washington's a teligent services reportedly concluded iran is not building a nuclear weapon america's main news outlets refused to drop anti iranian scaremongering. at less than a fortnight before russians choose a new president the front runners face of flooding the streets of london we tell you why. big money and inflated egos as russian banks start paying out the annual bonuses the top manages but the central bank in russia is taking steps to limit excessive basements one doesn't twenty minutes of business up to. five pm in moscow i match president good to have you with us here on our team our top story the friends of syria gathering designed to find a solution to the country's crisis could instead be used to push for military intervention and israeli website known for its links to intelligence sources say

the western led meeting serves as a means to bypass moscow and beijing as u.n. security council vetoes the site also suggest the pentagon is thrashing out an operation planned expected to get the go ahead from president obama similar procedures apparently underway in other western capitals russia and china refusing to attend the friends of syria talks i want to further tighten the screws on the assad regime and which are due to start shortly in tunisia moscow says the group's biased by ignoring the role of the armed opposition fighters in the bloodshed a view shared by many within syria as artie's maria financial reports. the meeting of the countries calling themselves friends of syria raised many questions before it even started why would iran seventy arab and western nations get into nature has been a mystery till the last moment. if they are real friends they should not think about economic sanctions that really affect syrian people and a negative way. i hope the arabs will play

a role in mediating dialogue between the opposition and the government but it's become clear that none of these issues will make it onto the meetings agenda our priority is to facilitate the humanitarian the delivery of the humanitarian assistance and we have some proposal on the table to prepare. the best way to deliver this assistance as quick as possible. the u.n. estimates about six thousand deaths in fierce clashes between the government forces and the armed opposition with the humanitarian situation described as a catastrophe allowing aid to get in and immediate cease fire are key points of the friends of syria ultimatum package but some claim the friends have an ulterior motive so this meeting serves as a media campaign to cover up the frequent setbacks with western countries headed by the us have suffered in the intervention in the syrian issue it is trying to find a new way of intervention from the outside. to force assad to go is on the agenda

of the friends gathering they want a political price and they want to if i see two different states that makes the country political position because he is important then. to his. plan against syria but all behave of democracy have of the. china and russia still among the few countries in dialogue with the assad regime have refused to attend. has been invited to participate in the tunisian summit none of the government representatives were invited that means the interests of a large portion of the population will not be represented in this case i doubt that this conference will aid and nationwide dialogue on ways to resolve the internal crises. a regime making war on its own people families suffering in cities under siege

a nation brought to the brink of chaos we cannot allow the obstruction of a few countries to stop the world community from coming to the aid of the syrian people and as with all of them want to start a war against syria known as yet ready the only side that could do that is nato and even they are not ready the syrian national council is now. the they gather to unify pressure in efforts to get justification for an operation in a mosque at a given need to go into news it is a meeting of any musical friends surprisingly enough an internet search of the friends of syria reviews a totally different community this web site claims to reveal the truth and collects evidence of anti government activity among series enemies are the country's name in themselves friends friends of syria get together across the sea to thrash out this solution to the conflict many here wonder if they're on syria's will really benefit the people on the ground or is it

a case of with friends like these who needs enemies marie notion of the moscow's syria the coalition of states meeting later today in tunisia is reportedly going to recognize the syrian national council as a legitimate representative of syrians seeking peaceful democratic change the opposition group is based outside the country earlier analyst abraham aleutian told r.t. it's being used to stir up a civil conflict you can call it the meeting for the friends of the united states or the enemies of syria but you cannot call it a meeting for the friends of syria this meeting is supposed to enhance the legitimacy of the syrian national council and that the same time legitimize from outside the bondy's of the u.n. security council especially after the veto that was pressed by russia and china so i think this is a free for an intervention which need not be that it might be militarily as at this

is now in the sense of lending support to the armed gangs and the streets of syria now the syrian national council the exile in opposition is allowed is when it comes to foreign military intervention how in touch is it with the situation on the ground and what influence does it have within the country. well if somebody is giving you billions of dollars smuggling arms and providing political cover for the crimes that you're committing within a country then certainly you will have some impact on the ground the question has is that sort of empire helping stabilize or destabilize syria and i think the obvious answer is that they are these stabilizing syria and they are doing that not in the end of peace and syria but in the interest of ferment things civil war that is unfolding right now before our eyes. another country in the string of arab

