ukraine's president. to those. in the country opposition from more support from the west. a lack of lethal drugs is set to change the face of capital punishment in some us states seeing the possible return of. firing squads. you know someone stumbling in only partly. bleeding you know these are things that are also prone to error to pain. we hear from experts who describe well condemned prisoners will face when the old methods could be. together with our allies we will complete our mission there by the end of this year. and a future. government of afghanistan faces

a looming threat of the taliban's resurgence as a couple in washington wrangle over a post deal following. costly war. the top of world headlines for this hour it's r t international with me from everybody here thanks for joining us ukraine's president has signed a law that grants amnesty to all demonstrators detained during the riots in the country but on the condition that protesters leave the streets and government buildings they've been occupying meanwhile the opposition leaders are to meet the u.s. secretary of state and the e.u. foreign policy chief on the sidelines of a secret security conference that's taking place in munich but with riots now spreading wide across ukraine's west it seems unlikely more talks will bring any

solutions. reports from one of the hotbeds of unrest. 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 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 where anti unequivocal 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 it is supposed to have no president than to have you know called which but with the opposition as fragmented as it is that tully is the first to admit no yana coverage could well mean an alkie. 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 their sentiments blown across central and western ukraine where regional offices are being picketed and seized by protesters. the misa a group of right wing 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 parts and sacks of snow they demanded police leave the building and. similar scenes played out in 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. and 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 have

forbidden any symbols or same timmons 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 a result in some arab spring or in the long term perspective. despite the criticism of you on the coverage these protestors have nothing better to offer policia even a front cost western ukraine. well one a ukrainian protester who had gone missing for more than a week has turned up alive at a retreat bull the top claims he was abducted and tortured while the police already investigating his case you can head over to r.t.

dot com for the very latest news straight out of kenya. for now in the program here on r.t. international gas chambers electric chairs firing squads or soon to be things of the past could soon be making a comeback in parts of america lethal injection drugs used to carry out the death penalty are in short supply and lawmakers in some u.s. states are looking to return to the old methods some of which critics say verge on torture more important as 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 someone stumbling and not only partly. leading 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 changed to protect the death penalty to lethal injection so to go back would certainly jeopardize their whole purpose of carrying to carry out executions some u.s. 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 us 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.

. international. well. joint development of. casualties being increasingly. in the meantime as time ticks away before nato troops pull out of afghanistan the u.s. is growing increasingly frustrated with the country's government is still refusing to sign a security pact which would permit american soldiers to remain in the fragile state . explains the absence of an agreement could leave afghanistan very vulnerable to a major. 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 if anyone at night the taliban run their 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 has peace talks with the taliban as a condition for signing the security deal jerry van dyke is a terrorism consultant and a former prisoner of the taliban he says the u.s. is unable to contain the group which continues to bolster its ranks. 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 the mission winding down since two thousand and one it's cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and there are still some bills to come in twenty fourteen every american soldier serving in afghanistan cost an average of two point one million dollars and withdrawing is not going to be cheap either the u.s. has decided not to ship back more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment not

all have to be destroyed it's believed a brand new military headquarters built in twenty thirteen at a cost of thirty four million probably won't be used again and that needs to be destroyed as well according to former british s.a.'s officer richard williams the u.s. georgetown means the afghan government will have no choice but to end up reaching a deal with the taliban president karzai. who have teamed 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 in 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 or the people of afghanistan are no strangers to the threat of drone strikes after a very short break here on an international airport on paris and london's plans to jointly develop the unmanned aircraft. and they got a lot of housing only people but the government is not funding it and then a lot of the shelter today be having people brothers down the street because people begin to raid didn't shelters didn't involve them right now ironically ironically i'm worth more to the city of new york he told me. personally working. all middle i mean. when you paid regular people like someone like

a lawyer or doctor or some other madison avenue it's boring and sometimes the homeless people do little to deflect rather the bible. is the same those countries that runs the program restores remember as you need to be known in this city to bridge a city in the world what people. pay money to do give you. the least on anybody could make you feel good you know get up. like you. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the

constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy which albus its role. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our proximity we've been hijacked by handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once told us i'm job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's. actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the. rational debate the real discussion critical issues facing are. you ready to join the movement then walk a little bit but. if you're just joining us welcome to the program here on r.t.

international britain and france a set to make new technological and financial efforts to develop the latest line in lethal cutting edge drones the production of the new predator type drones when begin for at least another three years for the two countries that want their own alternative to the infamous u.s. made on that man plane despite the controversy surrounding the use of drones both sides insist they are essential for their militaries however one antiwar activist told r.t. that the u.k. and france are just following america's policies ultimately devaluing the lives 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 in the surrounding area and i don't think that even the british military take much if they need to take out what they consider an

insurgent if there's an in a crowd of people i think they carry on and there are any right certainly the cia drone attacks sort of been known to do that but even when there's only one person in the vicinity we've done it we've managed to kill one person and extend that right to 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. management at a major u.k. nuclear reprocessing site ordered many of its staff to stay home on friday and. see what went wrong it may have given some workers an extra day off but. the locals. know more than we think a scientist is suing the agency demanding disclosures on a mysterious new all. which nasa says is only a rock. the sea.

