goal sit before the government of vital and require more investment six key initiatives highlighted by the president obama development increased life expectancy improved business climate developing human capital as its workforce productivity and reducing poverty have already be making progress for half a year now we're going to take them to the next level. it's moved to syria now where four civilians have been killed by militants in the embattled area of eastern ghouta it happened while the latest humanitarian pause was in place russia's reconciliation center said the death came during demonstrations in the district against the militants. in the area itself is controlled by groups that include al knows red terrorists who are preventing civilians from leaving russia has been trying to establish

a five hour daily truce is evacuation kodos while the un has called for a thirty day nationwide cease fire but so far both of those concepts have proven unsuccessful damascus and moscow have been accused of mistreating civilians during the operation even including chemical weapons use but it's been hard to stand up those repeated claims. have you seen any evidence that the so the regime has used chemical weapons. we haven't seen any of that evidence yet to. hear more on this from r.t. correspondents americana joins me live from washington d.c. and we heard it there not for the first time the pentagon admitting that they've had no evidence of chemical attacks. yes the pentagon touched on a wide range of issues at the press briefing today but the fact that she admitted the u.s. hasn't seen any evidence yet is rather unexpected well at least coming from the

department of defense but of course she castigated russia for quote enabling assad to kill his own citizens and allowing him to use chemical weapons and then right after that she said quote russia has made a lot of promises with respect to syria except i can't seem to figure out what she's talking about when she referring to syria's chemical weapons arsenal which doesn't even exist according to the o.p.c. w. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons but even though russia initiated the effort it wasn't russia's sole responsibility it was a un led effort undertaken by the opi c.w. which is verified multiple times all of syria's chemical weapons have been destroyed but anyway this comes after several people in eastern good which is controlled by militants said they suffered symptoms consistent with exposure to chlorine gas and then the western media unleashed a slew of allegations claiming it was a quote suspected chemical attack and immediately blaming the syrian government and

even russia so this statement from the pentagon comes as a surprise that it contradicts what the us representative have to say at the security council let's take a quick look. there were reports that the assad regime once again used chlorine gas as a weapon i'm tired of asking this but do you understand how pointless it would be to damascus to use chemical weapons both from a military and political standpoint whereas for the militants it would make perfect sense i think you understand this perfectly well but you persist do you look for a pretext for an armed intervention. and regardless of the absence of evidence western officials were quick to accuse damascus british foreign secretary boris johnson said that the west shouldn't quote stand idly by if these claims are proven but the western media echoed the sentiments and even promoted reports from local activists child has died than a dozen more being treated after another suspected chlorine gas attack say several

people were treated for exposure to chlorine gas the reports of intensified fighting on the ground and of chemical attacks chlorine gas was used during one of the raids by pro-government forces russia blames the suspected chlorine attack there on terrorists not the government. so it looks like they're just ignoring the fact that there is no evidence and they're just pushing whatever narrative that they see fit many things mary can there in washington bring is the very latest now let's get more analysis on this story i'm joined on the line by political analyst and commentator should be our very good evening to you. we've just been discussing it with our correspondent that the pentagon has admitted there's no evidence assad used chemical weapons and it's not for the first time and yet we hear high ranking u.s. politicians for example the envoy to the u.n. saying this is what happened making the allegation using chemical weapons so how do

the two sit side by side when it doesn't seem to add up. well yeah the two statements are somewhat contradictory and i think this is this is part of the whole american. move that they seem to be doing beat in syria beat up in yemen being anywhere where they want to give an agenda to prevail they don't want russia to be considered someone honorable and respectable who's come into syria to help syria against these this influx of created terrorists instead they they they media the need to say that russia is the problem iran is the problem syria is the problem bashar assad is the problem and we have to come in i suppose important inverted commas democracy into syria which is this game that they keep on saying they said it previously they've done it for many many years it's not something new. the problem is that the lies now are getting more and more flagrant and it's getting

harder and harder for them to i suppose lie with a straight face i mean you have the u.n. ambassador and thank god it wasn't mickey haley who just spewed so much garbage at some real you have the deputy u.n. and u.s. ambassador to the u.n. going on saying the same jibberish the same rubbish and you have the russian ambassador to the u.n. austin the same questions making the same points and it seems like no one's really listening. i mean the people of us see that the free people of the well the people who watch the real light intelligent news yes there are they're listening but the bulk of the people are sheep they they don't really seem to care they just seem to like listen to what the law is the b.b.c. comes out with with the b.b.c. knows that there are no there is no evidence that the syrian government or the syrian army used any sort of chemical weaponry in eastern ota but you know they have to keep saying that oh it must be you know it is the syrian government that's

