the pentagon moves naval forces closer to syria and sends another carrier to the region reportedly waiting for a green light to launch an intervention. u.s. president barack obama is mulling military options in syria following allegations. he tells the new york straight ahead. this is syrian troops say they found toxic weapons in. the rebels while the west blames chemical attacks on government. two hundred days and counting prisoners of pushing on with hunger protests struggling to change the face of force feeding and indefinite detention. and a virtual currency gets real recognition the german government decides that virtual

money coin is a legal and private. stories. international news and comment line from a studio in moscow it's not just turned eight pm this is. the u.s. is reading for a possible missile strike on syria and reports say preparations are already underway the pentagon is moving its naval forces closer ensuring president obama has military options available he's considering action following an alleged chemical attack which is being blamed on syria's government now three destroys a currently deployed in the mediterranean and according to reports a fourth is on its way all of them carrying up to three hundred cruise missiles which is. than enough to act rapidly if obama wants to order

a strike there's also the nato maritime group in the region which is for more ships and if we take a look at the mainland the u.s. and its western allies military presence around syria is also significant artie's more important is following america's military maneuvers. well it appears that the u.s. is no longer just using words to address the ongoing syrian crisis plans of possible military action are now being deliberated president barack obama is meeting with his national security advisers saturday to discuss recent allegations of chemical weapons being used by the syrian government forces in a damascus suburb earlier this week you know despite the fact that the unconfirmed reports made by the syrian rebels have not been verified president obama has called it a big event of grave concern now white house official says that the u.s. has a range of options and that the obama administration is going to act very deliberately

in making decisions consistent with u.s. national security interests and how washington can advance its objectives in syria meantime on friday the u.s. navy had repositioned ship armed with missiles in the mediterranean u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said obama has already asked the pentagon for options on syria now a joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey is reportedly expected to present options for a strike during saturday during saturday's meeting at the white house according to c.b.s. news a potential targets include command bunkers and launchers used to fire chemical weapons now up until this point the u.s. leader has been very cautious over intervening in syria previously saying quote the u.s. should be wary of being drawn into very expensive difficult costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region unquote however one year ago obama also said that chemical weapons used in syria would be

a red line for the united states and now he is under pressure growing pressure to act u.s. officials have acknowledged that there is no conclusive evidence linking syrian president bashar al assad to this week's alleged chemical attacks nonetheless a state department spokesperson has also said that long. shinton doesn't believe the rebels are capable of carrying out chemical attacks so logically this would lead one to think that the white house has already found the syrian government guilty of the alleged chemical weapons being used in syria now the media has also played a significant role in recent days with many western media outlets being very sad and shocking video of dead victims in syria reporting that the assumption is that the syrian government is behind the mass killing. new reports from syria so the army has discovered chemicals in the area earlier controlled by opposition forces and despite no confirmation of reports of the government carried out

a chemical attack international pressure on assad is increasing the french foreign minister insists all indications suggest the government was behind the massacre and wants to respond with force if the allegations approve the u.k. foreign secretary william hague also said it was a chemical attack by the assad regime and has a similar voice from sweden its foreign minister claimed he had a hard time coming to any conclusion other than that deadly chemicals were used by the regime's forces and turkey joined in calling for a necessary response to what it condemned as the crime against humanity well this is a bomber called america an indispensable nation in stabilizing the middle east yet there has been no international reaction so far on the chemical findings or the tsunami or his middle east correspondent as more. syrian state television is reporting that syrian soldiers found traces of chemical agents off to entering tunnels used by rebel fighters in the damascus suburbs the empty shells that they

found had markings on them that said that they had been made in saudi arabia just a reminder that saudi arabia is very mentally opposed to the syrian president bashar assad now these soldiers this fall to such recruits an ambulance is how to be saying to be seen to assist them syrian television is also reporting that these soldiers found that are used to kill the intoxication this comes off to reports of a huge attack earlier this week that saw the involvement of chemical weaponry we have heard reports that anywhere between dozens and one thousand three hundred people were killed in that new attack there has been lots of unverified footage making the rounds online we've seen soldiers of people sort of thing at the mouth people suffocating all of the pointing to the possible use of saturn gets some of these photos online do show empty shells it does seem to point to the fact that this latest attack had this weapon we fired from

