i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture was. the death toll from devastating floods in the south of russia has topped one hundred seventeen thousands of homes a swarm to many people injured in the resort regions of the worst disaster ever. the clash of words while syria burns the u.s. lashes out of russia over the drawn out crisis chief international envoy to syria tries to draw attention to other countries he says are pushing the conflict with arms and cash. suspense of the ecuadoran embassy in london is julian assange extradition deadline passes with the whistleblower waiting on his asylum request.

with a look back at the top stories from the past seven days and the latest developments this is the weekly on. russia's krasnodar region is coming to terms with the sheer scale of the devastation inflicted after flash floods struck overnight on friday many people woke up to a nightmare with their loved ones simply washed away into the darkness at least one hundred seventy one people died in the deluge thousands of houses were swamped affecting more than twenty thousand residents. in the worst hit he spoke to some of the survivors of the tragedy. you can see here behind me the river next to the town of crims all the devry that's been floated into there by that deluge of water that came into the night and here we can see just a little part of the damage that that immense amount of water did this small house close to the river one of the worst hit one of the first hit it pushed this

carriage down with ease up against the side of the house the struts there have been pushed out there brick road into the front garden the friends has been pushed down and all around this town the first. people are starting to come back to the house to try and assess some of the damage and some of the costs of all of this water many of them really in a state of shock they may have survived that night but the cost to this town and all the damage are immense but i don't know but my cousin woke me up at around one am until this to get out we found ourselves kneedeep in water but i jumped out of the window while my wife went back to get our papers she could not get a chance so i had to run to the back of the house by then the doors of the room will blocked so i broke the window and pulled her out the water was all over the house. i go to the house in come to the faint so the stream wouldn't wash me away

then too late cool men came up and helped me onto an emergency truck and iciness i got up there i saw my neighbors very collapse particularly this used to be living room this used to be her bedroom the house has been completely gutted from the inside by the router which came right up to the tops of the windows with milla managed to escape and sat there and right on a neighbor's fence where the house collapsed she was perhaps you will know his neighbors say just down the road a neighbor on a river and had her house collapse on top of thousands of workers with heavy equipment trying to clean up the fast amounts of deborah and to provide people with shelter and with food but things are becoming more difficult as time wears on food supplies short people here are exhausted they are hungry and increasingly they're angry. russian president vladimir putin flew over the area and it's come and

met local leaders to try and decide what should be done to help people here as best possible and he's demanded an inquiry looking into if there could have been moved things that could have been done to help protect this town and its citizens and the region from the floods swept through here and floods that have claimed so many lives. reporting there in the deadly floods in southern russia sent reverberations across the country the region is a massive tourist hub with thousands of holiday makers heading there every summer but with travel and communications now paralyzed news about friends and loved ones caught up in the disaster area is limited his art is current or archie. i'm here in moscow standing in front of one of the major transportation halts this train station behind me are where the trains depart to head into and we've been seeing cancellations and delays but more importantly it's the families who are suffering

families of those people who are still stranded in crossing and they can't even reach them let alone not by train but even by telephone a lot of the electricity is still out over there and so you really can't make any sort of phone calls to find out what's going on there on the ground so a lot of fear a lot of concern but you also have children in summer camps it's a very popular spot for children to relax throughout the summer and while most of the children in these camps have been evacuated still many are unaccounted for and parents here telling me today that they just want to find out if everything is alright keep in mind no question about that is right by all the right on the black sea and the main port is also dealing with the runoff of houses and dead bodies as well as even a sewage leak so on top of the catastrophe that's going on you have people in the area who can't even get fresh water or food so a very major situation going on right now and it's affecting not only the people

there but people throughout russia as well. for the first time in months anti-government protests all nor the whole russia's blogosphere discussion of the floods and dominating chats and artie's the ban that say looks at some of the controversial comments. the blogs years have been buzzing obviously giving support and also reiterating the shock of this disaster more importantly sharing some of the witness accounts and just sending support to the people who have been affected by this you know social media is a place where people can share their thoughts they can debate about things that are important to them but what i really want to share with you is some of the tweets and some of the messages that really shocked me and i want to start off with this tweet that we got now it says those did should blame themselves they voted for this stability now as any human being with any hard do you think how careless can somebody write that and tweeted to the rest of the world this is a tragedy that's happening we should be supporting these people who have been

