for. the top headlines for this hour an international eyewitnesses and medical staff in the syrian city of duma claim to od t. there was no chemical attack and with doubts now even being raised in the western media. members of the european parliament voiced their anger at the french president over the action taken against damascus while the u.k. government faces a backlash. over its role in the strikes. members of this house seem top of the same foreign policy of this country the president trying. to the producers over documentary called in the executioner's shadow to claim the us death penalty has racial undertones.

a busy day for worldwide news here on r.t. international from all of us here thanks for joining us. experts from the o.p.c. chemical weapons watchdog are expected to arrive in the syrian town of duma in the next few hours the probe will look into the allegations of a chemical attack that emotion on april seventh meanwhile more doubts of been raised over this footage filmed by the white helmets group in a local hospital video claims to show the aftermath of the chemical attack our sister channel visited that very hospital in duma and even talked with the doctors and locals they described what happened on the seventh of april claiming they saw no toxic agents being used.

people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons but we saw no sign of that if chemical weapons were used against those people medical staff would have also been affected. people poured water the heads were getting that we had been attacked with chemical weapons and somebody from outside shouting about a chemical attack don't know who that was we heard an explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon we run to where the noise came from and started pouring water over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any help but confused somebody started pouring water over people's heads saying there had been a chemical attack but i was at the spot with my wife and daughter but none of us

experienced any symptoms of chemical poisoning meanwhile even some western media outlets and are calling into question the allegations of the chemical attack that's after british journalist robert fisk visited the hospital and spoke with the doctors there and actually found no evidence of attack. well the u.s. britain and france chose however not to wait for the official probe before launching air raids against syria in the early hours of saturday a u.s. state department spokesperson has a novel set of washington's to solution not to wait was justified. the o.p.c. view is something that we've back strongly but it can also take quite a bit of time for the o.p.c. of you to gather its information and compile the report so i would ask you should the united states and her allies wait around for bashar al assad to use more chemical substances honest people should we wait around for that formal investigation that could take months and months this is you know actually

scandalous that the u.s. has launched a strike based on insurgent tied social media sources well this is exactly what defense secretary jim abbott said at a briefing several days ago where he didn't have solid intelligence on any chemical attack in duma what he did have were social media reports people saying stuff on the internet and who were those people the same people that state department spokesperson heather now it's referring to there the syrian white helmets which has been funded to the tune of at least twenty three million dollars by the state department for the lack of concrete proof that the attack took place has been raised by some officials and academics such questions are often dismissed by the media as russian propaganda for example take a look at this b.b.c. and a few. if he has used chemical weapons it's absolutely right to do rafa crosses not calls but i just wonder you know we have had some bad experiences on intelligence

given that we're in an information war with russia on so many fronts to you think perhaps it's inadvisable to be stating this so publicly given your your position and your profile isn't there a danger that you're muddying the water. that was a retired senior officer of the royal navy allen west questioning whether there was enough intelligence to claim assad was using chemical weapons the b.b.c. presenter suggested such comments should not be made publicly because they fall into line with the official position of moscow we've requested a comment from the channel we will bring you any and all responses but it's not heard just the b.b.c. and the times newspapers publish an article labeling those who have questioned the so-called evidence of the attack as apologists artie's east our leader has been taking a closer look. one of the people pointed out or singled out in the times article is louis all day the times said that he had written

a tweet calling into question the account of previous chemical attacks mr all day has since gone on twitter and shown that he never sent the tweet and has demanded an apology from the times another example is tim hayward he's another academic here in the u.k. and he's been seen as being guilty of association because he's written for. publication called twenty first century wire whose deputy editor has also come in for criticism by the times that her name is vanessa beatty so all of these kind of examples showing that to stray from the dominant narrative all of the war in syria will lead you to being accused of being an ass that apology politics that's been the criticism of some here in the u.k. and there are those who say that this current environment again resembling somewhat of a witch hunt isn't conducive to free speech and to free investigation an inquiry

over the events of not just the weekend but the past seven years of the u.k.'s policy towards syria and its support of the opposition groups there international politics lecturer dr tara mccormack revealed what it's like to be one of the academics on the receiving end of the time so time. well i mean it's not ridiculous you know within the working group we have a range of different opinions oh and international relations and so probably have tweeted various things about alleged chemical attack tweeting to snopes signifie necessarily into it that's also a different thing from academic research that it existed to bizarro much time to smear guilt by association piece social media. ridiculous attempt simply to shut down the working group that presumably may be asking questions that

the times doesn't think should be. all in all its right to british journalism and threat to academic freedom and free speech in the new carry british prime minister to resign the french president to manual mccrone have come under heavy criticism from u.k. and e.u. law making the decision to strike syria without consulting the national parliaments for example these are members of the european parliament during president speech that many of them as you can see holding up signs calling for an end to military action in syria. two to reports about the backlash that leaders have been receiving . what the shortage of only three countries having to be for the honor of the international community in a legitimates multilateral framework you know it's all gets amana. least the marker and speech was a monument of political cynicism. when we want without any approval. over

