the top stories of the week the president orders hundreds of american diplomatic stuff to leave russia. sanctions. is expected to approve sanctions against russia. in this. country. so a journalist working with. mortar fire from islamic state in service. human rights watch accuses a u.s. trained iraqi army unit of executing suspected terrorists without trial.

but the top stories from the past seven days and right up to the moment developments as well this is the weekly international hello and welcome to our top story president vladimir putin has ordered the united states to cut the number of its diplomatic staff in russia by several hundred in response to sanctions. more than a thousand people both diplomatic and technical staff are currently working in russia which seven hundred fifty five of them will have to stop their activities and that's painful. 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 goes this is a move to impose a legal restrictions to attempt to influence other countries including us allies

with cuba which are interested in developing ties with russia but on the us. and on longer. 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 we will not leave anything on answer here is when there will be a political. going usenet and of course we have more to say here there are fears that we could restrict use here which would be painful for the united states but i think we shouldn't do that and it's only going to harm us russian relations as they are but it's also going to affect us as well thirty list said past the sanctions bill on thursday on the white house has said president trump will give his approval wash thing claims the measures are in response to alleged russian meddling in the u.s.

election but let's kill a pipe and find out there are plenty of other factors at play to. 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 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 has got to do anything with the political sphere with the frozen conflict in the ukraine though with syria and it actually has got anything to do 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 comic 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 that 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. one of the key projects affected by this will be the nord stream two pipeline e.u. leaders have warned they could be forced to retaliate against washington firms from germany austria fronts on 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 exxon and b.p. have reportedly been lobbying against the new sanctions in congress so to have money fuck troops like boeing and forward it all over brings us more. 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 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 do you plan sanctions notice a very negative form. especially for the energy sector because under 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. banks suspending u.s. companies ability to take out short term loans but let's be realistic this would be a nuclear option. meanwhile the u.s.

secretary of state has explained the thinking behind the anti russian bill the near unanimous vote for the sanctions legislation in congress represent the strong will of the american people to see russia take steps to improve relations with the united states we hope that there will be cooperation between our two countries a major global issues and these sanctions will no longer be necessary the russian embassy in washington responded to rex tillerson statement calling it puzzling the embassy said the u.s. government has failed to understand pressure does not work with russia and sanctions cannot improve relations we asked the former diplomat on a political analyst for their views. it's not the most logical thing to say we want to improve relations therefore we are imposing the x. to listen statement trying to be diplomatic and lessen the impact and be less and tilting to russia than the he might otherwise have been for that i think that's why

you have that. statement explaining these sanctions to which was 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 what the american forces foreign policy. 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. a young journalist working with our teas are a big channel in syria as being killed by shelling from islamic state our correspondent daniel hawkins explained earlier what happened. 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 kind of case in homs province where the syrian army is trying to actually liberate

a 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 i'll cut superstar to 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 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.

now as we said before the camera i'm working with him at the time mr matas jacobi 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 worker the first worker part of artie's extended family ever to be killed in a conflict zone so a very sad day not only for his family and friends but also of course for all of us here at r.t. . well as a tribute to the team's 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 of

a 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 much of the houses were. destroyed there was no more water for irrigation and all the land is burned in record profits and there is no harvest and if any cross did remain we were not allowed to use. the head of one of them there are the coalition carries out as 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 grand coalition

jets bombed ourselves so we struck on lots of civilians were killed in an airstrike as they were sheltering here at the time. to stay with us for live analysis on the election unrest in venezuela.

seems wrong. just don't. get to shape our. outlook. and in. the trail. one song find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. hello again voting has just ended in venice way less on an election day that seen deadly opposition riots and one come to that shot dead in his own home.

so this video was shot after an explosion in caracas in which several people were injured the opposition has to find a bomb on public protests and the annoyance the election there's a power grab by president material local media reports that one opposition activist died during sunday's riots people have been voting on a new assembly which will be tasked with rewriting the constitution let's cross to freelance journalist carlos camacho who's in the capital of caracas hi there carlos so people have been going out all day to the polls have just closed what can the scenes have been walking into in the streets has there been much violence where you are. brothers have not been the most violent in

caracas but the journey of the electoral day has been marred by a bio and elsewhere in venezuela that. eight people have been killed in the electoral. that brings that. one hundred twenty one people killed in more or less four months of now here in. the third there haven't been so many but there. is where more of more and more of a broader think iraqis have been located that you were just looking at pictures though of the explosion blasts on the street it does look as if it's a continuation of events that we've been seeing for many months a lot of deaths doesn't look as if this is going to continue the protests even after today's vote is finished. we expect so we expect the opposition not to recognize today's ball for progress to continue now

the opposition does not condone or promote bio on the pro this list not publicly. brought us how being an increase in imbalance today we had an explosion i think that's the one you mean in which seven policemen were injured and apparently was an i.e.d. . improvised explosive device the second explosion by a suspected in the out that. in this month of july a law in the context of protests not policemen were. it was a ghastly thing very serious there were something you wouldn't see in caracas something you would expect to see in syria or somewhere else yeah incredible scenes throughout the week indeed months there in caracas in the throat but as we were thanks very much for the update karla's camacho from caracas so bring in word journals a history professor at the university of houston for a look at the bigger picture to all this hi there good to have you back on the

