majority. position rival to demand a recount. and amid the electoral foreign players are keeping a close eye on venezuela's huge oil reserves and we look at who is eyeing up the nation's energy riches. north korea celebrates the birthday of its founding father with the world missile launch could be used to mark the occasion. and it took. ten months suspended sentence over a series of tweets. to claim sectarianism is taking hold of the country. just after five pm on monday here in the russian capital this is our life with me

and welcome to the program. in an unexpected close race venezuelans look to have voted for his hand-picked successor as the next president elect to suggest that chavez is a socialist policies will live on after his death from cancer however rival and refusing to concede and demanding a recount because figures show he's only about two hundred thousand votes behind. in the capital caracas with this report. talk about the reaction coming from the supporters of mother roy it was almost instant as soon as the results were announced fireworks were going off cars were honking and people his supporters on the street very excited very happy of course about the results but there were there was a lot of waiting really hours of of anticipation people holding their breath because the net the margin really has been very very narrow let me just read to you the latest figures that we have it's fifty point sixty six percent for forty nine point

zero seven percent for us this is out of a seventy eight point seven one percent participation and this is about ninety nine percent of the votes counted already at this point initial reaction came out saying that the fight will continue the revolution work will continue alluding very much to google child this is a very and revolution and capricious had come out though as being very quite negative he came out saying that he there were allegations of voting fraud and he wanted a recount you know that model had a campaign really on a platform invoking hugo chavez really it was at the core and you have to want something new wanted a change in direction and it's evident you know that the diverse opinion of the two men is evident among the people we've spoken to a lot of them in the past few days are very enthusiastic very passionate about their belief the different direction they want to take a venezuela however what's clear though is that all the citizens regardless of who

they voted for a recount was all the problems that they want solved and without a charismatic character like to ask assuage the fears of the concerns of citizens it will be a very very tough challenge for model first of all to unite a very divided country a second of all to address the problems. certainly this is a venezuela's presidential choices a very very big important around the world as well as a as venezuela tries to i suppose sort of the presidential election or oil for those two nations are keeping a very very close watch and keys in a. business analyst here what can you tell us about that well then as well that essentially is definitely a very juicy morsel when it comes to oil and gas its reserves are estimated at a whopping two hundred and ninety seven billion barrels now keep in mind that that's comparable or even slightly above those of the biggest oil export of saudi

arabia and its sales energy sales account for ninety five percent of the company's revenues earnings revenues so that really makes russia's oil dependency so much talked about oil dependency pale in comparison if you think about it so basically it's it's a jewel in the rough you know it has very low output due to years of under-investment but huge reserves as i said so massive reserves low output of it let's talk about the whole election of venezuela. has effectively won the election so far is demanding a recount but atocha regardless of whether it's the end of the day or my daughter when it comes to venezuela should we say energy policy how will that change if it all depending on which kind of it does take a big city well the change might actually be quite dramatic if it is well i mean first of all the victory in these elections is definitely going to influence which countries and therefore which companies have access to that as well as much desired

oil pomfret if it's madieu or it's more or less predictable it's going to be a lot of energy policy continuity of the left as governments in latin america are definitely going to continue receiving the support now if it's caprices that's really you know who knows because what we're seeing right now is even this very narrow view. victory is a major signal that the prius actually has a lot of support as well as within the country as well as outside of the country in fact there are very powerful forces outside of it as well as that would really love a prius the wind namely of course u.s. energy companies ok what are you when you bring the u.s. into the equation and it is actually because ultimately at the end of the day the entire world i mean all the world economies of all there are always keeping a close watch on venezuela one of the biggest oil exporters out there but there must be a couple of countries out there who really would if you if you look at the dynamic right now you'll see that it's basically a fight between u.s.

energy companies and russia and russia of wars i mean china plays a big role in that as well but let me give you it is the details of how basically works at the moment u.s. companies were essentially ousted event as well in the seventy's after investing millions and millions of dollars and so it's thoughtless and oil and gas sector and of course they would like to get back but russia also has a huge presence all of russia's major oil and gas companies are working in the country at the moment and they have long term contracts with the venezuelan government and of course china is also a big investor just several years ago its biggest state owned bank actually lended that as well a forty billion dollars against future energy sales so that really tells you something what's incredible you consider the natural wealth in venezuela not just the oil petrol wealth but also the natural gas wealth as well so whether it's my daughter or certainly they're going to be

