reaching out to protesters the u.s. secretary of state will meet ukraine's opposition leaders for the first time in munich this as washington considers sanctions against the gulf. a crisis in capital punishment the shortage of lethal drugs forces america's death penalty states to look at alternative often more painful methods of execution. but you know. bleeding we talked to experts to find out what condemned prisoners face if there are no drugs left to kill them. at all if he slips into the olympic sliding center to find out what awaits the. skeletons competing for the medals the twenty fourteen.

thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. international. world headlines live from moscow the u.s. secretary of state john kerry will meet ukraine's opposition leaders for the first time this on the sidelines of a security conference in munich on saturday and washington is also keeping up the pressure on president got to cope it sure is now on sick leave calling on him to resolve the crisis threatening restrictions if he doesn't. we're willing to consider sanctions no decision has been made meanwhile the divide in ukraine appears to be widening as ati's alexy at a sharp speed now reports from kenya. ukraine is now in an absolutely unique situation i don't think there's ever been anything compared to what is happening in the country right now half of it is now paralyzed with the regional administrations

taken over by the protesters making it completely impossible for this part of the country to be properly governed by the authorities there already been cases we've heard reports that some of this and some of the reasons authorities are actually running their regions online exchanging correspondence through different messaging services was there and label to go to their work their regional ministrations have been blocked and there's no chance of a compromise as of now and to give you a proper feeling of what it's like in the heart of the protest in the west of ukraine my colleague paulus near did this report. this is the regional administration building event notes on cards skin western ukraine where at the till a week ago the regional governor had his office but as you can see just liking kiev's there is now a giant barricade surrounding the building with snow tires and planks of wood radical and and he russian this is the heartland of nationalism wear and tear on

the common sentiment runs deep and that's the way an italian and her comrades want to keep it the twenty nine year old entrepreneur has been here since the building was overthrown she says work can wait this is more important than will which is supposed to have no president bush is going to have you know call which but what the opposition has fragmented as it is that tally is the first to admit no yanna coverage could well mean an alkie well with me bishop along with the problem is that we don't have any person to replace him and we will need to take someone from their position which won't be easy the sentiments blown across central and western ukraine where regional offices are being picketed and seized by protesters i believe that a greek writing radicals some wearing masks stormed the municipal building chanting we have the power they used fire extinguishers and wooden sticks against police. in china gov the demonstrators set up barricades made

a vehicle pass and sacks of snow they demanded police in the building was similar scenes played out and she can see where protesters trying to set light to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. the anger has moved even further westwards. ski protests descend ukrainian hymns while ignoring the governor's attempts to disperse them. in a van or from coffs those now laying siege to the municipality building a forbidden any symbols or sentiments of the ruling party. they claim it goes against the will of the ukrainian people no one knows where the head of the administration is there are parts of this building that are still functioning for example the day to day running of the city but on a political level everything is come to a standstill all this process might. lead to door division of the country of course also result in some arab spring helps in the long term

perspective i despite the criticism of you on the coverage these protestors have nothing better to offer policia r.t. ivana from costs western ukraine. and the assistant of secretary of state of victoria nuland has plans to visit ukraine again you can head to r.t. dot com for more details on that and also to follow the minute by minute updates on this ongoing turbulent situation. phenomenology international u.s. lawmakers are looking for alternatives to help them kill the lethal injection drugs used to execute prisoners on death row are in short supply and there's concern over how effective they are anyway and some of the other methods being considered are not the new all or campaigners say humane more important. in just the

first month of twenty fourteen six executions have already been carried out on u.s. death row inmates however the shortage of drugs coupled with an increasing concern surrounding the efficiency of lethal injection has prompted lawmakers in some states to push for the reintroduction of the long abandoned torturous methods in missouri some officials have raised the notion of rebuilding the state's gas chamber and also proposed making firing squads an option for executions death by gun has also been proposed as an option in wyoming meanwhile in virginia there's been a push to make electrocution an option so why are u.s. states now advocating to bring back these relics of the past in recent years european drug makers have stopped selling their drugs to prisons because they say they don't want their products to be used to kill prisoners as a result many u.s. executions have been delayed in other cases the use of new drugs for lethal

