ukraine's eastern city of slavyansk comes under missile attack with the army stepping up its offensive against anti kiev militia groups trapping civilians in the crossfire. to sleep at night because. the bomb will. remain as the violence is forcing women and children to flee their homes r.t. talks to refugees from lugansk whose lives have been turned upside down by the fight. rival can step up their campaigns one hundred days ahead of scotland's historic independence referendum r.t. takes a look at the arguments from both sides. plus a liquid war says the u.n.

says water shortages will fuel major conflicts for the world's most vital asset we explore how such battles are already starting to happen. welcome my name is the harvey and you're watching r.t. international the latest reports from ukraine's eastern city of slovyansk say it's 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. poor people including a child was killed in a strike there on sunday the woman you can see in this video was severely wounded by shrapnel from one of the missiles she was riding her bike through the city likely medics were quickly on the scene and able to get her to hospital. and this

burning building is what remains of the city's landmark merchants' houses where four year old girls reportedly killed during the attack house museum in a cafe most popular with young families military forces claim that and militia were using it as a barracks in the central square of the city is also come under fire locals claim the attack happened when many people were outside following the church service a constant danger as forcing people to leave their homes paula slayer met some of those fleeing the violence in neighboring lugansk. as even he says 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 bitter 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 the big one 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 see one of 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 here 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 indian free it's from putting this trip together 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 a long time due to it's game on him being. human years thousands of women and children have already made this journey and thousands more on waiting lists trying to leave the crossing through the ukrainian border and we're having to fullness a little bit discreetly as there are border guards everywhere the people in the past are preparing the documents and russia the final destination is just. a few minutes away. the repass injury 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 where despite the violence and deaths in eastern ukraine european politicians remain indifferent even though it was them who sparked the fire that's according to the leader of france's national front party marine le pen who spoke to r.t. sophie shevardnadze don't miss that interview on in full later today. we are at the culmination of 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 and i would like to seize this opportunity to express my compassion and my sadness and my disgust if to see these civil victim is in the east of ukraine. dying surrounded by the general indifference of the european political while it feels and media it is

a real scandal which is happening on our doorstep. reporters from russia is it our task news agency and they serve as dar news channel have been denied entrance into ukraine the border patrol says they haven't provided enough documents to explain the purpose of their visit to the country meanwhile two other russian journalists who've been detained in ukraine for two days have arrived back in moscow crew from these very dark t.v. channel were captured at a checkpoint near slovyansk or they were on route to cover the inauguration of ukraine's new president the security services accuse them of spying is just the latest episode in a number of similar accusations and detentions of russian journalists in the area the pair were released on sunday night and taken out of the country in a russian military aircraft here is their account of what happened. when the people

who detained us used force and tried to find out if we belonged 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 the security was close in the window it was at least fifty degrees celsius inside the room we also did not have much water. in the u.k. it's just one hundred days before the historic referendum for scottish independence and as the clock counts down both the in and the out counts stepping up their games for now polls show that the no vote leads the way but the surprises campaign is steadily gaining support with a four percent rise over just the last four months are those who want to say goodbye to british rule they have plenty of issues to wrestle over it takes a look at some of the. scotland potentially going it alone is more than flying

a flag and picking 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 has 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 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 there is in the yes camp say that the e.u. can't just kick out all the scots that are already members of the five million citizens make a choice for the country's independence i know from dealings with diplomats of politicians across to. nato is another elite members club that the yes

campaign insists it would be able to stay in a big part of nuclear armaments resting in scotland and the us 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. actually want to be more flexible in order to become a member of nato remains to be seen there is for independence point to some notable exceptions to that rule scotland is the very heart of the north i'm not sure we would be very uncomfortable. when we have to remember that nor do we know. the 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 put scotland start up costs one point five billion 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 a lot. of both supporters and opponents of scottish independence and here is what each side have to say. scotland. will give you money and they also get a good deal of your money out we have a lot of paid shills in scotland we've got to worry about how we're going to pay off our pension bill the oil is is basically we get taxes a royalty is from it. you know the oil prices dropping three or four you can be sure entire. you know your tire colony on oil will be together through war and

peace. people just fanatics. for what it's worth this is a vast it's for the for the united states and we want to break with that and everything that that means but we all we want to see that we want to have influence we want to have influence with partners there with the economy in britain has been one 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 settled for september eighteenth and as the day of the potentially groundbreaking vote approaches rest assured r.t. will be keeping its nose to the ground stay with us for detail coverage along with expert opinion and analysis.

the south stream gas project is it never to build that is the statement coming today from bulgaria energy minister on sunday the country put all of its work on hold after a series of demands from brussels starting alleged violations of e.u. law it included rules concerning ownership of the pipeline a massive project 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 they make up the other half meanwhile the second country along the route of construction serbia has today replayed its commitment to the south stream project or financial expert patrick young says that any peer pressure from brussels is unacceptable. this is another during a power grab grab by brussels attempting to dictate its own rules outside of the european union block and essential we have a farcical situation here where the e.u. is trying to affectively say that it has the opportunity to decide who owns

a 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 here repeating unions don't have the cockroach to actually make the physician state. and you can had. more information about the ambitious project plus analysis of this pick up in the plans. so they come for you this hour a bun sitting the austerity ship take a look at how greektown known for shipping traditions is trying to survive the economic slump. plus the new reelected syrian president announces a general amnesty all correspondent brings the latest on the move that's coming up right after this break.

