i. making headlines today the u.s. continues its strong. rhetoric now accusing tirana of attacking saudi oil facilities despite saying that. the accusations of. washington. didn't. even after u.s. national security adviser john bolton was fired this week by. the stories that shaped the week pulp fiction the russian government described a c.n.n. report by the cia withdrawing a high level spy. with

the top stories for the past 7 days and right up to the moment developments as well this is the weekly in our international alone our top story u.s. secretary of state mike pompei o has accused iran of launching a quote unprecedented assault on the world's energy supply saying. it's behind attacks on saudi arabia's oil production to run denies any involvement in the attack calling the u.s. accusations a lie here's the exact wording from the u.s. we call on all motions to publicly and unequivocally condemn iran's attacks the united states will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and the run is held accountable for its aggression. such accusations as well as blind in inappropriate comments in the diplomatic context

are in comprehensible and meaningless it looks like the maximum pressure policy has failed and has now become the maxim why well oil refining in saudi arabia has not been done as a result of fires the 2 major state run facilities eyewitnesses shared a video on social media of a huge blaze were gunshots can apparently be heard in the background the u.s. claims it was a result of drone strikes with one of them being launched from iraqi territory. denies any possibility its territory was used. earlier yemen's rebels claim responsibility for deploying nearly a dozen drones to attack about saudi oil processing facility and a major oil field they say the strikes were in response to the saudi led war in yemen and are demanding an end to riyadh's 4 year long intervention in the country by the us washington has also previously charged iran with lending support to the

g.'s a man move selfie professor of political science at the university of tehran believes these latest accusations from the us are most likely baseless. our mike has a very long history of making accusations without providing any actual evidence there who deserve already claimed responsibility for these attacks and although the scale of these attacks are on precedented we have to remember that the who tees have launched drone attacks deep inside saudi arabia for months now so i think there's no surprise there and the u.s. has accused iran of sending weaponry to the who tease but we also have to remember that yemen has been under a very cv year a military blockade by the saudis with the help actually of the americans for over 4 years now making it very difficult to even send food lead to loan weaponry so i think he's just trying to come up with excuses to charge iran of crimes that iran

has actually not committed so the vehement around rhetoric from the u.s. continues even after one of terrans most outspoken critics national security advisor john bolton was fired by president trump on tuesday was one of the big headlines of the week mr frum claimed he disagreed with bolton on several key foreign policy issues there is no word yet on who will be the next national security adviser john bolton is renowned for his aggressive hawkish approach to foreign policy he supported the u.s. intervention in syria and was staunchly against easing pressure on north korea he also adopted a tough stance on iran and scrapping the nuclear deal daniel hawkins has been taking a closer look at his record. scandals resignations and dismissals are part and parcel of trump's presidency a few policy disagreements a swift tweet from the presidents and another administration official bites the

dust it was clear from the outset that trump and his national security advisor would have their disagreements i'm the one that tempers him but that's ok i have different sides i mean i have john bolton and i have other people that are a little more dovish than him and ultimately i make that decision we can speculate on which exact squabble led to bolton's exit the failed talks on afghanistan the question of rush hour or perhaps iran but it seems the animosity lasted until his final day in office i offered to resign last night and president trump said let's talk about it tomorrow i informed john bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the white house i disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions as did others in the administration the trump views himself as a skilled dealmaker who talked tough when needed for bolton but wasn't enough he needed to walk the walk and actively consistently show strength on all fronts the

middle east russia north korea latin america you name it he held out on compromising stance on sanctions military action and regime change. bolton was one of the key advocates of toppling the moderate government using any means necessary all options on the table ready to go this troika of tyranny this triangle of care stretching from havana to caracas to managua is the cause of immense human suffering this is a time for action. trump showed he was willing to meet to negotiate with even the greatest perceived u.s. adversities even if it meant just a symbolic photo op the right intentions seems to be their bet it will make it clear that they won't i don't like sanctions because. his country i think they want to make peace i think it's time for bolton though this was unacceptable so it could be a long and unproductive meeting or it could be a short non productive meeting we have very much in mind the libyan model from

