to the police that some. of our tonight. ten pm here in moscow this is r.t. international tonight over sixty people are killed in iraq as al qaeda linked forces stepped up their brutal campaign with a wave of bombings targeting crowded neighborhoods. are now attempting to look at syria and from there they'll spring throughout the entire region puts you right smack at the foot of southern europe a former pentagon official tells r.t. about where al qaeda is expansion is heading. and president obama is accused of directly encouraging u.s. intelligence to spy on chancellor merkel's phone calls plane that the n.s.a. vigorously denies.

ever get even choose kevin over here tonight for the next hour thanks for your company first than a series of bomb attacks across iraq left at least sixty six people dead dozens more wounded most of the blast targeted districts around the capital baghdad the iraqi government blames the daily attacks on sunni islam is linked to al qaeda that's now than take a look at how the terrorist network became so powerful on the news all here base in afghanistan from one thousand nine hundred six to two thousand and one al qaeda was under the protection of the taliban it was also present in pakistan to the jihadist group began a rapid expansion then after washington launched its war on terror in response to those attacks of nine eleven prompted by the u.s. invasion in iraq the country's radical islamists are in two thousand and four there by two thousand and seven a powerful terror network united under the name either in the islamic maghreb started expanding through north africa. the yemeni and saudi branches merged two

years later in two thousand and nine to form al qaeda in the arabian peninsula the network's been gaining ground in fact ever since across the region as the arab spring unfolded with new calls emerging for new cells emerging in the countries gripped by unrest including syria where radicals are now fighting against the regime as we've been reporting at length here r.t. is going to teach you can investigate. u.s. intelligence officials speaking anonymously of course say they're not concerned that al qaeda affiliated groups in syria are shifting some of their focus from toppling bashar al saw it to launching external operations against the west one u.s. lawmaker pointed out that's exactly what happened even ghana sent to nine eleven they are now focused on fighting assad but very soon they'll be focused on something else we have michael maloof here a former pentagon official with me mr maloof where are the groups headed in your opinion the. forces that are there. are

now attempting to look at syria in the long term to be under a caliphate and their spring throughout the entire region when you look at a map of the whole area streams from the arabian peninsula to all the way across north africa and into the margaret put you right. at the foot of southern europe and that is. the strategy is to ultimately move into europe according to various estimates more than ten thousand committed members are operating just along syria's eastern border with iraq it's reported to be more than the number of jihad in iraq during the u.s. led occupation worth mentioning it was the u.s. invasion that brought terror into iraq this graph from the national consortium for the study of terrorism and responses to terrorism shows the spike of terrorist attacks in iraq following the u.s. invasion the u.s.

now shrugs at all these terror that iraq has to deal with every day calling it well pains of democracy libya and similar attitude the u.s. helped to kill qaddafi now the countries involved in chaos and terror again you hear pains of democracy but as these extremist groups in different countries become more and more organized as a network it's difficult to ignore them on. that's spreading through the region the u.s. thinks drones are the perfect tool to deal with terrorists they say drones are the solution but on the receiving end those drone strikes are seen as acts of terror when they kill innocent people and they help terrorists recruit more terrorists most recently toured ports came out by amnesty international and human rights watch they looked into u.s. strikes in pakistan and yemen human rights watch found that in the strikes that they have investigated seventy percent of those who died were civilians washington says they've decimated al qaeda leadership but it seems al-qaeda has metastasized

and continue spreading with drawn strikes and brewing civil wars in washington i'm going to check on. when we discuss the situation with journalist neil clark who believes the u.s. is simply not interested in curbing ocurred its influence in the region the fact is that if al qaeda didn't exist it have to be invented it serves an awful lot of good purposes for united states to push its again you around the world if the u.s. was really serious about al qaeda and wanted to deal with it they would do they wouldn't be supporting al-qaeda in syria they would be wanting a secular regime in syria to be toppled that they wouldn't be wanting regime change in libya would be your clock worsley term on the rocks directly linked to the rise of al-qaeda in syria. incidence that has been a huge spike in violence in syria and in iraq at the same time al-qaeda groups are going from iraq to syria from syria to iraq a whole new huge uneasy tomo because if you take the policies and this is not a mistake this is it is a mistake to think it's

