human rights group says happened. opposition fighters going house to house, in some cases shooting civilians as well as shooting at people trying to get away. human rights watched at least 190 people were killed and around 200 people from the area are still being held hostage. >> the hostage takers continue to hold over 200 individuals from the villages based on opposition sources. we are urging these groups to release the hostages. >> reporter: human right watch says five groups including al-qaeda linked groups were behind the planning, funding and carrying out of the attacks. and it's part of a pattern of abuse that amounts to crimes against humanity and the rights groups found an image in a video what looked like his son lying in bed. it showed the picture to a resident who confirmed it was him. and shelby has an idea of what killed his wife and son at the back of the home and the graffiti reads we will win. al jazeera. >> reporter: mentioning in our story that the human rights watch group wants to see this case referred to the international criminal court is a controversial body. the african union debating whether to pull out altogether. a little bit of det

report. >> syrian rebels systematically executed civilians and took hostages, so says humans right -- human rights watch. some 20 groups took part in the predawn strike. in some cases, entire families were gunned down as they fled. >> you conceivable of holes where my son was killed. here is the blood. look here. you conceivable it marks here and here. >> human rights watch says the scale and organization of attacks suggests organization, making them crimes against humanity. >> opposition fighters who came in routinely killed all of the adult males that they saw. they also killed anyone they saw that was -- including women and children. >> five rabble -- rebel groups publicized their involvement with videos and statements. less clear is the role of fighters from the free syrian army. >> individuals or countries that are supporting these groups are now on notice about the types of violations they are committing and could be complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity if they continue to support them. >> the rebels are battling to overthrow bashar al-assad. rebels and government forces have both b

human rights groups. they say that the human rights groups are worse in scale. but they also blame opposition forces. human rights watch has called for an arms embargo against the group that they say is responsible. and they want donors to stop funding them. it's all too late for him, he knows who killed his wife and son. the graffiti from one of the rebel groups reads, "we are coming." >> the winner of this year's nobel peace prize. >> all those who have continued making the chemical universal knowledge. i look forward to accepting this ward in humility for past and present. >> the award to the opc deputy was a surprise to many. only recently has the organization been in the spotlight because of syria. explaining more about what they do. >> reporter: for the second year in a row, an organization won the peace prize. >> the nobel peace prize for 2013 is to be awarded to the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, opcw, for its extensive work for eliminating chemical weapons. >> it was a surprise announcement. the opcw has until recently been an obscure body. formed in 1987 for chemical weapon prevention,

the 4th that is at issue here and video posted by opposition groups appears to backup what human rights watchhappened. opposition fighters going house to house, in some cases shooting civilians as well as shooting at people trying to get away. human rites watch says at least 190 people were killed and around 200 people from the area are still held hostage. the hose tam takers continue to hold 200 individuals from the villages based on opposition sources. we are urging these groups to release the hostages. >> reporter: human rights watch says five groups including al-qaeda linked groups were behind the planning, funding and carrying out of the attacks. and it's part of a pattern of abuse that amounts to crimes against humanity. in the investigation the rights group found an image in an opposition video of what looked like hassan shelby's son lying in bed and showed the picture to a resident who confirmed it was him. hassan shelby has a good idea who might have killed and buried his wife and son at the box of their family home and the grafitti on the walls says we will win, al jazeera. we are i

>> reporter: it was only after syrian forces recaptured the villages some weeks later that human rights watchas able to enter them. video from that day posted by opposition fighters appears them going house to house in the villages. human rights watch said it was then the abuses took place, including murder and kidnapping. >> we did identify that over 20 groups participated in the depreciation that began on august 4th, but that five groups were principally involved. >> reporter: those groups are mainly made up of foreign fighters as well as al-qaeda-linked groups. two of the groups are still holding some 200 hostages, the vast majority, women and children. the acquisitions - -- acquisitiocusations are not the first of their kind. there are allegations of killings in may. there have been numerous incidents of killings. they do say government abuses are worse in scale, but they also blame opposition forces. none of the sides have been held accountable for their actions. human rights watch are calling for an embargo against the groups they say is responsible. it is all to late for this man. the

