see. fresh terror attacks in syria claim more lives as the u.n. warns it's powerless to oversee a peace plan unless it's implemented by all sides. if accuses the european union of harking back to the cold war as brussels moves to boycott the euro twenty eight well football championship in ukraine and poland over the case of jail ukraine's former prime minister yulia timoshenko more details to follow in a few minutes. the founder of wiki leaks prepares to take center stage once again as the host of his very own interview show right here. quizzes the new president as. he was swept to power by a popular uprising just ahead. international

news and comment live from the russian capital this is r.t. with you twenty four hours a day in syria a bomb blast has reportedly rocked the city of it lived just off the nine people were killed and around one hundred wounded in twenty explosions there the government and the opposition of blaming each other for orchestrating the attacks the united nations warns the own going violence threatens the peace plan it helped broker the head of the expanding u.n. observer mission to syria says the roadmap is futile unless all sides observe a cease fire meanwhile damascus is preparing to hold nationwide parliamentary elections in just a week from now but the u.s. and its allies are still calling for regime change jordan based professor thinks that syria and out of favor playing by its own rules. i think they are trying to

destabilize and overthrow and end of pendent regime and have it replaced by a regime that is friendly to the entrance of nato and this has ramifications that extend far beyond the boundaries of syria they have rhythm on. them and international empire and the geo strategic struggle with the rising states like russia and china so this is at this throwing and dependent state that has been relatively successful and building has some i end up and then take a moment base that is dependent on agriculture and the street manufacturing specifically as opposed to being an importing state that is bound to that from the i.m.f. and the world bank they are not serious about peace in syria what they really want

is to overthrow the regime that's the end game damascus is prepared to hold nationwide parliamentary elections in just a week's time and some syrian groups have chosen to put their faith in reform instead of violence is six and a book reports. a cause pursued for decades now accomplished in just a few months just a year ago even speaking kurdish and public could have got these people in trouble but now they can proudly restart what some hope will become them for their futures they'd. largest ethnic group without a nation kurds have long felt outsiders in their own lands in syria where they make up around ten percent of the population kurds have for decades complained of tacit discrimination by the authorities in fact they called on president bashar al assad to step down years before it became the rallying cry of the syrian opposition

despite the long running grievances against the assad family syrian kurds have largely stayed out of this conflict in fact if there is any group that benefited from the instability in syria. over the past year a syrian kurds one more concessions from their services than in two decades before that. this kurdish language school is one of about a dozen that have opened their doors in syria over the past few months here a grandmother shared desks with the grandchildren and a determined attempt to learn the classic version of their mother tongue. the school's principal sas just a year ago it had to be done in secret. the state didn't allow any instruction in kurdish we used to be told that since we are living in an arab country we should speak arabic. even songs in kurdish were all forbidden but nowadays it all has changed it's not only syria where kurds felt pressured and turkey iraq and iran

where the majority of about fourteen million kurds now leave their thought and she's had long seen them as a threat to national security especially after they embraced guerrilla warfare to achieve the creation of a sovereign kurdish state and in syria these days it seems these goal has been realized at least for now about a month ago kurds living in aleppo opened their own version of a city hall here in the portraits of. the face of the kurdish independence struggle hangs where you would usually expect a picture of the president but we're not. there with the government nor with the opposition we stand alone the syrian state has bigger problems so we're taking charge of our areas and tried to govern ourselves for the time being syrian kurds claim that self governance and equal rights are all they want some say and autonomy within syria similar to the couldst and region of iraq would be

a more realistic alternative to full fledged independence. and kurds don't want to separate state we want to live in syria in peace with the arabs and everybody else but we do want to be treated equally and to be recognised as the kurds on our ideas not syrian arabs. yet dozens of kurdish settlements within syria have already become defacto mini sovereign states they're not only self-governed but self police as well that well defined borders like these checkpoints separating kurdish an arab part of town and volunteer border guards the regime is now distracted with its own struggle so we seized the opportunity to mother you know patience is bitter but it bears we wrote this old kurdish programmer is frequently cited in syria these days but what's unclear is how long this newfound independence may last. r.t.

