officials raise the alarm over corruption in the world sucking one hundred twenty billion euros a year from the european economy roughly the size of the total budget and what's worse the report warns this may be just the tip of the iceberg. as the u.s. reportedly plans to back up its year in diplomacy with more weapons for the rebels and our t.v. crew travels to a damascus school where the children refused to be victims of conflict. now with the winter olympics just days away and the gay propaganda boycott battle still in the minds of many we talk to the city's l g b t community to find out if the law has really affected their life in sochi.

you're watching r t international coming to you live from moscow with me merida joshie welcome to the program now officials have uncovered a corruption pandemic sweeping member states with one hundred and twenty billion euros lost to shady deals each year that figure was published in a report by the e.u.'s home affairs commissioner who warns that the scale of the problem is probably even broader and getting worse all over highlighted for us the most worrying details. over half of those who were surveyed said they think the corruption within the union was growing seventy six percent of those who were told the corruption was widespread within the european union twenty six percent said that they'd been directly affected by corruption government effectiveness of tackling corruption though only twenty three percent thought that they were capable

of doing that and seventy three percent a huge number three quarters almost saying that they thought that the best way to get public services was through bribery just into who's put forward this report the e.u. commission or an unelected body they have made the headlines themselves a few times when it comes to some of the more leftfield laws that have been imposed upon the e.u. citizens now their report didn't look into e.u. institutions and that's certainly raised a few eyebrows people wondering just how much more than one hundred twenty billion a year in backhanders of being going on if the e.u. had looked into themselves now u.s. secretary of state john kerry has reportedly admitted washington suffer any diplomatic defeat in syria according to two senators who met with him privately america's new strategy could include sending more military hardware to the rebels as al qaida is accumulating power in their region by as even ocean air reports and side the country something more guns won't help. lesson of arabic in

a syrian elementary school these boys and girls may look like ordinary kids but they've already faced a lifetime of adult experiences they must somehow cover at least ten out of bed bluffs called a day and cross the road i saw sarah and then a missile found somewhere nearby me and my cousins ran for cover the next day when i went to school our teacher told us that sarah died god bless her was that. sarah sister was also killed that day editor is now afraid to go to school a choice pons with a bravery that many grown ups would be proud of this war and marketability i hear from my parents teachers and friends that there is a lot of people dying but i will not surrender i will continue to started to rebuild my country. amid the violence of a protracted war the kids grow up very fast so the whole visit i feel afraid

because of various and i feel sad because it's not ok to see kids killed like this issue it's not good this year and kids die like this. is eleven years old the syrian conflict has claimed for his relatives he was eight when it started and his had no real childhood scenes how long would it i ask myself this girls why did they die so they have nothing to do with this conflict so why did they do. this story is not unique in almost every syrian school direct casualties like these . last november the entrance of the school in damascus old town was hit by three mortars four children and the bus driver died at the scene i haven't been able to accept these deaths until now they were my kids i can clearly see their smiles and hear their voices i still see them in my dreams that nothing can justify this no

religion no moment of thinking makes it acceptable. but life the principle of the school tells us must go on at the holy that he and his amends the children on the administration have been deeply affected but it's also encouraged us to continue or to train and are learning the mission of education is to bring up new engineers and new doctors new teachers to build up this country we have to resist this violence and this will be anything between is an issue after a short break kids at this school in damascus are back to their classes but thousands of other syrian children all across the country still can't make it as their schools are destroyed and families displaced there were around twenty thousand schools in syria before the crisis today at least if easy for them a gun and even if the reason school nearby parents are simply too afraid to let their kids out of this site once a thriving nation with a strong education system syria today faces not just

a crisis of the present but of the future too. from syria. follow on to r.t. dot com to get more frontline experience from syria as well as the latest reports on the flimsy shelter that's been provided for those who fled the war. americans are fighting back against their government's use of deadly drones but as some protesters face trial a media blackout at a national level leaves a movement struggling. to get its point across. as such he welcomes in the world's top winter ask the hand of the international olympic committee is confident down the russian city is more than ready for the games are just full squad is there for us well organizers have been saying for some time now that sort she is ready to welcome the sporting world and of course all gets underway on friday evening at eight fourteen pm local time the contents of that two

