openly waves its black flags over to iraqi cities with thousands of refugees fleeing the impending bloodbath as the u.s. backed army prepares for a counterattack on the insurgent forces. in syria al qaeda linked rebels and opposition groups engage in the infighting the growing divisions among those. threatening the coming peace talks. the backing of e.u. leaders. clearance sale of countries assets to budget holes. with security being a major concern of the upcoming winter olympics in sochi we take a look at how the who city is making sure athletes and spectators protect.

the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly. thousands of iraqis a fleeing their homes in the province which is turned into a war zone after al qaeda linked militants took control of the two cities that the army has yet failed to retake the occupied territories that have been declared an islamic state by the militants as the iraqi military gathers its forces for a decisive assault. looks at what is empowering the extremists in the region. young good luck to little bit with your night integrity they run on chaos emboldened by the fighting in syria these al qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq

including the city of fallujah. we have said earlier that the syria story should and will actually go into iraq and this is what we were warning about chaos in neighboring syria deepened as the u.s. and its allies threatened the syrian government sending the signal to the rebels to fight on to the detriment of a political outcome islamic groups have now taken over the opposition movement there and have even chased the western backed leader of the free syrian army out of the country to be snatched either leave it alone because if you kick it they're going to come out and that's what we did when we invaded iraq you know three and it can bite not just somewhere far in a war zone but here in the u.s. american intelligence and counterterrorism officials now say islamic extremist groups in syria with ties talk to a recruiting and training americans who have traveled there to get them to carry out attacks when they return home there are dozens of extremist islamist forces

that are operating both inside syria and over the syrian borders walk has been a breeding ground for extremists since the u.s. invasion now residents of fallujah and other parts of the country are bracing themselves for the iraqi army's assault as it attempts to drive militants out of seized areas the u.s. is supplying hellfire missiles and other weapons to help the iraqi government in the fight the last thing needs as more missiles we heard the u.s. government say they decimated al qaida is needed but the groups that continue their cause expand and what they thrive on best is chaos the u.s. backed chaos to iraq and in syria washington support for armed opposition has benefited extremists in washington i'm going to. are. well these you had is behind the occupation of fallujah and ramadi are the infamous islamic state of iraq and the levant it's one of the most powerful al qaeda branches estimated to be six

thousand strong with its cells threatening the entire region the organization was formed by sunni insurgents in april two thousand and four a year after the u.s. launched its invasion of iraq and many members of the group fighting in syria against the sad and their forces rapidly gaining influence among the radical elements in the devastated country even lebanon has suffered from the group's activity with it being behind the latest bombing attack in beirut well i'm just kidding he's a former danish intelligence officer who served in iraq believes the country's army won't be able to wipe out the extremist forces in my opinion. has never been on the run it might have been downscaling due to pressure but once this pressure is lifted the organization is back in full force and it uses these. pauses to to regain its strength the fighting ability of the of the isis for instance is very strong but

very contained to two localized battles and one thing the isis and the rebels has is staring at it they want to continue fighting and the iraqi army really hasn't got a chance to fight these militias. and to or to eradicate them. meanwhile in neighboring syria the strengthening of al qaeda linked groups is led to growing infighting between once allied rebels fierce clashes between rival opposition factions of killed at least seven hundred people this week almost one hundred of them are believed to be civilians who were executed by militants from the islamic state of iraq and levant now they outbreak of a civil war within a civil war has prompted some western politicians who previously rooted sorely for a sounds removal to change their stance now here are just some of the latest statements we've heard the former cia director michael hayden said the assad regime is beginning to look like the lesser of all evils and the former u.s. ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he's agreed that assad is not

as bad as the jihad is and russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose with foreign minister lavrov welcoming the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's due in less than two weeks from now the world's top diplomats are in paris to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part well let's discuss what might come out of it with michel chossudovsky he's director of the center for research on globalization he's live in berlin michelle so these western leaders they're all undertaking a last ditch effort to persuade the syrian national council to take part in these forthcoming talks in geneva will they succeed. i think the fundamental issue is to address the nature of the conflict the syrian national council is virtually

