and. and and. you are going home. from. the big. home.

from. the long. term.

as southern sudan prepares for its historic referendum on whether to separate from the north many displaced by ethnic violence in the country see it as an opportunity to return home. or whether. sides doomsday predictions to media hype. the fallout from the mysterious deaths of fish and animals across the globe.

and the call of duty meets the russian special forces unit preparing for the frontline against terrorism. broadcasting live from our studios in the heart of moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas let's take a look at your top stories millions of sudanese are preparing to vote in a referendum that could see one of africa's poorest and most troubled nations split into two countries in the vote that starts on sunday the christian dominated south is widely expected to choose independence from the mainly muslim north the week long ballot is being held as part of a peace deal which ended decades of civil war in two thousand and five. sought refuge in israel

a place considered an enemy state by the sudanese government are his policy are met some of the refugees to ask about their hopes for the upcoming historic vote. the road to freedom is long and israel wasn't their first choice egypt was but as the thousands of refugees fleeing sudan found themselves under assault in cairo by a police force trying to clean up the streets the decision to cross over into israel seemed a logical one. is near from here and israel is. and christian but the journey was long sometimes on foot sometimes paying bedouins to drive them you have to cross the border and coming to the israeli border without mesure that sort of not to see you otherwise you would be killed or something shooting and made actually three years ago with his wife and four children he

watched friends and family die along the way some were shot some died of hunger. and then. see if you have weapon and with this but israel doesn't really know what to do with these refugees last year alone eighteen thousand arrived just from sudan and eritrea is all this party to the convention on the status of refugees which means a constant way fiji's back home if this would risk their lives but keeping them here is becoming more and more difficult. benjamin korean works as a cleaner in a hotel and struggles to make ends meet. walking in. i didn't go to my uni two pm i should be going on to rain hours and thousands of sudanese share his story poor homes no jobs little money and it's

too dangerous to go back to sudan sudan government is again israel is really. coming. accusing our enemy of our. maybe a world where going to northern sudan you would be killed and sudanese leaders have said as much if the authorities would release it the northern government of sudan finds out that the person has sought asylum in israel this person would be in in serious risk of persecution southern sudan is holding a referendum on whether to separate from the north and become an independent state if the final stage of the peace agreement that ended twenty two years of war many of them have has spurred from being in israel for such a long time with no rights whatsoever the people realize that they don't really have a future here and people are also homesick and benjamin moore not sure what to do home beckons despite the risks and those are those who don't it is pretty don't.

i will decide to go back to my own. policia r.t. southern israel. in a recent spate of unexplained mass animal deaths across the globe has conspiracy theorists and doomsday believers predicting impending calamity even scientists are struggling to find a rational explanation for all the events are covered in takes a look now to see if there really is something fishy going on or if it's just media hype. sing a song of suspense one where the end is nigh as thousands of black birds fell out of the sky and when the birds were found the news began to sing the end of days conspiracy does have a catchy ring. at first it was just arkansas grabbing the world's attention and louisiana followed suit and your brush feathers with mysterious avian deaths in sweden experts attempted to calm the public by suggesting the birds got scared of

fireworks or flew into trees and cars because of bad weather and we know is that fireworks or weather could not cause five thousand black birds to have a liquefied insides that's what the fish and wildlife veterinarian sad they've never seen anything like it now we're seeing the same polarization of the insides of black birds they are dad when they hit the ground they are dying in the night while they're roosting in trees but then one hundred thousand dead fish. that seem to have been in the flood gates i think the media by and large not a portion are actually under asked me how serious it is so i believe you have multiple causes but basically. the entire planet is an uproar that we have a toxic release of gases and changes in the oceanic currents the. entire well

current system is no destructive for those not very impressed with the scientific explanation and there's always the religious one fanatic bloggers have once again started flooding the world wide web with end of days posts and the international media storm for news during the slow post christmas month of january is having a field day and you are asked to call sooner rather than later context. for you cannot even get down the road without running over hundreds it was that bad with more and more mr. around the world brazil australia and new zealand crabs in the u.k. the frenzy is growing and the headlines scream a coocoo. these fish stories look set to continue stealing the media spotlight at least until scientists have had a chance to examine the dead animals or the world comes to an end whichever of course happens first. catherine as our r.t.

