in this week's top stories president trump signs a new russia sanctions bill get america's a u.s. moscow described it as declaring a full scale trade war. on the sanctions north korea to over its missile tests as a u.s. drafted resolution is unanimously backed by the u.n. security council. dictator dictator. venezuelan president is also targeted by u.s. restrictions over his constitutional reform referendum which is infuriated the opposition but. its lyonnais groups argue over how to conduct migrant search and

rescue operations suspicion grows that humanitarian boats colluded with people trapped. good morning from moscow just past nine in the morning here now and kevin i would bring you the weekly a roundup of the big news stories of the last seven days for the next thirty minutes or so and first relations soured further between russia and the united states on wednesday as donald trump put his signature to a new sanctions bill it's a move that's angered america's allies in europe who say their economic interests are being ignored even president trump himself was reluctant to sign the law saying it limits is power to shape foreign policy. while i favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by north korea and russia this legislation is significantly flawed and its haste to pass this legislation the congress included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions those provisions purport to

displace the president's exclusive constitutional authority and those comments live a lot of questions and the way the president states that even though he stands for legislation that's 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 thanks to this bill of course is it is a terrible bill. benefits the people of no contrary not the united states not germany not all three or in a way not russia not syria not 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 not totally unexpected but i do believe that these side shows are out of the playing

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. the sanctions passed by the u.s. congress and accepted by the u.s. president mean that we have abandoned the concept of unity foreign policy issues are evidently connected to american economic interests to say we want to limit russian gas in the european market so that we can sell american gas there instead this is something that we cannot accept so these sanctions seem to be leaving her. anyone happy trumps being forced to go against its constitutional beliefs america's closest european allies go on the defensive to counter what they see as a matter is potentially in violation of international law and us washable ations taken for their head first there is no hope for any improvement of our relations

with the new american administration second a total trade war has been declared on russia the trumpet ministration has demonstrated complete impotence and the good of all executive power to congress in the most humiliating way when these statements from trump and it with the president claiming that he can make far better deals with foreign countries than congress but with measures such as these being passed could maybe prevent it from doing just that the deep state the need. and the media are very very powerful and they can put a lot of pressure on the president so they ganged up on him 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 sign did i think it was more like a political thing but i don't think on the long run this benefits i don't think it benefits america it certainly doesn't benefit you know peace in the world between europe and russia even when russia and the soviet union existed we actually were

quite willing you know when necessary to talk and work out some problems but now we're moving in the other direction in a tweet president congress for the current state of u.s. russia relations describing them as not an all time low but the u.s. state department pointed the finger a moscow in a lengthy exchange with reporters over the russian prime minister's reaction he announces the end of any hope for improvement is it. is that what the end is at the end we are two nuclear superpowers. an economic declaration of war against the russian federation is it is it an economic declaration of war and. was it an economic declaration of war i blushing federation if that is what russia is saying you know russia certainly entitled to say that the russians hate these sanctions the president says yes i do the president agrees with them that it's bad

piece of legislation well people are not also hold on one second the president signed a bill after all of this are you saying that russia is to blame for the low in relations right now. russia's been involved in a lot of activities a whole host of things to hold a host of things to so why did the president say you can think congress and it would i would have to refer you to the president on that if you understand anything else yet on russia you know russia alone ok no if you're right hold on everybody take it down a notch the new sanctions law gives congress the power to block the president from easing sanctions almost and there's no mention of trying to donald trump who's branded the legislation and comes to chew tional in a patrol what's happening in washington right now. 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 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 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 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. sanctions on north korea were agreed the day after u.s. drafted resolution was unanimously agreed by the u.n. security council it bans north korean exports of coal metals and seafood reducing export revenue by about a third which is roughly a billion dollars a year foreign investments also be blocked it's in response to north korea's continued missile tests russia believes sanctions should be the starting point for future dialogue with north korea the u.n. members agree but there are signs that washington still nonetheless mulling a military action. we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the thirty eighth parallel we're trying to convey to the north koreans we are not your enemy we're not your threat every military expert says there is no good military

option they're wrong. to destroy north korea's program and north korea itself he's not going to president the ability of this madman to have a missile that hit america if there's going to be a ward of stop and it will be over there thousands die they're going to die over there and they're not going to die here and he's told me that my face may be provocative but i really don't judge politicians by what they say judge them by what they do and by all appearances donald trump is ready for war he's seen the pentagon's plans for north korea and in all likelihood they've already selected a battle plan is are in motion and what senator lindsey graham has said only goes to reinforce that if millions have to die then so be it are you saying it's ok to use a military option that immediately endangers the lives of millions of people in

