future rhythm of those groups remember old birds if you're so sure it's quite clear . flexing its muscle al-qaeda hosts voice its banners over swaths of iraq while washington funnels arms to state forces for what is predicted to be a bloody counterattack. the first of syria's chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction as rebel groups turn on each other any merciless turf war with over five hundred fighters killed in clashes over just one week. with a month before the winter olympics starts the host city is putting a priority on security to make sure the games remain safe and undisturbed. plus confidence in the e.u.'s leaders has never been lower according to a new poll at least in the hard hit areas of europe where governments are scrambling for solutions through an entrenched economic crisis.

you're watching r t live from moscow i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me. the black flag of al qaeda was this week raised over to iraq's cities which are now under the control of jihad is spent on creating a new islamic nation but the real bloodletting is yet to begin one the expert as the iraqi army and tribal militias mobilize and prepare to counterattack or to that a teacher congress courts young little burka with whom. they run on chaos emboldened by the fighting in syria these all qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq including the city of the literature we have said earlier that the serious situation will actually go into iraq and this is what we were warning about

chaos in neighboring syria deep as the u.s. and its allies threatened the syrian government sending the signal to the rebels to fight on to the detriment of a political outcome islamic schools have now taken over the opposition movement there and have even chased the western backed leader of the free syrian army out of the country to beas nest of the relieving along because if you kick it they're going to come out and that's what we did when we invaded iraq you know three and it can bite not just somewhere far in a war zone but here in the u.s. american intelligence and counterterrorism officials now say islamic extremist groups in syria with ties talk to a recruiting and training americans who have traveled there to get them to carry out attacks when they return home there are dozens of extremist islamist forces that are operating both inside syria and over the syrian borders walk has been a breeding ground for extremists since the u.s.

invasion now residents of other parts of the country are bracing themselves for the iraqi army's assault as it attempts to drive militants out of seized areas the u.s. is supplying hellfire missiles and other weapons to help the iraqi government in the fight the last thing for needs as more missiles. we heard the u.s. government say they decimated al qaeda is needed but the groups that continue their calls expand and what they thrive on best is chaos the u.s. backed chaos to iraq and in syria washington support for armed opposition has benefited extremists in washington i'm going to check on our key. the jihadist group now said to be in control of fallujah and ramadi is the islamic state of iraq and the levant also known as isis it's seen as a formidable fighting force and its militants are among the most radical cells in syria now isis itself dates back to the early years of the iraq war it was formed in april two thousand and four by sunni insurgents and soon after pledged

allegiance to bin laden two years later it was rebranded as the islamic state of iraq in two thousand and thirteen its military successes against assad gained its strong influence in syria which saw it add levant to its name and of course in the latest developments the group has taken control of fallujah and other parts of the unbar province in iraq and proclaimed and islamic state under scare gore a former danish intelligence officer who served in iraq tells us it is just itching for a fight in my opinion. has never been on the run it might have been downscaling due to pressure but once this pressure is lifted the organization is full force and it uses the. pauses true to regain its strength the fighting ability of the of the isis for instance is very strong but very contained. to localized and one

thing. isis rebels has is stemming at it they want to continue fighting the iraqi army really hasn't got a chance to fight the. militias. and to or to read it kate them. in syria western nations are watching in horror as their favored rebel groups turn on each other just this week almost five hundred opposition fighters died fighting each other in a chair for it that appears to demonstrate its more hardline islamist actually running the show elsewhere in syria the first batch of the country's chemical weapons stockpile has been removed by ship and danish vessel left the port. for international waters where it's toxic cargo will be destroyed meantime turkey's prime minister. is insisting the upcoming peace talks in geneva should seek the removal of assad something independent political analyst call main. absurd.

