international news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. syrian activists claim the government crackdown on protesters is continuing a day after the arab league decided to keep up its observer mission to the country at least thirteen people reported dead on monday in the pan arab body called on all sides in the conflict to lay down arms at once but didn't go as far as asking the u.n. to intervene the league's been overseeing the implementation of a peace plan since late last month one hundred sixty five of its observers are spread across syria with more on the way their findings indicate the regime is only sticking to some parts of the deal on the grounds of will take unspecified action if the crackdown doesn't and soon more than five thousand civilians around two thousand soldiers are said to have been killed in the country since march so the

first has more from damascus. and new year but no resolution here despite the presence in the country of arab league observers in ten months of bloody clashes the violence in syria continues to escalate. and that's what's our fault what's our peoples far it's a sound that our children are dying it's a sense they are just ordinary people we simply want to have the man seen here his life doctors are battling to save as a soldier. the he died he is just twenty five years old. was his family to mourn him and this is just one man one family across syria at the moment there are many more people experiencing exactly the same thing as the country edges ever closer toward civil war hundreds of people from both sides losing their lives every month. on friday another suicide bombing in

damascus is yet further evidence of the escalating conflicts and this is continued to take place despite the presence of arab league observers on the ground and then have we went to the leading them to help but they didn't want to listen to was and didn't respond to our complaints exactly he's responsible for what's in the country right now remains far from being clear but the opposition itself is becoming increasingly divided with more and more army desserts is joining the ranks in calling for a violent overthrow of the government danger. soldiers who. have concluded. the rest of the syrian army if they want to. do it you know bleakest once again when you think cools for the violence from all sides to end the thing that's to review the finding safe. there in syria this vast

country and many of its people are fighting extremely hard right now for the right to determine their own future the government here might say that they're pushing reforms very many people in the country feel that simply too much has happened and too much blood has been shed for anything other than real change to be an option sara for. damascus. iran has begun enriching uranium at a brand new nuclear facility the west has slammed the move as a provocation at a time when britain ship between the u.s. and iran has reached a boiling point the islamic state says its new plant is deep underground making it immune to airstrikes or some analysts claim it could produce nuclear fuel that's easier to adapt weapons use meanwhile the pentagon says it's prepared to use force to reopen a vital well route in the persian gulf which tehran has threatened to block now adding to the tension a former marine has been found guilty of spying for the cia and sentenced to death

in iran u.s. a slap his latest round of economic sanctions on the country in response to its nuclear program with the also preparing to enforce penalties more the situation let's talk to journalist actually turn to be now from london both the u.s. and iran have been squaring up not just verbal action but militarily now so who is being more provocative here do you think. iran hasn't attacked any other nation for hundreds of years the united states has form on attacking another nation every couple of years continues to attack all the time i think we know who's provoking this latest spat the united states is a net exporter of oil apparently first time in sixty years so presumably they're enjoying the prices as they spike with every new threat for united states makes against masses of ordinary men women and children in other countries but what about

that threat that iran is made to shut down back in the gulf and the pentagon we're hearing now has warned that it will indeed use force should that happen do you think iran really is prepared to take on this risk. i think iran certainly would one must remember that leon panetta the former head of the cia now secretary of defense is a liar the u.s. agreed offense is a lot i'm not saying that i'm really repeating the former house speaker nancy pelosi because we know that secretary defense who is ratcheting up the rhetoric about what would happen if iran blocked the straits of hormuz in response to u.s. actions we know that. about his involvement in torture other democratic colleagues in congress also called him a liar at that time so for more on this the united states seemingly just wanting prices while at the same time threatening people and developing

world the rest of the world a major superpower in the world like what the united states is saying that sort of united nations. says something truly open at around obama but again panetta also a huge advocate of drone strikes the u.s. says foreign policy is in tatters but the heat really is increasing now isn't it when we know about the sentencing to death that former u.s. marine for alleged spying for the cia we're looking at tactics now tit for tat by the looks of things but what could the implications be if iran doesn't the go ahead without execution. i think this isn't tit for tat one must remember that iran made noises that supported the united states in relation to a hijacking a few days back the us helped some iranian sailors get rescued off the coast of somalia this cia spy case was preceded all of this.

