v.o.i.p. interviews intriguing story for you. arabic to find out more visit arabic t.v. . israeli pm to continue destroying how mass made tunnels through the border with or without a cease fire is the death toll from the operation surge is over fourteen hundred. one of america's most wanted former cia specialist edward snowden has asked to extend his asylum in russia saying the u.s. is not willing to offer a fair trial in the. the regional capital of lugansk in eastern ukraine is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster after relentless bombing as women and children trying to flee to safety we listened to some of their stories.

to see once again manage the harbin you're watching r.t. international the israeli prime minister has said that the operation to destroy hamas made tunnels under the border with gaza will continue with or without a cease fire despite the soaring death toll among the civilian population caused by the extensive use of artillery fire and strikes and his footage of one of israel's attacks on a busy garza market we saw fifteen people killed please be warned it contains some graphic images. was was. was

was was was. was and is tell of even cysts on continuing with her still it is the death toll is rising every day the number of palestinians killed and most of them have been civilians as now topped thirteen hundred moving ever closer to the tragic number of victims of the gaza war in two thousand and eight hundred thousand the nine israel itself has lost fifty eight people all but two of them soldiers with a mass violating ceasefires by firing rockets and using tunnels to infiltrate israeli territory let's take a look at the scale of the devastation in gaza from another angle these satellite images released by a u.n. affiliated organization show the strip of before and after bombardments and as you

can see on the screen whole districts have been leveled to the ground. meanwhile another un school has reportedly come under israeli shelling leaving one man dead and fifteen more injured and just a day after a strike on a un run schooling gaza saw twenty people killed including children hundred said being seeking refuge there hoping to escape the daily bombardments and this attack there was widespread outrage at the u.n. spokesperson calling it a universal disgrace even washington is condemned not shelling i think elected to actually put any blame on israel. so that you can show. who showing are we talking about what we understand the anger has put out a statement of views that we would underscore the importance of a full and prompt investigation to determine the facts so you are not ready to condemn israel for say for the showing of the school correct we haven't said that

there needs to be a full investigation to see what happened here specifically are you asking the israelis to not make any u.n. facilities a target because there are civilians that are seeking shelter there i'm not going to make a blanket statement at least what i'm going sometimes it's ok i'm not saying that i'm just not going to make a blanket statement about what our private conversations with the israelis look like even if they are her rockets inside does that justify the killing of innocent civilians civilians who are seeking shelter but there's a lot a lot of different pieces happening on the ground and quite frankly a lot of facts we don't know yet we don't know whether or not there were actually rockets in a school we don't know for certain who shelled the school so we need to get all the facts i don't want to make blanket statements i just want to put forward our principles are and will every time something happens we will make a determination on that specific incident on its own merit. the israeli attack on gaza is finding little support across the globe with people taking to the streets

to protest against the killings and part of the sentiment may be caused by social media which is allow palestinians to report on what is going on near their homes earlier i discussed with my colleague across the what role the internet is playing in this particular conflict. i think it's fair to say that social media is changing the way narrative around gaza is playing out and the case of farrah baker a sixteen year old girl from gaza is certainly a good case in point she's a native of gaza her father's a neurosurgeon in the one of the hospitals there and she began live tweeting from her house pictures and vines of an israeli bombardment flares in the sky rockets in the sky this kind of thing now her tweets were basically picked up by media over the weekend and her following absolutely ask a really really extraordinary way she had about three to four hundred followers then suddenly she went to eighty thousand followers creases in it so i mean in the future looks bright obviously they think this is a legitimate source of finding out what's really happening in the conflict from

a young girl's got no reason to make any of this up inside story so is it almost that upwards from here that i think probably she's going to find that her numbers will plateau but frankly i don't think she really cares i think she's more interested in the realities of everyday life that are around her right now she's tweeting about the absolutely horrendous realities that people are experiencing in gaza but i think the major point here in the most interesting point is that social media is certainly changing the way the gaza narrative is operating it's certainly changing the way people are starting to perceive the conflict in the middle east if we take a quick look at the israel under fire for example which was issued by the i.d.f. when they began their operation into gaza you can just get an idea of how intensely that's being tweeted now let's have a look at gaza under attack and let's see the global impact that this is having. as you can see the gods are under attack. is certainly operating at a much much more intense of a much stronger level than. the i.d.f. would like to admit it's all part of the social media war that's been conducted around the gaza lines. very interesting story and it just comes from the ground is

