a powerful explosion strikes in syria's capital damascus just in front of the hotel where the u.n. observer mission is staying we'll bring you a report from our own correspondent there and witnessed the blast. ecuador stamps out rumors of it already granting julian a song solemn as the whistle blower's quest for refuge and it's a mainly a final but no less paralysed stage. more violence in afghanistan while revolutions serve first perfect conditions an american run hospital something a tall the u.s. general followed just sweep under the rug.

and welcome to our karen taraji with you this wednesday it is two o'clock here in moscow well the rubble of free syrian army has reportedly claimed responsibility for a large explosion in central damascus the blast took place just meters from where the u.n. monitoring mission is located and right in front of the hotel where our crew is currently staying on a boy to witness the attack we managed to catch up with our. democracy appears to be relatively calm of the past few days but as you can see this call was very deceptive and very shall we. be explosion took place around eight in the morning just on meters from the hotel where u.n. observers this thing right into center of damascus close to the area it was a very loud bang that was followed by a series of smaller explosions that sounded like a chain. nation of ammunition the blast itself took place at

a closed army garage adjacent to the hotel in appears that the device was planted on the fuel tanker parked there it is still unclear whether it was an inside job or how the perpetrators managed to get access to this have only guarded facility three people are believed to have been injured in the blast none of them works for the u.n. meanwhile syria's deputy foreign minister who rushed to the scene suggested that the choice of venue for the attack indicates that it was targeting the u.n. observers the mere choice of this i mean a place for an explosion indicates the intentions of those who are behind this is terrorism attributes thought the international community must work hand in hand against terrorism once it hits here near the united nations observers everywhere they had a view of the mission and syria didn't talk to reporters today though he did appear

in front of the cameras his mission's mandate expires in four days and it is still unclear whether it's going to be extended the last time he spoke to the media he was very skeptical individuals i was meant of the situation on the ground it is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of syria. discriminates every weapons by the government and targeted attacks by the opposition in the centers are inflicting. a heavy toll on innocent civilians he also said that despite all the dangers involved un observers will continue with the efforts of documenting violence in syria till the last minute and now it seems they don't even need to leave their hotel rooms to do that . r.t. reporting from damascus in syria. reporters without borders have sent an open

letter to the syrian rebels raising the alarm over an increasing number of attacks against journalists on the ground a group which advocates freedom of information says government correspondents are prime targets while foreign journalists are also receiving death threats from the opposition that's being taken as further proof nothing is black and white in syria as artists are syria has found. january eleventh two thousand and twelve the first western journalist was killed in homs frenchmen. after all the initial reaction from france and many french journalists were that of anger and condemnation over here a fence elevation to speak to jackie's colleague who was with him in syria when he was killed. christophe can't show it as we used to be now there's only a black and white picture of an. open and he was agreed he was always smiling he was hard be always going to go places who is curious actually he loved his job he

was also someone who was very friendly. filming he was happy to do together because we would be able to meet you would be. good to see you really have this need in his body to tell what's happening on the other side of the world with his camera with my camera we were always together i lost a friend christophe says his initial thoughts were that the syrian government was behind the attack however the week after death a journalist from this newspaper published an article stating the possibility that he might have been killed by fire from the opposition clearly information that went against the dominant narrative in the media but he did find that he wasn't alone in coming to that conclusion i met by mistake by random french intelligence guy who asked me i don't understand why your report didn't pick up. the news that they are because it was. our conclusion intelligence services and friends got

inclusion that he was killed by mortar eighty one millimeters coming shooting from the rubble area by mistake i published the story it was denied of course by minister of the fans ministry of foreign affairs of the because it's not really politically correct little correctness that's playing into what is increasingly become an information war as much as it is a civil war where the villain is usually the heavy handed regime and rebels are shown as advocates of freedom and democracy but the reality is not so clear cut alex thomson chief correspondent for britain's channel four news wrote how he believed he was led into a death trap by the syrian rebels are quite clear the rebels deliberately set us up to be shot by the syrian army and in a lie phone interview he told r.t. my point is. that you don't have to be very clever to work out that the baby.

