gran's foreign minister mohamad. announces his resignation he made a statement on social media on monday the reason for the resignation remains unclear so far. u.s. vice president mike pence meets a venezuelan self-proclaimed president in colombia where he arrived to announce washington's plans to resolve the crisis that comes after a weekend of violence triggered by america's attempts to deliver aid which has been rejected by caracas. a referendum sees that the people of okinawa rejected plans to relocate a u.s. military base from one part of the japanese island to another but locals fear it will happen anyway. the japanese government is pushing through the construction

site there are many people protesting in every day. and those donald trump prepares for his second meeting with a north korean leader kim jong il we look at how the host nation vietnam is getting ready for the summit. are broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us and we start with some breaking news of an interesting story at this hour iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif has unexpectedly announced he is stepping down as a nation has been confronted by iran's state run news agency but no reason for the move was disclosed he's a correspondent has more. on instagram he was very vague saying that he apologized for any kind of shortcomings. timea as foreign

minister he hasn't as of yet given any reason as to why he was signed we know that this resignation needs to be accepted by president rouhani but certainly it will be a blow to the president because the foreign minister was a close ally particularly in his dealings with the west he became zarif the foreign minister back in august two thousand and thirteen he is a career diplomat he's well known for being a good orator for being fluent in english and he has over the years held a significant number of diplomatic and cabinet posts including being iran's permanent representative to the united nations two years after he was appointed foreign minister in two thousand and fifteen he led the iranian negotiators team for the landmark nuclear deal and when he spoke to journalists in vienna he was clearly emotion or he spoke extremely well and at that stage he did say that negotiations were making progress but that as of yet a deal had not been reached on when the deal finally was reached it's sexist

largely did raced on his shoulders and his reputation was tied up with it the fact that the americans later with withdrew from the deal the fact that america president donald trump we impose sanctions the fact that the economy in the rand is struggling a lot of that is being blamed both on him and on the president in recent months he has appeared visibly strained and he's normally collected composure has been noticed by observers to be a little bit visibly flustered and not so smooth a politician as we've come to expect him to be but as i say as of yet no reason given as to his resignation we're waiting. for more on this we can cross to political science professor colum develop who joins us live to discuss this entire situation thanks for being with us you know when things like this happen it's always good to get your perspective this happened right out of the blue at least to many people observing the situation in iran his leaving now seems out of the blue.

any thoughts for any possible region reason for departure. mr thomas as international relations watchers we have to look at the objective situation to understand why different actors do what they do with foreign ministers a re resigning that this particular term what's going on well we've seen president trump pull out of the joint comprehensive plan of action back in may of last year and this was an agreement between iran and. other western powers to create they agreed not to develop nuclear weapons and to have some sort of understanding with the west press with president trunk pulling out of that agreement and threatening directly threatening iran calling for the

overthrow of the iranian government this hare's coeds the hardliners in iran to assert themselves over the more moderate camp foreign minister zarif was considered part of the moderate camp and president rouhani attempt to have some sort of understanding with the wells and all the to develop their economy now with the hardliners reasserting themselves as they will probably do in the next few weeks. you will see a change in personnel and a change in tactics at different levels of the iranian economy but make no doubt this is cause by president trunk pulling out of this international agreement that many european powers and also agreed to with iran take

tried to keep agreement gone but the united states. is now trying to penalize our european allies for trying to keep this agreement going with iraq well let's talk about that briefly the pressure on iran by the us is growing and tehran's relations with europe well they're not improving proving either could zarif be taking some of the blame or all of the blame in this case or are they basically making a scapegoat. well internal politics in iran there will be the assertion that taking a moderate stance with the united states was proven to be a wrong approach they should have developed nuclear weapons. that's probably what the hardliners are saying right now and they were. to dominate the moderate branch in the moderate faction within iran because

president from areas kind of all types of possibilities with a moderate camp in iran so having a belligerent bellicose foreign policy their president trump wants to have now well not only with iran but with other countries then people understand that the no more human reaction is to also protect themselves all right interesting to hear your thoughts on the subject political science professor cohen cavell everyone of us here in our to internationalise could be a very fun one to watch this one play out. all right here you can see live pictures from the sign on believe our bridge on of the venezuela colombia border. i. i. i. i clashes have erupted there between police and