a lot of guys trying to get their fingers in the court seriously oh i don't think that's on your sky thank you very much indeed. well if indeed if indeed it is integrated president of venezuela is a well are likely to continue strong ties with latin american countries and possibly continue to be anti american that's according to a mood well tinker salads a professor of latin american history. well i think we're going to see a continuation of venezuelans foreign policy i think there's a difference between criticizing us and being anti american i think will see a promotion of latin american policy the promotion of a multi-polar world that is the u.s. is not the dominant issue on their agenda they have relations with russia with china with europe with with latin american countries and will see i think a continuity within that that's been part of the strength promoted by the chavez administration and my little we should recall was the foreign minister in charge of

travis's foreign policy why i think the opposition will definitely be emboldened by the room may have a small window to operate the venezuelan constitution permits a recall within three years i wouldn't doubt that unless my little gets traction and addresses these issues significantly and quickly the opposition may mount a challenge again in three years that's what they did to us in two thousand and four. this is r t north korea is celebrating the anniversary of its founding fathers birthday and there's some concern it could use a missile launch or nuclear test to mark the occasion traditionally pyongyang shows off its military might to the world though this year the date comes at a historically tends moment with north korea resorting to war like rhetoric threatening the u.s. south korea and even japan with a strike young says this is to counter washington's aggressive behavior as the u.s. expands its military presence in the region there's no sign the standoff might be resolved with talks as america and its asian allies say they can negotiate only if

north korea shows a willingness to get rid of its nuclear weapons. to shift the reports. monday april the fifteenth is known as the day of the sun in north korea when the nation is celebrating its biggest holiday the birthday of the late leader the founder of the north korean republic kim il sung but that's of course the north koreans will be celebrating in the streets in the ever present military parades but the eyes of the world of course be. not on the celebrations and the festivities in north korea but on whether young will actually decide to hold missile test launches now the latest reports are suggesting that pyongyang already has mid-range missiles called must have done which would be able to hit a target at more than two and a half thousand miles and the reaction of the international community to do the possible test launch can be very very serious and could provoke a major conflict in the region so it's also interesting to see the transformation of north korea under the embargo under the sanctions which the country has been

living in for many years already not only have they managed to build missiles to create missiles which could potentially be dangerous for the whole region and even reach the shores of the western shores of the united states but also there are speculation peculation and there is information that the north korea may be embarking on the space program so definitely the this crazy twist the crazy saga of korean peninsula is continuing we're watching the situation here in the far east and we'll update our viewers with all the latest developments as we get them throughout the day well i despite the i should say any anticipation of a missile launch both washington and seoul have been pains to stress the chances of an all out war are practically nil despite these assurances the u.s. has been pouring billions of dollars into being ready for a conflict something experts believe is actually provoking even further let's look right now according to some estimates at least twelve billion dollars are spent

annually and what the u.s. calls maintaining peace on the peninsula and some of that money goes towards keeping almost thirty thousand american troops in south korea just to give you an example of how much the joint drills that anger the north could have cost just dispatching two stealth bombers to drop dummy bombs during the exercises well that's a tiger now about six billion. dollars to the taxpayer all for a bit of saber rattling more with the world's attention focused on the korean crisis and the b.b.c. is under fire for pushing the boundaries of ethics in search of a good story of the u.k.'s top financial school is accusing the british broadcasting corporation of endangering the lives of its students using them to covertly shoot a documentary of a network embedded undercover journalists with a group of students visiting pyongyang without the university's consent let's discuss the implications of this with charlie beckett from the department of media

and communications at the london school of economics are joining us live here on r.t. good to see today sir thanks for coming on at the london school of economics saying the students have been manipulated can you explain how that might be the case. yeah well i can see this story from both sides because although i work for the london school of economics i used to work for the b.b.c. so i can see why the b.b.c. was so keen to get this story out as you just described north korea is a very in a story a moment and it's very difficult to get in there there's no freedom of the press there's no access and so all journalists have to use to seat in a way if they're going to get into north korea it's reported what i think happened here was that the b.b.c. went too far in not just deceiving the north koreans bit deceiving both the students and the london school of economics that the students give

birth to consent some of them did at a late stage on the trip but there's never anything written down so the processes weren't followed put mr grech it didn't let me regardless of the process is not being followed correctly or even properly as you say discussing basically a clandestine operation to get some reporters or journalists in when the students so they take a trip to pyongyang from what i understand though getting caught for something like . that could put everyone at jeopardy for a possible prison sentence yes indeed and you know the b.b.c. says that that was a risk worth taking because the public interest in getting a great story out would be worth it we're not so convinced we think that we wait to see whether this documentary which goes out tonight is so remarkable that it tells us things that we wouldn't have known and i would argue there are other ways going in normally discovery and on and acting as tourists the difficulty of the elysee in

