opposition members is one thing but taking part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs russia's prime minister calls for eve politicians to stop meddling in ukraine's business as police in kiev give pro e.u. protesters a deadline now to decamp from government buildings. tributes pouring in after the death of nelson mandela as we look at his journey from ostracised rebel to a global symbol of compassion and equality and. house why job myself esteem. gambling machines that are getting increasing numbers of brits hooked we discover bookies who keep the cash coming in as government regulation flounders.

pretty good even if you just joined us my name is kevin i mean it's just past eight pm now here in moscow this is art international our top story tonight protesters in kiev are being given a five day to stop disrupting government departments opposition activists have been blocking most key institutions for much of this week it's a topic that would have been tough to avoid for the country's president victory on a covert shoes made his russian counterpart in sochi a stenson to talk about economic revival is more here's a really good. the meeting was a short see a working meeting and the two presidents have discussed largely the economic aspects it really is no surprise economy is something that is why the important to the entire situation in ukraine the fact that she was a stopover flight for the ukrainian president on his way back from china where he has met with his chinese colleagues and the ringing president said that he has

signed a number of deals that amounting to roughly eight billion dollars in investments now while unocal which was trying to figure out a way for ukraine to solve its financial issues here in the year of the independence square was essentially teeming with foreign dignitaries. european as well as american officials have shown up to take part in the always seem meeting which was taking place in kiev and they lost no time to come by examine the tent city. especially talk with protesters and meeting with the opposition figures especially with the likes of beachgoers the darling of the ukrainian opposition at the moment and the western politicians it seems that we've had german swedish the. foreign minister of the netherlands all of them were here last night i know that the tension that the western officials are showing to

the ukrainian protests has raised a number of vibe browse and there is quite a few observers who are saying that this type of attention from western politicians to the protests in ukraine is simply just not quite appropriate in the given circumstances well those concerns with russia probably has to to be truly dreaded during this traditional pre q. and a with russian journalists. but i can imagine how our german partners would have felt if russia's foreign. mr decided to attend a rally that was being held against german rule i don't think they would consider it a friendly step out of a meeting with opposition members is one thing you know they've taken part in rallies that's interference in domestic affairs minister the prime minister political unless you are going to purge told us that some foreign politician's positioning just doesn't tally with the democratic standard. this is.

even more so this is something that should be unacceptable. you just have to have told our country to make its own choice and western diplomats are just not doing. that really concerning themselves about your actual situation or the benefit of the country or the people. you're just looking at from the economic standpoint you were there was nothing to. slogans about democracy human rights. so it's really just a big. game and it's pretty simple actually. the world's one of the last one of the twentieth century's most iconic leaders nelson mandela who has died aged ninety five after

a long illness south africa's first black president to the man who led the country out of decades of apartheid to democracy spread is finally is being most at home in johannesburg crowds gathered in the city to grieve for the man they knew was madiba and celebrate his legacy after a state funeral on december the fifteenth he's expected to be buried in a private family symmetry in his home village accordance with his wish was world leaders praise mandela as a hero of our time and a giant for justice some of the most glowing tributes of come from the u.k. for smith reports. here at the south african embassy in london and a public buildings all around the city flags are flying at half mast to mark the death of nelson mandela there are around half a million south africans living in this country and some of them have come here to the embassy to lay flowers and pay tribute to the passing of mandela and of course tributes flooding in from elsewhere to the royal family prince william for example has called him an extraordinary and in. spy ring man the queen has paid

a personal tribute talking of the great war she feels when she thinks of mandela saying that he worked tirelessly for his country and that his legacy is the peaceful south africa that we see today and political chippies of flooding in from all over the world lead in this country by david cameron he called mandela a towering figure a true global hero and says a great light has gone out. but this is all i'm hung around if we look just at the conservative movement for example in one thousand nine hundred seventy margaret thatcher who 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 david cameron also around that time made a trip to south africa as

a rising star in the conservative movement and they were no being against sanctions on the apartheid movement so most certainly. now it's not clear whether david cameron was personally involved but certainly the organization he belonged to was and it was a similar picture in the us but actually even more delayed in terms of his rehabilitation if you like mandela 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 paul us there has been looking at this in more detail 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 well i think his greatest legacy to this country is reconciliation. in the

