raiding the piggy banks cyprus delays at the signal whether to impose an i.m.f. plan to plunder the nation's bank account. a proposal. with some experts saying if the tax is brought in may have to rethink its help for ailing europe. the u.s. military maintains there is no mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay more than one hundred detainees are reportedly starving themselves in protest at mistreatment. what washington and its allies have left behind in iraq because more deadly bombings strike the nation ahead of the ten year anniversary of the u.s. led invasion of top stories.

international news and comment from our studio in. twenty four hours a day the parliament in cyprus is delayed until choose the decision on whether to and. which will cost its citizens millions of their hard earned euros every bank customer will have their cash taxed if it goes through the plan cause panic over the weekend with people emptying a.t.m. machines fearing their life savings could be plundered correspondent reports on the implications the e.u. finance ministers as the and the international monetary fund had agreed upon a ten billion euro bailout for the country on the condition that this tax a bank deposit tax be imposed now this could amount to up to nine point nine percent of of the those who have a more than one hundred thousand euros in the back and for many people there. it's

their entire life savings that they have that are they feel are now in trouble and the panic that has been stirred over the weekend people trying to get money out of the cash machines but electronic transfers have been stopped and the machines have been running out of money and people there are calling this essentially unfair unjust and simply robbery their their savings being taken away from them the president of the country however have has been painting this acceptance of the bailout as crucial for the country says that if this bank tax this requirement is not passed then the country will might be forced to get out of the euro of the euro zone area and therefore some people feel that the country has really been put in a position where it has no choice but to accept everything that has be handed down by brussels by e.u. leaders by the meetings that they have here as far as the people are concerned again they really see this as as an infringement for what is supposed to be very and this is unprecedented in the sense that this is the first time that a requirement for

a bailout is actually actually means dipping into the personal savings of citizens that this is the first time it has happened officials here say that this is not going to be a precedent that is not going to be a trend to whatever already there is doubt among the e.u. citizens to whether or not this line a red line that they thought would never be cross has actually already been crossed and if we look again at what may be the biggest factor in disrupting the very fabric of the european union is this kind of social dissatisfaction kind of a protest from the people where there are where they are not happy with the kind of decisions that their leaders are making as a directly impacts the very quality of their lives. all of a fate worse than this but these the public could react very severely to the current plans. some ways you could say that this is actually but on one level a prototype for how a country will timidly have to leave the euro zone entirely have to be done very

quickly almost overnight with a certain sort of grab at the doors of the banks trying to make sure that the bank machines are basically switched off and then seeing the public in disarray that the following day and a huge crisis in parliament so whatever happens in terms of the the taxing and back accounts i think we're going to see this model of of how. democracies and how the the economy has to deal with a certain euro zone crisis repeated in one scale in one form or another and quite possibly on a larger scale but let's hope not and the aftershocks of the proposition have been felt in other countries inside and outside the euro zone or he's told botan has the details. unfair unprofessional and dangerous were the words that that amir putin used through his spokesman about this tax on deposits in cyprus that would be

necessary for that ten billion euro e.u. i.m.f. loan russian banks russian businessmen and exceptionally rich russian individuals hold a disproportionately huge deposits in cyprus given the country's size the exact number of billions is estimated to be above ten but the exact number could be far higher it's very hard to establish it's partly because of that reason that the e.u. wanted a tax to try and distribute the burden equally and to avoid money laundering there are reports in the greek media that the russian state energy giant gazprom proposed its own bailout to cyprus in return for energy exploration rights around the island but it was turned down because cyprus wanted a solution from within the e.u. all of this does raise questions about the future of russian deposits in cyprus about whether this tax will hurt more investors all the banks that hold their

deposits if those deposits are withdrawn it also raises questions over a two point five billion euro loan given by russia to cyprus which may itself not be extended and global markets analysts patrick young says that the use proposition to encroach on personal as well as foreign bank deposits risks the whole banking system. the eurozone and the european union have looked at the overall cyprus situation and said a huge swathe of deposits here come from people outside the european union and whether they've done it entirely cynically or whether they've done it entirely consciously we can never be absolutely clear but there certainly looks to me to be a lot of politics behind this move essentially the euro zone the european union have said who can we manage to take a haircut from that are actually not our citizens not our voters or not our beleaguered banks who are largely incompetent that also is

