the world of. canceled will never approved bombing syria i guarantee it. russia's foreign minister rules out use of force against syria. never insisted retaining the card as. a condition for peace. and the syrian opposition has rejected the chance for talks with the country's president instead. of what's happening at the moment very shortly. and this is first exposes the deepening divisions within the union members agree. that critics say on the front. democracy top stories this hour.

international news and comment live from moscow this is. a fierce battle is unfolding at the u.n. security council where discussion is underway on a new resolution on syria western and arab diplomats are launching a major offensive to overcome russia's strong opposition to a text calling for president assad to go to the draft motion also doesn't rule out the use of foreign force. is monitoring developments in new york. the reality is that russia has maintained a position on syria in which it believes that both sides of the conflict need to come together in a dialogue and russia has said that it will not support any use of force into syria on syria now according to the arab european draft resolution that's now being presented to the un security council it calls for a syrian president bashar al assad to step aside hand over his powers to his deputy

while and national unity government is formed but most of it in at the end of this war peace resolution is is a paragraph that says that the security council can decide to review syria's implementation of the resolution with a fifteen days and if the event in the event syria has not complied the security council and i've adopted further measures we need to stress that that is words that can be interpreted in various different ways and that is something that russia china and other member members of the security council are very much against they don't want to see what happened in libya happened in syria the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov says that russia has not and will never subscribe to a campaign of organizing or overthrowing governments of other countries when you can. we never said retaining bashar al assad in power is

a condition for crisis is something that we should something different with but it's not a part of russia's foreign policy to ask leaders to regime change is not. the decision must be solely syria only series of groups of syrians must got to discuss using tables and hammer out a deal if the demand is for him to. call in the air force. we've seen it already and the security council will never approve it i guarantee it . as more details become available on this story we will keep our viewers updated. syria's opposition made a chilling pledge to the country's leader they vowed that president bashar al assad and his family would be killed just like libyan leader colonel gadhafi clashes between government forces and rebel fighters a raging in the outskirts of the capital and. in damascus reports the syrian conflict is beginning to resemble libya mom too. you've got

a civil conflict on your houses just seeming to ramp up evidence really by the violence has broken out for the past couple of days between the two sides now that's not being housed by the statement by one of the members of the main opposition body the syrian national council the mother head said that assad and his family would be killed like gadhafi now certainly does against a few of the fears on both sides really there's going to be retaliation and revenge attacks coming in this teacher and certainly that is a genuine fear amongst the people here you're seeing a very polarized country right now and the dividing lines are really being too on you know here in the neighborhood there's really a sense of the full oh you're against people really that moderate middle ground now is being squeezed all the time and very concerning because the dialogue just seemed to being completely overshadowed by this very very strong aggressive rhetoric this

conflict is just getting bloodier more and more violent. with the sounds of gunfire and. oh yes the face tests from the streets and the increasingly loud international opinions britain needs to lead the way in making sure we tighten the sanctions the travel bans the action freezes on syria because the syrian. the syrian case has developed and every side wants to push away the responsibility to another tossing the ball back and forth. in the last few days the situation has become so unstable that finding people willing to talk right now to squeeze in just a close call we've had tanks entering in firing and just enjoy a poor we've had six people who've died we travel to the suburbs to some of the clashes of breaking out to try to get a clearer picture of what had been happening here in the last few days which. in

one of damascus at the moment now we were traveling to. visit but we just received a phone call telling us that it's not safe to travel. with the situation. to show you. what's going on in these areas even the people who are living in these areas don't really have the situation. we make it into the job or using back the opposition that just last week had control of some of these areas have now gone underground. there was a funeral for a resident of died in the file during his funeral people and his relatives were voicing and. called for freedom has some of. the funeral and we have to go and hide from the security forces. were taken to the f.s.a. . as well and. just being