using this is just flagrant lying this is not journalism on the part of some of these organizations and it reminds me of what happened during the whole siege of aleppo where you had every two minutes you had people saying this is my last hour or last minute and i left or they came out with these very very high quality h.d. videos on twitter instagram and everywhere. and you know a couple of days later they're still there and you know they kept on putting this this fear in which it forces the idea of this case to force the population of the west to turn around and give sensient to their governments to the government's going to run by not. just people who have little or no like boris johnson theresa may or trump or all of these people who come along and they need a war and they need to get their people to tell them you need to go to syria you need to send the troops to syria they need to have public buy him so then they go to syria and they colonized and when they couldn't do that they then obviously

manufacture groups like the syrian. and create problems. in the east of syria of syria it's just like they need to really back off from syria because this is not helping anyone and like the russian ambassador said very rightly there is no strategic advantage in damascus using chemical weapons in order or anywhere else it doesn't help them it doesn't. go their cause rather just like han's them and the only people who benefit the whole sluggers which is the terrorists and those people who are behind the terrorists. appreciate your time and your opinions been speaking to political analyst and commentator shabir personally . in other news the south african parliament voted in favor of new legislation that could see land seized from white farmers under those plans white farmers would be stripped of their land and they would get no compensation although

this actually runs against the constitution constitution which with have to be amended and here's what the man behind the initiative had to say about it the time for reconsideration is over now is the time for justice we must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land. julius malema is something of a controversial figure in south africa he's been convicted of hate speech and back in two thousand and sixteen he said he was not calling for the slaughter of white people at least not yet despite that the country's former president jacob zuma described him as being a future leader the rate of murders and violent attacks on farmers and landowners has risen in recent years according to official figures seventy two percent of the country's farmers are white early we've put this issue up for debate. people do not own land in south africa legally white people out of ideas from europe in six inches to two they killed our people they stole our land all oppressed us all the

land they have his land up there was taken from us by force and in many instances by my success we all visit the shirt every king proving there was the blood type of south africa that came from the north that is well documented. even thank you for the land in the position of the black tribes the only the first occupants of south africa were the korean the son so if these are argument. that should be the korean the son of a peasant like the one who is now my opponent easier for a night in south africa and the land he ain't shit talking about it quite sound i am quite certain he can say my same name any time i ask him to say it he does it it can't because as a foreigner i even what it that day parliament is moving slow and politician we don't trust them they are using this lensing as a political eight ball instead of addressing the issue of this legislation could

actually be changed to satisfy the white farmers as well there's a lot of corruption involved and that's why the oprah series of land that was taken from the pro legally in the past to be returned to them is not going as it should go you see this molding in front of me that is the issue. if this goes on investment in this country would stop people won't invasion their country will go the same way as above where they won't reproduction and then we will have a big spring in south africa about food that's not available to the people of south africa. the in authorities of circulated a brochure among kindergarten staff the focus is on such issues as transgender identity and same sex marriage the booklet designed to help teachers explain these sensitive topics to children spot controversy peter oliver has the story.

it's liberal and inclusive attitudes to sex and sexuality. but conservatives in the german capital are upset at a new guide for kindergarten teachers that they say goes into too much detail and is aimed at kids that are too young the idea is to give educators the information they need to be sensitive to children coming from binary families say children of same sex parents or transgender parents it doesn't have the most catchy of names but what it has done is certainly ruffle some feathers among those in angela merkel's c.d.u. party children should be allowed to be children and not be confronted with things like these it's also come in for criticism from the opposition alternative for germany party well it's very simple we believe sex education is important and of

course our young adults should know about sex planning and all the rest but please not in the kindergarten give them some space let them be children don't force this issue onto them it's not even a problem for them they want to play around they want to discover the world so please let them be children leave them alone these subjects will come to them soon enough in school or at home when the parents talk about this but not of an age of five or six years that is far too early on the streets of berlin opinion is mixed on when is the right time to be discussing with children issues of sexuality do you think that children in kindergarten should be taught about same sex couples and about transgender people yes. it's normal nowadays. to be with people. around the people in knowledge and their conditions

are not gender or sexuality isn't all the stuff i don't think it's the right thing when they. received sex. education in school that's enough i think there's a stink on the one hand i think it's ok but on the other i don't get on very much in favor of that idea so yes i do and why i think it's important structural of life so i think children should be taught about all factors of life and this is just one of them the left wing coalition of the social democrats greens and the left party that runs city government are accusing those on the right wing of politics but be overly prudish and unwilling to discuss the issue. after their attempt to scandalize their handouts on sexual and gender diversity for teachers didn't work the c.d.u. would prefer not to talk about the issue there's very little chance of the pearl in city government repealing this booklet however discussions sex and sexuality and

talking about it in kindergarten are set to continue in fact there's a petition going round that has already almost fifty thousand signatures from those who want to see this particular booklet stopped peter all of a r.t. berlin. russian bio pic drama a lot of hit screens on thursday the film about soviet dissident writer said good there's a lot of premiered at the birth in film festival where it won the silver bear for outstanding artistic contribution its director spoke to us and said why he was surprised the film was even shown that. mississippi is a sequence of putting to me i'm critical of the system is far more than the name where you grew up with new along with that history but accomplishing your food just on a piece of the excuse you. base your society even if you could if you can she also uses the excuse for socially that you really should still.

