syria's national coalition finally agrees to. reject. proposing today should give the american people greater confidence that their rights are being protected the u.s. president assured. critics say the. british. during the iraq war which began in two thousand and three. try.

to win the release of the russian. you'll join the chorus of voices supporting the first. time for the weekly international. with the top headlines of today of the week and following months of uncertainty syria's main opposition. has finally decided to meet face to face with the assad government this in wednesday's geneva two conference now this is the first time the sides will be in the same room struggling to strike a roadmap for peace some key groups members of the syrian national coalition had previously rejected talks and tried to impose preconditions for the books participation in the meeting just fueling the internal disarray inside the body and

right before the decision the country's foreign minister a prisoner swap with the rebels the latest from syria's diplomatic front line with . with time running out before the start of geneva two conference on syria it was a busy week for global diplomacy it's our hope that in the face to face meeting of the regime and the opposition will be the beginning of the beginning of the end to this unspeakable conflict never before have russia and the us been so united over syria holding damascus and the rebels both responsible for atrocities standing together for a political solution and going further still we wouldn't be going to try to send the signals to all the syrian sides on the need to establish localized ceasefires to consider the lists of prisoners of war including civilians and also to allow humanitarian aid. it's washington even turned around its stance on iran saying it

could also take part in the conference so long as it supported previous international agreements on syria to keep our swing the foundation for he would say you are on the same page when it comes to the most important issues the same can be said about some western nations who may be risking it also happens right now just one wrong move is enough to bring down this simple american house of cards such as the mixed signals sent from france to the rebels who themselves took the whole week to decide whether they'll take part. we don't have the assad regime on one side and terrorists on the other it is the regime that is fueling terrorism. such statements may be music to their ears but these are cynical statements the western military alliance has been recruiting mosher had seen right from the outset and it's confirmed by numerous. reliable sources from pairs the diplomatic bitch move to

moscow which was visited by syria and iran's chief diplomats now moscow's has confirmed it will be a diva and after much debate so has the opposition but still in question is iran's participation by widespread acceptance that it's a key player in the region and vital to peaceful solution for syria he was going to r.t. . and analyst eric draitser says the u.s. may be trying to divert attention from its own role inside the conflict. the united states has backed itself into a diplomatic corner on the one hand they've been funding funding and funneling weapons to the extremists that if infiltrated into syria on the other hand they claim to be playing diplomatic matchmaker as if they're going to somehow resolve the crisis so what you're seeing is this sort of dual diplomacy but this is all collapsing because as assad is regaining control of territory and as the world opinion has shifted against the jihadi elements and against those backing them the united states is forced to then put the blame on to assad a sort of

a pot calling the kettle black situation another potential player in the region who's participation is up in the air is that over iran with russia around the u.n. urging tehran's presence but washington continuing to send mixed signals former french prime minister dominique of the he says it's crucial that iran does take part in the conference. ron should be as much as possible part of the talks because you run is a very regional important players i believe the dialogue that the international community is having recently ran on the nuclear question is a very bold to point we should try to go forward and settle and if we can have you run the board in discussing the current crises of the region we are of course we will be much more efficient how can we solve the iraqi crises. how can we solve the syrian crisis with that's why i really believe that the dialogue with this country

is important and we should really take into account the fact that without having you run a border days no solution to be the least it's all to international top u.k. military officials could face trial in the international criminal court after victims of the iraq war submitted a dossier accusing forces of numerous assaults and torture the british government rejecting all allegations of picking up the story from london. 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 two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by human rights organization and a british law firm contains allegations of beatings of electrocution mock

