a journalist working. behind the. proposals as. business is.

change the constitution. at least five others killed in furious opposition protests. international headquarters we'll bring you some of the biggest stories of the past seven days in a few moments but first a young journalist working with arabic channel in syria has been killed by shelling from islamic state our correspondent. was a stringer working for r.t. in syria for those unfamiliar with a. local contractor working. trying to. actually liberate the town of which is close to where the incident took place

his group or his convoy came under shell fire from isis we understand that he was hit by an antitank missile that's what caused his death and indeed injuries to his cameraman who's also in hospital right now started working with r.t. towards the end of april he did many reports from homs province interviewing the families of victims of refugees affected by fighting from all sides during those months those months and those battles he was also active on social media especially on facebook and we can have a look at one of his last posts in fact a very chilling poignant post just saying god just a few hours before he was tragically killed most of all khaled was only twenty five years of age he was studying at the university of damascus in the faculty of media and journalism this is some of his last work he filmed before he was killed.

in the middle of the commons one. minute to the set i mean. now as we said before the camera and working with him at the time missed the motor yakov he was injured as well in that attack he's been evacuated to a hospital in the hobs province we don't know what his condition is as of yet but of course we'll have updates as they come in and we can also confirm that it is the first. worker the first work apart of all he's extended family ever to be killed in

a conflict zone so very sad only for his family and friends but also of course for all of us here at all too well as a tribute to work one of the most dangerous locations we want to share with you one of his most recent reports which is on the suffering of families in the syrian city of raka those who use the u.s. led coalition planes and those who give the orders to travel long think about the consequences of their actions civilians have been killed or forced to flee because of them and the infrastructure has been destroyed civilians claim that the pretext of fighting against terrorism and extremism is used to justify the actions of the coalition. or. the houses were burnt. there was no more water for irrigation and all the land is burned in record province and there is no harvest and if any crops did remain we were not allowed to use them.

to hurt us one of them there are the coalition carries out and struck some schools so children don't study anymore many more civilians were injured when the coalition hit hospitals as well. and. so now we're going hellish jets bombed ourselves so we started going there lots of civilians were killed in an airstrike as they were sheltering here at the time and. now a new round of anti russia sanctions is just a signature away as u.s. congress waits for president trump to put. pen to paper the senate passed the bill

on thursday washington says they were in response to what they call russian aggression in syria and ukraine for alleged meddling in the us election but has cut them open found might be much more behind the initiative the sanctions bill that was passed it targets many parts of russia's economy it targets mining it targets finance and russia metal manufacturing but one part of the bill that was specifically singled out was the energy sector of russia's economy the bill penalizes any company that cooperates with russia's pipeline projects it's about sending a message to russia to hold mr putin accountable for his actions we will take tough action against russia the bill is targeting the construction of a key natural gas pipeline into europe citing what it calls detrimental impact on european energy security furthermore in the same paragraph the bill talks about exporting more of america's resources in order to create american jobs strengthen

u.s. allies and strengthen u.s. foreign policy now that all agrees with a key component of u.s. energy strategy america's global dominance in energy policy. is not just a vital element of u.s. economic policy but it's also a viable element of u.s. foreign policy and one of the most important actions we can take is to use our massive shale gas resources to begin shipping liquefied natural gas overseas so there you have it but what does selling gas to europe have to do with protecting the sanctity of america's voting machines the point is it hasn't got to do anything with the political sphere with the frozen conflict in the ukraine though with syria and it actually hasn't got anything to do also with an interference with russia the us elections this has to do with the approach of the u.s. administration to make deals to get their economy going and so this is very

commitment rather than political u.s. leaders say that they don't like russia for all kinds of reasons but one thing they don't mention is that russia is a key exporter of oil and natural gas competing with the big monopolists america's european allies are now crying foul saying that the usa is interfering with their energy policies with these sanctions the u.s. bill could have unintended unilateral effects the impact the e.u.'s energy security interests america first kind of mean that europe's interests come last at this point russia counts for thirty eight percent of the european union's natural gas while the usa only accounts for two percent of the e.u. is natural gas imports you can bet some slick wall street syndicates would like to reverse that lineup so when you hear this explanation of the sanctions the mere fact that russia tried to affect our elections this stunning breach of our right as a sovereign nation decades of unchecked russian aggression whether it be in the

ukraine in the crimea in syria don't forget about this one we must continue to focus on how we get our gas here in the united states our natural gas to europe to our allies so they're not so dependent on russia. well as you heard the e.u. leaders have reacted angrily to washington's proposed new sanctions and its attempt to free europe from its reliance on russian gas they say their economic interests are being ignored germany's even more the u.s. of its own countermeasures well let's take a look at one reason why europe's business and political leaders are bristling about all this the sanctions could impact on the north stream to pipeline that's a major project between european companies and also russia's energy sector firms from germany austria france the netherlands they've agreed to invest almost five billion euros in it that's around half the projects total cost once completed it should provide northern europe with direct russian gas according to reports

