live from our headquarters in central moscow you're watching are two with me and used to now a six pm here in the russian capital our top story all prices have jumped in response to the latest heated exchange between iran and the u.s. over the persian gulf in the critical trade route in the strait of hormuz washington says it's airships will continue their missions in the region despite iran's warnings that they should stay away iran threatened to block oil shipments through the strait if new western sanctions hit its exports threat came at the same time as a ten day long naval exercise which showcases new aircraft and medium range missiles the u.s. who ships are stationed in the area maintains that it won't tolerate any hindrance of passage times correspondent pepe escobar says new sanctions against iran will hurt the global economic recovery. can you imagine if it was the other way around

if the sanctions were against american exports of oil or if this sinks us or against the china for its assuming china you know main source of. foreign exchange for china will be to export energy it is an act of war this thing is how you're going to implemented and who's going to respect that they would europeans like you know the french foreign ministry both lexically is saying look we have to curb our imports of iranian oil what's going to happen to the european economy if that happens you know oil now it's one hundred eighty a barrel so it's going to be on its way to any one month's could be one hundred forty one hundred fifty and you want to recover the economies of the u.s. and europe as well with oil at one hundred fifty is not going to happen and it's a totally counterproductive. law and amendments and the way it's going to be interpreted by the obama administration i'm not sure they're going to try to provoke a confrontation against south korea forest as an ally. with russia which china or

with countries in south america or in central asia for that matter. well the owner of the corporate report current affairs website says that by trying to slap more sanctions on iran the u.s. and e.u. are only stirring up dangerous tension in the region i think it's quite remarkable to think that france and the us and other countries would be willing to step up sanctions that have already had such a profound effect on the iranian people on the basis of their hunch that era to run is developing nuclear weapons as as france has basically put it is quite remarkable because that really does is tantamount to an act of war the idea that iran would really close off the straits of hormuz or attempt to do so would only be an absolute last measure resort for a country that relies on the importation of refined gasoline and other things through the very straits that they would be a sensibly sabotaging and planting mines in so it's it's quite remarkable to think that that iran would do that in any other situation other than they felt that the

entire existence of their country was under threat so adding more sanctions to to the mix is is really just a recipe for military disaster i think. we're going to share your take on developing stories go to our web site and tell us what you think of new sanctions on iran so far over half of those who responded say iran will be pushed to desperation seeing new sanctions as an act of war seventeen percent think the world economy will suffer as sanctions drive oil prices sky word almost as many as fifteen percent believe u.s. measures simply won't work and thirteen percent say raney and people not the government will be most hurt by the sanctions against your most jumps the line of our teeth dot com. in other news the process of finding a republican candidate to contest the twenty twelve american presidential election officially got underway in the state of iowa the result however were anything but decisive career politician mitt romney leading his conservative counter part rick

santorum by just eight votes just a few points behind one of the libertarian ron paul the only antiwar candidate in this year's lineup even hours before the vote many people were still undecided after a republican election run up marred by sex scandals month slinging and take for tat p.r. but despite all of that former congressional aide and diplomat told ruben believes it's wrong paul who stands out from the rest. of us foreign policy is very distinct from the other candidates in that he has a more isolationist viewpoint he wants the united states to retreat from international conflicts of international affairs in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the rod who are supposed to be iraq war but the other candidates are all extremely hawkish on foreign policy very neo conservative and ron paul does stand out among them makes voters want to support him. leading the party and getting other republicans on board to really change the

agenda though he hasn't done that someone who says a free american and i can make it on my own and that's what ron paul really embodies but republicans also understand that kind of positioning will not win the general election against president obama. well as the republican campaign develops democrats are beginning to wonder just how much appeal president obama still have and come to power on a wave of hope four years ago his chances are beginning to look dimmer with complaints from voters and broken promises and corporate favors driving them away are just going to pour naya has more. three years ago one historic campaign turned u.s. politics into a pop culture phenomenon. for the democratic candidate achieved unprecedented support international fame and a record breaking six hundred fifty million dollars in donations.

