a spy is saw the father of a former f.s.b. officer poisoned in london six years ago says accusing vladimir putin of the death was a mistake. first. draft of a resolution on syria which softens calls for president. following criticism from russia. moscow also says that facts should not be cherry picked when it comes to the arab league observers. which lays the blame. on the details just ahead. of the group of protesters in cairo

live pictures of a rally that's being held at the moment in the wake of football violence which left over seventy dead our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from moscow this is good to have you with us this hour in an unexpected change of heart the father of a former f.s.b. officer poisoned in london in two thousand and six has backtracked on accusations that russian president vladimir putin was responsible for his son's death. said his claims were driven by hatred saying he had no idea his son alexander worked for british intelligence. went to meet him. this is how we found life that leads me and co praying in his tiny italian

apartment no electricity no gas no cold water. if it wasn't for the help of areas people i would have died from hunger overseas and to death the last time i took a bath was on christmas eve. we expected more because six years ago after his son former f.s.b. officer aleksandr litvinenko was poisoned in london he was taken care of by some very powerful patrons like suffix out tycoon boris berezovsky and ahmed zakayev and a tourist former chechen militant both hiding in the u.k. . courtships mother either of them we brought. yet to get extremist dorsett there or he was given yet here doris you would be. the one biter you to namco sent a letter asking to be interviewed by russian television we expected more of the

same but instead. we're going to be making that he made a video if you watching this program please forgive me of a for a while the slander the time i said and wrote about the hatred. you know only i had known my son worked for british intelligence you would not talk about his death he could easily have been shot as a double agent the chinese should be short of story what else can i add to the. live if. the u.-turn valter says came when his sons we don't marina lee finn and co revealed to the british media that her husband had worked for and i six further details followed when a newspaper launched its own investigation alexander litvinenko was receiving a retainer of around two thousand pounds a month from the british security services at the time he was murdered it is understood that sir john scarlett now head of m i six and was based in moscow was involved in recruiting him to the secret intelligence service. at first by turnitin

and cole like many others claimed his son had been poisoned with polonium to town and put in the former officer and fierce critic of the kremlin alexander litvinenko spent twenty three days in a london clinic slowly dying from a toxic substance possibly consumed through a cup of tea even before police in london started questioning suspects the victim's father was actively kissing the russian government today by their admits he was saying only what the west wanted to hear. of course i realize russia's f.s.b. and you have to take polonium to london brink over some heads and leave traces everywhere and their suspect and a little boy not a fool either way it was anger and blind hatred speaking inside of me vikram now believes his son fell victim to his own game of double agents now he wants his words to be heard but the media outside russia which once beat down his door for

interviews now won't even reply. to his requests. why is that what you mean because they like it when i see all of the regime i was a root treasure for the movie the whole there are very few people who would say as many horrible things i will because i did. live in two thousand and eight but the only thing young call flat russia or century need to leave is settled in the sleeping quiet town of sinegal it offered a new anonymous life the man claimed putin was his number one enemy so hiding in europe he believed was the only safe solution today by the litvinenko is still afraid to open this door not because of putin though but because of his landlord to whom he owes a lot of money this miserable life has made him a slave of his sanctuary but surely the namco sold everything he had in russia to come to italy he opened a small business several years ago but it went bankrupt things got worse after the

seventy three year old had buried his wife but are now fears her casket could be removed because he hasn't paid the cost of a barrel clock and it's been months since the electricity was shot on here to his plot to last for two euros went on a gas canister and that is going to have been the work of the u.s. navy. never spoke at that i'm going to let the southern wind in sight. there is east oh yes russia. learned. i want to go home to russia. the crew truth i do want to stay here. in the great show of an art city ghalia eataly. the draft resolution on syria under discussion of the un security council is being self and to take into account

russian concerns it's not going to have references to president assad stepping down and an embargo removed from the tax. and started chatting and joins me now with more details live from new york so why is such a change at the u.n. anastasio below moods definitely seem to be shifting over here at the united nations headquarters you know amid screams trying to attack russia for being counterproductive for blocking this arab and western resolution it looks like russia has really been a game changer behind closed doors and it looks like its voice has definitely. changed the game altogether we're hearing that considering the fact that russia and china have been very expressive in saying that they would not support every resolution against syria that a new document has been circulated among members of the security council this is according to the permanent representative of togo what the united nations the