nothing that's why people find it so interesting there's no not a political involvement in this as it's the people really in the heart of the matter is i like to think of it that maybe social media is changing the game somewhat with plans to continue its operation tell of its called up sixteen thousand additional reserve troops but not everybody wants to join the attack on gaza auntie's paullus leader met with i.d.f. soldiers who were fed up with the ambitions of the government and are refusing to take part in any more destruction in the future i hope. i can aspire to be reasonable palestinian and after israel no longer exists. as one of a kind the thirty three year old it's really program cuts a solitary figure on the margins of israeli society formally a soldier in israel's defense forces he now hits a campaign for those who want to resist the draft on political grounds but he knows

his views have made him an outcast. i'm not a true israeli unlike some israeli or i'm a bad israeli in the eyes of the regime. israel is not a place for dissenters a recent poll in israel found that nearly nine out of ten it is rabies not only supported the army's operation in gaza but wanted extended those who criticize it are meeting head on and called naive and traitors during a recent antiwar demonstration in the center of tel aviv left when protesters were attacked by right wing extremists chanting death to arabs verbal attacks seem to mean physically fine and when protesters were beaten up on their way home but there remains a small vocal minority who are not afraid to speak out whatever the cost the divine man a former i.d.f. soldier in occupied territories is one of them but it's very hard to talk about it you know so that because. it's very very scary. and that's why i

think about. ok i want to be quiet anymore about what is happening over there after the dove now works for breaking the silence and it's really human rights organization which collects testimonies from former soldiers and tells these stories to the world to talk about settlers violence we're talking about driving from saudi towards boasting we're talking about dozens of checkpoints in a very very small area only a few abra even asked to speak out against an institution that beats at the heart of israeli society we have to remember that the soldiers that testify just examples of what any other soldiers are doing not because the soldiers are bad people it just shows the israeli public the reality of what is going on there but most of the israeli public of reluctant to hear a different point of view and are defending the country's bloody war in gaza policy r.t. tell of of. course in

a paulus lear amazin. television closely following the ongoing events in israel and gaza you can read the updates on her twitter feed and there she says that almost a quarter of the guards the population has been displaced by the violence. next former cia specialist edward snowden has filed for an extension to his asylum in russia the whistleblower is hiding from the u.s. or thora g.'s after exposing america's global spy network and sabrina kosovo explains now returning home is not an option edward snowden's a lawyer not only his client is waiting to hear whether his asylum is renewed for another year he applied for temporary asylum back in august two thousand and thirteen and he was granted that for a year and he had the option to extend it for another twelve months needless to say edward snowden doesn't wish to return to the united states because he is a wanted man there that's after u.s.

operatives accused them of leaking secrets surveillance programs by the u.s. national security agency to the media and he's facing charges related to espionage at one point it was even treason and the charges there yea if he does go back to the united states he faces up to ten years on the charge and of course as we know it's not only one charge or two that he has so he faces a substantial time behind bars and also here right now in the country has been here a year and reportedly has found a job of related to website maintenance and of course we'll find out what happens if he gets it another extension and will be bringing all the latest on the n.s.a. whistleblower recently spoke to britain's guardian newspaper which frequently has published his revelations snowden said he wasn't working with moscow in any way he added that if the u.s. could have found any link to the russian government then this would have been all over the media. and snowden also believes that the u.s.

would be able to give him a fair trial and even in exile he says he feels more comfortable on t.v. war activist than journalist norman solomon feels that washington's out for retaliation for what it believes was a betrayal it's really not possible for edward snowden could get a fair trial and united states the structure of the legal system and the politics in the usa involve a way in which the u.s. government is the judge with curie and the center there is enormous you are in. the top of this whole so-called intelligence community of the united states to silence the voice of edward snowden you know they would like to do to snowden what they did to chelsea manning yet him back in the united states put him in solitary confinement prevent any meaningful contact with the news media or the paul

and then put him away in prison and we've got plenty more news on the way including the very latest from ukraine i'll see you after this short break. so we need. to see. your party is it that. is that no one is there with a big they deserve answers from. if you drive people away from the dollar many people now it must be sitting there saying gosh if we have u.s. dollars and the u.s. decides they don't like us they're going to put sanctions on us so people more and more people would say maybe i should use the u.s. dollars.

