i think it. was on the way to winning. combination. over twenty eight. russian wiki leaks i inherited from the democratic party. i mean it was bankrupt it was on the verge of in power there is still a very large proportion of the population that is uneasy with positions of leadership. this just shows how frail hillary is i think she gave a speech to the democratic women leadership convention i think a couple of days ago in washington and more or less admitted she just can't let it go and i think i think it's worrying because the u.s.

needs a strong opposition right now and hillary clinton really isn't it over and over again these kind of killing. and then putting out. just now i mean over and over again she shows that she's not fit she has a very polarizing effect on american politics the democratic party sold in america and without having somebody some giant figurehead i don't think will really see any great change right now and i think it's likely that trump will will forge ahead in the next election. that was released new populist euro skeptic alliance has met the country's president proposing political. as prime minister before the meeting the leaders of the two parties in the coalition stressed that in the new government it's only must come first. learning.

the only that you don't even want to promote your new cause or. president is expected to decide on tuesday whether you accept prime minister to formally rivals the establishment five star movement on the right wing more than only came together in a populist alliance president for europe. has a story it's been two and a half months around about since those elections took place in italy and it's taken all this time for the two parties that's leg and the five star movement from the left and the right of the spectrum to come together to form what they would like to do which is to create a coalition government with the leaders of those parties have been meeting with the italian president today putting forward this name of the person that they would like to be the next talent prime minister well his name is just the contrary he was put forward as a candidate by five star movement and the league who both said that they wanted him to be the next italian prime minister what do we know about him well not very much

we know that he's a professor of law and he's also the author of the five star movement justice program during the election but he is the man that will now lead italy possibly over the next few years where the two parties a five star movement and leg came together despite many differences during the italian at elections to form what they want to see as being a coalition government a government for change is how they've described it in their manifesto some almost sixty pages long which they both approved on friday well what do we know what's in that manifesto well first of all many things that perhaps other countries in the european union may not like too much including the idea that they would like to scrap the sanctions. against russia they also want a flat tax in italy they want to curb migration and perhaps most controversially

they want to renegotiate some of the. policies the commitments they've already been warned by a german minister and the french finance minister that they need to keep those e.u. commitments but these are two parties who have never shied away of saying exactly what they think to the e.u. . the choice italian people have made is a step towards freedom for the whole of europe away from constraints and insecurity we want to rebuild europe based on people not bureaucracy we want to be listened to otherwise all these sectors and industries that are suffering from injustice because of european treaties and directives will have to be reimbursed well some say the reason that they won that election they've been able to join to form this coalition ideology is because they were both euro skeptic parties and that seems to have gone down well with the italian electorate and they still popular recent polls showing that they are getting still sixty percent support from the italian

population you must do something about immigration because it's a mess and like the collison plan of course you want lower taxes especially for businesses so it's going to harden immigration we need to solve this problem but with a more moderate. i'm worried about how five star and league are going to make good on these promises it will be difficult because the powers that are strong well now the new italian prime minister has been approved these two parties will now set to form that government but the manifesto that they've prepared this change of this government for change still needs to be approved by a tally in new makers when the i's are dotted and the t.'s are crossed and the dust all settles on that it will mean that italy will be. the only country in western europe with the euro skeptic governing coalition at its helm.

now the last terrorist enclave south of damascus has now been really liberated from islamic state that leaves all areas around the syrian capital under government control state television footage shows the army celebrating victory firing rounds in the air assault the retaking the us what districts and also the jason palestinian refugee camp areas seen immense intense fighting between terrorists and government forces over the past few weeks local journalists now moderately brings us this report from the newly liberated suburb of damascus. the syrian army has taken full control of has a wide area and yet moved refugee camp in southern damascus following crucial spiting would isolate terrorists also known as down it. was you know those who. securing president assad and that you know who graffiti

