syria's opposition coalition says yes to attending next week's peace talks in switzerland but can't confirm which delegates will attend this comes amid further doubt over a chemical attack near damascus last year. these rockets could have never been fired from government controlled territory experts from m.i.t. call into question u.s. claims that assad forces were behind the assault. from moscow visited one time obey detention center to meet a russian man incarcerated there without charge for nearly a dozen years. president obama says his much anticipated plans to reform the n.s.a. are a step in the right direction but some critics dismiss proposals as a p.r. stunt that leaves too many unanswered questions and much of the agency's operations untouched.

for am in moscow i am at present very good to have you with us our top story after weeks of dispute and indecision the opposition syrian national coalition finally decided to attend next week's peace talks in geneva but it's still unclear exactly which members of the fractured group will take part in the talks aimed at ending syria's bloody civil war artie's marine important i reports from new york. amid mounting international pressure syria's opposition has decided to take part in next week's geneva two peace talks the group which faces its own internal divisions announced its decision saturday following a meeting in its stamboul now hearts of the syrian opposition were previously critical of taking part in peace negotiations that could help syrian president bashar al assad they say stay in power the syrian national council

a main power opposition bloc even threatened to pull out of the coalition if the general assembly voted in favor of attending the geneva two it seems though however that mounting pressure from the u.s. and western countries cause concessions to be made the conference will be held under the auspices of the un and it's co-sponsored by russia and the u.s. it's scheduled to begin on tuesday january twenty second it is aimed at finding a way to install a transitional government that will subsequently pave the way for to ending the nearly three year old civil war which has reportedly claimed the lives of some one hundred thirty thousand people with one opposition group ready to join the talks it's still not clear if any of the others will follow suit a recent british defense study found that more than one hundred thousand rebels in the country are split into as many as a thousand different groups it says that more than half of those fighting against the assad government are either jihad is or hardline islamist they include foreign

militants fighting for al-qaeda linked factions middle east expert sharmeen now want he says even if the talks are successful the problem of how to deal with jihad is fighters were me. but there's many different factions of the opposition you have the domestic peaceful opposition the n.c.c. that i think is the most likely to be able to strike any kind of deal with the syrian government they have rejected these talks because of the kinds other kinds of oppositions that that might participate and then you have this externally backed opposition you know backed by foreign governments the syrian national coalition these are the ones who have accepted the talks or at least some of this body has access to talk that they're not in any position to negotiate a solution on behalf of the syrian people there are some dangers in these talks even if you had a legitimate opposition sitting across the syrian government and negotiating it doesn't account for the many militias on the ground who are not controlled by any

foreign government or any domestic constituency we're going to have to put a stop to those kind of military activities. and u.s. conclusion that a chemical attack near damascus in august was carried out by the government has been called into question by a team of experts washington blame the assad regime for the attack but a new report from the massachusetts institute of technology finds the rocket attack couldn't have been fired from government controlled areas. we went through two to three months worth of study to determine the types of rockets. the weight the size of the propellant and we determine that the range is on the order of two kilometers i like to make a note that the u.n. also had come up with a range of approximately two kilometers so this is very confused to us in our studies and we're trying to understand exactly what the white house map means because right now as it stands these rockets could have never been fired from

government controlled territory they would be fired more from a rebel type of territory or a border of a contested territory so it seems something in the official u.s. conclusions doesn't add up or he's like sara share scheme took a closer look at the mit study. we reproduced the very same map which the washington officials presented when they voiced their concerns that the attack could have been carried out by the government troops look if you look here this is the part of damascus controlled by the government at the time which was of course the twenty first of august twenty third scene and this is the part of damascus controlled by the opposition troops so if we see we can see those blinking yellow sports those are the areas where the missiles carrying the sarin gas hit the ground causing some deadly damage and reportedly hundreds of casualties and this red line

here is basically to signify how far could these rockets go if they were fired from the parts of damascus controlled by the government as we can see the closest the westernmost point of attack of the sarin missiles is some way off from the maximum range of missiles this particular type of missile which was used in this attack the maximum range of these missiles is about two kilometers well this point here is at least four kilometers from the eastern more support of the government controlled areas of damascus at that time and if we talk about the heart of this area controlled by the government which was mentioned by the u.s. state secretary john kerry that's at least eight to nine kilometers from the easternmost this report basically does not lay blame on any side and does not say whether there were those were the rebels who performed these attacks using chemicals but what it does though it seriously puts under doubt that the quality of intelligence and as to why the u.s.

