parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have been vehemently rejected by the syrian government here so you could have played interference with the internal affairs really the sense here from damascus is that the government here are working on their own reforms they want the arab league mission to focus on their job of course the problem is you've got countries in the arab league like saudi arabia like qatar now seem to sense that they're reaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves don't have the most to see. brushes stances once again that this should be seeking resolution with alice for an intervention now i've actually spoken to the national coordinator council which is the opposition within the country they welcomed the maven again reiterated best felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention that they're very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because you still got observers on the ground it's expected that the mission is actually now going to continue

possibly for another month and pulled usually. of their powers and their numbers as well of course what you don't want to see happen now is that the arab league mission which is really the only route there remains a teacher seeing dialogue in the country to now have blocks put in its way so the question really is how to make the mission the observer mission more effective because as we've been witnessing in the past couple of weeks really at the moment in the country what you want to be thing is the sightedness and not further division. or civilization. or. going. to homes the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital now many damascus suburbs are also in brussels 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 staying 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 picking up the pieces pretty 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. think the syrian army having control not or it's. not. a lot of numbers a number of six weeks ago is in charge. of the coordination the diversion of the stuff arab league observers look 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 your sort of or you are indeed opposition you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side working with the other side the zone look instead of fighting with thousands kills bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be a major task sara for. damascus syria meanwhile the e.u. has imposed fresh travel bans and asset freezes on the syrian regime as punishment for the ongoing violence but a beirut a boast a political analyst dr martin a shopper says responsibility for the bloodshed should be shared by the syrian opposition as well and ultimately at the end of the day it's time to engage in dialogue. the opposition or what the so-called syrian free army or these are desert areas from the syrian army have been also using heavy gunfire against civilians they have been using explosives apparently they have been using and

armored. rockets and you know some weapons that cannot usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is president said also enjoys . popular support in city one cannot deny this not even the institute in qatar denied this when they did the research last month and they found that fifty five percent of the city and population opposed to down for didn't move for the president. it's time for dialogue. has tried. 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 it is of the interest of no one of 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. well egypt is one of the countries where people are now seeing the consequences of the democracy they fought so hard to achieve the newly elected parliament holds its first post revolution session many egyptians feel they've been betrayed by the muslim brotherhood and its march to a majority. this is on c e.u. nations have formally adopted an unprecedented set of sanctions against iran including a block wide embargo on iranian oil the move targets iran's nuclear program which the islamic republic insists is purely for peaceful purposes. and now reports for us from brussels. it's sensually a total oil embargo it will have immediate effect on new contracts but that existing contract will be allowed to run for another six months they've also agreed on a ban on the gold and gold trade and other precious metals with the iranian central

bank all of these of course aiming to financially and economically cripple iran over its controversial nuclear program with western leaders still insisting iran is trying to build nuclear weapons while terror ron denies this now the e.u. embargo follow strict new way u.s. sanctions that were passed into law by president obama in january so as far as the e.u. is concerned by july it will be a full and total implementation of these new sanctions this is unprecedented in terms of the scope and the desired a potential effect on iran but it is also one president in terms of its potential economic impact on the european union itself let's not forget the e.u. imports up to twenty percent of the ring in all its second biggest buyer and one of the twenty seven the biggest buyers within that are elite spain and greece the very same countries that are now struggling to deal with that sovereign debt crisis in greece in particular heavily dependent on the radio oil with up to one third of his total imports from iran also its relying on terror for easier credit terms so they

will definitely have to find alternatives for these countries these are what their leaders will have to talk about how to cushion the potential economic impacts on the several member states and of course because of all the uncertainty oil markets have already reacted pushing oil prices up and higher oil prices will just mean higher prices of goods. reporting that brussels meantime a senior iranian official has said that if you impose the. world oil trade it will go ahead with its threat so block the whole strait of hormuz oil transit route with. the independent news website the colbert report the threat is unlikely to be carried out. i think there is no doubt there is some provocation and some testing of the waters quite literally and figuratively going on right now and certainly with iran's recent threats to to block the strait of hormuz now we see the americans sending ships through there to sort of test the defenses so to speak so so i think there is definitely some cat and mouse going on right now and i think at

this point it is saber rattling and testing both sides testing to see how far the other is going to go and as i say at this point i would be extremely shocked to see iran actually pulling out the the option of of mining or otherwise blockading the strait of hormuz because that seems to me that that's that's pretty much the last part of their sleeves so i don't think they want to put it on the you know on the table too early oddly enough i think the further that iran is pushed into a corner here the war there their position will strengthen over time as they as they develop alternative routes for their for their oil exports if they for example increase their trading partnership with china or russia and india as we've seen in recent days they've been scrambling to establish exchanges in other currencies including their local currencies including even asking india to trade in japanese yen so we could see really a fundamental shift in the in the entire dynamic of this that is energy export economy that that's taking place right now and it could actually serve to to

benefit iran in the long run from getting them off of their dependence on the petro dollar ten minutes past the hour here in moscow this day and coming away her later in the program the twists and turns of. the electoral campaign intensifies the presidential hopeful lot of me and put him that once they get tough on every great . and e.u. entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the us wasn't as solid as expected with more than half of croats simply ignoring the national referendum the country will become the union's at twenty eight state by july next year but only after all the other members are ratify the croatia was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there's nothing to gain from a bloc currently experiencing its worst ever crisis as ati's tom barton reports the divisions are here to stay even after the yes vote.

