be told precisely where we are but a moment. syria an international chemical x. birds converge in moscow to discuss how damascus can get its toxic arsenal out of the country a condition that prevented an american strike in the war torn state. saudi blogger and activist faces execution for rejecting islam after already being sentenced to seventy years in prison and six hundred lashes we talked to human rights campaigner about his case. and the british economy could the one pass a sluggish jurors like germany within the next two decades say new forecast but for those who are not part of the affluent to leave there is little cause to celebrate .

in the russian capital which international with me marina joshing now it's been almost three years and there are still no an inside for the war in syria which has escalated away beyond the conventional standoff between rebel forces and the government the year two thousand and thirteen has brought more trial and trauma for the people of the country and more obstacles for the global players trying to broker a solution. a study by had defense consultancy earlier this year showed that out of one hundred thousand rebels in syria who are from command into multiple gangs more than half are extremist jihadist in fact make up around ten percent of the armed opposition while more than a third are thought to be islamic hardliners the rest are more moderate but their voices are being increasingly drowned out by the radicals are an optional was in the midst of the war on the christian town of mahmoudiya which suffered

a deadly assault from al qaida linked to radicals. oh oh. but. the mood is cheerful soldiers are smiling and relieved the jihadists have been booted out you know but there are some of them were killed some of them escaped but the. locals joined the army to defend the native town the soldiers in light colored uniforms of the so-called national defense but none of the terrain here is very difficult with mountains and caves but we know the area better so we are carrying on with the operation of that. we come across one grocery shop owner who we filmed back in two thousand and twelve then he told us that the armed rebels hasn't come to their village and why would they this

time he's armed with a gun and a monster in soldiers and he has some question is again the story of the thirty if syria is a land of history and of love they sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill syrians and each other why i asked the world why if a european citizen is so much a slapped across the face they'd be a scandal while in syria how many victims how many hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered why will it stop would quickly find out that it won't be today held by the militants for a week it seems that mountain tops of fear hotel still poses a threat that sufi hotel our goal was to liberated them push on to mark tough climb on a street but we couldn't do it there snipers are everywhere milo is home to many christian toto is a monasteries as well as mosques everywhere we go here we see either crosses on the

arrests now added to these we see blag jihadists flags. it's time to had back. but while in the car something goes wrong. we take cover in a place where we find dozens of army soldiers hiding from enemy's bullets. the main road is being targeted and it sees our only way out we think over our chances when our engineer gets heat. vision much. thankfully it's not serious. but it becomes clear we come to a to minutes more. free money. when i'm stuck here in this corner and went out trying to get out of

here feeling this was. no no oh no. that was. the worst had been anything there aren't back then they go clear a lot. more focus off the boots did you hear them whizzing by. but now i think if we reach a fair. they're firing from behind this new to enrich all of this is there no may get to be careful you don't know what it is too

much so you gotta play. and we leave well given. until forces continue their friends the former lula village despite the claims remains under siege. from syria. now things came to hand in august this year when the us threatened to bomb syrian targets washington accused the assad government of a chemical attack outside damascus that killed hundreds of civilians but was unable to produce proof moscow moved in to diffuse the situation picking up on american suggestion that syria voluntarily destroy its chemical arsenal and ever exulted any un resolution kickstarting the disarmament process the first stage of which has already been completed where it is going to go now joins us live to talk more about this radio host to you thank you for joining us to talk about this well as we know a lot has been done up until now but still there's a long way to go so do tell us what are the hurdles on the way for syria to get rid

of its chemical stockpile well you can see the first hurdle or rather task at hand which is destroying the facilities where the chemical weapons were stored and produced and then gathering all the chemicals together that that stage has been completed by the by syria so now we are at the stage two and that is the transportation of all chemicals to the port of latakia and now the there is the deadline for that and that was december thirty first but organization for prohibition of chemical weapons is saying that deadline is most likely not to be met because you don't have to transport the chemicals the route they have to go via the route from damascus to a talkie which unfortunately is rife with various armed gangs populating the area so that could present some danger although russia is helping out in that regard by sending its special heavy duty armored trucks and lorries in order to transport these chemicals now after they reach the port of latakia the chemicals will be

