the week's top stories here on our. just come as president obama freezes u.s. russia relations declining what he sees as a cold war mentality following the granting of temporary asylum to edward snowden. syria's broncho front is moving to the lands or because their villages are being raised to the ground by radical jihadists or aiming to such an al-qaeda and more it . also the god tunnel they hunger strike hits a six month milestone as the pentagon continues to splash child tax payers money on the prison i made claims the white house hasn't given up its plan to shut him down . and western gay communities demanded russia business trip told the right to hold

the next winter olympics in protest against the new norm against homosexuality propaganda to mine is some even going as far as comparing period seem to hate let. alone welcome you're watching the weekly he'll announce he was me you know a problem talk of cold war punishment and a fractured relationship have made this week perhaps the whilst for us russia times and days of both washington and moscow have different takes on the situation where obama is talking about reassessing relations the russian side believes it is all being blown out of proportion he is going there to check out has a story. this week when president obama canceled the bilateral meeting with the russian president in september u.s.

russia relations have hit 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 they 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 with president obama seemingly doing the opposite take a listen remember the rewards you saw when we were saying goodbye you said will i believe that we can make a difference. in their religions let's. as adults. and that's. when president putin who was prime minister aware 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 president obama also said in light of all the disagreements. it's time for the u.s. to make a pause and recalibrate the tone of the talks at the state department seemed a bit different 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 it seemed there was an agreement on both sides that they should not let disagreements and scandals completely overshadow whatever progress the two countries can actually make and one area where the two countries tend make a difference is the crisis in syria both state the same objective that they want to political solution and that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution and the syrian opposition says they're not going to sit down at the at one table 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 said john kerry. that the syrian opposition is going to be there but making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes that much harder when relations are defined by scandals not going back to president obama's news conference it was not all about russia president obama has announced proposals to pray for me and i say. president obama said he intends to work our way through one provision of the patriot act known ascension to fifteen the government broader authority to obtain business phone data records he announced the creation of a panel of outsiders former intelligence official civil liberty and privacy advocates and others to assess the program since. 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 forms 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 relations. and it's been revealed in russia alongside be e.u. iran and china designated as high priority for n.s.a. surveillance the revelations have been published in french documents previously supplied by edward snowden japanese co analyst william and author of myths lies and oil wells so surveillance goes far beyond tara and this crisis beyond snowden washington is determined to circle russia with its missile defense which is an often said strategy not a defensive one by the way it's a nuclear first strike preparation strategy and that's something that russia understandably is not exactly overjoyed about the issue of syria is non-negotiable in terms of what the us is trying to put into power in syria similar to what they

tried in egypt and failed that is a muslim brotherhood controlled regime that would allow qatar to control the pipeline flows in to europe and not to iran so among other things so this is there is not a basis of agreement on these fundamental questions noton is as i say is not the issue the issue is this fundamental disagreement and washington is not prepared to change its agenda and openly and honestly negotiate to resolve these differences therefore obama is using this childish maneuver of capturing the media because of snowden supposedly. falling racing's and a well meaning public pressure of forcing the u.s. president to bend on another front domestic surveillance obama has promised reforms to and transparency to government snooping but refused to give specifics having listened to obama's speech more pin of the international action center says the he expects very little to actually happened. if you listen to the speech not much is

really proposed that's actually concrete there's talk of some you know a 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 what 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 in 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 that all of 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 force us to blindly support government policies. the see we're in war has opened another bloody chapter with fears of bottles now unfolding in the country's north parish

five being forced to stand their ground against islamist militants pushing them out of their territories four hundred and fifty civilians many of whom were women and children well legibly slaughtered in one incident alone and with habit making specific information hard to verify we tend to kaddish journalist. to help us put together a timeline of the conflict and according to him radicals launched at times on the nineteenth of july by planting a bomb and encourage school and kidnapping civilians that the next day there was a chain of explosions targeting houses across the kurdish enclaves which leveled one village to the ground while many more locals were kidnapped and islamist cleric has declared from a local mosque that those killing members of the minority would be rewarded in heaven and encouraged the militants to loot and destroy kurdish homes the violence has spread into with seventy murders and three hundred and fifty abducted by al-qaeda linked fighters and that he will now details from our correspondent in the

