syrian rebels say they're responsible for a large explosion close to a hotel where the u.n. observer mission stay we've got a special report from our correspondent who witnessed the blast. ecuador debunks rumors that it's already granted asylum to julian assange with a decision that will end the whistleblowers two months quest for refuge now expected later this week. no end in sight explosions rock afghanistan right after the deadliest day this she is told was fifty people killed while another scandal flares up over the u.s. presence of.

live from russia at nine pm moscow time this is r t one welcome to money was kevin owen first the main syrian rebel groups say they're behind a powerful blast that ripped through central damascus earlier today the opposition claims the attack targeted a nearby military compound explosions struck just outside a hotel being used by the u.n. observers mission and an r t crew a correspondent exam the boy to witness that attack and was among the first to report for missing. i know this appears to be relatively calm over the past few days but as we can see this call was a very deceptive and very shockwave explosion took place around eight in the morning just on meters from the hotel where un observers are staying right in the center of damascus close to al malky area it was a very loud bang that was followed by a series of smaller explosions that sounded like a chain detonation of ammunition the blast itself took place at a closed army garage adjacent to the hotel it 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 heavily 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 move choice of this army in a place for a mix of pros and indicates the intentions of those who are behind this is terrorism attributes thought the international community must work hand in hand against terrorism wants attempts here many of 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 in his assessment of the situation on the ground it is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of syria. indiscriminate use of every worker in spite of government un targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers are inflicting. behavior at all on innocent civilians he also said that despite all the dangers involved un observers will continue with their 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 at some r.t. reporting from damascus in syria to my colleague karen tara she spoke to independent journalist james corbett is reduced uncivilly about the syrian conflict he believes certain countries will be reluctant to condemn the rebels for this latest attack in damascus. we've seen previous terror bombings taking place in

damascus and not only has the governments of the western countries that have been backing them refused to remove that backing they've actually strenuously supported those terrorist bombings here too it doesn't seem to follow any rules of logic here and i don't think that this is going to find that the kind of kind of widespread condemnation that we would expect for a terrorist blast like this you know rebel friendly washington has set or arms a backing of the syrian regime is more dangerous than they are filtration of al qaeda fighters within the opposition what's your take on that that has to take the cake is one of the most hypocritical statements in modern political history it's so head scratching and so bizarre that one can't help but laugh at the hypocrisy obviously people now i don't know what i mean it's now openly admitted that obama signed orders for the cia to open we cooperate with the so-called free syrian army several months ago we know now that the free syrian army is training at a u.s.

air base in turkey and we know that the u.s. state department has been openly funding this syrian opposition since two thousand and six so for them to come in and say that iran should stop funding me out the syrian government in helping support that is just such a bizarre such a hypocritical statement that no one i think will take it seriously but it will i'm sure generate many headlines international press freedom group reporters without borders many times warned the syrian opposition over the growing number of attacks against journalists in an open letter the organization said government reporters have increasingly become targets of abduction and murder while foreign media of all sort of see death threats from rebels test for a settlement journalists who've lost colleagues in the crisis quit country. january eleventh two thousand and twelve the first western journalist was killed in holmes frenchmen. the initial reaction from france and many french journalists were that of anger and condemnation over here

a fence elevation to speak of jackie's colleague who was with him in syria when he was killed. we can't show does with desk used to be now there's only a black and white picture of a jew said. he was a great friend he was always smiling it was hard he always wanted to go places always curious he loved his job he was also someone who was very friendly who would go filming we were happy to do together because we would be able to live new adventures make the will lead to serious really have this need in his body to tell what's happening on the other side of the world his camera with my camera we were always together i lost a friend christoph says his initial thoughts were that the syrian government was behind the attack however the week after his 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 defined that he wasn't alone in

coming to that i met by mistake by random french intelligence guy. i don't understand why your report didn't pick up. the news at that there are because it was our conclusion he said he did it and services in france go reach the conclusion that he was killed by a mortar eighty one millimeters coming shooting from the rubble area by mistake i published this story it was denied of course by the minister of defiance ministry of foreign affairs of all because it's not really politically correct little correctness that's playing into what has increasingly become an information war as as much. 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 life phone interview he told r.t. my point is. you don't know whether it's working out of the backs of any journalist or the battery and always going to be an appalling rise again. so the migration for the rebels from one that is. very old there's a nasty war where truth is a smushed victim as those who've lost their lives for what. it is so 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 every day through tesser cilia r.t. paris. just remind you of t.'s crew in syria posting constant updates about the situation

