all the developments from around russia. for the future coverage. of the. gathering to strike tens of thousands in spain unite in protest against labor reforms a day before the new prime minister announces a fresh round of austerity cuts. the arab league its way over how to deal with the syrian crisis some members i became diplomacy others help arming the rebels and weighing in with force. the five member bloc of brics countries take on the dollar and euro in a bid to reform the global economy by creating an alternative to the international monetary fund.

eleven am in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story tens of thousands across spain are gathering for a general strike to protest against new labor reforms seen as the first real test for the new prime minister mariano rajoy who's government has only been in office for three months but straight comes a day before he's expected to announce more painful austerity measures or he's jacob greaves has more from madrid. this is just a precursor of what we're expecting to see taking place later on thursday when tens of thousands of people thought to be descending on this where essentially we're drinking makes an action a story predicated across the whole of the country all part of a general strike now even though there's some limited transport links so we know why these things go called a spade well the prince who complains the ending of the label will see him by the

government they think they support the boy or they don't really respect the rights of the work of them enough people to be sat down to reason and have their wages been lowered all this in the face of striking unemployment levels twenty three percent of the whole feel asians standing on their lawyer that puts blame at the start of almost abandoned functionaries and when you put this in context of those under the age of thirty even the worst thing about fifty percent of that force and should have been all the protests taking place throughout the course of the year we saw a problem want in one lens and then home next to see between police and demonstrators and the police were accused of being heavy handed searching the circumstances of the tension is expected to again be on friday that's when the country's prime minister seeking to pass

a budget this time again i might passing because ever since he's already stressed start to be very very severe possibly alarming so many of the public also the tension being cross still staying busy putting in prime minister said the spanish condition is something that could infect the rest of the eurozone over this coming on the banks of the bankers by announcing to the country the sentence the second recession. well stay with us here on r.t. as we bring you up to the minute coverage of the spanish strike throughout the day and you can always find more news videos and analysis by clicking on our web site r t v dot com here's what's online right now. a petrol panic you pay drivers hitting the pumps after being warned of a possible fuel tanker strike. and facebook faceoff has some u.s. employers are asking people to hand over social networking passwords when applying for a job. as

the conflict in syria rages despite a un backed peace plan the arab league is meeting to decide on how to mediate a solution not all of its members though are committed to diplomacy with some openly calling for military action for more on this we go live to our sorrow for a ride in istanbul with the latest so damascus has suspended the arab league since last year and what sort of impact will that have on the body decisions actually have on syria. well serious already said that it's not going to test any initiative by the arab league of course it was suspended from it last year and we saw the failure of the arab league mission in that country that also highlighted really the internal divisions that the arab league as

a party itself faces and indeed this arab league summit the first is being held in baghdad t.j. case and it hasn't been particularly well attended some of the countries not sending that talk to us to get involved in that now iraq's foreign minister said that the country rejected calls the foreign intervention as a means of ending the conflict and he did say that the country is behind the syrian people's bit of freedom but you can see that's quite a difference of opinion to some of the arab league countries that have been seen very much to be pushing for arming the opposition and sending in arab chiefs to intervene we seen a guitar call for that to happen so there is definitely a difference of opinion whether the abby's going to be able to bridge those divisions in a.c.c. this certainly thought that today of course there is talk of the attention that they'll be hearing from cave and possibly into seeing that six point peace plan. now it's been a week since the u.n. security council issued

a statement endorsing kofi and iran's peace plan but is it actually being implemented. well i mean that's really the question because we have we would have six point three similar t.v. out of the initiative. at the beginning of the year the removal of the forces from some of the conflict areas to release a political prisoner is extremely important but of course it doesn't help that ultimatum it doesn't cool to president assad to step down on the syrian government's already accepted that plan formally that's been met by some of the opposition with a fair amount of understandable skepticism indeed here in istanbul we've had hundreds of the members of the opposition gathering ahead of the friends the syria conference that's going to be happening on sunday and really the message from the opposition of the message from the instructional community to the syrian government is very much ok we you can date it now prove it we they want to see the actions behind that of course was very difficult now is with that peace plan we don't

actually know any real time frame fit implementation and also exactly how it is going to be implemented on the ground of course the big question is going to be what exactly does happen if president assad in the syrian government seen to be putting out interaction to this peace plan does have the backing of russia and china say possibly that is going to make a difference that's going to be more clear that the friends of syria conference that will be happening at the end of the week the seventy days are going to be the big questions that everyone's going to be looking at all right artie sorry for a fly for us from istanbul thanks for that update well stay with us here on earth you still to come this hour african spring we were foreign leaders situation in the west african country mali a military coup that saw its president overthrown. also coming rising number of americans dissatisfied with having only true real choices come election day one twelve will tell you that. first the world economies five leading

