syria fails to silence. in washington as the u.s. secretary of state says the syrian leader may fear war criminal status. austerity hit greece spain brace for more public anger and starting to implement the latest belt tightening measures spain set to follow a similar path. with just a few days to go before the presidential election revisit to neighboring regions whose political loyalties couldn't lie further apart.

it is a good to have you with us here in our. live in moscow the u.s. is intensifying its campaign against the syrian regime despite the course of reform adopted by the government on the conflict torn country in the latest verbal attack secretary of state hillary clinton said that president assad could be labeled a war criminal because of the violence that's just as the syrian leader signed a new draft constitution which promises democratic change. now has 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 party's 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 he's going to reporting right still to come for you later in the program here on our similar conflicts but a different attitude. what they now call homes the capital of the revolution just

as they once called palooza the capital of terror amid constant reports of carnage from the syrian city of homs we take a look at the u.s. approach to the crisis in the rocks for lou just that was no ten years ago where american troops for with the government against militant forces. syrian activists say that regime forces continue to show positions strongholds killing more civilians i mean while the free syrian army claims it's received weapons and missiles from french and u.s. sources now the government accuses the rebels of being terrorists acting out of foreign plot and as. for national reports now from syria there are growing fears within the country that outside interference is feeding that's not moral. 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 march there 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 household destruction and that's how marshall kind of will pay to smugglers usually iraqi oil lebanese drivers according to ziad ismail chief of the customs service on the border with lebanon. these people bring and we've been here to destroy our nation to try to get syrian people on the syrian territory to enemies. syria has more than two thousand kilometers of front year 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 the in an hour of the border

is a fact that some believe has determined their fate or destiny is this is one of three tech corners 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 i have little metal pieces like this one used to make a world but there's always his main concern and that little pool is like this one but parts of the border where there isn't any security at all but 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 are crossing the border and i'm already in lebanon. and further south you see 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 water was jordan just several kilometers away

from here and numerous reports suggesting that foreign weapons and troops going to is only flow through it that are 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 have in fact come from across the border. that 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 their weapons allegedly seized in military operations 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 was killing innocent people and kill even more.

while the international community condemns the el assad regime and supports its opponents many believe all sides in the conflict should be held responsible for violence across syria and with so many foreign russians involved it's clear that the crisis threshers far beyond these borders region ocean r.t. reporting from syria. so what obligation does the international community have with syria the un's responsibility to protect initiative is put under the microscope that's coming up next hour on cross talk for 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 inviolability 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 forty myriad international treaties since then

recognizing some role for the international community in intrastate affairs and that's that's all i welcome the problem i. disagree with what aden saying this idea of. sovereign impunity is purely there to protect governments so that they can slaughter their own people and have no international accountability the idea of noninterference isn't about protecting genocide all governments. across the uk is in about an hour and twenty minutes from now though greece is bracing itself for yet another wave of public anger so begins to implement austerity cuts and the latest bailout deal and the and the austerity backlash is also mounting in spain one of the most indebted states the crisis or sort of lead to a crash in spanish real estate with thousands of new houses standing empty with banks

struggling to upload the property this story now to our to you sarah. life listen and welcome to in a spain so-called ghost town these are supposed to be life in your apartment blocks in the town is. when the crisis started. the real estate bubble. fell down 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 announced the bargains and you won't have any trouble with noisy neighbors because well there won't be many. such low prices these are going to fill up quickly and with very young people looking to buy one for our son. that we are going to. yes i think so.

and. because it's. elsewhere in the country and there's no hiding the empty pools 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 now my is an economic crisis asking people to pay back through a story to money that was wasted by the government has caused widespread anger and brought people into the streets hundreds of thousands for the rest of you it's crazy that cost one hundred eighty euros and it's empty no one is working there. the flight was back in the cheap prices might be able to breathe much needed life into the area 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 peaches as well towns like the sun you're on unique

all across spain right now you see these large areas of new build homes now left hopelessly 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 little bizarre here on our tour we talked to a spanish economist on how close the euro zone's fourth largest economy is to the brink and whether its future lies within the proc. from the manhunt for those behind the murder of prominent russian journalist anna politkovskaya may stretch beyond the country's borders a new lead in the high profile case emerged after one of the men charged with masterminding the crime test to testify that a fugitive russian oligarch and a suspected chechen terrorist both living in london are involved artie's laurus with our jaws of life in the u.k. capital details on this are laura good to see you so tell us more about this latest

