an opposition stronghold in their restive syrian city of homs is back under government control and humanitarian aid is on the way as a resident reveals to r.t. atrocities she blames on rebels. russia's prime minister putin says a rising opposition of to has energized governments to respond to changing public moods but refuses to back parliamentary elections if he wins sunday's presidential poll. also with just two days before the russian presidential election it's not just the war of words but also a competition in creativity which has become central to canada into efforts to rule votes. and e.u. leaders prepared to see what key fiscal pact aimed at keeping member states

deficits within limits which critics say will cause nations their sovereignty what it comes to budgetary policies. let me out of the russian capital you're watching r t a marina joshie syrian government forces have regained control of the district of homes which has been the main center of armed resistance for almost a month rebels say that they have retreated for tactical purposes but authorities seem confident they have broken the bag out of what they call terrorist operations are using reason often spoke to a resident of the besieged city who gave an eyewitness account of what she said were atrocities the rebels committed while in control. clashes continue in homes but we're hearing that one of the opposition's main strongholds here in syria is now under the governmental forces control also the rebels withdrew from the city after the army is offensive to cleanse the rebel held baba amr area humanitarian

situation on the ground is really very dramatic infrastructure is badly damaged there no water no electricity in the city garbage is everywhere no mobile coverage and landline is also broken after many attempts we've finally been able to talk by phone with homes residents a woman who's identified herself as galina. the south korean dr lucian bandits they can shoot in the back they kill people rob house and one can be shot down for no reason we're afraid to go into the country as our car and we spark and we can who shot the kill both young and on the t. people from their homes and complemented. them and plant them through. she's also so that the world retreating from. the area known as baba amr or the rebels have moved to another area in the city have media and they've killed many many people

there especially christians. i mean civilians are tired of syrians want peace and the last question. put the syrian soldiers who protect us are being killed every day we've heard that mercenaries from france tunisia or nothing and i'm going we don't go anywhere interesting because we're freed of snipers people are. shortly after the rebels withdraw from the city the syrian main opposition group formed a military council to organize the armed resistance and to provide the rebels with more weapons in fact it shows just how deep the militarized the conflict has become recently here in the country while syria is weary and very close to a civil war. financial reporting there from syria i mean while the syrian authorities have given the international red cross the green light to and hear the embattled city of homs on friday this falls a call from the u.n. security council to allow immediate humanitarian access to the worst affected areas

also supported by russia and china. as the details from new york. it's been nearly seven months since we've seen any type of consensus coming out of the security council with respect to syria but that consensus is coming through the form of a press statement issued by the security council with respect to humanitarian aid in syria we are seeing some consensus coming from the security council on humanitarian fronts that how to end this conflict is where un security council's remain divided the security council members remain divided russia has said and continues to say that there needs to be a cease fire in syria were both sides put their weapons down and begin to engage in a dialogue at that point was separately underscored by kofi annan on the un's envoy to syria a newly appointed envoy by the u.n. and the arab league so he of course saying the same thing russia has been saying

for months now that both parties participating in the conflict in syria need to now be key in engaging in some type of negotiation we do see that the u.s. and western allies have been pushing for more of a regime change that is a push they need through two separate present lucian's that were presented to the security council and of course vetoed by russia and china because russia and china hold the position that the international community cannot just push out the governments that with respect to syria the syrians need to decide what will take place in their own sovereign country. now discuss these latest developments in syria was james corbett who's editor of the japan based and of hannah news and information website the corbett report joins us live from gaza thanks very much for being here with us on the program james now first off how crucial do you think is it to regain control in homs by the syrian government and to what extent is it a turning point in the violence and unrest which has been running for almost

a year now. well it's certainly an important event that's taken place but whether it turns out to be a turning point at the end of the day if it's obviously too early to tell and ironically enough i think it the answer to that question doesn't really lie in the hands of the syrians themselves it really hangs in the balance of the international community at this point and as we see there is still a lot of wrangling going on at the international level indeed u.n. security council and other united nations organizations and the friends of syria and all of these other international organizations that are putting various types of pressure on the syrian government and or the syrian opposition groups and so it's absolutely up in the air at this point and it really depends on the extent to which the international community really wants to continue pressing ahead with the ongoing admitted support for these supposedly opposition rebels that have supposedly spontaneously arisen in syria but as we now know have been being funded and armed and trained and equipped by the international community for some time.