a defunct organization they've been meeting in spain and called of a spade with other opposition groups but in effect we have to. ask the question is this a civil war between opposing factions within syrian society or is it in fact a war of aggression and i think at the moment what is striking is the fact that. there's a merger of the insurgency in iraq and syria it's the same al qaeda affiliated organizations. in iraq and the levant which are waging war i say waging war against both countries and then the question is who is behind them and we know that these are intelligence operations we know that saudi arabia is supporting those rebels and we know also that the

united states now is supporting the new islamic front which was created back in november which is considered to be some kind of moderate. grouping of islamic organizations but in effect there's ample evidence to the effect that the western military alliance is supporting. the various islamic rebel forces and yet that the western leaders are now becoming very aware of the consequences of what's happening on they it's interesting to hear that many are suspecting now that sad may be the lesser of all evils as we just heard a little earlier and yet today's friends of syria meeting that was a very different word a message coming from the french foreign minister during that meeting he said the following let's have a listen to what he had to say. contrary to what has been stated we don't have the acid regime on one side and terrorists on the other it is the regime that is

fueling terrorism. so assad's regime is feeling the terrorism what do you make of that well i the these are cynical statements the western military alliance has been recruiting mosher had seen right from the outset and it's confirmed by numerous. reliable sources including israeli intelligence these jihadi us forces operatives of the western military alliance and it's continuing right from the soviet afghan war so that for the for the west to say that assad is allied with the terrorists or and so on so forth i think is a red herring they are still intent upon destabilizing syria as a nation state and in fact what has the impression now that with the situation in iraq and syria that in fact what they want to do is to redraw the map of the middle

east if everything your neighbor should everything you will say has been contradicted by the fact that the west are holding a peace conference in geneva it wants peace in syria. yes but those you know that peace conference to be held. next week in malta it really is an exercise in shadow fake diplomacy because ultimately decisions will not be taken there they'll be taken behind closed doors between you know between john kerry said again it off but it's very important setting a level of made the statement back in november i believe that the the geneva peace two talks should focus on counterterrorism. that raises an issue because they'll be sitting at the table together and then the question is who is behind the terrorists. the number of countries the thirty countries there i suspect the saudi

arabia by the present at those meetings in. but then who all the who all the sponsors of these terrorists who is feeding them the weapons and we've appel the evidence i mean just a few months ago senator john mccain was was had a photo op shaking hands with leaders of the you know of terrorist organizations inside syria so that we have we must understand that the western military alliance also has blood on their hands it's not simply an issue of of identifying terrorists we have to identify the or are the people who are behind these terrorize let me just ask you quickly then with these interesting signals coming from western leaders and western spokespeople what do you make of a sad future now many say he does have a lot of support within syria could he actually write this out. well i think that assad has support within syria because the syrian people to realize that

this is a war of aggression with mercenaries coming in and these mercenaries and are coordinated by special forces they understand that and. when you see the situation in the massacre that took place recently and well the villian population understood that who came to the rescue was a syrian armed forces against these terrorists i think it's shocking to say the least that the massacres that were not covered they were covered. in some media including the russian media but they were not covered by the western media. well of course there's a lot of speculation indeed about that verification of that particular report and that's obviously ongoing so in the meantime we'll have to leave it there michel chossudovsky director of the center for research on globalization live in berlin thanks for your thoughts and so very for the e.u. and some of the worst a stair to hit european countries has plunged drastically in the past five years to

date comes from a new regional poll the study suggests the tumbling approval rating is linked directly to the budget cuts and economic worries take spain for instance where public support is at a record low or roland which is just successfully exit it is but you know program despite that the aftertaste of the ease of sturdy dictate is still driving the numbers down the euro skeptic u.k. used to top the critics list with only around a third actually back in brussels now it's even lower than that dropping down to less than thirty percent while the rating declined however is not change the belt tightening policies of struggling countries and governments are putting some of their most valuable assets up for sale just to stay afloat has to cilia now reports . it's been dubbed the great european fire sale in a bid for cash these are just some of what's been up for grabs but even funds raised from headline grabbing deals might not be enough like six greek island sold

