tens of thousands united in spain it's a protest against labor reforms and new austerity measures. to me it's mounting the pressure for the deficit cuts that spanish government looks set to pass the most the approaches to greece the latest from the streets of madrid very shortly. with arab league members meeting in baghdad very patient a balance to deal with the syrian crisis while some advocate of play with the others on rebels the way in which. the five member blocks of the brics countries are meeting in delhi today to discuss an alternative to the

almighty euro and dollars in their bid to reform the global economy. it's a pleasure to have you with us here today i'm live in moscow tens of thousands of people across spain a gathering for a general strike to protest against new labor reforms it's being is seen as the real of first test for the new prime minister mariano rajoy whose government has only been in office for the past three months the strike comes a day before he's expected to announce yet more painful austerity measures course want to drink aggrieved now reports from. some people are already breaking through into the main square just behind me a small but very vocal and organized and engine this is something we expect to see

replicated around the country later today with tens of thousands of people expect to descend on the streets voicing their anger i made this day of general shrike on the main reasons for the grievance and that's our cry out cry is the simple fact of the third austerity measures that are being implemented that moment force in large part by the e.u. a fear of a further bailout also the labor laws as well that can't be 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 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 spaced to mass strikes also had to face off against mass demonstrations we saw one recently taking place in valencia there that erupted in a place of my son this growing anger from the public it was all clashing with police spanish government sees steadfast in its beliefs at the moment and how it's going in front we've heard them talking about a very very or the budget for the future and this is set to take place on friday now one side has the e.u. continued pressurizing for more austerity and deficit cuts to be implemented that meaning about thirty billion euros passed on friday and then you have the public who are increasingly angry at where the cuts are being made. or to let it get some more analysis on the situation in spain with patrick young executive director of

the press one advisory firm dva advisors are good to see you thanks for coming on r.t. today are people in spain out on the streets again it's something we've seen many times in greece and i hate to sound like all doom and gloom here is a possible that a spain could now be the next country to succumb to the eurozone contagion. well my goodness i mean this treaty is the devil's alternative because nobody wants to see people unemployed nobody wants twenty three percent of the workers on employed fifty percent of the youth unemployment that's a catastrophe and we really sympathize with the spaniards but ultimately the prime minister mr rajoy is left with his back absolutely up against the wall he has no movement whatsoever because he knows that yes absolutely spin could be the next domino to fall in europe of the us school of twenty twelve it is right up against the property market has collapsed the whole economy became basically one big property bubble in the past decade due to low interest rates and abides lending

willy nilly and therefore he has a catastrophe on his hands because the whole economy is not suffering drastically and the government just cannot afford to pay its bills patrick a moment ago you mentioned the issue of the unemployment rate or spain having the highest unemployment rate in europe over twenty three percent of workers under twenty five a job i do want to get to that in just a moment but the spanish government has to meet strict european deficit goals but as promised in austere two thousand and twelve budget on friday does it appear that the strike shows that patience with the public is wearing thin but i think what we've got here is not polling situation because the public clearly do not want to see money that they see being taken from their budget from their public services but at the same time there's really no alternative and that's what makes things totally ugly we're one hundred days and it's the raffle is a new government it's a center right organization the problem is we have here and we all did nothing to treat unions who were so slow to move these people make the dinosaurs of the

european union's elite salute positively progressive and so you're sitting with you know the leaders of these unions mr kundu you know men death and mr fernandez hora hopeful and you know there are all gray haired men there trying to keep in in work . their union membership which actually isn't the young people it's all the people who are on the sort of permanent contracts are mostly forty five fifty years and above and we have fundamentally i spewed struggle at the heart of the whole spanish economy or its direction and not of the liberal party the socialists are out of power the unions want to flex their muscles because they think they can really mr rajoy but the reality is it's not even mr rudd who ultimately calling the shots he does the science which part of the budget gets cut but really russel's is saying and indeed the markets are saying you have to get your debt house in order speed and otherwise we will pull our funding and once you're overdraft disappears you're

bankrupt where you talk about the issue of putting our funding you mention the issue of the unions wanted to flex their muscles as i mentioned moment a moment ago spain does have the highest unemployment rate in europe with these austerity measures and the general economic thirteen going to public how do you create jobs and growth with thirty five billion euros in cutbacks look it's kept a strategy difficult because what we have to move from it's the all basically been saying in queers i communist european third way delusion but the government can be the biggest factor in the state it's fifty five percent in france and so on it's quite dominant in spain at the moment particularly because of the public sector is the only thing left standing with these cutbacks it's going to be incredibly difficult for you there's no doubt about that whatsoever but what we also have to appreciate is that span needs the thing that's also being part of the strikes today these liberal market reforms because you've got ridiculous situations if you're