moscow miami based veterinarian pedro luis rey is told of these times of events have happened before and a thorough investigation is indeed needed. it's impossible to say for sure what's happened to the birds and the fish until probably the kitchens are still it's way up in fact i don't believe that these events are interlingua nothing medically fold one after another and that's to try to universal attention it's not the first time that the world is observing such phenomena it's happens in other countries too of the moment the investigation in arkansas claims an autopsy has revealed the bird suffered from internal bleeding but the research is yet to be completed we could also be dealing with some new virus or singly if it's another possible explanation but i repeat that's full investigation is needed to establish the cause of what's happening and find a scientific explanation for it. and still ahead for you at this hour communist bogeyman. to get

a new lease of life the fathers of socialism attract new admirers in the financial crisis hit america also. we gain access to the training of russia's elite special forces see just what they have to go through coming up in just a few minutes. a russian factory ship with hundreds of people on board remains trapped in the frozen waters of russia's far east it was part of a convoy stranded over a week ago the other vessels have been successfully freed from the ice now a powerful icebreaker is expected to arrive later on sunday to help complete the rescue mission strong winds snow and two meter thick ice have hampered the rescue mission officials say the people on board are not in any danger though as they have plenty of supplies. the u.s. is planning to send another fourteen hundred marines to afghanistan to bolster fragile gains against insurgents the move comes as president obama's july two

thousand and eleven withdrawal deadline approaches our military contributors says what matters now is how this fresh batch of troops is used. the way to stick to that is supposed to happen in afghanistan it's an additional beef up of u.s. marines in the southern part of the country going to the latest data the us marine corps is expected to beef up its deployment the question is who cares whether it's going to be just the same static twenty thousand or just one thousand marines or the kershaw difference is to what purpose real this additional marines serve the key issue here is that helmand province is a u.s. marines sanctuary and it could make or break they new military campaign in southern afghanistan and define the future of afghanistan itself and the future of the u.s.

military presence in afghanistan and beyond if american marines will again be used and abused inflict co-ordinates read the policy of save guiding the drug lords and their slaves in helmand province then they will be remembered in afghanistan in generations to come as the most expensive suckers of the exploit of the drug and warlords in afghanistan who are deployed to safeguard yet another record breaking opium harvest in helmand and beyond. now on to some other international news in brief this hour a congresswoman has been seriously wounded and at least six others killed by a gunman in the u.s. state of arizona the shooting took place during a public appearance by democratic gabrielle giffords at a store in the city of tucson she was shot in the head at point blank range and is

now said to be in critical condition some eighteen others have also been going to police and save a suspected attacker is a in custody. u.s. authorities have ordered the messages. web site twitter to hand over personal details of people linked to wiki leaks the district court in virginia wants all account information including user names phone numbers addresses and payment details with the leaks founder julian assange and an icelandic n.p.r. among them in the u.s. a criminal investigation is looking at a song his involvement in the leaking of thousands of classified documents warning . young yang it says it wants to reopen to a talks with the soul as soon as possible to settle the situation on the korean peninsula the north offered to start negotiations without preconditions this month it's the second such proposal from pyongyang this week the south dismissed the first one as insincere relations between the two koreas abruptly deteriorated after

the shelling of a south korean island in november that left four people dead each side blames the other for firing first. in times of rising unemployment and poverty in the united states the idea of social equality is beginning to seem appealing to some so much so that the works of marx engels and even lenin are going through a resurgence in least or went to meet a few of america's socialists. the very first sentence of the congress manifesto for use of specter hangs over europe the speaker of communism like. in modern day us the specter of communism hangs over the bottom floor of a brick building on the west side of downtown new york city the rock from started out actually as the new york marks of school in one nine hundred seventy five here communism is certainly no bogeyman and it's poster philosopher so to speak is revered i'm walks and i wanted to be around other marxists and and