did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open process is critical to our democracy but. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our proximity we've been hijacked like handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once i'm job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in

the world we go beyond identifying the problem. rational debate and real discussion critical issues facing. you ready to join the movement then while they are. you watching international next series reelected president bashar al assad has announced a general amnesty for all crimes committed to date and that is after he won the country's presidential race last week by a landslide. reports. what we see is actually him keeping his promises that was assad's major point during his election campaign reports say it will not a fact those charged with terrorism the country's justice minister pointed out

following the news the decree was issued in the context of social forgiveness national cohesion calls for coexistence and this is exactly what syrian our needs after years of devastating war that continues we saw this initiative a talent for reconciliation in the city of homs cities to be the capital of the uprising against the authorities 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 eat off his time for months and actually four years and now the government is doing its best to try to help them reintegrate into syrian society and experts say following this report of a general amnesty that it will also help build bridges of trust between syrian people and build. reconciliation and forgiveness atmosphere in the country united nations estimates that in just fifteen years from now around half of the

world's population will suffer from a lack of water its 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 is fresh water about a fifth of the global population are also currently under so-called war to stress with their country's underground reserves already severely depleted and this figure is dramatically rising with almost 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 u.n. secretary general ban ki moon is also warning water scarcity could cause new conflicts in the foreseeable future but as artie's garniture can reports water was already becoming reality. a u.s.

intelligence report predicts that in less than ten years water could become a cause and 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 decreases in agricultural production 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 a light pole last month 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

back with a contract to repair the country's water supply the same back to lead being forced out of bullied the after fears public protests broke out over its 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 from the trend toward privatization of water is a difficult one and a very controversial one i have 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 from privatizing purifying and distributing water in the middle east and north africa where water often cost more than oil one hundred years from now. we're going to have to pay incredibly high prices for water our 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 check on our. freshwater access has recently become a major point of contention between israel and palestine up to eighty thousand palestinians in east jerusalem of spent three months without running water because an israeli utility company cut supplies middle east expert gideon bromberg believes that that's largely due to israel's uncompromising stance the current way the water it is man is really you know israel has full domination it's like having a single bath. and two straws drinking from it one side of the israeli side can

draw from that straw as much water as it wants but from the palestinian straw there must be israeli palestinian agreement for every cubic meter for every water project to be advanced and that situation is not fear and it's really a matter of time before the population in gaza will not have clean water to drink i don't see any border any security fence or any military holding back one and a half million thirsty people while we understand that the situation of negotiations is currently on pause well water will simply not wait. on our website whistleblowers have a chance of getting their hands on some serious cash flow founder kim dotcom is offering a five million dollars reward for information to help fight his online piracy case also. a rather unexpected savior a stranded motor boat crew catches

a rowing to safety from a russian you clear submarine for all the details visit of. the greek government may be hailing signs of the country's economic recovery but it seems that the people aren't sharing that optimism although unemployment dipped slightly it still remains the highest in the aunties monocultural looks at how the country's toy 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 then 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 longer the case as the economic 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. 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 unions which significantly increased costs but as part of a controversial reform package in february employers can now ignore those union wages agreements but this can be a double edge sword. we have no electricity no water and we're on paid

those who can take it do those who can't leave. this we've asked the labor minister to meet us four times around ninety percent of workers don't have health care the meeting hasn't happened they refuse we can't even get that we approached the shipping minister and he said you're right let me see but there's been no answer we're trying and if things remain the same if the end the streak continues to stagnate there's worse to come according to some how to split it up with the child will be sick on an island one day and there will be no ships to take them to hospital because so many of them are closing there 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 many call the current situation absurd irrational and humane and it's only when you see

a woman break down in seers asking not to be filmed because her family has been humiliated enough that you really understand how greeks are coping or not marina call survive reporting fartsy from greece. thanks to an auntie will be taking a look at the role the u.s. and nato played in the breakup of yugoslavia and if you watch news in the u.k. it's time for going underground shipment and seeing. 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 are tour is 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.

of course as history has shown there was one surefire way to mobilize public opinion in favor of a conflict and bring him back to the world war two mentality where all serbs became czech next and all croats was hard core propaganda. from the get go but all you. can. see the. same. goes for me will quote i'm going to you doesn't usually work well but when they're great that you guys would look you know seen looks most of whom cheat let's get some but we're not going to discuss or rather going to going to be very cheap what's right so he goes so we go what he will think that you don't so what it about is either that's good or will be when you are about sneakers or go out it's what you were going through you know sort of that's what we're going to be any sort of

yeah they were all pretty much the same i got to be super people and you need people you know that are out to open and i'm no good i mean bringing us the sonnet about the porch or goes out to the porch elite oh we're going to. do that not from again easier to do that no bill doll is really the donna said no image to you it you did madonna which is from iraq we will determine which is good yes the war had started best characterized by two words ethnic cleansing ethnic cleansing ethnic cleansing ethnic cleansing the term however was nothing new in the balkans as it was first used in world war two to describe how the creation was to show you were cleansing croatia unwelcome ethnic elements such as serbs and jews in the minds of the serbs during the one nine hundred ninety s. this was very much engraved in their national memory. didn't care because he knew he had the support of just the right people german foreign minister hun stooge genscher in almost daily contact with zagreb gave his go ahead for croatian

secession and actually pressured its western allies to recognize slovenia and croatia. as though it's gotten a sort of another variant of father combination of those the germans have a phobia it was geo political in the sense of one thousand nine hundred eighty and one nine hundred forty one and that continue eighty also reflected itself in the almost visceral preference for the cross of the slovenians who after all had belonged to the german cultural and state structures for hundreds of years there was however one problem in this plan the serbs who are now constitutional people of croatia that pretty much meant that no decisions about could be made without the serbs serbs and croats had an equal status now serbs were facing increasing discrimination by the croatian government the lot of people were killed outright and threatened.