the most significant poll for decades in syria is over as people voted on a new constitution which could put an end to fifty years of single party rule. thousands of people have joined hands in a chain of protest calling for fair elections in russia activists form the sixteen kilometer ring around moscow city center a week before the country chooses its next president. and students march again in protest against education cuts in spain as the euro crisis type has its grip around the maid while greece breathes a sigh of relief as a much needed bailout gets approved.

very good morning for me kevin i would hear of moscow you're watching r.t. it's now one am here bringing you were today's news in a roundup of the stories of the past seven days for us but first in the last few hours syrians have been voting on a new constitution of the most significant poll in the country for decades the opposition though boycotted the referendum amid a backdrop of violence has played the country since last march the results are expected on monday if an option has been following the vote throughout the day damascus. security has been tight and now hands police officers are literally everywhere we see many of them today patrol industries 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 those not to go cast ballots and to take to the streets to protest against president bush and as. 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 goes in but we hope that this referendum in this constitution as part of big package of democratic reforms promised by bashar al assad and his government will be able to bring 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 exertional community is very high because they call this vote laughable and not ballots instead of bullets messed up his tray shoes and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year. that. the syrian government does are 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 if 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 moves their business partner just to show there's a big contradiction really article thirty three says the lady who had a great number that he says. can be a president had what about the other term percent when i have here temporarily they have been living together for ages the want. be counted. of the

people to speak about this ok but maybe it was removing this article from the new constitution. while 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 international coalition led by the united states teamed up against president assad this 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 he thinks because it fails to address the syrian people's real needs the direction is western politics and 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 syrian people really caring for basic human rights basic a human preserving human life one should call for dialogue one should call for. more 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 of 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 a true reform through democratic reform that can save syria the destruction that is being prepared for it apparently from some forces in the west. here the ring of solidarity protesters linked hands around the center of moscow calling for free and fair elections in russia thousands took part in sunday's election in anticipation of the upcoming presidential poll he's correspondent peter oliver was there. the

goal of sunday's demonstration was to form a human chain around the garden ring in moscow know 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 know they were able to complete that journey around the garden ring that human chain around sixty 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 law to be uprooted 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 to me a 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. next sunday's presidential elections where as peter is reporting there next sunday the russians will pick their next president choosing from a number of candidates have been hitting the campaign trail but the contenders keeping a relatively low profile here in russia is creating something of a buzz abroad or a smith reports from 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 always need 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 in the world at the moment and yes the right people who feel i'm belong towards the rebels who love him or those who do want but the most important thing is that sort of more would you can say that they don't. although as it turned out that wasn't quite true. but it might be desperate or russia to name. those you probably appreciate you supposing the russia is i

don't know but. i mean it's a russian you've 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 to 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 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 double decker buses were helping us it is prepared to go to the polls but love him or person's reputation is russ's strong man has captured the imagination of documentary makers and also has he. in the u.k.

and elsewhere whether it's fame or infamy it's an open question laura smith r.t. . still ahead for the program this is putting the smart money on nuclear intelligence while the un's atomic agency struggles to reach a conclusion about iran's nuclear weapons america's intelligence agencies have their own evidence and it's not going too well with israel. also afghan policeman was hunted for killing american officials during wide scale violent protests after u.s. soldiers but copies of the qur'an. 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 and more than forty arrested r.t. sara firth reports now from the cost of blank. we all know the problems that face every day lack of money a fierce competition for jobs adds to that spain has the highest unemployment in

years to see 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 education in fact they badly some of these students who come to the state 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 good to great has some of them that is right the way along the main high street in the city of villains here now some of the signs reading and now students are battered enough that's mbak friends 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 protesters spoke 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 teenagers that have been voted in by the new government have provoked this angry reaction. across the mediterranean greece managed to snatch should so from the jaws of default this last week it took months of waiting but e.u. leaders eventually agreed the latest one hundred thirty billion euro bailout but at a cost of imposing further cuts i spoke to investment advisor patrick younger told me the greeks are paying the ultimate price he thinks. 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 have been out of the euro that moment instead we've got this absolutely psychotic desire by a group of frankly well economically illiterate people in western europe particularly within germany who are desperate to manage to hold this all together

but we've got another group of people who are absolutely determined to try and keep greece in the euro zone which are the credibly highly paid greek politicians only perm 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. the standoff over iran's nuclear program showing no signs of reaching a result with you and atomic officials saying to rand's fail to cooperate they visited the islamic state twice this year and say around stepped up its you ready when richmond many western allies suspect it is building a nuclear bomb but iran says it has a right to a civil nuclear program countries currently struggling under harsh sanctions from the u.s. and the e.u. while israel's threatening military action however u.s. intelligence has reportedly now said that there's no evidence to support accusations that ran is pursuing nuclear weapons resurrection from the national

radio american council and also former u.s. state department officer told me that a new approach is needed to resolve the issue. the american intelligence agencies and for that matter the israeli intelligence agencies and many other foreign governments intelligence agencies are saying 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 and blocks the primary sticking point the primary truck problem that we see is that nobody try. one other people in the people 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 find 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 just of 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 are played a 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 israel's been repeating its threat of military action to target iran's nuclear sites saying that slapping sanctions on the country is working the u.s. and britain warned against the move saying it would be disastrous for the region as it is going to go to reports next man tehran offensive though seems to already be underway. israel's leaders are actively drumming up the military rhetoric who the run 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 from iran. a potential israeli rocket 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 vacation summer vacation possibly people are beginning to have wondered 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 knew him bishan swished 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 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 affectively israel does not have u.s. support the 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 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 with the we have the capability. creating damage is 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 you imagine iran sitting still you know all day day after day they have to do what israel does it is true for going 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 wars 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 forecast for iran the storm clouds seem to be growing ever darker in tel aviv it is

a ghost r.t. my pinterest knows well next we speak to a full american presidential advisor tells us that see how his country he thinks should give up trying to end world dictatorships and focus instead on its own interests rather than meddling in other spots discreet previously. 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 seized power in one place or another and as long as they don't threaten our vital interests or threaten and kill our. the fact that they rule or misrule certain countries is none of our business.