development in this investigation. well this is a big development and these are all names that you will have heard before with the exception possibly of this man who is making these allegations the man who's making the allegations is a man called colonel dmitri. who is charged with organizing essentially. an appellate court back in two thousand and six the prosecutors say that he formed a group to carry out the killing he planned the whole thing he delegated tasks he even provided the gunman with the gun with which. was shot he is a former senior police official he is supposed to have planned that killing the people who he say ordered it now are. the oligarch who is living in london akhmed zakayev the chechen separatists leader who is also living in london now russia has requested the extradition of these two

people on numerous occasions their extradition has been requested before on charges of terrorism on charges of fraud now that extradition has never been granted by britain has what's called a refugee passport he's been granted asylum by this country and that is all to now has british citizenship he has a british passport and what of this former senior police official is saying is that . he was called was a prominent journalist. and it's believed that it was just journalism that in fact in particular revelations of human rights offenses in chechnya what what you're saying is that politkovskaya quarreled with. ski in london and that is what led to that essentially ordering. now lots of people have been arrested for having

organized the killing but nobody has so far had to think of. pointed at them for ordering it so this could be a key development we are waiting until may when the court will hear public case to find out what the what the actual result of this will be but certainly particularly for betty is obviously this is not the first time that his name has come up in connection with the matter of public it's come up lots of times before all right laura smith her life in london many thanks. to the interpol website has reportedly become the latest target of the so-called activist anonymous group which advocates internet freedom came as interpol announced it arrested twenty five suspected hackers from the movement in europe and south america from brussels now reporting as artie's tests are solely. interpol it said the twenty five allegedly members of the anonymous online how king activist group or activist

group were taken into their custody right after their own website was attacked now right after the announcement was made their own web site again failed to load an act not of us a wrote on their twitter feed not the message interpol adown so there are speculations that this is their response to these are reports of arrests and this police action is just the latest in a more in a bigger operation that intergovernmental and police operations hoping to crack down on the activities of a non of us in recent months we've seen a certain bills so call the soap people and act are all arguing in favor of protecting intellectual property rights however this is a man made a lot of people and we had polarized opinion saying that passing such bills will actually infringe on the freedom of speech as well as the openness of the internet these are precise precisely the issues that anonymous claims to be fighting for but at the end of the day such arrests again will not stop their activities they

repeated several times in the past that no arrests can be made on ideas at least as a sillier they're reporting from brussels now you can explore all the stories we're covering here in depth that are to dot com and plenty more in store for website as well including a protests prohibited the u.s. government ok use a new bill that could see some demonstrations outlawed and those details started by a few now a click away at our web site. plus a google holds a contest offering a million dollar reward to people who can successfully hack it's own chrome browser find out why the search engine is so eager to have its security breached that's at our two dot com. he is coming to you live from moscow russia's presidential campaign now entering

the homestretch just a few days left before the election and the candidates are meantime redoubling their efforts to win the hearts and minds of voters all across the country but this is a tough task as people leave or in neighboring regions and often a contrast need some political preferences as artie's peter oliver now reports the tale of two regions more dorthea into the lie side by side over the life there is quite different in the two thousand and eleven parliamentary elections united russia wrong to home with over ninety percent of the vote in more doria well 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 got during pyrrhus story we were paid in coupons not money the country was in chaos we didn't get paid in 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 the 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 into reason the difference is a clear the road quality for one is far inferior on this side and along side those roads stand emptying villages and the bund and trees so why is there such discrepancy between the two regions those living in daisy and blame local government. we're sick of carpetbaggers here and resign 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 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 work there for twenty eight years she tells a story of a very different life than what we saw in moore dorian fisher i'm called you my

dear it's very cold here we don't take off our clothes day and night even in bed life is not great but there's one thing we desperately need heating something we got a pension right but it is not enough. never mind voters in the clear about what they want from their elected officials. to deal with a town has been given a facelift but it's not enough there's not enough confidence either. you watching her says 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 that 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 we presidential election is to try and eliminate discrepancies in quality of life and bring people the stability they create peter all of the. time before we get to marina with the markets here on r.t. for now the world update and some international headlines in brief first with the

