out of sight out of mind u.s. veterans say they've been abandoned by the country they fought for as they claim the government is failing in its promises to take care of war here. as religious drug rehab centers are on the rise in russia best to gates fears that these facilities are simply facades dangerous sects. sink to save the cranium activists are calling out of new ships from russia's black sea fleet to be submerged creating artificial reefs to save the ecosystem.

you're watching news twenty four hours a day the war is over the mission is complete that was the message from u.s. vice president joe biden as he addressed american troops withdrawing from iraq his words though raised eyebrows and those who could be the whole pain. many veterans say the u.s. administration is simply trying to break thanks to cover up a loss north korea that they praised as the country's. feel abandoned and forgotten to music a man a member of the pops. by the government but still more trees you know and that's me i don't think. they show enough respect to the local brian little as a u.s. navy veteran who has been suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome since his discharge she was unable to find work after leaving the military and hasn't been able to get the proper treatment for his condition little has been suicidal at times his. pleas for help have been ignored it's

a common theme at stand down an annual nonprofit event that helps homeless vets get off the streets volunteers are helping these veterans become better adjusted to civilian life something the military isn't doing enough of a lot of people really don't know exactly what to expect or where to go to get the help that they need pamela brisson served in afghanistan and has been homeless for two years the largest growing population of homeless women in san diego is veterans returning from current combat according to catholic charities which operate shelters around the city while on the street britain has been taking care of her nine year old son chris he's been able to maintain straight a's even while they bounced around from shelter to shelter or slept on a sidewalk. many veterans want help but prison admits it's easy to get discouraged when the government doesn't want to help it only takes one or two people to say i don't know or know we

can't help you for them to walk away and think that there's no hope for them. you know drugs alcohol. and they just they're not aware to take advantage of the programs that are made available to them the last couple years i think the number of persian gulf veterans has increased greatly outnumbering the vietnam veterans dr john not just in is very familiar with san diego's homeless population he started stand down twenty three years ago because he saw a huge number of homeless veterans that no one was talking about the problem will likely get worse for current service members for dealing with the stand and frequent. still in this crowd patriotism is very much alive you know what actually i really would go back despite her troubles pamela brisson says she would still go back and buy for the country that has let her down. a sentiment echoed by many of these veterans who still have an undying

loyalty to the military and country when america was grew as a whole who started it you know it was a bunch of politically correct people living in you know wherever you know how i high society you know it was bunch of people saying i want to pay tax anymore. and it's going to happen again in san diego ramon the lindo r t well biden's optimistic remarks about troop withdrawal are ridiculous number of u.s. private contractors in iraq is the highest ever according to radio host and iraq war veteran i don't contest he believes the u.s. public is starting to see through the words. there's two big problems with what he said and about the violence going down because this withdrawal first of all wasn't a real withdrawal it was the one last brigade that had not been labeled a non combat brigade and there are still depending on whose numbers you trust

a little over fifty thousand troops there and there are more private contractors now than there have ever been and the violence in terms of what you will see on the headlines in the united states media about how many soldiers have died every day yes that will go down generally when there are less troops less of them get killed but what you're not going to see is the number of contractors that are killed that are still performing the basic tasks of oppression and exploitation that are the basis of our presence in iraq remember the first time the government told us the war was over was may first two thousand and three with the so-called mission accomplished speech on the aircraft carrier by president bush and that was the only real war there wasn't at that point turned into an occupation even when i was there in two thousand and four in palooza where there was intense fighting it was not a force on force battle it was an occupation there was a resistance to the occupation we see continued today and with sad is that the true

nature of the presence there really has not changed too dramatically in six years the basic premise is the same we are facing an incredible amount of money into the sand that is coming out of the american economy and people here i think are starting to wake up to that and it's very exciting to see that when joe biden does this kind of ridiculous cheerleading well i the success is because the troops have done so well oh and that's why we have to replace them with more state department officials and private contractors than there were troops here people see through that it's kind of it's getting kind of ridiculous what veterans are facing today is a simple lack of resources in the v.a. system in the people who work at the v.a. take a pay cut to were. there they do a very good job and they bust their butts to help veterans and a lot of them you know the american people are still have those yellow ribbons on their cars and there's still that attitude but there's also the assumption that all the government is taking care of everything and that the presidential commission on

