thousands of second amendment activists in the u.s. gather nationwide is america's he's protests against plans to curb gun ownership. the death of a palestinian prisoner in an israeli jail threatens to fuel more anger across the west bank where week long protests against conditions in israeli prisons have already led to violent clashes with police. britain losing its cherished top credit rating for the first time in decades with the downgrade brand of a catastrophic government failure. and a shift in britain's fashion world as more designers bucked the trend of using flawless models opting instead for the ordinary imperfections of everyday folks.

in moscow i matter as a good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story this hour thousands of second amendment activists across the u.s. taking part in a so-called day of resistance against president obama's tighter gun control measures calling his plans unconstitutional sarkies gynae cheeky on reports is not just words they say they're ready to use to protect their right to bear arms. part of america now favors some form of gun control especially in the wake of tragic mass shootings. while the other is getting ready to fight against any significant regulations they're preparing for what they call the invasion of feds by arming themselves to the teeth. and we actually got two that are very different from what i know but now that you know we're out of that of course it and i would be really qualified right. if yes that is the basis of. a police chief in

pennsylvania mark kessler is training private citizens to become snipers and resist what they call it tyrannical government if need be trust me when i tell you this i mean i will take my uniform off and i will stand with freedom before i stand with the ironical folks absolutely not i will not in any way shape or form support anything that goes against the constitution or the second amendment sheriff associations from eleven states said they would ignore any law passed in washington that would significantly regulate guns we won't enforce federal regulations or federal laws were not required so there's a separation of powers in and we won't there is a tradition in american thought. of states doing what they want despite what the federal government says of course that led to the civil war well now we see a revival of the same kind of philosophy well we don't like what washington says so we're going to do our own thing we have the right to do it well no they don't they're a part of this country whether they like it or not and federal laws will be enforced

. the obama administration says they're not going to take away people's guns they just want to ban certain types of assault rifles which are more appropriate for war and then for civilian defense but which have become the weapon of choice used in mass shootings in america the administration also wants to enforce background checks on all gun sales currently forty percent of weapons in the u.s. are sold without any background check but gun rights advocates see it as the first step towards disarming the nation there will be more bad like she believes a belt or in the future ok the people who got to do that would do that while people like jim are gearing up for the second coming of hitler supporters of gun control points to staggering statistics the gun murder rate in the us is almost twenty times higher than in the next twenty two richest nations combined that's unimaginable in any other industrial democracy that an argument would be made in favor of owning guns for the purposes of overthrowing the

government and made by the high court the solution. making to democracy stronger. by guns because i want to strike a curio america is split over priorities according to the pew research center currently fifty percent of americans say controlling gun ownership is the more important priority while forty six percent say it is to protect the right of americans to own guns people choose different ways to stand up for liberty as they see it one owner of a pizza shop in virginia beach offers a fifteen percent. discount to those who come in with guns all they have to do is show me that they're carrying a weapon. or they can show me their concealed weapons permit and they can get the discount miscellany says eighty percent of his customers have brought guns into the pizza shop since he introduced the deal one even came in with an a k forty seven

one question of why is this when people here talk about protecting their freedoms with weapons that are designed for war to these people have such little trust in their democratic system to the point when they think of boat is not enough to secure their rights and that they need a stack of deadly weapons at home to do that in washington i'm going to check out. guns have been sparking debate in the u.s. some places have taken safety precautions though to the other extreme online the story of a ten year old schoolboy suspended from class or a toy gun found in his back.

a palestinian prisoners died in an israeli jail with one palestinian official calling for an international probe saying the man was killed during questioning yes it is likely to further stoke tensions in the west bank which have already seen a week of violent clashes palestinians are protesting prison conditions at administrative detention a controversial military practice allowing authorities to detain people indefinitely earlier fierce clashes broke out during a march supporting several hunger striking prisoners israeli soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators who hurled stones and burning tires derating conditions for a detainees who've been on a hunger strike for more than two hundred days has now led to widespread calls for their release the u.n. chief has urged israel to act policy analyst danny mahmoud so is the current international pressure on the government isn't enough. medium solution that comes up to everybody's mind right now is just an immediate release of palestinian

