north korea's rocket blasts off message of defiance young says it sent a weather satellite into space but it's enough to own the earth the region. moscow slams america's decision to recognize syria's opposition saying it puts the prospect of down at all the risk. and president putin bastid page the corrupt and says it's time for russians to seize the initiative in their country's development . hello and welcome to our table straight to our top story now north korea has successfully launched a rocket defying warnings from its neighbors and the u.s.

it's a second the tenth this year after failure in april of one young says it sent a weather satellite into orbit but washington seoul and tokyo claim it's testing long range missile technology u.s. threatened fresh sanctions saying the north violated international law as it's banned from conducting ballistic missile tests by the u.n. washington called the launch highly provocative on japan wants a tough response from the u.n. security council north korea expert professor frank says the pressure on trying and has never worked so any new sanctions won't either. sanctions are of course an appropriate means to show your political dissatisfaction but in terms of being effective if they are almost useless in terms of north korea sanctions have been applied for decades korea had enough time to find ways around those sanctions humanitarian concerns is the allies to try to so i think sanctions have more or

less a symbolical function but they will have very little actual effects on the korea veterans a rocket or a missile is definitely a question of interpretation from a political perspective because technically both devices would view saying is the difference is what the pay a little bit you put a saddle on tall it's a rocket if you put a nuclear warhead on top it's a missile basically it's the same thing to go to the u.n. to see a resolution and there are hoodies interpretations i'm the legal expert but i don't at all through it definitely doesn't believe duffus resolution is enough to prohibit. all of the launches for peaceful purposes frankly speaking i do not believe that north korea intends an all out attack on its neighbors this program including nuclear program has purely defensive and the in terms of purposes it's no sides are interested how a war because if you have war in korea both korea selection is off for a lot as long as the regime is stable in north korea and that's actually the peak question there is no immediate it's our danger of

a war breaking up. well russia has strongly criticised america's decision to formally recognize syria's opposition coalition deeming it a violation of international agreements that called for dialogue rebel alliance has also been officially recognized as the legitimate representative of the country's people by the friends of syria group in morocco but is artie's going to church account explains the opposition forces of long been infiltrated by radical elements . they call themselves martyrs 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 ocelot 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 towie come meet was a member of a jihadi spoken his asian twenty five years ago he later became a vocal opponent of radical islam the jihadists have no problem to behead people alive you deal with people like bin ladin and they're all because of al qaida who have no his e.t.a. shin to use any form of whip around to to really. control any place. religious believes an 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 cairo 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 islamic 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 their arrival

the humans 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 almost right in syria people heard chanting we are students of osama. in its own words the assad government is fighting terrorists that battle has claimed thousands of innocent lives the measures the syrian government resorted to have been widely criticized but does that mean the wall should keep their eyes shocked at who's actually fighting for

power in syria now. in washington i'm going to check out. what has been more deadly violence in syria with two blasts there a primary school southeast of the capital killing at least one person and injuring five in a separate incident one person was wounded following two more explosions near a court building in damascus where foreign policy experts see the warning signs of america recognizing the rebel coalition pushing syria deeper into a crisis which could echo region wide. what it does is that opens the door now for much more direct intervention in the civil war it will mean a 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 was courting it seems as if the our sort 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 awesome regime but i foresee here 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 regarding a civil war in lebanon on you have a situation it's. this is just a terrible mess at this point. we're coming out president putin promises that no corrupt official politician will go unpunished to care about the crack down on the russian data barrels during his first address since returning to the kremlin. the

u.k. reveals who's going to stump up to revive its flagging economy the rich best at these governments are going to be targeting the poorest of newport off the brake. was. i was. in the legal of russia's north through away from civilization in a three hour helicopter train from the nearest village. these stolen family have been living here for a long time in tents made of reindeer skins. lodging

runs in ada signal and minutes they also grew up in the two but left it at the age of six and never returned they now live in the city in apartment building but still remember their regions. was planted here is a dancing teacher. was. to his dance is he tells the stories about his motherland. lives in europe to now has a one thousand strong reindeer herd when the enemy saw the lichen and marks around who it is gather their turns and move to another posture they travel hundreds of kilometers in winter we men and children for them. but the two families have less

of a chance to come across each other they belong to different worlds even though there's sometimes a similar. this is our team or international news for you now but immediate crackdown on corruption in russia with tough pressure on all officials 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 let's see our share ski has more on what 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 rang no major associations 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 that'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

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 incapable 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 of power that is because the largest probably the largest chunk of the speech was dedicated to this burning issue clearest and 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 or he or she is can feel safe from punishment if he or she is found in embezzlement or any corrupt of actions in their god. 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 hold those who gathered to listen to what he 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 at the same time tries to take his money out of the country i ask you to support the bill to limit the amount of foreign accounts and staunch that officials and politicians can have. a pretty quickly. don't you produce 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 where they were putin said the world faces more big changes in the coming years and wants of russia to be reading the foreign affairs chairman from russia's lower 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 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 launching a perfect this is a seventy from a fragrance with fire power paint off that rocket to gaza used against israel's recent air offensive report online. plus magic numbers find out why today's date comes from some rather amusing superstitions party dot com has twelve last known facts about the twelfth of the twelfth of the twelfth.

