syrian national council of so-called free syrian army will actually succeed to take over then we have. most likely to face. very serious serious or in syria with all these different factions fighting each other like muslim brotherhood. extremists representatives of certain minorities. now later in the program when immigration leads to isolation france's president thinks to crack down on religious extremism leaving the country's muslim community feeling disconnected from the rest of society. and find out why corruption could hinder india's military modernization as the country prepares to spend billions on new weapons. today marks the nomination deadline for egypt's upcoming presidential election former vice president omar suleiman who served under ousted leader hosni mubarak will be running the muslim brotherhood has also put forward two candidates the decision was spurred by fears that the military council made this was by the brotherhood's primary nominee either as long as groups after their nominations for threatened democratic brotherhood already dominates parliament and the group

with what happened in libya with the recognition of the libyan national security council very similar to what we're seeing there with the syrian national council which of course the libyan national council did actually lead to the demise of gadhafi that's significant isn't it. but i think it's not can happen and i mean miscalculation this will leave the region for a war and all of being bad american are ready for it or the persian gulf country i think they're playing with fire and this flame everybody everybody has to be take a step back i let the healing of syrian continue but i think that american base point here the process where the persian gulf country must and terrorism should not be supported healing. but in a process of reform this is what is needed right now and this guy was me thank you very much indeed for your thoughts live in beirut. a proposed new legislation for russia's opposition political parties could make their entry into parliament much easier if passed the law may lead to an unprecedented push for power i literally hundreds of factions as aunties and he said no he explains that could cause a problem in it

nations where you are talking about. the main syrian opposition body the syrian national council have called for the arming of oppositionfighters in the country saying that the only way to protect civilians now was certainly some of the gulf countries notably in saudi arabia has certainly been very supportive of that it's unlikely that you're going to see that agreed upon here today much more the focus has been on the provision of non-lethal aid in fact talk today has been a potential for a vision of a multi billion dollar multi million dollar fund now the details about it being discussed at the moment and the behind closed doors meeting. possibly that could be used to provide salaries to syrian army defectors and to the free syrian army fighters possibly delivered in some kind of trust of course china not in attendance today once in attendance at the first one again not participating in this conference then they've been very critical of what they said is a one sided. saying previously the friends of syria conference doesn't have the right to speak or judge kofi annan peace plan on behalf of the international community

of people the west wants the business with here they're very comfortable working with the syrian national council they're not going to want to put pressure on them in fact there is already some talk in some quarters about the idea that you know turkey in particular could recognize the syrian national council as a government in exile and effectively see the assad regime as terrorists and then use the ninety eight sedan or agreements or other agreements that turkey has with syria in order to try and use force against the assad regime and again there's a lot of discussion at the moment about how more pressure can be put to try and either tighten the noose or remove the assad regime and it doesn't seem like there's any real emphasis on letting the opposition and the assad regime battle it out by themselves without external intervention or not very briefly the syrian government says it has defeated those seeking to bring down the regime what do you think this is do you think that this is why it agreed to a cease fire. well certainly there has been an intensification of the conflict over the last few d

the syrian national council meetings here in istanbul for the past week they've really been trying to overcome some of their internal divisions to present a much more united front and certainly to thing gain the support of the international community as well presenting that united but possibly today you might see a recognition from the friends of syria of the syrian national council as the sole representative of the syrian people they still have a lot of internal problems that they do need to come because he said that along with pledges to humanitarian and financial aid beyond that really there's not much of the friends of syria meeting at. all right r.t. sara for a while. live from istanbul we'll check in with you later thank you. and the u.s. is one of the countries that supported special envoy kofi annan peace plan but still continues to push for a change in syria well that's a stance that's not helping end the war according to dr good provider from the center for research on the arab world. it is the main goal of washington actually to oust the government of bashar assad's so that

