new israeli strike media center kills a key islamic leader. among palestinian civilians. in the last twenty four hours. and israel could be just hours away from a ground invasion have been issued for the six point in order to avert. there's a whole raft of legislation which stops. what you believe it we don't have freedom of speech of the brits fight for the right to protest as a public order act aims to even the most harmless of insults regardless of whether anyone is actually offended. safe landing for international space station crew members. for four months.

international news and comment live from moscow this is twenty four hours a day israeli missiles have hit a media complex in gaza for a second time sending huge plumes of smoke into the air at least two people are reported killed including a senior leader the attack comes a day after six people were injured in a separate airstrike on the building terry fear who is in gaza tells us what he's witnessed so far. the i'll shoot building which roughly translates as the shot the sunshine tower is home to various media organizations and i.c.t. organizations here in the gaza strip it's known as such as one of the two most principal buildings for this respect it was hit at the weekend already once and today just in the last two hours it's been hit

a second time two palestinians were killed in that strike we're hearing too many incidents of collateral damage here just today in the last while we've heard of the total destruction of the palestine stadium israel which is a football stadium here in central gaza city we also heard of israel targeting the ministry of youth and sport here in gaza today in the last ninety minutes another child has been killed so the collateral damage toll is going up steadily the hospitals here in the medical professors except for the ministry of health is saying that eighty percent more than eighty percent of those being arrived injured to the hospitals here are civilians the overwhelming majority of those women and children and what is striking here in gaza is that the number of innocents being killed particularly children and women is of such a high proportion i mean talking to some of these terrorized gazan residents in the last few hours ahead of we were safely sitting inside our houses and all of

a sudden rockets and bombs fell upon us from everywhere children women old men were terrified in the pictures as a tool you can see the destruction we tell the whole world no place to save you're in gaza our house is a park the our playgrounds the target the situation is horrific. yesterday just after midnight something unimaginable happened i only saw windows glass and shells flying here and there the houses around were destroyed and missile targeted a house identical to this one followed by the destruction of ten other homes what food. i don't understand that house is empty there is no one living there and they know that. but you know the injured are arriving in all of the hospitals around the gaza strip in the last two hours as airstrikes are flicked in all of the gaza strip all of the usual places that have been hit over the last few days the situation is

very critical in these last moments. as the civilian death toll mounts so does criticism of israel for what many see as a disproportionate response but israeli foreign ministry spokesperson says israel won't apologize for doing what it says is necessary. we are doing everything possible to target only the hamas leader and their base is this is what we're doing i don't think you expect me to apologize for the fact that we are taking care of our civilians unfortunately hamas is using children on both sides on their side they are using their children and their own families as human shields they are hiding behind them they're hiding in hospitals in march they are using their own schools and the fact that now israel has decided to take a stand and more it's hard to take out the hamas leaders is in order to bring peace to this area and this is our aim so we know that the people in the world will

understand that this is what we must do in order to achieve peace. and the bloodshed could worsen as israel warns its hours not days before it intensifies attacks on gaza the state issued a thirty six hour ultimatum demanding that stops firing rockets into israeli territory. brings us more now from tel aviv. those are the most ominous words we've heard so far that do suggest that the possibility of some kind of ground offensive could be imminent when we talk about the effects of what has been happening since wednesday in israel three israeli civilians have so far been killed rashmi around a dozen have been injured people have been talking about an imminent ground offensive since wednesday we know that roughly seventy five thousand reserve soldiers have been called up they and the regular army have been massing along the israel gaza border we have seen their movement of tanks and armored personnel vehicles for days now this certainly is a sense particularly because the army has closed all roads around gaza that there

is something on the go there have also been four straight days of rockets being fired into television speaking to people here in tel aviv something has shifted i'm hearing more and more israelis say that they are supporting a ground offensive that they believe it's the only one and only way that militants in gaza can once and for all be dealt with the problem though is that tel aviv is widely aware that if infected launches such an offensive it will lose international sympathy it's one of these warnings particularly from the government of the u.k. that is all is relying on the united states as it has in the process to back it up we're also hearing more and more many israelis voiced the opinion that they believe that god's in is on not in the center and this comes from the point of view that we're looking at a grinding civilian death count in gaza what i'm hearing israelis tell me is that it is gazans that you take to the hamas government and as a result they want to live with the consequences this is almost a justification for these way the army getting of the wrong so frequently in what

it says are targeted killings that in fact when it lands uprooting and killing civilians. from republics to mean center for human rights is a ground invasion is a terrifying prospect for those who remember the israeli offensive four years ago. there is widespread fear among the pa among the people here the prospect of a ground invasion is very frightening for people because it's inevitable that the civilian casualties will rise rapidly if that occurs and people here are still traumatized by the memory of operation cast lead which happened less than four years ago in which more than eleven hundred civilians lost their lives many many more were injured humanitarian crisis is imminent in relation to the hospitals and the supplies that they have i visited as chief of hospital on thursday which was. this current escalation and spoke with the director general of the hospital there and he advised me that they. are sorry.

