gathering to strike a live pictures for you here on r t as many in spain unite in protest against a labor of forms it's just a day before the new prime minister announces a fresh round of austerity measures again we are looking at live pictures right here from the city of bilbao. fuel frenzy motorists across the u.k. are preparing to of fill up on petrol ahead of a possible fuel tanker strike. this comes as france joins britain and america in talks to release emergency all surprise to cope with the spiraling

prices join me on the bennetts in london for more in just a few months. the arab league has split so how to deal with the syrian crisis some members advocate diplomacy while others want to arm the rebels and weigh in with force. 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 day to reform the global economy. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here at r.t. moscow rule reception for tens of thousands of people across spain are gathering for a general strike to protest against new labor reforms i hear nazi was so showing you live pictures right now it's seen as the first real test for the new prime minister

mariano to who's the government has only now been in office for three months the strikes come a day before he's expected to announce more painful austerity measures according to these pictures it would appear that the austerity measures are wearing thin on the patience of people correspondent jake of greece now has more from madrid. i think the sleeves become a place there they would stick infantry but you say hold it on the right. very close. by yours are free to deficit reduction. slave labor laws of motion see hence right now they may be easier. to work. for choose their wages is it. right but twenty

percent of the limitation on the float lawyers a little bit money by about fifty percent losing not only young on the street. this is something to pay. for. government only about one hundred days to live his own life over the. past demonstrations and this is likely. i'm. still become a believer they were saying i'm not above the law and i should be very very close there like keys any. any of the young. people who get. fresh. and years country big time to receive. such condition based on the back of

a year's time but this comes on the back of the bike lane and country that take cyclists action. an executive director of the investment advisory for t.v. advises patrick young as to what the spanish unions don't realize is the prime minister doesn't hold all the power. we have fundamentally i see huge struggle at the heart of the whole spanish economy for its direction and not of the labor party the socialists are out of power the unions want to flex their muscles because they think they can bully mr rajoy but the reality is it's not even mr rudd who is ultimately calling the shots he just decides which part of the budget gets cut but really brussels is saying and we need a market sort of saying you have to get your debt house in order speed otherwise we will pull our funding and once you're overdraft disappears you're bankrupt i don't think that it's inevitable that speed is going to hop up or be

a lot but the situation today demonstrates just how quick hairiest everything is because ultimately this is the royal the prime minister cannot of give grind he must continue not just a moment here in the cuts he hearts but even to cut back further on government subsidies and government costs and spending or we're all going to stay with us if you can hear an r.t. as we bring you up to the minute coverage of a spanish strike all throughout the day but also there for more news and videos you can just head to our website our team talk carb a quick taste now of our some of the items are waiting for you there right now for example american soldiers stationed in afghanistan have been assigned to guardian angels in an effort to protect them from attacks or find out who they are on our web site r.t. dot com. and facebook face off as u.s. employers are asked people to hand over their social network passwords when applying for a job. live

from moscow this is r.t. u.k. motorists are caught in a panic by rising petrol prices and a threatened tanker. drivers strike it with fuel costs escalating france is now in talks with britain and the us on a possible release of its strategic oil reserves to push the price in style or scooters on the snow across the live to london correspondent i bet. if you tell us what's been going on in the u.k. how possible is it that a fuel tanker strike could actually go ahead or there's nothing official yet no date has been said but it's certainly looking increasingly likely because the union to which the tanker drivers actually belong to unison they said yesterday that the drivers actually voted in

a vast majority in favor industrial action which would really hit the country hard because these this union supplies around ninety percent of petrol stations in across the u.k. with fuel and that's really helped panic buying amongst motorists is not so much the threat of industrial action it's more the government's handling of the crisis yesterday that's really prompted this widespread panic in the russian petrol stations because the prime minister david cameron said yesterday in a number of other cabinet ministers to advise motorists what they did say don't panic he did also say the motorists should top up with petrol when they can and so what that inevitably has done is it has caused widespread panic people are queuing up outside motorists petrol stations and following heavy criticism from the opposition yesterday and this morning the government has now checked that advice advised motorists. again not to panic but rather just stop when when their tank is half empty but that's really done nothing to allay the fears of motorists and drivers across the u.k. because we're still seeing queues outside petal stations

a number of petrol stations are actually closing because of. running dry basically and i've not not heard not just concerns in the u.k. we hear that france has now joined the u.k. and the u.s. in talks about a well to explore a possible release of oil reserves and why now is the situation truly that critical . well the attended effect of that is basically to pacify voters and to garner votes the simple reason of why this is happening now is because it's election year in both the u.s. and france and high oil prices basically mean unhappy voters because they're the ones who are paying the price at the petrol pumps and we're seeing this in the u.k. as well the same goes here and whilst it may not be election year the coalition government is under severe pressure already because of unpopular cuts in education and health service to and across all of these three countries we're seeing record or prices internationally even the all prices going up fifteen percent since the beginning of the year alone and so france certainly is looking for