it's hardly surprising that there is no one would come up with such a ridiculous line he's been behaving most throughout at least since the very start of the war. talking about regime change is not on the agenda obviously doing these themselves under the threat of regime change in turkey so he's probably the last man in the region who would want to be talking about regime change at this stage of course you can talk of political negotiations if one side says it's ridiculous preconditions and of course regime change is never really been an option in syria absolutely possible to stage a regime the only way you can have regime change in syria is if the regime is overthrown as it were that hasn't been obviously is not the case and we failed to defeat the syrian army and talk about regime change is really on hopefully at this stage later today russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov the head of syria's opposition union to press them to attend the upcoming geneva two peace conference

stay tuned to find out how those talks go. what a shame p.s. discover a growing gap between the country's military and the public people apparently no longer understand the purpose of the military or what it aims to achieve more on this coming up. so the host city of the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics is seeing one of the biggest security operations in the game's history tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed and access to the area strictly monitored with the aim of preventing any disruptions when events began artie's post-op takes a look. the twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen i wore there to defeat the such enough i as soon as russia's black sea resort was awarded the game seven years ago i sell him as a question the choice of host city such as close proximity to the volatile caucasus

region was they argued a cause for concern. and the recent twin terror attacks in volgograd some seven hundred kilometers from sochi every ignited some of those worries colgan ises they say security has been their main priority since day one from the very beginning of the construction phase the state that sort is made those all that money to prepare the special measures to stop them from the screen in all their old materials checking in all the venues and preparing incredible measures of the security to provide this safe environment here with less than a month to go now until the games begin tight security measures are already in place around forty thousand police and security offices are expected to be on patrol all sales of dangerous hunting equipment a bond for the duration of the games there's also a controlled stretching sixty kilometers along the coast and twenty five kilometers

inland and encompassing all venues so. in terms of security sochi is a special case because this whole area is authorized to visit this only there are security details from a number of countries including the u.k. and u.s. working here but no security forces will be coming together to protect places like this is the brand new purpose built train station in the olympic village is going to be one of the main transport hubs during the games moving thousands of spectators. we have cameras into comes that connects you with the engineer and the police present train stations and on the train security is pretty tight. with the bulk of the work now complete with all venues and transport networks built and tested sochi is now just waiting for the sporting world to descend pull scott's altie. the traditional olympic torch relay has been

a collection of first evers this time around it's taken to the north pole underwater and into open space darts he followed it all the way our tears james brown accompanied the torch along some of the way and shared his experience with me going to by car was amazing they took the torch down under water into my car so you had to be burning flare torches specially made then passed very impressive underwater and then flew the top back with with a man with a jet pack on to the on to the shore very good video so it was it was a sight to be seen but there was one amazing moment in a real once in a lifetime moment was going with the torch to the north pole you see on t.v. and you read it and then you think wow that must be really must be very interesting never going to go there and then this opportunity came up to go on this nuclear icebreaker this huge. ship that can cut through to me to thick ice

and is fueled by two gigantic reactors so your visit is that which is a strange feeling in itself you go and stand by. but we were going to go to the north pole with the flame and we made it in less than four half days which was a world record pace and arrived in the middle of the polar nights with the libby torch in the north pole for the very first time in history. we've got all the highlights of the olympic torch is journey across russia on our website check out the follow the flame section. and also on our two dogs. radiation spreads despite efforts to contain the hazardous leaks readings have head eight times the japanese government safety standards even at the edges of the contamination zone more on that on line. u.k. schools take the fingerprints of over a million students a third of those without parental consent officials say it's done for the sake of

security parents and civil liberties groups are questioning the methods and more stories on our t. dot com. many europeans blame politicians for their difficult economic predicament that's according to a new continent wide poll now the new stats show very low approval ratings for the e.u. leadership an economically devastated spain for example more than ever before they people think top politicians have done a poor job through the financial crisis ireland has seen a strong belief in a leaders not away by increasing financial hardship there seventy percent of people used to approve but that's dropped to just under half and in euro skeptic u.k. just under a third now think the leadership is doing a good job germany's got a reputation for responsible effective spending but as peter all over reports a series of projects that have gone well over budget are forcing taxpayers to take

a second look at the competence of their leaders. if you listen to the politicians germany's ruling in it if you believe those following the money trail is a different story. the main problem with cost estimates they use wrong data they start building and eventually they run out of money and then tax fines 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 become books premie a 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 this 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 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 to hold up when it comes to construction we know is 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 play they can make.

