week's top stories here and diplomatic standoff over syria's chemical weapons as the u.n. security council finally agrees a disarmament process and historic resolution. also at the u.n. an apparent tornado around u.s. relations in a landmark phone conversation between the nation's leaders offered hope for progress in store iran's nuclear program. greenpeace activists still in custody after attempting to scale an arctic oil drilling platform could face charges of piracy russian authorities accusing them of danger in the crew environment. and greek authorities cracked down on the country's far right golden dawn party problem but of an anti fascist activist linked to the group led to mass protests.

from moscow this is artie's weekly news. on this week's u.n. general assembly gathering was marked by some major diplomatic breakthroughs the foreign players reach their first agreement on syria since the start of the conflict their historic phone call open the prospects for real progress over international concern about iran's nuclear ambitions and the way reports on changes in tone and policy. hope for diplomacy progress on two fronts at the united nations a new tone in policy towards iran and a security council resolution on chemical weapons in syria the opening union we've been hearing increasingly often the argument that the threat or use of force which is directly precipitated by the un charter might be the most efficient way to solve

international problems the united states of america is prepared to use all elements of our power including military force to secure. our core interests of the rich but rare consensus at the u.n. emerged after years of deadlock over how to deal with the syrian crisis the un security council unanimously passed a resolution to secure and eliminate syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons according to the geneva agreement put forward by russia and the u.s. the mandate outlines a legally binding compliance but no threat of automatic sanctions or military action i think it shows they were turning towards a diplomatic solution least on the issue of chemical weapons but the other issue that is still remained outstanding is what will happen outside of the issue of chemical weapons will that can receive be pursued by the united states or will they continue to find as they have the opposition an arm the opposition of the silicate that happening and trying to deepen the conflict over there were so in another way

it's a u.s. policy that iran's new president says has no place in the region his debut at the u.n. this week star hassan rouhani reach out but also defend tehran from political attacks iran is an anchor of stability in unstable region the iranian threat is imaginary and is used as an excuse for the misdeeds of others iran poses absolutely no threat to the world or the region ronnie made it clear that iran does not want nuclear weapons and that it wants peace but also to be treated as an equal rainy and u.s. officials praised high level meetings that took place on the sidelines of the general assembly and the country's president spoke over the phone for the first time in over three decades what would it take for a would be photo op to become a new u.s. approach towards iran but as has our very tied there his hands are tied that there are people and lobby groups in the united states that do not want to see the united

states and iran after thirty four years of demonizing the country to have relations the u.s. is in a tough spot it has to keep from north. the relation of the middle east and now the alienation of the arab muslims in general against the us is mostly due to the commitment of the double standard the us shows its relations with israel obama said to meet with israeli prime minister netanyahu on monday in washington now is the real test will the u.s. be able to move forward with diplomacy in the middle east both with iran and syria the first week at the u.n. general assembly has opened the door to rethink a failed policy the question is will the obama administration shot it the first chance they get reporting from new york and nice anally r.t. the u.n. resolution on syria stresses that all parties in the conflict need to comply with

the disarmament and nonproliferation requirements author and historian gerald honus says ensuring the rebels cooperate with the most challenging task that's the weakness of this peace process recall the just a few days ago the so-called rebels split officially with the more extremist faction basically saying that the less extremist factions to somehow be purged and expelled the extremist faction of course is spearheaded by the al nusra front close to al qaida keep in mind as well that some of the so-called chemical facilities in syria or under the jurisdiction of rebel forces if the rebel forces are not part of this process it's unclear to me how it can be resolved that is to say how can chemical weapons be destroyed not the least how can these chemical weapons be found if the rebels are not part of the process. well president rouhani of iran received a mixed welcome in tehran on his return from making headlines at the u.n.

general assembly in new york dozens of his opponents taunting anti american slogans threw eggs and shoes at his car and i knew was triggered by the historic phone conversation between him and the bomb first about talks between us and the rain in these three decades off the cold president obama voiced hopes of progress over ten rounds atomic ambitions and said that serious obstacles remained the moment solomon from the institute for public accuracy says those obstacles can be overcome if the hard line isn't tensions aren't allowed to dictate policy. the u.s. government is under great pressure from the hawks in washington many of whom want the united states to either attack or wake a nod towards israel launching an attack on iran within the next year or so the role of the us i think is now to see what's possible diplomatically and i think it's a combination you know it takes two to dance and ronnie and obama are beginning to

