it's all politics only on our team. if. the syrian government starts heading towards chemical disarmament the details of which are being thrashed by top russian and american diplomats in geneva it's off to washington press to pull in its war drive against syria. though america is still sticking to its belief that damascus gassed hundreds of civilians in august one man who was held hostage by rebels in syria that time challenging this version of events here and we caught up with the man in question. the n.s.a. online spying scandal spreads even wider universities are as well getting in on the action following secret digital signposts to glean personal data from students.

and sleeping patients on staff at a psychiatric hospital in northwestern russia. overnight. cigarette suspected of causing. it is just turned midday here in moscow with. top stories for you right now syria has taken its first steps along the path of chemical disarmament and the u.n. has confirmed it's received documents from the syrian president on joining the chemical weapons convention which bans the use and production of poisonous asians and comes amid u.s. war threats against syria washington has apparently agreed to try diplomacy. because following the meeting of the top russian and american diplomats ongoing in

geneva. john kerry states the press ahead of that tough negotiations over how to rid syria of its chemical weapons stockpiles now. said that he was looking forward to getting down to the business of rushing out. took to the stage he spoke and he spoke for a long time he reiterated the u.s.a.'s position that they believe that damascus is responsible for the chemical attacks on the twenty first of august he spoke skeptically about bashar al assad's promises to disarm and said that he's come to geneva in order to make to make certain that a deal can be hammered out he mentioned that the usa nevertheless is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis at this point. interjected that he hadn't prepared a politicized speech and that he was looking forward to just jumping into negotiations and we know however that there are vital sticking points that remain between the two sides one of these sticky stumbling blocks is the threat of military force

against syria the u.s. the u.k. and france have said that they want any resolution that goes to the u.n. security council to contain a clause that would threaten damascus with strikes if it doesn't comply with russia in turn has reiterated that this is unacceptable and moreover the syrian president bashar al assad has also said in an in a t.v. interview that if the usa continues to threaten syria with force that's going to be a game changer and that any deal will be off the table if threats continue speaking in that interview earlier the syrian leader also said that damascus would provide information about its chemical weapons stockpiles one month after it signed up to the chemical weapons convention. this won't be about syria signing a protocol and delivering it with no positive feedback it has to be a mutual process and above all the united states has to give up its policy of threatening syria once receive the united states truly want stability in the middle east once we see it refrain from threatening us and pursuing intervention once we

see them stop supplying weapons to terrorists then we'll consider this process is truly acceptable in syria and will look to foreign law as it. russia should play a major role in the disarmament process we don't trust washington and. moscow is the only party that can fulfill this romano bashar al assad also spoke of turkey saudi arabia and qatar and accused them of supporting the syrian rebels he accuses of using chemical weapons he also said that it could be the usa behind the chemical attacks and that countries that have supplied terrorists in syria with chemical weapons need to take responsibility for their actions finally the syrian president warned that the syrian rebels could try to launch a chemical attack against israel as a further act of cation so number of different and very tough positions that top

diplomats need to reconcile here in geneva migrates be watching closely to see if they can come around to a realistic deal. and as of yet no official finding on who was exactly behind the. war and why washington continues to accuse president assad of being responsible some westerners who were inside the country at that time challenge this notion of my colleague bill dog. he came to syria originally under the protection of rebels that we later found himself deep inside the rebels detention. balls. i don't think bashar al assad in the syrian government are to blame for the chemical attack and. during that time my italian friend and i had been taken hostage by jihadists from the oil for root group in syria we were held at one point in a room facing an office of the free syrian army and the elf jihadist group we have

been in the barracks of the free syrian army and of the jihadist group as well and we heard a conversation from this office the conversation was between one general from the free syrian army we knew him from earlier as he was the one who was in charge of our detention in another officer from the group. just. there was also a third person who was speaking perfect english and they were talking to him via skype with us they were talking about the events of the in the damascus suburb and from the conversation it was clear that the syrian government wasn't behind the attack but it also. wasn't clear to you what the motivation was to use chemical weapons to launch a gas attack on civilians in this way what was the motivation do you think was it mentioned what. their motivation was unclear from the conversation but we figured that it would have been absurd for the syrian government to use chemical weapons or

