ultram 2nd impeachment trial ends with the 2nd acquittal as the u.s. senate votes to clear him of inciting the capitol hill by. the other stories making headlines in the last 7 days no foreign social media unless absolutely necessary a key topic tackled by president putin because it meets heads of russian media. plus the british government threatens to jail people for up to 10 years if they lie about travelling from home covert hotspots we put that issue up for debate. but the big issues that we've suffered from people coming into the united kingdom from countries 23 our countries those goals for.

the morning 14 february here in moscow is kevin 0 in. the weekly roundup of the big stories of the last 7 days and 1st the one that came in overnight after days of angry debate stunnel trump was acquitted by the senate in the 2nd impeachment trial over him but his successor still thinks he's guilty well the final vote did not lead to a conviction the substance of the charge is not in dispute $43.00 senators voted against impeachment with $57.00 for 10 short of the 2 thirds majority needed to convict trump of inciting last month's capital riot caleb maupin reports. well it takes 2 thirds of the u.s. senate to convict a president in impeachment proceedings so now that donald trump has been acquitted they failed to get the votes necessary to convict him we've actually heard this

statement from the former us president about the proceedings here's what he said it is a sad commentary in our times that one political party in america is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law defame law enforcement cheer mobs excuse rioters and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance and persecute blacklist cancel and suppress all people in viewpoints with whom or which they disagree is certainly been a colorful few days during the impeachment proceedings a lot of very emotional and heated words were exchanged many looked on it kind of the shocking theatrical that took place from both sides as the debate went on here's some of what we've seen over the past few days during the proceedings on capitol hill this cannot be the future of america as one senator said they could have killed all of us with this trial you will open up new and bigger wounds across the nation he didn't just tell them to fight like hell. he told them how where and

when the majority in the house of representatives does not want to face donald trump as our political rival in the future donald trump surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the inciter in chief $75000000.00 americans voted for donald trump and throughout the proceedings donald trump's attorneys made the point that the results of this trial are ultimately going to be the further do usually of the country the country is going to be much more polarized with trump supporters feeling that the establishment is out to get them and not allowing their voice to be heard here is some of the points we heard from trump's attorney they tell us that we have to have this impeachment trial such as it is to bring about unity but they don't want unity and they know this so-called trial will tear the country in half leaving tens of millions of americans feeling left out of the nation's agenda. as dictated by one political party that now holds the power in the

white house and in our national legislature this trial will tear this country apart perhaps like we've only seen once before in our history now many republicans are saying that this was essentially a show trial this wasn't so much about actually convicting donald trump actually taking office action against donald trump to prevent him from running for office but more about the democrats trying to run donald trump's name through the mud and trying to put on a show of the fact that they are now in power they do have the majority in the senate and the house and they do control the white house and this was the democrats are making clear that they're in charge now and many are looking on this and saying this is only going to inflame donald trump supporters only going to reinforce the notion that trump was fighting for them against the status quo and so the divisions in the united states remain thoroughly intact donald trump is acquitted he will be allowed to run for office once again he is banned from social media that's pretty

clear he's not on twitter now the statement he gave did not announce a new presidential run but there was an interesting line towards the end of or about trump having a vision for the future of the united states not exactly clear what that means but it appears that we haven't heard the last from donald trump. the trial of him started on tuesday with a video montage of raw and some trump speaking as pro democratic party media pundits were quick to voice extreme shock of seeing the footage. oh god. remarkable video by the house managers powerful an expletive laced video timeline disturbing and compelling video staggered like the rest of us by the presentation of the house managers with that video it stopped everyone in their tracks there was silence in the chamber. trump's defense team also presented a series of video showing democratic officials calling for trump's a page meant the clips take back to trump's 1st year in office designed to show

they were trying to force about long before any of the current accusations got reaction about the trial from a legal media analyst lionel noso nick selleck attorney and former chair of the u.s. military and national committee death row to start the evidence showed you would never know this from the particular evidence that was presented by the democrats but that these folks many of them were already there completely adorned some of them in almost a quantify military apparel was it ties ready for arrests and helmets already anticipating what they were going to do prior to donald trump saying anything this is a political exercise this is political theater this is not subject to any court reviewing what happens this isn't an animal it's own this impeachment trial the only reason this is being done is to prevent donald trump from running again and why is that

