hostages human shields by syrian rebels in the go on hiatus. thousands of venezuelans publicly more nearly eight are with a death and who go chavez leaving behind a political vacuum and uncertainty. a top al choice dancer who admitted to ordering an attack on the artistic director of the company pleads not guilty and says he didn't know what would be so severe or that acid would be used and details of the case a little bit. it's one pm in moscow très a very good having you with us here on r t we begin this hour in the middle east where the u.n. is demanding the immediate release of a group of peacekeepers taken hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights

militants say they are using the observers as human shields and will hold them until syria's government forces pull back from a nearby village artie's middle east correspondent bill paul asli or as the latest . all twenty one new in personnel were on armed they're all from the philippines and we've heard from the philippines foreign office who has demanded their immediate release the philippines government says that they are being treated well that negotiations are underway to try and secure the release of the militants are admitting that they took these u. n. personnel to try and prevent an attack by assad's loyalists in other words what we're seeing is that the rebel forces are using this new and teen as human shields now the u.n. has of course condemned this attack this action we've heard criticism particularly from moscow at the united nations there is no reason at all under any circumstances any kind of a sick imagination to try to harm those people so clearly gross disrespect for

united nations gross disrespect of the international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in the go shake their immediate release according to the united nations it's team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage. we go live to beirut now for some insight from political analyst chemical was me so what do we actually know so far about the rebel group to your knowledge about which group has seized the u.n. team their current selves the martyrs of your mark but what actually do they answer to. well obviously they answer to the free syrian army and their response of we have to look at the qataris and those persian gulf who are arming these terrorist organization and we now we have you and peacekeeper have been kidnapped and that's very dangerous precedent that's what we been warning all along about if

we let this country go that road that this is what's going to happen you're going to see a lot of terrorists. against you and other civilians throughout syria and throughout the world this is a dangerous precedent and i think the sponsorship of these people should be held accountable as those people should be brought to justice what is taking place in syria. and destruction and supply of weapons is connected to this and sudan and the world have to take a stand especially the united states which is actually is giving the blessing to arm the syrian. what they call the free syrian army and that's what we end up with rebels say they won't release the un hostages until syria's government forces withdraw from the area do you think that's a realistic demand. i think this is an issue where you have

a kidnapper they've taken hostage those hostage belong to the you and they you and should deal with these countries will have influence of these people who have been given them the money and the weapons and we have to mention turkey also is one of the sponsors yesterday we had a meeting of the out of belleek and clearly they said they cannot supply of money and weapons and they should be held accountable because that weapon and money and this action and tragedy action where they are you and peacekeeper has actually been taken hostage now this is all happening in the golan heights which is disputed territory between israel and syria how likely do you think israel is to get involved. well i think this whole region is going to be on fire and. this situation be left as it is right now and i think that there's really

no where the syrian and know it and everybody in the region and lebanon and throughout. the middle east know that any mistake on any side this is going to bring the whole region into. a major region for war we not really i as i see it now we becoming very close to this happening regional war in in that region and it's going to be involved everybody and nobody can to be from it even those countries that actually trying to supply monies and weapon even if they're drug graphically a little bit distant from what is taking place but things are going out of hand i think it's a wake up call for the international community i think the american have to be more cautious we actually thought mr kerry will bring

a new agenda but unfortunately administration is not taken the right course of action when it come to the ability of the region somebody is calling for a war in the middle east and somebody has to stop this war from escalating further alright come our was new thanks very much for your analysis. venezuela in seven days of mourning after the death of outspoken leader who go shove it thousands took to the streets after he died tuesday following a long battle with cancer was he failing a producer for artie's video agency ruptly has more. to caracas today is the streets a very calm but really very somebody asli the coffin of hugo chavez was taken through the streets today and was finally taken to the military academy where thousands of people have gathered outside of the military academy and there's a queue which seems to know no end of people who are waiting to be able to see the

