one of the very. wealthy americans who will foot the bill president obama signs the stop gap a lot of raise their taxes as part of the deal to avoid plunging off the fiscal cliff. an airstrike kills up to seventy people out of damascus fuel station with mutual accusations between the rebels and the syrian regime. and we ask why teachers in the u.k. are increasingly losing trust in the government and how plummeting morale could impact on britain's future generation.

live from the arctic you center of midnight's kevin owen here thanks for your company this morning first president obama is to sign the law increasing taxes on wealthy americans the deal was passed by congress after months of political bickering to avoid the fiscal cliff and the threat of a destructive recession it was rushed through on tuesday night before the financial markets reopened the new year holiday less than twenty four hours after getting senate approval the move prevents deep spending cuts middle class tax hikes which technically took effect at midnight on january the first compromise increases taxes on household incomes over four hundred fifty thousand dollars and delays spending cuts for two months some economists see it as being of little help though to revive america. relieved truly big question that they will have to attack cole in the. one or two months time the number one priority will be

sealing. the us gov the government already reached desailly of sixteen point three trillion us dollars and they are using the. tricks to get over to govern us government over for two months but in february they have nowhere to go they have to go back to congress a request for a hike sealing the other one is the long term solution budget deficit the fiscal devastated is threatening to one trillion dollars a year because tax increases spending because the problem is only reduce the deficit by several like two hundred billion dollars it's way short the government the us government have to cut the deficit to zero or actually to a surplus in order to pay off the huge debt. well one area where america's like

a regular few more dollars those this year is arms sales in the bonanza or is most likely to come from pushing weapons in a specific way but analysis on that later the program. next to our activists in syria say that up to seventy people have been killed and dozens injured in an airstrike that had a gas station in a damascus suburb eyewitnesses say many of the dead are women and children the u.n. report now says it was sixty thousand people have been killed since the civil war began almost two years ago this despite a warning from a top international peace envoy to syria that the country faces l.v. talks meanwhile reports say the syrian rebels claim they cannot produce chemical weapons and could use them as attack by the government middle east expert dr telford sharma told me. the life of dialogue will lead to more. if. peace negotiation and peace initiative presented by

a brahimi russia is not accepted by the opposition at the moment the situation in syria will be escalating so the opposition is the party who is. refusing any negotiation with the government one position have chemical weapons this is a very dangerous and very very serious matter and i think. they don't have. all the. legal founding limits not to use the danger now is to be used and then blame the government to initiate some kind of international response against the syrian government this is a dangerous position and i think that this is what the syrian government should have always been saying that these to undermine the syrian government and to to get some kind of international attention international support especially from the nato on the powers of the west. bringing britain's next generation of scientists

doctors of politicians could be at risk as teachers morale continues to drop our london correspondent laura smith explains what's going to. the national union of teachers the biggest teachers' union in the u.k. has commissioned a survey which says that morale among teachers has dropped dramatically they talked about the highs and lows of life in the classroom incredibly low morale but also frustrated at continual criticism and interference from the government they said and the figures are quite staggering actually fifty five percent of teachers surveyed said that morale was either very low and that's up from forty two percent just eight months ago so it's really on a declining trend seventy seven percent said that they didn't feel that specific education policies of the government so specialist schools free schools were taking education in the right direction in this country and just five percent felt that this current coalition government impact on the education system was positive and

had more specific about what the teachers don't like about the government's policies. well there are specifics that they don't like they don't like this continuing interference they say that every new government that comes in completely revamp its the national curriculum and the education system from what it was before say that constantly on the back foot trying to get used to new systems there's a new test now where children aged just by are tested on phonics some children obviously fail that test and teaches a saying that if you fail a test age five as a huge impact on your future development makes you feel like a failure from an incredibly young age they're also trying to change the exam system again introducing a thing called the back where just a few core subjects would be examined differently from other subjects and people who are in the arts and sports and all those subjects that you really liked when you were at school say that that you know children aren't going to take those subjects anymore there certainly is you know teachers talk about how cuts in

general have affected families and the students that they teach they say that if i'm really poorer than they are children have less access to technology at home they have parents you can't help them necessarily with their schoolwork and in fact i talked to christine loh who's the general secretary of the national union of teachers and she talked about that in a general sense what the government is doing wrong is its whole approach to austerity because one of the things that's obvious to teachers is that great swathes of children and their families are having a very difficult time at the moment and if families lose benefits in london for example that's going to be a huge problem with housing benefit cuts that have to move schools and of course you know family income drops just to clean which it has and lots of places children are coming to school hungry they haven't had first they may not go and get a meal in the evening so in a general sense there are really quite big problems and the upshot of that is that