authorities used what seems to be incomplete or even flawed intelligence data to voice their concerns and if we remember what u.s. state secretary john kerry said back then the claims were quite solid high confidence this is common sense this is evidence. these are facts also this report speculates at one point that it could have this wrong data could have been used in a similar fashion as the attack on iraq when wrong information was used as a pretext to launch a military operation official washington hasn't yet responded to this latest report by the mit researches as violence rages in syria the country is turning into a major drug producer both rebels and the army reportedly taking amphetamines to keep up their energy and stay going during battles a report on that still to come. but first after ten years of attempts officials from moscow finally got access to the only russian

national still at guantanamo bay a delegation from russia's foreign ministry human rights envoy met with a detainee being held at the prison despite never being charge efforts to secure his release but the priority of the visit along with ensuring his human rights were respected consultations were help with the pentagon as well as get no officials on the group was also given a limited tour of the facility my colleague kevin owen spoke with the head of russia's delegation in constantine dog of this it'll go if you met the russian national held in guantanamo what do they have to say about his ordeal it was the first. meeting with him we have been trying to organize your meeting for quite some time for several years he told us about old equate the number of very serious incidents which happened with some other detainees people whom he personally knows did he give you any details but he himself witnessed the aftermath of the use of methods we

look impeccable we the international norms and regulations do you feel you could talk freely to you. well and so is it will say this man has been under duress for almost twelve years so it's difficult to expect that suddenly he started speaking completely freely the most important probably. element of his that was to convey that message to the emitter go that if we americans say that we insist they have his way it's and legitimate interests. and they quickly taken care of these is a. principle position of the russian government. if you know the russians who does them abroad and in a statement after the official visit told of said guantanamo falls below basic international standards that's a view backed by human rights groups say thirty three detainees at guantanamo are

currently on a hunger strike that's double the number in the past month the cat military authorities refusing to release any new figures on the matter authorities saying the release of information on hunger strikers detracts from more important issues including the welfare of detainees and the safety of troops clive stafford smith is a lawyer for several detainees and he says he's seen some of the tactics used by the military. if a prisoner from camp six which is the least bad can goes on hunger strike they automatically get transferred not just can't fly but can't fight back which really has been the most abusive place in all the content of the day prisoners are held in an all steel cell and denied the most basic human rights just as a punishment for going on strike but force feeding techniques are very much an action unfortunately again it's the very abusive or speeding techniques i mean casting aside the question of whether it's that the culture coarsely to tourne the world medical association says it's not you know unfortunately the techniques they

using grant groups your assistant or so for example and i've witnessed some of this that they used to leave but use up the prisoners noses to hurt so much they're still pulling those tubes out every single time twice a day forcing them back up each time they're still forcing far too much too quickly into the prisoner making prisoners sick if you're sick they just carry on doing it it really is horrendous what's not. still to come leaving a lot via the baltic nation watching as thousands of school professionals head for the exit to escape the euro zone we look at what's driving them away after a short break. the playing. field in big spirit travels with the flame from its place in

greece. julian jaynes for an elemental and a picture of a room russia and beyond. where mike.

thanks for staying with us thirteen minutes past the hour washington will not dismantle the global spy network the ausman of a major overhaul of the n.s.a. outlined by president obama failed to provide any detail on when the collection of data will be stopped or whether it will be halted at all critics say the plan for deep reform is just a facelift artie's sam sachs explains. after nearly seven months of n.s.a. disclosures president obama finally came forward with reforms to the spy agency acknowledging that the current capabilities of the n.s.a. do leave open the possibility of abuse given the unique power of the state it is not enough for leaders to say trust us we want to be use the data we collect for history has too many examples when that trust has been breached. our such a system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on the good intentions of those in power the president address the n.s.a.'s most controversial program section two fifteen bulk telephone metadata collection

