cameras in the national assembly.al effect. >> theater is really all it is. unlike in taiwan where political brawling often sways an outcome. scott snyder says the punch-ups we see in the korean assembly are all for show. >> usually they are related to ritual confrontations or situations where a measure or a law is about to be passed. the assemblymen already know what the outcome is going to be, but they need to show their constituents that they have done everything they can in order to try to stop it from being passed. it's a ritual fight to show your loyalty even for a lost cause. >> well, guys, even if you're not changing history, you sure are getting a good workout. >>> coming up -- uh-oh, look out. mikes and paperweights fly through the air in india. >> mikes and paperweights have become like missiles. >>> plus, somali's fight over whether to allow peace-keeping forces into their country. >> the ultimate irony of this one is this was a fight about peacekeepers. >> it was quite dangerous because of the way they we

lee told leaders of the national assembly he had been planning to visit them since 2009. he said bad weather prevented him from doing so last year. lee said he decided to go ahead with the visit after a meeting last december with japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda. noda demanded the removal of a monument to south korean women forced to work in brothels during world war ii. the monument stands in front of the japanese embassy in seoul. lee said he was unhappy with noda's reluctance to resolve the issue. he said he had anticipated the japanese react tuion to his vis. a poll in south korea suggests 85% of the public approved of the trip. 12% disapproved. >>> some south koreans are showing their support by swimming to the islets. about 40 people set out on monday morning from south korea's eastern coast. rock star kym jang-hoo is taking part, along with students from the korea national sport university. they'll take turns swimming legs of the 220 kilometer trip. they'll aim to arrive wednesday on the 67th anniversary of korea's liberation from japan's colonial rule. the s

a committee of the south korean national assembly has adopted a resolution on japan in a climate of diplomatic tension. members are demanding an apology and compensation for korean women forced to work in military broth he'll during world war ii. the foreign affairs committee want japan to admit responsibility for so-called comfort women. south korean lawmakers describe what they endured as a crime against universal human values. members urge south korean officials to discuss the matter with their counter parts in japan and elsewhere. a spokesperson for foreign affairs and trade says the government has yet to decide on a course of action. economic progress often comes at a price to the environment. that's something people in vietnam's booming cities know all too well as she struggle through crowded streets, traffic jams and chronic pollution. so they have something to celebrate as the country broke down tuesday on its very first subway line. >> reporter: i'm in the biggest commercial city in vietnam. this is also one of the most important business centers in asia, but the city streets are crow

. >> a committee of the south korean national assembly has adopted a resolution on japan in a climate of diplomatic tension. members are demanding an apology and compensation for korean women forced to work in military brothels during world war ii. they want japan to admit responsibility for so-called comfort women. south korean lawmakers described what they endured as a crime against human values. members urged south korean officials to discuss the matter with their counterparts in japan and elsewhere. a spokesperson says the government has yet to decide on a course of action. >>> japan's ground self defense force has conducted a drill to evacuate a remote island in the event of an emergency. participants played out a scenario in which an island had come under military or terrorist attack. about 30 personnel and 50 residents took part. the residents took a bus to an airport, then a helicopter air lifted them from the island. local governments usually conduct emergency drills involving civilians. the sdf is leading this kind of exercise for the first time. >> translator: it was our fi

ecuador's national assembly has backed a decision to grant asylum to julian assange. the wikileaks founder is still in the ecuadorean us -- embassy in london. supporters fear he will ultimately end up in the united states where he is also a wanted man. several chinese activists have arrived home in hong kong after being deported from japan. they were part of a group which landed without authorization on disputed islands in the east china sea. the islands are controlled by japan. today the indebted nations announced that the veteran algerian diplomat has been appointed the new international envoy to syria. he will replace kofi annan who stepped down as earlier this month, saying his work to broker a cease-fire has been hampered by disunity within the international community. our diplomatic correspondent has more on the tough job ahead. >> this is the syria confronting the new united nations peace envoy. these pictures impossible to verify are thought to show bubbles in a lot of today as fighting continues. the assad regime, able to strike from the air, still has greate