arrested changes in the atmosphere starts to fill say with such uncertainty right now it seems this trust is rife. it seems. convinced the free syrian army just coming closer to the capital be simpler now this is harmful to the cause of bringing peace to syria. everyone says no way to. any outcome will be at the un's briefing by the arab league. to a halt. the whole reconciliation is not one to be simply. many have. they have do political aims they have two political reasons for. the conflict in syria i think they don't want they're not interested in due form and nor are they interested in democracy or freedom was the government accepted the invitation received mixed reactions from the opposition. size of the vehicle in the

past including first solution to the syrian problem. he simply failed to communicate now if that unit is running out fast. and with such desperate pleas from many people here the appraising sides continue to make it clear they don't want to listen to the full say it's a national election it's just going to keep getting. well let's cross to the u.n. where we can bring you live pictures of that meeting taking place and we'll of course bring you the latest as soon as we get it on what is concluded after that meeting the u.n. meeting there in new york at the moment and we'll also hear from marina portnoy who is our correspondent following the meeting at the moment let's get more reaction on what's going on in and around syria from neil clark he's a u.k.

based journalist and contributor to the guardian newspaper joining us there in the u.k. western countries want to put pressure on russia to back their draft resolution that is what's happening at the moment will they succeed. they don't succeed i think it was very very bad if they do succeed because i think the resolution is not a real attempt to so serious serious problems in a peaceful way it does pave the way for intervention nato which is a great concern and i think it's not very helpful with the calls for assad to go because you know president assad does how support within syria sizable support there was an example there was an opinion poll kind of a month ago showed he had over fifty percent of the support of syrians who didn't want him to stand down there's also been a major progress demonstration in syria and it seems to me that the western powers are not really knowledge in the right to support assad why would intervention be a bad thing clearly russia very concerned about that. libya that's one answer iraq

have a look around the balkans intervention causes death and destruction we don't want to. create massive casualties on the ground and it's the last thing syria wants what neal you're just to ask wouldn't this violence continue if there isn't foreign intervention while i think the onus is being caused by foreign intervention was a very interesting article by philip chorale the. cia officer in the american conservative magazine last detail how special forces british special forces american special forces are actually into the in to help the opposition rebels that this is being stoked up by foreign intervention myth that we need foreign intervention so serious problems these problems have been stoked up i'm not saying that you know obviously there are people who are very concerned about is i really missed syria democratic protesters have every right to protest. the situation to make a lot worse by foreign intervention what is the end game here surely if assad does

fall that would lead to not just major instability and civil war which russia is concerned about in syria some say it's already started but also the implications in the wider region. this is a proxy war against iran that's what this is really all about the west wants regime change in damascus so as to replace the assad regime place it with the opposition who will change their policy too and they've already said the opposition they will break the iran axis so this is really a proxy war and if the west gets its way here and forces forcibly aside to go or intervenes militarily then the war against iraq is much more likely to happen but where did this where do these oppositions come from and in the wrong for example is there really a cohesive united opposition to take the place of the courage emas the same could be said of course about syria not at all though i mean the syrian opposition we've got to distinguish between progressive forces who have legitimate grievances

against assad regime really want to see more democracy in syria. and between rebels who have been funded by the west and whose aim is to stir things up as much as they can there is a very divided group and the west doesn't seem to matter it doesn't seem to care about this so long as assad is replaced and replaced by western but not just the west here arab countries are also keen to see regime change in syria why when i talk about the west i mean of course the west and arab allies saudi arabia the gold. and of course israel all those all those countries but one thing in common they don't like iran and they don't like president assad because he's friendly with iran this is not really about genuine concern for human rights and democracy this is all about regime change let's talk about the implications of moscow being obviously pressured by other members of the u.n. security council we're seeing this meeting happening at the moment on a wider scale i mean. is russia going to be isolated on this what does it do with

the impact it has with its relations with all the u.n. members but it's not isolated i think the world opinion poll i think most people would say we're about to russia internationally russia and china and their actions to prevent intervention he would be supported in russia and china over libya last year and it would be a mistake with russia if the russians think that they are isolated they're not they have world opinion it's just the west will shout the loudest it's france it's americans israel it's the. arab states were backed by the west this is not the world this is not international community this phrase international community should rule the whole world so should russia veto abstain in this resolution i think russia. for its own resolution which calls for syrian solution to this problem and the problem is the solution here is negotiation isn't it when us has an opposition being apparently being encouraged by western countries not to engage in negotiations you're never going to get that are you that is the big problem when.

