stories that shaped the week here on r t deployed overseas verses death for years since the uprising began syria remains a powder keg with peace efforts there big challenge by war propaganda and terror attacks. a loving father called in a tragedy the media's take on the u.s. soldier accused of turning a sleeping afghan village into a bloodbath with washington once again apologizing for the actions of its military . and anniversary arrests for occupy wall street protesters is yet more heavy handed policing leaves many wondering if western nations practiced the democracy they preach.

hello eight pm sunday evening here in moscow you're watching r t with me kevin owen in a roundup of top stories of the last seven days first three people have reportedly been killed after a car bomb exploded in a residential area of the syrian city of aleppo there were similar attacks on saturday in the capital damascus which killed twenty seven people and injured over one hundred others a middle east correspondent. well the explosion happened at one o'clock local time in the second largest city of aleppo in a residential area of the now the day state television has been showing pictures of destroyed vehicles of damaged buildings and shattered glass and it's termed the attack a terrorist bombing we are hearing from the opposition that the attack happened not

from a security building although officials say that it hit between two razor that residential buildings behind the post office eyewitnesses on the scene say that there were bodies lying everywhere they also say that they heard massive explosions and gunfire immediately after what we understand was a car bombing now we understand this to be security officers who were firing in the air immediately following this blast they also cordoned off the area to try and prevent people from coming closer now the glass comes just one day after twenty blocks on saturday killed some twenty seven people in the syrian capital of damascus and it is the latest in a string of suicide bombings that have been happening in syria over the past few weeks on the tenth of february last month in the same city as sunday is the last in the city of aleppo in the north of the country twenty eight people were killed in twin blasts not far from a security office now the syrian pris is blaming saudi arabia and qatar for

sunday's bombing they say that they have been calling for the arming of the opposition and that this is merely fueling the situation on the ground and intensifying the violence earlier on sunday also demonstrators gathered at the site of saturday's blast in damascus this gathering comes just a few days after the one year anniversary of the uprising against the syrian president bashar assad now parallel to all of this seemingly growing violence on the ground there is a different type of warfare on the go and that. is the information war and hero international broadcasters are increasingly being accused of following their own agenda in reporting the syrian story and as such a merely contribution to the violence and fueling the fighting on the ground as my colleague reports. clashes in the streets of syria has been raging for a year now but behind the scenes there is a media war that's just as damaging as the one taking syrian lives rafi claude's

freelance investigative journalist from damascus says he's found what he thinks is proof of media manipulation of the conflict in syria in this video from the syrian town of holmes the camera focuses on the city's all the refinery the shooting begins seven hours before media viewers around the world see a pipeline explosion allegedly caused by assad's army bombardment you can clearly see that something is slowly burning in the distance when the smoke has thickened english speakers correct their cameras position for a better shot of what's going on they shake it to make it look like amateur video. it's clear it's not an explosion ignoring people reporting. in another video from a hospital in homes someone behind the camera talks to a doctor in the corner we see a little nap. you should too good we'll. talk

about his wife. after some thirty minutes away to the crew starts to get nervous and it's cool. no we need al-jazeera wildlife bench really the girl will forget some details. punish you be sure and your children in this footage we see danny holmes activist known for his exclusive reports from the very epicenter of the conflict history pairing to go live on. c.n.n. has relaxed and calm. and there is no shooting until he asks for it was. easy target. no worries just do it but i pull out the are beyond the. solution i see the whole deal. tell them there are some buildings collapsed and we're taking bodies why.

there could be a hundred get dead here in the last hour or two. here two hundred dead reality in the finale. you cannot see activists who became journalists trying to make a change as hard as possible. to produce but not everyone is happy about it politics of the channel we're changing the wording. on high. leftist and progressive voices such as mine we're not going to be as welcomed anymore obviously the qataris are decided keep shape the picture of the news little more than we used to know. always a mistake. well known war correspondent ali husham used to report for al-jazeera from the world's conflicts hot spots but syria has become the rubicon he couldn't cross he mentioned on groups fighting against assad's army and his boss is

