were clearly not the safest. peace activists go on trial in the u.s. for taking a stand against their government drone warfare campaign. a teacher and a police officer killed in a hostage crisis is a moscow school carried out by one of its model students. and israeli cabinet ministers hit out at the u.s. secretary of state after he warned that the country could face a boy caught if it fails to take real steps to strike a peace deal with the palestinians. hello welcome to watching r.t.

international. now activists calling for a world with drone strikes will be defending their actions this week in courts across america three groups are standing trial separately for their protests against the use of unmanned all machines with more on the cases here's our correspondent. in washington. four activists appeared before a judge in california this monday for their attempt to deliver a letter of protest to a military base commander the letter accuses the u.s. government and all military personnel involved in the drone program of crimes against humanity more activists are on trial for similar actions seventeen people are facing charges in new york for protesting at the premises of a base from where we put drones are piloted also this week five other activists will be appealing their trespass conviction nearby at the central intelligence agency where they tempted to deliver a letter to the head of the cia john brennan the letter that these people are on

trial for says our government has become a lawless power acting those judge jury and executioner just because you can the u.s. uses remote control drones to kill women in their kitchens elders meeting in their jirgas mourners at funerals and rescuers who try to help the wounded by most independent studies the vast majority of those killed are civilians and president obama's statement about quote unquote near certainty of no civilian deaths in drone strikes sounds cynical especially in light of reports like the one two months ago where a drone strike hit a wedding convoy in yemen last october i met with survivors of a drone strike in pakistan they were here in washington to testify before a near empty panel of congressmen about a strike that left their families devastated and nine year old girl and her teenage brother nearly escaped death the drone strike killed their sixty seven year old grandmother she was picking vegetables in her garden the activists who are on trial now point out the said irony no one has been held responsible for the strikes that

killed innocent people and yet they're the ones to port. and this goes on amid relative silence in the media and public ignorance of washington's many unmanned carryings that least that's what we've been hearing from david swanson once war activist and author of the book war is alive but yes had people serve me no six months prison sentences we've had people say seen around astrologist for exercising their first amendment rights this is an ongoing activity across the country and it's noticed in the local media that there's a virtual blackout in the national media in the united states you would have no idea this was happening it's that there's an extensive protest resistance movement against these drone murders and unfortunately most americans don't even know it's happening don't even know what the drones are being used for much less that they're being protested exactly why are they against these drone strikes why's why is this

any worse than any other military action. when these missiles go and kill innocent men women children infants in pakistan afghanistan yemen somalia there is no discussion there's no debate it just happens under the radar and there's a little blurb the next day saying militants were targeted and nobody knows what that means who they were and good reporting has shown that many many innocent people who have done absolutely nothing wrong have been killed by these drones which are counterproductive in their own terms they are making the united states more hated. according to various estimates the drone warfare costs hundreds of innocent lives in countries including pakistan and yemen where one of our correspondents traveled to both countries to hear the how rowing accounts of drone strike victims and their relatives and as you've already heard one of these families went all the way to capitol hill to get down says from u.s.

politicians you can find their stories in our reports and comb also online. the unmanned killing campaign puts group boots on the ground as the u.s. military makes a breakthrough in driverless vehicle technology it's all there for you on our web site. a teacher and a police officer have been killed in a hostage crisis at a moscow school over twenty students who were in the classroom at the time were released unhurt the gun man who is now in custody is reportedly a model high school student who harbored a grudge against his teacher artie's margaret how reports from the city. i'm standing just outside the school in northeast moscow where a tenth grade boy walked inside earlier at around eleven o'clock this morning and opened fire know he taken two rifles out of his father's home and killed one security officer killed one teacher and entered a third person

a security guard who is currently in hospital then he proceeded to take twenty four students hostage now these students he took he took hostage we're tenth graders fellow students and they have since been let go now archie caught up with a friend of one of those hostages earlier here's what he had to say. my friend told me to switch on the t.v. i didn't saw my school in the news he said the security guard had managed to push the emergency bachmann time students were evacuated from the building i saw some of them later and they said the teacher was injured but then my mother said it was quite a chaotic morning this young man fired eleven shots in total his father was able to communicate with the young man and he did let the hostages go and then he did ultimately surrender to law enforcement it said that he is currently under psychiatric assessment the educational minister did make a statement saying that this wasn't

