made a. north korea's rocket blast softened a message of defiance young young says it sent a weather satellite into space but it's enough to unnerved the region. moscow slams america's decision to recognize syria's opposition saying it puts the prospect of done all the risk. and president putin vows to cage the corrupt says it's time for russians to seize the initiative in their country's development. world news and much more you're watching. north korea has successfully the launched

a rocket to define warnings from its neighbors and the u.s. it's a second attempt this year after a failure in april. says it sent a weather satellite into orbit but washington seoul and turkey a claim it's testing long range missile technology you have to threaten russia sanctions saying the north has a violated international law and this ban from conducting ballistic missile tests by the u.n. all of washington called the highly provocative well japan once a tough response from the u.n. security council on north korea expert professor really different joins us now from vienna university thank you for joining us here on r.t. today how effective would fresh sanctions on north korea be do you think given that such measures in two thousand and six and nine haven't really succeeded in making any any making it stop what its rocket launches obsessions or. means to show your political dissatisfaction but in terms of being effective almost useless in terms

of north korea sanctions of the deployed for decades north korea had enough time to find ways around those sanctions though humanitarian concerns. the allies the tried and so i think sanctions have more or less a symbolical function but they will have very little actual effects on north korea well north korea is banned isn't it from conducting ballistic missile tests by the un and even its ally china criticised today's not so why is it so defiant against the international community both think it's easy to understand why for example china it is against those tests because. north korea depends a lot of china economically and by now having this bizarre capability. north korea gains some distance from china some up a grant if you if you like to go to the un to see a resolution there are various interpretations i'm no legal expert but i know that all three are definitely does not believe this resolution is enough to prohibit.

all of that launches for peaceful purposes so be it again as in many other cases. contrasts the interpretations of un security council resolutions that two days ago north korea said the launch could be delayed due to technical problem and a south korean media even reported the rocket was being dismantled and looks like the north is trying to wrong foot its opponents. i don't know if it did that deliberately but the point that you mention really is very telling regarding the quality of our information about north korea despite all the satellites it behind under close observation of the launching site all those predictions of the largest being delayed or actually being called off have turned out to be wrong and i think this means that we should do a bit of soul searching on all sides are reliable all information is on which really is the end of the database or policies on north korea that being the case i mean from young says developing a peaceful space program better than some of the critics say it's testing

technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long range missile how big a threat in reality is north korea to its neighbors and the u.s. in your opinion. but there is a rocket or a missile is definitely a question of interpretation from a political perspective because technically both devices would be you saying is this a difference is what the pay a little bit you put a saddle on tall it's a rocket you put a nuclear warhead on top it's a missile basically it's the same thing. with the threats i don't know to south korea definitely south korea is on the move through threats from north korea through its conventional weapons japan to certain degree as well i think the biggest threat if it really exists would be to the united states to china perhaps also to russia but frankly speaking i do not really believe that north korea tends an all out attack on its neighbors this program including nuclear program has purely so for defensive and in terms of purposes but of course you can never

exclude once they have the tool it's dangerous and of course there's also the question of proliferation which i think is the biggest concern of the international community and yes he mentioned the u.s. and south korea then of course they recently reached a deal to extend the south's a ballistic missile range making sole capable of hitting any part of the north with that kind of approach achievable this peace on the korean peninsula. go we do have peace on the korean peninsula if you briefly forget about it if you are fortunate military systems. it's no sides interest to have war because if you have war in korea both careers will actually stop for a lot. as long as the regime is stable of north korea and associated pete question i think we should be concerned but there is no immediate danger of a war if you know. ok even then north korea expert fessor ruediger frank joining us from vienna university thank you. russia has strongly criticised

america's decision to formally recognize syria's opposition coalition didn't it a violation of international agreements that called for dialogue with rebel alliance has also been officially recognized as the legitimate representative of the country's people by the friends of syria group in morocco as r.t. is going to tell you that explains the opposition forces have long been infiltrated by radical elements. they call themselves martyrs and god and all those you see around you of the fighters you see are living martyrs and the living martyr has already sacrificed a soul for this country. syrian rebels say they will stop at nothing to defeat us. some of them are so proud of their deeds that they post them on the web including the execution of prisoners. or having a child behead a man who was presumably an assault supporter atrocities are committed on all

