the. international divisions over syria as nations try to end a 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 fears it's actually boosting radical islamists. arrested in liberia and scooped up until u.s. soil russian pilot konstantin or shango is found guilty of conspiring to internationally smuggle tons of cocaine and we bring you all the latest from new york just ahead in the program. compulsory tough standard treatment russia cracks down on drugs but

new mothers aimed at forcing addicts to keep the habit i'll have all the details on this in just a few moments. international news live from our studios here in central moscow this is r.t. we're just past eleven pm here russia has a blocked un plans to condemn syria's brutal crackdown on anti regime protesters saying there are no grounds for international interference u.s. and european nations of called for strong measures if the massacres rejects appeals to end the violence syria's leader faces international criticism for using troops and tanks to put down the unrest that's already claimed hundreds of lives however 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 non arab state israel. has more now from their television. these gunmen mean business and they're upping the stakes just that little bit higher in these years the egyptian regime like the zionist enemy tried to stop us for ages and girls are but 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 men gone the borders couldn't be easier to get through to go to the big wins in the whole world. who. have much more freedom to do what they were the night. 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 u.s. claims it's bringing a new tomorrow to egypt most israelis would rather remember years to year the eagerness of the united states to topple the former egyptian president hosni mubarak and bring about regime change has ironically most harmed the closest ally in the region israel the u.s. says it wants to establish democracy in the region but instead of democracy there 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 galvanizing 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 world can take syria so instead of incident in syria we're going to islamist you swapping one dictator for what could be worse if and when radicals come to tar

where they are likely to direct the arms at israel it will be very conscious of the bat that syria is not libya and about that if you do the sides intervene in syria you will have knock on effects across the region in iraq in lebanon. to israel palestine what if when you throw it israel my 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 an unsafe place one of the greatest lies the mother and father of all lies as it relates to the israeli palestinian conflict is israel's premium danger of annihilation i detail in the three volumes of my book it is a complete loss israel's existence is never ever be in danger from any combination of military force and that is unlikely to change in any foreseeable future but the functions on the ground aren't giving up hope and they are minister

mourning is that is worse to come. and the moment time of defeat and retreat is over now it's time for the israeli people and the israeli enemy to. israel is keeping quiet and they come into 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. well r.t. caught up with veteran middle east reporter alan heart for his insight on events in the arab world and we'll bring you his full interview in just over an hour from now here. the writer william engle told us that russia and china have learned from the mistakes of the libyan no fly resolution and will not allow the u.s. to interfere in syria under the guise of protecting civilians. well if you look at what the u.s. did to engineer the. un resolution on libya this was one of the most.

brazen transgressions of the rights of a nation national sovereignty and international law the we've seen in the post-war period the responsibility to protect is an insidious doctor and that's been developed by various think tanks connected with circles in the united states to justify a nato definition of an intervention in a sovereign country there's been no attempt to have a have a peaceful conflict resolution before this thing escalated in fact rather the the west the u.s. for france and britain have been called virtually according to the evidence that's leaking out covertly arming the opposition to gadhafi in hopes of grabbing control of the oil and the different parts of libya fortunately this time russia and china are playing a reasonable role in blocking any u.n. security council sanction for. strong measures against syria so i think they learned from their deadly mistake on the on the libya case when they abstain but

this thing has no end if it's allowed to pass william angle author of a century of war and american politics and the new world order talking to me a little earlier here. 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 as well as and you had better go to kabul or to talk about this i'm now joined the live from new york by the director of the trends research institute gerald celente gerald good to have you here on our team once again now general petraeus head of the cia with limited experience in intelligence the current cia chief leon panetta the next defense secretary there were no military experience if these reports are true what's the point of all these changes. well it's the washington club there's no change you can believe it go back to president obama how he promised to bring in

a clean slate it's a washington when he got elected and all he did was bring in the rehashing facts that already existed so whether it's the national security whether it's bringing in hillary clinton for secretary of state whether it was bringing in putra as a former bush general into action into afghanistan or whether was bringing in leon panetta who was really bill clinton's chief of staff it's the washington clogged it's the in naps and the incompetence so there's no way of nurturing fresh talent through the system that's why we're seeing the same old faces isn't exactly a washington is the only place where you become emboldened by your failures let's go and listen to what general petraeus had promised in afghanistan when he was brought in last june he kept talking about impressive progress

