it in national law on the line as the u.s. talks of tougher action on syria with u.n. consent. and are out irish voters head to the polls in a referendum on the e.u. fiscal treaty which opponents say amounts to nothing more than permanent a spirit controlled by brussels while a backlash against cuts sweeps across europe. the father of poisoned former russian security agent general of any angle blames fugitive tycoon barry's off for his son's death in a video which has been passed to scotland yard. this

is r.t. coming to you live from moscow i'm marina joshie welcome to the program the u.s. says it's time to consider taking direct action in syria even if that means going against international law this follows the massacre of more than one hundred people in the syrian town of houla with damascus and the rebels blaming each other for the atrocity russia's vowed to block any moves for intervention at the u.n. but washington says the security council can be bypassed argues marina port now has the latest. well what was exactly said is the fact that the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice said that the syrian government is solely responsible for the massacres that took the massacre that took place in syria last week those those comments were also echoed by america's european allies and as a result there is now a nother push within the security council for international sanctions against against syria now the united nations is conducting their own investigation to find

out who exactly is responsible for the killings of one hundred eight people in syria last week but the u.s. and its allies has come to its own conclusion now embassador rice said that if the six point peace plan put together by kofi annan which calls for a cease fire in syria that plan breaks down and if sanctions are not supported within the security council then the international community and council members will have to consider options outside of the authority of the security council now what those options will be exactly is not clear we do know that the u.s. and european countries have already imposed their own sanctions on syria so many are interpret these words as a threat of military action now russia's ambassador to the un vitaly churkin believes that country should not come to jump to conclusions with respect to who was responsible for the massacre in houla last week said that all parties should wait for the results of the un investigation ambassador churkin said that he's very

disappointed with the fact that there's been very little progress in progress with mr anon six point peace plan and that both sides the opposition and the syrian government have been seen in some ways violating their agreements to a cease fire and many other things outlined by the six point peace plan but ambassador churkin said it's very important to know the fact that. the responsibility of course lies on the syrian government the opposition group also is still carrying out acts of violence and it's important for those that are arming or financing the our opposition group to look at the circumstance and understand that maybe those moves are provoking the violence and further escalating it. was now get some reaction inside from a former syrian ambassador to turkey thanks very much indeed sir for being with us here in the program well first the u.s.

and its allies have already taken action against damascus in forcing sanctions and providing direct support to the rebels so what kind of tougher action without a u.n. mandate can we expect to see now. in a foolish world you could expect any foolish behavior but everyone has to. be accountable for what they take. out like to offer our deepest condolences to the families relatives of those who were brutally murdered not only a. few hours later. the. criteria that the world has not been even mentioning the massacre. which took place a few hours after fifty seven civilians including men women and children with brutally murdered the nobody is mentioning that sort of very simple reason all those who were killed. in that psycho were muslim

charlottes loyal to the government. so nobody is even talking about that now i have some information for you and for your highly esteemed viewers and old years worldwide but it got to. pull up their names of the perpetrators out of all islamic. fundamentalist elements we have to we we have a lot we have our three others expect actually those names to be public to do on worldwide media as well as the investigation committee that has been followed by the syrian government is it due to issue its report later today or little motto of the latest regarding those massacres particularly the one . so actually it's not. understandable why people and countries

are trying to take any action outside the security council as they did in libya and you know the fiasco the scandals that have been mentioned regarding the neuter's intervention in libya and elsewhere so for us as syria's we anticipate you know some escalation this is not that this does not come as a surprise for us. you know ousting syrian diplomats and embassadors from some countries has been longer waited. it's a two way you know would those countries have citizens who have been implicated some of them have been actually killed in action in syria and they need someone to look after the interests of their citizens so it's let's wait and see yes well mr allen absolutely as he just said it's a two way arone well as we know there's been no real cease fire in syria ever since

the u.n. observer mission touch down so has konstanz efforts failed them. the meeting of mr president assad with foreign minister with the syrian officials was positive as was stated by both sides. it's noteworthy again that. over five thousand violations by. the groups have been actually documented by you and. saul far. it's very clear that there are local. regional and international powers that are at the moment on a spark of some sort of civil war in syria based on sectarian criteria and ethnic factors they are trying now to play their final card which is the sectarian