. syria. r.t. live here in moscow with the twenty four hours a day still ahead for you this hour. but dialogue with iran are struggling to be heard amidst the war chorus on capitol hill with the military strike still firmly on the agenda. but first a new war of words is flared up between the e.u. and ukraine over the case of your little the former ukrainian prime minister is serving a prison term for abusing power brussels claims the case was politically motivated to machine goes currently on hunger strike is the latest from our correspondent. what seems to be a purely domestic case has received very serious international reactions with presidents of germany the czech republic the head of the euro commission as well as german chancellor angela merkel all saying they will boy called their bland trips to ukraine in particular for the. period as easily as if to protest against the treatment. former prime minister now even called on the german national football

team to boy call it their participation in this tournament the idea which was even supported by the president of the champions league final this club bar in munich now also reactions came from moscow with president medvedev raising his eyebrows over the treatment of you to go saying that this these actions throw serious shade on ukraine's reputation and are unacceptable for a democratic country now all these reactions come after you it's emotional reported to have been abused by prison guards and photos of her bruises were made published were made public on the internet as well as understand that team of medical experts was dispatched by ukraine's own woman to the prison and they confirmed the fact of the physical attack from the prison guards on. this raise that tension dramatically and key is also already reacted with indignation to all the statements coming from europe saying that such rhetoric puts the countries back into the times of the cold war while the war of words continue certainly but everyone all experts now

understand that keith is under severe pressure especially with less than forty days before the start of the you were twenty twelve football championship last friday's terrorist attacks individuals with serious concerns about the security during the tournament now definitely the developments in the situation are creating serious political implications. the world's number one whistleblower returns to the screens and choose day with the latest episode of controversial show june in the sun has already interviewed the head of has been and then brought together to political extremes from both sides of the smith previews the next edition. well this is the third episode of the program and the guest this week is the first president of the new president. of course is where the arab spring first really kicks off and the jasmine revolution as it's come to be known was ok but one of the most successful revelations that the arab spring has caused it was prompted of course and this is why this is this program is so interesting the revolution was

prompted at least in part by revelations from wiki leaks the wiki leaks released some cables at the time about corruption in the chain is in the government's hold then president ben ali who's been in power since one thousand eight hundred seven and that was the first really hard evidence in documentation that the people of tunisia had seen that their government was so corrupt and the government couldn't suppress that information. is an entirely different cloth from his predecessor he's a doctor and he's also a human rights activist and in fact during the reign of the previous president ben ali he was exiled and imprisoned and so he is seen to have some of the greatest moral authority of all the arab leaders at the moment during his imprisonment he was kept in solitary confinement which he considers to be torture he talks quite a lot about that during the program and he's determined there will be no more

torture during the program he recalls a time when he was invited to the u.s. to talk about the human rights situation in tunisia and he says that that reveals a complete set of double standards four years ago i was a right to. talk about human rights in tunisia. i was invited to some. dealing with. issues no i'm not going to meet this person because it would be ridiculous to talk with this guy knowing very. you know that he was probably implicated want to know more problem you can talk. seriously somebody did in torturing his own country this guy is going to give you some gas and about how to promote human rights in tunisia this is why i didn't accept to meet him that's just a tiny bit of this program you can catch the whole state of the world tomorrow on

choose day at eleven thirty g.m.t. . spain is plunged into a second recession amid government measures to rein in the country's debt ratings agency standard and poor's downgraded nine of spades banks many of which are bogged down in bad loans it also comes to spain's unemployment rate of sorts almost twenty five percent the highest in europe and sweeping cuts to health care and education of seeing thousands taking to the streets at the government to push let's get some analysis on the situation in the country from professor of economics. he's also the author of the book the tragedy of the euro joining me there in spain so the

countries the euro zone's fourth largest economy in recession after the second time in just three years today as i just said we see none of its banks downgraded what one of the wider implications here. what danger could that pose to financial institutions and its near european neighbors. but of course this very you know very bad position and if they fail this course directly effect other european banks but it will also affect the vanished government tried to the spanish banks out and the spanish government is not the new good person has the position either so that in the spanish government my might not be able to beno their banks might be forward in this evil and in direct ability think of course the european banking system and the e.c.b. so what about bailing out the entire spanish economy that has been talked about but i spoke to some analysts who say it's simply too big to play it out. yes.

