tens of thousands unite in spain to protest against labor reforms and new austerity measures this after growing e.u. pressure to institute a very strict budget for spain to meet its debt crisis details later. with members meeting in baghdad exhibitions able how to deal with the syrian crisis while advocate to play with the others want rebels away and which. was the five member bloc of brics nations take on the dollar in euro in their bid to reform the global economy by creating an alternative to the international monetary fund.

one pm in moscow i met très i can tell you with us here on r t our top story tens of thousands of people across spain gathering for a general strike to protest against new labor reforms it's the first real test for the new prime minister mariano rajoy who's government has only been in office for three months and the strike comes a day before he's expected to announce more painful austerity measures for more on this correspondent jake agrees live for us in madrid they could what's happening there right now one of the reasons behind this strike. we've seen some people already breaking through into the main square just behind me a small but very cool and old a nice contingent. around the country. this is day with tens

of thousands of people expect to descend on the streets voicing their anger i made this day of general strike and all the main reasons for the grievance and that's a cry out cry is simple facts of the first austerity measures that are being implemented that the moment force in large part by the e.u. a fear of a further bailout also the labor laws as well but hardly passed by the administration in power they want to make it easier for employers to sack workers in the future and reduce their wages and this stands quite strikingly in the face of startling unemployment talking about twenty three percent of the population and at the mo we're seeing a lot of young people out on the streets and that's because of that twenty three percent of those under twenty five is up fifty percent of those unemployed so a significant number now this administration has only been in power for under one hundred days already got it spaced to match strikes also had to face off against

mass demonstrations we saw one recently taking place in valencia there that's erupted in a piece of my son this growing anger from the public clashing with police protesters clashing with police and the police being accused of in some cases brutality. and you can we expect the strikes to influence the government's new austerity plans. well not really mean despite this outcry that we're hearing the spanish government sees steadfast in its beliefs that the moments and how it's going to implement we've heard them talking about a very very off the budget for the future and this is set to take place on friday now they have been also talking about yes this is a question if you governments in power is elected upon the most is all using any sort of force that is so full of deep hopes in the future that's something that

they want to do through the means of austerity really get cease growing sense that the spanish government is facing a crossroads the one side that has the e.u. who are continually pressurizing for more austerity and deficit cuts to be implemented that's meeting about thirty billion euros to achieve the past on friday and then you have the public who increase the angry outweigh the costs of being made. all right or he's jake agrees live for us in madrid thanks very much for that update. stay with us here in our tears we bring you up to the minute coverage of the spanish strike throughout the day for more news and videos you can always hold over to our team dot com here's what's a click away right now. panic for petrol u.k. drivers at the pumps after being warned of a possible fuel tanker strike. and facebook faceoff as some u.s. employers asked people to hand over social network passwords well applying for a job.

russia has reiterated calls against foreign intervention in syria while pledging to continue delivering humanitarian aid to the war torn country meanwhile the arab league is meeting to decide on how to mediate a solution to the crisis but not all of the bodies members are committed to diplomacy arkansas or for reports from istanbul. well syria's already said that it's not going to test any initiative by the arab league of course it was suspended from it last year we still say i'll solution the of the arab league mission in that country that they also highlighted really the internal decisions that the arab league as a body itself faces and indeed this arab league summit the first is being held in fact that t.j. case it hasn't been particularly well attended some of the countries not sending

their top diplomats 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 to the countries behind the syrian people's bit of freedom even if he does quite a difference of opinion to some of the arab the countries that have been seen very much to be pushing for arming the opposition and sending in east into the we've seen a guitar coup for that to happen say there is definitely a difference of opinion whether the abbey's going to be able to bridge these divisions and they see that it's certainly still there today of course there is talk of the attention that they'll be hearing from casey and possibly into saying that six point peace plan is six points now very similar see the arab league initiative at the beginning of the year the removal of the forces from some of the conflict areas the release of political prisoners all the foot it's been important