the regime had nothing to gain from the al guta massacre on the contrary it played into the hands of its enemies the u.s. france and the u.k. and it gave them a good reason to use force against the assad government either the syrian government lost its mind but i don't believe that or the authors of the attack or the opposition and it is clear that the rebels are the ones who wanted to benefit from the situation. let us remind you that the rebels already tried to simulate a gas attack a year ago and elms they made a video showing people on the ground acting as if they had been. of neurotic gas. now untouched by fighting during the first two years of syria's civil war the battle has come in earnest to the ancient christian village of mali and there the locals have actually joined the syrian army to push out the invading rebels though many saying the rescuers come too late with residents describing

a horrific treatment for example executions being forced to convert to islam looting widespread as well reporting from the thick of it amaury finish. the like oh oh. the mood is cheerful soldiers are smiling and relieved the jihadists have been booted out. but some of them were killed some of them escaped. locals joined the army to defend the native town the soldiers in light colored uniforms of the so-called national defense but the terrain he's very difficult with mountains and caves but we know the area better so we are carrying on with the operation and . we come across one grocery shop owner who we have filmed back in two thousand and

twelve then he told us that the armed rebels hasn't come to their village and why would they. this time he's armed with a gun and monster in soldiers and he has some questions again. that syria is a land of history and of love they sent terrorists here from all corners of the world to kill syrians and each other why i asked the world why if the european citizen is so much just slapped across the face they'd be a scandal while in syria how many victims how many hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered why will it stop would quickly find out that it won't be today held by the militants for a week it seems that mountain tops of fear hotel still poses a threat that sufi hotel our goal was to liberate them push on to martha climb on a street but we couldn't do it the snipers are everywhere milo is home to many christian churches and monasteries as well as mosques everywhere we go here we see

either crosses on the arrests now added to these we see blagged how does flags it's time to head back. but while in the car something goes wrong. we take cover in a place where we find dozens of army soldiers hiding from enemy's bullets. the main road is being targeted and it's he's our only way out we think over our chances when our engineer gets hit. the question mark geragos which. thankfully it's not serious. but it becomes clear we come to a to minutes more. when

i was stuck here in this corner and went out trying to get out of here business was. well so no no no. those have been anything done to back then here they go clear a lot. more focus off the jew the boots did you hear them whizzing by. but now say that we're rich they share. the fire and you're behind this new three hundred told them this is the syrian army again you know.

that's how do you make. sure you get paid. and we leave while governmental forces continue their frenzy for model of the ledge which despite the claims remains under siege. from syria. and i represented half of the world's population the shanghai cooperation organization will be looking at how it can lend its weight to peace in syria and for that to happen though it's thought that iran will have to play a major role still to come here on r.t. we were poured on the organization's summit today in. the meantime here on the program the director of intelligence in the u.s. has said the wide ranging leaks on the n.s.a. spy program have fueled an important debate on the tradeoff between privacy and national security though he says he's worried there are more revelations from

whistleblower edward snowden still to come here at r.t. we spoke to were now. kevin mitnick. while he believes that snowden secret leaking can indeed be criticized he still thinks the revelations were crucial for america. i have some mixed feelings that he did cross the line when he revealed n.s.a. operations that we have against other countries because as we all know all countries spy on each other i think is a whistleblower you know i don't look at him as a true i'm actually glad that he revealed what the national security agency was doing at least against americans by violating our constitutional rights to privacy that's dead very damaging right because this was you know it was kind of like how i felt in a lot of colleagues in the information security world felt we already felt this was already being done but there was actually no confirmation but now there is definite confirmation and now that the cat is out of the bag it should surely damage is national security because now our adversaries now potentially terrorists know our

methods of operation or at least have it confirmed so now they could change the way they communicate with the revelations of snowden that allegedly the n.s.a. has approached and partnered with a lot of companies to develop security software that developed p.p.m. technology they might have intentionally weaken this technology so they could intercept communications but an average citizen probably but they're you know if they're not a terrorist they really are not concerned about his intelligence agency intercepting communications but more criminal organization i believe it's all about scott mcnealy said i think about fifteen years ago you have no privacy get over it and that was the axiom of sun microsystems and i think that quote is really holds true today and it's not just governments trying to peer into what you do want lying in the universities as well there are serious concerns about how the digital trails of students are tracked and used as institutions open their doors for yet another

