rage in the u.n. after a syrian rebel group kidnaps four of its unarmed peacekeepers amid suspicion that such action may see the opposition lose much of its international backing. as afghanistan's neighbors brainstorm over how to curb extremism after the u.s. troop withdrawal the threat is growing elsewhere with islamic unrest sweeping through bangladesh. plus the man known as russia's gray cardinal resigns from the government we take a look at the man and what could be behind his exit from the halls of power. plus when life in prison is the only line you can afford some courts in ohio jailing the homeless and people with disabilities because they can't afford to pay small finds .

welcome you watching our team with make sure and pharma. the u.n. is calling for the immediate release of four of its peacekeepers held by syrian rebels the peacekeepers were abducted in the golan heights the demilitarized zone between syria and israel is our middle east correspondent. i've just gotten off the phone with the deputy chief of staff for the united nations peacekeeping force in the area and he says that they are definitely remaining there this follows the kidnapping of four filipino u.n. peacekeepers who are being held in the ceasefire between syria and the israeli side of the golan heights now that is almost a no man's land not the israeli nor syrian forces can go operate in that area what we do know is that they were abducted while on patrol the u.n. does say that efforts are under way to secure their release and according to the

u.n. chief banking moon he has strongly condemned the abductions and he has called for the immediate release of these peacekeepers a syrian group by the name of the martyrs of lamarck published a photo that is the portuguese showing the four men who have been held they also say that they're being held to quote for their own safety now according to this group they were clashes and heavy shelling in the yarmouk valley which is in the south of the separation zone this is not the first time that forces have been kidnapped in this area kidnappings could potentially see the rebels losing their overwhelming support or could even harm their reputation i mean one just has to look at washington which seems to be taking now a much more moderate position washington is a green that both sides should sit down at the negotiation table and course that is a position that moscow has always held that there is a need for the damascus regime in the rebels to sit around a negotiating table and hammer out their differences meanwhile the need for talks

between the warring sides in syria has been agreed during a visit by the u.s. state secretary to moscow for more on that now i'm joined by the defense consultant moon rove who's been keeping a close eye on the syrian situation thank you very much for your time firstly do you think that the u.s. could be somehow walking away from its previous uncompromising backing of the rebels. yes. but it's on the ground it's in complete disarray with the you western sponsored doubtless soon and that and the one hargreave baksh and the terrorists on the ground are not what britain at all so they're really worried about what's going to happen if they succeed in toppling the damascus government so yes i think the us is really worrying about the situation that doing up to now in moscow this week the u.s. secretary of state stopped short of a purely saying that president assad must step down do you think this is significant well what is significant i think first is to get all the science

to stop fighting. certain practical stuff to need to be taken before they can go forward with the political steps what's not to point is the u.n. secretary general has been don't look to the peacekeepers first that the security council has them but the situation on the grounds of this is really not under anyone's control not the political and not the military military as you saw in the globe protocol steps of stopping but why go to the entry into syrian areas from turkey and jordan is another step to be opened before they can decide on the future of the with what russia has over the past few months said that or accused western nations of basically inciting violence in syria rather than trying to promote dialogue given that now the emphasis is trying to get everybody together from the international stage to talk. or get talks going between president assad and his opponents to think that that is likely to happen. the interesting point to it

is there the russian federation foreign minister sergei lavrov has been calling for a political dialogue for the longest time probably from the beginning that the western allies have completely ignored these calls and now one of them that they have now will come back to the russians and ask them to intervene and that that's what will be interesting interesting in the future to see is what which part of the western episode members will attend the meeting because the damascus government have already said that they want to turn this peace initiative but i think secretary kerry is not really sure about the effort saying and i'm wondering really has the us have they signed off on his plan this is this is a crucial question about russia says it does have assurances from the saving syrian

government that it is ready for talks with the opposition. just how frank do you think that this message is from president assad and which can can we believe that he will actually enter into talks i think we should take him on his word simply because assad goes about syria and he was that he was a syrian so who cares about what happens to the nations i think we should give him the benefit of the dark in this instance but my concern is the opposition the western backed episode how sincere are going. and you say how sincere but also how i mean there are many factions to the opposition what would it take for all of them to lay down their arms how difficult is it to achieve that goal. well the would be practical steps on the ground have not been discussed yesterday at this meeting have they asked the turkish and the jordanian governments to seal off their borders to stop foreign insurgents or terrorists. from entering into syria.

