well with. sleep technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. syria's first steps to democratic reform ridiculed by the us as washington stops just shy of labeling president assad a war criminal while allegedly pumping weapons into the water. raging against austerity synchronized protests rattle the e.u. as demonstrators in france spain and greece and the czech republic all rallied against government. policies. charged over the murder of russian journalist anna politkovskaya says the killing may have been orchestrated in london by a fugitive russian businessman and a suspected terrorist. the markets closed up in the

day that the president is going into the market is have all the details in about twenty minutes time. it's good to have you with us here in our. live in moscow a source in the syrian military says the army has now reestablish control over the battle torn city of homs it's also reported various rebel groups that fled the city have been surrounded near the border with lebanon and follows a claim by a senior rebel general that his militia group had been supplied with french and american weapons even anti aircraft missiles on the diplomatic front earlier u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton compared syrian leader bashar al assad. war

criminal but stopped just short of directly making the accusation the latest rhetoric play the reform adopted by syria to make the political process more democratic and give the opposition a voice and as artists where for national now reports from syria there are fears that outside interference is fueling further bloodshed. the voters' doors and windows to a state despite international isolation syria's borders have remained opened and easy to pass through and that may have played a crucial role in the militarization of the country's conflict almost immediately after the crisis began here last march they were reports of weapons being smuggled through to arm president al assad's opponents one thousand dollars for a truck full of weapons capable of delivering wholesale destruction and death that's how much al qaeda will pay to smugglers usually iraqi or lebanese drivers according to ziad ismail chief of the customs service on the border with lebanon.

these people bring weapons here to destroy our nation he tried to kill syrian people in the syrian territory to arm our enemies. syria has more than two thousand kilometers of front here with five states iraq jordan turkey and lebanon the syrian cities where the most violent clashes have taken place homes and there are all over the in our borders a fact that some believe has determine their fate or destiny is. this is one of three checkpoints on the three hundred fifty kilometer syrian lebanese border in the last year as we've been told here there were only three attempts to smuggle weapons across the offices confiscated thousands of bullets dozens of guns and hundreds of kilograms i have little metal pieces like this one used to make a world but the azores is main concern and make little points like this one but parts of the border where there isn't any security at all but here look at this in

the middle of nowhere there is nothing only one road across the road right now and at the same time are crossing the border and i'm already in lebanon. and for the south she remains extremely vulnerable the city of daraa the cradle of the syrian uprising it all started here and it continues to play a role in the country's crisis with the border with jordan just several kilometers away from here and numerous reports suggesting that foreign weapons and troops get is only flow through it has become one of the weakest points in the country's security. the city has become the scene of fierce and bloody clashes at least twice in the conflicts twelve months of history the authorities have claimed that many of the so-called free syrian army have in fact come from across the border. that they appear shoot and kill and then they disappear immediately they arrive from abroad

but they are not from jordan they use this country's border while many of them are from africa. we're showing the weapons allegedly seized in military operations. now. in the army we don't have weapons from israel and america sniper guns and night vision binoculars advanced developed weapons we don't have it in syria this what we confiscated killing innocent people and kill even more. while the international community condemns the regime and supports its opponents many believe all sides in the conflict should be held responsible. and has so many for the russians involved it's clear that the crisis thresh is far beyond these borders regional reports in from syria and still to come just ahead in the program here on are. comparing conflicts. with what they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called palooza the capital of terror as fighting

continues in the syrian city of homs we take a look at the u.s. media's approach to iraq's crisis and for sure that was now ten years ago which saw american soldiers fighting alongside the government and against militant forces. it's a day of mass protests all across the e.u. with tens of thousands rallying against austerity and economic hardship they're being held against the backdrop of brussels insisting the cuts are the only way to financial recovery in paris five major unions organized a massive march to pressure brussels to tone down his austerity stance and instead focus on pro growth policies in the czech capital prague thousands of students are protesting against planned university reforms if passed they would give businesses and politicians unprecedented power of a curriculum and funding and fresh demonstrations are also growing across greece as

