the latest news and the week's top stories on our t.v. an official tallies indicate egyptians have voted to. run one of a pivotal referendum the continued. violence from. the tide is said to be turning against the embattled syrian government as it struggles to be. rebels who are getting more assistance from abroad. and president putin says it's now or never called on russia's lawmakers to overhaul the economy root out corruption and stem the flow of the country's wealth.

live in h.d. from our shiny new studios in moscow this is art with me rory sushi welcome to the program turning our attention first to that of egypt where are both the muslim brotherhood and its opponents claiming that the country has now voted to back the disputed draft constitution in round one of the referendum and the claim is based on an official tallies the official results will not be announced until after the next stage of the draft was shaped by the islamists but has been slammed by the opposition in cairo with more correspondent. here in the capital cairo waiting for these key. referendum of the constitution. so. michelin's will come out of the second round which indicates it was

a yes vote the muslim brotherhood together with media outlets numbers and mounting up there saying approximately fifty six point five percent voted yes forty three point five percent voting this will see to be of course a major blow to the opposition forces particularly because in this round only two of the governor it's involved to the ten you voted actually voted as a notice of the constitution this particular stage of the referendum was largely seen to be the biggest chance for a no vote to the constitution i think governor it's involved actually voted against the president during the presidential elections so really right now the opposition forces are going to have to either drum up support in the next six days or the second round or final time to talk to you to do that campaign i think there will be heightened tensions of course i mean people have criticized the idea that the referendum respects in two days of the week in the middle with these results coming out because of course people are going to react to them as we entered the late

stages of the voting process which had been extended by several hours by the electoral commission because of high turnouts there were violent scenes in the streets of cairo and. the one party headquarters the opposition position. were attacked by suppose it supports is of has an arbor is a man who is an alter orthodox salafist leader one time presidential candidate one party did i reports that ultra conservative islamists torched that headquarters talking it with firearms until the security forces did report injuries so really we'll have to see if the next week what happens in the build up to the second round this crucial rounds as the seventeen other governorates going to vote on this constitution. prior to the referendum the president ordered the egyptian army to back up police in a bid to bolster security for the vote also authorizing soldiers to arrest civilians. now author and journalist eric margolis believes mohamed morsi simply

put is playing with fire. i think it was a major mistake by. president morsi to do this to throw this thing into the hands of the army just. as most egyptians don't want more military rule it's dangerous to bring its soldiers in to calm civil because once they get to use the power you often don't want to leave younger generals generals with no experience the solution. to them and that's how come out of not the power and the rules and he by the way we made still remains a particular political figure in egypt in spite of disasters that happened on his watch so there are young all of the suitors colonels and. generals who says i might be another nasser. turn our attention now from egypt to syria where

the government forces are on the receiving end of opposition offensives as the rebels make gains in battles all across the country ultimately in their push towards damascus it comes after the opposition received another boost this week when their diplomatic status was upgraded by a u.s. led group of nations who also donated more than one hundred million dollars to the assad camp meanwhile in nato is deploying surface to air missiles and troops to neighboring turkey ankara requested the reinforcements from its allies after a series of cross border exchanges of fire with syria alliance officials now claim the syrian government has begun using ballistic missiles against the rebels that is something damascus denies. that you can takes a closer look at exactly who is fighting against assad. they call them. cells martyrs and. all those you see around you and the fighters

you see are living the martyrs and the living martyr has already sacrificed a soul for this country. syrian rebels say they will stop at nothing to defeat us. some of them are so proud of their deeds that they post them on the web including the execution of prisoners. or having a child behead a man who was presumably an assault supporter atrocities are committed on all fronts during syria's bloody civil war according to many accounts on the ground it's islamist groups that do most of the fighting on behalf of the rebels dr towie come meet was a member of a jihadi spoken ization twenty five years ago he later became a vocal opponent of radical islam that you have this have no problem to behead people alive you deal with people like bin ladin and there are because of al qaida who have no he's a patient to use any form of whip around to to really. control

any place. religious believes in ideology the so-called friends of syria including the gulf states the west the u.k. and friends many morocco to throw their weight behind the newly formed syrian opposition coalition two thirds of the islamic dominated and tiresome coalition has the slice of the muslim brotherhood in cellophane and their idea of freedom for syria what go ahead i could ask a positive sign for us that our military struggle is characterized by being mostly islamic because martyrdom for the sake of anna has always been the main motive of people. in what's seen as a symbolic attempt to distance themselves from terrorists in syria washington has designated one of the rebel groups all nusra a terrorist organization but the same syrian opposition that the u.s. supports welcomes the efforts of groups like al nusra the decision of considering one of the factions fighting the regime is a terrorist organization should be reconsidered. this is

a demonstration of support for in syria people heard chanting we are students of. people here in washington don't seem to understand that if you don't like the government in cairo or if you do like the government in cairo i guess i should say then you will love the government the comes to power in damascus because you will see a sunni muslim islamised government a muslim brotherhood style government that is absolutely intolerant fundamentally hostile to the west washington has failed to officially denounce the many suicide bombings perpetrated by the rebels in syria preferring to focus on the wrongs committed by the assad regime alone the u.s. is also ramping up the rhetoric about the possibility of the assad government using chemical weapons against civilians something that damascus says would be suicidal on the other hand many rebels are not averse to the idea of suicide in the name of what they call a holy war militants have recently taken control of

