was. a. little. bit of the threat of. a russian company chanche just part of a trunk russia investigation pleads not guilty in court and made prosecutors efforts to delay the case. iraq goes to the polls in parliamentary elections but the vote has raised concern in washington as none of the candidates back its policy of countering iran. a top u.s. state department expert on nuclear proliferation resigns in the wake of trump's

withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal rejecting the agreement has come under fire in america and in europe. and sweden comes on the public pressure for a new study into the link between immigration and crime despite fears it could exacerbate tensions between locals and the newcomers. a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with mainak airing our top story this hour nearly a year on since the start of the special counsel investigation into donald trump's alleged links to russia u.s. finds president mike pence says it's time to bring it to a close. our administration has provided over a million documents we fully cooperated and in the interest of the country i think it's time to wrap it up it comes ahead of the first hearing in

a criminal case brought by the special counsel against thirteen russian individuals and three entities they're accused of conspiracy to interfere in the u.s. presidential race it was thought all of them were unlikely to ever appear in court but after one company decided to defend itself it turns out robert miller's team wasn't quite ready for that as jacqueline zucker reports. february saw the first real result of miller's investigation finally the russians were being called out directly three companies and thirteen individuals were named and shamed the massive indictment in the robert muller investigation breaking today of thirteen russian special counsel robert motors investigation or indicted the russians thirteen russians not only operating overseas but operating right here in the united states but given that those targeted are russian nationals with no worries about extradition to the u.s. no one expected the matter to go any further than media headlines but one company

named in the indictment concord management and consulting seemingly cold bluff by hiring d.c. attorneys who showed up for the arraignment the plea of not guilty not you think muller's office would be happy to finally have their day in court but no they tried to put off the hearing on the grounds that the defendant hadn't been properly served which is amazing as being served is just a way of getting the opposing party to show up to court but given that lawyers for concord had done exactly that the judge ruled against that argument it seems borderline immoral to indict someone unless you can prove he's guilty of the crime they did it for one reason only muller needed some russian like dressing on a salad to make his investigation look good the defense attorneys also demanded massive amounts of documents related to the probe things that hadn't been made public and there's no way miller's doing that just think about it turning over classified information to the people representing a supposedly kremlin linked company court investigators from miller's office that

they would have been thrilled to see all of the defendants show up like that was never going to happen and went on to ask if the attorneys represented a catering company listed in the indictment as well the aim of which was lost even on the judge. ok would you like me to do with now a status hearing on the case is scheduled for may sixteenth and will likely know by then if everyone is ready to put all their chips on the table. america's anti russian sanctions appear to have become somewhat of a trend in its foreign policy but the latest round of penalties are driving some officials around the bend.

a top u.s. state department expert on nuclear proliferation has resigned following donald trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal with iran he didn't give a specific reason but made it clear that he saw the accord as a success and thought it was working well many european leaders say they were taken aback by trump's decision was partly boyko explains i might have seen it coming. our u.s. president risking chaos in the middle east and in case you missed it he was surprised . don't you campaign by saying that he'd pull out of the

nuclear deal with iran but now that he's actually followed through with an election promise he's caught everyone off guard for some reason the world is shocked and outraged as if don't read assesses it's bed time spring pinkberry dull stool anybody least in north stirring up storms of their own just a week or two ago donald trump was being put forward for the nobel peace prize for insulting north korea into fuel and new start respecting republican president was that one of his c.v. so twelve years of torture is to play received in the well is which powerful nations a level of complexity rarely seen in global affairs as governments came in when but the negotiations pressed on relentless terms of you have the alarm on the deal was you are horrible on the plus side you didn't say very very horrible which in trump well they're more or less a compliment saying that there is wiggle room on parole the orange one said while

tearing off the iran deal that it didn't bring calm it didn't bring peace to and it never will he does not want to read baseball cap when he runs for a second term because one of the message a u.s. president can sell standing with the us i and egg on my face is europe's big three leaders. made the end that i was there and spent a lot of political capital trying to keep in the deal christ at least one of them kissed him in the end they learned a vital diplomatic unless the kid as many sheets as you like but the u.s. is going to do what it down will please the europeans and russia and china say they are dedicated to keeping the middle east nuclear free because. you know if. everyone took the news of trucks with drool in their words. comfortingly familiar way the europeans. sternly worded statement and iran burns an american flag in it. and israel of the area so perhaps it is reassuring that nothing really ever

