the. nation supporting syria's revolution is in turkey to thrash out plans to help the opposition while supporters of russia protesting against the talks are dispersed by turkish police. also in this week's top stories a hot mike exchange between barack obama and dimitri medvedev leads to antique russian rhetoric among america's republican presidential candidates a trend of moscow has condemned as a cold war hollywood cliché. and spain adopts its toughest budget cuts in decades despite a nationwide strike of mass protests that resulted in violent clashes with police and thousands of arrests. but for the street demos some muscovites lost their own

protest against them report on the anti rallies rally in the center of the russian capital top stories this hour. with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on r.t. saudi arabia and it's our eyes are thought to have agreed to pay salaries to rebels fighting the syrian regime the decision came as a round of sixteen nations all harsh critics of the syrian government met in turkey to discuss how to bolster the opposition and intensify sanctions against president assad the powers blame assad for violence whereas damascus says it is fighting extremists sara firth has been following the talks in istanbul. final statement saying of the friends of syria against me providing all possible assistance to the syrian opposition that space technical assistance and direct assistance still there

is going to be some sort of multi million dollar fund possibly will be used to then provide salaries t. the syrian army to thank his and to the free syrian army flowing to a number of the gulf states has already pledged large amounts of money. outside the conference and today we actually saw a small gathering of trade government demonstrators clashing with the turkish riot police all seemed a little bit unnecessary because the other city we went to find out what's going on there and the turkish rightly so far outnumbered the amounts of the pro-government demonstrators as a source of sort of chaotic scenes breaking out outside that conference the friends of syria already coming under many criticisms from both the this pro-government syrians and also the opposition as well who really don't feel that they're represented all that the forty that they're supporting the syrian national

council a representative of the syrian people russia and china absent from that conference the criticisms that have come from and certainly have been that this is very one sided and that there are concerns that the exclusion of the government of the syrian government really is rather than help the diplomatic efforts that are going on at the same time to resolve this crisis. professor hama who should start a new university in jordan believes that some gulf nations spearheading the anti assad campaign are in no position to do so. record of the saudi arabian regime as probably with probably one of the worst in the region when they start talking up the freedom and human rights and syria or libya just this this is just so preposterous that rabia would have the nerve to speak allegedly against the human rights violations and in syria and what have you you do not have

political parties in saudi arabia you do not how the elections and so the area and certainly you do not have a rotation of power and everything is decided by a small clique of royals who appropriate the wealth of the country which which contains some of the rich. deposits in the world the bottom line is. pursuing a policy of atolls ing regimes that end up on them from the west and this is the common theme between iraq libya. and syria right now. hundred fifty killed more than four hundred injured the result of clashes in libya in the past six days alone as former rebels and tribesmen battle it out for the nation's government has now broken a ceasefire but in reality it has little power over the vast number of armed groups leftover from the revolution and libya's former prime minister who led the uprising

against moammar gadhafi but there's a risk the country might be taken over point stream ists. also says it's the result of nato abandoning the country after the former regime was toppled for the next hour as exclusive interview with sharing his view on get out he's there as well as the future of libya. it's a tool many parties have interests that could if he doesn't talk that he should be silenced for ever with it he was killed by the foreign entity or police by libyans or libyans and they are from others after. that is filled though most of the with some countries feel that the mission has been accomplished they may be that libya is a. political book can be filled by anybody in the world and it's. good or.

you can watch their full interview with michael as your bill in the next hour here on. current t.v.'s or an arms race president really have delivered a clear choice to washington this week over its missile shield plans in europe says the u.s. also announced similar systems for asia and the middle east to meet a new video of and barack obama discussed the issue at an international nuclear security summit in seoul and part of a private conversation accidently went public. there to lead his exchange was captured by t.v. cameras word for word and it was seized on by a rocket while it was republican rivals with mitt romney even declaring russia as america's number one enemy apart as more hawks land on the anti russian bandwagon he's got a check on reports there was cries i want resonating with american voters. the

run up to the presidential election in the u.s. . a perfect time to drag out the good old cold war skeleton from the closet. russia this is without question our number one geopolitical foe in the world of the presidential hopeful mitt romney russia is america's prime can in me while it's president elect different i mean this. place. represents a real threat. to the world but that's in the world of mitt romney what about well america there is no evidence of any popular support for bashing russia for hostility towards russia so this idea that somehow or another russia is a concern for americans it just doesn't add up at all with a very small sliver of people asked about romney's comments prism of it advised him