each and every kind of. drafts. because they don't have to paid charge for four years before eight years as long as the project is not finished and. they are fighting for the additional costs to increase the national debt so the taxpayer pays twice first for the interest rates of additional debt then extra costs for police planning those familiar with construction business know that if you plan to go it will be more expensive than if you plan in advance she was sworn in as chancellor for a third time late last year and promised five billion to fix up germany's rule adds germans will have no idea how much that promise and eventually cost them peter all over germany. belgium politician johan van overtveldt says anger at poor economic management spread much further than germany but are now a lot of people especially in the southern european countries and ireland that not

only lost jobs but also lost a larger or smaller part of their income so there are a huge amount of people in these crises countries that have a lot to be frustrated about and that is being felt now increasingly on the political level and so maybe this year elections for the european parliament will see you to greece of the vote for parties that are outright against the european union. japan becomes fertile ground for the far right as activists gain ground calls for foreigners leave and for the army to be ready to go into action if they need arises that's after a short break. what you're arguing for is that the kurds should put that ethnic identity above that national identity let me ask you a personal question are you

a kurd first or an iraq or first occurred first then i'm iraqi. i am not iraqi that i am a kurds because let me ask you that question i am from holland i have been bombarded you know i still remember the smell of the chemical weapons so what iraqi identity brought to me iraq and then they brought to me the killings of people as grace four thousand five hundred villages were destroyed. rightly to see. her struck. and i think the church. on our reporters twitter. and instagram.

the british public is becoming disconnected from the country's military and have no idea why it's still needed that's according to a recent u.k. parliament report. british citizens were mostly opposed to the wars in iraq and afghanistan and there is reportedly a reduced public appetite for overseas interventions also people of question the military's lack of a real strategic mission in the world and hefty budget cuts are putting the army's capabilities to carry out missions at risk despite being one of the world's top defense spenders britain's planning to cut personnel by nearly thirty thousand over the next six years archie's tests are still has more. than. 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 the midyear army memos revealed the

number of people in the listing and 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 or actually during the second world war of the time enjoyed was not such a bad idea to be joining forces because they are fighting a war against fascists and i don't agree with the way. it's used as a force aggressor. 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 restroom 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. nobody wants to be in a war because in a walk. activists have also lashed out at recruitment campaign started 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 read an interesting point to drink a pint of beer in the car we don't trust of age in a general election we're asking that person to make a very far reaching legal commitment towards a career like being a baker or an accountant the ministry of defense says the report completely ignores the benefits and opportunities that a military career offers young people but for this young man it's a career path is a great way to change his mind about this not try to do the job and you're going to

have to show people that if you're joining the army no and you're not going to be brought to shoot people you've done nothing against. so so you are to go to. jail glanton is a former british soldier who refused to serve a second tour in afghanistan on moral grounds he was later jailed and spent five months in a military prison he believes politicians are trying to counter opposition with an aggressive p.r. campaign because i was with had questions been the military was just not a forum. it's not the oxford the bytes in society obviously are just told to crack on and tell the politics have nothing to do with why defense i mean offensive capability and i mean the invasions and the use of drones and special forces which is increasingly the trend clearly people want to be secure. and that's not all people in the public generally have a problem with what they have a problem with it is repeated. operations along the lines of iraq afghanistan and libya nearly say we are not sympathetic to those in the corridors of power. and

this is paul the reason why we've seen increasingly the con of the law in all. of the military and you can call it the hero or. the far right in japan is on the front foot demanding a tougher stance on immigration and a reinforced army that's artie's alexy or found out the nationalistic chest beating is forcing some difficult questions. it's become a tradition in japan when some foreign officials are subjected to verbal abuse on this particular occasion japanese nationalists made their feelings known loud and clear to russia's foreign minister china and south korea have also been in their crosshairs one for an island dispute the other for sending too many labor migrants to japan where the latest protests korean workers were described as cockroaches which needed to be exterminated but the dark horse this man is one of those behind the nationalist rallies in japan he says he'd like to see japan

