[000:00:00;00] please please . nancy austerity protests sweeping across europe as thousands demand an alternative to severe cuts in countries from debt ridden greece to belgium and that's where a key edu summit is taking place this. new international envoy to syria kofi annan val's to attempt launching dialogue between the syrian government and the opposition meanwhile the army will quote cleanse a rebel stronghold in the city of homs where the authorities claim that terrorists are. also the case of

a palestinian detainee and hunger strike widespread attention to israel's controversial detention policy holding palestinians without official charge or try . and interpret the russian protests with the presidential election just around the corner we give an overview of what exactly is driving people to the streets. it's good to have you with us today this is our life in moscow. greece continues its race for cash as the parliament approves the latest reforms needed to please international creditors but a painful bill reduces health care services as well as cutting pharmaceutical spending and as the lawmakers rush to fulfill promises made to get the second bailout anger grows among the greeks who called themselves quote captives of the

economic crisis and as i reports message echoes or across europe. in belgium protests saying austerity cuts have gone too far in cities all across france and especially big demonstration in paris with the same message thousands of students on the streets in spain wanting to reverse cuts in education spending there and huge demonstrations in portugal spain and portugal people they're really feeling the pinch share as their governments try to balance budgets and cut spending that's left them it really exposed to this debt crisis and no more so than here in greece in the parliament behind me lawmakers have once again sat late into the night having to really make savage cuts to their spending all across the sectors of the economy twenty two percent cuts in the minimum wage has been made

thirty two percent if you're under twenty five in greece and half of greeks under twenty five are employed we've seen doctors coming out in a twenty four hour walkout massive cuts made to health care spending and to pharmaceutical spending there's many more examples everywhere you look in the economy lawmakers are having to take very painful steps to try and force greek government spending down all of this linked to the one hundred thirty billion euros second bailout that's being dangled in front of greece's nose here there's a real human impact to all of these economic measures greeks are being forced onto the streets just like people in spain in portugal in italy in france in belgium all with the same message these austerity measures are having a really harsh human cost no. well i mean time lawyer and professor of

constitutional law georgia. says what's happening on the streets of europe shows that greece can no longer be singled out. more pain no gain for the good people of this of. the expansion or for that is this not so good people clearly that the goose is not an exceptional county it is not the great basin of europe it is it is in a way the mirror of the future of the rest of you look at european people look at is used to these experiments of newly released gives us an experiment of the most extreme measures of the pentagon's of the markets merely a problem is that the action of the people does not get closely to the club viable political argument with the opposition is fragmented become not geared to manage the two construct. open and give but i have hope for the future because peace movement of people from below i'm sure that we are good to put in the political

foreground new political powers. and these latest protests are placed on the eve of the e.u. summit starting today and ahead of the meeting the e.u. commission president jose manuel barroso admitted that sacrifices are being made on an on basis as are things that are silly and our reports from brussels aside from public anger there are also major divisions among the politicians themselves. that's a day's the start of a two day summit leaders are expected to sign a fiscal stability agreed upon after december ninth it's an agreement a new budgetary rules are expected to be strictly adhered to now all but two of the e.u. countries the czech republic of the u.k. are expected to sign on to this agreement the eurozone summit is not going ahead because of the sticking point between germany and the rest there are growing calls for the european stability mechanism this is the permanent bailout fund that would

put into place in july for its increased profits of the current five hundred billion euros by adding on to what is left of the some of the. two hundred fifty billion euros for the money has been used for bailout for portugal and are with putting it all together would make seven hundred fifty billion euro zone over germany is now willing to agree to this i'm just going saying they have. to do so and it's also as willing to increase its share its contribution to any of the parts that's also been reported that you will find us ministries and we need to go ahead of the summit and will discuss to see if it has met with this is needed for it to get its one hundred thirty billion euro bailout the second one of its kind. there is one e.u. nation planning to lend a helping hand to struggling economies. because you report there you see discuss what law is behind the seemingly friendly gesture for now

a preview for. the german government is prepared to send one hundred sixty financial experts to greece to help the country overhaul its tax collection well actually this is the british math of imperialism they would send people to help the poor indians they would send people in to missionize and help the kenyans you know this is the method of colonization it's one not that it's you don't have to send of the tanks there are no turning because this is a financial war and a credit default swap and the derivatives are the blitz they destroyed greece with naked credit default swaps paulson lloyd blankfein of goldman sachs think they destroyed great that another scarfing up and serving it up to the germans who were going to lowball raj we're going to be managing these poor schmucks down there in athens while they get ready to invade spain tenderizing spain they're going to

