barnaby phillips is in russia now. >> what should be an expect from the syrian foreign minister's visit. >> the point is, as you put it, syria reaching out to its friends. it doesn't have many friends, but the handful it does have are extremely important to it. hezbollah, obviously, iran and, perhaps, above all, russia, which provides it with military, political and diplomatic support. the foreign minister will seek reassurances that that support from moscow will carry on flowing. >> as you mentioned russia has been an ally of syrian president bashar al-assad's regime. where do the russians stand on this now though? >> i don't see any change whatsoever that the russian position will alter in any way. if we take president putin's words at the end of the g20 in context, he said russia would carry on supporting the regime in syria. there are too many reasons why this is important to the russians to swap course now, if you like, to change course. they distrust the rebels in syria, they don't like them. they fear an islamist - the spread of extremist islamist groups. they see this to a certa

barnaby phillips from moscow. >> the u.s. president faces a difficult task convincing congress to support military strikes, the politicians returned from their summer break later and are set to vote this week. the plan in theory should have a fair chance to get through the democrat controlled senate. 25 senators say they would vote, but 18 are firmly against. there are 57 senators who are still undecided though. a vote will be held in the house of representatives where reb cans hold the major -- republicans hold the majority. there the numbers are stacked up against obama. 40 support the strikes, 153 are against. 211 are yet to design. 29 others haven't said how they'll vote. >> before the votes the white house is working hard to convince politicians and the public. kimberly halket reports from washington dc. >> these pictures a... >> making the rounds on u.s. sunday morning chat shows white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough making the case for why members of congress should authorise the u.s. president's request to carry

barnaby phillips has that part of the story >> reporter: they always manage to smile for the family photo. there was even a wave but this was the summit of low expectations, at least as far as syria is concerned. and so it turned out, with russia and the united states possibly further apart when it all ended, then they had been when it began. the russian president says most leaders here were opposed to action against syria without the backing of the u.n. security council. although he seems to have less support for his insistence that the syrian government did not use chemical weapons on august the 21st. >> just. >> the so-called use of chemical weapons is a provocation on the part of the rebels who are hoping to get further assistance from countries supporting them from the beginning. i want to remind you that the use of force against so far ran states is done for self defense. it is an illegal act. >> president obama spoke soon afterwards. he looked tired but his words were passionate. >> over 1,400 people were gassed. over 400 of them were children. this is not something we have fabrica

barnaby phillips joins me live from moscow. more about this fire and the death toll. >> reporter: well, we are now hearing from local officials that six bodies have been found and its feared that the toll will rise as you said, some 30 people are missing. the fire, we understand, began in the middle of the night at about half past 2:00 in the morning in a psychiatric hospital as youed isaid in a sml vellum, one official believed that maybe one of the patients started the fire while lying in their own bed. it was an old, wooden building, it seems tragically it spread very fast. the fire fighting services weren't able to put the fire fought a couple of house the situation is now under control and they are look through the sad remnants of the psychiatric those try to identify bodies inside. >> russia doesn't have a great safety record when if comes to prevention of such places in these type of institutions, does it? >> reporter: no. in fact, quite the opposite. and you mentioned say similar incident in a similar kind of institutio

let's bring in barnaby phillips there who is in st. petersburg. barnaby, as we heard there it was all economics and financial markets, very little about anything else. >> well, it is the agenda of the summit and it is a financial and economic meeting. and we have to keep on repeating that in a way. yes, on the margins, an awful lot of important bilateral financial diploma diplomacy wile done. what we heard from vladimir putin just then if you like a imagine tearial overview -- imagination tearial overview of the developed countries have not felt certainly since the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2008. he alluded for instance to the euro zone at long last coming out of recession. growth in america and in japan, which he generously said he wished was a little bit faster, but was non nonetheless evident. he was referring to countries like indiana app and brazil, when the developed world was down on its heels, india suffering great currency falls and outpouring of capital over the last several months. so he's talking about that delicate ba