the british government is promising its economy can be steadily revived but it's pensioners and young mothers who are paying the price point boyko 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 their 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 family he's cutting the support received 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 and that softer 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. egypt's supposition is calling for a no vote in the constitutional referendum which egyptian ex-pats have already begun voting present versus says the internal vote will be done in two stages starting on saturday and concluding a week later but that decision comes because of a shortage of judges to supervise it ninety percent of the country's judges say they'll boycott the referendum seen as an representative kids day thousands took to

the streets of cairo protests here against the draft is a missed staged and rival ballet to show their support it all comes amid a high military presence of the president ordered the army to maintain security in the country while egypt has postponed its request for an i.m.f. loan because of the crisis columnist and author eric margolis says dependence on foreign funds into her see has a tough balancing act i think there will be more violence you know i was in tahrir square last year with the demonstrators when the shoe is on the other foot and they were all for marci and against the dregs of the government egyptians are very angry there's tremendous the pulsing fury gypped against the government still forty years of brutal dictatorship egyptians want change they're just not true what don't worry that is nice and easy going to suggest that there is

a potential who are a really explosive response egypt can't feed itself it has to rely on undone nations from the united states from the sun the leadership gulf arabs the international monetary fund so that morsi has to peel them so we can't go too far with this islamic programs lest his money be kind of the new bird 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. reestablish some. well look now at some other stories making headlines a gunman has opened fire on christmas shoppers in oregon in the u.s. two people were killed and one injured in portland before the suspect apparently turned the weapon on himself the man was reportedly wearing a camouflage suit and hockey mask and carrying an assault rifle a police investigation is on the way. venezuelan president hugo chavez is undergone

his fourth cancer surgery in cuba which has been described as successful. urged his supporters to back vice president nicolas maduro should his condition or seem to give up his presidential duties if latest treatment comes two months after he was reelected type vote. hundreds of buddhist monks have taken to the streets of minimal to protest against the government's response to last month's rally at a copper mine gets billion dollar mine expansion to be big money local resident at least fifty people were injured when 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 proved human rights record. buses in the us may no longer be a place for private conversation that's according to news website the daily which

claims it's got evidence showing public transport has been equipped with all your recording devices the multi-million dollar upgrades to boost passenger security and is reportedly already underway in several u.s. cities where the man who broke the news michael brick says the new technology sparks all kinds of privacy concerns. privacy experts have different concerns that there when went with other sorts of technologies that they were all familiar with and some of their 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 this can lead us down. one step closer to tracking individual privacy law experts i spoke to said that this adds a different dimension it's one thing to be able to see someone moving around it's a different thing to be able to take your what they're saying. what next people

about on his guests discussed of on the international criminal court and whether the parties for the purpose of course talk right off the back to statements. the mighty volga that runs deep through the russian soul has provided inspiration for songs and poems and is the country's main north south artery and decades ago schumann ingenuity connected it to the dawn river to the west the vocal dawn canal is an engineering marvel within a day a vessel can pass the canals thirteen blocks ten million tons of shipping does so every year. another concrete giant is this finished fifty years ago it's the biggest hydroelectric plant in europe it powers the local city of volgograd and sends lots more electricity to moscow the hydroelectric plant behind me is

a potent example of how much the volga can provide but harnessing the revelent this isn't without its cost. fishermen have been watching fish stocks for years they see the slow damage the downing of the river has done especially to russia's prized sturgeon the source of caviar and the president of the hydroelectric plant has done significant damage because it stocked fish swimming up river to the spawning grounds. within a year all these houses would have gone fallen into the river depending on how many of the hydroelectric plants turbines are on the water level can change suddenly and dramatically too suddenly for the banks to absorb. control of the river flow by the plant has made building on the shoulders floodplain more attractive serious floods are less likely but the water that is put into the drains is taken away from the fish that need it now but last the voice of the voters of color jay might start

being heard. the first time in fifty here is the rules will contain a point on maintaining biodiversity in the river will still have a chance to bring the volga back to. live shot. meaning that the mighty vogue is treated with the respect it deserves. and. to. follow in welcoming across town peter lavelle ending international impunity this is the stated goal of the i.c.c. the international criminal court but is it doing bring impartial justice to the world the court supporters say after a decade in existence it's too early to say its detractors claim the i.c.c. is racist and hypocritical as well as

a tool of the great powers. to cross-talk the i.c.c. today i'm joined by lawrence douglas in chicopee he is a professor of law jurisprudence and social thought at emerson college in boston we cross to william kaler he is a professor of international relations and history at boston university and in new york we cross to george samuel he is a fellow of the global policy institute of london metropolitan university are gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect lawrence if i go to you first is the i.c.c. delivering impartial justice to the world today. i don't know if we can necessarily say it's it's you know this is a fledgling institution which is still getting its sea legs we know that it's only delivered one verdict so far i would say that one verdict met certainly met the our expectations of a fair trial that accorded the defendant due process so i think we have every

reason to believe that the court can deliver impartial justice in the future so again i want to emphasize it's still very much an institution that's gaining its sea legs and certainly has certain issues that it's confronting that has to work through in the years to come ok george do you want to feel the same question. yes i don't think there's any evidence at all that the i.c.c. is delivering impartial justice or that we will ever be in a position to deliver impartial justice we saw in the case of libya that jumped in and rushed out indictments of gaddafi and his son within two minutes of within two months sorry of getting a mandate from the security council to conduct an investigation no proper investigation had been undertaken yet he was already in a position to say that gaddafi and his son had committed war crimes yet in the case

of iraq. the previous special prosecutor moreno ocampo had declared after three years that the crimes in iraq had not reached the threshold of gravity to warrant an investigation so it's clear that. it's not delivering impartial justice and it's very unlike a delivery impartial justice given the that it's serving as an adjunct to nato and the state you're in you're getting a little ahead of me ok ok bill do you want to answer the same question is it is it delivering impartial justice i mean after all the indictments are against africans right now africans only yes that's true we just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the coming into operation of the treaty creating the i.c.c. and yet it's still a work in progress i absolutely agree that.