you know every day you pick up that paper and a couple of more american soldiers have been blown away or else they've killed a bunch of civilians and look at the cia i believe yon pineta they have their own army now in their own air force they said in predator drones into pakistan they have mercenaries working for them all over the world assassination squads and they couldn't even predict the uprisings in the middle east or north africa so again it's the losers club everything that washington is eight fails whether it's katrina quality rescues skills cleaning up the gulf of mexico or the two losing wars they have in afghanistan iraq. and now of course in libya and pakistan so what next then for afghanistan if it leaves there general john allen

set to take over how do you see the war effort continuing the. guy as it's going now a losing effort i mean let's call it what it is the american military can't beat a bunch of guys with sandals on and light on in afghanistan this was the military by the way that defeated the germans it but battle of the bulge planted the the american flag of the heart of the japanese they can't win in afghanistan they can't win in iraq and now obama is just taking them to another losing war in libya they are losers call a spade a spade interesting you joining up with thoughts between the cia the defense business and all that seems to be in some linked in terms that some people might say that's a rather sinister isn't it it seems that this musical chairs is all about war politics it does it mean that if you're involved in something it within the cia intelligence or within war that actually that's a root canal through to. to the authority.

well that's what i said how one the nation of as he was leaving office that the military industrial complex was taking over so now it's the military intelligence complex that's taking over it is what it is and so you call it what it is so what's happened in america is that in the business of america it is war and that's why america is in the financial problems it is in the business of china for example is business and that's why china is in the condition that it's in so america is just war minded and they think they're going to this one exporting democracy is just the military machine doing what it does create war what about opponents position is this shakeup designed to boost his what many would say is a seriously flagging political position would it make any effect on his future now really because by the time the elections come something new will be in

a hand and in the east things could turn around on a dime and when you look at the american political system you know what's the choices you know the republicans have a bunch of losers and so did the democrats and you know i call it you know when you go back to the big term elections in two thousand and and ten how they promise this great change and of course we don't see it it's like voting for the banana as of the gambino which crime family is going to be ahead of the two headed one party system so what obama does now really won't count much when it comes to the fall classic in two thousand and twelve it's the economy stupid as bill clinton said and more than likely that's what it will be again and i believe jerrold the the announcement going to come quite soon is quite imminent so we'll see if these rumors will come to fruition and see if these changes do happen in the meantime thanks so much for your reaction on this live from new york johnson and thank you.

a u.s. jury has found a russian pundit guilty of drug trafficking constantine you have a shank who was brought to america from liberia last year he was accused of moving drugs around the world and trying to bribe liberian officials let's cross to new york again we're going back to new york istanbul studios and other stars your chicken is there for us and those are bring us up to date with the details of this trial. well bill you know this whole case is really legal by some here in new york as a great example of foreigners being tried in the united states for words and not deeds as you mentioned a court of twelve members has unanimously found russian pilot constantine you're schenkel guilty of the intent of conspiring to smuggle drugs internationally across the border from idea of in this way to south america and later on to the united states but the trick of this whole case here is that your friend has actually never set foot on u.s. soil before being handcuffed handcuffed and being bought here by u.s.

officials now the way this whole hour rest came about as well as three other suspects were scooped up in liberia last year in may by u.s. special agents who are ranged several meetings with the or shango as well as the suspects held conversations with them that leader turns into dozens of hours of audio recordings of allegedly conspiring to our transport drugs internationally but of course all along those alleged drug dealers who are actually undercover u.s. special agents now the prosecution has put this forward these audiotape is as the mean proof that. it was guilty but the defense team all this time has been begging to differ take a listen to what they told us today outside the courthouse. my view even after the trial is that the defendant did nothing. other than wishing to be informants

constantly suggesting that he was going to give it away to the united states they didn't for a good bit peculiar political. i think that you could press that issue in the queue . will build whether or not an appeal will calm israel is really a deal a dem prospects according to the lawyer himself was said that it's very unlikely for us appeals courts after a jury has found someone guilty to really reverse that decision although they are planning to in fact appeal but that can only come after the sentencing which we're expecting in three months on july twenty eighth you know one of the circumstances surrounding his arrest that was somewhat controversial one thing. that's absolutely true bill some of the manner in which the arrest was conducted in which the whole special operation to capture this man was held is certainly still raising a lot of questions as i mentioned earlier constantine your shadow was arrested in liberia by u.s. special agents brought him to u.s.

