breaking news israel pummels gaza with air strikes the top military leader of hamas at least nine people are reported killed including children is ready troops are on standby for a ground invasion. rising up against austerity millions a european sign up from block one action against cuts and mass protests provoking the heavy arm of the law. a sex scandal triggered by revelations a former cia chief cheated smashes america's p.r. push in afghanistan on top of the reputation of the current celebrity come on.

live from the new center here in moscow this is r.t. with international news and comment twenty four hours a day breaking news israel has launched a deadly military offensive against gaza with warplanes hitting at least twenty sites in the occupied territory the operation began with the airstrike assassination of the military leader of hamas the palestinian group pledged to open the gates of hell in retaliation for more nest nuts that's now cross live to r.t. tom bowman joins me live tom tell us exactly what's happening now. hi there bill well yes the situation continuing to escalate in the south of israel and around gaza with air strikes continuing there explosions rocking gars of there the israeli navy has also in the past hour joined in this offensive shelling northwest guards are reportedly hit their targets there the israeli military says that it's out to try and destroy terrorist infrastructure

across gaza the house the targets for their part have also been sending rockets back into southern israel in retaliation israel's iron dome missile defense system has reportedly shot down about fifteen grad rockets in the past hour those are the big rockets that can cause a lot of damage they were aimed at the southern israeli city of beersheba what's on everyone's the question everyone's lips now is how will this go from this point will it escalate into the feared ground invasion that everyone is speculating may happen israel has called up some of its reserves and they have said they're perfectly ready to start a ground invasion if they deem it necessary everyone on tenterhooks to see whether that actually comes to pass or not it all started earlier today with the

missile strike on the car of our med after judge beery the head of hamas his military wing that that targeted killing as these raids call it was followed by this bombing offensive which has already claimed civilian lives it's expected that the death toll will rise as the as the bombing of the offensive continues there has been international reactions to it egypt has demanded that this offensive stop and says that there. paul out there ambassador to israel if it doesn't. for his part mahmoud abbas the palestinian president has called for an urgent meeting of the arab league and has demanded that this israeli aggression in as he puts it stops as well and the u.n. and the u.k. amongst others have called for restraint on both sides to try and calm this down

the fear is that it could end in the destruction seen in two thousand and eight to nine the new year there when the the last operation of this of this magnitude then called cast lead with the same objectives back then led to street fighting in gaza and huge civilian casualties as a result tom button thanks very much indeed for that live update there in tel aviv well earlier i spoke to political analyst dr honey he is inside gaza and he says people fear a ground invasion could start at any time. for the boss a few minutes even we being here hearing bombings i thought except targeting cars civilians in suits you what's the situation is very tense days or even planes are hoovering in the sky of the girls for the last trade. of benny king. there's been some fear that i ground invasion what decade police and i think the situation would

continue at least for the next hours and the next if you would be easy i think there was just some factions hamas islamic jihad and other factions will not give up and they will do their best to retaliate and launch some work at sir from gaza on those really aside in order to pressure of the israeli side to stop their attacks that is intensive up to this moment and we have witnessed more than fifty attacks said. in from the south to the north of the gaza strip from the east to the. all the gaza strip has been under fire up to this moment. but of course we'll keep up to date with those developments there in gaza throughout the day here on r.t. . it's a day of unity that europe won't soon forget though for reasons that are anything

but celebration a series of mega protests are underway across the block with millions signing up to join in on the resoundingly chorus saying no to a sturdy sheriff earth has been following the demonstrations. very tense and very angry day safe in the general strike hit in spain we've already thing clashes breaking out between the riot police and protesters and as he said just a tense atmosphere of course is not just saying this protesting today that joy by portugal joined by greece that joined by its late this is a euro white mega protest it's the first time we've seen this type of protests really crossing borders in all rallying around that single message no to austerity now it's quite hard to say exactly how it's going to ted outs night these things certainly can change pretty quickly as we said we've already seen days run ins happening a lot of anger had a lot of tension and

a most contrast to what we saw in just the year a guy we were employed to go just a few days ago in a very similar thing happening that years since recessions continue and as the government has continued along it's a stereotype polythene among people become increasingly desperate certainly here in today's very very rough ride a bit more than twenty because that's five percent unemployment that's the figure this made all across europe right now record levels of unemployment in the least that late in country said you can feel the desperation you can feel the anger when you come out into the streets at gatherings like this we've seen the individual clashes happening in countries like greece in saying this poll this is the first time it is crossed the borders and everyone's really comes together to drive that message time to the european need is no need to austerity you can see the band is around you can hear some of the noise in the background some of the protests the setting off there is