violent scenes in the croatian capital that it's the country's referendum that said to. me. mr b. behind me the police going to the protesters away they take and protest is over a situation in many states in the creation capital and fighting has been going on well now. these anti protesters say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are joining with surrender croatia's independence to brussels. in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the croat to come to me to leave the stability that scout to lead it into the credit rating of creation. that is translated into membership of

the union gracious 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 question europhile stance public views differ widely. italians will come into or see and touch all their fish and. that's our biggest threat to. their absolute though they told us we have to obey the e.u. has regulations those that don't want to obey must stop trading they remember i seem to think i have two sons hire an employee and maybe because of that i would be prior to most of the sim was worth it although if they made worries about solvency local industry and economy it well being a former student and there are still some voices in parliament i think the benefits of what joining it were the costs we were not going with our heads high up were going in our knees because our economy our non-existing our exporting is pretty

bad our b b p is very low so we don't really have anything to offer you back out on the streets the arguments quality will not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum result the nation's division over european membership from bottoming out. from croatia about a romania weather still tension in that being one of the newest e.u. member states the country's foreign minister has been fired for criticizing the protesters angry at the government more than a week now people have been demanding the president and all of his ministers step down that's against the backdrop of wage cuts and tax increases and use a second poorest country which is struggling to meet the demands of its international creditors i do watch the reports sent in by ati's tom broughton who

is in the middle of recent violence then bucharest on our website at www dot com. with russia's presidential election just around the corner candidates are wrapping up their campaigns prime minister and hopeful run of lie to me putin is proposing strict immigration rules in his second major newspaper article in the run up to the vote he's put all of our points. but talking on multiculturalism a migration vladimir putin praised what he sees is russia's long history as a multicultural nation a history he says goes back to the days of the russian empire it said it have 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 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 a hit so to. see nationalism rising hit out at those who have slogans 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 touchy he's a 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 city hopes to be able to make significant cuts to the amount of people that are arriving in russia legally you know 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 become unsettled 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 put him. do you tackle the issue of migration and multiculturalism in russia. he's part of our reporting right there well as the march vote approach years old us here at our keeping a close eye on the campaign trail of course you can find more on that on our web site c dot com and pre-election scandals are flare up around one particular veteran liberal candidate he may be pushed out of the race due to violations in the registration process all those details that are dot com. the u.s. is also counting down to its own presidential election with the republicans going

through primaries to pick their candidates enormous amounts of money have already been spent backing the candidate that's coming up in about fifteen minutes a debate on the so-called super pacs which unlimited campaign spending but is mostly opposed by many americans. the stupid law says they can't coordinate with the super pac and now you're criticizing them for a hearing to the stupid law that you're insisting upon but they are coordinating that are going ours coordination rules coordinator already nearly to going to. do you believe for one second and that coordinating former staffers for a candidate and i have a problem with them coordinating because you posted a problem in coordinating i don't have a problem with them coordinating this is free speech. do you stay with us across talking about thirteen minutes from now the newly

elected parliament in egypt has started its first session and most of the seats are occupied by the muslim brotherhood and other islamist parties who want an overwhelming majority in the first post poll. maria from washington tells us many now feel the brotherhood lied in its march into the seats of power. there is a growing auction here in egypt told ruddy that with these with this new poll many changes will actually not be as dramatic as people in the revolution demonstrators protestors have expected them to be the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice party has indeed more on the first vote in post barak egypt mostly because it had voted had promised people all aid to how to support such an transitional transition from ministry to civil power something people have been calling for have been demonstrating for since the supreme council of the armed forces took power

from mubarak last february because to them they say that the ruling generals have been actually representing the old regime something they've been fighting against and something actually their revolution has been designed to gets rid of but over in today we have many signs indicating that the islam is in this new poll that the muslim brotherhood as well as solid business second talk to the war and they see a vote actually going most likely to cooperate with cough and that's why many people who have been able to speak to here in pa wrote saying they feel a little bit strange. if an option of there is tracking the latest developments in cairo you can check out all his twitter feed as well as maria's personal one for the latest on egypt's first parliamentary session and the growing frustration in the region as we can see here in one of the latest tweets she writes that demonstrators are calling for presidential elections in two months instead of waiting until june all those updates so they are online for you right now.

