it's nine am in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story greek lawmakers are expected to approve an i'm popular property taxes they battle to show that they're serious about tackling the country's debt it's part of the austerity measures put together to convince the e.u. and i.m.f. to hand out and eight billion euro bailout loan for more on this we go live to sara for a standing by for us in athens so sara how exactly is the prime minister planning to convince you leaders to hand over the bailout money what austerity measures are we talking about. well we're going to see a test for those are sturdy measures today as the greek m.p. planning to vote on that property tax is proof extremely unpopular here in the country among the public coming of course on top of severe austerity measures that have been going on for a long long time now is the one on top of the other for the people here they've had

cause to government spending they've had cuts to their pensions people have lost their jobs unemployment is extremely high here and now this property tax on top of that really coming at a time of great public can go that the prime minister george patton jay will be traveling to balance night holding talks to discuss the debt crisis it's not known whether you're also need is it going to be handing over that ten point eight billion dollar cash injection is going to be needed to keep the country afloat that's not yet been decided but if that doesn't happen then you're going to see the effects of that in this country happening in extremely rapidly now we've seen a lot of strike of action happening here recently later on today it's thought that protesters are again going to gather outside the parliament building but as we said the protesters say common amongst this rapidly increasing prices and we've been here before it really is a bit of a vicious circle they create these measures we get right up to the point where they

need the cash injection which really has been a country that's been taking to the brink we're seeing that again. too has been a lot of talk of greece's eminent default is that something that's looking likely at this point. well publicly the line still very much in the lead is that they're not planning for greece to exit the u.s. and in fact that's very far from their minds are going to be keeping with the usa and that even the details maybe but not the way forward but privately what people are saying is that actually the default it's very much looking like me and indeed possibly even an exit from the usa altogether no speaking yesterday to professor the constitutional law here in green he was sort of taking me through the financial jargon of this idea of the controls to fold saying to him that really it seems a contradiction in terms when the situation seems anything but in control have a listen to what he said. because i default i default to that that we can

organize and protect our interests accordingly or we're going to have a kind of controlled bankruptcy you know they were brought into the law and those are going to be used trying to avoid the domino effect so practically. i was on a passion to contaminate the rest of the eurozone maybe we're going to be. sacrificed for them in order to show. that he's going to force spirity measure necessary into the i'm not followed by the letter then the disaster is the only possible where you don't. now that's the key thing that what he was saying about the domino effect is the. very very concerned that if greece. exit the euro then really anyone could leave and the spectators. pinpointing greek would then tend the sights of countries such as italy and spain and they need that really have a very serious problem indeed that could be the end of the money is looking like

that control the full is on the cards at some point that's very much like the euro is a need is plan b. remembering of course that their fish alone when this began was that that was planned it now seems that they are having to look at alternatives. very concerned as we said in that people have very concerned that it's done in a way to beneficial to greet the day there's been a lot of criticism of the way that we turn to the situation but the people here struggling in the midst of this crisis this thing it's not entirely their fault a lot of this comes down to very bad policy decision making at the very top there's a lot of anger directed at the choice of the i.m.f. at the well really a lot of question whether they're going to be able to guide the euro saying through this crisis and whether greece is going to be able to. alright r.t. sorry for applies for life for us in athens thanks for that report. stay with us here on r t coming your way arming an ally or setting off

a time bomb expose explosive revelations claim the u.s. sold heavy duty weapons to israel. to start a war in the middle east. but first the u.n. security council has decided to postpone further discussion around the palestinian bid for full membership to wednesday this is washington refuses to back down on a promise to block the move in support of its ally israel but authorities were an important i reports palestinians could still gain an elevated status at the world body. what the palestinians would need would be nine out of fifteen of the security council members to support this application no vetoes but the us president barack obama did state last week when he was addressing the general assembly that the only way there could be an independent palestinian state is through direct negotiations and and peace talks between the israelis and the palestinians washington said it

would cast a veto if it had to but let's remember that u.s. credibility and influence in the middle east is at stake here u.s. president barack obama has been seen supporting the so-called arab spring the tunisian the libyans the egyptians and so for the u.s. to cast a veto now against the aspirations of the palestinians would be as some critics have said hypocritical the palestinians do have another option and that would be to take the vote before the general assembly where they do have the majority of support that would only raise palestine's status at the u.n. to observer state a nonmember observer state but they would be able to file lawsuits at the international criminal court and participate in many forums but at this point it is stuck within the security council with washington pressing very hard for the palestinians to back down and not put them in a position to cast a veto palestinian envoy riad monsoor addressed the media following day one of

