i. headlining tonight on r.t. international traditional family values take center stage in france as crowds rally to protest against the policies of from small on bus. young children about to die from a lack of water and they threatened us with machine guns there were people ask three at a time and killing us becomes the first foreign t.v. channel for access to the perceived syrian town of address after reports of rebels massacred dozens of civilians there including children. and the namastey for rioters comes into force in ukraine as the country's opposition cozies up to western politicians and the security form in munich despite moscow once again warning the e.u. against taking sides in the right. this

is a weekly roundup of the top stories the news that shaped the past seven days with me kevin now and first of all tens of thousands of people have been running in paris and also in the city of leone in the latest wave of demonstrations for traditional family values peter 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 they say that they want to quash the pose laws that would be put forward the demonstrations that we've seen in the past have on occasion to end violence. just

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 did end up in some rather unsavory clashes between the police and those those demonstrators now all of this comes on the wave of also acute unpopularity for the french president francois popularity here at an all time low and he's pretty much the the most unpopular french president in recent memory and the people here in paris coming out on the streets to show that unhappiness out their leader it all over well indeed it's this unpopularity that the government's been trying to divert from the public's attention that's what we've been hearing from a freelance journalist and former editor of the french news newspaper robert honest to seize an issue that he used to do in the race to distract attention from his

unpopular one to get seat pressure at the ministers each year is actually looking at these issues but equally true there is i suppose about one says the population who does feel very strongly about this we talked about this a year ago at that time i said there is the celebrants the 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 type which is expiring and to try are there if you like this is not. even favor of a family was a pair of children this is the basis for bush family. and it was journalist not a contributor speaking to me there. but over a month now since reports that hardline syrian rebels captured the taliban side damascus dozens of civilians were allegedly slaughtered thousands displaced the rebels still occupy key parts of the town making it hard to verify information coming from there but. 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 mountains of sand and piles of old tires the army uses to shoot its convoys from attacks it's maybe longer but it's a safer route pocket. 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 limerick's killings and violence after abjure 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 hadad 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 address the old town admiral blood and the work his house in complex nearby a drum a lear both an al besieged and i could go a little salon or there were maybe some blankets here to separate other are below and that room earlier and to prevent the militants uniting. these corydoras 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 for any military operation could threaten the lives of those who remain hostage and with no access inside it's impossible to tell just how many the are but luckily most of the residents managed to escape are drug 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 but this place because terrorist attack the student who had to escape the occupied and we can't go there they're owed a 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. the hours mother appear from the darkness of

a room barely ten square metres and a silence and 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 hospital far from her family. through here 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 also 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 and i saw with my own eyes people stole and i still see them in my nightmares. that are like this sort of they cut drinking water and they prevented the bakery from working for us here 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. see from our drive in syria and other developments the syrian for minister says the government will not be negotiating directly with the opposition at the next round of peace talks in geneva due to start in a week's time that decision was made after u.s. secretary of state john kerry insisted that president assad must be excluded from

the transitional government syrian political activist of a worker told me that america's reaction is going to be expected here that. the u.s. congress has looted during the negotiations to arm the rebels there is a long. answer for ows represents. they came under which is the syrian national coalition the syrian government is desperately trying to negotiate with someone who could have some powers to you know hold to their word into their agreement what about the 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 from friends and family who travels along that route between damascus and other newer southward there are certain segments of the road where they have to drive closer to like a hundred miles an hour or under sixty even orders an hour because of fear of sniper power last night were shots from moderate opposition so if you want to move

military grade equipment and vehicles into that through the they have to be moved you know that 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 the you know the american position whether they went into this agreement in good faith or not because they might seem to be using this agreement to punish is it is rather than using this if we need to get rid of the chemical warfare. and amnesties come into force in ukraine giving rioters in downtown kiev and throw the country's western they'd fifteen days now to disperse and to leave all government buildings the cement the cement triumph of the country's opposition front man the security for munich where they score pledges of more support from washington and the european union meantime russia's foreign ministers called against taking a one sided view of the unrest in ukraine you know press 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 sergey 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 siege and 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 lord holds 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 this you think are in that group that he called the rest of the world. during discussions of munich both opposition to vitaly klitschko ukraine's foreign minister say with the top diplomat blowby the box the politician for the increasingly nationalist violence of the country klitschko diverted the debate but blame the violence on police brutality security consultant should join or 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 but tons

personal weapons strikes electronic control devices give 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. when i check out from in the latest poll that shows two thirds of ukrainians do not support the turmoil that's engulfed the western regions of course in which most of those local ministration offices have either been stormed to besiege to sixty percent the meantime many feel the country's probably under the threat of civil war thirty two percent well he's pulis leah traveled into one of the hotbeds of the rest 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 liking kiev's 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 comics 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. is supposed to have no president than to have you know called which but with the opposition as fragmented as it is that tally is the first to admit no yanna 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 their position which won't be easy the sentiments blown across central and western ukraine where regional offices

are being picketed and seized by protesters i believe 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 when the. similar scenes played out and she can see where protesters trying to said like 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 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 talk. of the country also course i also result in some here spare hops in a long term perspective. despite the criticism of you on the coverage these protesters have nothing better to offer policia r.t. even a front costs western ukraine. well before it got dark earlier these were the latest pictures coming through from kiev earlier on this afternoon bright sunny afternoon then as you see the result in force a lot of people there despite the amnesty there's been a massive anti-government rally and fresh from that security for munich as well opposition leader vitaly klitschko was addressing the crowd you see there with

a ring you more on the ongoing turmoil in ukraine on air and online at r.t. dot com. and with the i think avoid taking the forefront in the term or has been gripping ukraine up ahead we look to it just how deep runs. the. economic down in the final. days the old shanghai and the rest like it's doing me a little bit if we. pleasure

to have you with us here on t.v. today. although again just a matter of days breathtaking spreads false starts and the photo finishes two will be taking place on the ice it's time therefore to get our skates on for a look at what the such a twenty fourteen winter olympics has got to offer let's say.

