i sirius says attempts to topple the assad regime have come to nothing as a u.s. led pro opposition group gathers in turkey to discuss ways of ending the conflict. china slams washington for moving ahead with sanctions that penalize companies that help iran to export oil. and to cities across the globe are plunging into darkness switching the lights off for earth hour moscow has also joined in on the.

broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our team glad to have you with us let's get right to the top stories authorities in syria claim that attempts to overthrow the assad government have failed damascus however has a valid to keep troops in major cities at least until security can be guaranteed this comes as the opposition looks into the friends of syria meeting in istanbul for support and u.s. led a group consisting of seventy representatives from western and arab nations has been backing the rebels and pushing for regime change but the chances of finding a unified approach among the friends is reportedly low so discord outweighs agreements out of that and as our first reports playing host could pose difficult for one of the country's one time allies turkey. turkey the hub of activity at the name into as it prepares to play haste to the friends the syrian

e.t.a. the country's once again found itself at the center stage of the push to pressure. the assad regime it has a history common history with syria source certainly it feels justified it is going to interfere to a certain extent possible that as long as while this continuous supply having fully built up close economic ties is syria and sharing more than one hundred kilometers of border with its neighbor the distance between the two countries is now the gulf with take his stance seemingly closely aligned that of arab countries such as guitar and saudi arabia and their strong calls for regime change. very early in the piece of syria you might remember earlier on your government. very quickly and very confrontational. on. the struggle. in one name of the syrian national council themselves at battling

their own face divides the great lost a number of members recently is accusations now that they are not representative of the interests of the syrian people. and seen as here it is them who are outside not inside and the. boy is from honest muslim brotherhood. members look forward to this. also because if the syrian opposition desperately trying to bridge their own divisions take his government's now left in a difficult situation towards his more can after these things of your observation the only team the thirty can push is a regime change otherwise he broke his capacity of monitoring to the arab world from syria will be very very you know constrained and as take he gears up for the meeting for a constanza standing the complex syrian crisis and take his role in it based still

left to guess what's really going on behind closed doors. it's a key to one's. way . to the violence in the government. with the syrian. incredibly regional situation. the head of the friends of syria meeting u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton was on a visit to saudi arabia to forge a unified strategy end of the syrian crisis the gulf state has called for the anti assad rebels to be armed despite the un's ongoing peace efforts professor steven of the university of san francisco believes the worst possible outcome would be to have the international community extremists that make up a large portion of the. on the one hand so you will be in our courses and the

reason or course obvious our salary was clearly not a proxy for syria or anywhere else saudi arabia is going strongest backer of other autocratic regimes it is not really means on the i don't. know your monsoonal roasting look at it to see the syrian regime and i agree. there were question why i think it's a. question look at. this point but how can you call a problem like saudi arabia place in power simply because. this is the sleeper century unfortunately i saw in libya. there is a tendency to see. more military solutions to complex of political

problems and sadly some of the person supports me pro-democracy struggle the worsening economic. really would be who are these outside countries to get involved especially going into our. hardline illness and since. they are really. poorly received a crack down hard. on our. it's not going to be hard to see it was not going. and coming up on our accommodation prices go through the roof in ukraine. and the european football championship draws closer looking to cash in on visiting fans but it is feared their goal to score a big win will send crowds packing. one by one cities around the world dark for global earth hour this year we've got some surprising new comers

a clue. national space station well i'm not. trying to has lashed out at the u.s. over its decision to plow ahead with sanctions against companies that assist in the purchase of iranian oil beijing says washington has no right to punish financial institutions in other nations the u.s. wants to strangle the iranian oil trade in an attempt to make the country abandon its nuclear program under the new restrictions set to come into force in june any foreign banks doing or oil related deals with iran would be cut off from america's financial system white house claims that there are enough oil sources in the world to keep the market from collapsing without iran's input but not here mokhtari a political commentator in tehran says washington is being overly optimistic. but i believe. the u.s. not being. as china russia will not well for the united states we

must take into account that the united states is reeling under a hundred trillion dollar debt at the moment and this provider of. resurgent economy and every carvery is not going to last as a matter of fact it would only last for as long as the energy stocks are doing well . for president obama has very little time this is showmanship the greatest but it is very ill advised the us allies will have to bear the brunt of the action from washington and. the consequences on the ramifications of what president obama has done today lies squarely with him and his administration and he should know that there is no hope of pinning this imus ramifications on anyone else . thousands of cities across the globe are doing their bit for the environment from sydney to new york have been dimmed for this year's earth hour it's part of

