with the opposition they've also called for international support by preparing their case for the un security council and it's the extra push many people here in syria have been calling for we need to prepare to be friendly. to homs the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital now many damascus suburbs are also embroiled in the conflicts between government forces and the armed opposition well this is all that's left of many of the houses now inside just gutted it's broken glass you've got bullet holes lining the walls you've got clothes seen around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see here the devastating consequences that this conflict has had the picking up the pieces were improved easy amongst the opposition themselves there are worrying divisions and as the conflicts become increasingly violent there are now areas of the country where it's unclear exactly who's in control what do

the people here in the image i think the syrian army having control or. not have. a lot of number of number of secrecy that is in charge inside the. courtroom issue because the diversion of the stuff arab league observers like set to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party elections even seen by the international community or the you are your sort of or you are into a position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side working with the other side is there look instead of charging you with thousands killed bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be a major task sara for a damascus syria. now that abuses from both the syrian regime and the

opposition have been acknowledged at the arab league it's the best time to turn to dialogue so south beirut based political analyst dr. the opposition or what the so-called syrian free army or the desert there is from the syrian army have been also using heavy gunfire against civilians they have been using explosives apparently they have been using the armored. rockets and you know some weapons that cannot usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is a president said also enjoys. popular support. one cannot deny this not even the institute in qatar denied this when they did the research last month and they found that fifty five percent of the city and population oppose the downfall or did a movement of president assad it's time for dialogue. has tried. somebody

form some democratic reforms there is a constitutional council now in syria trying to rewrite the constitution there will be elections in the coming months there are some of the forums i think that the opposition shows face because it is of the interest of no one no one's interests that need to or steps in they would be destruction and they would be chaos as was the case in libya. and just a little later here in our team will look at how many libyans are beginning to feel like their revolt was simply a mirage and a country seeing its most turbulent anti-government protests since the fall of moammar gadhafi with them arrest beginning and by god just as it did last year also ahead. citizens of benton harbor are living from one day to them that there's been very little effort on the part of the world for all that runs

everything to try to. involve the community how giant corporations thrive on government funds and outsource laborous home communities fall apart around them. gracious said to become the twenty eighth country to join the european union after the proposal was given the go ahead in a national referendum the country's accession now has to be approved by all current member nations but almost all ballots counted two thirds of voters expressed a desire to join the block the spy that use ongoing debt crisis the turnout however it just forty four percent pointed to apathy among many towards the issue of the build up to the referendum was marred by clashes and e.u. protesters staged demonstrations right after the vote as artist on board reports opposition to joining the european union is unlikely to and here. violent scenes in the croatian but it's the country's referendum but certainly.

this is being made behind me the police trying to push the protesters in ways they take and protest his late sixty's diminish the tense here in the creation capital pointing has been noted well now police are going to take people away in advance of protest is trying to stop that without going on oh oh. you know you hear a lot of these anti protesters say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are the joining would surrender croatia's independence to brussels yes i believe that couple in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the croat economy actually with the stability that scale can lead it into the credit rating of creation. that

is translated into membership of the union gracious budgets would be in serious trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u. is being discussed but whereas most of the political class no longer the question europhile stands public views differ widely. italians will come into or see and touch all our fish and that's our biggest creditor if you. carefully but they told us we have to obey the e.u. has regulations those they don't want to they must stop trading political because i said with a small family business and the european union commissions everything toward big shocking central sun in my that if it is not for the changes here in memphis even if we have two sons turn employed and maybe because of that i would be privacy to most of the symbols were you know the legitimate worries about sovereignty local industry and economy well being a former state and there are still some voices in parliament think the benefits of

what joining it were the costs if we were not going with our heads high up we're going on our knees because our economy. non-existing our exporting is pretty bad our b.b.b. is very low so we don't really have anything to offer. you. even at the local theatre the subject is croatia's relationship all over it. with those on the stage and to the funeral pyre issue they'd rather poke fun at security . or for example facebook is pro or for you. it's absurd because. there's no real quality of debate struck if you back out on the streets the arguments quality not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum dissolves the nation's division over

