tensions with iran could bring oil prices to two hundred dollars a barrel the details of the twenty one. a very warm welcome to you this is r.t. live from moscow. syria's president has blamed a foreign conspiracy for the turmoil in the country amid ongoing protests against his rule addressing the nation bashar al assad promised more political reform while dismissing opposition claims of a bloody crackdown he said he's actually fighting armed insurgents using peaceful protests as a cover now for more on this we can talk to the middle east expert professor jeremy saul from builtin university in ankara good to see you today so president assad claims a foreign conspiracy is behind the unrest in syria how justified do you think these accusations. i think the opposition can see nothing. but in his sins

but in many respects. he singled out. one so. new and i think. assessment. from the very ineffectual. when you're. talking well you don't use the consumers and we do know that many many. things not to bring down the syrian government and that includes. britain france and the governments. opinion of. syria. really. not. a country which has.

no elections and no unions well i mean when you talk about regional implications that you bring up the issue of democracy assad says that he still has his people's support is that true do you think if we look back he was claiming the same thing ok i. guess we did have. a change in libya many many people still. only be in syria but the picture is very mixed in with. his strong biceps. by three months to get in touch. with them. just doesn't put. them in our nature time to take me. to. professor jeremy sold. do apologize we're having some technical difficulties

here with the connection we do hope to establish a connection with you in the immediate future please stand by for us here on out see professor jeremy salter middle east expert from bill kent university in ankara many thanks for joining us. well the syrian regime is also coming under increasing pressure from neighboring states turkey says it feels threatened by the conflict and could take a leading role in dealing with it also jeanne shop says the syrian opposition should stop calls for outside military interference because it never leads to democracy. i think the. military intervention is very dangerous and. it is the be and and some syrians have been doing that that's very unfortunate because that will not help that will not bring a democracy that will be the outside forces. assuming to get rid of the old regime then the new name will be heavily influenced by the power to intervene

the u.s. france or whoever it was so that they will have a major say really. happened in this part of the syrian people who would you think should be the u.s. government should not be intervening military in that they move into barghouti because if it doesn't work and they can serve other objectives. and if you bear with us here and i say you can see the full interview with author jean shah but that's next hour for you to stop by. europe's top power couple of calls on the eurozone to boost growth to stop the debt crisis from spreading i didn't show the very survival of the region's single currency at a meeting in berlin nicolas sarkozy said it was just to reach a fast agreement with greece's private creditors before more bailout money can be

high. over i think has insisted though that it does face default and could have to abandon the euro if it doesn't get more cash by spring the e.u. now needs to i know of a treaty agreed upon last month which includes the threat of sanctions tougher surveillance and make some budget rule breakers honorable directly to brussels but many euro skeptics say putting more trust in brussels would be a mistake and southeast syria. when times are this hard every cent counts for the seventeen year in a row the european court of auditors refused to give the e.u. accounting books a clean a bill of health the court found that in two thousand and ten three point seven percent of the e.u.'s budget was spent in error that's four point five billion euros essentially wasted due to mistakes like an eligible or incorrect calculation of costs going to e.u. call finance projects or breaches of public procurement rules to be fair brussels gets criticized because persons as you criticize. that said though it should

forgive them for having that air raid there is a feeling that it's not unjustified that in europe. brussels the commission institutions have not taken the really hard look at their budgets and done the hard cutting that a lot of member states have in fact the e.u. commission and parliament wanted to have some one hundred thirty three billion euros to spend next year but settled on one hundred twenty nine after tough negotiations with member states well that's still an increase of two percent because the e.u. budget uniquely continues to grow it only ever goes in one direction what they call a cut him means a slight you small increase and they would have wanted in an ideal world there are two kinds of money in the world there's your money and there's my money you know we're much more careful with the second than with first trouble is that here in brussels it's all somebody else's money mostly their money.

