courts controversy with a secretive passport revoking crackdown barring its own citizens without warning or clear evidence. pro israeli lobbyist seek to ensure the u.s. support in case of a strike on iran the group's gathering also triggers protests against israel's policies in the region. plus mass protests on a grounded flights striking workers of the spanish airline iberia plan more action against the british management which looks set to axe thousands of jobs. good evening we've got world news and analysis live from our moscow headquarters here watching our t.v. with me lucy catherine of well on to our top story a highly secretive security program is raising eyebrows in the united kingdom where

the government has been revoking the passports of certain citizens that it considers to be dangerous to the state many of those on the blacklist were born in britain and received no explanation as to why they've been barred from their very own country the passports were often revoked with no warning when their holders were abroad it's a tactic that some have dubbed medieval exile will have to take a closer look now we begin with the below all bird jawi who came to the united kingdom as a baby he grew up there but had a citizenship revoked almost three years ago he was later killed in a u.s. drone strike in somalia and his close friend british born mohammad sacar had suffered a similar fate he was a private of his nationality and also killed by a u.s. drone attack in somalia that same year a sudanese a british man took his four british children on holiday to sudan shortly after leaving he was stripped of us passport and his children were prevented from growing up in the united kingdom and in another case

a british born family including three children all ended up losing their citizenship while they were located in pakistan largely as a farmer had spoken to the man who first broke the story. well the full extent of chilling government program to rid the country of suspect terrorists has been revealed we now know that over the last three years sixteen people have had been stripped of their british passports and the grounds of national security critics claim that these suspects have little chance of appeal with human rights lawyers actually describing the whole process as mediæval and sinister well to talk more about this is chris words from the bureau investigative journalism which actually broke this story chris with a new report it says or people are claiming that this completely ignores people's human rights and also the basic principle of innocent until proven guilty what is the evidence to support this all of these sixteen individuals have had citizenship revoked their passports canceled on the personal side of the home secretary so the

courts have had no say in this process we don't know the evidence that's been laid against these men. and even if they are able to get an appeal which is very very difficult that appeal will mostly be heard in secret and again those affected and their lawyers may never know the true extent of the evidence against them so it's a very secretive process in which the rule of law really does seem to be absent in some places and that's been commented on by judges sitting looking at this present some of you raised the point that the government has waited until you've got a family on the bench for example before stepping in and removing her citizenship effectively locking the door behind people who are not only locking those affected out of the country but their families as well the children who are british british born unable to come back into the country without separating the families and so on so this can have very serious implications far beyond the situation as we know to these suspects have actually been killed by u.s. trained strikes is that a coincidence there's no proof yet of any direct connection between those events

but certainly people are asking questions it is clear that those people died after the certain shit was removed as part of an active targeting by the you know it. and again neither of those individuals were ever charged with any offense in the u.k. we know they were accused of serious terrorist offenses but there were no charges ever laid against them chris thank you we will have to leave it there it is worth pointing out that the government has had these powers since two thousand and two well there it is this current government is really ramped up its use and over the last three years the number of cases has increased from six to twenty one and of course as we've heard the government only has to publicly justify what it's doing on the grounds it is in the interests of national security. well as we just heard there some allegations of a british american connection in this controversial program last june a former london based care worker there he is on the screen right there he ended up losing his citizenship and was allegedly pressured by the british secret service

into working for them as an informant he ended up rejecting the m i five offer and afterwards he was reportedly secretly rendered to the united states where he currently is facing terrorism charges well we caught up with his father who says that his son is being unlawfully persecuted it was unexpected and shocked to the whole family who are pretty sure who are leads he all of us leave us a pretty sick but it's a lot of a shock to us who have wondered how it could be like that for someone just to be this is this is just to be provoked like that has been removed from what he was out of the car that he was away and it was even hard for us to contact him to appeal against the kids all i can see is that my the he's a muslim and belief and he's a practicing muslim but being approximately is not being an islamist. that's why that's always been victimized. diplomacy is failing and military action against iran should be seriously considered that at least is the general tune at the

american israeli public affairs committee conference underway in washington more commonly known as a pack where then ten thousand delegates have gathered to push for greater u.s. backing of the jewish state to make up for a series of setbacks some have argued that the pro is lower israeli lobby has recently suffered but the meeting has drawn a not only media attention but also rather colorful protests there you see them there with signs reading settlements more than one hundred activists have descended on the venue to express their anger with what they see as america's unconditional aliya an alliance with israel among other concerns the aggressive settlement expansion on land palestine considers to be part of its territory well it is going to educate and has more on what's been said act and outside of the apac conference . apac is pushing for a congressional resolution that would say should israel decide to strike iran the u.s. would give all the support including military or oceanus mosque to humane fabre.

