among the stories that shaped the weak dollar. alleged chemical attack in syria earlier this. call into question the video that was widely used as evidence. was in the city speak to doctors on local. people from the white house told us about the use of chemical weapons. that started over the people but these seem to be ok. without any help. a growing number of asylum seekers in germany are claiming to be terrorists in the hope of avoiding deportation allegedly exploiting loopholes in the system. the british newspaper reports have identified key figures in the poisoning of

double agent. and his daughter pointing the finger once again. r.t. launches an investigation into claims over the origin of the north each. with the top stories from the past seven days and right up to the moment developments as well welcome to the weekly on r.t. international our top story video that was said to show the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma beginning of this month is now being called into question the footage was released by the white helmets a group which has long controversy over its activities in the war torn syria and one of the use forces to report these are t.v. this is at the hospital in to talk with doctors and locals who said they saw an. no

toxic agents used. people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons we saw no sign of that if chemical weapons were used against those people a medical staff would also be no thanks to. people poured water it's really good thing that we had been attacked with chemical weapons on them and somebody from outside shouting about the chemical attack don't know. we heard an explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon and we run to where the noise came from and the started pouring water all over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any

help but. confused somebody started pouring water over people saying there had been a chemical attack but i was at the spots with my wife and daughter but none of us experienced any symptoms of chemical poisoning. lar to talk to a boy who is in the white helmets video is thankfully all right but it's still coming to terms with what happened he says he was outside when somebody took him and started pouring cold water over his head right because the if i list this report. 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 that had act outside and they told all of us to go into the hospital i was immediately taken upstairs and they started pouring water on me do you remember where it happened. to

be here with a hose or is it. here it is. rather poured water on me it put me here and then took me upstairs to my mother eleven year old has sandia was one of the apparent victims in the white helmets video here he is after being drenched and sprayed he's fine if a little confused any child would be terrified ergo the panic which the white helmets were there to film he was eventually found though by his father who was none the wiser and mechanically idea mostly d.n.c. i went up stairs and saw my wife and children i was very surprised and asked what had happened when my son's eyes were red i found out it was about it was cold and

he could have got sick and he was undressed when i took my son that first told me that they still needed him but i still to come away from them 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 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. on only that someone shouted about chemicals well it is not just the white helmets videos that are raising questions the organization has also come under fire from rock legend roger waters the co-founder of pink floyd for trying to lobby his supports in the syrian war a group called the syria campaign sent an e-mail to the musician inviting him to a fund raising dinner on behalf of the white house affiliated organization in the same letter the group described in detail the work it claims to be doing in syria it insists its mission is to elevate the voices of syria's peaceful heroes and help bring up by peace but what it was less than happy with the invited 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 syria. just last week day before he was due to give a show in barcelona waters was contacted by a french journalist working for the white helmets the reporter asked for a few moments on stage to deliver a message on behalf of the children of syria what has declined the request as well and instead had thought up the group during the concert. quite how many. but nice addition to the. three complicated issues. we would listen to the proper groups the point of mention of this we would be encouraged to encourage a couple of months to go and start dropping some serious. i've known roger waters for several several years he said that he had just grown so frustrated

watching the white helmets footage in duma being cited by the us 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 its all teary or 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 jab it allness row 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. well this weekend a mission from the global chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w.

visited to investigate the alleged attack the team collected samples which will be sent to a laboratory in the balance the o.p.c. w. is also planning another trip to the city however the u.s. britain i'm from still has not to wait for the official probe signing media reports on controversial activist groups the country's accuse the assad government of gassing civilians on this month launched air raids against syria us state department spokesperson heather now or explained washington couldn't afford to waste time. the o.p.c. view is something that we 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 you know lots of reaction to this

we spoke to two political commentators who are usually on opposite sides of the debate about their thoughts on u.s. military action sometimes supporters are disappointed i have one of them by i like the trumps position during the election but i think a lot of people on our political left and people like me on the right think we should not be the world's police any longer that was one of the issues and main points the truck made during the campaign you know nobody likes to ascribe to any president whatever their political party killing people using munitions like this just so it's a distraction that's said i mean you can't deny that the walls are closing in on donald trump legally from the special prosecutor moeller from the united states attorney in new york with his lawyer cohen so do i think that down trump is vacs raven as to launch strikes to distract attention. no but the mere fact that it's

