some other part of it and realize everything you. are welcome is a big. source of the most amazing gun buying spree about forseen. two weeks after the tragic school shooting in connecticut gun stores are flooded by customers as barack obama's threat to ban firearms from proved to be the best for. international peace envoy to syria calls for a transitional government in the country to comes to being a fertile ground for terrorists plus starting news crews record the conflict in twenty twelve. president putin signals he will sign the bill which includes a ban on americans adopting russian children while pledging to improve the lives of

orphans but in the country. good to have you company you're watching r.t. life from moscow with me. so gun sales are surging to record levels across the u.s. president obama's pledge to tackle firearms ownership in the wake of the sandy hook school massacre has seen the shooting spree develop into a shopping spree for guns. against spoke to some of the store owners who are cashing in. about two minutes ago actually on this particular wall here. we are four rows down four rows across. with everything going on in politics right now with the possible everything everyone is floating. virtuously

right away gun stores all across the u.s. are reporting record sales just two weeks after the tragic shooting at the elementary school in newtown americans are scrambling to buy the same type of weapon that adam lanza used in the connecticut shooting plus high capacity magazines and a lot of them panic buying trigger it out of fear that the white house is out to ban the weapons but this time the words need to lead to action we we actually i would say you could double or triple and say oh it's the best day we've ever had as a business no a r fifteen for this customer all sold out at the store while prices on line have gone through the roof have been going for a thousand and fifteen hundred eight hundred dollars to twenty five hundred three thousand dollars even in some cases it's just the most amazing gun buying spree i've ever seen so many gun retailers now quite cynically refer to thieve

ministrations ben talk as the obama gun stimulus that's how good it's been for their business so how do you go from a president with a tough gun control agenda to someone gun dealers call the greatest gun salesman in america manufacturers of semi-automatic rifles report that their market has grown thirty percent over the last four years states like north carolina iowa and you have seen a one hundred percent increase in gun sales over the same period in the wake of the tragedy in newtown one of the country's biggest ammunition suppliers said they sold more than three years worth of magazines in just three days. although president obama himself has so far failed to act on his pledge to ban assault weapons his words have certainly provoked action just not the type you may have wanted for someone they say is against her. going to great job for us.

really should be a third term in order to sell even more weapons many dealers hype up the gun apocalypse scenario so the ban don't bring more government although. some will start not only you start. but many of them don't actually see any drastic changes happening any time soon. we're going to cut off. rifles or. high care. it's kind of the most impossible because. it's already circulating. are you going to get everybody to ring a ring back after all any significant gun control measures and up in the past ultimately clashed with the second amendment of the constitution and were subsequently scrapped. to leverage genia i'm going to check out. the man america is braced to plunge off the fiscal cliff time ticks away as

democrats and republicans alike the taxes for the rich while we hear how the more worrying aspects of the deal have long been agreed also ahead understands what he says foreign companies have corruption saying they withheld millions in taxes but some experts believe he's just trying to save face for nato forces leave. the u.n. arab league special envoy to syria is urging the country to create a transitional government to resolve the bloody civil war but he calls chimes with russia which again underlines that the international community should stick to a peaceful solution moscow also deny claims that it's been. discussing a plan b. for syria with washington united peace comes amid fresh bloodshed a car bomb killed at least four people and wounded around ten others outside damascus on thursday terrorism has become common in the war torn country reporters got as close as they could bring you the real stories of the violence that is

tearing the country apart and that is what we're focusing on today in our series on the events that shaped twenty twelve. it became fairly apparent after a massive regional arab spring and in the wake of that the next context of a pro-democracy movement and a revolution or civil war was not what was happening in syria when you see some politicians there and the media circus is just. cracking down on people you think but what about the other guy on top of the politics and diplomacy the facts that are simply too important to ignore. i remember i was a training session of the syrian football team and the coach was very angry with

