i hope some parents for a swift military campaign in mali with american and british combat supplies being sent to help amid criticism of french imperialism. boxed in with no way out for the family of online prodigy aaron swartz points the finger at overzealous u.s. prosecutors for driving their activist son to suicide. and thousands of kilometers of underground tunnels leave the pentagon in a cold sweat with the u.s. awarding itself the right to a preemptive nuclear strike on china's atomic national.

international news and comment online on the screen around the world this is r.t. britain has sent one of its cargo warplanes to mali to back the french led military campaign against islamist rebels there london says that more help is to follow with washington also pledging its assistance the french military has been involved in combat action in the west african nation since friday in trouble which some see is blowback from the recent interventions in the region more now from. london. well britain and the u.s. are reportedly providing help with transport and communications and logistics to that means that they're providing transport and planes to help carry troops however we've also heard the u.s. is providing some very limits drones in order to track the movements of the rebels in northern mali and of course it's not just britain and the u.s. now we've heard that

a number of other european countries including denmark pledging their support for the french military offensive in the region so it is growing quite quickly and by sunday we've already had hundreds of french military personnel taking part in the operation officials say that french as strikes are targeting rebel forces rebel strongholds and logistical points however human rights groups are already counting a number of civilian casualties with three children dead since friday and of course this is quite a departure from francois alarms promise to kind of step away from the very paternalistic ties that fronts used to have with former african colonies in fact through their differences with nicolas sarkozy he's been just as quick to jump into military military intervention in mali as nicolas sarkozy was jump into a military intervention in libya two years ago so a lot of political experts saying that it could be a way of trying to ratchet up his political polls and his approval ratings because

apparently those have been plummeting and is that he was elected as president last year while the north of mali has been under the control of islamic militant groups that have links to al qaida for almost a year now and it's an area the size of france they've imposed a rare law that so a stance simply it's a response to the mali government's request for help in trying to sort of hold back these rebel advances of going further into mali but of course many experts are linking this crisis to sort of the libyan legacy of what happened in libya because . the toric people who traditionally came from northern mali they actually made up a large portion of. his army in libya and after the very brisk military intervention that to topple gadhafi many of these poor exactly returned to their native northern mali they took with them a lot of weapons and a lot of gadhafi his military arsenal has kind of uncontrollably been flowing into

mali now and lots of experts are just saying that this is a real consequence of what happened in libya and u.k. based journalist and broadcaster neil clark i spoke to manila he believes there's a high chance the french army will get bogged down in mali despite the government's assurances that the mission will be just a matter of weeks. so back to the first world war that was going to be over by christmas we have the vietnam war was only going to last a few months even and that lasted for many years and of course the afghanistan which the war they're still ongoing after twelve years or so so i think there is a real danger that this is a sort of transforming too and they say that will be over in days or weeks and i think we could be talking more about months actually intervening in mali we've already heard that civilian casualties are taking place obviously this is. certain groups and there is a great danger that terrorist campaigns will come back to france so i think this is

a very mistaken policy by hollande he is extremely unpopular he's only been in power less than a year and i think that the contradictions are here again because haider groups are with the islamic rebels in syria to get france where a lot is taking a very aggressive line in trying to topple the ceiling and he doesn't seem to mind that he's back economic militants in syria and yet he's making out this is the biggest disaster face the islamic militants come to power in mali. belfast is on edge during a lull in flag related riots as the self dubbed silent majority rallied for calm and nationalist and lawless protests a party explores the demands of all sides details on that coming up shortly plus. votes could fly when germany's economy minister meets with the popular greek opposition leader who's standing firm against more budget cuts later we speak to a political economist about what's likely to come out of the discussions.

