of the. international divisions over syria as nations try to end the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters russia insists intervention will only lead to more violence. washington support for opposition movements in the middle east and north africa could be backfiring on its biggest ally israel faces actually boosting radical islamists. arrested in liberia and scooped up on to u.s. soil russian pilots constantine or shankar is found guilty of conspiring to internationally small boat tons of cocaine we bring you all the latest from new york just ahead on the program. compulsory third stanza trick on russia writes down

on trucks with new measures aimed at more secret exist to keep the habit of how will they do sales on these in just a few moments. and in business this hour petrol prices may jump up to seven percent after oil producers claim they current fuel prices are not covering their costs join me for this story and more very shortly. international news live from our studios here in central moscow this is our teachers past ten pm here in the russian capital. russians blocked un plans to condemn syria's brutal crackdown on the regime protesters saying there are no grounds for international interference u.s. and european nations have called for stronger measures of damascus rejects appeals to end the violence syria's leader faces international criticism for using troops

and tanks to put down your arrest that's already claimed hundreds of lives whether moscow believes foreign interference could do more harm than good making protesters in other countries reliant on foreign support but u.s. efforts to push the region towards democracy may actually be fueling a rise in extremist movements affecting the region's only one arab state israel policy has more no telling. which these gunmen mean business and they're upping the stakes just that little bit higher. here's the egyptian regime like a zionist enemy trying to stop us foreigners and girls are we always got the weapons we needed to fight the zionist enemy. and now they're getting more than they could ever hopeful but for me gyptian president hosni mubarak's mingle on the borders couldn't be easier to get through for their big wins. who worlds all smuggled their arms who. have much more freedom to do whatever they like.

and they doing it smuggling weapons into gaza the result two attacks in three months on a natural gas pipeline that supplies a quarter of israel's electricity which is why is the us claims it's bringing a new tomorrow to egypt most israelis would rather remember just a year the eagerness of the united states to topple the former aide to president hosni mubarak and bring about regime change as ironically most harmed its closest ally in the region israel the u.s. says it wants to establish democracy in the region but instead of democracy is a very real possibility that radical islamic could come to power the u.s. strongly supported the opposition in libya despite al qaeda connections among its ranks now it's apparently governance and support against syrian president bashar assad but the wiki leaks website claiming that washington has been funding some anti-government factions what is afraid that if you go the way. the muslim

brotherhood came to exist so instead of incident would you consider you were going to islamists. talking one to two so for what could be worse if and when medicals come to tar where they are likely to direct the arms at israel it will be very conscious of the fact that syria is not libya and the fact that if you do decide to intervene in syria you will have knock on effects across the region in iraq in lebanon through israel palestine what every new threats israel might face from an even more hostile arab world emerging from the present instability some experts believe the security of the jewish state is not under any grave threat israel has never been a long safe place and one of the greatest lies and mother and father of all lies as it relates to the israeli color so in conflict is that israel has been in danger of annihilation i detail in the three volumes of my book it is a complete in israel's existence as never ever be in danger from any

combination of arab military force and that is unlikely to change in any foreseeable future but the fighters on the ground aren't giving up hope and there are minister mourning is that is worse to come. and little more time of defeat and retreat is over now it's time for the israeli people and the israeli enemy to. is what is keeping quiet amid the current chaos in the middle east and north africa but behind closed doors they'll be plenty of disquiet here about how much america's desire to make new friends in the arab world is fueling serious instability policy r.t. television a lot he caught up with veteran middle east reporter alan hoard for his insight on events in the arab world and we'll bring you his full interview in just over twenty minutes from now here on r.t. . well the editor of the new york based in the newspaper joins me now to share his perspective on the unfolding arab conflicts are in thanks very much indeed for

joining us here in our in our middle eastern correspondent who have just heard from report that there is a threat that islam is could come to power in egypt and syria do you think that could be the case and if so what would be implications be for the region. well in terms of egypt of course because the courts as the national democratic party. party. are hamley that does kind of leave a very clear road for the muslim brotherhood and they've been cooperating very closely with the gyptian military but we have to understand just because party. groups within islam does not mean it is some sort of without a full party and in the muslim brotherhood a lot of weight has become integrated into the economy it's composed of many different sectors there are in fact parts of the party that tend to be pregnant

because lead more secular especially the youth wing also it looks like they're willing to very much play well with the egyptian armed forces who are really a bold large. conservative in the region who are allied with israel as the united states so even if they they claim that they're not going to try to. parliamentary majority or run the candidate or the president the elections are upcoming in september but nonetheless they are the best position and they are trying to take advantage what it means precisely so i think in the end we have to remember that secular forces in egypt are very strong democratic forces and so even if they do have a large power like it to. be really becomes to become some sort of radical regime i think people are also very well aware of what's going on in iran for the

