today's news in the week's top stories on israel suggests it was behind this week's airstrike near damascus attempts to mediate peace and a meeting with the syrian opposition. president claims french troops will stay in mali as long as necessary to root out the insurgency

amid mounting accusations of war crimes by mali and forces. and there's no sign of compromise looming between the government of the opposition and egypt where protests demanding the resignation of the president turned violent and rage on for another week. back at the palace seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly here on. the syrian president bashar al assad says his army is able to confront any aggression aimed against his nation he also says israel is trying to destabilize the country the comments made by the israeli defense minister ehud barak today hinting for the first time that his forces were behind this week's attack on its northern neighbor. as the details. it does come from the

israeli defense minister it would be rogue and he has said that it is proof that when israel says something it means that he did stop short of actually affirming israel's involvement now u.s. officials have said that the strike targeted an arms convoy that was carrying anti aircraft weapons from syria to lebanon according to the israeli defense minister ehud barak he said that we do not think and i'm quoting that syria should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into lebanon and it is important to make the point that his comments does not constitute acknowledgment of israel's involvement in the strike but it certainly does suggest the possibility that it took place and it was responsible for it but also said that the syrian president bashar assad's fall is imminent and that it would serve as a major blow to his villa and iran need to look at this israeli strategy and it's a strategy that israel has employed in the past and that is namely a strategy of silence it is strategic it doesn't give any kind of confirmation or

any kind of denial what israel has done in the past is knowledge an attack then leave and it really its response has been a no comment which really leaves the question in opposite of as minds it is a culture lated moves because this simons allows israel's enemies to save face and thus reduce the risk of reprisals and its collation against the jewish state of course the international for now for any kind of israeli strike in syria would create immense arguments in the international community we've heard for example from moscow who says that if indeed israel did carry out the strike it was an attack on a sovereign state and as such it breached international law the arab league has also condemned the strike saying it is in violation of international law and it is purported against a nother sovereign state so israel of course will not want to come out publicly and acknowledge that it carried out such a strike because it would not want to have the kind of diplomatic complications and diplomatic fallout that would follow from such an admission. wolf

a war on our top story let's cross now to beirut based middle east affairs expert the risk well of president assad vowed to fend off early attack on his country we actually try a lot with. well we have to see what it means to lock horns i don't think he'll go ahead with the direct military conventional army warfare but that being said he might use other means for example we don't know what trick syria does have up at slieve for now i don't believe that there will be all out military warfare although we have to remember that husband law is one of syria's allies iran is also one of syria's allies and it's important to note here that the the head of the supreme national security council the iranian supreme national security council side really as we can see on your screen is currently in syria are so not respond

directly with a direct you know conventional army to conventional army warfare but there might be other means used targeting for example certain israeli officials stirring the trouble for israel in general and i think that some that something would syria as an export of doing syria has on the side and also on the his father has been a source of concern for a very long time for the israeli side and i think that's why the israelis are so keen on having to see or seeing bashar al assad be out of the day but there isn't a story to interrupt but is now also small is that also a reason why israel was very keen to target these chemical weapons all allegedly targeted chemical weapons because they were frightened that they could get into the hands of hezbollah not basis when their actions justified. well look at the issue of chemical weapons are not sure if that's the real issue i think that i highly suspect that there were there was an arms convoy which was

targeted but i'm not sure it was chemical weapons i believe as some israeli newspapers themselves highlighted that it might have been surface to air missiles but the what what the picture of the situation on my description is that the israelis due to the internal developments in syria now they have an opportunity to try and break this resistance block and try and target these arms convoys which go from the syrian territory to hezbollah now these convoys are nothing new they happen every day the difference is this time israel knew about it so how did and how did know about it for example i suspect that we do have a scenario that some of his syrian opposition who are not necessarily syrian some of them an answer and as you say with the support of saudi arabia for example and other countries they now have intelligence cooperation with the israeli mossad and so this intelligence cooperation was able to enable israel to actually go ahead and target this convoy so i think basically what we're seeing is that israel is trying

