it was. government controlled territory. i've heard so from mit question america's claims that syria's government also behind a chemical weapons attack near the capital damascus last all that. officials from moscow there's a gun tunnel of a prison seeking to negotiate the release of a russian national is being held there for years without charge just like they were drawing painting. and gas they can continue with so we've been surveillance president obama's anticipated plans to reform the n.s.a.'s activities on dismissed as a limited p.r. stunt.

this is our chief international coming to you live for most code hello and welcome to the program the u.s. conclusion that a chemical attack near damascus in or get stores carried out by the government has been trying to buy a team of highly respected experts washington immediately blamed president assad but a new report from the massachusetts institute of technology found the rockets couldn't have been fired from government controlled areas. we went through two to three months worth of study to determine the types of rockets. the weight the size of the propellant and we determine that the range is on the order of two kilometers i like to make a note that the u.n. also had come up with a range of approximately two kilometers so this is very confused to us in our studies and we're trying to understand exactly what the white house met means

because right now as it stands these rockets could have never been fired from government controlled territory they would be fired more from a rebel type of territory or a border of a contested territory so if he is something in america's official conclusions don't own season it's a question of scale looked now into they and thirty. this latest report is trying to answer one question whether the missiles carrying a star and gasol in august twenty thirteen were really fired from the parts of damascus controlled by the syrian government now we reproduced exactly the same map which the u.s. intelligence used when they voiced their concerns that the attack was carried out by the syrian government and this is the part of damascus controlled by the syrian government at that time in august twenty third seen this is the part controlled by the opposition those blinking yellow spots they mark the places where the attack happened in particular this western most point of those attacks where the biggest

number of casualties happened and this red line here it shows where the missiles could could have gone if they were fired from the from the governmental territories in damascus the maximum range of those missiles is two kilometers now of this eastern most point of the of the attack is about four kilometers from the isa most point of the governmental control and territories controlled by the government and if you talk about the heart of the of the territory controlled by the government that's something which was specified by u.s. states john kerry that's where the rockets were fired from this is about nine kilometers from the this point here this report basically does not lay blame on any side and does not say whether there were those were the rebels who perform these attacks using chemicals but what it does though it seriously puts under doubt that the quality of intelligence and as to why the u.s.

authorities used what seems to be incomplete or even flawed intelligence data to voice their concerns and if we remember what u.s. state secretary john kerry said back then the claims were quite solid high confidence this is common sense this is evidence these are facts also this report speculates at one point that it could have this wrong data could have been used in a similar fashion as the attack on iraq when wrong information was used as a pretext to launch a military operation official washington hasn't yet responded to this latest report by the mighty researches. and with the key syrian peace conference moving closer the opposition has still not decided whether it will take part and meeting on friday brought nerve results despite international pressure being put on rebel groups tant the opposition coalition has postponed his vision until saturday syria's government has expressed its readiness to make concessions ahead of the

long awaited geneva two conference the country's foreign minister has proposed a ceasefire in the city of aleppo the area of some of the most intense battle as well as a prisoner exchange meanwhile there are reports that fighters of both sides are turning to drugs as both a source of funding and staying power in battle the soaring export of illegal unfettered has turned into a major drug as archie is maria finish and now reports syria about to enter in its fourth devastating year of war the lack of law and structure has allowed one dog industry to flourish the country has become the number one producer of a drug known as captain gone since the synthetic stimulant was first manufactured in the one nine hundred sixty s. and it was at that time used as a medicine to treat to vittie and depression but it's too addictive and this is why it was banned in most countries though here in the middle east it's still very popular it's cheap and it's easy to get but today syria not only produces

more than any other country in the region but it's also kept to go as main consumers believe that fighters are taking these pills to maintain vigorous energy levels your lengthy battles because it helps you keep awake for hours and hours but there are also reports that ordinary citizens those who've been living in depression and in this war and for almost three years now are also going to the drug for these k. priest euphoria gives them and it's lucrative it's between fifteen and. twenty dollars a pill and the right hundreds of millions of them have been taking all trafficked and there is evidence that the revenue raised is buying weapons from both sides of the syrian conflict the un office on drugs and crime. has been reporting that syria which is located at the crossroads here in the region has for a long time been

