russia refuses to back the. draft resolution on syria unless it's a clear military intervention and the. german chancellor arrives in china to secure support from its strategic economic partner in times of crisis and to try and get beijing on board the western policy on iran. the international community calls on israel to stop building. palestinians who live trying to stop what they call terrorism at the hands of israelis so.

it is so good if you to join us today this is live from moscow. russia says it will veto the latest u.n. security council resolution on syria unless the draft is changed while moscow admits that progress has been made yet to see a text that explicitly rules out military intervention russia is also reluctant to stop selling equipment to damascus saying that would leave syria. to recognize rebel forces with weapons smuggled from abroad artes and us to see a check and reports. russia says it won't accept even a hint of an embargo on arms embargo when it comes to syria and its reasoning for this is pretty simple it says firstly that the weapons an arms of that russia provides to syria cannot be used against demonstrators thus don't influence anything that goes on inside syria and when it comes to this conflict now secondly

russia says that it is only following its legal obligations it's following its international contracts with syria and it's not breaching any international laws at all and most importantly it says that the lessons of libya need to be large because when an arms embargo was put in place on libya what ended up happening was government forces were embargoed but the opposition groups continued to receive openly arms from abroad and this is something that they don't want to see in syria and russia says it's time for the west to stop pretending like armed groups don't exist over there. it would seem logical if there's a conflict let's not supply arms because we saw what happened in libya in an imperfect world this would have meant the following no weapons with the government the opposition pointis could get them from anywhere that's what that would mean especially now our security council colleagues refuse even to admit the presence of armed groups they will not condemn them. being supplied with weapons and we say ok

contracts a long standing relations with syria but they will start supplying even more to opposition groups they did in libya the arab and western backed regime change resolution calls for the. syrian president to step down if this does not happen within fifteen days further measures could take place and russia says no thanks we've seen this similar scenario in libya and this particular case moscow says what's important is for talks for syria to exercise its sovereignty for the opposition and the government to sit down together moscow has offered russia as the center stage for these negotiations but it's important to say that russia still. believes that a consensus can be found within the united nations security council it says that broad resolutions that are dangerous should not be put on the table that can split the council and really aggravate any sort of conflict and it continues to call for the importance of arab observers to our main working on the ground. and i thought

here chuck and i reporting that one of the u.s. as well as its european and arab allies are committed to pushing president assad from power but a political analyst benjamin a says forcing regime change is a bad idea that's already plunged to other countries and that's. the case of libya the case of yemen and a number of other countries egypt also suggest that you have to be careful what you wish for the west is rather uncritical the recent insurgency is a good thing only to find that insurgency often means anarchy fractionalization splintering various groups up against one and the triumph over time of forces that are no more welcome to the west than the one for the displaced nobody i think did what will happen if assad is overthrown were killed or steps down and no one really knows what the outcome is likely to be as the west is hoping it will be less supportive of hezbollah less supportive of iran and less support of abbas and that

could be the case no one really knows what it's going to look like so the fact is would you support insurgencies you're basically taking a very difficult bet on uncertainty. you with r t and still ahead for you this hour candidates versus their critics. when they ask me who's the president of the big baby stands and i'm going to say you know i don't know do you know find out why the comments of u.s. politicians could be costing american credibility on the international stage. plus iran heads back to talks with the u.n. but israel and america still want more military pressure piled on the islamic state and we've got those details just ahead for. german chancellor angela merkel has called on china the biggest buyer of iranian oil to use its influence to persuade taran to renounce its possible nuclear weapons ambitions

merkel is on her fifth visit to china where she's trying to change beijing stance on iran and get it to support a western resolution on syria also on the agenda seeking support for the eurozone merkel's to hold talks with chinese leaders to try and win vestment in the ailing euro professor simon shannon of the chinese university of hong kong believes that china needs an ally to counter the u.s. dominance. i think actually there are fewer reasons of archer to a lot of the china to assist in the euro debt rises but that's not the only reason you know is cooperating with the states to sanction iran and that is the live the german chancellor that wish to. the chinese that it should not make use of this of a surety to increase the oil imports from here and so that's the second agenda but then the only chunk out of germany as to convince china that she should not work

