it is not i am in the russian capital watching r.t. tension between the u.s. and iran is being ratcheted up on what seems like a daily basis u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton added fuel to the fire by calling to iran's threats to close the file oil passage and the strait of hormuz provocative and that followed iran blaming america and israel for the assassination of a nuclear scientist in tehran on wednesday night she can looks at whether words could soon become actions. the cold run of tension between iran and the west is simmering. it seems the slightest increase of heat could make it boil over into an all out confrontation. but where will be that boiling point the point of no return we're getting closer and closer to war with iran the iranians are playing with fire problems in a crisis if you get where any small thing can really set it off and it doesn't

quell washington that the international nuclear watchdog is on the side closely monitoring iran's nuclear activities are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon no but we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability and that's what concerns us and our red line to iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon iran's main source of livelihood is oil export is in danger the u.s. is imposing fresh sanctions that will dramatically complicate transactions through he ran central bank iran is also close to losing europe as a customer the reason that this is happening is that this is the logical conclusion of our current strategy against iran we have sanctions in place with no diplomacy the only way that that and is through confrontation cornered by crippling sanctions iran threatens to block the strait of hormuz a vital oil artery through which a sixth of the world's oil is shipped the u.s. replied by moving its fifth fleet to the region and saying if iran goes for it they

will attack experts say the policy of isolating iran may lead to other threats from tehran and the possibility that one day they will go through with their threats but washington signals that it's ready or it wants everybody to believe that it's ready could weigh up we had to without using nuclear weapons ourselves take out their their nuclear capability well i certainly want them to believe that that's the case well is that i absolutely want them to believe that that secretary would you add anything to that some believe. it's just a war of words and neither side will go for an all out conflict considering what it is that it will be for the whole region frankly speaking this tension is artificial it doesn't have to happen it doesn't need to exist the iranians would do themselves an enormous favor by saying less. and we would do ourselves a favor by ignoring most of it all of this i sadly i think is connected to israel

and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons more than military was it may be a war of words but actions are already showing thousands of u.s. troops are being deployed to israel an american citizen has been sentenced to death in iran's convicted of espionage a look back in history. the assassination of the auster hung garion monarch in nineteen fourteen set in motion a series of events that led to world war one and then world war two with regards to iran today. a possible blocking of the strait of hormuz could become their trigger for the killing of the american citizen iran might feel cornered and therefore make drastic moves right now it's in a war of words but one bullet shot and the powder keg can blow up the question is what's going to provide that deadly spark i'm going to check our reporting from

washington our team some experts fear the assassination of iranian scientists the fourth in two years could become the trigger for all out conflict columnist and veteran war correspondent eric margolis believes iran is willing to retaliate but it's being cautious at the moment. it's either israel did the killing. and the united states certainly didn't condemn israel for doing it. who is a major financial supporter of israel i'm surprised the fact that these attacks have not been voided ringing in retaliation against these suspects. and international crime. has not been raised on security council which it should be retaliation could be directed against this really or american scientific personality. that's in the region i

think. just very anxious to get revenge but they're being cautious now because it seems not so far away in the gulf. and they're growing threats against. still the common r t the occupy wall street movement to reclaim the prime piece of real estate after occupiers were evicted from new york's zuccotti park it's now the police his hands are tied. plus criticism is growing over the human rights implications of israel so-called boycott law and several other controversial bills in front of the government. and french t.v. camera man at least eight syrians have been killed by a mortar shell in the syrian city of homs state television blamed terrorists for the attack meaning armed opposition groups which have blamed for instigating the violence this came just after president bashar asad told supporters and damascus he's aiming to prevent civil war he once again accused foreign powers of sponsoring

the unrest and independent news editor james corbat says there is concrete proof of u.s. involvement in the syrian conflict. it's important to understand that when he speaks of this conspiracy that he's going to strike down and beastly foreign terrorists who are invading his country that this is in fact not something that's open to debate it was actually revealed in documents that were leaked from the u.s. state department last april that proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the u.s. state department has pumped in at least six million dollars secretly on covertly into syrian opposition groups since two thousand and sixty arab league mission there is is pretty much pre-ordained no matter what the mission itself comes out with if there is even one dissenting voice that one dissenting voice will be given all of the media attention so it's a question of which way the the powers that be have decided this is going to go in unfortunately it looks like it's going to stack up in the in favor of military intervention once again professor of international relations mark almond says even

