the life threatening mass hunger strike in the guantanamo detention camp continues but prison officials still deny the threat claiming just fourteen inmates are refusing food. decisions on defense washington's dropping a key part of its european missile system citing a lack of money and development problems the pentagon's opting to put more missile interceptors along the u.s. west coast instead. back to earth after a hundred and forty two days in orbit a u.s. astronaut and two russian cosmonauts land in kazakhstan after having completed their mission on the international space station.

here with r.t. live from the russian capital this saturday afternoon it's good to have you with us straight to our top story this hour and the health of detainees at the guantanamo bay prison is under serious threat with a mass hunger strike continuing for more than five weeks now it's claimed more than one hundred inmates the majority of them jailed without charge are refusing food in a desperate act of defiance struggling to draw attention to their plight the camps officials however say any talk of this being a mass strike is a gross exaggeration of one our request for information prison spokesman captain robert ground responded that the number of detainees refusing all food is fourteen today that's risen from six it's the first time the one tunnel officials have admitted the number of hunger strikers has more than doubled following weeks of denial one of the inmates lawyers part is says the authorities are using questionable definitions to played out the scale of the fast how they are defining hunger strike. that is also one clear i think that went on

a most is being very careful in the way that they're they're denying these claims they're saying the number of men who have refused all through the number of men who are being to. these kinds of things there is a question about exactly how the authorities are defining hunger strikers and determining when when they need to be to that our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that guantanamo makes if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion then that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike the military i guantanamo bay argues the hunger strikers are only refusing regular meals while smacking from

pantries however the lawyers who've been to the base were shocked by the physical state of their clients as large as more important iowa details u.s. officials and the mainstream media are used to ignoring alarming reports coming from guantanamo. when the us joined the united nations human rights council back in two thousand and nine president barack obama announced his intention to close the guantanamo bay detention center now as the island prison enters its twelfth year of operation one hundred sixty two you are still languishing there and over forty one hundred thirty are on a life threatening hunger strike the story has been denied by washington and essentially ignored by mainstream media now as our t.v. first reported on tuesday lawyers for the get more prisoners say the men began their hunger strike on february sixth to protest the alleged confiscation of their personal items including letters personal photos bed sheets razors and

also the alleged sacrilegious handling of the qur'an during cell searches now the center for constitutional rights says that they've received reports of detainees coughing blood losing consciousness and being hospitalized attorneys say that if the strike enters its forty fifth day that participants can experience hearing loss and potential blindness now lawyers for the get more prisoners have sent a letter to u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help end the mass hunger strike. in the meantime organizations like the red cross have made attempts to check in on the inmates here's what a representative told r.t. . as far as we can see. are really the result of. defeat.

so has been our position there needs to be a clear legal framework and a transparent process. same goes for those detainees that needs to be transparent in fear to alleviate the strain is really the emotional mental strain that this uncertainty triggers for the detainees of the one hundred sixty six detainees languishing get mao more than how eighty six to be exact have been cleared for release now this week the un said that the us is a violating international human rights law by indefinitely holding prisoners at guantanamo without charge the human rights council is urging washington to quote bring an end to these illegal practices by either prosecuting prisoners in civilian court or releasing them reporting from new york marina point r.t. . human rights activists are sounding alert over what they're calling the critical

situation in guantanamo however there's been no reaction from one of the most powerful groups amnesty international which boasts more than three million supporters in over one hundred fifty countries argy asked its usa researcher rob freer why not having access to detainees is a problem for a human rights organization is something we raise with your priorities we have access you know when when there is a true so-called military commission trial we're allowed to go and observe. trials but we have no access to the detainees themselves and yes of course it's a problem so we have to wait until it is released and so we can speak to this of course leads to yes the reporting of. only individual detainee cases and it leads to a time lag because like i say the law is themselves not spent you know they're not there the whole time it requires declassification of information when they do get

so it's a really it's a really problematic situation but it's been problematic the whole time. that the guantanamo detentions have been in operation. most of the detainees in guantanamo have been how bear for years without charge or trial born in iran now residing in germany was among them he was released after being found not guilty in two thousand and six but it was only after five years of detention i have been myself tortured and different kind of. the only reason why they brought us to guantanamo was because there's no any human rights existing over there like in prisons. and that's mean they could. do and make with us whatever they like to do and. they specially tortured me to force me for signing papers and every time when i