european union recalled all of its twenty seven ambassadors to belo roofs after minsk ordered the polish and envoy out of the country. made the move in retaliation to sanctions imposed by the e.u. over the country's rights record the sanctions date back to december two thousand and ten the presidential elections at that time in which more than seven hundred people were arrested after a massive protest against alleged vote fraud president president alexander to look at dubbed by some e.u. nations as europe's last dictator was declared the winner. and an r.p.g. of where all three judges involved in the case targeting a local ngo workers have resigned the defendants sixteen of them americans are accused of cooperating with foreign n.g.o.s in funding the unrest that's shaken the nation for over a year and the judges haven't indicated the exact reasons for pulling out only

saying quote they felt uneasy this tackling the process the announcement comes just two days into the trial. all returning to our top story now here on our t.v. ongoing crisis in syria and the world's media are flooded with stories and images allegedly depicting the bloody results of the syrian army's assault on the city of homs but a few have joined similarities with footage of another conflict that of fallujah iraq which happened nearly ten years ago and saw u.s. troops fighting against insurgents. and off now explains that explores the parallels and differences shared by the two conflicts be warned you may find some of the forthcoming images in the report disturbing. well they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called the capital of tear different conflicts that share more in common than actually meets the eye now each is the third largest city and its country in 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 mortar snipers tanks and airpower and in both cases officials claims that only heavy handed force could bring peace laming in the violence on criminals and terrorists here's the chief military spokesman for the us forces in iraq we will hunt down the criminals we will kill them or we will capture them and we will pass or for a future 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 and civilians now in both countries that iron hand target a sunni muslim opposition in wars that took on increasingly sectarian tones in

fallujah u.s. 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 you tube 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 pollutions 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 i mean during

the main hospital and locked in a key group they need help from the outside world medicine the most basic supplies the star witness to acts 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 cornish 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 all shame and profession. 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 right now it's twenty five minutes past the hour here in moscow time to get a business update for you let's cross over to marina who's standing by for us right now. we're hello to you so we haven't actually heard much of good news about economies in europe as of late do anything to dispel before costs of doom and gloom . will we do know that the european central bank is planning to inject more low interest loans so this will of course help the situation because it will boost the banking system in the blog and the amount could top five hundred billion euros of this wednesday is when the block will hold its second auction and this is the chance that european banks will have to get access to that cash the first round took place in late december when banks forward almost four hundred ninety billion

euros and these extra funds are hope to make banks stronger and encourage them to loan money to businesses and consumers but analysts do say it's not so much about restoring confidence in banks but rather keeping them afloat now let's take a look at how these names are affecting the markets and we'll start with the currencies first the euro is edging the higher against the dollar and the ruble and of course that's after the offer we heard from that you see now the ruble is more against the greenback and us despite the higher crude prices let's take a look at what's going on with oil we're seeing that prices are bouncing back from of their lowest close in almost a week and that's helped by the industrial output enterprise and south korea beating as the minutes and of course the u.s. consumer confidence which increased the highest in over a year so let's take a look at what's happening in the u.s. we see of course the picture the highest close that almost multiply your highs and

investors are basically way in small drop in oil prices along with the u.s. consumer confidence been higher and the worse than expected drop in durable goods orders and later in the day we're expecting to hear some updated figures on the g.d.p. results that now let's. you don't see europe or the picture was getting mixed up until now now the footsie and the dots are both impulses of territory and we're seeing that the gains there are mostly led by banks and they're all the way down for the second long term financing operation and here in russia it's also a positive a picture of the r t s m i six riding over on one per cents and they're saying that what we're seeing is pretty much a presidential rally which is attracting foreign investors to the market but let's take a look at the individual share moves on them why six of course stronger crude is boosting energy firms but not saying k.b.p.s. that's a surprise because the company is heading lower despite news that its net income jumped fifty five percent to a record high in

a billion dollars last year and that's one of our oil prices and output gains and that was to round up all the index movers on them i say another all day it will be within fifty five minutes in the mean time as the headlines with henri. free. education free.