the week's top stories here on our. calmest president obama freezes u.s. russian relations declining what he sees as a cold war mentality following the grunting temporary asylum to edward snowden. sewers battlefront is moving to the lands of big crowds their villages they're being raised to the ground by radical jihad it's aiming to setup an al qaeda emirate but. also this hour they go on time will they hunger strike hits a six month milestone as the pentagon continues to splash on taxpayers' money on the prison i mean it claims the white house hasn't given up its plan to shouted down. and western gay communities demanded russia be stripped of the right to hold the next winter olympics in protest against the new nor against

homosexuality propaganda to mind is some even going as far as comparing periods him to hitler. hello and welcome you're watching the weekly here on aussie with me thanks for joining us. talk of cold war punishment and a fractious relationship have made this week perhaps the one asked for u.s. russia times and years but both washington and moscow have different takes on the situation where obama is talking about reassessing relations the russia side believes it is all being blown out of proportion. as a story for this week when president obama canceled the bilateral meeting with the russian president in september u.s. russia relations have paid

a new low on friday the work for foreign minister sergey lavrov and the russian defense minister arrived in washington as planned to meet their u.s. counterparts and we heard two different messages coming from president obama and foreign minister lavrov that both held a news conference on the same day at the same time in different venues of course with foreign minister lavrov trying very hard to ease the tension to move it away from the cold war talk with president obama seemingly doing the opposite take a listen remember the rewards who really were saying goodbye he said will i believe that we can make a difference in the rustenburg aleutians let's. as adults. and that's what we were trying to do when president putin who was prime minister warned that it was president came back into power i think we saw more rhetoric on the russian side that was anti-american that. played into some of the old

stereotypes about the cold war contest between the united states and russia president obama also said in light of all the disagreements with russia it's time for the u.s. to make a pause and he said recalibrate the tone of the talks at the state department seemed a bit different there were some very serious issues on the agenda like syria like missile defense in europe where russia and the u.s. obviously don't see eye to eye but it seemed there was an agreement on both sides that they should not let disagreements and scandals completely overshadowed whatever progress the countries can actually make and one area where the two countries ted make a difference is the crisis in syria both state the same objectives that they want to political solution that they want to bring all sides of the syrian conflict together in geneva to try and map out such a political solution the syrian opposition though says they're not going to sit down at the at one table with those who have blood on their hands moscow says in order to stop the bloodshed all hands need to come to the negotiating table and

foreign minister lavrov said john kerry assured him that the syrian opposition is going to be there but making progress on those very important issues concerning global security becomes that much harder when galatians are defined by scandals not going back to president obama's. president obama has announced proposals before me and they say something president obama said he intends to work our way through one provision of the patriot act known as. the government broader authority to obtain business phone data records he announced the creation of a panel of outsiders former intelligence official civil liberty and privacy advocates and others to assess the programs and suggest changes by the end of the year but everybody understand it's all happening because of edward snowden's revelations probably that's why the majority of americans say edward snowden is a whistleblower and not a traitor now it's not clear whether the government will actually go through with those reforms promising is one thing delivering on those promises is something else

but at the end of the day the american people may actually benefit from what snowden did which can't be said about u.s. marshal relations. so. whether this setback in relations was provided by russia granting fugitive edward snowden asylum or whether that was just a pretext for a political analyst every. damage control to save face or. the notion of putin as bringing the foreign policy trajectory back to the cold war is part of the us propaganda machine you see the the decision to grant temporary asylum to snowden was not merely a political one it was one that was made out of sheer necessity by putin in the russian government because frankly they couldn't have allowed the mellow drama to continue on in that airport and so what we're seeing as it's being reported in the media is that this is kind of a tit for tat harkening back to the cold war but i think that what we're seeing is

actually practical politics this is really face saving on the part of obama so that he can play kate not only the conservatives on his right who vehemently attacked putin the russian government at every turn while at the same time attempting to portray himself as consistent on the issue. of the syrian war has opened another bloody chapter with fierce battles now unfolding in the country's north kaddish fighters are being forced to stand their ground against islamist militants pushing them out of their territories four hundred and fifty civilians many of whom were women and children were allegedly slaughtered in one incident alone what havoc than making specific information hard to verify would tend to kurdish journalist a so to help us put together the timeline of the conflict and according to him radicals launch their attacks on the nineteenth of july by planting a bomb in a kurdish school and kidnapping civilians they very next day there was

