cigna gave today is one of george's tourist attractions while architects were trying to improve the town's appearance the residents had no idea of what was really going on behind their backs before restoration work began a small shop in central signal was taking in a small but stable income for time out of. order to shoot it's a restoration started in two thousand and seven into internationally was mayor at the time she came to us and said that they needed our facilities and that we have to go to one of. them thirty officers from the financial police came to our store and said that unless my husband and i give up the fight we would drop in prison for the rest of our lives. georgians stand no chance of winning a fight against the wall old machinery of the state the fifty square meters of this shop no longer belong to its form a owners. we have been deprived of the only means of earning

a living and i have got their originals of all the papers i want to see their little eyes the ownership rights on the basis of coppice i come up september so far we've been unable to find justice but we don't give up hope. renovation work began in the historical part of gori in the early autumn of two thousand and eleven some of the residents are worried by the prospect of being barred from their homes are after the renovation but others still have trust in the promises made by the local administration alexander most villages and lives and works in the same house. yet you a bit of them in my driving school in my home are one in the series. most of us are going to move out soon after what will stay in a new place only for a time after their innovation will return here about the put out of uni.

renovation is in full swing in nearby houses all the tenants have already been evicted alexander expects to be forced out any time now he hopes his students will get their licenses before work begins on his house. would that this street in the neighborhood will look much nicer to you is gonna know what may have happened somewhere once i'm not responsible for that anyway. but i know for sure that i'll continue to be master here as long as. and no doubt my descendants will be to . know the restoration and the way people legalize their claim to renovated houses were the subject of a talk show with a local t.v. company. the show lasted one and a half hours none of the officials invited to the programme turned up this is what

an independent lawyer representing the opposition of the local municipal council had to say. the municipal council has been stripped of its rights. a situation where everything depends on me carlos saakashvili is good will is wrong . that is what people in every family think. alexander was among those who called the talk show. this group yes this is a project suggested by the government and the municipal authorities why do you doubt that it will be carried out. out of the conduct of one of the other one did you only have an all agreements or did you see the papers saying you own the place . the papers are ready i'm told they invited us and we had an understanding we signed the papers and they will explain to us what will happen next. is

a local deputy was less optimistic he felt government p.r. campaigns have pulled the wool over people's eyes and those people who were suspicious of the work were simply afraid to speak out. because i think most of the people in georgia today are against the president and his men i hear is for many many people they'll say we don't like sack i feel his policies but we won't speak out because. we have families mothers fathers children and other relatives. john boehner and yet it is the owner and director general of trial at e.t.v. he can't be fired from his job he can't be prevented from inviting the opposition to take part in live broadcast for the company as a thorn in the side of the country's leaders in the autumn of two thousand and ten and then yet it was asked to sell it to a government controlled construction firm for six million dollars. all t.v.

company has already earned a reputation. and that's quite an asset in itself. i might have sold it if they hadn't told me i must leave the country and never come back. at noon three days later a police patrol stomped jondo while he was driving to a bank. i was stopped by a policeman demanded i produce my papers after the us they pulled me out of a hunk of to me and forced me to the ground then four more police cars turned up they punched and kicked me when passers by gathered on the scene the cops picked me up from the ground my clothes all had boot prints on them they cleaned me out. and wished me away to court. three hours later the judge slapped a three hundred dollar fine on john doe not yet is really for obstructing the

police for outdoor video cameras mounted on a nearby bank of the shop and recorded the moment when the director general of the prominent t.v. company was beaten up but the film was not filed or used in the case. that all of this pressure and complete monopoly of the media caused by sack ash really is absolutely unheard of seems some of the intimidation of the press is unprecedented i'm of the time and there is daily pressure on my employees associates and relatives to the seizure of a cash in transit vehicle belonging to my bank was totally against the law. but all of this woman told me back. for a billionaire the arrest of one cash fan is a drop in the ocean what is more important is the fact that several major georgian companies withdrew their account from his call to the bank within days there were