it's just a talk with all the marxists in the u.s. that may sound a little taboo even unpatriotic to the average joe but these days amid rising poverty and inequality in the country more and more people are joining in the discussion certainly since the kind of the economic crisis where the financial crisis kind of hit home and a lot of people realized you know there are some systemic problems we saw a huge increase in influx of traffic here people opening their eyes to a different view here people's histories poster project wherever you look you can see a chapter of events not found in history books they don't realize that that haiti was the first free black republic in the western hemisphere you know and historically they've been punished because of it. choose a door and behind it you may find any number of leftist social movements left out of mainstream news and again here again. these carolers are urging a boycott of israel because of its policies towards palestine and the building of

illegal settlements in the west bank oh by the force you not only this great nation is sure. that was a hero was that behind another door you could hear the discourse left out of many american colleges i felt that it was just an amazing world the knowledge that i had never been exposed to. people also just play poker with the side of political analysis you don't hear on cable the whole struggle. you know the immigration story everything is cause. kept a stranglehold. though we're at the marxist school the people we've spoken to here are calling for any kind of proletariat revolution no violent political uprising but everywhere you look the history in the philosophy of communism is here you can

see all of the works of marx engels over here is lenin even here the writings of joseph stalin and the version of monopoly that they play is called class struggle to prepare for life in capitalist america where the object is to win the revolution of workers when it socialism capitalists when it's barbarism talking to people around the breck forum it seems many are trying to implement the change they're studying without uttering that ass or c. is in communism word now it's probably more positive to say progressive or less whatever you want to call it they are actively trying to solve the problems and inequality they see in the country which is an attempt to make change but maybe right now it's not in terms of a revolution but a working from within which you can call any number of things but probably not unpatriotic or in mr aren't t. new york you can check out our t.v. dot com for more news and analysis here's some of what's lined up for you right now . you're of the seas

a spike in the number of arrested the terror suspects are raising questions whether poor background checks among asylum seekers are to blame also. mr goulet messengers between humans and spirits tradition of shamanism lives on in some remote parts of russia for more than a door to you doctor. the official. on the phone only pulled touch from the. life on the go. video on demand. gold coast's and says feed now in the palm of your. question. the chrome dela crem of russia's armed forces

spetznaz are on the front line in the fight against terrorism with a reputation for intense training and tactics they are revered and feared the world over. it may look like a scene from a hollywood blockbuster but the special forces are very real. these young soldiers part of the country's internal forces are preparing to meet and it's france their country may face the history of special units all spetznaz in the russian army goes back centuries that tactics and techniques have evolved dependent on the key challenges of the time but these guys have always been the lead and in the twenty first century they are on the front line of the fight against terror a siege hostage taking for these youngsters these are life like scenarios from training. none here get taken part in a real operation. day by day they learn how to act effectively face to face an

enemy which is exhausting but physically and mentally but for many facing their own fears remains the hardest thing we. said to belong to the elite but of course i am a human and argue about fears to cope with them is every soldier's number one most challenging turn. left turn in colonel and great guy if he's here to help the young boys deal with that. the order of courage was terrorising chechnya and the crimson bury that talks place not only similar to america's green beret he knows how to take control of human nature was aboard many sports men come to us and fails only twenty percent managed to prove deserve it as a truce but it's not soldier which is a fusion of physical insurance and what may be even more important emotional maturity. countering terrorism is this pats not spatiality

that they could be sent to any kind of emergency if it's freshness the country's security in mid december when the russian capital was hit by a wave of. violent nationalist riots spetznaz soldiers were on standby close by so i don't know russia sold some may say that's no job for special forces and with the police and all of these we don't agree that there is the order and we have to carry it out as well as we can that's it was almost all those in your eye all of these young soldiers a conscript a year at least. many say they will stay for longer sign a contract and continue as professionals in the lease cuts now. very emotional r t . and if you happen to be in moscow and are thinking of hitting the winter sales but are to show you how to get the latest must have trends for last in the russian capital. now although the

stores in humor are generally expensive january is the best time to come shopping here you'll find terrific bargains during the sales and what's the design is. all money for example amazing clothes for discounted prices. where no injuries in the moscow our crew will be here in about an hour's time or but up next start to talk to a renowned french historian about russia's past and present.

