peacekeepers have been taken hostage in the golan heights by syrian rebels. on his way to begin seven days of mourning for its late iconic leader hugo chavez the country's president for fourteen years who died after a long battle with cancer at the age of fifty eight and here are the latest pictures from the streets of caracas where his body is now being moved from the hospital we get expert analysis shortly here on r.t. . coming down to his death raises questions over the future of the country's oil industry with some of the world's largest reserves now being by many not least the u.s. we look at the prospects. also fresh clashes between police and protesters erupt in egypt despite the prospect of the army taking full control of the rest of city something president morsi is considering following days of deadly violence some top stories.

around the world on screen online international news and comment live from money center here in moscow this is. and our breaking news this hour the u.n. says about twenty international peacekeepers have been detained by a group of syrian rebels on the border between syria and israel earlier an online video emerged purporting to show an group with the captured convoy joining me live now is our middle east correspondent paula slip paula tell us more about what happened what are the latest developments. well the united nations has that abound tween and he peacekeepers in its force charged with iran in creating the situation along the border between israel and sing in troops on the golan heights were detained by about fifty armed fighters the united nations has confirmed that people

are being kept by opposition rebel fighters that has condemned their actions and says that it is currently negotiating with the rebels for the release of these personnel the u.n. is demanding their immediate release and according to the united nations it's absurd and that's why on a regular supply mission earlier on wednesday when they were stopped by militants now the un confirmation comes in response to e.u. chief of the videos show syrian rebels with a seized convoyed in these videos we understand the rebels accuse the peacekeepers of assisting the syrian regime and put forward their demands have a listen. we demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of bashan assad's regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfill during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as

prisoners. let's it's not the first incident of its kind last week the united nations confirmed that an employee it was it's a un it disengagement observer force that is stationed in the area was kidnapped you need to remember that the u.n. force was a step back in one nine hundred seventy four following the one thousand nine hundred eighty three cheaper war its purpose is way to monitor the disengagement of israeli and syrian forces as well as maintaining the cease fire and just a reminder that is what was captured israel captured the golan heights from syria back in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven syria once the land that turned in exchange for peace syrian troops are not allowed in the area and israel and syria are technically still at war the area that is patrolled by human peacekeeping forces. now paul of the incidents come shortly after syrian rebels foreign backers have pledged more a and support doesn't it so interesting timing there.

so interesting timing we know for example that last week that u.s. secretary of state john kerry announced that the united states will provide food and medical supplies to the rebels kerry also played an additional sixty million dollars in assistance to syria's political opposition to topple the syrian president bashar assad now this is the first time that the united states has publicly committed itself to sending non-lethal aid to the armed factions that are backing president assad bush into hasn't also not ruled out supplying the rebels with weapons in the future also on wednesday arab league ministers say that arab states are free to offer military support to the syrian rebels fighting the syrian president bashar assad if they so wish the arab league secretary general also say it and that the ministers had invited the opposition syrian national coalition which is an umbrella body for and he said political of liberal groups to occupy the

seat of syria at the league this essentially means more political and more diplomatic support for the syrian rebels paula thanks very much indeed for that live update thats artie's paula slipper let's not talk to middle east blogger culture sharon he joins me live now here on r.t. cole i understand that obviously we're talking about syrian rebels here being behind the seizure of u.n. staff isn't there a danger that these rebels could isolate themselves or they be rejected by members of the international community that are supporting the rebel opposition. actually that's the most obvious thing about. the first. role is while the rebel leaders and the opposition are demanding more arms from the west and demanding international community intervention they're going out of their way to eighty any of them by doing actions like not now having said that there's no certainty you are actually counted not the ok ration but we've seen in the video those are people good me

anyone any any group within syria but aside from that it points to the fact within syria how this situation is getting completely out of control and all sides are completely kind of liking any ability to control their or the armed groups on the ground and moments of frustration or wrong calculation can be explored in a way like done i think it should be a very clear warning to whatever wants to intervene in syria that this situation is extremely out of control and small groups like that can cause a large amount of damage and any kind of sort of bringing foreign troops or even peacekeepers who wanted to get out of control call the u.n. seems pretty certain that members have been captured by rebels and indeed those rebels have given an ultimatum saying look if president assad doesn't remove these forces from an area which the opposition has just captured then we're going to continue holding these hostages what do you make of that tactic.

