from plans to. start on t.v. dot com. egypt decides voters head to the polls in the country's first presidential election since hosni mubarak's three decade who was ended and many say they don't have much of a choice. as berlin tells the eurozone members to tighten their belts the sturdy capital is under fire for slipping off when it's only targets of budget cuts. and one hundred days of unrest tens of thousands of students march across montreal against in fees public or it is a protest restrictions and response. markets kick off the trade incessant deep in the red as the oil prices head for other south all the details in a business update in about twenty minutes.

on air and online twenty four hours a day this is out. egyptians are heading to the polls in the first presidential election since the fall of longtime leader hosni mubarak last year thirteen names are on the ballots including islam ists and a number of mubarak era officials was auntie's reports many egyptians feel frustrated with the choice they have. they stayed down the police and the military and they won but now they're staring into an answer to the future and it's far from clear egypt's revolutionaries are holding the trump card i'm sure of the martyrs where life they would think that this is all it is just no one chanters for elections they wanted to free them now there's a monthly massacre that takes place when people protest we don't even have the right to be listened in the big square how can be resupplied we say and. it took my

arm and other egyptian youth just eighteen days to topple a dictator who'd been in power for maybe fifty six years but they haven't been able to come up with a single compelling candidate in the country's first post mubarak presidential election is. not the people who are going to meet political possibles not change quickly so we have. political and i was surprised and somewhat of the. seventy's. and after ten of them were disqualified thirteen remain in the race for egypt's top job the front one is inclined to i'm a looser when the insider for me just one minister and hit of the arab league abdel more name of do it for to form a brotherhood leader kyra physician and long time anti mubarak just wouldn't and mohamed morsi the muslim brotherhood's choice who has a respected party and well financed campaign behind him the fact that there are two

strong islamic candidates means the islamist voters split although on foreign policy issues they're united the constant believe that the two of them will try to improve the relations but on the expense of egypt's relations with the gulf states or else. they're not going to try to improve the relations was miserable. i believe it's going to get more. chances are high that egyptians will vote in and is an honest president but this support is no way near what it was in the recent parliamentary elections was egypt tough on. civil servants and picked up the suit. that said the status challenges to. many of the thirteen candidates is expected to top fifty cities making a run for. highly likely but the delays are making egyptians edgy time and again

the ruling generals liff doubt as to whether the elections would even happen and concern is right that the army plans to stay in power or at least pull the strings from a far but dr hassan the far disagrees a military coup has to be executed and if it is done they thought it would be very very violent and there will be a little blood thank you very. very much however there's been little about this election that's been predictable and no matter who wins the new egypt is likely to look a lot like the last few months of the old at least for some time the problems in the country run deep and economic and political frustrations are not that far from spilling over into fresh protests police here are teen cairo. egypt's ruling military council is reportedly planning to publish a new interim constitution which will set limits to the government's influence over the army professor of middle east history at west chester university lawrence davidson there's the military's hoping to keep its grip on the country after the

election. the fear is i magine just like you know some twenty years ago that if the islamists in charge don't never give up power but then if you ask yourself what the military actually does here and its history once it's in charge it doesn't give up power either i think what they're trying to do is create a sort of turkish model where the military stands independent and autonomous outside of the government and essentially holds for itself a veto power over the government and so at any particular time if the government does things that the army doesn't like or the officer corps doesn't like they come back in and essentially create. a military. bringing about eurozone growth and solving the escalating problem of greece are dominating the minds of the leaders and the makers the head of an informal get together in

brussels germany continues to advocate belt tightening and is opposed to joint borrowing because auntie's piece all of it has been finding out it looks like the policy but in this foisting upon others isn't one it's too keen to pursue itself the merkel message to here it is clear that students grilled by structural reform is important and necessary but a debt ridden growth we're doing to revive a crisis we don't want that it will not do that. so all sturdy all round however don't expect german belts to be getting much tighter. according to the influential cologne institute for economic research while berlin bangs the drum for spending cuts in countries like spain greece and italy the federal government has made good on less than half that plan savings as the boomers were young out of sight of the federal government promised in twenty town that they would cost over ten billion euro

