live from our headquarters in central moscow you're watching r t with me and he said now it's good to have you with us two pm here in the russian capital our top story syria's president is granted an amnesty to prisoners for what he says are crimes committed during ten months of deadly antigovernment protest the amnesty also applies to army deserted tens of thousands of people have been detained over the past year but as sarah first now reports it's unclear whether or be enough to stop the continuing conflict. strings of people leave the syrian prison into the arms of. family and friends. prisoners i'm relieved to. hear this prison on the outskirts of damascus these are

the prisoners they've been selected for at least. you can see the signing on this is being seen by some of the arab league observers here. this is part of the amnesty by president assad but of course for everyone he's not being released from detention questions being asked about the why they were detained in the first place . i've been in prison for four months i was accused of weakening national security i didn't protest they brought me here by mistake. is a good step i just hope it includes everyone. i had some weapons i had inherited from my grandfather and was accused of bearing illegal weapons i've been here three months when people heard about the amnesty they were ecstatic they never thought this could happen. here in the state in. our military intervention in syria if the violence doesn't stop when general

secretary. president and the bloodshed the age of tennis the rule in the arab world. some critics however feel these statements flaming in a way the highly volatile situation the amnesty shows that syria is trying to find a political solution rather than a security solution and that the country is succeeding in implementing the plan agreed by the arab league. position grapes as being little more than a gesture. to me when all political prisoners are number one the rest said since the beginning of the crisis have been released then the amnesty will have been. yes but the answer is c. does not consider this the start of dialogue but you know if your family just is a welcome one hundred will be freed over the coming days but outside the prison walls people in the country remain trapped in a situation of escalating violence in which they. serve.

the nastiest. well sorrows also obviating on what's happening in syria mind you can follow her blog dot com for first hand experiences from damascus. independent journalist lizzie failon says the amnesty means president also submitting to foreign pressure. it's being received in a kind of mixed way by the syrian people of course these people they were by no means just peaceful protesters according to the syrian government they were in fact why it says they were people who had set things on fire destroyed many government buildings in 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 tense there are concerns among

some sections of the syrian population that's among the many people who are being released that will be some criminal elements who will slip through the net people understand that the president is under a lot of pressure especially the international pressure to respond to calls to release these prisoners by the same time there is very much a concern that it could be a dangerous move. so we have this hour here in our two european markets keep calm over the downgrade we ask what standard important decision to slash the ratings of mine a problem is means for recovery that it reaches. back to earth somewhere fragments of the failed russian probe that should have been on its way to mars by now finally falling from orbit more details for you up ahead. the first one has answered his political opposition's demands and outlined how he perceives russia's future russia's prime minister has published the blueprint of

his campaign for a third term as president this year or two years or an igloo has the details. well in a lot of ways this was a statement which was directed there's a response to the accusations and statements made by the opposition leaders during the protest has been president has pointed out that russia has already gone through an abrupt and very drastic change a very similar to a revolution during the collapse of the soviet union and that brought the country down into decline essentially into shambles and it took a very long time to get out of the dire situation but russia has succeeded in doing that as with which and in fact the education levels went up employment has also risen over the past fifteen years as the whole is standards of living for eighty percent of russians have increased there's also the emergence of the middle class says it's dull comprises up to thirty percent off the population in russia where is during the soviet times that number was significant the smaller so let me put it has borne essentially people in his statement to be wary of that of the statements

and slogans of which sound very lucrative may sound very lucrative by the opposition leaders but he did mention that as such as such an abrupt change in the governmental system may have diarrhea effect on the country and he did talk at length about the situation be very much improved situation which the country finds itself right now but of course he also mentioned that some some problems do remain on the table there is a very well known problem of corruption there's also a lack of civil society overall in the mindset of people also unfortunately from ten to eleven percent of russian population still live below the poverty line that is also something that needs to be taken care of and of course of the country's dependence on natural resources oil and gas something which needs to be slowly taken step away from there's of course the progress into the high tech world and creating more jobs in that sphere also talks more about creating civil society and

contributing more to charity and of course he also talked about russia a becoming a major as being a major player on the global political arena. a russia has served as a bridge between the east and the west for centuries i suppose what experience in that area and of course to also is a major contributor to g. eight g. twenty in the united nations and the role of these are going to zation is something which also should be taken into account and feel so basically underlined the statement by saying that the country has to come out of the post. that period is over and not just for russia but for the world as a whole so more global and a new approach to the situation not just in the country but also in the entire world should be taken we could read in full what putin had to say in his article which is online and available for you at our two dot com. european markets

