[000:00:00;00] ah, the mystery of the poison school girls in iran, hundreds of girls across the country were allegedly subjected to gas in deliberate and orchestrated attacks in their schools. dozens were hospitalized with respiratory problems on tuesday, the city of parties near to iran, according to reports adding to the hundreds of cases of poisoning since november, iran's government is investigating and says it could be an attempt by extremists to force the closure of girls schools. the usa department has urged iran's government to investigate. i'm gabelle for us, and this is the day. ah

. when i stand up, i feel dizzy and my entire body feels lane. none. which means i can't walk. in one of the workshops there was a smell that was like the smell of paint. so we evacuated the students. i feel pain in my chest and when i walk my leg, shake a bit with assigned a special committee to investigate this matter. and this committee is comprised of the best toxicologists at the university professors of damage. ah, also on the day the americans helping migrants to survive the difficult and dangerous journey from mexico to the u. s. pal, texas brooks county is a barrow ground for a lot of my this the work that has to me that nobody else is doin, it will continue it. you know, hopefully, you know,

they'll be more resources for this type of work. and to our viewers watching on p b. s in the united states and to all of you around the world, a one welcome. iran's health minister says an investigation is underway into allegations that religious groups may be targeting school girls and a series of what a here to be deliberate poison attacks. hundreds of girls, our thoughts have been attacked with toxic gas a dozens of schools. the incidence began in november, several politicians have suggested the attacks are being carried out by groups of religious extremists, opposed to girls education a school day that ended in the hospital. oh, i feel pain in my chest and when i walk my legs shake a bit. when i stand up, i feel dizzy and my entire body feels very numb. which means i can't walk, hurting, you can call her back. in one of the workshops, there was a smell that was like the smell of paint. so we evacuated the students side

muscular. these are the latest victims of alleged poisonings that have sickened hundreds of female students from dozens of schools since november. many have been taken to hospital with respiratory problems and report smelling something strange before falling ill. the government has announced an investigation into what officials are saying could be an attempt to close down girls schools comp, j a, b j. o. we've assigned a special committee to investigate this matter. and this committee is comprised of the best toxicologists at the university professors. we can shred russell to the donna score, but parents say authorities have been slow to act or answer their questions. some have suspicions that the girls may have been targeted in an act of revenge. young women were at the forefront of anti raging protests that have rocked, he ran in recent months. iranian activists say this footage shows

a concerned mother outside a school being attacked by a man who they believe is a plainclothes officer. something terrans police force have denied parents continue to hope for answers, but few expect clarity any time soon. of a more, there's mystery. i'm a joint now from london by other they present. she's an iranian researcher at so us university in london as a day. the iranian health minister says he's investigated from the regime be trusted to examine these alleged attacks is thank you for having me a short time sent you a question. is that no, i d. 's points that make republics regime has no credibility or legitimacy among the iranian public among human rights organizations and defenders

and in the international community in order to be trust that even remotely with its capability. and it's a willing to conduct any kind of an independent investigation that will result in an objective finding and a preventative measure, you know, to stop what is happening against school girls. you know, the timing is suspicious, isn't it? do you think this is happening now? because young women and girls are playing a prominent role in the anti government protests of recent months. yes, many of us in the us community are of the belief that there is a high likelihood, if not certainty, that you know, this is essentially yes. and not there intimidation technique by the islamic republic regime that, that shows that it does not shy away from using violence against not only adults,

but also children in order to suppress the protest in recent minds. and for those of us to follow that situation of human rights near on in the past few decades. you know, we also are convinced that this seems to be a pattern of abuse and discrimination against women and girls girls. but of course, i have to say because you know, of the situation and the fact that we believe that information and evidence is, is being withheld from the iranian public. you know, talking based on evidence is difficult at this point. but this, thank you lation and the pattern and the precedents. i think they speak volumes about the intentionality of this law makers at this point. so do good at this, right. are you saying that the iranian government could actually be behind these attacks? yes, that's one of the speculations and,