semester laura smith looks at the risks of so-called data collection. remember the film minority report it's the one where tom cruise has the car in the future and uses paths in the day to stop crimes before they happen while the fictional feature is now universities are analyzing the electronic trail of students how often they use the library what books they guess out even where they park their cars to create a picture of them and how they learn and they use the data in different ways that different you need the marketing courses but also to predict which students are likely to fail or dropouts and here's where it is into nineteen eighty-four territory in the dystopian novel any negative thoughts is thought crime every party member has the telly screen in his or her home which the thought police to use to watch them and record anything that resembles an unorthodox opinion or in the struggle now look for

a university in the midlands says it's considering doing something frighteningly similar monitoring student private emails but negative comments on their university experience to see if they're at risk of quitting. students at the london school of economics are not keen on the idea. that it would be an infringement of my integrity it sounds a bit the cia now i think people are the things that went on i think people are much more kind of them. i don't think it's right it's a kill if you can say so you wouldn't do it in denmark where i come from i think people would like that i would mom my emails. i mean the private e-mail is sure to school right and they see. private universities do have a good track record keeping dates to private but the worry here is that there's so much data and of course how it could be used ultimately the information could be used to allocate resources for example if it identifies the type of person most

likely to fail universities could stop recruiting those people altogether or not waste money on trying to retain them as students start returning for a new academic year that's a big big brother is watching them now more closely than ever so a lot more news to come your way after the break here on our including all the details on the deadly fire rips through a psychiatric institution in russia's northwest with the rest of the world's top headlines for this hour in just a moment. on the market is mother nature. may customers struggle with to. fight for each. supplier.

let people think they are prices pure. and they use it. and flush their toilets with the same warning that the series is selling and spring water. and. economic down in the final. days. and the rest. will be every week.

and up to twenty five people a feared dead after a blaze broke out overnight at a psychiatric facility in northwestern russia twelve bodies have been found so far twenty three twenty three people already taken to safety but earlier in the program i spoke to lindsey from. the fire reportedly broke out in the evening hours and wouldn't and it says this facility in the northwest of russia in your the village of. apparently this wooden and except is the men's ward many of these patients were bedridden at the time. witnesses are saying that they saw a person within the facility who was engulfed in flames before the structure caught fire obviously investigators are taking a very serious look at this and trying to ascertain the the cause of this blaze now crews arrived within minutes but it is said there was very heavy smoke and rescuers have spent the morning searching the surrounding areas to find possibly any patients who escaped the fire and run out into the into the areas surrounding the

facility and are possibly still hiding so many many concerned people out there trying to find people who may have survived this blaze one nurse it's reported died trying to save patients now the martis emergencies ministry has said that it's cited this facility for safety violations and the facility had until august first of twenty fourteen to fix those so obviously that's being looked at very closely on the under very tragic morning in the village of luca what really brought fire safety into focus the infamous lame horse nightclub in december of two thousand and nine one hundred fifty six people killed this was because of a pyrotechnics show on stage at the at the nightclub one leaf of the double doors was sealed shut. i let's have a look now at some of the biggest fires that have hit care facilities in russia

a massive blaze in a psychiatric hospital occurred earlier this year april the twenty sixth in. just north of moscow it killed thirty six including two staff members two patients though led to safety by one nurse they were the only survivors and in august twenty ten nine people died in western russia after retirement home caught fire also in two thousand and nine the russian republic of komi a blaze in an elderly care home killed twenty three and here we have marched for two years before flames claiming the lives of sixty two residents over a retirement home and again november in that year a fire in the city of tula again in a retirement home that killed thirty two. well we can get all the stats from dot com as well as you continue to find out exactly how many people were killed and how many have died from these fires out these retirement homes across various parts of russia all right still to come on the program here on thank you for joining us we

come to you live from moscow a lot more stories coming up as the military pause in the citizens push out sixteen thousand people evacuated from cities in russia's far east soldiers fight to hold back the floodwaters. and flames of the site tourist park in the american state of new jersey fifty businesses devoured the dramatic footage for you right now or right there it's all on our t.v. dot com for this hour. right to see. her story. and i think that you're. going to. be in the.

