smoke on the water of landowners in the u.s. blame corporate greed for contaminating their soil and water as fracking expands worldwide promising big money for big business. slaughter everywhere they were all children i saw them with my own eyes as horrifying reports of war crimes keep coming from the rebel occupied syrian town of our drug our team here is from survivors of the massacre carried out by the islamists. and ukraine at a crossroads the country's president is in russia seeking the financial help the west is unwilling to give and that's amid month long pro e.u. protests back at home that oppose any deal with moscow.

watching r t international coming to you live from the russian capital how marina joshing welcome to the program a cozy countryside to get away from the city hostle an idea ruined for someone merican by the negative effect of a fracking boom in places like texas the ground drilling technology has become a proven way to boost corporate profits but as you can find out it's the landowners who pay the price. the local government in texas tells steve lipski that the water from his well water that he can set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home . you can hear it in here. thank you but steve has the assessment of other experts who say he's well is it ticking bomb in his backyard loaded with methane and other contaminants why the starkly different assessments steve claims

that a fracking operation nearby contaminated his well and that texas energy authorities are shielding the gas company. they don't want the world to know that it really is this bad they don't want it in official documents it could be that the fracking allowed gas from lower formations into the aquifer and subsequently into steve lipski as well the gas company denies the claim the lipski is sued the range resources corp but the firm counter sued and won in caution effect evidence a ground water is incredibly difficult to prove my use of us are is an engineer who worked with the federal environmental protection agency is not surprised that the state oil and gas regulator sided with the gas corporation conceit that the rights it same come in survival from oil and gas production issues should be putting in charge of also

regulating the protection of groundwater from going down swells and there's any parent conflict of interest in that determined to fight for his home father of three steve has been shipping fresh water from the city on trucks at a cost of five hundred dollars a month but the family now faces another blow from the fracking corporation of four point two million dollars lawsuit for defamation. steve lipski is dream house and it's a beautiful property has become his nightmare several of his neighbors apparently have the same problem but they're reluctant to speak out after they saw how the gas company went after mr lipski they shouldn't expect much help from washington either why do you sell us are says the environmental protection agency has not put nearly enough resources into studying the effects that fracking has on groundwater but

that didn't stop the p.a. from coming up with a report in favor of the practice. phillips kids were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas wells continues to frac slide thousand feet deep we're pretty much standing around on top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some timing on the border and they're able to trace it to this frac him and we've got the office ted who cares invest in a philosophy for now it seems that the authorities at all levels are so fired up on fracking potential profits that households like steve leaves his family are left to fight a low to get a healthy environment in their homes. going to check out our tea party county texas and the controversial industry is already experiencing some unwelcome festive attention across the ocean in the u.k. protesters dressed as sanders have blocked the entrance to a drilling site with

a wind turbine blade but this won't be enough to stop the government from further shale gas exploration and there it is laura smith explains what started in bold combs sussex where locals that campaign is barricaded to test drilling sites but to months it's continued in the old goods with demonstrators blocking roads to stop drilling equipment big deliberate but it's full steam ahead for king ministers are preparing to identify sauza as of square miles for exploration across the country but the announcements likely to add more fuel to the fire of the protest movement there's an enormous amount of water involved in sort of what you do if you blast the rocks with water and chemicals people are concerned about the waste they're concerned about the noise here in the u.k. the government so keen to get locals on board that it's offering up front payments

of one hundred thousand pounds per well even if no gas is produced but campaigners look unlikely to sell their countryside even at that price. now the local campaign leader for friends of the earth hopes the u.k. government will have what it takes to stand up for its people. we've only had one hundred full of explorer tree drilling sites across the u.k. but already we've seen huge local opposition whether it's been in the southeast or a little over the northwest where we're seeing it now and i think with the government's new licensing round which is going to open up another two thirds of the country to potentially to fracking we're going to see even more position and i think the government is going to have to put a moratorium in place like it had done previously and actually listen to the concerns of communities because there's a very loud and clear message. that check our website for the latest on the activist struggle against corporations there are now campaigners any of us are raising the alarm after the coast guard offered to ship fracking

a waste down rivers method is a potential solution houser. people put in the wind entire families kidnapped christians and executed these horrifying reports come to r.t. from the town of hadera north of the syrian capital which has been occupied by islamist rebel groups at least one hundred people are said to have been massacred by the rebels but as the syrian army continues to liberate the city that number is expected to rise our crew spoke to some of the survivors. the one when dawn was breaking over address the al nusra front and the army of islam gave a signal for their fighters to attack them they came in hundreds making use of bad weather and the element of surprise over government forces you to say yeah after fierce fighting with the syrian army the the rebel factions achieve their objectives all with the city soon falling into the hands of those who the residents