a terrible precedent to set because ultimately any biking system is reliant upon foreign deposits and all foreigners whether they're russian corporate russian oligarchs or whoever they are it matters not one iota because the whole point is that from today on people will be aware that there is a precedent for burning investors who want to hold the euro. well role so closely following the tensions in cyprus on our website at r.t. dot com and that's where we're asking you what you think will come out of the controversial deposit levy when so far here's how your votes come in the majority believes that forcing the savers to pay for the bank's mistakes will only cause social unrest thirty six percent expect a chain reaction of bank runs leading to the collapse of the e.u. and we can see there that less of you blame the flawed euro zone systems and the cash will only offer a short term solution and this is only a minority has faith in the debate it takes to bring stability to the island state

r.t. dot com is where you can tell us what you think right now. despite mounting media coverage and legal appeals the u.s. military continues to deny a mass hunger strike is underway at guantanamo bay lawyers for more than one hundred detainees say they've been starving themselves for over forty days in protest at the desecration of the qur'an by prison guards when grilled by r.t. of quantum a spokesman defended the facilities policy captain robert duran says the camp is committed to the safe legal humane and transparent treatment of detainees he claimed only fourteen captors are refusing all food with some of those being force fed to prevent starvation decades he was held in guantanamo for five years and released without charge dismissed that description and set a bomb is continuing with bush era war crimes. there are many bad things that happen there's a beginning is there's a systematic torture where everyone goes through where they are

a. stripped out of their clothes for example and they're sometimes sexually abused they physically abused like myself and others we were physically beaten up until as you can see my right eye has been the sight in my right eye has been lost i tried to gods both in my eyes we never even were told what. a lead allegations against we were questioned for hundreds of times and we were interrogated many many times and then we were released without any conviction we were never convicted we never had the chance to see the evidence against us the generals have set up. around. cheney and all the other officials the lawyers who legalized torture and they justified the methods of torture and they spoken publicly and defending this kind of torture i think of course we hold all these people responsible now

obama and the all the other officials that taking over there that the people there were serious crimes of committed inside montana most people don't realise their people were killed inside of them more than nine people were killed the people that i know inmates were sexually abused they were people who have lost arms and lost limbs in amputated like all the desire some people were paralyzed throughout their lives and people lost their eyes these are serious crimes these are serious war crimes or crimes against captive people and these people have to come to justice if we let these people at large what will happen is that more across these like these would take place and they are examples of criminals committing crimes and just not paying back for their crimes. despite pledging to shut down guantanamo during his first presidential campaign in two thousand and eight barack obama has now dropped the issue from the top of his agenda but this is drawn little liar in the us where the mainstream media prefers to keep it out of the headlines the war on terror is

still marketed as reason enough to keep the camp running got a person of recaps the failed attempts to bring guantanamo to an end. the story around the closure of guantanamo bay prison has stuck to president obama ever since he promised to shut it down and here are some of the key dates on the way first in january two thousand and nine and when obama was inaugurated he ordered the prison to be shut down within a year and banned some of the interrogation methods after the u.s. government admitted torturing some of the detainees was calls another exactly since in me the same year the u.s. senate refused to fund the closure of the jail until the president provided more details as to what to do with the detainees then in mid october to appear the situation that changed when the congress approved allowed to some of the detainees to be moved to the u.s. for prosecution but then it all you turned again at the end of two thousand and ten

when the same congress approved a defense spending bill which prevented us trials for guantanamo detainees in january two thousand and eleven despite his campaign promise to close that obama signed the defense of the reason plan which ruled out shutting guantanamo bay down and prevented the transfer of prisoners from the camp in march obama also signed an executive order resuming military trials for more detainee's a move seen my many as a complete reversal of his former policies in december two thousand and eleven the president feel to veto the national defense bill being the way for prisoners to be held indefinitely and without charge and extending the ban on moving them from the camp and finally in july last year the pentagon voiced its plans to lay a forty million dollar fiberoptic cable from the u.s. mainland to guantanamo not exactly a sign of washington aspiring to wrap up its operations in the controversial detention center and there's more opinion and analysis of this story on our website

dot com i'll be back with more nice after this break. wealthy british style stock. market. can. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. world with. science technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. we speak your language i mean some of the worn out advance of.

this program some documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn into the angles stories. for you here to. try to alter the spanish find out more visit i. live here in moscow and back to our top story now and that is the debate a deposit levy in cyprus or maybe the not debated deposit levy in cyprus cyprus because the parliament have delayed and he talks now until to morrow they were due to discuss this over the weekend when i'm now joined by journalist lucy robson. how are people in cyprus taking this news when we get pictures and reports of people

literally queuing at cash machines trying to get their money out over the weekend is that really what's happening. yes that certainly has happened to me and i can vouch for that because i've done it personally and i'm not the only people on and there have been reports a.t.m.'s have been closed and that this isn't the case the official line from the central bank of cyprus is that a.t.m. sell a rating as per usual and people are able to withdraw their money so you are a foreigner living in cyprus and you are being just as affected as everybody else is that absolutely and for example there are about thirty one and a half thousand british people living in south this continent and we are working or are retired here and the majority counts here so we are just as affected by these proposed measures i will be just as that by these measures if they are indeed implemented in what way though. will it be affecting you because many would say

