arab league they've also called on president bashar al assad delegate power to his vice president and form a national unity government with the opposition they've also called for international support by preparing their case for the u.n. security council and it's the extra push many people here in syria have been calling for. to protect. to homs the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital now many damascus suburbs are also embroiled in the conflicts between government forces and the armed opposition. well this is all that's left of many of the houses now inside just absolutely gutted it's broken glass you've got bullet holes lining the walls you've got clothes strewn around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see here the devastating consequences that this conflict has hurt the picking up the pieces way easy amongst the opposition themselves there are

a worrying divisions and as the conflicts become increasingly violent there are now areas of the country where it's unclear exactly he's in control what do the people here in south of the image i think the syrian army have in control or it's. not for there are. a lot of number of huge number of secrets of your heart of who's in charge inside the. courtroom isha the coordination the diversion of the stuff arab league observers nic set to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party elections even seen by the international community although you are sort of where you are into your position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side working with the other side is there a group instead of fighting with thousands killed bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be

a major task sara for. the mask is syria now that abuses from both the syrian regime and the opposition have been acknowledged at the arab league it's the best time to turn to dialogue so says breyer a baseball at all analysts dr amarna shopping. the opposition or what the so-called syrian army or these are desert is from the syrian army have been also using heavy gunfire against civilians they have been using explosives apparently they have been using the armored. rockets and you know some weapons that can also usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is president said also enjoys. popular support and said you know one cannot deny this not even the institute denied this when they did the research last month and they found that fifty five percent of the city and population oppose the downfall

or didn't move for president. it's time for dialogue as. somebody formed some democratic reforms there is a constitutional council now in syria trying to rewrite the constitution there will be elections in the coming months there are some of the forums i think that the opposition shows face because of the interest of no one no one's interests that need to or steps in they would be destruction and they would be chaos as was the case in libya. and just a little later in the program we'll look at how many are beginning to feel like their revolt was simply a mirage. its most turbulent anti-government protests since the fall of one with the rest beginning just as it did last year. the sanctions keep piling up on iran to you mr is have reportedly come to an agreement to apply

president to block wide ban on arena while you're obsessed little before the common good out will make tehran rethink its nuclear program which israel and its ally see as a threat or spotted just brings us more on a dangerous these sanctions could pose. foreign ministers of the twenty seven member states of the european union are meeting today and one of the most important issues on the table out of the sanctions on iran it is expected that they will pass president targeting the oil and financial sectors this will be the toughest to date and it's of course over the controversial nuclear program. long insisted that iran is on a dangerous path towards acquiring nuclear weapons has consistently denied this these talks on the back of twenty seven nations having to deal with a sovereign debt crisis for almost two years now there are countries like france for instance who really want to see. possible in a couple of months. of about twelve

months so today they're expected to give the detail on the timeline somewhere between the three months that will satisfy all of the member states now the embargo will follow. passed into law by president obama in january and collectively all these sanctions are fully implemented you will see about two point six million barrels of oil taken off of international markets which is of course the markets into a very. up and on the other hand the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton says that she expects to pressure iran to back to the negotiation table so again today we're expecting to see details on the timeline of the implementation of. several more names of companies individuals financial institutions those a list of sanctions but any decision that they come to today has to be unanimous.

qureshi a is set to become the twenty eighth country to join the european union after the proposal was approved and a national referendum the country's accession now has to be ratified by all current member nations with almost all ballots counted two thirds of voters expressed a desire to join the blog despite the ongoing debt crisis the turnout however at just forty four percent and pointed to apathy among many towards the issue the build up to the referendum was marred by clashes and to e.u. protesters staged demonstrations right up to the vote as artist hallmark before its opposition to joining the european union as are likely to end here. violent scenes in the croatian capital it is the country's the referendum that setting. all this to be behind me the police turn to the protesters away as they take and see protest his way six ways from him it's

a tense here in the creation capital and fighting has been going believe well now police are going to take people away in fans in protest is trying to stop the character that you. don't. like three. you'll hear. these anti protests to say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are joining would surrender croatia's independence to brussels is a very good that will put in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people to session is vital for the current economy to leave the stability that scouting laid it into the credit rating of creation. that is translated into membership of the union critias budgets would be in serious trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u.