a flash right noises she's gathering here and this is that mirrored across europe today the u.k. has been enjoying it and we've had cyprus we've had switzerland brussels this is really going to be shaking up your opinion is it going to be what's. this very very closely the big question of course is it getting to make at this point is this going to be a game changer if we see these protests even already starting to slow down there is this still timetables that european leaders are having to concede that they const we said quite say tightly and the countries haven't the meeting they say that targets to the billion year right balance but of course they have maintained that part that all stared to try and not the people here gathered today aside angry about is not the kind of unity i think that european founders would have had in mind but it is you are coming together now as he said with that single message to the not going to tolerate any more austerity we had the start of the marches teach

get underway very shortly will be pretty old the updates life from the tape throughout the evening well earlier we spoke to one of the organizers of strike action in britain and she says it's the government's duty to listen to the people know their opinions away with basons. this is a real sea change tool the movement the trade union movement here in britain but also across europe and it's because people are realizing that if we are to back this devastating tide of terrible and useless cuts which are devastating people's lives then we have to take collective action ourselves as ordinary people as trade unionists as an employed pensioners we have to say that there are other economic policies available. at the station and it's time for our leaders our political leaders our economists and bankers to change policy austerity is not. ordinary people if the spanish citizens the workers of spain gathering together to say that

they want a different approach their livelihoods are being destroyed their families are suffering and they have the democratic right to make those protests they have the right to withdraw their labor and to make their voices heard. if workers and ordinary people call make their protests without being suppressed their voices have to be heard it's those people that have put the politicians in place and the politicians have to listen to the ordinary people and meet their needs. very shortly after this break. looking at some dorks you simply do not believe they come speak and goodness how they can wrong oh. it's an international sled dog race with those driving the dogs. coming from as far away as

a strength in canada and the us i come to russia and everybody is so very friendly they welcomed me with open arms and the scenery is so beautiful it's very much like a laska and so i felt at home the first blood joke was brought here probably a stray and now a stray as come to this remote russian village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail are amazing but even more amazing is the story of how racing first started here atoll it wasn't the top. grazing who set the trail ablaze but a nun and for those who brought their dia to life. five years ago for a scare of a bill to duck kennel in the village kids from the local open age came around to take care of the dogs and one day they state their life might seem extreme to some the boys wake up at six to feed to the dogs before school in the evening they spend

up to three hours training that full legged friends but smother her schedule also encourages her kids to become depth hands on the computer and internet the boys regularly update their websites and they're in touch with the busy ma the twenty four seven on the phone. but children are the most important thing my own interests not play any rule any more and regardless of whether parsky has huskies window race or not she hopes the competition will take place in the village next year. but called these dogs and the children it really is not the winning but actually just the taking part that counts. cultures that so much of what i do you think is right on the box was three in

opposition that has reinvented itself and it has to be recognised as a legitimate representative of the syrian people at home and on the global stage. to.

use continues here in our t.v. chinese leader has stepped down as head of the communist party clearing the way for his successor and a once in a decade transition vice president xi jinping is expected to take over as the party leader on thursday in the next president in march the transfer to a place in the party congress which is drawn to a close in the country's capital while the big question is how the new leadership will affect china's relations with its top political and economic rival the us well for more on what's ahead in the coming decade let's talk to donald lewis he's a research fellow at stanford law school with an interest in china well together with other developing economies china seems to be really shifting the scales of global power from the west do you think it will actually bring about asian domination in the long term. well that remains to be seen.