be responsible i knew the decisions would be obstructed by the political and particularly personal views of the jury and that's what happened there are a lot of films no worse than our movies and the german pictures all of them were left with no awards whatsoever for the outstanding movie about the brave it events didn't get anything all of that is kind of hard to explain because i think there were other intentions than just fair competition but i was amazed that a lot of it was even shown there when i walked by the convention center where the festival took place i saw a person with a book in german about of lot of and another with the same book in english and then a young german guy came up to me and started asking me who does a lot of was about the culture the one nine hundred seventy s. leningrad culture what kind of struck me was how well off film was received how universal and relatable it was to everyone. women dominated this year's burden ali with both of the top prize is awarded to female filmmakers nevertheless the lack of

female representation generally in the film industry was discussed at a special festival panel as was the topic of sexual harassment of course in the wake of the meeting movement they said go into new again shared his views on the issue. this is a tough one on the one hand we've got to treat the sexes absolutely equally there should be no gender preferences obviously on the other hand bearing in mind everything that's going on some sort of support for women is important i think we have fewer problems with this in russia i've heard some one pleasant stories but very few maybe because we have less money for less money there is less power less temptation in the. new show on r.t. has premiered today hosted by former ecuadorian president rafael correa his first guest was the philosopher and authored known chomsky you can check out the full interview on our website just for now though here's a preview. according to the. under is government

these power will be. well actually it's quite the opposite under crumpets becoming weaker less affected. it's internally disintegrating it's losing its whatever international authority. and it's also moving to destroy the world and the most important policy of the trumpet ministration by for is its approach towards the real existential crisis climate change here the united states under trump departed from the entire world. can be read thirty or between the united states and north korea and what they do know that ace in a war we. could very easily and in this

case there happens to be a very feasible approach to dealing with the crisis and it's pretty well known. chinese proposal which has been on the table for years the proposal is what's called a double freeze north korea freezes its development of weapons and the clear the nuclear and missile development that freezes them and the united states calls off the constant highly threatening military maneuvers on north korea's border. that could set the stage for negotiations which could deal with the conflict and crisis in a sensible and constructive way.

and i brings you right up to date join me for the latest headlines in half an hour . thank. you. bill. i managed to answer this is the as a report. lots going on let's get right to this max i want to talk about billionaires we're going to talk about warren buffett he's america's favorite

billionaire he's the little sweet ukulele playing billionaire but before i get to him i want to talk about another billionaire in history the guy was worth four hundred fifteen billion according to visual capitalist they did a chart of the richest people in history and this guy's name was moose. he was you know an african king of the whole guyana section mali area present day and at that time that part of the world controlled the entirety of most of the world's gold trade so this guy had a lot of gold so i want to look at actually how good intentions can go horribly wrong and how money. can possibly cause devastation because he went on pilgrimage to mecca and so travelling from africa through cairo down through medina and to mecca and this is what happened along the way

which i found very fascinating saw wikipedia mussa made his pilgrimage between thirteen twenty four and thirteen twenty five his procession reportedly included sixty thousand men including twelve thousand slaves who each carried four pounds of gold bars and heralds dressed and silk who bore gold staffs organize horses and handled bags he also had these animals that included camels which carried twenty three to one hundred thirty six kilos or fifty to three hundred pounds of gold dust he gave the gold to the poor he met along his routes mussa not only gave to the city passed on the way to mecca including cairo medina but also traded gold for souvenirs and this journey by the way. widely documented all sorts of contemporary accounts of it along the way as he was travelling so it's well documented it's known to be not just the wikipedia entry mooses generous actions however inadvertently devastated the economies of the regions through which he passed in the cities of cairo medina and mecca the sudden influx of gold devalued the metal

for the next decade prices on goods and where it's greatly inflated to rectify the gold market on his way back from mecca borrowed all the gold he could carry from money lenders in cairo high interest this is the only time recorded in history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the mediterranean so very fascinating as people are celebrating all these huge infrastructure deals whether it's the new silk road or the infrastructure plan that trump is allegedly proposing right. you know spreading around of all this money cause a lot of inflation they cause a lot of problems and they had a way back at unwind all that somehow by normalizing the economy is on his way back and it's a great story i had no idea that the richest man ever in the history was of african now he was not the richest guy in the world he was actually worth just four hundred fifteen billion there were several people richer than him including the richest man in the world ever was julius caesar son augustus who's worth two point two trillion

