more explosions and gun battles rock syria the un voting to decide on extending its observer mission to the conflict zone. meanwhile russian officials have denied media reports claiming they have information that president assad is prepared to step down. police agreed with tear gas and rubber bullets on the streets of spain as the public rage was against the latest wave of austerity imposed on the country in return for a bank rescue by the e.u. .

live from the heart of moscow this is arts he with me roll received a welcome to the program when it is now reporting that damascus has been rocked by a large explosion that's as the fighting rages into a fifth day in the capital of battles are also continuing throughout the country syrian state media claims assad's military forces have won back control over four rebellious districts in damascus meanwhile the u.n. is trying to verify reports of up to thirty thousand refugees having fled to lebanon in the last forty eight hours activists claim the army has launched attacks on border crossings with turkey and iraq which were seized by the rebels yesterday for the roads are the raids are said to involve heavy shelling and artillery fire keeping across developments for us in damascus artie's maria. free syrian army soldier now controlling all four border crossings at the syrian iraqi border and

the dollar toll official has also said that the iraqi guard. i have witnessed extreme boilers from the side of free syrian army soldiers from opposition fighters we also been able to see the to posted on you tube from the syrian turkish border where gunmen have been shouting religious slogans and shooting. portrays a free syrian army has been able to take control over crossings at the border that means that they they are very determined in large scale operation against the regime of president bashar al assad but that doesn't necessarily mean that this keeping this control because everything changes very fast we have to be very careful with information and even with picture is we see because since the beginning of this our prize in it's also been media war and just recently we've been hearing from opposition that they've managed to take control over the airport

just yesterday we were at the airport here in damascus that it's functioning normally been here on the ground for almost fifty days already and i have to say what we've been able to see in the last five days has been the most dramatic moment for the syrian capital of the clashes between the army and the rubbles have been taken place in at least five districts over damascus and it's been extremely difficult to get in side these districts but on thursday we finally managed to do that and what we saw really devastating destroyed streets abandoned houses no people of variously and many many traces of war and a very fierce clashes we've even seen many tracks of tanks and although not totally on the roads but on what used to be the cars obviously all shops are closed and we have to understand that these districts are not remote. damascus

not far from the center of the city center we've been here for the. in the months now and we've been to these districts many times by something talking to people and of course it's been very sad to see how different the picture is right now people are trying to deal with this situation and we are in mazed how brave they are in this situation facing horror of war that has come to the home they say yes we know it is happening right now here in damascus and in our country it's been here for seventeen months already but we cannot do anything with these and life has to go on and we have to leave so they're trying to do with this is just waiting for this nightmare to end this is what they say. well you can always stay up to date on what's happening in syria just follow maria's twitter feet she's one of the very few international correspondents still reporting right from the heart of the

fighting to get photos from the scene also impressions you can find maria. underscore. well meanwhile the world has been going around that assad may be ready to step down with some international citing a russian statement but officials say the diplomats were misinterpreted by the media let's get the latest now on sean and thomas standing by. can you at any point to separate fact from fiction as it were. well rory originally these reports came out from al-arabiya t.v. and this is what russia's ambassador alexander or love is reported to say that there was a meeting here in geneva and at that meeting they adopted a communique where they agreed to allow for a transition of power to a more democratic regime of bashar al assad was at that meeting he agreed to this communicate even he even appointed a person to work with the opposition and negotiate with the opposition. and he

agreed to leave and do so in a cordial manner now what we have now confirmed with the russian diplomatic mission in paris which is where ambassador or love is a station he says that these words were taken out of context and that this phrase it does not reflect the russian the position in terms of the syrian conflict also and i'm going to read here just so that i don't get anything wrong it says the meaning of the ambassador's words were that bashar al assad can stay in power and he could go but this is a decision he can be made not by the u.n. security council not by anyone else but only by the president himself and by the syrian people and which are all assad has said in the past that he is willing to step down if it is the will of the people and he would do so in a. in a cordial manner but this right now they're saying is being blown out of proportion by the international media and taken out of context well that no surprise that sean

what about this i mean it's not just the only rumor going around regarding assad is that there are more i'll bet. we'll certainly there's always rumors in fact it's hard to believe anything that comes out of syria unless you can personally see it for yourself because there's lots of different sources of information and misinformation as it were we've heard that bashar al assad has fled to damascus we've also heard that assad has been injured and just immediately after those reports came out there were pictures of assad perfectly fine having not been injured also reports of assad's wife coming here to moscow and about those rumors the foreign ministry here in russia has said on the general idea of rumors that the world is usually awash with rumors these rumors tend to game some information ground and spread very fast i would not like to comment on any rumors today i think that it is a very honest information trap and that we should be careful not to fall into it so

