with the russian delegation in the syrian capital. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov and the head of the foreign intelligence service and health rothkopf have met with president assad and with syrian political elite and according to the foreign minister president assad says that he is ready for dialogue with the opposition with russia being the mediator now this stephen was me to write after the meeting in damascus earlier on tuesday by russia's foreign minister and we've already had a reaction from the syrian opposition specifically from a senior member of the syrian national council george summer who says that russia has strong enough time as would the syrian people and it's being the mediator actually may be quite effective still quite a positive reply there now the foreign minister sergei lavrov has also stressed once again that both sides of this conflict must put their weapons down immediately our approach is based on

a clear and simple goal to stop civilian deaths the region needs peace syria needs peace it is clear that efforts to end the violence need to go along with the start of a meaningful dialogue between all political sides today we've received confirmation from the syrian president of his readiness to participate in that process we will continue to work with various opposition groups but anyone who has more influence on them than russia should also work with them but that's another issue discussed at the meeting was the new constitution of syria currently still being prepared and according to the foreign minister. of president assad says that the time of the nationwide referendum on this constitution is going to be announced in the nearest future and the important thing about that document is that it's supposed to cancel the political monopoly of the ruling party now all this comes amid a major diplomatic standoff between russia and china on one side and the west. on

the other side with the west pushing for tougher sanctions against syria and regime change in the country and russia standing for peaceful dialogue between both sides of the conflict now just to tell you a bit more about how the russian delegation was greeted there in damascus today truly a spectacular scene as the convoy with the foreign minister and the head of the foreign intelligence service was the going from the airport to the president's palace in damascus it was greeted by thousands really thousands of people with flags with syrian flag so russian flags and chinese flags and many were chanting thank you russia and thank you china actually after that i spoke with some of the members of the delegation and they said at first they thought they just caught they were caught in the middle of a nationwide holiday source spectacular this scene was just so really

a massive crowd of people there were so many of them at some point the convoy even had to stop all together now earlier my colleague spoke to russia's ambassador to the united nations vitaly churkin the ambassador says the international community should make every effort to solve the syrian crisis through dialogue to avoid more bloodshed. every conflict. needs to be resolved the su negotiations that there are two ways really in my view one is a frontal attack against the regime something which i'm afraid the has been happening lately including from some international important international players the advocates of regime change they have been trying to. resolve the crisis through from. the government in the moscow sound the this would mean bloodshed and civil conflict and. conflict which will be spreading beyond the borders of

syria but the other the more rational way the only way which the international community should be supporting. trying to put the parties to the table to bring them to that they will and to arrange a dialogue among them in order to find a political solution with all for the bloodshed speaking of the bloodshed activists in syria say there has been a surge in government assaults on the city of homes where most the opposition is based since russia and china blocked the resolution demanding the army stop the violence the opposition say hundreds of people have died in what they are calling the army's massacre do you think that moscow could be blamed for that could that be the blood on russia and china's hands. well some are certainly trying to do so but you know the latest round of military confrontation in syria started a couple of days before that resolution draft resolution was put to vote and the reason i'm here i'm not trying to justify anybody but simply trying to be analytical is that as the money during mission of that i believe was there and as

the situation was evolving everybody saw that the government troops were pulling out of certain towns or certain quarters and in cities that territory was taken over by armed rebel groups that would mean that the the armed confrontation will continue and escalate and that was the reason for which were brought our amendments to the text of the draft resolution which would not only require the government to pull out its forces from from the cities but would also would also require the opposition forces to show restraint and not to exercise their military quote taking advantage of some withdrawals why the government that was in fact a key issue over which our efforts to have a consensus in his allusion of the security council failed. well sticking with this story as russia continued its efforts to broker peace in syria some countries are

