you are with r t as we are highlighting the top stories of today and of this week an r.t. crew spent thirty two hours in a u.s. jail after filming a peaceful protest near the so-called a school of assassins in the state of georgia reporter kalen forward says a she and her camera man were brutally handcuffed and put in the same cell with criminals despite condemnation from human rights watchdog the o.s.c. e the case was ignored by the media. it started off as a rally outside a u.s. training camp a latin american military and police officers followed this nonviolent protest caught everyone by surprise dozens were arrested police targeted journalists along with the activists soon i'm a member of the brotherhood through good and i'm

a member of the program sorry ok i'm sorry among those arrested i'm sorry where are to correspondent here in america and our two cameramen john conway there on assignment covering the protests that brought together thousands of id i think you may think i asked the officer to please remove the hand cause the plastic i have and i will go one on there's a little bit looser and he took out a hunting knife to remove my handcuffs and that's actually part of the reason that i have the cuts on my read for our work still and 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 ramiro she was there as an activist tells a similar story i kept asking them what did i do tell me my rise tell me why i'm getting a wrist i kept asking them and i never got an answer from them every year thousands of people gather at the gate to training camp dubbed the school of assassins

calling for its closure officially there to train latin american little train yes it's. the latin america's most notorious torturers mass murderers are dictators this 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 wouldn'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 of 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 and 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 at all 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 a good thing you know in moscow here a b.b.c. correspondent or a c.n.n. correspondent had 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 no in the case of the united states the international community is can damage what's happened and called on the you were

asked to respond even the organization for security and cooperation in europe sent a letter to secretary of state hillary clinton calling the journalist the rest disturbing. while it is clear that police pleiku should grow in maintaining or do during public demonstrations the indiscriminate media in 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 as we made surprisingly tight lipped about its own kind of shaken r.t. washington d.c. . so just how much freedom should journalists have while covering events like protests lori haas honest also known as the resident took to the streets of the big apple to find out what people in new york think about that that's coming your way later this hour but here's a quick preview. for you 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 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 one for us not but if they intercede if the people are being i really owe a hell yeah what about it the press are being unruly the pressure 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. twenty six suspected terrorists with alleged links to al qaeda were arrested in europe this week eleven of them suspected of being part of a chechen islamised network planning to commit attacks in belgium the group is also thought to have been raising money for terrorism in russia as a volatile north caucasus region others were detained in connection with the

separate probe targeting an extremist group recruiting jihadi fighters for iraq and afghanistan british security analyst peter powers says once it said last clear that russia and the west are fighting a common enemy. the potential for cooperation is vast. let's not fool ourselves somehow greater regiments of uniformed soldiers marching over the horizon it is in fact much more of a franchise yes there's a strong power base in the foothills between afghanistan and pakistan and as clearly as a stronger ball 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 but we are now seeing of a commonality that we haven't seen before whether it vindicates totally all that russia has been saying for many years that terrorists are terrorists you can be if you killed by the ira or chechen terrorists. you're just as dead we are now saying

something which i've never seen before i'm president of cooperation well that's our security analyst peter power speaking. russian president dmitri medvedev has the country's political system to be shaken up in his latest video blog he said there are signs that the country's stability is threatening to stack. if the opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight it degrades and becomes marginal if the ruling party never loses in a single election year is just coasting ultimately two degrees just like any living organism which remains static for these reasons it's not necessary to raise the degree at least i didn't say should by that i mean toll six the task of any democracy is to improve the quality of parts and have representation make sure that the political maturity is not just static or broad but that it does not become the majority consisting of actors germany's. doctoroff political science and united

russia party member dimitri pollack and off says the opposition should draw a conclusion from the message as well. i think he was trying to say that actually. with relates to united russia opposition parties in the united russia have already started in the primaries. the development of. the dissipation the open public debates and so on and so forth i think this should be done by. as well and that will be very important because as we all know the decision is taken by the authority it depends on the quality of criticism they get so they need to have very good feedback. both united russia and up and should provide this kind of feedback in order for system to be sustainable.

