president obama weighs options for military action against a masochist with no clue yet if the green lights been given while u.s. naval forces move closer to the syrian coast. is the syria's troops say they found toxic weapons in tunnels used by rebels while the west blames chemical attacks on assad's government. and hunger strike at guantanamo bay reaches two hundred days with inmates carrying on their protest against force feeding and indefinite detention. at a digital currency getting real recognition germany's government deciding virtual money big point is a legal and private means of payment. free

and moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story u.s. president barack obama and his national security team met to consider possible military action against syria washington's promise to announce its decision after looking into evidence of an alleged chemical attack in a damascus suburb that's being blamed on government forces meanwhile the u.s. is moving naval forces closer to syria in case the go ahead is given for a military strike three destroyers currently deployed to the mediterranean according to reports a fourth on its way all of them carrying up to three hundred cruise missiles which is more than enough to act rapidly if the administration orders a strike also a nato maritime group in the region which includes four more ships and if we take a look at the mainland the u.s. and western allies military presence around syria also significant or marine important has more. 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 now despite the fact that the

unconfirmed reports made by the syrian rebels have not been verified president obama has called recent allegations of chemical weapons being used by the syrian government 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 are in syria according to c.b.s. news 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 washington doesn't believe the rebels are capable of carrying out a chemical attack 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 looping very sad and shocking video of dead victims in syria while reporting that the assumption is

that the syrian government is behind the mass killings. nira ports from syria say the army discovered chemicals in an area earlier controlled by opposition forces according to iranian officials syria's government agreed to allow a team of u.n. investigators to examine the area where the recent a chemical attack allegedly happened despite no confirmation of reports that the government has used chemical weapons and international pressure on assad is increasing the french foreign minister insisting all indications suggest the government was behind the massacre and wants to respond with force if the allegations are proved true u.k. foreign secretary william hague said it was a chemical attack by the assad regime and here's a similar voice from sweden its foreign minister claiming that he had heard that he had a hard time coming to any conclusion other than that deadly chemicals were used by the regime forces turkey joining in calling for necessary responses to what it called a crime against humanity this as obama called the u.s. an indispensable nation in stabilizing the middle east yet there's been no

international reaction so far to the chemical findings by syria's army or his middle east correspondent paula sleeper reports. syrian state television is reporting that syrian soldiers found traces of chemical agents off to entering tunnels used by rebel fighters in a damascus suburb the empty shells that they found had markings on them next stated 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 started suffocating and ambulances had to be sent to the scene to assist them the syrian television is also reporting that the soldiers found antidotes that are used to hill the intoxication this comes off to reports of a new 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 and it has lots of verified footage making

the rounds online we've seen photos of people foaming at the mouth people suffocating all of the pointing to the possible use of seven gets some of the photos online do show empty shells it does seem to point to the fact that this latest attack had this weaponry fired from rebel held areas all of this comes as u.n. inspectors are inside syria they arrived last sunday they carrying out investigations on some thirteen hours or reports of chemical weapons usage the e.u. in chief of disarmament of arrived in the country and the u.n. team has now been tasked with trying to reach the scene of this latest chemical 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 still no confirmation about the number of victims from the alleged mass chemical attack doctors without borders so you may receive around thirty six hundred patients suffering from intoxication following the reported assault three

hundred fifty thought of them reportedly died but exactly who was behind the attack still unclear despite the words saying it was assad and not rebels are all a professor of international law at georgetown university says that if the u.n. proves it was the syrian opposition to use the chemical weapons washington may be left empty handed. i think if it is going to turn out to be the rebels who are using these weapons on these boys and us material the us would be embarrassed because it could be allies of the. opposition that the us and supporting and claiming that these are people who are seeking democracy and rule of law and fighting corruption and whatever and in syria and this is the purpose of the regime change the u.s. would like to to prove or would like and some of its allies that it is the regime who has done this but this has not been independently proven very fired

and without any defendant verification i think if we would take all what the u.s. president has said does not indicate that military action is imminent. meanwhile there's been a suicide bombing in syria's capital six reportedly killed twenty two injured by the explosion in the center of damascus according to local media a car bomb went off in a crowded mainly christian area this is heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces continues on the city outskirts. of strike at guantanamo bay detention center and during its two hundredth day since early february many inmates have been subjected to force feeding and alleged sexual abuse president obama has pledged to shut down the facility but he has yet to take action on his promise let's see what the situation is like right now at the facility more than on earth there are one hundred sixty six inmates there the military saying thirty seven is still refusing food to protest there and indefinite detention many

