(laughter) >> about 61% of the iranians are persians. there's up to some numbers put them at 40% that are turkic people. and historically the persians and the turks don't like each other. also you have the arab minority and all these people are starting to oppose the persian domination of iran.ñr >> the as januaryian, the turkish people is interesting because we hear a lot about iran and saudi arabia are the two big players. what's turkey's role in all of this and is iran nervous about you are the economy? i would think that the azerbaijanian population would have sympathy toward turkey. >> we see an increased role in the middle east. we see in the syria, we see in the central asia and that's what's scaring iran because iran is surrounded with many different ethnicities. most of them are turkic and any rise in ethnic nationalism in central asia is going to be considered as a significant blow to iranian influence in the region. for example azerbaijan is mostly shi'a. shi'a muslim. iran is 90% see ya. iran claims that they are the protecto

navy is boosting defenses in the persian gulf, equipping the fleet with a new round of weapons to stop attempts by iran to close the straight of a -- strait of hormuz. it threatened to shut it down, a checkpoint for 1/5 of the world's oil. >> reporter: the u.s. navy is adding guns to the destroyers and ships to counter any iranian fast boats or cruise missiles that mean used to close the strait of hormuz. that is what the defense sources tell the colleagues. they say the pentagon asks congress to reallocate $100 million of the defense fund to make sure there are no gaps in our military's capables in the persian gulf and this is coming two weeks after the pentagon asked for 85 million more for bunker buster bomb upgrades and one day after the international atomic international agency said it has serious concerns about iran's nuclear program near the end of the 11-page report, it says that the agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible military dimentions to iran's nuclear program. check it out. uranium needs to be enriched at a 90% level to be used in nuclear weapons.

so predict that the persian rug market in china will soon become the world's largest. tnstofo chinese people, persian rugs are a symbol of the upper class unlike thchp meicar carpets. >> reporter: he plans to display his goods at ecaet exhibit in march in shanghai to seek new customers. iran's industry plans to expand in southeast asia and other onie that's the report from nhk world. >> just beautiful. >>> the european union is coidin lifting economic sanctions against myanmar in april in recognition ofth moves. eu development commissioner will visit myanmar on sunday. he plans to meet the president and the opposition leader aung sasuky they have been stepping up reforms, like allowing aung san suu kyi to run in parliamentary bi-elections in april and releasing many politic prisoners. they say all economic sanctions may be lifted in april, depending on the outcome of bileio and release of more political prisoners. the eu foreign policy chief katherine ashton is scheduled to visit in april. the eu hopes to improve relation with myanmar, following recent announcement by

they know that they have got carriers, american carriers in the persian gulf.ad serious about ultimately an attack, if not is done. the secretary of state talked about it. so they have had the exercises planning and threatening to close the strait of hormuz. iranians are trying to show they aren't afraid. i think they are. and i think the time to ratchet up the sanctions, we're going to put sanctions on the central bank but we're doing it slowly. we ought to do it right away hard because the clock is running. >> bret: no one claimed responsible for the attack. >> whoever did it proved they can amount an attack but not successful one. this wasn't tit-for-tat for what israeli presumably did for iranian scientists because nobody was killed. it's hard to see what would convince them that the costs are too great. even in opposition in iran believes in having a nuclear bomb. >> i mentioned last week that the kind of activities were more widespread than publicly reported. i can add detail to that. there were three iranians expelled by the european country in late janu

tu tun eesha, libya, egypt, maybe syria and then the persian gulf area i've been talked -- i talked to a number of the ambassadors and others there. they're all concerned of r radicalism taking over. although we want to get rid of people like gadhafi and mu bar he can, mubarak, although he was a pretty good friend of camp david, although we want to get rid of the bad guys, i'd like to know what we're doing to guarantee that we're not supporting radical islamists who are going to end up causing a bigger problem than the problem we already have. i understand that we want to get rid of people that are persecuting their populations. but we also have to be concerned about what it means to the united states as far as energy is concerned, stability in the region, israel and all those things. and i would like to know what guarantees that we have that the governments that we're supporting over there or the fledgling governments we're supporting are not going to be radicalized and start supporting and implementing shah reea law and thus we would face a more difficult problem down the road than w