refused they kept just touching me in different kind of face they just try to really all kind of way to break us. so. they tried psychological ways and physical torture to break the detainees and the same way with myself. every time if you refused to do anything they tortured you punish you for this i must have got tortured by electroshocks and waterboarding and stuff like that but i have seen also. kids slights nine years to if you sold kids inside the camp and of course it was for me more difficult to to watch of those kids how they get getting beaten up in front of me and it was for me really harder to get tortured myself. human rights activists around the globe are campaigning to shut down the notorious detention camp at guantanamo bay but many

are losing hope it will never happen on our website we're asking you when will want tottenham obey be closed let's take a look at so far what people think the majority sixty three percent believe it will never close the u.s. is not interested in closing it twenty percent or so almost twenty percent say the president will be shut down only when the u.s. runs out of money to maintain it a little less that sixteen percent believe it will happen when the u.s. sets a new prisons elsewhere and the smallest amount two percent this hour say when the u.s. finally defeat terrorism well head to our to dot com and tell us what your forecast is for the guantanamo bay prison still ahead for you we'll look at washington's plans to scrap its european missile shield also how the q.k. is making money in the bedroom that's right we investigate just what you take government hasn't store for their brits and their beds starting on april fool's day

it seems many in social housing will not be finding the move all that funny. and space mission complete a science spacecraft lands in kazakhstan bringing home two russian cosmonauts and american astronaut after nearly five months in orbit that's all coming up for your . world. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for like you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm target market is a big issue. the

news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing up racial to rule the day. is coming it's twelve minutes past the hour you're with r t with me and he said now way the u.s. is set to downsize its european missile shield washington's plans to place interceptors in poland and possibly hungary have been scrapped to twelve funds the defense of greece shuffle is said to be in direct response to pyongyang's recent

threats and rising tensions on the korean peninsula parties are integral to scott has the details. looks like the nuclear threat coming from north korea is now considered far more dangerous by the us than any potential risk coming from iran at least it was pyongyang's missile threat that u.s. secretary of defense chuck hagel cited as the prime reason for beefing up missile capacity as an already existing base in alaska and placing an additional rater in japan at the same time washington officials announced plans to scrap the final phase of a defense shield in eastern europe which would have seen interceptors capable of destroying most of russia's nuclear missiles and that has been a huge point of contention between moscow and washington for quite some time now in fact going back to march of last year the infamous exchange between obama and then president dmitry medvedev in seoul that the nuclear security summit with the american president saying he will have more flexibility on the issue after the

elections so we could speculate this could very well be the u.s. president sticking to his promises but this doesn't mean russia now has nothing to worry about after all japan and alaska aren't exactly far from his borders and anyway there are still plans to build some facilities in eastern europe though on a smaller scale than originally planned the israeli prime minister has finally managed to form a coalition ahead of saturday's deadline but at a cost of some uneasy compromises for the first time in a decade ultra-orthodox groups longtime allies of benjamin netanyahu were left out in the cold arduous policy or has more from television. a new coalition agreement has been signed and this follows weeks of suspicion and mistrust between the various political parties and also turbulent coalition negotiations now there are two newcomers to the israeli political scene the important point to make is that neither has a lot of political experience the first in fact does not mean he is

a media personality by the name of you're elected and he is to be the new finance minister which is a hugely important ministry for someone who has no financial background the second is a guy by the name of nothing to be bennett he represents the secular movement and he is to be appointed the minister of economy and trade his number two will also be the minister of construction and housing now the importance of this is that it is going to make it harder for the prime minister netanyahu to freeze or stop settlement construction and as a result of also make it more difficult for him to reach any kind of peace deal with the palestinians this is also the first time in a decade that the government is going to exclude the ultra orthodox parties not netanyahu has counted on the support of the ultra orthodox parties in the past he would have wanted them in this coalition he would have also wanted a bigger coalition and now moving forward as part of the coalition agreement the

government in the next forty five days will have to present a new law on the issue of draw fitting the ultra religious to the army the new coalition partners one thing to serve in the army the ultra religious parties of course do not want to serve there are now who would also need to pass the budget in the next few months so he certainly has his hands full. another challenge rattling the nerves of israel's leaders has always been a two state solution with palestine which is struggling for its right to become a country in law and r.t. has spoken exclusively to the head of al assignment abbas click along to r.t. dot com to watch unfold as he speaks of the long fought battle for recognition and the horizons could open. also online for you american drone strikes in pakistan violate the country's sovereignty that's the conclusion of a u.n. team investigating the casualties of conflict after a secret research trip gathered multiple reports from locals caught in the crossfire of terrifying attacks more on that at our teeth dot com.

