mission to teach creation why you should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only dot com. syrian rebels say they're responsible for a large explosion close to a hotel where the u.n. observer mission staying we've got a special report from our correspondent who witnessed the blast earlier today. could all the banks 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. and no end in sight explosions rock afghanistan right after the deadliest day this year so almost fifty people killed while another scandal flares up over the u.s. presence in the country.

live from russia to eleven pm moscow time well welcome to you watching r.t. with me kevin and first this hour the main syrian rebel groups say they're behind a powerful blast that ripped through central damascus earlier the opposition claims the attack targeted a nearby military compound the explosion struck just outside a hotel being used by u.n. observers and it r t crew of course one of the witness than the attack was among the first to report from the scene. i might disappear in the relatively calm of the past two days because we can see this car was very deceptive and very shall we explosion took place around eight in the morning just on meters from the hotel where un observers us thing 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 but the real 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 one supports 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 work arounds by the government on targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers. 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 of our reporting from damascus in syria. exam is also following developments in syria via twitter you can log on to check out analysis discussion about the situation in the conflict on country several images from the scene of the

latest titles available online. international press freedom group reporters without borders has warned the syrian opposition over the growing number of attacks against journalists in an open letter the organization said government reporters of increasingly become targets of abduction and murder while foreign media have also received threats from rebels test for silla met journalists who've lost colleagues in the crisis great 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 to jackie's colleague who was with him in syria when he was killed. christophe can't show does with desk used to be now there's only a black and white picture of. hope and 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 go together because we would be able to live new adventures like the one we lived in syria he really had 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 did find that he wasn't alone in coming to that conclusion i met by mistake by random french intelligence guy. i don't understand why your report didn't pick up. the new is it because it was our conclusion is that intelligence services in france got the conclusion that

he was killed by a mortar of 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 political 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 lie phone interview he told r.t. my point is. we don't know very very clever to work now.

we're going to be an all in row again. so the motivations of the rebels from mind that is. very obvious and nasty war we're truth is a smushed a victim as those who've lost their lives while. those who are for me to most important to know who did work when this becomes clear there we can go on with our lives but no we are still mourning every day every day we do tests or cilia r t paris. and other developments tonight saudi arabia's all of its citizens to leave lebanon immediately citing fears of sectarian kidnapping spilling over from neighboring syria a shia group in lebanon claims it's holding a number of syrian opposition members and will only release them after rebels in syria free one of their clan the groups also threaten nationals from saudi arabia qatar and turkey all sunni muslim countries that support the syrian rebels so talk

about these are worrying developments come of was political analyst based in lebanon either thanks for being with us again so the rebels issuing this warning now isn't it worrying about the safety of its own people but it's kind of ironic to given that the saudis have been accused of fueling the conflict all along by helping supply arms to the rebels. well obviously this is the. issue now with the sudanese and the qatari and turkish been flaming this situation in syria. in syria and now it's falling to lebanon and all the sudden they worry about their safety of their country and they have to actually care about the country. that explored the war in syria and made very sure that war would not stop in syria i think a lot of the blame for what is taking place in syria fall in the hands of the sooty and qatari and the turkish because they actually prevented every to find

a solution for the crisis i think the syrian and its allies its friends china russia and iran tried to actually put a plan to find and exit where a new transition will take place and every time you find the sooty calling for a conference and putting more pressure on syria now i think the free syrian starving kidnapping lebanese every day look what happened now everything is going into chaos and the street of lebanon and i think the. one at the exit its citizens from lebanon and leave the lebanese in a very difficult condition so we're seeing at the moment the sectarian violence spreading going over the borders is this an isolated incident or do you see more to come as there seems to be no end in sight to the crisis within syria itself. well

i think i think there is more to come on and it is very tense today all all across the country from from its from the north to the very root to the. other area because our valley because you have borders with syria and you have a lot of soldiers of what they call the free syrian soldier or the opposition of the of the regime and we have over three to four thousand actually situated in the northern part of lebanon and they have been engaged in the war against faction in the north and i think at this juncture in the timing in lebanon anything could happen but obviously there's enough free syrian army in lebanon actually been supplying what ben to the to the opposition in syria from lebanon and we had a lot i love an on been

