donald trump blames congress for de railing relations with moscow accusing representatives of forcing him to sign a flawed sanctions bill and raising concerns of a constitutional crisis in the u.s. . criticism manse over the u.k. government's reluctance to publish archive documents with the opposition calling the secrecy an affront to democratic ideals. and a new deescalation zone has come into effect in syria with the moderate rebels committing to repairing islamic state and al nusra terrorists.

welcome to r.t. international life in the russian capital and kate partridge. donald trump has accused congress of bringing u.s. russia relations to an all time low in the tweets the us president said it's thanks to the people on capitol hill who forced him to sign the anti russia sanctions bill he said he had to abide by the decision of the lawmakers after their landslide votes last week gave him no other choice or one way congress can check trump's deal making potential now is by stopping him from lifting and to russia restrictions the new nor requires the president to obtain congressional approval for any such move well earlier i discussed the growing political crisis in washington with r.t.s. trenka. i guess no president would like to be. shoes right now times

really are getting tough as they can get for the president you know being america's top man in charge but at the same tommy think of it not being able to exercise his power and even worse being cornered into making the decisions he doesn't want to make just to keep order and as we've been hearing from the white house spokesperson who's been explaining that very signature under that sanctions bill the president signed that countering america's adversaries through sanctions act congress has encroached on the power of the presidency and he signed it in the interest of national unity you can really just look at the latest votes first of all the crucial bill that very one on the sanctions that was landslide votes in the house that was a landslide vote in the senate but then also trumps much cherished healthcare bill you know that was the pillar of his white house campaign yet it has been destroyed by the american lawmakers and as we have been seeing both the democrats will that

is kind of obvious but also of course the republican party which is technically trumps party teaming up against the president and giving him quite a drubbing month after month week after week and the criticism and the pressure has been building up what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for i worry about the president's understanding of some of these issues. and so race baiting is enough phobic religious bigot and a ludicrous pretend for his hate campaign this president does not care about the united states of america so in these kind of circumstances under so much pressure it is little surprise that donald trump is giving in to the congress and you might argue that this really puts america on the brink of a constitutional crisis. well wednesday donald trump reluctantly purse his signature to the anti russia sanctions bill despite claiming its florida and

contains unconstitutional provisions while i favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by iran north korea and russia this legislation is significantly flawed its haste to pass the legislation the congress included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions. a number of provisions to displace the president's exclusive constitutional authority and those comments live a lot of questions in their way the president states that even though he sees the legislation as unconstitutional he signed off on it as president trump swore an oath to preserve protect and defend the constitution of the united states but he seems to be openly doing the opposite upon approving the sanction this bill of course is it is a terrible bill. benefits the people of no contrary not the united states not germany or italy not russia syria not

any of the people is the constitutional crisis our government is set up to where there are three branches that constantly struggle one against the other. so that in itself is horribly on the spec but i do believe that these side shows are out of the thing with the traditions of the united states and how our government functions but what looks like a constitutional crisis brewing in the us is not the only problem trump is facing sanctions that hit russia's energy and defense sector are in theory being america's partners in europe those who work with moscow and those areas so these things can seem to be leaving hardly anyone happy trumps being forced to go against his constitutional beliefs yes worship elations take it further hit america's closest european allies go on the defensive to counter what they see as measures potentially in violation of international law when these statements from trump and

with the president claiming that he can make far better deals with foreign countries than congress but with measures such as these being passed he may be prevented from doing just that. washington d.c. . well meanwhile former u.s. congressman ron paul believes the new sanctions are a big mistake and play is. the deep state. and the media are very very powerful and they can put a lot of pressure on the president so they ganged up on him and i thought he had sort of a mediocre position on this i was strongly opposed to it and i volunteered my advice which was totally ignored but he went ahead and signed it i think it was more like a political thing but i don't think in the long run this benefit i don't think it benefits america it certainly doesn't benefit you know peace in the world between europe and russia so i think it's a terrible thing to have happen but there are some those who qualify to be participants in the deep state they are determined they are determined almost

obsessed with making sure that there is no friendship between the united states and russia between putin and trump i think that is tragic you know even when russia and the soviet union existed we actually were quite willing you know when necessary to talk and work out some problem but now we're moving in the other direction. well one project targeted by the new sanctions is the north stream two pipeline it's meant to start pumping gas from russia to europe in twenty nineteen and is regarded by europe as key to its energy needs while european firms have invested five billion euros in the project the new sanctions are regarded by some in europe as an intrusion into their internal affairs germany said they could breach international law if european businesses were harmed and spain has also voiced its concerns speech oliver has more on the european reaction these were

