ukraine's eastern city of slavyansk comes under missile attack with the army stepping up its offensive against anti militia groups trapping civilians in the crossfire. to sleep at night because the bomb will. remain the violence is forcing women and children to flee their homes on t.v. talks to refugees from the guns whose lives have been turned upside down by the fight. where rival camps step up their campaigns one hundred days ahead of scotland's historic independence referendum and r.t. looks at the arguments of both sides. plus liquid wars as the un says water shortages will fuel major conflicts for the world's most vital as we explore

how such battles are already starting to happen. welcome my name's neil harvey and you're watching r.t. international. now the latest reports from ukraine's eastern city of slavyansk say that it is once again being targeted by government troops the army reportedly stepped up its offensive against militia groups in the region with civilians caught in the crossfire four people including a child were killed in a strike there on sunday and this burning building that you can see in the video is what remains of the city's merchants how this is where a four year old girl was reportedly killed during. that house museum in a cafe was popular with young families in the two forces. claimed that militia were

using it as a barracks the central square the city has also come under fire locals claim the attack happened when many people were outside falling a church service the constant danger has forced people to leave their homes honestly and that some of those fleeing the violence in neighboring lugansk. don't ask even he says though it's not safe for them to stay here after everything that is happening. we want them to stay alive a bush a sweet fair world families leaving for an uncertain future betray a scary went to sleep at night because the bomb will forward everything. so it's really scary we're making our way to the russian border no one's quite sure how safe this journey is but people here desperate to leave they've been on a waiting list for days the phone call came in the morning giving these women less than four hours to pack up all their belongings and leave again with blood and we

don't know what will happen there and for how long the situation will continue we want to return home as quickly as possible but they say they have no choice they simply have to go to the u.s. the airplanes in the bombing said the scariest because you don't know where they're going to fall and when we can't always stay in a basement because of the small children victoria is traveling with her two daughters and like all the women here she's left behind a husband and family and my grandfather grandmother and my father stayed behind. i told my father and grandmother that i want to come home to them it's a three hour drive to the russian border and in every organizer has asked us not to interview him on camera because he says he's getting india threats before putting this trip together and many feel torn about taking the decision to leave velour worries about a father he left behind. it's really hard to the girls are you

probably won't see him for well time here too it's going to be mom him being. your years thousands of women children have already made this journey and thousands more on waiting lists trying to leave the crossing through the ukrainian border we're having to film this a little bit discreetly as there are border guards everywhere the people in the past are preparing their documents and russia the final just in. it's just a few minutes away. the repassing ger with crossing the border to russia. tears of relief but for many here this is just the first difficult step towards an uncertain future policy r.t. on the ukrainian russian border. there are two russian journalists who've been detained for two days by security forces in ukraine have now arrived back in moscow the crew from these very dark t.v. channel were captured at

a checkpoint near slovyansk while they were on route to cover the inauguration of ukraine's new president there's a curate a service that accused them of spying is just the latest episode in a number of similar accusations under tensions of russian journalist in the area the pair were released on sunday night and taken out of the country in a russian military aircraft and here is their account of what happened. the people who detained it's use force and try to find out if we belong to the special services we were treated quite badly it was hot it was dirty and often painful we also didn't get enough food it was a small room with a tiny windsor and not enough oxygen and security was close in the window but it was at least fifty degrees celsius in so the room we also did not have much water. but it's one of the violence on deaths in eastern ukraine european politicians remain indifferent even though it was them who sparked the fire but according to the leader of france's national front party marine le pen he spoke to r.t.

sophie shevardnadze don't miss that interview coming up in full later today. at the can the nation have a cold war that has been fought against russia by the united states to which the european capitals have completely submitted on an international level it's as simple as that and a shame as well my lord if i meet them whatever you and i would like to seize this opportunity to express my compassion and my sadness and my disgust if to see these civil make tennis in the east of ukraine. dying surrounded by the general indifference of the european political the wild feels and media it is a real scandal which is happening on our doorstep. in the u.k. it's just one hundred days now before the historic referendum for scottish

independence and as the clock counts down both the in and out camps are stepping up their games for now the polls show that the no vote has the lead but the separatist campaign is steadily gaining support a four percent rise in fact over the last four months however those who want to say goodbye to british will have plenty of issues to wrestle over police board takes a look at some of the. scotland potentially going it alone is more than flying a flag and picking and and it would be a difficult divorce and both sides are throwing around figures and forecasts that are arguably leaving wavering scots scratching their heads one thing that scotland currently enjoys under westminster rule is the e.u. membership but the president of the european commission jos a manual barroso has said that it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for an independent scotland to join his club many leaders of the european union

