today's news on the week's top stories on odyssey foster fury heavy clashes in northern ireland leave at least twenty nine police but anger over the city council's decision to remove the british flag from most of the. security is on high alert and from fears of possible islamist retribution. the brother of a venezuelan president hugo chavez denies rumors the leader is in a coma and mounting concerns how the government will. lead. the arrested development in its. story of president obama

ultimately failing to keep his promise to shut down the facility. human rights groups. are watching as we highlight the week's top stories so. welcome to the program. the spiraling protests over the flying of the union jack in northern ireland one. street battle between loyalists and nationalists yesterday it's been almost six weeks since belfast city council voted to reduce the number of the british flag is displayed sparking the fury of loyalists twenty nine police officers were. broken thousand unionists marching on belfast city hall. and were attacked by.

police. plastic bullets to keep the two sides apart. reports from the same. recreational riot. some people are calling it. the director. is working with young to try to calm the tensions

kids are doing it for fun. in terms of control. in terms of. doing it because it's sexier than a play station. one of the protesters here asking for just one or flag back up on water and pays to get off their back ses peter robinson least you're not silly not them he was the one that had to start. their day forty thousand they floods for us to come out on the street to protest against their land a nice sentiment back save maybe take all the flak he's called was rubbish and skull mannering out you know when he wanted also to on the streets for his election

we can make for anything the protesters would put it that any kind of compromise when it comes to this is the flag when the flag of it's the flag turn not said. we know we're not going to get it back up to normal action because it's the law of majority very. uneasy unionist horns now holmes to try to reengage politically but we're told much more will need to be done they'll be a quick fixes here i don't think there's any silver bullet i think there's so many different things need to happen economic. investment political investment community investment by and by all the stakeholders in these communities to try to resolve the wide draft of issues that are a blight here it's a fall there's been a one hundred people arrested more than sixty police officers injured and millions of pounds spent in policing these riots and in lost business revenue. they these

riots have been highly localized the damage has already been far reaching. this is a new generation printing back on to the streets of belfast it's a far cry from the darker days of northern ireland's complex that doesn't make it any less troubling. now france has stepped up security in the country amid fears of islamist attacks steward's ongoing operation in mali a french media reporting that one of the top militants in the al qaeda linked uncited d.n.a. group has been killed during an operation that drove insurgents out of the million town of kona and more than one hundred other rebels have died in the fighting while a french helicopter pilot was killed after his aircraft was shot down a west african force is now set to join the efforts of the first troops due to arrive in the country today the u.k.

has also agreed to help transport foreign troops without sending any soldiers of its own in the african contingent is expected to draw around five hundred soldiers each from birkenau faso nigeria and senegal french president francois hollande said on saturday that military support will go on quote for as long as necessary based independent journalist robert on a believes that france's foreign policy is ultimately contradict her. i think that as long as the french people aren't too bothered by the consequences of this sort of intervention they generally favorite has a great military tradition in france and they've grown accustomed to interfering other people's countries and if you. need it starts to get nasty i think you'll find they'll be a very quick a reversal of public opinion the sort of islamic extremists they're very tough soldiers and they've grown tougher over the last twenty years and if france starts

to find these people who have been armed as a result of the intervention in libya and all the arms of the swilling about in the in the sahara as a result of their intervention ironically instigated by france then they're going to find it's a very dangerous place to intervene that mali has requested help and they get it instantly when the central african republic requested help from the french forces there they were told are no we can't interfere to tell any particular regime were neutral. it to do even if you had wanted to destroy the credibility of france and the western countries over the last five or ten years you couldn't have done a better job by the absurd contradictions in what they do. now french troops have not enjoyed the same success in somalia where its special forces failed in their mission to rescue or hostage in the south of the country and it's fear the botched operation left the captive a secret agent dead along with two french soldiers and seventeen militants from al

qaeda as al shabaab cell currently nine other french nationals are thought to be held hostage across africa. now the brother of ailing president hugo chavez has denied rumors the venezuelan leader is in a coma this after thousands of his supporters rallied on the day when he should have been sworn in for another term the venezuelan supreme court has perspire on the inauguration indefinitely recovers from cancer surgery and pepe escobar from the asia times online and says several factions including foreign agents will be wrangling for power in chavez's continued absence. shows his war is not a monolithic saying like us would dare to say the communist party in china they had least four or five different factions fighting for power and this is one of the problems a for we have an unsteady situation in terms of chavez house because there will be

an eternal struggle for power inside share is more him at the same time we're going to have more possibility just of for it in their experience trying to you know louvered this process and i mean specially our friends in washington all of news he will see an opening well maybe this is the beginning of the end of just of shabbiest work let's get it out. on israel has been increasingly attracting those seeking a better living with more and more immigrants flocking to the country. cafe off examines why people are trading life in countries such as the united states for the south american nation. with no end in sight to the financial crisis many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model or some venezuela represents hope to opportunities the bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere whose murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says

venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone who's. going to get weaker rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela. and that come to you completely alone you go that trying to find a new way but you really alone nobody helps you there nobody in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely you have more opportunities. robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge think as you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has

