breaking news this hour the u.n. security council votes unanimously in favor of sweeping new sanctions against north korea in response that pyongyang is intensifying tests. also the u.s. launches a war governmentally donald trump's full transcripts with other leaders are made public threatening to damage american diplomacy. russia's former ambassador to the u.s. opens up in his first t.v. interview since leaving the post about the scandal over contacts with american diplomats.

around the clock across the world this is r.t. international my names you know neil welcome to the program and we begin with breaking news this hour the u.n. security council has unanimously approved new sanctions on north korea it's going to our get down restrict north korean exports to all their un member states in key industries such as metals and food with the aim to dent the country's economy by a round a billion dollars per year north korean nationals will also see travel limitations pub in place on foreign investment blocked the resolution drafted by the us was in response to north korea's intensified missile tests where russia's u.n. representative has said that sanctions were needed to make north korea stop its

program he stressed however that the sanctions should be the starting point for future dialogue with the north. we do know that the russian federation has agreed to the resolution on north korea we understand the need to stop the nuclear program which is unacceptable for us with the newly implemented measures against north korea it cannot be an end in themselves but rather an instrument to get the country into constructive talks. well that's good expert in all says no and go live to richard becker regional director of the antiwar serco alicia great to have you back on the show just to start off with let's hear what the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. said about the latest sanctions it was about stopping the talk and starting the action north korea needs to take a that the international community has spoken with one voice they have the option to stop what they're doing they have the option of stopping the reckless and they

are responsible behavior and the international community could not have made a stronger point to tell them that the time to stop is now and we are prepared to continue want if we have to yes we mentioned it was the u.s. support the sanctions on the table what's your take on this latest development. well i think it's very unfortunate actually that the u.n. security council has passed this resolution and i think it misplaces the blame for the tension on the korean peninsula and nikki haley the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. talks about reckless actions but every year hundreds of thousands of south korean and tens of thousands of u.s. troops participate in military maneuvers in korea that are openly aimed at regime change in north korea that they're rehearsing for regime change in two thousand and two in the state of the union message george w. bush called iran iraq and north korea the axis of evil and then in

the next year invaded iraq and destroying their country that's when north korea really put its nuclear weapons program into high gear no one wants to see the spread of nuclear weapons in the world but it's clear to anyone who's at all objective that north korea's nuclear program is meant as a deterrent they know without a doubt that if they were to launch a first strike that they would be annihilated by the fire fire fire of greater nuclear power of the united states can't yet. do you think that these sanctions as harsh as they are income per able to previous ones are going to to maybe halt that the program in the north are actually intensifying what's your thinking on this. well if we based it at all on history and we don't have anything else to go by it's not going to do to or north korea from its nuclear weapons program the use

the nuclear weapons program is really the sole deterrent to a massive attack by the united states and south korea and at what the u.s. itself calls the deal capitation strategy that is cutting off the head. leadership so can i can i just put a point to you and that richard sorry for interrupting because just in what you are saying we can take a listen to what the rushes at russia's u.n. ambassador said about foreign intervention into north korea for a second here we do but. we hope in the sincerity of the assurances given by the u.s. ambassador that the u.s. is not aiming to overthrow the current going korean regime or for forceful unification or military intervention in the country but this raises a concern but the point of the resolution proposed by us to uphold that position did not find support from the authors of the resolution which. is to essentially

moscow was asking for a point to be added that this was not about regime change that was rejected by the u.s. that point was not added. why do you think that was because the u.s. aim is regime change. you know if we go back again to george w. bush administration one of those top officials supposedly in charge of disarmament john bolton when asked what the u.s. policy on north korea was replied no north korea and that has been a fixed objective of u.s. policy in regard to korea has been regime change and the fact that they would actually talk openly about a de capitation strategy i think makes a crystal clear to anybody who's paying attention. richard you know what we know what the regime may or may not do here but what about the people what about the citizens of north korea how are these sanctions going to impact on them as you see

