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of a failed state this is not a provocation but a warning. before it should step is what is sure to suppress the trace pieces they have no idea about the hardships to face. they wanted to says it all to tunis and for any army the life of abuse is the most precious thing in the world. is of self-sacrifice and heroism of those who understand it fully but you have to live a. real life stories from world war two. nineteen forty five dots on t. dot com. download the official t. application on the phone oh i pod touch from the i choose our. life

on the go. video on demand ati's minefield costs and feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com. those efforts to rescue the last of five trapped in the ice off russia's far east coast for over a week. also among the stories that shape the week. fish around the globe conspiracy and apocalyptic theories some say science is struggling to come up with the answer. plus europe's asylum policies under fire last year's string of

terror arrests. good luck checks of the blame for the spread of an extremist threat . and we report from iraq where people. make the hill side and lively. we are running down the week's top stories here on r.t. a very warm welcome to you but first more than three hundred people are still awaiting rescue stranded on board a ship in the freezing waters off russia's far eastern coast it's the last of five vessels that became trapped in the ice more than a week ago. and is following the mission. the operation is now in its final stages or at least approaching them there are two ice breakers currently trying to get ready to tow out the last of these ships on december thirtieth the first ships

became stuck there in the ice at the height of the drama there were five ships stuck in the ice two of those managed to get free themselves two of them were towed away and now we're left with just one the largest of the ships with three hundred people on board and it's required these two ice breakers to come together to try and move it the last ship stuck in the ice is a supply ship used to resupply the ships at sea so it's obviously a very big ship one of the other ships being towed away now the will be ready to to start that operation they've been there obviously for over a week now. to all these three hundred crewmembers there is no immediate danger to them there they're in an ok state we managed to talk to the captain earlier and he told us about his hopes everything depends on the weather when the wind comes down the rescue operation will become quicker right now the cross an icebreaker is on its way here we have enough water and food supplies that can last us for four

months. it was the weather that really caused all of this crisis in at the beginning very cold temperatures for the season about minus seventeen degrees and a lot of very high winds have created ice formations very fast and very thick ice which made all the ships get trapped in the first place and then slowed down the rescue efforts. reporting that still to come for you here on the program on the misplaced hope of immigrants in the united states. they really have that american dream of coming to the u.s. they know that they've invested in their education and they think that the united states is the place to put. that ambition to work with the greatest possible but in reality getting a green card is only the start of a bumpy road to make the american dream. come true. i would think

mysticism but with a modern technology i'm john thomas and coming up on r t we explore the world of the siberian sharman. but it's been pounced on by conspiracy theorists puzzled scientists and start up a media frenzy and the alarming trend of unexplained mass animal deaths in different parts of the globe has still got everybody guessing it all started on new year's eve with reports of black birds falling from the sky in the american state of arkansas and there were flocks of birds dying in sweden and italy and finally millions of dead fish from brazil to new zealand triggered some fevered online speculation experts have suggested a range of explanations from a changing climate to parasites poisoning conspiracy theorists say secret government experiments could be behind the deaths with some even claiming it's a sign of looming. filmmaker danny schechter says the media hype is taking the

focus away from the real scientific courses. when one set of incidents happens followed by another set followed by a third said suddenly it becomes a trend then it becomes a much bigger story in the media but it's still sort of a mystery it may be that each example is actually specific to a particular local set of circumstances we don't know they're calling it a flock of the apes you know for a flock of birds coming up with new catchy words new ad lives and the like obviously it's it's is something that intrigues audiences even if there isn't a lot of explanation it seems to be a pattern of this sort of thing where you know alarmist headlines followed by a few examples which then you know lead to sober conclusions about the dramatic events of religion then there's no follow up for so you know we really never find out what really happened and this is the inattention of the media maybe even the

amnesia of the media the refusal to speak to the people who are most in the know because all of this is sort of chitta lation for the public and yet it could be a very serious security is being tightened britain's main transport hubs i mean fears of an attack by terrorists on european countries authorities say they foiled several serious attempts that the wave of recent arrests is proof that hoping you go to prison off now reports from austria where the e.u.'s asylum policies have come under fire for letting potential terrorists walk straight through the front door of europe. like many others small you would be and downs in southern austria seems quiet and peaceful while never judge a book by its cover one of its residents is now under arrest suspected of being the brains behind network recruiting extremists and plotting attacks in the heartland of the european union and ethnic chechen that's one way it was detained at the