a doha told him he needed a vacation he has just resigned because of biased coverage he says the sub were like you know promoting that evolution's and leave syria. egypt tunisia whatever i don't think for example that the revolution in behind on saudi arabia and the media and this is just a proxy it's a proxy used by but it's the right fellow factions like sedna government by maybe the last to feel the force. was more and more proof emergence of the international media is involved in the arab spring revolutions the question remains open to what extent do they influence in france and how much responsibility do they therefore share for what follows. rif national r t beirut lebanon. well you know as dr bassam abu abdullah a professor of international relations at damascus university talked to the thanks

ever so much for taking the time to be with us tonight syria's ruling party says islamic extremists have behind these latest string of attacks who do you think is responsible. good evening. the two dearest creations yesterday. we heard from these operations through important messages the first one to the syrian people who. were in millions in their last referendum because their new constitution their second message is to the syrian syrian people that they have been in the fifteenth of march in the streets. not only in syria about around the world so i think that the targets from these are parishes especially when you are talking about the christian neighborhood in the mosque. it was a strong message and they think that this kind of

a persians it gives your impression that this is scar them with the. kind of operations we could see in my school or in many places in the middle of. their fear to the children this fear the kind of operation these people they are not looting all the for killing innocent people they are not looking for any kind of civilized model of live they are out of the story out of their human feelings they think that everyone in the world should condemn these kind of all parishes because it's not acceptable not only for the syrian people who are looking for a new kind of political life but the through all civilized body of live through this question through the constitution not through or a thought what have we model of life which people are not to see

if this kind of model prefers whatever the motivation behind whoever did this there is a worry isn't there that your country is turning into a kind of terrorist hub. i think this in the course of police again whatever the motivation we're seeing this convergence we're seeing we're seeing a number of attacks like this together there's a worry that your country is becoming a kind of a terrorist hub. the motivation that described what they called the free syrian army you. call them there is no syria free syrian army there is some serious to groups these terrorist groups if they are received. in baba amr neighborhood after that in the province you see this started to google of you aware of some of them when. some of them went to live

in these kind of people they are terrorists absolutely groups and they are not relevant to any kind of opposition and i think everyone who are looking to oust the should understand this kind of extremism is not working in syria and. they wanted to punish all is here people but that because when you are taking in this kind of operation if you are looking at their streets in the vastness yesterday there was talking about usually there is a persian i think it's not only targeting the security centers as it. looks to some of the people or observers i think they wanted to punish the syrian people because when you are attacking through this kind of terrorist operation i think you are you don't know who are in the streets because of the terrorism they don't know there is no i did before terrorism and i think that the french diplomacy

starts to understand what's going on in syria because of that they condemn this kind of. they they are outside the mission of coffee and these people they don't want to open any zero or to give any opportunity for a lot between syrians decided that we should not ignore the regional and international factors when we are discussing the syrian crisis first i know this is a subject obviously which. you feel very deeply there's an awful lot more we could talk about this but unfortunately as against as we're out of time if it's a doctor a bus in my book brother professor of international relations at the mass consumer diversity thanks for just some of your thoughts there. coming up in the program in a few minutes a grieving mother in an angry europe. in the biblical. intimidate believing to sleep with a fool to think she has two convicted metro bombers were executed by the roots relatives as well as human rights groups say their trial was too quick to be fair.

and as economic sanctions piled on iran begin to backfire with spiking all prices europe may be forced to rely on emergency stockpiles as we report. short on money emotion lee traumatized and on his luck father of two all part of the media's profile of the american soldier accused of carrying out a massacre in southern afghanistan sergeant robert bales has now been flown back to the united states by the u.s. military had made calls for him to face trial in afghanistan and if that is going to church you can report snakes in his wake get more apologies. sixteen innocent afghan villagers slaughtered in called lot nine of them children u.s. officials are going out of their way to present the american surgeon who apparently committed the massacre there's just one bad apple. this incident is tragic and

shocking and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the united states has for the people of afghanistan this is not who we are in no way does he represent. the ethics and morality of the american serviceman and service woman and i think afghans understand that but afghans don't seem to be buying that at all. the rage and humiliation felt by afghan people appear to be way beyond what apologies can make up for they've heard them all before in the last few months all too often and each one very similar to the next just weeks ago the white house apologized for the burning of the copies of the koran by u.s. troops an incident that triggered a surge of violence this was a deeply unfortunate incident that does not reflect the great respect our military has for the religious practices of the afghan people and weeks before that in january apologies again over footage showing u.s.

