protesters demanding egypt's military leadership step down immediately are greeted by tear gas and rubber bullets in cairo's tahrir square. so. please don't. take to the streets to. the details just a few. rounds on the west accusing it of hurting the prospects of peace talks in syria ballance between protesters and government forces carries on other bases. and iran's banks news corp with londoners to run feels trust

come its way. the u.k. slaps for sanctions on iran after concerns over its nuclear program severing all financial ties with the country more details to follow. and russell markets goes deeper in the red as equities around the world tumble on concerns that the sovereign debt crisis could spread to the euro zone's biggest economies turning for more on that in our business and plenty of. international news and comment live from moscow twenty four hours a day this is the thousands are massing in egypt's tahrir square to modeling the country's military rulers step down in the third day of clashes police here protestors were to gas and rubber bullets at least twenty four people have been killed in the largest demonstrations since february uprising that ousted dictator

hosni mubarak. is life in car. you've been in tahrir square the entire day what is the mood like there. are tens of thousands of. people. jaime the mood is incredibly afy the people here are very very angry they're very frustrated and they say they going no way they prepared to set what a way being called a second of revolution out many of the protesters i've been talking to say that they caved to time for the cause now just to the polls that if you people have been badly injured possibly killed there are still radek outbursts of violence amongst the protesters and security forces it's very difficult to tell exactly what's going on inside this crowd and certainly people are afraid they frightened but people saying that they really have a real sense of making history and making sure that this time the tough here demonstrations will work the violence that we've seen over the last few days as

indeed it was violence witnessed in egypt sometimes there's a last chance of being able to have the army and the police force to be activists but many people saying that this violence point to the. generals and the way they operate with the firing what the sixty seven which they feel that the firing and it should be seen that they stick out one and say that is the main reason why the flowers the streets despite the fact that they are parliamentary elections because it's monday the first such elections it was right here it was because it did offer any suggestions for being fair and that they would be if the intention to remain in power who are just her or her life there changes for egyptians in the wide months since those original uprisings. first people here in fact all the people get in are still there has been any change of anything the only thing that's changed except

that in favoring when we saw that first of elation there was a real sense of hope a real sense of wanting to make a different country in a sense that it could be achieved this a lot of despondency here there's a lot of disappointment and that's why we're working. i think this outburst of anger and frustration on the streets of task here is where it's also raised the question of the viability of those elections and i spoke to you that starts those elections that are supposed to happen on monday is really several political parties as well as independent candidates said that they will be suspending their even trial platforms the irony of all of this is that egyptians are worried that the violence we are witnessing here might be a good enough excuse for the military council in power to respond as you say it should so you could see this kind of violence and this kind of our point of anger that fire on the people but again speaking to protesters the city listening to the slogans so disappointing on ability to step down beside them saying it's time here

has we taken on if this is an inspiration to people that this revolution that's the way the defense revolution failed they are insisting that this revolution will succeed. live in cairo thanks very much indeed for that update. well egypt's elections has paul as just mentioned may be just around the corner but question marks over their legitimacy hang heavy let's now talk to jeremy called when he's a labor m.p. and member of the stop the war coalition joining me live from london. well the protesters are demanding the military regime steps by all accounts is very unlikely but who do the protesters want to replace them. well i think what they want is the opportunity to decide their own future in their own government and what they have is a military council running the country ever since the bar except it is essentially full of mubarak appointees and it seems to me that the behavior of the army would

be the police to build several straight as a prayer square example as provocative designed to create an atmosphere in which they can say elections can be held because it's unsafe really they're playing with fire because if the elections are perspiring because of the behavior of the military and presumably the three cows embassy itself has been longer in power a clock permit that will then provoke more demonstrations and a whole new uprising across the whole country and so i hope that the military begins to see some sense and recognize that they have got to withdraw from the political scene if those elections do take place the muslim brotherhood is tipped to win those elections is this a case of the military being concerned that would happen is this actually the muslim brotherhood which in fact it's been observed that they could well be behind these uprisings is it a case of the muslim brotherhood against the military you know. i think it's a case of a lot of people against the building trades not just the muslim brotherhood who are

protesting it's every other party or most of the protesting you know your correspondent quite rightly said a number of now said they will suspend their campaign with a view to the elections not being held because the associated with that but not holding elections is not a solution in the long run the solution has to be a proper democratic system in egypt so the people can decide what breakup will be is basically they've had a military government for a very long time ever since mubarak before him so there's a power in egypt essentially it's the mood for you hold the groups rule the roost but we're looking at those demonstrations taking place at the moment as we're talking to you at least twenty four people have reportedly been killed yet no condemnation from the west unlike the situations we're seeing in syria and libya why are we seeing double standards when it comes to government's crackdown on protesters here well it's western double standards at work par excellence they invaded libya in order to change the government because of threats against the