seemingly he had on him us military papers from bagram air base the us is torture center continues to torture people at least because i started putting pressure on the us about that so this cia case is very different but again we are going to have to maybe this guy was recruited from his university days in arizona by leon panetta you know a very not a very good agent carrying u.s. documents on him in iran and asking questions about nuclear things i would think but nevertheless if he is executed would that be the igniting point for the conflict or indeed the rhetoric to increase further or would it be actually what's going on in the whole me straight robin what's going on with the nuclear accusations where could the igniting point the spot be if things really were to worsen. i'm not sure the united states cares much about its own citizens it goes around assassinating them by drone as to what it thinks about its servicemen and

women who fight on its. own much care about their mind you know the straits of hormuz would be the point but again iran is only saying they will respond to these us and e.u. provocations by doing this so. the united states. would react to what's going on at the moment perhaps it is just ratcheting rhetoric to be able to get that as valuable petro dollars into the u.s. treasuries of the goldman sachs can give it out in bonuses to the rich and this is a rich ring of rhetoric it will lead the u.s. news bulletins in the past twenty four hours. whether the united states really can contemplate a war with iran. i really don't feel right after just briefly then here we are talking the start of twenty twelve turbulence in syria and of course these tensions now with iran not a positive start to the year is it i mean how you've said that you don't see actually conflict occurring between the u.s. and iran but how do you see events playing out now this year in the region just

briefly iran has offered to go for further negotiations on the nuclear issue i think the united states is really realizing that its plans for syria on turning up the way they wanted it to. these bombs in damascus and so forth carried out by who knows could they be black ops operations by united states allies. syria isn't playing out the way the united states is this is a u.s. foreign policy in tatters as afghanistan pakistan iraq they all turn their backs on the united states previous kweisi allies so obama and secretary clinton better do some quick thinking because it's not going well for the u.s. or. nato at the moment always could hear thoughts after return to live in london thank you. but we're always interested in your opinion too and today we're

asking you what is next in store for iran as tensions around it reach a point in point where you can log on to our website r.t. dot com to participate in our latest poll we have seen the results so far over half of you think the u.s. will attempt to provoke iran into an all out conflict movement in washington stright say that washington will strike first and worry about the consequences later and some feel in the rubble claimed to have nuclear weapons to get the west to back off and the minority believes the country will defend itself by forging an us alliance in south america go online to culture vote while you're on our website check out some of the stories there including. the torture around in afghanistan the man in the u.s. the u.s. army hands over control of its main prison in the country within a month after claims inmates have been severely news.

the french and german leaders are stressed the boosting economic growth is a priority as they try to stem the eurozone debt crisis in their first meeting of the new year they've also been calling for a quick conclusion to negotiations on a new treaty which will in shrine strict fiscal rules but is he going to report some worry that germany above all sees this as an opportunity to increase its political clout. billions of euros had been injected into the greek economy while its population has been given shot after shot of austerity measures in most cases that cement wages cut taxes raised my friend the famous composer. crees. compares it with a time before the fascism and what they are doing is to destroy the democracy

greece is that democracy has seen the elected pm swept into the political gutter and replaced by an unelected technocrat who just happened to be a former vice-president of the european central bank. the one and only goal is to prevent a greece from going under and taking others with it a similar tactic was used on the third largest of the euro zone's economies italy after silvio berlusconi resigned from power and a new prime minister was also appointed switching governments is an old show the government that left had no chance to act to act much different from the one that is and start now people are you know pacified looking by a new face meanwhile two key players of the e.u. germany and france meet again looking for ways to world cracks in the euro zone germany's already thrown billions at saving the euro it's no surprise that it wants

more control over the rest of the pack which is why berlin in paris are pushing to build a so-called fiscal compact meant to take the reins over sober and budget but it's an idea that's not going down well on germany streets especially if there is a threat to germany can gain certain positions and influence in the e.u. and it may not really have any right to be doing this germany over the money but it gives the government gets more. it's more powerful and i fear that. it's bad i think about the danger of the so-called robin hood tax is another proposed measure it would charge the u.s. financial institutions for every money move the mic with him to stand in the market however with more gloomy economic news over the euro zone's joblessness and feeling retail sales some analysts warn if introduced the new tax meet only makes

