i. story that week here on r.t. u.s. russia russia barack obama cancels an upcoming meeting with vladimir putin and suggests relations need a timeline after moscow granted temporary asylum to whistleblower edward snowden. claims genocide could say they are being targeted for ethnic cleansing and made mounting reports of al qaeda linked fighters attacking their villages in syria. comes under pressure from the global community who want the winter olympics taken away from russia over the introduction of what they call a fascist start a law against homosexuals.

i welcome it's good to have your company you're watching are coming to you live from moscow with may and tree farm. now relations between russia and the u.s. suffered a major setback this week at least according to the american side first president obama canceled a one on one summit with vladimir putin and then even called for a pause in the relationship russia while expressing disappointment over these developments insists however there are no signs of a return to the cold war. as the details. this week when president obama canceled the bilateral meeting with the russian president in september u.s. russia relations have paid a new low on friday the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov and the russian defense minister arrived in washington as planned to meet their u.s. counterparts and we heard two different messages coming from president obama and foreign minister lavrov both held

a news conference on the same day at the same time in different venues of course with foreign minister lavrov trying very hard to ease the tension to move it away from the cold war talk with president obama seemingly doing the opposite take a listen remember very rude words you said when we were saying goodbye you said will i believe that we can make a difference. in the lucian's let's. get as adults and that's what we're trying to do because if you for. small. incidents. become an impediment to every single. but if we did would be the very room who through this president putin who was prime minister and. 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 president obama also said in light of all the disagreements. it's time for the u.s. to take a pause and recalibrate the tone of the state department seemed a bit different there were some very serious issues on the agenda like syria. where we. don't see eye to eye but it seemed there was an agreement on both sides that. disagreements and scandals completely overshadowed whatever progress the two countries can actually make and one area where the two countries can make a difference this crisis in syria both state the same objectives that they want to political that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution to the syrian opposition though says they're not going to sit down at the table with those who have blood on their hands in order to stop the

bloodshed all hands need to come to the negotiating table and foreign minister lavrov said john kerry assured him that the syrian opposition is going to be. making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes much harder when delays are defined by scandals not going back to president obama's news conference she was not all about president obama has proposed reforms and. president obama said. one provision of the patriot act. gives the government broader authority to obtain business phone data records he announced the creation of a panel of outsiders former intelligence official civil. pretty and privacy advocates and others to assess the programs and suggest changes by the end of the year but everybody understand it's all happening because of edward snowden's revelations probably that's why the majority of americans say edward snowden is a whistleblower and not a traitor now it's not clear whether the government will actually go through with

those reforms promising is one thing delivering on those promises is something else but at the end of the day the american people may actually benefit from what snowden did which can't be said about u.s. marshal ations. well opinions do differ on whether a setback in relations was provoked by russia granting fugitive u.s. whistleblower edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext whichever is true moscow's efforts to limit the damage from snowden's affair are being underestimated says married to jet ski who's the chief editorial writer for the u.k. based independent newspaper. i know that some people say our relations between the u.s. and russia generally are very strained and that the the reset never really happened that it didn't have the desired effects and but i think that to an extent is exaggerated what i find more interesting is what i think are the great efforts that

president putin has gone to to try to make sure that the snowden affair damages relations with the u.s. as little as possible i think there's a lot of evidence for that which really hasn't been appreciated i think that been two maybe three one on one telephone conversations between president putin and president obama since ed snowden landed to unexpectedly in moscow so i think there are actually great efforts of being applied to find some source sort of some sort of solution but it's very difficult to see how there can be a solution with such supplies both sides. john loughlin from the institute of democracy and cooperation in paris says there's much more than snowden's asylum behind president obama's decisions obama in a sense felt iges to cancel this bilateral meeting because of the internal political pressures and that's really what it's all about but of course the there is a lot of background to this it's not just about snowden obama of course the president

