behind the scenes between britain and get down to the police have launched a criminal investigation to see just how far up the tree complicity may have gone on to get to the. right we just want to check in on our top story this hour those talks between russia's foreign minister and the syrian president in that mosque damascus we're joined again on the line it by our correspondent who's been following the talks in the capital you gore tell us exactly what came out of this meeting what did the foreign minister have to say about the results. or the media. or you know if there. was there i mean. we seem to have lost. a very bad connection there with damascus once again very sorry about that. but what we're going to move on to some other news this hour

even ron has dismissed fresh u.s. sanctions calling them part of a psychological war on monday bronc obama ordered new penalties that involves freezing assets linked to the iranian government and stopping all transactions with the country's central bank tehran claims its economy won't be harmed by the sanctions but some experts say the measures are really in place to meet more domestic objectives. in terms of threats coming from the u.s. specially this distance is sanctions against iran central bank i think that they're mostly. directed for domestic consumption in the united states as we get closer to the presidential elections in the u.s. we see that each side trying to see as being more as being tougher views of iran and this is another move by president obama to satisfy either is

rivals or supporters of his campaign it's sad to see that the u.s. is undermining the work that. fantastic work that the i.a.e.a. is doing with iran and iran itself is trying very hard to keep the environment professional in the face of the recent assassination of iranian scientists really it was a big blow to the relationship between iran and the. now after decades of drilling russian scientists in the arctic have discovered a rare piece of nature and ancient lake buried thousands of feet under the ice or to sean thomas toward the frozen continent exactly or year ago and now explains what this discovery could mean. research base in antarctica it is the coldest place on earth and the deepest drilling location on the continent the main research was to drill the great your eyes as deep as possible to get these tiny bubbles of air before brazil for about. four hundred thousand years at

a certain point researchers made a new discovery lake vostok team of russian scientists have drilled more than two miles into the ice and have reached the surface of the subglacial lake itself excited about the possibility of discovering life while the drilling project is exciting for scientists and promising in terms of finding a new life form here on earth there are some who say the project should continue in fact they say it could even be humans there were some worries that we will bring up some microbes that are really harmful. to human beings which is from the biological point of view it is some kind of the harsh conditions that make the working of vostok difficult now scientists have a limited window of opportunity to conduct their research for the season. we have nonessential so if this is the coldest. that's minus eighty nine celsius at the end

of february beginning of march temperatures begin to drop drop drop from these temps just the planes can't fly anymore that is it. now that the drilling task is complete the race is on to find the new discovery of ancient life on our planet in antarctica sean thomas r.t. . all right just one more time before we wrap up this hour i want to check in on our top story our correspondent you gorp is in damascus where foreign minister lavrov has just finished talks with syrian president bashar al gore i hope you can hear me bring us up to date what came out of and we last to make an all right. well let's take a look at what we have online for you at least this hour you can explore all of the stories we cover in depth including what's happening in syria and we've got much more in store for you there as well at r.t. dot com take a look at how occupy the classroom is coming up a new course set to examine the worldwide protest movement is kicking off in

a us university. and toy taboo iran's government banned simpson dolls from the country shops following it all out war with barbie to discover their crimes click on to our teeth dot com. it's twenty three minutes past the hour let's take a look at some other stories from around the world for you the president of the top of the sheet has resigned amid a police mutiny following weeks of popular protests the crisis drew to a head when authorities ordered security officers to remove the barriers between government and opposition supporters protesting close to each other the leader had earlier come under fire for arresting the chief of the criminal court accusing him of being loyal to the country's former president she needs to have to power in two

thousand and eight pledging to bring more democracy to the island state. a factory in eastern pakistan has collapsed after gas cylinders exploded in the building rescue workers are struggling to reach dozens of people trapped under the debris a day after the incident the number of dead currently stands at eighteen though there are reports that rescuers have already pulled several survivors of rubble authorities say the factory was built eagerly it was closed down three times but i'm also only reopened. the british authorities are working to deport the radical islamist preacher who could top the one labeled some of the. to europe becomes a day after you k. tribe you know ruled the cleric should be released on bail after more than six years in custody last month the european court of human rights blocked his deportation to jordan where he faces terror charges. probably back with the house by and more in our top story at half past the hour but before that let's get the

latest business daniel's here. into business in a surprising move for the russian stock market v.t. bank may compensate its minority shareholders for losses on their investments from mr vladimir putin says the bank will use its own profits to buy back shares from people who took part in its i.p.o. five years ago called price of d.t.b. shares is roughly half of its initial listing the plans estimated to cost up to half a billion dollars while investors await the details to be revealed richard haynesworth from rating agency risk rating says they could be a more efficient way to solve the problem. if the shareholder is unhappy with the performance of the manager of his company you fire the manager of the company and bring in new ones the share price has gone down the shareholders do not like what's happening and therefore that they have been selling out the

