this is our team tonight a gypsy choosing a replacement for the ousted president mubarak amid concerns the revolutions the rail by stagnant candidates and hard line military rulers we bring you the latest poll so great crew all break down iran's nuclear program is in focus again and under pressure again with a new round of negotiations between two ran and the west. also new leaders getting together in brussels tonight to dine and discuss salvation for the eurozone with money believing it's time asperity came off the menu. but investors remain. the global acting slump with the boston market suffering stop laughing tell me about twenty times the political know how to round up the big.

eleven pm here in moscow right now this is r.t. my name's kevin owen in our top story them for you this the first of two days of voting has come to a close for egyptians as they decide on a president's replace hosni mubarak who was toppled last year the recollections already been marred by bloodshed with a policeman shot that outside a polling station in cairo as for the vote itself some who some of those who stormed tahrir square last year seeking political change say none of the candidates represent their revolution and found out. they stayed down the police and the military and they won but now they're staring into an answer in 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 they really support the east and the what's. it took my arm and other egyptian youth just eighteen days to topple a dictator who beat him holler for nearly thirty six years but they haven't been able to come up with a single compelling candidate in the country's first post mubarak presidential elections since the front runners included i'm a looser with the insider former egyptian foreign minister and hit of the arab league abdel moneim of doing for top former brotherhood major cairo physician and long time and to 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 islamised candidates means the islamist voters split although on foreign policy issues they're united. in constant believe that the two of them.

try to improve the relation this bookmark on the expanse of egypt's relations was the last of. them are going to try to improve the relations was israel. i believe it's going to get more. chances are high that egyptians will vote in an islamist president but this support is no we near what it was in recent parliamentary elections was egypt up for. example surveys of picked up the surge to consider the status challenges to. many of the thirteen candidates it's expected to top fifty six making it one of. highly likely but the delays are making egyptians edgy time and again the ruling generals lift out as to whether be elections would even happen and concern is right that the army plans to stay in power which least pull the strings from a far but dr sun far disagrees

a military coup has to be executed and if it is done they thought it would be very very violent and there would be other thought of bloodshed and i think there is very much aware of this there's been little about this election it's been predictable and imagine when is the new egypt is likely to look and not 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 policy our team. that snow across the u.s. capital for reaction from journalist and foreign policy strategist michael hughes mr hughes good evening. how much choice do egyptians really have this point as they're voting to keep the tahrir square spirit alive and that revolution going what really lies in front of them on the ballot papers there. they have limited options as far as extending the revolution it's between the militarists and the

islamists for the most part and the moderate voice. still you know tied to the old regime and it sounds like this you know the vote is getting so divided that he he may not even make it into the top two will see so it's disappointing that you know their options are limited and of course what this vote out into the wood chips shouldn't constitution is still in the pipeline it's unclear as well what powers it's going to grant to the new president could the outcome of the vote influence how the constitution is written do you think. i think that's the cloud hanging over this whole thing is that. the you know the military wants to retain all the power and the islamists have you know when they were in power they tried to you know swing it their way modify the constitution their way so it's still up in the air that's the big question is is this whole thing going to be academic if that new constitution wants to temple amended in july or whatever you know what does that

look like and right now it looks like you know the military will be holding all the cards once again it will be new boss same as the old boss type of sitting with just you know a symbolic you know president that has been elected by the people little choice some activists who rallied in tahrir square last year say they don't feel represented that he will by any of the candidates who are they supposed to be voting for over the next two days. i think there are revolutionary candidates or you know the problem is it's one of those things where they don't have a likelihood of winning so now they have to deal with these top five none of them are really revolutionary you know the knowns are that the military candidate is not revolutionary and the rest are trying to claim the mantle that even the islamic see even though they're in the opposition they're reactionary they're reactionary to the miners ation the secular list what the revolution was really all about the quality in their questions whether you know these alarmists are all in the same

page as those type of liberal principles and values let's just talk for a minute of egypt's foreign policy recently moved to scrap that made you deal to supply gas didn't it to neighboring israel how do you think kid relations are going to continue between the two countries and develop old note as the case may be. i think there's been a lot of you know rhetoric in the on the campaign trail about israel i doubt that any president comes into power is really going to risk the aid the two billion dollars a year that the u.s. provides although they'll be a lot of you know they'll be a lot of show but when it comes down to it i doubt they'll be a meaningful policy change because the economic situation is so bad any president that takes office would you know would not be wise they would not be prudent to mess with the with any aid and plus the western countries i mean the i.m.f. is kind of propping up the country country could be insolvent without help from the pro israel countries you know unfortunately it's just reality and of course the