rebels on a foreign payroll however even this didn't go as far as the opposition group the syrian national council and some of their friends a syria had hate for with tape in the on the free syrian army becoming stronger the hayes country turkey is now home to twenty thousand displaced syrians refugee camps near the border see a continual flow of new arrivals and these we mess nearly all have tales of war videos on the phones to support. we have to skip over the border the violence got through. negotiations they tell us won't work the opposition will not back down from this fight nor they fail president assad despite the syrian government along with the international community having signed up to the un envoy to syria cape fear and peace plan at the friends of syria conference the parties have already decided who is the legitimate representative of the syrians france or syria syrian people support the mission called an int declared by shooting nation council we see syrian issue council illegitimately present a free for all syrians the seemingly one sided approach is a part of the reason why russia

he really they feel that their representative all of the forty that's the full thing the syrian national council a representative of the syrian people that's very very interesting to note that that really is it's both sides that level that criticism of the syrian national council. seems to be to song possibly disorganized group of opposition members allegedly forty five different factions making of those who are against the assad regime the meeting over the past few days and particularly today have they had they put on a show of unity those different members among the opposition. well they've been here in istanbul eight of the past week having meetings and trying really see how our other objectives to present a united front and they become some of these internal divides that have really hampered their progress it's been worrying to the international community and even those countries that have wanted very much to get behind them and of really planning now and the friends of syria conference listen to the rhetoric you know this is a group that is certainly planning for a post this feature and thi

well you know when you're through and furthermore but newly simmers the partners of the syrian national council i mean some international stakeholders. even before kofi annan began his mission they made some of the statements of its mobile undermines this limitation of this plan by the chirac i might just not enough for me inside willing. had i let you down in a fashion him with a hood with him. over which is why again today we want to call them all the opposition groups. all the international player who have been influence with the opposition including military a position with their influence to stop the flow and. stop blood and violence as a state it's in the plan presented by special envoy kofi annan and i thought i might add that. if we're having good food we have a doctor highly highly yeah and not ashamed on the kenyan. at the top of the year we should move the needs i have talking with i talked about that the turkish foreign minister at home into gloom a bit when we talked over the phone and i will voice my position from the g. eight ministerial summits in washington tomorrow the. other

if if syrian national council of so-called free syrian army will actually succeed to take over then we have. most likely. very serious serious in syria with all these different factions fighting each other like muslim brotherhood salafi extremists representatives of certain minorities cetera. over in bahrain on violent demonstrations against the government rage on it was the word he's weighing in was for several protesters were injured on saturday when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets thousand railing on friday were also met with a crackdown they marched in support of the syrian rights champion serving a life sentence for speaking out against the bahraini government has been on hunger strike for two months bound freedom want to ask the region's slammed for rights violations by the national watchdogs but the u.s. continues to support bahrain's a key arab ally journalism anti-war activist don de bar thinks washington's middle east policy is just. look at the role the united states is playing in bahrain when they've been claiming that they're in syria over human rights that they w

ben, the syrian national council is being recognized by international leaders called the friends of thehe syrian national council? >> this was a council formed in the summer of last year and it is intended to be sort of an umbrella organization for the syrian opposition, and it really does, the umbrella has a few holes in it. just last month, in fact, three members resigned from that group because they felt it was too corrupt and it was really just a liberal facade for the muslim brotherhood. two of em this were later convinced to join it again. this is an organization that the friends of syria yesterday did declare as a legitimate representative of the syrian people. it receives good deal of funding from saudi arabia, but it doesn't necessarily have an awful lot of support on the ground. in fact, our colleague ivan watson yesterday quoted one syrian refugee on the turkish syrian border calling the snc losers. >> ben, i mentioned the humanitarian aid factor and i see that secretary of state hillary clinton is going to announce that the u.s. will add 12 million dollars to hum humanitaria

groups inside syria, but what we do know is that all of the money will be channeled through syrian national council which is the main syrian opposition party. that's obviously in the hopes of creating better organization, better unity and better coordination between those various rebel groups because all of them will have to go through the syrian national council to have access to those funds. >> pelley: an attempt to stitch the rebel groups together. clarissa, thank you very much. history was made in burma today. one of the most isolated countries in the world. the military government says the opposition won a landslide victory in yesterday's election. and the woman who began the democratic movement in burma, aung san suu kyi, is headed to parliament. seth doane has got an rare look inside burma. >> reporter: aung san suu kyi looked more like a pop star than a newly elected parliamentarian at her party's headquarters in rangoon today. >> we hope that this will be the beginning of a new era. that there will be more emphasis on the role of the people in the everyday politics of our country. >> repor