is being discussed whereas most. of the political class no longer the question the europhiles stance public views differ widely should tell you as we come into or see and touch all our fish and that's our biggest threat to. their affiliates though they told us we have to obey the e.u. has regulations those that don't want to obey must top trade it will be because those of us here who are small family business in the european union kitchens everything toward big shopping centers some in my that is but they are not for the fish here in memphis you know we have two sons turn employed and mainly because of that i would be prior to being raped or most of the symbols were you know they are legitimate worries about sovereignty local industry and economic well being a former state and there are still some voices in parliament that think the benefits of what joining it were the case that we were not going with our heads high up we're going on our knees because our economy. non-existing our

exporting is pretty bad our b.b.b. is very low so we don't really have anything to offer. even at the local fair to the subjects croatia's relationship all over it but those on the stage on to the future scottish or they draw the poke fun at why it's irritating most all for example on facebook it's just broke old for you and it's getting a bit absurd because there's no real quality to debate stretch the truth back out on the streets the arguments quality not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum will result the nation's division of the european and. top bottom. telecom in the program abandoning helmed base. citizens. benton harbor are living from

one day to them that there's very little effort on the part of the whirlpool that runs everything to try to. involve the community the. giant corporations thrive on government funds and outsource labor asshole in communities fall apart around them. rushes policy on migration has come under scrutiny from its prime minister and presidential hopeful watermen putin in a second major newspaper article as part of his election campaign put and set out his position on a range of key challenges are all over now reports. well talking on multiculturalism a migration vladimir putin praised what he sees as russia's long history as a multicultural nation a history he says goes back to the days of the russian empire it said it has been some very serious problems though when it comes to migration and integration of migrants in russia that these problems over the last twenty years since the

collapse of the soviet union were very serious indeed in our problems that russia is still struggling to to deal with today speaking about what the results can be of migration going wrong he warned of the rise of nationalism the rise of xenophobia these type of issues that we saw acted out in real life eight in moscow in two thousand and ten with ethnic clashes taking place i'm right next to the kremlin in the heart of the russian capital he hit out at the. scene nationalism right he hit out at those who have the slogan such as stop feeding and stop funding the caucuses saying well the caucuses are a part of russia talking of multiculturalism he said that russia had a very unique system of multiculturalism something very different to say what happens in europe where he said basically multiculturalism had failed and that russia system was something. very different over to me and said that there's no way that you can completely get rid of all illegal immigration into russia but if he's

elected president in the elections in march that he hopes to be able to to make significant cuts to the amount of people that are arriving in russia illegally now he wants to do this by toughening the malls to try and deter people from entering the country illegally he also wants to see a system put in place not just to monitor foreign immigrants coming into russia but also to monitor internal migrants also by twenty thirty he wants to see an exam put in place to come and settled and live and work in russia but they have to be able to pass the russian language exam also an exam on russian culture russian history so those are the things that he wants to do. place to talk about the issue of migration and multiculturalism in russia. meanwhile the presidential race in the u.s. is also picking up pace and is now the primary stage enormous amounts of money have already been spent on backing the candidates coming up at eleven thirty am g.m.t. a heated debate on the so-called super pacs which allow for unlimited campaign

spending but are opposed by more and more americans. don't read laws is that they can't coordinate with the super pac and you're criticizing them for it here into this stupid law that you're insisting the party but they are coordinating that's our boy ours coordination rules our coordination rules or any review is going to. see if you believe for one second and they're coordinating former staffers from canada and i have a problem with them coordinating with you posted a problem coordinating i don't have a problem with them coordinating this is free speech. the leader of libya's national transitional council must stop. the country could be on the brink of civil war follows a weekend off political turmoil with he's definitely resigning over this is spent six high ranking council delegates from benghazi it's the latest sign of discord in

the country's interim leadership and comes amid a rising tide of discontent among libyans right swept through benghazi at the weekend as thousands took to the streets of the city where the answer could out the uprising began protesters accuse the m.d.c. of corruption being slow in bringing in reform and favoring former government loyalists there's also criticism from analysts that the council's may go is to secure a western oil interests rather than to establish democracy. mission in libya for example who's not in the country maybe already had a little bit to go but in all of north africa where libya does have is the mines. largest world global oil reserve and the top or oil reserve in africa that is what the national transitional council are being supported for in order that they should promote western oil companies western financial interests in libya and the people will just have to be rolled out but people have already been killed a little veritable genocide has taken place as we've seen in iraq so in

