israel says it's going ahead with plans for fifteen hundred new settler homes in east jerusalem despite them being illegal under international law. to. protest as. many and taken into custody as human rights rallies refuse to die down . and thousands of angry spanish march out against cuts to their pensions health care and education.

online on screen a now in international news and comment live from moscow this is. bahraini authorities have used tear gas and rubber bullets on anti-government protesters arresting a number of them during mass rallies in and around the capital leading human rights campaigners say you. will be held for seven more days after he was detained prosecutors say he's being investigated on charges of spreading false information on twitter police have expanded their presence across the capital as groups of hundreds of people commemorated protesters killed during the uprising eighteen years ago the shia majority are demanding the release of all political prisoners and more of a political voice bahrain has come under increasing pressure from rights groups for not reforming instead of public gatherings jailed opposition activists and taking away their citizenship political scientists calling cavell says the gulf monarchy

is purposely misleading the outside world. trying to crack down hard on the opposition they tell the international community that they have left in the back protests but at the same time they are mustering they're being protestors they are jailing or three quarters of the population or oppose them and the population is no longer scared of them the population wants to leave for those two are beginning to leave the country they want to mark their child of two hundred and thirty years of orographic dictatorship wires or such silence in the united states when the violations of human rights are so gross that just mean and generally quiet it is completely carcassi and of course you and

everyone else no matter the reason and that's because the fearfully based in bahrain and from the bahrain the us uses that as a pivot point to try to intervene in control the end only the idea of a few monarchy is completely outdated is a joke in the modern world and the only ones who don't get it are the upper lip. the fruit of the arab spring which kicked off two years ago has left many vying for democratic change feeling bitter thousands of egyptians a march on the presidential palace and current protests the islamist leaning constitutional draft which they view as undermining basic freedoms it comes after the country's justice ministry ordered an investigation into alleged polling violations in the first stage of the constitutional referendum early results show the islamic leaning draft was backed by fifty six percent of voters a slim majority ofter a very low turnout and another group of judges refused to oversee the next stage of

the referendum on saturday while the top prosecutor resigned under pressure from. the vote well let's discuss the events in cairo and the impact of the arab spring so far in the wider region with the shabby political analyst based in beirut there a clear indication suggesting this referendum in cairo is illegitimate and it's obvious a very large part of the nation doesn't want it so why are the authorities pushing so hard for it. well you see president morsi came to power within election also that had some questions over the results of the elections there was a problem in the beginning and there wasn't any follow up or they they didn't they didn't have a commission of inquiry to see if the elections the presidential elections there were some violations they didn't look into these violations because they would make a big difference in the whole results so that that's the first problem the second

problem is that there is a very strong division within egypt today between egyptians who are more of a group of egyptians that are more towards an islamic sister a predominant islamic religious hardline system in egypt and another group that has also a lot of supporters in egypt that wants to have a democratic or more of a secular. president morsi saying that he's presenting a democracy that he wants to lead the country and he wants to be that evolution towards democratic system but his actions so far have to be. compliant with the. actions approved to divide the country even more now so where could further this lead yes what could be the implications of that when we see. yes. well it's leading to more tension you had

a lot of violence in the past weeks in the streets clashes in the streets had a large number of people were killed were wounded and the country's economy is not picking up it's getting poorer and poorer the whole system is collapsing the government the public administration the infrastructure of the country is really suffering from the shortages and the violence is spreading to other parts of the country and i think that this shows that mr morsi and his administration not have the potential to provide the stability that is needed and on the other hand they do not answer the a spray should of the groups of people who took to the streets in the past and who were able to overthrow the previous regime for is acting in a way that is very similar to the previous regime and what we're seeing in egypt is pretty similar to what we're seeing in other countries impacted by the arab spring which started two years ago we seeing

a lot of unrest continuing calls for change in other countries so is there really anything to celebrate at this stage. well i don't think there's anything to celebrate of course not with the large number of casualties all over the place especially in places like syria in libya. in behind we just saw that first report in your news tonight the violence is that is massive and it's leading to a massive destruction i know some people may argue perhaps said revolutions are always you know aggressive at the beginning they're always violence of they're always casualties and then things will go will go back as they're supposed to be and they will be democratic reform but egypt is an example that this does not indicate so far so yes i think that it is fair to say that we should wait a bit longer yes i mean when you look at the suffering of the people i think it's hard to actually say that thought so strongly and so conclusively i mean and there

