today's news in the week's top stories here on our team washington raises to muster support for a strike on syria thank you world leaders slammed the attack plan as russia says the syrian rebels are trying to provoke military intervention. and now a t.v. crew gets caught in the crossfire in syria way al qaeda linked rebels have been besieging an ancient christian village terrorizing the population. and today is the day that chooses the next male with as a leader beyond in taking on opposition rival alexina vonnie. you're watching r t live from moscow with me to say it's good to have your company

with us this afternoon. the american secretary of state's doing the rounds in europe to try and drum up support for unilateral strike against syria your foreign ministers have largely agreed with the u.s. claims that the syrian government was responsible for the less deadly use of chemical weapons last month but brussels has stopped short of openly supporting a unilateral u.s. military's response european leaders want to wait for the results of an u.n. probe into a toxic allegations as a few world powers at the g twenty summit in st petersburg spoke out against the use of force without a un mandate while russia accused the syrian rebels of one nation chemical weapons to provoke foreign intervention and they said no reports. i was elected to end wars not start of u.s. military intervention in syria dominated talks that the g twenty but if obama was looking to gather overwhelming support at the summit he didn't get it in st

petersburg there is no military. there is no military service. we will not participate in military action. aside from france turkey and saudi arabia few countries expressed outright support for obama's proposal of a military strike in a joint statement they condemned the use of chemical weapons blaming the office of government and called for some kind of response but they stopped short of backing a u.s. attack on syria summit host president putin accused the rebels of being behind a chemical weapons attack near damascus. that he says was carried out to discredit syrian authorities in the eyes of the west just the way. i view everything that hollande about the so-called use of chemical weapons in syria was a publication by the count on help from abroad from those countries that originally supported them that's the reason for this provocation i also want to remind you

that the use of force against a sovereign state is acceptable if it's done for self-defense and we know that syria has attacked the u.s. and only if the u.n. security council approves it such action as one of the participants of our discussions on the issue put it yesterday those who do otherwise put themselves above the law. obama continues to insist also it was behind the attack and he won't wait for the u.s. to respond assad's regime brazen use of chemical weapons isn't just a syrian tragedy it's a threat to global peace and security the u.s. president is due to address the american public on tuesday and try to make his best argument for an attack on syria one that failed to convince global partners at the g. twenty. summit could have been a last chance for a political solution to the syria crisis or at least an attempt to push forward with diplomacy but leaders part of st petersburg split solidly on those for or

against military intervention in the syrian war what has been called the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history reporting from the g. twenty and he's now a r.t. . syria was in the only topic being thrashed out this week in some petersburg later this hour as debt and joblessness weigh heavy on g. twenty members the head of the i.m.f. christine lagarde defends one injury policy to arjun's katie pilgrim call for help for it and insight on when next what the world can. you as congress remains split on whether to attack syria then the latest polls show most americans oppose intervention there's been a fresh antiwar rally in washington as hundreds called for restraint from the white house. much of the public remains unconvinced over washington's claims that it has evidence implicating the syrian government in the deadly use of chemical weapons but president obama maintains he still has the

authority to order an attack even if congress votes against it and the u.s. case against syria stretches beyond simply just the white house versus damascus according to political analyst chris bambery. it's no just a question of syria it is a question of iran it's a question of his ball they're kind of painting a new axis of evil if you remember way back in two thousand and three after nine eleven the original axis and we all know the present you knew right you go in there saying this is why we have to intervene in syria after obama is weaving to petersburg with his tail between his legs the los angeles times says he's going to go all the jews neutral address what it calls a skeptical nation with an appeal for the public in america to rally behind a military strike but it seems to me that the public in america just as the public in britain is appalled to any strike that is becoming more wars of corporate dharma not just in st petersburg not just elsewhere internationally but even the whole

know to win support for a case for a military strike on the basis of these allegations of chemical the chemical weapons use. meanwhile in syria the army has sent reinforcements including tanks to the village of mali well which has been at the forefront of heavy clashes this week and interim christian sanctuary has been besieged by al qaeda affiliated rebels since wednesday archies marie if a national has gained access to the stricken area. we entered my luna through its ancient gates burnt and damaged in recent attacks shortly after the syrian army announces that most of the militants were pushed back signs of the recent battle and destruction a reverie where we were told to move fast and to follow the military's vehicles without stopping or even slowing down there are some parts of the road where we have to speed up officers still fear they could be snipers around we hear them shouting go go fast on one turn we suddenly stop. to understand.

