an opposition stronghold in the restive syrian city and now back under government control and humanitarian aid is on the way as one resident reveals to us atrocities she blames on. russia's prime minister putin says of the rise in opposition activities has energized the government to respond to changing public moods refused to back a new parliamentary elections if you win sunday's presidential. seal the key fiscal pact aimed at keeping member states deficits within limits which critics say. when it comes to budgetary policies.

a very warm welcome to you from all of us here at the moscow. syrian government forces have regained control of the district in the homes which has been the main center of distance now for almost a month now rebels say they've retreated for technical purposes but authorities seem confident they've broken the back bone of what they called terrorist operations. spoke to one resident of the besieged city who gave an eyewitness account of what she said for 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 on thursday 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 no water no electricity in the city garbage is everywhere no mobile coverage and lead line is also broken after many attempts so we've finally been able to talk by phone with homes residents a woman who's identified herself as galina in the south country interview. bandits they can shoot in the back of the queue people rob houses one can be shot dead for no reason we're afraid to go into the country and our car can be sparked and we can who shot the kill both young and on the t. people from their homes and chant them to pieces and put them in plastic bags and then throw them out she's also said that while retreating from. the area known as baba amr the rebels have moved to another area in the city have media and they

killed many many people there especially christians. i mean civilians 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 lebanon and we don't go anywhere interesting this will fruit 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 the fact that shows just how deep the militarized the conflict has become recently here in the country while syria is here in very close to a civil war. he's worth emotional reporting meanwhile the syrian authorities have given the international red cross the green light to enter be unbundled city of homs on friday the soldiers are called in the un security council to allow immediate humanitarian access to the worst affected areas

a move also supported by russia and china from a new york who's more important reports 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 about 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 anon 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 a conflict in syria need to now begin engaging 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 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. parties were reporting our reporting right there while i watched it and says it will keep up the efforts to convince russia and china to put pressure on president assad and impose tough sanctions against the syrian regime james cope with the editor of think japan independent news website the colbert report says it's not developments within syria rather international politics that will ultimately shape the country's future as we see there's still

a lot of rain going on at the international level in the un 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 supposed it 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 you confirmed reports from various different news agencies confirming that iraqi officials were admitting that certain well look at long established smuggling routes were being used through iraq to funnel arms money and even jihads to syria to take part in this uprising so once again whether or not the the opposition is able to regroup and to much once again take on is there some

other significance really dependent on the extent of the aid that they're going to receive if the international community loses stomach for attempting to institute regime change in syria i think we'll see the end of the big opposition. you're watching r t it's good to have you with us today still to come in the program as serbia moves a step closer to joining the e.u. some are not so excited believing that belgrade will suffer if it becomes a member of the. russia's prime minister vladimir putin has said that a rise in opposition activity in the country has helped to energize the authorities the premier and presidential candidate was speaking at a meeting with foreign media just three days ahead now a presidential vote up which is relations with his opponents and russia's ties with other countries all came under scrutiny and the details now to r.t. as you go to moscow. the presidential polls are to take place as soon as this

sunday and for which i'm taking part and nationally the political situation in russia took center stage. in a session with foreign journalists especially in light of the numerous opposition rallies which have been taking place across the entire country since the parliamentary election in december and why do what a person said that he's taken more stick off 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 by which it has also commented on one of the opposition's key demands which is to hold new early parliamentary elections following accusations of fraud during december smalltown the prime minister as completely ruled out holding a new election saying there. is determined strictly by the legislation of course this was a meeting with foreign journalists so international affairs were also discussed and

speaking about to be a 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 has failed at least in which 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 has let us avoid global conflicts since the second world war when a country begins to think it's invincible to a retaliation strike from another country it leads to a lot of conflicts and aggressive behavior and it's not just because america is an aggressive country but because this is the way life is now to another issue dominating international affairs syria has called on the international community to pressure the syrian opposition into holding peaceful dialogue with assad's regime stressing that taking sides in this conflict is.

and called on the international community not to supply weapons to the syrian rebels saying that this only leads to more bloodshed and. back any possible peaceful dialogue between the authorities and the opposition there. there are still ahead for you here in our view on the russian president a presidential campaign but from a rather different thank. you mike from a satirical rap and freight court video to comic strips on children's cartoon so we look at who's got the upper hand in the battle for creativity so the voters in the run up to the election. and in about twenty minutes time here are the people of illinois guests will bring that polarizing attitudes towards of lot of a person into closer focus of course our debate cross-talk coming your way shortly

for a preview. the average. person is relatively apathetic partly because they think there isn't much of a real choice. he's going to win. organize that he. has to so i think there's going to be probably even if he wins even if we give even if he wins it seems to me that kind of argument caves in on itself if i can go to you i mean it's just hard for the outside world to understand the drive to me a. 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 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 the victory in the