of the famous reset four of five years ago in other words of the restart of relations with russia has turned out to have been not much better really in terms of friendship with moscow than his predecessors there is a drifting apart i think things are going in a way i think the americans are being very infant tile and silly about this russia and america don't have an extradition treaty so whether or not. snowden was granted asylum in russia or is of absolutely no significance at all. however strong the political differences between moscow and washington business relations will carry on regardless that is the view of the head of the american chamber of commerce andrew salmon is his full interview is coming up in oksana boyko is worlds apart next hour and here's a quick look. is interested in what predictability will be in the economy what kind of welcome or access is there to him by the government

and what is the potential for the economy and russia is very high on the list of major american companies and there are many other companies who are looking at the regions and is the regions where we are focusing our emphasis to american companies because regions are under the radar screen so to speak of the geo political federal issues and that's where the business lives and that's where the growth of. the kurdish minority in syria has reportedly been the target of heavy attacks by radical a saver for over three weeks now with stories of killings and kidnappings increasing almost daily four hundred fifty civilians were allegedly slaughtered in one incident alone although that information is hard to verify due to the chaos and violence in gulf in the region kurdish journalist barzani seo has helped us put

together a timeline though what's been happening according to him islamist launched their assault on the nineteenth of july trying to plant a bomb in a kurdish school and kidnapping local civilians the next day many houses across the kurdish enclaves were blown up one village destroyed completely around five hundred kurds were kidnapped while a radical cleric declared from a local mosque that those killing kurdish civilians will go to heaven also encouraging people to loot and destroy kurdish homes the violence continued in early august al-qaeda linked fighters murdered seventy kurds and abducted three hundred and fifty artie's correspondent in the region. is following the conflict. horrifying images of slaughter and mayhem from a region already in throes of conflict this week some reports emerged that hundreds of kurds had been slaughtered by extremist groups in northeastern syria they're

still in very fighting because insurgents keep the media from getting close this is just syrian kurds find themselves in a gruesome situation. they came into the village and opened fire this was during the holy month of ramadan the people were preparing food the militants started shooting everyone who came out onto the streets become should young men and started cussing them with knives shouting that they were blasphemous we tried to tell them we were also muslims but they did not listen to rebel shouted at our granted them all our money our homes and our women then they started looting houses when the people said they followed with guns my nephew was killed and me and my brother were wounded we were lucky to escape to a refugee camp the kurds who are one of the largest nations in the world without a state have tried to stay neutral for as long as possible in the syrian conflict and it's for that they believe islamic fighters from al-qaeda affiliated groups

turned up their killing pressure on the kurds or the kurds do not want to be part of the war and they have achieved that by not siding with the decides they're showing their ability to administrate themselves and that all the some international players such as it has been helping those facing against the kurds for example there are several al qaeda affiliated organizations in turkey going in fighting against the kurds in syria kurds however want to have a democratic syria not just for the kurds but for everyone and those who help to fight against the kurds destined to failure on top of that jihad is themselves have made statements alluding to their hopes of creating an al-qaeda state right here on what they hope to be vestiges of syria but they're fighting a deadline came and went they could. democratic union party turned for help to international organizations like the united nations in the european union calling attacks against kurds and sunni genocide pleading for help and fast the situation

is getting worse and the number of people who have been kidnapped and killed and beheaded is rising every day either you know what's going on especially into a lot outside losses free army as. you know. just as killing people on i didn't they call their people you couldn't kill them kidnap capture their will it's all on how long that means it's or allowed for you once you fight for for god's russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was among the first to sound the alarm over reports from syria urging the security council to step in. in this action we were shocked by the reports of around four hundred fifty kurds massacred in the north of syria including children just because the men were fighting against . the first report of the un security council will condemn all these terrorist attacks we've seen some of its members refusing to condemn terrorist attacks in

syria justifying it with the fact that the people behind them are fighting against the outdated regime this is totally unacceptable terrorism should be treated with double standards heard seem to be facing a double threats on this side of the syrian state border they're up against extremists on the other. it's been a bit or a long running battle with the kurdish workers party and only recently seem to be making amends at the same time on karrar backs the syrian opposition which is known to include al qaeda sympathizers and allows for arms shipments into syria which the kurds say end up in the hands of extremists but when it comes to helping kurds western powers who wasted no time in trying to force out president assad seem to do little including extremists an approach that looks ominously familiar through the overthrow coup. garfield in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who are united states of america from prior's through europe is

