choosing between the leaders closest ally and an opposition leader who aims to completely change direction. clashes at guantanamo bay. lethal rounds. hunger striking prisoners for resisting being taken to isolated cells. or of the lists russia eighteen americans it suspects have links to torture from entering its territory in 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 against the military and our top stories this hour.

with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on t.v. that is right in the deciding today whether they want to continue the legacy left by late leader hugo chavez heading to the polls for a snap presidential election triggered by his death from cancer last month pitched against each other. apparent nicolas maduro and opposition candidate and. he is a free market devoted he. reports now from caracas on what is at stake. leading the polls throughout this campaign has been. the chosen successor. and many people that i've spoken to. say out of loyalty. for 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 is does win this election will he be able to solve problems of crime for example food shortages inflation of the

economy which people have already been bringing up and these are large shoes to fill for him and he is being watched and scrutinized very closely now second to him is. the opposition he's a younger guy who's coming in the polls in new ideas basically many of his supporters want to vote for him because they want change. for the past fourteen years and they want to something new and this is also. someone who is a bit more u.s. friendly. interesting to see if the change relations with. the venezuela sitting on 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 the biggest concern the prime. want to see

fast. and dr francisco is the head of latin american studies at middlesex university in britain explain to me why he thinks most venezuelans leaning towards continuing the course. if you are in their shoes and you look around and you see the crisis in the united states you don't want to go down that road if you look at what the difficulty and free market economics have done to europe i'm sure they don't want to go that route he has to look around the latin america and they see some serious estate intervention see this government participation in the call me god the intervening whenever necessary making sure that the research division of income then latin america out of these performances pretty impressive compared to these other places that i've mentioned so in that sense going back to totally free economics is not going to work and they're not going to embrace it. just to remind you all is following developments at polling stations in venezuela

vote and all the latest updates are available on her twitter feed at the moment or one of the most recent posts she says that the majority of votes are expected to be counted by one thirty am g.m.t. . campaign and again venezuela chooses a new president chavez choice runs against a free market poster boy for possible venezuela choose after commandante self-styled socialism or free market model venezuela votes open fourteenth. a fresh attempt to break an ongoing hunger strike a quantum of prison camp has led to clashes between guards and detainees inmates try to resist being forcibly moved from communal living living quarters to single man cells and officers responded by firing lethal bullets camp officials say they were trying to prevent hunger strikers from persuading other inmates to join the protest what is going to check on has more now for us. 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 kuantan a most statement released by the u.s. military says the guards at guantanamo have 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 ton of the 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 they 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 to use was brought to a lawyer for one of the hunger strike in prison this new code told us that measures like solitary confinement only aggravate the situation. michael counsel who represents obeid alleged erik 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 unable 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 this 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 a lot who has been keeping a close eye on the hunger strike at guantanamo 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 at the moment or three dot com. it's a. number of former u.s. officials linked to the legalization and application of torture a quantum

a feature on a blacklist that russia put together this last week moscow release names of alleged human rights violators it was placing on the travel and economic sanctions after a similar move by the u.s. or did you go to president of takes a closer look at the tit for tat action threatening toys between the two countries . 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 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 means 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 community and employee of the hermitage capital investment fund he was suspected of fraud he got himself a claim 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 a need 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 that president obama has become a hostage to anti russian moods among us normally because obama did not want magnitsky act it was imposed on him by the american congress and by congress one that included is our own political party the democratic party it's changed and poison the atmosphere it's going to make it harder for example. president obama to make concessions on let's say missile defense the president. because there is this

adage russia doesn't deserve any concessions and i'm guessing that your president putin would like to modify his position on the missile defense and i mention that because it's on the table at the moment it's an important issue that there will be forces in the russian political class the world compromises to stop this so it's not a sideshow. and as always we're interested in your opinion on the news stories we cover each day here on r.t. and we're asking you today on our web site what you think this war of lists between moscow and washington will lead to us on our home page at r.t. dot com so far we can see the results here on screen the majority who voted online think that the spat would lead to more mine a tit for tat measures in the future from both sides but nothing major around a fifth believe it will not affect the country's ties at all meanwhile the rest are split between two less optimistic options here some say the relations will be some

very hit while others think that is the death knell for the u.s. russia reset in diplomatic relations those are your thoughts of the moment submit your vote online or use our comments section if you haven't done so already for more thoughts on the story and good to hear from me. i. israel military prosecutors say the deaths of a dozen protestant civilians in a strike on girls are during last year's eight day war due north weren't a criminal investigation it was decided the killings were merely unfortunate it was from turkey which left to members of one family and two neighbors did was the

result of a targeting era is under schmidt multan from the protestant so the for human rights told me earlier that she thinks is part of a wood issue of how israel can act with impunity 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 the one case is the case of the family which is one of the most enduring images of the offensive in november where there were twelve civilians killers and a further six were wounded there were five children of the family at the second cases of the show a family home which was targeted and it's ok stand by god streets and cheering that target saying for civilians were killed and another six were wounded and there has been very little explanation as to why these cases have been closed israel has made merely stated that they weren't no prosecutions it's part of

