the original group was hijacked by opposition activists in posting military deaths today alongside civilian want us both sides claim they're the official observatory this is the original site in arabic with an english version on facebook and this is the fake site launched in the center and mostly in english several foreign news outlets have assume they are one and the same thing quoting the fake sites casualty figures the consequence a very different perspective of the crisis the original cites latest figures showed just over five thousand one hundred civilian deaths against almost two thousand military casualties the rival site claims well over six and a half thousand civilians have been killed and barely six hundred troops a difference many claim suggests this is a lot more than just a numbers game i don't think even the people using these figures are have any objectivity really they have an agenda a clear agenda is there just the fire by any means possible that assad regime is

a brutal massacring regime and it needs to fall a soon as possible and we can see the united nations security council when that human rights strategy for regime change doesn't work how annoyed western governments are how got arab league monitor the original observatory strickly opposes military intervention the man who hijacked it's name disagrees. used to translate at the real observatory he was fired after falsely claiming to be an official spokesman and using a live interview to call for a no fly zones since then he's launched a smear campaign against the original group claiming they're the impostors as are we and these figures have been quoted by the b.b.c. c.n.n. and a.b.c. australia the other groups say they tried to pass some political of the is censored by calling for no fly zone for international intervention and we made it clear that sit on their victory for human rights. original organization is that we are i guess

an interventional we are against the no fly zone all we need is to stop the bloodshed in that is going on in syria as always and his group refused to speak on camera stating i cannot waste my time talking about this is the moment whilst people are dying in homs they're my priority right now he did refer us to another opposition group based in london and they too refused to comment on the ownership of the observatory but they did confirm that reporting military deaths was not in their interest it's not our position to report. these awful. government troops the b.b.c. and the guardian had to withdraw material after falsely quoting as always the human rights observatory the un stopped counting the death toll claiming it's too difficult to keep track of but its human rights chief also said five thousand civilian deaths should be enough to provoke international action the real

observatory still documents the deaths civilian or otherwise but it may be too late for the numbers to matter either bennett's r.t. london. and israeli website reports the british and qatari special forces are already in syria assisting the rebels at the risk of middle east expert says if the claims prove to be true it won't help bring peace to the region. but this will probably mean more escalation on the ground some more covert military operations and on the political level we've also heard that some arab league countries all the arab league in general is intending on officially recognizing the syrians are additional council leader syrian political opposition body so i think that is something which is widely expected and of course the way i see that more violence will be in the main however we also do hear that the russians for example are providing the most assistance is possible they cared to the syrians to deal with this issue now don't forget that the russian side has cautioned time and again of

the rise of islamic fundamentalists all the presence of islamic fundamentalists inside syria those who oppose a syrian regime and syria has also spoken on top of them as well the son of a sudden the members of al qaida and the syrian ambassador to lebanon made it very clear one week ago when he said that most of the weapons or most of even filtration most of the smuggling is coming in from a level and unfortunately as the escalation from us as opponents to his or inclusive is i think that we are going to discover more and more smuggling and more and more of a negative role from some lebanese in the syrian issue. europe has become more dependent on oil imports from iran new research suggests the e.u. countries bought more oil from the islamic republic in two thousand and eleven with the biggest customers being spain and italy but with the e.u. planning to cut off trade in july in line with the international sanctions against iran many on the continent are voicing concerns that the move will backfire to run

is also going to europe that it's shooting itself in the first the view is shared by spain's ambassador to iran who says his country suffers the most from the continuing e.u. pressure against the islamic republic and some of the drip believe the oil embargo has been forced upon europe. what we're seeing here is not at the station that comes actually from the european countries to spain never wanted decent bargo to to put. to be put in place this is something that comes externally from the united states pressure on the european union the european union actually had a very good relationship in terms of the economy and trade with iran it was retrieved in the last twenty years the connections that have been lost after the iranian revolution and the situation was improving until we came to this new tension and he's not just to spain and italy also greece imports lots of oil from iran and it could be hard hit in a way that would bring them bankrupt in the coming future that would be a complete disaster for the european union and for the euro and that can happen

because of these of these political move it has now become an economic issue and can have even more. destructive effects if the iranians decide to say cut off the strait of hormuz or even if they now of decide to beat europe to it by. by by cutting off their oil now because we need this time to find alternative supplies if they cut the supply now we want to be able to find them there will be a huge recession in europe. well still to come for you this here on our to live in moscow financial troubles prove a health hazard in the u.s. as manufacturers gamble on america's caffeine dependency often with disastrous results that story coming your way a little later here on r.t. . and as we explore the sky high ambitions of the russian region the pioneer the country's aviation industry in all close ups series that's all still to come for

you. wealthy british style. but i'd like to look. at the. market why not. why not what's really happening to the global economy with mike's culture a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser report on r g. to be so much brighter than. the sun from france to.