it's hard to understand exactly what's happened we only hear a loud boom and feel the earth shake. we get out of the car to take a look around then outside our. christian community all over the world now it is a battlefield look at this. and then we realized we have landed in the heart of this battle as some live bullets started flying around us we've ended model of village with the army but just just a few minutes later they told us to get back the militants launch an attack fire in and throw in explosives from the safety of high ground so this is what we're doing right now we're coming back to you to the entrance this is where. a car bomb exploded on wednesday morning and this is how it all started after

a suicide attack militants mostly from java the looser group stormed in and since that question is have been continuing for three days and as sure as you can see they are considered now soldiers firing shots back but they can't even see enemy fighters who are cooped up in the hiding places. and. the real militants in that model now and in the us i fear hotel this is the mountaintop hotel which was my. brother both. cars but. also from behind the mountains surrounding the ma lula village and that's is where the danger lies because the road many snipers and the rock rocket grenades and the rock warms mortarboard

was even to the situation on the ground it's very hard come you can see that the army is rick rubin right now but the. is that tomorrow monday the situation could change dramatically because this is the day when the american congress starts debate on syria whether to try this country oh no the decision made thousands of kilometers away from these battlefield will affect the set up at this military field but exactly how it is not easy to predict. from in syria. the find to be moscow's next mayor reaches its close and today the key battle in regional elections taking place across russia it's a landmark poll too as it's the first time in a decade that moscow's voters have been able to choose and the stakes are high france is in the heart of the capital now joining us lizzie tell us about the

lineup and the candidates. well so far today all six candidates running for mayor have submitted their ballots but the only two candidates that anyone is really watching with a lot of interests are acting mayor sergey said young man and his opponent alexei never ali now let's let's talk about what the acting mayor is all about right now he was appointed in two thousand and ten and during his time in. he has worked very hard at updating moscow's infrastructure especially transportation it's a real sticking point with many politicians in the city government here it's a real headache for commuters and moscow is known for its traffic problems not only that but he's also focused heavily on. increasing more public transportation within the capital as more and more people squished into this space he has also wanted to tackle illegal immigration very very tough stance on that as well now his

opposition the opposition candidate alexi he's a trained lawyer a very famous anti-corruption activist here in russia he's won a very grassroots campaign very youth driven very old fashioned sort of western style campaign stump speeches leaflets and in this day and age he's social media blitzes are at the top of his list as far as what he's employed to get the word out obviously not as much money for campaigning so he's really using the grassroots technique there is no courting to the polls he. race is really so to lose at this point according to the russian public opinion research center when asked respondents were asked who they would vote for ten percent said no thirty eight percent said so again and asked today would never vote for twenty three percent said the volley and fifteen percent said. and then the question was how you

know are you well aware of who the. candidates actually are twenty seven percent said the following sixty six percent said so be on and so the polls are open until eight o'clock tonight officials have quite a few days to count everything up so we are watching this situation obviously very closely and to see how this develops throughout the day of course we're bringing you details as as it unfolds must go tomorrow we'll wake up with the news and we'll see what changes we'll do in terms of everything you've mentioned there that they're campaigning against as lewsey friends are they giving us an outline of what of the mayoral elections in the most quantock you mike and if you minutes and go over terrorizing the truth seeker's why do you condemn the u.k. government using anti terror on the was against media which revealed a little a little too much. and in firing all irritating we do want to very

opinionated british man getting his point across loud and clear we'll tell you why he's doing it after the break. is immediately though shall we leave the baby. was she motioned to the. party there's a bill. for shoes that no one is there with to get that you deserve answers from.

