around the clock around the world this is r.t. live in moscow tensions between iran and the west are soaring ever higher with fresh calls on terror and to stop all nuclear enrichment they've come after an urgent un security council session was called by france in response to reports of a new atomic facility in the islamic state. hillary clinton has dumped iran's recent threat to close off a vital oil trade route a provocation you can use also reportedly sent its best equipped was shipped to the persian gulf saying it's ready to send more if iran moves to block the strait of hormuz but it's got a charm looks at the latest in a deepening dispute. 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 quell washington that the international nuclear watchdog these arm 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 and is through confrontation cornered by crippling sanctions

iran's threat to glock 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's the case and that's 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 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 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. . and in the latest developments the u.s. is sending another escorted aircraft carrier into the persian gulf saying it is a routine mission well to talk more on this i'm now joined by lindsey german from

the war coalition in london so u.s. and u.k. warships are massing in and around the persian gulf at the moment thousands of u.s. troops in israel well that some of these are officially described as routine moves but clearly there is a lot of pressure on iran at the moment is it justified. no i don't think it's justified a tool if you look at the recent report from the atomic energy authority it said quite categorically there is not evidence of iran developing a nuclear weapon it seems to me that the. thing is in america and britain and elsewhere are ignoring this report and they are definitely stepping up the pressure the assassination yesterday of the latest scientist the nuclear scientist who worked in the child will be seen quite rightly as a provocation it will be seen as the work of the israelis but by the americans and

the troop movements the ships in the gulf all of this points to more and more pressure on iran and even when people say. nobody would be mad enough to start this war on fridays people have said this before and there have been these wars and sometimes they can start quite accidentally as a result of this kind of pressure really the americans are playing over and the israelis are playing a very very dangerous game air could have pressured not be simply by iran just pausing its enrichment program for the moment. well it shouldn't really be the case that america or indeed any other country should be able to dictate to iran that either they stop developing nuclear power or they are threatened with all this isn't really the job of any country in a civilized society is should be that people respect the rights of other countries

and all for all iran has been subject to a whole range of things iran is now subject to embargoes on oil embargoes on petro chemical products all of that as well as the military threats there is a very serious attempt to say to iran you can't do any of these things at a time when it is absolutely well known that the only country in the middle east with nuclear weapons is israel and yet israel feels it has the justification for waging airstrikes and possible other forms of attack on a country which accuses of wanting to develop the same weapons are already. a lot of strong rhetoric coming from both sides both sides seemingly being provocative and yet france is now calling for a combined approach of dialogue and also pressure on iran but surely that extra pressure could be seen as provocative even more against iran but shouldn't we be seeing some dialogue or is it too late. well i hope there isn't too late i hope

that the western powers will back off from from this kind of behavior begin to think the assassination yesterday which hillary clinton said had nothing to do with the u.s. but she also said iran has to stop its provocative behavior i would like to ask you to consider what would be the reaction if an equivalent person had been blown up with a bomb in london or paris or in new york or anywhere else. supposedly by iranians or some other somebody who supposedly hostile power just very briefly lindsey is this going to lead to conflict do you think just briefly or is it just mere rhetoric just briefly i think it's much more than rhetoric the troops are going to is right for maneuvers the the ships are in the gulf i think there is a very very real danger of war and we have to prepare now to oppose any threats of war and iran german from the stop the war coalition in london there thank you very

much indeed for joining us well we always like to we always like to hear from you as well our viewers and to find out what you think of the stories we're covering at the moment including this one of course and on our web site what you think will come next in the standoff between iran and the west this is how the opinions are lining up for the moment almost half of the votes say the u.s. will attempt to provoke iran into a. war based on preferred the washington will simply strike and worry about the consequences later the rest is split fairly quickly eleven percent say that iran will try to scare off its best reached by claiming it has nuclear capability and ten percent believe that iran will forge an alliance against the u.s. with countries in south america not auntie dot com now to cast your vote. but with the iranian standoff gaining momentum its bitter rival israel is coming in for stinging criticism at home had on the program report on the wave of anger of the north the people there say threaten their freedom of speech and human rights. and