u.s. has a very strong supporter of about a minute stay with washington continue to funnel cash to cairo and the new president whoever that president is. i believe so you know and you know earlier today the senate passed some punitive punitive measures and got some of the money back from when the n.g.o.s were you know thrown in jail but i think the u.s. is going to work with anyone and right now they've been they've been wise the state department is kind of taking a passive role and they're going to deal with whoever the people select and even if it's a islamic regime it's in the islamics best interest to work with america and i be i think both sides see that real politic that that is just reality so thanks your thoughts live washington the journalist and foreign policy studies michael he was much appreciated. focusing on. the conflict in neighboring syria is increasing violence and tension between supporters and opponents of president assad clashes

have left a dozen people dead there in the last week alone. is the latest from the lebanese capital. and overnight of street protests in beirut. it was sparked when thirteen lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in syria apparently by groups linked to the syrian rebels the lebanese capital witnessed what it hadn't seen in years as who i am not about here but are moving to a real war between sunni and shia muslims and this is at least what i see in the last day. the reason the spillover from the chaos in neighboring syria shia muslims here generally support syria's president assad while most sunni's favor the rebels likewise lebanon's ruling calling led by the powerful share hezbollah is process while the opposition backs the uprising the situation is getting worse obviously in the region and this is having a spillover effect here in lebanon and where we're having to cope with the

consequences of that there's also internal tension that's increasing there's a large flow of refugees and there's a lot of instability all around us. some though believe the problems in lebanon aren't only down to the crisis in syria local observers like spanish journalist thomas alcove etal says they are a symptom of a deep divide that's long bubbled under the surface but it's not it does there were many unresolved issues after the nine hundred seventy five one thousand nine hundred seventy war like religious division and the authorities didn't sort it out and now they're discovering it again they kept this situation of instability for many years and that's a good ground for a new conflict like a spark in a powder keg get out of it and the bad news is the resplendent of power in the cag the recent history of warfare hand makes sure that and means the political and religious refits i remain more dangerous duller more the thought of my libyan or not there are so many factions now sunni shia salafi what's really bad everybody

has weapons not only hezbollah as they may think but everybody in every house and they use them for about a shia. sunni neighborhoods exist side by side in central beirut and in recent years it's been a stable peaceful arrangement but the syria effect means fear has now greet them feel over it turn into a deadly bloody past which residents here desperately hope to avoid but they are doing it is nothing that is nothing to do the way politics or what's happening in the region at the moment my sisters but then you support against violence and level with some of the people i have to leave but there would be a boycott if it was still happening and now mud is seventy he remembers all the major conflicts more than lebanon has gone through and has a chilling forecast about the latest trouble surely you back what i see no reminds me of the nineteen eighty two in two thousand and six israeli wars and the one hundred seventy five civil war and the two thousand and eight political uprising

here i didn't think i'd witnessed yet another conflict in my life. but it seems a worse case scenario could be getting more and more likely this neighborhood in beirut where the violence started is known as the ticklish d.d. meaning new road many fear this road may lead the country to civil war. mary for nationality beirut lebanon. well let's stay with lebanon now from where we're joined by franklin lamb he's director of the n.-g. o. americans concerned for middle east peace mr lamb good evening thank you for being on r.t. you're in beirut there how are the repercussions of the syrian conflict being felt there right now and big for the rest of the country. yes well your correspondent i think correctly pointed out that there's plenty of powder here but there's also plenty of sparks going on even the sea being hard to rock south beirut done here my neighborhood coming to your studio there were young men on the streets

and threatening you know the general peace there have been so many events in the last few days as you've reported including clashes at the universities here at st joseph's university that it does remind one of the one nine hundred seventy five tinder dry situation that was ignited by i know rabbani you recall when the militia christian militia tack to power sit in bus and the country blue and into conflict for sixteen years so i've got a conspiracy theorist's internal but it does feel. very very tense here and hopefully the wisdom of of some leaders will dampen this i think this fall i did a good job last night in my neighborhood in telling people to go home and there it was unlawful to burn tires and to damage property but your reports x.y.

and it's you know we're just on the precipice here and how it goes we just won't we can i say frankly russia's foreign minister is playing forces outside the region for fueling the fires of conflict. to quote it what countries would want to do that and why. well certainly that's not new now you are charged with a reality but let's be frank the americans have tried for years to reignite a conflict here between the sunni and the shia that's clear jeffrey feltman has made a many career of that since two thousand and five also a goal of countries and qatar yele why would washington possibly be wanting to support forces that could cause instability that could then spill over to its gulf allies and also engulf turkey and israel was the reason belin. well you know we're at the crosshairs here and the crossroads russia has a great interest in returning to the the days when it had such influence in syria

