the top stories of the week. the u.s. moves ahead with new sanctions against russia we look at the. response of president putin seven hundred fifty five. russian it's the largest expulsion of diplomats in modern history. journalists working with . killed by mortar fire from islamic state. human rights watch accuses a u.s. trained iraqi army unit of executing suspected islamic state terrorists without

trial. with the top stories from the past seven days on right up to the moment developments as well this is the weekly on r.t. international a little welcome our top story a new round of russia's sanctions is just this signature away congress waits for president to put pen to paper the senate passed the bill on thursday washington say he's there in response to alleged russian meddling in the u.s. election but. there are plenty of other factors at play too. the sanctions bill that was passed it targets many parts of russia's economy it targets mining 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 vital 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 has 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 of russia into 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 us bill could have unintended unilateral effects that impact the e.u. use 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 leaders have reacted angrily to washington's proposed new sanctions they say their economic interests are being ignored germany has even warned of country measures. listen chin's would impact the

nord stream to pipeline a major project between european companies russia firms from germany austria fronts in the netherlands have agreed to invest almost five billion euro in its around half of the projects total cost once completed it will substantially boost russian gas supplies to mainland europe via the baltic sea oil and gas majors including exon and b.p. house reportedly been lobbying against the new sanctions in congress so two money factors like boeing and ford with more in the. all of 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 e.u. 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. 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. well in response to the sanctions president putin has ordered the u.s. to cut its diplomatic presence in russia by more than seven hundred fifty personnel by september was. more than

a thousand people both diplomatic and technical staff are currently working in russia seven hundred fifty five of them will have to stop their activities and that's painful was it not because that is that america has taken a step to jeopardize u.s. russia relations and the important thing is that that step wasn't triggered by anything because this is a move to impose a legal restrictions to attempt to influence other countries including u.s. allies we here which are interested in developing ties with russia that i knew it was. going on longer than we've been waiting for quite a long time so that maybe something would change for the better we had hoped that the situation would change but it looks like even if it does change then it won't be in the near future quarter i decided it is time for us to show you that we will not leave anything on answered he is alone there will be a political was. of course we have more to

say they're all spheres that we could restrict which would be painful for the united states but i think we shouldn't do that it's only going to harm us russian relations as they are but it's also going to affect. on friday the russian foreign ministry said a mux the mum of four hundred fifty five u.s. diplomats can remain in the country that's equal to the number russia house in america in addition to diplomatic properties used by washington will be seized they are a warehouse in the south of moscow under riverside retreat and one of the capital's parks it was used by stuff members for leisure activities and get togethers foreign relations expert charles told us the stuff that will have to come sequences that is a sizable departure we've seen these kinds of tit for tat exchanges before they are

unfortunate but i guess putin has decided that he wants to take the american staff down to roughly the equivalent of the russian staff here in the united states he had initially not responded to the obama administration's initial decision on that front is now catching up because of the sanctions bill that has been approved by congress well i just don't question that if you're talking about seven hundred plus people in a six a difficult last of of capability the overall staff is going to be is going to be dramatically cut but i do think that you know this is the this is the cost of doing business. some sad news a young journalist working with artie's are a big channel in syria has been killed by shelling from islamic state our correspondent daniel hawkins explained earlier what occurred. he was a stringer working for r.t. in syria for those unfamiliar with the term that's effectively a local contracted journalist often working in dangerous environments in case in

homs province where the syrian army is 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 substandard 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 sure in 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 now 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. in the middle east. if suddenly. now as we said before the camera and working with him at the time the motto was young he was injured as well in that attack he's been evacuated to a hospital in the homs province. and we can also confirm that it is the first work or the first work of part of all these extended family ever to be killed in

a conflict zone so very sad they not only for his family and friends but also of course for all of us here at all to. a tribute to callid count tips work in one of syria's most dangerous areas we want to share with you one of his most recent reports on the suffering of families in the 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 all civilians claim that the pretext of fighting against terrorism and extremism is used to justify the actions of the coalition. and how to do it and have the houses were. destroyed but you know it was no more water for irrigation as you know over land it's been in record profits and there is no hard and if any crush did remain we were not allowed to use.

the head of one of them without 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 the dust so now before the hellish jets bombed ourselves so we struck on lots of civilians were killed in that airstrike as they were sheltering here at the time. deadly on rest is continuing in venezuela during an election that has been mired in controversy that story still the cup.

seems wrong. to me. to shape out to stay active. and engaged equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. to make it is read that he's just a faith feed. you this. so that you can be this is not to complete these statements not to get you ready but they feed the baby that's it's the big thing about the leaders.

sixty minutes into the program you're back with r t international let's go now to south america a number of officials have been shelved it as a venice wayland's cast their ballots in a key constitutional vote one which the opposition is calling a power grab by the country's president just hours before the polls opened a candidate for the current government was gunned down in his help local media report the three members of the opposition also lost their lives. this video was shot after an explosion in caracas in which several people were in

the country has seen must have demonstrations with the opposition still calling for more protests this by the pound according to local media at least thirteen people have been killed in the riots in the last twenty four hours you're still look at how the situation has deteriorated. you know. i.

