the battle for syria engulfed the country's second city aleppo braces for the worst as rebels and government forces go head to head. elsewhere in the restive region united arab emirates these are fresh protests are clamped down with the west's blind eye attitude by going its stance on saudi arabia and bahrain. but can the troubles past the ancient olympic trials has politics hang over support for the syrian squad at the london games. seven pm in moscow this is r.t. coming to you live on news from our way with our top story this hour and syrian

government troops and rebels are reinforcing their positions as the week long battle for the key northern city of aleppo intensifies columns of army tanks are reportedly rolling into residential areas where opposition fighters are placing snipers on rooftops now seizing control of syria's commercial capital is seen as crucial to winning the fight for the north of the country clashes are also being reported on the outskirts of damascus where rebels launched a major offensive recently but were pushed back hard she's one of the few international broadcasters still covering a vents from inside syria here's oksana boyko with the latest. over the past few days that aleppo has been at the center of a matter major military operation we know that the army the syrian army used tanks used our fighter jets military helicopters to strike its targets the free syrian army has also. enlisted a lot of support for its separation. they are calling it did battle and there are

some reports on the eve of this battle they received major reinforcements and supplies the military equipment the new supplies of arms from turkey and saudi arabia what do you talk about syria what's important to keep in mind is this sequence of events it is the syrian army is employing having artillery in the city but they are conducting drive military operations in response to terror attacks that have been happening in this city that have been happening in aleppo for several months and many residents of the left are telling us that they don't understand why the it took the government so long to conduct those military operations because they've been suffering from this criminal activity for quite some time now the residents of also telling us that before this military operation was launched the army how to evacuate the residents local residents out most of them i'm now stationed at the campus of the i left university residence from other

locations of. the campus so it police on one level syrian people were able to come together and try to help each other and what's important to stress also is that allowed for is believed to be the stronghold for both the bashar al assad government and for the opposition but most people i've spoken to they say what they want now is the violence to stop and then they can proceed with the political process. charges of from a void of their reporting from the conflict zone and she's also bringing you updates and fresh pictures via twitter as we continue to keep a close eye on developments in syria. the syrian campaigner pushing for peaceful political reform told her to the foreign powers one thing you surgeons to soften up the country and make it ripe for regime change. these so-called drug they don't tie their decision in their hands the decisions come from outside the from

countries like united states backed by the saudi arabia and qatar so they just do what they've been told is to break the infrastructure of syria i mean believe me. they're calling me so that's what they're taking on but i believe since a week since the massacre happened in syria the bomb who killed. commandos in syria the syrian the syrian army has called now for a swift action and the people is called force with him we are here we called for swift action from a month or two months ago because enough it's enough these people they understand only the language of the guns and the language of the bullets so the how this is what they have to be faced by the syrian army by the bullets and it's going on now the masters is nearly nearly cleaned from them is going to be cleaned we what we want as a syrian we want to dialogue we want to

a political process we want to ballot bowl well later we'll look at whether london twenty twelve can really be the world level playing field for serious athletes they're going to be limping with a message of peace i can't support win out over politics if the details coming up. united arab emirates continues its crackdown on protesters a new arrests have been made with almost forty now in detention the arrest came after the government announced an investigation into groups planning crimes against the state the activists were locked up for a pledge of the opposing the constitution as well as the country's ruling system similar crackdowns in saudi arabia and bahrain but now get more on this from political analysts on mars. the shabby who joins us live from beirut thank you very much for being with us i want to start with the u.a.e.

and it's a good number of people who must be content with their lives especially with the country's generous welfare system what has spurred the on ras and the erast well as in all the other countries i believe the twenty two nations there are some legitimate democratic reforms that are necessary and asked for by the people and there are some there are some limitations on basic freedoms there are some there is a lack of a system of accountability and that hello yes we hear you fine hello. yes i'm sorry but there's something i don't know the screen just went went off but anyway we still are you find. all these countries and therefore one would expect people to come out and take to the streets and call for these these reforms and this is completely illegitimate however when things go out of hand and violence

comes in and you know things go out and nothing happens as is the case in syria and that's what we're witnessing in syria today and i believe that's what we witnessed earlier in other countries and it's very difficult and problematic to rebuild after everything has been destroyed so what's happening today in the in gulf countries and in saudi arabia calls for democratic reforms calls for basic freedoms and i hope that these things won't go out of hand and things will will actually level of violence and the ironic thing is that some gulf countries and saudi arabia support the violence in syria and that's a clear double standard one doesn't wish that this would happen and saudi arabia or in the emirates because violence will only lead to more violence and when when there is a destruction such as the massive destruction in libya for example here is gone the the oppressive government in libya has disappeared what about to be construction