barnaby phillips al jazeera st. petersburg. >>> now syria's deputy foreign minister had a warning tonight about president obama's call for military action. he was talking to the syrian state television. >> this war that is going ostart against syria is a dangerous war and threatens the peace and security of the world. it might reflect negatively on syria and the nation of the world. that's why he threw this hot bowl to the congress. we hope the congress to do its duties related to the civil security and peace. in fact that syria didn't threaten peace and security in the world. >>> some are eager to see the united states intervene but as al jazeera's zena kota reports from bay ruth in lebanon others are suspicious of president obama's intentions. >> this is where the fight for the syrian capital has been happening for months, the rebel held suburbs. the objective of the campaign government forces want to prevent rebels from entering damascus. armed opposition forces loped that u.s. led strikes would weaken syria's de

barnaby phillips, al jazeera st.petersburg. >>> well, violence returned to the streets of alexander, egypt today, they true stones at each other. it happened after the supporters of the brotherhood tried to march down the highway, about a dozen of the group were arrested. >>> voters in colorado go to the polls next week. under fire for voting for tough gun control laws. the races have drawn political fire power from all over the country. it's a $2 million campaign that includes $350,000 from new york's pro-gun control mayor michael bloomberg and the election can cost colorado taxpayers $500,000. al jazeera tamera banks reports. >> it's 10:00 a.m. and john morris is going door to door. >> i'm state senator john morse. >> morse is fighting for his job in an unprecedented election. >> whatever hoops they make you jump through. >> it was the first time in history that an elected legislator is being recalled. morse is in the cross hairs of guns rights groups for passing tough laws, among them universal background check an

barnaby phillips has that part of the story. >> they always managed to smile for the family photo. there was a wave. this was the summit of low expectations. at least as far as syria is concerned. so it turned out with russia and the united states positively further apart than when it ended than it had been when it began. the russian president said most leaders were opposed to action against syria without the backing of the un security council. he seems to have left support for his sentenceance that the syrian -- insistence that the syrian government did not use chemical weapons on 21 august. >> translation: the use of chemical weapons is a provocation on the part of rebels, hoping for assistance from countries supporting them. the use of force is only done as self-defence. it's an illegal act. >> president obama spoke soon afterwards. he looked tired but his words were passionate. >> over 1400 people were gass gassed - over 400 of them were children. this is not something we have fabricated. it's not something that we are looking - are using as an excuse for military action as i s

. >> barnaby phillips live for us in moscow, thank you.ist rebels have attacked a second town in the philippines four days after taking ha hosta, the government forces moving in. the new attack happened early on thursday. now, the national liberation front accused the government of going back on a promise to development the improver i should region, joining us now live from there and as you can see, she is in protective gear. so what's happening there now? >> reporter: well, over the last few hours we have seen an unusual movement of military heading in to the area where they are actually holding over 100 civilians hostage. we have seen at least about 200 civilians, 200 soldiers with tanks heading in, we are hearing more and more mortars being fired and more and more gunshots, there has been talks that there will be an assault any time soon but it's not been confirmed by the government so judging from what we are seeing actually this is more intensified fighting that we have seen since this started early monday morning. >> as you can speak

barnaby phillips has more. >> end of a dramatic day in athens. this sudden change in the far right party's fortunes will delight many greeks. but not all. supporters of golden dawn gather to protest against the arrests. furious at this turn of events. >> golden dawn is here. we cannot be imprisoned. >> we see the leaders of golden dawn being taken away from police headquarters under escorts. since the restoration of democracy in 1974. it seems clear that the greek state is now determined to crush golden dawn. >> golden dawn tried to test the endurance of democracy. today they received their answer. my criminal report towards the supreme court prosecutor was created the possibility for the first time to bring together many pending cases against golden dawn. so that near nazi phenomenon can be dealt with as a criminal organization. >> golden dawn surged in power and popularity as greece's economy collapsed. it wants to leave greece and used against ethnic minorities. but the murder of an ethnic rapper, the crack down against golden dawn will be wel