it might be but at the end they have they can print more than money they want just to bail out spain the question if it is a question is if politically it's possible to do that probably not so it might be impossible to bailout. politically what within the wider eurozone and also within the country itself talking about the instability saying that there are protests against the government cuts politically just how much could this government now suffer you know this government is suffering because there's some some small reforms. but it actually is not doing enough they do some austerity for the public sector but not enough and you have also to we have to see that those dirty for the public sector means girls for the products it. is already then the right way to go because many would say of course that is hampered growth and that's exactly what spain does need is growth. yes but it needs growth of the private

sector not of the public sector so if you reduce government spending you give the private sector more space to breathe to grow of course there are that the spanish government is doing is to actually to increase taxes which is the opposite of austerity for the public sector which has a move with champus the development of the private sector so so austerity for public sector is the right way to go for growth of the profits of the products that is so painful isn't it that austerity measure imposed on the public sector is clearly what's having effect on education and health and that's what people simply cannot stomach there in spain what are the future prospects now for all those people those young people who are unemployed. you know they don't have very good prospects many of them it infect there are any great thing like german courses in school overbooked so that people go. to vote for income for young people

because they see their perspective because the spanish a labor market is still too inflexible so we see people leaving spain yes. last year was the first year that there was a net outflow of spend yes for a long time for the viewer wrote the book the tragedy of the euro do you agree them with the calls we're hearing even today from one analyst that the spanish should ditch the single currency get rid of that euro. well for spain is benefiting very much from from the euro i mean if i would be paid in spanish this if there's a general didn't put forward from industry so i'm not in favor of leaving you and be paid and they said that the only option would be to leave the euro and introduce a grant you that is stronger then when you're for example gold this it us or so and you can see the big i would be all in favor of there but is that really likely to

happen it's difficult just to come out of thin air and in such a short amount of time no it's not likely to happen because it's not in the interest of politicians because politicians cannot manipulate gold manipulate their currency. to finance or their wishes but not go so it's not in their interest right you said you would be keen to see spain what you suggested spain shouldn't really leave the euro but what about the future of the eurozone now itself you said it's a tragedy in your book is it going to survive just briefly. in the short term yes because the political elites they all want to continue this fateful project. in the long time maybe there will be more resistance from the from the people of the actually being for this most french or germans inflation big stuff then there might be a break a few of them and you could hear your thoughts there from spain itself and it by this professor of economics in the. university there thank you for your time.

as the six world powers prepare for a new round of nuclear talks with iran next month the hawks on capitol hill don't seem to be quite ready for change the u.s. congress has voted down a bill which was aiming at direct diplomacy with tehran is going to occur and explains why the motion didn't stick. juror thirty six and number of u.s. lawmakers have proposed the bill two and the no contact policy between the u.s. and iran after three decades of diplomatic silence congressman dennis kucinich is one of them he says the old approach when washington wants to resolve differences with iran through not talking to them is unsustainable we're being told we should have any contact with them we're being told that we shouldn't be negotiating with them we're being told. to get ready for war all of that is wrong what we need to do is to have direct negotiations we need to be talking with

iran and we need to stop this vainglorious notion that somehow we can settle our differences with iran through war how many people share your views among their colleagues eleven ten eleven that's how many votes. out of four hundred thirty five members of the house of representatives has recently voted four hundred eleven to ten in support of the bill which would make it illegal for any american official to make contacts with a new radio in a third hole without congress' approval so in light of the numbers dennis kucinich is counter efforts seem more symbolic than real if we congress is ending a message to the world that says look we don't have to talk to you we don't have to

negotiate with you wage war on you if you don't do our do our bidding that's not how you treat people imagine for a moment if at the height of the cuban missile crisis if. nikita khrushchev and john f. kennedy. we're not speaking to each other opponents of direct talks with iran argue why the u.s. should do it before iran lift its own ban on negotiating with the u.s. are the rainiest ready for direct talks i don't see the iranians lifting their ban before the u.s. does that's because the iranians are in a much weaker position than the united states and so it does take more capital for them to agree to such steps opinion polls show the majority of americans seven out of ten say yes to diplomacy with iran but is that a message their representatives want to hear the voices of. arms merchants

of war contractors. but people who just make money off a war they don't care where the war is or who are rich i just want to make money and if they can push the us spawning another war they'll do it and members of congress have to be wise as to when they're being played by interest groups who may want them to vote in one way but it would be a way that would be adverse to the interests of the american people with a decision to outlaw any contact with the government american lawmakers are building brick by brick a legislative wall which makes the prospect of ever having normal relations with iran virtually impossible we also see many ukrainians in their view that it's not their nuclear program that was something that the regime change a proposition that would only lead to further escalation i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. . now let's have a quick look at some other world news this hour in a world of explosions rocked an area near government buildings in the idea is to