the government seeks to implement the drastic austerity measures that came with the latest bailout our correspondent in athens is tom barton he has more. this iconic building behind me it's not become an icon for particularly good reasons but in that fretful parliament behind me and in the streets around that have been so full of ferment a day of protests today not a surprise a lot of people across the country in public sector unions there are doctors out on the street at the moment and there's also a lot of words a lot of alarmist words for a financial words that didn't used to mean a lot that is suddenly taking on very serious meanings indeed one of them the d. word default and today a later on today a meeting of the international swaps and derivatives association which sounds boring could turn out to be very important indeed it may decide that the greek government is not capable of paying out and that essentially means that technically

greece will have defaulted which is exactly the kind of financial disaster the government has been trying to avoid all this time yesterday the greek government force through very painful cuts i spoke to a pretty federation police chief who is protesting yesterday normally the people trying to stop protesters and he said this could force our entire service out of business this is this is meaning that my colleagues are struggling to put food on the table really really serious messages here and a feeling of exhaustion after two years of austerity after all of these painful cuts it seems that life is only going to get worse here whether inside the euro zone or not the message here is please this is enough. oh he's tom barton reporting right well meantime in spain people are angry at their government's deep cuts in the effect they're having on their own bleak future prospects that's

a students and teachers are out in force rallying against the strong impact austerity has so far out on education r.t. sara firth is in madrid where crowds have gathered to voice their frustration. well the students have gathered at this. the protests are expected to continue for a while you can see groups of the students sitting around here we've been speaking to them they said the focus is to keep this demonstration peaceful but they want to get the point across that they're not going to extend these spending cuts affecting public services such as their education they feel it is unfair that a point when the country is on the brink of another recession that that being asked to pay for the debts and they say the price that they're being asked to pay is simply too high that it's their future is a risk speaking to the people here they will tell you exactly what it's like to be a student in a country that right now has more than forty nine percent of the u.s. unemployed that sixteen to twenty four age bracket really struggling i mean it's

a very bleak picture this being painted for them as the government continues to introduce these spending cuts will tell you that really they feel that they're being punished years and years of government waste and that the debt now is being dumped on them and they're being to pay for this with their futures really very very concerned about what the future holds of them and indeed around the country you can see evidence of years of this government waste as we've been finding out lifeless and empty welcome to one of spain's so-called ghost towns these are supposed to be life in your apartment blocks in the town a sustained year when the crisis started. the real estate bubble failed. and of course companies started going bankrupt and the whole of the whole economy blew up these apartments and knowing by the banks that have resulted to selling them off a cup prices to try to entice in the buyer is big billboards announce the bargains

and you won't have any trouble with noisy neighbors because well there will be many . such low prices these are going to fill up quickly and with very young people looking to buy one for our son or. we are going to yes i think so. because it's very cheap elsewhere in the country and there's no hiding the pools the flamboyant but unnecessary building projects all that have cost the taxpayer billions but given listen. it's a legacy of government waste. the government's recently changed with the country now my is an economic crisis asking people to pay back through. money that was wasted by the government has caused widespread anger and brought people into the streets hundreds of thousands. it's crazy that cost one hundred eighty billion euros and it's empty no one is working there. no flights

. the cheap prices might be able to breathe much needed life into the area everything can be fixed with clever marketing many people in the country now feel that the banks and the government selling off not just the nice houses but their peaches as well as like the sonia on unique all across spain right now you see these large areas of new build homes now left hopelessly abandoned the sign some say that the country often described as too big to fail already had. the time to send. and in the next hour we talk to a spanish economist about just how close to collapse the euro zone's fourth largest economy is and whether or not its future even lies within the block. well he went on r t o just a few minutes in the program that of a revenge wave of arrests in europe and south america see

a quick response from online activists find out how a notorious group struck back at interpol. and russia's presidential hopefuls lot of money putin says the opposition in the country is rocking the boat ahead of the election and called on every political power to be cautious. a russian fugitive a tycoon and a suspected terrorist both living in the u.k. may be linked to the murder of celebrated a russian journalist and political and the revelation comes from a former russian police official currently on trial and charged with masterminding the killing laura smith now reports on the latest twist in the case. the man who is making these allegations is a man called colonel dmitri. who is charged with organizing the killing of an appellate court he is a former senior police official he is supposed to have planned that killing but the