also still to come. world wide protests mark one time obeys the tenth anniversary with activists and human rights agencies condemning president obama's broken vow to shut it down. yet another scandal has engulfed u.s. forces in afghanistan this time in the form of a you tube video which appears to show american marines urinating on the corpses of afghan fighters the video went viral in just hours causing outrage and revulsion among views the u.s. department of defense has promised to investigate or to talk about the video and the possible consequences i'm now joined by david swanson author and campaigner at roots action dot org well you're part of a movement that opposed and very much concerned with u.s. wars abroad what's your reaction to this video shows what my outrage is in particular in the fact that these soldiers have apparently referred these people and the scandal is that they are urinating on great i mean hatred that is

necessary to get people to do such a thing is necessary to motivate soldiers to fight in a war that has no other credible rationale the war itself is an atrocity and so we pick out these particular atrocities and we get outraged but we don't look at the underlying fact and we end up with this incredibly bizarre phenomenon of being upset that someone is peanut on a body that he has killed or washington has been quick to condemn this incident from hillary clinton to them panetta we've heard some very strong words from them what actually is at stake now for the u.s. over this incident. well there will be increasing outrage there will be blowback and that's all to the good in that this war needs to be ended. but it's not you know it's not a particular isolated incident this is not a group of four or five sociopaths who somehow made it through screening and got

into deployment in service of the united states this is the result of the inevitable training that is necessary to get men and women to take part in a war that's not defensive that has no reasonable moral or legal justification and in this situation as in every single war there has ever been these atrocities happen and so you cannot have a war without them we have to end the war there will be a troop withdrawal a combat troop withdrawal in twenty eight fourteen that's the promise but in the meantime in what way will that compromise the security of foreign military operating that in afghanistan short of going to expect some sort of retaliation all meant. well you never heard of glee but we have seen fewer deaths to u.s. soldiers in iraq as soldiers have been withdrawn we haven't seen a greater casualties as the troop levels have diminished despite all of the

warnings and propaganda you know of the security of the united states of course will benefit from the withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan or anywhere else in the region this is something that is far from defending us these antagonizing our policies there are are very well illustrated by this video whatever its origins that the policies of our president at the prison in bhangra are as outrageous illegal immoral and scandalous as these soldiers you're in a hundred bodies just briefly with a mixed messages reaction from the taliban one spokesman promising continued attacks and i'm a fed that this actually is not a political matter it will not be peace talks which are proposed at the moment how much damage do you think this could do to a potential peace process not just between the us but also the relations between washington and indeed haven't cause i and the taliban between everybody. it's hard to see those relations getting worse or there been any less justification for peace

talks one week after our president announced that he had the power to keep prisoners in bagram thousands of them without any pretense whatsoever of judicial process president karzai demanded that they all be turned over in a month he isn't leading the protest in the condemnation of this latest video but there is no reason that should interfere with these stocks pieces motivated by the desire to end the atrocities of war and again all war is an atrocity i don't care if it's if it's a drone war it is inevitable that one day we will see a video of drone pilots laughing about the murders they are committing david swanson author and campaigner roots action dot org thank you for being with us here and i'll take thank you. the world's most controversial prisoners turn ten years old the anniversary of guantanamo bay was met with protests around the world with fresh calls and obama to keep his election promise and shut it down but today

that's a fading fantasy off to washington and not to the new nor among the military to indefinitely detain anyone it deems hostile ati's or smith as this report. one zero 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 graham turner and there he has remains despite president obama's original election pledge to close guantanamo altogether despite being cleared for release and is 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 of. the political will or he would. complete inability to live. up to that promise and is now bracing to book an american citizen. in military commissions which are very far from being. 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. while more on that story online at our. website and see what else is available at

the moment should you go on the crying shame north korean authorities a report published citizens didn't display enough sadness at the death of former leader kim jong. il and the first reason to be considered up to no good by british police has become the skin color of those stories. a foreign journalist has been killed in syria for the first time since the ten month prizing began a french reporter and more civilians died when shells struck a pro-government rally in the central city of homs but the country's government and the opposition were quick to blame each other for being behind the attack meanwhile one of the arab league monitors in syria has abandoned the observer mission claiming it was unable to achieve its goals. to follow suit within twenty four

hours despite growing tensions president assad is still back to number of syrians the director of the center for middle east studies believes terrorists are behind the attack in homs. but that is it's out of question and the government. have any interest you're not the short journalist among demonstration pro-government it's silly to accuse the syrian government about this and he was killed by snipers or from terrorists from the opposition it's a clear and my opinion but the position accuse the government it's a part of their set go to war for but it's not it's not acceptable it's not really if i based the nation about five thousand victims in syria since ten months and started all of them are. a member of dogmeat and i think that's not the