but of course it doesn't have that ultimatum and it doesn't call to president assad to step down other syrian government already accepted that plan formally that's been met by some of the opposition with a fair amount of understandable skepticism and i did here in istanbul we've had hundreds of the members of the opposition gathering ahead of the friends of syria conference is going to be happening on sunday and really vanessa's from the opposition and the message from the international community to the syrian government has been very much ok where you can date it now. i'll prove it i want to see the actions behind that this peace plan does have the backing of russia and china so possibly that is going to make a difference that gains in will clear the friends of syria conference that will be happening at the end of the week or certainly those going to be the big questions that everyone's going to be looking at. well stay with us here on r.t. still to come this hour an african spring we report on the latest situation in the west african country of mali hit by a military coup it out sorry its president overthrown. was the rising number of

americans are dissatisfied with only two real choices come election day twenty five well. of course the world economies five leading challengers are banking on serious change the brics group of countries aiming to break the spell of the dollar and the euro is the main reserve currencies artie's preassure it is in new delhi live with the latest she joins us now so queer how exactly are these five countries planning to work to rival the western dominated said what's driving this vision. that's very mad the brics summit the statements from the five world leaders brazil russia india china and south africa just wrapped up they just signed an agreement to give loans in their local currencies which is one of the many things that were discussed here today another what i development bank put the brakes countries that would serve as a potential alternative to western led financial institutions like the

international monetary fund and the world bank there was also a lot of talk about western intervention in issues and countries like the ongoing conflict in syria and the western sanctions on iran there was also lots of talk from all of these leaders about reforming the united nations on let's take a listen to a little bit of what russian president dmitri medvedev had to say in today's top. of the e.u. . one of the priorities for bricks through the years to come should be strengthening the key rule of the u.n. security council and maintaining international peace and security and also ensuring that the u.n. is not used as a cover for regime change and unilateral actions to resolve conflicts situations. and actually the russian president is expected to hold up bilateral talks with the indian prime minister who also acco the same sentiments that president medvedev

just said right there and so there was a lot that was being discussed at today's summit and i'm actually where i'm john kirton who's the co-director of the great research group joining me for more so john first of all you know i want to talk about this development bank that was being discussed by these brics countries what what how realistic of an option is something like that oh very realistic but they handled it very wisely they gave themselves a year to get the design right they made it pretty clear that it's going to be born to benefit not just the brics countries themselves but developing countries more broadly but the big message was they gave the world bank another chance to get more reason says raised only then would they see how their new brics development bank would feed into supplement what we've already gotten can get and you know you were just discussing the world bank and we also see the international monetary fund to

traditional financial global institutions that have been led by the blast do you think that these institutions can be reformed and bought why do the greeks want to change those well clearly the brits want to change that because we really need the resources in the insights of the brics countries like in the first rank to do the job that the international financial system now needs what the group said was a very welcome wake up call we've already agreed to change the voice and the vote at the i.m.f. but a number of countries are just dragging their feet in putting into practice what they've already agreed to do so the brics are saying you've got to get on with it and they're right and you know we use this term a merge ing a condom e m but many people would argue that these economies have actually all. emerged especially considering that many analysts actually see china's economy surpassing the united states economy in the next few years why why are we still using this word emerging economies it takes some time to catch up but you're right

for the past several years the brics countries have been the only real engine of growth in a global economy that badly needs one now with europe receding into recession we need the brics growth that we've got now to a polar mode and with great volatility and rising oil prices over uncertainties about iran russia alone with that so oil supplies right is something that europe japan even the united states badly need and the last question i want to ask you is obviously because most of these countries have huge economies by twenty twenty they're expected to make up fifty percent of the global g.d.p. they're also starting to of flex their political clout as well tell me a little bit about that well i think we've seen that if you like a global governance more broadly that long ago while russia graduated to the first ranks quite joining the g eight the brics here are indorsed the work of brazil at

the rio plus twenty summit where brazil will be in globally in india hosting the biodiversity convention and conference here back in india within the coming year he looked out for a broadly i think one major of message was the brics said we support the g twenty we want to make it work and above all will be there to help the russian federation when it takes up the chair of the twenty within the coming year or so yeah it's really interesting to see all the different issues and the energy i think that everyone's feeling at that this year spread summit john kirton co-director of the brics research group i really appreciate it and i'll be give you guys more updates from the fourth annual brics summit here in new delhi all day today all right thanks very much art to his prius free to live for us in new delhi. well in the next hour he speaks with the chairman of the world's biggest commodities trading