the so-called friends of syria group meeting in turkey say they recognize the opposition syrian national council as the only legitimate body representing the people outside the meeting in istanbul meantime police have dispersed supporters of bashar al assad. exchanged between. leads to a spike in the russian rhetoric among america's republican presidential candidates already. warned us politicians are quote cold war hollywood stereotypes. toughest budget cuts in decades which includes tax hikes and a salary freeze for public sector workers despite a nationwide strike and mass protests that resulted in clashes with police dozens of arrests. up next. orchestrating the downfall of. i'm on the sidelines of the brussels four and we're sitting down with the whole djibril now he was heading the economic and development planning body in libya at the time of the rule of colonel moammar gadhafi and he later read led to the uprising against the regime the interim prime minister of the national transitional council for about seven and a half months i thank you very much and suitable for joining us today and

the syrian national council doesn't actually control events on the ground nor does it have a direct relationship with the free syrian army or the other groups that have the weapons so in agreeing in entering this agreement and agreeing to kind of restrict the amount of violence or eliminated they don't actually have the means that effectively controlled out of the ground however there is that we've seen a noticeable decline in the violence but what he means really worrying is the fact that we've heard reports today of thousands of the restoration is coming out of these three if that is the crucial in taking back this syrian uprising the more nonviolent peaceful if those demonstrations should be allowed which would take away their legitimacy from anyone trying to use violence under those circumstances so i'm afraid this will be a very stumbling block now the syrian national council has called on opposition supporters to take part in these anti-government rallies which you touched upon thousands having already reportedly court on to the streets but is this really the kind of thing that's needed ri

the syrian national council doesn't actually control events on the ground nor does it have a direct relationship with the free syrian army or the other groups that have the weapons so in agreeing in entering this agreement and agreeing to a kind of strict amount of arms or eliminated they don't actually have the means to effectively control diet on the ground however we've seen a noticeable decline in the violence but what he means really worrying is the fact that we've heard reports today of thousands of demonstrations coming out onto the streets that is the crucial aspect in taking back this syrian uprising to a more nonviolent peaceful those demonstrations should be allowed which would take away their legitimacy from anyone trying to use violence under those circumstances so what's really required is a sense of leadership from the kind of both the opposition and the government or either camp in syria the kind of have the vision to take syria forward but unfortunately just kind of treating this as a set of violent confrontations that need to be present only stored for further trouble down the

syrians are now seeking refuge. yesterday in istanbul, turkey, the group named "friends of syria," including the u.s. and 70 other nations recognized the syrian national council as the legitimate voice of the opposition. secretary of state hillary clinton announced further sanctions and additional aid to syrian civilians and refugees. >> but the united states is also going beyond humanitarian aid and providing support to the civilian opposition, including communications equipment that will help activists organize, evade attacks by the regime, and connect to the outside world. >> woodruff: separately, saudi arabia and other persian gulf countries planned a $100 million fund to pay syrian opposition fighters and compensate defectors. but they stopped short of shipping weapons to the outgunned fighters who are battling the assad regime. it added up to disappointment for some members of the syrian national council who attended the conference. >> it was not at the level of expectation of the people. >> woodruff: indeed back on the turkey-syria border, the offer of aid but not guns was met with disappointment in refugee camps. >> this will give assad the opportunit

the syrian national council is promising to pay soldiers to fight the assad regime. >>> it is the storyat no one cab stop talking about. the shooting of trayvon martin. it seems like every day we learn about a new piece of the puzzle and every day the outrage only seems to grow. rather than allow the rhetoric to overshadow the facts of this case, we're going to step back and walk you through the night that trayvon martin was killed, minute by minute. 7:11 p.m. february 26th. a rainy night in sanford, florida. george zimmerman called 911 to report a suspicious person in his neighborhood. that call would last four minutes. >> hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious guy. [ bleep ]. the best address i can give you [ bleep ]. this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. it's raining and he's just walking around, looking about. >> okay. this guy, white, black or hispanic? >> he looks black. >> did you see what he was wearing? >> yeah, a dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie. either jeans or sweat pants and white tennis shoes. he's here

