u.s. congress votes to pull the economy from the brink of sliding back into recession by approving a bill that prevents the country fiscal cliff. amid increasing conversion to. official losing popularity some experts question whether it's time for him to become a secular state. move . near the front line.

broadcasting twenty four hours a day you're watching t.v. . the u.s. house of representatives has approved a controversial bill designed to prevent the country from potentially sliding back into recession the fiscal cliff deal passed earlier by the senate and prevent nationwide tax hikes and spending cuts from coming into force at least for the time being but house republicans wanted to amend the bill and decided they didn't have enough support to make last minute changes to the motion he tug of war over the text to revolve around a democrat promoted increase in income tax for the rich the first time in two decades let's get some reaction to this now from financial analyst frances learn who joins us live here on r.t. thanks for joining us but of course it's not over yet lawmakers still have to thrash out these massive spending cuts so will this bill safeguard the u.s.

economy from a new recession do you think. well. really because they really leave to really big question that they will have to tackle in the. one or two month's time the number one power it it will be sealing. the us gov the government already english desailly of sixteen point three trillion us dollars and they are using some tricks to get over to government u.s. government over for two months but in february they have nowhere to go they have to go back to the congress a request for a hike in the ceiling and. in two thousand and eleven it was really after a very bitter debate that reset their ceiling and the other one is the long term

solution to the budget deficit the fiscal deficit is running one trillion dollars a year this tax increases spending because the problem is only reduce the deficit by something like two hundred billion dollars this way show us the government the u.s. government have to cut the deficit to zero or actually to a surplus in order to pay off huge debt ok now we're talking about a very central got very very big figure as you say we talk about very big figures here i mean you you know all about china which is the largest nation holder of american debt how much leverage does beijing have over the u.s. economy or even viceversa. not really i don't think china has that much leverage over for us because time and time again the u.s. government read chinese investment in the u.s.

auto china holds about one trillion u.s. dollars in u.s. fed but the u.s. government can just print money as the federal reserve to prevent trillion u.s. dollars of money by those treasury bills so i don't think. china has that much leverage on the u.s. at all and president obama claims washington is making progress in beating back the effects of the financial downturn and what will it take for the u.s. to reach and maybe even surpass its own pre-crisis economic level. well i think the number one is really for the hosting market to recover which has already dallas's last jews and the how home prices. back to back to the two thousand and six level but is the high as. is three or four years already the other one is really forty and the employment rate to four

bad two to six percent level which is still has some way to go is still. use the u.s. government has to put at least two million more americans to work to really claim victory over d. finally show tsunami once and how are the latest events in the u.s. all this talk of fiscal cliffs affecting the global economy. well of course if the u.s. government could not reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff it would take something like two percent of the u.s. economy and it will affect. but why from asia to europe. by some calculation even china school of great effect may be part of the five percent so at least in the explorer sector. effect it will but i have

avoided the fiscal cliff you came forward to a marginal increase in u.s. imports would be good for the global economy ok live from hong kong francis than thank you managing director of then seeing holdings thank you. hand in hand with the british monarchy the church of england has been a symbol of the u.k. for centuries and while the church still enjoys many unique political and financial privileges its current state is less than secure sorties discover it. one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world with one official state religion to some it's a paradox i think any institute any faith institution like the church of england is going to have some potential threats on the horizon and those threats on the horizon are basically around its relevance to communities in general other faiths

are significantly growing in their not only population but the voice in a social and political level so it's really important to have a plurality of opinion rather than just focus on one institution as being reflective of the nation yet the national church has twenty six on the elected members in the house of lords the upper house of britain's parliament and it enjoys financial privileges courtesy of the u.k. taxpayer by the church's own admission the number of people coming through the doors of this and every other church in england has hauled over the past forty years the very same report even warns that in the longer term the established religion faces fading away to virtual envelopment twenty anglican churches just like this one being closed down for worship each year entrepreneurial property developers a snapping them up and converting them to luxury housing or even light clubs while

