inheriting the revolution a new venezuelan leader will be chosen next month for questions mount over foreign influence in the oil rich nation after the death of its longtime president hugo chavez's. football for violent clashes in gulf egypt after the courts confirmed death sentences and announced new penalties for participants in last year's deadly football riot the growing unrest also highlighted concerns over military rule in the country. ballet dancer from the bolshoi theatre is facing twelve years behind bars for planning an attack which left his boss nearly blinded behind the scenes for examine the dark side of life in the spotlight. and tens of thousands gather across japan to show their opposition to the use of nuclear energy with the two year anniversary of the fukushima nuclear disaster approaching we

examine the impact that the nuclear meltdown had on how the world perceives atomic power. good morning delighted to have you company money is kevin zero in this is the weekly live from moscow a roundup of the big stories of the last seven days and first we focus on venezuela which has now set the date to pick the successor to the late president hugo chavez who died from a heart attack after that two year battle with cancer on tuesday the election will take place on april fourteenth that will determine whether his revolution revision will live on lizzi feelin for martys ruptly video agencies closely watching the political situation in caracas this is the latest from. vice president nicolas maduro sworn in as the president and so elections take place some voices in the

opposition know to believe that man who is the main opposition. who have called the swearing in. hugo chavez personally appointed. the man that he wanted to succeed him and of course hugo chavez the late president has immense popularity and by the way the russian f.m. love rock has said that he hopes that heritage continues to deepen the ties between russia and venezuela and he's also said that he hopes that russia will respect the outcome of venezuela and that elections and he hopes that all countries around the world again referring to the fact that bad being many outside powers he would like to see and. among many condolences coming from inside and outside venezuela there was a very good statement coming from chavez's last election and. he said he was mourning this loss and that he had never been his enemy but his rival i think is

a very respectful attitude and i hope in the following election battle mourning the loss of venezuela and its friends including russia we have to look forward and i hope chavez's heritage will only help to deepen our partnership the majority in venezuela want to shop at his policies to continue. the choice of the venezuelan people. or the countries that have relations with them as well as you say and there was no attempt to influence that choice. amongst the crowds you know we've been there quite a lot over the last few days and one of the most popular chance is with chavez and i thought other people are safe when he was sworn in in the national assembly that was very emotional crowd support for him and he announced that he has to continue the revolution he was very emotional he was in tears as he took the presidential sash and he said that the sash that he was taking belonged to. well now the body of a child will rest on public display in a glass crystal casket leaders from around the globe and thousands of venezuela

mourners gathered to pay their respects to the late coming down here on friday but while there was great for the streets of caracas there was a different tone emerging from washington covering that side of the story now what is going to teach you can. communities of people throughout latin america are mourning the death of this the venezuelan leader enjoyed tremendous popular support in his country as well as the whole region he won four presidential elections and had ruled venezuela for fourteen years says you see this liberation process not only on the venezuelan people but also of all the latin american peoples must continue. chavis allowed us to restore faith in latin america region so that a profound transformation in the region can be carried out that's the only guards and the empire will no doubt be happy and celebrating the new empire is the word a host of south american leaders and used to refer to the united states in washington president obama extended his sympathy to the chavez family and herald it

quote a new chapter in the history of latin america but the u.s. congress was not as restrained in their reaction to the death of the venezuelan leader the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee had this to say his death then the lines of anti us leftist leaders in south america good riddance to this dictator in the media a slew of hundreds embarked on a search for new opportunities that might now be available for the u.s. in venezuela. so what does this mean now for the united states and all that oil in that country venezuela is a place of enormous opportunity it has by survey's perhaps the largest reserves of oil in the world from the u.s. point of view this has enormous potential implications because a venezuela that moves away from chavez is foreign policy means a venezuela that's less welcoming to iran less friendly to russia less friendly to castro's cuba less friendly to leftwing regimes around the hemisphere which is

financed in their campaigns and and other aspects but before america jumps at the chance to explore those new opportunities it might be useful to look back at what washington's previous efforts led to what they. us now calls leftist populist governments in latin america came to power partly in reaction to decades of the us recklessly meddling in the affairs of the region for years washington had seen many of those countries as its outposts after chavez was elected in one thousand nine hundred nine a host of other leaders in latin america followed his example to varying extents including but not limited to ever morales in bolivia rafael correa in ecuador and daniel ortega in nicaragua charges may not have been as hardened in his views against washington if not for allegations of the tacit support of the bush administration in the coup against him in two thousand and two he met with bill clinton a couple times and they got along just fine it was really only with george bush

then when things really were turned sour and especially after the coup attempt within forty eight hours of the start of the cool with the help of the military and vast popular support chavis returned to power. but during that short period when he was deposed some in the us hurried to celebrate the new york times for example ran this article venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by would be dictator caracas name provides fifteen percent of american oil imports and with standard policies could provide more years after the clean chalice expressed his anger at the bush administration in a variety of fiery metaphors a year or two or the other the devil came here yesterday. and it still smells of sulfur here george w. bush has long left office but suspicion and mistrust remain some argue if during

