civilians are caught in the crossfire between al qaeda linked militants and iraqi troops one expert tells us the divisions caused by the american led invasion is the real cause of the. u.k. government reports the military's under imminent threat because the public no longer knows what it's for the exam and how it got to this point. in time you want to make most of your one hundred percent committed on t.v. the family behind russia's sledge hockey captain in our latest report on the national party a big team of pairing to take on all comers at the winter games. international

news and comment live from moscow you will trail same to national with me thanks for joining us twenty five militants have reportedly been killed by an airstrike in iraq where government forces are on the offensive against an islam missed insurgency the violence is being fueled by the conflict in neighboring syria with militias apparently back and forth across the border that's now get the latest from our middle east correspondent paula sia hi there paula so how are things looking for the iraqi government and what does that change driving this conflict. well things are certainly looking very bleak at the moment for the baghdad government the latest news we have is that al qaeda militants have destroyed the for police headquarters as well as the mayor's office and they have to create the city to be a new independent state government forces are struggling to regain control their

critics of blaming the united states for its involvement in iraq for actually creating the current situation and many say that there was the warning when the u.s. withdrew that it would be creating a vacuum that would ultimately be fulled by extremist elements and that is what we see happening right now you need to remember that the united states occupied iraq for eight years and then pulled out and it left behind a stick tyrian powder keg these al qaeda ending to militants are now trying to capitalize on these the sectarian tensions which the united states was never able to actually resolve at the same time some of the al-qaeda going to militants who are now in iran are reportedly coming across the border from syria now of course the united states has been supporting the syrian opposition inadvertently and allowing these islamist extremists to flourish in the in the very first place the united states is also saying that it will be sending any emergency shipment of

surveillance drones and missiles to iraq in an attempt to try and prop up its allies in baghdad. paula clear live intel a babe paula thank you very much indeed for that. mr held for civilians are bracing for the worst and government forces are poised to launch an assault on the city again editor count looks now on the likely consequences. residents of. hell during the u.s. occupation now face their own army so solved on the cd the iraqi government has lined up tanks on loaded fighter jets preparing to drive al qaeda linked militants out of the city the u.s. is packing more hellfire missiles and other weapons for the iraqi army to use and everybody knows when the bombing begins there will be blood brian back with me brian so many innocent iraqis have died in terror attacks do you think this. terror

assault could turn out to be just as deadly as terror itself it could be even more deadly if the people of. have been through this before two thousand and four twice the u.s. marines committed to huge war crimes against the people of pollution they can they call for a kill zone anything that moved was killed when you declare a kill zone you see everything that moves must die everything that moves must be a terrorist everything that moves is a legitimate target who then dies who then suffers it's the the people of pollution themselves of course they don't want to live under what do they want to live under these kind of military assaults paid for by the united states with arms from the united states carried out by the government which has also been a brutal against the residents of fallujah i don't think so crucial question thank you thank you no doubt there is an urgent need to drive these militants out after all how can you allow extremists to run talents again territory expand but then you also have to ask if you see bombing as

a viable option in order to drive extremists out of residential areas how different is it from what bashar assad is doing in washington i'm going to check on our team . and some observers accuse washington of fading to prevent what's happening in iraq. it's clearly the result of the u.s. war in iraq that has given way to the the kind of sectarian fighting we're seeing in iraq you know the existence of these sectarian based political parties the shia led leadership in iraq led by prime minister nouri al maliki was put in power and remains kept in power by the united states who provides the money the arms to keep his government in power that government has been not only incredibly corrupt and not only incredibly incompetent in terms of dealing with the needs of iraq to rebuild from these years of war but also has been incredibly sectarian in terms of

what it makes successor to various communities in iraq so you have this scenario where the sunni population which is the minority but large minority in iraq feel completely disenfranchised disempowered disconnected from their own government. people in the u.k. are losing side won't own armies or a government report so tranced that's one of the greater threats facing them in a tree according to m.p. the winding down of the campaign in afghanistan and or jews at the side for overseas interventions could lead the public to question whether the army is still has a father's designers and is apparently being driven by severe budget cuts and or just seen as a failure to come up with a long term strategic vision rishon which is among the top five military spenders in the world plans to slash personnel numbers by twenty thousand over the next six days. even investigate.