with serious conflict now into its third year britain and france are pushing to open the door to directly arming the rebels the two states say they want to lift an e.u. embargo and i've warned that even if it isn't they may still supply the weapons moscow says any such attempt would be in breach of international law and the french president said the opposition fighters had given guarantees that the lethal aid would not fall into the wrong hands this is syrian rebels claim hundreds of their men who've been given weapons training organized by the u.s. in jordan or back to syria washington has boosted its aid to the opposition but it's so far restrained from directly arming and fergal analysts robert harneys believes the e.u. will eventually find a way to allow more on to reach the war torn country i'm quite sure that there will be some modification of the fact to leave a little loophole so that britain france can actually draw the coach and horses through it they've already been sending weapons into syria so it's childish to

pretend that this is a new development but they want to do it more openly and more truly need two months ago from said oh they were terribly worried about the poor refugees so they sent a hospital to join it just happened to be a military hospital i'm going to talk i am various people so that every day we go this is the court. in the door and now there are several different allied armies in jordan and indeed they are training our rebels there and the idea here is you've got the turkish wrong to now you're going to have the jordan from to distract the syrian government to turks or take them on to flanks the u.k. has found a cheaper way to deal with the housing crisis as of april first it will either be caught up or get out as a so-called bedroom tax comes into effect our correspondent polly boyko took stock of the spiraling accommodation situation with some of the victims of the new tax.

brian rider didn't ask for a two bedroom flats when he applied for emergency accommodation and it was what the council gave him it was meant to be temporary and he's now lived here for fourteen years it's my home of my dad my home we've done all the work and we've put the wood paneling on. we start decorating halfway through realised there are more it have to move because i couldn't afford it and what's the point of decorating when i want to uproot but it's more home now or. it will upset me to move on but bryan who suffers from osteoporosis and can't work has little choice the government's so-called bedroom tax comes into effect from april first six hundred forty thousand social housing tenants with at least one spare room either have to cough up the cash from their already stretched budgets will move or there is friends bedroom according to the government lets find is now officially under occupied that's because he's also got this bad bedroom. and as

a result he's going to have to fork out fifty pounds from his housing benefit every month in order to pay for it that's money that bryan needs to put towards food and heating so he's willing to downsize in order to avoid losing the money he so desperately needs but he's been told that there are no available properties for problems once i was about six months ago for moving to a one bedroom every time i've been told me to one but nevertheless westminster says the twenty three billion pound housing benefit bill needs to be slashed people are being told they should move to a smaller flat but in my constituency there are fewer than a hundred places people could move to a much fairly typical across the country as a whole if you can't move to a smaller property you can't avoid it you just have to pay the money. and you're left with very very little i'm not just does seem very unfair the government is

saying they won't have a tax on big mansions but they are having a bedroom tax on the poorest people in the country the department for work and pensions declined to comment on the controversial policy the impending changes of course such widespread concern that the government announced the parents of those serving in the armed forces foster carers and parents of severely disabled children will now be exempt from the changes as for the rest of the body in this situation is being blocked into a corner and until the council finds him a smaller fact brian will have to take the financial hit i haven't had any suggestions from any of them about what to do if if and when you do run out and i find it hard to do which i would now realise is happening coming closer. i have no choice in the mater it has been getting even more stressful for closer we've got to the day because i just don't know what i'm going to do with what many are calling black april fast approaching critics say it's those with the least that

are being hit the hardest. artsy kidderminster. china's once in a decade power shift is over now with the new prime minister likud chang beginning his job and inheriting the task to run the world's second largest economy the immediate challenge facing the new generation of leaders is to boost economic growth which is slowed in recent years a report from pricewaterhouse coopers proves the task is within the country's reach it predicts china will match the u.s. as the world's leading economies in twenty seventeen before then overtaking it well analysts say statistics if we now take a look at this map so that why america is or perhaps could explain why america's current intense flexing of its military muscles in china's backyard is happening take a look at this all the way up from south korea. down to australia practically and circling china. for china asia and the struggle for regional influence has become

