a new massacre reported in syria however estimates of casualties vary dramatically is the timing of the slaughter just ahead of kofi annan briefing to the u.n. security council raises suspicions. and the u.n. general general assembly is meeting right now here a live pictures from new york and some strong statements of already be made as the u.n. chief said syria's president assad has lost all legitimacy the russians envoy said it was too premature to label a man's plan a failure we'll bring you the latest in a few moments from new york an r.t. . global political focus shifts to the east where delicate iranian and afghan issues are discussed in beijing has been a pretty meets with the country's leaders. and also reporting the increased cases of assaults on women in egypt's tahrir square revealed the plight of female

protesters whose hope for democratic change is a fading as islamist strive to take a grip on power our top stories this hour. around the clock around the world international news and comment live from moscow good to have you with us this hour it's being reported that syria has suffered another massacre in the hama province there are however conflicting accounts as to the number of victims with estimates ranging from nine to several dozen it's also unclear who was behind the atrocity as artie's marouf an ocean explains from syria you may find some of the images in this report disturbing. there is even more confusion about this latest bassekou here in syria then all of the previous ones and a lot of the details of alleged witness accounts and video just don't match so far the most extreme death toll. stands at almost one hundred dead and this is

a figure that's been picked up very quickly by most of the international media immediately after. now the opposition's claim is that government forces shelled to peace in villages in central syria not far from the city of hama and after that allegedly prove. went and they tied people up the sharks that they stabbed and brainstem in an orgy of violence and to support that the opposition posted a number of videos allegedly from this village show when dead bodies but how well these videos contain bodies that by all appearances to. have died yesterday raising many questions on the military and the truth of their positions claims and just where these bodies came from on the other hand the syrian government has a completely different take on what happened. in syria they say they got

a call from a local resident asking for help after militants took over the village the army has been stationed in this area they've been reporting beforehand that they are preparing for an anti-terrorist operation so after that call they immediately launched this operation and we are receiving right now official. reports from official sources in hama that after the army went in they discovered nine bodies of civilians and now the clashes that occurred after that two officers have been killed and five others have been only just as you can see both sides think there is a trial there wow witnesses reports just contradict each other about who was responsible and without credible investigation right now is to go to just simply impossible to establish who was behind this massacre. well despite the uncertainties surrounding the home our killing some western and arab powers have made conclusions with some leaders immediately blaming president assad for the

atrocity and once again calling for action against his regime the snow across. new york rudy. what's been the international reaction to the reports. well the international reaction so far has been pretty much blaming the syrian government for the most recent massacre in hama there was a meeting that is still continuing right now of the general assembly at the united nations where people representatives of countries took to the podium giving their take on the crisis in syria the secretary general of the u.n. bonn ki-moon condemned the latest massacre and said that president assad has lost all his legitimacy in addition to that we have heard comments coming from u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and the british prime minister david cameron who are meeting in a separate meeting and instead instable in turkey. hillary clinton saying that syria will not retain or have any peace until president assad goes prime minister

cameron also said that he is calling for the international community to increase its pressure on syria and now western powers have been for months pushing for regime change in syria and as of late pushing and campaigning for security council sanctions on syria now those sanctions is something that china and russia are opposed to russia the russian ambassador to the un vitaly churkin also addressed the general assembly saying that the international community needs to coordinate its efforts behind the six point peace plan that was put forth by international envoy kofi annan that peace plan was endorsed and supported by the security council ambassador churkin also said that the policy of unilateral pressure on syria hasn't worked economic sanctions are only aggravating the humanitarian crisis there and

now is the time for the security council and the international community to look at the circumstances objectively and not just take sides. and with respect to the most recent massacre in hama ambassador churkin said that it requires a careful and honorable investigation before coming to any conclusions or pointing fingers let's take a listen to what he had to say. experience a proponent of has been doing in connection with those in the suburbs of home which is clear. who are very careful and reliable investigation and it is equally clear that those who are behind these evil deeds. through in syria into the. civil war and to undermine the efforts aimed at a political settlement of the crisis well marina that u.n. general assembly meeting is still taking place there in new york what can one expect to come out of this session. well in the coming hours

international envoy kofi annan will be meeting with members of the security council where they will be discussing what steps can be taken to resolve the crisis in syria and mr anon when he addressed the general assembly said that the international community must find common ground and act as one he said that individual actions or any kind of interventions will not resolve the crisis that the international community must act together but must act very quickly because according to the joint special envoy the violence is escalating there the country is growing even more polarized even more radicalized so clearly either there has to be a reason for reaffirming of support of his peace plan or there has to be alternatives considered alternatives were every member of the security council will be on board and we know that there is a division when it comes to any kind of sanctions or military interventions because those moves russia and china will not support. thanks very much indeed for that

