inheriting the revolution a new venezuela in the it will be chosen next month while questions mount over foreign influence in the oil rich nation. of its long time preston. football fallout violent clashes in egypt are. death sentences for. last year's deadly football rides. highlighting concerns from literally. tens of thousands gather across japan to show their opposition to the use of nuclear energy a two year anniversary the fukushima nuclear disaster. from the bolshoi theatre is facing twelve years behind bars for planning an attack which is last party goes behind the scenes to examine the dark side of life in the spotlight

. watching artie's weekly news review with me kerry johnston welcome to the program. has set the date the successor to the late president hugo chavez who died from a heart attack following a two year battle with cancer on tuesday election will take place on april fourteenth and will determine whether his revolution vision will live on is a feeling for marty's abruptly video agency is closely watching the political situation in caracas. vice president nicolas maduro was sworn in as the president and so. 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 that 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 elections and he hopes that all countries around the world again referring to the fact that bad 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 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 full of an 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 with the majority in venezuela want to shop with his policies to continue. the choice of the venezuelan people. or the countries that have relations with them as well as you say and there was 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. is that my daughter the people are safe when he was sworn in in the national assembly that was very emotional crowd support for him and he announced that he has 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. opposition leader and retake i pray that is has officially confirmed he will run for president in the forthcoming elections who competes against the man who has hand-picked as his successor nicolas maduro the journalist eric margolis who's been writing extensively on venezuela says none of the kind of this can rival the charisma of

the late leader he's an empty charisma at it compared to come on down to chavez superabundance of charisma he's a very dull quality figure as 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 sympathy is a very important factor in elections when leaders guy who woke up realize thing as far as i know in his mother's apartment in new york city so he's obviously the candidate favored by the u.s. which i think will be putting a lot of effort into trying to get him elected and trying to defeat the socialists in venezuela but again he's not a very popular figure either and he's a governor of a small state and his loyalties are suspect by some as well. the

opposition needs a stronger candidate right now we don't have. body of hugo chavez will rest on the public display in a glass crystal casket well it isn't thousands of men as well and mourners gathered to pay their respects the day to come undone till friday while there was grief on the streets of caracas there was a different tone emerging from washington is what is going to just kind of reports . communities of people throughout latin america are mourning the death of. the venezuelan leader enjoyed tremendous popular support in his country as well as the whole region he won for 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 new 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 chavis family and herald it 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 us leftist leaders in south america good riddance to this dictator in the media a slew of hundreds embarked on a search for new opportunities that might now be available for the u.s. in venice well. 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 venezuela that moves

away from chavez is foreign policy means a venezuela that's less welcoming to iran less for. and later russia less friendly to castro's cuba less friendly to leftwing regimes around the hemisphere which is financed in their campaigns in 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 you look there in nicaragua chavez 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 by 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 now provides fifteen percent of american oil imports and with signs of policies could provide more years after the childless it expressed his anger at the bush administration in a variety of fiery metaphors i did a tour of the 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 playing in washington i'm going to shut down. another verdict sparking another riot in egypt saturday's court ruling to uphold twenty one death sentences of the portside stadium killings lead to a further round of violent clashes the death penalties for last year's deadly football riots human rights between cairo and what sybase clubs another five life terms were also handed down to the house and sparking an outcry both cities three people died in the ensuing clashes in the capital that angry crowds torched football federation buildings with ortiz had already been struggling to maintain

security courtside saw a week of deadly violence leading up to the verdict the army has taken over security in the city with at least seven people now reported killed bill true is following developments for r.t. . ford 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 just forgotten our main needs or the rights of the people and those who have been killed in the port side 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 dog misters 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 as tension between protesters and the police has been high since last year's riots and when the minute you place them on the city's streets there was an initial optimism but that all changed off 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 will serve my sentences residents here say that the army will not protect them as the local authorities bowed to pressure from the capital at a funeral for protesters killed during the recent clashes and the spicy founder of the green eagles culture is caught saeed's football fan club says the police used excessive force against local demonstrators treating them worse than the counterparts in cairo he believes the death sentences are further proof the city is being targeted towards

a 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 were widespread across the country now there is a risk of everyone being racist towards portside the military for their part to maintain they are protected peaceful force and that portside 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 and till 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. but it's also monitoring the situation in egypt on twitter follow her for the

latest details of what's happening on the ground there. and to senior police officials also receive fifteen year sentences in that latest ruling seven others walk free that's that's what's causing much of the public outcry because collectivist awkward says some interior ministry officials are the real 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 is nothing but

a political fiasco rather than. court proceedings where the people want is a fair trial for our 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 plan those are the two murders 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 the real guarantees for the political process to resume fairly.

so much more ahead including the story of the bolshoi theatre about it so the west in custody planning an attack on his boss which he claims was violent that's acted . coming up in garden polls to vote on whether to remain a british or a tree with argentina viewing it as a meeting this publicity stunt to bring you the opinion of the u.k. and he went to the program. now japan is marking the two year anniversary of one of the darkest days in its history it was march twenty seventh when an earthquake and tsunami triggered the fukushima nuclear disaster the country's continued use of nuclear power has been a cause of discontent among many in japan tens of thousands of protesters gathered across the country to march against me on sunday prime minister is arriving soon restarting somewhere the deadly tidal wave and tremors killed more than fifteen thousand people least of radioactive materials you can execute the experts in the

task he says japan has been backed into a corner due to over the lines on energy imports. trends are of the comes from the liberal democratic party that for many years has had a very close relationship with nuclear energy but also one has to remember that japan at this very moment is in a very bad position when it comes to its economy and its dependency on fossil fuels from overseas there is as many as much as about eighty percent of it that is imported energy being imported into dependency on oil from overseas is certainly a very very dangerous game. we can just have a look at what happened last year during summer two thousand and twelve power breakage is in talk the amount of cotton ball the cost of energy in tucker alone

