donald trump 2nd impeachment trial ends with the 2nd acquittal has the u.s. senate voted to clear him of inciting the riot at capitol hill. and in our review of the week here in r.t. no ban on foreign social media and they're absolutely necessary a key topic tackled by president putin has he met with the heads of russia's media and the british government threatens to jail people for up to 10 years if they lie about travelling from covert hot spots we put the issue up for the back. in the big issues that we've suffered from these people coming. from countries. those goals.

good afternoon the latest developments and a look back at what's been happening to you over the last 7 days you watch in the weekly here on r.t. international now after days of angry debate donald trump has been acquitted by the senate in his 2nd impeachment trial however his successor joe biden still thinks he's guilty well the final vote did not lead to a conviction the substance of the charge is not in dispute but $43.00 senators voted against impeachment with 574 that was 10 short of the 2 thirds majority needed to convict trump of inciting last month's riots at the capitol building with more details. 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 so we've actually heard this statement from the former u.s. 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 insider 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 at 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 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 kalam often reporting there will be a trial evidence started on cheney's day with a video montage of primates and trumpets speaking democratic party media pundits were quick to voice extreme shock as saying the footage. oh it was. 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 and in response trump's defense team moved presented a series of videos showing democratic officials calling for trump's impeachment eclipse to date back to trump's 1st year in office designed to show that they were

trying to force a night long before any of the current accusations we got reaction on the trial from a legal and media analyst and also from nick so my own an attorney and former chair of the u.s. military and national committee. 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 wisit 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 of 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 can. picked at least $43.00 of them voted not to convict and that i think that's the irony of this trial and does explain that earlier 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 but in 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 impeachment trials because there is no opportunity to lose your liberty. i've not imitation says that russia will not ban any foreign social media but that has to take to active western tech giants are behind what he called hostile actions he says the country should have its own holton it is in place the comments came as the president laid out national policy at a meeting with the heads of russian media early this week hugo should donald discuss the details with haven't either. it was like a very high profile top tier media conference with editors in chief of the rule but the issue of social media and the social media restrictions well it's hot in russia so of lattimer putin touched upon that when essentially he said that well the kremlin is not looking to ban anything just for the sake of banning it because it would make any sense but he's made a point that if foreign social media institutes were to sort of engage in

information warfare promotes information hostile to the to russia's national interests then well most will have no other choice but to somehow restrict their actions and also made another disclaimer saying that. a reason for that and it will only be done in case only if russia develops its own alternative. 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 when it comes to these hostile actions that the russian president is talking about this subject didn't

come out of thin air because i'm really know that russia has seen some very large scale demonstrations or pro opposition demonstrations well speaking of scale like tens of thousands of people showed up the russian government did not sanction and did not arise any of those rallies so the russian government from the russian government's standpoint those protests were illegal but those protests will coordinate and kind of promoted and p. are marketed for in social media so they. this is this is what it is what it is all about right now obviously on the subject of these protests that were branded as in support of election of a prominent kremlin critic but from vladimir putin's standpoint they weren't really motivated by the personal support he enjoys as a person as a want to be politician but rather by a general frustration of the russian public due to well the decreasing living

conditions and they stem from the nomic hardships that russia is facing due to the pandemic because russia has been affected by covert 19 like literally any other country in the world and. 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 in 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 in 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 a priority and only russia wants a strong and diplomatically and politically and geo politically independent russia

a kind of elaborating on that the russian president has said that well the stronger the more independent russia becomes the more pressure its partners will rather rivals will exert. as soon as the situation in the country began to stabilize and as we were getting up on our feet that was it the containment 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 harsh in a more blatant you know terms when he had said that world if if the west if europe if the e.u. world to look to cripple russia's economy through sanctions and world to cripple russia that this is what putin is saying here russia would have to look into the

possibility of cutting ties with the with the e.u. all together 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 could be vaccine it was written ridiculed from the get go we didn't get any benefit of the doubt at all at the beginning i think completely critics completely brushed aside all the stories or the positive experiences of those who pioneered and got the job even before the phase 3 phase 3 excuse me of trials was completed and they kept ridiculing the russians putting me vaccine up until the very last moment when it just became undeniable that sputnik up there among the top 3 of the most effective vaccines in the world. will stay with corona virus because mutating strains of it will mean that britons will have