a question that's troubling i would diminish that he has major issues as just described as a higher approval rating than did obama at this time in his presidency in some polls the economy that is not credible jobs are coming back in the economy's growing great yeah well that is it is true in america right now small businesses for the first time look at the decade are excited if you look at the average of all the polls there's one poll that's been consistently in donald trump's rescues and in his camp every other poll if you average them out he is at historic lows for any president since the advent of polling in the united states of america democrats their complaint is what's the broader plan you say mission accomplished mr president what's the mission they see this as not pursuant to any particular plan and on the right it seems inconsistent with the the promises the president made during the campaign to withdraw so as a result there's just not a big constituency in favor of what he's done mission accomplished was a popular phrase that turned very notorious with iraq and look at where we are now

listen i i i find it interesting you have someone on the left and someone on the right politically in america here on r t and we sort of agree the worst case scenario is is assad gets toppled or killed and then we have another iraq for the next decade and then we really get engaged in a war because isis then overwhelms and takes over the country. meanwhile britain joined the u.s. led strikes on syria with the approval of parliament earlier this week prime minister treason may had to defend the decision. we have published the legal basis for our action the action was legally questionable we targeted it on chemical weapons capability of the regime chemical weapons have been used by other groups in the conflict for example. britain france and america sent a clear message to those to seek to rip up the international rulebook stop and stop now prime minister is accountable to this parliament not to the whims of the us

president i 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 the members of this house seem to have less say in foreign policy of this country than president trump that no one in this house be in any doubt that neither i nor this government take instructions from any president. i. will a recent poll by a british tabloid find that most people surveyed were against the prime minister's decision to bypass parliament hundreds also gathered in westminster on tuesday following the second round of the bates urging the government to stop bombing syria . protesters also demanded

a halt to arms exports to the middle east until war rallies were also held in several other cities including. stop the war activists cleanly political agenda is propelling over democracy. mistake when we shouldn't be discussed disempowered in an. ever so. mission but it's as usual in this country democracy goes out the window when you see in their own pretty sickening try. why is it that the government is caught out is it's not without the by in the house of commons why is it that i care about is that psych without a fight right now so common so that's where it's at on are refugees in germany claiming to be terrorists in order to stay longer in the country our europe correspondent has the story after the break.

but politicians do something to. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to express injury. or some want to be that's. going to be close to see what the full story of the people. interested in the laws.

sixty minutes past. the welcome back protests have erupted in the former soviet republic of armenia people there are demanding that the newly appointed prime minister stepped on the country in the caucasus mountains region has been shaken by rallies for over a week the face of. workers. calling for a new government elections the unrest follows the collapse of the goose nations between the opposition prime minister serious or ghastly and with tensions running high riot police have been deployed in the capital you're of on armenia recently changed to parliament three system where the president was relatively symbolic to

rule on the prime minister again he's. stepped on as president this for a decade a ruling that for years he promised not to run for the prime minister's office but in april was part nominated by parliament and he was the sole that it. nearly six decades under the leadership of the castro family cuba has a new president miguel addai is colonel was the monk choosing to succeed the role castro we can take a look now at his path to the top job on the current be in ireland. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel de nail was officially named the country's new leader on thursday with a final vote in cuba's national assembly it's the first time in nearly sixty years that cuba is being led by a man not named castro that gives us an idea of the magnitude this change will have

on the island d.s. canal is fifty seven years old and wasn't even born when fidel castro led his revolution in cuba d.s. can now is definitely a product of his time he's an electrical engineer by training and he followed every step within the party has appointed as minister for higher education before serving as vice president yes canel was selected as the unopposed candidate to replace weld castro and in his thirty minute speech he made it very clear that although changes are needed there will be no space for those who want to bring capitalism to cuba the levels are there in other models with the first thing that we want to change is the economic blockade it makes prices too high. i want the new president to think more about young people is he doing what he has i mean i have my country become a better place i want to stay here the new president said the country needs to advance in its economic model and adjust to the new context of modern technologies

