referendum on the constitution now that is slated to come to come around sometime in march and if their friend and goes through as expected this may mean the end of the monopoly of the current ruling party another noteworthy moment to is the fact that the syrian opposition which here there which until now has been unwilling to to go to any negotiations with the current government in syria has said that they are willing to talk but they have said that russia must provide the roadmap for those negotiations and that they must go beyond just the talking that some actions should be taking place now syrian president assad has also said that he is hoping that he that he is actually he was once the observers from the league of the arab states to stay in the country and of course russia has also mentioned that the peace process in the country must go through according to the plan laid out by the league of the arab states military listen to the russian foreign minister to get

a rope on the results of his the visit to syria 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 there of course also countries not seem to be as eager to see the peace process in syria to go through france italy and spain are among the latest countries to have pulled out their basters promised syria also there are the gulf states which have not only recalled their ambassador some to country but have also sent out syrian ambassador from their countries there are also statements from the united states. who are make it clear that they are not

willing to see president bush are locked to to remain in power for much longer the u.s. ambassador to the united nations has said that his these are numbered also the white house has mentioned that to negotiate with also it is to is basically a way to fail or now the u.s. has to be higher not planning on supplying arms to the syrian rebels but they have said that no option is off the table or in english the reporting there and in the light of a recent u.n. security council fallouts when moscow and beijing blocked a draft resolution on syria r.t. spoke to russia's ambassador to the body it says that piling pressure only on the acid regime gives unilateral advantages to the rebels who are also to blame for the violence in syria. 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 trying not trying to justify anybody but simply trying to be

analytical is that as the monitoring mission of that i believe was there and that 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 coup out every conflict. needs to be resolved through negotiations there are two ways really in my view one is a frontal attack against the regime something which i'm afraid has been happening lately including from some international important international players the

advocates of regime change there in trying to. resolve the crisis through frontally the toppling of the current government in the mosque but this is this would mean bloodshed and civil conflict and. conflict which would 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 the table and to arrange a dialogue among them in order to find a political solution with all for the bloodshed. the pentagon has reportedly launched a revision of its to fans' capabilities in case it will have to resort to a military option in syria president of the arab lawyers association says this is nothing out of the ordinary and it's simply a matter of history repeating itself. this is very clearly an attempt by the worst

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 other countries that go from trees 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 in the. other when the west were supporting the opposition. i mean. anybody who wanted to have a dialogue with the government regardless of whether they were. they were accused of being. stooges of the government or their agents of the government or they are not the path between now and this is that they are doing 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 civilian and peaceful protests were converted into an armed conflict so that it gives the pretext for the west to intervene. well here in r.t. we're closely monitoring the situation in syria and we also have a whole section dedicated to syria on our website at r.t. dot com also there you'll find a poll asking what you think will come of possible few stuff let's take a look now the vast majority of our viewers believe that the west will find a way to remove us if we gardeners of peace talks about a quarter believe that even if an agreement is reached the opposition want on or it's thirteen percent say that the talks are doomed i want to achieve anything well just about six percent voted that the talks will bring long. peace and you can let us know what he's think about this by logging on to our website r.t.

dot com hopefully the graphics will be ready for you next hour now still to come in the program the greek economy goes on sale fresh clashes erupt in athens as you stare at the ravaged public rails against what they see as a fire sale of the nation's future. and frozen to death by adding cold has ukraine in an icy grip as a country suffers its most severe winter in years with more than a hundred people dying over of the last week. now britain after the european court of human rights ordered the release of abu qatada dubbed a somber lines right hand man in europe it's the latest in a string of judgments that have overruled domestic decisions reinforcing the opinion that the e.u. is interfering in matters it has nothing to do with and as r.t. as laura smith reports patience with the e.u.