way they see the government the civilian. parties also explored this issue in more depth with a professor of middle east politics jeremy salt and he believes the death toll figures in the conflict may have been exaggerated and that not all the fault of the regime you can watch the full interview in the next hour but before that here's a quick preview for you. the human rights council report said four thousand but there was no explanation of that figure where they go. a few days later. the u.n. human rights commission. the security council and so forth. and i think it echoes around the world and i think it lodges in the popular imagination five thousand people being killed by the syrian government security forces by the north or whatever whereas in fact i don't think it's any thought at all but a large number of military of civilians have been killed by armed gangs about

it but this so what we actually need to do is to aggregate these figures. the chorus of critics is growing in israel against the so-called boycott it punishes anyone who speaks out against the country's settlement construction in the west bank human rights activists have turned to israel supremes court to overturn the legislation was are to reports there's a whole raft of other controversial bills that might not be to their liking either . 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 so israeli 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 don't i don't accept any

boycott not by the. right 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 bill 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. till they sort of promote these bills which which are preceded not only by the left but by the press 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 policy r.t. tel aviv. now the winter sports season is in full swing but it's not often you see a crow trying to get involved but that's what was captured in this video you're watching now you can see this thrill seeker this is comfortable on the slopes as it is in the air the bird appeared to be using the lid of a jar as an improvised snowboard and it looked to be having plenty of fun in the process. but brings up to date for the moment to be back with some of our main news stories in about five minutes from now in the meantime the business update is next with daniel. work to business despite the financial challenges of twenty eleven russia has become the third fastest growing economy in the world of the china and india of the latest economic data by prime minister vladimir putin showed g.d.p.

grew over four percent last year industrial production also rose among the world's best and despite major global economies suffering budget deficits russia ended the year with a surplus. now the threat of oil supply disruptions continues to trouble investors as japan the second largest consumer of uranium crude new sanctions against the islamic republic so the arabia says it has an oil pipeline that could stand in for a portion of the missing supplies but energy strategy davis believes that in the worst case scenario alternative energy routes called plug. if the straits of most were to close and again we don't believe this will happen alternative routes of getting middle eastern oil to market need to be examined saudi arabia already has a pipeline that cuts across the arab peninsula to the red sea which is not being used at the moment to take two million barrels a day or so of production you either are about to start

a pipeline that will circumvent the straits of hormuz again that's from one point five billion barrels a day so taken together that's still a small proportion of the oil that would be lost if the straits of hormuz were to be closed. the stock market european equities headed higher in early trading or news the boring calls in a you day to control day but weeks new data for the u.s. economy grew in the sentiments in london with the footsie crossing the line just in the red frankfurt however managed to stay afloat closing almost half a percent higher. markets are closed flat in moscow continuing a lousy week for the r.t.s. and my six indices are suffering. contagion from world economic fears with both barely managing to end the day in the black let's have a look at some of the share moves almost six today energy may just have lost games from earlier in the week gazprom is down after announcing plans to spend five point seven billion dollars on the source to winter olympics in twenty forty. also felt

its announced natural gas production grew forty one percent from last year with comic after vs exhilarated for a second day from reports the. alliance plans to increase its share of the russian call maker to fifty percent in the first quarter of this year trade alexander rifkin wraps up the day's trade for us. it was a surprising news from europe which actually lead the markets today. finally we realize that crisis is not that hard but the worst was my and italy placed their bones and screenplays their bones and they were low rates for italy for example is fifty percent below the yield of the loan was big surprise and were a positive surprise for markets so we had quite a positive second half of the day and also some numbers from us on the retail retail sales on the on the. jobless claims also affected the market. versus move is

pretty much positive and i believe that the data today from. europe sales will support this move. but the business to stay with us for the news headlines the externality.

not with not about spilling blood. just the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided serbia into two hostile parts is still not over. the.

line. would be so much brighter if you move about song from finest impressions. whose phone starts on t.v. dot com. some of our top stories now for you here and storm brews over iran as the west accuses it a provocation and that suspicion is developing nuclear weapons well to wrong the u.s. and israel could be assassination of a fourth song just in two years. another scandal erupts in afghanistan centering around a video appearing to show u.s. marines urinating on the corpses of medicine finds is sparking uproar among afghans . gone inside syria claims the life of a foreign journalist.