breaking news dominated this hour on our team to national and terrorist attack in the russian city of volgograd kills a fourteen and injures dozens more and alleged we were also decide to pull the targeted the city's main railway station. on the week's top headlines this hour at mass rallies in turkey to demand the government step down over a wide ranging corruption scandal and that was a top police response. and also look at the stories the twenty third seen a gear that saw cia contract so turned whistleblower edward snowden expose america's far reaching global survey that.

this is all seem to national hello and welcome to the program and we start with breaking news this hour fourteen people have been killed in a suicide bomb blast in russia's southern city of volgograd and dozens more were injured by the blast which was detonated at the city's central railway station. as the details. well the blast was caused by a female suicide bomber at the checkpoint at the entrance to the central train station and all this happened queue of passengers were standing there waiting for their luggage to be checked right now investigators are working there on the scene the president has sent his representative to forgot about to control the situation on the spot reportedly the blast was very powerful. stories play station were damaged and. witnesses describe what happened i was inside in the waiting home

i heard an explosion i didn't realized what had happened and i saw the giant engine still was completely ruined and people were coming out with a hearing. i was with a child not far from where the blast happened i saw a blast shot its last flight i pushed a child to the floor and covered him with my body. we were drinking coffee there was an explosion i was lucky to be wearing my hood it saved me from all the shattered glass we heard screams my coat is covered in blood. the emergencies ministry has been on standby ready to send planes still get out to provide medical assistance to the injured and possibly to evacuate some of those who need more sophisticated medical help to moscow it's already been announced that generally first second and third will be mourning in. region just around two months ago and another female suicide bomber detonated an explosive device on a public bus killing herself and six others and wounding over thirty other

passengers. there's been a lot of reaction to the events in vogue ride on social media let's have a look now here on twitter eyewitnesses have been posting their reports from the scene and he has some of them like a photographer who lives nearby and tweeted that the blast was so powerful the massive doors at the railway station had been completely blown out another witness reports that people immediately arrived at the scene to help victims while the deputy head of the city tweeted overall the grat top officials are at the scene right now and we spoke to senior lecturer at moscow state university monks that botha explained why he believes the six day came and at time since easy and close target to the south of the caucasus just yesterday there the russian security services reported that a traceable to the self-styled meter of the caucasus dog. was killed

in darkest on by security forces i think we can look at this attack today as for more than likely a very rapid reaction in revenge attack for the killing of the state of mars. and there are reports a policeman was killed trying to storm the suspect just before the bomb was detonated and mark bowden says the great effort is put in place to prevent such trying to. be sure he has been in a heightened condition regarding the threat of terrorist attacks for the last year as we approach a countdown to the sochi olympic games the. several services of russia have already announced that they have stopped a large quite a large number of terrorist incidents throughout the last year and are constantly reporting on a number of militants they have killed however this job. asli it only takes

one to get through and this is what we've seen most recently in the category and now in volgograd. and to discuss this we're now joined live by international security expert sort of from the russian economy of science is mr something to welcome to see. her is from your opinion. and we can find this yes behind this attack and what my motives be. was that the more sinister aid which actually terrorist. would likely i wanted to play this is just to sit better and long russian people and to discredit the russian authority only olympics which is going to be a rather soothing for february this is the first thing the second day was just too

probably to raise the. feeling of uncertainty and. disturbances in russia india over here minding in the last here position. for sure so you know and bought this we are but the main fini thing is i think is that almost probably we have to deal with the very. hidden underground terrorist chain in russia which is probably being supplied from abroad. top security measures are in place right now do you think at this played a role could the number of victims have been higher than. well i think that. probably the terrorists in this time this is the second time in the role i mean the explosion in the wall drug which has just happened today

probably they've chosen the waldrop as a as a with their weakest a and. the russian cities and be a game probably just as i say to undermine. the every effort which is being undertaken with russian authorities and russian federal security services to guarantee the security measures during the coming olympics i think that must be there must be taken more security measures this is one thing and probably just as much more for the. terrorist cells in russia. from the russian academy of sciences thank you very much indeed. there are suggestions they could be linked to russia's tell you and north caucuses region but journalist fred weary the threat of terrorism is a global not local threat and that all countries should deal with it together. i think terrorism because of the nature of. the motivations of the woman and strap

