federal panic grips the u.k. ahead of a possible tanker driver strike while london paris and washington consider releasing oil reserves to push down prices. school for no foreign military intervention in syria as a divided arab league debates the peace plan for the war torn country. and protest violence in barcelona as a general strike growing in spain to a halt and tens of thousands marched against cuts and labor reforms our top stories this hour.

as a national news and comment live from moscow this is r.t. with you twenty four hours a day at this point at the pumps in the u.k. where threatened strike by delivery drivers are seeing stations already running dry and then fizzy even the army will need to be deployed to keep the country moving it comes at a time of. crisis which has got the governments of london paris and washington thinking of flooding the market with. its cause. what we're seeing in the last twenty four hours or so is it panic buying widespread panic buying of fuel up and down the country by motorists queues outside petrol stations and what's really been fueling this panic buying is is the government's handling of this crisis their first piece of advice to motorists was to tell people not to panic which immediately of course set the alarm bells ringing one cabinet minister even said it me good idea to top up your car now also fill up a spare jerrycan in case of emergencies david cameron the prime minister has even

put the army on standby to drive the tankers should industrial action go ahead so these drastic measures are really fueling the panic all of this comes as all prices are record high not only in britain but also in france and america and what that means is unhappy voters and with elections just around the corner in france and america they need to do something quick to pacify the voters and so what france is now doing they're joining us for america and britain in discussing the option of the emergency release strategic release of emergency or oil supplies to try and drive down those prices now this is a move normally reserved only when there is actually a physical destruction of the oil supply which isn't actually the case here because of the oil prices increasing is really a problem of their own making one of the main reasons for all prices escalating is the sanctions imposed on iran that he or producing nation by america britain and

france which is hitting the oil exports hard and this is why countries like germany and italy are refusing to back move to release emergency supplies even ahead of the i.a.e.a. the international energy agency which has to authorize any such move has said the there hasn't been a disruption significant enough of oil supplies to warrant such a relief so they may have trouble pushing this through but america britain and france have got themselves in this situation and clearly they are very desperate now to limit the damage and repair the damage that they've called themselves before it's too late for their administrations. and political analysts can dress as the aggressive foreign policies of the u.s. and its european allies are to blame for the crisis. what one has to understand is that the reason why the price of oil has gone through the roof is because of the ongoing conflicts but you know of late. and netanyahu with threatening action against iran but it all came to nothing basically what the price of which i think

was the intention anyway and now to try and recover the damage done by the hike in the fuel which affects all commodity prices and these austerity measures that are throughout the world it's quite obvious that the don't do something drastic and within a short period of time it's going to run up against them in the election we've been in a continuous war for an awful long time now decades in natural fact and this plays a major is a major player in what is happening around the world economically speaking it's like the financial meltdown that happened in two thousand and eight that was no accident it was a well planned orchestrated plan by what i use the term the new world order to take out various countries and of course greece italy etc etc and at the same time to manipulate the world's resources to take control of them take control of the markets and also take control of the supply routes. are in that position you are in

a very powerful you are in control of the world basically. talking to us a little earlier from the u.k. . well sco has reiterated its opposition to any foreign military intervention in syria as the arab league meets to decide how to mediate a solution to the crisis and groups to give its backing to a u.n. sponsored peace plan while calling on the rebels and president assad to fully comply with it so it is sort of firth is following developments for us. the arab league summit in baghdad today hasn't been particularly well turned out as the less than half the twenty leaders have actually participated in the number of the countries sending that it might take envoys and stay so a lot of people saying that that's possibly much more political skulls and a security issue with iraq's foreign minister had said that the country i rejected

calls the foreign military intervention as an inch of his old nicholas and syria of course a serious absolutely top of the agenda at this arab league summit iraq's decision and a number of the other arab countries of course differing quite widely from what we've seen some of the other especially gulf countries. many of those countries calling for arming the syrian opposition and sending in. the arab league really a very hands at it again at the moment as we have seen in the past by their own internal divisions the rhetoric that you see that it is to try and get all the different sides on the same page be seen. and not think point peace plan try and act as a mediator between all the different sides to try and get everyone back on track to ending the bloodshed in the country of course the un's latest figures because more than one thousand people having died in that conflict everyone knows the devastating consequences every single day this is able to continue the problem is that people just don't really seem to be able to say exactly how to stop it now the

