i. was serious. wracked by violence tensions grow between russia and turkey which are accusing each other of breaking deescalation agreements. sitting on a powder keg greece takes on claims that they're fuelling hatred and violence between residents and refugees locals from all island on the front line crisis. like you know we all know. they're behind this bad situation in our village. we know they do this for money. that's hysteria over the corona virus outbreak peaks people of asian descent find themselves on the receiving end of racism cross the

world. live from moscow thanks for joining us on r.t. international tonight i'm daniel hawkins welcome to the program. tensions growing between russia and turkey this wednesday after turkey's president threatened to launch attacks against syrian government forces in war stricken province. and also accused of targeting civilians in the rebel held region which has provoked a furious denial from moscow and we'll go live joins me now to unpick all the latest developments obviously things clearly escalating what's the latest situation well this is this is a recent times and unprecedented escalation what is happening in syria now because on the back foot over the last $45.00 days a month or so just over a month they've lost a 3rd of their territory in syria a 3rd of their territory. if you're turkey you're watching here the guys

that rebels the hardest that you pump in measurable fortunes and you're watching them collapse you're watching them collapse and obviously he is none too pleased that is striking out to everybody who supports the syrian government that the syrian army as russia russia especially saying that it is undertaking a campaign of bombing civilian targets regardless of the fact that in the front lines the towns where the combat is taking place now there are hardly any civilians at all. with the syrian regime as well as russian forces and iran backed militants. are continuously attacking civilians committing massacres. russia categorically denied these claims that pointed out that turkey's behavior and its words there match at all for example the weapons that the jihad is using very complex weapons to be in power missiles you know these are up

to $75000.00 for a missile they're being pumped they're flooding into it live into the hands of terrorists there every day we're seeing new videos of those weapons being utilized the combat is ferocious but russia points out that it is turkey that failed to meet its obligations because turkey promised in writing repeatedly that it would separate the hardest rebels who control 80 percent of egypt from the moderate rebels it hasn't done so and hasn't been able to do so or willing to do so and almost every week we hear reports of the russian base me me me in syria russian forces attacked by drones sent from areas controlled by geologists. the statements made by turkish representatives about alleged russian military attacks on civilians in the edward discolorations zone are false the real reason for the crisis and ad lib unfortunately is the turkish colleagues have failed to

fulfill their obligations to separate the moderate opposition militants from the terrorists in these areas. have been especially worrying reports today of turkish artillery providing direct fire support for jarvis rebels in in an attack in aleppo today the cover of which the jihad ists h.t.s. or an offshoot of al qaeda sent a suicide bomber suicide bomber under the cover of turkish artillery against syrian syrian units so there's very little what russia syria and turkey could could agree on latest talks to deescalate the situation have collapse or we you know it's certainly a very worrying escalation indeed of course russia and turkey are not the only 2 countries that have and they have addressed in syria what's been the broader international response or well it's been. the united states has been at the forefront of it because turkey and the united states the. their ministers have been in touch in fact the turkish minister of defense has just seen at the nato

headquarters and he asked me to play a bigger role in in the fight for it so perhaps you know asking them to send troops peacekeepers to do it live in ited states embassy in turkey in the hot water just very recently tweeted a video showing a suicide attack against syrian troops committed by the hardest by again h.t.s. an offshoot of al qaeda nevertheless very strange that sanctions against which the united states implemented in the wake of turkey's attack on kurds in syria who sanctions have been lifted today iraq in a state of the either when turkey gets involved in the fight for it live the united states lifted sanctions against turkey for what it called crimes against crimes against humanity in fact the united states went further with the secretary for the secretary of state calling turkish soldiers killed in syria martin.

my condolences to the families of the soldiers killed in yesterday's attack in the ongoing assaults by the assad regime and russia must stop i've sent jim jefferies to ankara to coordinate steps to respond to this destabilizing attack we stand by our nato ally. there is also an incident between the united states troops in syria and locals today in the province of chemistry in northern syria the united states a convoy of american special forces drove into a village village that didn't welcome them they set up a road block the villages a local tribe they wouldn't let the united states their forces through so you know one thing leads to another and suddenly there's a gun fight breaks out the united states says that 2 people were killed 2 locals and one of their soldiers sustained apparently a scratch they thought this newsworthy sustained

