from the battlefield to the ballot box the group's considering a political comeback despite thousands of lives and billions of dollars sacrificed remove them from power. china's reins of power pass to new leaders for sensitive beijing's military might and a long standing battle with the u.s. . and the mysterious acid attack on the artistic director of one of the world's most renowned valley beers the bolshoi would be a step closer to being solved as police arrest a suspect. the world knew live from our moscow headquarters i'm lucy coughing up and thanks for tuning in tonight you're watching our t.v. well into our top story now with the afghan presidential election approaching next year the taliban says it is seriously considering entering politics

a former official in the militia said the group could launch a political party but that doesn't necessarily mean an end to the insurgency of course one of the original goals of the u.s. led war in afghanistan was to remove the taliban from power let's take a closer look at what the cells cost both countries well since the beginning of the launch of the military operation back and talk two thousand and one more than two thousand troops as you can see have been killed and in total coalition loss of topped three thousand the number of americans injured in the line of duty exceeds seventeen thousand and the death toll among afghan civilians is far higher than thirty thousand lives lost and of course the financial burden is something that can't be ignored as far as american is concerned the price tag for the decade long effort is a whopping seven hundred billion dollars hidden right there now if the taliban do return to power all these sacrifices could turn out to be in vain and the taliban victory could easily become reality that is at least according to

a former afghan m.p. dode still talking as i take a look. this government has so much so many problems that western world have lost their credibility and this government has no credibility so in that sort of a situation that taliban and had they've been smart they would have scored big in the political front but i think the taliban can take advantage of this void and fill that vacuum it is up to the taleban to show their real face not the face that is pushed by the british intelligence or the facts on the intelligence the west is is confused the west is looking for an exit a very speedy exit and there i'm afraid that they will probably do whatever is possible whatever is convenient to put up a very very. farmy law and very temporary fix and leave and then things will go back to where it started that's the problem in the region has to realize that we have to find sustainable success for this problem not

a temporary face saving thing for the nato to leave and then leave a big problem for afghanistan for the neighborhood. of course we're always interested in your point of view on the stories that we've covered and today we're asking whether you believe the afghan taliban well actually convert their combat credibility into political power so i had over to r.t. dot com it's not too late to participate in our online poll. it may be one of the world's most reclusive states but it seems the power of the

web is slowly lifting the veil of secrecy on north korea instagram twitter are now in north korea and there's even claims that pirate bay was preparing to drop anchor there well arty's aleksei or chef he is here with me and help us straighten this out alex a twitter instagram not exactly to the north we haven't exactly the country that comes to mind when we think of social media what's going on here well it started on february fifth with a tweet by john lee the bureau chief of associated press and korea who tweeted that my first tweet using korea ling's new mobile internet service hello world from calm center in pyongyang this tweet has gone to like millions of retreats but definitely it opened the floodgates in some way that after that we've seen instagram pictures facebook tags check ins all coming from one of the world's most closed countries and definitely this is a breakthrough and nothing we have experienced before it will certainly exciting stuff but i mean this is actually translate to the locals the people on the ground

are they running around posting instagram photos and tweets well the link with the only internet provider in korea you know a phrase like that would have been a thinkable from three years ago it launched this service the mobile internet service but now for now it's only available to visiting guests it's not available to the local population but they can already send text messages to each other and even make a video calls to each other which is already a breakthrough. for a country where having curtains and windows is outlawed because then it would mean you have something to hide which is not something i heard about before and i'm curious is this something to you personally would have ever imagined seeing in north korea i mean you've been to the country what's it been like when you visited well i saw the curtains part i saw them all windows were open when i was there some seven years ago to change in about there were in a way when i came there i was shocked because my cell phone was confiscated at passport control and the only one time i could use internet i could go online was from a russian embassy because they had a contract with

a chinese satellite provider and i was the only way i could actually go online to do to post something to post some pictures from inside the north korean country so definitely the situation has changed now compared to what it was like seven years ago when i was there and here is of course it's hard for us just speculate as to why these changes are happening since it's a fairly closed country but do you believe that this has something to do with the change in leadership by younger more energetic man who is perhaps more aware of things like three g. for example absolutely when kim jong il the late korean leader said that the country needs to embrace the new high tech technology the new high tech era probably his son who is now in charge of the country took these words very seriously recently saw a visit of one of the google stop executives to the country something unthinkable again which is crazy if you think about it three four years ago then we saw a visit over from the n.b.a. player former n.b.a. player dennis rodman who actually said kim jong un his friend for life so all this

