an opposition stronghold in the restive syrian city of homs is now under government control and humanitarian aid is on the way as a resident reveals to us here about the atrocities that she blames on rebels. russia's prime minister putin says the rise in opposition activities has energized the government to respond to changing public moods but refuses to back new parliamentary elections if he wins sunday's presidential. seal a key pact aimed at keeping member states of deficits within limits which critics say will cost nations their sovereignty when it comes to budgetary policies.

it's good to have you with us today. syrian government forces have now regained control of the district in homs which has been the main center of resistance now for almost a month now rebels say they've retreated for tactical purposes but authorities seem confident they've broken the backbone of what they called terrorist operations. spoke to a resident of the besieged city who gave an eyewitness account of what she said were atrocities the rebels committed in control. clashes continue in homes but we're here in that's one of the opposition's main strongholds here in syria is now under the governmental forces control on thursday the rebels who drew from the city

after the army is offensive to cleanse the rebel held area humanitarian situation on the ground is really very dramatic infrastructure is badly damaged no water no electricity in the city garbage is everywhere no coverage and led light 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. are really grounded so they can shoot in the back of the people right house and one can be shot for no reason we're afraid to go into the country as our car can be sparked and we can who shot the kill both young and on the t. people from their homes and chop them and put them in plastic bags and then. she's also so wild retreating from. the area known as bob barr who are the rebels have moved to another area in the city have media and they've killed many many

people there especially christians. i mean the villains are tired of syrians and want peace but the syrian soldiers who protect us are being killed every day we've heard mercenaries from france tunisia love and i'm going we don't go anywhere interesting. people like. 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 a fact that shows just how deep the militarized the conflict has become recently here in the country while syria is period very close to a civil war. talk is worth the motion reporting what i mean well the syrian authorities have given the international red cross the green light to enter the embattled city of homs on friday but this follows a call from the u.n. security council to allow quote immediate humanitarian access to the worst affected

areas are. also supported by that of russia and china. has 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 a humanitarian front but how to end this conflict is where u.n. security council's remain divided security council members remain divided russia has said and continues to say that there needs to be a ceasefire in syria were both sides put their weapons down and begin to engage in a dialogue at that point was separately underscored by coffee and 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 can engage in some type of a 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 resolutions that were presented to the security council and of course vetoed by russia and china because russia and china hold a position that the international community cannot just push the governments that with respect to syria the syrians need to decide what will take place in their own sovereign country. but it's more important reporting meantime washington says that it will keep up the efforts to convince russia and china to put pressure on president assad and impose tougher sanctions against the syrian regime james corbet editor of a japan based independent news website the colbert report says that it's not developments within syria but international politics that will ultimately shape the

country's future as we see there is still a lot of wrangling going on at the international level in the 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 we are ongoing and needed 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 certainly last month there were a number of multiple confirmed reports from various different news agencies confirming that iraqi officials were admitting that certain well long established smuggling routes were being used through iraq to funnel arms money and even jihadi syria to take part in this uprising so once again whether or not the the opposition

is able to regroup and to which once again take on is there are some others that you think it's really depend on the extent of the that they're going to receive if the international community loses stomach for attempting to institute regime change in syria i think will still be the end of the opposition. watching on t.v. live from moscow well still to come here in the program as serbia moves a step closer to joining the e.u. some are not so excited believing that belgrade will suffer from becomes a member of the group. russia's prime minister vladimir putin has said that a rise in opposition activity in the country has helped to energize the authorities and presidential cabinet was speaking at a meeting with foreign media just three days now ahead of the presidential vote putin's relations with his opponents and russia's ties with other countries all came under scrutiny let's get the details now live with r.t. you've got a pretty good to see you saw a bit of

a pre-election volleyball here what kind of questions flew back and forth between the foreign journalists and of course mr putin. well with the presidential poll set to take place as soon as this sunday and as you say would like to know which in sleeping porch and nationally the political situation in russia took center stage at school since q. and a session with foreign journalists especially in light of the numerous opposition rallies which have been seeking place across the entire country since the parliamentary election in december and writing reports in said that he's taken more of the opposition's demands on board actually describing the entire protest movement as a positive thing for the country was sort of energizes the authorities but at the same time the prime minister is also commented on one of the opposition's key demands which is to call on new early elections polyandry elections following numerous accusations of violations during december's and completely

completely ruled out such a possibility saying that the timing of you actions is a determined strictly by a legislature and of course this was a meeting with foreign journalists so international affairs were also discussed and speaking about to be of relations with the united states the prime minister has said that the reset has worked economically wise but when it comes to washington's plans for the anti missile defense system in europe the reset as field. technician which is one of the sides wants to become totally invincible but this undermines the strategic balance of forces in the world we think it's highly dangerous the strategic balance his little boy global conflicts since the second world war when a country begins to think it's invincible to retaliate straight from another country it leads to a lot of conflicts and aggressive behavior and it's not just because america is an aggressive country because this is the way life is even if that big of

