more targeted terror in damascus a bomb explodes in a busy square taking thirteen lives and wounding dozens in a second such attack in as many days. america's war on corruption afghanistan ends up feeding of all the woods and drug cartels donations emerge that washington has been sharing kabul with billions of dollars. maybe you is not working the jobless rates reach record highs especially among young european banks need their home countries to make ends meet.

you're watching r.t. world news and comment twenty four hours a day i'm gary jobst. a powerful blast has rocked the heart of the syrian capital killing at least thirteen people and wounding dozens explosion comes twenty four hours after another deadly attack in central damascus targeting the prime minister a local correspondent. witnessed the blast and told us what he saw was something like when minute or two minutes away from it when they passed through the area the big explosion destroyed most of the historic square which is called maggi in the middle of the mask because it's very close to the. building of the mr frontier i have seen that did by the spreading all around i have seen three with no heads and they have seen how the ambulance cars rushed inside inside the square from everywhere how the claws closed and how the security came in to

to dad hear and see how people were crying and where they're. going and weeping over their destroyed properties all around the area if you compare it with the. prime minister convoy yesterday we can see many similarities previous. to that was targeting the prime minister but it. kinda garden and the school and today. it's very crowded square it's full of people every time the one who was doing the same to the two placing. exactly that this is would have only seen video and this has only civilians and this is the same way that happened with all of. the way of doing good business and doing good things. well neil clark who writes for britain's guardian newspaper believes the rebels apparent terror tactics should send alarm signals to western nations. quite

clearly that they're able to spread terror among the population in damascus to terrorize civilians and it's absolutely shameful that these people are being backed by my country the u.k. by france and other western powers these are terrorist attacks let's call them what they are they haven't been condemned by william hague for us what holland or john kerry are we going to think that's actually a call exactly is it taking place in tallahassee or riyadh or anywhere else in the country which was a western i mean they would be roundly condemned but they're not and it's quite appalling that these so-called rebels with western help trying to bomb our way to power in syria killing innocent civilians spreading terror among population and i think that the likes of william hague who got blood on my hands i'm afraid or meanwhile russia's state aviation agency has stopped russian planes from flying over syria after friday's incident involving a russian jet it's not an airbus a three twenty with one hundred fifty nine passengers on board reportedly came close to rocket fire midair the pilots say they

spotted flashes and threatening up to on the ground and increased their own to the plane was on route former egyptian resort to russia where it landed safely it's still unclear whether it was an intentional attack but only a murky from the syrian youth movement suspects a russian jet could easily be targeted by sunni rebels. most of the major concept which could have happened was rebel fire from missiles which could have been given by regional countries or taken from government forces it's very hard to define whether it's intentional by accident but it probably would be intentional no global forces would fire a missile at an airplane a civilian aircraft without it being done intentionally this history of rebels using anti-aircraft missiles to fire against civilian aircraft especially in the south of syria so it is actually another reprehensible act which probably would have been committed by rebel forces and should gain condemnation from other states after it is clear who actually committed this this act but it does show that these are not the liberal forces which the west wanted to arm in the first place and the

fact that they would even consider to attack russian airplane shows that the level of borrowing or barbarism because russia supports a political solution in this era crisis they would be a target for rebel groups for any russian civilians or any russian. especially inside of syria including airplanes. some of syria's refugees are found a new home in russia's south you want your reports later this hour on that. i am from. that. and every day she says another body in the. syria or in arabic. the war beginning far from. the syrian woman is. trying to protect. her.

mother father brother. mohamad i'm planning to stay in russia. to build a new life in russia here. millions of traceable dollars have been handed out by the u.s. to afghanistan throughout the past decade in exchange for loyalty doesn't cause i confirmed the regular payments but dodge the detail on how kabul spends the catch. looks now the american way of dealing with the region's booming corruption. both u.s. and afghan officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to the new york times and said that for many years the cia had paid tens of millions of dollars in what they say was ghost money to the office of president karzai the afghan government has received billions of dollars in u.s. taxpayers money but the officials say that the secret cash went to fuel corruption

