massive blasts killed dozens of security officers in a war torn of syria as two car bombs exploded in the country's southern city of daraa. c eight chief david petraeus quits just post over an extramarital affair as some question whether there's another reason for his departure. and friday prayers and in violence in a ball with police firing tear gas at opposition activists struggling to make their voices heard in the ongoing anti-government protests. world news live from our moscow headquarters you're watching are with me. well more

than twenty members of syria security forces have been killed in twin blasts in the southern country's southern city of daraa so far we know that our correspondent paula sleeper is following these updates and we're going to get to her right now paula of course this isn't the first time that syria's military forces have been targeted what do we know so far about this attack i know the details are coming in as we speak. also in state news agency is reporting that two large explosions have struck the southern city of daraa although we are hearing out of the ports that as many as five explosions might have taken place we noted them up multiple casualties and heavy material damage some reports suggesting more than twenty people have been killed but i have seen those numbers hit as high as forty most of them belong to the syrian security forces now what we understand is that there was an apparent double suicide attack according to activists on the ground the blast went off near

a branch of the country's military intelligence in daraa that the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels now targets on security institutions have become quite commonplace and recently in syria earlier this week there was an attack in the province of hama now kind of a claimed responsibility for that attack we haven't yet had any any group coming forward and came in responsibility for this attack but in that attack earlier this week dozens of us were killed now attacks like this of course throw doubt on the possibility of any sort of diplomatic solution to this crisis this as members of the opposition are meeting in doha to try to sort of bring together a new sort of coalition against the government beyond what's really been seen as the failed s. and c. group what's your impression as to what is likely to come out of doha and whether what's happening on the ground in syria is going to affect that. well as you correctly say while this violence is happening in syria the syrian opposition is

meeting quite far away in the qatari capital of doha now then there are deciding their fate this essentially is a meeting that has been called because many of the international backers of the syrian opposition particularly the united states are unhappy with the deep divisions within the syrian opposition and at this stage it seems as if those divisions are going to prevent the syrian opposition from coming forward with any kind of a viable new opposition body the whole idea of these this meeting in doha was essentially to establish some kind of group within the syrian opposition in exile that would have more direct links with the opposition with inside the country that would be able to better distribute aid and funding but the group is being accused of not being representative enough this despite the fact that the main opposition bybee the syrian national council just yesterday friday did elect a new head there also critics who complain that the new legislative body being put forward is not representative enough or does not have enough women in it so he does

not have enough minorities the syrian army which is the main armed opposition group in the country meanwhile has threatened the syrian president bashar assad that he'll follow the fate of the former libyan leader moammar gadhafi versus as assad said in an exclusive interview to our t.v. that he has no plans to leave office the state media department head said that assad is doomed take a listen. in the statement you were channel he said he would not leave syria we know this very well because he will not be able to leave syria he and his people not managed to leave the country the free syrian army will not let him do this he will not get out of syria line you'll be lucky if you reach the same fate as. so what we're witnessing is an increase on the ground in terms of the violence inside syria while the syrian opposition really struggling to try and form or united group to try and deal with the situation. well looks like assad is digging

in the opposition seems to be in shambles our correspondent in the region paula slayer keeping us up to date thank you for that. well as paula just said in the syrian president has vowed he will not go into exile in an exclusive interview with our team president bashar assad said only the ballot box can determine his future and system that he has the support of his people and the army. i don't want to be. leaving supposed to come to be unsafe. but we've been fighting us here i think for the president to stay or to leave. the small percentage and the only way to define thief. because he threw the bottle. so it's not about what we hear it's about what we can get through the books and the books we've got any president. bush did in our two exclusive friday through sunday on