and still to come this hour accused of aiding the enemy america's most famous whistleblower gets his first court hearing after nineteen months in custody and just two weeks after big nominated for the nobel peace prize more about bradley manning and a couple of minutes time. in afghanistan seven u.s. soldiers were wounded we're angry protesters threw a grenade into a military base it comes on the sixth day of anti american riots across the country sparked by the news that copies of the qur'an that been burned at a u.s. airbase washington's apologize for what it called a mistake and the afghan president is urging calm but how mad cause they went on to say the sentiment of 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 unrest since tuesday including two senior u.s. officers. she's a think tank director in neighboring pakistan he told us the americans need to

understand all respect afghan culture. in the decade that the u.s. military has been in abundance done for the first time even in smaller places and provinces encounter wherever there is u.s. presence ordinary arguments are leaving siege to these places even after ten years it seems even merican know who they're dealing with. very well the u.s. military are in freezing retreat into what i would call anti islam and so they're constantly sort of indoctrinated into into into treating islam disrespectful i feel to see how the u.s. military personnel and the other east and afghan army personnel would be able to restore the level of trust that existed let's say five days or six days a girl for top news stories in brief and yemen army shell. killed five al qaeda

linked militants officials say the strike began in the southern turn of ginger barre of saturday night and then continued into the early morning and yemeni soldier was also killed when he stepped on a mine in the same area government forces a failed to oust militants from the south of the country they've managed to seize control of several parts of the region in the past year. a car full of explosives was rammed into a church in nigeria killing at least three there and wounding several others the church was packed with sudden they will worshippers when the suicide attackers struck in the city of joss the radical islamist group boko haram is being blamed although no woods yet admitted carrying out the attack that set those killed over three hundred people this year in its quest to impose should be a law. colombia's left wing five rebels have announced that they're set to free ten security officers have been held for fourteen years they also promised to abandon kidnappings those believed ransoms and drug trafficking are the main source of income three months ago for hostages were killed after being held for more than twelve years prompting massive protests against the rebels throughout colombia.

pakistan has completed the demolition of a suburb in lardons final hideout in about about no official reason was given but it's thought the government didn't want the site to become a strain the al qaeda leader was shot dead by u.s. forces last may after being in hiding there for several years. 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 that bradley manning who faces twenty two charges also passed all deciding whether to be tried by a military jury or a single judge if he is convicted of aiding the enemy he could be given a life sentence with no chance of parole there are doubts over whether the whistleblower could get a fair trial anyway after president obama publicly stated that he broke the law but he's considered a hero of course by many americans and has even been nominated for the nobel peace prize joseph kitchell from the socialist equality party told us the government's

using manning as a tool to bring down wiki leaks founder julian assange. it's freidman demanding it's not all that. brutal inhumane according to amnesty international amounting to torture according to many top u.s. legal scholars and 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 it's on the founder of wiki leaks they are you know the u.s. government is seeking to eventually extradite assange arms and they're certainly trying to trying to go after wiki leaks for the release of the documents you know really must be stressed that this is really devastating explosion 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.

iran how and. more world news what he wanted r.t. dot com and a lot of other interesting stories too of course like these online feud tonight if you're interested i'll got the story of a man who was proclaimed a hero for averting in his day a third world war if you'd like to find out more about that we've got it chronicled online at r.t. dot com also from us we couldn't get there in person this is kind of the next best thing is legendary carnival coming to its colorful end with that massive show of fireworks and thousands of exotic dances if you don't have brazil having fun let us take you to the iconic parade at r.t. dot com. looking at what we've got lined up for the next thirty minutes and in a few minutes technology update visiting the home they say that does the house work

for you that's going to prick some is that we could all do with a place like that to see if he is self right after a headline recap with me kevin owen here in moscow this early morning it's now coming to. a tell exactly one twenty six am.

it's not going. well with. the piece of the looking glass at what will be the homes of the future

where the walls might just be smarter than the residence every day trash protects you from the elements outside and the whole system works to save you. we shine the spotlight on the leaders of building projects all around russia technology i'm doing here on r.g.p. we've got to ensure. we have a war lords war criminals we have a lot of groups of the colors of the sluices all our views in the right you know for my mouth it was like when you had that knowledge that wasn't. the smadi when i was fourteen yes you can liberate other women and you certainly can't do it through the barrel of a gun only effective social changes can be the afghans themselves afghan men and women we believe i'm going to stun them not to across. the

patient it's up to the shop and construction to stop people in the obama administration talking about how much they care about the women of afghanistan it's not true they don't care about the women of afghanistan. wealthy british soil the sun holds the president on the president's right in front . of their. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cause a report on our. heated.