torture and human rights abuses rampant on both sides in syria a un report blames the regime and the rebels as the violence rages on. testing times canadian police crowd of nearly seven hundred students who refused to end their protest against plans to dramatically hike to issue feeds. and euro zone countries scramble to stop the block from crumbling fashioning plans for unity in case greece opts to go it alone. two pm in moscow i matter as a good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story the two sides of the syrian conflict the government and the opposition have been accused by the un of torture and other serious human rights

violations the world bodies latest report on the country says fighting is becoming increasingly militarized despite a shaky six week ceasefire the u.n. commission says the majority of abuses have been committed by the syrian army but also filed cases of armed rebels executing captured soldiers and pro assad supporters along with abducting civilians london based activists omar walk off says the fact that the un has now acknowledged the opposition role in the violence is a positive step. who can be making a sort of progress on twee last time around. there was no patient a tool neither of the armed groups nor of their atrocities and this happened when the u.n. general assembly was moving on syria and they got a vote with a majority of one hundred thirty seven countries so had some of those atrocities been mentioned probably that wouldn't have been the result having the sort of a majority but we're getting there fourteen months down the line there are qualities of the greeks. the blues are committing atrocities there is

a bit of suspicion with regard to the real objectives of such organizations you know the human rights commission or the amnesty international who today accused the un of being not fit for purpose for failing to have a decisive action with regards to syria now the un has taken a decisive actions with regard to to libya but was that for the benefit of the libyan people now tens of thousands of dead libyans will tell you know was that for the good of libya itself perhaps libya will not exist anymore so the objective was clearly only to topple the regime now is the objective of toppling the regime in syria would that be good for the syrian people probably almost probably you would not and also these organizations seem to be a little bit manipulated by the opposition so for example the report talks about his student who's flown from the falls flat in the university and there is a sort of the syrian forces. of committing such a crime for this person called us and i was actually a government supporter so it's a welcome step that they have

a knowledge that there are groups but they need to take it a little bit further and really scrutinize more of the information they're getting social media playing a vital role in syria's conflict with both sides trying to shape domestic and international opinion in their favor chilling videos of acts of brutality of the power to go viral and be broadcast globally on t.v. networks but sometimes pictures aren't everything they seem just a warning you may find some of the images and. report disturbing. hash tag change status update freedom social media have often been credited for empowering the arab youth in their struggle to shake off decades old a talk received fans of social media often say that without facebook you tube or twitter the arab spring wouldn't help been so sweeping contagious but there's also a growing number of those who believe that the websites the arab revolutions

wouldn't have been so deadly and so destructive. this may be the most disturbing video from the syrian frontlines as an opposition activist allegedly buried alive by process troops the backstory claims the victim was caught in possession of a video he intended to santa all jews era where are his initial footage was in terms of the impact it was no match for his alleged execution which ran viral on you tube presented as yet more proof of the inhumanity of the regime i mean while the authenticity of this video is still highly questionable these contrived and staged you tube videos are used by the opposition to justify a western backed regime change project on the country the creativity of syrian opposition fighters has already been exposed for when they were caught posing as prosecute supposedly carrying out the regime's brutalities.

but what started as the killings for social media consumption is now leading to quite real deaths in syria these somebodies book pages really look like hit lists we got used to this and this is happening enough i want to. the head of a leopard chamber of industry says many of his fellow businessman found their photos and personal details posted on the opposition's website with explicit callings to murder them this is the car his car this is the number of his car this is the number of his low bar this is where he lives go kill him go down get him and these anon just empty threats dozens of public figures and government officials were gunned down in syria in recent months just for being perceived as sympathetic to the authorities this is a national hero. yes sports became them two months ago if you call them in march. muhammad was more lucky the president often left a student union he was kidnapped

a few days after his name and photo surfaced on facebook. i believe that my abduction was directly linked to my political activity i received many threats over the phone and eventually they did what they promised. to unwavering in his political allegiances mohammed sas his family had to pay a ransom to free him it included a car a laptop and around tampa thousand dollars but. what's happening now in syria is that we have some people who participate in peaceful demonstrations and whose demands we support over there are also a lot of those who are trying to take advantage of the current situation to seize people's properties were kidnapped them for ransom. while facebook's administration has previously blocked pages that openly supported by charlotte's side it's so far failed to do anything to stop the calls for the killing of his supporters and many like the social activist believe that's been long overdue you. can see it as