in the persian gulf region funding civil war and violence in the country it is these countries that are that should be blamed for much of the bloodshed in the country and the west of course supports them as well but the western propaganda machine. inverts reality in what they gave if they are so keen on democracy in the region they should the united states and its allies should call on all dictatorships to their leaders to step aside and to have elections that i'm going to write and say i'm going to say the president ahmadinejad he does support the assad regime ongoing in syria facing this pressure from the opposition but iran is now under severe international pressure over its nuclear program we've seen the west bearing down on even further in recent months do you think with iran's support of the syrian government could it could tear on really risk coming under even greater a backlash if it in some way does support the assad regime. well remember iran's position is based upon a moral principle and that is non interference of hedger monic powers and the non-a ference of neighboring coun

bargaining chips they are the world's greatest bargainers it's not for nothing that we talk about persian rugs they're the original persian rug salesman and they always want to hold off or hold on to the bargaining chips until they can play them when the timing is right and i think they now feel this is the time to do it so that what accounts for example for israel's rhetoric clearly the israelis are you know have a geopolitical strategic interest for not seeing a nuclear armed iran but it does seem like the talk has been count up massively in the past few months well there are two different levels of this at one level there's no doubt the israelis particularly benjamin netanyahu the prime minister are playing the threat of a war against iran for everything it's worth to try to put pressure on iran to put pressure on the united states perhaps even more than that iran to do something more drastic more fundamental against iran of course what they really want to the united states to attack iran's nuclear facilities but behind that there is a very serious question as to whether prime minister

younger stone film maker traveling to iran to produce a movie about a persian poet.ve no beef that you converted to islam. we applaud all people of conscience. your association with iran is interesting since that country is an enemy to america and many other countries in the world you started a discussion with colonel peters about the israelis maybe getting ready to attack iran. what say you? >> well, in the first place, i wouldn't say, you know, the conversion is an interesting word because i don't believe you can convert from one -- from the same god. from one god to the same god. i have also believed in the same judeo-christian god. misunderstanding of islam that islam is a different god. different name for the sam one. i accepted islam. i think it's an important move. also politically if you want to understand the history of this region because, you know, the persians have been muslim for going on, what 1400 years. they have many jews in iran and i spoke with some when i was when i took the vow. the iranian people are very intelligent people. i had great discussi

and iran naval vessels in the persian gulf for example or another seizure of an amy ambassador the wayrit issue was seed few months agatha could result if the loss of life. >>reporter: president of san francisco advisor to secretary of state clinton says the stake are so high no side can afford to pay the price of military option. >> i think most likely we end this with negotiated settlement but far from serb. >> israel said they have a narrow window of opportunity this spring to bomb iran northern most nuclear facility at. after april they believe it will be so forth fight israel won't be able to reach them. at stanford, iran expert says iran doesn't believe israel threat. >> calculation is that i'm not sure they are wrong is that israel won't attack unless it has the west backing. unless it has the united states backing. >> president obama sent his national security advisor to israel in ab attempt to dissuade by plan to bomb iran. the professor says just look at the map. there are more nuclear facilities than more than we know. >> in trying to take them out i think will have politica

and then at the persian gulf were about themselves. and my question is -- host: i think we got your question. guest: that is a good question. republicans and democrats are making the same point. they're saying the iraq war costas trillions of dollars and lost american lives. we to pull our people back and save money. that said, the persian gulf is a source of oil. there's also a lot of natural gas. the feeling is that our economy depends on that oil, unfortunately. because we depend on it so much, we cannot just withdraw from that part of the world. host: what is the states of iran's royal bank industry? guest: it is not thriving. it is coming to a halt. not just the eu, but japan and korea. we are seeing their oil sales beginning to come down. to a historic low. this has hit the heart of iran. host: in "the washington times quoted -- times." guest: you have the people on the street who may love them and support them because they do not know anything else. then you have this educated class. you could alienate that class. you might see

