the. freed captive extremist groups in syria shocking details of their ordeal as the militants fighting under the black flags of al qaeda emerge as the most radical power in the region. and assad forces. is still. in syria america's middle east policy is raising eyebrows with washington's offer to help the same militant group in iraq brought together with iran. and historic sites go under the hammer in europe as cash strapped governments invent new ways to make their budgets plus.

me i love the great practical things you know hard for fracking as a new report reveals hundreds of complaints of contamination but officials in companies seem keen to ignore them. live from. moscow this is r.t. international with twenty four hours a day several hundred captives of a hardline rebel group linked to al qaida have been freed in syria and were being held by fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant one of the most radical jihadist militant groups in the region middle east correspondent paula has more on this and you may find some footage in her report just. the script is looking as if the actions of kerry's arms are increasingly horrific there is video that is

circulating of a terrible execution the video is verified but it comes from the syrian city of aleppo and what we see in it is people who have been killed by this al qaeda affiliated state in iraq committed violent which is calling itself the i guess it is understand is that the people killing each other for to flee from the feeling and emotion seen journalists among them as you see they will shake their heads as well as being handcuffed now this comes off to these this is the most medals have to be hit for the treatment of and let's hope and what we're looking at this english is a position that's killing opposition of the free syrian army is certainly horrified by the rise of these radical rebel groups there is no denying that i insist is worse than the syrian president bashar assad fighters all the i s. s. were using the children's i hospital as the central detention facility and dozens of bodies were discovered inside they appear to have been executed those who

survived and some of the eyewitness reports that are coming through say that the treatment was worse than they were ever treated by the regimes intelligence one of them saying that he was praying first bombs would drop their planes would drop bombs to put an end to their ordeal now fighters of the same group as i insist who are behind executions and kidnappings in syria are now controlling key cities in iraq's biggest province with researchers and analysts saying that the wives of radicals in the region is that knowledge being fueled by the u. s. policies so certainly a very worrying picture unfolding in this region. tribal leaders in the city of fallujah in the anbar province are calling on al qaeda fighters to leave their city is currently surrounded by iraqi government forces ready to launch their offensive and the u.s. is already speeding up its missile deliveries to the country to help us in contrast to the syrian rebels who are still enjoying major support from washington that's

according to geopolitical research. the united states is still feeding the fighters in syria through its ally jordan so it's very hard to to accept what america said face value when this still continued to support now it seems america would like to help the iraqi government fight terrorist that were created because of the occupation of foreign forces of america and yet in syria next door in syria the same group being aided to overthrow the. government in syria so america is continuing its two political games in the region and of course the people that suffer are the countries themselves. we want to suicide bombing has killed at least twenty three soldiers at a military recruitment center in baghdad the attack is believed to be in retaliation for government attempts to push al qaeda fighters from fallujah u.s.

is weighing in offering help along with iran which says it's ready to send military equipment what is going to mix up terror and washington finding themselves on the same side of the conflict. because of politics of the last few decades you think about the u.s. and iran as enemies that don't have anything in common but they do and its fight against terror for one the kind of terror that is now so rapidly metastasizing in syria and in iraq radical sunni militants are gaining foothold in iraq's unbar province and the iraqi government is struggling to drive them out now for americans who had heard the term state sponsor of terrorism so many times used to try and iran this whole setting sounds unusual and u.s. secretary of state john kerry is saying that iran might play a role of the peace talks on syria also sounds unusual among the audience that is so used to the hostile rhetoric although on syria both washington and tehran say

they want to stop the spillover of terror iran does not share washington is just for regime change in syria so still lots of differences but we see some early indications that common interest could be slowly coming to the forefront after years on the back burner. un resolution on syria seeking to condemn the assad government has failed the statement drafted by the u.k. expressed outrage at the air strikes on aleppo which had been carried out since last month over seven hundred believed to be killed the resolution was scuppered off the diplomats refused to add a minimum it's offered by russia. well for more on the developments in the syrian conflict as well as analysis of the situation in the whole region. one of steroids in europe may be forcing many to tighten their belts to the max for others it's offering good opportunities of press european governments looking to

plug budget holes putting their nation's legacies under the hammer. takes a look at whether the gamble is worth the cost. it's been dubbed the great european fire sale in a bid for cash these are just some of what's been up for grabs but even funds raised from headline grabbing deals might not be enough like six greek island sold for eight point five million euros an italian island sold for two point nine million exclusive rights to use the coliseums image on their products for fifteen years twenty five million euros government debt in the euro zone is greater now than it was a year ago and some of the sales have led to public anger and frustration they're selling history and culture they're selling beauty things there's a priceless and they've attached a price tag to it i think that's absolutely reprehensible there's absolutely no guarantee that that privatization will help consumers at all and one of the most surprising items recently put on the market was. ship for a little over