a world effort to raise awareness about climate change. the observance of global earth hour begins in sydney and winds its way time zone by time zone around the globe now here in russia it's estimated that fifteen million people operatives are painting and this. the lights in certain major buildings here in moscow are shut off the university is dark as the academy of sciences and many other buildings big workout candles they are also budding lanterns. into the sky some newcomers to this include the international space station astronauts observing what is happening from space taking photos and even blogging about it on the european space agency's website many major landmarks around the world are going dark including. big ben and the golden gate bridge in the united states including even parts of the great wall of china this is about raising awareness for climate

change. this is about alerting people to the necessity in the global community of address addressing the consumption levels of energy whether they're fossil fuels or electricity so it's about global community together and curbing some of those bad habits that might contribute climate change now it's one hundred thirty five countries and more and more people every year are getting involved. well for those looking for affordable accommodation in ukraine for the euro football championship you may be disappointed with over a million fans expected to travel their prices are skyrocketing and as our. reports despite efforts to curb the costs it's feared some fans may just stay home instead . i felt the best with the euro twenty twelve football championship has not even begun in ukraine with this key of pensioner is already in high spirits or soon you. don't want to believe this this summer storm and over this her last

real chance to earn some money since in the us is that our pensions are next to nothing our days are numbered and i went to see them off in style and earn a little money and that's why i will let a room in our flat to football fans will start at fifty dollars a night depending on who stays here but the price could go higher. the soviet design and lack of necessary amenities like air conditioning but the matter is being fairly reasonable about the price she would charge for it but the greed of many other private landlords would prove costly for ukraine if you prefer to travel in comfort like renting this mordantly designed and fully equipped watch be prepared to pay a fortune to put 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 at least four hundred euros a night and this is not

a record breaker some host rules which had previously cost thirty euros are now available at fifteen times the price and what it offers to 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 and i don't think we're doing anything different to what any of the house countries did in the past accommodation process dheeraj travel process do royce. it's just the lack of a viable accommodation very expensive most of them university dormitories she what you can stop in a tent for a reasonable just a hotel bed and breakfast or place i think we're going to get up salute still skyrocketing prices urged to sound a stern warning to ukraine's government which promised to take action. tells have a risk of ending up half empty reward their owners to lower the prices so many low cost airlines being able to bring fans for games into 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 past and there's a great risk private landlords could and dr offit let's ukraine has already spent fourteen billion euros into the euro twenty project and is expected to earn only hull for 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 s.s.t. r.t. reporting from kiev in ukraine. if you're hungry for more stories and go to our website at r.t. dot com here is just a glimpse of what's waiting for you there right now. putting science technology to work the u.s. navy says it is almost ready to use lasers to shoot down fast moving targets like

cruise missiles and drones. and tear gas and water cannons palestinians in the west bank as what started out as a peaceful rally to remember a land day turned violent leaving one person dead watch a video on our you tube channel and find out all about. hollywood is the world's capital of the rich and famous but there's a lot hidden behind that glamorous facade thousands of homeless people live on the streets of l.a. unable to cope with the country's latest economic hardships you know questionable reports. the city of angels and promise land of and this opportunities has become a living nightmare for some los angeles is a mirage. people believe that they're coming to see hollywood all the stars are here. the beautiful. girls with the. 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. behind me in the shadow of the down valley skyline stray 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 often and 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 onto the streets the city of angles is fast becoming a six year old home this is among them two years ago he lost his job and while his income came to an after upholds the bill certainly didn't well i was working as a system manager auto parts store and. i just.

left the ledge and i don't have any worlds to go to a recent report by the national coalition for the homeless of range los angeles as the neediness city of the country when it comes to dealing with the problem the world. wide hollow homeless and poor treated on it by law enforcement probably in this country has been criminal laws if you're in the poor. 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 strategy that's winning also the business community and real estate developers their job is to move all homeless folks out of the community what they want to do with his role of poor folks out so that. will put money into the area but the sad reality is there is only enough shelters for a tiny fraction of dramatic number of homeless mange here says the government's

looking the other way and leaving them to rights and because i think america's run around play and. hope we're having cleaned up their own backyard right here on skid row you've got the largest most popular in america right now the largest. mental situation going on right here i mean just there's just this period and how this is going to get a hell of a lot worse it's created 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 hands it seems to me others will do this and there's. no question artie reporting from los angeles calif. molly rebels in the north of the country have captured the strategic town of keep all this comes

just a week after the country's military staged a coup to overthrow the president and seize power because of concerns he was not doing enough to fight the rebellion leader. sanogo has already asked for foreign help to tackle the insurgency but fought in libya for colonel gadhafi before returning better armed to the region. mohammed an international representative of the nation of islam believes that mali's problems are a direct result of the western intervention in libya. but it's all so effective. so maybe horses on the fly to syria but they targeted. government. effect after the result. of the case.