basically the president no longer wants the government to be in control of these massive metadata databases but that doesn't mean the president wants to get rid of bulk collection in fact the bulk collection of virtually every american is metadata will continue indefinitely and the new restrictions announced by the president requiring the n.s.a. to obtain pfizer court approval before searching all that metadata doesn't satisfy privacy advocates who argue the pfizer court has acted and will continue to act as a rubber stamp nothing in obama's speech put any rain rain dan this collected all approach and yesterday bit there was a big revelation of a call dish fire program that just fire program was collecting all text calls literally hundreds of thousands of text calls every day are going into the n.s.a.'s vacuum it's gigantic coober regarding spying on foreign leaders the president said

he's put an end to surveillance on friends and allies but did not say the n.s.a. will stop spying on diplomats nothing about the n.s.a. breaking encryption standards and ports that the n.s.a. has been breaking into the data links on google and yahoo servers while some specific reforms were introduced how exactly they will be implemented moving forward remains to be seen especially since the same government agencies that have overseen the massive growth of the surveillance state are now the ones tasked with reigning into it washington d.c. same sex party. obama's speech on the n.s.a. was met with criticism in some of the countries spied upon germany's justice minister said a written agreement is needed to stop it he was supported by a brazilian legislator who thinks the u.s. has little respect for international partners one euro m.p. things washington is just paying lip service to make everyone feel better earlier activist blogger david swanson told us why he thinks he's among those left on the satisfied by the president's address it wouldn't call it a reform i would call it the ongoing normalization of the outrageous policy of

violating the fourth amendment on an enormous scale we're learning more as every week goes by about what they're collecting in terms of text messages and e-mails and the metadata and it's it's voluminous and the president is is not can admitting that anything has been done wrong is not proposing to stop doing it is not suggesting we restore the fourth amendment to the constitution he's suggesting that this will continue and it will be reformed perhaps in part someday but he claims it's been a great step forward i don't see it. on line for you police in texas left red faced after two officers were a little too quick on the draw after one houston resident was in pain for more than an hour after giving the homeless man some change what do the cops do to arrest him find out online plus. the beads you get the south american drug cartels the air

force is given the green light to shoot down any plane that could be carrying narcotics will it have the desired effect or could innocent lives be in the line of fire find out on r t dot com. it's a. pleasure to have you with us here today on recession. fighters on both sides of the syrian civil war are turning to drugs as both a source of funding and for staying power in battle according to

a recent media investigation the soaring export of illegal amphetamines has turn syria into a major drug hub as are he summary of an ocean of reports. with syria about to entering its fourth devastating year of war the lack of law and structure has allowed one dark industry to flourish the country has become the number one producer of a drug known as caps and gone since synthetic stimulants were first manufactured in the one nine hundred sixty s. and it was at that time used as a medicine to treat hyperactivity and depression but it's too addictive and this is why it was banned in most countries so here in the middle east it's still very popular it's cheap and it's easier to get but today syria not only produces more than any other country in the region but it's also kept a close main consumers believe that five terrorists are taking the pills to maintain vigorous energy levels your elevenses battles because it helps you keep

awaken for hours and hours but there are also reports that ordinary citizens those who've been living in depression and in this war and chaos for almost three years now are also hoping to the drug for these capers two for rare aid gives them and it's lucrative it's between fifteen and twenty doors a pill and the right hundreds of millions of them been taking all trafficked and there is evidence that the revenue raised is buying weapons from both sides of the syrian conflict the un office on drugs and crime. has been reporting that syria which is located at the crossroads here in the region has for a long time been a transit point for the drug going from europe to turkey and lebanon but since the war began captagon trades gone the mastic and factories are appearing these days although across syria and production has increased and sales and booming here

elaborate on the authorities seized around two hundred million dollars worth of tabla. lost here mostly hayden and the tracks go in through the syrian lebanese border for all that any noise from where they a sheep to its final destination included the gulf countries some of the most ardent supporters of the syrian opposition and saudi arabia where around a billion dollars worth of the drug was seized just last week authorities saying this is nothing but just ten percent of the real turnover of the drug and became dim. russia's national counterterror committee says seven militants were killed in the southern republic of dagestan security forces trying to negotiate with a group who are holed up in a house but they opened fire it's not among the dead were those responsible for friday's grenade attack on a restaurant that was followed by a car bomb that injured at least sixteen people another was the leader of a local gang and a third was a friend of a female suicide bomber who carried out