include all six members of the drop cooperation council that is the monarchies and camera in the persian gulf this is not a representative group of nations of course in the united nations of the world it's a very select one largely saying for the first a comparable resolution one thousand seven hundred three against libya last year no armed uprising of the sort of burn in syria could have occurred if it was in libya earlier or kossovo to the slaughter thirty years ago without the understanding by those in gauging the armed uprising that they would be supported by forces outside the. well more than two hundred people were part of the tail by security forces in the syrian city of homs just ahead of the vote and security council and i think it has been contested by some opposition groups putting it around fifty syria tribune at it to any one hundred so the information coming from the opposition should be taken at face value. but i mean they were not to be leaving the syrian army waited ten months and then just the night before the u.n. security council meeting it decided it will start bomba

the persian gulf one accuser russia and china this is about who is going to control the middle east from now well and syria is needed to. linked to what's happened in europe so basically what we have here is the u.s. with their and nato partners in fact the only to look at. france and britain this expression gulf monarchies there are still so many hardcore sunni in the persian gulf against iran against syria and delete between iran and syria with russia and china so brazen again the road lot in the long run the big picture is let's draw russia from having a naval base in the mediterranean with syria having a close connection with the middle east let's block iran from having a close energy partnership with china and in the end let's we the west block russia and china from being closely related to the middle east and southeast asia this is the big picture so what are we going to see from now want is a radicalization and that's already happening. so this means. the rebels in syria the free syrian army will keep being armed and weaponized by not only qatar and saudi arabia which is already h

gulf monarchies dills beacons of democracy in the persian gulf who are preaching regime change but not for the walk received and for the benefit of the syrian people because they want the hardcore sunni using brotherhood organized government in syria stead of assad. well washington you mentioned washington earlier they had met that al qaeda is working alongside syria's armed opposition groups where the u.s. considering extending support to the rebels do you think that teaming up with terrorist is really what washington wants yes because this is exactly what they did in libya though forget that lived as though it liberated libya is now a country run by militias just hundred and fifty at least in misrata and i would say at least forty or fifty in tripoli itself and the military commander of tripoli is a former al qaeda assets they've been working together since our days for the best ten months at least in libya and for the past three or four months at least in that in styria as up is the same the motor's up their own state without the no fly zone because now russia and china did draw the

about it so now alliance between nato basically led by washington and london and paris and this six persian gulf monarchies of the gulf cooperation council dare genda from the beginning for months now is reaching change in syria no matter what they knew that they couldn't never get that you win that security council resolution authorizing a no fly zone over syria for number of reasons first of all because it did assad regime is not a bold bardi its own population with makes so this has nothing to do with the syrian peace process and all syrians themselves began being very explicit look we don't trust this big sigh old council would like to organize ourselves and would like to discuss with the go sit down with the go and discuss a roadmap for peace but between ourselves and a little later in the program we report on another target of western pressure iran is ready to cause chaos in world markets saying it will respond to a looming you will boil in bargo by cutting off the supply before european countries have time to find alternatives. a dozen dead and thousands injured the bloody aftermath

think that this is a very dangerous situation the militarization of the straits of hormuz in the persiangulf can lead to accidental clashes and we can remember i suppose that accident back in one thousand eight hundred seventy when american warship the blends in shot down a civilian airliner with a loss of two hundred ninety day there have been a number of instance like that over the over the years they could just take something to trigger here so we are in a very dangerous point and i think in the west people in the united states and in europe should be asking their governments to pull back from talk of military action to pull back from sanctions and to start talking to tehran and i think it's very important people in the west actually put this put this demand because the iranians must feel that they are under pressure they've vents in syria looking advance in libya they must feel they are next. on the list and i've heard other people in london for instance say well there's not going to be a war because the americans can't fight a two front war in afghanistan and there was a say it just

