because you. know. how least seven people are killed and thirty five left unaccounted for after an apartment block collapses following a devastating gas explosion in the russian city of meta course. britain and france are to step up a joint patrols in the english channel after a spike in the number of illegal immigrants trying to get into the u.k. over the past two weeks. thirty russian children who had been in an iraqi prison with their allegedly isolated parents are now back home we were there when they returned to russia. and the world welcomes two thousand nine hundred with the clock having already struck midnight and over half the globe we show you some of the highlights of the festivities.

are broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our international i'm john thomas certainly glad to have you with us. now a somber new year in the central russian city of magnitogorsk as it attempts to come to terms with the tragic collapse of an apartment block on monday morning the federal emergency ministry now says at least seven people have died and that at least thirty five have been left unaccounted for after the building came down following a gas explosion more than a thousand people have been evacuated from their homes following the explosion because of the risk of further collapse one of the eyewitnesses described the scene to us. just a travels there if not at six in the morning we heard an explosion and went to the kitchen window we saw a purple smoke and the building started collapsing the shock waves were so strong that our bed was shaking we heard a woman shouting loudly for help i don't know what happened to her. our

correspondent who has done of it is on his way to magnitogorsk and he brings us more. the blast affected the total of forty eight apartments and potentially more than a hundred people but rescuers say that the total number of people unaccounted for as a result of the tragedy is thirty five this is the number of people that still have not made contact with the rescuers or with their relatives but we heard from a witness and one of the residents of that apartment building and they told us about the tragedy also. i was woken up by the sound of the explosion and the shattered glass the windows in my living room were blown out i ran to the kitchen the windows there were also shattered i could smell smoke my neighbors were yelling the main door was blown out and it was blocking our door and then i thought there would be stance but we left the corridor and there was just trouble. there was

a blast as first with there was an earthquake who rushed to the balcony and safire in that house on the second floor no windows were left in our flat they were all blown out now the official response to the tragedy has been truly been massive the two ministers the emergency minister and the health minister have been here all pretty much all day working on site the governor of the region has been here and of course the russian president vladimir putin came here and he visited one of the hospitals the treated the wounded in the tragedy here is what the russian president had to say we should think of those who lost their lives and who were injured but now let's start to work with us we have all of the necessary equipment and all the necessary personnel we are now clearing the debris the risk of collapse still remains. now it is still not clear as to how many people how many residents of that apartment building will be able to come back to their homes after all it is

a serious gas explosion a whole section of the building collapse so experts will have to evaluate as to is this building still habitable for those who are left homeless by this blast the authorities the local authorities have already promised to buy new flats and new apartments but so far the main operation is this rescue operation officials are saying that it is set to last for at least the next forty eight hours we are currently and routes to the city of magnitogorsk and i will be keeping you up to date with all the latest. part of former official add russia's emergencies ministry has praised the response of local authorities and the rapid deployment of rescue teams. local authorities acted in the right way and their response was determined by the possible number of victims local rescue teams started working as soon as they were able to both the local rescuers and the back

a team of trained and qualified to carry out rescue operations. are out in two thousand and eighteen dozens of people died as a result of gas explosions in apartment blocks in russia other tragedies linked to building collapses have claimed more than one hundred lives here over the last fifteen years. well we'll keep you posted on developments overnight and tomorrow as the rescue

operation continues in the bitterly cold urals region of russia. all right britain and france to say that they are true greece joint patrols in an effort against illegal immigration into the u.k. after an unexpected rise in refugees across riving in britain across the english channel over the past two weeks. has more. deeply concerning the u.k. immigration minister is sounding the alarm made for a recent sage in migrant crossings over the english channel what do you do in a crisis pick up the phone well the u.k. him secretary and the french interior minister at least spoke to each other but is this really enough to combat channel crossings from the u.k. and france it's a partnership all too familiar when it comes to border protection but having spent

millions already to set up and then move refugee camps one of the biggest flashpoints of the migrant crisis the port in kobe which made headlines or mistakenly. from cal a today of the poor to seen a spike in the number of adults some children arriving at the kents coast sporadic crossings was seen at the start of the refugee crisis but more recently over two hundred twenty men women and children have attempted to make their way if in the last fifty days all say.

well the increasing pressure has meant the u.k. him secretary has had to cut his holiday short he's been y. day accused of having a failed strategy he has still to explain exactly how the government plans to handle these mass criminal operations in british waters they have not got a grip on what we've got isn't satisfactory and somebody has to do something ultimately the buck stops with the home secretary for now such a job its plan is to keep the number of specialist border force by sender if you but he admits there's no easy answer as for defense britain's armed forces are at the ready if need be we have not had any requests as a bit of the home office is in need of force to support the no navy air force an.

