the dark side of war blackout in syria after a terror attack on a key gas pipeline the latest hardship to hit a population gripped by conflict since we're. here and we have exclusive footage from the city of an everyday battlefield for families who refused to leave their homes. every secret as you thought. and crude. showing off. and they detected it in made on a concrete floor you're seeing what there is to see. courtesy of the u.s. military on guantanamo bay that's coming your way in a few minutes. and a new orleans new apologies for washington as the german leader complains directly

to. the n.s.a. private mobile phone everybody knows it's open talk among the officials says this is just. some expose not believing that. it is real and for the full analysis. a very good morning to you from the entire news team. live in moscow with your top world headlines for this hour. a key gas pipeline in syria has been blown up plunging much of the country including the capital into darkness the government accused the rebels of sabotage but the blast reportedly being followed by heavy gunfire middle east correspondent paula. damascus and huge parts of syria are now in

a state of blackouts we're also hearing that coastal cities in the west of the country as well as parts of the aleppo province in the north are also experiencing power cuts now this comes after an attack on a gas pipeline that supplies power stations in the south of the country the pipeline is near the airport which is around twenty kilometers from the capital city damascus residents saying that they heard a massive explosion they heard heavy machine gun fire and they also saw a fire at the international airport one resident saying and i'm quoting now that the whole city just went dark the government has blamed rebels for this attack that cause them terrorists the fighting on the ground is continuing however and one of the fallouts of this conflict is that in many situations it is putting brother against brother this is young work sell to damascus ten months ago it was home to one point two million palestinians today tempest seem to remain the price of

ruin so it's acute here where it's divided families and put her brother against brother. lee betrayed and we cannot trust them anymore eight days ago and his wife came home for ten long months they'd lived on the streets not once giving up the hope they'd return this is what waited them and the will come we are coming to kill you bashar scribbled on the walls whatever happens i will not leave my house again i would like to destroy the walls and build them again it could not be worse than this. for one year syria's palestinians managed to stay out of the conflict but the infiltration of foreign fighters with big dreams and even bigger promises of money forced the residents of yarmuk to choose sides and take up arms against people they've known their whole lives. from friends fighting on the other

side they're not friends anymore the ones who displays those from our houses and destroyed our homes are not our friends. with. each day abu movie leaves to fight them but not before he struck furniture high against the windows to protect his family from snipers life inside these bullet riddled wars is as dangerous as it is outside his two sons as vulnerable as their mother every time the father walks out the door but it's always a painful fave whirl all movie carefully helps her husband prepare for battle she knows he needs to go but each time he leaves behind the same unanswered question. every day when he says goodbye i wonder if you will come back or not like when he got injured he didn't come back i want to find him in hospital there are a lot of men like him and women like me but not

a lot of fighters have bought their families back to your mork the snipers are in shooting range and three days earlier shrapnel from a bullet blinded up to maurice lift i but the thirty three year old doesn't have a choice he has nowhere else to move his family and while the southern part of your milk is still in the hands of the rebels his home or what remains of it has been freed by palestinians who like other more we are fighting alongside the syrian army and. when i go to the battlefield my mind is always with my family and i hope i will come back safe to them to take care of them and i pray that if i get more tired they will find tender people to look after america. the frontline is near two streets away but for and he's come maids the battle hits closer to home each time they take aim to secure the streets for the families often it's a neighbor friend and sometimes even a brother who is pointing

a gun back at them. you know mark syria and international inspectors are in syria at the moment overseeing the destruction of the country's chemical weapons and the facilities designed to build them and some are wondering though whether the nationwide power shortage could be an attempt to undermine their work the attack in damascus today the shutdown of damascus the power outage this is a terrorist act and right now john kerry's very happy chuck hagel is very happy president obama is happy this is what their policy is the fund and finance and coordinate through the joint special operations command and the cia this kind of terrorist actions against the people of syria they may be partly designed to carry out a disruption of their weapons inspections because of the weapons inspectors have had all kinds of trouble getting into areas that are under the rebels control where chemical weapons we nisshin seem to have been used there's been lots of near misses

mortar attack shell means and other kinds of military. disruptions of the weapons inspectors program and much of it and i think almost all of it is coming from the rebel side because perhaps they have something to hide. and the rebels are still reluctant to negotiate with the syrian government putting together a list of conditions that damascus should make before they start talking about the demands that was made out of the friends of syria gathering in london this week and moscow believes the communique that the group of eleven states who sympathize with the opposition came up with could actually jeopardize any chance of proper dialogue or the resolution from the london conference clearly says that assad should not have a role in syria's future it places the blame for the conflict squarely on damascus and says it's clear who carried out the chemical attack you know just well moscow took issue with the wording because it claims it could provoke the assad regime into backing out of the forthcoming talks in geneva