country which is presiding at the security council this month that this document is now being considered in thursday's negotiations and it's important at this entire time russia has been seeing what's key is for both sides of the conflict to get together for talks and then statements made earlier today the representative of togo said that the international community believes this to be very important in finding a solution to the crisis that the sides sit together and talk and this is exactly what russia has been calling for all along now there are no deadlines in terms of when any sort of documents would be voted on we are hearing that it's possible that monday is being considered as one of the days when a vote might take place and still as you russia also want the findings of the arab league report with the fact that the armed groups did exist which one part of the government force is involved in killings involved and they want that to be taken into account at the u.n. is there any sign of that. absolutely bill you know with this new kind of shifting mood this is one of the things that we can assume because the arab league observers

mission documents basically accused both sides of the conflict of being responsible and this is something that the west and the arab league have kind of been turning a blind a blind eye on and trying to not really bring to light some of these facts such as the observer mission seeing that they've witnessed. a civilian boss killing eight people a bombing taking place that killed eight people as well as a bombing of a train bringing diesel oil as well as an explosion of the of a police bus and this is something that the mission put in their report on the west and the arab league have kind of tried to brush aside and russia's been saying it's very important that this document acknowledges that armed forces and an armed groups exist on the ground and this is something that seems to be taken into account now with this possibility of a new document being considered at the u.n. and this does you thanks so much for the live update from new york and dr marcus papadopoulos the editor of politics first magazine has told r.t.

that is not in western interest to listen to the report's findings. western interest in the conflict in syria isn't guided by a wanton soup advance human rights democracy or the rule of law in the region if it was about that then we'd probably see an american naval flotilla off the coast of saudi arabia which happens to be one of the most repressive and brutal regimes in the world it follows a pro western foreign policy the reason why western governments are we can all in the findings of the report is because it doesn't fit into their agenda syria is a huge player in the in middle eastern politics and the west principally america has a very problematic relationship with syria so it would be very much within america's interests for the syrian government for president assad to fall from power and for a more accommodating a more sort of pro western government to come to parallel should that happen. that

would give a washington almost for dominance politically in the middle weights and it's what i would describe as a jewish chessboard so it's not within the interests of western powers principally america to take into account what has been actually said in the in the reports of the arab league coming up this hour here on r t the whistle blows final appeal. fetes now lies with the u.k. supreme court after he makes his extradition appeal before judges. we did it on allegations of sexual assaults. police have fired tear gas at a group of protesters in cairo there are reports of hundreds injured they have been running against the way security services handled the riot at a football match on wednesday which saw more than seventy people killed fans rushed onto the field in the seaside city of port side after the home team beat egypt's

top club setting off clashes and a stampede does not talk to mark almond he's a professor of international relations from bill kent university turkey also oxford university from where he joins us now egypt has a history of football violence and the head of egypt's football association and other officials have been sacked as a result of this violence but is there more to this just rivalry between fans well it might just be an rivalry between an extreme form but now happened is that it's been interpreted politically and there are basically two. conspiracy which may cause ability. the government. chaos in order to say only the army can save the other is that there are people who roam to say look we will be running egypt for the last year since mubarak fell on top of the we need to change we need to get rid of the military and. let's have some calls ability you

know. and of course that perhaps explains why many people are very upset with the police accusing them of letting these football clashes taking place i mean if that's true why would they have done nothing. well i think that there are two possibilities or if it is simply the police are very demoralized they took a beating if you will the full bharath of they were the chief defenders of his regime and the army eventually will get rid of him and much of the social order problems lead to crime attacks on tourists attacks on older people. often are blamed on that at the police seem to be to demoralize to do much and many people have said that we. had reacted with a heavy hand stop this as if we would have been reactions on the other hand there are also the police are deeply dislike. and who are. back in january last year and may well who wanted some of the police may well have

wanted to see them take a beating that's also one of the spirits i suspect the good the tragedy of the situation is the police are probably very incompetent in demoralized incompetent behavior led to the deaths and in turn has set fire to the people who want to believe that such a tragedy must have a disco reason than just him home and of course all this has now resulted on more protests more what could be violent scenes in cairo itself we hear now that the police are using tear gas to disperse crowds could the country be heading for yet another full scale uprising. all chaos yes so this seems to be a problem as i say that maybe people want to use this for their own purposes but on the one hand the muslim brotherhood has accused the government of failing at being in some way responsible for the riots they won the elections to parliament they want to quit transfer of power to them on the other hand quite a few of the streets protesting on happy about the muslim brotherhood victory in