airport in vienna. to mecca news about the incident went around the world or streams none of the locals seem to know much about it. when hear anything about it . i'm afraid i wasn't for this. i know nothing about it and i don't care some didn't want to be filmed at all but was it really because of a lack of information. and the deputy chief of one of australia's biggest newspapers has been personally following this case or and with only a voice recorder in he was more successful in getting the locals to share. his with a really big population become unity with. the. sinking what what what comes next i mean this is just my neighbor he was here with me and now he has his arrested because of a suspect. terror plot with his wife and children

really appear to be leading an ordinary life one of the most striking facts about this latest case is that the suspect has hence he claims he lost the laughter being caught up in violence in chechnya well investigators are looking into or no other version whether his hands off well handling explosives this is raising questions all the austrians were hell well asylum seekers are checked before getting the green light as one of the most liberal asylum policies in the european union last year alone the country. received over fifteen thousand refugees from across the world with such an inflow of newcomers is becoming increasingly chord to find out who is who we want to know from the government in how many cases they actually did this background checks to make sure that this people are not criminal or dangerous second in how many cases austria has received.

information from the countries of origin. and search in how many cases asylum seekers actually have been refused the latest arrest is part of a massive police operation targeting an alleged extremist network in late november twenty six people were detained in belgium and germany and the netherlands all suspected of recruiting so-called jihad is to get it in financing terrorist organizations it can be here in. and it can be in any other town in europe in an effort to get more information asylum seekers the e.u. is no making deals with countries of origin including russia but many experts warn with hundreds of thousands of refugees already living in the union because of policies of some of its member states still ahead. r t vienna austria.

many thousands of immigrants head to the u.s. every year and search of a better way of life the u.s. government attracts newcomers through official visa lottery guarding them green cards but as artie's a long list of reports for many people the quest for the american dream can turn out to be a grim reality. in the united states and here in new york every year countless people play the lottery. entering for a chance to win or a mega million dollar fantasy believing a few dollars and a dream could buy them so for the life of a ticket that could change their lives every year more than ten million people also play a different kind of lottery and fifty thousand when i meet one of them my name is owen and her husband teenage son and seven year old daughter you see here. are immigrants from nepal they entered and won the united states diversity visa lottery

this lottery is a congressional mandate it's supposed to be an opportunity for people to come to america from countries with historically low rates of immigration jackpot with permanent residency the prize is not cash but green cards and this startling experience is due to about us we have to start from scratch from zero once we got here two years of struggling with joblessness after finding their education in nepal doesn't count in the u.s. setbacks they never expected this to we didn't know people used to say you're educated it will be easy america is a big country with a lot of facilities life will be better but in reality everything the incident. yes to hire. experts who work on immigration issues a lottery winners really are given no resources from the government that invited them here and the struggles of jimena and her family are not unique for most people

we have encountered it's been very difficult they reflect a group of immigrants who come to the u.s. not because of a job lined up or a family sponsoring them but for many because of the vision of what they can achieve they really have that american dream and have coming to the u.s. they know that they've invested in their education and they. i think that the united states is the place to put that skills those degrees and that ambition to work with the greatest possible return. when many find is maybe something though here already an ethnic neighborhood like this one that has southeast asian music restaurants and fashion what many struggle with is finding economic opportunities that are any better than what they had in their home country or even finding jobs that allow them to survive here we're seeing a lot of this downward mobility of immigrants and often very highly qualified and. finding foreign degrees an experience don't count for many u.s.

employers these immigrants end up taking anything it means engineers and business managers and up his cab drivers and cashiers according to a study two out of five ford educated immigrants are either in this situation or unemployed all together it did american dream they want to wake up from if you got if we had known this we wouldn't have come life was much easier in my country people who see their plight firsthand or you the government should help more i do think it's a state department's responsibility and i think that the united states is going to lose out relative to other countries taking that step possibly losing out to countries such as canada and germany unless they make sure winning the lottery actually pays off more in mr new york. and from the image of the american dream at risk to dream community and then facing the threat of being destroyed. state of christiania coming across from a danish government that's coming your way a few minutes here on our process. the century winding