a scratch but he's ok now he's back to back to judy. in the fight was that you know the violence was deescalated by russian by russian military convoy which was also in the area but it does go to show how. tense the situation is and help prove things are the escalation so certainly will be we'll be watching this unfold and my feeling is that it's going to get worse before it gets better certain no signs of any calling off more of their thanks for the latest up they've all got different to do. now in greece the moderate crisis has become a battleground between authorities and n.g.o.s operating in the area as organizations have been accused of inciting hatred and violence between locals and refugees. there is a galaxy of dodgy n.g.o.s operating alongside a network of doctors lawyers and other people making a mint out of the human misery of these people they are leeches and these practices

must end all of this contributes to illegal migration. well the island of course has been a constant scene of protest since camps were established to handle the migrant influx large rallies have often turned violent june just last week in fact police were called into action to disperse crowds we've asked local residents who agree with the government's stance that n.g.o.s are fueling the situation. we all know what n.g.o.s are about they're behind this bad situation in our village we can understand the migrants we cannot leave just watching them killing our animals and setting fire to the fields in the village destroying the olive trees that we've had here for years and years now. but yes the ngos are behind this bad situation we know they do this for money of course they are not all the same it let's take a closer look at that the biggest makeshift camp in question on the island of last

boss that was originally built i was the maximum of 3000 migrants the number of people currently being kept there is 6 times higher with little or no access to health care the u.n. has called for urgent action and stress on the camp should be moving some of those residents to other places and meanwhile the bigger picture the refugee crisis across greece a country that's been on the front line of course for years is getting deeper just last year it was estimated the 74000 reached greek shores was a half of the rain in makeshift camps scattered across various locations agree doesn't see an end in sight either the countries expected up to $100000.00 more asylum seekers in the coming year we heard from regional and local officials in an area heavily affected by the crisis they shared their concerns about some of the humanitarian activity happening there. we have about 450 n.g.o.s act in and around the country many of them are very active on the islands where the immigration problem exists and some of them are doing

a very good job with the help of the our government to help the people but also some of them are really very obscure and ceo's we don't know where they're coming from how they deal with the money where they receive money from how they spend the money so we have been asking the government to act strictly and to right to control all the sec to reduce of this and this government has passed a new low in the parliament a few days ago according to which there will be a strict control of the indios. my personal opinion is that everybody knows we have n.g.o.s that help with the situation and others then help the migrants to protest there are also religious n.g.o.s who are helping by giving food to poor and vulnerable people i don't have evidence to prove that they are behind any negative actions but i am sure that there is more here than meets the eye. lottie's been speaking to several n.g.o.s to comment on the situation and we'll let you know their response as we get it. the world health organization say using the media not

to cause hysteria surrounding the krona virus outbreak itself the report so much citing a medical expert from on call warning that nearly 2 thirds of the world's population could be at risk of contracting the disease some concerning instances of on ward transmission from people was not travel history to china could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire but for no it's only a spark objective remains containment. well the corona virus which has now been named 19 has a mortality rate of 2 percent we can compare that to sars you can see it on the screen that was back in 2003 that killed 10 percent of those who cause it and a more recent health emergency in africa the ebola virus was also much more deadly than the corona virus. all that said though against the backdrop of panic and

exaggerated reports people of asian descent are increasingly becoming the target of racist abuse across the globe over the coronavirus fears we asked people in london's chinatown of they voted to change their attitude. terrible loss we feel. sadness and sorrow but i don't think people should be targeted or hate on because i . think you. put in people into a category into a box and think it's a dangerous way of thinking this is chinatown in the center of london it's going to be one of the most popular destinations by locals and tourists alike but today as you can see it's very quiet and the reason for that well after talking to locals and people on the streets they say it's plain and simple xenophobia the oldest chinese community group in chinatown has been handling the backlash against the corona virus and the fear factor is clear. i mean.