never anticipated to be populist sanctions and well the bill being signed is proved exactly that extremely unpopular amongst the upper echelons here in europe because the simple thing is if you target russia's energy sector then ultimately you're going to end up targeting those businesses that deal with the russian energy sector and supply in important some cases a lot of that energy from russia here to the european union and we purge from senior figures in the you saying that if this happens in the interests are targeted there will be repercussions we will defend ourselves against an american first industrial policy masquerading as sanctions in any case the law stipulates the us holding preliminary consultations with us europeans before this can happen or we understand that the sanctions were softened somewhat before they went through congress but they haven't been softened and nuff for senior opinion figures young

claude younger the e.u. commission president saying that if there was any any impact on european businesses that there would be a response within days now what type of response is still unknown the nuclear option could be the one and not many people would want to go down would be the implementation of sanctions by the european union on the united states or on u.s. interests but a lot of the. it comes down to gas and energy supply and the amount that you. call that of course it's also raised questions obit the reasoning behind these particular sanctions because one of the main supply is could of course be imports of u.s. gas and american businessmen pull guns here i've joined my colleague rory c. shea to discuss the new bill by its europe so one happy with these and russia sanctions well it's young america's the band leader what's good for america it's do

it our way or take the high way trump himself called this spill significantly flawed if that's the case why did he sign it good question i'm sure you have his reasons you have his hands tied probably you did if you do need it if you don't some of it is something he was catering to the american public that they want they want to see him sign these sanctions well if that's the case a serious statement of affairs of what is america sort of underlines an intolerance and a lack of desire to get at what the truth is in fact look he was voted into someone different not to be a republican a democrat to be an american to safeguard american interests not necessarily our interests in the persian gulf or in iceland or whatever in the usa the sounds i have been tied to these sanctions the most they're going to affect russia iran china or even trump himself all of the above all of the above and more

. we have left is the era of even trying to trust there's a demonization out there. intolerance as an american i find that to be incredibly. it's a tragic state of affairs. or meanwhile a new study into which country people fear the most has produced some surprising results forty two thousand people across thirty eight countries took part and worked as day of as the story. the world is a frightening place disasters war is tara and paul the team make us a fearful people but fear can be measured who would you say people are most afraid of the usual suspects.

who chaney but no none of the people in the thirty eight countries that polled feel most threatened by the united states this is pew research one of the most respected pollsters in the world doesn't seem to know it's doesn't seem that stable at the moment to us if it's a world works for the eye to understand why they perceive the united states as a threat well i guess it has to do with the tone of our political change and that doesn't surprise me it's very disturbing it's concerning it's scary sort of our image now sort of a lot lot more anger towards us and within us i mean i guess that makes me feel better meaning that we have a strong military someone said it's better to be here than love so it's an old story big bad america big bad russia china we've heard it all

before what's striking here is that it isn't america's enemies that increasingly view it as a chief threat its washington's friends canadians for example now see the united states as more of a threat than either russia or china that is outright animosity within nato and among allies turkey south korea japan spain greece and germany view washington as the most threatening state in the world that's as many. seventy two percent of respondents how's that for friends in europe you have. at least some understanding of the united states behaves in the world that you do not have in the united states you have germany now of closing u.s. sanctions on russia you have the public you know this is not the german government this is the german public this is not the swedish government this is the swedish

public so you have people who are opposed to war opposed to militarism opposed to nato expansion of close to us bases in germany expressing their viewpoint and that's you know not typically in news in europe and especially not in the united states or. you could say that over the last four years trump and obama helped make america great again or at least a great threat. the british government is facing coverup claims softer it was revealed in downing street refusing to make public a record number of documents. as more details. well look the way the system in britain works is that once a government document turns thirty it's then supposed to be made public it goes into the national archives on less government departments specifically apply to

withhold or to redact a particular document from the national archives this government has been applying to basically make secret an increasing number of documents over the past few years and the types of files that the government is censoring for example last year related to arms sales to india and to saudi arabia as well as to trips to the middle east by prince charles and princess diana back in the eighty's so campaigners for transparency say that they're concerned about this because there is still a culture of opacity they say in many government departments and if that sort of claim sounds familiar it's because the government has been accused of censoring much newer documents as well many viewers will recall that very recently the home secretary. she withheld quite an important report that many people have been waiting for into terrorist funding i have decided against publishing the classified

report produced the review in full this is because of the volume of personal information it contains and for national security reasons. that decision made a lot of opposition politicians very angry in the u.k. and a lot of them voiced suspicions that the reason the government was so reluctant to publish that report into terrified of dying was because the information within it could embarrass a very close ally of london's and that is saudi arabia and the point that the analysis from the national archives is making is that transparency is very important when it comes to ensuring public trust and they don't want to see that public trust eroded through this creeping censorship of government documents. in italy have clashed with the german group rescuing migrants see that story from more coming up after the break.

