president choosing between the late leader's closest ally and an opposition leader who aims to completely change direction. clashes at guantanamo bay camp guards lethal rounds on hunger strike and prisoners resisting being taken to isolated cells. of the lists russia eighteen americans it suspects have links to torture from entering its territory in response to a similar move by washington. concerns over the escalating korean crisis spread further afield of the north threatens to strike japan if it intercepts its. sides against upping the military and. the look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this

is the weekly. that is right in deciding today whether they want to continue the legacy left by late leader. heading to the polls for a snap presidential election triggered by his death from cancer last month pitched against each other. apparent nicolas maduro an opposition candidate and. i free market devoted he. reports from caracas on what's at stake. leading the polls throughout this campaign has been legal us mother of all 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 the mill drill for oil they also want to see continuity 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 placed in an 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 it because the plaintiff he is the opposition he's a young guy who's coming into the building who i think is a basically many of the supporters want to vote for him because they want he said they've had enough of it given israel that they've seen for the past fourteen years and they want to something new about this is also being paid to someone who is a bit more friendly service i would be interested to see if when israel over would change the nations with the united states if he's voted into power they do let's not forget that this is really sort of the world's largest oil reserves of 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 could be a biggest concern they have of being prime food shortages again i mean they want to see answers fast. following developments at polling stations in

venezuela's vote she'll have all the latest updates are available on her twitter feed at the moment and one of the most recent posts that says the queues are getting longer as millions cost that. campaign and again venezuela chooses and president chavez choice runs against a free market poster boy. that is where the choose after coming down self-styled socialism or free market model venezuela votes. a first attempt to break a months long hunger strike could guantanamo prison camp as the clashes between guards and detainees inmates tried to resist being forcibly moved from communal living quarters to single men cells and officers responded by firing normal lethal bullets and officials say they were trying to prevent hunger strikers from persuading other inmates to join the protest but he's going to come on small 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 fired four rounds at 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's when the guards started shooting 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 or do you also spoke to a lawyer for one of the hunger striking prisoners told us measures like solitary confinement only a group of eight the situation. michael counsel who represents a biologic poteat visited here 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 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 well to have been keeping a close eye on the hunger strike at guantanamo and we've been gathering comments from officials lawyers and international organizations and you can see what they had to say in a special section on our website r.t. dot com. it's. a number of former u.s. officials linked to the legalization application of torture at guantanamo feature

on a blacklist that russia put together this week moscow to release names of alleged human rights violated it was placing on the travel economic sanctions offer similar moves by the u.s. what if you got this kind of takes a closer look at the tit for tat action threatening ties between the nations. what we're witnessing now is really 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 a part 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 names to be put on them the american his

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 in 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 most 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. stephen cohen he's a professor russian studies and history at new york university believes president obama has become a hostage to russian moods among u.s. lawmakers. obama did not want magnitsky it was imposed on him by the american congress congress one that included his own political party the democratic party which changed and poison the atmosphere it's going to make it harder for example. president obama to make concession to let's say missile defense the president.

because there is this added russia doesn't deserve any concessions and i'm guessing that your president putin would like to modify his position on european missile defense and i mention that because it's on the table at the moment it's an issue that there will be forces in the russian political class the world owes its compromises to. so it's not a sideshow. and as always we're always interested to know what you have to say about some of the major news stories we're covering today and today we're asking you what do you think this spat between washington and moscow will lead to will ease the results online at the moment on the home page you can express your point of view we can see that the majority are saying this isn't going to be a major problem it will just lead to a few more mine up to attack measures in the future brought about a fifth say that this really won't affect cooperation on key issues that won't be a major fallout but then we have some saying at eighteen percent and nineteen percent almost seven of you saying this could have an impact impact eighteen