a quick fix solution to this because they're just four weeks away from the presidential election now and so the administration there is looking for a quick boost ahead of that to kind of pacify the voters and so what they're now discussing with the u.s. and britain is the strategic release of emergency all reserves now this is a move normally reserved for when there is actually a physical shortage of physical disruption of or supply and that's the reason why it's happened so rarely it's only three times in the last twenty years. but that actually isn't the case now what's actually happening the reason for this hike in or prices is because of the geopolitical tensions between countries like britain france and the u.s. and some of the key or producing nations iran syria and the sanctions they're imposing on iran will hit their exports hard and will no doubt push up prices even higher so what they're doing is trying to drive down these prices by releasing more

oil but it's interesting to know that countries like germany and italy aren't actually backing this move because it's not this simply isn't the. what's happening it's not a physical disruption of supply that's what they're saying is a factor it's a problem of their own making and and it's also worth noting that the head of the the i.a.e.a. . international energy agency that body that actually asked authorize this release of all reserves says that there hasn't been a disruption significant enough to warrant this measure so. they're in a in a bit of a bit of a fix here and they're looking for a quick solution because they've got themselves into this situation britain america and france and they're desperately looking for a way out to repair the damage before it's too late for their ministrations because unhappy voters mean that they'll be in a lot of trouble so what are his i'm going to live in london thank you. well russia has reiterated its calls against foreign intervention in syria while pledging to

continue delivering humanitarian aid to the conflict torn country meanwhile in baghdad an explosion has apparently gone off in the same neighborhood where the arab league is now gathered for a summit currently there are no reports of casualties and the group is meeting to decide on how to mediate a solution to the ongoing syrian crisis but not all of its members are committed to diplomacy as r.t. so forth reports. 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 still say the 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 and indeed 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 the foreign intervention as a means of ending the conflict i think he did say to the countries behind the syrian people's bit of freedom but even he 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 i have chased into the we seen a guitar coup for that to happen so there is definitely a difference of opinion whether the abbey is going to be able to bridge these divisions it remains to be seen it is certainly still that today of course there is talk of the attention that they'll be hearing from casey and possibly inducing that six point peace plan the six points now very similar to the arab the initiative at the beginning of the year the removal of the forces from some of the conflict areas to release political prisoners although it puts it seem important but of course it doesn't have the ultimatum and it doesn't call for president assad to

step down of 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 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 this peace plan the backing of russia and china so possibly that is going to make a difference that's going to be more clear but that. will be happening at the end of the week does that mean basic amy the big question that everyone's going to be looking. for porting right there when it's ok to have you with us on the program today still to come for you in this hour. in africa we report on the latest situation in the west african country mali hit by a military source president overthrown. also still to come for you here on the

program the rising number of americans dissatisfied with. real choices come election day two thousand and twelve. the world's economies or five leading challengers are banking on serious change but it predicts a group of countries is i mean to break the spell of the dollar as the main reserve currencies. the latest from the group summit currently ongoing day day to. 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 banks which had 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 and 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 through the years to come should be strengthening the key rule of the un security council in one changing international peace and security and also ensuring that the un 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 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 brits countries themselves but developing countries more broadly but the big message was they gave the world bank about another chance to get more we say this is raised only then would they see how their new grips development bank would feed into supplement what we've already gotten can get we really need the resources in the insights of the brics. and for you 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 brics are saying you've got to get on with that and they're right john curtin co-director of the brics research group i really appreciate n.l.b.

give you guys more updates from the fourth annual bric summit here in new delhi all day today. in a few moments as the world update on our but for now u.s. has suspended food aid to north korea this after the country refused to cancel the rocket launch shuttle from mid april i washington says this breaks the deal in which north korea agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program and nuclear missile tests all in exchange for humanitarian support. the launch is really intended to send a satellite into space for scientific purposes estimate crop production james colbert of the colbert report says the u.s. is using food aid withdrawal as a geo political weapon. it's really the only effect that this will have is to make the people of north korea even more dependent on pyongyang in central power that they hold over the food supply and further drive north korea to two 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 isn't be attempting to really change the the power structure of north korean society through. food aid it could be used as a as a tool and instruments 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 development to 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 were and the misuse of their nuclear program that would happen because one of the board members only be removed time was former u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld. starting with pakistan that's got to be r.t. what about that some other global headlines in brief in the southwest of the

