i'm done. among the stories that shaped the week a u.n. expert on torture says the way julian assange has been treated in recent years amounts to psychological torture came a day after a failed to appear in court for the poor health. secrets of the person would be exposed to start looking through over long periods come. from impeachment to case closed get something from special counsel robert miller's final say on the trump prosecution the court. and redrawing the map. anti-establishment parties make it major gains as europeans create a shake up of their politics.

welcome to the weekly here on r t international where we bring you the latest news along with the top stories from the past week. on friday you an expert on torture claimed the way julian assange has been treated amounts to psychological torture adding that he doesn't think the wiki leaks co-founder will get a fair trial if extradited to the united states. this is urgent in the sunshine bill much crucial together is to medical experts specialize in to find and and documenting symptoms of physical and psychological torture until treatment mistress' functions all the symptoms that are typical for a person that has been exposed to psychological torture over a long period of time we're speaking of severe stress and chronic anxiety at severe psychological trauma what i have never seen is several democratic states going up

in order to persecute them is isolate single out a particular individual without granting him the protection that actually is accorded to him battle of britain was quick to hit back with the country's foreign secretary branding the experts assessment wrong and inflammatory as well saying assad had always been free to leave the ecuadorian embassy in london. the controversy came just a day after a saunders extradition hearing was postponed as poor health meant the wiki leaks co-founder failed to appear in court with the details here's point barkha. due to the sound was actually meant to be here in person he was meant to pen via video link but he's not even well enough to appear via video link 10 minutes on has been moved to the post it's a wing old belmarsh prison that's up to a maximum security prison where 7 out of 53 eccentric specifically when he went

into the ecuadorian embassy back in 2012 and went to the stable grave concern about the face of his health what we know is that there was a push from the the medical board of. the fact that they did this that may put him on the world speaks speaks plenty of you know being in a higher security max the maximum security prison is difficult for anyone but julian spent 7 years confined in the ecuadorian embassy before without medical treatment without most of the medical treatment so he's gone in other words states that most people might think this was meant to be the 2nd hearing about this on just the extradition it will have to be a fairly procedural affair well there wasn't any major arguments from assigned team or the prosecution the official start of it has been moved to the 12th of june essentially the question of what's meant to be all cute and boils down to 2 fundamental things it is to get a son to act as

a journalist when he published those slow news that secret u.s. materials had no information and crucially for him is the u.k. going to allow him to be handed over to the u.s. so far as he is where he could face up to hundreds and 75 years behind bars that will turn. 17 counts on the espionage act and one count previous to that shooting his face and i'm 75 years in prison which is outrageous the idea. that the publisher can be. prosecuted and persecuted for the publishing the truth the place for a lifetime and in a prison in another country is outrageous this espionage act has never before been games against agendas standing against government officials to keep secrets in the pasta of course washington's argument is that assad isn't such on the list that he's a path and that his publications put the lights of informants for the u.s. . for its allies around the world in grave danger although what's interesting here

is that with the charges unveiled against. a lot of people even his critics of which there have been many many press freedom organizations and just journalists and whistleblowers around the world say that the news with this extradition case could have serious implications for the freedom of the press and for journalists around the world which is now i think honest so you much attention. and well a song just waiting for a 3rd extradition hearing scheduled on the 12th of june reports are appearing that the u.s. justice department has decided to drop some of its charges against the whistleblower as apparently include songes exposing the cia's secret spying tools. u.s. special counsel robert mueller has handed in his resignation 2 years after he opened his probe into alleged collusion between donald trump and russia speaking to the public for the 1st time since the investigation he sought to clarify the major

findings of the report but as kilmartin explains both camps in washington are interpreted in his words in their own way. robert muller is all done the special counsel's office is closing and he's going to retire and to celebrate 35000000 dollars and 2 years worth of work he decided to address the media there's an old psychological test they call the war shack and basically it's a set of ambiguous ink blots it's up to the mind of the patient to determine what to see and the 10 minute presentation of robert muller seems a very much be in the eyes of the beholder if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so. we did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime it's not that different from what he said at the end of his report but the democrats certainly took a lot from the statement of the mother was essentially referring impeachment to the united states congress. statement makes it clear congress has