division that we have just this latest example is this resolution just posset the united nations general assembly so a lot of work lies ahead at the united nations for members to try to find a unified position and of course the other big question will next peace process with kofi annan. what's next is difficult to say right now kevin we do know that in two weeks and on july twentieth the united nations observer mission expires in syria whether or not their mandate is going to be extended remains to be seen this is something that russia is certainly calling for we also know that currently bonn ki-moon the u.n. secretary general was in talks with the leader of the arab league to try to find a successor after coffee and on and it's going to be an important role to fill it's going to be important to see what kind of track record that person has and whether or not that person will have a new plant put in place and that's certainly something that's going to play a very major role in the events that are yet to unravel and absolutely. much. the battle for syria's second city aleppo is getting more bloody

in london and take a silence by force i know that moments ago the president of the ecuadorian national assemblycalled a special emergency meeting regarding the u.k. threat to raid the london embassy so it's just going situation going alternately from bad to worse here laura i understand that wiki leaks has also published a scathing statement with regards to britain's can you tell us more about that. that's right we haven't been able to get in touch with himself we know of course that he's building but we. we do apologize here and i was actually speaking to our. live just outside the ecuadorian embassy in london as we are standing by in approximately fifty two and a half minutes we should if everything's on show if you will have a live announcement from the ecuadorian president will ecuador grant the world's number one and whistleblower julian assange will he be given asylum in ecuador do stay with us here on r.t. for details on that for now though before any raid on the embassy of the british government would have to ultimately change the law it's considered to be a sovereign state piece of pro

the united nations general assembly to -- condemned the united nations security council over its failure to tackle the crisis in syria. as international diplomats failed to reach a consensus about what to do, some countries have stepped up with a unilateral assistance providing weapons and training. turkey is one country taking the lead. richard reports from the city near the border. >> a show of force by the turkish military on the border with syria today. tensions rising between the two countries. speculation that turkey may intervene in the syrian conflict. just south of the border in the syrian city, rebels are holding their ground against government forces. better training is paying off. the rebel fighters speaking in this amateur video is a woman who joined the free syrian army in june. i met her over the border in turkey. she told me about the covert military training here that many rebels have now received. >> the training is really a professional. you can only sleep four hours a day. you have to climb mountains, you have to -- it is very hard. and they train you of weapons. >> i

. >>> libya's national assembly is picked its new president a year after they overthrowed the dictator muammar gadhafi. mogarese is a former opposition leader who had lived in exile since the 1980s. he's seen as a moderate islamist. he will lead the 200 member congress whose next job is to select a prime minister. >>> the second special session is now underway in annapolis. we'll tell you if maryland lawmakers are making any head way on the a vote to -- on a vote to expanding gambling. >> at 5:23 which players helped the nationals complete a sweep of worst team in the majors. >> and next at 5:16. howard tells us what lies past today's unsettled weather in his seven day forecast. we'll be back. so i brought you a freshly made sandwich. you made me a sandwich? no, dunkin' did. but i wrote the note. dunkin' bakery sandwiches are freshly made just for you. grab a turkey cheddar bacon sandwich today. america runs on dunkin'. >>> good morning, welcome back to 9news now on this friday morning. it's 5:15. looking forward to the weekend and looking forward to howard's forecast, you say you have

. >> what would you think of having a national general assembly modeled on the original contial

that make up the general assembly at the united nations we have the secretary general of the united nations we have a summit about non-nuclear proliferation and iran is hosting it what is really the controversy here i don't see that you know the the summit is ongoing as we're speaking right here in moscow so we'll have to see how it pans out but the having our u.n. correspondent live in the studio with great pleasure thanks for coming into town. where you're watching r.t. live from the russian capital the u.n. chief ban ki-moon has said he's planning to use the visit to address the crisis in syria in just a few minutes here on r t we look into the latest developments in the country and how world powers can make the media withhold information they don't want the public to see. now ukraine's highest court has rejected an appeal by former prime minister yulia timoshenko against her conviction for abuse of power who was sentenced to seven years in prison last year for a role in agreeing on a gas deal with russia which the current government says has weakened ukraine's economy to show believes t