a rebel held areas all of this comes as you in space with inside syria they arrived last sunday tearing off investigations on some school team as are reports of clinical we're going to produce it today the e.u. in chief all disarmament arrived in the country in the year and team has now been crossed with trying to reach the scene of the latest from the attack and damascus has indicated that they giving them full support and they will be helping them in whatever way they can but there is heavy fighting on the go in that area. there still be no confirmation of the number of victims of the alleged mass chemical attack doctors without borders are saying they received around three thousand six hundred patients suffering from intoxication following the reported the sort but exactly who was behind the attack is still hard to verify despite the west suspecting a sad and not the rebels or the investigative journalists michel column believes the u.s. is simply looking for a pretext to intervene in syria. thing there will be

a serious investigation from the west side because actually they don't look for troops to just look for a pretext to overthrow assad and to take control of syria and this is really a strategy call off so they don't want an investigation they don't trust the truth to just want a pretext it's also obvious they see the danger the see that they have no majority in syria and the area in the area there is that is really very strong so i believe it is more of a pressure to negotiate because they know also they're not so strong anymore. r.t. live here in moscow still to come this far east on edge armies of rescue workers soldiers and volunteers struggle to protect russia's. historic floods threaten the city on all sides we'll bring you the latest on the efforts there shortly.

still to come for you but first nearly seven months of refusing to eat being force fed and alleged abuse with no end in sight that's been the daily experience for many inmates since early february food protest has gone on for two hundred days now but president obama is still stalling on shutting down the facility well let's see what the situation is like right now the u.s. run camp there are one hundred sixty six inmates there in the military says thirty seven are still refusing food to protest against their indefinite detention now many of the prisoners haven't even gone to trial and over half were cleared for release years ago u.s. taxpayers are picking up the ever increasing tab for all of this the price tag for every detainees it's two point seven million dollars annually that's over thirty times higher than similar costs of the most expensive domestic prison in the u.s.

and add it all up and you get nearly half a billion dollars per year coming out of citizens' pockets while u.s. public defender warner frequently talks to the guantanamo inmates that he represents an earlier he told me what is going on at the camp and why it remains open. the words that i hear from the camp are just as bad as they've always been suffering to feeding people not getting along no communication with the military so although the military is telling us that the numbers have gone down that's not the story that we're hearing we're hearing that again there's still that this horrible suffering going on and this is the two hundred they are now we've heard accounts of the risk to treatment by the prison stuff including allegations of sexual abuse is anybody actually investigating these allegations now sexual abuse i think goes around these these searches these growing searches that they began and they did these searches obviously to keep my clients from talking to me in terms of investigation i don't think anybody's investigating that the camp says that we're

doing this for security purposes but that's preposterous when you consider that the client isn't even seeing a lawyer the clients with soldiers talking on the phone entire time not present obama hasn't kept his promise to close the prison it cost millions during a time of budget cuts then the states will lose to make some are actually cleared for release so what will it take to finally close down guantanamo guantanamo is a political animal it's run by a phobia here in the united states and it's going to take a lot of hard work like people not only like people like me but but some people in washington in order to close it and right now you don't see that the president has the authority to transfer these individuals now he can do it under the current law with no exceptions and he's choosing not to do so and he's even said that there are several countries that are ready willing able to take these individuals we know there's eighty six of them that are cleared for release the president has done

nothing on that yet well to live with you twenty four hours a day still ahead this virtual currency bitcoin is gaining recognition with germany accepting it as a legal means of payment details for you in just a few minutes. well bill pulver my language as well but i will only react to situations as i have read the reports from. the players and no i will leave them to the state department to comment on your latter point to say please or carry out a car is on the docket. no more weasel words when you have a direct question the prepared for a chase when you approach a punch be ready for a battle pretty much a speech and a little down the street into costs. to

play right on the scene. of the first strike. and i think the trick. on our reporters twitter. and instagram. to be in the. odd. little this is the media lead us so we believe that maybe. the sea pushes security play your part of the visible. push is that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all politics only on our t.v. .