help spain oh excuse me they're getting ready to help spain. because reporters next hour here on our t.v. stay with us for that finale syria is experiencing one of the harshest days of fighting since the uprising began almost one year ago troops loyal to the regime are thought to be cleansing the city of homs seen as the main stronghold of the opposition against president assad the rebels claim they are holding out against the assault which the government says is aimed at tackling armed gangs and terrorists let's get the legs on us now from our he's written off an ally for us and syria close becoming on the program today but as we all know holmes has been the scene of a fierce clashes between the regime's forces and the opposition certainly in the past few weeks but it looks now the situation is reaching a pivotal point doesn't it. yes rory the latest we're hearing from holmes is that

the army has entered the town to try to regain control over its security forces and now read in the houses as they say in search of minutes and whack plans well indeed you're absolutely right this city has been scene of have be clashes between the opposition forces and the authorities for a month now and activists have been claiming about hundreds of people killed in the government shelling while the government itself has been saying and insisting all the time that they are fighting against armed terrorist groups groups operating in the area and while the size of the forewards going on actually people it's very hard to confirm the exact number of victims but. the fact is that people are dying and dying every day in the besieged city of ho north of the capital damascus meanwhile the international community is very much concerned about what's going on . pinions on what to do and what kind of solution may stop the violence here in

syria are divided some are backing the idea of arming the rebels while others are still calling on dialogue the joint. e.u. and airplane voice of syria coffee and says he'll soon be heading to the country and the goal of his mission will be to stop the violence to. negotiate a humanitarian access to the areas hit by the clashes and to try to get both sides together to try to to start the dialogue between to initiate a dialogue between the sides being involved in this. conflict meanwhile the raw fear is. rising that. the dialogue idea is not in line with the for any calls to give arms to the rabble we've been hearing recently saudi arabia and qatar have been saying that arming the opposition fire. this is an

excellent idea and also the arab league has been talking that if the violence there is a stop so in syria. military solution could be a very good option in case of syria meanwhile we are hearing from the free syrian army here on the ground as well that they've already received weapons from u.s. and military sources particularly. anti aircraft missiles and at the same time we are hearing that during this recent operation in homes the army has detained french french officers local media we don't know actually details of this operation but local media is reporting that these people have been into a gate and they've claimed that they've been kept they've been taken taken captive by opposition fighters but they haven't specified. mission i

mean the goal of their mission here on the ground why they're here in the meanwhile as i've said the international community is divided and about. what how possible solutions to the crisis here in syria and u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has said that first that. her government lacks a clear understanding of the syrian opposition and she spoke out against the opposition saying that it could be dangerous and this weapons may eventually and in his hands . so you know we're just getting news in here from the hague that the british embassy has closed in syria withdrawing all diplomatic staff for security reasons so if you keep us posted on that all she's worth a lot and i live in a bus just like you. meantime a camille or truck chee a contributing editor with syria comment online magazine says the desire of some foreign states to push for president assad's departure i'm

a kofi annan mediating mission to syria by sending kofi annan who accepted is almost a friend to us negotiated on many things. trying to be a little bit more friendly than if you know. we'll see if that opens the door but they think oh no they're not you have qatar and saudi arabia state wanting to arm the opposition rather than to talk to present us of the end of the day syria is too big to fail it's not a lebanon we can afford to have there been for years to i cannot imagine them being able to live with scales in syria so they would try to increase the temperature for the regime that will send more arms even if it goes to say that it's now missed for a while i think that was right. and i later today here on our team former u.s. attorney general ramsey clark oh he'll be sharing what he believes is behind the continued violence in syria or whatever and if you will just over fifteen minutes

time right here. israel is under fire from human rights groups for its controversial policy of holding suspected palestinian militants indefinitely without charge the issue drew international attention after a palestinian man was left clinging to life following a sixty six day a hunger strike against his own controversial imprisonment with details on this now our teams go investigate. other laws wife wishes she could forget the day she was arrested but it's a memory the just want to feed. the soldiers came to our house around to my husband out of the bathroom and let him away there were many of them only guards they all acted like animals. israeli authorities have already arrested hundred eighty times before believing him to be active within the palestinian islamic jihad a group israel regards as terrorist hundred nine was put under administrative

