this is why you should care only on the. breaking news on our t.v. police come under attack from the hordes of anti-government protesters in the ukrainian capital where buses were burned during street battles. also when i look back at the week's news the international criminal court could see top british military officials in the dock for the first time in history over ips ations old war crimes committed by troops during the iraq war. a price worth paying about a mere buton speaks out about the record breaking cost of the sochi games while dispelling fears about the safety and security of those attending. the geneva two peace talks on the verge of being to railed as a syrian political opposition group now threatens to withdraw unless the u.n. cancels its invitation for iran to take part.

six am in moscow i mattress or bring you today's big stories and a look back at the week's news beginning with breaking news tonight disturbing images emerging of violence in kiev where dozens were injured after bitter clashes after clashes after anti-government protesters attacked police it's one of the most dramatic pictures that we've received here the footage from marty's video agency ruptly where you can see rioters beating officers with sticks crowds also threw stones and firecrackers at police who responded with water cannons and tear gas ukrainian journalist and avoid told us what he witnessed. i saw them out of call times thrown into the rows of police so it's happening all the time when police

just trying to stop the protesters to come to them closer to the protesters to the right activists off rolling stones to write articles young people trying to break through the. police to go to the governmental. of the city and police trying to trying to stop them people are building the barricades the use of the cars which are standing on the square they want to choose to achieve the goals now so this is a one two three and of course to go away to be not president they want to have another government and they want to have this one moment they don't talk to journalists so they can't explain what they want so they want to fight activists and opposition leaders pushing for the government to step down over a new law they say breaches the constitution they say will make it easier to prosecute demonstrators campaigning for change meanwhile an adviser to barack obama expressed support for the ukrainian opposition alec ross taking to twitter to write

that the protest violence is a result of the present actions of president yannick overage and his party this is the white house demands ukrainian police leave central kiev so far as to threaten the government with sanctions. in the city when the protests first started and shared her experiences with my colleague kevin oh. there had to say burst into flame earlier right when they started back in november or it got to the point where they have to do something and by they i mean the protesters and of course the government as well but most of the protesters because for a while there they tried to you know keep it coming in waves they're waiting for the dispersal of they kept saying it's going to happen people kept getting messages through their phones and through twitter they've been threatening messages which were essentially saying we're about to be ambushed. at the police because there's going to be you know essentially all hell breaks loose and it never happened it's

really quite safe to say that we've probably had several hundred of these ultra nationalist activists i would say this is exactly what they wanted them to mayhem and at one point they tried to direct the bus somebody got into the bus and tried to direct them at the police if we go back to back to december there was already an incident when they tried to run a bulldozer into the police as well so this is sort of a repeat of what we saw just a month ago essentially but it does look a lot does look a lot since it's much more colorful now it rewinding the cloak. very briefly. back back in the day basically it was about the fact that you know pulled out at the very last moment from signing my trade agreement with the european union but now they're completely different now it's against the government now they're protesting now they're saying this is a revolution and one of the government to step down the second month of protests and they cannot agree on anything they decided not even to bring out

a unified candidate should the elections take place and a lot of people were really upset by that but that's what people were chanting earlier today they were it was shouting because that's exactly what they need and they don't see the. president on a covert says he's ready to enter talks with the opposition to resolve the ongoing political crisis in ukraine neil clark u.k. based journalist monitoring the unrest there says the opposition is trying to topple the government because the things it won't lose at the ballot box. if the opposition had the support which they claim to have then why didn't they simply wait the elections we're not talking about five years time until you got next february but he took it about thirteen months time so i think the opposition are now trying to bring down the government to try to bring that out very early elections when called the elections topple the government and he's undemocratic because you know the majority of people are not represented by them i mean there's no evidence that they the majority of people newgrange you should call them and i

think that is the goal of this would be undemocratic move freely and to see the western leaders about this is quite striking because you have to come to each was a democratically elected leader ukraine is not korea it's not saudi arabia it's a democracy and it democracy if you want to remove the government then what you do is you try to persuade people to. free elections and that coming up as i say every twenty fifteen so why don't you opposition way to the knocking what we're seeing in the ukraine is an attempt for a change. parties alexei you covered last year's protests in ukraine is following the turmoil and has the latest on his twitter feed where you can follow him from the most dramatic pictures to date information. turning this into weeks other top stories top u.k. military officials could be tried for war crimes for the first time in history a report by a human rights group claims the burden is concealing evidence of abuse by its forces during the iraq war thousands of former detainees testified they'd suffered

violence and torture at the hands of british troops the dossier now being examined by the international criminal court. takes a look. 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 could two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by 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 all says 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 cools systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people who've 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 civilian superiors 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 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 cold 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 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 the majority of the reports contents are being kept from the public but some parts of