financial inspections in some of its branches. like most georgian intellectuals actress marina from the. theater has a vital stake in seeing code to banks continued prosperity. the bank funded research yours actors and directors at many theaters it also provided money for maintenance of the salaries paid to actors and other theater employees are not high enough to know no matter how high they may be the bank paid actors twice or three times as much. a protest in support of bank is underway in georgia thousands of people across the country have opened accounts in the bank branches they deposit whatever money they have georgian intellectuals hope that event will stand his ground and be able to continue financing scientists artists writers and

actors. was a long lived piece i doubt there we are free people who are afraid of that actress yasuaki tears philly found employment at the shotover severely theatre when she was twenty one years old she thinks of robert stuart a as a second father. he was the one who saw her talent and made her the lead actress. this. this theater has a history of celebrated directors. but the big question is who will be the next one . is actually if you have a splinter in your skin you need to pull it out if you don't want it to rot there are politics and the arts don't go together in this way is such a pressurized an artist's trying to control them is totally wrong. meanwhile

actors prefer the stage of one of george's oldest theaters but without an artistic director to guide them the international shakespeare society ranks robert stewart as london production of hamlet as one of the ten best productions in the past fifty years. after i lost my job at trinity at the judge in fisa and george and don says it's a shame quit that's what makes our country popular in the wild west as she is since my cherished hope is to see everything changed for the better. actors of the show taught us to valley theater still perform vintage plays in front of a full house every day. but at the same time a world renowned georgian director cannot work in his home country. store a can now only see his own productions as

a regular theatregoer rather than as its leading light.

the arab league is deciding the future of its expired observer mission in syria all amid calls for its extension to help quell the violence and criticism from the syrian opposition who for now want u.n. involvement. croatia is voting on whether the country should join the e.u. already sparking protests and violent clashes the blog continues to be shaken by. people in romania now rising up against their god. in other stories this week tensions around tehran's nuclear program stood by. pose an

embargo on iranian oil and the u.s. and building its warship presence in the region. and the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand the web censorship it will lead to the suspension of pending anti-piracy bill. but the headlines over this weekend off today this is the weekly with me rule received shy i will start with syria and it's where the arab league is now deciding if its team of monitors will continue its work to help settle the crisis there the month long mission expired this week but violence is still flaring up in the country in one of the latest outbreaks fourteen were killed when a police car transporting prisoners was ambushed in the north west. assess the

situation at another site which saw some of the fiercest battles between security forces and opposition groups. well the arab league delegation is in car at the moment presenting findings that despite the arab league this mission mandate having finished you can see they continue to travel around the country to look at what's going on been seen as further evidence by some people that this mission is to continue possibly for another month one of the observers i spoke to earlier off camera when i asked whether they would be staying here longer whether the mission would be extended he said it looked like it would be this is the area that you see the so-called free syrian army take control of and in the last few days a temporary ceasefire between the government forces and free syrian army sweeping into the city to see what's been happening. it's an area being

a divided one side you've got the government in control of. the free syrian army the arab league observers have been meeting some of the government officials here in downtown in the to try and establish exactly what it is that's been happening in the city where the children have been showing us the bullet casings that they found around the area at all the houses in this part you can see the destruction from the fighting this being getting our. fears imagine what it is that it was extremely concerning the people who are still living her to extremely dangerous situation it's not really clear who exactly is in charge she's being killing hate and that makes the situation very very dangerous and she makes most of the conflict in syria has been devastatingly high and absolutely essential for everyone right now is to find some kind of resolution that this is an end to the fight is. that money that is done here and. now the opposition syrian national council says it

plans to press the u.n. security council for intervention in the country ripped apart by on rast the council believes are oblique observers have been useless at ending the crisis and insists the foreign involvement is the only way out is on his maria financial reports there are doubts about the opposition leader's true motives. howlett ho jeff from the syrian national council the country's main official opposition body says making the people's voice louder and bring an end to the violence is what the essence he was created for our main goal is to help the syrian people there present them and their two national committee in order to reach this syrian people freedom although it's been run by paris based exile that hamdani in the absence he has been recognized as the country's lee determined government by the new libyan authorities and supported by some even