and with higher likelihood or less for a 2nd. imagine a scenario where you know, we can, it's difficult but i can trust the fact that they're saying these are potentially shia extreme groups that are behind this as well. in my opinion, the public is as yeah, extreme group with jurisdiction. so even if it's an element affiliated with the power structure of the public that are as they call, she had extreme groups. you know, there's a public has had since november attack started until today to properly investigate and to prevent these attacks so that they don't escalate that they have in the past few weeks and days. as a result, i believe, even if they are not directly behind this, we don't know that they are. but even if they are and they have to take this

pattern and the system, i think crime and school girls at this point. now unfortunately, we've been hearing that girls have been targeted girls that iteration establishment . i've been targeted and closed and i've got to stop by the tale bond that's been going on for quite some time, regrettably, but not to me wrong. it's not boring. you this a good public has no, has not a policy of the priming girls from education. and so in that sense, maybe they're not comparable. however, you know that iranian society, ever since the 20, as a beginning of the 20th century have had a long history of struggles for girls education. and this goes way beyond islamic republic. and so we cannot really put that credit on this.

i'm a good public. i write stuff, ground education in iran, but i also would like to mention that, you know, even when days and, you know, let's say like, as someone progressive as small leftover of things from the previous regime that stays such as the girls education and the public has maintained it one day they decide that this is not to their interest. history has shown that they don't shy away from, you know, from reversing that policy. we have stayed with the family planning for example. iran was a public, was at the forefront of family planning and was receiving lots of appliances from the international community. years ago, when the, when i a telecom and they decided that this is actually to empowering for iranian women. and he reversed that policy and he ordered the iranian women to start making babies as fast as possible. and criminalize that basically the system could

criminalize birth control and now they are one of them, you know, backward countries when it comes to family planning. so that, you know that there is no guarantee that the public right now is not thinking maybe these grounds. and iranian women in general have become excessively m powers. and therefore, they are in protesting their rule and, and thinking perhaps, you know, depriving them of education or at the very least making school a safe place says, you know, is, is that, and can be an effective intimidation technique at this point. as are the present from so us university of london, thank you very much. ah, to the us now, we're an investigation by intelligence services concluded. it is, quote, very unlikely that the foreign adversary is responsible for the so called havana

syndrome. the term is used to describe an ailment that has affected us, diplomats, and operatives all over the world. the symptoms 1st appeared in u. s embassy officials work in the capital of cuba. havana in 2016. hundreds of u. s. government employees reported numerous symptoms leading to speculation that a foreign an adversary had caused them by some form of energy. well, now when this story 1st broke, many scientists war that the most likely explanation was mass hysteria. and 2 of them wrote this book together have on a syndrome must psychogenic illness and the real story behind the embassy, mystery, and hysteria. and i'd like to welcome robert w barrow, the co author of that book. he's ameritas, professor of neurology at the u. c. l. a medical center, he joins us from los angeles. dr. paula, welcome back to the show. i must say you were on the day over a year ago and you set back then havana syndrome was

a mass secret psychogenic illness to these intelligence findings. now prove you right, you think? oh, certainly. i believe that the report is pretty much exactly what we've been saying for the last several years. i think it may be more complex than simply saying it's mass psychogenic illness bit per se. well, because that's difficult to define exactly what we mean by, but the report concluded that there was a series of possible explanations from a pre existing conditions, conventional illnesses, environmental factors, and then also what they called hyper vigilance, which would be. busy more like pure psychogenic, but there is a range of illnesses that may be occurring in these people. and i, and i think the most important thing is that we recognize their real symptoms. these people are experiencing real symptoms and it's very frustrating. whenever i hear people say, well there's,

these are strong people. how could they have psychogenic illnesses or soccer and symptoms? just say a suggests a complete lack of understanding of psycho genesis. so is it, am i understanding you correctly there? that is saying that the fear and thoughts can cause real symptoms. of course, yes, i mean we know psychosomatic symptoms are extremely comp there been studies suggesting about 50 percent of visits to physicians end up with no objective laboratory test abnormality where no explanation for the symptoms and the vast majority of them are psychosomatic. so psychos, my symptoms are extremely common in the, in a general population. and they can, they can be arranged from, for example, there's no question that many of these people had migraine. next describe symptoms

