the new york times is criticized from all sides mentioned in its anonymous source based article claiming russia paid bounties in afghanistan to kill american troops . in the stories that shaped the week right here on r.g.p. for national after a delay due to covert 19 moscow finally holds its world war 2 victory parade marking the 75th anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany. and russia begins voting on constitutional reforms with 2 regions making people cast their ballots online coronavirus concerns.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r t international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us as we recap the week's top stories now the new york times is facing that widespread criticism after it published an article saying russia offered bounties in afghanistan to kill u.s. troops it also claimed donald trump was briefed on the matter however the director of national intelligence denies that either the president or the vice president were ever briefed on this and trump himself labeled the piece of fake news. the news new york times must reveal its anonymous source but they can't do it this person probably does not even exist the article has been slammed by the russian foreign ministry which called the piece deliberate dissin from asian saturday also saw the taliban denying the new york times article artie's it was done after it's a closer look at the piece in question and asks who might benefit from it

publication. it's time to blow off the dust that circled around any smear tactics guide book since the last us election but as democrats are looking to wash away the humiliation of 2016 by trying to bring down trump this time they are resorting to the same all narrative that failed them in the 1st place russia gate american intelligence officials have concluded that the russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to taliban linked militants for killing coalition forces in afghanistan the peace rests on the familiar pillars of pulitzer winning journalism anonymous sources that believed concluded and desist the claims are said to be based on interrogations of captured afghan militants at least in part the article says well because less than in part well would be nothing at all really the alleged culprits is the same russian intelligence unit that is accused of this

elsberry poisoning western intelligence official say the unit which has operated for more than a decade has been charged by the kremlin with kerry knows a complaint to destabilize the west through subversion and the source and nation. the west by bribing the taliban into something they are doing anyway comic book villains have more logic and motivation than russia in this article but as evil and sleazy as russia may be portrayed in this story it's still just collateral damage and not the actual target president trying to get briefed in march that russia is paying bounty money for dead american soldiers right now and his response to that is nothing his entire presidency has been a gift. but it this is beyond the pale it's betrayal of most sacred duty we bear as a nation to protect and equip our troops and restrain them in the harms way. if

trump refuses to hold putin accountable for funding terrorism against u.s. troops in afghanistan then congress must again step up i expect the trumpet ministration to take such allegations seriously and inform congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports the stories taking jabs at trump amid reports he's about to take another step towards ending the catastrophic 2 decades long invasion russia's foreign ministry has dismissed the allegations as fake pointing out that more school has all along been trying to mediate the conflict and have the united states and the taliban in fact sign a peace deal the simple this information clearly illustrates the low intellectual abilities propagandists among american intelligence who have to come up with such nonsense instead of inventing something more reliable however what else can we expect from intelligence which miserably failed in the 20 year war in afghanistan it's russia collusion 2.0 as if that has ever been worth anything more but

a house impeachment that left trump unfazed by hey maybe at least robert mueller will have a 2nd shot around 2021 we heard from max abrams a fellow at the quincy institute for responsible state graph in the us who says anonymous intelligence data is always questionable. when i 1st read this story in the new york times i point to go on twitter that it was weakly sourced and a number of people replied and they said yeah but we're you know it's been corroborated by you know the wall street journal what section on c.n.n. and so the more mainstream media piles up on a story like this the more it takes on the impression of being true but again we can't really know that well without knowing more about this intel how is the intel generated out who is providing this into the home and is it pure or is it largely

partisan driven begin telling agencies how bad largely trouble and so it's not hard for mainstream media to get in touch with sort of another anonymous tell the person to verify the veracity of these stories even if they're not necessarily true where even if we're hearing you know the truth about it it's certainly trying to be spun in the way in a way that implicates trump in the worst manner to help push by going across the finish line. after being delayed by the global pandemic moscow finally held its huge military parade on wednesday marking the 75th anniversary of victory over nazi germany red square echoed to the sound of thousands of marching feet from those tasked with protecting of the motherland and hot on their heels quite literally was

