breaking news this hour here on a blaze at a psychiatric facility in the moscow region claims the lives of up to thirty eight people only three surviving it's thought many died as they were sedated in their beds. unconfirmed intelligence from the u.s. now pointing to the use of chemical weapons in syria and fueling war rhetoric in washington similar to that scene the head of the invasion of iraq. and the chief says hundreds of european volunteers are now fighting in syria and could pose a serious security threat when they return from the radicalized front.

a pleasure to have you with us from today. live in moscow with your global twenty four hour. let's get to our breaking news for you this hour here on the a devastating fire at a psychiatric hospital in the moscow region has killed at least thirty eight people leaving only three survivors and the blaze reportedly erupted in a wing providing special treatment to patients more on this let's cross live now to watch who is actually at the scene of the blaze that joining us now is tom good to see you can you can you tell us exactly what happened and bring us up to date what's going on there right now it looks very quiet behind you. hi there rory yes the choir after the storm i suppose here at the village of roman ski about sixty kilometers outside of moscow smoke is still gently rising from the shell of

a psychiatric hospital but caught fire so fast and with so much loss in the early hours of this morning forensic teams and investigators are going through the building they found thirty six of the thirty eight people reported dead and they're now trying to find out what exactly did happen in those early hours. neighbors say that the fire started around two am and quickly spread throughout the building by the time the emergency services had arrived one hour later it was too late to save those inside three did manage to escape one nurse who stumbled out and managed to grab a patient on her way out another pay another patient did manage to escape without her help. tom what about other possible causes of this inferno here in and can you tell us why were there so many casualties. but. yes this at the moment a developing investigation with as far as that goes with contradictory reports

around various aspects of what exactly happened during this fire and those frantic minutes when people were either trying to get out or were being consumed by the flames first of all about the access to the building and i've heard a police spokesman and mergence the ministry spokesman say that there was free access to the building that the doors were not locked but i've also heard locals saying that they had to kick in the doors to try and get in and help people i've also heard about bars on the windows there we're not allowed close enough to pass the police cordon to see how many bars there are on windows but i. police spokesman has said that there are only one or two windows with bars on them whereas earlier reports indicated that there were many and also the very important question about how many if any of these patients were under medication when the fire hits the

spokesman from the police and emergency services say that indeed yes there they were under medication whereas locals say no it wasn't that kind of psychiatric facility nobody was under medication very hard to find out what exactly the details of the situation were and very important however we have to talk to a fire safety expert who has some insights into some of the difficulties that may have arisen. it was probably supports that when all preventative measures are taken and constant training and evacuation drills are held that the amount of victims and material damage goes down dramatically in this situation limited opportunities for evacuation accounted for the poor response during the fire but it's possible that personnel were unable to deal with so many people in a state of panic. though. we've also

heard various developing reports about what may have caused this fire some people say that there was a recovering drug addict inside this psychiatric hospital who used to regularly go and smoke sitting on a sofa or so for that has later said to be say investigators most probably at the center of the fire so it is their primary theory at the moment to investigators that a cigarette dropped on to the sofa was what started this fire that has but for the moment taken precedence over an earlier explanation that it was an electrical fault to short circuit although investigators have not ruled that possibility out either . so the numbers we're looking at here are thirty eight people dead leaving at this point only three survivors at a massive blaze at a psychiatric hospital in the moscow region artie's tom barton there at the scene thank you. well this is not the first. russian a medical facility to claim lives let's get more now with also use

a lindsey for all is joining me here so this has happened before yes unfortunately country does have a track record of these facilities. going up in flames and sometimes ending in very tragic ways back in two thousand and nine in russia's republic of komi for instance there was a fire in an elderly care facility in that case twenty three people a lost their lives in the flames in two thousand and seven in the city of tula on november fourth thirty two people died not two hundred forty seven were able to escape that blaze which is it's especially rare because you're dealing with a lot of people and getting them out of those facilities can be very difficult before that in two thousand and six in siberia it was very tragic weekend here in russia in siberia there was a fire at a mental hospital nine people died two hundred fifteen managed to escape that blaze and it was just twenty four hours after a blaze that took place actually in moscow and in that place forty five people lost

