washington says it will reassign its afghan mission to assisting local forces from this spring response making mission over plans to maintain its village really chaotic country. mali government forces chase militants out of a key city with the help of french military strikes after president francois online stated intervention in the area will continue as long as necessary. and loyalist clashes a northern ireland yet again the after belfast council's decision to fly the union flag from city hall for only eighteen days a yeah.

it's seven pm here in moscow it's a pleasure to have you with us on our d. i'm to bomb with a first america is to leave local forces in charge of combat operations in afghanistan and switch to a support role this spring the announcement came from u.s. president barack obama after a round of talks with his afghan counterpart on what's being hailed as the last chapter of the u.s. afghan mission but as gannett she can reports american involvement in the country. during his election campaign president obama may have sounded very resolute to leave afghanistan in two thousand and fourteen but the white house is now negotiating terms to stay there the president said if u.s. forces stayed their role will be different but critics argue it's an attempt to rebrand a military presence which both the majority of americans and afghans oppose take

a listen to what president obama said about the mission after twenty fourteen i think. you know although obviously we're still. two years away. i can say with assurance that this is a very different mission. and different task and a very different footprint for the u.s. if we're able to come to an appropriate agreement now one of the key points of the agreement that the president mentioned there on that key point probably is immunity from prosecution for u.s. troops so that the afghans cannot prosecute any american soldier if they commit a crime that's the deal that the white house couldn't get from the iraqi government the u.s. wanted to but didn't because of how veneman plea opposed the iraqis were to allow it could be different

also makers in washington can't really come out and say that they don't want to walk away and just just pack up and leave from such an important geopolitical position now that they've spent billions and billions of dollars to have a presence there but such chill political calculations may not sound very appealing to the american people at a time when the country's head over heels in debt. ins

is anybody's guess but what it does not mean is that the u.s. troops are going to be pulled out early there's a huge occupation force in the country that's not going to be brought out in twenty thirteen in the spring what we're talking about is a claim that as of that time the afghan people the afghan military the afghan government will officially be in charge they will be in charge of the military now the idea that the u.s. forces still there or the nato forces still there are going to take their orders from the afghan military i think is rather spurious that's certainly not going to happen i don't think the afghan government has the capacity to survive without massive u.s. support that means both economic support and crucially military support but his reliance on that support leads to one massive corruption which is widely hated throughout the country karzai has very little public support in the country and

militarily his his very large army isn't capable of standing up to the other militias it's one more militia the u.s. leaving will leave his government and his own position in a very precarious moment and he may well not survive that politically. now that the afghan president's a washington trips are done and dusted laurie half of this is our people in new york what they think of their country's campaign n.f. canister. there is that we are over here it's because of the wonderful oil would already have it's all about money the views of the decade long invasion from the streets of the big apple coming your way later in the program. a french pilot has been killed in fighting in mali as a european nation continues to launch strikes against islamist militants it comes after monday's government's troops are chased rebels out of the key central time of

qana aided by the french military the u.n. security council called for a speedy deployment of international forces to battle the rebels and seize the north of the country last april and since made significant advances president alond on friday that the intervention in mali would last as long as necessary france a base independent journalism rather to harness i believe that french of foreign policy contradict itself. i think as long as the french people are to by the consequences of this sort of intervention they generally favorite has a great military tradition in france and they've grown accustomed to interfering other people's countries but if you if the minute it starts to get nasty i think you'll find they'll be a very quick a reversal of public opinion the sort of islamic extremists they're very tough soldiers and they've grown tougher over the last twenty years and if france starts to find these people have been armed as

a result of the intervention in libya and all the arms of the swilling about in the in the sahara as a result of that intervention ironically instigated by france then they're going to find it's a very dangerous place to intervene in mali has requested help and they get it instantly when the central african republic requested help from the french forces there. they were all wrong or we got into. any particular regime were neutral. if you had wanted to destroy the credibility of france and the western countries over the last five or ten years you could have done a better job but the absurd contradiction of what you do. meanwhile two french soldiers have died in somalia during a failed mission to rescue a hostage has also been killed the raid in the area began hours after french troops intervened in mali to help government troops battle rebels the there are currently nine french people held hostage across in northern africa and his four police

officers have been injured in the latest outbreak of loyalist clashes in northern ireland tensions been running high for more than a month after belfast consul decided to fly the union flag above city hall probably eighteen days a year are to serve for it who's in the province looks into what else is fueling the unrest. recreational rioting that's what some people are calling it. has been taking place all across the us in the past weeks many of them pockets violence breaking out the crisis is on the other side many of them young their faces covered as police come under attack with rocks and petrol bombs mark easton's the director of the east belfast mission creep is working with young protesters to try to calm the tensions some kids are doing it for fun or doing it for more sinister motives in terms of control terms of par in terms of ego. or doing it

because it's sexier than a playstation you know young girls are doing a girl's name with young children we've seen on the streets who i don't think a fully realized. and yet there's nothing for me. on the surface and this has been about the decision at the beginning of december to limit the number of days the union flag flies at city hall but in what's been the most sustained outbreak of violence since the one nine hundred ninety eight good friday peace agreement and it's clear that the problems run much deeper what are the protesters here asking for just a one hour flight back. to start. on the street to protest against.