your. top box of art. a major argument for a horatio joining the e.u. was the promise of a better economic future but that may be an elusive promise but watching r.t. live from moscow coming up later this hour shared pain for common game. and the e.u. prepares to unveil a strict set of sanctions against iran measures that could well backfire on the blocks fragile economy. russia's policy on migration has come under scrutiny from its prime minister and presidential hopeful reported in a second major newspaper article as part of his election campaign put and set out his position on a range of key challenges let's get more on this now from our correspondent peter oliver peter tells a bit more about the main points to come out of this article well migration and multiculturalism the main topics addressed in this latest article from vladimir

putin the he praised russia's history of multiculturalism saying that it went back centuries back to the days of the the old russian empire they. said that the country had faced serious problems over the last twenty years since the the collapse of the soviet union that we've seen many migrants economic migrants coming from former soviet republics into cities in russia and that they say house on occasion caused ten. to flare. the prime minister's warned against the the rise of nationalism the rise of xenophobia. that there should be a there was a responsibility i beg your pardon from immigrants coming to adoptive countries to try and assimilate into the culture and speak the language of the country their failure to do so well that gave rise to the. such things as xenophobia and ethnic tensions on the subject of nationalism vladimir putin addressing those that say

that they should stop feeding and stop funding the north caucuses saying that this was something that couldn't happen that the north caucuses was a part of russia and if you started listening to those kinds of statements then the next time it would be stop funding siberia stop funding the moscow region things of course that they're not going to do addressing multiculturalism further afield but to a putin said that in his opinion the the system that was adopted by countries in europe had failed saying that this was something that trying to establish multiculturalism based on a nation and all being in it together really hadn't worked and. this was also the case with the the melting pot system in america really the fact that everybody is essentially an immigrant coming to the united states at some point down the line. they're very different systems and their. id identity as a country and as a multicultural society have to be viewed in different light. in light of. what

was heard from prime minister earlier so what solution does he offer if any and how to solve this problem of tolerance. while education is the main goal for putin says that he will implicate if he is elected as president in march as elections he says that he will look to a program that will see children educated in schools about the multicultural history all over. russia are in russia's relations. with their nearby nearby countries and their neighbors there. also want to see a study of russian literature which of course some of the great books of the world coming out of russia a lot of them written by people with experiences all of russia's history of multiculturalism we want to see them read in schools and people can learn more about russia's relationship with the wider world also not just in school so he says there is a responsibility of of people involved in and religion religious leaders to educate

their followers about the fate of religions of other people. but to me also saying that there will be a. huge review of the immigration system if he's elected as president he plans to overhaul of the senshi in twenty thirty implementing a russian language test and a test on russian history and russian society and russian culture to well essentially make sure that as he said those people coming to his country will learn about his country will know about this country will be able to fit in to russia all right peter thanks very much indeed for bringing us this update all reporting there . the sanctions keep piling up in iran that is expected to announce on monday an unprecedented block wide ban on iranian oil europe says it will be for the common good animal made to ron rethink its nuclear program which israel and its allies see as a threat our correspondent as our affiliate brings us more on the dangers the

sanctions may bring. the foreign ministers of the twenty seven member states of the european union are meeting today and one of the most important issues on the table are that of the sanctions on iran it is expected that they will pass on presidents and sanctions targeting the country's oil and financial sectors this will be the toughest to date and it's of course over the controversial nuclear program. of long insisted that iran is on a dangerous path towards acquiring nuclear weapons has consistently denied this now these talks on the back of twenty seven nations having to deal with the sovereign debt crisis for almost two years now there are countries like france for instance who really want to see sanchez implemented as soon as possible in a couple of months while countries like greece which is heavily debt laden was asking for a leeway of about twelve months so today they are expected to give the detail on the timeline somewhere between the three to eight months that will satisfy all of

the member states now the embargo follows tough new u.s. sanctions passed into law by president barack obama in january and collectively if all these sanctions are fully implemented you will see about two point six million barrels of oil taken off of international markets which is of course putting markets into very. loyal prices up and on the other hand the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton says that she expects the e.u. to pressure iran to back to the negotiation table so again today we're expecting to see details on the timeline of the implementation of sanctions as well though. it's expected that they may include several more names of companies individuals financial institutions in those a list of sanctions but any decision that they come to today has to be unanimous. desert celia reporting there and there's plenty more of you on our website dot com including the latest news and comment as well as any stories you've missed so here's some of what's there for you right now. and during the dragon extravagant