last thirty years and are wary of that model for. that reason to give us a lot of speculation obviously what's happening in syria but that say they could be i i re jeem change there in syria and they could be the muslim brotherhood gaining a lot of influence that is that reason then for israel to be very nervous. but i think the religious reason for israel to be nervous. it's tended to be allied actually with all the autocratic regime. in egypt where there are many ways a close ally despite a lot of propaganda very close to. the saudis. had ties to me just i think the real issue for israel is it shows that there is. genuine radical democratic impulse i mean for the people where they want to have

control over their own lives politically where they want to have a real sense of economic progress and that is what is most of all to israel because you know the reality of the israeli state is it's a passionate gauge of the war after war and what will be able to point to this particular scene in the middle east that marred is a good deal really bonkers the even there with a just an official discrimination against one six of its population as we're talking we're showing pictures of the destruction that the unrest in syria calls your view about the u.n. security council's role in this here at the moment we're seeing a very different attitude being taken around syria as what we've seen in libya why why is the u.n. security council very reluctant to get involved and what's going on in syria because many people say the same things happening in syria what we've seen in libya people resist objecting and opposing

a regime. well of course and the same thing has been going on in bahrain going on and. you know where protesters are being slaughtered. today in terms of syria i think russia and china are taking a more active role because they're not happy with what's going on in libya. but they didn't see it was generally in their interest was the security council resolution and two i think there's you know somewhat there's little real real politics. lead to us get involved in another war or just pretty much in russia what do you make of it argument that intervention will only lead to more unrest and indeed encourage more uprisings in the region what you make of that well i'm not sure about that whether it'll be two cards more upright i think more democratic uprising wherever they happen you know we have autocratic governments all over the

world. motivated self-motivated uprisings in russia saying look foreign intervention provoking and starting that uprising is not a good thing well i don't think the foreign intervention started the libyan uprising at the end. going on in syria yes i agree or interventions are bad or there is no role for these powers the hypocritical western powers age and all sorts of orders to be coming in and trying to harm another people in the reader. there's absolutely no doubt that that should be because we oppose and it does have the stabilizing is a pact i think part of the reason there's a lot more opposition is because libya is turning out to be disastrous it's turning into a civil war which is the deadliest most destructive or most conflict there is pretty much outside of nuclear war so i think that's why no one on the security council really wants to see another batch i don't believe it that it's

a really interesting to hear we have to say thanks so much for time joining us live from new york the editor of the new york thanks independent newspaper or in coca thank you. well in the states barack obama is expected to announce big changes to his national security team he said to be preparing to bring in a new defense secretary head of the cia commander in afghanistan and and you do that in kabul retard u.s. army colonel a next diplomat right says washington still stuck in a bush era military mentality it's the recycling of everyone who's been involved in really ten years of u.s. wars in the obama administration is just continuing the war strategies of the bush administration and in fact obama has increased the war and afghanistan traumatically now over fifty five percent of the american budget is related to military expenditures and yet we see schools that are laying are tens of thousands

of teachers we have a health care system that's going down the tubes and yet we spend fifty five percent of our budget on war we certainly need some new ideas some new initiatives and this in this war that the united states is is involved in and just recycling the same or will people had switching jobs with them is not the way that you ensure the national security of the united states in my opinion. party life here in moscow still ahead this hour the changing face of india they have the cash and they want to splash the new class of big spenders emerging with an appetite but all things global. and u.s. curious find a russian pilot guilty of drug trafficking conference in yemen shankar was brought to america from libya liberia i should say last year it was accused of moving drugs around the world and trying to bribe senior liberian officials and started checking out has the details. russian pilot's constant senior shango in his forty's has been

awaiting trial here in new york for as much as ten months the hearings lasted four weeks until the jury earlier this morning announced that. the guilty he has been he was he's charged and accused now found guilty of conspiring to transport and smuggle drugs from south america to the united states constantine you're sent along with these three other men from africa was captured in may last year and scooped up by u.s. special services and brought on to united states territory and for an entire month his whereabouts were not known to himself even his family and russian officials were not notified about the fact that a russian citizen was brought to us soil as late as a month later on june second u.s. officials did announce that they have constantine or shanta on their territory and did apologize to the russian foreign ministry that said that he not notified russia about this arrest was