explosives on herself and walk into a crowded train station like that it obviously comes from somewhere and we all reach analyze that but at the same time i'm not i can't be the only person wishing the international community would get its act together and cooperate much more so. dealing with these kinds of threats. will be closely following the developments and we'll bring you the details as we get them and you can also log on to. minute by minute timeline. and out of the week's top stories this hour thousands gathered in turkish capital ankara to demand their resignation of the country's government a violent dispersal of protesters and they stumble on friday night where police used tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowds the rallies were sparked by

a corruption probe that's led to a major cabinet reshuffle and arrests and government officials. have been following the events. it's not uncommon sight so this streets in a year that's been marked by widespread protests this time the rallies taking place in the wake of the corruption crackdown that's rocked the government the threats to privatise comes not just from the streets but from within his own party the turnout for the demonstration was significantly smaller than that seen this summer. the clashes break out between police and protesters whether there's been a power for such a long time maintaining control a lot of people said that a lot of good things to the country right now of. should we be going to visit pork. oh in this family is very singular the original that was not the

first and very very well to start this speaking publicly altered the protests the prime minister remains to college and continued to blame the corruption probe well of foreign conspiracy and a second wave of detentions may still be possible if the tide being in deadlock for mainz with the police the prosecutor publicly accused to law enforcement being in the government's pocket by refusing a court decision to carry out more raids on government officials and the families as the political drama continues to unfold arguably the biggest test now facing the embattled prime minister still lies ahead of him a batch of discrimination test for mr mammograms. and a very very would have to stand extremely crucial if bad we can see. a bradbury plan assumes a rivera says rebels have to be future country ready for. whatever people think

may be very difficult. for afghans. and it could well be that when these local elections take place that the full impact of the corruption scandal really felt sort of all to stumble. and for all my gold me hey of what are called skate says he's now on a mission to help his jailed associates look at their cases and talk to the witnesses and victims say they rarely get their voices heard in the western media that's just ahead of the break. social science center just published a study suggesting that two thirds of muslims in western europe hold their religious roles and the laws. the countries that believe that if you read the bible

if you get if you go into christianity you find the sentence that you should obey god more than caesar. that means the religious schools more important and more convincing those of the students of the very same thing that is now referred to the muslims. it was very interesting because all the dropped out of the sky in the rohrbach up there were shift across a few degrees. do a circle and at a speed which you know just astronomical speeds as you know they travel very very says it just looks like a falling star that falls really quickly and then rises again what does it look like well it just looks like a star. this

is the we can all seem to national welcome back and i'm with new year just around the corner when looking back at the biggest stories of twentieth. hailed as a hero and condemned as a traitor cia whistleblower edward snowden revealed to the world just how much the u.s. is spying harvesting information and storing huge amounts of phone and internet data with every new n.s.a. surveillance appears more and more far reaching. account looks now at how the revelations that changing the world and the cost to whistleblowers edward snowden says george orwell's fictitious big brother is no match for the u.s. national security agency the types of collection the book microphones and video cameras t.v.'s that watches are nothing compared to what we have today snowden revealed that

a secret court rubber stamps warrants for telecommunication companies to hand out the data of millions of their customers we also leave to the programs that the government uses to track virtually anything anybody does on the internet and also store that information. and he showed how the u.s. government had lie about mass surveillance does the n.s.a. collect any type of data. on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. no sir while most americans think to edward snowden the u.s. government tectum is a spy and a traitor the united states government classified its evidence of its own criminal misconduct its its violations of the bill of rights what we're doing is said to caving to tell a tarion procedures which is gathering information about all the individuals in the world. the former intelligence contractor is now in exile knowing for certain that

he'd go to jail should he return to the us like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this august so we can leaks manning released many thousands of diplomatic cables and video proof of u.s. involvement and i don't find. another man who found himself in jail this year was john king the first u.s. official to confirm the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate suspects i caught up with him shortly before he went to have served his two and a half years sentence i have never believed that my case was about a leak i have always believed that my case is about torture in the hunt for whistleblowers journalists have been targeted as well u.s. authorities secretly tapped the phones of dozens of associated press journalists the partner of glenn greenwald who broke the story about n.s.a. surveillance was detained in london while carrying materials from edward snowden to