factor the ethnic factor that's why we anticipate that some more massacres will take place committed by those two groups fundamentalist salafist you'll have you have in russia you have experienced similar acts of violence in chechnya it's the same school of thought of. this city an army has not been built brought up and trained to slaughter people with knives and machete as well mr collins you ronaldinho. for give me for butting in like this but as you rightly mansion their ethnic context is quite complex one fact the british ambassador to the u.n. says there is now a third element of this here in conflict which are radicals including jihad is as you mentioned earlier now who's behind this force and what are its aims. as you know marina twenty six libyans to new germs judeans and some

citizens of other countries have been killed in action in syria in what they call the jihad what we called some terrorist acts against syrian civilians the syrian army and syrian security forces trust me all those who have been butchered in the explosive. incidents in the two explosions. because you simply are muslims certainly. druzes christians catholic protestant baptists whatever you call it from all sects from all religions those terrorist acts no not in a german no human criteria and every single syrian condemns in the strongest possible terms of the massacres at. them and that the perpetrators should be brought to justice should receive the

strongest possible punishment because this is the blood of our syrian brothers sisters mothers neighbors friends that has been shared in some barbaric way so. it's obvious that there are some local regional and international powers who are trying to you know take the strongest possible action based on the massacre in we believe that the measures outside the u.n. security council for example. have actually been using a massacre as a pretext to take some stronger action against syria but again if they decide to take a foolish step they have to bear with it they have to put up with a country that is determined to resist to for. oh really very lost soul just to the very last citizen of studio and again this is not this is not human

this is all right maybe i have to understand that fact absolutely mr nidal come along thanks very much indeed for bringing us your insight and thoughts on this i was live from damascus former syrian ambassador to turkey couple thank you. watching our team live from moscow and still have for you this hour a fact or fiction he speaks with the author of an article which accuses the u.s. and south korea of deep level surveillance and north korea even parachuting in spies who are poor back on the grounds of military facilities. and president bush makes his first trip abroad since his recent not your ration having four bellerose after ditching the g eight summit earlier this month. before the advent risen island head to the polls today in a referendum to decide whether or not to approve the european union's fiscal treaty driven by germany conversely plans strict

a central control of the national budgets of member states who've signed up but opponents see it as a permanent stary charter with many angry about surrendering power and sovereignty to brussels laura smith has more. it's hope since choice island has two options is it goes out to vote on a fiscal pact with the e.u. to say yes to writing austerity into law and cede precious sovereignty to brussels say no and incur the wrath of the european central bank and potentially kissed goodbye to e.u. bailouts and it looks like it's going to be close the reason i'm voting yes this time is that we are in the e.u. now we have lost a veto and it would be foolish to do anything else it is a matter of what we were both looking for to change france. has said that they don't want to go down groove austerity and that's have gone so far and it's not

working there's no change in our at the moment so that's why our people want to send a message to your votes taking place against the backdrop of a failing economy unemployment up to fifteen percent welfare payments a cut public sector spending has been slashed everyone's feeling the pinch including publican jimmy killed near he's seen his turnover full by heart as locals batten down the hatches we would have had. five full time employees yeah for part time we're now down to two full time two part time we had a restaurant upstairs which is now closed that's another three full time jobs gone possible income is it's a huge factor it's the discretionary spend that people have it you can see it through out the pub the restaurant business and people are very very very careful on how they spend their money to pay the economies tightly bound to the ailing

eurozone through bank loans and bailouts and many economists think a no vote would mean even steeper austerity and difficulty borrowing from financial markets we would find ourselves at really. being looked at the scans by foreign direct investment financial investment they would say well are these people really in or of the european core that's arguable the sense of the sensibility of what's going on but if there's a club and they want to be part of this you know you join the army you are the votes we would be rejecting and i think that would be. attractive from a national pride perspective is it a pride we can afford i'm not sure people think it is thanks to their constitution the arash are the only european people who get to vote on the pact and all but two e.u. member governments have already signed it but if they vote no the irish will be joining a growing anti austerity backlash france's new president francois hollande has

