obama ngs that took place in damascus of last year the violence has escalated in syria for the past week opposition forces claiming assad's 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 in something that's hard to verify meanwhile the u.s. is setting an international coalition aimed supporting rebels and their struggle these so-called group of 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 are cuts are a special forces are already in the conflict so 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 every day and we 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 that the us sold the story clearly 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. view. seriously

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're ok for their thug you're not i mean this is for all of us who have been overseas the duplicity and parker see 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 countries is aimed at iran and

extending u.s. dominance in the region. is going on the war. against your own. you know human while. 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 but it's not some kind of. simultaneously op rising situation where people are a ballet 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 us media well these are u.s. arms shipped to turkey this as the u.s. military complex flush with record revenue continues to lobby its interests on capitol hill arms many. berkshire's or some of the biggest companies in america

there are some of the most powerful lockheed martin not only do they make console arms for the defense department around the world they're a federal contractor in many other levels there are going bald 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 us which goes around advocating peace while arming countless conflicts all for the sake of profit marina point ny r.t. new york. meanwhile reports of emerge that support is on its way to aid assad's forces chinese media claim iran has sent fifteen thousand of its elite revolutionary guard troops to help maintain order in syria but professor side mohammad marandi from the university of tehran says despite being an ally of syria iran wouldn't interfere in its domestic problems 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 while definitely iran does support the syrian government and it supports reforms in the syrian political order iran is completely out of force of foreign countries imposing their will on the syrian people iran's position is based upon a moral principle and that is non interference of neighboring countries and the syrian internal affairs the syrian people have to make their own decisions there doesn't need to be any funding for weapons coming outside the country. iran might have every right to be worried over the developments in syria though because by pushing for action against damascus the u.s. and its allies are ultimately pursuing regime change in tehran so believes constantine cause a child from the foreign affairs committee in the russian state duma. this is not about democracy in syria this is not about any internal developments in this country this is about syria's foreign policy because syria is considered in reality

he is one of the closest allies. and removing the regime as it is now would mean very address to changes in the foreign policy towards syria and iran probably will be the next goal of the syrian regime to be forcefully removed from power or something similar will start in iran this is a global game this is a geopolitical and geo economic interests unfortunately countless like syria are being called it is kind of forced to just talk the geopolitical and juhi canonical interests of the western countries. greeks are venting their anger even more planned cuts which the e.u. is demanding in return for vital funds the country's deputy foreign minister has quit over the deal making the fourth resignation since its announcement police clashed with protesters in athens firing tear gas in response to stones and

firebombs that the reports of some injuries around seven thousand people gathered outside parliament while ten thousand common supporters marched in another part of athens that's as of today union strike brought the country to a standstill after a tough multi-party deal the parliament is expected to vote on the austerity package on sunday but a junior coalition partner says it won't back the new plan euro zone finance ministers put the second bailout worth one hundred thirty billion euros on hold saying they want to see concrete action from athens where without it athens will go bust in march let's not talk to economists. he's live there in the greek capital well we've already seen four greek ministers resign the previous government collapsed because of the debt crisis how likely is it that the greek politicians can reach an agreement on sunday or could indeed this. government collapsed before then. well let me say that this government was always expendable the

point of putting it in place was to ensure that this bill goes through. it's my prediction that it will go through and there is government work will collapse once it. is done brussels is of course questioning whether greece can implement these measures you say it could well go through an agreement with the greek politicians but we're seeing such strong opposition and the current general strike in the balance at the moment in athens will people allow these cuts to be implemented. it's not up to the people the people have been demonstrating consistently for eighteen twenty months now and we had a series of such cuts and impositions of. the very weak population these days it's been happening every other month now for almost two years it will happen again there is absolutely no way. this is going to be stopped this agreement is going to go through for a very simple reason and the simple reason is that unless it does go through then

the banking system of northern europe is going to have serious serious difficulties from an economist's point of view and many are saying that the cuts will actually stifle economic growth and it's the economic boost that the country really needs at the moment so why is it that this is being pushed through and no alternative to austerity is being investigated. i think. you're making the wrong assumption that these measures have been put in place in order to help save the good economy. do no such thing these measures are part of a loan package the purpose of which is to delay. the steady this is the gratian of the euro zone and give more time to germany's politicians to find out what they're going to do with their with the german and the french banks which are insolvent. greece is being sacrificed on the altar of european procrastination so if greece the sacrifices are not mean that it could eventually default be thrown out of the

