on r.t. the syrian people make the choice voting on a new constitution which would herald an end to fifty years of single party rule. thousands of people joined hands in a massive flash mob for fair elections were trying to the so-called moscow city center a week before the country chooses its president. and thousands march again in protest against education cuts in spain as the euro crisis tightens its grip around the med while greece breathes a sigh of relief as a much needed bailout gets approved. you

are watching the weekly with me kevin zero in here on r t it's the round of profile top stories from the last seven days and first tonight syrians have been voting on a new constitution in the most significant poll for decades the opposition that refused to vote amid a backdrop of violence that's plagued the country since last march the first results are expected on monday. a report from damascus now. security has been tightened up and police officers are literally everywhere we've seen many of them today patrolling the streets trying to watch the situation there was issued and has indeed been boycotting the vote but not only that they've been calling actually on all people to go to strive not to go cast ballots and to take to the streets to protest against president bashar assad and to ask for him to step down the violence is continuing in the country with reports on people dying

a literally every day we've been able to visit to polling stations here in the capital damascus and people some of them have said that yes we know that there are armed groups in the countries who are trying to make provocations who are trying to prevent us from voting but we hope that this referendum in this constitution as part of big package of democratic reforms promised by bashar assad and his government will be able to really peace and stability to our country so we are voting no matter what they say but of course the pressure from the opposition as well as from the international community is very high because they call this vote laughable and ballots instead of bullets must of a stray sions and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year. that. the syrian government desire calling for the people to shape their future together because it's a completely new era is good for everybody even opposition can take part it's for

all the amendments to the country's number one law have been the key demands of the opposition since the uprising began it starts with eliminating baath party 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 to harden his friend odin flower. shop in damascus he says this new document draws a line between him and his muslim business partner just to show there's a big contradiction really article thirty three says you know you got a great number that he says. can be a president had what about the other term percent we're not here temporarily they have been living together for ages that's the want to be counted. now maybe ten percent of the people this speak about this ok but maybe if we was

removing this article from the new constitution the ninety percent who said well why you take this article out clashes and protests almost every day but some hope that the referendum will not only breed and you constitution it might even be able to stop the bloodshed refinishing r.t. damascus syria. ahead of the vote an international coalition led by the united states teamed up against president assad this last week calling themselves the friends of syria seventy countries agreed to slap new sanctions on damascus but beirut based political analyst on a shabby told me that's kind of productive because it fails to address the syrian people's real needs. the direction is western politics the what's the plan to remove a president from office and they don't care at what cost if one wants to be really caring towards the city and people really caring for the basic human rights basic

a human preserving human life one should call for dialogue one should call for the . question mark between the different groups within the syrian cultural diversity to come together and bring in a new solution and i think this step that was done today with the vote the referendum for the constitution the amendments is a step maybe a small step but it is a step forward in that direction towards the reconciliation and true reform through democratic reform that can save syria the destruction that is being prepared for it apparently from some forces in the west for the program in a few minutes putting the smart money on nuclear intelligence while the un's atomic agency struggles to reach a conclusion about iran's nuclear program america's intelligence agencies have their own evidence and it's not sitting well with israel. but next a ring of solidarity that was the hope of protesters who are calling for free and

fair elections in russia thousands of people took part in sunday's attempt to surround the center of moscow correspondent peter oliver was there. the goal of sunday's demonstration was to form a human chain around the garden ring in moscow now what that is is a ring road that goes around the downtown area of the russian capital. now the activists who are organizing this event today had called on supporters to come out wear white in support of their cause which is to receive free and fair elections in russia though they were able to complete that journey around the garden ring that human chain around sixteen kilometers from one end to the other so clearly masses of people coming out and taking part there well there were also some supporters of the bottom here putin for president who turned out it is a week before that presidential vote and there were some heated exchanges at times between supporters of the various political factions here in russia all of them peaceful but a few raised voices at times all of this coming either say

a week before russians go to the polls to elect the next president and we've seen a a space of political rallies in the last week we've seen supporters of but a mere putin for president also through supporters of the the the leaders of the liberal democratic party and the communists as well as other groups coming out and showing their support for the particular candidate that they want to see take the top job after next sunday's presidential elections. as they had their papers report accent even russians were picking the next president choosing from a number of candidates who've been hitting the campaign trail but the contenders keeping a relatively low profile here and russia is creating something of a buzz abroad this article respects found out in london. russians a used to seeing bloody mayor 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. 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 putin the rebels who love him or those who do want 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 bad enough but it might be

desperate or russia you know it's a. little or so cozy probably a person who supposedly russia is i don't know but. the prime minister of russia 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 to 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 will he change can he face the new challenges and how does the recent protest movement affect his politics and his outlook having his face on double decker buses were helping to save as russet was prepared to go to the polls but love him or lose him hussein his reputation as