what about your personal experiences i think it was last thursday i was to train to work as normal guess what happened is also beside me and i thought 1st was the. matter because we were standing. sit bolivar to get the to stop. because i'm trying these and people think oh i mean he be a potential carrier. what kind of reaction have you had from own members of your community people just absurd to suppose for young children because i. didn't hear a lot of complaining from the parents the children got picked up. children just don't understand that student here hear from their own parents when they call school or when to see chinese students or young children this is so but the mere you because you might have for virus education for important the laws of important people understand that. the. transport and

the global problem here so are the one thing the people with the thing that just because you're trying to or your piece of chinese your prudence who carries. the way that we documented the things that go on in the eastern world has always it's always been told like that anyway it's always been around a think the moment that something like this happens like there's a virus it just allows people to say the things that they're actually have been fed for a very long time are probably out that they harbor they have these feelings anyway and it just gives people a platform to say what they want because this fear and i feel like it's just a very boring hard time right now for the chinese people i feel like using the disease. way to be seen as somebody who's just terrible. you know if it was somebody from the usa i don't think people would treat people americans coming over the same way as they are treating the chinese people and chinese students in central. i mean you can see that we hear the 1st 2

cases chinese to the other. people in the pool so you can see that. you could be and human being can be can be kariya we have seen this before and now the coronavirus has instigated another wave of racism despite there being only a small number of cases confirmed in the u.k. and there's no doubt that the effect on the british chinese community has had huge implications. arctic. silver karma rod marks the 41st anniversary of the islamic revolution and it's very mixed with celebration and mass protests that some of the stories after the break.

as the election cycle rages on the media highlights or even invents what they deem to be important even radical what they don't tell you is how the political center is collapsing in today's campaign is what voters think about the status quo.

the program is that the senate has voted to send far brown former interior minister my tears salvini to trial over charges of holding moderates at sea let's go straight to our europe correspondent peter all of a for more on this story what does this mean for. claims he do it all again if he gets back into power where could this lead. well it's going to lead him into a courtroom it looks like where he'll face trial for detaining migrants on board a ship last july if he's convicted of doing not well he could face a maximum of 15 years in prison this was after senators in rome voted in favor of removing the immunity from prosecution that usually goes with

actions of ministers while they are in power they seem to have voted to remove that therefore he will face trial over this it all relates back to this incident in july of 2019 when the italian coast guard ship going to get ready picked up around 140 migrants who were crossing the mediterranean from libya towards italy some of those who were picked up by the ship they were they required medical treatment and were taken off that left $116.00 on board now what prosecutors say is that mr salvini willfully ignored requests repeated requests from the prime minister. just separate contests to. to remove these people from the boat salvini was demanding that these would people would stay on board the vessel until other e.u. nations stepped in and said that they would take them prosecutors are saying that in doing so if the salvini acted on his own acted unilaterally and that's why he

faces prosecution for this for material salvini point of view though he says he do it all again that he did it in the interests of the safety of the italian people and that is the attitude will be taken into the courtroom. i feel is my duty to the country italian people and to my children i want to be proud of what it is to hold my head high our constitution says that protecting our homeland is a sacred duty for italian citizens as a minister as a man as an italian fighting people traffickers defending our borders and security defending the pride and dignity of my country protecting italians from all the illegal migrants in the country is not a right but to jews and for me. well along with greece italy has been at the very front line of the migrant crisis in europe the 1st port of call for desperate people making not very dangerous crossing over the mediterranean.

well faces another vote that could see him lose his ministerial immunity again later on this month that case relates to an incident in august of last year when mr salvini refused to allow migrants to be taken off the open arms migrant vessel that he said he can't say who is the prime minister while mr salvini was the the interior minister has described as obsessed with stopping migrants getting into it and it does seem that mr salvini will get his day in court and never

a dull time in politics peter all over with the latest updates thanks for that. well thousands of iranians have turned out for an anti u.s. rally in the capital tehran this comes as the country marked the 41st anniversary of the islamic revolution on tuesday as tensions spiral with the united states here's a quick look back at how the public was molded by events in the late 1970 s. .

u.s. iran relations hit a new low in early january after the top iranian commodity seems solid body was killed in an american air strike in baghdad less than a week after that iran retaliated with missile attacks against u.s. bases in iraq addressing iranians during a rally president struck a defiant tone. oh many call it that even though sadly it was actually in the past 2 years america has put so much pressure on our beloved people and all of our treat all of our exports all of our imports and all of the countries needs to exhaust the patience of our people the americans did not understand the greatness of the iranian people the united states believes it is facing 41 years of civilization no the americans are facing thousands of years of irene civilization and we discussed their washington's possible goals with a number of experts and asked whether there's any hope for deescalation as the u.s. wraps up the pressure on iran. do you see a chance here for iran to mend relations with the united states with europe pull