injection caused slow painful deaths lasting over twenty minutes richard dieter of the death penalty information center says old execution methods being advocated are prone to even more mistakes you can imagine with a firing squad you know someone stumbling in only partly. leaving it you know these are things that are also prone to to error to pain to to you know revulsion from the public and so states. to protect. to lethal injection so to go back would certainly jeopardize the whole purpose of carrying to carry out executions some us states already provide alternatives to lethal injection alabama arkansas florida kentucky oklahoma south carolina tennessee and virginia it administer the electric chair if requested by the defendant delaware new hampshire and washington state allow inmates to choose hanging while arizona

and wyoming legally allow gas chamber executions as an alternative currently lethal injection remains the only enforceable method of execution in the u.s. but if states get their way somewhere down the line death by firing squad or electric chair may become the new norm in america reporting from new york. r.t. . still ahead for you here on the program afghanistan faces the looming threat of a taliban were. the militant group gaining strength in washington to wrangle over a post security deal. britain and france is set to pool the cash to come up with the new deadly drones despite the growing evidence from the criticism about the number of civilians falling victim to. this and much more just ahead for you on our t.v. international. it's

a. very hard to take a. look. well i do that. with that right there.

for the. it's ten minutes past the hour here in moscow time is ticking away before american troops can pull out of afghanistan and the security pact which will map out the supportive role they'll play when that combat mission is over remains in limbo relations between washington and kabul they're headed for the deep freeze as all season reports the taliban could end up being the ones to benefit. after thirteen years in afghanistan washington is counting down together with our allies we will complete our mission bear by the end of this year and america's longest war will finally be over. but ending

a war isn't the same as winning one when it comes to afghanistan peace is far from certain the taliban have been active in the past two weeks alone the group has staged numerous attacks in kabul kandahar nimrods helmont and nanga har in fact ministry of interior incident reports reveal clashes with the taliban in most of the eleven provinces bordering pakistan the group also controls several districts in parwan just a short drive from the country's capital some provinces are believed to be controlled by shadow governments that answer directly to the taliban on that anyone not the taliban run their area the district government is just. but there is no real security. and it could get worse a classified american intelligence assessment warns that the initial objective in afghanistan removing the taliban and disabling al qaeda as operations in the country could fail and that the taliban could return in full swing by twenty seventeen the u.s.

wants some troops to remain in the country by the pentagon's logic the pursuit of terrorists is best based in the region the same goes for u.s. drones and without american help the afghan army could collapse but the u.s. first needs the afghan president to sign off on a key security pact something he has been refusing to do so far. now our position continues to be that if we cannot conclude a bilateral security agreement promptly then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post twenty fourteen future in which there would be no u.s. or nato troop presence in afghanistan there's also the issue of talking with the enemy the consensus seems to be that the afghan war could only end in a negotiated settlement with the taliban not a military victory but that's proven elusive the taliban are internally divided and the rift between kabul and washington has reportedly empowered hardline commanders who want to keep on fighting at the expense of those who support peace talks the

u.s. war has succeeded in toppling the taliban regime and many afghans have seen their lives improve but those gains could easily be lost depending on who wins control over afghanistan a country that's once again could be up for grabs reporting in washington for our team i'm lucy catherine. and washington has spent billions waging the afghan war and is still spending despite its mission not winding down since two thousand and one it has cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and here's what is still to come in two thousand and fourteen every american soldier serving in afghanistan will cost an average of two point one million dollars and withdrawing is not cheap either the u.s. has decided not to ship back more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment that will be destroyed and a brand new military headquarters built in twenty thirteen at a cost of thirty four million bucks will probably never be used and with the u.s. troops pulling out the afghan government will have to reach

a deal with the taliban that's according to richard williams a former british s.a.'s officer. president karzai. those who have seen with him as they approach these next elections. and his supporters and those who he is supporting in the elections need to do a deal with the taliban going forward in twenty fifteen the taliban in certain provinces the conflict provinces in the south certainly will be the dominant political element and as the president goes forward there's going to need to be an accommodation with them so this is a political gesture and so yes he is taking risks with the lives of his own soldiers the afghan army and afghan police are all fighting hard at the moment in these conflict provinces yes he's taking risks there but it's for a higher purpose and the higher purpose is clearly some form of political solution with the taliban let's take this further here on r.t.

