meeting with opposition members is one thing for taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs. russia's prime minister calls the e.u. politicians to stop meddling in ukraine's business is police in kiev give pro e.u. protesters a deadline to de camp from government buildings. tributes pouring in after the death of nelson mandela we'll look at his journey from ostracize rebel to a global symbol of compassion and equality and. children why my job my self-esteem to lose it all the gambling machines that are getting increasing numbers of brits hooked we discover bookies who are keeping the cash coming in as government regulations fly and.

i welcome you watching our international with me andrey farm. protesters in kiev have been given five days to stop disrupting government departments opposition activists have been blocking most kenyans to choose sions for much of this week cheering only pro european rallies atop a u. and u.s. diplomats who are in ukraine for a security summit. is there. usually there is plenty of people out here at night but yesterday we had to literally teaming not just for the ukrainian protesters but also with western politicians one of their own particular victoria nuland who has paid a visit to the tent city that was set up here by the protesters as initially expressing the u.s. support for the ukrainian opposition and for the protesters as well as material and

has also held close talks with the darling of the ukrainian opposition among others that we have seen among the protesters on the square were foreign ministers from sweden germany and the netherlands well this article has hoped that the talks with europe will renew you under a new president essentially hinting at the ultimate goal of the ukrainian protest and that is the current government and the president to step down the interests of western politicians and what is essentially ukrainian domestic affairs has drawn sharp criticism however we haven't seen western politicians attending a thousand strong rallies held here in support of the call which the current ukrainian president in fact a lot of observers are starting to raise their eyebrows to what they are calling sort of an indignant behavior by western officials. well those concerns have been echoed by russia's prime minister to make medvedev during his traditional pretty

new year q. in a with russian journalists. but i can imagine how our german partners would have felt if russia's foreign minister decided to attend a rally that was being held against german room i don't think they would consider it a friendly. meeting with opposition members is one thing but taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs at national. political analyst alexander pov each told us that some foreign politicians positioning just doesn't tali with their democratic stand. this is. your internal theory. even more so this is something that's should be an acceptable. democratic stand that you just have to have call our country to make its own saddam choice and western diplomats are just not going to. really concerning themselves about your

actual situation or the benefit of the country or the people. you're just working from the economics point you in the west have nothing to. slow because of our democracy human rights. so it's really just a big. game it's pretty simple actually. the world is mourning the loss of one of the twentieth century's most iconic leaders nelson mandela has died at age ninety five after a long illness south africa's first black president and the man who led the country out of decades of apartheid to democracy spent his final year is being at home in johannesburg crowds gathered in the city to grieve for the man they knew was medieval and celebrate his legacy after a state funeral he's expected to be buried in a private family cemetery in his home village in accordance with his wishes world

leaders praised mandela as a hero of our time and a giant for justice some of the most glowing tributes have come from the u.k. as there were smith reports. on almost every single newspaper this morning that is a picture of mandela passed across the front page it happened also that thursday night was the premiere in london of a new film of nelson mandela's life and long walks of freedom and that was attended terror in london by nelson mandela's daughter who learned of his death halfway through. that film was also attended by the duke and duchess of cambridge said that started the royal tribute to you like prince william as he was leaving the film called mandela an extraordinary and inspiring man and the queen also paid a somewhat personal tribute to mandela saying that she remembered their meetings with great warmth and then of course political tributes came in from europe and

from all over the world and here in this country they were led of course by david cameron who called mandela a towering figure a legend in life and now in death a true global hero and said that a great light has gone out in the world and then ordered for the flag to be flown at half mast downing street as well know a lot of other official buildings across london but this is all a massive turnaround if we look just at david cameron for example in one thousand eight hundred five he was one of the leading members of an organization called the federation of conservative students and they produced a post that called for the hanging of nelson mandela it's not clear whether david cameron was personally involved but. he belonged to was he also around that time made a trip to south africa as a rising star in the conservative movement and they were low being against sanctions on the apartheid movement so most certainly. in one thousand nine hundred seventy also you had margaret thatcher you slammed him as

a terrorist said that the a.n.c. could never rule south africa anyone who thought so it was living in cloud cuckoo land and it was a similar picture in the us but actually even more delayed in terms of his rehabilitation if you like. was on the terror list and he and his associates were removed from the database until as late as two thousand and eight nine years after his presidency of south africa was already over now my colleague paula steer has been looking at this in more detail at mandela's life over in south africa. he's the man who pulled a troubled and divided land back from the brink of civil war the man who after twenty seven tough years behind bars walks free from prison in his heart was not revenge i think that his greatest legacy to this country is reconciliation but in the last three decades the world titus he published the image of nelson mandela and image recognized around the world only coca-cola is better known better men who