a legal and moral obligation to begin impeachment proceedings immediately miller statement makes clear with those who have read his report no it's an impeachment referral and it's up to congress to act they shewed given the special counsel was unable to pursue criminal charges against the president if the congress threw stones of the crimes and other wrongdoing of president trump and we would do so i think it was very clear if you could clear the president he would have but he couldn't makes clear well muller said the report speaks for itself a special counsel found no collusion by any americans in ira's illegal activities now trump or the opposite from robert mueller he says he's in the clear nothing changes from the reports there was insufficient evidence and therefore in our country a person is innocent the case is closed thank you then the white house press secretary clarified with the statement there was no real news and there he reiterated the points that he'd already made in the report. we agree with them there was no

collusion there was no conspiracy and we consider this case closed he completed his investigation now he's closed his office and it's time for everybody to move on the report has been published the investigation is long over but the saga continues both sides are sticking to what they said all along so you have to ask yourself if everyone was just going to keep saying what they've said the entire time impeach trump or no collusion why did we have the investigation to begin with. our new york. t.v. host and political commentator steve malzberg totals that the democratic leadership understands that it won't be able to get trump and peached nancy pelosi knows that it's politically and unpopular and she would be the 1st to go it sure in the senate he knows that even if the house impeach is donald trump then it goes to the senate

and they have to convict him and they need 2 thirds of the senate to convict him and schumer knows that's never going to happen it didn't happen with bill clinton when they impeached bill clinton he won reelection so nancy pelosi has been around long enough to understand that the public doesn't really care about this and they're fed up with this whole russia nonsense and so they know that even if they have pictures of the house it's going to fail in the senate and donald trump i believe really wants to be impeached he's kind of egging them on you know hey do it if you want it's a horrible word it's a terrible thing but he's kind of prompting them to i dare you to do it because i think and i think nancy pelosi knows it will help trump. europeans have taken to the polls in what's considered the most fiercely contested the new parliamentary elections years it's all anti-establishment parties win big

as longer a soundless centrist party has lost their grip and reflecting the apparent appetite for change voter turnout was the highest in 20 years at over 50 percent. the elections are green and liberal parties make significant gains while anti-establishment movements came out on top in countries like italy france and belgium right wing populist groups now hold about a quarter of the seats in the e.u. parliament and the charlotte dubinsky reports of the results might be surprising there was no shortage of political drama in the run up. for months pundits have been predicting a rise in anti establishment policies ahead of the e.u. elections for once they were wrong but across the bloc in the weeks leading up to

the vote panic was setting in. take martin days before france headed to the polls the e.u. top court ordered her to pay back 300000 euros to the european parliament this followed a case in which the national rally had been accused of paying an 8 incorrectly but the timing felt off it was almost as if it was a way to tell voters that her party just couldn't be trusted that came hot on the heels of accusations that former trump strategist steve bannon was actually the one pulling all the pens strings yet the public didn't seem to care and the national rally still talked the polls here in france other scandals that were rife in the media included one russians well at least the alleged russians.

it was of course. the party which was in coalition. people's party found itself under the spotlight not for its potentially dubious policies but for a good old cash influence gambit. revici's . he says there was even an attempt to drag le pen's name into the thick gate as it became known a few months ago marine le pen was singing the praises of austrian vice chancellor heinz christian straka saying how formidable he was struck as being forced to resign we find out why he was trying to sell his services to foreign forces behind this nationalist movement is a submission to foreign forces despite this the f p o still managed to pick up just over 17 percent of the vote in austria.

there was also of course the elections of various 2 moment one swedish democrats candidate accused the other of sexual harassment and even though this scandal washed away it didn't hamper the anti immigration party's performance they increased their share of the vote to more than 15 percent. and despite merkel not calling it out warning the populous parties wanted to destroy europe we are haring to deal with populist movements that in many areas are contemptuous of our values and want to destroy the europe of the values we represent we have to stand up to this these parties significantly increase their representation in many parts of the e.u. sex money the long arm of washington reaching for controlling europe nothing seemed

to put voters off seeking something new what is clear from the results of these elections is that the old guard could no longer count on the masses to support them in blind faith what europeans want is something different it seems but godless what that is. why you're skeptics because of the migrants people are skeptical because they do not know what it's going to get them they're afraid of migrants or. the reason is the decline in the number of elites compared to the rest of the people as well as the quality of the democratic representation. spouse because. i think it is because of immigration all europeans who are afraid of team many migrants coming i think this is the primary cause of this vote. in part. parties had a disastrous defeat in my opinion it was high time for it and now we'll see whether the european results could influence our national politics all be implemented here

on. the coalition i think the brings the debate in england has made many people here in germany think about it this discussion has turned many citizens against the u. . i think people feel as if the existing political parties are giving them what they want and therefore they are hunting around for something else i think for some extent it's probably a protest just trying to engineer the tory vote to go more with. their wasn't unexpected as an outcome i would say kind of a level of division i would have expected across the country coming up israel lashed out at syria on saturday night in response to what it claims was a missile attack details after the break.