country six are being killed in two attacks and the first occurred in the matt sung district when a gunman shot dead a u.n. employee and his driver another u.n. worker was wounded gunman on motorcycles also opened fire on a passenger van in the city of quetta killing four shiite muslims and what appears to have been a sectarian attack. police in the philippines have a clash with farmers protesting a u.s. 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 a land due to be used for the drills the two thousand and seven deal has been delayed due to political stunt blocks in both nations. have a look here 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 elephant romp through a car park before charging a busy junction towards a shopping center baby's hand said she ran away because she didn't want to have a shower she was brought under control and returned to the circus shortly thereafter. right well the republican candidates continue to battle it out in the primaries across the country all in the hopes of challenging democratic president obama for the top job but a recent gallup poll suggests that americans are not satisfied with having only two choices now with around forty percent considering themselves as independents and artie's gun education reports most u.s. citizens believe the whole bipartisan system is severely 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 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 just takes 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 independents 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 this 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 go in this country by far than any western democracy fifty different state was hundreds of different county laws it was a total nightmare created by the two parties to avoid competition it's very skewed to party who what we call the police and they're all fighting for osha slowly over who's going to go to the white house so they can take 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. has 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 not going to give so shit or say rules favorable to them so it does make it

hard for an outsider to 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 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 just really vote for who they like a lot of people 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 voted for the lesser of two evils who's the lesser of two parents many see the way candidates are picked the legal ways as a 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 the question is will the system allow in bills for a quick break then much cherished business as usual in washington old i'm going to check our reporting from washington our keep. it straight over to the business as we go again no good to see you we've been reporting on the general strike in spain any reaction so far on the european markets higher very well investors in europe are not say the reason is that well but then again this is not surprising any time you see any form of instability in a country this tends to drive the markets down this is exactly what's happening now but there are other factors played into this as well let's take a look at the latest figures. for europe we can see that europe is completely in the right spanish stocks are of course among those wars the fact that we also have retail for him struggling and in fact they're among the biggest losers on the

footsie that's following this appointing sales updates we have swedish fashion retailer which is which is a to them and that's losing over five percent in marks and spencers losing over see percent this hour and if we move on and take a look at oil prices this is another main reason for concern right now western force is basically trying nations are trying to do in forces to try and push prices down and they're discussing potentially happen inside their oil reserves and just that announcement alone has pushed prices lower and that the lowest level in a week currently and we can see that light sweet is trading close to one hundred five dollars per barrel while the prime blend is hovering just under one hundred and twenty four now let's move on and take a look at what's happening here at a rush of emotion markets have recovered so lightly and when i say recovered i mean that the losses are not as a big as there were in the previous hour we can see that both the arts yes and the my sights are starting point nine seven percent this august at a look at some individual share moves on the my sex most of the overlaid it firms

are doubts because of the weaker crude as i mentioned earlier we have energy companies sort of goodness the gas which is losing over two percent this hour and we know that it's net profit rose eighty percent last year but that's according to russian accounting standards then we have oil british of russian the firm. almost point seven percent there will be no doubt is that the firm plans to set up three new power stations to provide electricity for its divisions in the north of russia and of finally we have the t.v. back that's starting almost one and a half percent this hour and we know that it's two thousand and eleven net profit rose sixty percent well let's take a look at the currencies the euro is slightly lower against the us dollar when it comes to the ruble. it's gaining against the main currencies now let's move to some other news and information new super size 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 the cent billion dollars which would value the whole company at one hundred billion dollars. and move in on suv russians wheats russia's largest confectionary maker is struggling to find someone who is interested in acquiring a stake from the moscow government's self-involved almost thirty percent stake for over four hundred fifty million dollars and it was part of russia's productize asian programme. imo in other news we have asia which has not north america off the top spot and now those the title as the economic center of gravity in the world basically asians that have a fortune of one hundred million dollars now are estimated at eighteen thousand that's compared with seventeen thousand in north america and fourteen thousand and

western europe and when it comes to russia that figure is over two thousand missile systems were published in the report by night franklin the global property broker expects this number in the country to grow seventy six percent in five years and that would be the third fastest pace in the world after india and china. and all i can say i'm just hoping to make it and be one of those seventy six percent or. arena always a pleasure to see you thank you for his own zob. card interest i hear a lot see it's a time in my skies are to tell you everything the banks and money makers don't want you to hear because a report in just a moment. some

. of. your thoughts going to. this stream still keeps secrets of the time some feel that the soviet files on top.