today. western powers seek to hit syria with more economic sanctions after russia and china vetoed a u.n. resolution aimed at increasing pressure on president assad. meanwhile ahead of his visit to damascus russia's foreign minister slams of the west's reaction to the double veto as indecent and hysterical. also greater political involvement for the people through the internet prime minister putin that lays out his plans to upgrade russian democracy a day after a massive pro and anti-government rallies sweep the country. and greece announces thousands of civil service job cuts amid mounting international pressure to agree

on the austerity measures that are needed to secure a new bailout. and broadcasting live direct from our studios in central moscow this is r.t. glad to have you with us. the e.u. and us want to further toughen sanctions on damascus in a bid to crank up pressure on president al assad's regime the decision came after russia and china vetoed the latest draft u.n. resolution on syria moscow and beijing say the wording was biased and only blamed the government for the violence without mentioning armed extremist groups this as opposition leaders claim at least fifty people have been killed in a fresh wave of attacks by the army on the city of homes the government denies the assault and just to be warned you may find some of the images in this next report from sara for

a disturbing. ichi video and social networking sites have for the past ten months been one of the activists he means of offering the world glimpses of the violence that's torn three syria activists proves reports how we got the brick through and we've just seen pictures which the b.b.c. called verify the same many differing numbers and reports getting to the bottom of what's really going on is a major challenge even from inside the country. oh they think it. was a. head of the u.n. security council showdown this weekend and the violence in syria seemed to reach fever pitch with activists reporting a massacre in homs that was all over the headlines and watched with horror by people worldwide initially the death toll that night was put over two hundred there

could be as many as two hundred just in the last hour or two that was later significantly downgraded strict access policies they have made it difficult for many foreign networks to get their correspondents into the country to collect evidence at the end of last year i leveled this criticism at the foreign minister's spokesman we've never banned the media by the way. because objectivity we've been filtering you how can you justify for instance you on the people relying on you tube and broadcasting one side even though or even on you tube you have also atrocity committed by the elements it's true that to a large extent mainstream coverage of the pro-government can has been pretty sparse this graphic video appears to show every supporter being hanged with a clear picture of exactly what's happening in syria right now it's hard to know what the western allies that the us. and basing their assertions was not really

about genuine concern for human rights and democracy this is all about regime change dissatisfied with the wording of the resolution china v tahj the latest proposal many felt it contained disturbing a case of libya russia and china believe the do or a pin for foreign military intervention as a conflict between the two sides as the crisis in syria is becoming increasingly internationalized they miss is imposed from a poll to try and put an end to the violence again has to be very careful not to make the same mistakes made in libya seems to be backing. the looking like so who. are not. indecent and hysterical vance how russia's foreign minister described the criticism by some western countries of the russia china double veto sergey lavrov was speaking a head of his upcoming trip to damascus where he is scheduled to meet with the

syrian authorities on tuesday our correspondent peter all over listened in on the minister's comments. this was continuing on from that decision by china and russia to veto the recent un resolution on syria from moscow sergey lavrov saying that russia had asked the u.n. security council to delay the vote for several days in order to allow mr lovett off to complete his trip to damascus now they were that request were turned down by the u.n. security council so he left off heading to damascus on tuesday bearing with him a message from president dmitry medvedev a message that's believed to request the assad government make strong democratic changes in the country now the foreign ministry very unhappy about this the russian government very unhappy in fact going as far as to call it disrespectful to allow the not allow the vote to be delayed until. it completed that trip now.

with regards to the comments that have been made from around the world following that the session by china and russia to veto the u.n. resolution with condemnation from the united states from france from great britain the foreign secretary in great britain going as far as to say that this meant there was blood on the hands of those that had vetoed it well so very unhappy about these comments he was speaking at a press conference alongside the partner in a foreign minister he said that he was scathing in his response to those comments made from abroad some western comments on the outcome of the u.n. security council syrian resolution vote sounded decent and almost hysterical in this connection as i recall the old saying that those who are angry are really right why does this terrible statements attempts are being made to blur what is really happening in syria and what's really happening is that there are several sources of violence in syria not just one it seems that the resolution cool authors

