doesn't sound anything. to teach me creation why you should care about humans. this is why you should care only dot com. the syrian opposition initiate red talks with the government as rebel forces continue to lose ground we managed to get to their former stronghold which has seen some of the worst violence in the three year conflict. the iraqi government loses control of a vast jihad its fighters see several cities in the north. and local officials to flee. and ukraine's military faces dissent within its ranks as dozens of soldiers refused to take part in a deadly crackdown against pro autonomous regions in the east of the country.

welcome and thanks once again for joining us my name's neil harvey and you're watching r.t. international peace talks between the syrian government and the opposition could take place as early as this week and this comes after the rebels were forced out of their last stronghold of homs left in tatters by years of war. managed to get inside the city and met for militants weary of fighting against their own people. these a new sound the tank over the city of holmes the place in the shallow end of balmy have to dialogue with the government the rebels left what they considered their capital and clashes stopped holmes's old town the militants last stronghold it's from here that they withdrew following the green meant with their sources and this is what's left after months of fierce clashes after months of their resistance and

more sc shop someone's home everything is destroyed everything in the ruins but those who were forced to flee and no slowly returning for the first time in years is relatively safe here and people want to be in the place they still class as their find here i just came back from the market where good thing god does become possible after high ranking military and civil figures accepted the advances from the very people have been targeting them. desperate is the best word to describe the situation in which the rebels initiated talks the syrian police major was among the negotiators just a year ago he was hit by a bullet fired from the rebel side it left him disabled and doctors say he may never fully recover but he still calls for forgiveness most of them are young people who got influenced by fanatic shakes and islamic clerics who had the extremist ideology that is alien to syrian society they motivated them by money

that came from the gulf countries mostly and all this was supported by western and israeli intelligence we need to help our guys who became victims of all this we speak with a major in what's become a kind of rehab center for x. militants around twelve hundred of them were brought to the school after they surrendered university teachers and religious leaders whose families suffered in war now talk to former militants helping them reintegrate. most of them say they were forced to take up arms all of them deny ever killing anyone but their words are impossible to verify. they used to give us lessons to explain to us that the regime is that the regime is attacking muslims and we have to fight them. we visit homs just days after series first presidential elections in decades this man tells us he voted for son the person who he was fighting against just weeks ago. syrian

reconciliation is assets initiative getting people in syrian army uniform could soon be wearing it himself as part of the rehab program the twenty two year old could be sent to serve in the country's army and there was no way that i will kill any of my brothers by religion and i were killed my former brothers in arms of i do not want to kill or hurt anybody that certain there are those behind this reconsideration initiative say the important thing is to encourage other militants still resisting and there are many of them to lay down their arms and what remains the only district in the city of holmes is still held by the rebels there fishel say they are not less than three thousand and the army is here nearby and also surrounding the area and they are ready for an operation at any moment but the rest of violence there are two. in three villages around homes in some other syrian provinces the situation is similar but it was still

a long way to go before peace is returned here but hopes are high today that syria is a cleese tearing down the right track. from homs in syria. islamic extremists have seized a second major city in northern iraq home to the country's largest oil refinery in recent days jihadist fighters have been stepping up the insurgency and they're now in control of the entire northern province of nineveh along with iraq's second largest city of more saw the population of more than two million hundreds of thousands of people have already fled their homes soldiers were quick to drop their guns and abandon the post. the radicals have reportedly overrun a local airfield as well seizing military helicopters and several vehicles they've also released prisoners from jails we spoke to the u.s. congress antiterrorism advisor who says the takeover of most school is a game changer this battle is an important one before that the islamic

state in iraq and the levant would be engaged in getting a warship attacking convoys suicide bombing and now if it can control the city and the government within the next days and weeks cannot take it back this is a very serious matter and not only this organization will see is the resources of the city but will recruit more and will conduct attacks from the city into other areas of iraq so the moment is very dramatic in iraq at this point in time and the international community should have a stand at least if not politically but even more on the ground with the iraqi government at this point in time but also giving advice to the iraqi government this is not the time for sectarian reaction this is the time for national unity in iraq to stay with us here on r.t. still to come this hour a lucrative military deal is on the table for japan and australia as the u.s. allies align themselves to offset china's growing influence in the asia pacific region. the city of slovyansk in eastern ukraine the main hub