their lives that was at a drug treatment facility most of those people died of smoke inhalation one hundred fifty did escape but the incident this incident the gross violations were safety violations they were locked exits and barred windows so a lot of times in the ensuing investigations after these these tragic events it's found that there while there are laws to deal with fire regulation many of these facilities aren't following those or maybe one person violated them at the time of the tragedy so it's possible we're seeing a maybe a bout of negligence here it is possible you know all right so with those numbers they're going to thirty three use of i was right now and there's a psychiatric hospital for sixty klicks outside of moscow all these are lives in france thank you. well the e.u. anti terrorist chief is sounding the alarm over the number of young europeans going off to the syrian war hundreds of volunteers already fighting alongside rebels and could pose a serious security threat when they return home that's according to at least one

official. earlier now reports that europe is increasingly worried about the terror threat brewing from within. if syria's two year old conflict is over the scene is spillover some neighboring countries but now it is extended far beyond that it's estimated that hundreds of europeans from fourteen countries mostly young men have joined the rebels in syria fighting against bashar al assad a london based international center for the study verticalization with the tall figure of six hundred. well here and there were built for the media coverage of the radicalization of young people as recently focused on one specific story that of a father in search of the son dimitri wanted son had joined a radical islam his group and had gone to syria to join the fight father had gone all the way they're hoping to bring this somebody. built planes are flying overhead

all the time when we are on the street or inside a building we had a bomb one dropped on us i haven't had a contact with him we should meet here in aleppo we spoke with dimitris lawyer who's in constant contact with him and he says the father is hell bent on finding his eighteen year old son. we don't expect that he will send me to syria i think that's that's clear so that's also why i didn't leave until it was most needed to go in self he said i want to do something for myself a son who started changing about three years ago the problem with the u.s. that at a certain moment he was influenced by some radical list be made contact with some people on the streets and there was also a story about. you know i'm told love you have a girlfriend and he didn't you didn't work out and there was some friends who say ok carlos and very slowly it started that he was really influenced and we prayed to

us so that that are the words of my client to grow beards and. started wearing out . close. preaching for every five times a day things like that so it was a little bit awkward for some of fifteen sixteen years also he was really under influence of radical of radical people this ruby who had come into contact with shari'a for belgium a radical islamism group whose leader followed belka some have been arrested for hate speech and calls justifying the use of violence over there is judgement day if you're if you're a muslim you will go to paradise if you're this believer you will go to hell terrorism expert glowed many cases the rise of radicalized this is alarming many of whom are easy prey the first. question is why they convert and usually they don't convert because do they convert because they're programmed at

one moment in their life most of them have no political ideas to go to fight because the fact. and the goal is to fight if we don't see this can you convince. the insect the chap can do that to people just talking them and for the convincing then the two big goodness team they want to go to so you have to sign over took a beating at the doors to take you. authorities are paying even closer attention with alert levels heightened while worried family members of some of the youth fighting in syria have been calling for a clampdown on radical groups the best they could do short of going to syria themselves although that may not be completely out of the question does or sylvia r.t. in belgium. still ahead for you this hour here on our t.v.

a member of the notorious pussy riot punk band attends a parole hearing in central russia hoping she'll be set free and those details i don't call. the nonproliferation treaty stands as one of the most important international agreements ever signed delicious the treaty is under threat from such countries as iran do some countries get a free pass while others are punished even though they are in complete compliance.

international landlord in the very heart of moscow. it's good to have you with us on this friday here on our c a parole hearing for a member of the notorious punk band pussy riot now underway in central russia last august and i. was sentenced along with two other women to two years in prison and they were found guilty of hooliganism following a stunt in the country's main orthodox cathedral let's get more now from our teaser got a shift. the biggest question of course whether an idea of the horn of the member

of the pussy riot band will be able to walk free following this hearing her defending lois points to the fact that first of all her behavior since the conviction well she's been spending her prison time here in central russia has been relatively good there have been no complaints also she has a five year old child and also she has already received several job offers while being in detention while being in prison which from the legal point of view makes her eligible for parole especially given the fact she's already spent half of her conviction of a prison term behind bars already one of the other members of the band already been released on parole some would say that the hearing of the other members parole plea will be reviewed later in may it is the last attempt of an idea of the newcomer to walk free before her prison term expires next year because the next time she would be able to file an appeal the plea for parole if she gets

