when we got there we were met by the free syrian army he would now have control of the area and they showed us around they took us into the center there was absolutely massive anti-government demonstration going on there's a funeral procession going on at the same time as well so we were able to speak to the people who were living in this area to speak to some of the free syrian army members as well because of course very little is known about who exactly these people are really have made it very very clear to us just how divided the country is now becoming whilst we were that there was sort of a moment of confusion we did hear gunshots in the background some of the crowd got nervous and started running which point we we were all sort of told to it was ever safer to leave and we then left that area a very tense situation certainly a very dangerous situation for the civilians in this area as well you gave these suburbs you can see bullet holes in the walls it's not really clarence so much of

the country now who exactly has control of the fact that this is now happening in a suburb just fifteen minutes will say from the city center here in damascus where he goes to show you just how much the situation here is now deteriorating for russia has made its decision extremely clear that they're not going to back the western resolution last it doesn't rule out the sanctions the military intervention they've put their own proposal forward and eve had this sort of back and forth with neither sides really being able to come to some form of agreement i mean the big sticking point here really is the military intervention because so many different factions in the country it is even more still here in the country very very hard to really understand who exactly is in charge where he was the voice of the people because this is a originally a peaceful protest movement you've now got increasingly armed opposition groups and there's reports today that saudi arabia that could have said that they're going to be backing up. mission of providing funding and arms as well and the last thing

that anyone wants to see here at the moment is that this conflicts that become even more even more violent because the daily death toll is just devastatingly high at the moment talking to the people in this suburb today they were extremely emotional you know the people here in this country have lost all sense of safety all sense of security. those are two sarah further reporting from syria shelters a blog that are too dark problems for posting the way to stop dates and pictures as well you can check it out to learn more about everyday life in the suburbs of damascus also on our website we've caught up with the only foreign journalist permanently living in syria has revealed how mainstream media coverage maybe distorting what really going on behind the scenes all that much more for you at our to dot com. now libya's new government is being accused of torture and abuse in detention centers and the song. suspending its mission in misrata saying it's

repeatedly treating patients for injuries sustained during interrogation with thousands of gadhafi loyalists still behind bars it's raising questions about the people nato how we're going to power as our reports doctors without borders known for going do their job in the most dangerous and notorious places around the globe but in n.t. see. the group has encountered a formidable obstacle they couldn't overcome burns from electric shocks and cigarettes heavy bruising and renal failure all the evidence of the continued prisoners say the doctors and now after two inmates died from beatings the international group has stopped its mission in protest. patients were brought to us in the middle of interrogation for medical care in order to make them fit for further interrogation this is an acceptable our rule is to provide medical care to

war casualties and sick detainees not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions the news comes amidst rising anger with libya's interim government demonstrations in benghazi last week ended with the resignation of a high ranking member of the m.t.c. in the former gadhafi stronghold of bani walid locals pushed out their transitional council forces claiming systematic abuse it started with the very beginning of the rebellion very beginning of the insurrection the second day of the rebellion on eighteenth of february the african migrants were rounded up locked in a detention center and burnt to death and the n.p.c. expressed their support for this time and this is part of the strategy of the west you know divide and rule and that was given the green light for the torture and execution that we're seeing now so this is a clear recipe for civil war meanwhile the nato operation that brought the m.t.c. to power is by itself raising question it's. a high

profile international team of human rights activists has been to leave here to investigate some of make sure that it bears entity of where with their evolution in the fronds and there were guiding the air raids and they elected them and court have been making them if you are mandated. protectively view that. it is very very accurate in a way that i myself saw the killing of so many people in front of more my eyes are so the killing of fifty one people in front of my eyes being dissed was fifteen years old and while all sides and the libyan conflict are to blame for violence and violations the human rights activists claim not all of them have been held responsible for their wrongdoings investigating what happened during libya's seven

months civil war and the nato campaign to protect civilians this fact the mission discovered again crimes against humanity but the goal was not to judge but to shed light on what happened and not to repeat the mistakes in recent united nations report has reviewed that up to eight thousand supporters have been held by militia groups in libya right now and with numerous occasions of torture and revenge killings throughout the country hopes of a new beginning for libya are fading quickly. r.t. . there are further fall and there's further fall that i should say from the notorious international online piracy pact that's being signed around europe france i mean has quit calling the uk to deal a charade in poland thousands marched in protest and even m.p.'s down the anonymous hacker groups masks so their contempt like they are sensitive reports from.