the leader of libya's national transitional council says the country could be heading right into a civil war that follows protests in the city of benghazi that resulted in the resignation of his deputy this past weekend enraged libyans took to the streets of a city which was the epicenter of opposition in the uprising against gadhafi demonstrators are now accusing the end to see a corruption a lack of reform and favoring form of government. meanwhile the i.c.c. has yet to agree where the trial of colonel gadhafi is captured son saif and we help. the president of the arab lawyers association told me just a bit earlier whether it's in libya or all the hague it's unlikely he'll ever get. the trial will be probably just as unfair as that would be held before the i.c.c. seat because the i.c.c. is

a highly politicized machinery which was created by the americans but then they decided that it is so politicized that they decided not to work with many countries not. following the i.c.c. is saying that he has no teeth and we think i think that it will not actually provide a proper forum for a trial neither do i think that. will get a fair trial in libya. ok before we get to marina with the business news check out some other international headlines for you in brief this hour time top of the found file sharing website mega upload him dot com will remain in police custody after a bail hearing today in new zealand prosecutors argued that dot com also goes by the name of kim a schmitz was a flight risk because he has multiple identities access to big money and

a history of criminal charges u.s. authorities want to extradite dot com claiming he made nearly two hundred million dollars by copying and sharing written material he has denied the charges. two more bodies have been recovered from the capsized costa concordia cruise ship just off italy's cars seventeen are still missing after the ship ran aground a week ago environmental fears continue to grow as a sudden shift in the vessel could rupture the ship's fuel tank there are about half a million gallons of heavy fuel and hundreds of tons of diesel oil still on board. all right as i promised arena and the business. hello and welcome to business here on i'd see we start of course for the e.u. which as we've been reporting has formally adopted an oil embargo against iran over its nuclear program now this involves in the media the ban on all new oil contracts

with the country but all existent contracts will be on the first of july energy saga just save us from the empire believes any you led sanctions against a middle eastern country will only lead to minor fluctuations in the oil price. the e.u. sanctions on the oh no i don't think that significant ram exports run about two point two million barrels a day of oil. goes to europe it's only represents run about one quarter over two to a sure so we don't expect. the impact of the e.u. sanctions. but the u.s. sanctions that might take effect in the end of this year. removing all of the rain you know sports two point two million barrels a day and i'm going to i think will have greater price impacts. or less like a look at what's happening with the oil prices light sweet in straining at close to

a hundred dollars per barrel all the price and blood is at around one hundred eleven dollars three if prices are heading much higher after the e.u. oil embargo against iran and. the u.s. markets just open then they're seen mild gains in the early trading the dow is now off point super science wall the nasdaq is almost point four percent and the time to check out what's happening in europe shares there are end up black as they marks off in their interest higher boosted by gains for banks and wall stocks but investors are still awaiting news from that including its. own here in russia the markets are now closed both the arts the ass and the wind sacks and of the trading session on the positive notes with the r.t.s. adding over one and a half percent let's take a look at the top movers on the my sites russia's the largest oil company overall stuff that covered from earlier losses and gains one and a half percent this burbank which was up early in the day there managed to escape

the negative territory i thought boy one percent said operator m.t.s. came around and that the day over one percent and that by michael stipe from i think it's over the days straight for us on the domestic side sentiment remains quite positive. by the high oil price without support potentially getting a further boost from news today that the e.u. has imposed an embargo on iran also we noted putin's popularity has risen substantially to highest levels in six months in the latest opinion polls and this substantially reduces the chances of a second round of presidential elections into some extent improves political visibility. crane now which has dropped its plans to cut imports of russian gas at least for the seer gas from c.e.o. alexei miller says the country has promised to follow the terms of the existence apply contract care of earlier claim that would haul forces starting from two

thousand and twelve as the price is too high moscow have are set that's against the terms of their contract which obliges ukraine to buy a fixed amount of gas every year the volume can only be changed if the parties sign the special agreements no later than six months before the year of supplies. as a success our for more stories you can always head so our websites are at sea dot com slash business by for doubt. coming to. the.

culture is that so much excitement which of course is put on a company's ability is the biggest and most expensive elections money can buy this is how many american see what i call political action committees or super pacs. feel. the loses it's to do some subsists to. the summit.

come up. with a. chance to be soo much brighter than if you knew about sums from finance to crash and. starts on t. dot com. it

is half past the hour here in the russian capital you're watching our time for you headlines now syria. the country requires president assad to step down damascus said the initiative was an interference in its internal affairs. syria's. president. iran which included a complete go on its own oil the move. of nuclear program. that

undermines diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis. make iran. votes in favor of joining the e.u. . but a low turnout of protests. show there are still deep divisions within the country. discuss political posturing and multimillion dollar. in the ongoing u.s. presidential campaigns crosstalk coming your way in just a moment.