i. use continues here in r.t. the german government has become the first in the world to recognize pick corn as a legal private currency transactions conducted in the virtual cash will be subject to sales tax in the country and bitcoin may now be exchanged for other currencies within the banking system all these people all of the reports from the capital of bitcoin berlin. it's a real step towards it becoming a universally accepted legitimate but the option to state issued currencies now it is quite popular here in germany particularly here in berlin where if you go to some bars and restaurants you can actually pay for food and drinks there using

coins as well as other online stores that accept them for just about anything else you can you can want to buy now what has actually happened by the german finance ministry they've declared that big calling is now unit of account what that actually means is it's not recognised as a an official currency but it is eligible to be taxed now that means that anybody speculating on because well if they sell them within one year of them they could be eligible for capital gains tax however that all sounds great for the tax man it may well be a lot harder than that sounds because of the actual nature of bitcoin it is a peer to peer online currency it would be very hard to track down just who was selling to whom for tax purposes so that might not exactly work out how the state funds use it but what it is is official recognition for a currency that is growing in popularity in some countries are accepting big

calling as this you new potential one state backed currency of course it can't be devalued or increased by any state by because there just isn't one that controls it it's all comes from the computers it all comes out of mathematics and it is therefore on regulated by any state authorities or some countries jumping on it like here in germany others like thailand well they're just not interested. big corn first appeared in two thousand and eight when an anonymous creator published a paper laying out his ideas on how the peer to peer electronic cash system should be operated since then the digital currency has gained popularity across the world thousands of small online merchants now recognized as an alternative to major currencies the value of individual big coins hit a record high this april when it was being traded at over two hundred sixty u.s. dollars growing concerns over the effect it could have on the dollar prompted the

u.s. government to investigate it earlier this month washington claims it could be used in criminal activity well we've got everything you need to know about bitcoin on our websites dot com also online at the moment it's a site by true adult scientists has found a way to read people's minds at twelve website to find out how his invention. and also if you don't call him healthy habits are hurting businesses russia's ban on night time booze sales means that foreign brewers have to find new ways to shift their beer all this and more just a click away at r.t. dot com it's online all the time.

flood levels in russia's far east a surging and now seven meters and rising soldiers and civilians braced for that to get even higher and what already the worst floods in the region for over two centuries but russia's not the only country suffering as you can see the muar. runs along the border with china which has also been hit by catastrophic weather since the beginning of the summer already over one hundred are reported dead and another one hundred fifteen missing three of russia's regions have been worst affected and experts say the floods have yet to peak over half a million homes and livelihoods are under threat in the far east of how about of scale and the next twenty four hours are critical our correspondent paul scott is monitoring the situation there. base is a city under threat a city on the edge of the moment water levels continuing to rise with the pink not

expected for another twenty four hours or so now is the hour more river to that my right that is causing all the problems it's breached its banks and is are beginning to filter through to the city now work is continuing to reinforce the city around fifteen kilometers worth of dams and dikes have been built like this one and they are being reinforced and raised along with the water levels now despite the perilous situation authorities say that they are prepared for the worst. organizational issues are worked out there could be some setbacks but the main point is that there are no victims and all eyes are work we will work for the good now around two and a half thousand people have been affected by the flood so far in and around the city in the majority of those people have been housed in temporary accommodation centers that provide things such as food drinking water shelter and medicine and basically rest bite from the floods they were around seventy that have been built

in and around the city and sports arenas and schools for example and this resident told r.t. he simply doesn't know what to expect you know everything has been washed away because firewood the second floor is already been flooded my flat is on the first floor and there are one and a half meters of water there i'm here now but all my furniture all my clothes are there now president vladimir putin is expected in the city and in the region early next week to inspect the damage that these floods of course but at the water levels continue to rise and they show absolutely no sign of receding it could be a while yet before the full extent of the damage is revealed. artie's pool scott reporting there now to some other international headlines this hour in our world update in just twenty minutes passed in the russian capital a bomb has killed twenty six and left fifty more people wounded in iraq capital a suicide bomber struck a cafe in a crowded park in a northern district another separate assault on a vehicle in the city claimed for lives there

a deadly attacks on an almost daily basis there as internal strife in iraq spirals . at least thirty people have been killed and sixty injured in a riot in bolivia's largest maximum security prison. some prisoners were shorts four others were burnt to death in a fight between rival gangs as many overcrowded latin american jails inmates largely controlled inside of the facility. rebels have called for a temporary timeout on peace negotiations with the colombian government a group requested time to consider a proposal which could prepare the way for a long awaited peace agreement now this comes after violent protests by the country's miners students and farmers this week over presidential reforms they say hurting revenues. in bahrain thousands gathered to demand democratic reforms with the rise march past of peacefully as protesters

