between more socialism from chavez's handpicked successor or free market capitalism of the opposition candidate parties tests are still you will bring us the latest in a live report from caracas. guards at guantanamo bay fire rubber bullets at prisoners weakened by a two month long hunger strike as they resist attempts to move them into isolated cells. moscow banning eighteen americans from entering russia for alleged links to torture and human rights abuses the move a direct response to washington's earlier unilateral sanctioning of eighteen russian officials on the so-called magnitsky list. north korea continuing a verbal barrage against the u.s. and allies by threatening a nuclear strike on tokyo as russia urges all sides against saber rattling that could have deadly consequences.

six am in moscow i'm at treasure bring you today's top stories in a look back at the week's news here on r t polling stations have now closed in venezuela after a snap presidential election was triggered by the death of former leader who go chavez last month too widely differing candidates to choose from on the left nicolas maduro hoping to continue chavez era socialism on the right opposition candidate enrique kept a free market divo take urgent closer links with washington for more on this tessera cilia is live for us in caracas tessa's so we don't have the election results just yet but give us the latest on what you've got out on the streets. well everyone is waiting and watching very closely just waiting for those numbers to come out the polling stations had closed at six pm local time here that's that's about three hours ago although some polling stations did accept those people who

were already in line waiting to get in now it's interesting as well that you mentioned that these two candidates are leading candidates are very different in their policies and where they want to take going as well and it's also been very different in terms of how it happened today on election day supporters he's a job this is a repair they came out early morning around for a lighting up outside of polling stations and so about mid-afternoon they were already preparing fire for nearly a mostly actually of. posters at all paraphernalia ready for a celebration while the other hand you have. you have a. side they came out to vote in the afternoon because i had called the. afternoon and then state after the polls close to monitor and watch the county closely and also what's interesting now is as the count to is underway the fight between the two sides is continuing on the social media twitter is very active on the two sides accusing each other of manipulation. account having been

hacked as well so it's really taking a very very interesting turn of the lever wins this election it will have a very tough shoes to fill his legacy will continue to play a role in the venezuelan politics and also the divided and divisive politics that had existed in this country it's very evidence of where it takes the helm one of the main challenges aside from fixing the economy the double digit inflation dealing with crime security which is a top concern of people the other thing is being able to bridge the gap between the two sides a division that already exists so we wait and watch and see and wait for those numbers to come in on who that next leader is going to be all right thanks very much. water from caracas without a. well eric draitser an analyst at stop imperialism dot com syncs thinks that the free market ideas of opposition candidate don't resonate though among the people on the streets there certainly are some divisions within those who support chavez some

who believe that the bill of aryan revolution needs to have a slightly more direct leadership approach versus the the bottom up approach that chavez was more in favor of but these are minor differences the splits within the opposition i think are much more significant and what we've seen is that despite the international pressure the international effort to prop up the opposition it has been what i would considered and many other analysts consider an abject failure is not liked by the venezuelan people because they understand that capri lives in the opposition means a return to colonialism and to subjugation under the thumb of the united states. and remember for the latest up to the minute details on what's going on in venezuela tess is following developments at the polling stations in caracas and you can log on to her twitter feed and find out which candidate will take the country's top job. campaign and again venezuela chooses a new president as

a choice runs against a free market poster boy for possible venezuela choose after coming down to self-styled socialism or free market model venezuela votes april fourteenth. an attempt to break up the sixty eight day long hunger strike at guantanamo bay has ended in clashes between inmates and guards rubber bullets fired at detainees who are resisting attempts by the cap administrator is to isolate them in a single man units authorities say it's a way for the prison staff to control the spread of the strike against conditions there. has more. 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 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 tunnel prisoners have been starving for more than two months now trying to bring public attention to their plight because they sense the administration 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 so you do go represents one of the hunger strikers says the harsh measures taken by authorities don't resolve the crisis. michael council who represents

a bio i dared poteat visited just two days ago at once upon a mile 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 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 turn 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 our has been keeping a close eye on the strike at guantanamo we've been gathering comments for officials and international lawyers and organizations to see what they have to say in a special section on our website r t dot com.

some of the u.s. officials involved in shaping the controversial guantanamo policies are not by themselves blacklisted by russia moscow releasing the names of eighteen americans that sanction for alleged links to torture and human rights abuses those drawn up in a direct response to washington so-called magnitsky list banning eighteen russians for entering the states the move greeted in moscow by a chorus of condemnation and accusations of russophobia from officials are. going off as more. 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 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 couldn't sell to 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 an unfriendly use of four week a law 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

a professor of russian studies at n.y.u. thinks president obama may a follow on hostage to anti russian sentiment among some u.s. lawmakers obama did not want magnitsky act it was imposed only by the american congress and by a congress that included is 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 added to russia doesn't deserve any concessions and i'm guessing that you 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 important issue that there will be forces of the russian political allies who owes those compromises to . so it's not a sideshow. of course we're always interested in what you think about the stories we cover here on our team you can take part in our online web poll on the stories

that we cover including this one where we're asking where this war of lists between moscow and washington will lead so far the majority voting online think this spat will lead to nothing more than some minor tit for tat measures from both sides around if it though think it won't affect the country's ties at all the rest split between two less optimistic options some saying relations will be severely hit by this others saying that the spot will bring an end to this reset in u.s. russian relations well what do you think about your vote online and also go to our common section if you have more thoughts on the story. still ahead a destructive legacy later in the program takes

a look at how iraq still in for more oil a decade after the u.s. led war toppled saddam hussein from power plus. facing the music an online campaign in britain to get the song ding dong the witch is dead to the top of the music charts and what's called a celebration of margaret thatcher's death sparking huge controversy all that and more still to go. oh this lead. by conflict. has changed. a modern islamic nation. and the peaceful life of the stone islam is for us to secure a little sick and. fashion. and service in places. and. traditions still.