a situation where the young man had any grievance against students or teachers it was believed that he just has an emotional problem however originally it was reported that this was a revenge killing particularly for this young teacher who's believed to be between twenty nine and thirty years of age that this young man did kill him but at this time we don't have any information regarding his emotional state although we do expect that to be forthcoming. well the latest reports claim that the young man used to brag to friends about his shooting skills in the quad with the help of his father used to take him to a firing range you can head online to don't. for all the updates on this story. another spat seems to be brewing between the u.s. secretary of state and the israeli government it all started after john kerry expressed his concern over the lack of progress in peace negotiations with the

palestinians mr kerry says the status quo being maintained by israel is not sustainable and you also warned that many countries could seek to boycott tel of the peace negotiations fail well in response to this prime minister benjamin netanyahu replied that any efforts to boycott israel would be unjustified and then the strategic affairs minister weighed in saying israel cannot be expected to negotiate with a gun to its head and finally an economy minister called on israel's allies to stand up against those trying to pursue anti semitic agendas against his country and some two thousand israelis gathered outside the western wall in jerusalem last week for a prayer rally against u.s. efforts to broker a deal israel resume peace talks with the palestinians last july a deadline for a framework agreement has been set for april with israeli settlements in the west bank and east jerusalem remaining the key sticking point. what we

spoke to a senior correspondent a columnist for the newspaper and he says pressure from the u.s. could mean a blow for the israelis. american pressure could have many forms . that would probably not be any direct overt physical sort of pressure but even holding off on supporting israel indeed diplomatic arena of including in the united nations security council if the police godor and claimed their right to establish a state this could also put a lot of pressure on israel and the very fact that we see a public spat between the. obama administration and the netanyahu government this is already putting pressure on israel because israel's main strategic asset has always been its good relations with washington if this is taken from israel

israel could no longer be considered the major power originally that it was considered to be for the last fifty or sixty years. coming up later this hour catching out the cops. being charged with assaulting a police officer structured and resisting arrest that could have been six months in prison and that would have completely irrevocably changed my life. party speaks to a student about how a video that went viral helped him win his case of police misconduct. a group of computer hackers and human rights campaigners so far as a criminal complaint against the german chancellor over her role in n.s.a. spying document accuses the country's leadership as well as american and british secret agents of illegal covert intelligence operations and violating privacy

rights where we're joined live now by one of the activists of the group behind the legal action julius made some via thank you very much for coming on to the program are you from the chaos computer club what you hope to achieve by bringing this lawsuit. well we see we have strong indications that the german government. or work together with the american spies on every all of our digital lives and beyond at the moment even if the whole media was covering about based very very passive and they it for us it looked like we were just waiting until the storm is over and that's why we want to force the federal prosecutor to. start really a real investigation on what is going on and went wrong and hold the governments not only the american all the others are in true invading our digital

lives well the authorities to say don't know the surveillance is needed for the sake of national security what alternative do they have. well they have many alternatives and it's still not proven that any of these murders really help finding terrorists and all the other excuses they find i think it's just a question of power that the person who tries to read all the communications of all the citizens and tries to to make a a digital copy of everybody's life and that's just a new way of power which is. fundamentally. destroying every everybody's privacy and probably will also be of big danger for the democracy it is the battle though that pretty much a lot of people would say you can't win because the surveillance has to be carried out secretly so how on earth could you prove that it is actually breaking the law.

well that's what the german state authorities have to find out and under german law all investigations and all measures under criminal law or any other law are against have to be. written into the law and it's the task for the prosecutors to find a correct argumentation if that is legal or not and if it is not legal. they have at least to stop it and have to. us to keep our privacy now your case also are spread with snowden to be brought to germany as a witness how likely is that to happen gee think given the fact that most of europe hasn't exactly given him an opportunity to go there at least with a warm welcome. well the problem is the german government says. well we don't have to decide whether we could grant him

asylum because he is not in germany and therefore the. conditions are not to answer that question but if you bring him to germany as an important eyewitness he could apply for asylum. he is the only person who has really insights on what is going on and could really help us get in gaining back our privacy ok well thank you very much for your thoughts this evening and we do have to leave it there judy smithson vibe from the chaos computer club thank you thank you very much still ahead raising the roof. he said something i have never seen before at that any olympic games. venues get the highest price from the international olympic committee find out more after this break.

