please. please. please please please. please . eight pm wednesday night here in moscow the top stories for the outrage in the u.n. after a syrian rebel group kidnaps four of its peacekeepers suspicion of such action may see the opposition lose much of its international backing. as afghanistan's neighbors brainstorm over how to curb extremism after the b. u.s. troop withdrawal the threats growing elsewhere with mr unrest sweeping through bangladesh now. notice russia's gray cardinal

resigns from a top position in the government we take a look at the man what could be behind his exit from the halls of power. also when life in prison is the only life you can afford some courts in ohio now jailing . people with disabilities because they can't afford to pay a small fine. all over again even if you just joined us kevin owen here at r t h q tonight with our top stories and 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 paula slee it with the latest. 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 un peacekeepers who are being held in a cease fire line between syria and these ready side of the golan heights now that is almost a no man's land not 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 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 the 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 well they need to push for talks between the warring sides in syria has been agreed during a visit by the u.s. state secretary to moscow are to contribute i should return believes the incident with the capture of you and peacekeepers should make it harder for the u.s. to justify its favoritism towards the rebels in the future. if only the united states people realize that presumably john kerry will have to be telling mr putin you see the martyrs of yarmuk order they call themselves even the twenty one un observers in march in as they have can now for more filipinos i've been to the

golan heights and the broken churches that i saw still today in the golan heights on the syrian side and the green fields on the other side but there but i think the key here is the american public needs to know that their government is supporting the defacto supporters or at least those very close to those who would have supported the nine eleven attacks and what we want now really is the american people to start writing to their congressman and say the united states must stop supporting these rebels because this is not going to benefit anyone in the middle east or the united states well let you know as well later today at nine hundred g.m.t. cross-talk examines the many unanswered questions thrown up by syria's drawn a conflict is a quick taste of what's coming up for you. i disagree that there is any solution in which side is going to remain in power and 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 you know what i want to one of the first album alliances assad had to go and now they're about to restructure saying 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 proposing that let's sit down. there all the players as you are including all the regional players. in south wales and. say you know. the clock's ticking for afghanistan as international forces prepare for the twenty forty withdrawal lead to a country on its own with its flawed security transition has many regional powers on alert as well as they brainstorm of how to contain afghanistan's especially very little brand of extremism got to teach you can reports about that tonight. the u.s. prepares to withdraw the bulk of its forces from afghanistan by the end of two

thousand and fourteen karzai is 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 region 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 us 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 the u.s. and the allies and pakistan it suffered greatly from the extremism that spilled over the border after the u.s. invasion in of ghana's then on the other hand they were accused of helping the taliban to keep leverage with them in case they get in power also as a hedge against indian influence so they have that rivalry going so as far as pakistan's interests it's been complicated russia 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 interesting afghanistan that would be under control of a responsible government not plagued with corruption. a government that would help

and this drug plague but what if global powers are on able to avoid a power vacuum in afghanistan what could happen then if you'd ever comes to the stage where we have to be ploy. somewhat if you may have to delete the only problem is in the past in the one nine hundred ninety s. after the soviet withdrawal this kind of external proxies led to a major civil war with. positive outcome one thousand nine hundred ninety six so we want to avoid that kind of civil war like situation now as far as the taliban the talks with them stalled last year after their failure to agree on the terms for 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 out when i was going to mention the rusher is one of those countries most interested in

a stable afghanistan focusing on but even a potent so that international forces a failed to make a breakthrough in the fight against terrorism and the regional players need to act to prevent radical groups spreading well beyond the afghan borders. 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 this holds serious risks for us like an increase in drug trafficking and crime plus the uncontrollable flow of refugees and fundamentalism. well as afghanistan's neighbors puzzle over how best to prevent the spillover of extremism another country in the region could well become their next headache islam is of recently grabbed headlines in bangladesh with their latest confrontation and security forces leaving at least thirty six people dead police said more than two hundred thousand hard line islamists have been mired in days of running battles

over violent demands to make blasphemy a crime punishable by death now the government refusing to budge with police reportedly now using live ammunition there is a miss factions are also demanding other amendments that would in trying sharia principles into law but it days a lecture at britain's northumbria university and says that islam is said by a dash of trying to turn it into another pakistan mired by security chaos is take a listen then it breaks into it and the really the secular identity of bangladesh it and over the last fall in two years that they have been actually conspiring against ito's of a secular state and they are trying to convert it to another state like pakistan trying to make peace and government and state like creating anarchy and whatever you are seeing right now is actually a result of all these terms they have been trying they have been. for the last forty years some of the major political parties including the main opposition party has been supporting him. thanks for you with us tonight coming up

a bit later in the program pomp and circumstance but what price. it's royalty back to the daily changing of the guards at buckingham palace. terrorists from around the globe but in these times of austerity some of beginning to question why don't we i mean tighten their belts along with the rest of the queen's subjects later the program where we report on how the british queen gets a pay rise well much of the country wants to take it but. next up the man known as russia's gray cardinal has resigned as vice premier after more than a decade in the halls of power. became a renowned ideologist and indeed was thought of as a leading figure in the scenes in government but earlier my colleague andrew farmer talked to r t s news editor of 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 the their work superficial point. back to differ during that meeting and his resignation was accepted by putin shortly afterwards he's called the great card listen why is that yeah. he is the eminence griese the great heart of the kremlin known by russia watchers everywhere he is the out 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 well it bloody were putin built his early administrations so when democracy. advocated values of pride independence and what became known around the world