multinational businesses in the energy sector the likes of b.p. and exxon mobil below being against the new measures in the u.s. congress so to have big manufacturers like boeing and ford more on that now from peter all of. well it's the potential impact that these sanctions could have on both the the business and energy sectors here in europe that has e.u. officials hot under the collar there are potentially huge fines for e.u. businesses that would enter into energy projects with russia many of those blue chip european companies of course are heavily involved there what we've heard from the german foreign ministry is them saying that it can't be accepted that the industrial policy of another nation be passed off as sanctions while the german government spokesperson also came out saying that industry can't be targeted and if there will be a response if the sanctions or when the sanctions go through it's not just the germans though the french foreign ministry issued

a statement saying that well they believe that the sanctions impacted upon the rights of private individuals as well as corporate entities to an extent that they believe may go beyond international law the austrian chancellor christine care he posted online he said that politics and business should not be mixing when it comes to making decisions like this it's not excluded that they also follow that they also follow their economic interests. we don't complain about that unless it does not affect our own interests but right now it really affects our own interest negatively impact of the plan sanctions notice a very negative form of especially for the energy sector because of the sanctions under the threat of sanctions especially energy pipeline exports from russia so what options remain for the european union when these sanctions or if these

sanctions come into being the european union could decide to impose sanctions of their own on the united states now this could take the form of e.u. bank suspending u.s. companies ability to take out short term loans but let's be realistic this would be a nuclear option. russia's patience has also waned president putin says that moscow cannot tolerate offensive actions anymore so when the news of the sanctions are completely illegal they go against international law and the rules of the world trade organization we're being very patient and very reserved but we can't endlessly tolerate aggressive behavior towards our country these actions can be perceived as aggravation and i would even say exceptional cynicism. in fact moscow's already had back its asked the u.s. to reduce the number of diplomatic staff it has a russia it's estimated that between two and seven hundred people will be sent home

or fired but the american embassy hasn't given an exact figure yet moscow says the number of staff must be cut to four hundred fifty five that's the same amount that it has in the united states russia's also said that two diplomatic properties used by washington will be seen as next month it will take back a warehouse in the south of moscow and also a riverside retreat in one of the capital's parks which was used by staff members for leisure activities and get togethers at that yet nine is that this is a response to the only fluxions view us and most importantly to the anti russian mayhem in the us congress the rutherfords is setting the turn on capitol hill and we're not ruling out any steps to bring them to their senses this bill is a tool of intimidation for the entire world it's a consequence of our unwillingness to follow america's political course. the u.s. secretary of state to explain the thinking behind the sanctions bill he says that russia should take steps to improve its ties with the united states and hope sanctions won't be needed in the future. the russian embassy in the u.s.

has said it's puzzled by rex tillerson to comment on the sanctions so we got some expert opinion. not the most logical thing to say we want to improve relations therefore we are imposing sanctions to listen to his statement was trying to be diplomatic and lessen the impact and be less insulting to russia than the he might otherwise have been so i think that's why you have that statement explaining these sanctions to which is not really any sensible justification at all we think about american foreign policy from like one nine hundred forty five forward it's tough to find many great examples of what we've accomplished so what the american force and foreign policy it's stablish meant expected what they're trying to do you know i think it's time for a total and complete overhaul of how we conduct our international business this is usually on one of today's headlines stories that divisive vote in venezuela the

tapping right now but which is already seen deadly violence the details after the break. in case you're new to the. economy around. washington. business. it's not business is business like it's never been done. what politicians do. they put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be

president i'm sure you. want to. be press this is what before. i'm interested always in the water. welcome back to the weekly rights groups and international observers have accused iraqi soldiers of executing dozens of suspected terrorists without trial the claims come just weeks after a lengthy battle to drive islamic state out of the city of mosul. to international observers who are group of iraqi soldiers who don't find themselves as members of the sixteenth division the true naked men turn an alleyway to it's they had multiple gunshots through the door of damaged house the bodies of a number of naked men lying in the doorway they said one of the dead men was lying with his hands on his back and peers have been handcuffed

a newsgroup room is links. to sixteenth division soldiers the school to one observer and showed the severed heads of what the soldiers said was an american female. whom they had to capture seats it was not clear whether the campus's who were alive or after her death all the iraqi forces that are involved in this fight against isis has been committing rampant abuses including war crime and unfortunately in the face of all of these abuses by many different units and many different elements of the iraqi military structure we had yet to see a thing the incident be properly at investigated by the iraqis or any commanders to be held accountable the human rights watch report claims the executions were carried out by the sixteenth division of the iraqi army a unit that played a significant role in the liberation of mosul it's been trained by the u.s. military since twenty fifteen and international observers say there's no indication

that the supporters stopped. but after numerous calls from international organizations the u.s. led coalition is now urging iraq to investigate claims of war crimes committed by its military there have been consistent reporting of the legend laws of armed conflict violations recently any violation of the law of armed conflict is unacceptable and should be an investigated in a transparent parrot manner we meet routinely with our partner forces to advise them on the expectations for throwing transparent investigations accountability for anyone found responsible for abuses and public disclosure findings and actions taken during the week we talked. a number of experts about this who all appear to be rather skeptical of america's calls for an investigation it's not even cynical to suggest that just because this division iraqi division were trained by the us military that they wouldn't have done this we have to remember the u.s.