cobbled streets old houses and wooden balconies have delighted businesses and inhabited but no signs of construction everywhere people are worried that it's destroying the town's historic georgian authorities are trying to. european city but many say the make over is wiping out the city's unique. when defending its record in the iraq war the u.s. is quick to point to the tens of billions of dollars it spending on reconstruction but between rampant corruption and gross inefficiency poverty stricken iraqis say they see little sign of improvement to their daily lives it means many are forced to do whatever they can to scrape together a living sebastian maya reports. at seven am every morning fatima crouch is outside her house and along with her sister and cousins begins to sort through garbage displaced from southern iraq threatens families too poor to send her to

school and so she works eight hours a day sorting through baghdad's landfill collecting plastic and metal that will be shipped abroad for recycling a reward for carting forty pounds of trash around two dollars and fifty cents behind me says acres of baghdad's trash to many this is just waste but for the families here this is not only their livelihood but also their homes over two thousand people live on baghdad's landfill are. making their homes out of the garbage that the rest of the city throws away there's no running water or electricity and certainly no access to medical treatment if someone gets sick they have to be taken to hospital the same way they get drinking water by donkey cart can you believe that in iraq you would live in a shack made from the garbage people who worked for the fuel and change so we could see that iraq is still a wonderful place blessed by god the old regime is gone and we have a new government but look at our situation we're living in shacks america spending

fifty three billion dollars on the reconstruction effort in iraq but the residents of our jet haven't seen a dime of it what they have seen though is the sectarian violence that drove them from their home five years ago. we used to live in abu ghraib you know then america came the war increased in iraq people started killing each other and so we fled because we were freed in two thousand and five gnomes family moved to the landfill and has been living there ever since too afraid in too poor to return home you know the american occupation turned iraq into a battlefield as well as sowing the seeds of political corruption how can americans stand back and watch without intervening in this situation everybody knows about the failure of the iraq economy this is having a terrible impact on the ground zero. socially and economically. experts worry about the children who grow up too poor to go to school without an education and they're easily preyed on by criminal gangs and terrorist organizations who lure

them with money and promises of a brighter future. how can i fulfill a dream when they leave in fear i can't accomplish anything you want nothing but security if we want to go back home even though there is no work we only need security that's it iraq remains a very dangerous place where kidnappings and murders are part of daily life for these families living on a trash heap is still better than living with sunni neighbors back home but until that is possible until american reconstruction dollars reach the quarter of iraq's population that lives in poverty children like fatima will continue to collect trash in order to survive sebastian mire r t in baghdad now you can always check out our website that's r.t. dot com for the stories we're covering and much much more here are some of the items we have waiting for you right now online rediscovering our cars because beauty increasing numbers of tourists are becoming entranced by the country's

picturesque landscape sightseers replace soldiers from georgia. cops on camera find out why the u.s. police are trying to stop being filmed by the public after a number of scandals come to light those details at r.t. dot com. they are seen by some as a mystical connection between humans and the spiritual world in some places in the past shamans were involved in almost all aspects of life from healing the sick to ensuring a good harvest now in times of financial crisis their cures are in demand as ever sean thomas has been to meet some of them in russia's far east.

from the ceremonial rhythm of the drum. to ancient rituals and traditions. the belief in the power of the shaman is very much a part of the cuttin way of life that he put it there so that our ancestors always had a very powerful shaman around the law to protect it gave them blessings and ensured security and safety in all circumstances and every day life at a hand on a journey and a tool. a shaman is someone who acts as an intermediary between the spiritual and earthly worlds relying heavily on nature to get his message across when russian orthodox christianity moved eastward and then later with the soviet union shamanism was banned those that practice the faith were persecuted now there are only three recognized sharman living in all of the. wealth i help people find faith in the fact that their wishes will be fulfilled their family relations in conflicts at work will be fixed when a person has this faith he can do anything i live in

a time of crisis and my mission is to help people in this troublesome time every sharman has his own mission. to help certain posts with the engine symbols of the sherman adorning them standing right next to power lines from the modern world there's a contrast between the modern technology and aged mysticism as a problem for the sherman. real shamans live far away from big cities and small villages because contemporary cities with computers cars cell phones and the constant russian distract from the true unity with nature and the spirits i myself am from a far northern region she ganske loose trying to make the best of it all life is a delicate balancing act for the cuttin people still with them they probably are an interesting people when we're in trouble we do three different things at the same time we turn to shame. we pray you know church and we make use of modern medicine