first round so i understand that he is unpopular with some of the foreign powers. to control. across talkers in about seventeen minutes with another the leaders of almost all e.u. states have signed a so-called fiscal pact intended to keep national budgets and the brussels control with strict punishment for countries breaching but that limits the u.k. and the czech republic refused to come on board while ireland awaits a referendum in brussels as artie's tells us. what's next is that the a contracting parties will now have to present this treaty to their own parliaments and have it ratified what is needed for this treaty to come into effect or twelve the euro zone or ratifications for if the two will be implemented on it the

contracting parties now twenty five to twenty seven had a sidebar to this treaty what they are saying that this is a positive political statement that the euro is the currency of the european union of one hand it could be seen as a political statement on the other hand critics will see that two countries that 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 are led to the last of all the referendum on the treaty so a lot of the leaders here are widely expecting the treaty to be ratified with the question is how smoothly will it go through this process i want to observe implementation of course the big question there is how are these countries going to meet peace targets imposed by this impact already are realistically speaking right now we already see several countries missing the deficit targets and a country like greece for example has very little room to maneuver and work its way around the cheating targets while at the same time getting its economy back on the growth track so all the leaders here in brussels are saying that they're grooving

out of the crisis mode this is not necessarily mean that europe itself is out of the crisis here is more and that. it's good talked about for months as a solution to europe's crisis. with dr parkman knew for. after another two day summit this fiscal stability compact is signed sealed and delivered . most e.u. leaders have agreed to give it the go ahead it's expected to be ratified by at least twelve years of nations this pact comes with tight budgetary rules that must be strictly adhered to. face automatic sanctions. member states must maintain a balanced budget or have a surplus keep a budget deficit of three percent or less and trying to balance a budget rule international legislation with one year firmly 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 it's a budget stock and he's going to police all the budget is on the member states and these member states will lose sovereignty in the field of budgetary policy now but is the population going to accept this. population this already been forced to accept one tough study measure after another one good could of the sniffles or if you are doing austerity everywhere you go towards crisis if everybody is no crackling public deficit if we're cutting public expense and everywhere then you crush it we're in the bodies consuming nobody's interesting but what the growth is the point of this truth is a continuation of pure liberal orthodoxy. so we are exactly going back to what we have been in that i think. your readers see the budgetary discipline this

is the school civility pact is expected to bring as a step closer to solving the eurozone structural imbalances health crisis that 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 put lead to huge fiscal consolidation bias so even those countries that have a situation the. course will be there to score accounts beach can the various economy completely at a time when banks face problems and they are going to do want to and not a desirable scenario when the new buzzwords are growth and employment just are cilia r t brussels and the euro zone finance ministers are also gathered in brussels to discuss the one hundred thirty billion euro greek bailout or that greece must wait another week before the money starts to flow or the thought or say will be given on the first tranche after athens reaches agreement with its private

creditors next thursday as another nervous week lies ahead for greece nigel m.e.p. leader of the u.k. independence party says the sacrifices are being forced to make only drive the country deeper into trouble. but the idea that you take an economy like greece with fifty percent unemployment among its young people with an economy that is likely to contract this year by a further seven percent and that what you do is you impose austerity without any stimulus whatsoever frankly is madness what works for germany doesn't work for greece in economic terms and in political terms you know put yourself in the position of greek people the situation is desperate and getting worse by the day out they see their own elected prime minister removed replaced by a puppet who is doing the bidding of brussels and people are saying well if we can't vote to change our lives we will have to take to the streets to try and

change our lives and i think perhaps you know serious the economics are i suspect that it's the social side of this that may in the end bring the euro down. and another outcome of the brussels summit is that serbia has become a formal candidate for edu membership at the station follows three years of talks and concessions from belgrade including a major one but improving ties with kosovo which is recognised by almost all e.u. states candidacy status is just the first step however towards membership now with years of negotiations still ahead but serbian it history expert. says it's only the e.u. that actually benefits from the accession process. the earwigs and really going to give serbia anything but it will be diplomatic answer of you to fuck everything it's already lost a lot its last journey there's pretty much been forced to surrender its claim to the problems of kosovo and it is currently stakeout only on paper it has been

forced to it basically subordinate its current 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 truthful could russia's most favored nation status it would treat people remains the only bit of sanchez government supporters actually speak of the e.u. i'm just me i don't think anybody in serbia honestly expects their problems to be resolved by joining the e.u. especially after seeing rights and 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. well if you get a moment to log on to r.t. dot com to discover why c. was late to the leaders meeting in brussels. running a gauntlet of egg throwing and spitting protesters the french president had a tough day on the presidential campaign trail see that video in full swing for you

want our web site. also was smuggled secret that reveals that a computer containing the commom code for the international space station has been stolen those details standing by for your dotsie dot com. we'll get to the world update in just a moment but for now with russian presidential campaigns in the final straight ahead of sunday's vote image makers behind those running for the top dropping finding new creative weapons have been using everything from extravagant internet clips to less imaginative street runners all of this so with a vote of support you can take a look at why do range of tools being employed and whether or not they actually

