here's survival stories coming up. live from our headquarters in central moscow if you're watching our team with me and you see now it's two pm here in the russian capital one pm in athens and greece is closed for forty eight hours flights are grounded schools shops and factories all quiet as the country indoors was being called the mother of all strikes it's arguably the biggest protest since the financial turmoil that's crippling the country began but more cuts could be coming are two star furth reports. you can see behind me already the numbers growing outside the parliament building the beginning of the forty eight hour general strike i'd already lots and lots of people turning out we've got the riot police in front of the parliament building that make a great week that we've been despite we've got the upcoming votes of parliament

even more austerity measures to be passed to try and meet the demands of the foreign investors and the weekend the leaders will be meeting in brussels to decide really what innes they're going to do about this crisis but we've been here before we had the strike at the beginning of the month that was a public sector strike even more people expected today and now things at the moment you could garbage already lining the street the rubbish collectors have been on strike people instantly reached the breaking point and really now for a much more social response because the people here said the sort of tax based measures that have been used by the government and e.u. leaders to try and plug this massive deficit in the budget simply isn't having the desired effect and you can see the anger on the street the people who really have had enough of this is very very tricky this really what you see at the moment is

a very tip of the iceberg because what's actually going on in this country is that they're suffering from crippling unemployment suffering from these huge tax hikes most people in greece have had their wages cut some by up to about thirty percent to very difficult times for them indeed people here said you know once you have people as part of the problem the not as part of the solution then the simply not going to be able to reach an answer so wealthy e.u. leaders are discussing their financial rescue plans and fiscal policies really they're going to be want to be considering how they get the people in these countries back onside and how to regain growth in this country it's such a difficult time well financial analyst patrick young says the situation in greece is so dire that more belt tightening won't help it shed its debt. i think we're actually coming close to the end because ultimately the greek economy is in such a mess there's simply nothing can be done i mean what we're trying to do here is take the world's most obese person and give them

a crash diet so they're going to turn into i don't know cindy crawford by the end of next year i mean it's simply impossible you can't do that the greek railways for example i mean the salary bill something like one hundred million euros the total amount of income is like one hundred million euros in total it costs about seven hundred million euros i believe to run the railway system you cannot possibly manage to change those numbers in such a short period of time the simple truth is greece has too much debt no matter of belt tightening is going to change it now what's going to happen is we're going to have to take what we call in banking terms i haircut on the debt and ultimately it's not going to be cutting of the hair a lot of people are going to be left somewhat bald. tell us what you think greece is way out could be by voting on our web site r t v dot com let's take a look at how the votes are going so far almost half of you advise happens to

follow america's footsteps and invade some oil rich region just over a third says it's up to the greeks to work harder and spend last ten percent believe greece needs to go cap in hand to be you and plead for how small you back the idea of the country selling or mortgaging part of its territory to create a canonical wow well tell us how would you solve greece's problems are to call. in other news and to wall street activists are turning some of their anger against new york police over what they see as excessive use of force hundreds of people have been arrested during the five week long protest with police using pepper spray at rallies despite that the root cause of the campaign is still winning over hard pressed americans losing confidence explain. the popularity of the movement does seem to be growing not just among the demonstrators but with the regular americans as well in fact here in new york a recent poll that came out showed that seven in ten new yorkers support the

movement and identify with the big frustrations the major frustrations that the demonstrators have expressed namely what they see as corruption in wall street and in washington undue influence by wall street over politicians and the political system in washington d.c. the nation's capital now we have sued unfortunately and we've seen something and heavy handed response by the police department here in the new york city area you can see the mass arrests over the weekend in times square as well as around the spread across the country for example in seattle a total of nine protesters were arrested after failing to evacuate the camp after being asked by police to do so in chicago about one hundred seventy five protesters were arrested in arizona. more than one hundred protesters were arrested after demonstrating and what they say is a nonviolent civil disobedience tactic we do know that several of the officers

implicated on video with some of the violent are being investigated now the movement does not seem to show any signs of giving up steam that's the there's a new global deal action that's being overturned tonight not just here. as well as the world in different cities but we also know that you show situation protesters the new york that the. protesters recently announced they have earned some three hundred thousand dollars from donations the money that's dropped in by the scruff of the purpose. what they will do with that money remains to be seen but they are getting more and more support it appears at least by the american people. parties lucy conference is there she's been reporting from the thick of the protests since in new york i should say since they began last month and she's constantly updating her twitter feed as an event unfold so you can follow her

