the opposition in venice way less calls for yet more protests following sunday's controversial election which has already sparked violent scenes. london's high court blocks of bid to prosecute former british prime minister tony blair for a crime of aggression over the iraq war. militants are driven. your stronghold in the highlands r t travels to what used to be terrorists in the mountains. we made the shocking discovery

what appeared to be prison cells. from moscow to the world this is r t international my names you know me welcome to the program our top story clashes in the venice willing capital continue following sunday's vote for a new constituent assembly president maduro branded the result a victory for the country but with only a forty one percent voter turnout the opposition said it would continue protesting the results controversy over the election has sparked a deadly wave of violence across the country.

i i. was while i was visibly demonstrated there the protests are frequently turned violent an explosion on the street in caracas injured a number of people getting seven police officers off a dozen other people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into the curtains but the opposition which slammed the election as a legal house called for more protests. if

you know that if we don't have a republic we have nothing and we may have a home food we can start a family raise children die so there's no need if we don't have a republic that's why he went to vote. this is a legal no one asked the people where they wanted or not i don't think you know you know people are tired of you they can ask the government to fix the things that should be fixed but basically we need peace and it was just some into all this president nicolas maduro called in venice wayland's to throw their support behind the new assembly which will be formed in the near future it will be tasked with rewriting the constitution and will have the power to dissolve the courage. parliament the opposition has defied a ban on public protest the election as

a power grab by president material now over the last four months more than a hundred people have been killed in the violence let's just take a look here at how that unrest all grew at the end of march the powers of the national assembly were seized by the supreme court which first triggered public anger then in april the court revised the decision but that did not come the tension the national guard was sent to the street signs that protest turn violent and next president his plan to change the constitution sparked further often deadly unrest the u.s. the e.u. and several latin american countries have already rejected the election results but the venezuelan president has hit back at the criticism i know we have the constituent assembly now. the spokesperson of the emperor donald trump said they didn't recognize the election results how the hell did it matter to us what trump

is saying it matters what the people of when israel are saying. we heard from analysts who believe science states should keep their noses out. a third player besides dimon doura regime in the opposition i'm speaking of washington washington has promised that it will slap sanctions on venezuela as a result of this vote washington sees south america as his backyard. as a primary interest destabilizing the caracas peace regime of mr mcgurk nothing. can stop the will of the venezuelan people to go to exercise their will and to apply the democracy the opposition to choose to be out and to accept it to be out of this of this procedure. moving on now the high court in london has rejected an attempt to prosecute former prime minister tony

blair over the iraq war with the details from london here's a list to see a target. well this is a highly anticipated decision as the high court here in the u.k. blocks a bid to prosecute tony blair for his role in kick starting the iraq war back in two thousand and three now this is a case that was brought forward by an iraqi general who accused tony blair of quote a crime of aggression but the justices here in london did rule that because no such notion exists under domestic law in england and wales this case is not going to go forward they also said that this is a decision that is not going to be reversed by the supreme court we have to say that the defense team did argue that the chilcote reports the massively controversial report published last year justified bringing tony blair to justice because if you remember this is a report that underscored the questionable intelligence used when it comes to the issue of weapons of mass destruction in iraq as well as brought to light information on not all peaceful alternatives having been considered before the iraq

war was launched let's take a listen in the house of commons on september twenty fourth two thousand and two mr blair presented iraq's past current and future capabilities as evidence of the security to civility of the potential threat from iraq's w m d the judgments about iraq's capabilities in that statement and in the published the same. we're presented with a certainty that was not justified. despite the fact that tony blair is not going to clearly be appearing in court in this particular case the issue of the massive death toll as well as the consequences that this war has had for the region and the rest of the world and the fact that the families continue speaking out about the need to bring him to justice it doesn't seem like this issue is going to be going away anytime soon and this one terrorist in this well it's that the well needs to be aware of these names tony but we were proud of some of the dogs is.

to sort of comfort but we can be proud of the way i'll go to. the street. so it's obviously clear that despite the fact that this particular case has now been dropped that families are going to continue to hope for justice for the ones they lost in the iraq war. to another big story of the day lebanon's hezbollah fighters have recaptured the last stronghold of the al news return group in the country the mountains are located in eastern lebanon right near the syrian border now the area has been a hotbed of extremist this is here in black and over your news for now it's been like that since the start of the syrian war six years ago artie's he's travelled to the newly liberated territory and filed this report. these are the are seldom ounces in the east of lebanon it's the latest scene of the victory of hezbollah the

lebanese resistance group who have defeated the al qaeda affiliate. and not so ended just a few days ago and you can still see the remnants of that with bullets and shells all strewn across the floor and we've seen burnt out vehicles on the way up here and doing that victory against hezbollah managed to capture this cave which was used by terrorists as a base so we can go inside and have a look around. inside the cave we made a shocking discovery what appeared to be prison cells it's unclear why exactly elements were needed prison cells in this isolated area perhaps punishment. was to prevent their own fighters fleeing in the middle of the night these are some of the