struggling countries even more dependent on france and germany is money there's no doubt germany remains the economic powerhouse of. the skies over the euro zone darkening signs our strength is now used to why. as well you've got this kind of frankfurt germany. patrick young who's the executive director of the investment advisory firm dva advisors says the leaders of the eurozone already doing enough to save it and upcoming elections in some of the blocks countries only make things worse. the only thing that's growing at the moment i suspect is going to be the weirdest lines of all the civil servants and ministers who are summiting all over the place and eating endless numbers of cream bones and delicacies in each of the different locales they visit the truth is that absolutely nothing has been done in order to try and actually fundamentally the problem and again today what we've seen is

a sticking plaster complied to all of the different problems that are going on mrs merkel saying but we'd like to keep everybody in the euro and we hope to keep everything together and we'll work very hard to do that well you know what the problem is it doesn't matter how much you talk about something it's actions that are coming to the moment all we have is words of mr sarkozy is willing to burn the european union on the hire of his reelection efforts and that therefore leaves him fundamentally right angles to germany's position which is apparently to try and provide some sort of long term solution i mean the situation in greece is particularly acute the position in many other countries is going to be much worse and of course we have multiple elections coming up this year not just in france but also in greece itself as well as many other places that are going to in many ways further exacerbate the politics of the euro going forward. we're back to our top story now violence rages on in syria

a day after the arab league called on all sides of the conflict to cease fire and implement a peace plan let's get some insight and analysis from dr benjamin he's a senior fellow at the u.s. based think tank and author of jihad versus work world well the the arab league maintains it can still get the job done in overseeing the implementation of that peace plan but some members of the syrian opposition of accused of incompetence among others who have accused him of being incompetent what's your view. i don't think it's incompetence i think it's powerlessness the arab league was among the first along with united nations six damn kadafi in libya but it was not told nato intervened teeth were put in the mouth of the arab league and the arab league here is talking a fast line but not really doing anything as long as the west is not really interested in intervention and clearly it's not very little is going to happen but sure our side is going to make nice noises and continue to repress the local

insurgency why then would the west not want to go and meet those calls from some for the un to be involved now after what seems a bit of a failure by the arab league but i think there are two issues one is united nations as we know united states as we know it is in ratcheting down its global involvement its out of iraq it's beginning to withdraw from afghanistan it's reducing its pentagon budget so there's no appetite in the united states for another intervention and without the u.s. in the background nato certainly won't act but the other thing is there is really clearly no clear alternative at this point of bashar assad an ally and as long as that's the case i think people are reluctant to turn over a tyranny that main point is not in democracy but an anarchy and in chaos but we certainly know that in russia the same view is held to russian warships over the

weekend visited in syria so the west like the russians see no clear alternative right now so they're making a lot of noise the moral rhetoric about what's going on in syria syria but taking no serious actions that would actually lead to the overthrow of assad so no intervention is sad carries on that means more and more civilians will continue to die doesn't it no question particularly because it looks like increasing numbers of syrian person. leaving the army and going to the other side bringing their weapons with them so what started as the army against an insurgency is increasingly looking like a mini civil war in which soldiers from the shores army are now on the other side with their weapons sometimes entire units seem to be defecting and that suggests to me that deaths both sides are likely to rise with time but

without anyone really intervene the turks are closest they would have the most chance something but we've seen that their rhetoric has made no difference and unless somebody is willing to intervene militarily i think that's a question right now from turkey from the west or from countries in the east including russia it seems to me that this will go on and on with the rising death toll and more and more chaos in syria without any resolution ok chaos terrible consequences for the country itself but what about if civil war does break out what are the implications be only syria. well for syria or already economic situation which started out desolate even before the insurgency got underway it's going to mean continuing deprivation for the syrian people we know that the alawite minority is isolated and the elites will continue probably to do ok and one of the problems as we learned in iran and elsewhere with sanctions is that sanctions are sanctions

on the people but not on the elite that managed to keep their own hold on the little bit of resources that are there so i don't think sanctions will make a whole lot of difference and i suspect given the whole saw on the army he will stay in power for a very long time remember even in libya it was eight or nine months for for gadhafi was just launched and that was maybe active participation of nato so i think we're in for a long and difficult oh i think the syrian people are in for a very rough time interesting you talk about the lack of appetite for foreign intervention but interesting enough the u.s. has announced the deployment of thousands of troops to israel recently which of course border of syria is should we read anything into some sort of signal being sent to damascus i suspect the signal is more to iran's then to damascus i mean obviously the syrian army. across the going to india israel they're being held but i think at this point the army in syria is fully occupied i

