lethal decision the u.s. is set to provide military aid to the syrian rebels off the claiming it now has high confidence of the small scale use of chemical weapons by assad's. government stepping up the pressure on protesters with another crack down on a rallying cry. of the prime minister issues his final ultimatum. as iranians go to the polls to choose their new leader we look at the man spending his last days in office review the controversial legacy of president.

thank you so much for joining us here on r.t. today i'm live in moscow with your world wide headlines washington has now given the green light for the syrian rebels to prop up the opposition a plan for a limited no fly zone over syria that's also been drawn up now it comes after the u.s. administration concluded that assad's forces had used chemical weapons quote on a small scale details now from. new york. this is quite a game changer being announced by the obama administration what we know is that the u.s. has decided that it will provide military support to syrian rebels but u.s. officials would not specify what that support will be involved the national security council that the pfizer ben rhodes says that the new assistance to the syrian rebels will be different from the non-lethal communications type equipment that the u.s. has given before this of course leads many to believe that the united states will

now be arming the syrian opposition now these decisions are being made after the u.s. intelligence community has independently concluded that the syrian government has used chemical weapons including the nerve agent gas sarin on a small scale against the opposition however washington so far has failed to disclose what specific evidence they have what has led them to make these conclusions and this announcement but this is counter to what the chief u.n. investigators said just two months ago during our investigation for crimes against humanity and war crimes. we collect. money. the made to appear that some chemical weapons were used in particular. and what was.

what appear on. to our investigation that was used by openings by the ribbons and we have no known indication that tool is the government. of the city government has used chemical weapons but i want to be the. first the first indication we got they went to the use of never opening the united states decision now to provide more military support to the syrian opposition comes ahead of a peace conference that's supposed to take place geneva at the end of this month or be they have one next month that conference was organized by the united states and russia and it was aiming to get both sides from syria to come together at the table and talk about how there could be a transitional government forms and ultimately and the ongoing violence that's been

taking place in syria according to the united nations ninety three thousand people have been killed since this civil war began more than two years ago we should know that many experts have indicated that and believe and argue that adding more arms to such a heavily violent conflict that's ongoing in syria would actually fuel an arms race it would make the circumstance there the environment there so much more dangerous spots as we see from the the announcements made by the obama administration that washington plans to aid syrian rebels militarily and they won't give specifics but it looks as though that the united states will be arming the syrian opposition. and we are already good. a reaction from moscow now the head of the state duma foreign affairs committee claims there is no evidence of the use of chemical weapons by our forces pushed off he says that president obama is simply

making the same mistakes as his predecessor george w. bush in iraq he also added that the rebels will mean direct u.s. involvement and potentially escalating the conflict. when the meantime author and historian gerald horne he believes that washington's allegations will only serve to escalate the conflict seems to me this is a very dangerous and ominous moment particularly since sunni clerks of just met in cairo egypt in a call for a holy war against the regime in damascus and instead of trying to calm things down it seems to me the obama administration is about the throw gasoline on the flames keep in mind also that just a few weeks ago the turkish authorities now that some of the rebels housed in turkey head through a weapons that's weapons in their possession keep in mind as well that it's difficult to say if these weapons were used if they were used who used them for example what was the chain of custody that allows the obama administration to

conclude that it was damascus and not the rebels how did those samples get from the battlefield to washington how do we know that so i'm really gate soldier in the syrian military use these weapons precisely to invite intervention by washington there's so many questions i look forward to seeing the evidence although i don't think that the administration will be able to provide it. ok time for you to get involved with the story here on r.t. we're asking you on our web site what you think of obama's decision to arm the syrian rebels or let's see what you're saying this hour from dot com and here come the numbers right now they've been changing from hour to hour here we have on the ground there up again still the majority of our viewers and those voting on our thought call them saying well it's basically war mongering perhaps being influenced by that of the military industrial complex down another point for this hour barely a third saying well it's time to help and fight is after the recent defeats some

here six percent saying it took obama far too long to make this decision but he says too little too late and then four percent this hour saying well perhaps it's the right move perhaps washington should arm the syrian rebels if indeed assad's government have used chemical weapons we're still like to know what you think. you can make your vote right now. while the united states is still to decide just how far it might go with syria you allies are preparing themselves for a possible flood of refugees from the war torn state of germany could bear the brunt giving shelter to some ten thousand who have already fled syria and that's as germany already fears that the radical threat or the possible threats of europeans who have actually gone to fight assad when they come home what's going to happen this report now to watch these puter all over. these protesters behind be in pearl in a campaigning for better rights for refugees here in germany and the number of refugees