20032004 while bolton boiled that north korea had violated u.n. sanctions off a missile test in may trump downplayed the incident saying he wasn't spooked north korea fired off some small weapons which disturbed some of my people and others but not me. taking on iran was perhaps bolton's priority number one within a month of his appointment in april 28th seen the u.s. have pulled out of the iran nuclear deal and advocate of preemptive strikes he pushed for military action against iran after a u.s. drone was brought down and as ever his thinly veiled threats centered around regime change we hope that these new measures directed at the arabian dictatorship will compel the government to re-evaluate its pursuit of terror at the expense of its people well i think he is on the verge of making a mistake i think his advisors are pushing him in the wrong direction ironically

just as bolton prepared to depart speculations been rife on possible talks between trump and the rain in president rouhani it would have thought that possible after so much hostile rhetoric perhaps the final straw was trump's plans of wind down the longest war in u.s. history including hosting talks with taliban leaders at camp david it's speculated that bolton this was in comprehensible it seems that with or without bolton's presence u.s. foreign policy may have more surprises in store during trump's 1st term. and indeed later in the program we put afghanistan in focus even though the u.s. should done the hard brokered peace talks the taliban still wants it on to get back to the. table. in exclusive interview with their negotiating team. this. the russian government

this crime to a c.n.n. report to pulp fiction after the news channel claims about this cia withdrawing a high level spy from moscow c.n.n. reported that a u.s. spy inside the russian government was successfully returned to america in 2017 over concerns about the way donald trump classified information about both the white house on the cia say that the story is incorrect or has been delving deeper. krit missions exfiltration of spies top level intelligence it sounds like the makings of a thriller and in a way it is because this is an elaborate tale recently had by c.n.n. multiple trump administration officials tell me that these are officials with direct knowledge that in a previously undisclosed to secret mission in 2017 the u.s. successfully extracted from russia one of its highest level sources covert sources

inside the russian government the c.n.n. report claims a man at the highest level of the kremlin was secretly feeding theeye a information for over a decade that he was so ensconced within the kremlin wall so friendly with and trusted by president putin's inner circle but he even managed to photograph documents on the russian leaders desk u.s. intelligence officials had already expressed concerns about the safety of this by other russian assets given the length of their cooperation with the u.s. this according to a former senior intelligence official the report is peppered with vague mentions of secret sources mysterious interviews and skips a bit on the facts facts make a thriller indeed the c.n.n. report doesn't even given in the playing of the identity of the informant but the russian media was willing to give it a chance and landed on one smiling cough it's been reported that he previously worked at the russian embassy in washington before becoming up to stay counselor at

the presidential administration not really the pinnacle of influence which is true that smiling cough worked in the president's administration but several years ago he was fired his position wasn't that of a top official all the discussion in the u.s. media about someone urgently extracting someone and saving someone it cetera it is part of as you know a sort of pope fiction genre but c.n.n. probably felt it had a bombshell report on its hands it found yet another one. verified crump's just it was the russians not the american public who elected trump and then showing that washington had successfully outwitted moscow by sneaking a legit spy out but what could make this revelation who are more delicious how about trump also being shown to be an unreliable slipped president now that would be called a person directly involved in these discussions said that the removal of the russian was driven in part by concerns that president trump and his administration

repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and that that could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy or so just to clarify the cia gave up its most important source on the off chance that trump might spill the beans a source that's been cultivated for over 10 years and the country it read to me says it's almost impossible to infiltrate i could even buy into that if the cia gave me something to what quids i mean they aren't exactly trump's cheerleaders their response that must have come as a bitter blow at c.n.n. h.q. misguided speculation that the president's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence which he has access to each and every day drove an alleged x. filtration operation is inaccurate i love a good story but anonymous sources classified information which is impossible to verify trump is incapable of dealing with the discreet demands of office and

washington being a step ahead of everyone well it just fits all too neatly. to a mystery that has puzzled minds for the past 60 years in 1959 a group of solve years hikers disappeared in the year old want 9 bodies were eventually followed various theories. of past there are no via a special project launched by our teams video agency ruptly we chronicle the fateful incident. yes it is.