changes. america's european allies say translators decision risk random mining international order the worst moral authority. this list i think it's not right to unilaterally cancel a deal that was agreed upon and i'm likely to approve when the security council diminishes come from international. it is never good for us to break the laws that we ourselves helped to create why because how can you convince parents that occasionally use force or violence but don't respect international law to follow our example when we don't even follow that example ourselves it seems that today screening and shouting insulting bullying systematically destroying and dismantling everything it is already in place is the mode of our times the former

deputy coordinator for the iran nuclear deals implementation believes trunk's decision shows disregard for europe the full interview will be available this sunday on artie's worlds apart but here's a quick preview. after all the bonamy of the meeting after the supposedly improved atmosphere in the merkel meeting and then he actually treated his intention to make this announcement and sort of telegraphed where it was going while foreign secretary voice johnson was actually in washington trying to convince vice president pence and secretary of state to continue the negotiations that whether or not he was intending to be rude whether he was trying to send a message this clearly isn't the way allies behave toward one another i think you see the united states disregarding the needs and interests of its allies and europe and other allies are going to have to look at this and decide how to respond in order to protect their own concerns president trump is trying to tear down the accomplishments of his predecessor i think it's pretty clear from his public

remarks that he does not understand what was in the g. c.p.u. a or what is in the g c p a way that also does undermine the position of the united states in the world we are demonstrating that we cannot take yes for an answer and that makes it very very difficult to make credible deals with the united states. well palls are now open in iraq in the first parliamentary elections that since the defeat of islamic state in the country it's a landmark moment not only for the iraqi people but for other countries too concerned by who will hold power that my gouty have takes a closer look depending on whose side you're on these elections could make or break the middle east not because of oil nor riches who that helps neither is it ideology or jihad ists these is all about friends.

first of three leading candidates hide the. current prime minister the best word to describe him is neutral syria stay out of it iran vs america stay out of it yemen stay out he would be bowing to iran but neither will he be a poor in america's efforts to isolate iran. can do that number two nobody. former prime minister he makes no attempt to hide his affinity for iran imagine if he gave iran bases in iraq allowed troops and tanks to move from iran to syria the israelis the saudis they will that one beat.

candidates number three trumps nightmare. a meeting this guy who's an iraqi himself food on the side of iran during the iran iraq war enough said i believe the american administration could be the biggest loser from iraqi election we have three camps fighting to win this election that many can only have one strong ally which is. always a moderate and he's trying to keep that alliance with the united states but whether he is going to win this election i have my own doubts i think that when it's that i'll. miss that i'll give you are very close to the indian and gaining a lot of support but i'm not here so i believe they had

a hand until now so you see the problem here one guy doesn't want to get involved in anything one guy is ruled by deep. by the with iran and the lust is so poor raney and he'll fight you quite literally and even with the weight steeped in its favor america says iran is cheating we have worrisome evidence that iran is trying to influence using money the iraqi elections that money is being used to sway candidates to sway votes it's not an insignificant amount of money we believe and we think it's highly and helpful it's bad so bad that western states are sending and bassett is to trying to empower an iraqi cleric who is supporters had been killing american troops back in the times of the us intervention he even warned two years ago that americans are a target all forgiven and forgotten you see he doesn't like iran

any day that iran's military general kassim silly money looks at the t.v. and is unhappy is a good day for security in the region and looking at. those meetings in saudi arabia will make you very unhappy it all depends on who is your on america lost thousands of men in iraq spent eight trillion dollars on the war there and to watch it all go to iran that would hurt. sweden is bowing to public pressure for a study into the link between increasing migration and crime levels however stocco mr long thirteen about publishing data that could reveal links between the two the current political climate. it cannot be noted the. information on the relationship between crimes on the one hand and dissent and