think reinforcements in israel has more to do with iran and the greater danger in the region of war i think comes in fact from iran which just brought in a second site deeply intoned in the earth online so it is so all of the rhetoric all of the. only in the u.s. and israel and that iran and the straits of hormuz was where. the green government as said don't come back to the aircraft carrier stennis all of that suggests to me that the real problem is with iran and that's another reason i think the. although the west doesn't want to engage in military action inside syria are really interested here of course thank you so much dr benjamin barber senior fellow at u.s. think tank demos and also the author of as you had verses my world the book which is something globally at the moment thank you very much for your thoughts and your time thank you sir. russian republic of chechnya has seen its first anti terror operation of the year security forces are still sweeping the area of to

moping up remaining resistance from a group of all militants who refused to surrender but sometimes have suffered losses as well it is within a quarter of reports from the caucasus region this come to turkey operation is one of the biggest race that change now has seen in recent times according to russia's in term ministry there were up to ten militants hiding in this area and the latest information that we have is that five militants were killed and that russian special forces also suffered losses one policeman and three interior ministry's officers were killed and another sixteen were wounded as they were the victims of the explosives that the target is place earlier around this area now this operation started on a sunday when special forces found a place that turned out to be the terrorist main hideout packed with a weapons and explosives it is still going on and it continues really severe weather conditions in basically low visibility as it is very foggy and misty right

now in the mountains meanwhile in the last twelve months a changed man has been really peaceful and. he has spread into the neighboring regions of the north caucasus that's why maybe of the news over the size of this operation is really hitting the hard lines over here in the north caucasus. two people have died of an explosion ripped through a busy attorney restaurant in moscow monday up to forty people are reported to be injured and our correspondent tom bowman reports now from the scene. smoke is still rising and emergency workers are still crowded round the restaurant in the southern part of moscow which earlier was the scene of three gas explosions two employees were killed they were close to the blasts the explosions started with a what has been called a domestic gas explosion that then set off two gas canisters nearby that ripped

through the building and started a fire which gutted the two story restaurant the first floors being completely blown out all the windows are smashed and chunks of being torn out of the walls a lot of people were injured by that flying debris the fire that was caused has since been put out emergencies ministry is now starting an investigation but they have already said in a preliminary statement they think it was improper use of the gas equipment that caused this blast and all these injuries and and two deaths. reporting there from central moscow some other news now from around the world to pakistan first where at least ten troops have been found dead in an unstable tribal area in the country's northwest and they were adopted ducted from the region after militants attacked a military post officials say the bodies of the men with multiple bullet wounds were discovered in a ravine close. the taliban executed. offices having adopted

the last month. nigerian unions have launched a nationwide strike to protest against the country's soaring fuel prices this comes after the government ended a popular fuel subsidy leading to a rise in gas and transportation costs throughout the country nigeria's two main unions have said as many as eight million people will not go to work during the strike africa's largest oil provider to. a lawyer in the trial of gyptian leader hosni mubarak has accused police of using lethal far against protesters during the country's anti-government right uprising eighty three year old former president and some of his security officials are on trial for charges of complicity in the killings of eight hundred fifty demonstrators during the country's eighteen day revolt a prosecutor also pointed the finger at the head of the ruling military council and the former vice president saying they both live in their court testimony. the military prosecutor in poland has shot himself in the head off the cutting short

a news conference in his office we will have been defending a military investigation into media leaks related to a plane crash that killed poland's president two years ago. after break you go to the corner of his office there to the gun and pulled the trigger he survived and is in stable condition. well bring your recap of main headlines after this short break stay with us this is all to you live here in moscow.

if they shoot something inappropriate for a public they can easily be shot by x. casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has. been a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what destroys their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave iran. and its clear what happens with such witnesses i got him on my flight. one of my many my next

meeting. should be merciless shooting on our. we. move. to. the big.

this is. the arab league the conflicts in syria it's a ceasefire and implement a peace plan but it still rages and it was clear at least thirteen were killed on monday as the government crackdown on protesters continues despite the arab. news you've been shipped. enrichment to some of. the problems in the gulf by the use of military action from the.