challengers are banking on serious change the brics group of countries want to create a new development fund as an alternative to what they consider a western run i.m.f. and world bank very mean to break the command of the dollar in euro was the main reserve currencies archies prius has more from new delhi. today is the main day of the fourth annual great summit leaders from the world's top emerging economies were still russia india china and south africa are here in new delhi to discuss their strategic partnership together these five countries account for forty percent of the world's population and actually are expected to make up almost half of the global g.d.p. in the next year like when each one of many analysts are predicting that because of these countries growing economies they're actually going to have more clout in the political realm as well we're seeing many of these countries russia and china for

example daniel up to last year in front three on major issues that are going on in the world like syria we're also seeing the issue of iran many brics countries are standing up on that issue as ball we have india china and russia that are saying that the western sanctions on iran are not going to work earlier this year the brics countries were also talking about bailing out the euro from their financial crisis one of the top things they've said to be discussed here at the fourth annual great sounding though is the possibility of a joint break being that could service some sort of alternative to western like financial institutions like the international monetary fund and the world bank these leaders will also expected to discuss an alternative to the dollar as the global reserve currency and perhaps some sort of break up basket for. the brics countries will be starting an agreement with a new world again at their national currency another move not that these countries

are coming together to shoulder their top in amik clout and this would be a major shift in the way the global economics work after all the documents are stuck. in their statements to the brics summit will conclude and the russian president dmitri me. that it is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with the indian prime minister mike mullen thing like everything perhaps not hearing you tell. chang sweet scene from peking university says the diversity of the brics countries makes up for a win win relationship between them in the global economy. right now it's much too reliant on the american and european european markets and as we all know. american in europe and europe. right now are our first luggers so china for its long term economic interest is very interested in you markets around the world as well as diversifying its manufacturing sector you know the appeal of russia is all

because russia is as it is a land of immense natural wealth in china it's very much in need of resources the appeal of south africa is that's a marker is really much the financial center of africa so there has for providing education weren't for chinese banks to get peace and to address about africa seems to cygnus true for brazil. so polo is really in many ways the financial capital of america so it's not that china is they can make our house it's each of these countries to benefit from. mutual benefit of this record show we have from whatever everyone. and the next hour he speaks with the chairman of the world's largest commodities trading company who thinks the chinese industrial boom will eventually be phased out. at the moment china on a comparison they say is. certainly doing good of and everywhere else so whether

that's going to lead the world forever or have i don't think so but we have history going into it but china not china is a manufacturing country today and benefiting from many parts of the manufacturing is really pretty in the western world has swung away from manufacturing into third industries and that is as also have huge dollar inflation over the years i'm talking about europe and america china is going through its industrial revolution equivalent doing fantastically well but also feeding the beginnings of inflation growing cost base over the next twenty years we may well see the chinese manufacturing move offshore to places like cambodia vietnam and maybe. the us are suspended food aid in north korea after the country refused to cancel

our rocket launch scheduled for made april washington says this breaks the deal in which north korea agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program and nuclear missile tests in exchange for humanitarian support yangon says the launch is just intended to send a satellite to space for scientific purposes to estimate crop production james corbet from a corporate report says the u.s. is using a few days and a withdrawal as a geo political tool. communally would be only affected this will have this to make the people of north korea even more dependent on pyongyang and central power they hold over the food supply and further drive north korea to two other sources of food aid will still be of course china obviously a rival for u.s. power and influence in the region so i think this is a. a clear example of the us shooting shooting itself in the foot if it is indeed attempting to really change the power structure of north korean society through its

food aid could be used as a tool and instrument of national power which is really just really a mask for he had been the ability to use this as a geopolitical weapon i think if the us the serious about actually challenging north korea and of course it's only nuclear program developments they'd be looking into such things as. the european energy giant which concluded a two hundred million dollars contract i continue to provide light water reactors to north korea which formed part of the basis of their nuclear program but of course that won't happen because one of the board members a d.v.d. arena time was former u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld. a delegation of west african army chiefs have arrived in mali's capital bamako is part of it attempt to restore order after last week's coup is says the visit comes as toppled president money tory says he is safe and still in the country several thousand people took to the streets of kohen support for the military takeover led by soldiers unhappy with the president's