irresponsible the west could have been saying to the opposition look go and meet with the government the government as i said opinion polls demonstrations show the government still has the majority support probably in syria so therefore to say that oh well s. i've got news it is absolutely undemocratic it should be a dialogue between both sides always good to talk to you on these matters thanks very much for joining us live there u.k. based journalist and contributor the guardian newspaper neil clark thank you thank you very much. e.u. leaders at their first summit of twenty twelve all smiles but the existing tensions were clear to see there was another war of words between the french president and u.k. prime minister over whose industry is larger in poland set to join the euro zone demanded a greater say in decision making it was at least one decision made however with twenty five of the twenty seven e.u. nations agreeing to a german school rule that would limit the size of nation spending it was agreed to set up a permanent bailout fund the struggling members of the veldt the author of the end

of the euro says there's a lack of solidarity in the e.u. when somebody does a pursuing their own political interests within its. deficit it's of course very big problem for the european union to keep up the unity it's always a question of national preference. coming in to kalash or at least into some kind of coalition with each other and for example france it's obvious that for president sarkozy the upcoming presidential elections are quite important and he uses the european platform to a certain extent to try to get some score back on these opponents in that the french presidential election race but certainly at the moment of unity at the european union level but also at the level of the eurozone countries where of course the dominance of germany is something that most of the other countries

are looking upon in a very. fearful way. occupy protesters have stood up to the authorities in washington d.c. refusing to remove their cams from two parks despite threats of police action activists there were still preparing to resist with officers standing at the ready nearby and the wall explains occupiers remain united in their beliefs. so we are here ad macpherson square where protesters have been occupying the park since october through out the demonstration about one hundred ten have been pitched here the national park service has repeatedly slapped these notices on tents here at macpherson square informing protesters that they can no longer camp out here that means they have to get rid of sleeping bags and any other material which allows them to live here protesters are responding by painting that symbol on the notice which demonstrates the fact that they do not agree with this mandate intends to

stay but their doors must remain open today no one is living in it you know it is more and protesters that violate the rule are subject to arrest and it's basically a symbol of opposition. to. what everything this movie is opposing right now and so i think the tents are really important part of occupy but police presence was sparse with no reported arrests they stand mostly on the sidelines refusing to answer questions from the media no reason why but occupiers made their message loud and clear they are not giving up the fight here as you can see protesters have erected a massive shadow over the statue here at macpherson park it's all a demonstration to the anticipated even action by far for me if this is our tents or dreams we want to be able to sleep here so we can dream of a better world where everyone has access to health care education housing and where the rich and corporations banks no longer have control over political system the

federal government and the political leaders and wall street were all tone deaf they could not hear this so the occupy movement has offered them a hearing aid and they're getting our message loud and clear now the purpose of this was to unite us in this space so if they want to rest one of us after rest all of us are not us and washington. this wall. eighteen minutes past the hour now in the russian capital quick look now at some other world news in brief in our world update thousands of egyptians are flooded the streets in protest that the only parliamentary elections demanding faster reforms demonstrators were immediate dissolution of the military council which inherited absolute power from the post president hosni mubarak isn't this parties are expected to win majority control of the upper house of parliament and already hold the majority of seats in the lower house. the search for the remaining fifteen passengers still missing from the stricken costa concordia cruise ship has been called off italian officials say the

effort was too dangerous for rescue workers search had already been suspended several times due to poor weather and choppy water seventeen bodies have been recovered from the concordia since it ran aground off the island earlier this month . stories with only just a few minutes away from. where he thinks the four years. will be.

today we're joined by mark. and he's also the new head of the. thanks very much for joining us today the first question is the. president. over its controversial nuclear program statement british prime minister david cameron along with. said that quote our message is clear we have no quarrel with. but the leadership.

