a, a attention center in the pacific region, as the u. s. conducts its largest ever military drills with the philippines. although they aren't getting universal support their, the exercises come just a day after beijing ended its massive games in nearby waters. an investigation by the russian parliament claims to confirm the presence of u. s. operated biological weapons, a lot in ukraine and aircraft giant, boeing affordably plans to return to full production levels of controversial $737.00 max, just 4 years after doug lee crashes claim the lives of nearly 350 people

with coming to live from the russian capital, this is the r t international. i'm rachel blevins here with the latest news welcome to the programmer. the pentagon claims the china is refusing to get in contact with senior us officials to explain recent large scale military drills. beijing help on its own territory. washington issued the statement just before the west began is the largest ever wargames with its south east asian allied. the philippines lines between our military is particularly important in scenarios like this. and we call them b ging to engage us in this channel. i'm in the escalating tensions, the u. s. and the philippines have launched joint military exercises on an unprecedented scale involving more than $17000.00 soldiers. the drills are said to

focus on deterring external threats. china's foreign ministry claims the increased u. s. military presence in the region will further destabilize the security situation. just before the u. s. drills the president of the philippines address china is concerned. we will not allow our military pieces to be used for any offensive action. it is only meant to help the philippines when the philippines is in need of help. not everyone in the philippines is happy about their country, strengthening military ties with the rise. during the opening ceremony for the war day, people took to the streets of manila to protest against rising us influence and their nation. we heard from a local activists at the scene. oh, because live because you lie right now is that you are just here to help us, i guess in china, and that is more of them. i think we will see you where to washing. for example, if you're just 40 for support agenda, it's not after philippines sovereign the philippine national vendor. number 2 that

is on the u. s. will help the if be modernized, give us a having, having us exercise just for 13 years now. they've been having a 9047 to 9 to one we've had to was in court agreement, and i think i'm going to press it all these. we very exercise just all b, b and c o u. s. hyphen capital have been, it, be under development, have not modernized by any means. we have to remain dependent on the where, so it's not, it's not true that they're here to help us develop them. if you're here to keep us to defend them on american, the dates in american military international relations expert joseph gregory mahoney, believes that he was, is using china's military drills to justify its own large scale exercises with the philippines. i am inclined to see these exercises between us and the philippines as

fortuitously timed by the u. s. i perhaps even in collusion between the, by the ministration and the speaker of house of the house of kevin mccarthy, whose recent meeting with the taiwanese leader in california was set by him and which predictably invited the response. we've seen the u. s. provoked the chinese response over taiwan and then provocatively went ahead with the exercises with the philippines and concurrently as fall to china for not communicating. now, this is a well born tactic from the u. s. play book at this point. i do something nasty, then try to act reasonable and blame the other side when they don't play along. the fact that china hasn't responded is also har with the course by now as well. we saw the same thing happen after police visit last year. ties are still deteriorating, this is the trend, and there's no sign. this will change any time soon. and investigation by the russian parliament claims us officials had been operating biological weapons,

labs and ukraine. the head of russia's biological defense forces outlined the find names or to prove this for solo in appearance during the course of the special military operation. the defense ministry has analyzed more than 2000 documents, confirming the participated in organizing military biological research in the united states and ukraine. there was a fascinating story mirage. and of course, a bit of by way of background, you know, moscow started to raise concerns about of very, very complex sprawling where essentially of, of laboratories in ukraine. and, you know, very soon after the beginning of the special military operation last year. and they've, since them been publishing flows of documents outlining in great detail, the complex work that these, the parties were doing, who was funding them and who was involved. and also russia took this issue by the way to the un last october, seeking a, an international pro,

but very interestingly that was blocked by the united states, france and the u. k. interestingly. and of course, they haven't directly challenged any of the issues that russia has raised around these laboratories, what they were doing, what they were making. why were they in ukraine? and we can actually listen to the commander of russia's nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops. igor, kerry love now, you know, telling us a little bit about more about their failure to do that much of a deal, but me that it should be noted that the u. s. has not denied any of these facts presented by the defense ministry. no one including western countries or had any doubts about the authenticity of the published documents. i was last very interesting and we've heard a lot about these sort of things, but has the west show is ahead of the say the west. i'm in the u. s. u. k. france, those have they reacted in any way? well, they've reacted in the predictable way. predictably saying that they're not funding