in the country could be set to rise by around ten thousand now that's the number of people escaping violence in syria that's expected to come here to germany when it comes to the international response to the ongoing crisis in the embattled middle eastern country germany has certainly been far more reserved in its criticism and some of its european partners particularly the likes of france and the united kingdom both of those have called for sending arms and perhaps even military personnel to aid the rebels fighting against the troops of the syrian government that germany has and they have kept their involvement purely diplomatic however there are those in germany that fear that the actions of countries like france and like the u.k. could see germany drawn into the conflict further by the back door. on germany's not in the same position as france and great britain who would like to stay away from this conflict but there are some attempts to drag the country in as far as i

know there are right now thirty six fighters in other words terrorists from the free syrian army are getting treatment in german military hospitals only to be trashed and sent on their way back to syria to terrorize the civilian population. the authorities in perlin say that they know that people have left from germany to go and fight in syria and they also confirm that many of these are fighting with radical islamic groups against the assad government forces there is now a worry that these people could return home and pose a potential terrorist threat on the streets of germany i think it's a double threat the first threat is of course for syria and for syrian civilians as well as for the syrian army that really comes from europe holding european passports are traveling there are fighting and of course they are learning they are terrorists fighting skills when they're out there and the danger that those people will come back to europe one day sooner or later and will practice their skills in

germany in britain in france and we know from all the countries now these terrorists are traveling to syria and they will come back so this might become a really big challenge and a big danger for also for the security in europe with no end in sight to the violence ongoing in syria it seems very likely that ten thousand won't be the final number of refugees fleeing the violence that find their way here to germany and we could see that rice in the future. it is ten minutes past the hour moscow time to turkey we go it's been another night of violence in the capital with police very well in a tough manner certainly dispersing the crowds who continue to rally for two weeks against the government prime minister of the one has issued a final warning to protesters demanding an end to the occupation of gezi park in istanbul that's been the flashpoint of the two weeks of on rest a court has yet to rule on its redevelopment and until then the government's

promise to hold work at the tech same square site in turkey with this report artie's or we're not going to. we've seen that with the protests the pros has broken out by police yet again with the use of tear gas and rubber bullets all of this happened just in the early hours of friday almost at the same time when prime minister as we see whether presented as from the protesters gezi park of course all of this comes as prime minister has initially said that his patience has run out and that everybody who is not complying with the rules of the turkish government will be dispersed and that is he part will be freed all over he did then meet with their representatives from the protest movement in the lead of the last information that we have learned is that there seems to have been some progress made but not no word yet exactly on what type of progress we're talking about here so again we're kind of holding our breaths here in turkey in the capital as well of course and in istanbul and seeing exactly how things develop from here and author and of course

we will keep you updated is. going to be reporting that the european parliament has taken the time to blas to turkey for its quote disproportionate and excessive use of force against the protesters and that's just my prime minister over there want to absolutely furious he said he will not recognize the e.u.'s resolution against his country. he spoke to me from the republican people's party that's been struggling to confront the ruling block in the turkish parliament she's increasingly worried over the escalating violence of what she calls being a possible witch hunt. waiting with concern and we are trying to protect the peaceful protesters who are being exposed along with along with foreign journalists along with everyone else students law here is we are all exposed to the same vine and so i meant i am alive witness to that is why. we are very close here and not

only about the heavy crackdown that may follow the prime minister's worst but also that which. may follow everything else in the long run i am really observing here a culture of. this is this is at the end of the day this is an accumulation of insults by the government. people whoever it is wasn't in the way and it being in the way that they the government one to. date stockton's calling them immoral. and this. at the end of today for the trees it started to end it all together with the three trees already cut down and there are about forty seven trees in that's enough hard and we still haven't heard the magical words to bring down the tension in the country which would be we are not going to cut down your trees and we are not going

to do that which. it's good to have you with us here and it's here today many more stories are coming your way this hour including leaks from the man who blew the whistle on america's sweeping surveillance program edward snowden tells a hong kong newspaper the n.s.a. has been hacking hundreds of targets in china a new twist in the cyber standoff between beijing and washington washington though the whole time of soon. in the role of a victim. preparations for the first woman cause when it was strictly classified. even her own mother knew

nothing of the imminent extraterrestrial voyage during her second door which there was a terrifying and unexpected emotions. one wrong move under segal may never have returned . she later miraculously survived an assassination attempt some thirty five right at my side of the car nine bullets were found under my seat valentino to discover sego in space see. download the official application to yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere.

