sixteen u.s. intelligence agencies agree there is no evidence terror around is building nuclear weapons but israel increases the pressure with continued threats of a military strike. on the euro zone tightens its belt greece is saved from the brink of collapse at the cost of a massive new wave of cuts students in spain lash out against their own lack of funding. you're watching artie's weekly news review welcome to the program but first today millions of people across syria are expected to have the say on the country's new draft constitution the referendum which promises a multi-party system comes amid ongoing violence for the opposition vying to boycott the ballot as r.t. reformation reports from damascus some hope the vote could bring about an end to

the conflict. ballots instead of bullets mass demonstrations and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year by. the syrian government is now calling for the people to shape their future together by taking part in a referendum on the country's new constitution fulfilling its pledge to reform. was very excited that he'll be able to decide his own tomorrow. it's a completely new era is good for everybody even opposition can take part it's for all. amendments to the country's number one law have been among the key demands of the opposition since the uprising began and the draft seems to cover the most pressing issues. it starts with eliminating both parties supremacy which have ruled the country for the last fifty years introduces a multi-party system and sets a two term limit on any future president however even these reforms

a cause in controversy jihad and his friend odin flower shop in damascus he says this new document draws a line between him and his muslim business partner just to shout there's a big contradiction article thirty three says well the. number that he says can be a president so what about the other term percent or not here temporarily they have been living together for ages the want to be counted. now maybe ten ten percent of the people they speak about this ok but maybe if we was removing this article from the new constitution the ninety percent would said well why you take this article out public debates on the draft constitution have been organized to bring the people and the authors of the two documents together they don't trust me they don't se the sailors are statistically you work for

hire a company that was syria's government says becoming one but some say the reste a long way to go to that new syria and they don't believe the government will follow through for the reforms i'm afraid if i were a goes the constitution somebody will in the world will shoot me clashes and protests almost every day but some hope that the referendum rule not only breed and you constitution it might even be able to stop the bloodshed. people who want to improve and develop but also others who want to divide syria it was shouldn't help them who should go and vote for. the draft of syria's new constitution has been made public ten days before the national referendum fourteen new and forty seven amended articles are all here with comments and details the baser also on t.v. and the internet never in the country's modern history for its residents so close

to policy making but many here on the ground fear that the ongoing violence could bury any hope of reform reform altie damascus syria. but as many syrians prepare to vote on their future the so-called friends of syria have already made their position clear on friday the group of states led by washington recognize the credibility of the syrian opposition insisting that i said must go russia has rebuffed the meeting saying it's biased in its efforts to solve the crisis. moscow. moscow refused to take any part in that meeting because judging by the statements we've been hearing and the format of the so-called friends of syria club the sole purpose of that conference is not to find a way out of the current situation but to promote the idea that the conflict can only be resolved if assad leaves i have met with mr assad and with the representatives of two opposition groups i did not get the impression that it is the people versus assad in this conflict the situation is different some people are

opposing the regime while others support mr assad but some support the regime passively and they do not back the idea of outside interference it's not black and white it's not a scenario where the whole nation rises up to overthrow a government they don't like so when representatives of the gulf monarchies which do not have a single democratic institution start complaining about assad's regime being undemocratic if you can i believe that undermines the political and moral legitimacy of the friends of syria is it a club of syria's friends or a club of people who want to go on that's the question we have to. washington that could start supplying arms to the syrian rebels despite previously shying away from further militarizing the conflict the u.s. administration says if a political solution to the crisis is not found it might consider other options for this and it warnings that america's anti asset stance season siding with al qaeda fighters are going to chicken reports. i meet bloodshed in syria more

extremists are penetrating the country to help bring down a song that's according to u.s. intelligence which says all current affiliated fighters were responsible for a series of deadly suicide bombings in damascus and aleppo targeted at syrian military and intelligence facilities we've seen evidence of. extremist sunni extremists can't label them specifically as al qaeda but a similar ilk who are infiltrating the opposition's groups. while fighting in syria continues the violence in neighboring iraq has dropped in some areas by as much as fifty percent in the last few months this as an al qaeda leader i'm on al-zawahiri as called on his supporters around the world to back the uprising in syria. he said these men who call