russia's strongman has captured the imagination of documentary makers and also. here in the u.k. and elsewhere whether it's fame or infamy is an open question laura smith o.t. . still ahead this hour on r.t. accused of aiding the enemy america's most famous will supply gets his first court hearing after nineteen months in custody and just two weeks after being nominated for the nobel peace prize more about bradley manning in a few minutes. spain's students are refusing to sit quietly with thousands marching again mainly over planned education cuts but also after police came down hard on the last rally officers were accused of brutality at a protest earlier this week which left several people injured more than forty arrested surf earth reports from the costa blanca but we don't know the problems that face every day students lack of money this competition for jobs adds to that

that spain has the highest unemployment in year nine percent the sixteen to twenty four year olds unemployed in the country and factor in that they just had recent spending cuts to the thank you to take a shit like they badly some of the students to come to the street say they haven't even got basic heating in the closings and well this is the result really thousands and thousands of people already out on the streets but to protest some of them that is right the way along the main high street here in the city of villains here now some of the signs reading and now our students are battered enough that's him back france to the protests we saw at the beginning of the week where the police were condemned for their actions which were seen as being excessively violent scenes of them chasing and hitting some of the protestors despite very fierce reaction from a lot of the public and a lot of anger his guilt about these actions huge number of people joining in this protest and

a lot of anger and of course this part of the why did demonstrations we've seen happening in recent days as the all star team is. that are being bought in by the new government. so a further across the mediterranean greece managed to snatch itself from the jaws of default this week it took months of waiting but the leaders of eventually agreed the latest hundred thirty billion euro bailout at a cost of imposing further cuts as investment adviser patrick young told me the greeks are paying the ultimate price the tragedy of greece is that two three years ago when it first came to light that their financial figures were a complete fiction and we finally knew the truth that we'd all suspected all along they really should be knowledge of the euro at that moment instead we've got this absolutely psychotic desire by a group of frankly world economically illiterate people in western europe particularly within germany who are desperate to manage to hold this all together and we've got another group of people who are absolutely determined to try and keep

greece in the euro zone which really credibly highly paid greek politicians and the greeks themselves are absolutely stranded why we're throwing good money after bad and why we're ignoring actually the good people of greece on the ground absolutely defines larger the people are absolutely fed up they see no possibility no end to this. in afghanistan seven u.s. soldiers have been wounded after angry protesters threw a grenade into their base becomes amid the six day of anti american riots across the country sparked by news that copies of the qur'an have been burned to the u.s. airbase washington's apologized for what it called a mistake of the afghan president's urging car but because i also said the sentiment in his country was a legitimate reaction and called for those who burned the qur'an to be punished dozens of people have been killed in the arrest and choose day including two senior u.s. officers. she's a think tank director in neighboring pakistan he told us the americans neither

understand nor respect afghan culture. in the decade that the u.s. military has been in abundance done for the first time even in smaller places in provinces and towns wherever there is u.s. presence ordinary afghans are laying siege to these places even after ten years it seems the americans don't know who they're dealing with they don't know the very well u.s. military are increasingly treed into what i would call anti islamism they are constantly sort of indoctrinated into into into treating islam disrespectfully i sailed to see how the u.s. military personnel and the of the east 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 more world news a brief car full of explosives has been rammed into a church in nigeria it's killed at least three people and wounded several others

that church was packed with sunday morning worshippers when the suicide attackers struck in the city of joss radical islamist group boko haram is being blamed although no word yet admitted carrying out the attack the sect has killed over three hundred people so far this year in its quest to impose sharia law. but a start this completed now the demolition of a suburb and largeness final hideout in about about no official reason was given but it's thought the government didn't want the site to become a shrine to the al-qaeda leader was shot dead by u.s. forces last may after begin hiding there for several years. in yemen army shelling has killed five al qaeda linked militants officials say the strike began in the southern town of bar on saturday night and continued into the early morning also a yemeni soldier was killed when he stepped on a mine in the same area government forces a failed to oust militants from the south of the country who managed to seize control of several parts of the region in the last year. the standoff over iran's nuclear program shows no signs of being

resolved with the u.n. atomic monitoring officials say to rand's fail to cooperate they visited the islamic state twice this year and now they say iran has stepped up its uranium enrichment many western allies suspect to rand's building a nuclear bomb but iran says it has a right to a civil nuclear program the countries currently struggling under harsh sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. while israel is threatening military action however u.s. intelligence has reportedly now said there's no evidence to support accusations that iran is in fact pursuing nuclear weapons as what reza marashi from the national raney an american council also former u.s. state department officer who says that a new approach he thinks is needed to try to resolve this long running issue. the american intelligence agencies and for that matter the israeli intelligence agencies and many other foreign governments intelligence agencies are saying is that iran is not made the political decision to pursue weaponization and that leaves time for diplomacy to be pursued to find a peaceful solution that's beneficial to all parties involved the primary sticking

