i remember flying out of the window and suddenly i was on the street and planning. terror in volgograd are teammates survivors of monday's horrific suicide attack on a crowded bus in southern russia. eavesdropping on allies the latest n.s.a. leak shows the agency has been monitoring the german chancellor of cell phones for over a decade adding fuel to europe's frustrated over u.s. surveillance practices. and drone deaths and war crimes amnesty international says the u.s. must answer for the many civilian deaths inflicted by unmanned ops in pakistan and yemen.

good morning from moscow where it's just two am i'm lindsey france thank you for joining me. the week began with tragedy in russia when a suicide bomber killed six people she blew herself up in a bus packed with at least forty passengers in volgograd the terrifying moment of the attack was caught on video take a look. police suspect the killer stalked the city waiting for an optical moment to strike the most deadly with the most deadly damage i went to volgograd to report and retrace the events of that day. october twenty first started just like any other monday here in boulder grab people woke up with places to go and things to get done heavily using bus stations just like this but for several people needing bus number

twenty nine they could never have foreseen how quickly their lives would change when they took that ride. the route ran without incident from morning till afternoon until one person got on board thirty year old lie you see all of that is when things took a tragic turn anastasio the verano boy was on her way home from classes at the university laughing and talking with the other students crucially it was in the middle of the bus which say trade life. when the blast hit everything around me went flying and then i don't remember anything but i remember flying out of the window and suddenly i was on the street and panic i understood that something happened with my hands i was covered in blood it was right here at about two pm local time that a blast ripped through bus twenty nine the same route what they did that everybody in the blast was touching their faces and heads asking what happened what happened there was a lot of blood on them and

a lot of flesh everywhere i was very afraid i got out of my car and i saw a headline there me and my friend took a young boy and his father to the hospital the remnants of an explosive device told the tale shrapnel t.n.t. and a grenade the accident site became a crime scene while a jihadist from republic of dagestan became the central focus of the investigation authorities will be keen to find her husband teacher sokol of an ethnic russian convert to islam missing since two thousand and twelve in the hope he may have the answers lindsey france r.t. in volgograd international terrorism expert alexander don't run told us that it's a worldwide problem needing a global answer. i can tell you that you know we're dealing with this kind of a terrorist international. divide what's happening in america in boston or in a global masoud in defined well we cannot separate it from what has just happened

in boulder got off from what happened in may all be just several weeks ago we seem boot and this is very unfortunate and we need to deal with it. reports in the german media suggest president obama was aware of the n.s.a. tapping chancellor merkel's phone even though he reassured her he knew nothing during a personal conversation now in a phone call merkel said the monitoring would be a breach of trust if confirmed and that spying among friends does not work obama apologize and reportedly claim to have had no prior knowledge that it was actually going on but germany's blit builds newspaper goes as far as suggesting he not only knew but actually encouraged the bugging of merkel's phone a claim denied by washington nevertheless leaked documents now show that her number was on the n.s.a. watch list from two thousand and twelve two thousand and two three years before she became chancellor r.t. has been gauging reaction as the developments unfolded. we knew that.

some practices were existed but the search and overall system this came as a surprise for everybody controlling internet controlling the formation you know well this is a privilege a monopoly that canard to be accepted because we know that if we are going to follow up in the same direction then confrontation might be the book when it's a case of ordinary citizens and that's what the real scandal is the real scandal is the true extent of mass surveillance in the e.u. and of course beyond what's happening is there's a whipping up of hysteria and attempt to use that histeria to undermine the rights of people to privet see this has. created a massive reputational crisis for the united states the entire populace is now in

essence on edge about what is the united states government doing what is the n.s.a. doing certainly we've lost a lot of credibility as an ethical internet steward. artie's been given rare access to the guantanamo bay prison. only people who know what goes on his arse under the table. after the break we asked staff at the facility why conditions and incidents there are so wrapped in mystery. and shooting the messenger the syrian journalist working for state media who are being terrorized by the rebels more on that in a few moments. amnesty international is on the attack saying america's ongoing drone attacks in pakistan and yemen have violated international human rights law and should be regarded as war crimes the group released a report this week revealing that number of civilian casualties is much higher than what the u.s. repeatedly claims let's take