talked about trying to renegotiate the pact and germany's angela merkel despite having written the treaty can't get her own parliament to ratify it most of ireland's main political party supports it but not richard boyd barrett of the united left alliance because of all of the gambling debts of banks and speculators of import on to the books of the state that this would mean permanent austerity billions worth of courts every year for at least a decade or more in order to meet the treaty targets and we believe will do on told damage to the economy which is already very traumatized for ireland it seems more damaging austerity is up ahead no matter which way it turns here in dublin literally every available post in the city is bristling with referendum posters the no posters call the fiscal pact the bankers tracey the austerity packed meanwhile the yes campaign maintains it's all about stability either way the future looks

bleak many seem willing to cede silver and tea in exchange for financial backup but even that's not guaranteed in a beleaguered euro is a euro smith r.t. . and more on the fiscal treaty referendum in our interview section about twenty minutes time here on r.t. . now what important is making his first foreign trip as russia's president to belarus after snubbing the g eight summit and the u.s. already has already has all the details from the country's capital mints. but the two presidents will be discussing economic matters political matters foreign policy internal policy a lot of things really will be covered during this particular meeting. course russia did have some rather rough relations as of late is not exceptionally bad not what you would call bad relations but they did have some

disagreements over some of the issues for example as gas transfer from russia to europe but it does seem like those issues have been ironed out lately and it does look like this trip is what many believe to be indicative of russia's foreign policy of the way it's going to develop in that mean the nearest future and it does look like this trip which it is pointing to the observers that he is going to be focusing on russia's relations with its closest neighbors particularly with the valorous now traditionally first visit the first official visit from a russian president has been to one of the c.i.s. countries this time it's valorous and it comes of course. it comes on the heels of the g eight summit which was held in the united states very recently to which the russian president wasn't with him did not go now a lot of people saw that as a way to spike the west but again you have to remember that that was the time immediately after. take over in his capacity as russia's president and he did have

a lot of issues on his hands he did have to reshuffle the cabinet almost two thirds of the ministers have been replaced so really the president couldn't just leave the country and attend the g. eight summit seeing how he had a lot of internal issues that have had that had to be dealt with again that this trip to bellers does seem however to point out to the west that russia is going to be focusing more on the relations with the countries and the base which surround this as opposed to putting a greater focus on issues on his dealings with any of the western or any other foreign country. reporting there while scotland yard has been handed a video in which the father of the late former russian security agent he's an eleven ankle points the finger at who he believes was behind the deaths six years ago the video died of radioactive poisoning in two thousand and six and

a case which has caused major division between britain and russia says sarah first reports his new evidence may shed further light on the murder. further twists in the story surrounding the poisoning. a former security official alex. sullivan. has revealed in an interview the names of the people he's now the killers of his son other people he names of the russian. foreign better results and alex told both former colleagues and friends of alexander litvinenko. how do you think alexander first became infected with polonium to turn why do you think this case has been dragging on for so long as they've been the case because they don't have anything and if. you open it will become apparent who was behind it

. pays money to some high person as. everyone is covering everyone. who was just caught in the hands of i want to return to russia. justice for my son alex goen. the. parents of the liberty bell it was a very close confidant of the bank in the weeks leading up to his the unofficial spokesman he was the man he wrote the statement at the time of the yankees that accusing the russian government of carrying out that crime though after the death the investigation stake is very heavily all over bodyguards and a little boy he's now a russian and he recently passed a lie detector test that was carried out by british acts but did you do anything that led to the death of alexander litvinenko. were you involved in alexander litvinenko. have you ever had any dealings with.

live in your own case all the volta had previously apologized to him insinuating that he wasn't. and this crimes being carried out now in an interview with thoughts he pulled to live in yankee said that he was with alexander at the time that he died and that alexander litvinenko had written down the names of the people responsible for this on a piece of paper he's also told r.t. that he should be used as a witness now and indeed it seems on the back of this interview and these revelations this could now be the case and this could be submitted to scotland yard to be used as evidence and perhaps we can see this now being a further push to the british authorities to continue other lines of investigation and other attempts to finding the truth of what really happened in this case. so firth reporting there now it's a development likely to further fuel longstanding hostilities between washington and pyongyang a media report accuses u.s. and south korean special forces of parachuting into north korea to spy on