a nato countries which has made some doubt the council's innocent intentions with regards to libya the promise that nato made to the national transitional council perspective leaders was that they be given a major seat at the table in a new libya so there is power broking going on behind the scenes and i absolutely wager that the same thing is happening with syria they've either been bought off financially or they've been promised a major role in a new syrian regime libya's national transitional council and the syrian national council and it's not just their names they haven't come and supported and sponsored from abroad think he writes opposition forces and their major goal is to overthrow the regime but there is a difference to the absences huts courters are not in damascus but here in istanbul we are not talking about democratic regime if i go to syria we have. you know

we have to be executed there hallett says he spent fifteen years in jail in the one nine hundred seventy s. and eighty's just because his father supported the opposition he claims nothing has changed since then and the oppression has to stop but how is another matter claiming they're only going to rely on political and diplomatic pressure the asson see to is. now copper age in with the free syrian army fighters who have defected from the stars military in was a clear shift from the essences initial entirely known armed peaceful stance in the councils to seize humanitarian corridors and buffer zones as options to protect civilians in syria even though these might mean foreign troops arriving this is a lead thought is that all paris operation where the syrian national council is being used to activists and i just need to watch it because they don't want they want to destabilize syria because they want syria to be part of the day to at least

lead to label the opposition claims is just a matter of time before the joint efforts sooner or later it will force president assad out his attorneys to stay but the question remains exactly how long should these people have to wait for the bloodshed to stop and how many of them will actually see the end of it or if an ocean asti turkey. and out of libya where the ruling national transitional council has seen public fury in the city of benghazi the epicenter of last year's revolution against colonel gadhafi crowds storming the council's headquarters angry at the slow pace of democratic change protesters threw stones and metal bars at the building in the first act of violence against libya's interim leaders demonstrators when rallying for weeks in benghazi they accuse the leadership of lacking transparency and want to know how libya's assets are being used radio host and author stephen leatherman believes protests will continue

against the government the crowd see as puppets of the west. i think the government is taking orders from the government in washington and that's the way it's been all well and very. obedient war the real one will be seeing in washington using their proxies sitting in the big guys to tripoli where. it was all more rebel fighters they complained you know hearing aid privately they were treated properly . while i was with drugs are they the people were promised it would stay here and these people get any no say whatsoever everything is in secret you in d.c. get them in let's face it is out of it western illinois is serving western interests absolutely any no interest in ordinary libyans the tribes of libya a united in a resistance against nato it's the m.t.c.

government they want the country i expect retracted but i won't hear a degree anything can happen. with r.t. hand still ahead for you in the program yet another country trying to rise from revolution in egypt prepares for democracy as activists continue to call for more nationwide protests. and with less than fifty days or so ago we take a look at the current political climate here in russia just ahead of the presidential elections in march. now ten minutes past the hour here anger reaches boiling point in romania which soars worst of violence in years and the austerity protesters clashed with police for the second week running people have been demanding that the president and the government step down that's against a backdrop of wage cuts and tax increases in the e.u.'s second poorest country struggling to meet the demands of his international creditors his artie's tom

barton in bucharest. 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. in our youth has no future they have no jobs. mostly 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. they need to give us a fair pension and not tell us they're borrowing the money because they don't have it. or is not just here for herself her son left romania but it's illegal to try and find work young rumanians feel trapped and directing most of their anger at the president try and assess who protesters accuse him of trampling over democracy and presiding over

a political elite riddled with corruption. long steep descent down down with disaster parents left us with a heritage and we're leaving our children with just debt an international monetary fund loan in two thousand and nine came with tough conditions the remaining in government has tried to force its financial house into water budget and 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 they didn't even profited from it had to pay for those who had profited. the government blames international economic conditions however for the country's worst. let's not forget that we're in the eye of a storm of an economic european storm all around us unfortunately is

a mighty tempest with economic consequences that inevitably affect us to just not good enough said the opposition who argue of course that they could do better every day discourage inefficient government stays in power is a day lost for rumania or jews used to shorten the period as much as we can once 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. after. the foundation to build on. them there was terror to much of. the president about to have you here and you. want to tear it all down and start again. you're watching r.t.

