troops. is one of them. over the death of an alleged secret. government. in the world. to protect and small business.

with your worldwide news. use the first state of the union address of his second. making to boost the economy and work hard to slash the debt. the us president did also announce that thirty four thousand troops will leave afghanistan by next february. looks at what he did and what he didn't have to say. after over a decade of war troops are coming home in twenty fourteen as obama put it obama points out that there are two missions now one to prepare handing afghan forces take over so that the country does not slip into chaos again the key word here

again it almost seems as if it's now a stable place just today reports of ten civilians killed by a nato strike targeting taliban insurgents now obama spent most of his speech talking about the economy and taxes he failed to mention that so far the u.s. has invested over one hundred billion dollars in reconstruction of afghanistan and that this year alone it's expected another thirty billion dollars could be spent in eight this as the afghan state is rated one of the most corrupt in the world despite red flags from a watchdog monitory bad aid they say there's no way of ensuring all this money is going to the right place or whose hands the cash is falling into and that it's too dangerous in many places in afghanistan to safely observe what's happening well former and. some have become very rich including western officials while most

afghans have been left with nothing many countries thrive on this war they make money there in their un people others who are lined up and making fat salaries and while the life of afghan ordinary afghans have not changed we of course we have had some things like media. communication and this and that but. in relation to what was available and what could have been done it's a drop in the bucket now obama also spoke of defending democracy across the globe most notably the arab spring which is previously been held by his administration a great success especially libya egypt and tunisia those countries of course now still drowning in chaos and violence two years on well. bomber has changed his tune a bit now saying well it's going to be messy those transitions also his tone on syria a bit distant considering a year ago the u.s. was insisting president off to moscow a lot of speculation about intervention was going on now the president saying they

will continue to put pressure on the syrian leader but another pledge from obama to continue to push for legal and durable policy on counterterrorism no mention here of guantanamo drones or wiretapping and obama mentioned internet freedoms well sort of he flaunted signing an executive order on cyber defense but the order is really seen as a response to congress's refusal to pass the cyber intelligence sharing and protection act or says last year in light of serious privacy concerns in other words a loophole is now available for cispa to effectively be put into action. or i will of president obama says the main goal is to ensure that chaos doesn't return to afghanistan but just today ten afghan civilians on four children killed by a nato strike let's discuss it now for a get some more analysis from international relations professor. joining us live here from new delhi a pleasure to have you on thanks for coming on i did hear one

or two today obama is pledging to ensure that chaos doesn't come back to afghanistan i suppose one question would be did it ever leave. well. you know there are lowering the benchmarks no i mean you need to be free to. rebuild an issue to create. something. sorry. a little colored imagery apologize we will try to reestablish our connection perhaps requests that you pay your power bill we'll see you very soon scuse me for that all right apologies here on r.t. that was our doctors for i'm charlie from new delhi will get back to him shortly as soon as we can well barack obama is charting the future course of his country of course with his state of the union address just recently now but some meanwhile having listened to his address are now aiming at his plans about strict gun controls. and listening to get the garbage out in your ears

and listen to what people are saying protesters in the state of new york demonstrate against the arms restrictions slapped on them by the author of he's following the sandy hook school massacre was last to seven more on that to come just a bit later in the hour here on r.t. . though a veil of silence over the death of a top secret prisoner has been lifted by the israeli media which had been gagged by a court order it surfaced following a report in the australian press about a man linked to the israeli secret service who hanged himself in prison after months of being held in secret. as all the details. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu summoned the editors of all the major israeli news outlets to an emergency meeting and in that meeting he asked them not to publish the story saying and i'm quoting that it would be embarrassing to a certain government agency not at first the editors did listen and over fences to

