hello it's seven pm here in moscow thanks for being with us fresh clashes have broken out across syria without least eleven people reported killed and while it's rages on as the arab league gathers to discuss the progress of its observer mission in the country critics say the league's failing to oversee a peace plan under which the syrian regime agreed to end its crackdown on protesters more than one hundred civilians have allegedly been killed by government troops in the first observers arrived last month on friday dozens died in a suicide bombing in the capital damascus which the regime's blaming on terrorists middle east expert to tariq ali thanks the attack could be no time to provoke foreign intervention. some of the opposition are saying they have said regime organize this lost themselves but i think it's unlikely the fact is that the national coordination committee in stumble waitress being coordinated

itself to a certain extent by nato. is not in control of all the forces on the ground so i think it's quite likely that the suicide bombing was carried out by an opposition force and western governments like france saying that even if they get it the conditions have been created for them to do it something they never say about suicide bombs in. israel or concrete which they're supported so i think the indications are that the bombing was carried out by the opposition to create havoc and to create reprisals and a response we trooped make foreign intervention more possible i think they're going any calls for nato in under whatever disk i o. people buying syrian air space i don't really on the justified and shouldn't be supported by anyone we've seen what the six month bombing of the libya

has done on the ground the figures being touted now between twenty five and thirty thousand libyan people died in both bombing raids we do not want the same thing to happen in syria. iran says it's planning new military exercises near the strategic strait of hormuz following its ten day maneuvers in the persian gulf to her and also renewed its threat to close the strait that's one of the world's most important oil routes in response to u.s. and european. to hamper its nuclear program for measures meanwhile according to an iranian newspaper iran has begun iranian enrichment for peaceful purposes out of well protected underground facility near the city of qom the u.s. and its allies continue to accuse iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons a charged denies john research from the stop the war coalition believes that pressure on iran is an excuse to weaken its regional influence. this isn't just

about nuclear weapons if it were about nuclear weapons in the middle east then the united states would have a bone to pick with israel which is the only power in the middle east which actually possesses nuclear weapons it's not about that that's the cause of but the reason for the continued conflict is because the american administration simply can't live with an iran which has as much regional power as it has at the moment you see the americans when they look at the iranian regime they see its links with syria they see links with hamas they see links with hezbollah and this is a challenge to american power in the critical economically critical geopolitically critical area of the globe and it's that which is the sticking point for the american administration in my view there are some people hawks in israel hawks in the united states who want to stop all this militarily and it does seem to me that once we begin on the process of implementing sanctions of iran responding to the sanctions that there will be calls further down the road for direct military

conflict and that in this case is even more dangerous than it was in the case of iraq so i had this hour the fate of a dictator as prosecutors in egypt call for the death penalty for president mubarak we hear why his execution could result in more violence for the whole region. and europe is in for a rough ride this year as recession and economic instability creep closer towards the heavyweights. and america the race for the presidency is in full swing with six republican hopeful. competing for the chance to challenge barack obama in november so vote front runner mitt romney's taking flak from his co republican rivals who have dismissed him as a mere business manager but romney has a comfortable lead after the iowa caucus this week ahead of the first primary vote and he has here in just three days time voting will take place across the u.s. in the coming months before a single presidential candidate is chosen at the republican party convention in august seasoned politician and fierce anti-war advocate ron paul is trailing far

behind in the polls former congressional aide thinks that's because of his agenda that is appealing but not to the members of his party that much money for them but he's 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 eventual fares in some areas that can be good he's opposed to military action with the ron he was opposed to the iraq war but the other candidates are all extremely hawkish on foreign policy very neo conservative and ron paul does stand out amongst them he makes voters want to support him by these cars and leading the party and getting other republicans on board to really change the agenda no he hasn't done that he's someone who says i am 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 as the republican slug it out for the right to take on obama and the president himself is ratcheting up support for his re-election bid but with his approval rating down and the economy still on the ropes some of those who voted for the yes we can man in two thousand and eight say they made a mistake artie's marina port now has more. four years ago one historic campaign turned u.s. politics into a pop culture phenomenon. ok in the world 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 no way each straight from a straight has been donated to the movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven there are 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 is up is over to us like that that's the thing that's inspiring you know like that's why i brought the flagpole 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 just an chanted 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 professor and author dr cornel west was one of obama's biggest supporters i think you get the beers you get the new season. 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 are 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. 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 in my default. new york coming up in the program turning a blind eye to some of london's poorest areas already rampant with gang culture face more crime misery where the government pressing ahead with its plans for police cuts. and gyptian prosecutors this week demanded out's president hosni mubarak be hanged for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters during

