syria completes the first step of its chemical disarmament plan while russia u.s. diplomatic progress on the issue was overshadowed by fresh exchanges over who's to blame for last month's poison gas attack near damascus. amid reports of moderate opposition fighters dorney extremist ranks in syria we look at the aftermath of the rubble see an unpainted christian village where people were forced to flee their homes to protect their fate. polls open in germany's parliamentary election which looks just looks set to see chancellor merkel securing a third term but growing social and economic difficulties leave many disillusioned . and as germans cast their ballots greece awaits the outcome we'll look at how the decisions made in berlin will echo in athens.

you're watching our team live from our moscow studios i'm lindsey france thank you for joining me syria has fulfilled one of its key obligations and part of a chemical disarmament plan handing over a list of its toxic stockpiles to the international watchdog the deadline set in a russia u.s. deal hammered out last saturday was also met this apparently surprised american officials with some saying the inventory was more complete than they expected but despite serious compliance so far not everything has been smooth on the diplomatic front this week r.t. is amiss and now he has the details. as chaos and violence continue in syria so does the diplomatic battle surrounding the conflict this week

a un investigation concluded chemical weapons were used on august the twenty first the environmental chemical and medical therapies that the u.n. investigators collected provide clear and compelling evidence that the surface to surface rockets used in this attack contained a nerve agent sarin we know the regime possesses. and there is not a shred of evidence however that the opposition does please this isn't complicated when we said we know what is true we meant it but the u.n. report doesn't blame the assad regime for the attack or mention other chemical weapons attacks allegedly carried out this summer russia claims there is still no evidence the syrian government is guilty and rather many suggestions the attack was a clever attempt by rebels to push for foreign intervention we have every reason to

think that it was a provocation a small provocation of course but the technique was very simple they use an old soviet missile which are no longer in service with the syrian army the key thing is that the missile carried the label made in the u.s.s.r. russia says the u.n. report was rushed and ignores relevant evidence of other chemical attacks in syria the deputy foreign minister called in damascus this week confirmed un inspectors were informed. this material which was collected by the syrian authorities was discreetly handed over to orcus drum the head of u.n. mission here mission of experts which came and investigated the incident but never did so on the three subsequent incidence and then sell strong was asked to look into the and eventually factor this new evidence

even to the final report of cellphones mission you can never happened in fact still the u.s. is pushing for a response based on this u.n. investigation just last week the u.s. and russia agreed to a six point plan to read syria of its chemical weapons damascus pledged to move forward and has so far complied the chemical weapons ploy if you like by the west and by the by the jihadist was. was countered effectively by russia and damascus saying ok you want to chemical weapons you've got the chemical weapons it's interesting to note that the free syrian army disavowed that agreement and will not of its own and in that little in the other forces will not give up their chemical weapons in this whole dispute and and john kerry the u.s. navy state is not even pushing on that instead he is pushing on the u.n.

security council to sign a strong resolution possibly even mandating force what recently seems like a small victory for diplomacy in the syria crisis a new road is slowly going back to old ways as washington continues to threaten force and moscow push for compromise the battle continues and he said now r.t. washington. as we just heard u.s. secretary of state john kerry insists there is no evidence to suggest that the syrian opposition house sarin gas well michael maloof who worked for the u.s. defense department for nearly thirty years showed us what he claims is a classified u.s. intelligence report stating otherwise. i have. a report from a source who has direct connections with two to classified information it's one one page i mean expecting others it's classified secret no foreign it's from

the n.g.i. sea or the national ground intelligence center the u.s. military did an assessment based upon fifty indicators that and clandestine interviews that the sourcing siren originated out of iraq into turkey before some of it was confiscated in may in turkey and that there has actually been a more significant amount of cern production both in iraq and in turkey going to the going to the opposition principally al-qaeda and we've had separate reports now that al qaeda elements are rather significant numbers and have and now have permeated into the opposition so the ability to be able to. distinguish who gets what and where is going to makes it much more problematic for this administration meanwhile on the ground in syria the number of al qaeda linked

extremists within the opposition ranks is growing rapidly hundreds of rebels from a free syrian army brigade have reportedly defected to the islamist al nusra front as the extremist element grows and violence turns increasingly sectarian syrian christians are becoming a frequent target of the rebels' artie's more if a national reports now in the aftermath of a brutal jihadist attack on the ancient village of malala. the syrian village of my luna is where the area made claimed we believed to have been spoken by jesus christ was in daily use but not so you're not sure these days. after jihadists attacked this mostly christian village in syria more than two weeks ago local residents were forced to flee the battlefield that was once their native land and calm organized life. many of them to graph huge with christian families in all damascus we try to meet them only the third house opens its doors for us that.