fronts during syria's bloody civil war according to many accounts on the ground groups that do most of the fighting on behalf of the rebels dr tatar we come meet was a member of a jihadi spoken his asian twenty five years ago he later became a vocal opponent of radical islam that you have this have no problem to behead people alive you deal with people like bin ladin and there are because of al qaida who have no he should. to use any form of whip around to to really. like. control any place. religious believes and ideology representatives of opposition fighters came together in turkey last friday to form a unified command with the support of the so-called friends of syria including the gulf states the u.s. the u.k. and friends one of the delegates at the meeting says two thirds of the islamist dominated anti assad groups have ties to the muslim brotherhood and salafist people here in washington don't seem to understand that if you don't like the government

in karo or if you do like the government in cairo i guess i should say then you will love the government the comes to power in damascus because you will see a sunni muslim islamised government a muslim brotherhood style government that is absolutely intolerant fundamentally hostile to the west washington has failed to officially denounce the many suicide bombings perpetrated by the rebels in syria preferring to focus on the wrongs committed by the assad regime alone the u.s. is also ramping up the rhetoric about the possibility of the assad government using chemical weapons against civilians something that damascus says would be suicidal on the other hand many rebels are not averse to the idea of suicide in the name of what they call holy war militants have recently taken control of a toxic chemical plant in the country's second city of aleppo a video was uploaded to youtube showing them testing chemical weapons on rabbits we could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage for them of the human will die like these two rabbits despite supporting the anti assad forces the

obama administration also recognizes that there are radical groups among the opposition in an attempt to distance themselves from extremists washington has designated one almost a terrorist organization it is thought to be one of the most aggressive and ruthless groups currently involved in the conflict it's seen as more of a symbolic move on washington's part as many. other rebel fighters in syria will come the efforts of those designated terrorists. this is a demonstration of support for in syria people heard chanting we are students of osama. in its own words the assad government is fighting terrorists that has claimed thousands of innocent lives the measures the syrian government resorted to have been widely criticised but does that mean the world should keep their eyes shocked at who's actually fighting for power in syria now in

washington i'm going to check out. there's been more deadly violence in syria with two blasts near a primary school southeast of the capital killing at least one person injuring five in a separate incident one person was wounded following two more explosions near a court building in damascus foreign policy experts see the warning signs of america recognizing the rebel coalition pushing syria deeper into a crisis which could wreck a region wide. what it does is that it opens the door now for much more direct intervention in the civil war it will mean heavy weapons will come in contention even i think you could end up with a no fly zone it's really pretty much an open declaration of war against the outside regime one of the things that i think is difficult is trying to get really accurate reporting it seems as if the arsenal of regime is sort of its back against the wall and yet at the same time it doesn't seem as if the opposition could really

hold on to territory i mean this could be a long running thing this could go on for a couple of months i think the u.s. recognition here will accelerate the pressure on the os wondering what i foresee here is is a lot of chaos i think you're going to see sunni extremism is going to be. essentially enhanced throughout the middle east which might mean a reigniting the civil war in iraq i think there's a possibility of rigged knifing a civil war in lebanon on you have situation kurds. this is just a terrible mess at this point. president putin promises that a corrupt official politician will go unpunished. about the crackdown the russian the balance during his first address since returning to the. u.k. reveals who's going to stump up to revive its founding conny for the rich can rest

at least. one thing the poorest port after the break. it's perched atop a jaw and under view from the kremlin stretches as far as the eye can see up for a city to all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed by the chance i bear in railway but the poles cremains a spiritual center. things like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of docs worshippers of them selves implicity water to commemorate the baptism of jesus.

in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslims. surrounded by enemies to balls to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub siberian oil of its time bringing in a third of the state revenue but the ball scribbled location had of the uses for the russians the russian crowd a revolt against the eighteen twenty five known as the decemberists will stand here in droves there they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia. but the city also served up some bit of irony for the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution. this is the office where the tsar nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled here and they lead a fairly comfortable existence this was

a big house but they weren't allowed to see visitors or go outside themselves was leading this ordinary normal countryside lifestyle they even had thoughts of escape but within the year the czar and his family would be dead. this is r.t. more world news now and media crackdown on corruption in russia with tough pressure on all official suspect to the wrongdoings president putin focused strongly on how to solve problems at home and his first address since returning to the top job alexia share skee has more on the russian leader outlined. several years ago when former president medvedev addressed russia's lawmakers this signaled major constitutional changes for the country with the presidential term being extended to