executions and sexual assault committed by u.k. forces and according to the all. 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 stuff he calls systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people have been interviewed and 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 civilian superiors 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 or are being investigated that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government has constantly 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 d'ivoire they're both on trial at the international criminal court not for getting their hands bloody they didn't do anything themselves the people under their authority are people they should have controlled. 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. artsy london the content of the dossier is held in secrecy although some extracts have now seen the light and those witness accounts being made public rather alarming among the abuses reported such things as beatings electrocutions various kinds of sexual him humiliation even as far as rape and the family members of inmates were also allegedly threatened by british troops at least one case were physically harmed one of the victims said after being beaten his eight year old son was also injured by an officer and a report from another witness suggest that while he was interrogated a soldier's threatened to rape his sister and arrest his elderly parents earlier we spoke to a legal adviser of the european center for constitutional and human rights also

a coauthored the dossier. evidence shows that it's not only about individual single cases and incidents it's really a systematic pattern of representative acts which are. finding in our report or communication to the i.c.c. it's mars and single isolated incidents it's now is the 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 the country so now it's simply the time that international courts have to step in. just a bit later in the program here with the international. spain's richest region to demand madrid's commission to hold an independence referendum while it's boosted

breakaway moods the prime minister has already blocked the move. also a new blow for u.s. afghan relations as washington tries to lure president karzai into signing a crucial security deal eight civilians most of them children killed in a nato details just. when you were followed around when you were being investigated because of the whim of someone this is the beginning of the end of your freedom. american citizens. text message use you know. the calls text messages so you just. see everything about my knowledge actually basically and there's no legal absolutely yes when you bareback with the internet you bareback with big brother.

it's a. pleasure to have you with us here on r t today i'm wrong researcher. for joining us here at r.t. international the drip drip of secret information fed into the media by edward snowden seems to a force the hand of u.s. president barack obama this week he said he wants to rein in the activities of the

far reaching n.s.a. obama announced there will be no more spying on foreign leaders friendly to the u.s. and limits will be placed on how troves of collected data are used or thought he will also need a court order if they want to run a check on a phone number using the n.s.a.'s extensive data critics however say the measures to be introduced will change very little everything's been punted into the long grass he said i'm going to set up a committee to do this i've asked this department to look at this everything's in the future we just don't know what he's really promised and so i was very disappointed there was probably nothing concrete in there for example as far as the metadata collection is concerned he announced grandly well we're going to stop doing this but i have not actually decided how we're going to stop doing that so obviously the details matter there similarly in terms of the spying on the rest of the world is very important to note that foreigners have far fewer rights than the u.s. citizens on that he basically said well we will do it in

a sort of fair way and don't worry about it i mean i would just no real guarantees that. the global spread of america's all seeing eyes of cost taxpayers a pretty penny as well the actual figures are as you would expect top secret but there are some leaked information details that's while lifting the lid on spies spending let's bring you would not right now the so-called black budget reportedly amounting to fifty two point six billion dollars for twenty thirteen out of that over ten billion a went to the n.s.a. its funding has grown by at least a half just in under a decade so far yet its surveillance methods are only used when it comes to terrorist attention for seven point five percent of the time now the n.s.a. is by no means the first spy agency to have seriously overreached its mandate its artie's peter all of a found out with advances in technology mass spying can easily get far out of hand .

on finding out that the united states attempt to private mobile phone and blue merkel confronted president obama with this claim. former offices in the east german secret police which was known as the stars of a warning for the n.s.a. if they think must surveillance is the solution to a nation's problems who quote if it's good even the best qualified and most advanced secret service cannot save the state we showed you that away from the professed shock of the politicians at the n.s.a. spying ability how does it compare with the actions of the east german secret services cheering the cold war disk and now is truly this is exactly as illegal as some of the tactics that the stasi used to employ it is a breach of human rights but the government machine is so powerful that you can't stop it edward snowden's leaks about the shape and scope of n.s.a.