the number of church goers in the u.k. continues to fall some one hundred thousand britons have converted to islam over the past decade three quarters of those white women as you know broaden my knowledge about islam and compared with christianity i must tell you i found a more logical you know it just resonates with me i like what the prince of wales but he wants to be if ever he becomes king he wants to be the leader of faith of all faiths that i think is a wonderful statement because certainly our society here in britain is very multi-core. very multi-faith so everybody should be included while other faiths enjoy popularity the church of england says recent rejection of women bishops and disapproval of gay marriage has reignited the age old debate on the separation of church and state people feel alienated if they're not part of that church and so

few people are because only two percent go to church on a normal sunday so that's why we must i think make sure the church is disestablished and the twenty six bishops that vote in the house of lords the only country in the world to have a parliament where they have the right to do that should be extinguished britain now has one of the lowest rates of church attendance in europe there is a rule. in terms of religious opinions there is and that will grow and that future may actually become wider as time goes on and so i guess what we have today is is the church effectively being relevant to certain parts of this country despite centuries of tradition some question what will be left of the church of england in fifty years time oh the statistics are very clear very clear almost disappeared with something i think the twenty fifty

figures are one hundred thousand people in the pews on an average sunday out of a population of sixty million that's miniscule but the privileges and political influence afforded to it are far from trivial and that's what's fuelling the calls of those who say that it's fairer to separate the church from the state party boy r t london. ireland has taken on the six month presidency of the european council marking forty years of its e.u. membership minister and kenny has pledged to bring the republic's experience of coping with financial difficulties to the table while focusing on the economic recovery and as an industry with rules told me earlier it may prove to be a tough task for the celtic tiger one of the key challenges facing many countries in europe is of course the economic difficulties and ireland is of course rigidly sticking to the austerity drive which the european union wants which it mandating

arlan to do it's effectively running its budget policies in many different areas amount of money that it can be can spend to deal with the deficit but of course arlen's medicine that they're taking and partly suffering from but they're getting on with it isn't really wide for the rest of europe so if they're going to be driving forward the agenda in the european union for the next six months that's not the. economic problems but let me ask you this i mean this coming year twenty thirty in the e.u. has come up with something called the european year of citizens to be highlight the rights people have because they're in the e.u. what do you make of that one of the key what people should have is a via to elect their own governments and for that to actually make a real difference but of course with the european union power has become too centralized amongst the institutions in brussels and that just takes away power from ordinary citizens so the european union can tell us why it's that we have but

of course we don't actually have the violet to make a real difference of elections because far too many decisions now are made at the supranational level major decisions being made in brussels away from the citizens whether they be the citizens of violent or britain or spain or greece for that matter ok but what you are going to be restored but were there any success stories in twenty twelve must have been something i mean after all the countries predicted to have collapsed by now are still surviving. well of course unemployment continues to go up that's for the states within the euro zone that's very alarming and their economic problems will not be of us old until of course it's recognized the u.i. with a single common say is the sea for these countries really we need to have a pack of powers away from brussels to all the different member states and of course britain should of course have its own referendum on membership as well and have i'm say but it needs to be recognised that the european union is of course

failing economically so it still is still there it still exists but the price of people applying is of course no economic growth and of course massively high unemployment which is now we've seen alarming proportions for many different eurozone states. that more stories are coming your way this hour including the silent killer that lies dormant for decades. the disease that i understand can kill you. find some turns over nine hundred sixty sexual revolution california deal with the threat of hepatitis c. why health officials there along with. rich pickings from rooftop farms people in the tiles to raise crops on top of their houses just around security trying to run the strip all that after a short break. in

the good leverage or. was able to build a clue most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything. to teach me the creation and why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care want only on the algae dot com. would be soon which would brighten. a song from the finest impression.

