the week's top stories here on r.t. moscow is calm as president obama freezes u.s. russia relations decrying what he sees as a cold war mentality that's following the granting of temporary asylum to edward snowden. syria's battlefront is moving to the lands of the. villages are being raised to the ground by radical jihadists who are aiming to set up an al qaeda and the it. also the guantanamo bay hunger strike hits a six month milestone as the pentagon continues to splash out taxpayers' money on the prison all amid claims the white house has not given up on his plan that's a shut it down. and western gay community has demanded russia be stripped of the right to hold the next winter olympics in protest against the new law against

homosexuality propaganda to minors some even going as far as comparing putin to hitler. after moscow it's just in time for the weekly with me. talk of a cold war punishment and a fractured relationship made this week perhaps the worst for u.s. russia ties as both washington and moscow have rather different takes on the situation and where obama is talking about reassessing relations the russian side believes it's all being blown out of proportion of the story goes to watch these guys. this week when president obama canceled the bilateral meeting with the russian president in september u.s.

russia relations have 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 the rewards you saw when we were saying goodbye he said will i believe that we can make a difference. in their religions let's. get as adults. and that's. when president putin who was prime minister were 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 with russia it's time for the u.s. to make a pause and he said. 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 ted 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 though 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. making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes much harder when glaciers are defined by scandals not going back to president obama's friday's news conference he was not all about russia president obama has announced proposals before me and they say. president obama said he intends to work our way through one provision of the patriot act known as section two fifteen that gives 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. it just 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 were 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 ations. opinions do differ on whether the sucked back in relations was provoked by russia granting fugitive u.s. whistleblower edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext or whichever is going to be true moscow's efforts to limit the damage from the snowden affair are being underestimated that's according to mary jeff 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 effect but i think that to an extent is exaggerated what i find more interesting is what i think are the great efforts. 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 there's been two maybe three one on one telephone conversations between president putin and president obama since snowden landed unexpectedly in moscow so i think there are actually great efforts are being applied to find some source sort of some torch of solution but it's very difficult to see how there can be a solution which such supplies both sides and a falling ratings and overwhelming public pressure a force on the u.s. president to bend on another front of domestic surveillance cameras promised reforms to transparency to government snooping but has so far refused to give any specifics having listened to obama's speech caleb maupin of the international action center he says 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 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 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. live from moscow it's r.t. and the syrian war has opened another bloody chapter with fierce battles now unfolding in the country's north kurdish fighters have been forced to stand their ground against islamist militants who are pushing them out of their territories

we're talking about four hundred and fifty civilians many of whom were women and children were allegedly slaughtered in one incident alone and while there we're talking about the have making specific information of very hard to verify we turn to the kurdish journalist who was on east so that's help us put together a timeline of the conflict for you now according to him radicals launch their attacks on the nineteenth of july by planting a bomb in a kurdish school and then kidnapping civilians the next day there was a chain of explosions targeting houses across the kurdish enclave which leveled one village entirely to the ground while many more locals were kidnapped an islamist cleric in the meantime has declared from a local mosque that those killing members of the minority would be rewarded in heaven and that he encouraged militants to loot and destroy kurdish homes of violence has spread into early august seventy kurds murdered three hundred fifty abducted by by al qaeda linked fighters that's

a hear more details now from our correspondent in the region. as this story now. horrifying images of slaughter in mayhem from a region already in throes of conflict this week some reports emerge that hundreds of kurds have 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 grave gruesome situation. that the militants started shooting everyone who came out onto the streets become should young men and started cussing them with knives the rebel shouted granted them all the money homes and the women 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 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 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 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 are they know what's going on there especially into a lot it's a loss a free army as they are united against these two very just as they are killing people on i didn't say so and they call their people you can kill them kidnap them

capture their woman and it's all how laws that mean 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 we believe that 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 and it's not the first such 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 stance is totally unacceptable terrorism should be treated with out 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 ends 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 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 car 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. that we could say what's happening in syria is nothing but genocide and

they are asking foreign powers to try and throw them a lifeline at the kurdish democratic union party has set a letter to the european new. unit with an appeal to step in and do something about the growing islamist danger also the peace in kurdistan activists are asking the united nations as well as the u.s. and the e.u. to act now to halt the ethnic cleansing in five are demanding that western powers stop sending weapons to groups in syria which then use them to attack civilians and commit war crimes the statement also calls for a probe into turkey's role in fueling the conflict in those kurdish areas of foreign affairs expert edmund ghareeb he says an international response is vital to avoid the violence from spilling over even further. some voices within the international community who are raising the alarm about what's going on there they are trying to get the united nations security council to take a stand i think that would be significant and i think it's important to have an

investigation to find out really what has happened and then also is told close any kind of ethnic attacks or my surprise there is especially as a situation could be easily deteriorate you could see kurdish out up fighting also in this area and you could see this conflict spilling into the other side and turkey kurdish they're exposed to start pouring also across the border throughout their compatriots so i could have you with us or not see today third time lucky goes the saying and that may be the case for greece not the bailout looming in the not too distant future germany warning athens it's going to need yet another financial rescue the impoverished greeks take to guerrilla tactics an attempt to literally lighten up these desperate times at this and a lot more still to come after the break on out.

