as early violence in iraq brings the body count to record levels our jeanne meserve gets another legacy of the u.s. invasion noémi and contamination that's wrecking the lives of those born after the war. they did so nobly clashes with muslim brotherhood supporters as rival rallies rage at throughout the country leaving over eighty people date fall on the sinai peninsula the military launches a crackdown on supplies it's famous. the long delayed peace negotiations between israel and the palestinians are finally said to be solved in washington monday evening of the prime minister netanyahu has cabinet voted to release a hundred and four palestinian prisoners. and the diplomatic wrangling over edward snowden takes a new twist as washington rules out the death penalty for the man exposing its

secrets is still stuck in transit limbo at a moscow in. moscow this is are to go with me to say i don't know surge of carnage has rocked iraq with two hundred and twelve in lives lost during the violence over the past seven days in july i learned a staggering eight hundred people were killed in the country that's become a breeding ground for terrorists since the u.s. led invasion a decade ago and the war has also left a disturbing legacy of contamination which results in birth defects are to use investigates. one hundred and sixty kilometers south of baghdad the sacred shiite city is known for its holy shrines and is surrounded 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 dizzy you were not hurt the noose around mount to his office and then to a 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 you 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 field from

reentering the consequence of. 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 the law 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 flu and was depleted uranium or do you cut through armor like a hot knife through butter more than four hundred tons of it as. 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 weapons are only used to penetrate enemy tanks but a new report funded by the norwegian government. was used against civilian targets in populated areas in the scribe's one incident in najaf where a bradley armored fighting vehicle started 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 have 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 they're simply too afraid

to have another baby and they're left feeling totally abandoned no one cares about what's happening to the other families in this area even our own government doesn't do anything to help what can we do because our fate it's a fate that many in 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. still paying the price. but of the activists and member of the stop other war coalition john rhys's says the turmoil iraq is engulfed in is a result of the western divide and rule policy the weakness of the local government in order to occupy iraq western forces british and american adopted a policy of divide and rule

a very major sectarian conflict where there wasn't one before they created al-qaeda in iraq where there was no al qaida before so i think that the country is a product of the most enormous strains as a result of that war the truth of the matter is it's a terrifically weak government it's a practically divided down the middle between people who are sympathetic to iran's position in the region and those are real dependent on washington it's a state that's been left in a catastrophic weak position by the occupation which the current developments in the middle east a weakening still more it is up to over seventy supporters of ousted president morsi have been detained this happened as thousands of promo c. protesters marched towards the army's intelligent headquarters in cairo nor in the military's warning to stay away the demonstrations started at the scene of saturday's massacre seventy people were led to shot by security forces and

supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsy claim another sixty people on life support after being deliberately targeted by troops are g.'s a bill to has more on the story. i went back to the sit in office the violence had 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 about a few hundred of them and i decided to extend sittin down the main road to gold sequel to the bridge which is a major thoroughfare and about one o'clock or two cook in the morning at this point says security forces attempted to disperse them using take ass off to this they say they reported cartouche which is a pilot 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 weans 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 this the protest to 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 doesn't buy that live ammunition was you said a muslim brotherhood have said they will stay put in their 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 clear the 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 players sit in the how being phased they would be for the violence because we've seen such a heavy handed response from the minute tree and the police force towards those protesting so it's very divided egypt extremely tense with expected violence on the horizon. from the british egyptians for democracy gruber says the army is the root of the problem and that they cannot be a peaceful solution while it's art in the streets ready what the military has done this is not about morsi and wants not about the muslim brotherhood this is about democracy being hijacked by the military every single day we are seeing members of the pro-democracy movement being killed being arrested being attacked their only crime is to support democracy and to call for an end to this bloody coup and so the

solution you cannot ask the pro-democracy movement for a solution because it's the military who created the problem so if we want an end to this problem we want an end to this escalation in egypt then we have to see the end of the military you have to see the back of the military. the chaos has prompted the u.s. to suspend its embassies operations in cairo meanwhile violence in the sinai peninsula continues one soldier was reportedly killed and more wounded as gunmen attacked army barracks earlier the diff in army said it killed ten extremists and arrested twenty others they and has deployed heavy weaponry and aviation in the area to crack down on terrorist forces and there follows a spike in attacks on soldiers and police in the wake of president morsi overthrow all highways leading to and from sinai have been blocked to prevent extremists escaping there are an estimated five hundred militants in the area heavily armed and ready to use civilians as human shields speculated that some of them are muslim

