the u.n. general assembly prepares to vote on an arab resolution putting the blame for the violence in syria solely on the government of feet amid fears the country may soon plunge into sectarian chaos. a fresh wave of downgrades sweeps across the struggling euro zone six nations get their debt ratings cut all the while greece faces further belo hurdles from the e.u. despite its latest harsh austerity plan. russian military predicts the west might decide on a military strike against iran before summer as clouds gather over to iraq following israel's accusations the islamic state was behind monday's attacks on diplomatic personnel. eight pm in moscow i matras a good to have you with us here on r t our top story syria's up or up position says

the restive city of homs has come under some of its heaviest shelling yet from government forces rebels claim around four hundred people have been killed in several days of an intensified assault but syrian authorities blame violence on quote armed terrorists operating in the city with al qaida now adding to the increased turmoil in the country there are fears syria could soon plunge into sectarian chaos or sarah ferguson planes. the predominantly christian town of milly lies in the syrian mountains yet even here in this hauntingly beautiful place and the signs of the polarizing conflict is tearing apart much of the country right now a creeping in and a sense of foreboding hangs heavy locals tell us they don't travel out of this area much longer feel it's safe we speak to the nuns at the monastery 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 we have been living here with all people regardless of their religion ethnicity in peace for a long time. back in the center and damascus is known as a melting pot of religions a sense allawi sector a minority in the country but despite making up around just twelve percent of the taito population and always 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 intolerance now the current increasingly polarized genuine fears i just worry that these divisions that my laid his a sectarian tensions being further exploited have been staked by the emergence of an al qaeda video calling for harry was able to 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 sectarian 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 it could turn into a sectarian one as well surface r.t. damascus syria. staying with the middle east police in bahrain have again fired

tear gas and stun grenades at protesters who are marking the one year anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising there clashes occurred as activists tried to occupy a landmark square in the capital weather of all broke out last february confrontations been building in the days leading up to the anniversary monday police also dispersed hundreds of demonstrators who marched through munnabhai to mark a protest that was crushed by security forces middle east expert terry kelly tells r t there is a big difference in how some of the world powers treat suppression of uprisings in the region. those countries which are regarded as as the west still stooges of the west basically. criticise regularly 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 going to be 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 of course the saudis have no democracy at all it is probably the most undemocratic to concrete it lead to an arab or a much much more undemocratic even libya was no one told about this because it's a useful country it has a voice and it does look the way it starts the intervention in bahrain was greenlighted by the united states which is very strong in that principle and they crushed the uprising and they were brutality so on to improve on the tees which are dealt with in a different way and now the problem in bahrain is that seventy to eighty percent of the vocal nation feels it has no representation whatsoever and yet nothing happens on this front actual were closely following tensions in the region you can find more expert analysis on that on our website r t v dot com. the debt ridden easy you

have suffered another blow from ratings agencies moody's downgraded the debt ratings of six states including vulnerable for trouble italy and spain is as a bloc struggles to prevent greece from defaulting by offering bailouts and were trained for more austerity but as r.t. jake agrees reports greeks increasingly feel the measures may only make things worse. the system on the see each m.p.'s drowned out the pleas of tens of thousands of demonstrators massed within a short passing another round of them popular cuts. the results proved incendiary. that uganda protests turned violent as protesters including fringe and the kids 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 being broken as governments past increasingly unpopular austerity cuts he could be left

asking who can they trust serve their interests to measures. that part of the poor people especially and this is the reason that they would still. be today i think more measure will have been taken and it's not going to work in the end they'll be another bill. 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 and slashed 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 and they already have destroyed the whole generation of young people and their dreams they will destroy. the safety and infrastructure of the country we know. it did these. a nice day that we have now

signs that the disease. we cannot continue like that because the policy that 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 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 governor warms will follow but what is above. them is the back of that idea exactly the date even more. going to come the only way out of this point is the default default is going to be good for us but there's going to be a better solution than to be so 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 forced medicine appears to bring nothing but pain many are continuing their call for terms of treatment greece athens for more on the story i'm joined by writer and consultant george kennan from washington so it's expected that the second bailout for greece would be released after the meeting of euro zone finance ministers wednesday now the european commission says it won't guarantee why do you think there is so much uncertainty with this second cash injection. well the european leaders want to really increase the pressure on greek politicians to follow through on their promises and the european leaders want to pay off their own creditors before letting the greeks spend money on themselves but that what the problem really goes beyond this particular set of negotiations what the europeans are demanding of greece is

something that northern european countries would never accept for themselves they provide social benefits and all kinds of programs that allow them to live normal happy lives and they're trying to deny the greeks all that knowing that the greeks in the long run are not going to be able to pay back these debts so you have to step back a little bit and ask the question why are the european leaders trying to do this to greece. why do you think that is. well to be philosophical about it i don't think that this is simply a business transaction or some kind of a matter about money that could be adjudicated in a court i think the problem is deeper the europeans have created a currency and they're demanding that everybody in the eurozone accepts the legitimacy of that currency and the people in control of it are the only authorities that can say what people do with the currency but the currency has