boarded on several vessels belonging to denmark norway. and russia and head over to italy where they will be transferred to another vessel this one is belonging to the united states unfortunately the americans are saying that that vessel is not ready for that for that stage of the process and when it will be ready nobody knows so there is also of course the issue of the actual destruction of the chemicals and there are two ways that could be done and the details are being figured out today in moscow by all parties participating in this rather rather difficult and very sophisticated task and according to the russian their present of the russian history of foreign affairs there are some kinks that they need along the way when talking to the representatives of the united states but again russia is remaining very hopeful that the talks today will be very productive and of course they're saying that they're smoothing things out along the way as they go already thank you

so much for bringing us this update and we'll be looking forward to getting more details from although syria's willingness to scrap its chemical arms was enough to avert an american strike the process has plenty of pitfalls along the way and not all experts agree that it's even a good idea. not just to. really do. it was in order. for the question. of the middle east. so this is a. good and. of course. not . these are their call to big cuts out here braving the

elements in order to stand up to us oil giants chevron. this comes after a massive hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that sums up the gulag of our tards. it's an undeclared global battlefield in which young and just one of the front lines. now this man may be put to death in saudi arabia as a judge there says he should face charges of rejecting islam blogger and activist rival dali is currently in jail after being sentenced to seven years and six hundred lashes he was earlier convicted of making anti islamic statements on his website the father of three would face the death penalty if found guilty of giving

up his religion but daddy's wife and children have had to flee to lebanon human rights activists hauled a sari says without his case is not about face. he has been denied permission really. just basically because there is no charges or clear evidence there is no clear no information relayed to him as what is his sentence that's a story or has been denied in many occasions his lawyer haven't been able to communicate with him a regular basis or the term has been a concern for him to a decent for over a year and there is no space to fix things that you see. on the brakes there is nothing except that a general. description of his attitude as unacceptable so we believe that this is a political more than anything with concrete evidence. well human rights groups

accuse the saudi authorities of persistently going after activists amnesty international has labeled dr dali's trial a clear case of intimidation saying that he is a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately the saudi government has come under sustained criticism for human rights abuse now a handful of citizens have been found guilty of sorcery before being executed women aren't allowed to get behind the wheel of a car in saudi arabia and some have been flogged for driving taking part in pro reform activism or anti-monarchy campaigns can have you beaten and thrown into jail the situation is even worse for migrant workers in a country they often don't receive their pay and can go to prison if they complain where they are at risk of rape and torture. well there is no relief in sight for the turkish leadership as a prime minister tries to prevent the government from being blown apart by a corruption scandal crowds in the streets keep up zero calls for his resignation

and that's ahead here on our chief international. economic downturns in the final. days the. night and the rest because i hate to believe everything we. want to know your comment a lot of these policies i describe you believe. pleasure

to have you with us here on our t.v. today i roll researcher. welcome back you're watching r.t. international do you carry is on track to become europe's largest economy whether a new report predicting it will overtake the industrial might of germany by two thousand and thirty but unless you're part of the day lead it may be a little early to celebrate it's the rich including top bankers who are set to. drop their awards but as artist billy boy who reports that's another way off say business as usual. for many of those working here in the city of london two thousand and thirteen has been a year of prosperity thanks to

a tax cut that kicked in earlier this spring the u.k.'s highest earners have been able to make even more money this yeah the rate of tax for people earning over one hundred fifty thousand pounds per year has gone down from fifty pence to forty five so for every hundred pounds they earn over that fifty pounds used to go straight into the treasury but that figure has now been reduced and now they're only paying forty five pounds to the tax man from every hundred now all these save five as a rounding up in the u.k. as open session labor party has done the math they say that collectively the u.k.'s highest earners have saved almost one hundred million pounds thanks to the tax cuts you have seen the long useful in living standards on record you've got half a million people using parents now you've got think homelessness is up by around since two thousand and ten these are serious problems why is the government