welcome back a large city in the east of ukraine has been pounded with artillery around thirty residents have been killed in just the past four days houses schools hospitals and shops in lugansk have been left damaged or burnt out ukrainian army is trying to take control over focal points of anti cure of resistance using all available means now the city's been left without power the local authorities say it's on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe no food supplies have come in and what's left in storage

in shops is quickly expiring as fridges don't work on top of the tank to say that drinking water will run out in the next ten days. of course in the middle of the conflict are thousands of civilians hiding in basements or sometimes even churches is the tough reality for these women and children tens of thousands have already fled but many more simply don't have the means to do so. we do stevie g. he'd not this is. digging digging down my he stopped by my parents but. it's. one of those three that you know you see of them all it's a bug in them so you don't go well it's. a little yes. but overall that's all of them some of the work. but it was good and they. did

it. and at least a third of the refugees the children international monitors that have witnessed the exodus say it's far from safe even for cars that are clearly marked. we did notice a lot of civilians we noticed for example that always in their cars and they had their word russian do their job or to come to the windows to give their children their cars so there's definitely a sense of the city that was kind of the the explosions that we heard when we decided to turn or. not a straw man cos i've met with some of those who've crossed over into russia and hoping for a fresh start away from the violence. of the kiya was twelve years old when the second world war began and the grandmother remembers that sign vividly but you probably never imagined that seventy three years later she would once again be

hiding from airstrikes in her own backyard and being they have been bombing us and they are still doing it now the jets fly very low you can hear them firing in the morning and in the evening the scams been operating since mid june displaced people find shelter here for a few days and then move on to places more suitable for longer term living the latest arrivals came from the shell shocked town of slogans. you spoke i couldn't sleep during my first night here before i left i said goodbye to my sister and pay for the paperwork so that she could have my flat yelena says she's lost everything is the result of kiev's military action her only hope for a fresh start now is in the siberian city of novosibirsk where she has relatives living in. basic would happen i was getting the passion and was still working now i've lost my job my house and my pension. at least

a third of the rich few geezer children and russian humanitarian authorities try to provide what they can to make their time here as comfortable as possible but no matter the effort such conditions are certainly not normal for these youngsters this trip you can hold up to five hundred people is just a kilometer away from the border which frequently comes on their artillery fire from ukraine the people i've talked to here are now one nothing to do with their former country. the last straw was constant shelling and gunfire that forced them to practically live in basements or bomb shelters for others the sights of friends and relatives killed by multiple rocket strikes on call for a russian ukrainian border. over the mainstream media across the atlantic the ukrainian crisis is in all its complexity boil down to just the one person who's gonna cheat you count looks at what seems to be an obsession with the russian president. president

obama said he does not believe this growing tension with russia could be the beginning of the new cold war no. no it's not a new cold war one could only wish turn this thought the same or at least those who are making covers of magazines because some of them hark back to the cold war as if they were made back in the day no matter how complicated an issue you can be almost certain that the media are going to boil it down to personalities well with ukraine it's one personality the russian president what does he do when he's working all for an outdoor adventure and why don't we see him smiling very much he's not really driven by by women. we're distracted by alcohol he's very tough he's a very arrogant. person to deal with and what kind of diplomacy can you expect moving forward when diplomats use this kind of language

this is the you came back to the united states speaking give me three adjectives you'd use to describe a lot of your proof. i'm not a poet but. i think. dishonest afraid comes to mind because we've had all these lies. but i think it's a reckless to makes one wonder if they really want to solve the problem or if they're good with the current state of affairs the media focus on the russian president has had its effect on twitter where users came up with a hash tag putin and now many use it to comment on pretty much anything it didn't rain in my country today i blame poison for it or a mosquito just bit me blame putin and then to the report that former georgian president saakashvili doesn't want to go back to his country to stand trial and says he blames putin this use of goes if you are in trouble just playing. it washington i'm going to check out our. we will bring you all the latest updates on