down with censorship the ends i counter a few trade agreement known as act which poland signed on thursday has upset many internet users across the country in the small town of lupul in alone several thousand people hit the streets fearing the treaty would allow corporations to crackdown on the freedom of speech online the idea of funding. for publishing the. material was. somehow illogical to me it's like punishing the corporation that produces knifes for. being used to kill somebody that will be used to our internet activity i believe that talking through the internet email. for self-expression this was yet another rally in a whole string of protests held in poland since tuesday large crowds in several cities voiced their anger at the government for signing the document most of the

country's government websites were hijacked by the anonymous group they had threatened to reveal sensitive information about the authorities should they go ahead with the act there are certain countries which are very interested in. this is this is a former this is job. and because de. jong businesses. are corporate and they want to enforce it all over the world but this doesn't mean that this is good for the people and this is why would we have this protest in poland because people feel old. praised by that essentially actor is about protecting intellectual property from music and books to pharmaceuticals and clothes similar in form to the stalled u.s. bill sopa and people that also sparked widespread protests however critics say actor was engineered in complete secrecy bypassing government procedures and the criminal punishment it allows alerted many in the legislation must be founded in

the public opinion of what's right and wrong when you have a copyright industry that's talking about extraditing a person who has done nothing but linking to t.v. shows extradition does something useful murder and genocide does this is such an abuse of power. think it's time is more than ripe for a serious review of what we want with copyright law and it's certainly not calling out just terrorists. if you doubt this will happen given that prime minister's party holds a majority say the government says the woman is not a threat to freedom but maintains the internet should not be a space of legal. but protesters say they will bring even more people to war so central square on friday to stop it becoming law in the space of just three days

protests and phone have managed to gather tens of thousands of people and wow this is still little chance that this bill would not make it through parliament the rallies unlikely to die down let's see reports in from poland. now despite widespread opposition from the public and politicians the bill is still expected to go to a vote at the e.u. parliament whose web sites were taken temporarily taken down by hackers in protest mosque a from britain's pirate party says efforts to stop politicians adopting the deal must be kept up. under the name of dealing with copyright infringement it's actually going to mean that there's going to be an arms an acceptable level of surveillance on all of our internet connections essentially what this agreement does is it turns your internet service provider into a kind of police officer and that's really one of the problems of the changes that

agreement brings about it breaks copyright infringement a criminal offense which is in fact entirely new move the universe and states is continuing to push its own agenda this is been negotiated in secret behind closed doors it's time for the citizens of europe had a true voice in addressing this draconian and unnecessary agreement and we'll see more protests like we've seen in poland this this agreement affects everyone because it's about food page and sing of seeds it's about drugs it's about your health it's also about our shared culture it's time that we stand we stand up and hold our politicians to account. a few minutes from now here in our to the euro goes under financial forensics in switzerland. the house and have nots gather in the swiss alps at the davos world economic forum to try to sort out the highs and

lows of the global economy deeply in trouble and the future of the euro zone will have more coming up. iran could cut off its oil supplies to europe as early as next three can iranian m.p. signaled when they could flick the switch with parliament preparing to debate it on sunday it's agree on the e.u. embargoed set to start in july which is designed for to force to run into talks over its nuclear work arounds are greeted these said in recent weeks that it's ready to do just that but the u.s. first once iran to prove its atomic program is peaceful your nuclear inspectors are due there in the coming days sure it should be from the campaign against sanctions and military intervention in the wrong things europe and the u.s. aren't really interested in talking. the grace period that the vision for six months for does go to take place may actually not be that graceful so iran is taking matters into his own hands and the other issue is that it shows

the complex feeling in the midst of politics and the power that the iranian parliament holds and that is accountable to its people and it's not going to just sit back and watch what's going to happen to the nationals. the wrong the nuclear issues really an excuse for deepening the confrontation between iran and the list actually as the same time that is imposing does involve those on the wrong if you see that some european countries are selling more often to the countries to the arab countries off the persian gulf so they are benefiting from this is iran the phobia of ishtar creating in the region so why solve the problem with negotiations by some countries are cashing in by deepening the conflict already. and while washington and its allies keep their options open over iran opposition against more war is getting stronger by the day by many americans people in the state of virginia have even issued a resolution to stop washington rolling out the military get it down that's going

to change you can discover it's falling on deaf ears. while the obama administration says war with iran is still on the table and washington hawks come up with even harsher statements we should brace iranian regime i think within a year the majority of americans may says that their opposition to more wars which is reflected in all recent polls is being ignored in washington residents of charlottesville in virginia took the matter to their city council which passed the resolution calling on the federal government to and all its wars and avoid starting a new one with iran the biggest threat right now is that we will get jackknifed into a war against iran which would be a disaster for the people of iran and for the people of charlottesville and the rest of our country david swanson is the co-author of the resolution adopted by the charlottesville city council. popular will as always been against

