caught in the crossfire al qaeda extremists slaughter hundreds of kurds living in northern syria showing no mercy to women and children in their path to creating a breakaway islamic state. barack obama lashes out at moscow for what he calls a cold war stance while russia demands america act like adults we report on the spike in tensions triggered by the snowden saga. and as moscow gears up for its first may or elections in a decade we'll look at how the leading candidates the acting city chief and a prominent opposition are planned to win votes.

in broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas certainly going to have you with us now the leader of iraqi kurdistan has said that his fighters could intervene to protect kurds in neighboring syria who are facing daily attacks from rebel forces linked factions which initially flooded into syria to fight the assad government are now preparing to declare an islamist state in the country's north east and the kurdish minority is in their way party's policy or reports. we've been speaking to eyewitnesses relatives and also kurdish journalists and from the sequence of events that we've been able to piece together that coming nineteenth of july you had an assault by islamist extremists at that stage they placed a bomb in a local kurdish school they also rounded up and abducted a number of civilians the very next day and number of kurdish houses in various

kurdish enclaves were blown up there was also an entire kurdish village that was destroyed and some five hundred people were kidnapped that violence continued into early august when you have the report of killing of at least some seventy kurds and the abduction of another three hundred and fifty now of this week we saw a massacre in which some four hundred and fifty kurds were killed from the figures we've been receiving some one hundred twenty of them were children some three hundred and fifty of them were woman that massacre happening in a syrian town on the turkish border not neither damascus nor the opposition is actually concerned that massacre but we have been speaking to eyewitness. back in recently they came into villages and started to blame the locals would be faithless it was during ramadan they open fire on villagers people came onto the streets men

women and children they fired at everyone who came in the way they captured many young men and began to cut them with knives we told them that we were muslims too but they said that they would continue to kill us so they also said that our grant to them all or money or property or women maybe even tomorrow everyone around my nephew was killed. when civilians escaped their shot militias raided their house and blew up some of them and robbed others the conditions are very bad people are in fear and terrorized the all nusra fighters are out of control there raiding the streets there's no media coverage and anyone who tries to reach out is being kidnapped by the militants and one of the problems we face is that some reports are difficult to verify as you heard there from kurds we've been speaking to they say that if they come forward and they report on any abductions kidnappings and killings they themselves run the risk of being alerted so what to head is there's a need to have the language that is being carried out by the islamist fighters this

is resulting in the sprayed of this information you have the scarcity of sources this too is leading to discrepancies in the reports that are making it into the international media and then of course you have videos that are being posted online that are sometimes difficult to independently verify there was one video that was posted that purported to show the killing of kurds it said that they were burned to death later this turned out to be false now we could some solves say that the attacks are being carried out by islamised fighters that are linked to al qaida you have as one of these groups the all nusra front and this is an organization that is paged to establish an islamic state in northern syria this is precisely the area where these kurds are living so this is why all those for some time you've had the kurds on the periphery of the conflict increasingly we're seeing them in the line of fire. journalist david morgan believes the latest massacre of kurds should be

a signal for the backers of regime change in syria to stop war mongering the rebels are looking for a faction and all the other groups have been trying been trying to provoke the you know the kurds into into conflict since bill for quite some time has been there's been incursions there quite some time. and it looks like there was a massacre of some kind the numbers are not certain and it does say that children and children with him or those and civilians light rail leave been been killed is a war cry but if it's true it should be for it should be investigated and i would say that the international powers the e.u. and america are in that un this is this would be a block on down this going going into the weeds we need to solve the suit the syrian conflict is the route that's being pursued at the moment is not going to lead to any democratic syria and the things will get worse.

turkey has found itself trying to balance two seemingly contradictory roles backing the syrian rebels while at the same time trying to mend its historically hostile relations with the kurds on r.t. dot com filmmaker patrick henningsen shares his thoughts and dilemma. where do u.s. russia relations stand that's the question the two countries can't seem to find the same answer to moscow says there are no signs of a cold war mentality but washington is calling for diplomatic ties to be paused and reassessed that's in the wake of president obama canceling a meeting with vladimir putin after moscow's decision to grant temporary asylum to

fugitive whistleblower edward snowden or he's going to church again has commentary on the story remember the meeting between russian and u.s. officials at the state department comes days after president obama canceled the bilateral summit with the russian president is the more and more often we hear about a new cold war between moscow and washington so everyone was listening very closely to what officials on both sides were saying and we heard two different messages coming from president obama and for minister lavrov i remember very well what you said when we were saying goodbye he said well i believe that we can make a difference in the russian they're going to listens let's. get as adults and that's what we're trying to do because if if for. small incidents. become an impediment to everything goes.