calling can you hear me now yeah ok did you hear that question no i'm sorry i thought you know or at the u.n. is pretty certain that the rebels are the ones responsible for capturing members of their staff and also the rebels have issued an ultimatum saying that they will not release those hostages and let an area that is being captured by the opposition is void of any of a fad foresees what do you make of that tactic. well i mean calling it a tactic is a bit of a kind of a misnomer because really it shows there's any number of sense of purpose or thinking behind this and if you watch the video clearly it seems that the kind of the so-called rebels there are hand you in peacekeepers hostage they weren't quite sure given what i know for the purpose of that young group that was there which is

historically has been there to separate israeli and syrian troops so they kind of completely seem to be unfamiliar with what the purpose of those troops are or peacekeepers are and the kind of their dead asking for a complete international demand and again that's another indication of how explosive and irrational the situation has become on the ground and for all sides to take that into consideration just briefly this comes at a time as we heard from paula slayer and we're reporting today that this comes at a time when western allies are actually boosting their financial support and indeed some military support for the rebels. now this is really an example of the west not knowing who they're dealing with isn't it. precisely basically they're using to start arming the moderates against the extremists and actually the lines on the ground there are very fluid don't think that the sanctions don't really like and you can't make sure that the weapons will end up in. sides again if you look at

the fact that what this. kind of counter productive nature the lack of control of the any military or somebody on the ground for the opposition or outside political story is intrigue doing its job and doesn't exercise that one truth that he claims so the west should really think a lot before doing i'm harming the rebels because they most certainly won't want to end up with the target groups. live there on r t thank you very much indeed for your thoughts we appreciate your time thank you venezuela is mourning its late president hugo chavez who has died at the age of fifty eight after losing his battle with cancer now these are the latest pictures from caracas brought you here and i'll tell you where his body is being moved from a hospital in the city to a military academy where it will now lie in state the funeral is due to take place on friday thousands of the socialist leaders supporters of a mast in the street the commandant his death has ended one of latin america's most

remarkable populist rules but it's also left the nation politically divided earlier my colleague paul scott spoke to lose you coming off recently returned from the country. with often been said the child this is a very charismatic figure it's been quite clear quite a bit and on the streets in the campaign rally is when we were there watching him operate what china's really did for venezuela is drastically revolutionize the way the country is run and operated before travis came to power was largely seen close u.s. ally seen as sort of embracing the western economic model of us came from very poor background poor roots and he came to power with his self-styled so-called bolivarian revolution where he wanted to bring. socialist ideals to the country and change the country what he meant by that is radically and empowering the poor communities that for decades had been neglected in venezuela making them feel that they mattered in a system that for many years was set up in

a way that was against them he was often able to sort of connect with people in a way that other politicians you don't often see for example he would play musical instruments at his different press conferences his you know long nine hour marathon t.v. appearances may have been somewhat boring if i even even at the political rallies for example the last one that he held before the election we were there was pouring rain he was fighting cancer we knew that he was sick and he got right up there on stage you know walked away from his security detail walked up up front and started dancing with the crowd and you sort of love him or hate him you really sort of saw the human being come through and i think that really helped people feel that they can relate to them especially the for you know you talk to his charisma there and you mention the poor the social programs he introduced usual focused on some of the projects that helped consolidate his supporters take a look at that for people living up in those longs or barrios there used to be no way to get down to the city to find work or go to school simply walking down those hills you think about an hour and how it used to be no public transportation until

president bush has built these cable cars a literal lifeline for venezuela's poor and i was just cable cause was it that led to his popularity of course of course will be interesting thing is what you saw in that clip we were sort of driving over riding over the barrio and venezuela is a country with a massively large urban population of some twenty million people about seventeen live in cities and until chavez came to power these people didn't have access i mean they weren't physically able to get down for example into the city to get jobs that's why the cable cars were important they didn't have any social services like health care for example so chavez helped build these free health care clinics that gave them for the first time access to services that most people in in developed countries are used to. he helped create education programs he also got into these sort of micro financing programs for example if you and your friends wanted to start a sewing commune of sorts even the bank would give you money at interest rates that were much lower than typical financial operations and you were able to create

