the spanish. visit. the prized. victim to the tax fraud as finance ministers attempt to impose the union's data sharing rules on nonmembers states. the diplomatic marathon over syria. may be hampered by some countries unstinting for the rebels but aspires to to stick suggesting that support directly leads to more deaths. humbling infrastructure and reliable services in a tangled web of the longer sea and corruption and despite the country's vast oil riches millions of iraqis still suffer every day from poor living conditions and a lack of basic necessities.

a very good morning to you on this friday from moscow. with your worldwide headlines switzerland's cherished banking secrecy well it's under threat in the ongoing battle against tax evasion e.u. finance ministers have agreed to put pressure on the nonmembers nation to share its banking data with the union and swiss banks on the only ones who may have to sacrifice the privacy of some of the world's wealthiest people. offer some insight . so what do we know about switzerland then while the mountainous country sells tasty chocolate it is home to some of the finest watches and it's a great place to ski but when it comes its banking sector well that's when it all starts getting a little bit secretive of

a nearly one hundred years this secrecy attracted some of the world's mega rich to the country to qualify for the flat rate tax deal on offer of the rich are not actually allowed to work in the country but must have a net wealth of at least two million dollars now this ystem has attracted more than five thousand affluent x. patches to this nation of only eight million people including. twain now well they were foreigners collectively seven hundred million dollars in federal and local taxes made it is that could be going into their home treasuries bar this cozy arrangement may soon be a thing of the passes the e.u. can't stand no such juicy tax incentives the e.u. is also piling pressure on members luxembourg and austria as well as san marino and dora and monaco which are actually not members of the union now luxembourg recently

changed its chain just last month that actually agreeing to lift the secrecy rules for european union citizens who have savings that. so what all these tax haven countries actually expected to do that well quite simply expose the e.u. won't be able to check out bank details of any individual whenever they want without requesting permission fust and considering in sign because the banks were worth seven times as much as the country's g.d.p. on a lot from bad for example that was twenty two times more the situation could be catastrophic than if you put it in that way so in a walled well banking secrets on no longer cat these havens may have to find another why to seduce the rates. and these latest figures suggest the eurozone is sliding deeper into recession but while the hunt for tucks of a deceased on little to save the economy so far it has on earth several scandals involving top politicians and business money and there could be many more to come

indeed if the veil of financial secrecy is lifted this report wattis to us or australia. because of this increased efforts from e.u. leaders and the pressure being piled on them there have been a couple of scandals that had arisen over here one of them in france which involves general he's a former budget minister who had had to step down from his position because he had lied about having an offshore account and is also under investigation for possible tax fraud now over in germany another prominent figure who was the boss of one of the world's biggest football clubs by in munich also admitted to being involved in tax fraud and is under investigation so as efforts to increase among leaders we can possibly expect some more big names to come out as such now also recently we know that there has been a massive leak of data to the international consortium for investigative journalists now this data includes and they will some of the world's wealthiest people the politicians all the guards very public figures which reveal

a lot of their wealth parked in the various offshore accounts in the world no journalists have been sifting through this information but so have governments including the british and the american governments leading to some sort of a global effort which is precisely what the e.u. wants to lead to they really want to make this a global exchange of relevant banking data as they say so as we have seen them really impose strongly on cyprus we can expect some political pressure to be piled on the likes of switzerland and liechtenstein as they start these talks and as leaders try to find ways to bring back some of that money to deal with the crisis that there is. a policy correspondent. in the meantime an investor jim rogers he spoke to my colleague bill daughter he said that instead of trying to crack tax havens perhaps e.u. leaders should address the real problems like their own unchecked spending habits.

it's a shame that the politicians don't say gosh we made mistakes why don't we solve the problems ourselves what they're doing is they're trying to grab more money from their own citizens some of them may not be innocent citizens i certainly agree and they should be paying their taxes but there is a heightened awareness now because all of these countries have huge deficits but instead of cutting their spending and cutting the deficit what they're now doing is spending all this money trying to order other people around to help them collect more money but i'll ask you about tax evasion though is it really the cause of europe's financial problems no it's not the problem with with europe europe's got a gigantic spending problem and you think all these countries are going down the tubes because of tax evasion no is going down the tubes because politicians keep spending money they don't have making promises to spend money to people that need money or that it has for money no it's massive deficit spending that's where they should be addressing things that's the brill problem in europe and that's what they

should be trying to do something about some politicians i might be sneaking their money away but they still want to know about it everybody wants a letter here on our t.v. look at how the prospering and independent online currency coin has a u.s. government building a wall of bureaucracy that's coming up for you. but for now the recent flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in syria sees the u.n. chief meet the russian president on friday a lot of improvement has already held talks with the u.s. secretary of state and the british and israeli leaders are going to spin off has been following all the talks and reports from russia's black sea resort of sochi. u.n. secretary general is already in sochi and like you said he's ready to meet with both russia's foreign minister and the president continuing this diplomatic marathon with been witnessing since earlier russia was visited by u.s. secretary of state and visit other officials with syria dominating the talks and

