breaking news for you this hour here on sleeping patients. western russia. fire overnight with. cigarettes suspected of. the syrian government starts heading towards chemical. details. russian and u.s. diplomats in geneva it's off to washington. and it's. still. hundreds of civilians and. a man who is held hostage by rebels in syria. challenging. so we put up with him.

and the online spying scandal spreads even wider universities are getting in on the action following secret posts to glean. from students. here in moscow. let's get straight to our breaking news for you this. summer fourteen people now dead dozens still missing after a blaze broke out of a psychiatric facility in northwestern russia twenty two people have already been taken to safety so around sixty patients and staff in the hospital when the fire started. joins us for the latest on this this morning and good morning. what do we

know about the story so far. well rory we know that this fire broke out overnight in a wood in an excess of the hospital not this this treatment facility lies in northwestern russia as you said in the no go out region it's near the village of luka and more the more than one hundred rescuers are on the scene right now trying to help people who have gotten out of the fire also searching for those that are still missing there are still over a dozen missing and police in fact are searching the area to see if anyone may have run away from the flames and taken cover many of the patients at this facility were bedridden and so there's a real worry that their lives may have been lost in this fire it is confirmed right now that one nurse did lose their lives trying to save a patient the governor is on scene. keeping an eye on the situation unfortunately in this situation as you said it was either a cigarette or arson is suspected at this point so it's really

a rescue and a recovery effort and it is feared it could end up being a rather tragic incident this morning in that area and lindsay oh sadly fires like this on uncommon across russia rather. well indeed they're not and even quite recently russia has experienced tragedy again at a psychiatric facility just in april in fact in the outskirts of moscow thirty eight people lost their lives a nurse and two patients were the only people to make it out of the fire it happened overnight as well it was a short circuit an electrical problem and it took an hour for fire crews even to reach the place because of bad roads and then of course in southern russia there was a retirement home in march two thousand and seven sixty two people lost their lives and that was because of a cigarette and fire crews it took them a long time to get there and people within the facility were trying to hide. from

the smoke and flames inside that facility of it as it was burning and then of course a lame horse nightclub in december of two thousand and nine one hundred fifty nine people killed one of the doors one of the very important exits from the building was sealed shut there were many fire violations and fire safety has been increased that the rules of the codes related to that have been increased here in russia but again tragedy did strike last night in that area at the psychiatric treatment facility as you said lindsay psychiatric facility in north western russia at latest numbers we have feelings of the breaking news fourteen at least feared dead twenty two taken to safety around sixty in the hospital when the fire started the latest on the breaking news aussies lindsey france thank you. thank you for joining us here on the program this morning syria has taken its first steps along the path of chemical disarmament of the u.n. has confirmed it's received documents from the syrian president bashar al assad joining the chemical weapons convention which bans the use and production of

poisonous agents it comes amid u.s. war threats against syria by washington has apparently agreed to try to pull the first. is following the meeting over a top russian and american diplomats in jinnie. john kerry spoke to the press ahead of that tough negotiations over how to rid syria of its chemical weapons stockpiles now. concise said that he was looking forward to getting down to the business of thrashing out a deal after that john kerry took to the stage he spoke and he spoke for a long time he reiterated the u.s.a.'s position that they believe that damascus is responsible for the chemical attacks on the twenty first of august he spoke skeptically about bashar al assad's promises to disarm and said that he's come to geneva in order to make to make certain that a deal can be hammered out he mentioned that the usa nevertheless is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis at this point sergey lavrov interjected that he

hadn't prepared a politicized speech and that he was looking forward to just jumping into negotiations and we know however that there are vital sticking points that remain between the two sides one of these sticky stumbling blocks is the threat of military force against syria the u.s. the u.k. and france have said that they want any resolution that goes to the u.n. security council to contain a clause that would threaten damascus with strikes if it doesn't comply and russia in turn has reiterated that this is unacceptable and moreover the syrian president bashar al assad has also said in an in a t.v. interview that if the usa continues to threaten syria with force that's going to be a game changer and that any deal will be off the table if threats continue speaking in that interview earlier the syrian leader also said that damascus would provide information about its chemical weapons stockpiles one month after it signs up to the chemical weapons convention. this would be about syria sorting approach to go