choosing to protect the fund like this when the government's made such play of the need for services bizarre and there's little evidence that it benefits the u.k. economy so most people. have their tax cut they're not investing that money this investment storm before they're just going to basically london isn't called a millionaire's playground for nothing you have more super rich individuals living in the capital than anywhere else in the world you have the world's most expensive houses here and butlers a back in fashion but away from the glitz and glamour thirteen million brits are going to be starting the new year living in poverty u.k. prime minister david cameron has been fighting off claims that his political party only represents the privileged few but this later. tax cuts only benefits the richest one percent of the boy. london and across the atlantic while

taxes are a point of contention its executive bonuses that are evoking more and more anxious to among the public a new report suggests that this year u.s. bankers will be paid almost one hundred billion dollars and top of the year salaries. and activists from the other ninety eight percent of the group told us that those same banks are still receiving subsidies from taxpayers these big wall street banks pay their employees a very high b salary usually in the range of like one hundred fifty thousand to two hundred fifty thousand but then on top of that they get this sort of performance bonus and the way that they're tallied is there's a number of surveys they basically asked the top u.s. banks how much money they had set aside for bonuses in two thousand and thirteen and that's how we arrived at the ninety one point four four billion dollars it is crazy right especially when you think about earlier this year there was this bloomberg article about how the government there's like a government subsidy of eighty three billion dollars so it's almost as if all of that government subsidy is just going right back into bonuses but this is just way

that wall street has worked for a really long time before so we're going to continue to see these problems and that's why we're saying listen you shouldn't get to take these big dollars that you've gotten in this ill gotten ways and give yourselves you should give it back to the people that you've harmed it's been labeled a flash eating zombie drawing later this hour a report on the debt ceiling effects of a deadly narcotic that's cheap addictive and scarily simple to make. or pastors have spilled into the shrieks of turkey trying to deliver a final blow to the government which is now teetering on the brink of collapse activists are demanding that it resign and corruption scandal and that's already forced the prime minister to replace ten of his cabinet members commentators say russia or the prospect aren't looking good at the moment. it is the biggest political corruption in our history and if it is the case it is more than one hundred billion euros. some sources say i think the government is having

difficulties to. cover the prime minister the video harmed by this and the i think the internal reactions and every move from abroad there will be more strong accusations and the government. will somehow try to defend. a lot of good in the eyes of trade and to also in the international public opinion on our website we delve deeper into the bribery scandal that's causing red faces in the turkish leadership has r.t. to call for that and more well now look at some other stories from around the world thousands of protesters marched through the bulgarian capital calling for the resignation of the socialist government and snap elections students studying abroad and returning home for christmas join the rallies as part of the so-called early risers protest movement as our government demonstrations have become a regular sight in bulgaria over the past six months since the government was

caught up in a corruption scandal. israel has launched a new route of airstrikes on gaza in retaliation against two rocket attacks from the palestinian territory tel aviv says it targeted militant sites including arms production and storage facilities it's the second wave of strikes in the space of three days the previous one left a six year old girl dad. at least twenty nine people have died in a bus crash in central thailand there were forty passengers on board and a vehicle skidded off a bridge smashing through the rail and plunging into a ravine fifty metres below police say the driver may have been speeding or dozed off at the wheel. a fire in a shopping mall has killed at least four people and injured thirty five in southwest china the blaze caused by a natural gas explosion quickly spread throughout the building it took twenty eight

firefighter groups four hours to put out the flames the search for survivors is still ongoing. it's a narcotic that's ravaged parts of provincial russia named crocodile because of the scale remarks it leaves on the body work it's injected the concoction is highly addictive and the ingredients are dirt cheap which is a question of our reports now on the horrific effects of a deadly drug. it's two years since drug addict alexi lost his best friend and every december i have visited his grave. andrea was a group exact he was into advertising he was involved in several projects but the thing just killed him we couldn't chased him to do that thing it was just some more of an extremely addictive opioid to get users in jacked as a better known as crocodile because it gives addicts gangrenous skin as also described as the flash be dropped it causes severe brain damage or skin eventually

