syrian and international chemical experts 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 that's among the stories that made the year two thousand and thirteen. huge car blast rips through central beirut killing a former finance minister and several others as violence continues to spill over into lebanon from the civil war in neighboring syria. and the british economy could limp past a sluggish germany within the next two decades a new forecast but for those who are not part of the affluent elite there is little cause to celebrate. and the a k for a k forty seven creator mikhail kalashnikov is being seen off in style as his funeral gets under

way with all the pomp and circumstance of the man to put his stamp on global war fare. the certainly international coming to live from moscow i'm marina joshing. it's been almost three years and there's still no an inside for the war in syria which has escalated way beyond 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. now a study by had a fan's consultancy earlier this year showed that out of one hundred thousand rebels in syria who are fred matted into multiple gangs more than half are

extremist jihadism 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. was in the midst of the war on the christian town of mali which suffered a deadly assault from al qaeda linked radicals. but. the mood is cheerful soldiers are smiling and relieved the jihadists have been booted out then look at this 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 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 but 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 amongst their own soldiers and he has some question is again a story of thirty of 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 the european citizen is so much a slapped across the face they'd be a scam going on in syria how many victims how many hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered why will it stop with 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 the liberated them push on to my tough climb

on the street but we couldn't do it there snipers are everywhere milo is home to many christian churches and monasteries as well as mosques everywhere we go here we see either crosses on their rents now added to these we see blag jihadists flags. it's time to had back. the twal 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 has been targeted and it seems our only way out. we think over our chances when our junior gets heat. is going to go. first you must get if you scratch. but. thankfully it's not serious.

but it becomes clear we can to wait to minutes more. ok much of a shock when i'm stuck here in this corner and we're now trying to get out of here because this was. the first of no no no. some of. those had been anything don't back then they go there are clear a lot. more focus off of the boots did you hear them whizzing by full. but now say that we

reached the safe area. they're firing from behind this new three hundred toll that this is the syrian army get to be careful you don't know what it is too much so you get back. and we leave you. governmental forces continue their princely form our new levy lidge which despite the claims remains under siege. reporting from syria. things came to hand in august this year when the us threatened to bomb syrian targets washington accuse the us government of a chemical attack outside damascus that killed hundreds of civilians but was unable to produce proof moscow moved in to defuse the situation picking up on an american suggestion that syria voluntarily destroy its chemical arsenal that resulted in a un resolution kickstarting the disarmament process the first stage of which has already been completed our days are in english as more into. 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 now we are at this 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 broad vision 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 latakia which of unfortunately is rife with various armed gangs populating the areas and 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 head over to italy where they will be transferred to another vessel this one belonging to the united states 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. by all parties participating in this rather difficult and very sophisticated task and according to the russian there presented to the russian ministry 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 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. chemical weapons or not they are just. they

were either of those or it was really a group where he was going to. make some. so. it was a question about weapons of mass destruction and so on in the middle east. blog. so there's something more for it's good in a church like birth or. not. these are very close to salaheddin braving the elements in order to stand up so u.s. oil giant chevron. this comes after a massive hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that sums up the gulag of our time.

is an undeclared global battlefield in which yemen is just one of the front lines. in lebanon at least five civilians have been killed and more than twenty wounded in a huge car blast near the parliament building in beirut to have more on this now let's talk to our middle east correspondent paula here. so paul what is the latest on the strategy what do you know of this point. well at this point we know that a massive car bomb explosion has taken place in the lebanese capital beirut snobby former lebanese economy minister mohammed shuteye has been killed he was a close aide of the late prime minister saad hariri the blast shook the capital center which was only a few meters away from the government headquarters as well as the parliament and

