the mainstream narrative by claiming a video. was in fact staged. so there was no direct evidence. in the twenty sixteen presidential. looking into the allegations for years. would you support an

arm. with a. permanently impaired. the country's president the u.s. special envoy for. america. it is valentine's day so we go to the city of love people who they think donald trump secretly. happy b. day can't wait for. his says he should really get along with. me. she could do with.

sunshine and minus eight in moscow on this valentine's day from all of us here welcome to your thursday program on r t international. the b.b.c.'s syria producer is challenging the mainstream narrative on an alleged chemical attack in the country he claims that video over the supposedly aftermath of a toxic strike in the syrian city of duma was in fact staged now it is a line that russia and damascus have long maintained others though accepted the video at face value touting it as evidence of the syrian government attacking its own people so our correspondent artie's but it goes the investigation. you don't hear it very often not even a doubt not a suspicion but a certainty that the hospital scenes of the alleged chemical attack in duma was staged and this is coming from the b.b.c. syria producer after almost six months of investigations i can prove without

a doubt that the duma hospital scene was staged no fatalities occurred in the hospital the incident in question occurred almost a year ago when the syrian military took on the army of islam in the town of duma. the white helmets working with islam missed released videos of an alleged chemical attack hospitals people in panic reaction was immediate and violent trump launched more than one hundred cruise missiles that syria france and britain chipped in the un security council in our poor few kennie's time to think for years duma had been held by the army of islam hard core islam it's the same guys that caged woman and elders and roofs to protect themselves and. s

trikes i can tell you that jaish al islam rules dumont with an iron fist they co-opted activists doctors and humanitarians with fear and intimidation you may also remember in the lead up to this incident russia warned this could happen and that rebels might stage a chemical attack to invite foreign intervention the rail and evacuation deal we have undeniable evidence that this was yet another staged attack that involved intelligence agencies of one of the countries that is rushing to spearhead a recent campaign. but no one in the west listened or pretended not to hear the media not the politicians here by the way is how b.b.c. reported in the incident back then disturbing reports of a chemical weapons attack chemical attack carried out by the acid regime magics are doing more. but they're overground dozens of people have been killed due to poison

gas a chemical attack did happen believes ria but everything else the casualties that panic the videos those were meant to achieve something what evidence rianne has we don't know side from a few tweets details are scarce we're waiting for more we've requested comment from riyadh and the b.b.c. and we'll keep you posted but it seems odd for the first full blown his styria over supposed chemical attack casualties and not quite be how it's claimed. the senate intelligence committee chairman has reiterated that there is no direct evidence that donald trump was colluding with russia during the twenty sixteen presidential race he's been leading a two year investigation into this matter. i'm not sure how to put it any clearer than i said before we have no financial evidence of collusion between the trump

campaign and russia the two year probe got parts of the media very excited expecting to find some sort of smoking gun. but the walls feel like they're closing in on the truth of ministration right now i'm not sure they could hold them off for much longer the walls are closing in and everyone is freaking out the walls are closing the wheels are coming off. the walls are closing in on president trump walls are closing it with trump on the walls are closing in on the trump white house. column the walls are closing in at this point the walls are closing. fast after two years two hundred witnesses and three hundred thousand documents if we were to report based upon the facts that we have that we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion between the trim campaign and russia democrats have now confirmed this to n.b.c. on conditions of anonymity send investigators have access to highly classified intelligence so for example if there was an intercept between some russian

intelligence officers suggesting that they were conspiring with the truck campaign they would see that that has not emerged so that evidence does not exist and trump will claim vindication so donald trump has spoken up the it twitter the senate intelligence committee there is no evidence of collusion between the truth campaign and russia well the twitter sphere lit up because for two years n.b.c. has been pushing the trump russian narrative now they're saying the opposite. n.b.c. news and n.b.c. have been telling us for two plus years that there is always evidence of collusion to the russians hacked their accounts. breaking news the nurse if we've been spin on endlessly for two years it was based on ciro evidence it seems that it wasn't lost on n.b.c. themselves who did everything and to walk back their affiliation but on the very same day we heard this on the very same channel senator byrd coming out and saying there was no direct it is that kind of conspiracy that also really struck me

