two people are killed and several injured by a suicide bomber who detonated his device at the entrance of the u.s. embassy in the turkish capital ankara. as france declares victory in its three week long campaign against islamist in mali chilling accounts emerged of the human cost of the intervention plus. the realize how much of a police state the united states has become. torture executive executions and a taste for covering it all up cia whistleblower john kiriakou tells r t why he turned against the agency. was a rocket carrying communications equipment ditches minutes after takeoff in a rare failure for russian u.s. satellite collaboration.

it's six pm here in moscow four pm in ankara turkey but we begin this hour and a suicide bomber has attacked the u.s. embassy in the turkish capital killing two people and injuring at least two others the explosive device went off as the attacker was passing through an x. ray scanner at the building's entrance arcee correspondent paul the slayer brings us details. well the latest information we have comes from turkish police who say that three people have been killed today including the suicide bomber a security guard as well as a turkish citizen who was a member of the stuff at the american embassy now according to eyewitnesses there was this massive bang and there are also plumes of smoke that have been erupting outside of the american embassy initial reports do say that the blast occurred near the gates of the visa section of the embassy now we understand that all american embassy staff have been taken to safe rooms inside the embassy there are dozens of

ambulances as well as emergency personnel at the scene we know of at least one woman who was taken away and who is in we've been told a critical condition the police have cordoned off the area they keeping journalists away from the scene this blast did happen in a part of ankara where there are several other embassies including that of germany as well as all fronts now we are also being told that the explosion caused no damage inside the embassy itself but it did cause extensive damage to the outside wall there are no reports at this stage of any group saying that it is behind this attack and it's not yet clear who indeed did carry out this attack and what the motivation was but i want to mention that there are a number of illegal groups ranging from the kurdish separatists to lift to islamic militants who have launched attacks in recent years in turkey so you really have a wide range of options in terms of who could have carried this out perhaps it's worth mentioning that prior to this explosion the son in law of assad bin ladin was

arrested in the turkish capital of ankara you also have in addition to this violence from syria that continuously spills across the border and in the past artillery from syria has killed turkish civilians what that means is that you have a whole host of groups who could be implicated or who could have carried out this attack back in september there was that notorious mission in benghazi in libya where we had four american stock members killed include. the american ambassador and then just a few days ago you had bush's foreign office warning of a potential freight against the british embassy in tripoli so what we are witnessing is a chain of events targeting western embassies not least of all the united states that seems to be picking up momentum and it is a reflection of the growing anger against washington and other western countries at a particularly unstable time in the region. let's get more on the blast in ankara

joining me now is. also a bureau chief for the turkish daily news paper thanks for being with us was there any him to add that this attack on the embassy was planned. i mean we cannot know the exact you know we are being very recently it's been so it was a it was a male it would be two people i and two are these two who are insured as you know we agree on and. so there might be any reasons for such a suicide and. one of them being maybe the syrian crisis are there any other versions circulating within turkey as to what could have been the cause of the stack was responsible what is the message here. as the u.s. embassy in ontario started very clearly the united states. may be in a broadly maybe the when. i look at what's happening as you know one

one person who is that to be able some of these are not in on a little has been captured in a noun or out there recently there was some news in the turkish press this morning some people say today that it might be related with this incident but some other do talk as well as a that it might be a reaction or against. against the image against america and the other possible scenario thank you nation is that as you know israeli air force says that made an attack to syria there recently it might be also a. reaction or attack to the united states an embassy because united states that's the relations with israel what kind of public perception among turkish people towards their country's foreign policy and the role that it played in the recent arab revolutions well there are some mixed feelings but also the

actually according to the polls that mean that the right in the region is the turkish press as a circus public seems to be again. all of these are to god and. they're not of course happy with what the syrian regime is doing but in general there is that there is some sort of. this favor against the government all of these which is a moment full support for the holy see the is the most this region it's just that turkey has become somewhat of a hobby for radical islamists in the region and accuse of harboring islamists fighting the acid regime in syria are you surprised that this attack has taken place. you know especially in the western press we are reading a lot of stories there you know turkey has become out of order the weapon and. the

