and in the business bulletin the russians finance minister tells business r t how the country is preparing for a possible worsening scenario in the euro debt crisis but details join me in twenty minutes. is one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t i'm marina joshie with international pressure mounting on syria's president the e.u. is ready fresh sanctions against the regime russia says it will block any u.n. security council move to authorize military intervention in the country seeing dialogue is the only way out of the ongoing violence the syrian government and the opposition remain at loggerheads as time runs out for many in the country artists or for reports. but how do you stop the fractured country from falling apart a country where some cities now resemble

a was a where the economy's on its knees and what children being shot dead on the streets . i mean. it's a question everybody's desperately trying to find an answer to you right now nobody knows what's going to happen some are calling for military intervention others a calling for dialogue this sit in case is not isolated. and i mention i mention the west and i mentioned the russian dimension. everybody has on interests but russian foreign minister sergei lavrov re-offend that moscow would not authorize a u.n. resolution involving military intervention has struck a resident chord with the main opposition in the country. we refuse on principle any type of military foreign intervention because it threatens the freedom of our country for the model damascus has promised to push through reforms including

parliamentary elections to later this year to some here that's simply not enough. this could have been done in the past but the killing of the violence pushed the population and the opposition and the people not to believe anymore in the promises of the regime. protestors had started by calling for reforms and now more than ten months into the unrest and they simply want president assad to go on. your back. that many in syria right now simply want peace in their country they hate reforms might be a way to achieve that. the president announced we will have an expanded government and independent opposition if all the parts were included this would be better for us all having different opinions is much better than having one sided discussion of a few new moon. if the opposition want to take current cools why not we're all

syrians are true we all care about our country. and they are as a country descends deeper into quite everyone's desperate to find a resolution it's take that the government reforms will go some way to voting a bridge between the two sides but these reforms have been a long time coming with so many lives already lost they're going to come at a very high price so party the best guess. well sarah is also updating what's happening online and you can follow her blog at r.t. dot com for her first hand experiences from syria. the former british ambassador to syria basically used to it doesn't hold much optimism down the crisis will be resolved anytime soon with no effective opposition to replace president. i don't think there is a b. plan syria is sliding into a probably largely sectarian civil war. there is no government in waiting

there is the syrian national council which is based outside syria which has a temporary president. but it does not command universal support amongst the dissidents. and its links to those who are actually on the streets while armed or unarmed in syria seems somewhat tenuous at times. while from a divided syria to war stricken libya in a few minutes on our team we investigate why the countries who were pushing so strongly for a change in tripoli are now clamoring for a business contract in the country also. hundreds of russians around the country will be observing the day of the epitome as are the diving duo sub-zero. find out if i will take the plunge if i'm brave enough to do it.

washington is full of prepared for an armed conflict with iran says the u.s. defense department the pentagon chief leon panetta says there is still room for dialogue but sufficient military forces are in the persian gulf in case to iran decides to block a vital oil rued there this comes after iran said it would close the strait of hormuz only if the country's security and the security of its nuclear facilities is threatened to iran is backed by russia which says military action would bring disastrous results iran agreed to resume six party talks over its atomic program there are fears the country is already under attack after the latest murder of one of its nuclear scientists which turns around blames on israel former cia officer philip giraldi says a military confrontation in the gulf could lead to a new world war. but. the real danger here is that it could produce a shooting war if the united states does follow through on its resolve to keep the straits open which will be that easy and i think that it virtually guarantees that

iranian naval forces and u.s. naval forces would come into conflict the problem is that iran is is surrounded by a number of countries that are essentially hostile to it and some of them are nuclear armed and this is a perfect cauldron for for starting something with a very minor relatively minor incident that escalates and escalates and escalates and once a president has a major war the worst case scenario is world war three i'm afraid i think a covert war is being waged by the united states and israel i think in this case the actual killers of the scientist were who are probably a rainy that were recruited by mossad or the cia outside of iran and then sent in to to do the work and i believe that the intelligence used to locate this man and to target him probably came from the united states and probably was intelligence that was shared with israel. the u.k.