those opposing us and still prefer him to the idea of a foreign intervention and the risk of more bloodshed. the problem for president assad is that the main centers of resistance to him all based around the borders and that also however is a sign of the limitations on the support for an insurrection against him that it really depends upon him getting money weapons and even perhaps personality crossed the border from lebanon took it to some extent from jordan so we have a kind of standoff president assad has all of us part of the opposition has support we don't really know what ordinary people think but i think one of the things the president said just trying to do is to say do you want to see the be in style civil war and chaos or would you or to see this or that happened in iraq a few years ago and that's quite a powerful argument for people not necessarily to be taught how to portsmouth certainly not to want to see themselves die in a brutal civil conflict that could spiral out of control. r.t.

spoke extensively about syria with professor of middle east politics dr jeremy salt he says the scale of the opposition movement may be seriously overblown the full version of the interview is coming your way next hour but here's a preview. the very very dangerous situation in syria which could have exploded into a very very nasty. proto breakdown inside the country and could lead to a regional war. in this complex let's see if this you give me a few months and see how the process works for russia does have. a base of support so. i don't think you can say that the party would be doomed the moment they call free elections that could well. protests have marked ten years since the first prisoners were sent to america's most controversial prison guantanamo bay cuba barack obama's promise on his first day in office to close it remains unfulfilled and never ring more hollow than last month when he signed

a new law allowing indefinite detention of terror suspects artist laura smith reports. one zero zero one zero zero zero abdullah i am absolutely today is probably just another day for the inmates of guantanamo bay they may not even know that people around the world are campaigning for them but as far afield as london demonstrations are held to demand the release of the hundred seventy one men still held without trial in the cuban camp after ten years one of those men is shaka omer who's earned the dubious distinction of being the last british resident held in guantanamo he was in afghanistan or nine eleven he says doing charity work digging wells and building a girls' school in kabul. when the u.s. invasion began almost went into hiding from an increasingly wary northern alliance but his freedom didn't last shuckers supporters maintain he was sold for

a bounty went into the hands of the northern alliance who were warlords basically and he actually thought all the americans that my goodness it will save me from the torture that he's had lots of torture by them but no he was transported to toddler and bear he has remains despite president obama's original election pledge to close guantanamo altogether despite being cleared for release and despite being a legal permanent resident in the u.k. with family in london which includes one son he's never even see and far from moving closer to being freed shuckers supporters see worrying developments in the us is attitude to extrajudicial detention obama recently signed the national defense authorization act which places domestic terror investigations into the hands of the military and extends a ban on transferring prisoners out of kuantan i'm very sorry indeed president

obama for reasons. the preschool will or he would say complete inability to deliver us nor. lived up to that promise and indeed it is now bracing to book american citizens to try it in military commissions which are very far from being fair trials with. the british government has requested the release of but there's been no movement on the case since two thousand and seven meanwhile as his family grows up without him he lives out his life in a tiny windowless cell not knowing whether he can ever expect to be released laura smith london so hundreds may have protested against guantanamo prison in the u.s. but investigative reporter jason we've all told r.t. the majority of the public tends to ignore an issue that stains their country's reputation. it's very sad that the public more or less this tune guantanamo out has

tuned out the widespread human rights abuses that continue to take place in guantanamo it is an issue and abuse that we condemn other governments for however what's happening now is that we have come to accept indefinite detention and i think that people are willing to accept it now it doesn't affect them let's face it they look at this as an issue that they do not need to be concerned about because they still see the majority of people there as terrorists even though we have seen evidence surface over the years that the vast majority were in fact innocent. we're always here to get your take on the story so today on our online poll at r.t. dot com we're asking when do you think when town of bay will be closed let's see what our viewers are answering so far we've got sixty percent and who don't believe

the u.s. will ever close the facility i think thank them for as it will be shut down when american runs out of cash to splash on it and seventeen percent say only a new facility elsewhere will hold the to video one on the base and less by their sound believes one ton of a will also will close its doors after us announces its victory over terrorism let us know what you think by logging on to our website r t v dot com. pastors are back in new york's zuccotti park the symbolic birthplace of the anti wall street movement where it all started almost four months ago there have been in place since mid november when the occupiers were a victim and a ny raid by police but now that the barriers a god the protesters are determined to stay and that is this is here to work and in our reports. the mood certainly is very very optimistic people seem very reenergized they're excited to have been able to get back into the park the