barnaby phillips reports. >> reporter: the fire began in the middle of the night. it tore through this single store building partially made of wood from a hundred years ago. a patient was engulfed in flames in his bed. she amongst the dead. >> the first started around 3:00 a.m. the fire alarm went off. the unit of firefighters came quickly, and together with hospital staff they started an evacuation. >> it was a male psychiatric ward. many of those who lived here were not able to move by themselves. few family members ever came to visit them. in the morning hundreds of rescue workers searched the surrounding forest hoping to find any survivors who might have fled. the authorities say they're investigating possible negligence. the reports that officials previously ordered that this hospital should close because of safety concerns. there have been several fires in russian state institutions in recent years, and hospitals, of people's homes and drug rehabilitation centers. buildings are often old and in bad condition. in april more than 30 people were killed in and a

more from barnaby phillips in athens for us. what is the latest? what is happening to those being arrested? when will they appear in court? >> dramatic scenes in @things this evening, felicity. we saw pretty much the entire golden dawn senior leadership being led out of police headquarters by armed and masked policemen. the golden dawn activists were shooting. they were bundled in vehicles and taken to court. they're still in court this evening. we understand as you were saying that they will be charged for having led a criminal organization and then we're going to get into legal technicalities. it seems that an eventually trial to take place. there has to be a decision over whether the golden dawn leadership will be remanded in custody. whether they'll be freed under bail agreement. those decisions haven't been reached yet. but tonight golden dawn's leadership is under police custody, and they will spend the night in police sales. >> extraordinary day. speaking about the situation. what's he said? >> yes, he also spoke in the last hour or so. he g

barnaby phillips st.petersburg, al jazeera. >> british prime minister david cameron says scientists have confirmed last month's chemical attack in syria. a spokesman for cameron's office says clothing taken were tested by experts but didn't comment on how the samples were brought to britain. >> for the past two and a half years the system devised in 1945 for threats of this nature did not work as it was supposed to. it has not protected peace and security for the hundreds of syrian children who were gassed to death on august 21. it is not protecting the stability of the region. it is not standing behind now an internationally accepted ban on the use of chemical weapons. >> congress is scheduled to return to work on capitol hill next week, tomorrow. senate leaders will hold a brief session to place a resolution on syria on the calendar. the full senate could take a vote on the resolution as soon as wednesday. the house could vote on a resolution the following week. >>> an egyptian minister has survived an

barnaby phillips reports. >> reporter: the russians have called the american's blush, called john kerry's, picking up on the remarks that he made in london, effectively taking the americans up on an offer that they never really mae. the president and the administration will be -- skrepty call of the approach. they will look at collecting and destroying chemical weapons in an atmosphere of zero trust. and the united nations have adopted the offer, which makes it difficult for the americans to simply ignore it. >> welcome professor it's good to see you. p>> tell me what you think of te proposal? >> i think it was a brilliant move by putin. he looks strong. he has done a favor for obama by getting obama out of a jam, which i think he was maybe looking to do, because there were indications earlier in the summer that he wants a good relationship with obama. and he looks like the good guy in all of this. >> why would assad agree to this? >> it gets assad out of a jam too. if there is a way of assuring that there are not strikes on his territory. he doesn't need the chemical weapons to accomplis

. >> barnaby phillips is covering situation. i imagine it's going to be very tense and awkward at this dinn dinner. >> i'd imagine so because you're absolutely right. the mood music going into it gives no grounds for encouragement whatsoever. vladimir putin's spokesperson was speaking a couple of hours ago, he said that the american evidence was not convincing at all. nonetheless there will be a concerted effort by america's allies here at the g-20 to try and make their case conclusiv conclusively, that president assad did use chemical weapons on august 21st as they allege. so the u.s. trying to rally countries to their cause. david cameron coming with fresh scientific evidence that he has been given by british scientists by the alleged use of sarin in that attack. but it should be said that the americans and their allies are probably in the minority here at the moment in terms of not having misgivings, if you like, about having an attack on syria that did not have the backing of the united nations supreme court council. there a