fiscal responsibility which is currently convening is actually considering cutting veterans' benefits to meet fiscal responsibility standards before cutting the cost of our foreign empire cutting the cost of these wars and these occupations and that's really sad but that's sort of the attitude of those in power well you know taking care of the vets is something that can kind of go keeping the money going to our political sponsors on the other hand that can't be question and that kind of spending is kind of a say i how we're seeing it fall now but it's exciting to see that people are challenging that. it without. coming the way to the program including. according to the agreements between kiev and moscow the russian black sea fleet ships will stay in ukraine's crimea until twenty forty two but some in this black sea resort area are now willing to sink them. backing al-qaeda and american media reports suggest pakistanis losing touch and its interest. in

that. russia's anti drugs agency is planning to increase the number of rehab centers in the country. to combat pendency critics say some facilities for recovering addicts could be as dangerous as drug abuse itself. how do you through the my spirit of drug and alcohol addiction took me nearly a decade these twenty nine year old was on a collision course with crime and with death diagnosed with psoriasis and liver and happy b. and c. making out says god saved and changed his life. when i came near a large share for the first time i'm eighty years i realize their grass was green birds were singing and everything was beautiful i used to take drugs and pills and alcohol at the same time i was literally a virtual no understanding of what was going on around. here is a rehab center run by

a cornerstone church days include group chores me to teach responsibility and bible and prayer sessions. prayer is a fellowship and we are more likely to become like those we communicate with if someone talks to fishermen he is likely to become one too when someone talks to god and that's what a prayer is he becomes a believer and his life changes and not on the schedule here is time with a trained professional the belief is that the spirit is what needs mending and that this only comes through god drug use is. on the rise in russia the official numbers indicate that there are six hundred thousand addicts but the federal agency charged with combat in this problem puts it at millions more but there's also an increase in the number of religious rehab centers like this one that are offering nontraditional treatments but some are referring to them as little more than recruiting centers for religious sex the panel costal community in russia is small but run several of the nation's growing number of religious rehab critics and says

those who seek treatment through these are simply trading one crutch for another. we're losing people now not because of drugs but because of destructive cults chemical addiction to drugs or alcohol is substituted by group psychological addiction instead this kind of addiction is stronger and much more serious some experts claim recovering addicts become able to function outside of the church and sequester themselves later electing to spread the message to others in new centers as for me he doesn't believe he's part of a cult. contrary i realized i had been brainwashed all my previous life people around me had a consumer attitude but here i have pure feelings and your vision and a desire to run a clinic of his own someday. r.t. american states must fend for themselves even if this means bypassing federal government rulings according to the sheriff which like he says it's the only way

the us can be kept intact as a constitutional country. state sovereignty the only solution that we have left is state sovereignty local control the sheriff of this country getting together with county commissioners county attorneys and standing fighting any wrecked in the barriers against the encroachments of the national government the federal government it will lead to lawful consideration and lawful adherence to the constitution if we follow the constitution we're going to be fine we're destroying the constitution and our own federal government is the greatest threat to our god given constitutional american republic if we make sure they stay within their parameters and their limitations then we're going to survive this.

ukrainian activists are asking russia to allow out of use black sea fleet ships to be sunk to create artificial reefs in the crimea they say this will help protect the region's ecosystem and minimize the effects of pollution the fleet command is considering the suggestion which has been approved by local authorities. professional diver alexei has been exploring the depths of the black sea in ukraine's crimea for more than three decades he says the underwater world here is absolutely unique from a scientific point of view but he is concerned about a danger that every year is getting worse the pizza or season brings launched pollution too young to bay when the water fails to clean itself every year we see fewer fish caught in this part of the black sea i believe you all to bay's ecosystem is in grave danger alexey has considered many different solutions to the problem but his friend a deputy in the yalta city council came up with

