syria's opposition calls on international action as the government helicopters pound the rebel held parts of aleppo an attempt to retake control over the country's second city. london olympics hands out the first sets of medals after a record taking opening ceremony was though tainted by a police arresting about one hundred cycling activists. saudi arabian police attacked demonstrators with clubs on live i mean nation as pro-reform protests spread from bahrain and the united arab emirates. seven am in moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story dozens of people reportedly killed during fresh clashes in syria's largest city as government forces step up

a counter offensive against entrenched rebels witnesses say the scene in aleppo was the fiercest fighting of the sixteen month long conflict with rebels claiming they can't win the fight without international support russia says syrian authorities need to work towards peace but can't be expected to concede while western backed insurgents continue to take over cities moscow accuses foreign powers of fueling the violence bring about regime change in damascus the former head of the u.n. mission to syria says assad's fall is just a matter of time but admits it won't necessarily mean an end to the conflict new allegations also emerged of foreign interference in syria in defiance of u.n. efforts artie's oksana boyko has more. one week has passed since the united nations has issued a new mandate for its observing mission in syria beach and this day ironically should help calm tensions in this country but if anything violence in syria has only intensified over the past week the clashes between the army and their. will

still continue in the northern city of aleppo with the death toll believed to be in the hundreds and 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 and very distractive role in the 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 come at a cost to its own security for a number of decades the turkish state has been struggling against its own militants i'm talking about the coup stunts workers' party. 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 a defacto independent they have their own security forces that are own schools that 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 those are the on that he's country it reserves the right to strike kurdish targets kurdish locations within syria pretty much like it does in a rag. and. it may be needed for turkish own

self-defense but if there is the attacks that they carried out that's going to make it very volatile a very bloody very unstable situation in this region far worse london based security analyst charles schumer it says forces fighting to replace assad could pull syria into chaos if the regime falls there are certainly amongst the opposition democrats perhaps people a secular walking on the inside as well as the outside with that has to be said many of those should we say opposition 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 and one has to look at the supplies 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 so it isn't

with its it would have its own internal borders and one i think has to have the greatest fear is that assad forward will fall from being a panacea for this woman for syria may well be the full 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. the london olympics moved into competition mode with twelve sets of medals earned on the first day of the thirtieth olympiad while we're gearing up to go tough on their opponents police though we're getting tough on some locals around one hundred cycling activists taking part in a monthly mass bike ride were arrested during the opening ceremonies they claim to have been encircled by police or the olympic park officers reportedly used pepper spray. head over to artie dot com for all the details of the olympics opening show which proved a breathtaking spectacle with

a price tag of around twenty seven billion pounds also online the surprise entrance of queen elizabeth the second who teamed up with agent double zero seven zero to press and go over ceremony also online all the updates from doesn't mean you're going to play. well some are being swept up in the olympic fever others though not so excited. i know i'm. a bit crazy back home because of the yeah later we asked people in new york city whether they'll remember the names ops or the games the resident takes up that question in about ten minutes. our t. questions more taking a look at whether you lympics spirit could be watered down by the commercial interests surrounding the games or. the first tensions simmering in eastern the saudi arabia after friday's police crackdown on protesters clashes happen in the city of qatif where activists say about fourteen people were injured after officers

started firing live rounds police arrested several protesters following the demonstrations against political imprisonment and discrimination by the sunni rulers the area mostly populated by shiites have seen an arrest throughout the year with saudi authorities and beefing up security opposition forces have also been silenced in bahrain and the u.a.e. analyst eric draitser from stop imperialism dot com thinks the ruling elites in the region are marching to the beat of a different drop. 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. intially 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 we're following events in the persian gulf on our web site r t dot com here's

what's also online right now in secret to find out how the search giant managed to keep illegal private data troth that it should have destroyed two years ago classified information revealed online plus. one of the bloodiest conflicts of the second world war resurrected a russian filmmaker shooting the battle of stalingrad in three d. we have a sneak peek of the action at our t.v. dot com. as egypt writes new pages in its history pieces of the country's a legendary pastor in danger of slipping away museum looters and to readers have stepped up their hunt for artifacts sarkies policy reports officials say they don't have the resources to stop the. 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 it pieces and the treasures of king tooting common but the ancient world's artifacts are being plundered to this museum and something. looted from the museum. this is not the one of the better down sides of the chaos of last year's bloody uprising on the streets of egypt and 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 treasures 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 girls placed the maximum very little in people. to fifty after the russian it became seventy