a us defense analyst ivan eland he told us how this overwhelming support to rebels could end up backfiring the al-qaeda groups are dying now dominating the opposition they're the most ruthless and oftentimes when you have a big civil war a chaotic civil war the most ruthless conning people rise to the top and i'm afraid that the west is in an illusion that these rebels are going to be some sort of a democratic force and i think obama now he's wised up to that i think and he's always been a bit reluctant to get involved in this with heavy amounts of u.s. aid and i think even the turks are now attacking some of the rebel groups they're threatened by some of them on their borders and they have been supporting the rebel groups and probably steer are supporting someone so the situation is getting very chaotic but i think that the rebels that the rebels take over are you could have you know you could have an al qaeda dominated portion of syria. thanks

for joining us here on r.t. today as the most maligned jail on the planet guantanamo bay keeps its affairs and scandals well under wraps and arcee find out just how far they will go to make sure nothing gets out as artie's and i started going to crew had a visit at that facility at guantanamo bay they sent us this report but only after the footage had been or carefully censored by guantanamo bay stuff. transparency is a word repeated by u.s. officials working at guantanamo like a mantra by those few who are comfortable speaking on camera you see the conditions under which the detainees live you get to talk to the people who are responsible for garnham we make it is transparent as possible and those preferring to remain on identifiable like the majority of officials we were permitted to speak to every week we get media like yourself international media or local media or whatever and they're welcome to come you know we tell them what we have any journalists workflow

at guantanamo starts with a mandatory introduction to media rules the so-called operation security briefing the material that you guys are gathering to make sure. it advised by our policies here even though transparency is a word brought out by all the personnel we talked to on the ground we as journalists access to detainees aside are asked to be very careful about the shots we filmed all the backdrops and at the end of each day videos are reviewed and any shots deemed unacceptable are deleted this one will be ok because palm trees are not too controversial remind you of any frowned upon seaward like censorship it's in this series the program established to her. program accomplished within the purview of sorry old video and audio recordings and even sketches are carefully studied cell phones are banned from camps we're not supposed to put anything on facebook or anything like that or you know are even wary about talking about it over the you know anything over the phone the said purpose of these ground rules to protect the safety and security of get more operations to detain easier to

get their vision so we try to photograph them down we are warned violations of media ground rules may result in restricted access denial of future visits and or removal from guantanamo bay if people just kind of mislabeled it and i have called again for bia just not leading. giving the true picture i mean the only people who knows what goes on get more is os and the detainees and getting the detainees side of what goes on and get most apparently just couldn't be done after an extensive explanation of how exactly we are to film the prisoners the amount of detainee face time we get a total of one minute and five seconds through a dark glass window the reason we're given out of respect for them and not using them is as you know. you know. making them some kind of curiosity you know on film a thing like that we don't want to do that despite our requests to not even film

but at least witness more real prison or life a high ranking guantanamo admiral convinces us that we actually have a lot more access than we think you're seeing what there is to to see you know. given the amount of time that you have here to to see it we are as transparent as possible after one minute glimpse at one detainee our schedule is in fact all booked up i bet the mandate they were taken to the detention camp kitchen to witness how well things were on their bill since we're not really being allowed to close to the detainees this might be the closest glimpse of their life we might be getting today we're being told that these are the meals that they're offered on a daily basis. we're also taken to the only local radio station all made up like zombies in the audience military personnel serving at the base do you do any news related to the time of detention camp. like. that. public media

because you know there's enough journalists over there covering that music sports and talk radio pure infotainment rains here. and so we learn there we're not the only ones simply being treated to a show and party one tunnel bay cuba. and he is doing everything it can to tell you about exactly what goes on at guantanamo bay prison allegations of torture physical and legal much treatment and cover ups all the findings for you right now online and on t.v. and still to come for you here on the program a trade with the west a and the east the ukraine's attempts for the best of both worlds it hits the skids you can get one or both protectionism that's off the scale .

this is a media lead us so we need to be. part of the scene motions to. play your part of the physical. issues that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from. politic only of our team. could you take three. three. three. three. three. three. video for your media project free media.