many refused to talk because their relatives remain missing they say is the best kidnapped people and they fear this could put them in even more danger and these people know well about danger three members of on two on its family were killed on the first days of the siege. in the morning by the shards of a love letter in the doors and all gathered in one interview i thought i was the one that and we won't harm you and try and make helen sharkey went there and surrendered they pointed their guns at them and started shooting i was injured in my chest and. one of them offered to save me but i ignored him and the other one said let them die. hundreds gathered for the funerals of the three men who they now called walters those muslims and christians the attack on malala village syrians say was an attack on their country and its way of life. in the form of what's going

to be there a mother than to destroy in the current trend of muslims and christians live in ma luna but it's surrounded by four or five muslim villages live maybe they see this the last obstacle in that park with here on two on it's father in law is eighty eight years old he says nothing like this has happened in his lifetime. we were living in peace and now it seems they want to throw all the christians out of the country who prayed to god that would defeat them and kick them out another relative who's afraid to show her face says it's hard to say how many people were killed in the lula because militants holed in the village often keep bodies for further rendition and to instill fear their goal is not assad their idea is to establish an islamic emirate in all of the middle east however find countries are helping them with weapons money whatever they need helping them destroy the country and people of this region special sweet sanctified bread he serves in the family to

commemorate the dead. in church they held special ceremonies for several days. and again all the syrians equally shocked prayed together for the dead and the law of the ancient language in my lula united people for thousands of years they have now is that it can sustain them for a little longer and old over the country the two and a half year long conflict is taken lives language and shattering people's hope. from damascus in syria germans have begun to cast their ballots in the country's parliamentary elections while polls suggest angela merkel's christian democratic union will when there is a growing discontent with the mainstream political parties voters have been left unimpressed with campaigns and as artie's peter oliver reports many feel the bulk of the most pressing issues have been left out of the debate. well there's nothing more the politicians can do it's up to the german people now to decide who will be

the next chancellor of their country and perhaps more importantly just who will be taking up seats behind me in the german parliament and it's hardly been an election campaign say pulses racing it's been more notable for the major issues that were talked about than those that were things like the future of the eurozone in the ongoing crisis within the monetary union were hardly mentioned if at all also germany's role within europe over the coming years how will that change well if. comes the chancellor for a third time it's unlikely that i'll change too much mrs merkel has been the chief cheerleader of all star ity for the cash strapped southern european countries also at the n.s.a. spying scandal now across germany we've seen demonstrations here in berlin as well as all of the other major cities by people wanting answers from the german government germany was one of the main countries that was spied on by the the

n.s.a. is part of their prism program no answers were forthcoming from either angle or merkel or her main challenger in this election campaign. of the social democrats none of that particularly touched on in the lead up also the current financial situation for germans as being an increase in the amount of people in the country that would be regarded as working poor. put forward a minimum wage that he wanted to see imposed that was knocked back by angela merkel saying it just wouldn't work now to get into the german parliament any party just needs five percent of the votes in the past this is a lot smaller parties to get a foothold within german politics one party to that singles get across that threshold and could have potentially huge influence when it comes to forming future coalitions alternative for alternative for germany or a euro skeptic party an anti euro party if they get into parliament well that. could seriously affect just how whoever comes out with the majority deals with

coalitions that have been formed now they say that they won't operate with mrs merkel unless she is being adopted a euro skeptic and to euro policy so that could be all very interesting to see just who comes out as part of the coalition government after this german election the polls close here at six pm local time i'll be bringing you all of the news as we get it throughout the day here on r.t. on her mark of recently described her country as the engine of europe but that might not sit well with many germans unwilling to continue bailing out their cash strapped partners on top of that many are concerned about an ever widening income gap and tough job market business and government consultant christophe forestall says this is led to apathy amongst the german electorate people in germany by a large numbers very frustrated so frustrated that all the media are coming out these days with you know please take part in the elections or two who go to vote don't