a nation and its banks a very terrible flag. you know but when he wanted also it on the streets for his own actions we can make for if you think the protesters would accept any kind of compromise when it comes to this is the flag of which the flag turned out said. we know we're not going to get a normal action because it's the majority. any unionist horns now to try to reengage politically but we're told much more will need to be done they'll be no quick fixes here i don't think there's any silver bullet i think there's different things need to happen economic. investment political investment community investment by and by all the stakeholders in these communities to try to resolve the wide raft of issues that are a blight you say far there's been over one hundred people arrested more than sixty

police officers injured and millions of pounds spent in policing these riots and in lost business revenue. they these riots have been highly localized the damage has already been far reaching this is a new generation bringing file and back onto the streets of belfast it's a far cry from the darker days of northern ireland's complex that doesn't make it any less trouble. fell fast and sara is following the latest developments in belfast right now where she says there are fresh approach as you can see the photos she's posting and read what she's witnessing the by following her on twitter. but on the way crime and punishment find out why those accused of committing notorious massacres during the syrian conflict will soon be getting a ticket to the hague. possibly reports on the wall frenzy in

israel was citizens are now stocking up on emergency supplies in fear of a nuclear strike a by iran all that play. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so poorly please you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard welcome to the big picture.

my. view watching r.t. a group of more than fifty countries is preparing to officially ask the un security council to refer the crisis in syria to the hague the move could pave the way for war crimes prosecutions by the international court the backers of the initiatives stressed that the gross violations have taken place during the twenty much twenty two month conflict and everyone responsible should be held to account it follows

the latest round of mediation talks in geneva way russia the us and the top peace envoy to syria reiterated a commitment to a peaceful solution to the crisis and as a relentless fighting rages on some western experts claim damascus might be hiding a stockpile of war uranium a political analyst all monash aviv believes that that statement should be taken with a pinch of salt. there's a lot of noise about it there was a bombing in two thousand and seven the israeli jets bombed the site in syria claiming that it is a nuclear site there was no indication yes the i.a.e.a. visited the site the i.a.e.a. said that there were traces of uranium of depleted uranium but they did not confirm that there was any quantity or at least you know this huge quantity that is being publicized i mean they're saying fifty tons of uranium this is this is i don't know where they come up with a number. obviously i did some research and it appears that they came up with a number because they they feel they are coming up with the story that this site

that was there that was bombed in two thousand and seven would actually require fifty tons that doesn't mean that the syrians actually have fifty tons and that doesn't mean that the site is actually for a nuclear program the syrian central government was able to control more the past six months there's an advance of the syrian army and the syrian official police and they are controlling most of the country there are only some areas in the countryside where rebel fighters. some areas in the countryside where the syrian army withdrew from these areas because they thought that these areas were not important strategically but over all the syrian central government under the leadership of president assad controls most of the syrian territory obviously it's difficult because there are many fighters infiltrating from outside syria there are many a lot of money being infiltrated being pumped into syria through these rebel groups by a neighbor grudge especially by by turkey by qatar by other european and by the united states there is

a sponsorship of these terror groups crumbling roads and bridges and a flickering electrical grid america's infrastructure is creaking and it's becoming a big problem and even the mother nature has played a hand in wrecking supplies recently the government is the amount of money of almost anything other than energy as marina daya explains over the past decade america has spent hundreds of billions in the name of national security wars military intervention fighting terrorist and hunting online hackers meantime getting much less attention is a domestic danger lurking in and lighting up every corner of the country the u.s. power grid in recent months federal officials have warned that america's electric cables substations and transformers are not sufficiently secured and are vulnerable to attack by anyone with a weapon and some basic know how experts say the energy grid is also outdated and

antiquated unable to prevent outages from cascading in october superstorm sandy hit twenty four states causing some sixty three billion dollars in damage more than four and a half million people lost power and new york was left crippled by massive floods leaving much of the city including half of the big apple plunged into darkness. two months after the storm the streets of downtown manhattan remain clogged with coops wires and heavy equipment because dozens of the city's iconic skyscrapers still rely on generators for power things like this going true months with major buildings. that does not occur in hong kong in shanghai. amsterdam because they have built systems designed to deal with the reality of nature so what is this cutting corners feeling to invest in your normal

reckon economy when it comes to america's electricity ninety percent of the grid is privately owned by utility companies beholden to investors. energy sector in the united states is law actually privately operated and to purchase. or. only by regulation own the federal government has meant that law it regulation to state local governments though it possible to call our grit to gather that he is saying there are no i mean recent not only financial and also policy reasons where really changes have to. if we want to change our safety and our livelihood the changes aren't just limited to the grid engineers have warned that many of america's bridges roads

dams levees and power plants are in danger of crumbling if not repaired especially as sea levels continue rising even one bomb is nothing compared to what hurricane sandy did across the northeast a thousand miles of destruction there was a very very big natural event. and you know to have congress not funding the. repair of the basically infrastructure. is just staggering. a broken foundation that risks the chance of becoming the nation's biggest homegrown danger marina portnoy r.t. new york. on our website right now hundreds of our original rights activists are staging a mass a rally in canada pledging to bring the country's economy to its knees find out why online. grade failing the economy