camp means that their masters is now a terrorist free city for the first time with this countryside since seven years securing them would save the capital damascus from deadly mortar attacks that were previously launched from close here we are on residential government held orders damascus the syrian army to continue its pure operations across the country the syrian army command issued a statement saying that the syrian army is currently much more stronger and much more determined to continue its military operations until every inch of syrian soil after terrorist groups currently damascus and it's going to decide is a terrorist the area the army is to continue fighting and it is expected that the army will be heading towards either the north and or the south and are. now the official inquiry into the ground for tower fire has begun in london with seventy two seconds of silence to mark each victim of the last tragedy which

hearing will give relatives a chance to speak about the victims and everyone has managed to make it to the inquiry. explains why the focus of the inquiry is on what caused what spread the fire that took place almost a year ago and the lives of seventy two people and one of the most moving at counts that we heard from the public testimonies that were taking place here today was that of a man who lived on the twenty first floor at bell tower and at the time of the blaze his wife was seven months pregnant take a listen to his heart wrenching account of what happened so i called my son. hoping it's all. we should pray. for any kind of miracle. that you just.

because. she's made of the hardest thing to do. it was for. the courage. of. some of the relatives of the victims of this fire haven't been given the visas to come here in time for the beginning of what's taking place one moroccan man named lucy who lost his sister in the fire he applied for a visa to come to the inquiry in december but he said he was crushed after having to wait for months for it to be processed and now the home office have said that the visa had been issued on wednesday and that all visa applications are looked in on a case by case basis so he is finally getting his visa but by the time that you arrives

it will be at least three days in to the inquiry and the opposition labor party says that's not good enough and that the government is continuing to fail the victims of the grand tragedy the gradual families had to look behind even to get a partial panel although tourism a said she would leave no stone unturned in this inquiry she also promised victims would not suffer irrespective of their immigration status but is now fully in the family and wants more so the scandal surrounding the fire hasn't died down a hole and the burns house shell of the building is still standing in the middle of the bar of kensington and chelsea it's become a bit of a symbol of government failure isn't a housing inequality and social injustice and there are still big questions surrounding whether ultimately someone needs to go to prison but the inquiry here aims to oncet those questions it's going to take

a while. all of their public inquiries are by their mates here very slow moving this one is no exception. and washington is ramping up the pressure on crises stricken venezuela and has slapped fresh sanctions on the caracas government of measures come in response to socialist president nicolas maduro has disputed reelection on sunday the new restrictions banned u.s. companies and citizens from purchasing debts owed to the venezuelan government will now also become more difficult for cut across the state owned assets in order to raise money. sixty eight percent of the vote on sunday which was over three times more than his nearest rival two of the most popular opposition leaders though were not allowed to take parts there were reports of voting irregularities as well the u.s. vice president called the election the latest sanctions bolster others that washington introduced on friday against top members of venezuela's ruling socialist party the

current us government for its part says washington tried to sabotage the vote and it's showing aggression. let's go live to alexander main senior associate for international policy at the center for economic policy research in washington thanks for joining us great to have you on the program what do you think the u.s. has chosen this type of restructuring this type of sanction and what's the ultimate goal here really why now. well you know you have to wonder what the ultimate goal is because you know you had an election process that actually by all accounts was free of any major irregularities that was competitive in which you had a genuine opposition leader who was participating and the choice of both the u.s. and of course some of the major opposition parties in venezuela was to call for a boycott and it does seem that that was widely followed i mean the story here is

that these elections really were won by a very wide margin by mature oh but there was a very low turnout and in fact polling from just a few weeks ago indicated that had there been a high turnout that is if. the opposition parties and also the u.s. . had you know basically supported these elections and you know mobilize voters. you might well have seen nicolas maduro lose these elections in fact that was a very probable scenario with high turnout and he's got to pay the price he would i mean the part of the sanctions targeted government officials of course to help carry cash you know government and try and really how will the medea a government respond what options do they have at this stage. well they have very few options i mean i believe they're going to hang on. i think