has admitted for the first time that it was using a fake rock to help spy on russia six years ago the chief of staff to that then british pm tony blair has revealed in an interview that it was highly embarrassing when the secret was exposed in two thousand and six and to january of that year a report on russian television claimed british spies hit electronic equipment inside a fake wrong they then use paul computers to transmit and receive information at the time the russian security services described it as an absolutely new spy technology but tony blair laughed off the accusations while the u.k. foreign office denying the claims. of morris carr didn't leave slowly rebuilding its cities and its economy western companies and entrepreneurs are a profit may. opportunities the country now presents and asics on a boy who reports it's the same powers to help destroy the regime that are now lining up for a chance to cash in. they may have how to bring down the house. but

they were very careful not to burn bridges as libya rises from the ashes of civil war become trees the poor boy into the fire and now lining to gas sheen undoing the damage the believe that russia benefited more than all others from trading with get out his regime is very widespread here in tripoli and it's simply not true in two thousand and ten most call was number seventeen on the least of leave this main trading partners accounting for just zero point four percent of its international trade the countries that had the largest trading volumes would get off as a place size me the one that spearheaded the campaign against him the european union the united states and turkey and they're all on their jostling for contracts to rebuild believe some of them help to destroy you do. everything right did a good. american business is still

a bit of an oddity here but it's already catching up construction firm owner richard peters arrived in tripoli just before their prizing to seal a multi-million dollar contract with get off his government the war and peter subsequent incarceration threw him off track but now he hopes to make up for it i don't condemn anybody even the people that work for him you don't have a choice here if you don't work for him what do you do die. to reach your companies also involved in rebuilding iraq in afghanistan after the u.s. led invasion and believe the is familiar turf he even says the country's business potential make shamble all over their post conflict areas there's nothing they don't need here you know if you compare to like the united states everything they need everything we have you know everything there infrastructure has to be. all the all the facilities you know and some of the things we are involved you know with executive centers with golf courses theme parks these people haven't really had any

entertainment all these years so now you can imagine getting you know a theme park or a little disneyland americans and the only ones just looking for food called turkish airlines was the first to resume commercial flights to tripoli and they're now packed with businessman scouting for opportunities. even during good at this time turkey was pretty comfortable doing business in libya and was tripoli's fourth largest trade partner lost here but many now hold even better deals following its early recognition of the rebel authorities definitely few have a stronger political relations we can see it somewhat but it's it would facilitate and remember for the business. vision of. the only ones who are still far slower hundred claiming their business interests in libya or russia and china both countries for vocal in their opposition to the use of force in libya a stance that has already backfired most russian companies who did business in

libya prior to the war are still has it into some personnel bag x. spirits of war and that they waiting game may not be the best strategy. we're going to lose like we lost iraq syria and yemen will follow they see they can drive russian others out of the market and then take advantage we have to work there we will take measures we're going to enter those markets we're waiting for us if interim government see we don't take eriksson they will say a few words about russian businesses being driven out then just step aside. but they once losing the most themselves in two thousand and ten their economy grew by about ten percent reaching abbey thinglike got the growth. now seems as heavy load as building the country from scratch on a boy car to see. that the nearly be as quickly putting its past behind

a but the children of a country's late leader are seeking justice for the death of their father later r.t. talks to the lawyer of colonel gadhafi as daughter about her determination to have his murder fully investigated. it was not in the brutal fashion. the whole world saw with. prosecutors the international criminal court has an obligation to investigate all aspects of the conflict which was referred to the united nations security council. and that would include also the local law on the gadhafi especially since the prosecutor himself is stating that there are grounds to believe that this is a war crime in the present instance we do good to be with ortiz as they stand at present the will the capacity to carry out such best to gratian and that's why we're calling for the investigation to be conducted immediately we shouldn't be sitting here today talking about why is an investigation taking place it should have started a few days after the murder itself. given this on the very same the. thank

you watch the full interview with the lawyer to get off his daughter in just over an hour here on r t. now the biggest online encyclopedia has resumed work after a twenty four hour blackout in protest against anti-piracy bills being debated by the u.s. congress was language which side says that legislation would damage internet freedom the action has led eight senators who previously supported the bills to withdraw their are backing jay wallace from there would be media foundation says no government should control the web. we don't think that this kind of legislation should exist so it shouldn't it shouldn't empower the united states government to take these kinds of actions against. projects i mean it's a grid it's what we call a great area there's there's a lot of a lot of information hasn't been confirming this this builds as the currents current state doesn't answer those questions but certainly i think after this we're

