today's news and the week's top stories from r.t. international an amnesty for rioters comes into force in ukraine as the country's opposition cozies up to western politicians at a security forum in munich despite moscow once again warning against taking sides in the on direct flights. about to die from a lack of water and they threatened us with machine guns there would be the last three at a time and killing us r t becomes the first foreign t.v. channel to gain access to the siege syrian town of our drug after reports of rebels massacring dozens of civilians there including children. under one of the biggest names in the world of digital currency is arrest of a were accusations of laundering over a million dollars worth of big points. which

martina national coming to you live from moscow with me marina josh welcome to the program and amnesty has come into force in ukraine giving rioters in downtown cave and around the country's west fifteen days to disperse and leave all government buildings this amid the seeming triumph of the country's opposition front man at a security forum in munich were they scored pledges of more support from washington and the european union meanwhile russia's foreign minister has called a ganster taking a one sided view of him dressed in ukraine europe is going off reports from germany . clearly the west has already taken the side of the professors so u.s. secretary of state john kerry said that the time has come for you have to decide

whether it's worth one country or what the rest of the world and he added that washington supports the people of ukraine but some have been calling this a one sided approach and criticizing it including russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov you know pretty much it is when you get that from there are some fundamental questions that need to be answered in particular about the situation in ukraine how does fuelling street riots that are becoming more and more violent to promote democracy why is there no condemnation of the still occupying government buildings were those who burned police officers shot racist anti-semitic and nazi slogans why do many leading european politicians and heart such actions while any violations of the load hold are don't with harshly. some strong words there from russia's chief diplomat also added joking that next time they meet was with mr kerry he's going to ask him what grades he had in school asking how many countries this you think

are in that group that he called the rest of the world. well during discussions in munich both boxer turned opposition leader and ukraine's foreign minister have had their say with a top diplomat blaming his opponent for the increasingly nationalist violence in his country klitschko however diverted the debate by blaming the violence on police brutality security consultant chuck joiner used to work for the cia and the f.b.i. gave us his thoughts on the ukraine's handling of the situation. if you are in the situation where i've seen videos of police officers on fire and that's a deadly situation and they certainly in the united states would have the legal right to use deadly force in response to that so if a police officer perceives that there's a threat to themselves or somebody else they can respond with pepper spray but tons

personal weapons strikes electronic control devices if the threat rises to the level where they think either they or somebody else are being threatened with death or serious bodily harm then they can respond with deadly force i think throughout the history of variety you see if there's not a strong police presence and then the the tag and eyes of the agitators they become emboldened and they become more violent and more aggressive so there needs to be a strong police presence in those circumstances to control the violence. and the latest polls show two thirds of ukrainians do not support the turmoil that's in gold the western regions and most of which local administration offices have either been stormed or besieged and managed feel the country's under the threat of civil war or just cause leader trowed into one of the hard bad of the unrest. says the regional administration building in even

a song called skin western ukraine where at them till a week ago the regional governor had his office but as you can see just like in key if there is now a giant barricade surrounding the building with snow tires and planks of wood radical and he russian this is the heartland of nationalism where antione covered sentiment runs deep and that's the way natalia and her come rates 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 yanna coverage could well mean an alkie whitney bishop problem of the problem is that we don't have any person to replace him and we will need to take someone from that position which won't be easy the sentiments blown across central and western ukraine we regional offices are

being picketed and seized by protesters. the result 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 government demonstrators set up barricades made a vehicle pass and sacks of snow they demanded police say the building one of the. similar scenes played out in chicago where protesters tried to signify to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. bianco has moved even further west with. intern off the protests to send ukrainian hymns while ignoring the government's attempts to disperse them. in nevada from coffs those now named few to the municipality building half of britain in from bills all 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. of the country house course i also result in some year spare hops in the long term perspective. despite the criticism of you on the coverage these protestors have nothing better to offer. r.t. ivanna from coffs western ukraine has been over a month since reports emerged that hardline syrian rebels had captured the town of hadera outside damascus dozens of civilians were allegedly slaughtered and sauza is displaced the rebels still occupy key parts of the town making it hard to verify information coming from there are just worrisome national and her crew were the first foreign journalist to make it inside and speak to the survivors. address is