a night we can use it to the fruits or to kill and they caught me is ultimately at the core of the syrian crisis there is nothing wrong in calling for more freedom from start using it as a cover to rob and. artsy aleppo syria. early results from egypt's presidential election suggest the muslim brotherhood candidate is in the lead in that they'll be a runoff vote next month running against mohamed morsi could be former prime minister ahmed shafik that's according to the mother the brotherhood's own estimate most of the votes have been counted the contenders hoping to replace hosni mubarak who was forced from power in the country's revolution fifteen months ago meanwhile the actual powers of the president have yet to be defined by the country's interim constitution. kyra based journalist some half hour she believes it's creating a potential conflict of power in egypt. and when we called for to have

a constitution should be furthest. most of egyptians have voted for that we have to get elected parliament first and then we can derive the constitution but currently most of the people say if we have a president who. would have a constitutional responsibility clear the. constitutional responsibilities that can make a conflict between different political factions and between the parliament and then you president since both of them would be responsible for their nuclear situation and there is a conflict of interest of the both of them would like to maximize their power and some people and some analysts this is peace if islamists lose. because eventually. they may favor to have a parliamentarian system rather than a presidential system so leaving is

a matter of the constitution until we get a new president. it's quite good it is. well stay with us here on r t still to come this hour nuclear negotiations find out about the latest diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading tehran to end its nuclear research with the talks now set to head to moscow next month. and u.s. military brass calling for answers after the army was twice exposed for fostering and he muslim attitudes including during the training of soldiers. but first nearly seven hundred arrests made overnight in canada during the latest protest in quebec against a huge planned rise in student tuition fees rallies have been going on for more than one hundred days now and in an attempt to quell counted as most sustained student demonstrations ever authorities have adopted a new emergency laws and they were strict in protests but the controversial measures have only fuel public discontent activists and you're gavin marshall thinks the situation in quebec is only part of a global problem now it's

a social movement it's being referred to as the maple spring and on the one hand you have the governments becoming more repressive passing bill seventy eight last week which removes severely restricts our constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression so you have a crack down i a totalitarian like crackdown by a mafia connected government on a student movement and on the other hand you have a student movement which is becoming more resilient more energized to react against this freedom attacking legislation what's happening in quebec it's about what's happening to my generation around the world we're fighting against global austerity measures imposed by an elite who simply want more for themselves and last for everyone else. eurozone nations are rushing to shield themselves from the shock waves should greece reject its own austerity and bow out of the single currency

these making plans for closer ties to strengthen the block with the divisive issue of joint borrowing again on the table or his peter all of our reports on the expectations placed on the region's strongest and weakest economies should they stay or should they go germany's angela merkel is adamant if you mind is that for my part i would like to say that i think we agree we want greece to remain in the euro zone we know that it's the same for a majority of greek people. but it seems plans are being drawn up in case those hopes fail the german blunders bank says the situation in greece is extremely worrying but isn't predicting the demise of the single currency should the greeks quit the euro a view certainly not shared by all if it would happen if it would become reality then we are really in a mess and it means automatically that this will spill a domino effect all over europe because then we have also the question of mall has

a for example if you overdo it you pull out of the euro zone and every problem is solved nowhere then the others will also begin to start ok it's a very nice solution for us we all sort of adepts for so fast it's easier to pull out of the europe or to go ireland i did you know and also spain and italy but from the beginning the only question was where right now it's there in fact year zero skeptics feel that drastic german government action may be needed if europe's dominant economy is to avoid being swamped in the economic mire which is so called corrects it or greek exit could cause the only logical to you solution for this problem where we are in is that germany parts of germany has to pull out of the euro then the new currency that we have will go through the sky we will have big difficulties big recession and so on but we can live with it we can cope with

it well it's not just here in germany that a post greek eurozone is being discussed finance ministers from all member states have been drawing up contingency plans to try and determine how a greek exit would affect their economies european leaders continue to throw their support behind greek single currency membership the country's rerun elections next month the rapidly looking like a referendum on the euro and everything but name france's socialist president speaking after the informal brussels summit looked like a man trying to woo the greek electorate with rather softer talk than a sturdy. if. it was mentioned that we would be using the structural fund to support the growth efforts of greece as well so that the greek voters can be confident as to what support will come after june the seventeenth. so as the future of greece in the euro zone enters what could be its final act top e.u.

figures say it's all down to its people let's wait for the people of greece to have their say on the seventeenth of june. and we will not let those films be derailed by those who want to promote speculative scenarios let's wait i do will of the greek people but it's a wait and see time but with deep resistance in greece towards austerity there's no clear outcome in signs for this crisis these are all of the. debt and cuts are reigning across the eurozone but in spain the crisis is even putting musical career ceterus as spanish entry in saturday's euro vision song contest finals being asked not to win because the country can't afford to host the musical extravaganza plus. a parliamentary hunch shot heated debate descends into a ding dong between ukrainian members of parliament over a bill that could make a russian the second official language in parts of the country the full story

behind the fisticuffs at r.t. dot com. he. downplayed the official. joy on the phone called touch from the top story. on the go. video on demand. and says feed now in the palm of your. questions