now the opposition claimed that there was drop was tactical so how likely is it that they are regroup and return stronger with more armed violence in homes or somewhere else for that matter. once again i think at this point it really does depend on whether they will continue to be armed and equipped and trained and harbored in foreign countries and by the international community and i think that this certainly is something that's come out recently in a number of different ways and certainly last month there were a number of multiple you confirmed reports from various different news agencies confirming that iraqi officials were admitting that certain long established smuggling routes were being used through a rack to funnel arms money and even jihad leads to syria to take part in this uprising so once again whether or not the the opposition is able to regroup into it once again take on is there are some others that you think it's really dependent on the extent of the aid that they're going to receive and if the international community loses stomach for attempting to institute regime change inside. i think

we see. you know let's take a look at the opposition set up there i mean even the united states agrees that its opposition forces in syria are extremely divided so what are the chances of them uniting their forces and what role might foreign governments play in helping them do so. well that's a good question and i think once again the obvious parallel is what was happening in libya last year where the libya is of course quite a tribal leave divided nation and it was quite remarkable how good off he had managed to stay in power for as long as he did do given the remarkable divides in the country and that must unspoken to some extent to the ability to keep that nation together as a nation and despite the fact that the opposition was was quite fractured and as we are seeing now we need aftermath of that they were able to do it to come together through the support of the army and of course the nato bombardment which was obviously a key and decisive factor in decimating that country and getting rid of gadhafi and

i think it. was playing out in syria where again the opposition me we come from various different places and have different reasons for opposing the assad government but that it's the money and arms and training and even the outside jihads that are coming in to support them that are really the decisive factor in keeping this opposition going so once again i think it keeps coming back to this. international wrangling if united nations and in the security council but i think will do the decisive factor and it's russia that will probably play played a key role in all of this as the u.s. secretary of state and secretary of state jeffrey feldman came out today to say the russian stance on syria is a key element of what's happening there so it's it's absolutely crucial to the role that that russia and china might play in perhaps putting the brakes on the international community's efforts to institute regime change are james car that editor of the car that reported the pan a news website thanks very much indeed for talking to us here on r.t.

thank you. russia's prime minister what he reported that saturday rising opposition activity in the country has helped energize the authorities that premier and presidential candidate was speaking at a meeting with foreign media just three days ahead of the presidential vote puts relations with his opponents and his ties with president of the it also came under scrutiny artist peter oliver has the details. a few days to go before that presidential vote the questions coming thick and fast for a lot of me at putin he is of course standing for president this time around. the only subject of opposition protests and political activism in russia were that we've seen a real spike in following the pollen entry elections at the end of last year but to me at putin said the authorities must listen to the legitimate some of the legitimate grievances of these protesters and it's up to the authorities to act on . grievances and and put them right saying that this was

a good experience full russia we also heard of vladimir putin address the prominent opposition leader alexina violently the the lawyer turned. and see corruption activist saying this well as though but to be putin's support at all activities that would lead to fighting corruption in russia that people shouldn't use corruption as a political football team corruption in places where there wasn't any for the fact to pull their own personal political achievement so my eyebrows were raised when it was announced. yet if we said she hoped to swap positions we look to mr putin becoming president are you going to get him stepping into the role of prime minister you know but if you think this was a decision that was taken based on the fact that at the time but if he had a high approval rating it would have made more sense in their eyes for him to run

as president now. if he is elected as president that he wouldn't move away from the the reforms the political reforms that need to be made yet it has been putting in place throughout his his time in office now he said there would be a toughening of the political stance in russia however mr putin did say that if he did. president that he won't call an early parliamentary election enough had been something that the opposition protestors in russia had asked for well foreign policy a major issue going into the presidential election and only putin addressing the relationship between russia and the united states pacifically focusing on the reset as it was called in relations between the two countries now with regards to the united states has proposed an anti-missile defense shield in eastern europe but me really saying that reset had failed or they did go on to say that in other realms such as the economy that leaps and bounds had been made as regards to the

relationship between washington and moscow the lowest it's an arguable question if three sessions borne fruit it hasn't been practically anything on anti missile defense but it was useful in a new way of building the sentence for months to come to agreement on for the strategic arms reduction treaty on cooperation in the spirit of peaceful nuclear development and on russia's accession to the world trade organization with direct u.s. supports when it comes to foreign policy and foreign issues at the moment all eyes are really focused on syria to me of putin using this opportunity to say that he opposed any decision by the west that would see he would oppose any decision by the west that with the arms put into the hands of the syrian opposition saying that putting guns into their hands would really make it far more difficult to get the opposition and the assad government to a table to try and discuss a diplomatic and political solution to the situation in syria here are reporting