it. well probably quite negatively i mean we we really view the way sanctions are used and sanctions themselves in the modern era. should be categorized as a kind of war crime when they killed a million people in iraq i visited iraq when the sanctions were in place that was a blockade because the most ghastly suffering in the country sanctions are a weapon against the population of the country that they're in. there's no there's no question in the excuses given that it's ended the leadership but it's not the leadership it's the people as a whole who suffer from sanctions and i think the korean people will suffer from these sanctions or take richard becker antiwar activists from the answer coalition like. the white house has announced that cracked on on intelligence and government leaks which being seriously damaging the trumpet

ministration the culprits are being warned to stop now or face legal consequences leaks are incredibly damaging to our intelligence mission and capabilities simply put these leaks hurt our country if you improperly disclose classified information we will find you we will investigate you we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law and you will not be happy with the result. the attorney general sees the justice department has been pursuing by three times more leaks than during the final years of the obama administration and it's not only government employees who could face prosecution the media may also be forced to reveal its sources critics of slum but as an attack on free speech but there are fears that some leaks could be putting national security at risk picking up the story jacqueline. i think

we have to stop both attorney general. as efforts are stepped up to root out those responsible and want to turn folks advice kellyanne conway even speculated lie detectors can be wheeled into the west wing to sniff out the signatures these comments of the administration's response to the waves of classified information making their way out of the white house i don't know warming and some say dangerous right i am so glad they're telling us what's going on as new thing every day is here's the crazy thing it is only you know getting out in the public because of the white house whistle blowers the transcripts of phone calls between president trump and two world leaders have been the leaks and published by the washington post i've never seen a white house leak as much against itself as this the latest and most explosive leak conversation transcripts between trump and the leaders of mexico and i still you seem to have been the final straw provoking our age even among critics who say a line has been crossed is not fair this president. in terms of the leaks with the

large prison term or not no prison can do business with their phone calls from the leak to the washington post terribly damaging to our country not just to donald trump politically who i don't support but to our country that it does is it crimps conversations with foreign leaders all the way down the chain where we saw in the leaks like this under the obama administration and we saw only one or two when they were related to the iraq war in the bush administration so clearly the press leaks only what they want to leak because i refuse to believe these are the only times that they've ever had some do gooder and them something that they think should be published so in the sense that the press is selective i think that they have risen to the level of you being able to demonstrate malice being that they are not others and if they can show malice they should be held responsible absolutely despite the reported risks to national security this leaking pipe of information continues to drip likely because trump's enemies are not only at the door of the white house they are right inside it too between staff stragglers from the obama era and

professional shake ups within. own administration the one thing that is clear is the toxic environment of distrust is likely to cloud the halls of the west wing meaning the president will have a hard time doing his job effectively and the security of the nation remains in question and only plug in the damage can finally be mopped up. r.t. washington d.c. . former russian ambassador to the u.s. surrogate kissel yank has opened up about his conversations with ex u.s. national security adviser michael flynn the controversial discussions which took place during the trumpet ministrations transition into power led to flynn having to leave his post as the of talks us through what we learned he says that he still shocked and indignant over all this attention that's been devoted to his to his meeting with flynt he asks since when diplomats for. gauging with politicians with members of an administration that is after all their entire job

with regards to this talk this conversation between himself and mr flynn says that they talked about straightforward things pressing concerns but simple ones such as terrorism for example there were no secrets mentioned he says regards the sanctions and by the way it was sanctioned as their potential talk of sanctions that really forced mr flynt to resign mystic is that says you had very direct orders from the top not to mention sanctions. i do not comment on i contact with our colleagues i had instructions not to discuss sanctions we never discuss sanctions with anybody and i assure you i've honestly followed the instructions we don't discuss about sanctions because we believe they were implemented in an illegal politically aggressive way to begin with. also says that he doesn't take seriously all these allegations of russian meddling during the election and when