a transit point for the drug going from europe to turkey and lebanon but since the war began captagon trades gone the mastic and factories are appearing these days all across syria and production has increased and sales of building here elaborate on the authorities seized around two hundred million dollars worth of tablets last year mostly hidden in the tracks go in through the syrian lebanese border from syria and iran from where they're its final destination including the gulf countries of the most ardent supporters of the syrian opposition and saudi arabia where around a billion dollars worth of the drug was seized just last year with authorities saying this is nothing but just ten percent of the real turnover of the drug in the kingdom. let's now take a closer look at the findings of the investigation carried out by royce's into see

whereas a drugs trade side the report says the country has become a major drug exporter and consumer in the last few yes cap to go on a stimulant bond in most countries is produce that in huge amounts and it's so profitable the country is replacing lebanon as the main producer which saw a ninety percent for in production over the last two days lebanese officials seized of a twelve million pails last year and the trend is affecting other states like turkish authorities say seven million pails made in syria which were on route to saudi arabia experts warn the trading is fueling bloodshed and fun and. i think it should be investigated we've seen the relationship between illicit drugs very addictive substances and imperialist war as the rebels lose more and more ground. as the syrian government of the syrian military gains more territory the degree to which they stabilize the country even further the resources that are coming into

syria from the western countries and from the countries that allied with the west in the middle east this is going to of course make the rebels even more desperate and their supporters even more desperate to raise funds in order to finance them so i think this is a reflection of the failure over the last three years of this u.s. and nato financed or rather war by that's been leveled against the people of syria it's caused a tremendous amount of deaths injuries dislocation and now of course drug distribution and addiction as well. coming up later this hour leaving last year the baltic nation of waters as the skilled professionals head for the exit to be escape to escape the euro zone look at twenty driving their way just ahead. after a decade long effort to secure a visit an official delegation from moscow is it gone tunnel obey america's most

notorious detention center they're hoping to meet a russian national who's been held there for over a decade but has never been charged with a crime or she's a sissy churkin or how small. for the first time in twelve years a russian delegation spearheaded by the foreign ministry special representative for human rights got access to visit the guantanamo detention camp the goal meeting with the sole russian prisoner in gaza of held there without charge for a decade and taking steps to push for the detainees returned to his homeland we spoke to the top diplomat of the visiting delegation to get the details if you will of the lord. significant churches they gave their lives at the loop you. are you you. basically. don't get legal very cute you know. you broke through you know there is no proper litigation.

group. we have been given to to refute kuku are a little bit different but we've got to look. more politically all the details putting extra pressure on the us to shut down the scandalous camp was also on the agenda of the foreign ministry the prison has been staining america's human rights and legal record both at home and abroad for years leaving the detainees staring really into the abyss of indefinite detention and just last week the world saw the twelfth anniversary of the first detainees of the world of the war on terror being brought to the scandalous prison camp which obama made a promise to close on day one at the white house last year the world's attention was returned to one tunnel as the majority of the prisoner population was on a hunger strike for over six months making world headlines and really forcing the obama administration to refocus his attention at least on words for now to the detention camp although plenty of bureaucratic and political reasons continue to be

used as an excuse instead of just shutting the place down when we visited guantanamo three months ago we found out that at least fifteen detainees were continuously being force fed before it's passed on the news we lubricated and we give the. choice they want to have. which is an agent who will numb your ear or if they want of will to lubricate the tube. most of our patients have been using all of the world you seem to like it in fact some of our patients are so used to this they will describe which nostril they want about other aspects of prisoner life however there was a lot of secrecy we were taken on a largely staged and prepared to or around the prison facilities without being able to see much of the real conditions that the prisoners live in and speaking to any of them was of course out of the question let alone seeing them one or two of them

