today's news and the week's top stories that fieri rages on in northern ireland with close to thirty policemen injured in heavy loyalist clashes sparked by belfast council's 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 blaming the u.s. criminal justice system for his suicide. campaign to push out is the most extremist from northern mali while additional international support is confirmed from the united states britain and other european countries. and yes we can't brok obama's promise to close the notorious prison continues to go on kept with the

detention facility getting its eleventh anniversary with over one hundred sixty captives still being held without trial or charge. and broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is certainly glad to have you with us. now fierce clashes in belfast between loyalists and nationalists on saturday once again ended in street battles leaving twenty nine policemen injured 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 police fired water cannons and plastic bullets to

disperse the crowd. at the scene. trying. the crowd. becoming. helped by the. political language. here on the street. recreational rioting some people are calling it. you can see the face. right. he students the director of the mission group 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 of par in terms of. doing it because it's sexier than a playstation you know. are doing it because girls even with young children on the streets. and yet. one of the protests this. throwbacks aides peter robinson these do not so we're not them he was the one that had to start. today forty thousand they feel it's for us to come out on the street to protest against their will and a nice set of his back say maybe take all the flak he's called was rubbish and skull mannering else you know but when he wanted also it on the streets for his election we can make for he think the patriots is that putting that any kind of

call for my cynical that this could bring the flag of it's the flag not said. we know we're not going to get it back up to normal action because it's the law of majority rule. any unionist warns now to try to reengage politically that we're told much more will need to be done. 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. that is what. damage has already been. this is a new generation putting on to the streets of belfast it's a far cry. the night is complex that doesn't make it any less troubling.

the relatives of the internet activist and programmer aaron swartz have said his death was a product of the failed u.s. justice system the twenty six year old co-founder of social news website reddit committed suicide facing decades in prison on hacking charges for allegedly stealing and publishing scientific documents online earlier my colleague spoke to a representative of the pirate party from the berlin parliament fabio reinhardt who says the potential punishment for swartz was far too harsh but 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 re distributing mit academic papers do you think the punishment was justified. no i definitely don't think this plan of disarmament is 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 what 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 last four of them it's sometimes it's ridiculous what they what they are thinking what would be a good law should always think about the laws actually have an effect on society

this is carrying a very heavy legacy that will be difficult to fill a footstep but there are a lot of people that fight for the same goals that were tried to go into what he was fighting for and i think the political movement that is fighting for a free internet is the strongest now and with get stronger and there's no risk that this very heavy loss for the internet community will bring a stop to the political movement. and of course you can read the quotes from the original statement by aaron swartz is relatives and partner on our website r t dot com. at least eleven 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 kona which had been captured by islamist rebels earlier this week jets and helicopters have now begun an aerial bombardment on the rebel held the towns meanwhile the campaign is

gaining support from the west as the united states britain and other european countries offering logistics support political lead and journalist barry lando believes france will have to negotiate with the rebels. if the country was really ready to come apart house the french seem to feel that perhaps it was i think the problem is that it's totally open ended french. given no i probably don't know exactly what you wrote your troops are what is there how long is this going to go on you're talking about a country just north of her mouth which is twice the size of france.

having her own homeland in northern mali these were the wires they were joined by radical more radical islamic groups and. 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 two french soldiers the hostage and seventeen militants dead the raid in the area began hours after french troops intervened in mali to help government troops battle rebels there currently nine french nationals are being held across hostage excuse me across northern africa. a fresh round of

diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in syria has been held of 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 and moscow has urged the opposition to propose its own peace and 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 the 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 rebels

have invaded the largest military airbase in the north while syrian military warplanes have bombed to 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 that the arsenal could fall into the wrong hands however a political analyst says that the west isn't drawing a full picture of the conflict. there's 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 of fuel 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 than past six months there's 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 are 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 over all the syrian 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. and later in the hour a dark anniversary for the notorious guantanamo bay prison break we have an eyewitness account of what's been happening behind the prison walls while barack obama continues to prolong closing the facility this story and much more in just a few minutes. mission free accreditation free. for charges free. range means three risk free studio time free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects free media. dot com. whether you die 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. you'll never forget your experience we only need them a screen that's going to be heaven. in the flight see. below the ice on our t.v. . to the. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. and live from moscow this is r.t. welcome back 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 barack 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 once more calls to stop indefinite detention have largely died down in the us where even torture is reportedly gaining acceptability as going to church again comments president obama's call to look forward not backward has resulted in attempts to sweep the past under the rug including some of his own promises i intend to close guantanamo and i will follow through on that colonel morris davis was a chief prosecutor at guantanamo and a george w. bush who later became a vocal critic of the practices there and strongly supported president obama's pledge to shut down the prison 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 the nation demanding action he gets a free pass on i mean the public largely could care less the mainstream media

