once they have found out they'll swap to seal that hole and all the other gaps on the ship so that once it is partially raised to be able to pump out the water from the ship making it light enough to raise it more easily a very complex operation visibility in the water is very poor for the divers there's a lot of algae in the water at this time and so it's proving to be a drawn out process but one that is crucial for all those people waiting for answers a mountain of cuddly toys never to be played with they the flowers and candles are testament to the children among those who drowned in the pleasure boat the bulgaria sank in the volga last sunday. we started together for a year she never had arguments with anyone she was a very kind girl and was always ready to help. the ship sank in just three minutes turning a summer afternoon on the river into

a scene of horror didn't just is that people were basically buried alive in giant metal coffin we managed to get out through the windows i was there with my ten year old daughter i couldn't rescue her she swallowed too much water when i was pulled out i realized my child was gone in the chaos to escape many other families were also torn apart one five year old boy lost his mother and grandmother and was only kept afloat by a man who grabbed his hand another man unable to hold on to his son in the strong current oil slick had to watch him drown in front of him yuri was the deejay for the disco on the bottom deck he only just managed to escape. and i remember clearly that water was rising very quickly it was a matter of seconds i survived because we saw a broken window and the cellar started pushing people out through it at that moment waves me up on the surface and then. the board was already underwater. over

half the bulgaria's two hundred eight passengers and crew including the captain his wife and child never made it out meanwhile as the arabella another pleasure boat arrived at the scene she was surrounded by people screaming and drowning unable to reach the banks of the vast river three kilometers away. as we approached it was hard to distinguish in the dark water people who were alive from the rubble that was floating around people were in panic when we rescued them in a state of shock some suffering from other traumas they were all covered in oil fuel that was leaking from the sunken ship it was a terrifying picture i have to say despite a huge search and rescue operation after the initial survivors were picked up a few others were found the divers and cranes working in this water have been trying to recover just something of the lives lost and families destroyed in those few terrible minutes but they've also been working on the question that cost so

much why did the bulgaria sink and sink so fast. as the list of bodies recovered from the ship grew so did the number of revelations about an aging dangerous and badly managed vessel eyewitnesses and people connected with the ship came forward with damning accounts of its poor condition and the stingy management who forced it to keep sailing. i became captain of the vessel in two thousand and seven the ship had been renovated for a while before that there were big problems with the engines and power generators to repeatedly mention that to the management and even had an argument with them port authorities say they were lied to the ship was only supposed to carry one hundred forty people but was loaded with over two hundred they were told it was carrying twenty more tales of bound including a broken engine electricity generators failing so that no s.o.s. signal or tunnel instructions could be issued and blocked emergency exits criminal

cases have been opened and arrests being made into the bulgaria sinking and more controversially into why two ships which reached the scene before the arab didn't pick up a single person but reports the crew members instead took pictures on their mobile phones. all the passengers were shocked there were about seventeen people on a raft many had cuts and injuries that were bleeding we yelled for help i saw the board passers by in a different direction towards. the slow process of raising the ball carrier has now started up with it will come the potential for answers but also terrible memories in particular associated with the ship's play room or a group of children were gathered when the ship sank. just some of the young victims in what will go down as one of russia's worst and most avoidable shipping

disasters tom bottom party. well the count. ship who helped to rescue seventy seven people from the sinking boat has been describing the horrific disaster scene interview with us you can see it in just over an hour's time in full right now online on our website. the website has all the latest reports on the. recovery operation since the tragedy happened you can keep up to date. videos.

they're watching the weekly. now the former c.e.o. of rupert murdoch's a british newspaper operations has been arrested by police investigating allegations of phone hacking and bribery. detained in connection with the scandal that's the now defunct news of the world it comes as prime minister david cameron has admitted he's held more than twenty meetings with executives in the. uk is now desperately trying to rescue news corps crumbling reputation today the media mogul apology for the phone hacking scandal. serious wrongdoing on the pages of british newspapers i met the family of a murdered teenager whose voice mail was intercepted. for the cozy relationship between politicians and the press. even. when imitates life the long running simpsons takes the show to

rupert murdoch aka moment. gomery burns in an episode broadcast apparently coincidentally this week. but it's not the only old piece of timing in the extraordinary phone hacking case that seems to get more scandalous every day the list of something like four thousand names which the police have have since about two thousand and four two thousand and five and yet they promise facie evidence of criminal activity by these individuals and boy by the murdoch empire and yet they have not acted on it so why now just as the murdoch deal to take control of satellite t.v. giant b. sky b. sure to go ahead his arch rival the guardian newspaper releases catastrophic allegations of a moral journalists and their shady practices that when the deal collapses the

