all.

the u.n. general assembly prepares to vote on an arab resolution putting blame for violence in syria solely on the government made fears the country might soon plunge into sectarian chaos. the first wave of downgrades sweeps across the struggling euro zone a six nations get their debt rating scott all this while greece faces further bellowing hurdles from the e.u. despite its latest harsh austerity plan. and russian military predicts the west might decide on a military strike against iran before summer as the clouds gather over tehran

following crowds gather i should say over tehran following israel's accusations that the islamic state was behind monday's the times on diplomatic personnel. live from our headquarters in central moscow you're watching archie with me and he said now i four pm here in the russian capital two pm in damascus and the u.n. general assembly could soon vote on a new draft resolution on syria which is believed would put all the blame for the violence on the country's government saudi arabia and qatar drew up the tax in a fresh bits of pressure at the syrian president the move follows the recent double veto of virtually the same document by russia and china at the u.n. security council is an associate churkin law is following developments in new york

. this meeting has definitely lasted 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 an arab and western backed resolution on syria at the security council so what we saw as an attempt from the saudi arabia and qatar to go to another body of the united nations an 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's and china's problem with the text was that it seemed biased to the country is 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 armed groups and that's something that continues to be a major sticking point the recognition of two sides to this conflict by the international community because the effort to end violence should come with negotiation attempts involving all sharing forces including the government and the opposition in order to start the talks the countries that have an influence over the opposition groups who went to him now have been unwilling to meet should exert their power. we've been hearing all of these countries make speeches today see it 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 this symbolic diplomatic gesture is 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 unless it pushes for a cease fire so many are saying that should be a priority prioritized at the general assembly these days and not just you know a lot of words of criticism well syria's opposition say the rebellious city of homs has come under some of its heaviest shelling yet from government forces rebels claim around four hundred people have been killed and several days of an intensified assault but the syrian authorities blame violence on armed terrorists operating in the city and with al qaeda now adding to the increased turmoil in the country there are fears syria could soon plunge into sectarian chaos as tara furth now reports the predominantly christian town of million in the syrian mountains it's even here in this. place and the signs of the rising conflict is tearing apart much of the country right now creeping in and the sense of the building hangs heavy. to this area much longer fear let's say

we speak to the nuns at the ministry they tell us about the town's preservation of the ancient remain 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 we have been living here with all people regardless of their religion and in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions allawi sector a minority in the country but 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 sex could erupt the country that until this crisis breakout was religiously diverse as the intolerance now the calm increasingly polarized genuine

fears about just where those divisions my laid his a sectarian tensions being further exploited have been staked by the emergence of an al qaeda video calling for holy war overthrow 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 well as many of them are 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 it could turn into a sectarian one as well. r.t. damascus syria. well staying in the middle east police in bahrain have fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters trying to occupy a landmark square in the nation's capital and happened on the eve of the one year anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising in the gulf kingdom on monday hundreds of protesters marched through to mark the role that was crushed by security forces but let's not talk more about this mideast expert to recoat lee who joins us now live via broadband from london thank you for being with us bahrain's opposition accused police of brutal tactics in suppressing protests that flared up last february and you know we hear no words of condemnation from countries that so they are mainly support uprisings in syria and libya not to mention almost no media coverage of it why is that. well the reason for that is very simple most of the western media

and of those who provide it with instructions on a daily and weekly basis live by double standards so those countries which i regard it is as i look for where store stooges of the west basically not to criticize regularly very rarely do we have coverage it's not just the gulf states and bahrain in particular it is also countries like yemen who was brutal dictatorial present to prison former president is currently in the united states receiving medical treatment and no reporting is taking place from the yemen there were demonstrations in saudi arabia a few days ago which got very little coverage so this is normal we have come to expect it at saudi arabia has also helped the ruling family in bahrain to stop the violence in the country now saudi arabia is actively backing rebels fighting against the syrian regime what is the sign yes and here there is no independence so

. maybe slightly or numbers but not too much a century they are a surrogate for the united states in the region be always have been and they remain so and both being there are now competing with each other as to who can satisfy the west more given the collapse of can egypt and the saudis into being their intervention in bahrain was greenlighted by the united states which is very strong in there and speculative and they crushed the uprising and they were brutalities on to improve talent teats which are dealt with in a different way and now we have a situation where the chief advisor to the bahraini police is the former chief of police in philadelphia and in florida. recording those two parts of the united states wasn't very good he's not giving them advice on how to

crush and brutalized the demonstrators and he says they're doing it like should be because these demonstrators create cressy problems the problem in both the radius of a profit problem it is a problem that seventy to eighty percent of the population feels it has no representation whatsoever and yet nothing happens on this front after all right and also it's saudi arabia and qatar that are putting forward that resolution at the u.n. general assembly today but let's leave that aside and talk more about saudi arabia itself of course you mentioning that's having a very poor human rights record and it's clearly not a democracy so what kind of moral authority does it have to tell other middle eastern governments to step down it has no moral authority at all it has financial or corage in the sense that it sits on large quantities of oil on which the west is dependent and the west prefers the saudi regime which is client and bible and that