start on t.v. dot com. here with our team or world news for you now with israel easing restrictions to allow building materials into gaza the nation's blockade of the strips to the folks those who live there on group are bearing the brunt of the restrictions off farmers many of whom had to leave their there and in the buffer zones to grow food on rooftops but it's porous there reports with the recent assault on gaza still fresh in the memory so unfair they may not see the next harvest there's not a lot of greenery in gaza at least not in the places you'd expect to find it like abu hafs thumb's farm which since the israel gaza war four years ago has laid a barren and deserted and diminished look to you again i had

a very nice plantation a lot of visitors came to see it also students from the farming school used to come and study at my place. at the go were nothing but workers from israel raining down on one of the most densely populated spots on earth meant i will have needed to find another place where he could grow his crops and so he looked towards his own home and outputs that. i needed no alternative so i made this plan station on the roof and started working again and mangled creates a lot of things if yes time and energy i can make fifty thousand suppling from these centimeters on the roof of ship. it's an idea that's taken root in farms along the gaza israel border where much of the agriculture has been repeatedly destroyed by the israeli army many farmers are unable to access the land because of the buffer zone that's one of at least a third of gaza's farm land your. today there is no

space to have a farm in gaza it is very crowded everybody is building new houses where i stand now used to be a plantation for oranges and lemons and if you look at it now you just see buildings. fall out of five people in gaza are dependent on food aid homegrown food projects like rooftop gardens can help combat mom tradition and severe poverty by allowing farmers to sell their produce marry anyone can do it i work with my husband and my daughters till midnight is that half a lot of farming should be on the ground but we heard that we can plant in volcanic rock on our roots so i tried it. farmers grow wheat barley and a variety of fruits and nuts on these rooftops they also raise rabbits and chickens showing how the little ingenuity can go a long way ask anyone in israel or gaza whether they think the situation is stable and i'll tell you it's only a matter of time before the next israel gaza showdown there might be

a cease fire in place between the two sides but no one believes it will hold least of all the gaza farmers who are always the first in the line of fire policy r.t. on the israel gaza border. and more international news stories now in syria fresh fighting has been reported between assad loyalists and rebels the second city of aleppo and in the capital that borders on the siege where insurgent positions in the suburbs of damascus are reportedly being shelled it comes after anti-government activists claim that dozens of bodies bearing signs of torture were discovered in the capital it's not clear who was responsible for the ledge atrocity violence is continuing despite a stark warning from the top international peace envoy to syria he says the country faces a choice so the process will help. four people have been killed and dozens wounded after an explosion in a crowded area of pakistan's southern city karate police say the bomb was planted

on a motorbike and detonated when a political rally of the city's dominant party passed by no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the liberal party the police suspect militants might have targeted the rally prior to upcoming general elections. authorities in the ivory coast have declared three days of mourning after a stampede during a new year's celebrations claimed the lives of more than sixty people the tragedy occurred when a large crowd was leaving a city stadium after a fireworks show a similar incident happened in angola during new year's festivities there even ten dead in one hundred twenty injured. venezuela's leader hugo chavez is conscious of following a cancer operation cuba that's according to the country's vice president nicolas maduro however stressed the president's condition remains delicate it was earlier reported that chavez was suffering complications caused by risperidone infection

under the constitution the socialist presidency is due to be sworn in for a third term on the tenth. described as the silent killer health officials in the u.s. are calling for all baby boomers to be checked for hepatitis c. disease that's becoming increasingly prevalent for the age group as artie's but in the caution over reports decades after their summer of love and in california where they'll now have to pay for their head in a stick now style. california the sunshine state once the center of the hippie revolution and melting pot of music draw out sexual freedom we did drugs that we're doing think about it there is no process because everybody was doing their deen make chill is a baby boomer born during the pos to world war two years nineteen's forty six and

nine hundred sixty five his generation now is paying for that lifestyle a life of things drugs and rock'n'roll all fueled by flower power and the summer of love they say few remember the sixty's you were entry very the baby boomers out of the sexual revolution may have lost some of their memories and they had the mists of time but there is one legacy of their past which is anything but harmless the centers for disease control has already named him to see as an unrecognized health crisis according to their granny sation current he won in thirty baby boomers are in fact it with the virus the silent killer it can lie dormant for decades that's what happened to dean mitchell's friend who died just two months after being diagnosed with the disease they're paying for the car consequences because there are now so. they have to get medication. and it's a disease that i understand can kill you but worst of all it's not just baby