seventy six percent of teachers surveyed said that austerity measures will have a negative impact on family or british teachers will get nervous about reform they want changes now to improve the situation is what will make the difference at minimal cost to them. well cost is of course the issue they want fewer and slow reforms they say they want to be consulted mortgage and they say that they don't feel trusted as professionals and that's of course has a huge impact on future generations of children and in fact the national union of teachers is not ruling out striking unions of course never rule out striking pretty good told me specifically that they don't rule it out. the government is attacking pay and conditions and in fact just before christmas michael gave the education secretary was reported in newspapers having put the department of education on a war footing with teachers which is not going to help going forward. laura smith looks like the church of england could do with a facelift it seems has been finding out of touch by the population with calls to

strip it of its centuries old powers more details about that but coming up after this break.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images of world leaders and seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations room today. hello again it's been revealed the f.b.i. knew of a plot to assassinate members of the occupy wall street movement but didn't tell them their lives are at risk it was part of the revelations released after a human rights group followed a freedom of information that this got to speed on this without his miniport joining us now why would the agency marina keep this information from these people . well it's not clear yet why the f.b.i. would neglect to tell activists that there was

a potential assassination plot surrounding them what we do know now as you've already mentioned is that new documents obtained by the partnership for the civil justice fund a u.s. human human and civil rights advocacy organization have revealed that the u.s. the f.b.i. the department of homeland security the u.s. military and private corporations all cooperated together to monitor and investigate optic occupy wall street protesters as quote domestic terrorists and quote criminals now the more shocking revelation the headline of this story is that reportedly buried deep within the government. mentions of a plan to use snipers to assassinate occupy protesters and the movements leaders in various cities throughout the country these alleged plans were supposed to be taking place in the fall of two thousand and eleven now the names of the groups or individuals. bots are redacted from the f.b.i. documents but what critics say is clear is that the f.b.i.

never all learned any one of the potential any of the potential victims that their lives could possibly be in danger or that there's any threat surrounding them the partnership for civil justice fund received the f.b.i. documents on december twenty second so this is fairly new information and this was after they filed a request under the freedom of information act now many civil rights attorneys previously have accused the f.b.i. of functioning as a de facto intelligence arm for u.s. corporations during the occupy wall street movement and especially as it grew bigger however some critics say they never ever suspected that the f.b.i. would neglect to tell occupy protesters u.s. citizens about an assassination plot surrounding them we're going to be following this supposed cover those reports. from new york we showed it to. police in bahrain a violin to suppress ninety government demonstration with the rest of the kingdom approaching the two year mark the demonstrators are calling for a transition to a democratically elected government to better roads for the country shia majority

from the european bahraini organization for human rights claims that security forces were brought to stoking the violence both firing into the homes of unarmed civilians. security forces who are of working for the ministry of interior and the hate are practicing a lot of by intense and a lot of violations to human rights when confronting when pro-democracy protests and behaving and lot of protests and it took place in many different villages and areas around behaving and all of them all of them got a. crack they were a crackdown by that by the security forces and behaving who are most to be and not by me and they are working and an end of any super interior and if the they were groups from different countries foreign countries like pakistan and jordan and syria and yesterday in the village where i live and sit on it was tear

gas excessively by security forces and i could see security forces running down the streets by my white house and shooting grandin the inside the houses it movement was completely peace said but after witnessing that west that was during and position to or this this issue ation and behaving or there have been emotion in bahrain it is unlike to what is what they are it claiming like they are encouraging human rights in different countries arab countries but when it comes to behead they use double standards so the protesters here it by having a load they are those radical protestors they are the minority and not the majority but they are using such methods to prevent that violent security forces from entering their their and their religious and attacking on armed civilians and children like we witnessed and the big you have off of the four year old child being attacked by security forces with here gas canisters. this for the said to our

intention in a ruck with thousands of sudanese protesting against the government of sheer promise to nouri al maliki demonstrations of a government. pace across the country for over a week calling for an end to discrimination along with the release of political prisoners by the conceded by releasing hundreds of jailed women but has warned against further protests the country was dominated by the sunnis until america's two thousand and three invasion change the political landscape in favor of the she is now the world news headlines tonight venezuelan president chavez is in a state of consciousness after undergoing another cancer operation according to the vice president but nicolas maduro stressed the leaders condition remains delicate and rejected earlier rumors that chavez was in a coma in hospital in cuba the president. will for the tenth of january. at least five people have been arrested by the capitol where police fired rubber bullets and tear gas antigovernment protesters there demanding

a halt to the trials of islamic party leaders charged with crimes against humanity to nine hundred seventy one independent school because it's been a spate of deadly anti-government clashes in bangladesh in the past month. the church of england has defined the u.k. and its laws for centuries but its privileges now appear to far outweigh its place among british society in the past decade the number of people who consider themselves christian has dropped by more than four million at his poly boy to reports of whether it's thailand for today's religious mix to get more recognition . 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

