mounting pressure at the u.n. warns that syria is now in a state of a civil war putting the death toll at over four thousand has plans to hold emergency talks on the crisis there. all eyes are on egypt as a country of waits to see how the people voted in parliamentary elections despite the fact many doubt it will bring any real change. a record number of rejections across the vote but many continue to mourn the. stepped down and make way for civilian government from cairo in just a few moments. thousands of protesters take to the streets of new york to stage a labor union rally demanding jobs and economic justice after going occupy

frustration at the gulf between the haves and the have nots. this is r.t.d. i mean to you live from moscow armory in joshie syria is in a state of the civil war and that's the warning from the u.n. which estimates the death toll in the nine months uprising now tops more than four thousand people and emergency one meeting in syria later today aims to put pressure on the country to hold the bloodshed this comes after the e.u. swept fresh sanctions on assets regime targeting energy and finance sectors damascus has already dubbed the move and economic war political activists franklin lamb says that history will mines us sanctions are not effective and lead only to deeper crisis. but i don't think sanctions are going to bring the regime because they're really. interested in the show in the street and. there's

enough of the population. that takes under this western interference in terms of these sanctions. they will also resist them i think with history going back to iraq and before teachers because sanctions you know are not really effective in changing the behavior of a regime they're dramatic they're for local consumption i know the u.s. congress is thrilled with these sanctions against syria and against iran but in real political terms i don't see the fruits of you know of of those efforts and it's so obviously both sides have got to find another way to diffuse these. dangerous situations well the increasing sanctions against syria are during ever more parallels with the war in libya and fears it might be next in the firing line

for a western military intervention and as artists are still your reports the evidence behind the libyan campaign remains controversial. there is no evidence to justify the humanitarian war in libya that's the conclusion of filmmaker and independent journalists in. the beginning of this story we got some medication which as you know look leave him said to the united nations human rights council and those allegations of when they were being very for your check and this is again you was also as much of your thoughts in your i.c.c. case against libya. on march seventeenth u.n. security council resolution one thousand nine hundred seventy three was passed imposing a no fly zone over libya. accusations where the gadhafi bombed his own people from air and land use foreign mercenaries ordered the use of rape as a weapon and killed by the thousands. come prove that there was no bombing all they

know is that there is no evidence of warming and so our interviews of the men went to the united nations human rights council. seaman but she gear was a former secretary general of the libyan league for human rights now the libyan ambassador to burn in switzerland on february twenty five he went to the u.n. human rights council to present his organization's allegations of crimes against gadhafi is government in that session a decision was taken to freeze libya's membership in the council he underlie the number of deaths six thousand including three thousand in tripoli alone with julia asked which she gear how these claims can be verified he pointed to the former rebels now libya's government as his source here where i got information from the libyan prime minister mr mahmoud of the work for other tribes on the other side of the national transitional council was the one who gave me these numbers. yet there

are still those who defend the libyan intervention like this former french intelligence officer cleary in this case before for it is very likely that some crimes attributed to their feet in this conflict were a farce or exaggerated but we all do because of khadafi for forty years of in the could if he were a terrorist with a criminal on june twenty seventh international criminal court prosecutor luis accountable then his requests for arrest warrants were more market afy saif al islam and get off his intelligence chief was granted of course we're a prosecutor and judges so we rely on facts so we prove the crimes but we did our work through the pages of the arrest warrant application most of which were redacted but among the pages open to the public were this of articles to support the case one of which was which if you're scared we twenty fifth speech the one piece of information we should give himself said he got the empty seat there

whether to answer documents to back the side with numbers but those who raised questions risk of being accused of taking the side of a man seen as a brutal dictator already labeled by some world powers as the bad guy i think that is absurd if you are against. declaring war on a country it's not because you like the government so i'm sorry if after that it's up to the ones who really there is a friend to come up with a proof unless we're just reversing the whole process of the of civilization or with international law even cheerleaders of the intervention admit tends to be sacrificed. yourself in iraq but they will tell you something which is the pull of political authority i don't believe so much in international law is just a tool used in one of your daughter for political purposes regardless julia last point is simply this with such legal systems in place any

claims first and foremost should be farly investigated the point he hopes will be heard before the next humanitarian war is waged that's our cilia r.t. brussels. and coming up shortly in the program reaching boiling point. between. this country and as you can see it's there certainly most of the people who are making will. this is. a war with. thousands of labor union members take to the streets of new york to demand an end to konami inequality. in egypt results of the first stage of parliamentary elections are due to be announced on friday by the ballot has been boycotted by manny protesters who are still demanding an end to the military rule while a record number of people turned out for the country's first free election since the ousting of president mubarak and they doubt it will bring any change our correspondent policy reports from cairo. this was the first of three rounds of