detention trial and no charges being brought a practice widely used by israel in prisons like this one that hundreds of palestinians are being held suspected of terrorism but accused of not doing their prison can last for years with no formal charges being brought against them the detention can last up to six months but there is no limit on how many times it can be renewed at the moment more than three hundred palestinians are in the street of detention during the height of the second intifada uprising just over a decade ago thousands were put in jail without trial many of them youths bloke of their aziz who was just sixteen when he was arrested. or used to frighten us terrified by screaming launch labels pushing us and forcing us to the ground they keep us in cells for two or three months in order to take advantage of force we were so frightened. of three young person who suddenly finds himself in jail israel insists it's doing nothing wrong

a little slow sorry to protect informers identities but human rights groups both here and abroad beg to differ slightly give not only is extreme but also because israeli authorities applied all too liberally towards postilions it's one of the basic moral principles that we you know that our society founded on that if you deny a person's right to freedom you have to have a very good case and you have to have a trial and you have to defend themselves against these accusations. when palestinians are placed under administrative detention they're not told what they're suspected of there is no charge and there's no trial as long as family now awaits his really silly parole. officers you never know what it's like with hunger strikes it could end well but at the same time you cannot explain to your children why their father looks so when we see it when they saw him on his hospital bed he cried i've covered non-surgical his sixty sixty who ghostwrite was not in self

interest but to draw attention to other closed fields in similar circumstances is a hospital of the moment unable to walk and is being fed intravenously but there is already talk of moving him back to prison when he recovers his lorry's theory that at least his shackles have been ticking off even if only for the time being illegal israel. and a controversial detention circuits are commonplace in the us now with the national defense authorization act coming into effect this thursday of a law that many fear spells the end of american democracy grants the government and the military and president of powers to detain u.s. citizens indefinitely without trial or this is happening against the backdrop of rampart and sea iranian rhetoric from washington a film director sean stone who recently made headlines for publicly embracing is alarmed sold us here at r.t. the timing is no coincidence. that's a point to prevent or stop but i think it's we're walking into world war three at

the moment between syria the mystical ised and iran it's on its border being threatened by israel america to me it's very dangerous time and we don't recognize what the causes consequences would be not only not only regionally but for the world what's happening is we are now in a state of martial law and war a global in the a national defense authorization act that obama has called for and signed stipulates even american citizens can now be targeted by the military picked up and imprisoned indefinitely without civilian trial thus throwing out our due process or its corpus clauses so we are now in the state of martial law everything is now in could playing conditions for a total war state i mean mccain called for the whole of america becoming part of the so-called battlefield america's the battlefield the whole earth is a battlefield so rather than try a more what's being done is that rather than trying to address our economic continued economic depression and the reforms necessary unethically what we're

trying to do there is create martial law state using using iran as a terrorist enemy or a threat so you see everything is now in motion as a pretext that you can go to martial law here and war abroad and obviously the world brought has tremendous consequences now because if you attack iran hezbollah and hamas the nation of israel which then brings in american potentially russia into the equation so this is a horrible situation people are being educated as to what's really going on. deeper mind that you can always a local dot com for more stories news comment anytime you like a study by few online right now with a massive privacy breach as twitter reported to trade some multi billion tweet causing outrage all across the globe on our web site the data. there's another valuable item up for grabs as option house sort of prepares to sell and monks scream to discover the staggering price tag and standing by for your

accounts he told. the north from the world of it here on. this year's presidential campaign in russia that's already delivered the usual candidate promises and rhetoric but has also been mocked by a growing chorus of public opinion with the election now just three days away these groups take to the streets of moscow the setting for some of the biggest protests in the country's recent history in order to gauge the mood right here in the capital. possible a time there was a notion that russians weren't all that bullshit about politics but now that seems to have changed this year's race for the presidency has caused injury and i have ever since been

a mere putin announced he would be running different words have been splashed about characterize the campaign so far and here are some of the most distinctive p. is for the public who seem willing creasing number of people take to the streets both for and against the government this marking a growing sense of civil activism these rarely these flash mob sounds a powerful signal not only that we're going to put in all the russian politicians message in a sense that they have to understand that the site has a break and that political law is. bar stands for reform on the back of demonstrations president medvedev has put forward a number of electoral changes stretching as far as how parties are registered and who can be on the ballots all of dark mikhail prokhorov has garnered vast media coverage as the only candidate not backed by a party in the duma his message is business orientated he has often been hindered by

