sometimes it's. marvelous. scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy because a report on our team. from the world wide web to a nationwide war extremist opposition groups in syria turned to the internet to encourage a bloody battle in the country while the u.n. arab envoy seeks a diplomatic solution. americans call for overhaul of the electoral system ahead of this year's presidential poll for the report the millions of jupiter to see stand in eligible voters. and fitch credit rating agency downgrades greece to restrictive default shatteringly moving off to muslim of e.u. leaders following the deal pushed through by athens we get reaction on this development shortly here on r.t. .

international news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. with the twenty four hours a day syria's exiled opposition has once again rejected a call for dialogue with the assad regime saying the crisis requires a military solution and diplomatic appeal for talks this time came from the u.n. arab envoy kofi annan who's set to arrive in damascus this weekend and while the battle on the ground continues the war has moved on line and salties were reports. i think. once purely a day of prayer friday has become one of the finds cross the arab spring countries in syria this new tradition has gone even further with activists online giving every friday its own very special name through flicked the opinion of the street or

of the syrian people and to also send a message to the external world about the syrian situation or the opinions of same people but the days of names like dignity and honor from last march have come to an end with calls to arm the rebels and kill the president becoming the main message from those protesting against the regime so a lot of torture people saw a lot of killing people and saw their families are being killed in front of their eyes so i think this is just natural to ask for killing. a president welcoming many however argue that these hostile messages are we told to provoke more violence and the steering the country toward civil war i were trying to. effect. people of my own people thinking. this is the way to prove syrians you know syrians want to come here and violence

with noble things and radios. or some history of syria and of course to read from. all the government protests here in syria have a very. few things that they usually known before the day friday the place last the time after the prayers and even the cause they're gathering for and the slogans they're chanting usually made public you know and this thing changes although with the basis. so exactly who is behind these messages and it is now a common subject among people in general not just on t.v. but i don't know specific source i heard from the people around me my friends are actually television. some yes some. well animate i don't know there are some people who name every friday but it doesn't interest me i think you should ask them. i think i heard something on t.v. not t.v.

the trail led us to a website called syrian revolution it is here that the name of the coming friday is usually published supposedly after people vote for it it said if their presence all of the session groups strangely enough the syrian national coalition committee the opposition within the country say they have nothing to do with this site oh and other place where voting is carried out cannot be accessed from syria of course the voting is electronic voting. never sure if it is real or not it's an astronaut well it's not clear who really stands behind the idea some names like china is killing us or no veto so just an agenda that's not looking to compromise and seek a peaceful solution to the conflict that peru is once friday called syrian national council represents for me they try to change people's mentality friday before

prayers and god when people feel unity with themselves has become a difference now eventually make sure people understand week and while with the rhetoric growing stronger every friday many here are starting to question who is really pulling the strings trying to escalate the violence reflexion r.t. damascus. the syrian national council based outside the country says it's receiving financial support and weapons from arab and non arab states to wage war against a sense forces but government visiting professor of international relations from the turkish based look at university says arming the rebels results in more civilian casualties both money is essential to any would be revolution and certainly possible war weapons of course are absolutely vital and one called were for the. person who. turned on his forces actually very soon. this also raises the casualties

and creates a much deeper peytral who are who both sides and also places impossible for the forces of moderation. but it's also dangerous for the region because if it still shows there's already arabia and qatar and. the rebels in syria what if countries are the right so who are going to help also or perhaps your source who is a source of maybe the shiites sunnis who are. working. in the. professor mark almond talking to be learned here to libya now and the country's interim prime minister is in washington appealing for u.s. help to drive out remnants of the old regime and so the new libyan authorities face challenges in holding a country together with powerful tribal leaders already declaring semi autonomous from the capital tripoli but it will analysts pepe escobar however think that washington is no longer interested in the country's political future. we have

a little puppet in tripoli stuff for abdul nieto as we call it not will stop all joel he's saying that he's going to be intervening so he's going to be what you know where to look at a few two point zero is going to intervene against the people of syria and i got all over again because they are splintering the tribes in eastern libya has been antagonizing a central government tripoli for decades if not centuries and this is a second what's happening because only a sprinter need a person care of course the u.s. the brits and the french don't care as long as they have contracts with tripoli the alliance between especially against between washington a long run in paris and the g.c.c. they wanted to be called for and then distribute the spoils and who cares about the future of libya as are the markets it is going to be war warring shoots tribal

