i. we are highlighting the top stories of today and all of this week here on r.t. welcome to the program and r.t. crew was a locked up in the u.s. jail for thirty two hours after filming a protest against a controversial military training facility it's located in the state of georgia and is dubbed the school of assassins reporter kalen forward described the treatment as brutal and international organizations condemn the use of police violence against members of the media but despite all the outrage american mainstream media has remained silent artie's guy nature can reports. it started off as it actually still rally outside a u.s. training camp for latin american military and police officers what followed this nonviolent protest caught everyone by surprise dozens were arrested police targeted

journalists along with the activists i'm a member. i'm a member of the price i'm sorry ok i'm sorry among those arrested were r t correspondent kayleen forte and r.t. cameramen john conway both there on assignment covering the protests that brought together thousands of people. yet the only thing i asked the officer to please remove the handcuffs these plastic handcuffs and at least put one on that was a little bit looser he took out a hunting knife to remove my handcuffs and that's actually part of the reason i have the cuts on my wrist for our worst killing had no clue what the charges against her were we asked on the bus what are we being charged with and one of the sheriff said don't worry no charge the ride is free we're taken to the county jail and we ended up spending thirty two hours there student tommy were mira's who was there as an activist tells a similar story i kept asking them what did i do to tell you my rise tell me why

i'm getting a wrist i kept asking them and i never got an answer and every year thousands of people gather at the gates of the training camp dubbed the school of assassins calling for its closure officially there to train latin american military and police it's called many of latin america's most notorious torturers mass murderers and dictators despite anger at the establishment violence has never been part of the protests so why the mass arrests now we feel like the message was look you know we don't want you to be there we're going to make it dangerous you know to make you think twice to even show up despite the outcry from many at the rally that their rights of freedom of speech and assembly were trampled upon. it's not a story that's caught the eye of the us media we can see the newspapers of this country editorialized in favor of free speech and first amendment give stirring in passionate defenses of these core american values but when another journalist from

another media outlet is arrested without charge without provocation and put onto a paddy wagon those media outlets are largely silent and i think it's because they feel like these are stories that aren't supposed to be covered well i guess so much for covering stories ignored by the us mainstream media the incident at fort benning left some guessing what would have been the extent of the media coverage in the west had a member of the foreign press been treated in a similar way in some other country say russia the remarkable thing about of the things you know in moscow here a b.b.c. correspondent or a c.n.n. correspondent gone to a demonstration where there was a legal permit and was roughed up by the police in the case of our correspondent she was almost sexually assaulted those are her words that would made headlines all around the world it would have been

a diplomatic row between countries but you know in the case of the united states the international community is can damned what's happened and called on the u.s. to respond even the organization for security and cooperation in europe sent a letter to secretary of state hillary clinton calling the journalist arrests disturbing while it is clear that police play a crucial role in maintaining or during public demonstrations the indiscriminate through media and bringing charges against them goes well beyond what's necessary to keep the peace but the u.s. state department which is usually quick to condemn freedom of speech violations in other countries has remained surprisingly tight lipped about its own kind of shaken r.t. washington d.c. . well that story has raised a lot of questions about the rights of journalists well with covering events like protests later this hour lord how often a stall so known as the resident tests the public mood on the issue on the streets

of new york. we need to be more thoughtful about how we allow the press to capture what's happening so we can get a legitimate true view without encouraging people to do do things that they wouldn't otherwise but the fact is if you're going to go someplace to protest to get that really hot story you've got to be repaired for the fact that life is going to sometimes intercede what about law enforcement but if they intercede if the people are being unruly oa hell yeah what about if the press are being unruly the press is being unruly same things apply you break the rules that's what happens if you're not willing to accept the consequences for your actions don't take the actions of. twenty six suspected terrorists with links to chechen militants have been arrested in europe belgian police suspect the group of being part of an international terror network which was planning a series of attacks over christmas across the continent those held are also under

investigation for seeking recruits son funding for al-qaeda linked terrorism and russia's republic of chechnya british security analyst peter powell says once it clear that russia and the west are fighting a common enemy the potential for cooperation is fast. let's not fool ourselves that al-qaeda is somehow great regiments of uniformed soldiers marching over the horizon it is in fact much more of a franchise yes the strong power base in the foothills between afghanistan and pakistan and it's clearly. a strong cobol now operating in yemen but we're now seeing this creeping out under this broad term of al-qaeda but it doesn't necessarily mean it's got the official stamp on it so what we've seen is a tremendous increase in european cooperation and it most crucially an increase in not just intelligence gathering but intelligence sharing. i've never quite seen it like this before but you know something really bizarre about this i went on to the