the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized businesses that do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as i began to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president hugo chavez helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office to roughly thirty one percent and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america. it's one child has diehard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say chavez is alienating the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his opponent in october closely contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it has hurt a child his opponents blame his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs

out of the country. by daniel year g.'s himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future order there are two very different political forces in this country one man's story towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism to be on the table action the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener there are much to create more opportunities i mean in this regard many venezuelans like myself have decided to return home and so they do showing that for some gambling in venezuela system may be worth the risk. of r.t. venezuela. this is all to live from moscow. without trial eleven years on now the infamous guantanamo prison remains open for business and that's despite human rights groups calling for the facility to be shutdown we'll be bringing you more of

the public reaction along with insight from former detainees that's all coming your way just a bit later here on the program. and while the u.n. peace envoy says a military outcome will not lead syria out of civil war the country is now accused of hiding nuclear weapons more on that in just a few. join me on a journey to the heart of the place is hidden from the terrorists you're going to meet some real crime insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. . mission

. critical three sports three. major and three. free. free. download free brought to you for your media project free media r.t. dot com. joining us here on our. show now the notorious u.s. detention facility at guantanamo bay in cuba now marking its eleventh anniversary this week that's despite president obama's four year old promise to close it

a human rights groups that demanding the immediate freedom for those cleared for release unfair trials i mean guy nature can reports polls show the majority of americans simply moved on. i presume obama's call to look forward not backward because they gets a free pass on i mean the public largely could care less the mainstream media you

know here in the u.s. . you know is more interested in car dash and then they are and what happens at guantanamo. so who's going to challenge it if you're looking for the biggest threat to america right now she's right there her name is kim carr does she and her america has moved on and so has its perception of torture polls by the american red cross show the majority of americans now find torture acceptable sixty percent of young people agree whereas four years ago portugal's largely condemned in the u.s. . hollywood has arguably contributed to that evolution of public opinion in the movie zero dark thirty day or trade the information that led to the capture and killing of osama bin laden was obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques or torture and in fact that is simply not true actual information was

obtained through report based interrogation techniques the government classified everything related to its torture practices which allows politicians pundits and filmmakers the freedom to perpetuate all kinds of myths although a slew of washington insiders including the senate intelligence committee point out how torture has proved to be ineffective but in america it's often fiction not facts that make history this is more important than reality this is the movies where americans learn their history and today the history in the making is this amounts to the administration executing people without due process often in absolute secrecy in foreign lands with a remote control but will obama's drones generate as much of a backlash as one tunnel did for george w. bush and we've now got have a generation that only knows the post nine eleven hero. where things like guantanamo and the. warrantless wiretapping that's all they've ever known you know

for a decade now and i think it's just become an accepted part of life unfortunately judging by how the guantanamo controversy evolved here is what may transpire with regards to drones the urgency of the issue will subside in the u.s. because there will be no american troops dying there will be no strong public movement to oppose the program there may even be a movie or two to the top and logical capabilities of drones and once the controversy dies down it will become the new normal and america will move on in washington i'm going to check. thanks for joining us here on r.t. today russia's opposition has taken to the streets in central moscow this ultimately to protest against a law banning u.s. citizens from adopting russian children we get more on this right now from going off there was a standing by i met those in attendance so you go to good to see you it's rory in the studio i know it's a bit noisy there i hope you can hear me ok we're getting

a mixed signals here on reports of the actual numbers of protesters there how big are the crowds at this point what kind of turnout do you think. all the reports on exactly how many people are taking part in this morning through central moscow this sunday are the very conflicting police say that's around seven thousand people some opposition leaders say it could be around fifty thousand people were standing at the point of this march and for me it's hard to tell you exactly how many people have been taking part in it's but i guess it's somewhere in between the figures being given by the authorities and by opposition leaders now the protesters are demanding the authorities to abolish a law passed recently by russian lawmakers which bans americans from adopting russian children saying that it violates the rights for a proper life. where you go i understand what you're saying here. the russian opposition ultimately taken to the streets as you say in protest against a law banning u.s.

citizens from adopting russian children but how our lawmakers at this point responding to the criticism going. well first of all this bad he's part of the russian lawmakers response to the so-called might need ski act a law passed recently united states which gives the green light for sanctioning russian officials suspected there of violating human rights and russia lawmakers chose to bad i meant years from adopting russian children due to many pieces of the abuse over their rights sometimes given that some have to russian kids are adopted and brought to the united states but not be a lot has been or the bad news was typically has been causing quite a mixed reaction basically it's split russian society because i thought you say that it's aimed at protecting the russian children and they do have a fair amount of supporters in society but there are also many of those who are strongly against this ban like the thousands of people who gathered in central

moscow today but just recently with one russian blind girl posted her online blog a personal letter to president putin to probably put his signature the final signature on of this bill asking him to cancel it saying that the names of those two orphans are are disabled and they're waiting to be adopted by american. foster parents they've already met with some of them and this girl said that they wouldn't be able to receive the proper medical care in russia that's why banning them from going to the united states in this specific case. would be unfair but heard from the president's spokesperson who said that was going to do we would review this message even though it's not an official request but it's. also i needed to point out that we do to the current agreement between moscow and