thousands of new yorkers celebrated the victory clutching an enormous american flag hand sewn by obama supporters but the winds have changed and the very same democratic symbol waved in honor of the president elect in a way each straight from a straight has been donated to a movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven other about twenty people holding up david move food out organize the flag project after being inspired by obama rhetoric a dream shattered by the subsequent years of politics as usual curly what's inspiring me as it is over to us like that that's the thing that's inspiring me now but that's why i brought the fight so ws and the thing that inspired me about it is the fact that it's a grassroots movement. that had a like a very clear and transparent process artist shepard fairey seems similarly

disenchanted releasing an updated version of his iconic hope poster replacing obama with his now clear support for occupy wall street with an economy still in crisis wall street largely unregulated social programs slashed and over forty five million citizens on food stamps it all starts with making a decision to get in obama's familiar prose may not be enough to win back his familiar fan base who didn't produce what people wanted him to produce in two thousand and eight perfessor an offer dr cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think you get the beers you get the newness he's. at the freshness taking part in more than one hundred campaign events but last april the prominent intellectual told r.t. that obama has failed he's the friendly face of the american empire abroad he's in the process actually of becoming very sadly a pawn of big finance and

a puppet of big business and any politician here knows they're in trouble when the hollywood a listers start turning their backs are you happy with the way that obama has been running the country. you. know and i think i really think he misinterpreted his. his mandate yet the approval ratings show voters are even more turned off with the alternatives leaving obama seemingly the lesser of two evils america's president clearly enters the twenty twelve race amid a growing band of disillusioned democrats most will still back barack obama over his republican rivals arguably with heavy hearts in two thousand and eight he was the unassailable candidate of choice this time mr obama is likely to stay it by default. new york. it's coming up to ten minutes past the hour still

ahead here on our team earning their daily bread we tell the story of two x. path entrepreneurs who break their way to the top in russia's top ten pastry sector . and how two girls who were born in the same place at the same time were given to the wrong parents because of a life changing day their story is coming up. egyptians are heading to polling stations once again as the country's first democratic election in more than half a century enters its final stage results are to be announced next week with the muslim brotherhood being the favorites after clinching the lead in the first two stages of the vote last year or early polls were around i should say were overshadowed by clashes between protesters and the army it was ruling military generals have been accused of clinging to power and now face anger over their handling of protests that have left fifty nine dead since mid november recent army raids on western sponsored n.g.o.s have added even more concerns over the country

stability move east expert is that in order to ease tensions the military has to give its people what they want and step down. majority of egypt shows the military to be a defense. to say you know the country against out say. going to. mention and not play a political role at all because for the last thirty to forty years egypt has essentially whether on doma barak or i'm just being a mocked eaten dictatorship run by the military in people who want an end to that so when the miller creek works mobarak on trial again it's an attempt to divert attention from its own rule in the concrete that is what is really worrying people and that is or should be discussed and attacking the answer is the attempt a is is i think to show that foreign buyers are manipulating of concrete and so

for which is again nonsense i think washington has a great deal of influence within the military after all big billions of dollars i mean to get a billion dollars a year that's a huge amount of money. well the rise of is the most parties in egypt has prompted western concern for the policies the country may adopted to likes of the muslim brotherhood stepped into power we caught up with regional politics expert jeremy salt his outlook on developments in the arab world is coming up later this hour in archie's interview. to look at what's been happening in the middle east and the policies the western governments of followed since the beginning of this year they have always had the the noble motive we're doing this for this very very good reason but we don't have to be terribly skeptical or cynical to understand that actually behind the noble motive is self-interest if we look at what happened in egypt the west backed mubarak right to the very last and there was no longer

possible to back him whether it was indefensible the dump in. greece has announced that it could ditch the euro and exit the euro zone as little as three months unless the e.u. and i.m.f. fund it with a second one hundred thirty billion girl battle out well talks over the cash lifeline have stalled for months over the poor performance of austerity measures and fears for the future business journalist your hundred over two ads believes the numbers say it all and that greece is exit is unavoidable. the greek economy is going down like a stone. g.d.p. contracted by four percent in two thousand and ten by six percent in two thousand and eleven and there is probably worse to come in two thousand and twelve and i think we are now at the point where everybody no reason realizes that we cannot go on like this and that unrest and even in the country is becoming so much of

a threat that some drastic things need to be done and my reading of what the greek government is doing is that they are trying to that they are looking for an alibi to offer to their public by which they can say well it's not our fault it is the international community that pushes us to watch the exits of the euro zone and i think also here in europe at the brussels that quarters of the european commission people start to realize they really are at the end of the road there is no other option left for them they're in a deadlock they cannot rewind the greek economy and so they are facing in a big black hole. well it's seen as one of the biggest blinds on modern british society but tackling gang violence is proving difficult but the government thing of farmers part of the only means of dealing with it there's growing criticism though that attempts to improve the situation aren't addressing the root of the problem are just more smith explains. the six years

