headlining tonight on r.t. international traditional family values take center stage in france as crowds rallied to protest against the policies of france world. class young were about to die from a lack of water and they threatened us with machine guns they were beating us three at a time and killing us r t becomes the first foreign t.v. channel to gain access to the perceived syrian town of andhra after reports of rebels massacring dozens of civilians there including children. and an amnesty for rioters comes into force in ukraine as the country's opposition cozies up to western politicians a security forum and music despite moscow once again warning the e.u. against taking sides of the under.

even just tell no one here in moscow this is the weekly roundup of the top stories news that helped shape the past seven days of me kevin now in first and tens of thousands of people have been rallying in paris and also in the city of leone to the latest wave of demonstrations for traditional family values are all of us in the french capital. demonstration we're seeing right now is the latest in a wave of unrest that swept across france the campaign is that are out on the streets marching through central paris they say that they're marching in defense of traditional family values now they say they're against proposed changes to the law that would make alternative ways for homosexual couples to have children legal naysay that they want to quash proposed laws that have been put forward now the demonstrations that we've seen in the past have on occasion to end violent haven

from the other week we saw a so-called day of rage a day of anger across the country where thousands and thousands of people were out on the streets and that did end up in some rather unsavory clashes between the police on those those demonstrates is now all of this comes on a wave of also a huge on popularity for the french president francois hollande popularity here at an all time low and he's pretty much the the most unpopular french president in recent memory and the people around here in paris coming out on the streets to show that unhappiness out their leader and it is to some popularity that a guy who's been trying to divert the public's attention for all that's what i've been hearing from freelance journalist and former editor of the french news newspaper robert hotness. this is an issue to use deliberately raised to distract attention from his own popularity you want to get to see oppression at the

ministries each year is actually looking into these issues but he clearly there is i suppose about one says the population who do feel very strongly about this we talked about this a year ago at that time i said there is the celibacy population who will not not let go on this subject and all the government issues and all they will push back to the background there is the new code which is expiring and to try order if you like this is not. even savior of the family it was a pair of children this is the basis for the stafford family i assure listeners a contributor robert harness there and you can find out more analysis on the end to gay marriage protests are currently underway in france at home. it spread over a month now since reports emerged that hardline syrian rebels have captured the town of andhra damascus dozens of civilians were allegedly slaughtered and thousands displaced rebel still occupy key parts of the town making a very hard to verify information coming from there but as his 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 mounds of sand and piles of old tires the army uses to shoot its convoys from attacks it may be longer but it's a safer route. where the first foray into vickery 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 beheaded 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 there actually to the old town admiral blurred and the work is house and complex nearby a drama lear both are now besieged. with maybe some banknotes 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 watching 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 approaching. and this is actually all they can do and a military 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 but in this hotel's me he doesn't go to school anymore but this place because terrorist attack the city and we had to escape the occupied and we can't go there they're older blocked he says his father is a government employee this is why it was dangerous for his family to stay we ask where they live now. the hours mother appear from the darkness of

a room barely ten square meters in the silence everything what is happening is wrong there was no need for any of this see where we are now 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 a hospital far from her family. and. 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 in our drive 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 alone and up they were looking for anybody serving in the syrian army and i saw the virus of 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 i saw with my own eyes people stole and i still see them in my nightmares. are like this sort of a cut drinking water and they prevented the bakery from working for us and young children are about to die from a lack of water and they threatened us with machine guns. 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 notional tea from our driver in syria the syrian foreign minister says the government will not bring a go syria thing directly with the opposition of the next round of peace talks in geneva due to start in a week from now that decision was made after u.s.

okra state john kerry insisted that president assad has been excluded from the transitional government syrian political activist i am a worker told me that america's reaction was only to be expected. the u.s. congress has voted. to arm the rebels there is a long. and so for ows people who don't live in represent the umbrella that they came under which is the syrian national coalition syrian government is desperately trying to negotiate with someone who can have some powers to you know hold to to their word into their agreement what about that threat from washington that would use force of syria failed to get rid of its chemical stockpiles by the summer there are some political reasons why this is happening you know i know from friends and family that whoever travel has along that route between damascus and either know who is or southward there are certain segments of the road where they have to drive closer to like a hundred miles an hour under sixty can or has an hour because of fear of sniper fire power or shots from moderate opposition so if you want to move military green

equipment and vehicles along that through they may have to be moved you know a much slower than that and they would be vulnerable especially if they're carrying you know chemical. warfare material that was that was used also questions the commitment and you know the american position and whether they went into this agreement in good faith or not because they might seem to be using this agreement to punish the syrians rather than using this agreement to get rid of the chemical warfare. and amnesty is coming to force in ukraine given rioters in downtown kiev and throughout the country's west fifteen days notice a person leave all government buildings disappeared the same in triumph the country's opposition from another security for munich with a school pledges of more support from washington on the european union meantime russia's foreign ministers again called against taking a one sided view of the unrest in ukraine utopias can offer reports from germany.