well with iran in exchange of germans foreign affairs support and china's than is some. support when it's dealing with the united states and there's a sense in china that there's an and self-command of china by the united states right now and there's three engines of the united states in asia pacific so our shannon is some balancing act. so easy this one of the many important matters that china wish to engage bret is over and so. well we always love it when you get involved with us here at odds here if you just go to our web site r.t. dot com you can give us your opinion on the possible results of chancellor merkel's visit with china becoming numbers from our web site so far this hour forty three percent think the visit will help germany get access to markets almost a third of it is believed beijing will extend a helping hand to a week in europe now sixteen percent say that china will move closer to the western

position on iran just a minority this hour i believe the meeting will end up with the chinese support for a u.n. security council resolution on syria to head over to r.t. dot com to cast your vote but for now let's head over to the business desk casey hello. i'm going to be talking about gold which is now advance to the highest level in eight weeks on the sign a commodity is forecast to continue climbing why join me in twenty minutes time for the business bulletin to find out if. i could see you then for now piecing that relations back together over a split atom the u.n. inspectors say they're on track to solving the deadlock over iran's nuclear program . monitors will head back to the country later this month after wrapping up three days of what they called positive and constructive talks in tehran but despite hopeful feedback from the u.n. a group of american lawmakers want washington to bully iran into submission

a top military official in u.s. ally israel even says that all possible means should be used to disrupt iran's nuclear program investigative journalist robert perry thinks the drums are beating simply for regime change. there's been almost a consensus not just in the united states in the intelligence community but even in some degree in israel that the iranians have not made the decision to move ahead to build a nuclear weapon obviously there's belief that they are developing expertise that can be used in the future for such a decision if they were to make one so. if iran is sincere about its lack of interest in a nuclear weapon and if the west is willing to show some more flexibility in terms of how they're willing to negotiate on this i think there could be some resolution many people in the west do want regime change in iran they would like to see the

removal of this islamic republic there's been a lot of propaganda in the last against iran but i do think that there is this there is an opportunity here for. for rand to make to achieve some openings but that may not be enough to satisfy many of its critics who would like to see real change in government. i know we have more news on iran on our website all. the power of the petro dollar but who profits most from the economic sanctions on iran and what payback is likely to follow the expert opinion firsthand about dot com. also one line fighting racism with digital tools learn how an international hacktivist group has dealt a blow to american and british white supremacists. goes easel the appetite for contemporary art grows as the leading option house has announced a rising property from sales with being the most lucrative. means

of protection can be used. in global supremacy. between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine u.s. has spent fifteen billion dollars in the prostate for the entire program that we are dealing with right now here in two thousand and eleven is another one hundred fifty billion dollars that's larger than many country's entire military budget all things because the best form.

wealthy british style. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike's cancer the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. this is all to you live from moscow blunders of u.s. politicians have inspired jokes and parodies for decades as the campaign for the two thousand and twelve election heats up candidates mistakes once again in the limelight but some of the critics are not laughing i thought it was more important i reports some believe the comments made sure nothing more than ignorance and disregard for world has. every four years america's top job is up for grabs. with each new election comes a new batch of candidates with compromising foreign policy credentials when they ask me who is the president of you beki beki beki beki stan stan i'm going to say you know i don't know you know i'm afraid that it's a very hard struggle particularly given the situation on the iraq pakistan border

you can actually see why russia from land here in alaska africa was a country on the brink on the brink of complete meltdown and chaos geographically illiterate us candidates have supplied comedians with and list material but all jokes aside some presidential hopefuls are vying. to lead the world's most powerful armed forces know very little about america's military interventions so you agree with president obama libya. libya. forming a cohesive sentence on geopolitics can be a struggle i do not agree with the way he did it for reasons. i. know that's that's a different one differentiating between friends and enemies it's also a challenge obviously got to stand with our north korean allies in the case of republican candidate mitt romney mixing up presidents and prime ministers can be

common i think that president bush represents a real threat to the. stability and peace of the world the overarching ignorance on international affairs has caused american political commentator bill maher to conclude i think anybody could be president in this dumb country ok sort of like at this point now where i think if you're gonna be it when you register to be a candidate you also have to go take a test about foreign affairs and if you fail the test we might get you one chance to take it again and then i'm saying sorry go run you know for city council in your little town in alaska if a country with the world's highest national g.d.p. is being represented by politicians with a deficit on international affairs the biggest consequence is likely to be america's credibility around the world and even who we target and let me finish