online. then rest engulfing syria is descending into all out conflict with the growing violence claiming lives on both sides eleven soldiers were killed by army defectors this week shortly after the u.n. warned there's a high chance of opposition forces taking up arms if the crackdown on protesters continues our taste test our sylvia is in damascus. this is the office of the trader reads one of the messages on the wall israel and the u.s. were able to buy you with a thousand dollars says another. this is where several opposition leaders work. he had been a vocal critic and had spent fourteen years in jail a very bad time he recalls like many opposition members he thinks there's really very little room for because alleviation under the current environment. because troops must be withdrawn to their backs. it is interesting that i know. listening to people. he

insists peaceful protesters were forced to respond to attacks by security forces but he acknowledges that now it's simply not black and white responsibility for the violence goes both ways. this killing civilians but we have some civilians killing. soldiers the way our son was one of the first soldiers killed since protests began in the country he was killed in on march twenty three. foreign media acknowledged that too many of the army and national guards have lost their lives so how can some people say that on groups didn't exist. these civilians and members like my son the members killed other members this is impossible the media that says it is plain lying. and variant lies the problem the moment. there is confusion about what's really going on in the

organization is taken by each side and used to defend their position so if you hear only arguments from one side of them amid this atmosphere of confusion and misinformation the push for reforms continues what's angering very forms this is another question whenever a new legislation is made we see an escalation of the security situation. but we come up. on the government was. trying to propagate all voices from both sides are calling for dialogue to sit down and talk to the syrians themselves agree that if this crisis is to be resolved that foundation of trust should be first laid down but with each. day. the school rises over with. damascus. well there may be calls for talks in syria but across in libya the words are much

tougher especially from washington wanted dead or alive and the sooner the better hillary clinton says the u.s. is keen to see gadhafi captured or killed more on that just ahead what's. good news russia and the c.i.s. what's the next level of economic integration all but really comes of this commonwealth have agreed to a great deal. more in this business. a russian woman accused of spying in the u.k. is fighting attempts to deport her from the country. tonight all charges of espionage shouldn't appeal before a special immigration commission but she didn't met having an affair with the m.p. she used to work for ever bennett is covering the case and now joins us live from london ivor it's got the british tabloids going again a story of spy accusations always a favorite and now this affair with the british and lead us through the case. well

certainly it's a really juicy case this one the main point it was focused on in the trial so far has been kathy is to live yet as relationship with mike hancock a member of parliament she was working for as a researcher up until two thousand and ten short before her arrest and you know it's always rumored after her arrest that she was conducting an inappropriate relationship with him because he's married and has emerged as fact yesterday that she was conducting an affair with him for four years from two thousand and six when they met to two thousand and ten shortly before her arrest now it also most yesterday in the trial that she was actually writing about this in her diary we heard an excerpt from that about the first night they met which is when she was working as a chaperone for foreign diplomats in moscow he approached her for sex that first night offering her a cd and money even to try and persuade her she said no but their relationship did blossom soon after that when she moved to england to study for a master's she also then soon after that after their meeting up at weekends it

emerged that she started to work for him first as an intern and then as a full time employee researching. for him in parliament now it was suggested yesterday by the representative for the government the home office which is trying to deport her suggesting that she was working as a spy that she was tasked by the russian intelligence services to work as a honeytrap targeting mike can call the m.p. because of his position he was although an back bench m.p. he was on the committee for defense and also he was chair of the all party committee on russia so we have access to a lot of documents now suggesting that she was a honeytrap for this not only because of his position but also because they said of his real reputation for extramarital indiscretions now she denied this you deny that she was trying to access secret documents denied that she was trying to influence parliamentary questions however did also emerge the. she was convinced

she had previously conducted other relationships with other senior government officials in diplomats one with a thirty year old dutch diplomat when she was eighteen and also later an affair with nato representatives well she denies the claims that she was working as a spy she admits to the affairs but she says she's innocent that's why she's trying to fight her deportation now her case will not be heard by jury but it will be heard by a panel of three judges one of which includes steven lander which is of who is the former head of m i five the british security service now that was disputed by the to alleviate his lawyers saying that he was biased and therefore it can't be impartial however. dismissed by the court and the case is expected to conclude in six days time all right well sex and spies always a good way to sell papers especially in the british press i ran it live from london