affected by such they've lost their livelihoods some have lost their you know their families they need support now i just want to go to another tweet here this is some of the political jabs that some people have been using twitter and some other than social medias to politicize things it goes the most important thing now is to make sure putin doesn't fly a fire extinguishing aircraft as he normally does and discharge more water on the city now seriously i mean this is a time when people should be coming together it's not time for politics it's time for people to rally and go help those people thirteen thousand of those people are going to be displaced after this tragedy it's really just a political jab now lost what i think is the most important this is what people should really and this is what people have been pushing towards is this tweet that goes flying all of two crimps urge everyone to forget about the political views and help the people that's really what's important now. chris williams from new york's

pace university says the flooding could be just one of the more dark consequences of climate change. well i think scientists generally would be very wary of describing any individual weather events no matter how extreme to definitively to get global warming but i think you can certainly say that if you look at the massive flooding here or the wildfires in siberia or the fires across the southwest united states the flooding in the midwest last year or the fires around moscow in two thousand and ten there's a pattern site to develop but by you you can say that things to extreme weather events that were maybe only happen every decade or two every twenty years and now it's going to happen with increasing frequency so you're getting every two to five years. and he joins some of the rescue teams in the desperate search for survivors amidst the devastation we were told the emergency ministry units just got a call from this neighborhood saying that people heard loud screaming during the

floods and actually right now emergency ministry group with surge dogs they're trying to find the survivors. as you can see right over there. rescue teams always do a thorough examination of every meter of the debris site and may still be oxygen under the debris so there is hope that there could still be survivors trapped underneath. sadly emergency workers did not find any survivors this time but they went on with their work with spoke to the couple who called them and they are still in shock at what was happening to them. that's where the water level was at its peak at first the waist high flood threw me right into the corner over there luckily i managed to grab the one that was tied then i called up and over the

railing and got inside the house and then i just climbed the ladder all. there are many theories and rumors surrounding the krims disaster some people doubt that the flood was caused by severe tarantula rain alone they claim that it could have been water discharged from the nearby reservoir but russian investigators working at the scene deny those claims they say all surrounding them are intact and they were functioning properly. in this particular case. sort of lodging during the rains which accumulated a huge amount of water any kind of deliberate or to discharge is technically impossible it has a mobile flow pipe early success. so the search for survivors here and groups continues and there is still hope that more lives will be saved. we calculate in who's in engineer of hydro power systems that are usually constructed so that discharge water is pose no threat to

nearby residential areas. certainly it was clear to still provide the dish will not cause any damages to the city it's the law as it will flow. only persuaded you to make such kind of gives charge for four day if you're calm always at all possible it's wrong or close. or photos from totally accident throughout the course of the conditions of. the condition. in any case it's going to be because the birds. are in the region and will continue to bring us the latest throughout the day you can also follow all of our correspondents covering the story on twitter see the scenes of devastation read the stories of survivors and get the latest reaction on twitter channels and the timeline of the tragedy as well as all the latest news footage and photos from the disaster zone are always available for you at r.t.

dot com. there we also have stories outstanding bravery and heroism from the flooded areas a policeman has died rescuing local people he managed to save two children before his boat was i'm not going to r.t. dot com all the time. you're watching that weekly where i come to you live from our new center here in moscow the syrian president has accused washington the backing terrorist gangs in order to destabilize the state but shout out assad was speaking ahead of his consultations with international envoy to syria kofi annan who has arrived in damascus and hans diplomatic mission continues despite his earlier comments that international peace efforts have not achieved anything yet if a national has more on that. commenting on why the international peace offers haven't succeeded so far u.n. and arab oil to syria has retreated but success as absolute of the plans on all parties been involved in this conflict and the syrian crisis should be and could

only be resolved through dol the claim that the geneva peace initiative just like other international peace plans is a team work and it is it is absolutely unacceptable and not at all constructive to blame on only one side he has sent us this has been a lot of talks about russia while little is said about nations still sending money and weapons to the syrian rebels kofi annan has most of been talking about friends of syria group that accused russia and china of supporting the syrian regime and of hampering peace process here in syria even threatening that these two nations will pay a price kofi annan has said that iran could not be excluded off the peace process and should be part of the dialogue something america has been strongly opposed to syria is in war right now we've just returned from homes in the central part of the country and this is really sad picture what we saw here's my report from homes.