choosing to cut diplomatic ties with the country the gulf states along with spain of france italy and the netherlands have all withdrawn their ambassadors from damascus saying the government there has failed and the bloodshed the gulf nations also said they were expelling syrian on voice have from their countries as a protest against the regime the u.k. also has recalled its ambassador to damascus on monday and the u.s. has closed its embassy there entirely president of the arab lawyers association. believes that the move shows the west has little interest in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. this is very clearly an attempt by the west to thwart any effort of settlement because i don't think the western powers whether it's the u.k. u.s. france or the europeans and certainly the arab countries the gulf countries are really playing according to the rules that are being laid down to them by the americans they are the people who are trying to explore any possibility we've seen

this before. when the west were supporting the opposition and they were i mean. anybody who wanted to have a dialogue with the government regardless of whether they were liked or not they were accused of being. stooges of the government or their agents of the government but they are not compatible to now and this is the time that they are now at the present moment i think in terms of the opposition in syria and i fear that this is really why of the russians are trying to get the opposition to talk to the government because that's the only way you can resolve the problem i think they will stop those people from even the opposition from discussing with the government sitting with them and this is really where they've done the same thing in libya where civilly and peaceful protest where converted into an armed conflict so

that it gives the pretext for the west to intervene. public anger spilled on to the streets of athens where thousands of anti austerity protesters gathered in front of the parliament police used tear gas to disperse crowds trying to break through a cordon around the building that says greek trade unions are holding a nationwide general strike in response to a new wave of fifteen thousand job cuts it's one of the concessions the greek government has already made to appease international creditors but the long delayed agreement on debt bailout terms has still failed to materialize and of the talks will continue until wednesday greece desperately needs the one hundred thirty billion euros from international creditors to avoid defaulting in march investment advisor patrick young says the e.u. politicians are beginning to realize that a euro exit scenario has become a very likely outcome of the deadlock. what the way the european union is certainly

adopted the politics of the insane and because after decades of ignoring these sorts of things they suddenly realise that actually all greek government figures are a complete nutter a fiction that the greek economy is based the public complete not true disorganization were ultimately nobody has any incentive to pay their taxes etc the problem is for the greeks themselves if you're a northern german you don't see why your local swimming coach should be closed on in order to pay for things that are happening right now in greece and that's why very interesting issue happened today we've got the deputy chairman of the deputy commissioner of the european commission mrs crewe nellie cruz she's from hold she's one of the few commissioners who really has a huge how little on the political loued and she dropped something today she dropped a bombshell she said we'd like to keep you in the euro but you know while we don't have to keep you in the euro that's incredible it's a seismic move finally in brussels it is being talked to by perhaps it's being

whispered or more than shy to but the truth is the european union has finally realized that greece is not going to manage to reform itself or doesn't seem to want to and ultimately that's why we're on the brink and those people who are striking god love them i'm sorry for them but they're losing money out of their pay packets but there is no way that this farce can continue we're greece can be bailed out by the rest of the world that's the simple truth of the economics of the matter unfortunately. well after decades of drilling russian scientists in antarctica have reached a rare natural wonder an ancient freshwater lake buried almost four kilometers under the ice around a year ago i had the amazing opportunity and joint of the russian antarctic expedition to find out why the frozen past is so important for today. research base in antarctica it is the coldest place on earth and the site of an international project studying climate change the deepest drilling location on the

continent the main research was to drill the great your eyes i mean that was forming by snow as deep as possible to get busy studying the bubbles off. air which was preserved for about four hundred thousand years at a certain point researchers made a new discovery lake vostok now with team of russian scientists have drilled more than two miles into the ice and have reached the surface of the subglacial lake itself excited about the possibility of discovering mines. heated from the earth and from down. and that is why is there a some kind of fresh water maybe because of these heat flux from the bottom there could be some more more sophisticated life than bacteria while the drilling project that leg is exciting for scientists and promising in terms of finding

a new life form here on earth there are some who are skeptical and say the project should continue in fact they say it could even be dangerous to humans there are some worries that we will bring up some microbes that are really harmful to. human beings which is from the biological point of view it is some kind of the harsh conditions make working in vostok difficult now scientists have a limited window of opportunity to can. to the research for the season. will of the arvin we have mana sent for selves this the coldest one was registered as modest eight hundred nine celsius at the end of february beginning of march the temperatures begin to drop drop drop and at these temperatures the planes can't fly anymore a vast it. now that the drilling task is complete the race is on to find the new discovery of ancient life on our planet in antarctica sean thomas r.t. . well explore all of the stories that we cover here on our t.v.