i think it would be that would be a very good six through this president obama in the meantime did the opposite he has basically hyped up the cold war talk when president putin who was prime minister warned that it was president came back into power i think we saw more rhetoric on the russian side that was anti-american that. played into some of the old stereotypes about the cold war contest between the united states and russia and i've encouraged mr putin to. think forward as opposed to back on those issues with mixed success president obama also said in light of all the disagreements with russia mentioning syria and snowden it's time to make a paulse and to recalibrate the tone of the talks at the state department at least the opening part that we have seen that was different there was an agreement on both sides that they should not lead disagreements and standards completely

overshadow whatever progress the two countries can actually make one area where the two countries can make a difference is the crisis in syria both state the objective the same objective that they want to political solution that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution the syrian opposition says they are not going to sit down no one paper with those who have blood on their hands moscow says in order to stop the bloodshed all hands need to come to the negotiating table and foreign minister lavrov this friday he said that secretary kerry assured him that the opposition will be there at that negotiating table so there were some very serious issues on the agenda like syria like missile defense in europe where russia and the u.s. obviously don't see eye to eye but making progress on any of those topics becomes that much harder when the relations are defined by scandals and today we heard foreign minister lavrov trying very hard to ease the tension to move it away from

the cold war talk but president obama's remarks seem to have exacerbated the tension. spoke to r.t. about the latest a spat she thinks it would be a mistake for the u.s. to let anger prevail over judgment as too many world issues depend on diplomatic agreements between the two countries. u.s. administration simply cannot afford to exclude russia from important talks on very important issues. before snowden happens a couple months ago those issues were very much to do with syria and some foreign policy issues as well as some economic issues that the u.s. and russia have in common it just seems that this particular snowden affair has unleashed a level of anger in the u.s. government that has that is preventing them from actually doing what they do very well which is to manage foreign policy manage crises and use the press to do

that i think it's actually. a very unique and rarely seen a sign of weakness. now while some analysts double obama's reaction is over the top it's quite mild compared to what some u.s. lawmakers want from sanctions to a full on olympic boycott senators and members of congress are demanding that russia is punished for daring to give snowden asylum and you can tell us what you think this crisis bodes for russia on our website let's take a look at what you guys are saying so far almost three quarters of you seventy two percent here say the u.s. and russia relations were already poor and didn't really affect much but just under one fifth think economic ties are too important and consequently there will be no effect five percent this little sliver an orange here they believe that the snowden affair will blow over and that relations aren't all that bad just

a handful greenslade or four percent right here while they think russia will be made to suffer for giving safe haven to the n.s.a. whistleblower you can have your say now at r.t. dot com. now at the same news conference where president obama touched upon the chilly relations with moscow he vowed reforms for the disputed n.s.a. . surveillance program he pledged more transparency but gave no indication that the mass data collection will be halted having listened to obama's speech caleb moppin of the international action center thinks the american president is unlikely to put words into action if you listen to the speech not much is really proposed that's actually concrete there's talk of some you know privacy advocate being appointed to a board and you really see that not much is really going to change if you actually actually listen closely and you know as much as when obama was campaigning for president he made a lot of promises about protecting whistleblowers and all of that you see not much

of this is changing and the fact that obama came out and gave this address and it's proposing these reforms which aren't that sweeping but sound sound really great the reason he did that is a response to the public opinion people all over the united states are outraged you know that their rights are not being protected and all of this this patriotic stuff we hear about freedom and the u.s. is the greatest country in the world because the freedom how it's really it's really not true it's a lot of propaganda that's used to push us to war and to push us to blindly support government policies. well coming up later in the program and the concept of picking your own food reaches a new level as the fast food culture takes a bite out of quality meals we report from one farm where customers get a chance to meet what will soon be put on their plates. plus one of the globe's largest sporting events opens in moscow for the first time with over two thousand athletes competing in the russian capital at the world athletics championships. and wasted holidays british tourists uncontrollable drinking habits are causing

headaches for u.k. embassies around the world these stories and much more after a short break right here on our team. with. technology innovation all the developments from around russia. wealthy british. time. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy with. the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports.