the news sigrid laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything turns mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world events this is why you should care only on the dog. choose your language. because we know if. someone. chooses that is the consensus can. choose the opinions that invigorating to.

choose the stories but in the light choose access to often. i. am now ready set in only a few days to go to be such a twenty fourteen winter games and i have received the final stamp of approval from the president of the international olympic committee and thomas back didn't hold back either as he was addressing the media describing the unique qualities of some of the facilities for the olympic stages is ready for the winter or fleets of the world. we can see this in this board facilities ger all the state of the art the about eighty percent of the of

leaves literally walk from their bed in the wheel each to their competition when you use something i have never seen before only olympic games well the top athletes at the games their winter games in sochi will of course take home their haul of medals the luckiest ones will even get a slice of the chela bins meteorite but what will be left for those who don't make the podium and for the army of fans that have traveled there were earlier i went along to find out. well if you're looking to buy a souvenir during the olympics you probably want to get your hands on one of the mascots either the snow leopard there or the polar bear and if you want to go to the high end of the market you could try one of these porcelaine figurines these have all been made in a very famous village just outside moscow this workshop english has produced russia's famous blue and white china for the last two centuries but it's not plates and pockets of the taking up at shelf and of the space at the moment smiling

mascots but it's not easy games are being produced in abundance crafted a molded from the region special clay sixty kilometers southeast of more sco that's poured into special molds made for the hair they're good and polar bear benefactress forty craftswomen get to work carefully how many painting each one on average it takes fifteen minutes to load the leopard is a bit tricky and takes a little longer then it's a whole day spent in the oven during which the black ink turns into that trademark blue after that they're left to chill boxed and sent to the shops it is an intricate process that even mirrors the slogan for these olympics cool yours andrew farmer to r.t. and to make sure you stay with us here on r.t. for our special coverage of this is a sporting event from the capital of sochi where on air through acts such as twenty forty.

i. following calls for greater support while position leaders in ukraine brussels and washington are putting together a significant short term assistance package despite concessions from president yannick overage mass rallies are still being held in kiev with people refusing to leave the streets unless he steps down a foreign policy chief catherine ashton says the western aid is supposed to help

the country through a transition period but the money will be dependent on in ukraine government proving quality and economic reform and with investment verso on the cards the energy giants have been eager to exploit the country's shale gas potential and that's got locals worried is poor asli explain its western ukraine a beleaguered battleground for american oil giants two months ago kiev signed an agreement with chevron to use this area for fracking. flammable tap water toxic chemicals pumped into the earth contaminated environments just some of the risks that have sparked protests against fracking in the united states and europe. i now it's ukrainian farmers not or like will buy milk who are left in the cold sweat less time our lakes and rivers will get dirty. sporadic protests have

fallen on deaf ears unable to match the might of the fuel lobby so if america comes to ukraine we can lose our position and america will control ukrainian money and business meanwhile countries like france switzerland and the netherlands are worried enough to have banned the technology the ten billion dollars deal allows chevron to operate in the country for fifty years it has the right to sell the gas it up tains with quotas to other countries so all claims that ukraine will make a lot of money are in fact nonsense and in a place where unemployment is rife kids promise of thousands of new jobs is enough bait for people next engine forty four years old and employed and trying to care for his sick mother. hopeful gets a job people in ukraine are not scared of work we must just learn what to do the carriage for kiev is energy independence and cheap fuel for a country struggling to pay the bills even though russia dropped the cost of its