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 insight 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 angular 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 praise

the circuit it features two competition tracks and one training track all designed to provide the best possible performance for athletes the quality of ice can make a huge difference in winning that gold and edler quality is the main priority with optimal michael climatic conditions to ensure a world class on the surface but it's just the limp. games every forty five minutes will have to bring on machines and bring them on the circuit. around the floor one hundred meter this is very important that they do this because they'll be a leveling up ice rink as well as making pasta all week a limb pins will be skating. close on the machine is doing seat. well that after everybody five minutes to get things so that that's what it must. cost.

it's going to be all about speed speed and more speed and the endless and sochi is ready to bomb the thing in the big park in sochi what. excitement is building now you can get one of the two or course of the limping part of our t. dot com and make sure this is well if you can with the games get go and we'll bring you special coverage on it throughout such the twenty forty.

presidential campaigning starts in afghanistan as american troops continue their withdrawal from the country kabul still refusing to sign a security pact which would put u.s. soldiers to remain in a fragile state after twenty fourteen. next the reports on how the taliban could be the ones benefiting from the friction right now between washington and the afghan government. after thirteen years in afghanistan washington is counting down together with our allies we will complete our mission there 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 force forces to be able to face the challenges in 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 most of the eleven provinces bordering pakistan the group also controls several districts in par one 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 be the one that's any work night the taliban run their own district government is just. but there is no real security. and it could get worse a classified american intelligence assessment warns that the initial objective in afghanistan removing the taliban and disabling al qaeda 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. drone 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 well let's look at said the money has been spent washington spent billions of what would you want to start since two thousand and one it's cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and there are more bills to come as well every american soldiers serving in afghanistan annually will cost on average two point one million dollars more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment isn't going to be shipped back either that have to be decommissioned are the new thirty four million dollars military age queue is not going to be used that's reportedly now going to be demolished instead we spoke to. terrorism consultant also former prisoner of the taliban he told us he thinks the u.s. is not able to contain the group which continues to bolster its ranks. it's 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 it's anything increased their their ability to attack their holding forth the united states even with its surge in two thousand and nine announced by president obama has not been able to really curtail the tell 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. u.s. and e.u. sanctions will continue to burden the economy of iran that's the message from u.s. secretary state john kerry at a meeting with reading counterpart on the sidelines of the munich security conference we're talking about early washington in brussels lifted some of the restrictions under an interim deal reached in november in exchange for to round scaling down nuclear enrichment ever now carries reaffirm that the remaining sanctions are there to stay as opposed to political scientists used to be an

advisor to iran's negotiating team on nuclear issues he told me the comments do more harm than good here. just me word backfire on the moderate rouhani administration in iran as well which is under scrutiny by the hardliners and mr kerry's pressure tactics which is part of these two prong coercive diplomacy the other prying being rising military threats and it's very dangerous. threat that we saw in president obama's state of the union address is really can't to put duct here and it poisons the environment for the coming talks they brought the iran to the table by pressure and they need to escalate that pressure in order to gain maximum concessions and secretary of state kerry has been referring to dismantling aspects of the really a nuclear program which is contrary to the content of the geneva agreement and flatly rejected by the iranian foreign minister dr my major words there is so i

think the u.s. is intention is to go beyond the terms of the geneva agreement table new demands by applying these two prong pressure tactics. news briefing iraqi army stepped up its bombardment of the city of fallujah reportedly had a very full on ground offensive the city was seized by al qaeda linked militants in january has been under intense and shelling for days the government's been holding off on sending troops to give local tribesmen time to oust the rebels security in iraq spring on a downslope ever since the u.s. led invasion in two thousand and three with almost eight thousand people killed in sectarian violence last year alone. like the scene earlier in athens scuffles broke out between riot police and fascist protesters enraged by a 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

rioters attacked a man carrying a greek flag the golden dawn rally was commemorating with deaths of three davy offices which bore greece and turkey to the brink of war indeed back in one thousand nine hundred eighty six update from thailand where the electoral commission says it's on able to announce the results of a nationwide vote of duranty government protesters forced the pleasure of thousands of polling stations they disrupted the delivery of ballot papers and set up blockades the early general election comes after months of protests calling for the prime minister to quit to pave the way for far reaching political reforms rest was sparked by fears that she was trying to force an amnesty bill to measure exile brother back into the country. you're going protests in ukraine are saying nationalist movements gained strength of several anti semitic attacks also being reported now in kiev all this is leaving the country split down ethnic lines in a conflict that goes back generations as a lecturer j.f.k. found out for us. the u.s. last year musharraf ski barely remembers the horrific events of nine hundred forty

three when ukrainian insurgents going to slaughter his village in western ukraine but the most tragic things live well in his memory. one of them caught up and shot from close range there was a huge noise a bullet hit an ear it touched the temple my mom fell down she was unconscious the blood was everywhere they thought and sober and went to the village to murder they didn't kill they murdered with pitchforks and axes me this love survived to become poland's first and only man in space nineteen members of his family including his father and more than eighty thousand poles jews and their medians were not as lucky some of murders in what was a genuine ethnic cleansing buy up our troops were extremely gruesome people cut in pieces with a saw in one thousand forty three conducted a total ethnic cleansing in pools in ukraine that is to destroy all pools living on a.