sitting at home today as a heist wife in catalonia and you want to start a business and you decide to start it and you want to ask your husband to give you a couple of assistance you heart a good amount of payroll tax him do all sorts of things and fill in all sorts. he says of paperwork no but what does manage government problem is and ultimately while no one wants to see people lose their jobs the spanish labor market is woefully inflexible and no small entrepreneur wants to say oh the first place on my list is going to be somewhere like engine create jobs when they've got an infinity of possibilities even with the e.u. twenty seven and they could come to somewhere like say poland where i am today so that's the problem here needs this onslaught of an employment reform because he does not need to humble employment or say but it's going to be incredibly difficult because of the scale of the cutbacks it really is a lot of a situation patrick young executive director of the investment firm of t.v.

advisors a pleasure to have you on our team today and for going to stay with us here on the program as we bring you up to the minute coverage of the spanish strike all throughout the day and of course our for more news and videos you can just simply head over to our website r c dot com a quick taste now of what's are waiting for you there right now a panic for petrol drivers in the u.k. head of puns after being warned of a possible fuel tank a strike. and a facebook face off as u.s. employers asked people to hand over their social network passwords when applying for a job. that is turning ten minutes past the hour here in moscow russia has reiterated its calls

against foreign intervention in syria while pledging to continue delivering humanitarian aid to the conflict 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 as artists or further courts. well sirius 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 still say fortunately all of the arab league mission in that country that they also highlighted really the internal divisions that the arab league as a body itself faces in indy this arab league summit the first is being held in baghdad 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 for foreign intervention as a means of ending the conflict and he did say to the countries behind the syrian

people's bit of freedom but that's 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 keys to intervene we seen a guitar cool for that to happen so there is definitely a difference of opinion whether the abbott he's going to be able to bridge these divisions and they see that is certainly still there today of course there is talk of the attention that they'll be hearing from casey and possibly inducing that six point peace plan as well six points now very similar to 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 this with it's been important but of course it doesn't have that alternates and it doesn't cool to president assad to step down on the syrian government already accepted that plan formally that's been met by some of the opposition with

a fair amount of understandable skepticism 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 the message from the opposition and the message from the international community to the syrian government has been very much ok you can date it now. they want to see the actions behind that this peace plan goes back in the question trying to say possibly that is going to make a difference that's going to be more clear that friends of syria conference that will be happening at the end of the week thirty days gave me the big question that everyone's going to be looking. to censor for reporting right all of the world economies five leading challengers are banking on serious change the brics group of countries is aiming to break the spell of the dollar and euro as the main reserve currencies conti's producer to hospital latest from the crew summit are currently ongoing in day two in utero. five world leaders brazil russia india china and

south africa 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 develop in bank with the brics 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 talks . one of the priorities for bricks for the years to come should be strengthening the key role of the u.n. security council in one changing 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 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 brits 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 we really need the resources in the insights of the brits. and for you say in the first rank to do the job that the international financial system now needs what the brits 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 brits are saying you've got to get on with it and the right john curtin co-director of the brics research group i really appreciate it i'll be give you guys more updates from the fourth annual bric summit here in new delhi all day today. all right in a few minutes at the world update on. the u.s. suspended food aid to north korea this after the country refused to cancel a rocket launch show jeweled for 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 insists the launch is merely intended to send a satellite into space for scientific purposes and to estimate crop production

james corbet editor of the colbert report says that the u.s. is using food aid withdrawal as a simple geopolitical weapon. 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 u.s. power and influence in the region so i think this is a clear example of u.s. shouldn't shooting itself in the foot if it isn't even attempting to really change the power structure of north korean society through movement that food aid could be used as a as a tool an instrument of national power which is really just really a mask for a b. and b. the ability to use this food aid as it is a geopolitical weapon i think if the u.s. was serious about actually challenging north korea and of course its ongoing nuclear program developments will be looking into such things as. 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 one of the mesas of their nuclear program but of course that would happen because one of the board members during that time was former u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld. and before we get to marina with the business now for the update we'll start with pakistan now where in the southwest of the country six people have been killed in two attacks that the first occurred in the summer. district when 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 the city of quetta and like killed for shiite muslims in what appears to be a sectarian attack. police in the philippines have clashed with farmers protesting a us free trade agreement that came into effect earlier this month more than sixty activists through pink bombs at the american embassy calling on the philippines to