standardized testing. it's a very well done. and you know to say we should have standardized testing would be like saying well we shouldn't have our blood pressure checked or even overweight if you're going to see the doctor those are standardized instruments you need to be able to know how children are doing right from when they start school.

welcome back israeli army targeted syrian territory on saturday night killing 3 soldiers and wounding 7 it says it was responding to 2 missiles fired from syria also reports of israeli defense forces the i.d.f. has confirmed that it hit a number of targets in syria overnight saturday and it says that this was in what teddy ation to 2 missiles are fired from syria at the israeli part of the golan heights there were no reports of injuries or damage on the israeli side but we are hearing from the israeli cabinet that. was the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who posts only ordered these retaliate tree strikes now it comes as the israeli army issues a statement in which it says its planes and helicopters hit 2 artillery batteries and a defense battery and also a number of observation points along the israel syria border syrian state media is

reporting it that 3 syrian soldiers were killed and an additional 7 injured this happening in the eastern part of the connector country side all of this is happening as tensions between israel and syria escalate particularly in the area of the golan heights now earlier in the week jarrett krishna who is the son in law and also the senior advisor to the american president donald trump was in jerusalem where he gifted netanyahu with a map that had been personally signed by the american president and that clearly showed the golan heights as part of israeli territory netanyahu held a press conference in which he acknowledged and thanked the american president. brought me something from the u.s. presidents in the state department there was an official map of the states which had not been updated since the sixty's well now it's been up to it's. brought me

the new mount which includes the golan heights is part of israel it's signed by president trump who writes nights so i would like to say that's very nice. now this follows trumps a full recognition of israeli sovereignty over the golan heights back in march that happened during a meeting between the 2 leaders we met on yahoo was at the white house in washington this has been did not inspire the international community who consider the area occupied territory and that is the status they have accorded it ever since israel took over the golan heights back in the 1967 war at the same time we are hearing from the syrian side they say that the aerial defense systems were activated to strike at so-called enemy targets in the southern damascus countryside so certainly the situation between the 2 sides remains tense and both sides on a state of high alert. we discussed the overnight hostilities with middle east

expert ali risk and political analyst michel burke. i think that what happened also based on what happened there is that there was which will last from the syrians is where we quickly want to respond that i believe the syrian army is trying to give a clear message or so recognizing that there is overthrow of the old i guess this era to ship is for them to give a clear message that they will as syrian territory that it will not recognize any decisions were trouble anyone else there's no real threat that syria will pose when it comes to borders at this point because israel has an x. that that territory many of those people are citizens in israel and every israeli almost every israeli believes that the golan heights are part of israel belong to israel and protect israel the prime minister of israel has you know a lot of backing from both sides of the aisle from both left and right on how he

handles israel's security and how he defends the state of israel and the people of israel. this week representatives of venezuelan president nicolas maduro and opposition leader won by doe held a 2nd round of talks in norway without producing a deal the host nation did say the 2 sides have made progress hard for the u.s. has its own solution as we have repeatedly stated we believe the only thing to negotiate with nicholas maturer is the conditions of his departure their return to the negotiating table comes despite the opposition's initial reluctance to take part self proclamation of power was supported by consistent and hawker stance among western leaders over the last 4 months it cost all of takes us through the power struggle. i swear to formally assume the duties of the national executive as president of venezuela. and that was how it all began a long and porthole road to the chaos and mayhem venezuela's in today it wants

needs local politician overnight short into political stardom and with the u.s. on his side it seemed one why don't you simply couldn't lose. i'm mike pence the vice president of the united states the united states supports the courageous decision many more countries followed suit brazil has just issued a note recognizing one we're going to go as venezuela's president. one plan. one door in europe you know one global venezuela began to devour itself from the inside 2 on by protests streets flooded people on mass reassuring maduro of their support all venting their anger at a president they call a dictator. meanwhile washington and rolled its arsenal from threats to sanctions to even seemingly harmless things