surveillance show in germany as one of the top targets for u.s. snooping again high up on top of the communist leaning devil's mountain life the remnants of the last major n.s.a. spying program to look into the private lives of the people of berlin or it's abundant now but back in the day this post with years to listen in on the private phone calls of thousands of citizens in both the east and the west of the city. then it was thousands of calls now it's millions sometimes tens of millions of data connections that are tracked and logged with them electronically moved the way they do it now is much more intensive your web browsing history credit cards they can build a profile on you way easier than was ever possible in my day. didn't have access to this type of technology they rely on developing personal contacts. even those who were working in counterintelligence in the west were ours even they said it we were

pretty good even then the fear of being listened into is taken seriously as one former officer charged with looking into nato told us you mind those fires my superior officer is there any technology we have that i can use to stop eavesdropping on my calls you answer yes just don't pick it up these veterans of the spy game might be impressed by the capabilities of the n.s.a. but they're cautious about the quality of the information collected for dozens of ships they relied too much on technology that technology might let you locate a person or listen to their cause it doesn't let you know what they think with the usa doing all it can to justify its intelligence gathering the operation dubbed two point zero by critics looks set to continue for some time yet peter all of a r.t. germany we're coming to you live from moscow as it has taken officials here in the russian capital more than

a decade to get permission to visit the only russian citizen behind bars at guantanamo bay the delegation was told that his case will be reviewed in the near future russia says the notorious prison violates the basic rights of detainees and should be closed down across one. has more from washington and those that aims at securing the release of the only russian national held at the. years without charge revealed. the human rights commissioner reiterated russia's position on the detention center in guantanamo bay in his meetings with officials from the defense department and from the department of state he said that russia's position is that this detention center be closed down as soon as possible this detention the mere existence he said of this detention center is in violation of human rights and international law the most important probably. element of it

was to meet with with those who visit and to convey the message to the american representatives of americans. that we insist that his words and legitimate interests. i think would be taken care of back in two thousand and eight barack obama the u.s. president promised to shut down the detention center multiple times he said that he wasn't able to fulfill his promise because of the congress which. a number of occasions has vast laws to make it harder and harder for the u.s. administration to either transfer. detainees to other countries or to bring them back to the u.s. and try them on u.s. soil which has left the u.s. administration really in political limbo because this detention center has has the image and reputation of the u.s. despite official reports the hunger strike one ton of stopped in december human

rights advocates claim the number of inmates still protesting stands at thirty three but the military authorities are refusing to release any new data they say the release of information quote detracts from the more important issues like the welfare of detainees and the safety of troops as well clive stafford smith is a lawyer for several guantanamo detainees who shared with us his impression of the force feeding techniques. this for a prisoner or from camp six which is the least bad can goes on hunger strike they automatically get transferred not just count five but you can't fight back which really has been the most abusive place in all the content of day prisoners are held in all steel cell and denied the most basic human rights just as a punishment for going on strike 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 that the culture coarsely to tourne the world

medical association says it's not you know unfortunately the techniques they're using ground tunnel aren't groups your assistant or so for example and i've witnessed some of this that they used to leave the tubes up the prisoners noses to hurt so much they're still pulling those tubes out every single time twice a day forcing them back up each time there's still forcing far too much too quickly into the prisoner making prison sick if you're sick they just carry on doing it it really is horrendous what's happening. afghanistan has accused u.s. forces of killing eight civilians seven of them children this during an anti taliban night raid on a house it's one of the many incidents to have tested relations between the nations as washington increasingly loses the argument as to why a couple should sign a security deal and the agreement is crucial for america as it would see a portion of its troops stay in their country are the main withdrawal later this

year some analysts think this violence against citizens would put any such a chord in jeopardy. this if it is an example of why the afghan government is so adamant about this in advance like this make it less led us in the afghan government will be able to reach an agreement the u.s. would be happy to keep to keep troops there on their terms that they haven't gotten it would be happy to keep. u.s. troops there and kind of you know magical unicorn fantasy terms that they never journal civilians they never joined in the afghan government doesn't like those two things are in contradiction the u.s. forces then magically do what the afghan government wants and doesn't do well there and government people don't want those u.s. forces those magical us forces don't exist. it watching the weekly on r.t. international as the arctic ice slowly melts more nations according did this on his