start time dot com. one of the most senior al qaeda chiefs in pakistan has been killed by an american drone strike along with three other suspected militants the attack took place in the north waziristan tribal area close to the border with afghanistan but are months or is suspected of killing dozens of people in the country and abroad that comes after the bureau of investigative journalism found hundreds of civilians died because of similar cia ordered aerial attacks chris woods who compiled the report thinks the u.s. is simply ignoring the condemnation over its deadly drone policy. the cia has been saying for some time that it hasn't killed a civilian in pakistan. two thousand and ten every news agency out of pakistan every credible news organization that's looked at this is not the case we know that civilians are being killed in pakistan but with these drone strikes that

does seem to be an indication that these drone strikes are happening despite what pakistan wants not because of what pakistan wants because of course a huge problems with them pakistan united states court has ever looked at the legality of these drone strikes and there's a reason for that every time a case has been brought in the united states that has attempted to look at work that these strikes are legal or not. the united states has quote something called state secrets privilege but actually this is a covert operation and we can't discuss it well that's somewhat been blown out of the water by the president himself going on google recently and talking to americans about the existence of this so-called program. pakistan's foreign minister told r.t. that instead of helping fight the insurgency u.s. drone strikes are actually hindering the war on terror. the region has some serious problems but into terrorism and pakistan has always maintained that it is important

to have collaborative joint efforts to be able to rid this region rather than for a long sort of unitary approach. in how we want to rid this region in our view. not only completely illegal and awful and have north resolution to be used within the domains of international law but even more importantly there counterproductive to your objective of getting this region rid of militancy and terrorism and extremism because if once trade leads to getting you target number one or target number three to be you're creating five more targets with ten more targets in the militancy that it breeds in the in the for doing that it gives to the militants to attract more people to join their ranks. and you can watch this interview in full in about fifteen minutes from now here on . well some world news and briefly the. world update greek

leaders have finally reached an agreement on new austerity measures without the cuts the country wouldn't be able to get the crucial hundred thirty billion euro bailout from the e.u. and avert a default a spokesman for the prime minister's office said the deal will allow alternative cuts to those projected early thursday the main sticking point was proposed pension cuts. the criminal court in the mall deaves is issued an arrest warrant for else to president mohamed nasheed this comes a day after the leader was among dozens injured when police used force against protesters as unrest deepened his asking resulted from a police mutiny popular protest over a controversial decision to arrest a top charge that she claims he was forced to resign at gunpoint and promises to return to office. turkish troops have killed thirteen kurdish insurgents in two separate clashes in turkey nine people died near the town of bengal and four others near the town of sirte after rebels attacked

a military station there it's less than a week since turkish warplanes bombed three suspected rebel targets in northern iraq tens of thousands of died since ninety four and the kurds fight for ptolemy in turkey's southeast. and by the way you can always find more news online just log on to our t. dot com online all the time here's what's waiting for you there right now the anniversary all me while egypt's new government is deploying more tanks and troops across the country just one year after the fall of mubarak's regime. and also the painful aftershocks of the war heavily armed fighters carry out a bloody attack on a refugee camp on the outskirts of tripoli read the analysis on that story online party dot com. is.

