from feinstein. who starts on t.v. dot com. is the. western powers team up with our friends to pressure the syrian government in just submission despite ongoing un efforts to mediate a diplomatic solution. washington puts the squeeze on syria's ally iran pledging to sanction countries that don't reduce imports of oil from the islamic state. of reliving the past as it's the only remaining soviet forced labor camp of the gulag and here's the harrowing accounts from his former inmates.

very well welcome to you from all of us here at the moscow. the syrian opposition is rallying in a bid to convince international allies that it is a unified force the rebels expect more backing from a u.s. led group of nations on sunday when the so-called friends of syria convened for a second summit of the group aims to pile more pressure on damascus while lending a helping hand to president assad's opponents the head of the conference u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is in saudi arabia meeting washington's key regional allies the saudis and qatar have been leading calls to start arming the syrian rebels and even a way in with military force political analyst chris bambery from the international socialist group thinks the u.s. is reluctant to get involved directly but it will endorse action through proxies.

the saudis of barry keen to offer throughout the assad regime as soon as possible and want to increase the arms which are good to the syrian rebels the free syrian army etc the americans are slightly weary not because the skins overthrew the assad regime because of from their own experience the north are providing weapons probably also means involve providing weapons instructors and so on and can lead to involvement in a conflict which the see easy solution to the west has almost overlooked the saudi humanitarian agenda the question of civil rights in saudi arabia what it's doing to its own people and what is done for the people of yemen bahrain and other countries around it because business is good with saudi arabia they are two things in the way they use that when you don't like a regime who will use the human race card when you wake a regime piece the silence over the question of human rights as they have done with

the saudi regime and indeed back when we don't hear any condemnation from hillary clinton or david cameron. and while some saudis enjoy the trappings of measurable wealth and privilege the majority of the population struggles with daily oppression and while ignoring issues in their homeland arab oil magnates remain committed to exporting regime change to neighboring countries wanting to boycott is in the region with no. the coronation bank meant in beirut the spain for its refreshing griese and its breezy ways it's a place where hats curves and ministers don't come into conflict even when beyond old ones. with a reputation as the most liberal arab society lebanon is only becoming a refuge for the citizens of the region's most restrictive country thousands of saudis come to beirut every month and what some call afraid implication i was born here say i suffered

a lot there because it's it's too too too limited i have to cover my face my eyes my whole body what i'm hearing being over here please look at me it is here where many saudi women get a chance to walk the streets all by themselves and saudi man can indulge themselves in a gambling in beirut's mainly casinos something that would be absolutely off limits at home saudi arabia is the most conservative country in the world where women are still banned from driving and need permission from that male guardian be it a father a husband or son to simply get a job the royal family that's been keeping these rules in place says that part of saudi heritage and therefore should be respected but while prescribing this trip to fly style for its citizens some members of saudi really don't seem to think these rules apply to themselves. when it comes to cutting loose abroad some of the saudi

establishment don't exactly present a picture of religious piety so differences have been seen reigning hundreds of thousands of dollars and women in nightclubs ready cash for their sides with. the excesses of the select few and restrictions for everybody else has not gone unnoticed in public and turned over the past year has been repeatedly met with life rounds. who are protestors have been killed in rio. base year alone with up to fifty arrested. in march the country's religious council issued a fatwa that equated demonstrations to a scene punishable by death once you have a demonstration and so the plea that demonstration would be repressed partially and we have heard and seen many reports by independent reporters and human rights organizations verifying this but. grayson's and so they are

simply illegal yet despite harsh treatment of its own protesters saudi arabia has been very supportive of bold elsewhere. was among the first to push for international intervention in libya and syria is believed to be the main financier of the rebels when things did not move as expected to mean the because of the russian and chinese vehicles of the un. they think they decided to be measured. by announcing even publicly. their plan to answer rebels in syria. only threat tactics at home and abroad here say he's never scolded by the u.s. a. and washington are currently negotiating ethics could billion dollar sale of advanced american weapons brothers in arms conveniently they're still not each other skippers. aren't fi beirut lebanon. try to come here live from moscow

