the stories that shaped the week here on r.t. international an extremist a rebel group downs a russian fighter jet in the northwest of syria the pilot manages to eject but is killed on the ground. washington is plunged into bitter partisan conflict as a controversial republican memo alleging antitrust bias in the f.b.i. and justice department is released. and sports highest court clears twenty eight russian athletes and doping and overturns all sanctions against them including there's insufficient evidence they took banned substances.

are broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow recapping the week's top stories with our weekly program this is r t international. is the most rebel fighters shot down a russian jet in syria's italy province on saturday event killed the pilot in a shoot out after he refused to surrender unverified footage of the incident has been posted online. you. look good you about what is it i said the somebody from out of the norm. was. but. was. the video has also surfaced online purportedly showing the rebels posing with the dead body of the pilot and bit of

a warning you may find the following images upsetting the clip appears to show one of the militants taking a selfie next to their victim others are also taking pictures and chanting russia's defense ministry says that the plane was shot down using a portable surface to air missile. now the. rear opposition group has claimed responsibility for the attack and it was formed just over a year ago from five other job just factions including the north. movement which has in the past been supplied with weapons by the u.s. some observers say tougher year is essentially in syria and russia moved quickly to take action carrying out a number of strikes in the province its defense ministry says more than thirty militants were killed using hyper surgeon weapons. friday saw the release of a contested u.s. republican memo alleging the f.b.i. and justice department abused their powers to secure a warrant to spy on

a former trump campaign aide in two thousand and sixteen some of the party have suggested it casts doubt on the whole federal investigation into the claims of collusion between the president's team and moscow documents a public publication as led to impassioned debate in the media as well. put your watch there is north korea and stepping in line the republican party is so much like that people need to start taking to the streets this is a dictator this is a tipping point for our democracy declassify this memo for fundamentally a political purpose well specifically the memo alleges that the application for a warrant to surveil the former trump relied on the highly controversial steel dossier partly funded by the democrats it was compiled by a former british spy and it's full of unverified claims about drums supposedly to russia but crucially the memo asserts that the f.b.i. didn't reveal the origins of the dossier to the court and both the agency and the democratic party have claimed the memo is incomplete and misleading and some legal

experts have also said that the f.b.i. was actually under no obligation to reveal the dossiers origin and now looks at what the documents classification could mean for american politics. if indeed the obama administration used the department of justice and the f.b.i. to spy on trump campaign this could be quite a scandal it would discredit the d.o.j. and the f.b.i. as nonpartizan the law enforcers and destroy the democrats now the democratic leadership doesn't want to be destroyed so here's a few of their last ditch efforts to keep their boat afloat. for. now adam schiff from the democratic side of the house intelligence committee says the republicans edited the document to fit their political agenda he says he's preparing a memo of his own that will expose the misleading character of the document. as expressed during our initial review we have grave concerns about material

emissions affect that fundamental impact the most. discovered late tonight the chairman new news made material changes to the memo he sent to the white house changes not approved by the committee the white house therefore reviewing a document the committee has not approved for release however some of these changes are aimed at the request of the democrats and the f.b.i. themselves others included minor edits and grammatical fixes. and it never hurts to throw russia into the mix is it possible that the republican chair of the house intel committee has been compromised by the russians as a possible of the actual russian agents running the house intel committee on the republican side i hope that's not the case that this whole big stir is over just for pieces of paper but those four pieces of paper contain vital information

information with potentially enough voltage to light up washington d.c. for months if not years. r.t. new york former cia analyst and whistle blower john kiriakou told us he believes the developments have laid bare some of the f.b.i.'s more unsavory practices. this contains some troubling evidence of f.b.i. malfeasance those of us who are critics of the f.b.i. have been saying this for years this is how the f.b.i. does business they do it district issues lee they do it by stabbing people in the back they do it by setting people up by entrapping them by tricking them and that's exactly what they did with the price of court they played the face of court judge by not telling them the source of this deal they plead that judge by not telling them that this was a partisan. report and and they got their warrant they got their warrant anyway. two people have been killed and one hundred sixteen injured after

