orders would. be in the. guards of the private american security contractor blackwater notorious for shooting dead more than a dozen iraqi seven years ago appear in a u.s. court after years of legal wrangling. meanwhile in present day iraq hundreds of thousands flee key cities in the north of the country as al-qaeda militants take control of the area. here says more than two hundred people have died in the ongoing assault in ukraine's east versus the army faces dissent with soldiers refusing to fight the civilian population. and the u.k. government plans to start teaching british values in schools after several of them

were reportedly found to promote an extreme islamist agenda we look into how much of that is true. welcome on into the harvey new watching r.t. international. versus our four guards from the former private security company blackwater are going on trial for crimes ranging from manslaughter to weapons violations seven years ago they were assigned a mission to transport u.s. diplomats through baghdad but a skirmish broke out on routes leaving fourteen iraqis dead to get more on that story let's cross live now to r.t.c. marina porter so marina why did it take so long for these girls to actually go on trial. well it's taken so long because there have been many years of cover

ups and inappropriate grants of immunity to these former border guards but back in two thousand and eleven a three judge panel of the u.s. court of appeals ruled that the prosecution against these defendants could proceed and now we see that jury selection for the trial is beginning and the public of course is being reminded of the horrible stains some of the horrible stains americans left behind in iraq let's remind our viewers that it wasn't september two thousand and seven that a blackwater security team was assigned to clear the way for a convoy of diplomats traveling through western baghdad now blackwater blackwater company that guards at the time claimed that the convoy was ambushed and that they fired at the attackers in defense but the iraqi government and the police investigator concluded that the killings were unprovoked now the defense lawyer has said and continues to say that it's not fair to do with hindsight analysis in a room seven years following the news source square massacre that left fourteen

iraq dead and more than eight hundred injures injured but the families of those victims as well as human rights leaders and citizens around the world want to see justice for the killings or at the very least the perpetrators to be put on trial and held accountable for their actions. so that finally will be. such an important. will the episode was a devastating blow to america's reputation in the middle east and it ignited a wave of criticism about the u.s. practice of contracting private companies mercenaries for wars and occupations of foreign countries let's remember that private companies like former blackwater don't have to play by the same legal rules that u.s. soldiers follow the key question in this trial of the four former blackwater guards is whether the shootings were an unprovoked attack or an attack of defense if it was defense was deadly force unnecessary mess. to you for the men to defend

themselves and those around them now if convicted the former blackwater guards could face anywhere between thirty years to life in prison. correspondent marina port now with the very latest there thank you. now in northern iraq al qaeda fighters have seized yet another city the city of to crete and that is after taking control of most school close to the country's largest oil refinery recent days jihadist fighters have been ramping up the insurgency across the country and they're now in control of the entire northern province of nineveh and its capital most school iraq's second largest city jihadist also gained ground in other parts of the country including all rich poor cook province in the city of fallujah a quarter of two million population of already fled their homes and soldiers of abandoned their posts in fear of the radicals believed to be the al qaeda splinter

group known as the islamic state of iraq and found militants of also reportedly overrun police stations and captured the city's international airport and this picture contradicts what u.s. president barack obama said three years ago when the mission in iraq. everything that american troops have done in iraq all the fighting and all the dying the bleeding and the building and the training and the partnering all of it has led to this moment of success what we're leaving behind a sovereign stable and self-reliant iraq. activists blogger and author david swanson believes that all the chaos now taking place in iraq was completely predictable three years ago. do you see the violence that one could have predicted it was when bush declared mission accomplished and we were through the government of iraq you have these i don't know that there are al qaeda but certainly

terrorists are declaring liberation well you had a us and nato terrorist occupation declaring liberation several years ago neither one is liberation neither one is is going to do anything but create masses of refugees lack of stability and ongoing violence and sick tyrian division and resentment for years to come. more than two hundred people have been killed since the start of ukraine's military operation in the east that's according to the country's health minister while the newly elected president petro poroshenko. to be set up russia's foreign minister says that moscow has been denied the chance of providing humanitarian aid residents of slavyansk in eastern ukraine claiming that their city's been devastated by tiwi far for the third night in a row. he did all.

