today's news and of the week's top stories are fury rages on in northern ireland with close to thirty policemen injured in heavy loyalist clashes sparked by councils that decision to remove the union flag from city hall for most of the year . the world community mourns the death of a prominent defender of internet freedom with his relatives are blaming the u.s. criminal justice system for his suicide. france again ground in its a campaign to push out his list extremists from northern mali while additional international support is confirmed from the united states britain and other european countries. and yes we can't barack obama's promise to close the

notorious prison continues to go on kept with the detention facility getting its eleventh anniversary it's over one hundred sixty characters are still being held without trial or charge. in broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is certainly glad to have you with us. fierce clashes in belfast between loyalists and nationalists on saturday once again ended in street battles leaving twenty nine policemen injured and the outrage was sparked six weeks ago by belfast council's decision to reduce the number of days the union flag flies over the city hall the latest violence broke out after about a thousand unionists marching on city hall were attacked by locals in a predominantly catholic area the police fired water cannons and plastic bullets to

disperse the crowd furthur has been at the scene. clashes breaking out once again on the streets of belfast you can see the police are just trying to push back the crowds a. huge number of police rather sadly sites like this becoming all too common other to think going to have been helped by the fact that many feel inflammatory political language has helped to whip up the tensions here on the straight. recreational rioting that will some people are calling it. you can see the fates. just say the back roads the police responding with the worst a concert in the sun. the thing about the flag with the scale and intensity of the president this is about much much more than just that look he students the director of the east belfast mission creep is working with young protesters to try to calm the tensions some kids are doing it for fun or doing it for more sinister motives

in terms of control terms of par in terms of ego some are doing it because it's sexier than the playstation you know young girls are doing it because girls even with young children we've seen on the streets. of fully realized what their actions can result in what they're just right there and somewhere stopping the law and yet there's nothing about it what are the protesters here asking for just one our flag back up on water and pays to get off their backs age peter robinson least you're not silly not them he was the one that had to start. the day forty and they fought for us to come out on the street to protest against. the nice said in his back save maybe take all the flak he's called was rubbish and. you know but when he wanted also it on the streets for his own actions. we can make. you think the protestors would put it that any kind of compromise when it comes to this shit could bring the

flag of. we know we're not going to get an annoying election because that's the majority really. any unionist who are now to try to reengage politically that we're told much more will need to be done. quick fixes and 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 is what. damage has already been. this is a new generation putting onto the streets of belfast it's a far cry. that will deny this complex that doesn't make it any less.

so. the relatives of internet activist and programmer aaron swartz have a said his death was a product of the failed u.s. justice system twenty six year old co-founder of social news website reddit committed suicide facing criminal charges for hacking and facing decades in prison for allegedly stealing and publishing scientific documents online my colleague earlier spoke to a representative of the pirate party from berlin parliament fabio rinehart who says the potential punishment for shorts was far too harsh the u.s. attorney's office pursued a spread of charges possibly leading to over thirty years in prison and a million dollar fine this alternately for downloading and redistributing mit academic papers do you think the punishment is justified. no i definitely don't

think this plan is the same as mine was justified it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with fifty thousand dollars fines for just are not into music from the internet or into art was putting pirates on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j.-star. where the fire came from and said they wanted to put the fire on the internet anyway and aaron swartz just did a perfectly good job doing it and he actually took a lot of effort from them which would have been there for i think the system of rock in this case whenever it comes to internet freedom whenever it comes to copyright infringement then other senators other people in the house of representatives in the united states on the same side there is no differences. there they are fighting and same side as hollywood does they are actually fighting for hollywood and making the laws for them it's sometimes it's ridiculous what they what they are thinking what would be

a good law they should always think what they are but the laws actually have an effect on society scaring a very heavy legacy that will be difficult to phillis footsteps but there are a lot of people that fight for the same goals that were tried to go into what's what he was fighting for and i think the political movement that is fighting for free internet is the strongest now and with get stronger and there is no risk that this very heavy loss for the internet community will bring a stop to the political movement. and you can read of the quotes from the original statement by aaron swartz relatives and partners on our website www dot com. at least eleven of civilians and over one hundred militants have been killed since the french intervention in mali began on friday government troops with the help of the french military have regained control of the key city of calling which had been captured by islamist rebels earlier this week the jets and helicopters have now

begun an aerial bombardment on the rebel held town meanwhile the campaign is gaining support from the west as the united states britain and other european countries are offering logistics support political writer and journalist barry lando believes france will have to negotiate with the rebels. if the country was really ready to come apart as their friend seemed to feel then perhaps it was i think the problem is that it's totally open ended the french have given no they probably don't know exactly what their old joke tips are what is their how long is this going to go on you're talking about a country just north of our mallee which is twice the size of france you track down these rebels these different groups who know he's there is how do you deal with them with a few hundred troops there is a way it's a potentially huge involvement a very long task in the end what they're going to want to do in this time you can