cancel their upcoming military exercises with the u.s. farmers are angry at being displaced from land and due to be used for drills by the two thousand and seven deal has been delayed due to political stumbling blocks in both nations. have a look here finally to ireland where two and a half ton elephant named baby escaped from a circus in the town of blackpool the forty year old elephant romp through a car park before charging a busy jurist excuse me a busy junction just on its way to a shopping center of the baby said she ran away because she didn't want to take a shower she was brought under control and be returned to the circus shortly after . well republican candidates continue to battle it out in the primaries across the country in the hopes of challenging democratic president obama for the top job of a recent gallup poll suggests americans are not satisfied with only having two

choices with around forty percent considering themselves independents so it is going to have reports most u.s. citizens believe the bipartisan system is simply 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 live football games baseball games and 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 and that they just grown accustomed to that to 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 seem resigned to the notion that those people who

are currently in positions of power or not going to want 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 was hundreds of different county laws it's a total nightmare created by the two parties to. it competition is very skewed to party. code to our police and they're all fighting for osha sleep over who's going to go to the white house so they can take up residence and to take the orders from their core group a masters but some analysts say the system works in a way to avoid any real change in the way america's government and special

interests play a special role the extended primary process we have in the u.s. has special interests like. military contractors. for others it's just in time jumana church election process and put in resources to attack anyone who's not going to use are going to give so shit or save rules favorable to them so it does make it hard for an outsider to surprised establish that 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 the mainstream candidate. presented with just two 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's vote republican because 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's the lesser of two parents many see the way candidates are picked a legal way as a safeguard against drastic change but as the discontent among americans grows over the country's foreign policy over the corporate controlled economy so grows the push for fresh ideas and bold actions but the question is will this ystem allow indels who could break the michael then much cherished business as usual washington mold i'm going to check our reporting for washington r.t. . to talk money now let's cross over to the our t.v. business that's going over to marina heights so you are stunned that a some western countries are discussing tucking into their emergency oil reserves why is that. already basically we've seen the oil price almost seventeen percent

since the beginning of this year this resulted in soaring gasoline prices and that's one of western nations decide it's so i force this to try and prevent yet. and now they're all well spike now french officials have said that the u.s. and europe are thinking about it so far but the announcement alone has pushed oil prices lower and actually lowest in almost the week let's take a look at the figures now we see that light sweet at almost one hundred five dollars per barrel while the prime blend is the poaching one hundred twenty four dollars per barrel now let's move on and take a look at what's happening there in europe we see that europe is fully in the red spanish stocks are among the ones mainly under pressure with the general strike taking place there and the result firms are posting some of the biggest losses on the floats it has fallen disappoints in sales they add up we also know that swedish national retailer h. and m. is losing most per cent this hour when it comes to marks and spencer that's over it

see personnel to move on to russia it's a sea of red here as well markets have failed to return from their losses and we see the arts yes is losing over one percent and the same picture with them by saying let's take a look at the individual share moves oil related firms are among the ones losing the most this hour and we have energy companies certainly have to seek us are good enough to gossip about will have to say that's down and it's that profit rose about eighty percent last year but that was according to russian accounting standards then we have russian oil ventured c. and maybe that's lose a point six percent this hour coming up two point seven percent and the firm plans to set up a new power stations to provide electricity for its divisions in the north of russia and finally we have to be back she added over a one percent this hour now moving on to currencies the euro is now slightly lower against the dollar and when it comes to the ruble it's gaining against both

currencies and that by that i mean that we in fact they go boys now in 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 in may and 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 in some sweets related news it seems no one is interested in rush's biggest confectionery maker the most the government couldn't find any investors who wanted to take up at stake so it decided to cancel the auction altogether the sale involved an 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 knocked off north america from the top spot and now post

the title as the world's economic sense of gravity and basically what i mean by that is that the number of asians with a fortune of at least one hundred million dollars is estimated at eighteen thousand that's compared with seventeen thousand in north america and fourteen thousand and western europe when it comes to russia the figure is just over two thousand now the statistics were published in a report by knight frank and the global property broker expects a number of the countries super rich sucrose seventy six percent in just five years of the third fastest pace in the world after in the. well rory very good art is going to cause over there live from the business that's going to you continue to keep your eyes on the numbers we will check in with you again next hour thanks for that. all right in just a few minutes on the program we've got the headlines for you up plus an interview with the chairman of the world's largest a commodities trading company some in mario talk all about the future of the euro on the dollar see you suzanne.

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