i. think. this is our team this morning the lympics flame is literally against historic birthplace in greece before setting off an epic four months really across russia leading up to sochi twenty forty. performing two three attacks in two days leaving seventeen dead in nigeria as islamist insurgents target universities churches and civilian infrastructure in retaliation for a government offensive. british government's health care cuts drive tens of thousands on to the streets of manchester where the leading parties just gathered for example get together. the un general assembly wraps up with a return to hope and diplomacy world powers agree on a syria resolution and there could finally be light at the end of the tunnel over iran's nuclear crisis two.

very good morning this is the weekly with me kevin zero in our round up of the top stories of the last seven days here at our first of all the olympic flame for the twenty four teams sochi winter games has been lit in the limpia the birthplace of the legendary event is from there the torch will then travel thousands of kilometers to next year's host city here in russia. she spoke to r.t. is andrew farmer at the ceremony in greece and tub i might say in such. lympics flame for sorcery twenty fourteen has been lit will probably be able to see it just behind my left shoulder there and it also we will see here at olympia the birthplace of the games the longest torch relay in the olympic history just a few moments ago the lighting of the flame ceremony took place it was basically a step back in time winding back the clock perhaps two and

a half thousand years is so why not try as a high priest test light the flame using the powers of the sun and a parabolic mirror which is basically what happened in seven hundred b.c. that flame was then brought here to the ancient stadium which is where i am standing and it is now being used or just was used to like the top of the very first torch bearer he runs off to my right by tradition he's always a great guy and on this occasion he was an eighteen year old ski called yanis antonio who hopes to compete for his country in sochi next year and he will hand this torch the first russian torch bearer alexander ovechkin the ice hockey star he himself has only been released by his club the washington capitals for forty eight hours to carry out this honor he flies back to the states this evening but he says that this event today was one of the highlights of his career while the torch will go on a tour of greece for the next seven days and that will end in athens next weekend

before it flies to moscow for the russian leg that's the longest in torch relay history but it also has started here as we've been on air in the limpia the birthplace of the olympics now what's crossing to bangor today is in sochi the host city for the twenty eight fourteen olympics so tomorrow power the storage will get to start well it's definitely going to be an olympic torch relay that's going to break a many records and here's why it's going to take around one hundred days for all of that torture to go through russia it's going to take sixty five thousand kilometers and ford. a thousand torch bearers to bring it right here to the holy city now it's going to date through nine at times i was in russia eighty three regions or two thousand nine hundred and cities and settlements across russia it also visit at the north pole also it will go to the top of the europe's a highest mountain in the rushes the north caucuses it will then make

a trip outside of earth or to the i assess the way cosmonauts they will take it on a space walk now this has never happened before in the history of the olympics now in terms of traveling the torch around russia it's going to have a conventional ways such as you know the train a plane as well as on foot or through personalities but it's also going to go through unconventional ways or through reindeer sleighs and hot air balloons of course a russia wanted to highlight some of its culture its the history and of course this emerging new younger russia that we're seeing being developed here at the host city in a sort she. the olympic torch is on its epic journey to structure. one hundred and twenty three days. through two thousand nine hundred towns and cities of russia. really by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand killing.

in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. a limp dick torch feeling special coverage monarchy. and will be following its charity for you and i'm afraid i'm following that with much more sobering news next islamist militants in nigeria reportedly went room to room at night executing students as they slept in an attack on a university that's killed up to fifty people in total it was a seventy died over the weekend in three attacks there believed to be the work of boko haram that sink recently targeting vulnerable civilian infrastructure we spoke to the founder of the viewpoint africa website he told us the cells also met lee directed by al qaeda. and all these groups are all joined together. are shut babin somalia or the wider m.l.a. in in mali or if the merger will join across west africa these jihadist cells are all only blueprints on the organizational al-qaeda and they're very very strict.

their focus is the same the agilent is the same and the they also want to do the spectacular in terms of the sort of attacks on they can do and they always keen on grabbing the headlines and they're very strict sometimes you drive away due to you know of the religious divide in specially christians and muslims and in countries like nigeria which is very already splits on ethnic and religious grounds it is that much easier for muslims to be pushed to the edge muslims many of them who are don't have anything to do with to be marginalized. themselves become. elements for these groups because they are already on the fringes of the society where some of the backstory here the nigerian army has been waging a counterinsurgency campaign against boko haram pushing its fighters into hiding or across borders that's not stopped militants and he's saying on the news all here is just some of the attacks occurred out by park around this year in march suicide

bombers detonated the car bomb at a bus station that killed sixty five people mostly christians then two months later buckler i'm organize a complex raid on an army base in the jail fifty five were killed nearly one hundred prisoners were set free in july it's militants attacked a boarding school that time forty two slaughtered students and teachers more bodies were found there were so charred they couldn't be identified in august an attack. five dead including soldiers and militants again these are just some of the attacks where they do show the reach and willingness of bach to kill it seems. coming up on the program in bahrain the opposition's found that speaking out means getting locked up as the main force behind the anti-government protest movements jailed with members of one opposition group behind bars for suppose that links with militant. or what a week the last seven days were weren't they no one expected just two weeks ago but