it did come to light the dossier contains reports of killings beatings rapes and various torture methods the u.k. forces allegedly used against iraqis families of inmates also reportedly targeted the year old son of one man supposedly slapped by an officer is his father was arrested another former detainee claims soldiers threatened to sexually abuse his sister we spoke with one of the co-authors of the report for more 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 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 the international courts have to step in. president obama's much anticipated speech on n.s.a. reform is getting a cold reception top ranking lawmakers on capitol hill calling his proposals ineffective while criticizing him for aiding a climate of uncertainty that's coming up after a quick break. first lattimer putin saying russia will do everything it can to ensure a safe winter olympics without making security measures too intrusive with less than three weeks to go before the start of the sochi games the russian leader sat down with the international media and addressed the huge cost of staging the event and dispelling fears that gay visitors would suffer discrimination my colleague spoke with our teams and to farmer who's in sochi about the president's address. these games are the most expensive in the limping history and five times the original price tag but mr putin did stress that over the last five years so cheek was the biggest building site in the world all the venues had to be built from

scratch in vision huge infrastructural development in terms of roads and rail links and he said because of that it was expected things would go over budget but he said where overspend has not been justified action has been taken and people have actually lost their jobs including a russian olympic committee member who was in charge of the ski jump the city which went six and a half times over budget and he was fired however mr putin did say that there was no corruption among government officials are they if evidence was presented it would be investigated russia's law against gay propaganda to mine is rose a lot of calls to boycott the olympics from abroad so this issue was also mentioned wasn't it it was and again he stressed that homosexuality is not a crime in russia but he did say that calls for a boycott on the games on this topic was a throwback to old style thinking which he did not think was helpful and he said

that he thought that the worst still people in the west that were looking to restrain emerging countries in the that had become global competitors and you also drew a parallel with china saying they also experienced call for a boycott in the run up to the beijing games back in two thousand and eight and it was because. i don't think these are manifestations of the cold war but it is a demonstration of competition when such a powerful country like china starts showing rapid pace in growth it becomes a real competitor in global politics and being global markets and of course tools to restrain such growth are switched on probably some old approaches towards russia still exist from the perspective that there is a need to restrain the economy. and finally security and. how it will affect big gains is of course a lot more as many people that one of the president's comments on that. is a major issue particularly after the bombings in volgograd he did say that forty

thousand troops and police are on duty in and around the sochi area at the moment he did say it was necessary but he also did stress that they would do all they could to make sure that they would not be to ensure you see the members of the public and all these people come to sochi to try and enjoy the games my own experience i was walking along the promenade yesterday and on the horizon was a warship and yes you do see small patrols of police on the streets and also regular police write checks but i wouldn't describe it as overbearing in fact i would say that i think many people will find it reassuring certainly at the moment with around three weeks to go before the start of the games you can watch the prelim big interview with the russian president in full on our website r.t. dot com. the syrian national coalition threatening to withdraw from the geneva two peace conference unless the u.n. cancels his invitation for iran to join the talks that's according to

a twitter post quoting the group's spokesman tehran has reportedly agreed to take part in negotiations to end this year to end the syrian conflict due to kick off in switzerland wednesday artie's episode of looks back at the week's developments 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 the opposition will be the beginning of the beginning. and 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 wouldn't start supposedly 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 they keep ours laying 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 all off and perhaps right now just one wrong move is enough to bring down this diplomatic 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 right from the outset and it's confirmed by numerous. reliable sources from pairs the diplomatic move to

moscow which was visited by syria and iran's chief diplomats because it's confirmed it. was going to. former french prime minister dominique de villepin explain why he thinks it's crucial that iran participate in the conference. should be as much as possible part of the talks because you want he's a very regional players i believe the dialogue that the international community. on the nuclear question is a very important one we should try to go forward and settle and if we can you run the board in discussing the current crises of the region we of course we will be much more efficient how can we solve the iraqi crises how can we solve the crisis with iran and 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 aboard days no solution to be the least. getting later today we'll bring you a special preview of the long awaited geneva two peace conference plus don't miss our full coverage of the talks when they start wednesday. after three years of. over one hundred. m. a c. and common sense come together with one. war is not the answer. does peace have a chance. i really anticipated address by president obama reining in n.s.a. spying has been criticized some lambasted the proposed reforms as being cosmetic and most likely ineffective while others say they carried additional risks one of the key points of the speech was that data gathered by the agency will no longer be stored by the government this sparked fears third parties could access information