times for example which currently loses money you could have transferred some of the profits from. into investing in the times and if you are for example or the guardian or the daily telegraph you would welcome that it's not just rival newspapers who stand to gain from murdoch's empire crumbling the b.b.c. could retake t.v. territory lost to b. sky b. and the labor party which was wounded by years of relentless attacks by murdoch papers can finally take revenge but where will all this lead be. you know. that would suit the government just fine the british press is famous for its sharp teeth and no holds barred doggedness particularly where it government is concerned prime minister david cameron has all but shut down the press complaints

commission and. already talks of statutory controls to govern print journalists back in springfield mr burns as the townspeople open up their own newspaper and he's almost right we. can truly the media. rupert murdoch he is one beautiful murdoch found as did mr burns that you just can't borrow all the newspapers those outside his control have been gunning for him think it is and this time they may have succeeded just as he looks set to consolidate control over a launch section of the e.u. case media markets the drug being pulled out from under him and it's all over the hit news scandal now revealed that the police have known about it for you know we're at it. and still ahead of you this hour here on our worries about debt default examine why the u.s.

is on the brink of a financial nightmare and what it might do to try and avoid it. and a four wheeled frenzy as high speed formula one super cars screech right through the center of moscow. russia's foreign minister was in the u.s. capital this week to get clarification on washington's missile defense agenda america is steaming ahead with deploying its and he missed our shield in europe despite clear objections from moscow the u.s. claims the project is aimed at protecting the continent from any potential attack from iran or north korea but russia feels the system could compromise its own nuclear arsenal suggested a joint missile defense program that's being brushed aside by washington and nato the us is also refusing to provide legally binding guarantees that its system is not aimed against russia so he left it off stressed to voice of russia radio station in washington over the need to prevent a new arms race. on the ground that being created on the big. so if

a miracle national design of missile defense which was not accepted by us is a reasonable way to respond to what is there sieved as being the purpose of the system we want at this particular moment to stick to the original agreement that there would be no parts of the system which would. compromise which would. create three six for the strategic stability and for the but then the strategic stability area and they move through the course in the last of the participants of the system now a quarter past the hour here in moscow you're watching the weekly a new round of nato airstrikes has rattled the suburbs of the libyan capital tripoli as colonel gadhafi vowed never to leave his country in the face of assaults by the alliance and the rebels this comes after the opposition became the legitimate authority in the country in the eyes of more nations the u.s.

and more than thirty other states recognize them at a diplomatic meeting on friday saying they would deal with them until an interim government is in place the recognition by the contact group of libya also gives the rebels access to billions of dollars of khadafi has frozen assets in u.s. banks political commentator ted rall says the move is a radical shift from the international standpoint. the united states usually doesn't extend diplomatic recognition to a regime that is not in the capital that isn't in power and doesn't even seem likely to be able to achieve power anytime soon but you can look at the situation in afghanistan during the one thousand nine hundred sixty two thousand and one civil conflict there between the taliban in the northern alliance the northern alliance were the former regime that had power in kabul and the joint diplomatic relations with the west even though the taleban controlled ninety five percent of the country it's almost just wishful thinking and frankly if i were

a diplomat i would find it disturbing it's a bizarre situation i mean if the us. knows who these people are they're not seeing and certainly there's no doubt that traditionally there's always been a very big component that you find easy in around because it so it's unrealistic to assume that that is not still the case the u.s. isn't amazing it should be skids full of hundred dollar bills to third world countries and expecting them to end up in the right can't. really going to. be high level recognition of the rebels may bolster their spirit but it's a different story in combat fierce fighting for a key eastern oil town has ended with heavy casualties among the opposition and as artie's it daniel bushell reports it's thought france is now trying to talking tactic with the libyan regime after failing to deliver a knockout punch to khadafi books is like bragging will destroy their reported lives they're often wrong and gets a surprise all right thank you french foreign minister should

pay both did france would libya in quote days or weeks the war's into a fourth month no final round inside nicolas sarkozy with his western allies seem short their little opponents fighting back well it's not just an embarrassment for sarkozy it's an embarrassment for all nato for the whole west paris even admits libya's rebels but in turn some somalia. went to libya for training within the last two or three years just documented we have to fly records and everything else so it seems strange in many ways the whole western support of some of the rebel groups in libya must be questioned because in some cases i think we are effectively arming al-qaeda. it's all making a mockery of the un vote on foreign intervention in the country.