eurozone that would not be what the e.u. leaders really want is it no it's all what they want it really isn't what they want but on the other hand politically leaders in europe have been clueless now in the last two years as to exactly what they want they know that the only way of killing this crisis throughout the years are not just in greece but in ireland in portugal and spain eagerly everywhere is by bringing about the degree of unification in europe public debt of the banking sector and so on and so forth but there are very important vested interests arguing against that and they're resisting those changes that would that the only change that could destroy the only change that will end this crisis on the other hand they know that unless they do that then the crisis will continue so all they're doing is they're using sellotape or plaster on a festering wound which is greece today ireland portugal italy and so on so this is what europe is doing it is creating a very severe medical issue by means of cortizone and

a little bit of ice cream ok and what about the greek people there you are in athens that the measures agreed upon. for the cuts of fifteen thousand jobs learn the minimum wage obviously pensions being affected can you give us an illustration of what sacrifices greeks are really having to make to remain in the eurozone from your point of point of view being forced to remain in the euro zone. now that these sacrifices are being made for them to stay there you can stay in the euro zone very easily while defaulting you don't have to get out of the eurozone if you default but what is happening here is that greeks are being threatened that unless they keep borrowing money from germany from france from the i.m.f. from the e.c.b. we know that to keep repaying the northern european and greek banks then they're going to be through another years of the. it is of course an empty threat the tragedies of our political class the political establishment that is in their pockets so they are. threatening blackmailing the greek people that unless they're

big they're driven to the ground for the benefit of the banker of banks then they're going to be thrown out but to give you an example here we have people on six months who would have to believe on four hundred fifty euros a month while at the same time inflation is increasing and taxation is going through the roof. yes thanks very much indeed for your perspective on this yanis varoufakis joining us now for a just joining us there from the university of athens thank you very much for your thoughts thank you. people in russia are becoming more and more involved in the political structure in the country ahead of next month's presidential election a group of journalists bloggers and proactive figures have created a league of voters in a bid to make the upcoming vote fair and transparent has this report. 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 years of these files have flooded the internet and

even though most of the allegations are still to be proven in court tens of thousands of people have been taking to the street demanding fair elections with marches presidential votes just around the corner events are unfolding quickly where. people want to vote responsibly with the internet where their votes go if you want political competition independent courts and media fooling the voters league is not. the idea was floating in the air the voters league was officially founded in january by a group of journalists bloggers activists reuters and other public figures and states wayne g.d.s. t.v. host and now activist. riteish or the head of a charity fund and blogger. also known. as dr liza. ordinator of the blue buckets movement fighting for equal rights on roads for

everyone. our league is an opportunity to gather people who are not indifferent to what's happening to more people with a similar position there are better the leagues 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 that appeal to another candidate businessman mikhail prokhorov has already struck a deal with the leak you have to go i'm willing to authorize one hundred fifty thousand league observers was also arranged to put together a unified database to keep the check and the election fraud to close 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 critically important not to cross the line and observers not on their position it is serious so for the mutations not to take sides in the political process. the league's founders say they'll shut the organization down if it ever starts turning into a political movement claiming there 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 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 off r t moscow. well there's plenty of news and eye catching videos for you twenty four seven at r.t. dot com that's our website here's what's waiting for you online right now hungry

for power the muslim brotherhood demand egypt's military rulers sack the appointed prime minister and replace him with their own candidate. and c.i. a spy jailed a former engineer from the. military cosmodrome gets thirteen years behind bars for selling secret data on russian intercontinental ballistic missiles to the united states more than that story at r.t. dot com. afghan president hamid karzai has ordered an investigation into a nato air strike that killed eight children on wednesday this comes a week after the united states announced it could all combat operations in afghanistan earlier than expected but this strike could worsen already tense relations between washington amid a mounting civilian death top journalists care of porter thinks that foreign actions are 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 worse 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 part of the taliban response and i would say the single biggest part of the response has been to lay more and more i 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. down pretty from around the world this hour in our world update and first to pakistan where eleven militants have been killed and over a dozen wounded after local security forces fired artillery shells at their