syrian opposition of actually be meeting here in istanbul over the past couple of days ahead of the friends of syria conference at the weekend one of the analysts i was speaking to told me that really the aim is to try and create this that monolithic opposition movement the very aware that the syrian opposition are incredibly fragmented and that the peace plan we see history government take setting up fully and asking that with understandable skepticism from a lot of the opposition and she's questions remaining in the arab league. and baghdad today they think that they u.n. fixed point plan by kate a lot of people asking well how exactly is that going to be implemented how is it going to be hit action on the ground. is going on and of course the main focus have been on god but it's actually it's not going to do what the actions now that really count. washington continues it's called to maintain pressure on assad's government

cautious of his ability to comply with the u.n. peace plan. from the center for research from the arab world believes the u.s. and some of its allies may say they're behind the peace plan but they have other ideas it is the main goal of washington actually to our government of bashar assad's so after the very positive response which call for the nonce plan has received the could not see anything else but support it also but the latest comments are still we are very skeptical. the syrian government has to act immediately they have to stop the fighting immediately again it's the same position they take the blame all the responsibility for the fighting to the syrian government or as the kofi annan plan clearly says just as russia and china have always said both sides have to stop fighting. oh i see life here must go with the

twenty four hours a day still to come this hour for you the world economies five growing powers a banking on serious change find out how the brics group of countries is aiming to break the domination of the dollar as the main reserve currency. that's still to come for you but first anger over a part of public spending cuts and new labor laws brought spain to a standstill as workers stage a general strike and boiled over into a full scale riot in barcelona where protesters pro shop windows and clashed with police a massive industrial action is seen as a tough test for the country's young government which is yet to reach one hundred days in office parties jacob reeves he's in madrid for me live from there right now who is the country. jacob with such a massive strike to. this is being very far reaching take place across the country scene slice brown leaves factories affected as well if fact if you look at

energy consumption what's the core just dropped by twenty five percent that means industry has been hurt particularly badly throughout this general strike seen a lot of the sentiment on the streets as well of course this is an opportunity for media workers express that outrage plus there are measures and also other policies being instrumented by the government at the moment we see some school protests taking place in which madrid throughout the course of the day some arrests made as well but as you mention is in barcelona the moment for those riots taking place close see no windows being smashed as well as we're here while the crowds are assembling we're stretching tens of thousands very shortly to take place on this tension square protesting against the austerity measures in general this is do with labor law. reform totally being worked through this it essentially make it easier.

to get rid of our workforce get rid of workers answer reduce significantly their wages in the process is something that is really got a lot of people angry here they want to protest against it take in the striking circumstances you have spain with a very high unemployment razorbacks the highest when it comes to any other nation in the euro zone it's about twenty three percent and when you take the youth as well now this is someone just people we've seen out on the streets today all of those age below twenty five about fifty percent unemployed and spraying. with those really high unemployment figures clearly the government does need to act but how is it actually justifying its policies that. we are seeing many people saying that something needs to be done with the deficit nice he cuts we do get the impression here this is really stuck between a rock and

a hard place this is on one side of the e.u. is called the euro zone because he pushing for more deficit reduction and you see that's what the spacecraft promise are talking about when it comes to friday's budget it's going to be very very austere times of make thirty billion euro cuts to the budget but on the other side you have the public you have the workforce even though they recognize that change needs to come about that's why they voted in discovery in the first place very recently under one hundred days ago as a right wing government they knew austerity was going to come in as a result i think it's going in from ended in the wrong places and the wrong people are being told that jacob thanks very much indeed for that live update there in madrid. as we were reporting here on r.t. . in fact will continue now with syria bringing peace there just syria without outside interference and stepping away from the dollar the two issues which dominated talks in india where five of the world's fastest growing economies talk

security and finance they're planning to set up their own joint bank as an alternative to global lenders which would fund projects and infrastructure in developing nations. has this force in new delhi. one of the main aims of bits here is it is how do you think growing economic powers are also starting to have more political clout on major international issues like syria and again we saw russia and china saying that they've backed a cease fire in syria but they don't expect president assad to step down let's take a listen to what the russian president had to say. one of the priorities for brics for the years to come should be the strengthening of the u.n. security council in 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 today all signed an agreement to actually give out loans in their local currencies

