the daily violence in iraq brings the body count to record levels r t investigates another legacy of the u.s. invasion of radium contamination that's wrecking the lives of those born after the wall. clashes with muslim brotherhood supporters as rival rallies that raged throughout the country leaving over eighty dead in the sinai peninsula meantime the military's launched a crackdown on supposed street that's. diplomatic wrangling over edward snowden takes a new turn as washington rules out the death penalty for the man who exposed it spying secrets he still stuck in transit limbo at a moscow airport. and the syrian national coalition talks peace with the u.n. and bargains for weapons but the u.s. despite fears the hard will be snatched by terror groups swarming the country.

hello this is the weekly or top stories the last seven days here on r t with me kevin are in very good company it's just after midnight here now and another week of carnage in iraq has seen the number of people killed in the past seven days rise to two hundred twelve in july alone a staggering eight hundred people lost their lives in the country has become a breeding ground for terrorists since the u.s. led invasion a decade ago but war not only left to right plagued with daily violence it's also left a disturbing legacy of contamination which has led to birth defects lucy caffein off investigates. one hundred sixty kilometers south of baghdad the sacred shiite city is known for its holy shrines and history rounded by one of

the largest cemeteries in the world some of the heaviest fighting of the iraq war took place amid these graves its legacy still haunts the residents it was born with severe birth defects he's only eight months old but the doctors don't expect him to live past his first birthday. i felt these are you are no hook the noose around out to his office and then to have taxi. but for his mother layla there's no escaping the reality. her son has a nervous system disorder and his muscles are slowly wasting away. it's a recurring nightmare for leila and her husband three of their children were also born with congenital deformity as none of them survived and while they don't have proof they believe the radioactive ammunition used by american forces during the war is to blame the rule isn't over yet the americans are gone but with

suffering from the consequences and spiraling numbers of birth defects and high miscarriage rates have also been reported in fallujah and basra where american and british forces used heavy munitions at the start of the war but our visit to knowledge off revealed that the phenomenon may be far more widespread in iraq than previously known dr sundin's and saif is one of the few scientists who's been documenting cancer and birth defects here and she says as in the midst of a growing health catastrophe. after the start of the iraq war rates of cancer leukemia and birth defects rose dramatically in a job we believe is because of the legal rep and review rainy i'm at hospitals here cancer is more common than the. defeat of uranium or d u cuts through armor like a hot knife through butter more than four hundred tons of it is estimated to have been used in the two iraq wars the vast majority by u.s. forces the pentagon did not respond to our request for comment but the military

generally denies any link between exposure and cancer or birth defects it also says deal weapons are only used to penetrate enemy tanks but a new report funded by the norwegian government found that. targets in populated areas in it miss crimes one incident in najaf where a bradley armored fighting vehicle for three hundred five d.-u. rounds in a single engagement. the heavy fighting may be over but in nearly every street we visited in this neighborhood multiple cases of cancer and children with deformities no one knows what's making people here sick the families want answers and they want help. is old enough for school but has to be cared for as if he's a toddler he can't walk he can't speak he can't even go to the bathroom on his own use of brother is healthy but the family has two other children one severely deformed the other with a hole in her spine like many of the couples in this city are simply too afraid to

have another baby and they're left feeling totally abandoned no one cares about what's happening to all of the other families in this area even our own government doesn't do anything to help what can we do this is our feet it's a fate that many and not just suffer in silence. help with their lives in the decades since the u.s. led invasion all across the country their memories are honored in cemeteries like this one the dead may be the most visible reminder of the human cost of the war but if the living victims of that war talk who are still paying the price. iraq. the most outspoken scientists researching the impact of depleted uranium we describe to us what he discovered in iraq's war zone. we went through we found the levels of concern about formation and cancer and we looked at the parents of the children with congenital malformation and we did analysis of their hair to

see what was inside their head that might be do you know toxic might be the sort of thing that could cause congenital malformation and the only thing that we found was you raney and we found your brain in the hair of the mothers of the children that congenital malformation is now that we know that you're a nym is you know toxic that it causes these these levels of genetic damage and and because of that it also causes cancer so you can work slowly back from that towards your brain you know the only the only source of uranium was the use by the american forces american led forces of uranium weapons not only depleted uranium weapons as we later found slightly enriched uranium weapons which we believe they were using in order to cover their tracks just ahead this morning israeli's could get their say on whether to move towards peace with the palestinians later the report on how promised me government wants any potential decision to go to a referendum and it's hurry in parliament to get it going. also the people of mali

