and syrian authorities announced they freed over five hundred fifty political prisoners and have withdrawn security forces from residential areas as part of the arab league peace plan but opposition activists continue to claim the ration concessions are a sham. go back to the struggling euro zone in our interview economist are you claiming discusses the e.u. debt spiral explains what twenty twelve might bring for the ailing bloc. well today we're joined by our you're climber an economist author and professor at the rasmussen versity in rotterdam thanks very much on mr glover for joining us today and the first question is in one thousand nine hundred one you wrote a newspaper article that a monetary union is not sustainable cannot be maintained without a political union well after all that said and done we have the euro exists and there is a crisis can that a political union save the euro at this point given the circumstances that it's in

ideally. you could say that a political union could be formed to have a stronger fish call. a coordination but also a better social policy that would sort of supporting bureau only in my system it is that this europe will not be able to form such a political union there is too much had originated had the countries two different . countries or two attached to their own so often t they have different styles they have a hard time working together on international issues think of iraq. and so it will be very hard to to to have one address that foreigners can call haven't emerged she is there. that they will speak with one voice that are willing to give up their very seats in the united nations and the i.m.f. and that they will speak in one voice it is at the moment inconceivable that

britain will give up their rights but also france is not even thinking of giving that up. germany will become too powerful there's simply too much that prevents europe from becoming one political union if you as a german chancellor angela merkel she said that political union is already taking shape is it though and what is she basic that's. statement on well from where we are we are making progress in the stand in the sense of her suggestions of because these are suggestions or plans to have stricter rules and to enforce those rules and her view and in her reality that is working moving towards. political union but my critique is that what is lacking and was really needed for political union is also in sense of society i take as an example germany germany is

a society how do we notice that germany is a society the part of germany form east german states. that are a real dire financial economic situation much worse then than greece is right now do you notice anything about that in the rest of the world. because west germans take it as as self as something self evident that they are to support the east german states those massive transfers of money going from west to east to maintain a sense of unity and a sense of stability and therefore a sense of society. those conditions are not in place and not can be imagined to be in place in europe at large how realistic is this transfer significant transfer of powers to brussels spending powers taxing powers given that you have so many different countries there's resistance coming from different

places how realistic is it that it will actually happen the pressure is huge and the financial crisis is big and the euro threatens to fall then lots of things are possible and politicians will agree on all kinds of things including transfer of power that was inconceivably before or is actually consume inconceivable right now because people don't want to transfer the power but when the crisis is really there then i see them. being able to do such a thing but it won't result in others because it's it means that you put some kind of control in the hands of the few there in brussel but they don't have the power to control the financial market they don't have the the financial power to deal with these kind of instabilities and they don't have the political influence to deal with all the different interests throughout europe it is sort of an and idea that i think that in the end to

a backfire because if you make central this power too much then what we'll see is is it means a lack of dynamics a lack of the flexibility. as we've seen already because takes forever to get these decisions and then take for ever to go through all these different parliaments and it takes even longer then to implement that i mean that we talked about the long lags. and so it just makes the politics too complex the greek government spokesman said quote unquote greece faces an exit from the europe bloc unless it clinches a deal on a second one hundred thirty billion bailout from its international lenders how much do you think they really believe in this threat is it something that they really think is likely or are they using this rhetoric to gain support for pushing more sturdy measures i think that they use it now as an argument to enforce all kinds of

cutbacks and to get popular consent which they need into in order to make the policy effective i think that in greece there is still an overall desire to hold on to the euro and the reason is that the greeks are very suspicious of their government to do so they desperately want to have european government involved in their country because they're sort of a countervailing power against their own politicians the same story applies to you telling us. you know issue is whether this is going to work i don't think so i think the left right and center are preparing for. the fall out of greece for the greeks are forced to step out of the euro because this is unsustainable. there are not going to need to tyria. economy is going to do worse which also makes it more difficult for me to quit ereal and so it is simply not the

sustained this is the sustainable situation the best spreadsheet is to do what iceland did from argentina get has done so many other people other countries have done before is allowed to have their own currency the value would seem to make their country much cheaper used that as a sort of the beginning of an. effort to organize commercial activity that enabled them to sell you have to sort of recover that and sort of and one way to do it is by lowering the price which you only can do with your of your own currency and to make it much cheaper if you don't do it the only alternative strategy is the very painful one is lowering salaries and wages and cutting back and that causes a huge depression in the economy and that's a real harsh way of making that adjustment well let's talk about politics now the two main cheerleaders pushing the euro forward of course in germany's angela merkel

and french president nicolas sarkozy now there will be the french elections in two thousand and twelve that germany will have theirs and why thirteen what do you expect to happen in these elections and how would it affect the european union and the euro zone would we see a change in government a change in rhetoric that would eventually play out differently in the euro to hold on to the european union and especially to hold on to be euro. everyone has to make sacrifices and it's always possible if the european interest prevails over national interest. and there's a message message is very hard to sell to any direction time you see in election time the people usually withdraw behind back behind the border so to say and basically talk about national interests interests that are close to the people who are going to cause their vote. and it turns out this whole european story