r t r t dot com well one of america's best known military leaders and cia director david petraeus has announced abruptly that he is stepping down now transferred admitted to an extramarital affair saying that he was guilty of quote unacceptable behavior david petraeus served as cia boss from twenty eleven after leading the u.s. military campaigns in iraq and afghanistan reports say that he has had an affair with his biographer paula broadwell currently under f.b.i. investigation over trying to illegally access petraeus as classified e-mails chess spent a year with a former cia chief in afghanistan interviewing him for a book on u.s. warfare well intelligence experts will tell colonel tony shaffer told our team that there could be more behind this resignation than just moral issues. one of the lessons of washington is whatever they're talking about. 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 his driver. 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 had his critics over cia a lot of folks have problems at cia i'm much. 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 all we see is not of the insider is not a trained intelligence officer so it used techniques his leadership was different to what a lot of folks were used to a list based at the military techniques as a general he's used to doing things the military way cia and the civilian organization i think from day one there was clashes get 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 right colonel tony shaffer speaking there will violate this has flared in the bahraini cop at all of my nama when police have prevented people from attending friday prayers their security forces have set up checkpoints and fired tear gas at the crowds killing at least one person a sixteen year old boy reportedly trying 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 had planned to gather for worship there last month authorities had banned all public gatherings in an attempt to stop the ongoing protests against the monarchy but your political analyst patrick henningsen says the ruling family has been given the green light by the last to quote 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 hezbollah as if as if hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so why not be able rajab he's going to have his appeal denied next week by the the all talk we see in bahrain so you know the europe loves bahrain they go down there for loads of money in that 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 roll family and that and that government that 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. all right as salaries shrink and recession hit britain youngsters are being asked to pay for their future security. look at the biggest shake up of pensions for a generation that's just short broke right here on i told. her recently protests and demonstrations of any kind were banned until further notice and crane a curfew as in you can't go out of your home when the government doesn't want you to has already been in effect in the country since two thousand and eleven many of the protests which are now totally forbidden were related to members of the public demanding the release of political prisoners four people were also recently arrested by. crain for insulting the king over twitter wow

a middle eastern country that has totally shut down any form of protest and hud's you down if you tweet about the leadership so it's pretty undemocratic to me i bet nato is already fueling up ready to take action and bomb some freedom into warmer eight well not really if nato really cared about spreading democracy you'd think they'd be more consistent with their targets but that's just my opinion. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from history canada. showing corporations through today.

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all here on. reporting from the world talks of the ip interviews intriguing story are you. trying. to find out more visit our big teeth. you're watching r t with me lucy catherine elf well the british government is introducing a new pension scheme called automatic enrollment which could see people forced to save from a really early age lawmakers claim that it will ensure everybody has money to live

on in retirement as artists our first reports many 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 or 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 planet 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 and 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 was too late. to get in rome and is to help you buy basically saying look you're going to be put in your own

decision to take actually you think that's the right thing and their families go with it 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 earning 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 some will know about it is when they see less money in the already modest paycheck. there is golf course going to be a cost to him so he's going to cost people some of the hard earned income every month but having said that it's money is for the pensions campaign is one that is an open door to mis selling and the money will be creamed off by schemes and 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. events out of out of vogue and of my own finances rather than forced to by government. and probably the same for more or less in the future i'm just turned twenty two to keeping from a pension i'm thinking about how i'm going to make rent next month more gauge whatever i'm up to my pension right now to 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 consider much at all because i mean is this someone you can just playful these days of so many things or whatever you know is just ridiculous i don't think you should have to pay for two no one wants to finish with nothing in the pension pot and whilst the government's need does encourage saving in the current economic circumstances it seems that many people will simply be saying out

. well the us election may be signed sealed and delivered but what about enthusiasm. i didn't vote i didn't really care why not i don't even know like what anybody stood for are just not something that interests me i just go with the flow. thing opinion there are times resident takes to the streets of the big apple to find out what people think of the outcome of that race all that coming up next. well a spokesman for the iraqi prime minister says that baghdad has canceled a major arms deal with russia over corruption concerns saying that the contract is now under investigation moscow was to sell iraq more than four billion dollars worth of air defense systems and helicopters and let's turn now to our team shawn thomas who's been following this story for us sean this deal of course would have made russia the second largest arms supplier to iraq after the united states what

exactly went wrong here. well who see the time. of this certainly is curious considering the announcement of this deal was made just to back in early october and in fact it was announced in october this deal would have made as you mentioned russia the number two arms dealer for iraq behind the united states and that leads to speculation that this cancellation may have been caused by pressure from the united states in fact when this deal was announced it raised some eyebrows for people wondering what this meant for the u.s. was the u.s. losing a foothold in iraq meaning that they didn't have as much influence there now if you look at the. iraq's foreign policy they're a little bit in a vulnerable position they have iran on one side they're surrounded you know with in a hostile region basically and so their foreign policy has been all over the map so to speak they've been looking to iran for support looking to the united states for