themselves the mujahideen say they're on their way to fight a holy war against us on. in washington senators asked the head of america's intelligence james clapper you think what happens if assad falls here long are we prepared for the situation of a possible failed state were enjoys a safe harbor and refuge and from which to coordinate attacks his response bears no optimism there would be kind of a vacuum i think that. would lend itself to. extremists operating in syria which is particularly troublesome some asking different question is the u.s. on the same side as all corny syria and whether its policies are indirectly aiding the terrorists or american strategists would have to be fools not to see what al qaeda is doing not to ask the question if it. good for al qaeda can it be good for

us and not to look at say he may be a ruthless dictator and what he's doing on but what comes after him when he falls i think al qaeda does its best work or it works best when it finds a country that is fundamentally a failed state this is why i'm against putting weapons in and aiding the anti resistance because an all out war there could be a disaster which leaves a failed state and syria even for many of those syrians who are not supportive of their president the fear of the alternative is far greater why are they sitting on the fence or why they are not in the streets with that is supporting the movement and they are often too fierce is that one is that pushed aside the. and pushed aside that would be the careless the opposition in syria is very fractured they don't seem to be under anybody's control this spite concerns voiced by top u.s.

intelligence officials about anti extremists washington has failed to widen its calls to include armed opposition therefore basically ignoring the fears of a huge part of the syrian population who don't want radicals gaining momentum and directing the country into chaos. reporting from washington our team. the u.s. intelligence community has dealt a fresh blow to washington's claims that there's often nuclear weapons assessments by america's sixteen spy agencies suggests there is no evidence that tehran has decided to build a nuclear bomb meanwhile the u.n. agency says tehran has expanded its uranium enrichment work recent months iran is under heavy international pressure over its nuclear program which it insists is for peaceful energy related purposes only. to u.s. and european sanctions israel has repeatedly threatened a military strike despite calls from washington and. new sanctions more time to

work as well which also accuses tehran of attacking its diplomats abroad could already be committed to military action when you go to school reports. that israel's leaders are actively drumming up the military rhetoric. iran is the biggest exporter in the world the israeli government and its security forces will continue to act forcefully systematically and calmly against international terrorism dating from iran. a potential israeli rug clash looks more likely than ever there is speculation a preemptive strike against iran's nuclear sites could happen as early as spring or summer although that's not causing undue concern in israel i think possibly people you know they make their plans for a vacation you know pass or a vacation summer vacation possibly people are beginning to wonder well is there going to be a war is something going to mess it up or i think they're probably going ahead with

it with sort of a thought we're back it would be nice if we could get a flight that we could cancel you know you know it's that sort of thing israel has previous experience when it comes to putting in to them bishan swished pose a potential threat in one thousand nine hundred one is just wiped out reactors in iraq they struck again in two thousand and seven hitting sites in syria but with iran's nuclear program things may not be so simple that if israel attacks iran it will not stop iran forever from getting nuclear weapons the only postpone it for a relatively brief amount of time the. installations are too diverse and far flung to destroy factor fully israel does not have us poor white house secretary adviser was in israel warning against a move on iran saying it was better to wait for tougher sanctions to take effect in the coming months but mines may vary to be made up i think one of the things that create this aura of inevitability. it's to shut them up to shut up opposition at

home and of course to convince the united states and europe that this is an inevitability it's going to happen don't oppose it in fact why don't you help us out there is a question mark however over whether israel has what it takes to carry out the mission i doubt whether we have the capability. of creating damages to the extent of the media to the program and even if israel's military prowess will allow it to carry out a strike on underground facilities in iran chances are it won't do their president saddam hussein and bashar assad by the time they knew what was happening was over and could just you know grumble without having to fight back you imagine you run sitting still. day after day day after the what is the truth of it back i think any any sane person realizes that there were almost guaranteed to be missiles falling on israel and consider your own part one of the twentieth century's longest always

against iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. it consequences could be far reaching and destructive. has or has been suffering some bad weather is of late but it's likely that even the strongest winds will blow the country's foreign policy off its course and when it comes to israel's forecast for iran the storm clouds seem to be growing every darker in tel aviv r.t. . where u.n. nuclear agency criticised iran this week for not allowing its inspectors into a key military site at least consultant peter says iran doesn't have to bow to their demands. i don't think it's necessary for a country to be so cooperative to the powers that be that are against them i would ask the question why would israel subject itself to the same interrogation we already know the answer to that so what is the difference between the. status of israel compared to the status of iran as far as i'm concerned nuclear weapons are

deterrence have never been used i don't think there is a threat by them to me iran should be capable of doing what it wants to do itself and for its own defense there is no risk whatsoever from iran or from the islamic movement i think the biggest issue what i see coming out of this is we have seen so many times it will be they just keep. and to presumably take up arms against the ram there is talk that israel could carried out the first strike militarily speaking and i've been worked in nato in the intelligence. i can assure you that israel does not have the capability to carry out such a strike and it certainly doesn't have the weapons or the aircraft to carry the weapons to do the job so if israel does attack it will be our joint venture with the with america with the u.k. and with france exactly the same scenario as we've seen in libya. what are still ahead few hootin in the western spotlight as much as

a presidential election approaches interest in the candidate and his personality reaches a fever pitch overseas. and two weeks after he was nominated for a nobel peace prize bradley manning it appears that his first court hearing look at this suspected was supposed case interest a few minutes. now cash strapped spanish students and teachers have had the streets over then sit and greet the government's education cuts but also accused police of heavy handed tactics at previous rallies and protests as were charged down and beaten several were hurt and more than forty arrested some of them minors sara first reports from for the unsaid. i think down the line in spring and you can see thousands upon thousands of people that have fanned out. in the fray to.

come because of the job of. the young. boy. now living selling up. like they say the braves and. some of the braves as. long. as one. regional. doesn't

make a lot of the public. love. that. the sun even. if you love. to get. out of. the population. of the one where you. live in the country of the. red cross a. massive budget cuts is still dominating greece which avoided a painful default this week. leaders had left africans hanging on for months as i piled up new conditions before finally clearing the one hundred thirty billion euro bailout but the cost of the rescue is weighing heavily on the greek people who have paid the price with huge cuts and job losses financial journalist your hand over

that says more sturdy will be disastrous for the country it will make things worse for the greek economy the greek economy is in a deep recession at the moment the austerity program that is imposed on the contrary will worsen the recession which in its turn will worsen the budget outlook and so the negative spiral in which we breed the economy and greek society has been imprisoned for almost the last two years will only get worse so this is not really a solution to the greek problem what you need for greece is to have a growth perspective for the economy of greece and you don't have that at all at the moment and the longer we wait the more it becomes obvious that the only way we can get the greek economy growing again is by in the exiting the euro zone which will lead of course to a devaluation of the new direct me but that is exactly what is needed to get the economy through international trade growing again. now next sunday russians will

choose their president for the next six years while the media is abuzz with other candidates promos the front runner putin has kept a relatively low profile but it's a different story abroad where interest and coverage surrounding his personality is growing there are smith reports from london. russians a used to seeing bloody near putin in all manner of surroundings not only in top level meetings also out in the wilderness and even singing to a hollywood a list crowd. but there are always new heights to scale and you currently find him looming large on a london icon the double decker bus. is coming it proclaims so may find the wording of the slightly sinister but it's all to do with a new book which analyzes putin the man not the politician the books the results of

a six year collaboration between a british author and russian journalist alexander. put in is probably the most interesting political from in the world at the moment and yes the right people who feel him be violent towards the rebels who love him or those who do but the most important thing is that sort of. can see that they don't. although as it turned out that wasn't quite true you know it's about it might be desperate or russia you know it's a. little or so cozy probably a person who is a prisoner of russia who is i don't know. i mean it's a russian but you got it the authors say friday's book release isn't connected to next month's election in russia but it does come hot on the heels of two separate