of the city have dubbed the decapitated the. other friend of mine told me that he claims he was insane in order to save his life and avoid the militants they believe your story and let him go he also said his children have been emotionally scarred from the savage they have seen on the road between their house and the places where the fighters gather heads work shop is often the bodies thrown all over the road a good one had on the slaughter everywhere the hail dust was only twenty years old a kilo slaughtered they were all children i saw them with my own eyes they killed fourteen people with a machete i don't know if these people were alawite is i don't know why they were slaughtered you know what they grabbed them by their heads and food and slaughtered them like sheep madra an industrial town is inhabited by thousands of workers and their families were all trapped when the fighters surrounded the town the details of what happened there are still on certainly no we've only had leaks about

massacres that have been described as the most gruesome since the start of the syrian crisis sealants told us that the workers of the not to be crude were all legs acute and burned during the first hour or so they've attacked whole families were massacred we do not have an exact estimation of the number because we were unable to get into the town but the number is high at the moment at the vicious and syrian army commanders in the region decided to besiege the town and protect civilians by isolating them from areas where fighting is ongoing and a move seems necessary by the military whose operation is not expected to be an easy. he won. r t. but the violent scenes in andrae haven't interfered with america's support for the rebellion to washington officials are planning to meet commanders of the islamic front this week a radical union that has recently overshadowed the moderate free syrian army we spoke to two political allyssa told us the world should be aware of the part he

says american officials play in supporting extremist violence in recent weeks there's been an important shift in the relationship between the united states government on the one hand and what is now being presented as the new islamic front and we see doll that the united states is in fact negotiating and establishing a dialogue with the leaders of these terrorist organizations i should say that in this particular case the people who have dialogue with the terrorists they have blood on their hands they have provided funding most of the military and logistical financial aid has been china holds to these al qaeda affiliated organizations and that's what we have to address there could be no peace as long as the west military alliance supports the terrorists. coming up on r.t.l.

landmark judgment a court in america rules the anna sales data collection program may be unconstitutional after answering invasion of privacy complaint. and germany is a very to phase out nuclear power but the alternatives come at a high price for the environment and consumers. we try to tell you we warned you so the government is not publishing well we have been reporting on this show that they have to buy scheme well because with a one hundred percent guaranteed outcome a crash in the real estate market people will be underwater negative equity and the banks will need another bailout and the wealth and income disparity will increase yet again.

welcome back he watching r t international pro e.u. for tossers in ukraine are holding their breath as president he had a car which had steel russia seeking loans stab the country's trouble economy desperately needs the opposition fear. any deal with moscow could undermine arab

nations for closer ties with europe are just going off reports despite everything that's been happening in ukraine for the past few weeks here still has been trying to sit on two chairs at the same time either leaning more towards the e.u. who are leaning more towards russia but to the protesters are still there and they're closely watching in fact they said that their further actions will largely depend on the outcome of this meeting in moscow. well despite these promises not to do so it is feared it would end up as an end in the european union that president you know which is discussing the loans and gas prices will also discuss the customs union it's interesting is that the street protesters have actually passed the so-called resolution banning him from doing so which is which has been greeted with a mixed reaction since there is a ban not a demand in itself but on the other ahead ukrainian economy is in bad shape

brussels did you read the rights to financially compensating the reforms that it demands from the king of well there is speculation that moscow may be looking at giving crean multi-billion dollar and slashing gas prices which clearly isn't good with applause in the west my colleague. took a closer look at the e.u. leaders rhetoric. from the threat of sanctions if he goes to moscow and afterwards as well. might be interesting to. the brink of clones and it would not be open anymore for some great leaders to open the question of the great government's credibility this government of ukraine has clearly discredited itself in terms of economic help from the e.u. the reaction of europe's officiously dance of last month's grain has indeed made. they've effectively played with you. graines expectations some have expressed

uncertainty about a future. we're lacking a decision by ukraine's leader in a situation when ukraine's president says the offer is not good for his country we need to take a break and think it over while other signal. political statements on twitter are not the best way to resolve the matter the best signal we could make is to tell you krane that our doors are still open for it. all this marks quite a change from the sweet talk of many european leaders before the vilnius summit in november where president which had refused to sign the. deal the offer of signing the most ambitious agreement the european union has ever offered to a nonmember state is still on the table we should always respect ukraine's suffering decisions but the tone rapidly changed once you reach said the proposed compensation for saying the deal was in order no it's