brotherhood supporters that have decided to take up arms and fight the military political so she ologists a dr saeed the director says of the army's actions are part of a drive to weaken support for the slimmest movement. in the last sleeves albany complaints by the egyptian army complains that not succeeded very well for many reasons one of them is that when president morsi who came to power he released many of the. terrorists who were. despite that they are ideologically different from the muslim brotherhood. a popular uprising that. was not welcomed by the sinai militants rebellion now there's a front of me hope that you would be able to eradicate them once and for all the fun because the sinai is an illusion it's not that easy but at least it would give the activity for a long time only again as it is in the interest of the whole world that they

support the egyptian military completely against terrorism. the long delayed peace talks between israeli and palestinian authorities are set to resume in washington this monday evening that's after the israeli cabinet approved the release of one hundred and four palestinian prisoners as part of a deal to restart negotiations brokered by u.s. secretary of state john kerry israeli politicians have also given the go ahead to a bill which if passed will put any outcome of peace talks to a referendum on this from artie's policia. 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 the 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 had 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 is supporting land swaps which would affect a future palestinian state what we're talking about here is jerusalem we're talking about talks 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 with 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 needing 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 of 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 it 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 bill 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. i mean are some palestinians have already expressed their attitude towards plans are to resume talks are going to report by law. call media at least seven people have been injured as a security forces clashed with protesters in the west bank city of ramallah another rally was staged and hamas controlled gaza with the group also rejecting the negotiations. coming up later in the program syria's main opposition is becoming impatient as the rebels cling on to hopes that it will receive its former america

yes the weapons could end up in the wrong hands. well america's most wanted a whistleblower is stuck in a moscow airport his fate is being juggled in diplomatic games between russia and the u.s. washington says they will neither torture nor execute edward snowden who exposes free piece of aliens tactics should he be handed over to the u.s. in the meantime moscow refuses to extradite the man saying there are no legal grounds for the procedure artie's rings in france reports. 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 contract and was in route to share to metro airports

terminal with documents allowing snowden's temporary release from the transit zone while his asylum bid 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 was 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 the procedures can take up to three months anyway he's very grateful to russia which didn't abandon him and to the people who tried 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 penned 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 passport 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 morgues 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 where he's quietly hanging out in duty free or possibly thumbing through his new copy of dostoyevsky's crime and punishment back and sharing metro airport in moscow lindsey

france are taking. american lawmakers have chosen to allow the national security agency to continue its avail and some people both at home and abroad a motion to curb its activities failed in the house of representatives this week both republicans and democrats were split on the issue with a margin of only twelve votes the u.s. has also received international criticism for spying outside of its own borders and with protesters gathered in the streets in cities across germany even as a pawn of washington. he demanded that the government reveal the full scope of his whole creation with the n.s.a. activists and news even say the u.s. is behind all this push to allow its intelligence service the c s d to spy on citizens and they weigh in ireland the government is being accused of the sea for instance usal to investigate reports of eavesdropping on its territory we discuss the issue with. you know one of the few internet service providers which has

rejected the n.s.a. surveillance requests as long as that information is transmitted in the clear and there are willing partners of the n.s.a. allowing them to collect data off the internet they're going to continue doing that as long as they can there are many in congress who are calling edward snowden a trim a traitor and a criminal when in fact i think it's the people in the n.s.a. who are the criminals who are not following the constitution and have perjured themselves in front of congress these are these are people we cannot trust and it's time that we audit them or shut them down only solution for keeping the n.s.a. from spying on people on the internet is people using encryption and then having service providers that are willing to stand up and stand against broad surveillance and wholesale monitoring. for more on the spying scandal log on to r.t. dot com where you can find out just who are within the n.s.a. can acts as u.s. citizen private data i don't mind we have a story on how low level clerks are within the organization have access to