which is why criticism grows with the budgets committee approved thirty eight million euros for the purchase of three buildings to increase office space for any of their staff and the area behind me is a property that will be acquired by the european parliament the project for seize the demolition of an existing building a big race and i would know what the total cost one hundred twenty five million euros fifteen million of which will come up from the budget. critics cry foul of the project supporters stand their ground when there is a new member states you need new space it is ridiculous to say that we don't need more space when we have more stuff but if you say that you mean to say that stuff is sitting on the show's needs while working or we have this responsibility to do legislation for five hundred million people in a proper way again there is an organ for this to these people these institutions do need facilities the timing is just horrible because the austerity measures imposed a lot of member states the fact that brussels is ploughing on with grand plans for

you know these beautiful new buildings just smells bad yet it's not just about new buildings or your kratz that raises eyebrows. how hard is it to just come up with. receipts when they have. one and they have experience base for this sort of course of hers in fact some say the allure of being a hero to me also be hurting poor member states losing best and brightest to brussels just people in those countries the entrepreneurs the people who could have done so much making things inventing things selling things creating businesses in the states because nothing can compete with the advantages of being on the e.u. payroll they all start gravitating towards by that directly the brussels bureaucracy or in direct as the saying goes if you can't beat them join them. but that's clearly not a win win solution for everyone. our team brussels. and

our hard times in europe and across the pond as well but the poor in america do have an unlikely helping hand reaching out to them as we report on shortly. it being generous to give us the error charge so could you believe have ill feelings against the government may hate him but some americans talk warmly about venezuelan president hugo chavez thanks to some charitable policies. and a front line in the war against terror we look at the new species of taro fighting dogs bred specifically to sniff out explosives in the most extreme conditions those details just ahead for you. now ten minutes past the hour here in moscow concern expressed by the west over iran's new nuclear facility going operational is exaggerated and politically motivated well that's the view of tehran's representative at the u.n. nuclear watchdog earlier the u.s.

and france warned of a severe response with one american general even threatening to wipe out iran's nuclear facilities its all despite the atomic agency saying it how does. the nuclear material at the underground bunker well under control iran insists it needs enriched uranium for medical and energy purposes and tension meantime is also growing in the persian gulf tehran's threaten to close the strait of hormuz if the west uses sanctions to block iran's oil exports and the u.s. and israel are planning joint naval exercises in the gulf at the same time as iran some experts believe the current escalation is not iran's fault. iran hasn't attacked any other nation for hundreds of years the united states has form one 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 is 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 where the straits of hormuz would be the point but again iran is only saying they will respond to us and you provocations by doing this the united states. would react to what's going on at the moment perhaps it is just wretched rhetoric to be able to get those valuable petro dollars into the u.s. treasuries of the goldman sachs can give it out in bonuses to the rich and the developing world the rest of the world a major superpower. in the world like what the united states is saying the u.s. foreign policy is in tatters whether the united states really can contemplate a war with iran and. i really don't think so at the moment. and amid threats from

the u.s. iranian president mahmoud. ahmadinejad has turned to south america and made venezuela the first stop of his tour on the continent and the ardent critic of washington the venezuelan leader hugo chavez defended ahmadinejad he said there was no proof that iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons and they were on your president called the accusations of lie and said tirant and caracas should resist the quote mean and arrogant united states both leaders joked their relationship shouldn't cause any concern as iran and venezuela have long been trading partners with image i will also visit nicaragua cuba and ecuador. and along with mark would ask why didn't you go chavez is a leader that washington likes to paint a as an enemy of america but there are thousands in the u.s. who have a lot of warm feelings for the from buoyant venezuelan president i thought he was worried portnoy are reports. winter morning in the south bronx new york city

outdoors the temperature is near freezing indoors. seventy seven year old alison many otis is bundled up brewing up pot of coffee and raising the heat just enough. to take the chill out of the air the retired grandmother of seven lives alone on a fixed income and each winter as federal programs continue to be slashed the struggle to afford comfort gets harder i call a bad swim and waving i mean all they do was raise raise raise raise and i mean it's the same dollar you get in so how far can you push it one hundred gallons of oil one hundred fifty gallons of oil is about the. right now about the close to six hundred dollars however venezuela has been stepping in to make alice's life a bit easier by delivering one hundred gallons of free heating oil each winter she is a four year beneficiary of the citgo venezuela heating oil program which provides free

heating oil to five hundred thousand poor americans living in low income neighborhoods and shelters throughout the country president chavez often demonized by washington helped launch the program in two thousand and five following hurricanes katrina and rita all i know is that he was caught and he was crying to the people of the united states and i'm sure he he he ruled differently like obama differently and who will we to tell these people how they should live or how i mean are they good invading our country with their not being generous to give us what comes out of their earth at no charge so could you really have ill feelings against them. i'm thankful for it. i really am in an interview with the venezuelan newspaper el universal americas leader sort of expressing similar sentiments of gratitude president obama recently accused the chavez government

