media coverage and legal appeals forced the u.s. military to admit the number of hunger strikers that guantanamo bay has gone up but it's not as more than one hundred are starving themselves. and washington causes the final part of its european missile defense shield saying there is not enough council and will put more interceptors on its pacific coast instead. and the site use council lands safely in the snowy steps of kazakhstan concluding a five month space mission for two russian cosmonauts and their u.s. crew made. it seven pm here in moscow this is archie coming to you live with me and he said no

way our top story this hour the u.s. military has denied reports of a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay lawyers for more than one hundred detainees claim their clients have gone without food for over a month the captives most of whom were cleared for release years ago reportedly began the protest after prison guards desecrated their korans kuantan a most spokesman captain robert drowned deny the claims and really only about the number of detainees refusing all food has risen to fourteen he added that some are being force fed and one is in hospital a lawyer for the inmates told r.t. that reality is being twisted by authorities to downplay the crisis. how they are defining hunger strikers that is also one clear i think that went on a mo 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 food 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. our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that kuantan a moment makes if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion that that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike. kuantan a more official claim most of the alleged hunger strikers are only refusing regular meals while still snacking but lawyers have been to the base say they're shocked by the deteriorating condition of the detainees and despite the outcry the mainstream media continues to shun the story has our report maya now reports when the u.s. 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 days are still languishing there and a reported one hundred thirty are on a life threatening hunger strike the story has been denied by washington and essentially ignored by mainstream media now is r t 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 big. grazers and also be a legit sacrilegious handling of the qur'an during cell searches now the center for constitutional rights says that they perceive 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 or use for the get most prisoners have sent a letter to u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help end the 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 uncertainty. to defeat. it's always been our position there needs to be a clear legal framework and a transparent process. to.

of the one hundred sixty six detainees languishing get mo more than half eighty six to be exact have been cleared for release now this week the u.n. said that the u.s. is a violating international human rights law 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 reporting from new york. r.t. . human rights out. mr calling for action to resolve the crisis that guantanamo about amnesty international usually a prominent voice hasn't joined the chorus r.g.s. an amnesty spokesperson why they're not buying the claims of lawyers who recently been to guantanamo not having access to detainees is a problem for a human rights organization is something we raise with the operatives 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 the detainee 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 lawyers themselves are not spent you know they're not there the whole time it requires declassification of information when they do get it so it's a really it's a really problematic situation but it's a problematic the whole toy that the guantanamo detention of being in operation. detainees are held at guantanamo indefinitely without charge of trial and some can't leave despite being cleared for release in iraq or nonce was once among them

held on groundless allegations and said free without an apology he shared the harrowing details of his ordeal with r.t. i have been myself tortured and different than the first there was. the only reason why the boat was going on was because there's no way any human rights existing over there like in prisons or us and mean they could. 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 place they just try to really all kind of flakes to break us and. saw. 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 torture

you punish you for this i must have got tortured by electroshocks and waterboarding and stuff like that but i have seen also a. kid's life nine years to a few sold kids inside the camp and of course it was for me more difficult to watch those kids how they get getting beaten up in front of me and it was for me really harder to get tortured myself. well on our website we want to know your opinion on the matter every voice counts at our to dot com where you can tell us why you think one tunnel was still open after more than eleven years let's take a look at how the numbers are playing out so far the vast majority believe that the u.s. which already broke its promise to close it will continue on that way in fact eighty four percent something like cuba for leasing the base to america in the first place

while others think countries that refuse to repatriate detainees are responsible the smallest number of you the minority here believe that terrorists that attacked the u.s. are the main reason for get most ongoing operations so if you haven't already do log on to our t. dot com and cast your vote today. coming up on r t distribution of defense the u.s. drops a key phase of its european missile defense shield opting to put more defenses on home soil. plus the cost of living as britain prepares to embrace new housing cuts come april we take a closer look at what the bedroom tax will cost societies worse. well. it's technology innovation all the lives developments

around russia we've got this huge you're covered. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. on. morning news today violence is once again flared up. in these are the images cold world has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are all today.

georgian are live from moscow washington has scrapped a key phrase of its european missile defense shield citing a lack of funds and development problems the united states will deploy additional ground based missile interceptors on its pacific coast instead and what is said to be a response to pyongyang its recent nuclear threats are she's really has the details looks like the nuclear threat coming from north korea is now considered far more dangerous by the u.s. than any potential risk coming from iran at least it was pyongyang as missile threats that u.s. secretary of defense chuck hagel cited those 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 the president dmitry medvedev in seoul at 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. was discussed this issue further let's now cross live to belgium where a somber author and professor at the catholic university of new vein joins us to discuss this thank you for joining us washington has abandoned these plans in

eastern europe poland more specifically this was of course great concern to russia what is the future now of missile defense. i don't know what they say that this should. be easy because you know. the member of the claim that there he said to france once again to you would you look at the map of the russia. is great. and in any case your parent has no you know no it's not of you it's not even clear that they would but. there's no desire to what they're going to but the do if you give purely. you know damn. well that would be fine and grower. i mean. the whole doing so of silver and ip that they the people that should make our stuff either one of our show isn't going to like that we make the closer you are going to throw them away with the younger and just like new forms of media the spread the birthmother the

fuel the money factor and it's really the consequence of the u.s. for the sales of all these hiring do things by projecting in these forty's eyeballs and in fact there for all creating a problem that then back. in the long run like you just talk about going to number with people to put in guantanamo are the descendants of there are various again because of the aging or afghanistan that you think and all of the good ones like russia another body sees need to actually produce the simply don't bring the. security that the u.s. . and public these are crippling i do nobody will just ignore this is where they. want to put their vote or there's nothing to do right well the u.s. is now saying that that the main threat or at least hinting that this is the main threat which is up pyongyang the recent nuclear test we've seen there how is china

going to react to the u.s. shifting this policy to the pacific now were warning i don't. i was doing. x. because nothing to see. i'm afraid we're going to have to cut you short there very bad quality on the air we're going to have to apologize for that let me take you through what's ahead for you in the program here on our t.v. or i should say what is available on our website for you we have some stunning birth control data from the world's most populated country the number of abortions performed by chinese doctors since beijing took up the one child policy four decades ago amounts to forty times the population of london. and as blizzards cover eastern europe with monstrous snow drifts budapest's has no other choice but to turn to war machines to rescue trapped motorists.

