the latest news on the week's top stories u.s. officials continue to deny a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay more than one hundred detainees have reportedly been starving themselves for forty days. new yorkers revolt against the city's police department on mass after n.y.p.d. of officers gunned down a sixteen year old boy in a clean neighborhood. the syrian quagmire two years since the bloody conflict began some european states are itching to put weapons into the hands of rebel army is infiltrated by islamist extremists. and the handover of power in china is complete with new leaders aiming to keep the economy and military investments growing as the u.s. continues to build its presence in the region.

from moscow you're watching artie's weekly news a hunger strike at guantanamo bay is continuing after forty days with more than one hundred detainees reportedly starving themselves in protest at the desecration of the qur'an by prison guards lawyers for the captives claim the state of their health is close to life threatening the u.s. military has strongly denied the crisis saying only fourteen detainees are refusing all food. reports. u.s. president barack obama began his first term announcing his intention to close the guantanamo bay detention center now just two months into his second term the prison enters its twelfth year of operation with one hundred sixty six detainees still languishing behind bars and a reported one hundred thirty life threatening hunger strike and their hunger

strikes are the only way they have of even making themselves heard years and years without any hold a release without any real charges this story has been denied by washington and essentially ignored by mainstream media outlets lawyers for the good no prisoners say the men began the hunger strike on february sixth to protest against the alleged confiscation of personal items such as photographs and mail and the sacrilegious handling of the qur'an during cell searches the center for constitutional rights says they've received reports of detainees coughing up blood i'm losing consciousness dropping more than twenty pounds and being hospitalized by day forty five medical experts say hunger strike participants can experience hearing loss and potential blindness and that's in addition to the psychological suffering they've endured for more than a decade that context where we have individuals incarcerated

isolated from each other and they don't know if they're going to get out tomorrow or never and that sets up a circumstance for extreme psychological stress it's really an abominable you know humanitarian situation where you're depriving these people of life liberty and for no really valid basis the director of public affairs for joint task force guantanamo captain robert duran released a statement to our teeth in it he denies all claims of a mass hunger strike or any mishandling of the koran duran says only fourteen detainees at the detention center are refusing all food. our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that one chinaman makes what those standards are what the criteria are are questions that they need to be at at you know how are they

defining hunger striker and when are they determining that someone needs to be to that and if it is if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion then i that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike lawyers representing get more prisoners have sent a letter to us defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help and the protest in the meantime organizations like the red cross have made attempts to check on the inmates welfare here's what a representative told r.t. the current tensions in guantanamo as far as we can see and as far as we understand are really the result of the uncertainty is my detainees in guantanamo don't certainty linked to defeat what's going to happen to them you know there is a lack of clear legal framework for detention many of them don't know most of them don't know what's going to open and so has been our position and there needs to be

a clear legal framework and a transparent process in terms of procedural safeguards for those detainees and it's to be transparent and fair to alleviate the strains really that emotional mental strain of this uncertainty triggers for the detainees of the one hundred sixty sixty teenie zakk one ton i'm obey eighty six 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 process. getting prisoners in civilian court or releasing the morning from your marina point r.t. . the us media has been giving little attention to barack obama's failure to deliver on his pledge to close guantanamo human rights activist us encouraging as

well blind dollars are being turned at home bombers on the mounting foreign pressure to do with get before it's time of the white house is up inside america basically because there is no real. public resentment of what is taking place there most of the pressure that's coming is internationally yes you have some groups are working very hard to highlight the issue and to make sure that it stays on the agenda but unfortunately for the vast majority of americans they're quite happy for these detainees to continue you know detained without charge or trial basically a one ton number is ever going to close it's going to be within these next four years. obama has the best interest to do that miss is a second time he cannot have. you know and where hoping and it might be misplaced i hope but basically he will try in use these last years

of his presidency in order to do the right thing in a situation where the only thing that has ever happened is the wrong thing our human rights activists are calling for action to resolve the crisis at guantanamo were amnesty international usually a prominent voice has joined the chorus altie austin honesty spokesperson why they are not treating the claims of lawyers who have recently been to the detention center as fact. not having access to detainees is a problem for a human rights organization is something we raise with the operative we have access you know when when there is a trial so-called military commission trial we're allowed to go and observe those trials but we have no access to the detainees and cells and yes of course it's a problem so we have to wait until a 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 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 an operation. a london guantanamo campaign coordinator money up is among the activists seeking to uncover what really goes on at the detention center she says the mainstream media and u.s. officials have always done their best to contain scandals that. there's a lot of things together fishley deny that half the time of the day for example last year when. one of the prisoners died in a strange circumstance and took time for the truth to actually come up he'd actually died we still don't know exactly what circumstances in which he did die and then it was made impossible for there to be an independent autopsy because some of his organs when they returned to his family months later. had generated so much

that it would be impossible to know what the actual cause of death was so there's a lot of secrecy surrounding what happens at guantanamo bay if there are requests for information they get covered up by national security issues and also there's just a lack of general interest in that she wanted to happen at guantanamo bay what i'm curious things that has come out over the last couple of weeks is that one of the deterioration of the prisoners complained about. is that in january the bullets were fired out of prisoners during a protest that they had held but this was corroborated by the pentagon and again it's just it's incredibly curious this has been admitted a couple of months down the line but there has hardly been any outcry in some of the more time to suppress it there's been some coverage in the mainstream media it's managed to get a couple of pieces but it's not actually being considered as a news worthy item. but on our website we want to know your take on the issue every voice counts and r.t. dot com where you can tell us why you think want to talk about is still open after more than eleven years you think the u.s.

