is of course located in russia's volatile north caucuses it has been perhaps one of the most calm and stable republics so these events that have unfolded in the last twenty four hours are certainly very stressful what originally started as an ordinary ski trip ended in tragedy when five people were making their way from a moscow to a resort in the russian republic of congo to get them all caught on their way from the airport to the actual resort of the minibus they were in was flagged down by what the driver thought to be police officers the minibus was stopped two men got out and asked for the one woman inside the bus to step outside when the men tried to protect this and the men outside the minibus simply step back and opened fire at least three people died on the spot with one still in hospital in critical conditions dr doctors are fighting for his life one of the men inside saw his son die in front of his very eyes. the refuse there.

was this is. the drama didn't stop there reports also came in all of a bomb exploding in a cable tower where at the resort where those five people were heading there were no reported injuries so far but we do know that the actual cable lift system was damaged quite badly of course the tension only continues to grow as another detonating device has been found in that same resort in a parked car that is just outside a number of the hotels where tourists are staying of course waiting until early morning to begin their ski trips we already know that all ski trips have been canceled for tomorrow the officials in the authorities all of the republic of combat in the area have asked everybody to remain in their hotels they've closed down all the cable car lifts and. authorities have now surrounded the car waiting

for a bomb so the bomb technicians to are arrive on the location you know that there is a gas tank inside the car there's also so much wiring that could be seen according to eyewitnesses and of course the situation is growing tense as people are literally locked within their hotels waiting to see how the situation develops sadly that is not the end of drama about it in the old heidi a local official was also gunned down this evening when he was at a nearby sports facility i join his evening workout men burst into the building and opened fire he died on the spot from the wounds he received so indeed a very tense few days in combat you know both cari of course reflecting on the overall tense situation of course being the north caucuses police are not ruling out terrorist activity but are for suspecting russia's most wanted terrorist bill kumar of course previously claimed responsibility for two deadly terrorist attacks

in the russian capital the moscow metro bombings and the very recent attack on moscow's the idea that the airport they are of course investigating trying to get any leads talking to eyewitnesses doing everything they can to ensure the stability and security in that republic itself and the region of course as a whole country those are reporting fred way is from christian science monitor he told us it's common practice photos to talk to mr sorrels. it fits a pattern all over the world where people terrorists who want to damage a country's economy they attack tourists because when the word of that spreads people stop coming hotels close down all those service all those all that money that comes in with tourism stops that that's an amazing amount of damage that they can do president medvedev recently did announce. a multi-billion dollar project to build ski resorts and hotels throughout that region along was very magnificent

mountain peaks in order to encourage tourism well this is exactly the sort of thing that will deeply discourage it. fred with public resentments against the ruling class is growing in the middle east have made bloody attacks on demonstrators as the region plunges into chaos as opposition leader was badly injured when police dispersed an anti-government rally and in libya at least fifteen people were killed on saturday when security forces opened fire on mourners attending a funeral procession for anti government activists it brings the total death toll to almost one hundred also one protester was shot dead in yemen discovered on sunday i will police open fire on a march of thousands of demonstrators and takes out of it marks the ninth consecutive day all protests in yemen volunteers also continued in bahrain to was armored vehicles and troops return to the streets of the capital for a report suggesting riot police which were behind brutal crackdowns of protesters

used supplies made by british companies to clear a young girl in protest human rights activist bonnie pace said something to say about that he says the u.k. is being reckless. we can see across the middle east that the government is selling to repressive regimes all over that this could happen at any point in and we've got to be aware that when we sell you both non-lethal and lethal equipment those will be used and. generally at some point be used on someone innocent the u.k. government needs to seriously reconsider how approaches arm sales in the first place not only have these arms be licensed to be so good overseas in the case of bahrain. they are actively promotes genocide which the u.k. government and its we promote arm sales to a number of repressive regimes this very weekend the u.k. government is sending representatives out to the launch arms for an abu dhabi it's