a toxic chemical plant in the country's second city of aleppo a video was uploaded to youtube showing them testing chemical weapons on rabbits we could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage. you will die like these two rabbits in its own words the government is fighting terrorists that has claimed thousands of innocent lives the measures the syrian government resorted to have been widely criticized but there's that crisis mean the world should keep their eyes shocked at who's actually fighting for power in syria now in washington i'm going to check on. what it was a this week that vladimir putin had russia's political elite on the edges of the seats in his first annual address to lawmakers since returning as president he unveiled tough new anti corruption measures and a plan to stem the outflow of wealth from the country and also called for a drastic overhaul of the resource based economy and a boost to the social sector. has the story. several years ago

when former president medvedev addressed russia's lawmakers this signaled major constitutional changes for the country with the presidential term being extended to six years this time when president putin delivered his first annual address after returning to the kremlin for the third time it ran no major sensations nor political changes but at the same time this speech was even more significant as some have already said than many others before this time put in barely spoke about any foreign policy issues the main focus was on domestic problems in russia and there have been plenty according to russia's president in fact he started his speech by saying it is now or never as the world is going through a crisis russia must stand up to all these challenges and the first and the most correct way to do that is to invest in two youths not richard is that what's that

clear as of today the percentage of healthy active able bodied people in russia aged between twenty to forty is one of the highest in the world twenty years' time this economically active population could shrink by fifty percent less we do something this trend will continue but either we provide interesting jobs give opportunities to create business build families raise children be happy just a few decades russia will become a poor country populated by an elderly generation incapable of preserving its own territory. but the biggest issue dragging russia backwards for the past several decades has been the corruption among the higher echelons of power and that is why the largest chunk of putin's speech was dedicated to the struggle and the president came up with some very tough rhetoric and heard in all twelve years putin has been in politics in russia but no wonder it seemed at times that putin was not addressing the whole russia and not for the whole world to see but he directed

a stern warning to those. sitting in front of him. how can people trust and. talks a lot about the good of russia. tries to take his money of the country i ask you to support the. politicians can. get the people i don't. like everything i have to say. will be holding an annual press conference for the world media and the eyes of the entire planet will again be the russian president. reporting from inside the kremlin. well it is good to have you with us here on our . program.

but. also the european nobel peace prize. stories and much more coming right up.

he and some to see explained destruction without mercy. what could have been just ruins. saved by a great sacrifice. and restored by huge efforts. a remarkable reminder of courage and selflessness. proves that putin is of all people. play into all of russia the site on. morning news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world

has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing up for a shelter all day. please. please please. please . that's to be. a. little. misleading good.

very little. good to have you with us here on out see today i'm rory sushi in moscow russian lawmakers on the verge of blacklisting a number of u.s. officials for alleged violations of human rights and this comes after washington adopted sanctions against some russians as part of the so-called magnitsky law

details now from oxys top. barack obama has signed into law the u.s. magnitsky bill which concerns russian officials which the u.s. accuses of involvement in the death of sergei magnitsky a lawyer who died in prison in two thousand and nine having been imprisoned on tax evasion charges which his supporters say were trumped up russia though has for a long time now railed against this legislation saying it is rank hypocrisy and that if the magnitsky bill was a part was passed it was attached to a piece of trade legislation then retaliation would come so now it seems the russian retaliation that was long promised is now shaping up russia's own bill doing roughly the same thing as the magnitsky bill has passed its first reading in the russian duma it's not known exactly who it's targeting but some possible

examples are what russia a says those are u.s. citizens accused by russia of breaching the human rights of russians for example in the last ten years and number of russian children adopted by u.s. citizens have died or suffered human rights abuses among those a boy who was left in a car in extremely hot temperatures and he died his name may indeed be attached to the bill as part of this search for tat squabble over human rights between russia and the u.s. this all affects the much the much hyped up reset between russia and the u.s. which was started in barack obama's to first turn now a russian lawmakers are eager to point out that the start of his second term he's passed what they consider very anti russian legislation one of the added. of

komsomolskaya pravda the russian newspaper was hours after the passing of this bill pranked he received a letter which looked to all intents and purposes to come from the u.s. consulate saying that his visa had been revoked in connection with the magnitsky bill which was just when i got a fax signed by the vice consul which also had the number of the revoked veto and the technical data showing that the facts had been sent from the us embassy in moscow i was surprised because it said the reason was the magnets and i'm not related to that case although i thought this might have been triggered by the articles published in our newspaper that the us state department did not like but it turned out to be a prank as the embassy said they did not send it but it was whether the consequences are merely pranks involving certain russian figures or more seriously those involving human rights or relations between the u.s.