a mistake if you like because whenever the neo-cons come on to talk about iraq of course they very rarely want to talk about iraq they always like to claim that while tony blair and george bush wanted well but they've made a few mistakes along the way that's not the whole of the exercise was to destroy iraq as a functioning country to make never again be a threat to regional powers that the us backs in that region the same with syria. journalist well as you heard explosions keep up the war of attrition against syria's government a growing number of civilians are volunteering for military service. my family one is not and nothing is more precious than our country the homeland where i was raised coming up there will meet a syrian woman who is putting her life on the line to defend her family and country . president obama is facing some embarrassing revelations in the german media reports that say the us president had full knowledge that the n.s.a. was tapping chancellor merkel's mobile phone despite his claims to the contrary he

was allegedly briefed by the head of the n.s.a. about the scheme back in twenty ten and even ordered a full dossier on the german leader merkel made outrage clear in a recent phone call to a bar where she said such monitoring practices would be a breach of trust have confirmed the chancellor also said that spying among friends just doesn't work for a parlor parity apologized insisted he had no previous knowledge that the n.s.a. had been tracking her. had been targeted by the agency for over a decade according though to those latest leaked documents european leaders are no pushing for a new spy code of conduct in the u.s. but fred roeder from the international advocacy group your voices says that would be unlikely to restrain the n.s.a. anyway i don't think that these proposed spy treaties are no spy laws will have a big impact these secret surveillance agencies have grown to an extent that's really hard to control that basically you would need have to have really cut down all these surveillance agencies such as the n.s.a.

or the cia to make actually sure that they don't have the power and the resources anymore to snoop on everyone around the world. meanwhile the latest leak would snowden shows that the n.s.a. intercepted sixty million phone calls in spain in just the space of one month spanish media says that in december last year u.s. intelligence harvested numbers and calling locations all over the country the government some of the u.s. ambassador now over those allegations while the case builds up against american intelligence fred rogers says european agencies should be let off the hook either. it's not just about the n.s.a. it's also about. surveillance agencies in europe such as the british law and even the german ones which do not allow citizens to keep their privacy their snooping on each other i would not be surprised if there were further revelations on other countries spying on each other so leaders that's just a dynamic we now live from the twenty first century. the n.s.a.

leaks have been piling up more revelations are expected but what impact will they have that so we're asking you today and i. like to hear what you think about the big stories and save the day one of the big stories of the year what this is how you're voting over half of you who voted so far fifty five percent up to forty six expect politicians to be respecting privacy but no action will follow anyway almost a quarter thirty one percent. predict public anger over the n.s.a.'s practices will rise following on from the recent stop watching us rally in washington around twenty percent up to fifteen say further leaks will have no real impact as the public are no longer shocked by such news on the minority two percent real steps to curb surveillance you're not optimistic. if you haven't done so already it's always good to hear from. you.

thanks for choosing our team for your news coming up a surprising solution to london's housing shortage. predictions of the housing crisis with the well at an all time high in the u.k. right now we're going to be telling you why some people it's turning away from bricks and mortar. and they feel. right after this break.

with. technology innovation all the developments around russia. covered. wealthy british scientists i. thought i was going to call you out of. the. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's counter the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on r g. h. i. i. i i i i i i i. i guess

the so. the and the syrian conflict continues to shatter civilian lives someone decided to take matters into their own hands out is paula slee a met one young mother who's chosen to fight for her country's future. is getting ready for work like women around the world she enjoys putting on makeup before heading to the office but miriam's job is a little different to most the twenty three year old is heading to the syrian frontline it gives me great satisfaction being able to defend my country against terrorists who want to destroy it. it's strange to find women here in the line of fire even more so because million is a mother whose sons are just four and six years old. i signed up because of them

i'm not afraid any move because i've stopped worrying we are in a state of war. but every day miriam sees the reality of war more than one hundred thousand people most of them civilians killed the people who lived in these homes will have friends and family all of them have fled most of them will never return i . am most afraid when the letter bombs fall in our posts and there is shrapnel if you days ago the terrorists launched rockets at our checkpoint their rockets are not accurate sadly they had a civilian building and many people died were rescued a few and carried them to hospital this used to be a school playground but children's laughter has long been drowned out by the whistling of bullets. and i was kidnapped twice the last time for two months they arrested me when i was in civilian clothes this is back to doug was cooperating with the army i did i did and luckily they eventually let me go but the risks

facing a woman in uniform are often far greater than for a male counterparts several of miriam's female colleagues have been killed while held hostage often it's nothing more than luck that separates the living from the did. my family worries a lot but nothing is more precious than our country only homeland where i was raised to my children are very precious very prudent but my country is a new thing. and despite the price it's a job she's proud to wake up to each day. when have been in the syrian army since the seventy's there is even a special military college for them but usually they jobs are administrative and logistic desperate times however cord for desperate measures pointlessly r.t. damascus the syrian government's been taking steps to east tensions ahead of next month's geneva peace talks on barely a plan now to destroy its chemical arsenal in line with an international deadline however nineteen opposition groups refusing to take part in those negotiations