live update from new york parties marina point nine. well political analyst christopher store he's been covering events in the region says there are strong indications the hummer massacre was carried out by terrorists when the terrorists you know called off the peace plan that was a fact a joke they had never kept they have never stuck to it there are terrorists at work very clearly and very clearly they are sponsored from abroad. saudi arabia qatar. turkey is involved people you know fighters come over the border from jordan from lebanon from iraq from turkey and that in fact the situation very much and there are kinds of media lies the most recent where we hear that eighty people were killed in the massacre well the same resistance group you know publishing this said

a little later that there were just fifty and that it was twenty four this was the german really and in fact the government says it was nine but the killing was done by the terrorists and i think that is believable and the other things are lies the usual lies we hear since a year or more on the situation in syria on our website including the theory that the timing of the latest reported massacre in hama was no coincidence we explore how similar presidents have already been used in the past to justify military intervention in foreign countries bypassing the un log on to r.t. dot com. russia's kremlin is backing runs dry for a peaceful atomic program shorts came during central asia as regional security summit in beijing spearheaded by russia and china at the event president vladimir putin met with the leaders of afghanistan and iran two nations which often divide opinion in the west and cesky has this report. china for him it's just the place to be because it is probably one of the few places in the

world where he is not being threatened by sanctions where you can all feel relaxed and smiling we saw on the cameras as he was walking inside the building how children relaxed he was definitely pushing on him have a lot to talk about because russia plays a very important role in mediating the conflict between iran and the west moreover the timing of this particular meeting in beijing is very important as well because in the middle of june we're expecting a five plus one group of negotiators to meet in moscow to discuss the iranian issue certainly this happens i mean the time when washington does not rule out military action against iran and constantly keeps slapping iran with different sort of economic and trade sanctions both russia and china support to support the civil nuclear program in iran at the same time they would not support any military nuclear program in this country now as for the meeting with it's also seen as very crucial because russia is now playing a very important role in afghanistan providing one of its military bases in the

town it will be honest for the nato troops to deliver its military cargo to afghanistan to help with draw all of the u.s. troops from the country by the end of twenty fourteen it's evident to many that the war on terror in afghanistan is not working out as it was planned civilians are being killed by terrorists drug trafficking in the still there so russia certainly wants to play a very important role in bringing this country to peace. we're always interested in your thoughts on the stories we're covering here on r.t. and on our web sites we're asking what you think are the reasons behind russia stepping up its military ties with china and some of the results on the screen at the moment so far the majority of respondents think it's to keep washington's asia pacific ambitions in check seventeen percent say moscow wants to ensure security others are split between two options as you can see there to keep tabs on china's growing military might and gain more leverage in the un security council join the discussion the vote at r.t.

dot com you could hear from. it was the birthplace of the egyptian revolution but turning squares reputation is now being tainted by a sinister strained activists say female protesters are being increasingly subjected to violence and sexual abuse alarming incidents that some say reflects a much bigger social and cultural problem. reports on the plight of egyptian women who fear that instead of freedoms promised by mubarak's fall they may be facing an even darker future. when this egyptian woman was dragged into town to be exposed and abused by the military men it served as a stark reminder that barrack might have been toppled but egypt's arab spring has many hurdles to overcome if it's to blossom into a democracy for a conservative culture watching a woman exposed in that way open the floodgates to shocking tales of female protesters subjected to violence and sexual harassment not just at the hands of

those they opposed but their fellow revolutionaries as well still we're having a small profit on with some men and the streets is that they are still a little bit again as to having women with them side to side in the political women played a vital role in egypt's revolution but what the future now holds for women and their rights is far from certain in the lives of women actually is. waters i'd like my daughter to live. i do less and the same way i live my i do this with no harassment sexual harassment is rampant in egypt forcing women to wear conservative clothes and even avoid areas where they might come into close contact with men because of the problems a sexual harassment but a lot of women complain about. the metric system has some areas for women only many of the women say that's to avoid some of the men's wondering.