restricting human rights and taking right wing steps. democratic values the venezuelan leader didn't mince words while responding directly to his u.s. counterpart you know what i feel sorry for you you just asked the black communities in your country what you mean to them you're the greatest disappointment of recent years the poor people of your country you're a great disappointment to them it's time that we stop minding everybody else's business and took care of business here we have children that are graduating from college with eighty ninety one hundred thousand dollars that they have to pay back its to p.t. it's. just that and they can't get a job a struggle getting that much harder in the land of opportunity arena r.t. new york. is coming to life in moscow there is always a lot more to catch your attention on our web site www dot com here are some of the

items standing by for you right now hard working the holidays prime minister vladimir putin is at the midnight oil working on his presidential election program doing it the old fashioned way as you can see here writing it all by hand also. see this polish prosecutor holding a news briefing with journalists he then interrupted and asks everybody to leave the room this is what they find when they come back examine for yourself why he shot himself in the head. now let's go to some other headlines and from around the world time for the r.t. was update for you at least twenty five been killed dozens injured by a bomb blast targeting anti taliban militia this sort of market in northwestern pakistan. on the explosion which was the deadliest in the country for months struck vehicles being used by the militia it happened in the khyber region close to afghanistan which is dominated by tribes and has

a strong militant presence. north korea has announced a prisoner amnesty to celebrate the birthdays of the late leader kim jong il and his father will come into effect on the first of february but it's now not known how many prisoners will actually be released kim jong il died on december the seventeenth leaving the nation under the control of his youngest son seen here kim jong un. the international criminal court is still waiting for information from libya on the status of colonel gadhafi son saif al islam despite a deadline being set for tuesday the most prominent son of the late leader was captured in november while trying to flee libya site has been charged by the hague with crimes against humanity and is waiting to find out whether or not he will be handed over. to the u.s. state of new hampshire has started voting in the first republican primary favorite mitt romney is currently leading the polls with congressman ron paul and social

conservative rick santorum still some way behind the head of the poll now that it's continuing political point scoring former massachusetts governor romney was mocked by rivals during a debate after saying that he enjoyed firing. how would you do. the stern of a stricken cargo ship seen here off the coast of new zealand has sunk after being broken apart by a storm over the weekend the main bow section of the vessel still remains wedged on a reef the greek owned ship ran aground back in october and have since leaked tons of oil killing hundreds of sea birds in what has become the country's worst maritime disaster. all right twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital one of moscow's busiest airports there's a new breed of crime fighter on duty and they're able to work in the extreme hot or freezing cold to sniff out explosives wherever they are. went to see what they can do. the man's four legged friends on the front line in the fight against terror

these dogs are special breed part husky part jackal and it's their cute sense of smell which makes them perfect for sniffing out explosives in airports or when it turns out that of all the canines it's the jackal that has the best sense of smell so it was logical to use that to improve the sense of smell and dogs basically are grafted or won't be sense of smell on to a domesticated animal of what they're husky hurry to means that they can handle temperatures as low as minus seventy degrees centigrade while the jackal side of the family provides them with equally impressive abilities in the heat. jackals or some tropical animal that's used to high temperatures as an experiment we took these hybrids to the united arab emirates where they were able to work equal to two degrees centigrade they could walk on sand which was heated by the sun to sixty degrees ordinary dogs wouldn't be able to handle that to get

a buddhist sort of. this early most dogs have two hundred and twenty million smell receptors forty four times more than a human this allows them to detect even trace amounts of explosive material making them invaluable for airports looking to put passengers at their ease the best man that ever working with these dogs among passengers makes people feel more secure in their ports this way passengers see that era flight to give special attention to security as for accuracy they've even detected gun powder residue on the clothes of hunters returning home. with the animals having to work in an environment filled with distracting sights sounds and smells it's important that the dogs and their handlers have a close relationship police gave it to me there has to be trust between the two and the dog should feel absolutely free and shouldn't be pressured by excessive discipline the handlers. have to be extremely attentive they should notice and

immediately respond to the dogs every motion and reaction but this is the british and you might share. a false alarm is detected unless the north point five percent of searches making the dogs far more reliable than the best man made the texan device much of that is down to the breeding but a lot of training is required before they are ready to work amongst the public so well it doesn't take the dog long to find what was hidden underneath my feet but it's all well and good doing it here on the training ground how will they fare in the busy atmosphere of an international airport on an average day over one hundred thousand people pass through this terminal a cherry mitzvah airport plenty of distractions making it the perfect place to conduct a test this bike here contains around three grams of plastic explosive i'm going to go and hide somewhere here in the terminal while florida tries to track me down.