to get vaccinated all over again this year at least that's the warning from the prime minister morris johnson. i think we're going to have to get used to the idea that regretfully to be able to come to a place where it's more than 4000000 people have been infected in the u.k. and there have been 116000 deaths the highest death toll in europe adding to the concern the studies that show that britain's astra zeneca job offers only limited protection against new coronavirus variants and authorities are now extending doorstep testing across the country to check whether people have the disease however some experts say it's still important to use the jab is it protects against the worst effects of the me that's what all this does come after the head of the parliamentary health committee said that the covert response had been 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 meanwhile tough new measures for travelers entering the u.k. will come into force on monday but legal experts including top judges have heavily criticised the government's move to jail a rival to 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 sector a state for health to say we're really going to lock people up to 10 years for being dishonest about the fact that they've been to poach go 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 hancock's red list refers to $33.00 covert hotspots including brazil and south africa which has 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 significant expense to themselves for 10 days we put the new measures 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 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 less i did recover from our current state and. 33 so who would rather come true it's where if you look at lists you could argue there are some machines and though you could all agree that. be only are 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. who are. just a very astute sense of this what was paid for mccartney they were going to rule katzenberg is well known many things which are actually going to wearing those flows 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 the only thing that's not locked down is the borders the government's constantly changing the rules because the reality is though you have tried leaving her there are already very rich they should know who will soon be in march last

year will they know lockdown 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 she story picks up countries now have chosen to go through times i mean a soap so good to be getting it was perfect i'm glad you felt about the suit being spared there were a lot of people who object the only way we can stop you variations from outside because trade each tooth shot the ball just this does not constitute 6 x. and z. with respect we have failed in the arguments of persuading people to go fast and the whole business they're not going to do it. you watch the weekly here not he still comes to the sad britain hits back at beijing for banning b.b.c.

blow teams in china but haven't a case just off the record. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. must not conflate all elites with corruption there are many bureaucrats and many public servants that are 1000000000 that are patriotic that sit with 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 no people or the corrupt elite 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. is the way clean now a member of the world health organization has told r.t. that if the virus originated in bats it was likely transmitted to humans fire other animals scientists climate dead gulf is part of a team just back from investigating the source of the pandemic in china.

we know from past epidemics for example sars cove and mares cove that bats are the source of the epidemic moreover they contain genetic cells close to the ones that caused the pandemic but we also know that the transmission of the virus did not occur directly from the bat the previous time sars was transferred from a civet cat mers from a camel so there must be some other intermediate animal it is the most likely have potus is based on our knowledge. well the disease was 1st detected in the city when hand in december 29th tain and the w h o's initial findings bunk claims that it originated in at a bar or a tree however u.s. has claimed beijing is hiding facts from experts science needs to lead us out of this pandemic and in preventing the next one geo political battling has already made the path harder is to learn to trust in the global systems we set up after

world war 2 and give them a chance china gave them very controlled and limited access and got a report that was inconclusive and supports narrative however mr dad called again told us that he thought that beijing had been transparent. all spiritual how successful was our mission i believe that we have fulfilled our program this was only the 1st part of our investigation and we didn't expect to determine the origin of the pandemic already w.h.o. team and chinese specialists work together as scientists it was something like a huge conference where we shared opinions and information analyzed scientific literature that already exists discussed hypotheses and assessed possibilities i see no reason for the chinese side to hide anything they probably didn't do that because in the scientific world it is very difficult to conceal something

information could be hidden from the public but it is more difficult if it's people who really understand the issue. yes. there are 2 hypotheses about how the virus appeared the 1st is that the virus may have been induced the suspicions have already been refuted so we're not even considering this the 2nd is that a natural virus came from the lab we were at the institute of or ology observing the work with viruses and concluded that everything meets safety standards and leakage could not have occurred this lab is far enough from the market if there was a leak and we'd see signs of it there for such a leak is practically impossible we looked at hypotheses in the probability category it is likely that the virus came from space so it's impossible. to tensions are driving between the u.k. and china after beijing banned b.b.c.

