al qaeda militants are controlling major cities in western iraq a show of strength not seen since their battles with u.s. forces a decade ago we look at who these insurgents are and how they became so strong. while in syria al-qaeda linked rebels and other opposition groups are engulfed in bloody infighting the forthcoming peace talks are under threat from the growing divisions among those aiming to topple assad. approval ratings for you leaders dip into an all time low as a handful of bloc members face economic hardships tough times are being met with people in the countries adopting new currencies. these colorful rick tend not to money but they have

a real value. that the government always acts in their best interests more people are starting to view supplementary currencies as an alternative to europe. playing it safe concerns are growing about how visitors will be protected at russia's fourth coming winter olympics our team is in sochi to see what is being done to secure the olympic host city. and broadcast live from our studios in moscow this is our thomas let's take a look at our top stories now al qaeda affiliated militants have been occupying key areas in iraq's on bar province for over two weeks now tanks have been deployed in the provincial capital ramadi and the army hasn't been able to drive insurgents out

of nearby floozy either militants haven't had such open control in a major iraqi city since the u.s. led invasion in two thousand and three artie's again it's looks at why they're gaining strength. young. with whom. they run on chaos in goal and by the fighting in syria these al qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq including the city of the literature we have said earlier about the serious story 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 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 be asked you to relieve it along

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 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. says they should 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 is more missiles we heard the u.s. government say they decimated al qaeda is needed but the groups that continue their

cause 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. are clear the jihadists entrenched in iraq's western province are from a group called the islamic state of iraq and the levant a u.s. military publication says the organization expanded its influence significantly last year and now boasts over five thousand members it was formed back in two thousand and four a year after the u.s. led invasion in iraq began these sunni extremists were initially known as al qaeda in iraq after pledging allegiance to the infamous organization the group's leader said this summer that its goals are to tear down the border between iraq and syria and destroy both governments many of its members are fighting against president assad in syria and the group says they carried out a suicide blast in lebanon

a couple of weeks ago and care guard is a former danish intelligence officer who served in iraq he believes that al qaeda is as strong as ever and that iraqi security forces are overmatched in my opinion. has never been on the run it might have been downscaling due to pressure but once this precious lifted the organization is back in full force and it uses these. pulses to regain its bring the fighting ability of these the isis for instance is very strong but very contained to the localized battles and one thing. isis and the rebels has is is them and that they want to continue fighting and the iraqi army really hasn't got a chance to fight these militias. and to all to ready kate them. 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 according to the syrian observatory for human rights almost one hundred of them are believed to be civilians who were executed by militants from the islamic state of iraq and love and now the outbreak of a war within a war has prompted some western politicians and others who previously rooted soley for assad's removal to change their stance here are just some of the latest statements former cia director michael hayden said that the assad regime is beginning to look like is the lesser of all evils you know the former u.s. ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realization of this in the west infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that is due in less than two weeks the world's top diplomats

are in paris right now to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council in to taking part now meanwhile u.s. secretary of state john kerry has already expressed his confidence that the council will participate in the peace talks but journalist john white believes that the s.n.c. lost its status on the ground a long time ago. it seemed clear there since he sprayed it with the credibility on the ground it can deliver nothing on the ground over the rebel factions or water so she could save the city or most of them from her their faith to other groups so or the u.s. administration is increasingly desperate to try and coupled together of some kind of syrian opposition and they can do business with this city in a position to show the city national council you know really only exists and saves . and it only exists. us passionate so this is

increasingly seems like a few process that is about to hit the ball. now the past five years could hardly be called the good times for leadership it has seen public support and confidence in lawmakers diminishing and eventually hitting a record low the data comes from a new regional poll now the study suggests that the tumbling approval ratings are linked directly to the budget cuts and economic woes take spain of for instance where the public support is drastically low or even ireland which is just successfully exited its bailout program despite that though the aftermath of the ease austerity demands 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 below thirty percent disappointed with some of economic solutions proposed by lawmakers