security council consultations here's a bit of what he had to say we all know in the security council this is this is an exercise in which there will be a tremendous pressure. so that the number of countries and members of the security council but we trust that we have money friends in the council and the relationship between us and the old friends is a solid relationship and. the polls. they are supportive of justice for the palestinian people and palestinian president mahmoud abbas said he would return to negotiations only only if israel halts its settlement construction and since that has not happened and since the statement made by the quartet did not include that then the president of palestine said that there's no point in talking this can't be business as usual russia is

a part of the quartet russia the u.s. u.n. and now russia is one of the many countries at the u.n. that said they would support the palestinian bid for a u.n. membership and stay put at statement but at this point. president abbas is saying that there is no point of returning to negotiations that have continued on for nearly two decades have not resulted in anything no peace plan nothing and just resort back to the way everything has been proceeding so while the international community is trying to come together right now to get both sides back to the negotiation table it seems that the palestinians are really driven and determined as the u.s. continues to stand by israel washington is now coming under fire for revelations of its dealings with the country its claim the white house sold dozens of bunker buster bombs to tel aviv weapons that could be used for destroying underground nuclear facilities in iran the deal to buy the bombs during the bush administration in two thousand and five foundered over concerns that israel could pass the

technology on to china but claims have now emerged that the weapons were secretly released shortly after obama took office in two thousand and nine and some observers fear the move could lead to a new war. it seems that there is very few limits that the united states is willing to cross in order to support israel at any cost you have to almost wonder how it is that the tail wags the dog in this respect israel as a trainee nation the size of new jersey and it has no oil wealth it has barely a strategic position and yet it's telling the soul the world's sole remaining superpower what to do and it just goes on and on the bunker busters a five thousand pound bomb that is only used in order to penetrate deep deep fortified positions iran does keep its is instead to keep its nuclear research facilities deep underground and the only way to really access them would be using

exactly this sort of weapon so. it's not speculation to ask whether iran would be interested in would be would care about this transaction this is very much an escalation of the conflict between israel and iran the syrian foreign minister has accused foreign governments of fueling the an arrest in his country this comes international pressure on syria is growing with u.s. urging more u.s. sanctions russia's approach rivals the u.s. backdraft urging the warring sides toward dialogue the u.n. now says more than twenty seven hundred people have been killed by security forces and the government crackdown this year doc if you were him aloof from jordan university thinks the conflict is being fueled from abroad with foreign countries financing the opposition. well i think the moscow has already proven that that is very serious about and still gaping reform has initiated a series of regulations regarding the media a multi-party system but the opposition unfortunately has been refusing to sit down

and dialogue with the regime so the problem here is not the syrian leadership but the opposition which is being encouraged by interference from abroad whether by the gulf call aeration consulate or the nato kirky especially and other groups working on their ground so i don't know what you define as military intervention but if you have an armed mutiny that is being financed and supported from abroad i don't think you can call that a peaceful uprising. little more than a half hour's time former nato chief george robertson tells r.t. that foreign military intervention in syria should only be considered if all else fails. because you can't intervene and when it doesn't mean that you should intervene with you can you know the ball is an out of the resolution that was a un security council resolution either of these things apply of the woman to

what's happening in syria but. at the end of this thing just as it is and it won't take some time to walk and they're not going to leave us by which to be economic political diplomatic let's the period for the next trials and all of the records of the weapon of last resort is the military they fooled the economic diplomatic use political influence to achieve these needs of trying to protect people. and the u.k. has been trying hard to reduce its debt but the spending cuts are forcing growing numbers of people out of work now it's emerged that what few job vacancies there are are going almost exclusively to immigrants who are taking nine out of ten of all new positions are reports. jaymes amongst the growing ranks of unemployed

he's been trying to find a job in social housing since may the competition is fierce that father six agencies now working for each job so you just find that you know looks like this about you they were getting short listed as look at salaries slightly less you know maybe going to go back to college and maybe do some parts on unemployment's now it's eight percent the highest for fifteen years but no matter how hard jamie tries the odds are stacked against him job centers like this one helped fill one hundred eighty thousand new vacancies in the last twelve months but only eight percent of those went to british workers with foreign nationals more successful in the job market nine times out of ten reversing that trend was a key election pledge of the new government promising to slash immigration but a year on its only increased net migration was nearly a quarter of a million last year up to twenty percent on two thousand and nine and britain second biggest annual total ever way off the government's five figure target i