has been you know these these what the so-called revolutions have been characterized by double standard because look at the situation in battle and nobody cares about better you would probably russia today is one of the very few media outlets internationally that are showing what's happening in bahrain there has been a military intervention by and by the saudi army the saudi tanks crush the. rebellion of people who were just asking for democracy whereas in other places you know there's been a large media coverage and the second point and there's been condemnation of violence in other places where the battle in the condemnation was very minimal the second characteristic of these talk of the revolutions is that there's been a lot of interference from foreign powers you know a revolution is supposed to be by the people of that same country they want to change their own system which concerns them. now that will lead to

a kind of new york about interference from other nations of course we're seeing the west supporting all of these revolutions and they of course ended up with isn't this grabbing power in the region you say we should wait for the outcome of what happens but is that really what the west wanted couldn't these powers actually become anti western just briefly. yes perhaps this is likely to do to turn this way the same thing that happened with some i bin ladden and with al qaida and you remember the ronald reagan administration supported the guy that afghanistan and then acquired i was you know cause suffering for the united states more than any other force in the history of the united states perhaps what i what i'm saying is that the west does not support all the revolutions or the so called revolution i was talking about double standards in in the in behind where the west seems to side with with the with the monarchy that is the you know sort of this double standard where as in syria for example there's interference and not just the

feeling of the political level on the media level there's smuggling weapons into syria they're spending money into syria they're sending foreign fighters from different penalties group sending them into syria to fight and to help before there was an attitude and this is creating more destruction and divisions among the civilians are massive and there's huge destruction that is ongoing and that is that is really deplorable and that doesn't show that this is anything or this is going anywhere this is really a lot of softening you have now hundreds of thousands of their food sitting in their fiji's this is going to be a problem that's going to be amplified in the in the future unfortunately thanks very much indeed for your perspective on the developments there when i shall be joining me live from beirut political analyst thank you. israel's prime minister has defied international criticism and is pushing through settlement expansion in the occupied west bank he's looking at the possibility for a halt felson homes in two more settlements on top of the controversial fifteen hundred in east jerusalem which already have the initial go ahead benjamin

netanyahu called jerusalem the eternal capital saying israelis should be united there the palestinians want east jerusalem to be the capital of their future state and threaten to go to the u.n. security council and the bodies for current e.u. members are reportedly preparing a statement condemning israel's plans push for expansion was announced after the u.n. upgraded palestine to a non member observer state a step towards recognizing its statehood equality campaign a bloody hirshman says the plans of threatening hopes for a two state solution. it seems very clear that it was a retaliatory efforts we should also talk about as though in the context of being upcoming israeli elections there is clearly a lot of political cash aid to be gained from making these very bold and aggressive announcements after the u.n. resolution and clearly this is and i'm going mark so israel's. planning to consolidate control over easter islam and their political motivations

and demonstrating to the israeli public that he's our fortunes are greater on divided jerusalem as. is not so clearly in all of this construction an extremely dangerous for a two state solution a distrust disrupts the continuity of land between east jerusalem and the west bank on which a future palestinian state would. israel is facing isolation not just at the u.n. but in his own backyard as well as we report shortly here in o.t. results may arab spring uprisings in the middle east make many in israel feel the potentially hostile new democracies. i'd also still people in spain say the dignity is a state the poor become pensioners students and doctors in their thousands of protesting against government austerity across the country that's all to come after the break.

