thomas glad to have you with us the cultural arm of the united nations has accepted palestine as a fully fledged member it is the first time palestinians have achieved full status as a un body but you know sco will now pay for the decision with the loss of nearly a quarter of its funding or he's going to church you can explain it's. there certainly was a lot of jubilation in paris cheers went up in the assembly hall where the final tally was announced but the vote comes at a price welcoming palestine to the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization means saying goodbye to as much as twenty two percent of the organization's budget washington as being the agency's biggest contributor so far and the state department has confirmed that they will stop sponsoring the organization on what grounds a u.s. law passed the nineteen ninety obliges washington to cut off funding to unesco if it admits palestine but nonetheless this u.n. body facing huge budget cuts voted one hundred seven four and fourteen nations

against the admission of palestine a very sensitive and jubilant moment for the palestinians and a sour point for these release and for the united states it seems they've been doing everything possible to do rail the vote but to no avail although the u.n. body in question deals with science education and culture the vote is being seen as very much political as a first step as a reminder of the popularity of the palestinian bid for full u.n. membership. application is now pending before the u.n. security council where the united states is threatening to use its veto power most of the international community is for palestine becoming a full member of the u.n. and the u.s. position on this is considered to be very much biased anti palestinian basically although washington says they want two state solution. virtually blocking all attempts of the international community to help the two sides come to such a solution washington says israelis and palestinians should be able to deal with

the problem on their own but that proved impossible because one side is too strong the other is too weak they can't even start bilateral talks these days peace talks were supposed to resume but mutual strikes in the last couple of days and people killed on both sides and after that the start of the talks again were stalled. marty is going to take our reporting for us there from washington meanwhile ramsey a rude editor of the palestine a chronicle dot com thinks it's time for the palestinians to change the rules of the game an international recognition i think obama's promises of justice were really i mean the day began being hard from the start and they have never actually will i just think any juncture during his presidency this is something we've all read before he even became president when he bowed down before you back and he basically changed all the promises he made the cairo to the arabs and muslims into

the international community as a whole and basically provided israel with all that israel has been demanding says that obama hasn't changed course at all he hasn't shown that he's a serious president what the syrians are doing right now they are changing the rules of the game they are taking. their efforts beyond the american history circle and they are saying this in the international community involved here that is changing the rules and the u.s. and israel are finding this extremely upsetting it said have to include up to punish and that's what exactly what it is and the sad thing is that you have many members and the congress is starting with any outlaws and other conservative republican and democratic members will have been pushing for the u.s. to use its iron fist as far as what's left of punishment to any organization that either a group of nuns is palestine as a state or giving it membership and that international body will be doing all this

is really a membership it seeks it any given organization any way it's extremely and that and hope is going to suffer not just the palestinians alone but in you know various countries that have been lifted from the maze of programs that you just go have fun to do throughout the years. syria's president has told russian television the forces fighting his regime are armed dangerous and putting civilians at risk but also said he is ready to work with the opposition parties that have emerged during the months of uprising against his government are reports. strong words coming from syrian president bashar al assad to where the conflict this country's been going on for almost eight months now in that interview to the russian channel he did say that any form any attempt to destabilize the country will result in what he called an earthquake that will reverberate not just in the region but will have a global implications he also stressed that syria is most definitely not libya it's

a different situation altogether and he did voice out what he and his government think is a real cause of the conflict in his country. today we have hundreds of soldiers police and security forces among the dead how were they killed during peaceful demonstrations or because some slogans being shown you don't know they were shot and this means we're dealing with people we don't know whether the weapons reach syria from israel or in you know the state that possesses such weapons but there is evidence of mines and grenades that were put in place is packed with civilians this led to casualties in a number of cases the information obtained during the interrogation of terrorists shows the smoking to syria from neighboring states become pain was funded from abroad and we have a list of those who are responsible for this the government has tried to put forth some reforms and the president had said that they're planning parliamentary elections in february there are opposition voices such as the national coronation council which shot tries to bring together the different closing forces in syria