a shady past and has struggled to resonate with the public twitter and other social media have been crucial for all ghanaians in demonstrations as in bodies the very public and spontaneous nature of some of the opera felt around russia he stands for election commission the ruling body overseeing voting day its head for the mature of has been in the spotlight after allegations of electoral fraud were mixed with an action this is force the vanity a buzzword for prime minister vladimir putin's campaign so far. many saw the restored economic order a few years of hardship the power of this was resonates just half the popular man still is. testing despite his popularity it's been a difficult period for that to be a putin a two time president not used to such discontent. moscow and st petersburg in the

big cities that million ikey these are not really his territory anymore i mean maybe he'll get them back but it seems to me that he's sort of thinking that he has to rely on the other russia strange phrase for putin the russia of the region why he would probably manage to win with you know a reasonable majority at this election is that one of the best slogans from appropriate at camp is if not putin who. three other candidates are also seasoned political veterans struggling to convince voters they can deliver change and all those downs that make this the most definitive word so far in the election. marked by mass there astray since protests regardless of the winner of the results on the fourth of march these guys have had their say and how it impacts on russia's future do you greece see moscow. before we get to communicate with the markets let's do the r.t. world update as i promised to some global headlines and pray for you are some

police officers have been injured in istanbul when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded in front of turkey's ruling party headquarters it's believed the attackers used a remote control detonator to set off explosives as an anti terror police bus drove by and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack at this point. and a heavy clashes erupting in turun as thousands protested against the construction of a new high speed rail road connecting italy and france at least ten policemen and several demonstrators have been injured in the skirmishes and the rally has been blocking the highway linking the two countries for a few days the measure of say the construction could potentially harm the local environment. egypt has set a date for the first presidential elections the country will see you since the ousting of hosni mubarak last year the landmark polls showed you all to begin on may twenty third if no one manages to secure the majority of votes

a runoff will be held in june with the final results announced at the end of the month egypt's military took power from the toppled president last february but its popularity has dramatically declined since then. ok as i mentioned let's go over to dimitri now the business that's going to get the latest on the financial world here dimitri hello to you or there's been a bit of a change of mood on the markets as far as i understand that's right there's also a patch of green on the monitor right behind me to prove that but russia bit of a mixed feeling here seems that there's a correction which was looming for a long time and therefore there's still declines on the my six and on the out years and take a look at them well. more moderate than it was before we're seeing the obvious decline point eight percent a nice x. by half a percent may move of course it's filed a lawsuit against the split in the three years gas company which owns a blocking stay. which is down half a percent after announcing its terrace going up six percent and bucking the trend still as

a group it's up just three percent or six percent before the company is again for a second day of michigan on banks that it would be by a stake in the company move over to europe there it's all it's all rosy european stock markets are pushing higher on the euro zone purchasing managers survey confirmed a very slight economic improvement and therefore we are seeing for the on the back side of the set now we have to take a look at the u.s. because of course they closed but these are the closing figures for wednesday now jones and the nasdaq down four point seven percent after federal chairman ben bernanke he had a speech and he said basically that there's little the admin there. she said with the speech indicated there's little chance of a new way of going to the easing and therefore second look at what's happening in currencies the dollar strengthened very much versus the year over the euro's now regaining a bit of their position against the greenback and the ruble their voice calling

versus the dollar by eighteen kovacs and strengthening around ten versus the euro and also a lot of money has shifted from gold into the dollar even though gold right now is up one point three percent we have to remember it's a positive direction after falling four and a half percent the previous session and who will is not providing that much support for the russian markets are still flirting with the levels we've been seeing over the past three or four sessions one hundred seven light sweet one hundred twenty three and once again dependency on natural resources has been named as one of the biggest risk risks for the russian economy ratings agency moody's says this factor will keep the country's growth volatile despite current financial stability meanwhile in the u.s. it's becoming a less dependent on imports of oil and gas in fact the country exported more products than imported into thousand for the first time in six decades since one thousand forty nine the country's refiners exported record amounts of gasoline

heating oil and diesel to meet higher global fuel demand well u.s. fuel consumption say and positive news for trade between russia and the u.s. says secretary of state hillary clinton says congress should lift the jacks and banning amendments in regards to russia as the countries joining the world trade organization now this amendment is just remind you and there's certain trade discrimination rules and now according to hillary clinton may disadvantage u.s. companies dealing with russia and therefore this amendment must be lifted as soon as possible that's all i've got for you this hour we'll be back around fifty five minutes time with us.

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