and delivering it with no positive feedback it has to be a mutual process and above all the united states has to give up its policy of threatening syria once we see the united states truly want stability in the middle east once we see it refrain from threatening. in pursuing intervention once we see them stop supplying weapons to terrorists then we'll consider this process is truly acceptable for syria and we'll look to finalize it russia should play a major role in the disarmament process we don't trust washington and don't talk to them moscow is the only party that can fulfill this role now he's. also spoke of turkey saudi arabia and qatar and accused them of supporting the syrian rebels humes he accuses of using chemical weapons he also said that it could be the usa behind the chemical attacks and that countries that have supplied terrorists in syria with chemical weapons need to take responsibility for their actions finally

the syrian president warned the syrian rebels to try to launch chemical attacks against israel as a further act of provocation so a number of different and very tough positions that top diplomats need to reconcile here in geneva migrates be watching closely to see if they can come around to realistic deal. who was behind the chemical attack which sparked america's appetite. however while washington accuses president assad of being responsible and westerners who were inside the country at that time challenge the notion bill dog he spoke to a belgian writer for c.n.n. he came to syria under the rebels' protection later found himself in the detention . are we do apologize here on r.t. a couple of traditional technical difficulties with more details on that on our

website right now at our two daughters columns for the meantime though here on the program thanks for your patience untouched by fighting during the two years of syria's civil conflict a war has come in earnest this time to the ancient christian village of mali and the locals have joined the syrian army to push invading rebels out of town so the rescue has come late with residents describing a well horrific trip and by jihadists including forced conversions to islam executions and looting america for not now has this report from inside the war zone . that relate. to. the mood is cheerful soldiers are smiling and relieved the jihadists have been booted out. but some of them were killed some of them escaped. locals

joined the army to defend the native town the soldiers in light colored uniforms of the so-called national defense. the drain he's very difficult with mountains and caves but we know the area better so we are carrying on with the operation. we come across one grocery shop owner who we filmed back in two thousand and twelve then he told us that the armed rebels hasn't come to their village and why would they this time he's armed with a gun among syrian soldiers and he has some questions again syria and thirty syria is a land of history and of love they sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill syrians and each why i ask the world why if the european citizen is so much just slapped across the face there'd be a scandal. while in syria how many victims how many hundreds of thousands have been

slaughtered why will it stop with quickly find out that it won't be today held by the militants for a week it seems that mountain tops of fear hotel still poses a threat that sufi hotel our goal was the liberated them push on the mark tough climb on a street but we couldn't do it last night desire everywhere milo is home to many christian churches and monasteries as well as mosques everywhere we go here we see either crosses on the arrests now added to these we see blag jihadists flags. it's time to head back right. to trial in the car something goes wrong. we take cover in a place where we find dozens of army soldiers hiding from enemies bullets. the main road is being targeted and it's easier on the way out we think over our

chances when our engineer gets hit. clearly much. but. thankfully it's not serious. but it becomes clear we can't wait a minute more. oh. very much of a shock when i'm stuck here in this corner and we're now trying to get out of here because this was. no no no. so. this had been anything done to back then here they go clear a lot. more

focus off of the bullets did you hear them whizzing by full. but now say that we've reached the safe area. they're firing from behind this huge hundred told that this is the syrian army get to be careful you don't like this too much so you get paid. and we leave while governmental forces continue their frenzy for model of the ledge which despite the claims remains under siege. see reporting from syria. now when it comes to the whole issue of chemical weapons attacks in syria of course western powers have been blaming the assad government was and stay one russia and many eastern power saying well it was the rebels who did this as

a provocation to get some sort of outside intervention well as washington accuses assad of the chemical weapons attack or some westerners who were inside the country at the time they challenge these accusations and my colleague bill doughty spoke to a belgian writer. and then he came to syria under the rebels protection they later found himself in their detention here's what he had to say. i don't think bashar al assad in the syrian government are to blame for the chemical attack and. during that time my italian friend and i had been taken hostage by jihadists from the oil for root group in syria we were held at one point in a room facing an office of the free syrian army and the elf jihadist group we have been in the barracks of the pre syrian army and of the oil for jihadist group as well and we heard a conversation from this office the conversation was between one general from the free syrian army we knew him from earlier as he was the one who was in charge of