a procession of military vehicles and equipment before the whole thing was capped off with a spectacular fly by. live . feed. our own correspondents taylor was on red square and summed up in the emotions of

the day for us. to me actually the most moving part of the day it's all to the present spoken and they say in unison route i would rock and that's because i hear history in that sound there are echoes of these people 75 years ago only fred scrapped victory was celebrated but more importantly so with the people who had fought tooth and nail to bring it up out my grandmother for chat she fought in the a 1000000 plautus independent women's battalion and it was an all female unit that was part of the fust post shaunie and that was part of the soviet fool says and actually they fought out a bottle in london which is a friend of russia and they actually managed to break through to jump into france says take back and hold the talk to strategic area of the bridge that proved to be crucial and not the battle later on i could go up to any single person on the street also what did you write that it's to join the war each would keep me 80 tell family story someone who fought and died at starting price someone who survived the

blockade of leningrad so many fought with the partisans on so much who on the 24th of june 1945 moved on to that very scrap right behind me traditionally the event is held on may 9th but the coronavirus prevented it this year so wednesday was chosen for the jubilee instead and it was not just a random day back in 1905 the 1st ever victory parade was held on june 24th when many soviet soldiers had made it back from the front lines and could share the celebrations with the whole country. in commemoration of victory over germany in the great patrick war for june 24th 945 i am scheduling a parade of the active army for the navy and moscow garrison the victory parade in moscow's red square.

it was a long anticipated and unfit gettable day some people strongly believed it would come.

we were looking at the pile of wet cloths and thinking that the long expected victory had come and we the war is that how people to free the motherland bring back peace is my contribution so. going to your rounds and reaching the troops can see rain trickling from their camps but they spirits were too high to even notice it was a gloomy sunday red squares cobblestones away the bunches of flowers that we got off to the parade where way but years on my heart doesn't believe in those memories the 24th of june 945 has become a part of my life it was the most cheerful and sunny day.

after months of lockdown people around the world have been enjoying their 1st taste of freedom in recent weeks following the easing of many coronavirus restrictions but for those thinking that the fight against the virus has been won the world health organization has a warning for you it's only just begun globality the time to me. it took more than 3 months for the 3rd swine median cases to be reported the last $1000000.00 cases were reported in just. now among those who have already felt the 2nd wave is china a recent outbreak was traced to a local wholesale food market which supplies more than 80 percent of agricultural products to the capital beijing now the government acted quickly shutting it down

and firing up its testing program it was planted to test an entire area in just 3 days that's more than 60000 people we asked locals how the process went. i thought it would be fast to take such a test but in fact i spent 3 hours queuing up for the test but when i saw the doctors my heart sank because they had protective googles well all folks and their sweat was running down their faces meanwhile in germany new cases of the coronavirus have continued popping up in various regions leading local authorities to impose countermeasures which have differed from city to city after outbreaks added meat processing plants to the german food and agricultural minister has called for price increases to help create a safe working environment marti's peter oliver explains. dealing with coronavirus here in germany has moved away from sweeping national nation is with restrictions being lifted or imposed based on regional fact is. here in berlin

authorities have lifted restrictions that had limited get togethers to a maximum of 5 people from 2 different households the same move it being made in the states of brandenburg. it's a very different picture in north rhine-westphalia an outbreak centered around a meat packing plant in the city of. the scene over $1500.00 people test positive and a strict lockdown until the end of the month has been imposed on the area. undoes we will order a lockdown for the whole district of killer slow the purpose is to calm the situation to expand testing to establish whether or not the virus has spread beyond the employees of tony's we will get a better picture of the situation or intensive testing and can then see more clearly within 7 days what the situation is we want to bring about this lockdown which will stay in place until june 30th and bring us more clarity for. long

periods have formed as tests of being made available to everyone in the affected regions the military being drafted in to help with the large scale testing operation health professionals suggest that a large number of symptomless covert carriers a behind the spike the largest localized outbreak in germany. that is already the idea of these tests because we know that there are symptoms people who don't have a high fever who carry the virus and then unfortunately spread 8 today we've counted around 402600 people waiting and we will also be setting up a hotline in the next few days to help with the registration. locals queuing to test science at all happy with the slaughterhouse at the center of this spike all the state authorities who they say should have done more. than 40 i don't want to be careful and take the test i don't have symptoms and what should i say i'm a bit angry with the slaughterhouse that they didn't react sooner and now our