prisoners you don't have to go through a humiliating and process in order to get a fair trial if there was anything let alone most of the prisoners were actually released and. deal last year and they were it could now one more time and put in prison again so the whole thing is unfair. and prisoners on the other hand i really wish as every other palestinian which is just more involvement of the international community human rights organization. national organization just put more pressure on israel and especially the legal system because it just very unfair to equate that lie a lot of injustice where the palestinian as we are constantly seen as a lower class or people who don't really deserve any of the rights most people enjoy in the world and palestinian treatment of prisoners is not only the is not the only issue of controversy israel is courting later this hour report on how the

country is allowed a u.s. company to drill for oil on the land internationally considered part of syria. but first we turn to mali where a joint force of french and african troops sustained their heaviest casualties yet in the military campaign against islamist rebels thirteen children soldiers from chad also killed in the fighting in the north meanwhile the u.s. deployed one hundred troops to neighboring the share in order to assist french led forces with intelligence support the french intervened in their former african colony last month to halt an offensive by islamist rebels who are now waging a deadly guerrilla war the operations one france's president of peace prize from the u.n. cultural are nasco for is a valuable contribution to stability in mali a social justice activists for those manji says the award could encourage further foreign intervention in africa. so what is this reward actually encouraging it presumably encouraging others to follow the example of the french over invading

africa of occupied territories in africa it's an invasion on behalf of nato and the u.s. and its effort called the troops and is aimed at the economic and political interests of empire particularly france the problem here is that this is a political crisis in money and can be resolved only by political means by sending in the warriors the troops the planes and the boming actually doesn't resolve the problem and as we can see it's actually exacerbate it and they've claimed that they have been invited to come into mali and buy a government but it is being an illegitimate government and it's outrageous that the un should sanction such or such a policy i guess that unesco feels that this is what what needs to be rewarded in case of in the stripped of its prize aaa crown in a huge jolt to the british government rating agency moody's says there is many

years of trouble to come for the country due to its lower large and growing debt the opposition's dubbed the move a catastrophic failure by the british finance chief but he remains adamant that his austerity policy won't change professor rodney shakespeare though says the strategy is ignoring the plight of the british people. back to the matter is the rating agencies and dogs was formed off part of a global elite which thinks it can suck wealth from the occupation and over time he's not the son with whether or not people have jobs whether or not living standards are declining they claim that the independents have something live to observations they did not notice the great classes coming in two thousand and eight and the reason why they didn't use is that they assume the whole system is working well and only has ups downs and they can't see this become profoundly corrupted

things have got out hand and it's going downhill great exegesis in bed with the global elite and with the existing gotten its in a gigantic conspiracy against the bulk of the people. well stay with us here on r.t. still to come syria's main rebel group holds out of key international meetings aimed at helping end the bloody civil war after a break we'll look at what's next for the peace process. 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 realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. couldn't take three. three. three. three. three. videos for your media project a free media. for staying with us here on r t twelve minutes past the hour now syria's main opposition group the syrian national coalition says is pulling out of a series of international gatherings aimed at resolving the deadly civil conflict

the group will skip the friends of syria meeting in rome as well as scheduled talks in the u.s. in a rush over what it sees as a lack of international condemnation of regime the assad. team rebels accuse damascus of multiple civilian killings although some pin similar was on them opposition militias are widely suspected of being behind a devastating bombing in damascus thursday that's thought to have killed about one hundred syrian pro-reform activists amar what cough thinks the western powers could be losing their influence on the rebels and if you opposition may not be interested in talks they are being told now is that they should have a sort of tribute to a political solution to all that and they are going to be heavily armed in order to defeat the syrian government and they do not want to have any dialogue with the syrian government because all this strategy based in a sense on the syrian government falling and them coming as a substitute they do not have a lot of on the ground the also the east for the rebels rather than the political

elite that are called the national council to see the national commission so all they are interested in is for the government to form they know that the western society the western countries have invested a lot in them both in money and time and so on in organizing them and they think that they could probably make a stand here at it with regards to what they see is the policy this is a bit funny because now if he chooses to get out of this sort of the international friends of syria meeting then the western communities really would have no leverage whatsoever in the syrian crisis while damascus is fighting a war at home next story israel's who has given a u.s. company a license for oil exploration of the golan heights that's led annexed from syria but internationally can state it still its territory artie's policy or has details . off to israel decided last year to allow for oil and gas exploration in the allowed djimi energy was awarded the license to drill but the new jersey based

