if you care about humans. this is why you should care only. president obama's absence becomes a highlight of a key summit of asia pacific economies in indonesia where the american government shutdown now threatening the president's focus on asia. never a lot of good crisis go to waste china turns to europe for investment opportunities snapping up companies all over the continent. and the swiss army simulates a war against a debt stricken french government that's sound troops to recover stolen gold.

nine am in moscow you're watching r t with memory natasha welcome to the program first in syria chemical disarmament may be making progress but there's still no solution in sight to another severe crisis the conflict has created that of the refugees the u.n. estimates that four million more syrians will be forced out of their homes and more than eight million will be in need of aid to discuss the situation and possible ways out i'm now joined live by the president of the international committee of the red cross peter moore. thanks much mr moore for joining us here on r t to talk about the situation well you went to syria last year were civilians are coping amidst a bloody conflict i'm interested to know how they are living there in such conditions and do they get enough humanitarian aid. well certainly civilians have a very difficult life in syria and the need creasing number of civilians have a difficult life because they lack food to water. elementary household item to

survive each and every day and in particular they have difficulties to get health care and to get to doctors to hospitals so the situation is increasingly difficult for a bigger number of people also syrians increasingly are displaced within the countries and multiple times displaced within the country because their houses are destroyed . we certainly need much more humanitarian aid but the critical issue is not at the present moment the number of financial supports but rather off access for humanitarian actors like the i.c.r.c. and others to get to the civilian population. now what about the access of your employees to the people who are in need of aid the most i mean the situation is highly volatile of course in the country i'm wondering about your

staff getting to the people there how is how their axes is unimpeded in the sites where you are the most well we certainly do not impeded access in syria in any particular it is very difficult to have access to the combat zones in syria negotiating such access with the representatives of the syrian government's but also the armed opposition is a daily challenge for our delegates on the ground sometimes they are successful. to cross the line and to get into contested areas other times we remain frustrated as many syrians are that access is so difficult to negotiate at the present moment well or certainly when you are dealing with situation like that certainly different facets and sides of the humanitarian crisis while the influx of refugees from syria rises border refugee camps are over

a crowd and people's living conditions there are deteriorating as we hear so how can the situation be improved. well here again in perspective the first and foremost important step to do is to improve the situation within syria so that those displaced within syria are not forced to become refugees either in neighboring countries or beyond so our effort at the present moment is to appeal to the international community to wall responsible countries to exert maximum influence on all parties in the syrian conflict to allow independent actors to do their work in syria we do not enough at the present moment because of the security situation because of the blockage is amongst the will between the syrian government and the armed opposition so we definitely and badly need to expand our operation in

syria so so that not more syrians become refugees and have become a disturbing lising factor in the neighboring countries. well you know let's talk about the impact of the refugee problem on other countries you mention what's happening in the region and i'm interested now you know how are the countries affected by especially europe you know where we see flows of refugees going for example you know from libya to tie an island of lampedusa tell us a bit more about that how that problem is addressed well here again first and foremost let's remind ourselves that the big burden of refugees out of syria at the present moment is is carried by the neighboring countries and not by by countries beyond or europe refugees flows have increased

towards europe that's that's true but it's not the mass migration of syrians into europe which is the key and critical issues at the. isn't a moment i think the neighboring country needs badly to be supportive india efforts to cope with those arriving from syria says within syria has to improve to be improved and this is the best way not to have a major and further migration move into europe and other parts of the world being seeing unfold indeed well as we see the scale of this problem is quite dramatic and needs to be addressed properly of course now on a slightly different note here we know that the i.c.r.c. believes that there is place for international humanitarian law in video games so do you think virtual reality should go that far and why. well virtual reality goes

far. as we know and we see that in reality in video games increasingly. soldiers and people. who act like soldiers are behaving in this respect of international humanitarian law you win a video game if you kill as many civilians as ever possible i think the to the extent that virtual reality is always. has always a risk to impact falls on real reality it is important to engage producers of video games and to see how fundamental principles of humanity and international humanitarian law can be integrated in those in those video games we are by no means of the opinion that video gaming should be