support as well also looking to russia so after this deal was announced they said that they were going to cancel this deal under concerns of corruption and that investigation is now under way now let's talk a little bit about the deal more than four billion dollars in air defenses specifically attack helicopters and missiles a spokesperson said that an investigation into this is underway again because of corruption now if you look at corruption in russia this is a concern here as well there where well aware of it if you look at the events of last week surrounding the scandal at the defense ministry anatoly said the call that was asked to resign because of this candle and also the chief of staff and was a replaced this week as well so russia working very hard to fight corruption within the defense ministry within the country and it looks right now that there is no comment from russia on the cancellation of this deal will stay on top of it as more information becomes available well certainly

a bold move by iraq especially in light of its fragile status among its neighbors has the right. we pointed out there are thank you that was our sean thomas keeping us updated on the story. right well more stories for you right now online at our dot com including. stockpile nuclear stockpiling nuclear weapons it's crazy the absecon into a wrong president is questioning the sanity of any nation with atomic bombs. around giving the game away u.s. navy seals have been reprimanded for divulging secrets including the details of the osama bin laden assassination while working as consultants on a popular video game. well for more years that was the message from president barack obama on twitter which was quite popular this week becoming the most retreated tweet ever following his return to the white house but were the u.s. electorate at large really that inspired by one of the most expensive election campaigns in all time well our resident hit the streets of new york to gauge the

public's reaction. to. 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. what do you expect to change in the next four years. i guess. because. it was going to choose i didn't vote i didn't really care why not i didn't even know what anybody stood for just not something that interests me i just go with the flow 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 voting is the only way that you can control i still didn't feel like i had that much control . why not i was torn between the two so i figured in my own interest but

there were more than to running you could have voted for someone out. i do driving 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 are going to change that but what about if we start really trying to separate money from politics or put solutions like that on the table the greatest tool we'll have is the right to vote full these 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've got to you've 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 know 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 change. 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 and b.'s 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.

don't go away breaking the set with host abi martin up next right here are. which is slow often enough and knows that to ride a horse you've got to catch it first. for him it's a daily routine that just fluff is a horse breeder on the island of a horn at the heart of bike all his life on an isolated farm is about blue sky green grass and horses what sometimes it gets lonely here but horses have become part of me now i've fallen off so many times sometimes that bites as well it's part of my everyday life. i holmes been

home to it rats locally just slough for centuries most still live off the land of cattle and fish every evening local villagers place their nets and in the morning the catch is always good. we always have enough here. if by coal is often called the pearl of siberia and horn is said to be the pearl of by call it's all end of fake forests. and vast staps. it's also a place of traditions respected by locals and travelers alike. an economist turned adventurer has crisscrossed by called shores and learned its customs well. you see pillars like this and thought to have supernatural powers

every traveler who comes here asks a. spirits to make the journey easier give them strength and fulfill dearest wishes virtually undiscovered by tourists until some twenty years ago i was cornish quickly becoming a magnet for nature lovers and curial seekers but those used to five star pampering may be and for a surprise the island's infrastructure has yet to catch up with the growing demand here quite some way from civilization here accommodation on the island is very basic so you can forget about a t.v. or even running water for most people a tent is the only real option but for those who come here it's exactly what they're looking for. believe you and your need to buy coal can be unique trip of

a lifetime and the locals say once you've seen it you'll be coming back again and again. here is mitt romney trying to figure out. of that thing that americans call a dollar. concludes the longest wildest campaign in our history covers something a lot more about me that i think of for some additional space with twists and turns that it will hallmarks of this campaign you know what. to do because you've never seen anything like this farm bill.

what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is a break in the set so there are a lot to be happy about you guys on friday things given just around the corner and of course the breaking news that general petraeus just resigned oh if only he would resign for his crime of overseeing a murderous drone program and not an extramarital affair which brings me to this interesting development there's a new drone propaganda web site in town called increasing human potential. interesting choice of words there the site advocates the use of drones and how fitting that it's just in time for obama's second term to look through websites holy dedicated to taking any humane edge off the practice of drone warfare in the mission statement says its goal is to quote highlight the valuable and endless benefits of all the unmanned systems and robotics what's behind this fancy rhetoric

is that the people in yemen pakistan somalia afghanistan and any other country that the government has a shadow war in right now are being terrorized on a daily basis let's call a spade a spade this is just a pathetic attempt to rebrand the drone king's policies just hours after obama got reelected he oversaw a drone bombing in yemen but you know when you have news agencies like the washington post which censors civilian death counts from drone bombings were lacking for the government it's kind of hard to sort through the dissent from ation so that's where i come in let's break the set. a little bit more of the future she's going to be like. here's a disturbing story the kansas city family was completely startled when they discovered a surveillance camera on a tree in their front yard take a look at this.