america's new secretary of state john kerry is checking the boxes with key allies in europe but his first tour abroad will look at what is mission with partners there could be. a vote of last hope austerity hit italians are choosing their parliament with a former comedian stealing some pork from mainstream politicians and disappointment running on. all syrian rebels release a video which they say shows a government helicopter being shot down with a missile that's as the regime says it is ready to talk to all sides of the opposition even those who are armed and fighting. and afghan drugs amid a rush and vegetables of a drug control officers that seize almost two hundred kilos of heroin hidden in sacks with radishes at a market near moscow. good

evening thanks for tuning in this evening i'm lucy catherine of and you're watching our t.v. well the new u.s. secretary of state has reaffirmed a partnership of the heart between the u.k. and america on his visit to london john kerry has been testing the ground for u.s. foreign policy on the first leg of his tour of kerry has chosen to meet with traditional american allies in europe such as the leaders of britain germany and france before heading on to the middle east well let's talk now to jeremy corbyn he is a british labor party politician and a member of parliament sir thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us here it looks like john kerry's visit hasn't been too taxing so far i do want to play you a short soundbite of how he described ties between the u.s.

and the u k. there is a reason why we call this special relationship or as. prime minister cameron wrote really a partnership of the heart what do you think this alliance is based on a partnership of the heart when i think historically it's based on u.s. support for britain in the first world war in very large loans. more than anything a military alliance made through nato and the substantial us bases in britain the idea that some kind of special relationship when it comes to trade or any other more commercial issues is simply not the case it is essentially a military alliance with him well speaking of the military alliance there's another soundbite that i want to play for you from john kerry now the secretary of state let's take a listen to this one. the united states and great britain have made our countries both stronger and we've made the world more stable and secure i think we can be

proud of that if we look at the different conflicts where the u.k. and the u.s. have collaborated on we're talking about afghanistan iraq libya do you feel that this has made the world more stable and secure as john kerry says. no i think tony blair formed a very close relationship with george bush took a straight into the war in afghanistan and later on accepted all the arguments bush used about iraq and britain was then deeply committed in iraq and as result we've been involved in two major wars we lost a very large number of soldiers spent a vast amount of money and made the world an infinitely more in secure place we've also damaged civil liberties in our own country just as much as the united states has with its department of homeland security and all the controls that go with that and i think we need to examine the whole strategy of the west involving itself and

iraq then later libya and now syria to some extent and wonder if we're not really heading off in a completely wrong direction as if all this isn't enough a new adventure has broken out in north africa where britain and this time france are involved in deployment of forces all across our what do you think is the answer for what do you see as the proper way forward. i think we're a relatively small country we have a highly skilled and highly educated workforce we have a tradition of great invention innovation in industry and arts and so many other areas yet we spend thirty five billion pounds a year on arms and we're about to embark on a new generation of nuclear weapons i think we should develop a foreign policy that's based not on the requirements of the united states or nato a foreign policy based on peace and traverse you know that is a long way away from the mainstream of what both political parties are saying in

britain but i think the peace dividend from that would be so enormous and the moral . courage to be raised for this around the world would also be very great and i think it's time britain started to reassess its in terms of its world role and very briefly sir we're almost out of time but we do know that john kerry is expected to discuss iran's nuclear program and the conflict in syria of course there in the u.k. he's also portraying the trip as a listening tour so to speak in your view how much is washington actually listening . well i hope he's going to do a lot of listening to this has got to be nuclear disarmament or nuclear weapons for a middle east which would involve talks between israel and iran and also ensuring there is a political solution in syria and so that syria doesn't devolve into an even deeper and nasty a civil war which would then be possibly the jumping off point for