in the country the cia apparently delivers the cash every month in suitcases backpacks and plastic shopping bags. much of the money goes to paying off warlords and politicians many of whom have ties to the drug trade and in some cases the taliban the result of that appears to be that the agency empowers the same networks that american diplomats aligned for spent agents say they're trying to dismantle president karzai was asked about the ghost money and knowledge to see even get he basically dismissed the payments as no big deal saying those are monthly small amounts used for various purposes as the cia declines to comment another u.s. official has been quoted as saying the biggest source of corruption in afghanistan was the united states afghan officials quoted in this new york times report said a number of senior officials in the afghan national security council are individually on the cia's payroll there was an interesting story with the

administrative council. selected in two thousand and ten in connection with the sprawling american led investigation that tied together afghan cash smuggling taliban financing and the opium trade president karzai heading released within hours and then helped persuade the obama administration to back its anti-corruption push possibly because they didn't want to see connection discovered in the alleged corruption scheme because that would be a story of a dog chasing its tail in washington. where america's money of course comes from what is the world's biggest defense budget. richard becker says as long as it continues to swallow the more americans will fall into poverty. it's really amazing when you look at the cia operations in afghanistan which really began that in two thousand and one been thanks in seventy nine in the one nine hundred eighty s.

the cia lied to the operation and it's entirely history that in afghanistan and the billions and billions of dollars that have flowed and yet today in two thousand and thirteen afghanistan ranks exactly last so it really indicates what the corrupting influence that the cia interventionists head over all of these years and continues to have today and they're spending a vast sums of money the real the us military budget this year overall will be over a trillion dollars and yet we have today in the united states virtually half nearly forty percent of the population according to the government itself is now either living in poverty or as low income and the interest of the people have been sacrificed and the altar of militarism. well of course media reports saying that the ghost money is ending up in the wrong hands even in the grip of well organized crime what do you think of it all let's have a at our site you can go to r.t.

dot com to have your say and so far well look at eighty two percent of you up from last our great whites all about bribery to achieve us and in second place in seven percent secret operation to corrupt the taliban that's what you think and nearly equal sixty five percent there flooding terrorist of counterfeit cash or even it's all designed to be a multi purpose to help after only five percent of the vast majority of the top what we want to know what you think those votes coming. from us latest unemployment figures are in and they don't make good reading the rate went up across most of the european union in march according to your

a stat figures but you'd be able to see here the figures are disappointing to say the least and rising year by year with spain and greece by far the worst affected in greece the numbers an eye watering twenty seven percent well spain is not far behind have more than one in four people are unemployed right now and for young people it's much worse the jobless rate for them is more than double the national figure well here's a test report now on why it takes more than just numbers to see the true extent of the damage. the unemployment rate in the years old has recently reached a record twelve percent of for those aged twenty five and below in countries like spain and greece that number is as high as more than fifty percent with very little signs of any economic improvement and for those who are looking for a job that search is no longer just about trying to find work many are now trying to leave their home countries like niccolo little z. a biology graduate from italy now working in

a shop in brussels and the situation in italy was actually awful because the only thing i was able to get is a really short contract for like free mouth for six months with absolutely no possibility of growing out in an industry or in the laboratory anything most to most of them were totally unpaid because you can't really think of your future he says it wasn't a walk in the park in beijing either as the companies require a working knowledge of both french and dutch a barrier that may be hard to overcome but perhaps still more attractive for some the going back home i read. in two thousand and twelve. in the person present age of young people who enter great from italy to grow up by thirty forty percent in two thousand and i really don't know what will be into

towns in africa and it's not just easing citizens feeling the pinch foreigners would come to europe to seek new opportunities starting their will businesses building their lives have now will also change their minds freds iana this meant leaving greece and goalie all the way back to her native ecuador and while homesickness was the initial reason for the moon she has no regrets about making that decision the sixth time had also alexander many foreign is decided to leave greece and move to countries like germany and. switzerland but the greeks who stayed behind are saying that the situation is really difficult when for instance servicemen he used to get one and a half thousand euros are now paid just nine hundred i don't make him out places you know been for two years and there is still new i believe we have very good prospects for a future. something she says just isn't possible here right here to trend if you look at the figures in countries like ireland some people argue that

