that. the withdrawal of over thirty thousand troops from afghanistan is one of the main pledges in barack obama's state of the union address r.t. examines the foreign policy areas he wasn't keen to talk about. silence is broken the israeli media lifts a shroud of secrecy over the death of an alleged secret agent in custody this by the government trying to keep it quiet. and an unemployed frenchman commits suicide by setting himself on fire in front of a job center and the desperate move seemingly highlighting the economic problems crippling the eurozone.

from the new center here in moscow this is r.t. with the online on screen twenty four hours a day. barack obama used the first state of the union address of his second term to try and appease lawmakers and taxpayers making fresh promises to boost the economy and slash debt on foreign policy the us president also announced thirty four thousand troops will leave afghanistan by next february and he said now he looks at what he did and didn't 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 to 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 and while 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 well most afghans have been left with nothing many countries thrive on this war they make money there in their un people are 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 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 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 sis but last year in light of serious privacy concerns in other words a loophole is now available for sis to effectively be put into action president obama has started growing threats from cyber attacks but i went to war activists usually years says it's not clear whether the new measures would be used to protect the public or to pry into what they're up to. when we look at what's going on here with the information sharing between the department of defense the government and others private corporations i think it raises significant concerns over whether the

issue of defense is actually defending us or weakening us i mean we see recently the three largest papers in the united states washington post new york times wall street journal all had major scandals over the issue of cyber security now if they're sharing information with the government i think that raises a potential question well what about journalist e-mails and things of that nature would that have a chilling effect on whistleblowers in the government and so i think we have to ask ourselves is generalized obviously generalized cyber security defense is important but ultimately is the way the obama administration is approaching it expanding department of defense type programs and not having safeguards that are very well explained to the people regarding civil liberties in place is that something that actually decreases our security by for example having a chilling effect on whistleblowers or just giving the government more of a big brother overview and really reducing our privacy still to come later in the program a gamble for africa u.n. human rights chief says the situation in mali is swiftly deteriorating following the french intervention examine the violence that's plaguing the west african

nation shortly. the first event of sun and over the death of a top secret prisoner has been lifted by the israeli media which had been gagged by court order itself is fighting the 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 and he has 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 all references to the original australian report were removed from israeli news websites but later it was brought back not only to the web sites 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 not 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 there 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 office 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 it is highly unusual in israel ways statement a tree senses normally and now all the local media to quote someone still serves 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 have 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 idea and he was recruiting on the stand by the messiah these raiding 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. so plenty of questions remain after that israel's spy secret was revealed columnist and senior correspondent for israel's helots newspaper amir oren has told me earlier that the entire situation is a source of embarrassment for the country. on one level it's an espionage story and mystery regarding the foreign intelligence service mossad and the tragic.

circumstances under which one of its operatives apparently found his death on another level. government versus press story and the press here has been struggling against various government agencies and gradually has been able to leave at least some of the secrecy surrounding this story there was a gag order here apparently and defer this was the case and one cannot confirm it independently from israel but again embarrassing as it is one has to rely on foreign sources if that is true and a gag order was signed by a judge then one would have been subject to prosecution if one were to violate it so apparently even though these really pressies far from being lazy are for the last two years it has waited passively for someone abroad in this case

australia to break the story a jobless man has died after setting himself and five in front of an employment center in the front city of nuns the forty three year old self image finding out he was in an edgy bill for unemployment benefits the last time this happened in france was in august when a man died of to burning himself in paris only to sicily has the details. it said it reports that he had actually set a letter to some journalists saying that he was going to do this this week so the police had said that they had set of surveillance outside that employment agency but they didn't manage to see him he was already on fire they said he had entered through a side street and therefore this tragedy had happened other man did this after finding out that he is no longer eligible for those unemployment benefits and this is not the first time it has happened in france in august we know that a fifty year old jobless man had done the same and this is a worrying sign for france for