policies they cleared leaders of who have already unveiled a new constitution promising greater public freedoms their actions that have been condemned by the un and led somalia suspension from an influential west african regional lawrence freeman from the executive intelligence review thinks the rebellion could be the result of a failure of western policy in the region. mali this was an area that u.s. put a lot of military back in to and they were trying to fight the various forces no one is ok to give them a grip and you had a military low level officer carry out a coup so you have to wonder how strong was the government this is the continuation of the arab spring into sub-saharan africa one factor though is that in the zealous nature of president obama and president sarkozy and prime minister cameron in their intent the carrier regime change in libya and link killed khadafi when it

was not necessary there actually help peace process because many of these rebels are coming back from libya very well on. pickup trucks with machine guns and other ammunition so essentially it's the failed policy president obama in the west together with the economic crisis that i think that it can mean cause it is for the it's rebellion turn out of some other stories making headlines across the globe six people have been killed in two attacks in southwest pakistan the first happened in the district when a gunman shot dead a u.n. employee and his driver another u.n. worker was wounded gunmen on motorcycles also opened fire on a passenger van in quetta killing four shiite muslims and what appeared to be a satori an attack the former international monetary fund chief dominique strauss codd claims he has diplomatic immunity in a civil case in which he's accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid last year the i.m.f.

says he's not entitled to immunity though because he was in new york on personal business at the time of the alleged crime strauss kahn is under investigation in france as well over allegations he was involved there in a prostitution ring. authorities have charged a u.s. pilot of interfering with a flight crew after his behavior became increasingly erratic while trying to. why the plane playoffs because las vegas a bound flight made an emergency landing in texas tuesday after he allegedly shouted from iraq we're going to bring the plane down i was been could face up to twenty years in prison and two hundred fifty thousand dollars in fines if guilty he's currently being held at a texas hospital for a medical evaluation. and finally to ireland where a two and a half ton elephant named baby escaped from a circus in the town of blackpool the forty year old to a carpark over which before charging a busy junction where the shopping center babies handlers say she ran away because

she didn't want to take a shower she was brought under control and returned to the circus shortly after. in the us republican candidates continue to fight it out in the primaries across the country in hopes of challenging democratic president obama for the top job a recent gallup poll suggest americans may not be satisfied satisfied with having only two choices with around forty percent considering themselves independents or he's got a cheeky on reports some americans believe the bipartisan system could be. in american politics three is a crowd through a string of primaries two parties present their candidates for the president of the united states americans are accustomed to has been to teams they watch football games based on games of basketball where there's one team against the other team

that's kind of the way they see politics as well i think it affects their thinking they think there's only two choices republicans and democrats so that they just grown accustomed to that mentality. but according to a gallup poll over record number of americans forty percent now identify themselves as political independence there are many people who have expressed dissatisfaction with the current system but they seem more sawing to the notion that those people who are currently in positions of power or not want to go want any sort of change in that we're not likely to see change anytime soon for an independent or third party candidate getting on a general election ballot is considered a good task in the us ralph nader an independent a renowned lawyer consumer rights advocate ran for the presidency six times harder to get on the ballot in this country by far than any western democracy fifty different state laws hundreds of different county laws it was

a total nightmare created by the two parties to avoid competition it's basically a two party elected to cater ship we call it a duopoly and they're all fighting for osha sleep over who's going to go to the white house so they can pick up residence and to take the orders from their corporate paymasters some analysts say the system works in a way to avoid any real change in the way america's government and special interests play special role the extended primary process we have in the u.s. gives special interests like military contractors to. others it gives them time to monitor the election process and put in resources to attack anyone who's not going use not going to give those dinner tables favorable to them so they just make it hard for an outsider it's just surprised establishment some believe congressman ron paul would fare better as an independent as his distinctly anti-war rhetoric

distances him from the other republican front runners political experts say someone like paul stands no chance of winning the nomination because at the end of the day the two parties always deliver a mainstream candidate. presented with just two choices many americans vote not for they see as president but against the one they don't like a lot of people don't necessarily vote for who they like a lot of people's vote republican because they don't like the democrats or built so democrat because they don't like or they're scared of the republican to last a town to have americans voted for the lesser of two evils or who is the lesser of two parents many see the way candidates are picked a leader wes's them safeguard against drastic change but as that this content among americans world over the country's foreign policy over corporate controlled economies so grows the push for fresh ideas and bold actions but the question is

will the system allow in those who could break the much loved then much cherished business as usual washington old i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. . iran will resume talks with world powers to diffuse tension over its disputed nuclear program in two weeks' time leading nations are keen to discuss iran's uranium enrichment with wet which western governments suspect could be aimed at developing nuclear weapons tehran and says its atomic ambitions are only aimed at developing peaceful energy a last meeting between iran and u.n. representatives and twenty eleven failed to get any concrete results in well terrans been hit by the latest round of you. u.s. sanctions against iran is engineering firms with ties to the country's most powerful economic and political body and islamic revolutionary guards the senior editor of reason magazine brian doherty says sanctions bring the u.s. and iran a step closer to war. thank you and in and of themselves are essentially not at war