rob a state in the people and injuring twelve becomes less than a day after coordinated attacks on christian worship was on the university campus and in the chapel in the country's north which left at least twenty one dead no one has claimed responsibility but the islamist group boko haram is active in the area having killed one hundred fifty people in the blast in january. attacks areas capsized in northeastern india leaving thirty five more than one hundred sixty five missing around two hundred passengers were on board when the boat got into difficulties in the west dhubri district of the country strong winds and rain of thoughts of course the accident police and soldiers have been sent to help with the rescue effort. leading bahraini anti-government activists will be retried along with twenty other opposition members a military court sentenced. to life in prison in june for plotting to overthrow the state's rule is again a hunger strike three months ago to bring himself close to death government protests first began in bahrain in february last year up to sixty people had said

to have died. in clashes since. three weeks of campaigning of kicked off in egypt ahead of the presidential election thirteen candidates are on the ballot including islamists and officials who worked under the ousted leader hosni mubarak the front runners the barracks former foreign minister protests against the ruling military have erupted in the run up to the vote while several candidates have been barred from the poll. and al qaeda linked group has offered to free a british hostage in return for a muslim cleric abu qatada is a radical preacher who was detained in britain in two thousand and one and was held in jail for six years without being charge the militant group also said on its website it wants to be released anywhere except jordan the country where he's been convicted in absentia of involvement in militant plots british hostage being offered in return stephen was kidnapped in mali this november british conservative

politician patrick mercer excuse me says it's wrong to hold terror suspects in a foreign country charge. i am one of the greatest opponents of. think it is wrong i think that if you try if you're trying to fight terrorism then you must try and fight terrorism with within the law of the land and that's why exactly why we mustn't keep terrorist suspects inside the united kingdom either without deporting them or without charging them and then trying them so the real things that we can do under british law which would actually make it easier to get these people into into court. the first thing is to make. evidence that is gained by eavesdropping actually make that admissible in court currently it's not the second thing is to enable terrorist suspects to be questioned after they've been charged of the third thing is to allow terrorist suspects indeed to encourage

terrorist suspects to get involved in plea bargaining that last one is not necessarily palatable to many people but it's next tree mli powerful extremely powerful tool to use against putative terrorists. when exactly twenty five minutes past the hour here now in the russian capital dimitris next with the business and dimitri in the u.s. markets well they've opened on a lower note but there's one company saying fascinating growth tell us what that all about well it's up more than sixty percent we're talking about barnes and noble and it's getting free hundred million dollars of investment from microsoft to develop the e-books business and therefore investors a very much impressed with these numbers but overall you're absolutely right we are seeing a negative dynamics on the u.s. market with the dow and the nasdaq declining around half a percent when i last looked at them well you know within half a percent as you can see there one quarter of a percent for the dow jones this is on the back of slowing growth in consumer spending while incomes were up point four percent consumer spending was slowing

also investors are globally are worried about what's going on in spain it's apparently moving into recession the g.d.p. is down point three percent the first quarter compared to the previous quarter that importers also downgraded sixteen banks among them some of the biggest ones like suntanned b.v.a. and what we're seeing at the close of the forty's and point seven percent the dax point six percent over on the commodities markets we're also seeing slightly negative dynamics with. declining right now but overall in april the margin for trading oil has. the narrowest in seventeen years and this is because of a stabilization of supplies and basically versus coming to terms with the fact that economic recovery especially in the united states is slowing down. on the couple currencies markets not much of a change throughout the whole day is a quiet day indeed with the euro declining slightly versus the dollar whereas the

russian ruble declined against both currencies but that was on saturday was a working saturday and sunday is a day off it's a very long story how it's happening with the may holidays here in russia but that's the way is to take a look at the russian markets of course we did which were not trading also today because of a day off the r.t.s. was down by just a notch in my six one quarter of a percent this is because investors of course reluctant to make any serious moves ahead of long may holiday's trading will resume in russia on wednesday. and two of russia's richest business men have ended up on the u.k. rich richest list and also to know is that the three top spots were also taken by people outside of the u.k. which made their fortunes in emerging markets but a number two is it was smart of he holds a stake in facebook he also has a metal invest stake the second richest person in the country is fortunes around

twelve billion dollars out of a lot of noise as you can see there nine point five billion pounds is first place and topping the list is lakshmi mittal the indian born owner of the world's biggest steel producer asked the lord mittal overall britain's richest people achieved record levels of wealth last year despite the country slipping back towards recession while i'm far from any top rich list so i will be back next hour to bring you an update of the business don't believe a word of a very expensive looking suit you are in a dmitri thanks very much indeed a recap of our top stories next here on alt.

join me on a journey to the heart of the kremlin to a place is hidden from the tourists you're going to meet some real credible insiders although they may not be the usual newsmakers you see on t.v. .