international news and comment live from moscow this is signs of discontent still evident in the unstable syria even after thousands of regime supporters crowd of the streets of the capital activists say fresh clashes between government troops and men in the north of the country left thirteen the president promised to establish a special committee to drop a new constitution while international pressure builds on him to step down. as the latest from damascus. voices of support. and continuing dissent some and in deadly clashes polar opposites in their demands but in some way united by a newfound zeal to take a stand where the fact that the syrian capital was our little have gathered show

their support for the government is going to look far cry from the images we've been seeing in other cities around the country where there have been reporting a security force has ever had any government protesters however what they get so far about where in this country they call discourse and sometimes television that was very basic you know that night it was. her husband and young children one of many families who braved the heat and joy the crowds in downtown damascus. it's true that we knew nothing about politics before but now we take a stand even if i'm a sunni muslim i'm pro this president. ever since most people started revealing their political stance openly some people would mock me insane since when do you know about politics what do you know there are divisions among family members some are progress time some are anti but that's. yes

. it appears that apathy is becoming less of an option for citizens of this nation now under intense international scrutiny i never watched news i never cared you know i never never had any interest in politics but now i think most of us get it books watch the news media articles and on facebook and i know. that and then you have the right back around the issues of a kid and you can think. yeah there are those like the new i hissing who are no strangers to picking a side and making it known he's long been voicing his discontent and what he calls a repressive regime and today facebook is one of his main tools imported into dissent. activism has evolved in syria for me i feel that my voice goes further now back then it started with stating an opinion that i'm going to jail it hit a good bit and no one would even know about it that has changed now that people are more politically aware that hussein has been thrown in jail says he was tortured

and finds himself constantly looking over his shoulder. i was detained for spreading the word on the violent crackdown in daraa but i'd feel like a coward if i didn't risk my life while those on the streets are doing so asking for the regime to fall a call staunchly opposed by those on the other side yet. we get the chance. to think. what political curiosity and activism among syrians are growing whatever side of the divide they're on people here see the future of their country is at stake but all are adamant that that future is firmly in their own hands. that's our cilia r.t. damascus. and we're also asking you on our website. president assad is still in power while gadhafi is not the majority of us believe that. because china and

russia have opposed military action against syria a little less than a quarter say. more popularity and national support. can see that eighty percent of you think that the syrian opposition movement is clueless. reputations have your say. they're being beaten pepper sprayed and arrested but the determination of the occupy wall street protesters is growing along with the numbers what started with a small group of activists camping outside the new york stock exchange in mid september quickly spread nationwide thousands of americans are fed up with breaking the street corporations grow fast on the profits. the big bank mentality seems to be for long in the white house and explains washington isn't ready to turn its back on old friends. investing in politics has proved to be good business in america just

a few million dollars in contributions and some lobbying can bring your company billions in bailout loan guarantees tax refunds another stimulus all of the expense of the every american taxpayer both in the election system and it's in the ongoing lobbying and sort of influence industry these are powerful powerful businesses. business model is around using influence to break the rules of the game in their favor so far u.s. corporations have been successful in ensuring that the loss introduced to regulate wall street after the financial meltdown of two thousand and eight don't function those measures were effectively scuppered by u.s. lawmakers the corporations were also successful in keeping their tax cuts intact and finding loopholes for getting billions of dollars in refunds the government owed the one percent for the one percent by the one percent and perpetuates itself passes rules that allows the banks to get. our democracy three years after

washington gave almost a trillion dollars of taxpayers' money to bail out corporate giants unemployment in the country is over nine percent the national debt is well past the tipping point and the congress is looking to cut essential social programs i am thousands of americans took to the streets to ask where is their bailout how can i live in a country that arrests a hundred nonviolent people and doesn't arrest a single one of these bankers or the people what caused this collapse just boggles the mind in the meantime goldman sachs one of the main architects of the current crisis is richer than ever it is a now seventeen billion dollars in bonuses alone for its stance when asked about the impunity enjoyed by the corporations president obama said a lot of that stuff wasn't necessarily illegal it was just. immoral and many agree it pretty much stays that way but not only do the lawmakers come

under fire for accepting generous contributions from corporations and then acting to return the favor but the president himself was accused of bias and phone is mana number of occasions one of the most recent scandals involves a solar energy company selling brick which went bankrupt and cost taxpayers almost six hundred million dollars that's the amount that the government approved in loan guarantees despite receiving persistent warnings about the company's financial stability the deal was pushed through by a foundation which in turn was a major donor to president obama's election campaign since last year corporations have been allowed to funnel as much money as they want into political campaigns now they don't even have to disclose the amounts they spend their time trying to value elections is very serious the new law effectively gives the corporations even more influence in washington leaving many americans in fear that their voice might no longer count what drew all these people onto the streets of washington and. the

