forces are shelling on several areas including the city of homs activists are accusing the government of a massacre saying that hundreds of civilians here have been killed something that's hard to verify meanwhile the u.s. is setting an international coalition aimed at supporting rebels and their struggle these so-called proof friends of democratic syria will involve countries willing to proffer the opposition and pile more pressure on the regime although direct military action is has been ruled out some reports suggest the british and cuts are a special forces are already in the conflict zone there are now calls from washington to arm the opposition and as our teams merino port i reports that the region has been flooded with weapons from the u.s. . at the united nations security council america holds one permanent seat but when it comes to weapons the world's largest arms exporter is often seen as sitting on

two chairs they say there isn't an international embargo on arms preventing them from doing that that is a fact but that doesn't change the immorality of supplying a dictatorial regime that is killing its people in massive numbers everybody and we are are deeply concerned about that as u.s. officials continue publicly scolding countries over relations with syria critics say the accusations are being thrown from a tremendous glasshouse the us is a hugely difficult in this regard because they've long been the largest arms dealer and most of those weapons the us sold the story quickly more than four hundred billion dollars worth of since the one nine hundred sixty s. have gone to the middle east and you can't argue. seriously that it's made that region any more stable in the past few years nearly fifty percent of u.s. weapons exports have been flowing to the middle east many countries with the

biggest appetite for american weapons have also made headlines for carrying out brutal crackdowns against dissidents and opposition groups if you are you're ok. you're not i mean this is for all of us who have been overseas the duplicity and. of american foreign policy is painfully. evident according to congressional figures america has sold one point four billion dollars worth of weapons to bahrain since two thousand and america struck its single biggest arms deal when saudi arabia ordered sixty billion dollars worth of arms the us has long subsidize the israeli military and recently supplied them with bunker buster bombs experts say this strategic arming of middle eastern country. is aimed at iran and extending u.s. dominance in the region with. that is going on. you know

it's not at all about you know human rights. it's all about some geopolitical f.b.i. whistle blowers sibel edmonds has accused america of playing particularly dirty while leading a campaign for regime change in syria and it's not some kind of. simultaneously our prize thing situation where people are rebelling and then suddenly they are mysteriously armed and mysteriously arms are being smuggled into syria from turkey well who who is providing this arms nobody's asking in the u.s. media well these are u.s. arms shipped to turkey this is the u.s. military complex flush with record revenue continues to lobby its interests on capitol hill arms manufacturers are some of the biggest companies in america they're some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they make it so for the defense department around the world they're a federal contractor and many other levels there are going to vote in elections

this statue outside the u.n. headquarters is a symbol of global peace and nonviolence but critics say the idea has been twisted by the u.s. which goes around advocating peace while arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit marina point ny r.t. new york. now according to chinese media we're getting reports that iran has sent fifteen thousand of its leader revolutionary guard troops to help maintain order in syria so let's discuss this further with professor saeed mohammad marandi from the university of tehran joining us live now from eleven am i thank you for coming on r.t. today do you believe that iran would risk getting involved in a conflict in another country according to these reports from the chinese media. no definitely iran has no troops in the country iran has never had troops involved in the problems within syria this is. basically western propaganda. someone in the

chinese media has been receiving information that is completely false in general the information that is produced in syria and in the mainstream western media comes from sources that are highly questionable such as the syrian observatory for human rights which is based in london and it just for example the other day claimed that in syria. babies inc incubators in hospitals were were killed were murdered by the government and this is the second time they produced propaganda and reminds of one of what western the western media did in. before the war in iraq as if i may go with my but i do apologize for interrupting but you bring in the issue of propaganda here that these reports allegedly from the chinese media say that iran has sent in twenty thousand revolutionary guards into syria but you say it's propaganda but many believe that the us wants

a regime change in syria to weaken their own so i mean it's quite possible to imagine that iran must be interested in the survival of assad's regime. well definitely iran does support the syrian government and it supports reforms in the syrian political order according to polls carried out by the b.b.c. funded by the fact that he is the majority of syrians barkhad the syrian president they want him to remain in power even their own polls say that on the other hand iran is completely imposed photos of foreign countries imposing their will on the syrian people we already see in the turks helping create civil war we see the dictatorships in the persian gulf region funding civil war and violence in the country it is these countries that are that should be blamed for much of the bloodshed in the country and the west of course supports them as well but the