protesters after hundreds arrived to support a humanitarian aid convoy and pronounce president nicolas maduro. dan or denounce president nicolas maduro here is dan cohen. i'm at the t.n.t. just bridge crossing on the colombian side of the border with venezuela behind me you can see ten trucks carrying six hundred tons of what the u.s. government says is humanitarian aid to be delivered to venezuela and the venezuelan government is refusing it saying this is actually not humanitarian aid but the red cross and other major international humanitarian organizations are refusing to participate in this saying also it is not humanitarian aid. on the morning of the twenty third why don't himself appeared on the colombian side of the t. and deepest bridge crossing urging his supporters to ensure they got across we don't know very soon this unity bridge will work to bring all of the venezuelan

people together the humanitarian aid is definitely on its way to venezuela in a non threatening and peaceful way to save lives at this moment in venezuela now there are about three or four hundred protesters at the entrance to this area about a kilometer away who are pretty rowdy and seem ready to march across the bridge and accompany this humanitarian aide. hundreds of protesters outside the bridge crossing demanded the elected president of venezuela equal usma duro be overthrown and the humanitarian aid passed through its border that was. i would have put them with one door down with one door nobody likes you and your get up while marching to let the humanitarian aid and the duros not letting in into the country this is the closest point we can get to on the bridge crossing directly behind me or the shipping containers and tanker that are separating venezuela and colombia. remain calm the demonstrators rode the aid trucks to other bridge

crossings where they clashed with the venezuelan national guard typical of what he says the deadly riots that plagued venezuela in twenty seventeen and twenty fourteen and led to hundreds of deaths one eight hundred seventy five numerous politicians and western media outlets immediately blamed the venezuelan national guard they presented as if they did not know yet that the back of the t. and d. just bridge right wing european parliamentarian esteban pones demanded money drew let the trucks enter. there is no need for one class of humanitarian aid or another that is food medicine is medicine regardless of where they come from and wherever they're needed they're always welcome but it's if you a presbyterian minister works with the colombian government to give spiritual guidance to defecting venezuelan soldiers said the aid isn't about human rights we're promoting democracy instead he says it's meant to start

a revolt against the venezuelan government that might end up i don't think this is really a pedagogue humanitarian aid in what we really want is for the population to rise up and when the tiny bit of humanitarian aid interest in this way the political death of the super president than as well nicolas maduro happens. a number of western hemisphere countries are sending an appeal to the international criminal court asking it to consider the humanitarian situation in venezuela known as the lima group it consists of fourteen countries including peru argentina brazil chile colombia and mexico all of them except mexico have recognized the opposition leader as venezuela's president and his company has more. the lima group is asking for the international criminal court to make an assessment of the situation in venezuela as to whether or not international law was violated with the burning of the aid convoy whether or not venezuelan leaders are in violation of international law they are

asking the international criminal court to make that assessment now this comes on the heels of a speech we just heard from mike pence the vice president of united states who addressed the lima group earlier and in his remarks he gave one hundred percent backing on behalf of donald trump and the u.s. government to juan guede oh the individual who calls himself the president of venezuela he calls himself the interim president after taking an oath and self proclaiming himself to be the venezuelan president furthermore mike pence made an appeal to venezuela's military saying it would offer amnesty to forces that switch sides and began supporting wedo and furthermore my friends offered a kind of a financial incentive for countries throughout the region to join with washington's efforts to topple the venezuelan government this is some of what we heard from mike pence speaking to the lima group today also it's my privilege to announce that the united states will provide an additional fifty six million dollars to support our partners in the region as you come to the aid of the venezuelan people fleeing from

the deprivation and oprah of them to the regime excluded people of venezuela she sure freedom we will go with you you go would go. to you. now the turmoil in venezuela recently asked later around the issue of u.s. aid the united states has attempted to send aid over the border from brazil and the border from colombia there have been clashes at the border the venezuelans are concerned that aid could contain weapons as elliott abrams currently the u.s. special representative for venezuela has a history of in places like nicaragua using humanitarian aid as a cover to send weapons into the country and at this point of venezuela is not interested in taking this aid now opposition activists who oppose material and supporters of have been clashing near the border we understand at this point four

