between the late leader's closest ally and an opposition leader who aims to completely change direction. clashes are guantanamo bay. non-lethal rounds on the hunger striking prisoners are resisting being taken to isolated cells. and war of the lists russia bans eighteen american said suspects of links to torture from entering its territory this in a direct response to a similar move by washington. and concerns over the escalating korean crisis spread further afield as the north threatens to strike japan if it intercepts its missiles russia has warned all sides against the military.

with top stories all today and over the week this is the weekly with me rule received. venezuelans are now deciding today whether they want to continue the legacy left by the late leader. heading to the polls for a presidential election triggered by his death from cancer last month pitched against each other. nicholas my daughter and opposition candidate and there is a free market devoted to the. reports from caracas. leading the polls throughout this campaign has been nicolas maduro he is the chosen successor of the board and many people that i've spoken to who support mother will say that out of loyalty for thomas even for mother loyal they also want to see something in all the social programs that are already in place in the country however venezuela is plagued with a lot of problems and the big question there is if motherhood does win this

election will he be able to solve problems of crime for example shortages place in the economy which people have already been bringing up and these are large shoes to fill for him and he's being watched and scrutinized very closely now second to him is everything up to this he is the opposition he's a young guy who's coming into the saloon i think that basically many of the supporters want to vote for him because they want he said they've had enough of the been given israel that they've seen for the past fourteen years and they want to something new and a couple of this is also being paid to someone who is a bit more u.s. friend who said this will be interesting to see if it is really good to change nations with the united states if he's voted into power now that let's not forget the bill is really sort of the world's the largest oil reserves in the world is watching closely how this vast wealth is going to be managed to moving forward but also people tell me that they want answers to all the problems that they see on the ground the biggest concerns they have of being prime shortages again i mean they

want to see answers fast. and i just remind you are. following developments at the polling station as well as vote but with the latest updates available on twitter feed one of the most recent posts saying that the queues all get along as millions cost. that is way that chooses the president of his choice runs against a free market poster boy. that is where the jews after coming down to sell started socialism or free market model venezuela. a fresh attempt to break a months long hunger strike could one ton a moat person income has led to clashes between gods and detainees inmates tried to resist being forcibly moved from communal living quarters to a single man cells officers responded by firing non-lethal bullets will say they

were trying to prevent hunger strikers from persuading other inmates to join the protest gun a chicken reports this was apparently a pre-dawn operation that took place hours after the delegates of the international committee of the red cross left the island left guantanamo a statement released by the u.s. military says the guards at guantanamo have byard four rounds of prisoners from non-lethal weapons they say the detainees covered surveillance cameras windows and partitions to prevent the guards from observing them during the ongoing hunger strike the guards allegedly clashed with the detainees which military officials say led them to move the captives from communal to single cells the military says the detainees used improvised weapons to resist the transfer they say that at the captives one hundred prisoners have been starving for more than two months now trying to bring public attention to their plight because they sense did mr would rather forget about them the state department closed the office that was working to

transfer the remaining captives half of them have been cleared for release their attorneys are saying that the president has been doing all possible to stop the hunger strike they've been force feeding the strikers there were claims that they brought down the temperature in the cells to make it harder to endure the strike and now we hear that they put them in solitary confinement and shots of being fired . party is gone each kind reporting there but we also spoke to a lawyer for one of the hunger striking prisoners cindy pono cope she told us that measures like solitary confinement only i grew very the situation my co-counsel who represents abidal i dared poteat visited him just two days ago at guantanamo and obeidallah described camp six as looking like a village which had been decimated by some sort of attack with men just walking around very feebly very weak barely i mean to have any energy to even communicate

with each other it's a very very sad difficult situation and the reaction of the u.s. is the opposite of what it should be this strike the protests could have been resolved with not violence but by simply agree to allow the men to return the qur'an says the u.s. government to surrender them so that they did not have to watch them continue to be desecrated and searched. that artie's been keeping a very close watch on the hunger striker gone public we've been gathering comments from officials are lawyers and international organizations and you can see what they had to say in our special section at our dot com.

