it is ten am in the russian capital you're watching r t with me wearing a joshie welcome to the program now 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 threats to close the vile oil passage in the strait of hormuz provocative that followed iran blaming america and israel for the assassination of a nuclear scientist and iran on wednesday. looks at whether words could soon become action. the cold run of tension between iran and the west is simmering. it seems the slight is the increase of heat could make it boil over into an all out confrontation. 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

question washington that the international nuclear watchdog these arms 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 that you 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's threatens to block the strait of hormuz a vital artery through which a sixth of the world's oil is shipped the u.s. replied by moving its tests late 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 moment 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 sastre 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 so i sadly i think is connected to

israel and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons more than military ones 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 the rand convicted of espionage a look back in history. the assassination of the armstrong garion monarch in one thousand nine hundred fourteen set in motion a series of events that lead 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 an iranian scientist 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 is 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 support. is the. tax not inflated bringing in retaliation against these suspects it is. an international crime. issue has not been raised on security council which should be retaliation could be directed against this really or american scientific personality. it's.

just a very anxious to get. but they're being cautious now because it seems not so far away in the gulf. and they're growing threats. and still to come on our t.v. occupy wall street movement be claims a prime piece of real estate two months after occupiers think that from new york's zuccotti park now it's now the police whose hands are tied. plus criticism is growing over of the human rights implications of israel's so-called boycott law and several other kind of virtual built in front of the government. the french t.v. camera man and 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 the armed opposition groups which have blames for instigating the violence this came just after president bashar last that told supporters in damascus he's aiming to prevent civil war he once again accused foreign powers of

sponsoring the unrest and in a panel 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 these the 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 six the 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 the one dissenting voice will be given all of the media attention so it's a it's a question of which way 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 foreign intervention and the risk of more bloodshed are they 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 getting money weapons and even perhaps personnel across the border from lebanon turkey to some extent from georgia so we have a kind of standoff president assad has an office part of the opposition has support we don't really know what ordinary people feel but i think one of the things the president said just trying to do is to say do you want to see and to be in style civil war chaos or would you or to see this what happened in iraq a few years ago and that's quite a powerful argument for people not necessary to be taught how to porters and 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 and he says the scale of the opposition movement may be seriously overblown the full version of the interview is coming your way later this hour but here's a preview. we have a very very dangerous situation in syria which could have exploded into a very very nasty. proto breakdown inside the country you could lead a regional war. in this conflict 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. protest have mark ten years since the first prisoners were santa america's most controversial prison in guantanamo bay cuba barack obama's promise on his first day in office to close it remains unfulfilled and never rang more hollow than last

month when he signed a new law allowing the indefinite detention of terror suspects artist laura smith reports. one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one zero zero zero abdel moneim 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 and bare 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 here in london which includes one son he's never even see and full for 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 one ton of there i'm very sorry indeed president obama for reasons. lack of political will or he would say a complete inability to deliver us nor. lived up to that promise and indeed it is now bracing to become american citizens need to try it in military commissions which are very far from being fair trials with due process 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 not knowing whether he can expect to be released norris myth london. so hundreds may have protested against guantanamo prison in the u.s. but investigative reporter jason lee paul 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. 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 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 eager to get your take on this story and today in our online poll at r.t. dot com we're asking what do you think going to they will be close let's take

a look at the answers that we have so far so sixty percent as you can see of our viewers don't believe us whatever close the facility about think the prison will be shut down when america runs out of cash to splash on and seventeen percent say only and new facility elsewhere will hold the activity one time a day now less than five four sounds believe guantanamo will close its doors after the u.s. announces its victory over terrorism and also let us know what do you think by logging on to our website dot com. protesters are back in new york's zuccotti park this symbolic birthplace of the anti wall street movement where it all started almost four months ago mary kate have been in place since mid november when the occupiers were evicted in a night's raid by police but now that the barriers are gone the protesters are determined to stay so it is in essence here 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 cotton 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 people can now come here and gather as we move into this bring 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 a handful 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 and don't forget we've got plenty more on our website arche dot com let's check out what's lined up for you their knickers in. twisted brazilian counselor blasted