is running thin. a silver in land with its own queen its own currency and its own parliament law was made by someone else this building houses what we in the u.k. call list supremum court but in practice it supremes in name only despite being the highest court in the land when it comes to human rights if you don't like the way your case is going or you can take his abroad to france and decisions made in strasburg could overrule any may taya the european court of human rights was set up after world war two to avoid the persecution of minorities by the state but now it's been de railed that it was never never anticipated of the circle or war after the holocaust off the terrace perpetrated by certain tyrannical governments but the

court now would be protecting the criminal and not the victim which delays in control of a sea have dogged the european court in stroudsburg there's a backlog of up to eight years and when cases are decided judgement so often bizarre in two thousand and ten the court decided to give prisoners the rights to vote petition by john hirst who spent much of his life behind bars after killing his landlady the u.k. is still refusing to implement the ruling it makes me physically ill it would probably mean to give the vote to anyone who is in prison aside it could also cost of the last time that we looked at this the cost of complying with judgments on the european convention of human rights was about two point one billion pounds a year that's three point three billion dollars plus another two point eight

billion in a susi ated one off costs in other areas an immigration ruling means a convicted nigerian rapist gets to stay in the u.k. because of his right to a family life. and most recently the european court of human rights ruled hate preacher abu qatada dubbed bin lardons the right hand man in europe can't be deported back to jordan where he's now g. to be released onto the streets of britain this is somebody who stands up and publicly. hatred about everything that our democracy is and stands for and yet we can't get rid of him because of the european convention on human rights sitting in strasburg forty seven judges one from each country so far so fair except none of them were elected by the people of the countries they're making law for we've got a system of law and order in this country it's worked for many many years for the seat or the mother why do we need brussels to tell us what we can and cannot do the

answer is we don't so therefore british law for british people those who aren't calling for the u.k. to pull out of the european convention on human rights all together are demanding reforms to stop strides burke making decisions on what should be sovereign issues the court has to be more focused on fundamental civil and political rights not interfering in the daily lives. and in the ministration of the criminal justice system in the member states of the council of europe without reforms there's a risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater as nations pull out of the human rights court undermining it leaving those in countries with weak a human rights protections entirely vulnerable laura smith r.t. london. meanwhile will be riders in the u.k. could soon come face to face with military grade chemical agents the u.k. government to speak ask you clarified stance on the use of end of that stating there are gas although banned from use and warfare of there are fears it could be

adopted by british bride police to the full story ever to dot com. also on our web site a holy war for america enraged catholic priests are preparing for a legal fight with president obama saying its new health insurance policies are not sold on religion. washington is sending a top official to egypt to tackle cairo's crackdown on u.s. nonprofit groups the groups played a pivotal role in the popular uprising that toppled president mubarak last year but are now falling victim to egypt's new military leadership has been following events . egypt's new government crackdown on nigerians has raised many questions and they

may want to is why now the groups many of which funded by washington have been on the ground here for a while they were at the vanguard of the uprising against mubarak that eventually brought the supreme council of the armed forces and no one has ever seems to care about their sources of income that is until they directed their criticism to the new military leadership laman scarf or the slow pace of reform some of them are used by the other. that according people they are working. and they are the ones that evolution they have. won the radicals who live there this is very much a dangerous war the rhetoric this is special led to prosecutors raiding seventeen offices of advocacy groups forty three activists including americans germans and egyptians are now facing trial for illegally using foreign fines to promote and run in the post mubarak country activists how one would claim they are the victim of

scarves reluctance to give up power with dreaming the people about the rights of the scaf look in the fall enjoy. against the regime and all the mind the round up of activists has also not had a son of u.s. transportation secretary ray la hood further fueling tension between cairo in washington. because. of them in a sort of plans for. i don't think that. so this is america whose military aid to egypt to reduce one point three billion dollars annually has been very serious there has been quick to condemn the car when in the days of blank checks are over or the. end of the continued on flowing but the crew of the support also continue. to order washington's so-called support for democracy here in the middle east and washington

wants to study law as the situation as much as possible in order to guarantee its interests they don't care about democracy meanwhile even those on the streets protesting against car sharing the council's concerns about the ingenious motives the usa has had a hand in tips policy making for years but the whole n.t. and your campaign has become the first serious disagreement between america and the country is your story cairo wanted to send washington and message that it's no longer the silent dog it was under mubarak but an independent state which will last so the rate any outside interference some doubts though they really minute the end to military movement growing have a bigger you can see it over there this is in council of the armed forces or scaf now running egypt is in a very vulnerable position and this nationalistic pronouncement may just be a nationalist show put on to calm the people down and to win back