last year's uprising there are also seeking the death sentence for the country's former interior minister and six other security chiefs moscow has expressed concern over the possible death penalty and called for more humane verdict more than eight hundred people died during the violence which of course mubarak out in february last year since his trial began all this the eighty three year old has appeared on a stretcher due to poor health and u.s. based talk show host and author stephen leatherman believes the military rulers are using mubarak as a scapegoat as discontent with the current regime is running high. this is a distraction these. are believing. if you don't try to absolve themselves of the process things are worse no wonder the military. and note also good people running the country to see more closely learned with no guard would do. if

you see people because all the grievances of the people who are you i think the protests will go on the people won't be fooled the violence will. go. calls for mubarak's execution are being seen as part of a wider battle by egypt's military rulers to curb the ongoing public anger on the other front are the country's non-governmental organizations suspected of fueling the protests with foreign help as reports from cairo. the revolution may have toppled hosni mubarak the manager passions accuse of corruption and suffocating freedom but now it's the ruling supreme council of armed forces which finds itself in hot water with the west following raids on human rights organizations last week is a very dangerous situation because you have to. produce. but the people in the

streets pushing secularists who have links with these groups so that the big tension really between washington and kyra let dobbs cellphones and more than twenty boxes of documents were reportedly seized during raids by the police authorities promised all will be returned yet several questions remain what prompted the raids and what could possibly be so suspicious about energy all of the races in post-revolutionary egypt. and the members of the arabic center for an independent judiciary never did get an official explanation for the confiscation of their documents or the eviction from their office that followed. we don't know what they were searching for we told them we could give them anything they wanted but they came in search everything and didn't give a simple answer whether they wanted bank statements or anything else from mccann sitting on a sidewalk by their former office the vix it ngo workers point out a certain irony this never happened when mubarak was in charge of our surprise.

the police like the. current system. can't take a position. against the human rights activity and we believe they should. see. this is a. human rights activists in egypt believe the razer are attempts to punish them for accusing military rulers of failing to carry through democratic reforms but western observe. over say the authorities are becoming increasingly wary of the ever watchful eye from washington and the true purpose of raids is to prove foreign funding over again is ations which authorities accuse of destabilizing egypt the seems to be a strand of opinion inside the military inside the state machine that. is very disillusioned with the old friendship with the west and may be trying to find

evidence to prove that some of the trouble on the streets some of the trouble in tahrir square has been in some way fostered by these n.g.o.s washington tirelessly repeats the old adagio of the importance of its relations with egypt as a key player in the middle east but polite talk may hide a very different agenda washington doesn't want stabilization they want to be permanent arnie's so that they can you know use that as a lever in the entire region egyptian activists aren't too happy with western help which they say can do more harm than good gentlemen even though i don't like the way foreign countries with pressure on egyptian authorities that's pressure has to come from the egyptians and we as a human rights organization should provided all of them up in my mother knew from us whatever their real reasons for the raids of n.g.o.s offices the increasing internal strife in the country could portend a shipwreck not just for egypt's relations with the west but for the country's

revolution in cairo. r.t. to russia's republic of chechnya now where five security service officers have been wounded in a shootout with militants one suspect has been confirmed killed in the firefight. has the latest from the caucasus region. lisa conti terror operation is still going on between russian special forces and the terrorists in the south of the republic off a chain when these terrorists were found they refused to surrender they opened fire and the police fired back the main hideout of terrorists was also packed with explosives and weapons according to the latest information there are from five to turn terrorists there are still on the run and at the moment russian special forces are surrounding this area russia's the north caucasus still remains quite volatile and basically a range of the most dangerous place in the country but still change in comparison

to other regions that surround this area has seen the number of terror attacks decreased in of the last twelve months so really is this operation that we've been seeing today is such a big is a big thing for the whole republic but in the other regions and own the contrary the number off attacks and terror raised increased in the last twelve months and according to russia's in terre ministry over three hundred militants were killed in an tito race and among them was a chief al qaida operative in the north caucasus basically russian authorities have been repeatedly on july the connection often militants there present here in the north caucasus with al qaida but despite and number of a successful anti terror raids and dozens of terror attacks that were prevented by russian special forces still the problem terrorism remains here and search

operations continue it. from world news and briefly this hour first to nigeria where days of sectarian violence have killed at least forty four people the latest attack occurred when the radical muslim sect boko haram targeted a church service in the country's north east killing at least fifteen the violence comes after the group promised to kill christians living in nigeria's largely muslim north clashes continue despite the country's president declaring a state of emergency for areas hit by the sect. and afghan investigative commission says the american military abuse detainees at the country's largest detention center and mates add prison say they were tortured and held without evidence at the u.s. run facility president hamid karzai has demanded the u.s. hand over control of the prison to afghan authorities within a month the u.s. says it will investigate the claims. so downs' president omar al bashir has offered to help disarm former libyan rebel fighters and integrate them into army and police