a base for the free syrian army causing destabilizing. factor on syria especially from the homeless area because we have adjacent border and the lebanese government hasn't been taken the right approach to. the sun to still come we've got less than a minute left while you're on the line i want to quickly ask you about the comments the pentagon chiefs made he said he's confident the u.s. could successfully enforce a no fly zone over syria if the major policy decision was made if you went ahead would it be a decisive one of a better word as it was in libya. i think this is this statement is going to have very very difficult implication for the region and might lead to a regional war i think that. the united states and our country they have to be very wary of what they wish for because it might backfire and backfire very big because

nobody from this country is safe at this point if tension can escalate that far thank you very much for your thoughts coming was no political analyst on the line from lebanon thank you for. the fate of the world's most famous whistleblower julie the sounds remains unclear tonight despite some sources in ecuador saying it's asylum is a done deal the president of the south american country personally denied the rumors last night saying he's still awaiting a report from the foreign ministry before making his decision julian assange has been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for almost two months now he 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 we might be handed over to the united states where they claim he's already been secretly indicted but is laura smith's in london she's got more now on a plate. rumors flying about a decision on jena asylum requests by ecuador the guardian newspaper was citing

unnamed officials at the presidential administration saying the wiki leaks founder would be granted it's refuge but when we proceed on cools to the presidential administration they did night 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 ecuador 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 activation 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. the long running saga surrounding julian assange just certainly never looked plot twists christine for the looks back at how the whistleblower went from being hailed a hero to big condemn the alleged criminal. 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. 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 the. sources who can get this through to be rationed out to the public in the weeks following a song 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 leaders saeed has on those rolla as well as ecuadorian president. faile corey. dorian people think about the united states and its involvement in latin america. and it would be president rafael correa that would give julian a sign of 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 as political asylum it would be an informed decision and one made in the

name of human rights in washington christine for his our party and we'll be following your son just quest for asylum and updating you on all the latest developments over the next few days here and also of course if you've missed any of the world famous was so blows interview series that we showed you an hour to you can watch them whenever you like go online or to sarge daughter r t dot com. human rights supporters are focusing on bahrain tonight where a court delayed a verdict in the appeal trial of several prominent activists jailed for allegedly plotting to overthrow the gulf monarchy and another high profile hearings two on thursday when the case of bahrain's most prominent antigovernment campaigner now bill roger will come under review let's discuss this a bit further the author and journalist our terms islam is on the line on skype from london hi there ocean delayed verdicts them for thirteen leading opposition figures we heard about in the week plus this decision on raw jobs case also postponed but what does this hesitation signal do you think. definitely has

a tradition for a movement there i mean that we must remember how strategically important this region is an oil tanker he to us. warship only on tuesday or where was it just near the straits of hormuz just a couple of days ago the fifth fleet of their american congressman tried to lobby but. the highest number of political prisoners per capita in the world these hearings are seen by many out there as a chance for bahraini rulers to show their readiness for reform and indeed a means to ease the crisis in the country do you think the monarchy is likely to say is that opportunity though well they just have to answer really to washington is that u.s. fifth fleet base sitting right there i think even the saudis the qataris and the u.a.e. who sent their troops in to try and destroy the pro-democracy movement as they shot chair gas shells had to be was houses killing cabbage or such a high number of pro-democracy protesters there is no reform process in bahrain

this is a complete sham and i mean all credit due to those congresspeople that road this begging letter to the king of bahrain this dictator but even they seem to say that there were some kind of reform bruises there isn't and you know it will be interesting to see what they do to as you as you say one of the leading lights there be a roger was a guest on julie massages program here in our t. shirt before he was arrested now clearly is a very prominent figure why do you think his detention and his trial get so little media coverage that we talk about a lot now in many others there will be much interest certainly in mainstream corporate media about the location of the u.s. fifth fleet base or what it was a pro-democracy protests russia does and it governs syria too because ironically syria and bahrain crackdown on protests. because the protesters in the most awful

man i would i suppose bahrain arguably employ capital much much worse we must remember was given this three month sentence let alone what's going to happen on the day for twittering about an area north of modern in bahrain this is the center meanwhile they were being groomed pre's in. rain and the queen of britain personally as some people have said it invited the king of bahrain this ruthless dictator as i said to thousands of people hundreds of people arbitrary arrest twenty position sentence for trying to heal the people injured and killed by this bahraini creator yeah you're covering it but the mainstream media when we get. off this chat i said i want your answer convey to the next question but rogers wife recently wrote an open letter to the western governments and the un depression bahraini authorities to release. what kind of response is she likely that gap. responses is indicative of

