uncertain and say find out more with me in the business bulletin in twenty minutes time. in the russian capital you're watching r t with me rena joshie welcome tension between the u.s. and iran is being dragged up on what seems like a daily basis the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton added fuel to the fire calling to ron's recent threats to close a vital world transit route in the gulf a provocation. looks at whether words could soon become action. 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 thank sions that will dramatically complicate transactions through iran's 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 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 the secretary would you add anything to that somebody. 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 sadly i think is connected to israel and the israeli fear of iran for rhetorical reasons war the 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 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 r.t. while iran blaming america and israel for the assassination of a nuclear scientist in toronto wednesday has further antagonize the delicate situation columnist and veteran war correspondent eric margolis believed to ron 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 supporter of israel. is the. tax not inflated bringing in retaliation against these suspects. and the international crime. issue has not been raised on security council which it should be retaliation could be directed against this really or american scientific personality. that's. just very anxious to get. but be cautious now because it seems not so far away in the gulf. and there are growing threats.

still to come on r.t. the occupy wall street movement reclaims the prime piece of real estate two months after buyers were evicted from new york it's now the police's hands are tied. plus activists say human rights are at risk it is really several caught a virtual bills are put in front of lawmakers are calling want to outlaw in criticism. the first four in general as has been killed in syria french t.v. camera man at least eight civilians died when hit by a mortar shell in the city of homs state television playing terrorists for the attack meaning the armed opposition groups which are blamed for instigating the violence this came just after president bashar loss of told supporters in damascus he's aiming to prevent civil war he once again accuse foreign powers of sponsoring the unrest and in a panel news out of there james corbett says the syrian leader may have a point. 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 prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the u.s. state department has pumped in at least six million dollars secretly and 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 the one dissenting voice will be given all of the the media attention so it's a question of which way the 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 would still prefer him to the idea of a foreign intervention and the risk of more bloodshed but 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 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 themes of president assad just trying to do is to say do you want to see debian 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 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. a 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 conflict let's see if this you give me a few months and see how the process works are by far 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 santa 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 rang more hollow than last month when he signed a new law allowing indefinite detention of terrorist suspects artist laura smith reports. one zero zero zero 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 graham

turner and there 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 seen and fell 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 kuantan i'm very sorry indeed president obama for reasons. like the priest who will or he would say the complete inability to just live as normal. lived up to that promise and i mean he is now basing to become american citizens need to trust in military commissions which are

very far from being fed as we. 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 window. not knowing whether he can expect to be released. london the ten year anniversary has drawn human rights activists in other countries to demonstrate as well amnesty international protests and near the statue of liberty in paris the twin of the famous monument in new york hundreds have also been demanding the closure of guantanamo on the streets of various cities across the u.s. but investigative reporter jason lee paul told our team the majority of the public in america tends to ignore an issue that stands 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 surfaced over the years that the vast majority were in fact innocent. we always eager to get your take on a story today in our online poll at r.t. dot com we're asking when do you think one time a bay will be closed sixty percent don't believe the u.s. will ever close the facility fifty saying the prison will be shut down when america

runs out of cash to splash on it at seventeen percent say only a new facility elsewhere will hold the activity in guantanamo bay about three percent believe guantanamo bay will close its doors after the u.s. announces its victory over terrorism while the entire west are called to cast your vote. protesters are back in new york staccato park the symbolic birthplace of the anti wall street movement where it all started almost four months ago barricades have been in place since mid november when the occupiers were evicted and night raid by police but now that the barriers are gone the protesters are determined to stay there as an associate 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 whole 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 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 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 were 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 don't forget we've got plenty more on our website r.t. dot com let's check out what's lined up there right now. why her of who wouldn't publish just his campaign promises on a brand new website as a race for the top job in russia gathers steam r.t. dot com is there to guide you through. and breaking through the ice the russian tanker is on an unprecedented mission to deliver a lifeline to people in an alaskan city cut off by severe winter conditions.