process this is going to take years and years and years and there's no guarantee that it's going to be successful so one of them to last year well we want to hear the various like you answer one there be a very slim chance of that happening in countries like bahrain the u.a.e. saudi arabia with almost no focus on the kind of clampdowns that we see there and all of the focus on credentials again the double standards take us through that a little more wattles wire away why are we. double standards. yes i think because there are some interests of some western powers there are some interest of some powerful players in the region that are you know for example let me give a direct example in bahrain for example in the when there is an american army base the largest one in the region perhaps and therefore the interests of the united states and the allies of the united states who actually are in control of

a large part of the international media not to put any emphasis or to shed light on what's happening in bahrain whereas in behave when there are some legitimate demands for democratic reform the people in bahrain have not resorted to violence they're just holding up the flag they're calling for equal rights they're calling for a democratic system like any system in europe or in the west and. what the international media is doing and what some arab media is doing is trying to show that the what's happening in beheading is just a sectarian conflict between the majority shia and the minority sunni who are controlling the country and that's only to actually change the reality of things and show that this is not a true revolution for true democratic demands and that's that's another indication of the double standard the whole region all the arab countries and as i said in the beginning it quiet and need a democratically and more freedoms and that applies to all the arab countries and

one cannot say that for example limitations on freedoms and democracy in syria were less then the limitations on freedoms and democracy today in saudi arabia or in some gulf countries now that it will require some fast movement on the part of the regime to open an open dialogue to have an open dialogue with the opposition groups and that's what the kofi annan plan was in syria however you cannot have an open dialogue when you have an atmosphere of tension and killing and violence and. countries sending in weapons and guns into the country where there are opposition groups that said in the ongoing violence in syria how strong a case can be made by these persian gulf states against president asad when there clearly were pressing their own people at home we just hear a lot less about it. and i'm not sure i heard you well but i heard bits of your question i think yes i don't think that one has credibility when one calls for

democratic reform in syria and one does not apply these democratic reforms back home that's a serious concern with credibility i think like for example. the government today the president of the emir of qatar was not elected democratically there's no system of accountability and qatar there's no system of elections ok there are promises but the system is not there so therefore it is a totalitarian state where there is absolutely there i don't think that it's well placed to call for democratic reforms in other countries i mean that's basic common sense all right i'm wearing a shabby lab with us on the line from beirut thank you very much for your analysis . thank you. well look now at some international news in grief for you this hour fierce fighting between the troops and militants in the province. has killed twelve

people as an army helicopter also shot down look at the clashes erupted after a police patrol came under attack by a group of suspected al qaeda fighters on wednesday causing the army to intervene but this comes just days after the terror group claimed responsibility for the worst attack in two years which took at least one hundred sixteen lives. a bomb attack at a busy market in pakistan's district of bugs your house killed nine people and injured twenty others the explosive device was hidden in a pickup truck about your district has been a front line in pakistan's fight against the taliban in the country no one has claimed responsibility yet from the full blast. the european commission president is in greece for talks to get the country out of its financial mire despite the outline bailout plan greece is still contract at an alarming rate and pushing through further cuts is proving hard to stomach for both politicians and

the public athens has only enough money to make it to the end of the summer and speculation is whirling again that it may have to quit the eurozone. but while greece struggles to stay afloat even europe's biggest players can't escape the economic tsunami later we've more on the ratings crown being cast over the chief powerhouse. downgrades the outlook on seventeen it sure made the banks just a week after it made a similar move on the conferees credit rating certainly confidence in the euro area go even further down more details coming up in the business update. when russia is in a state of shock after grisly remains of human fetuses were discovered dumped in a forest investigators are now poring over evidence for clues some experts believe the fetuses could could have been used in research or beauty treatments artie's son thomas has this report. a picturesque meadow in russia's urals at first seemingly

serene but an unfortunate encounter for one outdoorsman reveals a scene far more disturbing i discovered the girls while i was out there and i went to get some wood for the camp fire which i found the barrels and i thought i would take them home but when i looked inside i saw many little babies medical waste in total two hundred forty eight fetuses each around half the size of an adult human hand some tag with surnames and identification numbers discarded in a remote ravine around seventy kilometers north of you katherina berg in some cases the remains spilled on to the ground. inspecting the scene we found a total of four barrels fifty to seventy liters each filled with human fetuses the police will investigate this incident the materials found will be examined at the lab the mystery of the discovery in the woods and how it got there has sent a shockwave around the world but one main focus for investigators is where the fetuses came from in the first place in russia abortion isn't legal only up until

