in the stories that shaped the week the syrian army liberated the city of myatt in one of islamic states final strongholds in the east of the country we have the story of two girls from the region fight for survival amid the devastation. read that one can survive. keep. failed expectations and growing uncertainty catalonians president gives on big signals about the region's independence as madrid demands he clarify his position.

the leader of all steers people's policy sebastian because claims of victory in the country's election the political right enjoys a surge in support. come to the nineteen year old festival of youth and students in sochi. thousands of people from around the globe descend on russia's black sea resort town of salt to promote peace dialogue and international solidarity. you're watching the weekly here on r.t. international with me in a day or two to that sol roundup of the week on top stories of the day welcome to the program syrian government troops have liberated the eastern city of almight in from islamic states is the latest blow to the terror group which is stuff. a string

of major defeats in the war torn country. i i. i. i. i. i i. i. if you're talking about a good job in this thread i'll talk about yeah there's a market above you're on the ballot. i. but for the people in the province liberation after three years of i saw brutality doesn't spell the end of the struggle. to system to hear the story.

meet sally she's five maybe six or perhaps seven she doesn't know and this market these streets home surviving isis's c.g. of the resort was no mean feat so many perished as a result of starvation sickness violence. if. sally is a survivor she has a sister and brother were abandoned by their parents years ago they divorced and left the children to fend for themselves and. can't home. who are now almost killed on the land she spends her days begging stealing playing and surviving no easy lot for them in this life with little bit the sony went from home to home and live in the

streets they beg for money to stay alive inside today sick poor sally bags alone. former neighbors who knew their family have taken pity on the kids and have looked out for them sally's sister all she has left since her brother died of starvation we found the older girl at the end of this gloomy bullet riddled carville is a room with broken windows in it leaves a young girl with only flies bloodstain mattresses for company. about a month ago sagitta who doesn't remember her age was brought in with a head injury when she fell she damaged an implant that siphons away the fluid different people tell different versions some say the full was accidental others

attempted suicide. the fluids keep building and there will be consequences she will lose her sight hearing and the ability to swallow so the pressure on her brain is growing she'll find new cures in that as order as we were filming a nice a shell landed just a few hundred meters away sagitta needs to get to damascus to survive but lacking identification relatives and trapped in a war zone it's difficult to see how that's possible sagitta doesn't get so many visitors but there is one little person who always makes a smile that. if left alone sagitta begins to scream and cry she needs people the story has spread and good samaritans do show up a bit on that idea and everything my friend and i can do we will do for her

everything right up to the moment when she stands up. and can see bushra whose own daughter is disabled is not rich all middle class she's poor but a kind heart goes a long long way. there. are a lot. there is cause for optimism such as suffering has touched a chord action is being taken to get the girls out of bed as or but for now all they really have the side from promises and p.t. is each other or i guess. from their as or syria. the leader of the right wing people's party has claimed victory in austria is legislative election paving the way for him to become the country's chancellor sebastian curtis set to become the youngest leader just thirty one years of age you

know me we did not just run to win the election we did serve to bring austria back to the top today's not a day of triumph over others but is the day to the austrian population gave us the confidence to bring about a new type of political culture meanwhile the leader of the nationalist anti migrant freedom party which is projected to finish in second place has hailed their success. this shows what we have achieved in recent years dear friends today will be clear in the political landscape cluelessly has more now on the outcome of the election. we now are hearing the final results with some code says people's party coming in a for first position the second position has been taken by the freedom party a right wing party as was widely predicted before these elections and in the third position going to the social democrats now congratulations have started coming from

across the european union for sebastian coats he has thanked his supporters he has also said that he has pursued a goal and made the impossible possible as far as the leader of the freedom party he has said that this is a great success for his party and then we've also heard from chancellor who says that the tosk of his party for the next five years for the social democrats is not to strengthen confidence in social democracy of course now it tension turns towards who will form this new coalition government and in this respect sebastian coats has left the field open he's given no indication with whom he will move forward but there is a lot of speculation on the ground here that he could form a right wing alliance with the freedom party and indeed if he does this it will be part and parcel of a trend that we're witnessing across europe that sees voters voting for more white

parties was. was vivre the purpose for say. that thought except for the. talk over the hard work you currently are in the living room. now celebration since about stand campaign headquarters have of course already begun and will continue to contrast that with the sense of disappointment that is being felt by the social democrats. we heard from several analysts about the results of the election they told us that kurtz as chancellor we can now expect to see significant changes in the country's policies towards migrants. he wants to one who can i just to get on with countries like my kid only

serbia and slovenia that this rule for illegal migrants became closed and since then. the number of migrants decreased very much and. he will not only be evil but he proved already that he will be able to do something actually the whole political landscape in austria shifted to the right like to think it was asking fifteen or more of the big. refugee wellcome. after their people found out that is much actually not such a good deal that lets so many people rich often are undocumented into the country this created a lot of problems up to now and. because germany and to establish. a new government this is likely to get. getting close to the eastern neighbors.

