please. the death toll from devastating floods in the south of russia has topped one hundred seventy thousands of homes have been washed away and many people injured as the result region faces its worst natural disaster in living memory. as america lashes out in russia and china for the continuing violence in syria the un's envoy to the troubled country draws attention to other states that are fanning the flames of civil war with arms and cash. and suspense at the ecuadorian embassy in london as june in the sun his extradition deadline passes as we get these web sites start to release the so-called syrian files.

with a look back at the top stories from the past seven days and the latest developments this is the weekly on a devastating floods leave one hundred seventy one people dead and many more injured in a popular southern russian resort area residents woke up to find themselves in a nightmare as the disaster hit overnight on friday thousands of houses have been washed away while officials say as many as twenty thousand people could have been affected by the floods tom barton is in the city of crim scritches been hit hard as he spoke to some of the survivors of the tragedy. and you can see here behind me the river next to the town of crims all the devry that's being 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 straps 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 home 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 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 la to the house and come to the fence so the stream wouldn't wash me

away then too late could men came up and helped me on to an emergency truck and a senior so i got up there i saw my neighbors brief collapse particularly your ship this has to be administered living room this used to be a 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 a little remote as 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 are short people here are exhausted they are hungry and increasingly they're angry. russian president vladimir putin flew over the area and has come

and met local leaders to try and decide what should be done to help people here as best as 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 the swept through here and floods that have claimed so many lives. the deadly floods in southern russia sent reverberations across the country the region is a massive tourist harbor thousands of holidaymakers heading there every summer but we're traveling communications now paralyzed news about friends and loved ones caught up in the disaster area is limited his art is current or agin. 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 cross 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 now cross the thought 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 on the topic and russia's biggest fear discussion of the floods are now dominating charts and all too used to being with 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 is 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 media's 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 last week 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 crims urge everyone to forget about the political views and help the people that's really what's important now. professor chris williams from new york university spoke to

a little earlier here not he 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 ascribing any individual weather events no matter how extreme to definitively to go 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 southwest united states the flooding in the midwest last year or the fires around moscow in two thousand and ten there's a pattern side to develop 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 getting every two to five years. artist in these plots join some of the rescue teams in the desperate search for survivors amidst the devastation we were told that 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 they 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 through me right into the corner over there luckily i managed to grab a van that was tied then i called up and over the railing and got inside the house

and then i just climbed the ladder. there are many theories and rumors surrounding the 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. some of the flooding during the rains which accumulated a huge amount of water any kind of deliberate will to discharge is technically impossible it has an overflow pipe to release excess water in safe quantities. so the search for survivors here and claims continues and there is still hope that more lives will be saved. and in who's an engineer of hydropower system says dams are usually constructed so that discharge water is pose no threat to nearby residential areas certainly it was critical if it still provides additional

will not cause any damages to the city is below as it will flow. only possibility to make such kind of discharge sure for the eve for it's your calm always atop of the dam it's right now closed. controlled by photos from italy is an accident because of their by the conditions of say reza condition. in any case it's going to be closed by the work again. these plots he continues to bring us up to date via his twitter stream and we can see there in his latest tweets he says a group of local residents have inspected the nearby reservoir by helicopter and concluded the rumors about water being deliberately released from it are baseless keeping on the pulse of the latest developments in the scenes of devastation read the stories of survivors and get the latest reaction on artie's pretty 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 party dot com there we also have stories of 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 overturned log on to r.t. dot com for all the details. you're watching a weekly here on it's coming up to thirty minutes past the hour now and a rare interview with western media syrian president bashar al assad lashed out at washington for supporting what he called terrorist gangs in order to break up the state the president was speaking ahead of talks with the un's international envoy to syria kofi annan who is now in damascus and then continues his mission to bring peace to syria despite admitting that previous efforts had failed if a notion has more on that. commenting on why the international peace efforts haven't succeeded so far u.n.

and arab league special envoy to syria has retreated but six hours after the plans on all parties involved in this conflict and the syrian crisis we are going to the results of dollar when the geneva peace initiative just like other international peace plans is teamwork and it is it is absolutely unacceptable and not at all constructive to blame only one side because sound that they have 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 mostly 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 of 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

a really sad picture what we saw here's my report from homes. at least part of hundreds maybe back on the syrian army control but their patrols never stop soldiers a search chain 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 or at least one person. who seems to have been burned to death. in the next house we find three more charts. i have to this claim up to eight hundred thousand people have been killed since the uprising began sixteen months ago the u.n. estimates around ten thousand we have no way of telling if these remains or others like them were even counted at all. that are 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 weirdo bomb that if you could have been the epicenter of the questions between the rebels and the army since it's been shelled heavily now you can see it's quiet here but just steps away just meters away another big. and this is where the things

are happening right now it's standing behind these rays strange rays quite safe but from time to time missiles reach this area to this is why would a hurry up. but the bar in other homes the district as you can see also almost completely destroyed everything shops buildings even mosques we were told that this district was cleaned from turkey months ago but as you can hear not far from here questions still continue so we were actually told not to go any further i just simply dangerous soldiers come to our location they tell us the rebels woke up so we leave. our t. homs syria. vote counting is underway in libya after the country held its first post gadhafi election on saturday early reports suggest that the party led by the interim prime minister is in the lead but the vote was marred by militia violence attacks on polling stations and boycotts. eyewitness of the n.t.

