around the clock around the world this is r.t. live in moscow more than thirty civilians have reportedly been shot dead by security forces across syria on tuesday the report comes after the president delivered his first public address since june dismissing pressure to resign bashar al assad claims he still has the people support in leading the fight against what he's called foreign funded terrorism assad's promise to crush mercenaries and saboteurs with an iron fist saying they don't represent the syrian people. no orders were ever given to peaceful protesters retore to his commitment to democratic reform he said a referendum on a new constitution will take place by march the president also slammed the arab league which suspended syria's membership in november believes observers are currently overseeing the implementation of a peace plan eleven members of the team received minor injuries in an attack by

protesters on monday moscow stresses the league should monitor the activity of all sides in the conflict let's get some reaction now from political analysts. thank you very much indeed for being with us sat has denied there's a crackdown on peaceful protesters so what are we supposed to make of the figures the un's giving more than five thousand civilians killed in the country since march . well obviously you have to look at the observer what they said. very clearly there is that there is a weapon being smuggled along the border from jordan from from turkey from lebanon there is some casualty on the ground those are caused by both by by. army which is supposed to protect the people and by that and sort of those people the president of syria call them terrorists actually have been funded by foreign agenda mostly by the united states and some out of country volunteer to

carry the work of the american agenda basically there is remapping for that region and i think it's not working for the american and that's why they causing all these troubles in syria and some other part of the region so that it's kind of we're seeing though is there still not i grassroots opposition to it sounds very jean he is after all saying that he has to support all of the people despite what you were saying though easy really getting that support after all we heard the same from colonel gadhafi didn't really. it's a whole different situation between qaddafi and the president assad here the situation is much different we didn't see any defect from the army we still have the street is actually chanting for the president we've seen millions of people coming to the street every friday and every occasion you see the people rise to support the country support their president and bashar al assad is much different

then duffy qaddafi was a different story here you had somebody who for the past ten years he actually rebuild the country build the infrastructure sanctions against his country and managed to grow his country four to five percent build a university build the schools he has solid record on. takes on education on infrastructure on investment so there is really a solid support for the president. of the many people saying that the country could be slipping into civil war. well that's that's what we hear from the qatari and from turkey and there are actually what the turks are doing there are smuggling. qatari out of smuggling also fighters and money is for they actually that's what they think there are planning to instigate to cause

a war. in syria for for. the syrian people still unified to the most part around their president even there is some polling was conducted by the qatari they found out that bashar assad is still has the support of the majority that conducted a very just like a months ago and they found out that he still has the support and this is like a conservative media that enemy to. the light of all despite that support clearly a lot of opposition to assad and indeed we've seen the arab league observers mission in syria looking at both sides of what's going on now we know that they have been criticized for being toothless and they're saying now they've got longer to monitor the situation but what about the findings they eventually publish and tell the world about do you think it will have any impact on the situation there

and indeed will the assad regime listen to what they have to say now. i think the regime is listening to the people and here the president promised reform and they promised constitutional reform and he put a deadline by march and he said he's going to put them to the people and that's what really upset a lot of these arab country which doesn't have democracy themselves they talk about democracy they talk about rule of law but they have a nun here on the other hand the syrian the syrian president he spoke about reform and he thinks that it's it's it's for us carried out it's for the president of syria but there is some agenda kerry american agenda does not one syria will be. to be strong and to be that fast and they want to see the country to slide into civil war that's why we're here out of on a daily basis saying we think we're going to have civil war because he's smuggling

weapons and he's called and he's a he's a he's hosting the opposition and he's given the military training of opposition three actually he's a playing devil in this in this equation with some of the arab money especially qatar and saudi arabia they don't like they don't like syria and its position in the map of the middle east they want to see what sells really really does from where does the u.s. in the west really want syria to slip into civil war bearing in mind the implications you just mentioning there on the border of syria surely they want stability and that's why this talk about the u.n. perhaps being called in next after what the arab world's been doing well. we've seen what the u.n. was able to manage to do we've seen what the what happened to libya because a libya today the country after the american and the european and the u.n. intervene in the country there is talk really they're going the country into civil

war and there was really a threat of imminent civil war and libya we seen were. when they when they you and came to iraq and what happened to iraq one million individual iraqi were killed we see what happened to afghanistan so there you are and should back off the situation and not to be a puppet of the united state here the united states was upset because they lost the war in iraq and they felt there is a vacuum there was a created in the region and they want to compensate for that for that vacuum and to change the regime in syria there's nothing really about democracy is nothing about a change of law because of they want it they should start with qatar and. none of these monarchy have any democracy or the people have voting rights and the other hand you can say at least here the president saying look i think there is