the original australian report we removed from israeli news websites but later it was brought back not only to the websites but also to all the radio and t.v. stations here and certainly sincerely also this morning it has been the headline news everyone there is referencing it as a report from australia what we understand is that israeli parliament terence did oss the justice minister to confirm whether or not this report was true they also demanded to know if they were other prisoners who were being held in secret in israeli jails the justice minister's comments were and i'm quoting that there is no doubt that if this information is accurate this is something that needs to be checked state senses gave news outlets in israel the green light to report on this parliamentary debate but nothing else but of course we're witnessing now that the reporting has gone much further than just this debate such a gag order it is important to say is highly unusual in israel ways statement

a tree since it's normally an hour of the local media to quote selling saucers on controversial topics such as the alleged israeli strike in syria last month what we also understand is that various human rights groups such as human rights watch as well as the israeli civil rights movement has been aware of this particular incident for quite some time now the australian media is reporting that this man came to live in israel when he was a youngster he made what is called and he was recruiting on the stand by the messiah these ready secret service something went wrong and we've been given no reason for him being imprisoned but they respect the nation that it would have had to be connected somehow with espionage and sensitive state secrets the. former foreign minister avigdor lieberman has said that left wing parliamentarians have damaged israeli security by bringing this issue to the fore in the first place. and it was on his own policy are right that our tax hikes are still the default plan

for in new nations trying to get out of debt and while the super rich can simply flee to places they're willing to take such a hefty slice of their cash small businesses left behind say livelihoods are at risk artie's put all of it went to investigate. he's a leading man of stage and screen however european heads of state will be hoping share our debt by do doesn't become the leader of a tax exodus by the super rich front lines decision to push through a seventy five percent top rate of tax on those earning over one million euros saw the actor up sticks and head to russia europe some of the highest rates of taxation in the world with many giving the lion's share of the things to the state of vermont feel the need can be a balancing act of course you want to run a successful business but if you make over a certain amount you find yourself paying out huge quantities of tax over fifty

percent. there are warnings for europe that when compared to low tax countries like russia they could lose their competitive edge if their country with low taxes and with high taxes capital flow went to countries at low tax and the same is true for people with talent there's always going to be people that think the taxes are too high but a growing number actually starting to think that it's becoming detrimental to the development of business pretty hard to owns a whole each company in munich currently he employs around one thousand people transporting everything from the small to the big and bulky all over the mainland europe he says that lowering the current rate of tax would not just make big changes to his business but also to the lives of his staff does where not only can his will. he would be super first i could pay higher salaries this is a very important issue right now due to the rise in the cost of living also i can invest more into the company and grow the business even employ more people everyone

benefits something that is impossible under the current tax system. those in power argue that the problem in european countries right now is that taxpayers want to have the best of both worlds big management of the phenomenon we face regarding taxes is that everyone wants to pay as little as possible however no one is willing to give up the services that those taxes go to pay for a. few signs of any major tax cuts on the horizon in year businesses like this one going to have to continue to struggle to bring home the bacon but it comes to saving fifty development peter all of a r.t. . and still to come for in the program here on a gamble for africa the u.n. human rights chief says the situation in mali. is of course following the french intervention in the violence that's plaguing the west african. and faith

in teaching religious school spread across up to more than two decades of being under the previous regime. about the possible spread of radicalism we investigate whether it is law in schools is good for young minds that report and other storms just around the.

speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the will talks about six of the c.e.o. interviews intriguing story for you. in troy. visit. it's good if you did join us here or not the today show live in moscow with your worldwide news the united nations says the french military intervention in mali has made the situation in the country was with fiz that the west african nation will fall into

a downward spiral of violence and human rights groups are concerned about ethnic reprisal killings and accused mali and forces of murdering suspected militants gonzalo one shot has been traveling around the country throughout the conflict he reports ferrazzi. to both him and money yes going to. the united nations already describes the situation in mali as a disaster the u.n. human rights commission says the country's caught in a spiral of violence fraught with grievous consequences the situation has been made worse in the wake of ferocious fighting in and around the city of northern mali following four days of fierce resistance from insurgents complete with suicide attacks the french military has been forced to conclude that some of the locals made an extremist that however some of the key areas in this conflict are still off limits to international journalists the french army denying us passage saying it was for our own security the un high commissioner for human rights not the palais