revolutions is preparing to inaugurate a new leader this week's presidential election in yemen is a very much a foregone conclusion only one candidate's name was on the ballot even so washington held it as a step forward in yemen's democratic transition artie's cross talk at three thirty pm g.m.t. discusses what's behind the u.s. support. one of the reasons why the u.s. state department congratulated the yemeni people on the election is because the united states will continue to use drones and fighting the. elements of al qaeda in the country there and states of course is interested in stability and instability and in a strong government figure that they can crush al qaida the problem is is that yemenis don't like strong government by anybody like their independence and. al-qaeda has wanted you know. is taking advantage of this resentment to gain support among certain tribal leaders and the but but at the same time the popular

pro-democracy movement. the fuse united states all this in this chaos is going to strengthen ironically weakened al-qaeda because many people who might have been prone to support that kind of opposition are realizing hey there's more power in massive nonviolent action than there is in terrorism. russia's presidential election just around the corner but you won't find many pictures of the front runner on moscow's billboards lot of mir putin's campaign is relying on the recognition he's already achieved but it's a different story abroad images of putin have appeared throughout london promoting a new book or he's laura smith cagers the growing interest in russia's prime minister. russians a used to seeing putin in all manner of surroundings not only in top level meetings also out in the wilderness and even singing to a hollywood a list crowd. but

there are always new heights to scale and you currently find him looming large on a london icon the double decker bus. is coming it proclaims so may find the wording of the advert slightly sinister but it's all to do with a new book which analyzes putin the man not the politician the books the result of a six year collaboration between a british author and russian journalist alexander. put in is probably the most interesting political from in the world at the moment and yes the right people who feel him be violent towards the rebels who love him or those who do but the most important thing is that sort of. can see that they don't. although as it turned out that wasn't quite true you know it's about it might be desperate or russia

to name. those you probably appreciate you supposing the russian. i don't know but. i mean it's a russian back you got it the authors say friday's book release isn't connected to next month's election in russia but it does come hot on the heels of two separate british documentaries involving putin one a look at the controversial political youth group nationally and the other a critically acclaimed to full part counter through relations with the west during his twelve years at the top there will be the world's attention on him again and people want to know is this a man we've seen before or is he changing. can he face the new judges and how does the recent purchase movement affect his politics and his outlook having his face. help you say this russ is prepared to go to the polls but love him. since

reputation is russ's strong man should be imagination have to make it and all things him in the u.k. and elsewhere whether it's in sydney it's an open question numerous mentality that will stay with us here on r.t. just ahead after spending the better part of two years behind bars america's military whistleblower is finally charged a us soldier facing life in prison for turning over classified documents to wiki leaks is the wrong guy in the docs a attorneys more in a few minutes. the u.s. intelligence community is ruling out suggestions that iran is creating a nuclear bomb the l.a. times reports sixteen special service agencies all reached the same conclusion but it's not making an impact on america's main news outlets as artie's marine

important i explain that many remain hooked on painting tehran as a bomb making bogeyman. in the u.s. capitol of media and messages one particular story a unilateral strike keeps spinning round and round iran could attack the united states in a much more fearsome way iran a hypothetical national security threat growing more dangerous by the day that new york could eventually be on iran's hit list we have to assume that hezbollah would be the proxy for iran and will carry out the attack as assumptions about iran's potential plan of mass destruction floods us mainstream media more cops an automatic weapons are flooding specific areas of the big apple the new york city police department increased security around israeli government facilities and synagogues last week amid growing tension over tehran's nuclear program however the n.y.p.d. says it has not received any specific threat related to iraq upping the ante

a u.s. senator has called on federal agents to quote increased scrutiny and vigorously monitor the iranian mission to united nations but as politicians police officers and most mainstream journalists perpetuate a terrifying scenario for new york city officials in washington have thrown a wrench in this armageddon theme type news narrative by stating the facts about iran there are surrogates who are revelations of a much less threatening tehran was recently disclosed during intelligence briefings the agency assesses iran isn't likely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict they continue to develop their enrichment capability but the intelligence does not show but they've made a decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon. many experts have labeled iran america's new iraq critics then and now say washington paves the path and corporate media plugs the message