dance that was not possible under a comma dinner job it was not possible or would not be possible under president romney or president mccain for instance i think that is the very important factor the combination and it's a matter of timing. but it will be very important for. the grassroots leaders as well as the powerful in both iran and the united states to keep this on course so that the hardliners in each country don't gain the upper hand. well we have a much more analysis on the signs of a thaw in iran u.s. relations as well as predictions for future nuclear talks on our web site r.t. dot com. now hearings have started for eight greenpeace campaigners just days after a court ordered that twenty two other activists should be held in custody for two months all accused by the authorities of being part of an attempt to scale an oil

platform and endangering the environment in the lives of workers what is your piskun off looks at why they were protesting and what the future holds for the polar region. the pictures that stormed international media greenpeace activists trying to climb onto a floating platform in russia's north arrested by coast guards was. shocked shocked all thirty activists from eighteen countries were detained and are now awaiting whether they will be officially charged greenpeace claims their actions were peaceful but the authorities say they could have endangered not only the lives of the rig's workers but the environment itself social nigerian it's obvious they are not pirates but they tried to storm the platform and these people violated international law by coming dangerously close to the president's common scheme an international arctic conference organized by russia or here in city huts the only city in the world located exactly on the arctic circle line where the presidents of

russia finland iceland other officials along with around four hundred experts have gathered and the arctics environment is what this forum is all about as average temperatures warm up the arctic is opening up new opportunities for trade routes and energy projects moscow says only companies with experience working in the tough region and enough funds to do it properly and without harming nature must be allowed access and cleaning up the heritage of the cold war era is another issue amanda and military bases equipment and piles of barrels with fuel i know a map the arctic binary assessment program has been involved in that but russia has really been working on its own to try to and we have a ways to go and they're not alone there are places around the planet or similar things that happen when people didn't recognize it as something they did had long term negative consequences for the environment the arctic nations seem to be on the

same beach looking after the north pole is a responsibility they must carry together so that the mistakes of the past aren't repeated especially when their every move is under such intense scrutiny you've got this going off in the arctic circle. well to greece where authorities have made a move against the far right golden dawn party its leader along with a number of senior officials and other members have been arrested in connection with the murder of a prominent anti fascist rapper two weeks ago allegedly by building dawn activist with a killing saw thousands during protests across the country since failing at will any seats in the two thousand and nine election golden dawn has made a breakthrough in the twenty twelve parliamentary voted one eighteen seats out of three hundred after gaining support among the country's youth in particular what is a calf enough has the details now. this was the largest show of public anger over the killing of published physis the thirty four year old hip hop artist an anti-fascist activist the man who killed him is believed to be

a supporter of the far right golden dawn party of this is a group the currently controls eight hundred seats in parliament it's been described as neo fascist. largely for its campaign of intimidation against immigrants whom it blames for some of the economic woes affecting greece right now now while published was not the first person to die at the hands of neo nazis in greece he was the first non migrant to do so and this has sparked outrage all across the country with all similar protests similar scenes last week in the early hours of this wednesday thousands of greeks marched in a largely peaceful protest they marched towards the offices of golden dawn which were secluded essentially protected by the police a group of a small group of protesters who had their faces covered in wearing helmets have broken off started hurling petrol bombs a lot of anger over this murder that still fresh in people's minds now golden dawn isn't just a fringe group that has eighteen members in parliament out of three hundred it's on its way to becoming the third largest political force in greece the question is of course whether this murder even though the group does say that it has it disavows

any ties to the murder the question is whether the political fallout of the public outrage is going to result in a decrease for support for the group and we have seen some public polls showing that it's gone down but at the same time the group doesn't joy very wide support among certain neighborhoods in greece and this is really been correlation with the rise of the economic crisis their member that greece has been in recession for six consecutive years in a row we have employment nearly nearing thirty percent two out of three young people out of work and one of the things that we found at least when speaking to political experts is they said that basically when people really don't have much to hold onto economically it's not unusual to see people turning to more radical ideas and while there are some hardcore supporters of golden dawn who might have ideas that are very much out of line with the mainstream old and on really trying to sell sell itself to the public as anti-establishment as being able to do things when the government may not be able to. xander cousin who's a specialist in greek politics spoke to my colleague kevin owen he believes the

more the government tries to suppress golden dawn the more it may flourish so far as the position of the m.p.'s for whom arrest warrants have been issued is concerned by the fact that they will be on trial in under arrest they will not lose their status as members of the greek parliament course though seems to be the case if you try and close something down and you drive it underground it thrives conversely. that is correct and i am personally against a full band of golden dawn precisely for the reason you outlined in your question it seems that the greek authorities are not entirely clear about what to do so far . not banning golden dawn because they want to avoid a situation whereby the movement although the organisation rather goes on the ground and becomes a more frightening force in. however they're arresting its members and they're

