machine gun and rifle warning shots are fired in beirut as a supposedly peaceful protest against the syrian leader turned sour for the opposition and al-qaeda flags seen in the crowds. a deadly blast rocks damascus as the u.n. peace envoy meets the syrian president to try and broker a truce in the conflict torn country. of the stories that shape the week and dozens are killed as the former stronghold of moammar gadhafi sees another assault by pro-government militias a year after the western backed the libyan revolt we talked to a man whose family is trapped in the besieged city.

of it back in the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly. mass protests in the lebanese capital have descended into riots with the army firing tear gas to control hundreds of angry demonstrators they tried to storm the government headquarters in beirut after the funerals of those killed in friday's car bombing. in the region following the developments. started off as a potentially a peaceful and rather more inform our chat during the funeral of the billies official who was killed on friday in a bar glass that went off and. then several hundreds of those people branched out and went on to storm the office of the prime minister they were the ones who had flags up the free syrian army or rather are the syrian opposition and also all kind of once they got there they started throwing rocks and of course they were met with

very heavy police presence when trends started firing tear gas and also fired several rounds of live shots into the air that several people were heard but not by the gunshots just as skirmishes that followed the protests which are going on for essentially a third day now it began after. that in the christian quarter of the it was on friday afternoon killing eight people a monk of police intelligence chief. who is known for his act and serious doubts and a lot of his supporters are saying that in fact it's just syria that was behind the terror act in the room on friday they were the ones who began the protests which started on friday evening which continues decidedly they called for a day of rage on sunday we don't know the situation has subsided but there was heavy gunfire when it in the town of tripoli as well it's only out there it's. the

roots or earlier today of course. the situation in lebanon and we'll bring you the latest a growing number of lebanese accuse the regime in neighboring syria for friday's deadly blast but international relations professor mark ullman us particularly here in r.t. he says that the assad regime is the last to benefit from the situation. if you think about the legacy of the murder or in two thousand and five that plague syria where did it. seems unlikely that assad's government directly would want to be involved in this because it's all too easy to point the finger at them they are so demonized in west maybe outside usage of the word of the other hand perhaps they're cynical. this would be a very good way. maybe decided or. little is faulty

gene pools are expendable that could have happened we don't know the could be entirely internal of the reason rules so if you are not a political registrar rupert isn't strict battle royal too and so i think to leap to conclusions. in this huge pressure to do it is dangerous. in syria itself a similar car explosions hit damascus killing at least thirteen people and wounding dozens of others a taxi rigged with explosives blew up outside a police station in a busy district no one has admitted the blast which is the latest in a series of deadly bombings in syria's biggest cities in the past few months previously rebels and al-qaeda linked groups said they were behind such attacks the latest blast came as the international peace envoy met the syrian president to try and broker a temporary ceasefire in the civil conflict in chief of the syria tribune media channel and blog police today's blast is aimed at the railing any peace efforts in syria. they are trying to destroy what they are bringing me is trying to do

obviously there are countries that are not happy about. any success that any brahimi may have it all depends on the will of the countries backing the rebels big rebel groups are all controlled from the outside if somebody gives your money weapons and means of communication this means they can control you and these countries can have that or will cease fire in forty eight hours or even less if they are if they have their will see the rebels have absolutely no prospect of achieving what they want all what can happen at the moment is a longing to struggle to weaken syria more and more and this is what we are serious hope will not happen. there's been a new spirit of violence in the deadly siege of the town of bani walid in libya a traditional stronghold of ex libyan leader muammar gaddafi the libyan army and the lawless militia have been shelling the town accusing those inside of kidnappings party has spoken to one man whose families currently in bani walid and he also has to shield his identity while he explained what's happening there

because he tells us he is scared for his life he might find some of the video we're about to show you upset him. i have a call from my family in there told me that the situation there right there is really hard of all there is a heart of all. kind of. everywhere in the city the civilians building our fallen down even the. we don't have a lot of medicine right now the hospital keep in the in the people outside from the hospital through we there is no food. but only because of the militias that it's around the clothes and the roles that it is the food and the fuel there are one and benoit from the three sides they use the house that. rockets and the gases weapons and actually found even a gas mask is the reports of the hospital says it is clearly that the civilians there the guards. and hundreds of gathered in the libyan capital to protest against