to stop reverting to olden days hollywood spirit types and take a look at the calendar. and he would advise all u.s. presidential candidates to make a reasonable statement it wouldn't do them any home to do so and to ship their watches it's the year twenty twelve sometimes and even the current leaders of the two countries may have long delayed the cold war to rest but for some it's just too good to like girl boy to return to those cold war simple days. russia is not the only foreign policy bandwagon the republican presidential hopefuls are capitalizing on the list also includes china he ran syria each candidate except ron paul trying to sound tougher than the other the strategies they put forward warming arming isolating threatening i want to be. i want to go to

war with china these guys are ranchers and and. looking for ways to get you to want to harm a sick or should take military action it is unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapon but what is all of what the trigger happy candidates suggest on foreign policy actually happens i worry about the world's from the became president because i think he would adopt a more militaristic foreign policy is to get your sketch it's some kind of him it's a cool and very real to the world if america takes up a much more aggressive stance towards lots of foreign countries it will be a much more dangerous world to be dangerous for america because we can't afford to do that mitt romney will most likely win the republican nomination and america will face a choice between him and president obama polls show the majority of americans disapprove of obama's policies but most experts agree that he will leave them out of leeway in

the election because too many americans are just plain scared of having someone like romney as their future leader i'm going to check our reporting from washington party. as u.s. republicans take a hard line stance on foreign nations presidential hopefuls in france are coming down hard on domestic issues still ahead then this hour in the wake of radical islamic terrorism on home soil kind of a push on constitutional change with threats some arrests and deportations. bowden comes closer than ever through the knowledge of the cia did run a secret interrogation facility for terror suspects play on its territory. with lot of analysis to come this hour nazi. some of the biggest riots in decades swept across spain this week mass rallies back to nationwide general strike as millions walked off the job. to protest against austerity dozens

of people were injured in the ensuing clashes and almost sixty arrested by police but the government remained unbolted announcing twenty seven billion euros worth of cuts the very next day one of the toughest budgets introduced in decades which includes tax hikes and a salary freeze for public sector workers and on economists michael ross thinks that ultimately the measures won't work. perfectly ever heard of a politician who was promises came true or became we are latina future i mean up and what i can see is that what has been want to make this government is not only because it is pill it's also impossible when you look at the private sector private sector is totally over debt knoller's bankrupt when you look at the banks over there bankrupt central bank bankrupt government also known as bankrupt how can you implement an authority package in these circumstances so everybody will see

this rule this won't work but what i what i see is that spain is the last nail in the euro zone coffin when politicians are talking about adjustment adjustment is such a nice word what it means in reality that people there have to become poorer when you are a government and you have to tell it to the people of the people are feeling that they are becoming poorer you are in a big big difficulty this could easily lead to a domestic interaction and this could also trigger more problems in the other southern countries here in europe in addition to the deepening debt crisis in the e.u. there are also growing concerns over soaring oil prices falling the west sanctions against iran france britain and the u.s. are considering releasing oil reserves on to the market to drive down crude costs jim update from the national iranian american council believes that sanctions were just a knee jerk reaction with the repercussions only being felt now. the real problem here is that the u.s. and the e.u.

have passed these unprecedented say sions without a real strategy or understanding of what comes next we're sort of making this up as we go along and we're finding that the sages that we put in place to try to restrict iran from profiting off of oil sales is really actually backfiring on us and that iran has tremendous leverage against if we're going to take this confrontation to one to the energy so i'm skeptical of the ability of the united states and france and others to actually mitigate this the fear of a war with iran has actually added about twenty dollars to the price of a barrel of oil so this concern that israel may strike iran or that the united states may end up in a war with iran is one of the driving factors of why it's so expensive and simply addressing the supply issue is not going to mitigate that. french police carried out a series of raids against suspected islamic terrorists throughout the country on friday

arresting one thousand people the crackdown comes just a week after mohammed mehra a frenchman of algerian descent was shot dead by police in toulouse after he murdered seven people thought he tells us it explains the fear of terrorism is playing a role in the nation's presidential race. from ahmed never was killed by police after thirty two hours seizure him to lose his life may have ended that day but his story has given france's presidential hopefuls an excuse for electioneering with ever more radical rhetoric. that's given rise to a huge political debate and what's made it to the foreground of the discourse is narrow background. for anyone who regularly consults internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison any person going abroad for the purposes of indoctrination in terrorist ideology will be criminally punished and that's in addition to cycles these policy of stripping

