the dark horse candidates for the american presidency prepare to make their last pitch to voters here in r.t. by passing a long standing media embargo. a string of deadly explosions rock syria a suicide bomber detonated himself in the flashpoint come up province and children are reportedly among those killed by a fresh blast in damascus. plus greece is set for a week's freezers workers across the board kick off strikes against austerity one lawmakers vote on new cuts to satisfy international lenders.

international news and comment live from the new center here in moscow this is the almost thirty million americans have already cast their votes for president queuing for hours early polling stations across the country where the two seem to tell which way the vote is swinging barack obama or mitt romney a lot together according to most polls but lost in the rivalry between republican and democrat on the alternatives that many americans have longed for. here it is the venue for the next presidential debate with the alternative candidates in this election our studio in washington d.c. though it's not very big as you can see will make sure there is lots of room for discussion on issues that some hope don't fit into the mainstream media discourse here alternatives to obama and romney have effectively been pushed out of the major national debates we ask how and why. pushed out and quite literally jule styne presidential nominee from the green party was arrested on the

day of the second presidential debate between mitt romney and barack obama in mid october right outside the venue where it took place she was there protesting her exclusion from the debate we were tightly bound with plastic restraints and tied to chairs for eight hours for daring to stand up and demand open debates will turn out if presidential candidates had their own debate in chicago they brought up issues which the big party candidates never came close to discussing like the legislation signed by president obama which allows the government to indefinitely detain american citizens without charge or due process it's an incredible the trail of our civil liberties on foreign policy the alternative candidates argue there's practically no difference between mitt romney and barack obama regardless of whether or not romney gets elected or obama gets elected three things are going to happen we're going to find ourselves with a continued heightened police state in this country we're going to find ourselves

continuing to militarily intervene in the world which results has resulted in hundreds of millions of enemies to this country that wouldn't otherwise exist the similarity of views that president obama and mitt romney showed during their foreign policy debate became a matter of numerous jokes on foreign policy it appears that all that's left for the presidential race is this one model. i mean at least we still get our choice of color but. the us mainstream media are entirely focused on the two party race the majority of americans know very little if anything about alternatives jule styne of the green party who i set down with before her arrest is not going to be represented on ballot papers in every state the american system is designed to eliminate political opposition like some of the. dictatorships that we

criticize that have rigged political systems in many ways is the american system is also red but in ways that are not as straightforward and with the like of interest from the mainstream media small the party see the deck stacked against them in a national vote but not only are americans stuck with a two horse race but they're also not guaranteed to get the president to the majority cast their votes for in a us presidential election a candidate can win the majority of the popular vote and still lose the election because it's not the popular vote but the electoral college that decides the outcome of the presidential election here so how does it work every state but made in nebraska gives the candidate a certain number of points and the winner has to collect the magic number two hundred seventy points even if a candidate loses a state by just say three votes they get zero points that's how george w. bush won the election in the year two thousand although he lost in the popular vote he won due to the tricky state to stay score system according to gallup poll

a record forty percent of americans now identify themselves as independents the chief of the federal election commission on the george w. bush michael toner told me in the us electoral system they don't have much choice if you move away from a winner take all electoral system and once or proportional representation i think you would have far more successful political parties here in the states because there are a large number of americans actually the most. most of the biggest share biggest increase in voter registration today in america is not democrats it's not republicans it's independents if you look at these states large numbers of people now are identifying it as independent now they often will vote pretty reliably republican or democrat but that's a pretty good indication that there's a million tens of millions of people who if they had their choice might pick another party but one group that stands to win from the lack of choice by the

corporations that contribute lavishly to political campaigns trying to buy support for their companies what we have in this country in many respects is covert corruption legalise corruption in the political system itself being held hostage by special interests is a form of corruption each candidate on the republican and democratic side now spend nearly a billion dollars each in order to get to the white house i mean i think our founding fathers would be spinning if in their graves if they could see this while in office mr toner oversaw a campaign finance of the elections the most sophisticated companies what they do is they're in good shape no matter who wins right they hire lobbyists on both sides of the aisle they often make political contributions both sides of the aisle this is called hedging your bets here in america as you would say in las vegas. and in vegas as they say no matter how you play it the house always wins speaking of us