got to get after the uprising says the election had little to do with actual democracy. democracy point you can watch libya now if you visit libya and see the weapons are over a country militia controlling the. country you cannot look to freely in this atmosphere how can i go to the election knowing that there's a gun on my head telling me words to go. elected you cannot kill your own people and in the name of democracy you cannot display nearly one and a half million side libya now in egypt tunisia and other parts of the world. and nearly thirty thousand of prisoners in. prison being tortured are being killed they call good dictator because if you break refuse the regime that was before good duffey you may. be taken to brazil now if you glorify

a kid there if you will definitely be killed. the deadline for june in the songes extradition to sweden as ordered by britain's highest court expired saturday the whistleblower remains at the ecuadorian embassy in london where british police have no jurisdiction he's currently awaiting a decision on his asylum request to the south american country but shortly before he sought refuge there a sanjay completed his interview series here on r.t. and laura smith has been looking back at the highlights. from julian assange. it is through wiki leaks where they expose the world secrets these documents belong the united states government being attacked by the united states strongly condemn what. it promised an insight into the world tomorrow julian i saw and interviewed opinion formers and activists from across the political spectrum.

and with the first guest being hezbollah leader has. 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 serious negotiations dialogue is there a format that they're always going to carry out because the alternative to that don't know what the cause of the first season was inside syria because the sensitivity of the situation in syria also noticed it was there is a 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 winger against radical leftists. the age old ideological fight threatened to turn physical had they been in the same room horowitz maintains europe is dead agrees it was a disastrous spirit europe but europe is a cultural scene for significant that's what happened that's what your welfare

state just took your. out of the plot i have had personal experience with a socialist dream paradise of sweden and i can tell you it is nothing like the other party the global politics sea change also made waves but two more on the guest list the eminent thinkers tariq ali and noam chomsky the world protest movement showing modern politics are no longer fit for purpose to them the answer could lie in latin america in bolivia and mention a couple of times one of the most striking things that's happened there is the most repressed part of the population of the hemisphere the indigenous population has moved into the political arena i want you to know i am not defending it 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 broadcasting highly engaged and significantly represent stiff of the times i'll miss it. looking forward to season two of julian assange show. but there is 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 with i have one forcing for any and 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 judy in our songs for west speed 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 still the 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 but chilling note as he who took on a solution is me the pleasure to meet you julian least in this way and shiro you're welcome to the club of the persecuted. thank you. take care. thank you. it's just i thought has given us a glimpse into the future shape of the world we live in while his own future hangs precariously in the balance laura smith london. despite his editor's plight if we could leaks remains firm in his decision to publish the so-called syrian files the secret spilling group has started to release more than two million e-mails exposing international companies interests and dealings in syria as well as

the governments in the workings in the show was really a show that an italian company supplied assad's government with cutting edge communication equipment as recently as february the online group promised even more damning revelations to come the amount of information is expected to dwarf that of wiki leaks infamous u.s. diplomatic cables leak just in ruddock's from the government accountability project says the fact that syrian files are making headlines despite the criticism against wiki leaks proves the group significance of these leaks were meaningless fluff or not in the public interest in knowing cared no one would report on them and they would see julian assange djoser crackpot and no one would pay any attention to it the fact that they're being reported on inherently shows their worth despite the fact that credit card companies have choked off financial support to wiki leaks and that he is holed up in the embassy this organization is continuing to function which is

a testament to the viability of wiki leaks as an organization especially at this time and i find all of this very interesting because it shows number one weekly leaks is alive and well despite the best efforts of so many countries to shut it down and number two that as much as the mainstream media wants to distance itself from wiki leaks the syria files are the front page of every major newspaper in the world right now. the u.s. japan and germany in the u.k. are among countries who've pledged sixteen billion dollars in aid to afghanistan to secure the country's future after foreign troops leave in twenty fourteen it comes amid reports that six nato soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in the east of the country on saturday u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton named afghanistan as a major non nato but it benjamin is an antiwar activist and says there's no guarantee that money will be put to good use. but naming afghanistan and not nato

ally could sit in a category with israel in japan which allows afghanistan to have special preferences when it comes to buying military equipment and being involved in training that nato or in their eyes is so it keeps afghanistan within the nato orbit for many years to come i think in terms of the money that was pledged it believes is not different from the money that has been given to afghanistan in the past unfortunately it is much less than the amount of money that has been spent on the military and given the corruption that exists in afghanistan is no guarantee that this money will be well spent. now let's have a look at some other stories making headlines around the world this egypt's military council is to hold an emergency session after a new president mohamed morsi ordered the country's parliament to reconvene a month after it was dissolved he reversed the original decision made by the then ruling generals based on

a court judgement over alleged faults in the election process is also called for parliamentary elections to be held within sixty days of a new constitution being approved expected later this year the military handed power to morsi at the end of. thousands of streaming towards pakistan's capital in the march against the government's decision to reopen nato supply routes they were shot last november after u.s. airstrike that killed twenty four pakistani troops but reopened last week after america apologize for the incident the first convoys crossed into afghanistan thursday. you've been watching the weekly here in r.t. i'll be back with a summary of our main stories in about three minutes from now stay with us live this is our team in moscow.

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download free broadcast cloning video for your media projects and a free video dog to our teeth on tom. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. rush is going to be soon which brightened.