but first. and information activists aaron swartz says he may have been driven to suicide by the ferocious prosecution process against him age twenty six the internet crusader faced decades in jail for downloading millions of academic papers which he believes should be available to everyone but as artie's marina porno reports the federal prosecution was relentless. he was a computer prodigy an online activists co-founder of the social news website read it and he was also a frequent guest on our team but twenty six year old aaron swartz was also the target of a federal computer hacking case and the trial was scheduled to begin next month that beginning will never come because swartz committed suicide inside his seventh floor brooklyn apartment in this building behind me on friday morning according to police he hanged himself and left no no behind and according to reports his

girlfriend found him in the bedroom with a belt wrapped around his neck now swartz was arrested and indicted two years ago on allegations of breaching a computer network at the massachusetts institute of technology to download millions of pages of academic articles and other documents swartz pled not guilty to the charges which carried a sentence of up to thirty five years in prison and a one million dollar fine in the aftermath of the suicide swartz's family released a statement blaming the prosecution the federal prosecution for driving the twenty six year old to take his own life they said in part quote aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy it is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach many of swartz's colleagues have been quoted remembering him as a genius kid brilliant and funny now at thirteen years old he designed his first

web site at the age of fourteen he helped write the are a says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family member. believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that cause this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port ny an article. will stay with this i'm now joined by rick he's an i.t. entrepreneur and founder of the swedish pirate party but he stole millions of documents none of which were free why is there such outrage that he faced a harsh sentence wasn't it justified because prosecutors claim it was a fair reading of the law what those documents to begin with were not of the under the cockroach monopoly of force of previously done this with court documents which

are public documents but which were still charged for axis. when the federal agencies in the united states trial subscription to these public court documents which was smart enough to just set up a script to download all of it because he thought this should be public so he has certainly made a copy of the entire database and thus also what he did with these academic journals and which one is remembered work and that of the demand mean nevertheless it was deemed illegal what he did now do you believe there is no situation where material should be restricted or protected and you're the founder of the swedish pirate party you're known for fighting for free access to information but there are some circumstances are there not to be taken into account. so there are you could do you could easily say that for instance military secrets or medical journals should not be free to distribute because it violates privacy as national security

but in terms of access to knowledge it's to public public documents and records. certainly committed not no crime and that even goes with the law or so war the federal prosecution did throw the book at him in the way this had been obtained in terms of how he had walked into the technical university mit in the united states and set up a laptop to download these public dock of public documents so they were throwing the book at him to make an example of spreading knowledge and i think that is a terrible terrible thing to do sharing and spreading knowledge was never bad for anyone we've seen many tributes many regard him as brilliant with so much promise how do you think he will be remembered within the i-t. community the internet is mourning this is a tragic event for all of us that sent shock waves and i think most of the

most of the people are insured by carrying on his legacy he had so much left to do i confess i was just starting to investigate politics and how you could have a policy making. in what way though what why is he so different from other others who are pursuing the freedom of the internet what made him so special. he was bright i mean this was a guy who wrote specs that all of us use on a daily basis at eight feet age forty even he was a prodigy he had just started investigating how you could hack the entire system to ensure freedom of information he had the attitude he was going up against powers and he knew it but but he thought he would be in the clear in the law because he was only spreading public domain documents so what impact will his loss have them while other people working for internet freedom be deterred over this i think

a lot of people right now are looking at seeking solace in whatever philosophies they have although the loss of such a brilliant young mind as myself since coming from scandinavia i'm looking to the to the ancient norse texts where we can read. this and death to everything except the brilliant man who left who did a righteous thing is legacy will always live on. idea entrepreneur and founder of the swedish pirate party thank you very much indeed for joining us live here on r.t. . the right to a preemptive nuclear strike against china is now part of u.s. law and that's thanks to the national defense authorization act the pentagon's also ordered a thorough review of when and how america could strike with a network of tunnels believed to hold beijing's atomic arsenals editor of a japan based news website james corbet however suggests alterian motives. i don't