have made it very clear that not only would it not be automatic they also wouldn't look favorably upon scotland applying to become a member of the european union down the line but those in the yes camp say that the e.u. can't just kick out all the scots that are already members the five minutes it does make a choice for the country's independence i know from dealings with diplomats of politicians across the union who will accept that nato is another elite members club that the yes campaign insists it would be able to stay in the big part of nuclear. resting in scotland and the yes campaign of the s.n.p. have a strict no nuclear policy no nuclear weapons policy and whether they will stick to that or whether they will decide that actually they want to be more flexible in order to become a member of nato remains to be seen those for independence point to some notable exceptions to that rule scotland is

a the very heart of the north atlantic she would be would be very uncomfortable with xcode when we have to remember that nor do we know head to nato a nation of five million that doesn't have nuclear weapons and one of the most contentious issues there is the estimated price of going it alone u.k. treasury analysis puts scotland start up costs at one point five billion. and pounds that figure has been rubbish by scottish national party leader alex salmond although he's staying tight lipped about what he thinks it would cost so it's just one hundred days to go it seems that there is just one undisputable fact and that is that neither side knows what's going to happen if the yes camp does when and bear in mind it's like being behind in the polls at the moment well then both sides will have to enter a complicated negotiations that could take many years to settle. london . and artie's case the opinions of both supporters and opponents of scottish

independence and here is what each side had to say. and. your money and also got a good deal a deal of money out we have a lot of. we're going to pay off our pension. the oil is going to get taxes were altered from it. you know the oil prices dropping through the floor you can be sure. you know your tire calling me on oil with we together through war and peace in these people is fanatics. for what it's worth is. for the united states and we want to break with that and everything but we we want to say that we want to have influence we want to have influence with partners there with the economy in britain is being run just know is leading towards massive inequality on a historic scale and i think the real question is can we afford not to vote yes in september. the referendum is for september the eighteenth and as the day of the

potentially groundbreaking vote approaches r.t. rest assured will be keeping its nose to the ground stay with us for detailed coverage along with expert opinion and analysis. the south stream gas project is inevitable that is the statement coming today from bulgaria's energy minister on sunday the country put all of its work on hold after a series of demands from brussels citing alleged violations of e.u. law it included rules concerning ownership of the pipeline and massive projects designed to provide a new route for russian natural gas supplies to europe half of the joint venture is controlled by russia's gas giant gazprom europe's major energy players make up the other half while the second country along the route of construction serbia has to

take replayed to its commitment to the south stream project financial expert patrick young says any peer pressure from brussels is unacceptable. this is another deriv power grab land grab by brussels attempting to dictate its own rules outside of the european union bloc and essentially we have a farcical situation here where the e.u. is trying to affectively say that it has the opportunity to decide who owns up pipeline that operates outside of the european union that is farcical it's a ridiculous tenet upon which to apply your rules but let's face it the european union are just trying to take something from the u.s. playbook and as we know even today the u.s. government is even trying to attack european banks in their own backyard in america so therefore it's all part of great power politics the difficulty is the european union don't have the collateral to actually make the position stick. and you can

find out more about the ambitious project at all t. dot com also their expert analysis of the pick up in the plants. still to come for you abandoning the austerity ship we take a look at how a greek town known for its shipping traditions is trying to survive the economic slump. plus the newly reelected syrian president announces a general amnesty we'll talk to our correspondent about the mood just after this break. here of ukraine has a new president and he has made it clear he has no new ideas on how to resolve the country's dire problems but it says he wants a peaceful ukraine but in his inaugural address if you do declaration of war and you know to me to. choose your language. of choice we can we know if you're going to. choose to use the consensus you.