asked why the russian media focused and covered the elections in such great detail he says because it was fun as good a reason as any other they called him many things the politicians and the media especially during the early days of trump's presidency they. called him a chief spy they called him a chief recruiter of spies bear in mind this is a respectable person a career diplomat he's been in washington since two thousand and since two thousand and eight and he says that these allegations are offensive and humiliating and not to him but to the people saying them to america itself is. sort of i believe all the talk suggesting that i bust through the russian federation i'm a spy it's shameful for a country like america has become normal in america to talk about how the russian ambassador is why it's out how bugs were installed on his phone it's an unhealthy

society despite everything mystic is like says he doesn't believe we're in the middle of another cold war things haven't gotten that bad he says but there are huge problems and many of them stem from the fact that there's a self exceptionalism in american politics and when the media resistance when they need somebody who is willing to stand up for their own interests that's when they get upset or we list on historian martin mccauley whether he believes mr kissel comments will be taken into consideration by u.s. investigators. the problem is that in washington there's a very strong russian caucus and from the democrat side sometimes among the republicans and the liberal press and they will literally not

accept anything which is positive about russia if the russian staged something they don't believe it and the. president trumpeted something about the positive about russia this is a that's st louis you shouldn't be saying that russia is ready and we should be concentrating on that so unfortunately no. you haven't the ones that president trump we would like and. they would love to improve relations with russia. get things going and so on but congress is doing its best to ensure that religious groups rushing to deteriorate. video has emerged showing the aftermath of a deadly or strike in yemen but due to its graphic nature it has been heavily edited and please be warned it is the stirring it shows the bodies of a family being dragged from rubble following an alleged saudi led coalition strike

nine people were killed including six children after their house collapse that's according to local officials the air strike occurred during a battle between the u.s. and saudi backed forces in yemen and al qaeda in the city of sada riyadh's coalition denies it was responsible saying they do not target civilians. were reports suggested that humanitarian groups can't reach areas of yemen so the arabia and its allies have restricted fuel supplies the head of the un's development program in the country sais the eye to look for the conflict is billick because humanitarian organizations are being shut out another worrying aspect to the conflict is what's being called the world's worst outbreak of cholera. it's already claimed the lives of nearly two thousand people since october due to contaminate with food and water and there's little or no medical assistance for those who couch the disease. yemen is seeing a massive cholera outbreak really one of the biggest cholera outbreaks we've seen

in our lifetime in soft about two months ago and it spreads rapidly across the country and is still growing unfortunately what we found is that there's a million malnourished children living in areas of the west affected by cholera the cholera epidemic in yemen and the humanitarian crisis more widely are entirely manmade and created by the conflict it's totally preventable and if the conflict ended it would be much easier for us to bring color under control. all the conflict in yemen has been ongoing for over two years now in the figures are quite staggering it's worth more than ten thought and civilians dead three million displaced masses of people in dire need of help. you know. that's what. a lot of what i think. of this i think you know there's a lot of these are the sort of are.

there are are there . just after the break we have news from azerbaijan where an explosion has ripped through a dormitory building in. me . thank. you.

thank you. this is. the economy is. the. voters elected to businessmen to run this country business it. must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before . i. let's start back in azerbaijan where an explosion has torn through a dormant block in the east of the country resulting in a fire local media reports there have been fatalities although no exact number has been given at this stage medics say that twenty five people including a child are in hospital most are suffering from smoke inhalation the cause of the

blast out this stage again is all clear authorities do say though that the blaze is now we will continue to update you throughout the night here in r t on this developing story as we hear more. to afghanistan where the taliban's been stepping up its attacks mainly in the side of the country a series of assaults of the past four days has seen dozens of people killed both soldiers and civilians this spite efforts to eliminate the taliban lasting a decade the terrorists still have a large presence in the nation according to believe this u.s. report for reconstruction there forty percent of afghan territory is currently controlled or contested by the taliban. because if.