a way the same pattern is repeated over and over again we are there's a double standard they say that they are promoting democracy but what they are basically doing is promoting the financial and political interests of the global power elite embedded inside the united states britain the european union and israel . a spokesman for british civilians for peace in libya subconscious don says the national transitional council is failing to unite the country the gadhafi regime could control the whole of libya could find peace amongst all the tribes the new regime cannot even control something in one town or one area i mean they turn libya into a war and of the hunting of black skins they have they're selling off their oil and natural resources and sovereignty to nato and now the thieves that is the rebels they're all falling out with each other so really this is the chief of freedom and democracy by nato it's all become very clear people of syria and the people of lebanon and the people of the global south have to see what's happening in libya is

coming to them if they're not able to defend themselves and stop this ruling western aggression against other countries in the global south. there's plenty more for you on our website r.t. dot com including the latest news and comment as well as any stories you've missed so here's some of what's there for you right now. and during the dragon extravagant parades and spectacular fireworks of the world joins china and celebrating the lunar new year. and risking death to provide a lifeline the story of a palestinian tunnel digger whose work helps support his family on the flow of vital supplies into gaza in defiance of the israeli blockade. one solution to joblessness in the u.s. is a scheme were a giant corporations creative work places for local communities and they are even

had a government money to that end but somehow jobs still get outsourced to a cheaper foreign workforce and as marina working on our reports this allows big businesses to prosper while small towns suffer. in one of america's most economically depressed cities resides the world's largest producer of home appliances whirlpool corp is headquartered in benton harbor michigan where sixty percent are unemployed ninety percent live in poverty and per capita income is roughly ten thousand dollars the citizens of benton harbor are living from one day to the next they're very poor and they're very disheartened i mean there's been very little effort on the part of whirlpool that runs everything to try to. involve the community in two thousand and nine whirlpool received a nineteen point three million dollars grant from the federal government in part to

create jobs and i think our u.s. workforce certainly. that three workforce if you will is a is the best among the world so we're very confident in the future of u.s. manufacturing for our kind of products one year later the corporation received nearly twenty million dollars from the state of michigan to expand its facility which now serves as a gateway into benton harbor it's good for the community good for the state and good for your business as well there's a real art to that but as the u.s. based corporation has grown globally. last three more jobs have been outsourced to countries demanding less wages today the former blue collar community of benton harbor remains a victim of america's deindustrialization and growing poor population pool has seventy one thousand employees around the globe but no longer manufactures home products in its hometown it still remains a recipient of u.s.

state and federal stimulus funding. whirlpool just closed the factory and that hurt my business my little bit. in this i lost a lot of clients this is their home base and it always has been and in the beginning of the large development they promised us that they would always be due to the recession of corporate but he meant of home appliances hasn't paid us income tax since two thousand and eight by two thousand and ten nearly ninety nine percent of benton harbor residents were receiving food stamps while the approximately eighteen billion dollars in annual sales. that think of purchased my last whirlpool appliance i don't even think i'll call for repair because too often and for too long those that have gotten rich has forgotten who's helped them to get

there and they're willing to step on us in that just doesn't sit we'll with my soul a soul living in one of america's poorest cities clothed in poverty and accessorized in corporate success arena porton. now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world the newly elected problem and in egypt has started its first session the majority of the seats are occupied by the muslim brotherhood and other islamic parties who won an overwhelming majority in the first post mubarak parliamentary poll the brotherhood says it's going to cooperate with the country's ruling military council despite repeated calls from activists that power should be handed over to the civilian government. yemen's president ali abdullah saleh has left the country after giving a farewell speech where you apologize for mistakes during his thirty three year long route planning to have medical treatment in the u.s. this comes a day after a parliament approved immunity from prosecution for