underground military facilities the source is an american army general who admitted the missions to place has been vehemently denied by washington which now accuses the journalist behind the report of making up the quotes however what he published was exactly what he heard and it comes as the u.s. looks to reinforce to say the power in the asia pacific region already experiencing an american military buildup or earlier we talked to the author of the article david x. and he told us that the full fall out from a nice piece would not be known for several days. at present both the pentagon and the lower level command whose general i heard speaking have both admitted that i did not fabricate the story earlier they had both said i fabricated the story he spoke in the present tense and it was not clear that he was speaking hypothetically not clear at all i mean it was

actually quite apparent he was speaking in sort of the the present and literal sense of north korea tends to take a few days to process news reports like this before formulating some kind of response whether that response be an official statement or some sort of military posturing or something so i expect based on what experts are telling me that we'll have to wait a day or two to up to see what the official response will be i hope it's nothing i hope the general it is is telling the truth when he says he was speaking hypothetically i regret that this thing got out of hand. now take a look at some other stories from around the world italian rescue teams up with what's believed to be the final body from the rubble after tuesday's earthquake and brings the death toll to seven hundred people three hundred fifty others were injured after the five point eight magnitude quake struck north of the region was

hit by another earthquake just two weeks ago which killed seven people. israel's handed over the bodies of ninety one palestinian militants to the government in the west bank and efforts to encourage peace talks it comes as israel's the fans minister says the country should consider you know laterally imposing borders for a future palestinian state television called for negotiations towards a two state solution in the past though talks have come to hold due to israel's building of jewish settlement tensions rose last year when palestine pursued un recognition in the face of israeli and us opposition. french journalist abducted a month ago in colombia by left wing rebels has been released unharmed to international mediators. was captured by far guerrillas while filming a report on the destruction of cocaine laboratories in the south of the country earlier this month the leftist group freed ten hostages who had been held for more

than a decade after announcing it was and the kidnappings. are right time now to take a look at what's happening in the world of business and while we are seeing new developments in the ongoing saga of a russian british venture t.m. k v p what more can you tell us about that and tosh. absolutely the co owner and former c.e.o. because friedman says a third party may join the company to help resolve the current dispute all the details in just a couple of minutes but first let's check out the equity markets and european investors finally see the current levels as a low enough to buy we see the footsie and the daffs are gaining at this hour and the european commission on wednesday called for a banking union essentially a body that can more into and regulate the euro zone's entire banking sector and if needed to share the cost of bailing out individual banks under the current rules

the governments of various countries have to put up the money to bail out their country's banks and of course market watchers hope that this will really ease the concerns about the eurozone banking sector really seen as one of the weakest links and of course the situation on the european markets is in contrast to what was happening on the u.s. markets which broad crude prices down as you can see light sweet and grander both a losing value of traders quite choppy and we did see. over the past hour even that that it was actually gaining value ever so slightly and of course light sweet this month has lost around sixty percent to zero for the month of may overall and traditionally one. times of uncertainties like this we see that investors usually run to the safest assets namely the u.s. dollar and that's the general trend that we saw earlier on today but over the past

hour let's see the currency markets there we started to see that the european currency is now gaining against the dollar and the russian ruble is continuing its slide against both major currencies the dollar and the euro and the russian markets are mixed at this hour we'll see if the mindsets manages to hold on to its current . games the r.t.s. has already slipped into read over the past couple of hours today's the last day of the month so certainly time for some preliminary results and we're saying that it's been one of the worst months for the russian equity markets so far this year the my six has lost around eleven percent and the anglo russian joint venture t.n.t. b.p. may get a third shareholder the company's co owner and former c.e.o. freedman told congress on daily that he sees it as a viable option amid the ongoing shareholder dispute in the company earlier the russian side said it's ready to buy out stake in the company or swap its.

shares for stake in british petroleum and to russia china want to set up a joint venture to build new airplanes based on russia's aircraft moscow will provide the know how and the technology while beijing will put in the cash the project is worth between seven and twelve billion dollars we have estimated seven years to produce the first plane business archie caught up with the head of boeing international who said russia has a huge market potential we see russia's growth its economic growth as a huge benefit to an enabler of aviation growth within russia and so the market there as we see it is over a thousand aircraft to russian airlines in the next twenty years valued at over one hundred ten billion dollars. that's it for me at this hour but do you find more stories are to dot com slash business eons have to five minutes.

wealthy british style. restaurant that's right on. target. market why not.