two massive blasts killed dozens of security officers in the war torn syria this as the opposition issues death threats on president bashar al assad after he pledges to stay in his homeland no matter what in his exclusive interview with r t. c.h.f. chief david petraeus quits his post over an extramarital affair as some question whether there are other reasons for his departure. and friday prayers and in the violence involved reign with police firing tear gas at opposition optimists struggling to make their voices heard in their ongoing anti-government protests.

world news coming to you live from our moscow headquarters i'm lucy catherine of in you're watching our team well this news just in up to twenty members of syria's security forces have been killed in two car bomb explosions in the country's southern city of daraa now the ball must have exploded minutes apart at a military officers club some sources say up to five blasts were heard we're getting in touch with our middle east correspondent paula to bring you all of the latest in just a few moments. well the free syrian army the main armed opposition group in the country has threatened to president bashar assad and he would follow the fate of libya's leader moammar gadhafi this is bashar assad seven his exclusive interview with r.t. that he has no plans to leave syria any time soon now my. head of the f.s.a.

media department who has listened to the words of the president says that assad is doomed. channel he said he would not leave syria we know these are very well because he will not be able to leave syria he and his people to leave the country to free syrian army to do this if you will not get out of syria and you'll be lucky if you reach the same fate has been. all right well the western backed off as serious opposition is still loft and talks over the creation of a unified group to forge a broader alliance against the government the syrian national council vying to keep its main role has chosen a new leader appealing to for more weapons to help alast the embattled president bashar assad and the anti-war activist brian becker says that the opposition was never after a peaceful solution to that conflict take a look. if the opposition is saying to the assad government into the forces within the syrian government that their fate will be the fate of khadafi being sodomized

and murdered by a mob of course that leaves little incentive for the syrian government to sit down and negotiate but these forces within the syrian opposition have never wanted to negotiate there were forces that did want to negotiate did seek to have change and reform in syria but without foreign intervention and without civil war and they have been pushed to the side by the syrian the free syrian army and i sort of say they've also been pushed to the side by washington and by the nato powers who really only wanted civil war as the main method to carry out the regime change in syria well the syrian president valid he will not go into exile and this in an exclusive interview with our team president bashar al assad said only the ballot box can determine his future insisting that he has the support of his people and the army. all of you who have thought about. leaving supposed to contribute safe or not so the thought behind you but would be fighting us here i think for the president to stay or to leave is

a popular it's not the. only way to define. through the blood of books so you thought about what we hear about what we can get through that books and the books we've got any president to say all if. i'm serious. maybe you feel you have to be vince you know the incident gosh our allies sided our two exclusive friday through sunday on r t r t dot com all right i want to go back to our top story now those twin explosions in syria's town of daraa let's speak now to our middle east correspondent in the region paula slayer paula it's of course not the first time that syrian military forces have been targeted what do we know so far about these unfolding attacks. well the information that we're receiving suggests that they have been to large blasts in the southern syrian

city of daraa now we do understand that the blasts were followed by clashes between both regime forces and rebels we understand that dozens of syrian security forces members have been killed now from the information we have it does seem as if two cars you know did it with explosives drove into a military camp in what many are calling a double suicide attack the first car reportedly drove into the camp and exploded it was then followed by a second vehicle which also exploded and that most of the injuries are coming from that second explosion the figures we have are some reports suggesting that up to forty people have been killed although we are receiving several tweets suggesting that there have been five explosions and that the number could be higher but as i say the information at this stage is just starting to filter through just starting to come out of course up to forty people killed as quite intense but if we look at the broader political situation here of course the syrian opposition is still often talks over the creation of some sort of a unified group moving beyond the s.n.c.

