openly waves its black flags over to iraqi cities with thousands of refugees fleeing the impending bloodbath as the us backed army prepares for a counterattack on the insurgent forces. in syria al qaida linked rebels and other opposition groups engage in bloody infighting the growing divisions among those aiming to topple assad and threatening the upcoming peace talks. plus the backing of leaders dips to an all time low was bailouts and austerity triggered a clearance sale of countries assets to patch up budget holes. and also this hour with security being a major concern at the upcoming winter olympics in sochi we take a look at how the host city is making sure athletes and spectators is protected.

in the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly. thousands of iraqis are fleeing their homes in anbar province which is turned into a war zone after al qaeda linked militants took control of the two largest 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. what is empowering the extremists in the region. young little book of. integrity they run on chaos emboldened by the fighting in syria these al qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq including the city of the

literature 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 deep as the u.s. and its allies threatened the syrian government sending the signal to the rebels to fight on to the detriment of the 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 asked you the relieve it along because if you kick it they're going to come out and bite you 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 qaeda 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. these you heard as behind the occupation of fallujah and ramadi of 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 well organization was formed by sunni insurgents in april two thousand and four a year after the u.s. launched its invasion of iraq many members of the group are fighting in syria against a sad and their force is rapidly gaining influence among the radical elements in the devastated nation even lebanon has suffered from the group's activity with it being behind the latest bombing attack in beirut now this kerry gore 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. i have never been on the run it might have been downscaling due to the pressure but once this pressure is lifted the organization is back in full force and it uses these. pauses to to regain its bring the fighting ability of the of the isis for instance is very strong but very contained to the localized and one

thing the isis and the rebels has is is them and 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 has led to growing infighting between once 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 are executed by militants from the islamic state of iraq and levant now the outbreak of a war within a war has prompted some western politicians and others who previously rooted soley for assad's removal to change their stance here just some of the latest statements former cia director michael hayden he said that the assad regime is beginning to look like the lesser of all evils the former u.s. ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he agreed that assad is not

as bad as the jihad is russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed 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 two in less than two weeks from now and the world's top diplomats are in paris at the moment to pressure syria's main opposition group that's the syrian national council into taking part but michel chossudovsky he's director of the center for research on globalization says that talking to them is not going to solve the issue of terrorist groups flooding syria . syrian national council is virtually a defunct organization 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 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 to today's for 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 sad for jeanne is feeling the terrorism what do you make of that. well i the these are cynical statements the western military alliance has been recruiting 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 we

must understand that the western military alliance also has blood on their hands it's all simply an issue of of identifying terrorists we have to identify the people who are behind these terrorists. support for the e.u. and some of the worst sturdy hit european countries has plunged drastically in the past five years the data comes from a new regional poll of a study suggests the tumbling approval rating is linked directly to the budget cuts and economic woes take spain for instance where public support is at a record low or ireland which is just successfully exit its bailout program despite the aftertaste of the e.u.'s 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 backing brussels but now it's even lower than that dropping below thirty percent. it's been dubbed that 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 double the debt of the euro zone is greater now than it was a year ago and some of the sales have led to public anger and frustration bestselling history and culture best selling beauty things a priceless and they've attached 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 off the market was. for a little over a million euros you get a maltese passport and therefore becoming the e.u. says it a move this big put on hold this two thirds of the public at opposition leaders cry

foul the very. same legal gun to use which. meant huge international damage which was uncalled for because moloto to date has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the whole european union it's a question of principle our citizenship should not be full of 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 risks 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. live from moscow

this is international still to come this hour water makes the land boil oil and gas 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 a fertile ground for the far right with calls for foreigners to leave and for the army to be ready to go into action if the need arises all the details on that later in the program. the first security is being beefed up in sochi the host city of the upcoming winter olympics tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed there and access to the area is strictly monitored scott takes a look at what else is being done to keep the games safe. the twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen i wore the to defeat the. i as soon as russia's black sea resort was awarded the game seven years ago i sell

him as a question the choice of taste city such as close proximity to the volatile caucasus region because they are huge 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. made those with months to prepare the special measures to stop them from the screen in all their old materials checking in 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 the sales of dangerous hunting equipment find for the duration of the games there's also a controlled 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 area visit this only there are security details from a number of countries including the u.k. and u.s. working for you it's. 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 so she. now just waiting for the sporting world to descend. altie. the traditional olympic torch relay has been

a collection of first overs this time around it's been taken to the north pole underwater and into open space and r.t. has followed it all the way and one of the torches even ended up in our studio brought to my colleague lindsey france by james brown this is my. personal torch it's as you can see a very one of a car and souvenir let me let me have a look at this this is not light by any means heavy yeah it is what about for actually a really oh yes you could train that you know about that is heavy quite and this is a better record breaking relay for the olympic torch going places it's never been before you were following it which one of the milestones do you think was the last memorable are important i think for me i've been to several. going to by car was amazing they took the torch on the water into my car so you have the burning flare torches specially made and passed very impressive on the water and then flew the

torch back with a man with the jets on to the. video also was it was a sight to be seen but there was one amazing moment and a real once in a lifetime moment was going with the tools to the world you see on t.v. and you read it and then you think wow that must be really must be very interesting never going to go and then this opportunity came up to go on this nuclear icebreaker this huge. ship that can come through to me to think i. so you does it which is a strange feeling in itself when you go and stand by. but we were going to go to the north pole with the flame and we maybe it's the. lesson for hope taken from the world record pace and rowing in the middle of the polar nights with the electric torch in the north pole the very first time in history. when all the.

