grilled by the nation russian president vladimir putin holding his first countrywide q. and a session since reelection saying he's always been dismayed by the west defining terrorists in russia as insurgents. unemployment peaking at a record three point two million in france and soaring above twenty percent in the twenty seven percent in spain this is live video from madrid we're looking at right now protesters saying they're suffering at the hands of austerity taking to the streets also of lisbon venting their anger at the troika of international lenders. are striking at one time in the bay detention center moves on with u.s. officials forced to admit the scale of the protest rising to ninety four detainees now said to be involved.

in moscow by matter as a good to have you with us here on r t a top story during a nationwide question and answer session russian president vladimir putin called for greater cooperation between russia and the u.s. on fighting terrorism he also said he was disturbed when western nations labeled terrorists in russia as quote freedom fighters event q. and a went on for a record four hours and forty seven minutes being the previous longest by a quarter of an hour or he has more. the recent tragedy in boston and the events which did right after that were watched by the whole world and russia is no exception especially after it was established that the two suspected terrorists war of chechen origin and the president did comment on that reminding how critical the west was of moscow's anti terror efforts in the caucasus and how international

media often presented terrorists as freedom fighters and the president said he hopes this would change now actually russian and american security services would be able to increase their joint efforts in combat in terror but you know we're going to show the ordinary american citizens are not to blame they don't understand what's happening i would like to address russian and u.s. citizens by saying that russia has been among the first victims of international terrorism i was always appalled when our western partners and the western media labeled terrorists who committed bloody crimes in our country insurgents and almost never terrorists these groups received intelligence financial and political support directly and indirectly we said to declarations merely proclaiming terrorism a common threat were not enough we must get the job done but i would have put in did confirm that he received two letters from bodies because of the wind when he was still alive and he said that the former take on the x.

. admitted making mistakes which harmed russia he asked for forgiveness basically and to ask the president to allow them return to russia where he was up to the latest point and to add to the enviously of his life on of the most wanted list to since he was found guilty. of various crimes and while the president said that despite all the commotion in international media about these the letters he still personally decided not to publish them since he says even though they were not closely acquainted it was still a private. what a private request the story around that it's in our wine is definitely in the headlines in russia and abroad so one of the questions was asked about one of the leaders of the opposition who is now being accused of organizing a criminal scheme to steal state property and that while the president commented

saying that if you are openly fighting against corruption like alexander no one need always basically made his popularity through his online anti corruption project then you have to be absolutely clear and clean in front of the law and if there are any allegations emerged then it's strictly to go up to the court to decide. because i'm bored it's all scopes of people who fight corruption to be completely clean themselves otherwise their actions become nothing more than self promotion in political advertising just because someone is trying to catch a thief doesn't mean they should be allowed to steal themselves that doesn't mean however that a person should be tried and locked up for any reason whatsoever just because his views may differ from those of the government i'm positive that novell nice case will be heard in the new objective manner. for the first time since two thousand and one this a q. and a session was held the would follow up question so basically it's went from the

ordinary question answer question answer scheme to a discussion which lasted nearly five hours and lots of the different issues were talked about including the recent law on foreign agents which basically obliges n.g.o.s with one sponsors to register themselves as foreign agents and be under state control and is this a law is widely criticized by the opposition and the president also commented on that saying that the law does not ban n.g.o.s from operating in russia it just obliges them to report to the authorities where they're getting their money from and how they want to spend it and with which purpose and he added that a similar wall exists in the united states since the mid one nine hundred thirty s. and actually talking about the relations between moscow and washington the issue of the monkey act also came up and everything that followed that's about moscow's reaction basically that act itself is truly one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the relations between the two countries and the president has named it once again

an imperialistic anti russian law which will be harmed relations while right now both russia and the united states really have to think more about how to develop ties rather than worsening them and with putin urging more cooperation between the u.s. and russia to fight the global terror threat in the wake of the boston attack on the bombing trail with the investigation into the marathon attack in full swing we'll hear from the parents of the two main suspects a little later in the program. but first u.s. offense defense secretary chuck hagel is said intelligence services have quote some confidence the syrian government has used chemical weapons on a small scale it's believed the nerve agent sarin was deployed against civilians and rebel fighters let's get more details from marty's marine important live for us in new york hello marina so this is the first time we've heard notion mention of the word chemical weapons president obama calling that a red line in the conflict with syria tell us more about that. while