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 you if you're looking for the biggest threat to america right now she's right there her name is kim carr does she and. america has moved on and so has its perception of torture post 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 us. 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 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 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. we're 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 public movement opposed to the program there may even be a movie or two out of the 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 stop. earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke with a murat canards a former prisoner at guantanamo who was. found 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 a. example i must say if i should agree that i am be a member of. that i did fight with taliban together against american soldiers between the war. and i should i should sign papers that i am be a member of but where the charges first. there was no reason for just the. pakistani people they sold me for a bounty of through some dollar to americans they said this man here is a terrorist and very soon few months later they found out that i'm innocent and they want me. that i'm going to sign papers they forced me to sign papers that i should agree that i'm be a member of the because because they didn't have anything against me in their hands and you say force you have they force you to say what were they doing to shoot to do that. they used torture techniques like waterboarding and

electroshocks they sought 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 walked 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 twelve years or child's and. i think it was the worst ice over there. 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 they got killed on the torture the bigger torture of they got to. 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 guantanamo through no fault of your own how does it make you feel as a human being. of course nobody can be happy after after all this happened but. i myself i'm trying to support human rights organizations to fight against torture around the world not just guantanamo there's around the world exist more than more than twenty one secret prisons where people getting tortured and guantanamo is just one of course. and as always we have more stories for you on our website including a new collection of clothes designed to hide the wearer from drones and other means of detection it is scheduled to be unveiled in london soon dot com to read how manning could do big brother is signed. 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 bards death full story 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 without the rally. but the protesters are demanding that they are the authorities abolished i walked past recently which bans americans from adopting russian children now this button is part of the russian lawmakers response to the money to get act passed recently in the united states which gives the green light for sanctioning russian officials suspected there in the states off while eating human rights are the reason why russian lawmakers chose to ballot merican 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 adoption 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 maybe 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 the washout just recently why the russian girl in her blog online wrote a personal letter to president putin we signed the bill in the end asking him to change his mind to abolish the slaughter she explained it by saying that in many cases the orphans which are being adopted by americans and many foreigners were 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 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 it's also right before the end of last year one of the russians newspapers managed to gather. around one hundred thousand signatures now protesting the slaughter and under the degree heat off of the president the parliament also asked to review this is a protest it's also needed to the point now it's back to due to the current agreements between moscow and washington on adoption all those people who have already been able to find 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. the people of venezuela are

still in suspense over the health of their leader hugo chavez who's recovering from cancer surgery in cuba earlier this week tens of thousands held a rally at a symbolic inauguration ceremony as chavez's official swearing in date was postponed indefinitely by the country's supreme court pepe escobar from asia times online believes that with the protracted absence of the charismatic leader there's a severe power struggle underway. this war is not a monolithic saying like us would dare to say the communist party in china dad least four or five different factions fighting for power and this is one of the problems a few we have an unsteady situation in terms of chavez house because there will be an internal struggle for power inside chevys more him at the same time we're going to have more possibility just of foreign interference trying to you know as

a loser of this process and i mean specially our friends in washington who are all the news he will see an opening well maybe this is the beginning of the end of just let's get it out in a while despite its uncertain future prospects venezuela has been increasingly attracting those in search of a better life and start to easily see calf enough found out. 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 new 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 the muscles who's. going to get weaker rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start

a new in venezuela by the end 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 thing because 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 well it begins 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 as diehard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say childless 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 is her job as 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 jews 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 wants to move towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer 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. and still to come in the program covert banking. find out more about the secret meetings held in the. global economic decisions are being made the details in a couple minutes. to continue settlement construction after effecting palestinian activists from a contentious area of land known as the one we try to answer why after.