people are dead hundreds have been injured and when an aid truck did catch on fire in the aftermath of that we saw a kind of a diplomatic war of words with different parties blaming each other for the incident let's take a listen. we denounce my refusal to let humanitarian assistance reach venezuela what kind of a sick tyrant stops food from getting to hungry people the images of burning trucks filled with sickening. secretary powell a specialist in full fight go permissions believe he fools the world with a truck burnt in colombia by his own agents now u.s. media and western media seem to be echoing and repeating that it was my girl who is responsible for this aid truck catching on fire they blame it squarely on maduro and say he let these trucks on fire his supporters went out and burned an aid convoy however video has surfaced seeming to show another another interpretation of

that we've got video at this point that seems to indicate that it was opposition activists who burned the aid convoy they took you know flaming objects threw them at the convoy catching it on fire let's look at some of this video that has surfaced that seems to tell a different story than what american media is saying. and it is not just the aid campaign that is putting pressure on the venezuelan leader u.s. senator marco rubio has tweeted images of the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi as he was about to be brutally murdered the tweet is not capturing but with president maduro a favorite theme for rubio's recent messages many are interpret it as a warning to mature. because nothing says human rights like gloating over

a human being getting sodomized to death with a buy and that marco rubio just posted photos of gadhafi being lynched in an open death threat to madeira libya is now a slave state thanks to us you mark or you had the range peace of should immediately resign marco rubio is freed has become like a manic paranoid regime change demanding boss account would probably be investigated for suspicious activity by the twitter authorities if he was not a u.s. senator. but the reaction to the post has not been limited to twitter alone there is now a petition demanding the senator's resignation that he's ations rubio is promoting violence against head of state political analyst chris bambery believes that the tweet is part of a larger u.s. propaganda plan. well i think it's all part of a strategy of tension as the americans are building up what the americas are trying to do is put pressure on the military in venezuela to shift the doura so

far that hasn't happened the weakness of the jurors position is that unlike his predecessor hugo chavez face of the coupe twenty years ago which as you call a mass movement it was virtual insurrection in crackers which save to save them. no more do is grow on almost entirely own the army and the reason that kind of thus far we haven't seen this kind of mass movement coming to his aid so the thousand that thousand one job dollar question is is what they're venezuelan military will take is he going to continue its support with the uk and if that's the case the potential for civil war personally i'm cynical about the americans intervening directly because i believe the stomach for it in the united states of america post the right course to libya and also the sight of american troops in any wants american country brings back memories of america's record on that continent. donald trump and the north korean leader kim jong un are gearing up for a second summit in vietnam this weekend that is among the stories after

a short break as art international. still seems wrong. but all roads just don't call. me the world yet to see palin this day become educated and engaged it equals the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart. just of the common ground. what 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. to the right to be close it's like them before three of them or can people get.

interested in the waters of our. question. this hour to international so the people of okinawa in a referendum have rejected it moving a u.s. military base from one part of the japanese island to another it is one of thirty two american sites on the island construction work at the plant a new location for the base in question has actually already begun and despite the referendum results prime minister shinzo looks set to push ahead with them. we cannot avoid the necessity of moving food ten mom said to be the most dangerous

place in the world we cannot put this off any longer. well basic question is in the city of juneau was and surrounded by schools hospitals and shops under a deal with the us is being moved to a less populated part of okinawa in the north called and no co residents there are not happy they say the old base should simply be shut down and not replace. the i've heard that this referendum has no legal basis but there are many people protesting in every day i hope this referendum will be a show of support to them. he. has already begun the japanese government is pushing through that construction by force and against the construction of a new base because the base is month for war that's one against the. u.s. service personnel stationed in japan were reportedly involved in almost ten thousand crimes and accidents in the decade up to two thousand and thirteen around

