an act of defiance more than one hundred guantanamo prisoners on a hunger strike putting their lives on the line with the u.s. military downplaying the scale of the protest. a peaceful vigil turns violent in new york protesters event fury over the police killing of a black teenager blaming the cops for racism and brutality. and out of the city but nothing to celebrate two years of unrest in syria inspired by the arab spring revolutionary by but it's resulted in a civil war that's claimed tens of thousands of lives. eleven am in moscow i matter as

a good to have you with us here on r t our top story more than one hundred prisoners of the guantanamo camp have been on a huge strike for a hunger strike for five weeks now in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their plight the strike was launched in protest against the confiscation of their letters legal mail and rough handling of their qur'an their lawyers and human rights activists sounding the alarm over their critical condition and u.s. military officials claim nobody is in danger or he's guy and he takes a look. guantanamo detainees have been on a hunger strike for more than a month now the facility which is now on strike holds most of the inmates there one hundred thirty people out of one hundred sixty six the total number of prisoners at guantanamo the detainees through their lawyers say most of them are taking part in this we cannot verify exactly how many were left a message with robert do ran the media person from guantanamo very much hope he will get back to us the attorneys for the detainees are saying their health is deteriorating we spoke with. her client there says he lost twenty pounds is the

beginning of the strike at the beginning of february said she and a number of other attorneys had sent a letter with their questions to the authorities at guantanamo copying the justice department she said they hadn't responded yet. at this point the strike is more than thirty days old and by day forty by we understand from medical experts there are serious health repercussions that start happening like last hearing full blindness and in a couple of weeks worse than that ultimately you know substantial as they are for this well and if strikes continue for weeks no response to that letter so our parties also say they want to response from the authorities more meaningful than the few remarks by the prison spokesperson in the media robert duran i mentioned him earlier responded to the allegations that the prisoners copies of the koran had been mistreated and that's what presumably triggered the strike he said it was a routine search for contraband and quote the koran is treated with the outmost

respect end of quote it may very well be so from the conversations that we had with the lawyers i got a sense that this act of desperation is not just about the koran the lawyers are saying that these detainees desperately want to get the word out about the situation that they're in not formally accused of anything not knowing whether they're ever going to see their day in court detained indefinitely the u.n. says holding detainees indefinitely at guantanamo bay amounts to torture four years ago president obama signed an executive order to stop torture there but according to the u.n. indefinite detention itself is also a form of torture it's hard to measure the degree of desperation among the inmates there half of them eighty six to be precise are sitting there with papers from the u.s. government which can clear them for release and yet they're still there are human rights organizations were poured hundreds of suicide attempts at least seven of them were successful a detainee named odd non latif took his own life last september he was cleared for

release by both bush and obama administrations and yet never released he had spent eleven years at one tunnel that gives some idea about the level of hopelessness cause. by indefinite detention so it's somewhat obvious that through this hunger strike the detainees want to make themselves heard and it's not easy or one of very few channels to congress this story there is a desire to kind of forget about one tunnel it's very much reflected in the mainstream media here and in the scarce reporting that we have seen on the air in washington i'm going to check on lawyers of on top of most prisoners of sent a letter to u.s. defense secretary hagel urging him to help end the strike one of them eric montoya both says running the facility and spending millions in doing so is absurd with those cleared of all charges by the administration still held there for no reason there are people in guantanamo bay right now that have been determined by the obama

administration to be clear of any charges but they languish down there because we have policies of no transport to certain countries like yemen it's really an abominable you know humanitarian situation where you're depriving these people of life and liberty and for no really valid basis president obama in his first term within twenty four hours said you know i'm going to close guantanamo bay because this doesn't need to exist and yet we sit here how many years later and we talk about you know all of the the budget cuts and all the concerns in the millions and millions and millions of dollars that we're spending upon this facility the medical care the transportation of personnel to and from the of creative the facilities it's just nonsense a call it makes absolutely no sense and somebody needs to go down there make some decisions and clear their place out because it has no purpose

other than babysitting a bunch of adult people that have been cleared of any wrongdoing and they just need to be you know sent sent home. people have gathered once again in new york's bar of brooklyn for a fourth night of venting anger over the police killing of a black sixteen year old the area was packed with police and dozens were arrested when violence broke out protesters accuse the n.y.p.d. of systemic racism and brutality marine important has more. in a rage crowd split off from the vigil broke out into the streets and subsequently clashed with police officers dressed in riot gear what fueled all these anger is the fact that the autopsy on come on was released wednesday indicating that the sixteen year old boy was struck by the seven times by bullets and three of those bullets hit him from behind and this clearly fueled the anger that has that has already been boiling for days many new yorkers believe that this is another