assist and amidst all the mounting pressure there's also the problem of cracking down on people smike lists the problem is that the more one house patrol craft out there the more it can be regarded as a pull factor because people at these gangs know that if they get halfway across the channel they're going to be picked up so it is a very fine dilemma to for the home secretary to consider is he a k. home secretary weighs up his options. time is ticking for a concrete solution. all right among the latest developments a group of suspected myron's were arrested on monday morning after landing on a beach in kent six iranian men were also found on a beach near dover on sunday morning international history professor alan scad says that up until now the u.k. government's efforts to tackle the crisis have been satisfactory. to ministration has been told we only have five patrol boats in the channel the sort of unified

patrol boats for the board of fools only one of these is actually in the do it was straits in the channel and it's not always. on the government seems to. done nothing to supply more birds padi's because in past years have been very few attempts to cross the channel but since christmas there have been of a hundred attempts. to because there's a group one suspects it happens the be much more difficult to cross the bridge. after years of better wrangling the decision by the u.s. to and israel to leave the un's culture and heritage organization came into force this monday washington announced its intention to boycott you know in october accusing the agency of anti israel bias. on the twelfth of october two thousand and seventeen the department of state notified unesco directed general it mean

a bulk of the u.s. decision to withdraw from their goodness nation and to seek to establish a permanent observer mission to unesco this decision was not taken lightly and reflects his concerns with the mountaineer be in the need for fundamental reform and they're going to say sion and continuing anti israel liason. now at this point that we can review that in twenty seventeen there was outcry from the united states and israel when unesco designated a hebron the city in the west bank designated as a world historical site now there is a contested area in the center of that city to muslims it's the ibrahimi mosque to jews it's the cave of patriarchs and at that point we saw some loud outcry from the united states and from israel now it's important to note that this isn't the first time that we've heard accusations of a pro palestinian bias from the usa and from israel and twenty eleven when the body officially recognized

a state of palestine at that point the usa and israel both stopped paying dues to unesco they were then stripped of their voting rights in two thousand and thirteen after having not paid their dues so at this point we see the united states carrying out a policy that it's long carried out which is when it doesn't like certain international accords and agreements or international bodies it simply withdraw its review the united states will withdraw from the optional protocol in dispute resolution to the vienna convention on diplomatic relations the united states is officially withdrawing from the un human rights council we will not cooperate with the i.c.c. we will provide no assistance to the i.c.c. baseless politicize claims are brought against us for critical bodies and institution unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court the council ceases to be . our they have it's name we will commence a review of all international agreements that may still expose the united states to

proport it binding jurisdiction dispute resolution in the international court of justice so the united states continues to withdraw from international bodies and international agreements in response to decisions it does not approve of. all right peter galbraith a former us ambassador to croatia believes america's a withdrawal from international agreements and organizations will eventually be reversed. so this this is entirely political step you know i did has to be pointed out that we already have that is that so many of these institutions the united nations the international court of justice were ones that were created a human rights were created by the united states the united states to lead. and now we withdraw or not but also this constant from a very good sized ministration are very experienced one one i have to point out

that lost the election by three million votes and based on the midterm results is not likely to be around it after twenty twenty five and so very likely these decisions will then be reversed so my advice to the rest of the world is take a deep breath and america will be back. thirty russian children who had been held in a prison in the iraqi capital have returned home they were jailed with their allegedly eyes a link to mothers who went to iraq and syria are two million a coaching of a report. yes it was you know. the children have returned to russia this evening from iraq brought on a plane organized by russia from baghdad the children are in quite a bad shape it is almost all of them are in urgent medical assistance this return home has been no easy task officials say that they have been gathering

documents. to for months to prove that these children are russians who did d.n.a. tests specialists went to iraq to take some lives and the material went from the identification process then i filled out the necessary documents and searched for the children smell exceeds. the previous flight of this kind to happened over a year ago meantime children aged four to fifteen have been in prison in the iraqi capital with their mothers almost all of them had to leave their mothers behind now dozens of russian women remain in prison in baghdad most of them facing charges for joining groups and some have already been convicted all of these children were born in russia and taken by their parents who fled to syria and iraq allegedly to join terrorist rinks on arriving back here in moscow the children have

been receiving hospital treatment and general rehabilitation and of course they have already been reunited with their relatives who have been looking for them from . our two started a bring them home campaign last year in an attempt to reunite children who had been living in iraqi orphanages with their relatives back in russia at least eleven youngsters were returned as a result of our campaign and dozens more by other. efforts you can now follow their stories archie dot com. so abrasions are sweeping the globe as cities around the world ring in the new year we will bring you some highlights right here after a short break stay with us.

nobody could see coming that false confessions would be in the spot the waist up will look at birch. head any interrogation out there what you'll see is promise threat promise threat lie a lie a lie the process of interrogation is designed to put people in just that frame of mind make the most comfortable make them want to get out and don't take no for an answer don't accept their denials she said if i would. say i stayed there i would be all about it the next day there's a culture on accountability and police officers know that they can engage in misconduct that has nothing to do with solving their crime.