. >> the syrian national council, even before kofi and on -- annan started to implement his plan. in the opinion of those who are making the statements -- therefore, today, once again, we want to appeal to all the forces and all of the states who have influenced the political and armed positions to use resistance for the immediate cease-fire by the anna plan. >> they had already met some of the measures in the plan but there has been an escalation of violence. a lasting cease -- a lasting cease-fire was needed with russia playing a role. >> the situation with the ongoing violence should be timely with the arrival of the international observers. the other point i wanted to say is the national dialogue. since russia has announced its readiness to host a meeting for a national silo, we will count the steps. and today, i have stressed once again that we would like russia to play a role in this -- on this issue and that the syrian government is ready for dialogue when the issue is ready for discussion and when the opposition from all walks of life excepts the basis of this dialogue and

and that is a decision that is being welcomed by the syrian national council. >> reporter: that group of nations includes saudi arabia and some gulf states which today pledged millions to pay rebel sala salaries, hoping to encourage more syrian army defections to shift the balance of power. and the u.s. pledged $12 million in aid, including for the first time satellite communications equipment. >> they have a great deal of difficulty communicating inside syria. you were there. you know how hard it is. we think we have some assets that we can get in there. >> glor: clarissa with us again now. how much indication is there that the international actions being taken from outside syria are affecting what is going on inside syria? >> reporter: well, certainly, jeff there are strong indications that those economic sanctions are having a real impact. there are long lines for gas across the country. the price of food has doubled. and when we asked secretary clinton about this exact subject she said that she believes the cracks are beginning to emerge within the assad regime. she says i can't p

. >>> an 83-member conference of world leaders today formally recognized a syrian national council as a legitimate government in syria, and at that same meeting, secretary of state hillary clinton said the u.s. will nearly double its funding support for the opposition forces. this comes as a relentless government crackdown continues without relief. reports say 80 people were killed today, including 21 in the city of homs. >>> a woman who went to prison fighting for democracy is now myanmar's newest symbol of freedom. voters elected aung san suu kyi to parliament today, though the result is still unofficial. she won the nobel peace prize for her decades long fight for democracy. her opposition party called today's victory momentous. myanmar has lived under military rule for 50 years, and the army still holds the balance of power. >>> pope benedict began a hectic holy week schedule with a palm sunday mass in st. peter's square on sunday. palm sunday marks jesus' arrival in jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion. the pontiff just returned from a six-day trip to cuba and mexico and after

the rebels on a foreign payroll however even this didn't go as far as the opposition the syrian national council and some of the friends of syria had paid for with calls to a purely on the free syrian army becoming stronger the haze country turkey is now home to twenty thousand displaced syrians refugee camps near the border see a continual flow of new arrivals and these we met nearly all have tales of war videos and the things you just. have to scream over the border on the violence got through. negotiations they tell us while we're the opposition will not back down from this bite nor they feel we'll have it in fast despite the syrian government's along with the international community having signed up to the un envoy to syria case he announced peace plan at the friends of syria conference the parties where he decided to just not representative the syrians france or syria she didn't people support the mission called an int declared by shooting nation council we see syrian issue council illegitimate representative of all syrians this seemingly one sided approach is a part of the reason why russi

well he really they feel that they represent all that the party that they're supporting the syrian national councilrepresents all the syrian people from russia and china absent from the course conference the criticisms that have come. and have been this is very one sided and that there are concerns that the exclusion of the government of the syrian government really. rather than helps the diplomatic efforts that are going on at the same time to resolve this crisis professor graham aleutian of certainly a university and believes that some gulf nations spearheading the and your campaign . position to do so. the record of the so there have been regime as probably with probably one of the worst in the region and they start talking about freedom and human rights and syria or libya just this this is just so preposterous that so their radio would have the nerve to to speak had allegedly against the human rights violations and in syria and what have you or you do not house political parties and so there may be good enough house elections and so that rabia and certainly you do not have a rotation of power a

