syria's first steps to democratic reform ridiculed by the us as washington stops just shy of labeling a war criminal. weapons into the water. raging against austerity nationwide protests are expected in spain and greece as government policies leave economies and public patience at a collapsing point. and a man charged over the murder of a prominent russian journalist. says the killing may have been orchestrated in london by a fugitive russian businessman and a suspected terrorist. could

have you with us here on our. live in moscow not satisfied. seeing assad out u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has now compared assad to a war criminal but stopped just short of directly making the accusation her latest rhetoric to downplay the new course of reform adopted by syria to democratize the political process and give the opposition a voice and washington is adamant even pending a new resolution that would place all responsibility for the crisis on assad giving the rebels. 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. has gone their reporting one of the paying to see out however isn't stopping just threats and resolutions a free syrian army general now says his militia group has been supplied with french and american weapons and even. missiles as autism or information on our reports from syria it's only adding to fears that outside interference is fueling further bloodshed. but the borders doors and windows to a state despite international isolation syria's borders have remained opened and easy to pass through and that may have played a crucial role in the military zation of the country's conflict almost immediately after the crisis began here last march 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 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 weapons here to destroy our nation to try to kill syrian people in the syrian territory to arm our 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 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 the offices confiscated thousands of bullets dozens of guns and hundreds of kilograms i have little metal pieces like this one used to make worlds but there's

always his main concern and made little points 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. risin it all started here and it continues to play a role in the country's crisis whether what it was doing 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. 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 and legibly 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 to kill even more so while the international community condemns the other saw the 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 weapons involved it's clear that the crisis thresh is far beyond these borders raef an ocean r.t. reporting from syria. and still to come in the program just a little bit later for you were that of comparing conflicts. but they now call

homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called pollution the capital of terror as fighting continues in the syrian city of homs if we take a look at the u.s. media's approach to iraq crisis in fallujah ten years ago which saw american soldiers fighting with the government and against militant forces. r.t. is coming to you live from moscow and fresh protests are brewing across greece as the government seeks to implement the drastic austerity measures that came with the latest e.u. bailout or the demonstrations that will be synchronous with those in spain where people are angry at their own draconian cuts bleak prospects more of what's happening there today let's go to both of our correspondents in athens and madrid. there and sara furthur good to see you both tomas start with you and we certainly have seen some intense protests in greece where certainly when the cuts were approved and what's expected now the being implemented at this point.

well at the moment in greece rory you can see this iconic building behind me it's not become an icon for particularly good reasons but in that fretful parliament behind me and in the streets around that have been so full of ferment a day of protests today not a surprise a lot of people across the country in public sector unions there are doctors out on the street at the moment and they are protesting against the cuts that are being pushed through and there's also a lot of words a lot of alarmist words very financial words that didn't used to mean a lot that is suddenly taking on very serious meanings indeed one of them the d. word default and today a later on today a meeting of the international swaps and derivatives association which sounds boring could turn out to be very important indeed it may decide that it may have to

invoke credit swaps which are a form of insurance for some of the money lent by private banks to try and secure those investments made because they may they may decide that the greek government is not capable of paying out and that essentially means that technically greece will have defaulted which is exactly the kind of financial disaster the government has been trying to avoid all this time on the streets people are more concerned with their own lives and their own yesterday the greek government forced through very painful cuts to the minimum wage a twenty two percent cut to the new wage a thirty two percent cut if you're over under twenty five and half of greeks under twenty five are unemployed if you can see a recipe for unrest there it's harder to find a better one and you've also got a lot of cuts in pensions which have been very hard to stomach the e.u.

and the eurozone on its side have been saying. this is a this is about time that greece has been living beyond its means and it's time that it started trying to balance its budget properly although opponents and their own there are plenty of those here in greece are saying this is just too much this is just gone too far i spoke to the federation police chief who is a protester yesterday normally the people trying to stop protesters and he said this could force our entire service out of business this is this is meaning that my colleagues are struggling to put food on the table really really serious messages here and a feeling of exhaustion with this long process of having to cut all of these budgets unions are out today it's expected that the feeling is going to be one of please try and show some compassion to the greek people here after two years of austerity after all of these painful cuts it seems that life is only going to get

worse here whether inside the euro zone or not the message here is please this is enough or certainly a sign of the times there when you report that the police forces those used to control the protests they're now crossing the barrier and siding with the demonstrators tom thanks for that sara over to you there's also a lot of austerity anger in spain what's happening where you are today. well this morning the students who are out on the streets in the thousands they come here to the ministry of education to protest against spending cuts that they say have really affected education very badly that telling us that some of their closings they need even have basic heating they told us about the job losses the teaches in that thousands now the protest movements marched along the streets a little bit further here we were talking to some of the students and they were telling us that as well as protesting against suspending cuz they're also

demonstrating in support as the students in valencia it's another spanish city where last week we saw clashes breaking out between the right place and the protesters now the people we were speaking to today and over the party days you've actually been in valencia they were telling us savers they're concerned about this approach of the new government saying even in power of the month of using the police in this way they said it's a much more aggressive repression of the movement and there's a lot of concern and i'm going to that and actually today here you can probably see behind me some of the police vans and the riot police it was a night to simply heavy a presence and we see in previous demonstrations here in madrid they are known for being by and large pretty peaceful movements today again the students to say that was their main focus they want to come up peacefully to demonstrate can still hear them in the background of that they come out with that that is in the slogans a bit a lot of concern about the increase of the yeast that the riot police in this way