thanks for joining us here on r.t. we're coming to you live from moscow millions of voters across iran have now started to cost their ballots to choose the successor to president clinton a job he's winding up his maximum eight years in the top job he's worth a national has been in tehran from the opening of the park polling stations and she filed the story. was iran's supreme leader is among the first photos today the country chooses its next president i hope you have a go to see how tall economy has just cast his ballot and of course no one knows who he voted for and you can see many journalists are here including foreign reporters many have come to iran to cover the event and most of them are reporting on the show today with the supreme leader has cost over the country's politics and today's events and that's why it's so offering a choice today's vote will unlikely to bring a new radical change to the country all together there are six candidates in

today's race but of course no one can say a fixed point who's likely to win opinion polls predict iran off but as it sat in there were these leaflets we found distributed on the streets of tehran the future president of iran should believe in god be able to protect the country from its enemies have high moral standards and have a good plan to improve the country's economic situation here's our report on where after the jobs legacy leaves the islamic republic akbar has been in real estate business for years in iran when we ask him to summarize the legacy of president ahmadinejad he talks about the term if you compare the price increased by a hundred percent since last year we have no hope for the future of the economy is bad and it's getting worse one of the president's promises of the taking office in two thousand and five was to make iran's vast oil revenues felt at the dining table

of every single family was he leaves behind is a country hit by the worst financial crisis in the years but the us some who say it's not what it is just who's to blame for the downturn under sanctions were tough recently and it's hard to keep afloat but the president you know the people i'm sure that iran is able to resist international pressure the iranian economy has been hit hard by strain of ever tougher sanctions imposed successively by the. do the u.n. and the u.s. over accuse ations the countries trying to develop nuclear weapon something which was never approved as a lot of ahmadinejad has been able to stand up to the whole world over iran's nuclear program and the country is better off for it and have a battle the departure in libya will be remembered for is his rhetoric about israel and iran sixth president relations reached the point when even war seemed very possible and while ahmadinejad has not exactly been friendly towards israel the way

facts have been gentle devout him has done more damage to his reputation than his own wards years ago a statement was mistakenly streamlet it to him which was in the curtly translated as israel must be wiped off the face of the map actual words were that israel must vanish from the arena of time and didn't even belong to one ishant anyway the objective is to make when the new judge a villain he stands for universal rights where every country would have an equal say but some powers want nothing but dominance and they focused on blocking the name of our president one of this year's presidential candidates doesn't agree korea during the two thousand and nine elections campaign he criticized his advisors and they were off to race that's not the best and most honest way to get to power. the deadly protests that raged across the country after the elections are also thought to have undermined our image the result many people were frightened of other let me not talk about my job at all. even those who don't totally support or

when a judge say there is little he can actually do here according to our constitution the supreme leader has much more powers in this country almost every step the president takes should be supervised and blessed by the ayatollah so despite all the controversies surrounding president ahmadinejad it looks like iran will continue to be a force in the region and therefore will remain the for. signs of the u.s. and its allies. presidency provokes mixed feelings a very controversial leader and he was equally hated that he or she. has been lazy . didn't send them to friends over any policy problem today. is over but his legacy will be over the next president sometime. around iran. not only of course online as well here's a peek of what is waiting for you on the web site for this hour online team posting

this story. france's plunge into chaos both in the skies and on the ground as a strike by air traffic controllers and railway workers paralyzed at the country many people stuck in airports and railway stations using their luggage for pillows details on the website right now. also online for this hour here at r.t. we by the golden name for warden monte carlo this for the best twenty four hour news program over our coverage of the meteorite if you remember that smash down to earth in siberia earlier this year. you can get the full scoop on that big award. but i want to see the hunt for the man behind the massive u.s. intelligence leaker edward snowden it's in full swing the f.b.i. pledging to take quote all necessary steps to prosecute him meanwhile the on the run whistleblower has been making some more revelations reportedly telling