marines urinating on dead afghans these actions do not represent the values of the vast majority of coalition forces who serve their nations on ridley contrary to what u.s. officials say some analysts believe that those incidents are symptomatic of how the military operation in afghanistan works it is increasingly the case this is looking like. a brutal occupation which is killing a large number of afghans were afghans film selves humiliated insulted and instance like this will be regarded as symbolic of exactly what is wrong with the american occupation it is an absolutely cynical operation to say that they can speak think in afghanistan for another three years how many more people will die how many more instances like this the only solution to this is to bring the troops out and then for these for these governments distortions of a name in countries where they have absolutely no right to intervene copious apologies handed out by the administration don't seem. even to appease war critics

back home let alone the afghan people but what about the whole idea of in aiding a country in occupying a country and disturbing their country creating hundreds of thousands of refugees and suffering this it ever get to a point where apologizing about the korean is rather minor and some of the other problems that we have created the taliban has vowed it will take revenge and analysts expect a fresh surge of violence children shot in the head women slaughtered it's incidents like the latest soldier's rampage in afghanistan that extremists of all kinds used to a truck new people through their ranks those new recruits go out to kill not even the most heartfelt apologies can change the minds of people. it becomes a vicious circle that breeds even more danger spreading far beyond the borders of afghanistan i'm going to shift our reporting from washington arky. the price of

helped by the few hundred china's three trillion dollar cash while the business savvy beijing lays down the rules. the two men convicted of last year's deadly metro bombing in the better russian capital of reportedly been executed there's no official confirmation except state media reports and a call center one of the men's mothers she believes his son was made a scapegoat by the authorities. i mean they thought they could intimidate the police interest signing. a full confession explaining their who planted investigation in trial otherwise they could if it succeeds in longer he said revenge on him and me. from the very beginning of human rights observers have questioned whether or not the men were given fair trial this is just the last straw in the already strained relations between gallagher's day and the european union in fact a lot of the human rights organizations and observers along with the chairman of

the european parliament have said requests to the killers for president alexander lukashenko to grant clemency to the two convicted men by those requests to our work are disregarded in fact a lot of the european out of the european human rights servers and officials have long been looking in belarus and questioning the officials approach it to human rights freedom of speech and their treatment of the opposition this has in fact still led to a diplomatic route after bell was pulled out its ambassador is from several of the european countries and in retaliation the european union has also recalled all of their ambassadors from belo rose to the european union foreign affairs chief catherine ashton already said that she strongly condemns the executions and she was seconded by the chairman of the european parliament martin shultz here also said that he is horrified at the news and this is just about it to worsen the situation and their relations between bellers and leader opinion even further. it's

a really good reporting live for us there's a people been arrested in new york because schools are protesters marched to narco people i was street six month anniversary no police swept through the birthplace of the blue ridge and coffee has hundreds of demonstrators terms over the past six months occupy rallies nationwide tough policing with batons and to peaceful protests but the actions of hogan are a stark contrast to. washington's words in condemning other nations which don't. have democracy so that's what important it's like. the u.s. and its european allies have many things in common security politics and a familiar practice of outsiders how about that yours of democracy iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech this is the precincts approach human rights for so there is a big step towards democracy rule of law human rights these are all we believe

these must be respected by the egyptian authorities in russia we've seen crackdowns on civil society groups as western leaders wag their finger around the world. wouldn't be times when little force has been used to help public protests at home. right police handcuffs and iron fists have repeatedly been used against unarmed demonstrators in greece spain and london where thousands flood the streets to protest against austerity measures and unemployment they should focus on getting their own house in order and practice what they preach rather than noticing about you know countries and trying to you know grandstand on an international scale rather than deal with you know they are there are very serious democratic deficit

on the other side of the atlantic uprisings against economic inequality and corporate greed have left countless occupy wall street activists covered in blood temporarily blinded. and behind bars the movement is currently planning to draw tens of thousands of demonstrators to the upcoming g eight and nato summit in may. but this week the u.s. military is unveiling its latest non-lethal weapon to members of the press. it felt like oh. living up to your almost. from about my sternum to. the new active denial system can repel crowds using an electromagnetic beam that delivers a blast of intense heat up to one kilometers away without a sound a smell or even a warning the weapon promises to disperse crowds and reinforce security while the military weapon isn't currently intended to be used by police critics say ray guns