these challenging times for latin america washington continues to deal with the region using the same old tactics the hostility could be playing in washington i'm kind of shaken. so washington may be hoping the death of its most vocal critic in latin america is going to result in an increase of its influence investigative journalist pepe escobar though says the u.s. will struggle to win over the venezuelan population. in fact obama's message was a bit ridiculous you know he said that we're going to stand united with the venezuelan people what kind of people does he mean does he mean that the people who elected and reelected chavez in thirteen out of fourteen democratic elections or does he mean these people go to new york and miami to trade martinis endemol nice job isn't a job used as evil dangerous communist this is ridiculous the most important thing in my opinion chavez in terms of a political leader he was always that referring to an international revolutionary

tradition from outside to check with he was like a nailed fix of geopolitics of more there geopolitics bigger than now in fact because of the war almost all direct. and the same is why this is the morning edition of chavez the even foster. growth believe especially in the u.s. first of all venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world so the united states and european union they can say all you need this wall forcing all you need just love to those ghastly petrol monarchies in the persian gulf but even as well as the leader of an israel of this sided to use the oil wells for the benefit of the lower classes a bit as well this is something unheard of in the persian gulf. another

verdict sparking another roy it again in egypt saturday's court ruling to uphold twenty one death sentences over the portside stadium killings lead to a further round of violent clashes the death penalties were for last year's deadly football watch during a match with one cairo import sybase clubs another five life terms were also handed down the announcement in sparking an outcry in both cities three people died in ensuing clashes in the capital were angry crowds torched police and football federation buildings you saw he's already been struggling to maintain security in port side which saw a week of deadly violence leading up to the verdict to the army's now taken over security in the city with at least seven people killed bell troops following developments for us at r.t. . court so i got to the security headquarters is a powerful reminder of the past five days of bloody clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in a bid to quell on rest a day ahead of the contentious verdict on last february's football riots the

government removed the police and put the city security in the hands of the army activists here say a military takeover will only antagonize the situation and is an example of president mohamed morsi ignoring their demands this is. the government has forgotten our main needs or the rights of the people and those who have been killed in port so you'd is not going to be more secure with the withdrawal of the police but it won't help us at all the ports are you doctor says are supposed to be in the street taking care of the country that's what we asked for with the police leaving there will be chaos now the people will have to secure the city themselves tension between protesters and the police has been high since last year's riots and when the military replaced them on the city streets there was an initial optimism but that all changed after the court's decision the atmosphere changed on saturday when the verdict confirmed that twenty one people will face the death penalty and a further five or seven license. says residents here say that the army will not

protect them as the local authorities bowed to pressure from the capital that's a funeral for protesters killed during the recent clashes and the spicy sound of the green eagles culture is put saeed's football fan club says the police used excessive force against local demonstrators treating them worse than the counterparts in cairo he believes the death sentences are further proof the city is being targeted toward side has been persecuted for the last thirty years and president mohamed morsi is keeping the status quo created by the last regime the president wants to wrong the people of portside and instead satisfy the cairo old tribes who are widespread across the country now there is a risk of everyone being racist towards portside aid the military for their part to maintain they are protective peaceful force and that portside protesters have not been singled out they say police are merely responding to the level of violence

from those attacking key government buildings meanwhile on the banks of the suez canal protesters burn tires to prevent boats from ducking saying they will escalate acts of civil disobedience and till there is a fair trial with further violence on the horizon this could be the toughest challenge yet for morsi and his military true for r t. well polls also monitoring the situation in egypt on twitter as well you can follow of the latest developments what's happening on the ground there to see the place offices and officials also received fifteen year sentences in the latest ruling was seven others walked free and it's that the cause much of the public political activists with no give told me that some interior ministry officials are actually the troublemakers. the results are definitely not satisfactory not just for the football fans the ultras but for the entire nation seventy eight young people got killed and yet two of the ministry of interior officials are the ones on trial

president morsi had a couple of months ago appointed a fact finding committee that implicates fifty six other members of the ministry of interior this report was not taken into consideration at court and only two of those officials were scapegoats hence the issue escalates on the streets more because this is nothing but a political fiasco rather than. court proceedings where the people want is a fair trial for our those who are. implicated not those who actually killed the people with their own hands but those who were behind them supporting them financing them and giving them the plan those are the two murders because they continue to be on the streets in key. places such as the ministry of interior the national security and some of them are in the intelligence community the president needs to take very severe measures of radical measures in cleansing the state