a solid part of the deal under which he would relinquish power solid has become the latest leader to be toppled by the wave of arab spring uprisings. and in just a few minutes we explore the stunning scenery of southern russia in the caucasus nature reserve but before that we'll take a look what's happened in the world of business with karina. thank you marina hello and welcome to our business this hour as we've been reporting the european union is about to pull the plug on oil deliveries from iran according to sources in brussels an agreement on the oil embargo has been reached in principle the sanctions are part of the plan to stop iran developing its alleged nuclear weapons program iran has contracted by threatening to block a major shipping corridor for oil now let's have a look at what effect these jitters are having on the market anticipating the oil from iran crude prices are slowly heading higher but still makes in today's trade

light sweet is struggling to take all while brant is adding a dollar per barrel directly and she has a higher lead by banking stocks investors are waiting for the e.u. finance ministers decision on the terms of a greek debt restructuring deal they're ready to accept the footsie is adding a point three percent of the dax is losing over over a quarter of a percent here in russia the markets. in the markets have lost their previous games and are trading in the red at the r.t.s. is losing point three percent the my xix is point seven percent down and here are the top movers on the line six russia's largest oil company has slipped into the red despite strong the oil prices bank is losing almost half a percent after rising one percent at the start of the session and the lender has completed acquisition of the dollars investment back and mobile operator m.t.s. is around thirty percent of the way. european leaders are meeting on monday to discuss a long term plan to tackle the region's debt crisis say it's the massive debt write

down for greece that could put yourself back on its feet beat a western for amounts on believe that the markets have already priced in the jitters and are likely to. well everybody's going to await a sort of decision or some some kind of agreement between greece and its creditors that's going to be the key event as to some of that it was last week. again what we saw last week was that any delay negative news didn't really impact the markets i think we are in a very positive backdrop for russia in general we do have low valuation we do have the under-performance of russia if people are adding to risk the emerging market should do well and in that context russia should be having possibly more support in other markets. and finally we're looking at gold the precious metal is trading at one thousand six hundred and seventy dollars per ounce up point twenty four percent on monday it has already gained more than six percent since the beginning of the

year and our business allies which made me think a looks at the prospects for the precious metal. is gold on track to become the investment choice of the year now with sovereign debt problems still looming in europe it could be just the right thing the precious metal has seen their remarkable performance over the past decades take a look at the graphic since two thousand and one the trend has been perfectly positive the peak price was reached last year when gold hits nineteen hundred and twenty dollars an ounce but then we saw a nosedive of twenty percent and just a few sessions as the u.s. credit rating was downgraded a lack of liquidity deflated the bullion bubble somewhat since banks desperately required cash they sold whatever they could and it's at that point that the tables turned for the metal and from a safe haven asset gold shifted into risk appetite choices going in correlation not with t. bills but shares nevertheless gold still gained eleven percent last year take

a look at that nosedive that we saw in september last year here it is but the trend is changing we are seeing gold already gaining more than six percent since the beginning of the year it's outstripping most assets and we did see a slight drop during the previous week when jobless claims in the us came in with a decline now why are we seeing gold on the up over here is it going to continue climbing there's a number of factors to bear in mind which makes it quite likely we've got the debt crisis in the e.u. we've got instability in currencies we've got rising demand from china and the upcoming wedding season in india when families offer gold as a traditional gift to the newlyweds if there's no quick resolution to the euro problems and it doesn't seem like there's one on the horizon yet we may just see new heights with a precious metal even maybe close to two thousand dollars an ounce some day. and that's all that business is for this hour stay with us for headline news coming up right after this. good to. see.

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markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to gaza reports. welcome back here with our three years old at the top stories and new to do list for the syrian leadership the arab league demands the creation of a national unity government and steps up calls for president assad to step down something the regime has allegedly rejected. come to an agreement on a total of over reigning oil a move that could backfire on the blogs own fragile economy. grey shops to join the european union after a national referendum marked by clashes polarized opinion and

a disappointing turnout. russia's policy on internal migration falls into the focus of pm and presidential run are why we are potent as he present another set of plans as part of his election program. now can only be reached by helicopter above the study sea area of the caucuses nature reserve in southern russia is definitely worth seeing with your own eyes if you take a tour of your own right now our special report here in our. southern russia. he did away in the mountains this faraway place can only be reached by helicopter.