a negative decision today will be only in six months told crazy she writes songs in the next twenty twelve and the band performed a political protest a so-called punk prayer in russia's main cathedral the crisis savior cathedral in moscow. later that year on twenty twelve they were convicted to two years in prison for. ever since this story has been making huge waves both in russia domestically and internationally with many of those saying in the streets that these women do differ in fact deserve their prison term for offending religious views of many in russia and violating the law while many others have been protecting them defending them saying that such a long prison sentence was completely unjustified the band also received support from idols like madonna rock bands like red hot chili peppers worldwide so it's been definitely causing huge media attention as well in this court building which i'm standing right now here almost three hundred journalists have crammed in despite that it's only able to fit about one hundred people so this all shows the

sauce definitely causing a huge interest worldwide and it's interesting to see whether this new twist will bring rather unexpected deliverance and in the long run. this is r.t. live from moscow let's get back to one of our top stories for you now the e.u.'s antiterrorist chief sounding the alarm over the number of young europeans going off to fight in the syrian war let's get some reaction now from a british labor m.p. that mahmud now joining us here live on r t good to see you today so what is a what's driving the hundreds of europeans including british citizens to flock to syria and fly and fight on the side of the rebels do you think. why is this. the fact that there is a support that these freedom fighters and rebels need aid and support our government decided to support and i know of a group that went only a few weeks ago to syria twenty two people went and only ten of come

back so i assume the other ten joining me effort against the government but you have on them so i'm sort of ask you this but you just to clarify just so i can get this straight from you what is it that's driving them to go and fight on the side of the rebels you're describing certain small groups of people going but what is it that's that's hurting them together or a lot of it's to do with people who are supporting the anti government regime there are a lot of scholars from syria who come to the u.k. quite regularly a lot of them are on the. opposition the group has been headed by a muslim scholar and what they're saying is that they need support from people to come out and support them and they go out to michelle e trying to support a one once they get there they're given and people that are just just being some of the people have said that we showed some horrific scenes of young people being

needy mutilated and elderly people and so the honeyed i mean you talk about these so-called sympathizers so-called sympathizers going to fight on the side of the rebels in syria you say they go in initially with aid we understand a lot of weapons i'm falling into the hands of all various factions of the opposition and those who are fighting there in g.g. thing though i mean the rebels themselves have of course been accused by rights groups of atrocities aids is a well known fact in britain i mean are all the rebels being held up as the good guys in this conflict. i think there are the moment and i think we're not getting to the bottom of the whole story of where there are atrocities being committed on both sides and i think we need to reflect both of that i think at the end of the day this sort of conflict will end up with a huge amount of atrocities taking place with a huge amount of loss of life and we need to take that into account this is not good side delusions or bad side this is bad for all of us any conflict is bad for

all of us the loss of life and atrocities they. literally i've literally got fifteen seconds left about three british men who've just been sentenced for conspiring to commit terror attacks in the u.k. how common are radical ideas in a country then how do you call it with this significant all right well certainly we're seeing a growing rise of underground movements not just in the u.k. but certainly across parts of western europe we've just seen in america with the boston bombings as well the labor m.p. thank you very much indeed for joining us here on our see today thank you and. well u.s. officials now claim they have intelligence pointing to the small scale use of chemical weapons by the regime in syria the date here is said to be sketchy and difficult to verify and washington has warned a chemical attack in syria could spark a u.s. intervention some lawmakers now say that red line has been crossed because autism

are an important i reports that the drumming up of war rhetoric is reminiscent of a previous invasion. the u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said at the white house and has informed members of congress that intelligence officials believe with some degree of varying confidence that syrian president bashar al assad's government has used chemical weapons against members of the opposition specifically sarin gas didn't provide any specific facts on when or where the alleged weapons were used and it was not even clear what the phrase with some degree of varying confidence even means does that mean that one intelligence official is confident that this is taking place and one is not confident clearly that that language is either convoluted or are bit confusing now secretary hagel said that assad's use of chemical weapons violates every convention of warfare but what's interesting is that on tuesday israel's intelligence officials claim that syria that the syrian government had used lethal lethal chemical weapons against rebels and at that time secretary hagel expressed

his doubts about those findings now the u.s. is currently pressing for the united nations to conduct a comprehensive investigation into allegations of damascus use of chemical weapons but the united nations secretary general has previously appointed it seem of experts but the syrian government has been accused of blocking the team from doing its work where u.s. president barack obama has previously 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 in a letter sent to two u.s. senators a white house legal official did write that the assessment of likely chemical weapons use in syria will not automatically trigger action including military intervention but the official also referred to a bad intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in iraq that led to the invasion the us invasion of that country in that case the intelligence was proved wrong everybody can remember just

