with aleppo prickly becoming syria's fiercest a battleground rusher accuses the rebels and their western patrons of leaving damascus no choice but to fight on. as the press taking a look at games opening ceremony kicked off british police tell a mass cyclist group to get on his bike. and saudi arabia police attacked demonstrators with clubs and live rounds as form protests spread from bahrain and the united arab emirates. international news and comment live from our new center here in moscow this is r t with the twenty four hours a day dozens of people have reportedly been killed in fresh clashes in syria's largest city as government forces step up a counter and 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 about 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 conflict will end. of most of the foreign meddling in syria in defiance of u.n. efforts as artie's of son a boy reports. one week has passed as the united nations has issued a new mandate for its observer mission in syria which at least theoretically should help calm tensions in this country but if anything the violence in syria has only intensified over the past week the clashes between the army and the rebel still continue in the northern city of eilat but with the death toll believed to be in the hundreds and enormous damage to the status 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 al assad stopped calling each other france turkey has played a very active and some would say a very destructive role in syrian affairs turkish territory is being actively used to smuggle weapons for the free syrian army i don't the top of that's reuters news agency has revealed that turkey alongside saudi arabia and qatar has sat at 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 calm at a cost to its own security for a number of decades the church's state has been struggling against its own militants i'm talking about the crudest on its workers party the p.k.

cave its 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 they are defacto independent they have their own security forces that own schools that own administration so old 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 those are the on sad that he's country it reserves the right to strike kurdish targets kurdish locations within syria pretty much like it does in iraq and. this may be needed for turkish only self-defense but if those attacks ever carried out that's going to

make a very volatile a very bloody very unstable situation in this region far worse. london based security analyst charles shubrick i spoke to him a little early here in r.t. he says that the forces fighting to replace assad could pull syria into chaos if the regime falls there are certainly amongst the opposition democrats perhaps people who are secular working on the inside as well as the outside with that has to be said many of those should we sell position figures who are speaking about secular democracy are actually on the outside of syria itself the question is who is controlling who is the influence behind the armed rebels who are succeeding on the ground it may well to continue but one has to look at the suppliers and the inspiration of those people and what looks to places like saudi arabia and one has to wonder whether saudi arabia is interested in promoting democracy certainly isn't with its it within its own internal borders and one i think has to have the greatest fear is that assad fall it will far from being

a panacea for this. may well be the precursor for atrocities chaos and carnage on a secular basis and a syria that may well be far worse than people can imagine could possibly be a replacement for assad. well coming up in the program this tumor raiders on a rampage found. in the forty's a failing to stem the increasing flow of stolen artifacts from. that's still to come for you but first the summer olympic games are finally underway in london and while athletes were gearing up to go tough on their opponents police were getting tough and some locals around one hundred cycling activists taking part in the monthly mass bike ride were arrested during the games opening ceremony they claim to be encircled by police while pedaling towards the olympic park officers reportedly used pepper spray as scuffles broke out the opening show itself though proved to be a breathtaking spectacle in the final price tag of twenty seven million pounds in impact to launch was delivered by football superstar david beckham virus speedboat

on the river thames seven young athletes nominated by british sporting greats lit the flame to the applause of sixty thousand lucky with this is extravaganza culminated with an astounding follett's display. and you can learn about how the queen who teamed up with agent at double zero seven made a surprise entrance at the olympic opening on our website dot com also online updates from all the competitions at the olympics. and while some are being swept up by the spirit of the games others are not so enthused. i know i'm here i'm. crazy back home because of yeah later we asked people in the big apple whether they'll remember the names of the athletes several months off in the pics and don't miss the resident in about ten minutes from now here on r.t. . and also a look at how athletes

a cashing in on their perfect bodies with glossy covers and fancy photo shoots leaving sport is perhaps an afterthought at the games. tensions simmering in east. saudi arabia following friday's police crackdown on protesters clashes occurred in the city of qatif where activists say about fourteen people were injured off the officers began shooting live rounds several arrests were made following the demonstrations against political imprisonment and discrimination by the sunni rudeness the area mostly populated populated by shiites has seen unrest throughout the year with saudi authorities beefing up security position voices of also have been silenced in bahrain and the united arab emirates and typical analyst eric draitser says the ruling elites in the region are actually marching to the beat of a different drum. 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 him. in the middle east and in the gulf. as egypt writes new pages in its history pieces of the country's legendary past a slipping away museum looters and tomb raider have stepped up their hunt for artifacts and authorities paula slim reports officials say they lacked the resources to stop the thieves. egypt's pride and past which is slowly being stolen from its people here at the museum of egyptian antiquities in cairo more than five thousand years of civilization on display unearthed over the years from the shifting sands but the world's largest collection of fair army pieces and the treasures of king tooting common but the ancient world's artifacts are being planted at the this museum and sums in. 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 more than 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 where fifty go to a place the maximum very little can people then to fifty after the russian it became seventy four hundred people of one that's against. that when the inside it all starts here in the shadow of the permits on your ancient temples in the desert 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 in egypt on the only house there are for 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 them an awful lot of 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 whereas 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 worth 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 our team kyra. will still have you this words of freedom held by many outsiders as one of the world's best young democracies we hear from those on the inside who tell a very different story that still to come for. fuel.