b.b.c. website i found it impossible to find this story and it's been overtaken by the events in north and south korea but also by the pope talking about condoms in the royal wedding coming up in the u.k. strangely enough it's called off the front page a bit quickly in the u.k. many people see this is very significant. security analyst peter power speaking there well the russian democracy is improving but its political system still needs stirring up in his latest video blog president dmitri medvedev called for more opposition voices to be heard to avoid the ruling party getting complacent. if the opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight it degrades and becomes marginal if the ruling party never loses a single election it is just coasting ultimately to degrades just like any living organism which remains static for these reasons it's become necessary to raise the degree of political competition by

a main task the task of any democracy is to improve the quality of popular representation make sure that the political majority is not just static that it does not become the majority consisting of actors and dummies but. dmitri pollack cut off all of the united russia party who says the opposition should consider this message and change as well i think he was trying to say that actually if they fought this should develop bad habits relates to united russia and the opposition parties and united russia would have already started a lot of innovations such as primaries such as the development of the interparty discussion such as the dissipation of open public debates and so on and so forth i think the same should be done by. opponents as well and it will be very important because as. long as your decision is taken by the authorities depends on the

quality of criticism they get so they need to have very good feedback and both united russia and the free projects to provide this kind of feedback in order for system to be sustainable. dimitri pollack of the united russia party well you always see it's good to have your company today it's just turning ten minutes past the hour here in moscow and as a nato get more help for a campaign from russia many experts question whether it's a war. you do. develop your nuclear power would you go to yes' to do it. as germany grapples with how to meet its energy needs some. surprisingly green solution details coming away in just a few. and is heading to the polls on sunday to decide whether foreigners who commit serious crimes should be expelled from the

country a nationwide referendum was initiated by a right wing party but critics claim the proposed measures are racist. for. just a year after the swiss voted in favor of a controversial law banning the building of new minarets and mosques they're going back to the polls for another yes or no decision now this time it's relation to the mandatory expulsion of foreign criminals who have committed serious offenses such as murder or rape the proposal for this law was put forward by the a swiss people's party people with a. heavy criminal currier there is no place for them in switzerland the idea they're getting a lot of support actually from the people according to initial surveys because of all these stories of swiss nationals being attacked by foreigners. by trying to get to. keep other people lose who's didn't do anything

and have no respect for the one that switzerland has the highest per capita rate of immigrants that twenty percent of other population are actually foreigners so it's a very sensitive topic here in switzerland so. you can't keep them all out we need immigrants period where we have a backlash from the european union and the wider world the government has put forth a counterproposal they amended the list of crimes it's different from the proposed by the s.p.p. and also they are saying that it has to comply with international and swiss laws humanitarian laws it also states that expulsion must be limited to convictions of a here or more so it's kind of a softer version of the esmie peace proposal if the s.t.b. is insisting that a hard line is necessary now critics of this proposed law are saying that this is very unfair that in the eyes of the law everyone should be treated equal can you make a difference between a drug dealer who was from the judio from russia from india or he's a swiss is

a drug dealer a drug dealer a better woman so i don't make a difference between someone who is doing something wrong the north should look look we're. he's white brawling black coal what they're also questions of the separation of families should a prisoner convicted be sent out of switzerland what happens his family if they've been living here for more than four generations for example but don't have the papers what is going to happen to them to there are a lot of questions coming from the other side the critics of this proposal and so we're going to have to see what the swiss are going to vote whether it's going to be a yes or no. saucily are reporting that well the economic crisis gripping of the eurozone continues to force worried and i'm greek demonstrators onto the streets tens of thousands marched in dublin to protest island's harsh austerity measures protesters want cuts to be directed at the rich and the banks not the ordinary working people earlier ireland confirmed it's negotiating with the e.u. and the international monetary fund for

a one hundred twenty billion dollars loan to save its troubled economy elsewhere in the eurozone there are fears portugal and spain may be next in line for a bailout german economist told us here at r t that europe's biggest economies won't be able to pay the debts of others forever. the german taxpayer is no longer willing at least is very very becoming very reluctant to bail out countries like greece where there is an example of very bad governance and we are no longer willing is neither to bail out ireland to fuel an ailing banking sector i think this is a general incentive this umbrella which the. heads of government have created in may under the menace of the president of the european central bank this is so large that everybody wants to be protected and the more it's raining cats and dogs the more they want to be protected and the portuguese. prime minister and the finance minister pushed island to put themselves under the umbrella to be under the