a policy that is from somewhere are you dying powers because the united states and nato countries deliberately drag to see the arab spring through their prism the arab spring when they would like it as we all know they will do everything they can to snuff out any type of democracy united states when we do export fifty million of the eight million dollars worth of weapons some of them presumably will be used and some weapons also from european countries used against men women and children in bahrain in as i said the nation with the highest number of political prisoners in the world actually returned to offer a journalist live from london thanks for taking time to be with us we'll let you get on with your night thanks thank you. there's a fresh violence in afghanistan really fourteen people have been injured after an explosion rocked a market in the country's northwest another attack also took place in a mosque in eastern afghanistan during morning prayers time and injured nine all

this happening just a day after the worst violence this year with almost fifty people killed in a series of bombings across the country surge in attacks comes as u.s. troops gradually hand responsibility to afghan security forces and that's another scandal concerning the american mission in the country unravels to parties got a teacher cam has got the latest on that for you. 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 first response to me was how could we do this or make this request. with election coming and then he made the really. shocking come and he calls me bill what does that mean i took it. for him to the president stage moreover a general called command apparently ordered to destroy any photos and videos from the hospital here's a 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 human suffering and possibly cover up abuse to present a training mission in afghanistan as a success story i'm going to shut down. twenty four minutes past eleven o'clock is culture with the last business bulletin of the night dimitri still bravely manning a good chap no trade is a dmitri have mixed feeling about the positive data coming out of the u.s. and europe well that's because anything which comes out good means there's little

chance of q e three quantity of easing as in the government coming in and buying up assets and everyone wants that you know at least for christmas at least in the third or fourth quarter but apparently as long as the economy is recovering there will not be additional stimulus that's likely what's happening right now on the dow jones and on the nasdaq and the looking mildly positive moderately up with the nasdaq led by amazon dot com shares and when it comes to the dow jones mixed feelings there also it's been kind of the go ewing from little losses to little gains because we've had manufacturing coming in pretty weak although factory production is a bit up and the national association of home builders says it's indexes at the highest level in five years so there's a little bit positive sentiment there for you over in europe we've had g.d.p. data for the eurozone coming in shrinking point five point two percent bigger burden in the second quarter but it could have been worse if it hadn't been for

germany's g.d.p. which came out better than expected we're talking about yesterday now in the footsie also interesting stories is a british american tobacco was worse than the market and standard chartered was better than the market will look at them one by one global to market giants have failed to u.-turn a strategy an anti tobacco law and this means that from december first all cigarettes must be sold in plain green packets in the country without any branding british american tobacco phillip morris claimed new rules break their intellectual property rights britain no way in new zealand are watching the case closely considering similar measures to help fight smoking. and stuff. a chartered bank has admitted to breaking u.s. sanctions against iran the british lender has agreed a free hundred forty million dollars settlement for a new york watchdog that accused it of hide in operations with the islamic republic and frightened to take its the us banking license however the bank said the amount of illegal transactions totaled only fourteen million dollars instead of the

claimed two hundred forty billion. staying with financials austria's forbes bank has become another european lenders stop speculate of trading in food commodities that's after corn and soybean prices surged to all time highs on u.s. droughts the decision is a stand against critics who blame speculators for expensive food. now on the currencies market the euro continues weakening a versus the dollar in this session although in the previous two we have seen the opposite picture so that's quite logical in the russian ruble is in line with the global trend and when it comes to commodities we're seeing that while shooting up with brant up more than two dollars per barrel that's on the back of reducing inventories in the united states and also petroleum demand at the highest the nine months we're in the middle of the driving season in the united states. and finally let's go to russia where the r.t.s. m i six corrected after two days of gains also no surprise there now moving the my

six let's take a look diamond producer was a bit better than expected then the average on the market was down half a percent alpha saying that it's a foreign sales group was seventy friend seventy three percent in the first half of the year but that wasn't enough to basically maintain the u. shares from slipping a bit and airflow was down point six percent as one of its main shareholders said the use ready to sell his stake to the states with a discount. all right we'll be back eight twenty am moscow time first right now the good stuff thanks so much to me tree can have a few minutes crosstalk tackles the issue of drones on the one hand say thank you we can cheat on the. other immoral inhuman and illegal war about the now for the latest headlines the next.

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