a chain of explosions targeting houses across the kurdish enclaves which leveled one village to the ground while many more locals were kidnapped and islamic cleric has declared from a local mosque that those killing members of the minority would be rewarded in heaven and he encouraged the militants to loot and destroy roads so the violence has spread into early august with seventy murdered and three hundred fifty abducted by al-qaeda linked fighters and let's not hamlet tales from our correspondent in the region. horrifying images of slow turn mayhem from a region already in throes of conflict this week some reports emerged that hundreds of kurds have been slaughtered by extremist groups in northeastern syria those still in very fight because insurgents keep the media from getting close this is just syrian kurds find themselves in a grave gruesome situation. that the militants started shooting everyone who came out onto the streets become should young men and started cussing them with knives

the rebel shouted granted them all their money homes and their women then they started looting houses the kurds who are one of the largest nations in the world without a state have tried to stay neutral for as long as possible in the syrian conflict and it's for that they believe islamic fighters from al-qaeda affiliated groups turned up their killing pressure on the kurds. kurds do not want to be part of the war and they have achieved that by not siding with the the saudis they're showing their ability to administrate themselves and that all the some international players such as it has been helping those facing against the kurds for example there are several al qaeda affiliated organizations in turkey going in fighting against the kurds in syria kurds however want to have a democratic syria not just for the kurds but for everyone on top of that jihad is themselves have made statements alluding to their hopes of creating an al-qaeda state right here on what they hope to be vestiges of syria but their fight

a deadline came and went the situation is getting worse and the number of people who have been kidnapped and killed and beheaded is rising every day are they know what's going on there especially into a lot it's a loss a free army as. a united together i gave this to video just as they are killing people on identification they call their people you can kill them kidnap them capture their women and it's all how laws that mean it's or allowed for you once you fight for force. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was among the first to sound the alarm over reports from syria urging the security council to step in we believe that in this action we were shocked by the reports of around four hundred fifty kurds massacred in the north of syria including children just because the men were fighting against. the first report of the un security council will condemn all these terrorist attacks we've seen some of its members refusing to condemn

terrorist attacks in syria justifying it with the fact that the people behind them are fighting against the outdated regime this stance is totally unacceptable terrorism should be treated without double standards heard seem to be facing a double threats on this side of the syrian state border they're up against extremists on the other lies terry it's been a bit or a long running battle with the kurdish workers party and only recently seem to be making amends at the same time on karrar backs the syrian opposition which is known to include al qaeda sympathizers and allows for arms shipments into syria which the kurds say end up in the hands of extremists but when it comes to helping kurds western powers who wasted no time in trying to force out president assad seem to do little in curbing extremists an approach that looks ominously familiar through the overthrow gadhafi in libya to syria we've been supporting al qaeda the very people who attacked united states of america we knew prior is

a cause that spreads from north africa all the way to the gulf that could bring us to a new world war if we don't stop obama and the british policy but for now syrian kurds plea for international help to seems to have been met with indifference it in the other school r t istanbul. the kurds say what's happening in the series is nothing but genocide and they're asking foreign powers to throw them a lifeline they can't use democratic union party has sent a letter to. the european union with an appeal to stop to step in and do something about the growing islamist danger and also the peace and kurdistan activists are asking the united nations as well as the u.s. and e.u. to action now to hold the ethnic cleansing and they're demanding that western powers stop sending weapons to groups in syria which use them to taxi billions and commit crimes this statement also calls for a probe into turkey israel in fueling the conflict in those kurdish areas and carin

bluefield and international correspondent focusing on syria says militants are pushing for control in the kurdish enclaves to get their natural resources actually what is behind all this fighting is a struggle about control of certain areas we know that in the area of fighting in the north and in the east of the country we have. fields and to at least two of the very big oil fields under the control of the kurdish defense movement and they have been threatened openly by you know western diplomats if they don't get the control of these oil fields towards the free syrian army. they will have a problem and so i think it's a fight about control of about resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request. egypt's top mom is calling paul dano

between supporters and opponents of the ousted president mohamed morsi while while in project camps a definable authorities warnings of a climbdown and. struggle for food and made big turmoil in joost economic crisis that's coming up. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks about six of the c.r.t.c. interviews an intriguing story for you here. in trying. to find out more visit our big teeth dog called. the wiki on aussie welcome back from a fast back to hunger strike the muslim holy month of ramadan has come to an end and the inmates a big tour is going tunnel by prison have continued to refuse food this means that protest against indefinite detention and inhumane treatment has entered its seventh