and russia already this magnitsky bill is having deep ramifications. for a straight into the arctic world up there we go starting with the taliban that has claimed responsibility now for an attack on the pakistani airport in the city of peshawar the violence has claimed at least four civilian lives and left at least thirty people injured in the attack was launched by five militants armed with rocket sound a suicide vest all of them were also killed in the city of peshawar is located on the edge of pakistan's volatile tribal region and is often targeted by insurgents. the name of the sandy hook elementary school shooting victims have been released by authorities in connecticut the gunman identified as twenty year old adam lanza killed twenty eight people including twenty children and the youngest aged only six a memorial service has been held this flags flew at half mast in washington in honor of the thing. now. they use the three presidents have received the

nobel peace prize on behalf of the union at a grand ceremony in oslo a brussels was recognized for its efforts in promoting peace and democracy on the continent but even before the prize was handed over the nomination sparked a mass controversy several former winners wrote to the nobel foundation demanding the e.u. be stripped of the award and on the eve of the presentation hundreds joined a protest march in the norwegian capital as artie's found out those are not the only issues undermining the credibility of humility. remark or liberal. one day eleven and they may well not be deterred by the call about him but by the content of back character. the one that can be probably would have to become a laureate to be home to be assassinated however the nobel peace prize is only

awarded to a living person but this year's winner test search criteria especially when it comes to finances the announcement the european union was to pick up the twenty twelve gongs sparked heated debate the award was being discredited particularly after the outrage it was picked it up recently so see what has the e.u. done over the last twelve months to convince the nobel committee it's worthy of such a prestigious award. supported regime change in foreign countries and several member states indulged in violent crackdowns on demonstrators outraged by the failure of the government's. skeptics call in to get devalues the whole concept of the peace prize what's really happening is that the european union is having its worst year ever at its mates and the international community coming to it's a brit to have been awarded of the announcement to be made in the very week that i

enjoy the merkel. went to athens i was greeted not just by tens of thousands of protesters but people dressed up in swastikas and giving it the so they just frankly i grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west but i'm now living in a europe that is divided from north to south and never at any point in the history of this union has there been more discord of rank that we currently got among more moderate forces there are concerns the peace prize is being used as a political football i think this award basically does a lot to kind of discredit past people who've won this prize i mean it demonstrates a sort of heavy politicization of the use of this award now it's been suggested that this year's winner of the peace prize picked it up more for not having done something as opposed to having food the peace around the globe it seems like they got the prize more because there hasn't been any war in europe for many decades rather than having done anything specific i think as long as civic institutions

like the nobel prize continue to lose their legitimacy in their spirit through political favoritism and these prizes are always political but such blatant and obvious political favoritism and maneuvering i think it actually takes something away and i think it's actually damaging that leaves the whole institution of the prize facing the question whether the nobility is being drained from the new found peter all of us are to bear the. thought that coming up after a short break or not so we embrace the cold weather and travel to the russian port city of more rights. to the legacy no one should be proud heaps of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over that foundation time. spewing black smoke over the

snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the burgen archipelago don't make a pretty picture the guiding principle here is the worse the better welcome to life to tell the story that back in soviet times when norwegians were visiting barons were they also want to express. how prosperous this was well times have changed by this so it lags say still attracting new origin tourists or barons work i would then cons watch native cash that's why when. our goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of throwing it away the local administration decided to paint the bin you. wear that in the nine hundred eighty s. work was a burgeoning mining community the soviet union was determined to maintain its own costs. are located halfway between north america and western europe the bergen

archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of western most outposts now it's one of the soviet union's last preserved relics. and if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades curious interested i think it could be even more appealing for russia. to keep its presence on spitsbergen russian film until a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local souvenir shops so we've memorabilia is a big hit the defunct are incurred still helps keep the money flowing. it's a russian you know. you can put in ramos. euros the local administration is increasing and up. pressure to bring the

infrastructure up to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like bond spoke i think it should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part of the let you know authentic tradition he up and. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be on as the time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add morning russian songs to die repertoire the audience called the wanted to hear it was a song comfortably familiar.

the one screams in lines above the arctic circle even for russia this is a tough climate to survive even when temperatures can stay below zero for eight months of the year. standing on the outskirts of the city of ski it's right up in the fall north of russia and it's been the starting point for many polar expeditions i'm hoping i'm going to get to try one or two arctic challenges but so. you have to be physically fit to survive on him and the people certainly seem to have a lot of energy one of the biggest annual events in a moment ski is the northern lympics a collection of winter games that brings the population out in force and this is

a welcome to take two. you know if you're going to be an all to explore one thing you have to how it is plenty of stamina so all you have decided to enter. that sort of insurance and the cross-country mark. must meet. your. goodman thank you very much who's your number number one thirty one thirty which i think is about there's about a thousand people here. i'll make it to number hundred thirty i'll be very lucky ok i'll go so will you i'm told is an experience and one of the race organizers and apparently i wasn't exactly in for a treat he told me a bit about the specifics of the race because it seems fairly true through the hard read you know here's the starting gate and a bit more strange he'll has about fifty killer the race to the fore.