this i just get lost in a blizzard of words there this is where it gets really dangerous for united states of america it's like wait a minute how could they possibly be right about terrorism how could they be right about north korea going to be right about iran so-called nuclear program when their candidate doesn't even know that there's a north and south korea i think the us. why and so then the world has this very paranoid view of the united states because of the candidates not understanding basic facts or understanding basic principles of international law which unequivocally prohibit torture if i were president i would be willing to use waterboarding i think it was very. angry the consistent streak of foreign policy blunders made by u.s. presidential hopefuls is quite humorous but it can also be considered a national tragedy if most candidates campaigning to be leader of the so-called free world simply don't know enough about the world outside of america's borders.

r.t. new york our before we get to katie with the business here on r t let's go to the artsy world update some other global news in brief egypt's cabinet and parliament have called emergency meetings now after seventy four people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between rival football fans of the violence happened in the city of port after an upset victory by the home team of egypt's top club. found stormed onto the field as you can see here right as the game ended they were armed with sticks and stones and knives forty seven have been arrested so far in connection with the trouble troops deployed to the city hoping to prevent further classers officials fear the death toll could well rise further. american defense secretary leon panetta says the u.s. will seek to end its combat operations in afghanistan next year speaking at

a nato summit he said the country wants to switch to a role of supporting and training afghan forces the decade long presence of u.s. troops there was cost the us around six billion dollars a year seventeen hundred american troops and tens of thousands of local civilians have died since the two thousand and one invasion. pakistan's supreme court says it will charge the country's prime minister with contempt for not reopening an old corruption case against the president and the trial is set to start in just over a week and could see prime minister yousaf out of. jail for six months the court has long demanded a reopening of the corruption case against president asif ali zardari dating back to the late one nine hundred ninety s. but the government still refused but it is just the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office. the deep freeze and heavy snow has led to over one hundred deaths across eastern europe sixty three people have died in

ukraine alone that's where temperatures have plummeted to minus thirty degrees celsius in bosnia a rescue helicopter airlifted emergency food and evacuated dozens from snowball villages where the forecasters say the subzero temperatures should last until friday. well a stark message from the u.n. to israel stop building settlements on occupied palestinian territory and restart peace talks palestinians claim they're being terrorized by israeli settlers outnumbered and outgunned someone outearning tech savvy to defend themselves as artie's polis live reports. this footage is being filmed with nasa on a watch as camera he's the palestinian who's been pushed to the ground by an israeli soldier just moments earlier his friend took his camera and started filming . i think one of the worst of it over literally i know that it was me it.

was a little i was really. really seems like those happen almost weekly here in the hebron hills and across the palestinian territories for years they went unrecorded until an israeli human rights organization distributed cameras to nasser and dozens of other palestinians to capture glimpses of every day reality in an occupied zone the number one reason for settler attacks against palestinians and their property is the lack of law enforcement by israeli authorities this sends a clear message to violence settlers they will act with impunity you will not be made to pray to pay a price for their actions but more and more they are being called to book after footage like this has been made public the extremists often strike in the dead of night sitting fire to mosques and painting wars with the words place tag the term as a threat to israeli security forces of the heavy price will have to pay if they try

to break down settlements and. the goal is to take control of all the land and expel palestinians the settlers let loose wild animals on the agricultural land so they destroy the crops we've seen instances where something has run over palestinians with their cars and shoot at unarmed palestinians it's on the increase . guy batavia is an israeli activist who gave up his day job so he could volunteer full time to teach palestinians about the camera project he says it is think twice when they see a lens pointed in their direction although it didn't stop him recently from breaking his arm and beating him all over his body at a protest in support of a palestinian farmer whose land had been stolen by a settlement but we were about fifteen activists in. and the settlers in the wouldn't care about the cameras that actually came in it's one of the people that they were with. on the ground

