both the syrian regime and the rebels to lay down arms to prevent a civil war as observers had to inspect the massacre site the city of hama. a big day for european football as the year of twenty twelve prepares to kick off but fair play is being dealt a blow with boycotts of a human rights abuses and claims of racism. and eurozone experts predict spring could ask for a bailout this weekend but as desperately scramble to save the euro one irish town looks to its last currency for salvation our top stories this hour.

around the clock around the world international news and comment live from moscow the un then its envoy to syria want 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 this comes as un observers are arriving at the site of the latest massacre near the city of hama. 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 morning 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 and then to terrorist operation launched in the central syria and its lot absolutely not safe in that area and this is why they're not allowing anybody in even observers were going here in two different takes from the opposition and from the syrian government the opposition's claim is that the syrian army shelled two peaceful farming village in central syria and after that alleged crew i saw admitted to cave in they were tied to people they shot they stabbed and burned them 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 reporting about

death toll 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 all the international media who have been here it from new york from the u.n. security council that both. sides are in general ban ki-moon and special envoy to secure a coffin 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 wrong opposition and syrian government are responsible for what's going on at the same time emphasizing this is. the responsibility of the syrian authorities 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 it's not just clear who exactly is behind

what it contains and carved into hard is the truth of the matter is as you know is the armed opposition groups. do not only failed to comply to the plan but they did clear the it was their intention not to do so which is a very dangerous development of it going to productive development coffin and sizes 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 the rebels they are already interfering into serious internal affairs and not only syria is spain and gulf by the constant but also the international community is is shaken by this conflict and is very much divided and there is still no compromise saying that . the syrian opposition claim. troops have shelled the city of homs and are

preparing to storm an area controlled by the rebels james corbet editor of the independent news website the colbert report says the apparent failure of the u.n. peace plan is the result of long running foreign meddling into syria for. but i think it's important for us to remember that this is not just the the end point 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 unfortunately there really doesn't seem to be a deciding factor in a lot of this because 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 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 the observer mission really we just to arrive at the exact same step that we were at before the mission began. the way it is almost over from millions of football fans across europe as the euro two thousand and twelve tournament kicks off this friday in warsaw however the championship has to jointly by poland and ukraine as attractive criticism for both human rights violations as well as claims of racism most recently from the dutch national team a partridge explains. the issue as you say is not really about sports so much in 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 who's now. well the u.k. government as a 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 their 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 on 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 defender salt 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 mil 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 prices apparently a ten. balding 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 want this tournament to remain to be remembered as one that was hospitable everybody is welcome of all nations all creeds and to enjoy the football and the football or be the priority not the political issues not the social issues the. key part is that our sports team will have the very latest developments for you from ukraine and poland throughout the day. or so ahead for you that egyptians are struggling to make ends meet.

have no effect on the speed of the speed of the. world the people accuse the government of ignoring them in the pursuit of power a report on that very shortly. and look around you is planning to build an alternative to the panama canal linking the atlantic and the pacific oceans for not want to country is hoping to dive into the thirteen billion dollars deal. that story still to come but first spain is on the edge of a financial abyss sources claim it could ask for a bailout as early as this weekend but credit score has been slashed when it's boring cost soared close to the level the forced greece portugal and ireland to seek rescue but as eurozone powerhouse is trying to keep the single currency afloat one town is banking on the past to turn a profit party's norsemen. 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 clore some cash back into the community if you bring in pointed to was twenty point well over fifty point whatever you spend we would give you a change of tone his tone voters which you can spend cross the road on the career or go for a drink up the town it's a great scheme for the 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. a lot of people come from across the border from us as fast as our own from people. on us a complication. can hash. out there's an estimated

two hundred eighty five million tucked away in draws and under mattresses forgotten about ok to souvenirs when i 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 per 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. yes it's not just tone of the town as the whole country has suffered with the

stars he measures with the. new water charges which are common in shortly new household charge which 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. we have to do something something to improve the situation so keep it take 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 clueless may not be alone in your king back for it speech. closed and. the international monetary fund says spanish banks need at least forty billion euros to survive economist turned politician mark weisbrot police the eurozone is caught in a downward spiral. but 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 where 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 stayed on 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. and you can watch the full interview with economist and politician mark vice

brought throughout the day here on r.t. or of course you can catch it right now on our website hati dot com and while you're there check out some of the stories we've lined up for you today including ron paul son says he is now officially supporting repub. romney was the party's ultimate candidate to face democrat barack obama in a presidential election even though his father has always been his first choice. and residents of a scottish village called dull an american town of boring trying to live up to their names. at all to. me it is easy to. see.