you know they're understandably reluctant to you know give away to these tactics these pressure tactics these destabilization tactics because what they face is you know very hard line opposition that you know basically wants to clear the deck if they take power this could involve you know persecuting government officials persecuting their follow. that should be. you know this is a real likelihood in such a polarized place as that as well and it's very discouraging to see the u.s. administration supporting the hard line opposition trying to squeeze the economy really making the economic situation worse in order to see a sort of a more dramatic outcome than you would have through a normal electoral process again the elections that just took place were essentially normal elections the big issue was that. many of the supporters the

opposition did not turn out to vote they were discouraged from doing so there was a campaign against them doing so and i think you know this really. killed a chance for some sort of a peaceful political transition in venezuela because if the u.s. really wanted to ramp up fresh air they could have hit venezuela's kenya stream which is the oil industry that would have really turned the screws but washington stopped short of doing that didn't i why do you think that decision was made. well i think for one because they're ramping up the pressure of course on another oil producing country which is iran they don't necessarily want to see oil prices skyrocket and yet they have been going up considerably because of the situation in venezuela and of course the end of the agreement or rather the u.s.

pulling out of. the nuclear agreement with iran recently but you know these sanctions that the u.s. is imposing i think many people don't really understand them well there they are preventing the venezuelan government from borrowing any additional funds on the international markets on most international markets it's very difficult for them to do so making it difficult for them to really fund any sort of. economic recovery so it's really strangling the economy and of course we know that the economy is a shambles and as well at the moment that there is hyperinflation there shortages there's the deepest recession the been as well as ever experienced that it's just getting worse the u.s. thinks sanctions are actually contributing to. you know ever. economic situation that is of course driving migration out of the country and leading to a humanitarian situation with those migrants finding themselves in brazil and other

neighboring countries you mentioned finance that cutting off the venezuelan government's actions to finance of course one of the issues here the u.s. has warned china and russia that only the venezuelan national assembly can actually issue new debt not the. government itself or the constituent assembly do you think that's a fair demand by washington. well you know not not in the current situation where you have basically the institutions in venezuela go to war with each other so the national assembly is using its budgetary power to try to put pressure on the executive branch to paralyze them really and you know you need to take into account that this national assembly has basically never recognized the legitimacy of the executive branch it's not a question of them wanting to have better dialogue better working relationship it's

them wanting to simply get rid of president maduro they're not interested in dialogue again they're in interested in sort of cleaning the deck entirely and you know completely dominating the institutions of venezuela and of course in such a polarized situation as venezuela is in today that's a dangerous situation really. the verge of. civil conflict lead and interesting to see how that pans out parallel to the situation with iran of course another key geopolitical issue on the table now i'll examine the main senior associate for international policy at the center for economic and policy research thanks for joining us here on r.t. good to get your take today. and quite dramatic footage the gates of hell that's how locals at least describe this huge molten cavern in turkmenistan central asia filled with flaming natural gas now and burning

day and night for over forty years of video agency ruptly got a closer look using the drone. there's that loans for myself on the team here at all for this hour join us again

what i am muskets on for the latest global news up and say. hello welcome to sophie and comb sophie shevardnadze the american pullout out of the iran nuclear deal is causing a headache to think european guarantors off the treaty in case of germany's threatening firms that made a large investment in it on how well berlin and the e.u. deal with this well i asked intercept who again former vice president of the

european commission. washington scuttling of the iran nuclear deal that's taken europe by surprise german business is in the middle. country now under threat of renewed american sanctions maybe turning to russia to keep the nuclear agreement on board can be on the market restore broken times between russia and germany will the countries be able to mount a concerted effort to maintain the nuclear deal and will it be enough to save it kantor for her again former vice president of the european commission and welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us today. hello sophie good to see you so after trump took america out of the iran deal which means said here a pm companies a need on maybe subjects to american sanctions they fired back actually writing a law that would block european companies from complying with us to say on it on any our opinion who is going to out sanction who hear the united states or hear of