struggle for racial equality against south africa's ruling white minority had a dark side the world has conveniently forgotten about now some and i've been leader of a struggle. a radical. someone. embraced violence and as a necessary political instrument at a particular juncture in our history this house was the secret hip quarters of the african national congress it was here in the early sixty's that mandela and his comrades launched the armed struggle it was also here that most of them were wasted put on trial and sentencing to life in prison south african journalist chris bishop believes the one nine hundred sixty four trial that saw mandela and his comrades sentenced to life helped turn the world in their favor during the trial. these gentlemen who were on trial the rivonia trial as they went from being the

accused of being people on in the dark as slowly transformed they became the benjamin franklin's of africa they became the freedom fighters they began the man of principle who was standing up merely for the rights of others and it slowly turned world opinion around from a vile terrorist to one of the greatest freedom fighters to have ever walked the earth the story of nelson mandela is remarkable a man who stood up for the rights of people everywhere but also a familiar tale of governments putting a garland of. flowers around your neck one day and a rope the next point to r.t. johannesburg south africa. and you can read more on the fight for fairness which defined nelson mandela's life as well as reactions to his legacy and death r.t. dot com. they are gambling devices which can drain all your cash in seconds but in britain they are booming however rules to tighten

up on fixed odds betting machines known as the crack cocaine of the high street are flown during this sarah ferguson i reports that means payday for the bookmakers. there are high risk high stakes gaming machines this in the u.k. betting industry more than a billion pounds each year for. a short fix of. a machine. and to comply. to one hundred every twenty seconds this is a twenty second repeat cycle every twenty seconds. three hundred power my children my wife my job my self esteem. ok. the government's two thousand and five gambling act limited the number of

high street betting shops are allowed to have to four machines now more recently in response to both public and political concern the association of british bookmakers has released a voluntary code of conduct aimed at encouraging socially responsible behavior but we've seen evidence of among some leading. everyone seems to be playing strictly by the rules inside this labrat says a glass petition it enables the store to carry not full but eight for the machines which are the ones that. you. are. in a statement about the store said this shop was a concept shop and there are no plans to open any further shops of this kind.

in terms of. responsible behind a completely responsible ex army major just in ase well how devastating the effects of a gambling addiction can be a last point was the day when. my mom my dad and my little brother he's actually taller than me. and just said that we've got to get you out of here. that's when i lost it i was completely humiliated but it's great because that was the day i realized my recovery justin's written a book about his experience and is helping others to recovery but with scant research into the effects of these machines and as the industry seeks to maximize profits campaign is warned that not taking action. is one gamble person

cold to food to take so. the london we have plenty more stories on the way including from the frying pan into the fire. were detained by mistake held because we wouldn't. be sent to a place that they don't want to go to the sort of domestic political purposes we hear from a lawyer representing one of two algerian detainees at guantanamo bay who have been sent back by the u.s. but not faith for that. is the medium so we leave the media. pushes security. issues that no one is there with to get that you deserve answers from. politics.

choose your language. make it with. some. choose the consensus. choose the opinions that immigrate to. choose the stories that him. choose access to your office.

to algerians you had been held by the u.s. for more than a decade without charge or trial at guantanamo bay have now been transferred to their homeland but the un were strongly against being sent back to our g. area where they fear being persecuted by the authorities or targeted by extremists artie's on the sea chalk and has more. at a glacial pace u.s. officials attempt to move forward with the limbo known as guantanamo with endless excuses and a web of bureaucracy allegedly getting in the way of just closing the place down in the latest attempt to take baby steps to figure out what to do with its detainees the u.s. has transferred two prisoners to their home country of algeria out of one hundred sixty four the majority of whom have long been cleared for transfer or release this sort of a petri you should it was involuntary and took place despite the pleas to not have this happen is they feared mistreatment or torture upon their return home the

