mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines cons a report on our. i. i i you're a pain and u.s. diplomats stand side by side with ukraine's opposition while russia's foreign minister calls the reaction to the protests is steria. so you guantanamo prisoners repatriated to algeria against their will fear of persecution and further imprisonment after being refused permission to reunite with their families that now live in different countries. and gambling reforms in the u.k. despite deep concerns about it diction to betting machines in high street book aides. and those just crying and. that's when i lost all my pride. we hear the story of

a man who lost his job and family to the fixed odds machine. that welcomed watching international with me and drink far. now european and u.s. officials are voicing their strong support for ukraine's opposition some were even spotted attending the anti-government rallies in kiev the top diplomats are in the ukrainian capital for a security summit though not related to the ongoing protests. is in kiev for us. usually there is plenty of people out here at night but yesterday we had to literally teaming not just for the ukrainian protesters but also with the western politicians one of their own particular victoria nuland who has paid

a visit to the tent city that was set up here by the protesters especially expressing the u.s. support for the ukrainian opposition and for the protesters as well as maternal and has also held close talks with. the darling of the ukrainian opposition among others that we have seen among the protesters on the square were foreign ministers from sweden germany and the netherlands has hoped that the talks with europe will renew under a new president essentially hinting at the ultimate goal of the ukrainian protest and that is the current government and the president to step down the interests of western politicians and what is essentially ukrainian domestic affairs has drawn sharp criticism from russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov who said that this type of reaction is simply inadequate the statements that have been voiced today on ukraine i consider fitting for the meeting especially the hysterics that some european countries have gone into after ukraine used right and decided this moment

in time not to sign an agreement the agreement that the experts i'm a government found not profitable for ukraine however we haven't seen western politicians attending a thousand strong rallies held here in support of. the current ukrainian president in fact a lot of observers are starting to raise their eyebrows to what they are calling a sort of an indignant hide behavior by western officials if western leaders have tended to opposition rallies in countries such as this spain or portugal or greece where people are pouring out in the streets protesting against this terrorism measures that simply would be unthinkable and it can't to a political scandal. crane's foreign minister has also commented on. in the diplomats involvement in kiev's affairs asking them to stop encouraging the protestors and their calls for the government to step down and ukrainian court has given the protesters in kiev five days to stop blocking government buildings and to

leave those that they have seized meanwhile opposition leaders have disrupted the work of the country's parliament demanding a snap presidential election dividing dispersal of protesters last weekend has sparked more discontent in kiev where activists are rallying against a special police unit that has been accused of using excessive force we spoke to geo political analyst f. william engle and he believes it's likely the violence that erupted was bankrolled from outside the country i haven't ports from ukrainian ordinary citizens that the contact with the students and the unemployed are being paid something like twenty thirty euros a day who knows who we can only speculate to come in here and make the shot for us and then the fact that the target people one of the most outrageous new york conservatives are the bush era the former us ambassador to nato all comes and encourages the ukrainian people in the streets for freedom and joining the european

union this is obviously a long line we've got some more on the situation in kiev including how extremist movements may be using the ongoing unrest for their own benefit do you head see r.t. dot com for the full story there. two detainees from the notorious guantanamo bay detention center have been sent home to algeria against their will one of them was hoping to be reunited with his family living in bosnia while the other wanted to return to canada or luxembourg where he once lived worked they both fear persecution and further imprisonment in their home country as artie's. reports. at a glacial pace u.s.

officials attempt to move forward with the limbo known as one tunnel with endless excuses and a web of bureaucracy allegedly getting in the way of just closing the place down in the latest attempt to take baby steps to figure out what to do with its detainees the u.s. has transferred two prisoners to their home country of algeria out of one hundred sixty four the majority of whom have long been cleared for transfer or release this server petri should was involuntary and took place despite the detainees pleas to not have this happen is they feared mistreatment or torture upon their return home the lawyers of the two men. some have described the move as political expedience callous since the prisoners had made it clear they fear of persecution back at home while countries in europe had been willing to accept them the pentagon has stated however that humane treatment assurances had been made prior to this move this is the first transfer since two other men were sent to algeria willingly in august

