to beat one hundred fifty million degrees with them tocome up north to south from st petersburg to france we travel in search of the song. you are we've got the future covered. in a rare glimpse of hope the syrian opposition initiate talks with the government as rebels lose strategic ground we managed to get access to their former stronghold one of the worst hit in a three year long war. this is what's left after months of fierce clashes after months of their resistance and most shops someone's home everything is destroyed everything in the rooms residents of the city of homs finally returning home and struggling to rebuild their lives in a city almost wiped off the map. and 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. and kiev says that more than two hundred people including fourteen children have been killed in the ongoing assault in ukraine's east that's the army faces dissent with soldiers refusing to fight the civilian population. welcome and thanks for joining us once again my name is the harvey you're watching international. a long anticipated peace talks between the syrian government and the opposition could be held as early as this week 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 auntie's rif an auctioneer managed to get

inside the devastated city and she spoke to former militants who decided to change sides. these a new sound the tango over the city of homes their place in the shelling of bombing 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 they groom and with their sources and this is what's left after months of fierce clashes after months of their resistance and more sc shops someone's home everything is destroyed everything in ruins but those who were forced to flee and no slowly returning for the first time in the area is relatively safe here and people want to be in the place they still class as her find her 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 in targeting them. as her best word to describe the situation in which the rebels initiated tossing the syrian police major was among the negotiators of the war 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 motivate 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 a had a center for its 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 we integrate. most of them seem to. to take up arms all of them or deny ever killing anyone but their words are impossible to verify and then they have to give us a lesson to explain to us that the regime is in for jobs that the regime is attacking muslims and we have to fight. to visit homes 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. in a rather simulation is assets initiative he wants to rebuild our peace and have their. homes or who may have once targeted 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 won't kill my former brothers in arms of i do not want to kill or hurt anybody it's certain that 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're ready for an operation at any moment but the rest of violence there too. in three villages around towns in some other syrian provinces the situation is similar but it was a long way to go before peace is returned here the total high today that syria is a please tell you the right track. from homs in syria. but for its neighbor iraq the future doesn't look so hopeful al qaeda fighters have seized jet another city the city of tikrit in the country's north and months after

taking control of most close to the country's largest oil refinery. in recent days jihadist fighters have been ramping up the insurgency across the country are now in control of the entire northern province of nineveh and its capital mussel iraq's second largest city jihadists of also gained ground in other parts of the country including the all rich go to cook province and the city of fallujah a quarter of more soules two million population have already fled their homes soldiers have abandoned their posts in fear of the radicals who are believed to be the al qaeda splinter group known as the islamic state of iraq and the violent militants have also reportedly overrun police stations and captured the city's international airport they've also freed more than a thousand prisoners from jail. well it's been three years since u.s. troops completed their mission in iraq president obama said at the time quote that

everything american troops have done in iraq from fighting to the dying the bleeding and the building the training and the partnering all of it as led to this moment of success are now iraq is not a perfect place it has many challenges ahead but we're leaving behind a sovereign stable and self-reliant iraq with a representative government that was elected by its people so those were president obama's words three years ago but reality has given as a very different picture a more insight on the take over of mosul let's cross live to david swanson activist blogger and author david thanks for joining us the u.s. left the country at the end of twenty eleven do you think baghdad was ever really ready to go it alone. ok seems like we're having some problems with our connection we will try to get

back in touch with david in the next few moments i'm sure to get him back shortly. now let's move things on because 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 residents of slavyansk in eastern ukraine are claiming that their city has been devastated by artillery fire for the third night in a row. he took all. of them to college to look for. it in our. new money probably over the best.

thing in your family. for the city has been besieged by pro-government forces for weeks now the locals are suffering from water and power outages while the military operation goes on fighters from ukraine's national guard they've been rallying outside the parliament building here they're demanding pay for their jobs . growing number of soldiers have also been laying down their arms unwilling to turn them on to civilians or from foolishly reports. six weeks on and with more than forty soldiers did here this military operation continues the army is in a pitched battle with anti-government activists but it's also struggling to keep itself together. that's a tough call 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 cuba's full military mobilization in march mint has all but dried up

whereas once they used to before drafting officers in lugansk today only one and it's quiet they won't let us inside with the cameras i spoke with the clock and he said there hasn't been any kind of recruitment here for weeks i asked to speak with the 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 involve 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 is meant to serve. a good. draft loesser 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 of ideals patriotism they don't have that that when you go orders and money but others it did on said the court to serve