is a hard sell for property it's true in germany in france is also true in the netherlands . and so politicians always have a difficulty of asserting the sort of common european interest. that is sure to costing. money very also resources will. suffer until that also is again an illustration of a lack of political union lack of society that will become an issue and that the fate of european union is dependent upon local or national elections and that's of course crazy i mean you can of the magic that a country any country. that faith of any country is dependent upon the outcome of local quebec elections. that's unheard of and that's illustrates once again the the union in europe is not all that strong and is forced to exist among the

sort of european establishments so if you walk around brussels you feel like you are you the european union is for real but as soon as you away from brussels and walk around in the country and the rest of europe you see the brussel is far away from from them and and it's not real reality the people we live with now when we talk to experts analysts and economists even if they are euro skeptics as the situation seems to have gotten so complicated that they would also mention concessions and they're saying that there are two choices now one is being forced into more europe more integration otherwise the alternative is a financial crisis are these the only two options left. i do think that if if you give up you up the euro which i think you need to do we will face a so-called crisis i mean all kinds of institutions will get into serious trouble

banks will fail countries will get in trouble unemployment go up we will see your face a serious depression i think all that will materialize but what i also see is the possibility and that's what i would focus on of restructuring rethinking the way we doing things rethink also the way we view the economy focus less on economic growth focus more on quality being more concerned with sustainability and so if you as we have for the for that i see action an opportunity arising if we give up on an ideal that i think is an old fashioned one. and sort of people for the next stage now when we look at what politicians are doing right now it seems that they're walking on eggshells when it comes to dealing with financial markets and banks are careful not to rock the boat they're careful to instill confidence in the markets what role do you see the financial markets and banks playing in this

current crisis lest we forget that they had also they've just gone through two thousand international crisis and they were painted in a negative light at that time well the terrible thing is that we see that one sector the financial sector is keeping the rest of the economy hostage including the politicians. and then all the politicians are too scare it's for these banks to fill it is gives unfair to those unjust. and it's also dangerous for ships to sit in military of our economies so that has to stalk our you clamor thanks very much for your time. the close up team has been to die to stop first place to the most ambitious football club in the world. if. not all of our

g. goes to the far east where the timber industry attracts the legendary siberian tigers where the ancient native community loses its way in the modern world. and where the country's mental well starts its way across the ocean swell come to the from mars creature russia blows up. on. just such

a change. if. he says it's agreed in principle on embargo to a radiant oil exports driving up fears of a spike in oil prices amid a troubled global economy. egyptian prosecutors demand death by hanging for eighty three year old former president hosni mubarak ousted from power by public protests earlier last year it's already being seen as an attempt to divert public attention from criticism of the country's interim military movements. and syrian authorities announce they freed over five hundred fifty political prisoners and i would draw on security forces from residential areas as part of the arab league peace plan but opposition activists continue to claim the regime concessions are

a shadow. of a sport now an r.t. andrews here. hello there welcome to the sport and these are the headlines don't panic manchester united boss cirrhotic ferguson says the league title is still up for grabs despite a shock loss to newcastle. plus playing again sandman to strike at who has his fifteen gangbang and become a really lifted by the country's prime minister. nightmare for the next in the n.b.a. is the new jersey side slumped to their six defeats in a row at the hands of boston. but first manchester united manager sir alex ferguson says there is no need to panic after his side's surprise three nil defeat to newcastle a result which leaves the red devils three points behind leaders manchester city in the title race stemberg barr put their magpies ahead with his fifteenth goal of the

season last night and that was followed by a strike from your hunk of bias for a late own goal from phil jones gave the home side the wind and united their second consecutive defeat but afterwards alex said his team had the experience to cope with the setback and we're still in the hunt for the club's twentieth league title in the other game bolton moved off the bottom of the table after covering from a goal down to win two one everything goalkeeper tim howard schooled the first with free long clearance for david in goal gary cahill got the other side this is how it affects the table united missing the chance to go level on points in the city why new castle stay seventh but are now just of points behind liverpool while at the other end bolton move off the bottom and are a point from safety but it is very congested down there blackburn prop up the table under just behind wigan it was only three points separating the bottom five. striker samuel eto looks set to play for cameroon again after his country's prime

minister helped lift his fifteen game ban. cameroon's football federation imposed the sanctions on you after claims incited teammates to boycott a friendly with algeria in november after disagreements over pay but prime minister paul buyer a friend of their two has now stepped in and the ban has been lifted even though i could see cameroon reprimanded by fee for the so called political interference however whatever happens at the won't be at this month's african cup of nations after his country failed to qualify. but over the last couple of years the russian premier league has attracted a growing number of foreign plays apart from air too there's also a spot at moscow's aiden mcgeady he settled into a new way of life since his move from scotland and as part of our look back at twenty eleven here's how he was coping at the start of the season you've been in russia just about a year and believe the start of august you came last last year how is your russian experience being so for over always been