weapons which was captured from japan and we've got these. rockets lots of tactical vests. and there are rocket launchers and time guns and all sorts of all tillery which were abandoned by no so when they were defeated and they left this cave there's even a room where battle plans are drawn up and where fights is received instruction when they take their seats and listen to the commanders ninety militants were killed in that battle and those who survived many of them fled to infighting continues between different rebel groups but some of them remained and just a few kilometers away behind these mountains behind us more ominous to me many more of them decided to defect to the so-called islamic state and some of the. hezbollah commanders here tell me that they're only four kilometers away from where we are

now. he said lebanon. say's the time has come for russia to show it will not leave us sanctions on answered he explained moscow's response to washington's restrictions in an interview. with more than a thousand people both diplomatic and technical staff are currently working in russia which seven hundred fifty five of them will have to stop their activities and that's painful. because that is that america has taken a step to jeopardize u.s. russia relations and the important thing is that that step wasn't triggered by anything because this is a move to impose a legal restrictions to attempt to influence other countries including u.s. allies cuba which are interested in developing ties with russia. but on longer. we've been waiting for quite

a long time so that maybe something would change for the better we had hoped that the situation would change but it looks like now even if it does change then it won't be in the near future quarter i decided it is time for us to show you we will not leave anything unanswered there will be a political. going usenet and of course we have more to say here there are fears that we could restrict which would be painful for the united states but i think we shouldn't do that and it's only going to harm us russian relations as they are but it's also going to affect us as well. well so russia ordered the u.s. embassy to stop the use of several facilities here we can show you some of them new sanctions against russia are expected to be signed by president trump the document approved by congress aims to target russia's lucrative energy trade with european partners washington claims the merger in response to alleged election meddling.

ok back to one of our top stories this hour the high court in london has rejected an attempt to prosecute former british prime minister tony blair over the iraq war let's cross to former british certainly all over miles for his take on the ruling you're very welcome to the program following what the high court has now said because this is actually laid the matter to rest will tony blair ever have to face any form of prosecution do you think. i don't think he will i'm not a lawyer. this is the end of the matter legally because this is the high court and we have a supreme court but i'd rather those to be on the people i couldn't say but i do believe that it will have a good amount of food for a british court to decide because. apparently the just the crime of aggression doesn't exist to the british royal thing that's the end of the matter. over was

when they were. yet if the criminal aggression doesn't exist do you think something else he could be charged with he would have to face trial for. well of course that's always possible yes but. just one of. might be. able to say i think there's a lot of of course opinion in britain is divided but now i think the majority is very much critical condemns the war and in the war i think i think i'm right in saying that and no doubt lots of people will have examined the story to see whether there is any legal recourse but i think the truth is the version. you might say this is a matter for the international criminal court but the international criminal court doesn't deal with the crime of aggression so there's no wrong there's no likely outcome. does tony blair have something to answer over the war.

yes well i am on record as saying that i think tony blair is a war criminal but then of course so is george w. bush. in the sense that it wouldn't be very satisfactory if tony blair was to be brought before a british court but nothing was to be done about america the fact is we don't have a world government we don't have an international criminal court which is fully effective we do have an international criminal court but a number of countries america russia israel have declined to to commit themselves to it so we'll start with the fact that this has to be dealt with politically the only way that this could change in britain in my opinion of the us i'm a lot is a parliament so decided. there was of course been a lot of response to this they have families of people who have died saying this is an just war what about our sons or daughters but others will claim but the ruling is just the system protecting itself is not

a first charge. you. know i don't really think it is a matter of fact i think that. we have an international system of law which is which is operative and in britain we have laws which are made by parliament and this particular offense isn't covered by them i don't think that's a cover up. do you expect any response from tony blair. tony blair is at it responding saying great lengths nothing in particular hoping that he will win back support from based on public opinion but i think he's pretty played out on that now i don't i don't expect any meaningful response from him i think he'll have to live with the fact that. a lot of people in britain think he was a war criminal and the reaction of the relatives of servicemen and women killed in action are they going to accept this the high court has now ruled and move on do

you think. well i think they'll have to accept what the high court has decided unless as i say there's an appeal i'm on not the right person to judge whether that is possible not. of course i have very great sympathy for them i have very great sympathy for people who are. sums and daughters all whose relatives are killed in any war or indeed in other circumstances but it doesn't mean that the law has changed. and just finally if tony blair is is off the radar himself will somebody else be target if he is not able to be contacted tried and questioned in court does the ball move to other people perhaps in his then administration. well i don't think so but if anyone can think of a way of. bringing the law of the land to. the people who are involved at the time then of course the courts are open to that

possibility but i don't see it myself and i think if it were the case that some legal recourse existed somebody would have found. what we have had of course is a very thorough investigation it took a long time but when it eventually. spoke quite strongly and clearly about responsibility for the war but he's not a court of law and you can't punish those who are responsible we thank you for your time and thoughts this hour former british ambassador to libya oliver miles. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. issues one of her strongest threats yet against north korea the details of.