a look at some of these numbers the bush administration started using unmanned aircraft widely in its pursuit of al qaeda and the taliban the number of drone victims soared in two thousand and six when almost a hundred people were killed another escalation came in two thousand and eight when the seventy five people lost their lives the toll in two thousand and nine reached one hundred sixty two the year brock obama took office a record number of strikes from remote controlled jets were recorded over the next twelve months coming out to one hundred twenty two and the drone war continues. the obama administration is responsible for about ninety percent of all the strikes carried out since two thousand and four almost a thousand civilians have been killed this includes up to two thousand two hundred children according to some estimates the total number of drone fatalities in the region tops three and a half thousand artie's lucy catherine of looks into the latest report from amnesty international. the predator drone remotely controlled and heavily armed it's the

weapon of choice in the cia's under cleared war in pakistan that's where the u.s. is believed to have launched more than three hundred strikes since two thousand and four the target suspected taliban and al qaeda militants the white house says better drones then boots on the ground and justifies the covert program as both effective and legal america does not take strikes to punish individuals we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the american people not so according to amnesty international in a damning new report the human rights group warns u.s. drone strikes could amount to war crimes documents recent killings in pakistan's northwest tribal areas and the lack of transparency surrounding drones this is a secret program in fact in our case we've found at least in some cases they've clearly killed civilians and some of these cases might be war crimes that really

concerns us one such case is that of sixty eight year old man nama bibi killed by a u.s. drone last october she was picking vegetables with her grandchildren when that attacks took place a double strike the children miraculously survived. first it was so then i heard that. the first hit and the second hit my cousin. huge her grandmother's body was pulverized these missile fragments are all that remain amnesty documents other such cases but its main point the need for transparency and accountability the u.s. must explain why these people have been killed people who are clearly civilians must provide justice to these people compensation it must investigate those responsible for those killings now in a separate report a un investigation looked at thirty three drone strikes around the world not just in pakistan that violated international humanitarian law and also resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties that report also calling for more transparency and

accountability from the united states reporting from moscow i'm lucy catherine of we go behind the barbed wire at guantanamo and explain the worrying developments over europe's reach refugee influx in just a few moments. well for british scientists it's time to right let's go back to. the. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy for no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. there's a report on. the

. economic downturn in the final. days the new york shanghai and the rest of life to be taking every week. welcome back you're watching r t weekly live from moscow i'm lindsey frats in madrid sounds of people have rallied in outrage at the strasbourg courts rule of in favor of the basque separatist movement e.t.a. the european court of human rights has ordered spain to release one of the armed groups most notorious members in s.

the rio who has been in jail since the late eighty's for her role in twenty three killings the spanish government accepted the ruling warns that it sets a dangerous precedent john laughland from the institute of democracy and cooperation says these strasbourg court is doing the opposite of what it was created to do. it's incredible isn't it that a european court of human rights should intervene in this way to alleviate the sentence of the woman who is feeling convicted of the due process of the murder of more than twenty three people this woman is a mass murderer and the idea that a body the european court of human rights which was set up to safeguard citizens against the abuses that could be committed by states against their own citizens that such a body should now be as it were to beaning in favor of people who have themselves grossly abused the rights of citizens by murdering them the digital currency

