they're a better alternative too and the homelessness crisis. pink floyd star roger waters reveals the white helmets activist group to try to lobby his support in the syrian war after the singer had slammed them as propagandists. somebody was shot in the tree had to go to the hospital there when i came in and some people grabbed me started pouring water on my had a russian t.v. channel interviews a syrian boy from a white town it's video that claims to show the aftermath of the chemical attack in duma the child and his father gives their account of what happened. clashes break out on the streets of paris as transport strikes continue over president macro's labor reforms. and in germany dozens of refugees

confessed to having links with overseas terrorist groups in a controversial tactic to avoid deportation. thank you for watching the news headlines here at r.t. international broadcasting live from moscow i'm kate partridge. the lead singer of rock group pink floyd roger waters says the controversial activist group the white helmets has tried to lobby his support in the syrian war the so-called syria account paying which is linked to the white helmet said the musician and inviting him to a fundraising dinner in the same message the group described the work it claims to be doing in syria the group claims its mission is to elevate the voices of serious peaceful heroes and to help bring peace but waters wasn't pleased with the invitation. i was quite suspicious after i was invited to that white helmets dinner

now my worst suspicions have been confirmed on the face of it it felt possible that the white helmets were just good people doing good things but now we know they're trying to encourage the west to drop bombs or missiles illegally in the syria r.t.c. goshdarn after and my colleague andrew farmer in the studio earlier to discuss the group's emails and waters concerns about their activities. it was somewhat of an indirect response to a nother e-mail he received from a different person now it was signed by a man who was described himself as a journalist and also a militant with the syrian white helmets and he apparently arsk for stage time with roger waters at his barcelona gig he wanted to join roger waters on stage and deliver a message apparently on behalf of the white helmets and send a message or two this children of syria you're not forgotten well apparently at that said gig in barcelona roger waters did this have a look at home it's. really

a problem. if you use. this to the propaganda of the point home it's in others we would be encouraged to encourage our governments to go and start dropping bombs on syria. i why do you think then that he decided to speak out publicly there well he didn't give a specific reason for this but you've got to know who the white helmets are to get an idea they post videos like this marketing themselves as the civil defense group of the say their first responders the save people the show how the pulling people from under the rubble from the alleged syrian government air strikes but the videos that they aren't posting online and somebody else do that for them in those videos they're seen mingling with terrorists for example this is an execution by the all nusra terrorist group and these are the white helmets volunteers clearing up the

execution site so also in other videos they are seeing just cheering and generally mingling with terrorists from other groups so possibly that is why roger waters chose to do that to denounce themselves publicly you're not the first celebrity to talk about the white helmet but the other ones that have have taken a different stance well indeed the white helmets the sort of by our skin the line line told. glory when it comes to how western celebrities are talking about them for example he's coldplay a very very popular british band endorsing them and calling them syrian heroes there's another star ben affleck also praising the white house and the list just of goes on really so roger waters he did not stop just denouncing the white house wants the also he also called on his fellow celebrities to stop indorsing the white house and to stop giving praise to them now roger waters is arguably the first

person of such scale to publicly to publicly speak out against the white helmets and the e-mails that we've just seen he provided them to blumenthal and blumenthal is in the contributor so he can pick up the story from here i've known roger waters for several several years he said that he had just grown so frustrated watching the white helmets footage of the duma being cited by the u.s. government and the u.k. government pretty much as their only source as their only source of intelligence to justify bombing a sovereign country that he decided to criticize this organization publicly to warn against it's all tearing your sectarian agenda this should be the stuff of a national scandal in the us the united states government has provided at least twenty three million dollars to the state department to the white helmets while the white helmets work hand in glove with jabot illness or which is the syrian affiliate of the organization that attacked the united states on nine eleven al

qaeda and that is considered a conspiracy in the united states although it's well established so you know i hope that this is that rogers broken the ice here but western media appears to be completely closed off to the facts about the white helmets whereas the white house to comment on this issue we're waiting for a response. now a correspondent from the russia twenty four television channel says they found a syrian boy seen in the white helmets video that claims to show the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in duma in an interview the child and his father recall how events unfolded on april the seventh artie's what i guess the of as the story. these harrowing scenes panic fear terror soaked trembling children screaming adults and strange as it may seem many of them had no idea about what was going on. we were in the basement

