for ever a game, this one, it will, i lose a specialist who did that very specific tough. they all value but they take years to trade and the for to quit. we find out how old the russian snipers from the viking for our aiming to be one step ahead of the realities of modern warfare. with her cane of fat, give french truth the one month to leave the country as local say, parents isn't actually trying to help africans there. to listen. we're happy about this because if france was really there to help us terrorism would not have developed at this level. francis playing

a double game and there's only pursuing its own interest and encore condemn, star called over the public. the burning of the koran by a swedish politician has turkey remains the only country walking sweden from joining nato. put on. this is a huge provocation. this is an attempt to get a reaction out of 2 are key in the muslim world. this has nothing to do with freedom or democracy with coming to you why from the russian capital. this is our international. i'm rachel robins here with the top stories of the hour. welcome to the program. we begin with russia is her song region where at least one civilian has been killed and another wounded in the ukrainian shelling of the city of no, via a guy a private house was seen up in flames. in the aftermath of the bombardment, several other civilian buildings were also damage. has the ukrainian shelling had

a residential area? here's what some locals told us about the attack. j can associate digital music who lives here, only civilians. of course, there are no soldiers here we. it's good that the children had already left. we went to bed and then came the shelling. we've been working our whole lives with now we're old and have nothing. god help us, but we won't can't. but will you call the circle, the windows of the shelter were blown out in the house? the windows were shattered, and even the iron doors were blown out on to the street. yes, i am left all alone here. i don't know what to do and where to go. do i live nearby? i hear the shelling each day. every other day, they hit the city center. our organization is not a military one. we help the population and that's it. there are no soldiers here and never have been the ukraine conflict has demonstrated the ever changing rules of modern warfare as soldiers are forced to adapt to new realities on the ground.

snipers are among those who face on the hardest challenges as they're exposed by enemy, drones and other technology artes. mariah garcia caught up with elite sharpshooters from a russian military group called viking to find out about their tactics. and just a warning. the following report contains some graphic combat says this graphic footage obtained by our t v shows an exceptionally brutal battle. soldiers of the 2nd army cool based and le ganske assault, a heavily fortified ukrainian position. a come in quite crawling on the barbed wire . once inside the perimeter, they strike quickly converging on to dug out, exits, and blocking ukrainian troops inside. they are caught completely by surprise.

eventually, a surviving ukrainian soldier attempt to charge out what follows. he's a savage face to face $53.00 enemy dead to capture the love, surprise one the day. it is achieved in various ways. wait for the enemy to drop their god pound them and to cover with artillery. oh said snipers to keep their heads down. these are specialists pulled in the very specific tasks. they are valuable, they take years to train and a fortune to equip condo conversica. therefore with this a t s via a stalingrad sniper rifle, which is 338 caliber. it's an anti sniper weapon, but we mostly use it for anti personnel work. his partner carries something,

a little more exotic made in america perfectly. but last night of korean soccer, this is a barret, m 107, a one on the plus side. it has a powerful round good for long distance operations and also against lightly ahmed vehicles. on the minus side is heavy, ammunition is scarce and it's very loud. this rifle was taken from a of foreign mercenaries killed by russian troops booth, massive and extremely loud, sometimes outweighs everything else that i was watching you prefer. the job is uneasy. this is the 21st century war. drones are everywhere, thermal imaging, drones, which are difficult to evade. also lots of artillery. you can't stay in one place very long. after every shot they tell us, they have minutes to get away before the 3rd shelves come screaming in, they have to peek their targets. spotters and offices always take priority,

it's risky and challenging. work around hodge my talking with them. when you head out for an overnight stays difficult psychologically very difficult and physically demanding, but psychologically even more he can't move is limited space. the list goes on and on that every specialist weapon or tactic least conflict has spawned a counter. old military doctrines are dead and void. and new form of warfare is upon us. and snipers are still trying to find out how they'll fit in. both sides in this conflict, have learned to fear stipends, neither thud, spare is any effort who argument to suppress or destroy enemy snipers artillery tags. drones, everything is utilized to shut them down. this is an incredibly