international and cross live to kabul and talk to political analyst hakimi hello to you sir from moscow thanks so much for joining us today the u.s. has spent billions in afghanistan is going to spend on load more just to leave do you think it's money well spent. actually. came to afghanistan in two thousand and one for many residents and they have many goals to reach it but unfortunately the united states and its ally couldn't reach for instance. to remove the taliban regime and to defeat al qaeda to state to build a state in afghanistan a democratic state to fight. in afghanistan. or facing a lot of problems feels taliban and al qaeda still remain at large and taliban are

fighting the americans threw up the american troops and international troops on the ground and they are getting improved. on. the ground and. afghanistan is the first corrupt country in the war and. international community felt the democratic. say that. continues to thrive you say that democracy hasn't been established the government is corrupt you talk about al qaeda and the taliban in a state of resurgence will the local security forces be able to handle this environment when american troops withdraw. and this issue of deer is another feller of american. and international community and afghanistan because they end up past ten years they were not able to build afghan

security force forces to be able to be able to face the challenges the challenges in this country and. to be able in the future to confront the challenges and taliban forces and the taliban fighters and the. forces. in afghanistan and international community as well couldn't stop neighboring countries interference in afghanistan because every every neighboring country in afghanistan. some elements and some politicians and some insurgents in afghanistan against the americans and against the government i mean that is let's i mean if we can just let's bring in the americans so you referred to washington your for washington and capitol hill here president karzai is urging washington to join peace talks with the taliban and we've all heard this song and dance time and time again but perhaps this time though we should be optimistic. of course there is

a lot of problems still on the way and in negotiation with the taliban and other are elements in afghanistan the united states and its allies paid a lot of money a huge amount of money in this way but dealer is new and any progress. in this because the taliban rejected the nuclear negotiation with the government of afghanistan and even went that the united states was there was some round off negotiations between the taliban and the united states but it has it has stopped and your is no negotiation now where the taliban. and the government of afghanistan tried a lot in the past five to six years to bring the taliban to negotiation table but the taliban rejected india as new hope that the taliban in the future well join the peace process with the government of afghanistan that's a pretty grim forecast there from kabul based political analyst thank you very much for joining us today here on r.t.

international. well over a dot com right now an oil giant claims victory in court and stops an american woman from being able to move around all of us of our own property because she criticized fracking powerful stories online for you right now and. why is this one as well cut and paste isn't just for your keyboard anymore chinese researches have created genetically modified monkeys by copying d.n.a. into living beings you can head over to the web site right now to see if indeed this can help humans. right the sea. first rate. and i think you're. going to.

be in the. good to have you with us today the world update shortly on the program but for now britain and france have pooled technological and financial efforts to build the latest line and lethal cutting edge drone and the production of the new prototype drones will not begin for at least three years the two countries want to produce an alternative to u.s. made unmanned aerial vehicles and despite the controversy surrounding the technology both sides insist that drones are essential for their militaries however one activist told me that the u.k. and france are just following america's policies ultimately devaluing the lives of civilians. it becomes very easy to sell a war based on drones to the domestic audience because there's no soldiers there's no m. and there's no pilots put in their lives at risk. this makes drone warfare. fairly acceptable to most countries in terms of the collateral damage yes we have we have

missiles there do kill those in the surrounding area and i don't think that even the british military take much care if they need to take out what they consider an insurgent if there is in a crowd of people i think we carry on anyway certainly the cia drone attacks of been known to do that. even when there's only one person in the vicinity we've done it we've managed to kill one person and it's turned right or that they've been civilians this case is going on in the u.k. at the moment who by afghan civilians because their family members were killed. by let's get a global snapshot for your improved heroin r.t. international elevated levels of radiation have been detected of a nuclear reprocessing plant in the u.k. nonessential staff at the sellafield site were told to stay home while other employees are still working as normal at the plant formerly known as windscale suffered the worst nuclear accident in british history a nine hundred fifty seven when a fire caused a major leak of radiation. the u.s.

has expressed discontent over syria's efforts to destroy its chemical weapons calling on the country to comply with the un resolution just four percent of the declared toxic stock has been eliminated so far the first deadline has been missed and the postponed date of february the fifth is also unlikely to be met and is just a day since america's chief of intelligence claims syria's government laboratories are still capable of developing biological weapons. thousands of israelis about their knees at jerusalem's western wall to demonstrate against the ongoing israeli palestinian negotiations calling on the government to hold all negotiations with the palestinians and evacuate israeli settlements in the west bank talks aimed at creating an arab capital in jerusalem have been condemned by those demonstrating as unthinkable. to bangladesh a fourteen people including the head of the country's main islamist opposition party have been sentenced to death they were charged with smuggling weapons and

ammunition after police intercepted cargo being shipped to a rebel group in neighboring india three hundred people have been killed during the medical barton's in bangladesh over just the last year. now if the essence of the winter olympics is sliding in all its many forms and saatchi's sankey arena will be central to the upcoming games. continue through the curtains of the venues by heading to the sliding center and beating some skillet. the olympic hopefuls in bumps lady and skeleton will be chasing the dream at the sunday sliding center.