i. was looking it. up. for me that i die or washington has provided millions of dollars to assist afghanistan in this fight against the terrorists or according to the special inspector general for afghanistan the u.s. defense program has cost taxpayers almost half a billion dollars while failing to achieve its goal its president trump voiced his anger over the fatal campaign during his latest meeting with general progress reports over the past number of months of not being positive we are not winning in afghanistan right now we want an illusion. mr chairman i believe we're in a stalemate going on year sixteen now people are american people are tired of it

they're looking for alternatives and i think president trump is voicing that their frustration in trying to come to some kind of resolution on this now i know the russians have an afghan working group i was told by some officials recently that they had actually invited the united states to participate in discussions with with their group and to discuss a resolution for afghanistan but the united states refused. unbelievable but it were it really underscores once again the u.s. needs a strategy it doesn't have one and it's not going to have one if they're going to rely solely on a military solution. to another ongoing story now eight miners are still missing well over twenty four hours after a flood of a diamond mine in russia's far east water poured into an underground shaft one

hundred fifty one people inside the rescue operation as we say is ongoing this is a video showing a worker being rescued on saturday morning take a look. at. what we are looking at there is over one hundred emergency services personnel involved in total in the rescue operation they have been joined by volunteers on indeed some of the miners who were earlier evacuated we can take a look at how the disaster unfolded. were.

well the company which owns the mine is called it's one of the world's biggest diamond producers and most of precious stones the originals discovered to be diamond rich in the one nine hundred fifty s. then in two thousand and nine grown mine was established to extract diamond bearing or produce is up to a million a year however the facility has constantly been hit by strong. water currents. and we are continuing to keep a watch on the rescue operation and we'll keep you posted on the fate of the missing miners. to south america where venezuela's newly elected

controversial legislative body has been old aerated street violence in the country continues police in the capital deployed tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with angry opposition supporters on friday. well that have been here now we have two a parliament parliament to let me out there but the opposition and i are part of that by. the opposition house. demonstrations. things have worked out what they are doing it's beautiful demonstration. there we sold. usually by a well there's we in one hundred. three people killed in the north in late march i don't see any understanding. either continuing the cities or maybe getting wars i

think this will die down in time so on both sides are entrenched wildfire the whole however the national guard by. the earth do you not see will look countries all positions sees the formation of the constituent assembly which will rewrite the constitution as a power grab met for the first time on saturday the new body voted to suspend it chief prosecutor luis ortega a prominent government critic the spite of growing by both at home and from abroad venezuela's education minister defended the assembly. first of all it's unacceptable to limit and inflict sanctions on an independent and free country citizens are taking advantage of their constitutional rights like voting for candidates in the national assembly what is an absolutely unacceptable fact is that we are being punished for following the norms of our constitution in venezuela the

national constituent assembly can be crewed this can be done by the president of the republican self the assembly members were chosen by over eight million people more than forty percent of all registered voters through the means of a direct and anonymous vote we are complying with the core democratic norms which are reflected in our constitution venezuela will become a nation where there will be improvements and greater developments in the economy and citizens' rights. in get involved in the bait on any of those stories and dot com always life either of any. social environment. chemical discoveries over the last century made every day life easier but at what cost this is cereal is exceptionally.

well under it's confidential. exists as the years of industrial giants reap the benefit ignoring the harm caused by chemical production. 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. my staff think maybe some of the highest levels ever 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 . just expect. the worst just for him.

thank god. i ask that. yeah sessions noon differend says mr magoo oh you are so raised. over the past even his friends call him that over the past month he has set out on a quest to reinvigorate a war on the american people he has asked congress for permission to prosecute medical cannabis suppliers who are abiding by their state's laws he has also reauthorized civil assets for forfeiture a highly controversial practice in which cops steal basically steal people's property and he's announced his desire to start a new war on drugs but here's something you need to know the u.s. drug war.