difficult job and it suddenly isn't for everyone. and coming up this hour, we delve into the inner workings of russia. sameness wagner private military group, which has made a name for itself on the battlefields of normally crane, but also africa. stay tuned. french troops have 11 to we were kina found, so that's according to the african countries government press agency. locals have rallied and supported the ultimatum as they oppose the presence of french troops and burkina. faso. demonstrators were seen carrying signs, saying french army out of our house, national and even some russian blacks were also wanted, that the event france reportedly still has some $400.00 troops in the african country with a stated goal of helping fight as long as groups. however, some local say the french troops have done virtually nothing useful. here's

a local journalist with more foods organizations will support last week in a meeting with the student. so if you invest, he's edible, the main campus of the country come to the brim tower implied, not in the coming days. important decision would be taken about the independence of the country. finally, it's about the previous phase 2, it will killer. they have one month to park it decision that doesn't surprise looking at some point that we're happy about that because if france was really there to help us, terrorism would not have developed at this level. we want to have good relations with countries and not for them to come plunder us. france is playing a double game and is only pursuing its own interests. laziness we, the young people won't change or we are very happy about this news and we want it to happen. local, my friends are still here when declared independence, but we are not really independent. the french were told to leave,

but they said because they have their own interest here. very pushed to friends for not doing enough to stop the progression of terrorist groups in book you know, clearly leave but for schools are not doing enough. i thought, go, fight totaled is a new one. it's a good decision. since we've been talking about independence for a long time. but we're still under the influence of france. we want our independence, but it's not complete. we have been at war and france is not able to help us against our enemies. i think francis playing a double game here for fish by yellow sybian society leader and political analyst. it's the only way to be truly independent villa. this news brings a sense of satisfaction because our armies must gradually assume for sovereignty and bring an end to the colon of domination, which delegates our responsibility or sovereigns, his other peoples,

which impose it with the armed forces like france, doors. this day brings justice and relieve holbrook in name, who aspire for independence. staying in burkina faso more than 60 women and children have been rescued and returned home by military and police from the hands of jihadist terrorist and african country. here is a recap of their ordeal. ah, moved on. if the terrorists were able to abducted women, what are the intentions if not to write to women? i don't believe there is a woman who hasn't been raped or abused. ah, me, i'm with

. i think it's already a very good thing and i'm going to salute the authorities for being able to bring the women back. no one, no, no, it's not a good thing to bring them back to our beans because they could still be victims of this at any time. it is better to bring them back to want to do to put them somewhere and take care of them because they may have been traumatized or victimized. they should do a medical follow up with these women. they shouldn't be left and are being done. ah, ah the cost of living will had africa harder than rich countries. that's according to

the deputy executive director of the i in that however, the african development bank group disagrees as it estimates that africa is going to exceed the rest of the world and economic growth over the next 2 years. the president of the organization has held the kind of continence prosperity, despite the consequence of multiple shocks, growth across all 5 african regions was positive in 2022, and the outlook for 2023. 2024. is project to be stable? according to the organization's report, africa gdp is expected to surpass the global average by 4 percent, and the next 2 years, africa, top 5 economists are expected to regain their pre code positions among the world's 10 fastest growing economies. however, the report also mentioned possible risk such as soaring prices and climate change. we spoke to

a geopolitical analyst who told us that africa must prioritize its own interest if it wants to stay strong. honestly speaking, africa had been in the front seen majority of whether he still within the look i was i'm more like targeting the way it was is the one that to african progress think they have more of their corporate issue that he didn't. why the year is going for 7? because all the time environment has always been on top of the world. so by due to lack of government, your school, the interest of outside of willing to conflict to do this is through through so many things that everyone doesn't go out in wanting to. we only have to

look at what. so this is where we ended up in africa. but being on top on that they need to do is to make sure that they leave in for the power of people that have the best interest of, of the population. it's hot. the hundreds of protesters have gathered in front of the swedish consulate and symbol to express their anger out. a recent burning of the call on install call. people inter key is largest city or a picture of the danish right wing activists who set fire to islamic holy book outside the turkish embassy and the swedish capital on saturday. it's now the 2nd day of protest in turkey slammed sweden for allowing the koran burning to take place. deepening tension between the 2 countries that says on kara is still blocking sweden from joining nato. here's what some turkish local say about the controversial incident.