understanding that their government and their legislators represent the interests of the top one percent as they call them the very wealthy corporations that can afford influence in washington to skew the system in their favor. r.t.t. washington d.c. . writes an activist of the occupy wall street movement in washington d.c. and she believes the protests are finally shed light on corporations leeching off the american people what we're facing now in the united states is a critical situation a dangerous situation where corporations are truly running the country they're buying off very blatantly out politicians and that's why we're out on the streets all over america to say no to this corruption and graft within the business community that go on those over into the political situation it's an. that's a time for people to really look closely at what the pressure points are on these

politicians and on the corporation says as obama said you know he said some of the things they're doing is not illegal but they're immoral and that's really the the crux of when you have these immoral greedy pigs that are taking billions for their personal wealth and don't care when we have homeless all over the world that we have kids that don't have good education anymore that we have roads. and yet the grieving pigs at the top just keep sucking up more and more billions of dollars just for their pockets. this is all to live here most goes to the head for this digging deep the rescue fund gets the green light for more money but cash strapped greece sees no light at the end of the story teller. and the ultimate light snack to check out what's being served up in space is real develop process and calls me. that's going away very soon here on earth.

first a new criminal case has been ordered to get ukraine's former prime minister yulia timoshenko she's been charged with the burden of debts from an energy corporation she headed to the ukrainian budget this comes just two days after two machine co was sentenced to seven years behind bars gas contracts with russia is a correspondent in kiev. this story is very complicated and pretty dark because this case in fact refers to fifteen years ago when the unit was was the head of the united energy systems of ukraine company she signed several contracts with the russian defense ministry and according to prosecutors and key of she owes four hundred million u.s. dollars to the russian defense ministry and the essence of this new criminal case is that she tried to put this debt on to the ukrainians but in this violates the ukrainian law this is of course a very interesting new twist in this saga with the trial of you. indeed to two days ago she was sentenced to seven years in prison for abusing the power during the

signing of contracts of gas deals with russia back in two thousand and nine this new case may only add fuel to the fire off a very tense and very furious ak is a very furious reactions from all over the world we've heard reactions from the united states which condemned the presenting of you gets emotional which we heard reactions from the european union which said that a possible agreement on association between the european union and ukraine could be canceled and even an invitation for mr yana coverage to visit a meeting in brussels in a short future may also be canceled we also heard very harsh reactions from moscow which claimed that all those gas deal signed in two thousand and nine were completely legitimate we've already heard very interesting statements from president bush who said that in fact this particular law under which he was present could be a bullish in ukraine decriminalised by the ukrainian parliament and thus. could be set free you know which also said that the criminal system in ukraine is outdated and need to be reformed silvis reform can in fact set you free but according to

many experts she will still be unable to run for president or run for parliament and will still have to repay almost two hundred million u.s. dollars in damages which she inflicted to the korean budget. four cosmonauts enjoying a long stay aboard the international space station food is one of the few distractions from their day to day routine but preparing a meal is no easy task for scientific chefs at home you must stir up a space safe menu that's both nutritional and tasty peter all of a free lunch that's out of this world. after travelling at phenomenal speed for two days cramped in the small space of a soyuz rocket cosmonauts arriving at the international space station going to be packing but how do you eat in zero gravity. but it well you have to be a bit more careful than down here on earth every little piece of food that gets out of your grip will float away and you will not be able to keep track of it. to make

sure cosmonauts enjoy their lunch without worrying that a rogue morsel will disappear into the inner workings of some potentially lifesaving computer equipment the russian space agency designed this special table it is worth what the deal is you know there are two heating compartments here this area in between is a trap for crumbs it works like a regular vacuum cleaner this is important because choking on a crumb is very risky in zero gravity it can have grieved consequences. all the food eaten in space has to be specially prepared here on earth that preparation doesn't come cheap cosmonauts need three thousand calories a day the same as an olympic sprinter and providing that cost over six hundred dollars a day with most missions lasting for six months each cosmonauts grocery bill comes in at a hefty one hundred ten thousand dollars but mission and those prices it's no wonder that the people behind cosmic catering

