from phones to question. these flames don't totty don't comb. the winners both the syrian regime and the rebels to lay down arms to prevent a civil war isn't there a risk can't inspect the massacre side near the city of hama. a big day for european football as the euro two thousand and twelve gets set to go by their play has been dealt a blow with boycotts are with human rights abuse claims of racism. and heroes out on a knife edge as experts predict spain could soon ask for a bailout but as desperate leaders scramble to save the euro one are reached out looks to the last currency for salvation.

it is four pm in the russian capital you're watching r t with me arena joshie u.n. and its envoy to syria one more pressure on damascus to prevent the country from sliding into a full scale civil war but kofi annan also urged the increasingly aggressive rebel forces to lay down arms now this comes as un observers are preparing to visit the site of the latest massacre near the city of hama. is covering events from the syrian capital. we have been able to speak to the chief of the press office of the u.n. supervision mission here in syria today here in damascus and he has said that the moment is trying to do their best and will continue their efforts to reach the site of a massacre in the central province of hama they've been reports before that they were not allowed to get in there because they were stopped at the syrian army checkpoints it actually doesn't contradict what we're hearing from official sources here in damascus we are hearing that the army and security forces us to carrying out a so-called clearance operation in the area off to. terrorist operation launched

in the central syria and it's a lot absolutely not safe in that area and this is why they're not allowing anybody in a very u.n. observers were in here in two different takes from the opposition and from the syrian government the opposition is claim is that the syrian army shelled two peaceful farming village in central syria and after that alleged drew i saw admitted turns came in they were tied people they shot they starved and burned in an orgy of violence the syrian government has been reporting that they've got a call from the local residents in one of these villages asking for help after militants took over the village and immediately after these call they launched this operation and after they entered the village they discovered nine bodies of civilians and it's actually also contradicts what the rebels are reported about death told the most extreme doffed death toll given so far stones that's almost one

hundred dad and this is the figure that's been picked up by almost old international media who have been here it from new york from the u.n. security council that both. secretary general ban ki-moon and special envoy to syria call for and have been calling on international community to put more pressure on damascus and i had a sad that his peace plan. it's not been implemented although these time stressing that it's not being implemented by both sides and both sides both ground station and syrian government are responsible for what's going on at the same time. this is . the responsibility of the syrian foreign to and the violence in their country both u.s. and international officials have recognized that the reason a third force operating here in syria and clear who exactly is behind what it contains and then jihad is the truth of the matter is as you know is that the

position groups only. do not only failed to comply to. clear the it is their intention not to do so which is a very dangerous development of it go into productive development finance has that and the fate of the syrian president bashar assad has to be decided by syrian people and this is something that russia and china are also supporting being very much against any kind of intervention other nations that are backing rebels they are already interfering into syria is internal affairs and not only syria is pain and goals by the constant but also the international community is is shaken by these conflicts and is very much divided and there is no compromise saying that our correspondents here marry for national they're now syrian opposition claim us is troops have shelled the city of homs and are preparing to storm an area controlled

by the rebels let's discuss developments with james corbett at a tour of the to pan a news website the credit report james thanks very much for being here with us on the program so kofi annan has admitted that his six point peace plan isn't working now in this case can anything at all be done to end the crisis. it's a very good question it's a very important question but i'm afraid it's one that doesn't have a very good prognosis when we start to look at the situation and i think it's important for us to remember that this is not just to the the endpoint of one year of political instability in syria but really a number of years of all sorts of intervention that's been taking place in syria to try to destabilize the assad government for a number of years now from a number of different outside forces and so what we are left at at this point is a point which pretty much everyone involved in now admits is a is a state that's tantamount to civil war on the brink of becoming a type of civil war and it's doesn't show any signs of stopping or abating and it's

very difficult to see a way out of this situation at the moment. well you know the the estimates of the death toll in the hama massacre very dramatically with the opposition claiming almost one hundred were killed and the government puts the number of the dead at nih so it's a huge difference there as you can see why such conflicting accounts. well obviously we have one side that is not telling the truth or is not properly informed and obviously it's difficult for us on the outside to to come to a deciding factor on that in any reasonable situation we would have some sort of way of determining the veracity of that statement but obviously things in syria have deteriorated to such an extent that that's almost impossible to imagine right now so unfortunately we're left in the situation where it's a he says she says type type of scenario and. unfortunately there really doesn't seem to be a deciding factor in a lot of this because. every every negotiator at the table so to speak in this it

