in the stories that shaped this week raised over a video of an alleged chemical attack in the syrian town of to do with led to western airstrikes. locals who saw what happened. people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons we saw no sign of that started before in the water over the people but the seemed to be ok and then walked away without any help. and other headlines thousands of asylum seekers in germany asked to be arrested as terror suspects in a bizarre tactic to avoid deportation. tensions flare up in paris as transport workers continue their nationwide strike against the

president back on this labor force. and i welcome to the weekly here on our to international live with me diana hawkins wherever you are thanks for joining us tonight eyewitness accounts have cast doubt over the claims that the syrian government used chemical weapons in the town of duma earlier this month the locals including doctors have rejected a key piece of video evidence which was used to justify western bombing raids on syria a video was released by a controversial rescue group called the helmets medics those who treated the alleged victims said the symptoms were not consistent with exposure to a toxic agent.

people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons we saw no sign of that kind of chemical weapons were used against those people are medical staff would have also been affected. people poured water. predicting that we had been attacked with chemical weapons on them 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 and we run to where the noise came from and the started pouring the water over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any help but little 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 of people from doing more also spoke

to a reporter from a german t.v. station because. we're just coming back from it sound about five kilometers from here and it has approximately twenty thousand people who have fled from eastern guta and above all do much the people there are telling us very persuasively that this whole story from april seventh was staged by. broughty spoke to a young boy who appeared in the white helmets video you can see there says he was outside the hospital when somebody took him inside and began pouring cold water over his head and what as if has more on that 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 but then i had an 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. an addict who is water on me he put me here and then took me upstairs to my mother eleven year old ass and dia was one of the apparent victims in the white helmets video here he is after being drained 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 motion of the 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 and i found out that it was. he could have

got sick and he was undressed when i took my son it first told me that they still needed him but i still took away from the 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 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 the credibility of the what elements is also in question by a co-founder of pink floyd roger waters he says the group has been lobbying him for support in turn to sixteen a public relations organization called the syria campaign which works with the white helmet sent a musician an e-mail inviting him to a fundraising dinner the group claims its mission is to elevate the voices of serious peaceful heroes and help bring about peace orders though 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 because of all 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. last week just the day before he was due to play at a concert in barcelona waters was contacted by a french journalist working for the white helmets the reporter asked him to deliver a message on stage on behalf of sirius children he declined that request as well but had a message for the group. what no means. but my decision to . create propaganda as you use cherish with this to the propaganda of the point of mention of this we would be encouraged to encourage a couple of months to go and start dropping this in syria. i've known roger waters for several several years said that he had just grown so frustrated watching the white helmets footage and 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 jabot all nuts are 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 helmets on south and your mission from the global chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w visit to do more to investigate the alleged attack the team collected samples which will be sent to a laboratory in the netherlands whoever has expressed concern over limited scopes over the inspectors what the u.s. what and france chose not to wait for the results of the investigation days off to

the reports of an alleged chemical incident the country's launched and strikes against syria us state department spokesperson had an hour to explain that 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. up 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 of commentators on both sides of the political spectrum have been sharing their thoughts on the u.s. led operation with auntie some from supporters are disappointed i'm 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 trump 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 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 business is 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 and donald trump's rasmussen 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 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 u.k.

prime minister to reason may has been forced to defend the decision to join the u.s. led bombing raids against the syrian government without the approval of parliament justified the move in front of lawmakers on monday. 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 and 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 let no one in this house be in any doubt that neither i nor this government take instructions from any president. i. or the meantime a british tabloid newspaper carried out of poll following the strikes it found out of those surveyed most were against the prime minister's decision to bypass parliament on monday and tuesday hundreds gathered in westminster to protest against the operation. demonstrators also demanded a halt to arms exports to the middle east antiwar rallies took place in several other cities too including bristol and swanzy stop the war activists say the views of the british public are being ignored by the government. we shouldn't discuss this in parliament. ever so.

it's all in this country democracy goes out the window when you see in their own political interests why is it that the government is carried out its act without to buy a house of commons why is it that i carried out his attack. of commons so that's where it's a night. at least twenty four people have been killed during the recent street riots in nicaragua dozens more have been injured. protests against pension reforms have been running for several days now and spiraled out of control on saturday just hours ago nicaraguan president daniel ortega backed down and said he would cancel the reforms some of the demonstrators held rocks at police who responded with rubber bullets and later rifle fire one of those killed was a journalist covering the rest of the us and the e.u.

have condemned the violence and called on both sides to negotiate. now for the first time in almost sixty years cuba is not under the rule of the castros we'll have that story and more coming up just in a few but. what holds its institutions. he put themselves on the line can be get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president or injury. or something i want to press . that's a good way to be press that's what before three in the morning can't be good that i'm interested always in the waters of my. question. you go through history mankind has been cruel and destructive over and over again and our cities have come back and many are quite beautiful and wonderful place and