two trains collided in the us state of south carolina the collision between an amtrak train and a freight train happened at around two thirty sunday morning local time track a train was operating between new york and miami with at least eight crew and one hundred thirty nine passengers on board as a result of the collision the front engine and the railed as well as a number of passenger carriages officials say it appeared the passenger train was on the wrong track investigation now is ongoing. international olympic committee has refused fifteen russian athletes the chance to compete at the two thousand and eighteen olympics the court of arbitration for sports overturned the lifetime olympic bands of twenty eight russian athletes on thursday and reinstated the results from the sochi two thousand and fourteen games they were engulfed in a doping scandal dating back to those olympics with russia accused of widespread substance abuse now eleven other athletes also had bans removed but will not be

allowed to compete at the upcoming winter games in south korea the court's decision was met with disappointment within the i.o.c. . gass arbitrators unanimously found that the evidence put forward by the i.o.c. in relation to this matter did not have the same weight in each individual case this is why in twenty eight cases the evidence collected was found to be insufficient to establish that an anti-doping rule violation was committed by the athletes concerned. this does not mean that these twenty eight athletes are declared innocent but in their case due to insufficient evidence the appearance of held the sanctions and old and their individual results achieved in such reinstated . cost a decision is extremely disappointing and surprising for.

the the i.o.c. we would never have expected this. decision. the urgent need for reforms in the internal structure of cas. back at the announcement of the world of winter sports. team russia dog the judgment was swift and he immediately became gospel for much of the olympic world ever since the infamous report on doping in russia saw the light of day but its claims of a state sponsored conspiracy the pretext for the ban have been shaken to their very foundation in the last few days bombshell one. twenty eight russian athletes make a comeback from a lifetime ban over the past few years the international olympic committee unleashed to the ultimate punishment on them following

a damning verdict they cheated the tests it seemed that their dreams careers and lifetime goals were annihilated in one stroke but last thursday the top sports court had a different opinion on that the ban was no more those stripped of their medals got them back the i.o.c. was both red faced and furious its members see the thing with bitterness and resentment but all things considered the i.o.c. had some trouble standing beside their initial ruling a lot of people asking hell the i.o.c. got the brief so wrong that they were able to throw it out so quickly. let's let's let's you can look at the decision but let's let's see who will be competing here in the games coming up then we can have this conversation again the embarrassment is understandable the court of appeals decision to reverse the ban

was among other things based on the testimony of the very same people who convinced the i.o.c. to impose dissensions in the first place the mclaren report didn't find any individual violations of the rules of individual sportsman's because there was only a very limited time the team of mr mclaren had fifty seven day bombshell. to. the russian paralympic team also had its very decided this week two years ago the doors of the summer games in real were slammed in their faces a blanket ban meant no one was welcome this february a team of almost eighty people will have a shot at the pyong chang golds as so-called neutral athletes not great but it's something russian are regularly tested and they are amongst the most scrutinized after it's in the world. under the supervision of while we now have

a greater confidence that the anti doping system in russia is no longer a compromise and corrupt and given the latest winning streak for russia those athletes who have cleared their names in all likelihood will up their game eager zone of r.t. . it was an emotional day for the russian athletes involved you can see here the reaction of one cross country skier cleared of doping after the verdict was heard many more russian athletes were in high spirits as head of the announcement their careers had essentially been left hanging in the balance loyalists in the north i found out about the decision during my training c.i.s. decided to overturn my disqualification my ban i had only positive thoughts in my head about that and i've been ready to ski for a long long time keeping up my training but i had a question right away what about the olympics are we able to dispute this and get an invitation but i was waiting for the results of a pill when i came back from practice it's amazing yes then my scouts and team

started congratulating each other such a relief when not guilty in the whole public will know that a lot of people thought we date only those close to us knew it's not tree. or you say they are not guilty or you say they are guilty and they have fruit that there is not enough proof for a doping offense hence they are not guilty and this is very important also because it makes the mclaren report to become not in bases which is enough to convict athletes and every seeing that was. up to now was based on the mclaren report and if this is now not a basis enough to convict at leats then i do not understand why also all the russian at plates could have been banned collectively without having any any proof

of the hoping. back in december of the russian flag and national anthem were banned by the i.o.c. from the south korean games and the athletes will compete as neutrals but one design agency has come up with an alternative for russian fans.

see. this week the b.b.c. was accused of bias and its brags of coverage with of the majority of its guests is said to have been in favor of remaining in the european union that is according to several reports which prompted anger in britain's house of lords. across our output as a whole we must be inclusive reflecting the breadth and diversity of opinion we must give due weight to the many and diverse areas of an argument. to leave has left us with a group of leaders who having lit the fire of all runaway he breaks it is a historic mistake i want to but if it breaks my heart i lie in bed tonight worrying about the outcomes of backset once again i'm the sole lever on a v.c. panel.