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thanks for joining us here on r.t. 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 sochi all in protest against what they see as russia's new anti-gay law and that's 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 the demands to stay away from the games but that didn't stop the protests around actor and gay activist stephen fry who joined a rally in london he accused the olympic committee of not trying to fight what he dubbed as russia's barbaric laws he went as far as comparing president putin's attitude towards minorities as that of the hip towards idol fitness and the olympic committee responded saying that the sport so should be available to all and the new

law will not affect those attending the games have been harris quiney from a leading london think tank he calls into question the u.k. protestors focus on russia. first of all we could remember that actually the united kingdom had something called section twenty eight in place until two thousand and three which was almost exactly the same as the recent more cost of russia which said that homosexuality should not be promoted in schools or to minors. so to compare this to nazi germany i think is is slightly hysterical great britain of course took part in the two thousand and eight olympics in beijing i think some people in britain might say that there's a question all human rights record in china and we also plan to take part in the upcoming world cup in qatar you know the qataris have a very different view i think of. what is appropriate in society than we do it's

perfectly appropriate to go to those countries to have a respectful difference i think on those issues and as the western activists rise up against the new russian law and he said now i went to find out what it's like for the gay community right here in moscow and she 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 are absolutely obscure they're not clear in what they mean of course it will not have a white 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 messi of 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 too soft thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being 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 gay nightclubs yes it's in a discreet location but it holds three thousand people is. packed on the weekends and is full of foreigners its owners 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 happy 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 the sons 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 insulted last week filming there's a gay community there there's a great j.c. and then such but the west has a big in its bonnet regarding russia and its a great. state repression it's not to give anything away artsy moscow. from a fost back to a hunger strike the muslim holy month of ramadan has come to an end and the inmates of the notorious to get mowed prison have continued to refuse food and this means a protest against indefinite detention and inhumane treatment has entered a seven month terry holbrooke's a former security guard at the camp he claims when he was told to treat the prisoners in a brutal manner. we were taught not to interact with them not to look at them as humans not to talk with them not to speak but had nothing to do with them unless it was absolutely necessary important to work we were told to be very aggressive and searching growing. i don't think any of us as guards felt comfortable doing the

best result as 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 a political logical or ethical in some circumstances and as was all such we didn't implement them and over a hundred sixty six or meaning we've had to live in year 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. now the white house has reiterated that it is standing by obama's pledge to close the detention camp but it seems the flow of money to the prison is not drying up at all in fact of the total cost of keeping the facility running at the moment reportedly exceeding five billion dollars by the end of twenty fourteen and this year alone the pentagon plans to spend almost half a billion to maintain the site and this means every day the us government splashes out one million dollars of taxpayers' money on the controversial camp and you can

see right here now all of this tab breaks down the majority of the chunk is spent on security while legal and court issues come second only fourteen million dollars are actually allocated to fund the prisoner review board. and the numbers are in for greece and the looking very bad for the country is going to need a third bailout within months that's according to germany's central bank and even then the risk of default is considered to be unusually high and the performance of the greek government has hardly been satisfactory matters aren't any better on the home front with impoverished groups themselves now giving up on unfulfilled promises of recovery you've got a piss going off reports. for millions of europeans it's impossible to imagine a life without things like refrigerators a c's television computers and electricity in general but no matter how difficult it may be the reality is every month more of

those living in the cradle of the european civilisation are being forced into the dark. for two years now christina hasn't been able to pay her electricity bills she can't find work and no work in her brother two daughters or their husbands. as the bills began piling up i had to make my priorities and this is where the food comes first i want to pay the bills and i want to be ok with the state but the state hasn't been ok with us with one in four greek strongly unemployed christine is far from the only person who's electricity has been cut off and that's where these guys come in young. activists from the i don't see movement illegally reconnect power to as many as two hundred homes or month for free. the vast majority of the society is to be. sunk into poverty only a few of them to families across the world to have the ninety nine percent of the. wealth that's not something that. we want to bear.

the reconnect ilja city to homes or disconnect power from room making them free for motorists or sometimes we target the underground today the i don't be movement has over ten thousand members across greece and is gaining supporters despite being targeted by more than one hundred on going more since no but he spake to do we say that thousands of people with no belief hated it will call could no electricity to feel water so this will winter we will warn them because it is his. will that greece's government continues to promise economic miracles despite the country's status having been recently downgraded to emerging market. but the greeks are tired of empty promises and now more and more digging matters into their

own hands even if that means breaking the law you want to spin off athens greece. and we're coming to you live from moscow over seventy six u.s. senators have signed a letter to barack obama this week calling on him to tighten the noose around iran's neck and urging the president to renew the the option to use military force and tough and draconian sanctions on the country that's after the house of representatives already slammed terror on with a new set of penalties on its oil sector just days before the newly elected president of rwanda officially took office and the iranian leader was clear about his terms and conditions for future talks which will respect no hidden agendas but jamal abdi from the national iranian american council he thinks such negotiations are unlikely as washington has a 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 pro sanctions 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. in venture capital that's next. with. its technology innovation all the developments around russia

we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know i'm tom are welcome to the big picture. do we speak your language or not at the end of. the news programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you. a little tune to angola's kiddies story. or you hear. that. spinal cord out me visit actually does.

follow that welcomes event to capitol with me katie prove this week we're going to be talking about bankers salaries all right still too high we've got exclusive interview coming up on that one also the world's highest paid female athlete finding out who they all are in schools who would pay for college altie schools present are coming in to talk to me about football and business as well as that we've got corporate news and checking in the market stats with our in-house trader here i'll say that it's all to come but let's get started with the u.s. debt because the official figure of sixteen trillion dollars seemed to argue a high according to a study by the university of california america's debt is actually four times higher at seventy trillion dollars so how much does that sum a quite serious compared to the world's most valuable company apple save a guy that now as you can see this official figure equates to.