institutions of the loyalists to the mubarak's he's not being doing so on the country he's promoted some of them he's trying to co-opt them and it's not working and it's only blowing in his face and he needs to present the real guarantees for the political process to resume fairly. much more had to restore the bolshoi theatre in custody for putting the talk on his boss which he claims was more than he expected we're following that up also to. head to the polls to vote whether to remain a british rule territory. bring your pain in the u.k. and just a bit later in the program also to atomic off the tens of thousands of protesting japan's use of nuclear power as the two year anniversary. of the fukushima nuclear

meltdown after the break we examine why the country is reluctant to choose another and insults. part b. she faces a freedom fighter. ready to clean up a new sort of. liberty . salute free. but. not. to be treated this way.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are today. hello again japan is nearing the two year anniversary of one of the darkest days in its history in march twentieth eleven that earthquake and the tsunami triggered the fukushima nuclear disaster the country's continued use of atomic power has been cause for discontent ever since among people in japan tens of thousands of protesters indeed gathered across to the march against atomic power on sunday they're demanding the japan turns its back on nuclear power completely but prime minister shinzo army is considering reactivating some of the nuclear reactors the

deadly tidal wave tremors that struck japan in twenty eleven killed over fifteen thousand people may cause that melt and you can see we're releasing radioactive materials nuclear security expert matthew mccaskey told me that your plan is backed into a corner because of over alliance on energy imports. trains are be comes from the liberal democratic party that for many years has had a very close relationship with nuclear energy but also one has to remember that japan at this very moment is in a very bad position when it comes to its economy and its dependency on fossil fuels from overseas there is us many as much as about eighty percent of it that is imported energy being imported into dependency on oil from overseas is certainly a very very dangerous game and we can just have

a look at what happened last year during summer twenty twelth power breakages in talk the amount of cotton ball the cost of energy in tucker alone rose by about eight point five percent and the figures that have been created recently by the institute of energy economics. estimate that us much us around four hundred twenty two thousand jobs could be cut if japan was to phase out all its nuclear energy. you clear expert matthew mccaskey there talking to me the people for holding a two day referendum about whether to remain a british overseas territory or not the u.k.'s hoping for international backing in its dispute with the islands in argentina should the majority say yes one is always those opposing the poll saying it's got no validity british m.p. george galloway agrees with that saying the u.k. claims are rooted in its colonial past and of therefore outdated these are settlers the majority of them were not born on the falklands they have been sent there by

the british to establish a colonial claim and the days of that belong in the eighteenth maybe even mid nineteenth centuries not in the twenty first so i'm afraid the sovereignty does not lie with the people of the falkland islands because while most of them are british and british cannot dictate what happens tens of thousands of kilometers away in the south atlantic those days are long gone but britain beating its chest in the echo of its former in the past just simply refuses to do it and that's unacceptable i didn't dangers our interests in latin america which is one of the few parts of the globe that is economically thrusting ahead and we are prejudicing fatally our interests and our reputation in latin america by continuing to attempt to hold on

to this appendage of british colonial rule. also george galloway we're reporting online tonight about a collision in space don't panic too much though but you'll gonna want to read it i think a small russian spacecraft made a big bang after it was struck by residents of a decommissioned chinese satellite is a message there they say it's not the second such space collision in the history of reporting on the cosmic garbage bodice even at r.t. dot com also live now to this story stonehenge is history may not be carved in stone this new theory making the revolutionary suggestion that the priest or at money was originally a graveyard in a venue for mass celebrations that unify the whole of prehistoric britain discoverable article. of all choice here to ballet dancer is facing up to twelve years in prison for masterminding an attack on his boss puddle demitra chunka is in custody tonight along with two others involved in the assault charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm the artistic director of

the bolshoi ballet sergei filin was nearly blinded after he had acid splashed in his face here in moscow in january he's now undergoing extensive treatment in germany still at the pretrial hearing earlier this week publicly to claim he did order the assault although he says he didn't intend it to be an acid attack it's thought he had a number of disagreements with his boss while his girlfriend a ballerina there too complained about being rejected for some leading roles artie's entertainment reporter martin andrews told my colleague my treasure a bit earlier about the ugliest side of the artistic world. in the front of the theater you see a beautiful production but really the drama backstage is i think it's everyday life in a production house and that's what it is it's a factory from from the problems with the understudies from the problems because thing from the problems of of management who were dancers they were bitter about their faded career it's not an easy world to be in obviously. the rivalries between companies within moscow and with the mets and the skull and they all want to be at

the top of their game and tensions are always high and fraud and this is the first time we've had these sort of things happen right well this is certainly a very severe but there been other kind of scandals well this is this it's called drama for a reason if a year ago stravinsky's rite of spring was postponed and in fact one of the dances that. she was actually said that she was threatened by various people and she she actually went over to canada in fear of her life in fear of that it would escalate beast and she was between the theatrical ballet world would escalate into violence and obviously as we see with the result. that happened in january it happens and this may reduce it down to a level of a cliche but we have this blockbuster movie black swan that cloud that's absolutely what it's like with the black swan film nothing portman really highlights the you know the extremities and the tensions and especially with the with the management with the hiring in the firing it's everyday life and it's sometimes it can seem