region is going to. 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 still in very fight because insurgents keep the media from getting close this is just syrian kurds find themselves in a gruesome situation. that the militants started shooting everyone who came out onto the streets become should young men and started cussing men with knives visible shouted granted them all their money home and i know women and then they started losing houses 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 there killing pressure on the kurds. kurds do not want to be part of the

war and they have achieved that by not siding with the the saudis they're showing their ability to administrate themselves and that all the some international players such as it has been helping those facing again. 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 on top of that jihad is themselves have made statements alluding to their hopes of creating an al qaida state right here on what they hope to be vestiges of syria but there friday deadline came and went 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 there especially into a lot outside us a free army as. you know i'd like to get that i just as they are killing people on i didn't take they call their people you can kill them kidnap them capture their women and it's all how it's or allowed for you once you fight for ford.

russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was among the first to sound the alarm over reports from syria urging the security council to step in we believe that in this action in this 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 and this is totally unacceptable terrorism should be treated without double standards kurt seem to be facing a double threats on this side of the syrian state border they're up against extremists on the other lies terry 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 gird say end up in the hands of extremists that when it comes to helping kurds western powers who wasted no time in trying to force out president assad seem to do little in curbing extremists an approach that looks ominously familiar through the overthrow gadhafi in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who attacked united states of america we knew prior syria is a cause that spreads from north africa all the way to the gulf that 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 in the go to school r t istanbul. the crowd to say what's happening in syria is nothing but genocide and they are asking foreign powers to throw them

a lifeline the counters democratic union party has sent a letter to the. european union with an appeal to step in and do something about the growing islamist danger also the peace and kurdistan acts of it sarah asking the united nations as well as the u.s. and easy to act now to hold the acne cleansing and they're demanding the western powers stop sending weapons to groups in syria where she is them talk talk civilians and commit crimes this statement also calls for a probe into tak his role in fueling the conflict in those areas investigative journalist writes the l.h.s. both turkey and the us have links to the radical groups fighting in syria 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 its long turkey place this

important role in this 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. and this week has also seen an the usual assessment of america's strategy towards the syrian war from one of the told defense figures in the u.s. the cia is second in command has warned that the spread of extremism in the country is posing an ever greater threat to u.s. national security deputy director michael morals as if the assad government collapses with its massive chemical arsenal the country could become

a haven for al qaida terrorists and he has also claimed that given the constant inflow weapons see where it could turn into the next libya would be a potential for conflict to spill over into jordan lebanon and iraq well the u.s. is an outspoken supporter of the rebels in syria and as. arms supplies to opposition ranks middle east and un a shoes x. that fit is bennett says this clearly shows divisions within the obama administration well i think that his statement is very much tied to the debate that's underway within the administration on whether or not to send weapons to some factions within the rebel armies in syria there are many people people like myself and others who have no access to any of the classified information that michael morrell presumably has access to but where it's been clear that sending more weapons on both sides or on either side is going to make the situation worse and not better so i think there's been rumors that mirelle actually is opposed to the

emerging position of the administration which seems to be leaning more towards sending some kind of weapons and this probably was a was designed deliberately to undercut that position within the administration and shore up those who are saying no sending weapons is a really bad idea. on to you rainy and sun turn to snow bowling in the u.s. senate dozens of lawmakers signed a letter calling on obama to suffocate tehran with further sanctions on the lower house slammed the country with new penalties that's despite new this warning president rouhani saying he's eager to talk this story's coming up after the break .

wealthy british soil it's time to rise. the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our choose your language. of choice make it with oh if i'm going to kill some of. the consensus. choose the opinions of the great. choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to your.

