today's news and of the week's top stories fury rages on in northern ireland with close to thirty policemen injured in heavy loyalist sparked by belfast council's decision to remove 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. gains of campaign to push out islam is to extremists from northern mali while additional international support is confirmed from the united states britain and other european countries. yes we can't barack obama's promise

to close the guantanamo bay prison continues to go on with the detention facility putting its eleventh anniversary with over one hundred sixty captives still being held without trial or charge. broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our john thomas good to have you with us. fierce clashes in belfast between loyalists and a nationalist 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 the latest violence broke out after about a thousand unionists marching on city hall were attacked by loyal locals in

a predominantly catholic area police fired water cannons and plastic bullets to disperse the crowd of his senior. class is breaking out once again. just trying to push the crowd. like this becoming. help. here on the street. recreational rioting that's what some people are calling it. you can see the plates at the back that just say the back roads the police responding with the us economy is on the surface and these protests have been about the flag but the scale tells the tale as saying that really 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 here i don't think a fully realized what their actions can result in what they're just right there and somewhere starving aloft and yet there's nothing funny about it what are the protesters here asking for just one our 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. the day forty thousand they fought for us to come out on the street to protest against the announce a nice sentiment back save maybe take all the flak he's called was rubbish and skull mannering out you know but when he wanted also it on the streets for his election we can make for anything the protesters that would accept any kind of call

from like when it comes to this is the guy who could bring the flag of it's the flag down and not said. we know we're not going to get it back up to normal action because it's the law of majority really. any unionist horns now holds to try to reengage politically but we're told much more will need to be done they'll be they quick fixes here i don't think there's any silver. i think there's different things need to happen economic. investment political investment community and. all the stakeholders in these communities. of issues. but. this is a new generation. onto the streets of.

the night and. that doesn't make it any less. the relatives of internet programmer swards 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 my colleague earlier spoke to a representative of the pirate party from the berlin parliament fabia reinhard 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 dollars. loading and re distributing mit academic papers

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 on the internet or in swat was putting flyers 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 the problem 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 they should always think what they are about the laws actually have an effect on society that's 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 there's a political movement that is fighting for a free internet it's 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 you can read the quotes from the original statement by aaron swartz his relatives and partner on our website. at least eleven civilians and over one hundred militants have been killed since the french intervention in mali began on friday government troops with of the help of the french military have regained control of a key city of which had been captured by islamist rebels earlier this week jets and

helicopters have now begun an aerial bombardment on the rebel held town meanwhile the campaign is gaining support from the west as united states britain and other european countries are offering logistics support political writer and journalist believes france will have to negotiate with. 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 i probably don't know exactly what their old joke tips are what is there and how long is this going to go on you're talking about a country just north of our morality which is twice the size of france you track down these rebels these different groups who know these areas how do you deal with them with a few hundred troops in a way oh absolutely absolutely intentionally a huge involvement and very long task in the end what they're going to want to do

any time you can negotiate with these people that's the only way i think it's going to come to an end could out if you felt a lot of. mercenaries who had been paid to fight for him and who had a lot of her in her 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 neighborhood run joined by radical more radical islamic groups and. that 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. really are 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 battled rebels there currently nine french nationals

are being held hostage across northern africa. a fresh round 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 and moscow 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 rebels

have invaded of the largest military air base in the north while syrian military warplanes have bombed the damascus suburbs forcing the opposition out of the strategic area and the western experts stated that the syrian government might be storing up to fifty tons of raw uranium enough to build a five nuclear bombs fears are mounting that the arsenal could fall into the wrong hands however political analyst says that the west isn't painting 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're 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 overall this is 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 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 after the break we have an eyewitness account of what's been happening behind the prison walls while barack obama continues to prolong closing the facility the story and much more in just a few minutes. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images he's been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are the day.