good to have you with us here on r.t. today a number of former u.s. officials linked to the legislation and application of torture at guantanamo an hour feature on a blacklist that russia put together this week i was released names of alleged human rights violators it was placing on to travel and economic sanctions after a very similar move by the u.s. . a closer look at the tit for tat action threatening ties between both nations. what we're witnessing now is really a game of political pingpong first washington published a part of its so-called magnitsky a list eighteen russian official suspected there of being connected to human rights violations they have been subjected to various economic and travel sanctions including the ban for them to enter the united states and shortly after this list was published

a symmetric reaction came from moscow which published report of its blacklist of eighteen american officials linked to human rights violations at the guantanamo bay detention center and the violations of the rights of russian citizens outside the center but since both lists have been published only partially we may expect more needs to be put on them the money's character was by american lawmakers at the end of last year and was named after city my good ski and employee of the hermitage capital investment fund he was suspected of fraud he got himself claimed that he had uncovered a massive corruption scheme but he died in prison in two thousand and nine before a court could make a decision on his case moscow has been accusing washington of using his unfortunate death as a political tool to apply pressure on russia or the foreign ministry's called the mike needs to act unfriendly use of four week a lot we've heard from prime minister dmitry medvedev saying that u.s. authorities have the full right to deny entry visas to anyone without even having

to explain why not to mention passing any controversial laws or black lists and many or more russian lawmakers believe that the magnitsky act harms america's own interests is like shooting oneself in the leg so i don't really see the rational for this from the point of your bum administration which claims to be an administrator that is paying attention to multilateralism to international partnerships it was definitely a blow to the relations between moscow and washington and now this is happening ahead of a visit by a senior u.s. foreign advisor to moscow on monday for talks and these lists are definitely not going to make his job any easier. reporting there and in the meantime stephen cohen a professor of russian studies at a new york university he believes that president obama has become a hostage to anti russian mood so mung us cold war has obama

did not want magnetosphere it was imposed on him by the american congress congress one that included his own political party the democratic party changed and poison the atmosphere it's going to make it harder for example. president obama to make concessions to let's say. the president. because there is this and it doesn't deserve any concession and i'm guessing president putin would like to modify his position missile defense and i mention that because it's on the table. that there will be forces in the russian political. system. so it's not a side. as always here at r.t. we love getting your opinion on the stories that we're covering day to day today be no exception oh it's a dot com are asking you basically what's going to be the aftermath what's the next step in line regarding the war of lists between russia and the united states what's

going to happen well the numbers mostly mostly unchanged in the past half an hour or so forty three percent saying it's going to lead to more minor tit for tat measures then let's let's pay attention now to what the joint third and fourth position of basically all voters a total of thirty six percent combined orange and green say that it's otherwise it's going to severely affect or it will be the death knell for that of the reset test between u.s. and russia relations are very interesting to gauge your reactions on this poll it's still in effect on our web site www dot.

good to have you with us here on r.t. this week tensions around north korea's nuclear threats reached a new high with pyongyang putting tokyo on its potential hit list and japan was threatened after it said it was preparing to shoot down any missiles the north might try to launch now the u.s. secretary of state john kerry he's in japan now at the last stop of his asian two it's a rally support against pyongyang its nuclear program and washington tokyo and seoul indicated their talks with the north can happen only if it's ready for a deed nuclearize ation of the apparent deadlock is worrying not only the countries involved in the dispute but moscow as well alexia chef school reports. the city with a population of around seven hundred thousand people is the closest russian big city to the border with north korea literally two hundred kilometers away is the place where the russian the chinese and the north koreans meet at the same place of course the escalation of tensions on the korean peninsula has led to some serious

only in the far east of course in moscow as well because should anything happen between the two koreas especially if nuclear weapons would be involved russia would be one of the first countries affected. by the possible consequences over nuclear war if we remember the fukushima several years ago traces of radiation were felt. which is also just a stone's throw away from here so all the latest developments in the north korean conflict in the escalating tensions has led to some serious. concern from the russian president mr president we are against a variation on for the denuclearization of. there because we are neighbors and if something happens there it will make the. children. but of course not only russia is concerned with the current situation on the korean peninsula the