means there is. a corrupt family that has tried to go with the country no for a long long time and which will not move i'm less than some other people from below of course the saudis have no democracy at all it is probably the most undemocratic concrete in the entire arab world. and yet it's accepted much much more than democratic even libya was no one talks about this because it's so useful concrete it has or has and it does look the west starts to do not imagine that what the saudis and at present doing is off their own accord be a century talking behind the scenes regularly with the united states and probably some of the countries and who knows even israel because the big attempt to try and isolate iran and of victims. he destroy it as a major myth of major power in the region that is what is being discussed behind

the scene syria is foreign proselyte but. why do you think we hear more about the double standards from critics from experts as you like it anyone we hear so little about the double standards in terms of the u.s. backing the opposition in countries like syria libya egypt but then supporting the government when it comes to bahrain and saudi arabia well i think that essentially what is what has been going on is there since the end of the cold war and the collapse of the soviet union and that whole world the western media has become a central pillar of government policies and if you look at pentagon documents and papers they say that when we fight a war the media and control of the media is an extremely important element which is why you see the just zero week for a long time was pretty independent and not affected by government propaganda it's

now become a government propaganda station where three and so being so concerned they backed the libyan war they effectively project the government behind this very difficult criticism of what their own government is doing and in that they've become the replica in our c.n.n. and b.b.c. world which are propaganda outfits and that's how they should be treated i don't think anyone in the western world now doubts this the coverage of the b.b.c. for instance on these wars is effectively government propaganda little more than. the right to rico limit is expert joining us live from london thank you very much for your analysis this hour and. but we are closely watching tensions in the region and you can find more expert analysis on what's happening in the middle east north africa on our website r.t.e. dot com. well the debt ridden a you have suffered another blow for ratings agencies moody's has downgraded the debt ratings of six states including vulnerable portugal italy and spain it comes

as the walk struggles to prevent greece from default by offering bow-wow to return for more austerity but artist jacob graves reports now more and more greeks feel the measures will only make things worse. the system on the seach m.p.'s drowned out the pleas of tens of thousands of demonstrators masters in the short passing another round of them popular cuts. the results proved incendiary. uganda protests turned violent as protesters including fringe and the kids clashed with police again leaving their mark on athens. the day all this is the remnants of public anger the glass isn't the only thing that's being broken as governments past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts he could be left asking who can they trust serve their interests the measures that he hated that part of the poor people

especially and this is the reason that we feel. today i think more measures have been taken and it's not going to work in the end they'll be another bill people leave. and. oh 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 mali's that some feel is. to fail we already have destroyed the whole generation of young people in their dreams they will destroy your. infrastructure of the whole country we know that it is. a nice day that we have now signs that the busy legal or old news. we cannot continue like that because the policy but the

government is following actually increases the day instead of finding a solution but the heart of activists claims is their search and they've known austerity for the best part of five years now and the 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 term or the governor wallace will follow but what is above. is that wake up to the idea exactly even more. people. are going to come the only way out of this point is that before before there's going to be very tough for us but there's going to be a better solution than the sort of 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 by the simmering discontent hasn't been and was forced medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for terms of treatment greece athens well despite greece passing as harsh as austerity package yet there's no guarantee it will get more bailout cash there are still conditions happens needs to fill including making written assurances that they agreed measures will be implemented but international consultant and author adrian chase says the country is locked in a vicious circle. 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 a model where like shylock's pound of the pay you ability of the sovereign there is literally used to control the entire country and it's so sad to see the same

sickening scene time and again protests taking to the streets they are repressed by the police who tear gas they throw stones somebody gets injured hundreds get in because 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 horrific scenes and just laughing at it all. later today will bring you a unique take on europe's debt crisis and the kaiser report coming up at fifteen thirty g.m.t. . here are some images from athens is that from two thousand and nine two thousand and ten two thousand and eleven or two thousand and twelve can you tell the target by any other year or still a sweep greeks approved 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 we're cruising we're trying to milk you dry and still the elegant marbles but the u.k. already stalled. its international pressure on iran mounts russia's military has a sas the probability of a western strike against the islamic republic is being high while concerns of pending military action grew after israel blamed tehran for two bomb attacks on its diplomatic staff on monday arches peter oliver following developments around iran and now joins us live with the latest developments peter what exactly was said by the russian military with regard to this rainy and standoff well this came from the chief of staff of the russian armed forces he said he couldn't rule out a plan being in place for the west to attack iran by well by the summer of this