in case you're new to the game this is how it works in the economy is built around quite. often regimes from washington washington the media the media. voters elected to run this country business because. you must it's not business is using it's business like it's never been done. so seemed wrong why don't we just don't all. get to see how this day comes down to. and in detroit because betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

welcome back italian all saudis have seized a boat belonging to a german group rescuing migrants here's some footage released by the italian coast guard which shows or thought is improving the ship the vessel was intercepted on wednesday as part of a government initiative it's designed to counter the surge of migrants mostly africans trying to reach italy from libya officials claim crew members from the boats who are working with people smugglers. the in several cases these interventions see by the boats were carried out not to save people who find themselves in imminent danger but simply to pick up people at school at it by

libyan traffickers. well it comes off to italy presented a controversial code of conduct stew aid groups the cutter dumond's a police presence on n.g.o.s vessels and bans the transfer of refugees to other ships phone calls all flags from n.g.o.s vessels are also forbidden as they could be used to signal when it's safe to send a boat to sea but six out of nine n.g.o.s operating in the mediterranean have refused to sign the document why discuss the issue with italian journalist much of for and martin doul who's a german laughing politician. in the moment europe is responsible for the destructions in africa a lot and look at that it's necessary to open legal ways for refugees but europe shouldn't leave you alone the countries like italy like spain like portugal with a problem but all european countries should take responsibility and so the people who are. members on this ship and on other refugee had boats as well they just want

to save lives because in the last ten years there was more than forty thousand people dying in the mediterranean sea and they just don't want to see the people die see very clearly that this is not the you money tell you and help is not the money to an s.o.s. but it's helping those people arriving in italy and the refugees that are because they are coming they are paying a huge sums to human traffickers this is immoral and i would say that it is true that. the destruction of libya was a mistake of historical me see but i don't see why the contras single country like italy should pay the price for it so it's a huge problem lethally and finally the government decided to take some action to stop this kind of a tedious. there are we need hopes today that peace efforts have taken a significant step forward in syria that's after a new deescalation zone came into force in the country here's the latest video

we've just received from one of the. checkpoints in this so military officers have been searching vehicles for weapons and ammunition and checking the identification documents of drivers and passengers the establishment officer was confirmed by russia's defense ministry. for a little bit of what it was according to the agreement today on the third of august starting from the local time moderate opposition forces as well as government troops will cease fire from all types of weapons. well this latest disclosure zone as a result of intensive talks in asked the other capital and also in cairo there were four deescalation zones discussed in total two are already in operation in southern syria this is the third one put in place it encompasses around eighty seven towns and villages in those areas of syria one hundred forty thousand people living there so very substantial progress in deed now while the ceasefire covers effectively all sides and all weapons as we mentioned just there of course. are exempt from both

internationally recognized terrorist organizations and will be fair game for parties as always the rebels the moderate rebels in these areas they will be tasked with actually pushing them out as general kardashian cough said let's take a listen. what is this thing going to go down this according to the agreement the moderate opposition assumes responsibility for pushing eisel and really it's out of the areas it controls. not only has russia played a key role in the negotiating table bridging this very major differences between these opposing sides that are all on the ground russian military police will be observing the cease fire really closely they'll be separating the warring parties as well as controlling some crossings and checkpoints that also have a very important humanitarian role in making sure humanitarian aid medicine etc gets through to the areas where it's needed and facilitating the evacuation of wounded civilians they will also have the chance to be treated in russian field

hospitals in the area to ensure they get the treatment they very much need now the opposition has also agreed to open a key road between homs and hama two major cities which was previously a stumbling block in those negotiations in total well there's over two thousand two thousand and ninety five in total to be precise towns and villages covered by these deescalation zones when the fourth one comes into play there will be even more so very much substantial progress here in facilitating a cease fire and what's been some very difficult negotiations on these opposing sides you know s.k. is director general has condemned the killing of a journalist working for r.t. arabic in syria in a statement today in a welcome added that the targeting of journalists in conflicts a. crime. problem as he was filming a story on the story and operations against the terror group. report.

office dedication to highlighting the horrors of war in his native country as told by his cameraman who was also caught in the crossfire. and you see this red dot on the left not the big one this round see it's going to mean for filming. into the eastern countries i don't. know what the it was a place of direct confrontation with ice as the army was ordered to deal with terrorist forces facing us the first show hit i still fight is then another one was fired shortly. after the second show i'm not really sure whether i still fired a missile or a more tough but it was quite accurate hits

a group of people khaled was there and the brigadier who was killed and the driver who was with us and is still in hospital was critically wounded we tried to do our best to help each other by all means and those who were not injured took us in pickup trucks to an ambulance on the road we didn't exactly know what happened that khaled was dead we were praying for him not to die hoping his injuries weren't serious. and. i had known him for a long time but it felt as if i knew him for more than ten years and his personality he was gallant and courageous and he had many plans and desperations for the future he want to do something for his country. and if you'd like to know more about lasso any of our other stories head to our web site. my colleague neil harvey will be back with more news in just over half an hour.

of. your time. here's what people have been saying about rejected in the night with your decision to pull on also the only show i go out of my way to let you know what it is that really packs a punch. is the john oliver a party america is going to say we are apparently better than that see you

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