for real.

this is with me. killed and injured by two powerful explosions in the syrian capital damascus a rebel groups sponsibility for the. operations in the city. is following developments. there have been two explosions that have rocked the syrian capital of damascus one happened at the international airport where reportedly four people have been injured regarding that attack we have no more information at this point but we got to the other attack which happened at the

palestine a branch of the syrian intelligence building there are scores of people have been injured and killed now two rebel groups have taken responsibility for that attack the one is the revolutionary council of damascus this is a group that is believed to have strong means with al qaida it is also a group that is seeking the overthrow of the scene and president bashar assad and his group that is against the dialogue in the statement they said that this explosion was in response to the syrian army's operation in damascus we also know that the rebels exploded at least seventy improvised explosives inside the building so this would seem to be the reason why the casualty count is so high opposition fighters and government troops have been fighting each other for control of the syrian capital for several months now as well as for control of the mikko the country's second largest city this is a conflict that dates back to march of last year in which we've seen daily numbers

of people killed sometimes i can't being as high as one hundred. right there of course supporters monitoring developments in the blasts in damascus you can follow all of the updates via twitter. the attacks come just before today's session of the u.n. general assembly as we can see right here porter's tweeting syria iran looks to me . this is our to swap the words for action and it's island dispute with china type. after using water cannons to repel approaching taipei vessels in the contested waters a large a flotilla of fishing boats aback by eight coast guard ships have to retreat from the region the tokyo considers its own this after they were met with non lethal

force. beijing about its first aircraft carrier has now entered naval service taiwan is the third player to join the island stand off after japan brought them from private investors sparking outrage in china that the u.s. has been keeping a close eye on the wral as it increases its military activity in the asia pacific and investigative journalist james corbett thinks washington will do its best to fan the flames of disappeared. i think we have to understand this entire dispute not in terms of the islands themselves which most average japanese and average chinese people i think don't don't really care about i think this is being played up as a as a nationalist sentiment nationalist fervor it has the potential to actually get bigger and right now australia is being proposed as a third party to arbitrate as a trilateral security talk between camber of beijing and tokyo over this dispute so we'll see if it does broaden out into the region we see the u.s.

starting its asia pacific pivot so i think it actually has an interest in increasing tensions between japan and china because that makes japan ever more eager to accept an american military presence which up until now there's been quite strong protests against but now we see them really military and joint military exercises implement such as so so it is increasing the japanese reliance on the american security blanket says that as it were and i think that's that plays into american interests so i think they actually probably benefit from this dispute. and gregory clark a former australian diplomat he believes that japan will struggle to find a friend among its neighbors. you can see china japan and taiwan in dispute with each other because forces do plan to do a close relationship with the united states japan. in one. taiwan china south korea with korea and with russia and.

the result of the dispute will be to force each of these neighbors into a closer relationship with. north korea so that japan will become even more isolated will be probably somewhat hysterical and will. totally own the united states will come from kids who are. of course here at r.t. we've been following the china japan standoff since the very beginning and you can trace it back to the very start on our website our dot com we've also got coverage of the water cannon battle between japanese and taiwanese vessels and more on the peace efforts being made by both by tokyo and beijing and. now the spanish parliament has taken on the appearance of a fortress today complete with hundreds of riot police manning massive barricades security lockdown as a precaution against mass protests that are said to be staged in just a few hours with thousands expected to gather in condemnation of the government's

crisis conduct joining us now from madrid now for more on this is spanish journalist and writer what about coming online on the program good to see you today i know you've been listening to the story and following it closely as well as the slogan for the protests today is quote democracy has been kidnapped what exactly does that mean well this is. the same indignados or indignant movement which a year and a half ago was very successful in bringing out industry stance of thousands of people and by then they were already demonstrated not exactly against something very specific but against the way in which politics. on the way i mean the lack of transparency the lack of them ocracy the fact that important decisions are not consulted with the people and of course now with all the catbox the gender and all that well there are more things to protest so it will be partly about that about constitutional reform and partly about the cadillacs and economy on this issue as

