polling stations are closed and vote counting has begun in syria's referendum on a new constitution which could put an end to fifty years of single party rule. controversy over iran's nuclear program continues as the un's atomic watchdog says tehran has stepped up your reign in richmond while leaks u.s. intelligence reports see no evidence of bomb building. also thousands of people have joined hands in a chain of protests calling for fair elections in russia actually it's formed a sixteen kilometer ring around moscow's city center with before the country chooses its next president. and students march again in protest against education cuts in spain as the euro crisis tightens its grip around the med while greece that

breathes a sigh of relief as the much needed bailout gets approved. and welcome to our cheese weekly review thanks for joining us in syria the count has begun after the referendum on a new constitution it's the most significant fall in the country for decades by the opposition boycotted the vote aimed at i made a rather drop of violence that's plagued the country since last march the results are expected on monday or she's ready for notion has been following the day in damascus. polling stations here syria have closed their doors for voters the national referendum on the country's new constitution is now officially over the interior minister has said that it will take hours before the preliminary results come out with the main results so far is the fact that this for

a friend of actually happened they've been fears that those against the ballots could try to wreck the referendum they've been attempts to intimidate people reports have been circulated in local media about possible terror attacks at the polling stations the syrian opposition both the one base the bread and to help has not only boycotted the vote in but also has been repeatedly calling all people to go on strike to take to the streets to protest against this referendum and against president bashar assad this referendum and this constitution has been considered part of a package of democracy changes to the quarter performs promised by assad's government we've seen demonstrations both prayer and to government here in damascus criticism and pressure from the international community has also been quite high the main concern was that the very chain comes amid a valance to continue in in the country especially in the besieged city of homs north of the capital damascus indeed we are receiving reports about people being

killed in the clashes between the opposition and authorities literally every day but the fact is that it hasn't stopped people from casting their ballots we have been able to speak to a number of voters and the feeling we've gathered is that people are simply tired of instability and unrest in that country and they say that if the reasons like chaz that this referendum and this constitution i were able to bring peace to the country it's worth to try this chance ballots instead of bullets must have a stray sions and violent protests have been rolling across syria for almost a year by. the syrian government desire calling for the people to show. their future together but we're going to it's a completely new era and all is good for everybody even opposition can take part it's for all the amendments to the country's number one law have been among 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 jihad that his friend odin flower shop in damascus he says this new document draws a line between him and his muslim business partner with the shah there's a big contradiction with the article thirty three says the lady who had a great number larry says i can be a president so what about the other term percent we're not here temporarily they have been living together for ages of 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 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 and of course you can also follow maria on her twitter feed here's on top of the latest developments and in one of her latest tweets or says that the tunnels have been discovered beneath the city of homs that stretch beyond syria's borders opposition fighters allegedly used them to bringing troops and weapons. and ahead of the vote an international coalition led by the u.s. 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 martin is shabby he says that's counterproductive because it fails to address the syrian people's real needs. the direction is. 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 city of people really caring for the basic human rights and 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 would evolve the referendum for the constitution and the amendment is a step maybe a small step but it is a step forward two words in that direction towards the conciliation and the true reform true democratic reform that can save the city the destruction that is being prepared for it apparently from some forces in the west here washing our sea and still ahead here this village near putin's image towards the british capital the u.k.'s famous double decker buses advertiser revealing biography of the top and candidate for russia's presidency heard of next week's crucial vote. the standoff

over iran's nuclear program shows no signs of being resolved but the u.n. atomic monitoring official is saying terrorized has failed to cooperate the visit is the islamic state twice this year and say it has stepped up its uranium enrichment many western allies suspected iran is building a nuclear bomb but iran says it has a right to a civil nuclear program the country is currently struggling under harsh sanctions from the u.s. and e.u. leaders who are threatening military action however u.s. intelligence has reportedly now said there's no evidence to support accusations that iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and khan hullin an economist at foreign policy in focus magazine says the west's concern over iran's nuclear program is merely a pretext take control of its vast energy resources i think the nuclear bomb is really in many ways. a smokescreen this is not about nuclear weapons if iran were to use a nuclear weapon say for against israel it would be an act of national suicide i think this has