year now he was basing this statement on the fact that since the arab spring began russia has been monitoring the the region of the middle east very closely and this his findings from the monitoring that's been going on now this comes just a day after two israeli diplomats were targeted in the capitals of georgia and india now they were targeted with bombs being placed in cars the bomb in georgia was able to be found and diffused but the bomb in india exploded injuring several people now. what. the israelis were very very quick to point the finger of blame towards terror and something that experts of later said there's very really really no evidence to suggest that the iranians were behind this now this is all part of the blame game it's been going on between tel of tehran accuses the israelis have

been behind a two year campaign to assassinate a rainy and nuclear scientists and well on choose day in bangkok what we've seen is a rainy and none taken into custody by thai police. an explosion two explosions in bangkok injured several people there now is really media very very quick to point the finger of terror towards that iranian man who's being detained there so this is all part of as i say a blame game that's ongoing between tell of eve and terror on. an artist peter are over live with that tape thank you for that. well later this hour we hear about the pitfalls of the u.s. approach to dealing with iran from brian bakker a member of the answer antiwar coalition here's a taste of that interview coming up. the u.s. says they're not carrying out regime change but in fact everyone who is watching knows that indeed 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 a like the old saying is they are saying 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. but taking a look now at some other news from around the world this hour a radical muslim cleric with alleged links to al qaeda and said to be bin laden's right hand man has been released from prison on bail in the u.k. extremist preacher abu qatada has been locked up for six years but last week tribunals ruled he should be freed when us officials say he poses a threat to the country's security but attempts to deport him back to jordan to

face terrorism charges have been blocked by the european court of human rights. ethnic serbs in northern kosovo have voted on whether to recognize the government in pristina which they have ignored since two thousand and eight the result of the tour de referendum is expected on sunday which could further impact tensions with ethnic albanians officials in belgrade have warned kosovo serbs against holding the referendum saying it would harm talks with pristina and its own bit to join the e.u. . the body of late pop star whitney houston has arrived in her home state of new jersey ahead. the morial service scheduled for later this week dozens of her fans gathered outside the funeral home hoping to catch a glimpse of her casket it's still unclear what caused huge does that though some have speculated drowning or a drug overdose she was forty eight years old. next year an artsy is the latest business with kareen.

thank you nice hello and welcome to business here in our city thanks for joining me we start with russian crops where mother nature is once again playing tricks just a year after a severe drought the trees plantings are facing a cold test. has more. up the whole of the crops may have been damaged by the extreme cold weather say we're informers italy germany france and poland are also from sustained low temperatures which of minus thirty three in some polls those expected to skyrocket prices for things like bread week futures have been of the ukraine russian 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 russia's top or never received suspended its grain terminal several times of the

black sea froze over for the first time in thirty years a drought from july to november last year had already weakened crops the head of russia's so than one company says fifty percent of the country's great crop could be damaged by heavy winds and the worst weather in a quarter of a century first show one in three great points have already been lost. let's have a look at the markets now exchange rates first the euro is trading lower against the dollar and the ruble that's after being down an early asian trading due to the rating downgrade by britain's unmoved by the ratings agency also weighs on the ruble which is saying moderate losses against the u.s. . oil's next prices are up hovering around a one month high that after the astounding planned approval by the greek parliament and tightening sanctions on iran futures climbed over two percent after companies in control of more than one hundred anchors said they would stop loading cargo from iran. here's europe for stocks again in this hour despite

a fresh crop of downgrades and ratings cuts by moody's the rating agency known to knowledge is off spain's sovereign debt rating and cut it looks on the u.k. and france too negative. here is russia markets they are trading in positive territory with them isaac's adding almost one percent this hour let's check in the index movers on the why sex look oil is one percent higher the company plans to invest twenty nine billion dollars in field development in the caspian sea and by two thousand and twenty five leading the bank with worst from early losses it is now adding around one percent and trying to make a come os is among the main gate of sour rumors it has made a deal with their till monday from a committee outlines which stocks investors will be focused on this week. investors will be most focused on stocks which almost leveraged on a successful outcome for greece and also relatively well sports or more to see

prices in traditionally russia what we call the heart beats of stocks that still names on the financials as well so the market should be quite focused on names like you have your eyes it was like sort of starry much zero. amongst the various t.v. but a lot will depend on how the market interprets the events in greece. and in other news overall so the world's largest diamond mine i put myself forty percent in an i.p.o. according to commerce daily floatation worth over one billion dollars may take part in the second half of this year. japanese beer lovers will soon have the opportunity to enjoy a new brand of their favorite beverage russia six largest brewer has decided to set up production in the european country the company plans to increase its presence in the german market tenfold this year by brewing five million liters of beer says it's forced to expand abroad due to. we sing regular. pressure on russia's feel

like. well that's all we have for you this hour but don't forget all the back about fifteen minutes with more here on the start.