egypt's now facing the prospect of an islamic government that's raising fears over what it could mean for women's rights i met with as around one of just eleven female m.p.'s and a member of the muslim brotherhood she's controversially condoned the practice of female circumcision which was banned under the former regime. who agreed the rules of the constitution first. the rules for women and for america and we will do what is right for the gyptian people these coups to revoke hard won women's rights could risk egypt's new modern democracy becoming a terrifying throwback to the past ages of female oppression now we are beginning from. point again which is very frustrating because usually after of russians you feel that you're going to gain the political

revolution in egypt maybe in full flow but the cultural one it seems could be just getting started so. every. time one of the turmoil in egypt can be found on our website there's plenty more for you there including a blaze on a nuclear submarine in miami may make it into the record books as the most costly fire caused by a household appliance find out more that our two dot com. class scientists say that stone age artists may have been using animation techniques in a cave drawings creating an impression of moving animals. the nicaraguan government is planning to build a thirty billion dollars into oceanic route that set to challenge the panama canal

business correspondent daniel bushell brings us the details. united states opened the panama canal in one nine hundred fourteen and it's taken the lawyers share of trade between the atlantic and pacific ever since but now russia plans to build a deeper void a rival through the sun one river in neighboring nicaragua that threatens the hugely profitable existing route and improve the waterway it would attract many firms that currently go through panama also traders increasingly use joint ships that are too big for the existing canal the center of world trade shifting to the asia pacific region and stays low china have long wanted an alternative path not dominated by the u.s. but russia may not get the contract the project director says china japan brazil south korea and venezuela are also eager to fund the thirty billion dollar plan will have more of business just off the twenty past and it will land the debt crisis has meant big business for italy's maffia which has been described as the

country's number one lender by an italian anti corruption group struggling businesses a boring money from criminal organizations to keep afloat as banks restrict lending during the e.u. crisis economics expert alberta min guardian says the government's policies are partly to blame for the nephew. beginning of march. on the economy is particularly strong now because mafia is cash and you go plenty of small businesses particularly in the south and in the center of the country that running short of cash and have some kind of relationship with mafia because they work for a statement years to buy protection. from a few they made to the mafia as an investor so to say capital and they may go into the black sector or getting money to acknowledge or banking sector this is very troublesome and it's a very important on that issue can our government and we need. to fix some of the

problems that are troubling to tell an economy in particular we need to reduce taxation that's to make more money available to tell the base this is more legitimate money coming out of castner's and not coming out of mafia and criminal going to his asians. they today max kaiser will be looking at the u.k. zephyrs to snare economic fortunes amid the financial crisis. police launch war on economic crime the metropolitan police in the u.k. are going to go after them in the last twelve months the police have seized over fifty million pounds in cash from the small time economic fraudsters well they got it backwards frederic bastiat said a couple of centuries ago alluding at the top to get a living at the bottom if you want to get rid of the looting at the bottom there were looting at the top which means get rid of cameron get rid of bourne and get rid of mervyn king it's all that happens expect more looting at the bottom and more

on the zombie apocalypse. as the european financial rollercoaster continues to bring down economies and governments some smaller political parties are getting their moment in the spotlight the pirate party in germany has seen a surge in popularity as people abandon more traditional outfits you go to cannot assess his political ambitions. it may seem like a hollow convention but don't let these outfits for you this is the annual conference of the pirate party of germany only three years ago it had just about one thousand members and now there are almost thirty thousand and with deputies in the three local pullman's including in berlin paris or hijacking their way into mainstream politics paris have become more digital landscape in germany that a lot of parties have to take and you already see that are people reacting to the

party success story started in new in local elections last september when they surprisingly won newly named percent of votes and now according to opinion polls the party would capture up to thirteen percent of votes across germany if the election to the national parliament was held today. a newcomer within the party system they produce a policy making people didn't expect from a traditional party a new stars in political communication and they are kind of a platform for the transport of political protest. the bars are all about participation and transparency allowing all members to take part in discussions online and it doesn't seem to matter that so for leaving me submitted to me to political motions and school spy where until conservations or that their favorite meeting spot is a bar in berlin they don't have

a stance on foreign affairs or the financial crisis and have already made a few mistakes along the way with one senior member comparing their success to the first years of hitler's nazis though he quickly apologized we don't take ourselves so seriously we're not just come first as other politicians are we we know that we're human and we we make mistakes and accept that make mistakes and therefore we have no problems with a. ok sorry i was wrong germany's national election is planned for next year and the pirates are ready for battle just like organisations the pirate party of germany is going through its own case of growing pains but its popularity and flyers are on the rise and it could be time for mainstream politicians to watch out for the new kids on the block of r.t. germany twenty two minutes past the hour now some other news making headlines across the world in our world update prosecutors of ordered the arrest of