and the qatari and saudis have not made any statements backing this peace initiative so these are the practical steps on the ground that we are not hearing and we need to hear from these. we need to see some steps being taken to a book but these foreign insurgents are not in anyone's been trawled so how much control oh how what they will do after or during this process is anyone's guess really ok we do have to leave it there but thank you very much for your time in coming on to r.t. with your thoughts that the defense consultant moon and i will. and. later this hour crosstalk examines the many unanswered questions thrown up by syria's drawn out conflict and here is a quick taste of what is coming up. i disagree that there is any solution in which side is going to remain in power that's simply not going to happen we need to be thinking about a post assad syria here's where i think actually russia has an important role to

weigh to play they have been trying to do that and the americans have been saying no because obama and i want to one of the first album alliances assad had to go and now they're about to restructure see look after three years he's not go away the only possible solution i agree from there but i think that's right it was pretty bold in that let's sit down. there all the players if you are losing also regional players betting that looted iran in south wales and individual to me saying no. meanwhile the clock is ticking for afghanistan is the international forces prepare for the twenty fourteen withdrawal leaving the country on its own with its broad security the transition has many regional players on alert as they brainstorm over how to contain afghanistan's especially the region brand extremism can reach you can now report. the u.s. prepares to withdraw the bulk of its forces from afghanistan by the end of two

thousand and fourteen karzai stepping down with the elections coming up also in two thousand and fourteen what's next the possibility of a power vacuum in afghanistan and the question what demons can emerge from that vacuum is of great concern to the whole reaching a vacuum in afghanistan seems to be nobody's interest here's a brief and very rough breakdown of what players regional and non regional are trying to achieve in afghanistan you ren despite the rivalry with the u.s. has three years supported the karzai government because having a completely chaotic and unstable afghanistan is a neighbor is obviously not good for them washington is of course interested in keeping the more or less centralized structure of the government in afghanistan for that the u.s. is even ready to engage the taliban in talks and maybe see them as part of the government in the future that's right having fought the taliban for over ten years the u.s. is now talking about a political solution pakistan is the middleman here the message that they want pakistan to deliver to the taliban is that the allies are ready for talks on leave

the taliban make. an ambiguous public break with global jihad is the telephone have a strong pakistan although the pakistani government denies having much influence on them but pakistan's motives have been mixed to say the least on the one hand the help that you western the allies and pakistan itself. that spilled over the border after the u.s. invasion in afghanistan on the other hand they were accused of helping the taliban to keep leverage with them in case they gain power also as a hedge against indian influence so they have that rivalry going so far as pakistan's interest it's been complicated rusher possibly the greatest threat to russia faces now from afghanistan is the flow of afghan heroin that kills thousands of russians every year so russia has a state it has stated a clear interest in afghanistan that would be under control of a responsible government not plagued with corruption a government that would help and this drug play but what if global powers are

on able to avoid a power vacuum in of ghana's then what could happen then if we don't work on to the stage where we have to be. somewhere you may have to believe the only problem is in the past in the one nine hundred ninety s. after the soviet to draw discussion of external proxies let me just civil war with . positive outcome one thousand nine hundred ninety six so we want to avoid that kind of civil war next you do now as far as the taliban the talks with them stalled last year after the failure to agree on the terms with the release of five afghan insurgent commanders held at guantanamo it's not really clear how far those talks will go because the taliban are not homogenous either part of them seems to think that once nato pulls out they'll be able to take over anyway so why negotiate in washington i'm going to check and as candy mentioned that russia is one of those

countries most interested in a stable afghanistan and focusing on how to move putin said that international forces have failed to make a breakthrough in their fight against terrorism and the regional players need to act to prevent radical groups spreading well beyond the afghan border. international terrorist groups are making no secret of their plans to export instability and they will try to spread their activities from afghanistan into neighboring central asian countries and russia hold serious risks for us welcome increase in drug trafficking and crime plus the uncontrollable flow of refugees and fundamentalism. as afghanistan's neighbors puzzle over how to prevent the spillover of extremism another country in the region could well become their next headache is armies have recently ground headlines in bangladesh with their latest confrontation with security forces leaving at least thirty six people dead police and more than two hundred thousand hardline islamist there my running battles the days now over

violent demands to make blasphemy a crime punishable by death the government's refusing to budge they were police reportedly now using live ammunition islamic factions are also demanding other members that would ensure shari'a principles into law we did a lecture at britain's northumbria university says islam is in bangladesh are trying to turn it into another pakistan marred by security chaos. if it were executed really the secular identity of them that ensured that over the last four to two years that they haven't actually conspired against ito's of a secular state and they are trying to convert it to another state like pakistan trying to make peace and the government state but creating anarchy and whatever you are seeing right now is actually a result of all these terms they have been trying they have been organizing for the last forty years for some of the major political parties including the main

