it. was a. mock executions electrocution and a taste for beating detainees these are just some of the accusations facing the british military over the iraq war was the international criminal court now urged to investigate. a bomb goes off in cairo and rest spreads across egypt as a country votes on a new constitution that's likely to bolster the military backed government's grip on power. and 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.

watching r.t. international coming to you live from moscow with me welcome to the program of the iraq war continues to haunt the u.k. with lawyers representing hundreds of detainees of conflict now saying the british government is ultimately responsible for torture so brutal that amounts to sadism their testimonies have been submitted to the international criminal court but as artie's police boyko reports the u.k. is determined to stop and the investigation and its tracks. up until now the international criminal court at the hague had mostly tried 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 assaults 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 they're put says that british military commanders knew that their forces were committing war crimes and moreover that their civilians to parry as cautiously 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 or are being investigated that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government has constantly been or we're 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 cold war 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 the claims of abuse and to decide whether to call high ranking british officials into the dock at the hague ali boy artsy london and x. rays from the das here have been made public but most of the documents are being kept under wraps still the witness accounts that have come to light are alarming among the abuses reported there of beatings electrocution various kinds of sexual humiliation and even outright rape family members of inmates were allegedly threatened by british troops and in at least one case actually harmed one man described how after being beaten his eight year old son was brought in and also attacked by an officer another witness alleged that joining in interrogation soldiers threatened to rape his sister and arrest his elderly parents well earlier we 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 acts which are cured and that 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 what we documented many more cases than were submitted before to the international criminal court or to other courts. it's now is the time because the u.k. had ten years to investigate to prosecute the direct perpetrators but also. ten years. hardly any prosecutions in the country so no it's simply. that international courts have to step in. all this is far from the first

serious attempt to bring the u.k. armed forces to account for the iraq war transgressions and the last one be in september on our website you can read the allegations of how british troops in one battle mutilated the bodies of fallen in iraq he's. now the u.s. national security agency has gone to staggering lengths to hoard the private data of millions of people but an independent study now suggest all that information failed to produce the results the government hoped for. 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 in four different terrorism

related activities post nine eleven now unfortunately for the white house a new study shows that the numbers they're using while 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 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 cables themselves so as i 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 now r.t. . reputations at stake the west threatens to cut support for syria's rebel

government if it refuses to attend peace talks bites the opposition it is a step ahead calling the bluff and saying that between hard line islamists and their regime there is no other choice a report on the upcoming geneva peace talks around the corner. i scored in the u.s. refuses to hear the g.m. crop contamination concerns of organic farmers potentially putting them in a vulnerable legal position and that's still to come here on r t international. now voting on a new egyptian constitution has got off to a turbulent start violence has been reported in and near the capital despite a two hundred thousand strong police presence has more on the latest there let's turn to cairo now bell do tell us what's been happening there what the atmosphere like on the ground and specifically what and students have there been so far.

well it's been very tense here in egypt as people have really been expecting some kind of violent outbursts from the more hardline groups who support the elves to president mohamed morsi now those groups which include the mizzen brotherhood saying that this is a referendum is illegitimate in the constitution should not be passed and there have already been a number of terror attacks across the country so this is when egyptians woke up this morning they were fearing and that's actually what did happen there was a bomb blast here in the capital in an area called and that's a court room that was supposed to house all the ballots about particular area by the end of the day the explosion was so large that it managed to break the windows of the buildings adjacent to it however no one was injured nonetheless we have had violent break up across the country in particular the suite which is an office egypt where we just heard that the brotherhood supporters and supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsi had taken to the streets and protest against the danger friend. that descended into street battles with the police now we've heard

that one protester has been killed in that particular instance and still bubbling on this also you've been away and we've also had reports of the big an outbreak of street clashes between security forces and business brotherhood supporters and mohamed morsy supporters up and down xandra as well so really it's a very targeted day for the. day of this referendum and people here in egypt speaking to them they tell me they think it's going to get worse and what exactly worries the opponents of a new constitution at this point. well when you go into the streets at the moment it seems to be overwhelmingly people are looking for a yes very but there still is quite a group of people who are saying am i the no to the constitution or boycotting the people that have worried about this constitution say that it will only cement military power is over the next civilian president there are a few articles there in the constitution which basically say that military trials for civilians will be allowed which is ours the minute you control it with the judiciary in addition which is the key change here the defense minister which of

the moment is the de facto leader sorry general of the fatah sisi his position will be protected for the next two times of the president's office this is because the supreme council the armed forces will be allowed to say in the appointment say that's a big change that in addition the military budget will still remain secrets this is a point of contention for a lot of activists and revolutionaries as well as human rights organizations who want to know what egypt's military who are currently running this country is spending their money on top of the supporters of mohamed morsi just say the whole situation is illegitimate mohamed morsi they say is still president and therefore this constitution is null and void as his constitution two thousand and twelve should be in place so there are rumblings of dissent against this constitution however. when you go to the streets people all looking for a yes as they really want the country to move forwards thanks so much for bringing us the atmosphere from the egyptian capital that was belcher reporting was

blogger a journalist working out of cairo says the language in the new constitution will provide legal and political immunity for the military. although there are a lot of egyptians 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 cost situation itself but on a plethora of other factors including the muslim brotherhood whether they would people want them back for not. general sisi but that whether people want in this 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 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 panels like crazy to get things back on track we've got the latest on his new low tax approach coming out in the program and when your motherland just doesn't love you back to have laughing in limbo for all those who lived their whole lives there but with stateless passports that stripped them of key privileges enjoyed by ordinary citizens. this immediately those who we. are the see who she. is it will be their shoes that no one is there with big they deserve answers from.

