outrage in the first syrian rebel group kidnaps four of its unarmed peacekeepers amid suspicion that such action may see the opposition lose now much of its international backing. also to afghanistan's neighbors brainstorm how the best could be extremism when u.s. troops withdraw with the threat growing elsewhere too in the region is islamist on rest sweeps now through bangladesh. the man known as russia's great cardinal resigns from a top position in the government we take a look at the man and what could be behind his exit from the halls of power. and when life in prison is the only life you could afford some courts now in ohio jailing the homeless and people with disabilities because they simply can't afford to pay a small fine. just

joins us just after eleven pm know this wednesday night in moscow the top story from aarti then tonight the calling for the immediate release of four of its peacekeepers have been held by syrian rebels peacekeepers were abducted in the golan heights the demilitarized zone between syria and israel is a middle east correspondent paula sleep with the latest. i've just gotten off the phone with the deputy chief of staff for the united nations peacekeeping force in the area and he says that they are definitely remaining there this follows the kidnapping of four filipino un peacekeepers who are being held in a cease fire line between syria and the israeli side of the golan heights now that is almost a no man's land not the israeli nor syrian forces can go operate in that area what

we do know is that they were abducted while on patrol the u.n. does say that efforts are under way to secure their release and according to the u.n. chief banking moon he has strongly condemned the abductions and he has called for the immediate release of these peacekeepers a syrian group by the name of the martyrs of lamarck published a photo that is the portuguese showing the four main who have been held they also say that they're being held to quote for their own safety now according to this group they were clashes and heavy shelling in the yarmouk valley which is in the south of the separation zone this is not the first time that forces have been kidnapped in this area the kidnappings could potentially see the rebels losing their overwhelming support or could even harm their reputation i mean one just has to look at washington which seems to be taking now a much more moderate position washington is agreeing that both sides should sit down at the negotiation table and course that is

a position that moscow has always held that there is a need for the damascus regime in the rebels to sit around a negotiating table and hammer out their differences we need to push for talks between the warring sides in series but agreed to visit to moscow by the u.s. secretary of state but all to contribute as she returns to the u.s. might find it odd number less to back the rebels and seek a political solution at the very same time. kerry is saying the united states restated same to vladimir putin that they have common interests they both promote regional stability prevent the spread of extremism is difficult and what russian president vladimir putin can possibly say to the u.s. secretary of state because we all know most of the world knows that the nato powers have been doing exactly the opposite not promoting regional stability and helping the spread of extremism how have they managed to talk through these hours and less presumably to putin is explaining. the only way to prevent extremism is to stop

they do backing the rebels in syria just by twenty five minutes time later this hour you know the cross talk will be examining the many unanswered questions thrown up by syria's drawn out conflict is a quick taste of what's ahead for you. i disagree that there is any solution in which side is going to remain in power and that's simply not going to happen we need to be thinking about a post assad syria here's where i think actually russia has an important role to weigh to play they have been trying to do that and the americans have been saying no because obama you know what i want to one of the first obama alliances our side had to go and now they're about to restructure saying look after two years he's not going the only possible solution i agree from the beginning that's right he was proposing that let's sit down. there all the players as you are including all the regional players. in south wales and. say no.

more about that very soon tonight next the clock is ticking for afghanistan as international forces prepare for the twenty fourteen withdrawal leaving the country on its own with its ongoing flawed security transitions got many regional players on alert now as they try to brainstorm over how best to contain afghanistan's especially variable brand of extremism gun a teacher can reports tonight for r.t. . the u.s. prepares to withdraw the bulk of its forces from afghanistan by the end of two thousand and fourteen karzai stepping down with the elections coming up also in two thousand and fourteen what's next the possibility of a power vacuum in afghanistan and the question what demons can emerge from that vacuum is of great concern to the whole region a vacuum in afghanistan seems to be nobody's interest here's a brief and very rough breakdown of what players regional and non regional are trying to achieve in galveston you ren despite the rivalry with the u.s. has forty years supported the karzai government because having

a completely chaotic and unstable afghanistan is a neighbor is obviously not good for them washington is of course interested in keeping the more or less centralized structure of the government in afghanistan for that the u.s. is even ready to engage the taliban in talks and maybe see them as part of the government in the future that's right having fought the taliban for over ten years the u.s. is now talking about a political solution pakistan is the middleman here the message that they want pakistan to deliver to the taliban is that the allies are ready for talks on leave the taliban make a big public break with global jihad is the telephone have a strong pakistan although the pakistani government denies having much influence on them but pakistan's motives have been mixed to say the least on the one hand the help the uighurs and the allies and pakistan it suffered greatly from the extremism that spilled over the border after the u.s. invasion in of ghana's then on the other hand they were accused of helping the taliban to keep leverage with them in case they get in power also as

