former first minister alex salmond denies any wrongdoing after he was charged with attempted rape and sexual assault. the political crisis in venezuela prompts a wave of international reaction with some backing the country's opposition leader as interim president others voiced concern over foreign meddling and the potential for civil war. and anti government demonstrations of erupted across venezuela and opposition supporters and police clashed. with microsoft includes a fake news detector in its latest browser in the form of

a rank sites for the us within the us that there often is a bias. this is r.t. and today. scotland's form of first minister alex salmond has been charged with attempted rape and sexual assault he's now being released on bail following his appearance in court in edinburgh. as more. look alex salmond attended court in edinburgh with his lawyer where there was by all accounts a rather short hearing it was also closed herrig so there was no public that no journalists there either but afterwards the court published the charges that alex salmond is facing there are fourteen of them altogether there are two charges of attempted rape two charges of indecent assault nine charges of sexual assault and

one charge of breaching the peace now when he emerged from court alex salmond was quiet he didn't talk to any of the press there but when he was going in he gave a short statement to the cameras take a listen to what alex salmond had to say yesterday with my. attorney the police station in central scotland where i was a leash was on condition i came to the court today to face the charges against me. for any criminality whatsoever but i refute absolutely these are allegations of criminality and i will decide myself to the utmost in court. the court system of scotland so that he is strenuously denying the allegations and

he also mentioned that the case is now live and according to scottish law there are rather strict reporting restrictions when a legal case is ongoing so people can say things that might influence the proceedings and the headline this story rather is getting a lot of headlines nevertheless because alex salmond is a huge political figure here in the u.k. he's the former first minister of scotland he was the figurehead of the scottish independence campaign he also hosts a show on r.t. . and alex salmond recently won a civil court case against his own former scottish government after it mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct against alex salmond from back when he was still first minister if the allegations came to light last year but they related back to two thousand and thirteen and just like he said there throughout that legal process

ever since these allegations came up alex salmond has always very many denied all of the allegations and any accusations of criminality against him. with the political crisis in venezuela fast reaching boiling point a split is emerging in the international community putin he's declared a destructive external influence breaks all the norms of international law the us president both for the banks the opposition is not ruling out possible military action. without considering anything but all options are on the job down the road which is all options or with all options and. i've decided to break diplomatic and political ties with the imperialist government of the united states i will sign it diplomatically giving all diplomatic and consular personnel of the

united states in venezuela seventy two hours to leave the country. at least on a quarter joins me in studio now is across this story and it's one where i think everybody's weighing in on this now with taking sides in one way or another whether the latest developments yeah definitely well the situation has definitely heated up in the past two weeks just several hours ago the venezuelan military said it will unconditionally support president nicolas maduro and defend the country's sovereignty as well as the constitution. the military. educated disciplined in sharing to the highest values are the core inspired by the values of independence peace and common good proclaim loyalty and absolute subordination to nicolas maduro the constitutional president of the bolivarian republic of venezuela my commander in chief you can count on supporting your daily effort to achieve stability and strengthen our beloved homeland. and the

international community has definitely taken notice especially after one declared himself the interim president on wednesday now many of the us is traditional allies immediately jumped on to that bank bandwagon saying they needed to calling for democracy in venezuela now most were members of the washington based organization of american states brazil argentina chile being few of those countries but it should also be said that there were many latin american countries that supported they came out in support of government specifically cuba bolivia and even surprisingly mexico but europeans also jumped in spain said that it doesn't recognize the legitimacy of government and the prime minister in spain just earlier today scheduled a phone call with the opposition so as for president french president emanuel macron he said that he was one of why those most ardent supporters. after the illegal election of nicolas maduro in may twenty team europe supports the

restoration of democracy i salute the courage of the hundreds of thousands something new zealots who are marching for their freedom so for micron protesting against an elected leader that's good overthrowing it not that that's great but don't do it in france presumably it's not a big fan of the protest is the right ironically enough just two days ago his government doc denounced statements from made by the italian interior minister saying saying that he expressed the hope that the french people would free themselves from macron and afterwards the french government risk. bonded by saying italy should sweep its own doorstep but it seems they haven't really been listening to their own advice in venezuela specifically. blots of countries now taking sides internationally i feel as though the sharks are circling what else have we heard on the global front yeah absolutely and there's also been international reactions calling for stability and caution in the region for one russian foreign