as far as cuba's foreign policy diest canel said that in these times of uncertainty and threats to international peace and security cuba's foreign policy will remain an altar of all. terribly investigations in a sort of western german state have skyrocketed and it seems that many of the cases involve refugees actually turning themselves in digging a little deeper peter all over. 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 killed 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 the investigations are proving to be very time consuming because they almost always allege 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 that you have a death or a cheese on 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. . well germany is not the only country seeing such a trend in greece hundreds of asylum seekers gathered outside a police station in the city of first along a key for the same reason many reportedly due arrest there's an opportunity to stay in the e.u. and the fastest way to get the necessary paperwork started a large queue form for days after a surge in illegal border crossings from turkey geopolitical expert run a rough us believes the refugee crisis has been very costly for europe. we continually see that the judicial system of the european countries is simply not true. to the challenges the refugee crisis is in the past years by and twenty seven became. the german government

has to employ over two thousand further judicial experts to deal with the increase in crime cases concerning. about all. terrorism there's also increases its leanly the burden on the german traditional system it means a sharp increase also in one want klotz. say some breaking news this hour thirty one people have been killed and at least fifty injured in a suicide bombing in the afghan capital kabul according to officials authorities say the bomber targeted civilians who were gathered near a voter registration center in the west of the city it comes as the country prepares for a long awaited parliamentary elections in october no group has as far claimed the attack with a taliban spokesman issuing

a statement on twitter denying its. the rising problem of jihadists around the world is increasingly putting the spotlight now on prisons that's because a recent wide ranging report claims many terrorist plots have actually been drawn up behind bars at a tranquil try to find out whether this is the case in russia. up

. with swarthy pop shots of the male three go in them a few just like the priest who created theories gave the first seventy creds evicted at least i'm fiddled with what was good i'd done either a lot of old slow i mean you had to just sort of like other that he. has this here believe that china's or this is the bulk of the country where a lot of them could come with much moment also include the polls or all formulas for the political system to get that through most of them so that it will do the. status of. the stations even all of the good and some of the trade so that

its authors i think will leave but it will be more. of the fear that got to be sold in the mood on the screen well based on more commercial careful pursuit of actual clinical also there's no or else and the horror movie was. supposed to reverse mode stallworth were screwed just told newsman's sheila neotel speech is this. good old book also left of the process of the lives that narrative. the certain. time of me there's more to report of cologne. from a motorist. iraq

might be but this will be months to go. i guess it just feels like a regular small mosque doesn't feel like we're in prison and the people are very friendly oh you mean you deal with the reader so probably most will there's a quiz it's the first of the two hundred some assurance this is the concept so it's not ok. for those another segment another series from best moments live from you to use one of them thank you. in this prison mosque they've been trying to convince me that any radicalized muslim who ends up behind bars here gets rehabilitated very quickly.

will put you on. the colonial but the problem with state. muslims. not to. be true it's if you don't believe that i beseech you put them through the screen with the two of me feel that. i mean the host and i didn't should have been exposed to those who would do this is that each of them well you know i don't claim to danish name and his name you can be sure that i need to click on talk to him and you i mean you can do that. it's natural to any is bigot of sedition familiar with know him over there with the name of c.b. as a source who needed to use the sixty's for the ones he missed me purchased on the streets when usually.

for instance of french public sector workers have been protesting in part say against president mccracken's labor reforms several groups including transport workers are refusing to back down in their long running strike shola dubinsky was out the demonstration on thursday. this is yet another day of protests it turning into clashes between the police and the protestors unhappy with many of the reforms that the my own government wants to make and they determined to make it is 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 them 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 know the entity of micron's government towards the movements and the problems work is a facing a somewhat so to stick their head of state seems to be deaf judging by his speech at the problem destroys book he thinks that he's in a position of power. that. 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 and they don't like as 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 go there and get their hands of. well we're in the middle of what seems to be a standoff between some of the protesters on the police just take out a look behind me you can see a room of the police vans the shunt army the lot that end their riot gear blocking off the base particular route and some of the protesters are told seeing them now they've also been using as smoke flares to have to attention to what they doing that lit fires at some of the bins and they've all.