moscow time this is another day another excuse for the n.s.a. spying activities fresh from having to make an apologetic phone call to france barack obama has now had to speak to germany's angela merkel to explain the report suggesting that mobile phone was among those under surveillance. for all of the has the latest on the revelations. well it just keeps on coming when it comes to who the u.s. allegedly spying on now the latest allegations surround the personal mobile telephone of german chancellor angela merkel now there were allegations made that the united states were or had hacked into and was spying on her personal communications now these allegations were taken seriously enough by the german security services the b n d and german chancellor angela merkel herself to pronto to put a phone call in to president barack obama directly from the white house what we've

heard is a statement saying that the united states is not and would not spy on the german chancellor's communications notably from that statement did not say whether they had done in the past but if you look at the record and what's been coming out about the united states spying program you can see why the german chancellor would be taking this very seriously we've seen allegations of an extensive spying campaign taking place in brazil also likely sheens that over seventy million phone calls we'll listen to in france also when you add to that video communications were apparently being looked at inside the u.n. general assembly and it doesn't seem like there's anybody who is out of reach of the n.s.a. spying program deutsche telekom announced just recently that they would only use internal german servers for german to german e-mail communications to try and cut off any kind of outside access to information it was being to being bandied around

within germany to try and stop all trying to assure its customers that it was going to stop the n.s.a. from from getting a hold of their information now we've also seen political action taken the european parliament has suspended the swift agreement with the united states and that was an agreement that would share banking data it was supposed to try and tackle terrorism to try and stop transfers from one bank account to another that were being used to fund terrorism around the world now it emerges that the n.s.a. may have been using not to spy on european citizens personal data so that's been suspended there is fallout heading the united states is where you as these allegations mount up that they're watching just about everybody's every move. and hear it out he whispered to christophe hostile government and business consultant he thinks that even though germany's reaction looks like outrage it's nothing but a pantomime with the us i don't eight bit that they were not listening in to the

mobile phone off german chancellor merkel everybody who is officially in germany knows that when ever he uses the phone when he uses e-mail when it really uses a cell phone or fixed line doesn't matter what. twitters are so everything will be listened in that will be recorded is open to spying also our governments will do the same as the other many other stepdown especially of course within nato and they will see would not accept that and accept it will please you americans make sure that this doesn't happen and this is all blah blah you know it all the time count on it this is happening everybody knows it it's open talk about fischer's this is just for the. well washington's main justification of the n.s.a. spying program is that it helps to thwart terror attacks on our website you can read a report suggesting the agency's activities are nowhere near as effective as the us

government would like the public to believe. that it could be the last chance for ukraine and russia to avert a trade war threatens to sink kiev's exports east would the leaders of both nations met today ask me their meeting today i should say that's happening in belarus ukraine is edging toward a trade pact with europe despite opposition both at home and from its neighbors artie's alex had a chef skin now reporting on what's at stake. the funeral of independence this is how ukraine's movement but i'd describe the him in signing over an association agreement between kiev and the european union. our government doesn't tell the truth about what will really happen with our economy health of his g.d.p. relies on export and half of it almost evenly split between russia and the european union agriculture bosses are happy believing their goods will be in demand in europe but other vital sectors of industry like machinery are under threat say

economists are railway. equipment can be sold to the european union because the technology is different because the different european union can be substitution for the serious market. believes that. those cloyd are probably you can close the spectrum some enterprises in ukraine export up to seventy five percent of what they produce to russia vladimir putin made it clear if key of aligns with the e.u. moscow will take protective action but judging by kiev's political course potential economic risks are not worth the sweat. will be joining a unity of different values were human rights are protected e.u. will help ukraine sort out its human rights institutions banners like these are part of a long standing national wide conveying to persuade ukrainians their future lies within the european union in fact according to the recent opinion polls more than

half of the country want to be part of the e.u. and more than forty percent say yes to the association agreement but it will not become a e.u. member anytime soon says ukraine's only recognized you are skeptical. association backed would bring only one way benefits no. we are not a human we won't take part in decision making but will have to carry out someone else's decisions ukraine tries to sit on two cheers saying both the e.u. and the c.i.s. are regarded as strategic trade directions with. refuting that ukraine could enjoy trade privileges with both the e.u. and russia at once it's read how the country would feel after it makes this leap of faith at the eastern partnership summit on the member of the twenty eight. reporting from key of ukraine or i thank for joining us here on r t it is being reported in the us that the head of a russian cultural exchange program in america is being investigated by the f.b.i. the security agency is reportedly looking into whether he was recruiting intelligence sources or something the man himself described as nonsense and an echo

of the cold war on joining me live here from central moscow. renegotiate to give us the latest on this so good morning to you can you bring us a morning what are the reported grounds for this investigation it's all a bit murky at the moment absolutely but then all five stories are the beginning the main problem with seems to be that the people who went on this cultural exchange a majority of them are young americans and young professional americans have been enjoying five star accommodations and according to the f.b.i. these are grounds enough for them to be suspect as falling prey you can say to russian officials who have been looking at them as potential intelligence assets now the man who is responsible for this program had this to say on the subject matter it's some kind of witch hunt young boys and girls that have gone to russia demanding to be told to watch the hows and