and welcome back you're watching r t v heated race to become moscow's new mayor is in full swing with candidates now officially allowed to promote themselves in the media and with less than a month left till the vote all eyes are now focused on the top two candidates the city's acting head is expected to face a stiff challenge from a prominent opposition or parties and he said now it takes a look at the frontrunners platforms. and they're on the last leg of the

campaign has officially begun in the first election for moscow's mayor in ten years there are six candidates over seven million registered voters and a lot of promises being made it's not easy to please a city of an estimated fourteen million people there are major problems huge projects and the seemingly never ending fight against corruption incumbent serviceably on and his team in office for two years are confident the city's streets speak for themselves. have been completely changed the city is prorated have been public space fighting traffic development of public transportation and to take medicine and education to new levels of development of and his plan is to continue that it works if he is elected but also running is anti corruption blogger an opposition leader alexei nonviolently recently wrapped up in a fraud scandal arrested and then released his campaign volunteers are promising a new moscow. have you ever been to paris that's what we want green everywhere you

look here for two months they've been putting down tiles bike paths our plans for traffic will be like the rest of the world not like some banyan. although a staunch critic of the government now vine is platform so far sounds a lot like some guidance it's a liberal program you know it's a program geared for the reach for the reach young and active you know so that they would be able to survive in the sea so what about those who are old poor and need support but a state media is focused on sit down and opposition media with some help from the west and from angels is promoting of all the so the core mission of the socialists are sidelined but i think they were kind of this format shape you i mean you go you know a scientist and. also i think that is a man a scientist a socialist kind of i think the program was more humane either way the vote is

expected to draw tremendous turnout that's media coverage and possibly even controversy and he's now a r t moscow. having fun and relaxing are what holidays are all about but it seems some brits just don't know when they've had enough of a good thing british tourists are among the most notorious drinkers around the world and is sarah firth explains they seem to think nothing can stop them. do you think that you pull the take a finally on your holiday to say the very last thing you want to have happen is to get into trouble for doing it nineteen thousand people so called killer assistance last year according to the latest figures by the foreign and commonwealth office into british behavior there has been a rise in some countries of most serious crimes and that's cool seeing concern in particular the statistics about rape and sexual assaults are up by ten percent now

in the countries that have been pinpointed as this particular areas of concern especially in turkey and boys all countries popular with young holidaymakers all countries renowned for that very busy night like now it has to be said the brits do tend to have a bit of a reputation opposing out the whole continues to be a major factor in many of the problems that i think we are and i see nation quiet. especially begin. to see brits completely drunk head. yeah alcohol was the biggest bank to earn income most of the nine hundred thousand people so consular assistant thing a lot of that's going to be young is getting. a little bit a little bit different and so the foreign and commonwealth office reminding choppiness once again to keep safe or to surface reporting for us there now we have plenty of more stories for you online including toxic spill over contaminated

ground water accumulating under the fukushima nuclear power plant in japan has risen above the protective barrier and is now leaking into the pacific ocean on our website we have all the details and a live updates on the situation. plus a time to make a wish hundreds of shootings. over the next two nights you can head to our tea dot com to read more on the huge meteor shower. the. right to see. first strike. and i think that you're. on a reporter's twitter. instagram. to be in the.

it's one of the biggest sports events out there with only the fifo world cup and olympics boasting more popularity in the world athletics championships has kicked off in moscow for the first time artie's lindsey friends have details. it was a beautiful day to kick off the competition here at luzhniki stadium beautiful blue skies and sunny weather for the nearly two thousand athletes coming from two hundred six countries to participate in this event now it runs and runs until august eighteenth and so there's plenty of time to get an eyeful of these amazing athletes that show their stuff here on the field now as events have gone on so far the women's marathon that was run along the moscow river it was taken by kenya and the men's ten thousand meter was taken by england very impressive shows by both of them are people coming from far and wide throughout russia. stadium to catch sight of these athletes these are athletes that are not often covered in the media they are not on the cover of magazines and cereal boxes these are people that are

