civilians are bearing the brunt as israel continues to pound gaza with a ground invasion in the works despite international efforts to mediate peace. tel aviv claims it's not targeting civilians and collateral damage is minimal. the rebranded syrian opposition gets a royal welcome in france as the e.u. is expected to discuss whether to openly send weapons to rebels. and the u.k. government's budget handling is under fire for its revealed that billions of pounds spent on bank bailouts may all go down the drain.

glad you can join us here on r.t. today rule re sushi and life in moscow israel is intensifying its barrels of gaza on the fourth day of hostilities and stuffing up preparations for a ground invasion militants though off firing back have just gone off again in tel aviv with reports of an explosion and claims the air defense system shot down a rocket headed for the city i mean while israeli precision strikes into a rising number of civilian deaths. has the latest from the region. the israeli defense forces have sealed off roads around gaza declaring the area a closed military zone this is just another suggestion that a ground offensive could be imminent also israeli officials have been meeting with foreign diplomats and telling them that they plan to extend the army operations this comes off to some seventy five thousand reservists were called out and we all witnessing an increase in activity along the israeli gaza border now there

continues to be heavy shelling from tanks along this border into gaza the tanks as well as all the personnel vehicles have been moved throughout this border over the past few days we are also hearing from the chief of the israeli defense forces for an increase in the pace of a strikes on gaza this comes just after a massive air strikes on saturday completely destroyed the headquarters of the hamas government now this is a building where just yesterday the egyptian foreign minister visited it is a building that has now been reduced to rubble at the time of the point minister's visit there was supposed to be a cease fire in effect and according to the israelis they did not break this but we have heard from hamas that two people were killed during this time now hamas has issued a statement in which it says it will stand alongside its people we're talking about a government that was democratically elected back in two thousand and six and if you remember at the time the world hailed the election as

a sign of the mock you see in the gaza strip so we're not talking about his radiate strikes that are targeting rebel groups but rather strikes that are targeting the just who met him rick to voice of the people of gaza at the same time according to israeli statistics some four hundred and fifty rockets have been fired into southern israel since wednesday and there was a barrage earlier today as well but no reports of deaths and light injuries it is worth mentioning that most of these missiles all homemade there are some that are long range ukrainian missiles but they are unguided and they are by and large. missing the target they're also mostly being intercepted by the israeli side into this and earlier today here in tel aviv the israelis deployed an iron dome system for the first time ever everybody does point to the fact that this cannot be a precisely targeted operation you have the number of dead that continues to climb and many of them in fact most of them also billions and here too we have the number

of injured people continuing to increase the foreign ministry spokesperson did stress the point that the israeli army is targeting only the militants responsible for the firing of these rockets but he was hard placed to answer the question as to why so many civilians are being killed the israeli government will do everything needed targeting terrorists only. to stop the firing of rockets on israel cities is really schools is really children and if we will need some ground operation we definitely will consider so there are no children been heard by the idea of only heard in only tourists are targeted now one of the israeli airstrikes did target the home of a hamas leader in the jabalya refugee camp which is arguably the most densely populated area on earth and then you have a majority of young people we are hearing figures that as many as fifty people

there have been injured many of them children and many of them critical at the same time the international community is pushing up efforts to try and deal with the situation later on saturday they will be the meeting of the arab league the trim as you know foreign minister is in gaza to show his support for the hamas government and we're also hearing statements from both feet u.n. chief ban ki moon and others in the international community. will be keeping all of us updated on air and online as well as simply follow her twitter stream for the latest. both filmmaker and activist harry fear has been in gaza since the first bombs began to fall he says israel has the capability to avoid collateral damage but has instead chosen to attack indiscriminately the streets here are still empty generally it's like a ghost strip of land like ghost town people are still ferrying further violence further collateral damage and people are trying to stop food and fuel etc as has

been going on the last few days since the operation started people here still fear the workers they fear ground reoccupation of the gaza strip with time and come on. and so people are preparing for violence well apparently israel boasts such high quality military equipment but it is able to make accurate targeting we hear from israelis in the last few years that the drones have such high quality optics they can even see the camera of women's headscarves on the ground in gaza at the same time we're seeing dead children including three under the age of two in the last few days we have to ask ourselves why exactly is this happening to me it seems obvious here on the ground that israel is willing to use disproportionate force to right his recklessly attack the targets of it which it wishes to assassinate many of the being democratically mandated by the palestinian people. gaza militants have launched several rockets at tel aviv and jerusalem at the first time the cities have come under attack for decades and the war activist sara flounders says it's