a country that has seen its unemployment rising for the past twenty months and this after a president had been elected on a campaign of jobs and growth so we haven't seen any improvements on this front so a lot has declared twenty thirteen as a battle for jobs he said that by the end of the year there would be he would be creating jobs for the french people however statistics show that by midyear the number is set to rise and let's not forget that more than three million french people this number does not include people who have quit the unemployment program because they simply have exhausted all their benefits similar to the case of the man who had just burned him self and also those young people who had never registered or those who are in part time jobs if we look at the trend we've seen a lot of suicides and attempted suicides in countries like greece one of the hardest hit euro zone countries because of this eurozone crisis there's a general feeling of a still be in the country a lot of people going out in protest we've also heard of stories of suicides in italy another hard hit country so if we're looking at the trend that's happening in

europe we hope it does not continue but we could see a lot more expressions of dissatisfaction. and while job loss europeans of finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet the wealthiest to being hit by financial was in a different way and the street tax rates according super rich the new citizens to flee to low tax countries that is just ahead for you. while europe stricken in texas a repenting the wealthy many britons can't afford to go when holiday due to low wages and recent predictions for the nation's economy a fall from optimistic the story more after the break.

to speak your language. as well as programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of v.i.p.'s interviews intriguing story to tell you you. can try. to find out more visit our big don't teach dog called.

there's continues here in r.t. there's been a dramatic growth in the gap between the rich and the poor in the u.k. the stuff figures revealed by british think tank also warn that families must endure fifteen years of squeeze incomes until living standards recover to pre-crisis levels are pretty barco looks into what's behind the numbers. imagine living on the brink financially i need to be told that it's going to get was that's the reality facing some ten million brits living on middle incomes economists at the think tank the resolution foundation has issued a landmark report with a stark warning to the government they've got to tackle low wages or face economic stagnation for generations to come the report claims that for too many households their money no longer stretches to the bare essentials because of falling wages and rising inflation and buying a house is becoming

a fantasy for too many britons already millions of citizens in the u.k. struggle to pay their monthly bills have no savings in the bank and can no longer afford a family holiday so what we're seeing at the moment is the squeeze on living standards which is affecting households throughout the entire income distribution and that's mainly a result of the recession and austerity policies but actually for a very sizable group around about ten million adults who live in low to middle income households and that's actually started sometime before failing to do anything in this area and ended up with family and households have no increase in that in their living standards in the iranians first of all social problem because it's a very large group to be in that situation but also it's an economic problem because because this group of consumers so they are one of the drivers of economic growth their report found that on top of the recession there are systemic problems with the way that the british economy is run making life even harder for britain's low

to middle if things stay the same the average household by twenty twenty will have less money to spend than it did five years ago person is now so squeezed that almost seven out of ten brits say that they have to cut back on spending just in order to get by but the governor of the bank of england saying that economic recovery could be in sight it looks like that for those at the bottom of the british. i mean that's no guarantee that life is going to get any easier. while we've got more stories and videos for you in addition to what you see on screen here at. my website is online all the time that's going to cover the stories that we call the moment of the taking a battering from mother nature residents in parts of new york which were hit hardest by hurricane sandy are in for an unfortunate surprise from the city's texas authorities. and the iraqi capital baghdad takes its first steps on the catwalk in

ten years the fashion show is seen as a symbolic break from the years of turmoil since the u.s. invasion that for you.

he continued on r.t. thousands are taking to the streets of dresden to protest against a near nazi march held annually by far right extremists it marks the anniversary of the allied bombing of the city in eastern germany georgina she's from the european network against racism i spoke to earlier and she says that the debt crisis is one of the reasons why not simply neo nazi ism is gaining strength across europe extremely worrying phenomenon because it is the mission as we see that not only in germany but you know other european countries as well there is an increasing popularity of these rights movements and even their lots in groups like in greece for instance obviously the economic crisis is exacerbate. tensions and

due to loss of jobs exception but at the same time i mean it's been the else you know right ribbons have been rising since before the economic crisis so it's really difficult to pinpoint one cause but what's really important is that governments and politicians really take a clear starts against the ideas promoted by reason and really promote a message that unites instead of separates people. tax hikes are still the default plan for e.u. nations trying to get out of debt and while the super rich can flee to places that won't take such a hefty slice of their cash small business is left behind so they livelihoods are at risk of all of a found out. 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 fund to our lands 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 has 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 don't. there are warnings for europe that when compared to low tax countries like russia they could lose their competitive edge if they're a country with low taxes and with high taxes capital flow well to country with 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 card to owns