you say as you say about the cutbacks the economic policies as we were mentioning a moment ago the lack of transparency and the lack of democracy why they're saying that democracy has been kidnapped that the protest slogan that his protest organizers though are making some big demands i mean we talk about the lack of transparency in the lack of democracy will protest of calling for a dissolution of parliament why aim so high when they could possibly squander the momentum they've just got. that is the problem in fact a year not half ago us they said they had a huge success but it was short leaf sold out very quickly practically because their demands were too huge were too vague also and it seems that they are back with the same very very ambitious platform and in fact they have been overshadowed by a different constitutional challenge which is the dependence movement in cuts alone which is more likely to change the constitution although in a different way so i'm afraid they will probably not have

a huge success today that will be people undoubtedly probably thousands of people but i want to be the source of a game changer they are expecting well obviously you know there are many that are saying that perhaps their hopes are a bit too high when they are calling for the dissolution of the spanish government at this point the government itself showing no signs of being willing to bend to the protest pressure why would today be any different do you think well in fact this is a government that has been in office for less than a year and a landslide election. in november last year so. it still has a lot of legitimacy at least in theory it is true that its credit has been quickly eroding because of its economic policies their inability to solve the crisis so yes there are sangar there's resentment against the government and in fact small demonstrations very focused very specific has been very successful in the last few

months but i say said this is probably true and he shares and too vague and well it will probably be in gold very soon by all the actors in the in the scene of protests like the trade unions for example which are also a mean at a huge demonstration very soon so well let's see some experiments that even the organizers don't know how many people will turn out and we will see how that turns out what the government's preparing for many protesters to show up we've got a well over one hundred policemen standing outside the parliament with with lots of barricades in place as well though i wish we had more time for this we really don't hear an r t but our spanish journalist and writer thanks so much for coming on the program today. well while not every european nation is feeling austerity is bite as much as the spanish or the greeks that's not to say it's pain free in britain if you are in the bottom half of the household income chart it looks like you don't have much to look forward to financially. for the scribes and economic recovery

that may well leave many behind. britain's in the midst of a double dip recession and everybody feeling the pinch or all of a chilling new research has revealed that the gap between britain's rich and poor is widening in fact if you are one of the middle income or low income families in the way to tighten your belt even further it's still that by twenty twenty an average low income family could see their net income full by as much as fifteen percent i think is really worrying for low income households because it shows that we don't just have a growth problem if you like in the u.k. shows that even once growth kick in and households across the bottom half are going to be poor in twenty twenty than they were in twenty five now also alarming about this latest research is that it's based on a very generous assumptions about the future growth in britain what that means is that even if person manages to repeat wait and see give this to the economy it starts slowly dragging its way out of this recession the not everybody is going to

benefit and the ones who are going to be hardest hit going to be those middle income and low income families now in an age of austerity britain's government's been accused of waging war on britain's poor chancellor george osborne wants to cut a further ten billion from the welfare budget again having that knock on effect to the middle income low income families who need to support the most well your own today we caught up with the resolution foundation to talk to them about this latest research they conducted there posing the all important question not just if and how britain repeats but if it does who it is he stands to gain. these are sort of reporting right there were plenty more to come in the program here on our. after a short break including for example the free speech or hate speech r.t. takes a look at the latest culture clash in new york. and the dreams of

a better life in europe with migrants denied the life they long for saying they are being treated worse. that. was his day starts at five am even earlier in the winter tending to his flock of story hundred sheep in the mountains and plains of t.v. thirty five years old it wasn't the life he dreamt of having studied accounting but he dition unfamiliar duty dictated that he would take on the care of these animals after his father has just made camp at their winter founded setting up his ute the traditional two fenian round tent made of diskin. his beastly back amongst his family as his job is a lonely one and tough going out in all weathers braving streams of plus to minus forty degrees celsius it's just that i just don't there are certain difficulties