a blackmail all. right on my. president. and of course it's connected so with they are present connect that with the interests of those core wants to get some benefits from joining the comprehensive free trade area we think. the money is still the main sticking point the grain needs billions. millions and both signs refused to budge in their demands amidst this continuing standoff both geopolitically and on the streets of kiev which is going to moscow with a fifteen billion dollars loan. to be the likely result of this trip despite harsh rhetoric coming from europe which has been insisting that ukraine will not step down from the euro association pop however the protesting crowd behind the barricades already made it clear that every step of ukraine's president and moscow will be closely watched. see reporting from kiev in ukraine

well there's another party involved in trying to sway ukraine towards the e.u. integration with an emirate of american politicians visiting kiev lately to support the protesters international affairs commentator rick ross of explains washington's heightened interest to ultimately lure ukraine into nato. what's important to realize is that the west has crafted a program for integrating ukraine into the west which means not only the european union the european union is the economic component of the arrangement the north atlantic treaty organization is the real. goal of western policy piece of ukraine so the intent is to use the war economic benefits trade benefits. you know pieces to soften. their ukrainian populace ultimately for absorption of the north atlantic treaty organisation. while nato has long been striving to lure ukraine into his ranks but it's the current president who actually shelled

membership plans three years ago that signified a hold in the alliances expansion to the east towards the russian border which peaked in late one thousand nine hundred eighty two thousand and well as you can see on a map ukraine together with belarus remain the only blank spot standing between nato and russia. well more expert opinion and analysis on the situation in ukraine has always available on our website com where you can also find all the facts and numbers regarding what brussels and moscow can offer ukraine in case of closer partnership. a judge in america has ruled out the national security agency may have violated the constitution by collecting telephone data the decision follows a lawsuit over violations of privacy and it's the first time such a judgement has been made in open court the judge ordered to stop collecting the

plaintiff's data and for information already gathered to be destroyed however the decision can't come into force because the government has at least six months to appeal chris kate it's the owner of a secure online messaging service who moved his company to avoid u.s. intelligence control says everyone will comply with legal searches but not mass secret surveillance it's not a strong are able to have privacy in their papers from unwarranted searches so what's what's basically happening the argument the government's making is that the method data that they're collecting which is all the information about the phone calls who called who at what time how long the call was all that information they think that's fair game that they should be able to grab as much of that as possible most people who who look at this you know from a situation like a normal person would say it's just like wiretapping the reality is this they don't need to do a dragnet on everybody if they really care about terrorists i mean most people

would say yeah if there is of suspicion or a reason for people to be surveilled like this go to a judge get a warrant we'll cooperate everybody i know in this business would cooperate with a legal warranted search but when you go on a fishing expedition to catch every fish in the ocean and then throw ninety nine point nine nine nine percent of them back in the water that's that's not good. now the american public deserves a chance to see how the secret services get permission to monitor data that's how adult snowden opened the world's eyes to the n.s.a.'s massive spying operation commented on the judge's decision he says it was the main reason behind his actions josh gerstein a senior white house reporter considers that snowden's revelations made the courts take the side of the victims of surveillance. on the past these kinds of lawsuits have failed because the courts and ultimately the supreme court concluded that it was too speculative that the individuals who were suing could really show that

there was a high likelihood that their communications had been tracked or intercepted that's why the supreme court threw out a case like this a couple of years ago but in the wake of the snowden disclosures there are now documents public records and classified information about how this program works that indicate that virtually every american is affected by it. that if they use a telephone at any point to receive a call or make a call it's very likely some information about that call is being retained by the government for five years so the judge essentially. the scene here the background has basically changed that individuals who sue over this now do have standing to pursue their suits. so while the n.s.a. is appetite for personal data seems far from being satisfied some groups have found quite an unusual way to stand up for a digital privacy. you know. you better not scare you but. you know you've been telling the. company to.

now this humorous video implores people to not lead the n.s.a. spy on them during this holiday season so had to argue dot com for the full story. also there never before released information about the boston bomber show the older a turnout of brother tom or lon confessing here heard voices in his ad before the attack. in the wake of the fukushima disaster germany has been shutting down nuclear. reactors the country plans to completely abandon nuclear power by twenty twenty two but almost a fifth of germany's allergy comes from atomic power plants so berlin aims to go

green to keep the lights on well let's take a closer look at adfa the pros and cons of green and unlike fossil fuels these sources of managing are renewable and should be a bar mentally friendly but when turbines and solar panels are expensive to install and take a long time to pay off driving up household bills also some of the green energy sources are dependent on weather since you don't get within sun every day and the only the only produce relatively small amounts of power compared to conventional energy sources but all are now reports on the cost of germany's transition. disagreeing with germany's no to nuclear has become it to be topic in a country that has set itself up as the world leader in renewable energy of can and it for all their lives germans have been told that nuclear energy is bad but that idea has now filled up their brains so that there is no space left for any other