that region. north korea changes if you have any doubts that the u.s. is preparing for war take a look at what's happening on the ground on the korean peninsula u.s. troops ships jets forces are arriving there in a ceaseless stream and see me sell shields up blanketing the airspace there are endless simulations war games exercises this isn't about scaring north korea no this is about putting all the pieces in place so when the final go order comes they're ready to move trump the rule promised to deal with north korea aegis didn't say how. well handled a career we're going to be able to handle it will be it will be handled we handle everything oh they aren't barbarians they won't rush into

a war where potentially millions of people are going to die in the first few days alone ergo you have rex tillerson the secretary of state running around talking about diplomacy negotiations talks and sanctions a diplomatic effort to dissuade north korea and to stop its nuclear program of course unclear whether he himself believes that's possible breakthrough now when it hasn't happened in decades but donald trump is on a different path and the white house is much more blunt and they're happy to tell you nothing. so far it seems is definitely sanctions season this year with venezuela also joining the restrictions club the u.s. treasury is imposing tough measures against president after his victory in a controversial referendum to create a new legislative body regarded by critics is the tool to weaken the opposition as a result of today's sanctions all assets of the door subject to u.s.

jurisdiction are frozen and u.s. persons are prohibited from dealing with him and he was certainly now will be tasked with rewriting the constitution and will have the power to dissolve the current parliament the opposition defied a ban on public protests though and denounce the election as a power grab by a president with a row police in the capital deployed tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with furious opposition supporters. as for the american sanctions the doesn't seem to be one sphere that's off limits. but sanctions against oil are i'm not going to comment on that what i will say is we will monitor all of our options it seems we all knew about this took sick relationship. is

a dictator who disregards the will of the venezuelan people not what are they going to such only to me that they do they determine to short on a deal that lawyer or do they mean. to put them into a totally did the government. is violating its own constitution. but pump oil into the equation and politics is brushed straight under the carpet his facts of how black gold unites them. protect a discount american states being the third largest exporter of crude to the us and numbers are growing up seven percent to around six hundred seventy thousand barrels a day but will it stop that absolutely no the citgo petroleum corporation based in texas belongs to wait for its venezuela's state owned oil company which means the country has access to these refineries the total capacity of about seven hundred

forty nine thousand barrels per day so far the sanctions that have been a mention have been against refined venezuelan oil products and against individuals in the venezuelan government they have not been for the importation of crude the fact that they are not including crude speaks to that interdependence and the fact that us all producers and export are don't want to up the market and potentially that ten percent extraction of venice on oil could spike us gasoline prices as well so i think that that is the concern. the u.s. state department branded last sunday's vote illegitimate also describes present leadership has a dictatorship but as well attorney and investigative journalist have a goal engine told us said he would acting against u.s. interests these days is now labeled a dictator. u.s. foreign policy is entirely hypocritical i mean they only characterize government

says dictatorial or else or a tarion when they're not favorable to u.s. interests again u.s. maintains close ties and supports the monarchy in saudi arabia that's one of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world yet we don't see them calling out the saudi arabian kingdom as dictatorial and sanctioning the king and all the princes there is differing degrees of democracy in the world and how they are seen but 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 right ahead please try to stop people traffickers in the mediterranean but can't get rescue charities on board to help i'll tell you was the weekly continues after this quick break. in case you're new to the game this is how it works not the economy is built around

corporations corporations run washington washington controls the media the media the voters elected to run this country business equals. bust it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. they put themselves on the line they did accept the reject. so when you want to be president. wanted. to be this is what the three of the more. interesting.

several aid groups are carrying out migrant rescue missions in the mediterranean or refusing to sign a so-called code of conduct that's been drafted by italy first of the bludgers rescue missions to allow police officers on board it also prevents aid boats from transferring refugees to other vessels insisting they take migrants to ports themselves and it bans phone calls all flares from n.g.o.s those in case the big used to warn people smugglers when it's safe to send another boat it's only insists the migrant rescue code is mandatory though and that he would refusing to sign it will face consequences the medical charity doctors without borders believes it could put people in peril. goes against our mission which is to save lives it goes against this goes against the hearts we are as medical and humanitarian. and it's