a caucus state that spreads from north africa or all the way to the gulf and could bring us to a new world war if we don't stop obama and the british policy but for now syrian kurds plea for international help to seems to have been met with indifference it is obvious from our t. is done bull. for the to the kurdish community says they are being targeted for genocide and that's force the iraqi kurd leader to threaten to intervene in syria if the reports are confirmed the kurdish democratic union party appealed to the e.u. earlier this week calling for help and protection and the peace in kurdistan campaign has the world to defend the kurds from massacre and ethnic cleansing they are asking the un the us and e.u. to act now to stop what they call brutal massacres demanding they stop sending weapons to groups in syria which could be used to attack civilians and commit war crimes the statement also says turkey's role in fueling the conflict in the kurdish

enclaves in syria needs to be examined as well its author's dad could turkish claims that it's not involved or that it doesn't support al qaeda affiliated fight is investigative journalist. who's been closely following the issue alleges both turkey and the u.s. have links to the radical a script fighting in syria. i don't expect any international reaction except. protests to right now i don't think so because they are international interests especially the international the geopolitical interests of turkey was a very important nato member we shouldn't forget that nato troops also german troops are now at the turkish syrian border with patriot rocket systems heading against syria so we have turkey on this site and it's not turkey place this important really conflict i don't think that there will be any serious international reaction a former member stated that the leader of the north is the verb king or working

close with the cia and we have other information from the kurdish popular defense units who claim that the front is also organized and supported by the turkish intelligence and i think this is not a coincidence when we know how the kurds are treated in turkey itself in response to our request the u.n. said it's launched an investigation into reports of kurdish civilians being targeted in syria the office of the high commissioner for human rights said if arraf i would have to war crimes carluke filed an international correspondent focusing on syria says militants are pushing for control in the kurdish enclaves to get their natural resources. actually what is behind all this fighting is it's a struggle about control struggle about control of certain areas we know that in

the area of fighting in the north and in the east of the country we have. fields and tool at least two of the very big oil fields under the control of the kurdish defense movement and they have been threatened openly by you know western diplomats if they don't give the control of these oil fields towards the free syrian army. they will have a problem so i think it's a fight about control of both about the resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request we've plenty more ahead after a quick break including a former guantanamo bay prison guard tells r.t. he was instructed not to regard detainees as he when that's coming up in a couple of minutes.

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welcome back hundreds of gay rights activists have staged protests in london and glasgow calling for russia to be stripped of the winter olympics in sochi because of what they say is an anti-gay policy backed by law however authorities in moscow say the bill which only bans the promotion of homosexuality to mine is doesn't restrict freedom of expression the u.k.'s prime minister rejected the calls to block the games but the gay community is keeping up the pressure for now and actor and gay activist stephen fry who joined a rally in london accuse the olympic committee of not trying to fight what he called russia's barbaric law also compared president putin's attitude towards minorities to hitler the olympic committee responded saying that sports should be

available to all and the new law will not affect those attending the games and british journalist neil clark believes gay rights are a disguise for other political ends. in nazi germany homosexuals really were discriminated against they were put into concentration camps and killed in large numbers and of course this is not happening in russia today if it was i'd be the first person said we go to russia all together they are not saying i support what i oppose or anti-gay laws were passed in the world but why stephen fry focusing on russia there are about eighty countries in the world really where homosexuality is actually illegal one of them is a country called qatar where the world cup is going to be helping twenty twenty two you go to prison for five years if you're homosexual political i think that's because i said there's eighty countries. have worse records on gay rights the russia stephen fry's are talking about there so i think it shows double standards here and it shows this could have russia phobia i think among the western elite that they look down at russia they patronize them and they get this idea that in