is to blame for not keeping its promise to close a facility or maybe cuba should never release the base to america in the first place so maybe you blame other countries refusing to repatriate on time or detainees or indeed you may see the nine eleven terror attacks as the main reason that it's still in business where you can head online and have your say right now here's how the voting is going so far we can see on the vast majority eighty percent today. in washington are fighting to keep its pledges no most equally small numbers of you think others are responsible for what's happening at guantanamo bay do cast your vote if you haven't done so already. coming up after the break police under fire protests over the killing of a brooklyn teenager by new york police officer angry clashes and dozens of arrests . and is there life on mars a russian agrees to help the european space agency's expedition to shed light on

the age old question just ahead. with. its technology innovation all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is. welcome to the big picture. is easy.

to. talk about here with our team or world news for you know the killing of a black teenager by the new york police has caused public outrage and evoked a weeklong protest in brooklyn the activists chanted slogans accusing the n.y.p.d. of racism and cruelty or clashes between demonstrators and the unfortunate officials resulted in dozens of arrests. and to see it as a story. oh that's. sixteen year old kimani gray was killed by police shot four times in the front and

three in the back. the n.y.p.d. claimed the teen had pointed a gun at them however this remains i'm certain that there was a weapon that no one saw or not his friends his family didn't know he had a weapon and there were a lot of witnesses outside who were able to see it that this individual to have a weapon or as these candles burn in memory of yet another killed youth an entire community rises up night after night to demand justice and an end to police brutality for three nights in a row few turned chaotic clashes broke out. leaving one officer hospitalized after reportedly being injured with a brick a total of forty six arrests were made wednesday yes. but no violence erupted thursday night tensions however still ran high. i mean this is. you know. this is like another country a lot of people are just tired of the period with solutions to stop the violence nowhere in sight deeply seated issues between the police and the community remain

unaddressed leaving many worried children parents. and a party new york. well cameraman working for artie's arabic sister channel in the egypt has been attacked while filming activists to join graffiti on walls twenty dot com to see footage of the instant next to the headquarters of the muslim brotherhood party in the capital cairo. also online drastic measures leading animal welfare groups says it will use drones to stop illegal hunting in britain and out more about the upcoming war in the countryside. bloodshed civil strife and devastation in the state of syria two years after its conflict began the war between the government and rebels has seen seventy thousand people killed and millions in their homes creating a humanitarian disaster while diplomatic efforts to bring peace failed and he say

that foreign countries are fanning the flames with plans to send even more weapons . reports. 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 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 what 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. it was never to make a city and it's not the more me once that when i go. you should keep our unity we live in all of all of. it gabriel and 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 your. will feel this pressure for 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 few 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 a palestinian refugee camps in syria and the cold blooded murder of palestinian conscripts these drove 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 north east targeted the kurdish syrian peaceful co-existence has also been endangered but for a crowd at its approval cations appear in very dangerous more syrian kurds want to be integrated into syrian society have rights and be respected some turkish kurds

maybe do as early ones killing his own people god we've never been treated like that but of course when violence targets us it can't not affect relations. and fears are that those who wanted to see the fall of the regime will witness the country's fall instead. from syria. moscow is preparing a rapid response naval force to patrol the mediterranean and they say six russian ships are expected to par the waters on a permanent basis over there to god national interests and transport people if the syrian called the gets further out of control officer pissed off has more. according to the head of the navy moscow wants to have five to six ships permanently beast in the mediterranean that will be controlled through the command of the black sea fleet based in the crimea there's speculation that this group will be put together out of ships taken from the northern the baltic and the scene works the fleet the idea to base the navy in the mediterranean it was initially voiced by

defense minister sort of last week and of course this comes as the whole region is in the global spotlight due to the gulf within syria with russian authorities are not winking basing the need either in the region to what's happening in the country earlier he said that the only way the good in gauges really help assist possible future of accusations of russian citizens from the country but actually the idea of moscow basing the needy in the mediterranean isn't something completely new during the soviet times a huge group of up to thirty vessels was currently based there from the late sixty's early ninety's. china's new president has called for to describe this efforts to continue the realisation of the chinese dream he was giving his first comments after the nation went through a once in a decade shift of power this week and as correspondent reports the change brings both challenges and hope. there used to be