a million euros you get a maltese passport and therefore become an e.u. says it a move that's been put on hold as two thirds of the public at opposition leaders cry foul the very. same legal gone through this which. meant a huge international dunnit which was uncalled for because more go to date has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the whole european union it's a question of principle our citizenship should not be pulled out on say proponents of privatization see it as a necessity for nations that are in dire straits but also warned that by europe at a bargain may not be as much of a jackpot as one might think if i were in the us or i wouldn't be buying many of these things all of these countries have serious political risks for any kind of foreign investor anybody trying to. buy a house and italy has to reckon with the possibility that ten twenty years down the

line a government is just going to nationalize whatever they whatever they want to nationalize but for what it's worth this sale continues tesser silvio. we talked with financial expert patrick young on this issue and he told us the big sale is no remedy to the euro zone's real problems when you've had a swinge ing incredible recession as we've seen in many parts of europe there will alternately be a point in time when the economy binds the spark to some degree but truly the problem is that the euro is still fundamentally a counsellor as disorganized monetary system at the core of the european union the mediterranean countries have still done little or nothing to organize what is affectively an intergenerational warfare older people can keep and get and hold on to their jobs younger people simply have no chance of getting any jobs in the first

place let alone keeping them and therefore we do not have a sustainable recovery europe it's trying to paper over the cracks it is simply failing to address the very very substantial issues europe needs to restructure it needs to be more competitive because already other countries are eating its lunch. security is being tightened around u.s. military bases operating in britain new laws are set to come into force there's no need for parliament's approval taking pictures or failing to clean up after your dog could be enough to get you arrested the full details coming up later in the program here on r.t. it. is a complaints over water contamination have been filed in u.s. states where oil and gas drilling known as fracking is taking place pollution was confirmed in a number of cases raising further down so over the safety of the controversial technique well recently published review by the associated press details of problems in four states and firstly in ohio one hundred ninety complaints have been

registered since two thousand and ten in six cases contamination was confirmed over the same period west virginia has seen one hundred twenty complaints and in four cases the companies are taking corrective action in pennsylvania the been nearly nine hundred complaints in just two years with one hundred of them confirmed as pollution and texas has two thousand complaints made by the public although authorities haven't confirmed any of those cases were indeed contamination well anger over fracking is spilling over the state of new york as well. witness the latest protests there. but more than a thousand people have gathered in albany new york city's capital to take the car a good time to type back in the rally was the governor andrew cuomo he was rocking in this state thinking he's currently thank you make the c.b.c. tourists probably get which will leave the decision on whether or not he was

allowed fracking to come move work states now over the past ten years fracking has led to a u.s. boom in oil and gas production generating hundreds of billions in revenue for companies and landowners but it's also created concerns and fears about pollution coming in talking candidates if you will the ball was changing so many of us that i spoke with thank you ready seeing cases dangerous was taking place throughout the state throughout the country and they don't think those cases that i see the where they live they are contaminated high levels of radiation oh it's great the bottom line is extreme credibly dirty form the extreme and it takes traction because i don't have any place in new york city i feel like the fracking companies have no heart was is because they're not concerned about people's health this guy is her

dad now quandaries now three new album we think is freaking upstate new york we're going to ruin our time and real estate they do not want to be the next rocking the question is who could talk of the state listen and feet to the concerns of his constituents the forty from albany new york read up one eye on the arctic on t international live here moscow still to come for you this hour the new born celebrity of north pole our jim which has become an object of obsession in the headlines. were vortex the polar vortex the polar vortex we look at why the total for. text seems to frozen north america in the minds of the global media which can't help repeating how cold the cold actually it's. cold in my language a hole but i will only react to situations i have read the reports. for years

and no i will leave the state to comment on your letter. to secure your job here. no more weasel words. when you made a direct question be prepared for a change when you. get ready for a. critical stage. down the freedom to. live.