against international law in this case as well actions of the turks and the dictatorships in the persian gulf region along with a western regimes are against international law and that is why iran opposes these actions based upon the same moral principle professor saeed mohammad marandi from the university of tehran live in beirut thank you for joining us today. greeks venting their anger at even more planned the cuts which the e.u. is demanding in return for vital funds after a tough multi-party deal the parliament it's exposure to vote on the package on sunday but a junior coalition party says it won't back the new plan greeks who have already suffered multiple austerity rulings once again clashed with police today who replied with tear gas some protesters threw stones and molotov cocktails suits and union strikes brought the country to a standstill eurozone finance ministers say they want to see concrete action before the second bell well worth one hundred thirty billion euros can be handed over without it athens it goes bust in march while greece's private creditors could write off o

include all six members of the gulf cooperation council that is the monarchies and camera and the persian gulf they include the other two monarchies in the or world morocco and jordan who last may apply to join the gulf cooperation council and turkey this is and i might add libya we can hardly talk to other governments in the condition of a lawless anarchy that of planes in a country but the regime of libya was one of the co-sponsors this is not a representative group of nations of course in the united nations or the world it's a very select lying that is largely the same group that the comparable resolution one thousand and seventy three against libya last year which resulted as we know at a seven month bombing campaign against the nation. forwarding i think their national can you name will now play in resolving the crisis after the white vote. well the true international community that is under ninety four members of the united nations and including most particularly the berths nations brazil russia india china south africa and other countries have to take a much more pronounced role of

at the mouth of the persian gulf. iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait.retaliation that for the sanctions that have squeezed iran's oil exports. one-fifth of the world's crude oil travels through that strait of hormuz. >> all this is coming at a time of heightened tensions. bellicose language out of iran yesterday. >> that's right. there's increasing talk of a military strike against iran by israel or the u.s. because of fears that iran is building atomic weapons. iran's supreme ayatollah warned yesterday that any military strikes would damage the u.s. or israel many more time than iran. as the tension mounts, military is gathering in the area. the aircraft carrier abraham lincoln is included. this is definitely one to watch. >> thank you, jeffrey. reporting from london on the iranian naval exercises going on in the persian gulf. >>> in syria, the deadliest attacks yet by government forces in the nearly 11-month-old uprising there. more than 200 people killed and hundreds more injured since last night. the army pelted anti-government activists with mortar

that said the persian gulf is a source of much of our oil. the reserves you talked about, a lot of that natural gas. it would be very, very difficult. that feeling is our economy depends on that oil unfortunate and because we did a not so much we can't just withdraw from that part of the world. >> host: here's a tweet. mr. dreazen, what is the state of iran's oil industry? disarray or thriving? >> guest: it is not thriving. it's a very good question because this had been the mean source, the only source of revenue for that government. right now it's basically coming to a halt. not just the e.u. but also japan and korea is promised to stop buying it by the summer. this is the only source of money iran has big you are seeing their oil sales beginning to come down. their currency is at historic low. this is sent directly a bull's-eye into the heart of iran's. >> host: here's the headline today. iran calls new u.s. sections a strategy to sow discontent in that country. >> guest: what they're referring to is the u.s. openly stated, you have the mo

telling there is must be very very nervous about the american build up inside the got inside the persian gulf if you look at the map of iran it is surrounded by american military bases incidentally bases which are also in that russia and china so i think in some ways the pressure must be on inside the ryan to think we should very go retaliate in forced i also think that this is a very dangerous situation the militarization of the straits of hormuz in the persian gulf can lead to accidental clashes and we can remember i suppose that accident back in one thousand nine hundred seventy when american. valenciennes shot down a civilian airliner with a loss of two hundred ninety day there have been a number of instances like that over the over the years they could just take something to trigger here so we're in a very dangerous point and i think in the west people in the united states and in europe should be asking their governments to pull back from talk of military action to pull back from sanctions and to start talking to tehran i think is very important people in the west actually put this