company thinks the chinese industrial boom will eventually be phased out take a listen. to romans china on a comparison basis is certainly doing better than everyone else so but whether that's going to lead the world forever or have i don't think so i don't think that we have history going into it like china said free china is a manufacturing company at the day and benefiting from manufacturing the manufacturing is what really leads to prosperity in the western world has swung away from manufacturing into service industries and that is i was also having huge dogs of inflation over the years i'm talking about europe and america china is going through its industrial revolution equivalent doing fantastically well but also feeling the beginnings of inflation growing cost base and over the next twenty

years we may well see the chinese manufacturing moves offshore to places like cambodia vietnam and maybe and so on. the u.s. suspended food aid to north korea after the country refused to cancel their rocket launch scheduled for mid april. washington says this breaks the deal with north korea to suspend its uranium enrichment program and your missile test in the face for humanitarian support says the launch is merely intended to send a satellite to space for scientific purposes an estimate crop production james corbet editor of the corporate report shows the u.s. could be using food aid withdrawals or geopolitical. it's really would be only effects that this will have is to make the people of north korea even more dependent on pyongyang and central power that they hold over the food supply and further drive north korea to other sources of food aid most notably of course china

obviously a rival for us our influence in the region so i think this is a clear example of the u.s. shouldn't shooting itself in the foot if it is indeed attempting to really change the power structure of north korean society through move like food aid could be used as a as a tool and instrument of national power which is really just really a mask for. the ability to use this food aid as a as a geo political weapon i think if the u.s. was serious about actually challenging north korea and of course its ongoing nuclear program developments they'd be looking into such things as. the european energy giant which concluded a two hundred million dollars contract back in two thousand to provide light water reactors to north korea which formed the basis of their nuclear program but of course that won't happen because one of the board members during that time was former u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld. delegation of west african army chiefs have

arrived at molly's capital pato as part of an attempt to restore order after last week's coup and visit comes as toppled president obama due to money tory says he is safe and still in the country several thousand took to the streets of vomit coal in support of a military takeover led by soldiers who are unhappy with the president's policies the south declared leaders of the coup have already unveiled a new constitution promising greater public freedoms the actions that would be condemned by the un and lead to mali suspension from an influential west african regional group lawrence freeman phonied second of intelligence review thinks the rebellion could be the result of a failure of western regional policy. mali this was an area that us put a lot of military backing into and they were trying to fight the various forces no one is ok 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 a continuation of the arab spring into sub-saharan africa one fact that there is in

the zealous nature of president obama and president sarkozy and prime minister cameron in their in can't the carrier we. in libya i mean kill khadafi when it was not necessary they had to actually help this process because many of these rebels are coming back from libya very well armed with pickup trucks with machine guns and other ammunition so essentially it's see a failed. policy president obama in the west together with the economic crisis that i think that to mean causes for this rebellion turn out as some other stories making headlines across the globe six people have been killed and two attacks in southwest pakistan the first in the not so in district when government 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 for shiite muslims and what appeared to be

a sectarian attack. former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn claims he has diplomatic immunity in a civil case which he's accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid last year the i.m.f. says he's not entitled to the unity because he was in new york on personal business profits time of the alleged crime strauss kahn is also under investigation in france over allegations of involvement in a prostitution ring. and finally to ireland where those two and a half ton elephant named baby escaped from a circus in the town of blackpool the forty year old elephant iraq through a car park before charging a busy intersection toward a shopping center babies handler's said she ran away because she didn't want to take a bath brother and throw in a return to the circus shortly after. the republican candidates continue battling it out in primaries across the us in hopes of challenging president obama for the top job but a recent gallup poll suggest americans may not be satisfied with having only two

choices with around forty percent considering themselves independents as are he's got a cheeky on reports most u.s. citizens think the bipartisan system could be outdated. 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 having two teams they watch football games baseball games and basketball if there is 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 they just grown accustomed to that team 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 say more resigned to the notion that those people