of the decolletage you will see. that in our. new money up here for the good. thing your family. the city has been besieged by pro-government forces for weeks now and locals are suffering from water and power outages while the military operation goes on fighters from ukraine's national guard have been rallying outside the parliament building here verb demanding pay for their jobs a growing number of soldiers have been laying down their arms unwilling to turn them on civilians as restoring their records. for. six weeks on and with more than forty soldiers did military operation continues the army is in a pitched battle with anti-government activists but it's also struggling to keep itself together. that's just. sending me to war calling on me to

kill people in myanmar some just like me more and more soldiers are refusing to obey orders and despite cuba's full military mobilization in march and has all but dried up whereas once they used to before drafting officers in lugansk today only one and it's quiet they won't let us inside with the cameras i spoke with said clarke and he said there hasn't been any kind of recruitment here for weeks i asked to speak with a person in charge but was told that he's taken early retirement. last month then acting president turchynov signed a decree calling on all main aged eight hundred twenty five to involve those who did not list jail but this young man is prepared to risk even more he's not only ignored his call up he's now fighting against the very army in which he is meant to sort of. go to draft letter on the third of march that's. that i should go to the

army i refused i didn't even go to the drove center i'm not going to fight against my own people we have spirit ideals patriotism they don't have that they're only good orders and money but others did on civil court to serve a decision they now are great but we are son is twenty years old he was drafted a year ago and disserving in western ukraine she's what we thought because he comes from the east he himself will be seen as the enemy of the hippies or. i want him home soon as possible we are missing him we are really missing him the army a city like food and ammunition and a sense of purpose and a casualty count climbs it will become harder and harder to convince young men they should put their lives on the line for a cause many don't believe in point of fear r.t. eastern ukraine. paula has been reporting on the latest developments in eastern

ukraine online still today to her by following a twitter. russia has shifted the deadline for ukraine to cover its mounting billion dollar gas that has moscow and kiev remain deadlocked over the price of fuel the report very shortly on why kids refusing to pay up even though it's been offered a substantial discount whether you consumers will be affected by the dispute. education officials in the u.k. say there should be a mandatory teaching of what they call british values now that's because several schools in the city of birmingham were apparently found to be promoting extreme islamic views earlier i spoke to mohammed shafique from the ramadan foundation a group aiming to foster interfaith dialogue he believes the government is trying to undermine the entire muslim community. it's a concerted effort by michael gove the education secretary with his neo conservative ideology to demonize and attack muslims this report into the schools

and has not produced any evidence whatsoever that there was an extremist plot or there was extremist muslims taking over schools. this is being a witch hunt which is damage the standing of muslims but more importantly it's damaged the confidence children have in the education system do you think this new system of british values will actually help muslims to assimilate better into british society no government minister has been able to tell us the values that they've set out if you talk about democracy you talk about tolerance and respect and the rule of law gender equality while these are values that we sign up to these are values that people across the world would sign up to they're not just british values they're human values we as muslims are integrated in this country and the idea that somehow that we're not is deeply patronized it just once again defines communities a time when we should be looking to bring people together. i'll be back very shortly with more stories see you after this break.

please it was a. very hard take. to get along here. that are back with the earthquake there are no. limits. for the.

brave hopeful or merely a lowly what is rapidly turning into the ukrainian civil war claims it has an understanding with moscow designed to deescalate tensions and violence there are a few details known about this understanding can deliver. little. welcome by you watching r.t. international next ukraine is. taking the gauche asians of his massive gas that down dead ends that's the view of president putin of to kiev once again refused moscow's offer to sell natural gas to ukraine despite a discount of almost twenty percent. the proposed discounts don't seem to be enough for our ukrainian partners they seem to be asking for more cuts although i don't quite understand on what grounds well if that's the case then they're consciously

leading these talks down dead ends for our proposals aimed at partner relations and supporting ukraine's economy and it difficult time but if our proposals are rejected that would lead our relationship to a new level from which. putin is also stressed that the discount is the same one offered to the previous administration and is significantly higher than those enjoyed by other neighboring states still demands that moscow slash prices by a further twenty percent and despite weeks of negotiations the parties are in deadlock here's venture capital host katie pool being with the details. russia offered a one hundred dollars discount per one thousand cubic meters during the recent negotiations which would be lower than what many european countries pay but ukraine has refused and wants an even lower raise of the deadline to at least make a start on the pavement which keeps on being moved as we say has been postponed to

june the sixteen kids dead is not paid which as it stands according to gazprom amounts to four point five billion dollars that a prepayment system will be introduced but in other words that would mean the gas being turned off now these ongoing negotiations involve europe because europe also has an invested interest reliant on russia for third of its gas and fifteen percent of it comes via ukraine so if care doesn't pay then supplies to europe could be disrupted why we remember back in two thousand and six and two thousand and nine i hear will seem to be siphoning off gas that was on its way to europe due to price disputes which is what we're experiencing now this led to a cold winter for a point for europe so to avoid this scenario we've got this right here the south stream project which was put into place which would secure surprise bypassing ukraine as you can see this construction is currently frozen so it's in everyone's