. >>> the united nations general assembly is expected to pass a resolution today. they have seen the government of syria for attacks on its own people. china and russia have veto power today's resolution is expected to pass. >>> three suspected al qaeda terrorists are locked up in spain this morning. they have stocked piled enough explosives to blow up a bus. there is also evidence they experimented with ultra light planes and aircraft. while they may not discuss possible targets they indicate the suspects could have been plotting to attack the u.s. or england. >>> members of congress are now on a five-week break. i will show you video. those are lawmakers heading out of the capitol. when they return they will decide how to handle the bush era tax cuts. >>> 4:45 at this time. gabby douglas is one of the biggest star in the london olympics. she has won the womens individual all around gymnastic competition. michael phelps has extended his medal total to 20. >>> the u.s. has taken the sole lead in the medal count with 37 now. china is second followed by japan, german

there are one hundred ninety three members of the united nations general assembly and about one hundred twenty of them are going to be in teheran with some kind of diplomatic representation. because that's how many members there are of the nonaligned movement so you know it's a great talking point to say that iran's international isolation will continue but if you look at the totality of the world a large degree of countries maybe don't agree entirely with what the united states led sanctions are doing and what they're seeing to accomplish. doesn't take space just a few days after the u.n. atomic watchdog declared the recent talks with iran had failed israel claim that to run is speeding up its work on a nuclear bomb with the slime of state insisting it's only the syrian peaceful energy some experts believe the west rejection of iran right to the atomic energy could backfire but there's no doubt that iran has quite a bit of support among the nonaligned movement you know among those countries that are the nuclear have nots if you will. they do in fact have a lot of support for the point

. >>> the united nations general assembly meets today as arab countries push a resolution urging syria's president to give up power. >>> now to business where the federal reserve is holding off on any new actions to jump start the economy despite another gloomy outlook on the nation's fiscal situation. however, fed officials hinted the central bank would consider intervening, if necessary, in the coming months. the committee meets again in mid-september. >>> let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. cnbc's karen cho is live in london for us. karen? >> hi, jonathan. yes, the fed decided to sit this one out but also giving a downward assessment of the u.s. economy, so not exactly creating confidence. there had been a lot of chatter in the markets that we might see coordinated action this week by central banks, the fed and the ecb, but the fed, as i said, just decided to sit on the sidelines. we're still waiting to see whether the ecb will come with stimulus today. in terms of commentary, the description of the u.s. economy saying it's decelerat

pushing the syrian process forward and this friday the one hundred ninety three member united nations general assembly is set to vote on a resolution which is not going to be legally binding it will be purely recommendation this text basically condemns the syrian government calling describing the failure of it to pull out of civilian areas it calls on the syrian government to stop the use of heavy weapons and it also condemns the united nations security council for failing to find some sort of tangible solution to the events unraveling on the ground now how prepared is the international community at the u.n. to compromise. well karen interesting really the initial text of this resolution still use the term regime didn't actually use the term regime change but it did call for bashar al assad to step down and this regime change is exactly what the united states and the west have been calling for this entire time and it's also the exactly the kind of language that russia and china vetoed three times at the united nations security council and we've seen yesterday on thursday the second the news broke out

has not been the case we do know that the united nations security council and the united nations general assembly will be focusing on the syrian crisis for the rest of the week and we know that ban ki moon is currently in talks with the arab league to determine kofi annan successor the main battle for syria's largest city is apparently about to begin that's according to the u r a letter has seen heavy fighting between government and rebel forces over the last week but signs that pulling fresh reinforcements to the front line the struggle to seize the initiative rebels are reportedly receiving a growing flow weapons from neighboring turkey through a secret transit hub and revelations and the u.s. media claim the white house has also rise to more cover support for anti assad forces despite their links to al qaida author and historian gerald ford says america's repeating past mistakes by stoking extremism in syria. it's well known that washington basically has perfected the idea of a two trucks foreign policy that is to say on the one hand you can smile when the other hand and mike in the back that'

has not been the case we do know that the united nations security council and the united nations general assembly will be focusing on the syrian crisis for the rest of the week and we know that bunky moon is currently in talks with the arab league to determine kofi annan successor the battle for syria second city aleppo is likely to get even more unplug the un observers report a heavy build up of weapons in the area rebels have been accused of executions and abuses against regime supporters even so revelations in the us media claim washington is funneling more covert aid to the opposition and storing gerald horne says america could pay for stoking extremism in syria it's well known that washington basically has perfected the idea of a two truck foreign policy that is to say on the one hand you can smile when the other hand. in the back that's basically what's happening in syria all this blather about negotiations with the regime is no more than that either they would like to see regime change although as usual i don't think washington has what the consequences there is to say that there is a real