a whole generation has left and the maps feel good you know who. i don't think so i rather stay here for once i'm there so sylvia our team brussels. well the debt crisis engulfing europe maybe starting to literally cost lives i couldn't explain hind a major study say that as many as ten thousand people have committed suicide due to financial ruin david stuck there from oxford university who is researching the impact of austerity economics on public health says politicians are risking more than they realize. we've seen in studying recessions over the past century and the focus on the present crisis is that recessions hurts but when politicians respond with the cuts so vital social supports they can turn those recessions legal in the worst case we've seen greeks after rate cut its malaria prevention budgets we saw the return of outbreaks of the country and kept under control for the past four

decades you seem to be impacted spike by over two hundred percent at a time when the h o p budget was caught similarly we've seen across europe austerity produced series of epidemics from suicide for on access to health care to berkeley well south groups even can get bigger so far europe's leaders have been and denial of off the human cost of the scary policies that he pursued across europe and sued in north america but this question recently i asked him what we need to do is take into account the help x. that i've also had austerity but rhyme it like any other drug trial it would have been discontinued because of it was so excited it's. europe's human rights court has ruled that ukraine acted in the jailing it's full of prime minister i think in the program we'll look at whether this is a change anything that's in

a strength has been conservation plus. it's extra magic sauce to put into blunt to deal with the worsening hunger strike that a psychiatric expert tells us why there is only one solution to the christmas presents left off the brake. well. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered.

the book about international and world in the very heart of moscow. the u.k. it could be lining up a military return to the persian gulf countries for decades after closing its string of bases in the region when french all that british think tank that made the four costs out of the upcoming troop withdrawal stand strong commercially with gulf

want to case and the flammable situation in middle east as a reason for the shift but there are fears that such a move will further destabilize the troubled region as pointer expects. ri c. is a world renowned to defense think tank that credited with really influencing government defense policy so these recommendations and what they're talking about in this paper to be taken lightly the paper talks about the fact that it might be britain might be considering stepping up its military presence in the gulf states especially next year after they pull out from afghanistan now that would be quite a departure from forty years ago when they actually shut down a string of defense bases in the gulf states and they say that might be wise considering that the rest taking place in the arab states at the moment they might want to preempt trouble if they're based in the gulf states at the moment on the other hand there is of course the problem of some of the human rights records of

some of the countries that they might be dealing with that might not be too good for britain's image and of course talking about returning to the middle east in terms of military presence might force some observers to talk about every time to imperial powers and imperial aspirations so to talk about britain's presence in the gulf states. i'm joined in the studio by chris bambery he's a political analyst chris the recent paper says that increased military presence in the gulf of would be justified considering the instability that we're witnessing at the moment in the region what do you think was the british military presence in the gulf could only instability. what is the instability in the gulf states the movement internally to the gulf states what we're talking about is a democracy movements we've seen. is a pretty good interview against a democracy movement demanding human rights and so on to other nation nor i think

the real word she wouldn't talk which abilities around and what we're seeing at the moment i think is cool so from sanctions against iran. you is also an american word or should build up which is engaged in in the persian gulf which is deliberately aimed as part attempt to build put pressure on the regime what about the question of money we know that britain is very strapped for cash the arab states are swimming in it if you've got a cash cow why not well they're all farmers you mention and you have been. begging bowl ribbon potential asking for money selling anything they can return for that's actually the very core ties between the united arab emirates and britain with some forty million pounds build what once was a trade between the two qatar is the biggest supplier of the actual gas and i think they'd be killed and developing not to ease a dependence on russia because of tension between britain and russia as well but i think we have got to put it in a context of this is a return to us of an imperial policy which has been spearheaded by the united

states with britain truly behind and therefore decision to increase any military presence in the gulf as it was instability chris bambery thank you very much for your comments in december the u.k. chief of defense staff said that after afghanistan the gulf will become the u.k.'s main military effort and it looks like this report is proving that theory correct especially if according to resee it could be a lot of money to be made in the gulf states for the british government. and the misery is far from over for the survivors of the bangladesh tower block collapse you know all the big western firms that were making those for one day out to compensate the victims as we reported on live. and arson sore spot or one of those affected by last month's tax on oil spill there's still toxic trouble in the neighborhood more on our website. the arrest