there via twitter you can log on to check out the latest analysis and discussion about developments in the conflict on country several images two from the scene of that latest attack are available online from our. faith the world's most famous whistleblower julian assange remains unclear again tonight despite some sources in ecuador saying is asylum is a done deal the president of the south american country personally denied the rumors saying that he's still awaiting a report from the foreign ministry before making any decision julian assange has been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for almost two months now it took refuge there seeking to avoid his extradition to sweden where he's wanted for questioning in connection with allegations of sexual misconduct his supporters believe that from stockholm he might be handed over to the u.s. where they claim he's already been secretly indicted laura smith is in london she's

got more on a sanchez play. rumors flying about a decision on cheating in athens is asylum requests by ecuador the guardian newspaper with citing unnamed officials at the presidential administration saying the wiki leaks founder would be granted refuge but when we proceed on cools to the presidential administration they deny there had been a decision old what we do know is to expect a decision this week president rafael correia said on state television at the beginning of the week that he would be consulting with advice on wednesday and hopes to make an announcement by the end of the week we also know that in theory he and his foreign minister all amenable to the idea of granting asylum to sign they see it as a humanitarian act and protecting his rights to life and freedom what remains for me one of the most interesting things about this whole situation is how songs

would get a house if this country even if it does grant him aside a date to get he's still liable to arrest the moment he steps outside the embassy the breaching his bail conditions and there's still a cool soldier in place allowing his actual distance to sweden none of that would change with the granting of asylum he needs safe passage from the british government and there's no guarantee or even any indication that that might happen laura smithson of a team in london the long running saga surrounding julian assange just said he never looked plot twists those we've been reporting all too christine fraser that looks back at how the whistleblower went from being held a hero one stage being condemned to the alleged criminal now. we first met julian assange here in washington in two thousand and ten where he unveiled the collateral murder video at the national press club on. 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. in the forthright is to get information out about the real world and the second step is to comment on it and to think about the. sources who can get this through to be integration out to the public in the weeks following a sauna and wiki leaks were everywhere wiki 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 who a british judge has granted wiki leaks founder julian assange bail julian assange is 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 team requests. that can change the world tomorrow where he interviewed hezbollah leader saeed has on those rollo as well as ecuadorian president. what the ecuadorian people think about the united states and its involvement in latin america and in ecuador and that would be president rafael correa that would give julian a songe the green light to make ecuador his new home has been living in the

ecuadorian embassy in london since june nineteenth and since the president said he would make his announcement after the olympic games president correa said if he does grant us on political asylum it would be an informed decision and one made in the name of human rights in washington christine for his out party and we'll be following sunday's quest for asylum and updating you on all the latest developments over the next few days here on r.t. also of course if you missed any of the world famous will suppose interview series for our t.v. you can still watch them streaming whenever you want to like coach up with the online it's a solid start r.t. dot com. there hasn't been anything yet on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact on. the source material is what helps journalism we.

we want to present. something. my parents really truly honestly believe that what had happened was as a result of my father's exposure to agent orange i was born with multiple problems . i was missing my leg and my fingers and my big toe on my right foot i use my hands a lot in my artwork i find myself drawing my hands quite a bit. for my hands you know just as if anyone would. but they do tell a story they tell a story. that doc said. the

fresh violence in afghanistan released fourteen people have been injured after an explosion rocked a market in the country's northwest but another attack took place in a mosque in eastern afghanistan during morning prayers time and injured nine all this just a day after the worst violence this year with almost fifty people killed in a series of bombings across the country the surgeon attires comes as u.s. troops gradually hunger sponsibility to afghan security forces and that says another scandal to concerning the american mission in the country unravels he's going to church you can score more on that. senior u.s. military officers blew the whistle on horrific conditions at the national military

hospital in 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 describe the conditions there as quote unquote auschwitz like lacking basic necessities like heat and soap 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 version response to me was how could we do this or make this request. with election coming and then he made the really again. shocking come and he calls me bill. what does