the feeling of. every. experience. you get on the old. old according to josh.

coming from iraq. welcome back to our to international the u.s. the un has warned north korea that quote the time for talk is over nikki haley added any security council resolution that does not significantly alter the of the against the hermit kingdom is pointless it comes after north korea on friday test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and additional security council resolution that does not significantly increase the international pressure on north korea is. the time for talk is over. donald trump has accused china of being unwilling to seriously tackle the north korean issue the president he wouldn't let the situation continue as it has been on sunday the u.s. flew to supersonic bombers over the korean peninsula the b. one b. lancer is his plane and also has the largest internal pain the aircraft were flying

by side korean fighter jets in what's been seen as a shill force in the wake of the recent missile launch by. one with tensions running high in the region china has been flexing its military muscle to during a military parade marking the ninetieth anniversary of the people's liberation army the country showcased some of its newest hardware earlier china affairs specialist under long told us solving the korean problem can't be redirected to china because it's not the one taking pyongyang in the first place would be a very dangerous. venture with unknown consequences collateral damage is that the. korean peninsula. just by using military coalition is unlikely to solve the problem all these threats and also show me tree falls is not going to solve the problem. and of course the

problem cannot be all solved with china because clearly. the g. is talking to america which sees as a threatening change as a super secret agenda. so back to europe now were calls for independence are growing in southern germany where one in three but very in say that they are in favor of breaking free pro independent supporters want a bigger say over the future of their region away from the influence of the e.u. with the details for us here is our tease peter all over. every country i came to ask for video come from and out of a set of area michael is a third generation money maker when it comes to the monthly too many have it redrawn he says very is too important to be a nation in its own right and a recent poll shows that one in three bavarians share his view.

of trouble fist strong images of germany but they're actually a very very a is a is a is a market. is a market a brand. on commie it's a better brand than come from germany. tastes bad smells bad. and while most of the german states are simply called the states all right lol you're right learn a lot mate the theory of good speech three states very it makes. no difference but it's a name it's a little different over the last couple of years but there is a political focus is shifted because of the ongoing refugee crisis hundreds of thousands of migrants crossed into germany through the states leading to politicians here to challenge chancellor merkel's. policies it's good for

them in our culture everyone needs to learn german it's vital to ending a living and maintaining law and order and it should be our own law and order not that of the our world but the actual berkeley's i was very of the first such you already against splitting the fact there's only one party with an independent their real their manifesto to bind part time you believe it should be not a very dominating state you know we believe that we want to be a state which is in a peaceful way to be of those and which decides his own. economic situation its own democratic situation its own code from situation and there is not just directed towards berlin now we are ruled by balloon we are ruled from or brussels on the other hand and these people decide a will of the people of the area we have no influence the so called in the european

parliament we have only thirteen members and. for example greece which has less inhabitants. and. can move. on to do things which are while they may be some support for a breakaway from various. the supreme court here in germany ruled earlier this year that any kind of referendum on the subject would be against the jewish constitution so for the time being at least. they will continue to rule over it with their human life these are all of a. beauty. to something a little bit different it's an event that pits the with self they best tongue drivers in the business against each other in a showcase of scale the picture quite amazing to the twenty seventeen tank by off the lawn is underway just outside moscow.

and that's how it's done and you can get more details on the event at our website r t v dot com do let us know what you think of any of the stories we've been talking about over the past half hour by going to facebook and twitter pages more of our t.v. programs ahead and i'm back at the top of the hour. i

suppose it's time to speak the obvious cold war two point zero is officially on though this cold war is different and possibly far more dangerous these are uncharted waters as the white house attempts to find its footing. economic development is all about numbers we're really pleased to report this quarter we earn one hundred six more. but what do we know about the other figures. when i think about the fact that our c.e.o. mike du maine over twenty million dollars last year more than one thousand times the average wal-mart is says. with all due respect i have to say

i don't think that's right. is that just how a free market would. people went from pretty simple financial lives pre nine hundred eighty to the point now where people are. just totally submerged in their financial accounts and they're all in debt and what exactly divided society. the protests of the government try to do. it might be making things worse. by saying this is not how capitalism works this is goes hopelessly disastrously wrong.

i'm afshin rattansi we're going underground twenty four hours away from the expire e of n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden's residency problem is in russia coming up on the show treading the boards of powell we speak to scotland's longest serving first. alex salmond about his barrel performance at the largest auto festival in the world the annual edinburgh fringe festival in scotland which begins this week and this thousands fleeing the fallout of nato wars in the middle east face death trying to cross the mediterranean we speak to award winning author lucy hughes hallett about how new inability to build walls to keep out economic and political transformation plus a good day to bury bad news what stories of fallen through the cracks in this week's buried news political coming up in today's going underground but first today marks one hundred years since what is arguably one of the most useless battles in all of human history the battle of passion dale went off a million died or wounded in muddy ditches sixty four miles from where the european parliament in belgium now sit.