for eight point five million euros an italian island sold for two point nine million exclusive rights to use the coliseums image on their products for fifteen years twenty five million euros government debt in the euro zone is greater now than it was a year ago and some of the sales of led to public anger and frustration bestselling history and culture they're selling beauty things a priceless and they've touched a price tag to it i think that's absolutely reprehensible there's absolutely no guarantee that that privatization will help consumers which will and one of the most surprising items recently put on the market was citizenship for a little over a million euros you get a maltese passport and therefore become an e.u. citizen move this bit put on hold is two thirds of the public at opposition leaders cry foul. splitting the same legal gone through these which. meant a huge international damage which was uncalled for because more go to date has

one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the whole european union it's a question of principle over citizenship should not be pulled out on say proponents of privatization see it as a necessity for either nations that are in dire straits but also warned that by europe at a bargain may not be as much of a jackpot as one might think if i were investor i wouldn't be buying many of these things all of these countries have serious political risk for any kind of foreign investor anybody trying to. buy a house and italy has to reckon with the possibility that ten twenty years down the line a government is just going to nationalize whatever they whatever they want to nationalize but for what it's worth this sale continues tests are still. coming up in the weekly here in the international water that makes the land the boil conflicts will take a back seat in the future because experts predict as populations rise it will be blue gold but the fight will be over also. japan becomes ground for the full

rights with calls for foreigners to leave and for the army to be ready to go into action if the need arises with the details later in the program. since what you are arguing for is that current should ask make identity and that national identity let me ask you a personal question i have a current first or an iraq it first occurred first then i'm iraqi. kurds because let me ask you that question i'm from. you know i still remember the smell of the chemical weapons so what iraqi identity brought to me. brought to me the killing so people. four thousand five hundred villages were destroyed.

the city. first struck. and i think that your. reporters. instrument. would be in the. security is being beefed up in sochi the host city of the upcoming winter olympics tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed and access to the area is strictly monitored. takes a look at what else is being done to keep the games safe. twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen. to defeat be of sochi i

as soon as russia's black sea resort was awarded the game seven years ago. as a question the choice of host city such as close proximity to the volatile caucasus region was they argued a cause for concern. and the recent twin terror attacks in volgograd some seven hundred kilometers from sochi every ignited some of those worries organizers say security has been their main priority since day one from the very beginning of the construction phase the state that's already. made those prepared the special measures to stop them from this screening all they're all materials are checking all the venue and preparing incredible measures of the security to provide this safe environment here with less than a month to go now until the games begin tight security measures are already in

place around forty thousand police and security offices are expected to be on patrol for sales of dangerous hunting equipment a bond for the duration of the games there's also a controlled zone stretching sixty kilometers along the coast and twenty five kilometers inland and encompassing all venues. in terms of security so it is a special case because this whole area is authorized to visit this only there are security details from a number of countries including the u.k. and u.s. working. on those security forces will be coming together to protect places like this is the brand new purpose built train station in the olympic village is going to be one of the main transport hubs during the games moving thousands of spectators with the bulk of the work now complete with all venues and transport networks built and tested sochi is now just waiting for the sporting world to descend. altie. all the highlights of the olympic torch relay across russia

and beyond are on our website r.t. dot com look for the follow the flame section while also on one of the men we got the story from spreading even further despite having hazardous leaks readings of hit eight times the japanese government safety standards even at the edges of the contamination zone plus. tens of thousands of fingerprints of u.k. students are collected in school databases without any consent causing outrage among civil liberties organizations and parents know more about that. it's a. pleasure

to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure. gas conflicts will be superseded by water wars in the future that's the warning from experts and as the world's population grows access to clean water resources is rising in price let's have a look at the map now these blue dots smaug the places where conflicts over water disputes have broken out since the one nine hundred fifty s. now these include small protests as well as more serious large scale clashes there be one hundred seventy eight disputes in all and the number of such hotspots is rising one example is the tension in the middle east where the struggle for water is a key issue in some ongoing conflicts. reports. the bible tells us that within a short distance from here jesus turned water into wine two thousand years later

the great american might be turning the wine back into water bubby carballo has been living in the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to his very arden orchards keeping his wine in a center that was once a serene bunker he is proud of the wine he produces but knows that in the absence of water none of this would be possible but i don't know for sure the water is important because it's the second main resource that we have other than the land each crop needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all the farming here it can turn the golan heights into a desert and it's not just about the golan heights rainwater from its catchment feeds into the river jordan providing a food of israel's water supply the disputed region was seized from syria after the six day war and residents of the golan remember that water was a key issue in the conflict only one of the stands here understands the importance

