the innocent and guilty is not our job right here. uncaring merciless interested in secrecy the guantanamo bay prison. with more than one hundred fifty inmates still held. despite never. they wanna display a place we can treat people however we want to whenever we want to take a look at the history of the facility as people across the us join a protest demanding an end to the infamous prison. the white house walls of the risk of a war with iran if lawmakers initiative to impose further sanctions goes through a number of senators backing the controversial proposal. the former israeli prime minister ariel sharon at the age of eighty five after eight years in

a coma we look at some of his legacies. from a studio center here this is r.t. international with you twenty four hours a day. the bay prison turns twelve today and human rights activists are prepared a special way to mark the anniversary people across the u.s. have joined protests demanding an end to the infamous detention center something president obama promised. looks at the controversial history of the facility. hidden on a tropical island a symbol of promises made being far from promises kept will leave an appalling black mark in the history books unless the people who advocate for its continued

existence when and if they win then i. suppose it's civilised values that america has will be gone forever twelve years ago the us brought to guantanamo its first detainees of the war on terror the us and powerful sections in the ruling class of the us want a place that openly defied international law it's a decision that's been made and that they want to display a place that we can treat people however we want to whenever we want to the to be is poured into the bag scandal surrounding torture and force feeding mass hunger strikes of desperation and dozens of suicide attempts that hasn't been something that has been an issue since i have been here in a facility that has long stopped making sense if it ever did spike the rhetoric it really isn't about national security or prisoners being so dangerous that they can't possibly be released and that can't be true out of seven hundred seventy nine thousand is held at guantanamo in these past twelve years only seven have been

convicted and sentenced we have seen eleven prisoners released between august and december last year compared to just five men in the whole of the previous three years so it's movement but it would be unwise to think that you know we're nearly there there are hundred fifty five men still in guantanamo and seventy six of those men were cleared for release the u.s. struggling with what to do with them and then even bleaker future still ahead for the other seventy nine prisoners facing the abyss of indefinite detention. because they were somewhere. somebody where the innocent or guilty is not our job right here after a majority of detainees went on. hunger strike last year obama's administration was pushed to make baby steps again marred by double standards and overlooking the law international treaty obligations mean that we shouldn't be sending people back to countries where they face the risk of

a treatment of torture this followed in some cases but completely ignored in others two men were recently sent to algeria amid grave concerns of possible persecution on the ground the guy who was our client jamila bey. and his whole adult life basically in europe and in canada and there was really no reason why college educated guy was fluent in german and english and french and i should be sent home . and probably trapped there unable to emigrate because of the stigma of kuantan about the future of some of those released over the years even more questioned and increasingly grim as media claims surfaced that the cia might have reportedly been engaged in recruiting some of the prisoners as double agents in exchange for freedom our job here is to do the safe legal humane and transparent care and custody of the detainees while an alleged tug of war between the president's will to shut the prison and congress resisting this is officially used as an excuse to avoid simply closing the place down despite obama's personal promises to do so i

think the only reason he can get away with that is by portraying it really as a credit mess you know as if this was somehow harder to do now than it was five years ago he was president but politicians human rights organizations legal experts and common sense have learned that the struggle of one time of presenters in america's self-made mass of the last twelve years is already so hard to clean up their reasons to keep it around are likely to breed more anniversaries to come and spicy chicken out party me as the quantum of prison steps into its thirteenth year of existence washington's attempting to cut off the already tiny stream of information coming from there but snippets still occasionally leak out. here's the latest letter from shaker aamer he's the last british inmate at the site remaining there he describes the humiliating search methods used by the prison administration and inmates are forced to undergo the procedure even if they just want to call their lawyers some guards are pushing it even further searching inmates genitals

well with benjamin co-founder of the code pink antiwar group says what's happening in a ton of money amounts to psychological torture let's remember these people have been held now for twelve years imagine in your own life what twelve years would be like we received today a note from one of the prisoners shakur who is a citizen of britain has been cleared for release for years now and his know it was heartbreaking because he said what he really misses most is having played a part in the lives of his children his youngest child was born on the day that he arrived in one town and he has never even seen his youngest child this is mental torture for these prisoners. generally the eleventh is now an annual day of action against the indefinite detention in the war on terror a prison will be covering those protests which are just getting underway now we'll