my mother told me that we had run out of fruit and wouldn't have anything to eat until tomorrow i heard noises outside somebody was shot in that we had to go to the hospital so we went there when i came in some people grabbed me started pouring water on my had eleven year old ass and via was one of the apparent victims in the white helmets video here he is after being drenched and sprayed he was found in duma and interviewed by a russian war correspondent. he's fine if a little confused and that's me in the video that's me. yes as were many other kids any child would be terrified ergo the panic which the white helmets were there to film he was eventually found by his

father who was none the wiser this is the police i didn't hear anything about the chemical attack i was outside britain notes anything further my family lives in the hospital. it does make sense poisonous gas would be invisible you'd imagine everybody would want to take precautions especially when you're hungry and they give out food at the hospital. i went to the hospital walked up stairs and found my wife and children i asked them what had happened and they said you go outside was shouting about some smell and told them to go to the hospital at the hospital they gave dates and cookies to the kids one of the doctors who was reportedly. on shift at the time seemed surprised by the sudden influx some people come to. people in what. they say the.

symptoms the doctor and others did however say that some people came in complaining about difficulty breathing which is common when an explosion destroys a building for example there's a lot of dust makes it difficult to breathe and especially affects people with asthma. 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 our medical staff would have also been affected. we've sent a request to the white helmets to comment on this but received no answer yet what we have seen is more and more witnesses coming forward to say there was only panic and no evidence of chemicals. we heard an explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon we ran to where the noise came from and started pool room water

over the people but they seem to be ok and walked away without any help people got so confused somebody started pouring water over people's heads saying they had been a chemical attack i was at the spot with my wife and daughter but none of us experienced any symptoms of chemical poisoning it's remarkable how these scenes convinced three countries to launch cruise missiles at syria especially remarkable when you realize that so many of the people here had no idea about what was going on only that someone shouted about chemicals. said that despite the lack of clarity about what happened in to the u.s. and its allies quickly launched air strikes several syrian facilities were targeted last saturday meanwhile british journalist robert fisk has visited duma and

interviewed locals he found no signs any chemical attack had taken place former counterterrorism officer char shoebridge thinks western governments may be starting to doubt their own conclusions. journalists who got in on the ground robert fisk is a notable person i'm thinking of there he says and attended by syrian government employees and so on he spoke to ordinary residents and to medical staff who none of whom confirmed the idea that there was a chemical attack we're already i think seeing on detecting science myself that there is a slight backtracking amongst government statements rowing back slightly saying well actually we weren't completely clear that's why we we were relying on social media we were lying on activists on the ground and that's why we only carried out a limited strike so they're already i think preparing the ground for the possibility at least that is so p c w a port isn't particularly helpful for example it may actually find that there were no trace of chemicals of chemical warfare.

thousands of french transport workers to the streets of paris on thursday the protesters are refusing to back down in their long running strike over president micron's labor reforms r.t. shallot do bensky reports. this is yet another day of protests to be turning into clashes between the police and the protest is unhappy with many of the reforms that the my own government wants to make and they determined to make every sees heard and it seems that voices are being heard but yet again it's just clashes that what most people are speaking about. process that he doesn't care about our movement but if he wasn't afraid at all he would not send so many national police officers here. and happy with the government because the poorest classes are always the ones who are forced to give their weakest are always the ones who are being given today were fighting for public services from medical services with good hospitals and

equipment i don't like the entity of micron's government towards the movement and the problems work is a facing a somewhat so to stick head of state seems to be that judging by his speech at the e.u. problem destroys book he thinks that he's in a position of power. we've just come away from the crowd and that's because if you just take a look behind me might say that a lot of the people have got their faces covered they wearing black and that's because they known as being the black box of the anti father these are the anti capitalist say it in front of a don't like a filming them close and that's because the security services might be able to identify them now it's this group of individuals that are the ones that we see clashes as you can see that are throwing project downs at the police as the police are coming round and this is something that we have been seeing not just today but in all of the clashes project just being thrown to optics bricks glass bottles