he had become very interested in persian towers. it was the 1930's. it was all about machinery and sort of this amazing architecture, very powerful architecture. he convinced the rec park commission that building a tower in her memory would be the thing to do with her money. >> it was going to be a wonderful observation place because it was one of the highest hills in the city anywhere and that that was the whole reason why it was built that high and had the elevator access immediately from the beginning as part of its features. >> my fear's studio was just down the street steps. we were in a very small apartment and that was our backyard. when they were preparing the site for the coit tower, there was always a lot of harping and griping about how awful progress was and why they would choose this beautiful pristine area to do them in was a big question. as soon as the coit tower was getting finished and someone put in the idea that it should be used for art, then, all of a sudden, he was excited about the coit tower. it became almost like a daily dest

taking office when we were the first city hall in the united states and opening our doors for the persiannot an occasion i would miss. very proud to be here. [speaks for the language] >> thank you, mayor lee and supervisor mirkarimi. next i would like to introduce the ceo of art.com which has sponsored a moderate iraqi art exhibit. he will give a few words about this amazing collection. >> thank you. thank you, nearly peter i am and and a grid myself, a french- american. i became american in the beautiful city of san francisco three years ago, so i can relate a lot to what you said earlier. i am here today because we are presenting a collection, an important collection of original art from iraq, and i wanted to share a very brief story about how i came across this article and why we are sharing it today. it is back in 2003, there was just a ceasefire in baghdad, right after, you know the second world war,. and someone flew straight into jordan, hired two bodyguards, hired a four-wheel drive, and went straight into baghdad. why did she do that? because she knew that the baghdad art scene w

. >>> iran has launched some war games in the persian gulf. jeffrey kofman joins us with more from london. what is iran trying to show with this apparent show of force in that region? >> and good morning you to, ron. call it an overt flexing of muscles. the focus of the straits of hormuz. iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait. one-fifth of the world's crude oil travels through that strait of hormuz. >> heightened tensions. bellicose language out of iran yesterday. >> that's right. there's talk of an increasing threat of an attack on iran be israel. the ayatollah said yesterday that any military action would hurt the u.s. or israel many times more than iran. this is definitely one to watch. >> thank you, jeffrey. reporting from london on the iranian naval exercises going on in the persian gulf. >>> in syria, more than 200 people killed and hundreds more injured since last night. the army pelted anti-government activists with mortar and nail bombs. >>> and an explosion near a military base in california has left at least one person

western capitalism will have to compete in the marketplace with other kinds of models, china being one, persian gulf another. the left-wing populism in latin america being the third coming and i think all of these of advantages and disadvantages, and that leads to a world in which the playing field will be much more level than it has been. >> to you see the charnel model as it the logical models rather than just pure economic models? and our people going to look to those like the look to the west in the past? >> i would say they are a combination of the ideology and the socio-economic foundations, and i think the to our hard to untangle so let's take china for a second. what is so different about china's trajectory than the west as we were talking about a few minutes ago in the west, the middle class was the vanguard of change. they drove economic growth and pushed back against the absolute est.. the chinese state is much smarter than the monarchies of europe because the monarchies of europe tried to keep down the middle class. the communist party, the they are not particularly communist and ag

. >>> iran has launched some war games in the persian gulf. in its latest show of force.effrey kofman joins us with more from london. what is iran trying to show with this apparent show of force in that region? >> and good morning you to, ron. call it an overt flexing of muscles. iran's powerful revolutionary guard holding exercises this morning. at the same time, the iranian army is focusing on ground exercises. their focus is the straits of hormuz. iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait. one-fifth of the world's crude oil travels through that strait of hormuz. >> all this is coming at a time of heightened tensions. bellicose language out of iran yesterday. >> that's right. there's increasing talk of a military strike against iran by israel or the u.s. iran's supreme ayatollah warned yesterday that any military strikes would damage the u.s. or israel many more time than iran. the aircraft carrier abraham lincoln is leading the way there. this is definitely one to watch. >> thank you, jeffrey. reporting from london on the iranian naval exercises going on in th