minister sergei lavrov said at a press conference that he's alarmed about all the talk in the us about a possible military intervention in the situation especially amidst repeated u.s. confirmations of why doe's claimed the presidency. just as. we can see another intrusions into a sovereign country's politics as you know they have been several attempts to oust nicolas maduro the fact that the u.s. and a number of other countries particularly in the region immediately recognized the self-proclaimed president means they had a hand in the creation of competing leaderships this can lead to chaos and a serious destabilization in the internal political situation. now china also took a stand against foreign interference in venezuela and it makes sense because china and venezuela are actually very close partners when it comes to energy production in the region as well as gold mining so let's take a listen to what the chinese foreign ministry spokesperson had to say about the

situation when china always maintains the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries opposing external intervention in venezuelan domestic affairs so there's definitely a wide array of interests said play here and we're definitely going to have to see how interest international reactions will play a role in developing the situation further down many thanks. ok let's get some more analysis on the story i'm joined on the line by robert harness he's european correspondent for the diplomatic or good to speak to. the french president it. is an interesting character there is quite happy for people to go out on the streets of venezuela and oppose the democratically elected government and what happens then to overthrow the leader that is not too keen when people protest against him and his policies is it fair enough to say that that's hypocritical or not i think i haven't seen it yet but i'm sure he will be violently

criticized for what he said it is the most absurd statement when for the last ten weeks we've had people rioting all over the place in france what would he say if the russians back. the yellow jackets they recognized one of them as the president of france i mean it's ludicrous yeah and you know some critics might say well you know people over there fighting for their freedom in venezuela but others might say well the french are there campaigning for their economic freedom is it just words or do you think that france will actually take some direct action in the country. well i think the most significant fact that your commentator referred to is the fact that the minister of defense surrounded by the general staff of venezuela made it very clear that the absolutely supporting material does very important what's where it's going to be tricky is the material has quite rightly expelled the american embassies consulates and diplomats but the americans responded by saying

we're not the president so we're not leaving and of course what they're trying to do is create a situation where maturer has to forcibly eject them from the embassies and then they're going to say are you doing all the terrible things people like you always do i mean it's tracked if you like and. i love robert i laugh i shouldn't i know but i mean it is a almost pharmaceutical situation isn't it you've got diplomats behaving like squatters refusing to leave and as you interpret it and i would probably do the same they're trying to entice some kind of bigger situation. absolutely i mean but we've been watching the situation on roles for certainly since madeira which was sworn in and since he was elected. i think there's another factor here that's not the mention that the americans and desperate to distract attention from what's going on in syria where they've taken the most terrible blackeye they might not

manage to get rid of bashar al assad it's taken seven years to spend a fortune it's a fiasco so the neo cons and trunked and the whole american deep state are determined they will have a foreign policy success in inverted commas and poor venezuela in the firing line but i cannot see the americans into the military militarily as long as mature or keeps its head and as long as the defense ministry and the army back in. and you touched upon a bit micron's words what do you think the interpretation will be back home in the l a vessel seize on it though it is going to cause more problems for micro i think there were i haven't seen it yet but i think there will be outrage i think people will be very angry and he's been bitterly criticized already by the spaniards who say there was no need to talk like that and the other ludicrous statement from europe is from the european union itself that called on the democratic forces to

take power and so on and the statement is made by the president of the european union donald tusk who is an elected i mean you just can't believe that these people are unable to look in the mirror and see how ludicrous their statements are twenty one thousand might be the year of the an elected official the way we are going or rather great to speak to robert harness is my guest he's the european correspondent for the diplomatic service thanks. mom. well demonstrations are still rocking in caracas with anti literal protesters taking to the streets in support of the opposition we spoke to the chair of the foreign affairs committee of russia's federation council of constantine process plays that it's clear what needs to be done. positioning in this very difficult and sensitive and fragile situation may cause further pleasures and. very dangerous developments i believe that the mode of which no is being used