giving. none of. this. witnesses nato bombing of libya is causing widespread atrocities for every one military person that was supposedly a casualty there were ten civilians for all it's categorically ruled out sending ground troops to take sports predict is the only way now to break the libyan deadlock the moves the splitting the nato coalition silvio berlusconi head of key partner italy admits invading libya was a mistake russia abstained did the un's vote warning foreign bombs would bring havoc in libya to play said the latest talks with counterpart sergey lavrov will quote lloyd lead diplomat speak for a blazing row with elections just annoying months away sako advisers said a successful war could resurrect his chances instead one paper writes libya's

becoming a slow motion call crash for france's deeply unpopular president. so because these a jogging found excessive sweating is understandable this is libyan spring is turning into a mouse and the new bush will see paris. now venezuelan president hugo chavez is back in cuba for more cancer treatment including chemotherapy he's transferred some powers to his ministers during his absence but didn't agree to opposition calls for a temporary handover of all presidential authority for more on the current situation in venezuela let's now i speak to an expert on latin american politics adrian cell which was talking to us via broadband from up what i'm sorry i thank you for joining us today so officially. says he still plans to run for reelection next year but just how much of an issue are these health problems to the country's political process. well no doubt the origin issue because of the varian

government or regime in venezuela is very much center of mr if you will although he is rather ill he has to again go to cuba for therapy he has not relinquish power as the opposition at the national assembly requested but rather he has delegated some of his functions to the executive vice president and the how up to the minister of planning and finance minister. the problem here being that he's regina council a lot of internal and external opposition adversaries notably funded and supported politically economically and eventually even militarily baby united states of america and the united states is clearly bent on making its regina change policies which we are seeing now in north africa and in the middle east bring them over to latin america from i'm speaking from one as i was in argentina i'm particularly concerned that hugo chavez's health problems will debilitate will weaken the present government in israel and that can be seen as an opportunity by the united

states or rather by the global power elite that operate from the united states to promote routine change in venezuela and if it starts in venezuela it will no doubt spread to other countries notably ecuador bolivia perhaps you can argue that it is very interesting that you bring up the issue of america here in the so-called global elite because a chavez has been so anti washington for years now he's very very outspoken in condemning american policies around the world and he has alliances with cuba iran and syria and what the wider implications be then of any change to the region we talk about regime change is that really the main focus here well no doubt about it we are seeing now how the global power elite insist to work from washington from london but are not identified with the people of britain of britain or the people of america rather they have their own agenda their number one enemy is just. sovereign nation state which helps to explain what we have seen in libya what we

are seeing in the middle east and north africa even in the european countries with different methods and that we will very likely see throughout latin america now mr chivers has correctly assessed the problem in the sense that there is a global agenda perhaps his tactics are wrong or not the best because he has been too open in his support of libya in his support of iran and that in a way has isolated him and put him. over the problem for example countries like colombia that are pro united states or brazil which is also quite pro united states so he might be left on his own but irrespective of the tactics which may be good or bad very often when you face a powerful enemy you have to be warm discreet and less outspoken but nevertheless i believe that the diagnosis that mr cho has just made the spirit we might be able to argue whether his tactics are the best considering the circumstances and we do know that chavez and cuba's fidel castro a very very close friends and deed of venezuela is also critical to cuba's

stability given the kind of close alliance between the two nations how would any changes in caracas affect the situation in cuba do you think. well you know there is a very very all the grieving that goes back to the former soviet union after the cuban missile crisis and the berlin wall crisis where by america has accepted it strategically to be hands off cuba so i i wouldn't invision another bay of pigs invasion on cue whatever however venizelos a different story altogether and i think that the cubans are making an intelligent and stable transition which of in israel will not be able to do so if anything i foresee that in the coming months i hope i'm wrong but in the coming months and years there will be increasing activity from the united states and its allies to promote regime change throughout latin america which will eventually help also to bring about regime change in cuba. south which he an expert on latin american politics many thanks. you. well time is running out for american