the army's recruiting but applicant numbers are slow to pick up amid thousands of layoffs there's a massive drive to recruit army reservists but leaked mid year army memos revealed the number of people in a list of beyond the reserve over a three month period was just three hundred sixty seven barely a quarter of the target the ministry of defense said that after wrapping up the recruitment drive in september there were more than fifteen hundred applicants in the first four weeks and that it's too early to make a conclusion but this young man says he simply can't be convinced my grandparents were in the air force actually during the second world war of the time enjoy it was not such a bad idea to be joining the forces because they are fighting a war against fascists and i don't agree with the way. it's used as a force like rest. and this morning that was arrested to commemorate the conscientious objectors to military service those who would exercise their right to

refuse to kill you at the time of the first world war for instance they faced a restaurant jeers from some of society who view them as cowards but times have indeed changed. a decade of fighting in iraq and afghanistan has made the british war weary a most people join forces to be in the peace business not in the war business because it's a threat to their livelihood nobody wants to be in a war because to be in a war activists have also lashed out at recruitment campaigns targeted at sixteen and seventeen year olds who according to one recent study are more susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder at the moment we're asking a sixteen year old to resign justifying to drink a pint of beer that we don't trust to fight in a general election we're asking our president to make a very far reaching legal commitment towards a career like having a baby carriage or in accounts of the ministry of defense. the report completely ignores the benefits adopted two middies that

a military career offers young people but for this young man it's a career path he is a ready to change his mind about this or try to do the job and you are going to have to show people that if you're joining the army no you're not going to be brought to shoot people who've done nothing against. the source of your article. and joe blanton is a free man british soldier who refused to serve a second tour in afghanistan on moral grounds and was thrown into a military prison he believes people with the troops but the politicians who send them overseas to fight wars they themselves started. because i was with had questions been the military there's just no four of them it's nor it's not the oxford debating society obviously you're just told to crack on and politics have nothing to do with you why defense i mean offensive capability and i mean wars and invasions and the use of drones and special forces which is increasingly the trend

clearly people want to be secure. and that's not what people in the public generally have a problem with what they have a problem with repeated. operations along the lines of iraq afghanistan libya nearly syria they are not sympathetic to those in the corridors of power who stop these walls and this is part of the reason why we've seen increasingly the call of the laws ation of of the military and you can call it a hero or as asian and you see this increasingly this very jingoistic kind of building up and placing on a pedestal of military personnel and that from a used to counter the groundswell of popular opposition. the winter paralympics in such a well welcome russia's national sledge hockey team for the first time well raising seeing them in training and captain so off he is not good how well went to me they finally behind leadin salute can help him deal with adversity and become a top level three eight or four of the absolute and he's known as the captain of

the national hero limbic flood talking team here in russia but in this house he's just known as. we asked about his family and the first time he met his wife irene. we first met when i was in the army serving in this area there was a spark from the very beginning and it grew as we dated you could see it was love at first sight my entire life changed it had a new meaning. but another kind of change was coming the two were considering time the nut when the team went off to war where he lost both of his legs i removed into his hospital room to help with his care and the couple continued with their plan to marry when asked about the proposal irene a said she knew it was coming. well i was expecting the proposal the wedding day we had a lot of gifts and we all had so much fun but the mood changes

a little when we ask our rena how she felt about his and jury. i couldn't believe it for a long time coping with the stress of any injury requires real psychological resilience they both clearly have that in spades he does everything for the family we all feel that he helps people realize that life isn't over that everything is possible life goes on. the marriage is stronger than ever and katia became the second woman to change the team's life six years ago. now he's heading for the paralympic games and that also means leaving his loved ones that for of a dream his two passions in life are never too far from each other. i really enjoy all the time i get to spend at home because when i'm away in training sessions with the team i miss my family very much which is the same as the game

when you sit on the bench for a long time just watching the others play and then you get this little time and nice you want to make most of it you're one hundred percent committed. a commitment shared by everyone in the house while the team is eager to take home gold come march he already has his prize at home in the moscow region and margaret howell r.t. . will follow that limp and pirated big games finest approaching don't forget to follow the amazing journey of a limp explained been following its online catch the best bits of the longest or tree made in the history of the games as. it is on its epic journey. twenty three days. through. towns and cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty.