back was not a choice of the french nor the americans and was baby in just a step in because it was easy for the western powers to say. the election is not be a baby or another referendum on the election supervised by an international body but that wasn't a desire it was. a desire to have. brought in as the president and so they came in for some weapons and remove him took him to now he's getting ready to stand trial so this is. what ever france and america in the west the nation determine the man that they want and mali is the man. best man they make sure. that. take a look at some other news making headlines around the world this hour. a cease fire has been struck between rival militias after a week of heavy clashes in southern libya reviving has left almost one hundred

fifty people dead and four hundred wounded the new government is faced with continued violence between former rebels and ethnic tribes still armed months after the revolution and the death of colonel gadhafi. egypt's largest political group of the muslim brotherhood has officially fielded a presidential candidate breaking a previous pledge to stay out of the race the movement's deputy leader and its top strategist will run for the top job in may the group which gained a majority in the new parliament down did not take part in the vote for fear of provoking a military backlash against the possibility of an islamist takeover relations with the military rulers have become increasingly confrontational in recent weeks. at least eleven people have been killed and more than one hundred wounded in southern thailand after a series of blasts in a commercial the first two bombs were hidden in motorcycles while before i was in

a car several shops caught fire and many parked vehicles were damaged bombings are common in the insurgency here far south where over five thousand people have been killed in the past eight years. voting in myanmar has started in a parliamentary by election that could mark a turning point in the country's history for the first time international observers are allowed to monitor the elections and it is also the first time. first ballot excuse me that features sun suu kyi the prominent opposition leader their vote could also bring in and do to international economic sanctions on the nation which has been ruled by the military for decades. in one of the darkest episodes in the history of the soviet union thousands of people were sent to labor camps and many found themselves in gulags for simply having views that were different from the communist system now one of the camps has been turned into a museum to serve as a reminder to future generations not to repeat the mistakes of the past are cheaper

all over replica look. hidden away in the ural mountains hundreds of kilometers from the nearest city is term 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 pass the knowledge of what happened here on to future generations. said you was an inmate at the perm camp in one thousand nine hundred eighty four he was sentenced to seven years for agitation and propaganda now in his eighty's he still remembers life on the inside where the actual deprivation of freedom was very significant indeed but there are things that made up for it you had the freedom which didn't exist beyond a bit of freedom to actually say anything he wanted without fear what else could

they do to you they were in prison already today 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 a punishment cell you had to stay without warning underwear and bedding it was usually very cold which was serious we had to sleep on bare and planks with no pillow. and you see him return thirty six allows visitors to come face to face with the realities of repression with much of the original structures still intact it gives historians a glimpse into a harsh life not found anywhere else that's extraordinary because it's a unique. look at the. halls of it. however current thirty six is not the only place that the repressions of the soviet era remember it is a monument like this one in moscow which contains

a 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 campaigned for human rights in our world now see that by keeping the past in focus histories mistakes will be repeated. whenever we remember our past we keep bringing up the main theme of rights and freedom you can be described as one big violation of human rights it was a symbol of lawlessness and a lack of freedom if we forget our past we will be unable to build a decent future when peter oliver r.t. . your merican is of believing there is an alternative to the dollar in the ever falling global economy residental new york streets to find out. 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 a dollar's 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 go well why don't you think that because it'll make you more competitive. i think we're all going down we're all going down meaning every country every country the end of the world time in rural you know the miners might be right december twenty first so what's going to 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 together so would you be willing to pay the money in chinese yuan if it keeps going the same way absolutely i think we're very depending on the dollar as the international trade depending on the dollar do you think that's going to change to something like the chinese yuan or the euro any time soon

a little bit lots of the euro the euro is really showing off its weaknesses charm 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 europe or japan or any of the other countries. it's not transparent enough for me do you think that it's time to start considering using or saving other currencies like he was under the euro. personally no. why do you think americans are only think in terms of dollars when the rest of the world thinks in terms of other currencies well i think the whole kind of it's not just currencies it's news it's everything everything is too many people in the us are just to us centered focus in terms of their outlook on the world well. part of it is is a function of geography so america basically operated by in the large portion of north america with canada and mexico being the only neighboring nations there were

has been much need for us to be able to be fluent whether in languages or currencies for that matter do you think bad stunted our growth as a people oh yeah i think it can lead to some cultural isolation but they're not you care the u.s. dollar is on the decline the bottom line is you might want to start paying attention to what other currencies are available. and a couple of minutes max and stacey discuss the world's financial headlines in the kaiser report but first our top stories.

wealthy british style. markets why not. come the. i know what's really happening to the global economy. with mike's cancer for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our cheap. there hasn't been anything yet on t.v.

. it is to get the maximum political impact. before source material is what helps keep journalism honest we. we want to present. something our.