company still needs further work permits for drilling to commence and this is a process that could still take several years the company is headed by none other than the golan heights residents and a former general and could cabinet minister the company's shareholders reportedly also include rupert murdoch and one of the company's advisers is former u.s. vice president dick cheney geological tastes have indicated the potential for oil and foreign oil discovery in the golan heights which is all captured from syria back in the one nine hundred sixty seven six day war in one nine hundred eighty israel and mixed the area in a move that is not recognized internationally the strategic area has seen exciting extensive israeli settlement construction it is also the science of a major israeli wind turbine project the golan stein's has has been at the heart of previous talks between israeli and syrian leaders damascus is demanding its full

return and there is concern that as the syrian revolt threatens the president bashar assad's rule israel is digging in its heels on the golan heights it was also an observation that on the eve of almost every high level visits to israel by american officials the israeli government has without fail angered the americans by coming up for example with announcements of settlement expansion in the west bank president obama is due to visit israel at the end of march and no doubt the state department is likely to criticize this permit as they do not recognize the area as being part of israel switching gears now french movie star gerard depardieu now a full fledged russian citizen is formally taking up residence in the capital of russia's world public over more dove you're telling our to exclusively why he paid their. words will be so our own. so are a citizen or tax fugitive head over to our website for more on more serious. in his

new home when after he quit france complaining of high taxes. also online you are a scientist developing an inorganic zombie cell not only copies it's a living prototype but even out performs it all the details on r.t. dot com. in the fashion industry everything revolves around tall and slim women and tone muscular men but the people buying the clothes often advertise don't meet those lofty standards and it seems some designers are starting to figure out you don't need to look perfect to strut your stuff on the catwalk artie's polly boyd or it's a. very. ugly it's a car it's a model agency it's a means thing lalage small other thing is anything goes every kind of carrots you can think of that's what we supply meets robin he's a successful fashion model he works for a london agency i'll be representing over thousand models aged eighteen to one

hundred and they study shapes and sizes it's really important to have current surprises in the industry and i think you know there's enough good looking people around at the why i'm nothing you know kind of people with quirky you know expressive face has got far more work coming fashion and advertising is changing to make room for models who look more like real people do you think now there's a strong the demand for people on using models because people sideboard of looking at the minimal you know six foot to have a chisel and all of that looks exactly you know people's body saves some places and amazes and we should look at them and i'm really embrace them really katie green found out a lot about the pressures of the fashion industry when she was chosen to be the face of wonderbra and signed to a major modeling agency for me. then though told me i needed to lose two stars now i'm five foot ten and the size twelve i wanted to spin

a bag of bones you know i'm perfectly healthy as it is and they want me to lose two stone and go to a size eight i cooled my parents off the moods and just in floods of tears saying that i confronted fats bimodal five years on she's not only working as a successful plus size model but is also campaigning to ban underweight models from cat talks and fashion spreads its old pressures the functions are those pressures of big campaigns that also somebody who looks so small and none of us know more growth can have a big look bad made here is a very sort of fantasy related industry it's all based on airbrushing and nothing in these magazines is real the majority of british women now measure in a size fourteen or above design a sample size that a skinny model was down the catwalk is a minuscule size zero the difference is huge big brands are beginning to realize that consumers want to see models that they can identify with major fashion design

as a tapping into the changes and introducing larger sizes raise differently some type of shake up going on in the industry not big that you know in the future you would see that this becomes more the norm and we probably won't call it anymore it will be just be fashion it's a profit at the end of the day businesses want to make money so if there's a market there where you haven't actually tapped into a new you've got to do is create products for bigger size the numbers show business men business women everywhere when they do that model is over you know who's one of my model sees the new models i'm afraid my job campaigns levi days on telling time these classes so there's no obvious a closing down there so you know he's a supermodel for the most halls of u.k. women now officially plus size and individuality suddenly on friends it seems that the fashion industry is finally waking up to reality. on. see you then i think a look now at some other stories making global headlines this hour thousands