anything they can grow that at the hands of. yeah. well we're in the middle of what seems to be a standoff between some of the protesters and the police just take out a look behind me and you can see a row of the police vans army they're all out there in their riot gear blocking off this particular route and some of the protesters are told seeing them now they've also been using as smoke flares to wear to attention to what they're doing that lit fires at some of the bins and they've also been throwing projectiles to wards the police this protest was meant to be about reforms of macaroons government it's once again turned into a clash between the police and a small group of anti capitalist protesters. the president micro has issued

a plea to the strikers saying they should stop holding the country hostage and the police are taking an increasingly tough line in this latest video from paris officers in riot gear on demonstrators to the ground making several arrests. while i must say thousands also took to the streets for a stop micro march denouncing the president's reforms it was organized by left wing party leader show new melon show. i think we're in a process where president michael's radicalism has pushed everyone together every week the head of state seems to distract us and go further with reforms so we need to step forward to we know of this plain evil like this. in one thousand nine hundred five he had to finally step back this is not fair to announce to the people i will pass over you i will destroy you these are not ways to act

a president shouldn't like this story i could not stay silent on that gun sector. launch sectors on strike transport energy public workers health workers all these sectors are represented today on the rise macron doesn't want to change but he will see when all the countries paralyzed he will be forced to negotiate. asylum seekers in germany have come up with a controversial way to tell eighty four taishan more on that after the break.

but politicians do something to. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or some want to be rich. it's you going to be that's what it looks like three of the more people. interested always in the water. welcome back there's been

a shell prize in terror related investigations in southern germany with host the cases involving refugees turning themselves in pretrial about looks at what's behind this development. as the number of asylum applicants coming here to germany decreases what we have seen is an actual increase in the number coming here saying that they were part of a terrorist outfit and it has politicians absolutely baffled i can't understand why someone would accuse himself of a serious crime in the hope of gaining an advantage in his asylum claim to particular reasons in the southwest of the country jump out because it's there that one hundred fifty nine people have declared themselves as members of a terrorist organization already in twenty eighteen if we jump back to twenty seventeen while three hundred people saying exactly the same thing why would anybody claim to be a member of a foreign terrorist group well because maybe that investigation could be solved

tomorrow but most likely never investigations are proving to be very time consuming because they are almost always alleged foreign acts for example in syria iraq afghanistan or somalia if we look at countries like afghanistan which germany and all the e.u. nations have already referred to as a safe country to return to then you can see why people would come forward and say that they have information and would rather face a trial than deportation the german authorities aren't suggesting this is the easy way out anyone who makes a false confession must understand that he is going to face criminal consequences all of which has its roots way back in the summer of twenty fifteen when angela merkel opened germany up to refugees peter all of r.t. belin. why and grace refugees are also choosing arrest over deportation hundreds of

migrants recently gathered outside a police station in the city of thessaloniki asking to be detained many of you arrest as a way of speeding up their asylum claims greece has seen a recent surge in illegal crossings from turkey says angrily launched a military offensive against the kurds in northern syria here political analysts ron arad for says the european asylum system is unable to cope we can see the judicial system of the european countries is simply not here adds to the challenges the refugee crisis is in the past years by end of twenty seven. the german government asked lloyds over two thousand. traditionally experts to deal with the. right places concerning. about all. terrorism

also all these is absolutely the. traditional system it means a sharp increase in employment costs. the white house has unveiled plans to ease the rules governing arms exports under their proposals private manufacturers can be allowed to sell drones and other weapons abroad without government approval samir account has the story. the trump administration says that these new reforms are intended to strengthen the american economy now the policy will cut back the time it takes to approve arms deals as well as ease limits on drone exports to name a few but it's not the only reason why trump is trying to make it easier for other countries to buy american weapons to reduce their reliance on weapons from china and russia but if we look at trump's time in office so for this really isn't anything new he kicked off his presidency a signing an arms deal with

a saudi arabia then went on to sign arms deals with japan south korea poland and another one with the saudis but why don't we check out how u.s. officials explain the reforms. for too long and ultimately more capable of protecting themselves with p. american boots on the ground this is a balanced policy with absolutely look at human rights as one of a set of considerations that palooka so it's certainly possible that the saudis could possess even more american weapons which human rights organizations say are being used to carry out their military operation in yemen which has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis by the u.n. over the past few years a many american politicians have recognized the saudi threat and they've been pushing to and all assistance to saudi arabia it is u.s. made in transfer ordinance that is carried on these planes and are dropped on

