al qaeda openly waves its black flags over to iraqi cities with thousands of refugees fleeing the impending bloodbath as the u.s. backed army prepares for a counterattack on the insurgent forces. while in syria al-qaeda linked rebels and other opposition groups engage in bloody infighting the growing divisions among those aiming to topple assad are threatening the upcoming peace talks. plus the backing of leaders dips to an all time low with undermined trust in politicians affecting the way people see the common currency as they look for replacement. and with security being a major concern at the upcoming winter olympics and saw we take a look at how the host city is making sure athletes and spectators are protected.

you're watching r t live from moscow i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me thousands of iraqis are fleeing their homes in the anbar province which has been turned into a war zone after al qaeda linked militants took control of the two cities there the army has failed to retake the occupied territories which have been declared an islamic state by the militants as the iraqi military gathers its forces for a decisive assault artie's gun a teacher khan looks at what's empowering the extremists in the region. young good luck to little but go with your not integrity they run on chaos emboldened by the fighting in syria these al qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq including the city of the literature we have said earlier that the syria story should and

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 the political outcome islamic groups 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 be snatched you the real leave it alone because if you kick it they're going to come out and bite you 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 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 me is as more missiles we heard the u.s. government say they decimated al qaeda is leaving but the groups that continue their cause expand and what they thrive on best is chaos the worst part chaos to iraq and in syria washington support for armed opposition has benefited extremists in washington i'm going to check on our quiz. the hottest behind the occupation of fallujah and ramadi is the infamous islamic state of iraq and the levant it's one of the most powerful al qaeda branches estimated to be six thousand men strong with it cells threatening the entire region now the organization was formed by sunni

insurgents in april two thousand and four year after the us launched its invasion of iraq many members of the group are fighting in syria against assad and their force is rapidly gaining influence among the radical elements in the devastated country even lebanon has suffered from the group's activity with being behind the latest bombing attack in beirut ross kemp who she is a former u.s. marine who fought in philip a decade ago he thinks the u.s. led invasion could be to blame for the violence we're seeing in iraq now i think the reason that there is discontent in iraq right now is because the u.s. led occupation put in place a lot of structural injustices that are the root of all the violence in iraq right now one of the results of the occupation of iraq was that the sunni community. became a very marginalized targeted group within iraq. butting in on by province right

now. i think for the u.s. government to continue arming the rocky government to facilitate their internal oppression of various ethnic minorities within the country i think that would be very immoral on our part and i think it would be even more immoral for us to send troops to participate in this repression. meanwhile in neighboring syria the strengthening of al qaeda linked groups has led to growing infighting between once allied rebels fierce clashes between rival opposition factions have killed at least seven hundred people this week almost one hundred of them are believed to be civilians who were executed by militants from the islamic state of iraq and levant the outbreak of civil war within a civil war has prompted some western politicians who previously rooted for soli for assad's removal to change their stance here are just some of their latest statements now former cia director michael hayden said the assad regime is beginning to look like the lesser of all evils the former u.s. ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker said that agreed that assad

is not as bad as the jihadi russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west manwell oxon writer a german journalist who has just returned from syria says the moderate opposition there is as good as extinct but the term syrian opposition is as strong as it could be this these groups are neither syrian nor real position so they don't have in their interest the good the benefit of the people or of the country these groups are very very often influenced by the west by turkey by the goal of states we have to imagine or to see those groups more like militant gangs like a sort of mafioso those groups who claim about themselves that they reproduce and the moderate position of the mob moderate rebels still want to have any influence

on the bit where we know in the meanwhile that the fights on the ground are told by slamming extremists. infighting within the ranks of syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's due in less than two weeks the syrian national council which is the turkey based opposition group has postponed making a final decision on its participation in the talks because of growing divisions russia's foreign minister is heading to paris to meet the group's leader and persuade him to sit down face to face with the syrian government u.s. secretary of state john kerry is also there raising the pressure on the main western backed opposition group we'll keep you updated on what comes out of the two day meeting in the french capital that might just decide the fate of a long awaited syrian peace talks. support for the e.u. and some of the worst austerity hit european countries has plunged drastically in the last five years the data comes from a new regional poll the study suggests the tumbling approval rating is linked

directly to the budget cuts and economic woes take spain for instance where public support is at a record low or ireland which was just successfully exited its bailout program despite that the after taste of the austerity dictate is still driving the numbers down the euro skeptic u.k. used to top the critics list with only around a third actually back in brussels now it's even lower than that dropping to less than thirty percent. and if money makes the world go round then so it seems do vouchers where for national reports from paris on the system evading the cowboy bankers. these colorful rectangular notes and not money but they have a real value you can go shopping with these bills in your wallet pay for dinner at a restaurant the idea of alternative also called complimentary currencies that people of businesses agree to use for transactions within a particular area