lawyers of the two men. and some have described the move as political expedience callous since the prisoners had made it clear the fear of persecution back at home while countries in europe have been willing to accept that the pentagon has stated however that humane treatment assurances had been made prior to this move this is the first transfer since two other men were sent to algeria willingly in august this year notoriously standard one tunnel neither of the men transferred were ever charged with any crime during the entire decade be spent behind bars at the scandalous detention camp the old jury and natives were brought there back in two thousand and two and taken to camp x.-ray which we've actually visited when reporting from guantanamo it's an area where some prisoners have been once controversially interrogated with no one actually held there today the number of detainees at guantanamo is now at one hundred sixty two fifteen prisoners continue to be on a hunger strike years since obama had promised to shut the prison down on day one

of his presidency and efficient and clear plan to close guantanamo yet to be put in place and if they see it you're going to new york. well one hundred sixty two people are still behind bars at the u.s. military facility and eighty four of them were cleared for release years ago but remain trapped in legal limbo only twenty prisoners at guantanamo actually face charges and a g two appear in court and the rest can be prosecuted because the u.s. has no evidence against them but still claims they are too dangerous to release from the lawyer the lawyer for one of the detainee sent back to algeria says his client now face for his life he was opposed to going to algeria he wanted to go to a european country so that he could be reunited with his family he's been separated from his wife and daughters for twelve years now we're concerned that he's essentially going to be dumped on the street as other prisoners have been who had

no connection with algeria the second issue for mr benson is the fact that he lives he grew up in a very rural part of the algerian part in the south southwestern area of the country and he is genuinely concerned that there will be fundamentalist islamic system interests there who will assume that he supports them because he was sent to guantanamo and that they'll target him for some kind of violence when they learn that he actually does not have any sympathy with them it's our understanding the white house wants to be able to say look we've released all the algerians that we can it's the only country that's been certified we can't get anyone else out of guantanamo unless you loosen the statute for us so unfortunately these men were detained by mistake held because we wouldn't acknowledge our mistakes and now they're being sent to a place that they don't want to go in order to serve domestic political purposes. on r.t. dot com from tiffany bling to carabine cruises a decade long spending spree by dozens of russian diplomats in america who could

now find themselves in trouble being blamed for defrauding the u.s. maybe care system to fund the lavish lifestyles read more about the allegations online plus details of how small gooden schools have seen classrooms abandoned in the eastern china and how artificial rain could be used to dilute the country's suffocating pollution. a radical islamist rebel group in syria has given its terms to releasing twelve christian nuns held hostage since monday the extremists want the syrian government to free a thousand women from prison so far there's been no comment from damascus regarding the demand the nuns were seized from amman street during an opposition or so on a predominantly christian time islamic extremists have been increasingly targeting the christian minority in syria the country's ambassador to the un told r.t.

that some foreign powers have influence over the kidnappers we ask the security council members. to act immediately and to shoulder their responsibilities in order to make pressure on those states and governments who may have influence over these terrorist groups so that they would be released without any condition of the norms and the orphans we should make a petition actually on the saudi government. and the qatari government as well as the characters government is these are three governments are deeply involved in escalating the situation in syria through the operations conducted undertaken by terrorist groups. elsewhere france has launched a military operation in the central african republic aimed at curbing a surge in sectarian violence earlier a un security council resolution authorized french tree to join an african peacekeeping mission the latest clashes between rival militias in the capital bongi

have killed over one hundred people muslim rebels say you seized power in march of fighting christian seif support the president and this has sparked fears the conflict could expand into a full blown sectarian war let's get more on this now from signing a foreign affairs columnist of the guardian newspaper thanks very much for coming on to the program and look since twenty eleven france has intervened hasn't it in four african nations or lists the my very coast libya mali and the central african republic what do you think is behind this trend well the french are tuned to reestablish some authority and some national interest in areas where they will fall in the colonial era but the more immediate concern is that this is an issue just an introduction the prevention of this a true move first spreading through the straits right across from the horn of africa to the sale of margrove and internet. and also to try and discredit its numbers to extremism which is which is giving off this kind of intolerance. and the

french also have some other objectives in mind today in securing their own national interests around. ensuring that europe. decisively and in the way militarily not necessarily make you matters worse as you reach up and in europe and what specific national interests can you tell us about france and the central african republic then. well the french have a long relationship with this area going back to before nine hundred sixty when the became independent and it's a trading relationship is a political and diplomatic relationship security relationship which is the french keep usually forces in several countries and in the in in margaret in west africa and. they continue to maintain an organization who are francophonie which are which is the equivalent of the british commonwealth and its association about fifteen