will always love >> others remember when she before theanthem ther bowl 10 days after first persian gulfar started. ♪ >> the super bowl, that was an amazing one. >> she started bellowing out beautiful song. >> in recent years, she became for negative things like drug use.ed many, that does not erase her talent. >> whether or not you agree with choices, she could sing. >> black, white, asian, you name it. so many folks really understood whitney houston's music. >> whitney houston came to d.c. over theof times years. was here in 2010 to accept an award -- an award at the warner theatre. of fans in thet d.c. area. we will continue to track every in the death investigation. we will have more in our second half-hour as well as tomorrow. for instance of did, go to wjla.com. >> the earlier strong winds down a tree onto a county house, trapping a woman. we are seeing some of the lowest alleratures we have seen long. we have complete coverage. we began with the weather center. was the second coldest far at reagan national airport. 33 degrees. official highest off to the west upper 20's.n the the

a military strike against iran saying he prefers a diplomatic end to the nuclear standoff in the persian gulf. >>> hello and welcome to cnbc's "worldwide exchange" with christine tan and i'm ross westgate. the new york giants walked away with the super bowl prize and madonna's halftime performance was pretty good, although i wasn't there personally up last night to watch it. christine, i don't know whether you decide -- i don't know how the timing is for you. you'd have had to get up early. we could have done it. get up this morning. >> we could. no, i was more interested in the snow that fell in your neck of the woods, ross. you know, was it cold er than expected? >> dealing with the snow post last year so then a new way to cancel all the flights before the snow comes. that's how we deal with snow now apparently. >> okay. better to be safe than sorry, i guess, ross. >>> in the markets today we're looking very happy for a monday with the exception of hong kong. a little bit of a correction going on. this market had rallied 3,000 points so a little correction taking place down 0.2% but 0

and then at the persian gulf were about themselves. and my question is -- host: i think we got your question. guest: that is a good question. republicans and democrats are making the same point. they're saying the iraq war costas trillions of dollars and lost american lives. we to pull our people back and save money. that said, the persian gulf is a source of oil. there's also a lot of natural gas. the feeling is that our economy depends on that oil, unfortunately. because we depend on it so much, we cannot just withdraw from that part of the world. host: what is the states of iran's royal bank industry? guest: it is not thriving. it is coming to a halt. not just the eu, but japan and korea. we are seeing their oil sales beginning to come down. to a historic low. this has hit the heart of iran. host: in "the washington times quoted -- times." guest: you have the people on the street who may love them and support them because they do not know anything else. then you have this educated class. you could alienate that class. you might see

(laughter) the persian menace nabbed the oscar for best foreign language film, a bunch of propaganda about an iranian family struggling with divorce, an elderly father suffering from alzheimer's and a child caught in the mid-who will just wants both parents to keep loving each other. this is an iranian plot to enrich my emotions. (laughter) and these fools gave iran its first-ever oscar! which means they finally have the vital gold-plated core necessary to arm a nuclear bomb! (applause) i mean, remember... am i the only one who remembers? we would never have defeated japan without joan crawford's best actress oscar for "mildred pierce." (laughter) but academy, listen to me carefully, academy, all is forgiven if next year you just honor a movie opening this friday. "the lorax." (cheers and applause) now, don't ge me wrong! don't get me wrong, folks. i'm no fan of dr. seuss. not after what those kids did to pop. (laughter) he suffered massive internal hemorrhaging. (laughter) now, i didn't like this book, okay? first of all, it was a book. (laughter) second, it was an environmental j.d

so even once we get past the political crisis in the persian gulf, or possible political crisis in the persian gulf, i think the long-term trend for gas prices is going to be high, and that's not going to be good for the consumers. we see more down side than up side potential. >> john, you're more positive on retail here. tell me what you think drives that thesis, and where you are investing today. >> we try not to paint the stocks all the same, either buy or sell. we think there are going to be losers within retail. we think there are going to be winners within retail. people are going to go out and shop, and people shop where they have good experiences, where they can get the merchandise that they want at the prices that they want. and the consumer will make repeat traffic appearances and repeat purchases at those stores. and those will be the winners. and multiple retailers will be the losers. we're trying to focus on the retailers that are generating the positive surprises in earnings, the positive surprises in traffic, the positive surprises in same-store sales. and you've seen th