indication other example of a police brutality of police targeting minorities according to the new york city police department what they say is that on saturday evening two plainclothes officers got out of a car. around eleven thirty pm it was an unmarked car and were approaching come on a grade they said and at that point he was shuffling with his pants or his belts and according to police they say that gray pulled out a gun and pointed it at the under cover officers and knots when they fired off a levin rounds the teenager shooting him seven times by friends and family of i spoke with one personally told me that this young boy would never ever point a gun at police any police officer let alone you know two that were there on scene come on agrees mother carol gray as well as other relatives are according to

reports planning to hold a press conference in brooklyn thursday afternoon it is not clear what they will yet discuss previously gray's parents said that they would not speak publicly into the violence stops but clearly there's been a change of heart in this news is coming from a spokesperson for the families. it's been two years since the start of the conflict in syria would be good news protests calling for reform and change inspired by the revolt fever coming from the arab spring states. has become a bloody civil war that's killed tens of thousands syria's been torn apart by violence some countries abroad have been trying to settle its future they've only so far helped to fan the flames as we talk now with our g.'s maria if an ocean has been to the country several times she's joining us live here at the desk so all of the pictures that we're seeing in the video that we're seeing drily doing justice to what's happening on the streets there. actually yes matt the country clearly has been devastated for two years of conflict and tibet it is time to what extent i

always compare today syria with the country i once visited before war and hatred and devastation came to these lands maybe you've been there i don't know you've been there three times now really yes and once before the conflict arrived there and it's been an amazing country beautiful country with friendly people open people open minded with a sense of humor a pride dignity and a country of unique cuisine very cheap country by the way ideal place to visit top quality distillation if you want and what we see today the country is destroyed. and its heritage is damaged and despair is in the and fight is in the air so it's very painful to look at how the country actually has been changed and how people have been suffering i mean when you walk down the streets do you actually

see the effects of the fighting or is it still damascus still the city that it was absolutely i mean you can see everywhere you feel the terror where war is everywhere right now i mean i've been there three times the first time i was there in two thousand and seven in august and it was just the beginning to several months after the event started and it was in several cities throughout syria but in damascus alive fluked very normal people smoking shisha taking a dinner is drinking coffee everywhere like like nothing happening but now after two years it's like war has penetrated to every corner in syria to every corner every so every syrian i would say this is something that they talk about when you're there when the people see you they want to talk about the conflict or what do they say. you know i've heard many things that shocked me first for example i've talked wants to to to to a father whose son was just killed in

a fight in the clashes he was he was so-called process side and he told me that i was like how you feel about that you just lost your kid and he was like i'm proud to be the father of a martyr because this is this is a fight against forces that. want to destroy our country and i want to protect my country and here is my input to this fight do you imagine that many many things like that but but in general maybe at the beginning we have been able to speak to people supporting revolution and opposing the and they've been of course encouraged by arab spring revolutions and they've been excited and they've been believing in changes but you know even those people now two years on they say we are tired well people are extremely tired in syria and even

can say that many of those who have started that have initiate who have taken part in the events of the beginning now regret because no one expected or no one wanted that to go that far and maybe now they say now it's a lose lose situation i don't know who benefits from that but people are suffering . several times did you ever feel like your life was in danger what were some of the scary moments for you yes i did feel many times that my life was in danger but you know what the most the scariest thing in syria was not about security was not about constant danger but the hardest thing for me and for my crew was to to understand that to digest if you want that. peace and war we're sharing the same reality and gunmen killing innocent civilians and children. we had been cutting hides of other people and again civilians taking dinners and families

walking on the streets in the same place at the same time and me is part of this reality as well that was there was the most difficult thing to understand. of the future for the people there what do they say they want what do they hope to . despise in their people are desperate people are tired but of course they still see the future in syria but not in syria which is right now on the ground but in that syria that they used to leave before it's been a country of an amazing diversity it's been it's been one of the strongest points of syrians and actually and actually it's it's been eventually turned to this series weakest points and i've been working on these ideas and here's my report about that. this part of syria known as mesopotamia between the tigris and euphrates rivers is considered a cradle of civilization has been home to many asked nic and religious groups