political analysts what things peace is simply not part of their agenda. naturally some of those slow groups that work under the auspices of various national powers and players and also have more influence in the international climate were an agreement has been said between the. different players in various thieves to the russian opinion to get back to the political. conflict. syrian rebels have even resorted to blackmail sending threats to the nation supporting the geneva peace talks something the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov condemned as outrageous in his latest speech he also addressed the long running controversy between russia and the united states expressing frustration over nato has ongoing refusal to make any compromise on the missile defense system is developing in europe or to go person offers more on that is.

foreign minister does say that moscow is ready for a compromise on the anti-missile defense system issue but at the same time he says it's not going to pretend that it's ok with all the talks that nothing could be changed in the american scheme and still no legal guarantees from washington that the system would not be against russia really this has been one of the biggest problems in the relations between the two countries in two thousand and ten russia and nato agreed to work together on european missile defense but these talks pretty much have been frozen because there are still no legal guarantees from washington for a few years now moscow has been calling for the destruction of a unified anti missile defense system where each member would share the responsibility for the safety of others saying that otherwise and without legal guarantees it would see it as a threat to its national security so it's really been one of the hottest topics in the relations between moscow and washington in the meantime the construction of one of the elements of the american anti missile shield in europe has started in the

romania on monday and it's that base will start operating by around twenty twenty five. does a saudi arabian woman caused a stir at the weekend by defying a ban on female drivers while man inspired by their campaign came up with this. not quite tentative time for singing but out clips gone viral over the past two days gathering over three million hits on you tube your love in it and it's obviously drawn none present attention into the woman's fight for their rights you ought to watch it get the full back story can from us r.t. dot com also there are two security for in the united states state department electronic communication systems partly opened up external access to highly sensitive information big match there check out what's happened from us online as well. the final touches

a pig made to the olympic facilities in sochi with just over three months to go now before those twenty fourteen winter games kick off russia's presence there at the moment and today met with the new head of the international olympic committee president putin gave us a shura says that all guests and competitors will be made to feel welcome at the event regardless of their race or sexual orientation parties paul scott as war president vladimir putin began his day by evening and you are transport in this city and with the new president of the international olympic committee the president has assured thomas back from the i.o.c. that the venues will indeed be ready on time even the venue for the opening ceremony which is are currently having a roof installed there have also been those concerns in a recent months about russia's what's known as the gay propaganda law there have been campaigns to possibly even boycott the winter olympics president vladimir putin has laid some of those for some of those fees today. will do

everything to ensure that all competitors and guests at the winter olympics in sochi feel comfortable regardless of race or sexual orientation the olympic torch relay is continuing its journey its one hundred twenty three days it's going to last of course started in moscow on october the seventh is going to cross all three regions in russia it's hoped that anyone who wants to be able to see the olympic flame on its journey will be able to do so it's going to be transported by various different methods as we know by book by car by plane and even by reindeer and of course it is set to go to the international space station as well so it's just a hundred days to go now starting tuesday before the winter olympics kick off in sochi here an article will bring you of course all the action as it happens. one hundred days remaining. days of flying. just like.

soaring rental costs of putting a strain a work in london isn't a big blame for the rise in homelessness in the british capital but charities now come up with a novel solution to try to address the problem artie sara firth investigates when addressing the issue of the thought of all housing what one learns in charities being thinking outside the box but when it comes to their solution it's a little insight that counts meet them i pads shipping container doubles as a low cost. renting in london is particularly expensive i want think and we seeing rents hit record high so we're going to go take a look inside and see what this is all about. thank you very much for having us yes this is my yeah this is the my. desk here

inside the my pads been designed to provide those who need it most with affordable independent living and just seventy five pounds a week the my pad certainly cheap by london standards i think it's difficult for anybody right now to get. comfortable accommodation and a good price without you know paying extortionate amounts of around the projects the brainchild of timothy payne. this is essentially this is a shipping container full time this is a strip of. bread you cover over a great big boat the projects already received planning permission and funding is expected to come from the greater london authority initially this project will be soley for the young people the charity he works with society just takes the you know. from month to them because the moment they get into work they can't afford to live in a hostel and they can't afford to live anywhere else because doesn't make any moral