nine sailors on board but they were rescued bay documentary crew that happened to be filming in the persian gulf. >> one of those things you saw was people using buckets to put the fire out. >> was a brave move on the documentary boat's part. they are next to a boat carrying fuel. >> as soon as they see rescue, they jump out. the boat gets closer and everybody jumps from the burning ship on to the rescue ship. >> these dudes are wasting no time. as soon as the boat gets close enough -- >> they are going back to the ship they just came from. they are like, no, no go the other way. >> they all got off okay. >> these guys are lucky what are the chances that a documentary crew will be out there close by. >> the documentary crew is thinking the same thing. look at the video we're getting. >>> question for you guys, is this proof that karma exists? we saw these photos, a guy on a sweet porch 911 decided i have a quicker way to get aroundhis trfi this stopped lane. i will . didn't realize he was pulling his sweet ride into wet cement. this was in san francisco, california. the driver stayed inside

there really is must be very very nervous about the american build up inside the gulf inside the persian gulf if you look at the map of iraq and it is surrounded by american military bases incidentally bases which are all sort in that russia and china so i think in some ways the pressure must be on inside the rhine to think we should be we going to retaliate in forced. dot com has plenty of other stories for you right now. the group anonymous find out what the f.b.i. really thinks of them their own back by leaking the audio recording online. to what was said at our web site. and russia is over the moon as it unveils its space ambitions these and other stories available online that are. campaigners for online freedom are out in force in sweden to protest against a new copy right treaty signed by governments across europe the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement has yet to be ratified by the european parliament and that is exactly what activists want to prevent saying the new law would endanger free speech and net privacy artie's tom barton is in stockholm. this is the front line in the mos

navy is boosting its defense in the persian gulf, reportedly undertaking land and sea preparations, ahead of growing threats out of iran. the u.s. stepping up its presence in the region. hoping to stop any attempt to close the strait of hormuz, the strategic gateway for 1/5 of the world's oil supply. peter doocy has more from washington. >> reporter: the u.s. navy is adding guns to destroyers and ships to counter any iranian fast boats or cruise missiles that might be used to close the strait of hormuz, defense sources told jennifer griffin today, and sources say the pentagon asked congress to reallocate $100 million of the defense funds to make sure there aren't any gaps in our military's capabilities in the persian gulf. the news comes just about two weeks off the pentagon asked for 85 million more dollars for bunker-buster bomb upgrades, and, just within day after the international atomic energy agency said it has serious concerns about iran's nuclear program. near the end of the 11-page report it says that the agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible military dimen

. >>> tension in the persian gulf is looming over energy prices here at home, where analysts are projecting gas will hit $4 a gallon by as early as may. the price at the pump is up 13 cents in the last month. a trend that could spell trouble for the economic recovery. let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. karen chow is live in london for us. >> reporter: the world economy is an ananomaly, lowest demand r petrol since 1997, pricesare high, people putting this down to a trade going on. if you take a long term look what is happening, you can see what the price pressures are. on the one hand you've got if you look at the prices, you can see deteriorating global economy, this is depressing prices somewhat. on the other side what you outlined concerns around the middle east, ten snsion in irann syria, interrupting production from oil pipelines, that is having an impact. many people now weighing up these two factors and there is a thought process that despite the depressed demand, it won't be enough to keep up which will push prices further and hav

the strait leads to the persian gulf. it is one of the most important delivery routes for oil. >>> the wife of an israeli agent and others were injured in a suspected terrorist attack. the woman was in a vehicle and the two others were in a car nearby nearby. a motorcyclist was placing a device on the car when it stopped in traffic. the blast occurred near the prime minister's residence. the area is home to many politicians and is under heavy security. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says this is an exporter of terror. iran has denied involvement. the israeli foreign minister said they found a bomb on a car on wednesday. they are taking precautions. >>> the afghan government has condemned the international forces operating in the country. it says they have killed 15 civilians, incding chilen in rent weeks. a government team investigating civilian casualties held a news conference in kabul. it said french troops were responsible for the deaths of eight children last week. the officials said u.s. air strikes caus