the vatican announces that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down as leader of the catholic church at the end of the month. french and malian forces reclaim the city of galle we bring you a firsthand account from the city after a surprise attack by militants almost spoils french claims of a victorious campaign. eighteen coal miners die in a methane explosion some eight hundred meters underground in russia's only republic . news twenty four hours a day this is our take on kerry johnston the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step down on february twenty eighth citing his old age

the eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries let's get more on this now from marty's tomball and he's with us here in the studio tom you say appointed in two thousand and five why this extraordinary ignatius now well it really has come as a shock this small army of pope watchers that are constantly monitoring stories from the vatican and the pope's health even they have been taken by surprise by this really very sudden announcement it should be noted that he was one of the oldest pope's to be elected when john paul the second died back in two thousand and five however people watching him said he seemed healthy and suddenly this announcement saying i do not have the strength to go on fulfilling my my duties i need to be of physical and mental health to do this and i no longer have those capacities and of course he hasn't really had an easy ride. i mean since his

appointment at the vatican he's time has been marred by a string of scandals and what can tell us about that has indeed it's been a very difficult time i think to be to be pope of the catholic church the most obvious scandal that stands out above the war is the child sex abuse scandal which has hung like a shadow over the church for for a number of years now with the number of priests allegations and cases against priests and child sex abuse cases there the pope has had to field a lot of flak for that we've also got others that we've got the case of vatileaks taking its name from wiki leaks and that exposed a as it were alleging a lot of power struggles and corruption within the halls of power within the vatican that prompting angry responses from the pope and the vatican saying that the media was trying to play the role of down brown the famous author who wrote the

book angels and demons implying similar kinds of kinds of plots within the vatican and then also the case of the vatican bank itself implicated with lots of dodgy bank accounts and perhaps links there to the italian mafia so all of this these pressures hanging over him as the as the pope we've got some attempts of his to try and bolster the reputation of the church to try and modernize it as well he's starting the first twitter account for that post but it's certain that in the month of full take to choose the next pope will be a lot of very serious questions asked about the future of the catholic church about who should head that organization in a time when in the pope's departing pope's own words so many challenges face it absolutely extraordinary he's ok our time but for now thanks for that update. moving on now french troops have regained control after is the most militants

launched a surprise attack what is northern mali is most populous city authorities say three civilians were killed during sunday's fighting but it comes after recent claims by france that the military campaign is almost complete and those local respondents gonzalo want to reports the joint forces are struggling to fully secure the region still occupied by insurgents. the situation in mali is obviously going to have a gruesome ending there are more than enough indications of that last friday the country was shaken by the very first terrorist attack in its history according to the witness report of what was carried out by a fifteen year old suicide bomber that of arab descent the bomber was the only one killed after the detonation a few hours later responsibility for the attack that was claimed by the mosher wod jihadists one thing to remember here is that this is a bass desert territory and therefore it is very difficult to control this attack

is just another example confirming that despite the news reports of the french army having taken over gal timbuktu into doubt there is still a long way to go before jihadists are ousted from the country in severe artie's crew was given access to the civil defense camps where volunteers and civilians are preparing to fight against the jihadists the f.l. and they are and again the corps a local pro-government militia movements that account for a total of two thousand eight hundred operatives but do not support the strategy chosen by the french in mali and joined forces in fighting the terrorists. we share the same goals but what they did was a really bad service to us there was no really about the army itself al qaeda had been operating on mali and territory for a number of years now they have all those and they keep getting more by kidnapping white people for ransom insurance pays them to have their citizens returned and then the terrorists have cash to buy weapons if we talk about al qaeda there's no way the army can fight it because that she it's terrorism in action going to find

out is that those paramilitary who know the terrain well say fighting a war they cannot take part in is meaningless one thing all these paramilitary groups have in common is their patriotism and zeal to protect their country and drive away the narco terrorists but this is a losing fight given the financial resources and ammunition stock they have. i'm ready to go it's all lengths i'm raised to give my life right now to save my family up there in the north because we're all here have family so i believe france will stop these attacks for a while or and the french troops leave they will start all over again because the criminals are still out there hiding them on the civilians not all of them have been caught really need to be given the mandate to complete this mission and our own we're ready for it only we can do it because we grew up in the north we know the terrain and the people so we're the only ones who can stop them and find them in the villages and the desert where we know every corner and every part of land.