a lot more to do with the politics of the middle east and the politics of the control of energy resources of the nineteen seventy nine revolution in iran essentially remove the second largest oil resources and the third largest natural gas resources from direct controlled by western oil and gas companies and essentially made it independent now the west would love to get those resources back and they would love to also not have that kind of independent force in the middle east. so these are all have that repeating it threaten military action on iran's nuclear sites saying that slapping sanctions on the countries that are watching the us and present how warned against the move saying it would be disastrous for the region but as a. report with an anti iran offensive is a right and a way. 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 terrorism eating 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 in march 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 nuclear ambitions 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 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 the installations are too diverse and far flung to destroy affectively 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 mines may already be made up i think one of the things that to 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. of 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 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 if you imagine you run sitting still you know all day day after day day after day what israel is hitting troops are going to hit back i think any any sane person realizes that there will almost guaranteed be missiles falling on israel and considering iran for one of the twentieth century's longest wars against iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. the consequences could be far reaching and destructive. israel 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 r.t.

a ring of solidarity first has sizzling turns around the center of moscow calling for free and fair elections in russia thousands took part in sunday's action in anticipation of they have coming presidential paul correspondent peter all of us there. the goal of sunday's demonstration was to form a human chain around the garden ring in moscow and i will but is as 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 no 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 they're all there were also some supporters of the law to me a putin for president he 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 as i 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 the to me of putin for president also still 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. so next sunday russians will pick the next president choosing from a number of candidates have been hitting the campaign trail but they contend scaping a relatively low profile here in russia is creating something of a buzz abroad as lower smith reports now from that. russians a used to seeing blood 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 currently find him looming large on a london icon the double decker bus. is coming it proclaims so may find the wording of the advert 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 caught up put in is probably the most interesting political in the world at the moment and yes there are people who feel i'm big along towards those who love him or those who do but the most important thing is that sort of. you can see that they don't. although as it turned

out that wasn't quite true. expanded like the deficit or russia today. because so close you probably appreciate you supposing the russian is i don't know that. the prime minister of russia think you got it but 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 won a look at the controversial political youth group nationally and. other a critically acclaimed full parts 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 the man we've seen before is he changing will he change can he face 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 russians prepared to go to the polls but love him only to houston's reputation as russia's strongman has captured the imagination of documentary makers and all of this here in the u.k. and elsewhere whether it's fame or infamy is an open question your assessment r.t. . still ahead here this hour seeking justice and how good placement is hunted for killing american officials during widescale violent protests stop so us soldiers burned copies of the koran. say students are refusing to sit quietly with thousands marching again mainly of a planned cause but also after police came down hard on their last rally officers working out a protest ahead of this week which left several people injured and more than forty arrested sarah for three ports now from the costa blanca. oh you know the problems

that face every day lack of money a fierce competition for jobs adds to that this thing has the highest unemployment in year two t nine distance the sixteen to twenty four year olds unemployed in the country and factor in that they just had recent spending because it is thank you to take a shit like say badly to some of these students to come to the street say they haven't even got basic heating in the closings and this is the result really thousands and thousands of people already out on the streets but to protest some of the that is right the way along the main high street here in the city of valencia now some of the signs reading and now students are batted enough does that any reference 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 these protests 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 that have been voted by the new government has provoked this angry reaction. across the mishearing in greece managed to snatch itself from the jaws of the full this week and it took months awaiting that is eventually agreed the latest one hundred thirty billion euro bailout but he said the cost of imposing further cuts as an investment advisor patrick young told us the greeks are paying built right 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 no need of the euro that moment instead we've got these absolutely psychotic desire by a group of frankly well academically literate people in western europe particularly