a decision they now have a great memory as son is twenty years old he was drafted a year ago and disserving in western ukraine she's what we thought because he comes from the east he himself will be seen as the enemy and here put the horde i want him home as soon as possible we are missing him we are really missing him. the army is city 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 pointlessly r.t. eastern ukraine. has been reporting on the latest developments in eastern ukraine online you can stay able to date by following twitter feed. russia has shifted the deadline for ukraine to cover its mounting billion dollar

gas debts that says moscow and kiev remain their blogs over the price of fuel will report very shortly on what kiev is refusing to pay up even though it's been offered a substantial discount and where the 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 we'll have more on that after the break. next education officials in the u.k. say that there should be a mandatory teaching of what they call british values and that's after several schools in the city of birmingham were apparently found to be promoting extreme islamic views let's talk about this subject in more depth now with shafiq from the ramadan foundation that's a group aiming to foster interfaith dialogue first of all do you think this movie is specifically directed against british muslims. well there is a concerted effort by michael gove the education secretary with his neo

conservative ideology to demonize and attack muslims this report into the schools in burma has not produced any evidence whatsoever that there was an extremist plot or there was extremist muslims taking over schools in burma this is being a witch hunt which is damage the standing of the muslims but more importantly it's damaged the confidence children have in the education system this week here in the u.k. g.c.s.e. students are having their exams i mean now some of those schools those peoples have to come through the media scrum to go and take their exams and this is very damaging for the education standards of our schools and that responsibility rests with michael gove the education secretary and his cronies and supporters who are engaged in this witch hunt against muslims. moving the conspiracy theories to warm side in essence british values and british merely does not sound fair enough.

well neil there they are not conspiracy theories they are reality michael gove sits on a near conservative charity along with douglas murray and other people from the end rejects in society he's a well known open neo conservative and he's pushing a new conservative line within government i don't think that's a conspiracy that's a reality but there is there are concerns about the involvement of muslims in school i think it's important the muslims play an active role in schools where their children attend religion and faith is is taught accommodated as best as we can but any of these allegations the remade in a climate of anti muslim hatred as we've seen over these past few months is something which deeply will raise myself and worries the rest of the community ok let's take it back to two thousand and eleven promise david cameron talked about the need to preserve british cultural identity to tackle extremism do you think we're saying the fruits of that policy. well it depends how you define british

values prime minister i think you're referring to a speech he made in munich that year in which he said we've got to have assertive british values and no government minister has been able to tell is the values that they've set out and not being followed by muslims and people like myself so if you talk about democracy you talk about tolerance and respect the rule of law gender equality these are values that we signed up to these are values that people of your views in washington across the world would sign up to they're not just british values they're human values adopted by many people across the world and they're the values of their drivers as muslims in this country so the idea that we as muslims exclusively have to sit down and sign a pact or sign a set of values to be welcoming to these countries deeply patronize him and just sums up the agenda of michael and his new conservatives i'm having just very briefly haven't got much time i just wanted to say that you know britain it is one

of the most multicultural countries in the world yet we do still hear about ethnic tensions and problems than integration do you think this new system of british values will actually help muslims to assimilate better into british society. while i take issue with the premise that we are not integrated into society i was born in this country i'm passionately british i'm very proud and even supporter of the want to so you know we as muslims are integrated in this country and the idea that somehow that we're not is deeply patronized it just once again defines communities in a time when we should be looking to bring people together ok shafique from the ramadan foundation a pleasure to talk to you thank you. thank you. ok more news just ahead for you stay with us here on r.t. international. ray of hope or merely alone in what is rapidly turning into the ukrainian civil war

killed claims it has an understanding with moscow designed to deescalate tensions and violence there are a few details known about this understanding can deliver. and the rest. will be extremely. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks of the r.g.p. interview intriguing story for you to. see arabic to find out more visit our big.

welcome back you're watching international let's go back to one of our top stories this hour al qaeda fighters gaining ground in iraq in recent days as the country remains highly volatile over a decade after the u.s. led invasion but with more insight on the take over of let's cross live to david swanson activists blogger and author david levy to speak so you've got a good connection is time now the u.s. left the country at the end of twenty eleven do you think that. at that stage in fact since that is it ever been really ready to go it alone. well it's in a difficult position as a puppet government installed by a hostile armed foreign occupation without legitimacy without support across the country and you see the violence that one could have predicted it was when bush

declared mission accomplished and overthrew the government of iraq you have these i don't know that there are al qaeda but certainly terrorists is a fair characterization of isis this force that is now taking over mosul and much of the nation of iraq in parts of syria and declaring liberation well you had a u.s. and nato terrorist occupation declaring liberation several years ago neither one is liberation neither one is is going to do anything but create masses of refugees lack of stability and ongoing violence and sick tarion division and resentment for years to come it sounds incredible that the government could lose control of its second largest city how could that happen. well it's lost control of several cities for several months now this is been growing and the weaponry seized in