soil but the twist here is that he was arrested in me by russian officials he's a citizen of the russian federation we're not even notified until a month later so effectively this man was missing for a month no one knew where he is and he was including his family russian officials at the time said that this was a breach of international law that according to all diplomatic standards you know the minimum of what u.s. officials should have done was duly notified the russian federation but that was not the case afterwards the state department did apologize for this and they said that the ended up sending a fax to the wrong number and sending the notice to romania instead of russia which has certainly been raising a lot of eyebrows here but to sum up this whole case really an interesting take of echoing the position of the defense is the wife of constantine of whom we spoke with earlier today as well outside the courtroom after the verdict of her husband being guilty take a listen to what she told us. we'd be in liberia surrounded him as

soon as he stepped off the plane guards were accompanying him even in his sleep it was only during the few disguised agents had been working with him and then she was introduced to the man transporting drugs and that was. to send someone and be sentenced him the prosecutor's office and to produce things their own way and this is the result of an. so bill really the outcome for now is that we have a guilty verdict the defense constant in your sample himself continued to maintain his innocence the prosecution and now the jury are convinced that your central is guilty but one item of this whole story certainly remains unanswered and up in the air as to why our russian citizen is being tried on us on u.s. soil all together when he has never even stepped foot on american territory and does your thanks very much indeed for that live update understudy chicken reporting from new york. russia security forces have killed six

militants in three separate operations in the country's republic of dagestan one was killed in a remote region of the country on thursday and two others in the republic's capital . one of the militants was the leader of a local terrorist cell another counterterrorist began elsewhere in dagestan on wednesday resulted in the death of three militants and the officers or civilians were wounded in the creation and security forces have recently stepped up their assault on terrorists in russia's focuses region and dozens of al qaeda linked militants have been killed over the past weeks. prodigality here in russia will soon face a much tougher punishment for their habits under a proposed new law clubs bars and cafes will also be held responsible for a lone drug use on their premises and it is a design to deal with an epidemic of narcotics abuse across the country katrina china has the details for us. president dmitri medvedev has ordered to toughen up the punishment given so regular users of non-magical not accorded some psychotropic

drugs as of now these people can only be charged up to two hundred dollars and arrested and held up to fifteen days now time for punishment will also be imposed against those were distributed trucks and in particular those to attract the under aged also the owners of nightclubs and other insane but uses climbs to use drugs in these venues will share responsibility now the focus has shifted from just punishing drug addicts to preventing people from becoming users mentioning that it suggests them also with shipments for people convicted of minor drug related crimes that the main or alternative punishment also was at the governments of those states and not the current federal laws to use so it has to be cross country egypt. was to use trucks in russia has simply i love to hear these circumstances the president believes that all schoolchildren of the country should start their small

school student is taking a drug test voluntarily with their freshman president dmitry medvedev has his way hundreds of thousands of students and even school children as young as thirteen will be compulsorily. a lot of parents are saying the compulsory drug testing is unethical and i think what's behind their reluctance is an unwillingness to face a problem with prevents their children from receiving proper treatment our country has not dealt with this problem compulsory drug testing and education establishment has already been qualified in several russian regionals although so far only voluntary schemes put it on the range have been improved country wide field employed by an influx of drugs through afghanistan it's estimated there are over three million regular illegal drug users in russia most of them under twenty five. some human rights groups fearing this they were guys ation of young children by association with drugs officialdom says it's the must start at school when. we want

to catch people not when they are drug addicts when they're younger and not just try drugs to ascertain whether there might be a potential risk for developing an addiction. the initiative has raised questions of not just ethics but effectiveness at this rehabilitation center near moscow because skepticism about the tests everything 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 last green i am categorically against these tests i remember my own reaction to the test will alienate provoke making him trust those around him even less also some will cheat and that will give them a sense of invincibility. psychologists at the same for say the proposal actually don't go far enough. this measure will just give us the statistics of who takes