just a twenty minute drive from damascus but the highway runs through an area firmly under rebel control so instead we take a newly created pass driving through high moans of sand and piles of old tires the army uses to shoot its convoys from a tanks it's maybe longer but it's a safer route pocket. where the first foray into recruit to get this close to address after the siege began a month ago it's still not clear exactly what happened in this industrial city last december back then reports emerged of numerous killings and violence after alger was attacked by militants belonging to al-qaeda linked groups and the free syrian army. they stormed into the city and they kept the civilians in their buildings using them as human shields which made our mission very difficult this is why it takes so long we want to avoid civilian losses. to reported allegations the dozens

of civilians had been executed that people were be handed and burned in over ins and one claimed the doctors and patients were killed in a clinic which revelled to address hoping to verify these reports but there is still no way of getting into the besieged areas of the town to confirm if any of that actually happened we got as close as the army can. actually to the old town admiral blood and the work is house and complex nearby a drum a lier both and i'll besieged like a dog with a lot of the will maybe some bankers here to separate other are below and that room earlier and to prevent the militants uniting these corridors go all around the besieged cities with the army watch in the area day and night. this is one of the checkpoints of the syrian army behind this wall is territory held by

militants and the soldiers strategy and mission right now is just to watch this area and to shoot if they see the enemy approach aim. and this is actually all they can do animal to operation could threaten the lives of those who remain hostage and was no access inside it's impossible to tell just how many the are but luckily most of the residents managed to escape address we meet some of them two kilometers away they shelter around what used to be a large sum and factory life in this hotel's me he doesn't go to school anymore and when displaced because terrorist attack the student who had to skate they occupied and who cannot go there their old job blocked he says his father is a government employee this is why it is dangerous for his family to stay we ask where they live now yes mother appear from the darkness of the room barely ten square meters in

a silence and everything what is happening is wrong there was no need for any of this see where we are now to what degree we have reached now it's a question that many here are asking because these children haven't seen their mother for a month already seriously ill she couldn't get her medicine due to the siege with her condition deteriorating she was sent to hospital far from her family. who knew we were living in peace and now where are we i wish peace would come back to all of syria. a month later it's still not clear exactly what happened another drug most of those we talked to here in this camp fled before the militants arrived but occasionally we meet some who didn't escape so quickly and the loner they were looking for anybody serving in the syrian army and also the virus so the syrian soldiers beheaded at the sewage system. we were in a group of about twenty people they were beating us three at

a time and killing us and i saw with my own eyes people stoned i still see them in my nightmares. unlike the shot of a cut drinking water and they prevented the bakery from working for a cigarette and young children were about to die from a lack of water and they threatened us with machine guns. are drawn once an important industrial and peaceful city has become yet another syrian battleground for weary forces whose three year long confrontation has left well in excess of one hundred thousand dead and millions displaced and yet it's another place where no side looks able to win and it's the ordinary syrian people left to pay the price roof national t.v. from our drive in syria. meanwhile u.s. intelligence is raising suspicions that the syrian regime is capable of producing biological weapons despite the ongoing chemical disarmament washington has also warned damascus of possible military action if it misses the deadlines to destroy

its arsenal anti-war activists brian backer told us what he believes the lie is behind threats it's a clear indication that the obama administration is looking for other rationales other pretext to keep the pressure on the assad government and when i say pressure that's kind of euphemistic what they're really doing of course is creating a great international crime by funneling arms and weapons and money to an arms struggle in other words form and civil war so that they can destroy an independent nationalist government in this region of the world we've gone through this script before we saw it in iraq we saw it in libya we're seeing it in syria the united states government is carrying out an armed struggle policy a civil war policy and they need to keep up public rationales also they need a way to balance against geneva he to find a way to continue to demonize the assad government because their ultimate goal is to get rid of assad not for a negotiated settlement. and coming up reinforcing afghanistan.

