promise of reform in syria fails to silence antacid rhetoric in washington as the u.s. secretary of state says the syrian leader the third war criminal status. just a few days to go before russia's presidential election we visit to neighboring regions whose political loyalties could walk why further apart. stary his greeks plan to vamp more anger into the streets of athens with police and fire fighters joining the protest against the belt tightening measures which include tough celery and pension cuts. the european central bank is trying to improve the situation though by injecting hundreds of billions of euros into the blog we'll

have more on that in business and twenty minutes. it is not the russian capital you're watching r.t.m. arena joshie the u.s. is intensifying its campaign against the syrian regime despite the course for a form adopted by the government of the conflict torn country and the latest verbal attack secretary of state hillary clinton said president asad could be labeled a war criminal because of the syrian violence that's just as us here in your sign a new draft constitution which promises democratic change parties gun is to count as more from washington. secretary of state hillary clinton says syria's president bashar assad fits the definition of a war criminal she was testifying at a senate hearing on tuesday take a listen based on definitions of war criminal and crimes against humanity there would be an argument to be made that he would fit into that category but she

stopped short of saying the international community should bring up charges against president assad pointing out that such a step often makes it difficult for a leader to step down it's very much obvious that the goal in washington with regards to syria is regime change although the administration claims they are seeking a political solution the policies that they pursue basically undermine all efforts on the part of the syrian government to actually reach that political solution washington discarded the results of the recent referendum in syria where the majority of syrians voted yes to a new constitution a constitution that would end the ruling parties fifty year monopoly and pave the way for free elections but the signal from washington to the armed opposition groups was to carry on fighting and to undermine the results of that landmark referendum which could bring about that very political solution that everyone says they want for syria we've been getting reports that the u.s. backed free syrian army has been making efforts to prevent people from voting in

the city of homes homes has been torn apart by a battle between opposition fighters and government forces and made the bloodshed more extremist penetrating the country to help bring down assad by the way that's according to the head of the u.s. intelligence who testified recently and raised concerns about. fighters in syria responsible for a series of deadly suicide bombings in damascus and aleppo effectively targeted syrian military and intelligence facilities so even despite their own intelligence washington along with its allies who call themselves friends of syria are inching closer to arming this very much fractured force which is the syrian opposition. most recent reports suggest that they're already or arming them free syrian army general told the reuters journalist that the militia group has received arms from french and american sources arms including aircraft anti-aircraft missiles the

general did not wish to be named if true the so-called friends of syria are basically ignoring the huge part of the syrian population who want change through ballots not bullets that is important for washington and coming up later in the program similar complex but different attitude. what they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called palooza the capital of terror i mean constant reports of carnage from the syrian city of homs we take a look at the u.s. approach to the crisis in iraq's saluja ten years ago where american troops fought with the government against militant forces. syrian activists say regime forces continue to shell opposition strongholds killing more civilians but the government accuses the rebels of being terrorists acting out a foreign plot as marina financial reports from syria there are growing fears within the country that outside interference is feeding into turmoil. but the borders doors and windows do est despite international isolation syria's borders

have remained opened and easy to pass through and that may have played a crucial role in the militarization of the country's conflict almost immediately after the crisis began here last marjah they were reports of weapons being smuggled through to arm president al assad's opponents one thousand dollars for a truck full of weapons capable of delivering wholesale destruction and death that's how much al qaeda will pay to smugglers usually iraqi or lebanese drivers according to ziad ismail chief of the customs service on the border with lebanon. these people bring we are here to destroy our nation to try to kill syrian people on the syrian territory to our enemies. syria has more than two thousand kilometers of front here with five states a stroll iraq jordan turkey and lebanon the syrian cities where the most violent

clashes have taken place homes and there are all over that an hour of the border is a fact that some believe has determined their fate or destiny is. this is one of three checkpoints on the three hundred fifty kilometer syrian lebanese border in the last year as we've been told here there were only three attempts to smuggle weapons across your business confiscated thousands of bullets dozens of guns and hundreds of kilograms of little metal pieces like this one used to make a world but the azores is main concern and make little clothes like this one but parts of the border where there isn't any security at all like here look at this in the middle of nowhere there is nothing only one road across the road right now and at the same time across the border and i'm already in lebanon. and further south she remains extremely vulnerable the city of daraa the cradle of the syrian uprising it all started here and it continues to play