basically a lot of information out there lots of misinformation out there and telling people to be careful what they believe what it's going to be to try and clear it up for so much there in moscow thank you. well at the u.n. observer mission to syria expires later on friday with the security council still split over a resolution to extend it another vote expected shortly after russia and china vetoed a western backed a draft which they considered unacceptable from new york with. more important. russia has from the get go that he would not support any resolutions on syria that would include the potential of sanctions being imposed or even military intervention this western backed resolution that was drafted by the u.k. called on damascus to immediately seize any kind of fighting and the use of heavy weapons and withdraw from populated centers and the resolution gave the

syrian government ten days to comply with those demands otherwise sanctions would be imposed. what was attached to that draft resolution is a forty five day extension of the u.n. supervision mission in syria so that is quite clear why russia would not give its support to this western backed resolution because it was putting all the pressure and consequence on the syrian government and not putting any pressure consequence on the armed opposition that are participating in the violence in syria that has been increasing as we've seen over the past seventeen months the russian ambassador to the united nations vitaly churkin did address the media saying that there is still a time for the security council to reach a consensus but he said that russia would not support any moves or past for military intervention into syria and he also warned western countries may be trying

to destabilize syria to possibly of move further in and around iran the clock is ticking because if this mandate expires and it is not renewed then that means that the united nations would not have any force in syria that is verifying what is taking place on the ground what you came back to the u.n. said is that they have drafted britain has drafted a solution that rolls over the u.n. mission in syria for a final thirty days. and that is something which the security council is considering but according to you. there are still very many questions surrounding this new drop that is being proposed by britain the united nations at the end of the day does need a mission on the ground because if that mission is removed then the situation in syria can get worse without any objective reporting that's tied to the u.n. . well just a bit earlier russia's envoy to the u.n.

gave an exclusive live interview to my colleague bill dog. lashed back at criticism from western countries which he says are simply pursuing their own agendas with syria. unfortunately they haven't done anything at all in order to set them free and productive. in syria and they have been working. with called friends of syria in fact the. this is a group of countries who are enemies of the syrian government i wouldn't call them enemies of the syrian people but certainly those who want to topple the syrian government this is regarding the consequences which are extremely tragic. inevitably because the government of president assad it's not simply want to do a lot of group of individuals but it was of course a certain segment of the of the syrian population a certain power structure which has existed there for decades so. it. is causing

trying to break a considerable trouble and bloodshed to reform and through dialogue this would be much more reasonable a line of action and this is what russia has been advocated dialogue hasn't achieved anything so far isn't that now an overwhelming global sentence is something has to be done to stop the killing of innocent people and what about intervention on humanitarian grounds is not acceptable to moscow moscow is very concerned about chapter seven i don't want to get into technical does it but chapter seven leading to perhaps military intervention but what about some form of intervention to stop the killing. well in a way the money group which we are trying to maintain is a way of sort of political intervention in trying to a practical and trying to the door while in some fortunately it hasn't happened been successful i mean you said the dialogue has not achieved anything the problem

is that the dialogue has not started yet the opposition groups refused to enter into dialogue with this indian government which says it is prepared for dialogue that all four of the syrian government to enter into dialogue this is a major makes a missing link a major impediment in the way of coffee and i was activated. and the full version of the exclusive interview were airing about twenty minutes time here on r.t. you can also watch it at your own leisure on our website so you don't. see what else is in store for you there right now the war between u.s. officials on a blitz of blow it intensifies as defense secretary leon panetta tightens the screws on american media all the details on that plus. more than a third of children living near japan's crippled nuclear power on could suffer from that shocking report reveals online. this is real planning to use the ball

gary a bomb attack on tourists as a pretext for war with iran. extensive analysis there waiting for you on the possible consequences. so good to have you with us here on our t.v. today police have used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse angry protesters. the streets of spain dozens of people injured a number of activists detained during the latest nationwide and to your stereo demonstrations a major show of strength hundreds of thousands some reports saying up to a million taking part in the protests of people marching across eighty cities all around the country to protest against more suffocating austerity which is to come

