from. home. mom. put to the test as the u.n. general assembly scrutinizes the syrian crisis the movie seen by some as an attempt to tighten the screws on russia and china. europe gets hit with yet another wave of downgrades as confidence collapses over the books future this presses

a head with its austerity crusade against greece. and with the russian airways flooded with pre-election campaigning positive coverage of prime minister putin is criticised as an unfair advantage over the other presidential candidates. plus there are also markets kick off the trading session in the red with the r.t.s. losing more than half a percent we'll have all the figures for you in business in twenty minutes. internationally you can comment twenty four hours a day this is r.t. the un general assembly is preparing its members for an upcoming vote over a new draft resolution on syria the document apparently echoes the one vetoed by moscow and beijing at the security council in early february the u.n. human rights chief said the inability of the body to take action on the syrian

crisis that handed president assad carte blanche to execute an all out assault on the decisions of the general assembly and not legally binding some believe the vote be used to put pressure on both russia and china but he's in a situation that explains. this meeting has definitely lost in the entire day we've been hearing speeches from dozens of countries that started early in the morning and of course this comes only a week after a double veto from russia and china blocked in the arab and western backed resolution on syria at the security council so what we saw was an attempt from the saudi arabia and qatar to. go to another body of the united nations and attempt to find some kind of decision there even though the general assembly does consist of over one hundred ninety members we have to keep in mind that it's not nearly as powerful as the security council because whatever decision comes out of the general assembly is by no means binding it's only seen as a recommendation by the rest of the international community and what's key here is

that the text of this suppose address aleutian that the general assembly will be voting on voted on has not even been circulated yet we're hearing about it's going to be pretty much the same document that russia and china vetoed and russia and china's problem with the text was that it seemed biased to the countries saying that it only named to the syrian government as the main cause of the conflicts going on on the ground in syria but not the arms of proved the armed groups and that's something that continues to be a major sticking point the recognition two sides to this conflict by the international community we've been hearing all of these countries make speeches to d.c. is saying that the syrian government is committing atrocities so really this is another opportunity for those who do support regime change on the ground to send out criticism towards the syrian government many experts are saying really that the fact that the symbolic diplomatic gestures being attempted at the united nations doesn't really mean much because any sort of document is not going to help stop the

crisis on the ground on less pushes for a cease fire so many are saying that should be priority prioritized at the general assembly these days and not just you know a lot of words of criticism when new york based correspondent jean williams says if the action serious push through the u.n. general assembly you could say it's dangerous precedent. the arab countries in the western countries want to show that they're doing something. if they were serious then they were oppressed for a special general assembly an emergency special general assembly meeting under the uniting for peace resolution and this you may remember in a field rich with irony was the form that the us and britain used to fight the korean war in the face of a soviet veto in the early fifty's since then it was resurrected by the palestinians to bypass the american beat up in the security council and that's a resume is why it is not being invoked now because i use the phrase

a non-binding resolution the resolution that established the state of israel and partitioned it was a general assembly resolution that was not binding then where do we go from there and you know what we have is some powers say that resolutions they like are binding and resolution they don't like a non-binding. the qatari president of the general assembly could have followed earlier precedent and said that there was sufficient support for a special that the special session but he hasn't done so and i'm sure that's because a western pressure that he don't want to establish a precedent they consider these resolutions binding because that would be upsetting next time u.s.b. don't have a lot of good resolution when syria damning reports continue to emanate from the protest homes and with the spiraling violence now being fanned by such players as al qaeda there are concerns the crisis could take a sectarian form as artie's reports. there predominantly christian town of many

lies in the syrian mountains even here in this. place and the signs of the pay rise in conflict it's tearing apart much of the country right now creeping in and the sense of baiting hangs heavy locals tell us they don't travel to this area much longer fear let's say we speak to the nuns at the. ministry here they tell us about the town's preservation of the ancient aramaic language and like their cherished tongue they hate the fine balance of religious groups in the country can be kept even in these difficult times i have in this when we have been living. for less of their religion and ethnicity in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions a sense alloway sector a minority in the country that despite making up around just twelve percent of the taito population heloise have occupied elite positions in the government and the