government doesn't like the effect that's had on minority shareholders so as a majority shareholder the government should really sack the management of the tb and put teen new managers who will increase the share price. the markets know exchange rates for strong oil is pushing the ruble higher to the dollar and the euro the euro's also losing value against the greenback with uncertainty about the debt crisis continuing to hurt the currency onto oil and brant is holding above one hundred sixteen dollars a barrel this hour u.s. crude futures reached a six month high oil monday as the cold weather boosted heating demand. european markets origen lower this hour as greek officials meet to discuss a tough new bailout plan miners are also weighing on the markets of the glencore and dextrose and else they merge xstrata dropped over two percent on the news. of

the r.t.s. is in positive territory following earlier losses. the mind six me more remains lower for second day and some movies on the my six now on tuesday eric carey aeroflot is low is passenger traffic rose by a quarter last year it announced it to be bank is also down as investors await details of its recently announced buyback and precious metals producer polis gold is among the main loses this hour has posted strong results but the shares a correcting of the making a forty percent gain in the last few days. russian government may introduce new measures to support local coal makers bypassing w t o rules the industry ministry has suggested introducing a special fee for imported cars and those assembled in russia the proceeds will be spent on recycling core components surcharge would provide some compensation for the lowering of import duties on used foreign cars. that's the business the headlines are next here on r.t. .

the food.

there are thirty breaking news this hour the russian foreign minister says syria's leader is committed to ending violence in the country and is ready to negotiate with all political sides sergey lavrov who's held talks with bashar al assad in damascus also said both countries agree the arab league should continue and expand its mission in syria. and other news the greeks are back on the streets of athens protesting against massive new job because demonstrators have clashed with police to use tear gas to disperse crowds that's of the country's coalition government

struggles to agree on more all sturdy measures to appease e.u. creditors and secure a vital second bailout. and iran plum slams new u.s. sanctions targeting to ron's nuclear program calling them part of a psychological war brought obama earlier ordered fresh penalties that involve freezing ukrainian outfit and stopping all transactions with the country's central bank. but russia's presidential election gets closer we talk to opposition politician that led to mir calls about last saturday's mass rally that's in spotlight. hello again oh welcome to. the show. i'm.

a month before the presidential election russia has faced the first major opposition rally in two thousand and twelve tens of thousands marched through the streets of moscow and other major russian cities calling for fair elections though some of them hope this election will bring back to the permanent while others put in must protect believe the russian change while conservative supporters are protesting against the protesters and the result may be unpredictable if the opposition wins as it is split and. so what some. were asking one of the leaders of the opposition politician of like. when the soviet union collapsed and new democratic forces came to power cough was in the foreground of russian politics he represented the main program and party on the boris yeltsin and was first elected m.p.

nine hundred ninety three five years later was called to reach the top of his governmental career when he was appointed deputy prime minister with a responsibility for social issues which however a few days later say it was not he's an area of expertise after spending nearly fifteen years in parliament but it has become one of the most active opponents of the established power and has helped to mind the protest rally. nice to have you here in the studio welcome welcome to spotlight well a you are one of the organizers and an active participant these recent recent. rallies well they're called for fair elections well who are these protesters labeled as the angry citizens in the russian press and do you think that these people really can influence the kremlin today you know this this protest movement is where it wide. it includes as well politicians as

well just regular citizens and i could say that may mean maybe seventy percent of protesters are not. are not belong to political camps seventy percent of just regular old people from the streets and the main engine of these protests is i think two events first there weren't twenty fourth of september last year when putin really of proclaimed that they will change. this combination and when they said that's all we agreed many years before but so many people in russia been shocked by this by this announcement because too predictable predictable and people felt some people felt that they were deprived you of making the choice it was a little bit cynical it was a little bit little bit a trick not politics is is is very is

a very cynical process and you know that maybe not maybe the reason is that people in the west people in developed democracies know that it is cynical and the russians are not used to it yet do you agree as what they want to do is you know this is not an arminian problem is that for last twenty years no one tion or power in russia was change of reelections it's always been like terrorist model. success. point of his success of the meeting with the it is now the meeting with the points his successor predecessor. so it's not all this is this is what mr circle thought of. managed democracy. he called it the the sovereign democracy and the so this is the russian way so maybe twenty years ago or even fifteen years ago it was ok it was natural for natural way of making deals in russia but now it's different i could say that the main split the main

change we hear the last ten years to twelve years is that in russia was created middle class so-called angry citizens. which is coming to the streets and this is where the middle class in the middle where you are you really this. middle class even agrees to do that it's about twenty five thirty percent of population and this angry middle class not accept more these brought czarist model was first result of this mess protests and second concrete reason for the results of duma lections fourth of december you remember xander that first action was next tonight after elections fifth of december then it was huge will open a square election of the then was biggest action on the new twenty fourth of