how his players were practice and he was shouting he was swearing from time to time and then i move my head like this just like this and i saw two helicopters fly and at the very low altitude and firing were told restaurant and close doors there was a group or rich syrians playing cards from smoking living life as usual and just before that as me and my colleagues were live in the local t.v. station there was an enormous blast a few blocks away most likely terror attack most likely people have been killed and what struck you was the coexistence of those two. realities the reality of death and the real to live the most interesting. interaction for me with our side happened before and after the interview obviously and that's often the case. i ask him if he is afraid. said no. no not a great. moment when the you believe the person or not and the only reason you know

if he's right or wrong is intuitional i think syria is becoming the next iraq it's a country that is totally disempowered from where and murder don't surprise or shock anybody and like in the case of iraq all this harm was done to syria with the substantial help of the outsiders under the guise of good democratic and tantrums. president putin says he will sign a bill which includes a ban on u.s. citizens adopting russian children and also promised to back a motion to increase domestic adoption and improve conditions for orphans inside the country the restrictions came about after washington's travel and financial sanctions against russian officials it alleges are involved in human rights violations moscow insists the counter legislation is not going to orphans or potential adoptive parents but at america's lax treatment of child abuse and lack

of access to the children we spoke to an american adoption expert who says that tracking how russian children are being treated in the u.s. is all but impossible. a lot of the cases have gotten very very light sentences for the caretakers whether forster or adoptive of russian children here in the united states but we certainly have no idea how many children are enduring abuses surviving abuses of all kinds but children that died at the hands of their adoptive parents were tortured in some horrendous ways they were sexually abused they were burnt they were starved they were kids aged ever any conceivable kind of torture one human being played inflict on another was done to these children so these were the parents that were caught and prosecuted nineteen how many more out there is there is absolutely no way of knowing the united states

has no system of follow up on adoptions once an adoption is finalized the child is considered as if born to that family. there is a claim of sinister moves behind the death of iconic singer whitney houston online the investigators who say she killed over a massive drug debt details on a website or so that the palestinians you end up right sees them things taking israel to the war crimes court. when thirty million dollars just isn't enough otty don't call me explains why soccer star little messy one believing boss low enough for russia and he talks a. the

u.s. is teetering on the fiscal cliff with the president the senate and the house of representatives still no closer to a deal it is just days to go until taxes for americans across the board jump massively at the same time as spending plummets activist journalist on the bar says it is not the deadlock that bothers him but what has already been a growing. the real problem in my eyes is not the fact that they can't reach an agreement but rather that they have reached an agreement on many fundamental things the grievance they have reached is that neither of them are going to advocate to put more money in the hands of working people they have no problem whatsoever removing a trillion dollars or two trillion dollars from the economy and delivering it to the bankers they did that inside of twenty days back in two thousand and eight and

again in two thousand and nine was very little discussion. everyone agrees on both sides of the aisle that sums sort of reduction in benefits from social security and medicare is inevitable quote unquote well you know the rest of us don't believe that it's inevitable or even that it's necessary and certainly not that it's that it's not desirable yet the agreement between the democrats and republicans on these fundamental issues is in my mind more important than their disagreement that the posturing that they're doing for the media basically to try to blame each other for the you know going over the so-called cliff so that for one. economic recovery is being held hostage by those talks in washington the public seating in europe's premier economic report on what's getting jim and so upset with that government as it puts together a grand austerity plan that if kenyans. if

you're from my generation or younger and you were born into the one percent that i have a lot of college debt i sure do you know the deal used to be that you paid a significant amount for education but in turn that gave you a much higher salary later but now the system works in reverse many young americans stayed very hard to not make any money at all. around nine percent of americans with student loans have defaulted and at least nine but maybe up to eighteen percent are ninety days late with their payments given the situation the people at u.c. berkeley were nice enough to give away a million dollars in scholarships for everyone everyone that's an illegal immigrant yeah that's right if you're born in america then pay till you die but jump the border and enjoy the red carpet education treatment the people who would be getting

the scholarships are mostly the children of illegal immigrants who spent many of their formative years in america and yeah i could see the logic that could be hard for them to get an education wonder when they aren't citizens but they came into the country illegally it isn't taxpayers jobs to help them but wait berkeley is a private institution so i guess they can give out the money to whoever they want whenever they want however they want but berkeley management if you're watching this i would really appreciate if you chose some financial mercy to american citizens it isn't like they don't need the help but that's just my opinion.