to forge a broader alliance against the current government given what's happening on the ground there what do you think is likely to come out of the meeting in doha. prognosis in terms of the meeting in the qatari capital of doha are quite pessimistic as you say the groups have been using for several days now they are really trying to broaden their membership and gain greater international support but so far they have failed to strike a deal and this is casting doubt as to whether or not they are going to exceed in being able to form a new opposition body the heart of this whole political wrangling is essentially an initiative that will create a new umbrella body that will have me an example have a greater time as the opposition parties inside syria but what we are hearing is that there hasn't been any resolution in terms of the leadership we know that on friday the syrian national council elected a new hid but that has not the. welcomed by many factions many saying that he's just a figure from the old regime it was also an election earlier in the week to

a full she one member general secret secret teria and that too we've had people saying that it doesn't impede women it doesn't teach minorities and it's not representative enough so a lot of pessimism in terms of what is missing in doha is in fact a chief thing all right well it seems like an uphill battle for the opposition so far and of course i'm sure we'll hear with you a little bit later in the day as we get more updates on those tragic blasts in syria our correspondent in the region paula slayer thank you. well one of america's best known military leaders cia had david petraeus has abruptly announced that his stepping down but france admitted to an extramarital affair and resigning saying saying that he was guilty of quote on the sec ball behavior now david petraeus served as cia boston's twenty eleven after leading the u.s. military campaigns in iraq and afghanistan reports say that he had an affair with his biographer paula broadwell who is currently under f.b.i.

investigation now broadwell spent about a year with a former cia chief in a fantasy down interviewing him for a book on u.s. warfare she suspected of trying to illegally access to traces classified intelligence expert lieutenant colonel tony shaffer told r.t. that there may be more behind this resignation that meets the eye. one of the lessons of washington is whatever they're talking about publicly oh bleakly the issue is something else entirely and i think that's what's here let's be very blunt here general eisenhower the commander or forces of world war two related d.-day invasion one hundred forty four had an affair with this driver after your president . roosevelt knew about it but they didn't believe it so there's something else deeper here something else that i don't think anybody fully understands this general general petraeus is very critical of cia lot of folks have problems. cia i'm a trained case officer trained by cia not cia but i know

a lot of friends over there and you know they have a very unique structure a very unique culture and anytime an outsider comes in such as petraeus and others as well there's a great deal of resistance because obviously he's not an insider he's not a trained intelligence officer so his techniques his leadership was different don't want a lot of folks who are used to it let's face it the military techniques as a general he's used to doing things a military way cia and a civilian organization i think from day one there were clashes going will betray us went through vetting investigations over and over again both to become a four star general and become the director of cia just somehow during that entire time i cannot fathom the investigation not coming up with this and more importantly the white house not knowing about it i want to bahrain now where a violence has flared in the capital manama when police prevented people from attending friday prayers security forces set up checkpoints and fired tear gas at the crowds killing at least one person so far a sixteen year old boy reportedly tried to break through the barricades in order to

get to a mosque and was chased onto a highway where he was hit by a car thousands of opposition supporters plan to gather for worship last month authorities have banned all public gatherings in an attempt to stop the ongoing protests against the monarchy now geo political analyst patrick henningsen says the ruling family has been given the green light by the west to crush the opposition. if you look at you know william hague and hillary clinton gallivanting around with the friends of syria meetings accusing the assad government of crimes against humanity you only have to look at bahrain to look at a litany of crimes there revoking nationality of protesters right now there are they blaming the latest bombing on his bolo as if it is hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so why not be able rajab he's going to have is the. you'll deny next week the be all talk or soon rain so you know the euro loves but really

they go down there for loads of money and their country formula one grand prix every year and loads of oil coming out of the country there's absolutely zero chance of any democratic reform in this country and this is a country that absolutely needs it washington and london have more or less given the. go ahead for the bahraini rule family and and the government autocracy to really go hard and fast and drop the hammer down on any pro reform movements and that's exactly what we've seen where i was pay pockets are shrinking in recession pregnant young people they're being asked to fund their future security today the biggest shake up if you can't punch inspire a generation far after the break ranks here are not.

usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but in atlanta they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately miss barbara lost a lot of money battling cancer and was facing eviction what she turned to occupy homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is that cruel economic practices can affect us all even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy things they can't pay for and yet the police have to do something about them but they shouldn't throw you out of your home that you paid for for years just for getting cancer no one chef to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america

thought we believed in private property not eternally renting from big banks but that's just my opinion. on an assault rifle. i shoot disappointments. called. rain all snow. and done no fadia all for. the one who cleans the trigger on the most reliable gun of the twentieth century mining legend home on a cold lush make off.