half of the incidents were on okinawa and one of the most notorious cases happened back in one thousand nine hundred five when three u.s. sailors kidnapped and allegedly raped a twelve year old girl we spoke to katherine jane fisher a rights activist who says she was raped in two thousand and two near a u.s. base outside tokyo. most of the american bases are situated on ok no island seventy percent of the bases are on okinawa and the island is so small so you can imagine we have a lot of united states military servicemen there when they drink too much a local whole or if they commit crimes they can easily escape justice as in my case you know the man who raped me i had to look for him myself in ten years because the japanese government and the american military would not help so the more bases that are going to be in okinawa we need to work out ways that they can eradicate these crimes so it's now time for the voices to be heard about how they do not want any

more rates in crimes you know murders against gay people we have had to seven over seventy years seven decades of these crimes happening and what is being done to stop that you know we just had another woman who was murdered you know over a year or so ago doesn't matter where they're going to put the base there's always going to be some kind of crime that they will need to tackle and how are they going to do when someone else is murdered when someone else is killed. u.s. and north korean leaders donald trump and kim jong un are meeting in vietnam this week commenting on the upcoming summit russia's foreign minister expressed cautious optimism saying he hopes for a breakthrough regarding denuclearization but sergey lavrov also warned that ultimatums would not work. so naturally we are us ultimately lead.

us demands that north korea completely eliminate everything related to weapons and only then so that it's kind of sanctions will be trump and kim's second summit last summer they met in singapore in a recent tweet donald trump promised economic prosperity to north korea of pyongyang abandons its nuclear program and added kim will make a wise decision trump also maintained that he would not lift sanctions and must denuclearize this. report now from. perhaps it's still a bit too early to see a from kim get together in washington or pyongyang so once again the organizers opted for somewhere neutral. just by looking at the flag of communist it's immediately clear why chairman kim would certainly feel at home here. as we know the americans have their own special

connection to this country but the leaders got in trouble with the vietnamese authorities before they even arrived or rather they're almost famous. anyway with the hot i wrote speaking for the big event the real kim has already hit the road he chose to get. rain and his people looked thrilled to see him no wonder kim has given himself a nice long head start crossing all of china takes time when the leaders met for the first time just saying this. was enough to make the summit. a real bombshell but no written or signed agreements came out of it how's that for

a preemptive social media trick to break the stalemate chairman kim realizes perhaps better than anyone else that without nuclear weapons his country could fast become one of the greatest economic powers anywhere in the world because of its location and people and him it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation making the second summit work is a matter of procedure for donald trump but will it work the maggie man might have to give something up too could that mean less pentagon involvement in south korea mr kim knows how to play on family guy trumps emotions too it's just been revealed he once said this to america's top diplomat mike compare i'm a father and husband and i have children and i don't want my children to carry the nuclear weapon on their back their whole life this week it's time for donald trump and cam john to do a bit more than just pose for the cameras or send each other romantic letters i've

received two letters from chairman can pledge personal correspondence magnificent very strong letter form incredible letters it's time to agree on and cement something real which makes the vietnam chapter of the camp trump relationship even more unpredictable than when they first met even further more news of the top of our washington trash. when lawmakers manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. in the final merry go round be the one percent.

we can all middle of the room six. million new. syria when a pullout well doesn't mean a pull out also venezuela how's that regime change going and the botched story you know this breaks it and much much more on this edition of crossed. sixteen level. just far under former isis fighters. boarding a philippine naval ship. but

not for me ned. lives. just aren't abdulla still don't know what's waiting for them. to do you tell you not to. take it out. the way. the. liberals in america they consider themselves to be living in pedestals. the masses and they're never wrong and they have the moral high ground and occasionally when there are policies are exposed as fraudulent.

and they're don't want to deal with their unmasking they bring in a max but for william kristol to beat people up there. i'm good see for just their good. and. it's it's it's going good. i am involved with a lady friend at the moment she was in california i live in minnesota so there's a distance there but we need to know each other we talk. it's not easy making new friends after something like this. well what do you do before you came

here where did you work before you came here when you live. well death row they don't know what to do with that you know they are. it's just one of those situations where you have to realize that not everyone out here is out to ruin your life there are some who are actually interested in knowing you and helping you.