military for decades and now there are fears that resentments among the majority muslim sunni stack's could erupt the country that until this crisis breakout was religiously diverse as the tolerance now the current increasingly polarized genuine fears about just where those divisions my lead here's a sectarian tensions being further exploited have been staked by the emergence of an al qaeda video calling for holy war over throw the assad regime violence is just not going to end we see it happening and iraq neighboring iraq sectarian violence that is catastrophic and nobody is reporting on that the reporting on syria and they're not focusing on the potential problems that syria could lead into another iraq on the streets through an increasingly desperate population has called for help in whatever form it comes as long as it stops the violence there's little time for them to think about long term sick carrion rests was many of the more worrying

about daily survival anyone or. we are ready to hear to say yes to anyone over there so for this regime yes everyone in syria right now the split still largely remains along political lines but there's concern that as this increasingly bloody conflict continues. could turn into a sectarian one as well. r.t. damascus syria. well still to come on the program the superpower games in washington and beijing represent to discuss cooperation of the u.s. use its forces into china's backyard. and tensions between israel and iran escalate after television blames tehran for carrying out two bomb attacks on embassy staff in their analysis on those events in just a few minutes. there yet another wave of credit rating downgrade says hit the e.u. with moody's one of the big three raters slashing the scores of italy spain and

four other nations this as the bloc labors to erect a debt barrier around greece and hopes that extreme austerity there will halt any possible contagion as artie's jake agrees reports it's a plan that already seems to be unraveling. system on the seach m.p.'s drowned out the pleas of tens of thousands of demonstrators amassed within a short passing another round of unpopular cuts. the results proved incendiary. that uganda protests turned violent as protesters including fringe and kiss clashed with police again leaving their mark on athens. a day on this is the remnants of public anger but glass isn't the only thing that's been broken as governments past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts will be left asking who can they trust serve their interests the measures are very very tough

part of the poor people especially and this is the reason that we feel. today i think more measures have been taken and they're going to work and there will be another bill lee bad and. i hope for the best but i don't see it coming. under pressure from brussels berlin and the international monetary fund the greek government has cut more jobs slash funding for the nation's pensions a minimum wage but current policy appears to mainly expose those most vulnerable to crisis conditions is a mindset some feel is doomed to fail we already have destroyed the whole generation of young people and their dreams destroyed. the safety and infrastructure of the whole country we know that did these. babies there that we have now signs that these illegal or old newish we cannot continue like that

because the policy but the government is following actually increases the day instead of finding a solution at the heart of activists claims is their search and that they've known us there. he for the best part of five years now and that time taxes have risen incomes have full but the country's deficit only seems to grow and in this austerity cycle is something sought by an increasing number despite the turmoil the government walls will follow but what is above. is that make up the idea exactly even more. going to come the only way out of this point is the default default is going to be very tough for us but there's going to be a better solution than the slow death for now relative calm has returned to the streets of athens smashed buildings have been patched up the signs of damage swept

away but the simmering discontent hasn't been a mass force medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for terms of treatment griefs r.t. . well despite greece surpassing its harshest austerity package yet there's no guarantee it will get more bailout cash still has conditions to fulfilling cluing further cuts to protect against a greek default but international consultant and author agency says the country's locked in a vicious cycle. are bankers that stupid that they always make the mistake of lending too much money and are governments that stupid that they take loans much more than they can pay back or insist is this part of our model where like shylock's pound of the pay you ability of the solver and this is literally used to control the entire country and it's so sad to see the same sickening scene time and

again since taking to the streets they are repressed by the police who tear gas they throw stones somebody gets injured hundreds get into somebody always ends up getting killed and i always figure that it's the poor people on the streets fighting the police who are also poor and i always wonder if there are a cigar smoking perched on the fiftieth floor boardroom looking down of these scenes and just laughing at it all. the choice that desired you to meet on wednesday to give the athens bailout their preliminary approval the final say however rests with the german parliament something that's not sitting well with max kaiser coming up in about fifteen minutes a unique take on europe's debt crisis and the kinds of reports. greeks approve tombstone austerity deal with troika so we see over and over there's a great deal there is not a great deal there's a great deal there's not a great deal you. on again off again there is

a deal now there were german were crazy were trying to milk your draw and steal the elgin marbles but the u.k. already stalled. the arrival of the chinese vice president xi jinping in the us comes after testing point in relations between the two economic giants due to meet with his american counterpart joe biden the two are expected to work on time against the backdrop of a u.s. military buildup in the asia pacific michael roscoe defense out of this rajaratnam school of international studies says a visit is a chance for china to share its world view. it is also very important here in chinese political system it's a year where you'll see a generational shift in chinese political system. being basically represents