more news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images cobol has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are all today. i'm serious i mean. maybe you feel you have to be good student but. didn't are too exclusive friday through sunday on r t r t dot com. do we speak your language as i think about the role or not of the. news programs and documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news that will turn it into angles keep these stories . for you here. in troy

spanish find out more visit. welcome back you're watching our team with me lucy continental for the british government is introducing a new pension scheme called automatic enrollment which could see people forced to sing from a very early age lawmakers claim that will ensure everybody has money to live on in retirement but as artists our first reports and you see it as just one more financial burden. pensions and retirement already things that you think about when you're young now if you're a twenty two you might have to the government's new or so romans it's being billed as the biggest take up of the pension system for over a generation that is how much of a burden is this going to place on people who are just starting out as you race through life it can be hard to keep the piggy bank for playlist say many other

things to. pensioners seem like just another financial hurdle but not to worry the government's got a plan to get people saving their little piggy is called in rome and it's always something that can be left tomorrow you always got something else to spend your money on it always seems a long way away and then when it gets close you think too late. to get in rome and is to help. you're going to be put in. actually you think that's the right thing and their families go with whether you actually you think no unusual opt out brits have been spending like there's no tomorrow but they're around half the casework is paying nothing to their future but with an aging population automatic enrollment will force companies to sign up every employee even though he's ending far below the average salary will be eligible a wage of just over eight thousand pounds a year is enough to make it apply but the first summer it is when they see less

money no where the modest paycheck. there is golf course going to be a cost so he's going to cost people some of the hard earned income every month but having said that it's money spent the pensions campaign is warned it is an open door to miss selling and the money will be creamed off by schemes in huge management fees the government is trying to sell this is a winner with tax relief and making employees pay up as well but not everyone's. since out of out of vogue and of my own finances rather than forced to by a government. body the same photo more or less in the future i'm just turned twenty two you can grab a pension i'm thinking about how i'm going to make rent next month gage whatever i'm up to my pension right now for the moment. i would be out. with many feeling we sing governments have made a pig's ear of the country's finances convinced it should be sticking its snout

into the savings column can shoot a march of two minas the sun when you can just a playful these days so many things will ever get you don't you should have to pay for it too now wants to finish with nothing in the pension pot and whilst the government's need pensions does encourage saving in the current economic circumstances it seems that many people will simply be seeing out. all the us election maybe signed sealed and delivered but as for enthusiasm there. i didn't vote i didn't really care why not. i didn't even know you like what anybody stood for are just not something that you just be i just go with the flow party's resident takes to the streets of the big apple to find out what people think of the outcome of the exhausting race and all that coming up next.

now a spokesman for the iraqi prime minister says that baghdad has canceled a major arms deal with russia over corruption concerns he added that the contract is currently being investigated now moscow had agreed to sell baghdad more than four billion dollars worth of air defense systems and helicopters the contract was confirmed during prime minister nouri al maliki is a visit to moscow last month the scale of the purchase surprised many because iraq also buys billions of dollars worth of weapons from the united states and this comes in the wake of a current crackdown on corruption in russia within the country's military the defense minister and chief of general staff replaced earlier this week. now more one more world news for you making headlines this hour. he goes over the e.u. budget for the next year have collapsed after member states failed to agree on extra funds for the rest of twenty twelve there's a huge gap in so-called emergency funding covering education infrastructure as well

as research projects one point five billion euros were to be paid out to italy poland and spain to help victims of flooding and job cuts the lack of agreement casts a shadow over another long term budget plan for the next decade which is up for discussion later this month. a routine search at a sri lanka prison and roughed it into violent clashes clashes between authorities and prisoners inmates seized the weapons and some managed to escape with at least twenty people reported killed during that riot and several prisoners were caught later on after briefly going on the run the country's largest prison has also seen two similar uprisings since twenty ten. more stories for you online at our website r t v dot com including stockpiling nuclear weapons is crazy that's according to iran's president who is questioning the sanity of any nation with atomic bombs. and

then giving the game away the u.s. navy seals have been reprimanded for divulging its secrets including the details of osama bin ladin to stop the nation while working class consultants for a popular body. for more years that message from president barack obama on twitter was quite popular becoming the most read tweeted tweet ever following his return to the white house but word of the u.s. electorate at large really actually that inspired by the most expensive election campaign of all time well our resident hit the streets of new york to gauge the public's reaction. the u.s. presidential election is finally over now what this week let's talk about that did you vote are you happy with the outcome yes i mean what do you expect to change in the next four years. i guess i was.