stay at home the government is very clearly afraid the whole system in germany is afraid that more than fifty percent of the germans could epstein and that would be a very bad sign for the system obviously right now many germans are in a mood that they would be ready you know to vote for dirty or donkey to get rid of the euro eighty percent of the germans don't want to pay in the you know more tax payers hard earned money into supporting the road the currency the euro while voting today germans will not only decide their own country's future and are certain striking greece people too are closely following the election the country needs another bailout to keep going which depends in large part on what germans have to say about it lisak half an hour of reports from athens. when it comes to finances decisions made in germany are often felt right here in greece and the outlands may be the birthplace of democracy ballots cast by german voters have

a huge role to play in this country's future that despite two bailouts and across the board spending cuts is still struggling through one of its worst recession since the second world war unemployment just soaring and two thirds of young greeks are without work and despite two aid packages for some two hundred forty billion euros revenues are still short of expectations what's more the growing consensus is that greece is unlikely to get back on its feet without more help so little third term for chancellor angela merkel mean more austerity as well as harsher for greece and how do people here actually feel about a potential change in leadership in europe's largest creditor nation but we decided to hit the streets of athens to find out take a look at your money well you. see you can you believe it it's in the. markets policies hurt the greeks as well as the germans but regardless of who wins the result will be bad for us because our politicians are

weak. and little has been intervened so much in my country that it feels like greece is controlled by foreign politicians germany in general that's a good. comrade and i don't believe what it's a great season but. this is good so as you just heard a mix of views there although germany contributed to to bailout loans to greece models austerity policies are widely blamed her for huge spending cuts and whichever way germans and voting it certainly is likely to be felt right here in greece reporting from athens from r.t. on this the council of. greece has seen violent protests this week following the murder of a prominent left wing activist he was allegedly killed by a man claiming to be a member of the far right golden dawn party which has been writing a wave of popularity amid growing economic troubles in the country george cattrall galo say professor of constitutional law believes there is a direct link between anti-us started anger and the rise of extremist movements.

the majority of the people in this austerity measures and unfortunately the anger into despair so their eyes of the new fascists of the first this is a small minority of people now we. must be some of the public sector. and of course not at all violent to most of them but all of that has been. made america was like young person. knew a fascist group the only hope for greece is a first. come but for the mother of us over european socialist state. so had for you this hour iraq is rocked by a bloody day of sectarian violence a series of attacks targeting share neighborhoods and gatherings make it the deadliest day this year plus brazil's president cancels a state visit to washington over n.s.a.

spying allegations we take a look at the measures the country is mulling to protect itself from u.s. cyber surveillance that and more after a short break. well . it's technology innovation all the developments around russia we. covered. wealthy british soil is not. the time to remember. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with max cons are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports. welcome back you're watching are to live from our studios in moscow and lindsay france. the deadliest assault on civilians in iraq this year has claimed the lives of at least ninety six people after a string of attacks targeted shiite muslim neighborhoods the majority were killed when suicide bombers attacked a shia funeral in the capital baghdad anti-war activist richard becker from the answer coalition believes the bloodshed raging in iraq is just an echo of the u.s.

led invasion. the fundamental cause of the ongoing violence in iraq is the us invasion and occupation which tore iraqi society apart and in which at the time of the occupation the us occupiers favored certain groups in the population against others demolish the state that existed and said in that place in it's place we are going to give you something new and better democratic and wonderful and in fact the tearing apart of iraqi society back in two thousand and three. is still. reaping the kind of consequences that we saw the horrible consequences that we saw in iraq and i think that. we responsibility for this claim for this has never. been attributed in the mainstream media in the united states to those who are

responsible and that is those who created this war the bush administration and all of its agents. and on our website in mass independence rally comes to edinburgh ahead of next year's referendum head to work in vision section at our dot com to see how thousands of scots have stressed their cultural identity saying no to a center as long tied with london. plus russia's female soldiers prove they're just as tough as their male counterparts they showed off their skills during special forces training got footage about in our in motion page. it's.