western propaganda machine. inverts reality in what they if if they are so keen on democracy in the region they should the united states and its allies should call on all dictatorships to their leaders to step aside and to have elections going to radians i say i'm going to say the president ahmadinejad he does support the assad regime ongoing in syria facing this pressure from the opposition but iran is now under severe international pressure over its nuclear program we've seen the west bearing down on even further in recent months do you think with iran's support of the syrian government could it could tear on really risk coming under even greater a backlash if it in some way does support the assad regime. well remember iran's position is based upon a moral principle and that is noninterference of germanic powers and the nonappearance of neighboring countries in the syrian internal affairs the syrian

people have to make their own decisions and they don't need to be funded there are no there doesn't need to be any funding for weapons coming outside the country even in iraq before the united states invaded iraq and killed almost a million people directly or indirectly as a result the iranians opposed that war as well despite the fact that the iranians had immense dislike for saddam hussein did despise saddam hussein and iran supports the support of the opposition in iraq but iran was opposed to the war because it was unprincipled and against international law in this case as well actions of the turks and the dictatorships in the persian gulf region along with a western regimes are against international law and that is why iran opposes these actions based upon the same moral principle professor saeed mohammad marandi from the university of tehran live in beirut thank you for joining us today. greeks venting their anger at even more planned the cuts which the e.u.

is demanding in return for vital funds after a tough multi-party deal the parliament it's exposure to vote on the package on sunday but a junior coalition party says it won't back the new plan greeks who have already suffered multiple austerity rulings once again clashed with police today who replied with tear gas some protesters threw stones and molotov cocktails suits and union strikes brought the country to a standstill eurozone finance ministers say they want to see concrete action before the second bell well worth one hundred thirty billion euros can be handed over without it athens it goes bust in march while greece's private creditors could write off over fifty percent of the money owed to them financial analyst max kaiser says the day. that athens has to pay off was forced upon and. the creditors who are going to take a haircut on their debt already have that fully insured in the credit default swap market and they're going to make money no matter what they don't take any risk

that's why greece is in this problem to begin with all of the toxic debt that has been accumulated on banks' balance sheets around the world in germany and the u.k. and the u.s. have been put onto the balance sheet of greece and now the government of greece wants the people of greece to pay for this toxic debt the debt in greece did not originate in greece it originated in these other countries that have used greece as a toxic debt dump to dump their debt now they want the greeks to pay the debt the greeks of course will be on able to pay the debt to the greek government is in place by the bankers the previous greek government was put there by the bankers he was trained in chicago the same place christine legarde was trained the greeks have not had representational government in quite some time they need to take a page out of the arab spring they need to stage a revolution they need to become self-sufficient and regain their sovereignty again

by staging some kind of coup. and so good to have you with us you're watching art's he and a still to come for you this hour in the program innocence lost in afghanistan find out why the latest strike is the afghan president's condemnation of foreign troops also separation anxiety. they are now living under the tangible threat of being forcibly separated from their spouses from their children from their parents palestinians married to israelis fear the citizenship law in the jewish state could tear their families apart. people in russia becoming more and more involved in the political structure of the country ahead of next month's presidential election a group of journalists bloggers on proactive figures have created a league of voters just in a bid to make the upcoming vote fair and transparent as you go to prison off reports. it doesn't take long to find videos of alleged violations during the

recent parliamentary vote in russia just a couple of clicks is enough and scores of these files have flooded the internet and even though most of the allegations are still to be proven in courts tens of thousands of people have been taking to the streets demanding fair elections with marches presidential votes just around the corner events are unfolding quickly with . people want to vote responsibly and to know where their villages go they want political competition independent courts and media forming voters league is not our achievement the idea was floating in the air the voters league was officially founded in january by a group of journalists and bloggers activists artists writers and other public figures and statements wayne tedious leg t.v. host and now activist but one of the ladies asked or the head of a charity fund and blogger he does the idea that also known as dr lisa.