more states which have form a club owner other trials with different states he said in an article that you felt the french president is hoping to boost his low approval rating with that such campaigns is he succeeding the thing. well polls in france do suggest that whereas francois hollande has only been empowered with one ear has not impressed the french with his domestic policies or his grip on the economic crisis has been quite impressive when it comes to foreign policy. the french look at the british for instance or traditional rival and that do nothing attitude to some of these crises around the world including the british vote in power not to get involved in syria and they think well here's a chance for france decision leadership in europe but also look at the united states an obama administration which in many ways has seems to be withdrawals for some of its historic responsibilities by pulling out of the middle east by. not

really getting in refusing to get involved in military an end to the syrian war and and actually going to make any progress on the palestinian issue was circling out of afghanistan next year as well so there is a sort of power vacuum in terms of international security how to do it and these are the french out of going into conflicts with the consent of local parties and with un or with general authority. the cia are back intervention has a crack in the security council example unlike the iraq war which the french opposed this has to be a consensual way of trying to fix security problems which have international mentions and then quickly here iniquity handing handing over to local forces or african union peacekeepers to take long term control but is there a risk that by intervening in such foreign conflicts france could actually create a security risk for itself it could actually become a target for terrorists i think we've seen that demonstrated already with the

recent awful murder of two french journalists soon as craft well it does interventions are very high risk it much easier to get in than to get out there only send in another thousand troops not about fourteen hundred troops in total that's the. french contingent when this deployment is complete for a country which is much bigger than france and the chances are that you know who is the rest more more men more material on all resources will be sucked in the conflict will intensify in mali for instance although intervention also exposed for sure turn again within the year the french are still there in quite some numbers the charges the militants the armed gangs that came aboard from sudan and chad and so on are still not mostly intact and the suggestion is of the french pull back or leave they'll just resume their attempt to take over the country ok we do have to leave it there but simon thank you very much for your thoughts that scientist ill

foreign affairs columnist for the guardian newspaper thank you very much. well after the break it's larry king here on r.t. international. we often see the middle east as a place of constant turmoil and revolution but people in thailand seem to be very fired up as well masses of protesters are forcing government ministries to shut down by storming them with human waves one such ministry is the thai equivalent of the american f.b.i. which has been accused of killing around ninety people in a crackdown on those who support ousted prime minister taksin shinawatra who is the brother of the current leader while people are crying out for democracy with accusations of violence against protesters so where is barack obama john kerry the mainstream media i mean whatever some group of rebels protesters or i mean freedom

fighters rise up for democracy are we supposed to arm them like in syria and or bomb their country back into the stone age like in libya serbia iraq some protests explode across the mainstream media with calls for intervention and others are almost totally silent like thailand and bulgaria where there have also been strong links of buildings less than a month ago i might be a conspiracy theorist but the selective coverage and selective concern for some humans rights and off the rights of others well it smells a bit fishy to me but that's just my opinion. to come. up with one thousand nine hundred six. and the hundreds of people from the sun even. i think that is the difference between the cut into. president obama's choice where this is called into question declining poll numbers

show that americans don't have faith in their leader and just how far down as you fall on. before it's too late. frank luntz gives us the latest on obama's unpopularity plus p.r. strategist howard bragman and political commentator tanya acker on what the president means to do now to regain the confidence of the american people it's all next on politicking with larry. welcome to this week's politicking we're talking about the president's declining poll numbers and no one better to break it all down for us the real story with the pollster and republican strategist frank luntz one of my favorite people all right the recent c.n.n. poll of polls and frank by the way is a republican strategist

a best selling author and he's been a commentator an analyst on fox news and c.b.s. recent c.n.n. poll of polls shows obama's approval rating at forty one percent fifty five percent disapprove the only people lower of congress who have faith what's going on franco first of congress has got it eight percent nine percent job approval rating khadafi had a fifteen percent job approval rating and that was among the people who killed him hitler had eleven percent yeah bug juice and so it shows you how far congress has fallen the i want to take it one step broader which is that we don't trust any institutions right now it's not just the presidency that's in challenges that's being in check and it's not just congress it's business leaders it's cultural leaders it's the media it's everybody we think is out for themselves and against us there's no cronkite there is no there's no arbiter and there's nobody that we trust mother teresa is gone nelson mandela's been off the political state there's really nobody that we can look to and say that someone i believe in you know had it by the way was called.