our detention and another officer from the fruit. which is. the result of a third person who was speaking perfect english and they were talking to him via skype they were talking about the events of the in the damascus suburb and from the conversation it was clear that the syrian government wasn't behind the attack but it. was it clear to you what the motivation was to use chemical weapons to launch a gas attack on civilians in this way what was the motivation do you think was it mentioned what. their motivation was unclear from the conversation but we figured that it would have been absurd for the syrian government to use chemical weapons the regime had nothing to gain from the al guta massacre on the contrary it played into the hands of its enemies the u.s. france and the u.k. and it gave them a good reason to use force against the assad government did the syrian government

lost its mind but i don't believe that or the authors of the attack or the opposition and it is clear that the rebels are the ones who wanted to benefit from the situation and let us remind you that the rebels already tried to simulate a gas attack a year ago and gnomes they made a video showing people on the ground acting as if they had been. and representing half of the world's population the shanghai cooperation organization will be looking at how it can lend its weight to peace in syria and for that to happen though it's thought iran will have to play a major role coming up here on a report on the organization's summit starting today in kyrgyzstan. and politicians draping themselves in red white and blue as they call in the french compact to buy local and to keep their money inside the country.

for the meantime here on the director of intelligence in the united states has said the wide ranging leaks on the n.s.a. spy program have fueled an important debate on the tradeoff between privacy and national security but he says he's worried there are more revelations still to come from edward snowden. and for kevin mitnick here in our moscow studios while he believes that snowden's secret leaking can be criticized he still feels the revelations were crucial for americans. i have some mixed feelings that he did cross the line when he revealed n.s.a. operations that we have against other countries because as we all know all countries spy on each other i think is a whistleblower you know i don't look at him as a true i'm actually glad that he revealed what the national security agency was doing at least against americans by violating our constitutional rights to privacy that's dead very damaging right because this was you know it was kind of like how i felt in a lot of colleagues in the information security world felt we already felt this was

already being done but there was actually no confirmation but now there is definite confirmation now that the cat is out of the bag it should surely damages national security because now our adversaries now potentially terrorists know our methods of operation or at least have it confirmed so now they could change the way they communicate with the revelations of snowden that allegedly the n.s.a. has approached and partnered with a lot of companies that the fellowship of security software that developed p.p.m. technology he might have intentionally weaken this technology so they could intercept communications but an average citizen probably if they're you know if they're not a terrorist they really are not concerned about is intelligence agency intercepting communications but more criminal organization i believe it's all about scott mcnealy said i think about fifteen years ago you have no privacy get over it and that was the axiom of sun microsystems and i think that quote is really holds true

today and it's not just governments trying to pare into what you do online it's the universities as well there are serious concerns about how the digital trails of students attract and used as institutions open their doors for yet another semester laura smith not up to the risks of data collection. remember the film minority report it's the one where tom cruise is the cost in the future and uses pass in the day to stop crimes before they happen while the fictional feature is now universities are out allies in the electronic trail of students how often they use the library what books they get out even where they park their cars to create a picture of them and how they learn they use the data in different ways the different you need for marketing courses but also to predict which students are likely to fail or dropouts and here's where it fits into nineteen eighty-four territory in the dystopian novel any negative thoughts is thought crime every party

member has a telly screen in his or her home which the thought police use to watch them and record anything that resembles an unorthodox opinion or in the struggle now look for a university in the midlands says it's considering doing something frighteningly similar monitoring student private emails but negative comments on their university experience to see if they're at risk of quitting. students at the london school of economics are not keen on the idea. that it would be an infringement of my integrity it sounds a bit cia now i think people are the things that went on i think people are much more kind of them. could be more violence is i don't think it's right it's a kill that you can say sure you wouldn't do it in denmark where you come from i think people would like that i would mom my emails and money. i mean the private e-mail is should have exclusive rights to n.b.c.

ok so again private universities do have a good track record for keeping dates a private but the worry here is that there's so much data and of course how it could be used ultimately the information could be used to allocate resources for example if it identifies the type of person most likely to fail universities could stop recruiting those people altogether or not waste money on trying to retain them as students start returning for a new academic year they'd better beware big brother is watching them now more closely than ever. i will get to a busy on sea world update shortly on the program for now though do bear in mind always many more stories for you on line including this hour a new study revealing the. impact of buying more food than you're actually need. the full story right now wasted produce amounts to the world's third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. plus. a cheap plastic model