four hundred people and that's again is. the twenty inside it all starts here in the shadow of the pyramids or 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 every 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. 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 as we have documented evidence that at least three hundred pieces restore them 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 our team. so our words of freedom georgia held by the outside one of the world's best young democracy is what we hear from someone in your side of the tell a different story stay with us. you know sometimes you see

a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else. welcome to the big picture. mission and free cretaceous three. for charges free. range humans free. free. free. old free blog. free. was able to build a. mission

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seven fifteen am in moscow thanks for staying with us here on r t staking out as some other stories making global headlines a major operation as he stands a border with afghanistan has left at least seventeen soldiers dead and forty injured the ongoing offensive launched tuesday in an attempt to track down a former warlord who is accused of killing a senior security official police and killed the total of thirty militants and captured forty one some of them reportedly having defected from neighboring afghanistan authorities sealed all border crossing points in the region the only exception being provided to nato supply trucks. a road accident has killed at least fifteen pilgrims in the paul when the jeep they were traveling in europe off the road and fell into a river the victims included fourteen nepalese one india and four children among them the accident happened three hundred kilometers west of the capital katmandu

the pilgrims were heading to reedy a sea sacred pilgrimage town in the puppet district. indeed fighting between soldiers and rebels in the democratic republic of congo has forced more than two hundred sixty thousand civilians from their homes over the last three months some five thousand sought shelter at an informal refugee camp near the city of goma aid groups say conditions and sanitation facilities are inadequate the un accuses neighboring rwanda of backing the rebels. or. unmanned russian cargo spacecraft progress successfully dock with the international space station after a failed attempt five days ago the mover was conducted with the aid of a new automated systems designed to be used in future robotic and manned missions in orbit the cargo is already been unloaded the progress is now being refilled with garbage and trash later to be released into the earth's atmosphere where it will

burn up on reentry praised for preaching freedom and reform georgia's leadership is cast as a democracy success story both by western media and state channels at home but there are some journalists working in the country who see a different picture artie's arena gluco has more. that's exactly what we're seeing in my culture the well you my part of the world you know you are leverage that you know energy by giving people more freedom freedom is the key word fine 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 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. 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 by his friends relative to all people get really is just state controlled propaganda and i think so what if the 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 concierge 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 some unknown news agencies and ask me questions why do we film stories about political prisoners for example. just it's about 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. while the olympics is grabbing the local headlines these days the lavish opening ceremony and sporting events there are some naysayers who think it's a temporary distraction from the world's problems among them our own resident laurie harford just in new york asking whether people share of a jubilant olympic spirit that is seen as 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 well team usa i hope we go all the way of the really great 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 think of 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 you know from your 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 are doing but yeah if their names are in plays and in lights everywhere yeah they're selling us wheaties yes exactly those athletes yeah they'll be remembered a lot of them probably wouldn't be you know i guess a sort all some boss that did push ups in london for a double decker bus with a big push ups that might for the olympics. that's insane so they're trying to yeah

they're getting they're getting people excited any way that they can what is why do they do that just for the good of sports i have 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 ya think. greed is unfortunately 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. and staying with the theme of the spirit of sportsmanship and friendly competition some critics say another focus of the modern olympics is also on being sexier and more profitable artes out of stasia churkin to reports 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 indorsements 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 ideal the original ideal and old two of lettuces in 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 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 a disjoint 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 became into effect and

they base it off there's the great story in regards that's a pita coming from wanting you know citizens about basically how the war was ending with the persians and going twenty five miles and just having bleeding feet and how that inspired the marathon for what it is today and. while the aura surrounding the olympics of today's anything but poised sportsmanship appears to be the last guest joining this party and if they see a church in a new york. diving next into the business of finance and markets with on the money after a recap of the headlines stay with us. on

the money with the business of russian business. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

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but it might be quite tricky to get a from c.n.n. . because you live out here in siberia. and the only way to get to you is by train. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of kenya that. chunk operations are on the day.

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