regulated or or forbidden i think it's a question of engaging producers towards to respect of basic principles and laws or appear more thank you so much for talking to us now as president of the international committee of the red cross wife from central moscow thanks for having me. now a key annual summit of asia pacific leaders in bali has anger at its second and final day boosting trade and business cooperation between the twenty one member economies is the main focus of the gathering but it has not been short of political overtones as well the absence of president obama due to the u.s. government shutdown was repeatedly noted as other countries took center stage at the form artist paul scott reports from indonesia. well the twenty one nations that make up a package count for more than fifty percent of the world's g.d.p. on an annual basis so it's clear that what is agreed here is of huge significance

especially when you consider the fragile nature of the global economic recovery and this region has a number of a merge and economies indonesia for example where we are right now is the fifteenth largest economy in the world so it's clear that there are plenty of good investment opportunities in the region so perhaps it's surprising then that us president barack obama is not here. so his trip to asia to deal with the domestic problems the financial problems back in the united states and the continuing shutdown there and that decision to stay at home is going to be frustrating for u.s. business leaders especially when you consider the united states' well documented pivot to asia as it is cool a strategic move designed to include increase america's influence in the region our bombers decision to stay at home has been a hot topic of discussion over the last couple of days or so everyone's had their say russian president vladimir putin saying that obama's decision is totally justified and that putin himself would have done the same when you consider what is

at stake i think the singapore prime minister spoke for many on sunday when he said that he'd rather have a u.s. government that is functioning and working the one that is not on this entire economic summit really has been played out to the backdrop of what is happening in washington and what is happening in the united states with the threat of a u.s. default hanging over the global economy one business leader said to me yesterday that the prospect about the fold is simply unthinkable the consequence is a rotten thing so it's still not clear with uncertainty hanging over the states whether the global economy is about to enter choppy waters or calm seas. bomber's no show at the apec summit stirred a mixed reaction among the rest of asia pacific leaders some said the u.s. leaders decision was understandable and justified while others called it a missed opportunity my colleague john thomas asked dr kahn holland foreign policy in focus columnist whether or rock obama's absence would have repercussions for

u.s. interests in the region. we're in the midst of this incredible craziness. at home domestically and that does have an effect on the military budget has an effect on the state department budgets except or so the obama administration is not able to put as much resources into as they asia pivot as what as it originally planned but i think in the long run what you're seeing here is the united states is still very much focused on challenging china and very much focused on building a kind of a ring of alliances regional alliances that will attempt to. isolate. china for the malaysian prime minister said that the absence of president obama is a missed opportunity for him to share his thoughts about america's new policy towards asia what kind of repercussions if any can we expect there i don't expect serious repercussions i think one of the reasons why the president made the

decision not to go is largely domestic you know was one of the things that that the state department has been saying now sense obama had to cancel the trip is we're losing out on these opportunities the chinese are eating our lunch we're being isolated in asia i don't see that it has much of an effect on foreign policy at this point obviously in the long run it might have an effect for a while one country that seems to be benefiting from president obama's absence from the summit is china if present the u.s. in iraq is expected to have pushed for a transpacific partnership and trade walk that actually excludes beijing instead china launched a charm offensive to blunt america's influence in asia. it's not just in asia where beijing is reaping the benefits chinese investment in europe has been growing steadily despite a financial storm bad. now let's take

a look at some of the bigger deals here in twenty tan a chinese car maker decided it was easier to take over its wish rival valvo than to compete that in january last year a german concrete pump maker the second largest firm in the field was sold to china that same month beijing acquired an italian yacht maker for already months later as a reminder of the chinese fondness for luxury goods the famous french fashion brand sonia rykiel was sold to a firm in hong kong china is also investing heavily in the u.k. buying shares in london's heathrow airport and pumping billions of pounds in the country's nuclear industry as reports chinese money is already changing the face of london. this time last year it looked like the iconic london cab would be consigned to the history books after its make up the financially troubled london taxi company went into administration chinese manufacturer g.t.