a year in spending from the budget by two years later they've cut less than half of this amount some of this is down to changes in policy making promises cotton impossible but most of the promise savings just weren't made. this will make interesting reading for the heads of the twenty five european union member states who signed up to a fiscal pact in march obliging them to show greater fiscal discipline a pact championed by the chief cheerleader of austerity chancellor angela merkel says the missing are it looks as if the german government has relaxed a bit while at the same time telling others to work harder our deficit goals were reached because of higher than expected tax revenue but the cots were not followed through. so after the government made good on only four point seven billion euro of the eleven point two billion savings that it promised the association of tax payers came up with a list of areas they suggest should be cut from the budget as part of

a spring cleaning plan which could save an extra one hundred and fifty six million euro these include scrapping a quarter of a million euros subsidy for growing organic carrots as well as a similar initiative for apple juice all the way through to reevaluating civil servant pensions and the driver service both former presidents of the german parliament. are thirty examples are meant to inspire ideas about how and where the budget can be cut even with a large. building blogs the government should take the good spring cleaning traditional allies to the budget and start saving. there are those who argue that the recent growth posted by the german economy means that they are under no obligation to cut the rest of the proposed eleven billion euro that it's only those countries posting negative growth that need to trim their spending the reason why the cuts are not as deep as periphery countries that are suffering the most from

the financial crisis is simply the fact that we have a higher tax revenue right now and that leaves room for maneuver so the german economy is showing growth but as the country's debt rises by the second even europe's dominant economy isn't out of the woods yet at home under merkel's christian democrats have suffered some major political setbacks most recently a crushing defeat in regional elections in north rhine-westphalia a state seen as a bellwether of opinion in germany the. christian democratic party has a tradition of celebrating its electors together it is the same for the fifth this is a common defeat we have discussed this defeat today and looked at lands and they do this we have. despite mrs merkel putting on a brave front as a party loses support from the electorate the question has to be asked how can the german chancellor preach austerity to the people of athens madrid rome when her

party's policies can't even win over the people of peace or all of the r.t. germany. teachers and students in spain are returning to work after a nationwide strike action on tuesday schools and universities shut their doors angry a proposed cuts to education plans include increasing class sizes slashing the number of teachers posing longer hours and those who take jobs now the concerns of the testers are university tuition hikes that the. nation. the government says the cuts are needed to lead to this year's spending targets ministers the reforms. crisis point almost twenty five percent. think the using needs to learn to balance cuts with growth prospects growth is like love everybody's in favor of love everybody in favor of growth but how to bring it about and one hand you need austerity because our budgets are bloated already for

a long time many countries have too much debt on the other hand we have to be store competitive first i make sure that and. set up companies again and the economy starts growing again but when it enters we need lower taxation we need competitiveness and all these things these things we have to do only in a few years time because you know now we're in a process of internal devaluation we're not developed waiting a currency but we are developing countries and that's a very hard process that may take years but the political and social system are not able to cope with that and that is part of the problem there is no time for the things we have to do the problem here is that nobody is coming up with a plan b. everybody says we have to stick with plan a greece has to stay in the euro zone and that is the official line of the european commission of the european council but nobody is really looking beyond what's going to happen and that is part of the crisis and part of the uncertainty we also she is a digital between paris and berlin and that is really in the heart of the eurozone

if if germany and france do not agree on the line to take then the euro is really in trouble. well you're watching r t some ahead for the heightened tensions syria's on rest spills into neighboring lebanon with clashes between pro and anti asset supporters raising fears of a growing conflict there. major demonstrations to mark a hundredth day of student rallies have shaken canada tens of thousands killed the streets of montreal to protest against a huge and rising tuition fees tend to quell the movement local authorities not to move emergency laws restricting protests and so pacifying students the controversial measures have only fuel their anger over three hundred people were detained and twenty injured for demonstrations spiraled into violent clashes with police on sunday night team they're going to be back in front of a show of university students because the government's actions when they've not as

worse. been trying to either set of ways the government's going far dispell it actually. restraint a lot of liberty if you're pretty you know the expression you get when you have manifestation everybody you know to this issue so it's very difficult and i was it isn't our oh it's now because you know what's where is this bill so they are just this new bill that the government passes and i actually didn't step back from all this demonstration that has been going on the government trying to make social peace back in the city of montreal but actually. several demonstrations going on since the year since friday so i think it's not working for the government and we know we're trying to go back to that it won't leadership to make sure that this conflict as they head. now iran's nuclear power plant in this area is set to begin