shows that that north korea wants to open up to the world the question is certainly to what extent the country will open itself up of course and i'm really curious i'll say this whole pirate bay story what exactly is going on there was about that well first we heard a statement published on pirate bay's website that i quote today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of korea to fight our battles from the network it is ironic in many ways because pirate bay as we know is. always been prosecuted globally and north korea is also in a very difficult situation let's put it this way. they even changed their logo for a short period of time of the typical pirate ship was replaced with a ship having north korean flags on it. later we contacted people from the pirate bay they said that this was a joke which was its main aim was to focus attention on that the pirate has been prosecuted worldwide but still you know if it's a joke but there is a certain truth behind any joke as we know well of course as if they there usually

is thank you so much for that update out r.t. that here chatzky thinking. of moving on in china prime minister has opened to the national people's congress in beijing the event is especially significant this year due to a handover of power to a new generation of communist party leaders which only occurs once in a decade among their names as a double digit boost to defense spending something which may worry china's main rival the us where recent spending cuts have meant a big blow to the military well professor steve saying from the universe the university of nottingham says washington's so-called pivot to asia has prompted beijing's focus on defense the new chinese president xi jinping is a much more self-confident competent assertive and nationalistic person that we're likely to see a china much more assertive you next ten years in terms of what is described as the american people it back to asia the chinese see these as

a major change in american policy that is directed against china as a less than friendly act and therefore the chinese are trying to. undermine american rebalancing and it is also the reasons for the double digit increases in china recent military spending. well still ahead for you. central must be. some credible military threat israel's benyamin netanyahu pulls no punches on iran leaving the plough must see a waste of time calling once again for taking up arms against iran and its alleged nuclear ambitions. close stark home opposition and severe of stary in europe appears not to be enough to force lafayette's rethink joining the euro zone in two thousand and fourteen later in the program we'll tell you whether it could prove to be a fatal move. russian police are questioning

a suspect in the acid attack the nearly blind of the artistic director of the bolshoi ballet's sergei filin the suspect is the first to have been detained in the case that put the spotlight on him in fighting and one of the world's biggest and best known theaters our teams are going to go has the details. he's one of the two men the police are saying have actually carried out the the attack on sygate feeling in the middle of january that they haven't disclosed whether or not they have arrested the other guy who is also supposed to be responsible for the attack but they do say they know who he is and police are saying that they actually know who actually ordered the attack to be executed the details of the attack are truly horrendous a good feeling was on his way home from work late at night he stepped out of his car and that's when the masked an unknown masked individual splashed his face with sulphuric acid severely burning of course his face and his eyes he had to go to undergo more than ten surgeries we were told today in order to save his eyesight

but it does seem like he is on his way to recovery right now in a clinic in germany as an artistic director is to give feeling essentially had a chance to make or break any ballet dancers career inside the theater and of course there were rumors and information coming from the artists from the belly dancers themselves they're saying that there is a tremendous amount of infighting going on behind the scenes everybody is fighting for that one prime target or a certain position there also have been reports of a dress has been cut of glass being stopped in the long shoes in the dancing shoes there's also been a scandal just a couple of years ago when a man who but a lot of people are saying is. probably going to become the next director of the bolshoi theater pornographic images of him were leaked onto the internet essentially ending his career so for all the beauty that we have on the outside there's actually quite a bit of rather unsightly goings on inside the bolshoi theater. more news for you

after a quick break stay with us. his count was deep in the sea of members. he never put his trust in anyone and rightly so. his body was found on the floor of yusuf and. did he die of natural causes. the mystery of stone still. on r.c.u. documentary. they're serving a sentence just like their mother. little

ones born in prison. now must be for the crimes committed by their parents. killed babies. on our cheek. come back lucie county sheriff lott vi has set its sights on joining the euro zone in two thousand and fourteen that is despite the currency blocks shaky outlook austerity cuts and gaping holes in the country's budgets are certainly an issue and the decision also clashes with public opinion in lafayette where two thirds of citizens are against the euro membership we spoke to one member of the european parliament who believes the timing couldn't be worse for a lot. lead of you want to be a member of nato or of the e.u. of the eurozone so want to be a member of a big block of nato i can imagine the e.u.