and i still have for you this hour in the program that of swinging the austerity. spain announces its biggest budget cuts in over three decades is following a nationwide strike against reforms. as the u.s. seeks new ways to pressure the syrian government it's now slapping even more sanctions on iran the closest ally of damascus president obama has given the all clear for the toughest measures yet against the islamic states oil industry and washington will take punitive economic measures against any country that refuses to reduce imports of fuel from iran restrictions come into force in late june and all designed it to force terror on into giving up its controversial nuclear program the white house claims there are enough oil sources in the world to keep the market from collapsing without iran's share but u.s. based research and writer. thinks that america's is at this point shooting itself

in the foot. i really don't think america has france it likes to think it has allies but it manages to intimidate and bully other countries into doing its been and the extraordinary thing is that america is imposing these sanctions is actually against some national interest now not only are american companies not allowed to trade with iran america's selling only world powers well i heard nations that you can't do it either so i don't know why any nation like japan or turkey would think for a moment that they're sorry when america dictates the rules i honestly don't believe that iran would ever imagine its civilian nuclear program for one thing it does need it's in a miracle right and it's the one factor that unites iranians of all social economics classes and the government so the government being

a rational government all the some good almighty here this would never give up something that unites people or rallies the people behind it. minitel minutes past the hour here in the russian capital eurozone finance ministers have agreed to boost the e.u.'s rescue fund to that of eight hundred billion euros it's to help countries like spain recover from their crippling debt woes by spain's financial crisis has prompted the government to announce its biggest austerity measures in over three decades the country's route to cut twenty seven billion euros from its budget this year that comes after tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets on thursday to fight against labor reforms of a strike did turn violent in barcelona as demonstrators smashed windows and set fire to rubbish bins but what the country struggles to rise out of its debt crisis economic analyst michael rose says spain will never be able to implement the demands of cuts. but i can see is that what this don't want to make the spanish

government is not only is it if pill it's also impossible when you look at the private sector private sector is totally over a bit more or less bankrupt when you look at the banks over there banquet central bank bankrupt government also known as bankrupt how can you implement an authority package in these circumstances so everybody will see that this will this won't work because i what i see is that spain is the last nail in the euro zone coffin so i mean we have two possibilities why the euro will be obviously not working well the first is that we will have a kind of domestic insurrection in spain itself so we have to pull out of the rule in order to calm the people of the other one is the financial aspect that it is not possible to help spain with five hundred seven hundred billion euros in order to refinance themselves so if this if you come to this point then then i think then

the germany will pull out of the euro. so good to have you with us here on our team today and for you this hour homeless in hollywood. i think america has run around. but cap and they haven't cleaned up the own backyard. if you've got the largest mormons park in america but no where to go the city of angels the homeless community is growing i want to turn a blind eye i want that for you just a few. political prisoners a term associated with a dark chapter in soviet history when millions were locked up in forced labor camps known as gulags in a bit to make sure the horrors of the past are never forgotten russia has converted one of their remaining gulags into a museum that is pretty all of a visit of the side and spoke with one of the former inmates hidden away in the

ural mountains hundreds of kilometers from the nearest city is turn thirty six where the soviet government sent its dissidents now though it's a museum dedicated to making sure that part of twentieth century history is never forgotten. people wanted to understand the causes of those reprisals name all the victims and cast the knowledge of what happened here on to future generations. so you call your of was an inmate of the term camp in one thousand nine hundred eighty four he was sentenced to seven years for agitation and anti soviet propaganda now in his eighty's he still remembers life on the inside. the actual deprivation of freedom was very significant in doing but there are things that made up for it you had a freedom which didn't exist beyond that fence the freedom to actually say anything you wanted without fear what else could they do to you you were in prison already today a surrogate is a human rights activist occasionally he goes back to where he was imprisoned to

talk to students and other groups about life behind bars in the soviet union in the punishment cell you had to stay without warm underwear and bedding it was usually very cold which was serious we had to sleep on bare and planks with no pillow museum and turn thirty six allows visitors to come face to face with the realities of repression with much of the original structure still intact it gives historians a glimpse into a harsh life not found anywhere else that's extraordinarily important because it's a unique. look at the. exciting and. however current thirty six is not the only place that the repressions of the soviet era are remembered today monuments like this one in moscow it's going to take the rock taken from one of the very first camps serve as a reminder of all of those who were held as political prisoners in the u.s.s.r.