who rushed to vote despite the odds are more interested in simply finding somebody to blame for drawing attention away from the arms group. that are receiving weapons and other kinds of encouragement from abroad but with regards to why russia vetoed that resolution over the weekend twelve russia's position on syria has always been the same they condemn both sides both the assad kill them and the the opposition god and want them both sides to put down their weapons and come to the table for talks now as far as russia concerned the resolution was on the table only focused on the government forces and didn't make any requests from the the opposition to lay down their arms and as far as russia concerned that's not acceptable when it comes to a u.n. resolution on syria artie's peter all of our reporting for us there now sticking with the same story patrick a is a political analyst for the online magazine spiked says that the sanctions are inhuman and are likely to leave president assad unaffected but starve the syrian

people. well i think in many ways it's going to exacerbate if it does mean the dialogue gets off gets taken off the table it does mean that the west will try and intervene in a way. as you see in the last few months of the election really the arab league coming in and to monitor and effectively become the lackeys of western interests to a certain extent so so i think the more that the west kind of. moves itself from syria the more pressure and we're hearing with the sanctions as well and more actually i think the syrian people will suffer as a result through any western intervention you will have you know the syrian people effectively having democratic initiative taken from their hands and effectively you know you have western countries trying to give them democracy instead which historically has been proven not to be the case but also sanctions aren't going to really affect president are sad and the kind of cronies in charge sanctions will

have a direct impact on the syrian people i always think it's very cruel and also quite patronize thing to say let's impose sanctions because i mean ultimately it's going to be the people on the ground that get hurt by this and the idea that they affect the need to be made hungry or impoverished to rise up you know i think is perfect compassion i think but also actually quite inhumane. still ahead for you this hour on r t a whistleblower is nominated for the nobel peace prize. and u.s. soldier accused of releasing secret files to wiki leaks is now on the list of candidates for the prestigious award one of the people behind his nomination. the political system in russia needs to adjust for the needs of a civil society this from vladimir putin as he continues to lay out his electoral program before next month's presidential elections you got a piece going off has more. of the main idea of the sort of civil society in russia has grown and developed and become much more active smallest importantly compared

to say ten years ago and what comes to the state well it's a lagging behind at the moment people do want to be more active and have more influence on the political life and one of the mechanisms providing them with these opportunities is the internet and this is not only about the tens of thousands of people who now take to the streets for this or that rally is about millions of interest users in russia who over the past few years have become very active there is stories of blogs and forums and videos of all internet wars between political movements and all of them are going on on the web and the prime minister wants to see the role of the internet is influenced increase more user friendly government websites to provide proper bases for public discussion and not only on initiatives put forward by the state any person any internet user has to be able to put forward their own draft law and if it gains say one hundred thousand approval signatures

from other users it has to be reviewed by the parliament the internet also gives another opportunity to evaluate civil servants for example if locals of a district of any city are not satisfied with the way the head of the local police department works or a judge or even a principal of a local school they have to. be able to voice their concerns on the web be heard by the authorities so that these civil servants. but let's move the web aside for a bit and focus on all the initiatives like reintroducing the elections all to local governors was initially put forward by the president and supported by the prime minister now another initiative in this sphere is easing the rules for registering new political parties which should make waiting for more competition for them now this brings us to another problem of corruption and the prime minister is proposing to increase the salaries of civil servants in exchange for their complete transparency and put together a list of all the most corrupted jobs and it's in the ninety's many people wanted

to become all the guards there a need for civil servants because these positions are often viewed as possibilities to make easy money quick and according to the prime minister. it's time for that to change as well. he's going off reporting for us there well if you've missed any of ours. including the following. the scientists are set to reveal twenty million year old secrets. to get to the bottom of the antarctic lake . for kilometers across. american battleships carrying out military exercises off the country's east coast ahead of their deployment to the persian gulf a flawed. country. by having darkened. please.