the bani walid bombing they've reportedly broken into the area around the country's parliament venting their fury over the attacks that have left dozens dead and hundreds injured in the past few days and online with more about the country's troubles which are piling up a year after the revolution which was strongly backed by western countries. separatists ial in the e.u. states could get another boost in spain which is holding regional elections independence parties are widely expected to win in the basque region a challenge for the beleaguered government which also faces separatism calls in catalonia economics blogger gonzalo says the debt crisis is the main reason behind the desire to break away. with economic problems and economic discontent you have the urge to split away from the majority because you feel that the majority as a minority you feel that the majority is not cognizant of your problems as are helping you to overcome and it's a certain kind of blinders that the minorities will out that they feel that they are not being taken care of when in fact everybody suffer an equal be and this is

the case in spain everybody suffering under the sea and stood. by them each independent region each of you just on this region feels a day in particular are being made to suffer or its impact the entire country to be huge unemployment issue in spain the fifty percent youth unemployment and twenty five percent joe adult unemployment and the problem of these. crisis that spain faces which is not going to have a happy ending and which is going to require drastic cuts. and just a generalized economic reboot of the country and that's why you're seeing so much protest and so much political gains for the independents because. there's a similar push against cuts in britain where around one hundred thousand people turned out in london to protest against austerity scuffles or up to the media the off the marches hundreds of protesters broke away and tried to storm shops saturday he's running in london was organized by trade unions and attracted people from across the country prime minister david cameron recently warned of more tough

decisions for the struggling economy. was among the crowd. how many people have panned out that that is against the cuts they say have flatlined the economy now there are people from all walks of life there are not as wide about the n.h.s. there are police officers all feed the whole wide about cuts to fund like that this has been amongst the people the three many many families all across the age range feel that they've been affected in some way by the continued cuts my parents rely on the n.h.s. seem to seek has gotten worse my son's a stephen he's paying nine grand even for. i work in the voluntary sector and legal aid is being cut so we work with very vulnerable people and they won't be able to get the same help from them next year and they just protect their rights they protect the interests of the rich i'm a bit unfair in the people who are it now because it's not just britain this being affected the whole start he cuts a europe wide effects of the euro crisis rumbles on we see the stars yeah get

taking great the specially in the last month in spain in greece all across the usa the people simply think that they've had enough here in london outfit that thousand of that they've come out here so much against the austerity. the run in britain echoed feelings elsewhere in europe when angry crowds gathering in spain in greece tens of thousands of greeks descended on athens as a nationwide strike got underway clashing with police in madrid parents teachers and students marched to condemn imminent government cuts to education and cap three days of industrial action at the hands of the purse strings are moving further away from national capitals with e.u. leaders agreeing to give even more powers to brussels with a deal that would bring centralized banking supervision but research or jerome rue says no summit will help solve the crisis until it tackles the root cause. is one thing we've learned over the past couple of years is that when you're in the u.s. there's something about this crisis is they usually mean the exact opposite. end of

the phrases inside probably means that spain and greece is the going into depression greece by next to one of the contract to the economy contract twenty percent down employment stands at twenty five percent but you have regions in spain which are demanding secession that you have actually new fascist forces on the rise in recent. move that we haven't seen since the one nine hundred thirty s. so i think really what's happening here is that this press this action has been out of control things are getting a lot worse and the summit. is to address any of the structural problems which include most importantly the deadly embrace between. and series of states which are. america's main presidential hopefuls get one last chance to get on the t.v. to win over voters on monday and the race couldn't be tighter but it's leaving all the parties and independent candidates out of the picture. and become bigger

biggest russia's rosneft is in line to be the world's largest listed old producer as britain's b.p. plans to get rid of its troubled part in the joint russian venture those stories still to come for you after the break. homeland security now has robot tuners seriously robot fish the drones in the sky spying on you just weren't going to enough effect they've revealed that they're going to be using robotic hummingbird soon who how cute these things can only see you though above the water now during the one percent or less of your life that you spent swimming homeland security will be keeping you safe since nine eleven we've heard ad nauseum that we need to be kept safe so americans have given up their rights but have things gotten that much safer honestly has any of the stuff ushered

