welcome it's nine pm here in moscow now this sunday night you're watching the weekly roundup of the top stories from the last seven days with me kevin now in and first a crisis in relations between iran and the west pigs again this last week fueled by wednesday's assassination of a top nuclear scientist in toronto iranian officials blame the murder on the u.s. and israel who want to stop its nuclear program meanwhile american and british warships are gathering in the persian gulf where iran it earlier threaten to block a crucial oil lane that's all made an impending oil embargo a bit forcing to rand to abandon its atomic ambitions. 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 and the problems in a crisis if you get were any small things that really set it off and it doesn't quote washington that the international nuclear watchdog is arm side closely monitoring iran's nuclear activities are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon 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 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's threaten 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 thousands of u.s. troops are being deployed to israel 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 way if 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 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 after 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 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. coming up this hour on to the politics in kazakhstan right now from election day and for the common people and the season. we'll probably see that if you see the recipe for peace the kazakstan has been serving up in the region and has been simmering with unrest might mean that's ahead also u.s. . the optimism for afghan progress is crushed by

a league cia report by the britain picture of what's going on in the country jesting baiters decade long occupation is it stalemate. pressure on syria's president assad's been growing this week the ruler of qatar suggested a military intervention should end the unrest in the country has become the first arab leader to openly indorse military action international affairs consultant mood when i was told r.t. that arab league countries lecturing syria on democracy are being hypocritical now south is clearly not what you would call a democratic leader but within the context he is certainly not the worst one on the contrary and watch out i believe he's doing i mean you do see an oblique represent the past arraign you united arab emirates so do you review those do a day or few do monarchies they are not the ones that should point a finger and south whether there is an international conspiracy where there are elements that point out to me did this part of it i think it's more complex than

just that there is also genuine recall but it is absolutely sure that there are elements from outside who are taking abusing whatever there is living among the syrian people for their own purposes that is absolutely. syria's president bashar al assad's issued an amnesty for crimes committed during the ongoing anti-government uprising in the country including army defectors who turned themselves in before the end of the month independent journalist lizzy feel and told r.t. that assad submitting to foreign pressure despite it being dangerous for the balance in the country. it's being received in a kind of mixed way by the syrian syrian people of course these people they were by no means just peaceful protesters according to the syrian government they were in fact. they were people who had set things on fire destroyed many government buildings and these kinds of things the reaction is very much seen as though the

president is being very generous he is releasing more people despite that the situation in some parts of the country is still very extremely tense there are concerns among some sections of the syrian population that amongst the many people who are being released there will be some criminal elements who will slip through the net people understand that the president is under a lot of pressure especially international pressure to respond to calls to release these prisoners but the same time there is very much a concern that it could be a dangerous move. longtime ally turkey is among the increasingly vocal chorus calling for president assad to step in to give support to the armed opposition and keeping his own troops the ready near the border but as our report might not be getting an accurate picture of what's happening in syria. the bloody status quo in the syrian crisis maintained for months she is

a growing and finest may start spreading beyond the country's borders especially with its close neighbor turkey once a close friend too but now a harsh critic of damascus on. syria's first priority should be to listen to its people and meet their demands not to denounce others sort of massacring its people we should listen to them through glitter glue is a harsh critic himself but he's criticizing the turkish government and camera is on the side with the free syrian army and the syrian national council and military and diplomatic forces aimed at overthrowing the regime of bashar al assad it's a port a buffer zone and a humanitarian corridor which some fear could bring turkish troops to syrian soil what does that mean according to international law it means aggression against a country it means war but any intervention would be different from the one in libya since russia and china have made it clear no more no fly zone resolutions

which means the role of original players like turkey increases dramatically but fruit claims and korea's behavior is irresponsible and risky it has larger implications beyond the bilateral context of turkey syria as such the situation in syria must be handled with great care by all powers and unfortunately i don't see that cash. especially part of our government or hand works for the middle east or to egypt studies center based in and kyra it's sponsored by the turkish foreign ministry to help shape policy and its opinion on syria it's clear syria is killing their own people or not always that's clear no. but he has objectively information what is going on in syria the center specialists haven't been to syria through over here it means the