iraqi government forces have launched an offensive against the kurdish held city of kirkuk at midnight in the north of the country iraq's prime minister. that his forces quote impose security on the city the army is currently moving in the direction of nearby. base held by peshmerga forces the governor of kirkuk has called all its residents to come out to the streets and defend their land and we will keep you updated on lot of answers. in another of the week's top stories the president of catalonia signed an independence declaration on tuesday but then suspended it for several weeks saying he wants to hold think o'shea sions with madrid and these pumps in the spanish prime minister to demand clarification on the region's position. when. we ask for a mandate to declare catalonia an independent state.

with all due respect i ask parliament to suspend the declaration of independence so that in the coming weeks we can undertake a dialogue but again you know for a moment we formally require the council on government to confirm declared independence of catalonia after the deliberate confusion created over whether it has come into effect meanwhile people in catalonia have been left for straighted by the confusion when they were visibly affected by listening to the president's announcement there and deeply disappointed at the end when traitors given the catalan president until monday to state clearly his position he says he has three days after that to drop the declaration if it's made reporting from barcelona for us this week was i was to see it. it was

you could see what it does it was through their reach it was. it is necessary to show rebellion i do not know if i'm dependence is the solution but it demonstrates that half of the population is tied up in this independence will hurt both spayed and catalonia it took many years to make the country whole and to divide it just like that is absurd this particular square their screens are being set up where no doubt this area is going to be like people in the hours to come preparing to listen to this crucial if the problem is right there and we do know that that's what leaders in their meeting with parliamentarians. had in the preparation of what's going to happen and people here despite this being a pro independence gathering really there's no certainty as of right now what exactly he's going to say was. look at the. end of the soonest the cuban munition would conceivably she.

took i think she said if you want to see. it again in a minute i think you should have declared independence because now he says he wants dielike yes but good morning he has asked the spanish government like seventeen times and every time the doors have been closed to you so i believe today he would finally declare rates and i'm a bit disappointed he stated he didn't take the step forward that everybody wanted we understand he wants that but catalonia has spoken and it is wanted independence you know it only means you know i want independence i don't want anything to do with this. brain my ancestors wanted it who were forced to be spanish if i ever can say that my nationality is cattle and i'll be very happy. where i got a friendship why are marcello not possible to libya right now and thousands of

people if you can be covered marching from that direction towards where this is not . for each one of these people are coming out to speak in support of the. with. the liberals by only to be low. because when. the us has announced its withdrawing from unesco the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization the state department said the decision was taken due to concerns over mounting u.s. arrears a need for fundamental reform and you'd ask as alleged anti israel bias washington still owes hasa billion dollars to the organization five times more than all other

member states combined when pressed on whether america would pay up the state department was reluctant to alt. is it fair to say that it's discouraged because racially is no longer trying to find a way to look at what. the rational. what i think we've made our determination and that is to pull out of you know. letter words they're never going to get their money i love you all the less and less they will formally rejoin. that. meanwhile israel has followed america's lead while prime minister benjamin netanyahu and answering his country is quitting you know as well in two thousand and sixteen israel suspended its cooperation with unesco office adopted resolutions which ignored jewish ties to a key holy site in jerusalem the resolutions also criticize israeli policies on the sacred places in jerusalem and the west bank netanyahu told us move this week

a brave and moral decision because you know asco has become a quote a theater of the absurd which distorts history journalist max blumenthal told us that the pro israel lobby in washington was ultimately responsible for the decision . this goes back all the way to twenty eleven congress withheld funding for your nasco because you nasco allowed the palestinian authority membership and congress is very very easily influenced by the pro israel lobby whereas traditionally the state department and the u.s. mission at the u.n. have not been so this is the first time we've really seen the state department kind of get in line with the congressional elements that are funded by pro pro israel lobby and easily influenced by it and i think this really reflects the weakness of the trumpet ministration. the world festival of youth and students has opened in russia's black sea visible to. the week long cultural event is expected to attract

over twenty thousand visitors from around the world here's some of the highlights from the opening ceremony. welcome to the nineteenth world festival of youth and students in sochi. as you can see behind me the opening ceremonies of the best of all have already begun the. performances that we've been technology human progress and development many people here all of them very excited. for us. such a bit of excitement we've had many concerts on this square here behind me as well of course as the grand opening ceremony which set that report from culminating in a pretty amazing forward to splay with fountains going off in the square here as

