mock executions electrocution and a taste for grieving detainee these are just some of the accusations facing the british military over the iraq war with the international criminal court now urged to investigate. national security inefficiency and independent study finds the u.s. spy agency has been grossly exaggerating the effectiveness of dragnet data collection in combat and terrorism. and it bomb goes off in a cairo courthouse as objections vote for a third draft constitution in three years one that's likely to bolster the military backed government grip on power.

for watching r t international life moscow headquarters where it's just after one in the afternoon i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me the iraq war continues to haunt the u.k. with lawyers representing hundreds of detainees about conflicts now saying the british government is ultimately responsible for torture so brutal that amounts to satanism their testimonies have been submitted to the international criminal court but as artie's polyploid cole reports the u.k. is determined to stop any investigation and its tracks. up until now the international criminal court at the hague had mostly tried to african dictators and tyrants but the i.c.c. has been asked to investigate thousands of allegations of war crimes committed by british forces in iraq a two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by a human rights organization and a british law firm contains allegations of beatings of electrocution smoke

executions and sexual assault committed by u.k. forces and according to the also as of this report the finger of blame extends to the very heart of the british government at the time so the head of the british army the former defense secretary and the former defense minister could face prosecution for what this dossier calls systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people have been interviewed in the provided reports about this abuse and it varies from what people might think are. relatively mundane examples of abuse to really quite appalling physical their report says that british military commanders knew that their forces were committing war crimes and moreover that their civilians to perry as consciously ignored such information at their disposal but the u.k. foreign secretary william hague has already firmly rejected the suggestion that

those at the top here in westminster knew what was taking place on the ground in iraq we reject allegations of systematic abuse but whether all substantiated allegations of things going wrong these things have been being investigated that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government has been or were doing enough the point of this is simply that they still haven't done enough there are right now. at the international criminal court two heads of state one of them a sitting head of state of kenya and the other the former head of state of called they're both on trial at the international criminal court not for getting their hands bloody they didn't do anything themselves but people under their authority or people they should have controlled were committing the crimes so if it's good enough for the african countries it should be good enough for the u.k. to the international criminal court has come under increasing pressure to act

against war crimes committed by western countries it's now up to the prosecutor at the i.c.c. to go through that. and to decide whether to call high ranking british officials into the dock at the hague probably boy azzi. extracts from the just so you have been made public but most of the documents are being kept under wraps so the witness accounts that have come to light are alarming among the abuses reported are beatings electrocutions various kinds of sexual humiliation and even outright rape family members of inmates were allegedly threatened by british troops and in one case at least actually harmed where a man described how after being beaten his eight year old son was brought in and then also attacked by an officer another witness alleged that during an interrogation soldiers tried to rape his sister and arrest his elderly parents earlier i spoke to a legal advisor at the european center for constitutional and human rights which

coauthored the dossier. evidence shows that it's not only about individual and single cases and incidents it's really a systematic pattern of reparative which will cure it and it's finding in our report or communication to the i.c.c. it's mars and single isolated incidents ok there have been a number of attempts to bring the u.k. military to account for its actions in iraq none of worked what makes you think this will fare any different well we documented many more cases than were submitted before to the international criminal court or to other courts. it's not as a time because the u.k. had ten years to investigate to prosecute the direct perpetrators but also the higher ups. in the u.k. ten years and there are still hardly any prosecutions in that country so now it's simply the time that the international courts have to step in

this is far from the first serious attempt to bring the u.k. armed forces to account for their iraq war transgressions the last one being in september on our website you can read the harrowing allegations of how british troops in one battle mutilated the bodies of fallen iraqis. with the u.s. national security agency has gone to staggering lengths to hoard the private data millions of people at an independent study now suggests all that information failed to produce the results the government had hoped for artie's marina portnoy explains . when edward snowden first revealed the u.s. government's indiscriminate collection of every american's phone data u.s. president barack obama defended the program insisting that dozens of threats around the world have been a bit courtesy of the national security agency and i say chief general keith alexander claimed metadata collection has warded fifty four different terrorism

related activities post nine eleven now unfortunately for the white house a new study shows that the numbers they're using well they've been slightly inflated because that analysis of two hundred and twenty five terrorism related cases in the u.s. since the september eleventh attack has found that the n.s.a.'s program has provided evidence for only one case and that the study by the national based nonprofit new american foundation has concluded the bulk collection of data by the n.s.a. has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism researchers found that in the majority of post nine eleven terrorism related cases tips or evidence actually came from traditional law enforcement and investigative methods now these findings come as president obama is preparing to address the nation friday outlining his proposals to change intelligence operations and oversight geo