politicians to agree on the next move in sorting out its soaring debt the deadline to lift the nation's fourteen point three trillion dollars debt ceiling is looming ever closer as lawmakers struggle to find a solution president obama is urging democrats and republicans to ignore their differences to quote avert armageddon leading credit rating agencies say there's a risk that you can us rather could fail to resolve the deadlock quickly or effectively but zeke miller from the business insider says both parties understand the dangers of the borrowing. and the impact on the u.s. economy the world economy and the global economy really depends on what the credit agencies do and you know we heard from moody's on wednesday and then from s. and p. both warning severe consequences if the government doesn't raise the debt ceiling in time including a possible downgrade from the government's aaa rating and that increases borrowing costs not just for the federal government but for seven thousand melissa pallies across the country the united states i don't think anybody thinks united states is

getting away with a longer they've sort of reached the point where every everybody in both parties agrees that the debt is just too high and they're just they can't borrow any more you can't be borrowing for you know annual expenditures it's not a sustainable model for any country if this debt ceiling goes up or if the u.s. credit rating is downgraded and that would have you know sort of the current the current recession and slow down the recovery. well i things are a little better in europe with italy now the focus of stopping the euro zone heading into oblivion rome's approved tough seventy billion euro cuts package to avoid a debt wipeout it's the euro zone's third largest economy could prove too big for its neighbors to bail out meanwhile eight of ninety european banks have failed stress tests to see if they could survive another financial crisis economics professor patrick min food says some e.q. countries might have to accept default as wealthy nations no longer wants of pain for the costly rescue. and i think we've known all along that a lot of banks in europe and in the north would not pass stress tests if these

stress tests included the possibility of sovereign default because of course they've got loads of greek and portuguese and spanish debt and so there was never any question that one of the reasons why it might be in germany is interest to bail out greece is that it's if it doesn't it's going to have a banking crisis of its own and will have to bail out its own banks but i think the judgment of the taxpayer is they'd rather bail out their own banks if they have to then keep on giving money to greeks who may never get to give it back to them so there's no bailout really impressed by easy rich northern countries and therefore the other countries have to think of some way of getting by and that's going to be default. watching the weekly here on our two years we highlight the top headlines of the past week the finale will pause and have a look at today's headlines from around the world u.s. led coalition has started handing over control of some of afghanistan's territories

to local security forces the central region has become the first of seven areas where that's to happen the head of the end of nato is combat operations in the country in two thousand and fourteen senior ministers and the foreign ambassadors marked the event by visiting the province which remained relatively peaceful throughout the near decade long occupation of afghanistan. egypt's prime minister has begun a major cabinet reshuffle after public protests demanding political reform again flared up in the country the foreign minister has resigned while two new deputy prime ministers have been appointed the interim prime minister's been forced to make changes after widespread anger that little appears to have changed since president mubarak was ousted. well several moscow streets were impossible on sunday afternoon but not because of the notorious traffic jams they were sealed off to temporarily become the realm of the fast and furious in a four wheel frenzy of the annual moscow city racing show drivers were pushing the

pedal to the metal in doing each other tv's top gear team were there to kick all off or rather push it all off and this unlucky miss on punching seventy meters at the end of a bungee yes there was somebody inside a female member of the audience strapped in both woman and machine emerged. and even the heavy rain couldn't stop former ones cars speeding right past the kremlin a sort of rehearsal for the f one grand prix which russia will host in about three years time. great pitches there i'll be back with today's on this week's headlines in just a few moments don't go away. you're

watching of the week here on r t with the today's top stories and the best headlines in the past seven days rescuers are preparing to lift a russian cruiser from the bottom of the volga river in the matter of minutes last sunday claiming around one hundred thirty lives the operation will provide answers as to why the catastrophe happened in the first. former c.e.o. in the u.k. is arrested as part of investigations in. phone hacking and police bribery at the news of the world the media mogul has repeated his apologies on ethical practices by the newspaper in an effort to save his empire is crumbling reputation. libyan

rebels now have a full diplomatic recognition from washington with access to these assets frozen in the u.s. . has intensified attacks on the capital tripoli. to oust the libyan leader never to leave. us intercontinental cash crunch as america faces up to the possibility of default europe's debt crisis contagion piles more pressure on the euro the u.s. congress needs to raise the debt ceiling to avoid financial disaster italy is on the verge of needing about. parts of my colleague bring you all the latest news in half an hour's time but for now award winning documentary about one of the biggest environmental and human rights disasters in american history thanks for watching. leg

lewis blayse says good. sled to start a leg. a. long. pole a good leg long lucky i am led.