and a half hour spectacle are a closely guarded secret over the last twenty four hours or so i think spectators and journalists that continue to arrive in and around sochi the reports are emerging that the number of hotels a colony in complete hotels they're going to house spectators and journalists what the president of the international olympic committee told us but he is here in sochi he says he's confident that everything will be completed in time on the games will run smoothly at the olympic stage is ready for the base. of the world. we can see this in the sports facilities. state of the art that there we can see in the olympic village which are all of. very high quality about eighty percent of the athletes can literally walk from their bed in the wheel each to their competition when you. something i have

never seen before at the olympic games well also went on to address the issue of security saying that he is assured the games will be secure all that is a direct quote of course the recent twin suicide attacks in volgograd less than a thousand kilometers from here have heightened tensions but part went on to draw parallels with the two thousand and two winter olympics which were held in salt lake city just a few months after september eleventh and the other issue that of course has overshadowed really the buildup to these games is russia's adoption of the law banning the propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to mine is now many critics feel that this is infringing gay rights on my colleague martin and very has been. and he's been finding out how if at all the new law is affecting the lives of gay people here in the city. thousands of athletes and businesses are expected to arrive this week and three billion people are also estimated to watch the winter

olympics this month for some however the games aren't about spiritual progress they're about gay rights some controversy surrounding last year's legislation that restricts children being given information about nontraditional relationships a similar law to the u.k. section twenty eight that was a false two decades in the late eighty's we had to the city's only beach front gate venue my ak or lighthouse english club that's been in the city for more than thirty years it seems that it's being subculture is far more liberal than people think traditionally one of the most tolerant russian cities when during the civil era questions from all over the country the public via the. club owner and his partner a man have been a couple for over thirteen years and settled that they don't agree with the law they remain mostly unaffected by it and well business is but they describe the west's response as heavy handed and an overreaction. book of course i think it's

really bad it negatively affects gay russian people because society blames them for spoiling the olympics for an important opinions are still divided on sexuality in russia and this club does give something of an insight into the reality of gay life here the one time in the club and meeting people. need like any other gay bar that i've ever been to any of the backstage the performers are getting ready for tonight's performance in preparation for the club's new foreign audience english songs added to. the performance here can't believe the media attention bush's gay scene has generated in the west to. sobre would have spoken loudly in great numbers but the reality is that the issue is more complicated than it seems while some in the l.g.b. the community say that the bill is broken last year let's bring in

a new wave of the baby boom violence of the state and the situation has to be changed and told how they gave up and you know that second stage of development even somewhat laura well people do not run the streets handed hand in sochi behind closed doors at such clubs people can be a can be affectionate and one thing is for sure but you have seventy cool views this month is going to be a celebration of sport. not centrist party such. parties are the heart of the winter olympics our will be broadcasting from such a throw out of the games and a line of course so detect us out at twenty fourteen doherty dot com.

anti drone activists are on trial across the u.s. for standing against their government's use of deadly unmanned planes four people have already been found guilty of trying to deliver a letter of protest to the hat of an air force base and how war activists david swanson says the movement is widespread but largely shunned by the nation's media but he has had people serve me know the six month prison sentences we've had people say see no horrendous charges for exercising their first amendment rights this is an ongoing activity across the country and it's noticed in the local media that there's a virtual blackout in the national media in the united states you would have no idea this was happening it's that there's an extensive protest resistance movement

against these drone murders and unfortunately most americans don't even know it's happening don't even know what the drones are being used for much less that they are being protested when these missiles go and kill innocent men women children infants in pakistan afghanistan yemen somalia there is no discussion there's no debate it just happens under the radar. the drone program was launched under george w. bush but has been widely expanded during barack obama's presidency yann has been targeted but as we can see most drone strikes have hit the tribal areas of pakistan and a large number of civilians nearly four hundred on conservative estimates have also been killed there by the unmanned planes it seems a german government is not getting away with its lobbies snooping control is coming up and saying weeks forced the country's main haplogroup to file a criminal complaint against the government over its part in the spy scandal. was

in the war on drugs it seems that it's the authorities who are on the back food was more people hope and countries turn to hobbes for illicit trade now israel is one of them. and in new york there's a high security cemetery with a shadowy past still added we meet a woman who was even denied the right to visit the grave of her child their. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered.