that in large numbers to elect a president but there are fears logistical problems could undermine the votes credibility following that uptick. in the northern egyptian city of port side at least one person has been killed and around thirty injured in overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of the ousted president mohamed morsi that follows brutal clashes in cairo that left over seventy dead muslim brotherhood supporters claim another sixty are on life support after being deliberately targeted by troops artie's bell troops got the latest from cairo. i went back to the city in off the violence it ended and spoke to many of the eyewitnesses and also the medics running these very makeshift field hospitals inside the city and speaking to eyewitnesses they told me there's about a few hundred of them and i decided to extend their sittin down the main road toward sequel to the bridge which is a major thoroughfare and about one o'clock we took in the morning at this point says security forces attempted to disperse them using tear gas off to this they say

they reported cartouche which is the pellets and also an off the bat they then were fired on with live ammunition which went on until nine o'clock in the morning leaving dozens dead speaking to the medics they said by about four five o'clock in the morning they started to get the bodies in with live ammunition wounds mostly to the chest neck and head they say implying this was the shoot to kill now this is the security forces for their part denying that the protesters say they were not on top of the ministry of interior said saturday evening that the protesters were armed and shot back at them including injuring several of the soldiers they maintain they did not fire on any protest is only used tear gas when it was in fact the protesters themselves because the most of the violence so we really don't have any confirmation of how this exactly stalin states however looking at the wounds of the people on the sheer number of dead it does imply that night on the mission was

you said a muslim brotherhood have said they will stay put in the sit ins and they will keep protesting to fight for justice and also for the reinstatement of mohamed morsy the military for their part maintaining that they will create these sit ins the minister of interior released a statement to saturday saying that it is working together with the minutes three to devise a plan to leave these sit ins using legal means they say however this is being slammed by rights groups who say it's not possible to legally clearest attend the how being phased they would be for the violence because we've seen such a heavy handed response from the minute she and the police force towards those protesting so it's very divided egypt extremely tense with expected violence on the horizon. well true reporting there for us with other developments the escalating chaos in egypt led to the u.s. to suspend its embassies work in the country meantime the egyptian army says it's killed telling street missed and arrested twenty others in the sinai peninsula the

military says it's cracking down on terrorism following a spike in attacks on soldiers and police in the wake of president morsy overthrow all highways leading to from sun i have been blocked to prevent extremists escaping there are estimated to be about five hundred militants in the area heavily armed and ready to use civilians as human shields is speculated some of the muslim brotherhood supporters of the sun to pick up arms and fight the military aviation and heavy armor have been brought in for the operation to get the situation from a summer of delhi political analyst and writer for the egyptian newspaper he's joining us live now from cairo hi there as i just been reporting there the army clamping down is this simply to fight terrorism or is there a political motive behind it as well. let me first to. the main issue here the main issue here is political islam which is rejected by the majority of the egyptian population this

is number one number two those who are supporting dr morsi all stood mosi are trained to use violence against say the wall society to restore this president and the president and this is also rejected by the majority of the population now after after the empowerment there from people like military to use everything suitable to fire terrorism and to now new situation and i think anybody will go to violence will be against the egyptian military your thoughts about the reports from doctors in cairo saying that many of those killed recently head and chest injuries many of those that were fired on by the army what do you think about the army's tactics apparent tactics here. till the moment the army and self didn't to deal with this situation their policy the egyptian police

who is dealing with them till this moment i assure that they've this moment that the egyptian army did not touch any of their protests those in the streets apart on the other hand there will deal with those who are using it to do what is in the sinai peninsula sorry sorry sorry you should go out b.j. sorry to interject so if if the army didn't do this who did that to these people that the doctors are saying had to render surgeries. we have now two levels to deal with those people the fairest eleven as by the low and. the polish well execute everything and will use. the authority of the law to deal with the protesters who are go to use the violence not.

this thing itself the second eleven and the army the army will deal with the terrorists in sinai and i think it will never need any kind of involvement to the military to deal with the morsy supporters so i'm not talking about sylar now is calling it out of talking about the. morsy protests. a lot of the protesters in the last forty eight hours or so reported to being shot in the head and in the chest by the army that's what i'm asking you about are you saying the army didn't do that all did do that are you saying the police did it i want to clear. clearly the military did not deal with the. protesters. republican guard the answer that they wanted to. do i pack a military. institution military

a military facility and. it was really something regrettable but till this moment everything the entire you do is going in this direction the polish we deal with them not the military but if it needs the military to take an action that war really will see what will the military do and i think military is not too involved and confronting those protesters also the majority of the egyptian society is considering the military as that may be a guardian for this people and of course the stability in egypt thank you for your time of the program sir several during the program last rites of. all the day's news out of the week's top stories to you on r.t. coming up after this very quick break.