are going to be calling again. so the motivation for the grabbing of the food from my dad is fifty three very old there's a nasty war where truth is a small victim as those who have lost their lives what. for me it's most important to know who did work when this becomes clear that we can go on with our lives but now we are still mourning every day we will every day twenty two tests or so yards paris. pentagon chief has said he is confident the u.s. could successfully enforce and no fly zone over syria leon panetta however added this would require major policy decision watch hasn't been made yet i mean he also accused iran of training syrian pro-government militia saying tough rounds involvement in the calls late could aggravate. this situation eric draitser geo political analyst for stop imperialism dot com says washington's latest rhetoric

once again reveals its double standard policy toward syria. the united states is the pot calling the kettle black essentially doing whatever it can to foment the chaos to to turn sunni's against shiites to turn out the whites against kurds and so forth and try to destroy the syrian state in that way and then they'll turn around and say that the iranians are doing the same thing by forming pro assad militias this is unbridled hypocrisy as i already mentioned but it i think we could take it one step further to show that this really demonstrates the u.s. is desperation in syria they know that they're outmatched diplomatically they're outmatched in terms of the foreign policy and so with the only thing they can do is use syria as an issue to demonize the arabians which is the ultimate enemy in the region for the u.s. establishment. don't forget that you can find all the stories you may have missed on our website r.t. dot com here's

a taste of what's there for now. a continuing victims of the fukushima disaster a gruesome discovery reveals butterflies are living near japan's tsunami crippled nuclear plant may have genetic mutations sparking fears the link twenty motion might still affect its. power support for internet freedom activists co-founder steve wozniak gives his thoughts on wiki leaks. and controversial web regulating else you can watch his exclusive interview on our team online. by isolation and prejudice. aging. do it with caution.

looks like. jump to the top. ignore the pain. stage a show of. well i'm. going to. lose. both started here. for going global

and. fire. log in. the right to. choose your place. take your stand. in the establishment. make your statement. spread the word. she was trioli. rely. on welcome to our tool of joy in a song as fate isn't quite sealed just yet president personally i do banking media rumors. the whistleblower had been granted asylum in the south american country

instead president says he hopes to make the decision later this week. meanwhile remains that i could see in london a salt refuge there against his extradition to sweden which many of his supporters fear would be only a short stop before he'd be handed to the united states to face politically fuel charges more now in a song just played with laura smith who's been in touch with the ecuador president's press office we put in a call to the presidential administration in ecuador who said that he denied that there has been a decision any kind of major whether to grant. asylum in ecuador now that of course is not to say that he won't be granted asylum just a denial of any decision having already been made and what was being recorded earlier with an unnamed official. who deal with saying that i just had been made in that the decision was to grant refuge to do that i thought was. television address

by president rafael correa saying that he would be making a decision about this plea this week that on wednesday he would be taking advice from various people and that following that he would be making is that we are expecting a final decision to be announced on thursday or friday later on this week so we do know that and we also know that we do with see this as a humanitarian act the president or a minister in ecuador have said that they see this as an act that would protect his right to life and. an official working only case in ecuador says britain and sweden have been less than enthusiastic to negotiate with the latin american state regarding julian assange. asylum bit and kevin zeese anti-war activist and member of the bradley manning support network says even if the whistleblower gets the green light from ecuador they'll be plenty more challenges ahead. the leaves to a good safe passage out of great britain you know england has to agree that they

have negotiate their good or it sounds like you're woodward and trying to negotiate a great deal prior to making this decision so maybe that's already been done but if not that will be the next challenge save. you know it doesn't solve all the problems charges are still outstanding and what is in the air you have to read the u.s. military are they going to surround the plane and bring him down sweden and bring him down united states force into land and outside of the horses is not a done deal it's a big step it's a good sign that a country will stand up with eunice homage and say that we recognize that you are being mistreated and i that this which our news and in and pushes for to try to find a political. there is one thing essential story doesn't lack it's plot twists for every secret that the whistleblower shed light on he found himself attracting a growing crowd of enemies all more and more desperate to bring him down from banks to governments and even public figures openly calling for him to be killed artist