think that we have to look at this current content bridgeport in the context of they're going to move in with a nuclear strike right at this this point but i think it has to be seen as a wider part of the u.s. nuclear policy that's been stretching up for decades now trying to come up with ways to justify the existence of some of the u.s. is the existing nuclear arsenal and looking for ways to create new weapon this is so for example we have to be sixty one dash eleven nuclear bunker busters that with the four hundred kill it i mean old that they've been harboring and talking about for in the better part of a decade now in relation to iran and trying to bust through into iran's new funders around nuclear facilities or alleged nuclear facilities now they're just shifting that rhetoric over to the asia pacific as part of this age of pacific pivot i think to a certain extent this is just to justify the existence of the u.s. arsenal and to make sure that things like the new starts the strategic arms reduction treaty basically get scuttled before it really gets off the ground and there's a lot in this new n.b.a. that really seeks to undermine the president's ability should he ever want to to

actually reduce the nuclear stockpile so i think the congress is definitely trying to get their foot in the door and stop any type of arms reductions before it can actually be implemented. military might over social stability coming up after a short break israel launches a multinational force fields unprecedented in size and cost people in the street say the government is the think again about how it spends its money. to least be told language. programs and documentaries in arabic

it's all here on. reporting from the world's hot spots to p.r.p. interviews intriguing stories are you. trying. to find out more visit our big don't teach dog called. would be soon which brightened if you knew me about song from funniest impression. these funds start on t.v. dot com. these continues here in r.t. belfast is in the state of shaky calm after the self dubbed silent majority ranted

against the violent riots of past weeks on race began when the catholic dominated local council limited the flying of the u.k. flag on civic buildings sparking fears protest by pro british protestants and first reports unclear goals on both sides could easily trigger more trouble. time for northern ireland it's been six weeks now since the decision was taken to limit the number of days of the. city hall sparking. out on to the streets the weekends on saturday we saw some of the worst rioting that has taken place. we have more than twenty nine police officers that were injured at the weekend and the damage that this is doing. much much further reaching. in this area. talking to people from all sides of the debate to find out what exactly.

the riot sparked by the like this speech showing no signs of abating at the weekend lewis returning from the protest that won't pass the nationalist area both sides cashing police thing came under attack from loyalists his many in the nationalist community. angry young lewis pulling back an old sectarian narrative a worrying sign to remember the reality of past troubles. young people why are they coming out and reacting in this way.

willing to accept. in the right what's happening right now is. around the world can be done to stop this happening right now with. the people on the street. this is going to stop. the tough to the still some calm in the form of a peace rally held on sunday many here have watched on it but will demand some in what's been taking place they've been dubbed the embarrassed all silent majority.

barrus majority. here. you see in these protests. you can see this. more. cheerful good things. the race is now on to come up with a solution to calm the situation before it gets any more and every riot every rock throwing chipping away at the heart full. page. r.c. belfast it's going to be a battle over a story when germany's finance minister meets the opposition leader who's been holding firm against the burning back program of cards alex is aiming to change of mind about forcing the greek government to make major sacrifices political analysts

and sociologists says there's still a chance for european leaders to put pressure on the opposition. mr to press strong point is that austerity is not working there is no end in sight and what concerns the debt crisis and we are facing much more years of increased debt and bailout packages and debt restructuring have not been successful in the core of the problem and moreover austerity has brought the devastation recession. extreme and employ them and all kinds of social problems this weak point of mr to press in my opinion is that the position of this budget is not just there in the but yes to the euro zone as long as it has this this was in favor of the euro of the euro zone at all costs that is where european powers especially germany would

pressure on the ship and some greeks are choosing pretty extreme ways of showing they're fed up with the government a man opens fire in the headquarters of the ruling party with an a k forty seven no group has claimed responsibility for the shooting comes off the back of a wave of similar attacks by and it that's all it r t v dot com for you also online . virus invades new york the state governor has declared a health emergency over the spread of flu this is epidemic is already five times the size of last year's. it is facing international criticism after its paramilitary forces shut down a palestinian protest camp in the west bank despite the country supreme court forbidding it and when netanyahu also promised to build even more settlements in the area one of the protesters told us that the prime minister was just scoring points ahead of the election. when you have five hundred more than five hundred fully armed israeli soldiers. raiding villages with the forces and