called i desks. which the arms industry trade body in the u.k. claims ten percent of its executives will be british at this spare and the u.k. actively encourages is these companies to sell including the very equipment that is being used to protest this in the middle east these weapons are widely misused and the case is arms and export criteria which look good on paper very rarely applied with any record. in the middle east a rub today after popular a people's in choosier in egypt which brought the embattled leader but while people gathered in cairo's tahrir square on friday to mark a week now since president mubarak was toppled middle east analyst james denselow says the root causes of the crisis still have to be addressed i think there are certain structural problems facing all these states whether you talk about their state of their economy the high rates of youth unemployment some twenty four percent across the region the fact that the leadership has had very little freedoms and democratic choices given to their people the fact the leaders have been in

power for often decades some forty four million more people have been placed into poverty by rising food prices something that north africa the middle east has has witnessed first hand and i think it's very interesting that in countries like iraq the government has previously planned to buy eighteen f. sixteen is now scrapped that order to replace it with food subsidies for the poor so we're dealing with very basic problems here if these countries can't secure the basics for their people that doesn't matter how secure their police forces are these people are going to stand idly by anymore and i think it's a combination of new media and the internet as a social organizing tool that has allowed them to circumnavigate traditional security measures and make these protests as they are so while the battle to our sma barack has been won the war over the future of egypt is really yet to be fought and we see when what happens next in terms of real constitutional change changes to the state of emergency whether political parties can rise out of the ashes of

mubarak's authoritarianism well what the future will be for egypt so it's a very no means any certainty that actually egypt is a model to follow because simply we don't know what will happen next radio host of the director alex jones says that one factor forcing people out onto the streets is dollar inflation of the self-serving policies of major banks. as the global economy is flooded with dollars as the private fellow reserve hyper inflates the dollar it's going to drive commodities and so in places like egypt and many other areas you're going to have people who are making on average two dollars a day or less basically with empty bellies who are going to start rioting and protesting and austerity via globalism is also coming to western europe it's coming to places like ireland because everything is now going to the offshore private central banks the system hopes to use all of this new furor in the streets as a pretext to basically roll in another layer of intensified police states. ahead of

the program tonight a wizard's unlikely resting place. might make a bargain. we visit the cemetery where silva is buried along with mr william shakespeare founded how their graves ended up in israel in a few minutes on t.v. and russia's witnessing a crackdown on organized crime right now police cover up spin revealed behind brutal murders but some fear the corrupt officials might still get away can report on. the opposition better or worse will be quote by shot in the head unless it stops destabilizing the country so says the country's president alexander look at the comments come just days after the first person involved in last year's mass protests in minsk was sentenced to four years in jail thousands of opposition activists took to the streets of men's because the polls closed in the country's

presidential election in december over six hundred protesters were arrested and more than twenty for the several presidential candidates a facing trial and a political analyst from russia's news agency dmitri babich told me that look at keeps on tightening the screws in the us. what happened in december was indeed unique because people were not seen terrorists and they were jailed for pretty long time and their fair their opposition activist was sentenced to four years in jail i think it's a very bad message. to a question of this trying to show everyone that he is serious about his promise to punish the organizers for the december event what we need is for the west on the stand there we should more drawn you are and soon you will push is not isolate anyone. opposition in there are always democracy in belarus rule not to win thanks to isolation it will win thanks to openness in there and all of these. the us

maybe the self-proclaimed land of the fur. but it also jails bore people than any other country in the world. that one former inmate who's calling against a prison system which he claims is for profit. a parking lot with a prison cell where the man inside it the inmate michael to bond moved in out of his own free will michael spent thirty hours building his prison cell made out of plywood and even parts of his own homes a roof top his generator strategically placed right here keeps the cell lit and warm throughout this cold winter months the main goal of the man once convicted of armed robbery to bring down the number of prisoners in the u.s. slavery still exists in the united states of america to him and his supporters and sleeved are over two million prisoners packing jails across the u.s. a country with the highest prison population in the world yet they eat sleep and

use the same room in the same area we're. disgusting to me is not somewhere i want to be hired to be. the ex-con is now teaching children about the horrors of prison life to deter them from crime in the future. for the self-made convict says one of the biggest problems is american prisons are big business when you get in thirty three thousand dollars a year cause or a human being is like this kind of like you go on them is par for every rock you bring me. how many rocks would you bring and in this diary khana meet many youngsters are stuck between a rock and a hard place you can't the whole country and especially during a recession you know poverty is synonymous if you go poverty you want to have michael also cites a flawed justice system for the high conviction rates especially of the poor with