the past months where you are hidden the fact that the area of eastern ghouta where the alleged chemical attack took place is controlled by radical islamists not jewish islam shop or you'd be there it's been done already in iraq and libya why should we be aired in syria to the list but there has been a backlash for him for emanuel on the fact that he didn't ask the parliament's permission either so you know people have not necessarily think backing that decision that you don't forward but he was actually grilled in parliament on monday these strikes demonstrate the irresponsible behavior of the three global powers that yet again gave into the temptation to play the role of world's policeman now over in the u.k. theresa may the u.k.'s prime minister has also faced a group of parliamentary is led by the opposition leader jeremy corbyn there was a bit of pool table tennis it went on for over eight hours on day one and pretty similar day to the parliament should have an absolute minimum age try and in law

the opportunity to ask questions before the government can order a planned military action the elected representatives in this house should be able to debate the deployment of british military forces into combat but that does not mean it is always appropriate the executive must be the servant of parliament not the other way round members of this house seem to have less say in foreign policy of this country than president trump let no one in this house be in any doubt that neither i nor this government take instructions from any press was. or despite tourism as far as remarks in her defense we go to reaction on the streets of london where people seem to think parliament should have been consulted. it was an emergency situation where there was no room for maneuver how do you think that this is not an urgent it

could've waited one two days more at least i don't think it's something she should have made a decision based on her so general principle about going to war that should be part of it you know by i think in this particular instance it was in a war situation on the mars rover then play you discuss it paul you've been i know you're coming you know take it anyway are you achieving much more consideration than everyone else know when it's important decisions like this everyone should have a say like i do from parliament represent everybody they know that you actually discussing doing it then you just immediately this is not a constitutional. democracy that discuss stage until now until everyone in parliament and yeah i think this is the space to be on it. following the weekend bombing raids in syria a bipartisan group of u.s. senators has unveiled new legislation aiming to limit the white house's power to continue its global war on terror for too long congress has given presidents

a blank check to wage war we've let the nine eleven iraq war authorizations get strange to justify was against multiple terrorist groups and over a dozen countries from nigeria to the philippines a proposal finally repeals those authorizations inmates congress do its job by weighing in on where when and with who we are at war the proposed legislation that would require the president to give congress forty eight hours notice ahead of any new military action congress would then have sixty days to review that move now it doesn't set a limit for any military option however it includes a congressional review every four years. the proposal also expands the president's authority to take option against al qaeda isis all the taliban but not a state of the current war powers have been in place since nine eleven i've been used to nearly forty times and fourteen countries we discussed the proposed ofa

hole with former u.s. congressman and presidential candidate running for. more or less is defining things slightly differently but one slow up i think the effort to go to war i don't think it really repeals their war powers resolution but it does say the congress gives the president authority to go to war against radical violent groups like al qaida and i says and maybe taleban but they say not i country. i really don't think it's going to pass. we'll see i only welcome the debate but i think they'll wake up and find out it's not doing anything and that when they pass these resolutions most of the time things hit worse so this whole idea that you can fight radicals any place in the world that's what they're doing already is just gives more authority to the type of policy that we've been following and getting us into trouble and we are back in just about.

anyone else should seem wrong. why don't we just don't call. me. yet to shape out these days comes to educate and indeed train equals betrayal. when something find themselves worlds apart when you choose to look for common ground. but politicians do. put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or something want. to try to be press it's like before three of them or can people get. interested in the waters

and how. they should. be. good if you join us here on r.t. to national today a new documentary called in the execution as shadow pulls back the curtain on the subject of cost of capital punishment through three different stories claiming that race is at the heart of decision making when it comes to the death penalty in america. my team members take pride. in this person brady. was awarded to the.

city within the winter for the. thing that i didn't. even do anything. you don't know because you were not much use. recent figures reveal black people that make up around forty two percent of those on death row but comprise only about thirteen percent of the u.s. population in addition they are far more likely to be given a death sentence in the case of interracial killing and we spoke to those behind this film. the racial application of the death penalty is there not. like that not to look so much at skin color of the perpetrator or to skin color of the victim if the if the murder victim is white. then the prosecuting attorney is four to eleven times more likely to seek

a death penalty and if the victim were black and so what message is the justice system send to society one way that can be answered is that white life is worth more than black life were going to punish people who kill a white person. more severely and we are. going to have there are more black forever nine executions there is one exoneration so for every nine inmates executed one person is found innocent i think that's the most startling in the in the context of the innocence and how egregious this could be and as our executioner. the jury givens are the former executioner of the state of virginia states one of the things that i think is really. something that he expresses so well in the film and is this idea that it's it's an imperfect system