russia people wore homophobic they're racist it's nonsense it's not true well in the wake of international protest against russia r.t. sent a nice analogy to find out exactly what life is like for gays in moscow and she found a thriving community. there is. no stoli no sochi. dumping russian vodka and calls to boycott the olympic games the l g b t community in the west is furious with the passing of a new russian law banning gay propaganda to minors a detail almost never mentioned lot of here putin signed a law and some very strict anti-gay measures these laws absolutely obscure they're not clear in what they mean of course it will not have a wide ranging gretzky's of being applied everywhere and to everyone and members of the gay community have been attacked and arrested you cannot say that there is massive suppression or massive attacks against gay people in the streets and that

wherever you say that you're gay you will be killed or beaten russian gay activists are taking their case to the european court of human rights and say the law is meant to target specific individuals but see the picture of gay life in russia from abroad is warped these pictures being shown and being portrayed just because this little became a symbol of a protest against the suppression of l.g.b. community in russia supporters of the law argue it represents the russian majority . if there is a large number of people who believe the law is to soften thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being killed if you take examples from some states in the us the relationship is much crudely and strict and this propaganda law was this one. it's important to remember this law is about gay propaganda to minors and it will be enforced with fines not criminal punishment russia is still

a very traditional conservative country it wants to hold on to that. this is one of moscow's many day and night clubs yes it's in a discreet location but it holds three thousand people is. packed on the weekends and is full of foreigners its owner has asked us not to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but reassure us business is booming there's a happy arriving excitable you know wonderful gay community which is great martin andrews is british openly gay and living in russia for eight years he opposes the law but won't be dumping his russia is dominated by the church in general far more than the u.k. i think if you compare america for example you can't look at some friends of these and new york and then look at the middle part of texas and that's what russia is especially moscow you've got the old meets the new and you've got soviet mindset

fused with this capitalist boom with excising the west lifestyle i was in such a last week filming there's a gay community there is a great day seaman but the west has a b. and its on it regarding russia politically. state repression got together and he's now a r.t. moscow. well supporters of the gay propaganda law says it up holds the views of the majority of russians and this is what a survey by an independent group called the nevada center found. they found that. almost half the people believe that homosexuality is a form of immorality while some even believe it could be the result of a mental trauma or newness and then only twelve percent of those are believe it is just a normal sexual orientation while some people remain undecided the figures of the same survey conducted in nine hundred ninety eight were almost identical suggesting little change the attitude in fifteen days. and over at our

web site at the moment liquid danger online we've got the story of contaminated ground water under the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant which is now really into the pacific ocean you can get the information and the timeline of the story at r.t. dot com. plus time to make a wish hundreds of shooting stars will dart across the sky over the next two nights at our website to read more about the huge meteor shower.

the hunger strike at guantanamo bay prison has ended. with the still struggling to change their situation the detainees protesting over indefinite detention and mistreatment also complain of invasive body cheese which sometimes include sexual assault terry holbrooke's a former guantanamo guard told us how his former day job led him to quit and convert to islam. we were taught not to interact with them not to look at them as humans not to talk with them not to speak with them have nothing to do with them unless it was absolutely necessary important to work we were told to be very aggressive in searching growing. i don't think any of us as guards felt comfortable doing that as a result of such we didn't do that there were certain rules that we were given that many of us just didn't all of we didn't see on those as being the political logical or ethical in some circumstances and as a result such we didn't implement them and over

a hundred sixty six remaining we've had to live in your ribs to find any shred of evidence to charge try and convict them and we've not been able to do that nor we've been able to falsify the evidence i would think of america being the great nation that it is and having the wonderful legal system that it does can extend the courtesy of sending people home after ten years eleven years twelve years of captivity. maybe we need to have a good look in the mirror and take a look at ourselves. coming up next week spill a billion dollar or to business. everyone respects a promise written in stone the 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 whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose 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 what is 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 destroy information on the internet then you are only going to get burnt yourself but that's just my opinion.

the population of pakistan totals one hundred eighty million and it's still growing in the forums there are ten million people clean drinking water is in short supply . for miss lee introduced pure lies bottled water was a real side. pakistan. now nestlé dominates a vast market that it created itself i grew up in a city where you could go just about here and ask for gaza water and you would get a glass of water for free without any fear of its quality or it sounds and what's happened over the last ten to fifteen years i mean in my own consciousness is that i have seen.