the hold of the very center of the nation's capital government forces have been locked in intense fighting desperately holding on to suburbs surrounding damascus the latest spike in violence came just a day after the arab league froze is observer mission artie's sara furthur now has details from syria. this is considered one of the way back to points between the fifty beds and the suburbs people areas like harassed and i believe that have been the seeds of this fighting over the weekend along with a number of other suburbs as government forces have moved to retake control of areas that afforded to rebel forces people here in the city who waking up yesterday morning sounds of gunfire and shelling from many of these areas the images a scoop rising from some of these suburbs and tanks rolling into the street and scenes that were described as urban warfare the extreme we concerning this comes on the back of the arab league monitoring mission paul saying it's the second mission

here for the time being they haven't really think so cover from the decision earlier last week that the goal statement is to be withdrawn the arab league and now taking their proposal for a political transition to the u.n. the light that it seems to have made in the interest of the government have really been trying to quell the uprising that's occurring so close to the sensor now the government has been taking but they're fighting arms forces of course you do have these beliefs now as the uprisings continued we've seen is called they think bigger the closer to the front is need be able to seem to manage to bring this to the president to start this thursday extremely concerning since it's missions being hosted to see the escalation in violence too close to the capital. obvious or fourth reporting right there when i still have few in the program here on r.t. just over

a month before russia's presidential vote by minutes of one of the putin penned this is a pre-election article painting himself as the presidential candidate for widespread economic reform. plus something more than a decade of conflict in afghanistan at the time about the need us home. process building talks and yet the two sides remain rather far apart on one issue. iran has vowed to halt oil exports to some e.u. countries for up to fifteen years despite its parliament postponing a debate on a complete bound of supplies to europe it would be in retaliation to the e.u. imposed embargo on iranian oil due to come into effect that open this summer russia's foreign minister says tehran's threat shows how unilateral sanctions can often backfire. russia's firmly held the opinion that in most cases sanctions are not only effective but also counterproductive for

the current situation yet again confirms the old war to every action there is an equal reaction to iran's announcement was made in response to the european union's decision to ban the purchasing of uranium oil by even member states. meanwhile iran's nuclear program which is the target of e.u. sanctions is being scrutinized by u.n. inspectors i.a.e.a. officials are in terror on on a three day mission which iran hopes will prove its atomic have visions of peaceful but some experts suggest western states only want to see a report that justifies a military buildup in the region. made up of the sectors they don't necessarily control politically but i think what the united states what else is some kind of well state. you know which they use is balanced on a balanced way to to to leave it to the late stage and i think what we are

witnessing here is is a build up because of military calls for it's a shame we have the mass of the flavors of u.s. military hardware troops going into israel to be stationed in israel also going to the weight. you know naval. naval forces in the. ocean goals there's no real i would describe as why then szell wall the issue of nuclear weapons. or rather is that their weapons is a red herring but it is a red herring which could lead to a well of use that are you. know later in the program here and we explore why exactly some u.s. politicians are banging the drums for war louder and louder. and how it calls to attack iran become calls to attack the american president himself all to protect

the interests of a different country. iran for its part seems confident it can withstand the building international pressure the country's interior minister believe sanctions will end up hitting the countries who imposed them not tyrone he's the exclusive interview with r.t. coming up next hour another quick preview. i think. i believe they've made a big mistake as this action results in turbulence for the oil and energy markets this very fact it can result in oil price growth in these conditions the west student spec the drop in the euro rate and the euro market this new decision will result in further economic problems which as we can see have affected them already and so far they've been unable to find solutions the decisions taken today by the west unilaterally will result in the installation of the economic problems.

he is coming to you live from moscow after surveying the damage from saturday's occupy protests in oakland california the mayor wants to kick activists out of the city the latest rally ended with riot police firing tear gas and flash bombs meanwhile in washington the national park service has given activists and told today to remove all camping material from through occupy camps the demonstrators are peaceful protest in response sara flounders from the international action center believes the occupy movement continues to attract followers. it's very much achieving its goals in terms of waking up the youth in the us waking up working people in the us to the reality the reality that poor and working people are losing more and more and that one percent actually one thousand some one percent is gaining a normal new wealth so that there are very successful in drawing attention to that

again and again the media tries to bait this occupy movement as being violent to the violence has come from the police and a broken piece of glass is not the broken heads that the police are inflicting on the occupy movement and that movement is very determined to continue and to find new tactics. well accusations of excessive force by police in the united states have been well documented since the occupy movement began now more than five months ago and there's proof of it on our website r.t. dot com for example in washington a seemingly innocent protester corralled by police and tasered as dozens of you guys look on this video and many many more all of our you tube channel you tube dot com slash artsy.

