the headlines on r.t.e. clashes between riot police and the bitter protesters continue in the streets of athens following the government's approval of harsh new a sturdy laws which paved the way for billions in bailout loans. syria's on unrest threatens to spread across the middle east israel is concerned that hezbollah is moving weapons to levanon just in case president assad is overthrown. and or france and russia continue to struggle in adulthood a lack of government provided housing means some have to live in rundown homes with a little help. ten pm here in the russian capital you're watching r t thanks for joining us now our top story the greek government has voted in favor of

a new round of austerity cuts securing the next multibillion installment of cash from the e.u. and staving off a default but furious protesters have reacted violently to the vote with battles between police and demonstrators continuing just meters from parliament all scenes from downtown athens resemble a war zone as protesters fight with riot squads made of volleys of tear gas hundreds of thousands of people nationwide walked off their jobs for a two day strike against the a sturdy cots and they say drowning the country of death at crippling interest rates has failed once and it will fail again well there were reports of escalating violence in constitution square with dozens reported injured or detained by police and national journalists dimitri believes the government is living apart from the needs of the people. there's been a lot of fires a lot of tear gas you can't really breathe you certainly can't breathe you can hardly see and it's the worst thing that i've seen and seeing a number of these protests so it's getting pretty violent as far as i see and as

far as i understand from what the government is showing the people of greece they're indifferent really to the public opinion they don't really care what they're interested about is what the you know krauts and the troika have to say and that's that's where they do their bidding and they just came here to implement the laws of the past and the government falls. i would expect the new government to come in and then i government fall too and then after that maybe maybe we can have these these are sort of measures. not not to be implemented we've been having a brain drain for the last ten years at least we're going on more i would say and the measures that are being an actor right now are doing nothing to stop that i mean you're not going to have capital investment this country if you raise taxes you're not going to have capital invested in this country if all you're interested in doing is liquidating assets. you know liquidation prices and not reforming the laws what does it matter if the public utility companies are monopoly companies owned by the state or monopoly industries owned by some some countries some company in germany or france and it makes no difference in fact that would be worst so we

want privatization here we want real privatization we don't want liquidation and hostile takeovers which is what we have now this is an l.b.o. this is a leveraged buyout of this country. well one of the main grievances held by the protesters is that they're being made to pay for the mistakes of others most of them believe they'll never see a penny of the bailout that will saddle generations with debt. on the streets of athens the voices of discontent growing louder. it's a war we did not create this so we're not going to pay for this we want to take our lives but it's greed continues to fight against economic ruin second bailout. an attempt to prevent greece from defaulting on its previous leymah payments but the greek people won't be seeing a penny. of this buyout money actually comes into the greek economy it all goes out the interest payments and repayments also battles on save the banks

and prevent a large scale financial crisis for the people the price is simply too high they see their income going down they see taxes taxes taxes and nothing else their money does not go to a very early corner me a year a struggling against harsher sterett he measures it meant the government now faces an electorate opposed to another bailout they are going to get all this they. i mean very proper and they are going to get almost everything. and live. off the good people they are going to get in this in this. first plan the bailout would certainly come at a high cost for the cuts in public spending and raising taxes and an aggressive privatization program that would mean the sale of many quick public assets this is robbery this is theft this is attention on the streets of athens continues to mount

violent scenes witness recently disturbing testimony to just how far situations deteriorated one of the reasons that everybody is so determined to keep greece in the euro is so that the banks don't have to take a serious hit on their faulty lending policies result as if there's a whole other holy alliance of politicians and bankers versus ordinary people it's a fight that the people say they're not prepared to. surf and r.t. athens. and the grim economic situation in greece will be high on the to do list for the new head of the international monetary fund francis finance minister christine legarde well she's likely to keep up the institutions old ways says danielle benami a veteran financial journalist and editor at fund a strategy magazine. i think what we're likely to see from christine lagarde is more of the same which is the i.m.f. trying to stabilize problems in the short term and cut short term deals but not

really tackling the fundamental problems with the global economy i think it serves the interests of the western powers so not just europe i mean clearly europe has always had the head of the i.m.f. it continues to. be started deal with the with america's america has the chief role in the world bank even if. carstens had won this time i don't think it would change things that fundamentally because the problem with the i.m.f. is not just that it's headed by a european but a much more fundamentally that is a very short term it's narrow technocratic institution to solve a lot of the problems facing the world economy we need political solutions with politicians talking problems democratically elected politicians but we don't have that we have them advocating responsibility it's not just a question of where the head of the i.m.f. comes from or where the regional organization here represents but what kind of look