over all while the jihadist forces are taking over their land kidnapping people and using suicide bombers to fight for their cause the civilian population remains the country's most vulnerable at root. with ongoing conflict was among the topics arties going to chicken discussed with russia's ambassador to the un vitaly churkin the full interview will air at eight hundred forty five g.m.t. and it's also available for you of course anytime you like on our website r.t. dot com here's a quick preview that. oh it's a question of spring was the dramatic events in libya. we're in the course of the crisis of course lots of weapons were brought into libya and there was a lot of there were lots of weapons of as it is but still many more weapons were brought into libya during the recent hearings which then secretary of state clinton had in the house of representatives one of the congressman said that they had

information that cut out with a wink and nod as he put it from the united states brought in twenty thousand tons of weapons into libya and you know twenty thousand tons you can arm is small terrorist army and so on of course this is exactly what has happened in mali definitely we see a spillover from the libyan crisis to to a neighboring country and most likely the spillover has affected other places as well for instance it may well be there are many indications to that effect that the terrorist attack. in the in the jury or had something to do i mean close to the libyan border also had some sort of libyan connection in terms of people maybe weapons terrorists emanating from libya participating in that attack. suicide rates are soaring in the u.k. with money where is pushing many people over the edge cuts to mental health

services and aggressive debt collecting i started by experts as a major factor is aggravating the situation. t's hand you farm and that one mother who lost her child over debt dispair. now for the last year and a half and thorn has been coming to terms with the tragic death of a son aged just twenty three toby took his own life writing his spinal words on the back of a bank statement after racking up a three thousand pound overdraft and a five thousand pounds student debt it was stiff the shock it wasn't from one that had a history of depression or mental illness or even had come across as being down or depressed. you know in the last few weeks months of his life if anything he came across the someone you know didn't have a care in the world following his death and became a trustee for the charity piracy which aims to prevent suicide among young people

from a home in cornwall she even runs her own blog giving advice but it's a battle her charity and similar ones around the u.k. are struggling to weigh in suicide is on the increase according to latest figures accounting for six thousand deaths between twenty ten and twenty eleven a rise of seven percent so why the increase while an inquest ruled that toby's financial problems working for britain factor to his suicide experts nice a bit enabling u.k. economy is partly to blame for the recent surge in deaths nationwide areas of high unemployment such as camden here in london are among those worst affected and it's a problem compounded by cutbacks in mental health services the double whammy effect of the recession is that people are becoming more distressed more anxious and therefore more at risk of wanting to take their own lives at the same time whether sterrett and cuts means that we have fewer psychiatric beds that the crisis isn't

there and if that isn't enough the growth of same day loan companies and intimidating debt collectors are adding to the pressures people are feeling according to researchers at brighton university we have some very very good regulations that protect people look at things plastic debt collection however it appears that it particularly well it's because these practices are still. in response the u.k. government has announced plans to crack down on aggressive bailiff's from next year late night visits will not be allowed and restrictions will be put on what property can be seized they are also spending over a million pounds on research as part of a suicide strategy plan. but that is only one very small step in the right direction for someone like cam it's no easy answer i mean one thing i've learned more about through a thought than i ever wanted to know but i've done a lot of reading and research and it's dreamy complex hopefully entirely the

trend will go down with what we need to be doing more andrew farmer to r.t. london. well still ahead for you this tension in colorado as egypt supposition vows to bring supporters to the streets from los rakas two years since the fall of former president hosni mubarak. we explain why environmentalist in ukraine are outraged by the authorities decision to go ahead with multi-billion dollar gas projects that story in a few minutes. he is he is.

