syria's commercial capital becoming the country's fierce system battleground russia slams the rebels on their western patrons for leaving damascus no choice but to fight on. quality of the ceremony british police take down a peaceful mass bicycle ride scarring the london twenty twelve olympic organizers a child's first start to show the world with a killer opening show. saudi arabia police club down demonstrators on fire by grounds for reform protests spread from. the united arab. is a just after four pm moscow time this is r.t. live with me rule received and welcome to the program dozens of people have

reportedly been killed in fresh clashes in syria's largest city and government forces step up a counter offensive against the entrenched rebels witnesses describe the scenes in aleppo as the fiercest fighting of the sixteen month conflict russia says syrian authorities need to work towards peace but can't be expected to concede while the western backed insurgents continue to take over cities moscow accuses foreign powers of fueling the violence to bring around regime change in damascus the former head of the u.n. mission to syria says assad's fall is only a matter of time but admits that it won't necessarily mean the end to the conflict a new allegations of also a boast of foreign meddling in syria in defiance of u.n. efforts as are to use or someone point it's. one week has passed since the united nations has issued a new mandate for its observer mission in syria beach and this theoretically should help calm tensions in this country but if anything violence in syria has only in.

fired over the past week the clashes between the army and the rebel still continue in the northern city of aleppo but the death toll believed to be in the hundreds and the enormous damage to the city's infrastructure now before the syrian uprising began aleppo was considered the best case for the burgeoning economic and political ties between syria and its northern neighbor turkey but ever since are there on and bashar assad stopped calling each other france turkey has played a very active and some would say a very distractive role in the syrian affairs turkish territory is being actively used to smuggle weapons for the free syrian army and on the top of that's reuters news agency has revealed that turkey alongside saudi arabia and qatar has set out a secret military base in one of its southern cities to direct vital military communications support for the free syrian army now a number of experts have long warning that turkey's adamant support for the syrian

opposition may come at a cost to its own security for a number of day kids the turkish state has been struggling against its own militants i'm talking about the crudest on its workers' party the been fighting for the establishment of an independent sovereign state for the kurds the world's largest people without a state a few months ago i shall get a chance to visit several kurdish settlements around syria and i was very surprised to find that there are defected independent they have their own security force their own schools our own administration so all these developments with the kurds in syria leave turkey very nervous and on thursday its prime minister accused bashar al assad of aiding kurdish militants in syria and the. country it reserves the right to strike kurdish targets. but then syria pretty much like it does in

iraq and. this may be needed for turkish own self-defense but if those attacks carried out that's going to make it very volatile a very bloody very unstable situation in this region far worse of course when oksana boyko reporting that well meantime i'll talk to. the editor in chief of the syria tribune blog so that america's mideast allies are walking a fine line for you and international. the u.s. seems to have finally understood that it will not have a clean clean clear success in syria and if it decides to intervene it will ruin the whole country on the way and that's why it's leaving the dirty work to do its local proxies so dearie turkey seems to to like the idea of middle east controlled by the muslim brotherhood which they can control easily

thinking that this is their battle it seems gives them the privileged. that's what they think nothing allows them to do so this is against international law this is against every concept of neighboring countries so they think it's ok for them and they think they will get away with it and that's why they act this way and the question is are they going to get away with it. i've been watching r.t. or still to come for you when this program to moderate is on a rampage why educational already is failing to stem the increasing flow of stolen artifacts from the country. now the summer olympic games are finally underway in london and what athletes are gearing up to go tough on their opponents police were getting tough on locals as well around one hundred cycling activists taking part in a monthly mass bike ride were arrested during the games opening ceremony they claim to have been encircled by police while paddling towards olympic park officers

reportedly used pepper spray as scuffles broke out the opening show itself though proved to be a breathtaking masterpiece of art with a final price tag of at least twenty seven million pounds the olympic torch was delivered by a football superstar david beckham via a speedboat on the river thames and seven young athletes nominated by the british sporting greats the flame to the largest harmonically to the bell in the world this tribal council commented with a marvelous fireworks display as you can see. updates on the competitions results on more. those of queen elizabeth the second playing a key role in the olympic. all available for you to see on our website. we have extensive coverage of the greatest sporting event in the world. well how much do you care about the olympics. and no one here.