program president maduro sees that this election in the new constituent assembly are vital to restoring stability do you think that that's likely to happen judging by the scenes that we're looking at. it's possible but you have to keep in mind that there is a third player besides the manure regime in the opposition i'm speaking of washington it's no secret that washington is very upset with the madeira regime just today united states ambassador to united nations nikki haley denounced this vote washington has promised that it will slap sanctions on venezuela as a result of this vote washington is very upset with venezuela's relationship with cuba in the first place but also upset with this relationship with moscow and beijing you should also know that this election and the crisis in venezuela should be seen in a wider context it's no secret that over the past decade washington has had been

upset with the turn to the left in south america but now you see that last year of the president of brazil dilma rousseff was impeached and removed from office her predecessor of the silva who was expected to run for the president presidency of brazil next year was just convicted in argentina the person east of leader cristina de kirchner is now under investigation after serving a term in buenos aires fortunately. able malise and bolivia is still in power but washington sees south america as its backyard and it sees as a primary interest destabilizing the caracas based regime of mr my girl the opposition here and we're just looking at pictures as we're speaking jerrold of the scenes in caracas that a fight a bun protests ahead of the election are they simply making matters worse and is there any chance of them backing down and actually accepting whatever the result is

going to be. it's difficult to see them backing down in the short term because there is they see it they have the wind in their sleeve they're receiving significant external support not least from washington but also from allies in brazil where there has been a sharp turn to the right of late so i did not foresee the opposition stop stalling its process its process any time soon just another aspect you were talking about the us ambassador to the un has said this election will push this we have towards dictatorship your thoughts on that statement well that's quite rich coming from a united states representative as is well known elections the united states or studded with irregularities voter suppression particularly in the black community is a par for the course and it takes a bit of gold and chutzpah for nikki haley to stick her nose into venezuelan

elections and charge that they are sham when she should be attending to the symbolic elections there regularly take place in the united states of america gerald horan history professor at the university of houston always good to have you on the program thank you for. having on our rights groups on international observers have accused iraqi soldiers of executing dozens of suspected terrorists without trial it 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 down an alleyway or two 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 appeared to have been handcuffed and there was a rope around his legs. to sixteenth division soldiers the school to one observer and showed the severed head to what the soldiers said was an american female isis

sniper whom they had to compensate it was not clear whether the captives 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 for human rights watch report claims the executions were occurring died by this sixteen the vision of the iraqi army unit played a significant role in the liberation of mosul it has been trained by the u.s. military since twenty fifteen international observers say there is no indication of this support still well after numerous calls from international organizations the u.s. led coalition. to investigate claims 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 thorough and transparent investigations and accountability for anyone found responsible for abuses and public disclosure of findings and actions taken we heard from journalists who've been 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 us military 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 back

graham and abu ghraib. and i think all of those techniques. taught to the standing army that was created after the after the us 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 it puts the americans. under a very poor lights in iraq generally i mean these you know what are they doing there exactly i mean this sort of euphemistic advisor i think the the mrs been busted on one exactly what those devices doing to write. a fire has caused a shutdown at europe's largest oil refinery in the dutch city of rotterdam the blaze started an electric substation on sunday morning and has since been extinguished the facilities owner royal dutch shell ses no workers were injured in

the cause is being investigated rotterdam refinery process is almost half a million barrels of crude oil per day. well that's the weekly for no more updates in half an hour's time and remember you can stay on top of today's breaking developments any time on our t. dr.

make it is really described that he's the thief a seed or a baby mule is saying you are a thief so that you had the meat of this was done to company these and this is not the dentist to get you ready but they feed the baby that's it's the big thing about the meter. fleur used to be a professional hockey player and won a stanley cup and the moment the girl who was living the dream was a success and a dark side on the time i was fourteen to sixteen i was raped one hundred fifty times by a coach of mine i was moss in a dark room and so you know every time i close my eyes i from sleep after many years of silence he speaks up and unites with other victims so you are going from toronto to ottawa to walk in it from now or walk into the victor walk it's to

create awareness and from oh she'll you're on the subject of child sexual abuse this type of behavior is absolutely acceptable because of the senses that are and the down to the justice system. welcome to worlds apart from the kremlin baiting in washington has once again reached a scale where it mere contact with the russians is viewed as a shameful if not outright treasonous act and while the narrative is primarily driven by the democrats doesn't the trumpet ministration allow itself to be cowed

by it well to discuss that i'm now in joined by president transform advisor and he's passionate advocate rocher still exist and it's great to have you on the show thank you very much for your time thank you so much for having me here now mr stone you've long denied having any contacts with the russians but now you are on the must go based network is that not enough to accuse you of subversion if not treason well sadly enough in washington that may be true on the other hand who would ever of thought that russian television would be less censored than american television in my previous experiences with r.t. i've been allowed to discuss any subject whatsoever without censorship that's not true of c.n.n. or c.b.s. or a.b.c. or the other major networks in the united states so i'm delighted to have this free exchange and completely uncensored dialogue well mr stone you know that russia has its own cold war to hang out of so.