month u.s. military attorney bradley weighing gold who represents two of the detainees says it's outrageous when people held behind bars for political reasons. that sense of desperation that's going on in guantanamo bay has been a bated in any way shape or form eighty six men who have been completely cleared by review task force are still being held in maximum security prisons unfortunately there's many people in washington here who are willing to say we don't care if you've committed a crime we don't care if you've done anything right or wrong we're going to hold you in guantanamo bay for the rest of your natural life because it's good for me politically i can go home and tell my constituents that i'm tough on the emotion of terror in the war continues and i'm going to keep those men in guantanamo bay no matter whether they did anything or not that's outrageous the white house has reached rate of that it is standing by president obama's pledge to close the detention camp but it seems the flow of money to the prison isn't drying up the

total cost of keeping the facility running will reportedly exceed five billion dollars by the end of twenty fourteen and this year the pentagon plans to spend almost five hundred million to maintain the science and this means every day the u.s. government splashes out one million dollars of taxpayers' money on the controversial count and right here you can see how the stock breaks down and the major chunk is spent on security while legal and quotation has come second and only sixteen million dollars to fund prison review board. hundreds of gay rights activists across europe and the u.s. have been calling for a boycott of the winter olympics or to move them from sochi in protest against what they see as russia's new anti-gay law that's despite assurances from moscow the bill only bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors and doesn't harm human

rights the u.k.'s prime minister rejected their demands to stay away from the games but that didn't stop the protest arena and action gay activists stephen fry who joined a rally in london accused the olympic committee of not trying to find what he dubbed russia's barbaric laws and he went as far as comparing president putin's attitude towards minorities to hitler as the olympic committee respond saying sport should bear they were able to all and the new law will not affect those attending the games gay rights activists nicholai and excessive believes although it's necessary to protect the law boycotting the games will get its opponents nowhere it's absolutely technical not possible to realize this boy caught because it's not possible to transfer it somewhere else because the only people who will suffer because of this because is the sportsman whopper dissipating in these in these competitions that's why i'm against but i am also it gives all the homophobia and the huge blockers of the russian state and that's what i am doing we are fighting forty years since two thousand and five and we think that the most the best

solution and in this case used to go and protest during the olympic games to go to do the good bride during the live begins in sochi so that all the sportsman going to wear their rainbow beams rainbow attributes whatever they can talk again during the press conferences the giornale says and the media reports about what's going on in russia during the early beginnings i think it will have a much bigger effect then just to go into a book called early beginnings i think this is more practical. and despite all the protests preparations continue for the games with the race against time to get everything in sochi complete the countdown has now passed the six month mark and a record funds have been put into the winter olympics yet some critics still doubt all the venues will be ready archie's martin under is travelled to look if the concerns have any foundation that. ok i'm not too bad but i think it's best to leave it to the professionals when they

arrive next year in tsotsi for the winter olympics twenty fourteen recount is getting lower the olympic park with its brand new arenas is almost ready and in february next year many of the world's top athletes will compete against each other right here at the skating palace. it's the first time since nine hundred eighty that russia has hosted such an event and with an estimated three billion viewers russia will be in the spotlight once again when all the construction is finished such will boast some of the best and technologically advanced sporting facilities in the world although with many cynics tells of corruption local opposition and concerns with overspending is ready well the proof as they say is in the putting. the finishing touches are being added now and the amount of work that has been done in the city is huge the whole area is being improved and made more comfortable and beautiful with new pedestrian and underground passages being constructed the city

has got a completely new look now it's newly built and very beautiful and there cannot be any doubt that everything will be on time to host the olympics. slowly and surely each piece of the jigsaw is coming together another example is this next stadium. the ball sure i stone since twelve thousand people as you can see well it's an impressive stadium it's a new soul ready various competitions i mean states here over the past few months and during the olympics ice hockey and after that it can be transformed to more accommodate a plethora of other sporting activities ranging from basketball to boxing. the mountain cluster of course there and the rosa khutor resorts will host the biathlon and ski center and there will be a freestyle ski and snowboarding park. the two parks are to be connected by a forty eight kilometer highway as well as a high speed train that will run every five minutes and transport tens of thousands

of passengers a day once they reach the mountains base via train passengers will take one of several new cable cars up to the ski resorts and olympic competition venues. the winter olympics is only the beginning for the whole area after the main event early next year saatchi will set about hosting twenty two international sports events ranging from the grand prix of figure skating to the formula one next november. the olympic sign here at the newly built airport represents what the entire occasion is for it links us together and brings out the best in people and sporting events and politics aside as the whole world focuses its attention on sochi and the surrounding area the final preparations we put into place and what promises to be or the greatest sporting events held ever and after my trip here i can confidently say that the winter olympics twenty fourteen will be one to remember marta boundaries party.

