top stories of the week here on our teams rational president putin says actions against russia will not go unanswered hundreds of american diplomatic staff to leave the country in response to u.s. sanctions. trump is expected to approve sanctions against russia are off for a near unanimous vote in the senate that's why europe is warning of countermeasures . journalist working with our g.'s our which is killed by mortar fire from islamic state extremists in syria. i. position riots overshadow election day in venezuela with one kind that gunned

down in his own home. from moscow thanks for joining us here live at all times and. welcome to the program. president vladimir putin has ordered the united states to cut the number of. russia by several hundred that's in response to sanctions. it was. more than a thousand people both diplomatic and technical staff currently working in russia which 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 cuba which are interested in developing ties with russia but on the us 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 we will not leave anything unanswered here is when there will be a political was. 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 of the senate passed its actions but on thursday in the white house has said president trump will give his approval and washington claims the measures are in response to

alleged russian meddling in the u.s. election but as kayla morgan found out plenty of other factors at play. 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 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 come up with 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. let's take a look at some of the consequence is one of the key projects affected by the sanctions will be the nord stream to pipeline e.u. leaders of warn that they could be forced to retaliate against washington from germany austria france and the netherlands have agreed to invest almost five billion euros in it around the heart of the project total cost and once completed it will substantially boost russian gas supplies to mainland europe the baltic sea oil and gas imports majors rather excluding including exxon and b.p. have allegedly been lobbying against the new sanctions in congress so if you have manufacturers like boeing and ford's piece all of this report. 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 a 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 the 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. i mean while the u.s.

secretary of state has explain the thinking behind the anti russia 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 on major global issues and these sanctions will no longer be necessary. a lot of embassy in washington has had something to say about it they responded to the statement calling it puzzling the embassy said the u.s. government has failed to understand that pressure does not work with russia and sanctions can't improve relations we asked the former diplomat and a political analyst for their views it's not the most logical thing to say we want to improve relations therefore we are imposing sanctions next to listen his statement was trying to be diplomatic and less from the impact and be less insulting to russia than the he might otherwise have been for that i think that's

why you have a logical 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 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. journalists working with artie's arabic channel has been killed by islamic state in syria. i was covering a syrian army operation in homs province when his convoy came under mortar fire a syrian soldier also died in that attack and three other people were injured including a cameraman kind of began working with r.t. back in april reporting on the pride of families caught up in the war he was twenty five years old.

of the head of r.t. arabic has expressed the channel's condolences to collets family and friends my amman i said in a statement we will support them in any way possible we thank god for his courage and bravery we can take a look now at khalid final report from 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 have the houses were. destroyed but you know it was no more water for irrigation and all the land is burned in record profits and there is no harvest and if any crush did remain we were not allowed to use. the head of one of them there 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 just so now we are going hellish jets bombed ourselves so we struck on lots of civilians were killed in an airstrike

as they were sheltering here at the time. at least sixteen people have been killed in a weekend of rioting in venezuela opposition activists flooded the streets as voting got underway in the country's election. on sunday an explosion on a street in caracas left several people injured including police officers in another incident six people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into

a polling station one town that was. in his own home. look on trees that president nicolas maduro house called on one as well as to throw their support behind the new assembly was created after sunday's vote will be tossed with rewriting the whole constitution it also have the power to dissolve the current parliament the opposition has been defying a ban on public protests they've denounce the whole election as a power grab by president maduro let's take a look now at how the situation has unfolded. you know.

i. ought to you sat down with the venezuelan president for an exclusive interview he told us that the opposition's tactics are alienating many venezuelans. europe we should do it he should join europe you know 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 few use for them i really is no more the way to resolve a conflict in our country rather than through democratic means. you were through and how you weeks started him and the opposition to engage in a direct dialogue and join the national constitutional assembly but they refused but since then the only thing the opposition has been doing is taking new steps back with me right now the situation is dire. political isolation i don't know

they're leaning towards the far right and they were trapped in cells and 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. and i spoke earlier to as our friends your lawyer in caracas she told us the opposition only has itself to blame for failing to take part in the election the past every nice day. election day. that people go to exercise that role nothing. can stop the will of the venezuelan people to go and to exercise their wards and to apply the democracy the opposition and choose to be out and to etc to be out of this of this procedure what we have to wait. agenda of the opposition

if they leave they will accept the result or not this is the issue right now. rights groups and international observers have accused the rock you soldiers of executing dozens of suspected terrorists without trial or the claims come just weeks after a lengthy battle to drive islamic state out of the city of mosul. to international observers who are a group of iraqi soldiers who don't find themselves as members of the sixteenth division the true naked men down an alleyway to which they had multiple gunshots they saw through the door of a 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 the soldiers said was an american female i says sniper who may 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 have yet to see a thing the incident be properly at investigated by the iraqis or any commanders to be held accountable about human rights watch report claims the executions were carried out by the sixteenth division of the iraqi army that's played a role in the liberation of mosul itself it's been trained by the u.s. military since twenty fifty an international observers say there's no indication that this support has stopped. after numerous calls from international organizations the u.s. led coalition is now urging iraq to investigate claims of war crimes committed by its own military there and 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 and we heard from journalists who have been covering the story they appeared to be skeptical of america's calls for a full investigation it's not even cynical to suggest that just because this division the rocky division trained by the u.s. 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. bag ram and abu ghraib. and i think all of those techniques. taught to the standing army that 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 fools for training iraqi soldiers specifically in the craft of torture but i think it paints a very poor picture puts the americans in under a very poor lights in iraq generally and those you know what are they doing there exactly i mean this sort of euphemistic term advisor i think the the miss has been busted i want exactly what those voices do interact. and in the west bank have seen two weeks of clashes over access to a holy site listed in sabine confronting israeli police say with security measures at temple mount also known as if israel restricted access to the area or off the two police officers were killed by gunmen honestly it was in jerusalem for r.t. . i'm standing here in front of the dome of the rock which has been the scene of violent clashes for the past two weeks we are hearing that more than a hundred people have been injured the number of palestinians who've been killed in