umbrella themselves as quickly as possible this is an inflation of claims to be bailout which will ruin if the eurozone sooner or later germany is economically nor the able to. bailout. the german taxpayer who has a word to say in all that is no longer willing to do saying something like that. germany's financial support for you countries was also touched upon by prime minister vladimir putin during a recent visit to berlin. we have often used the experience of a german colleague to things like the cash for clunkers program but i guess it is mostly the french comic is chief because so it turns out germany worked for the good of you in union again which is great i thank you and held talks with chancellor angela merkel where they admitted a currency union between russia and the european union is possible but to also

promise to clear the path for increased business links and to develop science and technology together and also said he no longer sees any obstacles to russia's accession to the w t o and in a meeting with german businessmen he managed to lighten the serious mood over energy supply with a touch of humor. so the german community doesn't know nuclear power i don't want to make any comments. don't understand what you're going to use for heating he don't want gas he don't develop new nuclear power what are you going to use for wood. but what if he'd have to get them from siberia to schools. of thought there were just a few you don't have four it would only the. well still have you this hour here on r t basin of life it's

a hot bed of death in. the air all sea has become a wasteland of sand salt and pollution i'm living france join me in kazakstan to investigate how this transformation has affected the people here and how it's put it down on the environment forever. this week russia stepped up its efforts to help nato struggling campaign in afghanistan it decided to allow the alliance to transport vehicles through its territory the transit deal was confirmed by russia's foreign minister. during talks with his afghan counterpart here in moscow it will allowed nato to reduce its reliance on volatile pakistan the two also pledged more joint action to battle drug trafficking last month russia and the us destroyed one ton of heroin in a combined anti drug operation in afghanistan despite successes like that many experts still believe that victory in the war is impossible. my basic view is that

the war is completely unwinnable russia may be making friendly noises towards nato now because of that as we know there's a rapprochement between the alliance and russia but in my view it's basically formal in other words these are gestures but they're. meant well i don't think russia is playing a double game i'm not trying to say that i'm simply saying that the war cannot be won the soviet union learned that lesson in the one nine hundred eighty s. the british learnt it in the nineteenth century and the americans are in the process of learning it although it seems that they haven't learned yet so i don't believe that a military solution could in other words the shipment of arms could pacify afghanistan no. party is coming to you live from moscow and to central asia now the home of the are all seat it was once the world's fourth largest lake but is now one of the worst ecological disaster areas on the planet due to ambitious soviet era

irrigation projects the sea waters started receding fifty years ago causing a drastic change to the local climate and killing in the majority of marine life and the threat to people's health from the rapidly disappearing waters is still very real as artie's lindsey france reports. the air all see is a shadow of its former self those in the kazak city are rask once had the sea at their doorstep but are now confronted by the haunting sight of abandoned ships the water is twenty kilometers away and from the dried up remains sickness comes one local woman who chose not to be named remembers when friends and family started to fall ill. here new diseases a match that i had never seen in high numbers especially related to breathe in my husband's good chronic bronchitis that's how i live you can see salt in the air but you feel it on the skin and you can feel it on the tongue. fields planted to make

the soviet union completely self-sufficient in cotton consumed the rivers feeding into the air all sea decade by decade it nearly disappeared now what was once the world's fourth largest landlocked body of water is reduced to a pit of sand salt and pollution. the salt clings to them moist seabed like here at the harbor in are all tsk as soon as it's dry enough even the slightest wind carries it into the town and across the country into the lungs of men women and children who don't even know they're bringing it before the grand cotton scheme the erroll see was one of the most picturesque places in central asia as it disappeared along with the soviet union the task of regeneration fell to the heads of newly independent central asian states in the early one nine hundred ninety s. it was then that people learned the extent of the seas to mines that until that

point was known only to those close to the cultivation projects pesticides used to yield cotton leached into the rivers making the water a silent killer. the growing is heavily polluted as well and in essence we're living in a disaster area in the past our infectious disease ward had one hundred fifty to one hundred sixty patients especially children with texting or diseases per year it's about five per year it was the exact same with viral hepatitis this is all frank's to clean water. three years ago a group called the international fund for saving the errol c. stepped in to protect the people from the tainted water. fresh water project sells many shias one possible way lead tap water pipes to the villages and to distant villages they create local water pipe systems but the pesticides aren't just in the