interest to come to a compromise on these gas price disputes as soon as possible. let's cross live now to oxford in the u.k. where we speak to journalist and broadcaster neil clark joining us neil we heard just a few moments ago from president putin sending out a warning to kiev do you think they are likely to listen i'm not sure they will do actually neal i think that he's absolutely right to send this warning out but of course this is already being portrayed in the west as china russia trying to make threats and it's quite remarkable isn't it because ukraine as you know have been offered a very generous discount on this and yet they still want more and it really is quite incredible that the nerve and the chutzpah of the ukrainian government on this and i think the situation is if russia offered a twenty percent discount then ukraine would want twenty five russia off the twenty five you want thirty i don't think any amount of discount really will satisfy

ukraine they're supporting for a fight they want to prolong this for as long as possible and i think that we've got united states actually behind this something united states using the iranian government to try to provoke a complete russian to prevent settlement of this issue. now despite the deadlock the deadline for the first payment yet again being extended seems fairly generous how long do things can drag on for well i think russia has got to bring this to closure now but of course as a trap here because russia i mean if i behaved in this way to mask to my gas supply my gas would've been cut off a long time now if i had a my bill for several months now and i was having a huge amount so in british gas where would would cut off my gas. but i think that if russia was to do this was to do the work was actually cut off the gas to ukraine then of course this would be a trade in the west as. russia using gas as a political weapon so russia's got to you know behave very carefully but i think there has to be now a final tonic put on this this is gas far too far too long and i think what is

happening i'm afraid is the united states i believe is it is it is getting the iranian government to kind of sort of reject any compromise from moscow and that's what's wrong this out so much. well if you look at the discount offered ukraine is getting an offer of almost twenty percent i mean how much do they want white war i mean point do you think that's not enough for them well i think. it's a very generous discount for what is a very anti russian government i mean it seems that ukrainian government seems to believe that they can provoke russia much as they can killing civilians in the east as we know yet they still expect very generous discounts russia as i said earlier i think that if you wipe down further and said twenty five or thirty i think that would still be rejected by the ukrainian government but i don't think they want settlement on this they want to drag it out for as long as possible to create this kind of crisis this ongoing crisis and i think that it is only again if there is some sanity coming in from the western powers but i'm afraid united states i don't i'm not sure actually want settlement of this issue speaking to us from the u.k.

those are the thoughts of journalist and broadcaster neil clark thank you thanks neal. long anticipated peace talks between the syrian government and opposition may be held as early as this week comes after the rebels were forced out of their last stronghold of homs which has been the so-called capital of the revolution for the last three years ortiz more if a national managed to get inside the devastated city and she spoke to former militants who decided to change sides. these a new sound the tank over the city of homes the place in the shallow a bomb have to dialogue with the government the rebels left what they considered their capital and clashes stopped holmes's old town the militants last stronghold it's from here that they withdrew following the greenman to their sources and this is what's left after months of fierce clashes after months of their resistance and most can show up someone's home everything is destroyed everything in the ruins but

those who were forced to flee and no slowly returning for the first time in the area is relatively safe here and people want to be in the place they still class as her find her i just came back from the market where good thing god does become possible have to high ranking military and civil figures accepted the advances from the very people who have been targeting them. as the best word to describe the situation in which the rebels initiated talks the syrian police major was among the negotiators of the war but just a year ago he was hit by a bullet fired from the rebel side it left him disabled and doctors say he may never fully recover but he still calls for forgiveness. most of them are young people who get influenced by fanatic shakes and islamic clerics who have the extremist ideology that is alien to syrian society they motivate them by money that came from the gulf countries mostly and all this was supported by western and

israeli intelligence we need to help our guys who became victims of all this we speak with a major in what's become a kind of you have center for x. militants around twelve hundred of them were brought to go to war now talk to former military is helping them reintegrate. most of them seem forced to take up arms all of them are denied of a killing anyone that they were it's are impossible to verify. has to give us a lesson to explain to us that the regime is that the regime is attacking muslims and we have to fight. with this it comes just days after series first presidential elections in decades this man tells us he voted for son the person who he was fighting against just weeks ago. in reconciliation is assets initiative he wants to rebuild our peace in our. hands or who may have once targeted people in syrian army

uniform could soon be wearing it himself as part of the rehab program the twenty two year old could be sent to serve in the country's army and flies no way that i'll kill any of my brothers by religion i won't kill my former brothers in arms of the i do not want to kill or hurt anybody it's certain that those behind this reconsideration issue to say the important thing is to encourage other militants still resisting and there are many of them to lay down their arms a what remains the only district in the city a home still held by the rebels their fishel say they are not less than three thousand and the army is here nearby and also surrounding the area and they are ready for an operation any moment but the rest of violence there too. in three villages around homes and in some other syrian provinces the situation is similar but it was a long way to go before peace is returned here but hopes are high today that syria is