this is a huge provocation. this is an attempt to get a reaction out of turkey in the muslim world. this has nothing to do with freedom or democracy. if the bible or the tora was burnt, there would be an uproar. why is it acceptable when it is the koran that we have of the officer? i cannot accept this attack on the holy book of my religion. this is not toleration and it will not receive tolerance. and this is not freedom. this is vulgarity. this is unacceptable. and it should not be forgiven. i suppose we don't want sweden admitted into nato. it would be absurd. they should not be allowed in. they belittle our religious values. this shouldn't be done. i condemned them. when did mimic, they shouldn't be invited and they shouldn't be supported because what they have done is wrong. this man has burned our holy book. now they are talking about visiting our country. they are talking about being accepted into nato. every one

must respect each other's beliefs. as a muslim, i believe that this action should not have been allowed. our j correspondents, sophia nunez, explains how the protests would affect the relations between the 2 countries. as sweden, as desperate to get turkey as approval for its nato bed. these demonstration is a flagrant violation of the commitment of sweden under the tro, let from emerald dom, regarding the prevention of the propaganda of terrorist organizations. declaring to be bullied by the commitments under throw that for memorandum and deliver on them ought to different matters. the statement comes in response to the latest protest way at rasmus bolden and infamous. far right bullets ish and set fire to the koran . holy book, near the turkish embassy and sweden just one year after his other command burning valley spark lives across the country. his official policy should firm its faith that his protest was held against islam and against arcus at sampson, influenced freedom of expression. and sweden, not surprisingly,

the fire ignited waifs of negative reactions across the muslim world. saudi arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and co existence, and rejects hatred and extremism. this senseless and provocative is slum of foaming act hurts the religious sensitivities of over 1500000000 muslims worldwide. the incident hurts must have sentiments across the world and amongst serious provocation. in response, swedish authorities is resorted to the usual virtuous words and no action. freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy, but to what is legal is not necessarily appropriate, but in books, it's a whole, it's many is a deeply disrespectful act. i want to express my sympathy for all muslims who are offended by what has happened in stockholm to day freedom of expression, this part of democracy fair enough, but incitement of hatred, awhile and stalwarts,

a particular group is criminalized and sweden, nevertheless, swedish police approved the permit and it's not like they didn't know what would be going on there. as a prior cherokee, canceled the plant visa by the swedish defense minister to ankara and salmon sweden's ambassador over the failure to restrict the protest. it was the 2nd time in just a month when sweet as ambassador has had to answer to turkish authorities. 2 weeks ago, it was related to a son, during which a kurdish group hung a mannequin of turkish president and stockholm on the same day as the koran burning protest. hundreds of activists marched through the swedish capital in support of the kurdistan workers party, also known as b k, k. and even though the group was considered that sarah's argona zation in the european union, it's supporters protested legally with an official parliament. little judge did it in this, we often watched the p k. case demonstrations on the streets and in stockholm and worn about them. though he showed her the presence of the parliaments, we're going to pay us