a breach of international law the excuse of the state department back then was that they passed the wrong fax number button and ended up sending a fax to romania instead of russia certainly this whole scenario by the united states was taken with a bit of humor whereas russian officials were of course disappointed that this was a scoop up of a russian citizen brought to the u.s. and failing to even let russian officials back in moscow know that this was going on this case has been causing a lot of questions whether it is ok that the fact that the intent of this man is being considered criminal he is facing from a twenty five to a life sentence behind bars now we're expecting the final sentencing to take place within the next three months the judge had said that this will most likely come on july twenty eighth so it's important to note that of course the mean proof that the prosecutors were providing in this case were audio and videotapes depicting conversations of. senior center which united states special services that really

organize the this this plan of capturing jarosz and co in liberia and were pretending to be drug lords in order to capture this man and the lawyers of course of your son called this entire time have been saying that this case has been a provocation and that they have been calling for the dismissal of this case for the longest time and of course god did not occur. drug addicts in russia will soon face much tougher punishment for their habits under the proposed new law laws and cafes would also be held responsible for allowing drug use on their premises and measures are designed to deal with an epidemic of classics abuse across the country and it has the details. president dmitri medvedev has ordered to toughen up the punishment given to regular users of non-magical not accorded some psychotropic drugs as of now these people can only be charged up to two hundred dollars under arrest and held up to fifteen days now time for punishment will also be imposed

against those who distribute drugs at in particular those who are trapped under aged also the owners of nightclubs and other entertainment venues as clients use drugs in these venues will share responsibility now the focus has shifted from just punishing drug addicts to preventing people from becoming abusers mitchum effective suggests also with the trip planned for people convicted of minor drug related crimes that the main alternative punishment also was at the government of the state and not the current federal law and to use the switch to the school. and each of the first two strikes russia has told the police i love to hear these circumstances president believes that all school children for the country should start this mosque a student is taking a drug test voluntarily but their freshman president dmitry medvedev has his way hundreds of thousands of students and even school children as young as thirteen

will become full surly. a lot of parents are saying a compulsory drug testing is unethical and i think what's behind their reluctance is an unwillingness to face the problem with prevents their children from receiving proper treatment our country has not dealt with this problem compulsory drug testing and education establishment as a ready been piloted in several russian regionals although so far only voluntary schemes for the underage have been approved countrywide field employed by an influx of drugs from ghana stan it's estimated there are over three million regular illegal drug users in russia most of them under twenty five. there are some human rights groups fearing this thing with isolation of young children by association with drugs officials insist they must start at school. we want to catch people not when there are drug addicts behind their younger and not just trying drugs to ascertain whether there might be a potential risk for developing an addiction. then initiative has raised questions

of not just ethics but protectiveness and there's a rehabilitation center near moscow skepticism about this even if i don't think it would have changed anything for me when i was in school i wanted to take drugs at the time so we just did towards the end of school i wasn't even hiding my drug use that much. more the aspirin i am categorically against these tests i remember my own reaction to them test will eliminate and provoke the user making him trust those around him even less also some will cheat and that will give them a sense of invincibility psychologists at the center say to propose that actually don't hear far enough. this measure will just give us the statistics of who takes drugs not the solution but we're going to kick out all those who fail we will those students go what are they going to do to treat them. at the moment they're only one

hundred sixty state sponsored drug rehabilitation clinics in the whole of russia about one for every million of the population hundreds of new ones would have to be built at thousands more addiction specialists trained simply to cope with an upsurge of patients identified by the compulsory protests these initiatives have called the headlines but now the government has to prove that beyond it has a cogent program that will stop people from trying drugs at an ever earlier age and this is something that governments both here and abroad have tried and failed to do before either of our ordinary. moscow. a brief look now at some other international news this hour a massive explosion in morocco which left at least fourteen people dead was an act of terrorism according to officials around twenty other people were injured including two russian nationals investigators say it's still too soon to say who's responsible the blast was at a cafe america should the main square which is a tourist hot spot. the number killed by storm sweeping across the southern states

of the u.s. has exceeded two hundred this catastrophic damage in several towns another part but most of the victims were dozens of roads are impassable hundreds of homes are destroyed and power lines a state of emergency has been declared in alabama arkansas and tennessee the number of dead could rise with more victims thought to be trapped under rubble. at least five people were killed and over a dozen injured in the pakistani city of karachi when a roadside bomb hit a bus carrying navy personnel it's the third such attack in the last few days with two navy buses targeted on choose day wasn't immediately clear who was behind this latest attack but the taliban claimed two earlier ones security experts say the navy is seen as a soft target with less effective protection and this could be part of a new militant strategy. the spending power of a huge indian population is literally shifting the center of global influence emerging middle class economic boom has developed an appetite for the point of