who are currently in positions of power or not going to go walk any sort of change and 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 doomed 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 and it's a total nightmare created by the two parties to who are in competition this miscue two party elected we call the police and they're all fighting for ocean slowly over who's going to go to the white house so they can take up residence and take the orders from their corporate criminals to 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 us is special interests like military contractors. for others it gives them time to monitor the election process and put in resources to attack anyone who's not going to use are going to give so shit are same rules favorable to them so it does make it hard for an outsider to surprised establishment some believe congressman ron paul who would fare better as an independent as his distinctly anti-war rhetoric this stances 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 the mainstream candidate. presented with his true choices many americans vote not for who 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 so republican if they don't like the democrats or don't so democrat because they don't like or they're scared of the republican us a lot of times you have americans voting for the lesser of two evils who is the lesser of two bad many see the way candidates are picked in the us and safeguard against drastic change but as the discontent among americans grows over the country's foreign policy over corporate controlled economy so grows the push for fresh ideas and bold actions but the question is will this ystem allow in those who could break the much loved and much cherished business as usual washington i'm going to check our reporting from washington our tweet. from a waiter on our sports bulletin an exclusive interview with russia's only f one driver. to tell you to try of sharing his thoughts on the racing and the future of the most popular event in motor sports that's coming up in the next hour

so stay with us. for sort of go to the business test where marina is standing by with all the latest reporting on that general strike that we've covered in news it's going on in spain how are the european markets reacting to that. well matt investors are no really taking it that well i mean basically that we've seen any signs of instability in a country it tends to drive the markets down and this is exactly what we're seeing right now let's take a look at the latest figures in europe europe is basically in the red that we have there spanish stocks of course are the main lawns on the pressure right now but really so firms are posting some of the biggest losses on the footsie and that's all in disappoints and sales updates and we have a swedish fashion retailer and it's posted almost a five percent loss those are all marks and spencer is that over at super size now moving on to russia markets here are the losses we can see there that the arts yes is losing point almost eight percent this out of all the my six has gone over one

percent in nevada let's take a look at some individual share moves on the nice legs most of the oil related forums are among the main losers this hour and that's of course drive by we cook food and i'll talk about that a little bit later we have energy companies are good enough to gas which is down its new saying almost superstud this hour and it's not profit rose eighty percent last year but that's according to russian accounts and standards then we have russian british oil from seeing k b p and that's down almost point seven percent this hour what we know about that is up to for us to set up three power stations to provide electricity for its divisions in the north of russia and finally the t.v. bank is that over one percent number and also currencies the euro is now alone or against the u.s. dollar and when it comes to the ruble as higher power against the euro at the greenback moving on to asian markets there are now close they end of the trade in session in the red with commodity firms among the largest even the most pressure

great service agency fitch has cut its outlook on the japanese economic forecast for two thousand and twelve it was at some point two percent and now they're estimating it's a bit of one point nine percent now on the positive knowledge about. february retail sales rose three and a half percent which was a much more than expected now moving on so as promised this hour well prices are mixed but they're still trading near their lowest level in almost a week and basically investors are reacting to a number of factors their personal u.s. inventories a surge and western countries are now discussing sap and possible emergency reserves to push their prices lower and on a side like to mention that oil prices have increased about seventy percent since the beginning of the year resulting in storing gasoline prices are moving on to other news the largest ever internet i.p.o. may take place in just a couple of months sources from the wall street journal claim facebook is preparing for a listing as soon as may the world's most popular social network plans to raise as

much as ten billion dollars which would value the whole company at one hundred billion dollars. and it seems that no one wants a russia swiss assets and by that i mean russia is the largest confectionary maker the moscow government couldn't find any investors who are interested in that stake so at the side it's a chance for the auction altogether to sell involved in almost thirty percent stake for over four hundred fifty million dollars and it was part of russia's privatization program. and in other news asia has a new north america off its top spot and now boast its auto as the world's economic center of gravity the number of occasions where the fortune of at least one hundred million dollars is now estimated at eighteen thousand people now that's compared with seventeen thousand in north america and a thousand in western europe when it comes to rush on that figure is just over two

thousand these statistics were published in the report by knight frank and the global property broker expects the number of the country super rich to grow seventy six percent in just five years and this would be the third fastest pace in the world after india and china. and that's how business let's the sound that that's all right thank you very much more in a closer ever reporting for us from the business desk well in a few minutes we get you the headlines in our special report on the legacy of the war in iraq stay with us here on our. little.