dollars but here we see the impact of. like warren buffett famously walks into a room if you walked into this room here there's a four or five of us here we would be worth on average what probably about five billion dollars each write something along those lines yes so it's an interesting fascinating story shows you that the even back then there was a lot of interesting economic of vagaries that must be contemplated when you have such incredible wealth mean talking about whether it's warren buffett or jeff bezos or the rockefeller's or any of these. fortunes out of come and gone they do have these ripple effects on the economy and you know they do many times engender a reaction and then that becomes political policy and then that shapes the economy and shapes politics and shapes the society it's shaping our society right now is donald trump of course and there is an infrastructure plan this headline reads higher inflation trump tax and spend boom sends investors looking for fed clues

that upturn in inflation is already nudging u.s. interest rates higher even before the federal reserve's next meeting five weeks from now the central bank is expected to increase the cost of borrowing in march to keep the economy from overheating but now investors wonder if the federal reserve rates four times and twenty eighteen instead of three as previously planned why well what's complicating the fed's job is a massive shift in washington support for the economy first came the trump tax cuts and now democrats republicans in congress have busted prior budget caps with a deal to spend an extra three hundred billion and the next two years they're expecting this inflation to ripple through the economy i know the fed has been trying for eight years to cause some inflation and now it's going to come rapidly remember ben bernanke he had said they can control inflation if it will never get out of control because they'll just flip a switch and will you know raise interest rates and calm down inflation that's exactly right he said that there's no risk that there would be

a spike in inflation because they have the controls and everything is under their control they can flick a switch and they can start to make them a new was necessary to control inflation history tells us that not the case once the inflation genies out of the bottle it tends to feed on itself and become a big inflationary problem and i believe that at the moment we've had a period of fake the flavor. engineer by all the central banks in the day don't have the control that they think that they have and once you start to see this being picked up in markets like the gold market and others you know you've got to start to see it feed on itself in a big way and. this guy. who traveled across africa and the middle east and saudi arabia and caused this hyperinflation where he went how did he retract it it took ten years to retract it but he basically had to buy all the gold back at very high interest rate so in a way as we went through deflation in two thousand and seven eight and nine the fed

basically did the opposite they were while they were paying high interest rate for all the bad debts they were paying all these bankers to take all their toxic debts and put it on their own balance sheet so something similar would have to happen well the numbers are huge i mean the central banks took on trillions and trillions of dollars of horrible debt and so want to start on wind it wants the dam is broken and all that money start to come into the system you know i always look at the money velocity number which has recently got to the lowest it's ever been but then six months ago started to go up once the money velocity starts to pick up and watch the money start to come back in the economy have inflation and combine that with wage inflation and you have the makings of a shift from economic power from wall street to main street here's another story about america's favorite well certainly the media's favorite billionaire the democrat's favorite billionaire and that's warren buffett and it's interesting you know we've been covering this divide in the u.s. and remember koch brothers are great billionaires or their super bad billionaire

villains george soros is either a villain villain or he's a great humanitarian billionaire warren buffett pretty much everybody agrees he's a great guy except for when he comes up with a so-called tax but is he a good guy well according to the nation secret behind warren buffett's billions america's favorite investor loves monopoly not free markets they use his own words that he himself tells people i only invest in basically monopolies if they have monopoly pricing power that's what i bet on and that's what i invest in and this is what i. go for and because he's one of the most successful billionaires of all time investors of all time everybody mimics him thus causing a positive feedback loop where everybody also seeks out monopolies to invest in and empowerment so look at amazon share price why is amazon soar and why is warren buffett actually finally going along a lot of these tech companies where he famously didn't during the dot com boom as

because now a lot of them have monopoly pricing power they talk about the fact that for example he always dissed airlines he would never invest in airlines he said well he started going long and twenty sixteen you know it's ten percent of some of these airlines and the reason why was that well the obama administration allowed the merger these mega-mergers so you now just for airlines and they have huge profits it's often reported how suddenly the airlines have massive profits that's because there are now they're no longer eight but there are four right it's anti-competitive so the way to grow the economy is through competition if there's somebody sitting on top of the economy like buffett with access to unlimited cash to buy these monopoly positions in monopoly companies that's anti-competitive and it should be busted up best to create more jobs and more wage growth but it's not happening so they're pushing the economy to the edge of a different type of precipice as we're saying with the introduction potentially of

a big hyper inflationary burst that's going to kill the bond market and then cause everything to be reset anyway and then buffett will be long gone having made as hundred billion dollars but at the expense of a viable u.s. economy yet so everybody says that he's a great capitalists he's you know one of the richest guys in america sometimes is the richest sometimes bill gates's them so here's an exact quote from him the arch capitalist they say the single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power if you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor you've got a very good buy. well there's nothing wrong seeking out businesses that are in good positions and able to raise prices but there is something wrong when you have a single entity a private equity firm like berkshire hathaway working with the government to guarantee that he's investing in.