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this is. today. french jets still pounding. islamist militants. has also increased security border with mali to prevent him from crossing it some reports suggest the french led campaign has caused a number of civilian casualties. to seeing the realities of the war torn country. francoise hollande victorious trip to timbuktu marked the declaration that three major cities in northern mali have been declared liberated from rebels although the sharia law and islamic extremism the rebels enforced will not soon be forgotten nevertheless this victory is a partial one the militants have merely retreated and fled and the suffering in this war has seemed disproportionate to the gains made we're learning what happened in battle day by day in the town of kona we heard stories from the fog of war this

is mall settlement in the mufti region was seized by the more yo tribe they fled to the north when french troops showed up but it's reported that the cost of that victory was high while french planes killed only two rebels the number of civilian casualties was an estimated fourteen he said i wasn't home when the bombing began i started praying when i learned my house was under attack they ruined everything i had my family and my livelihood my wife's name was i mean she was forty my son ali was eleven adam was ten and so you know who was six they all died. as honest. people such as this farmer idris ask themselves if the victory was worth it. we also met the campo family who had suffered badly when the bombing began everyone's got hit the campo lost two of their saunas unable to swim they drowned in the river

while fleeing the fighting we also heard the story of a young mother who died from shell splinters leaving three children behind a newborn baby. the village was a complete mess it's impossible to describe how many discuss things i know for sure and i can say that all we had is gone. though hugh proving some kids came running up to us and said their mum had died i brought them to our house their mother died after an hour of clinging to life the children have nobody else but us. screaming and i mean it's a disaster visited every house in the town people reject anything the military claims about victory and say war crimes must be prosecuted under the geneva convention towns like qana want more than just compassion people who suffered at the hands of terrorist groups and drug traffickers are now facing the misery inflicted by warfare it's not that you or you are not going to want mali for r t.

but let's get some more details on this now and speak live with the toronto his son from the human rights watch are joining us here in our see it as a pleasure to see you today let's get straight to it now i understand you've actually just returned from the city of kona can you tell us your thoughts what is the situation like there at the moment we didn't get it i just finished a ten day investigation into various human rights abuses that took place in mali we were in the town of qana where we also did document civilian casualties we into the same family that might have family and indeed we confirmed that there were people that were killed by what appears to be aerial strike which took place at ten am on the eleventh of january and what we've been calling for a new strike force is that there's a full investigation because french those who say that the aerial strike launched by the french actually took place in the afternoon approximately around four

o'clock but what we've heard is that it was an aerial strike by helicopter. at around ten o'clock in the morning on the eleventh and that strike which took out a number of these casualties including the four members of the mica family and possibly two other civilians who was struck nearby so you're getting mixed mixed reports from the french military as to when and where they are making airstrikes if i can just ask you for a moment here it seems to some that many are questioning do you think conditions have actually become worse for the people since francis intervention or was it perhaps worse when the islamists. we're in control well in the town of qana it was it was a place where one quite serious battle took place and there were a number of casualties by both the islamist groups which were fighting in the north as well as by the malley and military who took a number of a large number of casualties there and you know when their own not for that life is better now is is it difficult one to say people are less still obviously living in

a time of insecurity but what we do know that there were abuses during that period of time like during the incident we have documented the islamist groups actually have killed injured million soldiers by shooting them. on site when they found them injured to the bessel on the ten we also have documented disappearances by the mallya numb forces which have taken place since where they have taken a risk to the people and the families of those people have not been able to find them since and certainly very difficult to keep track of those who may become hostages those who might be abducted or also without of civilian casualties. as many or as little as fourteen civilian casualties so far did you think do you think toronto that are these numbers paint an entire picture of a conflict or perhaps is it greater in magnitude you talk about people being displaced is there more to it than that i think is this is exactly what we've been calling for it is very unclear at this point of time and then needs to be