a proud of their product. as the cheap designer spice food with twenty three years of experience in the space food industry i can proudly say that russia's place food provides healthiest safest and most nutrition rich diet for a cause an. even the most simple food requires special care and attention this factory in moscow produces space bridge and the work which goes into making it ready for all but it is almost as high tech as the i assess itself. there is no mold in this bread no mold spores we've developed the recipe which stops mold growth the bread doesn't go bad for fifteen months thanks to the special recipe and technologies we use when baking it it's and it's even when it comes to something simple like bread there's still plenty of choice for your hungry cosmonaut. all in all we make five types of brownies ginger red white red that's what i have here on

the table now bribe bread with caraway right bread moscow style and did a great. those currently around one hundred sixty options because we know what's on board the international space station including all of the tastes from home from soups to main courses and desserts and even the basics from salt and pepper to bread. and all tastes pretty good. after a hard day's work on the i assess it's nice to see that humanity's finest minds still have time to play with their food the book. the yellow one for you good right you ready ready good job yeah me here a couple this make it three keep them coming. these are all of artsy. well plenty more stories for it r.t. dot com here's a taste of what's online right now the consequences of these so-called war on terror human rights groups call on the canadian government to arrest former u.s.

president george w. bush when he visits the country later this month. and while saddam hussein's brawls baltics is going under the hammer that's part of his famous statue of course you can find out what happened after it was torn down a dot com. expanded eurozone bailout fund is being given the final go ahead slovakia's parliament has approved the four hundred forty billion euro facility after tuesday's vote against it saw the country's ruling coalition collapse the increased cash would go to struggling nations such as greece. grinds to a halt in a forty eight hour strike against the government's austerity policies demonstrators marched and waved flags and the latest in a series of rallies and protests to hit the cash strip country cash strapped country i should say and e.u. leaders are seeking to prop up the banking sector during the debt crisis could spread their next top european banks have spoken against demands to increase their reserves british national ferrars says the e.u.

commission is seeking to grab more power in the region. what it is it's a way of preparing the banks for the inevitable deforms that that are going to come from those euro zone countries and that's why they're recapitalizing the banks and i've been in this parliamentary chamber with mr barroso these people are absolutely intent on creating a united states of europe they don't care how many millions of people. they don't care about the tide of human misery that they cause they have got their political goals all these bailouts helping the people in greece and portugal. what they're actually doing is they're giving money to these countries to give back to our banks in the first place i mean the whole thing. what these countries need who are trapped inside this economic prison. is they need to do. without devaluation having austerity packages pushed upon them which is forcing them into a downward deflationary spiral which in my opinion in greece and possibly in

portugal too could lead to revolution what we're doing is stupid and very very dangerous indeed there is now a split in europe from north to south we are witnessing a democratic revolution against the whole concept of the euro and the idea that people like mr brown my old friend herman van ryn poyet should govern five hundred million people it is not acceptable. in other world news in brief this world updated very nearly twenty minutes in moscow french officials have dropped their inquiry into. the prosecutor's office says strauss kahn admitted to section advances right tristan but there isn't sufficient evidence to support rape allegations. the french politician resigned as head of the international monetary fund after facing similar charges which were later dropped in. libya's troops claiming they are in control of most of the stronghold city of sirte are still facing pockets of heavy resistance from the

colonel's loyalists they've been denied earlier reports that one of gadhafi sons a senior army officer and security advisor has been captured in the city human rights group amnesty international has accused the country's interim leadership of torturing thousands of detainees and called for the abuse to stop. the u.s. and south korean leaders have pledged closer trade and security ties in washington d.c. after the two countries struck a long sought free trade deal president lee myung bak visit comes as opposition continues in his home country against south korea's plans to build a naval base which many believe will be politically and environmentally harmful u.s. warships will be able to use the facility or the soul denies it is being built to strengthen america's presence in the region. being carried out in japan after high levels of radiation were found in the cities of tokyo and your home or the levels

there are higher than in some areas that were evacuated around the crippled fukushima nuclear plant scientists are working to map how far the contamination has spread as both cities are more than two hundred kilometers away from the disaster zone this comes seven months after an earthquake and tsunami brought fukushima close to a nuclear meltdown. and japan's radioactive disaster reached as far as europe germany was one of the first to react deciding to stop all use of nuclear power in just eleven years from now the country hopes to get most of its energy from renewable sources but this tom discovered it may be jumping the gun. germany has long had a strong green anti nuclear movement but it was one accident that finally turned the tide against nuclear power than. by twenty twenty two and the use of nuclear energy in germany in that so what now the green movement and its hopes for renewable energy but being given