a bit of a battle between beijing and the u.s. that's why rapid growth in china and the focus has become on the country's military spending which is placed among the top priorities of this new leadership. correspondent tain wayne reporting specially for archie says america's moves are doing little to ensure mutual respect and dialogue between the two. there used to be a superstitious believe almost in china about that eight percent growth rate of the national g.d.p. for that little number has been slowed down to about seven point five percent it has to be a slow down number because china is doing this transition from a world we want to teach growth in quality many argue it is extremely important to do reform reform really has been the key word for the new generation of leaders coming into power recently mr legal challenge who is the now the cut chinese premier he's been talking about reform is the largest ever this china can enjoy for

its course for the progress he's president mr xi jinping after being elected was calling him a delay to our president obama and he advocated if the two countries could have mutual respect and openness to one another things can be better and he's been talking about a new kinds of relations between new powers and that of course the definition is not being given by the chinese side however it seems that the u.s. has already got its own definition for example pivot to asia or rebalancing and as a result there has been increasing number of territorial disputes and or disputes in other stores between china and some of the asian neighbors with the coming in of the united states by be a backup for them in the region but the china seems always want to have a peaceful neighborhood that seems to be a really believe the chinese have been holding over the history. let's not take a brief look at some other news from around the world this hour hundreds of locals

from the afghan mountains of war doc are marching in kabul in protest at the defiance of u.s. troops to pull out of their region i was ordered by president hamid karzai has given the soldiers two weeks to get out of both war doc and other regions following allegations of abuse toward civilians u.s. army so far has made no comment. ten days after his death the body of delayed venezuelan leader hugo chavez has been laid to rest at the site of his failed one nine hundred ninety two coup and bombing the leader was recently ruled out by russian experts thousands flooded the streets for one last march in honor of the president for fourteen years the procession was headed by nicolas maduro the interim president and candidate in next month's elections. major anti-government rally has been held in the eastern saudi arabian town of spite a warning from the country's rulers that they would firmly deal with any dissent demonstrators called for the release of political prisoners and condemned the

government's crackdown on protests saudi arabia seen a string of rallies since the beginning of the arab spring most of which were held in the country's oil rich. a size brace craft has successfully landed in kazakhstan it brought back to earth two russian cosmonauts an american astronaut who spent nearly five months of duty aboard the international space station archies tom barton has the latest. kevin ford oh leg novitsky and you have guinea terror in our back safely on earth after their five month stint up on the international space station on the video screen here at mission control in moscow we can see them being fished out of their soyuz capsule and kept warm after that rough descent through earth's atmosphere and down on to the step in kazakstan their return to worth delayed by a day because of bad weather they're casual came in today over the caspian and black sees without

a hitch to be met by recovery teams on the step in kazakhstan for the first time ever those teams including three women helping to fish them out of their capsule and get them on the road to a climatized back to the atmosphere here on earth whilst on the international space station they help the crew up there conduct maintenance on the orbiting platform and also research much of that research focusing on the effects of microgravity both on the human body and on various engineering substances the next manned mission up to the international space station in a couple of weeks time will attempt something novel for a manned mission and that is to rapidly and drastically cut the time it takes for those three crewmembers to get up to the space station from the current two days down to just six hours and that mission will carry the next three crewmembers up for their term orbiting earth have an x. that beam aren't cutting through the main stream and gender in breaking the threat

. wealthy british style. sometimes that's part of the. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike's cars or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous bad luck. i mean. i know that i've seen the same thing really messed up. in the very same personally apologize if the. worst chipotle. white house to give it to a radio guy and for sale minutes from a quick profit i want to quote for about fifteen years you've never seen anything like this i'm cold.

going on guys i'm having mark and this is breaking the set i hate to start off the show want to sorrow no one but this weekend will mark ten years since the got the twenty three year old american activist rachel corrie in two thousand and three cory tragically met her fate after bravely standing in front of an israeli bulldozer all in an attempt to prevent the demolition of a palestinian home in gaza and ten years later her parents craig and cindy corrie are still fighting for justice in fact i have a chance to speak to them on this show about why they think the u.s. was complicit in her death take a look. it requires on the outside to really work for changes in policy and to really hold the israeli government accountable for the us that is to i think address the funding cuts we're providing.