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sometimes you see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok. i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. technology innovation called a list of elements from around russia. the future covered.

welcome back the pentagon is questioning the effectiveness of the u.s. missile defense shield in europe after a leaked congressional briefing revealed the system may not be fit for purpose the study claims the shields may be unable to protect america and its nato allies from

a potential iranian missile strike reports also acknowledges moscow's concerns that the us system undermines russia's nuclear deterrent washington insists it's not targeted against russia or refuses to provide a legally binding guarantees moscow sees a system of the many close to russia look at this for the record threats to its security. over the messiah shield has strained relations between the two states president obama had promised to be more flexible on a subject after his reelection some observers doubt the u.s. will give up its geopolitical allegations. ever intended to protect against iranian missiles something units like that do not even exist iran has no nuclear weapons nor do they have the ability to launch a missile all the way to the united states clearly this missile defense system has always been about surrounding russia and china and that's why it does the math

doesn't work when you look at having protect against an iranian system fact as nato is expanding in its encircled the russia i think we're only going to see more of these so called again missile defense deployments into various nato countries looking at how this all of our runs our country today how the corporations control our congress i think it's clear that congress will continue to support these systems the new secretary of defense that obama is nominated chuck hagel former republican senator from nebraska was one of the co-sponsors in the senate of the missile defense program so he clearly is a strong ally of the system. well we have more stories and pictures for you on our website r.t. dot com well here's a quick glimpse of what we've lined up there for you today on american banks and predict your future steps and even behavior just by collecting social network data

. and part by a tornado a deadly twister turns to the u.s. state of alabama destroying everything in its path and killing thirteen people. you tube channel. egyptian security forces are on high alert after the country's opposition and now as the mass rallies to mark two years since the fall of former president hosni mubarak over a dozen parties have declared their intent to march on tahrir square and the presidential palace to step up pressure on currently than one hundred nursing pro-democracy protesters are accusing the president of the train the revolution. to kidnapping and it's called repression several egyptian regions are currently in

a state of emergency clashes erupting across the country to the lesser of the rising position a spokesman. says creating a coalition government is the only way to quell the best. people are going to are going to the streets they are going on the streets willingly they don't really need any opposition calls for a new protest because the whole country is in a standstill there's nothing moving forward because there is no real administration at blessing the people's needs and the people demand and the actual anger in the streets so the only solution that i can see and that any sane person can see that the opposition the muslim brotherhood and all the all the different political factions to be in a quality of government that would be the only solution and the only way out because at that moment this government will take responsibility for any reform that's going to be as one of the happening in the country the idea of just

excluding everybody out of the government post revolution country in a country that's acting or calling for democracy when there is no real parliament in session that can hold the president or the government accountable to the failures of administering the country and then refusing to have a quality of government that's just a call for chaos. eighteen people have been killed by a methane explosion in a mine in russia's northern komi republic make this report say one person is still missing the blast happened eight hundred meters below the surface well more than two hundred fifty miners were underground let's get more about this now from. reno what more can you tell us about the incident well we know that at this point the rescue operation is still continuing they're still searching for a one man who is reportedly still remaining underground again from the get go there has been confusion about the number of miners that were actually in the mind or an explosion there has been also confusion about the number of the people who were in

the actual immediate area of the explosion some sources are saying twenty three people others are saying twenty six so there is this this discrepancy when it comes to numbers in fact it is such that russian president has directed that the head of the ministry of emergencies go down to the place where the events are unfolding and figure it out what exactly is happening with the numbers of people who are in the mine during the explosion we also know that at least three people have been wounded and seriously enough that they are being treated for their wounds that is so far what we know is regarding the miners and the state of affairs in the mine at the moment we also know that when the explosion happened there has been no fire which you can say is somewhat a good thing because otherwise we'd be talking of course of about a lot bigger of a number of victims in this particular case is there any information at all as yet about the cause of this blast well the preliminary reports are suggesting that it was the. congregation of gas possibly methane in the mine that has caused the blast