like aid it try to slip the balance of power in favor over their man why don't i wish him a long quiet retirement on a pretty beach far from venezuela and the sooner he takes advantage of that the center is likely to have a nice quiet retirement on a pretty beach rather than being in some other beach area like guantanamo an unconventional holiday but among the mildest ideas in america's rhetoric all actions of the day all options are on the table all options are on the table all options are on the table all options are on the table because they always are but with all that commotion in white dove camp would have much dural the incumbent leader was willing to go all in conventional to trying to a to kill his readiness to talk it out with his new rival compliment hugo i am committed to international dialogue today tomorrow and always i'm committed and personally ready but back then

why do it was feeling too good to grace's arch nemesis confronted with the blatant refusal duro klang to the 2nd best thing he had and has apart from the support of a good share of his people the military is. stood strong with material despite what you do and washington's efforts to encourage defection. the president imposter tried to make it look like things were going his way. the armed forces are standing behind the people and the constitution but very soon he's boastful overstatement was clear decisions were sporadic local and way below the critical mass needed to have the dura worried and all that leads us here to a complete stalemate why don't has won the battle for the hearts and minds on capitol hill for the embassies for the right to be called president of venezuela on the diplomatic papers of 3rd party countries but not his own to like to see them

into very militarily obvious and i as president in charge of the national parliament will evaluate all necessary options however cautious it may be an official evaluation of an international intervention is as good as an open call for one but with the us no longer looking as trigger happy as before why do it has sent his emissaries to talk with material no longer too good for that and the us apparently wants confident a quick power play would lead to victory now has learned that all or doesn't elect presidents. that it is a break down for this hour and that's after me as well today but we're not harvey will be taking over in about 30 minutes. this in petersburg international economic forum is

a unique event in today's business world. over the last 21 years the forum has become a leading global platform for discussing the key economic issues facing russia emerging markets and the world those of the business community members attend the forum to address today's vital issues. watch especially foreign coverage on r.t. . china is not a partner number one for us yet. and e.u. countries our trade partners number one with this and. i cannot share the. those who are those who say that it's a turn of russia he's. no russia i hope we'll never eastwards. you know russian egoless is looking to move the sides west towards a nice towards. nobody could

see coming that false confessions would be that prevalent in the spot the lace the fall because if you look at any interrogation out there what you'll see is threat promise threat promise threat lie a lie a lie the process of interrogation is designed to put people in just that frame of mind make the most comfortable make them want to get out and don't take no for an answer don't accept their denials she said if i would cooperate so i stayed there i would be home by that time the next day there's a culture on accountability and police officers know that they can engage at misconduct that has nothing to do with all the crowd. and we don't know what facebook's aims are in fact facebook doesn't know what its aims are because it's going to be the sum total of all the people who are working

on these algorithms a whistleblower someone who used to work for facebook came forward last year and said i was one of the news curators at facebook a bunch of us to sit around every day and we used to remove stories from the news feed that were too conservative and now and then we inject a story that we saw it was really cool. facebook founder mark zuckerberg says he's . committed to giving everyone a voice from responding to an allegation that facebook edits conservative views out of its trending topics they can suppress certain types of results based on what they think you should be seeing based on what your followers are presenting now a new report claims that according to a former facebook employee the social media mega company sometimes ignores what is actually trending among its 1000000000 users if the story originated from a conservative news source or if it's a topic causing buzz among conservatives. facebook costly manipulates or

users they do it by the things that they insert into the news feeds they do it by the types of posts they allow their users to see and the fact that they actually decided to do psychological experiments on their users is something that i think a lot of people need to really fully understand and they were doing it based upon the fact that different things that people posted they want to see how other people would react to it. or how to watch why your facebook friends posts can have a direct effect on your mood new research shows the more negative post you see the more negative you could become. so if for example let's say somebody wanted to post something that was on the news feed that was a very negative story they want to see how their users would react via their likes by their statements for their posts and they would show people who already had a predilection to maybe having some depression or maybe having some other issues in

their lives and they can figure that out based upon your like space the pine your connections based upon where you're going and what they want to do is take that information and then use it to basically weaponize this information against their users so that way their users could see different things that may affect their mood and may affect how they interact with others and that's something that is highly unethical it appears that some young people may have been so affected by this that they may have done harm. to themselves based upon what they saw on their facebook feed and it was all because it is experiments the things that we have no standing with facebook we're not citizens of facebook we have no blood on facebook it's not a democracy and this this process is not a way we can design the future we can't rely on this single company to invent our digital future. there's there's what i call the creepy line and then the google.