body of hugo chavez and pay their final respects people are still very much in a state of shock obviously hugo chavez has been battling with cancer for a very long time at the moment there's a lot of confusion about what kind of coming days and weeks have to bring all of the. projects that were taken over the last fourteen years that he was in power benefited the most marginal marginalized sections of venezuelan society of course before hugo chavez came into power in one thousand nine hundred nine venezuela was one of the most unequal societies are not that gap has been reduced because of a number of social programs that were brought him by hugo chavez banks to be immense oil wealth that this country has and to. chavez came to power in one thousand nine hundred nine much of that oil wealth was obviously going into the pockets of a very small elite in venezuela. and which. supporters today say form the backbone essentially of the opposition that if the opposition again

took power then essentially the country would robust back to pre-one thousand nine eleven stream inequality obviously we know that there's going to be elections in the next thirty days and among business supporters who are the people who have been out in the streets today very confident that the vice president nicolas maduro is going so comfortably win the next elections but of course you know that remains to be seen for washington chavez's death will bring an end to a constant stream of criticism but professor of latin american studies miguel tinker solace that while venezuelans choose their next leader it's a new u.s. best interest to keep a low profile. washington that would be we will advise to not get involved in venezuela the least they can say at this point is the better this is a process we're going to see a very heated election and any intervention on the part of the u.s. even a misstep on obama would be taken as as as hostility towards venezuela would play into the into the elections in venezuela in this context but after the election of

a new president i think that there are good conditions for an effort to reestablish relationships but i think we should understand that it's not just venezuela that had a has had difficulty with washington also ecuador has no ambassador from the u.s. bolivia has no ambassador from the u.s. and the wiki leaks reports really indicate how u.s. attempted to maneuver and to play country against country in latin america and it really provide a revealing look about u.s. foreign policy and how little it has changed either from bush or obama. stay with us here on our team still to come this hour a changing tide the british public seems to be growing weary of its old school political leaders withdrawing support at the polls for the so-called none of the above party plus. egyptian authorities struggle to control the city a port side where unrest and nonstop anti-government protests have claimed several

lives won this and plenty to else after the break. wealthy british style. time. market why not. counting the. wind on what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. we speak your language will not advance. news programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news a little too negative angles keep these stories. for you here.

in detroit altie spanish find out more visit. thanks for staying with us here on r t twelve minutes past. now in egypt protesters have set streets on fire and poured support seed and battle security forces in a challenge to the state's authority there demanding the release of prisoners six people including three police have died since an arrest or up to three days ago here's latest from our egypt correspondent bill true the battles raged through the

night said largely focused around these keep things these key government buildings and with protesters telling moment talks to security forces the army again to try to intervene to assist the police force and haven't been able to quell with the sense that this is all a heads off to saturday's very contentious and i think in the site but disasters happened last february basically we're going to see the betting on the final defendants in this trial impose i.e. they're very angry as twenty people were sentenced to death in a fast round of this but it behind the second round coming out with a lot of dissent we're going to get hit also in cairo so we wait to see what's going to happen the government to change the head of security in porn sites off this five days of fighting on the streets they replace him with the deputy and they've also president mohamed morsi is reportedly being mumming a minute taking over police i eat out of

a drawl at least as i'm guessing very much between protesters and the police themselves the police are actually very angry as well by saying that the situation for them is extremely violent and that they don't have good working conditions eight thousand police officers are currently report to be on strike in sinai in suicide they are actually calling for the current mischief in syria to to step down . to pressure on the current administration. top dancer from the bolshoi theatre has taken center stage in a moscow court demitra chain co attended a pretrial hearing after admitted to organizing an attack on the company's ballet director he insists that he had no idea how severe the attack would be or tease tom barton has the details from outside the bolshoi theatre. pavel dmitrichenko a leading dancer at the at the bolshoi ballet and two accomplices was at this pretrial hearing in the moscow court today they had previously written

confessions admitting to some crimes but as it as was evident when the judge asked to be chained will you apologize to the bolshoi's artistic director surrogate fill in for what you have done he said for what which indicated what he later expressed himself on through his lawyer which is that he does not plead guilty to the severity of the tack that he is accused of that is of the throwing of acid into sergei filin face he has admitted some crime and some part of organizing perhaps threats it was said that he would accept perhaps one of his accomplices going and hitting surrogate fill in the head but certainly not throwing acid into his face it was in january that feeling was going back to his apartment when and at that time or known assailant ran up and