going for something like a defacto ban without a proper legal bat. greece is not the only country where far right parties are gaining support poll suggests all across the european union right wing support is growing rapidly artie's piece on of the reports from austria right leaning parties are expected to do well in today's parliamentary elections. the political right is on the rice in europe and it's drawing some surprising support a lot of people from the working class blue collar workers lower educated people are voting for the extreme right of the radical right because of the policies staying put forward like immigration and european integration corruption i guess a politicized in the such so these are the topics that are now days important for those people voting for the radical right across europe there's a time that's turning right ukip is being talked about as the legitimate third party in britain while alternative for germany just missed out on

a place in the bundestag norway's conservative government came to power with tough immigration promises and in sweden and finland there's also been gains here in australia euro skeptic right wing parties gaining support from people who feel that the main issues important to them being addressed they might carry us and it's often we need to slow down immigration i have nothing against foreigners but enough is enough. e.u. is saying where the money should go general like and all kind poor countries on which of their own country and the e.u. is to wouldn't be like. dictate everything. else it's used to be their own parties put truth interest spruced and the e.u. second now it's only after you. were out and shot the freedom party of austria have made significant gains in the polls heading into sunday's

election. its critics call it xenophobia its leader begs to differ being a lot of australia i don't have foreigners but even so the party adopted a different campaign tactic that it had done in previous elections their issue hidden message about religious values and a sense of talking about. love your neighbors which is a very catholic way of talking about the issues but of course the hidden message behind was that this is against islam or against us things also flying the anti you roofline is all straight canadian billionaire frank straw you come dems the single currency is the road to rock and ruin. we need to stop creating every housewife knows that if she spends her normally when she was old timers most of europe's recent elections of the nail biters for politicians desperate to keep their jobs at midnight being economies all street is different it's doing relatively fine what's

happening here is brussels assistance with bailouts and encroachments on sovereignty is given the right. to beat them with piece or all of it on t.v. . or heading to a break now but still to come on our team people on a remote island in the south atlantic the british government is squeezing the life out of the community forcing them from their homes plus. the flame to the filthy winter olympics protests to set off on its incredible marathon all the way from the game's birthplace to outer space. choose your language. call if we can we know if. someone. chooses to use the consensus you can. choose to give thanks that invigorating to.

choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to your. wealthy british style. market. can find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headline news. reports on our.

one of the last outposts of the british empire ascension island in the south atlantic is still said to be suffering the effects of colonialism the u.k. stands accused of a victim families that have lived there for over a century this take a look now recession island is a tiny spot there on the map if we expanded a bit here we can see the island it's barely a home to a thousand people many of whom may now have to leave reportedly to make way for an american military base when islanders who are mainly british citizens will not be allowed to stay after retirement or if they're unemployed at eighteen and the case similarities the expulsion of inhabitants from the garcia part of a britain's indian ocean territory on this island was forcefully depopulated in one nine hundred seventy is also to make way for a military base for those living on ascension island now say that similar to diego garcia london the squeezing the life out of their home will smith reports. it's

a tiny island in the mid atlantic major volcanic rock and covered in pitch and water no but to eight hundred people it's home but now the story of ascension island has all the hallmarks of being the middle of the diego garcia the british owned indian ocean islands whose inhabitants were forced to leave to make way for a u.s. base despite having lived through generations. good memories. it's not for them. you know when you see them you got this because they are enjoying the. islanders accuse the british government of. operating families who have been there for more than a century ten years ago it all so different person was promising democratic institutions for the island a legal right to live and to own property it wanted

a viable community that but today the population's already decreased by a quarter with communities replaced by contract workers retired or unemployed people over eighteen have to leave and the similarities with diego garcia and the dominant feature on the island is you guessed it an american base heavily used during president obama's recent trip to africa there are also satellites and submarine tracking stations and one of those now infamous listening posts run by g c h q the british government now conveniently insists ascension has no indigenous population and many residents believe they intend to evacuate the island completely and abandon it to the americans far from the dreams of a permanent home they had a decade ago. reduced to paul in the special relationship. family comes from the island he says he's produced