of its nuclear program now at what cost to the european union is this message being delivered. you have agreed. by. any more oil from iran a number of member states do have. reasonable reason to be considerable purchases from them so they would have to stop buying oil from from iran but i think you know the overall goal is what you know we have come together twenty seven nations and we are saying to the iranians you know you know we really must get some assurances on the nuclear program it's unacceptable to the rest of the world for iran to acquire nuclear weapons but i will factor will these sanctions be right now you see india still buying oil from iran with gold and you have china that could possibly just step in and buy the oil that the u.s. and the e.u. don't want so how effective really will these sanctions be well i hope countries like india which of course are functioning democracies as well i'm sure other

diplomatic pressure being applied to them too to maybe get them on board with the with the regime as well you know we have to be united as a world to say to iran this is unacceptable you will not be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. we will leave no stone to terms of pursuing this policy let's talk about the euro zone this question has been asked long enough even at the recent press conference of the the i.m.f. journalist to get a straight answer of whether or not greece will default or exit from the euro so what do you think will there be a greece default or a euro exit i can give you my opinion about how i think they will default you know effectively. the loss that's being imposed on the bondholders at the moment many could argue that that's effectively a default anyway. maybe your question is. will it be an uncontrolled credit event of this no. we don't know but what is clear to me is the current debt. is

unsustainable. in my view that depth will have to be reduced considerably one way of doing it would be for them to default leave the euro i do my view that it's probably the most effective way of doing that. at the same time helping to save the rest of the eurozone well there are still some people who would argue that there are other solutions to this crisis one of which would be the issuance bonds and other would be the further of funding mechanisms vailable for countries that would germany or germany has said no to all of these suggestions and some would say that this behavior from germany is akin to bullying what do you think considerable sympathy for the germans in this i would if i was a german politician i wouldn't concede on europe. you know i don't see. a good solution to a debt crisis you know we need to be getting finding new ways of issuing new tax all of the time. you know this look at the fundamental democratic aspect of it you

know what will it be from german taxpayers to perceive the greeks having greater levels of public expenditure having better social benefits having early retirement rates. will be in germany for german taxpayers to pay greece to do this is the fundamental problem with the eurozone that was never resolved at the creation of it so i have considerable sympathy for germany in this and i hope they will also continue to resist as well so the december. of course produced a goal to create a fiscal compact where does that. stand leaders have been consistently talking about holding different meetings to push this forward are you now optimistic about the future of having a. i'm just asking myself what is the point of this you know what what's it going to achieve going to solve eurozone crisis at the moment it might prevent the next crisis five years down the right if countries are persuaded to rein in rowing. and

run a lower fiscal deficit but you know this is going to take eighteen months possibly two years to be implemented by the time it's been ratified. all the national parliaments of countries that used to sign up to it so this idea that it's going to . from the very real things that need to be done to solve the current crisis. instead of fundamental problems. so i don't think it work and i think it's essentially pointless so they're the new .

people. it's a realistic acceptance of the limits of european integration. to. make you know. about european integration. with the eurozone crisis. we can make. the limits of national sovereignty. in many areas the importance of sticking to their fundamental national democratic principle which is the basic building block of the european union.

a soulless substance. this can attack like a well trained army. villages in ruins. for thailand where time stands still. all becomes a scene of nothing. the mysterious sons of russia. parties. were shot four times in total in the air war as it were in. syria the boards are still in my body. and people should be allowed to defend themselves where are they on guns in the hands of law abiding

decent people are not a problem national rifle association there's a group of basically retired military police love to shoot holes and i'm sorry if you know that the bullet comes out here and this makes it go bang and it what's in front of here is going to die and that's all the training you really really need raise your hand if you know something's been. ok to live well one of the philadelphia is the streets. until about a hopefully we will never have to use the weapons for self defense but we should be prepared for the full class including the teacher as it was. seventeen students. thirty and one of seven who are still alive.