this year notoriously standard one tunnel neither of the men transferred were ever charged with any crime during the entire decade be spent behind bars at the scandalous detention camp the old jury and natives were brought there back in two thousand and two and taken to camp x.-ray which we've actually visited when reporting from guantanamo it's an area where some prisoners had been once controversially interrogated with no one actually held there today the number of detainees at guantanamo is now at one hundred sixty two fifteen prisoners continue to be on a hunger strike years since obama had promised to shut the president down on day one of his presidency and efficient and clear plan to close guantanamo yet to be put in place and as they see it you're going to. well let's go back to our top story in ukraine the opposition is demanding the government to step down and we can discuss this. because we can talk to a political analyst. thank you very much for coming on to the program the softer

news first question is why foreign diplomats encouraging the president so you step down simply because it does seem odd because just a couple of weeks ago they were actually in negotiations with. well that is the million dollar question isn't it we can imagine what the reaction would be beyond mobile western media if the russian foreign minister came. to the ukraine and supports to one of the signs that would be a scandal i mean this is clear clear interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and they're not even hiding it anymore so this is something that should be an acceptable. as a democratic standard you just have to have call our country to make its own sovereign choice and western diplomats are just not doing that now let's talk about the wider issues what you think the chances are that the protest is cool will actually yield some social results. the problem with the protesters calls is that

they're just offering slogans they're just offering this idealistic picture they're not offering anything casual for the population. integration with. with the european union what are you offering you're offering to breed scenario you're offering portugal spain will be very are all made that's not very attractive for massive people it's only attractive for people who are ideologically oriented or for people who have a best interest otherwise you're offering the other offer is this your asian economic union that's. coming into being and you know economically speaking ukraine can only benefit from turning to the eurasian union whereas in european union you're just you're just being faced with more depression more that

unemployment is not very attractive so i don't think the majority of ukrainian population is going to are actually up by the big i was the attraction to yet to europe and to the e.u. and also to be us to get say ukraine integrated more with europe. i think the main are i think it's very clear that main reason they want to do this is your political will really just don't want ukraine to you naturally gravitated toward towards our russian and east which is where it's belongs historically so i think they're actually just doing my disappointment rule your western powers it's more important for the ukraine not to integrate our beast and they're not really concerning themselves about the actual situation or the benefit of the contrary or the people if you're just looking at it from the economic standpoint the e.u.

and the west have nothing to offer except slogans about democracy human rights etc so it's really just a big. chess game and it's pretty simple actually we do have to leave it there but thank you very much for your thoughts this afternoon that's an exam the power political analyst in kiev thank you. thousands of fast food and retail workers in the u.s. staged a national strike on thursday calling for an increase to the minimum wage president obama pledged to push the highest salaries in the industry back in february but critics say little has been done since. i was at the protest in new york. what began here in new york city one year ago with just two hundred employees has exploded into arguably the biggest wave of protest in the history of america's fast

food industry thousands of fast food employees in more than one hundred cities throughout this country have walked off the job thursday demanding an increase in minimum wage and the right to unionize now this movement is being spearheaded by an organization called fast food forward and the fast food workers that have joined the strike work at major restaurants like wendy's mcdonald's burger king and k.f.c. now while fast food remains a two hundred billion dollar industry the median wage for the service workers like the cooks and the cashiers in the group nationwide is just eight dollars and ninety four cents an hour here in new york city it's even worse with the minimum wage being seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour now because of the low wages and many of the employees if not most employed at fast food restaurants are living in

poverty i don't know why by the grace of god i am. i am in a shelter trying to get out of there and i can do it because i don't get paid that much some struggling you know and that's why i'm here to see what this week. for me and yeah so for right to take it if i'm well the single people when asked america with and i believe all fall there's envision a country not full cooperation before the working man by mother make way too much money for us to be treated like this and we're the one who give them the money they were the one earns and then if they were not earning that because they're the one who takes the money home to make matters worse this problem is only growing loan we need jobs have accounted for the bulk of new jobs added during the so-called us. we're covering in addition to retail and fast food are among the fastest growing sectors in the u.s. economy now what these protesters are demanding is that minimum wage be raised to