political analyst eric draitser doesn't expect the president's promises to equate into significant action i think that the reality is that what we're looking at is a vast infrastructure with billions of dollars invested in it over the course of multiple decades so whatever obama might be able to say politically using whatever rhetorical cover he needs the reality is that the infrastructure is not going anywhere the scaling back is only going to be superficial because as we know the surveillance program itself is all pervasive it goes to hardware it goes to software it goes to the companies themselves the servers the the cables themselves so as. they said it is a closed system that they've created so for obama to be able to say oh well i can scale back this system this is merely for public consumption just last month a task force appointed by the president himself also concluded that the n.s.a.'s counterterrorism programs are not essential to preventing attacks reporting from new york marina port niamh r.t. . with reputations at stake the west threatens to cut support for syria's rebel

government if it refuses to attend peace talks but the opposition is a step ahead in the block and saying that between hard line islamists and the regime there is no other choice i report on the upcoming geneva peace talks around the corner. with over two hundred thousand police on the streets to provide security the referendum on a new constitution for egypt has got off to a fiery start just before polling stations opened their doors a bomb went off in a cairo courthouse no injuries have been reported a yes vote on the new constitution would cement the authority of the military backed interim government everyplace the islamist president mohamed morsi after he was ousted in a coup last summer well true reports on the challenges and perils facing egypt. will it gyptian to heading to polling stations once again to vote on a new constitution if it gets a yes from the people that would mean egypt seen three constitutions and possibly

three presidents in as many years and our people are voting on an amended version of the two thousand and twelve constitution which was thrown out by egypt's military generals after they overthrew is the most president mohamed morsy into law i know since then the government has launched a bloody crackdown on mr morsi supporters and also his group the business over his which was a terrorist organization on christmas day blamed for a spike in terror attacks it's the situation that's led the whole country to be on tenterhooks today as the police and the army are being stationed to polling stations preempting violence from the government hard line groups meanwhile human rights organizations have expressed dismay at the state of freedoms here in the country particularly after seven members of a strong egypt party who were initially in support of the military to wear arrested for putting up posters calling for a no vote in the referendum the streets here were literally a wash with vote yes the constitution post is. being screened on radio and t.v. stations back to back however. campaign is barely visible meanwhile the mizzen

brotherhoods and that support is a calling for a boycott now a high turnout and a yes vote is essential for the government as this would be the start of approval from the people for the roadmap that egypt's generals made back in july and it could pave the way for armed forces chief general abdel fattah sisi to become president now critics say that there are many articles inside the constitution the current constitution which people are voting on which would in fact strengthen military power over civilian governments leaving little hope for a democratic and peaceful future for egypt's y l s s kandahar a blogger and journalist working out of cairo says the language in the new constitution would provide legal and political immunity for the military. although there are a lot of dictions that are really pro this constitution and they really seek stability there's very little chance that this constitution will do so and mostly because this vote on the constitution isn't a vote on the constitution itself but on

a plethora of other factors including the muslim brotherhood whether the people want them back for not. general sisi but that whether people want him as president or not and then the last thing it's about is the actual constitution surely serves the army at this point they want to be protected against any kind of accountability for anything they've done it's still valid to see that even if there is a democratic president as long as the army is in power and they have about much power and autonomy they can choose pick and choose who stays on and who leaves and i don't think the the next constitution addresses that. no growth and no clear way out france is scrambling for economic answers and its president gets the cartoon treatment as he paddles like crazy to get things back on track we've got the latest on his new low tax approach coming up in the program. and when your motherland

just doesn't love you back up ahead lapsley in limbo for all those who lived their whole lives there but with stateless passports that stripped them of key privileges joined by ordinary citizens. crosstalk reason i think that you can jump in anytime you want.