a wider problem and in fact already this year since january or thirteen civil cases which p.c. hey choice that they said on behalf of victims of operation cast lead have also been dismissed and of course operation cast that 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. this is all tea life here in moscow with twenty four hours a day still to come this a nation in despair a decade since the fall of baghdad we look at iraq is crushed by the uncertainty war brought and the fear is for the future. and the death of controversial former british prime minister margaret thatcher has provoked scandal in the u.k. as the song dong the witch is dead rockets up the music charts as parts of the population show their anger at

a political legacy that story and all that still to come after a short break. it's a meteorite. ten thousand tons through space towards russia. with the power. of a nuclear. weapon sky full on r.t. . technology innovation called the list of elements from around russia we've got the

future covered. he continues here in r.t. this week tensions around north korea's nuclear threats reached a new high with pyongyang putting tokyo on its potential hit list japan was threatened after it said it was preparing to shoot down any missiles the north might launch the u.s. secretary of state is in japan all of the stop of his asian tour to rally support against pyongyang's nuclear program washington tokyo and seoul indicated talks with the north can happen only if it is ready for the you can as a nation apparent deadlock is why not only the countries involved in the dispute

but moscow to its. reports. the city with a population of around seven hundred thousand people is the closest. to the border with north korea literally two hundred kilometers 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 consequences of a nuclear war if we remember the. years ago traces of radiation were felt. just a stone's throw away from here so all the latest developments in the north korean conflict in the escalating tension. serious. concern from the russian

president. we are against nuclear proliferation for the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. 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. . 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. the birthday of the late korean leader. kim il sung some reports are suggesting that it's. actually conduct. china is perhaps the only country with influence over reclusive north korea has committed to ridding its neighbor of nuclear capabilities in

a peaceful manner and the war activists brought back i believe the growing alienation between north korea and its historic and i 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 a near 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 was a central baghdad was torn down by u.s. troops became a symbol of the regime's for the mark the beginning of

a new war the code of instability sectarian violence and terrorist attacks claimed files and of lives and the saudis lucy coven of reports fear of the late dictator has been replaced by horror of the on. 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 here in. this oil rich city has been described as a. symbol for the country's most intractable woes as collating violence the conflict among ethnic and religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources. getting there was our first challenge a group of kurdish soldiers had agreed to take a sin both baghdad and the kurds lay claim to care kook and are sparring over control aside from the danger those entering from the kurdish side need special

permission to get past the iraqi checkpoints when have it 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 house they're also frequent target of attacks for us it was a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at war. inside your kook we drive quickly to avoid danger we're told to look out for a black b.m.w. apparently they've become a favorite for iraq's insurgents who didn't pick the best day to come to roadside bombs exploded here earlier that morning around the same time that baghdad was rocked by a series of deadly blasts but kirkuk 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 their 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 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 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 we don't know who the enemy is or when the next bomb will go off but it's a daily for years we've gotten 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 wrong time when a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle. because what benefit did the war bring what 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 alive. it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's both 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 all they simply want the peace of mind of knowing they can go out and return to their loved ones alive lucy caffein of r.t. kirkuk iraq. 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 andy capp unless we're 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 who during her time at the top of british politics to go on the unions and privatized state services had detractors of finding creative and provocative ways to show their anger at the margin after online campaign has rocketed the wizard of oz song being 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 aired only 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 have been played 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 greet lee at my margaret thatcher i absolutely

stand fast to the principle that something shouldn't be banned some 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 to say in future which the b.b.c. made bad decided 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 reduced search of this because she had a actively beaten them in open debate but i have to say that those of us who are mired and loved margaret thatcher 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 pip ding dong the witch is dead to the number one spot. the reason margaret thatcher was so controversial is she turned the u.k. into a totally different country on r.t. dot com read the interview with artie's contributor afshin rattansi on the lessons the iconic leader helped britain and the world to learn. well that's it for me build up my colleague will be here in the next as the news continues before that if you're a russian you don't have to dream of going to space space comes to you next l.t. visits the city in the urals region it would still mean that in this year when it was hit by a massive beach that's after the break. oh

no lazy bureaucratic and trivial censorship strikes again but this time in russia a bill has been signed into law that will put fines on individuals and legal and to these for using vulgar already in the media one major flaw of many with this is that they really don't know which words are going to be considered vulgar i guess these words are so awful that they cannot even write them down i'm not naïve there has always been and will always be censorship but this where wordless is just silly there's a common expression on the russian internet that russian mainstream media connects up more and i was ation of society russian t.v. does have all the bloody violent action movies as well as scandalous talk shows which are kind of more like freak shows and plenty of reality t.v. where young people pretty much act like subhuman animals in a cage they've got all that so the government is basically saying that if some guy on t.v. there are twenty people blooded limbs flying that that is totally ok for television unless they come out for bid swear while doing it you can show brainless

materialistic dimwits sleeping and fighting with everything that moves on a reality show but if they say that one magic three letter russian word then it is over the line this is not a logical way to conduct censorship but that's just my opinion. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard welcome to the big picture. truth both. of you. choose who. you.

listen to that. you. should deal with. news this is not the story of the just coming out of central and western russia right now i frankly incredible the sky full of fire and brimstone. thousand tons of. eyewitnesses reported. a. trail of smoke a day at least twenty times the strength of the atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima to .