the elections and they may feel that disorder on the streets might give them more insurance that they have actually electrical. and then as i say that maybe people who say. you can provide it but it it's not a happy prospect for a smooth transition to a better egypt and a very uncertain life egyptians at the moment compared to what it was like before the fall of mubarak what does this tell us about the future now then. it is the big danger isn't it we can see tourism is taking a huge hit and we'll have. the last twenty four hours it's also the general economy is not doing very well and egypt is approaching banks well we just managed to get actively in chaos and. we did just manage to get that almost lost a lot i think we've just lost the connection there. we pretty much got there thank you very much indeed sorry about the problems with the web cam but we had pretty

much everything thanks for joining us there from oxford university thank you. iran's nuclear ambitions and the euro zone's debt struggles top the german chancellor's agenda on her trip to china angela merkel is calling on beijing the biggest part of iranian oil not to buy more after bargain to use its influence to persuade to run to abandon any possible atomic weapons ambitions. short of investing in the eurozone is still a safe bet and is going on in this crystal for still believes getting support for germany's economy is the main reason for the trip. our chancellor is on a triple begging ters she wants money for europe she wants you know a support from beijing for the new un resolution which beijing is not going to give and she also wants beijing to cut off its own oil supply which beijing is widely not going to do and of course beijing has also to take into consideration that india its competition in the region is standing straight with iran and buying

ever more rain in oil so i don't think she has any chance of you know talking china out after buying iranian oil that will not happen again i would say she will not put any much focus on it she will she will say that she will look to the ceiling and then she was smile and say let's talk business now her main focus in this trip is german economy and she's wise to do that she will even not you know lobby very much for chinese investment into europe because she knows in a heart of hearts that this is truly a bad investment more analysis on the chancellor's visit to china is available on our website r.t. dot com it online all the time of the pregnancy what else is there for you. water burst pipes inside japan's crippled fukushima nuclear plant despite warnings made months ago but exactly this could happen. raised

a spontaneous protest started on twitter the arab revolutions may actually have taken a decade of expertise to prepare and millions of dollars to fund this story along with many others available on the web site r.t. dot com. the world's top whistle blowers made his appeal to the u.k. supreme court and now it's up to the judges to decide his fate you know sanjay is wanted in sweden on allegations of sexual assault but we can expand the noise the accusations insist the case against him is politically motivated your smith is outside the supreme court in london. the coaching to the supreme court said they will deliver the verdicts in what they're calling a number of weeks so we're not sure whether that means two weeks or whether it means eight weeks but certainly we have now reached the end of this two day hearing in which case sides have put their cases to the panel of seven judges that are sitting on this case in the supreme court and this hasn't been about whether julian

are songs committed the sexual assault that it's the sexual assaults that it's alleged that he committed by the swedish prosecutor this is being about the nitty gritty of how the legal system works as far as it pertains to the european arrest warrant and whether in fact the warrant has been issues to extradite julian assange it was valid to toll a soldier's team to say that the only people who can issue a european arrest warrant are judges who are impartial and independent where is this warrant was issued by the swedish prosecutor who is party to this case on the other hand the swedish prosecutor's team have been arguing that the european arrest warrant which the u.k. has of course signed up to can be issued by both judges and prosecutors it has to be said the jury in the cool of today particularly the judges appeared to have a little bit more time for our soldiers t.v.'s case that when it came to what the switch prosecutor was saying they questioned a bit more they got a bit more and see and they were seem to have a little bit less patience for it where is diana raise for julian assange she might

have to raise a bit of laughter and it seems like a bit of a life supersede take this is the last chance saloon for julian ourselves in this country this of course is the supreme court is the highest court in the land has come up through other courts including race recently through the high court he's made it here if he does lose here and there is a chance that he could take this to the european court of human rights in strasbourg that's by no means a given but i mean he's always said that he would do that if he did lose in this country's course he's always maintained that the charges are politically motivated he says that it's. connection with his what the wiki leaks such a call to release that huge cast of previously secret documents which embarrassed governments including the u.s. government and will say many international business but his greatest fear of course is that he would be extradited first to sweden and then once in sweden this week to find a way to get him to america where he was facing its serious charges it will be

a number of weeks i say before we fight out and then you know possibly. human rights possibly. possibly will have to see. the united states has made the surprise announcement that it will halt combat operations in afghanistan earlier than expected us to find secretary leon panetta said the country wants to switch to a role of supporting and training local forces before the end of next year afghan officials claim the decision is ruin the whole transition plan and force preparations to be rushed through to discuss this i'm now joined by war correspondent and author eric margolis and eric's got a lot of experience of afghanistan the us said it would pull out then by twenty fourteen now of course it wants to go earlier was it changes mind you think first of all pressure from this year's elections poll shows sixty percent of american voters are with. the prices approach one truly dollars and i'm one of washington's hard cash budgets and obama wants