fresh water they're blowing across the dusty seabed as well. in addition multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is on the rise exacerbated by this toxic combination special rehabilitation wards are reserved in area hospitals so. our government pays fifty percent of what it calls ecological extras to our salaries. they threw an extra for a living near book nor with the rockets launched and the aerial see we have serious problems with the draft young people come in unfit to service. small dams now trapped what little water flows into the upper air all see irrigating the desert little by little but walking through this place that's been given a new lease on life one can see the legacy of mismanagement it begs the question is bringing the water back enough to overcome the years of neglect or is the

pollution too great to turn the dust bowl back into a thriving basin lindsey france r t kazakstan. well that was the first in our series of reports from the aral sea region and in about an hour's time we look at the chances of a reversing of one of the world's worst ecological disasters. while an explosion has killed one person in the georgian capital close to the office of the opposition labor party a fifty eight year old woman who was passing by was killed security guard in the office was wounded there was a separate explosion in a different part of the city with no casualties reported labor party leader nothing less friendly has been quick to point the finger of forces controlled by the president. so it's something it's nothing but a terrorist attacks planned and carried out by saakashvili special services these losses being carried out by forces they want to scarce decide see and the opposition for most of the labor party they always have us on their mind. it's now

a twenty four minutes past the hour here in moscow let's check out some other headlines from around the world this hour though with the south korean president visiting china has moved to ease tensions on the korean peninsula. and emergency meeting of the six nations involved in north korea disarmament talks the situation has deteriorated with the u.s. and south korea beginning four days of joint military exercises in the yellow sea yang has reportedly deployed surface to surface missiles in response just days after a fire artillery on an island belonging to the cell that killed four. the u.s. government has demanded wiki leaks return millions of classified documents are set to be posted online the cables reportedly include communications with dissidents son politicians from around the world american diplomats have been scrambling to warn allies or potential embarrassment the u.s.

says the leak could endanger lives and cause permanent damage to foreign relations . well now back to our top story here the arrest of a film crew in the u.s. it has fueled concerns about the way police in some countries treat journalists covering demonstrations oftenest the resident has spoken to people on the streets of new york about the freedom of the press and its limitations. freedom should the press should they be treated differently than people on the street when covering events like protests this week let's talk about that what i think the press is how we are informed so personally i like it when i see members of the press that get in can get more information than what i as a regular citizen can get because i look up to you for my information on many occasions the thing that they should be allowed to get my act that's absolutely. i

think the public is wary of the media but at the same time i think they're doing a lot of freedom because with cell phone cameras and all kinds of video equipment around that that the authorities are much more careful than they were in my age when they push people around a lot more so i think that today the press does have that access but i think it's very important that the press continues to have that access but the fact is if you're going to go someplace to protest to get that really hot story you've got to be repaired for the fact that life is going to sometimes intercede at about. what if it should be a intercede if the people are being unruly oh hell yeah what about if the press are being unruly the pressure is being on really same things apply you break the rules that's what happens if you're not willing to accept the consequences for your actions don't take the actions that gives people a stage or a platform that they wouldn't have if the camera wasn't there so i think that's why we need to be more thoughtful about how we allow the press to capture what's happening so we can get

a legitimate true view without encouraging people to do to things that they wouldn't otherwise whether or not you believe the press should be treated differently during a protest the bottom line is that without them the protesters voices would go largely and hard. and i'll be back with the headlines in just about.

seventy six hours of intense fighting. six thousand dead at a beach front several kilometers long. and now there is only one person who cares. you see we are surrounded by garbage everywhere but also there are. on this beach which of course is the most appropriate city signification a symbol of everything that's wrong with our goddamn government allowing not only garbage but to accumulate where so many guys died. a new battle is going on. the history be protected. returned to terra what julian cooper story on our t.v. .

we're doing a round up all the week's top stories here on our. crew covering up peaceful protest in the u.s. and the silence from america. leads to question the media freedom. crisis of multiculturalism in europe switzerland is holding a referendum on the controversial plan to deport foreign criminals but the proposal already being branded racist by many. and russia's democracy is far from perfect but it is improving that's what the country's president said in his latest video blog called for a stronger showing from the opposition to prevent complacency complacency. well nato plan.