birthplace of occupy wall street that's where everything began and it's really looks like a lot of the skeptics were hoping that after the occupiers were kicked out of the park in mid november that would be the end of occupy wall street but certainly that has not been the case and the occupiers the protesters themselves believe this and they see this is a new chapter really for the food movement that has now become nationwide over the last several months you can't just barricade people out and you can't say that this park will either be used by no one or only by people that live in this area should be open to everyone and so i think that it's important in so far as you come here and gather as we move into this bring it it gets warmer i think that this will return to being the movement even when the barricades are still there we were always here representing i mean sometimes you only see it up in the front but it's . one of the main rules the new rules for the occupy wall street movement here in new york city is that they cannot have tents or sleeping bags back into the park

and that was of course a large part of them being able to stay out there for months and protest and demonstrate and essentially bring attention to their movement these days that's something that's not allowed they can technically sleep there but that's certainly something they can't really do and that really impacts a number of people there today and in the days to follow because not many people are you know able to sleep standing up you know it's very important that critics this entire time are saying no way will occupy wall street be able to last until the summer they were really hoping that after the eviction the protesters would not come back but people have been gathering not necessarily in this park but in other locations indoors and they continue certainly to do so with this place kind of returning as the main headquarters for the occupiers here in new york city. now don't forget we've got plenty more on our website r.t. dot com let's check out what's lined up for you there now. knickers in a twist a brazilian counselor blessed brides were not wearing underwear during their weddings will discover why the new way girls are going down to party dot com.

plus six months and a labor camp for not crying you know north korean authorities are reportedly punishing those who did not display sadness had the death of late leader kim danielle. the chorus of critics is growing in israel against the so-called boycott law it punishes anyone who speaks out against a country settlement construction in the west bank human rights activists have turned to the supreme court to overturn the legislation but as our policy here now reports there's a whole range of other controversial bills waiting for cabinet approval to. gershon baskin is a wanted man in israel for his outspoken views against the government's policy of settlement expansion it's ironic because if it wasn't for those left wing israeli

activist it's dark for israel would have secured a recent prisoner swap that's always weighty soldier gilad shalit exchanged for palestinian prisoners after five years in captivity gershon says it was his contacts within him us that allowed the two sides to reach an agreement but now a controversial so-called boycott law threatens to find the post war hero if he steps out of line the appeal to the public is an arab appeal. and there is a competition of who is more strongly advocating a position which is a very arab what the law says is that any israeli could face legal action just for speaking out in favor of boycotting settlements the first steps to fascism are quiet so. i i hope that the supreme court gives us a loud screaming telling us that fascism shouldn't pass but for now the supreme court is keeping quiet the state attorney again this month asked for more time to

consider the arguments angering gabion who team who filed a petition to another law the morning after it was passed in parliament until the court rules otherwise israeli owners of companies based in the settlements can seek damages for boycotts called against the goods i don't accept any boycott. by the. right or not let. the boycott law is one of several controversial pieces of legislation being advanced by the netanyahu government a number of similarly criticized bills are currently under discussion in the israeli parliament another ball aims to dramatically limit foreign funding of nongovernmental groups critical of israel it's expected to receive cabinet approval soon this is a very conservative right wing coalition they have a solid majority in parliament by. still they sort of promote these bills which which are perceived not only by the left but by the by the courts.

is not encouraging democracy ok or sort of limiting free speech in israel many here think it's a way for the right wing coalition government of prime minister netanyahu to stay in power but for people like gershon baskin he says he'll continue to call for a boycott of the settlements and far from censoring him the law has only strengthened his resolve to stop israel's growing onslaught on democracy. television and a look at some other stories from around the world now heavy rains and floods in brazil state of rio de janeiro have left at least twenty eight people dead five members of one family died in a landslide and thousands of people evacuated from their homes are being sheltered in schools tans or by relatives a year ago a war than one thousand three hundred people died or went missing because of floods in the same mountainous region. and then the sentence for investment

faily shot at state prosecutor three times in a german court as he sentence was being read out to witnesses in the courtroom managed to overpower the man who was then arrested and charged with murder the man had been accused of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars in national insurance contributions. same parliament has approved a new conservative government's burst of sturdy measures aimed at tackling the country's growing deficit package calls for almost nine billion euro and spending cuts including income and property tax hikes as battling to drag further into debt crisis that has already forced greece ireland and portugal to seek financial bailouts. as either members move forward with the stereo measures the kaiser report highlights the balance of the global economy here's a preview of what max and stacey have coming up later on r.t. . these are losses that are on the books off the balance sheets of the books that now after they got the government to impose the first round of bailouts and

