international news and comment live from moscow this is our team syrian activists claim the government crackdown on protesters is continuing even after the arab league decided to keep up its observer mission to the country at least nineteen were reported dead on monday the panel or a body called on all sides in the conflict to lay down arms at once but didn't go as far as asking the un to intervene the league's been overseeing the implementation of a peace plan since late last month and sixty five of its observers are spread across syria with more on the way the findings indicate the regime is only sticking to some parts of the deal the league warns it will take unspecified action if the crackdown doesn't end soon five thousand civilians around two thousand soldiers essential been killed in the country since march. has more now from damascus. a 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 i don't back 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 the are just ordinary people we simply want to have the man seen here his life doctors are battling to save as a soldier charging the he die he is just twenty five years old. was found 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 conflict into this is continued to take place despite the presence of arab league observers on the ground and then

had we went to the legion ask them to help but they didn't want to listen to mars 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 desert's is joining the ranks in calling for a violent overthrow of the government danger the soldiers. have concluded. the rest of the syrian army if they want. to do it you know the league has once again when you think rules for the violence from all sides and the thing that's through the 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 that

pushing reform three that 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 now be an option sara for. damascus with the regime sanctioned by the west in the civil war looming in the country some observers think it's actually the syrian people that are being hardest hit by the conflict which has raged since march. increasing numbers of syrian soldiers are leaving the army and going to the other side bringing their weapons with them and so what started as the army against an insurgency is increasingly looking like a mini civil war in which soldiers from bashar as army are now on the other side with their weapons sometimes entire units seem to be defecting and that suggests to me that the deaths death them both sides are likely to rise with time elites who

continue probably to do ok and one of the problems as we learned that iran and elsewhere with sanctions is that sanctions are sanctions on the people but not on the elite that manage 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 hold of a saw on the army he will stay in power for a very long time remember even in libya it was eight or nine months before khadafi was dislodged and that was the active participation of nato so i think we're in for a long and difficult call and i think the syrian people are for a very rough time. iran has begun enriching uranium in a brand new nuclear facility the west has slammed the move as a provocation at a time when brinkmanship between the u.s. and iran has reached a boiling point islamic state says its new plant is deep underground making it immune to strikes some analysts claim it could produce nuclear fuel that's easy to

adapt for weapons use meanwhile the pentagon says it's prepared to use force to reopen a lytle one of the to the persian gulf which tehran has threatened to block adding to the tension a former marine has been found guilty of spying for the cia and sentenced to death in the u.s. is slapped his latest round of economic sanctions on the country in response to its nuclear program with the e.u. also preparing to enforce new penalties patrick henningsen associate editor for info was dot com thinks tehran has the links it needs to stay afloat. the idea of the western bloc the axis powers of the united states the britain france and israel is to isolate iran this is their first step first we isolate then we impose sanctions now they hope to have an oil embargo so to speak. around iran but major problem crept up last week we saw south korea has made it very clear that they want to continue to import iranian crude now also japan is mulling

over this sanction because they are also a major importer of iranian oil and china has announced officially that it wants to iran to be its number two oil importer in two thousand and twelve these sanctions that they've tried to put forward by the u.s. they might work in the short term to apply pressure but i don't think by the looks of it economically that it's going to have a major long term impact on iran. well we're always interested in the opinion of our viewers and today we're asking you what is next in store for iran as tensions around it reach boiling point well log on to our web site r.t. dot com to participate in our latest poll let's have a look at and see the results so far on the screen well this hour over half of you think the u.s. will attempt to provoke iran into the conflict that less than a third say washington will strike first and worry about the consequences later some feel around will claim to have nuclear weapons to get the west to back off and

the minority believe the country will defend itself by forging an anti u.s. alliance in south america go online to cast your vote. the french and german leaders of stress that 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 ensure strict fiscal rules but as r.t. as you got this kind of reports some worry that germany above all sees this as an opportunity to increase its political clout. billions of euros have been injected into the greek economy. has been given shot after shot of austerity measures in most cases that's meant wages cut taxes raised my friend the famous composer of. crees. compares it with the 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 installed now people are you know passive by the by you 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 players are pushing to build the so-called fiscal compact meant to take the reins over so over and budgets but it's an idea that's not going down well on germany streets especially if there is a threat that 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 to mine in order to give the government gets more power more power for and i hear there's it's bad i think there's an danger the so-called robin hood tax is another proposed to measure it would charge the e.u.'s financial institutions for every money move the meek with the aim to standardize the market however with more. gloomy economic news over the euro zone's joblessness unfeeling 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. is now used to why. as well you've already frankfurt germany. belgium. epic says that euro zone the euro zone will now be governed by germany and france and the rest of the blocs members will simply have to give up their sovereignty to save the euro. the system has failed so far now we're introducing principles that we should have introduced ten years ago when we started to introduce the euro then we had a stability pact which basically unraveled now we're doing it ten years later while we have it we're having a crisis on our hands and this new bank is not going to go to the immediate problem