now iran's president has declared that any possibility of the use of force against syria must be condemned and diverted the comments were made at the summit of one of the biggest organizations on the planet the shanghai cooperation organization which represents more than half of humanity its last meeting today in kyrgyzstan and aside from the usual talk of an ever tighter economic and military alliance syria is featuring heavily. going to filed this report. besides the six constant members of the shanghai cooperation organization which include russia and china its observers are also here including india and iran they're also looking at becoming constant members of the organization in large mint is one of the things that are going to be discussed here as well as joint economic projects and the situation in afghanistan which is also here it's an observer as well but it's syria which is going to be definitely one of the key issues on the table iran is

a key player in the region and it's widely agreed including by senior u.n. officials that any diplomatic and peaceful solution of the conflict in syria would not be possible without tehran's involvement iran's stance on the situation has been the similar to russia's and china's saying that only a peaceful solution is possible and warning that any military intervention would not only create more violence in syria itself but would risk spreading the violence throughout the whole region now there's also another very important issue here is that iran along with hezbollah are syria's main shiite allies and it's agreed by many analysts that it's syria which is the key link in this chain and if it's dropped out that will lead to a break up of the balance of forces in the region and would eventually lead to unpredictable consequences and definitely more violence so getting iran involved in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in syria is something which is definitely

a knowledged by moscow and this summit here in kyrgyzstan is a good chance to do that you've got to spin off. your star and to afghanistan now to open up. where a bombing at the u.s. consulate in the afghan city of herat it's an hour long gun battle between militants and security forces i want a military spokesman says the consulate is now being secured five of the attackers have been killed at least three. people reported dead nine more injured in the attack the taliban very quick to claim responsibility. outbreaks crowds of filled the streets on thursday as people lashed out at security forces accusing them of killing a protester they say a prominent young activist was run over by a police car on wednesday the protest movement in bahrain has been pressing the government for more than two years to implement she would rights reforms and accuses the rulers of carrying out a crackdown. on protesters in the u.k.

you also blame for oppressing activists have staged a rally at the world's biggest fair in london they say many of the items presented there will be used to crackdown on the opposition in countries like bahrain the event is held every year to provide a platform for weapons manufacturers and their clients. and white smoke has been seen rising from a reactor at the crippled fukushima nuclear power station a tokyo electric power claims it is steam that's coming from a puddle on top of the plug the companies fail to explain why vapor has been appearing randomly since july of this latest news comes off there are reports that levels of radioactive isotope had spiked twenty three fold in just the past three days. so i will thank you for joining us here on r t just a moment to hear how one major company tunde water usually a free resource into

a multi billion dollar industry. david silver president of american atheists initially had his request for a custom license plate with the word atheist on it reject. atheist written with a one as the i was deemed to be just too offensive after some pressure the new jersey motor vehicles commission caved in allowed the plate this is only logical because a properly spelled atheist point had already been in use i look at this two ways one if you're going to give people the freedom of choice of expression then some people are going to express themselves in an offensive way so if you're terrified of offending people then why not just give everyone a random plate with a random number and no one will be offended at all or two if you really believe in

freedom of speech and expression all that then allow drivers to pick whatever they want and be responsible for themselves if someone throws a brick through their car window for having an ultra offensive license plate and if you want to express yourself or express something really offensive on your car then you better be prepared for some blowback or at least a few people spitting on your windshield but passionist my opinion. choose your language. make it with no infidels some. choose to. choose to. choose the stories to. choose access to.

ah. the population of pakistan totals one hundred eighty million and it's still growing in the harlow there are ten million people clean drinking water is in short supply. before nestle introduced pure lies bottled water was a rare sight in pakistan. now nestle dominates a vast market that it created itself i grew up in a city where you could go just like anyone else for you also water and you would get a glass of water for free without any fear of its quality or it sounds and what's happened over the last ten to fifteen years i mean in my own consciousness is that i have seen and witnessed a replacement of drinking water a commodification of drinking water. i would say that it's nestle that's done it it's been a confluence of factors nestle appeared on the scene it started providing your.