lawyers selling freedom. to the highest bidder if you can afford to pay for the cases you want to get crazy town where is the counterpart the money is gone a little bit of time a problem across the us but less than five percent of the world's population but almost a quarter of the prison population of the planet the men will remain in his cell until the end of the month by which time he hopes his message will have hit home until then look at all saw and now we are all in the hole and started churkin our party philadelphia as well the stories we got online tonight got me thoughts about another snow hit the comic but both of the stories you see also that are dot com as well as the stories the blogs chance you have your say if you find out have a question the president of providence or been checking out some soft snow for those forthcoming twenty eight fourteen winter olympics in sochi. the spacemen have recently set foot on mars have now become a groundbreaking exploration of the simulated red planet you can find they're

getting on as well if you'd like to know the latest there other. world news stories for you at least three people have been killed and more than sixty injured a gunman death explosives and stormed a bank in eastern afghanistan and among the victims were civilians soldiers and policemen the president's office said that three suicide bombers were involved in the way the taliban spent responsibility for attacks saying they were targeting security forces. based in germany have fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent violence during an annual far right rally in dresden around a thousand people gathered for stone to action to commemorate a deadly allied bombing of world war two many more left this country demonstrators supported by civil rights groups and democratic parties tend to lose some of the.

tried to attack the gun throwing rocks and bottles. and major crackdown on organized crime has been triggered across russia authorities are targeting gangs protected by officials in small towns what it does blot reports now on a brutal slaying the brought the issue back into the public's attention. these graves a reminder of one of the most horrific crimes in russia and wealthy farmer his companion and ten others mostly women and children were killed one night listener in the village of push off skin rushes cell but investigators were even more shocked when they discovered that this brutal slaying is just the tip of the iceberg the crime where when. it was worth years mass murder the boys were unable to why and go through the numerous acts of murder rape in extortion but they have been the local journalists who became with all wars and heard as they directed

their thoughts bushman's at one particular local gang all suspects were also well respected members of the village situated in the cross in the region oleksandr called each officer of the organized crime fighting unit of the local police reportedly provided to cover up for the gang its leader sub believed to be sort of gates of pork and his aide sort of gave us who did produce of the local council and it is said there were also dozens of mafia dogs recruited from. perfectly legitimate security for that young above all scarce says their crimes could have been prevented in two thousand and five she informed local police above the gangsters but they got away something that may happen again. it's not only birds of dogs people it's about the ones who protected them and they have doubts that these times they'll end up in jail and get proper punishment definitely have serious connections the question of scared triggered to crackdown across the country on

organized crime in the republic of bush good to stun ninety three people were arrested on new year's eve on drug related charges the gang was supported by police and laundered more than one and a half million dollars the man also the murder of the mafia kingpin nicknamed han in the southern russian city of stubble may also lead to corrupt policemen and local officials it is all part. why are there government pledged to tackle organized crime and corruption. is a possible to put everything in order yes it is but half a year's time is possible if you change the heads of the law enforcement agencies make the courts work and restore the system of district organized crime units. and there is the hope that the brutality of the gangs and corruption of some officials can be overcome and russia if journalists and crime experts a listen to. just a lot ski r.t.e. across the region. while blockbusters unknown to draw huge crowds a grave might seem an unlikely tourist attraction unless the person buried there is

one mr harry potter it's not quite what you think again this is the final resting place of a teenage british soldier killed decades ago which isn't stopping wizard fans from flocking to visit and that is paul a slayer found this part of the story as anything but a magic ending. harry potter is good and varied in his role but before you die hard potter fans collapse from the shock we're talking about a very different harry and a somewhat different plot this are we both of you signed up to the i'm going to british army when he was sixteen or seventeen. and he did it by lying about his age but he couldn't cheat death and died in battle near hebron in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine potter fans found the grave that will far as he's had long forgotten the metaphor was but a few years ago we started getting all these phone calls we didn't even know the greve existed. but word spread fast and now the relatively little known israeli

town of rambler is firmly on the tourist map potter's grave attracts as much attention as ancient archaeological digs in the area. the two parters are similar in name and age and both are heroes but that's where it ends the real harry potter was from a village near birmingham england and was dispatched to bush mandated palestine a year after joining the army he was a truck driver brought supply from jerusalem. and this is the way they got everything you couldn't explain as for the world's most famous boy wizard he's fallen foul of israel's rabbis after the last installment of his book was launched during the jewish sabbath many religious jews also forbid the children from reading his tales they say it's pagan content is forbidden in judaism but it is and has nothing to do with harry potter. except the hype. her brother