us was that a number of family members that they had to leave behind were executed. >> here, humans right watch follows this man, whose wife and disabled adult son were killed by rebels. graffitti shows the name of the rebel group allied to al qaeda. human rights watch accuses this group, and several others of carrying out the attacks. he one of many different movements which make up the syrian armed opposition. its tactics include indiscriminate attacks and bombings. for this reason the west has designated the group a terrorist organization. the rebel attacks against the villages highlight the increasing problem faced by countries which oppose president assad. the rebels whose cause they share and now accused of the same kinds of crimes as the president they're trying to bring down. >> do stay with us here on bbc world news, still to come, football fever sweeps across afghanistan. we look at a welcome taste of normality being enjoyed by the afghan people. one of america's first astronauts scott carpenter has died after suffering a stroke. he was 88 years old. commander carpenter was an astrona

or syria or some other country that they're putting a target on they would leap to approach human rights watch and amnesty international no question of these are going to sources these are these internationally recognized. us rick no human rights groups are accusing the committing war crimes with the strong through and documenting specific incidents that are recognized internationally to be more so for example in in the in the summary that we just gave talking about so-called secondary search where a targeted hit. so millions gather more on own people gather in on own people are assumed to be civilians unless otherwise others gather you help the wounded and then there's a second strike that is a war crime that is a war crime regardless of what else is true. you know if it happened in afghanistan you would be a war crime so girl most of claims about. you know the. two thousand and one authorization for use of military force doesn't apply to back at the that's all irrelevant if you document that the cia conducting secondary strikes and there is no there is a meta mool you know washington you kno

the human rights group says the events amount to war crimes. >> syrian rebels systematically executed civilians and took hostages, so says human rights watch. the group claims it has strong evidence of abuses committed during an offensive last august. in some cases, entire families were gunned down as they fled. >> [speaking foreign language] >> human rights watch says the scale and organization of a tax -- attacks suggest premeditation , making them crimes against humanity. >> opposition fighters routinely killed all adult males they saw. they also killed anyone they saw that was [indiscernible] >> they publicize their involvement through videos and statements -- they publicized their involvement through videos and statements. >> individuals or countries that are supporting these groups are now on notice about the types of violations they are committing and could be complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity if they continue to support them. >> the rebels are battling to overthrow the shah al-assad. rebels and government forces have both been accused of of -- of abuses throughout the conflict. >> there is a light at the end of a

aamnesty international and human rights watch released soap rat report raising questions about the legality of the drone strikes. >> gasoline prices could fall to their lowest level in three years by christmas. >> right now the average price is $3.66 a ga gallon. the falling crude could drop the price to $3.16. >> the irs is delaying the start of next years' filing filing set by two weeks they will need to update their computers due to the government shutdown. [ ♪ theme ] >> the blowback from drone strikes. human rights groups say they are killing more civilians than the obama administration admits. that could cause problems abroad. "consider this" is the u.s. becoming more feared in some countries than al qaeda. would not using drones backfire. >> also the fascinating storey of a teen turn extremist who turned again as an adult to fight out against jihadist. and why america should be in a errors. >> a look at anti-conspiracy buildings with brad meltzer - did bobby kennedy take his brother. how long was the federal bureau of investigation tracking lee harvey oswald before the asass nation.

the massacre of pro-government civilians in syria human rights watch reveals details of a rebel atrocity we speak with a top official from the american n.g.o.s shortly. and also this hour the red cross lashes out of the steroids which is likely to create social unrest and extremism as one hundred twenty million europeans now live in or on the brink of poverty. from our studio center here in moscow where it just turned eight pm this is. it would snowden has had a good few days having been reunited with his father in russia and on a full blowing the lid off and this a surveillance operations the interest around the intelligence leaker has launched renewed debate about whistle blowing and the role it plays. as the details. edward snowden met with his father at an undisclosed location presumably here in moscow he said there is little hope that he son will ever go back to the u.s. because in the u.s. edward snowden is most certainly facing jail time and judging by the significance and the scope of his revelations that could be a lengthy one and also judging by the way the u.s. government trea

a massacre pro-government civilians in syria human rights watch reveals details of a rebel atrocity our top stories this hour. live from studio center here in moscow where it's just to nine pm this is. edward snowden has had a good few days having been reunited with his father in russia and honored for blowing the lid off and this a surveillance operations the interest around the intelligence leak has launched a new debate about whistle blowing and the role it plays on the details. edward snowden met with his father at an undisclosed location presumably here in moscow he said there is little hope that he son will ever go back to the u.s. because in the u.s. edward snowden is most certainly facing jail time and judging by the significance and the scope of his revelations it could be a lengthy one and also judging by the way the u.s. government treated other whistleblowers together with law and snowden in moscow the group of whistleblowers who supported word they delivered to his sam adams the war gates awarded to an intelligence professional who has in the view of the award julie taken a