maggie what you are to international a breach of citizens privacy in germany is apparently too much even for the country's leading hacker organization the chaos computer club is suing chancellor

merkel and the government for failing to prevent the u.s. and britain from spying and germans are just spoke to one of the activists behind the move. we have strong indications that the driven government. or work together with the american spies on all of our editors and live at the moment even if the whole media blitz covering but they stay very very passive and they are it for us it looked like they were just waiting until the storm is over and that's why we want to force the federal prison prosecutor to start real investigation on what is going on and went beyond wrong and how the government not only the american all the others are insured invading our digital lives it's still not proven that any of these matters really help finding terrorists and all the other excuses they find and that's just a new way of power which is. destroying every everybody's privacy

and probably will also be a big danger for the democracy and to some astronomical ambitions in the high tap world now website and find out about crowd funded device that lets you know when the international space station is right about you. and the city mayors in the pod friendly they're the ones five or even more liberal rules on the we want to see kings that legalisation of home grown we've all the details are. now truly in span thousands dads a bundle global war on drugs is turning into an even steeper uphill battle the u.n. says almost three hundred million people around the world are addicted to illegal substances and that the global trafficking network is growing are just fall asleep reports now on how israel has unexpectedly become a major hub for the drug trade. ok like most major cities there is

a dark side to the television night scene armed with a hidden camera we visit one of the popular downtown nightclubs everything's on often children doing drugs in the middle of the room i was using drugs in a twenty five years but you know. stuff and they're sixteen years ago. i fell to the heroin and this was terrible one is a former user he spent many nights in prison and paid the ultimate price we were living on the street do we want to do it you know you just you know you want to use this you're getting the worst for an hour. to get it again so. the soup can come out from a lot of people coming over from the circuit my wife she died from the drugs she couldn't stop with full borders drug smugglers are entering the country from all

sides although in this instance security forces manage to make an arrest they cannot stop them all israel has a starve role in the most recent wooldridge drug report issued by the united nations office on drugs and crime alongside brazil it's listed as a country that is a major manufacturing importer expulsion and user of narcotic drugs i can confirm that more than fifty percent of all the drugs that enter israel the seized but this is obviously long term counter police operations that will take place and continue working with the into porn is twenty five representatives that are here in israel and therefore information is transferred on a day to day basis but maybe that is not enough pay some figures that these are the police know about them based on the suspects that we've arrested there has been an increase in attempts that's correct all sides agree this is a dangerous situation and that israel has to do more so people like want me. once

again i think that's true. even the government even the good. people of this it's it's a disease the situation is no it's not substantially different from that to your or united states. simply a riot in the country fashion or even eight points here on t.v. television. while to more international news in brief now in yemen shia muslim rebels and sunni tribesmen have agreed on a ceasefire in the north of the country meanwhile in the capital sanaa it least two soldiers have been killed and about a dozen wounded in a bomb attack on a military bus on monday thousands of shia protesters marched through sanaa accusing a sunni led government of mass destruction and abuse of power. international peacekeepers in the central african republic have been engaged and firefights while trying to stop looting and in the muslim neighborhoods in the capital the communities really are attacked by rival christian militias forcing muslim

residents to flee their homes currently over six thousand troops from france and the african union are in the country trying to quell months of sectarian tension that has killed more than two thousand people. and peace talks between the pakistani government and the taliban have been dealt a setback the sides were due to meet on tuesday for preliminary negotiations but the government now says it can't go ahead until the islamic militant group clarifies certain issues taleban has been waging an insurgency in the country's pride bills only since two thousand and seven and the army recently stepped up its raids on militant strongholds last month more than one hundred and ten people were killed in clashes there many of them soldiers. on the outskirts of new york there is a huge and secretive cemetery protected from the prying eyes by the u.s. prison service or jesus one woman who struggled against the state of four years to be allowed to visit her child's grave.

for a place kept from the public eye. you've likely never heard of it despite its long history and size one of the largest cemeteries in the united states with nearly a million burials almost one million people buried here since the eighteen hundreds the poor homeless stillborn children and bodies not claimed by anyone on just over one hundred acres heart island a piece of land just off of manhattan this is as close as we can get to the island with a news camera this is a dog where ferries transporting bodies inmates and occasional visitors depart from after a variety of uses from a prison to a psychiatric ward to hospital the place has been ran by the prison system making the cemetery more reminiscent of a jail where inmates beurre up to fifteen hundred bodies a year burrows for those the city takes care of take place in mass graves here inmates dig ten feet deep trenches at fifty cents per hour dollars that are buried

out there are primarily homeless there are people that are generally forgotten and ignored by society. photographer in ferris was able to get these images by reaching the island in secret on a handmade boat the most striking thing when we first landed it hit our boat for the morning. was that we almost stumbled into an open area we stepped out and just realized that the plywood covered coffins controlled by the city's department of correction the location is difficult to access and visits if any are strictly regulated i had a live child and she's gone and i have no. control over going to a cemetery to visit her former navy commander ilene josephs five day old baby girl died thirty six years ago at twenty three by herself while the grieving mother was trying to figure out funeral arrangements she found out that her childhood already

been buried by the city people are not properly informed in the hospitals as to what it means to allow the city to take care of it ilene was given a death certificate with no indication of where her daughter and did up the search for her child's grave went on for decades she was five days old i had nursed her she was my daughter and i was in the just about to throw away i would like to go to walk to my daughter's grave and be able to have some final. closing but getting closure has been a struggle so far elaine has been able to come to a busy ball on the island following id checks after permission from prison system officials if this were a private cemetery it would be very clear under the law that you had to allow visits to the actual grades because it's a public cemetery the specific law that requires access does not does not apply filmmaker author and founder of the hard island project melinda hunt works with

women like elaine to have the island be made into a public park it's inappropriate to expect the public or someone who's lost a child to have to contact the department of corrections and to make arrangements to. visit hard island and then not to be able to go to an actual grave site hi this is mark to a regular to a lawyer mark taylor works with the grieving mothers pro bono many of them did not subsequently have children so they have still born children who are buried out on the island and for them looking back in their life it's something that has meaning and importance to them access to the graves is is impossible because the graves are not marked to be lost records lost great story in their own records out there under shoddy conditions the department of corrections has not done a great job of maintaining this island as you know the new york culture urges

jurors is a viable part of the prison system after a battle that's lasted years eight mothers including elaine have recently been informed that they will be able to visit specific grave sites still under strict regulations but until the island stops being ran by those who run prisons this place holding almost one million people will continue to treat those fighting for closure like inmates people don't throw their families away and. new york have an x. y. cash which can. are eyeing up property and bankrupt detroit. the first recreational marijuana shops are now open in colorado finally the

question of what effect legal marijuana will have on the american public can be answered with real world experience you know there are a lot of people out there with strong arguments as to why we should legalize this controversial play it firstly there are plenty of things just as bad for us as marijuana or worse like beer cigarettes anti-depressants and mystery fast food meats which are totally legal secondly young men are often thrown in jail for the absolutely victimless crime of smoking marijuana i could see punishing someone for drugs like crystal meth which can and do turn people into maniacs but have any of you out there ever heard of someone breaking into people's houses on a we ramp age no no you haven't the downside to all of this is that across america the world people are looking for change and they want a massive storm rise but when the masses are stoned out of their minds it makes things in life that we shouldn't tolerate become very tolerable we now call allow us to make it through another day of our miserable lives so that we can live without going through all that effort of trying to make things better or challenge the system legalizing weed will just pacify the masses even more but that's just my

opinion. but with economic ups and downs in the final months they. sang i and the rest. so you meet every week. there i marinate it this is boom bust and these are the stories that we're tracking for you today. coming out the general author blogger and publisher of the trends journal is live on today's show you won't want to miss what yes to say about the

u.s. economy plus the latest on the herbalife ackman pyramid drama this week the f.t.c. is being forced to look at allegations that the company is one big old pyramid scheme but tell you all about it coming right up and add harrison joins me in today's big deal to talk about canada finally and from the u.s. to build a bridge to detroit or story you all want to miss it and it all starts right now. they are talking about the emerging markets crisis and the u.s. economy however i want to lead off with the latest drama surrounding nutritional supplement distributor herbalife now the head of the federal trade commission edith

ramirez has agreed to meet with minority and consumer activists to hear their concerns about the pyramid scheme excuse me excuse me company i meant to say company herbalife it's a company now herbalife the pyramid drama it's already the stuff of legends thanks to an impromptu televised verbal brawl between investors bill ackman and carl icahn now after man has been shorting herbalife and calling the company a pyramid scheme for well over a year however color coral. along with some other big name hedge fund honchos like george soros and download they've taken the other side of the bet and done much much better herbalife shares were a six percent in early trading monday after the company said it increased its share repurchase program from five hundred million to one point five billion dollars herbalife considers itself a multilevel marketer and strongly denies allegations that it's a pyramid scheme the f.t.c. says quote a company can be.