clearly the west has already taken the side of the protests or so u.s. secretary of state john kerry said that the time has come for you have to decide whether it's what 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. 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 b.c.g. even still occupying government buildings were those who burned police officers shot racist anti-semitic and nazi slogans why do many leading european politicians encourage such actions while any violations of the law and homes are dealt with harshly some strong words there from russia's chief diplomat also added joking that

next time we meet was mr kerry is going to ask him what grades he had in school asking how many countries do you think are in that group that he called the rest of the worlds. if you will bring it see it now also during discussions in munich both opposition leader vitaly klitschko and ukraine's foreign minister had their say with the top diplomat blaming the oxygen politician for increasing nationalist violence in his country to go divert the debate pub blaming the violence on police brutality and security consultant should join it used to work for the cia and the f.b.i. gave us his thoughts on ukraine's handling of the situation. if you are in the situation where i've seen videos of police officers on fire 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 baton

personal weapon strikes electronic control devices 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 riots 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. let's just take a moment look at the latest poll that shows two thirds of ukrainians do not support the turmoil that's engulfed the western regions indeed in which course most of those local administration offices have either been stormed or besieged and the point that poll that came out as well seems many feel the country's under the threat of civil war. probably this up to thirty two percent of the. travel into one

of the hot beds of the unrest for us. this is the regional administration building event notes on cards skin waste in ukraine where up until 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 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 which is supposed to have no president then to have you know called which but what the opposition as fragmented as it is that tully is the first to admit no you have a coverage could well mean an alkie whitley bishop along with 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 i believe a group of right in radicals some wearing masks stormed the municipal building chanting we have the power they used fire extinguishers and wooden sticks again police i intend to guard 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 tried to signify to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. the anger has moved even further west with. engine off ski protests to send 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 half of

britain in 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 must come to a standstill all this process might. lead to talk. of the country of course a result. in the long term perspective. despite the criticism of the only card which these protesters have nothing better to offer policia r.t. event up front costs western ukraine. the dark in ukraine over these were the latest pictures earlier on from kiev where despite the amnesty the still as you can see my son to government rally underway

earlier on. just a snapshot of what was happening with a fresh from the security forum in munich opposition leader tony klitschko was also again addressing the crowds there we'll bring you more on the ongoing turmoil of course in ukraine on my mind as well about. still ahead this testing the future for world records on the ice correspondent joins the staff of sorts to speed skating and really to make sure these services for the upcoming races for gold a smooth very big. community board along more than somewhere around two hundred children were off for them they also found that child abusers convicted child abusers got access to those kids. always calming phenomenal and what i'm saying is overall it's an amazingly rosy

picture in that adopted kids international as well as domestic are treated better. and regular kids growing up in untroubled biological families in the united states . write the same. first trip. and i would think that your. reporters would. again course in

a matter of days breathtaking sprints full stops and photo finishes all of the ice and what we're going to get no doubt it's time to get us going to sell them from a look at what they said she twenty fourteen winter olympics has got to offer with . 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 the skating rink it's very important to that this rink be maintained properly particularly for the skaters and they're 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 can certainly see where the money went a crystal face is reflected by 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 out the focus of the arena doesn't disappoint with leading sports men and women coming forward to trace the circuit it features to competition tracks and one training track all designed to provide the best possible performance for after. the quality of ice can make a huge difference in winning that goal and edler quality is the main priority with optimum michael climatic conditions a world class surface but it's just the limp. games every forty five minutes will have to bring. on machines and bring them on the circuit for. the four hundred metre. it's very important

that they do this because they'll be lovely lovely ice rink as well as making. all week a limp will be skating. close on the machine is free to. well the have to deal with everybody five minutes during the games so that the libyans was thinking well can have a much smoother and faster. it's going to be all about speed speed and more speed and the endless stadium and sochi is ready to bomb with elliptic park in sochi what. do you get more of a tour of the olympic park at r.t. dot com and make sure this is well hopefully when the games get going we've got special coverage throughout sochi twenty forty.