implemented in israel is quite simple first to send signal signals to the civil society in a certain country that they believe in the worst conditions than any other country secondly to blame the government of this country for the existing problems and certainly to encourage the civil society of this country to go ahead and to start fighting the ruling thora this instead of seeking political compromises this is what is has been done in many other situations like in libya in iraq in syria and now it does happen even in winning again in israel society of does experience obvious problems but the position of the international community in this case should be should consist only in encouraging the political dialogue between the

ruling authorities and the sil society in this county. last we reported caracas has been swamped with people making a stand both for and against the government and some of the demonstrations that have been explosions gunfire and clashes. oh. the protesters in venezuela have decided to take things a little bit further siddur just blasting the president with violence and rioting they've decided to declare themselves to be the government and oppositionist and leader of the national assembly has declared himself to be the interim president what about the people but opposition is not one any election and there's clearly not a consensus among the people on any of these issues now at this point it's starting

to look like a civil war is a real possibility it's been preceded this coup attempt by the united states by several years of economic sanctions and by several chimes militarily by small groups of national guard or army individuals inside of the venezuelan government to try to assassinate president go mother it was elected twice there were other opposition parties that were allowed to run some chose not to and there are. contending forces in the country it's a polarized situation the usa is singing a song of democracy when it comes to venezuela but it's starting to look like they're marching the country toward civil war. r.t. new york ok we're talking doping on fake news after the break.

what politicians to do something to. put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to express. something wanted. to be this is what the. people are. interested in the law.

will come back the terms fake news and propaganda they become more prevalent in discussions about journalism and one program on french television is teaching children how to spot the photos distaste on which news outlets a telling the truth a recent episode was about russia's president vladimir putin and also this very channel so do basically takes a closer look. well this is billed as being in educational game a show for children around the ages of eleven to fifteen the idea is they go on the show and they participate in things like quizzes about topics of the day and they're also asked to hunt for clues and then to try and piece those clues together to find the result of a question and it's broadcast on france for that's

a channel here in the country and it's called escape news now its most recent program centered on russia particularly the russian president vladimir putin and ourselves here at r.t. offering what appeared to be a fairly one sided opinion of the two topics now close to the start of the program a young boy who says he's of ukrainian heritage is asked to describe who he thinks vladimir putin is and what he's like this is what he said so we're in the. woods and both grew close enough presume. to do that with their lawsuit aldrin both of them on the phone. well throughout the program putin is regularly described as being all thora tarion somebody who likes to oppress the opposition parties in russia somebody who likes to control the press in his country somebody

who likes to control his own image well what evidence is given of that well there are a lot of pictures of blood made putin in different guises from writing with a naked torso horseback to fishing to appearing in military vehicles the evidence of course to show that vladimir putin is somebody who likes to control his image and there is only one image that's being broadcast then the program goes on to target us here at r.t. suggesting that the channel is nothing more than propaganda the evidence of that. well r.t. it says is funded by the russian state no secret there but pretty rich from a program that's being broadcast on a channel in france that's also being funded by the french state well it's pretty difficult to be a journalist here in france so let's talk about that since president matt coren has

been elected r.t. journalists have been regularly denied access to events and even during the presidential elections before he was elected r.t. journalists should have been accredited for offense we're told when they arrived that they simply couldn't go in now arts he has gone to the program escape news we've asked them for comment on their program and whether they feel that it was one sided that it was biased in its views and altie has also gone to press freedom groups and human rights groups to ask them what they think of this program and to question whether a program like this is actually putting across a one sided view of the french state and essentially is brainwashing france's next generation in this instance real man approach and if you look at the different results of this little game of course it's fun for the kids and they don't realise

that they're being manipulated it is very strange to see the press which isn't good with the politicians in most instances in the west or there is go far i mean this will not remain unpunished i think there will be a big debate in the ethics committee of the journalist association drops i'm sure. and we took to the streets of paris to see what people there had to say about the show. semitone league syringe and i'm astonished that they teach our country that other countries are bad here we talk about manipulations by the media on the internet we would be better explaining two thousand kids not to trust what is on the internet or to trust only verified information the same should be done to adults as well but i don't think the world is black or white it is more difficult than this it is important to build awareness and to develop critical thinking not to tell them what's good or bad it's for them to decide is in the past lexus i don't think it is good to tell kids other countries are bad it is up to kids to

