a foreign focus for french leader along this he makes his first official visit to moscow and talks with president putin. run syria and even mali all topics of contention between france and russia will they get ironed out today from thomas in moscow coming up i've got the details. catholic countdown the final hours of pope benedict's proper see are ticking away as the church looks to restore its image marred by sexual abuse and corruption. and kept in the dark israeli and palestinian journalists find it increasingly difficult to do their job because of a media blackout imposed by both sides.

live from our studios in central moscow you're watching archie with me and he said now it's four pm here in the russian capital. well syria is expected to be a key focus for talks in moscow between president putin and french leader francoise longed the near two year conflict and iran remain their biggest foreign policy divisions are two shawn thomas is following along maiden visit to the russian capital. it's certainly going to be an interesting day. alond has come to moscow for the first time to discuss trade relations and also to improve relations between the two countries as there are some tensions between the two but the main points of interest for russia are what's happening in iran in syria and in mali let's break that down for you first of all about the syria issue back when these two met in the summer not here in moscow but there they did have clashes about the topic of syria a lot saying at that time that bashar al assad needs to go must be ousted. saying

no this is not the case that the only way that anything can happen in syria for it to be real change needs to be bilateral talks or talks with all parties involved actually pointing to what happened in libya saying that there was foreign intervention there was an overthrow of moammar gadhafi and look at situation in libya is no better than it was before moving on to iran that. basically states that he supports tough sanctions against the iranian regime aimed at specifically eliminating their nuclear program putin says that iran actually has the right to pursue peaceful nuclear program but that it has to have tough oversight from the i.a.e.a. so two different positions there now when it comes to mali russia actually backs the u.s. position in allowing france to be involved in that operation in northern mali but says that the destabilization in that country is directly related to the failed

policies like syria and in libya so there are some bones of contention there another thing that people are interested in is back in the beginning of this year between gave famed actor gerard depardieu a russian passport because he was not happy with the seventy five percent proposed taxes in france and so some contention there of see how the facts even brought to the table at all are brought up but of course we'll be keeping track of this as it happens and will bring me more information as it becomes available. this is the syrian opposition meets in rome to see exactly what's on offer from its western backers the u.s. has promised to increase direct support providing sixty million more dollars in aid now the u.s. says it's already provided fifty four million dollars in non-lethal aid to the political opposition but not to. the fighters washington said it plans to

channel non-lethal battlefield assistance the us. like i said fifty four million dollars in non lethal aid to the political opposition well one in east analyst told us that there can be no solution to the conflict as long as the militants feel they can fight with foreign back. this is just called free of politic we know this from centuries ago international politics is the way. things happen it's not about the people so and if they really wanted to help the syrian people they should have. sought a political settlement from the beginning now we're entering almost a third year of the conflict and they continue to fuel this conflict by bringing weapons and money to certain part of the opposition and it's just getting worse and worse there are options to buy political settlements and bring in some parts of the opposition that is willing to find

a solution and discuss with the regime and get syria out of this is going on but unfortunately unfortunately there are some players on the international scene who say one thing and do something different if you really really interested in finding a solution and stopping the bloodshed the first thing to do is just stop funding and stop review of weapons to the armed groups and dead way that would be obliged to sit at the table if this is not this isn't made by the international players i don't see how it's going to stop. pope benedict the sixteenth is in the last hours of his pappa see before retiring to a secluded life of prayer he said his farewell to his cardinals before he becomes the first pontiff to resign in six hundred years and successor has the daunting task of restoring the church's battered reputation following a string of child abuse and corruption scandals artie's arena the luzhkov reports from vatican city. when we came here we spoke to quite

a few vatican experts all of him unanimously agreed that there are some major changes which should be implemented in the church they have old indicated that the pope is eighty five years old he is a rather old man there is no getting around it as well as a lot of the cardinals in the quarter which is essentially the government body of the vatican they're roughly the same age and they're all of course there are some issues which come along with that and of course a lot of them have also said that modernity and acceptance of things that are happening in the world right now is something that the cardinals as well as the next pope should keep in mind come friday that is if the sixteenth retired to seclusion and prayer while in the vatican there is a feeling the real work is only just beginning it's not just about selecting a new bishop of rome some say but the very future of the catholic church the catholic church is undergoing a very important crisis it is a crisis at two levels it is a government crisis entities that tries itself the believe. in the last year of

the world was focused on the government crisis in devout to come to gloria a pope benedict was a pope who is a great intellectual it's a theologian but he has not is strong hand to lead the food he has not the temperament of a government so there was a lack of leadership which culminated in the great scandals over but the leaks are far from the splendor of the sistine chapel a closer look at the recent events in the vatican highlighted disillusionment and frustration with the church on some of the parts of the i distanced myself from the church when i became an adult when i started talking about what had been talked with after all the scandals broke out in the catholic church and i realize that it doesn't represent my spirituality has benedict the sixteenth may have been the first pope with a twitter account but many argue this measure alone was not. not strong enough in