. the u.s. says it's ready to offer a mask our written assurances that the anti-missile defense system being built in europe is not directed against russia the kremlin has been anxious about the project insisting on legally binding guarantees that the scheme won't be a threat to russian defenses well a senior lawmaker in moscow told r.t. that washington's latest offer is welcome but not enough. written declarations or to be you shoot or to be drawn in case something changes in the leadership of the united states all the legally binding documents. agreements conventions calls of the instrument which will surface where the russian concerns the recent reaction of. this program was rather coarse and. because this is definitely meant not just against iran. north

korea it is meant to compensate the russian nuclear strategic potential so i seeing that the american politicians the people who work with the president of the united states now seek. the want to produce something to russia in order to satisfy the russian concerns about the written declaration are a good step forward but this is not enough nato forces have given serbs another twenty four hours to work out a compromise over the road barricades in northern kosovo if not it will act they were built in protest at kosovo probably and customs officials being placed at two border crossings with serbia but the situation and a standstill with two previous nato deadlines to dismantle passing with no action from either side we have reports. the deadline set by the nato led peacekeepers in

kosovo known as k four has already been postponed twice following demands from the serb communities leaders here in kosovo the cost of an serbs and the ethnic minority in the mostly bad unpopulated cost of i have been protesting against the ban in custom and police officers walking in the northern part of course of a many are very skeptical there about a possible way out of this conflict described in it as a deadlock and say that would either turn into another frozen territorial conflict only to more violence just days ago when some of the barricades there were taken away kosovo people were injured several days ago a french officer from a four committed suicide at the checkpoint known as. we haven't heard any official statement about his death but this is clear that this situation this even pass both serbs and albanians as well as international going as ations functioning in kosovo

found themselves is playing its negative and possibly even level. wednesday is expected by many here on the ground to be the day when this long running dispute finally get moving ahead of today's meeting between all the parties been involved in this conflict we have been able to speak to deputy serbian minister for possible here and he told us that everybody is looking for compromise right now but at the same time no one is ready to yield and we have much more people to get. on that. we can bring to you. because of course on the part of the you know more than enough . right but no one can say for sure at this moment whether any decision will be taken today but expectations and hopes are really high. well more reaction on that online at our teens facebook page you can watch our interview with serbia's chief negotiator on the standoff explains why belgrade

a cell opposed to attempts to create a border between serbia and kosovo. america's chief diplomat hellary clinton says washington hopes to see ousted libyan leader colonel gadhafi captured or killed soon the statement came during her unannounced visit to tripoli with a mission to offer aid and support to the country's new rulers professor paul sheldon foote from california state university who's worked in a number of arab countries says clinton's attitude is to be expected as you know already america and many others large interests economic interests in libya which is actually amazing because gadhafi was doing everything that the west wanted in fact he was wasting his people's money on investments and a soccer team in italy financial times those are not in the interest of the libyan people if i don't know what the lesson is supposed to be for other leaders around the world if what more can you do for the west the gadhafi was doing it don't

forget who hillary clinton is in two thousand and eight if you go to youtube and type in hillary clinton no glitterati run as a candidate for president you threaten to kill every man woman and child tourney run into a wastebasket there and ashtray. america's ever frosty relations with iran is what crosstalk gets to grips with next hour as officials rally to prove to ron was plotting to kill the saudi ambassador to the us not everyone is convinced here's some of what's ahead. this person who seems to be mad goes to mexico he said he is drug runner that i have a cousin who is a high general in the iranian armed forces and then they wired one hundred thousand dollars i mean even if the people who made up the story had read a couple of spy novels they know that they don't wire money especially from iran to mexican drug dealers they would do it in cash then he when he is in prison

he calls this so pose an iranian general and he tells him on the phone to carry out the operation i mean come on the phone a senior iranian commander on an international line to the united states to the point about reading spy novels i think that goes both ways i think if the claim that mr marandi seems to be making the obama administration simply invented this plot out of whole cloth well you know they've read spy novels too so you might think they would do a better more convincing job if they were just simply trying to snow the rest of the world. it's twenty one minutes past the hour some more world news for you turkey's military has an air and ground operation on the iraqi border against kurdish militants is in response to a kurdish attack which killed at least twenty four soldiers and left a dozen others wounded the deadliest in several years turkish authorities have not