a distance can be forced out on the whim of the us military. i have been there several times though i say most most people on ascension out of our sense of indian origin in my family seven years ago i was born there there is a very very strong sense that ascension island is being one might almost say starve to death and there is a precarious kind of political representation there is the absence of guaranteed property rights or indeed a very much property rights at all people are born there people do live their entire working lives there people do wish to retire there but cannot do so may not do so is not permitted this it is this is because i don't think there's any serious doubt because of pressure from the american base there which is largely intelligence related and it is a serious question to be asked about why on british territory british citizens living their lives are full of british passport holders of why these peoples are being treated like this for the sake of a station a base which is almost certain you might know more of the details of this in fact

engaged in the activities that have been such a huge global story in terms of spying on pretty much everyone but that is happening on british not an american and a british population there is being mistreated. the presence of u.s. forces is causing anger in italy by thousands of rabid insistence if you remember of the installation of a us military satellite station in the region locals are concerned about the health and environmental risks posed by any increased radiation levels asli has witnessed a number of demonstrations against the us radar station it's been under construction since twenty seven. stan city of the shower has been the target of yet another devastating blast following a bomb attack on a bus last friday and these twenty nine people including children were also killed in the latest explosion police station or the seventy others were taken to hospital

security forces control car bombers and likely cause it all happened next the site of an attack on a church last week with a very typical. dread hundreds of people have taken to the streets from until more nikki rallies chanting probably public and slogans of protesters headed toward palace square which was blocked off by police recent months until one of the sentiment has been on the rise with accusations of lavish spending by other worlds at the time of severe public spending cuts and record unemployment. but in just a few hours the olympic torch for the sochi winter games will be lit in greece is a limpia parties and reform a witness the final preparations for the spectacular ceremony. actually watching rehearsal for something ceremony here actually impede the birthplace of the lympics team and how you guys in jeezy gave and they sang the song i can actually herald the start of the next dylan picture match because the little fly she twenty four.

and it will get into the sky and we can see. what they would do on sunday night let's move. to should the first torchbearer who. is always the greek and he will then hand nancy the russian torch bearer who on this occasion will be ice hockey star alexander ovechkin he which apparently has been released by the washington capitals one weekend only to carry out its owner actually watch then go on a seven day tour of greece before ending up in ashton's next weekend would then be taken to moscow for the russian leg to relay. while we're bringing you the live broadcast of their pick taught lighting ceremony in less than two hours time here at r.t. . this year's of the torch relay will go to places that has never been before russian

soyuz rocket successfully carry three new crew members to the international space station this week and alongside the usual scientific duties they'll be the first ever to take the olympic torch into space promising a unique and memorable event was there to witness the launch. dos the full report michael scott on our website well. coming up the stories of people whose lives have been in reverse to be changed by the guantanamo bay detention facility itself the break. i bet anyone who lives in the united states knows

a few people or just dismal geography a certain small percentage of the country just can't get it that canada is above us but how important is knowing geography anyways well one author on the washington post blogs recently wrote that knowing geography really doesn't matter that much he was writing in response to the game of where's damascus which challenges people to find serious capital on a blank map he said that whether americans can find syrian a map doesn't affect the wisdom of a punitive strike meant to uphold international norms against the use of chemical weapons and often disasters draw our attention to places we'd never heard of before like pearl harbor or columbine or syria but let's look at this way i don't exactly know where persons kidneys are or how exactly they work so by all normal logic that means i'm not qualified to have an opinion about whether we should remove john doe's kidneys my opinion doesn't count because i am kidney ignorant so if you know so little about syria that you can't even find it on a map then you are more likely to believe from a guy in a suit on t.v. that there must be an intervention to save the people there you have no idea who they are or why they are suffering or how to save them but gosh darn it that

intervention sounds nice knowing at least where a country is on the map is the first step in building informed opinion but that's just my opinion. in a blow to the u.s. government. today that the prison is it going to move to legally challenge their detention in you with schools. we want is an immediate cessation of conditions that are cruel inhuman or degrading or they constitute torture by growing chain skill human rights law in for the most grueling is now demanding the release of food to two evenings so they can move food do you think the government is so far refused to release the names why do you know how many we have you sure. know. not today well it seems like

a perfectly reasonable request to do you why don't you just give us all the names it may not agree. that is what i ask. barbara. i never heard of her knew of her until guantanamo you have the power to restore the moral i took part or see. you missed. that's what i asked him. was like a wake up call i mean as i could i would have been submerged in the stone walling efforts of my government of my colleagues there get. them going along with that stonewalling and do placing these obstacles in the way. of these attorneys who are trying to get that information. near.