the americans are in a contest as you know with uranium but also with the russians for the future of their had germany and their presence here right now the rising power as you know is iran the americans are receding syria is a major prize in whichever for both sides and the determinant of how of what the policies and how this region is going to move in the future it's kind of like they were returned to the days when iraq and egypt were pulling at syria trying to bring it in now we've got the americans the russians and the iranians involved and of course the gulf the saudis and the qataris who i have a religious. differences and political and economic as you know so i think it's become more complicated i think the powers are more intense in their competition and i saw i agree that there outside forces are very much involved but also to

a local issues as well a quick thought of what's happening in syria if we go we got on the line the u.n. observer mission is there now as being seen as late as a last ditch effort to prevent civil war but what is the international contingent really have any chance of succeeding you think i mean how much chance does it have a succeed in doing. i hate to be a person mr great not much at all there are just three hundred if there were three thousand they would have a better chance but the observers are understandably conscious of very very security and people are not respected neither the government of the opposition respecting you know their status i think and our people are very prepared to politicize them to the extent that they can just as they did you recall the arab nation that became a joke the danger for the u.n. observers is that they will also become politicized and lose whatever effectiveness but i say there is not enough of them because dream is big it's

a gesture but it's tied to the one plan and at the moment the future of the plan coffee house. coffee and that is very much in doubt none of the six points of his plan have been implemented arguably not a good have been taken seriously by either side ok there's a lot more we can say about this one fortunately the time is against us from a road franklin lamb director of the ngo americans consume to middle east peace thanks for your thoughts. now iran's in talks of representatives to six world powers about its nuclear program with a new round of negotiations underway now in baghdad runs under intense pressure to stop high a grade uranium enrichment which is feared could be put to military use around is already tried doing is worsening relations though by tentatively agreeing to new un inspections of sites which are suspected of involvement in atomic weapons development meantime washington says will be no letup in the heat on terror around fresh anxious are expected to hit in just over a month now targeting the country's oil and nuclear sectors as well as

international trade links but british political analyst chris bambery says iran's nuclear program has become a matter of national pride for its people which they will not give up. iran is of course virtually surrounded by american american bases not just american presence in afghanistan afghanistan so they're ratcheting up the military pressure in the oh it's associated as well with the tensions over syria and as we were hearing that in lebanon so there is a. game going on here which is a very dangerous game many people who would not support khamenei the supreme ruler would take a position on this because it's an issue of national pride and i don't really think the west understand just how far that goal is and how deep the record of people's memory and understanding of west western involvement in iran is which will stalks resentment of the west creating iran is of a somewhat older child and refusing to accept the repeated promises and statements that this is a peaceful nuclear program in tel aviv. really defense minister is said that the

talks really should not be occurring from the u.s. congress we have voices and want to hold this morning you open your newspaper in britain and you discover that it's revealed britain has plans to intervene in the case of a war between israel and iran no i don't think those plans are the royal navy is going to impose an arms embargo around israel or they are if is going to enforce a no fly zone no fly zone over tel aviv what the intervention is is going to help the americans to keep the straits of hormuz open so there's two things going on here the rhetoric which is still warlike and belligerent towards iran and these discussions in baghdad which on the surface seem to be going quite well. this is a story we're asking for your opinion on tonight your opinions about it to us tell us what you think at r.t. dot com this poll now asking what you think the nuclear deal between iran and the west means was we've been telling us this. go that's the result so far over half of the sixty three percent well over half believe it means nothing you think it won't

prevent a strike against iran. twenty two percent say it's the last chance to stop war the middle east ten percent of you think it means around. it's pretty nice all sanctions to be lifted and the minority get five percent instead of that block of our i think this is a trick by to round to proceed with making a bomb plenty of time let's have your thoughts about r.t. dot com while you there as well if you get a moment you might be interested check out some of the other stories we've got for you we've got pictures of this russian military plane that crashed landed in the czech republic twenty three on board seriously injuring two servicemen there after it caught fire at an antonov plane if you want to see more pictures fun of what happened it's. also watch a step a massive sinkhole opens up in montréal after students clash with police over to rishon fee hikes we're going to see that sinkhole i don't know maybe words don't tally with the pictures more online i'll be looking at that online also the lap of luxury cash strapped italy investigating the owners of top range sports cars to see

where their money is coming from and if there's anything hidden from the tax man that's the story that's playing out there right now a lot of people talking about that r t dot coms a place to find out more if you want to get up to speed of that too. as e.u. leaders gather for an informal dinner in brussels right now in fact the main course will undoubtedly be the eurozone crippling debt crisis there's a growing belief that the austerity drive led by germany informally france under so cozy has backfired setting we could countries into a spiral of decline reports a single currency member nations are now preparing backup plans for the consequences of a greek exit new french president francois alarmed once the strategy to shift instead to growth something germany's reluctant to agree to both sides now have to search for a compromise ahead of what could be a decisive second the greek election in june john laughland of the institute of democracy in cooperation told me he believes the tried to control greece by giving it no other choice but. i think that on the one hand the