. >> and barnaby phillips is live with us from st. petersburg. rnaby, just a few minutes ago we were listening to barack obama speaking in stockholm. ahead of the g-20 summit, he made heavy comments about how he's pressing for intervention in syria and how the international community needs to act now. given putin's latest comments how do you think he's going to react to this and what do you think he's going to take from this? >> well, we've had some more comments from president putin reported within the last hour. which gives absolutely no grounds for encouragement whatsoever, that a gap might be narrowing between him and the american president. he spoke about lies having been used during the debate in the united states congress. he said that it was absurd, something he said again, that president bashar al-assad's forces would have used chemical weapons. so there's absolutely no scope for common ground that i can find. you heard how unequivocal president obama was in stockholm, how confident he was the august 21st attack was the responsibility of

barnaby phillips has more from moscow. >> we understand this fire began in the middle of the night. official saying it may have been started by one of the patients lying in their bed, but obviously rescuers are looking for more evidence now, looking also sadly for more bodies. it should be said that russian state medical institutions have a pretty poor safety record. you might recall -- [ technical difficulties ] just outside moscow back in april that killed more than 30 people. in that case it was blamed on electrical wiring. in this case officials are talking of possible negligence. but it was an old wooden building and under those kinds of circumstances? the middle of the night, it's likely to go up in flames very quickly. >>> soldiers were visited as violence entered a faith day. at least 22 people have been killed and many more injured, including red cross workers. negotiations are underway. it's accusing the government of breaking the terms of a peace treaty. >> reporter: since fighting began five days ago between the philippine government and the national liberation front fig

barnaby phillips has more on the icy relations between the two leaders. >> leaders arrive in st petersburg for a summit that may highlight glaring issues on the critical issues on the day. the g20 host, vladimir putin, is not talking like a man ready to compromise with the united states over syria. >> translation: i have watched the debates in congress, when they ask secretary kerry, is there al qaeda in syria. i say officially they are not there. the rebels, el nisra is a unit of al qaeda. kerry and the others know this. i don't like seeing this. we communicate with them. he lies openly. he knows that he lies. >> the american president, stopping in sweden, spoke as if military action is inevitable. >> my credibility is not on the line. the international community's credibility is on the line, and america and congress's credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important. >> in damascus itself, the syrian regime speaks, and in defiant language. >> translation: the syrian government will never change its position, even if the pri

. >> absolutely, barnaby phillips in moscow, thank you. >> in washington, three senior members of president's team have been before congress, pushing the case for a military strike. >> this cannot be a process of delay. this cannot be a process of avoidance. it has to be real, measurable, tangible and it is exceedingly difficult. i want everybody here to know, to fulfill those conditions. >> the white house released a statement saying that on tuesday morning, president obama spoke separately with the french president and british prime minister. they greed to work closely together and in consultation with russia andg,b china to exe the russian proposal to put all chemical weapons and relate materials under international control. there will be a discussion on elements of the security council resolution. they did discuss that preference for a diplomatic resolution, but stressed the importance of ringing to develop a full range of responses. we are on capitolzhñ÷y hill in washington, d.c. we see all this activity trying avert a strike on syria, yet the obama administration still clearly pushin

barnaby phillips has more. >> the leaders of the golden dawn marched into court at 9 end of a dramatic day in athens. the sudden change will delight many greeks. not all supporters of golden dawn gather to protest against the rest, furious at the turn of event. >> golden dawn is here. it cannot be imprisoned, it is not in retreat. we will fight to the end. we can see the leaders of golden dawn being taken away from police headquarters under escort. he is are extraordinary scenes in greek political history. the first arrests of members of parliament since the restoration of democracy in 1974. it seems clear that the greek state is determined to crush them. >> translation: golden dawn tried to test the endurance. today they received their answer. my criminal report towards the supreme court prosecutor has created the possibility to bring together pending cases against golden dawn, so the neo-nazi phenomenon is known as a criminal organization. >> golden dawn surged in popularity as greece's economy collapse. it uses nazi-like symbols and wants immigrants to leave greece. it's been accuse