expecting for you me because. it was going to change i didn't vote i didn't really care why not. i don't even know why quite anybody stood for just not something that interests me i just go with the flow so you don't think it affects your everyday life i'm sure it does. i'm sure it does but do i have much control over it and it really feel that what voting is the only way that you can control i still and feel like i had that much control no i didn't why not i was torn between the two. to get to be in my own interest but there were more than two running you could have voted for someone else and no i do think there were more the people that were running for the presidency and you didn't even know it. those two parties are too strong and they're entrenched and i don't think you want to change that but what about if we start really trying to separate money from politics or put solutions like that on the table. we'll have the right to vote full the people out

do you think that there might be room for a third party come two thousand and sixteen. well i focus on whatever i can hoping they can do something but it's you know it's a tough road to go you know what's it going to take for the american people to wake up and realize there's more than two parties. i'm not sure i sometimes think we put a lot of pressure on the president and a lot of the change has to come from with us as well you know we can't rely on him one hundred percent you know you got to you got to get up in the morning and you've got to work for your country yourself you can't rely on one man to do it all for you oh i. i think the only people in this country that have ever really been able to make a difference usually end up dead. that is so sad sad but true but. do the middle ever changes. i would hope it would i don't know what the catalyst for that will be but do you think you and i can be a catalyst don't you think that people can demand more and make a change. i'd like to think that so do you think that we can make people more aware

in these four years that we have until the next election i think so how do we do that. that's a good question we're doing it right now we are whether or not you expect anything to change in the u.s. the bottom line is real change is probably not going to start with the president in visioning it it's going to start with the people demanding it. well exactly and dangerous feared for its effect on us the secrets behind the kalashnikov assault rifle up next right here on our. the legacy no one should be proud. of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over their foundation pipes spewing black smoke over the

snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the burgen archipelago don't make a pretty picture the guiding principle here is the worse the better locals like to tell the story that back in soviet times when norwegians were visiting barons were they also expressed amazement. at how prosperous this was well times have obviously changed by this so it lags say still attracting a region tourists are barons work i would then cons much needed cash that's why when. our goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of drawing it that way the local administration decided to paint the bin you and put it at variance with central square that in the nine hundred eighty s. there was a burgeoning mining community the soviet union was determined to maintain its own costs to a degree located halfway between north america and western europe the bergen

archipelago is part of norway but the special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of stars westernmost outpost now it's one of the soviet union slask preserved relics. of the soviet union if it was cut off from any financial support for two decades curious interested i think it could be even more appealing for russians trying. to keep its presence on spitsbergen russia still maintaining a coal mine here but in terms of profit is far behind local shops so between. bill it is a big hit the defunct are incurred still helps keep the money flowing. it's a rush to your film but you can't play robles for all. your local administration is increasingly under pressure to bring the infrastructure up

to more than standards these modernization efforts are not very popular with tourists if you come into a very authentic place like non-sport should stay the way it is that would be my wish i mean that's the part of the let you know authentic tradition. i should not i would not like to have it in a shiny condition to be on as this time to change even for the better is not always good for business something that even a local band has become attuned to when they try to add morning russian songs to die repertoire the audience called all they wanted to hear it was a song comfortably familiar.

i am a professional. i always am true without firing single well. i know the fatigue. i take pride in my work but for one thing. i do not know my child is. not the one who kills that distinction belongs to the. tree. i am an assault rifle my name is go. somewhere near moscow a group of elite soldiers from russia's interior. ministry are about to start an exercise in the morning information according to tradition they pay homage to past comrades who have died in the line of duty. that has taken part in many counterterrorist operations across russia. they have

a variety of firearms at their disposal but their weapon of choice is still the kalashnikov assault rifle. it's known simply as kalash. there yet. these soldiers will endure a course of special training lasting almost until. its regular procedure a modification to the kalashnikov assault rifle to be tested in such units it will be hard to imagine or tough a testing ground for a new gun. one rifle for every batch is thoroughly scrutinized before being sent to units in a field. in a scientific trial. the rifles designed. one that when he realized his first model was to be subjected to a severe test he looked away he couldn't bear to see it with his own eyes. testing a new various.