innocent or guilty is not our job. uncaring merciless and shrouded in secrecy. prison marks its twelfth anniversary with more than one hundred fifty inmates still held behind bars despite. they want to 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 u.s. join a protest demanding an end to the infamous prison. also the white house warns of the risk of a war with iran because initiative to impose further sanctions goes through that as the number of senators backing the controversial proposal doubles. 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. this is r.t. international with the twenty four hours a day. the prison has turned twelve and human rights activists have 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 long ago. 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 that civilized 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 that can't be true out of seven hundred seventeen

nineteen ease 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. there are hundred fifty five. and seventy six of those men were cleared for release the us 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 kitty have 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 busy at the. 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 are unable to emigrate because of the stigma of 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 in a legend 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 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 that it was five years ago he was the president but politicians human rights organizations legal experts and common sense have learned that the struggle of one town in the presenter's america's self-made mess of the last twelve years is already so hard to clean up that reasons to keep it around are likely to breed more anniversaries to come and stacy churkin on our team. as the guantanamo 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 that. is the latest letter from shaka he's the last remaining british inmate there and he describes the humiliating search methods used by the prison administration and inmates are forced to undergo the procedure when they just want to call their

lawyer some gods are pushing even further searching in the genitals when we spoke to polly rossdale from the legal charity group she says the more we find out about guantanamo the harder washington tries to bury it out of sight i think we know. we know when you are not but scrutiny. finally president obama. and what happened last year with widespread hunger strike of more than one hundred detainees and we really thought the man from trying. to was cursing again and the other thing you know i mean. that kind of scrutiny and we're seeing a real deterioration and. i want to remember there were huge challenges after you've been banned that we're not trying to charge for twelve years and have been tortured and very scary and you're released without. without without.

without support my experience mind all of them and i would simply want to get on lead normal lives and join. general the eleventh is now an annual day of action against the indefinite detention of the war on terror prison and we'll be covering the protests as they build throughout the day and we'll have more on that later here on r.t. international. 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 derail last year's 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. as more and 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 you want to export any more oil now the provisions would only take effect on violates the six month interim deal or lets it expire without

a comprehensive nuclear agreement a u.s. president barack obama has vowed to veto the bill if it makes it to congress but the problem is that the senate actually achieve sixty seven votes it could override a presidential veto or 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 won't be too mentally make a potential war with tehran all the more likely oddly enough at least sixteen democrats are supporting new sanctions and sadly if president obama's historic diplomatic. progress with iran comes crumbling down it will be due in part to members of his

own party reporting from new york. r.t. senators back in 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 all this initiative will do is undermine washington's role and. 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. with the wrong side 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 where you can find out what agreements any new u.s. sanctions against iran would jeopardize on our website all the details all that nuclear deal struck with iran in geneva. 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 he's likely to be remembered for by many israelis is the controversial issue of settlements in the west bank as artie's paulus lear

reports. i reel 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 and his motto to defend and preserve the jewish state is where eldar was a lifelong supporter of i will show born for twenty seven years he farms spices and flowers in the former gaza settlement of can a towel log. he was the builder of settlements even in ours he built twenty new homes just like he did in other places before 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 a thousand others who 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. for a 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 bought 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 in 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 was a total disengagement from gaza despite the angle 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 ruled out any

further unilateral withdrawal is. but the six months he built continue to be a major sticking point in negotiations between israelis and palestinians to see our team tel aviv. this is all to international live here moscow coming up later in the program and shooting old european countries jump off the euro vision ship one by one unable to afford to take part at times of economic hardship also. a way correspondent of themselves for the not me brother to travel to rome to see how people there are coping with the vandalizing nature of some feathered friends those stories and more after a short break. drug some of the sixteen percent of imports came from illegal fishing. the european

union is ironically taking fish from some of the poorest nations on earth so this is a very serious and very urgent problem that needs immediate international action. on foot territorial waters they fish they load the fish on to the ships and leave for europe. to day illegal fishing just taking the bread out of our mouths. right on the street. first street. and i think picture. on our reporters twitter. and instagram. could be a month. on. at