picture they paint for officials in ankara isn't my cue to be accurately on the technology changing you know when you look at the photographs or the videos coming from these governorates you can easily see that there is something going on with this issue these reviews are often question of will so it's easy to be misled and get a false picture woods truly happening but that doesn't stop researchers from coming to firm conclusions the military operation this is the last option which turkey does not want to see but this is an option it may have declared it doesn't work a military solution to the syrian crisis but turkey hasn't ruled it out either plain and if game if there is massive migration from its troubled neighbor turkey says it will have to protect its own people and officially and cry insists it wants peace and stability in the region its troops are already just kilometers from the border with syria. r.t. turkey. the struggle for survival got that much more difficult this last week of to

a major credit rating agencies slash the credit scores of nine e.u. nations the downgrades handed out by style of imports come amid growing concern that the eurozone failed to rein in its runaway finances and debt france and australia especially hard hit losing their prestigious aaa status that made the most safe havens for investors the reaction from e.u. leaders was varied with some calling the move on justified while others accepted the decision and called for urgent action economists across the un now waiting for monday when markets opened the gate how much damage has been done don laughlin from the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris believes the euro project has reached its end. the downgrading of france but not of germany obviously means that the franco german axis is no longer tenable proposition what we see in the euro zone is that there's only one country calling the shots not two and that's germany there's no doubt that it will extract a terrible blow for sarkozy is only real chance of winning the election was to show

himself as a safe pair of hands as the devil you know in a crisis now it's clear that france has both a crisis and the devil you know i mean it's true that these agencies are not above reproach they've made a lot of mistakes in the past but i think that european leaders are being completely paranoid when they blame the ratings agencies for their problems any fool can see that there is a massive debt problem in europe and i think when the euro finally collapses as it will do surely within i would think probably the next year when we will see just a this announcement downgrading of france and as having been one of the decisive moments in their lives patrick young told us he believes the ratings cuts were well overdue. it's been deserved frankly for several years i mean the french government has been economically incontinent for the course of several decades they've lived

in never neverland they have no concept of how to run a reasonable economy in terms of not spending more money than they can afford it's a disaster for mr sarkozy but then again it's been coming since the start of his presidency it's been building for twenty five years and he did nothing about it to it so he just as culpable as everybody else in this issue on the future of the euro everything is not up for grabs again it emotionally destabilizes every single aspect of the euro because we still have no leadership in the euro zone we've got situations like greece needing fourteen and a half billion euro to refund in march alone the euro sits on the precipice tragically and that's a terrible thing for all our viewers throughout the world later this empty promise is the town of a base prison marcus said they protested in the u.s. and great britain urging a barber to keep its word of traffic down latest report on that. also we visited craig to find out why many are worried they're not ready for this summer's football

european championships while others predict huge cost of the event will never pay off the. polling booths across kazakstan of no close to millions of people cast their votes to choose the new country's parliament and being counted those votes their actions come a little less than a month after oil workers staging a prolonged strike over poor pay were locked in fatal clashes with security forces the elections were set to take place in virtually in august but the president dissolved parliament last november and ordered an immediate vote the move was welcomed by the opposition is expected to break the country's single party system now as artistic son of a report preempting violent unrest is a priority in kazakstan i think learned disturbing lessons from the arab spring. it wasn't for the snow and the freezing temperatures kazakstan capital of astronaut could easily be mistaken for one of the gleaming cities of the gulf a village just two decades ago it is now an oasis in the desert but its