things in life and that's open the door for a wave of entrepreneurs. as more or less. tejal is living the dream age of twenty eight a former investment banker is now running a restaurant and bar in the heart of south delhi ten years ago if i were to take off will be a bit from a father would have to. finance or the price of mortgages. but in the past ten years india has experienced enormous change and with it came a new set of hopes for the world's youngest population. the market is huge the opportunity the huge. audiences they can spend money tails far is located inside this small one of around six hundred macca malls that have sprung up in india within the past decade. and there's a lot of money. so both combined could design and. is going to get

a big. today indians can get just about any international brand from hong kong to the u.s. to the u.k. it's access has changed the mentality of many to. the people. since it is the group is the globalization is there so people are. thinking in a very different manner india's economy is booming twenty five years ago ninety percent of the population lives on what than a dollar a day by twenty twenty five forty percent of the population here will be caught the fight is the middle class and with the growing income in here being a new culture of consumerism and brands from around the world are ready to cash in on it india is a huge country. one point two million population and so even if everybody is friends so it's a human son but despite the success most indians are aware that the country still

has a long way to go and while things are moving in a new direction and there is a large portion of the population who is at risk of being left behind in that respect is widening their way because rich but is getting richer workloads are getting poorer but largely middle class indians and especially the young working demographic try to focus on the positive and watch with pride as their country comes of be age and is able to achieve a global status they always believed was possible it's a pretty good picture for us i mean earlier question did you used to think pollution is a burden but now i guess even the area lazing that the more the people the more the purchasing power the more the mining the more they ignore me graham's power that is difficult for the world to ignore preassure either r t new delhi india. western heads are not a veteran middle east reporter alan hart gives his insight into events in the arab

world in an interview with t well that's coming up shortly but first katrina's next with the business news. thank you bill and hello and welcome to the business update for this hour russia is suspending the export of petrochemicals in order to tackle the fuel shortage on the domestic market several regions have suffered from a lack of petrol in recent days and examine as are all from gazprom banks explains what's happening in the market the problem is that the government has acquired a new tax regime for export. oil products so probably now for some oil companies it is more profitable to export these petrol diesel outside russia russia rather than the sell it to. domestic retail stations also force or at least year expertise the crude oil was provided to very attractive airbags for the crew to

export so basically oil companies also preferred to export crude rather than refining their process so together with minor regional logistics problems it turns into some regional deficits or fuel in some russian regions. the russian government is to ease the tax burdens petrochemical produces in order to ensure a better domestic fuel supply that's off the claims of the current prices don't cover producers costs the head of russian oil major lukoil have wrong that fuel prices could rise by up to seven percent. if you would but would and we are preparing for a possible fuel supply disruptions this summer of course. now we are already saving fuel to supply or a customer's at a peak time during a holding period but the current price on the russian market does not reflect the company's spending on petrol and diesel production and their delivery to customers all the tariffs for natural monopolies are indexed that's why we believe that

prices may grow but not significantly we have a number of restricted factors at play as we are discussing the issue with the government five seven percent would be a deterrent of course if the government will have to be excise tax which it had introduced on the first of january no more than gold has extended its run on the back of a declining dollar by the fed's decision to continue to help shore up the u.s. economy gold is gathering pace and is now at one thousand five hundred thirty three dollars an ounce this out so are is also up at forty eight dollars an ounce meanwhile hong kong is known to new trading in gold futures hoping to catch it rising investor interest in a missile. that let's have a look at the markets the down has brushed up a brush opening declines and is now trading up point three percent above the nasdaq slips into negative territory it is down point two zero percent this hour that's no news economic growth in the u.s. has slowed in the third quarter although it's an annualized rate of one with eight

percent compared with three point two percent in the previous quarter analysts claim the growth has been hampered by five energy prices which continue to weaken consumer spending. and europe the markets ended the session in the black taking inspiration from a rally across the atlantic as the face pledged to keep the interest rate low among the market movers were there with your bank which going over four percent on the back of strong hold early results. and here in moscow the markets finished their sessions in positive territory the r.t.s. going almost point six of a percent and m i six almost three of a percent. now the second look at some index moves on the my six. most energy majors were trading in the black russia's largest oil producer rosneft finished almost two percent higher volume as well as high after the ripples a three fold increase in net profit for last year and the t.v. bank dropped almost to the st. it's a place of business news for this out but we'll have more for you in just under an hour's time so you know.

twenty years ago largest country. has such a crisis of. what had been trying. to get a job.