room for change and there is room for improvement of our constitution but you don't hear at the same statement from the goals they just serving the american agenda american interests they sold their soul to the american like the american can able to do a good american never been able to do any good for the reason actually they've been robbing that region and taken their monies and put them into treasury bills they pale in their rank corrupt economy ok. to leave it that is really good to hear your perspective on this thank you very much for your time thanks very much in the coming from thank you you're welcome. well coming up in the program for you using your cash to provide for their own comfort. is your money. where much more careful with. this trouble is that here in brussels

it's somebody else's. and now technocrats in brussels report despite the whole of europe struggling budget is only growing. also the future libya raises fears over the fate of. failing to provide the hague with information regarding his status. as stories to overcome but first the u.s. is called iran's enrichment of uranium at an underground site a violation of u.n. resolutions however to iran insists it's for peaceful purposes russia has expressed concern about the launch of the enrichment facility and urge all parties to avoid any hasty moves president mahmoud ahmadinejad currently on a tour of south america said it was a joke to believe iran was making bombs and had received strong backing from the venezuelan leader who defended iran's nuclear program hugo chavez said there was no sound proof that iran was developing atomic weapons i mean that it will also visit

cuba and it could all this plan talk comes after washington apply tough sanctions targeting iran central bank and its finance industry with the expected to follow suit and the weapons campaign or joel rubin says iran is trying to gain more support to prevent further penalties. i was looking for friends wherever he can find them he needs votes he needs votes at the united nations to block future saying he also sees potential markets for commerce when the rest of the world looks to be moving towards a more sanctions oriented position towards iran so if you can get votes and if you can get commerce in this trip to latin america which is a key one for him and for the united states since it's in our backyard that would be a success for him he needs to break out of the isolation that the rest of the world is trying to put him and iran into most analysts do not believe that iran is capable of maintaining a blockade of the straits of hormuz for any significant period of time if they were to do this it could also be counterproductive blocking coming out of their own

country or going back and forth would both hurt their own revenue source and also harm their allies in china and other countries around the world. on its way to along with iran is known being an avid anti washington critic despite being portrayed as an enemy in the u.s. that is what has president hugo chavez has found a way to win the hearts of america's poorest people report not as a story. winter morning in the south bronx new york city outdoors the temperature is near freezing indoors. seventy seven year old alison many other days 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 more income for gets harder. and waving i mean all they do

was raise raise raise raise and i mean it's the same dollar you get and so how far can you push it one hundred gallons of oil one hundred fifty gallons of oil is. right now about 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 wrongest differently and the whole we to tell these people how they should live or

how i mean are they convey they are 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 america's leader well sort of expressing similar sentiments of gratitude president obama recently accused the chavez government were strict thing human rights and taking frightening steps. look i'll use the venezuelan leader didn't mince words walter spondon directly to his u.s. counterpart you know was a boma i feel sorry for you just toss the black communities of 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 stopped 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 it's to p. it's. just that and they can't get a job a struggle getting that much harder in the land of opportunity arena portnoy r.t. new york. the race against the clock is well and truly underway in europe at the moment the leaders of the single currency is two most powerful countries are doing everything in their power to try and prevent meltdown the collapse of all the work for the german chancellor is today meeting the french head of the i.m.f. in berlin hoping to find a way forward despite a growing call for more action and less words monday i'm going to merkel and sarkozy also called on greece to move forward with the promise structural changes or risk losing the next installment of badly needed bailout money athens war last week that default was a possibility which could result in it leaving the euro europe is now working to

hammer out a new treaty agreed at a summit in december leading to tough fiscal control and making budget rule breakers answerable directly to the e.u. but many are a skeptic say putting more trust in brussels would be an error. reports. when times are this hard every cent accounts for the seventeenth year in a row the european court of auditors refused to give the e.u. accounting books a clean 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 ineligible or incorrect calculation of costs claim to e.u. call finance projects or breaches of public procurement rules to be fair brussels gets criticized because processes you criticize. that said oh forgive them for having that error rate there is a feeling that it's not unjustified bad in europe. brussels the commission these

situations have not taken the really hard look at their budgets and done the hard cutting batt 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 slightly smaller 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 where we're much more careful with the second than with the first the trouble is that here in brussels it's all somebody else's money mostly their money. which is why criticism arose when the budgets committee approved thirty eight million euros for the purchase of three buildings to increase office space for m e p's and their staff but the area behind me is

a property site that will be acquired by the european parliament the project for seize the demolition of an existing building of the creation of a new one the total cost one hundred twenty five million euros fifteen million of which will come up from the budget. critics cried foul but the project's supporters stand their ground when there's 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 if you say that you mean to say that stuff is sitting on the toes needs while working there we have this responsibility to do legislation for five hundred million people in a proper way again there is an argument for this these peace institutions do need facilities the timing is just horrible and because the austerity measures impose a lot of member states the fact that brussels is we're piling on with grand plans for you know these beautiful new buildings just smells bad yet it's not just about new buildings for your kratz that raises eyebrows hard as to just come up with.