if the syrian national council or the so-called free syrian army. actually succeed to take over then we will most likely face a very serious series of or in syria overthe all these different factions fighting each other like muslim brotherhood salafi extremists representatives of certain minorities etc. now turning to egypt the muslim brotherhood attempts to install their own man as president dampener on the country's drive for freedom or she's peter the veldt challenges his cross talk on whether islam and democracy can coexist thought program later this hour for you at what's happening. in the wake of america's so-called war on courier which effectively the muslim brotherhood pushed the muslim brotherhood underground and. part of. an official in the political landscape. no no no no no no raise over the brotherhood has been underground for decades going back to the idea of going to all of the nasa so i mean i'm not quite sure where in the bill is going is going the facts. right. american marines have arrived in australia on a six month training depl

really don't feel that they're representative all of the body that they're supporting the syrian national council a representative of the syrian people russia and china absent from that conference the criticisms that have come from and certainly have been that this is very one sided and that there are concerns that the exclusion of the government of the syrian government really hampers rather than helps the diplomatic efforts that are going on at the same time to resolve this crisis. so for us reporting there a professor. at a new university in jordan believe some gulf nations spearheading the use of campaign are in no position to do so. the record of the so there may be a regime as probably probably one of the worst in the reeds and when they start talking about the freedom and human rights and syria or libya just this this is so preposterous that so their radio would have the nerve to speak allegedly against human rights violations and in syria and what have you you do not have political parties and so they are a bia you do not how elections and so their abia and certainly you do not have a rot

opposition as well he really they feel that their represents all the forty diversify the syrian national council represents all of the syrian people russia and china absent from. the criticisms that have come through and most certainly have been that this is very one sided and that there are concerns that the exclusion of the government of the syrian government really hampers rather than help the diplomatic efforts that are going on at the same time to resolve this crisis. and journalist political analyst christopher still says it's not financial help for syrian opposition forces that will determine the wellcome of this conflict. to be clear on these so-called salaries they are being paid since a long time since the beginning syrian look with this opposition those who are right now in a phase before the next to the first free election of a long time who take up arms now they are not more than fifty fifteen one five percent of the population and then there's another group. i love this doctor hates them who wants to be president who are several times in prison in syria and now it's rise to you kno

syrian national council of so-called free syrian army will actually succeed to take over the. most likely face. very seriously with syria with all these different factions fighting each other like muslim brotherhood salafi extremists representatives of certain minorities. in egypt the islamists the muslim brotherhood is now feeling its presidential candidate spite widespread condemnation. later argues whether it could put a damper on the country's dr prager years but ahead at three pm g.m.t. . in the wake of america's so-called war on terror which. the muslim brotherhood push the muslim brotherhood. part of. an official political landscape. i would. no no no no. but the brotherhood has been underground for decades going back to the era of the nasser so i mean i'm not quite sure where in the bill is going is going it's fact. well the international criminal court has turned down palestinian request to investigate a lesser israeli war crimes on their lands official reason for the rejection is that palestine is not a un recognized state let's go live now to jerusalem and jeff howe

if if syrian national council of so-called free syrian army will actually succeed to take over then we. will most likely face. very serious serious or in syria with all these different factions fighting each other like muslim brotherhood salafi extremists representatives of certain minorities cetera and for more information on the syrian crisis just log on to our website our team dot com here's what else is waiting for you there right now just a click away from us activist group takes down a u.k. government website with a twitter message saying it was a protest against quote draconian surveillance proposals. and the egg to take action here we have. a t.v. presenter in greece bond with your good and eggs and live on the air is being carried out by a group of masked protesters who broke into the studio. all twelve survivors of a plane crash in western siberia on monday are now in a stable condition they were among forty three on board the plane when it came down just minutes after takeoff and near freezing temperatures thirty one including all the crew were killed it's thought that failu