haven't let the massive ratings downgrade cast a shadow over trading today with only a slight fall on friday ratings giant standard and poor slashed the scores of nine e.u. nations including the aaa scores of france and austria to rogers joins us now via broadband he's a fine that's all commentator and co-founder of the quantum hedge fund thanks for being with us mr rogers s. and p's announcement like i said came after markets closed on friday it's been a tense weekend for financier's waiting to see how the markets open on monday so far the reaction com what does that indicate. no way it means that you shouldn't bother to pay any attention to the rating agencies everything they've done in the past fifteen or twenty years has been wrong i stopped bothering him long ago everybody knows that france is no longer aaa everybody knows that italy is no longer as highly rated as it used to be the market knows all of this this is not news i know you have to report something but this is not news to people in the

market nevertheless sometime markets do react to these rating slashes bias in pay and other agencies specifically saying this time around that europe's austerity budget policies which you argue we already obviously know are not enough to get out of the debt crisis what's your view specifically on the crisis and how to get out of it but the best way to get out of it is to go ahead and let people go bankrupt that the people who made mistakes take their losses the banks who made the bad loans the people who invested in in the bad and the bad banks they should take their losses and start over it looks as though the e.u. is about to make some of them take some losses and that will be good that way we can start over and go forward the problem ms no way is they're not doing enough they're not taking enough losses they're hoping that they can get through the next election or two and then everything will be ok this is not going to solve the problem it may delay the problem a bit longer it does not solve the problem germany's foreign minister is proposing

europe have its own credit agencies right now all the giants are u.s. based and aren't thought to have a fair grasp on the e.u. how do you view germany's proposal of europe having its own agencies. well whether this is a european or not is irrelevant the fact is you do need somebody competent and somebody who can examine and decide who is who is solvent and who has not sought you know its own until a few months ago that they had the united states as a aaa credit united states is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world it's absurd that its true was was aaa now you just need somebody competent who can go in there it doesn't matter whether it's russian or australian american or european just so you have somebody competent and these guys s. and p. and moody's have had up a semi monopoly for decades they have gotten corroded and lazy and sloppy and they're no longer competent let's talk about greece the country struggling to get agreement with its private investors needs of for the next battle outruns how

likely is athens to return to the drachma after march as deadline it's been a warning of course and we hear from wants of different analysts that that's possible some of them think that that's what's needed but it's certainly possible it's not going to be good for greece if they do it if they did that who's going to lend money to greece any time for decades i mean if they go ahead and withdraw from the from the euro then they go back to the drug may everybody knows they're going to print drug was day after day after day just is that good before you're going to have recurring periods of bankruptcy and prices and greece sure they can do that they were a basket case before they will be a basket case again if they do it it would not be the best thing for greece but it does not mean they won't do it politicians do police things all the time with that said germany and france have repeatedly pledged their commitment to the euro which chancellor merkel saying she wants all states within the single currency to stay

how far do you think the powerhouses are prepared to go to prevent a greek default. well greece it has to is going to default and it's no way there's no question that greece cannot pay its debts they can do it in an organized manner where they can say ok we're going to put this together we're going to take fifty percent losses or whatever but they can just walk out the door and cause a crisis you're going to have some kind of default there's no one hundred percent chance of them what is done in an organized manner or a disorganized matter with europe with greece leaving the euro going back to the drug mccall's and chaos i don't think that would happen not this year anyway it might happen some day but not this year all right jim rogers financial commentator and co-founder of quantum hedge fund thanks for your analysis this hour. thank you ms norway. well american mainstream media is being accused of playing with fire for playing up the prospect of war between iran and the west it's

a sensitive time with the military standoff in the strait of hormuz and looming sanctions over iran's nuclear program is going to can reports viewers in the states are repeatedly hearing how war is virtually inescapable. twenty two options bomb iran or let iran get the bomb with tension between iran and the west as high as ever a host of hardline speakers on u.s. mainstream media seem to be pushing the audience to believe that war is inevitable the better way to prevent iran from getting nuclear weapons is to attack its nuclear weapons program directly although experts say war with iran is far from being inevitable i don't think that we are very get that is to say at the precipice with the media are already preparing the grounds for it some by misinforming the public the new york times wrote that the international atomic energy agency said iran's nuclear program has a military objective but that's not what the i.a.e.a.