weapons and the radical islamist militants are passing through turkey to syria to the war against saddam forces but turkish foreign ministry in turkey there's always if you night these claims. actually. back against the american embassy i can say that i'm not that much surprised because in the past the americans and the british especially american and british. missions have been targets in different terrorist attacks so this isn't that might surprise me at all the u.s. has acknowledged that its policies in africa in the mideast did result in the u.s. embassy attack in benghazi libya it looks like washington is not doing enough to prevent such incidents what are your a fox. i. mean i think they're going to go hard but the move you know to change perception of the. first the options is not as easy as it seems because

there is this especially after levy everybody believes although it although in different. units these were not even from brother it was it was other western european countries in the issue so many people believe in the americans there is this question in this part of the region there is this general. sort of this they were against america. it's always that people look towards our computer security is that the americans are behind every. so even if they are not the it is very different we're going to change the perception although during the obama administration you know i mean comparisons with bush administrations in the past they did a large to sort of. put some dialogue with there with muslims of pleasure with moderate muslims and in this region but it seems that there's

a lot of way to have. her bureau chief for turkish daily thank you very much for being with us on the line as the story unfolds in the turkish capital. in other news the first man convicted over america's torture program is now on call waiting to start a thirty month prison sentence but decorated cia veteran john kiriakou played no part in the interrogations he was instead convicted over and leaks after blowing washington's then secret program wide open speaking to r.t. he told us of just what it is he's being punished for. first of all my case was not about leaking my case was about torture when i blew the whistle on torture in december of two thousand and seven the justice to department here in the united states began investigating me and never stopped investigating me until they were able to patch together. charge and force me into taking a plea agreement and i'll add another thing to when i took the plea in october of

last year the judge said that she thought the plea was was fair and appropriate but once the courtroom was packed full of reporters last friday she decided that it was not long enough and if she had had the ability to she would have given me ten years in this post nine eleven atmosphere that we find ourselves in we have been losing our civil liberties incrementally over the last decade to the point where we don't even realize how much of a police state the united states has become you know ten years ago the thought of the national security agency spying on american citizens and intercepting their emails would have been anathema to americans and now it's just part of normal business. the idea that that our government would be using drone aircraft to assassinate american citizens who have never seen the inside of a courtroom who have never been charged with

a crime and have not had due process which is their constitutional right would have been unthinkable and it's something now that happens every every so often every few weeks every few months and there is no public outrage i think this is a very dangerous development. but john kiriakou was also a guest on abbe martin's breaking the set here on our t.v. where he told the different of different torture techniques used by the cia also more in his case in the implications in the in-depth interview at sixteen thirty g.m.t. . do you think that the real people who oversaw codified torture john you alberto gonzales and donald rumsfeld shouldn't they be the ones sitting in prison they should be the ones in there are others even if you just put aside the people who actually did the day to day torture what about the people who conceived of the policy and who implemented the policy where the attorneys that papered over it with with crazed the legal analysis or the man who who destroyed evidence of the torture

in the tapes. france's president francois won't is planning a trip to mali to survey what's being held as a successful military intervention against islamist and the french acknowledged however that the operation is entering a tricky phase which is likely to involve guerrilla tactics from extremist observers say the three week long fighting has spread more havoc across the country with civilians playing a but a bloody price for it we've got the story of one of the victims brought to us exclusively by local journalists gonzalo want to. grosser that out of one of us as but the war became a real nightmare for the people of this small city in the segura region it was one of the first places bombed by french warplanes before more jihadist arrived sweeping south towards the capital bamako the french intervention left

a pile of debris and ashes that's just the visible traces of the war they left it civilians who are left with the scars that will last a lifetime one family paid a deep price for this conflict against the islamist terrorists one of the family sons was killed by a jihadist soldier inside his own home. one brother was attacked by a group of militants the ridge children among them he started running and got back into our house but they followed him one of the children fired at him but missed and then another insurgent shot him inside the house my brother fell and was riddled with bullets we laid his body in the house we couldn't bury him because we were afraid to go outside. just because this is just one example of the terror that the conflict is putting mali and civilians through plaguing the weakest the most no one was surprised when india bali once jihadist troops arrived it was discovered that the majority of the military were heavily armed child soldiers. prosper pairs