will support a unified afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future. that the taliban in the future well join the peace process with the government of afghanistan the volatile country faces the looming threat of a resurgent taliban as kabul and washington wrangle over a post call outs to deal the hand of the thirteen year war. not introducing a super hobo would need a very unusual comic book hero who has been helping those sleeping rough on the streets of berlin. and. if you leave the. economic ups and downs in the final months days the longer the

deal sank i and the rest because i think the case will be everything we own. country go this year the first world war started it fundamentally changed the global political order later and even weakened international system set the stage for the second world war since the end of the cold war the global order has been in limbo under american domination in the twenty first century just how stable our world politics. there's a media leave us so we leave them to be part of the same motions surely for your party there's a goal. for shoes that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politics only on our t.v. .

welcome back you're watching r.t. international young american entrepreneur and a bit coin millionaire charlie shrem was arrested in the u.s. this week the c.e.o. of the digital currency exchange bit instant is accused of laundering more than a million dollars worth of big queens through the controversial website so crowed known to be used by drug traffickers the twenty four year old is also accused of not putting necessary regulations in place to keep criminal activity out of the financial system a found guilty he faces more than a decade behind bars is now under house arrest after being released on bail financial analyst mark thornton believes the arrest was aimed at setting a political precedent not a legal one. the u.s. dollar is actually the major facilitator of the illegal transactions of drugs human trafficking all sorts of nasty business is most of the trade is done with the u.s. dollar not bitcoin bitcoin is a small player it is

a small percentage of its transactions are illegal that's true but the majority are for legal goods whereas the u.s. dollar is the primary player in international trade in illicit items but this was a political event not a legal or judicial event this arrest it was a political event meant to intimidate people in the big point space and it was a perfectly foreseeable event as well. holidaymakers on the beaches of spain may have to get used to hostile so it's on the horizon and that after america sent a ballistic missile defense destroyer to the area this of course has not been welcomed by moscow which has warned of a counter move and learn more about this online. plus iran u.k. arms manufacturer seeking compensation of over half a billion dollars following the dispute with goes all the way back to the ninety's

seventy's. presidential campaigning started of galveston as american troops continue their withdrawal from the country kabul is still refusing to sign a security pact which would permit u.s. soldiers to remain in the fragile state after twenty fourteen arches lucic off enough reports on how the taliban could be the ones benefiting from the friction between washington and the afghan government 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. i'm certain and a past ten years there were not able to build an afghan security force 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 nangarhar 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 any work night the taliban run there in the district government is just very mean 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 r.t.e. i'm lucy catherine. washington has spent billions waging war in afghanistan since two thousand and one it has cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and here are some bills still to come every american soldier serving in afghanistan this year will cost an average two point one million dollars more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment isn't going to be shipped back so will have to be decommissioned and a new thirty four million dollar military h.q. will not be used as is now reportedly going to be demolished former british special forces officer richard williams says the u.s. drawdown means the afghan government will have no choice but to reach a deal with the taliban. 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 risk 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 but it's for a higher purpose and the higher purpose is clearly some form of political solution with the taliban. in a matter of days breast taking sprint's false starts and photo finishes all on ice

and it's time to get your skates on for another look at what the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics as god to offer with japan would take. we've just arrived here at the adler skating center this is where the speed skating competitions during the twenty fourteen winter olympic games is going to be taking place now we've been invited inside to actually take a look at the four hundred meters in length a skating rink it's very important that this rink be maintained properly particularly for the skaters and they going to show us how they do that so let's go and see it. as you can see it's spectacular on the outside but the real beauty is how it works on the inside no expense was spared in the creation of the venue at the olympic park and you could certainly see where the money went a crystal faced piece is reflected and you know walls and triangular stained glass windows the gray and white color of the building in hans's this impression even the