reported the watchdog said he ran might have the technology to develop a nuclear weapon if it wants to or here's another public misconception due to a lack of information it would be saying to the iranians you to open up those facilities you begin to dismantle them and make them available to inspectors or we will degrade those facilities through air strikes in fact i e-s. specters have already been in the country monitoring iran's nuclear facilities when you american people here information over and over again and sometimes it is often these subtle subtleties you are not providing the context of the i report or not putting in some of the doubts back in two thousand to two thousand and three about the iraqi w m d programs that kind of slanting of the news does have the effect of altering how the american public use in issues the u.s. mainstream media have proved to be cheerleaders for war jeff cohen was a senior producer of a popular t.v. show before the iraq invasion he says they were under pressure from their bosses to

root for because their owners benefited from it it was a constant pressure campaign. to make sure that the pro invasion voice was dominant jeff cohen says not much has changed in u.s. mainstream journalism since the iraq invasion there is no doubt that mainstream media are crucial in this idea of settling this idea that the u.s. is going to be on a perch actual war media analysts say says the intervention in libya u.s. media have been instrumental in making americans get used to the idea that washington will continue to intervene militarily in foreign affairs i worked at newsweek and as well as a.p. and other major u.s. news organizations and the and what i saw especially at a place like newsweek was this idea that the media was actually part of the establishment that it was it was it was that the american people were to be guided

more than even informed it seems most american media are so used to talking wars that went after a decade of the inconclusive war in afghanistan the white house announced the necessity to negotiate with the taliban you have to have a political solution at some point the message and the words political solution came out a somewhat alien peace talks with the taliban it's come to this tell us more about these proposed peace talks and that may sound a little weird to some of our viewers it seems that warrants a political solution don't belong in the u.s. media of accountability two main reasons one moring and second some very powerful people are behind a kind of trigger happy pro-war journalism too many times in history the media did the bidding of war profiteers we can go back more than a hundred years and look at how the american public was primed for war with spain over cuba media tycoon william randolph hearst falsely hyped up the story that the

spanish sunk on american ships when in fact it's something because of a coal bunker explosion it was then that hearst told his illustrator in havana. you furnish the pictures and i'll furnish the war more than a hundred years on the phrase still sounds relevant but it doesn't have to be that way and some argue political solution although not popular words in the media vocabulary is better than war and death i'm going to check on reporting from washington r.t. . kazakhstan is heading into a new political chapter sunday's election means three parties head into the lower house of parliament the president's group previously held all seats but has retained a huge majority international observers have praised the transparency of the vote by the oas c.e. mission says there were a number of violations. reports. this elections were never expected to produce any surprises and in fact they did and the biggest surprise of all was the fact that they were indeed held it was. himself who last fall dissolved the

country's parliament reach a point consisted exclusively of his own supporters and called for that snap elections. has been in power and for twenty two years just last year his security at the now their five year a presidential term with more than ninety five percent of the vote now he's nor party also won these elections with an overwhelming majority and retain control over the lower chamber of parliament but this time around it has some very modest opposition the main reason why you want to have these elections in the first place was he's declared intention to make the country's political system a little bit more representative a little bit more democratic and this time around the elections were held on to new rules guaranteed a second place to party at least two seats in the parliament regardless of whether or not it clears this seven percent tree. as opponents say that it is just

a kiss and that exchange that was in part prompted by he's in these in this over what happened in arab countries and he's attempt to sort of preemptively blind a neat public discontent over it because i sense a political system that may and rise in the future all parties agreed that these elections were test of confidence for those of himself especially following december clashes between protesters and the police in the west of the country that had seventeen people killed and more than a hundred injured and judging by the very high turnout and the results in the. past this. more news twenty four hours a day at r.t. dot com for you here's a look at some of what's online at the moment as really agents and guys the story of how intelligence officers are posing as cia agents to recruit and train iranian terrorists to attack tehran. and the post mortem to poke

a new if i die application on facebook that last years or submit their final status update on the twenty first century twist on the death bed confession i've got the latest details for you at our dot com and plenty more video on argue to china. is eat. down the official location your only phone called talk from the.

video. old girl. and street now in the palm of your. machine on the dot com. we have some headlines from around the world for you this hour pakistan's supreme court has charged the country's prime minister with contempt raising the possibility of his prosecution use of giovanni has been told to appear in court on the nineteenth of january after failing to comply with a legal order to open a corruption probe against the president the government refusing to investigate charges against the president maintaining he has legal immunity. violence has erupted between rival militia groups in the libyan city of daraa yun leaving at least three people dead and around fifty injured reportedly used machine guns and rockets in the weekend shootouts fighting began when the local military council demanded a tribe handover members accused of aiding colonel gadhafi interim government's