region is headed into another log down we have to go through it. to find definitely the politicians in their thirty's should have reacted to and then completely convinced that the 1st kind of those infected were faked and then not taking any responsibility. away from north rhine-westphalia there's also a localized lockdown in the city of my. workers and is being seen bringing water and supplies to some of the 800 also families who are being to. to quarantine. around 700 people remain in an apartment complex and get again a forced quarantine which turned violent last weekend. and remember i said restrictions were being lifted in berlin well not for old berlin as in the friedrich schein area of the german capital almost 40 households of being put on lockdown those living nearby a concerned about the risk posed

a not too happy with those who flaunted social distancing the policy in the sun the sun. i have a feeling the fear can you explain why because i belong to the risk group and i have medical preconditions. we are doing this for weeks and months we don't do visits anymore mostly we sit on the balcony apart from grocery shopping or a walk pharmacy or the doctor that's it. if we don't understand why some have in the box and in the compounds we don't understand this. off the back of those regional covert 19 spikes authorities here in berlin have said that they will be enforcing fines against those law wearing face coverings on public transport or in shops as we try to get back to his normal a life as possible while still remembering that corona virus is infectious today as it was a few months ago thanks to all over all to see. a week of voting is

underway in russia on amendment to the country's constitution we'll have details on that and much more after a short break and this is r.t. international on the weekly. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics. i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. a minimum wage doesn't guarantee you a job. but if you get a job you'll be paid that wage precisely that. means you're less likely to get the job and so i would predict. 1000000 people would lose their jobs if the minimum

wage were double just now they want to phase it in so maybe. that would be differentially in communities. mississippi lower wage states. welcome back to the weekly right here on r t international now the voting process to reform of the russian constitution began on thursday polls are open nationwide until the 1st of july and the vote had been the original plan for april 22nd but was delayed by the pandemic and to alleviate

concerns about crowds at polling stations are open for an entire week instead of just a single day there are about 200 proposed amendments to the constitution one of the changes would allow vladimir putin to run for president for another 2 terms critics have argued over the all or nothing approach to the vote where people have to say yes or no to the entire package and cannot just pick and choose which men they want to put in support of the changes in a speech in the state duma back in early march. it was january when president putin stunned russia by proposing changes to the country's foundational law the constitution within hours the entire government had resigned the current constitution dates back to $993.00 to western backed president boris yeltsin built from the debut of the communist soviet era yeltsin's constitution created what would be criticized as a hyper presidential system the president called all the shots and it was forged in

bloodshed as a hostile communist control parliament tried to impeach yeltsin he resorted to the military to keep in power. 187 people were killed that autumn. one of the most important proposals today is to end that hyper presidential system while keeping the fundamentals of the constitution intact so what powers does the president currently have only he alone can nominate the prime minister and other cabinet members parliament just gives a formal green light to the candidates the proposal would flip that giving parliament the final say on who serves in government and the president would not be able to reject the m.p.'s choices powers would be redistributed between various branches of government intended to lock in more checks and balances into russia's government system another big change would limit the president's tenure to only 2 terms in total as opposed to no more than 2 terms in a row as it is now that means future leaders won't be able to serve for as long as

putin has. but it's not a member which has got western media excited putin's perceived trick to stay in power forever the existing rules say putin must stand aside in 4 years time after his 2nd consecutive term albeit his 4th mandate in total m.p.'s are pushing a proposal to 0 out his term count a reset button for an updated constitution i propose to add to the new constitution that the current president like any other citizen would have the right to be elected to the post of head of the state that would mean putin could run again in 2024 and in 2030 if he wants to rewind back to january and why putin said he wanted to change the constitution he says it's to develop a welfare state. the reason for these amendments is to ensure the further development of russia as a state governed by the rule of law is to increase the efficiency of institutions in our country with that in mind the room more than $140.00 amendments one