on the dot com. iran a group of six world powers will hold more nuclear talks next month in moscow decision was made during negotiations in baghdad that russia described as positive despite the differences that remain the size exchanged proposals but no agreement was reached the international group wants iran to stop enriching uranium in exchange for incentives which it refuses to do they in turn declined calls to ease sanctions on tehran despite it agreeing to allow u.n. inspectors to visit a military site suspected of carrying out nuclear weapons related research washington says it's now tehran's turning to compromise while the u.s. and europe keep up the pressure political consultant daniel wagner says the gap could now be too wide to close for talks international obligations. you know i look at iran and the west as sort of like mars versus venus they want completely different things even if the west was inclined to ease the sanctions that are proposed for july they can't simply turn off the spigot and that's exactly what

iran wants iran's not going to get what it wants probably the west isn't going to get what it wants either there are some optimists out there about this process i don't happen to be one of them in the west i think what the west and israel are looking for is something which iran is simply not going to give them they're looking for a complete cessation of enrichment they're looking for a reversal of the process that has gone on for more than a decade now i just don't see how this is going to happen fortunately there's plenty of oil in the world markets and those nations that need to find alternative sources of oil are likely to be able to do so and those nations that have become accustomed to working with the iranian central bank will find other ways to do business with iran if that's what they need to do. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe a suicide bomber struck a police station in central turkey killing one officer and injuring twenty other

people attackers tried to ram their vehicle into the building leading to a clash with guards the device was detonated soon after the fighting it's not known who is responsible for the assault. washington is punished for the jelling of a doctor who held. down osama bin laden the us senate committees decided to cut pakistan's aid by thirty three million dollars a million for each year of the prison sentence handed to shock. he was accused of running a fake cia vaccination program as part of the hunt for the former al-qaeda leader u.s. special forces hunted down and killed bin laden last may during a raid on his compound in the city of. french president francois hollande says his country's troops have accomplished their mission in afghanistan and it's time for them to leave he was speaking on a surprise visit to the country a lot of made a campaign promise to bring french combat forces back by the end of this year earlier than planned but during a recent visit to the u.s. for a nato summit he said france would continue supporting afghanistan in nonmilitary

ways. islamic militants use religion to justify their violence but now the u.s. army is being accused of doing the same it's been forced to drop one of its training courses after it claims it was teaching islamophobia nurturing the idea that the u.s. is fighting a war on islam and a and though a review of all the textbooks has been ordered that p.r. damage might already have been done as artie's gynae chickie on reports from washington. the us marine fighter squadron one twenty two has switched its name from werewolves to crusaders the symbol invoking christian conquest and colonization of muslims during the middle ages has been freshly painted on the squadrons f. eighteen fighter jets. but by doing this by making us look like. exactly what we are which is the tenth version of the nine prior to say which began in the year ten ninety six we do three things and they all begin with the letter. we and rage are

islamic and allies. we embolden our islamic enemies this is the gun and then we could do nothing more that serves as an accelerant or a lubricant for already angry and pissed off young islamic men and women mr weinstein says this is not the first time his foundation has to fight to remove crusaders symbols used by u.s. military but it's not just symbols the idea that the u.s. is fighting a war against islam has infiltrated american military training the most recent incident involved of course teaching senior officers at the joint forces staff college that quote the u.s. is at war with islam and we ought to just recognize that we're at war with islam end of quote in response to a public backlash over the leaked information the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey ordered to probe into anti islamic training materials mikey weinstein told us about a separate incident of the same kind we have the absolute eyewitness testimony

where it's very very clear that the statement made is we have to kill is law and this is to the cadets at the air force academy where every american citizen to put a bullet could have through air or the air force academy annapolis or west point cost four hundred thousand dollars and this is what they're being told this fundamentalist christian crusader. or seem was axed and not only the air force academy at all over the you know the united states air force but it was just as bad in the marine corps navy and army in this video game christians are killing muslims a few years back it was a wildly popular game among american troops poker player tries to recruit others in order to fight the enemy you believe bure's prayer after killing the opposition will essentially redeem you mikey weinstein says their organization helped stop the game from being delivered to u.s. troops serving the broad we got it stopped how it was getting into the care packages and being being shipped over all of our troops i guess along with

toothbrushes and you know packets of peanuts there's. perception among many muslims that the u.s. is on a crusade in the islamic world but some argue it's more based on the idea of transforming the region rather than imposing the religion on them via riginal sin of this entire enterprise which was the carter doctrine really positive. through the use of american hard power we were going to be able to shape and determine the destiny of a very large part of the world when are we going to acknowledge that we are not going to be able to determine the fate of one point four billion muslims we don't have the wisdom we don't have the will we don't have the wallet what do you hear in the speeches by u.s. officials is usually something along these lines waging wars in muslim countries to fight terror bring about democracy peace and so on we'll never hear the word say