in a record setting trip by land air sea and others. on r t r g. and coming up later in the program for you poor planning for. this building site will eventually become but it's pretty old however it's already over ten times its original budget it's set to cost close to a billion euro german tongue spasms grow weary of hunting ending up with huge amounts of public funds for nationwide construction projects as and i'm posting them many times that's after the break.

good leverage surely was to build on the most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach. this

is international welcome back jeremy rebels and its international image for efficiency and quality but behind the stereotype often lies a different story so taxpayers are complaining national projects are costing them billions thanks to bad planning is based on looks now the prize that you use an easy economy pays when it comes to construction. if you listen to the politicians germany's ruling in it if you believe those following the money trail is a different story. the mainly it's a problem with cost estimates they use the wrong data they start building and

eventually they run out of money and then taxpayers have to pick up the bill. currently germany has one of the biggest construction sectors in europe but all around the country there's evidence that those in charge of the purse strings on the best to make building decisions this building site will eventually be cumbered premier concert hall however it's already over ten times its original budget it's set to cost close to a billion euro it's not just the grand artistic projects that have cost the big money here in the thought off the tourist information booth has already cost taxpayers around one and a half million euro. for the ultimate in modern german construction white elephants look no further than right here at the brandenburg airport grossly over budget already four years behind schedule it's currently costing nearly one million euro a day to run and that's without any planes or passengers on to those

a train tunnel in light zig that ended up five hundred million over budget that had expected in two thousand and five the german reputation for efficiency hold up when it comes to construction we rose running for election this year the e.u. parliament believes those in power don't have the required skills to decide on huge projects it's not their money they can dream they can plan they can make. each and every kind of. drafts. because they don't have to pay eight layer and charge for four years before eight years as long as the project is not finished and . they are fighting finished i thought i would stop at a toy about additional costs increase the deficit talks of years have to do it twice first to pay the interest on the debt then again on the extra cost of those planning to deploy those familiar with the construction. of that if you plan as you

go it's always more expensive than. i she was sworn in as chancellor for a third time late last year promised five billion to fix up germany's ruled so germans will have no idea how much that promise and eventually cost the feature all over. germany. a russian vessel has maneuvered out of the icy grasp that had trapped it since december change away and has said the ship free ups attempts by australian and chinese icebreaker to rescue the scientists and scientific vessel failed the whole story is that. also. it was a very happy for this one a great terrorist took them on seven six life sentences for multiple shootings and bombings failed to return from his holiday away from prison also now sources to respect the system and launch and nationwide a manhunt. right to

see. the search for clues and i think the church. on our reporters would. be in the. says it's preparing to file several legal claims to a court in the city after the detention of a russian fishing trawler it's now been stuck in the west african country since the weekend something greenpeace has expressed some satisfaction about let's not get more details from. how they rena so what exactly is happening that well the russian vessel has been arrested over the weekend in fact we were talking about arrested we're talking about an armed detention of this ship and some sixty two russian

citizens that are on board we're talking about the crew and that's detention was actually handled quite roughly by this. because at least of these four people now off the course they know they are actually in need of medical help however they are not allowed to get off the ship in fact all of the russian citizens have had their passports taken away by the armed officials. are the ship and the crew are essentially being accused of illegal fishing and poaching in the cynical these waters however the authorities of senegal still haven't given any concrete proof of that actually having taken place or have not provided any concrete explanation where these allegations are coming from and still were already have greenpeace which is already making a statement saying that they fully support the actions of the senegal government in their attempt to prevent the alleged illegal fishing this involvement by greenpeace is something that doesn't sit well with russia's federal fishing agency this is what they have to say on the matter. in the