and that's after the german parliament gave the green light to the one hundred billion euro bailout for the country's battered banks the use finance ministers are now expected to approve the conditions for the financial lifeline to madrid carlos socialist. university believes the situation in spain is only going from bad to worse. what we're seeing is a massive transfer of public private debt into public debt and that's that's where it really begins to harm the actual citizens of spain it's this sort of this these plans are not even being done on a large enough scale to really have any effect positive effect for sort of working people in spain when you take their food you take all that they have to take their homes and they respond quite viscerally i mean yesterday you know we saw in madrid for instance wasn't you know violent in our kissin a group that decided to burn

a bunch of dumpsters what we saw were police charging against other police protesting police we saw them charging against firemen and women we saw them charging against public sector workers and chasing them through the streets of madrid and you know neighborhood neighborhoods in madrid the actual people that live there were actually throwing flower pots from the balconies at the police now that's a qualitative change from what we've seen over the last year in spain certainly you see people living in a.t.m. and a.t.m. buildings right in the services and you see them living out in the streets looking in the in the trash you know for food i mean these are people that two years ago were working ok and they were working and maintaining families and now they're very livelihoods are threatened and of course tensions are going to boil over. why that's why i get some insight now from a study by a business that's got to find out how serious the situation in spain it really. well the fact. when you look at the different vantage bar in coffee. now.

about the. three and a whole. lot of this is. the year i think that quite the time. i'll be here it must have been a time with me that everything. well for the meantime or spain it may be the e.u.'s fourth largest economy but it tops the ranks when it comes to the number of unemployed now almost six million people are out of work desperate to find ways to survive some are turning to other countries in the hope of finding a better life but as aunties tester us earlier reports the might of or they might have to go a lot further than just simply the neighboring eurozone states. twenty four point six million people are without jobs across the european union seventeen point four million of them in the eurozone countries with unemployment at its highest levels

of the single currency was introduced in spain unemployment hit twenty four point three percent the worst rate in the e.u. and among the spanish and greek youth it's more than half statistics may paint the big picture but they don't quite show the human story real people struggling through each day like this one gary a man who came to belgium three months ago that's leaving in a street and then i never did before so it's really really hard to accept any you know i don't want b.b.c. three of them i mean i don't want i don't i don't want to. be you know is that. i want to work i want to get. the current levels of unemployment around acceptable . it's a bit dated it simply cannot continue this way and it also leads to reliance on state subsidies a polite face by job seekers across all sectors and all levels of society when you

are within the european institutions too early to be detached from there and you are among the. euro kratz when you say unemployment benefits are too high compared to paid salaries this is the wrong way to see the problem most people aren't paid enough for their jobs in two thousand and ten more than twenty five percent of the u.s g.d.p. was devoted to social benefits seen as a heavy burden on a crisis stricken europe since then various cuts have been made by the member states particularly portugal spain and ireland a sportive e.u. imposed a stary even powerhouse germany has joined in the crunch a local newspaper reported seeing a leaked directive from the labor minutes. blocking a basic unemployment benefits for people who moved to germany from some e.u. countries it's been a target as an attempt to curb abuse of the system by discouraging immigration from

struggling economies you can't really blame the people they are just a victim a servant one else from economic system in which they are living on the economic policies that many of those who don't turn to the state for unemployment benefits which may be reduced if it hasn't been already due to continue the steady across the e.u. no substantive budget cuts have also stunted economic growth and job creation it's nice job seeker at exactly the same spot. state dependent and increasingly extreme cases living in desperation just are still here r t brussels. and it's a shooting in denver that starts off the back now at least twelve people have been killed thirty eight injured on the last report this after the shooting at a movie premiere it happened basically as a mosque a gunman rolled a tear gas canister into a cinema before opening fire this happening during a late showing of the new batman film and police have confirmed they've arrested a suspect who was armed with a knife

a rifle and. has reportedly been identified as a twenty four year old local a motive for the crime to this point. friends and government rallies are reportedly being held in the capital. i think it's blocking roads both in and out of the city the protest movement demanding political reform and an end to the ruling regime has been going on since last february and has already seen more than fifty killed the government's been trying to suppress the opposition by banning rallies and arresting activists. a woman in china is lucky to be alive have a look right here talk about a narrow escape from a dramatic road accident this is c.c.t.v. footage the woman strayed into the pool of a rather large cargo truck which then smashed her scooter to pieces and she reportedly failed to stop at a red light. although she's still alive she does face prosecution for causing this crash. while