a wake up call for israelis. it's really a game changer and very significant that for the first time hamas or from gaza attacks have. because israel is used to and has for six decades again and again hit the palestinians with impunity when they were totally and entirely defenseless and bombed again and again even during the time that i was there in gaza it's almost a daily occurrence the threat now of a ground invasion for the first time really the palestinians were able to follow fire missiles with a range to tell of the and in jerusalem or to fire on us supplied israeli planes of course none of this would take place without the support the meetings a briefing beforehand in with washington without u.s.

diplomatic military economic support. and we are closely following the escalating conflict on our web site r.t. dot com it's also where we are asking you who's to blame for the ongoing bloodshed and will go to the web site of the numbers here's how you're voting for this hour just over a third thinking it's really oppressors of blockading palestinians who are responsible for the conflict that's slightly less than our saying it's prime minister netanyahu boosting his reelection bid for january only seventeen percent put the blame on the un for not recognizing palestinian statehood exactly the same amount of you are condemning hamas terrorists are attacking from behind shimon shields you can still catch a vote right now a lot of votes coming in from as we speak on t.v. dot com that's where you can get involved.

they're watching on t.v. paris has announced plans to install a syrian ambassador from the new opposition group that has delayed support from nations which also want to lift the. embargo to open the start falling weapons to syrian rebels. plus the euro zone officially back in recession reports of how and some of the better off countries it's the elderly who are taking the hit and more just ahead for you. looking at some jokes you simply do not believe they come speak and goodness how they can wrong oh. it's an international sled dog race with those driving the dogs. coming from as far away as a strength in canada and the u.s.

they come to russia and everybody is so very friendly they welcomed me with open arms and the scenery is so beautiful it's very much like a laska and so i felt at home the first sled dog was brought here from australia now it's trios come to this remote russian village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail ira mazie but even more amazing is the story of how racing first started here atoll it was in the top. grazing who set the trail ablaze but a nun and for those who brought their dia to life. five years ago. bill to dog kennel in the village kids from the local open h. came around to take care of the dogs and one day they state their life might seem extreme to some the boys wake up at six to feed the dogs before school in the evening they spend up to three hours training their four legged friends but smother

perske have also encourages her kids to become dad hands on the computer and internet the boys regularly update their website and they're in touch with the busy mother twenty four seven on the phone each summer glau the children are the most important thing my only interests not play any role anymore and regardless of whether part of schemas huskies window race or not she hopes the competition will take place in the village next year. but called these dogs and the children it really is not the weaning but actually just the taking part that counts. it's a seven eleven saturday night here in moscow this is our two you know france saying

that it will install an ambassador from the new syrian opposition group part of the national coalition but the move came in talks during a visit in paris between a president orlanda and the head of the new alliance more of the this is the latest western tactical to italy to remove president bashar al assad talks in paris focused on the protection of rebel controlled areas aid to refugees and the need for a provisional government of britain which also lobbies for the new coalition could follow france and turkey in recognizing them on monday the e.u. is expected to discuss official arms deliveries to the country's rebels villagers have been fighting against the syrian army nearly for two years now with about one hundred deaths every day middle east blogger cultural believes the opposition movement is in a state of disarray and has no united voice. in syria of course the process has been much slower and the wave of defection that we saw in libya didn't exactly happen in syria and what's happening now in specifically in syria is the people

there are kind of the presenting of the syrian uprising are not the people who are on the ground so we started hearing for example support from different rebel groups armed marable groups for the new opposition leadership but who knows the extent of whether they would be able to exercise political control so what you really have to look at that there is a strong divide between leadership that is outside the country and doesn't have control on the ground and forces on the ground pretty much doing whatever they want after all we've ended with is to separate opposition bodies because the syrian national council still exists alongside the national coalition the new national coalition so it's a recipe for more division and kind of lack of a coherence to it for moving the country forward. you can head online to r.t. dot com and find out how the pride of the u.k.'s nuclear submarine fleet has disappointed high command revealed some of the vessels surprising floors including