feuds do it is going to call for average. still to come this hour here on r.t. nowhere to hide u.k. citizens of the north part big brother i think government aims to snoop on the private lives of the british public like never before. and u.s. reportedly offered israel heavy weaponry in exchange for holding back from attacking iran tel aviv signals it's running out of patience for terrans alleged nuclear weapons program. so those stories told come for you but first with eight months to go the race for america's presidency is already in full swing with republican rivals locked in a bitter struggle for nomination but alongside smear campaigns and dirty politics is another problem a somewhat archaic voting system that disregards millions of votes as aussies miniport now reports there's a growing demand for a revamped election process one of these men could be president just eleven months from now as president if i'm president this president i'd say you got is somebody who can actually get it done in washington as americans head to the polls in two

thousand and twelve determined to take part in the mock recy millions of votes may end up rejected thrown away com election night about two point two million votes were lost in two thousand and eight voter registration problems even better is the director of elections initiatives at the cue center on the states he says america's nineteenth century paper based voter registration system has left the nation's registration rolls plagued by a rooney is errors we found roughly twenty four million records that are no longer update mostly because people have moved in some cases because people have died we found fifty one million eligible voters who aren't on the rolls but one in four of the old citizens united states a new report on america's quote inaccurate costly and inefficient voting system also found nearly two million dead individuals listed as eligible u.s.

voters and nearly three million citizens. just heard in more than one state we're seeing voting problems during the two thousand and ten midterm elections resulted in a reported sixty thousand votes being tossed out not counted i fishel say the misuse of new electronic optical scan machines was to blame yet again that because price could likely be the integrity of america's free and fair elections we should assume that every citizen that is also vote can vote and if there is some problem on election day there should be some way that they can correct so if they're not told i don't see you in the book even though you are a citizen even though you're eighteen your vote isn't going to count concerning russia back in december u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton said the same thing following russia's parliament reelection the russian people like people everywhere deserve the right. to have their voices heard and their votes counted and come this november it all

starts with you american citizens will be counting on us leaders to stand by their words. r.t. new york the u.s. is reportedly proposed giving israel advanced weaponry in return for tel aviv delaying a potential strike on iran bunker buster bombs and long range refueling planes were allegedly off during your whose latest visit to washington israeli prime minister said his country hasn't decided to attack it but it signaled that patients will turn around was wearing thin barack obama in turn stressed the need to let the plane missing and economic sanctions run the course of khan's following an agreement between iran and several international powers and to restart troops on iran's alleged weapons program as in washington from the national iranian american council says it's crucial for regional stability but israel's warlike cries are muslims. after three decades of little or no communication between iran and the united states there's no question that it's going to be a very challenging task that both sides are facing and you know i think being on

the precipice of war has to really focus the attention of various decision makers in various capitals and focus them specifically on the need for all parties to compromise and there's a difference between what the united states and the international community are asking for and what the israelis would prefer and these negotiations are going to be an opportunity to figure out how to try and square that circle i think it's safe to say that any honest and objective analyst would agree that iran will not give up its nuclear program in its entirety but it will agree to limitations that are monitored america by the international atomic energy agency the clemency isn't supposed to produce instant success you're supposed to invest in a process over a sustained period of time where confidence building measures that are reached in the interim can pursue a tape trust building even when i was serving in the u.s. government the israelis were one of a handful of countries that were never really interested in giving diplomacy a fair shake and that's one of the many reasons why is really on the line with the obama administration they've done a very good job of trying to take actions that would lessen the possibility of

diplomacy being successful but the obama administration understands better than anyone right now what's at stake he's taken multiple steps publicly and privately to push back and i'm hoping that we're going to see more of that continue because if it doesn't they're going to continue to try to bully him to have the feel like someone's watching you well if you're a u.k. citizen the governor is attempting to step up its public surveillance policy even snooping when your personal e-mails to spot c.c.t.v. cameras are already a major factor u.k. life there are no plans to stall personal data including information from social networking sites and as artie's are the reports it's the taxpayer who could be footing the bill. soon you could be watched everywhere you go in the u.k. even where the cameras can't see you all your e-mails texts and phone calls will be monitored under a new anti terrorist spy plan they government will know which websites you visit it'll even snoop on your private facebook messages no matter who you are all your personal data will be stored for a year in