significant growing in. the 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 years 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 embellishments 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 followed 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 but i think it's a wonderful statement because certainly our society here in britain is very multi call. 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 in the twenty six bishops that votes 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 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 fueling the calls of those who say that it's fairer to separate the church from the state party boy r t london. israel is easing restrictions to allow building materials into gaza but the blockade still severely affects the people who live there even farmers afraid to leave their land in the buffer zones to grow food on rooftops instead and this policy of found the recent assault on gaza leave some fearing they may not see their next august. there's not a lot of greenery in gaza at least not in the places you'd expect to find it like abu hafs arms farm which since the israel gaza war four years ago has laid a barren and deserted. look to you again or 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. but what gets from israel raining down on one of the most densely populated spots on earth meant to have needed to find another place where he could go to scraps and so he looked towards his own home and upwards. i needed an alternative so i made this plantation on the roof and started working again. creates a lot of things if he has time and energy i can make fifty thousand suppling from these simonson meters on the roof. 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 i'm able to access the land because of the buffer zone that's one of at least two of gaza's farmland. today there is no space to have

a forum in gaza it is very crowded everybody is building new houses. 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 malnutrition 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 roofs 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 they might be a ceasefire 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. but meantime over the west bank dozens of palestinians were wounded after they rounded on israeli troops who were described as vegetable sellers during a botched mission to capture suspected militants and details on a website about forget street on the phone also lied to the house the vatican lost its faith in trusting its staff a good question well workers are now given swipe cards to track their moves around papal premises in the wake of a string of embarrassing leaks so it looks. like. top u.s. arms makers are forecasting a significant rise in sales of the next twelve months after a pretty solid twenty twelve washington's been shifting its sights towards asia looking to our neighbor in north korea and china independent journalist james corbett told us the u.s. is creating a pretext to make billions from arms sales but it could backfire though through

geopolitical tensions. what we can see is really just a return to a very old imperial strategy of building up boogey men in order to. create the sales to to combat those boogey men so it's a very old strategy it was identified by name even by president eisenhower in his farewell address in one nine hundred sixty when he talked about the military industrial complex and we here we are half a century later with the exact same strategy at play and before it was the communists then there was the terrorist threat and now there's china and that threat so i think it creates a situation where the economics may be what's driving this that we give it towards asia pacific but that in turn creates geopolitical realities so that for example china now sees all of these arms sales going to korea and taiwan and japan and some of the u.s. allies in the region and they respond with a military armaments of their own so it's a kind of self-perpetuating. prophecy that fulfills itself by the economics of the

situations asia has its eye on what's happening with taiwan and the effort to retrofit the f. sixteen fleet of of taiwan but also the japanese x. ray to expand radar for example that just recently has is being expanded and worked on i think has to be seen as a threat by china as well so i think definitely we're going to see an increase in tensions and that will probably create more situations like we saw in the past year with events in cancun while in dispute between japan and china. the same as there's a price to pay for free love for all american health officials warning now there's a silent epidemic stalking the baby boomers of the sixty's but in a culture never reports on the coal in california to get checked the deadly patatas see. california one the center of the hippie revolution a mouse in the heart of music drop outs actual freedom we did drugs that we didn't

think about there was no process because everybody was doing there is dean make chili is a baby boomer born during the pos world war two zero nineteen the 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 intrigued there the baby boomers out of the sexual revolution may have lost some of their memories and they have 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 patatas c s n and recognized health crisis according to their grannies ation 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 that. they have to get medication. it's a disease that i understand can kill you but worst of all it's not just baby boomers who are interested maybe could have unknowingly contract the virus through blood transfusions the screening was only one program really needs prices and tonight. california bay area has been the hardest hit with more people dying theory than anywhere else in the country it is also a very costly problem for the bankruptcy state costing billions of dollars the number of people. who are. very. sinister. more widespread than h i v happy tide is kills around twelve thousand people in the u.s. 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 my to the question archie reporting from las angeles california. thanks but with us tonight this is r.t. live from moscow it's twenty eight minutes past midnight as coach it was katie she got the business cycle to quiet well there is no course still very much holiday season but in america or we've talked about your first day back of holidays well we've been talking about fiscal cliff fiscal cliff the last minute the problems were carnival verted for a while anyway markets are going up question is now are they going to stay up or is just a blip that is the massive question because we're looking at the numbers and they're looking very rosy for a positive at the moment but the comments are very pessimistic and people are saying it's a short letter as you say they're thanking the can down the road they haven't

managed to convince the population and i think it's fair to say that the situation is dealt with so we're going to be listen. and to the experts in the business owners that come off to the right kind of. secret laboratory to mccurdy was able to build the roads most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't sound anything turns mission to teach creation why it should care about humans. this is why you should care only.