things through improvement terms of foreign policy or things just going to get tough for us things go on if the united states continues down this path that they will get nowhere with iran if they think that they can overthrow this comic proposed iran they're deeply misguided i think the american people are ill informed about the reality because the media in the united states is controlled by their leaders and those are leads have their own interests as well as talking points directly from ayatollah khamenei but i see a bright future for you and i think you take it's hard for all of the deposed or isn't. i see they are a mystery with the united states is it because of the problems or maybe they don't really like that or isn't it. i don't think so now where you try to treat people are flocking. to. the united states to america populating terribly already i don't suppose nobody really wants to go and live in iran iran is a is

a viable nation state it has a legitimate role to play in the region we can debate whether or not this is malign or otherwise but it is a legitimate role just like any nation has a legitimate role the problem is that iran per se the problem is the united states the united states needs to learn how to deal with with iran i think it's a miscalculation in the united states to even imagine that iran is in any way or form unstable iran has been able to. stand firm despite sanctions despite the fact that the united states is trying to strangle the iranian economy it's a tension that is to make ordinary people suffer i think president trouble stated very clearly in the policy is that iran will not develop. a nuclear program and he will do everything he can to stop the policy is not regime change but rather a regime. for the current regime of company to change course and

stop destabilizing its neighbors and offer you know a brighter future for the people of iran it was the united states that withdrew from the. iran nuclear agreement not iran what iran has been doing since the american withdrawal is exercising exercising its rights in accordance with the the agreement to back off of its commitments so long is one party or multiple parties are not in compliance. and as well as self-proclaimed president receives it on sort of only us welcome in caracas and soon as they offer returning from a 3 week and a national tour one would know was met by angry crowds at the country's biggest airports you held abuse at him and accuse them of exacerbating the economic crisis . was that. no letter or facility it wasn't easy for positionally to one going door to return to venezuela she passed out of control at the international airport without any problem but he was confronted by airline workers

from the company which was sanctioned after quite all stripped to the us. we are 2000 people and we are defending our families. he just goes crazy and we're here to defend ourselves there were members of libyan as well and socialist party present and other movements to debunk why don't proclaim himself the interim president of venezuela they shouted that he'd sold out the homeland and called him trader. in the moment the situation became more tense when quite all supporters came to the airport to meet their leader. the. moto it was said that venezuelan president nicolas maduro would visit the airport but he still made a statement from the palace address and transport workers you know it's like there

are a lot of it that got probably the transport workers i confirm all my commitments do not waste time let's not be distracted by stupidity some traitors of the country. or us tariffs are weighing heavy on what a fraud has most iconic products leaving one like us pleading for help official reports suggest the market is suffering significant losses is a fraud correspondent shouted they've been skiing. well just imagine that the u.s. is the 2nd largest importer of french wine so the idea of this 25 percent tax that was announced back in october and has been since slapped on those french wine products is really hitting the market for example we had some figures from the french federation of wine and spirits exporters say that since that tax was introduced they've see those exports plummet by some 33 percent and they're suggesting that the loss to their organizers their members could be something

worth more than a $100000000.00 euros this year alone so they're very concerned they say that those tariffs aboard a hit somewhere in winemakers so hard that they've cut jobs in some of even had to go into bankruptcy as a result of this now that tax was imposed by the u.s. following a decision by the world trade organization last year that the e.u. had in the given subsidies to the plane maker airbus and then those taxes were slapped on a range of european products but it really seems to be that the french wine makers are the ones that are suffering it is now essential that the government provide concrete responses to the requests made by our sector for 4 months in particular through the creation of an emergency compensation fund of 300000000 euros they want the money to cover the losses from their losses so far but also to cover any tax increases the wind exporters say this was

a political decision to give those subsidies to airbus and they've been caught in the middle of something that has nothing to do with them and they're even more concerned that they could be even further tax hikes around the corner this is over the dispute between the u.s. and france over the so-called gaffe or taxes is a tax on digital giants so last month president machen try to ease the pain and said you know what we are talking with us and we are going to look for a solution to this. but there is a suggestion that that 25 percent tax could be raised all the way up to 100 percent and that many say would completely decimate the industry here now we are expecting an announcement in regards to that from the u.s.

later this week city watch this space on that but many say even if that's avoided that there is an agreement the damage has already been done and that's because french products of already lost shelf space in the u.s. market that was a market that took them years to conquer and they say reconquest of that market may just not be possible. the philippines scraps the defense alliance with the united states emotions or lawyers are developing an embassy and other stories as well on watching the hawks we're back in 30 minutes. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics or business i'm sure business i'll see you there.