the. latest news on the week's top stories now washington the fails to get the world on side for an attack on syria discount support from the g. twenty and the e.u. meanwhile russia takes a firm stand saying the rebels offer the king for intervention. not so he sees the brutality of that civil war firsthand the syrian army tries to hide a big fighters from an ancient christian village. afghanistan's president condemns the latest nato airstrike that killed up to nine civilians including children something the alliance itself denies. but moscow votes for a new man and the results point to a victory for the acting chief giving opposition figurehead the next aim of only turning well behind the capital's first such election in the

a decade. you're watching artie's weekly news review with me kerry just. now it's been a tough week for u.s. secretary of state john kerry he's been trying to convince the european union to get on board with a military strike on syria and the regime's use of chemical weapons but kerry presented no new evidence against the syrian government and few countries are willing to rush into action without u.n. approval. present obama has made no fun decision on whether to strike an apparent u. turn from last week so far turkey and france have been first in line to back u.s. action. wasn't able to change the minds of the other world leaders at the g twenty summit in st petersburg they agreed that tough action should be taken didn't

endorse military intervention auntie's and he sonali was that. i was elected to end wars and not start a 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 solution there is no military we will not participate in military action. aside from france turkey and saudi arabia a few countries expressed outright support for obama's proposal a military strike in a joint statement they condemned the use of chemical weapons blaming the after 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. i view everything that

happened with the so-called use of chemical weapons in syria. 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. only if it's done for self defense and we know that syria hasn't attacked the us only if the un security council approves 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 un to respond the assad regime's 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 splits 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. of tensions over syria didn't completely overshadow the talks in st petersburg originally aimed at tackling the world's economic issues. venture capital program takes a look at the main business achievements of the forum and also gets i.m.f. chief clues to the gods and opinion on the state of the global economy you can catch the full show in some thirty minutes from now or find it on our website dot com.

the u.s. congress is still divided over whether to attack syria the first senate showdown vote expected on wednesday in the verse three of the nine eleven attacks. those with a chance ringing out in washington d.c. with the crowds marching from the white house to capitol hill an n.b.c. poll has found that nearly eighty percent of americans think the president needs congressional approval for any response against syria obama however says he would still have forty to order a military strike. nor make his support. and so far the polls are showing up more than half of americans are against any strikes on syria that figure is even higher in france and the u.k. where sixty and eighty percent respectively are against military action similar sentiments are shared in germany and italy with a percentage of those against intervention in syria's neighbor turkey even higher

but both houses of the u.s. congress saw this week expected to vote on how to tackle syria well here's tentatively where they stand let's have a look well right now when you add up both democrats and republicans in the senate twenty three senators are in favor of the president's plan for intervention and twenty seven or against any military involvement if you look at the lower chamber of the u.s. congress the house of representatives goes up to only twenty five members supporting a military strike while two hundred twenty seven the post just a reminder that two hundred seventeen votes in total are needed in the house and fifty one in the senate for any resolution on syria to pass syrian president bashar assad meanwhile says he had nothing to do with any chemical weapons attack there is no evidence linking him to it in the u.s. that claim was backed up in a letter to president obama written by former intelligence and military analysts in a governess a cia veteran who signed that letter. he told my colleague kevin knowing about the

mood on capitol hill and why he thinks administration could be softening stance. yes friday kerry went before the cameras and say we got to do this and here's the not intelligence assessment mind you but the government assessment meaning the white has white house had a chance to massage it had it edited ok here's the s.f. and it didn't hold up to scrutiny or apparently the military got to the president and i see some evidence of this next thing we know that the president has changed his mind on saturday afternoon and the only thing that really intervened was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey telling the president look you know it's going to be really hard as we're going to be really hard to explain what we have to do this now we could do this tomorrow or next week or next month we don't really have to do it now and the president said that in justifying his delay now what's more evidence lindsey graham and john mccain the next day just took off