percent saying this could severely affect diplomatic relations and nineteen percent saying it could be actually the and all that we set all diplomatic relations between the two signing that definitely that is what you think so fall you don't call it good to hear what you think. israel's military prosecutors have decided the deaths of a dozen palestinian civilians in airstrikes launched on gaza during an eight day war last year won't warrant a criminal investigation it was decided the killings were merely unfortunate it was

found that one attack that killed nine family members including four children was the result of a targeting error well for more on this let's now go cross live to gaza and talk to martin she's from the palestinian center for human rights so there's a lot how did israel conclude that the death of more than a dozen civilians was and i quote an unfortunate i'll come rather than a crime what's their explanation. well that's a question that we're asking ourselves in the palestinian center for human rights in fact there were two cases which were closed in this way and we received notifications of those cases on the eleventh of april just three days ago so the one case is the case of the family which is one of the most enduring images of the offensive in november where as you said there were twelve civilians killed and a further six were wounded and in fact there were five children of the family one

one of the one of the other killed was seventeen years old. but the images of the three of the four children under the age of ten is certainly something that has stayed with people who watched the events unfold during those eight days the second cases of the family who are inside the show a family home which was targeted and it's located on baghdad streets and during that target saying four civilians were killed and another six were wounded very spend very little explanation as to why these cases have been closed israel has made merely stated that they no prosecutions any explanation as to why these homes were told that in the first place. in fact that was another issue of confusion after the attack on the family home for example there were a number of conflicting messages we came from the israeli spokespeople and they

seemed they seemed to think they hit the wrong home and they said they were targeting someone within the home and there was no clarity and the fact that the investigation has not in any way met international standards means that. the palestinians edge of human rights is sure that this is this is not a proper investigation all these cases all these cases we're talking about the way they've been treated by the israeli military prosecutors all be an exception to the rule or is this common practice when palestinian civilians deaths to be investigated. fraid it's part of a wider problem and in fact already the series since january or thirteen civil cases which p.c. hate. on behalf of victims of operation cast lead have also been dismissed and of course operation cast as happened four years ago so we're facing ongoing impunity for both about offensive and the offensive in november there's been

a number of changes to the israeli legal system which have made it practically impossible for palestinian victims to achieve any form of justice one such example is amendment number eight to the tort law this was brought in in july in two thousand and twelve and it basically absolves the state of israel of any responsibility for damages arising from any damage caused cheering the context of what they call a combat action and the definition of a combat action is extremely brawl it's open to wide interpretation it can even be the case that if a soldier claims that he was in fear of his life then the state of israel is in no way responsible for any damage that he causes in reactions that he that he carries just briefly your organization say this attitude is simply a mockery of human rights and also international law isn't it simply a case of no referring this to an international court. absolutely.

firmly believes the only way that we can achieve justice for palestinian victims in the current situation where the israeli legal system is providing an illusion of justice without any investigative rigor the only way to achieve justice for these victims is to go to the international criminal court and we are calling on the palestinian leadership to sign an ratify the rome statute become a member of the i.c.c. and ask the prosecutor to open an investigation into israeli violations of international human rights and humanitarian because they live thank you very much for your thoughts martin from the palestinian center for human rights live in gaza thanks for being with us here on our time. well still ahead for you all but a decade since the fall of baghdad we look at iraq is crushed by the uncertainty war brought in there for the future. also the controversial former british prime

minister margaret thatcher has proved her book scandal in the u.k. is the song dong the witch is dead rockets up the music charts parts of the population showed their anger at her political legacy that and all the stories coming your way after a short break. its technology innovation is developments around russia we. have heard.

the international airport in the very heart of moscow. continues here in r.t. this week tensions around north korea's nuclear threats reached a new high with the end putting tokyo on its potential hit list japan was threatened after it said it was prepared to shoot down any missiles the north might launch the u.s. secretary state is in japan now the last stop of these asian tour to rally support against pyongyang's nuclear program washington and seoul indicated talks with the

north can happen only if it is ready for the nuclearization apparent deadlock is worrying not only that countries involved in the dispute but moscow to alexi 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 not only in the far east of course but 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 meltdown and by the possible consequences of a nuclear war if we remember the 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 serious. concern from the russian president mr president we are against. and for the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. because we are neighbors and if something happens there it will make you. look at 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. 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. some reports are suggesting that it's. actually conduct.