in the international community at any rate seems to have something invested in the outcome of this so it's very difficult to see who would be an objective third party neutral observer of these types of events well let's not talk about do you want to remain in syria how effective do you think it is and most importantly will they be able to find out who's to blame for the massacre. it seems very unlikely at this point given again the instability that's happening there and and i think this points to the futility of the mission overall what that will what exactly was supposed to be accomplished by a cease fire in which neither side seemed interested in you know actually ceasing the the hostilities which is now pointed out by pretty much everyone even china and russia is calling for both sides to to really put down arms but it doesn't seem likely at this point it doesn't seem that the u.n. observer mission is going to have any effect on the situation all it seems to have done is to put this entire dispute into

a political process that that sends it down a few months further down the road but i think we're ultimately at the same point basically that we were before the observer mission and again that was pretty much predictable and not too much surprising for those who would what watch this come together and i think really we just to arrive at the exact same step that we were at before the mission began and well you know most of the international community blames asa for the violence but what he's doing from violating the peace plan at such a critical time. well that's that's in a very important question a lot of this seems to rely on a logic that would seem to imply that the assad government is simply much a bunch of genocidal suicidal maniacs basically with no logic whatsoever. and it's very difficult to believe that so so i don't i don't see that the propaganda that's coming out about what the assad government would have to gain from committing these types of atrocities in plain view of the entire world and then.

attacking u.n. observer missions and things like this it it's very difficult to understand how anyone is expected to believe that this would be some sort of a political strategy on the assad government's part so it seems cartoonish in the rhetoric there clearly has to be more going on and we've seen that from all sorts of different releases of information and and some of the interventions that sit that's been going on secretly and quite openly also for the past year in terms of outside arming of the opposition groups are james for bet as you have in these web side of that report thanks very much indeed for sharing your views with us here on r.t. you're welcome. the wait is almost over for millions of full fans across europe as a euro two thousand and twelve time and kicks off this friday in warsaw however the championship hosted jointly by poland and ukraine has attracted criticism for both human rights violations as well as claims of racism most recently from the dutch

national team largest gay partridge explains. the issue as you say is not really about sports and football it's about politics because the u.k. governments have joined the french government in saying that they will boycott the tournament during the group stages this is due to the alleged mistreatment of the imprisoned former prime minister yulia timoshenko. both the u.k. government as i say on the back of the french government and other high profile e.u. withdrawals and threatened withdrawals over the alleged mistreatment the situation here is not really just about political controversies that seem to be dogging this tournament but also about social issues and as you say racism has become a particular issue a dutch team based not in ukraine they're braced in krakow in poland just before they come into play they game and they have they've had their training session and apparently they were subjected to racist abuse while they were on the pitch which is a sad incident from the reports after they went to see auschwitz but racism is particularly a topic in england because last week there was broadcast

a programme that on the b.b.c. a panorama programme called stadiums of hate which highlighted club level particular problems with racism and anti-semitism in poland and ukraine and these pictures were shown to the england former captain and defend assault campbell and he looked at these pictures and said that he and the england fan of black all mixed race he would he would not go to these two eastern europe he said he wouldn't risk it for fear of coming back in the coffin of the referee has the right to stop the game should any player suffer any kind of abuse and not just have been stopped for the has been a president during the qualifying games where italy played serbia in general in october two thousand and ten and after severe found trouble not to study the race nature of its serious trouble the referee decided to stop the match and this we were awarded a three nil victory ukraine and poland have had five years to prepare for the have been problems these have been reported there's been delays over stadiums and infrastructure there are also problems reported about hotel use in ukraine that

prices apparently attend. golding crease well this didn't impress the say you wait for president michel platini he called some of these hoteliers raucous he didn't mince his words but the watchword here is ukrainian hospitality they will this tournament to remain to be remembered as one that was his first of all everybody is welcome the whole nations all creates and to enjoy the football and the football or be the priority not the political issues not the social issues the focal departures of mourning there our sports you will have the very latest developments for you from ukraine and poland in just over an hour here on r.t. . well still have for you this hour egyptians are struggling to make ends meet. i was never afraid to speak to this deep sea. world. people accuse their government of ignoring them in the pursuit of power a report on that shortly. rob was planning to build an alternative to the

panama canal linking the atlantic and the pacific ocean to find out what countries are hoping to dive into the thirty billion dollar deal. oh it is coming to you later before that spain is on the edge of a financial abyss as sources claim it could ask for a bailout as early as this weekend rodriguez group credit score has been slashed while its boring cause soared close to the level that forced greece portugal and ireland to seek rescue but as euro zone powerhouses try to keep the single currency afloat one irish town is banking on the past to turn a profit it is laura smith reports. it's a blast from the past as this customer uses the irish punt to pay for some everyday purchases in the town of clueless arlen's joined the euro from the get go in two thousand and two but crisis hit business owners here have revived their old