there's not enough time for everything i'm almost alone my sister works with my mother my mother is seventy five she's very old and i miss mountains when i'm in town and i spend a lot of time here right now probably so on most of us it's simply carrying out the work that his father did and his father before him nothing has changed over many many centuries and that's half the problem it's hard work and many people don't want to come into the industry now and that's where they fit their could die out altogether. it's difficult to manage everything alone i used to have people who helped me but they were no good they didn't take care of the sheep with all their hearts they hurt the cattle. with more people leaving than coming to the countryside the region's government is having to act making the life of a herd and more attractive than promising largest subsidies for produce and livestock and organizing cooperatives for the sale of day put out to ensure the herder gets a high at fair price i asked sympathizes with those youngsters leaving for an

easier more profitable life day in their publics capital because ill but he no longer wishes to join them he enjoys his pastoral way of life and looking for a helper who shares his enthusiasm with more time on his hands he says matter of fact you can start to look for you wife. free. pretty free. free. free free free. free. free. free.

video for your media project free radio dot com. it's a quarter past four in the afternoon here in moscow this is our first day of the u.n. general assembly in new york was mobbed by an outbreak between sworn foes iran and israel iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad denounced israel's alleged nuclear stockpiles and occupation of palestine prompting the walk out of the israeli ambassador and then it also accused the u.s. of always shielding israel and paving the way for a strike on terror on this comes just days after washington decided to remove an iranian militant group the m e k off its terror a blacklist the sudden change of heart over an organization which seeks to overthrow the iranian regime is hardly a coincidence that's according to. the policy director of the national iranian american council. u.s. officials when you know public they want to n.b.c.

and said is working with mossad to conduct assassinations inside of iran so there is clearly at least reportedly still a paramilitary aspect to this group and they are committed to advancing their political agenda by using violence imagine what they're going to do now that the any case off the list and you have all this money that we don't know where it's coming from is swirling around and the next push is we need war with iran there can be no mistake that this campaign was a campaign to make war more likely this was part of the push for war this adds fuel to the fire inside of iran that this is really about regime change in the united states is not going to accept any kind of diplomatic resolution. now the american made anti muslim film and the protests that followed it are galvanizing culture warriors on both sides of the atlantic and space in new york has now become the latest battlefield ati's an associate turkana is in the big apple to gauge the locals reaction. leave that is calling for the defeat of jihad are being put up in

ten subway stations in new york the messages cost him more than six thousand dollars come from a group that's accused of sparking hate by critics but has been given the green light by new york authorities only going up this monday the ads are already causing much debate are they too offensive to the muslim community or does freedom of speech conquer all let's find out what new yorkers have to say about this i'm shocked that that mayor bloomberg and his people are allowing that which is going to lead on to more and. everything it's a good idea to have anti islamic sentiment for some reason absolutely not but just perpetuates anti people sentiment controversial of course it's controversial is poisonous in the new york city subway system you know this is a city that's been rocked by a trauma for years and years and here we are after eleven years of war still using the language of war these ads are going up in new york subway stations today but what do you think about this. while you support israel for the safety and peace and

security of israel i'm not for hate speech but at the same time we have a first amendment is it really a very fine line between freedom of speech and offending but there is this freedom of speech there's also freedom of religion so you have to walk a fine line should be inside muslim but people still should be aware what they're doing the anti muslim ads are popping up at a time when protests continue raging in the middle east over film depicting the prophet muhammad so should new york officials have considered not just the substance but also the timing of this campaign they ought to be less this caution and just let good thing that i add as a time because they they are you know they hate us over there whenever you start speaking against religion especially when tensions are globally the way that they are yeah i think they're not going to be some consequences well i could see how good my things complicated. where they would have an effect on the u.s. i'm not sure but we could use this as something against the u.s. do you think this could have a more dangerous consequence. really sure the anti is rimini new york city subway

stations for a month and whether they could lead to more dire consequences. is exactly what remains to be seen. and you can follow this and all the other stories we're covering at r.t. dot com here's a quick taste of what else is there for you at the moment and old habits die hard only a month after paying close to ten million dollars for breaches of. facebook looks to be added all over again. research means for people like you and me. meanwhile another set of work goes to a high profile collector who happens to be the artist's model.