absence of an official response from senegal and proof regarding the russian trawlers alleged illegal activities these statements from greenpeace cause bewilderment even indignation greenpeace says it's been tracking this special for a long time why are they taking upon themselves a government's responsibility to protect their waters and biological resources therefore based on these statements from greenpeace one may conclude that the army of senegal is acting upon these claims as you may know senegal's fishing minister the green party in senegal and was until very recently a member of. the connection between this harsh and unprecedented attack on the russian troll or and its detention with greenpeace exactions. now as a in recent months there has been no love lost between russian officials and greenpeace if you go back to september i will remember the rest of the greenpeace

arctic sunrise after an attempt by the greenpeace activists to scale russian oil rig in the northern waters and that of course has led to russia accusing the greenpeace activists arrest and wrestle accusing the greenpeace activists of piracy those charges later were dropped and downgraded to charges of holligan ism and they were released on bail initially all of the greenpeace activists but then of course later they fell under the nationwide amnesty and were. so we can assume that they are now safely home when there was active countries however this recent development in the west african nation this seems to rise up at the tensions between russian officials and greenpeace yet again. thank you very much for bringing us up to speed. there's just three weeks left until

the international peace conference on syria but the opposition has again delayed of what and whether to even attend more than thirty members of the western backed security national coalition resigned over the planned participation in this and it analysts say the opposition bloc doesn't have the support of the sea when people anyway in syria you have an electoral process there is a presidential election this year and the big problem for the opposition is that they don't have the support on the ground in syria because they don't represent anyone other than western powers the western imperial alliance the transatlantic alliance nato the gulf cooperation council so their support in syria is very very minimal and that's why they don't want to take part in the actual election process in syria writing process so this is a big problem because how do you negotiate negotiate with people who essentially represent western interests and don't represent the interests of the syrian people

so they would rather not have to enter into any kind of rational negotiation and the reason for that of course is that they have no political program they've never had a political program they have no economic program and if they had their way they would simply destroy the country get in there tear the country apart privatized everything and sell it out to the gulf cooperation council countries particularly saudi arabia and qatar and they would serve western corporate interests. from other world news in brief this hour and the trial of egypt's ousted from the mohammed morsi has been postponed until february first is linked to the deaths of protesters outside the presidential palace and twenty twelve the trial originally began in november but it was adjourned after morsi declared who sold the nation's legitimate leader and refused to wear a prisoner's uniform or so faces several other criminal charges and could receive the death penalty of found guilty also supporters are planning mass protests. least nine people are dead in india after a fire broke out on

a passenger train and spread to three coaches it was on its way from mumbai to the country's north other passengers were evacuated and continued with their journey in the remaining carriage is the cause of the as yet in december at least twenty six people died after another train caught ablaze in the country's health. militias have to protect oil tom cruise loading up in the rebel controlled pools in libya is ease that after the only facts were fired one time cup broaching the eastern coast in defiance of the bond imposed by the country's government tribal leaders challenged the central government last november and announced plans to start setting crude independently leaving has remained volatile since the toppling and murder of moammar gadhafi and twenty in other. states was examining michael should make a helmet camera say he went eight meters off piste without slowing down lost his

balance and fell the seven time formula one driving champion is still in a critical condition after his accident while skiing in the french alps where his teenage son schoomaker remains in a coma and is said to be functioning for his life. and just ahead crosstalk examines washington's methods in the middle east and beyond state without . you cannot preemptively restrict your freedoms because of the fear of what something or how something might be used everything that has ever been developed has been used for a bad purpose baseball bats which are fun for you know for baseball players to hit balls you know they've also been used to be people today i mean we just cannot restrict ourselves because something might be used in the in the wrong way.

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 foot they enter territorial waters they fish they load the fish into the ships and leave for europe. today illegal fishing just taking the bread out of our mouths. millions around the globe struggle with hunger each good. what if someone offers a lifetime food supply no charge. they can they're very strong

against g.m.o. and we think that. the genetically modified products are pretty cool. there is no. evidence that there is any problem with that. what. is free cheese. golden rice. on. a low in welcome to cross talk where.