forces that were posted from brush bashir who is actually wanted for war crimes charges in the hague sparked outrage from amnesty international leaders visit to tripoli has many human rights groups questioning the priorities of the national transitional council is a reporter for the online magazine spiked says libya should not be criticized for having diplomatic relations with its neighbors. called him brown shaking hands with . in two thousand and nine at the g eight summit in italy or for example tony blair shaking hands with gadhafi in two thousand and seven just outside of his hometown where he was killed in sirte in two thousand and seven so i mean i think yes there are double standards here but at the same time western leaders are very open to doing this and do this themselves as well to support the libyan rebels who are fighting against gadhafi and have good material reasons to do so for a long time sit down in libya gadhafi libya. heads and you can understand why

bashir want to get off the outs and why now having supported the rebel uprising there would be some attempt to kind of welcome him. into libya no i must say that so many found of the national transitional council most of the time they weren't even in libya to the people on the council themselves so off cozying up and getting the approval of western governments to lead libya rather than orienting themselves for the libyan people and actually fighting for democracy there i find it very striking that you have no question. criticizing the libyans for. their labors and sorting out diplomatic relations always just i'm staggered by the fact that these human rights groups basically we human rights as missionaries in the nineteenth century will did the bible in the ten commandments to basically civilized countries. it's very inferior any paper bill of governing the road countries and people it's twenty minutes past the hour we have more news for you

online just log on to our web site r t dot com here's what we have for you right now north korea's newly declared supreme leader kim jong il is marking his birthday on january eighth but his exact age still remains something of a mystery plus. members of the orthodox church all across russia and abroad to celebrate the birth of jesus that and much much more on our call. it has been a rough start to the year for the eurozone with some of its country's believed to be in or heading into another wave of recession two of europe's larger economies

italy and spain are facing a crucial investor confidence test next week as they race to raise public funding and john prime minister mario monti met french president nicolas sarkozy in paris on friday to discuss the spiraling debt turmoil which their economy they called on other member states to show more confidence in the single currency the meeting comes amid fears of the crisis knocking at the door of the heavyweights meanwhile greece has warned of a disorderly default in march if it can't secure more bailout cash economic analyst johan van over felt says that greece's exit from the eurozone is inevitable. the greek economy is going down like a storm. g.d.p. contracted by four percent in two thousand and ten by six percent in two thousand and eleven and probably worse to come well and i thank you. we are now at the point where everybody in greece realizes that we cannot go on like this and that unrest

and even 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 they are looking for an alibi to offer to their public by which they can say well it's not our fault it's the international community that pushes this to work the exit of the euro zone and i think also here in europe at the brussels escorted 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 for more on the euro zone struggle with its debt and what may be in store this year stay with our team for an interview with a prominent dutch economist coming up in about an hour's time. to deal with its own dire economic outlook britain has to make further public sector cuts as part of the government's austerity measures that don't mean thousands of police officers will

disappear from the streets affecting some of london's most impoverished areas where gang culture is rife and as our correspondent laura smith reports the timing for these cuts couldn't have come at a worse time as london gears up for the two thousand and twelve olympics. this summer. and nothing else. the dark underbelly of life in britain is in a city's 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. to. so.

over the top. name for the crazy. people. 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 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. when you are more than half of the 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. you have to have a. i don't. know in a bar. in london and the neighbor. and the neighbor.

in london. if the government really knew and understood would that be happening. when gap in met sheldon thomas an x 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 riots firmly at the door of gangs there still lucian the carrot and stick method are if you found some excellent police work to identify and manage the highest risk members through a combination of targeted surveillance enforcement and arrest for any offense 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 at every turn what they do.

the manifestation of god's. gang rape drug. family breakdown moles out the window. while the government rhetoric sounds encouraging other policies will undermine both carrot and stick economic austerity 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 charlie the story of an american vigilante waging a one man war on illegal migrants on the us mexico border that's after the headlines in just

a couple moments. this is art. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we are one that won't we breathe we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and a government under socialism is not

a government free. you. have very motivated out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but the fact is forty four bridge then. we are counting. property drowning and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making goldmark recy. all but impossible. stream cascading from mountain slopes view is miss mirage.

this beauty brings deaths at a speed of more than two hundred kilometers per. step you. wear warm welcome to seven thirty here in moscow here's the latest news there is no halt to the killings in syria as the arab league gathers to debate the future of its observer mission aimed at overseeing a peace plan critics say the league's efforts are failing to end the syrian regime's crackdown on the opposition. iran promises to hold more navy drills in the persian gulf and threatens to block a key oil route in the region if the country's crude x. ports are affected that's as the west tighten sanctions targeting tampons oil and financial sectors.