a visit. and our speaker of the assembly rejected that visit all this is happening at a time when the north country desperately needs darkest vote. to be able to join nato, a stark. it is the only alliance members steel holding back a certification, jerky demands that sweden clam down on what it sees as terrorists and has also submitted an expedition request for those in sweden, with links to the p. k. k. in june 2020 to finland, sweden and circus signed a trilateral deal. guaranteeing that torque is demand would be addressed in return for lifting its veto. but that hasn't happened yet. now, once again, the west tries more than this is being tested. turkish political scientists are nurse and on gives all to it says that some western countries are trying to provoke and aggressive response from ankara. oh, in sweden, a politician. i meant it he, he burn holy crohn in name of for freedom of speech. but i think that

isis, or american army or dismissal will burn, run in city, then they all serve 2 to one mean targets they want. they want to provoke kind of a clash of civilization in the girls. and they are not just talking to islam, but they're not talking to common values of humanity. they also organize a demonstration against church in stucco. and just after this man, he burned whole graham in stucco. so i mean that it's kind of a same plant. they want to provoke a churchy to react in the accuracy big churches a, c, b design company. and we know very well the, the, the, the best answer to this location is to use our right of little a citizens membership to natal to online development. now as talk

taliban officials and known regime supporters who bought a twitter verification sign are no longer marked as verified. as the platform has scraps their premium status. here's the reaction from the taliban. lily, the blue mark was removed from my account around a week ago, but in fact, it doesn't affect in any way due to the big number of followers on my account. the mark was given around 10 days ago, but a mass increase of my followers happened even before that reference to blue marks. important in the context of verification. we have to respond to people on a daily basis and someone can misuse the platform by creating a fake account. on the other hand, our accounts are verified, popular and followers know them. so any fake account will be quickly exposed as well or colleagues from time to time report of such cases. any say the platforms like twitter are helpful to expand our work, interact with more people who was better when we had the blue mark on our accounts . as an aid of the taliban accounts were de verified on twitter only a day after

a b, b. c report criticize the platforms move to allow buying the blue marks. twitter in a, c, e o. e on must have not yet commented on the situation. here's what some users had to say about the news. dear b, b. c, do you have a problem with the taliban, or are you sharing your frustration that you still waiting for your blue tag? secondly, you shouldn't have a problem. twitter is run by a private company. so what they are the government now you have to accept that. are you fine with that ilan mask? was thinking of buying one myself, but won't be doing it now. disgraceful. doesn't the blue take just mean they know who you really are? i. e, are authentic. the taliban has also criticized witter, for what the afghans call a double standard policy that only disintegrates nations much better than our government is not a threat to the neighbors that we have united people of the whole of afghanistan. the blue mark verification is also good for the world to formerly recognize the

taliban as a legitimate government. twitter is not just a one man owned company. it's a platform for the whole world community that everyone has a right to use it. if they follow a policy based on discrimination, welcoming some and refusing others, it will disintegrate the communities and the nations. it will reflect the mindset of the west rising, the gets the east and developing countries look the same. and as twitter face as fresh controversy over its actions, we hear from one of the journalists behind the famous twitter files leaks. matt t i. e. b. he spoke and exclusively to our team, the whistleblower show which you can watch and fall on our website r t dot com. here is a quick preview. one of the reasons that the hunter bind story was picked as the 1st saying that we looked at is because i had a suspicion that we, if such a thing existed, we might see it there. um, and as a result, you know, the, that search turned out to be flawed and it was vetted as, as we learned later by

a former f b. i general counsel. we ended up finding some things that give indications of government and interference in that in that particular episode. but we found much more broad um, evidence in other areas, the f. b, i reported several accounts to twitters trust and safety team for allegedly spreading election. disinformation was this relationship proper and appropriate. it was thousands upon thousands of requests and that came every day and it didn't just come from the f. b, i came from every wing with a government twitter for a while, was trying to say no to the state department. the state department was selling them lists of accounts that they wanted flag, does chinese or russian or any of this information? there is a moment where an employee at twitter says yes, their conclusions are of the sort that i would normally say,