migration on the other hand is so strong that the also needs to consider the possibilities again the previous study in sweden on migrants and crime was completed over a decade ago back in two thousand and five the country's police have also begun leaving out the nationality of criminals in official reports the purse for this latest study comes after around sixty one areas in sweden were dubbed no go zones due to the volume of criminal activity there. you need to make clear

a shift in direction we cannot continue in this direction ten more years society needs to do more we need to do more we need to focus on the serious. and refine the earlier discuss the story with a member of sweden's democrats party who highlighted that his country hasn't been honest enough over the impact of immigration. immigrants from these countries create havoc all around europe and you know this needs you know you need to stop this inside sweden the media they need to stop your protecting them or denying the problems we have with immigration with the information received them from this how can it be used productively to solve the problem well i think that once people realize and one once they dare to admit it's the other causes of the problems from specially some kind of immigrant groups then it's much easier in any

gives an arguments to stop immigration from these countries because in the end our responsibility is to our citizens and i'm quite sure that you know this survey will be yet another one that will show how the media and the left wing liberals have lied for thirty forty years and about immigration can also say that many people in sweden commit sex crimes but we don't make an issue of their origin yes there are of course swedish people who commit sex razer crimes in general but that the thing is when you have an immigration you need to know how does that immigration affect your country it's better enough if a swede rapes someone that's bad enough we don't need to import more rapes into the country. a high profile whistleblower joined protesters in the u.s.

capitol like it's what she described is a trend of activists facing rough times takes and attention more on that it's off to the great. global blog w on the idea that dropping bombs brings to the chicken hawks was new to the battle but going. to do so for the tell you that will be gossip to the public but what. about the tell me you are not cool enough to buy their product. week along with all. the iran nuclear deal was one seen as a major achievement of american diplomacy but that's no longer the case donald trump's decision to pull out of the deal has reopened

a major international problem left allies betrayed and the stories confused. the world. welcome back american whistleblower chelsea manning has been protesting in washington d.c. over a trial next monday in which demonstrators against president trump's inauguration will be facing charges the former soldier became famous have to for having a prison sentence refuted by barack obama after she makes confidential u.s. documents she also commented on the recent case of activists facing abuse at the u.s. senate hearing last wednesday. brissie protesters placed all across the

country from california to new york to north carolina where they're facing charges they're facing felony counts off. the plotlines but. this is not new but it's certainly becoming more aggressive or certain. to stop. one of those violently arrested at the u.s. senate tearing was a seventy nine year old cia veteran ray mcgovern also his release on thursday mcgovern showed the bruises he claims he received from police offices. was going. on the first resisting. mcgovern came to the herring in protest against the nomination for the new cia chief gene hospital the video shows police were moving from the room while i asking him to stop resisting we spoke to ray mcgovern himself who described the senate tearing as a sure rolled this hearing started in

a most unusual way with each ear saying this. i can't wear my glasses very well because as you could see there to a shoot out of shape but what he said was that. this is an open hearing in the be a close election those people who want to say something extra. do it fast oh oh. so i noted that i take copious notes wherever i go especially hearings like this that i put on the top two i said well now maybe maybe this is an invitation to rick of make a remark i'll do it quickly and then i'll go the hearing was in many many respects a charade the people running the hearing especially chairman richard burr are known to be like this with the cia senator wyden said now ms haskell were you in charge of the interrogation the waterboarding of only shiri in thailand where you

personally in charge and she said well senator i appreciate the question but we'll have to take that into closed session because it's secret now who made that secret . it was junior high school so the prospect of gina has been the nominee making incriminating evidence on gina has book secret so that the american people could see on t.v. that she was indeed the torture in chief of al new shiri in thailand make it go to the closer should that was too much and that's why i got up and i said that i said senator wyden is entitle to a direct to an honest answer on that question. kind of is conservative house leader candies and bergen wants to know what all tours he said doing about at least sixty four myself i says here have returned to canada it comes off to one of them

