this is why you should care only. reaching out to protesters the u.s. secretary of state will meet ukraine's opposition leaders for the first time in munich. a crisis in capital punishment of lethal drugs forces america's death penalty states to look at alternative more painful methods of execution. only partly. leading. to find out what condemning prisoners face if there are left no drugs to kill them. i know if he slips into the olympic sliding center to find out what awaits the skeleton competing for the medals in the winter.

a very warm welcome to you from the entire news team. with your top headlines for now the u.s. secretary of state john kerry will meet ukraine's opposition leaders for the first time on the sidelines of a security conference in munich on saturday and washington is also keeping up the pressure on president. on sick leave calling on him to resolve the crisis while 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 artie's alexia chefs reports from key. 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 nabl 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 at sun card skin western ukraine where at them till a week ago the regional governor had his office but as you can see just liking kiev's there's 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 where anti on a common sentiment runs deep and that's the way natalia 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 moolah which is supposed to have no president then to have you know call which but with the opposition as fragmented as it is that tully is the first to admit no yanna coverage could well mean an alkie whitney bishop along with the prayer is that we don't have any person to replace him and we will need to take someone from the 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 a group of 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 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 tried to signify to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. the anger has moved even further westwards. intern of 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 buildings have 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 ups in the long term perspective. despite the criticism of family coverage these protesters have

nothing better to offer policia r.t. even a front costs western ukraine. and ukrainian protester dmitri blast off who has been missing for over a week has now turned up alive he said he was abducted and tortured you can have the water dot com for more details on that and to follow minute by minute updates on the ongoing turbulent situation. by joining us here on r.t. international a 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 about how effective they are in the first place but some of the other methods being considered are neither new or campaigners say humane artie's more important i felt

the story. 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 long abandoned torture 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. only partly. bleeding it you know these are things that are also prone to to error to pain to to you know from the public's states changed to protect the. 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 allowed 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 when i see international afghanistan faces the looming threat of a. militant group gaining strength. in washington to wrangle over a post pullout security deal. britain and france are set to pool their cash to come up with some new deadly drones despite the growing evidence and criticism about the number of civilians falling victim to. this i'm much more just ahead.

today got a lot of housing for only people but the government is not funding it and then a lot of the shelter today be having people down the street because people begin to raid shelters. right now. ironically even worse more than seventy year old. person. paid regular people like someone like a lawyer or doctor or some as it's buri and sometimes the homeless people believe it will look like the other night. this is say. to be restored or as you need to be in this city. rich a city in the world what people. pay money to give you. please anybody can make you feel you know.

thanks for joining us here on r.t. international time is ticking away before american troops 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 heading for the deep freeze and as artie's lucy catherine off reports the taliban's could end up being the ones who 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 and the past ten years there were not able to build afghan security for forces to be able to face the challenges and this country and to be able in the future to confront the challenges and the taliban forces and the taliban fighters and al qaeda forces and 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 a 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 the area the district government is just there 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 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 president karzai is demanding washington and his peace talks with the taliban as a condition for signing the security deal we spoke to terrorism consultant jere van dyk who was a prisoner of the taliban he says the u.s. is not able to cut tail the group which is constantly on the rise. it is a continuous war for over twenty years they have continued to fight some of them

and since the american invasion in october fifth two thousand and one they have if anything increased their their ability to attack their holding for the united states even with its search in two thousand and nine announced by president obama has not been able to really curtail the taliban they are as strong as ever as committed as ever and i think this is one reason why there is such difficulty throughout nato throughout the west figure out how to leave afghanistan what to do with the taliban. washington has spent billions waging the afghan war and is still spending despite its mission is winding down now since two thousand and one it's cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and here's what's still to come in twenty fourteen every american soldier serving in afghanistan will cost an average of two point one million dollars and withdrawing is not going to be cheap

either the u.s. says it has decided not to ship back more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment to fight that will be destroyed and a brand new military headquarters built in twenty thirteen at a cost of thirty four million well that will probably never be used and with the u.s. troops pulling out the afghan government will now have to reach a deal with the taliban according to richard williams a former british and u.s. office. president karzai and 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 probably says yes he's taking risk there but it's for a higher purpose and the higher purpose is clearly some form of political solution with the taliban. right now for you over online the dot com and oil giant claims victory in court and stops an american woman from being able to move around almost half of her own property because she criticized a full story online for you this hour and this one as well and paste it isn't just for your keyboard anymore chinese were created genetically modified monkeys by copying d.n.a. into living be if indeed it's going to help humans see how and why online right now . right to see.

