in broadcasting live direct from the heart of moscow this is r.t. glad to have you with us to our top story this hour fresh clashes between government troops and army defectors in syria have left at least eleven soldiers dead and more than twenty wounded the violence has also claimed the lives of ten civilians meanwhile the ministers from the arab league met in cairo to discuss of the progress of their observers mission in the country with critics saying that the body is failing to achieve its goal of ending the bloody crackdown opposition activists say at least four hundred people have been killed by forces loyal to president bashar al assad since observers started working in the country twelve days ago political analyst. thinks the arab league is going to find a solution to the crisis that's sweeping the country but that it needs more time. the violence is two sided that there are attacks against government troops these

realities on the ground need to be reflected by the observers the arab league observers and unless they have time to really see both sides of the story we're not going to know how best to solve this conflict we're not going to know how best dialogue well happen and who to trust and who involved in this process syria also has to be careful to have reliable people come in and not those with political agendas seeking to destabilize or undermine the syrian regime of course there's also violence continuing in this must stop so the arab league needs to find a just way to end this crisis and not listen to the western pressure that's coming from europe and from america to intervene in syria and to get the united nations involved right now let the arab league try to do its job. iran has promised to hold new military drills near the strategic strait of hormuz and renewed its threat to close it down the crucial oil route if western nations proceed with blocking tehran's exports last week new sanctions from washington began targeting iran's

financial and oil sectors and france is calling for even tougher measures meanwhile an iranian newspaper reported that iran has begun uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes at a well protected underground facility near the city of cool the u.s. and its allies continue to accuse iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons a charge that trayvon denies the editor of the corporate report current affairs website says pressuring iran further will eventually lead to war in the region. i think it's quite remarkable to think that france and the u.s. 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 tirant is developing nuclear weapons as as france has basically put it it's quite remarkable because that really does is tantamount to an act of war and and really the i think the only logical outcome for this is another increase in military tensions between the countries involved in that region that are already on the knife edge of military tension so it is quite an explosive thing to be talking about and i think

the escalation in recent weeks with the recent ten day military drill in the in the straits of hormuz has to be weighing heavily on the minds of. the u.s. and others but but i think really 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 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 and still ahead for you this hour the fate of a former leader. prosecutors in egypt call for the death penalty for ousted president mubarak some analysts say his execution might spell trouble for the entire region.

plus europe fears that recession and economic instability has trouble creeps closer towards the use heavyweights. in america now the race for the presidency is in full swing with six republican hopefuls competing to challenge barack obama in november vote front runner mitt romney's taking flak from his republican rivals who have dismissed him as a mere business manager this as he builds considerable momentum after his win in the iowa caucus as the campaign it now moves to new hampshire for the first primary vote in just two days' time voting will take place across the u.s. in the coming months before a single term of their chosen at the republican party convention in august a seasoned politician and fierce anti-war advocate ron paul is trailing far behind in the poll it was the former congressional aide joe well. that is because paul's agenda. but really not to the members of his party. really

really his 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 that 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 neoconservative and ron paul does stand out among. voters want to support him but inspire is 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. ron paul really embodies but republicans also understand that that kind of positioning will not win the general election against president obama. as the republicans slug it out for the right to take on obama the president himself is ratcheting up support for his

reelection bid for the democratic party 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. has more. four years ago one historic campaign turned us politics into a pop culture phenomenon. experience 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 show straight has been donated to

a movement that became a phenomenon in two thousand and eleven other than twenty people holding out david move 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 up as a lot of us like that that's the thing that's inspiring you know like 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 just in 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 you making a decision to get involved 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 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 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. 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 in my default. artsy new york. coming up in the program silencing the press. journalists in iraq report brutality and torture if they try to shine a light on corruption and repression in the country that's been left behind after america's withdrawal. parties pathfinder series it meets a texan builder who shares his experience in creating new opportunities for businesses in modern russia. but first to egypt where prosecutors are demanding the

death penalty for ousted president hosni mubarak who is accused of ordering the killing of protesters during last year's revolution they are also calling to hang up the country's former interior minister and six other security chiefs moscow has already expressed concern over the possible execution of the former leader and called for a more humane punishment according to estimations at least eight hundred people died in last year's clashes with pro mubarak forces since his trial began in august of the eighty three year old has appeared on a stretcher due to poor health international relations professor mark allman says an execution could further deteriorate the country and the entire region. mubarak music. began crystal. demonstrations who were partially current already present you can state you have to first. place them in the future what about going to strangers who remember this year months not who are now and seventeen why they

ruled. gadhafi who. would regard instant so high and christian. either and say it's not quite the shining was no crease. explaining more than our life so in fact i could find a perspective here garde music that we can agree to which. will change us and. since the last american troops left iraq the country is learning to manage its own affairs but the consequences are proving fatal for some a decade of conflict was meant to herald a move towards democracy but journalists and their say intimidation and brutality against them is rife sebastian meyer now reports. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in