wars unless pushed in dragged by very manipulative propaganda and they have been trying those who want war on iran have been trying unsuccessfully for years to get the american people on board i went out on the street to see how many people i would meet who want the u.s. to attack iran. do you think the u.s. should attack iran no no not at all the last thing we should do though it's a terrible idea one of the worst ideas i think i have heard a while yeah that would be horrible yeah because they're good guys but because. i think another war is just a horrific idea but look on the republican side you've got certain ones over that now who want to give just can't wait to get us in war it really doesn't look good at all. do you think the u.s. should attack iran yes just one out of more than a dozen interviews and it's not just people on the street but many experts in the security field warn against starting a war with iran including the former acting director of the cia people keep saying

that the military option this is still on the table i think it would be a very bad option but the latter one to use one of the big problems with iran is that if you get into. an open confrontation a military confrontation your risk a cycle of retaliation and response. with great difficulty seeing where the end point is the question one may ask is how does washington continue talking wars with so many americans against them i have a hard time thinking of any example of any issue on which the conduct of our government in washington corresponds with majority opinion war is not some kind of exception the public is against bailouts for bankers the public is against subsidies for energy companies the public is against wars the public is against just about every decision made on important issues in washington the fact of the matter is that majority of americans don't want any new wars on their plate poll

showed they were opposed to u.s. involvement in libya as well but the government went about it anyway many says that the rift between what americans want and what leaders do in the name of the american people is getting larger i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. . we continue to keep an eye on developments around iran and the world other flashpoints at r.t. dot com many other stories there too here's what's on my way past as political playing field be alack some boss for putin's claims of parliamentary violations while the sort lists is announced as who is running for president people all the developments in the politics section of our t.v. dot com. and nature given our way and night to remember sit back and enjoy the show with one of the most spectacular northern lights displays in a long time it's on our team's new tab for you right now. but the

delegates and our votes have got their money on the table today as the world economic forum assesses the dollar the euro and the woman struggling eurozone and the future of heavily indebted greece is inevitably on the cards with cautious optimism and criticism alike are does are less or isn't davus. we heard from a number. of ministers and also from vice president economic and monetary affairs for the european commission we heard them all speak today in a panel and strike an optimistic note that they believe that things will be resolved now many people would disagree with that but as far as the people on stage . and was confident that the greek bondholders will come to an agreement on greek debt write downs and haircuts this week and that's kind of what made the major headlines and also believing that the fiscal compact the tighter fiscal compact for the eurozone will come together and a meeting on monday and that would impose of course fines for people that are

countries rather break the deficit and debt ceiling rules we saw today that spain their unemployment rate came out a seventeen year high of twenty two point five percent the finance minister from spain says that this is the biggest issue facing the spanish economy and we know spain is one of the largest economies in europe also a lot of disagreement over euro zone solutions we've seen george soros we've seen david cameron we've seen some finance ministers to timothy geithner say a larger fire wall is needed basically saying more bailout funds need to be committed from angela merkel's remarks we heard earlier this week she was trying to convince people that europe would be fine without pledging more money timothy geitner we did hear from today the u.s. treasury secretary i thought was pretty interesting he said that the two biggest issues facing the u.s. economy that will determine its outcome are what happens in the euro zone and whether or not the u.s. congress can agree on some short term solutions for the u.s. economy i thought this was quite interesting because although yes the eurozone economy very much weighs on the united states i've heard from

a tie an economist for example that year and the u.s. they're much more pessimistic about europe and maybe part of that is coming from the fact that it is an easy scapegoat for u.s. politicians to say oh what's going on in the u.s. is dependent on europe when in reality the u.s. has some major problems of its own a major debt overhang both private and pup. the fed has been very active in trying to restate the economy but unaffected unaffected does bar high unemployment more than sixteen percent for people that either don't have work or want more work you know these are some real issues that the euro zone has nothing to do it and a congress that is bitterly divided in an election year is not likely to pass much so some real concerns that are being addressed here. it's twenty two minutes past the hour a look at some other world news for you a block. of session outside baghdad killing at least thirty two people and wounding sixty five the explosion struck as mourners gathered to bury a person killed a day earlier there have been more than two hundred deaths since the beginning of the year with increasing sectarian attacks since american troops left in december.