living in peace and harmony for ages people here believe this diversity is serious strong point but some warn it could also be used against the country and that's something to destroy. and the regime slogans in syria have been repeated to the longest of the arab spring countries but assad didn't step down within weeks like the leaders of to measure and egypt nor did his regime fall within months like colonel gadhafi is in libya opposing sides have gone beyond demonstrations and clashes killings have become an everyday reality those wanting a son to go both at home and abroad have decided to target would hurt the most serious diversity pitting people against each other after every massacre and every killing rivers of blood have been joined by streams of mutual accusations and hatred. the first blow was dealt to relations between the country's sunni majority

and the ruling she had minority some more ignorant position and sometimes you need to grow. in order to make a city and it's not to me once that when i don't. keep our unity we live in all of all of. it gabriel a poise from commercially livin in syria's north east all green sunni dominated turkey and mostly shia iraq says here in about six tarion intolerance is something new for syria and very alarming. with feel this pressure from months now especially from gulf countries trying to drag us to this perilous share soon again it's a big threat because a tear society from the inside. and some say it's been feud from the outside it is part of the u.s. strategy and some of the western strategy is to destroy syria by syrians and by

arabs and this they are doing successfully another blow followed with an explosion at palestinian refugee camps in syria and the cold blooded murder of palestinian conscripts these drive a wedge between the two arab peoples previously on friendly terms. they wanted to both weaken the regime and spread despair among palestinians. with kurdish villages in syria's northeast targeted the kurdish syrian peaceful coexistence has also been endangered but on a kind of its approval cations appear in very dangerous moment syrian kurds want to be integrated into syrian society have rights and be respected some turkish occurrence maybe do as early ones killing his own people we've never been treated like that of course when violence targets us it can't not affect relations. and fears are that those who want to see the fall of the regime will weakness the

countries home. from syria. the leaders of britain and france claim they could well supply weapons to the syrian rebels despite a un embargo russia said that any attempt to do so there would be a breach of international law on our website we're asking where any foreign arms supplier to see to it and the assad fighters could lead so far thirty seven percent of respondents say this would pause other countries to arm both sides ultimately setting the whole region on fire about this same believe that this will only lead to more deaths but a quarter think that such a move would spark a worldwide diplomatic crisis and a minority only seven percent think this will end the conflict with the opposition when claiming the victory we want to know what you think click on r.t. dot com cast your vote while answering that very same question r t contributor option written see things that will eventually backfire on western states if they are syrian rebels. by definition that would be supplied by the french and british governments would be in the wrong hands because they are supplying rebels in

a civil war and therefore they are the wrong hands no matter who britain or france and so this is i suppose what's interesting here is that washington is much more nervous about the arming of rebels because they are obviously concerned that the afghanistan scenario is beginning yet again but it is so sad that leaders of countries like france and britain can think of these limits because the blowback will be phenomenal also on our website war crimes of syrian rebels allegedly on the rise human rights groups raise the alarm over opposition fighters resorting to torture summary execution and kidnappings why don't more on our t.v. dot com. and coming your way on our t.v. all eyes on beijing china ushering in new leaders we bring you expert opinion after

this short break stay with us. these are decent faces a freedom fighter. and. clear ready to clean up a new sort of. liberty . salute play free float. up. like to be treated this way. an archie. speak for language.

programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world's hot spots skiffy ip interviews intriguing story for you to. see in trying. to find out more visit our big t.v. show it's called.

thanks for staying with us here on r t twenty one minutes past the hour now china is officially reassigned its top jobs ushering in the new premier and president lee qui carrying has become the head of the government xi jinping has assumed the presidency in a once in a decade transition of power there the newly elected president already held phone talks with u.s. president barack obama and said it was about mutual respect washington's been trying to gain a stronger foothold in asia continuously seen as one of its top foreign policy goals and show support to regional allies japan and south korea it's been expanding extending its military region the region china expert martin jake's been famous thinks the move the more china grows in power the more concerned the u.s. may become that's the whole way now in which the chinese leadership is constructed i mean if it's going to shift it's not a shift now it will shift in several years down the road i think what it means for

nations with the united states i mean relations with the united states have stayed to be getting more complicated and i think the reason for that is because the fool you know china was very much still a developing country a much weaker global power down the united states but china of course has been growing like crazy is more and more present around the world in different continents in different countries so the interests are a lot of will to be in conflict areas that were previously the case and i think this is the reason why it's getting more complicated. it's a question that's dogged experts for generations could there be life on the red planet when our european space agency with some help for russia is trying to figure out the mission exo mars will drill thirty times deeper than the surface of mars than the curiosity rover has managed so far russia will supply rockets and