well and managed to finally get out of that quite loud noise excite the crowd and join us here in the square as well tell us a bit more about what was going on inside and of course this is your first time in russia but not your first thought are you first of all how is it compared so far while i mean what a ceremony i mean that was something special now i attended the twenty thirteen festival in quito ecuador totally different experience nothing like this i was not prepared for what i saw in that auditorium that was that was a tremendous performance i mean music dance and the audience i mean the audience was just on the edge of their seat i saw people bursting into tears at. all of a numerous times people were just very emotionally moved by the ceremony it was quite powerful and to see so many young people just a sea of young people in there or their yellow jackets there the uniform for the festival all kind of moving as one body there listening to the performances seeing it was something special twenty thousand people from a hundred fifty different countries certainly set so i believe a bit of

a record for something for the spectrum of arrivals coming or going to speak to some of those people earlier to get some of their emotions and thoughts on their experience so far let's take a listen i came from the middle east from sri lanka we had from i didn't even write a lot of countries as you know more than one hundred fifty countries with a lot of cultures a lot of people excited to do people youngsters a great opportunity to come and meet dance move on to get to know you all around the world there's like a sense of that the possibility of food right a world where with more social justice it seemed possible and here we can see that we can meet people from every country that can prove their experiences what they are doing in their country. and that's what we came to do and it's really great of course as well as a chance to to bond to network to meet new people it's also a chance for young people of all over the world to discuss and debate key global ideas that kaleb well yes i mean a real emphasis on technology and scientific research that seemed to be

a major theme in the presentations in the videos that were shown in the song and dance performances there seem to be this emphasis on the idea that if we can develop and if we can raise the standard of living around the world and get people out of poverty and out of the conditions that drive them toward drugs and terrorism we can raise the standard of living around the world we can have a more peaceful and interconnected world where people are trading with each other doing business getting along and just kind of building a better life for humanity a very clear message but it's one that you just couldn't disagree with and that was of course a key tenant of lot of the putin speech as well let's just take a listen briefly to what the russian president had to say. seventy years ago the first festival was held back then young men and women were brought together by the belief that sincerity and kindness could break the ice of mistrust they believed it would help to release the world from injustice from wars and conflicts they prove that barriers are powerless in the face of real friendship. many people here young

eighteen to thirty five but some are a little bit older perhaps some were actually in attendance but first of all in moscow in nineteen fifty seven they came from a very far away place to see it and they've returned to russia this time around to relive some of those emotions let's take a look at well that story. the up of the old rule because rule thirty thousand young people. for the festival and two of the hundred fourteen the delegations thirty thousand people from a hundred and fourteen. countering the war. or. peace and friendship.

live. this is somebody you might recognize. we used to call based on your must imaging powers and of people here. dancing people i cannot believe to be here. to play for live. microsurgery an absolute. right to grow our century mall school we'd be sitting next to you first of all live. and all that our ideals with people you are if you. had. the old. experience

a little bit more open minded i'd see and begin doubting. me. nine unforgettable you have the days. songs used to freezing in. the spirit. of you know your piggy i do your job now and it's no good. theories surrounding russia's alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen u.s. election seem to have found a new angle now the global gaming sensation mungo is being named as one of the tools to guide american voters. a c.n.n. investigation shows russia's propaganda attack on the u.s. went beyond using fake accounts and ads on facebook and twitter post announcing a contest on poker go directing gamers to visit locations were alleged police

brutality took place russian online agents posing as part of the black lives matter movement and using the game to intensify u.s. racial tensions however no attempt was made to explain how that might have influenced the u.s. election the claim has been mocked both online and off. and we've got more programs coming up next i'll be back of the top of the hour.

here's what people have been saying about redacted in the neighbor's yard exactly it's full on awesome well the only show i go out of my way to launch you know what it is that really packs upon our belief yap is the john oliver of our three americas doing the same but we are apparently better than food that's better said i see people you never heard of love redacted tonight not the president of the world bank so are you going to go write a seriously send us an e-mail. a world without borders no longer seems desirable even europe scales back its welcoming migration policies is there a way of addressing the global migration challenge without being swept underneath. a batch or sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself and taken your

last to bang turn. your act caught up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry for me 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 war like it was again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our ark and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral in the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one difference i speak till now. yes there are no other takers. aimed at mainstream media has met its maker.

themselves some are saying i've built tiny houses for the homeless. see is back and they are here why did these guys out for me a tiny house is not a solution it will be a free for all. nice safe conditions to live

a. new suit of clothes and the city of los angeles. always get terrorist and. nobody should be homeless anywhere but especially in one of the richest countries in the world. i bill there in english because i make a lot of mistakes. and it's easy to back out your mistakes in compton south central l.a. a pint sized idea has over some as in a battle with city off already. when you have nothing in order to go. you know having some like this may as well be a castle.