we speak your language as i think about the war not being. the programs and documentaries in spanish matters. that will turn the ship angle is the story. here. the spanish find out more visit actuality. thanks for staying with us here on r.t. for more news press freedom groups in the u.k. have hit out at the government accusing it of redefining and to terribles to silence whistle blew us off the british security services ordered the guardian newspaper to destroy evidence received from edward snowden r.t. surfer has a story. active intimidation that could have a chilling effect on press freedom in the u.k. and beyond not quite what you'd normally expect from

a letter to the prime minister about press freedom in the but those strong words coming from the world association of newspapers you organization felt compelled to write after the guardian newspaper was forced by british security services to destroy information received from n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden and then the partner of one of its journalists suspected of carrying information the government deemed sensitive to national security was placed in detention upon arrival at heathrow airport they did miranda partner of guardian journalist glenn greenwald was held for nine hours is the maximum time a person can be held using laws designed to catch a terrorist you know one of the reasons why we're so concerned and when i look at the work press freedom department does which is which has a global. one of the issues that we have because united kingdom is saying about. freedom with

a very strong record on ensuring that it. can write the new and so so around. here. the press freedom situation in the united kingdom is this sliding and this is of great concern it is twenty thirteen freedom of speech seen here reporters without borders gives the satisfactory situation rating but for freedom of the press britain slipped for nineteenth in two thousand and ten to its current ranking of twenty ninth many are concerned that she will serve in of the terrorism act the law used to detain miranda is actually being used to stop journalists doing their job of holding people in power to account rather than being used to prevent terrorism she just said than allows police. to stop examine and search passengers that travel terminals there's no need for any suspicion that they are linked to terrorism it's a very difficult problem the security services have

a difficult job of difficult job. the state clearly has a duty to protect its citizens and. those people living. at the same time i think they must recognize the role of the media. and you. have to be in line with the appropriate use. of responsibility the government said it had to assume that copies of the information held by mr snowden could now be held by foreign countries to see mr snowden's travel since leaving the u.s. and that the disclosure of some of that material could put lives at risk well critics of the government's actions have described these as the lowest planes aimed at justifying the blurring of the lines between terrorism and journalism is thought

a full hearing into the legality of david maraniss detention and the seizure of that data will take place in october but in the meantime expect to see that war of words continue with the u.k. seemingly struggling to strike a balance between national security and press freedom sarah first r.c. london. that's wrong more of to day's other top headlines for you now a nato airstrike in eastern afghanistan has reportedly killed fifteen people mostly women and children local authorities there say six suspected militants boarded a vehicle transporting civilians which was then attacked a nato spokeswoman confirmed what she called a prison procession psych strike and it took about ten insurgents but of course no civilian casualties. in tunisia as capital tens of thousands of people have turned up for release against the country's islamist government it also marks forty days of mourning for an opposition lawmaker who was murdered in july his death along

with the early explaining of another prominent politician has previously triggered mass protests ruling ennahda party denies any responsibility for the murders and points the finger at salafi hardliners. for those independence elaborations have turned violent in key cities as people gathered to demand better public services and an end to corruption in rio de janeiro police fired teargas into the crowd injuring at least five brazil for a big wave of protests in june over the high cost of hosting the next year people will come. to the g twenty summit overshadowed as it was by the syrian crisis still managed to get around to its core business such as the push for job creation and tackling tax evasion archies katie pilgrim was in st petersburg. did have big financial decisions that were made and we know that on the official agenda

it was to do with job period and how to tackle the vast amounts of unemployment another big theme here was the volatility that the emerging markets and now currently faced with and that in light of ben bernanke the federal reserve chairman saying that he's going to feel pulling the plug on his stimulus measures because of that investors have been pulling that cast out of what is perceived to be risky assets i managed to catch up with the international monetary fund chief christine lagarde and i asked her for her opinion on the current state of the global economy what about monetary stimulus do you think that these measures have run their course and that is simply doesn't work that we need pain in the short term in order for healthier what would you say that the monetary policy doesn't work because we believe that it does hard to free positive effects and certainly seeing the u.s. economy and the japanese economy pick up us as they are at the moment despite the. you know fiscal. door in place and that we would like to see improved a bit i managed to catch up with the former finance minister of russia alexei could

today and he referred to these cash injections as almost like a job at work america for the world's economy its current state can be characterized as being on life support it's vital functions are being kept running by the federal reserve the european central bank and other banks by constant cash and directions this should only be temporary if a sick man goes through treatment in the doesn't help there's no point continuing it something else i want to talk about is the development bank because this was a breakthrough as well and we have the countries of course i'm talking about brazil russia india china south africa and they have set up this dying which just to put it into context for you would rival the likes of the i.m.f. and the world bank it would add as a safety net to support the struggling emerging economies so there was a danger that the political. tensions would completely override the proceedings but there was certainly plenty business deals on agreements made here at the g.