not something that. this code been partially drawn up after some n.g.o.s that were accused of acting as a taxi service working alongside people traffic is to get migrants into europe is a concern that's been repeatedly voiced by a group known as defend you up into my group movement even crowd funded a mediterranean mission to monitor the work of n.g.o.s. because we are gainst mess immigration to europe we beat wants to stop this madness this n.g. all madness. and because everybody is just talking in the what is acting feeling you're stepping in what you're doing you're going to do is you're going to all watch the and you also and i think what they're doing there is nothing good because they're actually a support factor and basically the reason for this mess immigration get a reason people drowning and it's the up making a fortune for this human trafficking rings in libya destabilizing the country i think the future for africa and europe the future for europe cannot be to become

second africa. also this week italy seized a german group's migrant rescue boat which was suspected of taking migrants from smugglers it's the first time that italy seized a humanitarian boat it's part of a government initiative agreed this week to send military vessels to libyan shores to stop people traffickers the years long migrant crisis is still firing a promotions across europe. 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 children people to countries like italy like spain like portugal with a problem but all european countries should take responsibility and so will the people who are. members on this ship and refugee headboards as well they just want to save lives because of 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 to

see very clearly that this is not are you money to. help is not the money that an s.o.s. but it's helping those people arriving in italy and the refugees that are coming they are paying huge sums to human traffic us this is immoral and i would say that. the destruction of libya was a mistake of historical mistake but i don't see why contra single country like italy should pay the price for it so it's a huge problem neatly and finally the government decided to take some action to stop this kind of. a trumpet ministration announced a crackdown on friday on federal government leagues which have left the white house and more 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 move followed yet another scandal over a month off arise disclosure after transcripts of donald trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were leaked to the media they show that he asked his mexican counterpart to stop publicly saying his country won't pay for the proposed war may shed border and reveal trumps that reluctance to accept a refugee resettlement deal with the strain which he said would make him look terrible but the leaks even provoked outrage among the president's critics who say lines been crossed. this is not fair this president. in terms of the leaks with the like prison terms or not no president can do business with their phone calls from legally the washington post terribly damaging to our country not just to donald

trump politically who i don't support but to our country does it crimps conversations with foreign leaders all the way down the chain if you cannot have a sensible conversation with the between world leaders then that is a significant problem i mean i can actually understand how long the transcripts from a private phone call between two allies not be the united states i know strained has managed to get out but clearly there is a subversive falls within the american government the leaks in the american government extremely damaging the extremely dangerous to a wide variety of people both abroad 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 hand them something that they think should be published so in the sense that the press is selective i think then 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 severe trust issues in the

white house come amid major shake ups in trump's top team with the president crease and tending to family members for support and bringing in military management. we could use some more loyal to. the hard truth almost everyone. serving the president has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime. doing a spectacular job i have no doubt we were in pretty good shape the.

president has got to select the right people. to carry out his. strategy. stepping up its attacks in afghanistan this week as things stand sways of the country currently under its control still. united states special inspector general for afghanistan admitted on monday that the defense department program costing taxpayers almost half

a billion dollars has failed to achieve its goals u.s. officials say winning and they describe the situation in fact as a stalemate. we are not winning in afghanistan right now but we won an illusion mr chairman i believe we're in a stalemate president trump is now the king to get to the bottom of what the u.s. has been doing in afghanistan for the past seventeen years threatening this week to suck his top commander in afghanistan over the ongoing losses former pentagon official michael maloof says the u.s. has no strategy. if it continues only to use military force 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 to discuss

a resolution for afghanistan but the united states refused. unbelievable 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. us weekly make a day with this every sunday at any hour at a catch up on the recap of the big stories of the last seven days international live get a contortionist twenty four seventh's so if you're mobile without up. social environment. right. 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 sister years old industrial

giants reap the benefit ignoring the cools by chemical production. you know as if these people aren't people just experimental animals decades later the toxic environment continues to poison lives and we found these astronomically high levels of taxing 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 despicable. that the worst. fears of people have been saying about rejected in the us is just full on awesome the only show i go out of my way to launch you know what it is that really packs the. yampa is the john oliver of r t america is doing the same we are

apparently better than that so i see people you've never heard of love redacted tonight was the president of the world bank so hates it but he doesn't really have any seriously send us an e-mail.

bluebell controls a part as russian the united states are training increasingly confrontational in syria another war torn country may become a mini theater for their old rivalry afghanistan has been the geopolitical chess boys for so long is there even a chance for a peaceful resolution well to discuss that i'm now enjoying by the country's former president hamid karzai mr president it's great to see you in moscow well. now you've long been arguing that the current american approach to afghanistan is not working that it's time for the americans to assess their strategy and perhaps adjust the course and it strikes me as a little bit too naive it's almost like asking the taliban or ourselves for that matter to lay down arms don't you think that you are perhaps in gauging in the wishful thinking i mean what we need to afghanistan we need peace of.