currency to try and desperately claw some cash back into the community if you bring in pointed to was twenty point whatever you spend or fifty point whatever you spend we will give you a change of tone is tone voters which you can then go and spend cross the road and super value on the credit note or go for a drink up the town it's it's a great scheme for the child it means all the money remains within the town as for the euro here it's been reduced to a novelty item printed on tissues and toilet paper and customers come from miles around to spend their puts often stopping by for a haircut while they're here oh yeah a lot of people come from cross border from about fast especially around from people from the phantoms from the functions almost have an obligation month women can ask on. their phone to spit out there's an estimated two hundred eighty five million puns tucked away in draws and under a mattress is forgotten about ok to souvenirs when arlen joined the euro

a decade ago they're no longer legal tender but would have a value of around two hundred forty million euros just a fraction of which would make a massive difference in crisis hit close the permit scheme has undoubtedly boosted the local economy but the ravages of the economic crash are still all too evident the main street is lined with boarded up shops with around fifty percent of premises empty it's a scene that's repeated in small towns and bigger cities throughout our land austerity here means business people are being hit with a variety of taxes and levies making it harder and harder to stay afloat let alone . turn a profit it's not just told this town as the whole country has suffered with starting measures with the. new water charges which are common and shortly new household charge which came in this year will increase every year. there was a two percent hike up to twenty three percent in the point of sale tax which we

have to do something something to improve the situation shopkeepers say going back to the point isn't a political statement it's a survival tactic and as the face of the euro hangs in the balance clearness may not be alone in looking back for its future nor a smith r.t. closest island. well the international monetary fund says banks need at least forty billion euros to survive economist and politician mark believes euro zone is caught in a downward spiral. but i think it's clear the reason they're asking for a new resources for europe they would have enough if it was for the other countries it's only europe or the big money i mean the debts of spain and italy are enormous and that's what they're worried about there aren't any big risks to the global economy other than what the europeans are doing to themselves and that's really what it is it's a self-inflicted recession that they're in right now if the recession continues the

deeper and more importantly if these governments do what they're being instructed to do by the european authorities that would be the european central bank the european commission and the i.m.f. if they actually tighten their budgets further cut spending further they're going to go deeper into recession and then we don't know what happens the interest rates get to a certain level they can't borrow stated by private markets anymore then they have to go to the european authorities for money and then then there's maybe debt restructuring bank losses all the things that happened with greece but on a much bigger scale. i watched for interview with economist and politician mark was brought next hour here in r.t. or you can catch it right now on our website dot com and while you're there check out some of the stories we have lined up for you today sell ron paul son says he's

now officially supporting g.o.p. front runner and mitt romney as the party's ultimate candidate to face democrat block obama in the presidential election even though his father has always been his first choice. and president is of a scottish village called dollar and american town of boring trying not to live up to the names on what or how they can do that but you can find out how. but of the forces in egypt have decided on who will ride the country's new constitution. that lasted nearly three months a special panel consisting of one hundred members of parliament will be tasked with the job egypt's military council says fan of the constitution one of the two power in the wake of last year's uprising that toppled president hosni mubarak the country has since plunged into on the rest of the numerous protests and demonstrations against the ruling army and demands for change at the end of next week there will be a presidential election runoff in which

a muslim brotherhood candidate faces mubarak's former prime minister while politicians are struggling for power pay little attention to the problems and needs of people as policy or now reports. it took this fall in the forty seven years to accumulate his wealth and just one week to lose a third of it and run with. one morning opened this place and found three buffalo lying down they wouldn't eat or drink anything all the houses in this village all the farmers here lost cattle within a month a foot in mouth disease killed thousands of cattle buffalo sheep and other livestock across egypt in march the united nations declared it a catastrophe and warned the epidemic could threaten human food supplies far and wide but egypt and politicians were too busy with the revolution to take much notice for the work done by the government did not do anything for us my animals are dying one by one and no one does anything i was lucky. egyptians say the

situation has been worsened by a climate of corruption. in government employees. and there we saw were a friend give very called the three business paying me to be free to do anything when it was found out a new strain on the disease had hit egypt it seemed heart rates soaring and prices rocketing and people got afraid and stopped buying meat choosing instead to eat chicken and fish this push the price of poultry up by more than fifty percent while the cost of meat remained the same hussein says he's lost sixty percent of his business and is struggling to make ends meet the. things keep getting worse no one's buying from me and i'm more people are waiting to hear if they can trust him a lot. but they might be waiting a while if there are very for the roof and this has never affected the speed to

this day to see all corrupted state or new the people who show difference the don't want to sort of fight us they protest by this the mean bureaucracy has never changed and doctors have taken to the streets to protest against a government budget proposal that allocates less than five percent of spending to the health sector but their despondent priorities are not private. the previous regimes. said that perhaps the security regime security the paramount most important issue for them so they spent. a lot of money there was a lot of news holes our taxes disappear there were a lot of corruption and with all this what is left for actual improvement of

