it's. today's news on the week's top stories r.t. israel suggests it was behind this week's strike near damascus or attempts to mediate a meeting with the syrian opposition. claims french troops will stay in mali as long as necessary to root out the insurgency that's

amid mounting accusations of war crimes by. the artistic director of the bolshoi says he knows who attacked him with acid just two weeks ago in central moscow. with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on. the syrian president bashar assad says his army is able to confront any aggression aimed against his nation he also says israel is trying to destabilize the country that's after 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 his northern neighbor. has the details. it does come from the israeli

defense minister it would be iraq and he has said that it is proof that when israel says something it means that he did stop short of actually a third being 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 labor nominee 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 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 launch 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 the 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 and the arab league has also condemned the strike saying it is in violation of international law and it is purported against in another 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 of. and beirut based

middle east affairs expert alley this guy i spoke to middle earlier he says that israeli attacks in its apparent admittance could provoke retaliation from damascus for now i don't believe that there will be all out military warfare although we have to remember that a 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. head of the supreme national security council the iranian supreme national security council side really is currently in syria so had mine 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 years well in general and i think that some that something would syria is an expert of doing syria has. assad and also on the his father has been a source of concern for a very long time for the israeli side of ideas were all once before because this

will basically break down the iranian husband lost syrian access which is the biggest threat to the not of your government. hopes of ending the conflict in syria have received a slight boost on the sidelines of a key security conference in munich russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov held his first direct negotiations with the leader of syria's main opposition group he called on them to be realistic and begin peace talks with president and send retreating that any use of force is unacceptable the editor of politics first magazine marcus papadopoulos thinks diplomacy still has a long way to go before any real success can be achieved. the meeting between the leader of the self-proclaimed syrian national coalition and the foreign ministers of russia and iran is an acknowledgement by the leader of the syrian national coalition that the syrian government it's not going to be defeated on the military

battlefield and in his acknowledgement that thousands of syrian civilians have died unnecessarily and because outside players in the region turkey saudi arabia qatar at being followed in weapons and cash so the militants in syria hillary clinton about a year ago accused the russian government of having blood on its hands oh unfortunately it's more the country saudi arabia qatar and saudi arabia who have the blood of thousands upon thousands of syrian civilians on their hands because of their own geo strategic ambitions to see that removal of presence is sad and the syrian government's france's military has reportedly carried out major air strikes on the training and logistic centers of islamic insurgents in northeast money the ongoing military campaign in the country has been marred by alleged human rights abuses with activists reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army when r.t. has an exclusive report now exposing the realities on the ground in some of the

most battle scarred areas of the country. pony's the economy's in this mop the area we've discovered allegations of war crimes information about them is under the control of mali's military government really meant becoming i think it's getting more and more the she called to talk to people a lot of. human rights activists who are trying to identify witnesses all saying that people climbing up and feeling the heat 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 as they put it 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 call government closer to people who regard the capital as the mold for that which

you know 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 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. of 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 property for

fifteen days 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 and there might be molly. during his visit to mali president francois or land claim to french troops will remain in the west african state until the complete reinstatement of its sovereignty for those mangi from the independent panel african research organization says the local government's primary goal is to enrich themselves and their backers what this intervention does is strengthen the arm of a group of junior officers who took control of the state and who are just simply. so i mean the reports we get from mali from bamako is holies troops just simply control everything they're not interested in any kind of development they're only interested in acquiring wealth for themselves they go in they rock banks complete

impunity they control the economy now with complete impunity they are now the sort of. i guess you know the servants now. of the french and the u.s. but their real agenda has been to sell of mali to to the french and to the corporations mali is a place with enormous. wealth you're a new book site gold and so on and there's no doubt that french canadian and upper interests are clearly interested in occupying that territory the artistic director of moscow's world famous bolshoi ballet who suffered horrific injuries when acid was thrown in his face and said he knows who was behind the incident said if elin is currently undergoing surgery following the attack in the center of the russian capital the doctors warned they may not be able to save the site sean thomas reports. 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. 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 theatre 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 they've 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. you're afraid to come back to the bolshoi. for one main reason i still don't feel that i have ever left 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 in fact. 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 side if you recall the black swan about dan.

not liking the parts that they're getting you doing anything they could to go and get the parts that they need so one thing about the bolshoi itself. 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 committed connected but talks about what's going on behind the scenes at the boss roy. deepening divisions in egypt's society continue to grow this week as an ongoing crackdown on anti-government protests failed to silence calls for president morsi to quit some of the latest violence saw one person shot dead and many others injured when security forces try to disperse angry crowds which had attacked the presidential palace is only worsened the political and social stalemate the opposition get again refused to join a national dialogue and vowed to step up their protests because they want the decisive measures in dealing with the rest of military currently has increased powers due to a month long state of emergency imposed last week was an activist. claims the

government's actions are heavily influenced by the army. the surface interpretation of what's happening definitely there are groups who are willing to sabotage anything and try to embarrass the government specifically morsi and the military. on the surface however they are deeper interpretations of what's going on some of the intimidation goes as far as that the military council or the military is behind all of this so that big can have. the grip over. intensify their presence militarily over there probably 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 according to the new constitution something called the national defense council this council in most countries and

previously had. and advisory stature right now it has more of an executive search and it has more military members on this board than civilians which outnumbers the civilians including the 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 have the commander in chief see that he will declare martial law or emergency emergency law in those specific areas. you're watching the weekly here naughty coming up the sound a final say before going behind bars. we don't even realize how much of a police state the united states has become of the former cia officer turned whistleblower over america's torture program he's now serving two and a half years in prison. and great protesters clashed with police outside the labor

ministry in central athens with the public growing ever more weary of the government spending cuts those stories and others still to come. here the reindeer isn't everything for the herders. and when it suffers. people do their best to help. but the distances are. on the roads are. unpredictable. will be on time.