we have stated this time in the game and we expect those who say to me this kind of a congressional green light for preemptive strike although non-binding is seen by some as a way to put more pressure on the obama administration which so far has been reluctant to see the us dragged into another war in the middle east the moonless will never abandon their nuclear efforts unless they genuinely believe that america is serious about keeping all options on the table. i many of the conference said they thought the administration was soft on iran but that's a view that was expressed on the sidelines not from the podium the potential of israeli nuclear defense is the only thing that's keeping the country alive not relying on america because obama has not been forthcoming in defending them against iran in fact he's been stalling them apac is also pushing for legislation that

would designate israel as a major strategic ally of the united states the question many ask is why does the country that's perceived as being closest to america suddenly need the congressional seal the folk who will now according to an n.b.c. wall street journal poll that came out just a few days ago fifty five percent of americans now no longer want any sort of preference between either side of the israeli palestinian conflict the lobby may view this is a chance particularly in the face of sequestration where there could be cut just across the board almost two hundred million dollars they could view this as a last chance to tie in support. just a huge. she of the subject the conflict with the palestinians has received considerably less attention at the summit then iran but the general impression here is that what's widely regarded as the most influential lobby in the american politics has detected a potential threat not just from israel's neighbors but from inside washington

itself. in the wake of two wars in a battered economy we see signs of an increasing desire to disengage from world events and focus inward. this growing yearning to untangle from what is perceived as too complicated a world effects both parties conservatives and liberals alike they just want out. for israel even the tendency toward isolationism is extremely dangerous refusing to speak on camera some of the delegates expressed frustration over the president's decision to nominate chuck hagel as defense secretary chuck hagel is known to have been critical of the pro israel lobby president obama will not be speaking at the conference this year but he'll be traveling to israel at the end of the month and one of the speakers here said it's going to be a real challenge for him to show that deep down and i quote him he really understands israel and the threats that he faces that gives an impression that the

party is not too happy about the administration seemingly trying to play down the war talk in washington i'm going to check on. well it's not just war talk but also money talk that's dominating this year's apac conference as really long want to ensure that aid to israel is exempt from the looming u.s. spending cuts under the sequestration and while remains to be seen whether they will actually succeed we here at r.t.e. are interested in your opinion on whether these cuts will actually affect the amount of aid that israel receives so we decided to break down our online poll results for you to see how those of you who have cast your ballot decided to vote and as you can see right here forty four percent almost half of you believe that the israeli lobby is simply too influential to actually allow for the funding to be slashed a third of you thirty three percent in the purple right there believe the opposite you guys say that all foreign handouts must be reduced regardless now almost a fifth in the orange believe that the aid is too critical for israel's survival to

actually be cut and a small minority just four percent in the green right there say that the lobby will agree to the cuts but only if the united states in turn backs israel in a potential strike on iran well i certainly don't see that happening any time soon of course you can log on it's not too late to cast your ballot or web site address is r t dot com so log on and have your say. at least five people have been killed six hundred injured in fresh clashes between protesters and the police in the egyptian city of port syeed violence erupted as

hundreds of people demonstrated to demand justice in a trial over last year's deadly football riot r.t.l. true has been following the an arrest from cairo. looks like the clashes have been continuing overnight in this restive total cost the city of port sayit with the death toll rising what happened was the thirty nine defendants in this point saeed football massacre that occurred last february were moved by security forces angering families who gathered at the security directorate to protest and then clashed with the police force the army asked to come into the streets to calm the situation down there were a confusing reports yesterday that the army were actually attacking the police something that the military actually said didn't happen however we expect this to continue as we look ahead to two suffered a verdict on the remaining defendants in this. football massacre we've also seen violence in months or of the nile delta city after

a young man was run over by a police vehicle touring demonstrations dr tunis here in cairo there's been quite restive here as well the police forces in the early hours of yesterday morning attempted to clear the crease and open up to traffic this and get protesters clashed with police on the cornish and close the square behind me including erecting further tents this is of course is happening in the background of the visit from the u.s. secretary of state there's been a lot of anger here in egypt when the u.s. secretary of state came including at his first meeting on saturday protesters gathered in front of the foreign ministry burning effigies of john kerry saying he was blind could be supporting the muslim brotherhood and pursuing the american interests as john kerry left yesterday evening culture is the hard core football fans who quite a politicized groups actually blocked the airport meaning he was delayed by two hours before he left. true reporting there from cairo well after egypt u.s.