young american entrepreneur in a bit cohen millionaire charlie surrenders been arrested in the u.s. this last week the c.e.o. of the digital currency exchange bit instant is accused of laundry more than a million dollars worth a bit calling so the controversial web site silk road known to be used by drug traffickers the twenty four year olds also accused of not putting necessary regulations in place to keep criminal activity out of the financial system now if found guilty he faces more than a decade by. these now in a house arrest after being released on bail financial analyst mark fountain told us he believes the arrest there was a bit setting a political president not a legal one here. the us dollar is actually the major facilitator of the illegal transactions of drugs and human trafficking all sorts of nasty businesses most of

their 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 space and it was a perfectly foreseeable event as well. just letting you to a couple of the many stories we've got online tonight on c dot com holy makers on the beaches of spain it seems may have to get used to an ominous silhouette on the horizon we're reporting that after americans sent the police to missile defense troy to the area that's what you'll see on the rise and it's a close up of welcome double moscow which is one of accounts of the developing spot there maybe you can follow it online from us also to iran says the u.k.

almost one in fact seeking compensation of over half a billion dollars again a dispute brewing there goes all the back in fact the one nine hundred seventy s. keep track about and r.t. dot com. a dutch court given internet freedom activists a reason to celebrate this week of rule to restore users access to an online file sharing service the pirate bay the hague appeals court reversed a twenty eleven decision to block access to the web site statement it. didn't help reduce copyright infringement all political columnist ted rall believes it's almost impossible indeed to defend property rights in this high tech area anyone who tries to regulate the internet at this point seems to be failing it's a very interesting case 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 it effectively what's the point then 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 that digitization has made it very difficult for copyright holders to enforce those rights. it's twenty five minutes past here in moscow thanks for being with us we'll be watching around the world break soon after that. we got the story of the abuse suffered by some adopted children in worlds apart.

i've always had mixed feelings about speed traps it seems like it's a waste of the police officers time but on the other hand they sure do make people paranoid and drive more slowly one man from texas is completely sure of his opinion about speed traps that he set out to save his felt texans from being fined for speeding and much more importantly from potential traffic accidents caused by the hidden police and now he's the one who's in deep trouble according to fox news ron martin faces a misdemeanor charge for violating frisco texas sign ordinance that says that you may only stand around holding a sign on private property martin claims that he was doing the exact same thing as a speed limit sign reminding people to slow down and i think ultimately he is right you should be able to tell other people where the police are setting up speed traps because that will cause them to drive more slowly which is the real goal of speed traps in the first place the only reason local authorities would be against this is because they love the income that comes from a nice big pile of speeding tickets i hope that mr martin finds a way to go right back to holding his sign but this time on private property but

that's just my opinion. on the welcome to world that part of the conventional wisdom is that a child is always better off enough. down in an institution given if being with the family means losing all existing social ties but it is international adoption of really always in the best interest of the child to discount the amount drawn by elizabeth bartholet buckle to director of the child advocacy program at harvard law school. i really appreciate you being on the show i think it's a very sensitive issue and we are all for a very very interesting discussion thanks for having me now i know that you are one

of the most vocal advocates in your country for international adoption but after growing steadily for almost six decades the number of children being adopted into the united states has been. falling sharply recently if i'm not mistaken number drawn by a hospital in two thousand and four in two thousand and ten and russia just recently became yet another country in this growing list of countries banning or restricting adoption into your country how do you explain that well i don't think it has anything to do with any diminishing need for homes for children i think it's because the forces. or hostile to international adoption notice the numbers going out and set out to turn that around so i think it's very deliberate political action both by governments and by n.g.o.s and why would be

those hostile forces those host governments interested in. doing what seems to be against the interests of children well that's a great question i think the primary forces here are organizations that purport to be child friendly so. save the children and other child. human rights organizations are driving those numbers down even more than governments and i'm not entirely sure why that is i think press people have to ask those organizations what their motivation is now i heard the you say in one of your previous interviews that there is a lot of quote phony remand to says when it comes to justifying why children are better off in that home countries and the issue of heritage for example often comes up here but i wonder if there is there is not just as much phony remand to system

when it comes to adoption especially international adoption because the default assumption here is that a child is always the better off in the loving family than in an institution but the question is really how many of those adoptive children and up with loving families who can properly take care of their needs well i think the social science is very clear on that there have been lots of studies of adoption both domestic and international and the studies show overwhelmingly the almost all the children placed in adoption do extraordinary well bond with their parents and almost all the problems that those children may have have to do with being placed late in life in other words the problems they may have in adoption some of them almost always have to do with the fact they didn't get adopted early and they got damaged by the life they lived when institutions but ms bartholet isn't it also also the case that this study is that here to.