new kind of power this technology that is very tempting. the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees accuses israel of using disproportionate force in the death toll there reaches fourteen hundred people. one of america's most wanted people former n.s.a. contractor turned whistleblower edward snowden to extend his asylum in russia claiming he won't receive a fair trial in the u.s. . regional capital of the down screen in eastern ukraine is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster after relentless bombing as women and children attempt to flee to safety we listen to some of their stories.

just past nine pm here in moscow this thursday evening you're tuned in to r.t. international my name's o'neill welcome our top story in gas almost five hundred thousand civilians have become refugees hospitals have been destroyed food is running low on there's no elektra's city it's taking the situation in the region to the brink of a complete humanitarian catastrophe and that is according to valerie amos the u.n. bodies under secretary general who said israel must make clear where its firing. we have all watched in horror at this ration of children of civilians as they have come under attack with no safe place to go. under international humanitarian or the government of israel the mass and other militant groups must

distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and between competence and civilian with they must also believe harming civilians or civilian objects and protect them from the effects of minute. the un senior human rights official claimed that israel and hamas should be held accountable for possible war crimes she said tel aviv is breaking international law and doing this deliberately by targeting civilian structures in its ongoing operation here is footage of one of israel's attacks on a busy gaza market which saw fifteen killed shells even had two workers there it does contain graphic images i was . right here was. was

was. was . with tel aviv insisting on continuing the hostilities the death toll rises every day the number of palestinians killed most of them civilians has topped thirteen hundred people now it's moving ever closer to the tragic number of victims of the gaza war in two thousand and eight two thousand and nine israel itself has lost fifty eight people all but two of them soldiers with a mosque violating ceasefires by firing rockets and using tunnels to infiltrate israeli territory let's take a look at the scale of devastation in gaza from another angle these satellite images released by a u.n. affiliated organization show the strip before and after the bombardments as you can see on screen whole districts have been leveled to the ground. you know our another

u.n. school has reportedly come under it's really shelling leaving one man dead and fifteen injured just a day after a strike on a different school so are twenty people including children killed hundreds had been seeking refuge there hoping to escape the delhi bombardments that attack caused widespread i preach we talked to the spokesperson of the organization controlling the schools chris for good as he sees they warned israel numerous times that there were civilians in the buildings. there's been creation alice's trajectory analysis we've examined the day bri we've examined the damage and we were confident enough to make a strong public condemnation of the israeli army for having. a for for this serious violation of international law we were confident enough to make a public statement that it was indeed israeli artillery which struck the school and don't forget we made seventeen calls one seven calls to the israeli army we gave

them the precise called nights of the school and we made it clear to them that there were three thousand three hundred people at the school so they knew very well that this place was we estimate that there are seventy five thousand children in gaza and i'm sure it's much higher of that that are deeply traumatized there are the scars you can see and the scars you can't see now we saw the wounds but i fear that the scars are that you can see the psychological scars are going to be far far deeper. r.t. also spoke with the israeli side to get their explanation to what's going on. we're doing everything we possibly can to try to limit and to. restrict the civilian casualties in very difficult circumstances a terrible terrible tragedy that's that's unfolding it before our eyes the responsibility for which lies directly at the doorstep of hamas i'm not going to belittle the death of any civilian this is precisely the reason why we did not want to be in this conflict in the first place we said so repeatedly loud and clear we

also did through through quietly through the diplomatic channels that quiet would be answered with quiet for three weeks prior to the two to al being forced to going to put a stop to this we've accepted and implemented in abided by five i think it is ceasefire proposals all of which we were rejected and and violated by hamas and they have abused the palestinian but it was an obvious charge. if i was really that it's attacked by your country international journalists covering the conflict have said they've never seen so many children's deaths so many that is their words neither back in the previous were even in libya or syria or iran how do you react to that well first of all i will say to you that i think that the trade in blood in numbers is a little bit distasteful especially since nobody has the numbers i you know i again it's a cold and horrible reality but to say that it's anything anywhere approaching what

goes on in libya and syria of course you and i both know is is simply silly we two are talking two hundred thousand people who've been put in syria and. to let's say one in a hundred thousand over here in tragic circumstances about forty percent of whom are armed terrorists but that leaves too many civilians who have been killed we know of tens and tens and thousands of booby trapped houses by come us waiting for our soldiers which have caused incredible damage inside gaza but i agree with you a lot of the damage is also being caused by fall on the on israel's side and this is precisely the reason why we didn't want to be in this conflict. with plans to continue its operation tell of the eve has called up sixteen thousand additional reserve troops but not everyone wants to join the attack on gaza artie's polis leader met with i.d.f. soldiers fed up with the ambitions of the government and 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 exist in yell rosenberg is one of a kind the thirty three year old israeli programmer cuts a solitary figure on the margins of israeli society formerly 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 is rabies not only supported the army's operation in gaza but wanted extended those who criticize it are made hit on and called naive and traitors during a recent antiwar demonstration in the center of tel aviv fifth 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 because. it's very very thorough. and that's why it took me. about two years. then i decided ok i want to be quiet anymore about what is happening over 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 drilling from saudi towards boasting we're talking about dozens of checkpoints in a very very small area only a few obregon after speed. carte against an institution that beats at the heart of