with the business for now the migrant fallout from the arab spring is the subject of intense debate in europe with many calling for a stronger response to the growing influx. into a north african border and spoke to those willing to risk the life just for a new start. it's a game of cat and mouse that denies humanity to anyone involved hundreds of sub-saharan immigrants hiding in a moroccan forest waiting for their chance to cross the last barrier on the way to europe. over the course twice but they caught me you forced me to return the e.u. and spain please let us stay we don't want anything else god sends us don't hunt is over to the. dogs. he jokingly compare themselves to the herds of will the biggest and and zebras which cross the continent every year and attract thousands of european tourists to the spectacle although this man believes the average

european would extend considerably more sympathy to zebra than to anyone else downs . some of us managed to survive but many die or disappear this is no good for people to like you. give us six metres high and eleven kilometers long these plants was built by spain in two thousand and five with a single goal of keeping the migrants all despite its formidable hide hundreds still try to climb it every week an estimated one in ten make it the rest with fractures and broken bones a send back of these guys have no other choice rather than to jump this founds the know that's the worst thing they can do but there is no other choice in this france where that's so aberrate structure buried in any other place within europe to say hunt for birds environmentalist not going to banda no time here it's being used to hans people and quite often it becomes a deadly trap poverty and no prospects have driven africans northward through

decades but recent events in the region made their situation worse in the past up to eighty percent of sub-saharan africans move through early bia many settling their thanks to more market after a span african policies i think they were better off in libya. gadhafi there's no doubt about that. and the new regime has been targeting africans who work at marseille and more jobs in libya these people are looking for a better life just like the millions of europeans that cross the atlantic to the new world centuries before in search of the american dream if i just did it. it's not about how we get here it's about believing in your dream meal for a start in them mass migration to greener pastures some humans still angry busy brous a kind of wake up artsy. has promised let's get some business news here there's artie's katie pill being courteous good to see you today i don't understand those in oregon the best of news new disclosure rules in america could mean the buying

a less eager to lend high interest money yeah that k. that rory precisely and these rules that yet so i guess face internationally but the banks that already lending less money and the people that are really struggling and these times of uncertainty it's a real delight now the chairman of us it blank he tells us that it really is the high interest rates that are hurting global growth one of the problems you see is a lack of capital city that these things are. obvious you specially for privately owned bank. second thing which i think it. is a problem to the banks and i do it's a problem to be going to be. there at the high interest rate here the. private individuals especially small businesses are charged very high interest rates because the. the raw material for the banks the funding is very high due to the high risk behavior. ok time to dive into the markets and see what europe's up

to at the moment and really a wobbly performance at the moment you can see it's mixed as investors await reports coming out of the u.s. we've got consumer confidence and house prices coming up a bit lazy banks and carmakers they are moving lower heavyweight or firms they're tracking energy prices higher so will makes before modes this afternoon a much can be said for the year as well as posting that performance for the same reasons really a press. of news releases coming out today as you can see one twenty nine thirty seven as for the russian cars the regulators they have confirmed that the ruble will become really traded in the next few years a central bank will stop propping up the currency of the xchange rates shift c. finance minister told us that the move will stop speculative investors as well. we are really worried. because this policy actually station quick money typically

flows when there's pictures with regimes because we've seen in russia. what we see no is that the system stabilize itself. is a treacherous road to leave the country. all right we've got the russian figures for you in the latter part of the afternoon here in moscow as you can see gaze is pretty much mixed performance we have got oil prices gaining a little bit of support for us all the domestic news includes shares of how much apparently they have jumped the staggering thirty one fold that's the first half and their profits while that is impressive so there we are we that is the markets and i'll be back in about fifteen minutes or so. he will see you then. order to join us so if you stay with us you can hear in our we'll be speaking with the former head of pakistani intelligence regarding a possible mistakes that islam above made by joining america's war on.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so horrifying you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. courageous and creative. elegance and full and public speaking. that's our offer up a few european bodybuilders against millions of week immigrants. this may not seem so serious now. but this could be

a real threat. to more. european extremists. on policies. if heat is. needed to meet.

general i do run these former head of pakistani inter services intelligence it's great to have you with us today sir thank you very much now since two thousand and one pakistan has been involved in a war on terror will.