the leander job number already remember he was. proud of the. united states and this is a step i think you would be pleased but i you know i also. are going to raise it. does it really imply what it means a comb about withdrawal a troop withdrawal all those who would be involved in combat and that we are seeing people staying back in a supportive role. what's the difference eric well we're not sure yet what this is going to meet we have the example of iraq where the u.s. did in fact slowly raise its ground combat operations to the situation air above iraq remains uncertain but u.s. is now moving fifty thousand troops to kuwait and keeping a lurch of the state of presence there so there's still

a footprint in afghanistan sent. to a smaller number of foreigners bases drone attacks. special forces it's not over yet and what's going to help. us paid mercenaries who are in afghanistan remains uncertain the afghan officials are not happy about this decision i think a good reason to be nervous they do indeed because without that without the bayonets this military and nato troops the afghan government must three hundred fifty thousand man supposedly army and police force is completely unreliable a lot of it will go to town with the news happened when russia was in afghanistan and it's well it's the government forces unreliable and certainly the

america's allies in afghanistan are worried they're going to take this it's a sign is intended to get out or it will have to leave it there thank you very much for your thoughts eric margolis war correspondent joining me live in toronto. the blunders all that us politicians have in spot jokes and parodies for decades with the presidential election campaign heating up as a whole new supply of ammunition now but as we report now a report somebody the comments of displays of ignorance and disregard for world affairs and no laughing matter. every four years america's top job is up for grabs. with each new election comes a new batch of candidates with compromising foreign policy credentials when i ask me who is the president of you beki beki beki beki stands banned i'm going to say you know i don't know do you know i'm afraid that it's a very hard struggle particularly given the situation on the iraq pakistan border you can actually see russia from land here in alaska africa was

a country on the brink on the brink of five complete meltdown and chaos geographically illiterate us candidates have supplied comedians with endless material but all jokes aside some presidential hopefuls vying to lead the world's most powerful armed forces know very little about america's military interventions so you agree with president obama libya or. libya. forming a cohesive sentence on geopolitics can be a struggle i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reasons. no that's that's a different one differentiating between friends and enemies is also a challenge obviously got to stand with our north korean allies in the case of republican candidate mitt romney mixing up presidents and prime ministers and becoming i think that president bush represents

a real threat i think to leave. the stability and peace in the world to be overarching ignorance on international affairs has caused american political commentator bill maher to conclude i think anybody could be president in this dumb country ok sort of like at this point now where i think if you're going to be it when you register to be a candidate you also have to go take a test about foreign affairs and if you fail the test we might get you one chance to take it again. and then i'm say sorry go run you know for city council in your little town in alaska if a country with the world's highest national team is being represented by politicians with a deficit on international affairs the biggest consequence is likely to be america's credibility around the world and even who we target and let me finish this i just get lost in a blizzard of words there this is where it gets really dangerous for united states

of america it's like wait a minute how could they possibly be right about terrorism how could they be right about north korea are going to be right about iran so-called nuclear program when their candidate doesn't even know that there's a north and south korea i think the us is why and so then the world has this very paranoid view of the united states because of the candidates not understanding basic facts understanding basic principles of international law which unequivocal prohibit can withstand if i were president i would be willing to use waterboarding i think it was very effective. and i think the consistent streak of foreign policy blunders made by u.s. presidential hopefuls is quite humorous but it could also be considered a national tragedy if most candidates campaigning to be leader of the so-called free world simply don't know enough about the world outside of america's borders.

r.t. new york. with the main headlines for in just a few moments from now and then after that documentary the gun fight will take a fresh look at the impact of guns in america through vivid stories of people who have a personal stake in the issue all that still to come for you. to stay with us. it

was shot four times in total. sort of the boys are still in my body. and people should be allowed to defend themselves were they own guns in the hands of law abiding decent people are not a problem national rifle association. basically retired military. to shoot holes in i'm sorry if you know that the bullet comes out here and this makes it go bang and if what's in front of here is going to die and that's all the training you really really need raise your hand if you know somebody's been shot ok to live what i want to philadelphia the streets. kill a lot of hopefully we will never have to use the weapons for self defense but we should be prepared the full class including the teacher as a close.