a simple yet hopefully highly effective idea that. we will ask the russian black sea fleet stations here to give us several of the rule ships we will sink them and create an artificial reef which will greatly improve your toby's ecosystem this is nothing new and many countries do the same and for the russian fleet to miss would be good from a financial point of view instead of paying for the use of old very souls he would simply hand them over to ours zordon says the idea came to him after what was seen as a major policy shift in the presidents of russia and ukraine signed an agreement to prolong the stay of the russian black sea fleet in the crimea until twenty forty two where the previous administration and key of these ships of the russian black sea fleet were unwanted guests in ukraine's crimea and were to leave the area by the year twenty seventeen but after the hype of agreement was signed local authorities here are saying they're trying to do everything they can so that these

ships remain here for years to come straight after the writ if occasion of the back to the russian leader the need to remediate have said the fleet needed serious modernization and now the crimea is ready to help more school with that the head of sevastopol as administration says the russian naval presence here brings massive investment for the city's infrastructure. and calls for a fitting of the ships may create jobs for the locals do you suppose that we have an excellent shipyard in the crimea which has been abandoned for almost two decades if moscow decides to repair its fleet here we're ready to offer our facilities and specialists this would be much cheaper for the russians and we revive our factory which was one of the best in a country just several decades ago april sark of agreement sparked mass opposition protests in kiev they described it as a sellout of the country in crimea the mood is very much the opposite the russian black sea fleet command easier to respond to the divers and officials proposals for an artificial reef but there will be glad to see few here can imagine life without

these ships anchored on the surface in several stoppers docks. ski r.t. reporting from ukraine's crimea. pakistani intelligence is backing the taliban and al qaeda militants using the u.s. for its own interests calling to a new york times report the authors quote a pakistani official says taliban leaders have been joined support from some powers in islamabad three years report also says pakistan needs the cia to capture one. or two general he was thought to be bypassing by conducting secret talks with afghan government or military blogger in hunston says despite these claims the u.s. has no option but to work with is done intelligence. you know the problem we have and it's the cia's biggest weak spot is they don't do human intelligence very well so we don't have agents we don't have people on the ground who can tell us what's

going on so we rely on the pakistanis to go ahead and give us the human intelligence that we use our electronic intelligence capabilities which is our strength you know we can track anybody's cell phone which they did in this case the pakistanis found out that he was coming back to town they found out his cell phone number and they told us so we couldn't pinpoint it and help them scarf him up but i mean they run all those taliban leaders they always have they helped form the taliban they've always been their support so occasionally you know we have the satchels of cash to be our friends and then occasionally they'll throw us a bone by pretending you know that it was to our advantage when in most cases it's their internal power plays more than an actual ally activity for us i think the problem is there's very little ability to see through what's happening on the surface you know because there are so many plays in motion because there are so many because the pakistanis don't even have one policy you've got i.s.i. they're intel who are the ones who are involved with this you've got their military and you've got their government those guys aren't acting in concert so there's no

one pakistani policy there are a collection of different plays going in different directions and we've got to kind of ride the wave of the american public really has no clue you know what that actually means to that. in our special report later in the day r t the us at the cost to the soviet victory in the bloodiest tank battle in history following its disastrous world war two defeated starting grad nazi germany launched another eastern offensive operation citadel which led to the famous battle of course. leach and so the spelling division. knew our minds. for months of preparation. the pay for years to launch their mind. the last effort to keep the lead on the eastern front. lead citadel of senseless. leap.

long at a great. loss. in the us are still the. manager peter literally. the most heavily reinforced serial. model of who. lasted forty nine days one of the bloodiest battles in the turning point a move to push the burning mold on our. now why that is take a look at some of the stories making headlines around the world. in the northern california has been sentenced to twenty years in prison for sending hoax threats that was to barack obama sixty three year olds it to me think it's pretty good to threaten the president and several social security offices in the letters which contained of white powder cloud called barack obama a line politician social security and stolen his money. had also been convicted of

a sex offense in texas failed to register as a sex offender in california. thirty three miners trapped underground in chile have had some reassurance as they've spoken via a microphone on the country's top money official the minister says more help will be provided those the rescue operation continues came up in depth of some seven hundred meters more than. just don't seem to want to. talk. to spanish aid workers kidnapped. branch of the nine months ago have been released returned to the. scenes but it's. as if. they were then held in mali. to events.