world news that he's in the t.v. channel of bias and false reporting about week a muslim's britain's foreign minister though dubbed the move an unacceptable telling of media freedom this report from r.t. america correspondent alex ahead of age. it was once viewed as a standard in international television news i was invited out through. to many b.b.c. world news represented journalistic integrity fairness and a certain level of impartiality however now some would say instead of being one of the world's most reliable sources of information but b.b.c. has become the planet's most powerful propaganda machine aside from questionable views that spells in recent years it has been obvious that b.b.c. world news is are nothing less than a crusade when it comes to china and russia the network shamelessly attacks russia including promoting russian politician alexei know about only as a putin critic when in fact he's been called out for being an ultra nationalist and

making racist comments a man who would be sent to the fringes if he was politically active in the west with china the story gets even bigger. the b.b.c. continues to fill the airwaves with inflammatory reports about the covert 19 pandemic in china and it broadcast unproven allegations of forced labor and sexual abuse of china's weaker population in the shouldn't jump region to over such a practice seriously violates professional ethics of journalism and deviates from an objective balance an impartial reporting position which is totally inconsistent with that it fully exposes the b.b.c.'s malicious intention to confuse the public and smear. adding insult to injury on february the 4th the u.k.'s communications watchdog off calm revoke the license of c g t n china's english language satellite news channel while the british organization cited links to china's ruling communist party among its reasons a chinese foreign ministry spokesman said off calm had acted on political grounds based on ideological bias ultimately china has had enough who writes it as the

channel fails to meet their requirements to broadcast in china as an overseas channel b.b.c. world news is not allowed to continue its service within tiny's territory the n r t a will not accept the channel's broadcast application for the new year the b.b.c. released a statement on twitter regarding trying to ban of its international network the broadcaster tweeted we are disappointed that the chinese authorities have decided to take this course of action the b.b.c. is the world's most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly impartially and without fear or favor twitter users from the u.k. and abroad have had a field day with that statement one person wrote the funniest thing to come out of the beeb in decades another twitter user posted world's most trusted is this a parody the criticism goes on and on and on b.b.c. world news may say it reports on stories from around the world fairly impartially

and without fear or favor but that statement could be easily debated however to be fair it is undeniable that with its positive past reputation. and its global reach b.b.c. world news has been the go to for millions when it comes to being informed but as time progresses and it's been veil is removed b.b.c. viewers are left to wonder was the network ever impartial or was it just better at hiding its agenda for r t m i look so high leverage. on the way to look. into national thanks me company it's often i will be back again at the top it. was a pandemic no certainly no borders and is blind to nationalities. has

emerged on the 30 we don't have the facts in the whole world needs to be. judged. coming close is the sentence in modern times we can do better we should. everyone is contributing each of our own way but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever the challenges created with the response has been masked so many good people are helping us. it makes us feel very proud that we are in it together. the new gold rush is underway and gonna sell thousands of ill equipped workers are flocking to the gold fields hoping to strike it rich is a good other post. children are torn between gold. my

family was very poor i thought i was doing my best to get back to school which side will have the strongest appeal. there. are a. lot of welcome to worlds apart when you use the shah so do occur they say should have championed it to keep current approach to social change regardless of what cultural or historic do the countries from a don't want a recipe is based largely on western magan radiance was supposed to be the best but up to series of revolutions and counter revolutions in the arab world the question

still remains what is the best way forward both for the region and the world as a whole well to discuss that i'm now joined by shallow law a research fellow at the weatherhead center for international * affairs at harvard dr always good to talk to you 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 we've had a lot of commentators making fun and han's about the seasonality all of that movement you know at the arab spring turning into an islamist full or dictatorial winter and i understand that it's very easy yes. disheartened by what happened since 2011 but i wonder if you see anything lastingly positive to come out of there was a bad well i think we must look at these you know ideas arab uprisings.