by a weapons labs or bio labs in ukraine air, but they don't deny. and they do actually acknowledge that they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars that we know about and to fund le le bar to which they say are there to counter the spread of bio weapons. you know, we've seen through the information released by russia, dozens of scientists, big name corporations like fire or for example have been involved in these innumerable laboratories in ukraine. and they've never given assurances about the safety of these, the parties, how the pathogens and the work being done there is, is, is protect ukrainian people. and you know, and they are also saying that this is down to the ukrainians now because they only fund the research and not really there, you know, so there's a familiar face as well. involved here. victoria newland, the under secretary of state for the united states use will be well known to ukraine and russia, watchers if you like. and she had something to say also that the funding of these,

the bar to see we can have a listen to that. now ukraine has her biological research facilities. we are working with the ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of russian forces. should they approach why did that ukraine was chosen for these bio labs? well, that's the interesting question. i mean, you know, obviously ukraine had a lot of difficulties long before the russian military intervention, a lot of corruption, lack of regulation in certain areas. and it was probably seen as a bit of a mark for the off the radar development of these type of activities. if you like, of course depleted uranium shelves now seem it's okay to use them in, in ukraine, you know, and things that would be an acceptable in the west that would come a little far more significant scrutiny or from western authorities as seem to go undetected in ukraine, i mean,

significant cash and influence as well. moran comes with this research, hundreds of millions of dollars in a country that side it's issues with corruption. so you have to take all of the issues, isn't it? well, one of the most corrupt countries. so we talked about last, did you remember? yeah, just corruption, corruption, corruption, and hey, we have suddenly that corruption. yeah, yeah. and we're talking huge sums of money. and these are the sums of money that we know about from these very complex and very detailed documents which, which the russian authorities have released and persistently releasing. and of course, as i said, the un doesn't seem to want this investigated. so sadly, ukraine has become a testing ground of the butterfield for, you know, highly complex western weapon systems which have never been tested in a combined arms operations before. so the skeptics would say that the war is being perpetuated, prolonged in order to test these weapon systems. and of course, it seems now that ukraine has also become a laboratory or testing for very dangerous pathogens and research into things that

could be very harmful to the ukraine. your population, if there was to be an action the un food agency says it desperately needs $800000000.00 for the next 6 months to help afghanistan with the country facing its highest risk of famine in a quarter of a century. the u. n. it says it's afghan operations remains severely under funded with only $249000000.00 confirmed for this year. however, the total immediate funding required to address critical gach for the coming 3 months stands at 717000000. afghanistan is currently suffering its 3rd consecutive year of drought like conditions and is still really from decades of conflict and natural disasters. the taliban authorities have been struggling to access the nation's reserves, which have been frozen for months. the country is acting foreign minister, has branded the freezing of the countries as,

as in the us in europe as illegal. the money was seized after the withdrawal of u. s. a. nato troops from afghanistan, which, according to recent, claimed by american officials, wasn't as chaotic as some made out. i remember going through all that, ah, that's pretty remarkable. that airport was basically for all intents and purposes, american property a, i'm sorry, i just don't buy the whole argument of chaos with for all this talk a chaos. i just didn't see

a, there was a lot that went right so yeah, there's a lot to be proud of. peter. i've can journalists for him. he said that believes that the phrasing of afghan assets has only increased the challenges facing the countries. people. little attention to abeline has done so many crashes of the morning in an ignoring condition. and once you've been ignored, why did the biggest, my manager in catastrophe is right in one. so this situation, i want to spend some reserves, some assets in the u. s. which would help the central bank of the one is on a financial and monitoring policy and also help with the private sector running

because they want to spend economy also managing. but then those assets are frozen. so that added to the difficulties and the challenges of the one p and the capacity of the 5 to be to do anything. so it definitely does. you is freezing the assets of one people is having an impact, increasing the challenge for the people. and for the de facto one is aircraft giant, boeing reportedly plans to restore a full production of its controversial $737.00 max jet. now it's been 4 years since 2 deadly crashes left more than 300 people dead. and so the aircraft grounded the world over and the company's reputation severely hit. you may remember the 1st of those fatal crashes occurred in indonesia and october 2018. the jet plug from the

sky just 13 minutes after take off, killing all 189 people on board. just 5 months later, another of the plans came down in almost identical circumstances in ethiopia, claiming the lives of 157 people following a 2 year global grounding, the model was clear to fly again after boeing overhauled as flight control system. we spoke to an expert in the field who leaves a big companies, use their money to very bad news. i can see on numbers. it isn't simply not enough. you cannot at reagan are laid off on it. and d at one was what we were lost in a board, the id crashes is really challenging for a family go against this. i got to put in jeff, and they simply by b, b and families off in the process as well. ab ation is a hugely regulated industry. the draft acts investigate does have