please. wealthy british style holds. on to the right. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the cause a report. released . today violence is once again flared up the full these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operations are today.

everyone wants to be pretty. whether they're all lady own engine driver. but it might be quite tricky to get a fancy cut. because you live out here in siberia. and the only way to get to you is by trying. to have a look at some of the stories making headlines around the world overnight sectarian clashes between sunni gunmen that rivals in lebanon's northern city of tripoli have wounded eight people police fired warning shots trying to disperse the competence before troops were deployed in the area tensions in the country were sparked six

months ago by the uprising in neighboring syria with the minority supporting president assad the two countries share a tangled web of sectarian connections which is an inflamed. a drive by shooting in southern thailand has killed at least four soldiers and injured two others the troops are cornered by suspected is the most militant and shot at close range as they were returning to the base from a patrol the islamist insurgency in the country's volatile erupted in two thousand and four and is left over five thousand dead so far. a major police operation stands border with afghanistan has left at least seventeen soldiers dead and forty injured the ongoing offensive was launched on tuesday in an attempt to track down a former warlord accused of killing a senior security official police that killed a total of thirty minutes in captured forty one some of them reportedly having defected from neighboring afghanistan authorities have sealed all border crossing points in the region but the only exception provided to nato supply trucks. also i

want to take this hour severe wildfires in the gulf parts of siberia with a state of emergency declared the situation being hampered by extreme temperatures but the crews battling the blaze say they've managed to protect residential areas pathfinders workers being held back by poor visibility that prevents emergency planes and helicopters from reaching the worst hit areas the cities in the region are also enveloping thick smog making it very difficult for people to bring. praise for preaching freedom and reform the georgian leadership is cast as a democracy success story both by the western media and by state channels at home but some journalists who work in the country see a completely different picture. that's exactly what we're seeing in my culture the world in my part of the world that you know you are leverage beginner 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 mikhail

saakashvili 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 the new journalists 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 and more. so 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. but one channel is owned by saakashvili aid another but his friends relative to all people get really is just state controlled propaganda they may 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 cossey 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 here 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 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 someone known 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 in tbilisi georgia. are today. well we have more stories on our website for you on t.v. dot com with the latest news an in-depth analysis waiting for their twenty four seven including. google's little secret find out how the search giant has managed to keep it and the legal private data collection that it should have destroyed in two thousand and ten your place of origin for mission revealed online. and tree

huggers get hot under the collar of thousands of chinese eco protesters rampage the coastal city. to pluck a pipeline you can find out the details on that dot com. while the olympics grabs the headlines these days with the lavish opening ceremony and sports events some say it's just a way to hide from real problems well next president takes to the streets in new york asking whether people there shared the jubilant experience has taken over the british capital. 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. but is it crazy back home because of it

yeah and we got out what are you excited about college team usa i hope we go all the way. the right does that mean we're the best country in the world if we win all the gold medals oh i don't know about people really aren't that into track and field and not so much you know 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 finished and i think . 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 the advertisements are doing but yeah if their names are in blazoned and lights everywhere yeah they're selling us wheaties yes exactly those athletes yeah they'll

be remembered a lot of them probably wouldn't you know i guess a sort all some boss that did push ups in london for a. big push up so that 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 the country at that right over here tourism 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 yeah thank you. greed is actually taking over the priority of some folks whether or not you care about the olympics the bottom line is you should be prepared to be bombarded by a lot of media coverage in the coming week.

twenty three minutes past the russian capital and staying with story number one in sports today and the olympic games which are a perfect chance for the athletes to attract the world's attention not only with their sporting skills but also by flashing their flesh and as honest as a chicken i found out some of the competitors have been very quick to strip. faster higher stronger bodies built like machines and olympic extravaganza of athletes grace magazine covers baring it all it would be nice to tate 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 pool and ideally. the original ideal and old to lettuces and schumann 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 corp 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 a 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. it came into effect and they based it off the great story and that's the piece coming from wanting you know citizens about basically how 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. or surrounding the olympics of today's anything but just sportsmanship appears to be the last guest joining this party and stacy churkin a hearty new york. well shortly we hear from a man loved by the people and fed by the banks but i'll be back with

a recap of the headlines first in just about four minutes from now stay with us live this is all t.v. in moscow. wealthy british style. sometimes.

markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. goals started here for going global and now it's pulling fire. log in. to. choose your place to take your stand. and reach the movement. makes your statement. spoiled. what. you find.

would be soon which brightened if you move on someone from phones to impressions. from stunts on t.v. don't come.