battle for mainstream acceptance is gaining momentum the first ever a.t.m. allowing customers to find their bank coins into hard cash is about to be launched canada the details that are to dot com. plus japan shows up its military muscle but tensions over the biggest territorial flare up in years aren't receding in east asia are in visual section pixel like a bar. and ongoing hunger strike detainees being force fed and legal appeals to have the painful practiced stop that's a little of the daily reality behind the barbed wire the notorious one time of a prison r.t. gained rare access to the facility to see things for ourselves here's what the u.s. military tells us. 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 garner 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 local media 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 or the material that you guys are gathering to make sure that it divides by our policy 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 car 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 getting the operations the detainees you're going to get their vision so please try to photograph them to take 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 have a call to get for be just not. giving the true picture i mean the only people who knows what goes on get more is i'm going to news and getting the detainee's side of what goes on at 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 and not using them is as you know. you know. making some kind of curiosity you know on film the 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 just to see you know. given the amount of time that you have here to to see if we are as transparent as possible after one minute glimpse at one detainee our schedule is in fact all booked up i think i mean they they were taken to the detention camp kitchen to witness how well things run their will 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 detention camp. why not read 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. the tide of refugees trying to reach europe and the disturbing number killed doing so is proving deeply troubling for the e.u. scores of people have drowned this month alone as they tried to cross the mediterranean in overcrowded boats here are the main routes which refugees are

using in their efforts to get to europe some of them are fleeing conflict torn countries just like syria and libya those who managed to reach the shores of europe's south then tried to move on to other countries to spain france germany and of course then up to the united kingdom but it's italy and greece which shoulder the heaviest burden that's because actually obliges asylum seekers to stay in the country where they first arrived until us decided what to do with them igor piskun off takes up the story. they want to buy the food from the opium to saddam then traveled to libya and finally reach sicily after what must have been the most nerve wrecking ball right off their lives these three women are hiding their faces from the camera since now they're risking being sent back when we were at sea now the boat with refugees sank into a three hundred people died when you were lucky and in sicily we managed to void get you i just heard it's illegal between you to go for the north there is nothing for us here under e.u.

regulation all new comers must seek asylum in the country where they are right and under italian law anyone of wooden registration is sent home but nowadays more and more newcomers are ready to take their chances don't register to try to go to northern states where there are more opportunities but as you probably when you arrive here they give you the very minimum there is no jobs no school and you sleep in the street for six months italy is one of the worst european states in this regard youth unemployment has exceeded forty percent while the economy is in the worst recession since the second world war the international obligations and plain human principle scandal it only to turn away a refugee since for many it is the only chance for survival but the situation is now which to a point when this duty has become too heavy for it to handle on its own the e.u. has pledged italy would receive an additional thirty million euro or just over forty million dollars to deal with the refugee crisis but how will this help to distribute the more evenly throughout the union and integrate them into the economy

is not clear they have been so on ideas so far they cherry they may be some positive development and i see him but he's a lot of. good hope but no concrete ideas and as governments and international organizations brainstorm the solution one thing is certain the flow of refugees is only going to continue the work is going on r.t. italy. thousands of opposition activists have marched their central moscow in support of those who they consider to. political prisoners the protesters were demanding the release of around two dozen people arrested on may sixth of last year when a mass protest on the eve of president putin's inauguration turned violent there was also a call for the release of greenpeace activists detained for trying to storm an arctic oil platform and for the freedom of jailed oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky the march went off peacefully organizers initially claimed up to twenty thousand people were going to turn up but police say just about five thousand turned out

other news around the world. southern britons hunkering down as the worst storm in years has its way st jude as it's being called could be the most destructive since the late eighty's winds of around one hundred thirty kilometers an hour are forecast there are over fifty flood alerts it's likely to make for a more miserable monday commute many trains are already counseled and flights are being grounded at major airports including heathrow we'll keep you up to date on those developments. wave of deadly explosions across to iraq have killed up to sixty people and left scores more injured most of the bombs were inside parked cars mainly in shia areas no one's admitted to the massacre but the militant groups including al qaeda are often blamed for such attacks violence in iraq is reaching a level not seen since two thousand and eight in september alone almost