voting for the lower house of parliament nine out of twenty seven provinces have voted including cairo and alexandria the remaining provinces well vote for the rest of this month and generally this entire election process will not be over before march now with the brotherhood ensuring the largest support base at a stage in a sense not in an unexpected it is the largest the oldest and the most well organized political group in here in egypt despite the fact that it was once banned now there has been some concern for the muslim brotherhood might form an alliance with the salafi stronger and the brotherhood has denied this the sufis down there is a much more conservative party that has a much stricter interpretation of islam and not of this is the first election that is being held since the former egyptian president hosni mubarak was forced to step down back in february and the infliction of odds were initially planned for wednesday at that stage there were delayed the announcement was given that it was because of ballots by egyptians living aboard have not here been telling you the

results have been expected here today for this day they were again today their time the reason given was because so many people had simply turned out there was a massive demonstration that is being planned for today friday in turkey square it has been a tribute to the heroes of one hundred one hundred cities this is the street for forty three people were killed and more than a thousand people were injured in recent clashes between the army the police and protesters now there are twenty three political groupings who are behind today's demonstration and talking to protesters who will be up there in tahrir square they say that a large turnout at the polls is simply an invasion people heard that the situation will improve there for as long as the literal days and hard nothing in egypt will change until the rallying point among the demonstrators the term here has not changed and that is that the military needs to step down immediately because the reporting there from cairo in new york around twenty thousand people have staged

them are demanding jobs and economic fairness hot off the occupy movement approach out there was organized by labor unions who have been demanding change al gore aspire maria port now i was there. this event has been organized by the new york city labor council that is an umbrella for more than. unions and the reason these people say they're out on the street is that they are frustrated and fed up with the ivy konami smarr and even from the rich and poor they see with more than fourteen million americans unemployed at the moment the one percent the richest one percent america has tripled its wealth in the past thirty years what this shows is that the eyes sentiments that have kept by the occupy wall street movement over the past two months are now being voiced by labor unions at a larger scale i did see a lever union story in occupy wall street a month or so ago but that turnout was not as large as this one the people taking

for misspent are walking around with signs that say we are the ninety nine percent are the backbone and the working class of the united states that is being ignored. for us this country and as you can see it's a nationally because the people who are making making decisions now with little we have. to go come out. and make sure that we're so heard. mission were caught every day. in that we don't even have to make these to grow up together. looks like you're not the only one that there's thousands of people walking the streets and i tell you work hard every day get up four thirty every morning. you did you can try to send my kids to school. that's what it is people finally. the irony here is that on wednesday us president proper obama was in new york city for three hundred days or so for his reelection campaign one

of those fundraisers cost more than thirty five thousand dollars per ticket to a time. many here say that. that shows. between the elected officials in the united states and what is being wasted by the are the constituents and they say that if things are not changed the crowd that you see out here will multiply by an enormous amount in the coming months new york remember and i am party well it's not just americans themselves who have a grudge to bear against the u.s. government on the other side of the world there is growing displeasure as we reported earlier this hour. people in kyrgyzstan want the closure of a key american military base that they say has often been bad news for the local community. last near the entrance to a nato military base in afghanistan has reportedly injured more than seventy people

mainly civilians the attack occurred just south of the capital kabul a suicide bomber is said to have used a truck packed with explosives the taliban has already claimed responsibility for the bombing this comes at a time of growing concern over stability in the country with foreign combat troops due to leave by the end of two thousand and fourteen however a substantial presence is expected to remain to train local security forces. the u.s. senate has unanimously approved sanctions on iran central bank despite warnings the move could disrupt markets across the globe the measure still needs the approval of the house of representatives and president barack obama in order to come into effect this fall's hot on the heels of the e.u. which extended its sanction increasing pressure on a country it accuses of pursuing nuclear weapons that's as the united states said it is committed to take steps to freeze iranians have bank assets delivering hard blow to the country's economy announcement comes days after an attack under british

hammerstein's iran which prompted the u.k. to withdraw its diplomats and close around mission in london powerfully from the talian research organization this foundation thinks the new sanctions are the west's way to redraw the entire middle east. the entire situation is very very strange i mean we are in the presence of activities on the iranian soil which should look like the beginning of. sorts of war type relationship this is not really sure they wanted to change and it is a chess game iran is a key player for. the entire middle east and the united states know very world that with all the iran they would look for the middle east middle east that in the new concept the geopolitical conception is much bigger than the original one that we knew from the nineteenth century. description so these are there are the goals for