like a wonderful place to work but it they reality is somewhat different. more news now making headlines around the globe a great british an italian authorities all believe seven international whole cities being held in nigeria have been killed they were kidnapped by the i'm sorry extremist group in the north of the country last month the workers from the u.k. greece italy lebanon and the philippines are allegedly killed in retaliation for a joint british nigerian military attempt to rescue the prisoners william hague the british foreign minister has condemned the deaths as cold blooded murder. testers in azerbaijan are being caught in an onslaught of rubber bullets and water cannons fired by police as they marched against deadly hazing in the army the protesters one of many sparked by the sudden death of a soldier in january the defense ministry initially announced a heart attack as the cause of death before eventually opening an investigation for other soldiers is since going to rest on. defense secretary hagel denied any secret talks with the taliban in catarrh as previously accused by afghan president hamid

karzai the group officially suspended discussions over a year ago calling american statements shaky and erratic the afghan government has been pushing for the taliban to return to the negotiating table in an attempt to try to pacify mounting tensions before the u.s. led troops pull out in twenty fourteen on saturday then two suicide bombs went off as the new american defense secretary arrived in kabul to meet government officials or. syrian rebels have released twenty one un peacekeepers after holding them captive for three days in the golan heights the philippine observers were transported to jordan instead of being handed over to a u.n. team and as artists policy or found the hostage crisis highlights concerns over radical elements in syrian opposition groups who could be benefiting from western and arab states support. the peacekeepers crossed into jordan on saturday afternoon after having been captured back on wednesday the rebels themselves moved the hostages off to a u.n. team inside syria was prevented from doing so because of heavy fire slicer in the

area now the un secretary general ban ki moon has welcomed their release but he has said that all sides in the conflict must respect the united nations impartiality what we do know is that the peacekeepers were held in the village of jamila which is about ten kilometers north of jordan by a group calling itself the young martyrs brigade it is important to point out that those who were unarmed they were initially taken hostage as human shields and that is according to the initial statement that was made by the rebel faction that captured them the rebels demanded that syrian government forces pull back from a nearby village and clearly stated that they were holding the u.n. team to ensure that the rebels wouldn't be shelled by government forces it was only off to the united nations international officials the heads of the syrian opposition as well as the free syrian army condemned the hostage taking that the rebel faction backtracked on that statements and said that the peacekeepers were so

called gifts they also at that stage dropped all preconditions for their release what this does do is that it highlights the fact that the opposition is becoming increasingly radicalized the armed rebel force consists of numerous groups like the ones that took the steering team hostage and what we see is that these groups are not coordinated and they don't always onset to a central rebel political and military command in this case clearly the rebel chiefs had not been warned about this hostage taking in advance and the only intervened after the hostages were taken it is an unprecedented incident it is the first time that u.n. workers have been taken hostage inside syria it is also stoking fears that foreign countries which are supporting the rebels are in fact supporting people. could turn against him as we saw in this case and there are also growing fears that weapons being smuggled to the rebels from abroad could be turned against the united nations or anyone else all of this coming as the united states and its allies are beefing

up support to the opposition which is demanding that the west stop openly arming them turkey and the gulf states already allegedly arming the rebels and have been doing so for the past two years of the conflict. mounted an apology from its neighbor in the south after souls' threat to quote vanished north korea from the earth the secluded nation says it considers the state with an open declaration of war this follows pyongyang's official nullifying of non-aggression pact and scrapping a hotline to seoul as well in an angry response to the latest round of un sanctions imposed this week the tit for tat exchange started on thursday when the u.n. adopted a resolution tightening financial restrictions on north korea pyongyang responded by threat in the us with a preemptive nuclear strike to it washington said it's ready and could prevent such an attack rules imposed by the security council following previous nuclear tests and rocket launches have all failed to curb pyongyang so far martin drole from the

korean friendship association told us that washington's bully boy tactics limit the chances of disarmament dialogue anyway. so it's clear that the united nations in the security council particularly is interested only in maintaining the current balance of what the german isn't interested in independent nations acquiring the return themselves even in the face of the lack of any kind of peace treaty which is of the form of the united states government that it would look really to been pursuing peace ever since the armistice agreement was signed while we can expect is that the united nations for continuing to fully north korea which is effectively what's happening all of those it's really just showing they don't like the fact that north korea is asserting itself in world politics and was not really playing word games with nobody not practicing or sharing with other countries they're on their own for self-defense and that's off joy to join i should think so for the united states to think that we can continue to vote for the pure it without any kind of.