which is another move if they're thinking about moving away from the dollar and moving away from the euro another huge thing was the idea of a joint bank could serve as an alternative to the western led traditional financial institutions like the international monetary fund and the world bank well known here as he spoke to dr. who's the vice dean of the school of international affairs and he believes institutions like the i.m.f. and the world bank of outlived their usefulness. the problem with wine for some kind of crumbs from the high table is that it still depends upon the morsi and the munificence of the former super powers who are now just great powers of thought the bar appointees you know multi-polar word i think it's better

to launch your own initiatives and to show that you have the initiative to build your own institutions rather than to beg for a few more voting shares and a few more places in the managerial or the board. of the britain which institutions because britain wants institutions i don't think can be reformed from within they have failed so therefore it's better to either i'm obviously going to replace it with a new institution so this is here in the british development than come to this summit here in delhi they have really shown that they have the capability to forge ahead with new plans new ideas and new institutions in order to govern the planet with a new ideology and a completely new. function of the basis for organizing economic life on the planet . by the way you can catch up with more analysis and developments from the brics summit at r.t. dot com that's our web site here's what else is lined up there for you at the moment and joined so

a tornado five times the size of earth has been caught on tape by nasa for the very first time all swirling at incredible speed you can get the pictures in the story and that's when i went to site. and rises in the storm the first ever polar circle snowmobile race in siberia office spectators a chance to glimpse life in the far north why not more that. don't call. but elevation of west african leaders abandon a trip to mali to negotiate with the leaders of last week's coup after their plane was prevented from landing by approach to demonstration at the airport and will reportedly now hold talks in ivory coast instead well it's last week's military takeover mali was led by soldiers unhappy with the way the president was handling an insurgency and to discuss this i'm not joined by i think you are he's editor of the pan african newswire well rebels from force in libya as we understand during

the uprising against colonel gadhafi and then return to their homeland better armed and of course better experience do you think that money could be going through the effects of the arab spring. you know i think it's a totally different situation what has happened is that the war in the northern part of the country has escalated as a result of the traditional marginalization of the people there was already an insurgency taking place in northern mali now for many years. what has happened is that the fighters who have been allied with the previous government in libya moammar gadhafi have now returned in the thousands to the northern mali and they have set up a new reconfigured liberation movement known as the the wad of national liberation for they have been making for mendis gains against the mali and military forces in the north of the country and as a result of that it has caused needs and destabilization in the security apparatus

of the country that is worked out precipitated last weeks our coup d'etat in but moscow and of course they are both are pro cool at amtrak we are limits operating right now inside the country so the turning around of this delegation from the regional economic community of west african states is clearly a setback for west africa as well as a setback for the western countries which have a considerable amount of aid that is delivered i think mali and also military cooperation agreements between mali the united states and other countries as it relates to our anti-terrorism our projects so we strategically then not only does actually not an end to the international community and what happens there. yes there is a counterterrorism program that the united states has been involved with the government of mali for at least three and

a half years the united states africa command has also engaged in joint military operations with the government of mali and of the ousted president. to ray and of course he has reported just today that he is safe he hasn't been harmed by our captain so no go and the other rebel military forces but it's important to recognize that some hundred forty million dollars annually has contributed to the mali a government from the united states also there's a military education program that the united states sponsors. government as well as payments direct payments for military arms and other technical assistance to the government and mali as well and could instability. and just couldn't imagine banners and programs could instability that also have a negative impact in the region we already seen protests in mauritania algeria senegal in nearby cameroon did you think there is potential in four events in mali

to have a domino effect and spread to other countries there in the region. of course and this goes back to the u.s. and nato policy in libya last year the massive bombing operations the naval blockade the forcing of hundreds of thousands of people out of libya into the neighboring countries of north and west africa this is actually pursue potatoes the instability in mali and other countries are throughout the region so we have to trace back the source of this instability and of course now the u.s. has a problem that is very much challenged to deal with the really i mean really is it is it a concern when the soldiers are actually on veil details of a new constitution and promise to have elections it looks as if they're trying to instigate democracy there so why should there be a market. well of course there has to be negotiated settlement to this conflict i think that was the reason why ecowas wanted to