shape their own opinion yes it is a politicize ation of children we should not influence children we should give them basic education but not to influence them about other countries they don't know. the chief executive of the austrian company involved in the construction of the russian european gas pipeline north stream to has rejected washington's criticism of the project but while negotiations in brussels between russia ukraine in the e.u. on the current gas route through ukraine have so far failed to produce an agreement europe though is changing laws that complicate construction of the pipeline the commission remains fully committed to the gas that active amendment our aim is to have a coherent set of your own energy rules applied to offshore pipelines. cities in the case. of youth on shore by clients in while the u.s. has its own fears over the construction of the pipeline with trump repeating it

will play into russia's and the u.s. ambassador to germany so the other warning that sanctions may be applied to countries the back north stream to. as you are aware the united states strongly opposes nord stream to the pipeline poses serious geopolitical consequences to our european allies and partners we continue to stress that firms operating in the russian energy export pipeline sector are engaging in activities that carry significant sanctions risk but the german minister for energy claims economic threats won't derail a project that mutually beneficial for those involved to me so i'm trying to be sure for interest you see i work as a federal minister i'm standing here not pale and not shaking i'm not afraid if someone sends a letter i can deal with it russia has been our reliable partner for fifty years. the pipeline also has the support of the german public seventy percent say it is right to push ahead political analyst thomas fassbender believes the interest of

washington back to europe india kratz contradict those of the business there are two forces in europe right now there is one or two factions you can say there is one faction which over the last years has been adamantly against the extension of the existing north stream pipeline. and this is spec mainly by poland the baltic states and also not being a european member usa and they have a big support in the european commission and in the europe even among the europe in europe that's the second faction also quite stable over the years is the business in particular energy business who know the real importance of this pipeline and all the. different sources and she sources so this this boots up to

a situation where we definitely have one partly politically partly commercially drilling driven entitled north stream to flagship and run mainly commercially business and energy security driven pro north stream to attraction in europe. you are watching our to international thanks for staying with us i will be back with more right life guest and analysis to our top stories in half an hour. when the old maid gets manufacture consent to step into the public well. when the room in clusters protect themselves. when the final merry go round lifts only the one person. going all middle of the room six. million real needs.

u.s. veterans who come back from war often tell the same stories. were going after the people who were killing civilians they were not interested in the wellbeing of their own soldiers either they're already several generations of them so i just got this memo from the circular defense office says we're going to attack and destroy the government and seven countries in five years americans pay for the wars with their money others with their lives if we were willing to go into harm's way and willing to risk being killed for a war and surely we can risk some discomfort or an easy for us. in twenty forty you know bloody revolution to crush the demonstrations going from being relatively peaceful political protests to

be creasing the violent revolution is always spontaneous or is it your style or here i mean your list put video through me in the new bill is that i'm pulling it out of the former ukrainian president recalls the events of twenty fourteen. of those who took the lead invested over five billion dollars to assist ukraine in these and other calls that will ensure. a secure and prosperous and democratic. elite really. looking forward to that's the. yanks this is what happens to pensions in britain. watched as a report. greetings

and sally you taishan see the world economic forum in davos is upon us hawk watchers and this year the world's moneyed elite thought leaders and business banking and global politics were shaking in their louis baton women were going to pay who were they shaking was it was it the threat of another a bowl outbreak in africa climate change melting the arctic a possible world war three between the us russia iran israel syria's saudi arabia and any other nations currently at odds with each other well no no none of these things got them shaken in their whim wingtips no my friends what had the white gold albino sturgeon caviar turning sour in davos this year was the democratic brushwood representative out of new york alexander ocasio cortez's proposal of a seventy percent tax rate on the super rich here in the united states of america.

yes clearly the world is now doomed because rich people might have to pay higher taxes scott menard head of the two hundred sixty five billion dollar investment firm guggenheim partners told c. and b.c. quote it's scary he went on the pain a society ending picture of the one percent where the for the for the one percent where the public would be demanding a tax hike on the rich by the two thousand and twenty us presidential elections the said this is going to gain more momentum and i think the likelihood that a seventy percent tax rate or something like that becomes policy is actually very real upon hearing reports of proposals fear inducing impact in davos this year because we didn't responds it's wild that some people are more scared of a marginal tax rate than the fact that forty percent of americans struggle to pay for at least one basic need like food or red imagine if we focus posit.