opposition party has been supporting. you with r.t. and coming up later in the program pomp and circumstance but at what price. it's royal that circles such as the daily changing of the guards that buckingham palace the closing terrorists from around the globe but in these times of austerity some of beginning to question why the winds have been tightened that belts along with the rest of the queen's subjects. we report on how the british queen gets a pay rise while much of the country has to take a hike. the man known as russia's grey cardinal has resigned as vice premier after more than a decade in the halls of power. became a renowned ideologist and was thought of thought of as the leading figure behind the scenes in government well earlier i talked to our live across the about the man and his resignation. this was

a sharp departure wasn't what led to it yes it came as a bit of a surprise today. had been working as deputy prime minister in dmitri medvedev the cabinet with responsibility for government policy and media policy. his resignation follows a particularly fractious cabinet meeting with president putin yesterday where putin criticized the cabinet for ticking boxes but not following through with substantial policy reforms he called their work superficial point. to differ during that meeting and his resignation was accepted by putin shortly afterwards he called the great card listen why is that yeah. the evidence agrees the great heart of the kremlin known by russia watchers everywhere he is the ek mouth of p.r. into the kremlin administration and is the concept architect behind what's known as sovereign democracy this was the ideological and political pillars around which followed a lot of your putin built his early administrations so for democracy. advocated

values of pride independence and what became known around the world as i guess as part of putin's don't lecture us stance when it came to democracy in transition particularly young democracies such such as russians and because of his work on the political p.r. side the expression propaganda and the contemporary russian lexicon you mentioned that ran with you saying that he had that's not the only route was it recently that he said well it's he's you're are you referring to school couple here and. worked with president medvedev of modernization he advocated setting up the school of a technology hold the research excellence hold the running outside moscow now. a strong vision for modernization of russian economy and bring innovation culture into russia's economy. most recently has been involved in a rather controversial corruption probe. has been gauged in

a public dialogue with one of the prosecutors spokesman's spokesman. stressed today the decision to resign had nothing to do. back in a few moments with more news for you including the story of thousands of americans locked up for not paying their debts. israel's massive attack near damascus days ago why be syria's raging civil war then there's the issue of chemical weapons should western support of assad's enemies people draw on if it is proven the rebels are using them against their own people. download the official publication. stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't go by with

your mobile device so you can watch your t.v. anytime anywhere. and i welcome back the american civil liberties union has launched a campaign to educate the public about the severity of the key much debt that soft

revealing figures show a rising number of people who fail to pay back their debts are being put in jail. being in the state of ohio where such a practice is fairly common and made harsh criticism it violates the constitution. a midwestern u.s. state. internationally recognized for being the battleground where america's next president is decided let's talk about the importance of ohio and in the battle for ohio state eighteen electoral votes means so much elbows paid a lot of attention ohio ohio. you're probably going to decide the next president of the united states for the past thirty six years no candidate has entered the white house without winning this swing state while hio undoubtedly wields an enormous influence in the arena of u.s. presidential politics the state is currently garnering headlines for its presence specifically the medieval type punishment being imposed on countless citizens who

are drowning in debt according to a report released by the a.c.l.u. of ohio thousands of citizens are being locked behind bars because they are too poor to pay their debt and we saw some really troubling numbers one case that we looked at out of mansfield ohio there was a gentleman and his crime against the community was he let his dog walk in his mobile home park without a leash he was fined thirty dollars and he ended up being found in contempt of court and was sent to jail for not paying for a thirty dollars fifty five year old jack jolley was incarcerated three times for failing to pay nine hundred dollars in fines every ninety days you had a jail date. and if you were working well you're going to jail debt prisons violate the u.s. and ohio constitutions according to the a.c.l.u. most of the defendants weren't given hearings before being jailed for outstanding

fines if the court had taken any time to ask whether or not they could afford to pay that they would see that these were people who just simply cannot pay they were individuals who are homeless many have been were. for months if not years people who are disabled people who are taking care of disabled family members these are people who are working and just don't feel like spending the money these are people who literally have no money people like dante stiles who is unemployed and says he often has to choose between feeding his two children or paying his fines a far more so back and forth back and forth in court back before of conflict days here fifteen days here and while the cash strapped citizens are incarcerated in debtors prisons. there are fines keep growing like credit card interest it's described as a vicious circle it was seven hundred thirty thirty seven dollars ok at the eleven