negotiate with these people that's the only way i think it's going to come to an end could our feet fell a lot of so-called mercenaries who had been paid to fight for him and who had a lot of be arms took off and came south and some of them originally from northern mali decided it was now time to establish their claim which they wanted to do for a long time to having their own homeland in northern mali he's with the twice rivers they were better than joined by radical more radical islamic groups and. have now been tossed out and it's really the radical islamic groups that run things but i don't think anyone really knows what's going on there earlier a failed mission to rescue a hostage in southern somalia left to french soldiers the hostage and seventeen militants dead the raid in the area began hours after french troops intervened in mali to help the government troops battle rebels there currently nine french nationals are being held hostage across northern africa. fresh out of diplomatic

efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in syria has been held this week in moscow the u.n. and arab league peace envoy to syria reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict has urged the opposition to propose its own peace plan stressing that assad's removal cannot be a precondition for peace talks. we are united in our view that the crisis is becoming increasingly menacing not only for syria but for the region as a whole in this situation the only ones that benefit other radicals and extremists connected to terror groups like al qaida were convinced the solution lies in following the geneva agreements without any preconditions because preconditions will make it impossible to start a dialogue it's necessary to force all sides including the opposition that's now refusing the talks to come to the negotiating table. meanwhile on the ground the

rebels have invaded the largest military air base in the north while syrian military warplanes bombed damascus suburbs forcing the opposition out of the strategic area earlier western experts stated that the syrian government might be storing up to fifty tons of raw uranium enough to build five nuclear bombs fears are mounting with the arsenal could fall into the wrong hands however political analyst omar nationally says that the west is not painting a full picture of the conflict. a lot of noise about it there was a bombing in two thousand and seven the israeli jets bombed the site in syria claiming that it is a nuclear site there was no indication yes the i.a.e.a. visited the site the i.a.e.a. said that there were traces a few rain of depleted uranium but they did not confirm that there was any quantity or at least you know this huge quantity that is being publicized i mean they're saying fifty tons of uranium this is this is i don't know where they come up with

a number. i did some research and it appears that they came up with the number because they they feel they are coming up with the story that this site that was there that was bombed in two thousand and seven would actually require fifty tons that doesn't mean that the syrians actually have fifty tons and that doesn't mean that the site is actually for a nuclear program the syrian central government was able to control more. past six months there is an advance of the syrian army and the syrian official police and they are controlling most of the country there are only some areas in the countryside where rebel fighters in some areas in the countryside where the syrian army withdrew from these areas because they thought that these areas were not important strategically but overall this is an central government under the leadership of president assad controls most of the syrian territory obviously it's difficult because there are many fighters infiltrating from outside syria there are many a lot of money being infiltrated being pumped into syria to these rebel groups

by a neighboring country especially by by turkey by qatar by other european and by the united states there is a sponsorship of these terror groups. later in the hour a dark anniversary for the notorious guantanamo bay prison after the break we have eyewitness accounts of what's been happening behind the prison walls obama continues to prolong closing the facility this story and much more in just a few minutes right here on our to.

the way or. the for. broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our two glad to have you with us. america's most infamous prison camp has marked its eleventh

anniversary this week with over one hundred sixty captives still being held there without charge or trial rock obama has been promising to close the facility since his two thousand and eight presidential campaign but has since failed to stand up to his word. what's more calls to stop indefinite detention have somewhat died out in the united states where even torture is gaining acceptability as advantage you can comments president obama's call to look forward not backward has resulted in attempts to free the past under the rug including some of his own promises to close guantanamo and i will follow through on that colonel morris davis was the chief prosecutor at guantanamo and to george w. bush and he later became a vocal critic of the practices there and strongly supported president obama's pledge to shut down the president he says the perception of guantanamo in the u.s. has come a long way since two thousand and eight when he was a burning and highly controversial issue with a nation demanding action he gets

a free pass on i mean the public largely could care less the mainstream media now 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 we're looking for the biggest threat to america right now she's right there her name is kim carr does she in. 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 torture was 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 a 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 the drone strikes this amounts to the administration executing people without due process often in absolute secrecy in foreign lands with a remote control but it will obama's drones generate as much of a backlash as one tunnel did for george w. bush that 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 west 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 out in the coming the logical capability of the drones and once the controversy dies down it will become the new normal and america will move on. in washington undemonstrable. earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke with murat cannot say former prisoner at guantanamo who was serving a sentence for what turned out to be groundless accusations he was released after the u.s. military failed to get him to confess to crimes he never committed but he says some

others were not so lucky if you are not a terrorist they want life to try to make you or terrorists. example imo so if i should. be going to sign posts they force me to sign papers that i should beg me that i'm be a member of al qaeda because because they didn't have anything against me in their hands and you're saying force you have they force you say what were they doing to coerce you to do that. they used torture techniques like waterboarding

and electroshocks they saw after this i'm going to sign and agree that i'm being a member of al qaeda and every time i refused to sign they tried another kind of torture they saw i was one time can you tell us the worst thing one of a better word that you saw going on there. example i saw. i had naples they used to be just nine or if you're sort child. i think it was the worst i saw. there was not treating better than us i didn't saw that they getting tortured but. to see children in the same camp it was bad enough for me and also i saw people the got killed on the torture the bigger portion of the.