of foreign born criminals of their citizenship for their tightening border control saying there are too many foreigners in france are clearly advocating the political change in extreme is you it's not a crime we have do freedom of speech in france and they don't see. the restricted spruce. was a french citizen kane east family came to france a very long time ago so. obviously this kind of terrorism. from inside friends of society it's not just something that is imported from the middle east. and you cannot. take away french nationality from a french nation or this is not allowed under the french constitution and then there's marine le pen the far right national front party candidate having long pushed a more radical anti immigration line call for the revival of the death penalty for

child killers and the deportation of any foreigner who goes on a suspicious trip to places like afghanistan how many mohammed merah are there in the boats and planes that arrive in france full of immigrants mohammed merah is perhaps only the tip of the iceberg it's time to breed. on this from the mentalist political religious groups who are killing our children through threats of islamic fundamentalism has been underestimated. i think all that's been announced after these tragic events are proposals put forward soley for the election it goes to the one who proposes the most radical solutions which would aim supposedly at solving the problem but the problem is much deeper with our now the growing number of immigrants in france about six million of whom are muslims is being labeled as a problem by some prominent figures politicians are throwing around what they call solutions but the question is whether any of these policy ideas on immigration or security are realistic and are addressing an actual problem or simply the

consequences of something more fundamental the core of the problem is it's pretty difficult to recruit because what is the color of the problem there doesn't seem to be much consensus on that either just are still here r t paris on a website r.t. dot com we want to know what you think about the french crackdown on domestic islamists so far more than half of you believe its presence or causes pre-election room to pander to voters and anyone for think it's the start of an anti muslim which on less than ten percent say it's a kneejerk response to the solution is well twelve percent believe it's an attempt to finally address the threat of terrorism on french soil you can still have your say at r.t. dot com because here from me. in

recent months russia's witnessed all kinds of rallies from protests against the parliamentary and presidential election results to those in support of the authorities but this sunday a whole new type of demonstration has taken place ortiz arena went along to a protest against protests. they're angry tired cold hungry and they are mostly journalists who have spent the last goodness knows how many weekends covering the protests in moscow and whether or not they wanted to or like other protesters they couldn't just say no they had to be there they had to spend hours in the freezing weather and we had to listen to demands of people who had been basically saying down with everything there is so they organized a facebook initiative group and they got more than a hundred people in just under twenty four hours. to come to our spot in moscow and protest the protest and understanding that hunger journalist is something you never want to deal with they brought kooky is the broad flower seeds and it didn't last

very long because you know journalists do have families and that was one of the main slogans at the rally they would have families they want to see them is not just possible and they do not want to be outside again in the cold and snow listening to people voicing their concerns about something which they cannot really define that was their main point of the rally which ran down in moscow today and honestly i'm also kind of tired of it too so let's wrap it up and i'm going to head home and do what i wanted to do all these weekends i have a lot of things to catch up on as today. this is all if you live here in moscow still ahead for you north korea the fuses the u.s. are overreacting a standoff over a planned satellite launch intensifies. but first this week's or a revival of the scandal surrounding an alleged secret prison and potent something the country's officials have always strongly denied existed the first charges are reportedly being brought against the country's former intelligence chief for

allowing the side well for more on this i'm joined by former cia officer ray mcgovern a well as a former cia officer you were the perfect person to watch what you reckon went on behind the scenes in this prison. well the orders went out from president bush and vice president cheney and that these high high value suspects were to be given enhanced interrogation techniques and that a course meant that it needed a secure place to do them the story broke in a crash many years ago but not its own out of holes pretty much it made it that a small site there was condoned by the secret service at all and by their intelligence people and by their top officials you know how it came to be of course it is probably some money that passed hands i won't get you very interested in the results of this investigation to see how much the head of the intelligence was able to crew from this kind of thing but the general thing is just for iraq wait for me