israeli society we have to remember the 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 you see on t.v. television. were closely following the ongoing events in israel with her correspondent paul asleep in tel aviv you can read the updates on her twitter feed where she says hamas is continuing to fire rockets obvious real causing heavy damage and injuring one person in the city of sadr a. former cia specialist edward snowden has filed for an extension to his asylum stay in russia the whistleblower is hiding from u.s. authorities after exposing america's global spying network and this marina cost rev

explains 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 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 years of ours he's accused them of leaking secrets surveillance programs by the u.s. national security agency to the media and he's facing trial related to espionage at one point it was even treason and the charges there year 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

and if he gets it another extension and we'll be bringing you all the latest the n.s.a. whistleblower recently spoke to britain's guardian newspaper which frequently published his revelations snowden said he wasn't working with moscow in any way doubt if the u.s. could find any link to the russian government then it would have been all over the media snowden also believes the u.s. won't give him a further trial and even the next he says he feels more comfortable and he wore activist on journalist norman solomon feels washington's are to retaliate for what it believes was a betrayal. it's really not possible for edward snowden to get a fair trial in the united states the structure of the vehicle system and the politics in the usa involved a way into which the u.s. government is the judge the jury and the sentence or there is enormous eagerness. the top official the so-called intelligence community of the united

states to silence the voice of edward snowden they would like to do to snowden what they did to chelsea manning get him back in the united states put him in solitary confinement prevent any meaningful contact with the news media or the public and then put him away in prison the you has revealed the full details of it sanctions against russia's banks brought a bunch over the crisis in ukraine some of russia's largest financial institutions which bankroll energy and i guess culture sectors are on the list peter all over has the details. the full details have now come out about what the latest round of sanctions entailed what we're looking at is its targets three main sectors of the russian economy now in terms of the banking sector we've seen sanctions slapped on five of russia's biggest banks including the biggest spur bank which will stop them

from being able to sell bonds to european investors with regards to the energy sector what we're going to see is anybody who wants to provide equipment technology towards russia they're going to have to get approval we're looking at things here like the continued exploration for oil in the arctic that could be affected by this and when it comes to defense well there is a ban on imports and exports all of this into russia however that isn't retroactive norms these are any deals that have gone on in the past any deals that have been agreed they'll all be fine and be allowed to progress but they that's basically the brus tax of water of what these latest sanctions until it are all over there more news coming up after a short break. this is a medium so we leave the. bush is secure. your party is

in the. issues that no one is asking with to get that you deserve answers from. politic. sigrid laboratory. was able to build the world's most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything. to teach the creation why it should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only.

sixteen minutes into the program welcome back a large city in the east of ukraine continues to be punted with artillery around thirty residents of lugansk have been killed in the past four days with the local infrastructure damaged as well now the city's been left without power and local authorities say it's on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe no food supplies have come in and what is left in storage and shops is quickly expiring a fridge is on freezers do not work on top of the activists say drinking water will run out in ten days. caught 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 knew more simply stevie g.

he was there with us dee dee and who would it cause digging is seen as a quest to gain the mighty capitalist oppression family each a dyke to put on spot i think the third of the refugees are children international monitors not have witnessed the exists a it's far from safe even for cars that are clearly marked. everything we did notice the flawless abilities we noticed for example valleys in their cars and they had their words in russian do their job or to come to their 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 back we're very. artie's from cost for i've met with some of those who've crossed over into russia hoping for a fresh start away from the violence. yet 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 with you before i left i said goodbye to my sister and pay for the paperwork so that she could have my flat yelena says she has 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 the money whenever a foot something like this could happen. was getting the panshin and was still

working now lost my job my house and my pension. at least six thirty 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 lauren and for these youngsters this trip you can take and 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 for 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 cost her of russia ukraine and water. lots of stories on line few right now including. have you ever wanted to just plug a u.s.b. drive into your brain and then not worry about having to remember anything at all