guarantees that the minimum wage will not be lower than the cost of living another secures an annual adjustment to improve the real value of pensions and allowances that would also be tougher requirements for civil servants such as banning key officials from having foreign citizenship or foreign bank accounts the would also be a ban on giving away any russian territory and priority to domestic law over international there are some controversial proposals to marriage would be classified solely as a union between a man and a woman and god gets mentioned or the constitution will still say russia is officially a secular state it's an all or nothing vote russians won't be able to pick and choose which of the amendments they want to see it simply a yes or no to the whole package and the changes will only be enacted if the russian people give it an unequivocal mandate. if people do not vote for the amendments they will not be added to the constitution. online voting is it being held up for the 1st time in russia 2 regions are holding their vote electronically

another me. sure to help quell covert fears the online platform being used promises data encryption and privacy guarantees and registration for online voting closed last week now while the reforms are proving controversial some commentators claim that they are necessary for russian society but i think it's very important to note that the present constitution came out of violence came out of a time of deep uncertainty a time of very dense after the collapse of the soviet system here we are 2027 years later and this document is a centralized power dramatically putin feels it needs to be changed opinion polls suggest a majority russians feel it should be changed as well one of the western media is focusing on the putin term limits thing which by the way does mean yes to go initially one day anyway putin says he will respect the votes that mean technically by the way he didn't have to have this national vote at all i mean he was passed by

every russian region all 85 federal something passed in the state parliament the duma costed the national parliament he didn't have to have this vote he's chosen to do it because he wants the public democratic legitimacy and fairness i think if that had been that many ballot papers it would've been a hell of a lot more confusing than a single ballot papers and yes or no. many italian businesses are facing the heart breaking decision of whether to cut their losses and close their doors for good the 3 month coronavirus lockdown has cast a devastating blow to small and medium enterprises in the country and in particular the hospitality sector italy has been one of the hardest hit by covert 19 and this year's financial losses could amount to 170000000000 euros many thousands of companies are at risk and considering closure it is estimated this could all leave about a 1000000 people out of work. days of closure killed us cause us more than

150000 euros of damage and today due to cold with 19 we will find those opening only 2 of the 3 stores who are. the current situation is sad this restaurant began in 1910 things to my father i have been managing it for 58 years and i can tell you that i have never really seen such a desperate moment. it is unthinkable that human beings can experience all this i believe that it is basically a punishment from heaven perhaps we have always thought of being masters of the earth but instead we are nothing but grains of sand we. look down the current of our is sand the consequent lockdown has created many problems for us we've lost 3 months of revenue and if we remain closed around the summer we would lose even more money unfortunately the choice is inevitable i spoke to my brother and after 59 years we've decided to close the family restaurant in response the italian

government has offered lifelines to businesses although there are complaints that these measures have had little effect while many say they have received no financial help whatsoever companies continue to suffer losses as they are still expected to uphold their social obligations to employees and paid taxes all while being forced to remain closed. the mother let it all out there certainly something more could be done the state made us close and did not understand that we needed immediate help all the companies that have requested money from the state have received absolutely nothing or. many others are asians have been canceled i'm thinking of closing everything because i have many employees in if i don't i risk getting into a lot of debt if things go wrong for 2 months you risk failing so it's a very bad situation as as an audio out there as an ideological move the bills came in anyway they didn't stop them my employees have applied for subsidies but i don't

know if they've received them yet we too have not received anything for 3 months this was our only job for 3 months we've been continuing with the money we had but i cannot continue because we would risk going into more debt with it and in just under 30 minutes i'll be back with another look at your weekly that is our 2 international stay with us. you cannot be both with the yeah you're right.

we go to work so straight home for. the world is driven by. the day or thinks. we dare to ask.

hello and welcome to cross up we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle what is the meaning in worth of history why are there are those so determined to destroy cultural artifacts and rewrite history and so the understanding of history a true and just passionate understanding of history is really about 2 things reverence and a warning the culture side we are witnessing rejects both. it is guys this and more i'm joined by my guests.