service is. minor and so behind the country's political jockeying is an unfolding public health disaster with potentially much larger implications for egypt and what happens on the political front. r.t. . now take a look at some other stories from around the world a bomb attack on a bus carrying government staff has killed eighteen and wounded dozens in northwest pakistan the vehicle was near the city of peshawar when the bomb hidden inside it exploded the blast was the latest reminder of active militancy in the region despite a significant drop in violence over the past years no group has yet said is behind the a town. about thirty prisoners including taliban fighters have fled from a jail in northern afghanistan officials say they have recaptured sixteen of them with the others still at large inmates escaped after a detonating an explosive which destroyed a watchtower guards and opened fire on the jail breakers killing three and injuring dozens. japan's prime minister said two nuclear reactors inactive since the

fukushima disaster must be restarted he added that the move will help to protect jobs and boost the country's economy the pm insisted all safety measures in the event of another earthquake or tsunami have been undertaken all fifty of japan's workable reactors have been offline since the world's second worst nuclear crisis hit the country last year. the u.n. nuclear watchdog held talks with iran over its controversial nuclear program the agency wants to get greater access to the country's military sites that are suspected of carrying out atomic tests iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes the meeting comes before broader talks later this month in moscow. that governments planning to build a thirty a billion dollar a trade route between the atlantic and the pacific oceans to rival the panama canal several countries including russia are vying for the chance to fund the plant has

more. the us has had the biggest share of trade between the atlantic and pacific oceans since the panama canal was completed in one nine hundred fourteen that situation is now under threat with new plans to build another canal in nearby nicaragua and because more and more ships are too big for the panama canal to handle project leaders say they've had interest from russia china japan south korea venezuela and brazil towards the thirty billion dollar project the nicaraguan government hopes it would bring much needed investment to the country currently the region's second poorest after haiti the project has faced some controversy one route running along the river border with neighboring costa rica has caused complaints but nicaragua maintains it does have the right to build there the panama canal is currently going through an upgrade but even after that's finished this nicaraguan canal would be able to take bigger ships and with global trade

increasingly shifting to the asia pacific region interest in a second route is also growing if all goes according to plan the project could be completed by two thousand and nineteen. we go straight to the business news daniel bushell is there added ask and russia's biggest ponzi scheme gets investigated again hell there are twenty years after it first millions of their life savings police have started a case against the so-called m.m.m. twenty eleven scheme scam game of roadies there's this time is different because their website now admits it's a ponzi scheme because only stepped in when they thought human committed suicide at the weekend after losing all his money in the ninety's fifty million dollars a day up to were coming into the game until it collapsed while authorities put up with the scam so long is clear in the world of legal banking the russians are coming to turkey the country's top. priorities. were both aggressively moving

into new markets in favorites agreed to buy from austrian and a vault banker. well the walsh markets are on the pressure tracking overseas losses this the l.t.s. is losing one and a half percent at the moment let's check individual share move the acquisition of debt his bank isn't popular with back investors as you can see their gas produced in overtakes and raising earlier gains it rocketed to six percent on thursday after its company approved a buyback program worth six hundred million dollars and has revealed plans to launch coal production in kazakstan exchange rates the euro's losing against the dollar more euro bad news the russian ruble is once again retreating against both major currencies crews heading for its longest weekly losing streak in more than thirteen years that's all speculation the economies of china and the us will slow europe's reacting to federal reserve chairman ben bernanke you said the u.s. economy is at risk from europe's to crises fresh reports that just spain will request a bailout of cruel as early as this weekend global markets are expecting the upcoming

elections in greece to clear the situation with its possible sell out of the eurozone but no roubini the man who anticipated the worldwide recession of two thousand and eight is sure the probability of so-called gregg's it remain high despite voting results. i would say that you know by now. i would say that is a probably the greatest exit the eurozone thing about and surely even if they like not into a new government there's another try to go to form and on that situation becoming so unsustainable the bay and legs and i would say that it could be good for them as well as bags it is all of them. and means of them there were massive shown that acts were a couple compared to the of the rest or good or. bottoms before them to be damaged the banks damage the savings of people in the banks and that's why they need more funding to make sure that payson all dissolve in the mouth down and the contagion of the us the eurozone is mall there so i presume they can see it that way and it's

fine and sunnies all of them probably it's a it's a manageable look on the bags. and you can watch the full interview with the rubin do you want to know that's the business for this all right and all his remarks indeed for the sunday looking forward to more news next hour and in just a few minutes here on our t.v. we're bringing our fiery debate show cross talk before that we have.

well. it's technology innovation all the developments for. around russia we've got the future covered. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.