they do the week's top stories on inheriting the revolution a new venezuelan leader will be chosen next months while questions of foreign influence in all rich nations following the death of its longtime president hugo chavez. football for violent clashes in the gulf egypt the calls confirmed death sentences and a new penalties for participants in last year's deadly football riot the growing unrest highlighted concerns over military rule in the country. is facing twelve years behind bars for plotting an attack which left his boss nearly blind it. seems to examine the dark side of life in the spotlight.

this is the weekly live from moscow for the big stories of the last seven days and first venezuela has set the date now to pick the successor to the late president hugo chavez who died from a heart attack after a two year battle with cancer and tuesday the election will take place on april the fourteenth will determine whether his revolution revision will live on there's a feeling for marty's ruptly video agencies closely watching the political situation in caracas this is the latest from. vice president nicolas maduro sworn in as the president and so elections take place some voices in the opposition notably the man who is the main opposition. who have called the swearing in. hugo chavez personally appointed. the man but he wanted to succeed him and of course hugo chavez the late president has immense popularity and by the way the russian f.m.

has said that he hopes that. continues to deepen the ties between russia and venezuela and he's also said that he hopes that russia will respect the outcome of venezuela and that elections and he hopes that all countries around the world again referring to the fact that bad being many outside powers he would like to see. among many condolences coming from inside and outside venezuela there was a very good statement coming from chavez's last election opponent and. he said he was mourning this loss and that he had never been his enemy but his rival i think is a very respectful attitude and i hope in the following election battle mourning the loss of venezuela and its friends including russia we have to look forward and i hope chavez's heritage will only help to deepen our partnership the majority in venezuela want chavez his policies to continue we will respect the choice of the venezuelan people i hope all of the countries that have relations with venezuela do

the same and there will no attempt to influence that choice. amongst the crowds you know we've been there quite a lot over the last few days and one of the most popular chance is with chavez and i thought other people are saying when he was sworn in in the national assembly that was very emotional crowd support for him and he announced that he is to continue the revolution he was very emotional he was in tears as he took the presidential sash and he said that the sash that he was taking belonged to. william bond body of hugo chavez will not rest on public display in a glass crystal casket leaders from around the globe and thousands of venezuelan mourners gathered to pay their respects to the late coming down till friday but while there was grief on the streets of caracas there was a different tone emerging from washington artie's done she can report on that side of it. communities of people throughout latin america are mourning the death of which office the venezuelan leader enjoyed tremendous popular support in his

country as well as the whole region he won four presidential elections and had ruled venezuela for fourteen years so you see this liberation process not only on the venezuelan people but also of all the latin american peoples must continue. chavis allowed us to restore faith in latin america region so that a profound transformation in the region can be carried out the only guards and the empire will no doubt be happy and celebrating the news empire is the word a host of south american leaders and used to refer to the united states in washington president obama extended his sympathy to the chavez family and heralded quote a new chapter in the history of latin america but the u.s. congress was not as restrained in their reaction to the death of the venezuelan leader the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee had this to say his death then the laws of the us leftist leaders in south america good riddance to this dictator in the media a slew of pundits embarked on

a search for new opportunities that might now be available for the u.s. in venezuela. so what does this mean now for the united states and all that oil in that country venezuela is a place of enormous opportunity it has by surveys perhaps the largest reserves of oil in the world from the u.s. point of view this has enormous potential implications because a venezuela that moves away from chavez is foreign policy means a venezuela that's less welcoming to iran less friendly to russia less friendly to castro's cuba less friendly to leftwing regimes around the hemisphere which is financed in their campaigns and and other aspects but before america jumps at the chance to explore those new opportunities it might be useful to look back at what washington's previous efforts led to. what the u.s. now calls leftist populist governments in latin america came to power partly in reaction to decades of the us recklessly meddling in the affairs of the region for

years washington had seen many of those countries as its outposts after chavez was elected in one thousand nine hundred nine a host of other leaders in latin america followed his example to varying extents including but not limited to ever morales in bolivia rafael correa in ecuador and then a lot in nicaragua charges may not have been as hardened in his views against washington if not for allegations of the tacit support of the bush administration in the coup against him in two thousand and two he met with bill clinton a couple times and they got along just fine it was really only with george bush then when things really were turned sour and especially after the coup attempt within forty eight hours of the start of the cool with the help of the military and vast popular support chavis returned to power. but during that short period when he was deposed some in the u.s. hurried to celebrate the new york times for example ran this article venezuelan

democracy is no longer threatened by would be dictator caracas name provides fifteen percent of american oil imports and with standard policies could provide more for years after the coup chavis had expressed his anger at the bush administration in a variety of fiery metaphors i did it to one of the other the devil came here yesterday. and it still smells of sulfur here george w. bush has long left office but suspicion and mistrust remain some argue if during these challenging times black america washington continues to deal with the region using the same old tactics the hostility could be put in washington i'm kind of shaken. so washington may be hoping the death of its most vocal critic in latin america will result in an increase in its influence but prefer some to go next but the region says the u.s.