british documentaries involving putin one a look at the controversial political youth group nationally and the other a critically acclaimed full part counter through relations with the west during his twelve years at the top there will be the world's attention on him again and people want to know is this a man we've seen before or is he changing. can he face new challenges and how does the recent protest movement affect his politics and his outlook having his face. help. patsy go to the polls but love him pearson's reputation is russ's strong man can. make all things here in the u.k. and elsewhere whether it's infamy it's an open question. of the elections but he has been publishing a series of articles outlining key international and domestic issues that you can

find on our website. you can read his latest statements on syria international pressure on iran relations with washington and defense also on line future. villages in brazil they think. it's a fifty kilogram falls from the sky for unsuspecting residents. the story of. two u.s. military advisers were killed in the interior ministry in kabul as anti american protests continued into a fifth day in afghanistan ballance was sparked by the burning of copies of the koran to nato base when nato has withdrawn its personnel from afghan ministries to avoid further attacks dozens of people have been killed in clashes in the week. former un office and western city. president obama and nato officials have

apologized for the incident saying that the secretion was an intentional. director of a political think tank in neighboring pakistan says the u.s. will be hard pressed to restore its reputation. in the decade that the us military has been enough but the first time even if you do smaller places and provinces. wherever there is u.s. presence ordinary afghans are laying siege to these places until now the americans were facing the the resurgence of resistance by telling them but now after this incident here see the ordinary of gossip the worst pitched against the u.s. will be present but also u.s. trained leeson in and u.s. trained soldiers know an ordinary american working you know what he's done today he doesn't know whether he should expect a bullet from afghan taliban and afghan policeman or not gun soldier than he might have trained earlier even after ten years it seems americans don't know who they're

dealing with they don't know the get on very well the u.s. military are increasingly treated to what i would call anti islamists and they're constantly sort of indoctrinated into into into treating disrespectful i fail to see how the u.s. military personnel and the other. end of gun army personnel would be able to restore the level of trust that existed let's say five days or six days ago. the news stories in brief now so it goes that president you know i was seeking reelection for the day off he defied opposition efforts to block him from taking part in the vote six people have already died clashes ahead of the polls protesters say his candidacy is illegal you took term restrictions in the constitution the president argues limits were gotten off he started his first into some don't apply

to him. pakistan has begun demolishing osama bin laden's hideout where he lived to give his before his assassination the compound was located not far from the country's elite military academy in northwest town of about about officials had warned it was concerned the house could become a shrine to supporters of the dead. bin laden was shot dead last may by u.s. special forces. two soldiers have been killed after an explosion set fire to brazil's antarctic research station forty four survivors were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby chilean base the blaze broke out in a machine room that houses electrical generators a complex has reportedly been completely destroyed after efforts to fight the fire were suspended due to bad weather. bradley manning who is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret military files to wiki leaks has deferred his play

at the first quarter hearing on thursday he's already spent nineteen months in custody without being formally charged money is facing life in prison if found guilty for aiding the enemy and the americans consider him a hero he's even been nominated for the nobel peace prize there are doubts though he'll get a fair trial after president obama said recently i had broken the law of terms of kishore from the socialist equality party so that manning is merely bait to get him to expand sanch he's long been a thorn in the obama administration's side. the treatment of manning as a whole is. brutal inhumane according to amnesty international amounting to torture according to many top u.s. legal scholars i mean there's many reasons behind this but i think the u.s. government certainly sees the treatment of manning from the beginning both as an example to anyone who would seek to expose the crimes of american militarism abroad

as well as a fairly transparent attempt to get out of songs the founder of wiki leaks they are you know the u.s. government is seeking to eventually extradite a saw and they're certainly trying to trying to go after wiki leaks for the release of the documents and there really must be stress that this is really devastating exposure of the obama administration the treatment of this young man for all the talk of democratic rights and freedom abroad this is how the united states treats opposition here. here at home. every couple of week's top stories in just a few minutes state.

that today's news and the review of the week carried out take people in.