for august sets about sniffing me out to finally choose no searching every nook and cranny in which a potentially dangerous package could be hidden when you see these hybrid dogs in action it's clear why they are so well suited to working in the airport some passengers don't even notice that they're part of their investigation. sure enough she finds me trying to check in for a flight. well it's all good. no matter how hard you try to hide if you have explosives these amazing animals will find you. r.t. moscow. can attach an hour drive to us for the latest business news. it's twenty three minutes past three pm here last greenwashing business r.t. traders a closely monitoring the escalating tensions between iran and the west is the worst

case scenario honorables some analysts say well could jump to two hundred dollars a barrel but nick parsons from national australia bank says it's not likely. but i think the very very close relationship between the external value of the u.s. dollar and oil has begun to slip over the course of the last few months if we remind ourselves of where we were three summers ago the oil price eight hundred forty seven dollars per barrel exactly on the day when the euro dollar exchange rate one sixteenth so we had a very weak u.s. dollar we had a very high oil price that relationship has held good over a long period of time and if it were based purely on that then we'd be looking today it's an oil price or around seventy or seventy five dollars so that suggests to me that a lot of the potential disruption that we hear talked about is already in the price and i doubt very much that we're going to see the sort of spike that some of the

wilder analysts are talking about i think a lot of it is already in the price. of life now see how well is performing this hour and it's gaining value due to not only tensions with iran but also the consumer credit data from the united states light sweet as close to one hundred three dollars a barrel brant is at around one hundred thirteen a half dollars. and now on to equities banking shares are pushing european indices higher the footsies gaining around one percent and germany the dax is up more than two and a half percent but investors must still be very worried about their future if on monday they bought for by. euro's worth of german bonds with a negative yield meeting bet in asset that's guaranteed to make no money and the markets here in moscow were quite upbeat the r.t.s. is up almost two and a half percent this hour the my six is putting on one and two thirds of

a percent. now on to the biggest movers on the y. six or oil majors are on the rise supported by strong group crude lukoil is up over two percent financials are also gaining with russia's biggest lender sabera bank three percent in the black and retailer seven continent is among the main over losers this hour following reports that its parent company plans to buy back twenty five percent of its shares at a record low price. last year was pretty turbulent for the russian stock markets they lost around twenty percent of their value some experts say this year could be just as bad i like caso from v t b capital explains some of the major risk factors for that to happen obviously if your price would have to fall significant and for that to happen obviously things have to go pear shaped in the in europe and in the u.s. which actually might happen a lot of analysts are predicting the recession in europe and obviously if you give

you numbers don't pick up and. maybe a little bit below consensus growth in asia which is which it has been the world war two thousand and eleven over there will be some room for disappointment right now thirty percent of songs are given that the well person sticking. to the high levels. and now on to other news british luxury car maker rules royce reported record sales in two thousand and eleven the company sold more than three and a half thousand cars the highest in its one hundred seven year history sales group particularly france to germany and russia where they more than doubled. and that's all from the business team of the sour my colleague daniel bushell will bring it up to date in about fifteen minutes.

wealthy british style scientists an expert on the time. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. if they shoot something inappropriate from the public they can easily be

shown to accept casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what destroys their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave room. and it's clear what happens with such witnesses i got among my site. one of my many odd checks to. shoot nurses shooting on our. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world seeing

from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule the day. if you are just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is oxy live from moscow time for your headlines now i don't syria's president assad claims of foreign conspiracy is behind the ongoing unrest in the country in a televised address he insisted that he has the people support that he will not leave damascus to completely reform the constitution. the e.u. is a top to call for a boost to eurozone growth while trying to push states firmly under the brussels ombre but critics say it could be.