amnesty international and human rights watch say deadly strikes in yemen and pakistan violate international law and could be classified as war crimes. . >>> john kerry says reports of a rift between the united states and saudi arabia are overblown. the secretary of state is talking about comments made by the saudi intelligence chief who says the arab nation is shifting away from american policies. john kerry says the comments were made before a meeting with the saudi arabia foreign minister, and things are fine. >> the u.s. denies that it's spying on french citizens. in a statement released the director of national intelligence says: a french newspaper reported about u.s. intelligence operations in france, said the nsa collected millions of calls from business people, politicians, suspected terrorists. "consider this" is this with antonio mora. i'll see you back here at 11 eastern time. [ ♪ theme ] >> the blowback from drone strikes. human rights groups say they are killing more civilians than the obama administration admits. that could cause problems abroad. "consider this" is the u.s. bec

obviously it happened and couple that with the human rights watch the reports that came out about them and also one day before pakistani prime minister nawaz sharif came into town why did you guys decide to release this report on this specific day well this is the time when it's necessary to press the obama administration you know we've seen a lot of other important stories come out over the summer including about the n.s.a. surveillance scandal there's so much secrecy going on with the obama administration's counterterrorism policies with the u.n. pressing this we thought it was high time for us also to bring forth the new evidence that we have of potentially unlawful deaths do you think that there's any kind of potential repercussions that we're seeing in this potential warm up between pakistan and the u.s. in light of these two reports you know one thing to note is that the pakistani government itself has obligations for some of the human rights violations that are occurring we not only documented u.s. drone strikes we've documented a cruel nature of the abuses that are occurring by

but for human rights watch that is not enough. we found that despite assurances from president obama that it's doing it's utmost to protect people from harm it's killing innocent civil ians. the report comes two days after secretariesecretary of state key meant with pakistan president sharif. it's detrimental to our efforts at eliminating terrorism from our country. this issue has become a major irritant in our bilateral relationship as well. i would there for stress the need for the end of drone attacks. >> the family would like to see an end to them as well. dicklparticularly nabila. >> that was america tonight's michael okwu reporting. >>> journalist joins us now she has documented drone strikes in pakistan and you have done a full documentary on this. can you explain to us what your motivation was in producing this documentary? yes, thank you for having me i think what i wanted to do was to focus a little bit. there was a lot of concern around coun counting up the dea. whether they were stif civilianr mitciviliansmilitants. i

the ground who are affected by drones in the situation more broadly the second report done by human rights watch focuses on drone strikes in yemen investigating six specific strikes at the u.s. government refuses to admit even took place and according to their research some of these strikes were clear violations of international law two of the six cases that we examined in in my report. show that the u.s. indiscriminately killed civilians this is a clear violation of international law even if it was not the u.s. intent if it indiscriminately killed it should be held responsible yemen saw a flurry of drone strikes in august which seemed to run counter to new drone policy guidelines announced by president obama in may it's unknown whether drone guidelines should publicly correspond with actual guidelines that are still shrouded in secrecy the complete policy is classified we don't actually know what the policy is we have to keep in mind that during the heightened security threat in august when u.s. embassies were closed around the world one anonymous u.s. official did say that the policy was essen

human rights watch says the killings amount to war crimes.t states 43 of those killed were women, children, and the elderly, and it is calling on the un security council to hold both sides to account. >> reporter: he retraces his steps. this is what is left of his home in the village. in the early hours of august 4th, he had to make a harrowing decision to stay with his disabled son and wife who had trouble moving or run. he now has tloo live with the consequences both his wife and son are dead. >> translator: there are the bullet holes and the blood is slattered on the wall. >> reporter: an offensive was launched, the target the president's power base. people here predominately aloite to which assad belongs. opposition fighters attacked a number offal low wait villages. including a strategic post. take control of this area and the opposition fighters could move closer to assad's hometown and bare in on the coastal city. [ explosion ] >> reporter: it was a week's long campaign but what happened specifically on august 4th that is at issue here