alike chance one could say no matter how you vote business as usual wins it won't be business as usual during the alternative candidate is debate this monday night the candidates will be here in this studio were chosen by online voters as the winners of the last third party debate held in chicago about two weeks ago we brought has that debate live no mainstream us news channel that so an important point to make here is that by giving a media platform to these candidates does not mean that we endorsing their views it's an honor for us to host the event. we're trying to show what others don't and we also think it's going to get a lot of viewers you're welcome to be one of them by certainly well from our debate already or almost ready studio here in washington i'm going to check out. well third party candidates face the daunting challenge of breaking america's two party system although mike harris managing director of a.m.t. capital partners i spoke to him a little earlier not to he says it's not even that we don't have a two party system we have the illusion of a two party system currently we have

a one party system because if you look at the two major parties and look at the two major candidates look at who's contributing the money to the money is the most important because ninety six percent of the time the candidate with the most money wins that's a sad fact in america we need to have some form in this country about how our electoral process is conducted because if we do not have reform and have a very soon i fear this country sworn in to have great civil unrest let's just say that. well just to remind you we're hosting the third party candidate debate here on r.t. at nine pm. or two am g.m.t. . will two parties keep us politics a one way street. or will new voices disrupt the power of power. what is america changes. this election please god monday november fifth on r.t.e. . at least fifty syrian soldiers have reportedly been killed in

a suicide bombing in the flashpoint come a province while civilians including children are reported dead after a new terrible asked in the capital damascus middle east correspondent a slayer has more details. three major attacks have taken place across syria on monday in the thursday a suicide car bomb that killed more than fifty seven soldiers as well as pro-government gunmen now it happened in the central syrian province of hama and according to reports the attack was carried out by an al qaeda inspired islamic militant group states also say that only two people were killed but we have no way of independently verifying this information there are suggestions that at least one ton of explosives was used in the attack in a separate incident in the capital city of damascus a blast there has killed several people and injured many more among them children it is thought that the cause of that attack was a car bomb and then also on monday

a bus attack also in damascus so five people killed three of them children as well as a woman there many bats in which there were traveling was hit by a mortar shell and that that caused this explosion now we do not know who is behind these attacks that circle in the past rebel groups have claimed responsibility for similar such attacks what we have seen as monday a bloody day of violence in syria where the situation on the ground is intensifying . well high profile figures in syria are becoming targets for rebels the prominent syrian born palestinian act in one rough way apparently paid for his pro assad views with his life but is worth an ocean a who was in syria covering the war knew him in person and she joins me in the studio now maria how did you know him. hi bill we filmed muhammad in damascus this july when i was working on a story on how syrian soap operas have been a factor in this conflict and have actually become yet another divided factor in

this conflict the fact is that you have to understand that syrian drama is is the country's trademark is very popular and this is the country's pride and wind for france for instance it's something actually that syria has been known all across the arab speaking war old and of course people have been taking the very good care of that but the thing is that it was sponsored mostly by gulf countries which we drew when obviously when the conflict began because the clear the air. taken another side in this conflict and that that's left a huge financial gap so he was an actor in this so yeah roughly how old thirty thirty years since and very successful in the very successful you have to understand of the it's a very clear syrian drama is a very big thing in arab world and this guy was like a hollywood star he was superstar not only in syria but outside the country he was

quite prominent and in my humble opinion a very talented actor so what happened to him. as far as we know mohammed was kidnapped on friday and next evening his death was already confirmed we've been hearing that his body was found in but area in damascus the area known to be and. it's been troubled area all the time we've been on the ground and how might as far as we know again was shot got three bullets one to his had one to his shoulder in one hit to his neck and wouldn't to some records his body had signs of torture spitz is you understand it's very hard to be very anybody claim responsibility during the day here in that free syrian army the syrian rebels have clint responsibility for these murders and the explained the reason they even say that they've been trying to clean syria from should be actually these guys call should

be everybody who is supporting assad regime the current government the current authorities of syria and the. just just tagging people should be. as enough just if occasion to kill them just briefly here is a civilian rebel little soldier being caught up in this conflict being deliberately targeted what does that tell you briefly about the situation out there because it tells me personally that i mean the situation is it's very complicated on the ground is it means that the opposition that the west is trying to sell is as good guys and are not at all trying to be i mean not to promoting freedom and democracy but this guy's atonement to win and they will they have no bond series they have no . i mean conscious and they will do well no matter what it is just clearly very poignant for news for you because you knew this man who's died in syria thank you very much indeed for being with us and telling us about your experiences and how