have more on that later for you here on r.t. international. the white house has harshly condemned a drive by u.s. lawmakers to impose further sanctions on iran over its nuclear program officials say such legislation would be real last years historic deal with iran and could even drag washington into a war but despite the warnings from the administration the number of senators supporting fresh penalties has doubled or he's miniport has more on the growing internal bickering and where it could lead. it was just a few months ago inside the united nations headquarters where the presidents of iran and the us laid groundwork for new and positive diplomatic relations however the historic success achieved over the past four months may soon be significantly compromised if not destroyed by america's own lawmakers according to reports fifty nine u.s. senators are now backing a new package of unilateral sanctions aimed to increase pressure on iran for its

nuclear program this means that the senate is just one vote away from the sixty needed to pass most legislation with the house of representatives which is already showing strong support for economic pressure against tehran according to reports the legislation would blacklist several iranian industrial sectors and threaten banks and companies around the world with being banned from the u.s. market if they help iran export any more oil now the provisions would only take effect if tehran violates the six month interim deal or lets it expire without a comprehensive nuclear agreement now u.s. president barack obama has vowed to veto the bill if it makes it to congress but the problem is if the senate actually achieve sixty seven votes it could override a presidential veto the obama administration says additional economic restrictions could threaten a historic diplomatic opportunity with iran that's been cementing over the past few

months let's remember in november world powers reached an interim deal with taking on over its nuclear program and negotiations on a final agreement are still underway not only will more sanctions compromise the success that's already been made but the white house says it will only timidly meet a potential war with tehran although more likely oddly enough at least sixteen democrats are supporting new sanctions sadly if president obama's historic diplomat. progress with iran comes crumbling down it will be due in part to members of his own party reporting from new york marina r.t. said this is backing the new sanctions bill claim it will serve as an insurance policy in future nuclear talks but the policy director of the national iranian american council says it will do is undermine washington's role in any dialogue they claim that this is not a violation of the interim deal it is

a violation of the interim deal the deal says no new sanctions this imposes new sanctions there's a lot of word games being played but really it comes down to these senators don't want to see a deal they don't want to see a diplomatic solution they view this as their way or the highway either. iran completely capitulates potentially you have a regime change or something like that or the united states is going to go to war and i think that probably president obama and the u.s. negotiators would rather be focused on go sharing with iran to get a nuclear deal rather than having to negotiate with hardliners in the senate just to protect the nuclear deal that he's already achieved so he's in a very tough spot and i think this really undermines the position of the united states going into those negotiate negotiations because it conveys his message that the president is not in control of his own foreign policy we can find out what agreements any new u.s. sanctions against iran would jeopardize on a website all the details of the nuclear deal struck with iran in geneva on dot com

. israel's former prime minister ariel sharon has died at the age of eighty five having spent eight years in a coma caused by a stroke one of the country's most iconic politicians and military leaders passed away just days after his condition worsened dramatically from the lebanon war to israel's disengagement from gaza sharon's years in politics were marked by several historic decisions but what is likely to be remembered for by many israelis is the controversial issue of settlements in the west bank as artie's paullus live reports are real should one cut a divisive figure between those who loved him and those who certainly didn't but all agree i will shavon was undoubtedly the father of the israeli settler movement under his guidance more than one hundred six moments were pulled from the gaza strip his motto to defend and preserve the jewish state. israel dar was a lifelong supporter of i will shove on for twenty seven years he farmed spices and

flowers in the former gaza settlement of good a towel logs. he was the builder of settlements even in ours he built twenty new homes just like he did in other places we saw him as the father of the settlers and he did so much for us. but eight and a half years ago israel his wife and three children were forced out of the gaza home along with eight thousand others his hero had become his enemy. of god i feel betrayed like a husband who walked into his home to find his wife with his neighbor sharon will most likely be praised as he should be but i would also like him to be remembered for all the things that are not so pleasant and which were critical to all of israel. the long time champion of jewish settlements in the occupied territories came to believe they'd be more trouble than they were worth and because sharon was the one who built them it came as a shock that he was the one to destroy them at the end of the day he looks at them as instrumental for whatever needs he had at the moment when he thought that the