supporters of egypt's ousted president mohamed morsi are calling for more protests riots there defying the authorities which have warned of an imminent quanah down and break up on the two main sit in camps in cairo meanwhile the country's top in mom has approached the conflict inside inviting them to reconciliation talks countries between morsi supporters and the military backed interim government have killed at least two hundred fifty people within the past month yet while the street fighting remains in the media scope every interruptions save their plight is being overlooked the country is in a deep economic crisis meaning some can't even afford to put food on the table as beltran now reports. at a cairo hospital food bank volunteers offloaded banks of provisions to prepare a traditional ramadan dinner for many like most of our words a hospital worker tonight's donated meal is the largest one you'll get this week about fifty dollars a month and we are six people to the maximum i can do is buy beans two for

a few sound so i can eat we want justice i work a whole day and make practically nothing when i'm leaving but if i don't this tiny salary my family will meet the poorest suffering in egypt as policymakers and the media are distracted by the deepening political crisis food banks like this one who tried to cover the whole country are stretched to their limits explains coordinator money and effort. the bottom line is so high food is the most important thing would cheer about. will provide hundreds of food baskets full of fries and basic food stuff so that they can feed families for a month in some places will go to utterly destroyed every time we visit it gets worse even provide livestock so that they can feed themselves were a while with the country in turmoil food distribution centers like these a plug in the gaps amid escalating crisis food insecurity has risen significantly in the last few years according to the world food program resulting in a rise in stunting anemia amongst children due to malnutrition over

a quarter of the population is under the poverty line and they're the ones being hardest hit with the continued civil unrest and dwindling foreign exchange reserves and they say the situation will only get worse as egypt is unable to import much needed wheat for the brat millions depend on government subsidized bread that sells for about one cents a loaf however critics say egypt's food subsidies are wasteful and don't filter down to those who truly need it it's basically subsidizing items at a very cheap prices and i bring it to the mainstream populations with a very high calorie intake very slow nutritional values close to ninety percent of the poorest people are not getting any use of the subsidy and we know that twenty percent of the subsidy goes to the richest strata of the society and i guess if there's a number of active sest subsidies egypt is facing its worst economic crisis since the one nine hundred thirty s. and food prices have doubled since two thousand and twelve making nutritious food

inaccessible to many that there are high prices everywhere tomatoes vegetables are too expensive for me with few functioning state institutions and a new interim government focused on developing political events these issues will continue to go unresolved and for the moment the most fundamental will be left starving tree for r t cairo. a quick look now at some other world news in breve a string of blasts is the shiite areas of the iraqi capital baghdad who killed up to eighty people and injured almost two hundred fifty the u.s. has offered a ten million dollars bounty for those responsible for the twelve explosions the targeted markets cafes and other public places iraq is suffering from a sharp increase in violence lately which was mostly aimed against civilians more than a thousand people were killed in the country in july. israel's housing minister has given a green light for another twelve hundred settlements to be built on palestinian territories the decision comes just three days before stalled talks between

israelis and the palestinians were set to resume in jerusalem the leadership in the west bank has normally insisted the peace process cannot be revived if israel failed to freeze its continued construction however the precondition was later dropped while israel agreed to release one hundred four long term palestinian prisoners in four stages of a several months. and people in mali are kostin their ballots in the presidential election runoff the poll follows a turbulent here which ended in a coup and a french led military intervention to oust is the missed insurgents former prime minister ibrahim cater is the favorite to having more forty percent of the votes in the first round and his rival the former finance minister only got about twenty percent approval. coming our way explore a billion dollar water business to stay with us.

while revolutions in the middle east should get a great deal of coverage. you don't mix a lot of sense revolutions are exciting t.v. peaceful protests are nice but footage of moloch tough cocktails flying and crazed crowds of local middle easterners really grab attention so there's a logical natural reason why some protest movements get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media well others kind of adult please forgive me for being conspiratorial but there is one revolution going down which does have all the exciting visuals of the arab spring but just doesn't get any of the mainstream coverage in fact unarmed people in this country recently stormed the parliament trapping ministers and lawmakers with that they held them down for eight hours demanding the government reside until police with shields smash their way through creating a narrow corridor through which the officials could escape now that sounds like

exciting and visual news but why did you hear about it all over the mainstream press that's because it didn't happen in libya or egypt or any other exotic country but in good old vogue area right in the e.u. where u.s. and e.u. interests are best served by the status quo being maintained there is no need to hype up an intervention or kinetic action in bulgaria the only time you ever hear about the need for a crackdown in bulgaria is when a government there actually started working in bulgaria own interests and not the us desires but that's just my opinion.

six point two billion is ms franks to fifteen million swiss francs and never its grows ten percent. put them ever amount and so fast or so one handed million border i've ordered bros amounts to three point seven percent on average with three percent this is streets for level amongst iraqis paint in my twelve years as chief expect i've.