six years this time when president putin delivered his first annual address after returning to the kremlin for the third time it ran no major sensations nor political changes but at the same time this speech was even more significant as some have already said than many others before this time put in barely spoke about any foreign policy issues the main focus was on domestic problems in russia and there have been plenty according to russia's president in fact he started his speech by saying it is now or never as the world is going through a crisis russia must stand up to all these challenges and the first and the most correct way to do that is to invest in two youths not richard is the what's the clear as of today the percentage of healthy active able bodied people in russia aged between twenty to forty is one of the highest in the world twenty years time

this economically active population could shrink by fifty percent less we do something this trend will continue either we provide interesting jobs give opportunities to create business build families raise children be happy just a few decades russia will become a poor country populated by an elderly generation capable of preserving its own territory but probably the biggest problem dragging russia back for the past two decades has been corruption among the higher echelons which that is because the largest probably largest chunk of the speech was dedicated to this burning issue that is clear is the probably the toughest message coming out from the russian president this time on the fight against corruption was that north regardless of how high she. can feel safe from punishment if he or she is found in embezzlement or any corrective actions in their gov. mental bodies so tough was put in on the issue that sometimes it seemed that he was not speaking to the whole country or for

the whole world to listen but he was addressing the people directly in this particular hole those who gathered to listen to what you had to say russia's lawmakers people from the cultural sears and military coup or david in order that we could you know when you can how can people trust an official or a politician who talks a lot about the good of russia where you live the same time trying to take his money out of the country i ask you to support the trail to limit the amount of foreign accounts and staunch that officials and politicians can. get pretty quickly was don't applaud yet maybe you would like everything i have to say in just one week's time i didn't put in we'll be holding an annual press conference for the world media and the eyes of the entire planet will again be on the russian president let's see russia r.t. reporting from inside the kremlin over there putin said the world faces more big

change in the coming years and wants russia to be ready for a first chairman from russia's though house of parliament says mutual accusations and acting alone in the world are not the way forward. we have heard a lot of accusations towards russia from the west lately from hillary clinton from the european parliament and from some western politicians and it has basically led to nowhere we can exchange as many accusations as we want with the worst on the syrian crisis but it does not lead to the solution of this crisis and putin was absolutely right to point out that there is no possibility in the modern world to solve those sharp international issues on a you know let's roll basis and the united states the american political class have to understand this my feeling is that the largest part of the american political class is still living in the twentieth century they have not come into the twenty

first century yet this think america is an impotent they sink america can do whatever it wants it's not the case and the syrian crisis shows that the development of china is a big challenge for the united states so i think that put his message was very brief but terrorism both look at the more new world. have a reasonable assessment of your own capacities and resources and come to the conclusion that if you act alone you will fail. palestinians are giving a whole new meaning to go on she. says and seventy five a fragrance with fire power named after the rockets of gaza used against israel's recent air offensive as we report online. plus magic numbers find out why today's date comes with some rather amusing superstitions r.t. dot com has twelve must know facts about twelve of the twelve that's what.

the british government is a promising its economy can be steadily revived but its pension isn't the young mothers who are paying the price point her explains the cost of recovery will mean penny pinching from the poorest. the brits have got it coming or off to some talks to attack some welfare that's going to see those with the least squeeze the most so while the treasury chief admits millionaires are about to get an average tax cut of over one hundred thousand pounds a year from next april it's the less fortunate who bear the brunt of dealing with the u.k.'s ten billion pound welfare bill but the cuts will come in disguise take

for example the new so-called bedroom tax tenants in council housing will get less than benefits if their state funded accommodation is deemed too big for them some local authorities already say that could push up to four thousand people into homelessness especially as they're already being squeezed with an increased cost of living that's making christmas tough in many households the government insists it needs to fix public finances and that means cuts among various with too little to spare the chancellor has really made the main target of his austerity and the poorest families he's cutting the support received both for the working poor three tykes credits and so on also for the for those on able to work it's not just bedrooms being taxed but motherhood as well last week the chancellor announced that maternity pay would be capped meaning that pregnant women will be almost two