as i guess as part of. 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 so-called go propaganda entered the contemporary russian lexicon you mention that around with you seen 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 when 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 gazed in a public dialogue with one of the prosecutor spokesman's spokesman on that. it was

stressed today that decision to resign had nothing to do that also well he also expressed recently in the london school of economics at a speech he gave last week that he might be looking at a return to the business world where he worked quite successfully. about racial it with more news here including the story of thousands of americans locked up for not paying their debts. every detail. every piece of metal. and every one of those who will step on red square on the ninth of may are ready. for the victory day parade. want the live coverage on r t.

american civil liberties unions launched a campaign to educate the public about the severity of accumulating too much debt it comes off the revealing figures show a rising number of people who failed to pay back their debts and all being put in

jail. in the state of ohio was such practice is indeed fairly common criticism but 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 fifty eight eighteen electoral votes means so much elbows pay a lot of attention ohio ohio. you're probably going to decide the next president of united states for the past thirty six years no candidate has entered the white house without winning this swing state while ohio undoubtedly wields an enormous influence in the arena of u.s. presidential politics the state is currently garnering headlines for its prisons 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 led as a 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 forty thirty dollars fifty five year old jack jolly 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 and 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 promise so back and forth back and forth in court back before of constancio ten days here fifteen days here and while the cash strapped citizens are incarcerated in getters prisons. their 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 parent another public

defended it went up actually two hundred dollars more than one point eight million ohioans reportedly live in poverty and i want to get it behind me dolly lost his job last year after missing work for a ten day sentence in debtors prison just part of 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 fine you know 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. the u.k. staying committed to measures that reduce the country's deficit the british queen as laid out a government's agenda for the next year in a speech she said it will work to promote a fairer society to reward those who work hard however what may sound

a little unfair for austerity hit britain is also the news that the royal family's going to receive a five million pound pay rise to his polly boyd who reports from london all about that. 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 all 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 a consul the duke of edinburgh at ninety one all 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 in 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 in 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

driven terrorists from around the globe but in these times of austerity some of beginning to question why the women says 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 the richer if not overly impressed to be honest i'm sure she's got more than enough money to survive and wishing she brings in quite a bit on the toys some whatever but where does it go where where does it that the people that i miss because i work for a macand where karen. they're being kept where does it our programs go wrong money elsewhere in europe royals have had to raid 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 bands in the the 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 that it gets involved in protecting her and the rest of the family and it doesn't take into account the money that's lost to the sticker 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. london. user briefly tonight now scott iraq first there at least three people have

been killed dozens injured in a series of explosions in the northern city of kirkuk a suicide attack on the office of the kurdish patriotic party yet union was followed by a blast of a checkpoint and security control in the southwest of the city two and three more people have been killed in the attack on a police station the city from the injured. a cargo ships crashed into a control tower in genoa in italy it killed at least seven people two more still missing the accident happened as the vessel was heading out of port about thirteen with thoughts of being trapped inside that tower at the time. sometimes to get from a to b. you really have to dig for a solution literally in this next case of the story a group of russian workers certainly go with the flow using two huge excavators to cross a fast moving river. has got the story. it really seems like one collab just look at the key there are so many people there and amazingly they're not just

standing there for a bus right there actually crossing the river using these to ask invaders 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 that this video was 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 found a way better call it an adrenaline draw and now you've got one ask evader 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 with themselves anyway when this video first appeared on the internet it went viral with so many commons and very few people were actually concerned about the fate of the passengers some even labelled 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. we did a coach over there of that with more news about thirty minutes time but because stay with us next program on the go to break in the set for you. download the official application to yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites. if you're away from your television or it just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere.

with. science technology innovation called in these developments from around russia we've got the future covered. israel's massive attack near damascus days ago why do soor use raging civil war then there's the issue of chemical weapons should western support of assad's enemies be withdrawn if it is proven that the rebels are using them against their own people. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous bad luck. i mean at

the town i believe that i'm seeing the same thing really messed up. in the old story so actually the people of the. worst are going to go right out to give it to the radio guy for minestrone profit i want you to watch what we're about to give you never seen anything like this i'm told. what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set so you might wonder why i along with many of my colleagues today are wearing orange and black ribbons it's called the ribbon save george it's worn ahead of victory day in remembrance for the sixty million people who died during the world's deadliest conflict it's also warm to commemorate all those who fought on the side of the allied powers to defeat fascism bringing an end to world war two but as made knowledge an end to the war

we're constantly reminded about the realities of those who continue to fight and die in these senseless conflicts one such stark reminder as the planned twenty seven acre expansion to the iconic arlington national cemetery patrolled the remains of this nation's fallen soldiers why only because they're running out a room for dead bodies and expanding the cemetery would mean added an additional twenty seven thousand new grave plots a horrifying forecast for what lies ahead personally i think we should say no to the expansion. say no to those who will send american citizens to die abroad to fight rich men's wars and if you're with me and stick around because i'm about to break the set. well guys b.p. also known as british petroleum is back in the news and no it's not for.