a district quarter with just a street may look like something from a kid's game but the reasons behind it are far from child's play you know his per week first project local currencies stay within the region developing but second ideological a lot of confidence in official comes in to make people want to have something they understand that they can control and that they can trust and not just something that is printed you don't know how with new control and leads to speculation alternative forms of money have a history stretching back decades and appear to be growing in popularity especially in tough financial times you nothing bang splay a lot with money and often risky games but at the end of the day ordinary people have to pay for mistakes and losses this is why people want to have a currency they will be sure will serve them and not go disappear somewhere in fiscal paradises global finance system so banks today's maced famous headline

grabbing alternative currency is the digital big coin but there are dozens of others and he's worldwide in france europe's second largest economy people exchange services and goods via at least twenty different types of complimentary currencies and their numbers are growing. the slain is behind one such project the monthly outside paris she says she never considered paying with anything other than euros until the. vantages of an alternative became clear skin was an american would bother as with the euro is that it's definitely not just a mode of exchange but it also became a mode of speculation to feed banks my local currency to support local projects and develop a real economy on the ground which means it works for us the people. felt his restaurant is part of the project and already a flower shop and the rabbinic supermarket it is on king. here. that are

people in the world of finance that when nothing else but to make people who are all for their own benefit why should we allow them to do that this sticker indicates this restaurant accept cash the red means of fishing a peach in french but also energy and the slogan was i will replace your c.v. is used to express someone is in good health and full of energy which the local currencies here friends certainly seem to be experts claim complementary currencies will never replace an official one however if trust is undermined it hard enough in conventional money people may start looking for a different type of change. from france belgium politician johan velvet felt believes anger over brussels rain is yet to reach its peak. there are now a lot of people especially in the southern european countries and ireland that not

only lost a job 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 may of this year elections for the european parliament you will see a huge increase of the vote for parties that are outright against the european union. coming up on our to international water that makes the land boil oil and gas conflicts will take a back seat in the future because experts predict populations rise it will be blue gold that the fight will be over also. japan becomes a fertile ground for the far right with calls for foreigners to leave and for the army to be ready to go into action if the need arises all the details later on in the program. security is being beefed up and saw the host city of the

upcoming winter olympics tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed there and access to the area is strictly monitored archies paul scott takes a look at what else is being done to keep the game safe. the twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen. to defeat be of sochi. as soon as russia's black sea resort was awarded the game seven years ago. 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 summit seven hundred kilometers from sochi every ignited some of those worries organizers say security has been their main priority since day one from the very beginning of the construction phase the state that's already. made those all that money to prepare the special measures to stop them from this screening of their own

materials checking in all the venue 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 zone stretching sixty kilometers along the coast and twenty five kilometers inland and encompassing all venues. in terms of security so it 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. and those 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 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. altie. the olympic flame meanwhile continues its journey to saatchi the torch relay has been a collection of first ever going as far as the north pole and even out in open space artie's 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 and passed very impressive on the water and then flew the torch back with the man with the jets on to the on to the shore very good video so that 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. 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 ice breaker this huge. ship that can cut through to me to thick ice. is fueled by two gigantic reactors so your visitors it which is a strange feeling in itself yeah go and stand by. but we were going to go to the north pole with the flame and we made it in less than for half a day which was a world record pace and arrived in the middle of the polar nights with the limbic torch in the north pole for the very first time in history. all the highlights of the olympic torch relay across russia and beyond on our website r.t. dot com look for the fall of the flame section. i will be back after

a very short break with the story of cooling relations between washington and afghanistan. kabul stalls essential negotiations over a security deal after american soldiers kill a toddler mistaking him for an armed jihadists. he survived war atrocities. to make a final decision. has changed his life and the world around him. by giving up. hope. and love to so many children. nikolai the american worker on the.

world. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. washington to help of signing a new security agreement with afghanistan before presidential elections there is likely to be shattered that's according to america's top negotiator the deal if signed what allowing portion of u.s. troops to remain in the country after their official withdrawal later this year otherwise afghanistan may be left to deal with the taliban on its own relations

between washington and kabul have been aggravated recently after american soldiers killed a toddler mistaking the child for a militant or former british lieutenant colonel richard williams says it's now crucial how the afghan government copes with its internal problems. i believe that what we try to achieve is to set the conditions whereby an afghan government that can deal in a normal way we can all the groupings involved including the taliban if those conditions are certain easy to be here then what we're likely to see. a compromise between what kabul wants and what the taliban wants which will see afghanistan along over the next period of time perhaps the next ten years but then it's going to be any great strategic victory if we want to call it that were any great strategic outcome. now from on air to online news we've got the story

fukushima's radiation spreading even further despite efforts to contain the hazardous leaks rings have hit eight times the japanese government safety standards even at the edges of the contamination zone. plus tens of thousands of fingerprints of u.k. students are collected in school databases without any consent causing outrage among civil liberty organizations and parents learn more online. the moment like. this if you. like to have you with us here on t.v. today i roll researcher.

