mapping out the road to peace in syria russia's foreign minister and the e.u. the u.s. secretary of state are meeting to push for an international conference on the ongoing deadly conflict. and it comes amid growing fears the violence could spread across the region after a rocket was fired from lebanon into israel following two shells which landed in beirut. also trade war planes german chancellor angela merkel hosts the chinese pm as the e.u. threatens beijing with carrots or unfairly selling products with real value.

for the welcome you're watching arctic with me. now the conflict in syria and ways to stop the ongoing civil war are the focus of talks between moscow and washington russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov and u.s. secretary of state john kerry will meet in paris to prepare a conference on syria planned for next month this comes as tension grows in the region with neighboring states already involved r.t. tom barton has the details. kerry and lavrov have been trying to arrange a peace conference in june in geneva to try and get bashar al assad's government and syrian rebel groups to sit down around the same table it is their second meeting following on from one to three weeks earlier in moscow in principle both groups have agreed to come to this peace conference but there may be problems there are rifts amongst the syrian rebel movement and the central rebel demand that bashar al assad step down may create

a deadlock both saudi arabia and iran have also been asked to attend this conference by russia france has voiced concerns about iran attending there have been major differences between the u.s. and russia u.s. congress committee has voted in favor of proposed legislation that if it was passed on the long road through congress would allow the u.s. to supply weapons to syrian rebel groups the e.u. group of foreign ministers is also meeting to discuss a proposal by the u.k. and france to possibly lift the use them bargo of weapons supplies to syria also would have been recent media reports that s three hundred missiles on the way to syria supplied by russia may have been withheld they have been major differences between russia and the u.s. however they do agree that negotiations may still have

a chance to make an impact. meanwhile fears the conflict in syria could be spilling into neighboring countries have once again being stoked in recent cross border violence a rocket has apparently been fired from lebanon towards israel follows two shells landing in a hezbollah controlled area of beirut after the greek reiterated its support for the assad government syrian rebel fighters have denied any involvement but middle east expert at least feels what they say can't always be trusted some members of the free syrian army have denied it however there was one official who said that hezbollah are you know its activity will lead to repercussions that would target by the northern city of tripoli and beirut international airport and that perhaps is an indicator of what some of these armed opposition groups of these syrian opposition groups are indeed involved in what happened you have to remember that the free syrian army years in the one block so if one spokesman denies that it

might very well be that are not the opposition are opposition group which also use of title three free syrian army could have been involved in one of the rockets even landed in mirror church and it was on the border between the southern beirut and the christian district so obviously this is not an attack on a husband lobbyist or a possible or institution it's a clearly an act of terrorism against innocent civilians on any of inhabited area and so i think it just goes to show you the nature of these groups who we are dealing with the u.s. enjoys a vast military presence worldwide and recently president obama unveiled a new face to the war on terror defending america's overseas policies but there are more questions about the legal basis for this military activity when the u.s. is fighting wars under the cover of military threats. as this report. president obama in his major national security speech this may quoted james madison

saying no nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare at the very same time the administration claims power to wage endless war across the globe there was a senate hearing this made revisiting the authorization for use of military force which congress enacted days after nine eleven attacks in two thousand and one at the hearing pentagon officials claimed that authorization gives the president power to wage endless war anywhere in the world including syria yemen and the congo and when asked how long they predict this war on terror is going to last they said quote from ten to twenty years and one way of understanding this is you say ten to twenty years when you see no end in sight here's a clip from that hearing the you agree with me that when it comes to international terrorism we're talking about a war one struggle. absolutely sure that would you agree with me the battlefield is were the enemy chooses to make it. yes sir from boston the to the time i couldn't agree with you more do you agree with that general. the enemy is where

the battle for goose so by the administration's definition the wall that is the battlefield with me today is brian becker with the answer coalition brian thanks for joining bryan you have president obama saying that his national security speech that the u.s. is not engaged in a boundless war and yet you have this vast military presence across the globe washington post cited a senior administration official who said u.s. special operations forces were active in seventy five countries to that you had the drone strikes and new drone bases does it look like the u.s. this really seeking to limit itself in the use of military force no in fact the policy in the institutional policy is for the united states then it would be prepared for endless war but that being engaged in all of the activities that would lead one to believe that they are an endless war there's one point three million u.s. military personnel three hundred to four hundred thousand of them are overseas there's nine hundred military bases the united states spends not five hundred twenty five billion which is the defense department budget but really about