made it plain in a recent statement that the situation in mali is only deteriorated following the foreign military intervention you know that that the insurgency in mali's aggravated by ethnic clashes. camera crew witnessed instances of exit q sions in brutality perpetrated by the mali an army and survive. the military are not the only ones and gauged in hunting down people of arab or quarry origin are believed to be part of the insurgency and eventually the locals are going after them as well and for some time it has been difficult to find people from either of those ethnic groups anywhere in mali you know this brings us back to the fact that more than three hundred thirty thousand people have been forced to flee from their homes because of the crisis the last straw for all those refugees and indeed for all of mali as been a statement by al qaida coming out of the arabian peninsula which calls upon every muslim to join the holy war against france

a war that is being fought in mali against the will of its people. mali. but i don't think. religious education is making a serious come back into news here two years after the regime which had banned the teaching of islam was toppled and the current government has no control of a private muslim schools springing up across the country and the worry is there could be spreading extremism. visited one school where the koran is the main subject. tunisia's learned some tough lessons in the wake of its revolt but now the report card for what's going on in its schools is facing examination in the school in one of the poorest districts of the tunisian capital children come to learn about the qur'an and the way of life of true muslims religious education was banned under the old regime but it's making a comeback in a big way the rise of islam islam has led to an increase in the number of religious schools springing up across the country these schools are private operating outside

of the control of state officials who have no say over what's being taught in these schools and some worry that this may lead to a rise in the number of young extremists even many religious experts agree filling young minds with religious doctrines may not be the best way to bring up children. what. i read in one of the papers sent by a three year old girl to her mother with a message my beloved mom teach me about the afterlife the same way you teach about this life is this a way to teach three year old children we can see it clearly attempts to brainwash these children with dr mooney carried out extensive research of religious schools in tunis to find out whether critics were right to say that they were damaging to the country's post revolutionary development she found most schools were primarily focused on teaching strict islamic values without worrying about the effect these

methods may have on youngsters. i have noticed that all female teachers at these schools where any cub while teaching you can't see her face this is in contradiction with what's known in psychology as communication how can she communicate with the kids if her face is covered emotions and movement are vital to kids and social interaction such things do not contradict our values and morals. but parents who send their children to study at these schools believe they are on the right track. educating your. children with muslim values is a way to ensure that they will lead a proper life from childhood study in the koran improves memory increases thinking abilities and says the right course for the rest of their lives. at the moment not even the ministry of education is able to say exactly how many religious schools there are in tunisia after the revolution they sprung up over the country many operating without license from the state the government has acknowledged the

problem but has its hands full trying to keep the climate together meaning education is on the backburner he says absence of control of it especially worse emissions on top of the concerns about extremist salafist groups gaining ground. these groups don't believe in democracy the republic and freedom they consider them to be against their religion they want to impose their way of life onto new zealand by force as if they know better than other people. after the arab spring revolt tunisians were eager to embrace what they hoped would be a new way of life but with radical islam permeating more and more spheres of everyday life these children's future i mean not be exactly what many parents had hoped for in their quest for freedom and democracy in tunisia. r.t. . of course with many more stories in some. way and updated every single hour. from here and some of the stories for

example taking a battering from. well they're in for a bit of an unfortunate. also. of course.

this is the u.n. security council has promised more sanctions against north korea. the international community and. most powerful nuclear test yet. conducted in the underground. causing an international outcry china north korea. was among those to join the worldwide chorus of condemnation. leadership changes in the region have created. could be applied or are already being applied so it's really fall into a lot of diplomatic. pressure on china to use its leverage with north korea and it's and i imagine that officials in beijing must have known that this this was coming probably in the next few days and it certainly is it couldn't have happened

