i. of european powerhouses germany and france signed a treaty to deepen ties critics of the deal with citizen sovereignty adding it's a smokescreen for problems. meanwhile it's illegal for sanctions against france accusing it of treating african countries like colonies and fueling the migrant crisis. where the russian foreign ministry responds to a new revelations that the first responder on location after the poisoning of former russian spy surrogates for powell was a senior u.k. military doctor. plus the world anti-doping agency decides not to reimpose a suspension on the russian anti doping agency despite moscow missing

a deadline to handover date. good evening thanks for joining us this is r.t. and tonight. germany's angela merkel and france's a man you have signed a treaty to boost relations comes amid rising tensions in the european union from bickering between member states and certainty of a break sit and a rise in populism across the continent. explains. germany and france must tackle the challenges of our time hand in hand those were the words of angela merkel as she put pen to paper on the treaty of ark and now it was signed in our historic city hall the the historic well significance of the place wasn't missed at all by anybody that was speaking in fact if you didn't know about the history of arkan after this well you clearly weren't listening it was charlemagne's capital it's

changed hands numerous times between france and germany sometimes in bloody conflict over the centuries but the message that was coming from the leaders was the past is in the past but there are still battles to be for today and that there is a stark now about populism and nationalism becoming stronger in our countries for the first time with britain a country is leaving the european union that is why we fasten lead a renewed commitment to our responsibility within the european union the responsibility of france and germany in the. europe wouldn't survive disunity it would make it die that is the new frankly german responsibility for europe giving it the tools for sovereignty in terms of security also exists in terms of migration environmental and digital transitions. that was echoed by the european council president who was also in attendance he said that there were those at large today that would seek to bring down the european union well his colleague

the european commission president jiang claude younker was a little jolly and he ended by saying long live franco german cooperation long live year up the whole reason that this treaty was signed in the first place isn't because there's any major conflict between france and germany right now thankfully not the reason it's being done is to try and shore up some of the cracks in the european union from the major cracks like break that up to the potentially major cracks the fact that italy hungary poland not of the. i want to play the game the way brussels wants to see it played and that is why brussels paris and berlin all came together to say there may be trouble elsewhere but we are unified here so i had a look at what's in this treaty and why some of the plaudits mentioned today well maybe hard to put into practice in reality the draft of the deal was a little light on real details but there is a clear intent with it let's have

a look at the deal was set for an increase in bilateral statements when it comes to major e.u. issues now this is something that's already fairly commonplace from the two now it's going to be in writing there's also plans full fiscal integration and what's being called the franco germany konami zone. on the military front both nations want their armed forces to be as into twined as their economies with germany and france combining to reinforce nato. defense also what's being called the fostering of a common culture in the ranks and a franco german security council so the brass the politicians pulling in the same direction there's also foreign policy goals which may prove a little less straightforward including a permanent seat for germany on the un security council but not everyone is happy about these e.u. powerhouses getting even more chummy and cementing their position within the bloc.

europe is used to the franco german axis but we're seeking a new balance a new energy and in this sense poland and italy will be the protagonists of this new european spring there's also domestic upset over the deal alternative for germany say it erodes german sovereignty while the same sentiments have been echoed by the usual suspects in france are seen also triggered by signing this act on the quiet in the way to market on committees treason with briggs's. skepticism it makes sense that powers would look to. not brings us back to the question of foreign policy how will the interventionist french sit with the germans we now know for that coalition.

without any fundamentally changing global military outlook it's hard to see how they deal change much or anything at all. france has some of the italian ambassador of a hostile remarks apparently made by the country's deputy prime minister rejected my own accuse paris of pursuing a colonial policy in africa and of worsening the migrant crisis even going so far as to call for sanctions italy's other deputy prime minister martin salvini has also ruffled feathers by saying that france has no desire to stabilise war torn libya due to energy interests rather dubious he has more france and italy have quite a long story of fighting as e.u. elections edged closer the two countries are increasingly looking to bolster their