was iraq. you know. again it doesn't matter if you go around amused by some of the bush administration it's some strategy it's like all well there might be things but only your the no no the into everything so well no it's not really credible don't know who's it's mccain i'm addicted to jack up is what always goes well when you combine all the characters together that you get is a meeting with everyone to impede the march to it will be critical in scrutinize it but instead few have engendered on the bandwagon and you see it time and time again and we're seeing it again now with according to recent polls americans consider tehran to be the u.s. is top enemy and nearly half of all citizens support a military strike against iran is a. living factor in human beings it's necessary for evolution there is a closer look at these media reports and this constant drumbeat of the designs of

piety and now you have to tell that if you don't actually really i mean we're going to sure marina porter r.t. new york. i mean you can find more on all our stories at our tea dot com for what's the real picture of what's happening in your world here's what's a click away right now. their reality of relativity why i celebrated theory of lightspeed travel wins the first round is big bang scientists and botch an attempt to prove the genius wrong. and why the ice not so nice for these rare pelicans whose food has been a frozen out by the late cold snap your forte on the race to save the birds on our website.

the u.s. soldier accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to . wiki leaks has declined to enter a plea at his arraignment bradley manning's already spent nineteen months in custody but only just been charged he could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty of aiding the enemy one of twenty two charges against him hundreds of top u.s. lawyers have been voicing their anger believing the conditions manning has endured amounted to torture many think a fair trial is now impossible after president obama remarked the whistle blower had broken the walk the next hearing set for march fifteenth attorney kevin zeese from the come home america group thinks the wrong person may be standing trial. well this is a case of very low level classified documents in fact there's questions as to whether they should be classified at all we have to also realize that one. released the pentagon papers those are very high level secrets and even those were not releasing any national security information that should have been kept secret all

we're finding out from even the highest level secret of the pentagon papers in the lowest level secrets and meetings accused of is. unethical behavior misbehavior by the u.s. foreign by u.s. foreign policy were showing how corporations and the government were closer together the support corporate profit rather than public interest were showing all sorts of inappropriate behavior by people like surgery say clinton who ordered us to them as to spy on u.n. officials when they came to meetings in the united nations that's the legal yet she's not being prosecuted manning who is accused of the century telling the truth is being prosecuted facing life in prison while people who commit war crimes and other crimes are not being prosecuted at all. turns out of some other stories making headlines across the globe taliban suicide bombers targeted a police headquarters in northwest pakistan killing four officers injuring six others armed with assault rifles and remains it's thought the attack was to avenge

the recent death of a militant commander in a u.s. drone strike this a day after a car bomb tore through a bus station on the outskirts of peshawar killing thirteen people the city's been frequently targeted by militants in recent years. germany's withdraw its troops early from a hopeless outpost in northern afghanistan in the protests over burning copies of the qur'an at a us air base earlier to nato servicemen were killed by an afghan soldier in what's thought to be a revenge attack and weeks protests have claimed at least eleven lives left dozens injured president obama sent a letter of apology to afghan president hamid karzai saying religious books were destroyed by mistake. at a rally in front of the chinese embassy in seoul is pushing for the release of a group of north korean defectors being held in china south korean m.p.'s earlier adopted a resolution calling on beijing to stop deporting north koreans back to their homeland the group of thirty four were arrested earlier this month but human rights activists fear for their safety if they're forced to leave the rule. as said for

the main news this hour business up next with dmitri stay with us. thanks matt a bank funded exclusively by emerging nations is being discussed by the brics group of nations brazil russia india china and south africa suffered as western lenders pulled out billions of dollars in the wake of the credit crunch the brics bank would fund infrastructure projects in those states the fastest growing economic bloc in the world also counterweight the dominance of the i.m.f. and the world bank which have always been headed by politicians from europe and the u.s. . it's bank bonus season that annual right of big money and even bigger egos for the party may be over in the russian banking sector the country's central bank is taking steps to avoid excessive payments it will make the fees depend on the