and imprisonment of ukraine's former prime minister you know to me has been ruled illegal by the european court of human rights the judges dismissed because complaint of physical mistreatment wanted custody she's serving seven years for abuse in office for gas deals and russia artie's looks the other ski has been following the case from the very beginning. defending lords of unity which i could believe that this decision by the european court of human rights will see her walk free especially after her plea for parole last week was turned down there was a certain breath of hope when the one of the politicians up for either of the former interior minister you listened to was released on a presidential pardon several weeks ago but this is not the case of emotional because on the one hand the current ruling establishment here if they want to be friends with the european union they are spying for european integration but on the other hand they are for see that is the biggest political enemy and it's far more comfortable for them to see her remain behind bars and they also have this one

trick up their sleeve they can always say that look you are ruling the decision to convict her to seven years of prison as illegitimate but look there are two cases currently ongoing against sir one of them includes association to a murder of a deputy in nine hundred ninety six so it's interesting to see where it goes from here but we already have the reaction from the ruling party which said that this decision by the european court for human rights may not become valid grounds for releasing tymoshenko in fact this is been a bone of contention between europe and for for some time we remember last year when you've hosted the football championship the you were twenty twelve some of the european officials boycotted the tournament because of the machine go and her case the question is whether a key if will be willing to kneel to this pressure by europe given the latest statements by the ruling party doesn't seem that this time it will bow down to the pressure as well. do you know of a nightclub in central russia where more than one hundred fifty people died in a fire almost four years ago has been sentenced to nearly ten years behind bars

another six people will be jailed before each chief arlen specter has been suspended from his blazer there late last night covering him in two thousand and nine and went to work spencer side of things quickly took hold of the work of fittings on the walls and ceiling victims trapped in a. quick look now at some other world news making headlines this hour in libya gunmen have surrounded the justice ministry demanding the dismissal of all members of an office former regime from government posts trucks carrying anti-aircraft guns apart near the building in a separate seat of the foreign ministry also calling for x.y.z. members to get into its third day. crowds of palestinians join the funeral of a michelle who was killed in an israeli airstrike while driving a motorcycle and it there are two other men were also reported to get injured in

the. israeli military claimed michelle was involved in extensive terrorist activity including the recent rocket attack in the southern israeli city and that is the first deadly airstrike on palestinian territory since tenet we've reached a truce with militants last minute. medical staff reinforcements have been drafted into guantanamo bay as fears grow over the health of inmates who've been on hunger strike for most three months now some forty medics arrived at the camp one hundred detainees according to officials or fusing food in protest at mistreatment and the indefinite detention of prisoners lawyers though claim the number of hunger strikers is much higher more than twenty of the protestors have lost so much weight and being force fed five need extra medical treatment most of the guantanamo detainees are being held without charge more than half of being cleared for transfer release so i can actually prefer to recuperate things you know medical attention all hoping that this u.s. offer to start dressing made a monster. when one or two people go on

a hunger strike it's an extreme act they're taking the risk of their life and they have a message that they want to deliver they exhausted all the possibilities to communicate and have a voice when a hundred people or twenty some people even go on a hunger strike you've got a major problem with the harsh conditions and the only answer is to settle with the business owners and improve the conditions instead they're playing a stream we danger the military is playing extremely dangerous game of letting them starve to death and then the question of whether they should be forced better or not which is not really the real question the real question is why not address their demands. well special report now on the lives of syrian refugees in russia to change. all the.

money in ski theater and made a second to be ab money in stevia to see which is both a cultural contemporary i don't take your logic east of the auditorium so join me to almost say honored c m a the second as we bring you the glitz the glamour and the best of the best in the performing arts trying to get more risky as a team. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm charged markham's a big picture. about

international and world in the very heart of moscow. my name is a fly. i am from syria and i head the war in syria i like to. just go to see my friends and my family. my name is to show. i came here because i want for my children to live in peace and to be killed russian citizens. brought home ones

or similar coming to russia. live here because my all on. my name is it or not to come back to the lovely country when would we see. my name is osama. i'm planning to stay in russia. to build new life here. until just a year ago this.