to hand over the operation in mali to local troops which are increasingly being accused of atrocities on archie dot com we've got exclusive footage allegedly showing evidence of war crimes by troops there we also have more stories from people on the ground about how they are living through the western led battle against islamists and coming your way later this hour syria's key opposition groups lines israel over an air strike on syrian territory that's amid fears the reported bombing could spark a sharp rise in the israeli sentiment among islamic groups in the region. a rocket with communications equipment on board has strayed off course and plunged into the pacific ocean soon after takeoff the company responsible for the launch has said it will look into why it happened for now here's our you go with the latest details. these rockets were u.s.

communications satellite on board blasted off from the odyssey floating platform to went off course almost immediately and its engines were switched off and it did into the pacific somewhere along the equator less than a minute after takeoff now on the equator the earth's rotation speed provides an additional booster rocket so they could carry more weight when it comes to launching from floating platforms besides looking awesome there are advantages and disadvantages like there's a minimal risk of rockets falling down on inhabited areas but waves could be a problem in fact there's speculation that that could have been the case the start is a collaboration between russia in their gear and to us boring companies they've been working together since one thousand nine hundred five thirty four successful launches well this was supposed to be the first launch in two thousand and thirteen . a grilling in the u.s. senate we gauge the grueling eight hour confirmation assassin of the u.s.

to secretary nominee as he appears ready to give as much as it takes to get that job that's coming up after a break. well . it's technology innovations all the moves developments from around russia we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing operation to rule the day. welcome back you're watching our live from moscow with me and he said now a serious key opposition group has joined the chorus of outrage over what the regime says was an israeli bombing near damascus the national coalition slammed the airstrike on a military research center inside syria as an attack on the country's sovereignty well the government has pledged to retaliate some middle east experts though take the rebels condemnation of the israeli attack with caution because the reported

bombing of the site actually plays into their hands. well the main thing right now is to remember that this comes on the heels of systematic targeting of syrian our bases by the syrian free army and the syrian opposition also i'd like to remind you that the syrian opposition has already thought of a radar station on the edges of the golan heights last year so this comes as a continuation of the effort to. royd the syrian army by the opposition and now by the monsters themselves by the israelis so what we are witnessing now is a reflection of the political impasse that the syrian opposition as suffering from being unable to achieve anything significant on the ground they have resorted to help from the zionists directly i don't think that the israelis have

a policy of making public comments of strikes be it assassinations or strikes that they launch outside the boundaries of international law. there's more news for you online including on guard that's as north korea allegedly poses martial law urging its army to prepare for war head to r.t. dot com to find out if the green peninsula is on the brink of military conflict. and find out all about a city that exists only for six days a year we've got information for you about the russian atlantis that that are to be . serious blows to the reputation of the german catholic church have resulted in more and more worshippers turning their backs on it child abuse and sexual harassment cases committed by priests that don't even get to court are seen as the main reason for dramatically shrinking

congregations you may find some of the details and peter all over his report disturbing. the abuse of trust the destruction of faith the theft of innocence or undone. in one nine hundred seventy nine when i was invited to his house he locked the doors and forced me to drink put i now know was alcohol. he asked me what i thought of his penis which was a wrecked then the priest made me perform oral sex on him. the catholic church in germany is facing a crisis attendances dropped significantly over the past few years according to the central committee of german catholics one hundred eighty thousand parishioners stopped going to mass in twenty ten alone many citing church hierarchy unwillingness to do enough about claims of abuse like the ones made by wilfred the

priest at the center of this particular scandal is now being moved to a different parish while this church where its alleged abuses took place remains closed to worshippers but just how difficult is it to bring a criminal prosecution in cases like this if those people go to court now it's very difficult to get to a sentence because the richness is sometimes died in between the memory has got lost and so those attempts to get to have a trial usually fail christine pfeiffer had been in charge of an extensive study into abuse in the german catholic church dating back as far as nineteen forty five his research claims that the church destroyed files on priests involved in abuse up to ten years also that twelve hundred victims were paid hush money not to reveal what happened to them he was dismissed after a dispute with a senior clergy over what information would be made public the scandal that this