they're saying that while they're very critical of the reforms they've put forth by the government saying it's not enough they're also wary of calling or rather and door saying a so-called no fly zone because they do see this could just result in more bloodshed they don't want to see that in their country now the arab league of course has had been actively trying to find a solution as well trying to us speak with syrian officials they put forth a plan to president assad he said that he will be a willing to talk to all of the opposition voices including those formed during the conflict however these are words for now they want to see actual go shushan table and that's not to say that i mean there the external pressure is increasing that even if there's a lot of hesitation to. any form of foreign intervention words coming from the western leaders as well as china and russia who as we know had vetoed that u.n. resolution calling for sanctions on syria all of them are calling for a dialogue for a real results to see that the violence really stop and that's really the main focus right now of the pressure coming from the outside they just want the violence to stop. reporting for us from moscow and earlier on the same topic we spoke to

political analyst. you think that the west and several persian gulf countries have plotted against syrian president bashar assad. i think it's a conspiracy by regional power that they wanted to change the regime of bashar assad they wanted a different regime different government with different had and that's why there you can see that regional power hasn't been friendly to the situation taking place in syria actually some of these country has been funneling weapons and money than i just to topple the regime of president assad the president of syria acknowledged there is opposition in the country and he extended his hand too but it comes within the his country for those people who are asking for change and that is why today they have

a constitutional reform but there is an external power or what they say opposition and exult those are backed by the western powers persian gulf countries. and you can always check out all of our stories online at our website r t dot com here's a little what is there for you right now. to watch footage from the most violent clash between the occupy activists and police so far it happened in denver as the authorities attempted to dismantle a protest camp also online for you. spray and to go in unusual water show winds the heart of moscow fashion fans all these showcased addresses are made from a spray on camera. the

russian billionaire owner of chelsea football club. which has been before a london court it's in connection with a five and a half billion dollar lawsuit being pursued by russian businessman boris berezovsky the self exiled tycoon better claims his former associate illegally forced him to hand over the money and now he wants it back bennett reports on one of the most expensive disputes in history. well this is actually the first time that mr abbott was actually given evidence and spoken in this hearing despite it already going on for four weeks that's just to give you an idea of how long winded this whole process is and today was no different however it was fascinating. to hear him speak and to see this going on because he's a man who's one of the richest in the world with an estimated fortune personal fortune of over ten billion pounds it he very rarely speak to the media if at all and yet today all of that intrigue and mystery suddenly evaporated as he was put on

the spot and reduced to being just an ordinary member of the public basically he was visibly nervous he was shy shaking a little bit solemn as words and there's a lot at stake here he's being sued by mr berezovsky for three point five billion pounds a third of his personal wealth mr berezovsky in him with the co-founders of the all companies sit next to mr berezovsky alleges that he was blackmailed into selling his shares in that company for a fraction of their true value now in this cross-examination today that's just started because lawyers were focusing on details to really discredit mr abbott movies think we've heard allegations that he was involved in the arms business also allegations that he lied about his education so these details might not be key to the actual case it's an attempt by his lawyers to discredit mr abramovich both of them concealed behind this curtain of money and and mystery and this hearing is really been the peek behind that both men turn up to court in very shiny cars mr bures also here mr b.

is the bodyguards call him turning up in my bar mr a mr adam over it in the sadie's they're all both flanked by bodyguards translators lawyers that he's got a team of about fifteen now mr berezovsky is playing with based on their close relationship form a close relationship them on speaking terms now he says they were very close friends he was his mentor and they were they were business partners yet today. released a statement denying that part of the problem. with actually establishing what exactly the deals were between these men because none of it was actually written down and this is a fact that doesn't seem to surprise or shock these men they take it as fact obviously and they say well that's just the way it was because this was after all ninety's russia and still ahead this hour looking for a spacious new home. scientists away up mankind's options for exploring other planets and cultivating a new way of life from the seven billion people on earth. a

new york court has postponed giving a final verdict in the case of russian businessman victor boot who is accused of international arms trafficking boot was arrested in thailand in two thousand and eight after a sting operation by the u.s. and later flown to the u.s. to face trial our correspondent anastasio churkin brings us the details from new york. he was arrested in a sting operation conducted by the united states drug enforcement agency where special agents were posing as members of his group and trying to lure him into a business deal with them so that they could promptly arrest him now the prosecution says that should face from twenty five years to a life sentence behind bars whereas his lawyers say that the only thing i was doing was trying to sell two old cargo planes to these people and according to groups lawyer was perfectly aware that he was not exactly dealing with members of the