first trip. and i think you're. going to. be in the. now when do the sochi winter olympics reach top speed well just ask the athletes will be jumping into that bobsled. skeletons and then hurtling down the tracks at speeds of around one hundred thirty kilometers an hour. they went to examine the icy runway. the olympic hopefuls and bumps laid lose and skeleton will be chasing the dream here at the sunday sliding center.

the movie cool runnings a news retelling of the true story of jamaica's bobsled team could perhaps resonate in sunny soul cheap but i've always wondered how do they get the shape of the track to be able way it is i also how do they get it so smooth while i've already answered today and it takes one polit to actually solve all of the shape of the track and once that's dad this big baby here comes into action what it does is it was flooded like a vacuum machine so it's got up all the the offical tried and then moves that 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 here and get a tribe member who takes

a few called the to lose and educated convents i wasn't making my way all the way to an olympic track without testing my carving skills say i dig in. and this is how we get the tracks native. 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 cover 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 reuse is

a form part of growing up and that's why this venue has been called funky the russian word. mum would say at the sankey sliding center. and we've got more reports from to buy more giving you the best impression of the venues in and around the city of olympic dreams just before the flame finally reaches sochi don't miss them the next couple of days on air and of course online here you know. how do you operate deliver the game i'm going to rehearse good sports such. as roof. and olympic hockey. is on. my fire. our phenomenology international the geneva two peace talks between syria's government and the opposition have yielded no breakthrough so far but have seen the two sides meeting face to face for the very first time at a conference which aims to find

a political solution to the bloody civil war is set to resume on the tenth of february in a statement to the media un's syria envoy lakhdar brahimi acknowledged the slim but tangible progress to date sonnets have become used to sitting in the same room they have presented positions and listened to one another. this is very slow indeed but the sides having gazed in an acceptable manner this is a very modest beginning but it is a beginning on which we can build the gap between the sides remain why there is no use pretending otherwise nevertheless joining go this questions i hope it was or a little bit of common ground perhaps more than the two sides themselves realize or recognize our staying with syria into the r.t.

world update we go activists say at least sixteen people have been killed in government shelling of syria's northern a hub of aleppo currently held by rebel forces and the u.k. based observatory for human rights said the m. bombardment happened on thursday however it took the organization some time to verify the reports aleppo's faced a major government offensive in a bid to reclaim eastern parts of the city but of her main under rebel control since twenty twelve. thousands of israelis gathered to pray at jerusalem's western wall to demonstrate against the ongoing israeli palestinian negotiations they called on the government to stop all talks with the palestinians saying they don't want to hand any of their land over at a meeting brokered by the u.s. secretary of state john kerry could see the formation of a palestinian state in most of the west bank gaza and east jerusalem. by my colleague bill daughters here and off an hour's time but for now sleeping rough in

new york means the homeless of the big apple to hear their stories that's coming your way just so. 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 settle mariners released a statement that they like all other 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 are 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. of how out. of her asshole these people are you all the very reason some people. some problems with the sick you know so little he says. it's. really easy to see

by. his many reasons why of course told him to sleep with bond's bullets during the war deal responsibility. this is many reasons as was the first song. so start of the beginning for example we can. talk about the case of jose who was in that spot. so he got refers here by his friend whose name was also say. they both worked in times where. their kind of costume mask on the other jose was that man and this was it was all wrong. they got to know each other and the other jose got to is an actual situation i was going to not that he was he

was ready to. patch up his family he was afraid truong and rent a partner so he died reunited with his wife and children and they moved out on the two apartments together. so yes the city was you soon is that this is what's unusual you heard. about this from. i'm from cuba. where you come from europe 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 don't make it here. he will make it in no way. you know what i mean he said i did but to me he knew you. know i don't mean i just get out of an awful thrown away ticket and everything was

close. so thank you very much to me appreciate it but did. that. make you. feel. when you when you're young you have a lot of energy and headed 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 and 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. it's political i mean it's the city is so close. to

me. it's like the rich get richer and the poor people. who want. how do you full so far down so most. from me unemployment. and half expecting me to ask my friends. and tell police where your and rate is usually if. you live on the street you know something. must down to change station sometime other than to change station one to get coal no butter on city got a lot of house and homeless people but the government is not really funding it. no and then a lot of the shelter today be having people relish down the street because people begin to raped and sheltered a good law you've got to sleep with one eye open and one out close i was in a shelter once and a guy like right next to me in town a rabid dog jumped into.