in some sort of peaceful utopia no it hasn't the best terrorism prevention would be to not bomb secular regimes in other countries like libya so that some fanatical wackos come the power that would help way more than robotic spy fish i hear a lot of people talk about personal responsibility a lot of speeches and yes personal responsibility is a key component of the american way slit people provide for their own defense what is going to protect you more a shotgun under the bed or terminator two so homeland security can of tuna right but i just might be. more news today violence is once again flared up if these are the images for world

has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day. we'll put the. money its technology innovation all the moves developments from around russia we've got the future covered. she would be so much brighter if you move the sun from funds to christian. stunts on t.v. dot com. that

is continues here in l a t life here in moscow the cia wants to expand its fleet of drones and try to tap the white house to green light the move earlier this week it would let the pentagon potentially increase its lethal operations abroad including regular strikes in pakistan the cia's request came shortly after new troubling

statistics emerged on attacks that officially target militants pakistan's interior minister said that of more than two thousand people killed by american drones eighty percent was opinions. from pakistan's first political lobbying group says washington is only creating more minutes since with its tactics this is a major blow to the u.s. so diplomacy and position and box done in this is the first time that a senior official actually come out to say this make this kind of a statement there's no evidence. the drones have actually helped buckstone control the militants on the contrary pakistan has been very very successful lives in the military in flushing out a terrorist from the northern region of so wide back in two thousand and nine and clearing and cleaning up that entire area and if now we see the resurgence of some of the activity of the terrorists it is because of these safe havens on the what i would call the american side of the border which is the afghan side of the border ninety six incursions from the of gun territory into parks done resulting in

killing of bucks and soldiers and bugs and civilians. there's all to play for monday's final and crucial debate between the main u.s. presidential candidates as polls put barack obama and mitt romney neck and neck now and while they trade sound bites in juggle nationwide t.v. again the other contenders are being shot to the margins green party presidential nominee jill stein and her running mate were arrested this week after trying to make their way to the venue for last tuesday's debate stunned blames the system for locking up nearly a third of the country's population and the upcoming election party campaign manager ben meant to keep believes the two party domination is down to how they did laws and corporate control the reality is that there's nothing in our constitution which prevents a multi-party system from emerging here in the u.s. but we do have laws on the books all across the country and we also have the actions of private corporations that have grown up over the last sixty years to prevent independent parties from challenging the two establishment parties here in

the united states the laws that we have in the books prevent or make it very difficult for independent parties to get on the ballot to kill voters that choice those laws date from the cold war they date from the mccarthy era and which there was a fear of communism and socialism and they tried to make it very difficult for a progressive party some particular to emerge here at the green party we have overcome many of those challenges time is on eighty five percent of the ballots yet they're still preventing her from taking part in the debate if you look at the success of the greens. despite all the obstacles we face it says that there is a great demand for the greens people vote for the greens here in the u.s. . to help keep the voters' choice open the other candidates get to cut through the mainstream media blackout in their own televised debate brought to you by r.t. america we're also keeping a close eye on the upcoming election on our website. for its. offensive. it's. actually.

took a pretty secular. it emerges week that a new company could take the title of being the world's biggest listed oil producer and it could be russian giant rosneft after britain's b.p. moved toward selling its fifty percent stake of its joint venture in russia t.i.n.k. b.p. in return b.p. gets fifteen percent are often left on the run seventeen billion dollars in cash the state owned oil major actually wants to get its hands on all of t. in k b p and is apparently holding talks with its other shareholders if signed the overall deal of said to become the second biggest oil agreement ever. well a new top dog in global oil is bound to have some ramifications across the industry and r.t.e. dot coms business section lines what they could be. pro palestinian activists and european m.p.'s the border guards are bound humanitarian ship being detained upon arrival at an israeli port the vessel was commandeered by israeli troops during the latest attempt to break the blockade of the palestinian coastal