a trillion dollars on warfare that's greater than the next sixteen nations combined we see an integrated network of bases now drone bases growing increasingly this is to have a full spectrum domination using the military as the club the administration argues that all their military actions in the countries that the u.s. is not at war with are perfectly legal under the u.s. congress it's authorization for use of military force that's their legal justification for continuing all these attacks what about international law well international law has been shredded by the so-called global war on terrorism or the authorization bill that allows the u.s. to invade any country bomb any country and kill whoever it wants the u.n. charter is quite. the united states like all other member nations of the united nations can only go to war in gage and more engage in military activity. as an act of imminent self-defense in other words the defense from an imminent threat but in fact the united states by arrogating to absolve the right to war anywhere against

anyone all the time is clearly in violation of international law while president obama says the administration does not violate anybody's sovereignty because it operates in consultation with the governments concerned the whole population of pakistan their parliament unanimously the monthly oppose drone strikes and yet they continue so maybe the administration is in consultation with the government there but certainly not the people i'm going to check on me today was brian becker with the answer coalition from our studio in washington thanks for watching. so is president obama really a catalyst for change or does he piss you the same goals as his predecessors this is the question posed in cross talk today with debate centering on the u.s. president's foreign policy is a quick preview. we think when we compare like nixon to bush or obama there's really not much of a comparison we do have something like an imperial presidency now where i don't know if i'd go that far i would say obama you know he was swept into power in two

thousand and eight as a you know on change and hope he was really idealistic so originally he had foreign policies that were very different from what what what had happened in the past and he was saying we shouldn't gauge with so-called rogue states he was saying that we should make this huge effort to engage the muslim world and so he gave a very famous speech in cairo he even went into the very same crossing of the u.s. policy on israel by really pushing the israelis to do more and on settlements and he wanted to big strategic and deep relationship with pakistan but all of that basically didn't work out i. know it's a taste of today's cross talk and you can watch the full edition in just under twenty minutes time. well also coming up u.k. industry gets back on his feet. once tough true joy in britain's coal mines still what the scipio i don't think the policy we've come hates of the northeast of the

country to find out the impact that the death of that old industry has had on the local communities and why the new signs of life appointing so important. and did you're told to send yourself into the heart of any riots in the world from the safety of your own home will tell you how just after the break. wealthy british soil. the time to.

market why not. come to. 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 in to cause a report. put out again welcome back not been in these maneuvering to avoid a looming trite war between beijing. and the as chanche chancellor angela merkel how huge the need chinese premier at germany's the any destination on his trip and comes after the e.u. threatened trade tariffs against china for pricing key products to play into all of

that has been following talks between the economic giants of europe and asia the new chinese prime minister is in germany for talks with chancellor angela merkel and trade a set to dominate those talks last year alone germany exported around sixty seven billion euros worth of goods to china and they want to see that increase in the future and gloom urkel it has in the past made no secret about her want to call the chinese markets last year she visited beijing twice within the space of seven months and she's wanting to make sure that the trade can be done between the two countries especially considering germany's traditional markets in europe do appear to be drying up the financial crisis meaning that those countries in europe that were previously buying german exports will really can't afford to do that at the moment she also perhaps has an eye on the future in a potential british exit from the european union that could see over seventy

billion euros worth of exports put into doubt a great britain wasn't part of the trading union or it is the a u for the chinese they want to do more business with germany germany is one of the few countries that is kept its head above water when it's come to this financial crisis they've also that means that they're one of the few countries economically that can afford to buy more and more chinese exports so that's why we're seeing the world's second largest economy in china courting europe's largest economy in germany to try and mutually to increase mutually beneficial trade between the two countries. well the european commission is pushing the block's members to get engaged in talks with china which could pave the way to a freed free trade deal chinese direct investment could bring around two hundred billion euros in fresh capital to europe this year