the official anti application your phone oh i pod touch from the top story. on the go. video on demand. old girls and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com. in the u.s. when the economy needs a fix so do the people the country is now the world's largest consumer of coffee and this addiction to caffeine is being exploited by some unscrupulous producers who are looking to boost their profit lottie's going up or not. in the city that

never sleeps our perpetual craving for energy never eases i nearly every man had street you'll find two things a coffee shop and customers cupping their fix a liquefied legal stimulant that most can't envision quitting i feel lightheaded and i get a headache again probably. so i just have to are both of these real yes actually yes i don't know if i could give a i love. it five or six cups a day yes but i'm not good to much of anything good i was going to drink three cups that definitely. americans consume four hundred million cups of coffee per day making the us believe in consumer of coffee in the world according to medical experts daily intake of caffeine should stay below three hundred milligrams or fifteen ounces of coffee one large cup of starbucks contains more caffeine than

the daily maximum recommendation however in recent years the country's addiction to caffeine has grown both in portion size and means of consumption consumers no longer have to down twenty ounces of starbucks or sixty four ounces of soda to get an energy high. unconventional products such as five hour energy drinks and stimulant least gum have made caffeine america's most marketable legal drug because of the work imperative in america who are working really long hours people are chronically sleep deprived also so they're reaching for stimulants to get their day amid ongoing economic instability us energy drink sales increased more than thirty percent between two thousand and ten and two thousand and eleven. the newest stimulant hitting the market is a slim a plastic inhaler called aero shot each squeeze dispenses around forty milligrams of caffeine in your mouth no one country ordering. american is

a caffeinated nation we know the generation of americans. meanwhile multi-tasker is feeling for the biggest serving are turning to a product called fifty one fifty juice one gallon contains sixty four thousand milligrams of caffeine the equivalent of four hundred red bulls whole objective for free programs is to create repeat customers to get people back to their product. is clearly an addictive substance and by creating all these products they're definitely appealing to a wide range of consumers and feeding into the larger problem which is you know happy over consumption of coke and it can be while going after new consumers one u.s. company created national controversy by packaging caffeine and liquor together there's nothing crazy about ok we took two legal products that americans love and combine them caffeine and a butt load of alcohol heavily marketed among college students it turned out to be

a deadly mix one family in florida who say four loko killed their son police say dozens of students had been sent to the hospital from these drinks amid lawsuits mounting criticism and eventually a federal ban the company subsequently removed caffeine from the drink. but the national demand for the natural stimulant remains uncompromised with more and more americans looking for their legal high. r.t. new york. in a moment with the business update for you but first join our adventurous tour of russia with the close up team. well we travel as a fells in kilometers east of where i'm sitting here moscow to the only offscreen the main city is best known as the birthplace of what i mean learned during the

soviet times the region flourished as the center of the country's coal military and aviation industries as characterized has been finding out it has all the potential to win back that reputation. it was in the late seventy's that the riyadh of skin dust real aviation complex was created obvious star is one of the largest manufacturers of passenger planes as well as re modernizing existing cargo planes that travel worldwide there islam plane is one of the largest operating cargo aircraft originally designed for the russian military but when the soviet union fell a demand did too obvious star has been renovating existing response and are now planning a major comeback. a new construction line will launch which will cover the production and the modernization of unique airplanes in the world that are popular such as the roost one that was long. voted new but airlines have used their respond freighters to assist in un and red cross relief projects but they'll haul satellites yachts and even the sukhoi superjet to can imagine the two thousand

killers of those this brother who brought it from africa to north from the europe for a. special so that gratian vitale also transported one hundred thousand kilos of beaujolais wine from france to japan he says without ever breaking a single bottle many little boys dream of becoming pilots but the path to get there isn't always an easy one here is the only one of six civil aviation school it's the only place in russia where one can get a higher education with courses offered in academics media wrong. logy and over one hundred fifty hours of flight time. the students start to train in these models which gives them the complete feeling of what it's like to sit in a real aircraft during flight. and it's true the images on the screen and vibrations of the simulator made even me feel

like i could be a pilot i'm joined today by all the director of corporate communications of the united aircraft corporation thank you for being with us olga since obvious star has been in existence since one thousand nine hundred eighty how do you evaluate the development of the corporation today we are working together with. the new strategy two thousand and eleven the new strategy comprises the development of two majors segments international space industry it's military aviation its commercial aviation and its transport of the what are the major perspectives the goals of other star and and russia throughout the now we are working over the. program of building aircraft and we have to get first orders for the.