a taste of their own medicine that's what online doctors could face after british politicians security agencies to start retaliating like for like and that means a state like iran could finish itself or find itself rather under fresh software strike similar to that which infected the country's nuclear sites two years ago as r.t. said laura smith explains such calls are only highlighting the u.k.'s inability to deal with cyber attacks on the domestic front if you can't beat em join em that seems to be britain's new attitude when it comes to dealing with cyber attacks a new report by the u.k.'s intelligence and security commission has concluded it's not enough to defend against cyber attacks additionally the military spy agencies should be actively declaring cyber war on enemy state attack evidently is in their view the best form of defense although in this case they're calling it active

defense. there are voicing that britain should be secretly hacking into enemy systems using programs like the stuxnet virus which disrupted iran this nuclear enrichment program it comes just two years after the launch of a six hundred fifty million pounds national cybersecurity program but progress according to the m.p.'s on the committee has been slow the national security strategy ranks the threat of cyber attacks alongside that of terrorism and yet this committee of m.p.'s seems fully prepared to engage in it itself this despite the fact that the report says the communications agency g c h q believes eighty percent of cyber attacks are preventable through basic measures like using security software and proper passwords cyber attacks of course have another name hacking it's illegal in most countries including the u.k.

and britain has its fair share of hacking case is currently in the courts including that of autism suffer a gary mckinnon who's been fighting his extradition to the us for hacking into the pentagon's computer system for ten years now so far his government has refused to protect him maybe if state sponsored hacking becomes the norm that will change. after kitty pilgrim we go the r.t. business first good to see you again you are now you keeping your eyes on the markets numbers going up and down all the end of the trading week. i know is that frizer you off today you feeling really because it's it's not looking for your tool it's actually looking rather gloomy around really get kick started with the european stocks and they are dropping us off to the longest weekly rally in six years that is disappointing to go to your example moderate is down as well and that's all and finance ministers meet consider town to spain's package got details

coming out this hour on that one situation very closely indeed. you can see the around a tens of percent down the dots around a percent in negative territory we've also got the situation with the pouring cost i mentioned earlier on the difference between spanish. bonds surging to records buffy about the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone this have a look at and see how the common currency is responding to all of this just now and it is still the climbing one twenty two ninety five as for the variable there is still managing a mix before wednesday as we come to the end of the trading session here moscow just. two hours last for what is going on to the markets i did mention them but still it came out in red colors that are dressed for the occasion where we as always it's a lackluster performance and that's very much as for the crimes that go into. the world situation is we still got drops and that's from the nine week high that's on speculation that the recent gains were excessive made to the expected economic data and signs that demand is weakening moving on the rushes that made on the exports a

has lost a multi million dollar contracts with the u.s. pentagon but also exports have a deal to sell and by seventeen attack helicopters they were being used by afghan forces after the u.s. withdraws from afghanistan in twenty eight fourteen now washington has blocked existing agreements claiming that the russian company is arming the syrian regime. and that while the financial turmoil that i've been talking about is very much in captivating the world it's becoming increasingly hard for people to find secure investment opportunities as well are calling to report by citi group russia has all the credentials to blow in big money the cash she has all the details. the eurozone crisis is three years in the making and there's no end in sight so working retail investors safely work their money to wait out the storm banking giant citi group says russia why while their answer is simple russia's economy stronger and

has more potential than most european economies see for yourself russia's g.d.p. may grow as much as four percent this year that's according to the economy ministry europe while most of it expects negative growth in two thousand and twelve even the strongest economies show a meager rate's debt debt related problems are investors nightmares while turns out russia has the lowest levels of government and corporate debt of any country in europe around nine percent the average for the eurozone is ten times that while europe struggling with double digit unemployment russia's jobless rate when they fell to the lowest level in thirteen years and this is stimulating consumption russia's already europe's biggest consumer in many categories and this year expected to be the absolute leader germany in terms of course sales how can you capitalize on russia's relative strength citigroup suggests investing into global companies with sales in russia. like a in a thousand or

a wealthy whatley at wall street bankers a day i know it was a pleasure stephen k. . just a moment on the headlines here and then it will be our exclusive interview with our russia's ambassador to the u.n. basically explaining why moscow opposes western backed resolutions on syria more than just a second. home. you

know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hardy welcome to the big picture. the russians would be so much brighter if you knew about some from funniest impressions.