secretary of state john kerry had set off for saudi arabia in order to touch base with the rulers of the gulf monarchies including bihari and of course kuwait in just a few minutes we'll be looking into why the united states is a light itself with some of the region's most controversial. technology innovation all the developments around russia. the future of harvard. sometimes you see the story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know. is a big. deal

to. you. so good to have you with us this evening i'm lucy kaplan of and of course you're watching r.t. well after his two day trip to egypt john kerry met with the foreign ministers of the gulf cooperation council has held talks with the region's leaders in saudi arabia this before flying to the u.a.e.

and qatar well it speak now live with journalist neil clark a contributor contributor to the british guardian newspaper who has written extensively on the middle east sir thank you for joining us welcome to the program of course some of the stuff monarchy is on kerry is talks with up come under severe criticism for repression on their own turf for a vote most notably talking about bahrain and of course saudi arabia given the u.s. commitment to supposedly spreading democracy around the globe how does the lions sit with that commitment. but it doesn't it at all does it i think it highlights of the glaring hypocrisy which underlies the whole of u.s. policy and it's very interesting to compare the u.s. policy towards syria with a saudi arabia because last february syrian government announced a new constitution a new democratic constitution that was our. elections etc what was the us response it was to announce it as a sham present a sad was playing games it was dismissed entirely and the saudis haven't got

anywhere near as much as that in terms of democratic reform but this sort of reform in inverted commas labe introduced to be very very tasty and yet the us praise saudi arabia so i think it shows if you compare syria saudi arabia the glaring hypocrisy of the us well why such a difference in the approach in your appeal why there's a so called her pocket see as the refer to it. well contracts arms deals. the fact of the game is that the u.s. you know when it talks about spreading democracy what it really wants what it does is it uses human rights violations as a pretext for intervention and quit trying to destabilize and topple regime which are in need of well enough u.s. interests and we've seen classic examples of that down the ages we've already ninety nine in kosovo where we were told there was genocide taking place to get across how brains were the yugoslav authorities that wasn't true and that was a pretext for the bombardment of that country with the aim of bring about regime change would happen in two thousand so we see this human rights the iraq receipt

kind of you have the whole you know hold out by the americans to kind of topple governments which aren't following the line who are toeing the us line whereas countries with actually far worse off on democracy and rights like saudi arabia are given arms are giving economic you know those economic relationships with the u.s. and so it's a completely people who are going with with them and meal you've mentioned the arms deals the oil contracts of course the u.s. does have some of the largest arms exports to saudi arabia for example but when you mention the years as interests do you believe that it's just about these economic issues or is there a wider perhaps a geo political interest that the united states has in that region specifically. definitely won't will these autocratic go states are the way which the u.s. has for decades maintained its control of this very important region having these kind of leaders there the undemocratic leaders in saudi arabia bahrain qatar etc this is the way in which the u.s. can maintain its control of this very strategically important region and of course

now there's a big problem because these governments the these autocratic regimes and in the gulf are coming under increasing popular pressure and we see now quite clearly the proxy of the u.s. because these great promoters of democracy when it comes to bahrain and saudi arabia are not siding with the protesters they're not signing with the opposition but they are in syria on the contrary they're sending more military hardware to these countries and they are supporting crackdowns on the opposition so you know there's no way that the u.s. i'm afraid will allow regime change and go to cause in bahrain. and i'm curious given be growing calls for democratic change in countries like kuwait and bahrain for instance do you envision a situation where the u.s. might shift its position sort of the way it did in egypt when it went from a backing hosni mubarak to backing the calls for change and the revolution there and i don't lou to see the reason why because egypt is very different i think that egypt is very economically dependent on u.s. aid and this analysis so that the u.s.

will completely bar it goes where would come into power would still be dependent on u.s. money and the brown envelopes in our if you like whereas in bahrain for instance of saudi arabia's arabia who asked all reserves so if they were the opposition were to take power or new groups works take power in those countries that it would have their own natural resources so they would be naturally more economically independent of the u.s. and the u.s. would not have the whole of them and the other factor of course is the opposition in bahrain and these other gulf states in the shiite of the solution and these would be likely to be very friendly with iran be the ultimate nightmare. all right well thank you so much weighing in on all those issues there regarding a secretary of state john kerry's visit journalist neil clark. actually. staff at iberia are set to ground more than a thousand of the spanish airlines flights as they protest against the job and pay cuts the firm plans to lay off around a fifth of its workforce in the latest blow to the struggling euro zone member spain already has one of the highest unemployment rates in the block parties test