we're just interrupted there on an ongoing basis. that. they are always short of regular medical supplies. because the situation has worsened their lack and lacking in such basic supplies that antibiotics i.v. fluids. very basic medical supplies that they require in order to keep this we're. looking after the palestinian people who are being continually injuries and severely severely wounded so this situation is very grim in relation to the hospitals. kris commons from the united nations says political to blame for the deaths in gaza. what we're seeing in gaza is the result of political failure and that is why we call on the politicians and the people who are able to make peace to redouble their efforts to do so because for every hour that goes past another child

another woman another civilian the elderly the sick the dying they are in harm's way it's a situation which we in the united nations and in under find unacceptable in must and it must end forthwith. meanwhile the mouse has agreed to unite with rival palestinian party thought her in the face of the escalating israeli threat raising all fears where that a political solution is possible at all jerusalem based analyst nathan thrall who's from the middle east program of the international crisis group says even if a cease fire is achieved it will be fragile at best. i think it's extremely likely that if a ceasefire is reached right now and the terms are the kind that have been discussed so frequently which is essentially. the same kind of ceasefire that has been brokered repeatedly in the last couple of years. then that of course it is not sustainable and it will be broken just as the previous ones had and egypt and the

u.s. and israel and hamas everyone will find themselves in this situation again very shortly . as israel pounds gaza with air strikes in the occupied territories palestinian protesters clashed with israeli police israeli authorities have fired tear gas at demonstrators in various spots across the west bank in the village of where this mosque was heavily damaged in a fire allegedly started by jewish settlers and in ramallah crowds marched to support fellow palestinians in gaza. the latest israeli palestinian violence has also led to protests across the world activists some demonstrators in a number of countries of rounded to decry the deaths and demand an immediate end to the fighting. plus russia pledges to raise the latest goals are offensive at the u.n. more official and public reaction and ongoing coverage of the situation both in israel and gaza on our website right now.

live here in moscow i'll be back with all the news for in just a couple of minutes stay with us. she didn't sorrow. and hope for escape.

barely surviving longing for a godsend. they live in a search for gold. why doesn't it bring them wealth.

news continues here on r.t. when it comes to speaking their minds the british are finding it harder than ever to voice their opinions a campaign to overturn a stifling public order act is heating up with critics saying it denies people

their basic rights of free speech reports. brits are renowned for their sarcastic sense of humor and here in this country we love a good provoking to debate so you would think that free speech to be protected and we'd be able to sell our opinions from the rooftops right. there's a whole raft of legislation which stops you so what you believe it we don't have freedom of speech anymore and one piece of blue in particular is section five of the public order act one the suppose that's causing big problems what the slower has been used for is to particular ways firstly to stifle inconvenient political views so views which are against islam which are against christianity which are against the equality of homosexuals so people who say that sort of stuff can be arrested the second way it's been used by the police. to arrest if everything else fails they see being caught how simply someone who insulted

scientology by calling it a dangerous cult and wait for it someone who called the police. under section five of the public order there's no requirement to prays that the person intended any negative consequences from something they said are dead and only has to be likely to have caused the phone so i could be prosecuted for saying or doing something even if no one was actually offended but the who's probably got a very pretty quickly these on the receiving end of this law has had to live with the consequences to try to court cases many of which are eventually thrown out as appeal before costing the taxpayer a pretty penny i've been a victim to when i protested against islamist extremists who were advocating killing gay people and women have sex outside of marriage i was prosecuted for this alleged crime. really in a free society insults are not nice but they shouldn't be criminal offenses when it

comes to defending free speech many feel what we're actually talking about is protecting our right to a fair. yes and so democracy your sense of democracy some people wandering around. smiling at one another it's about informed debate about a whole range of issues and nothing should be off limits increasingly bizarre cases where the. public outcry and the campaign to get a little change. whether it has people or it is. the fact that so many people in this country believe that they're. defending our right to say whatever we want whenever the. american support. if you know. all democrat voters from. an unexpected discovery construction workers in. prehistoric hell's shedding light. of the very first.

three crew members from the international space station have successfully returned to earth after spending four months in space. so i can say that so you see i'm a zero five am has landed safely and it has brought with it the s.s. expedition thirty three crew with him sunny williams from the usa actually from japan and europe go from russia. you know making it from space to earth is an exact science but it's never routine in fact let me tell you a little bit about what happened the undocked about two thousand and six moscow time fire the rockets at four fifty eight which brought in nearly just under an

hour long process of fall to the earth through the atmosphere from about sixty three miles in above the earth's surface in a rare pre-dawn in the dark landing in the. step where it's extremely cold and there is snow on the ground and that landing happened at about five fifty three moscow time now what happens is when that capsule hits the ground it launches a series of ground vehicles about twelve helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft to go looking for the crew they have now been recovered and are safely back and earth after one hundred twenty seven days in space well in space they did educational as well as scientific and medical experiments they even did maintenance on what is a space aquarium with actual fish in space and they docked with a commercial spacecraft as well as performed at three different spacewalks so never a dull moment always something to do up there in space at the international space