you knew him and what happened to him thank you very much indeed for information about. five homemade devices go off in bahrain's capital. havoc and reaping death to bring you one expects opinion and who could profit from further destabilizing a country that's been engulfed in opposition protests for more than twenty months now. and still to come british pm david cameron wants gulf moments in an effort to sell them at one hundred fighter jets shrugging off criticism of abuses and pointing to decades of friendship all this after a short break. usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but in atlanta they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately ms barber lost a lot of money battling cancer and was facing eviction which she turned to occupy

homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is that cruel economic practices can affect us all even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy things they can't pay for any of the police have to do something about them but they shouldn't throw you out of your home that you've paid for for years just for getting cancer no one should have to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america i thought we believed in private property not eternally rented from big banks but that's just my opinion.

wealthy british style stock. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on r t m in sochi can only a city in europe and a host of the twenty fourteen winter the picket. sign see. thank you. tsotsi. thank you for the. dog days of. the fridays it. takes

a common. theme song see it's so true. the skinny guy nice big wheels there let me just play my son died in a gun don't agree you don't agree we don't want to look for other name my son isn't isn't in the arena i don't know what his coffee when he's trying to be for you fair . share of the country. countries and your ears. the moon or in hope to help you find it. you find in so many own says war. and sometimes. party life here in moscow the news continues now british prime minister david cameron has kicked off his middle east arms sales to or pitching to sell more than

one hundred fighter jets to gulf one x. faced with criticism about his client's human rights record the prime minister replied by saying he talked to them about it because pretty boy reports this history between britain and the kings. in the past the british prime minister has spoken about how britain's interests line up holding the country's values but it was all interests and no talk of values this morning when david cameron touched down in dubai he's going to be trying to sell over one hundred. fighter jets to the leaders of the united arab emirates and saudi arabia that's despite concerns about person peddling fighter jets to regimes with questionable human rights records david cameron says he's happy to discuss human rights as well as lucrative rons contracts with countries that he calls old partners but it looks like talk about human rights is familiar rhetoric to justify

a long standing tradition of toys to less than squeaky clean gulf states sandhurst military academy behind me last year accepted a three million pound donation from the kingdom of bahrain inside these gates offices train in the new bahrain sports hall even though the bahraini government launched a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters last yeah scientist even said the bahraini government and gushing letter thanking them for their generosity the three million pound gift was hardly a break with tradition but it's possible a long standing relationship of reciprocal favors between the bahraini monarchy and strains within the british establishment so it looks like talk of british values is good p.r. when it comes to defending trade links and good relations with countries whose human rights records some would call into question. parties political there will

a wave of at least five explosions and bahrain's capital the bombs which exploded in different parts of the city were all homemade at least two people were killed in what the government say were terrorist attacks it comes amid the kind of regular form opposition marches that often end up with riot police resorting to violence will for a deeper insight into the story and are joined by yourself it is a former m.p. for the largest opposition opposition party in bahrain. who would gain from causing more bloodshed in this already volatile country. well it's a government who gains because the people are so peaceful over the twenty months there has been no violence the the government tries to too big for some condemnation of this be peaceful it tries to put some allegations that there is this violence this this whole thing is a lot of big unity even though the. opposition parties have issued statement

condemning all sorts of of violence and we are against all sorts of violence but but there are forces facets of the ambiguity first of all the did not there is no any independent source of this so-called five five explosions secondly the only one one person dead in the hospital what happened to the second what happened to the to the injured person they also they have the the contradicting statements first they said five five explosions then they said ok there were there were three . they give some details what happened to the other two they did not say anything and i guess i say that while there i want to mention gary and i just ask you are there suspicions and the government could be behind the bombings what were the it might be it might be actually just just a few months ago there was there was so-called explosion and it has it has put some rounding out of