fourth group this is something that could potentially make a great picture booch we have to remember that earlier in september in a similar case of another russian businessman was sentenced to twenty years behind bars basically the hunt for victor boot has been going on for roughly a decade before his arrest in thailand in two thousand and eight we know that u.s. agents have spent tens of millions of dollars in attempts to build this operation to rescue your boot while he was peacefully living in moscow actually and then catching him in thailand and bringing him over to the united states and what really seems like a hollywood movie they snatched him away in the middle of the night from thailand where technically his legal documents still remain we have to remember that type courts found not guilty twice but still he was taken to the united states where he has been facing a trial for the last three weeks and the controversy started really a long time ago because this man was dubbed the merchant of death in the united

states way before he was even taken here with even a hollywood film made about this man and the judge was even forced to make the jury sign a pledge that they would not look this man up on the internet because unfortunately for boots in the court of public opinion in the united states he is most likely already lost this case from the new york bureau of associate you're going to report it for us. check out some other international news in brief this hour. a suicide bombing in the southern afghan a city of kandahar has claimed at least four lives a truck laden with explosives that was detonated near u.n. agency checkpoint several people were wounded in the blast and in suing a gunfight between insurgents and the afghan security forces the taliban has claimed responsibility. nato has officially wrapped up its mission over libya marking the end of its military intervention the responsibility for national security will be handed to the country's interim government now faces the difficult

task of collecting countless weapons and firearms from civilians weapons use and became widespread during the eight months of civil war that ended with the violent death of libya's former leader moammar gadhafi. in yemen a huge blast have rocked an airbase outside the capital sanaa prompting authorities to shut the city's international airport officials say that explosive devices were planted inside twelve fighter jets it's not yet clear how insurgents managed to get access to the heavily guarded area yemen's capital has seen months of anti-government rallies with protesters demanding an end to decades of president rule. the last day of october saw the world's population reach seven billion and a selection of children from around the world were symbolically chosen to mark the event in russia went to two nicholai of his mother was congratulated by a u.n.

official and received a special certificate the u.n. estimates the world's population could reach eight billion by two thousand and twenty one. and as the planet's population reaches seven billion concerns are raised over the ten chill over crowding of our planet experts warn in a few decades of the problem could become unmanageable with dire environmental consequences but the news is inspiring some to seek a new home somewhere far far away artie's peter all over has more. so when next mercury too hot pluto too cold mars that's will do nicely as the population of earth passes the seven billion mark some of suggested the red planet as a replacement for our current blue warm however in these times of tightening purse strings the cost of going to mars could be a problem in the months of a one man expedition to mars and back would cost it is safe to say over three

billion dollars preparing for these flights would cost about thirty or fifty times more than a two way ticket in other words we're talking about colossal expenses regardless of the price those who have been into space say the time is right for mankind to yet again both lee go where no one has gone before everybody realizes that it's time to reach out and explore the universe beyond low earth orbit we have for many years just. for ten years at least we have been on the international space station in north orbit very close and we haven't been somewhere else or with people since the lunar landings which ended back in one nine hundred seventy two there's no shortage of take is to be the first to set foot on mars and potential red planet trailblazers have started their training young surrogate is still just a teenager but he's putting in the hard yards in the hope that he can help create a potential new home for humanity millions of kilometers away. i want to be the

first to travel to mars and to other planets as well to the moons of jupiter saturn they say you can leave there in future we're still a long way from science fiction becoming science fact with human setting up home on the surface of mars even if we put the huge cost of a martian settlement to one side there are some serious hurdles to be overcome not least we have no idea if life existed there previously and if it is. whether whatever killed it's off could be dangerous to us why should we even think about finding a new home if. earth's resources are finite therefore we will eventually have to either restrain population and production growth risking losing both or we find foothold on other planets no matter how much it cost us with the retirement of nasa space shuttle the only way for people to get into space at the minute is the russian soyuz rocket currently with the science available our chances of

a global relocation anytime soon a pretty much zero however it took to weigh in central moscow the mars five hundred project is simulating the effects a mission to mars would have on a crew in search of a new home sure but you know there is one obvious reason why the experiment has been so popular the world is still a place for dreamers who dream of exciting projects that unite people international projects yet there is not as it stands we might have to learn to deal with the soaring global population but young sergei will keep on training hard in the hope that he can do it for the dream is peace to all of us r.t. and now after having seen him and pictured him there i can picture him living on mars i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in less than ten minutes next as u.s. troops prepare to withdraw from iraq in december they leave behind a campaign that has cost the american taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars next