a new war with iran the has to be some courage to search for political solutions all wars end in a political solution let's start now start now indeed jeremy corbin member of parliament for britain's labor party thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this evening sir. all right well voting has ended in italy where a distribution to public has been choosing its parliament exit polls show that the central left coalition is leading with the main surprise of the selection of the party led by a former comedian also showing good results where our team. is reporting from rome let's take a listen to what she has to say this point it looks like. he is indeed coming in the first place but then the good old silvio berlusconi's in the second place in the third place we have the five star party with the face of the stand up comedian of the green low heading to that party and of course not in one thousand struggling in the fourth place of course that is that these are just the preliminary results

but you also have to understand that in some areas. of comedians actually in the first place and this is something that nobody has even dared to predict just days ago italy is eurozone number three nation obviously whatever happens here will impact their markets in the euro zone a great place so everybody there in the bankers and of course the ministers the finance ministers of the eurozone are watching the election closely and nervously a lot of the analysts to the that we have spoken to they are saying that there are no absolute majority and people will have to form a coalition and i'm predicting that. he will have to side with monty and interesting situation because both of these candidates have been showering each other with kind of mild sort of aristocratic insults throughout the campaign but there probably will have to come to terms with the fact that they will have to be friends at least for the show and tonight they're in the parliament but also it

would be interesting to see if that happens whether or not it will. try and side with the role of comedian on one side berlusconi himself used to be a stage singer so he's no stranger to performance and that is another possibility we could be facing in these elections. a poll or a phone a strategic and political analyst says that it is likely that another period of broken promises lies ahead for italy. people who need to be on time of the measures which are not produce the structural reforms of the society you know that do have a trustable future for those who are already working and for those who have planned to do the work force people are dying of promises which have not been fulfilled the center left the. getting what it was already. in the polls elections but certainly many people are wondering why they

didn't make the reforms in the previous the stations where they had the majority so the situation is very chaotic at the moment it is not certain that the government can be forced if not the coalition government involved in almost all the major political forces that are present in the bombs well a massive drug bust on the edge of moscow has once again highlighted the alarming rise and the illegal heroin trade from afghanistan into russia almost two hundred kilos of high grade heroin that was seized by drug control officers this monday at a busy market well earlier our own thomas described the details of the bust. great story here the russian federal drug control services say that they have discovered one hundred ninety kilos worth one hundred eighty million u.s. dollars outside of moscow and how they discovered it is kind of interesting in fact the drugs made it all the way from afghanistan here in bags of radishes in fact you

can see the radishes and then the green heroine check this out is a dyed in the color of the red it is radishes so that it's less noticeable less easy to detect and there they've discovered it one hundred and ninety kilos worth now the big news here is that they have blocked where they believe they've blocked a major supply route from afghanistan through and it was back a stent company a vegetable contract that was sending things to the urals russian company there and then brought to moscow in this particular case they have detained two people two more people have been arrested of course the investigation is ongoing if you look at this week around russia in different regions around thirty tons of various types of drugs between heroin marijuana synthetics drugs and psychotropics as well they were discovered in various regions around russia but the bad news is since the west hasn't gone into afghanistan since the u.s. invasion drug production from afghanistan up five thousand percent not good news at all and then again narcotics into russia from afghanistan has more than doubled in

that amount of time and in fact of the director of the russian federal drug control services states that two thousand and fourteen may actually be a very good year for russia saying that when the u.s. bugs out of afghanistan they actually expect that the import of drugs from afghanistan to russia will actually decrease. sean thomas reporting there well unfortunately drugs are just one of the many problems facing afghanistan these days the country has seen further turmoil after president hamid karzai ordered u.s. special forces out of the war dr province he's trying to quell public anger over numerous cases of civilian murders and abuse says we're going to report on that a little later this hour. syrian rebels have released a new video which they claim is evidence of their growing success in the fight against government forces.