. >> more from barnaby phillips. what will happen next week. >> tomorrow, monday, the greek parliament will discuss a bill to cut funding to golden dawn. then on tuesday, as you said, those six members of parliament and other members of golden dawn under arrest - there are more than 20 in total - are due to appear in court. they'll discover if they are freed on bail and discover more about the timing of a court case against them, whether they stay in custody in the meaningtime and so on. the main development today as you mentioned if your introduction was that the number two in golden dawn, christoph, gave himself in. he was in defiant mood. this is what he said. >> translation: truth will shine, nationalism will prevail. i am completely free. we have a legal political struggle and we'll return. golden dawn will survive, golden dawn forever. long live the country. >> i know you have been talking to people in the center of athens. what do they make of the situation at the moment? >> most of the people who i spoke to i

barnaby phillips is in moscow for us, james bays is at the un, kimberly is in washington, d.c., and omars here the turkish border. but first this report. >> reporter: as countries cue up to endorse a plan to place chemical weapons under international control, the immediate threat of u.s. strikes is subsiding. >> a solution, perhaps, which would allow syria to take off of its weapons and put it under inernational control. have you had a conversation with president putin about that? >> i have. and my intentions out there this process has been to ensure that the blatant use of chemical weapons that we saw doesn't happen again. if in fact there's a way to accomplish that diplomatically, that is overwhelmingly my preference. >> reporter: from the president to those who would have worked hard to resist the attack. support the russian proposal as long as it is a proposal that help stop the current situation in syria. >> translator: the islamic republican of iran welcomes to initiative. >> reporter: emerging as washington right hand in europe, france has promised to move matters to the united na

barnaby phillips is in moscow. >> the russian foreign minister is on his way to geneva. we know what his stance will be, that the syrian government must reveal its chemical weapons and they must be destroyed. he will argue that this process should not be backed up by the threat of force. russian is that believes that is potentially counter productive, that it is in the syrian's government best interest to comply with this process. meanwhile, the russian president vladamir putin has made a direct appeal to the american people in the new york sometimes, warning against military action against syria, saying this would destabilize an already dangerous part of the world that would have consequences for example with the iranian nuclear issue, with talks between israel and palestine. he's pointing to what he believes is a pattern of unwise american intervention characterized by brute force, in iraq, in libya, with ill thought through missions and dangerous consequences. he wants the americans to avoid this in the case of syria. >> a vote on congress is on while president obama

al jazeera's barnaby phillips has more on the already icy relationship between the two leaders. >> well, leaders arrive in st. petersburg for the summit that might highlight the glaring dinnerses between thedifferencee issues of the day. putin does not look like a man ready to compromise with the united states over syria. >> i have watched the debates in congress, and when they asked secretary kerry if there is al-qaida in syria, i say no, and they are not there. i don't like see iting this. we communicate with them, but he lies openly. and he knows that he lies. >> but the american president topping in sweden on route to the summit speak as if it is needed. >> my credibility is not on the line. the international community's credibility is on the line. congress' credibility is on the line. >> in damascus, syria speeches anspeaks indefiant action. >> the syrians will never compromise their independence and sovereignty. syria has a right to react according to the u.n. charter as such an aggression is not justified in the international law. >> the former agenda in the at e commit focuses o

we're joined by barnaby philli phillips, the tensions over syria overshadowing all else at the g20 summit >> yes, on paper it's meant to concentrate on economic and financial issues, and did, in fact, achieve quite a bit in those spheres, du, but syria bubbling under all the issues. the real passion was on syria. the differences are stark. if anything the russians and americans are further apart now than they were at the beginning. president vladimir putin said he was ready to be convinced about evidence. he was quite explicit in his press conference in the end as far as he was concerned he talked about the alleged use of chemical weapons being a prov a provocation staged by the rebels, so no meeting of minds here. >> now let's go to kinda. what happens now? it's set up for a debate. the debate is passionate and personal for so many in the u.s. senate who will be voting on this until the middle of next week. that's because there is a deep division between the democratic and republican party of how to cast their vote. we heard president obama speaking at the g20 summit there and conceding