december and the main reason for this mass protests the first if occasions especially in moscow because in most example exit polls show it about this thread to say well he was all they wanted more transparency they want to be sure that the elections are thing though that i wasn't sure that that they did so absolutely going into the law and they feel that they that they may have been deprived of their choice if they're absolutely well let's take a look now at the most recent rallies in moscow which took place last saturday here's a report from spotlight. despite temperatures of minus twenty celsius moscow st will be. boiling with political activity on the fourth of february nothing seems to be able to cool down the heated political debates which have been building as the presidential election approaches for mastro is were held in russia's capitol on saturday the two biggest one for and one against the government

attracted terms of thousands the opposition marched for fair election in this third rally of its kind since last december they have been protesting against alleged fraud in the state doing well action the ruling united russia party gained half the vote amid ballot riggin accusations which infuriated the crowd this time protesters called for free and democratic presidential election in less than a month meanwhile elsewhere in moscow was separate programs mantra was held the main slogan there was we have much to lose suggesting the country's current stability will be damaged if it is not real active participants said they were against the protest movement in the country right in their putin spoke to both sides in his new weekly pre-action article he sees the current political activity in the country as a good sign and then achievement of his years in power at the same time he admits

the quality of the state is lagging behind civil society which has become more mature active and responsible. so putin has. admitted that the government needs to catch up with the civil society right here as an out some political concessions but do you have the feeling that putin is ready to to go further in liberalizing really the society the political life force on for unfortunate for children or so you're a pessimist percent just because you know square and soccer are when you be a doctor. five very simple demands to the authorities demand to free political prisoners we have now about forty people including khodorkovsky and libya in prisons on absolutely fabricated fabricated. number two we don't agree with the results of parliamentary elections and we don't

see a real investigation on thousands investigating investigating the alleged fraud number three it's a wide demand of deep and complex political reforms registration of opposition parties. free elections a new formation of electoral in this new space something is being done that will talk or we will talk a little later about your own party that that seeming to bite it was not really what it is not represented in until now it is not really something is happening on a little bit ok i am skeptical and i have reasons for that other demands he mentioned three demands the number the number with things that we need new parliamentary elections because this duma is not represent the whole population of the country especially especially population of big cities moscow sample does work you know it's an absolute when we have twenty five thirty percent of liberal mind people and no one representative in national parliament. and number and number

five is. number five is new presidential elections even coming presidential elections will not be free in as well as the settlers so your main demand is is having is returning the choice that people feel they are deprived of remains the mind control litigants legal representation for the for popular for all looking after the first after the other spots around these everybody including your supporters had had an impression that poor. has heard what what people have said in the streets but last weekend after after the kremlin held their rally at the same day and same time as the opposition rally wasn't that a sign that the kremlin is not ready for dialogue you know i think it's a bad signal it's

a bad signal what is what and so there's no dialogue no dialogue moreover morrow alexander i'm i'm i'm i'm very very much concerned situation because i see escalation escalation of political temperature from both sides you can see that first action feels to rally in the same what was sure of head of electoral commission against for. now it's becoming more and more. movement from another side it's becoming more in the liberal and democratic and modern movement so we can see that the russian society is split more and more an escalation that from both sides could it will be finished by confrontation not only between authorities and people but between different parts of this i will be confrontation politics is always confrontation but i do believe normal politics it always does do you believe that there is

a person in russia who could beat putin and they are coming elections. you know it could give you clinician a lot about looking at figures look on the figure so we have three pinion paul advances. and difference is very big between the figure so most independent agents in the world the last figure is about forty two percent. and most loyal to see a warm and gives fifty fiftieth's or so difference is ten percent but if you live on the right it could be second tour and if you have the second round of elections anyone have anyone anyone could beat a good bit and put it says lead in the risk of the opposition politician here in russia spotlight will be back after a break so stay with us and. you

know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. of. me it is easy to eat.

meat. welcome back to spotlight i am al green of in just a reminder that my guest on the show today is of an opposition politician here in russia. let's get back to those rallies that we've been talking about the rallies that are demanding more transparency and their. rule of law as well but first of all they they most of the people say the elections in december was not transparent enough and they they want to guarantee that the presidential election the main election issue will be transparent ok now mainstream politicians many journalists.

claim that these manifestations that we see here were masterminded by american experts colored revolution than that and that they actually were organized by u.s. sponsored activists you're one of the activists so how do you react to that what well was there any ground for us to check your patients you know i could see the influence of the united states for on the russian policy i think it's a lowest follows the kids a bomb administration is very passive. they cut a hole money supporting democracy all the wall they begin restart policy which is very. friendly reset reset are very very friendly for putin then it only idiots or propagandists could say the united states stay behind this process brought us the moment i can give you one example you know for organizing this

millions meant we need money to to to order seen this voice and source on all money a little collected by the people thousands of people just sent money five hundred rubles one thousand rubles three hundred roubles on your arm on our special open foundation so we raised money for through the internet some of the through the internet were raised money from regular people. to order all this all this machinery of this me or these no one no one sent from this maybe forever of the accusations because because using the internet for organizing mass rallies is one of the technologies that is being claimed invented by the americans now not really have an arrest in africa in russia we have very. restrictive legislation about that no one rouble from abroad could be used and it's very clear.