of antigovernment forces has been devastated by the ongoing army assault at least two children have died from shrapnel wounds during the week long shelling residential areas and the city center are severely damaged and locals are suffering from water and power outages siegel. it struck in the morning always had by the blast wave i ran away the caller to whom. it is. shooting but i can't leave i have nowhere to go or ukraine's newly elected president petro poroshenko was given orders for humanitarian corridors to be set up in order to get civilians to safety but the self-proclaimed leaders of the restive region say they doubt the government will actually go through with this plan meanwhile around fifty national guard soldiers who took part in attacks on slavyansk of refused to fight voicing their anger over the way the operation is being run

a growing number of soldiers are laying down their arms as paul asli reports. six weeks on and with more than forty soldiers did kiev's military operation continues the army is in a pitched battle with anti-government activists but it's also struggling to keep itself together. very tough on. the war calling on me to kill people in their own bars and just like me more and more soldiers are refusing to obey orders and despite cuba's full military mobilization in march and has all but dried up whereas once they used to before drafting officers in lugansk today these only one and it's quiet they won't let us inside with the cameras i spoke with said clarke and he said there hasn't been any kind of recruitment here for weeks i asked to speak with a person in charge but was told that he's taken early retirement.

last month then acting president turchynov signed a decree calling on all men aged eighteen to twenty five to enroll those who did not list in jail but this young man is prepared to risk even more he's not only ignored his call up he's now fighting against the very army in which he's meant to serve a lot of. i got a draft lesser on the third of march that said i should go to the army i refused i didn't even go to the drafting center i'm not going to fight against my own people we have spirit ideals patriotism they don't have that they're going to go orders and money but others did on said the call to serve a decision they now have a great marias son is twenty years old he was drafted a year ago and is serving in western ukraine she's what we thought because he comes from the east he himself will be seen as the enemy of the hippies horde i want him home as soon as possible we are missing him we are really missing him

the army is said to lack food and ammunition and a sense of purpose and as the casualty count climbs it will become harder and harder to convince young men they should put their lives on the line for a cause many don't believe in point of fear r t eastern ukraine. and you can follow follow on twitter to get all the latest updates from eastern ukraine she reports that kiev has halted welfare payments in two cities in the region due to the ongoing conflict. began. to go she is from russia and ukraine are trying to resolve one of the key disputes between the countries natural gas. is refusing to pay its bills thus despite the offer of a slush price and what repercussions could that be for europe. economic

growth. for. peace now like and. what if the. sign. language. of holy week you would know if you're going to stay still some. choose to use the consensus to. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories that impact. choose peace. officers.

brave hold or merely a low in what is rapidly turning into the ukrainian civil war here claims it has an understanding with moscow designed to deescalate tensions and violence there are a few details known about this understanding can go deliver. watching r.t. international next at this hour russia's offer to sell natural gas to ukraine at a cut rate to resolve a long running supply dispute skin ever so far refused and is holding off on debt payments and that has sparked concerns in europe which receives russian gas fire ukraine's transit pipelines the danger is that if supplies to ukraine are shut off the country may start siphoning off europe bound gas has happened in the past is venture capital host katie pill being with the details. it seems like the gas price

disputes between russia and ukraine is set to continue for a while longer the latest development is that russia offered a one hundred dollar discount per one thousand cubic meters during the recent negotiations which would be lower than what many european countries pay but ukraine has reached fused and want an even lower rate now the deadline to at least make a start on payments anyway which keeps on being moved has now been postponed to doon the sixteenth now if kiev's debt is not paid which as it stands according to gazprom amounts to four point five billion dollars then a prepayment system will be introduced by in other words that would mean gas turned off now these ongoing negotiations they involve europe why well as you can see on the map just here they haven't invested interest and that's because you're relies on russia for a third of their gas needs fifteen percent of which pass through ukraine just here

if kiev doesn't pay then supplies to europe could be disrupted meanwhile the alternatives south stream project with secure supplies bypassing ukraine and it's been frozen at the moment by other gas from finance pipeline would ship gas to western europe via the balkans as you can see just that so obviously totally avoiding ukraine so with that in mind it's in everyone's interest to come to a compromise on these ongoing gas price disputes as soon as possible. the launch of the football world cup in brazil is just a day away now and as well as a sporting extravaganza it's also become a political battleground between the israelis and the palestinians israel sports minister has been forced to defend her country's highly controversial ban on all palestinians including athletes traveling abroad some it calls for israel to be expelled from favor you get the full story on our t.v. dot com. and while you're there you can check this story out a perfect spot for

a dip if it wasn't teeming with dorsal fins holidaymakers in alabama advice to stay away from the beach if they don't want to become shark bait check out the footage for yourself on r.t. dot com. your friend post a photo from a vacation you can't. call it different. the boss repeats the same old joke of course you like. your ex-girlfriend still plans to rejection poetry keep count nauru's. we post only what really matters at r.t. to your facebook news feed japan and australia are looking to forge a closer military alliance with a multi-billion dollar submarine deal first major transfer of tokyo's military technology to australia was seen as a step towards countering china's growing dominance in the region and it comes as

prime minister shinzo abbay pushes for greater japanese involvement in settling international disputes. well since coming to power in two thousand and twelve the japanese pm has taken moves to change his country's post-war past of his stance step by step in early twenty's thirteen for the first time in more than a decade japan raised its defense budget during an island dispute with china in tokyo relaxed its self-imposed ban on arms exports saying it needs to expand the domestic defense industry the following month in a televised address the problem is to say that article nine of the constitution which rules war to settle disputes should be revised. twenty thirty five year defense plan was adopted including the purchase of drones and vehicles on the cheek and takes a closer look now at the regional shifts in military power. after japan together with the now through germany lost in the second world war it inducted a constitution which says the japanese people for every now swore as

a sovereign right of the nation in the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph lend air forces as well as other war potential will never be maintained throughout these years though japan has maintained armed forces but strictly for the purpose of self-defense well japan's current prime minister shinzo abe wants to rewrite that constitution and expend japan's military power in the region laying out a vision of tokyo as a counterweight to china but without naming any country prime minister be offered japan's help to regional allies quote to ensure security of the seas and skies the japanese government has already relaxed arms export rules in april china is in the center of a number of territorial disputes in south china sea with the philippines vietnam

and in the east china sea with japan over same cockle and. islands the u.s. is very much embroiled in all of this claiming that the disputes demand a larger u.s. military presence in asia pacific sixty percent of the u.s. is fleet is there the u.s. has a large military presence in australia japan the philippines and guam and the u.s. doesn't mind its ally japan becoming more militarized the united states welcomes japan's efforts to play a more proactive role in contributing to global and regional peace and stability including reexamining the interpretation of which constitution chuck hagel has lashed out at china for what he called destabilizing unilateral actions asserting its claims in the south china sea china hit back on personally think the speech by mr hague was full of his germany for the threats and intimidation china is accusing

the due west of using the disputes and exacerbating them to gain a strategic advantage in the region if you are in beijing is you're looking at this and what you're seeing is is that japan is piling on along with the united states japan may say that its plan is to secure peace but critics argue any military expansion would lead to more tensions in washington i'm going to check on r.t. prime minister moves to militarize japan have met with fierce opposition and we know that because japan's international broadcast there has been gauging public opinion and according to the polls just over thirty percent of those interviewed by the idea of japan's militarization whereas forty one percent are against tokyo's plans for a constitutional revision allowing the use of war in international disputes we spoke to one expert on asia who believes that the u.s. has a direct interest in seeing a stronger japanese military. very formidable military power

and it's also a threshold are in that it has nuclear technology and has rocket technology three hundred rocket technology so if decisions are taken in tokyo and. breathes. then japan could very quickly become a major nuclear nuclear weapons state for the moment the americans see tries japan as a very strong. element in their containment of on china and to lesser extent to russia. u.s. air space is about to get a little bit more crowded the federal aviation agency has for the first time allowed commercial drones to fly over land that decision has come in for quite some criticism earlier we heard from aviation expert richard woodward who said that

there are major privacy and safety issues at stake here the future of drones growing phenomenally faster to be one of the biggest in the world because is any number of applications such as tracking and checking l.r. and chip in all fields as a control issue otherwise or have are made everywhere as a city whenever a private moment anywhere in the or there's a privacy issue because of the fact that those little things can fly over the side of your house in the air into your. windows the second thing is that the is no real design stage for the drones at the moment every single a craft that we fly is very strict design standards the drones are have design standards here that country in the world is working on that as far as they can but the technology is developing faster and the regulations are getting up with. right time to get some of the world news in brief now starting in the chilean capital santiago where riot police fired tear gas on tens of thousands of students and

teachers who packed the streets demanding education reforms the protesters they fall back hurling rocks at roy squads dozens were injured several arrests were made proving the education system was a key campaign pledge of president michel basher they took power in march this year . in haiti security forces fired live rounds of protesters voicing anger over the cost of living and government corruption and also demanding the president's resignation witnesses say at least three people collapsed amid the tear gas as police tried to break up the crowd is the second mass rally in the capital port au prince in less than a week. and at least one student has died in a high school shooting near portland oregon the attacker armed with a rifle was found dead at the scene have been ten fatal school shootings in america just since the beginning of this year. and to nigeria now where twenty women have

been abducted by gunmen thought to be bach or her islamist militants from a remote settlement in the country's northeast women were reportedly ordered into vehicles at gunpoint and driven away is the latest in a series of attacks in the country including mass kidnapping slayings and bombings of two hundred seventy two schoolgirls abducted two months ago remains. no news reporters can't get to the heart of political intrigues it's time to turn to the cartoonists q my twin come in their ears i think got the better cheekbones they think peter all of the reports from germany now on the time honored ridicule being poured on lawmakers and your accounts. politicians they've always been good for a giggle on t.v. poking fun at our political elites is a read on a fine tradition strict back hundreds of years but what goes into making a great political caricature. you can often find that you can exaggerate

a part of their physical appearance with the policies they stand for the venue's drawing may not look exactly like this object but it will be instantly recognizable as those in the top jobs in europe settle into their new term they too have found themselves the subject of parody meet broom or the bear as he leaves his home in the woods and heads off with the intention of doing good in brussels there he ends up working as a lobbyist for a bank alongside rocky the chimp has been often do good things in part i was inspired to use the chimpanzee after a test in london to see who could pick the best stock trims or professional traders the teams one i thought if our only option in germany is to listen to i'm going to merkel when i give the chimp a chance to in this tale the nefarious rocky leads brutal into a murky world of behind closed door deals and political intrigue that bears

a resemblance to what many opposed to lobbyists in brussels stand for. you but those days regime with the e.u. commission is too centralized these people were not elected but they have sway over policies many of which aren't endorsed by people in the commission in turn are swayed by the law because citizens have no voice at all very complicated issues that many in europe can find difficult to fully grasp that's where the cartoon can become a useful tool to fill people in what's going on with their politics you know not in the mind. you we consult with an economist while writing the script to make sure it's correct i see this as a gateway to understanding. laughing and learning political satire isn't going anywhere even if some of the lump figures may not be best pleased with the way the cartoonist views them peter all over r.t. berlin. i was sitting up there with not

a much better looking in call to inform can tell you up next speed to live ellen his guests will debate the future of ukraine and whether the country's new president can make good on his promises of pace.

history of yugoslavia and its formation as a prosperous and peaceful country was considered to be a success story of market socialism and in many regards it was the most developed. who was his teacher of democracy and market economy if any republic in yugoslavia wanted for the e.u. with a it would have to break away from yugoslavia and declared its independence ok it's not a conspiracy theory it's not my speculation it's not my analysis it's a public. and punish it

harshly. for every slight to let some on learn the serbs started this war the serbs are the original cause of the war they are the complete aggressors and wrongdoers. bomb because. that. small. ball of tofu fissions six of the new ones pushed. back. to pu assist and the multi-ethnic society to live in harmony and show not. what was forgotten to be told feel about yugoslavia the weight of chains on our teeth choose your language. with oh if. someone. chooses the pains to consume instead could. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose to stories good in good life choose be access to

often. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter although a ray of hope for merely a lol in what is rapidly turning into the ukrainian civil war claims it has an understanding with moscow designed to deescalate tensions and violence there are a few details known about this understanding can deliver. to cross-talk the crisis in ukraine i'm joined by my guest lindsey german in london she is with the stop the war coalition also in london we have alexander me curious

he is a legal writer and analyst and in washington we cross to. he is the president of the american university in moscow or across the fact that you folks can jump in anytime you want i very much encourage that alexander if i go to you first mr shanklin says he has an understanding with moscow we don't have too many details can he deliver on any promises that he makes. i wonder there were reports earlier today from mr who is the head of the dawn bass people's republic that he had some discussions with mr of who is the interior minister in the government in kiev who seems to fall is apparently a mr volatile promised various cease fires and these didn't happen and mr bush elan has questioned whether in fact the.