actually for more than a minute a lot of secrecy and a routine tour around the premises also turned out to be the experience of the russian delegation as well and as they said you're going to r.t. new york human rights advocate claiming the number of hunger strikers has doubled in the past month and now stands at thirty three however the military authorities are refusing to release any new figures authorities say they release of information on hunger strikers quote distracts from the more important issues like the welfare of detainees and the safety of troops there and clive stafford smith is a lawyer for several gun tonally detainees and his witness some of the most brutal tactics used by the military. if a prisoner are from camp six which is the least count goes on hunger strike they automatically get transferred not just to count five but to count five that are which really has been the most abuse took place in over a container of a prisoners are held in all steel cell and denied the most basic human rights just

as a punishment for going on strike that force feeding techniques are very much an action unfortunately against the very abusive force feeding techniques i mean casting aside the question of whether it's at the culture coarsely to tour the world medical association says it's not you know unfortunately the techniques they're using grown tonneau are groups your assistant or so for example and i've witnessed some of those that they used to leave but tubes up the prisoners noses that hurt so much they're still pulling those tubes out every single time twice a day forcing them back up each time still forcing far too much food too quickly into the prisoner making prison sick if you're sick they just carry on doing it it really is horrendous. and that was about a shortly with more news here including how president obama's turnaround of global surveillance is still heading in the same direction.

economic down in the final. day. and the rest look like it's going to be every week. it's a. pleasure

to have you with us here on our t.v. today i roll researcher. this is all seem to national coming to life or most go let's move on now washington will not dismantle his global spying that walk than elsewhere and all the major of the whole of the national security agency outlined by president obama fail to provide any detail on when the collection of data will be stopped or indeed whether it will be stopped at all and critics say their plan for deep reform is nothing more than a facelift as i'll show you some socks explains. after nearly seven months of n.s.a. disclosures president obama finally came forward with reforms to the spy agency acknowledging that the current capabilities of the n.s.a. do leave open the possibility of abuse given the unique power of the state it is

not enough for leaders to say trust us we want to be used the data we collect for history has too many examples when that trust has been breached. our such a system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on the good intentions of those in power the president address the n.s.a.'s most controversial program section two fifteen bulk telephone metadata collection basically the president no longer wants the government to be in control of these massive metadata databases but that doesn't mean the president wants to get rid of bulk collection in fact the bulk collection of virtually every american is metadata will continue indefinitely and the new restrictions announced by the president requiring the n.s.a. to obtain pfizer court approval before searching all that metadata doesn't satisfy privacy advocates who argue the pfizer court has acted and will continue to act as a rubber stamp nothing in obama's speech put any rain rain dan this collected all

approach and yesterday bit there was a big revelation of a call dish fire program that just fire program was collecting all tax calls literally hundreds of thousands of text calls every day are going into the n.s.a.'s vacuum it's gigantic gani coover regarding spying on foreign leaders the president said he's put an end to surveillance on friends and allies but did not say the n.s.a. will stop spying on diplomats nothing about the n.s.a. breaking encryption standards and ports that the n.s.a. has been breaking into the data links on google and yahoo servers while some specific reforms were introduced how exactly they will be implemented moving forward remains to be seen especially since the same government agencies that have overseen the massive growth of the surveillance state are now the ones tasked with reigning into it washington d.c. sam sachs r t. the president of a national whistleblower sent to millions the government is trying to steer public

attention away with a welsh agile to p.r. move. the real thing that the american people are looking for is what are you going to do when you have a whistleblower like mr snowden who has critical information that the american people are right to know he did not address that issue it's being swept under the rug instead i think in a fair view of what's going on it is merely window dressing covering up the abuses that have been identified who's to say there are a lot more abuses that have occurred that haven't been identified because there's no channel for the n.s.a. whistleblower to make their allegations public or known in any way so at best it's window dressing it's punts a lot to congress to try to fix the problem and it addresses in no way how the american people have a right to understand the abuses of our government. twenty is the next time you decide to like somebody on facebook especially one that someone is you know