a fifth generations of new chinese leaders which will take after after this here he's basically posed to become with your general party secretary you know this here and there are becoming china's future president and secondly he wants to give us a sneak preview of his he wants to basically show himself a little introduce himself to the u.s. now there's a very little information on what he really what he's really worldview what he's world views are so i believe there will be tensions covered but most of all it will be very important how the new generations of leaders especially in the trying out will be able to manage the on domestic problems and how they will be able to communicate with the americans and vice versa. where you can log on to r.t. dot com or twenty four seventh's latest details on the stories we're covering while also in light of other recent cold spell had parts of europe in chaos temperatures way below zero just child's play for one russian teenager the fearless fifteen year old is set to become the youngest person to reach the north pole for the guinness

book of records is likely to ignore his daring to find out why. enormous testimony's just days after crashing this cia's official web site. activist group released an online explanation of what was behind the attack but get the full version of r.t. dot com. iran has denied responsibility for the attacks on israeli embassy staff in the indian georgian capitals turvy of accuse the islamic state in. motorcyclists plant an explosive device on a diplomat's call the blast injured four people just five hundred meters from the rest of. the modern tbilisi explosives and some talk from them the city who were

discovered and used the blame game between the two countries has been growing for two minutes now tehran blaming israel over souse of assassinations of its nuclear scientists chicago based radio host stephen lemmon believes iran had no reason to organize the attacks. if i had a need might start it would be most star and i mean mossad i mean the fingerprints are over territory is or attempt at it and mossad state of great all over them israel there is no compunction about two weeks you is well as anybody else if it serves their intention israel makes charities american makes charges but no evidence is provided one thing or earth but a rare chance to gain by renting out an sions when they were so many accusations flowing again just to reiterate no again no evidence substantiate anything including its alleged nuclear weapons program it's entirely all because according

to u.s. intelligence as a march two thousand and eleven is no evidence whatever prove it. well for more on the western governments approach towards iran r.t. talked to brian becker a member of the answer is a taste of what's coming next our. u.s. says they're not carrying out regime change but in fact everyone who's watching knows there is the u.s. policy to create pressure on iran carry out overt operate covert operations economic sanctions and now these new sanctions are not really even like the old saying they are same to the rest of the world if you dare do business with iran central bank if you buy iranian oil which constitutes half of iran's g.n.p. if you have any business with iran whatsoever you will not have access to american banks to american corporations to the american market this is in fact

a blockade. where that now at some other stories making headlines around the world the south radical muslim cleric alleged links to al qaeda said to be bin laden's right hand man has been released from prison on bail in the u.k. extremist preacher. in jail for six years but last week a tribunal ruled he should be freed british officials say he poses a threat to the country's security but attempts to deport him back to jordan to place terrorism charges have been blocked by the european court of human rights. stream where the conditions are continuing to affect much of europe. passengers had to be rescued after being stranded for three days on a train locked inside a tunnel by an avalanche one person died helicopters have delivered aid to save the trapped in the danube river in serbia school this is still closed thank you

and they remain military planes have flown in emergency supplies to snowbound villages of four meters of snow. russia's league of voters is demanding that the country's central channels drop their alleged pro putin bias ahead of march's presidential election the legal standing for a fair election doesn't like the positive turn of reports about the prime minister saying it undermines others' chances but artie's pushed over reports every candidate makes good use of their allotted their time. what i would like to shout out here live here day so he did so for the most eccentric video in russia's presidential campaign urging to vote for the country's top populist bludgeon it in a skit famous for his showmanship and occasional fist fights with fellow told make is. so you will. see that this little mangy donkey has become a symbol of our country the whole country has gone to

a standstill like this animal if i become president i will get moving again. less than a month to go and five candidates have blasted the streets with election posters desmond view is with t.v. promos heated discussions have become part of everyday life the standard got caught after that door and you're bored by dark horse in the race the billionaire businessman mikhail prokhorov promises their arrival of a new russia with a new president known for his quite riches and playboy past he's the only new face on russia's political scene formally and a tory as party animal his reputation was once dented by an international sex scandal which has come back to haunt him on the web we are vegetarians with all our body and soul as for the elections will win them anyway you can buy anything so you can buy your victory to get the remaining candidates out of them in the a crowd united to ban of the oton communist party leader has always relied on the