choose to continue to be great to. choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to. thanks. i marinate join me. in part and. carry contribute. only on bombast and i want to. thank. those announced a general amnesty that is after winning the country's presidential race last week

by a landslide. for national who is in neighboring lebanon maria perhaps you could just give us a few more details about this amnesty and perhaps just help explain why this is happening now. well just days after syrian president bashar assad was elected as the country's leader for the next seven years he announced a general amnesty for role crimes committed to date that was assad's major point during his election campaign and what we see is actually keeping his promises reports say that it will not a fact those charged with terrorists and human rights groups say that the syrian government is holding tens of thousands of prisoners in jails and there are reports emerge and the tortures and all other kinds of abuses as the country's justice minister pointed out following the news the decree was issued in the context of

social forgiveness national collegiate of calls for coexistence and this is exactly what syrian our needs after years of devastating war that continues now the conflict divided the nation and people in syria and outside syria there are many syrians who fled the country to avoid atrocities while these people all syrians in all over the world including inside and outside extremely tired and extremely angry with all those who are responsible for this conflict and each other and we saw this initiative a talent for reconciliation in the city of homs that used to be the capital of the uprising against their fortunes in the central syria following the dialogue between the authorities and the rebels the militants agreed to withdraw from the old town that they have to occupy and for months and actually four years and now the government is doing its best to try to help them reintegrate into syrian society

and at the same time try to work with syrian people to make them ready to accept these people these people and experts now say fall in this general amnesty. it will also how build bridges of trust between syrian people and. reconciliation and forgiveness atmosphere in the country back to ok reporting from lebanon not saudis maria for not. the greek government maybe hailing signs of the country's economic recovery but it seems that the people aren't sharing that optimism although unemployment did slightly it still remains the highest in the forty's we're in a culture of looks now at how the country's top a lot of shipping industry is still fighting for survival. a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions that's how locals in panama describe the current situation and the country where maritime traditions go back centuries just

a half hour drive from athens it's one of greece's most important historic shores and should build them has always been the bread and butter for people living here that's until the crisis kicked in and kicked business out to shipyards in china korea and turkey behind me is the biggest ports in greece once providing services to tens of thousands of ships a year that's no longer the case as they become a crisis has brought the country to its knees we travel to the ports of curious to speak to the locals and figure out if it really has nothing to offer but a memory of better days. people used to work here and now we have one hundred to two hundred people a day at most and out of those who are here many aren't even getting paid. never let me go i haven't been paid since october just like many other people but we come when we work because we'll lose the money otherwise it will probably end up having to go to court to get it it's not just workers who are struggling but employers to

one of the main problems is the rigid labor regime imposed by units which significantly increased costs but as part of a controversial reform package in february employers can now ignore those union wage agreements but this can be a double edged sword if. we have no electricity no water and we're on paid those who can't take it do those who can't leave. this year we've asked the labor minister to me just tell china around ninety percent of workers don't have health care a meeting hasn't happened they refuse and we can't even get to that and we approached the shipping minister and he said you're right but let me see then but there's been no answer we're trying and if things remain the same if the end the she continues to stagnate there's worse to come according to some father standing up and he said the child will be sick on an island one day and there will be no

ships to take them to a hospital because so many of them are closing they are going to take someone wanting to go to a neighboring island will have to come here first because there are no connecting journeys at the same time you have thousands of people here waiting for work that many call the current situation absurd irrational and inhumane and it's only when you see a woman break down in tears asking not to be filmed because her family has been humiliated enough that you really understand how greeks are coping or not marina call survivor porton fartsy from greece. united nations estimates in just fifteen years from now around harf of the world's population will suffer from a lack of water his recent report also predicts the vital resource will become the main driver of regional and global. conflicts of all the water covering the planet only around two percent of that is fresh water about a fifth of the global population are currently under so-called water stress with their country's underground reserves already severely depleted and this figure is

dramatically rising with almost one third of the world's population predicted to be hit by critical shortages over the next decade also the demand for fresh water has tripled over the past five decades and global water consumption is looking less likely to sustain population growth a combination of overcrowding pollution poor resource management and climate change will bring major security threats and these are the concerns that have been raised by the un secretary general and communities also warning water scarcity could cause new conflicts in the foreseeable future but as artie's go nature can reports now water was already becoming a reality. a u.s. intelligence report predicts that in less then ten years wider could become a partner in a weapon of war particularly in the middle east and north africa but it seems that time has already come example syria very severe drought started in the region around two thousand and eight it continued for many years and it led to. that led

to increased unemployment to migration of large numbers of people from the rural areas of syria into the cities and growing unrest which contributed to the conflict islamist militants in syria have used water as a tool in the fight against the assad government when they targeted pumping stations in aleppo less money leaving two million people without drinking water in libya the conflict has led to the destruction of the water supply system which the late colonel qadhafi had spent more than twenty billion dollars to build french companies are now said to be showing interest in privatization of libya's public water system after the us invaded iraq it secured one of its largest corporations recto with a contract to repair the country's water supply the same back to lead being forced out of believe the after years of public protests broke out at the price hikes for water the company went into the country thanks to the world bank the organization

