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syria's president has announced a vote on a new constitution which would effectively end nearly fifty years of single party rule in the contrary amid escalating turmoil. at rallies marking one year since the pro-democracy uprising in bahrain protesters face yet another harsh climbed out of police using tactics and weapons from the u.k. . was iran reportedly stopped oil exports to six european states in retaliation to e.u. sanctions as international rhetoric is ramped up to further a family of flames of friction with the islamic state.

live from our headquarters in central moscow you're watching r t with me and used to now a six pm here in the russian capital four pm in damascus and syria's president bashar assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days according to the country's state run news agency it could put an end to the rule party to the one party rule i should say of the president's baath party and shrines in the current constitution there now when it came amid reported violence in the cities of homes and some of the fiercest in the months long unrest maria for notion is in syria and now reports. to take over a national referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced in every day that expected to be how the. syrian government and presence authorized are probably confirmed the document had been drafted to end the monopoly of the ruling party people who govern people according to this new initially levels should be old

for march fifth just random but we can see he is going to earn more diffuse comes amid reports about followers continuing all across the country and today he has been receiving reports from hama north over the top of the market about the tank being the glory that come home for about six provinces deal pipeline that apparently by a may fly banned from the capital damascus but the military is searching the residential areas looking for a position wonder if these reports are hearing hard to verify usually they are coming from one foot from the syrian opposition we got these about while traveling . not far from the. don't move and we've been talking about that. when the news appeared the government also. and the most intensive. months on end being used to do this but again this is very

complicated to get the truth to get exactly what is going on on the ground and here is part of whole cloth. since the beginning of the uprising in syria last march the regime of bashar al assad has been accused of refreshen torture and killing but with a bad month of homes blame has since focused on assad forces attacking civilians and shell in residential areas. the beautiful yard calls himself a member of the opposition and intellectual not real lucian the real one his stresses from a social democratic group originally from holmes he blames assad for mistakes which allowed bloodshed at the start but he just defies what the regime is doing in his native city now he is the two i and he is trying to to to. protect civilians i think that in homs there are many gangs you know there is a title and everyone can claim that he belongs with this title and no one can ban

him the danger posed by the armed forces was seen in the killing of a french journalist last month and bill says when he went to homs he put in his mind that the syrian opposition is very peaceful in the g.m. is trying to this frame them so he he was like a pioneer in the call and he was killed by the some gang attacks on government targets have become increasingly bloody themselves with twenty eight people killed and scores injured or an attack on a military base in a little last week an f.s.a. free syrian army representative at mit its responsibility before the organization later denied it blaming government forces a claim ridiculed by the regime. insurgents and terrorists have committed this attack only an insane person could see that the government is killing its officials

and officers and destroying its own administrative buildings these armed terror groups were created to commit these crimes and they have committed them in the past and will continue to do so if the way. then there are supporters of last sunday the arab league for food political and financial support for the opposition to unify its ranks it is similar call from the leader of al qaida. to unite efforts to help overthrow bashar al assad recent reports suggest iraqi weapons could tare troops and libyan rebels a role in syria on the opposition side this makes for a volatile and highly dangerous makes. many western powers interested in fomenting unrest and syria and so they'll turn a blind eye to extreme weapons coming in through borders like lebanon in turkey to create the very militants i won't call them terrorists but very dangerous armed groups but the west has its eyes wide open when it comes to the reported death toll

becomingly no un figure more than five thousand employees civilians only but that's bigger leaves out any mention of pro-government forces killed in the conflict some say the numbers are destroyed to meet a political objectives. over the number so for six of them. but you would be surprised to know that over to close it hundreds of. this is the. good the common to foreign pressure has focused on the assad regime with the syrian government and its international supporters say there's been a total failure talk knowledge of violence from opposition forces which has been a key factor in the country's present turmoil they warned that find it a solution to the country's crisis isn't possible without recognizing all its causes written off now t. damascus syria well professor mark allman from the international relations

department at the university of bill can in turkey says the announcement of a referendum on the new constitution poses a major challenge for the syrian opposition. whereas a year ago the opposition as it began was demanding political reforms now the chief spokesman for the syrian opposition abroad added as far as we can tell the various rebel armed groups say nothing short of the fall of assad even his execution is acceptable so it's a challenge to see how the syrian government will be able to stage a referred to but will have legitimacy in the eyes the opposition on the other hand for the opposition if there's a large turnout of voters that could well be damaging to the claim to really represent the syrian people obviously in many ways a democratic election is the ideal solution to political conflicts but now. both sides have people in fear the consequences of losing and the opposition itself