a number of five star hotels people in the vicinity were to fire and there were a number of cars that were states ablaze there was thick smoke covering the entire area the explosion also said fires blazing at several different points we understand that the target of this car bomber was the convoy who was also a member of the future movement and was a former lebanese ambassador to the united states almost immediately ambulances rushed to the scene the army and troops have deployed nearby we do understand that security forces have been on high alert for the past ten days also now about an hour before the blast they claimed his life tweeted and in this tweet he said that hizbullah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security and foreign policy matters that syria exercised in lebanon for fifteen years beirut has been

hit by several deadly attacks over the past few months as tensions rise over syria's civil war there were two suicide bombings back in november that targeted the iranian embassy and then over the summer there were bombings in his bellows stronghold in the south they. are paul thanks very much for bringing us the update our middle east correspondent also you there. and other stories now the u.k. is on track to become europe's largest economy with a new report predicting it will overtake the industrial might of germany by twenty third. but unless you're part of the lead it may be a little early to celebrate it's the rich including top bankers who are said to reap the rewards but as reports that's another way of saying 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 that 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 honors have saved almost a hundred million pounds thanks to the tax cuts you have seen the longest fall in living standards on record you've got half a million people using parents know you've got i think homelessness is up by around since two thousand and these are serious problems why is the government choosing to

cut taxes from like this when the government's made such play of the need for services list it's bizarre and there's little evidence that it's benefits to be the u.k. economy so most people. have their tax cut best thing that money business investment is still on the floor they're just trying 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 and butlers a back in fashion but away from the glitz and glamour. thirty 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 latest tax cuts only benefits the richest one percent. see. now across the

atlantic while taxes are a point of contention is executive bonuses that are revoking more and more among the public a new report suggests that this year us bankers will be paid almost one hundred billion dollars on top of their salaries. and activists from the other ninety eight percent pro quality 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 the sort of performance bonus and the way that they're tallied is there's a number of surveys they basically have to us saying how much money they have 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 is 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 gotten ways and give them to yourselves you should give it back to the people that you've harmed. well there is no relief in sight for the turkish leadership as a prime minister tries to bring the government from being blown apart by corruption scale crowds on the streets gave up their calls for his resignation and that's ahead here on r.t. . also ahead this hour a report on the devastating effects of a deadly narcotic that's cheap addictive and scarily simple to make. the. economic downturn in the final months they would love to do.

and the rest because i was doing the case you will be every week long please. please please. please on your coming along the bank of new knowledge base i'm sure you know about. the. pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i rollers to show.

welcome back or to marty international the stage is set for a final farewell for the legendary weapons designer of parties a group is going off as of the funeral in the moscow region. we're here the military cemetery just outside of moscow where friends relatives coworkers officials and others gathered to commemorate i mean if you are expecting the president and the defense minister to arrive here a little bit later on and just a little while his body is going to be delivered scored it rather to the grave itself and as he's going to be buried we're going to hear three rounds fired from a k forty seven s. his invention in commemoration now other commemoration of danceable she'd been held in the city of asia i did have the privilege of meeting. a few years back he turns ninety at the time and was decorated hero of russia store by the president at the kremlin and even though back then clearly had some problems with this hearing his

hands were shaking quite a lot he still made a firm impression of a person with a sharp mind quite in gauged in his work and very affectionately about his homeland and back then i asked him if you'd ever expected that his invention the a k forty seven would become so widespread and unfortunately often used by terrorists gangs and so on and he said it was quite a pity to him knowing that since the only purpose that he did then to. assault rifle was simply to protect his homeland and not to attack anyone surely this is one of the greatest figures greatest russians of the past one hundred years or so definitely made an impact on the world and is leaving us with a great legacy. europe's off reporting there and you can read about the life of the man who created the world's most widely produced firearm on our website r.t.