because many people suspect that internal polling indicate that the democrats realize that he might be stronger again if he were to run in 2024 the very problem that we have the division in the country is that not only were those senators jurors witnesses they were also victims of the insurrection on january 6th and still voted not to convict at least $43.00 of them voted not to convict and i think that's the irony of this trial and does explain that or highlight the division in the country that is a testament to the fact that this is a mix of both a legal and a political process and there is no trial in which jurors could be helping one side or the other with their arguments during breaks what impeachment. it is it's a normal part of the process because it is that mix process which is why the 6th amendment doesn't apply to trials because there is no opportunity to lose your

liberty. freedom of putin says russia won't burn any foreign social media but won't hesitate to work too if western online giants behind what he called hostile actions meanwhile he said the country should work to have its own alternatives in place as well the comments came as the president laid out national policy at a meeting with russian media heads in the week ego would standoffs across that this wanted to take us through it a lot was talked about it was just but social media these were the big heads of the media companies says it was all kinds of media but give us the highlights what came out then absolutely it was like a top tier you know media conference by the russian president and of course lots of topics and stories were discussed and the potential ban all restrictions on foreign social media were among those topics so essentially you quoting to the russian president russia will ban anything just for the sake of banning because how much sense does that make does that make but essentially said that if they would to sort

are engaging in information warfare then russia should be ready and able to bring and of course to do so 1st russia would have to develop its own alternatives so that it doesn't just iron curtain so to speak all of for an internet. we will not shut down anything until we have our own social media and when we have our own what we do will be based on the specific situation when our partners see that there is an alternative that they don't enjoy a monopoly in the market they will behave differently i have no desire to change anything manually but if hostile actions are carried out i do not exclude it hostile actions against our country are unacceptable. so the russian president talked a lot about these hostile actions and what didn't come out of nowhere didn't come out of thin air this you know this rhetoric because for instance last you know over

the past month over or over during february russia has witnessed some large scale protests opposition protests they were branded and marketed in support of as if they were in support of alexina valley prominent kremlin critic and essentially the russian government from the russian government standpoint they were illegal because they did not authorize those demonstrations they did not give a sanction they did not sanction them so essentially. again from the russian government standpoint those protests were illegal but they were promoted and organized and you know history did through foreign social media so this is what what lattimer putin here is talking about obviously he touched upon the subject of the protests too he couldn't just ignore that but he said. while they were kind of marketed as if they were in support of alexina valmy in reality he said that well

1st and foremost it's not because he enjoys some public support as it's not because of his high ratings as a wannabe politician and opposition and it's just because russians are genuinely frustrated about the economic situation which was about the economic decline caused by the coronavirus. and that the problem with the protests and that the problem within the valley himself is not about the protests but rather about treason. throughout russia's modern history for example during the 1st world war our opponents have always relied on people who are very ambitious and hungry for power and it's the scene right now in the situation with it is happening at the very moment when all countries of the world including in russia people are tired and irritated so essentially according to the russian president the west exploiting the

hungry for power people like the valley to undermine russia and to bring russia down because at the end of the day other nations they have their interests their interests at hand as as a priority and only russia wants a strong and diplomatically and politically and geo politically independent russia so obviously that brought up the subject of russia's relations with its western partners like europe and the united states and when it comes to the progression of those ties of lattimer putin said that basically again they don't want to see a strong russia kind of reiterated the point that he had made before. as soon as the situation in the country began to stabilize and as we were getting up on our feet that was it became team policy immediately began why don't you understand that why don't you see that's how it was banks in little by little step

by step more and more and the stronger we got the stronger this containment policy was. so this kind of falls on top of what russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said earlier this week in a more in a more blatant you know terms when he had said that well if if the west if europe if the e.u. were to look to cripple russia's economy through sanctions and to cripple russia that this is what putin is saying here what he's talking about that they were trying to undermine russia and this is that this is in their interest this kind of echoes that message of sergei lavrov that if europe to try and seek to cripple russia through sanctions then the russians would have to look into the possibility of cutting ties with the e.u. altogether and there are plenty of examples other than sanctions as to how this how this plays out how europe is just ridiculing all russia's will successes like we

look at this but it can be vaccine it was written ridiculed from the get go we didn't get any benefit of the doubt at all that the beginning i think completely critics completely brushed aside all the stories all the positive experiences of those who pioneered and got the job even before the phase tree of phase 3 excuse me of trials was completed and they kept ridiculing the russians putting a vaccine up until the very last moment when it just became undeniable that sputnik me is up there among the top 3 of the most effective vaccines in the world absolutely or ego things telling. mr putin's meeting with the media heads here in russia. now we're going to a break but it's the other side of the break stories we're talking about a french court holds final hearings on the alleged mass rape of a minor cause the herald changes to the law to protect under-age victims is one of the stories we brought you in the week as we we recap more for you.