addressing reporters in abu dhabi u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said the white house has informed members of congress that intelligence officials believe quote with with some degree of varying confidence unquote that syrian president bashar al assad's government has used chemical weapons against the members of the opposition specifically sarin gas. did not provide any specific facts no specifications of when or where the a legend weapons were used. and it's also not clear what his phrase means the phrasing used is with some degree of varying confidence does that mean that one member of the intelligence communities is confident that this is happening and another member is not confident secretary hagel also said that assad's use of chemical weapons violates every convention of warfare and now the u.s. is reportedly asking the u.n. to investigate these allegations by reportedly testing bodies in syria whether or

not they have any chemical or biological weapons in their system now we do know that in the past u.s. president barack obama has said that the use of chemical weapons by the syrian government would be a game changer in the u.s. position on intervening in the two year old civil war taking place in syria earlier in the week when i was in cairo he addressed the issue of chemical weapons being used in syria saying that suspicions are one thing and evidence is another so it's not clear what his position actually is because he's made conflicting statements throughout the week we also know that in a letter sent to u.s. senator john mccain a senior defense department official said that the assessment of likely chemical weapons used in syria will not automatically trigger action including military intervention that official referred to the bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in iraq that led to the u.s. invasion of that country we all remember

a decade ago how colin powell sat in the. in the chamber of the security council of the united nations shaking a vial claiming his case of iraq having weapons of mass destruction and we all know how that turned out to be false intelligence information but already in the aftermath comments a u.s. senators like john mccain are already calling for u.s. action it's also interesting to note that the real voiced similar concern about. syria using biological and chemical weapons and when that when israel made those statements hagel first doubted that now the syrian government and rebels have accused one another repeatedly of using chemical and biological weapons but this could be a turning point chuck hagel is confusing comments about this indicating that the syrian government may be using chemical or biological weapons but not providing facts can cause possibly the u.s. to act it could cause for members of u.s.

congress to pressure washington and it's still not clear whether those statements are based upon one hundred percent fact that is something that we are trying to find out more clearly controversial statements coming from chuck hagel all right artie's marine important for us in new york thanks for that update for us in with austerity deepening among europeans with france's unemployment hitting a new record high of eleven point five percent in spain the number of people out of work has jumped to an all time high there of twenty seven point two percent in neighboring portugal almost one in five in the workforce of job ortiz peter all over has more from lisbon. people have come out his has caused the usual twenty fifth of april celebrations to commemorate the on of the anniversary of the revolution it took place here and nine hundred seventy four this year however there's also a large protests against financial mistreatment as they see by both their own governments and by the three main lead in this in here it's not so much the four

holes of the apocalypse but the three money lenders of europe that they have portuguese people appearing to bring about ruin still to me a little bit more about just why the choice of the most hated people in full to go they could be said to say i'm joined by joe come out who you say and to try to based what choice did they did you just would have potable troika i mean so seriously. we have been experiencing for more than a year. now certain measures which have effects just short of every good prospect of social status of welfare state for people decent jobs some living and now we have over one hundred lawyers. given the debts and deficits which were talked about still fall for the troika they're worse still spalled see saw you know when we were wrong and the people of the recognize that they want the troika thank

you very much for speaking to us now there on just demonstrations taking place here for to go over the border and scheme is also a large demonstration happening in the capital through its state of course rocked by this self retooled highlight of the pickle the hike on employment in the country over six million job loss in spain right now the most since one nine hundred seventy six the debt those francisco franco in the end of the dictatorship and so we're talking about serious all people in spain that's why despite his people are out on the streets and also over and frogs they've released their unemployment figures a record high three point too. million job in fronts now so is the unemployment at the demick spreads around europe it seems it's not just greece it's not just a rebel it's a goal it's not just a mouse waiting to countries like france we're going to see demonstrations spreading in those countries surely as well as people take to the streets against the old i could not make this in europe. euro skepticism has been soaring across

the e.u. fueled banking crises controversial balance and harsh austerity latest surveys showing trust in the block has fallen to historic lows let's take a look at the figures collected by euro barometer the polling organization now in debt stricken spain the number of nationals who say they don't trust the european union has risen from twenty three percent back in two thousand and seven to seventy two percent last year in the u.k. previously half the population had no confidence in the e.u. well it's almost seventy percent now in germany europe's powerhouse and its biggest economy thirty six percent so they lost trust in europe back in zero seven in two thousand and twelve almost sixty percent in italy it was twenty eight percent euro skeptic five years later more than half paul hampel from the alternative for germany party says the figures aren't a surprise given the mistakes europe's making. the petition then to give a men's and european union especially in the united states has done such

a lot of things wrong and. misuse of treaties we made and do it reese without it will be kept all the time that there is no faith and evil in in our exploits to stabilize all or even to defeat to some hundred years ago the german emperor williams the second said the german spirit will use the problems of the world and. my impression is that we try again you know to do europeans as you must do with the german way but the other countries especially in southern europe but you go to spain greece italy and spain france not to forget they come and do it that way because they have a different economy and they have to find their owed their own to which one of the most important two is to get back to the old kind of and see when they can reach to reduce the value of their money and can compete internationally once again i think these countries are more or less on their own they have to engage they have problems for the country and the troika has the tools especially not into