because prosecutors almost never how direct but it was to the intelligence committee came out and said they found no direct evidence of criminal conspiracy but that's not the senate intelligence committee is read it it is the f.b.i. in a special counsel's team to do the criminal investigation so he doesn't have any evidence but he somehow just knows it's there mr trump's claims. you know whole quash is the claims of a former cia director who previously called doubts on allegations of collusion he is not alone in speaking up and saying that what can't be proven somehow must unquestionably be true. the new u.s. special envoy for venezuela has been accused of lying by the house foreign affairs committee elliott abrams was quizzed about washington's efforts to install opposition leader one quite go as one as well as president in a bid to oust its current president nicolas maduro the session was ultimately interrupted several times by antiwar activists. it was going to set me

right back to the party that is what is already. the activists were dragged out and arrested they were trying to draw attention to abram's alleged human rights violations in latin america has struck a chord also came up in some tough questions from members of congress. would you support an armed faction within venezuela that engages in war crimes as you did in guatemala el salvador and nicaragua i am not going to respond to that. kind of personal attack which is not a question do you feel that your past actions in iran contra permanently impair your ability to fairly and transparently deal in the region my question is whether you're aware of any transfers of weapons or defense equipment by the united states government to groups of venezuela i ask this question because you have

a record of such actions nine hundred ninety one that you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress regarding your involvement in the iran courtroom affair i fail to understand why members of this committee or the american people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful i don't think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions and so i will not reply as mentioned just abrams was twice convicted of unlawfully withholding information from congress in one nine hundred ninety one over him covertly selling weapons to iran to fund nicaragua rightwing rebels in the one nine hundred eighty s. his portfolio also includes accusations of covering up massacres and supporting that were pressuring repressive kind of dictators in guatemala el salvador and honduras. gold one of the protesters at the session explained why she felt the need

to act. as he started to speak i just couldn't help myself but to stand up and tell congress to tell the foreign affairs committee don't listen to this war criminal elliott abrams has shown how much he wants to go to war and this is putting venezuela really dangerous situation most likely plunging the country into a bloody civil war and it's not what the people of venezuela want the majority of venezuelans. not why us military intervention and yet we're in this dangerous situation where it's a real possibility. while the rest in venezuela has been occupying minds in washington for weeks the antigovernment protests in haiti which saw six people killed have been largely ignored on wednesday hundreds marched to the national

palace in the country's capital and sixteen the president steps down the demonstration quickly descended into chaos. of a rising prices economic stagnation and corruption protesters hold roughshod police while riot officers tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas and we spoke about the demonstrations both in haiti and just across the caribbean sea in venezuela with willian robinson professor of latin american studies eighty is facing a crippling socio political and economic crisis it's getting worse inflation is meaning that food increasingly out of the reach of poor people unemployment is high and it is rising the haitian government is a close ally of the united states it's as simple as that united states is going to destabilize and overthrow the been swirling government for for the last twenty years and at the same time it has been propping up in the elite far right wing government incredibly corrupt government which rules over

a social order which benefits a tiny minority for the last thirty forty fifty years so that's nothing new i mean it's not been not only surprised but it does demonstrate the complete accuracy and double standard of u.s. foreign policy towards the region and towards these two countries has gone through really decades now of constant foreign u.s. led intervention the u.s. is already intervening behind the scenes it has never started to phoenix haiti is one of the most interesting country maybe the most intervened in the whole western western hemisphere. program here on r.t. international it is for the fourteenth a k. hines day good enough excuse for us to look at the relationships between the most powerful people in the world reporting from the city of love shawna to. as couples across the globe celebrated day of love we thought we'd take

a look at the burning passions between will to lead is what makes for a great relationship well for starters chemistry is very important. that we have to make room for years for where would we be without something igniting or flames of course sometimes that spark just isn't there and well that can be a bit awkward especially when the camera's always around. you know every relationship goes through its ups and it stands i mean who doesn't have