natural riches with massive oil and gas reserves hidden under the polar sea bed it might be rather tricky on how to agree on dividing it all up. the rather frigid. melting ice caps in the arctic have ignited a military build up over the world's smallest ocean and the riches buried beneath it the arctic circle is believed to contain thirty percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and fifteen percent of its oil the future of the world economy to some extent is dependent on the arctic and i think you know russia and canada the united states and norway and denmark are very interested in exploiting these resources last month canada abruptly claims that it owned the north pole while the united states with its alaskan outpost has plans to boost its military there claiming it lacks operational experience and needs to police the thinning ice as it's replaced by fuel filled maritime traffic but that's not all i mean you can

. actually u.s. submarines are deployed not too far away but off the norwegian coast it would take us missiles sixteen to seventeen minutes to get from there to moscow so we really hope that with all the things that have been happening in the world over the past few decades we put the cold war confrontation behind us in all five countries bordering the arctic sovereignty rights to resources within two hundred nautical miles of their territorial waterways but a growing up a tight for a bigger slice of the pie is what many fear can inevitably spark a twenty first century cold war in the frozen waters there are also unexplored resources that we don't know yet to which country belongs which could be a source of interest to many countries i do think that. smaller things could spark both tension and maybe more tension that we would like to see point nine r.t.

new york. lawmakers in the richest spanish region of catalonia voted to wast madrid to allow us to session referendum is cheered on by dozens of demonstrators waving independence flags the local parliament approved the move but the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy has vowed to block it recent polls show about half of the catalans want to break away but at least eighty percent want to have the right to vote the region represents a fifth of the whole country's economy and a lot of k. from the european part of shit for independence so scuttle and cannot be stopped from having their say. more than eighty percent of catalans wish to express themselves even if they want or not want the death of months of catalonia so we're talking about democracy obviously and there's certainly no democratic institution that can prove to a majority of citizens of european city sense to not express themselves in the

ballot box we have to think of the government that's only has been a real benefit for the tunnel you know for space and for you because for us the snow of course is about that we are a nation we know we are nation we know our rights and we are proud to prove that we know that and that we want to restore this state that we used to be with our constitutions our institutions so we can decide either about our own policies are just a moment here at r.t. international we'll take a close look at the scope of surveillance in the british capital to see whether or not it's producing. the. joerg of congress are now millionaires for the first time in history according to the center for responsive politics which sounds pretty insulting on the average

americans are doing so well financially this seems bad like a bunch of rich guys rule the country which they kind of do but one could argue the congress isn't rich enough first off due to inflation a million dollars is not as much as it used to be especially the cost of a campaign to get in the congress costs around one million six hundred thousand dollars so yeah a million dollars of net worth may sound pretty rich to you or me but the expensive game of us politics these guys can't even afford the costs related to getting a work electoral campaigns are a big money affair so it is no surprise that people like you or me can't get into the law making business without selling at least a little piece of our souls to someone who has very deep pockets so they get the problem isn't that congressmen are wealthy it is that many of them have to get constant financing in order to maintain their positions and as you average folks know once you're in debt they've got you by the throat well that's just my opinion .

the world's capital surveyed. even though the years since one thousand nine hundred . for imagining big brother really is watching. the. six. on the. every bit the public ground. of everything the free but also just because all the different companies different have their own things in t.v. cameras every thought that's what everybody. in the most militant city in the world there is one camera for every fourteen people but those the scenes and surveillance on them is safe i mean it way the streets. kind of dangerous because that coveted c.c.t.v. but no one's watching that's what's interesting about these two to be it takes away

the joy of having a. filter. for george going to a ring of steel around london's financial district. security gates and surveillance cameras anyone who enters his registered electronically and anything out of the ordinary triggers security protocols. even seemingly innocuous things like video cameras. is not the thing. but. you can move your. film whichever way we want. to do with. the private security. of the city. in fact in most cases the street.