naturally the two it's to help countries like portugal spain or greece. turning now to one of our other top stories u.s. officials now admitting on an almost daily basis that guantanamo bay hunger strike is on the rise lawyers for prisoners claiming the real figures though much higher than the official ones with the majority of one hundred sixty six detainee's taking part in the protest official numbers starting to grow after prison guards tried to break up the demonstration get more officials saying ninety four detainees now starving themselves seventeen being force fed three in the hospital there have been several recent suicide attempts on the military's muslim advisor says he's worried that the protests may lead to deaths many are held in the prison without charges and a majority think they'll never walk free artie's guided to chickie on has more. the military has been updating the numbers since the middle of march saying at the beginning that there were fourteen people on strike the detainees the fence lawyers have been saying all along there were many more around one hundred thirty they

would say earlier this month the president tried to put an end to the strike by putting the inmates in solitary confinement authorities said they raided the communal living area and forced the detainees into individual cells to prevent them from covering cameras didn't help the number has doubled since then according to the officials again the numbers that we've been getting from defense lawyers were different all along out of one hundred sixty six one tunnel prisoners eighty six have been cleared for release so the sole reason they're still held captive is their nationality i had a chance to ask the acting assistant secretary on human rights about this collective punishment based on nationality here's what she said the president has made clear his commitment to closing guantanamo but this has to be done in accordance with u.s. law and in consultation with the congress so it has to reassure you back to your statements by the white house and the spokesman that it's not just about those who have been cleared for release but many other inmates have never been formally

accused the funny thing defense lawyers say it's been a dead end for them trying to get their clients out whenever asked about these issues the administration gives the saying response it were first to congress but the lawyers say even with the transfer restrictions in place the current law still allows for the administration to use waivers to release some of these men but they for some reason don't use those it's really not clear what can change the status quo at this point an advisor for the pentagon who visited guantanamo last week came back and said that he predicted the ongoing strike would lead to death so a long time muslim advisor at guantanamo who goes by the name zack who goes only by his first name for security reasons. he said quote there will be more than one and then he added that the detainee squalled wanted to die out of hunger and thirst behind covered cameras and of god and the question many now ask is what if someone

really dies in this hunger strike will it change something in washington i'm going to check out. and still to come rising violence in iraq the country suffering one of the bloodiest chapters since u.s. troops left the country with ethnic clashes and bombings leaving more than one hundred dead one this after a short break stay with us here on our. international

and in the very heart of moscow. thanks for staying with us twenty minutes past the hour now the mother of the two boston marathon bombing suspects claims she's seen video showing her son tamar lamb was still alive after being detained police had earlier said the eldest brother was run over by his younger sibling who was making his getaway artie's tom barton has

more about what was said by both brothers parents at a news conference in dagestan. in this press conference the mother and father said that they spoke about what their next plans would be and how their feelings were at this moment or the mothers of bedat said that she was probably going to give up her u.s. citizenship she was very emotional in this short press conference she restated that she thought her sons were innocent that they've been framed. you know it really shouldn't be. like this he was alive why. why. why did. the father and the source says now that he wants to fly to the u.s. perhaps today perhaps tomorrow as soon as possible really to pick up the body of his son tom and also. and his grandson tomlin's son fly with them back

to russia to help look after them the mother also adds that she is not quite sure whether she's going to go to the u.s. as well there is a shoplifting charge there she says she doesn't think that she did it but she's still nervous she may face arrest if she goes said he was very late on co-opted by his brother into this plot converted into this more extremist or planned to plan the punters bombs the boston marathon. himself has also been put from anonymous sources say on a cia database of people to management which is added also to previous investigations by the f.b.i. so it raises further questions as to why these two were not picked up. getting into israel about to become tougher as a new controversial security check has been given a stamp of approval by the government at israel's ben gurion airport stopping out of search your e-mail inbox according to

a recent decision by the country's attorney general on this story on our website for t. dot com and more including this. according to the head of the news antiterrorist service is five hundred young europeans have already upped and left the comforts of home for syria fighting on the front lines alongside the country's rebels and also via this story in full and plenty more on our website that's our t.v. dot com. iraqi police say forty one people have been killed in clashes between government and security forces in the northern city of mosul earlier authorities said government had taken over a sunni town north of baghdad rising violence in iraq is spurring fears of more bloodshed and wider sectarian conflict some local saying the country could be on the same road as war torn neighboring syria clashes between the shia dominated government and sunni gunmen along with separate terror attacks have left more than one hundred dead in the past several days alone it's the worst spate of violence since u.s. forces left the country in two thousand and eleven and comes amid deepening