a role in the country's crisis where the water was jordan just several kilometers away from here and numerous reports suggesting that foreign weapons and troops going is only flow through it has become one of the weakest points in the country's security the city has become the scene of fierce and bloody clashes at least twice in the conflicts twelve month history the authorities have claimed that many of the so-called free syrian army having fact come from across the border. they appear shoot and kill and then they disappear immediately they arrive from abroad but they are not from jordan they use this country's border many of them are from africa. we are showing the weapons allegedly seized in military a for a chanst now. in the army we don't have weapons from israel and america sniper guns and night vision binoculars advanced developed weapons we don't have it in syria. this what we confiscated is killing innocent people and kill even more so

while the international community condemns the regime and supports its opponents many believe all sides in the conflict should be held responsible for violence across syria and it was so many for the russians involved it's clear that the crisis thresh is far beyond these borders reefing ocean r.t. reporting from syria. now while the international community have to syria the u.s. responsibility to protect initiative is put under the microscope today here's a preview. the power of the security council is precisely the problem in these situations we've always had great power interventions with or without security council approval for the idea of sovereignty is being involved ability is totally out of date and has been for at least twenty years the notion that states consider themselves to be beyond any external interference i mean we had the genocide convention in one thousand four to be for a myriad international treaties since then recognizing some role for the

international community in intrastate affairs and that starts a rule i welcome the problem i. disagree with what i've been saying. over and impunity is purely to protect government so that they can slaughter their own people and have no international accountability the idea of noninterference isn't about protecting genocide or governments. now greece is bracing itself for another wave of public anger as it begins to implement a steri measures under the latest bailout deal the bell typing includes cuts to minimum wages and pensions as well as reduction in health and education spending the second feiss athens has may have already been called the biggest by any country in peacetime and as artist tom barton reports the outrage is attracting new

recruits all the time. i. think you should expect. to see. i. think. having. issues. in greece we're going to have a crew shoot back to him we don't want to be the pathak going to stew like we want them to let us do our job instead of using us to post their measures which are very hard for the greek citizens. to. take. these. days people are ready for. this because.

they could. receive. this. now the end has already backlash is also mount a in spain one of the most indebted states now they face even tougher measures and more pressure from the blog after the country officially announced it missed the two thousand and eleven budget targets the crisis led to a crash in spanish real estate with thousands of new houses standing empty with banks struggling to unload the apartments artists are further reports. life listen and welcome to one of spain so-called ghost towns these are supposed to be live in your apartment blocks in the town. when the crisis started. the real estate

bubble failed. and of course companies started going back dropped and the whole of the whole economy blew up these apartments are now in by the banks that have resulted to selling them off a cup prices to try to entice in the by big billboards announce the bargains and you won't have any trouble with noisy neighbors because well there will be many. such low prices these are going to fill up quickly and with very young people looking to buy one for our son. we're going to. yes i think so. because it's. elsewhere in the country and there's no hiding the empty airports the flamboyant but unnecessary building projects all that have cost the taxpayer billions but given little return it's a legacy of government waste. the government's recently changed with the country my is an economic crisis asking people to pay back three will start money that was

wasted by the government has caused widespread anger and brought people onto the streets in their hundreds of thousands. it's crazy the cost one hundred eighty billion euros and it's empty no one is working there. was back in the cheap prices might be able to breathe much needed life into the area not everything can be fixed with clever marketing many people in the country now feel that the banks and the government selling off not just the nice houses but their futures as well towns like the sun your own unique all across spain right now you see these large areas of new build homes now. that this the abandoned it's a sign some say that the country often described as too big to fail already has. the time to send us a well nice hour here in our t.v.