christine frenzel now with more on just how far it has all escalated. we first met julian assange on here in washington in two thousand and ten where he unveiled the collateral murder video at the national press club. it showed it to u.s. army pilots treating war like a video game killing countless civilians in the process including two journalists a songe appeared in our studios later that night to talk more about wiki leaks and what he hopes to achieve with his website the first step in the fourth state is to get information out about the real world and the second step is to comment on it and to think about it but sources can't get. through to be rationed out to the public in the weeks following a song and wiki leaks were everywhere with leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks but it wasn't long before publications that originally partnered with

wiki leaks like the guardian der spiegel in the new york times turned against a saw much as did many others who said he should be killed to get her for the american people the way to deal with and they were in the end the nashik your united states the way to deal with this is pretty simple we got special ops forces i mean the dead man can't leaks that this guy is a traitor a treasonous and he has broken every law of the united states he was then accused of sexual assault by two women in sweden a sign says the sex was consensual and denies any wrongdoing the founder of wiki leaks arrested by british police this morning after turning himself in he's now facing rape charges in sweden a british judge has granted wiki leaks founder julian assange bail julia saunders appealing against an order to extradite him to sweden he spent much of the last two years on house arrest in london julian assange also had a show on our t.v. well equipped. the can change the world tomorrow where he interviewed hezbollah

leader saeed has on those rollo as well as ecuadorian president. rafael correa. dorrian people think about the united states and its involvement in latin america in ecuador and it would be president rafael correa that would give joy in a songe the green light to make ecuador his new home has been living in the ecuadorian embassy in london since june nineteenth since the president said he would make his announcement after the olympic games president correa said if he does grant political asylum it would be an informed decision and one made in the name of human rights in washington christine for south r.t. i will be covering a sundress quest for asylum thoroughly over the next few days here on our also if you missed any of the world famous whistleblowers all shows far can watch all of them all of the twelve episodes that is online at a solid dot dot com. there hasn't been a thing yet on t.v.

. it is to get the maximum political impact on. the source material is what helps keep journalism on the we. we want to present. something of. turn our attention now to afghanistan where almost fifty people have been killed and many more injured in a series of attacks across the country the worst death toll came in the southwest of the country a string of suicide bombings hit the area as locals were shopping and preparing for the muslim holiday that ends the month of ramadan a separate bomb blast also struck at the market in the northern coombes province the surge in violence comes as u.s.

troops gradually hundred sponsibility to afghan security forces and provide training for them but as artie's guy in a chicken reports the legacy of the american invasion that leaves much to be desired. senior u.s. military officers blew the whistle on horrific conditions at the national military hospital wing tabel they revealed photographs from twenty ten some graphic images showing severely neglected starving patients at the hospital which the u.s. military sponsors and helps oversee witnesses described the conditions there as quote unquote auschwitz like lacking basic necessities like consult the hospital treats afghan military personnel but the mentors are mostly americans one of the whistleblowers colonel mark fassel served as inspector general for the nato training mission in afghanistan he says the mission's top commander general william caldwell tried to stall the requested investigation into reported abuse and mismanagement at the hospital his first response to me was how could we do this

remake this request. with a war going and then he made. really. shocking come and. he calls me. what does that mean well i took it. for a jew presumably stage moreover a general called command apparently ordered to destroy any photos and videos from the hospital here's the memo that they issued in september last year it says quote unofficial personal photos or video or audio recordings of patients or health care events which already exist will be destroyed or deleted end of quote so apparently they wanted these shots destroyed or delete it while putting forward positive images like this one positive clips like this one but here at the national military hospital in kabul doctors nurses and technicians are working with u.s. military advisors last year the commission on the wartime contracting estimated

that the u.s. lost up to sixty billion dollars to waste and fraud in iraq and afghanistan they call the estimate conservative but in the case of this military hospital in afghanistan it's not just about money pocketed by some incompetent contractors or corrupt local officials but also about apparent attempts to hush down human suffering and possibly cover up abuse to present a training mission in afghanistan as a success story i'm kind of santa. time now for a look at some other international news in brief balck rain has been rocked by fresh anti-government protests which saw at least eleven people over lasted several demonstrators were reported wounded as police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds the moment comes after a court postponed its verdict on twenty opposition figures facing jail sentences for allegedly plotting to overthrow the ruling family about wearing has been