gas by almost a third to calculate the shale spoils industry experts look at precedents in neighboring poland companies promise the earth only to significantly scale back which is where it's a risk exposure because after the five years of exploration which is quite useful we decided to stop. their activities because they did find some places where it will be their disability to produce gas pressure on peer to keep these firms out is growing but not fast enough it seems to quell the government's desire to have its own gas whatever the cost or concerns of the people policy our team have live coverage of western ukraine. but in reaching out to chevron and shell ukrainian authorities say the therms will help the country achieve self-sufficiency and even enable its own energy exports american environmental the spirit scroggins says

however financial gain would come to greater cost the ukrainians. the process itself is you cannot for millions of gallons of liquid laced with sand and with chemicals under super high pressures down into all these drilled holes without having a consequence this whole fracking. madness is spreading all over the planet they want to frack as many countries as possible and so more people are getting aware of it and i'm getting people here from all over europe north america africa to come here to see for themselves besides what they hear from the gas companies because the gas company will admit to no problems everything is hunky dory everything is covered all the bases are covered we have nothing to worry about folks we know what we are doing. all r.t. dot com right now thirty more their feed iraqi army is reported to be gathering for

a ground offensive on the city of fallujah that's been under the control of his life on this extremist since early january we have got the timeline of events and expert analysis also online nasa wants to create what it calls the coolest spot in the universe on board the international space station head to r.t. dot com to get more on what chile experiments are planned at the orbiting the bar it's. right to see. first what you and i would think. would. be a. when you go up against the british police force it is your word against their team that

one student who learned the hard way how important hard evidence is when that happens tester syria story i was being charged with assaulting a police officer obstruction arrest i couldn't six months in prison and that would have completely irrevocably changed my life and devastated actually are going to make us more had intended to attend the talk of the education minister in june two thousand and eleven and found himself in a crowd of protesting students and just outside this university who was later arrested and the police officer said that a shop had pushed him twice before running away. i'm not really this video appeared on you tube or a shock is later seen and it offers a different version of events. thanks to this video the charges were dropped scotland yard agreed to pay

a shock twenty thousand pounds in damages after he launched legal action for wrongful arrest as a result of video evidence produced as part of a civil claim against the metropolitan police service three offices are the subjects of the i.p.c.c. supervised investigation but such outcomes may not always be so easy to come by it's very often the case. people have been wrongly accused by police officers of having committed bad spots the evidence of the office to court give more credence to nights of the accused individual they just have. to try and give a special occurrence as they can to gather as much evidence as they possibly can and once again that the conduct of the police is put firmly under the spotlight in the twenty eleven two thousand and twelve period at the independent police complaints commission saw a decrease in complaints but an increase in appeals made about the help. of complaints by police compared to the year before where it's found that offices are

full of the below the expected stand of behavior the public would want to see and then a bit of accountability the police misconduct it's sort of like specific to being to be tools. for someone who's been on the receiving end of this misconduct a shock says there's something he'll now keep in mind we need to videotape the police whenever we can because it's their word against ours the only way we're going to win is if we actually prove to them to a court without a shadow over doubt that they were lying. to us or sylvia r.t. london. next cross-talk looks at the global community a century on from the start of the first world war that's just ahead.

the first recreational marijuana shops are now open in colorado finally the question of what effect legal marijuana will have on the american public can be answered with. real world experience you know there are a lot of people out there with strong arguments as to why we should legalize this

controversial play it firstly there are plenty of things just as bad for us as marijuana or worse like beer cigarettes anti-depressants and mystery fast food meats which are totally legal secondly young men are often thrown in jail for the absolutely victimless crime of smoking marijuana i can see punishing someone for drugs like crystal meth which can and do turn people into maniacs but have any of you out there ever heard of someone breaking into people's houses on a we ramp age no no you haven't the downside to all this is that across america and won't the world people are looking for change and they want the massive star rise but when the masses are stoned out of their minds it makes things in life that we shouldn't tolerate become very tolerable we now call allow us to make it through another day of our miserable lives so that we can live without going through all that effort of trying to make things better or challenge the system legalizing weed will just pacify the masses even more but that's just my opinion.

please see. below and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle a century ago this year the first world war started it fundamentally changed the global political order later and even weakened international system set the stage for the second world war since the end of the cold war the global order has been in limbo under american domination in the twenty first century just how stable our world politics.