washington on adoption all those people who have already been able to find the children who are going to be adopted and brought to the united states they're going to be able to finalize this a process so these kids who are already sort of approved to be adopted the will be able to go to the united states all the way until two thousand and fourteen all right you're going to is going to live in central moscow thank you. now president obama has said that u.s. forces will end most combat operations in afghanistan by the spring and switch to a mainly support role at a meeting in washington between the president and the afghan leader of course hamid karzai it was agreed that in this new capacity american forces could remain beyond the twenty fourteen pullout hillary mann leverett who's worked extensively with u.s. diplomats in the middle east and asia and believes that president karzai is in a no win situation. i think these talks are for the president and his national

security principals to let afghanistan's president karzai down as softly as they can to let him know that unfortunately they're not going to make good on their promise to completely train. the afghan military and police before u.s. troops leave i think this this visit is about trying to parse i know as nicely as they can that they're not going to make good on their promise to continue to defend afghanistan and train up afghanistan's military and i think part of it is that president obama you know after he agreed to surge the troops into afghanistan i think pretty quickly realized that he didn't realize even before the surge that there is no military solution for the united states in afghanistan i think for an american population that is both battered financially and very tired of endless wars and occupations this is something that will basically go forward without a hitch in terms of american public opinion going to shift our attention now to

syria where the u.n. and arab league envoy to syria said that there can be no military solution to the conflict and moscow has voiced support for a political transition in syria but says president assad's exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to end the ongoing crisis and washington insists the syrian leader must step down with the pentagon now saying the u.s. could provide forces to secure the country's chemical weapons if indeed assad agrees to a peaceful transition there are fears the arsenal could fall into the wrong hands u.s. and middle east experts are also saying the complete is putting the country's stockpiles at risk so he reportedly has up to fifty tons of an enriching uranium that is roughly enough to create five. the middle east commentator on a blog called believe the uranium issue just another red herring. are used that are being produced concerning chemical weapons on

a nuclear granules top of the syrian regime there's a process of planning for that day authorized as western powers are imagining it and i think they're buying up all these different reasons for them to step in and take control of their own tree a country shouldn't happen i do want to start is that said now they're afraid that iran might get this uranium minor injury and you know i mean five be conducting it now how much should i spend how it's i think it's another and this long list of possible reasons for good as to or western states to intervene and it seems that there's a lot of preparation for great thanks for stepping and should i cited for it i'm taking control of the situation including the u.k. when the u.k. government decided to plan for that possibility so you see that there are mounted both failures engaged in not process which is kind of really shocking the fate of syria could be decided outside this blatantly. you know while some people suffer

from bloody conflicts others literally make fun of the. developer and the releases a game allowing players to take part in the syrian war with the ultimate goal of bringing down president assad. dot com. also online for you after georgia's old government was rocked by a prisoner abuse scandal the country's parliament sets free to one hundred political prisoners overturning a presidential veto for the first time in the country's modern history and more on that on our website. by starting with afghanistan into the top there we go some of the global news in brief it's in afghanistan were officials say at least seven civilians have been killed following a blast inside a mosque in the water back province they claim it happened shortly after local and foreign troops had come under militant fire after completing a mission and. says that there were no civilian casualties following the night raid

in the area the local media citing i would use accounts reported fifteen civilians killed after coalition planes apparently bombed in the morning at this point we've had no confirmation from the ministry of foreign affairs. israel is forced to palestinian protesters from a tent camp they had erected in the west bank to prevent the building of jewish settlements several people were arrested the building plans are illegal under international law and would split palestinians from lands that they claim prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered the area of the so-called tent city to be declared a closed military zone and shut off all access to. the family of in freedom activist aaron swartz has blamed the u.s. criminal justice system for as a twenty six year old co-founder of social news website reddit committed suicide on friday by hanging himself schwartz faced criminal hacking charges which carried a potential sentence of more than thirty years in jail for downloading and

publishing academic papers online is letters that claim the harsh era of charges contributed to his death saying the young activist was driven to the edge by the government. and the court ordered the retrial of the ousted president hosni mubarak it follows an appeal he lodged against his life sentence barack was to administer also want to retrial but both found guilty over the deaths of protesters during the arab spring of two thousand and eleven despite today's ruling both are expected to remain in custody. i just a few minutes here we are parts of the moscow kremlin hidden from public view.

because of recent events guns have a good again become a big issue all over the usa both sides are throwing their talking point ammunition back and forth and we hear a lot of conflicting stories well in australia they got tough on guns and crime went down but then again others say in the u.k. they got rid of all their guns and all hell broke loose i've heard stories that you are way more likely to be killed by a deer in your headlights than get taken out by a maniac with a tech nine but then again i've heard that soon deaths from guns will exceed even deaths from car accidents japan is safe because it has no guns but switzerland is even safer because automatic weapons are all over the place the information is all very contradictory but ultimately it doesn't matter what facts and reports you throw at the other side the gun question is a philosophical one some people would rather at least feel like they have their fate in their own hands even if there is a chance they will shoot their own dog in the middle of the night and other people are so concerned with safety and are so full of fear for their fellow man that they'd rather disarm everyone.