wracked by ongoing anti-government protests for more than a year. thousands have gathered for a demonstration against the ruling islamic party and the central tunisian town of cd you can see the heart of the two thousand and eleven al prizing they demanded the release of nearly forty five people arrested when one police dispersed a previous protest last thursday with rubber bullets and tear gas on monday this week thousands also took to the streets of the capital to vent their anger at a proposed amendment to the country's constitution that might reduce women's rights under the islamist government. at least thirty people have been injured after police broke up a massive demonstration against a dam being built on colombia's mug the man over thousands block from a road connecting they're aligned with the southern department protesters claim the

construction companies not fulfilled its obligations to provide adequate pumping station for the displacement set to flood areas in six local municipalities. all right time to join me at the business desk so it's a sea of red it looks like even by what we're wearing today absolutely look you were perfect because of they said it is a ruby care and all across the place at the moment as you say and. we've got the european stock markets they are lower across the board and ready they're tracking the losses that we experienced in asia earlier on which fell as investors begin to scale down expectations of central bank stimulus we also had shares the standard chartered running over four percent in london and that was after a division breaking u.s. sanctions against iran more on that as you can see what the sea and. around half a percent in negative territory that's really where they've remained for much of

the session so far now i mentioned the british learned a has now agreed to a three hundred forty million dollars settlement with new york with a watchdog that accused of hiding operations with the islamic republic and threatened to take the u.s. banking license on the banks of the amount of illegal transactions totaled only fourteen million dollars instead of the claimed two hundred forty billion will stay with financials and talk about. it's become another european lenders to stop investors speculating on the price of food commodities soft a corn and soybean prices surged to all time highs in the u.s. drought now the decision is a stand against critics who blame speculators for expensive food all right this talk about money that we've got a year that is still managing to just about hold on to its gains one twenty three

eighty six for the traders favorite pair as for the ruble though it's not really managed to gain at all today still losing a basket of currencies in the session brings us on to the equity markets here in moscow will be able to see how the r.t.s. in the my six is reform. and they are going further deeper into red territory they are just over two percent down now really facing the pressures from the general international really they're falling to the bait. stocks we've got some of the biggest movers today how we got done member also just indeed it simmer down for tens of descent down there says not not really had much of a day over the top and that's great in spite of the company. that i say producing foreign cells rocketing seventy three percent in the first half of the year but investors aren't enough air for it is still managing to lose out a tenth of a percent. which i'm going to talk about a bit further from my nine tenth's of percent down now they are preparing

a lawsuit and it's against the european commission another firm goes to the e.u. general court council terrace and russian pipes exported into europe cases the recent extension of fees is unfounded goes against w.t.r. rules and affects cells of all the russian producers in the region the gold prices they are still managing to fall and that's after a pause in the u.s. the world's biggest crude rose for the first time in three weeks out according to an industry report so as we can see the price is really reacting to that just now general motors is facing a three billion dollar lawsuit over interfering into a possible serve sub of the u.s. car giant is accused of deliberately bankrupting the swedish or to make it instead of handing it to the russian and chinese investors artie's maria point my explains . defunct car maker sob automotive may be running on empty but the saga surrounding its bankruptcy is only accelerating now the swedish company filed for chapter

eleven back in december after takeover talks with chinese and russian investors failed u.s. auto giant general motors which owned part of saab was reportedly against chinese carmakers assessing saabs technology licenses now if they're war if there was a successful deal made that would have purportedly provided saab with the nuff capital to stay alive while also saving some three thousand jobs in sweden according to experts g.m. would have also profit now spyker cars which currently owns saab is accusing g.m. of intentionally driving saab out of this in this railing takeover talks with chinese investors spiker leverage those charges in a three billion dollar lawsuit recently filed against g.m.

meanwhile some experts are questioning if g.m. was simply using saab as a pawn in a hidden economic conflict or divide between the east and west and if that is true could that be a developing trend in practices within the global economy that question and many others may likely be raised when spyker cars and g.m. face off in court carol we'll have to see if we are color coordinated again if we match the markets in about fifty five minutes right or we could change and put on green things. now coming up we do have an interview with someone who once wrote an official government report revealing the legality of israeli outposts and settlements in the west bank that's just after the headlines shortly.