people. they have put sanctions against some countries because of oppressions of civil liberties the case of bahrain saudi arabia has invaded bahrain in order to protect the monarchy in the case of saudi arabia massive violations of human rights no intervention i think the west basically quite happy to carry on the military structure in egypt into people's lives and that is really because the whole this. candidate set the military's future intentions the military saying it does not want to lose grip on power nevertheless even if there is an election whoever gets into power in egypt the military still wants to hold on to him to hold on pulling those strings behind the scenes surely that is undemocratic so how can the u.s. and western countries except that. it's completely democratic the military of always had a privileged position in egyptian politics three high ranking officers enjoy an

extremely privileged position and financially they're virtually independent of the state in many respects this is any new government coming in challenges the authority of military is going to have a huge battle and it seems to me the brush has been drawn even before the elections taking place in the west has to wake up you cannot on the one hand to deal with kingdoms and dictatorships that repressive rights of the same time pretend to be on the side of the demonstrators democracy and human rights of all people west has got to decide in reality i've got to say it's time for the military in egypt to step aside despite all the weapons and everything they've been fed over the past two decades where the worst game called in live in london thank you very much indeed for your thoughts you're welcome now moscow has accused the west of stirring up tensions in the arab world by calling for the overthrow of the syrian regime russia says calls from certain states for the syrian opposition to avoid dialogue with the government are only provoking violence artie's people of reports. what we heard

from russian foreign minister sergei lavrov today was him reiterating russia's position on the ongoing conflict in syria position is that they want to see negotiations regime change become the final outcome in not conflict sergei lavrov called what he called the western calls for assad to step aside and also for the opposition in syria not to negotiate with as such he called that a provocation saying that that would not bring about peace that would only spare on the opposition to continue the fight for through seeing so far over the last eight months has resulted in three and a half thousand people being killed in that country as a lover of saying that this international provocation should not happen it's of course of course you do in syria we're now seeing a situation where the arab league is calling for a whole to violence and the beginning of dialogue and western countries around the capitals of some countries of the region and making calls to the country expressly

recommending the opposition hold no talks with the assad regime it looks like a political provocation on an international scale yes violence has to be stopped but this demand has to be addressed to the authorities and the only groups in the syrian opposition now this isn't the first time they said gill of law has accused the west of meddling in the syrian situation no he also suggested that there was a shadowy hand of western governments behind the arab league's decision to suspend syria from their group last week now. because the last country to be suspended from the arab league before syria was libya and not the situation in the in libya these what we saw in libya is something that russia really does not want to see happen in syria also the syrian opposition who are here in moscow last week their leaders also saying they did not want to see a civil outcome is what happened in libya where international intervention took.

intervention straying will be on the parameters of un resolutions that will lay down this type is something that both russia and the syrians want to avoid happening in that country. peter of reporting there spain is shifting right to attempt to balance the books the country conservatives have won a landslide victory in a general election they now have to tackle record unemployment of over twenty percent and find a way out from underneath a growing pile of debt because r.t.d. has been hearing the spanish don't hold much hope that the new crew will bring any change. this is what the spaniards want from the elections but it's very unlikely they'll get it the popular party may have won sunday's polls but it's highly unlikely they're in for an easy term the reality of the economic crisis in spain means five million people out of work while only half million households without a wage earner and the youth unemployment rate which has shot up to nearly fifty percent this is it appears the winner will have to deal with but will they really

be able to make a difference probably not believes gail allard an economics professor at madrid's even a school we're going to have to cut benefits sharply we may have to differentiate among recipients of benefits we may have to eliminate programs and this could really be. we may be seeing the death knell of the welfare state but most spaniards have had enough of budget cuts and empty promises protests by the fifteen m. movement as so-called indignant marches have been spreading throughout spain since march many people have chosen not to go to the polls on sunday believing politicians will not help the country i think people have been disappointed with the choices they have come in all through throughout this campaign really for the last couple of months at least because i think they feel that there isn't a great deal of difference between the two candidates in terms of what they want to and it seems there is no easy way out of the current economic downturn in fact some of the minorities in the parliament believe spain is in

a vicious circle and. this is all politics are being dictated to in brussels the elections will help in creating more jobs it will do the opposite public expense will go down it was purchasing power will go down that will mean fewer investments and that translates into unemployment. and though there may be new faces in the spanish government they will have to deal with the old problems in much the same way meaning nothing is likely to change for spain neared already tired of the economic catastrophe in the country it even goes quality madrid. the new leaders of struggling greece and italy are in brussels as they try to prove their countries are on track with petty cutting reforms former central banker lucas papademos needs to secure the next e.u. and i.m.f. bailout tranche without which athens will go bankrupt before the end of the year let's not get more from george cutting grass who is a lawyer and a professor of constitutional law and he joins us live from athens so will greece's