a decade ago when colin powell sat in the chambers of the united nations security council shaking a vial to try to enter to try to convince the. international community to go along with america's invasion into iraq and clearly his claims of iraq having weapons of mass destruction were proven wrong but nonetheless u.s. senators like john mccain are already calling for action mccain has said that if the u.s. now declines to intervene in syria it would send the wrong message to other adversaries in the region working to some experts what is proving positive or factual here is that the current accusations against the syrian government is eerily similar to the accusations that were made against the iraq government proceeding america's two thousand and three invasion and so many experts believe here that all this talk can be leading the u.s. and its western allies to take military action against syria possibly without all the correct facts in place. and we've been closely following the chemical weapons

controversy in the syrian conflict and you can find a full account of the events as they unfolded on our website at www dot com now i'm verified and questionable evidence of the intent to use chemical weapons in syria has been something of a theme like this supposed threat from the rebels these pictures purportedly from a seized factory apparently showed the aftermath of poisonous gas on rabbits about story and more available on the web site also this hour at r.t. dot com massive protests turned violent in spain the unemployment level reaches a record of more than twenty seven percent you can watch the footage online. of the alleged boston marathon bombers were reportedly planning to carry out a terrorist attack in new york's times square all the details on the website. turning our attention now to iraq where nearly fifty people have been killed in the

northern city of mosul after fierce clashes between gunmen and security forces and that's on top of more than one hundred deaths since tuesday when troops storming a sunni protest caused unrest to spread quickly if there were a spate of violence since u.s. forces pulled out in december of twenty eleven and there are fears the situation could worsen the deepening political turmoil has left the government deadlocked in its efforts to rule a country made up of radically different groups. just returned from iraq my colleague take on the escalating violence. iraq is a country that is divided into three major areas you have for example over here this is the largely sunni provinces over here is the semi autonomous kurdish region below which are certain disputed areas and this is the largely shia area of iraq now the incidents the latest wave of violence you leave your kook this is close to the town of who we are where demonstrators have been camped out for several months

now on tuesday things came to a bloody boiling point when government forces had raided the area the government says that the protesters had opened fire the demonstrators meanwhile say that these security officials are the ones who opened fire first the result of which was at least fifty people killed and hundreds wounded now why the protesters were in here in all these areas to sunni areas and sit back down now they've basically been protesting against the government based say that the policies of prime minister nuri al maliki this is the shiite led government has resulted in their oppression this is what they say and news of the attacks there and how we have spread very quickly and that's what's behind this latest spate of violence we saw attacks in mosul in other areas north of baghdad in the anbar province and people feel that this was perhaps retribution perhaps basically just the straw that broke the camel's back with essentially largely peaceful demonstrations turning into now

violent escalations and expressions of outrage in order for things to essentially deescalate there has to be changes in policies and we were in fallujah talking to the protesters they feel that the way the very structure of the government this is a sectarian government this is part of the constitution that has been written in large part with the help of the u.s. that divides iraq i mean it divides iraq constitutionally and these protesters say that unless there's a change in policies they're not going to stop coming out they're not going to go back to their homes and stop these demonstrations. and the. impetus for this violence right now has been the physical clashes that took place and i don't really see a situation where the protesters will just say hey we're done we're going to go home now they want massive change. we're back in just a moment here and he with abby martin cutting through the spin of the mainstream media in breaking the set this is obscene.

this is misty's see. him no this is not a fifty's beside fi movie slogan it is what a.b.c. news is trying to find out what 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 you might ask well the reporting showed that of mony and other rough chemicals were doused onto the meat to kill equal i bacteria and make it safe for consumption although this product is for some reason legal the films have power to create public backlash and many companies gave up ordering the 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 sued yeah the pink slime crew decided to sue a.b.c. news and force them not to divulge their company's secrets as well as punish them for defamation against their product which lead to profit losses and guess what they won the lawsuit well defaming products that on mass could destroy the health of millions of americans is no blasphemy in my book but that's just my opinion. choose your language kelly mcevers no if they're going to say sell some of the. tunes the kids the consents to. choose the opinions that immigrate to. choose to stories get inside the minds choose the access to off to school.

system. to sometimes. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food because you know how fabulous bad luck i got so many i mean. down i know that i'm sitting in the same really messed up. in the old prairie so personally apologize and. worst you're going to flat out stupid a radio guy and pull up a zero minutes from a kook cause they all want to watch quote for about fifteen years you've never seen anything like this i'm cold.