will be better off keeping a low profile during the election campaign right now. washington that would be 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 embassador 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.

another verdict sparking another royal it in egypt saturday's court ruling to uphold twenty one death sentences over the portside stadium killings led to a further round of violent clashes the death penalties were from last year's deadly football riots during a match between cairo and portside based clubs another five life terms were also handed with the announcement sparking unrest in both cities three died in the ensuing clashes in the capital with angry crowds torching police and football federation buildings furious crowds also vented their frustration in port side which is already seen protests leading up to the verdict bell truce following the developments for r.t. . so i got to the security headquarters is a powerful reminder of the past five days of bloody clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in a bid to quell on rest a day ahead of the contentious verdict on last february's football riots the

government removed the police and put the city security in the hands of the army activists here say a military takeover will only antagonize the situation and is an example of president mohamed morsi ignoring their demands this is. the government has got an army needs the rights of the people and those who have been killed in port so you do is not going to be more secure with the withdrawal of the police but it won't help us at all the ports are you know officers are supposed to be in the street taking care of the country that's what we asked for with the police leaving there will be chaos now the people will have to secure the city themselves tension between protesters and the police has been high since last year's riots and when the military replace them on the city streets there was an initial optimism but that all changed after the court's decision the atmosphere changed on saturday when the verdict confirmed that twenty one people will face the death penalty and

a further five or serving life sentences residents here say that the army will not protect them as the local authorities bow to pressure from the capital that's a few. the protesters killed during the recent clashes and the spicy founder of the green eagles culture is saeed's football fan club says the police used excessive force against local demonstrators treating them worse than their counterparts in cairo he believes the death sentences are further proof the city is being targeted toward side has been persecuted for the last thirty years and president mohamed morsi is keeping the status quo created by the last regime the president wants to wrong the people of portside and instead satisfy the cairo old tribes who are widespread across the country now there is a risk of everyone being racist towards port saïd the military for their part to maintain they are protective peaceful force and that put side protesters have not been singled out they say police are merely responding to the level of violence

from those attacking key government buildings meanwhile on the banks of the suez canal protesters burn tires to prevent boats from docking saying they will escalate acts of civil disobedience until there is a fair trial with further violence on the horizon this could be the toughest challenge yet for morsi and his military true for r t puts. bells monitoring the situation in egypt on twitter as well you can follow it for the latest details on what's happening on the ground of course now to senior police officials also receive fifteen year sentences in the latest ruling will seven others will free which cause much of the public outcry and the political activist spoke to me he believes that some interior ministry officials are actually the troublemakers. the results are definitely not satisfactory not just for the football fans the ultras but for the entire nation seventy eight young people got killed and yet two of the ministry of interior officials are the ones on trial

president morsi had a couple of months ago appointed a fact finding committee that implicates fifty six other members of the ministry of interior this report was not taken into consideration at court and only two of those officials were scapegoats hence the issue escalates on the streets more because this is nothing but a political fiasco rather than. court proceedings where the people want is a fair trial for those who are. implicated not those who actually killed the people with their own hands but those who were behind them supporting them financing them and giving them the fan service are the true workers because they continue to be on the streets in key. places such as the ministry of interior the national security and some of them are in the intelligence community the president needs to take very

severe measures radical measures in cleansing the state institutions of the loyalists to the mubarak's he's not been doing so on the country he's promoted some of them he's trying to co-opt them and it's not working and it's only blowing in his face and he needs to present that we've got in t's for the political process to resume fairly. well more ahead for this hour with me kevin i would include in the bolshoi theatre a ballet soloist in custody now for plotting an attack on his boss which he claims was more than expected also coming up as well for his head to the polls to vote on whether to remain a british rule tara trade with argentina view there's a made in this publicity stunt i'm going to play the u.k. m.p. what after this break.

these are decent faces of freedom fighters. and. they're ready to clean up in this order. that. i'm bringing you liberty any time. salute place free of all up but. not. to be treated this way. cherie and laurie. he has.