afghans down to even morocco so all of this area has to be reshaped i do not think there is an interest from the major was the country which is the united states to engage in any warfare with iran that the stage and in the interest of a number of european countries toward the third. a fresh wave of concerns been raised over a controversial key u.s. military base in kyrgyzstan after the country underwent its first peaceful transfer of power in the republican history the new president expressed his desire to see its closure fearing the facility makes the country a target or he's a boy who reports. they call it operation enduring misery several times a day use military planes takeoff from an airport near the cake is capital bishkek there and generating a lot of anger and monk the locals passing this it's so noisy here i can barely sleep back in soviet times the village of there was famous across kyrgyzstan four

years gigantic what a melon but ever since the americans landed here ten years ago locals say the quality of their crops has been steadily declining like most of his neighbors further nicholai which is convinced americans are dumping fuel on the field surrounding the base beaches commanders deny yeah. i watched the years for come and go several times a day i know. the noise is disturbing but i sort of got used to what's really bad is that they're killing nature the fields and the crops and people's health is getting worse through the congress airbase represents the shortest and the most efficient route to deliver used applies in servicemen into a pianist. nickname big gateway to how it's the last safe start on the way to combat but for the residents here getting rid of the base is a battle in its own right the new kinds of things we're going to america's many

enemies fighting wars in afghanistan iraq libya were for turning want to attack us . one for market distrust than stand there americans and the pictionary just only to negotiate a three fold police increase a few months later the following year a cool hundred but he was ousted from office on allegations of corruption related to payments from the us based mistrust and even has still likely between the locals sent us troops abroad are hardly anything new many countries are hosting american bases despite sometimes very strong objections of the indigenous population but here in kyrgyzstan they are. so politically charged they passed already shown the power of making or breaking once presidency yet america's presence in the region has its legal benefits to military gear in accessories have long found their way to kids bazaars thanks to shady network of buyers and sellers secondhand use military

uniform is held in very high regard here on all of this business so it doesn't want us to show his face as he usually gets it from american troops on the ground for a couple hundred bucks and he sells it to a wide range of clients many of whom come from all over the former soviet union according to the bases commanders them americans do try to be nice and addition to sixty million dollars a year for the least use personnel in kyrgyzstan have done volunteer work and raised money to renovate a local school and locals are appreciative they say they have nothing against the americans per se except that they have long outstayed their welcome absent a boycott artsy because. french president nicolas sarkozy says france and germany must join their efforts to guarantee europe's future this comes as the e.u. monetary affairs chief warrant the euro zone has just tan days to stabilize

a single currency sarkozy and german chancellor angela merkel are set to meet next week to propose new measures to ensure the glocks stability turmoil continues in greece where unions brought the country to a standstill in the first general strike since the new government took power last month thousands of people took to the main square in athens as a one day walkout closed schools this rocket public transport and left hospitals relying on emergency staff while the european central bank said it's ready to play a bigger role but nations should tie their a budgetary policies closer together financial analyst. says tighter economic governance is needed by country sovereignty can be sacrificed in the process. the sense of urgency certainly has not only to do with greece is to do with what is happening overall in the monetary union there are a lot of going to these on the pressure don't forget for example the situation of poor to go to spain problem is also very much on the table and then of course

there's the italian problem it's very basic you can't have a functioning monetary union without a political you that's a choice you have to make and you can't have one without the other that has been very much proven now in the last two years of crisis and what we do lack is political authority now of course there needs to be build up there more correctly but we have cornered ourselves so much in this euro crisis we don't have the time lift to build of the political union in a normal democratic way so we will have to do it in another way that is through the representatives of the different countries being the heads of governments of the different countries it still leaves a lot of questions for me to speak to the demographic value of all these on the table but there's no more choice either you do that or you let the euro in the monetary union go down the drain. well we have more on the euro crisis on our

website r.t. dot com including how italy is dealing with its two trillion hero do so log on to find out why taxpayers the air are hitting the streets to fight against military spending that could cost the impoverished country billions damn. big brother exposed wiki leaks reveals date on a new global surveillance and interception industry spanning twenty five countries are two reports online. also join our team and europe's largest ice skating ring which has just opened in the center of the russian capital . more world news in brief this friday and first again and we're happy shelling