a group of joy. of enjoyed this or that before we avoid for your obvious a picture but doing your bit. of enjoy this will fall over should be the main. reason we were. what i say also that the difficult part is so i'm figuring into a way for here in the language what i'm getting slightly better about as well not so this going to say are you taking lessons oh i had one wish in a couple days ago enough that my but in this for us of what i want on the half. i was just as good because i'm a mother and every single day what's your typical day here at fort quesada as you may think the bonus is you come in for ten o'clock in the morning normally and then you see the doctor you get with him you take all these boxes in her your shoe and i while using her body is actually irrelevant. after that you know you're told to stay at the base tosser you know you can go. once football is

a good life obviously you believe the team can finally fulfil what they've been trying to do for years now and when the championship going to start the season that was of year when it seemed. you know that the way we started the spot the chairmanship was really really poor but i mean who's to say no because going out on and of unbeaten games you know the spot which i'm sure up to christmas and then the second you know second talk or second place is getting away with princess and saying think it's over so it's a very very young squad we have. you nothing over all of we have the first of the just to put into practice you could have really gone to your pick of clubs why did you choose russia in the first place for me it was the chance to go. to complain about. troy took an opportunity to tom bowman to see. so to show you because i think it was thing for me to to sort of move on was best for everyone but do you miss the old firm you the thrill of the the huge game in glasgow of course some

things are a must the game you know what i see on t.v. and i want to call me you know you're the best thing in football. to know for me it was probably you know a sunny afternoon at parkhead i saw the afternoon pocket you know. you know it doesn't get much better now but i just finally in on a lighter note is there anything you miss the bites about scotland and home you know there the deep fried mars bars are they i am very proud or state of the bars of the watch other big five miles well yeah of course as well as those home conflicts. i think the main thing that you'd nice is it's been a we're just not going this year period show friends but. that's always a part of life. it must in order to freshen ships of the. border which are over here and the russian receivers are great for me thanks so much for your time i'm pretty sure or at your spot i say mcgeady settling in in moscow now and tennis defending champion roger federer has become the latest top seed to advance into the

quarter finals of the season opening event in katter the world number three had knocked out russia genco in the first round and faced levine in qualifying good agassi emea the swiss master rarely ever troubled by his lesser known opponent is federer dominated left right and center to win in an hour flat sixty six agree the final score and that he set of italy to try and put an end to federer's nineteen match winning streak in the quarter final. also through to the last state is top seed rafael nadal the spaniard shrugging off his somewhat slow start of the torment to blitz german polish danish grandma my doubts they've been so great pointy faced on route to an easy sixty sixty when standing in the way next is russian seventy because it got past the heart of the it. while it was a hard day's work and a half or two frenchmen joe were free to stronger and gael moan faced number three seed to tsonga was up against israelis flavio bowler and salvaged

a couple of set points in the first set before taking it on a closely contested tie break to keep the pressure on the song early in the second set but the world number six held firm courtesy of powerful forehands and killed off a match within the smash say six seven six six three the way it finished and up next is spaniard al-bab m.r.c. who received the oct after russia's. retired. well known feast received fourth in cat are needed almost two and a half hours to muscle germany's benjamin becker back a ridge rank downside the top three hundred in the world that stretch month each to the. they meet in this grueling encounter the german battling back from a set down to force the decider which eventually lost seven five monthly's replaced the detroit city in the quarter finals. i possible now more measuring has been taped on the russian owned new jersey nets

in the n.b.a. they skated to their sixth consecutive defeat in seven games so far this season it was a close first half of the boston celtics t.d. garden stadium before visiting net taking a one point lead before the big intermission rookie marshall brooks once again may go to man as important a team high seventeen points but the home side pull off a sterling third quarter scoring twenty nine for new jersey could only manage twelve paul pierce inflicting the biggest damage and we finish with again leading twenty four as the celtics held on to an eighty nine points to seventeen victory their fourth in a row after losing the three eight matches of the season. in other news british cyclist mark cavendish believes he can succeed at both this year's tour de france and the lympics which will be held just six days later the reigning world road race champion was enjoying a photo shoot with his new team sky they've just named their twenty three man squad

for the twenty twelve season also in it is that the star idea bradley wiggins who was sitting on the right there cavendish won the sprinters green jersey at last year's tour de france and hopes to repeat that success but also things here have something left in the tank for the lympics road race in london which is being held less than a week after the tories ended. its physically possible why there will be room you know were put in figure it's going to be told it's going to take some real structured training some real structured record everything is going after work absolutely perfect. it is physically bottom of why we tend to do it and finally there is a for. face back at the top of the standings in the dhaka rally nine time when esther perel hand still has reclaimed the overall lead after the fourth day of the two week race in south america the frenchman clocking the fastest time from san juan to go and put our hands on our lead his nearest rival neil de villiers by almost six minutes the south african was third fastest during stage four while on

the bikes spain's defending champion mark o'meara gained some ground on the overall leader cereal display of france coma led the way finishing just over two minutes ahead of death for a brit still trailed by over eight minutes in the general classification while a crash involving brazilian kleinman. dented his title hopes. so that brings us to the end of the sport for the moment we've got the weather coming up next here an arctic. well. science technology innovation all the latest developments from

around russia we've got the future covered. now it's not about spilling blood. it's the war of barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over.

critique free. free. free.

free. free. videos. free. to. go on. death. public protests. public attention from criticism of the country's. stale politics. the pirate.