in the u.k. m.p.'s are introducing new knolls to protect u.s. military bases in britain a person could be punished just for walking a dog near by the government's using legislation and that to over sentry go to move ahead without parliament's approval or smith has mall. there are twenty activities altogether i'm not going to list them all but they range from things like pitching a tent near a base or bringing a caravan near a u.s. airbase taking food to graphs of anything or anyone digging near a base or even failing to clear up after your dog near a base all of these things by the way you're liable to immediate arrest no further discussion the government's using two hundred year old law which comes under the

control of the ministry of defense which means that these laws don't have to be discussed in parliament at all they can just be introduced completely unilaterally now they apply to around one hundred fifty bases all over the country among them are two u.s. air force bases that a key centers for u.s. eavesdropping basically they are in the middle of the country near milton keynes and their signal really stations and one of them funnels back data to washington from this network of embassy. spy bases including that facility if you remember that was listening in to you and all allegedly listening in to angela merkel's telephone there were previously no special laws that were put in place to govern the land around these spaces so their introduction now is raising questions among critics they're saying you know does it mean they'll be an expansion of the bases what are they trying to hide and why is the u.k. government helping them in this campaign is also worried that it's preparing the

ground for an expansion of the u.s. drone network that this is in preparation for that and we know there is strong evidence that the u.k. has been involved but its bases have been involved in the targeting of drones in the past. stories for just a click away including reaching new heights the u.s. navy is taking to the air with a new a manned aircraft fitted with a rolls royce engine having a wingspan why didn't the boeing airliner into a website for footage of the machine being put through its paces. plus google's find in france for not telling users just what it's doing with their private information to find out exactly what the global john's been up to right now to r.t. dot com. parts of russia's north caucasus region have been put on security alert after six bodies with gunshot wounds were found in four separate cars police are hunting for three suspects who were thought to be armed and driving a car across the region. the details. reportedly at one of these one of

those cars as a minor explosive device detonated when the police was on the scene no one was injured fortunately now the authorities are considering several version of what happened they've already considered launching a criminal case and several criminal articles such as illegal possession of arms manslaughter act of terror is not among these considered diversions nevertheless the authorities of the region have imposed a special security alert mode which is called the counterterrorist operation mode in two districts of the region on the usual day that she has would not have probably led to such a high security alert mode but of course in a month's time we'll have these sorts your lympics and the whole region is basically in a special security mode right now this concern several regions in the russian south some of them are as far as seven hundred kilometers from the city of sochi but still no nevertheless they are in a special security mode we know that in the city of sochi itself there will be

special security checkpoints cars with license plates other than those belonging to the city of sochi will not be allowed inside unless they have special accreditation but this will not concerned the special security model not concerned fans in any way because their tickets to the games is providing that they can they can be anywhere in this in the city of sochi and surrounding areas so obviously the usual fans the common fans will have nothing to worry about. russia is losing its patience with senegal the russian foreign ministry strongly urging the country to free a trawler detained in dhaka without any further delay meanwhile the owner of the ship is preparing to file a suit against the african country at the international tribunal for the law of the sea. has been diving deeper into the story. well these are some firm demands coming from the foreign ministry to free the sailors at once since frankly the situation is beginning to look a bit shady there the troller was arrested over the weekend eighty two crew members

are on board sixty of them are russian citizens and senegal the authorities are accusing them of illegal fishing but at the same time they still haven't been able to provide any evidence proving their claims there are also reports that some of the crew members were injured during the arrest and apparently they are not being provided with the necessary medical assistance and also the travel is now running short of cultural supplies including fresh water at the same time and green peace has come out supporting senegal's actions in this situation leading the russian authorities to question the real motives behind the arrest greenpeace says it's been tracking this vessel for a long time why are they taking it upon themselves government's responsibility to protect their warders and biological resources therefore based on these statements from greenpeace one may conclude that the military of senegal is acting upon these claims as you may know senegal's fishing minister heads the green party in senegal and was until very recently

a member of. action between harsh precedented attack on the russian trawler and its detention without greenpeace is reaction to asians with greenpeace have been quite complicated especially after the arrest of the so-called arctic thirty a group of activists in the russian north who were accused of hooliganism but then were all released as part of a mass amnesty in december and some other news in brief this on our world update a suicide blast in the pakistani city karate killed three people including one of the country's best known police commanders choudhry aslam had survived previous assassination attempts but this time an explosives laden vehicle was rammed directly into his convoy came just hours after three suspected members of the pakistani taliban were said to have been killed in the city. in thailand now anti-government demonstrators a rally to drum up support for a citywide next week operation shut down bangkok hopes to bring government work to a standstill and topple the current rule. has already yielded to pressure from the

streets and announce new elections for february the protesters claim that's not enough and want citizen councils to carry out reforms before any new elections. it is islam as prime minister is handing over power to a caretaker government today has yet agreed to has agreed to resign as part of a deal with his opponents it was negotiated after a political crisis sparked by the assassination of a left wing politician in july three years after an uprising in the state of caretaker administration will supervise new elections regarded as the final stages of the country's transition to democracy. and finally police in istanbul clash with people commemorating the first anniversary of the assassination of three kurdish rebels the female activists from the kurdish p.k. k. party were killed in paris last year on has broken out after officers blocked demonstrators from reaching the french consulate to lay a black river in protest p k k. considered a terrorist organization by the e.u.