yet confirmed their retaliation occurred minority has been a problem for ankara for decades resorting to violence in an attempt to try and forge its own government. police in britain have begun a victim of community of irish travelers from a site where they've lived legally for more than a decade a large force of officers and bailiffs encountered some resistance from residents and supporters who objects or fought back when caravan was set on fire as police moved in the travellers call it as an it cleansing even though they have no permission to settle on a land. seventeen days alone scambling for food and water a real life robinson crusoe has been rescued from a remote island in russia's north and although he was eventually found his discovery was only by chance. of has the shipwrecked sailor story. the moment of knows he's saved these rescuers are the first people he's seen for

seventeen days they didn't search for him no one reported sergei's disappearance but found him by complete accident his chances of survival had been slim. i was here to collect seaweed but the weather was bad and my boat capsized and crashed i swam to the island but there was no one there my cell phone was wet and didn't work there was no food. i survived by drinking rain water and eating kelp i was very scared. i made a shelter to hide from the rain but soon despair set in. really for the first ten days i was looking out for boats and planes but over the last three days i had no hope. doctors say sergei has suffered physical and psychological trauma. he is suffering from hypothermia and nourishment he was psychologically damaged to me to try and he was on the verge of suicide. that he again your full recuperate in

hospital for the next fortnight perhaps the most surprising aspect of the story isn't the survey was able to survive on the island or the fact that rescuers managed to locate him considering the hundreds of similar islands in the area but the fact that for two weeks nobody not his friends or his family thought it necessary to report him missing. remember the world's at your fingertips at our teen dot com were across the stories you might not find elsewhere an alarming trend known as drunk or axia that's endangering the health and education of some american college girls or skipping meals not to save money but to get drunk more easily. than star war security the plan for russia and nato to jointly develop a global guard not just against misfiled but asteroids and other threats from space we've got the idea outlined for you online at our team dot com.

up next here in our team dimitri is here with a live business update. russian most of the c.i.s. partners have agreed to create a free trade zone simplified were achieved at a meeting of the commonwealth prime ministers on tuesday the move could significantly increase trade between the countries already risen fifty percent the first half of the year to more than one hundred thirty billion dollars in the course of the details. this comes after two decades of debate and even though it's not a done deal it's definitely head in there and causing some stir in the process most of the c.i.s. countries have signed on and those are our media ballerinas true based on

kazakhstan moldova russia forces was that you can stand and ukraine though still thinking about it are i said about john respect to stalin and turkmenistan and they have to make a decision by the end all be here at closer union with former soviet states has been vladimir putin's priority since announcing his candidacy and the upcoming presidential elections the prime minister says that will cancel import and export duties on a certain groups of goods but this has to raise concerns especially with the government considered me to do regime union which some say is intended to compete with the european union and especially given the fact that the e.u. so do with the trade it has sometimes sinners now on alert it's all internally it's seen as a precursor to russia's entry into the w t l as some of the participants are already members and the word here is that no one is looking into replace anything it's all

about providing better conditions to start a new joint effort prices and increase the competitiveness of the economies and evolved. as move to the market so the oil is slightly lower in electronic asian trading after posting gains the previous session brant lead is trading at one hundred eleven dollars per barrel light sweet is that eighty eight dollars seventy two cents european stocks opened positive alternate confirmed reports in the guardian newspaper that europe's key bailout father would be significantly expanded despite the fact moody's has downgraded the spanish credit rating with a negative forecast the footsie is still up one point one percent the dax has a boosted his games to one to hop. in. rusher the markets are also for them to find the the my services are part of the said the r.t.s. one point six percent main drivers of that. energy shares of course we're

seeing some gains in this burbank also one of the most liquid stocks we have on the markets up four point four percent and the company says its privatization of seven point six percent stake is unlikely to happen this year due to the market uncertainty and also the federal great company of s.k.u. yes it raised earlier losses the company first norm is two fold increase in the first half net profit and that's all we have time for in this edition of the business news on r.t. we will be back in around fifty five minutes time to headline.

the lists . cultures that so much given to each musician on the market would reads like

a cheap hollywood movie script the ranee is accused to have been behind a plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the us to rent. for the r t a line from moscow our top stories greece is enduring a massive forty eight hour all out strike the text expected to be the largest since the financial turmoil began cannes about. thousands already outside parliament in athens of lawmakers prepared to vote on even more crippling cops to avert a national bankruptcy. is feared syria's unrest is turning into a full fledged civil war with soldiers reportedly turning on each other eleven troops were killed this week adding to that three thousand or more died since the crackdown on anti-government protests began in march.