new technocrat leadership finally be able to get the much needed rescue cash or is out in still heading for a de fault and then out of the eurozone very probably won't go to pick this cast but of course this is not going to save us because as long as these austerity commercials are going to be there is no way out for greece for the other countries of the eurozone so what are the most. sorry so no way out for greece where does it go then what happens next well. you see that that is not just the problem it is a problem of the euro zone that's occurring now the count is not. like italy even france is now at the center of that the more so the problem is that this new liberal policy is not if you see it not only. cannot offer any kind of way out of the crisis. therefore the only solution is to go to the school isn't.

just talk about the situation there in athens one member of the greek coalition has refused to sign guarantees for the e.u. and i.m.f. that he would do whatever it took to meet the terms of the bailout no matter who wins the election clearly concerns over greek sovereignty here just how much control does brussels have over athens now. it is not only the control of brussels it is the lack of democratic legitimacy not only we have a prime minister that never has never been elected but. out completely out of starts with a majority of the population so. the right to see that there is not all the case of democratic unity but also of nationalists over the. european commission is once again calling for the introduction of euro zone why bonds is the best way out

of a crisis germany is obviously against the idea since of course the euro bonds will force poland to shoulder most of the weight and surely this really isn't fair on german taxpayers is it. you're absolutely right. creating a kind of neoliberal. europe because you cannot have a common currency without having a common european economic policy that would just be good in a way. that germany accumulates. the damage in. the economy so for the poorer. countries of southern europe so it's. either to continue this way not only idea or liberal agenda but also create europe will come back to basics having a democratic economic policy all over europe. it's interesting you're talking about the issue of democracy we've had the spanish people have little faith in their

politicians and many of refused to go to the polls just recently here's another example of a euro zone government in trouble you've talked about a democratic issue here but what does it tell us about the political leadership and and the future and indeed the current state of democracy in europe. you're absolutely right if you see the. very high percentage of approval this is not due to the approval of the policies but the deep disappointment that. people have. spent in both of these scandals so. it's gone back up completely discredited unfortunately we did not get our political or this political act in that it cannot be won without any kind of democratic and what is going to be messy so this period of your mortgage is not going to last both because this is.

exactly because they love any kind of approval of the electorate. george cutting grass thank you very much indeed for your thoughts laura and professor of constitutional law joining us live in athens thanks for your time. thank you very much for more money matters are being chewed over on our website at the moment r t dot com should you log on right now you can find out how economists are predicting the fall of the u.s. dollar within a decade china becoming the world's strongest economy and if you won the reserve currency. and also online at the moment as we can leaks founder julian assange faces extradition to sweden over sexual assault charges and likely support it comes to his defense as a world renowned feminist calls for an end to the witch hunt against him for more head to r.t. dot com. the u.k. has declared severing all ties with rainey and banks the u.s. is also nonsense joining britain and canada in targeting iran's economy with new sanctions over its controversial nuclear program parties on the planet has the

latest now from london. the u.k. has imposed fresh sanctions on iran severing all financial ties it has with the country this is coming from how the announcement was made by the u.k. chancellor george osborne ordering all of the u.k.'s financial institutions to stop doing business as of now basically with the iranian counterparts including the central bank of iran saying that it is for reasons of national security for the u.k. and also the security of the world what prompted this move these latest sanctions on iran is the latest report on iran's nuclear program from the international atomic energy watchdog the i.a.e.a. who kind of well brought up fresh concerns that iran is actually using its program to develop nuclear weapons how this is something that iran denies it insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian and scientific use is the first time the u.k. has actually used these powers created under the two thousand and eight counterterrorism act to act in this way and cutoff countries whole banking sector several countries

that will impose sanctions on iran in the last few years in fact as regards this heat nuclear program and really they haven't had much effect frankly is one of the story's been rumbling on for a number of years russia is opposing the use of sanctions and this time this latest one is actually russia actually came out and said that should sanctions be imposed will be seen in the actual international community as an instrument for regime change in iran that's come from russia's deputy foreign minister and so they strongly oppose any sanctions they say that this report from the i.a.e.a. shows nothing new and therefore why impose fresh sanctions however the call for sanctions has been strongly backed up by israel and the u.s. and now certainly in the u.k. is from those calls. for more on this i'm not wrong but i believe and he's an expert on political economics from the independent institute only live in washington d.c. so iran is being slapped with new sanctions but who will these sanctions actually punish. well sanctions are