a more closer sightsee one door there was an openness and we've been to open to the world there are no foreigners come here and commit crimes i want us to return to a pre-war period when we were closed and south sufficient despite criticizing the government for its immigration policies the movement could not be feeling more coffeetable since twenty twelve when she was reelected as prime minister such rallies have been on the rise. those are not only foreign nationals and delegations getting the stick from japanese nationalists there are locals who have directly suffered from their country becoming more far right these school teachers have been protesting because they lost their jobs for not complying with what they call ultranationalist regulations in schools. the c.f.l. i should be made as an obligation to listen to the national anthem before classes i told my pupils spawn of who were not even japanese and it wasn't obligatory to stand up and then i got fired but it's not only about instilling national pride

speculation is rife that with all this stronger japan hype is eager to amend the nine hundred forty seven constitution namely article number nine which braves japan from having any kind of army other than for defense purposes in the increasingly intertwined world we can't ensure the peace of our nation without broad actively taking a role in the peace and security of the world why don't we take. full word on the shoe of constitutional amendment but not everyone is buying it and more far reaching goal could be reshaping the regional balance of power. there has been a talk among high profile politicians including former prime ministers who want you public debate whether japan should have nuclear weapons or if new materialized but it's something the ruling elite has been pondering for years now. and non-pacifist japan let alone a nuclear power would send shock waves across the region say experts but for now even with nationalist voices getting louder polls suggest that such ideas are still

some way from becoming reality next year shift iatse reporting from japan. this week orthodox christians around the world celebrated christmas. hate. in moscow around a quarter of a million believe first part in an overnight services in a capitalist three hundred twenty six churches the biggest one was held at the main crisis a cathedral was a double celebration for worshippers as at the same time moscow hosted a relic known as the gifts of the magic said to be the guest given to jesus by the three wise men long queues formed to take a look at that relative to the store at the fortunate. i'll be back with you in about thirty minutes with more news but coming up next it's the latest edition of worlds apart with us on a bike. there

are many internal battles in society liberals and conservatives will never agree on gun rights or abortion but there is one battle that is often more generational than anything the battle for school uniforms teachers argue that uniforms eliminate a big distraction in the classroom and break up the caste systems that can evolve at school between the cool festival kids and the ones who can barely afford lunch like me in my younger years but teenagers will scream uniforms crush their freedom of expression and that they have a right to express who they are their individuality who has the right to dictate to them what to wear the thing they don't realize is that if the school doesn't tell them what to wear that big corporations and m.t.v. will all the cool individuals who dress alike and blindly follow all the trends are just obeying corporate marketing instead of their parents yeah for some reason it is bad if the school punishes you for dressing improperly but if the cool kids make your life a living hell for not wearing the right brand of shoes well that's all well and

good for some reason hey look at it this way school uniforms are cheap which leaves more money for parents to buy you video games being individual in your actions and not a fake individual in trendy clothes but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to all the part one of the largest acne groups without a state kurds have long been both victims and the active participants of large geo political adventures and as the middle east goes to one of the biggest the peoples in its recent history can the current turn these powers. go into a benefit for better cause to discuss that i'm now joined by him mean me

a high ranking member of the democratic party thank you very much for your time sir i know that kurdish clore has very rich tradition and one of the one of the characters fear most often encounter in kurdish tales or songs is that one of the forks and it's interesting that that any male is often praised for its true cunningness but also he's stunned and see of overplaying his smarts lance human rather precarious situation sometimes and i think this is very characteristic of kurdish approach to politics in general but it doesn't seem to. further your own cause that much i wonder why is that in your view first the kurdish questions in the middle east has been the victim of the lack of democracy lack of peaceful coexistence lack of the non acceptance of the others and the rise of the other so if you can because the kurds in the middle east were not arabs we are not turks we are not our cities we are a different national group and we have our rights in that area so as i said we are

the largest nation in the world without a state and we are realistic we have been divided into four countries with the acceptance of the asking so for people and now we understand the realities of poor countries and each part of kurdistan within the countries that we are living in has its own peculiarities so we don't want to copy paste what we have in iraqi kurdistan to the other part we do believe that this is the time for accepting the kurds as they are to leave in a democratic situation that they can have a guarantee of their constitutional rights in their own countries absolutely and i think this is the argument that there are various kurdish political parties have been making probably for decades but if you look at your most recent history it seems that any substantial change in their kurdish question occurred only at a time of major geo political upheavals for example if we take iraq the autonomy that you have there would have been so strong and.