. >> amnesty international and human rights watch accuse the obama administration of violating human ghts and the use of the drones. the researchers have charged the u.s. of breaking their own promise of being more transpair transparent. they focused on strikes in pakistan. they researched nine of 45 known drone attacks. from january 2012 and august 2013. in one strike 18 laborers were reportedly killed. >> u.s. counter terrorism strikes are precise an lawful and protective. the u.s. does not take lethal strikes when we or our partners have the ability to capture the terrorists. >> that was white house press secretary denying the reports of human rights watch and amnesty international. here is more from their allegations,. >> the most challenging situation we had to face was the complete and utter secrecy of the u.s. authorities. because of that we cannot be 100 percent certain but we believe these killings documented in our report may include war crimes. we document cases where they could have been arrested and civiliancivilians casualty wouly have been avoided. >> there is a wide va

a global human rights organization is calling for an international investigation in syria. human rights watch has conducted its own investigation into an opposition offensive in latakia province in august. it claims that syrian rebels killed at least 190 civilians and took operations around alloite villages. this investigator spoke to eyewitnesses in latakia. >> the villages they attacked were alloite villages. taking baruda and neighboring alloite villages would be a shot into the heart land of assad's stronghold, and that much closer to latakia city, these villages are on the front line of what is increasingly sectarian war between government forces and opposition forces. >> in 105 pages the report claims that at least five rebel groups were behind the incidents in latakia . it says that amounts to war crimes. 43 of those who died were women, they claim, and elderly. called on the u.n. to refer that to the international criminal court. >>> barack obama has had a meeting with republicans to trailer raise the u.s -- temporarily raise the u.s. national debt. without that the u.s. with it defau

human rights groups say this was a deliberate attack, an attack sectarian in nature, alawites, civilians executed and up to 200 taken hostage. human rights watch also pointing the finger at specific rebel forces who were responsible. those rebel forces are mainly foreign fighters, groups linked to al quaida, apart from one syrian rebel group. human rights watch saying that the,n should impose an arms empargo. the opposition is not the only side really which has been accused of human rights violations. the government has been accused of such abuses in the past. but no site really being held accountable. for that to happen, you are going to need the u.n. security council. to approve to actually start investigating so the war goes on. more killings on the ground, sectarian killings sometimes revenge killings, reprisals civilians really caught in a conflict which really there's no end in site. libyan officials saying the building was seriously damages but no debts have been reported. at least one libyan and one foreign national have been injured in that attack. is three other americans were killed last year in an attack. end yeah is bracing for th

human rights watch charges the u.s. launched 80 targeted killings there since 2009, killing 473 people - among them civilians. >> we found despite assurances from president obama that it's doing its utmost to protect civilians from harm, and in many cases it is killing innocent civilians. this is a clear violation of international law, even if not the u.s. intent. if it indescrim nantly killed it should be held responsible. president obama spelt out america's drone policy at the united nations general assembly. >> we limited the use of drones so they target only those posing a threat to the united states, where capture it not feasible and there's a certainly of no civilian casualties. >> amnesty international accuses the president of escalating the use of drones. from 2004 to 2008 the bureau for investigative journalism reports that there were 42 drone strikes in pakistan. in 2009 president obama's first year in office there was 56. in 2011, 127. >> as randell mentioned there's growing international criticism over the u

as you say to get away with some serious human rights violations nicholas really interesting to talk to you thank you nicholas began researching human rights watch live here not to thank you. an uproar in france over revelations the n.s.a. has spied on millions of its citizens as force washington to make one of its strongest admissions yet regarding its surveillance practices of a phone conversation between barack obama and president francois hollande the white house conceded the latest claims raise legitimate questions in just a single month the agency automatically intercepted more than seventy million calls while also looking text messages along with the general public businessmen and politicians were also targeted this prompted president all learned to join the cause of those urging tough previously laws in the european union well this discuss the latest n.s.a. scandal with such a main riff he's a prominent internet freedom advocate he's the vice president of the new america foundation and director of the open technology institute joining us live from washington d.c. well the white house admitted france's concerns were indeed legitimate but