a hedge against indian influence so they have that rivalry going so as far as pakistan's interests it's been complicated russia possibly the greatest threat to russia faces now from afghanistan is the flow of afghan heroin that kills thousands of russians every year so russia has a state it has stated a clear interesting afghanistan that would be under control of a responsible government not plagued with corruption. a government that would help and this dropped plea but what if global powers are on able to avoid a power vacuum in afghanistan what could happen then if we don't work comes to the stage where we have could deploy our forces or support somewhat if you may have to delete the only problem is in the past in the one nine hundred ninety s. after the soviets to draw on this kind of external proxies led to a major civil war we are now. positive outcome one thousand nine hundred ninety six so we want to avoid that kind of civil war like situation now as far as the taliban

the talks with them stalled last year after their failure to agree on the terms for the release of five afghan insurgent commanders held at guantanamo it's not really clear how far those talks will go because the taliban are not homogenous either a part of them seems to think that once nato pulls out they'll be able to take over anyway so why negotiate in washington i'm going to check i was going to mention there russia is one of those countries most interested in a stable afghanistan focusing on putin said that international force is a failed to make a breakthrough in the fight against terrorism and the regional players need to work to prevent radical groups spreading well beyond the afghan borders. international terrorist groups are making no secret of their plans to export instability and they will try to spread their activities from afghanistan into neighboring central asian countries and russia this holds serious risks for us like an increase in drug trafficking and crime plus the uncontrollable flow of refugees and fundamentalism.

well india is also one of those countries which might feel the consequences of the twenty fourteen troop withdrawal because of its proximity there are fears that the afghan taliban will gravitate to the volatile region of any controlled kashmir let's talk about this and the possible effects can have a deeper puffy's from the university of rhode island the u. k. hi there deepak thanks for being with us and how much of a worry is it overblown or not how concerned should india be after that troop withdrawal afghanistan in twenty fourteen the indian. government is not expressing its fear too loudly. and the need there is a lot of concern in the indian ruling circles and that concern grows as the deadline for. nato draw here and the focus of real concern that the disputed kashmir region. well india's main

concern is that in afghanistan when became well it will become much more unstable what's nato troops withdraw and by the stunning intervention might increase there may well be another round of civil war and that will. turn of minustah into much more of a breeding ground for terrorism and of course. it is an unstable part of india that has been an insurgency for many many years although right now it is rather quiet but it could. become unstable once again and once. the dullahan and other militant groups in afghanistan and in understands tribal areas. become more active there's no control over them then there could influence

trade in greater numbers in kashmir and that's of course all of the wanting a worry. how much of a worry we're saying that it's not too bad at the moment but you know is there a real concern that it really could kick off after twenty forty wary more and more about the teller but i was ation of central asia that whole area and what india be prepared to stop that happening what would it do. india has a very large army so the threat to the indian part of kashmir is not imminent to get and keep the. kashmir under reasonable control however in get cannot stop. the insurgency all together and india cannot stop infiltration from the other side of the shear that is by the stunt. central asia is always tricky and if afghanistan. goes through another bout of

serious violence then of course it would attract many more militants from chechnya and from many other parts of central asia into of williston right. right down to pakistan and then kashmir where there is according to militants a a war to be found against indian groups how much were the u.s. responsible for the rise in extremism there there was a much concern in pakistan afghanistan about drone attacks it's generated a lot of animosity how much is the u.s. kind of to blame for what's happening here well the u.s. was able to or troll the taliban regime all within a few weeks in the at the end of two thousand and one. but then soon darling bun did. make

a to send us by two thousand and three the hand started orleans a serious threat to nato forces and then of course in pakistan to the violence threat. there have been a number of bombings in in india in delhi in other parts of india and that have been attributed to this kind of resurgence of militancy so. once one. of my son becomes more unstable i think it would be a serious widely in india and in fact. going away under bush we're going to hold your thought tonight thank you ever so much for time we do appreciate deepak from room to university in the u.k. thank you. as afghanistan's neighbors puzzle her hova how to prevent the spillover of extremism another country in the region could well become the next headache is a missive recently grabbed headlines in bangladesh with the latest confrontation