to take advantage of the situation so if we take that into consideration i don't think that israel has any interest at all in saying assad have the upper hand than if you just let me include one very important state which we will which was mentioned by michael oren the israeli ambassador to washington in an interview with fox news about three months ago he said if al qaida is in power in syria that's one big good but it won't be as bad as having bashar al assad in power i think that just explains in general the israeli perspective that is we're all once the fall because this will basically break down the iranian husband lost syrian access which is the biggest threat to the north and your government and to to israel in general so therefore it will work with those ambitions and it's ok with those factors that you talking about everybody's fear that the syrian crisis could develop further into a regional crisis we could see now a much bigger conflict occurring there with all those interests at play that you just mentioned. you know what we called however we have to watch

a look at what's happening in munich right now most notably the meeting which the meeting between the american bar president joseph biden and russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and also a very very significant meeting between the iranian foreign minister ali akbar salehi and the head of the syrian opposition was a copy of i think that if you take note of those meetings then there's a very high possibility that we are cheap in our changing or going towards the diplomatic breakthrough however i believe that israel and qatar for example these two countries may be in a different illusion to saudi arabia will try and somebody that's an agreement even if america agrees to what is going on here in qatar might actually go against any possible american russian iranian breakthrough that's one of the reasons i believe also why is where launches attack it appears that the americans might be heading especially now with the next government where we have john kerry and possibly chuck hagel might be heading towards iraq more and more in agreement so we do have these

fears and they might go yes there is a possibility of the political solution however there might be also one attempt to sabotage a solution by cop out of israel and also turkey and saudi arabia all right what if perhaps the rebel coalition does become more united said that diplomatic talks could be possible only until the rebels do show some unity if that does happen surely then a diplomatic solution could happen. without what's going on externally that if the rebel coalition does get together and decides to negotiate that could be a major breakthrough that's what obviously secular would like to happen. yes it could be and i think that we're starting to see that i think that the comments made by our model called the warning it's not i'm ready to negotiate with the government but i think there are those who are very important comments and all the indicators do point out that we have a very very good chance now of actually reaching our you solution however once again i have to say the problem here is

a lot of which is the main financer by the way of joppa nostra and these extremists together with israel for the first time now we're seeing some arab countries and his well being on the same side even the head of the americans the americas in my perspective are actually on the exact same page here so there are going to be attempts from some of these persian gulf arab countries and this is where all of this about college such an attempt to question is how much ability do they have a lot of respect if i don't think that their ability has that much thank you very much indeed for joining us live here in r.t. good to hear your thoughts. of france's military has reportedly carried out major air strikes on the training and the just take centers of islamic insurgents in northeast mali but the ongoing military campaign in the country's been marred by alleged human rights abuses with activists reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army lottie has an exclusive report now exposing the realities on the ground in some of the most battle scarred areas of the country.

easily i mean in this mop the area we've discovered allegations of war crimes and information about them is under the control of mali's military government really meant becoming i think it's getting more and more the he called to talk to people a lot of. human rights activists who are trying to identify witnesses off saying that people climbing up and feeling the heat stay out they are scared to speak a lot of people here. very few fool the malian army seems to be doing whatever it can to prevent people from speaking to openly when i was there because this government took advantage of the media's interest in a line and for the first time visiting the city's worst affected by hostilities today in the town of qana we were surprised by the arrival of mom i do see the bad the minister for humanitarian action of solidarity this was an attempt to bring the bomb a cold government closer to the people and regard the capital as the mold for that which you know from this visit in this event staged by politicians coincided with