settlers and the settlement movement were serving the needs of a stronger israel he supported them and he supported them more than anyone had but when he felt that they were no longer serving the needs of a strong israel then he turned against them so much so that he was a total disengagement from gaza despite the anger it evoked among his supporters. to return as prime minister in fresh elections but in two thousand and five he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered after withdrawing from gaza sharon ruled out any further unilateral withdrawal but the settlements he built continue to be a major sticking point in negotiations between israelis and palestinians policy r.t. television. this is r.t. international committee live from moscow with twenty four hours a day coming up later in the program. european countries jump off the euro vision ship. one by one unable to afford to take part at times of economic hardship that

story after a very short break and also still to come away. he's correspondent. to travel to rome to see how people there are coping with the vandalizing nature of some feathered friends.

speak your language. programs and documentaries some spanish matters to you. a little turn it into angles stories. of the spanish find out more visit. at least twelve european countries are skipping the twenty fourteen euro vision song contest the list of participants have been getting shorter by the year and the economic troubles of the continent as seen as the main reason and the reports. look the knowledge represented russia at the u.

revision song contest in twenty ten despite only coming eleventh he describes his participation as a major highlight which propelled him to new heights audience grew very very much many people to get to know us and so they began to come to our concerts it was great. music experience because it was a concert on the great greatest. auditory that i could ever imagine. from drag queens to hellish creatures and some of europe's brightest talents one of the world's most watched t.v. programs the eurovision song contest brought fame to the likes of celine dion and julio iglesias however votes have not always been spread purely for it is to qualities say researchers from switzerland actually he's giving us a measure of specie international relations are there between european countries is measuring the society and its culture and then she's entrenched in what will be

their market and it's this mission in twenty down three weeks after angela merkel pushed for creation of the european financial stability facility to bail out collapsing economies a german teenager was crowned the euro visions winner. but ironically it's the europe wide financial turmoil which is now threatening the whole existence of the contest in twenty eleven one financial turmoil was already raging in europe eurovision saw a peak participation of forty three countries next year poland and armenia withdrew from the contest in twenty thirteen there were joined by boss near turkey slovakia and portugal this time caray share serbia bulgaria and cyprus have also jumped off the eurovision ship. and that list could expand as many simply cannot afford to take part in the future circus that is euro vision like cyprus where roughly. every fifth person is unemployed i'm not an expert on the euro region why would happen in describing the situation in cyprus and i'm not surprised that this decision has

been taken and given the fact that. in other domains i'm talking about health education culture the show's bosses say there's nothing to worry about we refresh the format and continued to do so whenever needed to keep the euro vision song contest the most popular pan-european entertainment t.v. show but at this rate of countries dropping out of the competition they would likely have to invent something new and very soon to keep europe's longest running song contest from losing its voice. reporting from moscow. and not only is your vision been losing contestants its budget as also being on the decline this year's planned cost is four times less than three years ago your vision has also lost both its significance and artistic value that's according to international affairs expert said it's called which. the euro vision song contest

has become a political as well as cultural irrelevance became the nineties it suddenly became much more important in central and eastern europe than it used to be because many newly independent countries of the former yugoslavia and the former u.s.s.r. wanted to put their name on the panel so to say but for many many years in musical terms in here to stick terms it has been rather worthless pompous and now days both politically and culturally its significance has declined so you know period of a story to a period when. modest resources have to be matched against almost unlimited requirements i believe that this decision was made by so many countries because they've concluded that you're a vision song contest simply does not matter and on live at the moment china shapes

up and ships out as it becomes the world's largest exporter of goods overtaking the u.s. with more than four trillion dollars worth of trade crossing its borders you can take a look at the number crunching at r.t. dot com. and then in the section you get the pictures of a fierce clampdown on protesters in istanbul demanding justice for three kurdish women murdered in paris last year. they flocked to rome in the thousands and certainly leave their mark each day myriads of birds block out the sun above the city and leave some hard to remove stains on the ground what is your typical report on the scare tactics used to keep the city's streets clean. rome one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world a popular destination for lovers or enthusiasts history addicts and. being with countless it all falls on top of cars and roads and on pedestrians it's

very slippery too we get tons of complaints. birds hundreds of thousands of starlings which migrate to rome from the north every year leaving their mark as they go. over europe every year this same we're surrounded by a show. the city annually spends tens of thousands of euros tackling the flying menace is feces a special operation in itself ok it's so dry it's very difficult to clean it off these birds are worse than vandals it's like they're angry with me personally.