talk to spanish economists on how close the euro zone's fourth largest economy is to the brink and whether its future at all weiss was in the lock. russia's presidential campaign is and during the homestretch with just a few days left before the election the candidates are redoubling their efforts to win the hearts and minds of voters across the country but this is a tough task as people even in neighboring regions often have contrasting needs and political preferences as peter all over in our reports. the tale of two regions more dorthea and lie side by side however life there is quite different in the two thousand and eleven parliamentary elections united russia wrong turn with over ninety percent of the vote in more doria while they took less than forty percent in that is down with just a few days to go before sunday's presidential vote whoever steps into the top job will have to win over russia's regions each having their own wants and needs

evidence of redevelopment is clear to see in more detail via including the building of a new stadium which will be used in the twenty eight team football world cup finals in a village near the city of surrounds a cement manufacturer is the major employer will of water during pyrrhus story we were paid in coupons not money the country was in chaos we didn't get paid and currency were got coupons that we could take to the store in exchange for goods that's pretty difficult to imagine today considering how good we have it it's expected that prime minister vladimir putin can count on support from the area in his bid to become president. our life keeps changing for the better every year the elections are coming up and i'm going to vote for putin and i think most of us will cement factory isn't only an employer the company also provides loans to help those who work there buy homes like this one however half a day's drive from one region into the next and we see

a different story. when you cross the boundary from more interest than the differences a clear the road quality for one is far inferior on this side and alongside those road stand emptying villages and the bund and factories so why is there such discrepancy between the two regions those living in d.c. and blame local government. we're sick of carpetbaggers here in arizona. we've had one governor come from a different region then another one when the new governor came into office the region had a public debt of one hundred million dollars now it's almost five hundred million so many businesses are shutting down we have a lot of places here that only exist on the map the actual villages are deserted all the residents have moved out just outside the city of busy and we find another village with another cement factory. of the latino with the

twenty eight years she tells a story of a very different life than what we saw in. space or what i'm called you might get it's very cold here we don't take off our clothes day and night even in bed yet life is not great but there's one thing we desperately need heating something we got a pension right but it is not enough. not a boat is in the clear about what they want from their elected officials. the town has been given a facelift but it's not enough there's not enough confidence either. life is rough and my pension is so small i'd love to get more i'm sixty one and i still have to work at being that we need stability pensioners need a better life it's simpler for the young people but we need stability the task for whoever wins sunday's presidential election is to try and eliminate discrepancies in quality of life and bring people the stability they crave peter all of the.

explore all the stories we're covering here in common here is up planning war and store for you know our website the anonymous group brings down the interpol website in retaliation to the arrest of twenty five suspected papyrus across the globe. while google offer a subpoena one million u.s. dollars for those who hacked their browser prone to expose its weak spots but now more power to dot com. now returning to our top story the crisis in syria into acid rhetoric from the u.s. and its allies regularly company's bloody images provided by opposition activists picked up by the media the food shows the result of assets brutal shelling of areas

like homs but few have drawn similarities with video showing another conflict that in fallujah iraq which happens ten years ago and saw u.s. troops fighting against the insurgents are just lucy's confident explores the perils and differences shared by the two conflicts. well they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called palooza the capital of terror different conflicts that share more in common than actually meets the eye now each is the third largest city in this country and each the site of a bloody urban war one of them now in history books the other still raging as we speak now in homes as in fallujah poorly armed insurgents faced off against a superior military well equipped soldiers armed with mortars tanks and airpower and in both cases officials claims that only heavy handed force could bring peace blaming the violence on criminals and terrorists here's the chief military

spokesman for the u.s. forces in iraq we will hunt down the criminals we will kill them we will capture them and we will pass for a flu shot and here is syrian president bashar al assad. our priority now is to regain security which our country has enjoyed for decades this can only be achieved by using the terrorists with an iron hand because there will be no leniency for those who are using weapons to kill well civilians now in both countries that iron hands targeted a sunni muslim opposition in wars that took on increasingly sectarian tones into lucia the us forces and the shia iraqi troops were seen as infidels in syria their religious wrath is aimed at assad's alawite forces cording says some disparaging comments salah white monkeys satanic troops those are just some of the many slurs now amid the violent clashes gut wrenching images like these showing the human toll

