in the stories of the week. earlier this. month into question a video that was widely used as evidence. in the city to speak to doctors and. people from the white house told us about the use of chemical weapons. that we started pouring water over the people seemed to be ok. without any help. the growing number of asylum seekers in germany or claiming to be terrorists in the hope of avoiding deportation allegedly exploiting a loophole in the system also ahead.

that. police clamp down on protesters in paris on the french real network. so for president. the top stories from the past seven days on rights up to the moment developments are as well you're very welcome to the weekly here on our to international our top story video that was said to show the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma at the beginning of this month is being called into question the footage was released by the white helmet a self-styled emergency response but it's long been embroiled in controversy over its activities in war torn syria and was one of the few sources to report the party visited the hospital. talked with doctors and we said they saw no toxic agencies

there. 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 medical staff would also be to thank to think. people poured water it's really good thing that we had been attacked with chemical elements in them and somebody from outside shouting about a chemical attack i don't know. we heard that explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon and we run to where the boys came from when this started pouring water over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any

help but. somebody started pouring the water is what people say it's a. chemical attack i was at the spots with my wife and daughter none of us experienced any sort of chemical poisoning. talk to boys who was in the white helmets video this 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 dia's was the reporter. 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. outside and they told all of us to go into the hospital i

was immediately taken up stairs and they started pouring water on me do you remember where it happened. here with the 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 and 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 that it was about it was cold

and he could of course sick and he was undressed when i took my son the first told me that they still needed him but i still to come away from one of the doctors who was reportedly on shift at the time seemed surprised by the sudden influx of some people come to. people in what. they say had. symptoms he 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 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 support in the syria war. well 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 helmets affiliated organization in this same letter and 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 about peace but waters' was less than happy with the invite 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 horrible 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 the day before he was judged 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 that request as well and instead hit out at the group during the concert. what no means. but my solution to this is very complicated issue. with this to the proper congress the point of mission of this we would be encouraged to encourage a couple of months to go and start dropping. 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 or a 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 helmet this weekend a mission from the global chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w.

visited to investigate the alleged that time the team collected samples which will be sent to a laboratory in the netherlands the o.p.c. w. is also planning another trip to the city however the u.s. and britain on fronts chose not to wait for the official citing media reports on controversial activist groups the country's accuse the assad government of gassing civilians and this month launched their raids against syria u.s. state department spokesperson heather nauert explain the washington couldn't afford to wait. 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 well we spoke to two political

commentators who are usually on opposite sides of the debate about their thoughts on u.s. military action. some trump supporters are disappointed i'm one of the my 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 trust made during the campaign you know nobody likes to ascribe to any president whatever their political party killing people using munitions like this just as 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 that craven 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 has not credible jobs are coming back in the economy's growing great you have well that is it is true in america right now small businesses for the first time look at that 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 though. worst case scenario 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. like britain had joined the u.s. led strikes on syria with the approval of parliament earlier this week prime minister 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 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. 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 and choose the following the second round at the bait urging the government to stop bombing syria . protesters also demanded

a halt to arms exports to the middle east. were held in several other cities too including. stop the war activists claim the political agenda is prevailing over democracy. but i think she many things mistake that we shouldn't discuss this in parliament. ever so. it's as usual in this country democracy goes out the window when you see in their own pretty sickening interest why is it that the government is crowded with out to buy a house of commons why is it that i care about is it's like that of our analysis of commons so that's where it's at i used continues in ninety seconds. flt. led.

to our. purpose. lemme walk selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles they don't believe produce offspring to tell you that will be gossip and tabloid myself a little because the day. off doesn't tell me you are not cool enough to buy their products little. things all the hawks that we along with all.

the money. welcome back to the program and we start again with some breaking news 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 had 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 and a statement via the news agency its own news agency vs the mixtape terror group seems it provides. after nearly six decades under the leadership of the castro family cuba has a new president miguel diaz colonel well as the man chosen to succeed raul castro

we can now take a look at his path to the top job on the caribbean. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel de niro who 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 vs 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 that in the models with the first thing that we want to change is the economic blockade it makes prices too high and. i want the new president to think more about young people. have i mean that my country become a better place i want to stay here in 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. the reasons of french public sector workers have been protesting in part it's against president micron's labor reforms several groups including transport workers are refusing to back down in their long running strike the spirit charlotte was at the demonstration on thursday. this is yet another day of protests

of it turning into clashes between the police and the protesters unhappy with many of the reforms that the my own government wants to make and they determined to make it she's heard and it seems that voices are being heard but yet again it's just clashes that what most people are speaking about. easy to cross says 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 in the michael jackson among the people here and happy with the government because the poorest classes are always the ones who are forced to give and there we just 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 answers here micron's government towards the movements and the problems work is a facing a somewhat so to stick the 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. 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 in front of a 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 or 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 at the hands of.