guarantees to have freed us our our team on the russian presidential campaign from a different angle. if. you like. presence here at all rather fake or appears to comic strip tension. race card teams will look at who's got the upper hand in the battle for creativity to voters and there i have to feel like chance. in just over fifteen minutes people of allen his guest will bring the polarizing attitudes towards a lot of importance a closer focus in our debate here's a preview. ridge russian virgin if there's such a person is relatively open city partly because they think there isn't much of a real choice and secondly because they think. is going to win. organized if you are in support of the voters too so i think there's going to be plenty more even if he wins and even if even if he wins it's rigged i mean it seems to me that kind of

argument caves in on itself because i can go to you i mean it's just hard for the outside world to understand the drive i mean everything is popular it will be something very embarrassing for the journalists we've heard a lot in the western press about how who can was losing its popularity how the facebook protests in moscow in the demonstrations meant that the regime was on its way out and of course when the polls which i can't give any numbers on but the polls have certainly shown a very substantial rise and that mr putin is where we can sweep the victory in the first round so i understand that he is unpopular with some of the foreign powers. if you want to. now the

decision to grant candidacy status has come as a surprise on the first day of the brussels summit center stage however is the so-called fiscal pact which leaders are going to sign later today or at least as are silly reports of what's to come if brussels gets powers to police member state school policies. it's been talked about for months claimed as a solution to europe's crisis fiscal compact described talk to new fiscal rules by the end of this today summit this fiscal stability compact will have been signed sealed and delivered this pact comes with tight budgetary rules that must be strictly adhere to. face automatic sanctions and member states must maintain a balanced budget or have a surplus people budget deficit of three percent or less and shrine the balanced budget rule of the national legislation within one year prefer within the constitution if budgetary targets are not met the guilty nation could be brought to

the european court of justice and be obliged to make penalty payments the reins of strict budgetary oversight will be in brussels hands now we've in europe in brussels we've got our first saw and there's a budget start and he's going to police all the budget is all the member states and these member states will lose sovereignty in the field of budgetary policy now is the population going to accept this. a population that's already been forced to accept want tough a sturdy measure after another all in good couldn't most of those that if you are doing it was thirteen if you were to go towards crisis everybody is no tackling people because if we are cutting expenses everywhere then you crush on the bodies consuming. but the point of this truth is a continuation of true liberal orthodoxy. so we are exactly going by

what we have done in the last fifteen years. in the us e.u. leaders see the budgetary discipline the sobriety pact is expected to bring as a step closer to solving the result structural imbalances and help crisis hit countries ease their way out of their predicament but it's a one size fits all approach that has some worried about the impact it could have on healthier economies you could lead to huge fiscal consolidation bias. even those countries that target has your fiscal situation they go. with their fiscal accounts which can depress comic activity at a time when the banks face problems and they know enough of you want to lend not a desirable scenario when the new buzzwords are growth and employment just are cilia archie brussels. welcome to argue dot com to discover a wine glass sarkozy was late for the meeting and brussels.

gauntlet of ads throwing and spitting the french president has a tough day on the presidential campaign trail watch this video in full on our web site. also a small little secret nasa reveals a computer containing the command code for the international space station. details are at our team dot com. now with russian presidential campaigns in the final straight ahead of sunday's vote image makers behind those running for the top job have been finding new creative weapons and they have been using everything from extravagant internet clips to last imaginative street barriers to woo voters support artie's about to enter child takes a look at the wide range of tools being employed and if they work.

there's been a lot of singing dancing drawing and even cooking this election season as presidential campaigns go it's been hot and creative. the. opposition is a force hard in the online wars from rapping and slating the point in it that it sound them. not so innocent video fakes. charges against putin include embezzlement financial fraud and abuse of office. compacts of the aggressive anti crowd in campaigning that broke out in videos can seem a little toothless. was. glad