pension of voters who form about one third of russia's population now his laurels all contest is once again middle of from a for a russia polity is in the know should be is it can't even afford to milk whether pensioners. the competition has made is he gonna reach out to younger generation and offer them a brand new slogan there's always a choice bloody mad putin running for his that time has refrained from getting involved in the campaign directly he has controversially refused to take part in any t.v. debates sending. representatives instead and he's promised to never show his face. when he doesn't go to television when he's a part of st paul it takes what he's a part of television coverage of whose job as prime minister he is there is the only one let's say the only kind that with so many resources so much media attention i think that he wants to show that he is the only real candidate

precisely by not going there as the campaign picks up steam it's expected so will the number of street protests both for and against putin and it's likely election two thousand and twelve will be remembered as one that got russians on their feet all of the latest opinion polls also show the level of support keeps rolling across the country despite the wave of opposition protests i think that brought us tend to mobilize his core electorate because when people. are saying that you know the social benefits should be caught that factories that are inefficient because that stage would not interfere so much i think that the message that people gather cross russia is that like we should keep. busy even a song and recent online secession praising the prime minister's virtues sung by supposedly migrant worker it claims to. be by his initials was sent to russia

by god. by ls however many say the song is clearly too much and is just a clever headaches in the meantime the electoral campaign will be sown with more surprises likely along the way down party moscow. but our latest from the business well with maria. hello and welcome to business here on a c we start this hour with a russian crops where mother nature is once again playing tricks just a year after a severe drought the country's plantings are facing a cold test once again and i. know bushel has more. the whole of the crops may have been damaged by the extreme cold weather say worried farmers it's

lead germany france and poland are also risk from sustained temperatures which of. three in some polls those expected to skyrocket prices for things like bread wheat futures have been through the ukraine government warned they may limit exports to guarantee the mystic supply both countries are usually big exporters of grain global we proceed eleven percent in the second half of general alone we will never receive suspended its grain terminal several times of the black sea froze over for the first time in thirty years a drop from july to november last year had already weakened crops. one company says fifty percent of the country's great could be damaged by heavy winds and the worst weather in a quilter of a century first. one in three great points have already been lost. let's take a look at the markets now we'll start with exchange rates first the euro is trading

flat against the dollar the shoes then that's after being down in early age and trading and downgrades by moody's investor service but the move by the agency weighs on the ruble which is seen moderate gains against the european currencies let's move all to oil which is down but still have ring around a one month high that's after the austerity plan approved by the greek parliament and tighten sanctions on iran climbed over two percent after companies in control of more than one hundred tankers said they would stop loading cargo from iran. and there are markets have reversed earlier losses and that's after the bank of japan surprised the market by expanding its asset purchase program the bank says the additional one hundred twenty billion dollars will be used to buy japanese government bonds. here in russia markets are trade. lower the my six is losing a quarter of a percent while the r.t.s.

is approaching one percent in the red let's take a look at the index movers on the my sex and richard majors are dragging a lower box lukoil has managed to sustain the pressure traders say investors are moving their stock from the rolls left and that's after all the increase plan capital expenditures for this year banking stocks are lower with the second largest lender be dropping more than half of a percent and looking ahead to the rest of the week ta monday says that russian investors will be waiting for new economic data from europe and the us. as well as german production coming. out some numbers on the market turns to. look at those numbers as a reflection of how the overall economy is improving and the implication of that is also in the euro zone if we can get a soft landing in china and that stuff and some of the tribes which markets are numbers we could expect he's still names in particular to run a. whole row so the world's largest diamond miner by output may so fourteen percent

in an i.p.o. according to commerce and they leave the floatation worth over one billion dollars may take part in the second half of this year. in other news germany's beer lovers will soon have the opportunity to enjoy any flavor of their favorite beverage and that's because russia's six largest brewer has decided to stop production and the european country the company plans to increase its presence in the german market held for this year by brewing five million liters of beer says it's forced to expand the broad inclusive regulatory pressure on russia's your markets. and that's how business looks the sour the headlines are next with kerry.

resistance is not of politics but a culture. is couldn't guess. on its own.