washington blames russia for escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries while donald trump accuses congress of souring the ties with new sanctions. but meanwhile the u.s. is urgently addressing leaks from the white house is transcripts of trump's calls with world leaders now released by the media raising fears over national security. the opposition in venezuela says it will defy the newly elected constituent assembly and continue to work in the parliament. and a german boat rescuing migrants in the mediterranean is impounded by italian all sorts he is suspects the crew had been working with the libyan people smugglers.

thank you for joining us at r.t. international broadcasting life with the global news from moscow i'm kate partridge . the u.s. state department has blamed russia for a new low in its relations with moscow that softer president donald trump signed his approval to the latest sanctions bill on wednesday so you are you saying that russia is to blame for the low in relations right now look russia has been involved in a lot of activities a lot of activities that are very concerning i know to many of you and to many americans whether it is election related activities or their activities in ukraine they've also harassed u.s. diplomats there i mean there are a whole host of things well trump who seems to have

a different view on the issue he says on twitter at the blame for the souring relations lines suddenly the doors of the u.s. congress he also called the russia sanctions bill which received overwhelming support in both houses kaley unconstitutional well such overwhelming rakim and even if the president had vetoed the bill lawmakers would likely have overruled to the new law or also gives congress the power to block trump from easing any of the restrictions lou wrote quote the founder of an american think tank believes the president should be more assertive in his opposition to the sanctions bill mr hugh you know the president i guess felt that he had signed that horrendous sanctions bill and remember sanctions are acts of war under international law however what he should have done is exactly what george bush i hate the recommending george bush did you should have said as he signed the bill he should have said i don't intend to enforce this of course because i believe it's unconstitutional so what trump

should have done is just ignored it this is not unprecedented and there are plenty of times when congress felt the president was doing bad stuff i must say i fear the most is probably feeling he now has to become another war president making war against any more different product talk to think of trump in that sense he seems like such a powerful guy maybe they've got him on the ropes maybe this is who knows what's ahead i fear it's not good for americans or russians for the chinese people or anybody in this whole world. well russia's alleged meddling in the us elections has dominated recent headlines but little attention given to the fact that americans think tanks which have a strong influence on u.s. policy are often generously funded by foreign players. through their looks and why this isn't regarded as foreign meddling. this year has seen a surge in stories around the idea of foreign powers influencing the merican democratic process and in an effort to help battle the threat such meddling poses we thought we don't like politicians as to where some of their favorite think tanks

get their financial support institutions from which those very politicians so often get information to form policy opinions spoiler alert foreign powers are some of those washington based think tanks biggest donors let's start with an all time favorite the brookings institution this institution provided a forum for ideas for thought and i think the country. specifically the congress is better off or for the great work that you do you're so well known all over the world that there are a lot of longtime friends and colleagues who perch here at brookings all of those defenders of democracy clearly put a lot of faith in the information that comes out of this building right behind me but perhaps they feel different if they knew how much foreign funding they get according to their own report in two thousand and sixteen the brookings institution received over two million dollars from the united arab emirates up to two million from the government of norway and between five hundred thousand and a million dollars from the embassy of the state of qatar and with that in mind

perhaps these sorts of headlines coming out of here must be taken with a grain of salt. and the brookings institution isn't alone in the story the carnegie endowment for international peace is a truly international institution working with the cause of peace democracy and the . truth is that for generations guarded. has been training the foreign policy leaders of the future the carnegie endowment brought in significant cash contributions from the u.k. department for international development the embassy of japan the federal foreign office of germany and the norwegian ministry of foreign affairs and that was just last year and just naming a few about how do you guarantee those bags of money don't come with any influence whatsoever and these two aren't the exception they're the rule in this town the

atlantic council the center for strategic and international studies the center for american progress all took a huge chunk of change offered by the u.a.e. and the list goes on and on so many think tanks so much international money perhaps a lot of us politicians will rethink how worry some foreign influence really is and where it's truly coming from. our t. washington d.c. . now the u.s. department of justice is about to give a briefing on the battle against leaks of classified information after the trumpet ministration was hit by yet another scandal over an also rise disclosure the washington post published two transcripts of the president's phone calls with foreign leaders which took place in january well according to the call records trump asked his mexican counterpart enrique pena nieto to stop publicly saying his country won't pay for the proposed wall on the u.s. mexican border the report also revealed trump's disagreements with the australian prime minister malcolm turnbull over