let's just wait and wait for more evidence, but our window and that is closing. and our government partners are becoming more aggressive now. the executive who said that happens to have a background. 2 ah. 2 2 the western media is increasingly focusing on the success of the russian wagner private military group. after it sees the key town on the front lines and then dollars, republic, or cheese marina, closer above, discovers the notes behind the music of the warriors, referred to as the orchestra. now everyone wants to know who these guys are, where they came from, and their secrets to success on the battlefield. we turn out something called the wagner. b, u has announced sanctions on the russian private military company wagner as pictures of the wagner group, as we know at 1st popped up in ukraine. it all started back in 2014,

when many russians watched this key, it was deliberately persecuting the people. and don boss, or one business man, decided to take matters into his own hands and creates a group of professional fighters or a group of patriots. as he likes to call them through his popular social media and telegram channel will now get direct updates on the group's activities. if can you pick, gordon has become very vocal and transparent about everything that is going on. even admitting that his own son is part of this special military operation, but it's his trawling skills that really reveal his character. here's his latest response to reuters when asked to comment on the white house, declaring wagner a transnational criminal organization. finally, pmc wagner in the americans, our colleagues or relations cannot be called a clash of criminal gangs. that's who's in charge of the wagner group. but what about his fighters? while tensions between russia and ukraine were simmering after crime me?

every united with russia wagner took its guys across the globe, including africa and the middle east. hop in countries like syria and libya providing military training. and molly and saddam, and very quickly becoming a forced to be reckoned with will put a good deal. so the experience in africa in the middle east really came in handy in syria. for example, we worked mostly on open terrain and in the ukraine there were a lot of feels in northern africa. we gained huge experience in urban fighting. such experiences really helped to lot sorta more. yes, the bread in north africa would gained a lot of valuable urban combat experience. while in the middle east, it was mostly open to rain warfare. and in the c, a, r will launch how to deal with partisan warfare. it was during their stance in the central african republic when the group 1st became famous, or what others half called infamous, after the murder of free russian journalists, who were supposedly there filming a documentary about its activities. the journalists didn't warn ross and officials

about the trip, something which was customary when travelling to hot spots. they apparently showed fake you went idea to local rebels and refused to comply when russian instructors warned them not to cross certain track points. this case is still shrouded in mystery. suspects range from exile, business suddenly fell for the off sky who sent them there to begin with. as he has something to gain from discredits in russia. so local militia and france who controlled them at the time, russia for its support has always denied sending private military contractors there . but it did acknowledge, send an instructors at the request of the c, a r's president, which proved to be a game changer. what are russians fighting for in g r? the, for the good is everyone here is either full, military or associated with the security forces. from william vocation a juicy

a job. here were primarily performing an international juicy. when the special military operation in ukraine began, the wagner group switch focused and started recruiting more fighters. and this time it was in just professionals. if daniel garzon visited prisons and one of his most notorious new recruits, there was this man, if guinea newson, depending which version he believe he surrendered or was captured in ukraine. where he allegedly confessed that he only joined wagner sir scape prison when he was returned back to russia during the prisoner swap. he was later, brutally executed on camera for everyone to see with pedagogy and writing at the time that it was a dog's death for the dog. leading some to assume that it was punishment for treachery. and then you have videos like these way of gang up or gordon is greets in the convicts who have just returned from battle. and as manser in them like

a father figure, gonna throw the by the edge. well done, guys who have won orders and metals and learned a lot. first of all, learned how to kill your enemies. i wish you would not use this practice in forbidden territories. if you feel like killing enemies again, come back. second, there are 3 temptations with alcohol, drugs and excessive adrenaline release. i hope that the adrenaline you spent during these 6 months was enough to get you through at least a month if you were able to. so that in earlier, now that the bargaining group is making significant strides in ukraine, taken over entire towns almost single handedly. they're back in the headlines by judging by those headlines. the aim is as always, to smear them, get rid of them, or pet them against the russian government. lead in some to question the western sanctions, grown excuses for war, ukrainian special forces, coin mercenaries, who can see that we are much more qualified.