contributed a lot to people interests in paganism and magic because it's cool and potter is not the only lastest literature buried in israel's military cemeteries here in jerusalem is buried none other than william shakespeare like potter he was also part of the british army and served as a truck driver although he died a few years before potter was born both their tombstones bring a smile of recognition policy r.t. jerusalem. next from moscow we speak to the head of the un office on drugs and crime in russia he says there should be a comprehensive approach towards fighting drug trafficking in afghanistan.

i'm here talking to mr your face the head of the un office for drugs and crime russia has long been trying to get drug production included on the list of international security threats mr pitt also thank you very much for talking to us now that the u.s. seems to have been hampering those efforts to get struck production on to this list of international threats why do you think it's think is a matter of fact refuse included everybody considers. a major global challenges everybody agree with that. as well as a particular drug trade in money to the territory of afghanistan as you know if she

were planning to launch a new original program. and program for afghanistan the neighboring counters where we're doing good because we want to focus not only on the game but also very sure you can try to direct. traffic and producer in afghanistan because only in broader regional. context russia is a transit route for drugs from afghanistan and they then go. and to europe and also the rest of the world and the country has been insisting that these substances that he used to make drugs that origin should be mobs chemically mocked on these substances to determine the produces if they chemicals the u.s. and britain are against the proposal but russia believes that that will reveal that the drugs all coming from afghanistan why do you think that initiative doesn't get support us i think.

this is to control drugs which are used in medical for medical purposes and as there is a special special agent for thirty two. which is doing. for the practical purposes. the drugs which are destined to be used as it. was a can be done and the whole system of checks and balances. there is a system of licenses. to produce lesa drugs which are not allowed to produce illicit drugs if i understand you correctly and illegal drugs are mocked that illegal drugs are not chemically mile. mark but they are being distributed through legal channels. the. borders but there's a ship the illegal way and the quality and quantity of this legal drugs are

strictly controlled by the relevant experts this is obviously enormously important for us if there are two million heroin addicts in russia or according to official figures that the actual number could be no higher and one measure put forward by moscow is the elimination of poppy plantations and the increase in loans. to be used for poppy production to be put on the u.n. sanctions list why isn't the u.n. acting on that ok so i think. we can be successful in fighting drugs if we do it in a comprehensive way but we need to. do is to create a situation when the money laundering and corruption could be excluded from this process but the also we need to address this process this problem from the. downstream. consumed we need to develop a more meaningful program of prevention and treatment of drug addicts and if we

combined efforts in doing this this way from upstream to downstream owners then when. success isolated steps are measures targeted to only one chain. for supply can be effective but only at the short term and one of the positives in this situation is that we see us cooperation there was a joint drug trade in afghanistan at the first of its kind of drugs a big big one if drugs were a couple can you tell me a bit more about that and the stance that russia and united states. literally cooperating quite a closely not only in this kind of preparations they conducted but also as i understand they plan to. toward establishing their own drug control agencies so that will be kind of a project. financed by russia and the united states and sponsored by you know d.c.

so it's a good synergy of international community and important bilateral players. thank you very much thank you very much. lead.

me it's easy to. see.

the future. you're watching r t twenty four a cost of moscow top stories. killed. at the ski. place of now investigating suspect. car bomb in the same town. as anti-government protests rage across the middle east britain get slabbed for supplying weapons which are being used to kill and injured demonstrators. and imprisoned may should be more people in jail than any other country and some are saying it's because big business isn't turning prison into profit. up next our special report about the damage that oil corporations are doing to the amazon rain

forest and the indigenous tribes who live there. why do you believe the locals were affected by cancer whether it's letters. hygiene conditions are terrible actually all the drinking water in eastern ecuador is. we have analysis results that show the water contains excrement residues meaning that it comes from the native steph occasions that is what causes cancer and all other illnesses if you constantly drink water with feces that it since you were a child let's see if that doesn't cause you some serious illness. and all those stomach cancer is definitely. another cause of cancer is the lack of pretty.