a figure double the money paid by the e.u. to rescue greece recent studies show ninety seven percent of chinese companies operating in europe are planning to increase their current investment levels however more than three quarters complained that the e.u.'s bureaucracy and high costs are hindering their business political analysts young young says chinese money is crucial for that stricken year the recent statistics show that china has increasingly being active in investing in europe therefore investment from china is very important or has become very important for some e.u. economies in. kind of recovery that's not surprising that a number of you politicians or government leaders actually go to china for some kind of help you is very important for china in terms of strategic relationship but also most importantly in trade an economic relationship and germany is the biggest

kind of trading partner of china of all you countries and strategically also important a row therefore it's not surprising the prime minister. chooses to visit germany. as the first you country he visited. and we have plenty more stories on our website including bahrain injustice critics slam the country's ideas of right and wrong saying charges remain against protesters while police are acquitted of murder dot com for the full story or click on the you tube channel where you can see one man giving his fellow passengers a bus ride in china they will never forget. exactly what is going on here on live.

news today. these are the images the world seeing from the streets of canada. showing hope for asians rule the day. british industrial output has been forecast performing stronger than expected but as r.t. sarah firth now reports what it might have dispelled some clouds above the u.k. economy the road to recovery will be long and hard. britain's industry seems to be showing some signs of life recent figures from the office for national statistics show industrial production is up which some of seen as a sign the u.k. might be slowly bringing itself back from the brink of another recession but renowned historian nicholas comfort has mapped the decline of the once industrial giant and says that when it comes to industry the k.

is still falling far behind the global competition have been massive individual companies the second largest manufacturing power in the world in terms of exports we had a massive car industry a huge aircraft industry we were world leaders in computing and nuclear power. over that period pretty well all of this is evaporated along with the loss of great british plans britain has gone from having the majority of its workforce in manufacturing to having little over ten percent so just how did this happen you know this clear need for all industries to keep being updated and relevant and the way to do that is to work closely with the workforce and show that there is that modernization basically happened was the life support was turned off for many. industries lose by the seemingly easy cash of the city's finance industry past

governments dismantled largest ways of british industry arguing they were no longer profitable or here in the northeast that heavy industry is a huge point of pride when the coal mines in the still works in the shipyards were dismantled it wasn't just the loss of the industry it was a huge emotional loss as well and it's one that many here have never really recovered from in the aftermath of the industrial collapse for a skilled labor workforce there was little else today that for it is evident with the northeast suffering from the highest unemployment in the country. those in the shipyards and factories and the stores of effect. but don't seem to be picking up things more difficult especially for people. but along with the recent beeston manufacturing figures there are signs that things could be looking up the regions are new leks ports have almost doubled in the last

five years enabling job creation in areas such as the car industry recent industrial resurrections might not be enough to replace what once was but this is at least an attempt to breathe life back into areas such as this and for many in the communities here that could prevent a welcome lifeline sarah firth r.t. in the northeast of england. some international news in brief now and one hundred thousand strong protests against france's new gay marriage bill spiraled into full on violence in the capital on sunday right wing demonstrators clashed with police she responded with rubber bullets and tear gas was three hundred fifty demonstrated were arrested and thirty five more were injured president francois hollande has been accused from both sides for using the gay marriage bill to avoid the heat of his economic policy failure it's. more than two thousand people marched through woolley in london on sunday to commemorate the soldier hacked to death by news in

its previous last week that the rally was organized by a group which has been accused of having links with the far right the daylight murder of lee rigby sparked a wave of national pride tests by the country's extreme right wing despite unanimous condemnation of the attacks by british representatives of. the imam went on a shooting spree in concho county in texas on sunday leaving today and wounding five others according to police one victim was found dead in her car while five others were wounded the suspect a twenty three year old male was later killed in a shootout with state troopers preventative measures need to be taken to ensure border security after foreign troops leave afghanistan that was the message from making the regional security summit today in the capital of kyrgyzstan while the u.s. military base at man as used for its afghanistan missions also faces an uncertain future with kurdistan's plans to close it in july next year despite the us paying

handsomely to keep it open many believe its operation does more harm than good is r.t. to the nickel. three weeks after u.s. military refueling plane went down in the mountains of kurdistan people in the nearby villages are still reeling from the effects of the crash. it went into the mountains right into three fresh water springs where villages get their drinking water the fuel leaked into the streams and now it's impossible to drink i have the official conclusion of an inspection of this water is too polluted to drink people now say their livestock beginning to get sick and when americans came here to get the wreckage they drove right over our pastors and fields the k c one thirty five straight a tanker was one of the planes stationed in the air base which for a decade has been a major hub for the u.s. led war in afghanistan the base was renamed under the government of president to rid of any association with another country's military presence on the ground some