businesses that way and so it really it empowered the community but it also led to criticism that he was sort of using petro dollars to win over support with the poor which we talk about how popular the last election the one you were in october the one you were there for was one of the most divisive it was an even though he won that election with pretty much the same percentage that he did in his very first the first time he ran for office fourteen years prior to that there were cracks that were emergent because although he won massive support with the social progress programs among the poor there work there was criticism that he wasn't this really building the kinds of institutions that would help venezuela develop economically sure they had a lot of oil dollar wealth that doesn't mean that they were necessarily building the kinds of programs that would sustain economic development and there were also other problems that had pushed supporters away even from the barrios for example the crime rate as well as a country has about twenty million people something like twenty thousand murders in two thousand and twelve just to contrast that with the united states three hundred fifteen million people twelve thousand murders that same year the crime rate was

incredibly incredibly big issue and so was cronyism and corruption those were also problems in the country that chavez was trying to battle but you know at the end of the day regardless of how divisive he was he's certainly permanently changed the picture of venezuela and also in the region because he has policies you know he didn't just work in venezuela if you try to export those policies to his allies in the region and sort of try to create radical change in that sense to love him or hate him certainly going to be remembered. as champion economic reform funding it with oil wealth for those where it is one of the world's biggest oil producers and nations depending on those supplies are keenly awaiting what happens next not least the u.s. or he explains. venezuela is a major player in the world oil trade its deposits are estimated at around two hundred ninety seven billion barrels as you can see just there that's comparable to those of saudi arabia the world's biggest or produce another country is currently

the fifth largest oil exporter amounting to ninety five percent of the country's export earnings but actual production is far behind that's due to decades of investment since one thousand nine hundred ninety eight or output has fallen twenty five percent our production price well i can tell you that right now as far as the oil markets are concerned the price has been relatively muted and that's because assad as it sounds chavez's death was already priced in we are expecting a spike depending on who will take power less than a month's time and where their loyalties lie venezuela is one of the largest buyers of russian military hardware and trade between the two is only up russian firms have a strong presence in venice waiter's energy sector rosneft is there are local has worked in the country for almost

a decade now on the gas side gas problem has been there since two thousand and eight now contracts with venezuela are all based on deals made with chavez and his government and as we know ross nafs the head eagle searchin he'll actually be attending the funeral which have a says funeral and he'll probably be making sure that those deals stay intact. let's further discuss the legacy of chavez and the implication of his passing with columnist author and war correspondent eric margolis live from kind of the question of course is what will happen next with a snap president election is it a foregone conclusion the vice president will win and no it isn't you know he is he's an antique or is magic compared to. super abundance of charisma he's a very dull plodding a former bus driver he really doesn't excite many people nor do the other leaders

of the. party so that's not sure and experience tells us that that sympathy is a very important factor in elections were former leaders guy we see in states for example senators that aren't wives elected to the pleas and there will be a very strong vote both from the public which was motional you know. and which is still grateful for many of the things that chavez did but nevertheless and he can make a pretty he lost to chavez in october election we assume i suppose he could well be leading the opposition again prove what you say could he then be in for choice particularly now he's got us back i understand he's in the u.s. at the moment and of course he'll be playing the free market agenda well that u.s. backing and that policy play for or against him will come up really is thing as far as i know it is mother's apartment in new york city so he's obviously the candidate

they were by the u.s. which i think will be putting a lot of effort into trying to get him elected and try to defeat the socialists in venezuela but again the thought of her popular figure either and he's a governor. his loyalties are suspect by some as well. the opposition. needs a stronger candidate right now they don't have one and of course there's the military just yesterday maduro the vice president announced the expulsion of two u.s. embassy attaches allegedly for meeting military officers and and conspiring to destabilize the country is that actually any danger of a military coup there is but interestingly the periods yesterday the chief of staff the top military leaders who came up very strongly in favor of child these without. the military might stage

a coup against anybody who tries to change the current direction of venezuela almost but the american army course there's always a chance who from the lower ranks remember that chavez first appeared on the scene as a coup leader as a young office just briefly as such he set the tone for many other latin american leaders how is his death going to affect the region as a whole just briefly. it will it will take a window out of the american countries then to rally behind it would be a very serious blow to cuba cuba if the new leaders of the venezuelan don't. continue giving away concessionary prices to cuba because one of its kind of russian oil that's the source source i think there's going to be instability for a long time. and we know there are some brutal constant violence

constant the country we have to be very cautious looking at the house where we're at now it's very important it's very troubling it's really interesting analysis good to hear from me eric columnist author of war correspondent eric margolis live from canada thank you jurors well we'll be back with more news for you after a short break stay with us altie live in moscow. it's.