frankly the p.p.c. has become the supporter of a foreigner organizing. for the european union of the brics it's true mr david did this city recently that his job in brussels is move even more difficult if every time he makes a small advance that is probably on the mind by the b.b.c. get short actually in order because you do a duty of impartiality. we discussed the issue with the director general of the u.k.'s institute of economic affairs who was behind one of the reports critical of the b.b.c. . but it's true that we are no longer in a referendum period and it's true as the b.b.c. said in the statement they are photos too with that it's no longer

a binary choice but the problem is this although there are a wide range of choices really those range of options are subsets of the remain camp and believe camp i think it's pretty poor that a public broadcaster is skewed because some panel is so dramatically in this direction on the top political issue of the times. in general in britain a stablished figures famous figures and influential people have tended to be in favor of a u. membership it's more the ordinary man or woman who rebelled against the political status and you tend to believe side seems to be the balance so for people's views on bret's it and making sure you have a fair share of voice from both ends and all ends of the argument should be a very very high priority indeed. i think the politicians on the leave side of the argument those who are in favor of pricks it are beginning to lose their patience with the b.b.c. but i would say that the b.b.c.

now should be concerned but there are politicians who are seriously raising in the british parliament in the house of lords genuine concern about whether the b.b.c. really can be considered a neutral broadcaster one that doesn't just show a diversity of views but a proper balance the b.b.c. in response has said its guests represent a range of viewpoints the organisation has stressed in its reporting reflects the fact that the debate over baghdad has moved on and is no longer a simple binary issue. there is a cease fire in the city of baltimore this weekend aimed at tackling the record high murder rate there the city reported three hundred forty three homicides last year alone. iloveyou cities in body american urban decay more depressingly than the city of baltimore baltimore struggles with

a record high murder rate. murder is out of principle. yes baltimore there is a robust active crime strategy. for the. workers to talk about. illegal. it is the third ceasefire of its kind in the city organizers have prepared around twenty events during the weekend to mourn the victims of crime we talked to the activists behind the campaign. people all around the city make commitments to just

be peaceful and not be violent for three days into salad great life and do life affirming event so there are events all over the city with a start what a weekend and we keep it in so we see a weekend of no homicides it all comes as baltimore is being rocked by one of the city's biggest police corruption scandals begun ptrace task force was made up of plainclothes officers and was supposed to be tackling the city's spiraling murder rate however it seems that they have actually been adding to the levels of crime the unit was dissolved in march last year and its officers arrested they are facing various charges including fraud drug traffic and planting false evidence six out of eight members of the group have pleaded guilty to charges of organized crime or to samir khan is following the story. the baltimore police department is now involved in one of the biggest scandals and us law enforcement history for months now the court system has been trying to investigate corruption within the city's police force eight officers are on trial over drug trafficking racketeering robbery and

planting fake evidence like drugs and b.b. guns we would create false reports to cover up the robberies we were involved in. it was like aware of life where got away with a lot of things if proven guilty the officers that may face twenty to one hundred years in prison and six of them have already pleaded guilty and are now acting as witnesses in hopes of softening the moving verdict and their lawyers claim the officer still feel too over what they've done mr jenkins is extremely remorseful he's been remorseful for a long time even before these charges were brought and he's relieved that today finally he was publicly able to accept responsibility for their client sorry for what they did or should. be so it seems regretful of what what happened i really don't have any comment meanwhile officers cases continue to be dismissed with hundreds under review and most of them involve incidents of officer switching

off their body cameras to plant drugs or guns and then reenact seizing the evidence they had already planted. on saturday an interfaith working group from russia's presidential council for cooperation with religious associations arrived in syria for a seven day visit the main aim of the trip is to discuss joint activities with the syrian side in addition representatives of russian religious communities as distributed humanitarian aid the aid was collected by russian believers of various faiths and will go to the people of syria regardless of their religion. all religious organizations came here with only one mission so to help the syrian people first of all we ask god for peace in this country but we are also assisting with humanitarian aid to help us stablish a peaceful life here. today we're carrying out a humanitarian mission here in damascus and we feel the unity of two our nations

syria and russia this unity helps fight terrorism and help heal the wounds of the war. the working group was established the initiative of the russian orthodox church in april of last year it has successfully carried out two humanitarian campaigns in syria sending aid to two liberated areas of aleppo and of the district of homes in. the high street a behemoth h. and m. is back in the headlines after shoppers took offense at socks it was selling which appeared to have the word allah printed on them it follows another scandal over an advertisement featuring a young black model he was wearing a hoodie bearing the phrase the coolest monkey in the jungle that too caused outrage even though the boy's own mother dismissed the claims that had racist undertones and as was the case with the hoodie the controversial stocks of twitter users riled up as well this is ridiculous the next will be that they forbid the small w.