u.s. state secretary john kerry said that he. stopped this and if it decides to hold. this would signify that it no longer wants to listen to the international community the most interesting day here clearly will be monday when. its biggest holiday the. birthday of the late korean leader. north korea kim il sung some reports are suggesting that. they actually conduct. china as perhaps the only country with influence over north korea and committed to ridding its neighbor of nuclear capabilities and she will activist believes that the growing alienation between pyongyang and china actually plays into washington's . the obama administration is taking the bush administration policy of provocation escalation increased tension to a whole new level they want to create pressure on china to break china away from

its historic relationship with north korea by creating a military confrontation or in your confrontation the united states is saying to the chinese look the stakes are very high time for you to change time for you to abandon your your ally in north korea and i think they think that they have that could be the the prescription the precursor to regime change in north korea if they could break china way china doesn't want to do that although you can see the debate going on right now within the chinese establishment artist i have for you here on ars he thought of a nation in despair a decade since the fall of baghdad we look at iraq crushed by the uncertainty brought fears for the future. and the death of controversial british prime minister margaret thatcher has provoked scattered along the u.k. as the song of the witch is dead rockets up the music charts of the population so their political back that's coming up after the break.

well. it's technology innovations all the developments around russia. the future covered.

the international airport in the very heart of moscow. or moscow this is r t it has been ten years since the statue of saddam hussein which washed over central baghdad was torn down by u.s. troops it became the symbol of the regime's fall and marked the beginning of a new war a decade of instability sectarian violence and terrorist attacks claimed thousands of lives as artie's lucy catherine off reports fear of the late dictator has been replaced by a horror of the. right it is. the

iraq war is supposed to be over but these pictures tell a different story chaos and confusion in the aftermath of yet another deadly blast here in koku. this oil rich city has been described as a long line a symbol of the country's most intractable escalating violence the conflict among ethnic and religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources roadblocks and concrete barriers to find the new iraq checkpoints like this one are a dominant feature of life and they are everywhere aside from the household they're also frequent target of attacks for us is a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at york. but has been a flashpoint for years now and in the city center it's clear that life doesn't stop just because of the threats we were expecting empty streets but people continued to go about the business as normal vendors seemed busy families did their shopping beneath the surface there are scars today kirkuk continues to be an incredibly

dangerous place shortly after the city without the help of a military escort residents here say that a toxic happen at any time in any place in fact it's not really safe to stay here for too long so let's get inside. we need car want to his family there kurds who say they're happy that saddam is gone but their fear of political repression has been replaced by fear of the unknown. you know. we don't know who the enemy is or women next. but it's a daily fears we've got used to it you know i do small things to feel safer like driving with all the car windows down that way if there's a blast at least the glass was heard. such precautions didn't help sixty year old mood who says that a decade of war has ruined iraq he happened to be in the wrong place at the long time. a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle just about the only view of the hype is what benefit did the

your bring democracy only explosions shootings and kidnappings people should feel free to go out and come back safely where is that a job i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back but sergeant you. know it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book the blackpool the oil and behind this oil is the hidden interests of politicians pawns in a political game playing with their livelihoods and lives for conflicts not of their own making the iraqis we met didn't hate their neighbors or care about who controls the oil just like fall they simply want the peace of mind of knowing they can go out and return to their loved ones alive lucie county r.t. iraq. now the u.s. led mission left a heavy burden on iraq is that the use of unconventional weapons threatens future generations of children and dr c.

says america will not be able to compensate for the damage caused. it's clear that though the u.s. folk of their help provided to iraq after the invasion notably reconstruction education and investments their so-called help resulted in the use of weapons banned by article fifty three of the geneva convention it prohibits any kind of weapon which if used where there is war can affect areas environment climate and water resources things that occurred in one thousand nine hundred one and then in two thousand and three are true catastrophe all types of munitions were used in the plane dispenser weapons boss present munitions depleted uranium and chemical weapons all these types of weapons were used intentionally and on a mass scale in iraq and this testing note of weapons had disastrous of facts in terms of environmental contamination not to be compared even with hiroshima this is by no means an exaggeration this is not my opinion that you can look up human