a lot of stakeholders in it's beam out as the members so that he ality high to come out. but in the process we have seen boeing news, a lot of the repute riches, one of the most challenging things to reagan after a couple of crisis taking place. and one of the highest dec it get off on the scene of aviation. so we're looking are challenging times ahead. ah, it's been 23 years since a french president has visited the netherlands, but to say, finally ending that record. and i knew my kron didn't quite get the reception he might have been looking for. instead he was heckled while giving a speech on europe. sovereignty had an institute in the hague. and i'll come and bed. yeah. hello,

i spent democracy. read and read on it. i can, i can answer this question if you, if you give me some time ah, no, he said, you're with, has been put aside. what can you say about her? the president's speech touch on european sovereignty in security and economic matters. microns words followed his recent statement that made plenty of headlines around the world when he questioned whether europe should continually follow the policies of the u. s. during his speech on tuesday, he also claim the you has to reduce its dependency on others. the pandemic and the war just pushed us into a situation to discover that we have to reduce our dependency to preserve european

identity. otherwise will progressively be dependent on everything. not really, but it was in the netherlands. i mean, france is always jeered when he arrives anywhere for the wallet is not popular a tall. um, so it was so. no, it brings a smile when you see it happening in the meadowlands through using before democracy and regretting the lack of democracy. one was here, my whole, oh speaks up. m communicates what he does very well. well, he had to say something, so he said, okay, i couldn't find time, but i don't. and then of course, he carried on with his own presentation, which was interesting for, for several elements. the 1st, as you just mentioned, is the fact that, um, what was good in waste that michael said, look, we're not the poodle of the americans, and we're not in the indoor pacific region, merely terribly with america. it didn't say in all the sterns,

but that's what it meant on is outreach to, to china, at least on produce this, on my own expression by him. that chum arnold, taiwan is so interesting. but me, europeans are not militarily involved with the americans in the indoor pacific region as nato. some more moccasin nato and the west would like us to be on the 4th anniversary of the arrest of julian, his honor, the ecuadorian embassy in london protestors gathered outside the same building, demanding the whistle, blowers release the weak. you expound her as currently held in a british prison awaiting extradition to the us. demonstrators waive science, sang free julian assange and our i p. british justice, as well as shouting political slogans and singing songs. meanwhile, a group of australian empties have written an open letter to the u. s. attorney

general in protest ever saunders pending extradition. if the extradition quest is approved, australians will witness to the partition of one of our citizens from an oak us partner to another. our close a strategical art was mister assange, facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison. this would set a dangerous precedent for all global citizens, journalists, publishers, media organizations, and the freedom of the press. it would also be needlessly damaging for the us as a world leader on freedom of expression and the rule of law. 35 australian parliamentarians has signed a letter calling for a song to be freed. politicians, an activist argue that the continued persecution of the week you expound, or such a dangerous precedent for freedom, freedom of speech. moreover, his supporters highlight that he is an australian citizen. and then australia is one of washington's closest allies,

extradited us on phases 175 years in prison. julianna's launch is currently being held and the maximum security fall marsh prison in the u. k. he's been held there indefinitely. after serving a 50 week cents for breaching bell in 2012, he is now waiting extradition to the united states. in april 2019, a saundra was forcibly removed by british belief in the ecuadorian embassy in london. after his 7 year asylum there was terminated, the u. s. has indicted him on 17 counts of spying. and one of conspiracy to hack a government computer, an observer out of sanchez extradition hearing told r t that she believes the case is all about silencing the truth. the idea behind bushy cutie massage and making an example of him is not just to silence assange. of course, he is a phenomenon publish and a journalist, but it's also about sending a very, very strong message to other journalists,

some to whistle blowers to say if you were to, to the american war crimes. this is what will happen to you. you will not be allowed to see your family for over a decade. he's been in confinement for over a decade. he's been psychologically tortured, even when international body, such as the un working group and outreach attention, the un special drop will turn on torture. have publicly found multiple times that he's been tortured. the united states and the u. k. have ignored those findings as the sweden, which is known for its upholding of human rights. so all of this only happens in order to protect those who are committing more time. so the bushes in blair's of this world who when can run and a leader warning, a dock who ran again and millions of people in afghanistan and elsewhere, who am engaged in torture. guantanamo, all of this is about not just about