cannot go on the catwalk in a swimsuit. the republican controlled sea. critic three. three. three. three. videos for your media. free media r t v dot com. spiraling tensions on the korean peninsula take a turn for the worse after pyongyang threatens to launch a nuclear strike on tokyo the north says it would launch a warhead at the japanese capital if any of its test missiles were shot down u.s.

secretary of state in japan now the last leg of an asian tour rallying support against pyongyang's nuclear program this is washington tokyo and seoul indicate talks with the north can only happen if it's ready for denuclearization the apparent deadlock worrying not only countries involved in dispute but also moscow's artie's likes airships the reports from a lot of us don't. 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. korean peninsula has led to some serious. 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 countries affected. by the possible consequences of a nuclear war if we remember the. traces of radiation were felt.

just the way from here so all the latest developments in the north korean conflict in. syria. from the russian president. and for the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. because we are neighbors and if something happens there. but of course not only russia is concerned with the current situation on the korean peninsula the u.s. . if it decides to hold. to the international community the most interesting day here clearly will be monday when.

north korea. some reports are suggesting that it's. actually conduct. ten years have passed since the statue of saddam hussein was toppled in baghdad symbolizing many of the fall of the regime but for many iraqis the promise of a new and better life never happened in a decade of instability sectarian violence and terror attacks thousands of lives have been acclaimed artist. reports that a figure of the late dictator has been replaced by fear of the know. 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 into your kook. this oil rich city has been described as a. a symbol for the country's most intractable woes 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 house they're also frequent target of attacks for us it was a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at war. 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 continue 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 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. we don't know who the enemy is or when the next bomb will go off but it's a daily fears so 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 wrong time in a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle for somebody. like this what benefit did the war 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 alive so you. know 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 lucy caffein of r.t. kirkuk iraq. the u.s. led mission has left scars on iraq some of the worst affected being the young use of unconventional weapons is reportedly caused unprecedented levels of birth defects and cancer cases even among children dr omar out could be see says the u.s. won't be able to fully compensate for the damage. it's clear that though the u.s. spoke 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 the 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 including dispenser weapons bosphorus ammunitions depleted uranium and chemical weapons all these types of weapons were used intentionally and on a mass scale in iraq 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 you can look up human rights watch and world health organization reports on the internet radiological monitoring held on the international level points of radioactive contamination of southern central any

of the northern areas of iraq and despite repeated calls and the reports published by iraqi scientists the us turned a blind eye on the issue. the death of former british prime minister margaret thatcher who passed away monday aged eighty seven has reopened old divisions among the british people while most grieved her passing socialist students and anticapitalist were joined by x. miners in london's trafalgar square saturday to bid a not so fond farewell demonstrators said they stand against her legacy during her lifetime at the top of british politics took on unions and privatized state services that are deter actors finding creative and provocative ways to show their anger at the mark they say she left an online campaign has put the wizard of oz song ding dong the witch is dead to the top of the british music charts but b.b.c. radio their show that plays out the weekly hit list eric only five seconds of the

song as part of a new story for fear of offending people author and journalist toby young though things they should have played the full song 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 night margaret thatcher i absolutely stand falls to the principle that something shouldn't be banned a song shouldn't be not played because some people find it offensive and if conservatives want this song banned on grounds of taste and decency on the grounds that they're offended it'll 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 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 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 love them over at fracture 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 that which he said to the number one spot and take a look now at some other stories making global headlines in belgium five were killed in a bus they were traveling on crashed were guardrail and were again five others hospitalized in critical condition unclear what caused the accident police say the driver could have been a with sleep at the wheel they were heading to paris with mostly young russians aboard. at least nineteen killed in a series of attacks in the somali capital mogadishu unclear how many civilians among the dead violence started when

a group of armed men opened fire inside the city's main courthouse also reports of at least two car bombings islam as a group has already claimed responsibility. as of spaniards rallied in the capital madrid an anti monarchy protests marking the anniversary of the second republic marchers called for the king to be replaced with a democratically elected leader and made the ongoing debt crisis in the country the royal family's come under harsh criticism the latest scandal has seen the youngest daughter of king juan carlos linked to a corruption case. in israel military prosecutors say the deaths of a dozen palestinian civilians in an air strike on gaza during last year's eight day war don't warrant criminal investigation it was determine the killings were merely unfortunate it was found the attack that left a family of ten in two neighbors dead was because of a targeting error the seller schmidt martin from the palestinian center for human rights thinks it's part of a wider issue of how the country can act with impunity. there were two cases which

were closed in this way 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 killed and a further six were wounded there were five children of the family that the second cases of the show a family home which was targeted and it's located on baghdad streets and cheering that target saying four 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 no prosecutions it's part of a wider problem and in fact already this year since january or thirteen civil cases which piece the hay charts 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 an 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 well it's trying to go into space but sometimes if you're russian space will go to you start your business a city in the urals region stunned earlier this year when it was struck by a massive media your stay with us your art. a clear image of iraq after a facial. twenty day taxi trip through the country.

the road full of danger. clear evidence from north to south. the root of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. taxi a large. good leverage. to build a new. mission

to teach me. both.