what america's most wanted whistleblower said set out at a moscow airport it seems he's now becoming something of a bargaining chip between russia and the united states washington promises to me that execute nor torture edward snowden the man who exposed its worldwide surveillance tactics should he be handed to the u.s. moscow those says there's actually no legal grounds for his expulsion linsey fronts picks up this ongoing story. the world's media and u.s. law enforcement may not be chasing edward snowden from country to country at this

point but there is plenty of chasing going on at the airport and there's no sign of it slowing down as the weeks passed the kremlin has stuck to its guns on allowing snowden to stay as long as he does not harm the united states by disclosing any more information tension mounted wednesday when reports emerge that snowden's russian advisor anatoly. was in route to share the metro airports terminal with documents allowing snowden's temporary release from the transit zone while his asylum bed is considered but he showed up toting a brown paper bag filled with nothing more than new clothes and a few copies of russian classics translated to english along with some rather dismal news for snowden the paperwork was delayed. it is in waiting mode now and we can all imagine how he feels being unaware of what's ahead of him and whether he'll get a yes or no answer from the russian authorities and procedures can take up to three

months anyway he's very grateful to russia which didn't abandon him and to the people who were trying to help him needless to say snowden was nowhere in sight for the media's hungry lenses meanwhile the game of diplomatic ping pong gets better and better while russia allows snowden's remain in the transit zone the white house demands he's returned without delay the kremlin returns the volley by pointing out the absence of an extradition treaty with washington u.s. ambassador to russia then takes to twitter claiming they're not asking for extradition just to return russia points out the absence of an international law requiring a return secretary of state john kerry calls snowden a traitor to his country russia states part of the reason for sheltering snowden is worried that he could face capital punishment it's then that u.s. attorney general eric holder pens a letter to russia's justice ministry no torture no execution russia points the fact that snowden has been stripped of his passport he can't travel to which. holder scrambles to offer a temporary pass for for direct travel to the secure embrace of american law

enforcement the kremlin is unmoved while the white house asks for clarification on snowden status i think edward snowden has really been in many ways a hero and he has sacrificed his entire future i think as an american how much it's clear he loves this country he will never again see the golden gate bridge or the blue ridge mountains or the grand canyon all the things that we americans take for granted other irons in the fire congress accelerated a bill applying sanctions to any country offering asylum to edward snowden and some hawkish senators are calling for everything from a change of venue for september's g twenty summit in st petersburg to a boycott by the u.s. olympic team of the twenty fourteen winter games in sochi outside the states there are plenty of people lining up to make sure snowden is not thrown to the washington wolves anytime soon it's important that people from whatever government can say i think my government has been doing wrong and has been breaching people's human

rights and i need to apply for asylum in order to be able to speak about it is while all sides battle it out back and forth back and forth where is there querrey he's quietly hanging out in duty free or possibly thumbing through his new copy of dostoyevsky's crime and punishment back at sheremetyevo airport in moscow lindsay france are taking. according to snowden's revelations almost all digital communications are covered by the n.s.a. spying program which makes genuine previously you said they were rarity that is more important to try to see if she could avoid big brother in the bigger pool while going about it daily routine. in a post prison usa anonymity has become a rare commodity some accept it others are outraged but at the end of the day there's no easy way of escaping the prying eye of the n.s.a. five years ago i would have a cell phone little snatch in your pocket dump it don't bring your cell phone with

you all the time and i would go now you have automatic license plate readers to track where you are now you have metro pass through. the city bike system and facial recognition like it or not every american armed with technology has been cast in their own twenty four hour reality show the national security agency is the uninvited popper razzi you never see or hear it makes me want more careful about what i speak about on the phone and the way i conduct my business and i think it creates a certain consciousness. that weighs on us i feel like at this point i'm just a number in all of their data but even to do not have a cell phone out of a car not live in a city. the only solution for living n.s.a. free is to divorce from all things digital experts say using encrypted search engines or changing security settings on social networks isn't enough you have to

behave like an intelligence agent you have to constantly be thinking what tracks do i leave clearly retaining privacy under america's web of surveillance requires some sacrifice and here is where we're going to figure out how much so first things first i use as a way to get to work now if i use my credit card to buy my metro card then i can be tracked so instead i would use cash. easy. i usually check emails and voice mails during my fly block walk to work by living in a safe three wires living without a cell phone fingers crossed i'm not missing any breaking news right now. so now i am at my office i need to swipe a key card to get inside the security company knows where i am. at my desk i'm still and i say free i log into my corporate email but i can't use skype i

can't use twitter i don't have a facebook account so there's no sacrifice there but here is the problem i can't use the web to research or read the news because all my activity can be tracked. newspaper yesterday's news better than nothing this is about the time that i check my producer. invalid number my phone calls wouldn't go through and my only other. option is snail mail slower but surveillance free. or so i thought maureen up or not our team new york. syria's armed oppositions once again urged the u.s. to stop sending weapons to the syrian national coalition made this the main focus of its meeting with u.s. secretary of state john kerry thursday the next day the delegation switched to a. formal session with the u.n. security council were agreed to take part in the next should be for peace