falls off and kills addicks within two years alexy managed to escape the consequences of the drug but his story is more of an exception than the rule and reality of those who try the so-called world's deadliest drug even ones pay dearly for the cheap high and all too often they end up here or abroad and you've got to remember my friend couldn't work because of the drug he needed to inject again it became an obsession in the end he was only working to afford the crocodile is cheap costing just in terms of the price of regular herring and most worryingly is really manufactured at home using over the counter chemicals. at the pleasure i would visit one of the main factors widespread over to responsible decisions made about could be under the ninety's where the health minister it is the sales regulations of medicine which contains called the well no one needed a prescription to buy such medicine. alexei agreed to show us just how easy it is

to get the vital ingredient painkillers. we were on our way to the drugstore i don't have any prescription but i believe i'll get everything i need to it's not a problem. it's. take him on just five minutes on his back alexey tells us that crocodile is made from buying candy with ordinary household detergents or even gasoline which i recently just reaching for the evil god so many different really dangerous toxic ingredients you want to get in return is a very intense and very short time i the diction has developed so fast faster than heroin this is a drug of poor those who can't afford anything you rushes problem with crocodile peaked at the turn of the century since that and the veil ability of coding has been half of the restricted and pharmacist as one of the lockyer addicts who

survived after quitting crocodile alexy has a stark warning. don't do it this thing just turns you into a monster. it's so painful it's so scary you lose everything your friends your family everything. i do the question our moscow. now the arctic thirty environmental protesters can finally leave russia and go home moscow has dropped all charges against them for trying to board an offshore oil rig and has started issuing exit visas get the full story on our website r.t. dot com. it turns out that politicians hollywood big shots and even the vatican officials don't practice what they preach when it comes to piracy as it emerges they have been downloading huge amounts of illegal content all the details are at r.t.l. . now could it be time for the u.s.

government to cut a deal with edward snowden hear all sides of the argument next crossed here. we rest here on this idea that we live in a democratic society and if you abuse the instruments of democratic power then you actually do on living in a democratic power anymore. such was the country fourteen olympics was this place like the law is is so special as the russian resort prepares to welcome the world power the games shaping the city's present and future a lot of small sochi will bring it this is the moment they're reporting from a very cold and that snowy windy mountain is tough yet beyond the olympics

but to say. on our team.

some of the sixteen percent of imports came from illegal fishing. the european union is ironically taking fish from some of the poorest nations on earth so this is a very serious and very urgent problem that needs immediate international action. on the territorial waters they fish they load the fish into the ships and leave for europe. to day illegal fishing is taking the bread out of our mouths.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter lobo power sign and the road ahead washington so-called peace process to resolve the israel palestine conflict has produced little if any results in fact the palestinians are experiencing excel aerated illegal land seizures palestine is quickly being wiped off the map is it time to accept a one state solution and or look to global institutions like the un to replace the current negotiating framework. cross-talk the palestine israel conflict i'm joined by my guest soraya support her look and irvine she is an independent researcher and writer and in new york we cross to norman finkelstein he is

a political analyst and author of cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime if you want and i very much encourage it i'm norman you've been a great scholar of the so-called peace process of the last twenty years coming to the studio today i know. that the u.s. secretary of state has gone to the middle east to kick start talks well i could have read that headline almost any month of the last twenty years so norman isn't it time to start a new format because it ain't going nowhere i don't quite agree with peter we have to be careful about what's happening now because i do think it is going somewhere but not the place where justice would more to go right now secretary of state kerry president obama and various other parties to the conflict seem pretty optimistic that they can ram down the road to the palestinians is really tied supplement of the conflict.