think we're probably over promising given restrictions that they face it didn't make sense to promise to bring the number down to an arbitrary level we initially been having a more honest debate with the public about the limits on what they could do the government claims its target can be met by capping nor e.u. immigration but that ignores how most are coming from within the e.u. where restrictions don't apply entry numbers for eastern europeans rose by eight times in the last year alone as they continue to cash in on the open borders it's unlikely that the measures are better now that target and mark come close. unlikely to me to further measures are necessary for others the problem lies at home pretty patel's an m.p. and from an immigrant family herself she knows what it takes to. succeed here but says most don't go back to thirty forty years ago when you've seen immigrants come

to this country what they wanted to is they want to was called and guess on in life they really do their families think. you know days gone past we used to have a tremendous work ethic in this country we really just i think we've lost some of that it was easy to see that at the job center where most i'm it will migrant workers the problem is that a little bit but i got used to not doing the minimum wage job. so i need to be forced to take in these jobs the government claims it's now doing just that it says we are reforming the welfare system to ensure that we end the benefit dependency which is so many people and finally ensure workplace but once the long term unemployed can be forced to look for jobs there's no guarantee they'll get them coming back to the immigration problem the government simply can't keep on bennett's. london. stay with us here on r t still ahead

a walk in the wilderness for the people of pittsburgh an archipelago in the arctic find out why polar bears have become a much loved symbol and a valuable source of income but also curse. first to russia is looking for a new finance minister after the surprise dismissal of alexei kruger and on monday is become the first fallout of the plan to reshuffle at the top of the country's politics vladimir putin has announced he's running for president in two thousand and twelve and hopes current president dmitry medvedev will become prime minister kruger in reaction to the news by saying he would not serve in a new government headed by the better but many veterans say that anyone who questions his policy policies should resign or more of the possible successors to our business is coming your way in a few minutes. former ukrainian prime minister yulia timoshenko work turned to court tuesday after a two week break in the hearings she's accused of abuse of power during gas deals with russia in two thousand and nine claims she denies to machine goes been on

trial since june and was arrested in august on charges of contempt of court her arrest sparking mass protests in ukraine's capital kiev police clashed with supporters who set up camp outside the court where the hearings were taking place take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe libya's new leaders have approved measures to abolish the country's state security prosecution and courts in the hope of getting rid of remnants of the old regime and this news comes as libya's former rebels breached the colonel qaddafi's hometown sirte it's been under assault for the past several days with hundreds of civilians fleeing violence in the area going civil war has claimed an estimated thirty thousand lives. yemeni anti-government activists have vowed to revolt until and following president ali abdullah saleh speech in which he failed to promise to step down more than one hundred forty people have been killed across the country in the past week in

violence that's escalated since the president returned to yemen after medical treatment abroad more than fifteen hundred people are believed to have died since cosh is between anti-government activists and security forces began. three men opened fire on an egyptian pipeline to israel and jordan causing a large explosion that cut off gas supply it's the sixth such attack on the pipelines in this february when president president hosni mubarak was ousted extent of the damage caused by the blast is not clear a security operation was launched in the area to eliminate hundreds of suspected militants believed to be behind the pipeline attacks. former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn says the civil case against him over an alleged sexual assault should be dropped because of his diplomatic immunity to. lawyer state he kept his right to immunity as an international official between his may resignation and his return to france in september strauss kahn returned to his home country after new york prosecutors dropped the criminal charges against him.

powerful typhoon assad has slammed into the philippines bringing with it heavy rains and winds of up to one hundred seventy kilometers an hour several fishermen were reported missing was also cause the death of a baby who drowned government offices and schools were closed while dozens of domestic flights were canceled and in dryland ferries grounded more than one hundred thousand people were evacuated from flood prone areas. brutal and beautiful for the citizens of the icy arctic archipelago spitzbergen the polar bear is a common sight but despite the obvious dangers there are also a huge draw for visitors or he's our sun a boy who reports on those who get closer to the wilderness and the region's most famous inhabit. bear watching and bearing being watched from the moment you arrive any longer be an airport the king of the arctic never lets you out of his side he watches you collecting your backs from the belt and browsing in the