a least having the right track. from homes in syria. japan's taking its first steps towards making its military technology go global tokyo and australia are looking to forge a closer alliance with a multi-billion dollar stove submarine deal the first major transfer of tokyo's military designs to australia is seen as a step towards countering china's growing clout in the region and it comes as prime minister shinzo. which is for greater involvement in settling international disputes since coming to power in twenty twelve the japanese pm has made moves to change his country's post-war pacifist stance step by step in early twenty thirteen for the first time in more than a decade japan raised its defense budget during an island dispute with china and in april of that year tokyo relaxed its self-imposed ban arms exports saying it needs to expound the domestic defense industry the following month promise to our base said article nine of the constitution which outlaws war to settle disputes he said

it should be revised and in late twenty thirteen a five year defense plan was adopted including the purchase of drones and vehicles going into account takes a closer look at the regional shifts in power. after japan together with the nazi germany lost in the second world war it adopted a constitution which says the japanese people for every now swore as a sovereign right of the nation in the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph lend see it air forces as well as other war potential will never be maintained throughout these years though japan has maintained armed forces but strictly for the purpose of self defense well japan's current prime minister. wants to rewrite that constitution and expend japan's military power in the region laying out a vision of tokyo as

a counterweight to china but without naming any country prime minister abi offered japan's help to regional allies quote to ensure security of the seas and skies the japanese government has already relaxed arms export rules in april china is in the center of a number of territorial disputes in south china sea with the philippines vietnam and. the east china sea with japan over same cockle and islands the u.s. is very much in broiled in all of this claiming that the disputes to mend a larger u.s. military presence in asia pacific sixty percent of the u.s. is fleet is there for us as a large military presence in australia japan the fillip is and guam and the u.s. doesn't mind its ally japan becoming more militarized. the united states welcomes japan's efforts to play a more proactive role in contributing to global and regional peace and stability

including reexamining the interpretation of which constitution chuck hagel has lashed out at china for what he called destabilizing unilateral actions asserting its claims in the south china sea china hit back on personally think the speech by mr haygood is full of her germany full of threats and intimidation china is accusing the due west of using the disputes and exacerbating them to gain a strategic advantage in the region if you're in indonesia aim is you're looking at this and what you're seeing is is that japan is piling on along with the united states japan may say that its plan is to secure peace but critics argue any military expansion would lead to more tension in washington i'm going to check on r.t. . new york city is set to cough up six hundred thousand dollars in settlements to fourteen occupy wall street protests this find down to the details of the legal

dispute that resulted in the laws occupy related payment to date all the information on our website. also there is it possible to scenes like these could soon be seen in britain's capital the london there is bored england's very first water cannons and we've got all the details on our. broadcast of the popular weekly program good morning jerusalem was cut short after israeli forces raided a palestinian television studio the show had been covering a hunger strike of a palestinian detainees on the same day soldiers this time to freelance journalist breaking its camera and raising the recordings we spoke to the presenter of the show my own boss about what exactly happened that day. on friday an israeli police car blocked the exit from the building where the program was being ed and they rounded up everyone inside and they said we had to stop the broadcast and that all those involved in the show were under arrest they

also told us that we were translating illegally even though we have a license to broadcast from that part of the city that i suppose the israeli occupation forces are afraid of any media coverage that reveals the truth about oppression and human rights violations and their answer is to get journalists and terrorize any idea but i doubt this tactic will be successful for what the flying high in crosstalk with peter lavelle and that is next here on r.t. international if you're watching as in the u.k. though find out how our news is actually made for you is the latest episode of yours to enjoy. economic record. for.

peace in our life and. what if the public. likes to put. on temporary history of yugoslavia this formation as a prosperous and peaceful country was considered to be a success story of market socialism. in many regards it was the most people develop . who was this teacher of democracy and market economy if any republic in yugoslavia wanted for the q. and a it would have to break away from yugoslavia and declared its independence ok . it's not a conspiracy theory it's not my speculation it's not my analysis it's a public. sentiment. and punish it

harshly for every slightly less some unlearnt the serbs started this war the serbs really original cause of the war they are the complete aggressors and launderers. mom caught. on that. bomb small. bomb all of tofu kitchens six of them knew its own so please go assist in the multi-ethnic society to live in harmony and show not. what was forgotten to be told feel about yugoslavia the weight of chains on our teeth.