appealing to the masses and there will be no more tweets once pope benedict the sixteenth steps down now this is the age of transparency the age of the people the churches should be properly. they'd be. considered sacred she one of. the great assets everybody now use of it would be to be the problem of the media they're really working on this if he went to change with a feasible church for people the brayley of this inability to face up to and much less to punish those who may be responsible for tainting the image of the church is the deciding factor in abandoning catholicism. if there's another scandal with a girl who disappeared in the vatican twenty years ago and they say the man found her remains the italian police are leading the investigation here but instead of helping them the vatican is obstructing the investigation that's likely they knew about and stayed silent and on top of all those cases of pedophilia was that this

is just disgusting the list of controversial events involving catholic priests or vatican officials reads like a tabloid reports of sex abuse pedophilia accusations allegedly corruption and possible ties with the mafia while the media especially in italy has been having a field day with the scandals the vatican other state silent or rebuffed all accusations but those things may be looking rather grim for the seat of st peter's at a first glance there's still a chance the catholic church can make a comeback which would be washable exchange you know with the with the church really splitting with lutheran but then came out stronger could be stronger with a come to the fore because you know the two ways the power diminished in the spiritual so based. on the strong part of the church was the spiritual but in spite of that personality restart relations. have left me wondering if the holy see

has been blind the world is rapidly changing and there are claims that the catholic church has failed to keep pace sure it has seen a fair number of ups and downs as well as scandal in two thousand year long history but there is opinion that perhaps taking on pleasant development sweeping it under the carpet and sealing it with the people ring for secrecy is a tradition better left in the past in rome in a ghost go r.t. . the catholic church finds itself at a crossroads right now with calls for sweeping changes as the clock ticks down on pope benedict benedict's tenure marker doris who runs a support group for victims of abuse by priests says the church won't regain the trust of support and support of the public until it shows its willing to bring offenders to justice. when you trust an institution that will continue to put the needs of creditors above the safety of children and until that changes i don't see how any responsible parent can just blindly trust that the church will do the right

thing the people that can protect the children are the bishops we have police and prosecutors who can arrest predators but often by the time a victim finds the courage and the strength to come forward the statute of limitations has run and prosecutors and police can't do much bishops are on the front line bishops have the power they often hear about these predators and they cheat have chosen to move them protect them shield them from from their crimes if the bishops were forced to turn over everything they know about these crimes to police and prosecutors would have a much better chance of protecting the children we feel that's what the pope can do he can set the example he can discipline even a handful of the complicit bishops who fit you know who've been involved in this cover up cardinal mahoney would be a prime example of cardinal brady these men could be disciplined for the part they've played and once he did that he would set the tone of this behavior not only

of the predators but of those to protect them will no longer be tolerated. well over to you now in your thoughts on the long term prospects for the catholic church as it prepares for a new leader let's take a look at how things are unfolding on our site as we're hearing from you the value for the vatican over the next decade just under forty percent of voters in our poll say the church will drown amid its many scandals a little over just over i should say thirty percent say it will continue to grow its and with its influence thanks to and to muslim sentiment fifteen percent say that it will undergo another schism leaving the vatican powerless well the same number says that they have confidence that there will be resurgence after a long overdue reform head on to r.t. dot com and that your voice.

so with r t as we report on the double blackout that's leaving israel and palestinian journalists struggling to set light on the conflict israel refuses to recognize the palestinian media workers rights to hamas stops gaza journalists from associating with israelis. and army private bradley manning accused of the biggest leak of state secrets in u.s. history is set to publicly explain his motives for the first time analysis on that coming up after a break. wealthy british study all. the time to write for. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our.

live. live. live. live. live. live . and.

sleep. more news today violence has once again fled upline. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are all today please. here are the words he live from moscow for the ongoing standoff between israel and hamas has made it almost impossible for journalists on both sides to do their job palestinian media isn't recognized by israel nor are its journalists rights while hamas prohibits gaza journalist to have any contacts with israelis are just fall asleep or met colleagues struggling to report through the blackout and help sworn enemies understand each other. november last year israel and gaza are at war and

in the middle of it all a gaza journalist the party he for you to an israeli newspaper it was the last major story sunny as rami would write for the hebrew priests a month later gaza's ruling hamas party banned palestinian journalists from working with israeli media accusing it of being hostile tel aviv refuses to recognize hamas and regards it as a terrorist organization an image that the from other i do not understand this decision unfortunate i feel that our struggle will have less meaning if we do not speak to the israeli media and make them here on message sami feels he's on a personal crusade to help both sides better understand each other when his nine year old daughter was hit by an israeli missile it was his israeli editors who arranged for her to be bought across the border and treated and it was in the newspapers that he published his anger and anguish of israel's bombardment of gaza israeli to how. israel is using the media in its war against us in this war

journalists are under attack they want to kill all our words and reports that prove that there were no crimes in gaza he stood there for a half in the attack as coming from both sides one order of israeli journalists today are banned from working on cars are dying but ironically it's not hamas but tel aviv that stops them deeming it too dangerous for them to report from there in a very scary place for israeli some may mask people came to my palestinian cameramen in gaza they gave him twenty five thousand dollars and told him that the next time that the jewish is going to enter gaza please tell us where it's going to be a route with a car we're going to kidnap both of you and take you take him and it really is you overheard him over is among a handful of his way journalists who'd regularly work in gaza but after his government made it illegal six years ago his station employed in gaza based palestinian journalists now because of hamas is ruling even that has become impossible it's. very problematic decision from a fuck of