a unique way of keeping a tradition that has been part of your cooch here for centuries but it. made us some protect what it created this spiral in the middle is a symbol of fire may the warmth of the fire in your name protect you and may your three spirits be knighted the spirit of the womb the spirit of air and the spirits of the earth in your good your shan thomas r t. for centuries people have dreamed about her life government not by money and power but by ideas of peace and freedom while one neighborhood in copenhagen sees residents living according to those ideals but now the utopian community faces being raised it to the ground if locals don't compromise on their principles artie's arena reports on this. i get tired of pushing papers around nine to five are you sick of posting to the government telling you what to do well then welcome to question any a country where things get done by the people for the people it began in one nine

hundred seventy one when he pees in freethinkers squat in forming military barracks their aim was to build the society from scratch where the only government would be the residents themselves no home ownership no violence it's a co-op community forged by the fifteen hundred strong locals perfect for people like filmmaker mist who has lived in christian year since it was founded if you have this ability to administer yourselves then you also got bigger responsibility for your surroundings and that is something which is lost in large cities today for new this is the most peaceful and welcoming place you could find in denmark possibly in all of europe we want to keep up some of the virtues of the village where people know each other and also dependents and feel a responsibility for each other so what's their secret to peaceful coexistence people actually take responsibility for the area themselves they don't expect. an

authority or some sort of guy from the from the city to come and take care of things we would do it ourselves in fact his genius seems to be extremely attractive to mose danes a recent newspaper poll found one hundred fifty thousand copenhagen residents would love to up sticks and settle down in this euro utopia. such a lot of fairy tale atmosphere here and we have also saying you shouldn't know what's around the next corner there should be some kind of surprise unfortunately the biggest surprise right now comes from the city authorities who want to string the acts of christian mia the land is owned by the state and the state and the state can't do anything about the land if they want to have more housing there if they want to. to be possible to build something in the area of profiteering that's the crux of the problem residents pay their taxes to the state and a serious fee to christian year but they do not own the houses they live in you're

not allowed to make any money off your house and here the house is owned by christina and you live there and rented from christina and you can't sell it on because we don't want to speculation and interest and money in this place but that's something copenhagen city council wants to change by forcing residents either to buy out or move out even if we live in this house which reviews many years to build up i'm ready to give it up if it has to be rights against the privatization of ideas i don't want chrissy either to privatize for now the courts are deciding and although peaceful coexistence and tolerance are two of these communities cornerstones its residents refused to bow to big brother without the proper fight it even goes court t christine you copenhagen denmark i thought is turning twenty five minutes past the hour here in the russian capital here with r.t. now let's take a brief look at some other major headlines from around the world six people killed

and twelve others including a u.s. congresswoman were wounded after a shooting rampage and i resign or the gunman opened fire on a public meeting held by democratic gabrielle giffords one of her aides who was among the dead as well as a nine year old girl and a district judge the suspect is now in custody while investigation is under way. now voting is underway in southern sudan in a weeklong referendum that could see one of africa's poorest and most troubled nations split into a christian dominated south is expected to vote for independence from the mainly muslim north deadly clashes have marred the run up to the weeklong ballot now the vote is part of a two thousand and five peace deal which ended decades of civil war that claimed two million lives and displaced nearly twice as many others. well georgia is historic capital of tbilisi is currently undergoing a massive construction boom. trying to transform it with a modern european style as their inspiration but local people say the make over of

seeing many of the city's best buildings being lost and with them the city's unique character artie's sarah ferguson more. to police his old town is undergoing some major changes a government backed construction project aims to revamp the aging architecture they call it new life for the old town but others have called it a battle for the city's. first century these winding cobbled streets old how the wooden balconies have delighted visitors and inhabitants but there are signs of construction are everywhere people are worried that it's destroying the town's historical charge. neither nor historians work here the people conducting the reconstruction works were simply told to make it look nice the restoration project has proved extremely controversial but sure the

housing here is in desperate need of repair but in many cases the government has simply rebuilt tearing down beautiful and often historical structures and putting in their place poor replicas. you know they've just done work to the facade everything has been done in a slipshod way. part of the cash funding the project comes from the international community but little accountability and poor building control has led to accusations that the money isn't being invested wisely many of the homes now stand empty and uncompleted. the authorities have just been the structures of the houses that suit them inside. this house has been in his family for ninety two year is he tells us that it's not just the poor quality building work that's a problem in the modernization boom many of the locals have sold to investors.