it can imagine the eurozone at the moment is not the right club to join because lead view came out of the crisis in two thousand and ten and the economic recovery started shortly after actually that he is doing quite well so one could wonder why does that view want to end the eurozone if you have an economic crisis would come back to latvia and that is the year in the euro zone cannot leave have you and will have to stay in tonight because greece is doing now and greece is go towards a lot of suffering and that is the economic downside to perhaps the political advantage to the number of a bigger club and you delve into the finances in the euro zone and across the globe that's coming up in the latest edition of our kaiser report but let's take a short preview of the program. by stockbrokers on drugs why the stock brokers start so much cocaine why do the brokers and bankers at j.p.

morgan and goldman sachs and barclays and royal bank of scotland why do they sniff their weight and coke every morning just to get started to begin their day rampaging through the markets stealing people's wealth because they are being treated like rats by the pharmaceutical companies to get them into a state of perpetual larceny and it's working. there remains of the german capital's notorious landmark the berlin wall could soon make way for a fourteen story luxury apartment block and it seems that the trend for reshaping berlin is only gaining momentum with more new buildings are rising up just as quickly as real estate prices keep soaring artie's peter all of our reports on how this is actually affecting the lives of the city's life long residents. poor but sexy that's how. lovingly described his city. now some berliners feel this way of life is coming under threat it was and here in the if

you keep hearing phrase work we've seen big changes over the past ten years more and more apartment buildings have been built in areas where people traditionally used to rent what we're seeing is people being forced from their homes real estate prices in berlin have shot up by thirty two percent since two thousand and seven well ahead of the german average this is resulted in some tenants being a victim as their rented flat says sold from underneath them prompting anger and demonstrations from those who see the city's identity being sold to the highest bidder of this in. our problem here is that berlin is turning into a city split between the haves and have nots rising prices of forced people who have lived here for years to move out and those who have come don't makes it this year has seen an increase in the amount of protests against the gentrification of

lin as well as growing listened to men towards other germans and foreigners moving into the city for the most part the public image of this still poor but sexy however times are changing the new a merger in face of perlin is certainly stylish however it's also becoming increasingly an affordable due to the demand from people wanting to live in a desirable location economically viable and politically secure the lynas becoming the place of choice for southern europeans to invest in during turbulent times in their own countries. can't turn sells and rents property to italians. a town. one of the main reasons our customers are buying here is that there is no trust in their tailing economy or the. banks people see an apartment as a good way to preserve the value of their savings. was about the claims that the

real estate boom stealing and sold the billion god this is progress berlin is developing sure it presents some challenges but this is just the same as when the wall came down and people moved into our areas if anything this creates the mall. that makes berlin what it is. new housing developments all being built all around the city to try and accommodate demand however with rental prices having risen by ninety percent in the last decade it does seem that the writing is on the wall for the dream of an affordable life the job and capital. the online for you it's the lead to military wing of hamas that has shared some of its secrets with our t.v. we head over to our web site you can get the exclusive inside info on how the group conducts its operations against the israeli military now who gains access to come asas inner circle. also on line emails and phone calls aren't enough

pentagon scientists look for ways to transcribe every real world conversation into a giant computer database or should you watch your every word from now on we'll find out how to go to our tea dot com for that info. the israeli prime minister has made it clear he's not backing down from his idea of a potential attack on iran binyamin netanyahu told a gathering of america's most powerful pro israeli lobby that negotiations with tehran are a waste of time and that only a direct threat of military action will crush its nuclear ambitions while his hawkish message was applauded at the apac conference in washington hasn't exactly

received a warm welcome at home r.t.s. policy or has more. the israeli prime minister is at it again addressing his favorite topic words alone will not stop iran sanctions alone will not stop iran sanctions must be culpable with a clear and credible military threat if diplomacy and sanctions fail strong statements from a leader emboldened by new grip on power on yahoo warns the american israel public affairs committee iran is using international negotiations to buy time so it can press a hit with its nuclear program a message he's warmed to in the past how do you stop well you have to put greater pressure on you have to upgrade the sanctions and they have to know that if the sanctions and diplomacy fails they'll face a quotable military threat that's essential nothing else will do the job

and it's getting closer. so much for the sign of relief many breathed following last month's parliamentary elections the surprising win by say in ten pro peace political parties prompted many to believe netanyahu would back down from his threats to strike iran ask those on the street who voted against netanyahu they feel the message was clear take your finger off of the trigger in your three to attack iran give economic sanctions and diplomacy a chance but analysts on so sure netanyahu has any intention of toning down the rhetoric and the ten year old is a man which is very much concerned about his position in history and he understands that now his third by ministership i'm afraid that one off the reasons if you would like to foster taking against iran is to place himself at the history of the israeli people and it's making the israeli public nervous daniel be an obvious