between the army and tribesmen of the country's second largest city of tell us has left thirteen people dead including civilians dozens more were injured it happened when troops world to president ali abdullah saleh tried to storm the town center bad of the anti-government protests that have been raging since january all roads leading into thai use were blocked by the fierce fighting that has left outlying districts isolated the yemeni government accuses the main opposition party of being behind the unrest this spike in violence comes in a wake of a power transfer deal to an interim government ahead of an early election next year . the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has said there will be no immediate answer to american sanctions on myanmar and a meeting with the country's president clinton urged the nation to continue making reforms in order to have the restrictions lifted included in the list of requests was the release of political prisoners and the promotion of internal peace clinton

said myanmar must prove reform school class before any action is taken. the trial of former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi is due to reopen on friday in the land the seventy five year old is accused of paying an under-age prostitute for sex in two thousand and ten is also charged with the abuse of power for getting a moroccan born girl released from custody after she was arrested for theft both deny the accusations actor george clooney and soccer star cristiano ronaldo are among witnesses expected to give testimony during the trial. and just a few minutes all nascar team steps inside russia's legendary ball showed peter which has finally been restored to its sorry school henri before that it will take a look at what's happening in business with kareena. business of the good to have you with me russia goes to the polls on sunday to

choose who sits in parliament the election season will then be concluded with a presidential vote in early march the week stays of the global economy is having an effect on the election campaign say unlike previous years the government has not wrapped up public spending reports. i think it reflects that the economy's growing quite strongly on its own it reflects concern about the global environment and a desire for more prudent policy but i think it also means that we're starting out in a slightly stronger position than than otherwise second thing to say is that we are going to see some increases and spending cuts and tax at the beginning of next year we're going to see big increase in police pay a big increase in military pay and a big cuts in social contribution tax so there is already some increase in spending programmed into the budget twenty twelve regardless of the result of the election.

siemens will launch a new gas turbine manufacturing venture together with its russian partner power machines the german giant will hold two thirds of the venture with a total investment of around two hundred seventy five million euros the new company will be mostly targeting the c.i.s. markets where siemens expects a two percent annual growth generation over ten years the production plant will be located near st petersburg and it will all site research and development facilities despite ongoing fears of another financial crisis head of siemens energy units says the company is worth quick to withstand any downside. of a very high capital of our side their global x. being so europe is only one market for us so there's no change in our outlook the point is that markets for sure going more flats if you have one big market like europe not developing as a bit the last two years but we have seen strong growth last two years so we sometimes have to be the still a little humble and accept that markets are running

a little flat there's no change there's a real plan behind you have another big test. later on the euro roping and go on the shore the transformer base the expense visit to be teased. so this is on track i will execute it as we normally do. but i look at the markets now all is heading for its first weekly gain in three clashes between iran and the west have sparked speculation that middle east supply may be at risk and that's despite concerns demand may falter in the u.s. china and europe future global economic slowdown and european stock markets jumped at the start of the trading banks and miners are leading against markets are waiting the comments from german transfer in the parliamentary speech and are looking forward to a key u.s. no longer for the noncom payroll data commerzbank two point eight percent. over three and a half percent mine is also a rover. the b.h.p.

billiton couple for two percent. asian shares are up ahead of a key u.s. jobs report and after rolling sharply in the previous session japan's nikkei added half a percent and sang out a point two percent solid carmakers are gaining in tokyo this time over again one point one percent after the automaker posted an almost twenty percent gain in its november u.s. sales. and here in russia markets are trading higher as well colby are tears in my eyes they are adding around point seven percent or so our let's have a look at some individual shareholders otherwise rex most of the blue chips back from early losses were russia's biggest lenders bear bank up more than two percent carmaker after garza's also gaining the company's sales rose over thirteen percent in the first eleven months of the year and shares are up down and producer plunged forty percent up to seeing similar growth a very start of the trading day. well that's out there for this hour but don't

forget you can always find more stories if you log on to our website r.p. dot com slash. in the immediate relief. as russians pick for parliament who are the main contenders in the race for juma

seats the party's ever present and loving usually no seat by far russia's most boisterous and controversial bully politician current campaign slogan we are for russians priorities food housing transport and science because success here in north korea pose third in russia's first presidential election critics cry over racist remarks personal violence and populist slogans them to vote for pushing them out britain says poisoned ali's underleaf unico on the party list and ensuring his parliamentary protection. the liberal democratic party of russia to the election two thousand to eleven fund our chief. admission free accreditation free transport charges free coming.