that of problems with flooding. the giant robot helping out the bolsheviks in the midst of russia's nineteen seventeen revolution learn about the shocking eye opener from an australian history exam that's also on the website. the u.k. government's handling of its bank bailouts has come under fierce criticism after it was claimed the sixty six billion pounds spent to rescue lloyds t.s.b. and the royal bank of scotland may never be recovered the report from m.p.'s says that british taxpayers have already lost about two billion keeping another financial institution afloat let's get the numbers on this and all the stats sarah for three points. this is all focused around the public accounts committee investigation into the sale of northern rock that was the bank that if you close your mind a couple of years back was one of the first to get big banking bailout is estimated

that for northern rock the taxpayer is set to lose around thirty billion but that's not the worst of it because all of the s. and lloyds bank oh also had a lot of taxpayers' money funded into those bailouts and the taxpayers could be set to release a staggering sixty six billion pounds on that is very very hard to wrap your head around those figures so we're going to try and compare it really the amount that was put into those bailouts to what we have in the moment spending on social welfare such as pensions education health care and defense these figures coming at a time when everyone here is struggling in a daily we're talking to people who are really really struggling to survive in the country in the midst of this very very tough economic times and you kind of got this it was a good report very hard hitting report telling us that there was a monumental collective failure that the treasury was unable to properly respond

because they lack the right skills and understanding so it really sucks a little bit of all the billion sorry guys we've lost that seven sixty six billion you know we weren't quite up to the job one of the great the warning at the very beginning with the taxpayers' alliance and doing now by a campaign manager robert oxley thank you for joining us today these types of stories always make me so angry because you know every day we're covering stories where people are struggling with a living wage in the a chance to pensions seen a tax is a rising all the time and then you have this report showing that you know sixty six billion could be lost i mean it's just chiefly responsible with taxpayers' money well this report is a. politician despite their woolly words. that we were going to make money out of the banks and that propping up the banks would be you know it would be ok and there was a chorus of people from both sides the political divide saying you know we need to bail out the very well to me what's happened is we've lost billions of pounds and we've basically allowed politicians to gamble other people's money and lo and

behold those politicians have got very good results as is always the case when politicians are spending other people's money it's incredible how often those in power manage to get every major crisis wrong and i think we're seeing that moment in a rejection of the way that our politics at westminster is out of touch the point here is it was the writing was on the wall whether any lessons well actually be lying of course remains to be thing but they if they think they've absolutely whopping losses at the moment leaves a lot of people saying you know we saved the banks he's going to save us. you're watching r t u.s. congressmen have passed the so-called magnitsky bill which puts visa restrictions on a russian officials that washington claims have been involved in schuman rights violations and the legislation was named after a russian lawyer sort of gave magnitsky who died in police custody three years ago while serving time for alleged tax evasion moscow slammed the bill as fast and promised to do response washington also voted to lift soviet era trade limitations

with russia but author and historian and dr gerald hong believes the u.s. is making a step towards a soldering of relations. the message to send to moscow is that the research is very how russia quickly at that when one door closes another one opens what i mean is that the human rights situation united states itself it's quite terrible and i would hope that the russian duma and the russian authorities would begin to scrutinize carefully the human rights situation right here in the united states where for example dislike one example months many the black population is about twelve or thirteen percent of the population of about fifty percent of the prison population and they are disproportionately represented on death row those slated for execution by the state authorities for example why not a miniscule bill in moscow that would pose visa restrictions on those businesses who would seek to do business with russia that are involved in violation of equal opportunity laws right here in the united states i mean i think there are

a number of measures that could take that would be inappropriate to protect. well still to come for you in the program here on r t do you believe in charity. but for cancer there is no is absolutely no cads other than that the probably doesn't want to do that because people are very clear that like a good idea if you. didn't take to the streets of new york to find out what people there think of the occupy movement plans to pay off the debts of those who needed them most. are twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital to form a croatian generals acquitted by the un international court on friday have returned home to a hero's welcome from a crowd of thousands strong and take a lot and lot of catch would jailed last year for murdering and persecuting so during the bloody breakup of yugoslavia in ninety five. the charges saying that they couldn't stop the troops from committing atrocities historian and believes the

decision to set them free falls into a long since a stylist passing for the u.n. . court has no credibility to start with and it shouldn't have had any credibility for years the fact that people are protesting the verdict now as a miscarriage of justice is actually lending the court credibility how would you why would you be offended by a decision. that is made perfectly in line with what the courts are telling was like what san diego which is to blame the serbs for everything that the court tribunals did exactly what it was supposed to do it made a show trial it made a show verdict and then it overturned a show verdict when its usefulness wasn't at the end horatio was greenlit to join the e.u. after deferred igs now all of a sudden the verdicts no longer necessary they these guys can go scot free and everything is just fine and dandy and killing serbs is not a crime in fact serbs is almost a requirement to join civilized society the way the define it these days. well

