in the stories that shaped in the week doubts are raised over a video of an alleged chemical attack in the syrian town of duma which led to the western airstrikes are teammates locals who saw what happened. people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons we saw no sign of that we started pouring water over the people but the seemed to be ok walked away without any help. dozens of asylum seekers in germany asked to be arrested as a terrorist suspect in a bizarre tactic to avoid deportation also. tensions flare up in paris as transport workers continue their nationwide strike against president labor reform.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is the arch international thomas certainly glad to have you with us now i witness accounts have cast doubt over claims that the syrian government used chemical weapons in the town of duma earlier this month locals including doctors have rejected a key piece of video evidence which was used to justify western bombing raids on syria the video was released by a controversial rescue group called the white helmets but medics who treated the alleged victims said that the symptoms were not consistent with exposure to a toxic age.

people from the white helmets told us about the use of chemical weapons we saw no sign of that but if chemical weapons were used against those people medical staff would have also been affected if. people poured water it's that we had been attacked with chemical weapons and that when somebody from outside shouting about a chemical attack i don't know. we heard an explosion and somebody said it was a chemical weapon and we run to whether the noise came from and the started pouring water over the people but they seemed to be ok and then walked away without any help but a little confused somebody started pouring water over people's heads 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 people from 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. a party talked to a young boy who appeared in the white helmets video a sign says he was outside of the hospital when somebody took him inside and started pouring cold water over it is that. we have comments. 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 and then 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. that was water on me it put me here and then took me out serious 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. idea mostly d.n.c. i went upstairs 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 what it was

called and 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 to come away from 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. only that someone shouted about chemicals the credibility of the white helmets has also been questioned by co-founder of pink floyd roger waters he said the group has been lobbying him for support. in two thousand and sixteen an organization called the syria campaign which works with the white helmets sent the musician an e-mail inviting him to a fund raising dinner a group claims its mission is to elevate the voices of syria's peaceful heroes and help bring about peace but waters' has. been less than happy with the invite i was quite suspicious off to i was invited to that white helmets dinner now my worst suspicions have been confirmed on the face of it it felt those 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 and missiles illegally in syria all right and then last week a 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 syria's children what has declined that request as well but had a message for the group. what i meant. but my solution to the. korean propaganda machine. if we would 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 some serious. 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 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 a witch 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 on saturday a mission from the global chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w. visited duma to investigate the alleged attack the team collected samples which we sent to a laboratory in the netherlands however moscow has expressed concern over the

limited the scope of the inspectors work. the u.s. britain and france chose not to wait for the results of the official investigation days after the reports of an alleged chemical incident the country's launched air strikes against syria us state department spokesperson other now and explained that washington could not afford to waste time. the o.p.c. davia was 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 or commentators on both sides of the political spectrum have been sharing their thoughts on the u.s. led operation some from supporters are disappointed i have 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 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 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 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 you have 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 and donald trump rescues that 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. the u.k. prime minister theresa may has been forced to defend her decision to join the u.s. led bombing raids against the syrian government without the approval of parliament she 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 josh 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 was i. right a british tabloid newspaper carried out a poll following the strikes and found that 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. ok. protesters also demanded a halt to arms exports to the middle east to anti-war rallies took place in several other cities too including bristol and swansea stop the war activists say the

views of the british public are being ignored by the government. but i think she may think staying out when we should is there to discuss this in parliament that maybe she didn't seem ever so. little when it's usual in this country democracy goes out the window when you seeing their own pretty sickening tranced why is it that the government is crowded it's not without to buy in the house of commons why is it that i care about is it's like a fart renounce the commons so that's where it's on. at least twenty four people have been killed during street riots in nicaragua and dozens more are injured i. i. protest against pension reforms that have been running for several days and spiraled out of control over the weekend demonstrators hurled rocks at police who responded with rubber bullets

and also live rounds one of those killed was a journalist covering the unrest on sunday night president daniel ortega backed down and said he would cancel the reform. and for the first time in almost sixty years cuba is not under the rule of the castros that story much more coming up. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. theory dramatic development that only. exists i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit.

put themselves on the line they did accept the reject. so when you want to be president and you. want to be rich. it's you going to be for us this is what the before three of them will be good. interested always in the water. back to watching the weekly here on r t international now a suicide bomber has killed at least fifty seven people at a voter registration center in the afghan capital kabul eight children were among those killed in the explosion on sunday and more than one hundred people were

injured in the blast went off as people were lining up at a government office to put their names down for the parliamentary election due to take place in october state has claimed responsibility for the bombing. after nearly six decades under the leadership of the castro brothers in cuba has a new president miguel diaz has it been sworn in replacing raul castro let's take a look at his path to leadership. a new chapter has opened in cuba as miguel de can a live 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 to 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 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 good enough to monitor the habit of the first thing that we want to change is the economic blockade it makes prices too high i don't mean sorry i want the new president to think more about young people is he doing what you have i mean you 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 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. thousands of french public sector workers have been protesting this week in paris against president micron's a labor of forms several groups including transport workers are refusing to back down in their long running a strike dubinsky was at the demonstration on thursday. this is yet another day of protests of 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 through he says 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 here. i am 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 without good hospitals and the. i don't like 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. we've just come away from the crowd and that's because if you just take a look behind me might see the old look 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 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 down 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. 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 bands 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 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. all right a day before that unrest president issued a plea to those on strike saying that they should stop calling the country hostage and police are taking an increasingly tough line officers in riot gear were seen pining pinning excuse me demonstrators into the ground while making arrest thousands rallied in march say on thursday in a stop on march it was organized by left wing party leader. i think you really are 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 stick to we know one of those plain evil like this. one thousand nine hundred

ninety five you have 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 like this story i could not stay silent on that. launch sectors on strike transport energy public workers health workers. all these sectors are represented today on the macron doesn't want to change but he will see when all the countries paralyzed he will be forced to negotiate. the number of terror related investigators in southwestern germany has skyrocketed and many of the cases involve refugees turning themselves in or is explained 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 well 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 the german authorities are 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 over. in germany so refugees peter all of a. meanwhile there is a similar trend in greece where refugees are choosing arrest over deportation on friday hundreds of asylum seekers gathered outside a police station in the city of thessaloniki asking to be detained in a large queue formed after a surge in illegal border crossings from turkey political expert rainer off foes believes europe needs to rethink its asylum system. 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 clear that the german government has to employ over two thousand. judicial experts to deal with increasing crime cases concerning. about all i-slam just terrorism this also pleases legally the burden on the german traditional system it means increase also go on won't close. almost three hundred protesters including opposition leaders have been detained in the armenian capital yerevan sunday's a rally followed ten days of unrest over the appointment of former president sayres sarkozy on as a prime minister opposition supporters have been blocking roads and calling for

a new general election critics accuse sarkozy on of power grab and he served ten years as president and had to step down due to a law on term limits but in his new role he remains the country's most powerful figure due to constitutional change. a football celebration turned into a mass brawl on saturday in the german city of magdeburg police used water cannons to disperse a group of fans celebrating the local team's promotion to the german second division on saturday night fires were set on the streets with bottles and firecrackers thrown at officers moved in to calm the situation twenty eight policemen were reportedly injured and eleven people were arrested. and that does it for me i will be back in about thirty two minutes a little bit more than that with another look at your weekly stay with us.

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