. >> human rights watch, and amnesty international's joint report demand the u.s. its secrecy surrounding drone strikes. in pakistan's north waz earise stan amnesty international investigated 45 strokes from january 2012 to august 2013. it cited cases like that of a 68-year-old grandmother. >> her grandchildren recounted the moment she was blown into pieces in front of their eyes. >> her granddaughter was filmed by the group as an eyewitness. >> human rights watch also carried out research on six specific air strikes in yemen inns 2009. >> the u.s.'s only publicly acknowledged two of the three strikes - those that have killed americans. it's as if the hundreds of yemenies killed in the attacks simple never existed. >> tuesday's report comes after two recent u.n. reports on drones, one of which indicated that as many as 450 civilians may have been killed in u.s. decade. >> u.s. counterterrorism operations are precise, lawful and effective. >> white house spokesman jay carney said the it administration disagreed with the claims and cited a speech by president obama m

terrorists recruit more terrorists most recently to report came out by amnesty international and human rights watch they looked into u.s. strikes in pakistan and yemen human rights watch found that in the strikes that they had investigated seven percent of those who died were civilians washington says they decimated al qaeda solution but it seems al-qaeda has metastasized and continue spreading with drone strikes and brewing civil wars in washington i'm going to check on. george kenney who's a former diplomat of the u.s. foreign service as washington keeps showing its war on terror as full of inconsistency is we should reasonably assume that within the u.s. government they have exactly the same data they know that the more that we attack terrorists the way that we're doing the more terrorism appears and so then the question is well if we're creating more terrorists through our end of terrorism activities why are we doing it there's no sensible strategy there's no consistent logical strategy behind us actions we're taking things one piece at a time so here we support one group there we suppress the

of human rights abuses in the syrian war that have been documented by the united nations and human right's groups. they do say they are worse in scale but blame opposition forces. human rights watchs calling for an arms embargo against the groups they say are responsible. it's all too late for this man, who believes he knows who killed his wife and son. >>> there has been more fighting between government troops and rebels inside syria. activists say at least 70 people have been killed in the capitol capitol damascus. these pictures show the city in the west. rebels there are fighting with government forces activists say. >>> still to come on the nows hour, throws are evacuated from indians eastern coast as a cyclone approaches the nation. >>> libya's prime minister says a political party organized his abduction. he was taken bay group of men believed to be former rebels. >> translator: this is nothing but a form of subversion, a coup. they also raided the rooms of international diplomatic officials. they came into my hotel room, and i said i have no firearm. i have never in my life carried a firearm even though i have been hunted down all of my life. >>> the international crimina

terrorists recruit more terrorists most recently two reports came out by amnesty international and human rights watch they looked into u.s. strikes in pakistan and yemen human rights watch found that in the strikes that they have investigated seventy percent of those who died were civilians washington says they've decimated its leadership but it seems al-qaeda has metastasized. and continue spreading with drawn strikes and brewing civil wars in washington i'm going to. discuss the situation further i'm now joined live by journalist and broadcaster neil clark the club how much of the turmoil and violence we're currently seeing in iraq and afghanistan are directly blamed on nature intervention i think they could all be directly blamed on the nato intervention because if we think back the so-called interventions that we need all build a humanitarian ventures work it was the benign nato powers led by the united states were going into these countries to liberate the people from these with dictators like saddam was say. exactly and in every instance of the so-called interventions the result has been death

terrorists recruit more terrorists most recently to report came out by amnesty international and human rights watch they looked into u.s. strikes in pakistan and yemen human rights watch found that in the strikes that they have investigated seventy percent of those who died were civilians washington says they've decimated al qaeda leadership but it seems al-qaeda has metastasized and continue spreading with drawn strikes and brewing civil wars in washington i'm going to check on. what we discuss this disturbing situation with journalist and broadcaster mill clucky believes the u.s. is simply not interested in curbing its influence in the region the fact is that if al qaeda didn't exist it have to be invented it serves an awful lot of good purposes for united states to push its again you around the world if the u.s. was really serious about al qaeda and wanted to deal with it they would do they wouldn't be supporting al-qaeda in syria they would be wanting a secular regime in syria to be toppled that they wouldn't be wanting regime change in libya would be a new clark oh so assiduously turmoil in ir