of war streets littered with bodies of the wounded not to mention those of the dead but this is where the similarities and civilians did suffer most in both wars and yet the stories of pollution innocents remain largely untold most reporters in two thousand and four were embedded with the u.s. troops today the few who do sneak into syria often stick with the rebels and the difference in the coverage is well self-evident americans hate the military and murders. more of them by actually entering the main hospital and blocking a key group they need help from the outside world medicine the most basic supplies the star witness stacks of uncommon valor from the u.s. soldiers that i was with protesters fearless protesters really. now those who dared show images of the civilian casualties in fallujah were often dismissed as

propaganda their viewers even got the following advice from the pentagon. change the channel to a legitimate authoritative all honest news station the accusations from the syrian government are eerily similar today lies in the media have gone beyond common sense some television channels have lost a professional. now it is often said that perception forms reality and nowhere does this ring more true that in syria and iraq in one battle the press told the story of the besiegers in the other that of the besieged and in both cases it would seem it's the truth that suffered most. of our washington. well now it's crossed through. on our business desk so good morning mary now we hear a daddy european central bank is. well actually trying to improve the situation in

the eurozone to tell us exactly what's doing well basically what it's trying to do is it's preparing to inject some more low interest loans into the blogs banking system and that's going to mount to around five hundred billion euros and on wednesday it's holding its second auction which will be the opportunity for the european banks to get access to the cash the first round was held in late december when the banks borrowed almost four hundred ninety billion euros and the extra funds are hope to make banks stronger and courage them to loan money to businesses and consumers but analysts say it's not about restoring confidence in banks but rather to keep in them afloat now let's take a look at how all of this is affecting the markets and we'll start with the exchange rates we see that the euro is edging higher following the awful wrong. but the ruble is lower against both the euro and the dollar now let's move on and thank

you look at how it's affecting asian markets we see there that they are higher and technology stocks are doing particularly well so clueless a panasonic jumped around three and a half percent after announcing a rise then because of the recent drop including oil prices as well as is helping airline shares extend their gains from the previous session in hong kong now let's take a look at what's happening with oil as it is mentioned its banks in fact from its lowest level in almost a week and that's when news industrial output in japan and south korea beat estimates and the u.s. consumer confidence crime the most in over in here let's switch and take a look at the u.s. we see it's a very positive backdrop for trading floors cross the globe and the major was coming to us. s. where stocks closed out mall highs and investors wait a small pullback in oil prices and consumer confidence against a worse than expected drop in durable consumer goods now here in russia it's now an

hour ahead of the opening bell on tuesday the markets closed in the red both the r.t.s. and m i six lost over one percent and energy stocks rose the most and of course as that is the russia's main export earner that's what the market's down now let's move on and talk about carney's fear it has signed a deal to invest one point one a billion dollars in russian plans and the talk of production is a hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year and the models will be based on chrysler's brands plans will be built in st peter's work and the college board be assembled with the help of make you still. talk lenders who provide the financing and let's take a stake of a twenty cent and let's move on now and talk about energy gas from is thinking about taking part in the privatization of energy assets in greece the gas giant has met

a greek top officials to discuss the sale of gas company and grid operator and we're seeing now that last year gas from showed interest in the companies but we don't have any more information relating to this possible deal. and in other news russian telecoms groups is frightened to take a legal action against the indian government now why you might ask because the country's supreme court has ordered to cancel all the telecoms licenses issued in the two thousand and eight auction system has twenty one of those licenses and of course it's invested billions of dollars into those projects and even though it says it's hopeful that they will find an amicable solution that the supreme court will reverse its decision. supreme court ruling. licenses should expire on the second of june but it is up to the to decide first of all how they should be held

and it is possible for the government to conduct the auction before june second and therefore hypothetically it's possible that. hypothetically it's possible to grant extension. grant extension themselves. more time through or organize so we believe that at least one of those to. be pursued by the government. that's how business looks the south will have another update for you in about fifty five minutes in the meantime feel free to strike out our website at www dot com business and the headlines are next.

have been is and tragedy. and be true. family. and does a link. on the bottom of a coffee swamp. you know how sometimes

you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. on. the news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada after. the giant corporations are old today.