live from moscow it is decision day in croatia there for people who are now were voting on a new accession of the outcome is hard to predict as recent surveys show the issue has split the country right down the middle on saturday police clashed with protesters attempting to call down an e.u. flag just ahead of the referendum if the result is a yes vote croatia will join the block by july next year but only if its membership is approved by all twenty seven states investment adviser patrick young says it is easy to understand those opposing the move because croats can see how their euro neighbors be facing have been facing excuse me some recent tough times. with key consideration here is that when we look at the croatian referendum there's been barely one. and he and the entire parliament actually be turning round of publicly saying anything against the e.u. itself so the fact that we have this amazing grind swell of support at something

like forty percent easing credible it demonstrates the fact that the political classes are completely and utterly touch with what the people are thinking and what the people are thinking is quite simple they've seen near big scene similar who are emerging european countries such as themselves people like slovakia slovenia is stony up all coming into the europe european union they join the euro zone and they find the worst choice in chalice imaginable because slovakia nurses pensioners are not getting paid a third of what they would get paid if they were working in greece and to add insult to injury they're actually paying money to the greeks in order to support their euro zone belike so they see neighboring countries such as hungary i mean the government of hungry for the past two weeks has been vilified by the european union i'm not going to get into the argument to find whether or not the prime minister is right or wrong there but certainly people get very very and feel very very uneasy about things that are being said that patrick young was talking there about e.u. pressure on hungary and on saturday crowds of more than one hundred thousand

protesters took to the streets of the capital budapest they were supporting their government which recently came under fire from the e.u. for passing what brussels considered to be anti democratic laws and also stall the bailout talks with the i.m.f. prompting threats of court action this week to hungary and prime minister back down in the well saying the legislation will be changed. but artist tom barton is in the region he's following the developments for us here at r.t. check out our twitter feed as well but also it is a personal one is there the latest on hungary's dispute with the e.u. as well as croatia as a referendum those latest updates online for you right now. europe and the u.s. have expressed their willingness to return to talks over iran over its controversial nuclear program but despite that the e.u. was seemingly still set to approve an embargo want to iranian oil france even says

the time to avoid military intervention is fast running out as with the u.s. this week it strengthened its presence in the region by sending a second aircraft carrier to the arabian sea is reportedly planning to sail through the strait of hormuz which iran has threatened to block in response to sanctions the strait is a strategic waterway which the majority of oil exports from the gulf to the west pass through brian becker from the antiwar coalition says washington is deliberately escalating the situation to create a pretext for regime change in iran. the united states government has created an artificial crisis that's first and foremost it's a manufactured crisis aronne is complying with the i.a.e.a. iran does not have a nuclear weapon iran is not threaten its neighbors iran has not started a war with any of its neighbors israel on the other hand has hundreds of nuclear weapons and unlike the iran i refused to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty

does not allow. inspectors into its country so there's not really a nuclear menace or a nuclear danger from iran so what is the cause what's the cause of the crisis of the artificial crisis the real goal is the united states government has embarked on a course of extreme economic aggression against iran with the hope that by creating economic suffering economic isolation economic misery that part of the population will rise up or become disenfranchised with the government so that the u.s. can do as it has in history carry out regime change. and iran was the main issue discussed by the american and israeli military when they met on friday the two allies are at odds over the need for a preemptive strike against iranian nuclear sites with washington not so rushed into an attack it was artie's paullus lire reports many in israel are still expecting a war at any moment we're.