in depth on our website here's what we've got much more important story there right now. occupy the classroom a new course of the set to examine the worldwide protest movement in the u.s. university. and toy taboo iran's government bans the sale of simpson dolls in the country's shops following an all out war with barbie to discover their crimes click on to our to dot com. well the former head of britain's m i six spy agency sir mark allen is being sued by a pair of dissident libyans he allegedly helped capture and the center for torture under khadafi in twenty two thousand and four excuse me investigation into the claims that may have uncovered several other backroom deals between the u.k. and the colonel's fallen regime artie's ivor bennett explains. ducted imprisoned

and tortured for six years all thanks to british government health those are the claims of two former gadhafi detainees who say they were captured by m i six and flown to libya in two thousand and four abdul hakim is now libya's military commander along with sami el saadi he was part of the libyan islamic fighting group they're suing a former british spy chief for complicity in the torture to me the most damaging aspect is just how much the british were involved in even just two cases of sending senior people back to libya and then the potential damage was just how much they knew about the nature of god after his regime and how he and his officials were tortured prisoners that were that should have been obvious documents found in tripoli by human rights watch seemingly expose britain's key role in the libyans rendition within m i six counterterrorism chief says mark allen pulling the strings

he allegedly writes in one letter sent to gadhafi spy chief moose's. i congratulate you on the safe arrival of our last a geek mr harvey this was the least we could do for you and for libya the papers show the cia seized bangkok thanks to an m i six tipped off al saadi was supposedly snatched by the m i six in hong kong both men were sent straight to libya and the notorious abu salim prison where they say they were tortured there are statements from u.k. authorities. that they are. they do not wish torture to happen. in the context of death and those sorts of statements that. everyone would know there was an extremely high risk indeed or less certainty that these individuals will be tortured but by that point the british government's love in with good daffy

had already begun turning him from their sport to darling and it wasn't just good daffy you reap the rewards mark allen was britain's negotiator in what was a two way deal it was in this exclusive london clubs to mark owen said to have met moosic you say get out his intelligence chief the alleged occasion a top secret dinner to celebrate the end of negotiations libya gets a seat at the international table in return for scrapping its weapons program and giving britain a lucrative oil contract one worth fifteen billion pounds went to b.p. in two thousand and four the same company allan had just joined there even allegations the controversial release of lockerbie bomber mcgraw he was part of the same shady deal to find them well and refuses to comment on the claims against him if t m i six hasn't denied complicity in torture with the government saying all actions had its approval a long standing get out clause but maybe not now the secret's out so we know that

ministers in the past resign from the sort of facts of complicity that and those ministers themselves should face criminal prosecution in the civil case against markel and could be just the tip of the iceberg of what went on behind the scenes between britain and get daffy police have launched a criminal investigation to see just how far up the tree complicity may have gone either bennett party london. now a brief look at some other headlines are from across the world for you right now the. president of the maldives and mohamed nasheed has resigned amid a police. following weeks of popular protests the crisis drew to a head when the authorities ordered security officers to remove the barriers between government and opposition supporters protesting close to each other the leader had earlier come under fire for arresting the chief judge of the criminal court accusing him of being loyal to the country's former president nasheed swept

to power in two thousand and eight pledging to bring more democracy to the island state. iran's a parliament has summoned president mahmoud ahmadinejad for questioning the president is expected to be pressed on a range of issues including the economy and foreign policy hardliners within the assembly made the petition the first since the founding of the islamic republic in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine iran watchers say it's part of a political power struggle ahead of parliamentary early parliamentary elections in march. at least eight people have been killed in flash floods in the southern bulgaria caused by melting snow from the cold snap affecting much of europe in a dam burst almost completely submerging many homes in the town the country's civil defense of already has warned that two other larger dams are on the verge of spilling over and are warning locals to prepared to evacuate the area.