can't really risk. losing face by now backing down and taking part in a way to proceed. with the u.n. general assembly will vote on thursday on a new syria resolution condemning the government for violence in the country the document was drawn up by saudi arabia and catherine supported by a number of western powers well asia times correspondent pepe escobar says on like libya syria is unlikely to fall under western influence even through force. well this takes in syria are so much higher compared to libya because this is that than iraq it's huge that the direct clash between the u.s. and nato on one side and russia and china on the one you know on the other side much more than it was in libya in libya russia and china and even to the other breaks and germany as well they said ok maybe this is not the red line yet so let's give them the benefit of the doubt i mean the french and the brits and the americans the country was destroy syria you cannot do that because first of all

they're going to have to fight the real army even if they're not very competent but they are battle hardened there's been two wars in the middle east the syrian army it's a smaller country there's more population you cannot simply landings asian is out of the question because the ied would go all over the place the repercussions to turkey to jordan to iraq to saudi arabia so nato spread is to foment civil war and that's is like it says actually what they are doing. well and also another i should say middle eastern country you know we report on there later this hour specifically on how security forces crackdown on pro-democracy protesters during class and how far to take the quote from and why one of britain's former top cops his first hand experience in crossing anti-government rallies. now there are conflicting reports about iran cutting oil supplies to six countries iranian

state media is saying the measures already in place in response to a series of sanctions which include an embargo on tehran's key exports other reports suggest that iran has not yet cut its crude exports but how's informed the european states involved that it is about to seize jacob greaves joins us now live from the greek capital with more on this of course one of the countries subjected to this these cuts if it is jake up if this oil supply is cut really in its place how will that affect the debt stricken e.u. and of course more specifically greece. well that's what a lot of because and warry is based on at the moment of course of the six nations that you mention sixty you countries but of netherlands france portugal but three of them be particularly affected by the crisis and also very reliant on iranian oil imports as well that of italy spain and of course greece that has to be some it's

been concerning governments for some time ever since it was agreed upon back in january juice to be inactive in july so if iran is imposing this oil on them is really preempting the e.u. sanctions aimed at injuring the iranian uranium enrichment program which the west police passed and in a bid to try build a nuclear weapon but as for greece well greek leaders have tried to seek a short says from the very start for really but they will have a steady flow of oil to their country and they're going to make too much of an impact but no doubt if this has been instigated such a short notice will have some ramifications political solution probably some economic ramifications particularly in the short term and really highlights a bit of discrepancy coming just today and today we've heard the euro body euro zone and e.u. saying that they won't be meeting to discuss and agree upon

a further bailout for the debt stricken nation greece and that's after austerity measures were greeted by the greek parliament on sunday so that was a really a bit of bad news for the greek parliament off they've put their neck on the line the risk for any alienation from the public from these unpopular austerity measures we saw of course these demonstrations taking to the streets numbering in the tens of thousands of people led to clashes with police or bonds as well and a certain number of injuries but the protests themselves weren't just isolated to the streets they were also within the parliament itself a certain number over forty of the coalition ruling coalition m.p.'s said no. further austerity cuts it was a notion that proved quite unpopular with those politicians is really growing increasingly popular popular sorry with the public who don't like the thought of foreign bodies imposing their will upon greece. greece reporting live from athens thanks for that update. meanwhile tehran has reiterated

its readiness to resume nuclear talks with major powers to discuss the country's controversial nuclear program that's well israel has stepped up its steps against iran with prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying tehran's aggression must be stopped he repeated his claims that iran was behind recent bombings allegedly targeting israelis in india georgia and thailand israel says there are links between the incidents despite authorities in india and thailand saying there's no such evidence and iran denying any involvement tehran in turn says israel is waging a psychological war that many fear might pave the way for military action mideast affairs says he shares his shares his view without saying that israel's claims lack credibility. with respect to these latest incidents about bombings occurring in in the george thailand when you hear the rhetoric which is being said the language