at least parts of hundreds to maybe back on the syrian army control with their patrols never stopped soldiers are searching house to house they're looking for terrorists or snipers but that's not what they usually find. some people in their homes became their grades too and this room look human bones but at least one person. seems to have been burnt to death. and the next house we find three more charts. activists claim up to eight hundred thousand people have been killed since the uprising began sixteen. you honest to me surround ten times we have no way of telling you these remains or others like them were even counted at. baba amr used to be home to one hundred thousand people now we're driving through area people have left military almost the only human beings

left in this area this is he can see behind me this is a cemetery almost untouched actually while the rest of the city looks completely like the cemetery buildings schools mosques all in ruins and no sign of life while many signs of this is one of the tallest buildings in the area and we can see from this balcony two completely different pictures two completely different realities look there beautiful pictures peaceful city while over there well we can see war homes the opposition hotbed has always been at the heart of the uprising against president assad. was a badge of baba amr that is to have been the epicenter of the questions between the rebels and the army since it's been shelled heavily now so you can see it's quiet here but just steps away just meters away. sometime here and this is where the things are happening right now it's standing behind these rays strange phrase quite

safe but from time to time missiles reach this area to this is why would hurry up. but with the bar and other homes the district as you can see also almost completely destroyed everything shops building schools even mosques we were told that this district was cleaned from turkey months ago but as you can hear not far from here question still continue so we were actually told not to go any further i just simply dangerous soldiers come to our location tell us the rebels woke up so when the. party homs syria. after a turbulent national election yesterday marred by violence and boycott vote counting is now underway in libya so far the country's liberal islamic coalition is claiming in overall lead contradicting predictions that hardline islamist parties would sweep the poll but ali i'll concede he's a libyan political activist and someone who witnessed the uprising against gadhafi firsthand says voting at gunpoint is happening and it's not democracy.

you can watch libya now if you visit libya and see the weapons all over a country militia controlling the. country you from both elected freely in this atmosphere how can i go through the election knowing that there's a gun on my head telling me words to go. elected you cannot kill your own people. in the name of democracy you cannot. be one and a half million lived in egypt tunisia and other parts of the world. and nearly thirty thousand of prisoners in. prison being tortured and being killed they called good dictator because if you break refused to receive that was before you get duffy you may get. be taken to prison now if you glorify a kid that if you will definitely be killed. privatization that's the name of the

game now in athens the parliament there is come up with an entire list of state properties it can sell the price is said to be well below market value something that's outraged the opposition which equates their plans to slapping a for sale sign on greece all of this as the prime minister there faces a vote of confidence in just a few hours from now one more on this with christiane to try to journalist and analyst in athens now these plans include selling for air bus jets for fourteen million dollars when the jet actually cost almost ninety eight million dollars each why such low prices. i think one of the main reason why there exists are. their government so shall there exists in such a law is it because the i.r. has run out on the government because these are all there are not to yours show because of the. government's we saw there is no we don't sense not want to go

along. this is typical of the government's inactivity during the last months not just jets being sold off but state run companies to what we. earn from this set off will of course be negligible isn't it given how much the country faces is the point of the send off then. i think the. main reason of this massive so length of the first someone were put forward is the they don't know cannot tax the people in more they cannot lower lower the silence anymore so the only solution. is to serve the public the budget bob robert what exactly public property what what what is the greek public supposed to feel about this here we have assets that they've actually paid for in full with taxes haven't they been virtually giving away yes they are for for example the public only reflectors do

the one goal indoor selling the next minds do go example of a goal money paid by the taxpayer and will be sent there and will be short the next months i think the new research there is a problem of national outcry not only because of the. of the selling value to the newcomer mainly because of the activity or for the british government's. result so the problem of the use such a low gross well of course this move isn't going to be very well received by the opposition as predicted they are in a fury over this they're saying at this rate the coalition government won't last long do you agree with that. i think i think that a good balance on the relationships or we doing this through finally does. course is the goal of many summers as prime minister benazir as the leader of our stock is the leader of the us if they stick together and these are gone well. my question

