today's top headlines in the stories that shape the week here on our team as the u.n. prepares for its humanitarian mission in syria violence in the country intensifies with deadly attacks on the country's second city and capital. the hard luck story of a loving father caught in a tragedy that's how the u.s. media is portraying the american soldier accused of slaughtering sixteen afghan villagers in a nighttime shooting spree. dozens are arrested in new york as the occupy wall street movement marks six months since it made its stand against corporate greed and injustice in america.

in broadcasting live direct from our studios in central moscow this is r t i'm john thomas and let's get right to your top stories at least two people are killed by a car bomb in a residential area in aleppo syria's second city attacks on saturday in the capital damascus killed twenty seven people and wounded scores more our middle east correspondent post here has the latest. well the explosion happened at one o'clock local time in the second largest syrian city of aleppo in a residential area there now throughout 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 far from the security golding although officials say that it hit between two razor

that residential buildings behind the closed office and i witness on the scene say that they were bodies lying everywhere they also say that they heard massive explosions and gunfire immediately after but now 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 and now the blast comes just one day after twenty blasts 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's blast the city of aleppo in the roof of the country twenty eight people were killed in twin blasts not far from a security office now these 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 and the only 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 taken surreal lives rifi cloth freelance investigative journalist from damascus says he's found what he thinks is

proof of media manipulation of the conflict in syria and 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 compartment you can clearly see that something is slowly burning in the distance when the smoke as they can enlist because correct the 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. you can record a goodwill being needlessly. in another video from a hospital in homes someone behind camera talks to a doctor in the corner we see little that. we should kill bush good punish you talk about his wife. again after some thirty minutes away to the

crew starts to get nervous. or maybe read no we need al-jazeera live on al-jazeera eventually the girl will forget some details. punish you the shore and your children in this footage we see danny holmes activist known for his exclusive reports from the very epicenter of the conflict is prepare . and to go live on c.n.n. his relaxed and calm was and there is no shooting until he asks for it was over the city to choose a target in the ira who no worries just do it was . were i have not the solution i see in my hell did you or are was tell the us and buildings collapsed and we're taking buildings was the

aged and could be a miniature hunger again here in the last hour or two there were two hundred that didn't love reality the finale go for it if it can ever have a good deal from here on in the activity become journalists trying to make a chaise as hard as possible with an old blood test to hide the price up. but not everyone is happy about it the politics of the channel were changing with the word . on high. leftist and progressive was such as we're not going to be as welcomed anymore obviously the qataris are decided to cheat the picture and use a little more than we used to that's always a mistake. well known war correspondent jim used to report for al-jazeera from the world's conflict hot spots but syria has become the rubicon he couldn't cross he mentions armed groups fighting against assad's army and his bosses and doha but he

needed a vacation he has just resigned because of coverage he says it's hard work like you go promoting lucian's and leave syria. egypt tunisia whatever but i don't think for example the revolution and brought her a known as saudi arabia of the me this is just a proxy it's a proxy used by its third party by fellow factions like so the government by maybe the west who are good for fuel this war. with more and more proof emerge in all of the international media is involvement in the arab spring revolutions the question remains open to what extent do they influence events and how much responsibility they therefore share for what follows. r t beirut lebanon. syrian authorities are pointing the finger of blame at islamic stream ists for the latest attacks dr. jeweler from damascus university believes that there are clear signs that al qaeda is responsible. these kind of operations it gives your

impression that this is. kind of operations there is. to groups these terrorist groups or they are so used usually in baba amr neighborhood that after that is live province you see this started to cool of you where some of them went to. some of them went to live by now and they feel these kind of people they are tourists absolutely groups and they are not relevant to any kind of opposition and i think everyone who are looking past the could understand this kind of extremism is not working in syria and i think they wanted to punish all these here people the latest blasts in syria come ahead of a planned a visit by the u.n. teams to the country special envoy kofi annan is urging all sides to agree to a cease fire and for dialogue to begin between the assad government and the

opposition beirut based political analyst dr or not should be told that the bombings in damascus and aleppo are aimed at the railing those efforts the objectives of these explosions that are coming within two days two explosions there in the capital and then this explosion today in the second largest city in syria this shows that there is an intent to actually destroy or create obstacles to the initiative by the former secretary general of the united nations kofi annan who is acting on behalf of the united nations and on behalf of the arab league and would receive the support. at least verbal support from the russian foreign ministry now these explosions actually show the need for the success of methadone and mission. coming up later in the program a grieving mother and an angry europe. when you don't when you pay through the can