a sci. the idea is that the village but then later on after begin for condemnation and u.s. and u.k. it should could be mission statement then it said ok it was not a bombing there was they were just throwing a steel. rod but actually in that area today no one plane two to have here any explosion and also of course it won't be anyone who have took a picture from his more wild or recorded lots of them because actually the people of bahrain don't harm the foreigners at all they know the people responsible for the foreigners and so what more does this then can i ask you what does this latest incident do for the protest movement could it suppress it or could it actually empower it now. see the government is now. has been condemned by. the world because just just last week it banned all types of protests all type of

gathering and now it just wants to turn around the table on the opposition. there is no dialogue we as a position dialogue a legitimate and very tight timetable for a dialogue but the government doesn't accept the let me quickly and we blame the u.s. and u.k. for that well what i want to ask you about your i want to ask you you know reaction from the u.s. or indeed the u.k. at the moment we reported earlier that the u.k. david cameron is in the gulf region a moment not with a peacekeeping mission but actually hoping to secure arms deals and he and other leaders are not condemning these protests at the moment why is that the problem is that the they even sell. arms and even things. some of the artillery which are pointed against the peaceful movement people you see all over the past twenty months not a single bullet has been shot from the of the people towards any policeman but we have we have tens of people who are who have been killed either in jail or they

have been killed in the sting in the demonstrations but the problem is that you carry is not doing anything but it's even backing in geneva even though the majority of of the the countries around fifty seven countries. and the violations of human rights in bahrain but the u.k. and u.s. did not know if they thought we have different let me ask you finally what next for your country now what next for the protest movement just briefly. of course the movement will continue to be very peaceful people will demand the right of elected government is that a crime to do to demand for an elected government. in twenty first century it even the poorest states in the in in the world they have why should it be in our region we we have we have forty two year prime minister

a dinosaur who has been in the air for to two years or one one one prime minister voters will leave it there thank you very much indeed for joining us live here on r.t. . thank you thank you. greece is about to grind to a halt during a week of nationwide strikes against austerity the government is losing support as it gets ready to vote on a new set of tax hikes and spending cuts international lenders are demanding the measures before they hand over more bailout cash. is in athens. the first demonstrations in strikes against the latest round of austerity measures for greece are under way these people are journalists who've walked out in anger at what they say is unfair measures that are going to be imposed by the somali risk government on the greek people and older to make the thirteen point five billion euros worth of savings that's being demanded of greece by its three main creditors the so-called troika those thirteen point five billion worth of cuts have been demanded

in order that greece receives its next round of bailout money a all important thirty billion plus euros worth of cash without which well greece is facing a very painful fall towns being kicked out of the euro zone now they say that the cuts that are being imposed on them by the government that are going to be imposed on them by the government that's up for a vote in the parliament on wednesday that they're totally unacceptable this this iteration cannot go on this program evolved in parliament which is right here will mean the total destruction of a greek society as we know it going back to the nineteen fifties after the war now on tuesday and on wednesday these journalists will be joined by people from all across greece as a general strike takes place for forty eight hours in the parliament the opposition has said that they want to see new elections in greece so unhappy are they with

some modest says policies and they also said that why couldn't the prime minister renegotiate the. thirteen point five billion worth of cuts that's been demanded of him he said the reason he couldn't do that is because it wasn't negotiable this is being dictated to greece and that's prompted the opposition to call for the people of the country to rise up peacefully over the coming days and take back their country. greece is cutting to the. splashing the cash british court spending for. sure is business trips all around the world that's coming up. plus hundreds gathered to the model in the parliamentary election in ukraine opposition parties say they're ready to renounce completely to protest against. those stories and plenty of.

the sun rises over what seems like and last forest but here in new directions crime hundred kilometers north of london fall stalk as in much of the world it's disappearing at a catastrophic rate. mortgages both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system filing down the forests of the region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis the world wildlife fund for nature makes regular trips to help local rangers do what little they can to stop the logging but it's not easy lager set up trucks making them hard to reach in an already rough terrain and have mastered ways to jump through legal loopholes this is a nature reserve we're only sanitary logging of disease trees is allowed according to law and not a single berry can be picked but loggers like this use their sanitary logging

permit to cut down absolutely healthy trees and sell the profitable timber over the border in china we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy to farmers. and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dream but as soon as we find tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander some morning call has been a ranger for over twenty. five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible to find human tracks and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that they have twelve tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer.