in degrees with some talk among yourselves from st petersburg to france we travel in search of the song. we've got the future covered. in a rare glimpse of hope the syrian opposition initiate talks with the government as rebel. ground we've managed to get access to that stronghold one of the worst in a three year long. this is what's left after months of fierce clashes often months of their resistance and more shops someone's home everything is destroyed everything. residents of the city of homs finally returning home and struggling to rebuild their lives in a city where most white. jihadist fighters seize key cities in northern iraq forcing hundreds of thousands to flee as the country's government continues to lose ground to militants. kiev says more than two hundred

people including fourteen children have been killed in the ongoing assault in ukraine's east that says the army faces descents with soldiers refusing to fight the civilian population. welcoming thanks once again for joining. us. now first this hour long anticipated peace talks between the syrian government and the opposition may be held as early as this week it comes after the rebels were forced out of their last stronghold of homs which has been the so-called capital of the revolution for the last three years. managed to get into the devastated city and spoke to former militants who decided to change sides. these

a new sound that's hanging over the city of homes the place in the shallow a 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 their grim and 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 laos is relatively safe here and people want to be in the place they still class as their final 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 who have been targeting them. is the best word to describe the

situation in which the rebels initiated talks the syrian police major was among the negotiators but 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 get influenced by fanatic shakes and islamic clerics who have 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 military is helping them reintegrate. most of them saying

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 syria's 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 he wants to rebuild a piece an ad. homs or who may have once targeted people in syrian army uniform could soon be wearing it to himself as part of the rehab program the twenty two year old could be sent to serve in the country's army and fight is no way that i will kill any of my brothers my religion and i were killed my former brothers in arms of the i do not want to kill or hurt anybody it's. 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 too. in three villages around homes and in some other syrian provinces the situation is similar but it's a long way to go before peace is returned here but hope so high today that syria is a least how do you down the right track. from homes in syria. but it's for its neighbor iraq the future doesn't look so hopeful islamic extremists have seized a key city in the north home to the country's largest oil refinery in recent days jihadist fighters have been ramping up the insurgency across the country and

they're now control of the entire northern province of nineveh and this capital must saw iraq's second largest sea. jihadist of also gained ground in other parts of the country including the all rich good province and the city of fallujah a quarter of two million population are already fled their homes soldiers have abandoned their posts in fear of the radicals believed to be the al qaeda splinter group known as the islamic state of iraq eleventh's militants of also reportedly overrun police stations and captured the city's international airport they've also freed more than a thousand prisoners from jail we spoke to the u.s. congress antiterrorism advisor who says that the takeover of mosul is a game changer. this battle is an important one before that the bios or the islamic street into washington levant would be engaged in getting a warship attacking convoys without 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 seize 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 the one time and the international community should have a stand at least if not political of even more on the ground with the iraqi government at this point in time here but also given advice of the iraqi government this is not the time for sectarian reaction this is a time for national unity in iraq more than two hundred people including fourteen children have been killed since the start of ukraine's military operation in the east that's according to the country's health minister while the newly elected president petro poroshenko has given orders for humanitarian corridors to be set up russia's foreign minister says that moscow has been denied the chance of providing humanitarian aid all residents of slovyansk in eastern ukraine are claiming their city has been devastated by a tillery far for the third night in

a row now. it struck in the morning i was hit by the blast wave i ran away. but i conned me i have nowhere to go. city has been to be seized by pro-government forces for weeks and locals are suffering from water and power outages while the military operation goes on fighters from ukraine's national guard have been rallying outside the parliament building in kiev they are demanding pay for their jobs the growing number of soldiers have been laying down their arms and willing to turn them on civilians all asleep i 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. etc but now they're sending me to 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 kiev's full military mobilization in march and has all but dried up whereas once they used to before drafting officers in lugansk today there's only one and it's quiet and they won't let us inside with the cameras i spoke with a 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 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 the war before i go to 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 there are any good orders and money but others did on said the call to serve as. decision they now regret maria's son is twenty years old he was drafted a year ago and to serving in western ukraine she's worried that because he comes from the east he himself will be seen as the enemy of the here person who hoard 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 than honda to convince young men they should put their lives on the line for a cause many don't believe in. eastern ukraine.

has been reporting on the latest developments in eastern ukraine stay up to date by following the tweets of. russia shifted the deadline for ukraine to cover its mounting billion dollar gas that has most go in kiev remain deadlocked over the price of fuel we were told short film like you have is refusing to pay up even though it's being offered a substantial discount and whether e.u. consumers will be affected by the dispute. also america's allies japan and australia are forging closer military ties to counter china's growing influence in the asia pacific region but more a month after the break. the

. economic downturn in the final. days. and the rest because i think the case you believe every week on. the interview.

welcome back you are watching r.t. international and ukrainian search consciously taking the goetia actions of his massive gas debt down dead ends that is the view of president putin who also added if you have rejects russia's propositions over gas supplies the relationship between the countries will be brought to a new level to get the very latest now from venture capitalist host katie pilbeam who joins us now kate see tricky relationship there so it's been dragging on for a while do you really think we could see a resolution to this problem absolutely i think dragging on is the right words yes absolutely i i certainly hope so we're watching it as they do indeed drag on as you say so let's get the details right now while it does seem like the gas price disputes between russia and ukraine is indeed said to continue now the latest development is that russia of that one hundred dollar discount one thousand cubic

meters during the recent negotiations which would be lower than what many european countries pay but ukraine has written a payment which keeps on being made as we say has been postponed to june the sixth day if kiev's debt is not paid which as it stands according to gazprom amounts to four point five billion dollars that of prepayment system will be introduced but in other words that would mean the gas being turned off now these ongoing negotiations involve europe because europe also has an invested interest reliant on russia for a third of its gas and fifteen percent of it comes via ukraine so if kiev doesn't pay. hey then supplies to europe could be disrupted why we remember back in two thousand and six and two thousand and nine i care which seemed to be siphoning off gas that was on its way to europe due to price disputes which is what we're experiencing now and this led to a cold winter for

a point for europe so to avoid this scenario we've got this right here the south stream project which was put into place which would secure surprise bypassing ukraine as you can see this construction is currently frozen so it's in everyone's interest to come to a compromise on these gas price disputes soon as possible so you know as you can see it's just ongoing we need to compromise and it's all about price disputes it really is the simplest lemark ally that so many gas pipelines and so many problems. ok also ahead this hour is it all the bands but a festive mood on the streets brazil's world cup which starts on thursday is getting a thrashing in the mainstream media and more on the outs in just a few minutes. for that boat japan is taking its first steps towards making its military technology go

global tokyo and australia are looking to forge a closer alliance with a multi-billion dollar stealth submarine deal and the first major transfer of tokyo's military designs to australia is seen as a step towards countering china's growing clout in the region comes as prime minister shinzo are there pushes for greater involvement in settling international disputes or since coming to power in twenty twelve the japanese pm has made a move to change his country's post-war pacifist stance doing it step by step in early twenty thirteen for the first time in more than a decade japan raised this defense budget that was during an island dispute with china in april of back here tokyo relaxed its self-imposed ban on arms exports saying it needs to expand the domestic defense industry the following month prime minister are they said that article nine of the constitution which outlaws war to settle disputes said that that should be revised and the late twentieth thirteen a five year defense plan was adopted including the purchase of drones and assault

vehicles going to church account takes a closer look at the regional shifts in military power. after japan together with the nazi germany lost in the second world war it adopted 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 len see it 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. 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. the east china sea with japan over same cockle and do all you 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 for us as a large military presence in australia japan and 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 into triggering to global regional peace and stability including reexamining future partition 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 i personally think the speech by mr hague was full of her germany full of 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're in indonesia 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 tension in washington i'm going to check out our team or prime minister moves to militarize japan are probably not going down well with the country's people and we know that because japan's international broadcast has been gauging public opinion let's take a look at courting to the polls more than thirty percent of those interviewed back the idea of japan's militarization whereas forty one percent are against tokyo's

plans for a constitutional revision that would allow the use of war in international disputes we spoke to one age expert who says that the u.s. as a direct interest in wanting a stronger japanese military. very formidable military power and it's also a threshold are that. nuclear technology and has rocket technology very highly technology so if decisions are taken in and. then very quickly become a major new. nuclear weapon state for the moment the american. really strong. element. of on china and to a lesser extent to russia. new york city set to cough up six hundred thousand

dollars in settlements to fourteen occupy wall street protesters by number details of the legal dispute that resulted in the largest occupy related payment to date at all the details on our website. and while you're there is it possible that scenes like these could soon be seen in britain's capital london maris board england's very first water cannons we've got the details at r.t. dot. now broadcast of a popular weekly program of good morning jerusalem was cut short after israeli forces raided a palestinian television studio show had been covering a hunger strike over palestinian detainees on the same day soldiers attacked a freelance journalist breaking his camera and raising his recordings and we talked to the presenter of the show my old boss saab about what happened that day. on friday an israeli police car blocked the exit from the building where the

program was being aired they rounded up everyone inside they said we had to stop the broadcast and that all those involved in the show were under arrest they also told us that we were transmitting illegally even though we have a license to broadcast from that part of the city so i suppose the israeli occupation forces are afraid of any media coverage that reveals the truth about oppression and human rights violations are and their answer is to get journalists and terrorize the media but i doubt this tactic will be successful what. it is just one day now before the world's eyes will be on brazil for solving the football world cup but the country's been getting a lot of negative media coverage during the build up we asked journalist graham phillips who's now in rio de janeiro how much the criticism is warranted. there's a purposeful kind of de up of this negativity of this sentiment is kind of along the lines that it's bad it's obviously you know we've had the extensive coverage of strikes over there have been you know. there's been cost overruns of in this world

cup is now going to be the most expensive in history it's costing eleven and a half billion dollars we do have a strike going on and south korea are mostly real at the moment we were protests we've got things like the cleary with her bellows which is the slum areas that millions of brazilians live in and in the last year we've really seen assault steve escalation it's over the stories that we've been getting up about brazil is not going to be ready the mood with these surveys saying that you know seventy two percent of people are against the war cup but i have to say that now it starts to belong because the word of the street here is that there was a time to process that was a time to make these valid points ok this money could have been a caution elsewhere but there is a feeling now that it's here this is a true once a light of a supposed time that the world cup is going to brazil sixty four years this is right in the first of the world cup is going to south america for thirty six years and this is a football country and now we the western media always just don't want to let it go they're almost like a dog with a bowl you can't let it go the kind of a do mongering and the mood in the streets is that look that's passed and really

people want to have the opportunity to host what is a magical a truly you know remarkable a truly outstanding celebration of the international community of world football here in brazil what you know let's make the most of this. in other news the u.s. federal aviation agency has for the first time allowed commercial drones to fly over land many businesses along private users have lobbied for permission for commercial drone flights to be allowed in the green light was given to the b.p. energy corporation and drone developer aero vironment but the decision has already come in for some criticism more perspective we talked to aviation expert richard woodward. future drones growing phenomenally faster to be one of the begin to the world because is any number of applications such as tracking and checking and chip in all fields is a control issue otherwise we'll have a me everywhere is it when i have a private moment anywhere in the world there's

a privacy issue because the fact that these little things can fly over the side of your house in the deal. window is the second thing is that the there's no real design stage for the drones at the moment every civilly that we fly it's very strict design standards the drones. design standards country in the world as would you know that is that can the technologies develop in the regulations that. you know they use thousands of policemen raided a south korean church in search of a fugitive billionaire you broom given thought to be the owner of the sunken ferry for worshipers were detained on suspicion of assisting use escape as hundreds of religious followers protested the right billion i was also the co-founder of the church south korea's offering hoffa million dollars for information on the use whereabouts the tragedy in april claimed the lives of some three hundred people

many of them children. moving to the chilean capital santiago where riot police fired tear gas on tens of thousands of students and teaches them in packing the streets demanding education reforms protesters for hurling rocks at riot squads dozens were injured and several arrests were made improving education system is a key campaign pledge of president michel who took power in march for. me for the latest news more headlines at the top of the hour up next will find out what the world's biggest banana company had to do with nine eleven on the way.

i marinate join me. for in-depth impartial and financial reporting commentary interview and much much. only on the bus and. the trying to. play polo to be. more. like. it's a sure thing every minute. the luck may. oh well. my alarm clock ahead. plus plus they say to me explain skis is the most elite club

slate sometimes for nothing the lead is so mean and simple. it's not just any of the story kids will be just if you see the stage eight look you'll be able to see a little but speech was. plenty . of the cold. what's happened in folks i'm not a martin and this is a break in the sights but once again terrifying news. out of iraq earlier today his extremist group called the islamic state or iraq in charge of iraq and syria or isis seized control of nearly the entire city of mosul iraq's second largest city for the last four days the group has been advancing upon the city and today iraqi

military members reportedly fled their outposts handing over control of mosul to the fundamentalist forces this major development comes on the heels of isis taking over two other major iraqi cities fallujah and ramadi keep in mind that this is an organization that regularly engages in beheadings and crucifixions and is so my extreme that al-qaeda leaders even denounce the group iraqi officials believe that about six thousand members of isis are currently in the country and instead of just how weak the iraqi army is becoming repel and a faction furthermore there are also reports that isis was also able to capture a military airbase south of mosul in the organizations now in control of army helicopters and planes in iraq speaker of parliament osama. said what would happen is a disaster by any standard the presence of these terrorist groups in the vast province threatens not just the security and unity of iraq but the entire middle east in deed in this new wave of violence is only the latest to hit the country as last

month marked more than four thousand killings in just the last five months meaning that two thousand and fourteen is on pace to be by far the deadliest year in the country since the us occupation and that in a matter how many mission accomplished banner ads were hung up it doesn't change the fact that the so-called liberation of the country has resulted and hell on earth. it was a. very hard to take a. step back with their little.