to. say. hello again i'm kevin i know the people of the falkland islands holding a two day referendum or what. to remain a british overseas territory this weekend the u.k. soaping for international backing in its disputes over the islands with argentina should the majority say yes but as aries opposes the pole saying it's called no validity british m.p. george galloway agrees with that saying the u.k. claims are rooted in its colonial past and are outdated these are settlers the majority of them were not born on the falklands they have been sent there by the british to establish a colonial claim and the days of that belong in the eighteenth maybe even mid nineteenth centuries not in the twenty first so i'm afraid the sovereignty does not

lie with the people of the falkland islands because well most of them are british and british cannot dictate what happens tens of thousands of kilometers away in the south atlantic those days are long gone but britain beating its chest in an echo of its former imperial past just simply refuses to do it and that's unacceptable i didn't dangers our interests in latin america which is one of the few parts of the globe that is economically thrusting ahead and we are prejudicing fatally our interests and our reputation in latin america by continuing to attempt to hold on to this appendage of british colonial rule. george galloway of all surely fear to ballet dancer is facing up to twelve years in prison for masterminding an attack on his boss. who is in custody right now along with two others involved in the assault

he's charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm the artistic director of the bolshoi ballet surrogate philip was nearly blinded after having acid splashed in his face serious moscow back in january is now undergoing extensive treatment in germany at the pretrial hearing earlier this week public image claimed he did order the assault of though he says he didn't intend it to be an acid attack he thought he had a number of disagreements with his boss while his girlfriend a ballerina complained about being rejected for some leading roles but he's entertainment reporter martin andrews told my colleague my trades are about the ugliest side of the artistic world. in the front of the feet 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 career it's not an easy world to be in obviously the the rivalries

between companies within moscow and with the mets and the skull and they all want to be at the top of their game and tensions are always high and fraud and this is the first time we've had these sort of things happen right well this is certainly a very severe but there been other kind of scandals or this is this it's called drama for a reason if a year ago stravinsky's rite of spring was postponed and in fact one of the dances that. she was actually said that she was threatened by various people and she's she actually went over to canada in fear of her life in fear of that it would escalate beast and shins between the theatrical ballet world would escalate into violence and obviously as we see with the result. that happened in january it happens and this may reduce it down to a level of a cliche but we have this blockbuster movie black swan that clause that's absolutely what it's like with the black swan film nothing portman really highlights the you know the extremities and the tensions and especially with the

with the management with the hiring in the firing its everyday life and sometimes it can seem like a wonderful place to work but it they reality is somewhat different. from conflict the ballet to conflict above our head as well on a collision course in space in fact the small russian spacecraft made a big bang after it was struck by remnants of earth decommissioned chinese satellite marking the second search space collision in history got a bomb that the a cosmic garbage odyssey all product called on our website also with our team is calm as well stonehenge is history may not be carved in stone as we thought a new theory makes the revolution to suggest that the prehistoric monument was a bridge in the graveyard in a venue for mass celebrations that unify the whole of the historic britain discover more about that after the. syrian rebels have released twenty one un

peacekeepers after holding them captive for three days in the golan heights the filipino observers were transported to jordan instead of being handed over to a u.n. team as artie's paullus leader reports now the hostage crisis highlights concerns over radical elements in syrian opposition groups who could be benefiting from western and arab states support. the peacekeepers crossed into jordan on saturday afternoon after having been captured back on wednesday the rebels themselves moved the hostages off to a u.n. team inside syria was prevented from doing so because of heavy fire fighters in the area now the un secretary general ban ki moon has welcomed their release but he has said that all sides in the conflict must respect the united nations impartiality what we do know is that the peacekeepers were held in the village of jamila which is about ten kilometers north of jordan by a group calling itself the martyrs brigade it is important to point out that those who were unarmed they were initially taken hostage as human shields and that is

according to the initial statement that was made by the rebel faction that captured them the rebels demanded that syrian government forces pull back from a nearby village and clearly stated that they were holding the u.n. team to ensure that the rebels wouldn't be shelled by government forces it was only off to the united nations international officials the heads of the syrian opposition as well as the free syrian army condemned the hostage taking that the rebel faction backtracked on that statements and said that the peacekeepers were so-called guests they also at that stage dropped all preconditions for their release what this does do is that it highlights the fact that the opposition is becoming increasingly radicalized the armed rebel force consists of numerous groups like the ones that took the securing team hostage and what we see is that these groups are not coordinated and they don't only answer to a central rebel political and military command in this case clearly the rebel chiefs had not been warned about this hostage taking in advance and they only

intervened after the hostages were taken it is an unprecedented incident it is the first time that u.n. workers have been taken hostage inside syria it is also stoking fears that foreign countries which are supporting the rebels are in fact supporting people who could turn against them as we saw in this case and there are also growing fears that weapons being smuggled to the rebels from abroad could be turned against the united nations or anyone else all of this coming years. of beefing up support to the opposition which is demanding that the west stop openly arming them turkey and the gulf states already allegedly arming the rebels and have been doing so for the past two years of the conflict. a middle east correspondent well before the hostage crisis western powers with their allies in the arab world have been beefing up the syrian opposition to efforts of course in the fight to oust president assad the arab league ministers have allowed member states to arm the fighters what other