a superstitious belief almost in china about eight per cent growth rate of the national the number as you slow down to about seven point five percent it has to be a slow down number because chinese during this transition. want to teach growth in college and 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. the chinese premier he's been talking about reform is the largest china can enjoy further progress the new president mr xi jinping after being elected was called the immediately president obama and he advocated the two countries could have mutual respect and openness to one another things can be better and he's been talking about new kinds of relations between new powers and 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 cuba to asia or rebalancing and as a result there has been increasing number of turturro disputes or disputes in other stores between china and asia neighbors with the coming in the united states might be a backup for them in the region but the chinese seems always want to have a peaceful neighborhood seems to be a really believe the chinese have been holding over the history. we can make developments will be the top priority for the new chinese leaders and recent food costs will look promising a report from pricewaterhouse coopers predicts that china which is now the well second largest economy will catch up with the u.s. spite twenty seventeen and even over taking it one of the top spending power announced by the new leadership is defense and that comes amid america's growing metrics pension in china's backyard and u.s. efforts to gain a stronger foothold in asia and the struggle for regional into. has been raising concerns in beijing just days ago the pentagon announced

a decision to put fourteen more missile interceptors along america's west coast and deploy a radar tracking station in japan they say in response to a north korean nuclear threat but david gossett from the china europe international business school so the chinese economy will continue to expand shifting the global balance of power. we are going through a very. in daughter and the changes in our world again the chinese run a cell's being the most important factor of change in of the gate. gate by twenty twenty twenty twenty one china will be the largest economy in the world so the sees a very significant change in we are leaving i would say in one sentence in a world which is increasingly murky people are any new which sour sauce

relations as much as the north north relations and it is why at the end of the mountains mr xi jinping will visit moscow to have discussions with gene on is a way to do fiefs breeks endure a man in south africa. that has some of today's news and two car bomb attacks of hit the southern iraqi city of bastrop of the ten people have been reported killed and many more injured in the explosions all rich or any a target of violence and is considered a safer part of the volatile state in iraq is fast approaching the tenth anniversary of the u.s. led invasion. the assistant to government has suspended a debate on a bank deposit levy that sparked a mass anger in the manse for all deposit holders to hand over up to ten percent of the savings is in force by eurozone finance ministers as a condition for a much needed ten and if they are out the country's finance minister will soon

visit russia which could also reportedly that the helping hand. the french soldier has been killed in combat in northern mali five french servicemen have now lost their lives in the paris led military campaign against innocent surgeons in the west african state is now into its third month french president francois hollande said the campaign was fast approaching an end when joint forces took control of key cities at the beginning of every. streets in cities across the globe are swimming in dinnis and leprechauns as billions celebrate st patrick's day this year in honor of the celtic saying what international landmarks from the pyramids to the sydney opera house in traditional so how does green marches and parades are held every year in most of the world's capitals and major cities. the russian and european space agency's agreed this week to join forces to explore

mars seeking traces of life there involves complex machinery able to dig deep into the martian soil but with at least one point eight billion dollars and years of preparation to come the project already has a head start what is your personal experience. the search for past or present life on mars screen to news and 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 lack of a cosmodrome in kazakhstan sending a european orbital pool and a stationary test lander to the red planet to his plan for two thousand and eighteen one a second proton rocket will deliver a rover named paster 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 service to find out what dangers there may be for future manned missions powerful 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 be science providing delivery vehicles including the landing pad will also develop some of the same defect equipment so far the red planet has only been visited by soviet and us vehicles eggs on mars will be europe's first visit to the red planet you've got this kind of arty. you have it. well a few minutes a report on an unseen conflict in a remote area of colombia a scramble for gold stay with us.

the month before the oscars and what annoys you with their predictions and the most after everyone complains about the results but it is a big talked about much as the few hundred people who gathered to protest the glamour filled award show why protest the asker's you ask. well although the film life of pi won the oscar for best visual effects effects to you that made the movie look so amazing were them and hughes has filed for bankruptcy quickly after the film's release you know that seems like a bit of a discrepancy i mean the group that made the best visual effects in the world in two thousand and thirteen is flat broke how can that be this reminds me of how the lead creators of call of duty modern warfare two were let go directly after the

release of the game which to date is the eighth highest grossing video game of all time this was done supposedly to dodge paying them the royalties that they you know earned through hard work the problem is that we live in a world where only the bottom line cal taking as much profit as you possibly can damn the consequences is just good business practice they say well it might be profitable but it's bad for society as very bad for visual effects and videogame artists but that's just my opinion. victims like here. it's very profitable to invest in colombia

with that every president is a very high return on investment. you know yes it but i think working in this area for thirty years you know i've always had to play the armed groups i mean if i knew the managers who changed their name and strategy but just to the same. high ranking suspects you know. we have to say about that mr president. the president. i would give an interview i'm sorry. but no. investigation is it dead. he says sick stop your bullshit and keep quiet or else you'll suffer the consequences. even if they're your bodyguards to watch themselves because the same goes for them. recruits from.