at what kind of institution it is. plenty ahead for you this hour including old habits die hard barack obama says america needs to keep far away at least the death ceiling will find out how many trillions it stands at now. israel's military is on edge after intelligence reports of troop movements in syria and across the border in lebanon it's concerned has been long might be moving weapons to strike at the jewish state to divert attention from its ally syrian president bashar al assad smallest leader takes a look at how the situation in the region threatens to spin further out of control . things are quiet on the israel lebanon border but many suspect it's a lull before the storm everything hinges on what happens in neighboring syria and what hizbollah decides to do with its stockpiles there any opposition group that might take over in syria. will definitely consider feasible

lies and then the me is a threat so for hizbullah it's the mass of the most logical thing to do all to transfer the weapon they put in syria. including to to to to lebanon for years has been found an ally in syrian president bashar assad and so it's no surprise they want him to stay in power but if he goes and those who pressurising him to do so would do well to remember this the regional impact could be terrifying syria are like libya is part of an alliance and that alliance is very wide it begins in iran some elements in iraq's government are part of it the syrian regime hezbollah in lebanon and how mass in gaza western intelligence reports suggest has been has already started moving some of its advanced weaponry from its warehouses in syria to its forces in lebanon for fear that assad will be toppled

but getting rid of him is one thing dealing with the consequences quite another situation in syria very volatile dangerous collapse the syrian government could be gender group. and israelis fear a new war in the region even if the syrian regime stays tell of a reportedly sent a message to president assad warning him that if he starts a war with israel in order to divert attention from domestic problems israel would target him personally but such a war would also play into the hands of his below as far as we know hizbullah has now accumulated around forty five thousand missiles of various ranges. that is one of the part of them that in fact the range goes beyond three hundred and about what's three hundred fifty kilometers which according to them at least they can reach the whole of a lot of the south of the country which is something israelis know these missiles

originated in syria they found their way to lebanon and then they were fired by hizbollah onto the jewish state back in two thousand and six this museum was set up about a decade ago so that the i.d.f. could display weapons ammunition and items that are captured from israel's enemies on the ground and almost ominous threat the lebanese palestinian and hizbollah flags flying on the israeli border the message is clear here no country's immune to what happens to its neighbor and it won't take much to turn the region's precarious peace into all out war policy r.t. israel or russian orphans face a tough childhood but being an adult can be even worse the government legally has to provide housing for anyone leaving care but as artie's peter all over reports that often doesn't happen dank dark and dilapidated this plan looks more like a prime candidate for demolition than a family home but twenty two year old mother of two lena has been told by social

services that she's stuck here. perhaps they haven't seen this place inside they keep telling us to repaired somehow leave here they showed me a paper on how to build a house i told them that i had no phones i have no job i have to take care of kids and they ended up brain to place they said it's not our problem lena grew up in an orphanage in the city of to under russian law she should have received state housing once she left the institution this flat was given to lena's mother by the state and despite having no money she's been told to fix it up. this is an absolutely desperate they didn't give me work because i don't have a profession for them i don't exist perhaps hanging myself would be the best thing to do. without even the most basic of a minute there's no way that lena family can live here however here is exactly

where your thirties of told her that she should bring up children lena's case isn't unusual those who work with oftens in russia say that it's when they leave the care homes that they need the most help the problem is orphans our kids are of smaller you know when they're little and everybody loves to help their small but presents that santa clause and whereas in actual fact they've got bigger and me but they get bigger and that's really where we need to be standing beside them housing is one of those big a need for all things leaving care it's also in short supply and which is stored in that we made certain calculations for one region and found out that if a child is number ten thousand in the queue for housing it would take them some three and a half thousand years to actually get a flat how can they live like this they're not pharaohs you know we can't bring them back from the dead and give them an apartment what currently only administrative penalties can be imposed on anyone standing in the way of those

leaving care getting housing alexander gears a loaf form often him self as a campaigner for orphans rights he wants to see the courts more involved he was at the human side and we need to change the law in a way to make sure that someone can be held responsible in court in this case the orphanage this will make sure that there is no way a graduating orphan would have to go and live in a rundown home a change in the law might help people in the future but lena needs to find a solution right now. ask them all the mothers are given homes to raise their children why can't i have that isn't because they don't know the law also because i'm not too low to live because it's forbidden for me to have family some people are trying to help me but to follow their efforts have been in vain. to their region. only go back to our top story where protests continue in athens