this year's u.n. general assembly proved that there's a nuff space for consensus between world powers it seemed that a story of phone call that raised hopes that a deadlock could be brokered in iran's nuclear crisis but the real show of unity peaked when the u.n. security council unanimously voted on the syrian resolution something that seemed to be so elusive for more than two years out is this in our reports next than from new york 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 european 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 or pout 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 there were turning towards a diplomatic solution at 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 the conversely be pursued by the united states or will they continue to find as they have the opposition an arm the opposition of silicate that happening and trying to deepen the conflict over there were sided 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 the 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 so what would it take for a would be photo op to become a new u.s. approach towards iran obama's has are very tied 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

imation of the arab muslims in general against the earth is mostly due to the commitment of the double standard the. 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 shut it the first chance they get reporting from new york and eastern hour r.t. also this last week you inspectors return to syria this week to probe several more cases of alleged chemical weapons use they faced sharp criticism of their earlier investigation of the organs twenty first gas poisoning damascus according to moscow is not nearly thorough enough now a former commander of the british military chemical defense regiment told me to

he's not optimistic either about this latest mission daryn is nor is this nation and it doesn't last very long it can remain in soil and other samples for some time but you know i would be surprised if they find sarin or degradation elements of sarin it is like. you know three months after the event hopefully what they will find is circumstantial evidence to try and lead us to to work out exactly what happened in those places and i think more importantly to discover if. and into terrorist groups that are going to have an impact far why didn't the region itself and apart from destroying syrian chemical weapons that the russian federation and the united states that agree a good plan on which we must push ahead most importantly for the rest of us in the world is to ensure that any of those chemical weapons doesn't happen. if you had her website out heat or cold we got more reaction more expert opinion and analysis

on the syrian crisis lined up for you. one of britain's biggest cities has been witnessing one of its largest ever protests as health cuts through tens of thousands onto the streets earlier it's time to catch members of the governing conservative party who descended on manchester for their annual conference earlier talk to one of the protesters to ask what's got the marchers so fired up. this government is in fact in real trouble of course it's been very much to do with the national health service today that actually that it's facing twenty billion of cuts of cuts by twenty fifteen it's old but it's also that crystallized to so many issues and when the government's unpopular for all the way from mass surveillance to threaten action in syria it's illegal the fact that so many people are willing to speak out and stand up for the n.h.s. and stand up for britain britain a really puts pressure on this government now we've seen how the austerity the

austerity agenda is damaging out of the country and that it's also clear that a new network a new movement is a really big engine for which itself it's also i think what's going to really put pressure on the tories is the fact that people are talking together it's not like the left wing in one corner but they this is actually a much bigger movement now time to rethink david cameron. to europe how he's going to large slice of the voter pile in the austrian election this weekend early results suggested with the centrist coalition will make it back into power but the margins will report on that after this break.

feel use of search for justice should individuals including government officials be legally held to account for starting aggressive force like in iraq is it fair to push their officials be given immunity from prosecution if they are not held accountable in who is ultimately responsible.

again using the russian court of motorman denied bail to all the greenpeace activists who were arrested after trying to scale the russian old platform in the arctic all together thirty people are remanded in custody for two months as the investigation into the protests continues it comes as the polar region gears up for significant changes reporting on that next. the pictures that stormed international media greenpeace activists trying to climb onto a floating platform in russia's north arrested by coast guards was. shot 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 and cheered and 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 and an international arctic conference organized by russia we're 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 arctic environment is what this forum is all about as average temperatures warm up and 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. load of you to source a website big money big problems of artsy dog called the u.s. navy suspends a top commander secondly charge of fact of all nuclear offensive forces why result this over allegations of counterfeit chips used for gambling casinos if you want to read up more on our website i don't see it on ground fountains of troops and hundreds of armed vehicles from russia or better was take part in joint army maneuvers some spectacular pictures there i catching footage in our emotions section.

about ready court sentenced fifty shiites took to fifteen years behind bars for organizing a clandestine opposition group linked to anti government militants the february fourteenth coalition was formed in twenty eleven and was the major driving force indeed behind the nationwide pro-reform uprising doctor night or day food chairs the bahrain rehabilitation antiviolence organization in fact herself also spent two months in prison there she says the whole trial is a well known top level tactic of demonization. actually it's quite all the propaganda and the whole process all the demonization of the pro-democracy orders and to pro-democracy groups is a quite an old fashioned think that the authorities that many authorities may be using for a while and it's not working anymore i mean at this moment they feel absolutely failed to provide any evidence that these groups are involved in any. terror