perhaps we're now witnessing a shift in the approach by many nations to the situation since they're now talking about putting together this joint conference which would include both of the syrian rebels and the authorities however several stumbling blocks still remain an opening to russia's foreign minister sergei level of the syrian opposition is still a very divided and it's unclear right now who can represent it as a whole at this conference and also secondly the rebels are still voicing preconditions because it's. in contrast to the syrian government which has responded quite positively to the russian american initiative the opposition zones it was quite they they said that they welcome any initiatives that will help stop the violence but before that assad must go retracing their stance which has been the cause of the deadlock for many months. now there's also another problem with the united states when the u.s. secretary of state john kerry was in washington seemed that they were on the same

page with moscow but as soon as he left he again called for president assad to step down and promised to increase the support of the rebels something which was recently backed by president obama so there are definitely things to talk about for the u.n. secretary general here in sochi and of course we'll be keeping you updated throughout the day. it was going off right there well plans for a peace conference on syria backed by moscow and washington are in a rather stark contrast to the latest u.n. resolution sponsored by arab states the document clearly favors the opposition despite recent evidence of atrocities committed by rebel groups it also ignores the statistics suggesting that when anti regime supporters get international help the death toll spikes have a look at these stats right now with r.t. pharma. this week russia criticised the un general assembly resolution on syria saying it was a one sided text which condemned president assad's regime without leveling blame on

opposition forces who are also being accused of atrocities verifying evidence is difficult but there's been a surge in videos posted online that appear to show brutality by both sides this is among the latest members of the syrian opposition executing eleven government troops it took place in the city of they all saw in the north east of the country and a few days earlier these shocking images were released a syrian rebel fighter seemingly cuts out the heart and lung of a dead uniformed soldier an act that was even condemned by the syrian opposition but fail to draw strong criticism from the un general assembly some analysts say it demonstrates the un selective stance on the conflict the u.n. resolution also expressed outrage at the rapidly increasing death toll it is estimated eighty thousand people have been killed so far in syria but let's look at the statistics in more detail provided by activist groups they argue the death toll peaked when gulf states and the u.s.

sent more weapons to the region then fell when arms were limited before increasing once again when more weapons were supplied it may be a simple correlation but nonetheless suggests arming the syrian opposition may be causing more bloodshed and indeed worrying numbers there with autism to form a more analysis and opinion on syria as always awaiting you want our website r.t. dot com. for now iraq is in the grip of violence the latest suicide bombing claimed at least twenty five lives in the northern city of kut a cook suffering is made worse by crippled infrastructure and shortages of electricity and drinking water artie's care from off now looks at why one of the world's most oil rich nations still lacks basic services ten years after saddam hussein. it is the land between twin rivers ancient day in mesopotamia modern day iraq and in baghdad there's no shortage of ways in which water is used to wash

cars to clean shop fronts to store freshly caught fish before their gutted for sale everything it seems except drinking it personally oh god nobody drinks the city with him because i know it's not clean since my wife heads around the block but comes out to the hapless contaminated it makes us sick how can we drink. water is just one of the many services that still lagging and post-war iraq despite years of promises and billions of dollars spent on reconstruction many neighborhoods lack sewage systems there's no trash collection in some settlements there are barely any streets iraq's central power is sometimes on for as little as two hours a day this mess of wires is a common scene all across iraq it connects homes to private generators people have to buy electricity to cope with the hours of daily blackouts ten years after the war it's a symbol for much of what's wrong with the wrong approach infrastructure and reliable services and a tangled web of bill walker sea and corruption. the

energy crisis has meant more work for album area and electrician who says he now earns about four times as much as he did before the war the grid is in shambles and breakdowns are frequent but he says the government is simply not serious about fixing it. it's the citizens who suffer in the end not the government the services are so bad the power system has really deteriorated there were billions spent on fixing the grid but there's little to show for it. the government has promised improvements in public services but officials say it's a monumental task the infrastructure has been put to the neglected end of the previous regimes and the damage is enormous there is a need to rebuild everything that's requires tens of billions of dollars but the dollars are flowing along with and largely because of the oil that's what accounts for most of the revenue in iraq's one hundred nineteen billion dollar budget here