a full investigation into the airstrikes that killed civilians we have documented six if there are more that's that goes to the point that is exactly as we're saying that they must be an independent investigation to find out what happened and if those drags will be just moments strikes and what those targets were. where i mean in relation to the disappearances we're also calling for the madeon authorities and he has to make sure that if there are individuals who had been arrested during the course of the security operations that they whereabouts being nine that due process is followed people cannot just be taken and then be kept and essentially they disappear now latona what about what about the media coverage or certainly mali has seen a bit of a lack of it when it comes to the ongoing operations do you have a louse and some way alleged perpetrators to to get away with types of crimes perhaps they wouldn't be able to commit otherwise. i mean at this stage we have

conducted. investigations in the town of qana and in the towns of separate we not yet completed our operate our investigations in the more northern towns of gallon timbuktu but we have documented abuses that took place both during the islamist period of occupation and we have concerns about the prospects of reprisal killings this is been something that's been a concern for a very long time as these lammas bitter on that there will be an opportunity now for people who have suffered in the north to take revenge on those who they were just associated with islamised groups so that is painting a very wide brush straight and the potential victims of that people from ethnic groups who such as the pool such as tirades such as arabs whose houses have been ransacked whose shops have been looted and in some cases they've been targeted

during security operations to run a given the opportunity if you want to send a message to the global community if indeed the global community would have stepped in and get involved on a humanitarian mission what kind of requests would you make. at this point in time you know one of our grace's fears at the moment is full of those safety and security of those from particular i think your it's minority ethnic groups who are being tarnished. by as being associated with we eat islamist groups who have controlled the north in the past so what we're calling for is that it should be human might write monitors on the ground right now this is not something that we can wait for the need to be proper patrols that are going around the cities which is now occupied to ensure that civilians living in those towns stay in secure in their in noise sort of reprisal it's all right to run a sign off from human rights watch are joining us live here in our team many thanks indeed for coming on and you very much. but we are coming to you live from moscow

it's a pleasure to have you with us today you are still to come for you just a bit later in the program but of keeping change at bay examine how one occasion flourishing oil rich gulf states clamping down on those seeking more rights. and for now as our john kerry begins his time as the new u.s. secretary of state it's been revealed that many of the ambassadors serving under him were major donors to the president's campaign a new report says this year's competition among big money backers to land the most sought after diplomatic sports was especially tight details now to our teams guy nature can. as you can imagine the competition for diplomatic post is tough especially in safe and wealthy countries somewhere in western europe and asia a recent study by two professors of international relations at pennsylvania state university looked at available information on president obama's donors direct

political contributions and the positions that they received and they concluded that those whose political connections to president obama were measured in dollars rather than that ministration service had an increased chance of representing the united states in western europe and a smaller chance of serving in say central asia or sub-saharan africa donors and advisers involved in the diplomatic selection process say the competition this year has been so tight that those who have raised less than a million dollars are for the most part unlikely to be considered so what is the quote unquote price tag for the highly sought diplomatic posts according to this study friends and monaco topped the list with a level of personal contributions at six point two million dollars quote unquote the price for a position in the u.k. the authors find appears to live between six hundred fifty thousand dollars and two point three million dollars a posting in luxembourg is valued as three point one million dollars and

appointment to portugal was predicted to have a value of around six hundred thousand dollars like all modern presidents before him president obama has appointed friends and donors to about thirty percent of diplomatic posts while seventy percent of the posts go to career diplomats so judging by this research career diplomats go to places like yemen while big donors go to monaco nobody of course calls it bribery here in these are just respectable donors who get what they want when they pay the price. he's a guy in a chicken right now israel is considering the creation of a buffer zone inside syria i was on could stretch several kilometers into neighboring syria where there was ready military forces insist they are not invading a sovereign state but of the israelis plan to put a number of troops and tanks on foreign soil the stated aim of the zone is to prevent mortar and rocket attacks from inside the war torn country should also stop radical groups or coming close to its territory if indeed assad's government does

for a security fence is also being a record along the frontier with syria on the golan heights however many see this as an exaggeration of syrian territory i talked to jamal wakim thinks it has very little to do with security. imposing a buffer zone will make israel in the future to. negotiate over withdrawing from this buffer zone rather than withdrawing from the golan heights this is very similar to the attempt of israel in one thousand seven hundred eight to zero by and impose a buffer zone in self lebanon when it was the same claim that it wanted to defend it's not the border the objective is to annex more territories and at the same time and at them to threaten the massacres that so if israel extends its domain by another seventeen kilometers this will make it reach close very close