a far right member of parliament following his attack on two female leftwing deputies during a live t.v. debate if you can see this through a glass of water in the face of an m.p. after she brought up his alleged involvement in a mugging case five years ago the television debate came ahead of the country's parliamentary election in ten days time. hundreds of workers have rotted at the chinese factory foxconn which produces apple devices with dozens of protesters tank employees clashed with security guards following reports of an attempted theft and manufacture of previously came under fire for forcing staff to work excessively long hours for most salaries. pretrial hearing for the bradley manning case is taking place at fort meade twenty four year old manning is accused of aiding the enemy by publishing hundreds of classified u.s. cables on the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks the defense plans to call several u.s. state department workers to assess the damage done to american foreign relations by the disclosures. the civilian death toll continues to rise in afghanistan with

thousands of lives lost in the last forty eight hours local officials say eight hundred civilians died at a wedding ceremony when nato forces launched an air raid on a village in the country's east alliance commanders deny the report claiming they only hit taliban fighters on the same day three suicide bombers targeted a market outside a sprawling nato base in kandahar killing twenty two people in this sort of general scale of porter says nato is activity in afghanistan is only adding to the civilian death toll. you know this whole problem of. nato military operations both air strikes and mate routes are yours a situation has caused enormous opposition from the population particularly in the southern afghanistan. region of the country to increasingly your code is the presence of u.s.

and nato forces and if you look at the chairs of the casualty figures for civilians and you compare them with the level of foreign troops are proving and you can see that there is a direct correlation between the two and because of the. reason for the correlation is obvious that the more the us. nato forces particularly u.s. military forces are active in a particular area the more civilians are going to be caught up in. the exact opposite is really the reality. is you know your population. time now to hook up with daniel there is in our business desk daniel china moves to stop the slowdown of this economy we're hearing here for the first time in four years beijing has cut interest rates the hopes the new six point three one percent rate will make people and businesses spend rather than save and kickstart growth

g.d.p. set to rise just seven percent in the second quarter of this year that's low by chinese standards if the rest of the world could only dream about those and also it is fear public or wrist if it doesn't deliver continued double digit rises in addition the ruling party delayed the implementation of tough capital rules amid concerns they may hurt lending similar problems for russia which is trying to kickstart growth by selling off its biggest companies joins us it's like a sperm bank and or major roles and have to go on to the hummer from september the government has just announced jacob no from morgan stanley russia says investor interest is high. these are some of the great companies that are being privatized spared bank and obviously the two largest banks rosneft is the largest oil company and you have a number of excellent infrastructure assets including. airport largest airport in the country particular when combined with the nuke of a twenty five percent of russian railways a number of poor. and so i think that any serious investor will want to take

a good hard look at these assets whether they're russian or foreign so will be staggered over goes also from next year it's ramping up corp with americas exxon mobile and the new economic schools have told us all that makes it a very strong investment. i think it's a very good sign that the government today decided that the name should be privatized i think it's it's a step in that i did actually there is no reason why i should be a government owned company it works in a competitive sector it's not an infrastructure plan for needs another defense company should be privatized but i would still we don't feel the deal because we're here that storm in your bones and we've not seen that it is happening yet it's a very good sign that it's been on that. over in the u.s. now federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says it stands ready to protect the financial system should the european crisis escalate euro debt was continuing wall street is slightly higher on the news here in europe david cameron's refused to

help in the euro bailout after a meeting with chancellor merkel britain's prime minister says because it's not a member of the single currency britain shouldn't be obliged to assist russian markets now they closed higher joint state development bank v.v. says it's ready to support the markets by buying shares moscow has been one of the world's worst performing this year v.b. hopes to make a big profit is this as for core suggest the markets will rebound and also reduce volatility is one of its aims times check out some exchange rates the euro's no law against the dollar the being high for much of the day as for the ruble again too. currencies in moscow trading again for another day this week investors say that. that's increasingly lloyd. brand is currently over one hundred dollars a barrel of the buying from bank of america said fred will collapse if greece leaves the eurozone for course just a worsening global recession will follow the so-called greek exit gregg's its is known crude prices are currently being boosted by saw as the u.s.

will complex to cash into the economy to boost growth the role signals it will take a hard line in nuclear talks also rising. today more stories on the website daniel thanks very much indeed more for done a little later today here on r.t. and we've got more from the world of finance in just a few minutes from now on capital account from washington that will be straight after reminder of our top stories stay with us live here on r.t. in moscow.

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