look this is a a small price to pay in order to save not just your money but of course the banks there on the island. well this really remains to be seen because as you well know there was supposed to be a decision made about this levy today today was an quantity in cyprus but the bank holiday has been extended the two days events not reopen and to stay according to the latest reports and the house of representatives is going to discuss these measures tomorrow at six pm now there has been a reaction in cyprus into the government has taken this into account because initially and that he was supposed to be and ten nine point nine percent on deposits above one hundred thousand and six point seven five percent on deposits you know this amount but this could be altered for example there are reports that you know one hundred thousand eleven would be three percent up to twenty thousand euros of deposits maybe tax free and about one hundred thousand could be try the

doha percent and there are also reports of half a million euros being taxed at fifteen percent but i have to stress that this has not been confirmed it will be confirmed officially tomorrow and hopefully that in announcement about it but what it what impact will this have on daily life what is the economy like is it really in a in a bad way did you see this coming. it is in a bad way and i think that the local population has expected to extreme measures but i don't think anybody expected this to be honest and they recently elected president nicholas and stassi adams and said repeatedly that he would do what he could but the government would do what it could to stave off any deposits and tax on bank deposits so this was a real shock on saturday to have this news that indeed there would be a levy on bank deposits and particularly to get the news over the weekend when one

couldn't go to the bank to take any action to say thank you very much indeed lucy robson live from perforce in cyprus thank you. iraq is about to mark ten years since the u.s. led invasion with thirty deaths from bomb attacks last week in baghdad and ten more on sunday in the self in two thousand and three washington unleashed its shock and all air strikes aiming to rid the country of suspected weapons of mass destruction and toppled saddam hussein when a decade later arguments persist over whether anything was actually achieved or has gone on investigates. there's no greater cost to the war then shattered human lives the u.s. invasion into iraq resulted in the deaths of almost two hundred thousand iraqis according to various estimates the deadly metals released by bombs and bullets continue to kill. in fallujah more than half of all babies who were conceived after the start of the war were born with birth defects the infant mortality rate there

is disturbing. on the u.s. side the war took the lives of four thousand four hundred eighty six soldiers when you talk a country the size of iraq everyone knows someone that was killed. in the states when you're here less than one percent of people participated in or said at this point most americans have turned that off it's as though it didn't happen ten years of death and destruction and it says though in this country we're done with that we've moved on and it's difficult if not impossible for any veterans and iraqis to move on from ten years of death and destruction the most recent study puts the total cost of the war at two trillion dollars for the u.s. the authors of the report say the country will continue to pay and over the next four decades that cost could reach six trillion dollars but on top of the human loss and dollars spent there's also been a political price to pay for american credibility and influence went down well runs

went up and we're still living with the consequences of this ten years later so law of unintended consequences are you know polar moment ended when we went into baghdad but we didn't know it from the berlin wall to that time we destroyed the earth like a grand colossus and then after that it's all been very different colonel lawrence wilkerson who served as chief of staff to secretary of state colin powell at the time of the invasion says you want his change the way the world sees the us people look at what we do they do not judge us by our rhetoric our rhetoric is high and lofty and we talk about human rights and human dignity and freedom and democracy and what do we do we mount a war of aggression in iraq killed a couple hundred thousand people and messed it up majorly including the region much of what is happening now is a result. what we did in the right world looks at them and they say this is not something we need in the world this kind of absolutely in leadership and when this

happens in the world of international relations the world stands up and began to balance the head today many of those who cheered for the iraq war on t.v. shows and then their memoirs struggle to justify the decisions they made and the actions they took yes history will hold them responsible and render some sort of indictment but there is no accountability for people who make grievous errors in high office in the united states were the united states of amnesia as. the tendency to forget and to move on could prove dangerous was new war talk brewing in washington with many of the same people who pushed for the iraq war is now pushing to drag america into another conflict in the middle east a number of things fighters from the bush administration have come out and said the desire to topple directly government trumped all other considerations at the time of the invasion there was no credible intelligence that saddam had weapons of mass destruction or ties with al qaida and yet the administration wanted to invade at