the inquiry for you on air and also online where we have plenty more stories for you such as could ebola become the plague of the twenty first century a hospital in hamburg is agreed to accept infected patients leaving germany's neighbors worry about the curable virus spreading across europe. and one hundred twenty three million dollars that's the compensation a texas woman wants from facebook discover online just what she says the social network has done to. now one of the u.k.'s leading banks h.s.b.c. has closed the accounts of a number of muslim groups in the country saying that they pose too much of a risk by answering to the accusations of prejudice they insisted that decision wasn't based on race or religion of the customers anas altikriti for in the islamic think tank the cordoba foundation is among those whose account is being closed and

he feels the decision is both politicized and insulting. i'm utterly bewildered and so is everyone else who hears about this about why my twelve year old for instance how does it count close so it's all reeks of extreme be unsavory reasons and context that this comes from this is targeted campaign against areas of the sectors of the muslim community britain which are politically active but sickly against the israeli aggression in palestine and i also see that. essentially but this is. not a commercial decision based on the best interests of h.s.b.c. but rather a political want. around for more global headlines for you now starting in istanbul where police used water cannons to stop fighting between supporters of two presidential candidates both rivals to the current prime minister activists for

a kurdish counted it were attacked by a mob supporting the former head of the organization of islamic cooperation stones were thrown at a stand directed by the kurds and their campaign material set on fire presidential elections will be held in turkey in august. as well hundreds of taking to the streets of when is there is to support president cristina kids now as argentina deals with economic difficulties countries failed to reach an agreement with international creditors on its debt which was due to be paid by the end of july economists say that the country is facing a technical default but the government is refusing to publicly admit its. britain has begun a public inquiry into one of the most mysterious deaths of the decade the murder of the former russian security officer alexander litvinenko he was poisoned by radioactive polonium eight years ago in london i think pretty boy who was at the first court session. but it's got all the hallmarks of

a political spine of all radioactive murder on the streets of london alleged. i'm into involvement and now a new public inquiry that's just opened in london to look into the death of alexander litvinenko now the judge has said that the previous inquest into the death of the former f.s.b. officer basically collapsed after the british government blocked some secret documents from being revealed saying it was a risk to national security now the home secretary theresa may has finally given the go ahead for this inquiry to go forward and the sole purpose of this inquiry is to look into whether the russian state is responsible for mr litvinenko his two thousand and six murder and i walked into the court room today and managed to speak to his widow marina eleven anchor who told me that she's extremely pleased that this inquiry is going ahead that she can finally try and get to the force of who

murdered her husband now despite some of the hearings taking place behind closed doors the judge has said that the conclusion that he comes to is going to be made very much public so his judgement on whether or not the russian government was involved in that killing will be made public that we can expect said around about the end of twenty fifteen when the inquiry officially draws to a close. see with the very latest in just over half an hour's time stay with us up next will depart with looks on a board. dramas

the chance to be ignored. stories others refused to notice. faces changed the world lights never. filled picture of today's events. on demand from around the globe. up to. fifty. hello and welcome to worlds apart soldiers die while politicians receive all the glory so as a jewish proverb seems ever more timely today as the global politics seems to shift

from one bloody crisis to the next is there a way to stop it while to discuss that i'm now joined by a former soldier and a former politician also served as israel's prime minister ehud barak mr barak thank you very much for being here now you've had a very long very fruitful career in these really government and during your early years politics was dominated by two main issues the israeli palestinian conflict and later on the iranian nuclear dossier or but now it seems we are witnessing a proliferation of global crisis in africa in the middle is now in this and europe what is behind these snowballing effect what do you think is the main reason for this multiplication of problems. so. in the middle east it's a collapse of world although that was. a hundred years ago following world war one. is. disappearing.

the arab spring. three years into a muslim to. a lot of damage a lot of hope. but a lot of damage and i heard you say about a long term hold many times but i wonder where you derive that hope from because it seems that the region is not really moving towards the euro basically the people who stand up and exposed to the. ultimately even the most autocratic regimes has to take them into account in a more sincere way the absolute leaders in the previous generation so i think for us these are two lessons or one insight form form these kind of phenomena number one is in the middle east don't make poor.