countries have agreed to so non-lethal aid and finance the rebels. told my colleague bill dog about the consequences that a boost in support is having on the ground right now. we do know where the get their arms from at least there has been plenty of information to deduce that from we do know that saudi arabia as well as qatar as well as turkey libya and the united states have all offered some sort of aid financial or military in one way or another to the syrian rebels we don't know exactly how much has been shipped to these countries we do know that for example qatar has offered has made the latest offer to the syrian rebels which amounts to one hundred million dollars and of course there is also talk from the united kingdom where william hague has already said that he thinks the u.k. should step up their aid it's the words. towards the syrian rebels as well and he is talking about something in the amount of roughly one thousand in

a half million dollars and that would include armored vehicles body armor search and rescue and disease prevention so there's plenty of aid coming to the syrian rebels and really countries do not seem to shy away from offering it to them john kerry he's expressed confidence that weapons are going to the right people so who then of the so-called right people taking u.n. peacekeepers hostage and that actually should be the first question that should come to mind because obviously when john kerry is talking about the right people he hopes that the aids does not go towards that hard line islamic jihad azour which there are reports show there is plenty off in syria and these are the types of people that the u.s. guitar saudi arabia and the rest of them have been supporting and given them plenty of aid they have offered them basically everything they have on the table. north korea has demanded an apology from its neighbor in the south off the sols threat to vanish north korea from the earth is secluded nation says it considers the statement an open declaration of war it follows pyongyang's official nullifying of

a normally aggression pact and scrapping a hotline to seoul in anger response to the latest round of un sanctions imposed this week the tit for tat exchange started on thursday when the u.n. adopted a resolution tightening financial restrictions on north korea and responded by threatening the u.s. with a preemptive nuclear strike which washington said it's ready and could prevent such an attack rules imposed by the security council previous nuclear tests and rocket launches and they've all failed to curb the young so far martin draw from the korean friendship association says that washington's bully boy tactics though limit the chances of disarmament dialogue. iraq is clear that the united nations and the security council particular is interested only in maintaining the current balance of world germany and isn't interested in independent nations acquiring your ability to defend themselves even in the face of the lack of any kind of peace treaty which is of the fault of the united states government that it would work arounds we've been pursuing peace ever since the armistice agreement was signed while we can

expect is that the united nations will continue to bully north korea which is effectively what's happening all of those it's really just show and ship they don't like the fact that north korea is asserting itself in world politics and who is north korea playing word games with nobody not practicing and preparing with other countries their phone their own for self-defense and that's off that's the only option of it's an option they have so for the united states to think that they can continue to provoke the d.p. r. k. without any kind of consequence obviously american journalist putting him down and saying that's not going to be able to continue without some kind of response it's only reasonable it's the d.p. r. k. asking the world to treat it with dignity in order to have peace with dignity. speed on some of today's top world news stories making headlines scream british an italian authorities all believe no seven international city is being held in nigeria have been killed or kidnapped by the and sorrow extremist group in the north of the country last month the workers from the u.k.

greece italy lebanon and the philippines a religious leader killed in retaliation to a joint british nigerian military attempt to rescue the prisoners william hague the british foreign minister has condemned the deaths as cold blooded murder. testers in azerbaijan of being caught in an onslaught of rubber bullets and water cannons fired by police as they marched against deadly hazing in the army the protest is one of many sparked by the sudden death of a soldier in january the defense ministry at michoud and heart attack this is death before venturing out in an investigation for the soldiers since the rest of. the afghan president hamid karzai has accused the us of colluding with the taliban in secret talks in qatar the group officially suspended discussions over a year ago calling american statements shaky and erratic the afghan government has been pushing for the taliban to return to the negotiating table in the tent to try to pacify mounting tensions before u.s. nato troops pull out in twenty forty on saturday two suicide bombs went off as the new american defense secretary arrived in kabul to meet government officials.

crowds gathered across japan at a march against atomic power on sunday the eve of the tsunami disaster second anniversary tens of thousands turned out at more than a hundred fifty nationwide events demanding that japan turns its back on nuclear power the deadly tidal wave and tremors which struck japan in twenty eleven killed over fifteen thousand people then and caused a meltdown at the fukushima power plant that released radioactive materials. the european powerhouse of the region's largest economy germany is facing the prospect of losing its main cash source the country's richest region but verrier is growing weary of funneling money into weaker states artie's people all over the week local politicians and farmers and says the idea of independence is becoming increasingly attractive to many. germany read you find twenty three years ago the critics are showing in at least one of its regions you avoid.