a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests silenced by the government security forces in today's iraqi journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed it seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders to me a freelance journalist showed r.t. some shocking youtube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he's a journalist. he shouts which is arabic for journalist over and over again but it makes the police more violent three or four maybe five. right police were around me one of them slap me in the head other one kicked me in

the and they grabbed me fast managed to escape arrest thanks to two foreign journalists who intervened but since the arrest of one of his colleagues he stopped covering protests altogether became hard for journalists for example to go to i myself i don't go there i stopped there a long time ago not because. i'm not that scared to be arrested. you know i'm worried to be mistreated we tried to speak to journalists who've been arrested in baghdad but everyone was too afraid to appear on camera so we came up here to the more peaceful kurdish region to see if the situation was any different here i met a young photographer who was arrested while covering similar protests in the kurdish region but after the interview he called to tell me he was scared of reprisals from the government and asked to blur his face and change his name after his arrest in april he was imprisoned for four days and tortured. six men came to

the room and started to shout at me and to beat me with cables then they gave me electric shocks they wanted me to admit that i hadn't been at the protest. when he was finally released after four days a friend took pictures of his wounds and published them in a local magazine immediately ahmed was rearrested as a punishment for publicizing his initial arrest. came and they held me for three days and made me sign a document declaring that i would not talk to the press again back in baghdad the government spokesman admitted to r.t. that individuals in the iraqi government were indeed using their powers to silence the press that is not just that people been. using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government is against it and you can see that there are people in the midst of interior for example they have misusing their power against the citizen and there is this year and that is they keep accountable and some of them has been fired almost nine years after the invasion

u.s. troops are home but what of the country they're leaving behind with politicians using the security forces to silence journalists it appears that iraq lacks any credible press freedom or freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meyer r t iraq. afghan investigators have accused of the u.s. army of abusing detainees at its main prison in the country saying inmates had reported being tortured and held without evidence prisoners of the u.s. run prison outside air base north of kabul complained of freezing cold humiliating strip searches and it being deprived of light jason day it's a political analyst at the u.s. based website antiwar dot com says president karzai wants to use the prison as a bargaining chip with the taliban a lot of these allegations have been the subject of court cases in the u.s. over the past few years particularly the question of holding detainees without any

specific evidence or charges and u.s. courts have found repeatedly. unfortunately that the military base that bob graham isn't under their jurisdiction and that the military basically can detain people as long as they want without charges at the air force base and there's been talk that there will be prisoner exchanges between the u.s. in taliban and i think president karzai is hoping to get control of some of these prisons so that he can have them at least something of a seat at the negotiating table if for no other reason than then having access to trainable prisoners it goes back to the question of the peace talks right now and president karzai is concerned that he's being. treated as very much a secondary partner and and negotiations with the taliban and he's trying to get some sort of bargaining chips involved in this process the karzai government has a particularly good record on detainee treatment either so well the prisoners there

might see at least some nominal court access which they've been denied under u.s. control i don't really think you're going to see massive releases or really any serious releases other than prisoner exchanges. in russia's republic of chechnya four security service officers have reportedly been killed and over a dozen were wounded in a shoot out with illegal armed groups three militants are said to have also been killed there authorities have located their main hideout which was packed with explosives and weapons a number of terrorists remain on the run and additional security forces have been dispatched to the area russia's caucuses region has seen a rise militant attacks over the last twelve months while the republic of chechnya had remained relatively peaceful. the euro has sunk to a sixteen month low over the dollar with fears now growing that the eurozone is

facing a wave of recession italy and spain are facing a crucial investor confidence test next week as they race to raise public funding and prime minister mario monti met french president nicolas sarkozy in paris and 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 e.u. heavyweights meanwhile greece has warned of a disorderly default in march if it can't secure more bailout cash economic analyst . says that greece's exit from the euro zone is inevitable. 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 a point where everybody in the research realizes that we cannot go on lying list

and that unrest and even an arche 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's the international community that pushes us towards the exit of the euro zone and i think also here in europe at 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. some world news in brief for you this hour first to nigeria where days of sectarian violence have killed at least forty four people there the latest attack occurred when the radical muslim sect. targeted a church service in the country's northeast killing at least fifteen the violence

comes after the group promised to kill christians living in nigeria's largely muslim north president goodluck jonathan has it declared a state of emergency for areas affected saying the unrest is worse than the country's civil war which took place in the one nine hundred sixty s. . sudan's president omar al bashir has offered to help disarm a former libyan rebel fighters and integrate them into army and police forces and a state visit to tripoli the leader said the overthrow of colonel gadhafi was a gift to sudan the proposal from bashir who's wanted on war crimes charges in the hague sparked outrage from amnesty international libyan authorities have been struggling to get strong rebel groups which were formed to me during the country's eight month civil war. africa's oldest liberation movement celebrated its one hundredth anniversary on sunday tens of thousands of south africans gathered to wave the green and gold colors of the african national congress the a.n.c.