and us and has been battling for an independent homeland since one thousand nine hundred eighty four. when cold comes in winter it's normally just called winter but this week the american media has been having a frenzy over a new term the polar vortex promotion the image of a frosty villain taking its toll on the u.s. but as the blast of cold weather now eases we look at how all of the news has been frozen out to demonstrate just how freezing freezing is parties in the stars are reports. more talked about in the u.s. media than the most ridiculous celebrity baby name and the royal wedding combined it's called a polar vortex the polar vortex the polar vortex the polar vortex more frightening than your worst nightmare to whirlpool of dense frigid arctic air ladies and gentlemen meet the cold cold hell if you can imagine so it is the coldest it has been decades every thirty seconds and all it's really cold at this the most

important mainstream news story for days on end we have a team of correspondents covering this arctic blast it's really obvious that it's cold but just to keep your journalistic integrity you want a firsthand account of how cold it is and if a mailman is all bundled up saying yeah it's cold then you know it's actually called here's a hamburger and a steak even though there's really only that much to eventually talk about how is your skin doing since weather is weather no matter how hard you try to keep your attention clearly this is a little mall noddy's deep dish chicago pizza hard as a rock you could use this as a weapon if you wanted to ok temperatures dropping to subzero extremes is a rare occurrence in certain parts of the u.s. but amping it up like there's no tomorrow might be a tad over exaggerated your goal is to remember our people know it's cold people know they shouldn't go outside you don't need to go on and on and on and on and be well they're really really important is that not getting covered then again weather

coverage doesn't require bringing up the truly unpleasant you don't to worry about the confusing stuff the stuff with new ones like the syrian civil war like the pros and cons of genetically modified food you just walk outside and go by gambles or heart as a result other countries are rolling their eyes at us because we're complaining that it's cold but they're also rolling their eyes at us about everything else it looks like the us mainstream media are taking their tips from an old piece of advice if you don't know what to say just talk about the weather and if they think you're going to r.t. me or. of him. needs to move in just over half an hour from now in the meantime it's over to oksana boyko and worlds apart that's coming away after the short break this is our team international.

what a country experience is a tragedy like the recent terrorism in volgograd the x. question is what to do about it i mean we have to do something right let's never let a good tragedy go to waste one do remember recommends getting rid of the moratorium on the death penalty for prayers groups including terrorists because the death

penalty is the perfect way to punish a suicide bomber also this do remember failed to mention high level cryptic kratz in the government as those who could possibly face the firing squad perhaps that was just an honest oversight i'm not against the death penalty in some rare instances but punishing terrorists after the fact doesn't bring victims back the focus needs to be on the source of terrorism soldiers can play around all day with weapons because the government gives them a salary weapons and training some people are recruiting arming and training new terrorists you don't need to usher in a massive surveillance. to stop terrorism or go to crazy what you need to do is hit the funding and training source hard if you can i mean how many of you guys out there could make a remotely detonated bomb a c four on your own without help almost none of you see for doesn't grow on trees someone pays for it but that's just my opinion.

i don't have a political stance i do have a stance as an individual and as a member of society i do not want someone looking through my bedroom window whether it's an impartial observer or not whether they're going to prosecute me or not. a lot of welcome to worlds apart and a half years ago egypt and much of the arab falls were going through dramatic changes that even the most creative screenwriter could imagine hopes were high if the futurists in bride and be happy and within reach what happened to those dreams while to discuss that i'm now joined by a prominent egyptian actor and activist. mr burkett i really appreciate your being on the show and thank you very much thank you thank you very much for inviting me

now i remember that back in two thousand and eleven you spent days on tougher square alongside other protesters calling for president hosni mubarak to step down and eventually thanks to your efforts and the efforts of thousands of other dedicated patronymic activists he eventually deed and in one of the interviews you gave back then you said that that made you feel very proud of the egyptian people i wonder if you still hold on to that pride are you proud of what is happening in your country now yes i. definitely proud we went down two thousand and eleven to object to a number of wrong things that were happening in our country and when they happened again we just took to the streets again very quickly and very effectively took us three days instead of eighteen days the second time so i'm still less proud but i remember that one.