a refugee resettlement deal. my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that mexico cannot pay for that wall but you cannot say that to the press the press is going to go with that and i cannot live with that you cannot say that to the press because i can not negotiate under those circumstances this is a big deal it is really really important to us that we maintain it it doesn't oblige you to take one person that you do not want this is going to kill me i am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country while the white house hasn't commented on the latest leaks former u.s. diplomat jim jatra spinny is disclosures like this undermine u.s. national security what could be more damaging if for the president united states cannot talk to a foreign leader frankly without fear of his public comments going public or those of the person he's talking to how do you conduct diplomatic business which should

be the top priority of the president and i think the leaking of this information just just simply shows this kind of remain religion we have here in washington that nothing is too bad to do this president he's such an illegitimate such a bad president that all the rules can be broken and this criminal activity this criminal leaking is sure why not it's actually patriotic to do that. the opposition in venezuela says the country's parliament will refuse to dissolve itself even if it wanted to do so by the new constituent assembly the body is set to hold its first session on friday the international community has also expressed its concerns here in the u.s. is the most vocal branding last sunday's vote illegitimate it also calls president nicolas maduro leadership a dictatorship and as more i guess day of reports being deemed a dictator these days is rather easy. little the jew know there's actually two ways to become

a dictator there's the obvious way brutally oppressed your people crush dissent and rule with an iron fist method to annoy america yesterday's illegitimate elections confirm that madeira is a dictator who disregards the will of the venezuelan people that's going to hurt when the us brands you a dictator all bets are off even if you really aren't one and he claim of your crimes is taken as fact international law stops working or your enemies suddenly get a lot of money and in many cases shiny new guns to see of uncle sam in syria we have ramped up on military assistance to the syrian opposition. remember what happened to saddam will assad blame didn't put anything and it'll stick the name of the game was regime change exporting democracy and

that's a heck of a lot easier when you put trade the other guy as the cartoon villain syrian dictator bashar. assad is a war criminal thugs and a murderer like bashar al assad it's already begun their equating duro to kim jong un that's crazy talk you might think there are no concentration camps there are elections with dora himself he joins a very exclusive club including mr mcgarvie. and and and kim jong un in terms of the real repression of his people what about this guy the king of saudi arabia his opponents a tortured and executed in public his family controls everything in saudi arabia he has deprived his people of freedom democracy choice talk about

balancing with the devil. what does washington do sells hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia. is that for double standards us foreign policy is entirely hypocritical i mean they only characterize government says dictatorial or authoritarian when they're not favorable to us interests us maintains close ties and supports the monarchy in saudi arabia that's one of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world when it comes to putting labels on governments and other nations it all depends on who's a friend or a foe of the united states sad isn't it you can rule oppress and kill all

you want without repetitions but only if you bend the knee to washington. you can do none of that and still wind up being called a dictator. now plans for a new synagogue in sydney australia have been banned amid fears it could become the target of an isolated spieth terror attack the decision by the local council was up held in court this week the synagogue was to be built a few hundred metres from the iconic bondi beach but also it is ruled it could pose a threat to local residents extra security measures were added to the plans but these were deemed unsightly by the council spokesman for the jewish group that appealed against the decision believes the ruling is a victory for the terrorists it basically implies the jewish organisation should be allowed to exist in residential areas it stands to stand for jewish existence on the qt if it's in sydney and then the by creating

a precedent the whole of australia and by extension rewarding terrorism. or potential terror attacks have already been hitting the headlines this week in australia after a plot to blow up an airliner was foiled two men were charged with tariff answers on thursday over an aborted attempt to place an explosive device on a flight out of sydney police called it one of the most sophisticated plots ever attempted in the country islamic state reportedly helped organize it. to discuss this issue are now joined by australian jewish activist abby yemeni alvey thank you very much indeed for joining me well let's have a look at some of the facts that have happened with the recent news here of the terrorist plot has been for buy in australia islamic state say that they had a hand in it within this context do you think measures to avoid attacks seem reasonable. of course i do but victim blaming is never the answer. targeting the terrorists cogging radical islam is the answer but targeting the jewish community