torch relay across russia and beyond available right now on our website have to do is look for the follow the flame section but we'll be back in very short break with the story of relations between washington and afghanistan kabul stalls essential negotiations over security deal off to american soldiers in the told look it's taking him from jihadists that love stories to the break. with economic downturns in the final months. sang i and the rest. a few will be if we.

choose your language. we can we know if you're going to. choose the consensus. choose the opinions that you think are great. choose the stories that impact your life choose me access to. washington's hope of starting a new security agreement with afghanistan before presidential elections there is

likely to be shattered that's according to america's top negotiator the deal of signed would allow a portion of u.s. troops to remain in the country after the official withdrawal later this year otherwise afghanistan may be left to deal with the taliban on its own relations between washington and kabul have been aggravated recently after american soldiers killed a child mistaking him for a militant former british left and colonel richard williams says it's crucial how the afghan government copes with problems oh i don't know. i believe that what we tried to achieve to set the conditions whereby an afghan government that can deal in a nonviolent way with all of the groupings involved including the taliban. if those conditions are set and it should be here then what we're likely to see is a compromise between what kabul wants and what the taliban wants which will see afghanistan model along over the next period of time perhaps the next ten years but

that in itself won't be any great strategic victory if we want to call it that or any great strategic outcome. now from on screen to online news where we got the story of focus she was radiation spreading even further despite efforts to contain the hazardous leaks readings have 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 connected in school day. bases without any consent. civil liberty organizations and parents more on line. one of the new will. be.

a pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm sure. conflicts will be superseded by water levels in the future that's the warning from experts as the world's population grows access to clean water resources are rising in price now let's take a look at the map now you can see these blue dots the places where conflicts over water disputes have broken out since the nine hundred fifty s. and these include small protests as well as some more serious not scale clashes there but one hundred seventy eight disputes and the number of such hotspots is rising and 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 caballo has been living in the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to his one yard in orchards keeping his wine in a center that was once a syrian 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 know your question in water is important because it's the second main resource that we have other than the land grab needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all the farming here you can turn the gone right into a disaster 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 and one of the stands here understands the importance of the work that all the water supply of israel because every door was raining here all but one is prone to the security of god in the fold we can say that it is and must. respect the prisoner to have football over it's what the fox says it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places this very issue of water to go around feeling you have a common water source by several foreign nations is always the possibility of pressure breaches 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 bowl today egypt. also recently expressed concern of a 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. middle east affairs generous idle darwish things politicians unwillingness to share vital resources pushing the world towards new conflicts. as the population grew and as agriculture grew it was always. what it is when dealing probably reach for it with hardly any fish with a live in the pond that would be if the idea was exploring a while back for the water back i.e. the rivers of water resources shirt might be needed and if we can quantify the

usage of it what you wish for agriculture or what you wish for and what you wish for apology invasion and complain see each other by sort of making the dollar old daughter pound or whatever and then be quantified into more cooperative projects but we don't give it give a human nature and nature of politicians i probably not very optimistic. time now for a look at some other world news the sun a world update we start in egypt with police of supporters of the else the president mohamed morsi during clashes a car as many universities nineteen protesters have been detained in several injured threshold to break a volunteer comes just two days before a planned vote on a draft constitution more than one hundred fifty thousand troops will be called polling stations amid fears of more demonstrations by pro morsy activists. to australia now where bushfire is raging in the western part of the country threatening both lives and properties and emergency warning has been issued for

several suburbs officials say fire brigades will be unable to reach some remote areas and urging people to do whatever they can to protect their homes. more than a dozen people were injured and twenty three detained when a protest in spain's northern city burgle still violent crowds with voicing their anger over higher rents and developers forcing poor residents police resorted to rubber bullets off the protesters torched rubbish bins and vandalized banks and shops the rally followed friday's clashes over corruption claims surrounding the new boulevard. senegalese authorities provide are to. food water and medical treatment to the crew of a russian fishing vessel caught up in a weeklong diplomatic spat over the seizure of the trawler the 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

government of acting on a tip off from the environmental group of russian diplomats are trying to steer the crisis towards a diplomatic solution to a larger group two or three. nationalism seems to be on the rise in japan with far right groups protesting against immigration and demanding a reinforced army. now reports 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 protest korean workers were described as cockroaches which needed to be exterminated because this man is one of those behind the

nationalist rallies in japan he says he'd like to see japan more closer citee more and all their water and we've been to open to the world and 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 coffeetable since twenty twelve when she and so are there was reelected as prime minister that such rallies have been on the rise. those are not only foreign nationals and delegations getting the stick from japanese nationalists there are locals who have directly suffered from their country for 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 and it never materialized but it's something that the ruling elite has been pondering for years now and non-classical japan let alone 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 reality exhibitionist iatse reporting from japan. more from interest of a half an hour from now the meantime after the break artie's business program venture capital with host building stay with us for that. special what you're arguing for is that courage should put that ethnic identity above that national identity let me ask you a personal question i have a current first or an iraq a first i am a kurd first then i mean iraqi i'm not iraqi that i'm a kurds because let me ask you that question i am from holland been bombarded you know i still remember the smell of the chemical weapons.