going to see a global community of internet users who are going to say you know we don't want to be meddling with the way that the internet works in the united states so in so much as we compete in a lot of other projects online are based here to assure us yes that legislation does affect internet users around the world and we don't want that to come about but what i can say is that certainly these this legislation affects people outside of the u.s. it was just it was to come forward the ability to share information from the people excited to know the ability to for people to collaborate widely from all over the world you know this is going to bring so so what is what is in fact. an open collaboration environment which is which has changed dramatically we certainly don't think any individual government should have the ability to control what everybody in the world sees on the internet. party that com is now down and always has more news for you to check any time you like and activists are sounding the alarm of another plan that they claim is curbing freedom i'm on the streets of new

york and i think you carrie will be privy to how tronic ice as the city's police have proposes to install body scanners around the big apple. and a group of ukrainian women go back to basics to air their grievances at the end you don't have a scene find out what they are demanding an apology for at r.t. dot com. anger on the streets is rife in romania as massive protests demand an answer to government cuts higher taxes and corruption at the top demonstrators have been clashing with riot police hurling stones and petrol bombs with their rage mainly focused on the president some sixty people have been injured the violence rallies began last week over a highly unpopular health bill which has sent. ben was drawn artist on barton reports from the capital the eucharist. night and day they come to scream their defiance biting austerity and the feeling the government isn't listening have

spilled over into anger even violence coming out. of come here for the pain of their mean people the pain of the entire country for twenty two years old they have done is destroyed the entire country our youth has no future they have no jobs. motor water is sixty she's worked all her life in a textile factory in book arrest but now she is forced to pay for her social security out of her small pension when you know whether you're young or you're a pensioner you need a pension when you get old they need to give us a fair pension and not tell us they're boring the money because they don't have it . is not just here for herself her son left her mania but it's illegal to try and find work young rumanians feel trapped under direct and most of their anger the president try and assess could protest as accuse him of trampling over democracy

presiding over a political elite riddled with corruption. he wants to descend down down with the sask who has parents left us with a heritage and we're losing our children and there's a dent in the problem it's the young ones that need to have a. good life you know mania. and we are not allowed to have peace because of stupidity of high levels of government and parliament. and international monetary fund loan in two thousand and nine came with tough conditions unlike in greece the remaining in government has tried to force its financial house into water budget benefit cuts slashed pay pension freezes. falling living standards but some say it's the people who are now being forced to pay for the mistakes of the few who stayed the country economic disaster. this was done at the

expense of there are many in state and now those who hadn't been guilty for their situation but then doing profited from it had to play for those who had drifted to the us the government blames international economic conditions however for the country's worst doings let's not forget that we're in the eye of a storm of an economic european still all around us unfortunately is a mighty tempest with economic consequences that inevitably affect us too just not good enough said the opposition who argue of course that they could do better the more it's every day discourage inefficient government stays in power as a dane last for rumania or jews used to shorten the period as much as we come on fast as we can by fair elections with many of them accepting there is no escape economically politics for them offers the only hope of change and that leads straight back out onto the streets here these are. the foundation to

build on. them there was territory ruptured in the period of the president where you live about to be here and you can see why remain you want to tear it all down and start again yeah. now is take a look at some of the stories from around the world and rescue efforts have been resumed as the shipwrecked cruise liner or despite the willing help for the twenty four people still missing search operations have been to span of when bad weather caused the vessel to shift leading to fears of might slide into deeper water eleven bodies have been recovered so far from the wreckage meanwhile italian authorities have initiated a salvage operation to train more than two thousand tons of fuel from the ship to. event a possible environmental catastrophe. the prime minister of pakistan appeared in the country's supremes court today to face contempt charges after his

failure to reopen a corruption investigation against a president use of a long refused to initiate the probe on the grounds the president has immunity from prosecution the court proceedings could result in the disqualification of both political figures forcing early elections within months. members of the occupy london movement have vowed to continue their protest and lodge an appeal against their fiction on wednesday a court ruled the camp must be removed from in front of st paul's cathedral accord back to local authorities who have been trying to evict the anti-capitalist activists arguing their right to protest doesn't justify the disruption to the public and local businesses the camp has been in place since october and led to the first closure of the cathedral since the second world war. the photography giant kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to fight against plummeting profits a spokesperson for the company announced a loan of almost