but in terms of certainly the near term. through perhaps twenty twenty we will of course continue to see china's rise. there have been leaders in the west most recently i think perhaps the australian prime minster saying the chinese economy will top out and surpass the u.s. economy by twenty twenty and the world bank thinks perhaps otherwise but what is currently occurring between the united states to china and indeed the european union is a process of rebalancing in which the chinese economy is readjusted away from its very strong export orientation over the last two decades or so towards one that is more focused on growing

domestic consumption and indeed moving somewhat away from manufacturing towards more service sector emphasis. and indeed what we see here alternately really is a a yes if you like the continued rise of china but very much part of an interdependent global economy with three pillars really. the u.s. europe and east asia including both china and japan asking about europe than of course the crisis in europe at the moment is that a great investment opportunity for china is in some ways an area where china could help out europe or indeed it could capitalize on the problems in europe. well i think china certainly wants to continue to develop a very close interdependent relationship with europe. europe has

been one of the principal overseas destinations and this is picked up recently. in terms of what is called o.d.i. are over these outbound direct investment from china now it's very interesting to note that china has earmarked over one trillion u.s. dollars for overseas direct investment over the next few years and europe is one of the principal beneficiaries here so there is that dimension in terms of investment of course but the european union is currently china's number one trading partner so that there is a very robust trade that occurs and is occurring between. the two the two powers at the same time course china has has an abiding interest in seeing europe resolve its debt problems the debt crisis is affecting southern europe

and indeed has participated to. some extent in cooperating with the european central bank in terms of greece's. financial difficulties thank you very much for joining us live donald lowest in stanford in the usa. thank you the u.s. campaign in afghanistan has suffered a military grade blow with at least two celebrity generals and veterans of the intervention for life in christ a sex scandal that started with revelations of the ex cia chief having an affair as now claim the reputation of the current afghan campaign commander. of explains. in the papers that here in afghanistan petraeus star and battlefield felt at cia by an affair situation the reaction on the ground has been one of outrage people are really quite confused by this whole scandal one of the comments that i heard from a person who wish to be anonymous in the foreign ministry is office was they founded really indicative of how well the afghan war effort is going in terms of

u.s. policy if the top general in charge of it had time to send twenty to thirty thousand pages worth of inappropriate e-mails people here have also expressed some confusion as to why these kinds of scandals would force these top men to resign and not for example the scandals that have really resonated among the people here on the ground for example the tragic massacre by a u.s. soldier of sixteen civilians here in afghanistan the burnings of the koran by officials here as well as regular policies like for example night raids which are so controversial here that often result in the deaths of civilians so people are quite confused by this scandal they're not quite sure what implications will have on the u.s. war effort here in afghanistan and of course it's coming on the heels of a very important talks between the u.s. and afghanistan the two countries have been in negotiations over what the u.s. will do with the remainder of its sixty eight thousand troops that are here that are due to withdraw by the twenty fourteen deadline some analysts i've spoken to on the ground here in kabul think that this embarrassing scandal will really be sort

of a pardoning chip for some factions in afghanistan to be able to effectively get more of what they want to say well look you know you guys here in the u.s. military top brass don't necessarily have the credibility to pull off certain policy options and that's really been the concern as one of the fallouts of the scandal but of course if we look at the big picture in terms of u.s. policy in afghanistan it really has been crisis after crisis it's not just these resignations betray us and the implication of general allen we've seen the u.s. spend nearly six hundred billion dollars and it's eleven year effort in afghanistan the insurgency the taliban insurgency has low. actually remained on ballard by that we've also see in the u.s. actively shifting towards other policies for example trying to train afghan soldiers to to take over after twenty fourteen and that too has been marred by scandal with nearly fifty four americans being killed in the so-called green on blue attacks showing that the u.s. influence is really waning here in this country another concern is of course the

implication on the morale of the troops here the american troops who are not necessarily welcomed in this country they're not the scandal is not going to help them continue to operate on the ground and there's also the concern that the u.s. is really shifting from person based policy to a robotic policy what i'm of course referring to is the drone strikes afghanistan has seen three hundred and thirty three drone strikes in the past year alone that's more than pakistan somalia and yemen combined. google says the number of government requests to access and remove online data has risen throughout twenty twelve us once again topped the list asking for the private information almost eight thousand users in the first six months of the year to discuss the surveillance trend i'm now joined by laws kay leader of the u.k. pirate party very personal data being requested but also contents being requested to be removed what sort of stuff is being removed that should not be removed do you think. well we've seen

a very worrying trend each time that these reports are being have been republished by google we've seen an increase of prayer requests from a whole range of things there's been a lot of copyright requests but also i think most alarmingly is this trend towards requesting personal data particularly this area where we've seen a huge seen a significant increase from the united states the united states is way out ahead in these requirements with india just coming in a distant second and i think it's particularly this it's not so much the it's not so much to take a town but i think it's particularly these requests for personal information there is it's your sort of big aspect in all sorts of drop but i mean surely governments do have a reason for demanding the removal of certain dates or or indeed access to personal information such as state security and fighting terrorism on the reasons we hear