all costs what we see from these policymakers today are just different shades of denial in washington i'm kind of. expert on post-war iraq. has told me that those who believe iraq is recovering a seriously misguided. the only thing we hear is that you know iraqis are killing themselves well nothing of the other street food there is a budget of about four point seven billion dollars the best i can spent on propaganda it's not me who says this it's the foundation that's from harvard university who are watching this closely they produce stories they produce fictitious stories about a blossoming democracies in iraq and so on while nothing of the others true it's how people who are there lost their relatives who are without a job who whose wives are being taken because they cannot find the husbands women

who are routinely raped in prisons i mean it's hell it's a big open air prison still it's sort of past ten years is the biggest humanitarian manmade disaster of post world war two it's not me who says that it's antonio gutierrez a few wanted to see are the red cross who said that eight million people are in need of urgent humanitarian help we don't know anything about it. looking for its place in the sun and wanting to live as a normal civilized european state they are the goals president alexander lukashenko has for the future of the ruses he told r.t. and exclusive interview as europe's nothing tainted innovation can freely admitted he won't give up power lightly and denied speculation his youngest son would succeed in as president the leader of the form of several public has been repeatedly printed size by western states from vomiting human rights and oppressing

the opposition of but in addition to his back saying is democracy is no different from that found in europe or the us. i can prove it right here right now that there is no dictatorship in batteries that. very simply in just a few words this is. the argument i used to convince my western partners in order to be a dictator like starlin one has to have the resources resources of paramount's you need to understand that do i have any nuclear weapons exactly i do not do i have as much oil as hugo chavez did in venezuela no do i have as much natural gas as russia number two and so on and so forth do i have so many people as china does one point five billion people with no work in order to be a dictator in dictate one's will one has to have the resources economic social military relation and so on but we have none and i am being objective about it i am

telling you that we have no claims of global importance and don't see ourselves solving major global problems we don't have the resources to do so what we want to do is find our place in the sun and live as an average civilized european state that's all i want. and that interview in full after the business update with katie which follows saw our world update this hour starting with somalia and the capital there a car bomb reportedly targeting senior government officials has left at least ten civilians dead if they can exploded as it passed by the presidential palace sparking fires in nearby two rooms and a minivan will issue security has been tight ever since the two thousand and eleven military offensive to islamist rebels from the city bombings are still.

five powerful bomb blasts have struck a bus parked in nigeria's northern city of carlow at least twenty five people have reportedly been killed the site of the attack is in an area mostly populated by immigrants from nigeria's largely christian self it's been targeted by islamist sect which is waging an insurgency against the government. the new israeli government is being sworn in as we speak following weeks of horse trading prime minister benjamin netanyahu likud alliance teamed up with three other parties to form a cabinet and you know he was forced to turn his back on traditional ultra orthodox allies and they now find themselves in opposition for the first time in a decade or though there is already some speculation that the coalition is delicate at best a vested interest in the direction of the new government the inhabitants of a rural but when village homes have been all those forty seven times by the authorities who are slim looks at their david and goliath style struggle

there's not much here but what there is within hours is destroyed. part of an israeli plan to win the negev desert of its bid when residents. if they even demolish the village a thousand times i will rebuild it as long as i'm alive i will keep struggling i will not give up my living in fear all the time whenever somebody calls us and says they're bulldozers in the main street we'll take all our stuff outside the tent and take it to the cemetery and now they're threatening to demolish the cemetery. village has become the focal point of tel aviv's plans it started with the first demolition more than three years ago and since then most families have relocated to neighboring towns but well meant that we're not the freight we're waiting for them to come again

a steadfast few who live near the threat and symmetry wait to rebuild their homes after the bulldozers leave there is a lighter side to the story residents here have asked the guinness book of world records to enter them as the village that has been demolished the most times in history forty seven and counting. nearly half of the big one population of the negative around ninety thousand people live in forty five villages and recognized by the israeli government they don't appear on any map and have no official signs marking their existence when they're not being torn down they're being torn apart through the government's refusal to provide sewage systems roads electricity water schools or hospitals but television says it's ready to change that if the bedouins move to recognize villages it promises to provide them with basic services and compensation. they are living on lions that belong to the state israel is a country of law and institutions and when you claim land belongs to you you should

be able to prove it through legal papers the better ones don't have these papers so it's very hard to accept their claims. but shaikh saya all true disagrees he says his ancestors are buried in the cemetery where graves state back at least one hundred years. we have papers from the in one thousand and five we paid taxes for this land from the year one thousand twenty one until nine hundred forty seven we have papers from the british in nineteen twenty nine and we even have papers from the year of nine hundred seventy three signed by israel itself all these papers prove that the land belongs to us. these really government is expected soon to pass a bill that will see more than twenty and recognized bedwyn villages destroyed and some fifty thousand bedouins displaced about two thirds of the land is threatened with confiscation the government trying to organize their vigilance against their will.