old. and often also. the dark underbelly of life in britain's inner cities gang culture dramatized here for a television series for gavin it was real life he got into a gang to escape a feeling of powerlessness an abusive home life where money was a constant struggle seen the things also as a young child. disposal to. start. to. so. angry over the top. again then for the discos crazy. people started to respect me for it at his lowest ebb gavin admits to having stabbed a girl and his story isn't unusual in deprived areas nowhere is the question of how

to solve the gang problem in london more relevant than here in new and it lies in the shadow of london's two thousand and twelve olympic park but it's also got more guying than almost anywhere else in london round here young people say you start just by hanging out with your friends on the streets and you end up in a spiral of gang violence and fear. in you are more than half of kids are living below the poverty line and they don't feel the government's doing anything to help them how can you hold me if you don't understand you have to have a. i don't. know in a bar. in london and the neighbor. and the neighbor. in london. i was there if the government really knew and understood would be happening when gavin met sheldon thomas an ex gangster himself he turned

a corner and they're now working in a team to get young people out of gangs the government claims it wants the same thing and having laid the blame for august's riots firmly at the door of gangs their solution the carrot and stick method are as you found some excellent police work to identify and manage the highest risk members through a combination of targeted surveillance enforcement and arrest running a fence however minor and positive offers of training employment and drugs treatment for those who want a different life but for those not prepared to break away from violence they will face harsher and tougher punishments but this isn't going to work according to sheldon thomas who feels the government is forcing him it every turn what they do. the manifestation of gods for i don't. gang rape drugs that's just a manifestation of the causes of it to cause and stemmed from family breakdown what

was going on at the window from society as a whole while the government rhetoric sounds encouraging other policies will undermine both carrot and stick economical sterett he cuts will mean sixteen thousand fewer police officers on the streets and services that deal directly with gangs now will have their funding cut by between twenty and ninety percent in some areas that means young people like gavin in the future will have nowhere to go but the street nora smith r.t. london. with more on all the stories we're covering can always be found on our website our two dot com here's a look at what's online for you right now we've always on ten of instead of twenty eleven and bring you our correspondents firsthand account on reporting from the world's hotspots that's in our testimony series. ammonite the planet party at our picture galleries capturing the high spirits from around the world as we are

shooting in twenty two hours. at r.t. dot com. up next ex-pat entrepreneurs based in russia tell us their success stories and describe their path to prosperity in the latest from our pathfinder series. so they were you the story of the go hard to coloring gurus who break their way to a fortune in russia's premium pastry sector for more than four years now they've been running the most successful business of its kind having started from scratch now they give us a taste of what it takes. i am twice a week in the production center and the rest of the time i'm in the restaurant genya. genya beer that puzzles me just to make sure everything is ok definitely in the west when you're starting something new everything is more subtle

the industry has existed here we had to do everything from scratch. when we started the business we realized. we had to. really difficult objectives one was that we had to create our own brand and we decided to license at least initially in the nation's national brand for us and the whole point of our project the whole point of the business was that these products i call the bakery hardly exist in russia today you don't have many customers here you can help you know or later this and that customer should be greeted every time every time you are developing a company culture you know one of the most difficult things in russia a few years ago was to make sure your line staff smile is just smile if it's not interesting culture it at the beginning i would say if i come to the restaurant and if you're smiling i will give you a hundred. if you're not. really ever might destroy your resume so

we've made it again still but it's still a challenge the first quarter we spent in two thousand and six we spent about nine months developing a very small factory we basically had a thirty square meter room where we were trying to make something like fifty products fresh every day and the biggest challenge was the local ingredients it would be insane to import. flour to russia when russia was one of the biggest low exporters in the world we were very very lucky that we did this because by the end of two thousand and eight when the recession started the first thing that happened in the recession in russia was a collapse of the ruble exchange rate compared to the euro so suddenly overnight imported prices were up thirty forty percent and that is deadly for any kind of business like ours but for us at least the cost of our products was relatively stable because for the main ingredients like sugar like flour we were using locally made products. it's still