. i'm afraid. i have to because stick here if you will know you'll be a company or drive make a for instance and you would look at the figures of what kind of business are you doing and you know what kind of business are you doing in the united states do you have not much choice and you will decide to not to invest in your. continue to invest in to make business in the u.s. and if the european union really promise to compensate for all the losses. i can promise you that goes far beyond the financial capacities of the european union so i will be afraid that the american american policy of unique union that to the election the american policy of taking hostage other nations and companies can be successful at the end so they see

european statute that has been activated prohibits companies from cancelling their business with it on due to american sanctions so say that if i do european company it on i have to suffer the consequences brought on to me by the americans and if i quit on them e.u. will go after me doesn't this put kompany is between the devil and the deep blue sea how is that making their life easier annoy i don't think that the problem is. all of the companies. in india are on the problem is that the promise that went with. the deal was that we would do more and hope to develop the economy. to increase their living standard of people it would mean much much more investment than we have done

in the past and what i have said is and i would like to the peat that you cannot expect new major investment in the coming four major companies in particular those who are leaders who are leading in technology and innovation and i was really afraid that the american american action was bill calculated and we have no real defense against it so regardless of europe's countermeasure still he's saying the deal will survive without the americans i think it could it depends very much on the pollution between the gun to countries in particular. china do you hope and to european countries as far as i can see the are committed to it to do everything they

can to keep the dealer life for the people in iran of course the question will be does it be at the end of that i can or cannot see what we can see is this deal is really the deed and this idiot in jeopardy is the whole system of nuclear and on put it felicia not only in the middle east but but everywhere and it might change the whole security pattern of the book which would have only serious very busy a serious situation. this is extremely important to augur nice cooperation between the us or. the dia because i have already mentioned in order to create a count of eight so in the wake of the united states decision on it on donald tusk says that with friends like us you don't need enemies trump said the same can be

said about a u r u s m e u enemies from now on. absolutely not i must say. i like him very much and normally he is not using strong words so i must. be surprised so my understanding was that he was. about the communication american wouldn't use the term enemy but it is obvious. but the ship between the united states do you opinion is entering a new new age it's it's not like it wasn't a bust but. more or less the americans at the europeans shit the same use. the europeans except it that americans have to do to ship.

the americans. enough to provide security i think that's finished that's finished and been need to leave the fine. ship and the only thing i would like to see is i know it's v. in you'll be should not make the mistake to believe that the presidency of donald trump is just. a short living mistake. i'm afraid that trump is scruples and doing america much more than obama was and to do america should be oh well this policy will probably continue with the america i mean the america first policy so the french finance minister is calling dog european leaders to defend europe's economic sovereignty from the united states now at the same time he and his german

colleagues are courting their u.s. counterparts the new chain trying to get exceptions for their a company's from the looming sanctions so a kind of sour into is this if europe is repeatedly finding itself in backing positions towards the united states. you know it's it's the old the old problem the discussion is really old. how to do is to americans and to different views. then you need to have to have to work have to confess and i'm not surprised because the french interests and the german interest is a different you know it's not the same and so far. it's the two shits did not manage. to create a common position and my my view is that to be difficult very difficult do we want to have to create a trade war with the united states and united states is the strongest economic

partner for you opinion and vice versa. very much dependent on each as are. in a trade war and my view is it should be avoided as much as because because except that the americans dictate the terms of the business to be it has to be partnership but as long as they do not know whether the partnership is libya finished should try. to keep it alive so in germany was previously slammed by the united states for failing to pay its share of to percent of its g.d.p. to the nato budget tromp now assess member countries must pay four percent of their g.d.p. to nato it's your money planning to meet this target if almost nobody viewer up is it when meeting the two percent are you how is washington going to make everyone

pay for i can tell you that's a strong majority of germans and in my view a strong majority of europeans every b.-a is slick against you what. does do. not see didn't meet for. higher defense spending and. by. defense metis we have started to do that but. i would stick the oppose dia if you have to spend two percent. a common defense and. in my view an even higher percentage. not debate to. the trauma also says that those.