lenders financial performance and that's just the beginning reward systems will also figure in a lender ratings and the future of the regulator also wants to fix the bankers salaries the other half being performance based richard hanes work from the rating agency risk rating explains what's behind the move. russia is trying to harmonize its regulations with regulations that are in other parts of the world so harmonization of all regulators is something beneficial it does create an environment in which all buy has a paid in a fairly regular fashion and that may help. some of the smaller banks in the medium banks to compete with the very large russian banks staying with the story angus campbell from london capital group explains how

similar measures are already making a european bank is more responsible. we're seeing a huge change in banking on the way it works the investment banking arms have had a huge overhaul they have not only been subject to huge job losses but increased regulations they have to build up their capital requirements the risks they are taking at the moment are much more considered much less the risks are. certainly not as big as they used to be in the past and that is changing the way banks currently work potentially my in the long run make them less profitable but as long as they're safe that can be a good thing so we're already seeing changes to the way banks work and we will continue to see that going forward. so you look at the markets we start with

commodities oil is rising for the seventh day it's the longest winning streak since january twenty ninth us weekly government reports of showed a smaller than expected a rise in the trees and therefore investors birth of the fuel demand make mine as u.s. jobless claims held a four year low and german business confidence surpassed forecasts we're seeing right now is light sweet still over one hundred eight dollars per barrel brand in that almost one hundred and twenty four. european markets are keeping hold of their gains shares in british bank lloyds rose and early trading of this by the firm reporting a net loss of almost four point four billion dollars largely due to a provision for compensation customers are paying protection insurance and the banks also warned of a tough year to come its shares are still up. by just not one percent the dax is free quarters of a percent higher. in russia one more hour and twenty minutes to go. for the end of

the session it looks like a record breaking one up four point four percent of my sixty three point two five traditionally the market is moved by positive sentiment coming over from the commodities market from the european markets gazprom is up three point six percent on higher well prices financial shares are very strong up three point six percent it has the highest volumes right now the metal sector is also seeing gains on high commodities although it's a change of fortunes for sevastopol this point reports his plan to expand in southeast asia to meet the group will from vienna investment research tells us what to look out for in that industry. i think we'll see. relatively illiquid trading we'll see. the investors looking for interesting ideas for we had a couple of headlines. by by young blokes where the couple had was all the

advertising marketing people will be focusing on the interest tory look younger. so interesting but overall i think we'll see a lot of preposition for the election i don't expect this position to be very aggressive and people will be carrying a lot of page people we are looking for ways to trim exposure in the less liquid names. also in other news russia's largest internet company e-mailed or are you as a voter the fifty three percent increase in earnings for the second half of twenty eleven now it's one of the from attracting new users and selling premium services however it expects a slowdown in growth this year for new similar forecasts by russia's rival yandex to. coming back to the markets take a look at the exchange rates the euro is still slightly higher versus the dollar this by concerns that rising oil prices could deal of a blow to the fragile. economy but we are now seeing

a strengthening of the ruble by forty five copecks which is one of the hoff percent versus the greenback and it's also now strengthening versus the euro and this is on the back of stronger commodities. message just to be very diversified because there is essentially a battle of which is the least ugly of the ugly major currencies and they're all pretty ugly so the euro has got a lot of structural problems we're all aware of until there's a real fiscal integration and united states has a long term big structural challenges on its debts but we think the u.s. dollar looks much more attractive than the euro over the next six months at least. if you're in a jug you are in a big country side house in russia be ready to pay more taxes the country's economic ministry has unveiled the terms of a new luxury duty which could be introduced as soon as next year it will apply to real estate starting from one thousand square meters and to cause with a capacity of two hundred fifty horsepower and over economics ministry says it

shouldn't apply to more than ten percent of russian citizens also no details on how high the rates will be. all right for more business news you can always log on to our website forward slash business or join me in around fifty five minutes i'll be here with an update the headlines are next on our.

well. to keep the looking glass at what will be the homes of the future where the walls might just be smarter than the residence every day trash protects you from the elements outside and the whole system works to save you. shine a spotlight on the latest building projects all around brush up technology here on r.g.p. . the central. thank

you. i think. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized

everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. of. the. blind in russia soon which brightened if you mean about song from phones to christians. whose friends don't talk t.v. don't come. five thirty pm in moscow these are your arty.