. if you look in the middle east in places like syria it's it's i agree with you it's totally depressed. and i wish the political issues involved with it could be resolved but i think until that is done there's very little hope that the saudis will be able to turn the tide of. welcome back to the weekly here in r.t. international fifty seven people have been killed and another one hundred nineteen wounded in a suicide bombing in the afghan capital of kabul lots of chording two officials authorities say the bomber targeted civilians who gathered near a voter registration center this comes as the country prepares for a long awaited parliamentary elections in october this year islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack. now after nearly six decades

under the leadership of the castro's cuba got a new president miguel diaz canal was the man chosen to succeed raul castro would take a look now at his path to the top job on the caribbean island. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel de can 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 of this change will have on the island the s.q.l. 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 in an electrical engineer by training and he followed every stepped 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 would i have not the first thing that we want to change is the economic blockade it makes prices too high i don't have the means i want the new president to think more about young people this 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 that 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 d.s. 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. thousands of french public sector workers have been protesting this week in paris

against president micron's labor reforms several groups including transport workers are refusing to back down in their long running strike shot a dubious cue was at the demonstration on thursday. this is yet another day of protests returning 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 good choices 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 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 who. are happy with the government because the poorest classes are always the ones who are forced to give them their wages are always the ones who are being given to days worth fighting for public services for medical services without good hospitals and the. i don't like the attitude of

micron's government towards the movements and the problems work is a facing somewhat so to stick head of state seems to be judging by his speech at the problem two straws 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 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 who 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 through optics bricks glass bottles

anything they can grow that at the hands of. that. 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 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 tormenting them now they've also been using as smoke flares to wear to attention to what they're doing the 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. just

a day before that arrest the president to plead to those on strike saying they should stop holding the country hostage police that are taking an increasingly tough stance as you can see officers in riot gear pinning protesters to the ground while making arrests thousands also came out in marseilles on thursday in a stop march it was organized by left wing party leader. mrs what he had to say the crowds i'm going to shoot i'm going to get you you're in a process where president michael's brother killers and this pushed everyone together every week the head of state seems to distract us and go further with reform so we need to see who to we know one of those plain evil like this. one thousand nine hundred ninety five he had to finally step back this is not fair to announce to the people i will pass over use i will destroy you these are not ways to act the president shouldn't talk like this sorry i could not stay silent.

all the large sectors on strike transport energy public workers health workers all these sectors are represented today on the. macron doesn't want to change like you will see when all the country is paralyzed he will be forced to negotiate. terra lated investigations in a southwestern german state have skyrocketed it seems that many of the cases involve refugees turning themselves in the drop of a has more on why this is taking place. 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 but you have an authority zone suggesting this is the easy way out anyone who makes

a false confession must understand that he is going to 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. and germany is not the only country that seeing such a trend in greece hundreds of asylum seekers gather outside a police station in the city of there's a lot of queue for the same reason many reportedly view rest as an opportunity to stay in the e.u. and the fastest way to get the necessary paperwork started a large queue formed for days after a surge in illegal border crossings from turkey geopolitical expert rainer office believes the refugee crisis has been very costly for europe. we can only see the judicial system of the european countries is simply not to you not to the challenge of. the refugee crisis is in the past years by and

twenty seven big. german government ask lloyd over to. the other traditional experts to deal with increasing new cases concerning. about all. terrorism there's also the police's leanly that on the german traditional system it means a sharp increase also in employment costs. almost three hundred protesters including opposition leaders have been detained in the armenian capital of yet of on sunday's rally followed ten days of unrest over the appointment of former president salih seventy seven as prime minister opposition supporters have been blocking roads i'm calling for a new general election the critics accuse service of you sound of a power grab he says about ten years as president had to step down due to

a law on term limits in his new role though he remains the country's most powerful figure in constitutional changes. and wild for all found celebrations in the german city of magna bug force fourth already used to use water cannon against supporters after the club secured promotion to the german second division on saturday twenty eight policemen were reportedly injured and eleven people were detained celebrations did start peacefully after two nil when that secured the club's place in the second when this league eventually though it did lead to fires being set in the streets with bottles and firecrackers thrown at officers who moved in to calm the situation. for myself on the team here at r.t. . good night for me in fact as well. thomas will be taking you through the latest headlines throughout the night international thanks for staying with us.

most definitely wasn't a victim of any kind of operation or at the russian side because it was both really destroyed russian could have to be exchanges out of concern and they depended on it because they certainly have to get their people back if they get into trouble.

oh.

pulling of welcome twelve is 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 everywhere the majority of people leaving for big cities in the global south particularly in africa may actually see their fortunes worsen rather than improve is a ribbon a station turning from a blessing inter cursed well to discuss them 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 dry spell.