. people have choices if you don't like them then don't buy them guessing it is a time that is saying you can't make this stuff up. go has been looking at all sorts of things have become offensive today polly's new show in case you've missed it can be found on all of our social media platforms in case you missed it one of the great things about life in twenty eighteen is that you're free to be offended by anything. it's called confusing recently people have been offended by history literature being a man being a woman meat pro-immigration anti immigration the list is endless because it is actually hard to tell is our guide to being offended in the modern world if i'm sure a few you are offended twitter will always let you know what you're offended about if only one person out of one hundred is offended you need to pretend that you are offended to be signalling will cover you every time there is no time limit

shakespeare was writing four hundred years ago i'm still some of the one dickens that cambridge university had to be warned about the distressing c.v. even friends is too much for some millennial zeal to choose an italian american and guy with a transvestite who missed when and even throwing in a lesbian couple wasn't diverse enough but they're not used always about nineteenth century imperialist sessile right. at oxford university he wanted his small barely noticeable start to go on why because he was bad one hundred fifty years ago who wasn't. there and so with these chances my grandfather is david possible weinstein situation that your liberty immigrant and christ the redeemer possibly offensive to jews and muslims the little guy being in the fountain naked it's time to act what is great is there are places where everyone's mind can rest

in peace these are little things based is these are places. freedom of speech and expression often on hold in case anyone have that feeling pat howard i. should say congratulations to the philadelphia eagles for defeating the boston patriots new england patriots rather in the super bowl this year my friend bob and this is really happy that does it for me i'll be back in thirty three minutes with more news. the u.s. is losing in two ways number one the climate denying is precluding them from the dissipating in this new economy number one and number two the effects of the

climate change and why the catastrophes the global you know migrants that are the result of it all these other problems are hurting the u.s. economy on the other side of the trade so you've got a double bind. despite its turbulent history the soviet union has dominated international sport however this was not about the use of those champions from the. sort of you know. when a mature number would be. more moved around with forward movement you are going to describe what would your workers who lose the reserve for you if you were to the first serve you to limp a team of nine hundred fifty two when she did siege survivors concentration camp prisoners and frontline soldiers for sure maybe even though it's good to be here

with your shoes because you know much good of you should. because you're working for. for the one who threw. the floor with you truth. you were true for. inclusion of the movie you do when you're at the working booth in your world where you are in the world. we're.

going to welcome to worlds apart shamy has long been depressed burchill of american foreign policy but the new kremlin list released by the white house gives it a more institutionalized form formally speaking those included in the lease have done nothing malicious they're just guilty by association but at a time when being from russia is already an accepted cause for suspicion and perhaps even discrimination does the publication of this least really change much well to discuss that i'm now joined by eric ferrari a washington based defense attorney specializing in sanctions securities good to talk to you thank you very much for your time thank you i'm happy to be here i think it's fair to say that when these so-called kremlin list was published the wealthier russians breathed a collective sigh of relief they certainly expected something both more biting and more precise i wonder though if you believe this relief may be a little bit premature do you think the worst is yet to come oh yes i do and i think that is reflected in secretary nugent's comments to congress earlier this

week that this list could be a preview for future sanctions does it nations now. many observers have pointed out that in compiling this report of the trumpet ministration has essentially called pasted both the kremlin's phone book and the forbes magazine sleestak wealthiest russians what do you make of these hall of fail method of complacent well so it's not uncommon for the treasury to use on class and classified and open source material to prepare such a reporter a list and the point about the forbes list and the copy paste from the list is interesting because if you notice and you are paying attention some of the same spelling mistakes that were contained in the forbes list have also been carried over into the treasury report well as you say it's not uncommon to rely on public sector materials but at the same time i think this report to sensually makes no distinction between people who are friended to the kremlin and people who have been it could be argued persecuted by the cry.