gathered madrid for the latest show of discontent over austerity cuts and the handling of the country's economic slump the government's introduced several rounds of anti-crisis measures as it struggles to reduce its budget deficit spain's also got one of the highest jobless rates seen europe with one in four currently out of work. for the arab militias killed more than fifty people in sudan's darfur region according to city residents eyewitnesses say are men driving through the city in jeeps or burning homes and shooting people clashes in the region resumed a few months ago when a peace treaty between the government and rebels was violated the conflict which is claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left more than a million homeless has been going on for ten years now. iran has announced it's discover more uranium deposits and also identified sites for sixteen new nuclear power stations this days before a new round of talks set to start between tehran and the west over the country's

controversial nuclear program tough international sanctions have been imposed over iran's atomic envisions a ban also in place on imports of nuclear material but terror and insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. more than a thousand anti-fascist activists marched in the german town of forth in protest over a neo nazi vigil happening there they were gathered to commemorate the anniversary of britain's bombing of the german town in the second world war that killed more than seven hundred thousand people hundreds of police were deployed to the site of the vigil to quell any violence. arline but off limits iceland could become the first western nation to introduce web censorship as a tries to outlaw internet porn the government claims the move is necessary to protect children but it's already being challenged by free speech activists loz kaye from the u.k. pirate party says the ban could be used for an all out crackdown on web freedoms we see another area of the world where freedoms are being eroded

a sunshiny these proposals the show you have to again the lack of technical knowledge of the heart of our kind hold our politicians and the real objection to this whole proposal that there is no magic switch that we can push that will actually do what's being proposed it's actually using the same kind of technology which is indistinguishable from other kinds of filtering so by the systems used around the world now there's clinton highly bar for installing it but once you do you it can be used for any purpose we often hear governments creasing internet freedom abroad so for example in the context of the arab spring but of the owner of home. a recent studies showing three d. printers could recreate parts of the human body by using injectable gel and with living cells it's a discovery that certainly captures the imagination could it eventually be used to

clone people but about resurrecting someone from the past artie's laurie harshness to the streets of the big apple to find out who need yorkers would like to bring back to life. who would you three d. print from history this week let's talk about that i mean reported bring so in the life of a character oh yeah like super mario or. where elmo yeah i got it thirty were my best friends oh someone you know that's a good idea but you douglas. want you to king. and malcolm x. do you think that they would appreciate where society is today to be honest with you they would be a little disappointed abraham lincoln yeah the classic president right is that

we're everybody says no no one said that yes i mean lincoln's pretty hot great now you know people like lincoln bay him walking around his beard would be good yeah yeah and he'd be like what the how did you do it this country while i've been dead lloyd and i guess the purpose of these courses is to see you know how the past would deal with the present yeah definitely what do you how do you think they would deal with that i mean how would deal with musics have wearing you know reproductions of like that that would be amazing to see what he would do he would probably lay off the auto and you don't know the bottom line is three d. printing technology is developing extremely fast so let's just hope the people in control of it use it for the good of humanity.

and still to come with the start of the twenty fourteen winter olympics less than a year away technology update takes a look at some of the gadgets and gizmos being used hine the scenes in the preparation for the sochi games it's coming away after a short break stick with us here on r.t. . oh those north korean scamps are added again another nuclear test in north korea has made all the headlines trust me nuclear missiles are something worth being concerned over but haven't we heard this song and dance before all the way back in two thousand and two the north koreans going to the b.b.c. ruled that they have a secret weapons program and turned their young beyond nuclear reactor back on

since then every once in a while a missile flies and people say the war is coming and silence then another test of some sort shock horror and then silence again with great just uses this is a bargaining tool to get what they want and rather how wacky the north korean state may seem they understand that launching one or two missiles against united states means they probably won't even hit their target and in return their entire country would turn into ash instantly this situation really isn't cause for concern until something big changes like the us not being in a position to support south korea japan or some other dramatic event that changes the game like china giving up their support for the north korean side but for now the cycle just keep going on and on and about two years the same headlines will be back with the same fear will be back a lather rinse repeat but that's just my opinion. well with. the fish as world class athletes to sit down so cheap.