of the prisoners haven't gone to trial with more than half cleared for release years ago and u.s. taxpayers are picking up the ever increasing tab operating guantanamo costs about two point seven million dollars per detainee annually more than thirty times higher than a similar cost at the most expensive domestic prison in the u.s. all of it adding up you get nearly half a billion dollars per year coming out of citizen's pockets u.s. public defender carlos warner frequently speaks with guantanamo inmates that he represents earlier telling my colleague bill dodd what's going on at the camp and why are maine's 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 day of this and we've heard accounts of horrific detainees 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 that 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 had

to do already to transfer these individuals now that 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. still to come here on our team russia's far east on the edge rescue workers soldiers and volunteers struggle to protect the city of how it also has massive flooding threatens that on all sides details online and on air shortly plus. thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in the streets of bahrain ten days after a police crackdown on a similar demonstration this and more after a short break stay with us.

wealthy british style. time to rise. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report.

for the. science technology innovation hall believes developments from around russia we've. covered. thirteen minutes past the hour now germany becoming the first country to recognize bitcoin is a legal unit of currency holdings of the cyber cache now subject to german to german tax laws and can be exchanged for other currencies within the banking system it's take a look at how big coin made its debut it 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 a system would work since then the digital currency has gained popularity thousands of small online merchants recognize it as an alternative to major currencies the worth of individual bitcoins hit a record high in april when each was valued around two hundred sixty dollars growing concerns about 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

for money laundering and other criminal activities or he's peter all over reports from berlin. well germany and particularly lynn is one of the places in the world that has really embraced bitcoin as perhaps a new major player when it comes to world currency i'm currently stood on the floor of the trading floor of the pearl and bitcoin exchange this is where the coins can be cool for cash it's a great growing a community here inside berlin and if they said guys like this dressed in the bowler hand to depict a traditional of the old london stock exchange they are holding up their thank you very much just how much they're selling their pick coins for so this gentleman here selling one pickling for eighty five euro that's correct or incorrect ok well what you do is you pay your money you get your pick and that goes into a on line wallet and starts yours then to spend how you will how to find out just where it's going here in berlin i'm joined by the organizer of this events are

encouraging thanks very much for talking to me yes hello so in the what we've seen is from the german finance ministry that they've actually given their backing to that point haven't they at the moment it's it looks like that and i think that's a great decision because it breaks lera t. it's clear that it will never be illegal and hopefully they are they setting a standard saying we shouldn't have too many rules but we should rather see how it develops just a clear so this is because bitcoin has been accepted as a a unit of account by the german government that means they haven't said it's legal tender but that it can be made that it can be taxed actually and why do you think bill in particular has see as embraced bitcoin in such a way where we get many innovative people from all over the world coming to be the villain has always been a place to try out new things i mean did you know the computer was invented a million so i think it's just natural that bitcoin is very strong here ok i did not know that the computer was invented in berlin they go so the latest in the

crypto currency the. it's being given in almost a green light by the german government and it's drawing people to exchanges like this in all. to try and trade them and get involved in big cooling and so it can reach out to more were more people around the world while pacesetters in germany are actively using the virtual money of the euro is causing the netherlands some trouble a housing crash rising unemployment poor economic growth all even holland teetering on the brink of a credit downgrade here's what backs kaiser and stacy herbert have to say. you know the judgeship got the economic blues. private debt has got them down the housing bubble is bursting bursting bursting the economy is contracting stary is buying oh aunt and unemployment is rising but how is this possible when the dutch current account is positive remember the dutch were at the forefront of parading the likes of greece and portugal for their profit spending as

an example they imposed austerity just to prove that it can be done you've got an ideology that's informing a public to commit financial suicide even though the evidence on the ground is clear that these policies are are horrible austerity for example has never been imposed upon bankers their costs get lower and lower and lower and lower and lower and lower that's an ideology just that low interest rates are always is always good just like drinking arsenic laced kool-aid is always liberating. but it's not always good. nice kaiser and stacy herbert discussing the dutch blues a little more than ten minutes from now. well flood levels in russia's far east surging now seven meters high and set to rise soldiers and civilians bracing for

some of the worst flooding that the region has seen for more than two centuries russia is not the only country though suffering as you can see the armor river running along the border between russia and china here and is hit by catastrophic weather since the start of the summer already more than one hundred reported dead another one hundred fifty missing three of russia's regions of yearly affected experts saying the floods have yet to peak more than half a million homes and livelihoods under threat in the far east city of how about all of the next twenty four hours said to be critical our correspondent paul scott has more. bass 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 so 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 it could be some setbacks but the main point is that there are no victims analyze or work who will work for the good now around two and a half thousand people have been affected by the floods so far in and around the city in the majority of those people have been housed in temporary accommodation centers the provide things such as food drinking water shelter and medicine and basically rest bite from the floods there are 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. 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 metres 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. funny stories for you online including this religious intolerance in egypt flaring up with islamist torching coptic christian churches on r.t. dot com photos of the destroyed houses of worship plus a surprise entrance vacationers in a crowded beach in russia's city of kaliningrad shocked when a russian military hovercraft slides into shore there head on to our web site watched the video of the unexpected docking. dramas that's trying to be ignored. stories others refuse to notice. the faces changing the world.