britain and the united states are reportedly threatening to cut support for the syrian opposition unless it agrees to attend peace talks next week but the syrian national coalition insists that with al-qaeda rebels on the one hand and assad's regime on the other there's no one else for the west to deal with meanwhile the top diplomats of russia and the united states along with the u.n. special envoy to syria have met to hammer out

a roadmap for the peace talks at the meeting in paris they agreed that the three year civil war cannot be resolved through military means they also blamed both the rebels and the regime for the atrocities committed in syria but on the issue of whether to include iran in the geneva peace talks next week washington is sending mixed signals. we would welcome participation of around is coming to participate for the purposes of the conference but iran has yet to state whether or not it supports implementing the geneva one communique which calls for nothing more than the mutual consent of the parties to a transitional governing process to make peace and we ask around i invite around today to join the community of nations the thirty nations that are already prepared to come and be a constructive partner for peace that's the invitation he was simply stating that there are ways around could show the world that they want to see

a positive outcome and if they did so obviously that would mean that if they wanted to play a role in geneva two on the sidelines we would look more favorably on that but certainly no one was indicating an openness to inviting them are these are things that if they do they would definitely be invited there are just things that they could do to show that they want to effect a positive outcome but again we have no indication they're going to in geneva two as in how many days so i think really it is that it's probably very small. and medium and middle east and now analysts rather told us that's all powers with influence in the region should be invited. seeing contradictory signals and obviously the u.s. is undecided on this issue that is very unfortunate because it sends the wrong signal to iran even have adverse consequence so with respect to confidence building on the nuclear issue so i think the united states should stop this

self-contradiction send then invitation through the u.n. to your arm so that all the parties that stake in this conflict could participate and bring an end to this tragic catastrophic conflict. we'd love to hear your thoughts on the geneva two conference you can of course have your say by adding your comments on r.t. dot com or by voting in the poll we've got running there. an attempt by organic farmers in the u.s. to get monsanto to promise never to sue them for accidentally growing their genetically modified seeds has failed the u.s. supreme court refused to consider a case lodged by the farmers in fact they say. they say their fields could in fact be contaminated by g.m. crops and fear being dragged through a legal system by the biotech giant for patent infringement with me now is william engdahl a geo political strategist and author of the book seas of destruction the hidden agenda of g.m.o. sir thank you so much for joining us today now how serious is this ruling for

farmers who are caught out growing you know g.m. crops through no actual fault of their own well it's quite serious and it's really odd really just that the supreme court once again has taken the side of monsanto and the the g.m. all cartel and ruled against natural farming the implications of this are huge because first of all monsanto lied in that statement to the supreme court they lost it brazenly by saying they never had it never will sue farmers for you know certain as the term is inadvertent. contamination of their fields but they have sued countless farmers percy schmeiser a farmer in canada is a bit example of that but the monsanto has a team of lawyers that go out and terrorize farmers in the u.s. and canada when the wind blows the seeds from a lot field across to

a nominal charge of fuel that says ok you know you have to pay so this is like going to the market or selling protection. well i mean surely you know monsanto has to keep its copyright and keep the threat of suing farmers i mean it spent huge amounts of money developing their genetically modified seeds after all well this is part of a monopoly push especially by monsanto they're buying up g. companies all around the world to take ownership of that of the proprietary seeds this is a concentration of power all in the human food chain the first ruling of the supreme court in that i can buy the best that you can patent life that you can take a patent on like i do you know for a gene of bacteria result that was a false decision to begin with and there's been a whole sequence sense and and it's it's the influence wind of the agribusiness that's made this possible but it's a horrendous development for the future of food security in the world well there isn't there

a consumer rights side to this sort of thing you know some people buy organic to avoid genetically modify for can consumers at this point be unsure that they're getting the real deal these that these days a lot of especially since monsanto and the biotech cartel millions of dollars to block labeling initiatives in california and in washington state last year they spent millions of dollars to make sure that consumers don't know what they're getting when they buy a box of kellogg's corn flakes of cheerios on the shelf for their kids or countless other things most of the meat in us if not all of the meat but agree almost all the meat that is g.m.o. said ok so how important is it for farmers to be protected by law nowadays it's very important but they're not being the supreme court is really on the side of industry against against natural farmers organic farmers that's a very very bad development and you know it's all right mr william and all thank you very much for joining me and.