there with their cameras there. all the cameras not only did israeli police do nothing while bones were broken and one second attempted to knife or protester but israeli activists say police beat several of them up what's more for the first time israeli women activists say there were sixty harassed and assaulted by both male and female israeli extremists but that hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of nasa and others to film what's going on and hold the israeli security forces and settlers accountable when the settlers see the cameras of course they don't do what they would usually do the cameras haven't stopped they've just changed the way the settlers attackers now they do it mostly at night when it's impossible to throw all the checkers from the side before they attack to see if we have cameras with us. the settlers are accused of carrying out violent attacks against random palestinian civilians damaging their property more recently however they're charged with

targeting israeli soldiers and police and facing the homes of left wing israeli activists israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has vowed to crack down on jewish extremism in the west bank but with his government supporting settlement expansion that promise means precious little to those on the receiving end of the violence policy r.t. tell of if they stay with us here katie is next with the business. thanks very much for and welcome to the business background struggle all is encouraging of russia's economy to grow faster than full cost however former finance minister alexey couldn't think it will be kept unless the government implements needed reforms. russia is not ready for a bounce in economic growth for the next three to five years we're lacking some legal states management and market conditions if the new government decides to improve these it still means

a transition period of three to five years then we could be ready for a bounce and a return to growth rate of six to seven percent. debt problems in the e.u. have spurred concerns over financial stability and a number of other economies including russia's around half of the country's turnover depends on your own states but the head of russia's biggest lender spare bank believes better times are around the corner. we see that europe is already in recession and it has an impact on russia we see that we currently have relatively low growth rates bush if european problems don't significantly worsen i would avoid saying that it would have any serious negative effects on russia we would likely have some modest growth which is a good sign in such a difficult time. global stock markets and how that best start to the year for almost two decades if there isn't an average of five point eight percent in january helped by signs of accelerating growth in the u.s. and improvements in the european debt problems corporate results have also mostly

been above expectations banks and miners have been the best performing sectors which shares up more than nine percent right now we're going to go to the markets and see what is happening the european indices are fallout after a solid performance there they are now in negative territory the greek government is still trying to come to deal with their creditors meanwhile their creditors are putting pressure on the e.c.b. to join the bond swap being negotiated and as you can see investors are understandably nervous about the whole thing there we go the footsies a quarter percent down that's just it down the russian markets are now mixed now we have it the r.t.s. is still lightly up and the my sex is slightly down moving on to the biggest movies on the my sex and financial stocks are among the main gainers bank has slightly retreated from gains but it is still in positive territory net profit reached ten

and a half billion dollars p.t.b. is gaining over. author of of the sun that and energy majors are also up with gas from our point three percent. we're going to now move on assume it's happening in the world of oil prices and as you can see very are mixed news that gasoline fell to a ten year low and they're now trading near the lowest level in six weeks and brant crude in london was at the biggest premium to new york prices in twelve weeks right now light sweet is a navy hard four percent down the brant is half a percent opposite is a mixed viewpoint now let's have a look at exchange rates the year has just also strength against the dollar in the last few hours meanwhile the ruble is appreciating against all odds it's now poised for its strongest close since october thirty first of the year old crude oil rushes main export blend rose to its highest prize in almost three months while the euro

remains high on. gold has advanced to its highest level in eight weeks struggle manufacturing countries like china and india is weakening the dollar boosting to alternative investments billion is now trading at over one thousand seven hundred fifty dollars an ounce and investors expect further growth on the economic uncertainty peter hambro from one of the largest gold miners in russia believes it will reach two thousand dollars this year. there is so much on certain good but financial uncertainty in europe there's a need to stimulate the american economy which is being done in effect by printing money political instability in syria and iran the only way out of these issues is for money that we know the dollar the euro to be devalued against real assets and people have learnt about this as a as

a trick performed problem by their governments and so they want to protect themselves and gold is indeed wealth insurance people are physically buying small bars and gold as wealth insurance to stop the suffering of the hounds of massive devaluation of money probably some somewhere around somewhere around two thousand average for the two thousand and twelve. they have it gold i love a bit of cold myself now fifty five minutes i'll be back markets and more business news to me that.

the closer team has been to the hub arabs creature from the country's middle wealth starts its way across the ocean. now our team goes to the area. was named after lenin good looking to a different character to represent itself. for local businesses are striving to build the aviation capital of russia. for the four by fours are made and can be tested to the limit. welcome to the union of creatures. russia close up on our. live mission free cretaceous and free transport chargers free. range means free live free stereotype free.