mosul like weaponry seized elsewhere by this organization much of it being originates in the united states of america and which is now continuing to arm the iraqi government in baghdad even as these forces reach its borders sending in the drones now to be used by the government in baghdad as well as possibly sending anti-aircraft weapons to fighters in syria then the solution always seems to be more weapons more weapons until it gets so out of control that you send in forces rather than weapons we've been through this cycle over a period of decades with u.s. interaction with iraq and it has produced nothing but failure and i think it is a quick council place to this last question we saw army troops fleeing their position but more interesting and more worryingly five hundred thousand people civilians fleeing is this the thought of a humanitarian crisis. it's a continuation of the decades launched humanitarian crisis that began under massive

sanctions that resulted in at least as many deaths as the number of people you just named and was continued by a brutal foreign occupation that. followed up with years of death squads and intentional sectarian division and you have free iraqi refugees now fleeing syria as well as directly refugees fleeing mosul this is an ongoing disaster that needs a different approach than more weapons and more violence ok those are the thoughts of activist blogger and author david swanson thanks so much for joining us thank you. next ukraine is consciously taking negotiations over its massive gas that down dead ends that is the view of president putin and us up to kiev once again refused to moscow's offer to sell natural gas to ukraine despite a discount abor most twenty percent. of the proposed discounts don't seem to be

enough for our ukrainian fatness they seem to be asking for more cuts although i don't quite understand on what grounds well if that's the case then they're consciously leading these talks down dead ends with the proposals that named partner relations and supporting ukraine's economy at a difficult time the balance of our proposals are rejected that would lead our relationship to a new level. from which and it is also stressed that the discount is the same one offered to the previous administration and it's a good and significantly higher than those enjoyed by other neighboring states however kiev still demands that moscow slashed the prices by a further twenty percent on this by weeks of negotiations the parties are in deadlock carries venture capital host katie pill being with all the details. roster of that a one hundred dollars discount per one thousand cubic meters during the recent negotiations which would be lower than what many european countries pay but ukraine has refused and wants an even lower raise and the deadline to at least make

a start on the pavement which keeps on being moved as we say has been postponed to june the sixth even if kiev's debt is not paid which as it stands according to gazprom amounts to four point five billion dollars that a 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 care doesn't pay then supplies to europe could be disrupted by well if we remember back in two thousand and six and two thousand and nine i here will seem to be siphoning off gas that was on its way to europe due to price disputes which is what we're experiencing now 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 but the news japan is taking its first steps towards making its military technology go global tokyo and australia are looking to forge a closer loans with a multi-billion dollar stove submarine deal. well the first major transfer of tokyo's military designs to australia was seen as a step towards countering china's growing clout in the region and it comes as prime minister shinzo rb pushes for greater involvement in settling international disputes with his coming to power in twenty twelve the japanese pm has made moves to change his country's post-war pacifist stance step by step in early twenty thirteen for the first time in more than a decade japan raised its defense budget during an island dispute with china then

in april of that year to relax this self-imposed ban on arms exports saying that it needs to expand the domestic defense industry the following month prime minister our base said article nine of the constitution which outlaws war to settle disputes should be revised he said and then in late twenty thirteen a five year defense plan was adopted including the purchase of drones and m fifty s assault vehicles correspondent garniture to count takes a closer look now 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 i'll 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 in broiled 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 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 haygood is full of hate jimminy for the threats and intimidation china is accusing the west of using the disputes and exacerbating them to gain a strategic advantage in the region if you're an invasion is you're looking at this and what you're seeing 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 on our team ok get the very latest news at the top of the hour but back then up for you next the latest episode of the doc cute reality show about the work of our correspondents in the field coming up next and if you're watching us in the u.k. miss out either you are going underground with action returns. right. first street. and i think you're. on our reporters. in. the in the.

did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open process is critical to our democracy albus. role. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and across several we've been hijacked lying handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once told class by job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem trucks rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing america if i ever go ready to join the movement then walk a little bit of. temporary

history of yugoslavia is formation as a prosperous and peaceful country was considered to be a success story of market socialism and in many regards it was them open the development on. whom was this teacher of democracy and market economy if any republic in yugoslavia wanted for the us 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. opinion. and punished harshly for every slightly less some unlearnt the serbs start a business war the serbs for legal redress.