this amateur footage apparently shows a rebel fighter shooting down a syrian army helicopter with a missile there you see it there lighting up on flame with dark smoke around the voices in a graphic background or shouting along the bar god is great throughout the attack of the rockets followed by a trail of white smoke and then the aircraft goes down in flames that's what you're seeing there right now at this incident allegedly took place near the city of aleppo the scene of very heavy fighting last week rebel officials said that they received a new batch of heavy weaponry from outside sponsors across the jordanian border. meanwhile syria's government says that it is ready to hold talks with the opposition including its armed factions the country's foreign minister made the announcement meeting with russian diplomats here in moscow but attempts to bring peace to syria have suffered a fresh blow this after the main rebel coalition decided to pull out of all international talks their reason why the lack of international action against

president assad. has the details. this visit is taking place at a very uncertain time with really not clear what's needed to be done in order to get the syrian opposition engage in talks with the government and saddam asked as it does stress that it is really for dialogue with the opposition and in the last week there were some positive signals coming from the wells they said that they were willing to hold talks with the government now they refused coming to moscow accusing russia of supporting president assad it was so the number of those who support this realistic approach towards a peaceful resolution is growing those who want to continue fighting to the end realize that so they're trying to suppress positive news from the opposition and stop any steps towards dialogue. in the meantime soon after thirty years have put together a government commission headed by the prime minister designed specifically for

negotiations with the opposition and they say that they are ready to talk even with armed rebels because. we are ready for dialogue with everyone including those who are fighting on the ground as we are convinced that reforms should not be made through bloodshed meanwhile it was more or less predictable that the rebels would refuse coming to moscow it came as a total surprise that they rejected coming to washington and to rome to take part in the upcoming meeting of the so-called friends of syria group which was initially designed to support to the syrian opposition and foreign minister lavrov a stress if nothing is done now and no political process start if the violence continues there then the whole country is on the brink of collapse but after a short break stay with us.

well. it's a technology innovation all the rest of elements from around russia we've gone those huge earth covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture . you can. you please.

welcome back you're watching our team the rivalry between the u.s. and china has gone digital and it's starting to turn into a full scale cyber war a recent scandal involving a chinese military unit allegedly engaged in a cyber theft from american companies us but washington on the defensive but it might not be long before washington makes its own move in this new era of cyber arms race starting as more important are reports. in january it is my pleasure to welcome president hu to the white house washington and beijing were the a list couple of geopolitics the positive constructive cooperative u.s. china relationship is good for the united states in february america's feelings are fleeting china unleashing its full spy power let's return to the alleged link

between china's military and a prolific hacking group most cyber attacks are being carried out by teams inside the chinese military china is officially out of control because don't look now but prove today our sugar daddy is a thief beijing became an overnight security threat last week after the american information security firm mandiant identified a secretive chinese military unit as the likely source of hacking against the u.s. corporations i charged china vehemently denies. however as the u.s. refocuses its military from the middle east to china's backyard critics say it's no coincidence that beijing is suddenly morphing into america's virtual al-qaeda i think this is part of what the egypt of it which is really in china and this cyber thing is is fits right into that i think what we're looking at is art of this obama pivot to focus on china and to paint china is the new military threat to the

world it's a demonization trying to earlier this month u.s. president barack obama signed an executive order aimed at strengthening america's cyber defense when you know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mails we know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets . now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid our financial institutions our traffic control systems we cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our comp but according to reports washington is all too familiar with the offensive side of cyber war it's the u.s. who launches things like stuxnet together with israel to to cripple certain iranian technology capabilities in two thousand and ten a computer virus known as stuxnet infected tehran's enrichment facilities

destroying nearly one thousand of iran's six thousand centrifuges according to reports the virus made entirely out of code was a joint collaboration between the us and israel in terms of a pandora's box i think it will be slightly harder for the united states to adopt a position of purely be friends we sort of made it clear that we're willing to use cyber in advance of our national interest while reports about china's a legit cyber attacks have dominated u.s. mainstream media much less is being said about the pentagon's decision to double down on its cyber war workforce expanding from nine hundred to more than forty five hundred employees experts say the move is indicative of washington's evolving military strategy every commander. is going to be is the next major war will include cyber component it will just be