called for a mad lawmakers were recently criticized by the international community for introducing harsh methods in dealing with unrest just two weeks ago police violently broke up a rally in the capital dispersing protesters with tear gas and short. islam supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi held scattered rallies across egypt the muslim brotherhood called the friday of martyrs one person has been killed and dozens were wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces meanwhile president obama has signaled he will not be cutting off aid to the egyptian authorities he said that while the u.s. is reevaluating its relationship with caro stopping help wouldn't affect the nation actions of the interim government a bombing sisted that at this point was she to look at the long term interests of the egyptian people and the u.s. it's. defense consultant he says that the u.s. only wants to ensure a friendly relationship with. the

americans are ensuring that they have a friend in power they will always provide aid and this is why they're not canceling aid at all. and makes it clear that he's supporting all the u.s. government supporting the present status of the military being in power to say that they're concerned about what is ringo. going on the toppling of morsi and his detention that's just trying to fool the citizens of egypt they'll resume normal relations as soon as the civilians sort of go back home you know or stop protesting but the military and the united states government have had a very causal relationship for four decades so that's that's not going to change. commit to twenty four minutes past the hour now here in the russian capital i'll be

back with the news team in just a huff and from now as the news continues and we have more to come for you right now just off the break collegian gets his teeth into the double dutch intrigue of amsterdam's finances stay with us for that if you can. you know people in moscow say they're like whoa websites and facebook groups about the childfree lifestyle which i didn't believe until i saw the cover for the august twelfth copy of time magazine yes child free is no real thing sadly basically these are people who have started a cool trend of not having children and using their time and resources completely for themselves you know if you don't want to have kids that is your business and i

really couldn't change your mind even if i wanted to but there are people all over the internet who are just swimming in their own self-satisfaction like pigs in slop because they are part of the no kids trend the sickening part about this trend or should i say it mentality is that these people glow and adore themselves for being too selfish to give their time and money to a child oh i'm the center of the universe and i'm proud of it. this is an extremely antisocial and destructive mentality to adore yourself for contributing nothing to anyone else nothing to society and nothing to the future but wait let me put it this way if your life is shopping wearing ironic t. shirts starbucks and texting on your i phone about your stupid feelings that maybe is for the greater good the church childfree but that's just my opinion.

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 that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard because the big picture. what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. for a factual standard of living.

welcome to the kaiser report i'm max guys are you know the dutch have got the economic. private debt has got them down the housing bubble is bursting bursting berthing the economy is contract ing us terry is biting oh. and unemployment is rising but how is this possible when the dutch current account is positive the government deficit is smaller and exports are doing well something does not add up we need to bring in stacy herbert to see what the frick is going on over there in the netherlands well max remember at the beginning of this financial crisis when it was an economic crisis across europe and we needed to bail out greece and spain and italy and portugal and all these people with the profit get

bad spending governments of the south well you know now the netherlands were always the one that were pushing the most foster but it turns out private debt might matter more than government debt and the situation deflating housing bubble at heart of netherlands economic blues household spending has been falling for three straight years and it dropped again two point four percent year on year in the second quarter dragging the entire economy down with it so they just economy shrank for the fourth quarter in a row point two percent compared to portugal by the way which is growing ok so this is a reverse of the wealth effect people say you know what let's blow a real estate bubble and people will feel wealthier and they'll go out and spend but here in the netherlands they created a housing bubble housing prices are now down and you've got all this debt which is

down creating huge drag on the economy yes actually house prices are down twenty one percent thirty percent of the population is a negative equity because prices are collapsing actually let's look at this data market chart data market dot com and it shows private debt to g.d.p. and as you can see from one thousand nine hundred to two thousand and ten private sector debt to g.d.p. in the netherlands went from one hundred twenty five percent up to about two hundred twenty five percent at the end of that chart which is two thousand and ten now it's up to two hundred forty percent. so the highest across the euro zone and now we're seeing that the government relatively to other nations anyway across europe is is ok in terms of debt but here you have it the citizen what used to be known as a citizen the consumer and the economy is collapsing under the weight of the debt they need to build some of those fancy dikes help them from being overwhelmed with debt they need a debt type.