of very characteristic of migraine headaches and other migraine symptoms. and we know migraine is complicated and it has a lot of genetic components, but it's triggered by stress. in fact, many consider it the prototypical psychosomatic illness of psychogenic illness. so someone has a migraine headache triggered in the circumstances, is very stressful. circumstances working in an embassy and they were told to, to beyond the law, what for unusual sounds triggering symptoms. they would then relate the migraine headache to the st. busy busy the sounds that they heard or some other patterns, symptoms, this can happen. now we also saw studies backing up claims, self directed energy injuries. what do you make of those? i just don't agree with them either. i believe there's any object to the evidence. in fact, the studies concluded that they really didn't have objective evidence like them all i scan. busy am al,

these hearing test down amount is tested are very reliable and, and reproducible. the types of adding knowledge they described were for functional and maladies that are non specific and occur in the general population. the, the reports that were published did not have adequate control samples. so i did, i think that it was clear down there, there really would have been no objective studies showing there's either brain damage or in your damage. so what's more simple, what's, what's curious in my view is that so many people have been affected by these real symptoms that you describe in so many places around the world. it was as eating on p b. s. they said something like 1500, more than 1596 country. so consider that. how would any foreign

government be going around to $96.00 countries with some mysterious weapon over met now 5 years with no one finding any hint of such a weapon. and i think the, the conclusion of this report is at this point, and we've been saying that right from the beginning, i mean, even after a few years with everybody looking, nothing was found. there is no weapon being use here. and all of the consequences of that, including studying the embassy in cuba and all of the subsequent events i think were just inappropriate. now, why do you think it has taken the authorities so long to come to the same conclusions that he will have come to years ago? well, it's a difficult problem and then you see, even though i mean there, there was a rule backlash with should weren't just reading in the newspaper today and hearing the news last evening. most reporters just are going to accept it yet. but you know,

it's difficult. i think our news is mostly now testimonials and what it's, it's difficult to deal with this kind of a problem because it's, it is, i started people think that if, if they are said to have psychosomatic illness there, but there must be facing it or the symptoms aren't real, there are, they are real, they have, they're suffering from symptoms letters really, if they had a brain to, they're just not due to trauma to the brain or the other explanations that they'd described from about other emeritus professor of neurology at the u. c. l. a medical center. thank you very much for your insight. that you ah, america, southern border with mexico has become a flash point for illegal migration and people willing to risk their lives to get to the u. s. one,

county and south texas knows the human price of those illegal crossings only to well. brook's county is where most undocumented migrants die after crossing the border as their make their way north. many get lost in the vast texas wilderness as they try to avoid security checkpoints. but the combination of high temperatures, a lack of water can prove fatal. d. w reporters, carolina to mike and julie pinella, investigate a sign of death. walter is hover above the you a saw the border. i see a lot of bone and the my phone. this time it was just animal bones. but often eddie canal is finds the bodies or remains of migrants. a decade ago, he founded the south texas human rights center. it's volunteers help migrants who risk their lives in the desert. to day

a group of new volunteers has come to find out how they can help. we need other pros. it doesn't cause my result of his approach is to set a water stations along the migrants roots in the desert. many die of dehydration. snake bites are from drinking contaminated water is up in the locals call eddy, the water boy dies constantly. people are coming through. this is one of the ranches where people come through a lot migrant. ah, for some reason, other they touched this ranch once they weighed in circum sacramento checkpoint. whereabout, i would say, 5 miles away from the checkpoint. to this day, the organization has installed more than 100 water stations in the desert. calley fernandes help installed the 1st one trading he's been able to save many

lives. many have perished, but he has been able to save many lives in less than 2 decades. brook's county has recovered the remains of nearly up 1000 migrants. oh line families of the missing and turned to sherry benny martinez asking for help. some have been searching for their loved ones for months or even years. within 72 hours. it won't be like that. right. so for body everything still intact to gut flish. for sheriff martinez, the solution to the problem is clear. we have to draw back and secure the waterford . ok. you stop them at the water. this we will have all this missing persons cuz actually we're the top 5 instead of texas for missing persons. but 80 things simply closing the border once the migrants from coming, instead he fears it will push them on even more dangerous fruits. increasing the death toll and the pain of the families south. texas brooks county is