crazy back home because of the. play so we asked people in the big. remember the names of the athletes several months after the in the bigs. the resident it's about ten minutes time here on our team. full of really cashing in on their bodies with. fame seeking moves leaving supporters perhaps an afterthought at the games. well tensions a simmering in eastern saudi arabia following friday's police crackdown on protesters clashes a coed in the city of qatif where activists say about fourteen were injured off the officers began shooting live rounds several arrests were made holding the demonstrations against political the president and discrimination by sunni ruling which got the area mostly populated by shiites so it's seen unrest throughout the

year with saudi authorities beefing up security and opposition forces have also be silenced in crane and the united arab emirates geo political analyst eric draitser says the ruling elites in the region around should be marching to the beat of a different tribe. to voice your view in saudi arabia is to stand against anglo american hegemony in the region remember the united states the british the israelis and the western powers have been propping up these regimes for decades and so to popularize ideas that are anti regime is essentially to say that saudi arabia qatar and the various gulf monarchies are not going to be subjected to us hegemony any more saudi arabia has a very repressive police state apparatus that exists in the country and because of that you see a tremendous amount of repression and that repression can very easily escalate into

violence we saw a similar situation in bahrain where the the royal family essentially carries out what what would what could be considered entirely backwards system where people are thrown into prison for tweeting people are thrown into prison for criticizing the regime really what we're looking at is a situation where there it's the pot calling the kettle black the united states and the western powers and their proxies in the middle east are using human rights as a cover when it is convenient and in turn violating human rights when it serves their interests so we can't we can't look at this in any. objective terms this is all in the service of anglo-american imperialism in the middle east and in the gulf . and as egypt writes new pages in its own history pieces of the country's a leg injury past a slipping away museum looters and tomb raider have stepped up their hunt for artifacts but officials say they lack the resources to stop the thieves. or

investigates. egypt's pride and past which is slowly being stolen from its people here at the museum of egypt and antiquities in cairo more than five thousand years of civilization on display unearthed over the years from the shifting sands with the world's largest collection of fair on pieces and the treasures of king two to carmen but the ancient world's artifacts are being plundered the this museum and some scene. from the museum. this is not the one of the bitter downsides of the chaos of last year's bloody uprising on the streets of egypt an outbreak of fifty museums and antique warehouses across the country more than one hundred thousand artifacts are stored in the cairo museum basement alone and at least a million are stored across northern egypt protecting these traces requires a colossal effort all the more difficult since many police have left the force in the wake of the countries and raced before the revolution there where fifty go to

the police the maximum when they can people then to fifty after the movement became seventy or one hundred people of them that's again is. the twenty inside it all starts here in the shadow of the permits ancient temples in visit sites here egyptians dig for a quick and illegal back it is easy to go deep under the cover of darkness and far from the nearest security guard but many don't even go there far instead turning over the own backyards under the ground on the only house there are only one so if you want to conclude from million people on the ground even something as simple as a knife from the times of the pharaohs can sell for up to fifty million dollars on the black market deals are done through a labyrinth of illegal buyers across europe and the united states then the money digs happen and vast open places that are difficult for us to access those

responsible then leave the country by sea or across the border where we have few police it's impossible to know what's been stolen directly from the ground as we have documented evidence that at least three hundred pieces were stolen from museums since the revolution and it's estimated that illegal digs have increased one hundred fold in the last year those trying to safeguard egypt's in comparable history feel powerless the country's treasures are falling into the wrong hands and lost to the people forever the egyptian president may have more pressing matters right now but many archaeologists here feel the legacy of the people is surely with fighting for before it's too late egypt is in a state of flux and while there are many people here worried about its future there just as many more you do about preserving its past policy r.t. cairo and i we are coming to live in the heart of moscow still ahead for you in this hour that of words of freedom a georgia was hailed by many outsiders as one of the world's best young democracies

but we hear from those on the inside tell a very different story. if they shoot something inappropriate for the public they can ease. be. by accident casualties of war ok. i wish you would have never happened but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary would destroy their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave around. and that's clear what happens with such witnesses i got it on my site ok. ready checks are free to. play. shooting versus shooting on r t.