the publication of reports by international organizations such as amnesty international and human rights watch alleging atrocities crimes and violence on both sides for instance in qana several civilians were reportedly killed in french air force shelling of we tried to interview the injured however were unable to obtain evidence in a community that has until now been strictly regulated by the military authorities now he said. the ministry says an investigation is underway has got so far no evidence has been provided so let the judicial system do its job to list all of these government its people and military are well aware of current events and we know that we cannot play this game. i love the government has been attempting to assert political power despite various more infrastructure today we spoke to an army private on his way back from god he told us. he hadn't been paid or even

probably before. and if this war continues there will be a need for justice after a comprehensive internal investigation rather than heartfelt celebrations and demonstrations of power. during his visit to mali president falls well on land claim to french troops will remain in the west african states until the complete reinstatement of its sovereignty it came only days after the you can announce that sending up to three hundred fifty non-combat military personnel into the area for assistance jeremy corbyn he's a british labor m.p. he believes his country could be in for a lengthy operation. david cameron is getting sucked into something that i don't think he's seriously thought through two weeks ago we started offering transport planes to france with insane force protection to back up the transport clients we send trainers and we have additional force protection to detect there and we then have surveillance aircraft going overhead and there are reports of u.k.

special forces i think we're being dragged into this the danger is the more you send any troops in trainers over anything else just suppose something awful happens like one of the training groups is killed by what the term to be insurgent forces what then happens you then go after those groups who then have a greater british military involvement we may well be in for a quite a long high tech surveillance. warfare being conducted by the french and possibly was britain and others as its allies against people that know the terrain very well will be hidden by the local population this could be a very long and very nasty conflict. deepening divisions in egypt's society continued to grow this week as an ongoing crackdown on anti-government protests fail to silence calls for president morsi to quit some of the latest violence saw one person shot dead many others injured when security forces try to disperse angry crowds which attacked the presidential palace is only worsened the political and

social stalemate position yet again refused to join a national dialogue and vowed to step up their protests the president warned of decisive measures in dealing with the unrest military currently has increased powers due to a month long state of emergency imposed last week opposition activist ahmed claims the government's actions are heavily influenced by the army. the surface interpretation of what's happening definitely that there are groups who are willing to sabotage anything and try to embarrass the government specifically morsi and the military that on the surface however there are deeper into positions of what's going on some of the interpretation goes that the military council or the military is behind all of this so that big can have. the grip over this way to intensify their presence militarily over there probably really don't want to see an

economic development of this specific strategic area because it would hand over to civilian oversight of the canal rather than military oversight of the canal according to a new constitution something called the national defense council this council in most countries and previously had an advisory stature now has more of an exact. military members on this board than civilians which outnumber the civilians including be commander in chief the president which means they can force the president to take certain decisions which we have just seen in the past couple of days when they had the commander in chief say that he will declare martial law or emergency emergency law in those specific areas. this is the weekly here naughty coming up this hour a final say before going behind bars if. we don't even realize how

much of a police state the united states has become. the former cia officer turned whistle blow over america's torture program he's now a few years in prison plus. a bit more with a member of the royal family who died and he was responsible of my fortune because she was beating me and she took to. medical workers in bahrain claim they'll consider me targeted by the authorities for treating those thirteen. demos stories on a list of the breaking. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images both world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are the day.

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it's the weekly here and welcome back the first man convicted for blowing the whistle on america's prison torture program has begun a two and a half year jail sentence cia veteran john kiriakou was convicted of exposing washington secret interrogation tactics in one of his fun interviews before being locked away he told r.t. exactly what he thinks 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 a 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. the artistic director of moscow's world famous

bolshoi ballet who suffered horrific injuries when acid was thrown in his face has said he knows who was behind the incident set to get fit in is currently undergoing surgery following the attack in the center of the russian capital but doctors warned they may not be able to save his sight well for more on the story let's talk to sean thomas joins us live central moscow just outside of the bolshoi sure there's been huge speculation in the world's press around who is responsible for this attack what's the latest we now know. well bill it certainly is a strange and bizarre story under exposing the deep and dark underbelly of the world of ballet if you believe it or not. who is the artistic director says he doesn't know exactly who did it he says he's certain he knows but he won't say anything until the police have released their statement regarding the situation and