parade and spectacular fireworks as the world joins china in celebrating the lunar new year. and risking death to provide a lifeline a story of a gaza tunnel digger whose work helps support his family on the flow biled supplies into gaza if i and so he's really blockade. maybe it could be on the brink of civil war according to the head of the national transitional council most julio following a weekend off political turmoil and that's after his deputies stepped down when julian suspended six high ranking council delegates from benghazi it's the latest sign of discord in the country's interim leadership and comes amid a rising tide of discontent among libyans riot swept through benghazi at the

weekend as thousands took to the streets of the city worthy and take it off the rising began and rage protesters accusing m.d.c. of corruption being slow in bringing in reform. favoring former government loyalists there's also criticism from analysts that the council's main goal was to secure western oil interests rather than to establish democracy. mission in libya but in the country libya already had the highest standard of living in all of north africa where libya does have is the life the largest work global oil reserve and the top soil reserve in africa and that is what the national transitional council are being supported for in order that they should promote western oil companies western financial interests in libya and the people will just have to be rid of the people have already been killed a little veritable genocide has taken place as we've seen in iraq so in a way the same pattern is repeated over and over again where there's a double standard they say that they are promoting democracy but what they are

basically doing is promoting the financial and political interests of the global power elite embedded inside the united states britain the european union and israel . a spokesman for british civilians for peace in libya to content dance has the national transitional council is failing to unite the country the gadhafi regime could control the whole of libya could find peace amongst all the tribes the new regime cannot even control something in one town or one area i mean they turn libya into a war and if the hunting of black skins if they're selling off their oil and natural resources and sovereignty to nato and now the thieves that is the rebels they're all falling out with each other so really this is the chief of freedom and democracy by nato it's all become very clear people of syria and the people of lebanon and the people of the global south have to see what's happening in libya is coming to them if they're not able to defend themselves and stop this rolling western aggression against other countries in the global south. now listen to some

other stories from around the world the islamist party which won the most seats in the egyptian parliament a muslim brotherhood has promised it will work with all political parties and also add it's going to cooperate with the country's ruling military council despite repeated calls from activists that power should be handed over to the civilian government islamic parties have captured an overwhelming majority of egypt's first post in the bar parliamentary elections. yemen's president ali abdullah saleh has left the country after giving a farewell speech where he apologized for mistakes during his thirty three year rule he is planning to have medical treatment in the u.s. this comes a day after the parliament approved immunity from prosecution for part of the deal under which he would relinquish power saw has become the latest to be toppled by the wave of arab spring uprisings. during president goodluck jonathan has visited the site of a series of recent suicide bombings in the north of the country the death toll from friday's bloodshed and now stands at over one hundred seventy radical islam

a sect claimed responsibility for the attacks which were aimed at freeing group members held by these or this violence has plagued northern nigeria since december . one solution to joblessness in the u.s. is a scheme where giant corporations create workplaces for local communities and they are even handed government money to get out but somehow jobs still get outsourced to a cheaper for and work force and as marina ford now reports this allows big businesses to prosper while small towns suffer. in one of america's most economically depressed cities resides the world's largest producer of home appliances whirlpool corp is headquartered in benton harbor michigan where sixty percent are unemployed ninety percent live in poverty and per capita income is roughly ten thousand dollars the citizens of benton harbor are living from one day to them and they're

very poor and they're very disheartened i mean there's been very little effort on the part of whirlpool that runs everything to try to. involve the community in two thousand and nine whirlpool received a nineteen point three million dollars grant from the federal government in part to create jobs and i think our u.s. workforce certainly. factory workforce if you will is that is the best among the world so we're very confident in the future of u.s. manufacturing for our kind of products one year later the corporation received nearly twenty million dollars from the state of michigan to expand its facility which now serves as a gateway into benton harbor it's good for the community good for the state and good for your business as well there's a real art to that but as the u.s. based corporation has grown globally you know your last three more jobs have been