fifteen dollars an hour so far only one city in washington state has met those demands this crowd around me they're doing so to fight for a basic a decent living wage an opportunity to just step one foot into the worlds of the so called american dream reporting from new york marina r.t. . still to come in the program the high price of easy money. if this course is quite gamble with a number of high street betting shops having exploded in recent years we're taking a look at one missing the cool thing he's going to campaign is that whether or not . living up to that promise is the safety responsible behavior we have more high betting machines are proving it resistible to. mike is in a few minutes. from

countries rich in natural resources are the poorest ever has a colony it's a colony of the big corporations it's a calling of someone's home leaders who are under the thumbs of the big corporations so they have to beg from the world bank development of social programs goes to pay back debts whole country is drowning under the amount of debt that they had and so every year they would borrow money. and they would use that same amount of money to pay back o. their. money. the wages of debt. economic up down in the final month day the longer the deal sang i and the rest of

life doing the case will be a briefly see. the world is mourning the death of nelson mandela south africa's first black president to lead the country active decades of apartheid he died at the age of nine. eighty five it is home in johannesburg following a long illness crowds took to the streets in johannesburg to grieve mandela's death and celebrate his legacy after a memorial service expected to draw tens of thousands of mourners mandela's body will be flown to his home really he will be interred on his family estate according to his wishes reacting to the news of his death world leaders have praised him as a hero of our time and their giant for justice some of the most glowing tributes

have been coming from the u.k. but that's not always the case so let's talk more on that with artie's laura smith who joins us now from london laura how is britain reacting to the sad news. well of course there is a big reaction around half a million south africans living here in the u.k. and almost every single newspaper this morning that is a picture of mandela passed across the front page it happened also the thursday night was the premiere in london of a new film of nelson mandela's life a long walk to freedom that was attended here in london by nelson mandela's daughter who learned of his death hall's way through the film it was also attended by the duke and duchess of cambridge said that started the royal tribute to prince william as he was leaving the film called monday other an extraordinary and inspiring man and the queen also paid

a somewhat personal tribute to mandela saying that she remembered their meetings with great warmth and she also said he worked tirelessly for his country and his legacy is the peaceful south africa that we see today and then of course political tributes came in from europe and from all over the world and here in this country they were led of course by david cameron who called mandela a towering figure a legend in life and now in death a true global hero and said that a great light has gone out in the world and then ordered for the flag to be flown at last downing street as on a lot of other official buildings across london but this of course is all an enormous turnaround if you look just at david cameron for example back in one nine hundred eighty five he was the leader of an organization called the federation of conservative students and they produced a post calling for the hanging of mandela now it's not clear whether cameron was personally involved in that but certainly he was the leader of the organization that was he also around that time made a trip to south africa as

a rising star in the conservative movement and they were low being against sanctions on the apartheid movement so most certainly. in one thousand nine hundred seven also you had. margaret thatcher who slammed him as a terrorist said that the a.n.c. could never rule south africa anyone who thought they was living in cloud cuckoo land and it was a similar picture over in the us but actually even more delayed in terms of his rehabilitation if you like mandela was on the terror list and he and his associates were removed from the database intil as late as two thousand and eight nine years after his presidency of south africa was already over now my poli colleague paulus there has been looking at this in more detail at mandela's life over south africa. he's the man who pulled a troubled and divided land back from the brink of civil war the man who after twenty seven tough years behind bars walks free from prison in his heart was not to

avenge but i think that his greatest legacy to this country is reconciliation but in the last three decades the world timelessly polished and image recognized around the world only coca-cola is based on known better men who struggle for racial equality again south africa's ruling white minority had a dark side the world has conveniently forgotten about nelson mandela than either of you know struggle. i write because. someone. embraced violence and as a necessary political instrument at a particular juncture in our history this house was the secret hip quarters of the african national congress it was here in the early sixty's that mandela and his comrades launched the armed struggle it was also here that most of them were wasted put on trial and sentenced to life in prison at what was known as the rivonia trial

in one thousand nine hundred sixty four mandela and ten of his colleagues faced the death penalty for sabotage nelson mandela was called a terrorist because he took up arms against the apartheid government. governments like to support governments they claim legitimacy the west had big investments gold mines industry the sea transport links to the east the cape route was very important they supported the apartheid government any opponent was there for a terrorist it's don't fall apart it would have lasted as long as it did if the world community hadn't closed ranks behind the white government british prime minister margaret thatcher denounced mandela as a terrorist and years later she welcomed mandela to downing street. washington also did a one hundred eighty degree turn although it was only in two thousand and eight that if we moved all references to mandela and his colleagues as terrorists from its database mandela was not alone in world leaders who endured