some e.u. citizens are taking the matter into their own hands and are turning to alternative currencies tea's ready for moshe went to visit the creators of a new local currency in paris which is out of the reach of the wheelers and dealers in the stock market. these colorful rich tangible notes and not just money but they have a real value you can go shopping with these bills in your wallet. at the restaurant . the idea tentative also called complimentary currencies that people of businesses agree to use for transactions within a particular area a district quarter were just a street may look like something from a kid's game but the reasons behind it are far from child's play. partick first prodding of local currencies stay within the region develop high peaks second that ideological you have a lot of confidence in official commerce and i think people want to have something they understand that they can control and that they can trust 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 tough financial times on the reason enough of a man splay a lot with money and often risky games but i'd be under the day ordinary people have to pay for mistakes and losses this is why people want to have a currency that they will be sure will serve them and not go disappear somewhere in place called paradise as global finance system so monks 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 a lot of the slain is behind one such project the one probably outside paris she

says she never considered paying with anything other than euros until the advantages of an alternative became clear. but as with the euro is that it is definitely not just a mode of exchange but it all. the became a mode of speculation to feed banks my local currency and support local projects and develop a real economy on the ground which means it works for us the people. now because restaurant is part of the project and only the flower shop and that any supermarket it is on can. he. that are people in the world of finance that will nothing else but to make people pewter all for their own benefit why should we allow them to do that this sticker indicates this restaurant accept cash the red means to fish a no peach in french but also energy and the slogan was over your seed 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 and conventional money people may start looking for a different type of change brief notion ati from france. iran and of the six world powers have announced the date when they will officially begin implementing the nuclear deal reached in november on january twentieth tehran is set to start scaling back its atomic program the process is said to be completed in half a year period that to agreement covers in response four point two billion dollars of iranian assets will be unfrozen in several stages despite this agreement the push for fresh ancients is gaining new supporters in the u.s. congress president barack obama has already stated he will veto any such bill should one be passed some experts think that western powers may have reasons to be

looking at forward center for reintegration into the world's economy. the fact of the matter is the reason there's this detente with is to we've got two factions we've got the the military. is really. actually one side that could never have peace with iran no matter what and then you have the fact that the world the west and the world needs iran they need the liquidity from petrochemical exports they need trade there's a stack of global stagnation economically right now and opening up iran into the world trading theater is going to do a lot to increase trade and obviously move money around the world and goods and services back and forth at a time when it's much needed so there's two two camps here battling it out one to keep iran closed and other camps would like to see it open for trade. so there is a natural resource more precious than oil and it is so scarce in certain areas of

the middle east that it could spark major conflicts later in the program we'll look into how a lack of water could become a tipping point in a number of already volatile regions plus. japan is becoming a fertile ground for the far right with the nationalists calling for the country to regain its self-respect and reassert its presence in stories and much much more after a break you're watching. if you. know opportunity. to start to construct your. kids don't want to be in bed. don't want to meet gangsters you don't want to. deal with they don't want to blow with the time the kid came be we can see. you

just me because i was like in the hood. i said. i don't want to die i just really do not want to die young. and welcome back you're watching our team now tens of thousands of police officers

are carefully monitoring access to olympic venues and transport hubs that is what security is like now in sochi as they prepare to host russia's first ever winter games in about three and a half weeks. toured the resort city to see what else is being done to protect athletes and spectators. the twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen. to defeat the. i 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 some 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. made those months to prepare the special measures to stop them from the screening of their own materials checking in all the venue. incredible measures of the security to provide a 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 for 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. in terms of security so it is a special case because this whole area is authorized visit is 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 with the bulk of the work now complete with all venues and transport networks built and tested sochi. just waiting for the sporting world to descend. altie. the u.k. is battling a new wave of floods the extreme weather has turned some areas into islands food alerts flood alerts are in place across the nation on the in motion section of our website we've got footage and all of the details. plus metros around the world saw scores of people in their underwear taking part in no pants subway ride today the annual event began twelve years ago in new york and has spread globally you can head to our to dot com for the full story and photos as

well. oiled and gas that conflicts will be superseded by water wars in the future that is the warning from experts as the world's population grows access to clean water resources is rising in price let's take a look at this map the blue dots that you see marked the places where conflicts over water disputes have broken 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 hotspots is rising in particular the struggle for water in the middle east is a key issue in some ongoing conflicts artie's policy here 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 but has been living in