days when i went back to court at the core course and pernod the public defended it went up actually two hundred dollars more than one point eight million ohioans reportedly live in poverty i want to get it behind me dolly lost his job last year after missing work for a ten day sentence in debtors prison i had just started the job i was probably there not quite a month. i was expecting a paycheck so i'd gone in early to get a paycheck so i could go in and pay on my flying and upon my release i was terminated from my job dolly has received fifty dollars credit for each of the sixteen days he was illegally imprisoned but most like styles have not and the state revered for predicting america's presidents has garnered a new reputation for how it punishes the poor. artsy ohio. we've got plenty more stuff you online also including want to grab a gun but don't want to pay for it not a problem in texas we've got the story of

a group of activists are planning to give away shotguns across the state and that's with the aim of reducing violence all the details are darty dot com also there a toxic train derailment in northwestern belgium four days ago may have a much more serious aftermath the first bridging mass evacuation of residents from the area has begun you can get all the details at arts a dot com. the u.k. . reduce the country's deficit the british queen has laid out her government's agenda for the next year in her speech she said it will work to promote a fairer society to rule reward those who work hard however what may sound a little unfair for a sterile britain is the news that the royal family's five million pound pay rise. reports now from london. my ministers will continue to prioritize

measures to reduce the deficit at the same time the creed is set to get a five billion pound pay rise this year thirty six point one million pounds from the u.k. taxpayer will go towards the queen and her residence says her royal chefs and footman cost an estimated ten million pounds a year thirty six million is divided into money which runs the royal household of the queen and the duke of edinburgh most of it goes on salaries also on the upkeep of royal palaces such as buckingham palace and windsor castle and almost royal trouble at home and abroad the british monarchy has become synonymous with the image of britain because it is the world's most high profile molecule the queen of ages seven and our consul the duke of edinburgh at ninety one are remarkable examples of public service and of national unity but the cost to the

public purse rises steadily as austerity sets in the five million pound increase in the queen's expenses from the states represents a fifteen percent rise vital services are being lost while the queen gets this big pay rise i think it's very unfair given that she is personally one of the wealthiest people in britain where the personal wealth of an excess of three hundred million pounds the royal family has over seven hundred servants six palaces they can quite clearly afford themselves to cover any increased costs they shouldn't be begging for the state it's a royal spectacle such as the daily changing of the guards at buckingham palace the groovin terrorists from around the globe but in these times of austerity some of beginning to question why the windsors haven't tighten their belts along with the rest of the queen's subjects. last month the guardian poll found that eighty eight

percent of brits were happy with the pay rise think this should give more to the poor not to get too much money to be sure not overly impressed to be honest i'm sure she's got more than enough money to survive where she named spare time she brings in quite a bit on the toys some whatever but where does it go where where does it come people that i miss because i work for am a care worker and. they're being kept well where does it our progress given romani elsewhere in europe royals have had to raid the best spending in the face of public opinion the spanish royal family's budget has been reduced for a third year in a row the british monarchy actually stands out around the world it's completely different to almost every other molecule that you can think of in the sense that they are still surrounded by so much home and circumstance and all the marching by . the horses the wide alongside the fronts of carriages the published figures suggest that the royal family the queen and everybody else process around something

close to forty million pounds a year but doesn't take into account all the extra security all the police work for that that's involved in protecting her and the rest of the family and it doesn't take into account the money that some lost to the striker because she and prince charles in particular get lots of tax privileges that the rest of us aren't entitle to and while the government has pushed through budget cuts to the national health service and slashed welfare as part of an unprecedented austerity drive there are those that say that prime minister david cameron's promise that britain is all in it together doesn't include the queen of england. r.t. . now sometimes to get from a to b. you really do have to dig for a solution a group of russian workers have certainly gone with the flow using two huge excavators to cross a fast moving river. as the story. it really seems like

one collaborative commute look at the key there are so many people there and amazingly they're not just standing there for a bus right they're actually crossing the river using these to ask a vader's so for some it can be have a traffic and for others to have a way now let me give you some details on what is actually happening there this lady a wide shot at the end of march in the north of the mountains and as you can see the area is flooded and it also seems that there is going to be a bridge build there in the future but for now people still have to cross it somehow and it seems they've found a way better call it an adrenaline draw and now you've got one ask of aid are loaded with three sometimes even more people now it means the other one half way people climb from one ask of aid or to be other it all looks rather dangerous but look at the people they seem quite pleased to with themselves anyway when this

video first appeared on the internet it went viral was so many comments and very few people were actually concerned about the fate of the passengers some even labeled this video as another example of how russians can be resilient and resourceful well it's really hard to argue with that watching this footage. next cross-talk pinal square off over who is right and whose role in syria. every detail. i am every piece of metal. and every one of those will show.