in the story. dozens of russian athletes have. just. as their appeals against the doping related. syrian pro-government forces reportedly. carried out to defend an american backed group. republican lawmakers in the u.s. threaten to cut funding for a global cancer research program. america's most. major

stories. over the past seven days first off the winter olympics in south korea got underway on friday with a grand opening ceremony in the host city. on my. starting start now nearly three thousand athletes from ninety two countries took part in that event however in the run up to the celebrations demonstrations and scuffled erupted outside the olympic arena people supporting peace between north and south korea had gathered for a rally while another group protesting north korea's participation in the games clashed with police.

despite the scuffles on the streets korean politicians are taking steps to find a solution to that long running conflict the south korean president says he's ready to accept an invitation to visit the north if certain conditions are met now this potentially sets up the first meeting between the countries in more than a decade the invitation was delivered by kim jong un sr he was attending the winter she's the first member of north korea's ruling family to visit the south since the nineteen fifties she met with president moon for three hours of talks on the games opening ceremony also hinted at warming relations with both teams marching together .

while the two koreas were able to march under a single thing. russian competitors are there under a neutral banner taking part as a limb pick athletes from russia or the team and so after the international olympic committee banned russia following a doping scandal over the russian flag being forbidden by the i.o.c. it still found its way into the stadium is he a potential explains. no russian flags at the opening ceremony nation's parade chang the i.o.c. said some very strict rules and promised no excuses for anyone who'd violate them so who would have thought the russian tricolor would still make it into the ceremony all thanks to a blogger by korean t.v.

just as team france were walking into the arena a russian flag i can well while the zero eight our team were carrying the white a live big flag many russian flags flashed around the arena at the stands but it turned out that not only russians brought them there we spoke to one american fan who grabbed one too and i thought it would be nice to you know show a bit of support for them because they've basically worked for years for this moment to represent their countries and now they can't and so i was kind of trying to sort of you know help them feel at home i was trying to sort of send a message that they should be included because the olympics is for all countries i don't exactly know the particulars of the doping thing i don't know what the right decision is really i'm just trying to show a sense of unity i'm trying to kind of put the politics aside i'm trying to support these athletes because we know for a fact that these athletes are clean there's no doubt about it but then they're

being punished for what others may or may not have done and so that's collective guilt and i don't like collective guilt i think when you have all so many verses of beth's athletes banned just before the games instead of you know just for the game so they can't appeal they don't actually have any they don't communicate directly what they did wrong but then all their best athletes are sort of banned i think that is too much to be a coincidence as you just heard there a last minute appeal from forty five athletes and two coaches against a ban preventing them from competing failed the lawyers branded the decision as sanctions in disguise. i have no words. i was hoping that gas would ruin our steamer right now i don't know what to do i'm disappointed but of course i won't give up on sport got a lot ahead of me i will compete and win medals for my country. and to the very end we were hoping that this is you would go. you know i feel sadness and so rude.

enough strength in the opportunity to compete in the. i had no emotions left we had all or. you were just waiting for a decision. situations to make you stronger emotionally meanwhile histories be made at this year's olympics nigeria has entered the winter games for the first time with the women's bobsled team the athletes managed to get to pyongyang thanks to a crowdfunding campaign they hope example will encourage other athletes from across africa think we definitely put ourselves on the map in terms of ok we don't have all these things but these things are still possible to get a slice of. africa is a beautiful car today and we are representation of the africans here in our historic stance of being the largest number of africans we are a representation of exactly what that beauty genuinely is and so if we can encourage others to live in so that and take away whatever stigma is maybe

associated with the consulate with regards to growth and development i think that that's huge that's very important in this and i hope that we can do that. but i think if we continue to encourage those things in the future it will start to come together but you have to start something. syria is calling on the u.n. to hold the u.s. led coalition to account for wednesday's airstrikes against pro-government forces the number of casualties has not yet been confirmed but some reports claim that up to one hundred people may have been killed the pentagon described the attack as a defensive move but russia's defense ministry says the unit would engage in an anti terror mission. while carrying out an operation to locate and terminate and sleeper so near form oil refinery units of pro-government forces were suddenly shouldering then hit by airstrikes by the u.s. led coalition vis was overkill if the numbers are true.