a shred of credibility. in our teen cairo. regime change in egypt has severed previously well established ties between cairo and tel aviv this as israel continues to take steps of further isolated from its middle east neighbors policies that some former government members strongly oppose coming up next hour a former senior diplomat shares his views on the matter here's a preview. the right wing always. profited from. the. public mood on new defense issues and i think a lot of the bug you see a lot of what you say above you are wrong to be served but with the good and i'm. very angry about this i think it should be stopped. at once it is very obvious that iran is pursuing. its position as a regional power but it is primarily be fancy primarily.

response to. iran to pick themselves. on the brink of bankruptcy greece has already missed three deadlines this week to present a draft dad deal to parliament was hopes that it may finally do so today however getting approval may be difficult more than ten thousand greeks surrounded the parliament on tuesday clashing with police while protesting the latest reforms many see their livelihoods and the country being sold out with a little benefit for them parliamentary opposition is also strong with deputies wary of more cuts and tax hikes expected to accompany the deal greece has until march to secure financing or face default but according to investment adviser patrick young the hopes of a positive outcome are fading fast. this is truly finally the brink we are on the cusp of the great eurostar the troika of the group of people the world bank the

i.m.f. the european union people they're all at the point where they know there is totally exasperated in the rest of the world as to why they should be paying for a greek economy of a greek state that is totally completely and utterly bankrupt has been completely and utterly mismanaged for decades and ultimately tragically the greek people themselves are going to end up suffering as they already are the problem is it all went wrong because in. group of rather well rather than the scholarly kind of dream i didn't give each of those so there could be one single euro they rush to compress everybody into a single currency and ultimately none of the countries were actually remove the compatible economically in order to make that giant leap back to where it's going wrong and this is a tragedy for europe and the european union now is to look at some other stories from around the world fifteen people have been pulled out alive from the collapse of medicine factory in lahore as rescue workers continue fifty six are still

believed to be trapped under the rubble with the death toll now at twenty one the three story building collapsed monday after several gas cylinder explosions the factory which local authorities have been trying to shut down was set up in the valley in a residential area of lahore. large parts of eastern australia remain in the grip of floods as waters have started reaching peak levels thousands of people have been forced from their homes and it's feared up to ten percent of the country's cotton crops have been damaged australia being the world's third biggest supplier queensland state premiers says people won't be able to move back to the area until water levels drop and sewage systems are restored. now across the globe europe is also suffering severe weather conditions for most of the continent this means some transport disruptions worse but in ukraine the consequences are far more serious the country's enduring its harshest winter in recent history with over one

hundred lines lost to the cold in the last week alone are just like here cesky has more. when the thermometer hit minus twenty seven degrees celsius last week got very frightened homeless and with a child to care for she feared they would both freeze to death until she found the public eating sand in a key of park look at the. schools were closed because of the trees and i had no way to take my eyes out i was scared at first went to a train station to get but we were kicked out things got we found this heated tent but there were many ukrainians who were not so lucky at least one hundred thirty five people are reported to have died because of freeze related injuries within only a week several thousand were hospitalized and have been on high alert upgrading the weather conditions to natural disaster status. the situation is serious but it is controllable the emergency ministry has set up thirty two hundred

heating centers nationwide to. come here and turn this more than ninety five thousand people turned. this trauma siberian cycle on hit many countries on the continent reaching as far as a telly of course with such extreme conditions ukraine is not the only country to experience casualties but why so many dead experts say the reason for that lies not in the climate but rather in key of social and economic policies with more and more homeless people on the streets the majority of the deaths were in eastern ukraine the region with the highest unemployment rate is. the government hasn't created any jobs housing all social programs and doesn't replenish the state but more and more people are finding themselves in the streets that's where there are so many did because of the freeze heating centers help will save some people's lives but they won't solve the issue of deepening poverty such