these are the images. from the streets of. giant corporations rule the day. now just turning ten minutes past the hour here in moscow e.u. leaders are gathering for their first summit of two thousand and twelve with a sense of deja of greece still being the center of discussion and the pressure is still on athens to overhaul its economy for the german finance minister warning it won't receive a second financial lifeline if it doesn't. now joins us live from brussels with more testing hello it seems like leaders are going to be talking about the the same old things time and time again i mean i hate to say my doom and gloom here but perhaps our high hopes not exactly being pinned on this summit. well that's right florian but first just to to let you know what they're officially supposed to talk about they're supposed to talk more about the fiscal compact they had agreed upon

at the last summit as well as push for the european stability mechanism which is the permanent bailout fund they will put in place now in june instead of july these are the official informal topics but as you mentioned earlier greece is still hanging over their heads especially since there have been war of words between greece and germany with the german so calling for moving taxing and spending power over to brussels and the german finance minister saying that the europeans are willing to support greece as long as greece actually implements these decisions instead of just talking about it well the greeks had responded to that with a lot of that still to be saying that this is definitely out of the question especially since it's a matter of national sovereignty and one former minister who's now the greek education minister had actually called it quote unquote a product of a sick imagination so you can you can tell that the greeks are definitely upset with the german suggestion now why did the german suggested this is because of that ongoing talks between the greeks and their creditors it's still dragging it's been

stalling for some time now the greeks need to strike a deal with the private sector and their creditors asking the banks for example to write down some of the greek back to take some losses about fifty to sixty percent of losses and this is in order for greece to get a second tranche of its bailout which it needs to pay some debts in march because if they don't they will technically default so we have again very intertwined issues that they it's very hard not to talk about it so it is expected that the leaders will have to touch upon this now as the e.u. leaders are getting ready for the summit belgium where this is happening in brussels it's on a general strike we've got a lot of walking and cycling today because all the metros down no buses and one of the airports is also closed the unions are protesting against the government cutting their benefits slashing retirement age and also raising the retirement age rather so they're complaining that the workers are bearing the brunt of prices are not getting here at all right all of these are live in brussels thank you.

the pre-election promises coming thick and fast here in russia less than five weeks before the presidential poll prime minister and presidential hopeful a lot of input and outline his program to reform the country's economy and that's cheering his third pre-election article you've got a risk of course this article has already been deemed by many analysts is a whole list of liberal reforms proposed by the prime minister on the economy first of all. says he wants to see the role of the state and of state monopolies reduced for example gas from which has quite an influence on russia's business life secondly the fight against corruption especially in the sphere of high level kickbacks during state orders and purchases more attention is needed to be paid there as well now another major problem for the economy according to the prime minister is

a dependency on natural resources which has to be reduced as well and says that if these issues would be dealt with successfully it should improve the investment climate in the country and increase the economies competitiveness against other international players there is also another point worth mentioning from that article and that is the idea to propose tax we should concern v.a.p. real estate and other a luxury purchase is an issue which has been and is still being discussed in russian society for quite some time now. do you go to piss going to reporting right there well if you can do stay with us here our business bulletin coming your way in a few minutes with katie i will have more detailed analysis of lot of my putin's proposals and i do remember that you can always find more news and a comment and analysis on our web site dot com let's see what's waiting for you right now secrets on british intelligence has been ordered to d.