of she have brute force perhaps you know to send perhaps the send a message nevertheless the united states says that it's it's in syria and it will defend itself and it has the right to defend itself in this instance syrian democratic forces acted in self-defense but support from the coalition to defeat an unprovoked attack by syrian regime forces in eastern syria if the situation is like how they describe that they were indeed attacks while fighting isis is then they have the right to self defense well if you take them at face value you could think so but people they just killed were also fighting isis and recently they have been making much better progress against isis then the united states led coalition or their partner forces the the s.d.f. the syrian government has of course called all of this an act of aggression

unwarranted and unjust but just for your information all of this happened in there is or near a rich oil field and refinery chronicle it's called it was liberated last year by the u.s. led coalition very quickly and in fact. u.s. partner forces seem to have a knack for liberating areas with oil under them much quicker than they do those areas that don't have oil under them since since all the oil rich areas were taken in that as ordered by the s.d.f. progress against isis seems to have dropped to a snail's pace but you know regardless here. america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our

priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring that isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad continue his brutal treatment against his own people to put its ability to the lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreement that is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson peter he stated that the only goal in syria was the defeat of ice so now they've got far more ambitious plans with more of the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying general mattis said that the united states will stay in syria we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean that's you know pretty direct now you see how this might sound strange go to

syria i'm invited and while there you start killing syrians in syria in self-defense. a regional experts told us that with islamic state practically gone from syria washington is now targeting the government instead. they are not just in syria to fight their own. have been in syria for a long time because they want to throw aside as the spate of feeds as it becomes clear that it is the syrian forces themselves and largely defeated di age the priority of overthrowing assad begins to reassert itself in the pentagon and in the white house so i think that's true the answer the question the overthrow of assad was always the prodigal prone the reason why the americans were in syria the army in treating these groups intervening with air strikes and so on they were diverted from that by no with the possibility of a defeat of diet inside syria that policy that reassert itself this is coming at

the end of a long war the united states has taken about twenty eight percent of syrian territory and over fifty percent of its oil does this lead british in order to roll back iran and get rid of the us i also just i get it he wants that oil for himself there was a raise only a few months ago to get those fields and he's broadening undoubtedly under the pretext of biting isis the united states didn't think it was so the united states is trying to lay down the law here and not let anybody pro and as we know the turks threatened in rendition to take on the americans over there so the united states i think it's very agents that. enter key will begin to push america out to try to push america out of northern syria but he likes. russia bid farewell to the military part of the man for the poll on thursday the major became

a national hero after his plane was downed by militants in syria with more details his medina cotton of the funeral for a major roman filipe of who died tragically fighting in syria takes place here in his hometown of earlier was hundred one. it's of people attending the memorial ceremony as family members friends his colleagues people who didn't know him all came to pay their last respects at the palace a plane was shot down on saturday in the north western part of syria which is still controlled by the latest incarnation of the terrorist group oh no sra roman tried to stay in the air as long as he could he then managed to a jacket from the airplane only to find himself surrounded by terrorists the pilots of the plane supporting role months shared the details of their last communications his voice remained calm when i was there on the you gets out of the movie yes i see them was the commander's reply and then he said so evenly as if it was something

ordinary and an important i got hit hard the right is on fire moving south the lift slowing down too and about twenty seconds later here i did google search and rescue then he ordered me to gain altitude of course i didn't do it to leave my command is the last thing i would do i always tried to have his back during flights and now i have to do it on the ground while he was fighting i stood there and made several attacks to vehicles that were getting closer to the olive groves where room on touchdown i stayed until the fuel was extremely low i barely made it back to the airfield roman had waited for the terrorist to get closer to him and only after that he decided to detonate a grenade taking his own life but avoiding capture he even managed to shout this is for our world lads what he did that russia's defense ministry released several