a deal. now to another issue dominating international affairs syria has called on the international community to pressure the syrian opposition into peaceful dialogue. stressing that it's taking sides in this conflict is not. resolved. said and called on the international community not to supply weapons to the syrian rebels saying that this only leads to more bloodshed and sets back any possible peaceful dialogue between the authorities and the opposition they're. going to live in moscow thank you. so have you hear our view on the russian presidential campaign from a different angle. to

my promise. and of course your videos to comic strips and children's cartoon so we look at who's got the upper hand in the battle for creativity to voters in the run up to the election. will bring the polarizing attitudes towards a lot of straight into focus of course. for now a preview. of the average. person is relatively a pacific partly because they think there isn't much of a real choice and secondly because they think. he's going to win. organize that he wins whatever the voters do so i think this could be a problem even if even if he wins or even if even if he wins it seems to me that kind of argument caves in on itself erick if i can go to you i mean it's just hard for the outside world to understand the glad i mean fielding is research popular.

well there's something very embarrassing for the journalists we've heard a lot in the western press about how putin was losing his popularity how or 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 going to sweep to victory in the first round so i understand that he is unpopular with some of the foreign powers. this is artsy but the leaders of almost all e.u. states have signed up a so-called fiscal pact intended to keep national budgets under brussels control

with strict punishment for countries breaching debt limits and the u.k. and the czech republic refused to come on board while island awaits a referendum that's not cross live to r.t. to us it is standing by in brussels good to see you so amid all the champagne and a fine dining at the banquet apparently these politicians have signed a long awaited pact what's ahead now for the twenty five e.u. states which did agree to it. oh yes to see the treaty has been signed it today and what's next is that the a contracting parties will now have to present this treaty to their own parliaments and have it ratified but what is needed for this treaty to come into effect are twelve years old now ratifications for it to be implemented on to the contracting parties now twenty five as you mentioned of the twenty seven had a side on to this treaty what they are saying that this is a positive political statement that the euro is the currency of the european union on one hand it could be seen as a political statement on the other hand critics will see the two countries a did not want to sign this treaty the u.k. and the czech republic the u.k.

has been very critical from the very start and you have ireland who loves to build a referendum on the treaty so a lot of the leaders here are widely expecting the treaty to be ratified the question is how smoothly will it go through this process now also they keep reiterating that this treaty is subordinate to laws or whatever they also said that within five years they want included in the primary e.u. laws are this a good will potentially raise debate on what impact it will have on all e.u. members especially the two countries that did not want to sign on to this treaty they want to observe implementation of course the big question there is how are these countries going to meet these targets imposed by this new pact already a realistically speaking right now we already see several countries missing a deficit targets and a country like greece for example has very little room to maneuver and work its way around achieving targets want the same time getting its economy back on the growth track so while the leaders here in brussels are saying that they're moving out of

the crisis mode this is not necessarily mean that europe itself is out of the crisis here is more of that. it's been talked about for months claimed as a solution to europe's crisis fiscal compact for sky pocked a new free school after another two day summit this fiscal stability compact is signed sealed and delivered. and most e.u. leaders have agreed to give it the go ahead and it's expected to be ratified by at least twelve years of nations 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 keep a budget deficit of three percent or less and shrine the balanced budget rule international legislation within one year prefer within the constitution it 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 it's a good start and he's going to police all the bridges all the member states and these member states will lose sovereignty in the field both budgetary policy now what is the population going to accept this. a population that's already been forced to accept one tougher study measure after another all in good could understand the rules that if you are doing austerity everywhere you go towards crisis and if everybody is no talking could be because if we are cutting expenses everywhere then you crush where the bodies constraining nobody's investment that the growth is the point of this truth is a continuation of true liberal orthodoxy. so we are exactly going back to what we are. now in the us either read or see the budgetary discipline the school

stability pact is expected to bring as a step closer to solving the eurozone 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 worried about the impact it could have on healthier economies and could lead to huge school conciliation like this so even those countries the situation. with the cons. the previous comic activity at a time when banks face problems and they do want to do want to lend not a desirable scenario where the new buzzwords are growth and employment just are cilia artsy brussels and another outcome of the brussels summit is that serbia has become a formal candidate for you membership so the decision follows three years of talks and concessions from belgrade including a major one but improving ties with kosovo which is recognized by almost all new

states kind of the same status is just the first step towards membership now with years of negotiations still ahead of it serbian history. says it's only the e.u. that actually benefits from the accession process. and the e.u. would isn't really going to give serbia anything but it will diplomat answer when you take up everything it's already lost a lot it's lost any that's pretty much been forced to surrender its claim to the problems of kosovo that is currently staked out on paper it has been forced to it basically subordinate its foreign policy to brussels and to a lesser extent washington and now i've heard that there is talk from brussels about the necessity for serbia to revoke russia's most favored nation status it would treat people remains the only bit of staunchest government supporters actually speak of the. me i don't think anybody in serbia honestly expects their

problems to be resolved by joining the e.u. especially after seeing rights in spain and greece the problem is nobody really cares and none of the people in government really care because they don't really care what their people think. if you get the chance to do log on to our com you can discover why nicolas sarkozy was late for the leaders meeting in brussels. running a gauntlet of egg throwing and spitting at protesters the french president had a tough day of the presidential campaign trail to see that video in full at r.t. dot com. also to be found on the web site smuggled secret service reveals that a computer containing the command code for the international space station has been stolen those details and on top of.

twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow and with the russian the presidential campaigns in the final straight ahead of sunday's vote image makers behind those running for the top job have been finding rather new creative weapons and they've been using everything from extravagant internet clips to rather less imaginative street banners and all of this in order to woo voters support. takes a look at the wide range of tools being employed and whether or not they work. there is been a lot of singing dancing drawing and even cooking this election season as presidential campaigns go it's been hot and creative.

which is oppositionists afford hard in the online wars from wrapping and slating the continued bit tandem to posting not so innocent video fakes. charges against fulton include embezzle meant financial fraud and abuse of office. compact to the grassy ante kremlin from painting to prove potent videos can seem a little toothless. was making. me love. you if you believe. the hour now here's. 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 video if someone made up their minds are very for putin this video carefully 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. students and as yes we will still. see a mole not just on the zero zero zero s. . no it was right the first. to 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 ritual they have to go through which they don't really want to spend so much money on. so when the real candidates they're only putting in africa supporters or opponents are taking the lead using the internet as a free media to play politics however when we go offline critique it is set aside giving way to clear images advantage of camera angles and easily understood slogans a tried and tested math that we trust that only secured votes or several generations of politicians in this country. 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 kerfoot in support us thirty thirty five percent which is very hard to shake and i cannot imagine what good you know his office could do in the last few days before the election to lose these funny videos won't change anything 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. chance. to spark it from. happening right and you can push. through. good girl. take her away. back to the carol. we have sound. good now get the next one here in a catch our teeth. you are before you get to the market i played with i'm going to do the world world update for you we'll start with pakistan where the thirty three is dead after clashes between militants and security forces in the northwest of the country authority started after a hilltop security checkpoint was attacked in the volatile khyber province i one of

the main supply routes to afghanistan for nato forces runs through the area that's been shut down since a cross border clash last november that was between u.s. forces and pakistani troops and left twenty four dead. elections are being held for iran's two hundred and ninety seat parliament the first nationwide vote since the presidential poll in june two thousand and nine that i did spot protests over alleged vote rigging and a crackdown on the elections are viewed as a battle between two conservative groups that have turned against each other after a recent dispute between president mahmoud ahmadinejad's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. or it's in the business there's not a fine marina talk about all sorts of various market issues hello to you so the eurozone issues upcoming elections are certainly here in russia investors in europe shaky but not here in russia. that appears to be the case for a first of all the ruble is close to six months is that we have the russian stock

market which has sorts twenty four percent since december and this makes it the world's best performance not market this year but let's take a look at the latest figures both divorces are of course in positive territory the r.t.s. is adding point three percent the south rather my sense is adding point let's take a look at the breakdown of individual fare moves we have russia's national telecoms operator ross telecom which is gaining and that's among the top performers of the day actually following news of an acquisition at rave now we have them the company just announced its net profit rose to eleven billion dollars last year and we have the cd and it's gaining because the back is just. it's a yes so you know and the price there is i finish the i.p.o. rate which is twice as much as it is right now now stay in with the markets we have many analysts say that we will see every rally after the elections this weekend but

earlier i spoke to hong kong sign from i've seen russia when he says not even though we might see around me it won't be necessarily solely based on who becomes the next president of the rally could be quite significant next week but it really depends on the global background we've seen quite a significant rally in the russian market over the last week or two i think it would be a mistake to say that this scene of the last couple weeks is because of increasing confidence about elections that could be part of it but a significant increase in the world prices also played a very material role. oh talk about oil prices let's look at the latest figures crude prices are coming down from a woody high and that was followed reports of an explosion which reportedly destroyed or oil pipelines in saudi arabia and moving on let's take a look at what's happening in europe we see there it's pretty march and negative picture both of footsie and the facts are losing this hour about the last big over

in the u.s. stock markets are closed but they finished all my own thing that was followed by high oil futures as well as opposed to the outlook for jobs they don't and if we look at exchange rates the euro is trading slightly lower against the dollar and when it comes to the ruble it's a mix which is a similar picture as what we saw yesterday it's the news in against the greenback gaining slightly with the euro. telling of the russian related stories in the vein of startups will soon have an easier way to get financial support promotion venture carbon e the r.t.s. my said sports and high tech for nano are all setting up a joint venture to trade shares of unless the high tech companies and analysts say it will become a business incubator full quota for the firms are willing to list on the russian markets. and that's all we have time for this hour join me for another update in fifty five minutes.

news today violence is once again flared up.