said it would only give believe you a development aid if the public water system was privatized similar conditions are forced on many other countries seeking help instance to the trend toward privatization of water is a difficult one and a very controversial one is likely to provoke more tensions around the world if it continues according to the center for public integrity western nations stand to make up to one trillion dollars of privatizing purifying and distributing water in the middle east and north africa where water often costs more than one hundred years from now. we're going to have to pay incredibly high prices for water wars are going to be fought for water meanwhile more than one point two billion people in the world don't have access to clean water the un predicts it will get worse many say water will become the oil of the twenty first century and whether controls water will have an enormous influence over any country's growth

and prosperity and it seems the race for the control of water is on in washington i'm going to shut down our tea. online whistleblowers have a chance of getting their hands on some pretty serious cash may god lowed founder kim dotcom is offering a five million dollar reward for information to help fight his online piracy case also. an unexpected savior stranded motor boat crew catches a ride to safety from a russian nuclear submarine to get all the details visit our website. in other world news in brief truck bombs have been used against the offices of two kurdish political parties north of the iraqi capital at least twenty nine were killed the first attack a suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a checkpoint and when people rushed to the site of the blast another truck bomb detonated hours later a triple bomb attack reportedly killed three in baghdad and. elsewhere the

pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility for the five hour assault on the country's largest airport in karachi that killed at least twenty eight people ten militants stormed the site on with their naves machine guns and rocket launchers they reportedly used fake i.d. cards to access the area in a gun battle with police all the attackers were killed is sold stealth a serious blow to hopes of peace talks resume. the more brazilian police have used tear gas and stun grenades on striking public transport workers three days before the world cup kicks off protesters have been demanding a hike in salaries the ongoing strike is cause traffic chaos in the country's business hub and there have been numerous protests across brazil ahead of the footballing extravaganza with people outraged by the excessive spending on the toilet. in other news of moscow courters handed down sentences to five men for the murder of the russian investigative journalist anna politkovskaya

two of them have been directly involved in the killings were given life behind bars also three coca. spiritus was sentenced to between twelve and twenty years for the coast guard was shot dead in the elevator of the building where she lived in central moscow but can t. thousand and six the assassination is still to be linked to her would but questions remain of who ordered the hit. you said lines still me at the top of the hour after the break a clash of opinions in crystal beach lavelle of the u.k. view is a look at the breakup of yugoslavia. recent events in ukraine definitely have a wide range of interpretation both russia and the west accuse the other of doing a lot of meddling some people call those who are fighting out east separatists or

terrorists but others call them a people's militia fighting the kiev and this sort of situation everyone has their bias and it's hard to tell what is going on but i can tell you one thing in the sea of opinion the kiev side is using artillery and fact there have been numerous reports of artillery strikes like the one that just a few days ago hit the sales of hope orphanage which was thankfully empty at the time why is our tour such a big deal well if you send guys with guns in the fight they're going to see their target try to kill it but artillery shoots targets they can't even see they just throw shells at a general location and interestingly enough many locations seem to be in populated areas of the breakaway republics so who is the actual target of randomly shelling populated areas well if we turn on our brain for a second we can see that artillery is one of the worst ways to take out a specific threat in a local population but it sure is a good way to eliminate the entire local population because maybe that's who the quote threat actually is but that's just my opinion.

so we leave the people. of the same potions to cure. all the physical.

questions that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politics only on our t.v. . well. it's technology innovation all the rest of elements from around russia. the future are covered. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter although schizophrenia care ukraine has a new president but he has made it clear he has no new ideas on how to resolve the country's dire problems but says he wants

a peaceful ukraine but in his inaugural address he issued a declaration of war and an ultimatum whose agenda is he pursuing. to cross talk to crisis in ukraine i'm joined by my guest. in cleveland he is a professor and former czechoslovak diplomat in boston we have daniel patrick welch he is a writer and political analyst and in moscow we cross to mark he is the senior lecturer in researcher at moscow state university or a jelling crosstalk rules in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it it's go to cleveland first ukraine has a new president but he has no new ideas to me what do you make of what bush and co has said on the back of his trip to normandy. many people would hope for the. poor .