the last two weeks of violence has now climbed to six israeli police reinforcements particularly around the old city many of the arab east jerusalem neighborhoods were closed off and at the same time grow plants in and out of the west bank will reinforce we're hearing from the israeli security officials that they will see a harsh response to anyone who throws rocks or stones at the israeli police israel says it will remove metal detectors put up after two security guards were killed two fridays ago but the palestinian president mahmoud abbas says this is not enough and he insists it is well with turns to the way the status quo was before that incident but outside the temple mount compound the mood is jubilant people have been throwing sweets and chocolate saying that this battle for access has been won by the palestinians r.t. jerusalem. over to the interior minister admitted those countries struggling to find a way out of the mortgage crisis there is no magic solution no nation can alone

deal with my great reflux a new nation is sheltered from it. become more vocal on the refugee issue in recent times lately been on the receiving end of the majority of newcomers from africa just this year almost one hundred thousand people have reached the italian coastline or to cross-pollinate up a trunk road traveled to some parts of italy where the crisis is impacting on local lives. a small town in the mountains which after a government decision was forced to accommodate dozens of migrants. i hope the mayor of this town mr cheever talk explain the system to me. on giordano. the prefecture didn't tell us in advance that migrants were coming i thought everything would work out so the government told us that it would help us to cope with the migrants there already many problems like

unemployment issues with infrastructure health etc that's why some people around here are angry because the government chose to invest money into the relocation of migrants instead of providing time with additional funds. this looks like the hotel we're looking for they entered through the gates but stayed outside because there was no electricity the hotel hasn't been used for years to host tourists my next step was to try and talk to the migrants inside but they wouldn't let me behind a locked gate was a dodgy looking men he claimed to be from a cooperative that had been put in charge by the authorities filming he said the mayor said that a very low percentage of people who are here are actually refugees most of them are economic migrants is that true no that's not true the migrants are well integrated the mayor has never even contacted me he is lying i went on to ask where the migrants were from the man claimed they were all refugees out of. nigeria niger

guinea became a fast food just as i was negotiating we saw a couple with a tray of sweets turns out some locals were indeed glad to have the new neighbors finally he let me in without the camera the refugees said they'd only got warm welcomes from locals and were ready to become sicilians i can tell you that the migrants and refugees have everything to live a normal life there the question though remains whether they will be able to integrate into the local society and whether all the locals will be ready to accept that number of refugees our journey continued to another small community where migrants haven't arrived yet but the government's intentions have. already caused quite a debate in the usually quiet neighborhood. very small abandoned school local government wanted to place sixty my gran's in that small building i think we

have a chance to talk to the lawyer who is representing the local community. to meet you not at all but it will be that of the rest who are putting migrants here into buildings like this is racism the risk is that the shelter could turn into a ghetto because the migrants will have nothing to do here having blasted the rest of the youth for betraying roman crisis italian officials seem to have taken up the strategy of a nationwide melting pot will be watching how it's put to the test believe the trend toward tea in sicily so for me until the top of next hour you kind of course get more and more stories on our website www dot com or any of our social media platforms will be with you again in just over half a mile. it's. make

it is that he's just. a. you see you are so you can be have this is still to come in the east and just to get you ready but. it's to. me there's. no provision on my back when i want to. ask but i.

just i don't hide oh i lost his bus because i just got. so not as you know part of us you're not. you're not just i mean most people have spent. a lot. of it up as well i must. get on. but those were the old. my family fussy about my just but that's already. yes equestrian to be thought of i think of it but i think with your comment that. you just got to go you.

here's what people have been saying about rejected in the us is it actually just pull along awesome the only show i go out of my way to launch you know what it is that really packs a punch. yampa is the john oliver of our three americas do the same we are apparently better than two thousand and six and see people you've never heard of love attack to the night. president of the world bank very critical of it seriously send us an e-mail. to 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 joined by president transform advisor and he's passionate advocate roger stone is just on 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 but 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 in completely uncensored dialogue well mr stone you know that russia has its own cold war hang ups and there is some degree of anti-american sentiment in this country there is also a history of american interference in our political process but i still cannot imagine something of this same scale happening here i mean all the allegations of russia's meddling into into the american elections i think russians first and foremost would be embarrassed to admit something like that would be something that they would perceive as humiliating. do you think the american people by and large a bothered how all this scandal makes that country look well first and foremost i think it's important to note that the intelligence services here have yet to produce any evidence or proof whatsoever of russian meddling in the american elections what we have are.