with security forces leaving at least thirty six people dead place more than two hundred thousand hardline islamist there have been mired in running battles for days over violent demands to make blasphemy a crime that's punishable by death and the government refusing to budge with police reportedly using live ammunition to islam is factions also demanding other amendments that would try and sharia principles into law did it day back sure it's britain's more fun university told us islam is in bangladesh trying to turn it into another pakistan mire by security tales. submitted to really the secular identity of bangladesh and over the last fall in two years that they have been actually conspiring against ito's of a secular state and they are trying to convert it to another state like pakistan trying to make peace and government state by creating anarchy and whatever you are seeing right now is actually a result of all these terms they have been trying. for the last forty years some of

the major political parties including the main opposition party has been supporting him. this is a very soon case sticking hard and fast drivers despite was big quote the last generation of growth warnings from the i.m.f. that britain is playing with fire with his belt tightening policies live coming back. but next the man known as russia's grey cardinal has resigned as vice premier after more than a decade in the halls of power. off became a renowned ideologist and was thought of as a leading figure indeed behind the scenes in government. spoke to auntie's news editor of across the about the man and his resignation. this was a sharp departure wasn't what led to it yes it came as a bit of a surprise today. had been working as deputy prime minister in dmitri medvedev the cabinet with responsibility for government policy and media policy. his resignation

follows a particularly fractious cabinet meeting with president putin yesterday where putin criticized the cabinet for ticking boxes but not following through with substantial policy reforms he called the their work superficial point. beg to differ during that meeting and his resignation was accepted by putin shortly afterwards he's called the great current reason why is that yeah. the evidence agrees the great carnel of the kremlin known by russia watchers everywhere he is the ek mouth of p.r. into the kremlin administration and is the concept architect behind what's known as sovereign democracy this was the ideological and political pillars around which felt a lot of your putin built his early administrations so for democracy. advocated values of pride independence and what became known around the world as i guess as part of

putin's don't lecture us stance when it came to democracy in transition particularly young democracies such such as russians and because of his work on the political p.r. side the expression so-called go propaganda and to the contemporary russian lexicon you mention that around with you seen that he had that's not the only route was it recently that he said well it's easy you know are you referring to school cohere and when worked with president medvedev of modernization he advocated setting up the school of a technology hold the research excellence hold the running outside moscow now. a strong vision for modernization of russian economy and bring innovation culture into russia's economy. most recently has been involved in a rather cultural. corruption probe. has been used in a public dialogue with one of the prosecutors spokesman's spokesman. stressed today does

a decision to resign have nothing to do that also will he also express recently the school of economics at a speech he gave last week so he might be looking at a return to the business world where he worked what success was. used to do just a couple minutes from now. israel's massive attack near damascus days ago why be syria's raging civil war then there's the issue of chemical weapons should western support of assad's enemies people drawn if it is proven the rebels are using them against their own people. choose your language. we can we know if. someone. chooses to use the consensus you can. choose the opinions that you think are great to. choose the stories that impact your life choose the access off the.

download. stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. from moscow this is our team in the u.k. staying committed to what measures that reduce the country's deficit the british queen's laid out a government's agenda for the next year trade unions have branded the austerity drive as a lost generation of growth it also put the country to old for the international monetary fund with warnings of the belt tightening must be. national secretary of the socialist workers party is on the line now from london either charlie thanks be with us so the unions blaming it firmly. at the foot of

a stair at sea do you agree with that. i do very much and it's extraordinary that the international monetary fund which is the high priests of neo liberalism who have imposed a stereo t as part of the troika along with the european union and the european central bank across the continent even though they are now turning all spur on that is economic policies are a complete failure and they're causing heart attack for the economy with no growth with unemployment rising and with social chaos caused by these policies and we've seen it in spain an increase where unemployment is twenty seven percent and unemployment for young people is sixty percent it's not quite as bad as that yet in britain but that's the prospect for us and this is a very swift change of policy where the government's not talking about a u. turn what's it going to take that indeed if it doesn't make that you turn as being

recommended by the i.m.f. then they don't know that they're there now are they to give it a financial health jet is it going to risk more isolation britain you think well i think we can already see that the major parties are increasingly unable to attract the support of the population we saw in the recent elections the worrying rise of the u.k. independence party but what partly that shows is a breakup of the traditional parties hold upon people's views and there are more and more people who are completely fed up with these a stereotype policies which are attacking people's living standards while at the same time at the other pole of society the very very rich grow ever richer actually extraordinary fact that the richest one thousand people in britain increased their wells ice thirty five billion pounds in the last year they have a total wealth now of nearly four hundred fifteen zillions out you'll just thousand