well a special project by reply to follow the hikers 10 day hike you can explore what the group did each and every day through photos mumps and also indeed what they wrote you also discover more about the only explained injuries on the bodies on the various theories as to what exactly happened but it's all about interaction . you can put yourself into the shoes of one of the team members as they walk along the route and then vote on your preferred version of what happened after weighing up the evidence you're presented with. still to come on the program the beloved british cartoon character a fireman son is followed her toes a brigade must call for not being inclusive enough about story and more coming.

from. the world is driven by a dream shaped by phone person. who dares thinks. we dare to ask. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy even foundation let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic development only

personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. over him in an exclusive interview with r.t. the afghan taliban urged. trump to return to the negotiating table they were here in moscow as part of regular talks with russian officials this week mr trump shut down the year long peace process with the militant group that could have seen and then told most 2 decades of the u.s. war in afghanistan the taliban negotiators were supposed to go to the united states

before signing an agreement the deal was to include washington withdrawing troops in exchange for a commitment from the militants not to shelter terrorists. justified ending negotiations citing an islamist attack in the afghan capital that resulted in the death of an american soldier it was a suicide car bombing that left 10 people dead and injured dozens more r.t.s. the taliban how it expects trying to negotiate with them when they're telling his trip. next you would have missed. so this is a. negotiation he missed the boat with his father is that he says he admitted that if you have good $1000.00 well so if big dollars off us why we cannot give you one of the other what is it. american soldiers want it's not i would have made it. we're going to be. one of us but still we.

would be set up with something but unfortunately i need. some sort of fidelity it was considered one of them to get inside a sense if the american side is not really and it was usually who did not want peace on the day it will. be compared to different parts of it to do this welcome to be is. i don't know the reason behind it we. were going to but if we are still committed to the leadership issues we see the i would only see from this that we get out of this obviously. it's a piece on the people. who. go back to what we were just.

i want to bring you live now to hong kong where police plush with protesters she threw pepper of all the bricks of officers we're seeing indeed live see that right now seemingly you have a lot of press people so a lot of protesters behind these cameras seemingly pushing at police by trying to make some kind of boracay between the 2 groupings earlier on we know that authorities have responded by blasting died of water off the activists there you go that should give you just the sense of the kreutzer right. there yet we are witnessing a 15th straight week of protests in hong kong the chaotic scenes follow months of demonstrations that were triggered by a proposed extradition bail about what a lot of suspects to be sent to me and china will be suspended but the protests

already turned into a broader pro democracy movement 20 minutes past 7 pm the evening right now. in hong kong we'll be keeping a close eye on developments in the city state as those protests continue this so. let's move to the u.k. no where a cartoon fireman has been criticized for failing to keep up with modern a quote i think standards the classic children's t.v. carter has been axed from his job as a muskrat for a local brigade after bosses there said he this courage women from joining. be risky team managed to safely day fire i'm 1st aired in 1987 on the mation about firefighters in

a small welsh village since then he's been widely used to promote fire safety un services across the u.k. but no it seems his time is all up in some parts uk least as artes polly boy go explains generations of kids may have grown up with him but legendary children's t.v. show character fireman sam needs to get with the times that's according to the lincolnshire fire and rescue service for years he was their mascot helping to recruit new fina fighters bots now lincolnshire fire and rescue service say that fineman sound is outdated and non-inclusive and he's putting off potential female recruit firefighters nationally and residents locally have raised some concerns that firemen some doesn't reflect the fire service today in terms of both the job itself and our workforce it's important to us that our open days and