point the primary tropp problem that we see is that nobody trusts one another people in the p five plus one don't trust each other iran doesn't trust anybody in the p five plus one so in an effort to try and move things forward and shift that paradigm from the negative to the positive you know we need to get creative and international leaders need to apply and ways to take risks for peace anything from broadening the agenda to discussion issues not just focus on iran's nuclear program but things that iran is also interested in regional security energy security things of that nature to also bringing in some outside actors who the p five plus one and iran do have trust within turkey and brazil being two key samples of the parties that could play that kind of mediating role if positive inducements are not offered to iran and if the west doesn't seriously consider whether or not offering those positive inducements to iran are in america's interests europe's interests i'm negotiating will fail because iran will not like. well israel has been repeating

its threat of military action on iran's nuclear site saying that slapping sanctions on the country is just not working the u.s. and britain of want to get to the move saying it would be disastrous for the region result is ridiculous the reports next to run offensive already seem to be underway . israel's leaders are actively drumming up the military rhetoric. iran is the biggest terror exporter in the world the israeli government and its security forces will continue to act forcefully systematically and calmly against international terror region eating from iran. a potential israeli rocket clash looks more likely than never 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 an end to him vicious which pose a potential threat in one thousand nine hundred one is jets 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 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 u.s. support the white house secretary advisor 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 my. lines may already be made up i think one of the things

that create this aura of inevitability is 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. creating diminishes to the extent of the mediating 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 and there as it was 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 do you imagine iran sitting still you know all day day after day day after the world is this it is true to get it back i think any any sane person realizes that there will almost

guaranteed be missiles falling on israel and consider your own fault one of the twentieth century's longest voice against iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. it consequences could be five reaching and destructive. his ill has been suffering some bad weather as 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 forecasts for iran the storm clouds seem to be growing ever darker in tel aviv r.t. my brain says no but later this hour a former american presidential advisor tells us. his country should give up trying to and will dictatorships and focus on his own interests rather than meddling in others it's quick preview for you. the idea that we're going to end tyranny in the world is utterly utopian we never are we've had tyrants from time immemorial and what the united states should do in my judgment in its foreign policies is build

a defense establishment strong enough to protect our vital interests and our vital allies and when problems arise whether it's in zimbabwe or somewhere else the people there have got to deal with their own problems there no doubt about it that throughout history tyrants have arisen and see power in one place or another and as long as they don't threaten our vital interests or threaten and kill our people the fact that they rule and or misrule certain countries is none of our business. the american soldier accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret military files to wiki leaks chose not to enter a plea during his first court hearing on thursday bradley manning who faces twenty two charges also passed on deciding whether he wanted to be tried by a military jury or a single judge if convicted of aiding the enemy he could be given a life sentence with no chance of parole and there are doubts over whether the

whistleblower could even get a fair trial after president obama publicly stated that he broke the law but is considered a hero of course by many americans indeed it's even been nominated for the nobel peace prize former iraq war veteran michael prisoner told us the u.s. government is using manning's trial to send a clear message to military personnel. well the u.s. military before bradley manning was convicted of any crime he still hasn't they wanted to punish him they wanted to punish him very harshly for with the accused him of doing but not only that they wanted to send a message to every other person in uniform every other service member that if the to decide to take that type of action that bradley manning is accused of taking that they will be well aware of very harsh torture its reputation if they decide to do this and this is a real big concern for the u.s. military because all have bradley manning did what bradley manning experienced was he was a rank and file soldier who went to the war in iraq and was repulsed by what he saw

he was repulsed by the war and he was repulsed by the things that you saw going on day to day and so he felt that he had to take a stand and thought that other people deserve to see what was happening what all of their tax dollars were going to and what their families were dying for now this is a war this was a war that the vast majority of americans oppose in the majority of soldiers opposed in the war in afghanistan is no different the majority oppose out where the majority of soldiers oppose that war as well so the u.s. military is really dealing with the threat of rank and file soldiers being the ones who take a stand and say this is wrong and we no longer want to take part of it and the people need to know the reality of what's happening because the government is just lying to us. michael prisoner there now we've got more world news and lots of interesting stories when you want them on our t. dot com our web site a few tonight that we thought you might be interested in the man proclaimed a hero for averting a third world war you can learn about his really interesting story that our t. dot com tonight's all chronicled there for you also on line as well fancy

a bit of color well you'd like this the real is legendary carnival coming to his colorful end with a massive show of fireworks and thousands of exotic dancers if you're not in brazil are going further it is one of those places you want to tick off from the things you do in life is not what you can catch it on our website our cameras of their great pictures at r.t. dot com. just know very briefly we'll be hearing from a lot more shortly coming up as promised former presidential advisor pat buchanan speaks to r.t. with some timely advice for today's u.s. leaders and we got a late weekend sport too with dimitris waiting in the wings as well my name's covered that is how the next half hour shapes up for you here on r.t. moscow.

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just shows that so much time a commercial comes on it will be the price of crude remain stubbornly high and consumers feel the pinch but why are energy prices so high and use of the lack of supply and security. been is. tragic. divo should. be training. family. and does a link. on the bottom of a coffee swamp.

morning news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are old today.