territory two years ago a similar enterprise ended tragically where nine activists were killed as that freedom flotilla was raided by israeli troops but victoria strand from the company that owns the latest vessel insists their missions won't be held back from bringing international attention to garza's plight. what we can achieve is that we can make the international community to focus on the fact that the book still is going on that it is a war on anything it is getting worse year by year and what we are doing is actually walk to w.h.o. new nice chair save the children learn fifty yarder and you are saying that. the blockade has to end it is now it six years. you also say that there are. all the true situation human situation the health situation is deteriorating

dettori eighteen all the time. russian special forces have secured a massive strike against militants in the country's south forty nine insurgents including nine key terrorists were killed and over two dozen arrests made plus militant bases and weapons caches were destroyed dot com has all the details and also one hundred chicago crime suspects come forward to describe how they were tortured into confessions of by police and that it was racially motivated. plus the cat walks carries icon gets his claws into the french president describing a false and as an idiot. dot com tells you why. tehran's views on the news can be no longer heard in iraq now that over

a dozen of iranian t.v. channels have been taken off the says the decision is down to the satellite companies but they insist it was an order from the european commission political analyst chris bambery finds the timing suspicious. you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to think that by banning. media nineteen t.v. and radio stations from access to europe it does look like you further step towards military intervention against iran given it happens on the same day that the imposes for the sanctions on iran against the background of a continuing military buildup by america but is british and french allies in the persian gulf and the siren calls from tel aviv for american action against against the randi therefore it seems to be a father ramping up of this and this is the ticker not just by a private satellite company to draw access. ahead here this hour on r.t. how there's more to sochi than just sports as we take

a close look at the city which will host the winter olympics in twenty fourteen you've been watching the weekly here on r.t. . the legacy no one should be proud. of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over their foundation pipes spilling black smoke over the snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the bergen archipelago don't make a pretty picture the guiding principle here is the worse the better locals like to tell the story that back in soviet times when norwegians were visiting barons were they also expressed. at how prosperous this stuff was well times have obviously a challenge where they saw it lags they still attracting a region tourists are barons work i would then commerce watch native cash that's

why when. our goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of throwing it away the local administration decided to paint the bin you and put it at variance with central square that in the nine hundred eighty daryn's work was a burgeoning mining community. was determined to maintain its own costs. are located halfway between north america and western europe bergen archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of western most outposts now it's one of the last preserved relics. of the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades. for western tourists and i think it could be even more appealing for russians trying. to keep its presence on spitsbergen russia still maintaining

a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local souvenir shops so between. bill it is a big hit the defunct arne curtain still helps keep the money flowing guys it's a russian thing yourself but you can't play robles for all. your local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like. it should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part of the let you know authentic tradition he up. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be honest this time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add morning russian songs to

die repertoire the audience called all they wanted to hear it was a song comfortably familiar. down in the black sea coast of russia the city of sochi is busy preparing for the twenty fourteen winter olympic games construction is booming transport infrastructure is being completely revamped and disabled access points are being

installed across town. but aside from being russia's second lympics city she's also one of the country's most power. well a tourist destinations people flock here for the long hot summer as the spacious beaches on the warm seas busk if you're looking for more than just a time but it's also an area filled with some amazing natural highlights. so i've been spending a lot and so i'm in the city but off in the mountains there's the caucuses reserve which is literally the size of finland so i've met up with very experienced. and we are all. expected to say that if you're driving up here then you're in for

a bumpy ride you might be lucky and find some tama but mostly it's just to try to draw fortunately alexei's wonderfully named wozzeck is up to the top. last month a live look much of this is spin spin on this the seconds and. we have gone up and down and crashed blasts. still going. to the full. use of it so. just a couple of days in the caucuses reserve had what my appetite for the mountains the biosphere here is filled with unique flora and fauna some of the best hiking trails in the country. but getting to them wasn't going to be easy especially as there are plenty of places that even the wozzeck can't go. james take this one place it'll be my bike. i'm on the blue one.

to get into the forest we need to cross the nearby river but along rugged paws like these you need to be careful. why are you putting the wheels. on the. problems of. simple he's pretty easy to punctuate the run over shall. i say says that everything you have. hoped for shows it. to be the whole video. and once we were up and rolling it was time to head across the most of. whom a bit lloyd. going to boy boy and. this. i would say works as the head of a conservation and knows almost everyone based in the coax is national reserve he gets to go home most nights.