attempts to broker a cease fire in the area have failed to take hold. a car bomb has been detonated in the iraqi city of mosul killing at least eight people and wounding four the explosion happened in a residential complex which houses displaced shia muslims was what was known as an al qaeda stronghold and saw some of the most brutal violence following the u.s. invasion in two thousand and three. and italian authorities say a sixth body has been found in the wreckage of the cruise ship that capsized off italy's west coast the male passenger was discovered wearing a life jacket and part of a boat that was not submerged ship's captain is in custody and may face manslaughter charges it's claimed he abandoned the liner before all passengers had evacuated which he denies. now fragments from russia's failed

mars probe groups have fallen back to earth but it's not exactly clear where they are most of the probe burned up in the atmosphere but about two hundred kilos of material made it through russia's military believes the debris landed in the pacific ocean over a thousand kilometers off the chilean coast but ballistic experts claim there might also be pieces of phobos in the atlantic just brazil one hundred seventy million dollar probe was launched two months ago and was supposed to collect soil samples from a martian moon and a few minutes we analyze which republican candidate will be chosen to take on barack obama for the u.s. presidency but first let's get the latest from the business desk with natasha. it's twenty four minutes past two pm here in moscow you're watching business on our . european equities are mixed following a slide early in the day on fears that euro zone credit downgrade could worsen the

region's debt crisis late friday ratings agency standard and poor's downgraded nine e.u. countries with france and austria losing their top notch status let's now cross live to our business desk for an update on trading for something and here in russia why do you know so how are the russian markets reacting to this one that's actual wall investors are nervous right now and we can see that in the numbers both the r.t.s. and m i six kicked off the trading session over one percent in the red and some analysts even said that the my sex could see its biggest daily fall since the twenty first of december or since then the markets have recovered slightly both the r.t.s. and the my six are now losing around a half a percent but all of this doesn't come as a surprise because it comes after s. and p. downgraded nine european countries including cyprus of malta austria and the russian markets closed before the news came out so now we're seeing the delayed reaction

but strong food prices are preventing deeper falls but we could see the numbers change again and that's because the french ratings agency has just announced that it has revised its outlook for russia's credit rating from positive to stable it hasn't changed the level which is triple b. that's remained the same and they're saying that that's mainly due to political uncertainty and global concerns over growth so that's where the situation stands at the moment we'll see where the numbers go next hour. thank you for that update that was business hearties courser off and to now let's check out the actual numbers let's take a look at your first the footsie is losing a war of percent this hour germany's dax is beat it's actually gaining more percent . and now on to the russian markets they've slipped into bread again after bouncing

to positive territory last hour the r.t.s. is now losing around half a percent of the my six is shutting roughly the same. and now the main movers on the my six hour blue chips are mixed energy majors supported by stronger crude prices the largest private oil company lube oil is down just to launch oil pipeline operator trans neff has slipped and red struggling to keep watch weeks momentum that actually gained fourteen percent banking stocks with want to positive their bank is just an option the block. and oil at this hour is the old so quite upbeat some experts you continue tensions with iran as the so-called permanent premium that will be built into the oil price from now on at the moment the w t i is it more than ninety nine dollars a barrel brant is topping one hundred eleven dollars. the russian stock market lost twenty percent last year that's in defiance of its longstanding correlation with the price of oil which actually gained twenty five percent chris

we've heard from troika dialog says russia's equity markets this year will closely monitor the european debt crisis rather than following crude. the equity market is moving much more with the global trend rather than of the oil price but that's only the case so long as your price remains above and acceptable limits for the budget which is proximately ninety dollars in terms of the deficit and below about one twenty five dollars which would then start to affect global growth so it's a background issue and we spend a lot of time talking about it but the reality is that it's much less important than how the stock market performs then what happens in europe. china's growth holds up and what the government actually does in terms of you know trying to improve the investment or the business climate wants to new government takes shape in may. there's a new twist in the ongoing gas dispute between russia and ukraine according to

commerce and ukraine key of is now ready to sell one third of the national pipeline operator to russia in return for girls discounts but moscow is reportedly insisting on at least half of naftogaz the newspaper quoted local energy ministry sources key of had said it couldn't afford the price specified in the current contract and wanted to cut imports of russian gas by half but russia's gazprom insisted you queen could have reduced its order but by no more than twenty percent and only with six months advance notice late on friday the european union joined in saying it's ready to play a part in the talks moscow and kiev are expected to restart negotiations on tuesday analysts say the planes economy might not cope with reduced gas supplies. that's all from the business desk i'll see you back here in fifteen minutes.

at two thirty pm moscow time these are the top stories on our cheat syria's president also pardons crimes committed during the ten month uprising against his rule because i'm the see that also extends to army just sergers tens of thousands of people have been detained over the past year with syria still locked in violence . but they were birds and have published his plans to fight corruption and poverty as well as create a more.