greece has an. international pressure and announced an additional fifteen thousand civil service job cuts meanwhile a key meeting on the austerity measures has been postponed until later on tuesday this comes as pressure mounts on athens with a. european commission spokesman saying the deadline has already passed the country must now accept even more painful cuts if it's to get a one hundred and thirty billion euro second a lifeline from international creditors if the deal falls through greece is expected to default by the end of march nick an economic analyst and international lawyer says that the greek people will not accept the new measures. there is actually very little choice for greece at the moment both options on the table are very bad you either accept draconian measures from international lenders or you head for the dollar and you default calamitously that it's

a chaotic eurozone exit but i must reiterate this for the international audience it's not exactly a technocratic government it's actually a caretaker government under a technocrat prime minister it's the three political leaders that will actually call the shots and even if they agree they still have to persuade all of the parliamentary deputies in that body to actually pass this through parliament now what greeks can understand and can cope with these structural reforms most critics of this thing that there is a need for they're not particularly happy about fire sale privatization because that really offends people what they have hit the limit with these tax increases and more cuts to pensions and especially private sector wages. the name of private bradley manning a us soldier accused of passing classified material to the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks has constantly made it into the headlines mostly in connection with his trial but now his name is on

a different list that of over two hundred dominance for the nobel peace prize. a member of the icelandic parliament from the parliamentary group called the movement which put forward manning's nomination has talked to us earlier and thinks why he deserves to win. bradley manning gives this honor because he is criminalize poor lonely whistle on war crimes it is not a criminal act to blow the whistle world or to blow the whistle on any crime and we feel that. by these leaks for example the video mode or. the wall. and begin to peek the people that have. put their way to war in afghanistan in iraq through their governments need to know why this meeting is going on there and by knowing what is going on there and we see this in can

apply more pressure on our governments to be accountable for the crimes that have been put out in our name so we do not and let the bradley manning case be because of his in just treatment being a chorus of silencing all the people the courageous people who want to do their civic duty by reporting on crimes who are it's state or or military the u.s. president orders a new sanctions against iranian central bank giving us agencies the power to freeze assets linked to tehran at the same time american battleships are running naval exercises off the country's east coast with the war games scenario reportedly depicting potential conflict with iran share in the shuffle from the school of oriental and african studies says the u.s. approach to iran undermines efforts of the international atomic energy agency. iran has never actually threatened the us this is. policy has been always defense of but

in terms of threats coming from the u.s. special a distance is sanctions against iran central bank i think that they're mostly producer director for domestic consumption in the united states as we get closer to the presidential elections in the u.s. we see that each side trying to seem as being more as being tougher visibly iran and this is another move by president obama to satisfy either is rivals or the supporters of his campaign that he's actually taking the tough stand this is sad to see that the u.s. is undermining the work that. fantastic work that is doing with iran and iran itself is trying very hard to keep the environment professional in the face of the recent assassination of uranium scientists which really. was

a big blow to the relationship between iran and the i. know that some other world news and before you lose our. romania's president has nominated the country's intelligence chief as the new prime minister that's after romania's premier stepped down and dissolved the government saying he wants to preserve social and economic stability in the country this follows weeks of protests over austerity measures introduced in two thousand and ten to secure financial aid from the e.u. and the i.m.f. . braving the norwegian man who admitted to killing seventy seven people last july told the court that he deserves a medal of honor for the murders the extremist also demanded his release survivors and relatives of victims sat in on the last problem an area hearing before his trial begins in april breivik said the attack was against traitors who he claims are bracing immigration to promote an islamic colonization of norway.

palestine's two rival factions islamist hamas and a secular fatah have reached a deal to form a joint interim government they have reached and they have agreed it will be led by palestinian president mahmoud abbas before the general parliamentary and presidential elections the deal brokered by guitar is seen as a major step towards reconciliation between the opposing groups after more than four years of separate governments in the west bank and gaza but the israeli prime minister has slammed the agreement saying palestine has abandoned the way of peace . i'll be back with the headlines of half past the hour but now in the wake of suggestions that military action against iran is a growing possibility we speak to the former chief of israeli intelligence for an insider's point of view our interview with up next.