a blunt tool and they try to make. razor sharp but they never are and this will probably hurt the iranian people and when you when you bomb a country it unifies the population with the government even if they don't like the government but in this case we're not there yet but we're attacking them economically it has a similar effect that rally around the flag and i think it actually helps the regime because a lot of the people in iran especially the young people really don't like them in the regime and any time you take economic use economic warfare or actual warfare you're going to get a rally around the flag effect so i and sanctions i did my ph d. dissertation on economic sanctions and they're good for smart persuading nations to do small things but overthrowing governments or getting them to stop nuclear weapons when they live in a dangerous neighborhood it's just not going to work i mean if you put them so yourself in their shoes they see israel they see turkey they see the arab countries

that don't really like them and they israel has nuclear weapons and other countries are working secret to the belief to get nuclear weapons presumably so iran. feels threatened and when they feel threatened all the sanctions in the world are not really going to help and in fact i think it will probably push the the population to support a regime that they wouldn't normally support there is of course an opposing force isn't there they all say military threats and sanctions could rally support for the regime but indeed the russian deputy foreign minister said recently that events that we're seeing the pressure against iran at the moment is perhaps an attempt to bring about regime change and surely that is exactly what the west really wants and it. yes i think that's true but is that going to work i mean sanctions read rarely do even the case of south africa where regime change occurred and sanctions were placed on people associated the two but in reality most revolutions happen

internally now from acts turn all sources we're seeing this in egypt in tunisia and libya in a lot of other arab countries syria. the u.s. didn't start those revolts with sanctions or anything else. and it's not going to do so in iran either the sanctions if anything will have the opposite effect the u.s. and of course european countries very concerned that iran is building a nuclear weapon otherwise i suppose it would be considering the anti-missile defense system although many political reason behind that too is the threat really real do you think iran is developing a nuclear weapon. well i think they probably are but i have to be careful after the false intelligence on the iraq thing and i think the us has is taking a backseat to die because of that in this case but assuming that they are even that stupid is overstated i have a few warheads israel already has two hundred to four hundred warheads they have

a medium range missile to if they get a warhead to put on it that doesn't harm the united states and might harm israel or some other closer countries but i think the united states should start worrying about more about itself rather than about other countries in that region medium range missile will not hit the united states and the united states of course is spearheading this sanctions drive when closer countries like russia and other countries are a bit more reluctant to impose sanctions so i think the united states is exaggerating the threat and probably shouldn't do that and probably should let other countries lead in the sanctions effort to or. probably not sanctions effort put in the efforts to persuade iran not to have nuclear weapons or to get nuclear weapons i do not live in washington thank you very much indeed. this is all to you live in moscow it's time now to join. with the latest business news stay with us

now on r.t. . welcome to our business update question markets had a bad day on monday following equities around the world markets tumbled on concerns that the sovereign debt crisis could spread to the euro zone's biggest economies and moody's agency has warned that rising costs for french debt and its weak economic outlook are threatening its aaa credit rating and also sees rising risk for germany banks exposure to troubled european economies now let's have a look at the numbers now while falls for the third day in new york on signs that u.s. lawmakers want agree on cutting the budget deficit futures fell as much as two to help percent light sweet is trading at over ninety five dollars per barrel while brant is that just under one hundred six dollars a barrel here stocks are plunging up to congress his latest bid to resolve the federal budget gridlock here to fail that could lead to broader. automatic cuts for

military and social spending still stocks among the top of the miners as metals prices decline. and european equity markets closed lower stock markets go up to moody's investor service delivered a pair of warnings related to france and germany banking stocks were under pressure lloyds banking group fell seven percent on the footsie dax converse bank all six percent among other bank shares of keep the sequel sank ten percent speculation the bank may cut its dividend. and russian equity markets closed with the red at the negative trend was mostly due to the drop in the oil price rise it's lost over four percent the biggest slide since october fourth let's have a look at some of the individual shareholders otherwise it's decline in the eyes it was led by russia's biggest coking coal producer metro that was down almost eight percent kill is also among the top losers falling around five and energy shares retreated lower crude prices look or last four percent below you count for much prettier wraps up today's trade. we have clearly seen

a risk on. training session across different geographies and hasn't been a single reason behind it other than an accumulation of reasons from the past the realisation that there's been no progress in terms of the european for full debt resolution the sky high yields and cost of funding for the european sovereign debt markets is continuing concern for investors globally and here at home in russia as well and there's no visibility in terms of the. the way it all can end really in any forseeable future and if anything the markets are starting to price in a potential scenario which which was considered unsinkable back a few months ago that the european monetary union can be dissolved and a mechanism could be created whereby some purple countries could exit. that's a front for growers longer to all work so i thought you got calls his business thanks so much.

technology and. all the developments around. the future are very. wealthy british scientists are. going to. go.