or any economic sense. as an idea is brilliantly innovative it's been designed as a quick fix now there's planning permission for thirty more things to be built next year but predictions that if britain continues at its current rate of building them by twenty twenty and we face a shortfall of two million homes in the u.k. so you can see the scale of the problem and it's why what started out as a local temporary solution could end up becoming a more permanent fixture so if r.c. london. couple world news headlines in brief and the surf runs police have used tear gas to disperse over seven hundred animal rights activists clashes erupted during a protest against an upcoming bullfighting festival a spanish style corridors held in many towns in southern france and dozens of schools offer togo throwing indeed. israeli air forces formed missile launches in

the northern gaza strip just hours after palestinian militants there fired two rockets across the border israel managed to destroy one of those missiles another fell into the sea no injuries reported but tensions of despite that apparent concession from israel the country's unveiled a list of twenty six palestinian prisoners to be freed as part of a u.s. brokered deal restarting peace talks. thanks for your company tonight palestinians have sent letters to over fifty countries calling on businesses to boycott israeli settlements in the west bank an israeli whistleblower told sophie's sophie shevardnadze at r.t. why many i.d.f. soldiers one happy about their mission to keep the settlers safe. nineteen year olds eighteen year olds to quick to control millions of people through the barrel of the gun i was trained as an infantry soldier to fight another army and this is the case for most so you get there to to the west bank or to you know around the

gather strip unprepared to deal with civilians unprepared to control civilians the only thing that you are fed with is fear and hate and you know you are constantly told be careful of the palestinians if you turn your back to them they will stab you in the back yard told when i got to the west bank i was told that we need to show this but this thing is that there is a new sheriff in town i'm quoting here. with all votes counted from sunday's presidential election in georgia the ruling party candidate marvellous really has been confirmed to be the clear winner with over sixty percent of the vote brings an end to the decade long rule of really his party's candidate trailed a distant second. explores the controversial legacy of the outgoing leader. people he'd believes it told us that the presidential vote was a less about twelve came in the future but more about saying goodbye to the

country's past because really is banned from running for president again and these are his last days at the helm of the country he was once popular leader of the rose revolution the first color revolution to which so power change in the post soviet republics but others who we spoke to here in tbilisi they accuse him of building an authoritarian regime with brutal oppression on opposition with enter a geisha ends and arrests during his term in office make us like ishmael attempted to bring the full of regular republic of south a set back on the georgists control and this is when russia had to intervene and fended off soldiers forces in a five day conflict last year had not told worth parliamentary elections the party of mikhail saakashvili last after videos were revealed showing young inmates in georgian prisons been beaten and humiliated in ten years this man has come full circle from a very popular to one of the most hated politician here in the country who is now

facing accusations and enter a geisha is this is a pledge for pushed forward by the current prime minister is in a eventually. we ventured to just now up next as promised and sophie shevardnadze approach the israeli palestinian conflict and the toll it's taking on the entire region is our next program after the break. a spanish language teacher of texas has been fired for posing nude in playboy before she became a teacher parents of found out about this timid that she be fired because her. inappropriate and that it was a distraction the classroom well this was something she did in the past which was legal so there's that i mean if you pose for playboy you are forbidden to work in

the normal world also as a former teenage boy i can tell you that any young attractive teacher will cause a distraction with the boys and wolf you can fire people for being distracting than when they have to for every teacher with a handicap or abnormal appearance on the other hand though teachers are supposed to be people for children to respect and to look up to and when your spiritual teachers were in those so the good stuff for money to play boy it is a lot harder respect that sort of person and it sure isn't a good example for my daughter this is actually a very complex issue but i can say is that you should really try to fight the temptation to make quick money with some nude photos that could come back to haunt you but that's just my opinion.

and welcome to the safety and poem sent from shevardnadze israel and maps show its borders going all the way to the river jordan international low however much of the jordan's west bank is palestinian as well as its for its own cars and with an ever widening settlements to ensure safety next to the settlers are always the soldiers the i.d.f. the israeli defense force and its mission is what we're talking about. israeli soldiers. brave patriotic proud to defend their country but how to deploy when there is no direct attack.

gaza border control west bank patrols checkpoint inspections watching over palestinians. breaking the silence has a collection of disturbing testimony of abuse looting and destruction by i.d.f. soldiers even when there is no danger. and our guest today is that he cries dollar and member of the idea of veterans who are breaking the silence and he hides great to have you with us on the program so basically breaking the silence is a community of i.d.f. whistleblowers right yeah yeah but i guess what we're trying to do. and publish stories testimonies of soldiers in service by territories and i guess.