the e.u. races to raise billions of dollars to reconstruct war torn mali there are concerns the country is still too insecure and the insurgency too strong for rebuilding to begin. fourteen countries try their luck by seeking permanent observer status at the arctic council all of this in order to gain access to the region's vost untapped energy resources. and the mother's day shooting in new orleans reloads the debate on tougher gun control in the u.s. . is continuing its fist fight against change.

it's a pleasure to have you with us here on r.t. today on research and life in moscow with your twenty four hour wild why you're so european leaders and delegates from all over the world are meeting to raise billions of dollars in aid for war torn mali it's the highest level gathering since france sent troops to intervene and to help rebuild a country still plagued by islamists and rebel insurgents. has more now from the summit ongoing in brussels and leaders from the e.u. and france as well as international donors are gathering today here in brussels to drum up and get aid and support for mali a country which has been dealing with a radical islamist militants as well as a political crisis for the last couple of years now now the french foreign minister lavrov fabulous' had said that the aim of today is to raise some one point nine a billion euros a to give to the cause. the quote unquote an effort to build democracy dialogue and development now we know that france has been very much involved in the country

especially in the beginning of the year when it launched a military operation into the country a saying that they were there to fight off islamist militants away from key cities now france is also in the middle of withdrawing some four thousand troops from the country wherever it does plan to keep about a thousand troops in says in what is seen as a long term a kind of posting in the country would this is in contrast to what has been told to the french people in the beginning who had given support to this military operation they were told that it was going to be a short a kind of operation however we have been speaking to some experts who are very familiar with counterinsurgency efforts and have had firsthand experience with them and they've told us here on our t.v. that it's very difficult for counterinsurgency operations to be a short kind of war because as you drive out militants from key cities they do have a tendency to just keep coming back so there is a question of whether security is really in place to do. any military intervention creates is that you chase the terrorists from one place they move they withdraw or

they consolidate somewhere else where. they are less likely to create higher living areas of the state of chaos sort of the nature intervention it's an ideal place for going to get out but it is us they can see. the way for them as their assets they followed the nation. a way because they know that sooner or later the intervention forces whether they're friends in mali or america that guys are sitting right there the occupiers the french foreign minister insists that security is largely in place in the country or whatever critics do question the extent of that kind of stability the mali may be seeing at the moment there is no argument among everybody involved that a stable mali is in the interest of a secure region a regional security. however there is that question of how sustainable and how effective the efforts have been so far there are also plans of having elections in

the country in july if and when that does happen what kind of democracy and system will be put in place considering that the country is still facing some of those militant threats it's not one hundred percent out of the country also since today is largely a fund raising activity there are questions all the money now are there mechanisms that will make it should make it very transparent as to where this money is going to go and if it will actually reach its intended destination a lot of questions that need to be answered as these leaders and international donors meet today here in brussels are reporting right now we would of course be following the conference and are bringing you analysis of the situation in mali throughout the day plus as you saw a moment ago tess's in brussels right now you can always check our twitter feed for the latest updates underscore arts. for now the arctic council originally formed of nations with land above the arctic circle as an hour a waiting list of nations key to sign up some of the very far from the north pole

of china and india are among fourteen nations seeking poet observer status during the current meeting in sweden. explains why they're so. here in the north this week in the future not the politics at stake and ministries from aid to the north in most countries including the us canada and russia will decide whether to let fourteen other states gain observer status and they are to become self so what is that for one certainly still interest says and this ice covered region while their reason is on tip of the iceberg its vast resources given the harsh environment their resources are difficult to extract but underneath the snow and ice is around twenty two percent of all remaining oil and gas deposits the world's eight north and most countries are those who fell slate clean to the region there is still an incessant sea however over the life should be divided among them that