operating at full capacity until now the russian built the city aimed at generating electricity i think working at seventy five percent of its potential work at the plant has been carried out under the full supervision of the u.n. nuclear watchdog it comes as iran in the group of well powers are gathering in baghdad to discuss suspicions are going on that might be seeking nuclear weapons. tehran agreed in principle to allow them to inspect cities where you feel weapons might be developed meanwhile washington says they'll be no letup in the pressure on iran as a center continues to expand sanctions on the country u.s. congressman dennis kucinich says to resolve the rating issue in washington to change its approach to the sanctions are another form of warfare sanctions are just a step away from shooting 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 we have to believe that peace is possible what we have is a type of thinking coming out of washington that says wars inevitable when you say wars inevitable you actually create of war a self-fulfilling prophecy so you get war we wonder why do we have war because people think in terms of war. well you can hear more from us congressman dennis kucinich in just over an hour's time here in l.a. and most or is on our web site at r.t. dot com for you here's a taste of what's the online right now made in china the u.s. congress exposes counterfeit electronic parts by range aviation corporations on the

american enforces a posing a potential threat to security. and read about the controversy over the russian parliament plans to ok a bill to enforce tougher punishments for un sanctioned protests. are the schools are going to dot com and then forget to check out the latest videos i tell you tube channel. is. the official altie application to your ipod touch from the top story.

line. video on demand. old girls and streets now in the palm of your. question on the dot com or conflict in syria is continuing to cause trouble across its border in neighboring lebanon where there's been a fresh protests it comes as syrian rebels reportedly kidnapped thirteen lebanese shia muslims returning from a pilgrimage recent clashes between pro and supporters in lebanon have left a dozen dead of the past few days he's been for national reports. the roster signs of the recent violence here everywhere as you can see bullets card buildings behind me fire blackened walls garbage we were told that there's been some burned cars here but they've been taken away and police and the army have cordoned off the area and on patrol here twenty four hours to prevent further escalation of violence this

recent round of the clashes here in lebanon was triggered by the death of a prominent lebanese and ardent opponent of president bashar al assad he and his companion were apparently showed. by army troops at the checkpoint in the northern part of the country feel sorties here in lebanon have been very quick to react and investigation is right now and to go in more than twenty soldiers and officers have been detained for interrogation about sunni politicians happily called for prime minister and on the come on the to resign and they also want the death penalty for those responsible for what they see as an assignation similar function erupted earlier this month in the northern city of tripoli claiming twelve lives and they spin disturbance at the border with syria recently hala is just how divided the lebanese society is while the country is trying to remain neutral some accuse the

lebanese army of cooperating with assad regime while all others point fingers at lebanon sunni population saying they are assisting the syrian opposition by providing it with all kind of support everything they need and looting weapons well love and on is actually known as one of if not the most tolerant arab country where different confessions have poise this tit for years but this recent incident obviously reveals just how fragile the stability is and fears are growing right now that this situation may boil lebanon's own religious tensions. we're for national reporting from lebanon their weapons call and they stand journalist him on the show he says western powers may be providing indirect support to terrorists which could destabilize the entire region there are some serious internal divisions not necessarily about who supports us against it's more internal divisions between a group that is the south how did

a group what's called the fourteenth march group that wants to overthrow the government because the government has taken a position a neutral position on the situation in syria the ironic thing is that al qaida and the western powers are seem to be in the same group that is defying the lebanese authorities i mean this is this is a very peculiar situation and i think that many european and american allies are warning that this is a situation that. the western powers cannot sustain because these groups fundamentalist groups some of them are affiliated. or they are supporters of openly i mean no one can actually deny that and at the same time the united states and the west impossible for multiple addition which is very close. to a party that. interviewed many of these people and they have openly supported the movement. so more international news in brief for you now the south.

demonstrators have torched dozens of vehicles and set several shops ablaze offer violence broke out of the political rally in pakistan the gunman opened fire on protesters killing at least nine and injuring over thirteen paracho hundreds have died in this clean motivated attacks in the city which is often targeted by a town about and the militants. rome has been found in argentina's capital before a colombian president's visit to the country exposes were hidden in the bonus hours theater for a struggle to give authority say the bomb was designed to be treated remotely crackdown on drug smuggling guerrillas during his two terms as colombian leader raising suspicions the monitor in the plot. firefighters rescued around six hundred people after a blaze ravaged a high rise office block in a mexican city twenty people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning with one person