british authorities so closely cooperate with washington now accuse him of quote terrorism. aaron swartz was neither a whistleblower nor a journalist whether he was a champion of the free internet fighting against censorship he fills in advocating the online when lisa. as much information as possible on the government on january eleventh the twenty six year old committed suicide. prosecutors wanted to put him in jail for up to thirty five years for downloading academic articles from a subscription based research website at his university with the intent to make them available to the public this was somebody who was pushed to the church by what i think of as a kind of bullying by our government our government treated him as if he were nine eleven terrorists edward snowden's revelations showed with the kind of surveillance that governments are doing i would seize out the window but this year will also learn what happens to those who embrace this new age of openness and accessibility

of information showed that while governments in the u.s. government first and foremost won their populations to be open and transparent they themselves become increasingly secretive in washington i'm going to check on our team. and let's now take a closer look at won't snowden expires about n.s.a. surveillance it's collecting millions of phone records in america every day and it also has access to internet giants like google facebook and microsoft and is harvesting online data around the globe and on top of the security agency tongans european citizens and even topsy you need is but at the same time germany and the u.k. along with australia and canada actually closely collaborating with american intelligence loss american governments and companies are a major target for u.s. spies plus the n.s.a. is collecting data from fiber optic cables that carry most of the world's internet and phone traffic former cia officer ray mcgovern believes those violating privacy

should face justice. i am delighted to hear that ed snowden on his desk in honolulu had a copy of the constitution of the united states of all dog eared because he used it to argue with his his compatriots there it is say as to whether what they were doing was legal whether it was constitutional whether it was a crime for them to be corrupt to be cooperated in using their technical expertise to violate america's privacy right and left the question should be why those who are aided and abetted this where they should be in the dispose peached in their case brought to trial for the use of gross violations of their solemn oath to. support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies throughout the day all seem to nationally showing media ston

a road movie about what we can make activists on a mission to reveal sensitive u.s. secrets and at six pm chante will have a live discussion about the project with a panel of guests talking about the challenges and dangers was the blow is a phrase saying as well as the role of the media in channeling their revelations to stay with us from. st augustine. strategic leadership. cover team of journalists trying to release wiki leaks documents about how the united states it's driving. me give me your local media more pro-american counter to your ignorance and to pressure. the country blocks the way to information freedom. media stuff are today. and on line for you right now breaking records an open space on our website

is a breathtaking video of russian cosmonauts on a shared your space walk which turned out to be the longest in twenty thirteen. and fast and here is hundreds of teenagers from a new york shopping center crushing windows and putting customers and staff in a panic to find out more about the youth gone wild had to r.t. dot com. nearly afraid me how to dedicate himself to helping what he calls political prisoners the man who until very recently was russia's most high profile inmate says he wants to pay back his debts to the people who are still incarcerated but as his piece there are no reports their cases have little to do with politics after ten years in jail. has now decided to do his new found freedom and some of those plans have caused a few raised eyebrows. some of my comrades remain in jail they

are my fellow sufferers for example my friend plateau. i like super tuesday. there are still other political prisoners in russia not only those related to the u. cos case i am free now and i'm asking you to think of it as something which symbolizes that the efforts of civil society can lead to the release of some people who no one thought would be able to walk free to chew good was the head of security for his daughter called oil company you course he's currently serving a life sentence for five counts of murder. in two thousand and seven a court convicted of ordering the shooting of flooding near pay to call of the mayor of a towel in siberia. heard clashed with you cos over his insistence that the oil giant paid taxes due to his tone the court found no link between the murders and the head of you cos however because widow believes this was a crime that went to the top of the americans by the us was registered there so

when it came to tax revenues it was answering to the mayor of newark to uganda with the hope they depended on him and that was the only reason why he even mattered only time will solve the mystery surrounding my husband's murder but i'd just like a key to confess and clear his conscience. while on trial for the murder of pair of legs going with already serving twenty years in prison for the attempted murder of former holocaust visor all good cause dinner after quitting her post with you cos she went on to work as the head of p.r. for the mayor of moscow it was then that a bomb was placed in her moscow apartment fortunately it detonated while no one was home. sees the holocaust these comments about political prisoners as self-serving. how to craft a hostage of his own party he can't act differently now if he ever recognizes what