which already owns volvo stepped in and bought the company for eleven million pounds the factory is now back in business this part of the assembly process is called the marriage of the carriage where the shape of the taxi. meets with the shafi of the taxi here but it's the marriage between the chinese manufacturer and he on the london taxi company that managed to save a british icon from going out of production g.-d's pledged to invest a hundred and fifty million pounds into the coventry based business over the next five years promising to create jobs and develop new engines to future really previously when we were a company the financial resources to continue to develop the product as we would like to. gives us the ability to develop. which we could have only dreamed of financial analysts have called it a win win situation the cab comes back from the brink of extinction while

a major chinese manufacturer gets to invest in an exciting new project but what does it say about the state of british industry business secretary vince cable called the chinese buyout a clear demonstration of the strength of the british car industry but the london cap is just the latest in a raft of businesses being sold off to foreign companies cadres chocolate is now american. indian and the british airports authority spanish to some it represents a hollowing out of corporate britain and i'm happy that it's not going to but it shows government policy for a long time now as encourage foreign companies to take over our british companies that means companies are not competitive across the globe. so we're not putting in the right tax policies we're not dealing with regulation that hinders these companies welcome to have new investment it always is in the long term this takes away economic productivity from this country it means that staff and jobs are more

liable to go because there's an allegiance between the companies that are owned by foreign entities and their country rather than britain piece has been a cabbie for over forty years in a scene the london taxi company goes through several british owners i hopped in for a ride and asked him how he feels about turning chinese this is a shame that it's not owned by a british company but it's better then go into the wall or die lemme the companies that are still british they won't be faced with and you see what i see london. online we've got much more about china's expanding investment abroad including a story about beijing buying a lead when you're in france's bordeaux region and you can catch it at r.t. dot com. still out here in the program the afghan president blasts the twelve year along u.s. led occupation of his country accusing washington of breaching the country's sovereignty and causing chaos while afghanistan falls into the hands of the taleban

and moscow is ready to say and the olympic torch for the winter games in sochi on its story journey across russia those stories coming up for you here on our t.v. . interview.

do we speak your language anything about the will or not a day in. programs documentaries in spanish what matters to you. but what will turn it into anglos stories. you hear. the spanish find out more visit. or come back this is our team now imagine this year is twenty fourteen the impoverished french storm the swiss border in an attempt to bring back the gold they believe was stolen from the nation and the defending forces fight off the invasion of with guns and rifles to keep their banks safe the dollar has more in switzerland's war game scenario. the idea of two western european nations going to

war with each other may seem on thinkable however that's exactly the contingency that the swiss military have been preparing for and article in the march newspaper it was revealed that the swiss armed forces had conducted war games and which they depicted an invasion by neighbors friends to find out a little bit more about this i'm joined by the author of that article. thanks very much for talking to me why did the swiss military think that this was necessary. there's a history to this in two thousand and twelve the swiss army already held exercises on the premise that europe slides into economic chaos and many immigrants flock into the country this time around they went even further and created another legend suggesting that a financially stricken france breaks apart into warring regions one of the new countries that will appear will be called sonia

a small but very nationalistic state so ionia will have thirty percent unemployment huge debt and it will blame switzerland for creating this debt so saionji is preparing an attack on switzerland to retrieve the money it had allegedly swiped from france what's the reaction been in france to being portrayed as the v it is here. the french media made fun of this and mocked it we received lots of corn calls from the french press they didn't take it seriously but in switzerland people are very serious about whatever the army does so public opinion is split some believe the story told for the drills was quite realistic and supports the idea of an exercise with this premise others think the swiss army put itself in a discrediting position. thank you very much so swiss war games underlining real tensions between neighbors and western europe. and our web site freedom came

to wait at our today we've got the story of a man who served over forty years in jail for a crime he didn't commit and died just hours after his release plus. powerful typhoon is battered china's southern provinces forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in its path and bringing public transport to a hold so had to our in motion section for a stunning video on that. now the moscow leg of a staunch winter olympics torch relay is in its second and final day before it goes on an incredible journey across the world's largest country.