dot com while also all online today the arctic thirty environmental protesters are finally free to return home moscow has dropped all charges against them for trying to board an offshore oil rig and it has started issuing exit visas so you can get the full story on our website r.t. dot com. now after decades of difficult talks the way is clear for japan to move a u.s. army base on its territory but not nearly as far away as a crowd of protesting locals have hoped the story is also available on r.t. dot com. protesters have spilled onto the sheets of turkey trying to deliver a final blow to the government which is now teetering on the brink of collapse activists are demanding that they reside on mass and made a career option scandal that's already forced a prime minister to replace ten of his cabinet members commentators say. prospects

aren't looking good at the moment it is the biggest political corruption. 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 and some of the video harmed by this and the i think the internal reactions and every move from the broad there will be more strong positions and the government. will somehow try to defend the. good that in the eyes of the trait and in the international public opinion and on our website we delve deeper into the bribery scandal that's causing red faces in the turkish leadership so we can add to our team dot com any time you like for more on that. and now is take a look at some other stories making news around the world thousands of protesters have marched through the bulgarian capital calling for the resignation of the

socialist led 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 anti-government demonstrations have become a regular side of bulgaria over the past six months says the government was caught up in a corruption scandal. israel has launched a new round of airstrikes on gaza in retaliation against two rocket attacks from the palestinian territory tel aviv says it targeted militant sides 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. least twenty nine people have died in a bus crash in central thailand there were forty passengers on board the 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. fire in a shopping mall has killed at least four people and injured thirty five in southwest china the blaze caused a natural gas explosion to quickly spread throughout the building and it took twenty eight fire fire crews four hours to put out the flames the search for survivors is still ongoing. it's narcotic that's ravaged parts of prevention russia named crocodile because of the scaly marks it leaves on the body where it's injected the concoction is highly addictive and the ingredients are dirt cheap but you know reports now on the horrific effects of a deadly drug. it's two years since drug addict alexina lost his best friend and every december i have visited his grave under the new author andrew it was a group exactly he was into advertising with he was involved in several projects but the thing just killed him he couldn't get chased him to do that thing and was

decimal more of an extremely addictive opioid to be choosers inject it's better known as crocodile because it gives out x. keeley gangrenous skin that's also described as the flash to 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 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 it's easily manufactured at home using over the

counter chemicals. is that one of the main factors widespread over to responsible decisions made about could be under the ninety's where the health minister it was the sales regulations of medicine which contains called the well no one needed any prescription to buy medicine. alexy agreed to show us just how easy it is to get the vital ingredient painkillers just when. we were on our way to the drugstore i don't have a new prescription but i believe i'll get everything i need to it's not a problem. it's. take him just five minutes back alexy tells us that crocodile is made like buying a home with the ordinary household detergents or event gasoline which i recently just taken for even odd so many different really dangerous toxic ingredients in the good old to get in retirement is a very intense and very short time i feel the diction has developed so far as it

falls it doesn't heroin this is a drug is poor so there's a con the golden things that will get you rushes problem with a pocket out peaked at the turn of the sanctuary sense that the veil ability of coding has been happily restricted and pharmacist as one of the lockyer addicts who survived after quitting crocodile alexy has a stark warning about on the radio what you don't do it this thing just turns you into a monster you know it's you and so it was that because it's so painful it's so scary you know it's everything your friends your family even your favorite things to do that would be suitable my dinner question our team in moscow go out to bob next year and he had a national it's the latest interview in our show so if you go. across

top roles in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want. the search for the county fourteen olympics what's this place like the wind is is so special as the russian resort prepares to welcome the world power the games should be in the city's present and future one moment sochi will bring you this is the moment they're reporting from

a very cold and snowy windy mountainous tough beyond the olympics but come on let's say. on our team. play it was a. very hard take i. want to get on here the clock at that exact with the earthquake here number. one. a.

look at the people. hello and welcome to sophie and co i'm certain shepard not say the internet has given intelligence agencies unprecedented kapila teams to anyone they wish but it has also empowered whistleblowers to shed light on what's really going on behind closed doors is wrongdoing justified if the government is trying to protect society and this is what we're going to talk about today. shuttling people on.