in brazil around three hundred police officers have barricaded themselves inside a legislative building in protest over low pay the officers clashed with soldiers who were deployed to surround the building in the northern city of salvador last week a third of the city's thirty thousand police force came out on strike over pay and a dangerous condition. now artie's interview is next we spoke with the former israeli ambassador. to discuss the position his country occupies on today's worldwide political stage.

what we are have is radio. who recently resigned from the government on grounds of principle he said he could no longer serve in a government whose policies he did not agree with ambassador thank you very much for joining us here in our team you resigned after more than thirty years of service what was the final score. by going to greet the stuff of the foreign minister the ministry of foreign and the bad news for him was who. desires peace needs to be careful. and i thought that was very telling.

of the psyche that. exists behind his political weight and i thought i could not. minister with this kind of statement is it a statement supported by the majority of israelis i think we israelis yes we. we grew up. we need to be on a little. more most israelis live a life that is quite. and you can come out of the environment and planted in the u.s. or in europe western europe and you will find the israelis quite. easily integrating into society into requirements in place and so on so it's not. the regimented society of my childhood. all the time it's at

any given point. but it is true that israelis are not naive and they believe that we can survive here in the middle east. only if we are ready to fight when you are resigned to the same to message to all the staff of the foreign ministry explaining the resignation. of the accident and what is the general mood like among israeli public servants concerning the policies that will have to differ and i have no illusions some of us. are frustrated by my letter. because it is outside of the code of conduct that you just drop out because you don't like the message the messenger has no view over the message that is because of conduct and it's quite legitimate to think in that way how many messengers agree with the message and how many don't in the foreign

ministry in my view. large majority don't care they are professionals and whatever message comes for them to believe that they will do. a solid minority ministry that is politically motivated to promote. in its. rather. hawkish. position government. is is pursuing. i think we do also have the lefties leftovers from the past but i think the minority is your last overseas posting was as ambassador to south africa what's your experience in south africa she seems as far as the christian nation is all is

concerned. i think that israel is. in a danger zone to slide. by default. into. money for stations of apartheid if we don't take it. and i'm afraid we don't take it and there's going to contain in the united states as far as israeli policies on iran and palestine does how close is the rest between the united states and israel or is it merely a lover's quarrel i'm surprised to realize how deep the americans care for israel is when it comes to the conversation the political conversation in the us. i also can see how. the aftermath of the war in iraq and enough guns. and the american city of the middle east. could work badly

for the image is present in the u.s. in the political discourse in the us and in the context of american interest god forbid that the u.s. will be more reluctant. to reach out for israel because our predicament now is like a result of a policy pursued by this kind of government in a way that i think is tragically wrong. that we lean to the american congress a single source of stress. in our diplomatic fabric and that is. very dangerous. in the region considering that in the aftermath of the arab spring the middle east has become radicalized. looking for i think looking

for. partners. of convenience. one is jordan. in the form we know it. so we entertain. a lot of common interests. and as long as it doesn't pose a threat to us i think it's taking a very careful. and turkey. foreign policy towards one of the emerging powers in the mediterranean and. thank you very much for joining us here on our team.

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and broadcasting live direct from our studios in central moscow this is our team. president assad confirms his willingness to negotiate with the opposition to end of the bloody conflict in syria this comes after talks in damascus between president assad and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov the country's opposition indicates it too could be prepared to sit at the negotiating table russia as a mediator. and as a russia steps up the diplomatic efforts to end the crisis in syria major european and arab countries we call their ambassadors from damascus the gulf states along with spain france italy and of the netherlands say damascus has failed to take

steps to end of the bloodshed earlier in the week he ordered its ambassador home while the u.s. closed its embassy there all together. riot police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators protesting against the new austerity measures while the government struggles to agree on measures needed to secure a vital second bailout greece desperately needs a one hundred thirty billion euros from international creditors to avoid a default remark. and staying with you're up next here on our team stacy herbert check out the e.u. record the union turns twenty. kaiser this is the kaiser report the currency wars are heating up around the.