kill so. i mean i have seen many things during this five years many thinks this is just a couple of those how do you feel after what you've been through in. your own how does it make you feel as a human being. of course nobody can be happy after after all this happened. i myself i'm trying to support the. fight against torture around the world not just going to. the world more than twenty one secret prisons people getting tortured. was just one of course and as always we have more stories for free on our website including a new collection of clothes designed to hide the wearer from drones and other means of detection is scheduled to be unveiled in london soon. to read how man could do

big brother size. and the seven letters belonging to scottish poet robert burns have been discovered by a private researcher more than two hundred years since the beloved barnes death stories on our website. thousands have marched in moscow protesting against a law banning u.s. citizens from adopting russian children the march was organized by russian opposition activists our correspondent you've got a piece going off was at the rally. the protesters are demanding that the e.u. the authorities abolish the law passed recently which bans americans from adopting russian children now this button is part of the russian lawmakers response to the money to be act passed recently in the united states which gives the green light for sanctioning russian officials suspected there in the states for a living human rights are the reason why russian lawmakers chose two ballot mannequins from adopting russian children is due to the meaning pieces of lobby

usually sometimes even deaths of russian kids after they were adopted and brought to the united states in fact the whole issue of the option has been quite a problem between russia and the united states for several years now and officials in moscow say it's not only the cases of abuse themselves but also the lack of a proper legal reaction from american authorities including the lack of heavy jail sentences which could have prevented these cases from happening again so authorities say that banning americans from adopting russian kids is actually aimed at protecting them and it's fair to say that they do have quite a large number of supporters in society in russia just recently why the russian girl in her blog online wrote a personal letter to president putin for signs the bill in the end asking him to change his mind to abolish this law that she explain it by saying that in many cases the orphans which are being adopted by americans and many foreigners but

americans in this case they are disabled and they are simply not able to receive the proper medical attention here in russia and we both have already heard from the president's press secretary to be scoffed who said that i was going to put in will review this walk post even though it's not an official request oh so right before the end of last year one of the russians newspapers managed to gather. around one hundred thousand signatures protesting the slaughter under the degree heat off of the president the problems also cost a review of this protest is also needed to point out that to do to the current agreements 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 the process so these kids

who are already sort of approved to be adopted be will be able to go to the united states all the way until two thousand and fourteen. or two you go to peace going off reporting for us there now some more world news and before you hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to paris from all over france to protest against same sex marriage adoption by gay couples three large rallies were held before the crowds marched through the streets to meet in the center of the capital president francois hollande a project of marriage for everyone has faced criticism ever since he was elected last may. the one hundred thousand opposition supporters took to the streets of taipei to protest against china's pro taiwan's pro china president and his traders have also urged the country's prime minister to step down over the country's stagnating economy. china the president's china or into policies are gradually eroding the island's independence from beijing. six men have been

arrested and one declared wanted after allegedly committing a gang rape in the northern indian state of punjab the twenty nine year old victim is believed to have been traveling alone on a bus when the driver took her to a desolate location and called friends the incident occurred just weeks after a gang rape in new delhi which provoked massive protests throughout the country. seven civilians have been killed after an explosion hit a village in eastern afghanistan the blast occurred as the villagers were trying to pull out the dead from a collapsed mosque destroyed during overnight fighting between nato troops and the taliban police say a suicide vest on one of the dead insurgents might have caused the explosion. germany's finance minister wolfgang schauble is said to meet greece's top anti bailout politician alexis tsipras and the leader of the leftist syriza party scuse me the meetings seen as a chance to convince the strong critic that he needs to back harsh austerity

measures imposed on athens yanis varoufakis a political economist in offers as germany wants to establish a dialogue with the greek opposition as they could win the next election when i was in a position from mrs michael if you talk to him and then find it much harder to a. relationship with him once he became president of the french republic similarly mr may well be in government and after the next election in the future in greece so germany needs to have a mode of communicating not in order to. convince me that. it's easier to convince me so bullish about the right wrong. thinking but that would be some kind of communication. coming up we'll take an in-depth look at the occupy movement in america that's after a short break here on out. in

the news a secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new world most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a dollar amount anything terms mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world events this is why you should care only on r.t. dot com. whether you dive from high or to the depths. catch the power of the wind or drift in the beauty of the currents. the well prepared is a must and if you're lucky enough. you'll never forget your experience we only need

a screen that's going to be heaven. in the white see up close and below the ice on our team. gave me. my name is dennis i made this movie and there are a few things you should know about me right from the jump i'm not an expert on the economy climate change or foreign policy i'm also not an expert on sustainable farming systems the history of social movements or lego's the occupy movement has experts on all.