meanwhile human rights watch has revealed syrian rebels were responsible for a civilian massacre in august that's after the u.n. based and carried out its own fact finding mission in the wall so and according to the watchdog and opposition offensive code nearly two hundred villagers living in pro assad communities the report calls the atrocities a coordinated attack suggesting it was premeditated based on the scale of the offensive the findings conclude the massacre was systematic and part of a general policy the report strongly suggests that crimes against humanity were committed and calls on the international community to punish the perpetrators human rights watch also stressed that islamist militants are sponsored by u.s. allies in the gulf monarchies. and staying with see where this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to the organization hard at work to dismantle the country's chemical stockpiles experts from their intergovernmental body and syria following international agreements which moscow helped to mediate and let's now get reaction from also and russia analyst martin mccau

human rights watch criticized u.s. drone strikes in yemen. on wednesday, and pakistani prime minister nawaz sharif urged u.s. president barack obama to end drone strikes in pakistan. >> pakistan and the united states have a strong counterterrorism cooperation. we have agreed to further strengthen this cooperation. i also brought up the issue of drones in our meeting. emphasizing the need for an end to such strikes. >> during his public remarks with nawaz sharif, president obama did not directly address the u.s. drone war. >> we talked about security and the concerns that both of us have about senseless violence, terrorism, and extremism. we agreed we need to continue to find constructive ways to partner together, a way that respects pakistan sovereignty, the concerns of both countries. i am optimistic we can continue to make important strides in theng forward because both pakistani people and the american people have suffered terribly from terrorism in the past. >> one day after the pakistani leader met with president obama, the "washington p

that is felipe, the united nations director for human rights watch in bangi. >> we move to iran.omen make up half the population, but only 16% have jobs, according to the united nations who say iranian women are under-represented in the workforce. we have more from tehran. >> it's morning rush hour in tehran. millions of iranians are heading to work, but not many are women. although they make up half the population the united nations and world bank say only 16% of women are employed. hoda knows this well. she's 26 and has been searching for a job for two years. the university graduate is losing hope and is think of leaving iran. >> it's a task of bitter experience. i can say it's impossible to find a suitable job. many of my friends are searching. mostly they continue to study for something to do with their time. or they want to go overseas. it's disappointing. >> women make up 60% of university students. iran's richest woman says the government needs to make sure the country does not ignore their potential. >> it shows that in the future we have to find what this person chases w

humanity were committed and calls on the international community to punish the perpetrators human rights watch also stressed that it is the most militants are sponsored by u.s. allies in the gulf monarchies. and starting with see where this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to the organization of hard work dismantling the country's chemical stockpiles experts from the intergovernmental body and see where falling international agreements which most help mediate russia unlist mccauley says the organization for the prohibiting of chemical weapons faces a tough and complex mission. but there was some of the chemical weapons maybe you'd rebel held territory. how do you access to rebels who say they don't have a. will have to run for that that would be very tricky because they have to be with rebels and how many rebel groups are all of the dozens of them and this is a very very difficult decision for them because previously globalization always operated if you like. peaceful this is the first time you really got involved in the middle of a civil war. challenge for them they may in fact put o

and a new report human rights watch has claimed rebels in seward killed at least one hundred and ninety two civilians in early august and says over two hundred hostages were seized in the military offensive on pro assad alawite religion is the study used on side investigations and interviews with those who survived are sold they were poor surveilled the quarter native nature of their soul such as it was permeated and organized based on the scale of the offensive the authors say the crimes were systematic and part of a criminal policy human rights watch is calling on all states to ensure what it calls crimes against humanity punished. now protests across the globe are preparing to run against genetically modified food giant monsanto hundreds of cities another fifty countries are expected to take part in front of days' march the previous international protest last leg of that around two million people took as the marchers are calling for a permanent boycott of genetically modified foods and harmful chemicals santo is also blamed for polluting the environment and trying to improve its repu

human rights watch is accusing rebels in syria of killing at least 190 civilians during a coordinated attack in a rural area this summer. in a report, the group says the abuses by antigovernment forces likely amount to war crimes. researcher unveiled the findings. >> in our latest report, you can still see their blood. human rights watch has an opposition offense of that began august 4 in the countryside that armed opposition groups entered into a series of villages. in the course of one day, we believe they executed or killed civilians that were fleeing, in addition to holding 200 -- at least 200 civilians hostage. >> human rights watch is calling the security council. president obama and house republicans failed to reach a deal thursday to raise the nation's borrowing limit or to reopen the federal government. during talks at the white house, republicans touted a plan to extend the debt ceiling for six weeks while they continue to push for deep heads to medicaid, medicare, and other programs as part of budget negotiations. the white house has not said definitively whether it will ac