an important reminder that for the rest of the year away from the ceremonies and the cameras many british buttons are facing daily personal challenges that by and large go unnoticed. r.c. london. a quick look at other international news now in venezuela the opposition candidate who lost to hugo chavez in the country's last election in october in the recapitulates has announced he will run for the presidency next month the forty year old will face off against acting president nicolas maduro hand-picked by chavez to succeed him the announcement has already sparked a war of words between the two politicians recent polls give the socialist majeure a comfortable lead in the run up to the election. police in egypt have ended a striking given authorities ten days to grant their calls for more powerful weapons a third of provinces in the country have been hit by the action including portside eat more than fifty people have died in clashes over the last few months this is

the country's top prosecutor has called on civilians to arrest people they see committing crimes raising concerns vigilante groups could take security into their own hands. and the presidents of pakistan and iran have reiterated their commitment to open a gas pipeline between the two countries despite american opposition the pipe on the iranian side is complete last work on the pakistan section apparently costing one and a half billion dollars is yet to begin pakistan says it needs the link to fulfil its energy needs but the us has criticised the plan saying it could go against sanctions in place against iran. a suicide bomber has designated a truck full of explosives at a police station two hundred kilometers north of the iraqi capital killing five people and wounding thirty six officials say two policemen and three civilians are among the dead some of the wounded are thought to be students from

a nearby school and the group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. after the break crosstalk on whether n.g.o.s can really be considered non-governmental and what purpose they really set. the month before the oscars and what annoys you with their predictions and the month after everyone complains about the results but what isn't being talked about much is the few hundred people who gathered to protest the glamour filled award show why protest the asker's you ask. well although the film life of pi won the oscar for best visual effects effects to you that made the movie look so amazing

were the men hughes has filed for bankruptcy quickly after the film's release you know that seems like a bit of a discrepancy i mean the group that made the best visual effects in the world in two thousand and thirteen is flat broke how can that be this reminds me of how the lead creators of call of duty modern warfare two were let go directly after the release of the game which to date is the eighth highest grossing video game of all time this was done supposedly to dodge paying them the royalties that they you know earned through hard work the problem is that we live in a world where only the bottom line count making as much profit as you possibly can damn the consequences it's just good business practice they say well it might be profitable but it's bad for society and it's very bad for visual effects and videogame artists but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle non-governmental organizations or n.g.o.s what purpose do they serve today and are they politicized can an end cio really be called non-governmental if it receives money from governments and what about the donors are they disinterested parties. cross-talk n.g.o.s i'm joined by david rieff in new york he is a writer and senior fellow at the world policy institute and in pittsburgh we cross to clifford bob he is a political science professor and became university and author of the new book the global right wing all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want david if i'm going to you want to people say today that n.g.o.s are over politicized honey you come down on that. i think everything is

political so from a you know this doesn't come as a kind of shock horror of all ation that n.g.o.s are political i think the more interesting question would be what kind of politics they represent and whether you can say that and geopolitics have right wing or left wing to the extent those. those categorizations still mean anything cast to them you know polish human rights is a politics the u.n. charter is a politics so the idea that we're going to be suddenly shocked that the ngos are not perfectly neutral perfectly objective that seems to me that really does seem to me a little bit of posturing on the part of perhaps also governments that don't like n.g.o.s but also perhaps on the part of one ngo wishing to discredit another and you're ok cliff where do you come out on this that's very interesting what we just heard right i would generally agree with what david has said see n.g.o.s as basically the

equivalent of lobbying groups domestically and they do clearly have political agendas even if they may not like to put put it quite in that form even something as supposedly neutral as human rights i agree is a political issue highly political and in fact i'd say that trying to portray yourself as nonpolitical in the case of an ngo often is a political strategy in and of itself likewise i'd say that many governments who might not like the activities of particular and geos will again call them political as a way to try to discredit them and to try to avoid being pressured by them in one way or another so i would generally agree with that i do think that there are you can divide n.g.o.s to some extent into various categories depending on what their goals are and kind of for shorthand purpose.