the french economic ship appears to be dead in the water and that's even compared to with struggling european neighbors it's a situation that left the pro-tax president scrambling for a new way to spur growth and he looks ready to make a surprising political u. turn to do it. thank you so just like this way better than this video clip mocks console and tax policies which are among the major reasons has become the least popular president in france as more than history really couldn't hold out to move towards more together with belgium france's tax grab is the highest in the euro zone you don't want to do that but still it was a good way for. the last two hours. to talk so well and two thirds of the country's population is clear cut so i don't write eighty per cent of the president's economic polar so is misguided i don't inefficient gianluca is among

those eighty percent and entrepreneur and he was forced to close his business down after taxes became too big to bear a second if you are sick or this is a vicious circle my business has stopped working which means i cannot provide jobs for others and i can pay taxes to my country to help its development its like everything falls apart. the current accession policy was part of the finance strategy chosen by the french government to fight economic crisis but almost two years later critics say it simply hasn't worked the country's credit rating has been caught the unemployment level all those table recently is still at its highest in almost sixteen years and for twenty fourteen the european commission for costs just zero point nine percent g.d.p. growth in france against one point seven percent in germany and two point two percent in britain people and businesses alike oh my god another tax and another

it's not that they're too high but there are too many and a combination of all these taxes makes it really heavy taxes today really break an economy it seems that's also finally beginning to dawn on the country's leader examples out of new rule all rule taxes big game having to have a. usually known for very optimistic speeches in his new year address. sounded rather concerned. the economic crisis turned out to be longer and deeper than we could have predicted. the socialist leader pledged some truly liberal changes such as cutting labor costs and public spending making people talk about a new or loaned and new hopes of the country's recovery but critics are still vocal as they see plan is short on details and some are afraid it could simply be too little too late notional r.t. from france on r.t.

dot com for you right now a torrent of support the jailed founder of the world's most popular file sharing website the pirate bay got a modest improvement in his present condition it's over one hundred thousand people signed a petition to allow him access to books and other basic items. and license to speed hollywood style car chases could soon be a common sight on the streets of britain as a country spies get immunity from rogue regulations allowing them to ignore traffic lights at us from crossing to speed limits that story and more at r.t. dot com. has a saying goes there's no place like home but for some there's no country that can be called by that name hundreds of thousands of people in latvia have so-called alien passports even though they've never lived anywhere else a naturalization test intended for immigrants is the only way for them to get equal rights with all citizens parties pos got investigates. but at the moment non-citizens have limited rights we can't vote can't occupy government

positions or be policeman all lawyers in total there are ninety differences. in november alexander invited un secretary-general ban ki moon to latvia for a congress on the issue the invite was politely declined. when you're going to have any of them there are around three hundred thousand of us and i'm one of them here's my passport it's an alien passport. when the soviet union collapsed latvia only gay full citizenship to people and their descendants who had lived in the country prior to nine hundred forty when it became a soviet republic that was around fifty two percent of the population everyone else was classed as a non-citizen today one in seven people are considered alien canady is one of those affected he was born in latvia and although his mother is latvian because his father moved to the country after one nine hundred forty canady it was denied

citizenship he eventually went through the process of naturalization when he was twenty two years old how did it make you feel having to go through that process despite the fact that he's saying you're born in this country well does your mother love you. right and that's the same if she does that so you feel good and if she doesn't feel a bit about it and insults it the process of naturalisation attests noncitizens on their knowledge of latvian history culture and language many feel they're hostages to history claiming the latvian government are using them to avenge the past but it's not just a moral issue it could also be economic benefits to ending this policy if that three hundred thousand people will be back into political and economical life will be very good feel for the country to united in to finally move on further because we always look back into history who are trying to go further. into european union insecurities own and so on but we still had to turn back those fighting for their

right to acknowledge they have a long way to go before they win the argument to say they're prepared to take their case step by step. r.t. latvia next step in our program it's the kaiser report. when you're followed around when you are being investigated because of the whim of someone this is the beginning of the end of your freedom. to stay in and save me keenly intercept american citizens moves text messages you know. where the calls text messages so you just see everything about my knowledge actually basically and that's all legal absolutely legal yes when you bareback with the internet your bare back and brother.

prevails sleepy's keepers for a president who are concerned with monitoring please see us again at post conflict environment nowadays there are increasingly asked to operate in a high risk of violence while believe violence is still a danger are we to stay. motionless with these people who has caused over almost twenty years four million people killed millions of displaced and refugees tens of thousands of women raped tens of thousands of children recruited those soldiers who were slaves no. dramas good trying to be ignored. stories others to a few distant noticed. places changing the world rights

no. food picture of today's leaves no politician from around the globe. dropped. to fifty. welcome to the kaiser report imax kaiser sink estates are the u.k. equivalent to american ghettos council states with high levels of economic disadvantage and often blighted by high crime rates but there's a new sort of sink estate in the u.k. and it's not in peckham harleston or gospel oak though this sink estate is right here in the city of london this moral sink est.