grosser condemns israel's allegedly air strike on a syrian military research center near damascus which leaves two people dead while the west remained silent on the few. concerns grow over the human cost of the french led military operation in mali amid a lack of information on civilian casualties and reports of government atrocities. and the british government raises twice as many taxes as it costs as a new study shows how it's selling out billions in revenues from people's pockets. but from our studios in moscow you're watching archie with me and he's to now it's good to have you with us straight to our top story this hour syria claims israel

has carried out a deadly bombing raid on its territory destroying the military research center near damascus and it denies claims the attack targeted a weapons convoy near the lebanese border it's the first time in decades that israel has launched an attack on another state not in response to military action well israel and most international powers are keeping silent on the incident which has sparked condemnation from russia artie's call of sleeper reports. if indeed this is waiting military strike inside syria is concerned moscow has condemned it in the strongest possible terms saying that it was unprovoked and it was a strike against a sovereign state that is in violation of international law and is unacceptable now what we understand is that israeli warplanes bombed and this is according to syrian sources a military research same time outside damascus where at least two sites workers were killed now there are also reports also suggesting. that the war planes bombed

a convoy of weapons that were making their way from syria to lebanon allegedly to on his beloved now the syrians have denied this now we are hearing from an unnamed american official that prior to this incident tel aviv had in fact informed washington that it was planning a military attack inside syria there is the opinion that this attack could consolidate military forces inside syria against a common arab enemy namely israel and that it will merely bring them closer together and divert them away from fighting each other and instead to in their forces against israel israel for its side has declined to comment on the whole incident. we're hearing that the arab league has described israel strike on syria as flagrant aggression and a glaring violation of syria's sovereignty but you know me as these q. editor of pan-african newswire says the attack on syria is all part of a plan to bring down the government. it's quite interesting that the israeli

government as well as the united states has not officially responded to this provocation against syria so it is inevitably a situation in which they are opening up a nother front in the war against the government by bashar al assad cutting cost of a broader strategy part of that strategy of course has been a deployment of patriot missiles in turkey which is also a nato country on the border with syria and then of course with the airstrikes this is designed to create a sense of encircled that in regard to the syrian government i think that the syrian government and those who are want are seeking a negotiated and political settlement to this crisis you know very well that this is only designed to weaken the syrian government and that it will not be successful because in the long term on the ground the syrian government has maintained the military initiative against the various a rebel organizations who have been funded now for nearly two years to work havoc inside the country in an attempt to

overthrow the government of bashar al assad. now while israel is accused of intervening in the syrian conflict there are also claims it's trying to influence u.s. cabinet nominations as the u.s. senate prepares to decide whether chuck hagel will become the new defense secretary later this hour we'll look at why his candidacy is annoying as well of obvious. but first our team has secured exclusive images allegedly showing atrocities by french backed government forces in mali as they continue their investigation on this rebels we also spoke to local reporter gonzalo watcha who told us what he saw on the ground. as we continue moving north we find reports of extrajudicial killings and evidence of war crimes we have heard of the murder of a few citizens by mali and soldiers in the town of survive not only did they kill them they shove their bodies into the drinking water well located in the center of

the town making the rest of the population watch we're also hearing of cases where people are being prosecuted for trying to earn a living under the ruling militants sixteen year old adama says he was unknowingly employed as a cook and butler by jihadists and is now being accused of terrorism. after i stopped working as a cook in the town of do when i went to survey where there i met an old man and i asked him for a drink of water he said that he won't share water with terrorists i said that i was in a terrorist and i was just thirsty then i was put into prison i am no terrorist i didn't even know that i was working with militants i only realized that through the rumors i started hearing and then when everyone went on to the frontline i was just cooking crude for them no one even talked to me i think persecution is also reportedly becoming widespread in the area arabs until the eggs to be persecuted on charges of allegedly collaborating with the militants in the government and the

french troops are fighting against our contacts in timbuktu also told us that shops belonging to arabs are being looted a lot of i know this international consultant and former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says he's not surprised by developments in mali. but i hear now is how this surprises me i mean that first of all the million army does hold a grudge against the people who are stemmed from the northern part of the country and secondly the soldiers of very low grade and have very little armaments at such as a they're not really a regular army in that sense there's only. hardly a state apparatus functioning how can your existed people and examine what they do you can't you just ground nick underlying that so the only thing you can do correctly is if you think people might be terrorist is hold them and arrest them and detain them but you certainly do is there is this kind of extra judicial

executions but entirely surprise me that this is going on right now this country needs support yes this country needs our why is it that this help only comes in the form of military invasions that's a basic question you said we should ask ourselves. and there's also fears of sectarian revenge attacks in mali following the french led military campaign more on this as well as images from the conflict torn country on r.t. dot com. the u.s. senate is gearing up for