attacks or any more of it movements two years ago exactly at the same the same judge he convicted doctors almost fifty doctors for sentencing up to fifteen years it's the same thing the repeating. suicide attackers struck a shia mosque in baghdad it's left at least forty dead the blast caused the mosque roof to collapse into the congregation congregation below at the time they're mourning a man killed by militants only on saturday dozens of people are injured many more still trapped. early to then deadly violence erupted in the normally peaceful kurdistan province in northern iraq at least for the target explosions killed four local security force members of the kurdish capital erbil for the shootings that injured thirty six the attacks come a day after local elections for the main opposition group president talabani is party the third place. prisoners enjoy the luxury conditions behind bars of left

these protests to sing read in chile the facility in santiago holds agents of the former military dictator for crimes against humanity but they've got access to the internet to cable t.v. tennis courts even a barbecue area or now the president sort of prison to be closed the inmates moved to another jail. the centrist coalition government appears to have straight back into power in austria's parliamentary elections this weekend but preliminary results suggest right wing parties have also done particularly well scooping up more than a quarter of the overall vote peter all of the reports than from vienna. what it shows is that the social democrats on the people's party who went into these elections as the coalition government well it looks likely that they'll come out of these elections as the coalition government they've picked up around fifty percent of the vote there over the coming days we should probably hear that they will continue their coalition what is most interesting about these elections is that

over one quarter of austrians have voted for parties that want to do away with bailouts for euro zone countries and see in see real changes to the structure of the single currency now to talk a bit more about this and what it means i'm joined by barbara cole who's the director of the austrian economics center barbara thanks very much for talking to me why have austrians voted in this way and why are they upset with the currency eurozone system while their interests the politicians in brussels anymore they don't trust our ostrander decision makers what they do their they don't believe they find the right solutions i mean after all it's just. a redistribution on a supranational level it's austrian tax euros that go to other countries and are just washed down the drain now austria is one of the four eurozone economies this century underpins bailouts what would this vote over a quarter as they say people voting for parties that want to change things what

does this mean for the future of the single currency well i think it does set a couple of politicians thinking and overlook their past solutions that after all it has only prolong the problems this is definitely what the people see and it has not come up to any solutions as a matter of fact that that's grew bigger and bigger and higher so the next generations will suffer and this is what those twenty five percent obviously have in mind so austrians voting in increasing numbers the parties they want changes to the eurozone and also voting for right wing party something that we have seen spreading across europe as my report shows. the political. it is on the rights 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 against

the politicized and 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 are gaining support from people who feel that the main issues important to them ons being addressed they might care less and we should all feel the need to slow down immigration i have nothing against foreigners but enough is enough. yeah e.u. is saying where the money should go to like and all kind poor countries on which of their own country and the e.u. is jordan's be like john dictate everything that actually yes it

used to be their own party's interest spruced and the e.u. second now it's only a few. more and having the freedom party of austria have made significant gains its critics call it xenophobia its leader begs to differ being true i don't hate foreigners. even so the party adopted a different campaign tactic than it had done in previous elections their issue hidden in the message about religious values and a sense of talking about love your neighbors which is a very catholic way of talking about issues. of course the hidden message behind us that this is against islam or against hamas things also flying the anti you roofline is a stroke canadian billionaire frank straw you come dems the single currency is the road to rack and ruin. we need to stop creating every housewife knows that if she

spends more money than she earns. most of europe's recent elections of being nailed by the politicians desperate to keep their jobs at midnight being economies all street is different it's doing relative few fine what's happening here is brussels assistance with bailouts and encroachments own sovereignty has given the right didn't seem to beat them with peace or all of it on t.v. the end. from eckstein tell you niecy human rights defenders coming to the break we look at the muddiness that have been changed by guantanamo bay next program from a good. recently the ministry of internal affairs of russia declared that they're going to dress to increase operations in and around the moscow subway system with

a major emphasis on illegal immigration there is an odd paradox when people talk about dealing with illegal immigration in terms of what the police should do people want the police to deal with it but any means of trying to actually do anything or generally taboo any form of asking people to see ideas viewed as an invasion of privacy or racial profiling well i don't know how exactly anyone can prove they are or aren't a citizen without id and if you're looking for people who are forward and thus different then how can you go about looking for illegals without looking for people who are different profiling if you were looking for a criminal of slavic origin in uganda when the police be wrong to stop me due to standing out from the crowd i don't think so that's not racial profiling it is just common sense obviously it is best to fight the causes of illegal immigration rather than asking for id and moscow subways but they have to do something so i guess id checks are here to stay but there's a big difference between looking at someone's passport and doing stop and frisk or . involuntary blood and urine tests that is when immigration control goes over the

line but that's just my opinion. works with. us. the president did not keep his promise. two years later one tunnel is still

operating. could shutting the door on that detention center really and the trauma of one time. and can the closing of a prison really liberate those that once held captive. it's not that i feel lonely if i am lonely and who could possibly understand what i have experienced in guantanamo when i talk about it. no one is able to imagine.