political turmoil with the government struggling to get keep power brokers to work together let's get more on this from artie's lucy cough and joining me here at the desk you've just come back from iraq now you if i understand right we're in the northern part of the country tell us more about what you saw there i was actually in bad that this most recent time and i also went to the the city of fallujah in the anbar province province which has been the heart of where these sunni anti-government demonstrations have been taking place i was in kirkuk about a month ago and what i can tell you from being in all these different areas is that iraq today is really still a very very divided country it's not so much that security is out of control as it is that security never really was in control in the first place there's been a mix of dickel tensions that have been sort of boiling under the surface for quite some time and they're really coming to the surface right now what. we've seen if we talk about what's behind this recent escalation at the moment basically there was a town hall in new york or coop where protesters had been camped out for

a long time but on tuesday armed forces from the government had raided the area resulting in about fifty people killed hundreds have been wounded this marked off a wave of violence across the country which is continuing today where these sunni areas that have been protesting for months now against the shia i want to show you government i mean are they literally just set up on the side of streets with signs and things like what kind of the maybe it's not quite occupy wall street or iraq but there are for example in fallujah where i was you do see sort of near the highway where every friday the protests take place they do have tents set up and tribal leaders as well as different groups are out there and it is a pretty permanent basis but on fridays this is the day of friday prayers. when the groups gather in mass you will see thousands of people and leaders really speeches and things like they make speeches exactly you have religious leaders who make speeches when we were there last friday there was a child who was reading poetry but a lot of very strong anti-government rhetoric they're now calling for prime minister nouri al maliki to step down they really feel that he is behind the

oppression of these any minority although some analysts would say it's sort of tables being switched because of course in the times of saddam's when these were in power and so there is some element perhaps of retribution here but the other problem that you have as you know even when you look at the security forces in iraq everyone is aligned with some sort of political interest here it's not as simple as the sunnis are uprising in the shiite led government is controlling things there are numerous groups involved with numerous different political vested interest and so it's very hard to say who's really behind what because there are so many different forces playing this political game here in iraq did you get a sense when you were at these protests that it could spill over into violence that something could lead to violence and then the military would retaliate and back and forth i mean it really is a tense situation you get the sense that if there was any sort of mistake perhaps made by either side. could spillover and that's exactly what we saw i mean the armed forces raiding the town resulting in the killings that took place in many ways is what sparked what we're seeing right now i mean you have

a situation where people feel like they've been oppressed they've been oppressed they're armed and they're not happy with the government so when the government crosses this red line which in fact it did on tuesday with the killings i frankly and i hope i'm wrong but i foresee this situation only escalating because again tomorrow on friday will have these protests will have people who are very angry we have these clashes now taking place in numerous areas across the country and i don't see how the security forces will be able to calm the situation down you know two years ago no about u.s. forces left iraq you get the sense that if they were still there there would be any different it's hard to say i mean the americans were no i mean i don't think so i mean. perhaps it would just be another element of sort of forces that people would be rebelling against i don't think the presence of the u.s. forces really calm the country down because the height of the sectarian war is that was at the end of two thousand and six of the beginning to two thousand and seven and the fear is that we're returning to those times right now and i think a lot of people blame the americans not so much on what's happening there today but

on. by removing saddam hussein pressure from power it unleashed all of these forces that were kind of simmering under the surface beforehand and now it really feels like there is no one who can really control things that could really calm things down because again it's so fractured and so divided not just along sectarian lines but political as well. thanks very much for your insight thank you. up next the own told stories of the news here delta stay with us here on our team. know this is not a fifty's beside fi movie slogan it is what a.b.c.

news is trying to find out when they investigated how lean finally textured beef is produced this type of quote beef has become very widespread throughout fast food restaurants and supermarkets in the usa and has led to its south dakota based manufacturer posting profits in the hundreds of millions of dollars but so what's wrong with some processed before might ask well the reporting showed that ammonia and other rough chemicals were doused on to the meat to kill bacteria and make it safe consumption although this product is for some reason legal the film is about to create public backlash and many companies gave up ordering and then mysteriously and finally took should be ok while the mainstream media for once actually did something valuable for society and what did they get in return so yeah the pink slime crew decided to sue a.b.c. news and forced them not to divulge their companies as well as punish them for defamation against their prop which led to profit losses and guess what they won the lawsuit well the faming products that on mass could destroy the health of

millions of americans is no blasphemy in my book but that's just my opinion. stream quality and enjoy your favorites. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter with your mobile device he can watch artsy any time anyway.