iran seems to be offering an olive branch to the west ahead of next week's un general assembly meeting a change of tone that first appeared with the election of a new president it's become noticeable especially this week here's a look at some of hassan rouhani is moves that may be signaling a thaw. first in a recent interview he made it clear iran will never pursue nuclear weapons adding that his government might be ready to strike a deal with the west rouhani further address the topic of cooperation when he made his case for putting an end to frosty relations and and gauging and constructive dialogue in an open letter to the washington post and in a conciliatory gesture iran released almost a dozen political prisoners this week two of them renowned human rights advocates at the core of this push to defrost relations is an exchange of letters between

rouhani and president obama. while the white house indicates the pair can meet although not formally at the u.n. general assembly next week jamal abdi political director at national iranian american council shares his thoughts on what can be expected from this potential landmark meeting you know there's a lot of work to be done i mean no u.s. president has actually sat down with an iranian president since since you know the nine hundred seventy nine revolution so i think what we can expect from this upcoming meeting is probably some sort of symbolic handshake or or signal something along those lines but i do think that this paves the way for a substantive meeting between both sides to actually address with these outstanding issues that are on the table including obviously the nuclear issue where rouhani has expressed willingness to increase transparency and perhaps put some caps on the nuclear program but that meeting will also necessitate some discussion of actually

easing sanctions on the u.s. side but i think that this is definitely possible. and to some other news in brief now kenya's security forces have reportedly contained al shabab militants in a shopping mall in nairobi after the islamists took over the building on saturday now at least thirty nine people have been killed and more than one hundred fifty injured in the attack an unknown number of hostages are reported to be in the center of the attackers were killed during the standoff police somalia based shabab says the assault was in response to the presence of kenyan troops in somalia. china's former top politician bo should lie has been sentenced to life in prison he was found guilty of bribe taking embezzlement and abuse of power the downfall of the once rising star of the communist party began in february last year he was accused of interfering in the investigation into his wife's killing of a british businessman. pres brazil's president dilma rousseff has

cancelled and official visit to the u.s. over allegations that america's national security agency snooped on her e-mails and phone calls documents leaked by x. n.s.a. contractor edward snowden suggest that the agency also tapped into communications of ordinary brazilians the revelations prompted brazil to look at ways of protecting its data and internet independence from the u.s. marine up port nyan has the details. as the n.s.a. spying scandal continues to undermine america's global standing one u.s. ally is not willing to forgive and forget brazilian president dilma rousseff has canceled her scheduled visit to the white house next month pulling out of what was supposed to be the first official state visit of u.s. president barack obama's second term it would have also been the first for a brazilian president in nearly two decades in addition to breaking dates for cilia

is also taking steps to divorce itself from the u.s. centric internet while seeking its own sovereignty in cyberspace president rousseff has ordered a series of measures aimed at greater brazilian online independence including storing citizens data locally to protect from n.s.a. snooping according to reports the brazilian government is also planning to lay underwater fiber optic cable directly to europe and also link to all south american nations currently most of brazil's global internet traffic passes through the united states now experts say if other nations follow in brazil's footsteps the us cloud computing industry which stores data remotely could lose tens of billions of dollars in business by two thousand and sixteen brazil's path towards internet sovereignty follows revelations that the n.s.a. intercepted president rousseff communications hacked into the network of the state owned oil company and spied on brazilians in trusting their personal information to

u.s. companies like facebook and google president rousseff says she intends to push for a new international rules on privacy and security in hardware and software next week when all the heads of state gather in new york for the u.n. general assembly on tuesday the brazilian leader is set to open the u.n. g.a. debates and her u.s. counterpart president obama is set to take the stage. immediately afterwards reporting from new york marina port niamh r.t. . i'll be back with the news team in about half an hour but first our team explores antarctica icy. we talked before about people getting in trouble throughout the usa just for

gardening in fact according to the christian science monitor a couple of florida has been fined five hundred dollars a day until they dig up their vegetable garden which is on their own property and mediately people who write these articles draw comparisons to communist russia where people weren't allowed to grow their own food unless the state allowed it yes the revolutionary period in russia forced agriculture to change rapidly and often against the will of many of those involved and this did lead to starvation revolution isn't fun but what about after that well stalin and khrushchev gave out a lot of documents which are private summer houses where people guard and also there were markets in the soviet union where people could bring the food they grew to sell to see all these pictures behind me these are people the soviet union selling food they produced privately and legally but there were some moments in soviet history when there were some taxes placed on the sale of your personal goods from your personal labor which according to russian website history of taxes was around ten percent whether you love or hate communism more than anything doesn't

matter this half truth about shooting soviet gardeners burns like wildfire on the american side of the internet the real truth is that in fact when the us government for every reason in various forms clamps down on private gardens it isn't the same as communism but it's actually technically worse than communism for the majority of its lifespan where you could guard it up as you like excluding the brutal revolutionary period but that's just my opinion. the interview.