we speak your language. or music programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news i want to turn to bangalore stories. here. the spanish find out more visit. and live from our studios in central moscow this is r.t. glad to have you back with us. now 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 or bamma has been promising to close the facility since 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 largely died down in the u.s. where even torture is reportedly gaining acceptability as gun inches 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 under george w. bush and he later became a vocal critic of the practices there and strongly supported president obama's push 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 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 us. 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 in. 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 zero dark thirty. information that led to the capture. and killing of bin ladin obtained through enhanced interrogation through

and in fact that's simply not true the actual information was obtained through or 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 that we've now got have a generation that only knows the post nine eleven era. where things like

guantanamo and the warrantless wiretapping that's all they've ever known you know for decades now and i think it has become an accepted part of life unfortunately judging by how the guantanamo controversy evolved here is what may transpire with regard to drone the urgency of the issue will subside in the u.s. because there will be no american for dying there will be no strong public movement program there may even be a movie or two out of the cosmological case that withdrawal and once the controversy dies down it will become the new normal and americans will move on in washington i'm going to step down. now earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke with a murat kurnaz a former prisoner of 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 in i should 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 either but what the charges first. there was no reason for just the. pakistani people they saw through some taller two americans. said this man here is a terrorist and very soon few months later they found out that i am innocent and they want me that i am going to sign papers they forced me to sign papers that i should agree that i am be a member of al qaeda because because they didn't have anything against me in their hands that i knew same for you how did they force you 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 the better word that you saw going on there. example i saw. i had a course they used to be just nine or if you're sore childs 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 portion of they got . killed 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 it's just more that more than twenty one secret prisons where people getting tortured and guantanamo is just one of course. and don't forget we have more for you on our website including a new collection of clothes designed to hide the wearer from drones and other means of detection scheduled to be unveiled in london soon dot com to read how man could

do big brother sign. and seven letters belonging to scottish poet robert burns have been discovered by a private researcher more than two hundred years since the beloved of bard 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 was at the rally with. the. americans from adopting russian children. russian lawmakers response to the magnitsky act passed recently in the united states which gives the green light for sanctioning russian officials suspected there in the states or for a leading human rights are the reason why russian lawmakers chose to ballot

meghan's from adopting russian children is due to the meaning of pieces of abuse and 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 of gordie's 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 the washout just recently about 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 explained it by saying that in many

cases the orphans which are being adopted by americans and many foreigners what 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 a sponsor who said that i was going to put in will review this walk post even though it's not an official request also right before the end of last year one of the russians newspapers managed to gather around one hundred thousand signatures now protesting this law and under the de cleave off of the president the parliament also has to review this. just let's also needed to point out to due 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 the process so these kids

who are already sort of proves to be adopted b. will be able to go to the united states all the way until two thousand and fourteen . now on to some more world news in brief for you this hour hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to paris from all over france to protest against same sex marriage and 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 his project dubbed marriage for everyone has faced criticism ever since he was elected last may. over one hundred thousand opposition supporters took to the streets of taipei to protest against taiwan's approach china president demonstrators have also urged the country's prime minister to step down over the country's stagnating economy the opposition claims that the president china oriented policies are gradually eroding in the islands in the pendants from beijing . six men have been arrested and one declared wanted after allegedly

committing a gang rape in the northern end. 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 when 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. 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. the leader of the leftist syriza party the meeting seen as a chance to convince of the strong critic that he needs to back harsh austerity

measures imposed on athens varoufakis a political economist and author says germany wants to establish a dialogue with the greek opposition as they could win the next election. was in opposition from mrs merkel 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. after the next election in the future in greece germany needs to have a mode of communicating not in order to. convince me about. thinking but that would be some kind of communication. and coming up we take a closer look at the occupy movement in america right here on our team.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. deadly rivals for decades. if you had fifteen thousand people killing each other in any other country there would be diplomats there would be mediators a lot of. self

imposed out costs from society i will attack myself am i going to tax my brother understand my contacts my own immediate cause going to be basically attacked the columns of my anger and my frustration. that they got upgraded well into the shadows. two of the most violent gangs in u.s. history. as a stall model kill or be killed with the colors matching the national flag. but this country uses violence when it reaches and then it legitimate.