china is perhaps the only country with influence over reclusive north korea and is committed to ridding its neighbor of nuclear capabilities in a peaceful manner. believes the growing alienation between north korea and its historic outside china is ultimately playing into washington's hands. 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 that could be the prescription the precursor to regime change in north korea if they could break china away china doesn't want to do that although you can see the debate going on right now within the chinese establishment. it's been ten years since the statue of

saddam hussein which watched over central baghdad was torn down by u.s. troops it became the symbol of the regime's full amount the beginning of a new war a decade of instability sectarian violence and terrorist attacks has claimed thousands of lives and as all of these loosely couple of reports fear of the late dictator has been replaced by horror of the. iraq war is supposed to be over but these pictures tell a different story chaos and confusion the aftermath of yet another deadly blast. this one which city has been described as a. symbol of the country's most intractable woes escalating violence the conflict among ethnic religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources road blocks 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 house and also frequent target of attacks for us it was a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at war. 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 worked. affecting 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 for cable access the city without the help of a military escort residents here say that attacks have happened 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 meet 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 where women next bomb will go off

but it's a daily fears we've got used to it 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 won't hurt us. such precautions didn't help sixty year old fellow mahmoud 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 for somebody and. i was 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 i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back a lot of the soldiers. no it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book the black 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. r.t. iraq. the us led mission after heavy burden on iraq is the use of unconventional weapons threatens future generations of children dr. he says that 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 and all types of munitions were used of in the plane dispenser weapons vosper is a munitions depleted uranium and chemical weapons all these types of weapons were used intentionally and on a mass scale in iraq and this testing out of weapons had disastrous effects 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 when world health organization reports on the internet that radiological monitoring held on the international level during wants a radioactive contamination of southern central in the northern areas of iraq and despite repeated calls and all the reports published by iraqi scientists and that the us turned a blind eye on the issue in yellow. the

death of former prime minister margaret thatcher this week reopened all divisions among the british people while some grieved her passing socialist students and anticapitalist were joined by x. miners in london's trafalgar square on saturday to bid on a not so fond farewell demonstrators said they stand against the legacy of during her time at the top of british politics to the unions and privatized state services detractors are finding creative and provocative ways to show their anger at the mark she left online campaign has rocketed the wizard of oz song ding dong the witch is dead to the top of the music charts but a b.b.c. radio show that plays out the weekly hit list has said it will only have five seconds of the song as part of a new story for fear of offending people and through a journalist toby young believes the full song should be played out 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 hold people's rights to free speech and that includes the right to offend people as

a conservative and as someone who greatly admired margaret thatcher i absolutely stand for to the principle that something shouldn't be banned sloan shouldn't be not playing it 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. made bad decide that she actually always took some satisfaction when her opponents attacked her personally and stoop to low vulgar tactics like this because it meant that they had no other or caymans 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 moderates that have made a counterattack and we're borrowing

a song called i'm in love with margaret thatcher by the not sensible and we're hoping that will pick up on which she said to her number one spot. reason margaret thatcher was so controversial is she turned the u.k. into a totally different country and r.t. dot com you can read the interview with artie's contributor afshin rattansi on the lessons the iconic leader helped britain and the world to learn. and european sentiment is it going mainstream in germany were the launch of a new party dedicated to pulling the plug on the struggling euro a group called alternative for germany says it has already received thousands of membership requests and the political establishment is concerned about the new comers popularity our correspondent peter oliver was at the party's first official convention germany's political new kids on the blog alternative for deutschland claim to be able to provide the german people with just not an alternative to the current political.