incredible scenes there with the economy in meltdown and the political system in deadlock president maduro has called on venice women's to elect a new assembly now it will be tasked with rewriting the constitution and will have the power to dissolve the current parliament however the opposition believes the president is just trying to extend his powers and is mining democracy when r t done with the venezuelan president for an exclusive interview he told us that the opposition's tactics are needing many people. you know get up we want to know this you're trying your trip if you're not having the opposition has been saying the same thing for eighteen years they used to say about hugo chavez and know about me for the last four years for there is no other way to resolve a conflict in our country than through democratic means your three and a half weeks starting in may and i urge the opposition to engage in a direct dialogue and join the national constitutional assembly but they refused

since then the only thing the opposition has been doing is taking more steps backwards. right now the situation is dire they face political isolation get out on that they're leaning towards the far right and they've trapped in cells in this strategy of local acts of violence 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. rights groups and international observers have accused the iraqi soldiers of executing dozens of suspected terrorists without trial they claim to come just weeks after a lengthy battle to drive islam mixtape out of the city of mosul. two international observers or a group of iraqi soldiers who identified themselves as members of the sixteenth division the true naked men down an alleyway or two as they had multiple gunshots

they saw through the doorway of a damaged house the bodies of a number of naked men lying in the two way they said one of the dead men was lying with his hands on his back and appeared to be in handcuffed and there was a rope around his legs. to sixteenth division soldiers the school to one observer and showed the severed heads of what the soldiers said was an american female isis sniper whom they had to capture seated it was not clear whether the captives her alive or after her death all the iraqi forces that are involved in this fight against isis has been committing rampant abuses including war crimes and unfortunately in the face of all of these abuses by many different units and many different elements of the iraqi military structure we have yet to see a thing go incident be properly x. investigated by the iraqis or any commanders to be held accountable. the human rights watch report claims the executions were carried out by the sixteen the vision of the iraqi army unit that played a significant rule in the liberation of mosul it's been trained by the u.s.

military since twenty fifteen an international observers say there's no indication this support has stopped well after numerous calls from international organizations the u.s. led coalition is now urging iraq to investigate planes of war crimes committed by its military there have been consistent reporting of allegedly of armed conflict violations recently any violation of the law of armed conflict is unacceptable and should be in it investigated in a transparent parent manner we meet routinely with our partner forces to advise them on the expectations for throwing transparent investigations and accountability for anyone found responsible for abuses and public disclosure of findings and actions taken we heard from journalists who helping covering the story the appeared to be 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 u.s. 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 and background and abu ghraib. and i think all of those techniques. talked to the standing army that was created after the after the u.s. invasion looking at what we know so far it 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 it 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 mrs been busted on one exactly what those devices do in iraq. torture and killing is allegedly carried on by the iraqi army have previously been documented by

a cameraman in bed with one of the units we should warn you scenes of graphic violence are ahead ali our county claims to have filmed the busa extrajudicial executions some of which he said were also recorded by the officers themselves last month artie's murat because they have spoke to him again some disturbing images are in this report. i understand the dark background is intended to conceal the way you watch 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 mourners are she wrote to my father on facebook he said they would come in the night and kill them of course i understand that my life is in danger what was your position with the emergency response division of men how 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 to torture people and kill them over and over. always a world of stories waiting for you on our website just a click away live from moscow this is r.t. .

fleur used to be a professional hockey player who won a stanley cup and the moment the girl who was living the dream. had a dark side. time i was fourteen to sixteen i was raped one hundred fifty times by a coal mine i was mawson in a dark room and so you know every time i close my eyes. from sleep after many years of silence he speaks up and unites with other victims so you are going. to. walk in an hour walk and. walk to create awareness and for most you linger on the

subject of child sexual abuse this type of behavior is absolutely acceptable because of the sentences that are handed down through the justice system.

i know that my. dream. we're going to avoid a ship would rush in and tell me i had to be that's all meant it's only displaced persons that believe that fluid recently from clashes that have been. a lot of good people separate across front lines and they can cross the front line a lot of people that fled without knowing where it has been where their child that child or dead that mother is. where they are were even if they were captured or

they are alive most of the times we live with load to look for them it's very difficult actually i read if i family's. so we've got precise phones to do we're just going to you're going to want to do it again it will be ok i'll make it short three minutes per person so if we have the most people possible can be able to make a phone call and then or if you don't manage today tomorrow we coming back with a team all day again and you'll be able to make phone calls tomorrow too for those who couldn't today and only four million years to your family is right well on the third but most up up. i know. i know why i do you. just pretend that i knew i was nobody. i didn't. know.

my little i do i look i know do you. like that i'm going to take to change it. yes the. pilot but. he didn't kill only a leading voice he had a little while ago wrong or been playing one weekend a week in the. year painting minimum on our blog and now when we can all of them done that evening me it would have been me. and you them up a. plot don't get me going will back up. you know i don't want. one but i manage to break here for you and then we get them and yes awful hot. poker is going to. be on the. low close to what we have been calling.