as their moment so would not scare anybody. in this part of the world however meteorologists say what they expect at least minus thirty degrees centigrade over the coming weekend the older it is serious situation may become even more difficult with at least eighty five thousand homeless people roaming the streets of ukrainian cities. reporting from kiev in ukraine. now take a look at the earth from a new angle so he joins scores of air ballooning enthusiastic or a special report coming up in just a few moments after the headlines after the business update with carrie that's next . time for a business here not here thanks for joining me russia's outstanding domestic debts grew in two thousand and eleven at the fastest rate in fifteen years the money the state owes to the population has tripled over the last three years in two thousand and eleven domestic debt rose forty two percent or one hundred forty billion

dollars that's on top of a forty percent in the year before despite the increases the government plans to continue raising the debt burden and it has plenty of room to do so russia's debt to g.d.p. ratio is around ten percent it's one of the lowest among industrialized countries. let's take a look at the markets now exchange rates first the euro is flat against the dollar investors are keeping an eye on the greek debt talks that would enable the country to receive its next a local rescue funds here in russia the ruble has balanced against the dollar to its highest level in five months on the back of strong oil but. stocks in europe are high and with banks lifting sentiment that says greek officials prepared to finalize a deal on history measures to gain access to a second bailout in germany commerzbank jumped eight point three percent while dorchin bank rose two percent lifting the dax index. here in moscow markets are trading higher with energy majors boosting the indices on the high oil prices the

r.t.s. is up one point four percent is up just under a percent let's look at some individual share moves on the this hour gold is more than six and a half percent down on profit taking up to surging more than fifty percent investors bet its london listed parent will make a buyout for food retailer several continent is in the red as well saying up to saying it will buy back shares with a discount to the market price russia's largest oil company will snap has slipped into the bread this. well russian firms us blushing record amounts on advertising despite the crisis prices for billboards commercials and t.v. campaigns are expected to grow as the economy continues to strengthen. they say a picture is worth a thousand words and you're likely to see a lot more like this one last across russia in twenty twelve and that's because

advertisement is selling big as a russian not make ice houses sites advertise that according to some other time market intelligence companies pull out of love countries that will buy the rough surf advertisement that is likely to enjoy the biggest expansion and that followed by follow merging market ok is china india and brazil and also those big voting activities going on at least here big children including the cramming pop and chappies and badges to train yesterday must guide and around the trade these are likely to attract big the must still spending is also the one off margin presidential election i would like to see that homicidal. maniac and television united states doubles they benefit from a presidential election which is about a week

a week and these people these politicians love to write mud at each other across the page and why it's not a different story for europe of course when times are tough it's often advertisement that these cars so when it's too late to start say are likely to be heading it down this season and that would have a whole the sharp i leave that but a close up of my appetizer this is set to start out with friends he smiled but the internet to look up twenty percent of will be just that day. so the business is back in about fifty five minutes we're business stories here.

but i do. strive for thirty australia in. new zealand in the with thank you see the film on the screen if you want to have sex go and have sex.

welcome back you're watching r.t. live from moscow these are the top stories polar approach to syrian dilemma washington stepping up its rhetoric for regime change in syria ignoring moscow's attempts to bring both asad and the opposition together to peace talks. the rift between the e.u. and the u.k. grows into a cow's master of the european court of human rights or the release of osama bin laden's right hand man of any hue or a. band of washington stop military official war had to cairo to try and span colonel charges against american engineer members as egypt's military leaders crack down on the western activist who helped them to power last year. also the top

stories here in our team now prepare to take the clout to the clouds as our team explores the wonderful world of air ballooning. people couldn't fly for a long time i don't think because they didn't think it was possible we can learn how to do that without machines anywhere if we want to. use to do it on one people here are remote to us they have generous souls. this is something out of this world and in chanting experience this is the skies would brings these people together they come here from all over russia in the world. people stick together because of both the love of ballooning and that none of them will be able to do it single handed each person is a zone of responsibility those on the ground are responsible.