conference result paul scholes explains the diplomatic efforts would have much bearing on the rebel movement as a whole. while the opposition are united in their desire to overthrow president bashar al assad that seems to be where their similarity ends the syrian national coalition is the umbrella group recognized internationally as the legitimate representative of the syrian people but they don't represent all factions opposed to a saddle one group operating out of their control for example is the al qaeda linked to al nusra front the coalition say they've hijacked the revolution or they've been classed by many in the west as a terrorist organization elsewhere a separate syrian group to the eighty two al qaida helped facilitate a jailbreak in iraq bring high ranking al qaeda operatives infiltrated by foreign fighters on the issues agenda seem separate from out of the coalition and it's even led to infighting on f.s.a. commander was killed by a rival group and the f.s.a. feel they could soon be fighting on two fronts but when we use the phrase

opposition exactly who are we talking about well the coalition alone is made up of at least eleven different groups including the muslim brotherhood who have recently called on the us and the e.u. to send arms in the battle with assad while only offering loose guarantees they won't fall into extremist hands there's also the coalition of secular and democratic syrians the syrian democratic people's party supreme council of the syrian revolution and so it goes on the disparate nature of the syrian opposition combined with the presence of islamic extremists means any nation looking to support the rebels or walking a continual tight rope with very few guarantees that any military support one backfire and actually encourage the one thing that trying to fight elsewhere. member of the surround he will coalition thinks the rebels are hell bent on the syrian of little interest in peace when the russian the united states were originally trying to promote the geneva two conference we saw that the syrian

rebels essentially said that they had no intention of negotiating until the situation on the ground changed that is so they gained the military upper hand so from their perspective they seem only willing to negotiate if the military situation allows them to have the upper hand in negotiations but if they seem to be losing the war if it seems that support for them inside of the country is dropping all of a sudden they have no desire to negotiate and they only want to continue to push war which is the subtext of this entire meeting where on the sidelines they have been pushing for more and more military aid from the united states and for it to come significantly quicker i just wanted as well for more analysis of the syrian conflict course on a website called want to service the twenty four seventh's also what are called deadly revenants reporting on water and radiation levels in fukushima now as high as they were back in twenty eleven after the nuclear plant disaster more about that from us this morning and all that is in the sky the east putting a massive drone and satellite surveillance program it's raising major privacy

concerns again get speedo might want to tell t. dot com. the israeli cabinet has approved the release of one hundred four palestinian prisoners the issue been a key sticking point in the way of reviving peace talks which are expected to resume now on monday night israeli politicians have also given the go ahead to a bill which if passed will put any outcome of those negotiations to a referendum on the smarties pulis lier. well the israeli parliament adjourns this week for their summer recess and what this means is that there will be no legislation able to be passed in this country for at least a few months the israeli cabinet has approved this bill that requires any future peace deal with the palestinians to be put to a referendum now the prime minister's office issued a statement in which it said and i'm quoting that it is important that on such historic decisions every citizen should vote directly this is not a question about supporting a palestinian state but what it is a question about it supporting land swaps which would affect

a future palestinian state what we're talking about here is jerusalem we're talking about parts of land within the green line but we're not talking about the west bank and the settlement blocks there but it is at the same time worth noting that this fall was pushed by a predominantly rightwing government it was pushed by the right wing members of the time yahoo's government meaning that they might be counting on the israeli public to not give its nod to giving land towards a future palestinian state and it might be a way for them putting another hurdle in the path to a palestinian state i think it's fair to say that most israelis do support negotiations with the palestinians this coming tuesday it is expected that since two thousand and ten there will now be a resumption of direct negotiations between the israelis and palestinians in washington but when you talk about a palestinian independent state the latest opinion polls do suggest that the majority of israelis do support the two state solution but only if israel does not

have to give major land swaps and of course that is the contentious issue now the government is seeking urgent approval of this referendum though it is asking parliament to foster track its passage we do expect that this coming wednesday it will be brought to the knesset for a first reading. for that so you think all of the worst bug security forces have clashed with that to be issued protesting against the resumption of peace talks and . israel three people were injured as offices used bombs to disperse crowds of those mentioned injected by hamas officials in gaza you say only israel stands to benefit. so the come on the program this morning with me kevin zero in the french army about to feel the full brunt of the economic crisis thirty four thousand soldiers undersells without a job over the next five years as the military tightens its belt. and has but ima put it goes to ukraine hailing unity between orthodox christians we look at the divide within ukrainian society these days between those wanting closer into.