hundred pounds worse off starting next year opposition labor m.p.'s have labelled it the mummy tax and an unprecedented raid on families not soft to those at the other end of the age scale were left reeling this year from the granny tax leaving pension as a further three hundred pounds out of pocket and a winter of worry ahead david cameron might have promised to be the best family friendly government ever but with friends like that who needs enemies. but egypt's opposition is calling for a no vote in the constitutional referendum which egyptian ex-pats have already begun voting present merci says the internal vote it will be done in two stages starting on saturday including a week later that decision comes because of a shortage of judges to supervise it when ninety percent of the country's judges say they will boycott the referendum as our representative on tuesday thousands to the streets of cairo protesting against the draft isn't

a staged arrival date to show their support there comes amid a high military presence the president ordered the army to maintain security in the country meanwhile egypt has postponed its request for an i.m.f. loan because of the crisis of columnist and author eric margolis dependence on foreign funds means mostly of a tough balancing act but i think there will be more violence you know i was in tahrir square last year with the demonstrators when the shoe was on the other foot and they were all for marci and against the dregs of government egyptians are very angry there's tremendous the pulsing fury gypped against the government yet still forty years of a brutal dictatorship egyptians want change they're just not true what and i don't worry that is nice and easy going to suggest that there is a tension who are really explosive response egypt can't feed itself it has to

rely on undone nations from the united states from the sun the leisured gulf arabs the international monetary fund so that morsi has to appeal to them so he can't go too far with his islamic programs list his money because so he's doing a very fine balancing act but he's been caught out on the wrong foot now let's see if you can back off what you piers doing and try and reestablish some. but a second. at some other stories making headlines across the world a gunman opened fire on christmas shoppers in oregon the united states two people were killed and one into the important before the suspect apparently turned the weapon on himself the man was reportedly wearing a camouflage suit and hockey mask carrying an assault rifle and police investigation is underway. venezuelan president hugo chavez has undergone his fourth cancer surgery cuba has been described as successful urged his supporters to

back vice president nicolas maduro should his condition force him to give up his presidential ticket it's his latest treatment comes two months after he was a victim of a tight knit. hundreds of buddhist monks have taken the streets of me in ma to protest against the government's response to last month's rally at the copper mine it's free of a billion dollar mine expansion of many local residents at least fifty people were injured when riot police used tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators protesting against the plans the u.s. has recently lifted its economic sanctions on the country citing its improved human rights record. well buses in the u.s. may no longer be a place for private conversation according to news website daily which claims it's got evidence sharing public transport is being equipped with audio recording devices the multi-million dollar upgrade is to boost passenger security and is reportedly already underway in several u.s.

cities for the man who broke the news break says new technology sparks all kinds of privacy concerns. privacy experts have different concerns that they when linked with other sorts of technologies that they were all familiar with and some that are in development such as racial recognition software g.p.s. devices and a number of other technologies on the market already are coming to market that there's going to lead us down one step closer to track an individual privacy law experts i spoke to said that this adds a different dimension oh it's one thing to be able to see someone moving around it's a different thing to be able to take your work there are say. from the death of one of the soviet union's t.v. this remains trotted in mystery we explore the circumstances surrounding the end of john's astonished life in a few minutes stay with us. looking

at some docs you simply do not believe they come speak and goodness how they can run oh. it's an international sled dog race with those driving the dogs. coming from as far away as a strand 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 from australia now astray as come to this remote russian village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail ira mazie but even more amazing is the story of how racing first started here atoll it wasn't the top of sled dog racing who set the trail a place but

a nun and four old friends were brought to life. five years ago mother press camera built a dock 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 the dogs before school in the evening they spend up to three hours training their four legged friends but smother her schedule also encourages her kids to become depth hands on the computer and internet the boys regularly updated their website and they're in touch with the busy mother twenty four seven on the phone itself. but children are the most important thing my only interests not play any role anymore 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. sixty years ago there was only one person who could ride out of the kremlin spassky tower gate in an armored cis one one five soviet limousine he had power that any emperor would envy. this car belongs to joseph stalin driving home from work with no simple affair for the leader stalin used to sit on a special converted seat protected by guards on each side he trusted no one. the soviet leader strictly instructed the driver which way to.