a whole it company in munich currently he employs around ninety people transporting everything from the small to the big and bulky all over 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 this stuff that's where not only can his with him . it 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 and that 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 them with 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 when it comes to saving fifty development beach or all other arty. the united nations says the french military intervention in mali has made the situation in the country worse with fears that the west african nation will fall into a downward spiral of violence human rights groups are concerned about ethnic reprisal killings and accused money forces of murdering suspected militants and so on i want you he's been traveling around the country throughout the conflict reports now for our to see about him money. 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 with the french army denying us passage saying it was for our own security the u.n. 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 the insurgency in mali's aggravated by ethnic clashes a camera crew witnessed instances of vegs accuses him 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 quora origin who are believed to be part of the insurgency and even 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 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. the arabian peninsula which calls upon every muslim to join the whole war against france a war that is being fought in mali against the will of its people by gonzalo one shot in mali are. reports a cutter has handed the syrian embassy to the opposition the building's been closed for about a year after the gulf nations cease to recognize a sad ruling regime one of syria's opposition leaders claims he's been appointed ambassador to catarrh soon political activists yes a brother told me qatar is trying to beef up the failing syrian national coalition it's not an addition to the political weight of the syrian national coalition in my view this is a this is primarily

a prime primarily to reinject some life in the syrian national coalition especially after the several blows that it received since it since it was formed we know that they want to. overthrow the regime they couldn't so far they wanted to achieve some liberated lands and more than in northern syria and they didn't so far and they also wanted to form a transitional government on syrian soil and they're meeting in the us it's them or recently failed in doing so so i think i think this movement by by qatar especially the us qatar considers itself the main backer of this iranian national coalition because it was its own project so it's its line marks and we inject some life into it after after the deficiencies that. in ukraine a passenger plane carrying about forty people as crash landed near the city of

donetsk it's believed the aircraft which was on internal flight missed the runway and overturned a full bursting into flames the full scale of casualties isn't yet clear but early indications suggest at least five people have been killed with two still missing the cause of the crash landing is under investigation and we'll bring you more details as we get them. some more international news in brief at least a dozen people were injured in bangladesh's capital dhaka after police fired rubber bullets on protesters the crowd was demanding a halt to the trials of opposition leaders accused of war crimes in the nation's nine hundred seventy one war of independence more than one hundred people were arrested witnesses reported that protesters attacked a vehicles and torched a bus similar rallies left seven people dead last month. police in bahrain used to gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the country's capital rally broke out on the eve of the two year anniversary of the uprising

demonstrators marched in the streets carrying bahraini flags and chanting anti-government slogans accusing the ruling regime of corruption and human rights violations and quoting for the removal of the monarchy blame it for the brutal crackdown on protests. that brings up today for the moment the news continues in this and now with my colleague carrie johnson in the news team in the meantime the impending round of talks on iran's nuclear program is the topic of debate in the crosstalk that's coming up after a very short break here. helicopters flying through the air day and night rounds of assault rifle ammo popping as the choppers buzz over the land now this unique form of hell of terror is no longer

restricted to those in vietnam in the middle east now houston miami residents of the good old usa can get in on the fun houston residents of terror called nine one one and scrambled for cover and even to schools put on lockdown as the military helicopters participate in a multi-agency training thrill in miami at night in the middle of downtown onlookers caught video on their telephones of blackhawk helicopters pumping loud blank on to the people below and maybe even as i speak a flexibly scheduled military drill could be happening in jesper county south carolina you know when i was a kid they tell us about how that year old soviet union would parade their tanks around how there were soldiers all over their oppressed country even in one thousand nine hundred four or what made it a point to the square. military helicopters would eternally be overhead and a dystopian nightmare world now we're living the nightmare the united states is a huge country there's plenty of room on remote army bases to do your training also

last time i checked afghanistan evil which is don't look like downtown miami just who are you training the kill anyways knock off the terror training but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle talking the talk or serious in meaningful negotiations this is the question always asked when it comes to the western powers approach to rand's nuclear program soon the two sides will meet again in search of mutual agreement other too many red lines and toxic history for this to happen and who really needs to unclench their fist.