now i'm still countries including the u.s. are calling for the scrapping of turgid moral principles to make it a free for all china and india are among those who would cherish that most these two countries have already made tentative steps north this april china signed up for intrigue deal with iceland as fast with a european nation chinese businessmen are also to be investing in greenland so it really seems that beijing in a games to get a foothold in the arctic and other fast developing global player is indiana also seeking to be heard happy are to also wakes up to the increased economic potential off this region so far the arctic council includes those countries who are invested in the protection and exploration of the north in a place cap but not as the commercial interest kicks in maybe other nations are rushing to be rejected and it's up to the council's permanent members to decide

whether the unfriendly north insurers should suddenly become a big project place. this is just a few minutes on the program spying on associated press was necessary to plug a dangerous leak but this according to the u.s. justice department or as one analyst told us he could just be a way to scare whistle blows and stop them from working with a b we took a closer look at that in a few minutes time also. so. we're not talking about the brain that's being given to break. and this is going to run into trouble we've come here. for the submarine to. find out what got a lot more on that story coming up. trumps earth will be here soon on the program and all the new orleans police are seeking a teen suspect over the mass shooting at a mother's day parade on sunday that left nineteen people wounded by the incident

comes as president obama continues his push for a clampdown on gun owners but it's all reports. he's giving no ground. it's the national wound that never stops for. nineteen americans including two ten year olds were hospitalized after gunfire erupted in new orleans during a mother's day parade yet another mass shooting in the united states this time amid a national debate on gun control if you go to google to look at the story on this particular incident you'll find that there are also advertising places to practice your shooting out of carry weapons and all the rest of it in other words instead of waiting a people from using guns this whole incident is being used to promote more guns and promote more people having licenses to carry guns so you know i we're

in a situation now where bizarrely the more violence there is the more violence there probably will be in the aftermath of last year's school shooting in newtown which killed twenty children and six adults the national rifle association proposed armed security guards to be stationed in every american school. in the country's largest gun organization is five million members strong and has fought fiercely to defeat washington's recent efforts to introduce basic gun control legislation let me make this perfectly clear we will never back away from our resolve to defend our rights and the rights of all law abiding american gun owners . these children were among the eighty six thousand gun enthusiasts who recently turned out in houston texas for the n.r.a. annual meeting and exhibit. during the three day meeting they received

personal lessons on how to stand their ground. with kids as young as six practicing their aim with air guns let's. jiggly just serving about what's happening now in gun culture is the way the n.r.a. spirit in this kind of integration of children into the use of things like assault weapons and military style semiautomatic weapons as opposed to the old you know bold action on to the rifles that kids maybe grew up with a generation or two ago with a reported three hundred million guns already circulating in the u.s. kyle copeland founded the armed citizens project to give firearms out for free we're going to be training and arming residents in a neighborhood in oak forest in houston it's a high crime neighborhood with a lot of home invasions and we're offering all the residents that live in our targeted neighborhood if they can pass a background check and will take our training class will give them for free a pump action shotgun for home defense when it came to defending attendees at the

new orleans parade even police officers interspersed in the crowd couldn't stop the gunman so all in all this was a pretty shameful day for washington but many argue the legislation for basic background checks that failed last month in washington could have ironically america's divisive debate on gun control has turned into a blessing for the arms industry sky rocketing sales of rifles and ammunition has been reported arguably making it even harder for the future of mass shootings to possibly be prevented according from new york bring up or not i am r t. and i'll be back with a lot more news very shortly here on our team including a look at why violence is the order of the day in parts could after living. well. science technology innovation all the least developed from

around russia we've got this huge you're covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear sees some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew. i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. download the official ati application. choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere.