last three decades the world timelessly polished the image of nelson mandela and image recognized around the world only coca-cola is better known better men who struggle for racial equality again south africa's ruling white minority had a dark side the world has conveniently forgotten about nelson mandela of and leader of the struggle. a radical. someone. embraced violence as a necessary political instrument at a particular juncture in history and 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 being people 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 is standing up for the rights of others and it's 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. r. t. johannesburg south africa. and you can read more about the fight for fairness which defined nelson mandela's life as well as reactions to his legacy and death at r.t. dot com. they're gambling devices which can drain all your cash

in seconds but in britain they're booming now have a rules to tighten up on fixed odds betting machines known as the crack cocaine of the high street are floundering right now and as sara firth reports next that means payday them 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. the short fix of. a machine. and 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. 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 came and just said. we've got to get you out of here. and i was just crying and. that's when i lost all my pride and i was completely humiliated but it's great because that was the day that i realized my recovery happened justin's written a book about his experience and is helping others on their raids to recovery but with scant research into the effects of these machines and as the industry seeks to

maximize profit campaigners warn that not taking action eva for pity's is one gamble person concert food to take surf r.t. london. in africa french military forces move from one trouble spot to yet another we've got the latest on but in the next part of the program after the break. or is probably the most complex. derivatives. in the phenomenon of friendly fire probably extends back to the invention of

gunpowder. fuel a bunch of people. who want their families they're really us people. reading. this something shoots my brother in the leg not intentional because it because it was night times four in the morning even the best even the best soldiers. are going to make mistakes does this whole idea of brotherhood order . and camaraderie in this sense it was in this context that has absolutely no place. for us has launched a military operation in the central african republic game to curbing a surge in sectarian violence that earlier u.n. security council resolution authorized french troops to join an african

peacekeeping mission the latest clashes between rival militias in the capital bungy of killed over one hundred people muslim rebels who seized power in march of fighting christians who support the ousted president this is therefore spot fiz the conflict could expand to a full blown sectarian war look at the news wall is sometimes proud of the policemen of africa france has remained active on the continent ever since the colonial colonial era and fight is among. you seeing there of france's former colonies over the past decade alone france has led interventions in the democratic republic of congo ivory coast charted most recently in mali two that's aside from its involvement in libya now paris refused a request from the central african republic for intervention during a rebellion earlier this year saying it would not back a corrupt regime and over the recent bloodshed prompted france to pledge immediate action someone to sort from the foreign affairs columnist of the guardian newspaper thinks the french are taking on a highly dangerous and devore here. these interventions are of very high risk that

much easier to get in than to get out there are you sending another thousand troops out of fourteen hundred troops in total as the french contingent when this deployment is complete for a country which is much bigger than from us and the chances are that you know the always the risk that more more men more material on all resources will be sucked in the conflict will intensify in mali for instance or go and intervention also exposed to growth short and. the french are still there in quite some numbers the journalist the militants the armed gangs that came abroad from sudan and chad and so on are still not mostly interned in the suggestion is that the french pulled back a little just resume their attempt to take over the country. you know said judge chevron has resumed searching for shale gas in the romanian village has been the center of anti fracking protests over the past two months local newspaper say up to forty demonstrators were beaten by police for setting up camp next to the fields

targeted for drilling shale gas is extracted by pumping toxic fluid into the ground and the fear is that the chemicals it contains that accumulated the soil water and even in the air after evaporating into the atmosphere bring campaigner paul cohen told us the shale revolution only brings contamination profit a big company. saying that sell gas could ever be saith relies on companies having standards of ethics that. they clearly have not shown throughout the industrial period around the globe and if companies can find a short cut that increases their profit margin they're going to take it so we are going to continue to see where fracking takes place contamination of the water supply and the dangers of the exploitation of shale gas ultimately the only way that we can bring energy prices down for the consumer long term is not by manipulating international markets through small amounts of unconventional energy

sources it's through exploiting increasingly will. alternatives. so the stories get the top hits tonight at r.t. dot com from tiffany bling to caribbean cruises a decade long spending spree by dozens of russian diplomats in america was getting a lot of clicks were reporting on it you could now find themselves in trouble because they're being blamed for the folding the u.s. medicare system to fund said lavish lifestyles read more about that than from us online and the details of how small britain schools have seen classrooms have banded in eastern china it's been a longstanding problem there but now how artificial rain could be used they think to dilute the country's suffocating pollution. right the scene. first for you and i think you're.