civilian infrastructure targets inside yemen so the question is if this new policy does indeed boost the economy will americans be ok with it even if it leads to further destabilization in the middle east. international more expert jennifer braden thinks the new rules could allow powerful weapons to end up in the hands of extremists. the time of government is involved in a weapon sale or weapons transfer and there's always a chance a risk those weapons do end up in the hands of rogue elements and we saw that even in iraq as u.s. troops pulled out that some of the isis elements rick let's use it other kind of non-state actors or militias that are able to get us on fees and equip it for the iraq still today and of course with what's going on in yemen and so that there really is a responsibility on the part of the united states especially of the department of defense to make sure that we know exactly where these weapons are going to you know where the transfer is and that we follow them there have to be procedures in place

because you have to be held accountable and responsible if a weapons transfer weapons made in the u.s. end up being transferred into the hands of terrorists where innocents are killed. meanwhile the u.s. is urging turkey not to buy weapons from russia while trying to boost its own arms experts a state department official has warned turkey if it buys a russian anti aircraft system the u.s. could block the sale of fighter jets to incur the official also a key which is a nato member not to make strategic concessions to moscow to achieve its goals in syria by nato appears to disagree saying it's a dish is not for turkey alone to make a political scientist changes to law says washington is growing increasingly wary of turkey's partnership with russia. because all four russia and turkey relationships and better relationships are americans tried to oppose and tried to.

take turkey from out of russia using economic. problems of turkey and this is who should be really difficult for turkey i think and where you can strive to you know. to take this government from the power in turkey to make an outer you know government easier to. call or a to be united states i think as far as this government i keep people moment is on power that is no way you know to conclude something between not defend turkey i think you know the main think main aim of to the united states to take out of this government from power. will be back in just over half an hour with the latest news but some more in the meantime to article.

the fed prints the money and then the pentagon blows it up in various countries around the world are sends us soldiers out there to get maimed and blown up that you don't die for your country to protect democracy you die in america to stop inflation that's what the soldiers out there are dying for they should replace the american flag upside down dollar sign or something. close to belittle me of the person and then to plant the seeds in november for sale of the european soldier dog. in the zoo

monday to put is a spot stuff i've been. ill being told as much as follow pascall. don't want to stop jumping to see ideation and i salute. you don't i mean you sound to so females of ballet speech your own fault listen she went to. the next message that a modern kind of there is much to be and. i think obama drew a red line never fulfilled his his threats i suppose are predictions. on the other hand i also don't support trump president trump so you know you lot are all actions either but i'm in favor of multilateral responses not unilateral

action we all hope for the syrian people that we can find a good resolution of this in fact we can develop democratic processes in syria and elsewhere in the middle east as well as time goes. greetings and salutations today's word of the day hawk watchers is precious miriam webster defines precious something of great value or high price someone highly esteemed or cherished gold gold diamonds and honest politician oh good examples of things considered to be precious. what about water children two things i believe many would would put at the top of their list for

things they consider very very precious both to themselves and society after our children are our future and well you can't live without water so precious unless of course fracking company in colorado or the city of chicago let's start in the old windy city of chicago illinois where according to the chicago tribune analysis lead was found in water drawn from nearly seventy percent of the twenty two thousand seven hundred ninety seven homes tested during the past two years tap water in three of every ten homes sampled had lead concentrations above five parts per billion the maximum allowed in bottled water by the u.s. food and drug administration and yet apparently chicago mayor rahm emanuel must have missed that whole crisis in flint michigan you know just a little bit of next to a little bit close guess he was just you know too busy to notice because as the

tribune reports the mayor's office has said it is up to homeowners not the city to decide if it is worth replacing the lead pipes at their own expense. meanwhile across the country in greeley colorado mother jones is reporting that the colorado oil and gas conservation commission commission is now being sued by environmentalists and civil rights groups for allowing a company to build twenty four twenty four l. and gas wells by a public school in a low income area after the same company tossed its original plans to build near a charter school serving mostly white middle class families. i guess berserk agoa clean drinking water isn't a precious enough commodity to merit a line in the city budget and in colorado well kids are only precious apparently if they have the right sized bank account and skin color now let's start watching.