to picture those two days you know. from the roads to blow. up to. get. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to pump ration to rule the day. ok. david crockett welcome him to ten virginia it's a little island in the middle of the chesapeake bay kind of a genius. county. a rampager all in the chesapeake bay

probably one of the best there is in the phone call fred. this is all picture of ten year island before the channel was. here. up there. is going on. right here are some of the headstones from graves that for you this is a fruits that's what we don't want to happen to taint your all and we want to get some protection and make sure that we don't go into the chesapeake bay like uppers did in other communities. twenty three minutes past the hour a fresh wave of anti-government protests has hit bahrain is thousands gather

outside the capital for a peaceful march demonstrations in the kingdom started back in two thousand and eleven but human rights activists saeed yousef says arab neighbors may be undermining what they're trying to achieve. you know i mean. you have to keep in mind that you have no one go. without facing many of you about me it isn't easy to do what you can do it but that they don't they don't want that you see that they don't want and need what they're going to see in the g.c.c. so that's why when we as a behavior we want to see when you can be supported by many it was that it can be so that's why and even the media did not come out of mine once had been a good mike and to me all the media out then throw them away get them some media you know get what he's going to do that i don't we don't know it but it. what's happening in my country because many of them are owned by. the government. so it's going to be as we hadn't bought

a bottle but this did and we don't but you can. get it and to eat again at the. turning out of some other stories making global headlines thousands rally in the capital of tunisia calling for the resignation of the islamist led government there a coalition of opposition parties staged mass protests demanding new elections be held demonstrators took to the streets saying they're tired with authorities inability to maintain security and restart the economy going crisis started in july after the assassination of a popular left wing opposition politician. a state of emergency declared in the u.s. state of california after wildfires swept into yosemite national park the blaze doubled in size overnight and for san francisco to shut down transmission lines with fears there could be further damage to its power infrastructure wildfires and also lead to the evacuation of hundreds from a nearby town officials say only five percent of the blaze has so far been

contained. in colombia antigovernment protests turned violent with at least one person reported dead in the unrest earlier this week the country's truckers and farmers held rallies against presidential reforms they say are hurting their incomes police used tear gas to disperse the crowds after rioting demonstrators the rocks and explosives at officers this is colombia's largest guerrilla group the fark has walked away from peace talks with the government. a mass rally stage in washington d.c. to mark fifty years since martin luther king's iconic i have a dream speech on civil rights thousands marched in the streets many voicing concerns over voting rights a spike in the street violence and the excessive use of force by sub elites the original march in one nine hundred sixty three picks started before whites movement and contributed to the passage of the civil and voting rights act. was a report coming up next stay with us here on r.t.

. they say geo politics is a lot like a schoolyard and what obama snubbing a meeting with the president of russia to in theory punish him for the stoughton incident sounds kind of amateur that is the kind of stuff the girl you did when you're sixteen would do cancel a date just to show you how much your feelings are hurt let's not mistake this cancelled meeting with cutting off diplomatic relations which is the total rejection of any form of discussion with another country which really sent a bold and possibly dangerous political message but obama did was more like a minor annoyance he knows that he will talk to putin again in the near future i

mean how are they not going to talk in the next g. eight summit what is he just going to have to hide behind merkel the whole time and hope it works out or ducked behind the short cocktail whatever here's a russian accent one could argue that to appease republicans he had to do something to look strong after the student but this grandstanding just comes across as silly passing something like a new jackson verda commandment yeah that is how you could shows people that you're really mad even if your anger is irrational because still pretty much. did the right thing but that's just my opinion.

clegg.

welcome to the kaiser report on i'm max kaiser you know the dutch of got the economic blues. private debt has got them down the housing bubble is bursting bursting bursting the economy is contract ing us territory is biting oh aunt and unemployment is rising but how is this possible when the positive the government deficit is smaller and exports are doing well something does not add up we need to bring in stacy herbert stacey 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 were there.