station. time now to check out some other stories from around the world in our world update this hour the congolese government rejected a rebel ultimatum to start direct talks within twenty four hours a militant group is demanding that the eastern city of goma be demilitarized and otherwise threatening to take it by force and massed on the outskirts of the city despite efforts by un peacekeepers and government troops to halt their progress an official spokesperson has accused neighboring rwanda of supporting the rebels meanwhile civilians have joined fleeing government forces as the international community voices deep concern about the fighting. nato will assist in any way necessary in protecting turkey's border with syria according to the secretary general of the alliance and is expected to request patriot missiles in order to bolster anti aircraft defenses the turkish government has been in intense talks with nato after a number of syrian shells landed in its territory united states the netherlands and germany are the only countries able to supply the necessary missiles.

barack obama is in cambodia for the final leg of his tour of asia and he became the first serving u.s. president to visit my ma praising political reform there but insisting the country still has much further to go some experts suggest the tour is part of america's attempts to wrestle influence in the region away from china relationship between the two superpowers is up for discussion in peter lavelle's cross talk program that's coming up a little later here on r.t. . for the time being still washington is putting a lot of. efforts to reassure china it is not trying to do really its growth but to some degree control it to make it manageable yes the united states is reassuring china but if there is a domestic opposition in china similar to what happened in iran in two thousand and nine or what happened in syria or what happened in china in one nine hundred eighty nine with tiananmen you'll see it the whole western media and the us government turned suddenly sharply to support their opposition against the chinese communist party that's an underlying part of the politics and i think the chinese government

knows that. crosstalk a little later here in r.t. shortly after the break special report on hell of gold hunter's dream turns into a living hell i'll be back with more news in about forty minutes from now. texas wants to pull away from the usa in fact at least twenty states have started petitions for independence after obama won the election with well just a few voting irregularities but guess what will never happen it is a very easy thing to do decide a petition and it is another thing entirely to leave the usa. that little civil war

thing that happened back then does anyone the usa honestly think that they are governor has the ball determination to actually rebel i don't think there's a single george washington type among them well maybe just see fit tour a kind of but he's out of office how do what makes it seem like revolution or succession is this fun cool easy thing to do with cool slogans and texan flags flying but the reality looks a lot more like the arab spring before you put your name on the dotted line is a seed you should really understand what that means and what your in for the founding fathers sure did but that's just my opinion. culture is that so much about the taxpayers' money mentoring is a chemise could be because a lot of people at area china who successfully transition did fell through another leadership change the last decade has witnessed this country transformed at tremendous speed. do we speak your language any form of the will or not

a day of. school music programs and documentaries in spanish more matters to you breaking news a little turn to tip angles kidneys stories. are huge here. then surely the spanish. visit. of a war lords will give him a note so we have a lot of. groups of the colors of the sluices also our views in the whole mood right enough to my mouth it was like many of them but it wasn't just the smadi when i was fourteen yes you can liberate other women and you certainly can't do it through the barrel of a gun only effective social changes can be the afghans themselves

afghan men and women we believe are going to start coming up to across. the part of the patient it's. the shop and construction stuff people in the obama administration talking about how much they care about the women of afghanistan it's not true they don't care about the women of afghanistan.

why does our father. is the head of our family. our

parents have five daughters and four sons they are tile a chimera elmira an hour to an hour. and could shamberg journey back. and kill. my brother or kill me is go on a is not with us anymore. back is thirty two his name means golden in the curagh good language as the youngest son in the family of gold mine as tradition demands that he must live in his parents' house but only a year ago that was his younger brother's responsibility he died this spring hill went up into the mountains and hanged himself no one knows why they really talk about akio now he's remembered only in their prayer as committing suicide is

considered a sin and brings shame on a family but they have no time to mourn winter is coming so they must pan for gold before the rivers freeze over. gold miners work by the riverside. to them and then make a purchase. whenever i can i exchange for food and. has taken this road from his home city of osh in southern kurdistan to the remote chat cul district many times the journey is long difficult and can be dangerous. i've covered the road from. all come down to the valley now compared to america

this is like kurdistan's alaska people don't come here unless they really have to. and elmer's certainly does have to he knows his efforts will pay off because an indian summer is the best time to buy the precious metal so miners are preparing for the coming winter they'll need money for food clothing and vodka. i simply know this area in these people. this time of year the sheep and goats return from the past just the rivers in those fields are the richest in gold. of a pond people have by downhill. by then they usually have about ten to fifteen grams each so i buy a lot of the time. about

fifteen years ago geologist arrived here the senior geologist name was patrol rich and they discovered gold here and first the police banned us from panning but we went to the local authorities and asked for their permission on the same we had no work so i wanted to at least gather some gold. there were a large not gets in the river then but now there is little gold left to get someone should go high in the mountains. and so used to start at eight or ten am and finish at four or five pm. on some days the time passes by extremely quickly as you're panning gold a whole day long without stop.