then impose austerity measures to pay for the bailouts they're now going to reveal the next trough of debt now and this is revealed then the release also more austerity measures and then the reveal more losses so it's a death by a thousand revelations. a reminder of our headlines with josh is only a few minutes away before that though here's the latest business news with katie. thank you mary now and welcome to the business well europe and other developed countries are struggling to contain that debt and spiraling out of control russia is enjoying a budget surplus. from doing to banks says this proves russia has

a sound fiscal policy. russia's fiscal sort of close in two thousand and eleven. is a symbol of the strength of russia sovereign balance sheet of the fact that russia sovereign balance sheet is one of the best in the world then you compare this with other countries in the world and you see a lot of the developed countries showing close to double digit deficit centrum so the sure for the deficit in g.d.p. and this is something new to the prepayments of external due to this. emphasis on controlling fiscal spending this is something that russia managed to avoid and in the past decade. nicolay pod gustaf from d.d.b. capital says the russian economy is ready to stand up to the challenges of twenty twelve. russia is never quite will position. in terms of sustainability to join in the shops and this is mainly because

a transit hub is significant achievement over the exchange rate of forty c. . center of india the region to cells into eleven i think the e.u. will mean kids so if. global market deterioration we want to be free since this edition. of the cells and data so isn't one in the russian economy as the central bank pays more attention to interest rate would suit him very strict keeper is within his means your street corridor missouri another big theme for themselves and twelfth is everything about the potential of the leaders issue no for the local morning market for foreign investors and there this is also one of the most interesting new way as soon as she could take place in their action for initial markets. let's take a look at how all is performing at the moment or is actually the lowest settlement almost two weeks as a strike in nigeria on the threats of sanctions against iran's nuclear program

raise concerns about current supplies and his skis have to asia then the markets off to china released new inflation stuff was saying consumer prices is slightly in december but the hang sang is flat while the nikkei is down just one percent it's tell you. see here can expose exposes up under pressure because of the level of yen ahead of the meeting of the european essential bank also dragging on sentiment the data as i said that japan's current account surplus follow up than expected and now it's less than one hour ahead of the opening bell here in moscow russia bourses kotler a wednesday falling negative news from the brewers yes lost over one percent while the my sex vanished almost point eight percent in the red eagle. from right side and capitals as the markets close to the bottom right in the fall stall for the year. overall we are quite positive from the second on the first quarter and

on the first half of the year at all i would say that these goes a bit contrary to the overall consensus on the market which suggests that first half will be it will be more or less difficult while the second one will be more positive we think first and we think that situation with the european debt would not affect that much on deck which is market is did last year so we see some improvements and we think that we're close to the bottom of this it's a middle of the crises itself but of the influence on the equities market because of european problems. the russian cinema our industry has got a presence locally produced movies outperformed far ones at the box office over the nationwide right the magazine because bulletins says russian films generated forty seven million dollars or fifty four percent of the total box office also a surprise given the go toe to share of local movies for the whole of hope of two

thousand and eleven was around thirteen percent in the russian market is the top grossing film the sum of four while much so it comes again. and also from elvis back in about fifty five minutes with small business news joining.

thank you. wealthy british style. that's not on. the. market why not scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy with max conjure for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our cheek when an uncomfortable question leads to a great accusation the world who is more as you know foggy. 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 a book that was when the problems began piling up. interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were all from beason up and humiliated in public and one of the attempt to protect property puts life in real danger is that we have been deprived of the only means of earning a living and i have the gall to originals of all the papers. beyond the little ice the ownership rights on the basis of cocos freedom becomes just a stage prop. to

much brighter than a few songs from phones to parachute in some. nice friends don't on t.v. don't come. back you're watching r t the crisis and relations between washington and tehran is a great and by the assassination of a fourth iranian scientist in two years iran blames israel in america for the blog but says it was not the real the country's nuclear program. first foreign journalists killed in syria's unrest the french cameraman was mortally want to buy a grenade along with at least eight locals the country's authorities when terrorists for the attack meaning the armed opposition groups which it claims warrants.