because they may become victim of these radical islamists is certainly not the way to go about it it's sending the wrong message and and that's just that's going cowering to terrorism so what do you think they would the reaction will be to this particular decision do you think he could spot public anger do you think that could be demonstrations already as against the bill that there will be i'll be laving a demonstration the next sunday week you'll have people from across the border across the strange society who are outraged by this decision this is not a jewish issue this isn't a strain issue because he you have ways that one with the long going to be drawn to die it's a synagogue victims that would have potentially been jewish but tomorrow it could be a stadium it could be a train station it could be anything but strengthens will not tell what terrorism

and hunt they want to see our government for acting islamic terror head on by taking it either overseas or within our borders fighting it head on without the political correct. social engineering we currently have you think there could be a compromise here do you think the synagogue building could go ahead in a slightly different area would that help soften the tensions they think. but i don't think it's about the location i think jews are going to be toggled wherever they are that's not the issue here the problem is that you've got a council that thinks it's a better idea to avoid issues but i like targeting the victims that's just like signing. in my opinion if you say that women shouldn't wear miniskirts because they might become victims of right that's just big jim by me in its worst compacts capacity and in two thousand and seventeen it will not be tolerated well let's look at also some of the ways we heard from rabbi

a woman there saying that effectively this decision rewards terrorism do you think his statement goes too far or do you agree with him absolutely that's a win for the islamists exactly what they want they are trying the way our society runs and it just boggles my mind the any institution any government can take that kind of course let's also look at some of the words that they said because initially they said that we can't have extra security measures added within the construction there but the quote that they come back with is that they contain they consider to negatively impact the streetscape in other words they want pretty enough i mean do you think that's reason enough to hold me tight construction. so look i think they're doing a bit of backpedaling at the moment they've gone into a bit of. beyond management the issue here is that all the jewish synagogues had their own security their east you know i think the jewish community is not it's not

something new to them and some of the other communities here as well as some of the coptic communities had their own security guards. but i think it's also it we've come to a climate in this trial where our government needs to take the front you know the front laid on this one and fight islamic terrorism say don't we act any kind of the victim blaming at all without putting the responsibility onto anybody else this is this is this is our country and it strains are going to stand some of us are we going to hundreds of the strains we're going to stand side by side to protest this decision and have it overturned and i believe it will be at the day when he did that australian jewish and to his abbey yemeni thank you very much indeed for your thoughts thank you thanks for having me. well the record gains on the u.s. stock markets must find out after the show break. was

selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battle. you fought to try to tell you something gossip to happen. as you point out by product. of the heart that i'm on board well what.

welcome back well amid the current turmoil in the white house donald trump is delighted with one positive development the record gains on the american stock market but the president's joy might be short lived a scalable and reports. the u.s. stock market is riding high and there's no one more happy about it than the man in the oval office we've picked up substantially now more than four trillion dollars in net worth in terms of our country our stocks our companies well that sounds great right well that depends on who you ask first let's quiz the movers and shakers here on wall street what do you think of the spike in the markets the donald trump's been talking about look it's obviously great news that the economy is doing well i think that's generally

a good vibe for everyone you know on the other hand i think it's not unusual for a new administration to sometimes won't take credit for a trend that might have surfaced in the previous ones this is are looking to see that there's going to be no more regulation and they're happy to see that. the market is following suit but the average american doesn't really share their enthusiasm a big a lot of people are suffering out there you china to go union jobs like you know i mean everybody everybody is inside of the opinion but from what i've seen like. we're all struggling a lot of people don't have jobs and by the jobs you know housing and everything is to see less of everything is going downhill maybe the working classes have a reason to be skeptical stocks all around the world are taking because of the crisis on wall street like the puppies do for twenty years and they are losing their jobs and these are the to come visit. the site not run for office. furniture you know fat cat bankers on wall street on and