of the refinancing of debt of italy and france and to grow and prosper grows and i'm afraid that the eurozone is going to become a stagnation i think it's very hard for national parliaments to accept all this new treaty as it is and the other thing is that the eurozone now is run basically by two countries by germany and france and fifteen fifteen other countries simply have to follow as if they're nonexistent well i'm a bit afraid that by using the word saving the euro we go into separate democracy because in the end there are two countries france and germany telling the others what to do and by saving the euro we have to accept everything they decide and national parliaments are the pushed aside all over rules or countries are pushed are put under under pressure to accept whatever we are in the process of the process of abolishing democratic prince principles in order to safe guard or save the euro which may beyond savior altogether. still ahead this hour for you

on r.t. football fever's coming to town as fans come down the days until euro twenty twelve kicks off in ukraine and poland many skeptics question whether the huge costs of hosting the tournament are justified. but first russia's republic of chechnya has seen its first operation of the year security forces are still sweeping the area after mopping up remaining resistance from a group of armed militants who refused to surrender both sides of suffered losses of his body in a question over reports from the caucasus region. this come to turkey operation is one of the biggest race that changed 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 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 sunday one special forces found a place that turned out to be the target main hideout packed with weapons and explosives it is still going on and it continues in 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 the change here has been really peaceful and. 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 after an explosion ripped through a busy italian restaurant here in moscow on monday both were employees at the venue thirty nine people are reported to be injured including a three year old child a gas explosion in the kitchens of the blame for the blast walls were brought down

the windows blown up before a fire engulfed and destroyed an entire floor of the building russia's interior ministry has launched an investigation into the incident. let's now take a look at some other news making headlines around the world at this stage of the day in our world update in iraq three separate car bomb attacks have killed at least seventeen and wounded dozens one of the bombs went off near a police vehicle a neighborhood of al shaab killing six including two policeman a second blast in the west of the city was said to be targeting shiite pilgrims the attacks are the latest in a wave of sectarian violence that has killed ninety in less than a week. at least three people have been killed and dozens wounded during a nationwide strike to protest against nigeria's soaring fuel prices police fired on two protesters in the town of qana while one other was killed in a clash with police in lagos this comes after the government ended a fuel subsidy leading to a rising gas and transportation costs throughout the country. the military

prosecutor opponent has shot himself in the head after holding a news conference. he walked to the corner of his office loaded a gun pulled the trigger after asking for a break happened after he delivered an emotional statement defending army investigators against illegal wiretapping far into the presidential plane crash and two thousand and ten reasons he shot himself remain unknown however he survived and is in stable condition. with five months remaining until one of the world's biggest sporting events euro two thousand and twelve football fever is building fast in eastern europe its main host is ready to welcome millions of fans as they descend on ukraine and poland for several weeks this summer amala visitors will bring a surge in revenue for the local economy some people remain skeptical that the benefits will outweigh the costs and the reports. the incredible adventures of food bullheads from extreme accommodation to driving through impassable roads

this is the scenario some believe awaits fans who will flock to ukraine for the euro twenty twelve tournament gave based journalists organized this photo exhibition trying to voice a rather pessimistic message about the upcoming football coach. we're being told by the government that everything has been built by the fans will face those problems that we ordinary craniums face every day very poor straight better issues bribery by the police and terrible medical facilities i'm afraid it could be a major failure. at first glance such concerns may seem laughable even in the darkest times of financial troubles the euro twenty twelve projects remained top priority when almost all construction projects were halted roads airports and stadiums never stopped being built after a string of stadium opening ceremonies in ukraine you wait for chiefs are now

completely sure the country is ready to host the tournament we went through a different periods of the preparation so some of them. solve successful but in the last two years we made huge progress in terms of infrastructure construction and also in terms of organisation so in principle we are ready but this is just one example of what really worries some in ukraine this broken road is only several hundred meters away from a vital highway and there is a slim chance it would ever be repaired before or after the tournament kicks off experts believe ukraine simply has no money for that and the euro twenty twelve will not change the situation. of the ukraine is spent fourteen billion dollars on euro twenty twelve projects but wait. rejected to earn only half a billion from the tournament twenty eight times less everyone knew that it's a typical situation especially faced in europe the question is if we could afford

such spending in hard times like this. tournament organizers brush all this criticism aside saying regardless of how much money your twenty twelve brings the country is building a bright future for itself for the first time in twenty years history we will get new airports new roads new terminal c. everything is new we believe that people who is in ukraine they will come again the ways of ukraine so this is our main goal especially europe twenty twelve clock was installed in central kiev to count down the minutes to june skew cough and despite some skepticism the majority of ukrainians are relieved to see it ticking in their capital city not anywhere else with all the airports and stadiums springing up it's hard to believe now that almost a year ago the tournament could have moved to another country by u.a.e. for as ukraine was not doing good enough now there is no doubt whatsoever it will be held here but one question still remains whether it would become an opportunity

of a lifetime or a luxury this economically hit country could not have afforded. ski r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. the last twelve months were characterized by political and economic discontent ending in mass protests across the world when next we asked the russian foreign ministry's commissioner for human rights for his assessment of what's been going on that's our special interview coming up next here and i'll be back with a summer of our main news stories in about ten minutes from now. thank you.