twenty in st peter's by whatever smartphone you have be it a trendy ice photo or shiny black berry but it's thing high security standards the n.s.a. nerds how to hack it on our website it will report and how the notorious agency employed special teams working on each of the popular mobile operating systems to was accessing private data on every phone anywhere. can egypt ever bring order to its most troubled region the army is in the midst of what it calls the largest offensive in years and find i overslept militant details that are. right on the street. first street. and i think the true. on our reporters with the. instrument.

one of london's most outspoken citizens has taking it upon themselves to cry out against wrongdoing in all its forms for your boy has been to meet him and discover that some are inspired by his mission others find him unnecessary and a bit annoying. johnny shines got an unusual addiction the father of three likes to take his megaphone to central london and talk to pass' by about things like why way here on the perils of consumerism i'm. sorry. i'm good at writing i'm. sorry i think. perhaps i got my i'm going to call it stream of consciousness thought of the deaf and they call it bubble but i really. yeah i do think the spoken word form of

office earlier this year westminster council confiscated danny's megaphone and summoned him to court. well what do you looking for a night one of your bright also can you start your day with you there is a book about. to let you know this is a legal update a legal update so it is illegal. thank you for everyone that lives danny's being prosecuted for breaking a by law banning anyone from making any noise which is so loud or so continuous over peterhead as to give reasonable cause for annoyance to all the persons. i'm not sure what have i made up the way his manner was. presenting this is more than just about public speaking it's about his semen right to freedom of expression to me he should really shut up now does not threaten freedom of speech in

a country that is the current that is the problem i think it's good for the passive consumers as you and i to a free our minds from the perpetual consumption of consumerism but i saw you complaining about the decibels a little earlier not so much can see plenty as much of point to self coming out of my mind it's like you're in a demon i mean to make a pretty penny muddy and is like raining on my parade many i'm afraid for sometimes the johnnies a ray of sunshine i mean you need a plan like you know. but you know you know you can't wait for the night you know you got burned out you have a crush on him you know like i have a crush on him i'm just like he's beautiful a lot he's very revealing his life about what he really cares about danny's doing cool way he set to argue that the westminster council of prosecuting him and infringes his human rights. group of her. actually took four years of extreme church are going to. have

a private conversation. i think i think it's completely wrong because if they do manage to corning then where's that going to stop i mean we're all just going to be suppressed into not talking not speaking you know i just think that's going to be a bad thing so i say well don't need to danny to keep the flex points from freedoms and while westminster city councils have told us that their conflict with danny is merely a question of decibels. danny shine is planning to get even louder so i had the resources one day because be quite nice to go with it like a really could be a sister and the really nice boy it would be to review maybe ten people and. then he signed then after the break i'd seen investigates the hidden lives of the wives and mothers of militancy in russia's north caucuses been great having you buy from me.

iraq afghanistan the balkans somalia haiti libya yemen and so on and so on the list of engagements and airstrikes by post cold war nato just keeps getting longer and now it looks like it's serious turn a lot of people have written me asking me to predict what is going to happen next which for me is a possible i'm not good at predicting the future but i can say is that we are living in a very tense moment in history many argue that the u.s. economy with its unfathomable debt is really propped up by war in the petro dollars so if the us backs down here what could be the beginning of the end for the world's only hyper power but if they do attack syria there will probably be some sort of reaction from iran russia and china if you haven't noticed nato has been trying to encircled these nations and had russian internet conspiracy land

a lot of people are saying that russia is next you see if there is no resistance in syria then one by one all resistance to the un ending hunger of nato will be smashed out one by one the reason syria is so important and so scary is that you have one massive military force that could be very motivated to attack for its own self interest while you have a. of massive military forces how they voted to counterattack for their own self interests this is a very tense standoff that could lead to a major moment in history military history but that's just my opinion.

but i beg you please your father and your brother all here on whom i think of your wife and children think of your family you please come out i promise you that not a hair on your head will be harmed would come out into the yard raise your hands take off your jacket and show them that you're not wearing a bomb belt but just walk slowly towards our people and let them search you do you understand me. please. a former minister of the republic of appeals to his son yacoob who refuses to listen as his father has him to surrender . he would soon be killed in a shootout with special forces. in the northern caucasus is the smallest in the youngest republic of the russian federation for the past twenty you think you should he has lived through seven.