. to hear you believe that a half years. now and. the topic of ukraine not paying for russian gas present this video has been made on the kremlin's orders otherwise i don't understand who would be interested in spending money on this but even for putin is a useless would be zero if someone made up their mind to vote for putin therefore he won't make them any firmer in their decision on the contrary if they're against putin it definitely won't make them change their mind this prominent journalist and blogger believes it's not only putin losing the war of creativity other candidates look desperate to. avoid the latter slogan sound as if we were still where bush. was the symbol not just on the c.f. is that there's you. know. yes right with this with. me

who the candidates videos are annoying it seems that they hired the cheapest directors to film this fast food horrible quality this only proves one thesis about these elections none of the candidates are striving for a victory one is the outspoken leader anyway and the others think of this campaign as a dull ritual they have to go through which they don't really want to spend too much money on. so with the real candidates they're putting in africa supporters or opponents are taking the lead using the internet as a free media to play their chill politics however when we go offline critical to start a site giving way to clear images advantage of camera angles and easily understood slogans a tried and tested method which has barely secured votes for several generations of politicians in this country.

you are truly just. introducing. unlike the four other candidates billionaire mihail broker of his running for the first time is also the youngest on the list but analysts say he's very conservative in his choice of words images and even colors in the matter of blood in america who tend to stick with it if there had been five candidates breathing down each other's necks then every creative video could win votes from the other in our case there is a firm core of put in support us thirty thirty five percent which is very hard to shake and i cannot imagine what put in his office could do in the last few days before the election to lose these. won't change anything the other in a small percentage of undecideds but some are willing to do whatever it takes to win over those floating voters right to the last minute. chose.

me. if clinton from arkansas had not eaten i think you're right and you can play shame you if you. care woman. good girl. take her away. if you're going to the camera roll. if you're good now get the next one in here. are cheap. well it's time now for a money matters and we're crossing tower business down to marina potter's got all the latest for us well marina last hour you promised to give us a breakdown of the major movers on the russian market so what's the picture like there is a still positive yes marina it's still positive an old will give you the breakdown of the individual firm was brought in just the second first let's take a look at the russian markets as i said there are still of course the territory of the r.t.s. is there a point two percent this hour of all of them i say this is gaining ground rises

march and now let's take a look at those individual share moves we have russia as a top national telecoms operator ross telecom which is in gaining and that's following an acquisition that made them we have rolls left which is also a sour and in fact the company just announced that its net profit rose to eleven a billion dollars last year and then we have this burbank risen well and that's because banks are doing well the size of it across the board so let's move on to all of us here in russia we have in the lead of startups which will soon have an easier way to get financial support from venture companies the r.t.s. my six sports and hides out from wrist nano are also there are a joint venture to trade shares of on this the right side companies and analysts say this will become a business incubator for formosan forums which are willing to list on the russian markets. airport news that deadline is now over for those interested in getting a piece of moscow's them with the other airports and as it turns out only one

company wants to buy it and that is russian investment holding suma the owners of them are dead there are lessons to get over five billion dollars for the effort but no one seems to be willing to dish out that much money at the moment. now moving on to other news they might sue for european leaders who are meeting in brussels for their summit but analysts are saying that's hired all of this analyst meetings will have a no results in the end we spoke to nick parsons from national australia bank who said this regional won't be any offense and no formal agenda is actually being published i think we're in danger of really getting some retreat over kill. b. but because there are too many summits or quite simply too many of these meetings there is plenty of scope for disappointment would be going to actually announce or achieve anything for the markets themselves become more tuned to this more might

hopefully expect that any disappointment in price terms at least will be quite limited. well let's take a look at some other international markets also it will be extremes race think you're asserting something lower against the dollar and that's because of course investors are worried about the situation in the euro zone as far as the ruble is concerned it's a similar picture with what was so on thursday the ruble is fading slightly lower against the greenback that is gaining against the euro and if we move on to a session as there are seen a modest growth in japan exporters are benefiting from a weaker yen although when it comes to mas there is news in over two percent so slightly offices and financials are on the rise in hong kong as i mentioned it is a good day for banks across the board now to move on to the u.s. markets there are closed but on various day they ended on the high notes and that's because we saw higher oil futures as well as positive absorbs they don and when it comes to crude prices are coming down from a what do you read more on the high end that some reports an explosion took place

in saudi arabia the store and oil pipelines but the country has since said about those reports what falls high oil prices are good for the russian economy but not so much for the u.k. voice manufacturing sector which contracted almost one percent in the last quarter of two thousand and eleven and that's what say that if they continue seeing rising costs the weaker demand it will make sustaining output growth and job creation quite difficult now oil prices are said to be rising at the fastest rate in the years. and that's what we're told we have for you this hour transport of eight and fifty five minutes the headlines are next.

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