if it was stored beyond official control not only that but lawmakers accuse the president of failing to bring forward actual reforms and creating a sense of uncertainty colleen rowley a former f.b.i. agent and whistleblower among those left unsatisfied she says by the president's address. well i think the speech was a few baby steps in the right direction but it was a lot of i dissembled lane and certainly it was a reassurance to the n.s.a. and its employees that they have been doing the right thing he talked really focus was on the two fifteen telephone metadata program that is just one of dozens of massie of our collections nothing in obama's speech putting any rain hour rain dnd this collected all approach there was a big revelation of our 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 hoover. yes a tactics angered many across the world some of comparatives activities to the full scale espionage of the cold war era our correspondent peter all over takes a look. on finding out that the united states attempt to private mobile phone and confronted president obama with this claim. formal 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 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 it's really this is exactly as illegal as some of the tactics that the stars are used to employ it is a breach of human rights but the government machine is so powerful that you can't stop it i ed would 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. on top of the ominously named 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 ears to listen in normally private phone calls of thousands of citizens in both the east and the west of the fifty 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 mukesh 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 manderson's version even those who are working in counterintelligence in the west work hours 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 human those fires my superior office. is there any technology for this that can be used eavesdropping on my coals yes yes just don't you know these veterans of the spy game might be impressed by the capabilities of the n.s.a. but they cool shit about the quality of the information collected for lessons yet they relied too much on technology that technology might let you locate a person or listen to their calls 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 but since you continue to sometime yet be sure all of the gemini three now to some other stories making international headlines this hour in iraq government forces launched a long expected attack on militants who had seized large parts of ramadi in december fierce fighting broke out leaving at least twenty police and their allied tribal militia dead or wounded the nearby city of fallujah also falling under control of the same militant group that later declared an independent islamic state in the city. violent clashes breaking out in a sand bowl as thousands mark the death of a journalist seven years ago at the time of his death a reporter was pushing for reconciliation between armenians and turks but the campaign sparked anger among nationalists the two countries are at odds over whether turkey engaged in genocide after invading armenia almost

a century ago. in egypt ousted president morsi facing a fourth trial on charges of insulting the judiciary while still in power he apparently claimed a judge oversaw corrupt elections and military backed government spin increasing pressure on the x. leaders muslim brotherhood power base by declaring the group a terror organization. and in the region a villager famous for its pitch stress picturesque wooden buildings has been severely damaged by fire thirty properties burned to the ground at least. ninety people needed to go to the hospital fire crews eventually managed to put the flames out but police when they could flare up again because of the fire is still under investigation. coming up oksana boyko quizzes a veteran u.s. diplomat on whether he thinks washington needs to revaluate its foreign policy stay with us for.

i know. tanya laid it well tell me how you are my little grandson. i don't like i don't like. being cut off. except. that the spiritual side is destructive. i try to convince her and try to preach that it was a sect but it's dangerous and she had to leave it was a story she had lost her mind. oh you know you she will

come back i know it was the way but even if it means i must wait. until my dying day. we speak your language as i think about the war not a new. program since documentaries and spanish what matters to you. but will turn into thankless stories. here. altie spy they find out more visit to other.

hello and welcome to worlds apart it's hard to find a country whose foreign policy has also laid it more between idealism and cynicism than that of the united states many american presidents began their times in office with blah just to make the world a better place and finished with the world uttering now write down what needs to happen for american foreign policy to become more pragmatic and in touch with reality well to discuss that i'm now joined by caspar when a distinguished american diplomat who also served in various capacities in this state and defense departments ambassador freeman it's a great privilege to have you on the show i'm glad to be here you know every time when we try to examine the u.s. foreign policy we get a lot of responses from and graham merican accuse as a few as bashing and maybe my being a russian invited some of those accusations by your and american the you gave

thirty years of your lives to this so. most of your country and yet some of your views on the american foreign policy a pretty solid bearing i wonder how do you distinguish between critical thinking and criticism and is it possible to avoid criticism while applying critical thinking to american role in foreign affairs the united states has a democracy and one of the responsibilities of citizens as i see it is to speak out and try to influence policy and that's particular the case when the policies that are being followed are either unrealistic or counterproductive. and in the middle east in particular u.s. policy has been pretty consistently counterproductive in recent years so i don't see a contradiction at all between my service for the u.s. government. own view of myself as an american patriot and criticism of my

government's policies now many of the policies that bureau i analyzed in your book america's misadventures in the middle east tend to have some sort of recurring patterns you know some of the mistakes tend to be made over and over again and yet i think. there is so little self reflection on the part of both the american public and the american decision makers i wonder why is that we are a continental sized country of three hundred and fifteen million people very self-absorbed we are. slated from the world by two large oceans. we tend to think of foreign policy is something we do to other people rather than to something we participate in with them or that they do to us so there's particularly since the end of the cold war there's been a sense on the part of many americans that.