with. a cry for help iraq's asking the u.s. to carry out airstrikes against sunni insurgents as jihadists are taking control at a faster pace than even the american troops managed during the two thousand and three invasion. the fighting in eastern ukraine leaves the city of slovyansk with no water electricity and almost all its hospitals close to me while the president's repeated vows of a cease fire get to be fulfilled. plus the belorussian president left red faced up to alexander lukashenko falls victim to a phone prankster pretending to be the son of ukraine's ousted president.

welcome once again my name is the harvey and you're watching r.t. international. iraq has urged the u.s. to launch air strikes against isis militants who seized large parts of the country you can see them here marked in red washington is already carried out airborne surveillance jihadists have been closing in on baghdad since taking the country's second largest city more than a week ago the closest they come so far to the capital though was on monday in an attack on the city of baquba just sixty kilometers from baghdad however soldiers managed to repel that offensive. output if you can see now is recent video from the northern city of baiji where insurgents tried to seize iraq's biggest oil refinery but government forces fought them off there as well and in between taking one major city after a. another isis's put together

a glowing report outlining the group's achievements i'll teach you go to school report. fifteen thousand fighters ten thousand operations in iraq one thousand assassinations and all last year alone the state of iraq and syria now known more notoriously as isis has been slicing through iraq moving closer and closer to baghdad and they're running a slick modern p.r. campaign to even publishing an official report of their activities using computer generated graphics it paints a clear picture of the terror organization including the types in amounts of weapons they use their strategy details of operations and targets and former intelligence officers claim it produces its press releases like a giant corporation trying to create an image of a world structured disciplined and effective organization or to attract funding but their actions speak loudly too as isis fighters have almost to reach the iraqi capital killing scores of people along the way in just around seven b.

while during the u.s. led invasion of the country it took the allied forces twenty two days to reach baghdad the alternate goal of isis is to create a new slavic state merging parts of iraq and syria into one now it's believed that the movement grew out of al qaeda in iraq emerging from the cast of the two thousand and three invasion to day it has fifteen thousand fighters most of whom are thought to be from neighboring middle eastern countries but around two thousand are believed to have come from europe including britain isis has also become known for extreme brutality including widespread beheadings and crucifixions most of its funding is traced to southeast asia particularly indonesia the country with the biggest muslim population on earth and would fall into the arrest of high profile jihad is there it said extremists are now turning their attention to the conflicts in iraq and syria. well baghdad may have the fish really asked for help u.s. defense officials are reportedly lacking intelligence information to actually carry

out precise strikes defense analyst ivan eland says the getting involved in iraq again would be a major blow to america's federal budget but providing more weapons to the iraqi military i think would be a nightmare of a half of the weapons of already ended up in the isis hands or least a lot of weapons have so then you have the other thing is a good be a drone campaign or it could be a full fledged air campaign and the economic consequences of course all that cost money and the united states is already has a seventeen trillion dollar debt and i think we're already overextended around the world and to get back into iraq is going to cost more money and more billions and i think as i say the american people are tired of not only the lives lost american lives overseas in these places but also the money spent you know they've spent trillions in iraq already. if you head to our web site you can follow the line

updates on the launch towards baghdad by isis as well as the international reaction to the insurgents. weeks of intense attacks by the ukrainian army have left the eastern city of slovyansk paralyzed continued combat and army artillery fire have knocked down both water and electricity supplies and officials say almost all hospitals have been closed while of run out of petrol so making life very difficult for the locals. here let you. know you could then you would not doesn't mean you know let the desert you know late in the puzzle of the news it need to feel it's love and. go where you're going to go you're going to to go. and this all comes as ukraine's president petro poroshenko promises a unilateral cease fire he said it will be brief but will be for enough time to

allow anti-government forces to lay down their arms it's not the first time poroshenko has promised to put an end to the bloodshed since he was elected back in may on the very day of the vote he said his first presidential visit would be to the rest of donetsk region that didn't happen though instead he went to poland to meet barack obama he has pledged to bring peace and put an end to the fighting many times and promised to bring about a cease fire at least twice let's take a look back at what has happened in the volatile regions in the last three weeks since paris was elected. dozens of civilians were caught up in the violence with residential areas frequently becoming the target of artillery fire the number of civilian deaths since the start of the military operation two months ago a surge of two hundred and fifty seven according to u.n. estimates. the city of lugansk or one of the worst attacks when its central

square came under army airstrikes europe's top security watchdog confirmed the explosion in the center of lugansk was the result of an aerial assault. and violence against journalists covering the conflict has reached unprecedented level stance according to reporters without borders to russian t.v. crew members were killed in army shelling earlier this week. and allegations of be made that clear views banned weapons in its air assault on slavia and locals claimed they were attacked by incendiary bombs which included white phosphorus broadcaster neil clark believes that the violence will continue with the president using the troops to buy time so he can press on with the offensive later things haven't gone to plan for the ukrainian authorities here they launched their offensive against the so-called terrorists in the east several weeks ago it has launched a plan the fact is they haven't been able to regain control of parts of the country

as we know the people in the east are still there they're fighting back even to casualties on the crazy forces and i should fear that what we could be seeing here is playing for time he might be calling for the cease fire to kind of low people into a false sense of security. and then a free launch this offensive and so i think we could be very cynical we've got to wait to see the actual details. well you may have heard spain is crowning a new king today and later on we will take a look at what the change of thrones really means for the people of spain and whether the new model has enough strength to withstand the challenges we will face in the cash strapped country.