facts about his life he left a wife and a four year old daughter behind he was an experienced pilot and was not his first time serving in syria he was part of a dozen successful military operations and he died as a hero fighting terrorists at the age of thirty three. that's bravery has not gone unnoticed among other service personnel received this letter from a us veteran offering his support for his widow and child and the man who wrote that letter steve shared his thoughts on the just an awful story he knew about its chances were and he knew what he had to do. and he knew he was never going to be captured and that's a decision he had to bake. it's very hard decision to book. he did what he had to do it was a personal decision. he knew what could happen to him he

knows what can happen to other troops. and what has happened to his comrades these are very important people to you. when you do most anything for them . even risk your life he had to die like this. here. i wonder if i would be brave enough to do what he did. he was a he was a good. you're watching the weekly from the u.s. might cut funding for a major cancer research program i'll tell you why after the break. that's in american interests to not see any russians die in terrorist attacks as it is in russian interest to prevent any terrorist attacks in the united states or elsewhere in the world so i don't think there's any dispute on that in congress and i think maybe some of the posturing is frankly political as opposed to substantive

. have become blurred it in our culture we have children grow up playing playing games on the computer this war has somehow been to mystic hate it is entertainment to russia there's nothing funny about it it is so serious that russia will be the last give up nuclear weapons because russia regards nuclear weapons as the battle. against inflation a war by the superior coalition of. hello

again republican lawmakers in the united states are threatening to cut funding to the world health organization cancer research program is after the international agency for research on cancer said that america's most widely used weed killer is probably carcinogenic now it's made by the agricultural giant monsanto which strongly disagrees with iraq's classification of it beside the research agency leads prevention activities now shape international policy on tackling cancer but some u.s. lawmakers have cast doubt on its findings. i unsubstantiated claims i or your response. why should receive any government funding in the future they're disputing the organizations findings regarding its leading herbicide called round up round up is made by months santo and it's the world's most widely used weed killer since the seventy's it's been sprayed on corn soybeans a cotton and other crops and republicans believe that the study was flawed and

relied on cherry pick science accusing the agency of lack of transparency and anti industry bias they say that if it is designated as carcinogenic it will require manufacturers and retailers to warn workers and consumers and plus it'll increase costs and instill fear in the public some have disagreed with republicans it is important that we review the methods and tactics that industry has used to influence this administration and attack independent scientific organizations like the world health organization's international agency for research on cancer or i would like to say that fundamentally this hearing is about the ability of a public health agency to call a carcinogen a carcinogen even if that carcinogen makes a huge amount of money for powerful corporations according to the center for responsive politics monsanto lobbied more than four point three million dollars in twenty seven team the environmental protection agency which is not an international

organization concluded that the same ingredient does not cause cancer and i are says that they've been under attack ever since they published their conclusions against life a state at the same time monsanto has been pushing against these findings through several different means and the company is seen as quite controversial not only in the u.s. but all over the world president micron promised in november that would be banned within three years inevitably modified crops have been banned in over thirty five different countries but not banned in the u.s. international organizations have concluded that like this it could be cancerous so these lawmakers intentions. are quite unclear. three giants of social media were grilled on thursday by a panel of u.k. lawmakers about allegations of russian interference on their platforms during the vote but it seemed there was little if anything to back up those accusations. we looked at all advertisements with any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum

a very small number of suspects its research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents must not point normal for some of the total number of accounts these are very low level things until we complete this investigation we won't know but what we haven't had this. information that's enabled those to target on a particular page or a particular phenomenon despite all their commitment enthusiasm and hard work spanning over a period of really several months when this inquiry kick started it seems like the u.k. parliamentary committee that's trying to find out the truth about a russian any brecht that meddling they seem to be really hitting a brick wall this week they travelled all the way to washington thousand thousands of miles presumably having spent thousands of pounds to get there and what they ended up with while questioning the executives of twitter you tube and facebook was