welcome back you're watching r.t. international now 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 and they say is their fields could be contaminated by doctored crops and fear being dragged through a legal quagmire by a biotech giant for pavement infringement william and dol author of the book seeds of destruction the hidden agenda of g.m.o. says the decision has serious implications. 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 field across to the. field and says ok you know you have to play this is a concentration of power all in the human food chain in the first ruling of the supreme court and what i mean by the best but you can patent life that you can take a patent on life by in fact you know for a gene a bacteria or so that was

a false decision to begin with the whole sequence sense to them and it's the includes wind of the business that's made this possible but it's a horrendous development for the future of food security in the world. and you can go to our com our web site for more on the controversial issue of g.m.o. crops that's causing such a global stir also online the jailed founder of the world's most popular file sharing website the pirate bay gets a modest improvement in the springs and conditions after 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 may soon be a common side on the streets of britain as a country spies get immunity from road regulations allowing them to. nor traffic light district crossings and speed limits that's story and more of a what. the french economic ship

appears to be dead in the water and that's even comparative struggling european neighbors it's a situation that's 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. think so just like this why have not done this video clip mocks consol ons tax policies which are among the major reasons has become the least popular president in france as more than history voting couldn't hold ultima thule to much more together with belgium and france as tax grab is the highest in the euro zone don't want to do it but still it was a good way to head for. the last two hours french. top says more than two thirds of the country's population is clear cut so i don't write a two person with the president's economic policy who is misguided i don't

inefficient gianluca is among those eighty percent and entrepreneur he was foolish to close his business down after taxes became too big to bear secular thyca this is a vicious circle with 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 right up to the current taxation 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 of 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 became have to have a usually known for very optimistic speech in his new year address const what went on sounded rather concerned considerably the economic crisis turned out to be longer and deeper than we could have predicted. the socialist leader pledged some true liberal changes such as cutting labor costs and public spending making people talk about a new all moaned 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. from france and britain and the united

states are reportedly is 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 the rattles 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 your civil working now be resolved through military means he 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 brown's 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 through 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 by 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 achieve it too is in how many days so i think really it is that it's probably very slow. and many

as town has told us that all powers of influence in the region must 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 them invitation through the u.n. to iran so that all the parties that have a stake in this conflict could participate and bring an end to this tragic catastrophe conflict. meanwhile the situation in syria is growing more chaotic by the day rebel factions are now in all out war with each other with almost seven hundred opposition fighters killed in just over a week what's worse the balance of power is quickly turning away from the relative moderates and in favor of terrorist groups and one of the most authorities of those

is the islamic state of iraq and eleven began a campaign called expunging filth which advocate which targets everyone opposed to it especially moderate rebels among the methods used by the jihad is to our executions bombings and forstmann of sharia law and the capturing of those who do not share their beliefs the group is so brutal that even al qaida leadership has denounced it it's now controls chunks of syria and iraq there are larger portugal and you can see the area in the black here well i would love to hear your thoughts on the geneva two conference you can have your say by adding your comments on our t.v. dot com or by voting and the poll we've got running there for you today. hundreds of thousands of people in law have so cold alien passports even though they're never lived anywhere else and naturalization test intended for immigrants is the only way for them to get equal arrives with full citizens artie's postcards been

hearing from those or stateless in their own country. you guys winning immunity but at the moment non-citizens have limited rights and we can't vote can't occupy government positions or be policemen and all lawyers are doing 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. and you're going to have any of them there are around three hundred thousand of us and i'm one of the museums here's my passport it's an alien passport. when the soviet union collapsed latvia only gave 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 nine hundred forty eight 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 as you say you were born in this country well does your mother love you. right and that's the same if she does that you feel good and if she doesn't you feel a bit about and insults it the process of not you realize ation tests noncitizens on their knowledge of not be in history culture and language many feel they're hostages to history claiming the lobby and 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 a very good fuel for the country so you know incident to finally move on further because we always look back into history who trying to go further. to european union insecurities. and so on but we still had its tone but those fighting for their rights 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 who's got oxy not via. and next they're here national it's grain it feeds billions of people and is now at the center of a scandal over a chance to genetically altering coming out on our team. because you don't states is the big dog the only hyper power and the cultural driving force of globalization it takes

a lot of flak i mean globalization means the whole world gets hollywood and hot dogs not the other way around so let's take a break from the negativity and talk about something truly amazing about america and as a guy who lives in moscow i could say that the constitution of the united states is something truly amazing in russia there is constant talk about needing a new national idea a new ideology or political theory or big changes to the russian constitution and so on and it's hard for people in america understand this but twice in the twentieth century the system that right. gave their lives for collapsed and the current constitution was written quickly after a period of violence and said collapse not after a glorious victory now you see why people here are exactly memorizing amendments and founding fathers quotes here in america there are debates between liberals and conservatives but almost everyone believes the constitution and it is america's greatest strength there is a national idea that is a sacred document with a list of rules as almost universally agreed upon everyone with half a brain on the street but sadly not in congress knows when something is against the constitution or should i say against america near universal belief in the

constitution is actually something truly exceptional about america but that's just my opinion. previously peacekeepers for a president of concerned with monitoring peace to those in a post conflict environment nowadays they're increasingly asked to operate in a high risk of violence while believe violence is still illegal to stay. motionless with these people who have closed over almost twenty years for me and people killed millions of displaced and refugees tens of thousands of women raped tens of thousands of children recruited as soldiers were slaves no.