a thousand people lost their lives. and in india at least five people have been killed and more than eighty injured in bomb attacks on crowds who gathered for a political rally the blast went off just before the speech of opposition politician. who was a candidate for prime minister in next year's election some immediate lee clear who was behind that violence. syria has submitted its plan on chemical arms destruction meeting internationally imposed deadline but the peace talks spurred by russia and the united states are struggling to get on board nineteen opposition groups are refusing to participate and amid the bloodshed within syria the rebels have published hit lists singling out state media employees covering the war parties pala slayer has a story. these pictures were

a long time coming syria's state t.v. headquarters in flames but the attack occurred just hours after rebel groups were and they'd showered damascus with mortars oh our young women so uncalled for i think their main goal is to intimidate people to stop us from hooking they want us to think twice about working for syrian t.v. like other employees of syrian state t.v. this woman is afraid to show her face she is one of the names listed in this website set up by the rebels and each a name and photograph is the word one tid those with crosses through them are people who have already been killed. the irony is that those who make t.v. are now too afraid to appear on it this video editor was given an ultimatum either come work for us the rebels threatened or we'll kill you he managed to escape but a few weeks ago he came home to the message wherever you are you dog of the regime we will find you painted on his front door this witness i've lost the feeling of

fear after i saw a man beheaded in front of me and mortar shells falling all around you forget what fear is but the pain and heartbreak remain idea bus his brother ali carmel was an editor in chief of the syrian news agency he was killed by four bullets shot at close range after masked gunmen broke into his home and got a victory rally the strange thing is that we were never afraid for him we were afraid for my other brothers quine the army without our lead to severe in you'll be safe but they kill him because they don't want anybody to tell the truth even just those appearing on t.v. are being threatened they call a couple of time to adjust to say that your body will be shot off from the head they said we know who you are we not the location. we cannot kill you we are going to cut your head from the body you are. this is what they say exactly

the fear for many is that this list is long there were many names on it and scenes like this could well be repeated until every last one of them is to be shared policy r.t. damascus syria up next a former u.s. envoy to saudi arabia explains whether the two allies relationship is about to crack say with r.t. . little. league. most of the missions that that soldiers are sent to under the pretext of tourism prevention are in many

ways targeting the civilians that have nothing to do with the with the actual attacks against israeli targets. for the moment a lot of these new policies i think some people. a pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure.

hello and welcome to worlds apart but the saudi relationship has long been not only one of the most consequential but also one of the most secretive but up to date kato behind the scenes deals the saudis have now made their displeasure over the americans public is this a change of mood s. lop on the wrist or a sign of major pride. x. in the alliance was discovered and knowledge joined by robert jordan a former u.s. ambassador to the kingdom ambassador in jordan it's a great honor to have you on the show thank you very much for having me now i know that you were appointed to the ambassadorship by george w. bush taking up your post almost immediately after september eleventh attacks arguably one of the most critical times india a relationship between the two countries and i remember back down or dinner americans were quite mistrustful of the saudis and probably that mistrust was mutual bad despite dad and dad's very critical very difficult time

officials rarely allowed this negativity to show in public speeches and policy pronouncements was that just added cat or are you indeed had no major disagreements that could be sort of swept under the rug well right after nine eleven we had to reestablish trust between the two countries and their leadership we weren't clear whose side the saudis were on initially and it took a while to work through that i have to give credit to the saudis for having helped us deal with that we ultimately ended up sharing intelligence cooperating very will in the war on terror but at the same time there were there was a background of great on happiness with the american position on the israeli palestinian conflict so as we went into early two thousand. the president invited crown prince abdullah to come to his ranch in crawford texas. and this was

a very significant invitation but crown prince abdullah was very reluctant to come because the intifada was in full force yasser arafat was being held captive by the israelis at his compound in ramallah so you crown prince abdullah was very reluctant to come he finally decided to come and brought with him a videotape to show the president the violence that was being perpetrated by the israelis on the palestinian civilians i was actually at that meeting in crawford and was very close to the situation and so if you look at it from that context the saudi unhappiness with the american position on israel has been going on for for quite a number of years while our and that's in jordan as you just sad the relationship has never been particularly easy but i think there was always a signal code if affix to a code that was broken.