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 you can see a room of the police vans. and their riot gear blocking off this particular route and some of the protesters are told sing them now they've also been using as smoke flares to draw attention to what they're doing that lit fires to 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 tuned in to a clash between the police and a small group of anti capitalist protest is. it all in neighboring germany chair or related investigations in a so i thought western state there have skyrocketed and it seems that many of the cases involve refugees actually turning themselves in spending more on bus specked

peter all over. as the number of asylum applicants coming here to cheer me 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 the investigations are proving to be very time

consuming because they almost always alleged foreign acts for example in syria iraq afghanistan or somalia if we look at couldn't trees like of ghana stan 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 seize 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. . was germany is not the only country seeing such a trend in greece hundreds of asylum seekers gathered outside a police station in the city official on a key for the same reason many reportedly if you arrest there's an opportunity to sustain me on 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 experts run a rough believes the refugee crisis has been very costly for europe. we continually see 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 indicate that the german government asked lloyds over two thousand. judicial experts to deal with the increase in crime cases concerning. about all. terrorism but this also pleases legally the. german traditional system it means increase also go on won't close. protests have again erupted

in the former soviet republic of armenia people there are demanding that the newly appointed prime minister step down the country has been shaken by rallies for over a week tens of thousands of opposition supporters blocked roads calling for a new government election here unrest wholistic collapse of the go between the opposition prime minister sorry sir the tensions running high riot police have been deployed to the capital euro zone armenia recently changed to a parliamentary system where the president has a relatively symbolic role on the prime minister gains more powers for gas and stepped down as president this month after a decade of ruling the country earlier he promised not to run for the prime minister's office but in april was nominated by parliament us the sole count. well here in this here in just over half an hour's time with more on the story plus the rest of the week's of top of the state with this move.

well the first to go was all over the up person and then to plant the seeds in november for the sake of the european soldier the dog. in the zoo monday the players are some go past bad stuff i've been. building for the board as a fiasco all powerful. want to stop jumping to the cia slush going to. be told i mean you sound so female to

ballet she says she's not. going to matter that a martyr. kind of dares mistreat me and. join me every thursday on the alex sullivan show and i'll be speaking to get a feel of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then . own welcome twelve's a part of much of the twentieth century of rising levels of organizational came

hand in hand with rising incomes moving to a big city more often than not amount to a better life that still holds true but not everywhere the majority of people leaving for big cities in the global south particularly in africa may actually see their fortunes rather than improve is there a brown eyes ation turning from a blessing intercourse well to discuss that and now we're joined by robert buckley senior fellow in international affairs at the new school in new york mr barclay it's a pleasure talking to you thank you very much for your time thank you now almost every country in the world has a version of the breakfast at tiffany's movie about a young man or young women moving into a big city attracted by its opportunities but i understand it from your writing that it is a rather miss all the driest perception of what are been a station is like more and more people are moving to bigger cities not because they

want to know because they're attracted by big lives but because they have no choice is that right that's right you know let me qualify that it's not. the general sentiment or how it still is that indeed cities grow more rapidly and urbanization happens as incomes incluse and so in some countries in particular in sub-saharan africa was witness to settlement in which people move to cities because the conditions in the country. either conflict or drought and so they're moving to cities in a situation where their income is an increasing but that doesn't mean their situation isn't improving relative to where they were they were in dire straits in the countryside and came to the city so urbanization is not correlate it with increases in income but it doesn't mean that it's causing their situation to cure i heard you say that many cities i'm now. prepared for the kind of and the flocks of

new residents and their planning. making planning changes only after the occupants have arrived rather than before as was the case with let's say new york or barcelona in the nineteenth century. and that in your view leads to the proliferation of slums i wonder if you consider slums a kind of c.d.'s in the in the broad sense of the world i think the sense of. kind of the mythologies of how urbanization fits into an economy was generally the notion that as urbanization increases societies become richer and that people coming to cities would often come particularly poor people and say in a slow as a way station on their way to becoming integrated into the city but no we're finding that in many african countries this is the third generation of families living in the same slum and they're not integrating into the society and so.