the official location on the phone. from the. video. calls and says feed in the palm of your. question on the. r t live here in moscow fifteen minutes past the hour now political forces in egypt decide on who will write the country's new constitution ending around 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 suspended the constitution when they took power in the wake of last year's uprising that toppled president hosni mubarak the country since plunged into one rest with numerous protests and demonstrations against the ruling army and demands for change they'll be

a presidential election run off and which a muslim brotherhood faces mubarak's prime minister but while politicians are struggling for power they pay little attention to the problems of the people. it took this farmer forty seven years to accumulate his wealth and just one week to lose a third of it. had just one morning opened this place and found three buffalo lying down they wouldn't eat or drink anything near the houses in this village the farmers here lost cattle within a month a foot in mouth disease killed thousands of casual buffalo sheep and other livestock across egypt in march the united nations to kid a catastrophe and mourned the epidemic of freight and human food supplies far and wide but egypt and politicians with too busy with the revolution to take much notice for the work done by the government did not do anything for us all 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 are on the ferry and there we saw corruption is very poor the three business being nearly 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. 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 are getting worse no one's buying from me why the world is that people are waiting to hear if they can trust them and. that they might be waiting a while after very fulfilling this has never affected the speed to this day that

is all corrupted the only the people who show difference the don't want to sort of statements they protest by the state that 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 same mubarak said that perhaps they thought their security regime security the paramount most important issue for them so they spent. a lot of money on there was a lot of news holes where our taxes disappeared there was a lot of corruption and with all this what is left for the actual improvement of

services 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. to some other international news in brief now it might be a bomb attack on a bus carrying government staff has killed eighteen and wounded dozens of 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 it's behind the attack. about thirty prisoners including taliban fighters have fled from a jail in northern afghanistan officials say they've captured sixteen of them with the other still at large in mates escaped after detonating an explosive which destroyed a watchtower guards then opened fire on the job killing three and injuring dozens.

japan's prime minister said two nuclear reactors in active 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 here in moscow. the nicaraguan government's planning to build a thirty billion dollar 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 plan. has more. the u.s. 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 nicol regular 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. time for business now there is in the business news room people are eating less hamburgers in the economic gloom tell us more mcdonald's has just won revenues will fall it blames the global downturn in the opening minutes in new york its shares have already slumped two and a half percent on the news the euro situation is also weighing on wall street as you can see both of them were slightly lower in the first hour of trade but france has cut its growth forecast for the first time since its two thousand and nine recession the cac currant in paris is down five percent worse than london and frankfurt and dr doom the ribena expects greece to quit the euro whoever wins this month's elections in athens but the man who predicted the meltdown in two thousand and eight said he's worried what will happen to people savings you can watch the full interview on monday on r.t. . i would say that you know by next theater i would say there is at least that probability that greece exit the euro zone thinking about actually even if they

elect not into a new government is going to try to get a form that can on that solution become the sole system of the they will exit and i would say that he couldn't do it good for them as all these bags it is all of them . and means of them there are massive the situation on that x. ray called local pride believe that a sort of good old restored ballance of could there be damage the banks damage the savings of people in the banks and that's why they need more funding to make sure that it's not these old billee meltdown and the contagion of the rest of the eurozone and all that sort of does not make a see it that way and it's fine i said he's only believe probably. it's a manageable look on the bags. oil is heading for its longest weekly losing streak in thirteen years that's on speculation the world's biggest crude consumers that china and the u.s. will use less petrol in the slowdown washington says it needs to assess the risk from u.s. budget cuts before approving more stimulus that's not good news either so all is

now at a six week low crude two dollars just for today a load that sending energy stocks tumbling here in moscow which has broken this week's winning streak if we can get the moscow rate up at the moment just in the last few minutes of trade as we can see there is down almost two percent my six overhaul four percent down this hour the euro is losing against the dollar on the news from france underbrush roubles once again retreating against both major currencies. from france's. bank makes aggressively moving into new markets in february it's agreed to buy oil from austrian bank and and two decades of the first calling millions of people of their life savings police have started finally a case against the so-called twenty eleven. game of road he says this times different because their website now admits it's a ponzi scheme. committed suicide at the weekend after the result as

a result of losing all his money in the ninety's fifty million dollars a day or two were coming into this game until it collapsed. all global finance is a pyramid scheme his excuse bill i was surprised people eat less hamburgers in a downturn i wonder what the now that's cheaper than false food here you raise a good question there is no idea all i can say is it's probably just food for thought and we'll think about that later thank you very much. and on the way here why some countries are trying to perfect a weapon that threatens to wipe out civilization that will be after the headlines in a few moments. i'm

sure all of our got a story are out about this crazy lady with a convertible that honk for every time she. was on death row for nineteen years there were a lot of the who say they don't know why you know that because we might just say this. society has condemned these people as less than human it is necessary to punish crime everything we do to punish crime is unpleasant. but it needs to be done nobody wants to be linked to the nazis but the historical. of the american death penalty today come in large part from the nazis and the saddest part is a state of texas gets their way and they execute him and i won't be allowed to

touch him until after he's dead he's my only son at any time i leave the house in my horn and he keeps telling me they can't hear me in there because it's all cinder block and concrete but i still honk every time i go by. i won't be there i will not witness the killing myself. the influence of the truth science technology innovation all the lives developments from around russia we've got the future covered. with the end of the war and the going away of the soviet union many people thought that nuclear weapons disappeared. the risk is not zero that something might be going off by mistake especially a lot of nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert. of the victims to use it.

all but you know if you keep spending a trillion dollars a year on weapons of actually you're going to blow everybody up you you know people are dying from these weapons but until we actually see it people don't wake up to nuclear weapons or a bill. that represents all of the firepower of the second world war this second sound is the equivalent firepower of the world's nuclear arsenal today. good laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything turns mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only.