after the joint chiefs of staff chairman in a very personal and vindictive way because they know that finally the military leaders went to the president said look you know we know we know you've been told that this is going to be easy and limit all our stuff but these guys and these gals don't know a thing about war we do how do you think the congressional votes going to play out in the upcoming vote which way is it going to go i talked to a congressman last night for five minutes and it was very clear that he pledged to house leader nancy pelosi that he would vote according to what that what the president says because we have to protect the president and are you could have are you going to say that the president is why you don't have to say the president is lying or you do need to say according to our information is that the president is being given cooked up intelligence because john brennan the head of the cia and james clapper it can be confessed perjury or have thought it in their interest to

cater to the wishes of the white house which have been very clear this time we want to strike syria. those calls for an intervention in syria go back to the alleged sarin gas attack outside damascus last month it's now emerged that british firms have supplied chemicals to syria that can be used to make the deadly nerve agent you could government this week admitted approving the sales which ran for six years up until twenty ten just before the civil war broke out. to you asked the government department of business innovation and skills to comment on the situation they said on monday that the company which ordered the chemicals provided proof that they would be used for entirely innocent purposes the window frames and the million shadows of the list intelligence experts have condemned the deliveries as grossly irresponsible. furth has the details business secretary vince cable certainly going to be facing some tough questions these revelations that the

british government has granted export licenses. as yet unnamed british company now this first for a substance has to be sent to syria and it was due to so-called killed substances and that was potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride in both these agents can be easily precursor chemicals in the manufacture of nerve gas those export license is granted by the department the business innovation and skills it's reported in january the seventeenth and eighteenth there are going to be questions table that a part of and we're really working through and scrutinize exactly how these licenses for chemical agents that could be used in the types of weapons that the syrian government big accused of using on their own people were granted for a british company to send to syria. meanwhile in syria itself the violence continues the ancient christian village of having turned into

a battleground government troops are attempting to clear al-qaeda affiliated rebels from the area which was overrun a few days ago auntie's room for national houses that a trip inside. we entered my lula 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 is the cause without stopping or even slowing down there are some parts of the road where we have to speed up offices still fear they could be snipers around. we hear them shouting go go fast on one turn we suddenly stop. the longest. 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 let out in sight our little. christian community all over the world now it is a battlefield look at this. and then we realized we have london in the heart of this battle as some live bullets started flying around us we've ended my little 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 a job by the looser group stormed in and since then clashes have been contained in for three days and you can see they are considered now soldiers fire shots back but

they can't even see enemy fighters who are cooped up in their 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 told me up. front. but also from behind the mountains surrounding the mall lula village and that's is where the. well as it is the situation on the ground is very hot. right now but. this is.

where the american congress does. on syria whether. the decision made thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield will affect the . theater but exactly how it is not easy to predict. in syria. afghan authorities say that up to nine civilians including children were among fifteen people killed. in the country. has already condemned the attack but the alliance insists that the militants were killed. for afghan troops died when taliban militants set off a bomb at the entrance of a compound just outside the country's capital kabul. head of the. troops from the country by the end of twenty fourteen investigative journalist says the

presence of foreign soldiers has caused a spike in the levels of insurgency. the civilian death toll shows us over the over ten years that look nato is not winning in afghanistan that fighting militants is very very difficult and civilian casualties have been an increase even vul nato call these position precision attacks not very precise. afghanistan want to border regions of pakistan civilians are paying the cost of this war since the occupation started the taliban have seen an increase in support there it's almost that the movement has been revived civilians normal people are looking for someone to resist against the occupation and i think that as you see the increase of civilian casualties if people's brothers sisters fathers homes are destroyed people are murdered family members killed they will turn to those people that say look we can free you of this oppression. more stories still ahead including the battle for

moscow the majority of votes counted things don't look promising for opposition hopeful. with all the latest on that. plus. germany's federal election inches closer politicians are managing to sidestep important questions instead focus their campaigns on less pressing issues well the full story off the right. if you review economic up and downs in the find out all day long to do your sang i and the rest because i was doing the case you will be every week on me.

well. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. muscovites headed to the polls to decide who's going to be their match with more than that ninety percent of the ballots counted so far the latest figures indicate

that the incumbent so i guess would be on in holds a clear lead with more than fifty one percent of the vote in while the opposition candidate next in about me is a distant second in just over twenty seven percent. for us initially it was widely expected that acting in the would most probably beat his main rival and candidate from the opposition i could see why me in this election and the question was and still very much is is this going to happen in the first round or will there be a second round taking place the voter turnout was around thirty two percent which is frankly much less of the initially expected now this election is being monitored by eleven thousand observers many of them a large part of them are actually independent activists also web cameras were installed over thirty six hundred polling stations across the whole city in an effort to ensure transparency this is the first time in moscow is true zing amir

since two thousand and three so lots of attention is being paid to how to how fair it's going to be held throughout the course of the voting itself there were no reports of major violations but it's really the focus is really now on how these ballots are going to be counted since of that what's really going to decide whether or not a second route will be there and. their candidate manages to pass the fifty percent mark now six candidates are taking part in this election but clearly the main rivals are acting valiant and. now for mr bennett he's already been in charge of the city for over two years now but for i don't see why this is really his first attempt at such a high political post he is quite a controversial figure in russia partially due to his connection with the nationalist he did become one of the leaders of the opposition movement during last year's wave of mass protests he's also known as anti corruption online projects but

he himself was found guilty of investment and sentenced to five years behind bars he was released. on bail many analysts actually say that that didn't only allow him to take part in this election but also may have served as additional public city mission i mean is planning to appeal that sentence after the election he was also saying that no matter what the outcome of the vote would be he's already received the green light from the authorities to hold a rally on monday in central moscow to meet with his supporters and we are waiting for the final results and the final figures. we have plenty more stories for you on line including wasteful spending britain's minister of defense is said to have squandered about one point five billion pounds clerical blunders and accounting errors to r.t. dot com for the full story that. plus a one hundred seven year old man squares off against a swat team in arkansas

a full tragic story of a gunfight website. germany's federal election is creeping closer politicians are managing to evade important questions about unemployment and the european debt crisis monti's these are all of our reports on how candidates are instead focusing on less pressing issues in their campaigns like being healthy eating and tackling the tardiness of local trains. the post the flesh is being pressed but this german election campaign is probably setting forces racing maybe that's a whole idea make as boring as possible so i know everybody kind of goes to sleep and doesn't worry about the real issues what we have been treated to is chancellor angela merkel talking about potato soup a main challenger. reading fairy tales and the green party suggesting compulsory vegetarian days where does it stop they going to start refrigerators at home and

check to see what you got there as well or going to shut down the burger kings and tuesdays and so you have to serve aside from the greens apparent to fascism have been some peculiar manifesto promises the social democrats want legislation to prevent stress in the workplace and the free democrats hoping to win over commuters by making it illegal for trains to be late all distraction tactics according to those hoping to win their seats in the bundestag they don't want to touch the real problems with the euro crisis. diminishing pension fund survey come up with things . the green party wanting a veggie day one reason being cited is the lack of a major issue for the parties to really attack each other on when you talk about their support for the government's decision to implement the sam to initiate further payments for greece they own said yes yes yes there is no real opposition

in parliament so providing the comic relief in an otherwise dreary campaign. on the part of our very easy to remember. with policies such as banning tourists from berlin and building a wall around the whole of germany these jokers are quietly confident we want to get into power and then we will decide what we are going to do with it what do you think the chances are. our chances are pretty good and we expect to take one hundred percent of the vote and even more in all seriousness though with greece looking likely to need a third bailout package will be no laughing matter for those that come to power after september the twenty second they're going to have to deal with some real issues as they take their seats in the boat in the stock peter all of a r.t. belin. in chile's capital santiago the t.v. crew of r.t.