the twelve week mark and early evidence in this case shows that these fetuses were terminated between twenty two and twenty six weeks russian law states that women can only have an abortion during this time period for medical emergency reasons now investigators must find out why there were so many late term abortions in such a relatively small area was there something deeply sinister going on such as an illegal abortion operation and why were they discarded so carelessly human tissue is classified as hazardous waste and as such should be incinerated when disposed of properly often the hospital contracts out the service which is where companies can cut corners. we've had to be nation discarded syringes and other materials were dumped into sent beats in children. police say hospitals in the area had been. reading fetuses to scientific research but the project supervisor was fired

in two thousand and eleven they believe she took some of the bio medical waste with her when she left. those fetuses contain stem cells which may be used to treat cancer various immune system diseases and forage of a nation purposes but skeptics say this scenario is unlikely considering the fetuses were found in formaldehyde rendering them useless for this type of research now the health ministry has requested information from all clinics within one hundred kilometer radius hoping to find answers to a story that has left a community perplexed in moscow sean thomas r.t. . now israel is warning of tough decisions ahead on iran and is calling on major powers to speed up efforts to curtail the country's nuclear program meanwhile tehran remains defiant saying extra pressure won't hamper its push for peaceful atomic energy later anti-war activist bill ayers tells r.t. that the u.s. and israel are leading a military campaign while ignoring their own nuclear stockpiles. it would be

a catastrophe for everyone if the united states or nato which is just the united states fig leaf for israel went into iran and attacked iran we can live in this world as a nation among nations as long as we insist on the old colonial mentality that we can dominate other peoples we can tell them how to be and have a double standard that's just so grotesque so we're frantic about the possibility that iran might have a nuclear warhead some day meanwhile we have two thousand nuclear warheads and that doesn't make us frantic israel is the third largest nuclear power in the world not part of nuclear nonproliferation in the heart of even admitting that they have that this is a world that's dangerous you know unstable but it's not unstable because of iraq there are so many better ways to be a citizen of the world but the shake your sword every time you feel like it.

syria's infighting has crippled the country for over sixteen months but there's one delegation which is trying to instill the spirit of peace and that's the country's a lympics watch syria sending its largest team to the games in thirty years but sport can't be split from politics that easily as we finish now reports. for almost half his life twenty eight year old ahead has been part of syria's national weightlifting team during the opening ceremony for the two thousand and eight olympics in beijing he carried the syrian flag this year his going to the games in london was just as important a mission that i know. the situation in syria is better than how some media trying to show that we are going to send the message that our country safe and beautiful and that its people don't want violence and had says his major competitors in london will be from russia but the country's true enemies the affluent flames

nations back in the rebel forces britain the country that's hostin this year's games and has been among the most loudly condemning the bloody regime of bashar assad calling for tough sanctions military intervention and the president to step down seems to turn sport in turn other battlefield they had of the syrian olympic committee former syrian army general and a close friend of the country's leader has been refused a visa and will be watching games on t.v. in his home in damascus. this is a conspiracy against syria and its people and it even contradicts the olympic charter if you're sad and disappointed this is part of a pressure package and serious psychological pressure today the cycling team will have to double their training the day before it was cancelled due to security concerns apart from the psychological pressure the syrian afflatus six men and four women have been preparing for their peaceful mission in

a real war zone at home with a real respect to their lives the u.n. says in seventeen months of the revolt of a ten thousand people have been killed while some opposition sources asked to meet almost twice that figure to vote for her but despite a national wide crisis the country. biggest of a geisha and since the nine hundred eighty moscow games. although we are in a state of war we are not listening to what the sea about is especially the bad media we know the truth and this is very important especially this time we raise the flag of our country and the world the best of our free since sport experts say syria is unlikely to go home with any medals these year but it seems winning is not the highest prize for the team sports is often described as a matter of life and death but for syria's olympic team the phrase is a reminder of a real conflict they'll be leaving behind however it will be a message of peace not war that these competitors take to the london games. naughty

from damascus in syria where we report on some early olympic embarrassment for you when our team dot com with the first game down from north korea's women's football team while over there flying storming off the pitch after being introduced with south korea's colors. and the ultimate star war as the u.s. and europe face off with china to capture the sun get details on the solar power struggle. cause i'm grow conference full of clowns but not a politician in sight these are the real deal and they're getting together in guatemala city dot com take some it covered for you. download the official r.t. application so choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite.