souvenir shop enjoying spitzbergen spectacular scenery or simply doing a big rush. the pull of various cult of personality is still huge here it makes some dictators down south look like timid hairs in the archipelago bow to him polar bears is a good picture of. promoting small but. it's surroundings. restricted us to you cannot. it has become a symbol for this room. but people here always bear in mind the dangers one european has a higher percentage of gun ownership than any other municipality in norway the country may be debating tighter gun controls following july so you can't massacre but here are the rules for renting firearms have been in these. medieval local taxi driver says he also believes his cell phone at home but never his reference if it

was because of the. once my friend and i were driving our snowmobiles in the countryside when we saw a polar bear we got pretty close to him even started walking toward us when i realized that i left my signal home it was a close call now i try to be more careful all encounters have a happy ending a seventeen year old british poor was killed and for a few companions injury when a hungry polar bear rampage through their camp in early august. just days before they had left an ecstatic post on a blog about having seen the bear from a distance that danger for people traveling in the natural is that they could be seen as prey it's very rare i mean have been about which which has you know a big operation a big operation he cried protection tonight seventy if you police report is yet to be released but local experts believe functioning rifles may have been to blame with twenty five hundred people and three thousand polar bears living on the

spitzbergen archipelago security is obviously an issue to keep in mind and while locals and tourists a strongly advised to carry firearms at all times being loaded for bear is definitely not the way to go here well the death of the british teenager shocked locals some feel killing the bear responsible was unnecessary. the notion that human life is sacred just because it's human life it's medieval only dull books fascination with polar bears break here from sweden or wilderness guide he trains hard to never miss you he says anyone living here realizes that aiming a rifle at a polar bear is like shooting yourself in the food i think it's a lot of choice. because of. the guy it's always us to carry the rifle and things like that so absolutely it's the attraction but that attraction base is. at least based on the danger green and the barrier probably know the perfect recipe for

peaceful coexistence but so far the majority of spitzbergen is locals on two legs and four b. side by side and both communities are growing. artsy longer piano spitzbergen archipelago. and up soon the spotlight speaks with the president of the republican serbska but first corrina brings us the latest business news. our welcome to our business update the south thanks for joining me watson needs a new finance minister following the shock departure of unexpected rain on monday his position became untenable after he publicly stated he would not work under medvedev in the next administration jacob nell from morgan stanley russia says there are few candidates to succeed cauldron but all will find it hard to master the confidence he inspired i think there's quite a number of people in morse code who have the qualifications on paper and perhaps

personality to be the minister of finance visit the central bank governor who works in the ministry of finance his view can he was a deputy minister of finance deputy central bank governor those two could reach the president's economic and those deputy ministers in the ministry of finance such a store check you have the capacity to to to fulfill the role want to trade past the track record he has the credibility and you don't build it up overnight i'm russia needs a steady hand on the fiscal tiller today. the ruble has extent is losses to of two year minimum against the greenback it lost more than a percent on monday with one dollar at more than thirty two rubles so far now in order to support the russian currency the central bank has sold five billion dollars into trading sessions. i want to come back explains what the russian currency me to leave out. what you need i think fundamentally is a joint effort by the european community to come up with

a coordinated approach to the current crisis and such a package that is credible for the markets would serve to stabilize the dynamics the dollar versus the euro accordingly the dynamics of commodity prices and transmission mechanism as well. taking a look at the markets now oil prices are heading up amid speculation that the european central bank may alleviate the region's sovereign debt crisis group to grow. lights were his currently trading at eighty one over eighty one dollars a barrel while brant is at one hundred five dollars. and markets in asia are on the rise after reports that policymakers are considering new plans to support european countries struggling with that financial stocks are leading the rally with both from the tell me it's the intervention from groups gaining around three percent and hong kong commodities sector problems are among the best performers of the medium corp china up five percent. over six percent in the black. the russian

lockets were open and less than one hour on monday they closed. negative. one percent. so far this all but stay with us for headline news with up next.

and. please. just stick. to. a.

wealthy british scientists. market. to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. is a report. thirty

am in moscow he is here r.t. headlights the greek government set to approve more unpopular taxes as a tries to convince european lenders to head over. for another piece of the bailout to avert a looming default meanwhile the greek prime minister is heading to berlin to hold talks with european leaders as his country's debt crisis is spiraling out of control and. un security council are ready to submit the palestinian statehood bid for recognition despite fierce objections from israel and the us which is vowed to veto the move the palestinians could still gain partial recognition from the general assembly where they already have a majority of support. not out of ten new jobs in the u.k. being taken by immigrants this comes as the country struggles to create new work amid a stark rise in unemployment partially fueled by spending cuts.