at a worse time internationally speaking it's the lunar new year in china so basically the entire country is on holiday and in the u.s. there is no confirmed secretary of defense or central intelligence director so it's a very interesting time throw that through into that the wild card of xi jinping we don't know much about him or how he's going to lead china and the fact that kim jong un is a relatively new leader as well you also have the new army government in japan and there's a lot of wildcards in this mix to see how this is going to shake out but i think on the question of china specifically i think it does have the most leverage over north korea at this point and certainly a lot of aid and support comes from china so i think they have a lot of pressure that they can put on north korea at this point. all right from north korea to that of iran that's where u.n. nuclear inspectors are pushing for a wide access to its secret facilities tehran said it is open for talks and may allow a visit to the parchin military site which some suspect is used for atomic experiments

a nuclear security expert matthew mcallester says it's a promising move but only direct negotiations between tehran and washington can end up resolving the crisis. if the international society and i ate meat inspectors are allowed in that this is definitely going to the are very good sign from it on to the international society that it has to be mentioned that. this would not be the first time i would go into power to. the i.a.e.a. board if i'm not mistaken three times and they have not found anything but there are still concerns you have the raise it on that has not yet replied to questions posed to them one thing many analysts tend to agree on is that in order to in order to stop them for crimes that the ring in crisis there is a need for direct hearing in american talks and this is something that we still are not seeing at all. straight to thailand now to kick off the aussie world update i

reports now that nineteen insurgents were killed off today launched a pre-dawn of souls on a military base in the country's south over one hundred heavily armed fighters stormed the marine border the troops did repel be attacked suffering no injuries themselves in the raid that was said to be the heaviest militant attack for several years in the restive so. police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the country's capital one day before the two year anniversary of the uprising of people marched in the streets carrying flags chanting anti government slogans accusing the ruling regime of corruption and human rights violations have been staging demonstrations since early two thousand and eleven demanding large political reform and they now want the outright removal of the ruling family blaming them for the violent crackdown on protests. and that has reportedly handed over the syrian embassy in the capital doha to the

opposition's syrian national coalition opposition leader news out of hierarchy who claims he was recently appointed as ambassador to. the handover is a means of acknowledging his new post the national coalition was formed in doha eighteen months ago and was recognized by. other gulf states as syria's legitimacy representative. with barack obama focused on stricter gun control measures it's already ending up dividing the country and many americans believe he's taken them down the wrong path the state of new york is the first to fold the line flagging up customers to buy large amounts of ammunition and introducing health checks for potential gun owners and associates are going to reports on how the people they're taking it all in. the big apple business as usual. a few hours by train the empire state capital. as the united states remains

divided when it comes to what to do with guns in this country after a recent series of shootings hundreds of anti-gun control protesters gathered outside the state capitol building in albany hear the toughest state law on firearms in the us after the sandy hook elementary school shooting the safe fact was passed a month ago the the and those whose guns are at stake are far from happy so i look like a terrorist because they will look like a fanatic among other provisions the new state law bans weapon sales over the web restrict ammo magazines to seven bullets include stricter background checks and regular research if acacia cuomo signed that law in a maryland i without these three days for to be allowing the people to read it. these protesters say their second amendment right to bear arms under the u.s. constitution is being stepped on by the legislators they need to smarten up and

listen to get the garbage out in your ears and listen to what the people are saying gun owners believe politicians are looking for criminals in the wrong places i've been a gun owner for thirty years and now some of the guns i have in my locker are now illegal have never had a. you are can take it or not like there's nothing wrong with good law abiding citizens had firearms it's just it's an assessment because this legislation is not going to stop hardened criminals obsessed with firearms it's not going to stop drug dealers it's not going to stop murderers it's not going to stop latest so what is the answer as the u.s. struggles to find common ground on where the gun debate should take the country next i think the fear punishment anyone does a crime with a gun here no matter in the hand no parole no body and national. what you see in. ok well the position of these gun advocates is clear

what remains to be seen is whether the u.s. as a whole can ever come to a compromise and r t. the impending round of talks on iran's nuclear program us all to be debated on cross talk that's coming your way in just a moment. you know 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 everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

is a. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle talking the talk for serious in meaningful negotiations this is.