outsourced to countries demanding less wages today the former blue collar community of benton harbor remains a victim of america's deindustrialization and growing poor population pool has seventy one thousand employees around the globe but no longer manufactures home products in its hometown it still remains a recipient of u.s. state and federal stimulus funding. more all to just close the factory and that hurt my business my little bit. in this i lost a lot of clients this is their home base in it always has been and in the beginning of the large development they promised us that they would always be due to the recession the corporate but he met five home appliances hasn't paid us income tax since two thousand and eight by two thousand time nearly ninety nine percent of benton harbor residents were receiving food stamps while book approximately

eighteen billion dollars in annual sales. that think i've purchased my last whirlpool appliance i don't even think i'll call for we care because too often in for too long those that have gotten rich has forgotten who's helped them to get there and they're willing to step on us in that just doesn't sit we'll with my soul a soul living in one of america's poorest cities clothed in poverty and accessorize in corporate success arena porton party and we are up to date so let's see what's happening in the world of business with kareena. hello welcome to business here in our team european leaders are meeting on monday to discuss the long term plan to tackle the region's debt crisis some analysts say it's a massive debt write down for greece that could put the eurozone back on its feet

but a western from out on believes that the markets have already priced in the jitters likely to edge higher. well everybody's going to await the sort of decision or some some kind of agreement between greece and its creditors just going to be the key event to some extent it was last week. again what we saw last week was that any delay negative news didn't really impact the markets i think we are in a very positive backdrop for russia in general we do have low valuation we do have the under-performance of russia if people are adding to risk the emerging market should do well and in the context russia should be having more support than other mortgage. all is dropping for the fourth day new york investors speculate that even against iranian oil may take effect in six months despite that red line to staying afloat and it's been almost a quarter of a dollar per barrel for sound and now on to equities asian stocks seesawing between

gains and losses on the one hand it's increasing home sales in the u.s. that are in for the sentiment on the other it's continuing debt talks and greeks so far as we see the upbeat mood prevails on kong this close of public holiday today here in moscow traders will up their sleeves in about two hours one hour time with throughout last week russian equities in joint a robust flow so now this games on friday and the end of the last trading session the r.t.s. shed half a percent divisor it's dropped twenty eight percent. and gold is trading at one thousand six hundred sixty nine dollars that's up point fourteen percent it has already gained more than six percent since the beginning of the year. which made me think a looks at the prospects for the precious metal. is gold on track to become the investment choice of the year now with sovereign debt problems still looming in europe it could be just the right thing the precious metal has seen their

remarkable performance over the past decades take a look at the graphic since two thousand and one the trend has been perfectly positive the peak price was reached last year when gold hits nineteen hundred and twenty dollars an ounce but then we saw a nosedive of twenty percent and just a few sessions as the u.s. credit rating was downgraded a lack of liquidity deflated the bullion bubble somewhat since banks desperately required cash they sold whatever they could and it's at that point that the tables turned for the metal and from a safe haven asset gold shifted into risk appetite choices going in correlation not with t. bills but shares nevertheless gold still gained eleven percent last year take a look at that nosedive that we saw in september last year here it is but the trend is changing we are seeing gold already gaining more than six percent since the beginning of the year it's outstripping most assets and we did see a slight drop during the previous week when jobless claims and us came in with

a decline now why are we seeing gold on the up over here is it going to continue climbing there's a number of factors to bear in mind which makes it quite likely we've got the debt crisis in the e.u. we've got instability in currencies we've got rising demand from china and the upcoming wedding season in india when families offer gold as a traditional gift to the newlyweds if there's no quick resolution to the euro problems and it doesn't seem like there's one on the horizon yet we may just see new heights with a precious metal even maybe close to two thousand dollars an ounce some day. well that's all for now i'll be back in less than one hour long meanwhile stay with us for headline news coming up right after this.

and discover it. communicate with the wild. test yourself and become free. to. see what nature can give you. the. wealthy british style the sun holds

a spot on the tides. and the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in cars a report on. the back and watching i.q. live from moscow these are the top stories i knew to do with for the syrian leadership the arab league demands the creation of a national unity government and stepped up calls for president asad to step down something. the regime has allegedly rejected. gray shops to join the european union national referendum are. opinion and disappointing turnout. migration falls into the focus of presidential. another. election.

the top stories here in our team and i'll be back once the half an hour next though with our special report as we explore a stunning scenery of southern russia and the caucasus nature reserve. southern russia. he did away in the mountains this faraway place can only be reached by helicopter. the first few special permission to travel around.