a lot of things happens in russia mechanically in the service industry have a hard time the idea they followed the rules or did they have a problem so this is the difficulty in russia united states or in europe it's a little bit easier because they have a use to it. you need to empty the garbage cans you need to clean up that place what is that card from there higher on the other hands if we see that your heart they take it to heart. in other cultures that may be a little bit more difficult the idea to build a bakery business in russia was exactly right and the idea that the competition wasn't so high in the sector i would do again but i think i would make sure that we'd raise a bit more capital upfront than we did i would also make sure i think that we invest at the beginning far more in training of production people than we did we should have outsourced much less than we did four years ago we should have made

much many more products ourselves and then we would be even more successful than we are today i think but yes i would absolutely do. well have more features on foreign entrepreneurs doing big business in russia and our pathfinder series throughout the week. well look now at some international news in grief this hour a series of three explosions in the second largest city in afghanistan have killed at least thirteen people including a child the first blast occurred as a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint and two other bombs went off later the violence comes a day after the afghan taliban announced plans to open an international liaison office in counter are something that could be a step towards formal peace negotiations. thousands of people have taken to the streets in northern peru protesting against the development of a gold mine of demonstrators say waste from the works will taint their water

supplies protest common one of the country's most heavily mined regions and also has a history of troubles relations with neighboring farmers and ranchers. now the incredible story of two girls who were born just minutes apart in the same ward in the russian urals were accidentally swapped by a fateful mistake that meant they ended up with the wrong parents are jews karen taraji reports on how the blunder was only discovered more than a decade later. meet anya she's thirteen years old muslim and lives with her father nine month in the chalabi town of kut based on the other side of town also thirteen lives with her russian orthodox mother yulia despite their differences in religion and culture they are recent friends sharing the same birthdays and ties that bind them deeper than what laws on the surface thought long and civil in that moment i was in such a state of shock that i thought it was all

a joke of in one nine hundred ninety eight anya an arena born only fifteen minutes apart in the same hospital were accidentally switched at birth the discovery happened with us ex-husband who claimed arena his daughter looked nothing like him he refused to pay alimony but yulia insisted upon her innocence had the family take not one but two d.n.a. tests the results show that in fact the ex was not the father and both results showed that yulia was not arenas mother but they're beautiful my first thought was that irina doesn't find out and the second was where is my biological child born with her lawyer and investigators by her side yulia discovered her biological child anya was living on the other side of town with ny much. they told me they switched my child with another at the hospital they said your biological child is with another family they gave me a picture of her and i was in shock for about forty minutes my hands and legs were shaking. two days later nine reluctantly phoned yulia they met and decided to first

introduce the girls to each other after they became friends the truth would be revealed to each of them separately of us and we used to be the first time i got used to girls to each other that we came to his new we took pictures walked around and ate ice cream lomov later she told me that what i meant was my biological father in the beginning i didn't believe it but my mother said it's true i'm not flying. irina ananya now close friends decided to remain with the parents who raised them but the inconvenience of living in different suburbs. makes it much harder for the families to meet often so it's a problem it breaks your heart one day back and forth i don't think that's the way to live it just adds to the suffering it's the teenage girls that now face social hardships their separate cultures beliefs and habits make understanding each other difficult very different they pray they don't speak or write when they speak i don't understand what they say more of this saying something about me. regardless

of their differences irina and anya are happy to have each other as friends no matter the reasons that brought them together karen tara r.t. moscow. well you can get the latest on the premier league action from england in our sports bulletin in about twenty minutes and i'll be back with a recap of the headlines after this short break if.

i had a family i lived in a fairly nice community wasn't which was an upscale it was just like you know archie bunker society ok then they started showing up here what happened was my company decided i could get cheap labor and they got rid of us. those are. the rules of the eaglets love legally we have to get up every morning we have to go to work and you know we have to pay our bills and we have to do it and i'm going to that's just the american dream and if you want the american dream you have to go by the laws i figure it's here's one of the major trails in the united states and. my wife's and they run run down my property and something about this noise. was a little mean that got mortars from coming over the wire is protecting the country

i'm the kind of guy who doesn't mindedness pants dirty so i come out here you know we're all immigrants as well know that we all here is from somewhere else. oh.

you're with r.c. on why from moscow our top stories to us says it's warships was six of their missions near crucial oil aim out of the persian gulf by a morning from iran stay away the standoff continues to drive up oil prices and tension. the moment and presidential candidate race gets underway in earnest by voters remain indecisive over just who are going forward to capitalize on disillusionment with barack obama. the euro's woes flare up again after christmas law will.