within germany who are desperate to manage to hold this all together then 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 and the poor 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 logic the people are absolutely fed up they see no possibility no end to this in afghanistan seven u.s. soldiers were wounded when angry protesters threw a grenade into a military base it comes on the sixth day of anti-american riots across the country sponsored by news that copies of the koran had been burned at a u.s. airbase washington has apologized for what it called a mistake and the ongoing president is calm but homemade cause i said the sentiment in his country was in the judgment reaction and called for those who balanced the koran to be punished dozens of people have been killed and then rest this chain's

day including to senior u.s. offices and medicare a chef think time director in neighboring pakistan says that american i understand will respect their afghan culture. in the decade that the u.s. military has been in the but has done for the first time even if you have smaller places and provinces and towns wherever there is u.s. presence ordinary afghans are laying siege to these places even after two years it seems the americans don't know who they're dealing with they don't know the of get on very well the u.s. military are increasingly treed into what i would call anti islamism you know they're constantly sort of indoctrinated. into into into treating islam disrespectfully i fail 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. the

american soldier accused of leaking hundreds of thousands a secret military file still weaker leaks chose not to and to have played 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 single charge has convicted of aiding the enemy he could be given a life sentence with no chance of parole but his considered a hero by many americans and it's been nominated by the nobel peace prize and there to howsoever whether they whistle blower can get a fair trial after president obama publicly stated that he broke the law u.s. attorney ken do you feel as manning is standing trial really protecting the trees. well this is a case of very low level classified documents in fact there's questions as to whether they should been classified at all we have to also realize that one. girl released the pentagon papers those are very high level secrets and even those were not releasing any national security information that should have been to have

secret all we're finding out from even the highs little secret the pentagon papers in the lowest level secrets that music used is high on ethical behavior misbehavior by the u.s. far by u.s. foreign policy we're showing our corporations and the government we're closer together to support corporate profit rather than public interest we're showing all sorts of inappropriate behavior by people as i like surgery say clinton who ordered us to them as to spy on u.n. officials when they came to meetings in the united nations that's illegal yet she's not being prosecuted manning who is accused of the century telling the truth is being prosecuted facing life in prison while people who commit war crimes and other crimes are not being prosecuted at all. and to some other top stories around the world this hour at least three people have been found dead and dozens injured after a passenger train derailed near the city of burlington in canada the express was on

route to toronto from the night gala falls area with about seventy five people aboard two carriages came off the tracks close to a railway station and emergency crews are now working to free those who remain trapped in the wreckage police have yet to release further details of the accident . one man has been killed in one thousand injured after a nightclub shooting in the us state of tennessee police say the incident was triggered by a dispute among club visitors evidence suggests at least three people five hundred guns into the crowd one of the victims is in a critical condition at a local hospital. a car full of explosives have been rammed into a church in nigeria killing at least three people and wounding several others the church was packed with sunday morning worshippers when the suicide attack it struck in the city of joss the radical islamist group boko haram is being blamed although no one has yet admitted carrying out that tack the sect has killed over three hundred people this year in its quest to impose sharia law. colombia's left wing

fart rebels have announced they are free to tell security offices held for fourteen years they also promise to abandon kidnappings there is believed ransoms and drug trafficking are their main source of income three months ago four hostages were killed after being held for more than twelve years prompting massive protests against the rebels who are to columbia. the hottest celebrities have gathered in hollywood for the annual oscar ceremony and at the moment fifteen statuettes have been given away with martin scorsese's hugo take in five of them pre-ceremony favorite black and white silent movie the artist has so far only received two but the prestigious best picture award is still up for grabs. that's the way the news legs this hour debate should cool stock is up next but before that i'm back with the headline.

we have a lot of war lords war criminal once we have a lot of illegal groups of the called citizens who says all our views in the home or right enough to my marriage was like many other marriage it wasn't forced marriage it's just maddy when i was fourteen yes so 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 ask dan men and women we believe i'm going to stun him not to have a cross post without the part of the fish and its chemical position and that of construction but 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. and tragedy. devotion. and beatrice. family.

and does a lake. on the bottom of a coffin swamp. good.

wealthy british style. is not on the tightest. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cars or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our.