but what kind of message does it send when their own marines call themselves course seders and could say the logos on their warplanes i'm going to check our reporting from washington our. time now to go to the business desk marina standing by looking at the big board and the market numbers what you have for us this hour well this hour focusing on the russian as i've been saying the markets here have been going between gains and losses if we take a look at the latest figures we'll see that the r.t.s. has gone back and soon negative territory there we go we can see that as there is a point two percent was my sex is going almost point of four percent now we have investors here concerned about europe of course and whether we will see a possible greek exit there but then we also have oil prices which are heading south and also had volatility there as well well and other issues they will have also the overall gas problem could change one of its partners in the company's most promising project that's offshore commerce on daily newspaper says it is

considering abandon its partnership with stats oil and develop in the gas rich stockton field and the barren sea gas promise in conflict with an illusion from overworking schemes and reportedly wants to replace it with dutch shell. well there are currently and number of other issues and stories in russia's energy sector and to discuss this further i'm now joined by chris we four chief strategist at financial company like the dialogue first thank you very much for joining us now i want to. have to have a force that it intends to consolidate with all other state all forms for example we have operator trans nafta and that's to create a super play on the market how realistic do you think this is well a lot of this has come about from the fact that the former deputy minister in charge of a prime minister in charge of energy has been reappointed to rest of the c.e.o. and that does lead to the speculation that this must mean that the state now

intends to be like consolidate the sector make it bigger this is something that was talked about over the last decade to russia for example one point was talking about creating something similar to saudis around called sort of one big company controlled by the state controlling all the major energy that's so there's a lot of speculation right now there's no hard news but i think we can certainly say that with the appointment of mr such and it is more likely that we will see ruston after acquiring other assets becoming bigger becoming a bigger player i doubt very much of what involves trends that that's a different business the pipeline operator much more likely to see rosneft perhaps a consolidating other oiling oil producing companies and becoming bigger in that field who have also heard the government talk about privatizing nation yet again but then really clarify much and they've also talked about how there will be sell an energy assets to another state company which is overall snifter gas and this is not the first time we've heard about this what do you think is behind this decision then i'm going back to that all riginal plan well it's quite clear to privatisation

is a very hotly debated issue inside the new government structure we've had lots of information and lots of changes in you turns almost on privatisation over the last six months i think what we're now looking at. it is perhaps a parallel. parallel of course here in privatization where i think we would certainly see accelerated privatization of companies outside of the energy sector outside of strategic energy sector and perhaps a much slower pace perhaps even in a consolidation in energy sector before we then see privatization relation to rest and after gas as you say that sits above gazprom and rosneft and that was a company that a long time ago was identified as a potential sort of russian around coal and it could well be that we're now going back to that plan we could very well see russia putting its energy assets into rust enough to gas making that a bigger entity but then i think perhaps selling some of the equity in that company as well saw

a very fluid situation over the next couple of weeks we expect to have clarity but right now we're still dealing with speculation and rumors i forgot that so the markets we saw that fears about a greek exit from the euro zone prompt a massive selloff smalled wide but russia was affected even worse than other countries why do you think that is well there are trees very specific reasons why russia has been the one of the worst performing or worst affected the first is of course investors remember what happened in two thousand and eight when they bought aggressively into russia in the first half of the way to the back of high oil and the political change and then of course got completely hammered in the following six or seven months as russia went into recession so that's left and certainly a legacy of concern that russia really hasn't changed the economy much it's still very dependent on oil price and even though the oil price is now it in except at the level the danger is that greece could cause some sort of a cascade even through the banking problems in iran the world that a slowdown in china which then would use china's import demand for oil and eventually that gets us so it's

a derivative of global trade the second reason is because you know we've had of a leadership void for the last nine months since last september and their unit they all the focus has been on the political transition and the protests of course that got a considerable amount of media attention worldwide and we really haven't had much to. government policies now that's changing obviously with the new government but we've had this long period where there was relatively little sort of management as it were of the country of the economy and the final reason is just the structure of the market we don't have a big enough domestic pool of capital we have a lot of traders people who are very focused on short term trading ideas but very little in terms of pension funds insurance money mutual funds that's a big difference in this market compared to other markets it means that we are more dependent and more vulnerable to foreign investor flows it leads to a greater level of volatility in russia generally cheaper assets this is something that will be changed over a very long time but but that combination together and you see russia trading at almost a sixty percent margin right now. thank you very

much as we have time for in the. markets all right thank you very much. well in a few minutes the moscow team will explore new corners of the russian capital but first an update of our headlines stay with us.