i. i. think. mission. critical three.

four chargers three. three. three. three. three broadcast quality video for your media project free media r.t. dot com. hello welcome back if going to stand says it has lost over seventy million dollars because nato link companies operating there are not paying taxes president karzai accuses foreign businesses of corruption for using their connections to avoid punishment but antiwar activist brian becker believes karzai is more concerned about his reputation and revenue. karzai is caught between a rock and a hard place he owes his very survival i mean in a literal sense to the occupying forces and yet at the same time he realizes that

the afghan people deeply resent the foreign occupiers who have been there for more than a decade and so in order to have any credibility especially post two thousand and fourteen the karzai government and his followers must show at least some degree of nationalist credentials in other words some independence from the occupiers to whom they owe their survival so he's on the horns of a dilemma he cannot really escape i think this allegation against the foreign n.g.o.s for not paying their taxes which is probably true is his attempt to solve his own or save his own reputation for those who deeply resent the foreign occupation the fact of the matter is the occupation of afghanistan like almost all foreign occupation is riddled with corruption by the occupiers and by view elites whether we sippin of their assistance and does the karzai government really represent the afghan people does it represent working families does it represent the poor farmers i would say absolutely not there is no indication of that whatsoever to the extent that the karzai government is demanding from foreign

forces or independent domestic forces any sort of revenue you can you can believe you can gas for sure i would say that much of that money will be treated as loot something that will be the private premise for those who are in power the elite themselves. a quick look now at other news from around the world former egyptian president hosni mubarak has been readmitted to hospital after his health took a turn for the worse the eighty four year old was ordered into care by the state prosecutor and barak who led in a truck was going to the serving life in prison for failing to protect protesters killed in the arab spring last year meanwhile current president mohamed morsi has launched an investigation into opposition leaders he uses of supporting efforts to depose him. a court in argentina has found a former economy minister guilty of corruption handing over

a four year sentence policemen charlie was forced to quit in two thousand and seven when more than fifty thousand dollars in various currency was discovered in her office bathroom she maintains she's innocent and says she will appeal the ruling the british scientists want to cut through the antarctic permafrost have failed to tunnel down into an underground lake a technical problem with the drilling system meant they were able to pierce through the three kilometer thick ice they were trying to find evidence of ancient life in the water which has been untouched for half a million years. this is one hundred sixty million dollars worth of seeds drugs being incinerated in peru which the authorities have been destroying over the last couple of days the five tons going up in smoke is a combination of marijuana and cocaine the seizures were part of a record haul of more than forty tons in the past year alone. the international monetary fund raising the alarm over germany's reported

stereotype plans the measures are due to be rolled out after next year's elections and would apparently raise the retirement age high taxes cut welfare and bring europe to a grinding halt according to the i.m.f. and on top of that is peter oliver discovered is unlikely to make dejected voters and happier. top of the euro. paean tree i don't think germans feel that they have nothing to grumble about a view few and they're in the park to show their measuring public mood by telephone and face to face through thousands of interviews we've got a pretty good idea of what the people are thinking stats boffins have been gauging the country's mood to come up with the biggest moans of the year from your average german at number five it's national debt it's better to give than to receive at this time of year but germans festive spirit ran out long ago over chancellor merkel being a little too generous and bailing out countries like greece especially when it's