the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to his many arden 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 don't know your question in water isn't working because it's the second main resource that we have other than the lamb who. needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all 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 food of israel's water supply the disputed region was seized 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 and the stones the borders of the world that all the water supply of israel because every door was raining here all but one is prone to the security of the so we can say that it is there

must. respect the prisoner to have all over what the forces it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places this very issue which has to go around when you have the common waterfalls shared by several foreign nations is always a possibility of pressure reaches conflicts that should be manageable for spit 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 also recently expressed concern of a. to generate electric power in the drying landscape of the middle east is a prize most precious thing diamonds in its absence famine and drought a quick to follow but this is

a region that very seldom needs an excuse for war and water shortages might just tip the balance. in the golan heights in senegal port authorities in dakar have promised to provide food water and medical treatment to the crew of a russian fishing vessel they were caught up in a weeklong diplomatic spat over the seizure of the trawler the ship with eighty true crew members on board was taken by force after being accused of trolling in the country's coastal waters but with no official explanation from the car moscow has called it an act of piracy and greenpeace stepped in and sided with senegal provoking russia to accuse the african countries government of acting on a tip off from the internet and in from the environmental group for now russian diplomats are undertaking steps to assist the vessel with obtaining its earliest liberation and parcher but senegalese official has demanded russia pay a fine for the release of the ship. so take a look at some other news making headlines around the world this hour police in egypt have fired tear gas at supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsy

during clashes at cairo's main universities nineteen protesters have been detained and several injured in the fresh outbreak of violence comes just two days before the planned vote on a draft constitution. at least twenty one people have been killed and dozens injured in explosions and in military clashes across iraq the capital baghdad was hit with two car bombs with the worst blast targeted morning community at a popular bus station on at least nine their violence has been on the rise in iraq in recent months reaching levels not seen since two thousand and eight. nationalist voices are getting louder in japan the far right groups are calling for a stronger country with a tougher immigration policy and beefed up army. found out the angry rhetoric is forcing some difficult questions and a big. 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 and all their wants 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 coffeetable 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 for nationals and delegations getting the stick from japanese nationalists there are locals who have directly suffered from their country becoming 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 part 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 ensure the peace of a 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. among high profile politicians including former prime minister is 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 getting louder polls suggest that such ideas are still some way from becoming reality let's see russia's t.r.t. reporting from japan. well coming up after the break r.t. talks with activists and residents in new orleans about how to hold the cycle of violence the city has suffered for decades. because he doubted states is the big dog the only hyper power and the cultural driving force of globalization it takes a lot of flak i mean globalization means the whole world gets hollywood and hot

dogs and not the other way around so let's take a break from the negativity and talk about something truly amazing about america and as a guy who lives in moscow i could say that the constitution of the united states is something truly amazing in russia there is constant talk about needing a new national idea a new ideology or political theory or big changes to the russian constitution and so on and it's hard for people in america understand this but twice in the twentieth century the system that russians gave their lives for collapsed and the current constitution was written quickly after a period of violence and said collapse not after a glorious victory now you see why people here are. actually memorizing amendments and founding fathers quotes here in america there are debates between liberals and conservatives but almost everyone believes the constitution and it is america's greatest strength there is a national idea that is a sacred document with a list of rules as almost universally agreed upon everyone with half a brain on the street but sadly not in congress knows when something is against the constitution or should i say against america near universal belief in the

constitution is actually something truly exceptional about america but that's just my opinion. oh my god. ok are you going to have been thinking of think about this. for ya know a couple. who. theory. for . by what i know about seven people a good man got to buy the guy says so yeah it is like a run through my fam but that's the close of my brothers and know about ten people who have than i managed all the my brightest and care every day i walk out my house the hour feel right and nobody sixty and people think yeah they all died before even time seventeen as is almost natural edge in the sun about oh gosh i live you

know nobody's summer oh it's a. carrot and in my day the current decade will move on it's an amount. you to see somebody laid there in the call way that on no bottom for the seed a need to send out a young gays can explore my lives a lot more than. the first that they happen because the violence it was like you know was shot there but we came together.