warning that contingency plans should be made is a realistic one because i think that there is a very great probability that the euro will break up. but even though i am a long term critic of the euro and the euro project my view remains that the european political class will do anything and i mean anything to keep it together in other words i think that this a call to set up contingency plans is in fact brinkmanship it's brinkmanship address to the greek electorate because the greek electorate is being forced into a corner by the european political class the european political class by issuing this warning is trying to make it clear to greek voters that they have to choose the euro and they have to choose the austerity program investors that is to say banks people who hold greek debt have written off more than fifty percent of the face value and in terms of lost investments they have written off something like three quarters i think of their total investment even under the terms of the

so-called bailout which is supposed to keep the whole show on the road there have been massive losses over greece what the european political class is afraid of however is what they called an uncontrolled default that is to say of. events taking place which they the european political leaders think they do not control these people are control freaks to some extent they're right because the world is awash with debt and what they want to try and do is prevent panic and i think that's the key thing they mainly fear is fear itself. so world news in briefs now for you clashes between government troops and al qaeda forces have left twenty nine dead in yemen seven soldiers and twenty two militants were killed in the fighting in the country south the areas we know the militant control since last year becomes a dozens of countries including the u.s. and russia gather for the international friends of yemen conference to help the nation overcome its economic and security challenges. five aide workers have been

kidnapped by gunmen in northeastern afghanistan two female doctors and three afghan translators were abducted as they're traveling on horseback near the city of fires a bad a search and rescue operations know under way to try and find them the kidnapping of foreigners has unfortunately become common in afghanistan since u.s. backed forces toppled the taliban government over a decade ago. a pakistani doctor who helped the u.s. track down osama bin laden has been sentenced to thirty three years in jail in the country shall kill afridi was found guilty of conspiring against the state by running a fake vaccination program for the cia soley to collect d.n.a. to track down the al qaeda chief doctor's work was critical in pinpointing where bin laden was hiding setting up america's most wanted fugitive for assassination by u.s. commandos in that raid on his compound last may the verdict expected to add further tension to the pakistan's already strained relationship with washington. it's going to twenty four when it's past eleven at night the scripts day's business no it's not great news are the katie that we are to business tonight to get

a global equity slump is what you're talking about is bad news. what you know absolutely is bad news kevin and what it means is we've seen sharp losses across the board now all started earlier on in the session with asia europe soon after that here in russia as well really feeling the heat right now the u.s. markets all feeling the pressure now is all because of this overriding greek exit the that was saying a once again that it could be on the cards this is a most days reaction right here today we've got the all ts four point four percent down the my six the reporting of four percent in negative territory today let's get on to a snapshot of some of the biggest cruise ships here moscow's see very reaction now we're also not declining oil prices as well so that was taking its toll very much indeed you know what you're looking at as well as we go to everest k.-a rough hydrate now though there was also this issue from the russian government saying

that they will not be privatizing their stake in a number of energy company is that these power generators these two will not be privatized now and this was investors reaction to that needs let's now take a look at the u.s. markets as i say they are indeed trading right now all we can see that is sharp losses by the state side as well and they are really feeling all that pessimism coming from the. greek is all in the lips of every single investor today as we call it that for the footsie on the dax finished up there so around ten a half percent for both the london stock exchange and germany right now we know that the e.u. leaders on the sing tonight the hobbit it enough now was going to be discussed well topics on the agenda are going to be growth jobs the euro bonds. and earlier today i spoke to my favorite shopping cart he's from here iceland and he was saying that a great exit is such

a bad day. i. fully support the idea that the grags its so-called gregg's is the exit of greece from the euro will be very positive for the markets it removes the finks which markets fears most uncertainty and was greece so as long as the european community able to prove that it has sold it for war i think that the markets production recover especially food coincide was a collective action on the taken by european central bank by us all the governments in the world to actually address deficiencies in the economist so long as this concerns us i think you know that we are roughly the board to move the market. and if we look at the common currency right there one twenty five seventy two the trade is favorite path is now at the lowest level against the dollar since july two thousand and ten that is how the ruble performed today as a loss against the u.s. dollar and they are listed as all prices because i did mention that out of thing

for a second day and that's really putting the pressure on the russian market as you can see that now alarm bells went off earlier because we have a light sweet below ninety eight has managed to gradually get up ever so slightly but those all prices all the law a lot of that is because the u.s. stockpiles all running craze last ones watch the last around of of the business years catherwood back it's called moscow time to our morning ok thanks for that again all right thanks so much not a few minutes we discuss what nato has achieved over the last decade in the future for the alliance has come your way off probably to the headlines live from moscow in a minute half time. well

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