have made an official announcement a little bit about the attack that actually happened about two weeks ago sergei filin was coming from his car to his home here in moscow where an unknown assailant splashed acid in his face. and then suffered from third degree burns in his eyes has undergone the multiple surgeries in fact he will be going to germany later this week for further treatment but about the investigation itself while he won't say exactly who did it even though he says he knows he says he is certain that it is to ruin his reputation and of the reputation of the theater in an interview listen to what he had to say about the investigation itself. so all i can say is that i'm amazed by the amount of effort put into the investigation i think in the future get the answers we're looking for. but do your own suspicions match the facts that will by the police. afraid to come back to the bolshoi you

know for one main reason i still don't feel that i have ever left for us. now ballet believe it or not is notorious for having this jealous dark side to it dancers and artistic directors thinking that they should have their way of the artistic direction of the community and the theater just reopening after a six year long multimillion dollar renovation. being the artistic director ever since that renovation took place a lot of people who are not happy with the direction. it has taken in fact actually an entire movie was made about this jealous side if you recall the black swan about dancers not liking the parts that they're getting are doing anything they could to go and get the parts that they need so one thing about the bolshoi. who is one of the prima ballerina of this great stage she has fled to canada and they are saying

that she has received threats also not sure that they're. connected but talks about what's going on behind the scenes at the bar sean thanks very much indeed for that thomas live from outside the bolshoi theater in central moscow. medical workers in bahrain say they're being targeted by the authorities for treating injured protesters stop to say the retribution has been severe well the government insists is now investigating the allegations. looks at those at risk for trying to help nanda died was among a group of doctors who were trying to help the injured during a protest in bahrain she claims that after violently crushing the dissent. turned their attention to her and her colleagues who were providing first a they deny. health care to the patients and protesters. the doctors did not obey the orders for such.

decided to punish those doctors i was taken to a place for ten days that i didn't know where it was. all that time i was blindfolded and handcuffed i was in a solitary confinement for about twenty one days. and they would just open the door of the cell and beat me up and there was a member of the royal family who directly was responsible of my thought she she was beating me and she looked cute to me almost two dozen doctors were arrested like this for the fuel the anger of the protesters and turned the hospital grounds into the scene of the rally the sound money hospital is bahrain's leading medical institution and that's where most of the arrests have been made after those events it now looks like a fortress guarded heavily by the right police and not everybody can get a human rights activist say if you had suffered for speaking out against the regime

and decided to come here for treatment you could make matters even worse for yourself anyone who was injured from the protests they cannot go to the hospital because they would be arrested in the gated beaten and taken to the jail last year many protester and in jail where torture insults and money we have a story and testimony of people and protest of being tortured and the jail but in my country protester were tortured inside. britain not who was charged with treason and sentenced to fifteen years in prison before being acquitted because of what she believed to be international pressure on bahrain's government the fate of many other doctors remains unclear the person who allegedly tortured not and others princes have been. has been officially charged by police she denies all allegations against her meanwhile the guy. woman stands recently learned that the action it

took against the hospital was the right thing to do. these doctors managed to control the emergency unit and the first floor of the hospital and started to perform political and one hospital is journey to the base for political ethic work this is a real disaster we had an unbiased committee investigating the hospital condemn the acts of these doctors as. the case against one of the members of the world family may seem as an indication the bahrain's government has bowed to the negative global reaction with the doctor scandal being far from the only torture accusation c.c.t.v. cameras have been installed at all prisons in a move to become more transparent according to the authorities but with protests in the gulf states still continuing and accusations of human rights violations intensifying the opposition is still wondering what happens in the places where the cameras cannot see. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain.

coming next for you prepare to wrap up and go subzero with a special. i'm . there are twelve cities in the united states in which half of the people with hiv aids lives. with this is a problem that. they

were really good. people were really focused on this problem.