a song about covering up those crimes and saying that anyone who says anything about those crimes will be tortured. so this is about silencing the truth. ah, a high ranking us official has said he wants to see our he closed down for good. that's as he spoke about so called the russian disinformation and an interview to radio free europe that he gave during the trip to the balkans. we would not like to see russia today. ringback or russian media outlets anywhere in the world. we'd like to shut down the channel you were watching right now is officially banned from broadcasting on t v in the entirety of the e, you can and that the u. k. and others are t is also under e u sanctions, along with many other russian media outlets. r. t and russian officials have frequently called out censorship, moved claiming they contradict the very principles of free speech that the west

promote. journalist jose vega believes this statement from the u. s. official is a sign of desperation. i think this is honestly just a desperate move. they're losing the narrative and ukraine. they're losing the narrative on the economy. they're losing the narrative on the culture. everything that the united states government is trying to do right now in terms of its imperial motivations, whether domestic, where they try to control here domestically, or they try to control people with, with, with force across the world, like they're trying to make pie one. the next ukraine right now, it's all failing. and so this is what happens when the chicken runs with a cut off, which is runs wild authorities in kiev have announced a ban on evening church services for orthodox easter, which are scheduled for this sunday siding and curfew. order and catholic easier

services were held does normal last week. the korean orthodox church has been banned in multiple ukrainian regions. it follows weeks of harassment of monks and worshippers over the churches, historical ties to moscow. the russian foreign ministry claims people have been turning a blind eye to the religious persecution in the country. the deputies likes bus and for the us state department vedanta, the tow southern reference to the seizure of holy sites of the cranium orthodox church within ukraine. white, i haven't seen those reports so i couldn't speak to them, but we're happy to check and get back to you. that is their prerogative. they decided not to comment. it would take an effort to do so. they don't see anything. don't hear anything. don't comment on anything they have held on for months, maintaining a sense of being surprised. seeing the churches was happening. persecuting the craning orthodox church. what are you saying? violating human rights and religious freedoms in ukraine?

honestly haven't heard of that. this is being ignored by washington and by the european union because it is embodied and it's an assault on the, the religious freedom and the, the freedom of expression of a large part of the ukrainian population. this is not an attack on russia. this is an attack by the ukrainian regime on its own people are what is perhaps most stopping in this is that this is evocative of a memory within europe itself from the the, the 2nd world war. when the nazi regime in germany effectively established its wouldn't checks the right church in order to combat any form of criticism. but the, the capital it can, the protestant churches within germany would have. and when we see the orthodox church of ukraine, the full tablet of orthodoxy being established, unsupported by we are looking on

a state controlled church and removing the oldest christian denomination in the country for the supposed links to moscow. it's patently upfront. the brick summit plan to be hosted in south africa this summer, or reportedly now be held online. the reports come as members of south africa, the political opposition had called for the rest of the russian president if he attended the event in person demands for windermere, detention came after the i. c. c issued the warrant last month on war crimes, charges relating to the conflict and ukraine and accuses of illegally deporting children to russian territory. russia says it was done for their own safety. and as the i see, decision has no meaning for moscow. the south african foreign minister has also question the international courts objectivity. i have mentioned the problem of double standards and global affairs. there are many other countries that have been

involved in was invasions of territories, murders of people, an arrest of activists. but none of them have been called by the i c. c. it seems that if you are powerful and enjoy a particular status in the international community, you can get away. and this worries us because it obscures the objectivity of the i . c. c, as a fair arbitrator, south africa communist party has called to break all ties with the tribunal. back in 2016, the country officially informed un of its desire to leave the then government claim, the icbc pursued regime change in countries instead of seeking justice. however, the attempt was overturned by the country's high court r t spoke directly to the secretary general of the south african communist party, who outline why he feels, says country needs to sever ties with the i, c. c. the icpc has lost their information or can it be t, it's become biased. it's an instrument. now that is true. spade in periods is led

by the us and in countries as a country at science, statutes. and we had to draw from this from statutes by 2 and i've been barely cali teeth and long process and we'd throw out the blue piece. that is why live fed whatever it takes, the mission of the good people for government. the cabinets should be able to take a position that guarantees at the convenience of breaks with different types of ration fit in for them to come. without any shenanigans that may have been using a weapon, imperialist instruments, despite times or weapon, imperialism as ease. they don't want anything of whether it's a baby or west significance, but he's not led by them. that is why easy to say,

why don't what issues they just the day that the chinese because she's been more and more school and, and therefore they realize that he was going to talk about the piece plane on the conflict instead of renting to be discussed. the outcomes of a plan and contribution to the piece plan. dad put in more military way is your k.