of the work that all the water supply of israel because every drop of water draining here all because it's grown over three years you got it that's all we can say that it is and must. respect the resolve to have football over it's what the focus is it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places there's very little water to go around bring you have the common water flows by several foreign nations it is always the possibility of a clash of religious conflicts that should be manageable was put out of control and examples of possible conflicts are plentiful syria's major water sources travel through turkey and iraq making it vulnerable while jordan is reliant on a river with syria bill today egypt. also recently expressed concern over countries using the upper now to generate electric power in the dry landscape of the middle

east water is a prize more precious than diamonds in its absence famine and drought are quick to follow but this is a region that very seldom needs an excuse for war and water shortages might just tip the balance here r.t. in the golan heights let's not take a look at some other world news in the world update this police in egypt have fired tear gas at supporters of the health to present mohamed morsi during clashes clashes that karros main universities nineteen demonstrators have been detained the fresh outbreak of violence comes just two days before a planned vote on a draft constitution more than one hundred fifty thousand troops will god polling stations and the fears of more protests by pro morsi activists. and out of control bushfire is raging in western australia threatening both lives and properties and emergency warning has been issued for several suburbs and officials say far brigades will be unable to reach some remote areas and urging people to do whatever

they can to protect their homes. even a dozen people have been injured and twenty three detained when a protest in spain's northern city of burgas turned violent people were voicing their anger over higher rents and developers forcing up or students and residents police resorted to rubber bullets after protesters towards rubbish bins and vandalized banks and shops the rally followed friday's clashes over corruption claims surrounding a new boot of odd. assemblies authorities to provide food water and medical treatment to the crew of a russian fishing vessel caught up in a week long diplomatic spat over the seizure of the trawler ship with eighty two crewmembers on board was taken by force over reports of illegal fishing but with no official explanation from dhaka moscow has called it an act of piracy greenpeace stepped in and sided with senegal provoking russia to accuse the african countries gun. acting on a tip off from the environmental group for now russian diplomats are trying to

steer the crisis towards a diplomatic solution to allow the crew to walk free. nationalism seems to be on the up in japan with far right groups protesting against immigration and demanding a reinforced army and the saudis elect. the angry rhetoric is forcing some difficult questions. it's become a tradition in japan when some foreign officials are subjected to verbal abuse on this particular occasion japanese nationalists made their feelings known loud and clear to russia's foreign minister china and south korea have also been in their crosshairs one for an island dispute the other for sending too many labor migrants to japan you know the latest protests korean workers were described as cockroaches which needed to be exterminated this man is one of those behind the nationalist rallies in japan he says he'd like to see japan a more closer citee one door there was a way of being too open to the world now foreigners come here and commit crimes i

want us to return to pre-war period where we were closed and self-sufficient despite criticizing the government for its immigration policies the movement could not be feeling more comfortable since twenty twelve when she and so are there was reelected as prime minister such rallies have been on the rise. those are not only foreign nationals and delegations getting their stick from japanese nationalists there are locals who have directly suffered from their country becoming on the far right these school teachers have been protesting because they lost their jobs for not complying with what they call ultranationalist regulations in schools. should be made as an obligation to listen to the national anthem before classes until my pupils spawn of who were not even japanese and it wasn't obligatory to stand up and then i got fired but it's not only about instilling national pride speculation is rife that with all this stronger japan hype is eager to amend the nine hundred

forty seven constitution namely article number nine which braves japan from having any kind of army other than for defense purposes. in the increasingly intertwined world we can ensure the peace of our nation without proactively taking a role in the peace and security of the world why don't we take steps forward on the issue of constitution amendment but not everyone is buying it and more far reaching goal could be reshaping the regional balance of power. there's been talk among high profile politicians including former prime ministers on launching a public debate on whether japan should have nuclear weapons it never materialized but it's something that the ruling elite has been pondering for years now and non-pacifist japan let alone a nuclear power would send shock waves across the region say experts but for now even with nationalist voices getting louder polls suggest that such ideas are still some way from becoming a reality lexy russia c.r.t. reporting from japan. about with more for in just over half an hour from now in the

meantime putting adventure back into money he's business program venture capital next. wealthy british style. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons are the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on r.t. if you. know opportunity.