a massive surveillance operation privacy campaigners condemn this is the first step towards the government taking control of these are the only place in the world has got that kind of regulation is china i'm sorry but britain is not china britain's already one of the most watched societies in the world the number of c.c.t.v. cameras is estimated at nearly two million now the government wants to monitor all electronic communication as well including social media taking surveillance to a level never seen before just what you see in calls and messages won't be kept but the government will know exactly who you speak to when you do it and where you are it will be stored by broadband and mobile companies but security services will have real time access at the click of a button secretly living your life with the new digital rights groups say it will leave people living in fear of big brother the problem here is really that good is

intrusive and the sort of places where you can see that might be useful could be good or it could be anything could be tax it could be to force it could be copyright infringement. and terrorism and serious crime are a tiny subset of the possibilities that you could use information for it's the ones being watched who are paying for it to cybersecurity experts predict it'll cost taxpayers over a billion dollars to be spied on even then there's no guarantee they'll be safe from other prying eyes any person who guarantees. you absolutely curity isn't it and if you're dealing with information which might be required at short notice by law enforcement then that means that quite a lot of people need to be involved although i suspect most of the time is going to be quote unquote secure. there also it's highly likely that there will be large

scale failures as well if you're typing into eatings private for now the legislation still has to go through parliament previous governments wish for a surveillance where it was fought off in two thousand and eight over fears of data safety the greater fear this time we're told is the threat to national security but events like the olympics the government's justification so may not be long before what you thought was personal which is a much wider audience i've given it artsy london and on the web site r.t. dot com you can find plenty more news from the u.k. including why the country's politicians may need some looking after themselves some british m.p.'s seem to be drunk not only on alcohol related scandals in westminster become regular topics in the tabloid press. but russia's president elect and renowned sports love of let me approach enjoys dmitri medvedev and silvio berlusconi help one of the most difficult bobsled tracks at the venue for the next

winter olympics or that after trying his luck in the biathlon those stories and a plenty of other preachers party dot com. e.u. leaders have been dealt a painful slap in the face after the credit rating agency fitch have just downgraded greece's rating to restrict to default it's the second worst level on the scale just a difference present a closer causey had claimed the greek debt crisis had been solved in front of athens critical bomb swap deal with private creditors that allowed the country to narrowly escaped before want to discuss today's developments i'm not joined live by dr william anderson he's an associate professor of economics at the forsberg state university well we've got e.u. leaders word choice in the deal and now we see skeptic since ism from the markets

and an almost instant downgrade by fitch why we seeing such a contrast in reaction over this well because let's face it the e.u. leaders would put something over on somebody this is a before i mean whatever you settle with your creditor for less than what you are or have agreed to do it and you do it i don't care how systematic it is or how complicated these swaps are we are dealing with a real live before everybody knows that just because sarkozy claims that it isn't a deep well it means absolutely nothing he's a politician believe so the damage is already done and this downgrade really doesn't have any specific impact because although some may say that actually perhaps the rail recovery this perception of a downgrade but actually you're saying the damage is already done and oh yeah and here i think you have to understand the markets are going to reflect the reality is personally care of the situation i think because these folks are the ones that

actually have money to gain or to lose and so they're going to make decisions based . upon which would be best for their financial future they're not looking at a politically the european leaders are trying to put a political spin on this but what you have in the end is. the taking of assets that are worthless and you have a son. by pretending that these assets mean something that these assets really are valuable when in fact they're not and then they try to monetize the whole thing and then pretend as though they've solved a problem they've solved nothing they've actually made it worse because they won't admit what is going on what you make of it so they have to live they have to leave it to markets to do that for them right what do you make of the austerity measures that policy which is so keen to push well it depends on me the thing about austerity especially with the when it when it's imposed by somebody like the i.m.f. is number one they have high taxes they pay you have somebody coming in from the

outside saying ok this is how you will cut spending you will do this or that in reality. once more once your revenues were pale and once the greek government cannot borrow. in order to pay for especially bloated public unions then. a form of austerity is going to be there they no longer have the resources to support their spending and so they will have to make cuts but the thing is they really should be able to make them as they see best as opposed to people on the outside and i think that little rock will want it all the while back that the average greek citizen did not make the decision you know to run up these massive deficits in this massive debt it was done by the politicians and yet who pays well the average greek citizen well some of those thirty measures will actually boost the economy by making it more attractive in terms of investors not