allies and to drown out the rival italy's it deputy prime minister has laid the blame for the ongoing my current crisis here in europe with france saying its impoverished african nations with its colonialist policies. we must address the causes of this crisis because people are leaving africa in part because some european countries led by france have never stopped being colonizers he even went as far as calling for brussels dissension in paris now some might say that it's a bit rich to lay the blame on france's colonial past given that italy too had colonies but to my use beef is that a cooling to him france has never let go there are dozens of african countries in which france prints its own currency the franc of the colonies and with that currency french public debt is financed by italy's been ruffling matt corns feathers for a while including in its support for the yellow vests movement been

a french i hope for the good of the french who are a great people that they come out of this moment of crisis macron was a laboratory invented product to stand in the way of any change on the horizon that seems obvious to me now. all while rooms hand of friendship is being offered to other e.u. nations disgruntled with the influx of migration including hungry in poland they cooling three european spring french president has taken up the fight. to the only system it is indeed clear that today there is a strong opposition between nationalists and progressives and i will not give anything away to nationalists and to those who deliver this hate speech and so if they wanted to see me as their main opponent they are right france and italy have many bones of contention immigration settlement in libya relations with russia

and they can't even decide on leonardo da vinci's legacy but they do have one thing in common both want to take the lead within the e.u. charlotte even ski. paris. there's been a new development in this group case in the united kingdom it's been revealed one of the first people on the scene to administer hope to the poisoned russian spy and his daughter was a senior army medic with the details his arteries police. it was a seeing our army medic and her teenage daughter at it it's been revealed were one of the first responders when again u.s. cripple were found collapsed on a bench and souls last march now the local teenage girl had recently undergone a first aid course at school and the family had been celebrating the girl's brother's birthday so they were out in the city center and the sixteen year old girl spotted the pair unconscious and she didn't initially thought that sergei

square powell was suffering from a heart attack so she quickly a loss of her mother who happens to be a british army know that together the two of them gave the script files first stayed until the paramedics are. right now the reason we know about this now is because the mom in this story nominated her daughter for a local bravery award that was handed out by a local radio station and the radio station that handed out the award said they didn't want any press attention immediately sort of in the aftermath of the script . which is why it's only become public knowledge now now as for the mother the mother's name is colonel allison mccord and she is now the chief nursing officer for the british army and she's got an o.b.e. she's had quite a career it's got to be said she's worked in kosovo bosnia iraq and also treating

him in sierra leone it does appear that the the girl and her mother and her mother live locally and allison mccourt appears to have worked in some of the military installations around that area as part of her role in the british military now the russian embassy in the u.k. has published a statement on its website in response to the emergence of this story take a listen to what they had to say the fact that this young girl was present at the crime scene together with her mother allison mccord who happens to be a conal and the chief nursing overseas of the british show me to the numerous extraordinary coincidences characteristic of the scruples boys for the more one has to wonder why this information unusual as it is has only been made public so after the incident the russian embassy has long had a bone to pick with the way the british government has handled the the aftermath of

the script while poisoning ever since the incident took place the russian side has been asking for clarification over what happened as well as access to the victims who remain russian nationals as well and a calling for an open and cooperative. investigation we've also asked the u.k.'s ministry of defense to comment on this story which they've said is a local story so they won't comment on it however they did refer us to to reserve may's a regional condemnation of the attack against sergei annually a script. or two also requested comment from colonel allison mccord's but so far we've received no response. with the political heat rising in venezuela in protests growing ever more violent the united states says that it fully supports the country's opposition and its decision to form a new government comes after un to government forces under president duros

inauguration illegitimate one quarter picks up the story. it's all out chaos in the streets of caracas with especially violent protests raging in the streets the beginning of the week saw an explosion of violence when government soldiers were arrested for stealing weapons in the capital right wing protests in support of them broke out into warlike clashes with government forces opposition a national assembly leader called for a meeting with madeira supporters to be held on wednesday but it's a bit too late to play nice says last week quite a declared venezuelan president nicolas maduro is entire claim to power illegitimate and c.n.n. announced the trumpet ministration may be prepared to recognize quiet though as venezuela's unelected president as a result of venezuela's supreme court has declared the national assembly as political power null and void.