a potentially heated confirmation hearing for the new defense secretary chuck hagel as candidacy is widely viewed as president obama's most controversial pick for a key post during his presidency the decorated war veteran stance of seeing military forces as a last resort and pro israeli foreign policy has attracted both admiration and criticism but the latter has been far more vocal to camp reports chuck hagel has been under attack since his name was floated as president obama's pick for the defense secretary position it would see attack ads on all major u.s. t.v. channels saying what it carol defense secretary chuck hagel would be also our december and much of january they've been running these ads you know between the commercials of beauty products prescription drugs and whatnot so somewhere between those you could catch attack ads like this one secretary of defense chuck hagel president obama says he supports sanctions on iraq eagles voted against the legal voted

against labeling iran's revolutionary guard a terrorist group and while president obama says all options are on the table for preventing a nuclear iran legal says military action is not a viable peaceable responsible option president obama or secretary of defense chuck hagel is not responsible option. that ad was sponsored by the emergency committee for israel so what that truck a will do to deserve that as a u.s. senator chuck hagel has been critical of israel's policies he's been critical of the israeli lobby in washington here's what he said the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i've always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel end of quote among other things chuck hagel dared to say that u.s. interests should trump israeli interests if they conflict he supported direct negotiations with iran and unlike many other politicians here in washington who

keep repeating the all options on the table mantra but these publicly they say that the chuck hagel has been straightforward in saying a strike on iran should not be an option and he has also been a proponent of a more even handed u.s. policy with regards to these really palestinian conflict and the u.s. has been anything but even handed on the issue it's also for statements like this one that he's been under attack take a look this is chuck hagel in two thousand and six the united states will remain committed to defending israel our relationship with israel is a special and historic one but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our arab and muslim relationships. that is an irresponsible and dangerous fault choice some saw president obama's decision to nominate chuck hagel as his message to these really hard liners we actually heard president obama say there is too much war talk going on and maybe nominating chuck hagel is his way of

bringing down the tension and not not everybody here in washington likes that message but what's interesting since the beginning of the attack campaign against chuck hagel over these two months or so many of the attackers have sort of withdrawn their objections over chuck hagel nomination some say could be because they received assurances behind closed doors that as defense secretary chuck hagel is not going to make any drastic moves to really challenge washington's foreign policy with the doxies. coming up this hour athens returns to a battlefield once more policing the tongs and tear down as hundreds of protesters stormed greece's labor ministry over pension cuts. and as the bulgarian government prepares to say no to the construction of a new nuclear power plant despite a yes vote in a recent referendum we talked to a former energy minister about what's behind the government's staunch opposition.

the first baby steps are joy. and are not a big deal. but they can cause terrible trauma. for children can be broken by bare touch. and only the will of life can make old pants and sores weigh.

fragile people on our teeth. little. clue.

it's quarter past the hour you're watching our live from moscow well gary as government is expected to vote against resuming construction of a new nuclear power plant despite a recent fowled referendum showing public support for the development a low turnout of voters invalidated the result let's further discuss this issue with the very men of char of a leading opposition politician gary an m.p. informal economy and energy minister joining us live from sofia thank you for being with us now due to the low turnout in this referendum it has to be hard to say whether the majority of all garriott support the building of a nuclear power plant or not how legitimate do you think the results are of this referendum. so all. the under the current conditions. the vote of the. people use.

more than enough. government and personal diploma neustar you saw all the resources into position to. get in populations. all the media practically under the control of the government and even in this situation bulgarians of all support of the. development of nuclear energy and the new right but almost every other population really supported this issue don't you think more people would have come out and place their vote only twenty percent or so people came out on this issue how important is it to the bulgarian public. so you have to take him to go that we are using clear nuclear power or approximately forty years and the result of the city in the country also that's where jews in very safe and very real world will once in this situation.

usually supporting nuclear power just do that but nobody is. approximately twenty percent just because of the efforts of the. majority part of creative special means special commissions in the parliament just so do i just thought that is the people to vote not to support the new purple point but even if this condition is gideon vote may also explain its decision to halt the construction of this power plant due to the high cost but you say it would actually make energy more affordable. well that's the one of the worse which the government use or point in britain is the cheapest we between the nuclear power plants which i don't know on the table for construction in comparison nuclear power plant in united states the cost is to make it to.

nuclear power plant in the czech republic also. created this specially for. our i will you call that a lie by the bulgarian people obviously a good percent of them have bought into that what does the government say how exactly is it going to help the economy. so. all opinion is. even in the situation or an economical crisis is still in bulgaria and in europe new build. new production of new investments approximately five billion in bed and during the crisis time it will create for getting people new jobs approximately ten thousand to fifty thousand. and this could.