a traditional insurgency a bombing from where the central ground troops the next floor almost certainly will include a cyber component and the edge of cyber war france could become foes by the click of a mouse and some say in a very short time relations between the u.s. and china over a virtual espionage can resemble the long stalemate that took place at the soviet union during the cold war we're in a port i.r.t. new york. right well now if you want to get involved and have your say on what you think these scandals hacking scandals are actually all about you can just head over to our web site that address is r t dot com and take part in our poll so let's take a look at how the results of broken down so far for those of you who did decide to turn out and vote now as you can see a sixty five percent massive majority of you think that all of this is just a p.r. stunt to support obama's cyber security policy is now

a significantly smaller portion sixteen percent in the purple purple right there think that this is all about espionage now if we look at the next percentage thirteen percent of you doomsday scenario think that this is a glimpse into the next coming world war not sure about that and in the green right there six percent a very small minority of you think that this is all merely a warning to china so if you want to weigh in and have your say just head over to our team dot com and we'll read your results right there. well there's plenty more for you on our website including news of canada's state of the art satellites aimed at tracking down dangerous asteroids. online we've got the details of a multimillion investment aimed at saving the planet from potential dangers in space. also for you there a web freedom north korea style country plans to make life easier for tourists by giving foreigners all online access.

to. well germany is germany has vowed to renew stalled talks on turkey joining the e.u. as chancellor angela merkel is there on her official visit on car is increasingly frustrated over a lack of progress in negotiations with the prime minister calling the delay quote unforgivable political annual analyst and writer says that the current economic situation in the e.u. leaves many turks determined to stay out rather than sign up. we have to see that the european union is no democratic pro checked its political approach

a sort of ideological approach because when you ask the people in germany if they wanted to have the euro for example fifteen years ago a huge majority of the people who were against getting that europe ask the people if they want to send troops to the turkish syrian border they say no the european union is a construct without any democratic base it's an ideological base and so maybe hopefully we can hope for the turkish people that they will have the right to take part in the referendum of zero to about a turkish deal membership because i can imagine that for the purpose it isn't to see how the you repeat the whole of the european union develops now in those states is doesn't seem very attractive to become a member of that club let's have a take get take a get it get a check party and the other stories making headlines around the world. at least ten

people have been reportedly injured amid clashes between israeli soldiers and palestinian demonstrators it's claimed that shots were fired during protest against the death of a palestinian man who perished in israeli custody under disputed circumstances there are allegations that thirty year old arafat's daughter was killed by torture inside the prison walls but israel denies this saying more tests are needed in order to establish the actual cause of death. the world's favorite flat pack furniture store has been caught up in the european horsemeat debacle ikea's famous meatballs known for staging millions of shoppers worldwide were revealed to be in fact partly horsemeat they've been pulled from cafes in a number of countries including sweden and the czech republic after tests revealed to that they contain horse d.n.a. now in the past month the horsemeat scandal has battered trust in the e.u.'s food system exposing failures across the continent. the afghan president hamid

karzai has ordered u.s. special forces to leave the key battleground province of wardog troops there were accused of torture and the murder of civilians and just as kabul is preparing to regain control of security politics professor patricia doesn't r.-o. believe that karzai also needs to regain support of his people. the wardak province is you know the family is strong the place isn't volatile and i think they're kind of tired as well as most afghans having u.s. forces going in that people's houses that are and comment karzai president karzai needs to take care of his own situation but seeds definitely president karzai is trying to make a statement and that respect they haven't come to an agreement yet they you know there is there's still a little i'm sure power play going on between the u.s. and the president as to who's going to stay who's going to be in charge you know what kind of numbers they want and how they're going to work but absolutely you know an afghan leader is going to have to show that he has a little bit more support throughout the nation and then just his region and within

the south there well after a short break it's artie's sports with kate partridge stay with us.

download the official application to your cell phone choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from alzheimer's if you're away from your television well it just doesn't work so now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. and i welcome to the r.t.s. boat show with me take paul george coming up this half an hour of sporting action from russia on the around the world and these are the top stories. top of the klos off for a week when old three russian sides which the last sixteen of the europa league.