like water cannons could eventually be rolled out in the land of the free we are seeing an intensification of repression because people are challenging the system and challenging it europe the challenge to get the united states and it's easy for our leaders the point the scene or somewhere else rather to take responsibility here in america to do anything differently lecturing others on democracy and human rights has become a branch of western foreign policy and just course that means to be based on the highest of standards but as we sit here i show and it's a lot easier to scold others when everything is fine. nice protesters it. or injured students in europe might suggest that their leaders do what. we're attempting to be a teacher of the mob prosy. artsy new york. and you look more like a website out. there if you get a moment for the latest news and comments this is

a taste for you and your friends loved ones yawning a lot. of the late night well being fooled by the excuses chances are they're at. least that's according to the. security. entertainment across the capital as moscow joins hundreds of thousands of people around the world to celebrate some patrick's day festival footage. is it r.t. dot com. this weekend its local bank payments network swift cut links with a random spot of the tough economic sanctions employed by the u.s. and its allies they hope the pressure will force to around to abandon its nuclear

program which is suspected of pursuing military goals at the standoff is driving all prices up threatening already weak european economies like spain and greece who rely heavily on around supply as for around crisis management specialist parlor a phony told me it will find new customers rather than change its stance. with thrift system it's mostly used in europe. is really not all from the news the. is already making agreements with india and china to have exchanges. currencies and for this is the sole what would not be sold to europe would be small growth where the issue of something you run is something that comes from the united states and europe following because there is no other way out for you for the time being they can increase this to try to throw the negotiating table but it will not magically change the course of action and it will be

taken in tehran anyway. well before greece even got its second hundred thirty billion euro bailout have been warning that it may sue need a third cash injection that's not sitting well with the e.u. with athens having trade much of the blocks of major cash supplies already to avoid a default and with belt tightening across the western world there's only one place left to see help tess for a similar reports. with china's three trillion plus dollars in foreign currency reserves it was only a matter of time before death europe came knocking on its store from the chinese side the leaders always tell you ok they are willing. to work hard it's like putting in practice may be some kind of a deal well it's not even a maybe china's call is clearly on the rise and so is its confidence this time around china has no qualms letting the e.u.

know that it is well aware of its truck card and that any help will come at a price top of its list of demands gaining the status of a full fledged market economy and lifting the one nine hundred eighty nine ban on its purchase of military weapons from the e.u. . and for the first time china has openly used its potential cash card to lash out at the e.u. for recent anti subsidy and anti dumping investigations into imports of chinese made steel products it does emerging superpower as. it is you know. these it's from cards where you can but europe hasn't thrown in the towel just yet it still has the power to grant china's wishes and as a country's second biggest trade partner the fall of one is the fall of both the e.u. also has its own demands for one backing on syria and iran part of the political

game the. politics game being played is very much to economists in particular to natural resources but behind the gates of cash rich china it's fighting its own battle trying to sell the idea to its people chinese internet forums were abuzz with annoyance at what they see as poor ordinary chinese paying for rich europeans so that's why they try to prime minister. try to persuade people when they people and. colleagues in the government the thing that are. helping the european union is also helping ourselves not all the chinese are convinced but if business must go on one local commentator wrote don't hand over a dime without asking for the world in return tess or sell your r.t. brussels. also around the world tonight clashes in the libyan capital between

a powerful militia group but local but more the former leader moammar gadhafi has left or is one person killed there are reports of both sides firing automatic rifles at each other the militia from the city and sometimes thought well equipped since government control they took over a school in tripoli and turned it into a military base after a second thought last august. germany has a new president former pro-democracy activists so can go one backing for the most part he's getting a high bridge or a few votes of a special parliamentary assembly he succeeds christian wolf and step down last month when we got to get a sense of corruption. the afghan finance minister tells r.t. of the troubles and tribulations still ahead for the nation's water on economy also we catch up the weekend sport with roma not so the next thirty minutes pan out them around.