on a reporter's twitter. instagram. on . a radical islamist rebel group in syria has given its terms now for elise and twelve christian nuns held hostage since monday the extremists want the syrian government to free a thousand women from prison in exchange so far there's been no comment from damascus regarding the demand that arms were seized from on a street during an opposition assault on a predominately christian town and islamic extremists have been increasingly targeting the christian minority in syria the country's ambassador to the u.n. told r.t. that some foreign powers serve 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 release without any condition the nuns and the orphans we should make a petition actually on the saudi government. and the qatari government as well as the government these are three governments are deeply involved in escalating the situation in syria through the operations conducted undertaken by terrorist groups in briefs ny the suicide bombers killed at least nine people in an attack on to pickup trucks carrying members of a maritime police northern somalia thirty seven officers were also injured in the attack no groups admitted carrying out the soul but al-shabaab is seen as the most likely culprit since being forced from its strongholds the al qaeda linked insurgent groups been trying to gain control of the country's north. in pakistan's capital hundreds have protested against american drone strikes the rally was staged by the terrorists a party led by the former cricket can demonstrators chanted slogans and demanded an

immediate end to all drone attacks in the country the strikes are deeply unpopular in pakistan but american officials say the crucial in the fight against terrorism. extreme winds storm still battering europe with the u.k. of involve the worst of it over the last twenty four hours thousands of people had removed to safety is the worst tidal surge in sixty years swept the eastern british coast across the continent meantime the disaster is known to have killed at least seven people many homes have been after the tricity in sweden and norway in germany's hamburg floodwaters rose to six meters the highest level there in decades . thousands of fast food and retail workers in the united states staged the nation nationwide strike on thursday calling for an increase to the minimum wage president obama pledged to push for higher salaries in the industry back in february but the critics a little bit done since we reported i was at the protest in new york. what began here in new york city one year ago with just two hundred employees has exploded

into arguably the biggest wave of protest in the history of america's fast food industry thousands of fast food employees in more than one hundred cities throughout this country have walked off the job thursday demanding an increase in minimum wage and the right to unionize now this movement is being spearheaded by an organization called fast food forward and the fast food workers that have joined the strike work at major restaurants like wendy's mcdonald's burger king and k.f.c. now while fast food remains a two hundred billion dollar industry the median wage for the service workers like the cooks and the cashiers in the group nationwide is just eight dollars and ninety four cents an hour here in new york city it's even worse with the minimum wage being seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour now because of the low wages and

many of the employees if not most employed at fast food restaurants are living in poverty i don't know why by the grace of god i am. i am in a shelter trying to get out of there and i can do it because i don't get paid that much some struggling you know and that's why i'm here to see what these people for me in the ass and for right to take it if i'm to have the single people next america away and i believe all fall views in vision a country not full cooperation before the working man and by mother make way too much money for us to be treated like that where the one will give them the money back with the one earns and then if they were not earning that because they're the one who takes the money home to make matters worse this problem is only growing low wage jobs have accounted for the bulk of new jobs added during the so-called u.s. . carbury in addition to retail costs are among the fastest growing sectors in the

u.s. economy now what these protesters are demanding is that minimum wage be raised to seeing dollars an hour so far only one city in washington state has met those demands this crowd around me they're doing so to fight for a basic a decent living wage an opportunity to just step one foot into the worlds of the so-called american dream reporting from new york marina r.t. . thanks for being with us right here watching around the world larry king's here next and this trust in president obama's slips examines what's beyond the popularity slump this is 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 force a 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 not for the rights of others well it smells

a bit fishy to me but that's just my opinion. really ugly lelio . least. legal. president obama's trustworthiness is called into question declining poll numbers show that americans don't have faith in their leader in chief just how far down as you follow him and can we improve his image before it's too late paul still 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 stage there's really nobody that we can look to. and say that someone i believe in you know had it by the way was colin powell but then after the iraqi situation even he lost that kind of bipartisan is no figure in america that americans can say yes there is one

but she's not political and that's oprah winfrey she's the most trusted most respected individual in the country and in some cases across the globe hillary would come in hard politically though and she's very divisive social come in very high among women very high among democrats very well among republicans as well she could win though she's clearly more than just viable i think that she's the front runner and going back to obama can so that's a good thing that the challenge with him is that if the polarization this country is so deep that republicans democrats can't talk to each other they can't dine with each other right now i like to joke that democrats laugh louder are much more fun to hang out with but they always stick you with a check at the end of the evening right now we're not talking to each other and so this divide has become a chasm but in every poll in the past obama always came out well in likability yes we liked him because because they thought he was honest because they thought he was trying the problem.