thoughts the race for renewable wind and solar is being financed by rising electricity bills for consumers in twenty twelve the cost paid by households was three point six euros cents per kilowatt hour now it stands at five point five cents adding about one hundred eighty five year zero to the average yearly bill that seen the emergence of groups who want an end to the wind and solar switchover and the return to nuclear that is not really is on those who have money who are the target audience of this green energy can pay everyone else gets left behind despite the ability of nuclear power stations like this one to generate large amounts of electricity relatively cheaply no matter what the weather conditions the pro nuclear side of the debate in germany have struggled to get their voice heard the experts say parts of the problem is that people are worryingly naive about the real issues of generating power. electricity comes out of the wall in their house

they don't know what it takes to keep a stable power grid to do that you need big power stations nuclear coal or gas the twenty eleven fukushima disaster prompted germany to ramp up the shutdown of nuclear power stations which is being carried out with a neo religious zeal. i know this whole movement is like an eco religion you commit a sin creates an evil and as with other religions this leads to the end of the world this attitude to energy makes me angry so as prices rise more fossil fuel power stations are having to be built to take up the slack for when the wind doesn't blow when the sun doesn't shine leaving germany's green revolution coated in coal dust peter all of a r.t. germany. now take a look at some other stories from around the world a car bomb has exploded at a stronghold of the militant movement has in eastern lebanon local media reports

the blast caused deaths and injuries but there is no confirmation from security officials as long has been the target of several recent attacks believed to be in retaliation for the are taking the side of president assad in the syrian conflict. reports say twenty six people have been killed in two days of fighting in the capital of south sudan joba fresh violence has erupted today following monday's failed coup by soldiers loyal to the country's former vice president gunfire has been heard near a military headquarters thousands of civilians have been while fled to the u.n. mission in juba. just ahead max's daisey dive into the murky waters of the financial world don't miss that.

there calling obama's happy smiling sophie photo with the danish and british prime ministers at the mandela funeral an international incident but before we rail on obama for doing something stupid a funeral we need to clear one thing up the washington post says that this action occurred at the memorial service after the funeral is over and trust me after about three hours of serious lectures at a conference or some sort of super long wedding most of us will just be banging our heads against the wall out of boredom and i've probably checked my email about seven times obama's place know i said most of us but the president isn't supposed to be like most of us because he represents all of us it's one thing when you're fourteen and too stupid to realize that selfie photos at the wake after grampa's funeral is a bad idea but it's another thing entirely when one of the most photographed and powerful people on the planet takes a selfie at the memorial service of someone he claims to respect although i might sound annoyed this sophie is pretty much irrelevant this is just

a big error of etiquette there are plenty of real concrete things with real consequences to be bad at obama over like our being religious wacko rebels in syria or signing into law the n.b.a. i wish with all my heart that we only had to be angry with obama over some minor etiquette errors but sadly they're just a drop in the obama bucket but that's just my opinion. welcome to the kaiser report i'm max kaiser the despicable human scum jang is dead the uncle of kim was shown no mercy after he allegedly drove the economy into an uncontrollable catastrophe and perpetrated thrice cursed acts of treachery by failing to clap enthusiastically for a supreme leader arranged nephew dear leader kim jong un had also show no mercy no

remorse no pity when he had his ex-girlfriend and her girl band mates machine gun down after they sang some music which annoyed him. i know what you're thinking you're thinking that kim jong un is looking increasingly like an american high school student snarky bad music loving chubby. who doesn't hesitate to machine gun down his friends family or passer bys just because why the frick not but those chubby little mass murdering high school students in the america look a lot like these so-called adults who also run the economy isn't this true isn't this true stacey well yes i like the reason that kim jong un gave for executing his uncle is that he calls the uncontrollable catastrophe of the economy and you see that in our own western economies. it's not the leaders of the countries that are to blame it's all the other the people are they have austerity inflicted upon them

they're sent to gulags of of work camps that tesco for free for example but the other thing that is very similar here that we see over in north korea is this airbrushing from history because jang has been airbrushed out of all the public documents the state documents of north korea so let's look at this first headline from the u.k. where we see some airbrushing happening government hides risks of controversial help to buy scheme ministers are refusing to publish the government's own risk assessment into its flagship housing policy it emerged last night triggering suspicions that they are trying to cover up official warnings that the scheme will endanger the british economy yeah i tweeted about this i said ha ha ha you limey plugs we tried to tell you we warned you. the government is not publishing what we have been reporting on this show that they have to buy scheme will cause more than one hundred percent.