at the college we're flying reproduction of more than doubled in the past here and lower than that to go even higher iraq's oil industry has been touted as one of the few bright spots for the country that has been playing by little violence and a rampant corruption transparency international ranks iraq as the eighth most corrupt country in the world which in part helps to explain why services are still lagging most of the reconstruction money was squandered through fraud and abuse just one example the government awarded one point seven billion dollars worth of fake electricity contracts it's a paradox that frustrates many iraqis theirs is one of the wealthiest pieces of land on earth but its people are some of the poorest. nowhere is that contrast more stark them here the altai jihad landfill on the edge of baghdad many of the families living here have been displaced by the war but now they're waging a daily battle just to survive services are simply nonexistent conditions a horrible there are no schools for the kids who have no electricity no real houses

or roots or get a drink also we have to travel for columbus's it's very difficult to live here for now they must remain among the refuse uncertain like the rest of iraq as to what will come on the winds of change you see catherine of baghdad iraq. and i will be back with more news including the altie welled up on cross talk in just a moment. is it turning into an overblown scandal or a reflection of a foreign policy poorly thought out and executed the terrorist attack on the american diplomatic outpost in benghazi last september has become a political football to attack the obama administration and hillary clinton mistakes were made but is there a proper focus on the most the breaches ones. speak to language.

programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks about six of the c.r.p. interviews intriguing story for you. in trying. to find out more visit or a big. dog called. mission free cretaceous three guns for judges three arrangement three. three stooges free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects for free media down to our t. dot com. thank you for joining us here on our show you about twelve minutes away from cross-talk

fernald though a u.s. authorities have frozen the account of the world's largest bit coin exchange which basically it helps to move a customer's cash online around the world and the booming digital currency has had bureaucratic blocks ever since its rapid growth came to the attention of the government. explains the u.s. government has made no secret of the fact that it is keeping a close eye on that point but now it appears that the close eye includes a crackdown on. decentralized digital currency the department of homeland security sees the company known as to wallop which allows customers to transfer their u.s. dollars into points on tuesday washington shut down while his ability to process point payments now the u.s. warrant alleges that i want because company was operating as an on the license money transmitting business because to wallow wasn't registered with the with the department of treasury is financial crimes enforcement network now some economists

believe the timing of this case is no please see the popularity and press surrounding that point is skyrocketing and the use of electronic currency is growing more appealing to investors and customers around the world this of course threatens the long held grip that governments and banks have had on currency regulation and interest rate manipulation this new york city farce last restaurant behind to be known as ever began accepting the point last month so far the midtown business has reportedly processed more than twenty thousand dollars worth of transactions in the morning now while wall street remains less than eight kilometers away from here the financial industry to its disappointment is far removed from the way in which the business of point is operating according to new york very important r.t. . so i do not see let's take a moment now to have a look at bit going background to see why the u.s.

government is so worried about the independent currency the first idea floated in two thousand and eight it was all about the possibility for users to avoid buying when transferring cash by connecting directly with each other he would go global that work for your customers around the world can spend bitcoins to buy things without having to pay the. fees it's no one has become so popular have a look at the stats right here at the. and she's value reached a record high in april however check out the subsequent drop being partially blamed on the pressure of red tape what r.t. spoke to journalist to do a she believes the u.s. doesn't want financial control to slip away from its grasp. since one thousand nine hundred seventy one when the u.s. came off the gold standard the dollar hasn't been linked to gold it has meaning to anything if you have a piece of paper you know it says in gold we trust on it but actually it's in the government we trust that piece of paper is absolutely meaningless if you're putting your trust into banks and central authority is a big point is

a whole new idea of money with it when the money is basically regulated by network and by people and i think that with people kind of losing trusting government the idea of something like that coin is really gaining in popularity and people are beginning to realize what a actually all these dollars in my pocket then they're no more real as a currency than something like. twenty minutes past the hour moscow time many more stories and brilliant videos online at all if you don't call them right now including a medical breakthrough a new technology allowing scientists to harvest stem cells from cloned human embryos it's opening completely new horizons in treating red disease but as expected it's not without controversy we'll tell you wired dot com. also there for you this hour background checks on internet dates to top two tapes consulates around the world reveal the weirdest inquiries from citizens abroad and what else was on the request list it's pretty bizarre stuff at the border just head over to

my web site of course. the news today. these are the images. from the streets of canada. operations rule the day. before we get to cross talk let's get into the world update starting with. one of the boston marathon bombing suspects he reportedly left a note claiming responsibility for the attack he wrote while on the run from police saying the blasts were avenge for the u.s. wars in iraq and afghanistan three people were killed more than two hundred injured in two explosions near the finish line of the boston red. to bolivia miners