of course they have also launched a probe and a criminal case in regards to disregard all of these safety instructions in their mind we have to understand that we're talking about about a minute which is turning forty years old this year but it hasn't been it hasn't been under any scrutiny for any. violation. safety codes there are prior to this event but again it's up to the investigators to figure out what has happened and we also know that already russian government is going to issue financial aid to the families of those who were killed in the blast in the amount of two million rubles that is roughly sixty six thousand dollars ok now regular thank you for that. we have ukraine that refusing to pay gas from his recent seven billion dollars gas bill in canada working on in this to western companies to explore its gas reserves for the controversial method proposed to boost the country's coffers. with

environmentalists. reports now. it was described as the day of the cranes and the independence won in november last year keith signed a one billion dollar agreement with a spanish utility to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the black sea coast delight quickly turned into dismay when it emerged that the man signing the deal had nothing to do with the company three months later ukraine's leaders were shaking hands again this time with boiled dutch shell having signed a real deal to explore and develop the country's potentially he would shale gas reserves reportedly the third largest in europe. the expectation is about eight to ten billion cubic meters of gas production per year and the highest is up to about twenty two twenty five once it's operational we will strive to fully meet our domestic energy needs and to even become an exporter. this

is definitely sweet music to for years ukraine has been striving to reduce its reliance on. russia especially now when gas. was seven billion dollars for violating gas agreements this project is definitely good we would pay between one hundred fifty to one hundred eight dollars per cubic meter of gas instead of the four hundred fifty dollars we're now paying to gas problem but if everything is so promising why are people out in force against the shale gas initiative. the second sure know if not worse for years ukraine has often been divided on many different issues from perception of history to the official number of state languages and then you shale gas initiatives are no exception even sworn political enemies hardline nationalists and communists have put their differences aside and spoken out against the plan the opposition even proposed a bill prohibiting the exploration and extraction of shale gas the matter of.

information on how the gas split between. shell chevron and ukrainian company. it is still the earth is going to be profitable plus the companies don't keer it will be to the environment but political battles. are the most concerned with a potential threat from the shale gas program. it could lead to a full blown feat but whenever they speak the pro-government media labels them as agents. usually and different camels that extract more gas from the rocks so the underground system which provides fresh drinking water is completely destroyed because water is a strategic ecological resource and when one spoil it the area becomes practically non-viable. even in the most optimistic scenario ukraine may see its own shale gas filling its pipes only in a decade from now ecologists insists they're not against shale gas in grenfell just

that the potential environmental impact from its extraction needs to be researched and assessed before drilling begins they have already sent a letter to the president the question is whether those at the top will be willing to listen let's see russia. reporting from kiev ukraine or its national news in brief for you now this hour in liberia a military plane has crashed south of the countries in the room ten thousand in the military officials are reportedly died in the incident on the plane that was carrying a delegation to the. forces day they have morning has been declared. government and opposition in bahrain have launched a new round of conciliation talks the first such meeting in two years of political crisis reform campaign is a calling on the government to deal with police brutality and perceived discrimination while the opposition has cast doubts on the intentions of the talks

saying they're just a bluff to calm the arm rest of us say there is too much power concentrated in the hands of the sumatran. a stampede at a railway station in india has left at least thirty six new programs dead and dozens injured reportedly occurred after well away officials announced a last minute change. of millions of gathered on the banks of the carriages river to mark the men are religious festival. french authorities are to hold talks with key figures in the meat industry comes after meat was discovered in products sold as containing one hundred percent beef in the u.k. sweden france the frozen meals were immediately pulled from shop chains as blame was cast upon meat supplies who in turn deny the allegations. eleven e.u. countries are fit to be involved in a scandal.