intimidate the police into signing my sensei pay for his confession. to metro bombers are executed in belarus but relatives and human rights groups are saying they weren't given a fair trial. and as more economic sanctions are piled on iran we find the consequences may be felt more in europe. short on money emotionally traumatized and down 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 and it calls for him to face trial in afghanistan or he's going to check out his commentary from the states. sixteen innocent afghan villagers slaughtered in cold launch nine of them children u.s. officials are going out of their way to present the american surgeon to apparently

committed the massacre is 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 servicewoman and i think afghans understand that but afghans don't seem to be fine that 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 of the nations on ripley 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 that this is looking like. a brutal occupation which is killing a large number of afghans were afghans film selves humiliated insulted when incidents like this will be regarded as symbolic of exactly what is wrong with the american the right for it is an absolutely cynical operation to say that they don't think in afghanistan for another free how many more people will die how many more instances like this the only solution to this is to bring the troops now and then for these for these governments just opens of a name in countries where they have absolutely no rights when the copious

apologists handed out by the administration don't seem to. when to appease war critics back home let alone the afghan people but what about the whole idea of in aiding a country and 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 qur'an is rather minor to some of the other problems that we have have created the taliban has vowed it will take revenge and analysts expect a fresh surge of violence children shot in the head and women slaughtered it's incidents like the latest soldier's rampage in afghanistan that extremists of all kinds used to it new people to their ranks those new recruits go out to kill not even the most heartfelt of apologies can change the minds of people dead set on revenge 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 archy. the afghan government and publicly now demand a proper and prompt investigation with the accused facing trial john glaser assistant editor at antiwar dot com says u.s. soldiers have a history of escaping punishment for their crimes. it's likely that the u.s. will prevent such an investigation such a trial because of all of the other incidents where they have let off easy. u.s. soldiers to commit murder i mean the behavior massacre in iraq where nine u.s. soldiers killed twenty four aqim men women and children. none of them were convicted except for one who was merely demoted to the rank of private and you will serve no jail time i can go on and on like this these things happen and the u.s. prevents actual accountability for the perpetrators it's almost as if

murder is a lesser crime if it's done by someone in a u.s. uniform two belorussians is sentenced to death for last year's metro bombing in minsk have been executed confirmation came through the country's state t.v. channel the terror attack last april killed fifteen people and wounded hundreds brussels has criticized belarus over the execution with the e.u.'s foreign policy chief calling on the country's leadership to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. the reports. from the very beginning when rights observers have questioned whether or not the men were given a fair trial this is just the last straw in the already strained relations between valerie say and the european union in fact a lot of the human rights organizations and servers along with the chairman of the european parliament have said requests to the bill i should present. to grant clemency to the two convicted men by those requests i were 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 approaches to human rights freedom of speech and their treatment off the opposition this has in fact still led to diplomatic router bellerose filled out it's about series from several of the european countries and in retaliation the european union has also recalled all those their ambassadors from belo rose 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 short trip also said that she is horrified at the news and this is just to balance it to worsen the situation and their relations between bellers and the european union even further. not everyone supported the executions flowers were laid near the home of one of the convicted men. earlier his mother received notification from the court that the

death of carried out she thinks her son was made a scapegoat but the authorities. but you don't really think they can intimidate the police into signing but my son's in baseball she's going fishing explains the national plan if investigation in trial otherwise they could have executed him longer guy this is their revenge on him and me. and coming up on the program friends no more. egypt's freshly elected as an honest and peace of state israel is their number one enemy and seek to cut all ties with television. and russian opposition activists around the capital's t.v. headquarters to take part in what they call a funeral of a free press after the broadcast of a documentary critical of those behind recent political protests. seventy three people have been arrested in new york as the occupy wall street movement marks six months since it made its stand against corporate greed and justice in america

police moved from there is a cottage park after activists refused to stop pitching tents and leave the area since the start of the movement nationwide protests have faced numerous cases of police brutality with guitars and tear gas often used to disperse crowds but the actions at home are in stark contrast to washington's words in condemning other nations which don't measure up to its idea of democracy as might accord express. the u.s. and its european allies have many things in common security politics and a familiar practice called an outsiders about yours of democracy iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech and this is the creasing suppression human rights and all the more personal there is a big step. for democracy rule of law human rights these are our values and 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 bhutan include of course have been used to public protests at home was. the. white 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 other 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 opening up in a door almost needs to be. from about my sternum to my. 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 is in currently intended to be used by police critics say ray guns like water cannons could eventually be ruled out in the land of the free we're seeing an intensification of repression because people are challenging the system in a challenging year in europe