the firm that owns the capsized cruise ship off italy's coast is offering passengers fourteen thousand dollars each in compensation it also promises to refund medical and transport expenses the cost of the holiday sixteen people are confirmed dead well over a dozen remain missing the ship ran aground off tall skinny two weeks ago with more than four thousand people on board. sixteen kilos of cocaine have been seized at the un's headquarters in new york it turned up last week marked with a fake u.n. insignia and came from mexico the global body insists neither it nor its staff were the intended recipients is thought to have been a bungled attempt by traffickers to get drugs into the u.s. . one of the most notorious terrorist in russia's north caucasus has been killed in a counter terror operation in the republic of korea to mondale moved a lot of was behind a market bombing in cars in september twenty ten which killed nineteen people who

live with the head of the largest terrorist network in the republic as well as one of the leaders of the international terror group because two other gunmen were also killed in the shootout which lasted several hours an explosive device an arms cache and a suicide belt were found in the building where the terrorists were hiding. now in a few minutes crosstalk debate why did the libyan militias who overthrew colonel gadhafi won't obey their new leaders but first let's check the business with the meeting. thanks honey so the devil seek anomic form is displaying signs of a split personality this year the likes of the i.m.f. david cameron george soros are all warning of potential catastrophe as well on the other side a number of heavyweight industrialists who think much of the rescue work has been done among them is under a course in the head of russia's second largest bank. but

there is a practical discussions on for example the introduction of new regulations for. banks and financial sector. with the where they are on their of course it will take maybe two to three years to implement it but at least there's not just a general debate some very practical things which now being discussed though there's still debate on the future of europe. a lot has been at a lot of discussions already happened between the politicians and it looks now the common solution in a much closer that was one or two years ago this fight global economic uncertainty russia's largest lenders burbank achieved strong results in twenty eleven his deputy chairman says the financial performance is probably made it one of the world's top ten banks in the cost to income ratio burbank is now strongly counting

on overseas expansion plans to make five percent profit abroad within three years. told r.t. about the bank's expansion strategy. yes we launched offices in germany china and india last year but the most important thing is that we agreed to buy the eastern european volks bank international we're going to close the deal on the fifteenth of february and start operating in eight european countries we're also interested in polish in turkish markets it's hard to talk about the new deal so far but we see great opportunities for acquisitions. so you're going to be a market service but will do it just a second the sale of a state. may take place this year deputy chairman of russia's central baghdad says the government is counting on the price of around one hundred rubles around three dollars a share the state is mind you selling a seven point six percent stake in the land and i was promised to the markets crude

is heading for a week again in three on signs economic recovery in the u.s. may be taking place the international monetary fund warns of a twenty to thirty percent oil price spike if the radio exports are disrupted brant is under eleven and a half dollars per barrel lights we just heard dollars. now moving on to stocks in the u.s. they are mixed with the dow jones down around half a percent after the latest g.d.p. figures came out worse than expected in the final three months of twenty eleven g.d.p. in the u.s. group two point eight percent when it was expected that three percent growth would be shared and that the nasdaq is up by just a notch. and europe investors slightly depressed too with the g.d.p. stats that just came out in the us c. is down three quarters of a percent the dax point two percent mining stocks and energy stocks are weighing on in the city as b.p. shares on losing around one point seven percent this hour. this is the closing

picture for rush hour negative now for friday the audience is down point four percent so was the my sex but overall the week was very strong with the r.t.s. up four point seven percent but my. one was sent at the end of friday sessions burbank one of the few gave a half a percent on the my sex gasp all down one percent and still make i am emma k. is down one point four percent with a market unimpressed with a seven percent production increase and twenty. the market was generally pretty flat after quite a strong day yesterday the market in general is up about two and a half percent this week from monday almost and say four and a half percent in the last two weeks things look pretty healthy of the moment underneath the general strengthening the market is some security asian people. investors appear to be selling no oil and gas names and are buying more of banking

names with names like a spare bank and also in particular or even second tier banks all right finally let's take a look at currencies add the ruble is slightly lower to the dollar bet weakening global demand for risk and some profit taking you had of the week you had the russian car seat is gaining like shuster knowledge versus the euro on the global market the euro in the year and the u.s. dollar pretty much the same. so the business news for now we will be back next hour with an update to join me if you can.

the issue is that so much of an old huge music issue on the market libyan intervention like in the specter of civil war libya's transitional way from the darfur regime is proving far more problematic. at seven thirty pm mosque out time these are the top stories on r.t. we've obtained exclusive footage of syrian opposition fighters have taken control of a town just outside damascus that's as the un's due for a closed door talks in a few hours on a resolution which backs arab league calls to get president also to go. libya's new leaders raise accusations of torture as doctors without borders pull out of

a key city saying the same patients keep returning but with new interrogation injuries it's raising key questions among human rights groups about the people nato helped bring to power. and the public politicians and hackers lash out against an international online piracy pact a french m.e.p. has quit over acto while rallies continue in poland stop the secretive deal hitting regular internet users. now peter the valen has cross-talk gas debate what's in store for the new libya. six.