skeletons in their clothes it. really doesn't really want to make a go of things and they'll do what any good therapist would suggest they work through it i was really being tough and sure wish i would go back and forth and then we fell in love ok no really he wrote me beautiful letters well if there's one thing we know about trump a little like building walls but sometimes even if he has a boundary issues the president criticize to rescind a. saying that her plan for brakes it was poorly going to be poorly executed which is essentially the worst thing you could say about her on the first broadside against twitter and france's military record for more nato funding president trump the attack the fight beginning at breakfast today at one point today the president asking what good is nato and saying germany is captive to russia well mr make

america great again could have some toys to mend i want better way than the other until i. so who should be top of trump's valentine card list this year. with. a million man whose research to to luke wiser. prime minister trudeau. i think he should really get along with tourism a series of may she could do with some help the mexican president in your obrador happy v.-day can't wait for you to pay for it all he says.

but most of all the number one lesson is that before you can love someone else you have to lock it in for yourself first. we're running down the top stories for this hour from all around the world live on our international guest host of program can take you know. i've been saying the numbers mean something they've mattered the us is over twenty trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crimes happen each day. eighty

five percent of global wealth he longs to the ultra rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise west year some with four hundred to five hundred tree first second per second and twenty rose to twenty thousand dollars. china's building two point one billion dollars ai industrial but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need remember in one one business show you know the mid one and only boom but. if their stories welcome to them the french capital has seen

a large demonstration against police violence organized by various yellow vest groups and comes as one of their own protestors a former national boxing champion is jailed for a year for beating an officer at a rally in january a video of christophe just throwing punches at a john dom went viral and even led to a manhunt one witness claims he was acting in response to a police assault a former boxer has expressed regret over his aggressive reaction. i saw the repression that was i saw the police. i've seen the police hurt people with flash bull's eye. simply pull hurt of sin pensioners get gassed of sin a lot of things i was tear gassed on the last day yes i want to dance on the riot police was gassed with my friends and my wife i was gassed and for a moment the anger came up in me yes well i wrecked it badly i reacted badly but i was defending myself and that's. the figure they used tear gas against us and then

started listeners with battles i found myself on the ground blowing cold up i was then chased by the police who tried to grab me another policeman from the rapid response call then turn up and try to grab me he punched me in the face right in the teeth and then he kicked me i have severe lung disease the slightest blow can cause them to tear if that happens i die the boxer saved my life if he hadn't done what he did i would have died on the spot you. french authorities say that almost two thousand people have been convicted for offenses committed during the yellow vest protests the country's prime minister says fourteen hundred more are currently awaiting sentencing. well we spoke to fiorina linea who was hit in the head with a stun grenade in december she says she's on the brink of losing it i because of it here is her story. it is still there we were on the show it was call my first and

there were very calm yellow vests around us then some hooligan started randomizing a shop on another side of the street trying to set fire to a policeman started to shoot to help firefighters to get through and it was the last thing i remember because after that i fell and a grenade hit my head oh now i know you were never going to put. my are you still in great pain and there will be removed in the next operation doctor said he can be saved it's too painful to touch it i can move it and i can't read i think our society is very unfair and we can't put up with it it doesn't affect me directly but in five six years i'll be paying taxes i'm also concerned about the lies of pensioners who are forced to work because they can barely make ends meet this is outrageous unfair and i moved to paris because this whole situation it's not ok for police and a call to work every saturday i understand that they're tired ripped through teague

is not an excuse for everything especially for leaving people without ice hooligans were in the right and i was on the left so explain to me why the policeman fired in my direction is not normal france is one of the oldest democratic countries in the world with it is not normal that this is happening here and we think this only happens in other countries but it's happening here in france it's unbelievable. and iranian photo journalist has lashed out at donald trump after he bashed around on twitter posting a photo of a protest that she had taken. yalda said the photo was used without permission the american president published the tweet in both fasi and english on monday as iranians mock the fortieth anniversary of the overthrow of the u.s. backed shah yelled at my already condemned donald trump for using a photo and video agency ruptly spoke to the photo journalist. but. i have no twitter account and someone send this picture to me i did not expect this