or other school martha ordinator of the blue buckets movement fighting for equal rights on roads for everyone was more honest our league is an opportunity to gather people who are not indifferent to what's happening the more people with a civil position there are the better the league's main goal is to ensure fair elections is published a list of initiatives on the web divided into groups that everyone can be a part of public discussions and online votes are the key instruments and letters have been sent to all presidential candidates asking them to cooperate with the league and even though the project is less than a month old everyone has so far agreed including pledging little to another candidate businessman mikhail prokhorov has already struck a deal with the leak you have to go on willing to authorize one hundred fifty thousand league observers we've also arranged to put together a unified database tick. in the election because according to its founders around

ten thousand observers are needed to ensure a fair election in moscow alone. it's great that the civil society wants to be more active but it's really important not to cross the line and observers not only are positioned it is serious so if the mutations are not to teach science in the political process. the league's founders say those shut the organisation down if it ever stores turning into a political movement they are keen to work with all candidates equally there's no doubt society has changed more people want to have more influence on russia's political life perhaps that's why it took less than one month for the vote was leaked to establish ties with both the authorities and the opposition and with the help promise from the candidates the league just may secure enough access to effectively monitor the vote in march as long as it avoids taking sides and protects its neutrality is going to be moscow to bear in mind there were plenty of

news to come and eye catching videos you can always find it just a click away r.t. dot com just about twenty four hours a day you can get to it some of the items you're waiting for right now are certainly standing by for you are hungry for power the muslim brotherhood demanding egypt's military rulers sacked the appointed prime minister and replaced him with their own candidate. and a cia spy jailed a former engineer from the police at school military cosmodrome i guess thirteen years behind bars for selling secret data on a russian intercon that intercontinental ballistic missiles to the united states are more that story at r.t. dot com. afghan president hamid karzai has ordered an investigation into a nato airstrike that killed eight children on wednesday this comes a week after the united states and i'll stick hold combat operations in afghanistan earlier than expected but this strike could worsen an already tense relations

between karzai and washington and that of mounting civilian death toll journalist gareth porter thinks that foreign expansion is to blame for the growing number of casualties this is the price that afghanistan pays for having foreign troops on its soil troops which carry out operations that are based on at best imperfect intelligence and at worst simply lack of fundamental knowledge of local situations and mistakes that are made which will result in innocent people being killed completely unnecessarily the numbers are growing clearly because the tele band has continued to expand its operations in response to the growth of u.s. nato troops and part of the taliban response and i would say the single biggest part of the response has been to lay more and more i e d's this is the primary way that the taliban has been able to find to kill u.s.

nato troops and even more so to wound seriously u.s. and nato troops. just turning twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow let's get to the r.t. world update for you some other global headlines in brief eleven militants have been killed over a dozen wounded in pakistan this after local security forces fired artillery shells at their suspected hideouts the crackdown that took place in the tribal region where dozens of died in fighting between soldiers and insurgents over the last few weeks pakistan's military has been conducting anti terror operations in since the beginning of the year. a planned strike by police in rio de janeiro over low pay could jeopardize next week's notorious annual carnival spies and agreed pay rise of thirty nine percent over the next two years law enforcers are demanding double similar industrial action in the city of salvador saw the murder rate double with

one hundred twenty people killed that was just during a nine day police strike thousands of soldiers may be deployed in brazil's capital to provide security. hungary's a central bank is literally burning money to help keep people warm in europe's deadly cold snap the bank has been pumping wads of disused notes into bundles that can be burned by those in need of heat by notes of being provided as a free source of fuel for the past four years that the need is now particularly great with hundreds perishing in the conditions across europe over just the past few weeks. or it is the only katie in the business but for now marrying the person you love and living freely with them may be the basic right in most democratic countries but apparently it's not always the case in the jewish state israeli palestinian families say they face daily discrimination and risk being separated altogether and israel's insistent that it's quote only protecting national security

has few people convinced to live reports. this is the document that's ruining lana's life it makes no mention of a university degree a husband or two children it simply states she's palestinian and therefore illegal and wanted in israel i have here now i. don't have any rights just to breathe. and drink and for me it's not allowed. but lorna chooses the nonlife because it's where her husband and children live by law very israeli where is the rest of her family live across the border in janine palestine each time we travel during the week. goes through a path and i and the kids go through. what. i have to walk. until now known as move between the two worlds with

temporary visas issued by television but she's afraid they could stop at the government tightens its grip on a law denying permanent citizenship to palestinians married to israelis but strain to limit the graphic. growth of the arab citizens encourage. citizens who marry palestinians from the west bank or from jordan to actually immigrate to relieve israel israel says the law is for security purposes and it's trying to prevent palestinians from taking advantage of being able to get an israeli id through marriage and then carry out attacks on israeli citizens but human rights groups don't buy that they petitioned the law arguing that in the last fourteen years more than one hundred fifty thousand palestinians entered israel because of family ties with israelis only fifty four of them were ever found to be a security risk. in upholding the so-called citizenship in all these really supreme court president said it was one of the most difficult questions in the state's history the battle against terror while at the same time maintaining the nation's