. those who campaign for human rights in our world now see that by keeping the past in focus history's mistakes will be repeated. whenever we remember our past we keep bringing up the main theme of rights and freedom our past can be described as one big violation of human rights it was a symbol of lawlessness and the lack of freedom if we forget our past we will be unable to build any decent future peter all of r.t. so come for you on the program here that football fever heading ukraine in the landlords are preparing to score big because here here's our so welcome millions of euros football fans. who want to be the current big mind if there's no more dollars or euros or anything what are we going to be trading probably beans we take to the streets of new york to hear opinions on how the euro crisis is hitting the dollar. let's go to some other international

headlines for you in brief with the r.t. world are played we'll start with thailand that's where three separate bombs of killed eight living more than sixty wounded a blast occurred in a commercial district of the municipality but the first two were hidden in motorcycles the third was in a car bombings are a common tactic of islamist separatists who have been waging an insurgency in thailand for eight years it's left more than five thousand people dead. in mali rebels in the north of the country have captured the strategic town of kid battle this comes just a week after the country's military staged a coup to overturn the president and seize power the army says they took control so they could fight off the sahara based rebel threat a coup leader captain sanogo has asked for foreign help to tackle the insurgency but the rebels fought in libya for colonel gadhafi before returning better armed to

their home. eleven people have been killed and several others injured during the four days but rest in pakistan the violence was first triggered on wednesday after a politician was killed in the town of correction in the days that followed at least ten was shot dead prompting young people to take to the streets in protest the police and military forces have been deployed to prevent any further violence. chinese police have arrested six people after online and web posts led to rumors that a coup may be in the works it comes after several web posts claimed that military vehicles were seen on the streets of beijing the chinese government says the rumors had a negative influence on the public and sixteen websites have been closed to carrying the reports the scandal comes at a crucial time for the country's ruling elite the removal from office of communist party chief both zealously. but a u.s.

soldier accused of killing seventeen afghan civilians under investigation washington is still trying to mend its relationship with kabul but the massacre along with the recent burning of the koran over u.s. airbase means that afghan leaders are not buying the apologies. says washington needs to revise its reproach me strategy. related. might probably be remembered as run of the most unfortunate and the least successful trip ever conducted by the pentagon chief to afghanistan they made a political blunder even before he boarded his spleen when after of a koran burning he authorized the u.s. commander in afghanistan to visit draw all american advisers from their afghan institutions both military and civilian so small wonder that he left kabul

really to lemans first from karzai we theists ultimatum to corral all u.s. ground forces into their forward operating bases and to effectively no invoice any nitrates games he's taliban brothers and second from the taliban when they announce they're postponing of the negotiations we have american partners regarding their reconciliation the next time. jump aboard the plane who better make sure that he's bound to islamabad and not to kabul if he really means business. this is arts here in just over two months football fans from all around the world will flood ukraine and poland for the euro two thousand and twelve championships with over a million expected to descend upon kiev alone preparations to accommodate almost no completion but as art is i like see

a chef he reports those coming for the beautiful game could be in for an ugly surprise. well the birth of the euro twentieth world football championship has not even begun in ukraine but this team of pensioner is already in high spirits here. amara believes this summer storm end is her last real chance to earn some money. our pensions are next to nothing our days are numbered and want to see them off in style and earn a little money that's why i will let a room or a flat to football fans will start at fifty dollars a night depending on who stays here but the price could go higher sylvia design and lack of necessary amenities like air conditioning but come on is being fairly reasonable about the price she would charge for it but the greed of many other private landlords could prove costly for ukraine if you prefer to travel in confort like renting this morally designed and fully equipped flat be prepared to pay

a fortune across a new this is an elite apartment in central kiev and it's priced in between five and ten thousand dollars a month but we will raise prices at least three fold for the euro two thousand and twelve period. which makes it and policed four hundred euros a night and this is not a record breaker some hole stools which had previously cost thirty euros are now available at fifteen times the price and what it offers can hardly be described as five star this england fan has already bought plane and match tickets but now he's worried his trip may be jeopardized but i don't think we're doing anything different to what any of the house countries did in the past accommodation process do road travel process do royce it's just the lack of a viable accommodation very expensive most of them university or mcclish sure you can stop in a tent for reasonable just a hotel bed and breakfast top players are going to get up solution on skyrocketing

prices urged her to stand a stern warning to ukraine's government which promised to take action a reward of the pl hotels have a risk of ending up half empty we have warned their owners to lower the prices with so many low cost airlines being able to bring fans for games in and out of ukraine they might as well decide against paying here just coming for one day. accommodation prices usually hit the ceiling ahead of a big event and london will not be an exception during this summer's olympics but in the case of ukraine the gap between the price and the quality is vast and there is a great risk private landlords could and upright with less ukraine has already spent fourteen billion euros into the euro twenty twelve project and is expected to earn only half a billion the private sector will rake in just as much that's unless the fans would not be scared away by the high prices let's hear assess the r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. it's been over two years since the first cracks in