rights watch in world health organization reports on the internet radiological monitoring held on the international level with radioactive contamination of southern central in the northern areas of iraq and despite repeated calls and all the reports published by iraqi scientists the us turned a blind eye on the issue. this is r.t. now the death of former prime minister margaret thatcher this week reopened old divisions among the british people while some aggrieved passing socialist students and anti capitalists were joined by x. miners in london's trafalgar square on saturday to bid a not so fond farewell demonstrators said they stand against the legacy of thatcher during her time at the top of british politics took on the unions and privatized state services how detractors though are finding creative and provocative ways to

show their anger at the mob she left and online. campaign has rocketed the wizard of oz song ding dong the witch is dead straight to the top of the music charts with the b.b.c. radio show that plays out and we can hit list who said it will only air five seconds of the song as part of a new story for fear of offending people author and journalist toby young believes the full song should be played just out of principle. i think it is in very poor taste but i don't think that's a reason not to play it i think that we should uphold peoples rights to free speech and that includes the right to offend people as a conservative and as someone who greet lee at night margaret thatcher i absolutely stand fast to the principle that something shouldn't be banned. from shouldn't be not played because some people find it offensive if conservatives want this song

banned on grounds of taste and decency on the grounds that they're offended it will be a hostage to fortune because there are plenty of things which conservatives will want to say in future which the b.b.c. may ban dissent that she actually always took some satisfaction when her opponents attacked her personally and stooped to low vulgar tactics like this because it meant that they had no other or commence left they were reduced to this because she had a actively beaten them in open debate but i have to say that those of us who are and loved moderate faction have made a counter-attack and we're buying a song called i'm in love with margaret thatcher by the not sensible and we're hoping that will pick up on which he said to the number one spot. the reason margaret thatcher was so controversial is she turned the u.k. into a totally different country at r.t. dot com you can read the interview with artie's contributor afshin rattansi on the

lessons the iconic leader help to britain and the rest of the world to learn. anti euro sentiment is going mainstream in germany with the launch of a new party dedicated to pulling the plug on the struggling single currency of the group called alternative for germany he says it has already received thousands of membership requests and the political establishment is concerned about the newcomers popularity peter all of it was at the party's first official convention. germany's political new kids on the block alternative for deutschland claim to be able to provide the german people with just not an alternative to the current political status quo the main item on their agenda though regards the euro something which they say is being kept alive artificially for too long it's coming time pull the plug the euro is dead actually the euro is dead what we do right now

is we put them under pressure surgery we give them. such things but actually it's already dead but i'll put it to should have drifted nice that yet despite current personal popularity here in germany alternative to say that mrs merkel isn't handling the european financial crisis the right way that what she's trying to do is trying to tell people in greece and in italy and in spain that they should act more like germans we find it ridiculous that our federal chaunced tries to turn the lovely people of greece italy and french into prussians she will never manage to do that it will not work i need to bring disunity instead of unity in europe alternative for germany is certainly a small party but they will be hoping to try and push the political big guns when it comes to the general election here on the twenty second of september they may also be facing

a few challenges from other stop alicia political parties that want to pull germany out of the euro to want to see the euro go by the wayside the m.p. they have said that they are the real. policy and that they going to challenge alternative so they're going to have a lot of work on their hands that we hoping to try and pick up a few votes but people are disillusioned with the way things are going when germans go to the polls on the twenty second of september. i just a moment when our special report on the death of russia's tycoon in exile or.

he became a symbol of the nine hundred ninety s. he personified the russian mafia in the kremlin. he was a twentieth century arrest buton. in just a few years he rose from junior was a multi-billion and senior politician. is decline was as rapid as his meteoric rise and ended in exile his death is now as mysterious as his life. better.

about international landlord in the very heart of moscow. they called him the face of business and government he's also he was a gambler the money came second heading the russian metha inside the kremlin it was enough for boris just raises eyebrows to make gangsters appear. he was a great cardinal of russian politics at the well he was a big time political adventurer some even called him a lot today rest putin the embodiment of evil in boris yeltsin's presidential court am i supposed to put on a grieving face and talk about people across the country mourning his demise on the contrary the moderates that his death has attracted so much attention.