structured is very weak and has a lot of internal contradictions in the greeks are really not to blame in my view for their problems as much as it is the people who created the euro so when the when the european leaders are. punishing the greeks it's not so much because of greek debt it's because they're trying to make an example out of greece for having challenged albeit not intentionally having challenged the authority of the of the eurozone. there's a lot of skepticism about the greek deal coming from e.u. politicians germany's finance minister said the e.u. is better prepared now for the greek default than it was two years ago do you think there is a down fall scenario already on the table in brussels should it come to that. well i think that the germans and others are kidding themselves i noticed that i was very interested in this because her view is very similar to mine the economics editor at b.b.c. was saying well the greeks actually have a lot of leverage here and i agree i think the greek government has much more

leverage than they realize because the fact is that if greece leaves the euro zone then it wouldn't be that catastrophic by the way people say the greeks would suffer tremendously but argentina did not suffer when it defaulted in any case going beyond that. if the greeks were to leave the euro zone then the next weakest country in the euro zone would have the same kind of crisis immediately if the problem is with the eurozone you can't have within the eurozone the largest economy running internal balance of payments surplus then all the small countries suffer actually ironically the best reporting on this and the best analysis has come from the u.k. newspaper the financial times but it's very clear what's going on the germans cannot keep running current account surplus this at the expense of the greeks and in the long run it's going to be the germans versus the portuguese or the germans versus the italians but those imbalances have to be corrected and it is not going to be corrected by punishing greece or not punishing greece if it really has to do

with the internal structures of the eurozone and finally briefly because we're running out of time the finance minister of luxembourg said greece will have to leave the euro zone if it fails to meet its obligations greece though is hardly alone in these problems we have news just today from portugal's a double write up or a session do you think this is another sign of that north south divide in europe. oh absolutely and the italians are in line too and it's not only the budget deficit it's the fact that there is this huge market in sovereign debt and you have traders speculators driven a lot of derivatives out there and nobody really knows it's a very opaque murky thing so let's say that we do kill off greece and they exit the euro zone well then all those market shenanigans go to work again on whoever happens to appear weakest and so this will go on and on and on and the europeans have a choice do they make the eurozone a more proper fiscal union where there are actual transfers from the wealthier to

the less wealthy states where there's a central bank that is able and willing to to back up euro denominated bonds issued by various nations will it act like a real union or will it fragment and there's really no alternative even though everybody seems to think that they can muddle on indefinitely all right writer and consultant george kenny thanks for your insight. thank you. later today we'll bring you a unique take on europe's debt crisis and the kaiser report here's a preview. here's 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 tear gas by any other year is still a sweet 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 is not were german were crazy were trying to milk you dry and

still the elegant marbles but the u.k. already stole them. china meanwhile has promised to help resolve the euro zone's debt crisis but it's made no specific promise to invest in the european bailout fund meanwhile chinese vice president xi jinping is in the u.s. to meet with top officials there in an effort to smooth out their differences r.t.s. trade policy consultant david dodd well what he thought those differences work. an emerging power emerging economy that's emerging much quicker than people expected. and. frustrations that. among those that serve much greater power and seeing that diminish through the recession. creating stress to the right is the rapid rise of china those three main focus of the. stress

points is the simple fact that china is emerging as quickly as it is but this rise comes in the middle of the severest recession that we've seen since seventy years. that has has led to a real schizophrenia where the trying to should be regarded as a rival usurping power that used to be sitting elsewhere or whether it's an indispensable ally can help to bail out some struggling companies out of countries out as international pressure on iran is mounting russia's military is assess the probability of a western strike against the islamic republic is being high concerns of pending military action grew after israel blamed tiran for two bomb attacks on its millett its diplomatic staff monday and today's blasts in bangkok peter all of us been following developments. the chief of staff of the russian armed forces said on tuesday that he thinks a plan for a western attack on iran could be in place by the summer of this year and he's

basing that statement on the fact that since the arab spring started a year ago russia has been monitoring the area of the wider middle east very closely enough to looking at the findings from that monitoring this is what he's come up with now and this comes just a day after two israeli diplomats were targeted with car bombs in the capitals of georgia and india now the bomb in georgia was able to be defused however in india that car bomb exploded very very close to the residence of the prime minister of india and injured several people now israel was very very quick to point the finger of blame for those attacks at teheran despite terror experts looking at the findings and coming up with saying all those pretty much no evidence that was behind those attacks this is all really part of the ongoing blame game between tel of the terror and the iranians claim that the israelis have been behind a two year campaign of assassinations on their nuclear scientists well on choose