the euro bloc started to appear with greece adding a series of austerity measures the single currency has taken a hit from the euro crisis having a major effect on the dollar i mean i'll take the streets of the big apple views on the declining dollar and what it may mean for the rest of the world. the value of the u.s. dollar is on the decline what does that mean this week let's talk about that do you think of dollars decline means the u.s. is losing its status as the world power yeah i think that it's reasonable to assume you know my husband doesn't know why but don't you think that because it will make you more competitive in. i think we're all going down we're all going to i mean every country every country the end of the world time in a new world you know the mayans might be right december twenty first so what can be

the currency money if yeah if there's no more dollars or euros or anything what are we going to be trading probably beans we're losing jobs to china and. you know we're we're not people are working so would you be willing to stave money in chinese yuan if we keep going with them when absolutely i think we're very dependent on the dollar as the international treats depending on the dollar do you think that's going to change to something like the chinese yuan or the euro anytime soon doesn't it up to the euro the euro is really showing off his weaknesses this time why do we all just take it for granted that the dollar is the. currency that we base the world economy a more stable economy there compared to europe or japan or any of the other countries what about side. it's not transparent enough for me do you think that it's time to start considering using your statement other currencies like the euro

personally. but i do think americans only think in terms of dollars when the rest of the world thinks in terms of. well i think the whole kind of it's not just currencies it's news it's everything everything to many people in the us or just to us centered focus in terms of their outlook on the world part of it is is a function of geography so america basically article in the large portion of north america with canada and mexico being the only neighboring nations there would hasn't been much need for us to be able to be fluent in languages or currencies for that matter do you think that stunted our growth as a people oh yeah i think it can lead to some cultural isolation whether or not you care if the u.s. dollar is on the decline the bottom line is you might under start paying attention to what other currencies are valid.

money however isn't always available to the least fortunate coalition for the homeless los angeles is the meanest city in the u.s. but when it comes to dealing with this poverty stricken population and while the government offers little help for the areas down and outs many are left with little hope for a better future. reports. the city of angels the promised land of and this opportunities has become a living nightmare for sun los angeles is a mirage. people believe that they're coming to see hollywood august stars are here. this beautiful. girls with the will come take a look at skid row you can compare the third world country this treat is an informal border between shiny downtown l.a. and skid row behind me in the shadow of the down valley skyline streets some fifty

blocks with the largest concentration of homeless people in the entire country for many it's not just the place it's the way it's live and last resorts in the off and on few main underbelly of los angeles. the financial crisis has hit hard here record amounts of foreclosures have bangs turfing people out of their properties and into the streets the city of angels is fast becoming a city of homeless joshua's among them two years ago he lost his job and while his income came to an average holds the bill certainly didn't well i was working as a sister manager auto parts store and. i just kind of left the ledge and i don't have anywhere else to go and a recent report by the national coalition for the homeless range los angeles as the meanest city in the country when it comes to dealing with the problem that we're

all. homeless or poor treated on it by law enforcement poverty in this country has criminal laws if you're poor your big was general dogan lives in the streets of skid row he says the police have worked out a solution for dealing with the homeless and arrest them for. any minor infraction a strategy that's winning the importance of the business community and real estate developers their job is to move all the low income and homeless worlds out of the grace of the community what they want to do which is what all the poor folks so to do bella would put money into the area but the sad reality is there is only enough shelters for a tiny fraction of alleys dramatic number of whom this range here says the government's looking the other way and leaving them to rot so the cuts are going to america's run around playing. hole would have been cleaned up their own backyard

right here on skid row you did you got the largest homeless population in america right now you have the largest. middle situation going on right now is just israel and how this is going to get a hell of a lot worse it's predicted there will be a whopping one million foreclosures in california in the coming year so while joe schmoe and so many others are suffering the same plight might be praying that one day they will have a roof over their heads it seems many others will be losing theirs. in the bush no r.t. reporting from los angeles california. it is a good to have you with us on this saturday still to come here just a recap of the top stories that will be followed by a special flashback report on soviet leaders featuring never before seen footage.

of the.