thank you very much for joining us today in two thousand and eleven we've seen a number of human rights violations taking place throughout the world and you want to tour the implementation of human rights abroad so today i would like to talk about those issues that caught your attention in two thousand and eleven but first of all i want to start with domestic issues what is your view on the protests that took place in russia after the parliamentary elections in the country under some of the fort dix truly important to stress that the reaction of the authorities has been a very responsible one and i will say a very measured one like the reaction in some other countries and we've seen events not only in the united states but we've seen events in the for instance last summer in the united kingdom obviously it was quite a serious challenge to the authorities definitely it was not to be ignored but also

what was some sort of or we actually saw some of our partners try to teach us some lessons of democracy and we tell them that we are absolutely ready to listen to good advice but we are not ready for some sort of lecturing some are saying that the u.s. government's reaction to the occupy movement. is going to result in further limitation limitations of the rights of the us citizens to believe this so the reaction of the authorities to those. meetings and manifestations there was a rather rude able to see and we've seen it in the united states the famous now movement occupy wall street it also spilled over to some western european countries we've seen on c.n.n. on b.b.c. and other news channels we've seen pictures of why it's so forceful disruption of. meetings by the police be have been quit a number of limitations introduced after the terrorist acts of nine eleven and the

famous spirit act has been adopted. the other hand the functions and prerogatives of the f.b.i. and some other law enforcement agencies have been significantly broadened so it is well known there will be american human rights organizations are not satisfied with the situation and let's now talk about the so-called arab spring for a little while and how does russia going to react to the apparent human rights and they will be raising the issue in different formats and unfortunately during the period of armed conflict in libya there have been quite a number of aliens of international humanitarian norms and international humanitarian both the forces loyal to betty and by the forces loyal to the very opposition forces and also they have been careful to significant casualties among the civilian population resulting from the nato agree it is not to be ignored so the issue is very much in the focus of the international attention the human rights council based in geneva has established

a special commission of inquiry. dated to deal with all human race wally actions in libya and we've been reaching as russia will be with this commission and other countries we are providing some information which we have on the facts or suspected human rights where lesions definitely reason to national. has been mandated to deal with the situation in libya by the un security council and it was allusion lenten seventy so it was also to please all we know that the new libyan authorities have their. pledged to come back to a thorough investigation and certain steps have been undertaken towards this by the libyan authorities which we welcome and we hope that this particular inquiry will be carried out in an impartial professional way what about syria how do you assess the work of the monitors of the arab league there. any closer to bringing the country to consideration as you know we do very much support the peace initiative

by the league of arab states if your several components there was a very important elements dealing with the prevention of international interference in the syrian affairs also another element we need to immediately stop violence in any way of us in syria from whatever quarter it comes or might come the need for the political daily in syria we have submitted a draft of a security council resolution in new york in the security council which calls for the suspicion of violence by homes were in syria it is extremely important to stress that unfortunately violence has come not only from the government forces from the army and police but has come also from all sorts of. extremist elements those who try to hide behind the backs of peaceful peaceful demonstrators let's just go back to the united states in fact american prisons hold several illegally detained russian citizens how is russia going to address that issue and is there

any chance for those people to come back home we hope so. it's not easy at all legal terms it's not easy unfortunately in political terms because of those. there was cases have been politicized in the united states dealt in the case of both the formal indictment has not been announced yet. so we've been obviously. reiterating our position on this case to our american. leagues in the case of. we have expressed more than once our position we consider the embed month sentence to severe we consider them just in both cases unfortunately what we witnessed transgression of international law and norms of international law by the united states authorities where russian citizens have been basically kidnapped in the territory of a third country transported to the united states with your knowledge of the russian

authorities is just another way at least in some way lesion of the consular convention which exists between i would come to resemble we are adamantly against extraterritorial implementation of national laws and that's what unfortunately this procedure is being practiced by the united states different to many but there are certain legal instruments we have to be used there is the convention of the consul of you rip which was adopted in maine to make it three provides for some opportunities to achieve this goal our lawyers are looking into this and definitely we as diplomats we continue to. stress at this point to the to the americans you know very very clear we thank you very much we thank you very much thank you. this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth

that out of many we all want that war we breathe the 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 a free. man. you . have very motivated out for us 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. we are counting. properly drowning and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making the marker see. all but impossible.

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stories now still rages in syria even after the arab league is in the conflict a cease fire and implement a peace plan back to his claim at least nineteen were killed on monday is the government crackdown on protesters continues despite the arab plea. to clip the british ship. enrichment facility after threatening to shut down a vital supply route. from the u.s. washington is opposed yes more sanctions on iran over its new play.