comment to upper moscow to engage in these discussions it appears that the u.s. state department is backing the ecowas delegation that's headed by us on what time who is the president of iraq or to close if there was negotiations are not able to go forward going to course the whole process of broad national reconciliation return because to some rule will be stalled and this of course worries the united states because not only do you have the azawad national liberation front you also have the al-qaeda of the grab which is also active in the northern our region of mali as well so it's a lot. of concern on the part of the united states and other nato countries in regards to potential greater instability in mali so they want to definitely move towards some type of negotiated settlement a return to some type of civilian rule inside of mali itself i mean thank you so much for explaining how you see the events there in mali thanks very much autonomy

only as a q. and editor of the pan-african use raw joining us live and thank you time. well let's check out some other news from around the world at this stage of the day and very nearly twenty two minutes past the knee write scripts condemning nato and western coast guards for failing to aid a boat of migrants during last year's military campaign in libya nine of seventy two people on board the vessel survived after it drifted into open seas for two weeks without assistance nato's worship's a maritime aircraft was patrolling the area at the time and forcing an arms embargo against libya rejected the accusations. of the seven people have been killed in separate attacks in pakistan's stand province and the first shooting gunmen on motorbikes fired on a van in the else go to the city of quetta killing five shiite muslims in the second attack in your employ and his driver was shot and the group has claimed responsibility. police in the philippines of clash with farmers protesting against

a us free trade agreement came into force earlier this month over sixty activists through paint bones at the american embassy calling on the military council its upcoming military exercises with washington the deal was initially signed in two thousand and seven but it's been delayed due for political stumbling blocks in both nations. because he has called for the government responsible for the country's worst terror act in years to be buried in france without argument is responding to comments from the merits a loser described one hundred meters as inappropriate algeria where the terrorists father was born denied permission for a burial there due to security reasons when i killed seven people including three children before being shot dead in a standoff with police last week. so that brings you up to date for the moment of the summer of our main news stories

for in about seven minutes from now stay with us tonight here in moscow. i think it was just going to come. to. this street still keeps it secret trying to reveal. the soviet files and.

super piles of n l's they're creating a rival to the world bank the organization has. policies towards the developed world they claim at the summit going on in india states also agreed to use their own currencies in trade as brics move away from the unstable us dollar this chick the old price which is hovering near its lowest level in almost a week while news the united states and e.u. may release strategic crude reserves to stop a repeat of recent price hikes they. plot says that will push prices down. there's been an exercise like that in the last year or so when us or these reserves were last released and we saw that prices fall by five or six dollars a barrel at that time so it's not unreasonable to think that prices could fall by five or six dollars a barrel again it looks like the storage tanks are going to be opened in crude put on the market. let's check wall street if we made poor jobs data is pushing both

the bell and nasdaq down as we see half a percent knows that one percent down this hour europe is having a second bad week britain slipped into a double dip recession the organization for economic cooperation and development said today russia sharing the pain in my six has now dropped more than seven percent in just two weeks as take a look at major movers on thursday michel's admitted it needs to restructure some of its loans after the fall in metals prices b.p. is down as it reveals it will build its own power plants and the t.v. bank's cuts earnings guidance for last year on the exchange rate is the euro's no law against the dollar the ruble slipped into the red against the greenback and in the last hour of trade here in moscow russia is a better investment than the u.s. according to the world's biggest bond fund pimco founder bill gross says he sees better value in russia's five year bonds than u.s. treasuries after putin's government yesterday successfully held the biggest emerging market placement for years two key reasons given are russia's high g.d.p.

growth and very low public debt. and that's the latest in for more stories on our website dot com slash business.

some people view what is happening inside so i was in the you know if after fighting a wildfire to the finale however i thought that if this is me i don't even think the point to be done. we're still waiting for that small businesses. there hasn't been anything good on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact also. before source material is what helps keep journalism honest reasons. we wanted to visit. something else.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so horrifying you think you understand it and then he glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. of. the mission and free to criticize haitians three.