a barrow ground for a lot of my this a work that has to be that nobody else is doing. it will continue. and, you know, hopefully you know, they'll be more resources for this type of work. he needs resources. until then, eddie hopes his efforts ring a sense of relief to a national tragedy. ah, we today saw another example of claim and counter claim in russia's war with ukraine, which news outlets like this one, d. w. unable to independently verify the kremlin hughes ukraine of a cross border incursion into the russian region of pre asked, causing the death of a civilian ukraine, denied the allegation and said it was a provocation. my moscow. and for more of this, i wanna bring in the roman such hook who has been monitoring the information war in ukraine since it began for the atlantic councils,

digital forensic research lab. he joins me now from key roman. you have just published a report on disinformation in the war and ukraine, one of the main findings you have discovered. sure. ok, yes. so what we found, 1st of all, is that russia used both old approaches and the new ones to influence different audiences. so for instance, they continue to over inflame the information space with false theories and denials of their let's say war crimes like it was with image 17 and after the invasion, it was a piece of butcher massacre or are you maturing to hospital bonbon. but on site this thing, they're also using something you like full debunking, for instance, like the website warrant fakes that actually uses the fact chicken toolbox

to actually promote propaganda and create this information like it was as it was, which i'm africa when they claimed that there were people moving in that really famous video from the city when the russians would do from the city? and in reality, it isn't. but in the many case, russian, emily d amplified the video and claimed that it's all the false information by the spring . in fact, when the reality wasn't, and the other thing is that they tied their messages to the specific audience as meaning that for different regions they use available infrastructure. so in your opinion, there are t and put make our band so they needed to find some another ways to reach the audience to some french positions or just use their social media, their injecting those different narrative. and for the places where the rti and we are still actually in place, they're using them because they are available. and other thing is that they use the

branding of the well known media, like bbc comforter, ali mine, their title and i just among others and promoted their messages, like with the bomb, been off from those railway station to be created. this which put the creative or like different logos of this media that seems legitimate in order to find an external confirmation of their information. and tell him that look even the rest of the media group with us when in reality, those media never publish those stories. in the 1st place. so i need to ask you that, let me ask another question is very important here. if we look at both sides who is winning the inflammation war in your opinion? i mean it's, it's a great question because well, i honestly believe that it's impossible to win information more as it is because

it's like continuous thing that goes for a while and that there is no such thing as like winning definitively. if we're talking about the european union, we probably could say that ukraine is better represent that in promoting the truth in what's happening on the ground. in the way that the russians cannot promote their version of what's happening. because through the prevails and the real food, each of the places of the bomb beam of the war crimes, they are prevail in the information faith. so in that case, you might say that probably ukraine is a half. but again, if it's not a whim and not the week, 13 information war, thank you very much. the roman of such a and that's it from me and the day team that's the day as we saw it, but the conversation continues online. you'll find us on twit up, either at dw, so you can follow me as 11, b r s,

and see it. and that's it. again from me on the team. thanks for watching us it's ah, with with this river is all that separates the people of the republic of moldova, from the fighting in ukraine. many here are very worried about

a russian attack on their country. the mood is tense. the fear of war is casting a long shadow over everyday life. focus on europe. next, on d, w. transporting goods to europe. what's the latest on china's new silk road? russia's war against ukraine has disrupted traffic on important stretches of the mammoth network. companies are switching to safer routes. what are the risks and causes of these new supply chains? made in germany. in 60 minutes on d w. oh.

jamie has had an 1111 north single woman. mission is then the 1st female jasmine. israel has spaced. the gender gap in space exploration. germany's 1st female astronaut, it has been waiting for years to get her turn. a private initiative is pushing to make it happen. mm. me personally, it's just a dream i've always had. i've always wanted to see the us for destiny for space starts more changed on d w. ah. ah, hello and welcome to focus on europe. i'm glad to have you about. a lot has been