t.v. is not required to watch our two all you need is your mobile device to watch r.t. any time any. u.s. congress is considering. standing the act which gives federal agents broad wiretapping for mission officials have now come clean and said that the foreign intelligence surveillance amendments act has been used to violate people's constitutional rights at least once in the last four years when u.s. activists describes the to the practice i should say as a virtually illegal government but they have broken the law they admit that the courts have said what they're doing is illegal and now they want congress to rubber stamp it anyway they've gone to congress and say look we always apply you know we always comply by the law everything's been approved by the courts we now know that

it was a law that they were misleading congress in order to get their stuff approved that's huge and it's important people know that it hasn't gotten enough coverage thankfully we can get the word out but i think once people understand that i think it's going to be a whole new debate about you know usually this stuff is presented to congress as this is just standard stuff we do it every year it's to fight terrorism how could you be against it we now know that what the government has been doing is in fact illegal that they've declared whole classes of information including the location of everyone in america was detected by their cell phones which report back to the cell phone companies where they are the government is now sweeping all of that information together without any warning they're spying on where everyone is all the time without getting the court to sign off on it it's a huge shift and very scary. and there's some big news in russian football as capello has officially become head coach of the national team one of the world's most successful coaches who signed

a two year deal with the aim of leading russia to the twenty fourteen world cup in brazil more on the bigger point in our two sport next hour for you. let's take you with katie and the business trask you promised us some new numbers this hour i did absolutely i'm going to give you the closing figures for the russian markets very shortly indeed but i want to talk about the biggest event this happened today and he said because it was the biggest event and it was the biggest blow and it came to the biggest a call of a in the years and i'm talking about germany of course they were dealt with downgrades by mood is the rating agency for over a dozen of the lenders more cuts could be on the horizon artie's test australia has details. the moodies is downgrade at seventeen german banks and this is just a week after the country's a credit rating was down downgraded from stable outlook to a negative outlook there so it it was a very surprising that this on the banks had followed mainly because many of those

of those banks that have been downgraded hold government back to debts and therefore if the country's credit rating is not stable it just goes to show and followed that the banks themselves are not stable as well they've been struggling since two thousand and eight and also since the onset of the eurozone crisis now aside from these downgrades the outlook in german business is not very good across all sectors business confidence has gone down in june certainly not bad news for the country that's considered the main creditor in all of the euro zone nations funding a lot of the bailout it had gone to the other countries and one of the main a destabilizing factor in the euro zone is actually spain its current situation very unstable and it has long passed that psychological threshold on the interest rate on its sponsor seven percent right now investors are asking for seven point six percent of our doesn't take much to figure out that this is a very very unsustainable level and that there are many there are fears that spain is going to ask for a full country bailout to keep investors really jittery greece has also been on the

spot like the troika of the i.m.f. the e.c.v. of the european commission had just gone there and really there wasn't much of a surprise of what they had found out i think investors are already expecting to hear that greece is still off the track and it still needs a further death restructuring here in order to get its finances in order so therefore we're not seeing good news any good size at all from the euro zone nations ok as promised let's get to some new numbers now we'll have a look at. they are still climbing as you can see we've kind schooling good old is no mines the european central bank president to defend the euro or that is helping. check out the european to mock his now they are indeed still managing to get in i believe yeah and that is all to mr jarvis that the policy makers would do anything to preserve the year right now there was also some other news i heard just now since you have announced that they now see

a ninety percent jobs that greece will leave the euro zone in the next twelve to eighteen months citing along with the economic weakness. of the current blog these previous estimate of fifty to seventy five percent is already high in the first rise when as he was making a figure i would check out the currency raise and shall wait with the still managing to get all mr douglas comments on this was the how the ripple thunderstruck watches stop trading now so go to the most to get it is us on the right as for the exit office they too all closed here most of the see the closing figures for you and yes the mindsets if we check those out did manage to finish up and posted territory today that's where it is the global equity markets were given a big boost. by those comments by the e.c.b. president just one comment really is just filtering through the market is ok it is have a look at some movers and shakers and see how they got out we had the biggest blunder

that maybe two percent imposed of terrorists but they are expected to raise that benchmark mortgage rate next month we also had to be as well getting around one and a hall the cent a subsidiary of the french general bank because they've become one of the biggest minority shareholders of b two b. bank. as well. that's despite getting a bit of a warning from the s. and p. another raising age is a sign that they may get a downgrade because of the acquisition. should it take place as of yet. prices they are still managing to get in this you can say. moving on i do believe that is cool we have time for about fifteen minutes a day so more numbers as. usual all right k.b. thank you very much robot and we stay with financial analysis here in archie coming up the musketeer of economic justice masks kaiser i'll be back with the headlines though first.