being treated for serious burns seven people were evacuated from the roof by helicopter initial information from the emergency services suggests an electrical fault in the basement may have been to blame. well south america's strained ties with the us come under scrutiny in the latest installment of julius songes show here in o.t. the world's top whistleblower asks the president of ecuador. what role wiki leaks played in the decision to expel washington's ambassador from the country. out the u.s. ambassador to ecuador as a result of with your its publication of cables why did you kick her out and i thought she was a woman totally against our government a woman of extreme right wing views he still lived in the cold war of the nineteenth sixty's and what broke the camel's back the last straw was wiki leaks where she wrote her own ecuadorian contacts told her that the chief of the national

police was corrupt and that surely i had given him that post knowing he was corrupt so that i could control him so the lady embassador was called and asked to give an explanation for the loftiness insolence imperial as she puts on that she said she had nothing to account for good as he looked assuming i'd like to say some months ago after almost a year of inquiry commander hurtado that falsely accused in that wiki leaks cable by the ambassador was found not guilty of all charges in all sane shows once again intentioned u.s. officials due to their ill will towards progressive governments that are seeking change my report on anything groundless based purely on rumors and gossip provided by their contacts who are usually people in opposition to our government miss.

you can watch the latest episode of two in a santa showing ten minutes time here at home. but i'll get the latest from our business desk and marina's there for us now you mentioned earlier that russian markets are in the red but what's the sentiment liking you. hi kyra well trading just kicked off there and i have to say the sentiment is pretty much quite negative investors there are focusing on comments made by the former greek prime minister and he said that preparations are already be made in case greece exits the euro zone and he said that the cost of such a move would be extremely high and could lead to an inflationary spiral let's take a look at the latest figures and see how the markets are reacting how badly they're reacting to this i should say as we can see both the footsie and the dikes are shedding of old one percent heading closely to one of the half we'll see how those numbers whether they'll decline further and they're right next hour now moving on to russia a similar picture here as well the russian markets are not only reacting to

overseas losses are also reacting to a decline in oil prices which i'll get to in the moment was that both the arts yes and the lie sets are setting over close to one and a half percent give or take now if you go into asia and sea of red there as well but investors are focusing on a different set of data first of all and we know that french ratings downgraded japan so of course that's a never good thing for investors and in fact the agency said if the government doesn't take action and do something about the country's spiraling debt problems then it could risk a further downgrade now other factors of course the european concerns and also the japanese government saying that there wasn't this a point in exploiting performance in the country which led to a decline in shipments to china which resulted in the bigger trade deficit for the month of april when it comes to china the world bank has cut its growth forecast for this year so not much optimism going around there moving on to oil prices as i mentioned earlier they are heading south for the second day in

a row that's after briefly a scaping a six day moves in streak and that's coming from the back of iran making an agreement with the united nations as well as a rise in stockpiles in the u.s. up to take a look at currencies the euro is still moves in against the dollar and now we can see the picture for the ruble it's a losing. against the both major currencies now in other news the man who coined the term the brics for emerging economies says that too much emphasis is being placed on the fate of greece speaking at the london form jim o'neill from goldman sachs said that growth in those emerging economies including brazil india russia and china of course is far more critical for the health of global economies. and the concept of the european crisis for example. fond of saying the china creates the economic equivalent of another greece every eleven and a half weeks you could wipe greece off the map and within eleven weeks china's

created another one last year the combined g.d.p. of the brics increased by about two point one trillion dollars so the equivalent of creating another italy every fifteen months. has been and it remains the single most important global economic story of our generation and there's another hurdle for russia second gas pipelines in europe this time there are reports that the south would soon project hasn't managed to get the approvals necessary to start work on the russian shore of the black sea in fact media sources say the pipeline developers have to sort out the necessary documents by the end of the month and the regulators didn't even receive an application earlier on the government called for an earlier start of the project works and move the beginning of the construction to december of this year the south stream gas pipeline the same to supply russian gas in europe avoiding transit kountry is like ukraine with first

a liver is planned for two thousand and thirteen. and the south the business of the logs for the south back to the catch phrase i thank you will have more fuel next. now the latest edition of in the songs is program herriot is just moments away but before that we have the headlines. here the rain gear isn't everything for the herders. and when it suffers.

people do their best to help go. forward. but the distances are. and the roads are tough and unpredictable. will the remedy be in china. wealthy british style. that's not on the tide of the financial. markets why not. come to. find out what's real.