company sells a system that provides ventilation in bomb shelters in times of chemical or biological attacks he says each time it on yahoo mentions he ran the number of queries goes up. some people prefer not to think of the threat but it's a bear and they know it so we have clients just calling to find out about the system but who have difficulty deciding to buy one and then we have some people who are more alert these are the people who as soon as there is some tension in the media will call and order the system you know a lot of worry is good for business and that's really help problem either and we were so many money go. on that matter one of the agree is an israeli graphic designer who accidentally created an online movement after posting a facebook message declaring that israel would never bomb iran other israelis quickly created the own posters with the same message and iranians responded in kind but they're up against netanyahu and he's more powerful message i think

a big part of it is people are voting out of fear out of you know being afraid of a walker coming in he's the one you know fighting the war well and just a collision about a possible israeli strike on iran is also keeping foreign investors away many a weary that while war might mean big business for some it spells disaster for others policy r.t. tell of. the apac car friends also brought out of us out to the streets in protest of america's close alliance with israel one of them is peace campaigner medea benjamin who believes the united states is playing a dangerous game with its middle east policy. apac is really a danger to our national security a pac is pushing the policies of a foreign government in israel which is not always in the interests of the united states and i should say is not always in the interests of the israelis either i

think this push towards war with iran is disastrous for everybody in the region as well as here in the united states we're looking at a conflagration of tremendous proportions so much so that there are those in the u.s. military that are trying to hard to stop this because they know how disastrous the u.s. getting into such a conflict would be in fact it would be very easy for iran to retaliate against u.s. embassies against u.s. troops that are stationed in many places around the world so i think that this push by apac is really something that all of us who are rational human beings and know that a war would be so disastrous have to pressure our president not to follow the lines of a pack and instead to pursue diplomacy fresh clashes have broken out between hundreds of protesters and police in egypt arrest of portside need the city has been locked in a cycle of violence for several days now demonstrators began when demonstrators began

calling for justice in a trial over the deadly soccer riot that took place last year or days bill true has been following the developments for us from cairo. caches continue in port saïd to this day between protesters and police what we've just heard is the president mohamed morsi is actually considering a minute three takeover of this restive city on the coast there seems to be a lot of anger between the civilians and the police force this comes after the national security agency was torched this morning yesterday we had security directorate partially burned as well as the governor headquarters with hundreds of in i'm at least five killed i'm for some other international news headlines in brief for you. syrian rebels claim to have captured the governor of new drop province in an overnight battle but government forces this comes after days of heavy fighting with the syrian army which is holding out at an intelligence

headquarters footage has emerged showing fighters destroying a statue of the former syrian president hafez. supporters of venezuelan president hugo chavez as well as opposition members are demanding to know the full truth about the socialist leader's state of health that's after the communication ministers reported the fifty eight year old is having difficulty breathing following a severe respiratory infection chavez hasn't been seen in public since he underwent cancer surgery in cuba almost three months ago. coming up we delve deeper into the mysterious death of joseph stalin stay with us you're watching r.t. .

john kerry made his first major verbal gaffe as secretary of state by michel the nonexistent country of courage to stand in one of his speeches of course it is funny when politicians misspeak george bush was pretty good at that but i can say that we all make mistakes when we speak trust me it is very easy to butcher the pronunciation of someplace on earth like course to low voltage or walla walla washington the thing is that he didn't just misspeak his speech was written correctly and if you look at his eyes as he said it he wasn't really looking at notes or something he was reading it off of a teleprompter right now i'm reading off a teleprompter but i put every word there myself which is probably why john kerry is spelled with a q but my question is would kerry and prompter mr obama just read anything put in front of them to even really know the realities of the tiriel they're reading in their speeches if you were deeply versed on some subject that you should need to read word for word from a teleprompter to give a speech just try writing some notes and speaking with your brain and maybe your heart like in the good old days but that's just my opinion.

sixty years ago there was only one person who could ride out of the kremlin specif tower gate in an homage cis one one five soviet limousine he had power that any emperor would envy. this come belongs to joseph stalin driving home from work which is no simple affair for the leader stuff.