people who he say ordered it now are bodies but it's the oligarch who is living in london akhmed zakayev who is a suspected terrorist who is also living in london now russia has requested the extradition of these two people on numerous occasions. on charges of terrorism on charges of fraud now that extradition has never been granted by britain and what. this former senior police official is saying is that politkovskaya who of course was a prominent journalist and it's believed that it was just journalism that in fact in particular revelations of human rights offenses in chechnya what public jenkins is saying is that politkovskaya quarrels with. that is all ski in london and that that is what led to that essentially ordering. now lots of people have been

arrested for having organized the killing but nobody has so far had the finger pointed at them ordering it so this could be a key development but certainly particularly for betty is obviously this is not the first time that his name has come up in connection with the murder of public it's come up lots of times before. laura smith reporting right there where you can track the entire course of the political trial just by logging on to our website on t.v. dot com let's see what other stories are just a click away for you right now europe's political exodus recalls twenty seven ambassadors from fellow rules as a diplomatic fallout between the country and the union grow. bringing destruction. from above scientists warn the earth may need to protect itself against a giant comit could smash into our planet in the year two thousand and forty check out the chances of that team talk.

about quarter past the hour here in moscow groups known simply as anonymous claims were brought down the international criminal police organizations website it crashed shortly after interpol announced the arrest of twenty five hijackers in spain and latin america as a part of the agency's operation mosque. has more on the latest battle in an ongoing cyber war interpol it said the twenty five allegedly members of the anonymous online hacking activist group or hacktivist group were taken into their custody right after their own website was attacked now right after the announcement was made their own web site again failed to load an act on a bus a wrote on their twitter feed not that the message interpol adown so there are speculations that this is their response to these reports of arrests and this police action is just the latest in a more in a bigger operation that intergovernmental and police operations hoping to crack

down on the activities of a non of us in recent months we've seen a certain bills so call the sofa people and act are all arguing in favor of protecting intellectual property rights however this man made a lot of people angry had polarized opinion saying that passing such bills will actually infringe on the seat of my speech as long as the openness of the internet these are precise precisely the issues that anonymous claims to be fighting for but at the end of the day such arrests again will not stop their activities they repeated several times in the past that no arrests can be made on ideas. reporting want to get firsthand information on the ongoing anonymous raids on u.s. government websites just head over to r.t. dot com that's where one of the group's members spoke to us shortly after they shut down the cia and f.b.i. sites discussions are available twenty four seven online.

he is coming here live from moscow a presidential candidate vladimir putin has warned russians of likely provocation by the opposition and called on the country's political forces to stay calm ahead of the weekend's poll. has the details on what the prime minister had to say. just days remaining before all of russia goes to the polling stations something certainly concern of the prime minister specially given the fact that some forces some political forces in russia have already started preparing for the protest action after the election night even given the fact that the election itself has not happened yet by that i mean the words of one of the key opposition figures and the very popular blog in russia who said openly in an interview to

a russian channel that he supported the ass collation of the conflict that he supported the growth of the protest force and that i quote one day people will take to the streets and will not leave the end of the quote also we know that the opposition has been giving out tends to the population that is certainly in some way replicate the scenario of two thousand and four in ukraine the so-called orange revolution and definitely these things warry the prime minister who reflected on that in rather a rather stern warning saying that the people these people the opposition would go to any deaths to provoke serious violence to provoke some serious problem to happen after the election that is probably they would even regular votes and try to be in that only your thought they would even go as far as killing somebody as the prime minister said and then try to pin it on the authorities on the ruling on the wrong party and those that power so definitely we're in for some turbulent days before

and after the election and certainly our extensive coverage will be everywhere in moscow in all of russia to bring the latest details to all of us. reporting right there let's get to the r.t. world update for you some other international headlines in brief james murdoch the son of media baron rupert murdoch has stepped down as executive chairman of news international he says he's leaving his position to focus on the company's global t.v. business and the organization has been under scrutiny since it was. revealed that one of its newspapers the news of the world had been hacking phones to get stories the paper was forced to shut down in july. dozens of protesters from the far right serbian a radical party have gathered in belgrade to rally against membership of the european union the demonstrators march to the office of the country's pro europe president that of boris tadic and was stopped by police and comes a day after the e.u. foreign ministers recommended serbia should become