brides for not wearing underwear during their weddings discover why the newly wed girls are going commando. last six months in a labor camp for not crying in the north korean authorities are reportedly punishing those who did not display sadness at the death of late leader kim jong il . the chorus of critics is growing in israel against the so-called boycott law it punishes anyone who speaks out against the country settlement construction in the west bank human rights activists have turned to the supreme court to overturn the legislation but as artie's publicly or in their reports there is 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 this left wing israeli activist it's dark for israel would have secured a recent prisoner swap that's always way the 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 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 so i don't i don't accept any boycott not by the. right not left boycott 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 bowl aims to dramatically limit foreign funding of non-governmental 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 burke. still they sort of promote these

bills which which oprah sieved not only by the length but by the premise by the courts. is not encouraging democracy ok or sort of limiting free speech in the newsroom 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 policy on t.v. tel aviv. now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world and heavy rains and floods in brazil state of being in a row have left 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 towns or by relatives a year ago more than one thousand three hundred people died or went missing because of floods in the same mountainous region. a man being sentenced

for investment fatally shot a state prosecutor three times in a german court as his sentence was being read out to witnesses in a courtroom managed to overpower the man who was then arrested and charged with murder and then have been accused of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars in national insurance contributions. spain's parliament has approved the new conservative government's first of staring measures aimed at tackling the country's swollen deficit the package calls for almost nine billion euro in spending cuts including income and property tax hikes spain is battling to avert being dragged further into debt crisis that has already forced greece ireland and portugal to seek financial bailout. as even members move forward with hysteria measures the kaiser report highlights the unbalance of the global economy and here's a preview of what max and stacey have coming up next hour here in r.t. . these are losses that are on the books all 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 revolutions. while we are up to date and it's time to see what's happening in the world of business with katie. a later welcome to the business program well europe and all the developed countries are struggling to contain the debts and spiraling out of control russia is enjoying a budget surplus. listen violate from doing to banks says this could even be

repeated in twenty twelve should the government continue following sound fiscal policy. our house view is that oil prices could be as high as one hundred fifteen dollars per barrel this means that there is a high probability with that level of oil prices of a fiscal surplus being replicated this year again and two thousand and twelve the government assumes one point five percent of g.d.p. fiscal deficit but this is predicated on an oil price that is close to one hundred dollars per barrel so still unfortunately the oil price is the master of the outcomes in russia's fiscal sphere but as we've seen in two thousand and eleven there can be something that could be done by the government in terms of controlling fiscal spending and if this is something that we do see and we expect to see it starting from the second half of this year. there is a possibility for surpluses for sure. let's see how all is performing at the moment

or as often the lowest as a month and almost two weeks as a strike in nigeria combined with the threat of sanctions against iran's nuclear program always concerned about crude surprise on the asian markets are love off to china released new inflation starts saying consumer prices slightly in december the hang seng is flat to positive right now while the nikkei is down point seven per cent. and so yes european experience exporters are under pressure because of the low again head of the meeting of the european central bank also dragging all sentiment days out because they say that japan's current account surplus poll lower than expected. and here in moscow the markets have opened in the past the r.t.s. is adding amounts half a percent while the my sex is up point three percent eagle pops off from right capital says the stocks are close to the four so i will grow in the first half we

get. overall we are quite positive from the second one first quarter and bill in the first half of the year at all. but this goes if you to contribute to the overall consensus on the market which suggests that the first half will be you will be more or less difficult while the second one will be more positive with vice versa and we think that situation with the european debt would not affect that much on the back 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 the influence on the equities markets because of european problems. and all the new russia second largest still make us of a stall is planning to build a new plug in the republic of trinidad and tobago in order to improve the efficiency of its american assets the project is worth six hundred million dollars to seven dollars shot to local state and private companies as bonus the global

supply cheap of all materials for service dollars enterprise in north america. finally the russian cinema or industry has got a new year presence locally produced movies outperformed foreign ones at the box office over the nationwide winter break the magazine because bulletin says a russian films generated forty seven million dollars or fifty four percent of the total box office this is a prize given that let's total share of local movies for the whole which two thousand and eleven was around thirteen percent in the us market the top grossing film was still a form of life that show that crimes again. all have movie in about fifty five minutes do.

wealthy british style. is not on the title of. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our.

not oh it's not about spilling blood. it's the war about hurricanes from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border it has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile cards is still not over.

it is easy. i've

. i've. welcome back you're watching our t.v. these are the top stories the crisis in relations between washington and tehran is aggravated by the assassination of a fourth iranian scientist and two here is iran blames israel and america for the plot but says it will nod to the country's nuclear program. the ten year anniversary since when tanabe greeted its first prisoners has been marked by protests in the u.s. and abroad people took to the streets demanding the release of those still held in jail that president obama vowed to close.