a partner who wants nothing to do with the because that one click might get you arrested find a story for online play. so thinking about buying a ticket for the sochi winter olympics well had to all sort of columns in motion section for a darling buds ideal to say to help you make up your mind. right see. first strike. and i would think that you're. on a reporter's twitter. instagram. to be in the. russia's national counter-terror committee says seven militants have been killed in the southern republic of dagestan security forces have been negotiating with the

militants in a house where they were holed up in gathering been opened fire it's believed some of the militants who are responsible for a grenade attack on a restaurant on friday followed by twin blasts that injured at least sixteen people one of the militants killed was the leader of a local gang while another was the friend of the female suicide bomber who carries out a terror attack on a bus involved a grad last october a woman who was also said to be preparing for so sad a time and was wanted by russia's forces. last year may be europe's fastest growing economy but it's also the youngest and poorest member and the road to prosperity has proven to have too many bands for thousands of professionals and they're leaving. caught that one who said government negligence is to blame here so again he is one of thousands of workers who will leave latvia this year but his destination is perhaps surprising to be leaving this

state to work in azerbaijan. life is always hard but in this country it's harder as the government is much more concerned by politics not economics and the life of the common man. isn't the only one the world bank says latvia's population is shrinking by almost sixty thousand people per year if you are not alone the government are squeezing everybody wants and more and more from us for less money between two thousand and nine and two thousand and twelve might be as population fell by around ten percent in a country of only two million people this decline is sharply felt especially since those leaving a mostly of working age. the major work force males from twenty to forty go and find jobs abroad and then move their families over this leave just older people this demographic shift poses significant economic challenges which the government

says it's keen to try and tackle there is a government program to return people to latvia but it doesn't work they pay for people to return but there's still no work for them the only way out is to create new jobs and a suitable atmosphere for investment but it isn't happening and over the next twenty years the population will decrease another third so as leaders desperately try to arrest the worrying trend the message from at least one of those with bags packed for a better life elsewhere is simple. the government has to stop its aggressive social policies and lower taxes so that people can live and not simply survive. poor scott r.t. latvia. some other news from around the globe this hour and a tire ban suicide bomber has killed twenty one people at a restaurant popular with experts and officials in the al going capital a russian citizen three u.n. workers and a representative of the international monetary fund were among the dead guards killed two gunmen who tried to storm the venue. have fun with

lisa's family's colorful attridge they have gathered in solidarity with people protesting a road project in the country's north which they say will displays the poor and drain public funds solidarity rallies across spain i will read you falls this is functional the. time i protest is how blockade of the police headquarters in bonn called just in day after a bomb eight hundred twenty eight demonstrators at least eight people have died since then west aimed at the government to step down began in november but the prime minister insists the only solution to the crisis will be a snap election february. in india some pedia the funeral or a revered spiritual leader in mumbai has killed at least eighteen people authorities said the turnaround was greater than expected and admit as they failed to control the flow of mourners incidents like bees are relatively common and last

october more than one hundred people were killed in a stampede at a hindu temple. a lightning strike has said would be some of the iconic statue of cries that were dealer overlooking a rio de janeiro he says aged meter tall monument has proven to be as much a magnet for lightning bolts as it is for tourists over the years it underwent a multi-million dollar renovation and twenty ten and authorities have promised to repair the latest on that soon. and up next revisit the highlights of the olympic torch was a record breaking journey across russia in a few moments. no. 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 flack i mean hey 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 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 russians gave their lives for collapsed and the current constitution was written quickly after a period of violence and said collapse not after glorious victory now you see why people here aren't 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 see against america near universal belief in the constitution is actually something truly exceptional about america but that's just my opinion. it was supposed to be just another news or of course although admittedly for a special occasion it was one hundred twenty three days before the start of the winter olympic games in sochi and i was in greece for the lighting of the olympic

flame the ruins of a limpia one of the most famous monuments of ancient greece the site of the very first olympic games where stones like this would have been part of the temple. the temple. temple of. home. mom.

well that was a rather surreal. definitely the way to stream i've had for a while. it was a memorable ceremony. who i'm pretty sure the high priestess never spoke to me. what was it she said. full of the flame or something. you have a lot more of course at base. some of the top story this morning than.