threw acid into his face it was also said in court that to me to change paid around one thousand five hundred dollars to the two individuals who carried out the attack for him the causes around us the possible motivations are what is stirring up or not only a media storm but a great storm of rumors both inside and outside the. theatre police have said that there was hostility between the two men and that the attack was a result result of tensions in the workplace it is widely rumored at the moment that it may have had something to do with pavel dmitrichenko girlfriend also a leading dancer at the bolshoi and fill ins refusal to give her lead roles that has not been said in court that's just rumors but the storm of rumors around this a very unlikely to die down. for more on the theater scandal at the ball show and joined live by our culture and entertainment correspondent an expert martin anders

thanks for joining us here this is crazy it seems something like this going on it's supposedly a world of beauty and everybody sees the performance on the stage but there's a lot that goes on behind the curtain i think it's the reality of show business and obviously this is extreme as you get but the audience just don't see you know in the front of the theater you see a beautiful production but really the drama backstage is i think it's everyday life in a production house and that's what it is it's a factory from from the problems with the understudies from the problems because thing from the problems of of management who were dances they were bitter about their faded korea it's it's not an easy world to be in the the the rivalries between the companies with the moscow and with the mets in the skull and they all want to be at the top of their game and tensions are always high and fraught and this is the first time we've had these sort of things happen right well this is certainly a very severe there but other kind of scandals well there is this it's called drama

for a reason if a year ago stravinsky's rite of spring was postponed i mean fact one of the dances that. she was actually said that she was threatened by various people and she she actually went over to canada in fear of her life in fear of that it would escalate these tensions between the theatrical ballet world would escalate into violence and obviously as we see with the result. that happened in january it happened and this may reduce it down to a level of a cliche but we have this blockbuster movie black swan that cloud that's absolutely what it's like i mean. with the black swan film not the portman the highlights the you know the extremities and the tensions and especially with the with the management with the hiring in the firing of everyday life and sometimes it can seem like a wonderful place to work but they reality is somewhat different so as someone who has theatre experience do you understand. is it easy to comprehend how

a person in the performer position could get to a point where they might be so desperate as to actually do something like comprehend you know make. some well i think that my background is in musical face with doing musicals in london and there were always really sort of bad stories where you would the people would roller skates i don't know where his musical style is express and there were stories that people would unscrew the wheels you know to get on stage in the stories of people would push people while they're performing in the reality of show business and it's not sometimes a nice industry to be in certainly is drama thank you very much martin for that insight that.

the u.s. dodging accusations it's drones killed up to nine people last month in pakistan saying pakistan's own military could be to blame fandom strikes becoming a problem because it means people are being killed and no one is being held to account or to some arena porton i reports. america has long been considered the leader of drone warfare dominating the skies in the middle east africa and most recently here in the u.s. in pakistan the cia has reportedly carried out some three hundred thirty drone strikes since two thousand and four but a new problem involving the unmanned aerial weapon is emerging the problem of anonymous drones when two drone strikes killed nine people in pakistan's tribal

belt last month islamorada filed an official protest with the american embassy however u.s. officials say that washington has not carried out any attacks in pakistan since january instead u.s. officials have pointed their fingers to pakistan's air force it is impossible to know who executed the strikes but some experts believe that the situation can soon open up a pandora's box of anonymous drone strikes around the world it's lending itself to have an image of why the very nature of the technology that there are zero control hundreds are often thousands of miles away this is one of the corrosive and dangerous impacts of liberation of the use of drones and now has the united states government has led her way and negative around the planet in terms of normalizing the use of drone attacks across international borders as of last month at least

fifty countries are reportedly using drones in the united states a new revelation has come to light the attorney general says that washington can authorize lethal drone strikes on americans on american soil with algae tried and it testimony before the senate judiciary committee eric holder says that under extraordinary circumstances like september eleventh the president could order strikes to protect the homeland the same type of drone strikes that have. it used around the world to fight the war on terror according to new york bring up or not. the attorney general's admission that drone strikes could be used inside the u.s. angered members of the senate and kentucky republican senator rand paul launched an old school thirteen hour filibuster a speech demanding the obama administration pledge not to target u.s. citizens on its own soil as a result democrats who control the upper chamber were forced to delay