classify all documents related to x. f.s.b. officer alexander litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning in london five years to be discovered more online plus. the biggest unmanned drone in the world has crashed and exploded in israel this happening during a test flight to discover the cause of the accident about. quarter past the hour here in moscow historic talks between the u.s. and the taliban have reportedly begun in qatar pakistan who had previously tried to block the talks is now let taliban leaders pass safely through its territory the two sides are said to be discussing trust building measures including

a possible transfer of prisoners from guantanamo bay however the taliban has refused washington's demand for a cease fire before it releases five taliban inmates nori from the think tank new will strategies coalition tells us here at r.t. the peace talks show that a military solution is now impossible for the united states. they thought the taliban could be defeated in doubt only the talks could go on in without the top up and atomic bombs were regarded as the terrorists and overnight taliban are good people and and this has long for ten years and the fact that if there is going to go for another ten decades this there will be no military solution to afghanistan we need a think tank in knowing this soviet era invasion of afghanistan that there was no military solution whatsoever and we knew all along that

the only solution for afghanistan would be political and dad too has a bumpy road in there have some high walls to climb. oh it's all about her nine minutes here is the business with katie for now though let's check out some other international news in the r.t. world out there let's start with nigeria where the book of how to armed terrorist organization is suspected of attacking a police station in the northern city of kano a gunman opened fire and threw explosives killing two civilians in the us sold over the weekend the organization distributed leaflets around the city warning residents of more attacks on security services ten days ago carried out multiple blasts in qana which left almost two hundred people dead. a pakistani doctor is waiting to see whether he'll be put on trial for assisting the u.s. in its raid on osama bin laden's compound dr shock he'll afridi helped the cia

collect d.n.a. samples from residents in a plot about to check if the al qaeda leader was there last week u.s. defense secretary leon panetta publicly acknowledged the doctor provided key data ahead of the operation. a car pileup on a florida highway has left ten people dead and at least a dozen others were good authorities are trying to find out what triggered the horrific crash witnesses say drivers were blinded by fog and smoke from a fire that may have been started intentionally at least a dozen cars and six trucks were. all right now back to the growing international pressure on iran america's behavior towards the islamic republic is often seen as the most threatening but it may not just be about iran's nuclear ambitions its rhetoric has intensified noticeably over the course of the current u.s. presidential race and it's on his marina portnoy explains some politicians are putting political points and the support of the jewish community far ahead of the

u.s. national interests. america almost never misses an opportunity to praise its ally ironclad commitment and i mean ironclad to israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history both point a proverbial punch at its greatest adversary but there be no doubt america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon and i will take no options off the table ok however for many american jews and israeli supporters barack obama's war of words against tehran doesn't go far enough some of the simply state i'm committed to israel security you have to promote policies that commit you show that you're serious about his security israel through these actions feels that obama is not committed to doing everything this power to stop iran from having nuclear weapons iran is

a this is an existential threat to israel and obama should be saying. so publicly that he will support israel in whatever military action they stay necessary more inclined is president of the zionist organization of america he says an unprecedented amount of american jews and israelis share his animosity a feeling arguably underscored by the israeli government according to published reports tell of eve would only give washington twelve hours notice if deciding to strike iran i believe his policies are among the most hostile israel's ever experienced of any president in my lifetime recently it was the life of president obama being threatened in a column written by the owner of the atlanta jewish times in an article titled what would you do andrew adler listed the assassination of obama as one way to ensure israel's security he wrote in part give the go ahead for u.s. based massada agents to take out

a president deemed unfriendly to israel. in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the united states' policy includes helping the jewish state obliterate its enemies i think that the threat made to obama. or we are going to either politically or literally i think that it. takes seriously the american president and while money in the. congress. is the largest market lobbying group in the united states it is the kingmaker in the king breaker the american israel public affairs committee known as a pac declined artie's requests for an interview meanwhile obama finds himself facing another election and a slew of republican opponents banging on much louder war drum against iran with regards to iran which perhaps represents the greatest exist central threat to

israel we have to make it abundantly clear it is unacceptable that i take those that word carefully is unacceptable for iran to become a nuclear nation if rick santorum and when rick santorum is president iran will not get a nuclear weapon because the world as we know it will be no more clear i want to have israel very close to that. i would have said publicly that i would rather plan a joint operation conventionally than push the israelis to a point where the nuclear. at a time when the u.s. bears the burden of a broken economy growing social unrest and ongoing military conflicts starting a war with iran would not be in america's best interest but in order to keep a best friend many believe president obama will be forced to put israel's national security first marine up or nile r.t. new york. all right a reminder of the headlines with me of all research i just a few minutes away that will be off to katie and the press.