trumps national security adviser john bolton didn't seem too happy to day's action by the controlled supreme court was a predictable and. the united states resolutely supports the national assembly of. a democratic institution that is brave to restore democracy u.s. vice president mike pence even said majority has no right to exercise legitimate political power nicolas maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power who is the precise the venezuelan people for. the united states strongly supports the courageous decision by. the president of the national assembly to invoke constitutional protections and declare the country's presidency vacant the mainstream media has been adding fuel to the fire with headlines predicting

a venezuelan doomsday going on for years already. it's hard to tell if the opposition is really that popular but one thing is for sure the trumpet ministration and mainstream media might not agree on much but when it comes to venezuela the government must go. i speak now to see andrew king who's a public policy ph d. candidate at the university of massachusetts great to have you on it's a sad story the suffering of the people and the trouble on the streets over in venezuela protests seem to be increasing the trumpet ministration says it fully supports the opposition leader why do you think the us government taking a stance like that well this is no surprise that all of this is a continuation of the twenty year protracted political economic and media war against the venezuelan government why of course because dural and predecessor who

are chavez are our social lives are you know unapologetic advocates for the poor and working class of venezuela in that is how they are in ministrations have operated in support of those classes in the venezuelan oligarchs or elites. would you call this an intrusion into the internal affairs of another country. no question no question is it so ironic right that the u.s. political establishment has been crying wolf you know over over russia and president trump being in cahoots with the russians when it comes to foreign policy right when it comes to u.s. imperialism an intervention especially in latin america there is a consensus right over months that the corporate elite and our political establishment you know under the guise of spreading democracy in freedom what we've seen recently just several months ago there was a drone assassination attempt against nicolas maduro. and

continued a relentless onslaught of demonization against this president calling him a dictator a usurper. illegitimate power when he was democratically elected in may in these are the exact same labels that names in media war that was used against the who were chavez government who was democratically elected many times are coming during a time when there was major voter suppression right in the united states the election in georgia was essentially stolen by a right wing white republican stolen from a black woman democrat fit right in we see voter suppression in this country across the country. critics though and they will say just look at the situation on the ground in venezuela you know the hyperinflation people are queuing up for food lots

as an exodus millions of people are left the country is that bad should every other nation around to stand buying what china's things seem to get worse can you say that argument that somebody has that is something. no question the situation is dire in venezuela due to were a myriad of complex factors but again with that we cannot forget the the multi-pronged war in the strangling of menace well or by us intervention us imperialism an economic sanctions have had a major impact on the ground. again ongoing matt mass media onslaught this barrage of crisis imagery from the quote unquote liberal media establishment the huge new york times the washington post c.n.n. every day we see images of crises in venezuela things appalling apart. it's true there is hyperinflation there are lines to get basic foods and medicines but we

can't forget the social missions and the tremendous social advances the country has made since the charges years you're talking about universal health care the eradication of illiteracy right you're talking about thousands of health clinics and cuban doctors and raising of minimum wages and massive socialist housing missions that have provided new economic rights and cultural rights to thousands of vulnerable venezuelans. appreciate your time i guess sanjay king public policy passed a candidate at the university of massachusetts in us thank you thank you so much. and thanks to god i was saying there's more news coming up after this short break.

i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crimes happen each day. eighty five percent of global wealth he longs to be old for rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china's building two point one billion dollars a i industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need to remember is one one doesn't show you can't afford to miss the one and only.

welcome back the world anti-doping agency has decided not to reimpose a suspension on the russian to doping agency that despite moscow missing a deadline of a key data on the sport correspondent ali. say to shed light on the situation i remember the missing of the deadline it was a bit of a scandalous headline in the global media didn't look good. for russian sporting or thora to take us through what happened let me take it through exactly how the story unraveled so on september twenty eighth last year after three years in the wilderness for the russian anti-doping agency the world anti-doping a. he decided to reinstate rosado the decision which was criticized by many athletes worldwide nevertheless there were two conditions imposed one of them very important that what the experts get access to the most called the board story the old anti-doping laboratory where the doping samples were kept the deadline was set

to be thirty first of december on december thirty first the delegation of water reported that they came back from moscow empty handed it was a lot of outcry both on the critic side and some on the russian side saying that this access must be provided immediately so right after new year this access was indeed provided the delegation of water came to moscow up to all the samples came back and now we have the decision not to reimpose the reinstatement to the russian and i don't mean agency and water has a very thorough explanation of exactly what happened let's listen. the date it was not received by the thirty first of december twenty eighth teen usually a code signatory is then given at least three months to correct that non-conformity before referral to the c. c. but in this case want to follow the special found strength procedure this was probably followed by full cooperation by the russian authorities as a result of which an expert team was given full access to the moscow laboratory and