it appears some greeks have declared war on the mainstream media log onto our g dot com to find out more. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says stopping iran from making a nuclear bomb will be his top priority if you win the upcoming parliamentary vote the threat of an attack seems so real to many israelis that they already stepping up gas masks and renovating bomb shelters as policy is been discovering. mushroom clouds confusion hysteria this is israel's last day according to a young filmmaker who wants to shock us country into taking action i have created due for really to share my thoughts and my fears with the world about the potential threat that is coming from iran if you ask me the same question two years ago i will say that people don't think about it so much but. it is different

we can see that the majority here of israel are preparing them so i think. chile grandparents are holocaust survivors from romania a foreshadow he fears of what could come it took six serious to kill six million jews and it will. only six minutes. that's why and maybe some or many israelis are already uneasy fearing iran might be building a nuclear bomb and tehran isn't mincing its words threatening tel aviv it will teach it a listen if it tries to attack first warning is waning missiles will make sure israel does not survive the center of israel is a problem and that's where we have to move forward not only that we haven't got enough voters it's very very populated so everything that is falling in this area

can cause casualties. in two thousand and six during the second lebanon war rachel balmer ors and her family hid here from the katyusha rockets raining down from across the border she never imagined she'd be restocking her shelter again so soon and for potentially more deadly consequences of course i'm afraid from the war from with iran because nobody wants war and peace and now i have also some rain children five grandchildren and i'm afraid i'm afraid because my cells will go to the army there are soldiers in the air i don't want it the recent war with gaza was a chance for tel aviv to test its iron dome missile defense system but israelis are anxious in part because of widespread media coverage of just how unprepared for war the country is many bomb shelters in residential buildings are rundown and neglected or have become furniture storage rooms while most of israel's arab

citizens about to twenty percent of the population lack shelters altogether as the chances of war start looking all too real the army says four times as many israelis are collecting state funded gas masks than they were several months ago i am a big concern it's not like i think they're going to be aware of. this. subside life here just in case and with impending doomsday predictions circling the country no one wants to be caught unprepared police fear our t.v. television. has washington been bluffing about the troop withdrawal from afghanistan and wasn't time mission justified in the first place archie's resident hit the streets of new york to gauge opinion.

the obama administration has recently said that it's considering having no troops in afghanistan after december of two thousand and fourteen is that a good thing a bad day or a totally made up thing designed for political shenanigans this week let's talk about that do you think he's going to do it he said that two years ago and it didn't happen so i don't buy it so why does he keep saying it if he doesn't mean it . to get people like him and their families will be happy with hopefully you know you finish what you started what did we start and what do we have to finish what is finishing mean i guess to capture or. do you think that we've defined what that means it's tough because you know we don't know everything i think we need to have a world presence to maintain the market why is it up to us to maintain a world presence why don't we just get out of everyone's business well that's a good idea too but if no if we don't do it nobody will and otherwise the world's

going to go to war and we really need a stabilizing factor and until now in time it's been us but we're the ones causing all the wars. it depends on your perspective i guess i'm sort board more defending than attacking but don't you think that there are some people in the world that feel like america imposes its will on their countries just put america's will lose its freedom and democracy at its heart it's not a fanatical you don't think it's its own might be money and imperialism a little bit too i don't believe that it is imperialism. and what about money do you think that money might drive some of our reasons for most of course but money is going to help everybody i don't think it's happening i i just came back from afghanistan so oh so you don't believe he's really going to pull the troops away. entirely i think that i think that there are presence there is important and this war sustaining what we've done so far my opinion is the reason we are over there is

because of the wonderful oil and i don't have it's all about money and. that's a marina someone who puts your life on the line doesn't that make you mad and makes me really upset because we have a lot of marines that are dying each and every day in afghanistan you know and you know for god's sakes i can be next you know so it does make me pretty upset that he's promising something that he's not owning up to the bottom line is we're so used to having us troops all over the world up in everyone's business that we probably can't imagine us pulling out of anywhere and that makes americans the world's bullies whether we like it or not.

coming up so it's really a blow to mainstream journalism from every mountain and breaking the set. to music sigrid laboratory tim curry was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything terms mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care watch only on the r t v dot com. world for the. science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've got the future covered.

more news today violence has once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are on the day. if you live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous. i mean. i know that i'm seeing the same thing really messed up. in the old story so personally apologize it's. worse for the little thing the white house chief of a. radio guy in fort lauderdale minestrone pick something i want to watch closely

or about to do because you've never seen anything like this i'm told. you know it's friday before you turn to fun and games keep watching there's a few things that you should know today president obama's announcement that u.s. troops in afghanistan will assume a quote support role starting this spring and eventual pullout of all american forces by the end of twenty fourteen. you know what they say it sounds like a lie and looks like a lie then probably is a lie and a joint press conference with afghan president hamid karzai obama said this. afghanistan work afghan spine security peace prosperity and dignity and in pursuit of that future afghanistan will have a long term.