people a tiny number so how does george osborne continue to justify the path that's being taken here. well what he says it is if we cut the deficit then growth will follow the reality is that the attempts to cut the deficit have backfired they are hardly borrowing less they're borrowing more in fact and in addition they have caused the economy to come to a whole lot and what we need is to completely change the priorities the trades union congress in britain has called for measures like a crash building programme of housing a job guarantee for young people these would be good and important first steps you need to go much further than that we need to tackle the fact that the banks are out of control we need nationalized banks but under social control those are the lending is huge for the benefit of everybody we need to stop the imperial adventures in afghanistan and the talk of more involvement in syria we need to stop

the trident nuclear program and we need to take the power away from the wealthy people at the top of society and start putting people first not profits charlie you heartened by the comments the former chancellor nigel lawson he came out a couple of days ago didn't even said that the e.u. was a quote bureaucratic bureaucratic monstrosity of a monster and british to get out of it forthwith do you agree. well i think we have to be careful because there is a sense of right wing politics which attacks the european union as a bureaucratic monster but that's linked with the idea that we ought to clamp down on immigration blame people from abroad for our problems and give even greater free rein to the banks and the giant corporations i'm against the european union i think it's a driver of austerity and the only produce them but i'm not going to sign up to a side of politics which blames immigrants for the problems in britain it's down to the bankers and the bosses and the politicians who support them not immigrants so i

don't go along with nigel lawson he was one of the code thinkers of margaret thatcher who laid the basis of much of this in for everyone funny how things come around isn't it charlie thanks for your thoughts and your time tonight so we're going to leave it there nice to see you charlie kimber the national secretary of the socialist workers party. among a few let's take a look at r.t. don't want to grab a gun is the question being asked there he have to pay for it well that's not a problem in texas at r.t. dot com we've got the story of a group of activists are planning to give away shotguns across the state the aim of reducing violence and also reporting there as well tonight that nothing is certain but death and taxes as the old saying goes but it does seem doubly true in france where a tax bill been delivered right to the grave of a man passed away months ago bizarre story in full online right now if you want to check it out. the american

civil liberties union has launched a campaign to educate the public about the severity of accumulating too much debt itself the revealing figures show a rising number of people who fail to pay about their debts and are being put in jail artie's miniport myers be in the state of ohio where such practice is fairly common indeed amid harsh criticism that it violates the constitution. a midwestern u.s. state. internationally recognized for being the battleground where america's next president is decided let's talk about the importance of ohio and in the battle for ohio state eighteen electoral votes mean so much elbows paid a lot of attention ohio ohio. you're probably going to decide the next president of united states for the past thirty six years no candidate has entered the white house without winning this swing state while ohio undoubtedly wields an enormous influence in the arena of u.s. presidential politics the state is currently garnering headlines for its prisons

specifically the medieval type punishment being imposed on countless citizens who are drowning in debt according to a report released by the a.c.l.u. of ohio thousands of citizens are being locked behind bars because they are too poor to pay their debt and we saw some really troubling numbers one case that we looked at out of mansfield ohio there was a gentleman his crime against the community was he led as a dog walk in his mobile home park without a leash he was fined thirty dollars and he ended up being found in contempt of court and was sent to jail for not paying for a thirty dollars fifty five year old jack jolley was incarcerated three times for failing to pay nine hundred dollars in fines every ninety days you had a jail date. and if you weren't working well you're going to derail debt prisons violate the u.s. and ohio constitutions according to the a.c.l.u.

most of the defendants weren't given hearings before being jailed for outstanding fines if the court had taken any time to ask whether or not they couldn't afford to pay that they would see that these were people who just simply cannot pay they were individuals who are homeless many have and were. for months if not years people who are disabled people who are taking care of disabled family members these are people who are working and just don't feel like spending the money these are people who literally have no money people like dante stiles who is unemployed and says he often has to choose between feeding his two children or paying his fines a far more so back and forth back and forth in court back before of constancio ten days here fifteen days here and while the cash strapped citizens are incarcerated in gutters prisons. there fines keep growing like credit card interest it's

described as a vicious circle it was seven hundred thirty thirty seven dollars ok at the eleven days when i went back to court at the core course and pernod the public defended it went up actually two hundred dollars more than one point eight million ohioans reportedly live in poverty i want to get it behind me dolly lost his job last year after missing work for a ten day sentence in debtors prison i had just started the job i was probably there not quite a month. i was expecting a paycheck so i'd gone in early to get a paycheck so i could go in and pay on my fine you know my release i was terminated from my job dollie has received a fifty dollars credit for each of the sixteen days he was illegally imprisoned but most like styles have not and the state revered for predicting america's presidents has garnered a new reputation for how it punishes the poor. archie ohio. coming up next off the break crosstalk.

every detail. every piece of metal. and every one of those who will step on red square on the ninth of may are ready. for the big green day parade and watch the live coverage on r t. f.