boomers who are interests many could have a knowing if you contract to the virus through blood transfusions the screening was all the aids crisis in the ninety's californian's bay area has been the hardest hit with more people dying here than anywhere else in the country it is also a very costly problem for the bankrupt state costing billions of dollars last year . well for the. very popular issue in a certain sense we're talking personal things things. to. change the character more widespread than h i v happy tide is kills around twelve thousand people in the us after

a year and with the baby boomers in the highest risk group the center for disease control has called for mass screening they say they could identify almost a million people now living with the disease and save many more lives but the question remains if the present generation will listen mind you no question archie reporting from las angeles california. on our web site today following the brutal gang rape that took delhi to the core hundreds of indian women fought for foreign licenses and joint self-defense classes. are sort of feels a number of the japanese nuclear plants are in equipped to deal with far as into setback reactivation of the country's nuclear stations by years of want to r.t. dot com to find out. what well twenty thirteen and bring to the international political arena that's the question for people of analysts guests

in the latest cross talk show among the main issues the growing tensions in the asia pacific where experts believe the u.s. is continuing its military buildup against china and you can watch the full episode next hour here on r.t. here's a quick preview. turnover enemy i think. well america always needs a new enemy america always has an enemy ok so is this the new one. well you well yet we do we need something to leverage our and the tea against that it was russia for a while and then it was japan remember the early eighty's a rising sun and and now and now it's well then it was iran iraq and iran and saddam really helped because saddam was he looked evil he was perfectly good police sketch artist rendering of a child molester yeah he was a perfect villain and china is kind of faces and really no warrants out on as we know there are huge you go ahead john jumping on it. so this is really amazing to

me because the primary problem that the united states sees with china is that its economy is too strong and that it's building up its military so these are two things that the united states prides itself on i.g.n. military and a big economy right what that weather what a big economy in china reflects is number one a lot of hundreds of thousands of people being lifted out of poverty in inch inside china but also means help for the united states because trade is obviously mutually beneficial and so trade in international borders being a little more open to trade this is a good thing for the united states and washington wants to paint it as a bad thing they're playing a very sort of great game geo politicking in asia and because china is having success they're moving to try and contain china so that means backing a lot of unscrupulous people in asia pacific surging military forces there naval

forces there this is all very bad it's an interesting way of the united states turning something positive into something very terrible and it makes it easy for people to go china is our next greatest enemy. and the thing. is. a few minutes we recap the end of twenty twelve apocalypse get a special report just ahead. i think that. in this remote siberians in which people still seeing the

signs which russian saying to me ladies and they cherish things practiced by the will set up church before the seventeenth century the old believers here is sign here are conservative community. if i may believe me there yet again i feel right. now i'm the first add up by. i think. people here are happy to show their way of life to tourists and teach them how to dance in the local star. seventeen year old nadia is from the same village she now studies in the city and dances at a club. she puts on her costume and the traditional amber necklace only when she comes to visit her grandmother. ok i didn't ask on time perhaps a s. because i want to keep up to date with this morning world but still i would like to

have camp my i am very ground home as are some slayers very attachment to the church brought not just an sisters to this remote glen deflate by call more than two hundred fifty years ago they were exiled in pesah q-tip for not agreeing to the orthodox who forms introducing washing the sixteen hundreds the old believers still bolland cross themselves with two fingers not with three as they do in modern orthodox churches in russia and never knew when praying was more and more young people leaving for big city. it's this here is the all believers culture could be imperiled. plans to continue her studies abroad to grandmother says wherever she goes as long as the jews are fresh in her memory so is the culture.

it's a job but it's also a religious vocation that's pushing her to constantly find new ways of developing her business. today she visited this cave in the denver area. it's a more than three kilometer deep maze disposes for sale and robin is thinking about buying it for the construction of more underground shelters if somebody was to light a fire sometime in here what about the ventilation with the smoke or something like that you probably would want to get yourself back in a small room with a fire or anything like that but when something like this we're close to an entrance there's a lot of you're going to probably be all right ok. it's a good survival but it's not all i do a cave like this we get easily howls a thousand or so people in the cell it would be a great project a great resource to have. for robin it's the perfect place but her family seems a little less enthusiastic would you like to live in a cave like this if it was like managed.