to damascus and this is very dangerous to the stability of the regime and with it will give the insurgents like free zone and free base a secure base to launch attacks against the syrian regime so this is a direct and thank them and of israel. it's a quarter past the hour moscow time this is r t panic over immigration at the u.k. looks to put off a bug ariens and run. mania britain considers a negative propaganda campaign against itself to prevent a deluge of newcomers i knew you were strictures are removed next year a report on that is in just a few minutes i'll be off to this quick break. with . science technology innovation all the rest of elements from around russia

we've got the huge earth covered. me is he. ok.

in moscow it's wet and cold so you really shouldn't come and that's not the message from moscow that's the message from the u.k. and it's sending it to fellow e.u. citizens in romania and bulgaria london's looking for ways to cut back on immigration fearing the eastern europeans will flood britain when given unrestricted access to the e.u. in twenty four seen as on his police reports romania has actually found a way though to try and get even with the u.k. . we show many things going for our country the english language testing times brilliant history very creative people some of the best universities in the world a great place to do business we need to stand up and shout about how great britain is and get people to come and invest and visit but that's not the message that europe's newest member states will be getting come january twenty fourth team twenty nine million rumanians i'm gary and i will be able to live and work anywhere

in europe including britain but the u.k. government is reportedly brainstorming ways to dissuade what's feared could be a flood of eastern european immigrants from coming to britain one idea a negative advertising campaign where the government would say britain isn't all it's cracked up to be. that everybody in the world wants to come to england because in the new jobs of the most finest greatest country for english people it is that they seem to forget that remain in france and remain as a beautiful country loving warm exciting country to live in today so when they produce these statistics about thirty million remain. everybody's going to leave and then the last one to light isn't going to be a single person left and then it really is nonsensical as one minister person at

a negative ad campaign would help to correct the impression that these streets are paved with gold but even considering how to push off would be migrants the british government has managed to offend not one but two whole countries and now one rumania newspaper has decided that rather than getting mad it's going to get even instead. the prime advertising campaign says that since living in the u.k. is no walk in the part brits should move to remain a instead stereotypes about. british food women and even the royal family come under fire danger by the british people to come to romania are going their hero half of our women look like kate and the other half like her sister so this is a funny campaign but if you can see behind it there's actually a serious message which is that romania had still valuable resources intelligence

and schumer and that britain should take advantage of this next wave of immigrants instead of marking their nevertheless last month the u.k. home secretary said that migration puts downward pressure on wages and has a bad influence on social cohesion and some ministers have suggested limiting remain in zimbabwe garion access to health services and housing when they arrive as you can imagine not all the romanians living in the u.k. are cleaning the toilets some of them are highly qualified even to understudies there so they find this a very aggressive and under society campaign really whether or not the anti britain campaign will ever make it to a billboard near bucharest is now beside the point the british government has already made the ease newest members feel that little bit less welcome here. r.t. london. and online for you right now at r.t. dot com that barack obama. in chief american president cannot launch cyber war in

whichever country he wants with just the push of a button even if there's no concrete evidence of a threat a lot of details on that on our website. also there for you right now the city in pakistan where osama bin laden was killed is to get a far make over to try and improve its image if you go online to our website you can find out what the former home of the world's most wanted terrorist has in mind . for other people in oil rich gulf states enjoyed. high standards of living because they're sitting on a treasure chest of natural resources but countries such as britain and kuwait haven't been immune to popular unrest resorting to harsh crackdowns against protesters and one man in kuwait who received a ten year jail term for criticizing the amir on twitter that's following a five year sentence for another man on similar charges. examines the struggles plaguing the people of prosperous kingdoms.