works human we make errors and there are errors being made in the criminal justice system and as long as that straight we should not be executing people. a self-styled amato journalist in the u.k. is claiming police aren't doing enough over the death threats she's received online . english is known to have posted hateful comments such as for example islam is worse than cancer such posts are provoked an aggressive reaction but according to police haven't taken her complaints about it seriously for example this is an email allegedly received by june i am from the greater manchester police unit she's warned of consequences resulting from comments she's made online or was also told to consider the freedom of expression of others and without any details of those said to be harassing her they would be no investigation in the end she was advised not to post anything likely to cause offense. we asked her the greater manchester

police for comment and said an investigation is under review and hopes to contact shortly so we invited guests to debate the issues around this case. well actually i know you personally and i see your ass questioned sometimes iran contra ball questions sometimes questions people don't particularly want to answer and i don't i'm an atheist i criticize christianity critize judaism i criticize islam criticize any faith but it's only when islam is criticized suddenly it's hate speech we have rules about freedom of expression freedom of belief and freedom of conscience however there are limits to those rules and it's very dangerous to draw some kind of moral equivalence between people who are fascists or near nazis are spreading inciting violence or hate preaching people behave like that they should be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law so everybody has to suffer the

consequences of freedom of speech means that yes sometimes somebody might say something that could offend you she has a right to an opinion nobody and i mean nobody has the right to put a death threat on anybody for any reason because an offended because they were offended by an opinion do you agree if somebody speech tell you bear with me if you agree that do you agree that if somebody speech crosses the line into hatred inciting hatred or harrison or is racist or sexist or anti semitic do you agree that these people should be do you agree that these people should be prosecuted to the absolute maximum extent of the law and is against british and english values i believe in free speech including yours even though i don't agree with your opinion so some of what you will. want to do i think you cross the line yes i do i think you should be prosecuted because of your opinion now i don't death threats on never acceptable never if you do and are far

worse than any mean worth it because words don't kill actions and death phrase can be carried out. well there are an hour less than two months before the curtain is raised on the world cup here in russia total minutes host cities are already preparing to welcome guests from all over the world. danish goalkeeper and a host of artes world cup twenty eighteen coverage peter schmeichel has been to one of them that hold the city of samarra on the volga river. come to some arena it looks a bit like a u.f.o. from the outside so who's going to be flying high is it going to be hundreds of the

case when he takes columbia here all very hungry i assume those two hours who returns to world cup action but what else is going on. on peter schmeichel and i'm here to find out. the walking on a frozen river walk and people are kite surfing not really kite surfing it's kites knowing some people are having a little bit of it. this is the peak winter playground and it's difficult to imagine that only in a few months this is going to be a place where people are sunbathing swimming watching football drinking beer and just having a good time in. some areas big claim to fame is a role that it played in the space program it's where everything was produced

including the rockets not this one but a similar one that good guy and went into space as the first man ever on but they also make good p.r. here and i'll come back to that a bit later. i could never be an astronaut i'm simply too big to fit into the seat this guy he's half my size and i understand why stuff my size because the food receding which is this. i could he survived. i'm not going into this phase just yet but i'm going to have a. very

. very. good at it. my dad is a fabulous accordion player so i grew up with that and when i realized looking at the list for ambassadors at sac i wanted to go to a world champion i said to myself this guy.

i want to be taught something something . just was so used to be with well. as i told you before they make damn good to be a hero and some on this group is called the secrecy and you know that feeling when

you have all day you've been dying to have a beer. when you find that empty but i'm an optimistic person i'm going to continue my search. to. follow you through as a beer from you. will be a. little fish. i know this and i know it's a good beer follow me comes and goes that way which is those. it definitely smells like i'm getting close now eves. loads of

i. am good. now the world cup picking up june fourteenth period russia saudi arabia playing russia all right we'll see you soon we're back in half an hour thanks for joining us.

in the philippine city of angeles when the u.s. military moved out the six tourists moved in. and now a whole generation of fatherless children is growing up here. my dad and within a one month old couple simple that uncle. my birthday is a general idea like last night i know your. son. you. tired isn't the first time in the t.v. crew to see you and takes you for a night. answer is no matt no one that it's real or is it. that's it the better you won my god dang it. a victory you can take the deal of above that you can't take the bird of a girl to such a movie no woman you know oh. oh i love you like i did it you did it

if you. believe in. for a world cup twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more question and by the way it's going to be our coach. guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star among us and the huge amount of pressure you have to go i mean eighty percent of the beach will tell we're with you and we will so all the great. you are the rock at the back nobody gets to you we need you to get down going let's go. alone. and i'm really happy to join the team for the two thousand and three and

world cup in russia meet the special one come on top of. me to just take the reader beyond the team's latest edition to make up a bigger. book. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. an alleged chemical attack the little children who are into a makeshift clinic. but not heard. of.