prediction is that this government has. to work at the last three years. and this is a desperate government we're seeing here with this privatization going on obviously there's you know all the tax hikes the spending cuts and the reforms which of course mr summers is promising reforms and continue with growth measures clearly that's not going to enough is it not it's not smart i think. somewhere else to have the government or the other or and or greece attend then stroll at this point if you didn't have any anyway out of the list but i think the main problem is there. merkel starts against greece and your union's going to greece if you can play you know a better job of greece then we will just sort of probably at the end nothing would

happen nothing would come out of this just briefly chris tell us this vote of confidence then for mr samaras somewhat expecting any surprises there i don't think short only maybe some n.b.c. on the left is part of your research where this is a government they may not have ordered by the little things so i think you will bust the first off you is going to her. successful no i think hurt the story we're going to do no more interesting than last month's no that we'll be talking to you again very soon chris knowles interesting situation there as ever in greece crist also tried his journalist and political analyst joining me live there in athens thank you thank you i want us. but deadline for joining us charges extradition to sweden as ordered by britain's highest court expired just the whistleblower remains at the ecuadorian embassy in london where british police have no jurisdiction he's currently waiting a decision on his asylum request to the south american country but shortly before

he sought refuge there he completed his interview series here on r.t. and laura smith has been looking back at the highlights. i'm julian assange. it is true for three weeks we've exposed the world secrets these jackets belong united states government been attacked by the powerful united states strongly condemn this western white people for what it promised an insight into the world tomorrow judy and i saw and interviewed opinion formers and activists from across the political spectrum. and with the first guest being hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah the program proved it wasn't going to hold back from the get go talking to a man the mainstream media has ignored for six years what we call for in serious negotiations dialogue is that the reform etc want to be carried out because the alternative to that no one cause of the diversities i was inside syria because it's

sensitive to the situation in syria also the gist of it was that it just civil war and this is exactly what america and israel want for syria elsewhere the joined up europe project came under fire from david horowitz in a show that pitted the outspoken right wing against radical leftists. with the age old ideological fight threatened to turn physical had they been in the same room horowitz maintains europe is dead agrees oh it was a disastrous spirit europe but europe is a cultural theme park in significant that's what happened that's what your welfare state that just took you out of the pie i have had personal experience with a socialist dream paradise of sweden and i can tell you it is nothing like you have opposing the global politics change also made waves but two more on the guest list the eminent thinkers tarik alley and no chomsky the world protest movement showing

modern politics are no longer fit for purpose to them the answer could lie in latin america and bolivia mentioned a couple of times one of the most striking things that's happened there is the three most repressed. part of the population of the most fear the indigenous population has moved into the political arena i want you to know i am not defending him i think he is a dirtbag i think he is a dirtbag he obviously has no problem using his fifteen minutes of fame to sleep with anyone who is crawling dividing media opinion but getting real people talking today in a soldier's show hit the ground running and the public on the twitter sphere have an appetite for more nothing short of groundbreaking revolutionary casting highly engaged and then significantly represents to five the times i'll miss it the

looking forward to season two of june the sound show but there's no guarantee season two can happen and i'm not for the death penalty so if i'm not for the death i don't want to do it illegally shoot the son of a guy would dive when forcing it for me then nobody would know who is a traitor and should be executed or put in prison for life the feeling is mounting that the us would indeed prosecute judean ourselves for westby of knowledge or worse given half a chance he's currently here at the ecuadorian embassy inducted waiting to hear whether he'll get asylum it's thought that prospect was first raised off mike during his interview with the ecuadorian president for the show broadcast on r.t. mutual admiration is clear in the interview and it ends on a friendly chilling note as he. is really a pleasure to meet you julian least in this way and we welcome to the club of the

persecuted. thank you. take care. thank you as i was known to say. i saw it has given us a glimpse into the future shape of the world we live in while his own future hangs precariously in the balance nora smith london. well i'll be back with the headlines for you in a few moments from now you're watching the weekly live here in moscow.

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