join me every 1st day on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then. he must not conflate all elites with corruption there are many bureaucrats and many public servants that are. patriotic that know what civil duties and if anything must be associated with the new order that comes up that many of the success stories and. the one. intelligent leaders and these movements tell you

know people or the corrupt elites on the other side look we will give you a fair chance and we will give you an honorable exit from the system if you let your peers which are clear and which have no blood on their hands come in and manage this with us. again mutating strains of covert means britain's will have to get shots all over again this year is the warning from prime minister boris johnson. i think we're going to have to get used to the idea that sleeping on the rebound in the autumn as we as we come to place these new growth more than 4000000 if no been infected in the u.k. and there's been 116000 deaths the worst toll in europe authorities have extended

doorstep testing across the country with volunteers going door to door to check whether or not people have the disease a study showed britain's astra zeneca job offers only limited protection against new coronavirus variants but some researchers want to continue use of the shot arguing it helps protect against the worst effects of the mutations it comes after the head of parliamentary health committee said that the covert response would be mishandled jeremy hunt added that above all the government should have reacted quicker as a country we have not got everything right in our pandemic handling we need to learn lessons and the biggest lesson of all is that in a pandemic you have to act faster than the virus so as part of that extremely tough new measures for travelers coming into the u.k. will come into force this coming monday legal experts including top u.k. judges that have heavily criticised the government's heavy handed move to jail arrivals who lie about their travel history or quarantine plans health secretary matt hancock announced the controversial regulations in parliament. anyone who lies

on the passenger locator form and tries to conceal that they've been in the country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival here will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years actually a ridiculous thing for the secretary of state for health to say we're really going to lock people up for 10 years so being dishonest about the fact that they've been to portugal by all means give them a shine does mr hancock really thing that nondisclosure over a visit to portugal is worse than the large number of violent firearms offenses or sexual offenses involving minors for which the maximum is 70 years and coke's red list refers to $33.00 covert hotspots including brazil and south africa which is registered a highly infectious new strain of the coronavirus british nationals returning from any state on the red list will have to quarantine government approved hotels and significant expense themselves for 10 days we put it up for debate.

i think one of the big issues that we've suffered from is people coming into the united kingdom from hot spot countries we've not had the proper testing at the airports and we've not had the proper car intake but now we've got to do is absolutely guarantee that it would not conditionals our borders we absolutely have to make sure that people are all this this lesser so i did recover from up with current state and i know personally 3 so greg tom treats or if you look at lists you could argue there are some machines and though you could all agree that. the owner x. we have to expect people when they come to our borders to be all east about where they've been and to make a genuine declaration i think that's a legitimate request and in this case we're requesting that people should simply say where they've been jewelry that foreign basics i don't think that's the reasonable thing to take the road paper to be almost it's probably is probably government and not all of us are critics that. we've had just

a very astute sense of this whole estate from a government they were going to rule katzenberg is wrong at all many other things which are actually going to wearing those of us that are turning round and saying that school should go back that people should be what have failed to persuade the british government what annoys me at the moment is the only thing that's not locked down is the borders the government's constantly changing the rules because the reality is very hotly there are already very which they should never rule soon and in march last year well we know lot on countries in the world who talk a lot faster because they focus only on the medical measures we in this country have given up our democracy giving up our freedom we are now grown by medical experts and the only way for getting out of that is stopping people coming to the country from red zones and quarantining them properly thank goodness made explorers worth their weight. well 3 pixar countries no hotels we're going to go through

times i mean you're so good to be getting it was for you fell you want to suit meetings there were a lot of people that the only way we could stop you variations from outside because trade east to shot the ball just this does not. actually with respect we have found in the arguments of persuading people to go and all business they're not going to do it. on wednesday in paris court hell finally hearings on the alleged rape by 20 firefighters of an underage girl their decisions expected in the coming weeks but the issues already sparked rallies across france with demonstrators demanding legal changes to introduce a minimum age of consent which current doesn't exist shiela do bensky have that story in the one. bass that's provoked outrage here in france involves a woman known as julie who says she was raped by 20 firefighters between the ages