make it competitive and by cutting the minimum wage there's a saying of course it's thirty measures could make the economy thought was. what do you think is the out spent how do you boost the economy which is what it needs yeah it's a good point well i think that the that the latter point you brought up was and that's what paul krugman has been saying that they need more spending that he's need to print more money or maybe greek need greece needs to get off the the euro and back to the drachma just print lots of drop less and out of solve everything when in reality what we have is the situation room where the greek economy is not competitive they have very complex labor rules it's very difficult to get things done there and so when you have an overburdened economy like that it also breeds corruption that kind of corruption also steers away investors and so i think what the greeks have to do is become obvious in their wage rates and all that i

agree that austerity would have that effect you could minimum wage you you ok you make the more. competitive but it's not just the pure raw. terry stuff that makes a difference you also have to deal with the fact that you for a long time the greek government has been you know living this gravy train an imaginary gravy train with borrowed money and now all of a sudden reality is hitting them and i think that. in the long run the greeks can be more competitive by being cheaper. at the same time the. people have to be willing to buy into it but if not you're going to see what's happening right now you know athens burning people setting fire here now that does not exactly bode well for tourism i was i know people come to greece to see ruins but they want to see the ruins of the acropolis and not in downtown athens so in effect what we're seeing is the attempt to get the debt under control at the expense of

the economy because of those those thirty measures really could make the economy fall was some what we're seeing right now well i think if you try to raise taxes and actually off that what happens is you see extra imposition of government regulation and all that yes i think if the greeks became much more of a free market. and a lot of austerity people are not they're not big fans of the free market they want to manage a an economy this is not something that can be managed to you what you have to do is actually have the government backed off that a lot of austerity measures actually raise taxes they will see stronger enforcement of tax laws and things like that and those are those are economy killers those are not things that will bring in the economy now my criticism of austerity runs in that way it does not run in the lack of government spending government spending you have to remember is

a burden it is to know it's an asset to the greek economy it's a bird and they have to be. professor anderson great to hear your thoughts and we really do appreciate your time here on r.t. thank you for joining us live very much talking thanks well the euro zone members. have been in the very quick to rejoice this swap deal calling it a breakthrough in rescuing the debt ridden country but the parachute provides little optimism and optimism for the greeks themselves whose financial woes continue to freefall as tom barton now reports. curriculum brucey threatens to throw herself from her office window in downtown athens she and her husband have had their salaries cut have debts and a mortgage they can't pay and now they've just learned their jobs are under threat she was eventually talked down after many hours on the ledge. this is where ferraro

worked and this organization tried to provide housing support for people on low incomes or they did until two weeks ago when the government announced this place was closing all her seven hundred staff here could lose their jobs because of frantic meetings in corridors and offices distressed workers try to find out what will happen to them at least are going to say sheen has been going strong for sixty years and it's not fair to send their money to other departments they want to take our money to cover other holes they want to take money for other necessities but all our families will be unemployed if we could save greece ok but there's no way that money will fill the gap with the old so stacked against them some desperate greeks even contemplate ending it all. and this is the only phone line in the country dedicated to stopping them line ten eighteen is greece's single volunteer run charity suicide prevention line in two thousand and eleven calls here doubled

calls like one the to leno picked up from a mother standing on the fifth floor of a building threatening to jump said a family member had sowed with it it was handled cards and received the benefit and this benefit then if it was about to be cuts and she was about to lose her top and said there's nothing they can do what can i do to help me what can i do to help myself into that it all the suffering more charity too short of money it's gone piers unsure of their future although many greeks grudgingly accept the need for austerity they're adamant that m.p.'s should combine compassion with the cuts the main problem now the funding is throughout the day because this one is the one thing it's like for you people say this bill for the problem of the market in the house for everyone agrees that greece's road to recovery will be long and painful but greater and greater numbers of greeks worry that the debt the country is in could cost their families much more than just money tom bottom r.t.

. and from one country in the grip of a sturdy measures to italy's capital with thousands of gathered to protest against government cuts a general strike was proposed by a metal workers union against plans to scale back rules giving staff more job security becomes part of a raft of measures to overhaul the italian economy with changes to labor market conditions expected to be passed later this month. the forces in south korea conducted security drills ahead of a two day summit on the use of nuclear power around the world leaders from fifty countries are expected to attend with last year's for the sheema disaster likely to commentate the talks will focus on how to strengthen thomas safety and prevent acts of nuclear terrorism. on us. it for me for the moment i'll be back with updates of the day's top stories in just a couple of minutes from now stay with us life it.