suspected hideouts the crackdown took place in the travel 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 crime since the beginning of the year. a planned strike by police and a low pay could jeopardize next week's the tourist annual carnival spot in the greek pay rise of thirty nine percent over the next two years lauren forces are demanding double similar industrial action in the city of solved also the murder rate double one hundred twenty killed during a nine police strike thousands of soldiers may be deployed in brazil's capital to provide security. germany has delayed signing an international internet copyright law after the justice ministry voiced concerns the anti called known as actor stirred up mass protests across the world that forced. several countries to perspire on its ratification the legislation aims to slash the amount of part of

online content while critics say it would harm freedom of speech. hungry central bank is literally burning money to help keep people warm in europe's deadly cold snap the bank has been pumping d'souza notes into bundles can be burnt by those in need of heat but notes are being provided as a free source of fuel for the past four years the need is particularly great now with hundreds perishing in the conditions across europe over the past few weeks. marrying the person you love and living freely with maybe a basic right in most democratic countries but apparently it's not always the case in israel israeli palestinian families say they face daily discrimination and risk being separated altogether and the country's insistence that it's only protecting national security has few people convinced. 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. just to breathe. and drink and for me it's not the law. but a lot of chooses nonlife because it's where her husband and children live by law they're israeli whereas the rest of her family live across the border in janine palestine. during. what. i have to walk is gone. 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 in gaza or from jordan to actually immigrate to actually leave 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 law the israeli 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 that as a result of the decision of the supreme court that validated upheld the law they

are now living under the tangible 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 degree before having your very clear you are jewish. but in the meantime it threatens to tear families apart as lawn interests you now face the very real danger that they might not be able to continue living together policy r t israel. come up to twenty five minutes past the hour i'll be back with the summer of our main news stories and about five minutes from now in the meantime business next with katie. hello there welcome to the program the business program at this hour gold is losing

value on stronger dollar lifted by fresh worries about the european debt crisis however the sentiment has been generally bullish for the but i am with the price up around ten percent this year while bad words from capitals there's no reason to think of gold bubble is developing and the prospects for the metal are still good. gold is twelve percent off its lows we should just 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 were reported to be fifty and is just short of chief i wasn't dollars and i was now that's been a very consistent run and in many periods over that period of time it's been going up in our currency 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 it's still very very hard charging people think. let's have

a look at the markets now that it's our european stock markets closed in the red after police said it couldn't back the one hundred thirty billion euro a bad deal the country needs to avoid bankruptcy will continue throughout the weekend european finance ministers are now holding back the rescue package demanding the commitments from. moscow the markets closed. just plunge two percent on the minds exhausted more than one percent unifies my thought stock exchange could hold an i.p.o. in the fourth quarter of this if market conditions. on the individual move on the my sex bomb finished i thought of a percent in the as the company's gas exports rose some to some. also which resists the company's net profit reached thirty three million dollars r's jag seventy four

million dollars last year before. goals over. following reports about his fellow tie up with. russia ranks third in the wall for the number of billion as a country where they can comfortably sit back and count on rubles but it seems they might soon have to give a big chunk of their fortunes back with a new robin hood times proposed by the prime minister and presidential candidate. business editor nick poet spies. the promise also helps i do for a luxury tax which was actually on things like super cause. point tricky to get money back from people you you have to do it legitimate you can't just go and empty their bank accounts and this is sort of raise a number of problems this is not going to be a tax on the middle class it's just for this very small minority of stupid wealthy people now it's difficult to generalize about. any population feels but i think it's a safe bet say that they don't really like the tycoons used to call the oligarchs

and taxing them not likely to be a vote loser let's put it that way. and now do stay with us here in the headlines at night.

party life here moscow top stories this hour a split within the ranks of syria's opposition fighters at first they claimed they were behind twin blasts in the country's largest city of aleppo which killed at least twenty eight people but another spokesman denied responsibility just an hour later. thousands of greeks lash out against more planned cuts people are angry because budget sacrifices off the 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 another update in half an hour from now in the meantime capital account with a long list.

good afternoon and welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. here are your headlines for thursday february night italian prime minister technocrat mario monti has been in washington meeting with barack obama today meanwhile greek leaders scraped together a deal on austerity but they may face the same problem arguing about this again three months from now fractures in the e.u. continue to appear as leaders try to keep it together but does any of this matter or does the likelihood of a european disintegration have to do with something else entirely will explain and is the same thing that moves markets moves women ten lines is the same thing driving the dow what drives hollywood producers to make movies like this.