being used by israeli officials for example they say you're wrong poses a threat to the world it poses a threat to the region i think what they're trying to do is prepare the public opinion or gain public opinion support for such a strike the reason being that for the time being there is a kind of a world public opinion which is against israel and views that israel as a whole soil hostile study which is about a group that which always wages wars and for that reason public opinion is not in his roles for you so by taking advantage of these events whoever might be behind them what is what is trying to do is trying to get out again the public opinion support which has swayed away from his world so much over the past few years especially when you look at the wars which waged on lebanon. so it's an attempt to gain the public sympathy however i don't think this will succeed because it's very clear that iran cannot be behind such an attack such an attack or what we saw is a very active amateurs not people who really want to talk it's. i want to know if

iran lets assume iran really want to target an official why would a good football. war embassy employees in such countries like india or tolland or do ga it just doesn't make sense. well last year pro-democracy protesters in another arab country thought they'd got what they wanted after being promised reforms including those of the police but twelve months later activists trying to mark the anniversary of the uprising found the clampdown was the harshest before the only difference was this time some tactics in arms the police used were brought in from the west by those supposed to bring democratic change parties over bennett has more. tear gas and stun grenades supposedly the work of a reformed police force but one year on since the first anti-government protests will crushed in bahrain it seems not much has changed the only difference now the

crackdowns been planned by one of britain's former top cops john yates used to be assistant commissioner of london's metropolitan police he now works for bahrain's monarchy which says he's there to oversee police reforms the police have borrowed or behaving despicably their latest trick is to throw cans of tear gas into homes of people they don't like shut the doors and people have died choking to death tear gas or use out of doors and i think for any british police officer or overstimulate retired to be associated any way with that is is wrong yes resigned from scotland yard last year an early fictive of the phone hacking scandal he popped up in bahrain in december as part of the regime's p.r. campaign to clean up its image a campaign pushed hard it seems by yeats himself he recently told the daily telegraph his new charges had a well rehearsed plan for the anniversary of the uprising adding the concept of

reasonable reaction to provocation has been reinforced. as for the uprising itself said this isn't organized protests it's just vandalism rioting on the streets claims hotly disputed by london's bahraini community i mean when you get thousands and thousands of people protesting demanding their rights and you call that vandalism. you seem to forget there's sixty five or sixty five people actually died from police brutality activists in bahrain insists their protest was peaceful their aim to reach the iconic pole roundabout in the capital manama they say they were met by tanks toxic gas and rubber bullets what we witnessed on the ground as not. the front or from. this previously but it's been extended through the toxic gases and use of poisoning. mr john

contributing we should see a positive things at the ground what we're seeing today is nothing except what it may not just be british tactics bahrain's using but weapons to government figures show the u.k. sold over one million pounds worth of rifles and artillery equipment to bahrain from july to september last year long after blood was spilled that despite insisting all licenses had been revoked as for yates his contract runs until april by which time he hopes to put in place concrete reforms on this evidence that seems a long way off the bennett r.t. london. power frame is not the only example of the west selective approach to dictatorships and pro-democracy protests says british pakistani military historian and journalist tara kelley it's all interview is coming up on r.t. in just over ten minutes but here's a bit of what he had to say. when you look at what the west did in

relation to the. seeing some of the crisis in the yemen where killing still go the former yemeni president is having medical treatment in the united states of america so the double standards that operate make you suspicious of western. people pushing for b. intervention in syria saudi arabia after a century they would like syrian version of the muslim brotherhood to run the concrete and then the united states will do deals with them as it has done in the past. in america china as a vice president wasn't treated to the warmest of welcomes from u.s. officials vice president joe biden voiced the whole list of disappointments from beijing's economic policies to its stance on syria criticism was also level that china over its copyright in force and human rights record part from the brief

exchange yesterday was largely ceremonial as american leaders sign stuck paying the man widely tipped to leave beijing over the next decade parties christensen's our reports now on the rocky relationship between the two economic times. he loves me. loves me that age old question is one china at least has every right to ask regarding its relationship with the united states just in the last three years china has been wind you don't like. praised and envy for its ability to do whatever it wants right now in china the government can disconnect parts of it in another in the case of war when you don't have the chinese pretty easy ro capital gains tax folks in congress are also going to get a chance to decide later. in the month whether our construction workers should sit around doing nothing while china builds the best railroads the best schools the