thought that the heated debate surrounding the air base would window once it was are named into a transit center changing the nature of its activity but the people in surrounding towns and villages say nothing has changed and they continue to feel the negative effects of the american presence no matter how much money is said to be poured into kurdistan's economy where people still want the u.s. base off their land washington shells out sixty million dollars a year on the lease and wants to extend the deal but the kurdish government has already knows the plans to evict them americans in june of next year once the lease expires the decision could be attributed to the vocal opposition to the base many have expressed over the decade often questioning just what exactly is going on. in the course of all these years the kurdish government never once inspected the base they have absolutely no control over what's going on there and what kind of operations the base is engaged in americans are the sole bosses of the facility on

top of that i'd like to point out that monastic is the country's main civil aviation airport and it is being. for military purposes. the u.s. would be hard pressed to find a better location afghanistan china and iran are all within easy reach it's the spot on the map that's therefore difficult for washington to let go and this puts kurdistan in a very precarious position. to know the risks that. people run by possibly being dragged into a larger war there's a possibility of course to recapture control of the country and its. eventually afloat. with destabilization that has afflicted afghanistan's. destabilization politically and security wise in the region is hardly worth the.

going to return for a comparatively small sum of money tensions have existed since the start confrontations between locals and military personell have at least once turned fatal when it curtis lorry driver was shot dead by one of the bases guards who believed him to be a threat but it's didn't vironment the tops the long list of complaints about the effects the american transit center has in the region. because experts say planes have to land with their fuel tanks nearly empty so they just dump the fuel over the place mostly in our lowlands and in the mountains in one town even the trees don't grow any more. u.s. officials say any problems are more than compensated for with a huge annual investment into kurdistan's economy which has suppressed one hundred million dollars annually for the past four years but money locals never see means little to the carcass people who describe the treatment they receive from the u.s. military personnel as derogatory and would much rather see their crops grow than

have another plane spilling fuel into their drinking water in kurdistan in the r.t.e. . now have you ever wanted to take to the streets in protest for an important cause or perhaps join security services to try to restore the peace well soon you'll be able to do both of those things with a new video game giving you the opportunity to be on either side of the barricade without putting yourself in direct danger artie's alexia she explains. soon you will be able to take part in the street protest from the comfort of your armchair coming out for handheld devices and p.c.'s is the first riot simulator game wrapped in pixel graphics and old school sounds it will let you choose sides protesters or the police and help violent havoc unfold in the streets of european cities the game's designers say they have taken part in real life protests in italy so they floated this game to tell the true tale of global uprisings stop listening to the lies of the media shut down the television and get yourself in the line to fight

for your freedom of speech is the message on the games website moreover the designers claim they are documenting eyewitness accounts to make the gameplay as real as possible and to answer many questions like what triggers acts of violence and what do cops feel when an angry mob attacks a game like this would probably have raised eyebrows a few years ago but today the world sees protests on almost a daily basis to a large extent street riots have become a popular media tool music stars film videos with violent street skirmishes and hollywood makes entire movies about street movements scenes of rallies worldwide are ever present on t.v. screens which breeds a feeling that street upheaval is no longer something out of the ordinary the masterminds of the new addition to the whole protest many say their app is more about education than entertainment that i quote one of the designers writing is an experience that needs to be lived and of quote and despite the fact that game hasn't been yet released it's already promises to be a hit judging by the hundreds of thousands of views of its trailer and the

developers easily managed to get funding for the game online the rides better version is expected to be available within a few months. up next as promised peter live al and his guest about u.s. foreign policy. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for like you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

on. the news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images go bald have been seen from the streets of canada. giant corporations are old today.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle the imperial presidency barack obama ran for president in two thousand and eight as an alternative today his record is clear obama has expanded and institutionalized some of the more appalling aspects of the insecurity and obsessed state that he inherited today the president claims unprecedented executive privilege in the name of security is obama casting aside the rule of law and other constitutional rights .