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. with your opposition is a ford hard in the online wars from rapping and slating the point in nevada tandem to posting not so innocent radio fakes. charges against putin include embezzle meant financial fraud and abuse of office. compact to the grassy anti kremlin from painting the pro quo to videos and seem

a little toothless. was making. me laugh. if you believe that if our leaders. talk of ukraine not paying for russian gas proves that 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 mind to vote for putin this video definitely 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 students sound as yes we were told where bush. was the symbol not just only zero

zero zero. no it was right the first this is 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 too much money on. so when the real candidates they're really putting in africa supporters or opponents are taking the lead using the internet as a free media to play their chilled politics however when we go offline critique is set aside giving way to clear images advantage us camera angles and easily understood slogans a tried and tested method which has steadily secured votes for 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 core of put in support us thirty thirty five percent which is very hard to shake and i cannot imagine what putting all his office could do in the last few days before the election to lose these for 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. this party for. a shame. so. good girl. take her away. back to the camera roll. they have

sounds. good now get the next one in here in the catch r.t.e. . in a moment is the business but for now let's start with pakistan and the r.t. world up right at least thirty three of the clashes between militants and security forces in northwest of the country fighting started after a hilltop security checkpoint was attacked in a volatile province one of the main supply routes to afghanistan for nato forces runs through that area has been shut down since a cross border clash last november that was between u.s. forces and pakistani troops which left twenty four casualties. elections are being held for iran two hundred ninety seat parliament it's the first nationwide vote since the presidential poll in june two thousand and nine when i did a spot protest over alleged vote rigging and a crackdown on the elections are being viewed as a battle between two conservative groups that have now turned against each other after reaching the street between president mahmoud ahmadinejad and the supreme

leader ayatollah ali khamenei. ok i told you the markets now as i promised marina are standing by cross out the business that's going to see you so what how are investors reacting now to the only growing issues in the eurozone and of course upcoming elections but we'll get to the euro zone in a second but first let's start with the upcoming election and so far it seems quite positively actually the ruble is near six more days and as far as the stock markets are concerned there is soaring twenty four percent since the summer and that makes it the best performing stock market in the world and let's take a look at the latest figures the r.t.s. has slipped slightly into negative territory it's news in the south point zero eight percent at the same time and my sense is the importance of territory just and also let's have a look at that individual share moves on my sex rehab. with his boss is a national telecoms company and that's one of the top performers still of the day

that's going after announcing an acquisition and then we have nothing the company just announced it's not. grows through hundred billion dollars last year and the t.v. has slipped into negative territory this hour and that was after announcing the bypass or the fire back at the initial i.p.o. price with his life as much as the current price now staying away from our parents many analysts say that they expect to see my rally after the upcoming presidential elections where we spoke to hawks on science i have seen back when he says even though we might see a rally it's not necessarily solely based on who will become the next president's the rally could be quite significant next week but it really depends on the global background we see quite a significant rally in the russian market over the last week or two i think it would be a mistake to see that this rally scene of the last couple weeks is because of increasing confidence about elections they could be part of it but a significant increase in the world prices also played

a very material role. all right let's talk about those oil prices which are now coming down from a forty three month and of course they were there it's begin with because we heard of an explosion in saudi arabia would support in the store the oil pipelines there but since then the country asked about those reports were false let's move on to europe and the picture there is pretty much a negative was about both of footsie and the bags are losing part just an awesome move also the last remark is there are closed but they close on a high on a thursday and i was following the higher oil futures as well as constant so stayed out and the full move on to the extremes rates was see that of the euro is trading slightly lower against the dollar and following concerns about the euro zone we're seeing that state see all of the summits and brussels and some people are steps in a sort of whether it would lead to actual results as far as the ruble is concerned it's a loose and slightly against the greenback but david against the euro and those are

the latest figures from the international markets and the ex saying right my colleague had a pilbeam we'll have another update for you in about twenty five minutes from now that's it for most of the business that's. issues that show much of. which of course you on it will be live in the voting for the future in two days' time russians will go to the polls to elect their next president what is the nature of russia's political system how we should change.