on monday the torch was taken to moscow state university worse but tackler show was put on their chefs he was there for us. the first day of moscow's leg of the sochi twenty fourteen olympic torch relay has come to an end culminated by a spectacular fireworks show here at the sparrow heels in front of the most go state university the first day of the moscow leg of the torch relay kicked off at midday beside the red brick walls of the moscow kremlin and ever since then the torch bearers have been running across the russian capital carrying the torch passing the flame from one to another i myself was lucky to witness the handing over of the flame at one point right next to the moscow state university all in all this was just the first day of the moscow torch relay the relay which promises to

be a truly historic one and i did a report to explain what the peculiarities of this torch relay this time will be and what's so special about it. in a limpia handed over to russians on october the fifth in athens and delivered to moscow on the next day now the olympic flame has started its long and unique journey across the host country five time olympic champion and synchronized swimming and. was chosen to be the very first store to beara fourteen thousand more will hand the flame to each other in the next four months among them people of a range of profiles and backgrounds including a special v.i.p. guest there's a lot of expectation on the on any kind of beginning but on these games i think there's a lot because it's been a lot of preparation. a lot of work to do well you know i think it will be but i think it will be a great to go into. the twenty fourteen sochi games olympic torch relay has only just kicked off but it has already been branded as historic covering more than

sixty five thousand kilometers across nearly three thousand cities towns and villages in russia it will become the longest storage relay in history and probably the most seen as well with almost one hundred thirty million people being within reachable distance of the relays route for the first time in history it will be taken for a space walk outside the international space station that's before descending to the bottom of the world's deepest lake baikal heading to the top of the world at north pole and scaling europe's highest peak russia's mountain. this is a unique opportunity to the united nations and a great way to explore russians themselves and because the torch. with the flame. every single city and for that moment this particular city will be the capital of the olympic games after two days in moscow the olympic torch will have further inland before ending up at the grand opening ceremony of the saudi

winter olympic games in exactly one hundred twenty two days from now. alexy rush of ski r t moscow. deliberate torch is on its epic journey to such. one hundred twenty three days. through to some nine hundred ninety cities of russia. really fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand killing. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. olympic torch relay. m r t r t. president obama stand has slammed the occupation by nato on its twelfth anniversary accusing allied troops of making the nation suffer and failing to uphold security the criticism comes at a crucial moment for the country seeking to hold its first democratic transition of

power during next year's presidential election all taliban overthrown by the us led forces over a decade ago recently promised to disrupt the vote after nato pulls out all aspects of security will be in the hands of the afghan army meaning they would have to deal with high risk militant areas that's now nearly half the country whether elections around the corner director of the world can't wait anti-war group believes the chaos caused by the invasion comes in handy for the radicals. this is an occupied country by the largest military in the world the biggest economy many billions of dollars up to a trillion dollars have been poured into afghanistan and the basic people are in worse shape than ever it's there's plenty of deadly violence going on now that the civilian death toll has actually been higher in two thousand and twelve than in any other year of the us occupation this is created justifiably

a population which is very much against the occupation and in some senses has been one to support the taliban which many people never supported before this all started the us has said and supported the taleban by creating such disasters around the country coming up we continue our insider look at basic training of a russian paratrooper. i recently read headlines all over the russian internet screaming in full paranoia mode that china has just bought five percent of ukraine now they're writing that china will lease five percent of ukraine over ukrainian officials themselves claim that china won't be getting either and that this is a deal about some drip irrigation system the situation didn't explode onto the

internet to the fantasies of bloggers the south china morning post reported that one company does have a crop and pig farming plan design utilized nine percent of ukraine's territory also last year the ban on foreigners buying land ukraine coincidently been lifted although i am the distressed will proceed type getting a rich foreign country to pay to develop your nation's agriculture might not be too bad of a deal it would definitely take a lot of money to restore ukraine's farming to its former glory they see that ukraine used to be the bread basket of europe that status back could really help the country but selling off or even just leasing nine percent of the nation's territory is absolutely unacceptable doing a large project with the chinese that is mutually beneficial is one thing but selling or leasing off your country is another and by another i mean treason but that's just my opinion. it could be the most exciting see the most terrifying. way from everyone you

know. one in the complete. it's a rite of passage for thousands of young russian men a chance to find out what they're really capable of. i was joining them on this journey of discovery and gold knows it was going to be tough. that was your full name. one of the pair ever done in this ford's. everything's fine you'll see it will. take these two or the ten to. squeeze. that perfect. i can't believe.