architecture having a distinct arabic flavor like many arab countries kazakhstan's primary sources of income are all in gas and it is that x. word that allowed this country the luxury of building its new capital city from scratch in fact kazakstan is now producing about as much oil as libor was churning out prior to its civil war and the similarities and here both kazakstan and libya have predominantly muslim populations both were consider still roots of calm in their turbulent neighborhoods and both have experienced decades of rule by just one man in terms of style that fast. is the exact opposite of erratic more market afy and of course he's still in power but the libyan scenario no longer seems improbable in kazakstan even to its leader some young people are fascinated with what's happening in the world right now in africa and europe but we have to explain

to the new generation that blindly believes everything it's told that there are those who envy your own or well being the countries who are revolutions took place have gone by ten to fifteen years economically speaking the town of john is rightfully called kazakstan all capital but it's no match for glistening asked despite producing much of the country's hydro carbons for decades it's been poor and neglected. the uprising in western kazakstan has mauled it since last spring but culminated in december in a weekend of clashes with police that left seventeen dead and more than one hundred injuries as the protest spread to other cities. jittery in the wake of the arab spring it up it was because extern has a sense. of democracy with several parties in parliament and some of position media but the essence of the regime is similar to those of the arab countries but the first thing the authorities did when their uprising began was to switch off the

mobo networks and the internet connection before the people even demanded it out loud the cancer has the riches decided to offer a political reforms the people are now going to the polls to elect a new parliament recent constitutional amendments guarantee they'll be more than one party that has been up until now the challenge now is to keep all the good things stability prosperity. and of the same time allow the society to evolve. meanwhile their thirties have approved millions of dollars worth of programs to give their restive cd a facelift and create new jobs but. the president's close associates appointed to oversee the turbulent region says in a few years and will make some cities in the gulf pale in comparison. come here in a few years and you won't recognize this city while the arab spring may have

inspired protesters around the world it's also taught authorities valuable lessons on how to contain those rallies and like all rulers and those that are by would much rather learn from the mistakes of others especially if they come at a price paid by gadhafi on a boycott artsy kazakstan. league report this week says that the u.s. military operation if afghanistan is doomed to failure it directly contradicts recent optimism expressed by the department of phones u.s. troops are said to leave the central asian country in twenty fourteen but americans think peace in afghanistan leaves the actual pool or take far longer. it has been ten years that has not unified the country i said should have been it looks like there is no chance for the americans to see a government standing on its feet however this could prolong americans be honest on for quite

a number of years i would say and the years are unknown at this time but it looks like it's going to be a long time because there's a corrupt government cannot function in a way that it is right now the fact is that there's a friction in the white house right now get some more say no basically the pentagon going to latrine is the one that's calling up that same to know we should not really hear rush in pull out fast as we can. report also says the taliban havens in neighboring pakistan a dashing nato efforts in the region but defense analyst how mad how my brother told r t the documents mostly about americans shifting the blame for awards last. basically what the americans are not trying to do is their past the responsibility of their failures in afghanistan upon pakistan and this is also corroborated from the fact that the nato supplies that pakistan has blocked today in pakistan then

the military hardware which is an i envision level hardware almost nine armored infantry divisions and their support equipment supplies weapons and ammunition are stuck in pakistan and the concern pakistan army is is me americans are talking of a drawing from of i understand they're talking about piecemeal the taliban then why would the americans need abrams m. one a one main battle tanks and almost nine armored in front three divisions. to the come on r t next a perfect recruitment for the taliban produced by and starring american troops in is caught up in footage of u.s. marines urinating allegedly on their lives and we had no comment about it actually used for the ten also on our website as well some of the stories we're interested in tonight is on board a luxury cruise liner which ran aground off italy's. say it was like the signal for the movie titanic you can follow the search and rescue operation around the capsized costa concordia whether online video coverage view without. also is the

ultimate solution to social that working out exit the last word this controversy over a new online craze as an israeli company releases a facebook posting status updates from beyond the grave that is that work online from. ukraine enters the home straight for the euro twenty twelve football championships but the joy of hosting one of the world's most prestigious tournament is overshadowed by fears it could backfire on its people. explaining. him accommodation to driving through impassable roads this is the scenario some believe awaits fans who will flock to ukraine for the euro twenty twelve tournament gave based journalists organized this photo exhibition trying to voice a rather pessimistic message about the upcoming football cup. we're being