day in bangkok what we've seen is a rainy unmanned taken into custody by type police after an explosion two explosions in bangkok injured several people there now it's 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. in fifteen minutes we hear about the pitfalls of the western approach to dealing with iran from brian becker a member of the antiwar air circle ocean here's a preview of the interview. you were says they're now carrying out regime change but in fact everyone who is watching know is there is the u.s. policy to create pressure on iran carry out overt coal. operations economic sanctions and now these new sanctions are not really even like the old sanctions they are saying to the rest of the world if you dare do business with this 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. take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe a radical muslim cleric with alleged ties to al qaeda is said to have been 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 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 face terror charges have been blocked by the european court of human rights. the serbs in northern kosovo are holding a referendum on whether they accept the current the current rule of the

self-proclaimed republic they hope results of the two day vote will add legitimacy to their struggle to reunite with serbia belgrade though as condemning the referendum saying this will complicate dialogue with the breakaway state last summer serbs in the north set up barricades to defy the kosovo government which led to clashes with nato peacekeepers. and finally in this news bloc russia's central t.v. channels have come under pressure criticism for an alleged pro putin bias ahead of next month's presidential vote a group of activists standing for a fair election says reports about the current prime minister and presidential hopeful vladimir putin are too positive which undermines other contenders chances are. looks at how the election hopefuls are making good use of their a lot of their time. oh right now yell a few days so far the most eccentric video in russia's presidential campaign urging to vote for the country's top populist blood image enough ski famous for his showmanship and occasional fist fights with fellow lawmakers. 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 we'll get moving again. less than a month to go and five candidates have plastered the streets with election posters dazzling view as with t.v. promos heated discussions have become part of everyday life. i don't because in the race the billionaire businessman mikhail prokhorov promises their arrival of a new russia with a new president known for his height riches and playboy past he's the only new face on russia's political scene formally and a tourist party animal his reputation was once dented by an international sex scandal which has come back to haunt him on the lead we're vegeta held here 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 the remaining candidates are familiar crowd unite is a gun of the old time communist party leader has always relied on pension of voters who form about one third of russia's population now his laurels all contested by siggy middle of from affair russia party to the notion being we can't even afford to milk now whether pensioners. the competition has made zyuganov reach out to younger generation and offer them a brand new slogan there's always a choice bloody man put in the running for his that term has refrained from getting involved in a campaign directly he has controversially refused to take part in any t.v. debates sending. representatives instead and his promos never show his face or 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 so he's 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's 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 however the latest opinion polls also show the level of putin support keeps on growing across the country despite the wave of opposition protests i think that brought us tend to mobilize his core electorate because when people like brought her up are saying that you know the social benefits from the cut 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 putting there's even

a song and recent online since ation praising the prime minister's virtues sung by supposedly migrant worker it claims to. be by his initials was sent to russia by god. but she was. like yeah let us have the many say this song is clearly too much and is just a clever headaches in the meantime the electoral campaign will be sewn with more surprises likely along the way down party. green is up next for the latest business news stay with us here on r.t. . hello and welcome to business here in. the world's largest diamond mine a buy i'll put myself a fourteen percent stake in an i.p.o. the flotation of a state owned company may take place in the second half year demand for diamonds

has been picking up in asia and the united states i was his main competitor did bierce reported a twenty seven percent increase in earnings for two thousand and eleven russian company itself is expected to show a similar growth in sales you're evolved from no most banks says that the stock will be a unique opportunity to invest directly into the distance. from the company is in no hurry to attract money from the market but probably the i.p.o. for old also is a question which is a chatroom in russia overall the size of that is going to be. one billion dollars it will get floored comparable to other russian metals and mining stocks usually after a public offering companies are becoming more transparent more friendly to the public overall and to investors. well in terms of business and business development

i don't think that will change. let's have a look at the markets now exchange rates for us the euro is trading lower against the dollar and the ruble that's after being down in early asian trading due to rating downgrades by moody's the move by the rating agency also weighs on the ruble which is seeing moderate losses against u.s. currency. crude prices are mixed this hour after the austerity plan approved by the greek parliament and tighten sanctions on iran futures climbed over two percent of the companies in control of more than one hundred tankers said they would stop loading cargo from iran nonexecutive valentine's day u.s. investors were hoping for wall street. when is lower weighed down by disappointing news january retail sales in the united states and continuing economic struggles in europe and markets in europe pulled back in a choppy session banks minors and drug makers are weighing on the move investors are cautious ahead of the eurozone finance ministers meeting on wednesday to

approve a second bailout for greece. now let's look at russia so what markets closed mixed with lies it's pointing off an r.t.s. ending in the red let's check of the index move or sell them isaac's oil finished over one point one point two percent higher the company plans to invest twenty nine billion dollars in field development in the caspian sea by two thousand and twenty five bt be back with first early losses and added point four percent and truck make it come august was among the main game is all rule was made a deal with don there seem shushing call for what i'll see it wraps up the days for us. the metal snake. performing you know it's initially from banks are going through world selected. well you know the slow continues to do mostly. you know the sentiment in the more could.