despite the looming economic trouble in the eurozone one of its biggest economies that of france has always been praised as the promised land for the retired however with the single currency zone hit with a second recession things are changing fast. the reports. when you look at the elderly people in france you'd never think they could be in trouble there has been a common belief that france is one of the best countries in the world for pensioners and that they are very well cared for by the state but with the financial crisis raging across the european union and france being no exception to that more and more of the retired are finding it harder to make ends meet here worked as an engineer for over four decades having retired he says he sometimes cannot afford to buy food with his parents. six. months and a. lot of. people say.

sixty how can you survive in circumstances like pierre's is unclear but hundreds of thousands of pensioners across the country are in the same boat say the chairman of a large charity which is trying to help. a number of seniors. has increased considerably in france it used to be in the north but now all regions are of young people and children used to help but now with the crisis hitting the young. but now these struggling people are in for another blow starting next year the pensions of over ten million french will be taxed says the minister for the elderly this will amount to zero point fifteen percent of monthly payments and the new government believes this will generate three hundred fifty million euros annually

for the social security fund but economists believe it's pointless with a government trying to do now is reach. three percent threshold that was promised to brussels trying to find like every single penny. obviously countries don't have a say who will do harm to the pensioners and to their spending power will be just really bad for consumption as a whole in france it will not be a perfect solution for reinvigorating french growth and beer agrees because in his case every cent counts it may be less than one percent a few spend deducted each month but it still threatens to take food from his mouth alexi rush of ski r.t. reporting from paris in france. the occupy wall street movement may have finally found a way to save america's troubled ninety nine percent the new charity will get rid of american citizen debts parties resident hit the streets of new york to find out

if anyone actually believes. started by the people behind the occupy wall street rolling jubilee is a project that is buying up debt just like a collection agency way but instead of collecting on it they're absolving the debt in an effort to liberate america from the chains of debt is this ingenious or a way to let slackers off the hook from responsibility this week let's talk about that depends on where the funds are coming from crowd sourced crowd sourced yeah crowdsourcing is great if they can clear people's debt who need it then i think that's the good thing to do are you into that. i'll take that as a yes not a lot but i do know of it well if you're below i'm not sure that they won't go right back in again so i think people need to responsible for their own actions or they're out to go to. understand what they're about to drive me crazy occupy wall

street does well they destroyed a whole bunch of public property with their movie they've been paid for that why don't they pay for that the taxpayers have to pick up what's the catch there is no catch there's absolutely no catch other than the system probably doesn't want them to do this because then people are free and clear that like a good idea to you. but i'm not going to buy my debt from the u.k. i mean i know someone who went to africa to live for a while and they were boarded every day with ever ties and so what they don't have and they said they never felt so wealthy or well to do as it living in africa because they weren't every day you know boarded with what they didn't have yeah it would be nice if companies took a little bit of the responsibility for their advertising and marketing and also for the credit card companies who hand out cards that may have people that campaign for it to kids they give them to kids in college that's a big problem yeah it's unethical you know it is we're just spending during nine eleven what do they say don't stop shopping. because you've got to. this big

machine rolling but it's it going isn't this going to just collapse in on itself anyways i mean can we just continue to buy and buy and buy forever and without ever saving anything so what's going to be the massive change a little over i mean i think it's an economic rollover i think we're seeing it now we've got economic crisis in every country around the world whether or not you think welding jubilees sounds like a good idea the bottom line is their only mission is to help the common good not wall street profits which to me is always a movement to get behind. already and often i was telling my colleague bill daughters here and all the interest in malton and bringing this.

wealthy british scientists on some time to. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to the report.

resistance is not our politics but our culture. is couldn't speak against. some of it so. cultures of resistance on our team. brass are they sure see stairs. i miss it's him he's a nanny take care of my daddy. a lot of those indians there's

a famous phrase benson claim is oh my save. my money ransom business. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dollar a night concludes the longest and while this campaign in our history covers and eleven world back before magically before that some additional rest. of the twists and turns that have been the hallmarks of this campaign i want you to watch what we're about to do because you've never seen anything like this on the.