against the new batch of a steady cuts passed by the government and for a view of the greek crisis from the e.u. i'm joined by dutch avella journalist simon young talking to us live from berlin to thank you very much for joining us so what is the reaction to the greek parliament's approval of the austerity cuts over there in germany. well certainly of the political level the reaction is very positive indeed chancellor merkel said today this was really a very good piece of news and of course the german government continues to focus on trying to avoid a greek default they see that is the main main danger here. chancellor merkel said that if greek word to default on its debts that would throw the whole eurozone into chaos and it would unleash a crisis worse than the collapse of lehman brothers and also at the political level they're doing everything they can to support the greeks in this in the measures they've taken today well that's the argument they've been putting forward isn't it

and what now that the default has been prevented which is the goal that germany is happy about now do you believe that the end of the eurozone. well certainly it isn't the end of the woes as i understand it have still got to get another stage of this through parliament in athens but of course we then wait to see whether these measures will have an effect of course everybody here is well aware of the argument that by tightening the screws on the greek population by raising taxes and introducing these other hysterically measures that's not of course the best way to stimulate the economy in greece and what greece really needs is a massive reversal in its economic fortunes right now we need to see huge growth in greece over the next few years and i think. that's less likely to happen as a result of what's happened today so a whole lot of other measures are needed of course there's also the question of

whether the ratings agencies and the markets will really buy what's happened today whether they will see it really as you know anything more than a desperate last measure by the eurozone germany along with france is continuing to push ahead with this idea of getting the banks private finance. more involved by asking them to roll over half of their greek debt for another thirty years but of course bankers who are making positive noises about that generally are also aware that this creates a whole new category of greek debt and that tends to undermine the credibility of these measures i would say oh let's let's look at some of the fact that will happen quite soon after these a set of measures are passed do you believe greece can get its finances in order while being burdened by the massive interest rates imposed on them by the bailout this has been a concern voiced in that asking days. yeah well i mean i'm not

a financial expert i've no idea but i do see that in greece the perspective is very much that they've already gone a long way to reform their public sector and of course there's no reason really to believe that the greek state coffers will be any full as a result of these measures given greece's track record in the past. voiding paying taxes so tax hikes for instance probably won't do the job and the burdens on the greeks greece's financial institutions of course will get a lot heavier i don't see this is a short term solution it certainly medium and long term solution if it is a solution to top thank you very much for insight simon young touch of ela journalist thank you very much for joining us. now america's credit rating will be slashed from perfect to selective default if it fails to pay its bills by the

fourth of august the us national debt amounts to over fourteen trillion dollars at the moment and obama wants it to go even higher for more on this we're joined by ricardo young a host and analyst at voice of russia radio thank you very much for joining us so the lawmakers in washington are still seeking to raise the country's debt ceiling or can they simply add new did digits to the debt board and basically continue borrowing indefinitely. when actually they're actually not talking at this point it's unfortunate but the republican side of the party has decided to basically walk out of the talks and what they're saying right now is that president obama needs to show leadership as he said it was a news conference today show leadership on this issue but even he is saying look we've got issues to take care of here we got to get back to the table and talk about this now most economists most analysts agree that at some point before august fourth the national debt ceiling will be raised because if it doesn't there's going to be as many are saying a global effect if america defaults on any of its. loans so the president at his

press conference today was very adamant about coming back and talking but also telling the republicans straight out that they have to start taking some of those sacred cows off the table like taxing the rich people talking about global effects that will surely it is that in anyone's interest if the dollar collapses it's always been the pillar of the global economy hasn't it. it certainly has and that's one of the reasons why if you listen to his press conference carefully when one journalist asked him what's going to happen if the u.s. defaults on its debts he didn't actually answer the question he was really quite vague about what might happen and one of the reasons why is that anything that the president of united states says about this economy and its debt problem is the global markets will react so when there is no way that he can say this will happen and that'll happen because if he does that obviously the global markets will start reacting to what the president predicts or says so this point he simply says it should happen it will be bad but he does not get into specifics about what would

happen well being isn't that worrying about being vague about what's going to happen the dollar is still the global reserve currency and the u.s. can print as many as it needs so there's really no charge it can collapse there even if they're being very vague about it at the moment. well again the president being vague about the possible effects of a default the u.s. has on its debt but again many say at the at the eleventh hour the republicans or democrats generally come together but you must remember that this these debt talks it's still about politics you have to see it through the eye of politics the g.o.p. in this country the republicans have said repeatedly that after the two thousand and ten elections their job is to make sure that brock obama is a one term president and so when you look at this issue as grave as it is many believe the republicans are still using it as a political tool to make it look like president barack obama isn't leading that he is the one to cause this problem but again as many say the u.s. can't afford to default on its debts and will come to some resolution before august fourth all right just very briefly now is there another currency the. could replace