least twelve european countries are skipping the twenty fourteen euro vision song contest the list of participants has been getting shorter by the year and the economic troubles of the continent a seen as the main reason. reports. good 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 our audience grew very very much many people to get to know us 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 builds have not always been spread purely for it to stick forty's say researchers from switzerland you know you should be giving us a measure of species international relations at their feet your cookies from a few european countries is measuring the show you see and it's cultural i mean in french and what will be the market for the station in twenty two and three weeks after angela merkel pushed the creation of the european financial stability facility to bailout collapsing economies a german teenager lender my unit was crowned the eurovision swimmer. 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 they were joined by boss near turkey slovakia and portugal this time caray share so be able gary 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 your vision like cyprus where roughly. every fifth person is unemployed i'm not an expert on the euro region and why woods happening i'm describing the situation in cyprus and i'm not surprised that this decision has been taken and given the fact that there. are other domains i'm talking about health education culture the shows bosses say there's nothing to worry about we refresh the format and continue 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 there would likely have to invent something very soon to keep europe's longest running song

contest from losing its voice. reporting from moscow. not only is your vision been losing contestants its budget has also been on the decline this is planned cost is four times less than three years ago your vision has also lost both its significance and artistic valley that's according to international affairs expert said the jet of coverage. 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 the music scene here to stick to. has been rather worthless pompous and

now days both politically and culturally its significance has declined so in a period of a story in a period where. modest resources have to be matched against almost all you need to requirements i believe that this decision does made by so many countries because they've concluded that univision song contest simply does not matter. at the moment china shapes up and ships out as it becomes the world's largest exporter of goods overtaking the us with more than four trillion dollars worth of trade crossing its borders and take a look at the number crunching at dot com. the president of the international school federation brushes off scaremongering about the security situation during the winter olympics saying the games will be

a sporting highlight. not online in plenty more. while they flock 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. reports on the scare tactics of italians used to try 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 belive it all falls on top of cars and roads and on pedestrians it's very slippery to get tons of complaints so. birds hundreds of thousands of starlings which migrate to rome from the north every year leaving their mark as they go.

over your reverie here this same we're surrounded by a show. the city annually spends tens of thousands of euros tackling the flying menace is species a special operation in itself careful feet so dry it's very difficult to clean it off these birds are worse than vandals it's like they're angry at 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. hey get me to the idea from science box it works great but only for short periods of time. but even when they do manage to scare the birds usually they just move to other residential zones and always come back at sundown. of course this bird issue isn't the worst problem a city has to deal with any case. waiting to hear. it may be a good idea to. even if the forecast is. the role. of the. golden dawn party gathered outside athens high court to protest against the questioning of leaders. has been arrested on charges of running a criminal organization last year and. stripped the state funding

a law banning financial aid to political movements involved in criminal offense. international organization for migration has begun evacuating thousands of foreign nationals from the central african republic clashes between muslim and christian militias continue unabated despite the resignation of the country's self-proclaimed president. been killed since the beginning of the conflict last year. the protests in the spanish enclave in north africa has turned violent people most of them police officers were injured and strangers were protesting at the lack of jobs in the region and tortured barricades in the streets curity forces they put up. a security measure when the debates raging in the u.k. after it was revealed the fingerprinting of students has become a usual practice in schools the stories cause particular controversy after almost a third of schools collected the data without consulting parents of these norse

myth 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 school children 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 that 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 questioning when asking on information but also to understand just what's happening within the system in 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. that's a pretty tough date for the moment more news in half an hour from now coming up next on the international when it could help illegal industrial fishing in west africa mortise is robbing local fishermen of their means of survival if you're

watching us in the u.k. right now going underground with host afshin rattansi is off to this break. there are many internal battles and society liberals and conservatives will never agree on gun rights or abortion but there is one battle that is often more generational than anything the battle for school uniforms teachers argue that uniforms eliminate a big distraction in the classroom and break up the caste systems that can evolve at school between the cool fashionable kids and the ones who can barely afford lunch like me in my younger years but teenagers will scream uniforms crush their freedom of expression and that they have a right to express who they are their individuality who has the right to dictate to them what to wear the thing they don't realize is that if the school doesn't tell them what to wear that big corporations and m.t.v. will all the cool individuals who dress alike and blindly follow all the trends are

just obeying corporate marketing instead of their parents yeah for some reason it is bad if the school punishes you for dressing improperly but if the cool kids make your life a living hell for not wearing the right brand of shoes well that's all well and good for some reason hey look at this way school uniforms are cheap which leaves more money for parents to buy you video games being individual in your actions and not a fake individual in trendy clothes but that's just my opinion. of the. the. the.

the. the. the. the i'm.