of the i phone fails to impress both investors and consumers the company's shares are plunging more than five percent those details online for you this hour. see. first rate. and i think you're. going to. be in the. soup with breaking the set for now though iran is widely thought to be key to any syrian peace deal and one of the biggest organizations on the planet wants to put that to the test for the shanghai cooperation organization which represents more

than half of humanity it's meeting today in cuba is done and aside from the usual talk of an ever tie to economic and military alliance it's thought that syria will feature heavily on reports. he says the six constant members of the shanghai cooperation organization which include russia and china its observers are also here including india and iran they're also looking at becoming constant members of the organization in large mint is one of the things that are going to be discussed here as well as joint economic projects and the situation in afghanistan which is also here it's an observer as well but it's syria which is going to be definitely the key issues on the table iran is a key player in the region and it's widely agreed including by senior u.n. officials that any diplomatic and peaceful solution of the conflict in syria would not be possible without tehran's involvement iran's stance on the situation has

been similar to russia's and china's saying that only a peaceful solution is possible and warning that any military intervention would not only create more violence in syria itself but would risk spreading the violence throughout the whole region now there's also another very important issue here is that iran along with hezbollah are syria's main shiite allies and it's agreed by many analysts that it's syria which is the key link in this chain and if it's dropped out that will lead to a breakup of the balance of forces in the region and would eventually lead to unpredictable consequences and definitely more violence so getting iran involved in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in syria is something which is definitely a knowledged by moscow and this summit here in kyrgyzstan is a good chance to do that you got to spin off. and into the with a bombing at the u.s.

consulate in the afghan city of herat sparked a huge hour long gun battle between militants and security one military spokesman says the consulate is now secure five attackers killed at least three others reported dead nine more injured taliban. i mean responsibility. and outrage crowds filled the bahrain streets on thursday people lashing out of security and accusing them of killing a protester they say a young activist was run over by police on wednesday the protest movement in bahrain has been pressing the government for more than two years to implement human rights reforms. and towering twin of waterspouts of charm across lake michigan in north america warm waters combined with cold made perfect conditions for the finals to form officials warn people in boats to head to shore immediately and more of these waterspouts are expected today. now red wine pungent cheese and.

products strongly associated with the french and they are devoured on mass across the country but key political political figures are now going to great lengths to get french consumers to buy more from the home and keep the money on the domestic front. reports when france is industry minister i know monday blues struck a pose looking as french as one could be consumer affairs minister bid one more thought it was a joke this is a real food over on new moon to. what was on the. inside to what it was message was serious choose french products over four and made ones to help more of their countrymen and keep jobs and appeal to french patriotism in the face of a thirteen year high unemployment rate with the number of jobless hitting three million for the first time a move that comes as france talks about reforms to restore global competitiveness a critical priority says the international monetary fund. a recent study suggests

that if consumers were to buy only french made goods they would have to spend between one hundred three hundred euros more each month and amount that needs an already weakened purchasing power because of all the publicity the french are even more aware now of made in france products versus those coming from the outside but most of the time the difference could really be seen in the prices of the goods now this one for example is peaches from spain it costs for ninety five per kilo rather this one which is clearly marked made in france cost six ninety five per kilo that's a two year old difference so the question here is how well it will decide dia sell to the french. definitely know i won't spend three hundred extra you have to find this money first. yes if i have the money certainly. just a few other commodities as you know i think globalization allows us to find cheap

or you must know it's when you look at the product you know. those short or whatever you go that bottle rita that's been dug into in france but bottle the the been done elsewhere in fact a french political parties have been accused of hypocrisy as a local newspaper's investigation last year she will lection campaign materials have been made in china bangladesh morocco you name it. here for example this little case is made in china so i'm not afraid buying things in china that's not the point the point is we have. no hope in france at all isn't d.c.m. is a brand that takes pride in having its manufacturing base in france its director says the study more is an important point that paying more to support their own industries creates local jobs but it's far less of an economic burden than the cost of three point two million unemployed big amount of those ducks are of course.

the social care we have in france and a big moment of the social care is employment so we'd move we would be much more healthier in france and with lower deficits big deficits if everyone was to have. a job the world trade organization has criticized this campaign as patriotic protectionism as france's economic y. was getting treated to manage politicians seem to be grasping at straws the government's new call to arms may look good on paper but its critics point out it could end up an economic fall pap. tests are still the r.t.e. paris are just a moment as promised to abby martin and breaking a sweat.