but the real mission takes place at sunset dressed in protective gear and armed with a loud hailer scientists storm the bird's favorite sleeping spots and this irritating noise is none other than a recording of other starlings making a sound which warns of approaching danger the goal is to scare the feather it falls to us populated areas. we took the idea from science books it works great but only for short periods of time. but even when we do manage to scare the birds or just move to other residential zones and always come back at sundown. of course is a good issue isn't the worst problem if you leave it be for those waiting to see you you have a bag of it maybe a good idea to grab that. even if the forecast is will we. see rolled. in some other world news not

a world update the members of the greek golden dawn party have gathered outside athens high court to protest against the questioning the leaders of the party and several other lawmakers have been arrested on charges of running a criminal organization last year in twenty thirteen golden dawn was stripped of state funding by banning financial aid to political movements involved in criminal offenses. thousands of foreign nationals are being evacuated from the violence plagued central african republic international organization for migration announced the first chartered planes will rescue several hundred chaldeans today meanwhile clashes between muslim and christian militias continue unabated despite the resignation of the country's self proclaimed president more than a thousand been killed since the beginning of the conflict last year. a fundamental . part of a historical tibetan town in south west china has been destroyed by huge fire fighters soldiers of volunteers needed some ten hours to bring the flames under control but by then one hundred ancient wooden houses. no one was injured in the.

one thousand three hundred year old town of song is one of the most famous attractions in the region. a security measure to fall well the debate raging in the u.k. after it was revealed the fingerprinting of students has become a usual practice in schools the stories called particular controversy after almost a third of schools collecting the data without consulting parents or smith as the details. gone are the days when the only time you'd be off your fingerprints is if you were suspected of a crime nowadays they're starting them young at school to be precise research shows more than a million schoolchildren have been fingerprinted and their biometric data used to identify them for things like cash free lunches checking attendance and what. it is controversial the big brother watch is particularly worried about schools having access to this information and the car particularly when it's been collected

without parents' consent and absolutely so it seems that over a million children in a single academic had this information collected so i think it's really necessary for schools to be transparent especially when it's related to very sensitive personal information what's your solution and obviously parental consent should be sought how can we make sure for example of this data is discarded once children leave school well the first stage in terms of ensuring that the right procedures are taking place was updating the law to say that parents absolutely have a legal guarantee that their consent should be sought and also children have to be incorporated into the process as well not always puppy education process to teach them the importance of freshening when icing on information but also to understand just what's happening within the system the school itself the figures show forty percent of secondary school pupils have been targeted and thirty one percent of schools didn't see parental consent so as they go back to school after the festive

break children are handing over sensitive personal data in many cases not knowing that they're within their rights to refuse and big brother watches main concern that an entire generation of children will grow up conditions to think that's normal. more news for you in just over half an hour from now here not international in the meantime a special report on the fisherman under threat in west africa. he

survived war atrocities. to make a final decision. has changed his life and the world around him. by giving up. hope. and love to so many children. nikolai the american worker on r.t. .

when it has to do with illegal immigration where you the immediately send frontex to us see borders. they control us in our waters as if a new colonization were taking place there experiencing a military called the patient of the oceans when they want to combat drugs in america or asia they find the means to do it and. if they really want to combat illegal fishing they have the means to do read they have the airplanes to photograph but they have the patrols to stop them from fishing in our seas. because they are shrinking our country and what is more serious.

they are destroying our fishing resources and marine wealth. of the european regulation. which is slowly acquiring a global day bench and a worldwide effect has been implemented only for a year now the regulation seeks the source of the profit if we manage to put a stop to profit making then the legal fishing will stop and the only way to do that is to seize all. imports to europe. also has deposits in marine life deposits in january imported to europe must be a certificate.