a hong kong newspaper that washington's routinely being hacked into chinese computer networks among other things he claims in fact that the u.s. had been hitting hundreds of targets in hong kong and on mainland china that since two thousand and nine it includes hacking universities businesses government officials and even chinese citizens and the revelations come off the washington was recently pointing the finger towards beijing blaming it. or series of cyber attacks and u.s. officials have been unrelenting about what they see as the threat of chinese hackers. well as some leading american industrialists according for a serious response are demanding the beijing faces consequences for its actions those demands are echoed by u.s. lawmakers who say that cyber attacks from the chinese government simply put will not be tolerated and president obama touched on the issue noting china must follow international norms regarding cyber security threats and marjorie cohn professor of

the thomas jefferson school of law she believes snowden's revelations about china and his fight about his a possible extradition will only add tension to u.s. china relations snowden could provide valuable information to china about american hacking into chinese communications it puts the chinese government in i guess an awkward position as well it puts the united states in a very awkward position and so i'm sure that the american leaders are scrambling right now to decide how to deal with this how to deal with the chinese authorities there will be tremendous pressure on the chinese government by the american authorities to extradite him time will tell what they decide to do. now snowden's revelations were no big surprise to another man at the forefront for the battle for transparency of course wiki leaks founder julian assange he credited

the n.s.a. leaker for putting together a concrete proof that the internet is penetrated in every single aspect here's a sneak peek of his exclusive interview to us here at our city. where where most of the snowden revelations bought in a thousand pieces from one court case here from a whistleblower there from the late documents here is thousand different revelations looking closely at like budgets and so on putting all this together. and so so those people deeply involved it's not surprising we. have written about this but. what is surprising is to see such clear direct proof in simple documents. in court orders secret court orders by the united states for mass interception and the various different forms of mass interception from when they're from. high tech companies from fiber optic lines from of arisan another

carries the united states but these are rolled into mish together now into one system that information into one system. is surprising. you can catch the full interview with julian assange later on r t thoughts eleven thirty pm. now environmentalists are sounding the alarm off to a shoot explosion rocked a chemical plant in louisiana it's killed at least one person though injured around seventy but the deadly blast set the entire complex ablaze residents of the surrounding area have been told to stay indoors and keep their windows firmly closed the plant produces highly flammable fuel for the petrochemical industry and the reason for the explosion is now under investigation it comes just two months after a similar incident at a fertilizer plant in texas killed fifteen and raised dozens of buildings to the ground according to reports the most recent inspection of that fertilizer plant

took place about a quarter of a century ago and the management was fined for safety violations a publisher of the trends journal gerald he says government agencies are simply too weak to enforce the regulations already in place you know are no regulations they're only words that are never in force it's a revolving door between industry and the legislature legislature and the legislature back to industry so what you have is a tangle of agencies both state and federal without any teeth and without any will to enforce the regulations that should be enforced because it's the same people that represent the industry that are running the government. or and world of daytime want to see was going to chile where thousands of students angry an education costs clash with police in the capital the students flooded the

streets for a peaceful march before it went violent forty arrested the students opposing the they have to pay seventy five percent of their own education. and rescue operations in effect in the philippines after a ferry capsizes fifty seven people overboard one person confirmed dead survivors say the vessel was massively overbalanced helicopters and coast guard vessels in the area are now searching for thirty seven still missing. but up next our documentary about the first woman in orbit let us go via the seagull in space that's all for this brag. you know when i was in school they would tell us stories about that other goofy economic system in the eastern bloc and about why it was doomed to fail they tell

us how terrified communist bureaucrats would work very hard to give the illusion of a fish and see when their bosses were in town a century out of fear they would try to convince the state that everything was just fine they promise of a fresh coat of paint on some stuff bump up their numbers in the books and get employees to put a smile on for the cameras so they wouldn't lose their jobs yeah this our teachers told us was a sign of true doomed economics rolling the clock forward twenty or thirty years the bosses of the current global economic system are in town and many locations around the upcoming g eight summit in northern ireland are doing their best to hide their economic downturn from the media according to our t.v. news the government of northern ireland has spent two million pounds dealing with derelict buildings some of these buildings have simply been knocked out but some have been spruced up like butcher shops with images of meat stuck over the windows to hide their barren interiors or the now famous local office supply store which contains no office supplies at all but it sure does look nice and i guess that's

what counts spending two million pounds to hype economic downturn from the g eight and other eyes whether than spending it actually you know improving the local economy seems like doomed economic practices to me but that's just my opinion. you know 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. don't. i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. she might never have made it she wasn't at the top of the candidate's shortlist but eventually she did shouting triumphantly. as the fly.