told by the government that everything has been built by the fans will face those problems that we ordinary ukrainians face every day poorer straight better issues bribery by the police and terrible medical facilities i'm afraid it could be a major failure. at first glance such concerns may seem laughable even in the darkest times of financial troubles the euro twenty twelve projects remained top priority when almost all construction projects were halted roads airports and stadiums never stopped being built after a string of stadium opening ceremonies in ukraine you wait for chiefs are now completely sure the country is ready to host the tournament but this is just one example of what really worries some in ukraine this broken road is only several hundred meters away from a vital highway and there is a slim chance it would ever be repaired before or after the tournament kicks off

experts believe ukraine simply has no money for that and the euro twenty twelfth will not change the situation. in ukraine is spent fourteen billion dollars on euro two thousand and twelve projects but we predicted to earn only half a billion from the tournament twenty eight times less everyone knew that it's a typical situation especially for eastern europe the question is if we could afford such spending in hard times like this. tournament organizers brush all this criticism aside saying regardless of how much money your twenty twelve brings the country is building a bright future for itself for the first time in twenty years history we will get new airports new roads. everything is new we believe that people who is in ukraine they will come again with ukraine so this is our main goal especially europe twenty twelve clock was installed in central kiev to count down the minutes

to june skew cough and despite some skepticism the majority of ukrainians are relieved to see it ticking in their capital city not anywhere else with all the airports and stadiums springing up it's hard to believe now that almost a year ago the tournament could have been moved to another country by u.a.e. far as ukraine was not doing good enough now there is no doubt whatsoever it will be held here but one question still remains whether it would become an opportunity of a lifetime or a luxury this economically hit country could not have afforded. ski r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. the focus of the world news stories now first off a bomb blast which thirty wounded twenty in eastern pakistan the explosion in the midst of a religious procession in which hundreds of shiites were marking the end of a period of mourning it split the bomb was planted ahead of the gathering in time for maximum impact after the blast mourners began throwing rocks at police so in turn deployed to gas to control the crowds. mass demonstrations are continuing in

romania for a third day with riot police firing tear gas in an effort to control crowds at least nine were injured dozens were arrested protesters a rally against straight government imposed hysterically as well as in popular health care but also calling for early elections a resignation of president try and process call. again but up to today at an iraqi government compound in ramadi it's left up to seven policemen dead a group of suspected sunni insurgents attacked the majority of security headquarters resulting in a three hour standoff before the attackers were killed the gunman is said to have set of a car bomb near the compound to divert as many officers as possible ramadi previously held a strong al qaeda presence and it's been a hot spot for sectarian violence. this week the universe three of the world's most controversial prison guantanamo bay was marked by public protests on both sides of the atlantic demonstrators called on us president obama to want to his

election pledge and shut down the jail that critics see a little chance of that happening because of the recently signed national defense authorization act allowing america america to detain anyone it deems hostile thomas willis a lawyer for several to attorneys in guantanamo believes that it's politics that held the bar back from closing. as promised. this is a political problem in a democracy when certain people are playing with fear the republican party is basically playing on fear or to influence or constituents in the face of that fear of the obama administration hasn't had the courage to oppose it or the courage to get the job done other things like the economy you have seen more important it's a shame it's a challenge in a democracy and we need to continue to fight to have this close it's a stain on the reputation the united states is a horrible place. next hour we'll bring you more international reaction to

a broken promise including be our last twenty for the from held without charge a mentor is present will mark his own decade of incarceration there in less than a month's time. also possible that they headed for the border to block certain goods but still more than armed police have got the story get the latest from the region in next hours program. before all that we report on journalists caught in the crossfire during the war in iraq that's coming up in less than ten minutes tonight right after a recap of our main stories here on r.t. .

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