drugs not the solution are they going to kick out all those who fail we will those students go what are they going to do to treatment. at the moment they're only one hundred sixty state sponsored drug rehabilitation clinics and the whole of russia about one for every million of the population hundreds of new ones would have to be built and thousands more addiction specialist trained simply to cope with upsurge of patients i don't if i buy the compulsory drug that these initiatives have called the headlines but now the government has to prove that beyond them it has a cogent program that will stop people from trying drugs at an earlier age and this is something that governments both here and abroad have tried and failed to do before. the moscow. katrina is with us shortly with a look at the latest business news but first let's have a quick look at some other international news making the headlines 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 is responsible the blast was a cafe in america question the main square which is a tourist hot spot. a suicide bombers brought itself up in eastern iraq a town of balad through is killing at least eleven people and injuring twenty others an improvised explosive device went off inside a shia mosque shortly after evening prayers idiota province where the attack took place is home to both sonny and cher muslims and remains one of iraq's most violent areas. to the u.s. the number killed by storm sweeping across the southern states of the country has exceeded two hundred ten destructive damage in several towns and alabama where most of the victims were dozens of roads are impassable hundreds of homes are destroyed and power lines are down the state of emergency has been declared in alabama arkansas and tennessee and the number of dead could rise with more victims thought

to be trapped under rubble. to pakistan now and at least five people were killed and over a dozen injured in the city of karachi when a roadside bomb hit a pass carrying navy personnel it's the third such attack in the last few days with two navy crosses targeted on tuesday it was immediately clear who was behind this latest attack the taliban claimed to only want the truth so the navy is seen as a soft target with less effective protection and this could be part of a new militant strategy. well max keiser will be talking about beijing's rise towards replacing washington as the world's economic leader shortly but first as promised it's time for the latest business news with katrina. thank you bill hello and welcome to the business update for this hour russia has frozen exports of oil products in order to cop a fuel shortage in the domestic market several regions in central and far eastern russia have been heavily affected by the disruptions atlas and exam that are off

from gazprom bank explains the situation the problem is that the government has applied a new tax regime for export. oil products so probably now for some oil companies it is more profitable to export these pay for diesel outside russia russia rather than the sell it to domestic retail stations also in force or at least year expertise the crude oil was provided to very attractive bad backs for the crude export so basically oil companies also preferred to export crude drugs refining their process so together with minor regional e.g. states problems it turned into some regional deficits or pugil in some russian regions. to soften the blow of the export ban the russian government will reduce taxes for oil producers in

a bid to ease their burden this comes out of claims that the current fuel prices are not covering their costs the head of russia's oil made it look royal warns that fuel prices could rise by up to seven percent. he would go 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 repeat time during the 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 terrorists from natural monopolies are indexed that's why we believe the prices may grow but not significantly we have a number of restricted factors a place we are discussing the issue with the government five seven percent would be a deterrent of course if the government would have to be excise tax which it had introduced on the first of january and now let's take a look at the markets gold is continuing its rally on the back of the weakening dollar with investors choosing precious metals over the greenback gold is gaining

up point four two percent this hour and silver is up and what i want to point to the same meanwhile hong kong is launching a new trading in gold futures hoping to capture investors rising interest in the precious metal. and in the u.s. the dow has brushed off opens a cons and is now trading up to five a percent but the nasdaq sadly is still down a point two four of a percent this hour that's on use that u.s. economic growth has slowed in the first quarter jews are high energy prices and we can consume the spending. in europe the markets ended the session in the black taking inspiration from a rally across the atlantic as the fed has kept interest rate the interest rate at the current low level among the market movers though your bank which gained over four percent on the back of strong corporate results and here in moscow the markets finished their sessions in positive territory the r.c.a.'s getting almost point six of a percent on my six around point three of a percent. that is take

a look at how the index moves on the my six closed most energy majors majors trade in the black widow producer was never finishing when i was two percent and i am finding giant probably missile about point seven percent after reported a three fold increase in net profit in the last year and russia's second largest land of the tube even dropped almost two percent. well that's all the business news for today but remember you can always keep up to date with all the business stories on r.t. dot com for what's last business to stay with us. thanks . to.

wealthy british style sun. sometimes the title. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause report on our t.v. . guide he. made him look forward to be held don't say.