this in particular is not just the risk to these students which was real but also to the risk to the elysees reputation but not just out of his reputation but also the future though because there are fears that this president could endanger future visits by students or academics the you know to to politically sensitive issues that's what i mean by the reputational risk it's seats mind if the north koreans don't like us but we do object and so does the university because this isn't just a threat to oversee academics this could be a problem for any academic who says yeah you can trust me i'm just here to do research because you know especially a slightly dodgy regimes like north korea it will actually rock you will say well how can we trust you how do we know that you're not working with the b.b.c. most certainly mr becker they're good they're going to be some reverberations from this certainly down the road but if i can i'm very running very low on time here the university has called on the b.b.c. to pull the plug on the program is due to air tonight do you do you do you share

the feeling the documentary should an air do you know me used to work for the b.b.c. is it perhaps even going on air tonight i'm a journalist so i don't like the idea that gets gets called it's too late and the damage has been done anyway but the b.b.c. is going to have a hard have to have a much harder look at who supervises these kind of investigations and whether the tougher questions asked early enough about the ethics that they were using when they were doing it all right to try to back it from the london school of economics joining us live here on r.t. a great pleasure thank you very much indeed. well i'll be back with more international news in just a few moments hoping you can stay with us here on our city. wealthy british style. time.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on r g. the new cover international and world in the very heart of moscow.

moscow this is artsy armory sushi a ten month suspended prison sentence has been handed down in turkey so we're now in composer and pianist over a series of tweets mocking islam. say was first charged with denigrating religion in june of last year facing up to eighteen months behind bars at the time of a musician that wants a cultural ambassador to the e.u. it's a high profile critic of the islamic led government of prime minister tayyip or the one he says his punishment is purely political parties where if an option or explains now that a once rejected rejected conservative is. ideals are returning to the country which has long been trying to become a member of the european union all these years i thought murder was a sin then i got new instructions from the good lord himself in his favorite language english the simpsons has kept its humor close to the bone for many years but for turkey's radio and television

a supreme council in charge of monitoring media content it's now gone too far and for more liberal you can say that it's not an insult it's a joke but those who are more conservative may feel it and then we'll go on to other of the protection of their beliefs this episode cost a company that protested thirty thousand us dollars the council dominated by the prime minister's party has fined the same media group for promoting smoking through allianz in america and your violence against women after showing oliver stone's alexander without discovering. i can't imagine how celtic broadcasting world we've created for many turkish women real life is far more insulting to them than western movies at first glance they are free to wear and do what they want but the head of the group of women of the republic says there is a lot of pressure on them. the reformed education system is split into three parts

of four years it's the result thousands of girls leave school before the end encouraging young marriages the state promotes heaven at least five kids only three out of ten women today go to work it's far from a democratic model of society. turkish opposition says there is a dangerous tendency here nine decades off to turkey broke with islamic rule of the ottoman empire in favor of a ninety clerical pro western vision the ideas and values that were jacked it appear to some to be making a comeback becoming only system that tells you what to do what to do what not to do. what not to eat what to eat with islamic ideas comes islamic symbols this form of greek also books church on the turkish plexi coast is currently a museum no service has been held here for fifty years but so on its walls will once again reign with the sound of prayer this time not led by priests but any mom

it's quite a religious conversion a seven century old christian heritage site is about to become a mosque and from that point on will only be open to muslim men access for women will be restricted and we don't want to. close visitors we are coming here for brick for tourists come here it is good for travelers on their earth to offer miscue around there i think there are enough i guess sophia has already been used as a mosque durance long history after the ottoman sultan conquered turkey to date seems the country's given itself up voluntarily one example could be the leaks drafts for new uniforms for flight attendants on turkish airlines they show the nation's image will be represented by long captains skirts below the knee and autumn in style fast caps or two months to develop ultra religious so they. you know laws on sharia. and there are many similar people in turkey