whys they're trying to instill a fear of russia in american society. or so if indeed these reports couldn't find it is it a big deal is it a scandal well at this point we have to understand that the f.b.i. hasn't denied or confirm those reports of they are legit investigations so we really cannot say exactly what their investigations will be there are some people who are saying that such stories happen all the time that any self respecting states if it does have intelligence on the ground in other countries however at this point there is absolutely no evidence that mr decisive was actually involved in any kind of aspiring whatsoever so at this point as far as pretty much everybody is concerned he is innocent until proven guilty if brewer and guilty as a matter of fact so no real ramifications at this point that we can tell although the russian the russian embassy over eighty. days it's a blatant attempt to distort the two parties of the russian cultural center whose

goal is to develop trust and cooperation between the two countries that's right that was the message from the russian embassy cool very good did speak out on the matter of course because the story does seem like it's gearing up in the united states. is that really going to get there in central moscow thanks for the. well let's get it. to islamabad we go secretly supported u.s. drone strikes on its territory despite publicly condemning them a top secret cia document obtained by the washington post outlines an agreement on the program between two thousand and seven and two thousand and eleven islam about received intelligence gained from the strikes with everyone being hailed a success which only kill terrorists. an official count of almost a thousand civilian. mourners clashed with police at the funeral of a seventeen year old boy in capital

a protester said the boy was shot in the head by security forces police claim he was killed by an explosion and was wanted for previous attacks. close the main highway and resorted to tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowds your position accuses the government of violent crackdowns and demanding human rights reforms in the past two years. a plane that was fighting wildfires in southeast australia has crashed causing another blaze a wing is believed to have snapped off the aircraft in the body of the pilot has now been recovered despite the flames hampering search and rescue efforts and the huge bushfires in the region a still out of control and improvement in weather conditions as a concern of a single blaze forming. well i'm back in half an hour's time with more of your top world headlines here on t.v. next though a piece on a boy and a world's hot. new

zealand is boldly going where no government has gone before and according to reuters has decided to create a regulatory body to oversee recreational drugs that is their opening pandora's box it have at least temporarily given approval to fifty substances for sale at special stores which are banned in most other countries the body is trying to take a more scientific approach and determine which substances are actually harmful to the user you know i've heard the argument that the war on drugs just wastes massive sums of money effort and lives and you need turn a futile battle which is true it does but the only option people give is just legalize all drugs there are a few problems with this when something is legal that tends to make it ok is it really ok for you to spend your whole life in a trance to avoid reality is it really ok for everyone in town on friday night after work to go on an ice crystal meth rampage the other problem is that the war on drugs fails because it's fighting the drugs and not the reason why people take

them which is to escape reality why do people want to escape reality because in modern times or post modern times we live a soulless pointless isolated consumeristic existence of working in a pointless office job just to get poor so we can scrape by and get some cheap plastic junk at wal-mart when people's lives are empty they will fill them with something through a needle but that's just my opinion. hello

and welcome to worlds apart committing atrocities in the name of justice was a common theme in both the levy and syrian conflict but while the world seemed to be united in its intention to bring perpetrators to college in libya it's old but the case in syria why has the notion of international justice lost its appeal so quickly i want to discuss that i'm now joined by the former chief prosecutor of the international criminal court luis moreno champa mr moran now comp i really appreciate your being here own worlds apart it's a great honor to have you here my pleasure the first time i have a long interview brush i'd like you well you know it was extremely interesting to me to see how the tone of your statements on syria changed over the last few years and you started out by on equivocally calling assad a war criminal but most recently you seem to be a bit more ambivalent and you seem to recognize that crimes are committed by both sides i wonder if you had the power to prosecute bashar assad now what would the

charges be. going to say that i think we have to understand the war is alarming how to manage these conflicts. when this thing happened that suddenly you see must've killings and crimes the trash can be is what about that should make some efficient eventually and what happened is normally in the past the intervention was bombing or nothing bombing or do negotiation in conflict that you can on their sheet that's why we have to be creative and with that fine war is a proper way to solve this conflict that is idea just about more conflict i think your mandate at least in the past was prosecuting crimes and i think just last year you're very very straightforward about calling assad a criminal for what you called indiscriminate killings of civilians now of course

this is something that many other countries like russia and china would dispute and i still would like to press you on this point what do you think are the crimes being committed in syria specifically by the. i'm sorry i'm sorry i never mention one you cannot have one war that from me talking about syria i say nothing nothing because we as a prosecutor of the international court we are not use external syria. down the you you started commenting on syria believe it was just last year and i believe we have a sound bite to prove that point when you gave the interview to c b c the economic canadian broadcaster and you actually called for referring assad by the un security council to the i.c.c. and what you sat back down is that they are in conjunction with nato let's hear what exactly.