a hundred million dollars has been secured from citi group which should help keep them afloat kodak has suffered severe losses in the last couple of years being consistently gone by competitors who are quicker to adapt to the digital age. now it may be the middle of a freezing winter here and russia but that's not stopping the determined from taking a dip a midnight immersion in water in january nineteenth is a traditional way to celebrate the orthodox holiday of a penny but was artie's to ban would say brave enough to test the waters. the ninety. day the russian or. the way the end of christmas time as well as if we need to could we need is said to be the day when jesus was baptized and question believe that by diving into. a two week life during that may need to come to us through the woods which then turns into

a hole you would see and that's going to be good and bad they say. why do they do with the romans do you call you to find a way to guard who myself like you do it not and never. look back at all. the. stuff but. most of the time. but.

then to zero as in phrasing has never been easy that i've done and. that done. i still can't believe she did it while she did it and she's happy was our turn to the world of business with natasha. twenty four minutes past one pm here mostly watching business are to the ongoing financial uncertainty in europe how's russia getting ready for possible worsening scenarios in the european debt crisis that's according to the country's finance minister antonis to one of. you know sure because we started preparing last year by increasing the reserve fund to fifty seven billion dollars and the national wealth fund to eighty eight billion this is obviously still lower than the pre-crisis levels of two thousand and eight. to prevent

a group of spending and create new budget maneuvers for the implementation of anti-crisis measures we are prepared for the worsening of the crisis but we hope it will not happen. and let the markets oil first and it's gaining for a third day an improved sentiment about the health of the global economy. that around one hundred and one of the half dollars a barrel brant is topping one hundred eleven dollars. to equities european stocks are higher and that's up to the i.m.f. decided to move to one trillion dollars the amount of money set aside for fighting the your debt crisis and london the footsies putting on a tenth of a percent germany's dax is a third of a percent on the block. and that's another choppy trading day for the russian markets they've a race most of their earlier gains over the past couple of hours the r.t.s. is a tenth of a percent higher wall them why six is want to positive bad now let's see the biggest movers on the my six financials are on the rise this hour with russia's

biggest blunders in burbank gaining almost forty seven percent while major champion b.p. is down though this week the company begins drilling its first offshore project in vietnam and the electricity producer dziedzic a knight is among the name gainers on the news that its parent company is merging its energy assets with more than just a minute. russian energy a major gazprom and i e-s. they have made a second attempt to join their electricity assets aiming to treat the country's biggest power company in december they pulled back their application from the federal antimonopoly service saying the parameters of the deal had to be revised due to the regulators criticism now the company's hoped to finalize the deal by the end of march. first as car market. a whopping forty percent last year according to pricewaterhouse coopers russia's the fasters grower among the auto producing countries including the united states and china however as stanley root from p.w. c.

points out it's so matter of perspective. the growth which was spectacular forty percent was largely because of the fall in the market in previous is was so spectacular as well so what's really happened is the market has begun to recover almost a pre-crisis level so that forty percent growth needs to be understood in the context support was before secondly though it's very interesting point this is psychological front of the russian market reacts extremely to what's happening around the world when when things are going good they react well when things are going bad they're very cautious and that's what the last crisis of the markets fell by fifteen twenty percent the russian market fell fifty percent because people stopped buying not because it in of the money that was stopped by a now we're seeing that as people got money they're spending more of it so we have this kind of volatility so it's a good cheer but you need to understand those two things. well company ruth petro became the first russian firm to offer chairs to the public in london this year and

sold a thirty five percent stake and raised around two hundred fifty million dollars that value is the company at around seven hundred million dollars which is lower than expected respect i initially scheduled the listing for december but then it had to postpone so as potential investors showed very low interest ahead of the near holidays a company which has oil assets in western siberia will use the money to boost production and to pay off debts. and that's all the latest from the business desk i'll see you back here and testaments.

welcome back here with our team here's a look at top stories and more sanctions in the works for syria as the e.u. mounts pressure on the regime but russia says it will block any u.n. security council move to authorize military intervention in the country. the u.s. says it's ready for armed confrontation with iran with forces on standby in the persian gulf in case to iran decides to block a vital oil road there. and the angry voice of romanian scare.