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and never returned they now live in the city in apartment building but still room and their regions. was planted here as a dancing teacher. was. next to his dancing as he tells the stories about his motherland. lives in europe to now has a one thousand strong reindeer had when the enemy only saw the light can and most around it is gathered tens and moved to another posture they travel hundreds of kilometers in winter women and children for them. but the two families have less of a chance to come across each other they belong to different worlds even though

there's sometimes a similar. world of. science technology and innovation all the development from around russia we've got the future covered. free. free. free. free.

free. free. free blog. for your media projects free media. just joined the life in most of the news continues now with israel increasingly isolated by the international community over its expansion policy the arab spring means the country is becoming surrounded by potentially hostile governments which makes some israelis say the deposed dictatorships were a safe bet for the country then the new democracy is near its borders on his polis live reports. there's a storm brewing in the middle east and it's leaving a chill in the hearts of most israelis say what you might about the arab spring it poses an obvious problem for television they mean and so we've seen just

a few weeks ago. plenty of missiles falling on israel form a radical. i dream and we see. already the beginning of maybe a attrition war in the golan heights we see plenty of the angels in the mediterranean sea israel's backyard has become a lot more dangerous in the last two years weapons from libya are leaking across borders and landing in the hands of unknown militant groups the trouble ahead is symbolized by the muslim brotherhood sweep to power in egypt from this rally in june an ominous promise by the movement to make sure resulin and not cry will the capital at a minimum what will see is the free flow of weapons money and supplies from egypt into the gaza strip we will see egyptian volunteers going into the gaza strip to fight that's the minimum moving up from there the possibility of egypt israel war

is by no means impossible but it was democracy that brought the muslim brotherhood to power and i deal both israel and the west came to spouse but both are now waking up to the reality that things might in fact have been better under the previous dictatorships at least for them we had a difficult situation but at least we had the contact you know with the leadership secondly president mubarak was committed to the peace process. this is a washington day is that we are confronting a new president who belongs to a certain institution a certain movement which do not believe in the right of israel for existence. israeli leaders know all too well that whatever friendships however useful they have with arab leaders it doesn't alter the basic threat posed by an arab awakening that in most countries is empowering militant islamic groups we will expect that these governments when when they will will but pressure not only on the friends of

we feel also this. the new changes in the democracies that is emerging in the arab world will have a tremendous challenges and. in order to maintain. law and order to establish a real democracy the need need some time but elevate fears that in the time it takes for that to mark was he to really take root and for the arab public perhaps one day to accept a jewish state relations with its arab neighbors will get far worse before they get better the challenge now for israeli leadership is twofold to avoid inflaming arab public opinion while protecting israel and also to counter the growing to space many israelis feel of the growing isolation in an increasingly volatile neighborhood policy r.t. tell of of. the number of homeless students in america hits a record high topping one million for the first time it was called the economic

recession risen by more than one hundred. awakes. spectacular footage of the giants. of the world well. those stories and others on our website at the moment thousands of people have hit spain's streets to protest against the government's ever growing a stir people are outraged by cuts to health care education and pensions with anger also directed at changes to labor laws there's now talk to crisis strategist. he was saying coordinated action across the whole of spain thousands on the streets angry at the government's policies just how realistic are the protesters demands.

there are unrealistic because spain is the eurozone especially as euro zone is on the path to insolvency and one could argue that spain is one of the countries that is essentially broke if not in actual fact so i think it led to the cut and have to start cutting somewhere because the debts are just breaking the spanish economy and it's going to get worse so my sense is spain has been living for too many years with too mild many benefits to get people shut social benefits social programs that are simply untenable in the long term and now that we have had this economic downturn that have shown up the fact that the eurozone and the birthrate of the eurozone in particular cannot or this very large social welfare system there have to start cutting in order to get back on some sort of path to growth and of course people are against these cuts because it affects them personally and i completely sympathize i think standardization but people have to

start looking at the long term health and wellbeing of their country as opposed to their own particular situation so i should say is needed then goes on is that what you're saying in fact the prime minister is defending these cutbacks convinced that twenty twelve he says would be random remembered as the year of foundations for recovery so are you saying actually the long term is important is the main goal and people have got us one of the bits a pain in the meantime yes but i i don't agree with you are quite i think that things are going to get a lot worse in spain before they get any better and i think people can ask well how can you do to any worse considering the unemployment rate in spain and the massive debt that it has but i think that two thousand and thirteen is going to be pretty bad because right now we have a situation where germany is a little bit paralyzed because in september we have elections engine and so in germany they don't want to do anything at all except it's hang tight until that september election and we also have in the spring spain and italy are going to have