receipts when they have one when they have spent my experience pay for it is so of course it hurts them in fact some say the allure of being a eurocrat to me also be hurting poor member states losing their best and brightest to brussels i 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 to 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. yes or cilia r t brussels. libby has been given an extension by the international criminal court to generate the tenth deadline to provide information about saif al islam the most prominent son of

the country's late leader colonel gadhafi is being held in the western town as in town and is charged by the hague with crimes against humanity the president of the arab lawyers association looked all told me earlier that he thinks it's important for libyans not to hand over so he and his. government does not have control of their safe. he is in the hands of the. ins and i think the libyans are not really interested in handing him over to the international court i think because as far as they're concerned they think that they can they can satisfy the requirement of their people to try him in libya one on the basis that they are getting the people are getting their own rights from him rather than the foreigners and secondly the government would want to show its people that it's actually independent of the western powers and countries that they have taken action against libya don't forget it's the western powers that destroyed libya it's the western powers and nato that

was actually hunting that man from the air they were going to kill him so suddenly they become all that concerned and his human rights is a little bit of tongue in cheek talk i don't think it is serious but i don't think the courts in libya will be able to deliver justice to him. time now for some news from around the world in brief a world update and first to north western pakistan's khyber region a bomb blast targeting. a local market has left at least thirty five dead and dozens injured it's the deadliest attack in the country in recent months and local islamist insurgents have been blamed militants with links to al qaeda have carried out hundreds of bombings in pakistan over the past few years in the meantime in neighboring afghanistan ten people were killed in a taliban attack on a government building. to nigeria now where roadblocks have been set alight during the country's second day of strikes against soaring fuel costs police are using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse demonstrators this comes just one day

after three protesters died in clashes with offices the nationwide strike began after the government ended a popular fuel subsidy leading to a rise in gas and transportation costs throughout the country. of korea now and its announce it will issue special parties for the birthdays of too late leaders a state news agency said the amnesty will begin on the first of february kim jong il who died last month and his father kim il sung what kind of crimes will be pardoned or how many inmates will be released the u.n. estimates the country holds around two hundred thousand people in political prisoner camps. by the way lots more on life with r.t. dot com including america's foreign policy future president obama's plan to cut back on troops in asia but increase the number of bases provoke them off in china also on the website at the moment. possible reasons behind the failure of russia's first mars interplanetary mission in all of the find out why don't come online all

the time. well shortly will be taking a look at a protest movement that emerged after the election of barack obama and threatened to derail his agenda before that the business news with. welcome to business traders are closely monitoring the escalating tensions between iran and the west if the worst case scenario comes to pass some analysts say oil could jump to two hundred dollars a barrel but nick parsons from national australia bank explains why that's on likely. 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 find

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 sixty 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 now 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. the russia story edged into the grid in the last hour traders investors custom healthy gains for the day. just all negative ground but now the biggest movers on the more six oil majors were on the

rois as expected supported by that stronger crude price luko was up over one of the percent truck make it come as was also gaining reported a full two percent increase in sales for twenty eleven retailers several continents little most of the team has said a report its parent company will buy back its shares at a record low price. today even despite recent to the past couple of trading days to do some market going higher and most chips went up by one point five to five per cent actually so since burbank and it'll be driving the market by almost three point four percent higher a single from being as high as one point five percent of black process in the rules . five percent search of the market is is on the positive try and ask. everyone is really inspired by a positive micro data from the united states people expected that the new year

rather which we didn't observe in the in the last twenty weeks of the last year will continue right now. but to other news british luxury car maker rolls royce has reported record sales for last year the company sold more the for the whole thousand calls the hoist in its hundred seven year history group particularly in germany where they more than doubled. the business news for the headlines.

this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we don't want that war we breathe we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and a government under socialism is not a government of free. you . have very motivated out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but in fact this forty four bridge then.

we are counting. properly drowning and i think it's spread by it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy. all but impossible. when an uncomfortable question leads to a grave accusation the world who is more is you know far be it the president who isn't supposed to hide anything. or it's someone asking him why do you make a secret of it when the powers to be suppress the voice of those who think different culture when you get experiencing very serious problems off of the saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and three but if you will that was when the problems began piling up. interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were often beason up and humiliated in public when the attempt to

protect property puts life in real danger and that we have been deprived of the only means of earning a living and i have gone to the original sit all the papers. then localized the ownership rights on the basis of companies freedom becomes just a stage prop. with

you twenty four hours a day this is all the line and on the screen top stories now syria's president says he still has the people support and blames the unrest on foreign forces promising to clamp down on so-called terrorist with. russia on assad also criticize the arab league for being. needs observers in syria should want to talk all sides of the conflict. with. iran dismissing washington's criticism about its nuclear program as a new to the u.s. imposed tough economic sanctions mean.