is. the u.k. has found a cheaper way to deal with the housing crisis the so-called bedroom tax means many who live in social housing would either lose around fourteen percent of their benefits if they have a spare room or move out probably looks at how the less well off are trapped in a catch twenty two. brian rider didn't ask for

a two bedroom flat when he applied for emergency accommodation it was what the council gave him it was meant to be temporary and he's now lived here for fourteen year is it's more home of margaret more home we've done all the work and we've put the wood paneling on. we stopped decorating halfway through when we realized there are more have to move because i couldn't afford it and what's the point of decorating when i want to uproot. more home out of my get more and it will upset me to move on but brian 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 i have to cough up the cash from their already stretched budgets will move and there is friends bedroom according to the government let's fast 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 that he's been told that there are no available properties i asked him for problems once 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 are now. 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 has been booked into a corner and until the council finds him a smaller fact brian will have to take the financial hit. harder new suggestions from your from about what to do if and when you do. more from the home to which or now realizes how. your car so i have no choice in the month or tell. you to move closer 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 theirs with the least but

it being the hottest. lavin veterans who fought alongside german nazis during world war two have marched through the capital riga they said they're paying respect to the victims of lot of a struggle for independence over the rallies to sink nationalist tone and clear nazi references have sparked concerns inside and outside the baltic country like syria was at the march ranch a thousand people have gathered in central riga to march the streets of the city in the march of the nationalist forces nationalist parties the march which is meant to commemorate those who as they say fought for a lot of his independence back in the one nine hundred forty s. in reality and this is been said by many critics the people who are marching here veterans of the latvian legion of the waffen s.s. who fought alongside the nazi troops certainly this is creating lots of divide and a lot of concerns in a lot of the a we've spoken to several human rights activists from europe here on

the site who've said that the a very sad to see that on the european continent in the european union which fought against the nazis and things like this still exist and they believe this to be nothing else but glorification of the horrible. things of the past the glorification of naziism this march is nothing out of the ordinary for happens every year amid protests and concerns by human rights activists all across europe but the biggest concern that they expressed to us when we talked to several of them was that the number of youths participating in this march is growing every year anti-fascist activists relate this to a rather tough economic branch which is experiencing at the moment the neo nazi and nationalist mood getting stronger in the country but we've seen with our own eyes little children aged from three to seven let's say walking together with the veterans the anti-fascist movement which had their rally of their own just close

just basically to human here to the final point of the march they had their let's say ideological diversion as they called it when the marching veterans of the latter legion approached the square they turned on music and a war siren this was as they described it their way to protest against what they believe to be glorification of fascism in morden day europe. some other world news in brief for you this hour hundreds have marched on the parliament building in the afghan capital the demonstrators are demanding the release of several people of pledge of the detained by the u.s. military and an immediate pullout of american troops from the country's war doc probably it is after the afghan president gave the u.s. troops two weeks to leave following allegations that locals had been abducted and tortured wardog province has seen a recent surge in american led anti insurgency operations. cyprus has

secured a ten billion euro bailout deal from the eurozone finance ministers to rescue it's failing economy in return the island state house to boost taxes shrink the banking sector and cut its significant budget deficit cypriot banks have been exposed to its austerity burden neighbor greece this comes just ahead of the country's finance minister's visit to russia which could also reportedly lend a helping hand. clashes broke out in the canadian city of montreal up to five hundred people attended an annual rally against police brutality hundreds of officers used pepper spray and cattle in tactics to disperse the march declared illegal the protest organizers claimed there were up to two hundred and fifty of them. and jordanian authorities have reported that a bus filled with palestinians overturned near the border with israel killing at least fifteen people including the driver the vehicle was traveling through jordan from a religious pilgrimage in neighboring saudi arabia the accident apparently occurred

after the brakes failed and the driver lost control skidding off road. after bad weather upset plans to return the international space station crew back to earth on friday two russian cosmonauts and an american astronaut have now loaded safe and sound with more on the team's voyage home here's our correspondent tom barton. kevin ford oh leg novitsky and you have guinea terril kin are 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 you 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 earth delayed by a day because of bad weather they're casual came in today over the caspian and black seas 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 climate izing 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 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. coming your way i mean martin's cutting through the mainstream spam and breaking the set stay with r.t.

. all. wealthy british style. writers. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports . the mission free a critic ation street runs for charges free. range minsk free. three stooges free. old free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free media and on to our teeth on tom. you live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous i had lunch i got so many i mean. i know that i've seen the same thing really messed up. and we're all very so closely appalled. it's. the worst you're going to go right out to the. radio guy. what.

did you ever seen anything like that i'm still. 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 death of 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 had the 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 three billion dollars a year thirty billion dollars over a ten year period here up to two thousand and eighteen and craig and i believe that the caterpillar bulldozer that killed our daughter was paid for with our tax money indeed we're funding this occupation impediment that becomes an even bigger problem when you look at the complete lack of accountability on the rachel's case from both the u.s. and israeli governments so let's not forget about rachel corrie and this weekend commemorate her legacy because it's up to us to keep her spirit alive a spirit that represents a true commitment to human rights equality and freedom and with rachel in mind let's go break that. well if you're.