charlotte is here with a business update and the coast of the drought in russia is likely to be the billion dollar. yes number a farmers themselves in the government who bear the most of the cost that also be a big impact on insurance companies what are the details after a short break. for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. every month we give you the future we hope you understand how we'll get there and. the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us our technology update on r g.

and i welcome to the business program with me charlayne is folly russia's biggest monorails nicholas carney the subject of a fierce fight for control the tycoons oh you got him a proton in both twenty five percent of the great age will survive to the nines wants to sell but also the stake in this battle of the billionaire correspondent visits the town. the world's richest nickel. said a month deposited here in the rural area the production facilities of neurons comical stretch out but meet the mountains dominating the town and provide a much of the local employment this may be the birthplace of neural but the conglomerate has spread from its salvia era roots with interests across the world in countries such as australia south africa and federal and like many other commodity producers neuros course hit by the financial crisis however this region

suffered few cuts. the plant has overcome the crisis quite successfully it was a constant demand for oil production in the global market that's why we didn't decrease volume of production juvie the hard times not all nor nickels factories was so fortunate last year the company reported to twenty seven percent drop in revenue to ten point two billion dollars still the group retains its leadership on the world market accounting for more than twenty percent of global nickel output more than ten percent of cobalt production and three percent of copper the c.e.o. of neurochemical is keen to modernize and just promising to spend nearly half a billion dollars next year on cleaning up operations but. worried about how the shareholder battle for control of the company will impact capital expenditure whether it's. all that's

a bit but ultimately comes out on top drug costs he says no rules should not be used as a cash cow for the situation is quite difficult as you know there are several ways shareholders and managers view it something that you should take all you can now without thinking of the company's future of the shareholders who are in for the long term think that such a policy would slow down the company's development and would have pushed beyond a negative impact in the future i believe. face a negative impact if money spent on dividends i support the idea of actions the dividends should be paid but in adequate volumes and not impede the company's further development allegations of mismanagement of the company are somewhat hard to substantiate its production costs and profitability are comparable with international competitors but does face a challenging future its resource base is shrinking and the price of extraction rising the chief of neurosurgery wants the company to focus on what he calls

investment into the mountain however that's unlikely to happen until the conflict between the owners is resolved. business r.t. . now in other news russian corporate profits saw sixty three percent of the first half of two thousand and ten year on year the combined pretax profit big and mid-sized enterprises reached ninety billion dollars the biggest growth was reported by companies in the real estate sector profits increase in the mining industry were not far behind up fifty six percent meanwhile the number of agencies reporting a loss fell thirty four percent. but it's not the same picture for russia's agricultural sector has lost around one billion dollars due to the drought the ministry of agriculture says more than a quarter of our whole land was damaged but sixteen thousand farms reporting losses and it will be farmers themselves or the government who apparently the vast

majority of the cost of that are out there the insurance industry will also be making some payouts russia's largest insurer currently estimates its liabilities at twenty million dollars and says these a likely to grow. premium income often goes through. two thousand. in the segment or go to insurance was two into million so it's already percent loss ratio. and. so by the end of this year probably three share would be much more than one hundred percent. is that means that it is a loss to the business. time now to check out the markets neighboring asia stock markets the lower it is cheese day wait by law for the move treated with night as well as concerns of the pace of play will economic growth in japan the nikkei

slumped to a fifteen month life and exported stocks because we're plotting against around here in russia stock markets and monday practically unchanged with many investors taking a break in the last week of the holiday season for russia's largest oil company late percent why sext as the price of light sweet home with me fixed. uncertainty about how the global economy is going to develop is being felt in the commodities markets saw and i saw him going down in from london capital group so sentiment is turning more bearish. the prospects for these these products do to a certain extent rely on the far east we know what's what europe and america to assert to a great extent and we know what their demand is to defer china can continue to grow quickly then the prospects for the price of steel should be good the problem is is that everybody knows that and so we're worried now of course why is it still going higher at the moment it's stagnating and looking fragile and so again we run here

into the wall of what people think about growth where is it going and unfortunately people are just starting to worry and so so metals are again looking weak. and that's the latest this hour we can always find more on our our website .

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these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operation today.