community events don't think anyone feel excluded and therefore we took this decision lincolnshire as chief fire officer. fired fireman sam has been getting roasted for it duration does a great job for you as a one writing life as a one to write this new year's eve live act thing you should do is to follow yourself. and lead farmer sam alone this isn't the 1st time that fireman sam has been in hot water many argue that while the show is politically correct and features plenty of female characters it should be renamed to firefighter. no i think you got it right i think it's just somebody taking it to the fore and stickery really enough and become quite happy with what it is he is the epitome of straight. to my mind. may not be terribly appealing to people who want to be. firemen however if you're to be

a fireman. why don't you just stick to the basics and enjoy and get back to the basics so we might have a nicer place to live. very very happy to have been renamed firefighters and 1st some to then become a non gender specific person over here but why not some sort of gender specific name but street ok so here is the town with samantha yeah exactly exactly there could be a place here because no rubbish it could be so just do it it was just a children's car until you know you're going to take meetings to fogs that music and another british cartoon icon peppa pig was recently been rated by none other then the london fire brigade whose head is by the way a woman for featuring an episode where mommy pig pretended to be a fire man and not a fire fighter. big east dressed as

a fireman on a flight like. i'm going to the mummy's fire engine practice come on peppa pig we've not been firemen for 30 years you have a huge influence on kids and using out of date stereotypical gender specific wording prevents young girls from becoming firefighters join our fire fighting sexism campaign women make up just 5.2 percent of firefighters in england and with that in mind lincolnshire fire and rescue service have come up with 3 original new characters to help attract more diverse recruits that anthropomorphise sized fire extinguisher has freddie filled but and penelope. polly boyko well that is some of the stories that shift the 2nd week and we'll be back with more at the top of the hour stay close this is our team introduction.

join me every 1st week on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. a good moment. here. yeah you. don't have to work. that's for sure. as you all are going to call sudoku the recall no calls are going to this it's always you know the false soldier of dr scott and you can see the showman view of them for the both of them

some of them some of the last also lots and lots to know something about him it's a good video the condition of the song should i mean she's on that you know sound a softball going up a few feet down at this time out on top. while other lead looks to me. in the morning live from the d.c. the contin the political use of the pool the ripples for the way. the policy. on film begins in hawaii in the middle of the pacific ocean in spite of the island's remote location it is also foreman victim to the epidemic of the 21st century plastic.

plastic pollution is littering beaches and endangering certain species of animals no matter how remote or out of reach. but. in this elaborate tree in the north of the occupied a go scientists study marine animals not plastic at least in theory. no idea what that is. but it's certainly plastic. and jessica perelman is a biologist accustomed to finding plastic in fish stomachs she has started a very unique connection. casually often plastic bags. and this was all coiled up in the stomach when i found it had no idea what it wasn't all that it

just. or did you react when you find this installment i was shocked i started you know documenting it measuring it taking photos showing whoever else was around in the lab and we were kind of. we were just you know a shock to think that that these fish are are really ingesting this i mean. how disbelief the scientist has found plastic in the unlikely specimen known as the long fish. the young was not expecting such a surprising discovery when she began this piece is. fish live at a depth of about 200 to 400 meters and they're clearly coming in contact with plastic and it appears that plastic is is truly a deeper problem that we might have imagined. even swimming at these depths the

long said fish manages to swallow trivial plastic objects. i mean occasionally you might find a brand name such as this. bottle label. what is this so this is a label from a water bottle dishonored bottle clearly and found amongst the. design design is a pretty well known. bottled water company. you know finding finding a label such as this in the stomachs makes it that easy to determine where you know where it may have originated. this is always more to use than just. just water in the bottle. in front sonny is one of the world's best selling brands. and if you're not familiar with the you

will certainly know the name of the group behind it the coca-cola company. everyone knows coca-cola but not everyone necessarily knows that the group is in china. dozens of other brands just sunny as part of the coca-cola company and sprite 2 there is also minute maid powerade and of course from one of the company's flagship brands. every year the group sells more than $120000000000.00 bottles across the globe that's almost bottles a 2nd and this mass production is creating a devastating mass pollution. in january 28th in the multi.