more news today violence has once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are on the day . this is the week here and i'll tell you the first man convicted for blowing the whistle on a. erica's prison torture program has begun to two and a half year jail sentence cia veteran john kiriakou was found guilty of exposing washington secret interrogation tactics in one of these final 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 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. washington's infamous rendition regime was one of the key issues raised during a week of pretrial hearings for the alleged mastermind of the nine eleven attacks and his four accomplices in guantanamo bay meanwhile the investigations into america's so-called black sites abroad have revealed little so far in the. reports even if were forthcoming just might not be one tunnel may hold all the headlines but all the interested it means people are moving their focus elsewhere so-called black sites secret prisons were established by the cia during its well

publicized war on terror unlike the cause however these secret facilities were never publicly discussed by the authorities the u.s. claimed they could hold prisoners outside the us because then they wouldn't be subject to the geneva conventions to international law and humanitarian law reports suggest such prisons were in existence from two thousand and two basically not long after the events of nine eleven the u.s. government denied the existence of these prisons until two thousand and six now the only country in europe which has acknowledged the presence of a secret cia facility on its territory is lithuania and if you were to look at it you will you will see something almost a deliberate site except for the imposing fences surrounding it likewise a suspected secret prison in poland is believed to be located here apparently in one of the most beautiful parts in the country according to various reports mostly from journalists or human rights organizations so-called high value detainees were

flown in by the cia for interrogation at these polish facilities. i managed to get quite records from the airport in germany where it's clear that they have learned an aircraft used by the cia very important evidence because until then everyone denied bs landings and reported different destinations of these flights to europe controlled however just like their american counterparts the authorities in warsaw have been extremely frugal with the details and investigation into the secret prisons has been dragging on for almost five years now but what is on earth during its course remains unknown therefore the extent of the investigations progress just like any information about the torture of prisoners regarding who what where when and how all of it remains a mystery and the investigation is rumored to conclude next month by the looks of it whatever its outcome it may also be a state secrets and swept under the carpet hundreds of great protesters clashed

with police on wednesday after a storm in the building of the labor minister's office of us were demonstrating against reforms to pay in pensions part of the latest spending cuts announced by the government around thirty people were arrested following the protest and lawyer george cut to go there says the authorities response was part of a new approach to the strikes which have crippled the country. the government has decided to follow up on receipt of zero tolerance as it says ideas that is distance to the state to measure us so we have steamed the government to take in medicine measures but they are unconstitutional ideas the very center strikes it now we have seen all of the economists very violently against a generally peaceful and calm the most recent well known seemed the last three or four weeks a campaign of propaganda try to convince us that now the worst has become best the

reason i don't believe that this is true is exactly because we are following this same set of policies of was thirty minutes of the first three years cause them to goose the us five of slow death that this recession of the economy going to actually move the economy unfair source other measures but when i see some of the book releasing and also look at the socialites i think that as far as what we're following this set of. theirs will call us. while reportedly being held hostage for eight months by russian mafia on our show real estate tycoon claims he was given a punishment could never forget find out what was carved into the man's forehead on our website. the russian football premier league's dog course and recent squad with a lot said to be the most expensive transparent a country's history someone who said to join samuel it door and his friends at the

darkest time club on r.t. dot com. medical workers in bahrain said they're being targeted by the authorities for treating injured protesters doctors say the retribution has been severe while the government insists it's now investigating allegations audi's an exodus esky looks at those at risk for trying to help. nada dhaif 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 the or forty's 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 back to twenty one days. and they would just open the door of the cell and beat me up and he 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 back then 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 fluid tress guarded heavily by the right police and not everybody can get in human rights activists 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 three gaited 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 protester being tortured and the jail but in my country protests there 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 resumed at the action it took against the hospital was the right thing to do. these doctors managed to control the emergency unit in the first floor of the hospital and started to perform political acts when a hospital is turned into a base for political ethnic work this is

a real disaster we had an unbiased committee investigating the hospital condemn the acts of these doctors and the case against one of the members of the world family may seem as an indication that 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. that's all from me. he'll be in the chair with more of this week's top stories in about half an hour from now in the meantime brings you an insight into the lives of people who suffer from brittle bone disease a fragile people documentary is next to the brain.

secretary of state hillary clinton recently testified to congress in regards to the attack on the u.s. consulate was killed an american ambassador in benghazi libya during the testimony couldn't rather calmly said things like that the revolutions that sprang up during the arab spring like in libya where the events in bali have created instability and safe havens for terrorist. and she made it clear that there is no doubt that the algerian terrorists had weapons from libya so the us secretary has basically admitted that the actions of the usa and nato have caused mass instability that has allowed the seeds of terrorism to grow when the justification for most of the

actions in the muslim world is to stop evil dictators who harbor terrorists or spread shouting to mock recy if libya would have been left alone algerian terrorists wouldn't be getting any weapons from it now this is like an exterminator accidently or maybe on purpose actually feeding the roaches in your basements that there are ten times more of them and then saying that he has to keep working because he's the only one who can get rid of the roaches people like hillary clinton who support funding brutal jihad it's rebel groups to overthrow governments to somehow bring about stability and democracy are either dismally stupid or consciously running a very brutal con game but that's just my opinion.