or oil and gas conflicts will be superceded by water wars in the future that's the warning from experts and as the world population grows access to clean water resources is rising in price let's take a look at this map now the blue dots mark the places where the conflicts over water disputes broke out since the one nine hundred fifty s. these include small protests as well as more serious large scale clashes there have been one hundred seventy eight disputes and the number of such hotspots is rising one example is the tension in the middle east where the struggle for water is a key issue in some ongoing conflicts artie's policy player reports. the bible tells us that within a short distance from here jesus turned water into wine two thousand years later the great american might be turning the wine back into water bubby carballo has

been living in the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to one yard in orchards keeping his wine in a center that was once a syrian bunker he is proud of the wine he produces but knows that in the absence of water none of this would be possible but i know for sure the water is important because it's the second main resource that we have other than the land each crop needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all of the farming here you can turn the golan heights into a desert and it's not just about the golan heights rainwater from its catchment feeds into the river jordan providing a third of israel's water supply the disputed region with seas from syria after the six day war and residents of the golan remember that water was a key issue in the conflict and one of the stands here understands the importance of the work that all the water supply of israel because every door was raining here

all but one is prone to the security of guarding so we can say that it is and must . respect the prisoner to have all over it's what the fox says it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places there's very little water to go around bring you have the common waterfalls shared by several foreign nations there's always the possibility of clash of riches conflicts that should be manageable was spread out of control and examples of possible conflicts are plentiful syria's major water sources travel through turkey and iraq making it vulnerable while jordan is reliant on a river with syria bill today egypt. recently expressed concern of a countries using the up a novel to generate electric power in the dry landscape of the middle east is a prize more precious than diamonds in its absence famine and drought are quick to

follow but this is a region that's very seldom needs an excuse for war and water shortages might just tip the balance for this year r.t. in the golan heights. as said in the report egypt could become another hotspot of the water wars because of its dispute with ethiopia cairo is angry at a deuce of a buzz dam project on a key tributary of the nile river raising fears that could affect the amount of water reaching the country political science professor sayed said jack says resolving this ra is vital for egypt to stay afloat. we have to remember that egypt has only six to seven percent of its land and the rest of the egyptian territory is there's a lot that can really be a serious effort to mention security and that's why immediately with the still being there is the issue of the how you then of the world solve experts who reviews of the work will both go in to a war was this your view because if you could quote the also that we would be going

eighty five percent of the water. on water comes form and so it's in for two selves and fifty egypt would be one hundred and fifty million people what would happen to egypt. that in fifty if we're going to have more water. let's take a look now at some other headlines around the world starting with thailand where huge crowds of demonstrators are gathering in the capital bangkok ahead of monday's citywide shutdown testers are hoping their actions will bring down the government of prime minister shinzo lot the sister of a former premier who was ousted over corruption claims in two thousand and six officials have deployed some fourteen thousand troops fear in clashes between supporters and opponents of the ruling party. and out of control bushfire in it is raging in western australia threatening both lives and property and emergency warning has been issued for several suburbs officials say fire brigades will be

unable to reach some remote areas and are urging people to do whatever they can to protect their homes. in spain tens of thousands of marched in build build. in favor of peace and human rights and officially though the rally was organized in support of jailed members of the it's all separatist group some demonstrators chanted slogans demanding the prisoners be moved to jails closer to their families is blamed for hundreds of killings during a four decade campaign for an independent boss on land. so. authorities are to provide food water and medical treatment to the crew of a russian fishing fishing vessel caught up in a weeklong diplomatic spat over the seizure of the trawler the ship with eighty two crewmembers on board was taken by force over reports of illegal fishing but with no official explanation from dakar a moscow is call has called it an act of piracy greenpeace stepped in and sided with senegal provoking russia to accuse the african countries government of acting

on a tip off from the environment veyron mental group for now russian diplomats are trying to steer the crisis toward a diplomatic solution to allow the crew to walk free. nationalism seems to be on the up in japan with far right groups protesting against immigration and demanding a reinforced army and as are. found out the angry rhetoric 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 you know the latest protests korean workers were described as cockroaches which needed to be exterminated this man is one of those behind the nationalist

rallies in japan he says he'd like to see japan a more closer citee one or there was an openness and we've been to open to the world now foreigners come here and commit crimes i want us to return to pre-war period where we were closed and self-sufficient despite criticizing the government for its immigration policies the movement could not be feeling more comfortable since twenty twelve when she and so are there 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 for coming on the far right these school teachers have been protesting because they lost their jobs for not complying with what they call ultranationalist regulations in schools. 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 that 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 ensure the peace of our nation without proactively taking a role in the peace and security of the world why don't we take steps forward on the issue of constitution amendment but not everyone is buying it and more far reaching goal could be reshaping the regional balance of power. there's been talk among high profile politicians including former prime ministers on launching a public debate on whether japan should have nuclear weapons it never materialized but it's something that 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.