welcome back this is art international live from moscow now the year two thousand one thousand has arrived in the russian capital of moscow it is an especially cherished holiday for russians and the city center has been a huge draw for people out celebrating artie's down quarter was on red square for the big moment. well the clock has just struck twelve here in moscow on red square where people from not just moscow not just russia but all over the world have come to celebrate new year's and bring in twenty nineteen into their lives now as you can see behind me there's plenty of people beautiful lights people came to see the also the beautiful firework display over the moscow river and that actually came

after already many times owns and russia had already celebrated the new year but we actually talked to some people on the streets here who were in high spirits to see how they were feeling on new year's day they would mean here all across the ocean from united states of america and this is grand this is really shows that the russian people are kind of hardboard with feelings for the whole world and we hope that our relations will get somewhat better had both given the cold weather they will get you know warmed up. but it's absolutely gorgeous here i probably i've been to a lot of places and one this is one of the vehicle is places i've seen during the winner has so many lights and so many people is very heart warming able to idealist. for the next two years i would like to wish everyone who's watching your child good house happen the sooner you look you know everything what you think that peace and happiness to everyone as you can see the people we spoke to here on red square were

really into the holiday spirit looking forwards towards the new year and had nothing but optimism for the future. all right of course russia is not the only country to be ringing in the new year we have some of the highlights of the final moments of two thousand and eighteen from around the grow. all right right now you're looking at live pictures from none other than london at the u.k. ringing in the new year as only the u.k. can check out some spectacular images there on the spire the shard as it is known. beautiful images of the city right there from london. the youths. i.

was and as we say goodbye to two thousand nine hundred let's take a look back at some of the events that shaped the year. north korea dominated headlines throughout much of the year with fears of a nuclear conflict with the u.s. president trump and kim jong un exchanged a series of threats but when the two eventually met things thawed and the pair even seemed to form a bit of a bond in may got the chance to look around the north korean leader's palace ahead of a visit by russia's foreign minister take a look. we were told to leave most of our belongings and all our mobile devices behind and

they're taking us somewhere. so we're here in this just to keep our men one photographer and myself holding a lot of shade in. this area is completely deserted and it looks like we're in circling something that appears to be the palace. if only someone told me where exactly we are right now but we are being told to fold a small. group. i don't really know what exactly this place this but it looks to be the area where it came john will be greeting. and the reason why i think so is because just through this door i saw came john sister and she was having some sort of

conversation with the guards but nobody speaks english here hello. and as far as i understand this is circular. i believe this is a bit of a historic moment. and talking behind this wall we were asked to wait in this room so let's just have a walk around to take a look at what they have to offer a. dark north korean chocolate i can tell you that it will taste just like any other dark chocolate anywhere around the world.

so this is how suddenly you get treated to cranberry juice at residents. i can barely remember being given such access at other locations around the world we were just told see the president which is just outside the doors. here. and given the fact that we're inside the residence of the north korean leader kim jong un the moon again i'm just going to say it absolutely shocked. and. it is really disappointing that we won't be able to find out exactly what's being said behind these stories but just a few hours before mr kim and mr lavrov met the one hundred foreign ministers and making the korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons is

a very delicate issue maintains that the interests of all sides must be respected. so that said it all ended with. came john to russia so let's see whether the north korean leader will accept the invitation for now we're heading back to the airport in the russian foreign minister's motorcade to try and go right from inside kim john rooms residence in pyongyang. last month we caught up with a russian man who has defied the odds to become a world class athlete. the voters are slow to slit was out of the military prisons that are most. of the most of the muscles in the new syria which is to lower the price to build still breathe of shells

exported to. supply. more leach need to be in europe. but all three outlawed. new paltz them but there. you are simply in the bucharest the blog. post now richest. in europe always cooked the mission of supposed to do with the gratitude of. just small. much of the most evil is bordered with fissures just nickel for the boer elite the small to within which you do she turns you. got off syria should be on cruisin leave all the border the us leaves come or go stalled my real mother used. to go

used to my desire being as usual just lost it all more vision steroids the. others will wash the. dishes. it's. stories like yours. with a system. in this to good serve. it's good to have the skills. good to get. this at the surface real to them we've sort of google me still. that does it for me i'll be back with more news in about thirty two and

a half minutes they was. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world the politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. so you will both be in law to show not just us do you know that was what gave she doesn't it with the people most of. what i mean.

i make it was not. really a local superman for me he can see as you know if you buy. it if you're in the family leave you. i'm with you more with the baby one with a number on the nose and even many muslims in the film i was in the most it was a difficult. you know world big partisan movie theater lot and conspiracy it's tied to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door on the path and shouting

past each other it's time for critical thinking it's tied to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely for watching the hawks. read. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered. welcome to the crystal ball edition of. what can we expect in the new year we have a great lineup of guests telling us what they think.