oftentimes under the radar but they work very very hard to hold their skills to become experts and we are getting to see that here now the topic that is on the tip of everyone's tongue does seem to be the legislation that came out of the russian government to prohibiting the promotion of a homosexual lifestyle to juveniles and that seems to clash very much with be such olympics coming up so soon in twenty four teams many people political personalities and even in pop culture have spoken up and even promoted the idea of boycotting the olympics by certain countries teams however many leaders such as prime minister david cameron have also spoken up and said that boycotting would actually hurt the dialogue keeping the participation going in the olympics is something that furthers the dialogue in a situation like this and it's also worth noting that these athletes do spend a very large portion of their lives preparing for these events and to take that away from them because of

a discord like this just seems cruel and so that argument also been put on the table over it something that will mark the discussion of the olympics up until and even during the event and so definitely. it's worth keeping a close eye on which governments are coming forward spirit of sportsmanship in saying you know let's stick participates in the olympics coming up so soon. in france reporting for us then now some other international news in brief for you this hour. you are looking at live pictures from cairo in egypt where thousands of supporters of egypt's ousted president mohamed morsy are rallying in the capital there protesters are demanding that the post leader be brought back to power egypt has witnessed mass demonstrations both in support and against the country's first democratically elected president since he was toppled by the army on july first. again you can see some of the live pictures coming in from cairo right now two

alleged al qaeda militants have been killed and two more wounded in a suspected u.s. drone strike in southern yemen according to the country's military officials the attack destroyed a vehicle traveling on a mountain road in large province the drone strike is the ninth in the country since the end of july now today it's not a problem to take a quick bite if you have a lot on your plate just warming your food in the microwave but for some that approach is simply not good enough they want to know exactly what they're munching on peter oliver met one german farmer who has found a way to satisfy even the most picky of appetites. europeans want to know exactly where their food is coming from this year we've seen the scandal of me being passed off as beef and ready meals and the genetically modified crop giant monsanto decide that there isn't a market for them in you. all this is given one pig farmer an idea

how to assure customers that his product is the best it can be and. it's simple enough to see the environment where that it will take an animal has grown up they get to see them in a field surrounded by grants not in some stock in the country by buying from burned is a little different from going to your local organic butcher customers pick their pick from photos online and then through a web cam they can watch the animals grow when you get back and then several months later they receive their requested cut. the idea behind this belongs to a student from berlin who denys bookman his philosophy was that people should look better quality products he wanted to increase awareness and make it known how. with famous chefs politicians and styles of music and sport queuing up the bones products from the caucus and some with

a whole pig going for around four hundred fifty euros. the. customers like to have transparency in the production process and people want to know where their meat comes from we're looking to fill that niche. these days more and more people are concerned where their food has come from but for some just because you like pork chops doesn't mean you want to come face to face with the pig . that you wouldn't like it to become to tell you i'm sorry because if it beats me he'd. taste great but i'm not sure i would have liked to see it when it was a lie many though seem happy enough to watch the did it grow from a free range piglets to a juicy. couplet. you get to see when the biggest comes from how to grow up the live ultimately becomes his the product i've got no problem. with the pigs or groups in

a natural habitat with the pigs tasing better to eat lunch but you know what you're eating in light of the recent scandal that is important to me just because most dine is would say they don't want farm animals read in healthy conditions before they get to the but whether you want a closer relationship with looks to him your sausages or chops is reason a matter of taste he told of a german. well coming up the drug gangs police raids and street violence that are an everyday reality for the mexican city of tijuana that's after a short break right here. everyone respects a promise written in stone promises written on the internet well they're

a bit more flexible and a lot easier to erase obama made a lot of promises as a candidate on his site change dot gov including some about protecting whistleblowers and obama said that we need to empower federal employees as watchdogs and that he would strengthen what's so blow. a loss to protect federal workers works both waste fraud and abuse of authority and government but strangely and possibly coincidentally two days after the first revelation of government spying by stoughton these promises of the change dot gov site were taken down if this is not just some odd coincidence and they consciously chose to hide obama's campaign promises that this is political cowardice at its worst and worse even worse is that they didn't think that this would get exposed almost immediately if you try to conduct some sort of medieval book burning to distort information on the internet then you are only going to get burnt yourself but that's just my opinion.

one estimate this vehicle was peck's because usually all policemen undergo control there are police officers that are connected to a legal activities. but if there might be traces.