just a frustration it seems and that was thick in the atmosphere investigative journalism for instance as it led to suggestion that there are lots of campaigns going to have it looks like you haven't looked at you that's the thing you haven't looked this economy. going on in the horror well it seems who did look with twitter and what they said they found was that there were only forty nine accounts connected to russia during the time of the bracks that referendum again i'm no mathematician so correct me if i'm wrong perhaps but it seems that there is and this is really nothing to write home about given that twitter has hundreds of millions of accounts and despite the chair of this committee damian collins saying that his quote instinct tells him that the numbers should be higher that did not turn out to be the case so despite this goes chasing continuing in the committee keeping asking the executives to look harder it seems no fruitful results so far. but there's seemingly a huge appetite for this in the british media even though there's little for them

to work with here's a look at some of the headlines the first one reads twitter has finally conceded that russian accounts tried to influence bricks it but there's only a passing mention to explain the story is about a few dozen accounts the same with a headline from the times which admits the existence of so called russia trolls the first paragraph then reveals there were only forty nine suspicious the camps and one more example for you and you have to dig even deeper to find the actual numbers in this lengthy article radio talk show host john gaunt told us that the russian investigation might be a wild goose chase after all. this is a farce these employees went all the way to washington to question do they understand how the internet works they could've got them on a skype call a question it's fast an issue a waste of my taxpayers' money and it's a very very annoying it's a joke they act in an almost kangaroo court fashion firing questions at you and

hardly waiting to listen to the answers so you know what i don't think the british public care they know why people voted for let's just get over it and accept democracy. there was a crash course in political correctness for canada's prime minister on wednesday justin trudeau well known for his liberal views is now being called a sexist after hinter up to the woman to correct her language. i am a feminist being a fan of the feminists and. it is the fitting. maternal love is there that's going to change the future of mankind so we'd like you to look what we like to see people kind not necessarily mankind.

there's lots of things you can do to be feminist as a. dog in the. and that's the way for this out thanks for watching people cross today's developments by checking us out on twitter and r t dot com i'll be back with more in about thirty minutes.

when lawmakers manufacture consent instant of public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. in the final merry go round if certainly the one percent. we can all middle of the room say. the real news is. the world.

hey everybody i'm stephen bob taft hollywood guy you know suspects every proud american first of all i'm just george washington and r.v.'s to say this is my buddy max famous financial guru and well he's a little bit different i'm not a. good one i know no one knows up with all the drama happening in our country and i'm hitting the road to have some fun meet everyday americans come home and hopefully start to bridge the gap this is the great american pill which.

because you know i wasn't reachable much of the. tallest such serious security you know i always saw was a couple walks dogs show your face and told the streets oh i don't actually it's easier you know like that i don't want to watch attention. i'm. singing into jane and you know for a lady to go on the stage and perform from people openly it is considered a taboo in afghanistan and iran i just don't want. to do the best out of georgia go go go go go go no it didn't. look was the. doha round of are. you making film in the country to go and see them or you know we don't have phone

in this studio we don't have a studio this country was. really good so don't say. so we'll see if you think. egypt with a model oh i want to go to sort of just i'm coming home but i have pursued. this film called the mother to deliver the additional cost. of the curtains and with my back that if i can claim. that record high peter barber can be tiresome he'd asked me which at the time change on me so they can say john made the kindest back and that is the one to be good our discussion on drugs and he cut it gently that's a card that was decided we couldn't care act upon right caressa can't keep doing that but total freedom from the stuff you know that could. call. us names that have no fear at all you want to put on a tragedy with a whole. this is just a loss of knowledge plus i love the ball even in the snow it was venus long songs

but. the it. just isn't happening. right now can't raise a particular mosque not all it's a gentle love about a budget that can afford to buy the god of some which you never thought was a copy of it i. love my album is called the forgotten but. today by the father. of the probs my father. anything.