democratic nature we are talking about thousands of family but as a result of the decision of the supreme court that validated upheld the law they are now living under the are countable threat of being forcibly separated from their spouses from their children from their parents so we are indeed talking about a huge issue with a huge effect on thousands of people this law is thinking about it. i mean one of the. last you grieves before having your very pure a jewish state but in the meantime it threatens to tear families apart as lawn interests here now face the very real danger that they might not be able to continue living together policy r t israel and about her five minutes time here at r.t. it's time for a summer high speed snowfall right here in the russian capital do stay with us from

moscow out first ok to the latest business. thank you very welcome to the business program this hour gold is losing value on stronger dollar lifted by fresh worries about the european debt crisis however the sentiment has been generally birds for the billion with a price up around ten percent a share rob edwards from our capital as he's may says no reason to think of gold bubble is on the way and that the prospects for the metal still go. gold is twelve percent off its lows we should this record in december it's only ten percent off it's hard it's been very volatile but if you look at the long term chart for gold going over the past decade we're important to fifty. two thousand dollars an ounce now that's been a very consistent bull run and in many periods over that period of time it's been

going up in the currencies which is the true definition of a bull market was living in an age of volatility gold is still going to be relevant we don't see it breaking below fifteen hundred dollars an ounce and the end of the day is still a commodity there's a cost of production there's a cost of supply and still very very hard charging people think. let's have a look at the current precious metals prices now both gold silver. over one and a half. lies in the soft agrees that it couldn't be one hundred thirty billion euro bailout deal the country needs to avoid bankruptcy. and oil that remains down and it's even. in the red this hour the international energy agency is twenty twelve global oldham on forecasts rest sick at the darkening economic outlook as they called it has reduced prospects for growth amid supply concerns following the sanctions on a rainy and oil. european stock markets are moving in even further into the red

after greece failed to come up with the deal the talks will continue throughout the weekend and european finance ministers are now holding back the rescue package demanding further commitment from athens. and here in moscow the markets are heading for a negative finish as you can see the r.t.s. thirty two percent down the myself down under one. just over one percent now the closing figures for you in the next hour let's see what's happening at the individual on the my fixed now. when used to slide on the previous session following the buyback announcement mike i can ask is also down the company's net profit reached thirty three million dollars last year against seventy four million dollars last year before polly was gold is over raising any gains from reports about its felt high up with pauley metal. and we're going to move on to the

exchange rates the year is love against the dollar uncertainty about the situation in greece meanwhile we are always weighing on the ruble which is a losing value against the european and the us currency. busser ranks third in the world for the number of billion as a country where they could comfortably sit back and count their roubles but it seems they might have to give a big chunk of their fortunes back with a new robin hood tax proposed by the prime minister and presidential candidates about a minute putin artie's business editor nick postpones. the promise also helps i do for a luxury tax which was actually on things like super cause your point tricky to get money back from people you have to do it legitimately you can't just go and empty their bank accounts and this is sort of raise a number of problems and this is not going to be a tax on the middle class it's just for this very small minority of super wealthy

people now it's difficult to generalize about. any population feels but i think it's a sense that they don't really like the tokens it's called the oligarchs and taxing them not likely to be a vote loser let's put it that way ok about so for now in the next hour of the new figures for us and closing takers for the russian markets join me.

culture is that so much seven and there's a huge music is a minute ride of the mark with the feet up in the battle for syria the international community is as divided as the syrians themselves when it comes to resolving a situation. wealthy british scientists say is not tied to the ties. to the. markets why not.

find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports on our t.v. . this is also a lot from oscar time for your headlines now a split within the ranks of syria's. opposition fighters at first they claim they were behind a massive blast in the country's largest city of aleppo which killed at least twenty five but just now another spokesman has denied responsibility. thousands of greeks and lash out against more planned cuts the police fired tear gas to disperse groups who threw stones and firebombs people are angry at lawmakers budget sacrifices after eurozone leaders put more bailout cash on hold. and russia's public figures come together to ensure a fair and free presidential vote by forming the voters' lead to monitor elections

now the challenge is to stay impartial. thanks to an r.t. bit of fun for you to shake off the chills and enjoy the russian winter if that's possible do stay with us for some silliness in the snow it's now. well some people embrace the winter and all the frost filled with teas that come with it others like to hide in tools staying in from the dark nights and zero temperatures. sleep and relaxation just like various animals some hibernate is an escape for many yes but still lots.