facade is transparent so the spectators inside the arena can see. the focus of the arena doesn't disappoint with leading sports men and women coming forward to praise . it features to competition tracks and one training track all designed to provide the best possible performance but after. the quality of ice can make a huge difference in winning that goal and ed quality is the main priority with option one michael climatic conditions because. it's just the limb. every forty five minutes will have to. be machine on the circuit for a log on the floor hundred feet. it's very important that they do this because they'll be lovely lovely ice rink as well as making pasta all week

a limb pins will be skating. close on the machine feeds. everybody was really big games so that. was the to have a much smoother and. it's going to be all about speed and. and sochi. in sochi a lot. more of our tour of the olympic park at our t.v. dot com and make sure you are with us when the games get going we'll be bringing you special coverage throughout sochi twenty four.

now snapshot of some of today's world news in athens scuffles have broken out between rival leagues and anti-fascist protesters and rage by gathering of right wing golden dawn party supporters officers used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd there were several arrests after leftist riders attacked a man carrying a green flag the golden dawn rally was commemorating the deaths of three navy officers which brought greece and turkey to the brink of war in one thousand nine hundred ninety six. were pastors in thailand are making as their presence felt at the general election which has already been overshadowed by months of anti-government turmoil it forced the closure of polling stations and more than a third of constituencies disrupting the delivery of ballots and setting up blockades demonstrators have been calling for the prime minister to quit to pave

the way for far reaching political reforms you can rest was sparked by c. hristian was forcing through an amnesty to let her exile brother back into the country. a dutch court has given internet freedom activists a reason to celebrate this week after it rolled to restore users' access to an online file sharing service the pirate bay the hague appeals court has reversed a twenty eleven decision to block access to the website stating that the ban didn't help to reduce copyright infringement political columnist have all believes it's almost impossible to fan property rights in this high tech amor. anyone who tries to regulate the internet at this point seems to be failing it's a very interesting case though because it seems to rely on the concept the legal concept of arbitrary and capricious ness in other words the law which applied specifically to this site would be which should apply to all sites obviously and if

they were only going after this one and effectively at that what's the point and it's unfair but you know there's obviously broader implications of such as intellectual property rights the motivation of for example movie studios creative people cartoonists and writers those kinds of people have to be able to earn a living so it's you know it's an interesting balance between internet freedom and the fact the digitization has made it very difficult for copyright holders to enforce those rights on a super hero comes to the rescue of homeless people across barrel land his clothes are on can't and he has breasts reeks of being here yet his fan base continues to grow as poly boy going to imports. his muscles a fan but he has no fixed abode it's a hobo the unlikely superhero inherited his super powers accidentally after

savoring some discarded beer. normally like bettman or iron man they are very very rich playboys who rescued the world no it's the guy from the on the ground who rescues which gets to the city because it's very attractive for people all over the world not because it saw correct or clean city but because of his heavy charm so it's logical that the glorious superhero of. the so bomb super hoboes creator says the idea was spawned while watching a homeless man trying and failing to sell a newspaper on a train. so stefan went to the stratum fagen newspaper which is sold by the homeless and unemployed and offer to launch the charity supplement in order to boost its sales for sure it's a little bit political incorrect but this is the only way to get more people into

the subject homelessness and so we decided to do it the newspapers distributed through. this one so the city's homeless can come here and buy in copies for sixty cents apiece which they then sell on for one year and fifty and they're able to make a profit but certainly in the time that we've been here several people have come up trying to buy in more copies of that super hoboes supplement that has been selling so well super hobos breath stinks he dreams of oceans of beer and yet the homeless vendors don't take offense it's a very good idea it should have been thought of earlier the comic supplement makes it heavier and i can't carry as many copies but it's not too bad you just don't carry on. now the customers are asking for this comic it would be good to have super hobo card to the document publication aims to brighten the fortunes of it said was the soup kitchen at butlins.