a love hate relationship at the hands of the west darlings of the west one moment villains the next libya's moammar gadhafi egypt's hosni mubarak to name but a few south african journalist chris bishop believes the one nine hundred sixty four trial that saw mandela and his comrades sentenced to life helped turn the world in their favor during the trial. these gentleman who are on trial the rivonia trial as they went from being the accused of being people on in the dark as slowly transformed they became the benjamin franklin's of africa i became the freedom fighters that began the man of principle who is standing up merely for the rights of others and it's turned world opinion around from a vile terrorist to one of the greatest freedom fighters to have ever walked the earth the story of nelson mandela is remarkable a man who stood up for the rights of people everywhere but also

a familiar tale of governments putting a garland of flowers around your neck one day and a rope the next point to r.t. johannesburg south africa. and four more years into the death of nelson mandela opinions and analysis of his legacy do head to our website at r.t. dot com. labor m.p.'s in the u.k. have failed to convince ministers to restrict stakes in prizes in betting machines installed in bookmaking shops the fixed odds terminals into which britain's pumped billions of pounds have been dubbed crack cocaine on the high street r.t. sarah firth reports on the high price of addiction. they're the high risk high stakes gaming machines this in the u.k. betting industry more than a billion pounds each year for. a short fix of. a machine. and to comply.

to one hundred every twenty seconds this is a twenty second repeat cycle every twenty seconds. three hundred passed by children my wife my job my self esteem. ok. the government's two thousand and five gambling act limited the number of high street betting shops are allowed to have to four machines now more recently in response to both public and political concern. has released a voluntary code of conduct aimed at encouraging socially responsible behavior but we've seen evidence of among some leading. everyone seems to be playing strictly by the rules inside this labrat says

a glass petition it enables the store to carry not full but eight for the machines which are the ones. that you. are. in a statement about the store said this shop was a concept shop and there are no plans to open any further shops of this kind. in terms of. a complete. x. army major just in ase well how devastating the effects of a gambling addiction can be a last point was the day when. my mom my dad and my little brother he's actually taller than me came and just said that we've got to get you out of here. and those just crying in.

that's when i lost all my pride. and i was completely humiliated but it's great because that was the day. well i realized my recovery africa justin's written a book about his experience and is helping others on tirades to recovery but with scant research into the effects of these machines and if the industry seeks to maximize profits campaign is warned that not taking action eva felt tease is one gamble person concert food to take. on the london you're watching international coming up next abby martin and writing this as.

we often see the middle east as a place of constant turmoil and revolution but people in thailand seem to be very fired up as well masses of protesters are force a government ministries to shut down by storming them with human waves one such ministry is the thai equivalent of the american f.b.i. which has been accused of killing around ninety people in a crackdown on those who support ousted prime minister taksin shinawatra who is the brother of the current leader while people are crying out for democracy with accusations of violence against protesters so where is barack obama john kerry the mainstream media i mean whatever some group of rebels protestors are i mean freedom fighters rise up for democracy are we supposed to arm them like in syria and or bomb their country back into the stone age like in libya serbia iraq some protests explode across the mainstream media with calls for intervention and others are almost totally silent like thailand and bulgaria where there have also been strong

links of buildings less than a month ago i might be a conspiracy theorist but the selective coverage and selective concern for some humans rights and off the rights of others well it smells a bit fishy to me but that's just my opinion. well told you my language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the reports i'm likely to put in the know i will leave them to the state department to comment on your latter point to say to secure a car is on the job here no. thank you no more weasel words. when you say to direct question be prepared for a change when you when you should be ready for a. critical speech in a little town different across. the

the. what's happening amigos i'm mary martin this is breaking with that though yesterday obama gave a really impressive and wide ranging speech on an issue that we have access to ninety nine percent income inequality he said that the gap between the over rich and the rest of the country is the defining challenge of our time and that it drives everything he does an office yes obama even went as far as deconstruct the very system he's a part of. ordinary folks can write massive campaign checks or hire i price lobbyists and lawyers to secure policies that tilt the playing field in their favor at everyone else's expense so people get the bad taste that the systems are.