first rate. and i think you're. going to. be in the. international thanks for joining us today britain and france are set to pool technological and financial efforts to build the latest line in lethal cutting edge drones the production of the new predator type drones will not begin for at least three years that you countries want to produce an alternative to u.s. made unmanned aerial vehicles that's why the controversy surrounding the technology both sides insist that drones are essential for the military's i for one antiwar activist told r.t. that the u.k. and france are just following america's policies and ultimately devaluing the alliance of civilians. 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. 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 that is in a crowd of people i think they carry on the right certainly the cia drone attacks sort 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 out right or that they've been civilians this case is going on in you kind of the moment blew by afghan civilians because their family members were killed. by shifting gears here on ars he is a national rusher says there is no reason to doubt the syrian government's commitment to eliminating its stock of chemical weapons the u.s. had questioned the assad government to disarm after several deadlines were missed

leaving just four percent of the arms destroyed but moscow insists that's because the general deadline drawing up a new u.n. resolution misjudged the amount of work involved earlier this week america's chief of intelligence claims syria's government laboratories are still capable of developing biological weapons. let's get some of the global headlines for you brief here on our elevated levels of radiation have been detected at a nuclear reprocessing plant in the u.k. non-essential staff at the sellafield site were told to stay home while other employees are still working there is normal at the plant formerly known as windscale suffered the worst nuclear accident in british history and nine hundred fifty seven when a fire caused a major leak of radiation. and thousands of israelis 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 also been condemned by those demonstrating as quote unthinkable. to bangladesh 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 a cargo being shipped to a rebel group in neighboring india about three hundred people have been killed during political violence in bangladesh over just the last year. and james clapper the director of u.s. national intelligence sees a blistering condemnation of edward snowden calling his leaks to the press a perfect storm that would endanger american lives later today on r.t. international abby martin on breaking the set she goes to pull that to pieces. shortly after perjuring himself about how the u.s. government is not 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 legal documents as his criminal accomplices proper stance 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 equating 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 mounting up against the ever more invasive and pervasive surveillance state which means us troublemaking journalists must be doing something right.

there broke in the side a bit later in the day on the international phone hour if the essence of the winter olympics is sliding in all its many forms. sign key arena will be essential to the upcoming games to buy more continues to peep through the curtains of the very news by heading to the sliding center and meeting some scouts. the olympic hopefuls in bumps lady and skeleton will be chasing the dream here at the sun being sent to them. the movie cool runnings say news retelling of the true story of jamaica's bobsled team could perhaps resume t.-a in sunny's old sheep but i've always wondered how do

they get the shape of the track to be the way it is i also how do they get it so smooth while i've already answered today and it's a matter of politics actually called the shape of the track and once that's dad this big baby here comes into action and what it does is it was flooded like a vacuum machine so it was up all the the i often tried and then moved it over the causes of for us in russia to have three up and slopes which help to slow speed and keep athletes safe but competitors can still pluck up to one hundred and thirty five kilometers an hour and get a trophy medal it takes a few called the to lose and been defeated convents i wasn't making my way all the way to an olympic track without testing my carving skills the same way i did in. well. and this is how we.

need. to get it really isn't as easy as it looks so you really need men like a here who know what they're doing have been trained to do what they're doing right now to actually call 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 way 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 going up and that's why this is being used has been called funky the russian way looks like the bomb would be at the sankey sliding center. keeping you up to date with everything that's happening in sochi you can follow our coverage on our team and online of course that. over the coming. period.

how do you operate deliver the game i'm going to ring was pretty good sports such. as it as proof shows i'm not an olympic hockey player by much it is on the big. leagues. my fine. well thanks for joining us here at aussie international today are. up next sleeping rough in new york and i watch the meeting the homeless people of the big apple to hear their stories in just a few moments. take me out to the ballgame 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

settle 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 well these security measures really stop a psychotic terrorist murder nope but that's just my opinion.

speak your language i mean some of the will not advance the. program says documentary some spanish what matters to you. a little too negative angles stories. spanish find out more visit. these people go to school very reason. some problems will sit. well with the sick and. it's. really easy. for these reasons. so to see them bonds bill it's your reward deal responsibility.

this is many reasons why the person. so started beginning for example we can. talk about the case of close aide who was set in that spot. so he got referred here by his friend whose name was also say . they both worked in times square. their kind of costume. the other jose was that man and this was wrong too so they got to know each other and the other jose got to a financial situation that was good enough that he was he was ready to. patch up his family he was in train trunk and rent

a car that was so huge that we united with his wife and children and they moved out on into apartment together. so that for a few years soon is that this is what's unusual you heard. how. i'm from cuba. where you come from here i've been in different states of the united states. and this is the best this is the top that day everything you know to me before. he will make it in no way. you know what i mean he said i report to me here in new york. hey we know i don't new you know i just get out of an awful throw away ticket and everything but close . cell thank you very much you really appreciate if it did. not. make

you. feel. when you when you're young you have a lot of energy and had it because our and i went around painting beggars in the street and i went to the bowery i painted bunch of sorry. i'm not that political i'm not that. you know to me it's more about. statics you know if i paint black people it's not because i love them or don't love them i find it beautiful i find it easy to paint. the political. spin city you so close to. the mayor. it's like the rich get rich and the poor people. want to. how do you.