of 13 and 15. it all began when julie not real name had been assisted by a firefighter following a severe anxiety seizure at 13 in 2008 now it's claimed he obtained her number for medical records and then grew before asking her to undress via webcam it's then claimed he passed it details on to other firefighters who did the same now in 2009 it's alleged a firefighter then raped her julie says she was later taken to an apartment where she was gang raped in 2010 julie disclosed what happened to her mother and a complaint was filed 3 firefighters were placed under investigation but no action was taken against another 17 men also accused 2 of the men have admitted that they had group sex with julie whilst on duty and whilst wearing their

uniforms a 3rd admitted a sexual act in a toilet cubicle in a prison hospital where julie had been admitted in march 20th definite judge was appointed to investigate but after 8 years the rape charges were dropped instead rape was replaced by consensual penetrative sex with a minor under 15 this means the maximum sentence that they could receive is 7 years compared with 20 for rape so it's not she's a child who was facing 20 firefighters zob this one we're talking voluntary 13 year old child on able to realize that we are not in the fair balance of power and that's when julie was raped by 20 firefighters she was raped on a dress and she could not consent she could not accept the reap since she was a child that outcome is said to have hit julie. heart and she attempted to take her own life her family though is determined to keep fighting julie's mother is still gulps marked by that decision. the facts

a simple julie was 1314 and 15 at the time she was in a very vulnerable state taking medication and trying to kill herself and 25 fighters came to her all of them admit that they performed a sexual act on her with penetration and yet in france in the 21st century the court decides that they're innocent julie's case has caused consternation in france . almost a decade we have trusted the justice system to make its ruling the court of appeals ruled that the fire rapists were justified given the success they enjoyed with women moreover they stated verbal and in writing that the firefighters should be exonerated quote given the rampant sexual interest shown in them by women campaigners hope that the decision reached this court will lead to an age of sexual consent being in troy and in french law schools for

a minimum age of consent have been cruising in recent years and in january the senate but a bill to make the age of consent 13 but child protection associations say that that is insufficient charlotte even ski auty paris or so it's a new shaped up from a scrap speaking everything we're talking about happening right now at r.t. dot com of the fallout from the impeachment 2nd impeachment hearing from trump last night where that went. another place watching the sunday and have a great day. was a pandemic no certainly no borders and just bought into nationalities.

has emerged with the we do a back seat the whole world needs to be. judged . commentary prices sometimes. we can do better we should be. everyone is contributing each of our own way but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever the challenges create the response has been masked so many good people are helping us. it makes us feel very proud that we are in it together. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for indication let it be an arms race move this on off and spearing dramatic devolved into only mostly i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be

successful very critical time to sit down and talk. a dark industry comes to life in los angeles every night. dozens of women sells the bodies on the streets many of them under-age. los angeles police reveal a taste of the daily challenge 344 trial here in los angeles for the return of cars you see officers going undercover as 6 workers and customers to find 6 trades. there. are a. lot

of welcome to worlds apart when you use the shower so democratisation have championed it to keep current approach to social change regardless of what cultural or historic do the countries from nato want a recipe based largely on western megan radiance was supposed to be the bass but up to series of revolutions and counter revolutions in the arab world the question still remains what is the best way for it both to the region and the world as a whole well to discuss that i'm now joined by shallow louay research fellow at the weatherhead center for international * affairs at harvard. jelly's good to talk to thank you very much for your time thank you i'm very pleased to be here it's great to be with you now it's been 10 years since the arab spring and since then i mean had there a lot of commentators making fun and qualms about the seasonality all of that

movement you know at the arab spring turning into an islamist fall or a dictatorial winter and i understand that it's very easy to get disheartened by what happened since 2011 but i wonder if you see anything lastingly positive to come out there was a bad well i think we must look at these you know of these arab uprisings you know calling it the arab spring or uprisings or revolutions as a matter of debate but i think we should look upon them with the idea that this is a process it's a long process it's not an event for people that knew the region very well people suspected that these would not materialize in democracies very fast i think really irrespective of everything else putting to the side the loss of life in civil wars and so forth i think as a whole the region is better off today because this is a process and this is

a stepping stone forward to something that will lead eventually and hopefully to genuine pluralism so yes i would say we are better off and i know that you see the protests that of 2090 and egyptian lab and not in jordan and sudan as that continuation of that process in the case of older air if it lasts if the resignation of the country's long serving president i wonder how do you think this exacerbated process should be measured is it all about how many all the rulers actually get out or is it about something else. i think would seem what's crucial here is to realize that. many of the citizens in most citizens in all the in this region are aware now that they have a voice they are cognizant of their power and they are. caught.