his security forces were doing he will automatically become responsible of butter i think now he fears that. may start talking and what the third ucas case could potentially be is a further investigation into those murders and assaults which the company security forces carried out not at all how to craft he has no other choice he will continue to insist people from the security department are political prisoners that are and he will pretend to be pushing for release the are being heaped upon mr holocaust years left some of those watching feeling that only half the story is being told. he stole a lot of oil not physically a bar by means of for a score many pollution. free kind of bruce's money who. would have all saw it in person above the story told in the worst. peter all of a ati berlin and later on sunday a rescue ship should reach a trapped

a russian research vessel which is stark and think oxic toxic rather ice if the australian ice breaker will be able to reach the fair stranded academic should have failed attempts by french and chinese ships despite being stuck in the ice since christmas the scientists on board the ship are said to be in good spirits and continuing their work. for some other news stories making headlines around the globe this hour in the live in capital tripoli protests is besieged the foreign ministry building demanding the government step down it comes few days after dozens of armed men blocked a port in the capital and then transfer the central bank they drove up to the building in trucks and allowed staff to leave first the militias are demanding the resignation of the country's prime minister. israel shelled neighboring lebanon after two rockets struck its northern territories witnesses say over twenty

shells hit lebanese border areas no injuries or damage have been reported on either side the frontier between the two countries has largely been peaceful since a short in two thousand and six attentions escalated earlier this month when lebanese army snipers opened fire across the border and killed an israeli troops. and the recount now in our breaking news story and it's now been confirmed that fifteen people have been killed in a suicide bomb blast in russia's southern city of volgograd and we've just received reports that grenada was found at the scene of the bombing it was destroyed by security officials it's not clear exactly how it's connected to that and dozens more were injured by the blast at the city's central railway station it was carried out by a female suicide bomber she was stopped by a policeman and is said to have designated him see her south near the metal detectors at the entrance to the railway terminal the blast was extremely powerful

tools and the doors and windows of the station to be blown out completely. and up next for you here and i seem to national it's worlds apart with it's on the border . summer break a time when all students rejoice and most importantly relax but in russia summer break for male students could change dramatically and involve lots of guns currently male russian citizens have to put a year into the armed forces but the ministry of defense thinks that they can make things easier by having students spend their summer breaks in the military this training would tie in with their future professions such as engineering students being put into military engineering position now the question is does your summer break belong to you or no other words does the government have the right to tell you what to do and make you serve in the army even if just for three summers during

your college years i think the answer this really depends on your culture in places which haven't been invaded countless times or have a strong individual ism streak any form of conscription sounds barbaric and oppressive but if you come from a country that is less individualistic and has been attacked invaded by pretty much every country that possibly could like russia then having a draft makes more sense i think this program could work and if i was in college i would be pumped to spend my summer vacation with some heavy artillery but this is definitely not a universal idea for all countries i don't think liberals or libertarians in america would take too kindly to it and rightly so but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to worlds apart in addition to its religious significance christmas is also the most celebrated secular holiday of the year of reflecting a very peculiar place that religion plays somewhat in daily life what is the kind of state of affairs between the church and the state well to discuss that i'm now joined by dr robert a member of the international consortium for law and religious studies dr roberts thank you very much for your time we're having this conversation that has a very complex i would even say a love hate relationship with religion about a century ago churches and mosques were actively. blown out by the authorities nowadays at the state actively supports their construction but i think one thing

that these historic rounds have in common is that both have been by the state and i wonder what does it really tell us that religion is to this date or rather. not separated as we would like to believe well i believe that. religion very own specific. i would speak in terms of. i would rather speak of what kind of tasks. and what kind of. religion there are differences there are overlapping fields also and one just has to see whether state and religion do fulfill the tosk probably what at least when it comes to russia leaders here make no secret that they believe that the tasks of the the church clearly over law they want to fill the moral void that was created the.