a vote on john brennan's nomination as the new head of the central intelligence agency. and alitalia pilot has told controllers he recently spotted an unmanned aircraft as he came to land at j.f.k. airport in new york author and academic mark mason things now more drones and ever available and they even paid new dangers and risks of being misused. the report was made it's as plain as the information's not available as to it was a data model airplane was it a surveillance drone it was reported to be relatively small three four five six feet didn't really to be small in terms of drones so this morning we don't have the information but what we do know with certainty is that drones that you are going to be a little bold not only to governments but to individuals and they will diversify in terms of their. size are going to be made us air force has already announced it's

going to be making drones that are the size of an insect that can assess if you will so these this technology is sheer shaper british politics shifting with swathes of the public growing apparently disillusioned with mainstream policies of mainstream parties or recent by election saw governing conservatives have beaten into second place by the u.k. independence party a party that's never held a parliamentary seat until now it was been dismissed as a fringe movement or to sour for it has more from london. britain's political landscape is changing the stranglehold of the old three party system appears to be listening and it's a pin the door to some colorful alternatives with all the polls and percentages and opinions from politicians and pundits it can be hard to get a clear picture of exactly what's happening in british politics right now as are looking at last week's byelection in east lease or not three not four not five but

full team differing candidates of all shapes sizes and colors and all of them willing to take on the mainstream party to government in britain. and to turn it from. democracy to bottom up genuine democracy where the larger authours have to obey the will of the people they to disillusionment it seems is an all time high something that's backed up by recent polls and there's certainly a bit of a perception that maybe the traditional parties aren't concentrating on some issues particularly around immigration that we know is a big issue for many members of the public puts can certainly be a hard bunch to please it used to be that fed up voters would throw their backing behind the liberal democrats but not anymore. possibly for us as a party which is good but it doesn't mean the protests will have to go somewhere else

and the none of the above party have a moment as you keep many other parties using the sea change in public opinion as a blank canvas on which to stamp their mark. a protest vote. that's a lot to protest that. you kept beating the conservatives to second place in eastley last week might have come as a shock to some but it's not the. first time a small posses stolen the show in a byelection. and the respect policy had a sensational way until it got away one the profits the. coolest gaining a bit of media coverage is one thing turning that attention into the fates in a ballot bowl and winning seats is quite another something he smaller parties have yet been able to day with a general election will say and with some polls pitting almost huff if the recent

support for the u.k. is coming from film a conservative eight is well you can perhaps understand why the prime minister is not the picture of happiness right now. next kaiser report stay with us here on r.t. . did any of you see darth vader and storm troopers trying to make their way into the ukrainian justice ministry as part of a protest well probably a lot of you saw this fun viral video but how many people remember what exactly they wanted what their protest demands were all about probably not that many trust me i understand that using wacky protest tactics gets media attention and if you

are pushing a cause that media attention is critical but when no one even gets what you want or why you are in that wacky costume it doesn't help there seems to be like almost a protest a culture and language like you see people protesting they're so satisfied with themselves in their costumes and silly gimmicks but if your protest is actually aimed at people in power then the how is it going to cure cost of goods with the opinion of heartless bureaucrats sitting in some soulless office again media attention is great but if you want to be taken seriously we're a rainbow. again for a while fighting for your rights doesn't seem to send the right message but that's just my opinion. max kaiser welcome to the kaiser report. on satan evil genius or frankenfood. max kaiser monsanto is in the news there's

a case before the u.s. supreme court about this case the automatic earth dot com says time to stop monsanto and the u.s. supreme court now the case is called bowman versus monsanto company in this case number eleven desh seventy nine six and the new york times and their piece about this and this is setting up the automatic earth dot com writing about it the supreme court appears to defend the patent on soybean the question in the case bowman versus months and a company number eleven dash seven one six was whether patent rights to seize and other things that can replicate themselves extends beyond the first generation the justices appeared alert to the consequences of their eventual ruling not only for months santo's very lucrative soybean patents but also from modern agriculture generally and for areas as varied as vaccines cell lines and.