get economy to get built from the crisis do you think the government's move was an independent decision or was there any kind of pressure from the e.u. who of course has high concerns over nuclear energy after what we saw in japan in fukushima. before you but some commission of from some countries which are already. nuclear. pressure the government and this isn't a foreign government it's not. is not independent if the parliament does decide against building this plant what does that mean for the future of the bulgarian icon i mean especially in this time of crisis. distributable decision and do decision we will be loosed by the next problem and. after the coming problem and

the elections in june in the joy right for a man of charge of wagnerian m.p. and former i can economy and energy minister live with us on the line from sofia thanks for your time. well greece has been hit by another strike as transport workers and doctors protest against austerity measures it comes a day after fierce clashes broke out in athens with police using tear gas to disperse crowds who tried to storm the labor minister's office lawyer george cottle gallo's says this is caught this kind of crackdown on protesters as part of a new approach. the government has decided to follow up on lucy of zero tolerance as it says ideas that is distance to their state emissions so we have steam the government to take the medicine measures that they are unconstitutional ideas that he sent it now we have seen the order that were released very violently

against identity and then was doing so well and it seemed to last three or four weeks i complain of propaganda that i had to convince us that it now was it worse has become that there is i don't believe that this is true is exactly because we are following this same set of courses of which thirty minutes of the four sleepy us how's it going then to goose us five of slow death that this recession of the economy going to actually move the economy under thorough social measures followed by a vote of the population and also affect the socialites i think that as far as what we're following this said that. there's no hope for less. complicated and offering very little relief that's the assessment of the u.k. government's tax policies they care is revealed by the tax payers alliance so the coalition government has raised twice as many taxes as it is cut despite promises

to ease the pain artie's polly boycott reports by the end of this parliament the u.k. public will have seen cuts to some one hundred and nineteen various taxes that all sounds great but for a government that's promised to create a lower tax country needs that they've actually increased some two hundred ninety nine of this hank says might be somewhat confusing the brits the same going to see an extra levy on carbon dioxide emissions that means energy bills are going to go up they're also going to see an increase in air passenger g.t. which means more expensive as. travel and then some of the recent changes to u.k. tax law quite simply bizarre revenue and customs recently increased to be eighty for hairdressers renting a chair in a salon and then who can forget the recent. good scandal when u.k. tax code stated that it pasty would only be taxed if it was sold at above ambient temperatures critics say the system is simply too chaotic britain has one of the

most complex time. jobs increases prices and it lowers wages so the time when families are struggling with the rising cost of living. so many tax increases. difficult for them it's clear that the british government is in desperate need of cash to deal with the dismal public finances which means that by trimming a little bit of tax here and adding more tax burden there by twenty fifteen the u.k. treasury hopes to get an extra eighty four billion pounds in tax compared with the year before they came to power but critics say that once again is the british public which ends up out of pocket. and later today max keiser and stacy her birth focused on the british government and the tricks used to distract the public's attention from its financial

mishandling. now in egypt the ongoing turmoil has claimed more lives with at least two people shot dead during fresh clashes between protesters and police on cairo's tahrir square deadly violence has led the opposition calling for talks with president morsi but the islamist leader has made it clear a unity government is not not the announcement came during morsi is visit to berlin where he was will be german chancellor angela merkel hoping to get investment he planned to visit france next can't return home empty handed wander and journalists y.o.o.'s cantor says if morsi had received european backing the egyptian public's outrage would have only increased. i think the public the public will be very upset if you know foreign countries start lending a hand to president mohamed morsi while he is executing these very oppressive measures against his people here's a crackdown on

a lot of freedoms sidelined. arrested people just really and i think that. the sentiment in egypt is basically a rejection of mohamed morsi and the monopoly on power that he that he has and it's not so much as mohamed morsi he's he's viewed here as a puppet to the guidance bureau so unless he starts taking control and actually doing the steps taking the country or towards a democratic transition i think people will not be pleased otherwise. more international news for you this hour in brief in the u.s. alabama have surrounded a bunker where a man's been holding a six year old boy captive for more than a day the young service kidnapped from a school bus on tuesday after the driver was shot dead the gunman has been identified as a sixty five year old retired truck driver by neighbors. south

korea has warned its neighbors in the north not to carry out more nuclear test the reclusive state says it will carry out a high level testing that the u.s. in response to harsher sanctions from the u.n. handed down after they successfully launched a satellite into space last month on wednesday south korea itself successfully sent a rocket carrying a satellite into orbit. one of the owners of the brazilian nightclub in which more than two hundred thirty people died in a fire has tried to commit suicide while in custody it is sondra thought for one of four people arrested in the incident and investigation into the blaze has found evidence the club could have been overcrowded and fire extinguishers weren't functional. i'll be back with more news in around thirty minutes time but after start break it's our special report fragile people.

you know i can kind of sort of understand the mindset of an evil dictator i have trouble understanding what is going on or maybe not going on in the minds of the terrified cogs who believe all the propaganda give up all their rights for the lucian of safety to coach jerry seinfeld who are these people well maybe some of them maybe working at your local school braindead bureaucracy zombies at a pennsylvania school suspended a kindergartner note kindergartner as a terrorist threat because she threatened to shoot another student with a gun that shoots soap bubbles i guess this was all a mix up because the girl she wanted to shoot didn't understand that it was in reference to bubbles and not bullets children in kindergarten can often misunderstand things but the administration of the school seems to be no smarter than six year old.