hello to you welcome to the business program this hour as i just been hearing that i'm a putin has outlined the changes he thinks needs to be made to the russian economy peace and recognizes the need to diversify away from raw materials reduce state control of business and improve the investment climate checker off capital believes the country needs to act now to avoid future budget problems they'll be strong market economics and political economy incentives for put in should he return as a president to be much more reform oriented and much more proactive in introducing and implementing this kind of reforms this is an idea that we've been trying to advance your address and scrap metal russia is already running to significant fiscal deficits based on our estimates in two three years' time russia will start driving current account deficits these deficits will need to be filing somehow

therefore it is really it will be imperative for direction economy to change and i think of putting understands that i think that he would like to ensure that russia's image as an investment destination is changed a little bit and i think there are enough incentives for us to assume that you might be a little bit more broad reform oriented in his term as a president of course if he if he wins their elections and his article putin writes the russian economy needs a new wave of industrialization and industrial holdings should be created to boost competitiveness the chairman of russian's institute for contemporary development says for this to work russia first needs to reform trade unions. unions at the moment. as it was in the soviet union so. democratically elected trade unions civic society industrial

employers and the state coming together. attacking the situation as a brainstorm save session liberalization and revolution in regulation cutting down the red tape to a bare minimum. ok then let's have a look at the markets and we'll get started with oil traders just ahead of the european union summit in brussels later on monday even tensions with iran are failing to boost prices a wrong step before ministers say crude could reach one hundred fifty dollars a barrel if an e.u. ball go comes into force in july this hour the w.c. eyes over ninety nine dollars a barrel range that one hundred eleven dollars per barrel. under the act is the european bourses all failing to withstand the pressure ahead of the e.u. meeting greece will be in the spotlight as all the members of the eurozone try to

force it to accept outside controls on its budget this hour both the footsie and the dots are shedding around point eight percent chance here in moscow the markets are also down in sympathy with those global indices lower all is adding to the pressure as well the artist is down more than seven percent in the my states is losing just over a third of a percent and now let's move on to the biggest movers on the my sex post financials are in the red bank losing i represent energy majors are bouncing back from earlier losses we've got from gaming over forty two percent the stock our retail of magnate is down is net profit rose twenty four percent last year better than expected and now the currency rights are all prices are weighing on the ruble is losing against both the dollar on the year right on the euro is retreating against the u.s. currency ahead of that european summit set up there. and now a business all to exclusive like that of pascoe the owner of the world's biggest

producer or sell one of russia's richest men but first also the year could be tough for business he sees commodity prices remaining stable with growth only coming in the second half. we don't expect you know in a significant improvement the next six months you know we're. not in the very bullish but optimistic for the second for those a year but it's a moment come up just market you know is quite stable in general course we can have it. in the positive transformation in the improvement in the. slowdown in the euro but in general in state. speak about all the rest a business performance on the expense concern about upcoming political changes in russia the time king is getting ready for a transition period federal institution snow government so agencies you know

always you know in the deal is a problem and not just in case it's happened and we have a transition period before government will be in effect just maybe from the oldest and it's important because we have ongoing reform of our sector we still have ongoing process of adjusting our russian situation there's a new w. your son regulation from foreign trade in the europe european demand in the car and see in the price in the in the parity in others busier and of course in the center back. and you can see that interview with all like that if i ask it in full all websites altie dot com for what. i was not small on the web site as well muscle from. get to the website and in the meantime see back after she five minutes with all markets.

now five thirty pm here in moscow this is your headline international observers in syria killing time in the hotels there awaiting further instruction from the arab league as fierce fighting continues around the capital meanwhile russia off to host talks between the syrian government and the opposition but. taking up that offer.

iran wants it could stop supplying oil to some. nuclear program she's currently undergoing. despite the iranian parliament suspending its debate on a complete ban of crude imports to the whole european. and e.u. leaders meet in brussels for the first time this year but the agenda is far from new with greek debt still the center of discussion at the meeting is taking place against the symbolic backdrop of austerity protests and a general strike in belgium. stay with us if you can and up next we take you beyond the arctic circle to a tiny village that now has to withstand a relentless sandstorms which mysteriously first appeared about half a century ago the special report tries to solve the riddle right here on out.