we talk to a middle east expert who says the u.s. is wasting time and money trying to build a democracy in the region. you lose a lot of it with your. i . were sitting down with peter van buren a state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it anyway raqi reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department wanting fired because of

the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much of i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me a little bit more about the projects that you were involved in as part of this nation building a team that in the sponsored by the united states why do you think those projects failed around two thousand and seven a number of state department people were sent to iraq to spend a lot of money to rebuild the country and hopefully create a nation that was going to be our ally and friend and a happy spot in the middle east. it didn't work out ted way. instead what happened was that we were sent over there with almost unlimited funds but no vision we had

lots of time and lots of people but no one in charge we lacked many things including adult supervision so instead of the long term cool word unaided efforts that real development work requires we got short term efforts that were thrown together not guided by any broader philosophy and almost were required to fail the very first thing that happened to me was i was presented by my team mates with a fraudulent receipt to sign they had over spent three thousand dollars on snacks for a conference and wanted me to sign off on a priest a receipt for printing to make it all right they then tried to talk me into spending twenty five thousand dollars to buy a few sheep to give away to a few widows and that was are going to be our contribution to democracy in the war effort the more i was of god it was as close to we were going to buy some sheep from a guy who was going to give them to his relatives who were going to raise them and

put the rest in his pocket you could buy a toyota for what we were going to pay for sheep in iraq. the problem was that these were not isolated incidents what i thought might have been just a really bad first day at work turned out to be evocative of the entire year of our people so there was like a systematic squandering of resources there absolutely the of the squandering of resources occurred a very small levels of thousand dollars a couple thousand dollars here and there and soon all the way up into hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent on hospitals that never opened or prisons that never took any prisoners in the united states lacked a plan constantly being forced into short term solutions to your constantly being asked to produce publicity stills and have something ready by next thursday for the photographers to show up c.n.n. is coming over the weekend better get something ready none of these things were part of the long term the slowed work of development that really is necessary if you're serious about rebuilding

a country i want to read something to him really serious some use i write the government watch stocks have raised the alarm about billions of dollars of war zone waste and fraud are falling silent or are missing in action this new. item is actually about the commission on wartime contracting and that charter that they were working under it has expired and has not been renewed i'm just going to tell our viewers that this commission on wartime contracting claimed waste and fraud may have siphoned off up to sixty billion dollars from contracts in iraq and afghanistan now this watch that could be out of business are you surprised who might be interested in it i'm actually ashamed that the commission on wartime contracting is going out of business and there's actually more to it than even the story that you just shared with your viewers first of all the state department has attempted to exempt itself from the scrutiny of the committee that you refer to the

state department has claimed that it was not part of wartime contracting that it was involved in diplomacy. and therefore not controlled by that organization and they didn't want them to peek into what the state department was doing even worse the committee as it's dissolved has sealed all of its records and no one will be allowed to see any of the results of its work except what's already been published until two thousand and thirty one so the things that the committee on wartime contracting uncover the incredible amounts of waste fraud and mismanagement that they documented in the limited public documents that they do produce all of that is being swept away i don't know how old i'm going to be in two thousand and thirty one i'm going to be a lot older than i am now but it's shameful shameful that we will not be able to see that information why aren't they allowed to publish that before they eat official version is that there may be classified information in some of their reports that needs to remain undercover for that long i think most intelligent

people realize that the reporting from the committee is so horrific it needs to be put away to avoid embarrassing the government even further thank you very much for this and if you thank you very much i. those who are fascinated with history. to those who have a sweet tooth. to those who can't live without the sky. and of course to the nature love to use this magnificent land offers its treasures.

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heart of moscow this is our. look at your top headlines. a seat at the u.n. cultural agency for the first time in a move seen as a strong show of support for the nation's mission. voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move will pay a hefty price as washington funding of the organization in protest. syria's president claims that the regime uprising in the country is funded from abroad. as nato rules out military intervention while the opposition in the country remains divided over the introduction of. the directors' box to the witness box chelsea football club owner a. former friend of. muscling him out of a multibillion dollar russian oil company.