was able to make forensic images of all the data from the laboratory instruments so the president of the world anti-doping agency craig reedy he lauded this decision today by the executive committee although he stressed that some of the members of that board war not really happy with the fact that russia missed the deadline but still decided not to impose any sanctions because that violation was insignificant and for the future of clean sport this decision was very significant it also shows according to craig really that there is a level of trust and cooperation between andrew which he hopes will lead to effective work in the future for the fight against doping i'm guessing that was the u.s. representative who's remembers incandescent with rage at the fact that recent. but like you mentioned in a statement three months it's kind of standard practice what's the russian reaction been to the decision well the sports minister of russia bifocal of course i would say the chief negotiator between russia and the wall anti-doping agency he was very

happy here welcome this decision said that this would bolster the cooperation and he hopes that cooperation will flourish in the future we also managed to get some comments from the head of. mr garner who was also happy but he said specifically that today's decision is a big step for athletes let's listen. you but i want to congratulate everyone decided to reinstate i also want to congratulate our sportsman and sports officials so we can now continue our work. with mr gunness was also very frank and very clear that the actual hard work begins now because not only will be you know heavily scrutinized by the world anti-doping agency also that the laboratory which was the stumbling block the one which needed to get the access to it has to have access again in case water needs to come back to moscow to collect anything or the samples although they claim they collected everything so right now it's still it's not a finish line it's

a lot of work ahead for restarted to be effective in its work i think it's a really important moment has a lot of sports experts will say you know world athletics isn't the same without a powerhouse like russia are involved in for the athletes to be involved. active and compliant so what's the future now for first and foremost after the daubing scandal twenty fifteen the trust has to be rebuilt and that is something that you know step by step is happening between rosado and water as we can see also. specifically said that the russian laboratory the new restart of the border needs to get a critic taishan and in order to obtain that accreditation the previous all the board story has to be completely transparent and open he hopes that happens every athlete athlete in russia should hope that happened because that's you know the future of all the federations depends on that what i cannot understand is that today we have the decision by water yet some people in the media come out and say

no this decision was bad and russia should have been banned again which begs for a question if these guys are advocating for a clean sport how would they want clean sport to be in russia if they don't want the agency tasked with providing that clean sport to operate normally in the country that's something i'm fail. in two to grasp but it will obviously have more reactions because it's a fresh decision sure many thanks we've been this you do it with the heat that. brings us right up to date i'll have the very latest news headlines on our top stories and more news from today for you just over half an hour sometimes here. lol make this manufactured them sentenced to public will. when the ruling

classes protect themselves. with the financial merry go round lives only the one percent. going the whole middle of the room sick moves. the. country has gone into a nihilistic fever that's why i think i. think it sounds to traveling across america to find what makes america take the charlatans the genius of the quintessential american hero this is it we've come a point around which alan would have done something we always are on the margins something. called the culture is really important because. we're starting last with is going to headed east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast i think i want to leave now doesn't get him oregon town of

the me maybe completely different end of this jet. ski. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics school business i'm showbusiness i'll see that. politicians do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected . so when you want to be president. or somehow want to be preached. to going to be press this is like the full three in the morning can't be good. i'm

interested always in the waters of how. things should. have the. final. thought. the blood room. now i was i was brought up to trust doctors you know a lot of people say i trust doctors they know what they're doing. until you find out that they don't and from there is a snowball effect when you're hurt by something

a medication especially. the doctors almost become. defensive when you're trying to tell them things like this and they're only answer is to try more drugs and try more drugs and try more drugs. and it's just scary and it's and it's tiring don't go to your psychiatrist they get offended because they have feet of sand the selling a fourth product so they get very angry as a group i mean they're always accept people as a group they get angry they might even lock you up for wanting to come off your psychiatric drugs they do get paid tax i mean they do get paid per kid per household whatever so you know i don't know how it works that. it a system on self so who can pay for it so the poor the disadvantaged.