torture after the during the two thousand two thousand and three invasion. in background and abu ghraib. and i think all of those techniques. taught to the standing army that it was created after the after the u.s. invasion looking at what we know so far as can be very difficult to specifically accuse any of those american soldiers fool for training iraqi soldiers specifically in the craft of torture but i think it paints a very poor picture puts the americans. under a very poor lights in iraq generally i mean we've you know what are they doing there exactly i mean this sort of euphemistic term advisor i think the the miss has been busted on one exactly what those voices do in iraq torturing killings allegedly carried out by the iraqi army have previously been documented by a camera man who was embedded with one of the units should warn you though they were about to show you scenes of graphic violence ali arkady claims to have filmed abuse and extrajudicial executions some of which he said were also recorded by the

officers themselves last month. spoke to him again there are some disturbing scenes coming up. i understand the dark background is intended to conceal the way you are how serious is the threat to your life after you made these revelations about all this torture and wrongdoing in iraq. my family received many threats from the especially from captain omar and zine he wrote to my father on facebook he said they would come night and kill them of course i understand that my life is in danger what was your position within the emergency. the response division men have to work together every day we all slept together i spent more time with them than with my family but then i saw the other side the torture the raping the killing first they didn't want me to film the torture and other bad stuff but eventually they relented and gave me permission.

after that it all changed it affected me my psychology i kept thinking about the torture of those people and their suffering it got worse and worse and after five weeks it became so horrible that i decided to publish everything. it was unbearable but i made myself continue to film because they knew it was important he tortured people and killed them over and over. the big stories this sunday a number of officials have been shot dead venezuelans cost their ballots in a key constitutional vote while much the opposition is calling a power grab by the country's president just hours before the polls opened one candidate was gunned down in his home local media report that three members of the opposition who are also being killed the sunday the polls are now but i mean for a few hours the turnout is likely to be crucial after the opposition called for a boy called earlier president maduro was one of the first to cost his but it will

seal the country's seen massive demonstrations with the opposition still calling for yet more protests despite now in the last week alone it's thought that at least nine people have been killed during riots. with the country in the economic doldrums and experiencing

a political deadlock president the doro has called on venezuelans to elect a new body which will be tasked with rewriting the current constitution more than five hundred representatives will be chosen from various groups across society however the opposition believes the president is simply trying to extend his own powers and undermining democracy in the protest process well he's managed to get an exclusive interview with the venezuelan president and he told us that the opposition is tactics are alienating a lot of people. europe we should try europe to get not only the opposition has been saying the same thing for eighteen years they used to say about hugo chavez you know about me for the last four years it's a form of it really is no other way to resolve a conflict in our country rather than through democratic means through your through and how you weeks starting women amy the opposition to engage in a direct dialogue and join the national constitutional assembly but they refused it since they're now the only thing the opposition has been doing which is taking

steps back with me right now the situation is dire it's anything to face political isolation sick and i don't know they're leaning towards the far right and they've trapped yourselves in the strategy of local acts violence of. restricting the movement of people in the very districts that voted for them the opposition is losing the support of the venezuelan people voted for them in the past we also spoke to an opposition activist he claims that doro is riding roughshod over venezuela's democracy. lederer has been undermining democracy i was listening to his interview saying that a way to change democracy in minutes what i was there for me through this new constitution that he wants to write it is very clear as we have seen in the past that the opposition won clear and save elections about two years ago where they won the majority in the parliament so there is no reason for him to write a new constitution when he writes another constitution he kicks out the opposition

from power and he continues to do what he wants besides the fact that the national guard has been killing people in the streets i mean with the international community cannot just sit down and wait for him to do all these old take all these actions against his people the majority of the people going to have a different opinion what's going on in the country the betting on what social sector they belong to. ok that's it for me unions here in half an hour to wrap up the week's main news for you and update you on today's big developments as well this is our team from moscow. is with the with me and many of. those get a little bit of a. massive amount on you but i. know both of us but i guess sort of kind of. side of this yes or no but if you dump out and just see your piece.

where they boo you go get him to sit good. for immigrants it's. never really know for sure but this is been a active area. thank you so i. am. no where when i started no i did. have. a bachelor sudden passing i've only just learned you worry yourself and taken your last turn. to cut up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry suddenly i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things

that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was a game still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one different person to speak to now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its maker. here's what people have been saying about rejected in neighbors who i suspect it's full on also feel that the only show i go out of my way to launch a lot of is the really packs upon our belief yap is the john oliver of our three americans good to say we are apparently better than blue nothings better than some

and see they believed every heard of love redacted the night not the president of the world bank so very popular in a seriously send us an e-mail. now it's all shall soon be off. to. all our sunday. yes.

five am. a daily training session. this is. just a couple of months she'll graduate. twenty seven running the day with. up. in the dark we somehow managed to lose john in the crowd. no.