their money at four is climate change the mayan world ending prophecy may have turned out to be hocus pocus but germans remain seriously concerned about keeping mother earth ticking over for as long as possible number three is a very twenty first century problem getting ripped off online as we bank in shop on the web more than ever before the fear for germans is that someone else's netting their details on their cash. poverty came in second towards the end of the year it was revealed that around a quarter of europeans are at risk of living below the breadline germans watch with despair what's happening to the greeks in spanish images they struggle to shake from their minds but the biggest worry for germans in twenty twelve was rising prices costs a rocketing everywhere from food to fuel and next year looks set to get even more

pricey germany is a world leader in using renewable energy and over the coming year it's the consumer who will be paying to keep it that way with a shocking fifty percent increase in the subsidy paid towards renewable energy sources so that's what troubled germans this year but what are their fears for the future but i'm concerned maybe to find a good job because i want to do something different trying to thirteen minutes on sure what is happening in our economical crisis perhaps the euro is having another crisis i actually love berlin that's why i want to stay here but if i can't find a job here so will have to try to get somewhere else i worry about everything job crisis everything is going down the hill that people are concerned about job security that they just that yeah the contracts are not secure in our that firms

companies no longer have enough money and that people are just get fired. as with most situations in life when you ask people what their concerns are or what they want to see changed you do have to be prepared that their own says might not be exactly what you want to hear really one of the off the top runs was to legalize soft drugs i don't think it's useful for. you to still be. split titian's in two thousand and thirteen so what will germans be concerned about at the end of twenty thirteen even though they've less to worry about than most europeans it's unlikely that worries over spending its home or on other countries will disappear within twelve months peter all of a r.t. early. coming up in a couple of minutes the gloves are off as that peter lavelle's gas cones in cross talk just after.

was. in the middle of russia's no from away from civilization and his three hour helicopter train from the nearest village. they still one family have been living here for a long time in tents made of reindeer skins. so

if you can see. blood in runs in a signal and minutes they also grew up in the 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. how our modern resentencing teacher. was a and so his stance is he tells us stories about his motherland. thank you laws in europe to now has a one thousand strong reindeer herd when the animal saw the light in and most around brood is gather the turns and move to another posture they travel hundreds of kilometers in winter women 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 their sons are similar. oh. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hardy welcome to the big picture.

leave me. alone welcome to crossfire i'm going to live on the rise and fall of civilizations for over a century there have been predictions of western decline given the global financial crisis that started in two thousand and eight and the stagnation in much of the western world are some of those predictions coming true and if the west is in decline what will take its place. to cross-talk to decline of the west i'm joined by alexander graf lamb store if he's in brussels he is the vice president of the liberal group in the european

parliament and in some paolo we crossed the pepe escobar he is a journalist and author all right gentlemen cross talk rules and if that means you can jump in anytime you want to be if i go to you first is the west in decline. you should ask spangler in fact they're sure that spangler stone because he is a. another hundred years ago in fact it's very complicated the west is not declining the middle classes all across the western developed world they're not only declining but they are going off the grid altogether in fact deletes are not so if you ask the elites in brussels by the way in washington d c d are fighting the decline of the west deuce and nail and this implies financial capitalism and the nexus between financial capitalism neel liberalism and the war party which is basically the democrats in the republics in the west but also some parties in europe as well so the elites will fight it it's the decline of the roman empire you

could you could see it's in slow motion but it's also the sure turbo accelerated version and we have to ask this question to our friends in beijing by the way because for them this is the chinese century so what are they putting in place in terms of not emulating all the mistakes committed by the west especially for these past one hundred years and is there going to be a chinese century that is chinese century chinese characteristics i don't think so but then we're going to talk about it soon ok alexander when you come in on this go ahead what i just don't think the west is in the climate quite on the contrary we are the most dynamic economic structure that exists on the face of the earth we tracked more foreign direct investment in europe alone than all the brics together india china russia and brazil and if one talks about the chinese century let's just look at a couple of elections that just took place everybody followed.