picture to become viral or to this picture in december thirty years two thousand and seventeen during approach is said to run university against economic situation in the country these photos are like a mirror which we should use for our society and with ourselves and think that these are our problems i am upset as this issue is used for other things and not to help our society this issue has bothered me for a long time but that was. issued a lengthy instagram post in which. by his policy saying u.s. sanctions are devastating the lives of iranians. in the. as a matter of fact my produce against this tweet can be defined as a social aspect and emotional release of family spurstow right by families in the us and we haven't seen each other for years because of the travel plans and i felt like my family was imprisoned because we could not have been visit each other in another country this is an issue that has happened in almost every family and has

affected our society on the other hand the economic and social impact of sanctions that affect the people including those who are not interested in political issues caused me to show a symbolic protest it was not something like a legal complaint or any other thing. italian fashion house gucci used to give star culturally sensitive lessons after a backlash over its products its one of a number of brands to have been accused of racism lately for releasing the lines baring black face imagery most recently katy perry design shoes were removed from shelves after accusations they resembled black face makeup earlier this month at gucci was taken to task over a polo neck which some people said resembled a black face costume and in december prada with true line of monkey key chains after consumers complained they look like caricature has of black people. all three fashion brands apologized though not everyone was entirely satisfied by that so we

spoke to a video artist i'm on and on and media specialist cameron thomas to get death. i believe there is a clear alive for sensitivity to issues that are particularly jarrin in her school or offensive at the moment in this country in the us not only is black history month but it's also time where conservative politicians in this country including the president of the denounce are particularly time that when it comes to racial issues and it's very very important our rulers artists and from editors and creative scholar of all sorts designers as well it's very important that we start listening to what's happening and not move and we need to respond to the current political savior of with our creation in terms of the issue it's an overreaction this is an issue that's really feeding into a bigger issue a black face that's coming out of virginia. and i think in the in the

communications feel old i think we call this i think we call this moral panic you know so when a bigger issue is framing all kinds of other smaller issues within you know within the culture that get included is a huge reaction you know katy perry had these shoes in august he was nine different colors in his white case it was blackface it was gold plate gold face it was red face the shoes look clearly. iconic you know i was going to america and or black artists and designers we should do much better than the politicians that are creating what i am decliners the politics of god for it we need to lead the way forward to create connections to understand each other and go to dig down into the you know the. the motivation and psychology of the fashion designer you know maybe they are maybe they are creating these lines to create controversy about just about

wraps up the program for this hour here on r t international there are many more of it so it's a story still to come at the top of the hour when we return i hope you can join has . no competition the stock price discovery say and a fake prices in fake prices beget fake news that's what comes out of fake prices fake news you want to get rid of fake news restore competition in the marketplace to get real prices and then you'll get real.

simply. that still depends on miles from absolute given depends on the we need to do that with. less impact because. i went up at a sort of meeting they. were sort of my limit was speculation to me or the here now with jamie as well him going to stay. now at the five day a good lesson but because a lot of money but that never i see let him make the point i mean it would be in the middle have been floating closer gave up because of me. see he said no when i would.

this is boom bust broadcasting around the world and covering the world of business of finance of the impact upon all of us i'm part in washington welcome aboard we're glad to have you coming up today while the economy continues to soar many have had their economic wings clipped professor richard wolf joins us to analyze why a record number of americans are behind on their car payments and an early look at the impact on average people of the new u.s. tax law he's standing by plus the pharma sector continues to be happy and healthy as johnson and johnson make a huge acquisition at american of the at american trading group is back to tackle today's huge headlines and how companies and investors might be impacted and later we take a look at the fear factor but maybe not the one you're thinking of worst rashard is

back on the program to demystify the vix the ball of killing the index all that in our sights but first we had right there's a mad line let's go. the race to blunt the impact of brecht's that leads our global report today as the governor of the bank of england makes a dire warning about the consequences of a no deal brecht scenario for the united kingdom and the world on tuesday the british central banker mark carney said at an event sponsored by the financial times quote we should not be under any illusions no deal brecht's it would be a shock for this economy and send a signal globally about the prospects of responding globalisation meanwhile prime minister theresa may is pleading with parliament for two more weeks to somehow coax a better offer from e.u. negotiators a motion to that effect is expected to.