this mantra of national security all the time there are a perfectly legitimate way to get and to gain to gain information which and that is under through the rule of law and through getting a warrant in a court what is particularly alarming it's that actually this is part of a general trend to. governments wanting to gain more and more personal information about citizens and we can see that here in the united kingdom for example the government is proposing a so-called this chart to track all our email contacts our website use and phone records now this is supposedly to keep us sane but in fact it does rebirths become by storing the actually unnecessary director on those it produces more because of the. data is in danger probe from hackers for

example so this this requote this blanket surveillance doesn't help our security quite the reverse just quickly should google be complying with this well google has actually been doing us all a favor by being being transparent about these requests and they actually have very little option frankly and i think we need to see it in the context of the kind of government we want we're seeing the wrong relationship now between the between states and citizens citizens are turning into suspects and that is an alarming development thank you very much your thoughts on this law's kay leader of the u.k. pirate party joining me live there in there just in the u.k. but back to our breaking news story now his run is not airstrikes in assassinations in gaza killing the military leader of a massive bombing at least twenty sites in the occupied territory the operation began with israeli warplanes killing the military leader of hamas c.c.t.v.

footage of the attack has been released by the israeli military has been a powerful explosion outside the house of the palestinian groups foreign affairs chief from up strikes killed at least nine people including children is now talking is rather protracted fighting in gaza with warnings of an imminent ground invasion military boats already shelling from the sea and masses israel has opened the gates of hell is now more with the jewish state that's our breaking news and we'll be keeping updated as the story unfolds crosstalk is coming your way very shortly after this break stay with us r.t. in moscow. in japan the average height for men is one hundred eighty two centimeters ten centimeters shorter because of that some employers refused to hire me one of them even told me directly that i was too short to deal with the clients could you just

already spend three months in this hospital and plans to stay for another four to add the coveted seven santa maters to his stature invented by the famed soviet orthopedic is good for you is there and the nine hundred fifty s. these frames for initially used to treat fractures and deformities by cutting bones and slowly pulling them up or therefore stimulating tissue regeneration it was out of was able to reshape arms and legs and people who thought they were crippled for life piecing together patients shattered bones and in many cases their shattered lives were in the ingle when professing the result of design his first brain using bicycle parts sixty years later season venture is increasingly being used to help people quite eager to fracture their legs to become a few centimeters taller than the ultimate goal is still the same six thing somebody is live both literally and figuratively about is third of patients admitted to be always out of center nowadays seeking surgery focused magic reasons

most of them a man and most are not what you would call vertically challenged professor novick of who operated on many of them says it usually comes down to a man's pride some of the first patient to turn to us with a leg length i mean request to meet his fifteen centimeters to be still want to surgery because panos tool than him we like to say that we need to break their legs in order to fix their head maybe nothing wrong with them from an orthopedic point of view but there is something psychological that prevents them from living their lowest fully. being happy and we fix it like lengthening surgeries are banned in many countries and even the will out there pretty expensive in russia the entire course costs eleven thousand dollars about one tenth of the similar package in the united states. financial considerations were one of the reasons that brought this washington state to western siberia his main motive for the surgery had to do with

how he fared in the auditors in america advertised as one seventy five i was one sixty seven or one sixty a console one eight centimeters would have brought me right to average users wanted to be average for women height isn't so important you know i think girl can be short and it's not a big deal i think a guy is like expected to be taller just before the operation most this mad a russian girl who found he's a regional hide quite endearing yet he still want to have had the surgery adding seven more centimeters to the self-confidence she took told me the whole time you're crazy you're normal you're perfect. so now or so they call you so what a compliment for somebody who's used to falling short of his own expectations.

and. started. to. follow him welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle the syrian opposition says it has reinvented itself and has to be recognized as the legitimate representative of the syrian people at home and on the global stage what difference will this make will this new strategy change the course of the civil war after all it would appear assad has considerable staying power. to cross-talk the syrian civil war i'm joined by rim turkmani in london she is a spokesperson for the group building the syrian state in istanbul we have right goodman he is the europe bureau chief for the mcclatchy newspapers and in colombia we cross to joseph almight he is an adjunct professor at the university of south.