the old started here. for going global. law again. take your stuff. to. make your statement. the world.

thanks for joining us here on r.t. today you are just in time now for the artsy world update and we'll start in lebanon is not the city of tripoli overnight sectarian clashes between sunni gunmen and allawi rivals windows eight people police fired warning shots trying to disperse the combatants before troops were deployed in the area tensions in the country were sparked months ago by the uprising in neighboring syria and the two countries share a tangled web of sectarian connections with shari easily and. a drive by shooting in southern thailand has killed at least four soldiers and injured two others the troops were cornered by suspected is the most militants and shot at close range this is they were returning to their base from military patrol the

islamist insurgency in the countries of allah's house south erupted in two thousand and four it's left over five thousand people dead so far. an offensive launched by police on a border with afghanistan on choose day to catch a former warlord has left at least seventeen soldiers dead and forty injured and the fugitive is accused of killing a senior security official other. officials have sealed all border crossing points with neighboring afghanistan with the only exceptions provided to nato supply trucks. of a wildfire have engulfed parts of russia's far east with a state of emergency being declared situations being hampered by extreme temperatures but the crews battling the blaze say they've managed to protect residential areas the firefighters work is being held back by poor visibility that prevents the emergency planes from reaching the worst hit areas and the cities in the region are also enveloped in thick smog making it difficult to breathe our residents have been advised to wear wet face masks outdoors to combat the choking

smoke. now praised for preaching freedom and reform the georgian leadership has cost as a democracy a success story this by both the western media and state channels at home but some journalists who work in the country see a completely different picture and saudis a ridiculous go find out. that's exactly what we're seeing in my culture the well you my part of the world you know you are liver and begin your energy by giving people more freedom freedom is the key word find words from the georgian president some western officials like hillary clinton continuously praised me truly for his supposed program of reform but journalists in the country are less impressed and say talk of freedom doesn't extend to the media made at you know being a journalist is now a dangerous profession in georgia there's always a risk of being accused of being a spy journalist get beaten up frequently all of this is happening in front of the

entire country. the chances are that most people in georgia won't find out about these cases from their evening news according to the latest polls more than eighty percent of georgians depend on t.v. as their main source of information yet georgians only have free access to three channels all of them controlled by the state one way or the other. one channel is owned by saakashvili aid another but his friends relative to all people get really is just state controlled propaganda and i think so whatever georgians don't get the full scope of their country's events from the t.v. sets after all there is always the internet but still they have to understand a lot of people here still live in rural areas and for a lot of them the world wide web is simply not available readily at their fingertips. independent channels like of concept or channel nine are available only to those who have satellite dishes and other luxury for most georgians. sometimes

i have friends or relatives visiting from other parts of georgia and they watch these channels and say what is this really happening in this country we knew nothing about it but operating an independent media outlet isn't easy to hear journalists say their cash flow has run dry since advertisers were told by authorities to stay away from channels which may be affiliated with the opposition on top of that their every move is being closely watched by authorities here i know as well i constantly find myself facing over the top control from local officials i'm always being followed by some strange people who say they're from some unknown news agencies and ask me questions why do we film stories about political prisoners for example cholesterol just it's about the state officials don't feel comfortable coming to us because we ask questions they don't want to answer but state controlled media never ask those questions. president saakashvili is

a frequent guest on various american t.v. channels but he's never made an appearance on any of the opposition channels at home perhaps it's not so much the questions that he minds is the effect his answers may have and billy see georgia is an r.t.a. of course we always have many more stories on our website arts he taught com or the latest news and assess a wedding there for you twenty four seven clothing good little secret find out how to search for giant has managed to keep an illegal private data collection that it should have destroyed in two thousand and ten your classified information revealed online. drains gone bad thousands of chinese eco protesters rampage a coastal city of kid on the plug a pipeline those details also at odds with dot com. download the official application. choose your language stream quality and