altogether and a new plan put in place remains to be seen we do know also that the united nations general assembly will be holding talks throughout the hours and days to comment so we're waiting to see whether or not some sort of decision or some new developments will be taking place towards the end of the week or i phones for some about you for more coming through the course of the evening first give some more reaction as well know a joy to me. from the syrian social club in london which campaigns for peaceful reform in syria he's joining me on the line now via skype his coach up with him hi there. good to see you. within the past few minutes just coming through. talking about. it shows the failure of russia and china to work to the u.n. security council isn't the fingerpointing continuing therefore if you actually need the russia and china or all of them or have been trying for the past few months to keep these groups are in the security guards who. we know that the last time around when they. were in the security weeks ago they were thinking about. when using your. mum's. number listen there ar

has not been the case we do know that the united nations security council and the united nations general assembly will be focusing on the syrian crisis for the rest of the week and we know that bunky moon is currently in talks with the arab league to determine kofi annan successor several large explosions have been heard in and around the syrian capital damascus activists claim a palestinian refugee camp was shelled killing twenty one people and the ongoing battle for the city of aleppo is apparently about to get even more intense according to u.n. officials aleppo has seen have the fighting between government and rebel forces over the last week rebels are reportedly receiving a growing flow of weapons from neighboring turkey and its gulf allies britain has also pledged more material backing for the insurgency and revelations in the us media claim the white house has authorized further covert support for anti assad forces despite their links to al qaeda author and historian gerald horne says america is repeating past mistakes by stoking extremism in syria. it's well known washington basically has

virtually months of diplomatic deadlock we have one hundred ninety three members of the united nations general assembly having voted on resolution that not only condemns the security council for failing to push forward to any type of solution finding when it comes to the syrian crisis but this is also a text that condemns the syrian government for failing to put down the heavy weaponry and for failing to leave civilian areas we have one hundred thirty three countries having supported this text twelve voted against it and thirty one members abstained so russia has called this text on balanced and one sided and along with china traditionally did not support this text citing that it was more focused on criticizing the syrian government instead of trying to find a real solution to the realistic situation on the ground it's become quite obvious since kofi nouns meant of resignation on thursday that the international community remains pretty much just a split as they were ahead of agreeing on a non six point peace plan as we remember of course the plan included actually left open assad's role in the syrian c

then it went to the national assembly where they voted once, they voted twice and they voted three timesnanimously not to ask but to demand that the united states stop the drone attacks and the u.s. government refused to do that. and so the pakistani people have been going out in huge numbers by the hundreds of thousands protesting the drone strikes. most pakistani people are hate al qaeda, hate the taliban and hate the drone strikes. in fact there was a hole that was just dug recently that showed of the pakistani people who had heard of the drone strikes, because there was not a lot of information the media there as well, 97% of them said that they were against the strikes. 97% of the population. you would think that would tell something to the obama administration, to the pentagon, to the cia that maybe this was not a good program but unfortunately it hasn't. in fact with the u.s. government has done is just transfer this to another country and that is to yemen. the drone strike in yemen under the obama administration began in 2009. the first drone strike was a mistake, hit the wrong t

taking place in teheran you know there are one hundred ninety three members of the united nations general assembly and about one hundred twenty of them are going to be in teheran with some kind of diplomatic representation. because that's how many members there are of the nonaligned movement so you know it's a great talking point to say that iran's international isolation will continue but if you look at the totality of the world a large body of countries maybe don't agree entirely with what the united states led sanctions are doing and what they're seeking to accomplish so it's a great talking point for the iranian government but i think one month from now the nonaligned movement summit will come and go and we'll see a very similar geopolitical picture as we see today before the summit has even come it's to go to reza thank you reza the research director at the national radio american council live in washington. alarming reports from bahrain which say security forces are using toxic gas in some residential areas in the homes of opposition activists the use of tear gas is part of the continuing su