the u.s. dollar at this point. probably not still the united states despite its debt problems it still is part of that large economic engine in the west so there's still going to be i'm sure a lot of talk about possibly going to the currency but the problem again we're in a global recession one of the currency at this point could replace the dollar. all right well thank you very much ricardo yang the host an analyst at the voice of russia radio thank you. now france has become the first country to openly admit it has supplied the libyan rebels with weapons a french military spokesman said the arms including machine guns and rocket propelled grenades were parachuted into by air to besieged rebels meanwhile in washington the senate foreign relations committee has backed american involvement in libya something president obama was strongly pushing for the resolution gives approval for u.s. warplanes and on mandrills to continue limited to strikes for up to

a year but forbids the deployment of ground troops but for more on this let's cross live to washington with george kennedy a former diplomat for the u.s. thank you very much for joining us mr kenny now the resolution authorizing u.s. involvement in libya will now go to the senate floor and if finally approved what effect will this have on the war in libya. not very much at all the house has already indicated that it doesn't really approve. the president has said that he'll go ahead and do whatever he wants to do anyway so you might argue that this adds a little bit of legitimacy to what he's doing but i think it's more of a distraction really the war about libya in a sense if we want to try to really understand it isn't about libya but it's about the u.s. wanting to go off and have a series of wars or even because that's what we do if it weren't libya it would be somewhere else it would be syria perhaps iran maybe then israel and but. the real question is why does the u.s.

want to always. go out and have a war and i will washington says this time its mission is limited that's why the war powers act has not been violated do you think this argument doesn't hold water . well not really because nobody knows what the mission is at the moment it seems to be we're trying to get rid of gadhafi ok fine we'll then what. people in washington seem to be hoping that democracy will appear and that libya will go back to the way it was before but without gadhafi last time i checked there are about twenty major tribes not in all how many hundreds of sub tribes in libya the idea that somehow things will settle down by themselves after this war is really not very reasonable and most likely the united states some nato countries will be stuck in libya in some capacity for a very long time will they be a set of committees that resolution for bits that if point of ground troops in libya we've heard this before haven't we will decide will washington stick to this restriction. no it's the short answer is no because

after he is gone if the libyans continue to fight amongst themselves as seems by far the most likely outcome then washington and european capitals will want to send in peacekeepers people to do humanitarian aid operations and so forth so i think that the introduction of ground troops at this point is pretty much an inevitability ok and that france has now admitted it has armed libyan rebels is this a measure mandated by the un resolution. no it's completely contrary to the u.n. resolution and i would add in addition to what you said in the introduction that the apparently they have shipped a couple of light tanks into the rebels as well but we don't. very foolish on the part of france because we don't know who these rebels are we don't really know what they're going to do with these weapons and i would suspect that some significant percentage of the weapons will find their way into the hands of terrorists and will

just become one other problem for us to have to deal with later on so i regret the fact that the french have done this but it's done and it's another thing that will have to deal with all of i will thank you very much for your insight there george kenney a former diplomat for the u.s. thank you. and i'll be back with the headlines shortly but first dimitri is here with the business news. thanks to a warm welcome to business the rivalry of the two russian stock exchange. for the final seal of approval on the it's a big part of government's efforts to improve russia's financial infrastructure and start transforming moscow into a global financial center. cell line sealed and delivered to our now one and it's hoped the beginning of a bright new future for russian markets the deal means the end of fifteen years of better competition between our two yes and my sense now we can actually look at.

the. market value over the market in. the places which are the sure the russian be sure the idea is to make moscow more attractive to investors to boost liquidity on the market and create a solid centralized and get the five infrastructure which will attract more foreigners. so it's going to be a technically reliable platform which will make it easier for investors to access the merge both will have more influence over making decisions making the market more comfortable for international investors. but critics say that one the same split lead someone locally which could affect the cost of doing business in russia they say that less competition could mean less and that they should at the same time other experts say that there's a long way in helping the government in the stagnation moscow as a global financial center while the bourse which doesn't have

a name yet is expected to be up along by the end of this year and i.p.o. is planned for thirteen worth about one billion dollars. to the markets in europe they are rallying following greece's approval for austerity measures. the controversial banking shares were posting the biggest gains. london that was barclays bank and in germany that's commerce bank the biggest gainers of the day if we move to the u.s. we see that there's a pretty similar picture although not such a high place and others are part of the nasdaq's point two percent that's after the optimism about the reduced risk of greece's the fourth and bank of america is also in the lead and financials are also leading the gains in russia where the r.t.s. games one percent my six half a percent on wednesday bank was the biggest gain up four percent energy shares were also feeling well with more snow fell one percent but metro was down to our percent

despite reporting results which beat expectations as it saw its profits almost quadrupled in the first quarter of the theory. that's all we have time for we will be back next hour with an update stay with us if i have lights.