nearly twenty three minutes past the hour and russian capital be back with an update of all my new stories for you in seven minutes from now in the meantime business update as promised with katie is next. hello there welcome to the business program this hour we start with a story that's got the whole of the russian market talking minority shareholders in the country's second largest bank v.t. bay are to get all the money back then vested in the company's i.p.o. in two thousand and seven that's despite the share price currently being hot the list price for more i'm joined by all it is business daniel. dunn yo tell us more than what's going to be will buy these shares the process investors paid in two thousand and seven so-called people's lives here with thirteen point six copecks almost double what cora share prices which is seven copecks putin says the

money will come from the lenders profits not from state funds where the government will remain the main shareholder but will buy up to sixty thousand dollars worth of shares from each shareholder total the move will cause the bank up to six hundred million dollars that's one fifth of e t v's net profit force today said such buybacks will happen again. well we live in a special time characterized by deep and prolonged financial crisis the instruments that work for decades of failing today you've got the wise the germans minority rescuing the greeks the e.c.b. would not be giving interest free loans of course such moves cannot be the room every investor must understand he's responsible for the shares but you know roger this was one of the first ship placements and back in two thousand and seven none of us really understood the world was heading towards a global recession. no credit agency standard and poor's told us that although this move is broadly negative for the bank it won't affect the lender's rating as long

as it's a one off. it's not really interval to the strategy of the bank itself. you wouldn't expect this to happen again in this really is not something that that makes much of a difference from the way we started pours look at the institution and look at its credit profile or potential performance in the future on pause there are some ordinary people do feel tricked by v t v's leverage advertising for the public o.p.o. back in two thousand and seven which suggested big returns with a low risk of losses will happen within a month in other words before mr putin stands for presidential elections on march the fourth some see the move as following the votes to be minority shareholders paid for by the bags main institutional investors they're being excluded from this buyback and have threatened to sue analysts invesco calculate based on the balance sheet the current share price of seven copecks is actually the fair one. thanks

very much indeed daniel thanks for updating us on the situation there. the prime minister has also discussed another plan likely to appeal to the electorate putin says a way must be found to close the subject of unfair privatized asians in the one nine hundred ninety s. he suggested that the tycoons that took control of the country's resources should pay a one time favor big knowledge that the process of privatization after the collapse of the soviet union was dishonest the exact details of the plan have not we walked out and said this should be done with the public and experts. we're going to see what's happening in the markets right now exchange rates the year is gaining value against the dollar and the ruble all news the greeks have approved a new round of spending cuts and therefore will receive the next to last mint of bear out funds for the european union and the international monetary fund the

russian currency is higher against the dollar. oil is coming even higher after the greek leaders have reportedly reached that deal over the austerity cuts there's also another factor are freezing temperatures in europe are also boosting demand for heating helping boost those prices for oil and stocks in europe are on the rise after that deal is struck so we're hearing we're expecting a statement to come from the greek government shortly as you can see investors are saying they're ready they're the folks in the dax both up this. and the u.s. markets now they opened up in the black but right now they're struggling for direction as you can see it's a mixed picture and thus despite reports the u.s. jobless claims fell last week and that indicates that the labor market is recovering but right now the dow jones is flat to negative the nasdaq is flat positive. and it's quite a diff. story for more sky is

a negative view as you can see the my sex finished finished for you that a third of sent down of the my sex was point eight percent down by the indices finished the day down then in moscow we're going to have a look at the individual moves on the my sex who call finished up overhaul four percent in the red cross f was eighty two and a half percent in the red a v c b was point four percent down following the buyback announce what we've just been talking about with done. back in about fifty five minutes with more markets more business news here on business r.t. joining the.

live from moscow this is all to top stories now this hour the u.n. is considering a joint mission with the arab league to end the bloodshed in syria but there are conflicting reports of the number of casualties it's proving hard to get a true picture of events there. as europe plans its all embargo on iran there are concerns the move could hit countries most dependent on iranian crude like spain. and several high profile middle. been killed in pakistan in a recent series of u.s. drone attacks an independent report has found that hundreds of civilians died in similar strikes a fact america seems to ignore. i'll be back with another update of those stories in about fifteen minutes from now the meantime marty talks to the pakistani foreign

minister who tells us why the united states secret war on terror is actually doing more harm than good. he's the youngest foreign minister and of world that has to deal with some of the toughest security challenges he not rabani khar pakistan's foreign minister is joining us now on r.t. thank you very much for your time minister it's been more than ten years since pakistan joined the u.s. military operations in afghanistan do you think that was the right thing to do you see if. you would you know things look very different but of course. the collaboration that pakistan has had in the last ten years pakistan has to be price for that but it is all. that pakistan inhibits a region. the region and will continue to have in this region and this region has some serious problems the region has some soup.