arcilla reports now. the staff of the iberian airlines one of the national carriers has taken this to heart taking it personally there's been a rise of the anti british a sentiment there and now this. as well as job cuts it has been a result of iberia merging with british airways forming the group and says this announcement had come to pass we've already seen the people taking to the streets those working for iberia and we've seen putting out a poster saying british go home and the workers unions are also been calling the management a betrayer is that they have actually betrayed the spanish people by selling spanish national interests to foreign interests that's what they're calling this there has been a three months of negotiations between the unions and the management which should not see any deal and therefore leading to about three thousand eight hundred jobs wanting to be caught as well as one thousand two hundred seventy flights that are

a grounded today now this is certainly paralyzing to the spanish economy not to mention adding on to the twenty six percent of unemployed already and steering here some sort of nationalist a sentimental wanting to protect their own interests of course over what they see as mediation from foreigners at this point reaction from the euro bloc especially specifically the euro zone have been pretty much one block dealing with billions of debt anyone with that amount of debt would be having a headache trying to deal with this cyprus is the latest that they're going to talk about bailing out at this point cyprus and the warning bells for the country has already been sounding as of last year but no deal has been made and today they're trying to move that forward and this is just the latest of a string of countries already that have had to be allowed and also portugal in arlon want to renegotiate their bailout plans that have already been received they want more time for their money and this is despite leaders saying that they are on track or that begs the question if they are indeed on track why would they need

more time for restructuring debt again making markets and investors jittery to today they're dealing with cyprus despair loud and as well as the protests in spain but the question among nervous investors and concerned citizens is to morrow who is it going to be and how much more is it going to hurt. artists are still reporting there well it's time for a quick world update and we begin in kenya or at least fifteen people in order to have been killed in a series of attacks on police stations on the day of kenya's presidential election the government has blamed the killings on a separatist group the republican council kenyans are electing a new leader for the first time since a controversial two thousand and seven vote that sparked weeks of deadly interethnic violence. the cardinals of the catholic church have gathered in vatican city for a first round of meetings to choose a new pope they're going to be picking a date and setting procedures for the vote the search for a successor to pope benedict the sixteenth who resigned last month comes amid

a scandal involving the british cardinal keith o'brien who had to step down over allegations of sexual misconduct. europe's battle between faith and atheism grabs the attention of our debate show cross talk which is coming up later this hour. first of all when many people refer to religion they refer to it as organized religion and that's a big problem with atheism and and why you can't refer to atheism as a religion because there's no real organization to it it's like having a meeting of anarchists generally and and i think it's hard to know as they don't want to head round it doesn't matter because they don't want to vote out yet has but you know they don't not very well they don't want to vote on anything and i i think i guess i might list myself as as an atheist but i i like to think that hopefully there's some kind of higher power but i don't want to look at him in the classical way of some some god like guy saying you know that rob tells driving down the cross bronx expressway that is going to get

a car accident break his arm i mean that's that's a real religious extremism but i just think the big problem right now in our in this country's specifically and in the world is what religion has always polarized us and separated us into war to support. these people. a moscow court has resumed hearings in the trial of the late russian lawyer sergei magnitsky but manthey was the last arrested five years ago on tax fraud charges but diet of one year later in pretrial detention causing a scandal between russia and the u.s. over human rights violations his supporters say that he was jailed because he accused state officials of corruption and that he was abused while he was in prison or teens aleksei or shot ski has more on this case where the prosecution has

justified his decision to resume the case against magnitsky which was stopped in two thousand and nine after his death because even despite that the man in question has been dead for more than three years because the case has been so much controversial and there is a certain need to fly. in doubt whether magnitsky had anything to do with the alleged embezzlement and tax evasion something he was accused of back in two thousand and eight when he was arrested the family of the deceased man said that they would not participate in this trial believing that this trial is a violation of human rights but the prosecution insists that this is not a violation of the law despite that the man is dead they still want to find out whether those accusations against him had any substance behind them but mr was arrested in two thousand and eight accused of helping his supervisor william browder to evade taxes of more than one hundred million dollars later in two thousand and nine he died in custody allegedly because of mistreatment it's also worth mentioning that it was not the original magnitsky case which sparked lots of

control over seeds was the fact of his death in detention which. sparked huge spats between washington and moscow with the u.s. congress passing the so-called magnitsky act which imposed a string of sanctions on the russian officials travel sanctions travel bans in particular those officials who the u.s. believes to be associated with the death of sygate among need ski the russians they do responded with sanctions on us human rights violations as it was described of their own including a ban off on the sins of the russian children by u.s. citizens right folks unfortunately that's it for me this evening but stay with our cross talk with peter lavelle is coming up after a short break.