speaking to the people here they will tell you exactly what it's like to be a student in a country that right now has more than forty nine percent of the unemployed sixteen to twenty four age bracket really struggling i mean it's a very bleak picture this being painted for them as the government continues to introduce these spending cuts they'll tell you that really they feel that they're being punished the here is and years of government waste and that the debt now is being done. and there being a fools to pay for this with their futures really very very concerned about what the future holds for them and if you divide the country you can see evidence of this government waste as we've been finding out. lifeless and empty welcome to one of spain so-called ghost towns these are supposed to be life in your apartment blocks in the town is. 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 buy is 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 are going to. think so. what made you want. because it's very cheap 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 through a stereotype the money that was wasted by the government has caused widespread

anger and brought people into the streets hundreds of thousands. it's crazy the cost one hundred eighty euros and it's empty no one is working there. the flight was back in sustain year the cheap prices might be able to breathe much needed life into the area not everything can be fixed with pleasant . getting many people in the country now feels that the banks and the government selling off not just the nice houses but their speeches 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 had. the time to send us. and a lot of us are we here on r t we talked to a spanish economist about how close the euro zone's fourth largest economy is to

collapse and whether its future even belongs inside the block well or do you stay with us here on our teachers to come in a few minutes here for you not to most revenge a wave of arrests in your abound south america sees a quick response from online activist to find out how a notorious group struck back at interpol. and us presidential candidates in russia are trying to make count the final days before the election r.t. visits to neighboring regions the show just how difficult it will be to please all of the people all of the time. just after quarter past the hour here in moscow a fugitive russian tycoon and a suspected chechen terrorist both living in the u.k. may be linked to the murder of a celebrated russian journalist anna politkovskaya the revelation comes from a former russian police official currently on trial and charged with masterminding the killing laura smith now reports on the latest twist in this case. the man who

is making these allegations is a man called colonel dmitri. who is charged with organizing the killing of a political he is a former senior police official he is supposed to have planned that killing but the people who he say ordered it now are bodies but is the oligarch who is living in london akhmed zakayev who is a suspected terrorist who is also living in london now russia has requested the extradition of these two people on numerous occasions. on charges of terrorism on charges of fraud now that extradition has never been granted by britain and more public this former senior police official is saying is that politkovskaya who of course was a prominent journalist. and it's believed that. journalism that in fact

in particular revelations of human rights offenses in chechnya what. people saying is that quarreled with. that is of ski in london and that that is what led to that essentially ordering. lots of people have been arrested for having organized the killing but nobody has so far had the finger pointed at them for ordering it so this could be a key development but certainly particularly for betty is obviously this is not the first time that his name has come up in connection with the murder of public it's come up lots of times before. laura smith reporting well you can always or track the entire course of the political trial just by logging on to our web site r t v dot com some of the other stories are standing by if you are just a click away. or so online europe's political exodus the e.u. recalls twenty seven ambassadors from groups as

a diplomatic fallout between the country and the union grows. and bringing destruction from above scientists warn the earth may need to protect itself against a giant comet could smash into our planet in the year two thousand and fourteen discover the chances of that at r.t. top come. russian voters have less than five days to make up their minds and decide who they want to see as the country's next president but candidates powers of persuasion to aren't winning everybody over all of a visit to neighboring regions which clearly highlight the differences between the haves. a tale of two regions more dorthea and lie side by side of 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 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 dough 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 troika 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 along side both roads 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 and resign we've had one governor come from a different region than 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 more. visceral way 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. voters in the clear about what they want from their elected officials. still the town has been given a facelift but it's not enough there's not enough confidence either. in you which he has his 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 for 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 r.t. if. it is coming to you live from moscow it's good to have you with us today. group known simply as anonymous claims to have brought down the international criminal police organizations website it crashed shortly after interpol announced the arrest of twenty five hackers in spain and latin america as a part of the agency's operation mosque. has more on the latest battle in an ongoing cyber war. interpol had said the twenty five alleges members of the anonymous saw online how king activists group or hacktivist group were taken into their custody right after their own website was attacked now right after the announcement was made their own website again failed to load an act of anonymous a

wrote on their twitter feed not that the message interpol down so there are speculations that this is their response to these 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 sofa people and act are all arguing in favor of protecting intellectual property rights however this is made a lot of people angry at polarized opinion saying that passing such bills will actually infringe on the medium 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 are arrests again will not stop their activities they repeated several times in the past that no arrests can be made on ideas. that let's return to our stop top story here on r.t. the crisis ongoing in syria where the world's media flooded with stories and images

allegedly depicting the bloody results of the syrian army's assault on the city of homs but few have compared the clashes to the massacre in fallujah iraq which up and down nearly ten years ago and saw u.s. troops fighting alongside the government against the rebels he warned you may find some of the images and lucy catherine office report disturbing. well they now call homes the capital of the revolution just as they once called the capital of terror 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 air power and in both cases officials claims that only heavy handed force could bring peace blaming the violence on criminals and terrorists here's

a chief military spokesman for the u.s. forces in iraq we will down the criminals we will kill them we will capture them and we will pass before i flew here 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. for those who are using weapons to kill well civilians now in both countries that iron hand targeted a sunni muslim opposition in wars that took on increasingly sectarian tones if illusia u.s. forces and the shia iraqi troops were seen as infidels in syria their religious wrath is aimed at assad's alawite forces according to 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 self evident. americans hate the military and murders . more of them by actually doing during the main hospital and blocking 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 full loser 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 thing of today lies in the media have gone beyond common sense some television channels have lost all shame and professionalism you. now it is often said that perception forms reality and nowhere does this ring more true than 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 to washington. back in just a moment here with a recap of our top stories you watching arts. have

been is. and tragedy. do motion. and betray. family.