a terror attack in volgograd in october the woman was also said to be preparing for a suicide bombing and wanted by russian forces. to some other international headlines riot police fired water cannons and scuffle with protesters in istanbul demonstrators flooded the streets to express discontent at a draft bill that would restrict internet access the government wants to keep records of online activity and banned sites for alleged privacy violation without the need for a court order if passed internet service providers will be required to join an internet union under central control. a day of iraqi bloodshed has left at least thirty dead in militant violence seventeen died more than seventy were injured as multiple bombings rocked baghdad in the west of the city jail seized by gunmen leading to the escape of dozens of prisoners and this after six were killed in a suicide blast and shelling in the restive on bar province outside the capital. in ukraine's capital kiev clashes erupted between pro and anti-government activists

violence broke out when government supporters tried to push back protesters blocking one of the city's main streets this just days after president signed into law a bill banning similar rallies demonstrations have gripped the capital for nearly two months following the rejection of a trade agreement with the e.u. . a lot of the it may be europe's fastest growing economy but it's also the youngest and poorest member sharp bends on the road to prosperity have proven too much for many of the thousands of professionals leaving the country artie's paul scott has details so today is one of thousands of workers who will leave latvia this year but his destination is perhaps surprising to be leaving this state to work in azerbaijan and this is the. life is always hard but in this country it's harder as the government is much more concerned by politics not economics and the life of the common man so that he isn't the only one the world bank says not

because population is shrinking by almost sixty thousand people per year. i feel i'm not alone the governments are squeezing everybody wants and more and more from us for less money between two thousand and nine and two thousand and twelve not be as population fell by around ten percent in a country of only two million people this decline is sharply felt especially since those leaving a mostly of working age each. the major work force males from twenty to forty go and find jobs abroad and then move their families over this leaves just older people this demographic shift poses significant economic challenges which the government says it's keen to try and tackle. there is a government program to return people from that fear but it doesn't work they pay for people to return but there's still no work for them the only way out is to create new jobs and a suitable atmosphere for investment but it isn't happening and over the next twenty years the population will decrease another third so as leaders desperately

try to arrest the worrying trend the message from at least one of those with bags packed for a better life elsewhere is simple. the government has to stop its aggressive social policies and lower taxes so that people can live and not simply survive. scott r.t. latvia. highlights of the olympic torch is journey to sochi on r.t. international stay with us. because you don't 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 exactly 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.

we have corruption like we've never head in this country you can say that this is a great economy right now it's a great economy if you're rich and were trying to get the wall to wall street cranked up again if you've got all your money in stocks it's beginning to show a little life. it's not if you're an average person in this country i would have to tend to agree with doug i mean i see a lot of public relations here i don't see a lot of really good policy for the average person i'd just like to pick up on an earlier point that doug made though which i also thought was quite important and significant especially in so far as historians can provide value by looking for trends and putting things in context which was the assassination of a u.s. citizen overseas really you might say the power of a king to have life or death over their citizens without without an open trial.

on june sixteenth one thousand forty one we had a graduation party at school and the war broke out. the shops were always full of goods. in september leningrad was blocked. to sort of all the shelves were empty. in november the. warehouses it was the main storage place for all the food in the city people would eating the earth because it had small traces of sugar in it i tried to eat it as well but i couldn't. credibly heavy bombing. it was a direct very shelter and everyone was buried underneath. all of them.

please be cool language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks about seventy ip interviews intriguing stories for you to. see in trying.

to find out more visit our big teeth don't call. it was supposed to be just another news or of course although admittedly for a special occasion it was one hundred twenty three days before the start of the winter olympic games in sochi and i was in greece for the lighting of the olympic flame the ruins of a limpia one of the most famous monuments of ancient greece the site of the very first olympic games where stones like this would have been part of the temple. the temple of the. temple of.