rose by about eight point five. percent and the figures that have been created recently made by the institute of energy economics of japan estimated us much us around four hundred twenty thousand jobs could be cut if japan was to phase out all its nuclear energy now the people of the falkland islands are holding a two day referendum on whether to remain a british overseas territory u.k.'s hoping for international backing in its dispute over the islands with argentina so the majority say yes but desire is opposes the polls saying it has no validity of british m.p. george galloway agrees saying the u.k.'s claims are rooted in its colonial past these are settlers the majority of them were not born on the falklands they have been said by the british to establish a colonial claim in the days of the 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 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 the 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 there well we have more stories few on our website in the u.k. human trafficking is hitting shocking numbers but the government appears to be

turning a blind eye to the problem that to r.t. dot com for the full story that. should any natural disaster prevent broca's from getting to work in new york city stock trading will continue sort of the ambitious contingency plan of replacing trains with computers for more on that log on to our website. for both theatre ballet dancers facing up to twelve years in prison for masterminding an attack on his boss the major chain career is in custody along with two others involved in the assault charge with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the artistic director of the bolshoi palace feelin it was nearly blinded after having acid splashed on his face in moscow in january he's now on the gary extensive treatment in germany and the pretrial hearing earlier this week a major change or admitted he did order the assault of though he didn't intend it to be an acid attack is thought he'd had

a number of disagreements with his boss and his girlfriend ballerina all she complained about being rejected for some leading roles when artie's entertainment reporter martin andrews told my colleague matt treasure about the ugliest side of the artistic world. in the front of the if 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 rivalries between companies with 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 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 what 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 she actually went over to canada in fear of her life in fear of that it would escalate beast and she was 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 it's everyday life and sometimes it can seem like a wonderful place to work but they reality is somewhat different. what are some other international news in brief for you now the greek tradition of little thought

is believed seven international hostages being held in nigeria have been killed they were kidnapped by the stream east group in the north of the country last month the workers from the u.k. greece italy lebanon and the philippines where they should be killed in retaliation for joint edition i.j.n. military attempt to rescue the prisoners and william hague the british foreign minister has condemned the killings as cold blooded murder. afghan president hamid karzai has accused the us of colluding with the taliban as washington held secret talks in qatar in ma u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel has denied any negotiations with the people you care about which is the strength of discussions every year calling american statements and erratic afghan government has been pushing for the taliban to return to the negotiating table and attempt to pacify a mounting tensions before the u.s. led troops from fourteen on saturday to suicide bombs went off as a new american defense secretary of rawdon topic read government officials.

at least fourteen people have been killed and thirty eight injured after a passenger bus veered off a folk trotted highway in southern peru the accident occurred at dawn as the bus was traveling from the beach resort city come on to the regional capital area keep up police say the bus driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle causing it to plunge off the cliff or in two hundred meters. just as another bashar not been caught in an onslaught of rubber bullets and also tried and prod white police and marched against the practice of raising the army protest is one of many spots of assaulting a general ministry initially announced a heart attack was the cause of provincially opening an investigation other soldiers have since been arrested. syrian rebels have released twenty one un peacekeepers after holding them captive for three days

in the golan heights filipino observers were transported to jordan instead of being handed over to a u.n. team was artie's in our ports the hostage crisis highlights concerns of radical elements in the 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 slicer 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 an armed 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 they 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 steering team hostage and what we see is that these groups are not coordinated and they don't only oncet 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. we could turn against him 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 as the united states and its allies on the point of support to the opposition which is demanding that the west start openly arming them in turkey and the gulf states already allegedly arming the rebels and have been doing so for the past two years of the conflict poor reporting their european a powerhouse and the region's largest economy germany is facing the prospect of losing its main cash source the country's richest region the various is growing weary of funneling money to weaken states want to use

a piece all of them at local politicians and farmers revealing how the idea of independence is becoming increasingly attractive for many. germany read you find that three years ago the cracks are showing at least one of its regions your voice . we want an independent state of bavaria this is an extraordinary aim there are twelve million by variance if independent we could be the ninth biggest nation in the e.u. with the fifth largest annual economic turnover i'm convinced we have the cultural historical and economic strength to survive the bavaria party's campaign literature certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to showing how they believe the rest of germany treats the sun state the group poses little threat to germany's political big guns it took just over one percent of the vote locally in two thousand and eight but their ideas are spreading increasingly influential circles

over an industry to predict when i look at the map of europe and of history i see the boundaries are not made to last forever if they can be moved by free people czechoslovakia made peaceful transition into two democratic states in two thousand and fourteen scotland will have a referendum and there is work being done in catalonia this movement is happening in europe today. the very a is booming when it comes to business it's home to some of the most recognizable and expensive brands in the world b.m.w. audi. and siemens have their base of operations here while munich is one of the world's major economic centers all contributing to an annual income of almost half a trillion euro a major factor which sticks in the craw of the variance is how about wealth is distributed throughout the federal states they're sick of paying for. it hands over

around three billion euros a year to the capital what impact would an independent bavaria have upon the daily lives of those living and working there to find out i've come here to the beautiful bavarian countryside to speak through a very keen on it dependants. yossef farm produces bio gas suffered he diversified from dairy you know generates electricity from local homes definitely a case of where there's muck there's money but it's where his tax cash goes that's concerning him more than the smell the whole way of stock is getting tickets were completely unrepresented in germany on our on we would be a good size european state all we are now and the financier's of berlin and others . and fios surf there's more at stake than just money for one of europe's oldest states. since reunification there's been too much number of varian influence on us i.