to roll over a massive amount of debt so we're going to have crisis points in two thousand and thirteen if we're at or. crisis crisis point in you saying things are going to get pretty bad then how fun is the government prepared to go in order to avoid asking for a bailout pensions health care employment whatever how far would it really go that's . silly and dollar euro question nobody knows really how far in europe before they go out and ask for a bailout but at that point i believe is going to happen because that the situation in spain is. this huge turnover that they have keep in mind that's that's the big price is really saying it's. right good they've been the best they've been in over a year there are i believe five point three percent for yields on the ten year or a spanish bond but you know all bets are off march april when this huge debt

turnover as we roll over and that we're going to see. it goes on and let's talk about greece briefly ratings john s. and pay they've raised greece's school from selective default to be money it's not interesting up to six knots is up and the agency explained its decision by praising athens determination to cut its spending determination but what is actually done to to achieve that and to deserve that cutting rating they haven't really done anything i think that that could in a rating system it's a joke i mean come on they gave aaa ratings to the so bonds back in the day so forget about that. it's it doesn't that bring confidence though doesn't it actually bring a perception that it's working and that's what investors want to know about. what's happened is that investors realized that the europeans are just like keep on kicking the can down the road and so what investors are doing right now is just the short term trade and being very light on their feet and great to move at a moment's notice and so sure bond rates are down in greece relatively but you know

the whole notion is that at any rate slower is the best we need to turn to at any point in time things can turn really ugly really fast so get ready to dump your positions at a moment's notice that's what's going on and invest to communicate the idea that at the worst is over now that's not the case what's happened is that the investment community has learned to live with this chronic problem and they've learned to they've been trained like pavlov's dogs to to jump at whatever little nugget at the e.c.b. east and the i.m.f. give to the investors and so that's what's keeping things more or less on an even keel it's become a chronic problem but that doesn't mean if you have a crime accounts that doesn't mean that you can live forever with this part of cancer at some point this cancer is going to kill you and so it seems to me that we're getting to that you know and the problem with people like me who analyze this on a realistic basis is seven keep saying the sky is falling the sky is falling and the

sky never quite falls which is very frustrating for us but the fact is the fundamental problems of the eurozone are still in place and insolvency is still the only the only end game for this part go down i will leave it there thank you very much indeed good to hear from the guns on the lyric crisis started just live on. in the run up to christmas parts of northern ireland have been gripped by violence there's been two weeks of fierce clashes between police and pro british residents in belfast on monday violent protesters wrapped in union flags stormed a local council meeting charging sectarian abuse of councillors and making threats to members of a non sectarian alliance party all spot by a decision to end a century old tradition of flying britain's union flag over city hall for three hundred sixty five days a year well to discuss this now i'm joined by dr kevin being he's an author research of northern politics thanks very much indeed for joining what why did the

council decide to fly the flag on a limited basis of about twenty days a year. well the decision was actually a compromise originally nationalist councillors wish to remove the flying of flags all together in this council is which to fly them three hundred sixty five days a year and the compromise was around twenty days public holidays royal birthdays and other days of significance for unionists so this was it was very much a compromise and attempt to try and. the situation. but a compromise and exactly work did it should have been regarded as something being inflammatory and provocative and it was a resulted in this violent reaction. well i think i think that what the violent reaction can can be in can be interpreted in many ways to begin with it's a violent reaction of a very small minority the numbers of people involved in the rioting are you know relatively small if for example the vast bulk of the union this population were.

angry this would involve tens even hundreds of thousands of people the numbers of rioters are in the thousands not the tens of thousands so i think we can regard this as very much a minority activity but also an activity that flows in some ways from the nature of contemporary politics so that although it's a minority among minority that it's been manipulated in many ways by paramilitary organizations but also the genesis of the argument has been used by other more mainstream politicians who in fact. increased the unrest made built up the protests and now somewhat stepped back from them is there a danger that all this could undo all that has been achieved in reaching peace in northern ireland. well i think there are two ways of approaching that first of all the definition of peace i mean northern ireland is not doesn't face the same type

of conflict at the height of the troubles but in many ways it is. in many ways northern ireland politics are still structured around the conflict between unionists the nationalists and i think this is very much part of most in a sense a type a sort of fourth line almost a geological line tectonic shift periodic never leads to that breakdown so.