thanks for joining us here on our. cross talk in fifteen minutes for an international peace conference in syria brokered by moscow and washington it's likely to take place in geneva next month and russia and the u.s. are turning their diplomatic efforts to finally bringing the syrian government and the opposition to the negotiating table u.s. secretary of state john kerry has warned washington will give additional help to syrian rebels if the assad regime backs out of the talks russia's foreign minister insists the syrian government is positive about the prospects of negotiations so i will also explain the likely format of the conference. regarding the composition of the participants at the conference should be at the level of ministers all the deputies we discussed the possible formats of the conference the

general opinion is that those who were in geneva in june last year should be at the new conference as well as russia believes that a few important players should take. part two including iran and saudi arabia well most importantly we need to ensure that both the government and the opposition support the initiative the government has already made a statement and that statement is generally positive the opposition still does not speak with one voice just today we discussed with john kerry the necessity for our american colleagues to do everything possible so that the opposition appoints a delegation that's a little it's our prospects for the international conference on syria and what's in it for foreign countries are certainly the topics for the debate that'll be for the latest edition of crosstalk the full program coming your way in about fifteen minutes from now though a quick preview. it's to churchill said that americans can be counted upon to come to the best option after the tried everything else but i think the united states missed an opportunity to. reinforce and support

moderates in thai forces center collapsed we ended up with extremists from the muslim brotherhood all the way to outside so the united states is trying to give it a shot. if you. are just about a fourteen minutes now until that edition of crosstalk in the meantime that the u.s. justice department has defended its spying on associated press saying though that it was necessary to find leaks that could endanger american people of the phone records of about one hundred journalists including their profit numbers was seized sparking outrage in the media worldwide the white house has distanced itself from

the scant scandal saying it knew nothing about the probe however president obama's administration is known for targeting whistleblowers as r.t. contributor afshin rattansi reports and we now think twice before contacting the a.p. . they would able to notify the head of associated press because it would undermine the security of the whole operation the idea of justice anyway in the united states around the world that we see now how can they be above the justice when that torturing anga strike is in cuba and as for eric holder himself well what exactly are they thinking when they're actually naming associated press even contacts may well have to be reparations to associated press because let's face it no whistleblower source is now going to call the a.p. desk in new york or washington d.c. . and more generally it has to be said that given the obama administration's attitude you're not really an american journalist if you're not. being recorded or

at least the phone logs are being noted down and sent to the f.b.i. . and you can find out a lot more about the a piece by story just by logging on to our website on a statement by washington officials lawmakers the reactions of journalists and expert analysis you can check that out this hour. also for you on the website right now. subjected to show body searches before any contact with legal representatives this is according to reports in a bid to prevent any leak of information about the real condition of the full story online for you right now. an exxon mobil assures all console residents they are safe. with breathing problems and burning eyes tell a different story you can find out the real scoop on the website. if.

this is just a moment on the world update on monday a deadly car blast in libya's second largest city of benghazi killed several people and injured many many more of the attack came amid a frantic pullout of u.s. and u.k. embassy staff due to the recent spike in violence a lawrence freeman from executive intelligence review magazine he thinks the west could be leaving behind the message helped create. well they created a monster that they could no longer control and it's turning against them in a way there was absolutely foreseeable the fact that the tony blair policy which obama cameron and starr cozy filed implemented in the overthrow of gadhafi and

orcus two thousand and eleven created this condition which was understandable and he wanted a new no was going to happen we worked through correctly the out there the militias all throughout in gaza you know other parts of libya and now libya has become fund government of the so even the people who initiated the mess have to leave to protect themselves because nobody looks the check down and the situation is completely out of control. all right twenty minutes past the hour moscow time let's get into it now the oxy world update starting with nigeria the president there has declared a state of emergency in three states in the northeast of the country this decision was prompted by a surge of guerrilla times with a least twenty three people killed in the latest round of violence army reinforcements are ought to be dispatched to the troubled region but with an order to demolish all islamist hideouts. mexican authorities have restricted access to

the area around the property at the petrol volcano and preparing evacuation routes the volcano has been increasingly active over the last few days later option sending smoke for kilometers into the sky and covering nearby towns with ash and no evacuations have taken place yet but emergency officials say it that they are basically looking out for rain that could come down washed down the ash that's gathered around the crater and then flood the nearby communities. more than fifty people have feared dead after an overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of me in march and the passengers were fleeing a township in the west of the country which is preparing for the arrival of a powerful cyclon the un has called for them to be evacuated from the region because many live in a ramshackle camps in vulnerable low lying areas. and before we get to cross talk with us this story written is planning to spend nearly one hundred sixty billion pounds over ten years on new military equipment a large chunk of the money will go towards