the chorus of critics are growing in israel against the so-called boycott law it punishes anyone who speaks out against the country's settlement construction in the west bank human rights activists have turned to the supreme court to overturn the legislation but as artie's policy 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 activists it's dark for israel would have secured a recent prisoner swap that's always ready 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 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 their goods right i don't accept any borg or

not but that's not right not boycott the boycott law is one of several controversial pieces of legislation being advanced by the netanyahu government a number of similarly criticized polls are currently under discussion in the israeli parliament another bull 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 but. still they sort of promote these bills which which are perceived not only by the left but by the previous by the courts. is not encouraging the 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 policy r t tel aviv. and now is take a look at some other stories from around the world have you 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 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. same's parliament has approved the new conservative government's first of staring measures aimed at tackling the country's swollen deficit package calls for almost nine billion euro and spending cuts including income and property tax right about one third being a drag further into a debt crisis that has already forwards greece ireland and portugal to seek financial bailouts. as e.u. members move forward with the stereo measures the kaiser report highlights the

balance of the global economy and here's a preview of what max and stacey have coming up here today. 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 foul isn't revelations. time now for a business of date with katie. thank you marina welcome to the program leading stock market players have stepped into

the new year with the same old problems. and debt issues continue to weigh heavily on main global economies. from the c.b. capital says that financially russia is well placed ready to face the challenges of twenty two l's. russia is. where it will position. in terms of sustainability to start all shops this is mainly because a transit hub is significant achievement over the exchange rate what is the. center of india we're going to so interwoven with i think there. is so if. global market deterioration we want to be free since the submission. to the cells and data so isn't nine in the russian economy as the central bank pays more attention to interest rates would see the c.m. bourbons very sticky for is within its interest rate corridor missouri another big theme for themselves and twelve is very good but the potential of the labor is

issue no for the local want to market for foreign investors and this is also one of the most interesting new as soon as she could take place in their action for initial markets. let's see how all is performing at the moment there's been a rise from the lowest us ones in almost two weeks triggered by concerns that a strike in nigeria on the threat of sanctions against iran's nuclear program could surprised us the year at the stock market is all trading flouts as investors await debt options in both spain and italy as well as the european central bank meeting the bulls agendas economy the biggest in the euro zone contrats in the fourth quarter is most likely thing investors only god on here in moscow the markets are retreating off to kicking off in the block both the r.t.s. on the my side and elf not to negative let's have a look this is an individual on my sex at a gym ages a mix this hour just monopoly gas pump is all after the company said it was spend

five point seven it into all those on the such it impacts the oil company luc all is losing a point four percent and call my calf to ask is among the my game is for the second day that someone pulls the rent out my son in law. it's past increases in the russian call my so fifty percent in the first quarter of this year. saw from the right sizing capital expect the stocks to grow in the first half of this. 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 these goes a bit contrary to the overall consensus on the market which suggests that first half of you will be more or less difficult while the second one will be more positive with the vice versa and we think that situation with the european debt would not affect that much when they could use market is did last year so we see some improvements and we think that we're close to the bottom of this it's in need

of the crises itself but let's see all of the influence on the equities market because of european problems. and all the rosters second largest still make us have a stall is planning to build a new i am 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 with us dollars to local state and private companies as part of the plot to supply cheap of all materials for seven thousand and to rise in north america. buses economy has seen so much shift in speculative capital to foreign direct investments the country has seen eighty four point two billion dollars of top two outflows the biggest in the e.u. is the same bess's with taking the money out of risk you know it's not due to financial uncertainty around the globe. foreign direct investments rose twenty eight percent to fifty eight point five billion dollars. of five

a russian cinema industry has got a new year presence locally produced movies outperformed for months at the box office over the nationwide went to break the magazine the book is bulletins says russian films generation forty seven million dollars fifty four percent of the. total box office but it's a surprise given that the total share of local movies for the whole of two thousand and eleven was around thirteen percent in the us market the top grossing film was still a foreign one that show at home this is a day of shadows. but so for now you can go to the website is altie dot com forward slash business in the meantime though i'll be back fifty five minutes join me then .

when an uncomfortable question leads to a grave accusation the world who is more is enough obviously the president who isn't supposed to hide anything. where it's someone asking him why do you make a secret out but when the powers to be suppress the voice of those who think different. when you get experiencing very serious problems often 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 that we have been deprived of the only means of earning a living and i have the gall to originals of all the papers to be out there little lies the ownership rights on the basis of cocos freedom becomes just a stage prop.

machine would be soo much brighter if you knew more about songs from feinstein's passion these. stunts on t.v. don't come.

welcome back you're watching r t here is a look at the top stories the crisis in relations between washington and tehran is aggravated by the assassination of the fourth iranian scientist in two years iran blames israel and america for the plot but says it will not the rail the country's nuclear program. the first foreign journalists killed in syria's unrest a french camera man was mortally wounded by a grenade along with at least eight locals the country's authorities blame terrorists for the attack meaning the armed opposition groups which have blames for him.