the. economic downturn the find. a see if we.

can back it watching on international next for you this hour it seems even president prank phone calls the leader of the roof's received a call from somebody he believes was the son of ukraine's ousted president. and the conversation featured promises of political asylum and extravagant treats sit is unclear about who leaked the embarrassing phone call on his gun and shoot you can explain. a russian prankster who goes by the name of von braun rang up the administration of the president of bellows and introduced himself as the son of victor young accomplished the ousted president of ukraine he got to talk to the bell russian president alexander lukashenko himself during the conversation the princess suggested that his father may have a chance he could be handed over to kiev one pretended to be worried that the current authorities not treat the ousted president well the belorussian president who never shies away from using colloquial language in public was even more candid

doing what he thought was a private conversation. of problem that you know which an important unusual push push if we will start restoring order when you put. then the president of bellows showed a great deal of hospitality inviting the ousted ukrainian president and his family to stay in bellows yes or courtship three year could global sport broke the record over him a third term universal. wish him just thank him pranks divonne offered the president a gift but they hope to look at. the shoes. but. you do the. cooking to get there but you sure. they're talking about the golden loaf that was found in the residence of the ousted ukrainian president many treasures were found there well anyway the president of bellows seems to have bought every bit of that prank and he's now angry alexander

lukashenko gave his security service a week to track down the russian prankster or else he said he would send the head of his security service to prepare quote feed for cattle. but the prankster duped not just the belorussian president and his administration but also those who had apparently hacked into the phone call decided it was the real thing and leaked it before the prankster himself revealed the truth about one suspects that it could be the ukrainian intelligence service it's no secret intelligence service this guy on world leaders we remember who tapped the angle of merkel's phone they may have some interesting bits of leaders private chat in their collection but probably not a prank like this so with us here on r.t. international still to come for you this julian assange is marking two years in embassy limbo we will take a look back at the achievements of the chief of the wiki leak is under

a veil why british authorities are spending thousands of pounds on round the clock surveillance of the tiny building. but before that security in spain's capital madrid is on the very highest alert it's been for years because the new moment is set to be crowned later today the incoming king philippe will inherit the throne from his father one cos auntie's alexy takes a look down at the challenges that will face the new boy. almost four decades since one carlos took the throne in spain being treated almost as a hero he has left the palace with a better reputation his family's biographer says he son philippe faces an uphill battle for. the last one carlos and a totally different they have different good reason a different mentality they formally found a friend whose dictatorship the latter was brought up in democracy the question whether this could aid the new king or turn him into a brussels style bureaucrat at

a time when the world family's reputation has hit an all time low one of spain's most vocal opposition figures is skeptical claiming the change of face inside the palace would not change anything is planned if the top did not continue as the king queen the president it's the system that needs to be changed not particularly since people are demanding changes and the latest election to the euro parliament. biggest party has lost it. and it's not difficult to see where such resentment stems from almost a third of spain's working population is jobless and the government is increasing social cuts the abdicating king may not have been directly involved in this but is still associated to have played a role in causing the difficult conditions ordinary spaniards are experiencing. even after juan carlos announced his abdication people were in the streets paralyzing the spanish capital they say the country needs

a total political revamp and are pushing for a referendum but according to those initiating it the government is not so keen on holding it. there is not going to be a referendum as their primary threat and that's why we are organizing a referendum done by the people and for the people of spain brace itself for another string of anti-monarchy protests it seems many especially young people have lost trust in the next generation of rulers alexy russia ski r.t. reporting from madrid in spain. as one of europe's most colorful royals the outgoing king was also a good sailor and even shown in the one nine hundred seventy two live crew was threatened back in the eighty's by a military coup which he survived going on t.v. and calling for the public's support of democracy. but as a key to cyclists they dip into the legend of him being in. by the helping people on remote roads and the king hit headlines again and if it was they asked the late venezuelan president hugo chavez but shut up. there on the host

and he's. really think of the royals do people in spain care well definitely people in spain care and that's why. on the streets through the streets recently i mean people actually wanted to have brendan be really to decide whether they were a king billions or they just wanted the team to beat up forever so that was the main concern is the. state. is.

reporting from london.