confessed to carrying out executions in syria in a new york times podcast. this individual described how he executed individuals by shooting them in the back of the head he said that the people he was shooting deserved it and he said i know i won't be held accountable he said that at least twice before my so fighter who goes by the name of. abu confessed to taking part in execution style murders of sunny muslim men he said he decided to leave syria after the second time he killed a person he left canada in two thousand and fourteen to join the extremist group when he was just seventeen years old his life and now lives in toronto as canadian house members were told to their surprise this guy is apparently tried to kill a chance to serve more answers from this government actually wired to doing something. kind of his public safety minister refused to

provide details on the status of the excise or fighter however he insists that canadians are safe and that security agencies are doing their job and sandro bruno contributor to geopolitical monitor dot com the things western governments policy towards syria has encouraged people to join extremist groups there. many western governments have taken a very ambiguous line at best and at worse say france united states great britain of doing it the red line in antagonizing the syrian regime making it seem like it was ok to go and fight for isis given that you were fighting the evil regime of assad so definitely there should not be surprised of blowback but at least sixty such fighters will come back from fighting in syria rather than putting fighters in jail of the sort of debriefed after this story and has come out in parliament particularly people conservatives at particular in certain provinces don't like

trudeau will definitely make. this into a bigger story and i'm sure that true daughter will probably hear a price on how to explain before the next election. a u.s. congressman has asked the trump administration to resume its spending at the controversial syrian activist group the white helmet reports of washington cutting money to equip and a week ago though no confirmation has been issued so far i think a lot more pain has that story. well ed royce from the foreign affairs committee of the u.s. congress he has met with the white helmets on many occasions with other politicians he's been photographed with them he's a big supporter of the white helmets and now he's calling for their funding to be immediately restored we cannot the band and the region we must work with the news and use over to the diplomacy including financial pressure and u.s. assistance to change conditions on the ground the administration should start by

immediately reviewing stability thing including through the white house. now already the united states has provided the white house with over thirty two million dollars from the u.s. a id now they also receive funding from various european governments as well as governments throughout the middle east and when it was announced that their funding would be cut there were offers from the united kingdom to fill the gap for the u.k. to provide funding of their own to actually fill up that gap and make up for the loss of funding from the united states they've actually had a close tie with the united kingdom for a long time in fact the white house were organized by a former member of m i six they have faced for a long time accusations of having ties with extremist groups as well as the fact that they only operate in rebel held territories that they didn't know why the accusation that they cooperate with the extremist groups now the white helmets of always claim they're an impartial organization we've actually heard some very strong criticism cism of them coming from russia and syria and the governments of

russia and syria have gone as far as to point out that it appears that a number of their videos have actually been staged in order to effectively serve kind of talking points against the syrian government they're wearing helmets have lost their luster they've been widely discredited in the eyes of the whole world as a frog as a propaganda arm western military intervention illegal military intervention in syria mr ruiz will carry weight with the way home. he has a republican and he has the support on fortunately the rest of the congress is behind the illegal war and i have to say that this is a good time for u.s. taxpayers to pick up the phone and call their am their congress person and their congress person island or their senator and say i don't want my tax dollars to be used to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign country or about what the latest headlines at the top of the atmosphere

that. there's survival ecstacy just to start to think that all these are. issues there are you going to get it back. oh no this is a repatriation team would get the rest in seven years. philip to separate us treasury board. join me every thursday on the alex simon chill and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics small business i'm show

business i'll see that. some officials do not. fully understand or don't know fully accept the principle of football being beyond politics that's a fundamental principle of the well. we were granted some people may have opinions but it's their own opinions and doesn't influence opinions of the many other football fans through or. tickets every day in large volumes. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. and bart chilton coming up today apple is getting greener and more than one way are

cute manila chan explained the new and novel move by one of the largest companies in the world and how are new sanctions being imposed by the trumpet ministration on iran impacting oil prices and opec we'll ask name us law i'm the chief market analyst at the markets will join us from london plus big pharma and prescription drug prices are in the news as president discusses his plans just moments ago archies ashley banks takes a closer look plus we take a look at the economies of the eurozone and the u.s. with the founder of money strong and healthy mark you know who joined us from dallas and kanye west and dion sawyer in business news but not for good reasons we'll explain lots to get to but first let's get some financial. the world's biggest second best fund got even bigger this week three japanese mega banks have decided to join the vision fun led by the softbank group.