a lot of other. hamas made i think that the problem of normalization. connecting trying working with the israeli media the result is that the only reporter in gaza but all those hamas sanctions not particularly promising in one of the recent human rights watch report that accuses a muscle harassing assaulting an arbitrarily detaining journalists israel too has come under fire for deliberately targeting reporters and media houses affiliated to him us doing this last one gaza israel fell twenty places in the two thousand and thirteen world press freedom index due to the actions of its army in the palestinian territories these two journalists are with sami because he speaks of mice he engages israeli audiences. because you spend so much time in palestinian areas with three israelis day to trade the media blackout does little to shed light on the fate and future of ordinary gazans it also perpetuate stereotypes on both

sides of the border that have done nothing but breed mistrust and hatred policy on t.v. tell of its. military whistleblower bradley manning is about to publicly explain his actions for the first time in a statement he'd already submitted to the judge he says what he wanted to spark a debate on the role of the us military and foreign policy manning faces twenty two charges including aiding the enemy which could end up in him giving him having him serving a life sentence journalist kevin who's been writing extensively on wiki leaks says the prosecution is trying to shift the focus to terrorism. the fear here i think is that you would be sensationalizing the proceedings and it would it would make it nearly impossible for manning to have a fair trial here just because we've now been talking about terrorism terrorism and terrorism will get away from. the fact that he is charged with the offense of

releasing the information and they don't have to show that terrorists received it this will continue the obama administration has ushered in this era of of pursuing whistleblowers and making certain that they are prosecuted and they go out because i'm zealously in a manner that they do not go after other individuals that's been the thing i think is the most particularly striking is you can have private contractors who engage in weapons smuggling like like the black wire executives or you can have bankers that engage in financial fraud and they are pursued as zealously as whistleblowers. ever wasted money on gadgets you never use it's probably nothing compared to the british military it's blown over a billion pounds of public money on equipment which is neither used nor needed we tell you more at r.t. dot com. also there's ukraine's justice ministry who gets

to feel the force head online for why the death star's finest are knocking at its doors. download the official application so choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television in the car it just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch your t.v. anytime anywhere. mission free cretaceous free in-store charge free. range month

free. free. to tide free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free video don carty dot com. more world news now and first to bock rain where seven people have been jailed for ten years each for attempting to murder a police officer the incident took place during ongoing anti-government demonstrations thirteen other people were acquitted on wednesday two policemen were found not guilty of shooting a protester dead the rulings threatened to fuel more unrest in the sunni controlled kingdom that's been embroiled with nonstop rallies for two years. bangladesh's opposition party leader has been sentenced to death by a special war crimes tribunal dell war haasan say it was found guilty of multiple

mass murders rape and religious persecution during the one nine hundred seventy one war for independence with pakistan last month's ruling against another opposition figure sparked mass on grass and deadly riots over fort leniency. european bankers are to have their bonuses capped as part of a new raft of financial laws passed by the e.u. they'll only be allowed to get a reward of up to one year's salary or possibly double that if shareholders overwhelmingly agree the u.k. has been battling against imposing absolute caps on boehner says the move could worsen anti e.u. sentiment in britain where referendums been promised by prime minister cameron and whether to quit the bloc of little use to make. libya will soon ask the u.n. to lift an embargo on arms imports it was imposed at the start of the uprising that toppled moammar gadhafi in an attempt to projects to protect civilians to be

a still turbulent with security forces made up of former rebel fighters still struggling to control the vast desert terror territories the interim prime minister during the civil war told r.t. that vast oil resources make libya a target for regional and global players. first of all libya did not pick up its economy did not pick up only the oil production was you know. it's a pity you know because the. foreign countries you know. rushed into libya immediately you know to start pumping oil again because it's connected to their way of life to their economies you know was better to the projects all over the country . and i think libya because of this oil was. subject of the being like too many countries libya and b.

use it. is being seen as a most to you know to finance. sort of the lack of assistance that might be coming up with from the united states that's why libya. is. a target for too many too many players and and the reason i would like you know. well so you the full interview with former libyan interim prime minister mahmoud jibril on friday here on artsy. fartsy of financial rottweiler is up in a few minutes stand by for the kaiser report after a break. i've

got a lot of messages from our t.v. viewers who are very concerned about drones living under skynet is not the american way and many are concerned about their safety and privacy congressman ted poe has introduced a bill that may address some people's concerns about drones this bill is the preserving american privacy act which clarifies how the government can use these drugs so basically the act adds bureaucracy to drone usage in order to restrict it in theory protecting people's privacy. the thing is that one side is arguing for drone usage and the other side for bureaucratic restricted drone usage but what about not using drones to spy on americans ever no drones should be used on american territory period and overseas they seem to breed more terrorists than they kill saying that there are only two sides to this issue for drones and well kind for drones is absurd congressman poe if you would please be so kind as to change the name of your legislation to.