research is no not going to be finished. it's causing problems to them as well now they're losing members because of the new headlines of the last few weeks there are those within the church that recognize the importance of transparency if lapsed catholics are to be brought back to the flock a woman. really going to when we do not make things clear and there will always be an aftertaste something is being covered up this will harm attempts to get people into church because it is a bad foundation for trust and all belief is based on trust and. for wilfrid that trust has been lost he says he will never set foot in the church a good he's committed to getting compensation for himself and those others who claim they were abused by people who were supposed to be in a position of responsibility peter all over our city germany. look now at some

other international news for you this hour thousands of people are marching in demonstrations across egypt against the rule of president mohamed morsi the main rallies are taking place in tahrir square in cairo and pour saeed where they are marking the one year anniversary of football riots where seventy four people died the protests come after a week of riding across the country last up to sixty people dead. there are also demonstrations in iraq or sunni protesters have blocked a major highway in the west of the country protests by the minority group take place most weeks but these appear to be the largest since the end of last year they're angry at what is mainly seen as discrimination against them by the government a group linked to al qaeda has also urged them to take up arms. apologetic poorly prepared struggling to defend his views this is how critics and journalists scored barack obama's pick for the next defense secretary after his confirmation

hearing in the senate chuck hagel did his best to prove to the lawmakers that he is on the same page as them during an eight hour grilling or two going to listen in on the session. chuck hagel bent backwards to show how mainstream his views are the senators kept accusing him of not being mainstream enough and they kept using the word mainstream over and over again during this hearing chuck hagel has walked back on a number of positions he had taken earlier he kept apologizing again and again and chuck hagel went to great lengths to show that he is in no way going to challenge washington's core foreign policy beliefs as one of the senators put it it was quite an exhausting hearing considering the senators were asking almost the same questions and roughly eighty percent of them had to do with chuck hagel previous statements on israel and iran there was so much mentioning of israel that at some point they were confirming him as secretary of defense for israel i couldn't count how many times he said all options are on the table with regards to iran again and

again saying a strike on iran is an option an option that he had previously called irresponsible by the way here's what chuck hagel repeating throughout the hearing get the united nations behind you get the international sanctions behind you keep military options on the table if the military option is the only option it's the only option one of the senators pointed out during the hearing that in a private conversation senator hagel recently told him that he thought sanctions they didn't work and previously chuck hagel voted against sanctions but today's chuck hagel as we found out during this hearing is for sanctions to those who believe mr haye go was in favor of direct negotiations with iran as he had previously claimed he was he offered a correction a very vague one he tried to blur his response as much as he could here's what he said i don't have a problem with engaging i think great powers engaging in gauge mint is clearly in our interest that's not negotiation engagement is not appeasement engagement is not

sure under so no direct negotiations with iran here's another example of how chuck hagel had to walk back on some of his. statements at one time he said and this has become a famous quote 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 is world and of quote here's chuck hagel during this confirmation hearing noted that i. thought i should have used another term and i'm sorry and i regret i didn't do your use of intimidation. i should have used influence. i think would have been more appropriate i should not have said dumb or stupid. because i understand appreciate there are different views in these things it was like torture watching

the hearing because it seemed as if the senators were not there to question chuck hagel but they were there to break him because they kept going back to his previous statements and pushing and pushing until he said what they wanted to hear and he did it so whoever thought chuck hagel was going to offer a new outlook on u.s. foreign policy after this hearing would seriously doubt that now here at r.t. we're always interested to know what your view on all of the issues we're covering but today we're focusing on chuck hagel and why his stance has become more hawkish so to say log on to our two dot com this is so far what some of our viewers think in terms of his new stance this was percent say that he is really changing but it's a genuine change in position the foreign policy on iran about twenty percent say it's a ploy to counter criticism of being anti israeli we heard about that from going to in washington of thirty or so say it doesn't matter he won't have any influence on iranian.