a huge boost renewables mostly wind turbines and solar panels currently supply eighteen percent of germany's electricity indeed germany has big plans for green energy i mean to go from eighteen to eighty percent renewables after the nuclear switch off but a closer look at the russia out of nuclear reveals there's more hope riding on its renewable replacements the natural readiness that planned eighty percent will take forty years at least and with nuclear electricity disappearing in germany in eleven years that will leave a decades long energy gap we have new. fire power plants here in order not to have that kind of blackout germans have long been world leaders in their enthusiasm for a new about energy and their disdain for nuclear power now they've taken the leap of faith but it's far from when technologies like this will be able to take over or

whether in fact germany will have to resort back to the fossil fuel way ironic seeing as the nuclear switch off was pushed by an anti emissions green lobby and it gets worse as any replacement power green or not will require billions of dollars of construction expense pushing up the cost of electricity energy and electricity prices in germany are pretty high compared to our competitors in europe now if they go further up then we think we'll lose competitiveness that could lead to major industries relocating to. duction out of germany but perhaps the greatest problem facing renewable efforts comes from the same public the back to nuclear shutdown in the first place it's easy to say you want renewables but already massive opposition is emerging to the massive power grid lines and infrastructure that will have to be built all over the country except as i think it's

a more concern as the greatest day economics not valid to policies support for the public acceptance all of which could leave germany very far from its green dreams of a renewable energy system tom bassam r.t. . just turning twenty four minutes past the hour now here in moscow the business update with creator is coming your way in just a few moments stay with us after this short break.

brighton if you knew me about some from funds to. don't come. early welcome to our business update the soft europe's biggest banks must raise billions of dollars in capital to withstand financial turmoil on the markets that's the plan by the e.u. commission to contain the escalating debt contagion now the growing fears banks may take losses on bonds from countries with shaky finances like greece you beginning of eleven call from troika doll cover says that even the worst scenario won't have any serious effect on russia while commodities are strong. russia has limited her

exposure to rid. of those toxic assets such as the greek bonds so russia may have a potentially an impact through prices if for commodity prices goals don't look for that we will keep exporting relatively same avoidance of gas of crude oil products even in the case of some slowdown in europe for. the major effect comes from prices but will fade as the case i see no reason for the prices to go to seriously consider that because liquidity being injected will be injected and was injected. or it's also or remarkable that despite all those fears in the past two months well it didn't go below one hundred dollars per barrel. let's take a look at the markets now all is trading in the red after the american petroleum institute reported u.s. gasoline demand from the most in more than five years in china last month exports climbed the least since february as imports slowed light sweet is trading at eighty

three dollars a barrel and brant is at one hundred ten dollars a barrel this hour and u.s. dogs bounce all fellows off the session led by tech shares after slovakia was reported to have approved europe's payout fund taking some pressure off the old bank stocks are dragging the markets down however after j.p. morgan chase reported that it slowed down investment banking its income bank of america is also down both losing over four percent and european stocks fell on thursday led by banks as well lloyds banking group and world bank of scotland dropped to foot ratings downgraded both companies to a from double a minus b.n.p. probably bob was among the biggest decline is in europe dropping six point seven percent mining companies were also down following a report of slowing export growth in china while rolls royce rallied ten percent on the foot sea after it announced a new joint venture with united technologies. and turning to russia now here markets finished the trading day lower weight by energy stocks that's as oil

dropped after the international energy agency reduced its global forecast to twenty twelve let's have a look at some individual samples on them isaac's decline index is led by was led by gas prom that was down two percent. one point one percent the company says it's going to spend more than ten billion dollars a year over the next decade to develop huge projects pulling metal you raised earlier games the company has reported a forty percent increase in revenues for the first nine months and. that's all i have for you this hour but don't forget you can always find most stories just log on to our website r t v dot com slash business headlines up next i'm going.

nature and discovery. communicate with the wild. and become free. nature can give you. good will. bring you the latest in science and technology from.

the future covered. with this is all. good to have you with us this out top stories now the syrian activists have a new crackdown. in the capital of president assad battles global pressure on his rule. in the us protesters determined to stamp corporate greed to take their grievances to the doors of the wealthy it's a huge big business of trying to buy elections. and ukraine's former prime minister faces new charges two days after she got seven years behind bars for abusing. tracks with moscow. with more stories more developments in less than half an hour from now in the meantime.