a building. mission to teach me. why you should. continue. to whole lot of trouble off it one of the. recently played ivan the terrible has admitted he was behind

a shocking acid attack on the company's. reports. one of the world's most famous theaters the bolshoi is still recovering from a huge scandal when its artistic director was thrown a ball of busted to his face but it also seems to be losing one of its leading don says vital dmitrichenko admitted that he must to mind it this acid attack on the artistic director of the bolshoi sergei filin because he disliked his boss certainly this is enough for him to be prosecuted to be punished but the unconfirmed reports suggest that he carried out this attack you masterminded this attack because feeling as the artistic director of the bolshoi did not allow his wife to perform a leading role in one of the one of the place supposedly the famous swarm like the other two men the one who carried out this attack and the driver who

brought the executioner to the place also admitted to carrying out this attack we all saw in the black swan hollywood movie how tough life can be behind the scenes of the big ballet this certainly was fiction but this is no different to reality the bolshoi has been surrounded by lots of control over seas from addresses being cut ahead of the blaze ahead of the big stage to gloss being put in the dancing shoes of the performers in one of the scandals one of the administrators even had to resign because of pornographic pictures were made public on the internet definitely. has been surrounded by control received but it's never made criminal headlines this was the first case like that feeling partially regain his eyesight we understand that he's now under treatment in germany and probably he will be returning to work in six or seven months time as has been predicted by doctors now . behind the scenes in fighting at russia's main fare to go to

a website dot com and at the moment energy hungry japan's atomic plants come back on stream online we'll tell you why pragmatism is overcoming the post the principles. the moment a last minute lifesaver for one in central russia he managed to bail out of these cranes cabin and it as it tipped over from lifting a very heavy bulldozer you can find the full video on artie's you tube channel. clashes are again raging in egypt's restive city of. president morsi is considering giving the military full control that at least six people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the latest wave of street battles between security forces and young egyptians correspondent bill true brings us more. president mohamed morsi

met with top security officials on choose day reportedly to discuss pulling the police out of the restive city of course and instead putting the military in place this is because of the four days of clashes between police and government protesters in this restive city including protesters torching the national security agency building with additional fires in the governor's headquarters and the security directorate this comes of course i had a very contentious verdict on saturday for this. massacre that took place last year in february and it started when thirty nine defendants were moved from the prison the families of those defendants in this case were very upset with this and so the conscious began between the police and protesters seeing hundreds injured and at least five kids meanwhile we have violence here in the capital as well just off the three square by the nile has been intermittent street battles between

anti-government protesters and police although the opposition is not cohesive there are definitely similar grievances being expressed across the country that there's been no change since the revolution in eleven a feeling that president obama is making very unpopular decisions such as backing this four point eight billion dollar i.m.f. loan which will see subsidies cuts and tax hikes in addition people are saying that the constitution was drafted by islamist dominated constituent assembly so people really have a feeling that nothing has changed there are many problems in the country which means that is very likely the violence is likely to continue in the next few weeks . the true reporting there from cairo will to all the international news this here not you know well don't think europe's largest active volcano has erupted in a stunning display. pluming smoke small villages residing on the slopes of mount etna said to be at risk although a number of roads in the area from the volcano which is situated on the italian on

it in sicily runs more than three thousand meters above the ground and erupts a number of times each year. will. be sixty people have been arrested following a student demonstration in canada's montreal protesting against a hike into wishin fees and he said not get used to gas and sound bombs to disperse the crowd it's a repeat on a smaller scale of scenes witnessed during the so-called of maple spring of last year back then hundreds of students ended up in jail and get it broken promises education for. huge crowds of rallied in the philippines after one of the country's muslim groups was attacked by security forces over a territorial dispute in the laser strike was carried out on tuesday in the state of sabah and the hundreds of thousands of filipino settlers protest as accuse the country's president of abandoning his people in a territorial struggle and the urging a peaceful resolution. that's it for me the need for the moment we'll be back with

more for you in just over half an hour from now in the meantime crosstalk is coming up next after the break stay with us. download the official application to yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from alzheimer's if you're away from your television well it just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch ati anytime anywhere. to least be two language.