. if if you don't realize i used to be an expert on the soviet union and these the kinds of things stalin did and this is a case that makes the nazi did not use did in world war two and so it's very very awkward for me to be talking about cruel inhuman and degrading punishment whether or not waterboarding was included by my own government is there anything this is a second let me just ask you is there evidence and to jest that that sort of practice didn't prevent further terrorist attacks bearing in mind of course it was set up after the nine eleven attacks. well that to is a major question and i would give your listeners to choice of whom to believe you know president bush and vice president cheney said oh yes it did and the head of u.s. army intelligence said and i quote no good information is ever made available through

harsh interrogation techniques history has shown that more and the hard experience of the last five years difficult years also shows that he said that in two thousand and six the morning before president bush cut cut up across the river and tried to defend the state next everyone knows torture does not yield reliable information now if you want unreliable information like torture works like a charm if you want to prove in quotes that saddam hussein had ties with al qaida well you know if you can't do it yourself you give those people over to steamship sions they know how to meet people confess and that's precisely what went on in the very early parts of the torture regime the. essential eight imma get information

they want it was some sort of indication material it was true or not. saddam hussein was somehow related to nine eleven and they got at rice and his fellow leaping to cairo right not only was the center set up and broke polish law it contravened we produce constitution also talks that it could indeed be a case that could be referred to the european court of human rights for the very reasons you've just been talking about the alleged torture the cia agents and put his agents should they be held accountable from your position as a former cia agent should the people the personnel perhaps be facing trial. but there is a precedent here it's called. tribe you know it is not sufficient to say i was only following orders that does a work of. good doesn't work so for look very highest officials and my hat is off to the polls i have to see who goes to college or finally facing up to this problem

and holding people accountable accountability is a noun that has been missing from the vocabulary of washington officials and even jurists if the polls do this maybe we could all do this just briefly to what extent does the u.s. use other countries for its extraordinary rendition programs and now well now it is it is a puzzle the us administration has asserted the right to continue to do rendition but i have no indication that the kind of abuses that happened and it cheney bush regime are continuing anywhere else in the world former cia officer ray mcgovern thank you very much indeed for joining us live there from washington d.c. great to hear your thoughts thank you. pyongyang has criticized the u.s. over its decision to suspend food aid to north korea calling it an overreaction beyond limits provisions were promised in return for the communist state stopping

nuclear and missile tests of careers refused to hold back its constant watch a satellite image and is reportedly invited outside experts to prove it's doing it for purely peaceful purposes however the u.s. and south korea believe the launch is really a long range missile test. co-founder of the campaign to end the korean war says washington is acting against international more by involving food aid in its political standoff. just a week or two before we heard the administration in washington saying that this was a good deal it was going to get food to the neediest people in north korea and now we're playing politics with food food as a weapon of war under international law has always been illegal to use and we really need to find a way back to the table not see individual acts as a provocation they certainly have a right to put a satellite into space as other nations do but let's demilitarized let's look at

the base issues let's look at getting a peace treaty day and the korean war finally and then i think these kinds of issues want to. cut him off we're on our website r.t. dot com twenty four hours a day it's online including video of a chile rescue in russia's far east as hundreds of fishermen are pulled from adrift think chunk of ice. millions across the world switch the lights off the earth hour event aimed at raising global environmental awareness find more spectacular pictures on our web site r.t. dot com. a twenty year old palestinian was killed when land a protesters clashed with israeli security forces on the palestinian israeli border on friday comes a fortnight after an egyptian mediated truce to stop the violence between the two sides has broken out is paula snare explains. this year the annual land day demonstrations turned violent with one protester killed in gaza several dozen injured across the west bank and at least thirty four people arrested in the event

marks the killing back in one nine hundred seventy six of the six palestinians injuring a man confiscation policy of the then israeli government palestinians complain that the israelis took arab land and used it for building israeli settlements and since then this and one event has been used to highlight the plight of the palestinian people this year occurring sided with what was dubbed the global march to jerusalem and its all some eighty two countries participating the attention was focused on numerous palestinian cities and villages as well as arab israeli towns and the israeli borders along the as well dana border some twenty thousand people gathered and while there were no reports of violence even certain highlighted the palestinian struggle. poulos live there the arab spring comes into focus in a few minutes here naughty and we got first hand accounts of those who stood at the heart of all the revolutions join us for a special report just after

a wrap up of all our top stories here. in the.

so-called proof you know what is happening and since know is the you know the after party for a wild card to the finale however i totally disagree i don't even think the parts of the guy. we're still waiting for that actually reduces the health of.