spanish channel was caught up in the turmoil that erupted at an initially peaceful march commemorating the victims of general goes to pinochet's coup nine hundred seventy three. this is the footage we received from them what you're seeing is the police chasing radical views that hijacked the rally by throwing stones and building barricades at the spanish correspondent was tear gassed and describe the actions of the authorities as brutal so fortieth anniversary of the coup through the socialist administration later resulted in thousands of people being killed and detained by the military government around sixty thousand people relatives of pinochet's victims among them took part in the initial march. news as well this group of armed men of storm several bars in a remote sitting guatemala killing at least fifteen people and leaving scores wounded assailants escaped on a seized coffee also told officials believe the attack could be related to gang

violence in the region mr geishas on the way. india has deployed hundreds of troops to disperse riots between hindus and muslims in the state of pradesh and of claim twenty one lives so far ballance erupted in car while village after the killing of three villages but objected when a young woman was being verbally abused a curfew has been imposed after the turmoil spread to several neighboring tells. the protest as have blocked roads leading to one of the world's largest arms and london one thousand three hundred military and security companies will be displaying their hardware at the event set to launch on monday the police were called in to manage the situation but no clashes have been reported antiwar groups say that their encourages arms sales to countries with all human rights records. nobel peace prize laureate father of a nation and also mandela who spent his first week at home after almost three

months of intensive care in hospital while he remains bedridden relatives have been fighting to get a piece of the money pie want to sneer explains. as far as reality t.v. shows go this one's right up there sibling rivalry and feuds and family gossip but it's not any old family but talking about here it's a mandela's it's clearly not an arson one project someone down a family project is very uncomfortable about his name or his image being associated with commercial projects so the question becomes where do you draw the line the reality show follows the lives of two of mandela's granddaughters as they spend and lose money on extravagant business ventures and go on wild shopping sprees it's a far cry from the humble background mandela grew up in all the grim reality facing millions of south africa's poor black citizens bank's argument is children it's been made and they have

a right to use it however they see fit i think that he has paid his dues to society and i think his family who very often we don't mention the prize that they've had to pay to be without a father a husband and uncle who was behind bars all these years. and here to this disgusted most south african descent while the icon lay for months in a hospital bed many of his family are cashing in on his famous name two of mandela's daughters took him to court for his legacy it hurt him deeply and dragged the country's moral compass to a new low is absolutely an outrage that's why the i understand why they're doing this a lot of money and after all rip you have that name i suppose you're free to mark what you kept last month but i think it is like the father is a bit of a nation actually so all of these that i have pretty right now i'm not really sure if this is appropriate for people to really use unless they've got iraq to use the

mandela name that is their family name you chemical fall in south africa without being reminded of the ninety five year old nobel laureate he is everywhere on t. shirts banknotes bookshelves smiling down from up above more than just a man he's become a global brand one that's estimated to be worth millions of dollars. an extension of a brand has to be almost more of the host to respect the qualities and the values about into all those other areas so it's a tricky area. nelson mandela is being stretched and tortured and pulled in different direction but for most south africans nothing can match the man himself who lived inside this house this is the mandela family home for weeks people have been leaving here flour was gifts and cards the crowds might have gone but their messages and hopes remaining graved on small stones it's a sad irony that the father of the nation who bought south africa back from an

almost certain civil war has seen his own family descend into bitter fighting within itself policy r.t. johannesburg south africa. coming up the host of artes venture capital program meets international monetary fund chief christine the god assist after the break. if your house such persuasive sound of evidence and prove that submitted to the united nations submitted to the security council last the world decide this issue rather than tacitly endorsing which i think is what you are doing the proposed a unilateral strike by the united states why do we not present evidence to the un security council and the series of question you can't be serious you know that you're obviously you're.