a challenge to get in the united states and it's easy for our readers to point the fingers somewhere else revenant take responsibility here in america do anything differently lecturing others on democracy and human rights has become a branch of western foreign policy discourse that seems to be based on the highest of standards but as we see here as shown it's a lot easier to scold others when everything is why. these protestors it. or injured students in europe might suggest that their leaders do a bit more before attempting to be a teacher from ocracy. artsy. global bank payment network swift links with iran this week as part of tougher economic sanctions imposed on tehran by western nations of the standoff is forcing oil prices with the u.s. and britain already thinking of turning to their domestic emergency reserves but as

artie's surfer explains not every country can rely on social safety net. spain is among the biggest importers iranian oil but all of that famous when the sanctions come into force in july spain have until then survival permits as sources of crude supply but a bad all around thing a real risk to the country that in turn route has fueled by iranian oil. prices are on the rise and there are fears that they're about to be can't even higher with the iranian oil embargo looming the e.u. in case ban comes as the west's been making waves a virtue runs nuclear program it's a picture thing around the oil revenues will bring the country to the bargaining table most countries like france and britain and fortini a very small percentage of iranian oil and supported the band because he's studying the west economically right now spain police in italy really going to feel the

effects of the sanctions the nicest things we can treat is the trash if you want to pick his. foreign minister thatcher said if you're sick you. were sick person sick leave. soon you couldn't be here about the fact that george bush didn't want to get in a healthy economic situation a rise in oil prices might be problematic becoming at a time when spain is on the brink of a second recession is proving a nightmare for the population. it's terrible that we should pay for decisions taken in brussels is not known for but certainly not for simple residence. certainly should trigger a rise in prices we should follow the example of the us to tighten our belt and keep the issue of nuclear weapons or parts to revive our economy. attempts to come fears about a rise in prices have been made saudi arabia says it's good enough oil to make up

for the loss of around supplies when the in bug. isn't it false she's like saying we'll still be paying the price of lost trade with iran and the cost of replacing these oil contracts ironically spain imports of oil from iran have increased since the e.u. backed libyan war now the prospect of the state he's with iran is causing huge concern. while those new war prices collation the students can be corrected the problems will come if there is a war with then you can see a real crisis. now countries like spain elected the nasty of the situation that no one wants to see ignites so. state this week egypt's recently elected lower house of parliament declared israel its number one enemy it also voted to expel the jewish state ambassador supplies and wants to revise all relations after israel's attacks on gaza last week. in front of the jerusalem post

thinks it's the only it's only a taste thanks to. the more islamists take power in egypt the worse relations will get between the two countries because islamists have never had an interest in peace and fruitful proper ration with israel they've only been interested in damaging years and actually seeking its destruction in their all for all ideology the sudden lifting of the old governments and suddenly. it is veteran of these governments in societies like egypt where islam is have been preparing for decades to seize power will be more or less guaranteed the fact that the islamists the dangerous elements will seize to power seize power and i think that israel views this development with a great amount of concern for the near future. protesters in russia gathered for an unsanctioned rally on sunday over a recently aired t.v.

documentary in the film some of the leaders of the opposition are accused of paying people to take part in street protests and are portrayed as u.s. backed agents around one hundred people have been detained as a result of the unauthorized meetings parties you go to peace in office at the same . several hundred people have gathered in front of the t.v. center in moscow this is the headquarters of channels and this is a protest rally against a film recently released by one of these channels are squashed. funding opposition movements this rally was not authorized by the federal opposition leaders. and. it's fair to see that judging by the. opposition figures the numbers of those people willing to take part in these events are dropping since we're talking about hundreds now and not tens of thousands. which we have seen some of the previous

opposition rallies in moscow before the presidential election it's clear that the opposition needs. needs a concrete and constructive demands and it's rallies like this which really show. the organization you got peace can offer poured in from the main you know t.v. center. and now to some other stories making headlines around the world. rights activist and former lutheran pastor he has been elected germany's new president he won the backing of most parties gaining overwhelming support at a special problem entry assembly succeeds christiane who stepped down last month following a series of scandals and allegations of corruption. in cairo coptic christians are observing a second night vigil for pope shenouda the third who died on saturday at the age of eighty eight he was the leader of the country's largest religious minority for almost four decades three people died in

a stampede as tens of thousands attended the cathedral where his body is on display the pope's funeral is due to be held later to stir. things up this hour i'll be back with a recap of the week's top stories just a few moments. well

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