best airports. in the world but it turns out those chocolate covered compliments seem to come just as frequently as those cold hearted criticisms and it's not just the president himself those hoping to take his job also tend to flip flop these guys around after us and. looking for ways to. to work to harness china doesn't want to various they want to see is succeeded thrive so we could buy more chinese products ivan eland senior fellow at the independent institute says the paradox transcends the rhetoric we borrow a lot of money from china too so it's quite a curious thing that we're really borrowing money to pay for defending other countries from china right i mean that's what really doing in life and love there appears to be a fine line between resentment and respect i want to be china i want to go to war with china and make america the most attractive place in the world to do business

if you look at china they're in a very different such a they say for their own retirement security they don't have a f t c they don't have the modern welfare state and china's growing it's that growth and sharing is caring relationship that has bound these countries in this holy union this trade an economic interdependence with china is is really a defining factor and perhaps like most relationships there's nothing simple about the one between the u.s. and china there are disagreements about who gets to lead when how to spend the money and how to raise the children but the fact is this relationship is one that's going to be around for generations to come in washington christine present our team . a look now at some other stories making headlines across the world first to a disaster in honduras at least two hundred seventy two prisoners have been killed by a fire which swept through a jail on tuesday night they were either burnt or suffocated to death some inmates

miles to escape by breaking through the roof and jumping out of the building and electrical fault is thought to have caused the fire. nato has admitted its recent ever psych in afghanistan killed eight civilians the attack happened a week ago in a village northeast of kabul and it's outraged afghan officials it comes in the wake of the latest u.n. report indicating that the number of civilian casualties in the decade long war rose last year compared to twenty. villagers in romania have had to be rescued by emergency services after heavy snowfall trapped them inside their homes the country's winter death toll has now reached seventy nine with authorities using helicopters and army trucks to deliver food and medicine since the end of january hundreds have died across eastern europe and tens of thousands have been housebound by record snow levels with moldova and albania badly affected. next crean is here with the latest business stay with us.

hello and welcome to our business update joining me as we've been reporting iran is denying reports it's cut supply to six european countries iran state run press t.v. said the country was halting supplies to spain italy france greece portugal and the netherlands this caused oil prices to jump to a six month high. crude prices were already up as worries over supply dominated concern about weak economic growth what sweet is currently trading at over one hundred one dollars about brant covering between one hundred eighteen one hundred and one thousand dollars. the euro is gaining a bit against the dollar after seeing some losses on tuesday the ruble is high against both the european and the u.s. currencies following gains on the russian market. most european markets are trading higher this britain's footsie moved into positive territory lifting by solid gains

for banks that's up to the governor of china's central bank express confidence and europe's recovery. and here in russia markets are also lifted by high prices for oil tests. are adding over one percent the sour let's check on that index movers although my six most of the blue chips are higher oil majors are on the rise supported by stronger crude would look or zero point eight percent extra bank is in the black as it expects to finalize a deal to buy east european banks international later today bucking the trend as truck make a comma after an unexpected thirteen percent. tuesday. the latest short term drop of russian gas supplies to europe spurred discussions on how to secure consumers from possible cuts in the future ahead of expert brands alexander says that one of the ways is to increase store storage capacity in the region. so to choose

a key. for security of supply for extreme situations where you'd like to do so because that's where we're repros a program. of a person. who are experienced. between two hundred to three hundred million euros in the uk for a few years to the executor opens the destiny of russia second subsidy gas link to europe will be decided this autumn the country's gas monopoly gas from so that will come from a final investment decision on south stream in the van the pipeline will deliver gas to europe bypassing transit countries such as ukraine is currently expected to be completed in two thousand and fifteen. moscow could soon restore mass car production in the city capital's authorities say they are negotiating with italy's fiance and a number of korean carmakers to set up production at the plant a truck maker zele city hall pass to turn the facility which used to produce

armored cars for soviet leaders into an innovative production platform. so if you fancy a promotion or a pay raise than you might be better off working for a russian company but if stability and good benefits are more of a priority then a multinational company could be a better choice according to a poll by staffing agency i'm told russia the pluses of working for a russian company include more responsibility faster career growth and better pay but that this is that the just include being paid off the books lack of benefits and a weak corporate culture. well that's that's it for this hour but remember you can always find more financial stories on our web site that's party dot com slash that's. what we were.