this is the weekly on our c welcome back hundreds of gay rights activists across europe and the u.s. have been calling for a boycott of the winter olympics also move them from seoul train protests against former they see as russia's new anti-gay law that despite assurances from moscow the bill only bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors and doesn't harm human rights the u.k.'s prime minister rejected their demands to stay away from the games but that didn't stop the protest renowned access and gay opposite stephen fry who joined a rally in london accused the olympic committee of not trying to fight what he dubbed russia's the barbaric laws he went as far as comparing president putin's attitude towards minorities to hitler is the olympic committee responded saying sport should bear very little to all and the new law will not affect those attending the games and a british journalist knew clan believes gay rights are a disguise for other political aims 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 is 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 held in twenty twenty two you go to prison for five years if you're homosexuals it's political i think those guys i said there's eighty countries. have worse records on gay rights the russian stephen fry's are talking about that so i think it shows double standards here and it shows this could have russia phobia i think among the west elite that they look down at russia they patronize them and the idea that the russian people one of the phobic they're racist it's nonsense it's not true. as the western activists rise up against the new russian law she's a nice and now we went to find out what it's like for the gay community. discovered it's thriving. 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 messy of that against gay people on 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 that 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 lawyers to solve thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being here if you take examples from some states in the u.s. the relationship is much crudely and stricter than this propaganda law or 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 called on to that. this is one of moscow's many gay clubs yes it's in a discreet location but it holds three thousand people is. on the weekends and it's

full of foreigners it's owners outdoes not to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but we assure our business it's a group there's a happy driving 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 friday los angeles 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 couple this with exciting western lifestyle i was in such a last week filming there's a gay community there was a great day seem in such a but the west has a big in its bonnet regarding russia politically. right now to go and he's in no

way r.t. moscow. from a father back to hunger strike the muslim holy month of ramadan has come to an end and they inmates have been notorious going tunnel by prison have continued to refuse food and this means their protest against indefinite detention and inhumane treatment has ended at seven month lows and beg i spent nearly two years at the prison and his things the only right thing to do here is let people start normal lives all over again but several countries where the individuals can and should be returned to most of them in fact the overwhelming majority of them know being charged they're not going to be designated for trial by military commission or anything else they should be returned home if they had been convicted they would have served now the equivalent almost of a twenty five year sentence a life sentence and so the answer is that there's simply not enough will in the united states of america not in the mix the american people. sadly and certainly

lot of american politicians to do the right thing which is to release these men return them back home to live the rest of their lives with their families like the most like like all of us like the former guantanamo prisoners the six hundred of us who've returned to try to build up normal lives. the white house has agreed that is standing by president obama's pledge to close the detention count but it seems the flow of money to the prison isn't drying up the total cost of keeping the facility running will reportedly exceeded five billion dollars by the end of twenty fourteen and the pentagon plans to spend almost five hundred million to maintain the site and this means every day the u.s. government splashes out one million dollars of taxpayers' money on the controversial count and right here you can see how this breaks down the major chunk is spent on security while legal and courtrai shoes come second and only sixteen

million dollars are allocated to fund prisoner review boards. seventy six u.s. senators have signed a letter to broncos ban and calling on him to tighten the noose around iran's neck and urging the president to renew the option to use military force and toughen draconian sanctions on the country that's after the house of representatives slams tehran with a new set of penalties on its oil sector days before new to elected president rouhani officially took office the reigning leader was clear about his stands and conditions for future talks mutual respect and no hidden agendas but abdi from the national iranian american council thinks such negotiations are highly unlikely as washington is after a completely different goal. the fact that they would vote for new sanctions before the new iranian president who has been saying positive things and who is going to himself face so many obstacles for the house of representatives to go forward with

this vote demonstrates that this is a chamber dominated by politics instead of pragmatism and is dominated by ideology instead of. an actual desire to resolve the problems that. lay before the united states now the reason that they went forward with this vote was because of immense political pressure from processions groups and neo conservative and hawkish organizations that are more interested in seeing a war with iran than seeing a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear standoff. coming up next whiles a part time boy. she could lumber

a tour to mccurry was able to build the most sophisticated robot which will unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tunes mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and we're going this is why you should care only on the dog call. the. economic ups and downs in the final months they would love the feel and the rest of the life if they meet a female be it briefly come up a. little bit. older. i.

would speak. to. her. mum if. i come out but i'm a better little. going to take three. three. three.

three. three. three. video for your media project a free media oh god r t v dot com. hello and welcome to worlds apart it's hard to find a bilateral relationship that is so powerful a burden by an old grudges and negative stereotypes as the one between russia and the united states and yet when it comes to doing business why did few examples of commerce sounds prevailing in child become the nation's. russians and americans just stick to the mantra of nothing personal as business well to discuss that i'm now joined by andrew solomon is president of the american tumblr of commerce thank you very much for a time as the somers.