answers that by itself is violence but even within the process of action many. activists many of those that suffered brutal beatings for no reason they did not even resist. arrest but they suffered due to the beatings we had at least six or seven of thoughts as an activist treated in the hospital and a lot of them are hostile to see doctors for severe problems that they suffered from the beating it's a political issue for the. the going ahead with their settlement plan. to connect violent means settlement to do so and they don't want anything with the legal or illegal to disturb the settlement expansion. and there's a lectures are coming up senator now has to had to take

a tough tough stand tough position on on this particular case also israel's launch was expected to become the largest ever multi national force exercise nothing the entire year as policy reports the costly project has left many israelis wondering if the military is where the money is needed its role in the united states achieving military tools because in any they've done in the past thousands of troops and millions of dollars but with social quinces that still need to be addressed and a prime minister looking for votes ahead of early january elections israelis are asking themselves yet again if netanyahu has his priorities straight nathanial he's a capitalist and under his term as we saw in the last few years of the cleavage between poor and rich we grow. the big elephant in the room is the defense budget israeli military spending was not supposed to grow more than one and a half percent

a year but those figures have more than doubled in the last three years alone and now after an eight day war with hamas in gaza the defense establishment is pushing for even more money and netanyahu is chances of a victory come january are high and television homeless are preparing themselves for more of the same joys of bench moment arrived at this tent city with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a tank of gasoline threatening to set himself on fire i mean what i meant to me by the state nothing more nothing less i sold my country as a soldier and i will stay here to the end i do not fear death i saw it in the army many times but is this what i deserve. his tears echo the pain and abandonment people here feel. the government has no time for us there is money there is a lot of money to help people like us netanyahu couldn't care less he will win again i know this will be the same it's

a disgrace the prime minister netanyahu has formed committees to deal with the demands of anti austerity protesters but they complain he hasn't taken a single concrete step to address the concerns of the us i think we need to invest more in social issues housing and cost of groceries and keep the security budget in proportion of. security of society it's more important not less important than their security. officer but the voice on the street is drowned out by the rumble of weaponry and tell of obsession in showcasing its military prowess policy r.t. television. now from international news in brief for you to a very new twenty six minutes past the hour in the russian capital government protesters in bahrain anti-government protesters have reportedly clashed with police at the funeral of an activist who died after being poisoned by take gas if it is a series of demonstrations urging the current government to step down the uprising in the gulf monarchies started in early two thousand and eleven when the shia

majority began its push for greater political freedoms and rights. arcade to be erected in islamabad which is reading for a wave of anti corruption protesters expected to arrive today from the city of lahore calling for electoral reforms accusing the current administration of doing little to prevent standard of living in its five years in power some experts are predicting that this movement led by the cleric who has just returned from canada could spark a broader arab spring uprising. well that's it for me for the moment talking about with the news team with wolf in about thirty five minutes from now on the week's top goals tries and touchdowns that's next the sport update with.

what makes life complete. and a happy family. or self-expression. that seems so true. for an intimate. chap. who knew his secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give

a darn about anything tim's mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only. hello and thank you for joining me for the r.t. sports show half an hour of sporting action from across russia and the world is coming up including these top stories. high saki extravaganza alexei models are kept in the east to an eighteen point two eleven victory over india culture quest in the all star game until you have and we have all the build up lunch action and exclusive interviews from one of the biggest weekends in the k h l calendar. plus marking on this come off though clinched their eighth straight win in the euro only with a nineteen point two eighty three victory home to german champions but also

a basket of the army mentality to first title since two thousand and eight. and season's meetings with moscow set to host the world athletics championships this summer several stars of track and field down this year's campaign at the capital's indoor christmas cup. but let's start on the ice where for the first time over two days this year's all-star game prepared to face off in the east with two russian superstars and a host of cheerleaders making their debuts robot spot on your house more than one of the it's been a long time coming but finally the extreme of the crop headed is just july binns one of russia's biggest industrial cities at the foot of the euro's at the privilege of hosting the fifth edition of the. game be conditions outside were suddenly crossed a short while in the side this couldn't have been further from the tube.