that mean i took it. for him to the president stage moreover a general calls 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 an official 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 suman suffering and possibly cover up abuse to present a training mission in afghanistan as a success story i'm kind of set up. to take you through some will do stories this these eleven people been arrested in bahrain jury antigovernment protests several demonstrators were injured as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up the rally the latest protests come off the court delayed its verdict on twenty opposition figures were allegedly plotted to overthrow the ruling family forty one years ago today gave independence from britain after the leaders signed a friendship treaty. should president mohamed morsi is appointed a new defense minister in chief of staff the move comes just days after he forced the nation's previous top commanders into retirement more she's been in a power struggle with the military since she took office in june the previous four egyptian presidents have come from the military indirectly allowing it to rule the country for the last six decades of the. the strain is highest court has blocked

the extradition of a former hungary and soldier to budapest charles zentai is accused of torturing and killing a jewish teenager in one nine hundred forty four during world war two the court sided with the previous federal decision to stop the extradition saying war crime charges didn't exist at the time of the killing sentai says he's innocent and has been fighting extradition for nearly a decade but after twenty four hours not tonight was a good time time to get up there with a business high dimitry market still struggling for direction but oil shooting up well oil is up because we're in the middle of the driving season in the us an image trees are shrinking faster than expected but indeed the stock markets are mixed between the different kind of dates we've got manufacturing coming in pretty weak to take a look at what's happening meanwhile but the national association of home builders at the same time says its index is at a five year high so therefore the dow jones is down just point one percent this hour but plastic is pushed up by point four percent by amazon shares notably over

in europe we've had an interesting day with g.d.p. down point two percent euro zone second quarter could have been even worse of germany had a better than expected results we were talking about yesterday were interesting stocks on the front seat today worse than the market is be a secret american tobacco down almost two percent and the best stock of the day is standard chartered let's go through the stories global tobacco giants have failed to youth and australian anti tobacco lord now this means that from december the first also grants must be sold in plain green packets without any branding british american tobacco and philip morris claim the new rule breaks their intellectual property rights britain norway and new zealand are watching the this case and considering some of the measures to help fight some of. the other charge it has admitted to break us sanctions against iran the british lenders agreed of three

hundred forty million. a settlement with new york watchdogs that accused of hiding operations with the islamic republic and fred to take their u.s. banking license however the bank said the amounts of illegal transactions so the only fourteen million dollars instead of the claimed two hundred forty billion. they were financials austria's faux bank has become another european lender to stop speculating trading in food commodities that's after corn and soybean prices surged to all time highs on u.s. droughts this issue has a stand against critics who blame speculators for expensive food. meanwhile on the commodities on the currency market first story. is being. the euro's falling versus the dollar meanwhile or most other currencies say for the ruble are gaining against the greenback and russian rivers pretty much in line with this global trade commodities now and as we were saying that shooting again are for light sweet up

one dollar brant almost two dollars there apparently twice twice as much as expected u.s. symmetries shrank the past week to over four month lows for the middle of the driving season as i was saying and demand for petroleum is at a nine month high and this is driving the markets to this bullish thing in rush hour we've had a correction today with the r.t.s. my sixty one percent around with the my sakes the driven by financials into negative so into negative territory is take a look at some other interesting stories on the my sex so the diamond mine maintained a better than the market position down half a percent that's after it reported of foreign sales up seventy three percent in the first half of the sea that wasn't enough to keep it from losing value slightly aeroflot was down zero point six percent after one of its main shareholders said he was of ready to sell to sell his shares to the states at a discount and d.m.k.

was betting the market the pipeline make it was a point one percent of the. general motors is facing a three billion dollar lawsuit over interfering into a possible sale of sab now the us car giant is accused of deliberately bankrupting the swedish auto maker instead of selling it potentially to russian or chinese investors artie's marina portnoy explains. defunct car maker solve 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 there 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 business by railing takeover talks with chinese investors spiker leverage those charges in a 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 spiker cars and g.m. face off in court. and that's your business more odd things to me tricks come your way shortly where i'm heading off to washington d.c. our studios that laura list is waiting in the wings catching up with a short layoff brought top stories you may think of in iowa and the next. hour we.

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my parents really truly honestly believe that what had happened was as a result of my father's exposure to agent orange i was born with multiple problems . i was missing my leg. and my fingers and my big toe on my right foot i use my hands a lot in my artwork i find myself drawing my hands quite a bit to me for my hands you know just as if anyone won but they do tell a story they tell us story of. oxen. and

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