is credited for ending a white minority rule in the country almost eighteen years ago south africa's first black president nelson mandela was absent from the celebration due to his frail condition. in order to help an enterprise grow you need the right facilities and the right man well texan chris van wright thinks it's him he shares his experience of adapting to the russian way of life and doing business and explains his part in raising a modern moscow skylight. we have a vision which is we want to bring global business to the russian marketplace so we're extremely motivated by this and what that means is you know taking away the grand idea is you know we want to help global business to be more effective in achieving their business objectives in russia and we do that by providing them with financial capital in the form of real estate so we build factories distribution centers and production plants for global businesses who are serving in the russian

marketplace occurred to me that this is a very rich part of the world with stream lee intelligent people and they just get reorganized in this part of that reorganization they're going to be all sorts of opportunities so it was the idea of really observing and participating in as you can as a foreigner to the extent you can as a form rather in the rebuilding of the economy that drew me here i remember specifically coming out of sheet metal into i remember driving the city and seeing the ukraine hotel which was you know it's a beautiful building and you know it's that gothic style on a stick type of architecture and it's strictly imposing is a beautiful day and i realized that i was in a different part of the world and it was intimidating and quite stimulating took me about a year to kind of come to grips with the differences and finally i summarise it for myself as following in the united states when i when i worked on wall street for anything we're working on there's basically a process you went through and that process was twenty six steps and you go a b. c. d. and you're just overcome every step of the process and you achieve the result you're

looking for what i realized in russia is that that approach didn't work and it would confuse the heck out of me because i said well wait a second that we've got to get organized we all have the same goal how do we achieve that goal and what i realize that actually if you took a american approach to doing business in russia you could not be successful because the rules of the game were information certainly in the ninety's and so there was no be there was an a and there the end result and to get the result you had to kind of sort of moving to a straight line you had to sort of. an enormous amount of energy just to keep people on a common track towards the ultimate goal and you know sort of managing chaos and pushing it and nudging it to the desired result so once i learn that i realize that in order to be successful here it's stubbornness is extremely important where all the products of our upbringings and i was you know a child in a large family with you know wonderful loving parents and. you know wonderful

loving and energetic brothers one was two years older than me the other was four years older than me and for all of my childhood they were physically stronger than me and you know boys will be boys they will wrestle they will punch they will kick and if you get knocked down stand back up and you know maintain your composure and your integrity and things will work out well success has many fathers failure is an orphan and i feel that you know it's very hard for people. you know in this part of the world to accept that your and our mission is to you know continue to build out our existing projects in the south of moscow which is a globally relevant project in terms of size and then replicate to a smaller extent the same type of concept across the major markets in russia you know currently we have our major customer john deere we designed built a known their major factor in russia republic trucks is also an existing customer of ours we've done work for mcdonald's and we're negotiating relationships partnerships with kind of the who's who of the fortune five hundred more active in

russia and looking to get more active so that's really our ambition is how do we help these great businesses to tap into the potential the russian marketplace and how do we save them from experiencing many of the frustrations that i experienced you know as an entrepreneur so our job is to help them see that it's a process to doing business in russia and it's not an unknown you know at the end of the day i do what i do because i enjoy knowing that i am influencing things for the positive so when i go look at. our project and i look at the customers we serve and i talk to our customers and i see that they are quite happy with the results we've achieved for me that gives me enormous pleasure and that really is what drives me it's the ability to influence things it's not making money or you know being the boss or things like that it's you know doing being successful by doing good and making money we want to be profitable but we want to really be doing

something that develops this country in a positive way. well coming up shortly the story of an american vigilante waging a one man war on illegal immigrant on the us mexico border that's after the headlines which are coming up in just a couple minutes. if

they shoot something inappropriate for public they can easily be shown. as a teaser ok. i wish she would have never happened but it has. been a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what does their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors. and it's clear that with such witnesses they got a. period of. merciless shooting.

wealthy british style sun it's time to.

market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines in two cars a report on our. latest news in the week's top stories fresh clashes in syria claimed dozens of lives as the arab league decides to carry on with its observer mission and despite criticism that the organization is not achieving its goal of ending the bloodshed. iran says it will continue war games in the persian gulf threatening to block a key oil route in the region as the west imposes stricter sanctions on tehran. and the six republican hopefuls are vying to take on the president in november's u.s. presidential election as support for obama is on the wane across the country. up next our special report reveals the human story behind a vigilante but trolling the u.s. mexican border.