a candidate to join up but the party says it's gathered more than two hundred thousand signatures of those opposed to any trace. let's go back to our top story now here on out see that of the ongoing crisis in syria now the world's media flooded with stories and images allegedly depicting the bloody results of the syrian army's assault on the city of homs but few have compared the clashes to the mass in fallujah iraq which happened now nearly ten years ago it's all u.s. troops fighting alongside the government against the rebels should warn you that upcoming in the special report you may find some of the images disturbing. well they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called the capital of tear different conflicts that share more in common than actually meets the eye now each is the third largest city and its country in each the site of a bloody urban war one of them now in history books the other still raging as we

speak now in homes as in fallujah poorly armed insurgents faced off against the superior military well equipped soldiers armed with mortar snipers tanks and airpower and in both cases officials claims that only heavy handed force could bring peace blaming the violence on criminals and terrorists here's a chief military spokesman for the u.s. forces in iraq we will hunt down the criminals we will kill them we will capture them and we will pressure for the future and here is syrian president bashar al assad. what the priority now is to rejoin security which our country has enjoyed for decades this can only be achieved by using the terrorists with an iron hand because there will be no leniency for those who are using weapons to kill well civilians now in both countries that hired hands targeted a sunni muslim opposition in wars that took on increasingly sectarian tones if illusia us forces and the shia iraqi troops were seen as infidels in syria their

religious wrath is aimed at assad's alawite forces. some disparaging comments salah white monkeys satanic troops those are just some of the many slurs now amid the violent clashes gut wrenching images like these showing the human toll of war streets littered with bodies of the wounded not to mention those of the dead but this is where the similarities and civilians did suffer most in both wars and yet the stories of pollution innocents remain largely untold most reporters in two thousand and four were embedded with the u.s. troops today the few who do sneak into syria often stick with the rebels and the difference in the coverage is well self-evident americans hate the military the american. army more of them by actually doing during

the main hospital and locked in a key group they need help from the outside world medicine the most basic supplies witnessed acts of uncommon valor from the u.s. soldiers are always with protesters fearless protesters really. now those who dared show images of the civilian casualties in fallujah were often dismissed as propaganda their viewers even got the following advice from the pentagon. change the channel to a legitimate authoritative all honest news station the accusations from the syrian government are eerily similar. today lies in the media have gone beyond common sense some television channels have launched a profession. now it is often said that perception forms reality and nowhere does this ring more true than in syria and iraq in one battle the press told the story of the besiegers in the other that of the besieged and in both cases

it would seem it's the truth that suffered most. of r.t. washington. for it so let's get on to the latest closing figures now in the russian markets ok he's standing by the business desk good to see you so what was the driving sentiment today that well the top news today was the european central bank they've a lot almost five hundred billion year interest loans into the blocks banking system it is actually the second three. refinance operation by the e.c.b. the first round took place last december when banks borrowed almost four hundred ninety. is the extra funds are to make banks stronger and in carson to loan money to businesses and consumers but. capital believes the move will give only a short term the polls. you don't solve a problem by increasing your levels of. levy short constraints in the money

markets and short term funding constraints. address the longer term problem and for that we need growth and we need measures taken so that if there is growth in the debt levels are reduced accordingly but if you can on the situation within the eurozone worsens especially for the stronger countries then it's likely that we could see another round of. funding coming back into the markets. and to the markets you have is high at this hour german stocks are advancing for a second day after the e.c.b. decision that we were talking about over in the u.s. that wall street has managed to open up in positive territory on the back of positive news coming from europe to russia the markets and they closed up in the last with the presidential election drawing near experts say we're seeing a sort of presidential rally during foreign investors to the markets and on to the move is energy benefiting from stronger all prices to. managed to finish high on

news net income jumped fifty five percent to a record billion dollars last year was higher was moved from europe current says so we'll see how the exchange rates go to only can see that the euro is a low against the dollar after the offer from the e.c.b. now the variable is losing value against the greenback despite strong crude prices as for oil itself it's heading for the best month since. china has signed a contract to buy electricity from russia for another quarter of a century saussy from this year the amount of electricity deliveries to the asian neighbors are all double and much thanks to a newly built power transmission line between the countries. so for now i'll be back in about fifty five minutes time and then for more market business and finance with me.

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