for all the united russia party well you are with all it's here we are coming to you live from moscow still to come here in the program. pledges more help for nato has come to afghanistan many experts down to the war can be won at all. to do. with their leaders even. as germany grappled with how the media energy needs. surprisingly green solution details coming your way in just a few minutes. in switzerland people are heading to the polls for a referendum on whether foreign criminals should be expelled from the country nationwide ballot was initiated by a right wing party their proposed measures have raised the question of whether discriminating against immigrants. 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 in relation to the mandatory expulsion of foreign criminals who have committed serious offenses such as murder or rape the proposal for the slaughter was put forward by the a swiss people's party people with. heavy current courier there is no place for them in switzerland that is the idea they are getting a lot of support actually from people according to initial surveys because of all these stories of swiss nationals being attacked by foreigners who may file to fight trying to get to. keep other people whose rule didn't steal anything and have no respect for the one that switzerland has the highest per capita rate of immigrants that twenty percent of their population are actually foreigners so it's a very sensitive topic here in switzerland suppose you can't keep them all out we

need immigrants here is itself aware of the 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 was remanded tarion laws it also states that expulsion must be limited to convictions of a year or more so it's kind of the softer version of the s.p. piece of proposal if yes he is insisting that a heart bike is necessary now critics of this proposed laws are saying that this is very unfair that in the eyes of the law everyone should be treated equal can we 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 drug dealer a better one so i don't make a difference between someone who is doing something wrong the law should not look where the his white brown black or what the are also questions of the separation of

families should a prisoner convicted be sent out of switzerland what happens to 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 their 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. to salsa. we're reporting that negotiations for a deal on a multi-billion euro rescue package for the irish economy are reaching the conclusion in dublin the country's economy went into meltdown this week under the weight of its banking debt and there's been public outrage at the government's handling of the crisis about fifty thousand people marched through the capital on saturday protesting against harsh austerity measures being introduced to cut the country's huge budget deficit demonstrators say ordinary working people are taking the hit for the rich and the banks elsewhere in the eurozone there are fears portugal spain it may be next in line for a bailout german economist told r.t.

europe's biggest economies one be able to pay their debts off others forever. the german taxpayer is no longer willing and this is very very becoming very reluctant to bail out countries like greece where there is an example of very bad governments 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 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 the eurozone sooner or later and germany is economically not a bill to. bail out. the german taxpayer who has a word to say in all that is no longer of wellington to sing something like that. currency union between russia and the european union is a possibility russian prime minister vladimir putin and german chancellor angela merkel have admitted the statement was made during putin's visit to germany on friday the russian crimea said the euro is much more reliable than the dollar despite current difficulties in the region putin also said he's no longer sees any obstacle mr rushers accession to the world trade organization which russia and germany agreed to clear the path to increase business links to develop science and technology together and in a meeting with a german businessman the russian prime minister managed to lighten the serious mood of energy supply she says. of the risk of fish. so the german community

doesn't like nuclear power i don't want to make any comments. you know shit like don't understand what you're going to use for heating. he don't develop nuclear power what are you going to use because it was easier to get there and sell it to. crutch thanks to the wages of. well you are with r t coming to you live from moscow and still ahead for you this hour from the basin of life to the hotbed. after decades of mismanagement the water is in one of the world's largest landlocked went away and a gigantic fishing industry right now coming down. branson joined me in the air all see central asia. this week russia decided to give more

help to nato struggling campaign in afghanistan it agreed to allow the airlines to transport armored vehicles through the territory the transit deal was confirmed by russia's foreign minister during talks with his afghan counterpart here in moscow that will allowed nato to reduce its reliance on volatile pakistan but also pledged to russia will continue to provide the tools to battle drug flow from afghanistan last month russia and the us destroyed one hundred three when a combined drug operation in the country despite successes like that many experts still believe the war is essentially unwinnable. 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 that 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 develop as the shipment of arms could pacify afghanistan . meanwhile the latest pentagon report shows that violence in afghanistan has increased and the insurgency is strong and expanding across the country u.s. military chiefs also admit progress is uneven with just a modest gains made against the taliban. has been watching troops in iraq gearing up for the move to afghanistan to boost american led forces there but many worry that more troops means more violence. i will quote just time in iraq is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train assist and he

quit the iraqi security forces sure they're almost about home that's for sure no one knows whether once they hear the genesis not just movement of troops and equipment since world war two the u.s. army is moving its supplies from iraq to afghanistan certain equipment such as r m wrapped. mine resistant vehicles are humvees or that those types of equipment a lot of are rolling vehicles rolling stock of vehicles and some generation that equipment yes will be dedicated towards the mission in afghanistan but critics warn that moving troops won't help much. when i've gone people see those forces inside that country it brings in paganism and makes them turn to terrorism and al qaeda so as more american troops come here from iraq it will just make things worse and i don't believe the americans will

leave for another fifty years so that they have two of them main military bases here and then building the americans leaving iraq also sends the wrong message to insurgents the afghans seeing the americans withdrawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we got a hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter i will quote she's already been told to be going to be brought back to afghanistan it'll be his second time there and he's not like i would definitely say that afghanistan is a lot more difficult than it is over the terrain is a lot more heavier and the mound this region is we have to do a lot more walking there and whether the beefed up presence in afghanistan will help troops meet it's just did nothing to pull out and make it more difficulty is still on the guys and just come back some of the. everything went ok the next one. will be discussing the american effort in afghanistan with the country's foreign