well scientists from the university of michigan are close to meeting now to reality apparently their method involves water as well find out all about it r t dot com. also discover how london is preparing to tackle odds of controlled rates in the future ahead it involves bracelets for more go to our website r t v dot com. one of the u.k.'s leading banks here ches b.c. has closed the accounts of a number of muslim groups in the country saying they pose too much of a risk to the accusations of prejudice the bank insisted decision wasn't based on race or religion of the customers to talk more on the issue i'm joined live by a trustee of finsbury park mosque also here ches b c client welcome to you how did the bike explain to you the closure of the a comment. we have received

a letter from your bank to notify us on the twenty second of july to notify the account to be closed and we've seen way to know would apply there was absolutely no reason given a tool for us to their motives behind it and obviously we are now pursuing to have a clear explanation from. where they've actually taken that this is you. know the official reason given for some of the closures is that the client no longer folds within its quote risk appetite what does that mean. this is exactly our interpretation to fish species if they were given us a clear reason and we would be able to at least maybe to address the issue or to find out but what we believe in is actually this is a clear campaign. in the slammer for be a policy that instituted by his species against the british muslims in new york individual as well as charities and who believe they. should be held ashamed for

their actions and should really be clearly that we should be working to stop to stop such because it will have and he has a huge negative impact on the social cohesion of britain have you tried to contest a decision. we haven't been given an opportunity but we increasingly convinced that this is an islam or for pick campaign prostitution campaign against the muslim community or the british muslim community newquay and we will we've enjoyed actually a tremendous support from our local council from our local m.p. from our partners and friends within the faith forum within also our voluntary sector that we work on a daily basis i mean just last week we had a very successful open last week and that brings tirelessly the fruitless of all the good work that we've been doing for the last ten years trying to change the image and the relationship within those within the wider community so faith and

fave people with three thousand feet they really totally supported us and we felt it for three days and we've seen every one stand with us to stop this because unfortunate things that we have to be busy dealing with specie for the islam of a campaign rather than tackling the real issue of the daily vive of tackling drugs and tackle in small kids and tackling all the negatives that really the daily people their lives were local muslim organizations that works for the local people so we really our strength is our grassroots contacts and obviously they are in shock and upset of what's happened and they want to proceed to explain itself and this islam of a big campaign should be stopped immediately. mara one of the former here just b.c. clients we've been hearing about thank you for that. let's move on to more global headlines now in istanbul police use water cannon to stop fighting between supporters of two presidential candidates both rivals of the current prime minister

activists for a kurdish candidate were attacked by a mob supporting the former head of the organization of islamic cooperation stones were thrown of a standard directed by the kurds and their campaign material set on fire presidential elections will be held in turkey in august. the deadliest outbreak of the ebola virus in west africa has claimed the lives of more than seven hundred people in sierra leone a public health emergency has been the third neighboring liberia closed schools in an effort to stop it spreading that already been registered in three african capitals with international airport sparking fears it could move rapidly around the world. now it's one of the most famous parts of russia's most famous fortress interests will be able to walk right through it the gates of the kremlin's main clock tower will be thrown open to visitors. tourist access to this site which is currently undergoing reconstruction work to completely restore it to its original

plan under those works government officials based out the site were moved to new premises another decisions being made for them to remain where they are meeting access for tourists will no longer be restricted when workers were posturing in and it's. off the news for now but up next the former israeli prime minister gives his take on the current conflict in worlds apart stay with us. sometimes i am baffled by the closed little world that a lot of people in the mainstream media must live in they seem shocked and appalled at the fact that around forty percent of the weapons supplied afghanistan have gone

missing let's ignore the fact that while americans are going broke the u.s. must rebuild the afghan military and think for just a second what would happen if you set a lot of weapons into a country in dire economic suffering i'm sure you've heard reports that say that afghan farmers could only make a living off of poppy crops because they just have no the resort so if you throw a bunch of guns and ammo into the hands of people who have the career choices of poppies or starvation yeah that someone might be willing to sell some bullets to get by also we shouldn't forget that every government on earth has people in it working for their old self interests or others interests it is totally naive to think that every person involved in the process of transferring weapons will be loyal to the afghan government which seems to have been put in place by a certain hyper power who will remain nameless in short if you find this story shocking then you really need to get off the couch and see how the world really works but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to worlds apart soldiers die while politicians receive all the glory 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 a while to discuss that i'm 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 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. in the middle east is that it's a. world order it was. a hundred years ago following world war one. is. disappearing. the arab spring turned the easy in three years into a muslim. we. made a lot of hope for the long. but a lot of damage in the short term 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 really like is not really moving towards europe basically the fact that people could stand up and express their vote 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 and one. is kind of number one is in the middle east don't make prophecies. about the future see look at egypt for example mubarak i was very friendly with him for a generation he had half a million people working internally. couldn't believe how can we can i pick up on this point because i.