the movie cool runnings they use retelling of the true story of jamaican bobsled team could perhaps you resonate to inside this old sheep but i've always wondered how do they get the shape of the track to be the way it is i'd also how do they get it so smooth while i've already answered today and it's old man politics actually called the shape of the track and once that's done this big baby here comes into action what it does is it was floated like a vacuum machine so it got up over the guy off of the tribe and then moved put over the causes a for us in russia to have three up and slopes which help to slow speed and keep athletes sleep but a competitive can still pluck up to one hundred and thirty five kilometers an hour and get a tribe member takes a few called the truth and to be treated convents i wasn't making my way all the way to an olympic track without testing my carvings feels the same way i did.

and this is how we get the tracks need. well. it really isn't as easy as it looks so you really need men like being a hero who know what they're doing have been trained to do what they're doing right now to actually carve out the ice now twenty seven of them including jamia how will we add during the olympics basically taking care of this entire tribe making sure that the bobsled and the sledging competitions go exactly the way it is because the truck is too big to get through the narrow lanes it's done the old fashioned way with this new shovel and a broom. for russians speeding down snow we use is a form of going up and that's why this thing you have been called sunk the russian way with. the bomb would they be sunk the sliding center what.

about what's keeping you up to date with everything that's happening in sochi you can follow our coverage on the on line of course that are certainly over the next coming days and weeks. how do you operate dylan but i'm going to. sports such. as on this. week. my. well just a moment i mean breaking the set that's coming your way in just a segue you are watching r.t. and.

take me to the ballgame and take me through the metal detectors so wait that's not how the song goes well as the country changes sadly so must the national pastime they said the mariners released a statement that they like all of the teams for twenty fifteen are setting up metal detectors to screen all fans entering their stadium for get visions of hot dogs in home runs now everyone will be able to tell their grandkids about how their bags got searched because they had metal buttons at company name stadium baseball memories the team's management is also continuing their ban on bags larger than forty by forty by twenty centimeters because if you're going to stick an explosive device it had better be compact their body maybe i'm jumping the gun metal detectors can't touch your genitals or do a naked body scan they're probably the least intrusive coming form of security scan then again think about it they want to prevent some terrorist from blowing up a densely packed crowd of people in the stadium so the m l b wants teams to create densely packed lines of people outside the stadium before the game starts with

these security measures really stop a psychotic terrorist murder nope but that's just my opinion. what's up however on i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set shortly after perjuring himself about how the u.s. government is not only spying on every american citizen national intelligence director james clapper appeared before a senate judiciary hearing to blow some more hot air according to transcript clapper called on snowden in his quote accomplices to return the remaining stolen documents pertaining to the n.s.a.'s global spying apparatus yes aside from painting snowden as a criminal clapper also seems to believe that the dozens of journalists who have simply reported on the league documents as his criminal accomplices clapper stands

on journalist simply doing their jobs sends a chilling message one echoed by the british parliament recently when it accused guardian journalists of aiding terrorists but quitting journalism with terrorism seems like a trend that's becoming more commonplace among government officials on the plus side it seems like a desperate attempt by the intelligence community to stay ahead of the mounting uproar against the ever more invasive and pervasive surveillance state which means us troublemaking journalists must be doing something right now let's break the set . the please please please take the a very hard to take our little to long. have you ever had sex with that earthquake there are those. that believe.

in. the three little the little little. little the little the only. celebrity peace envoy scarlett johansson just stepped down from her role as the global ambassador for the charity group oxfam the move to resign stems from a conflict of interest involving her other job in the face of the israeli company soda stream. soda stream is manufacturing base is located in the west bank and palestine territory occupied by the israeli government now given the fact that oxfam opposes illegals israeli settlements johanson sponsorship pose a glaring problem but instead of choosing to stand by a charity group committed to fighting poverty show.