trillions of telephone calls and e-mails by the american public. also one click away a female avenger is conquering t.v. screens in pakistan where teacher by day hero by and i do uses pens and fight villains attempting to shut down girls' schools we've got the full story on our website. and an apparent attempt to distance itself from extremists a serious main opposition group has condemned the alleged massacre of government soldiers near the city of aleppo that's just a few days after its representatives urged the u.s. to start supplying weapons to its fighters over so many rebel groups active on the ground with unclear where those arms could eventually end up artie's cross-court takes a closer look. 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 sad 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 be eighty two al qaida helped facilitate a jailbreak in iraq bring high ranking al qaeda operatives infiltrated by foreign fighters on the shores 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 are walking a continual tight rope with very few guarantees that any military support won't backfire and actually encourage the one thing that trying to fight elsewhere. so more international news in greece now at least thirty seven. killed in the italian city of of alina that's according to rescuers at the scene four children have reportedly been called out of my live from the wreckage while eleven people have been taken to hospital in serious condition a coach struck several cars when he came off of the fly over and plunged twenty five meters down the slope it's landed in a heavily wooded area which is hampering rescue operations. a

suspected u.s. drone or strike has killed at least five people in a tribal region in pakistan two missiles reportedly hit the province of north waziristan when a minute we're crossing on foot into pakistani territory from afghanistan it comes just a day after an apparent u.s. drone strike killed four suspected islamist militants in southern yemen america's drone program as a source of extreme tension between washington and islamabad which considers the strikes of violation obvious so venti. several ball full explosions of rugby's and libyan city of benghazi the blasts are reportedly targeted to law courts and the justice ministry office officials recorded that about ten people were wounded two seriously this comes as a day after over a thousand inmates escaped from a local prison about one hundred of this is where we captured the day after the. now voting has finished in mali's presidential election where large numbers turned

out to cast their ballots major organizational problems have been reported in the north with many people and able to find the right polling stations and many of the half a million people forced from their homes by violence and long running instability where i'm able to vote historian gerald horner says molly was simply not prepared for the election. the country is not ready at all for example check the electoral roll for example the list of voters it's unclear what of the fact that there are so many refugees and internally displaced persons put it this way if our northern mali or because it had to go to a polling station it was not so long ago that these militant so-called islamicist were actually ruling that part of the country we recall the devastation they wreak the havoc they reap in terms of beating women in the streets in terms of destroying valuable manuscripts stretching back centuries that basically revealed the intellectual firepower that then existed in that part of africa it seems to me that

is the election in many ways is going to be an uncertain in to an uncertain enterprise. young people leaving friends in great numbers as they find out to the unwanted in the countries labor market with soaring unemployment and more and more businesses closing the nation is now officially in a crisis is maria polls and how many people in france just don't see an end to the country's don't want to spiral. the grass is not always greener on the other side even for those eurozone countries that are in dire straits even the block's biggest economies are feeling the pinch france is now officially in crisis at least in a job crisis june saw another rise in unemployment with almost fifteen thousand more people now out of work that's five hundred new jobless we say there are more than the percent of the provisions in the broad yes but a result forty of them but almost ten percent of the division is

part of the broad and but for that bites that the reason behind the gloom is statistics is it's tied to short term contracts that are never in utah as cautious companies can no longer afford to keep people sitting pretty just want to put moore's have no opportunity to develop tuxes or very high gear ocracy is terrible hiring people is a big problem and it's even worse to fire them the result businesses close people with on the streets young kids or state youth unemployment in france is above twenty six per cent more than double the national average jack's appeal to business c.n.n. to the negative trend every year he says over six hundred thousand students graduate just to realize they're not one to. be for decades france was a rich country and our old people had money there is a curious situation today where by grandparents pay for their grandchildren's

education but when these people's resources dried out what will we do some young people think they have the answer and that is to leave the country seven million tourists come to admire the evil tower in paris every year that's around twenty thousand people every day france is among the most visited nations on earth but for its own citizens its charms fading. this film producer from france moved to london for career reasons he seems even before the crisis france did little enough to provide the yarn and dishes with proper employment only the now after the economic meltdown those opportunities have shrunk to zero. is the whole system of the country moping and it's all stuck in these very if you're disabled you need to have this position and you need to study from this university so they're not really open to ambitious people. these two french students who just began their studies their

plans to leave france on the first train after big graduation. mrs server that was a necessary sacrifice we can realize their dreams here down there in your particular. friend adds it's a political message to the government something's going wrong. when all of there is no direction we're going down the state has no precise line with us or something disgusting we're not going anywhere president all and pledges to bring unemployment down by the end of the seer skeptics say that is only feasible if most of job seekers say or walk to france reflash an r.t. from paris. coming up after the break it's cross talk peter bell and his guests stay with us here on r.g.p. it's back from.