and then got a call structure of history and humanity is one of the secretary of the french science academy and the woman who predicted the breakup of the soviet union in nine hundred seventy eight in her book the collapse of an empire is here with us today. thank you very much my dumbed down course for your time. in your recent book between two walls you talk about russia can we presume from the title that you think russia still hasn't found its place in the world media. at the news of sims was not exactly what the book. says that russia has made these kind of

decision but over the past ten years it's been pursuing two different paths rather than one word is what i've been trying to explain is that after the soviet union disintegrated russia rushed to your butt as you have did not offer a warm welcome system beginning of this century or russia's foreign policy has been focused in two directions rather than on one on the one hand which fall courses on the west all the other hand because it was joe graphical position as decided to position itself as an asian country with quickly gives it a greater pristine and influence in the world has been pursuing this policy for more than ten years now and his broad great success advantage of the twentieth century russia's international reputation around the world was not very good but now after the past decade it's obvious that it's been a reckon it's a big change russia has taken a very important step forward and in my pin in this presidency is irreversible you

know russia has become a growth of power at the fair probably be there. in your introduction you raised the question of whether russia should be fear it janine that be imperial russia and that of the soviet union which you were used to be afraid of and you are still alive. to think that gave up on this there not only in europe with the collapse of the soviet union it was not until. it happened overnight many countries primarily those who are to solve it influence the eastern european countries and countries that used to be part of the soviet union but are now into balance states did not understand russia and are afraid of it as eastern europeans countries have become e.u. members that have showed it here is and passed them on to the law saying that russia used to be an empire so why should it cease being an empire and can't be trusted now that it is in the past has been forgotten by. now people have already insisted that russia is missing its own path but time has shown that georgia for example

which has always been saying that it wants to save itself from russia that's why it's what it takes us need to feel that russia will dominate georgia again and look i think it's a few years originate from some kind of misunderstanding of the breakup of the soviet union because it was so sudden no one could adjust themselves to immediately the european amateur prior's heart of calabria but the collateral after decades of preparation you can russia itself was not ready to throw you don't believe in russia's imperial ambitions just a right i don't believe it or i'd rather say there is some kind of innocent algeria but that's a completely different thing what country can forget overnight that it used to be a powerful empire but russia has common sense despite the fact that some russians say used to be so good and that is a shame is forgotten about a still russian people and specifically is an hour ahead of common sense and there

to stand too well that is so far and it's russia's future is not to be an empire but rather to build up its reputation and via subtle our rather than by force. but for war why does europe and yet russia now. a russia is needed because the entire history of international relations is moving away from europe it's played out in asia even the us. is refocusing its foreign policy on asia so you're aware of the huge current that will plays a big role the loci media in asia or latin america but that's a deal with russian now what is the current state of european asian release of this europe is of no interest asia view europe as a landmass and tweezers the pacific ocean with russia as your of i'm not a. hole but if a picture there was an alliance here then what is sailing europe reaches the

pacific to fill in this is the reason europe flees russia and i'm not sure if russian is europe but europe at the moment of need for russia well of course so it's not on and on course at one point you predicted the collapse of the soviet union and you knew forecasts for more than russia. that's the fear and now i don't hear very good as it's just selling when i was writing about the soviet union i didn't see it as a full harvest i looked again to eat and saw so many there negative elements that i couldn't help but ask myself how long will it last i don't make forecasts as a rule historian discover i look at the past and try to figure out what's happening in the present i think russia has come a long way over the past twenty years it is having some difficulties as countries do it's not easy it is reducing the marquess of capitalism it didn't bust.