a thing that you know we don't want such a rule and that's changing that's changing as turks victimise that troops way of life the secular way of life did not work in turkey turkey and every gun has made impressive progress its economy's booming and its role in the region and internationally is increasing but other things are happening too which could put a scientist journey into reverse. from turkey. florida from istanbul when our joined live by amnesty international's research are on turkey andrew gardner nice to see you today let's quickly return to the case of pianist a fossil say who received that ten month suspended sentence for mocking islam we know it's a source a suspended sentence and looks more like a warning than a punishment but is this trial making an example out of say perhaps in this world of political correctness. you know. just one

example of a real clear trend of abusive prosecutions against journalists writers and others you know it's a controversial subject really clear violation rights of free press and there are many. such as this one. from the military. but mr gardner how does it all fit in with i mean ultimately with turkey secularism. i mean. it fits in very well with the patent which is why. controversial subjects which to tackle. well there's now two sides. going to students and others anyone really speaking out on one of these controversial subjects chris prosecutions from the authorities if the view they're expressing is not with the view it's our excuse have them use

a controversial subject not so much an issue secular is the moral or religious values it's good if you know whole range of subjects outspoken criticism that could issue criticism related to the status of the union citizens and what it's about criticism relating to the country of the country's prime minister we understand sorry sorry mr goddard we understand that the musician himself fassel say has been critical of the country's prime minister in the past about how that could be some sort of a political governance on the shenanigans that we were not aware of. well i mean the prosecution is not grouped by any one individual it's it's a state prosecution. and as such this state takes the responsibility for it. but i mean it's true that criticism of the prime minister has been the subject of criminal prosecutions under to appease anti defamation laws and this is another serious problem but i mean in this instance it's really the take you state it's i.

finding him guilty and it's the state's responsibility to provide a remedy to this our lawyers but do you think though that you know that there is a huge muslim population into society do you think do you think fassel say was perhaps being provocative when posting these tweets about i think is a provoking did statements and there are many people if. he said do not agree with it i mean the right to freedom of expression doesn't just include those ideas which are controversial. protects those those comments which are controversial which are even offensive as well and. this is a clear case one of those comments so it shouldn't be prosecuted people have the rights to a different approach certainly into disagree with in this estate that. is not the sort of issue that should be taken to court and he certainly shouldn't be convicted

right after god now from amnesty international joining us live here and thank you very much for your time today. five very quickly into the sea world update now some of the global headlines for you in brief starting with iraq where at least thirty two people have been killed and two hundred injured in a spate of bomb explosions it's thought that most of the blasts were car bombs with at least one attack carried out by a suicide bomber the explosions happened just days before provincial elections and already fourteen candidates have been killed in the lead up to the poll. the deadline passes today for thirty eight french ministers to publicly declare their assets and the register would include a list of bank deposits and property held by the officials president francois hollande came up with the idea to calm a scandal over the budget minister who was forced to resign last month he's been charged with tax fraud linked to a secret bank account. forty seven people have been arrested outside

the naval base in scotland housing the u.k.'s nuclear deterrent the submarine that mounted trident missiles of a group called scrap trident is rallying to demand the weapons of disarmed and funds are spent instead on disability education and welfare the earlier stage a similar protest in the center of glasgow with trade union members scottish m.p.'s and anti austerity activists all taking part. i just knew i would hear about see the latest edition of our report on the ancient cook asian region of chechnya iran russia. oh no who lazy bureaucratic and trivial censorship strikes again but this time in

russia a bill has been signed into law that will put fines of individuals and legal entities for using. in the media one major flaw of many with this is that they really don't know which words are going to be considered vulgar i guess these words are so awful that they cannot even write them down i'm not naïve there has always been and will always be censorship but this where word list is just silly there is a common expression on the russian internet that russian mainstream media. of society russian t.v. does have all the bloody violent action movies as well as scandalous talk shows which are kind of like freak shows and plenty of reality t.v. where young people pretty much act like subhuman animals in a cage they've got all that so the government is basically saying that if some guy on t.v. because there are twenty people blooded limbs flying that that is totally ok for television unless they come out for bid swear while doing it you can show brainless materialistic dimwits sweeping and fighting with everything that moves on

a reality show but if they say that one magic three letter russian word then it is over the line this is not a logical way to conduct censorship but that's just my opinion. the official publication. stream quality enjoy your favorites. if you're away from your television. you can watch on t.v. any time anywhere. lives and works in grozny the capital of the chechen republic. the city had been

reduced to ruins by the years of war. to military operations to militants and. terrorist groups in the region. completely dead. the presidential palace was completely destroyed. around the place. here the car started shaking struck the car the wheels were. never thought he. told in his lifetime. public post skyscraper. and its.