teachers and health service workers have again clashed with police during a general strike and now union members from the police force itself threatened to join the protesters as part of their actual strikers have detonated dynamite in the capital and block the roads the biggest union in the country pensions valued at one hundred percent of a worker's salary. a broken go for buggy may have the explosion at a plant in texas which led to fifteen people dead last month investigators are looking at whether faulty batteries in the buggy may have sparked the fire which caused the blast of a double explosion happened the moment flames touched the tanks filled with chemicals and destroyed nearby homes and schools. have a look here traffic accident ended on a spectacular cliffhanger in the australian city of melbourne a truck turned over and was left dangling on the side of the motorway bridge throwing the driver on to another motorway twenty metres below he survived but

suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized in a critical condition the accident caused major traffic delays during the peak hours of cranes had to be called in to safely take the truck off the bridge. now prisoners are going to mowbray they now say the vast majority of them are on hunger strike they've been protesting for over one hundred days in their bid to get either a fair trial or perhaps secure a release. form a detainee to explain exactly what drives inmates to such drastic measures. you have to remember that these people have gone through these people gone through a whole series of different types of prisons from being in a in a prison massacre and killer junkie for being in kandahar background with people tortured to death to guantanamo is camp x. ray where they were in chicken wire friend tenses to camp delta to now comes five six and seven so it has changed it's been a progression and the steady and rapid. eating away the erosion of the personal

psyche has taken its toll so if at the end of this process now they put them into a decent prison with some decent living standards it doesn't take away from the fact of the past eleven years that tortured you use everything else becomes true for all of that and it's a strange situation where water is peripheral which force feeding is peripheral where the fact that you've not had meaningful communication with your family is peripheral the fact that you're sexually. and when you're searched every time your lawyer comes and nothing can be more judge of that than hearing that your child who you've never seen in your life is now going to be eleven years old that's not exaggerated that's the truth that nobody wants to face up to. thirty of their hunger striking due to only use of guantanamo bay being subjected to force feeding the prisons a spokesman has repeatedly argued that controversial procedure is legal and necessary despite human rights activists calling it inhumane dr stephens an ark is a retired brigadier general and army medical officer he says ultimately even force

feeding one prevent the deaths of mates. i think we're going to sadly tragically we're going to see some deaths the main these men have you know been in detention now eleven years or so a number of got medical conditions they've aged they have you know they're not they're not all that healthy and when you've got over a hundred at least of the hundred sixty six. got some medical problems i think that it's going to be sad but i think we're going to see that some of them are going to die is a medical officer in the united states military is one obligated to follow orders in terms of things that they may find that maybe might find morally questionable no i mean they're not and i think it's a tough choice and it may mean that the military physician risks his career or risks you know any advancement but they're not do they are clearly in fact expected not to in any way defy or violate what they feel are their professional

principles and ethics or in fact to abandon order that they consider illegal. well here it ought to be we continue to very closely for the hunger strike on air and online of the full account of the situation is available on our website also you thought call them including the comments from prison officials the lawyers as well for the detainees activists and of course the latest updates. well you stay with us if you can hear want to see we come to you live from moscow and tempers are about to fly and i can only mean one thing is people of the first.

a fairly dickinson university study has been revealed to twenty nine percent of americans think that a revolution will just happen in america but needs to be done in order to protect individual liberty if respondents consider themselves conservative than that number is bumped up to forty four percent that's nearly half also fox news found out that since nine eleven the percent of americans willing to sacrifice their personal freedom to reduce the threat of terrorism is at an all time low this number might sound trivial but it only takes a tiny percent of the population actually start a revolution i mean how many communists were in russia at the start of nine hundred seventeen and how many were there at the end revolution may sound like a nice thing to a growing number of people but the media wrongly portrays revolution as some fun video game battle where freedom fighters topple the statue of the dictator and then democracy just instantly comes about and life is good and happy i ask you to ignore movies like v. for vendetta and look at history revolutions cause horrible destruction that could take decades to repair i guess what when your economy collapses because

a revolt infrastructure breaks down and the shelves go bare also professional revolutionaries get their supplies from somebody and a foreign powers were to say fund american revolutionaries they would want something in return aloha and goodbye alaska if you look at history then you'll see that revolution is brutal and ugly and it's truly the last resort but still is a resort but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter a live oh is it turning into an overblown scandal or a reflection of a foreign policy poorly thought out and executed the terrorist attack on the

american diplomatic outpost in benghazi last september has become a political football to attack the obama administration and hillary clinton it appears mistakes were made but is there a proper focus on the most agree just wants. to crosstalk the benghazi affair i'm joined by raymond tanter in washington he is the president of the iran policy committee and author of the upcoming book arab rebels in iranian dissidents also in washington we have been mcgovern he is co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and in atlanta we cross to jay bookman he's a columnist and blogger at the atlanta journal constitution all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want if i go to you first in washington is this is scandal or just incompetence or both. but the scandal is all out of proportion to what needs to.