soon. finds life in the gulf used to look like this. but the black gold hidden beneath the sands transforms the arabian states from inhospitable deserts came storing structures of glass and steel physical testaments to their wealth and power in a wider region known for its tinderbox tensions the gulf monarchies have stood out for their relative stability and for an oil dependent west eager for a military stronghold to counter iran the gulf became a strategic away says petro dollars to help to insulate the gulf against economic hardships plaguing other states but not against popular uprisings now the gulf monarchies as a whole have been struggling to stave off the effects of the arab spring with varying degrees of success kuwait has largely seen as the most tolerant of the gulf countries but the worry is that the trend could be reversed activists say that it already has been political gatherings of more than twenty people are banned as are

political parties and when the last opposition dominated parliament challenge the ruling authorities it was dismissed voting rules were changed to ensure critics say a more compliant parliament speaking out against the system has landed many activists in jail just as for those who took to the streets to protest we were beaten up by. the special forces team and the sound bombs and but on and after the modish whoever it is on the street isn't just being detained and thrown into jail it's a struggle activists in bahrain are all too familiar with. three days after egypt's former president was ousted from power protests began in both rain like the kuwaitis they weren't demanding an end to the monarchy but more representation at a violent crackdown saw a shift in some of those demands because the new law to stop it is at the different it is against the regime against the. he took the ship by gains that the situation

from one thousand five hundred prison up as we have. every day with the local. security forces in rounding gate is attacking the people at the king and houses as in other gulf states the monarchy blames the unrest on a radical minority they are hardliners they want to see regime change they want to implement their own style of government and impose on the rest of the population. a system of government that is to keep on acceptable these demands called for. minister style democracy capitol hill style democracy in golf but critics disagree saying the protesters simply want their governments to listen i want to comes to violent crackdowns he says westminster and capitol hill simply turn a blind eye to victims because we live in

a country which have the us and then i think. they don't get aboard the people they don't care about the humanity they don't care about the behind the blood they care about though you know. whether in bahrain saudi arabia qatar oman or kuwait seems like this one are becoming increasingly more common but nasa chose a police like this one show that the gulf oil wealth alone isn't enough to insulate the countries from people taking to the streets and demanding a greater say in their political system and unless the monarchies show themselves willing to listen their stability may prove to be a mirage you see caffein of our t. kuwait. our interest on the world update here on out say for now those same sex couples won't be allowed to adopt russian children the country's child rights chief was responding off to being august how legalization of gay marriage in france could influence french parents looking to adopt from russia and the campaign for and

against sex same. marriage in france has been escalating and the parliament voted in favor of redefining marriage as an agreement between two people not just a man and a woman by the russian constitution does not however recognize gay married couples which prevents them from adopting russian also has a ban on adoption by american parents it says the u.s. hasn't done enough following a series of russian adoptive children being abused or killed. or into the aussie will go very quickly starting with this story here that at least two children have been injured by a hand grenade in the northern cause of our city of mithridates a boy and a girl aged three and nine suffered shrapnel wounds when the grenade was thrown through a window over the home by an unknown attacker who did escape it was the third such attack in less than twenty four hours the thought of it remains divided between serbians in the north and albanians in the south poles of a has suffered from often violent ethnic tensions ever since declaring independence from serbia in two thousand and eight. israeli forces arrested twenty three how

members adorn in the occupied west bank some were reportedly lawmakers so far israel has not given a reason for the raid hamas branded the move a criminal attempt to prevent a national reconciliation reconciliation for palestinians hamas is considered a terrorist organization by israel the us and the e.u. despite winning the last palestinian parliamentary elections six years ago. now the u.s. government is expected to sue ratings agency standard and poor's accusing it of overvaluing the subprime mortgage debt which caused the global financial crisis s.m.p. insists it merely underestimated the scale of the market's deterioration it's the first time a government has sued a ratings agency. been accused of vested interests because they're paid by the same companies they access. the u.s.

and south korea are flexing their military muscles in the east china sea and it fears north korea is preparing for yet another nuclear test seoul said the drills are part of a regular military training mission claims it's a plot to attack it she won rights lawyer and co-founder of the national campaign to end the korean war eric he says washington's making an already to fly much or a situation even worse it's the worst thing you can do under these circumstances is to inflame volatile situation to conduct these military exercises that always inflame that use live ammunition up and down the border with north korea this is inflammatory on a lot of levels and we need to step back these naval exercises it's like a race to the bottom if you will when are we going to get more creative in the way that we resolve conflict in this world this conflict gives us such an opportunity within.