minister and that interview is coming your way in just over ten minutes time. and from now to a central asia the home of the are all city once the world's fourth largest lake it has almost now gone. irrigation projects from the soviet era but some locals say that in the past the sea disappeared and returned again he's investigated what was behind this mystery. it starts with sun up these men fish in one of the worst manmade environmental disaster areas ever know. the same just dried out and then a trip turned we've brought the seed back to us. when central asia became the center of the soviet union's plan for cotton cultivation it nearly drunk dried the rivers feeding the erroll see what covered sixty eight thousand square kilometers in one nine hundred sixty around the size of southern california shriveled to

a tenth of its size by the mid one nine hundred ninety s. nearly disappearing by the year two thousand here where the greater and lesser seas split there's just enough left for modern technology to make a stab at regenerating it in two thousand and five the cocoa around dam was constructed to trap what little water still flows into the lesser sea from the syrian river locked safely inside the water is growing to witness the results you must drive hours over rough sea that. then there it is bright blue the fishing villages might be ghost towns now but groups of men in numbers of about twenty to thirty camped out at the newly rehabilitated beaches and catch these about one hundred kilo's a day until they've earned enough money to survive and they go back home. they live in dugout hats even in the coldest of winter but this new career means food on the

table for young ahmad he was born long after commercial fishing had ceased. i've been fishing for two years my grandfather was a fisherman but he died right now we all work for a month straight living at the shore then have a week off that's when i go home to our ask we don't get a salary we get peace work payment twenty species of fish now wriggle out of the water and into the hands of the grandfathers of this industry still around to pull up the net once again carter bringing a hike catfish. more fishermen are returning to their home finally the sea is providing us with work and profit again they even say it will come back to artists in around the silent still stands the locals know waves no boats yet there's been more after a serve my term in the army i came back and the water was no longer here that was nine hundred seventy three zero people said that it wasn't the first time they will

see had gone they see the sea will be back and maybe we will live to see the good times and life will be even better we do hope. the water has twenty kilometers to go until it's back. it's a horrible to restore the entire erroll sea want to make it the way to used to be if it pleases them own part remains which will help solve many problems in central asia but while the industrial might of the past can all be restored and food iraq will once again become until. it may never be what it once was but the arrow scene now boasts two thousand men who now fish for their living for them that's enough when the france r.t. kazakstan. next hour we look at what danger has been uncovered by the receding waters of the aral sea. well also in the news this week china is taking action to ease tensions on the korean peninsula by sending a high level envoy to seoul to speak with the south korean president beijing once

an emergency meeting of the six nations involved in north korea disarmament talks its diplomatic initiatives come as the u.s. and south korean military are conducting war games in the yellow sea john yang has reportedly deployed surface to surface missiles in response just days after it fired artillery on an island belonging to the south that killed four people go to vitola writer director of the korean studies at the institute of economics at the russian academy of science says the drills in the yellow sea can only serve to heat up tensions in the area. the. character who is in the yellow sea water with south korean sheep i think that's not a major would could lead to reduction of tension in korean peninsula rather or increase the level of course and nobody is really are we to have a full scale war conflict by any instant can help but what if the korean ship or

the american ship would he underwater mine and be softer we had american side can decide this is a north korean attack and would really it would be only lead to an unpredictable consequences so i think that this. reaction that is now desirable if the us wants to exercise what it's called strategic patience that mean in having no dialogue and gristle sanctions that you know way hold that north korean regime would collapse it could only lead to more incidents and to more appropriations and more tension. live from moscow this is r.t. and back to our top story now and the arrest of an artsy film crew in the u.s. has fueled concerns about the way police in some countries treat journalists covering demonstrations laurie the resident huff inist has asked new yorkers if they think the freedom of the press should be limited.

how much freedom should the press have should they be treated differently than people on the street when covering events like protests this week let's talk about that well 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 would look up to you for my information on many occasions the thing that they should be allowed to get more access 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 went around 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 prepared for the fact that life is going to sometimes intercede and about why

enforcement what if should they intercede if the people are being a ruling oh hell yeah what about if the press are being unruly the pressure 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. i will take another look at the week's top stories here on our t.v. in just a few minutes to stay with us. morning's

today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada asked him for trying to look for a shelter on the day.

we are running down the week's top stories here on thank you for joining us. news crew covering up peaceful protest in the u.s. is criticized by organizations as a crackdown on media freedom ignored by the mainstream american audience. switzerland votes on a proposal to expel foreigners charged with serious crimes it's a measure of the discussion of whether a nationalistic motions. of democracy should not stagnate the russian president's calling on the opposition in his video blog so those in power. at the wheel. one of the world's largest lakes.