facilitate launches from the bike owner site in kazakhstan or. more the search for past or present life on mars clinton news this time scientists are digging deep the mars project is based on it to freeze exploration first in two thousand and sixteen russian proton heavy rocket to usually used for delivering satellites and space station components should blast off from out of cosmodrome in kazakhstan sending a european orbital pool and a stationary test lander to the red planet speech to his plan for two thousand and eighteen one a second proton rocket will deliver a ruler named pastor after landing it will then begin tracing the life on mars this includes drilling two meters deep into the ground that's around six and a half feet to collect samples the mission's other objective is to study mars a surface to find out what dangers there may be for future manned missions

barrelful dust storms extreme temperatures radiation and so on are not exactly your ideal working conditions the european space agency has already invested over four hundred million euro into the project which was initially supposed to be conducted with nasa but it backed out due to financial constraints russia on the other hand was happy to jump in and the science providing delivery vehicles including the a landing pod will also develop some of these scientific equipment so far the red planet has only been visited by u.s. vehicles exile mars will be europe's first visit to the red planet to spin off r.t. . remember we're not only on the screen we're online as well there you can find the price of war that's claimed thousands of lives actually be tallied up as we report on r.t. dot com a new study says yes claiming the u.s. led conflict in iraq has caused one point seven trillion dollars a figure far greater than first thought plus. while already giving intelligence

services access to private data without a court order skype is still being pressured into registering as a telecom agency that would allow intelligence to operate around a series of legal loopholes more on that on our t.v. dot com. the catholic church has a new leader argentine cardinal jorge mario bergoglio has become the first pope ever from the americas and the first from beyond europe for more than a thousand years the search for a man to lead more than a billion worldwide catholic started after the previous pontiff but addict this exchange unexpectedly stepped down the main task ahead for the new pope will be to rebuild the church his reputation after a spate of scandals from his forerunner benedict the sixteenth francis has inherited problems surrounding the vatileaks the publication of leaked data that showed the vatican drawn into deep corruption there released by an italian journalist of a book containing confidential letter is between the acts head of the catholic church and his secretary added to the tension revealing the pontiff personal

finances and involvement in bribery and other challenge facing pope francis will be how to reform the finances of the vatican bank italian journalist franco a leave of things that needs to be such a large spiritual rebranding of the church will be a tough task especially in crisis hit europe. nobody good comes from so the mere your view should very very well be for the study . of terms which will. be should read. especially in europe where you get you know that you're doing fine there. you know that you're in the region. she's going to be to be programmed if you will did you know they were jewish to do that you know.

turning now to some other stories making global headlines this hour thousands of shia protesters clashed with riot police in bahrain marking two years since the saudi led crackdown in the nation's pro-democracy uprising protesters burning tires and threw stones at police who responded with stun grenades at least thirty five were wounded clashes the most with violence in the last few weeks bahrain's been locked in political and religious turmoil for years with the shia majority of having a greater voice from sunni was. a blast targeting the office of a television network in the pakistani city of karachi is left three dead five wounded remotely detonated two kilo bomb was planted near the office gates in a poor area in the east of the city no groups claim responsibility for the attack ethnic and political tensions in pakistan are running high as the country heads towards a general election in the. ten thousand belgians marched

as e.u. leaders got together to discuss fresh austerity measures police stepped in to arrest protesters after one hundred fifty activists from belgium denmark germany and italy occupied the european union headquarters the demonstrators demanded the block's leaders refocus on employment of the fast track public savings by raising taxes and cutting spending. and finally spain meanwhile thousands of students and professors headed out of the car into the capitol to protest against new austerity the government plans to continue its sharp spending cuts with the country's education system reeling from the severity of the belt tightening student unions claim five billion euros have already been cut from the sector and some eighty eight thousand teachers laid off. coming up two years of fighting and violence are as he looks through the diary of the syrian conflict stay with us.

a un investigator ben emmerson has decided to not let the sins of the recent past go he's demanding that the u.s. government release documents about the cia's program for addition and secret detention of suspected terrorists everson believes that there is now credible evidence that shows that cia black sites were used to extradite suspected terrorists with neither charges nor access to a lawyer you know nothing says protect a democracy like snagging people in foreign countries without even charging them with a crime this huge investigator may have good intentions but the thing is that no matter how much he and his un pals urge the us to prosecute officials connected with torture or expose classified information they really have no power to do anything if you haven't noticed the un is very happy to section and punish certain contraries birdie if you out there are naive enough to think that they'll sanction .