i mean we're basically telling iran that their banking sectors their energy sector is a pretty much the entire life whether they're on a beach and not interact with the rest of the world in any way we're trying to ensure that you know not just america but any company anywhere around the world is going to be punished. with iran i mean i think clearly if anyone tried to do the same thing to us we would understand it. or what we're talking about nearly in that bunch of sanctions that are already there we're already very probably down this and i reluctantly a little slow light on the part of any liberal sponsibility in wanting to actually make a lord about the implications of your stance we're taking toward iran right now. coming up at our sports ball in an exclusive interview with russia's only f one driver. italian truck sharing his thoughts on racing in the future of the most popular event in motor sports that's coming your way in the next hour. time

now to motor over to the business desk where marine is waiting with all the latest and this time european markets are open how are they doing so far find out yes they are open and play have failed sort of cover from wednesday's losses let's not forget our own lines they have us pretty much a sea of red across the board and then a friend so let's take a look at the latest figures today we can see that the fluency is setting point one percent this hour a lot of that over point three percent but we'll get a better picture of what is happening and next hour let's move on super awesome markets point out that's now over an hour and so the trading session and there are some markets are still in the right the i'd say yes no it's not evidence. close the territory for a little bit but it's slipped by down and the my sex is firmly in the right proper employing a three percent this hour let's take a look at the individual sherman's on the my sex we have overlaid assaults which are among the main losers of us on the front we could prove energy companies sort of looking after gas which is

a mouthful to say i have to say that is down is that profit rose eighty percent last year but that's according to russian accounting standards then we have a russian british or eventually. instruct them point to six percent this hour and we know about the firm has promised to set up three power stations to provide electricity for as the forces in the north of russia and finally bank b t b is dropping millions eight percent almost and that's after posting that its two thousand and eleven net profit rose sixty percent ok time to check out some local companies or itself broader than in the netherlands and russia's investment holding groups which are thinking about building a port in china to gather the country is currently looking for partners to set up in a production territory and that's next to beijing the companies that promise to give a final answer or and their investment will be sue a billion dollars. and after years of gone back and forth bulgaria has decided to

abandon the construction of a nuclear power plant in that country the project was being developed by russia since the one nine hundred eighty s. and both areas says the project which is worth around six point three billion euros is simply soo expensive for its economy they've already spent a significant amount of money on it after getting a loan from a french bank and now there are plans to set up a cheaper thermal power station instead. of us because of all the international markets we have a shell which is still trading and we see that it's also i see it right there as well the ag sign is dropping almost one and a half percent and that's because of commodity prices there commodity farms are on the pressure as well as the sell off from metals and or overnights in new york can also be a little bit more about later on in hong kong aluminum corp of china is setting two percent and a stronger yen is also dragging down japanese exports sony is also about roughly six percent this hour but on the positive side of things japan's february retail

sales rose three and a half percent which was much more than expected moving on to the u.s. markets there are closed but they recovered from their old worst levels they still under the trading session a lower lead by materials and energy and basically investors were disappointed because of global weakness as well as some disappointing economic data what i mean by that is that orders for durable goods were last the menses supported by very at two point super sad and also future business investment was missing forecasts unknown su crude as i mentioned their prices are weaker trading almost at their lowest level in almost a week and that's not for us and when stories surge that of western countries started this custom the possibility of releasing their suits egypt reserves to push the oil price lower you know when it comes to the currencies the euro is slightly higher against the dollar and the ruble is now. again and once again as i against both the euro and the greenback the rights now in other news asia has not golf in

north america for the top spot as they call it the world's economic center of gravity and now the number of asians with a fortune of at least one hundred million dollars is eighteen hours and that's compared with seventeen thousand in north america and fourteen thousand and western europe when it comes to russia so the figure is slightly less over two thousand and the statistics are published in a report by knight frank and the global property broker expects the number of the country's super rich so goes seventy six percent in just five years that's the third fastest pace in the world after in the china they have a china they have mats i would rather say. that's all the business for them that's ok today's been full of. you of the i love what can i say it's ok live t.v. what can we do we're in a grocery reporting from a business person if you were in

a few moments we've got the headlines followed by the latest kaiser report max unceasing scrutinized in the world of the financial stay with us here on r.t. .