enjoy your favorite. t.v. is not required to watch r.t. all you need is your mobile device to watch r.t. any time. now while the olympics grab the headlines are these days with the lavish opening ceremony and sporting events some say it's just a way to hide away from real problems next our president takes to the streets of new york asking people there if everyone has fallen victim to the games mass hysteria. do you really care about the olympics this week let's talk about that are you excited about the olympics i know i'm here. is it crazy back home because of it yeah and we got out what are you excited about how the team usa i hope we go all

the way. does that mean we're the best country in the world if we win all the gold medals who i don't know about people really aren't that into track and field and. then the swimming you know the media build up between. phelps and his rival you know but you don't even know the name of the right man even to give his name on the front just finish tonight. for a minute do you think that the olympics are kind of a way to just distract people from what's really going on might be. problems do you think people remember the names of all the athletes three months after the olympics are done i guess it depends what kind of sponsorships they've got and what advertisements they're doing but yeah if their names are in plays and in lights everywhere they're selling us we yes exactly those athletes yeah they'll be remembered a lot of them probably wouldn't you know i guess. i did push ups. that

does push ups that i might for the olympics. that's insane so they're trying to yeah they're getting they're getting people excited anyway that they can what is why do they do that just for the good of sports no idea probably just try to drum up some more money for their country at that right over here terrorism you know historically the olympics is something that's always meant to be a unifying action yes so it doesn't that kind of take away from that message of unification when it comes down to just drumming up business you know i think greed is unfortunately taking over the priority of some folks whether or not you care about. the bottom line is that you should be prepared to be bombarded by a lot of media coverage in the coming week. or it are staying with story number one in sports today and the olympic games that

have gotten off to a bit of a shaky start with political controversies security failings traffic concerns the athletes are now though in the spotlight but as an associate found after some competition is coming in second place. faster higher stronger bodies built like machines and olympic extravaganza of athletes grace magazine covers baring it all it would be nice to hate like to not look at these athletes like you know these are special specimens almost members of a different race but these are people just like us they could they could help us strive to do better their superhuman bodies are on display in a competition for attention and personal exposure the olympic gold is not just the the gold at the sleeves when and where but the good old of all these endorsements and all this this ability you know they want to cash in on it's their moment in the sun unfortunately i think that undermines the olympic goal and ideal.

the original ideal and old to a lettuces and human might scrapped the olympic dream and culture now transformed into glossy images of athletes striking a pose in the nude the original olympics were performed completely naked so you could make the case this is turning back to the original form of the olympics in an ever expanding entertainment culture surrounding the olympics self p.r. is the new tradition and the fifteen minutes of fame an opportunity not to be missed and you've got hundreds of athletes who come back to nothing but a lot of them really look back and say well what do i get out of the last four years i could have made more money being a manager at mcdonald's corporation that's one of the biggest sponsors of the olympics is on a journey to send a somewhat confusing message while the athletes are busy promoting their stunning bodies mcdonald's sets up the biggest joint in the world outside the olympic

stadium to record one hundred fifty thousand condoms are also being distributed at the olympic village that's roughly fifteen condoms for each athlete some argue sexing up the olympics is slowly racing the true meaning of these historic games the marathon really. came into effect and they based it off the greek story in regard to peter coming from warning. citizens about basic we have the war was ending with the persians and going twenty five miles in just having bleeding feet and how that inspired the marathon for what it is today. while the aura surrounding the olympics of today's anything but sportsmanship appears to be the last guest joining this party and stacey churkin a hearty new york. and already you know the first olympic gold has been won in london let's check in with the union of course you to for all the unit good to see you today so who is the lucky medalist after find my concentration again after all

our real story here selling surprise surprise she is a chinese gold medalist of course china really dominated in two thousand and eight at their home games in beijing so we'll have more on not plus more on there the opening ceremony where which will of course was a spectacle mr bean james bone the queen they have it all morning up possibility day in sport it's saturday after all yeah they were brilliant opening for the ceremony more details some new interest of human in fifteen minutes ok see them. both shortly here on r.t. will be exploring the origins of the universe but i'll be back with the headlines first see in a minute. russia

would be soon which brighter if you knew about someone from funds to freshen. his film start on t.v. don't come.