a new class of nuclear submarine for the project faces serious problems the sub's nuclear reactor is malfunctioning and it floods when underwater. reports on the high tech weaponry which is far from state of the. the cutting edge in military technology. every decade tens of billions of pounds in the making these of britain's new class of hunter killer submarines and they've been making waves that lead to. a series of problems from ground to. corrosion this is. the astute and i jinxed the damning description is a far cry from what persons ministry of defense has hailed as one of the most technologically advanced machines in the world as impressive as she sounded on paper. launch into the public sphere it's not been an easy one the series of leaks

intelligence has become clear that its problems could run deeper. is that. if. the design started in the mid ninety's. you know electronics. with all the electronics. present time to try and keep up with that then you need to think about replacing equipment. as complete problem with. simple things. in the northeast of england in barrow in furness is now the only site in the u.k. that designs builds and test submarines and that work forms the backbone of the economy here the current owner of the shipyard is defense systems not without its

critics it's a company that shrouds itself in secrecy and it didn't disappoint when it came to addressing the alleged catalogue of errors with the submarine program having been beset by the design for allegations. we asked the aide to give us their side of the story but they declined to comment. is perhaps no surprise with the government order a seven astute class submarines only two are in the water with one still being built to any one of the things that become part of the obviously the people be. very protective of the stuff and you preach be. about the problems. on information that. it is difficult for you come to expect an understanding and there's a distinction between the protectiveness and secretiveness of local people compared to seek to the most of the complex and that's because in terms of the local people

and people there protecting them because this is their heads of state history and from the perspective you understand that they are being like that because the commercial means that that's the reason that they've been paid x. amount of money to build and design something the local pride in the submarines is evident other initially but even the ministry of defense is being forced into embarrassing admissions about what they've turned teething troubles really house the stamberg and so do we continue producing this loss of submarines or do we get it right and then start again the problem here is this is if they stop. short of submarine attack submarine. and that means that strategy. really is quite serious with the launch of the third astute class submarine still some way of the next couple of years for this project kid three sink or swim time. surf

artsy barren furnace in the north of england. well thank you so much for sharing some of our time with us today here on our. show with more international news in half an hour's time. and crosstalk. just around the. wealthy british style. that's not on.

markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on r g choose your language. with zero if they feel some. of the the concerns didn't occur. to the opinions that invigorated to. choose the stories that in high life choose to access to your office. real damage and complexity of this oil spill was not something you can grasp just

by looking at dirty birds we have between four to five million people in this directly affected area of the coast and it's pretty clear why it's not being reported because b.p. can't afford to have a reported all along the gulf coast are clean they are safe and they're open for business if b.p. is the single largest oil contributor to the pentagon the us war machine is heavily reliant upon b.p. and their oil this is a huge step backwards for democracy it's a step forward oligarchy carex it is toxic is it looked like spraying in vietnam it was it was not a picture that either the government or b.p. really wanted to have out there i don't want dispersants to be the age you are which. is.

the only thing. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle giving peace a chance this may or may not be the case when it comes to the fate of syria after almost a year a russian peace plan to end a civil war is being reconsidered the idea is simple no preconditions and all parties have a seat at the negotiating table are the u.s. and its gulf allies serious or is this a ploy to merely intensify the complex. to cross talk russia syria and israel i'm joined by my guests in washington ariel. cohen he's a senior fellow in russian and eurasian studies and international energy security at the heritage foundation and he is a political analyst and

a professor at the george washington university right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want ariel how well what accounts for the flip flop the american flip flop now they're going for the russian plan or something like it do you think about that. well winston churchill said that americans can be counted upon to come to the best option after the tried everything else i think the united states missed an opportunity to. reinforce and support moderates in thai forces the center collapsed we ended up with extremists from the muslim brotherhood all the way to al qaeda affiliated. job. front. these are no good options today in syria and because ball.