on and on regulator after regulator they either chose not to act or turned a blind eye to what was actually going it was a lack of regulation that many people blame for the chaos that took place back in two thousand and eight but fast forward to today president trump says that too much regulation is the problem we have had regulation that's been so bad. so out of line that it's really hurt our country now not everyone agrees with the president on the . a recent report from the public advocacy group called public citizen had this to say the trumpet ministrations changes would make americans more vulnerable to the sort of reckless bets that appended the economy in two thousand and eight and two scams men scrupulous bankers but trump says that this is just the beginning of what we're going to be doing over the next six months will be incredible we've signed more bills and i'm talking about through the legislature than any president ever

yes everybody agrees that two thousand and eight was a big mess but the question on people's minds now is is the current spike in the market held by trump just a rise getting ready for a big fall. archie new york. journalist brenton l'engle fears another market crash is looming if too much power is given to the banks the same attitude that led to two thousand and eight. the banking sector is notoriously bad at judging its own risk it's one of the reasons why you need strong regulations on banks and the trumpet ministration doesn't seem interested in you know really paying any attention to the financial sector beyond like just let them do what they want to do and we've seen what happens when they do what they want to do they crash the economy they put a bunch of people out of work suicide to go up and you know you get occupy wall street compass crowing a lot about how the stock market is doing very well under him but the fact is he

has nothing to do with it the only thing that trump has been able to do mostly is to scare the market. with various regulations. now a major rescue operations underway into diamond mine in the far east of russia or after it was flooded earlier on friday one hundred forty two people have been brought to the surface so far with nine still missing from on course or it has more on the incident rushes of urgency. us officials say that the incident took place due to flooding at an exhausted my near the pumping station of the mere diamond my with some three hundred thousand cubic meters of water breaking through now the diamond mine belongs to all roll call buddy who's shares fell by two and a half percent right after the news of the incident broke however most of those

losses have been recovered after this points after all rosa kompany said that the incident did not affect production in any way whatsoever the rescue effort is ongoing and we'll have more updates for you a little later on. now recent figures in the u.k. show amount to increase in the number of children calling for help out of fear of being forced into arranged marriages the data was collected by the british children's charity the n s p c say if the decisions be made if you've been told when you remember where you marry who you marry that's forced marriage and. support it's nice is available to help you make a stop. the charity says there's been a twelve percent increase in counseling sessions relating to arranged marriages compared with the previous year its web page dedicated to the issue has received more than six thousand hits and there's also been an increase in the actual number

of forced child marriages when you figures show a seventeen percent increase in the u.k. in just a year the majority of the children are from countries where child marriages are part of the culture is one girl's story. my parents are talking about taking me back to my home country to get married but i don't want to they get violent when i don't do what they want i want to leave home by they'd never agree to it i just want to leave a normal teenage life but they will let me. we spoke to jasmine doesn't care who campaigns to protect children from forced marriages when she was sixteen she was locked in a room after she refused to marry a man chosen by her parents she ran away with her secret boyfriend and stopped talking to her family later she found out that one of her sisters who was married at fifteen had committed suicide here's what she told us people believe because we are democracy because we have the rule of law that these things couldn't possibly be happening in england clearly they are and it's very important to know that

forced marriage and honor of use is fundamentally against every religion islam seeks the more hindu is the fundamentalists speaks out against it but victims are not taught so families would use these as just a few cations but we need to send out very strong messages that in britain it is a criminal offense to force india to marry and this is not acceptable in any religion tradition or culture but i have victims need to know that they have been taught that because it's not in the interest of their family to tell them that because it will empower them. for more on all asteroids go to our website altie don't call me while i'll be back with a nice headlines at the top of the hour. special

environment. chemical discoveries over the last century made every day life easier but at what cost this is cereal is exceptionally sick. no wonder it's confidential. says fifty years old industrial giants reap the benefit ignoring the caused by chemical production. you know as if these people are people just experimental animals decades later the toxic environment continues to poison lives and we found these astronomically high levels of backs and levels that my staff think maybe some of the highest levels ever found in the united states for almost thirty years this very serious problem had not actually been addressed what will that investigation into the chemical industry secrets revealed. this was part of.

the earth. yes it's worth special. for me an exit out of the reservation to the south this arizona's annoyed the sonora there's a checkpoint leaving to the north to hillah been the checkpoint

leaving to go to because of grandee there's another checkpoint and then that's north and east to two saw this in the checkpoint. so. within that small space we have were completely surrounded. me my daughter was working in tucson so we were driving.