with me i have. before we hade our intelligence agency the more side mr halevi thank you very much for joining us here on our team a nuclear iran war with iran. yes there is a third option the third option is a non-nuclear iran with. an agreement and understanding with uranium that they will not become nuclear. and that they will be reintroduced into the family of nations

in which they have been virtually expelled recent months. under terms which will also take into account some of their interests and some of the. possible option i think is very possible because i think the international pressure which is being building up in recent months is beginning to have. inside iran on the economics. on the moral side the moros side. and i think that the basic interest of the people in charge in iran. is to maintain the position to maintain power do you think iran poses an existential threat to israel. in the region. i'm on record. repeatedly saying that i don't think there is such a thing as an existential threat to israel because i think israel is strong enough to protect it so to take care of itself and i think that ultimately it's not in the

power of iran to destroy the state of israel someone who does these weighted leadership insist on presenting the ran as this danger i believe that the leadership believes that in order to arouse international public opinion in order to mount pressure upon the iranians it's necessary to impress upon the world that public opinion the national public opinion this is a serious international threat does israel have a nuclear weapon. i don't know and if i knew i don't think this would be the opportunity for me to say something positive and definitive on that but i think that there is in the world an assumption there is in the world a feeling israel has something up its sleeve and i think that this is something which is important in the present situation because a part of the name of the game now is deterrence and i think it's very important to deter iran and if you run believes that israel has certain capabilities where it

has it or not i think this is a. positive card in the hands of israel as is the most scientists concerned which you define if county commission as preventing war weakening iran in the case that does happen i think that. it is the mission of the mossad to do everything in. its capability to make a. threat which has been posed to israel dormant what capabilities does the mossad have when it comes to iran where here again i don't think that it would be useful for me to hold lists of capabilities i think leaves the capabilities which every intelligence organization has i think it's important to say that we have been involved in what we call a clandestine war for. quite some time with iran and what's interesting about this war is of course the both sides have more or less preferred the details of this war

the details of various events be not exposed to the public since you retired from the side you have been meeting with ukrainian is this a genuine interest among some leeway in eons and some israelis to promote peace i have many rainier's in international fora not had private relations or private contacts with the radians there are many iranians the way i see it who would like the present confrontation between israel and iran to gradually end and create a new situation the likes of which we had from forty eight to seventy eight because iran and israel basically do not have bones of contention we know the issues territorial issues between ourselves we don't have other kinds of issues between ourselves we have ideological issues between ourselves and i think it would be wrong for iran to enable ideology to be the main driver of its policies and

the calls of serious drawbacks which it has been suffering in your opinion would it be good or bad for israel if assad regime force. let me first say that israel has no way of influencing the results of present. events in syria i believe that assad is going to fall and i think that ultimately assad will fall in a way which will cause a lot of bloodshed. and i think that this blood should would have enormous effects on the history of syria and maybe of neighboring countries as well hamas is very likely to have a duty to soon how will this play into israeli palestinian reconciliation efforts if that award goes to i'm not sure how most will have a new leader. secondly i don't think the show has been the most extreme of the leaders of the hamas he's also recalled the saying that he's a temporary ready to accept

a palestinian state in temporary borders which is something which moves in its significance through a first step in recognizing the fact that the state of israel is here to study i find highly of me thank you very much for joining us here on our team thank you. from los angeles to chicago to birmingham twenty trauma centers have closed since two thousand severe problem is not enough inpatient beds not enough urgency department beds and not enough nurses commandos to take care of all the people who are here the only real health care system that we have in the city of los angeles is the los angeles fire department in fact when i started my venture is a firefighter i didn't want to be a mask i started out running just do firefighting it's about eighty two percent of

what we do the farther problem is medical i've had to rescue couple weeks and waited for hours for i've waited sometimes three hours i was it's a same francis in lynnwood for four hours and fifty minutes standing against a wall with patients and we have a federal law that mandates that you can't turn no one away who seeks care in an emergency room. we have the most expensive health care system in the world. and it's probably valued the least. close a team has been to the hub. where the country's middle wealth starts its way across

the ocean. now our team goes to the area. looking to a different character to represent itself. for local businesses are striving to build the aviation capital of russia. and for the four by fours are made and can be tested to the limits. welcome to the. russia close up. more news today. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. in china. today.

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