quite as most important back steps up its campaign to topple madeira. united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the madeira regime and their families we will continue to hold them to during regime accountable until labor is restored in venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents. as venezuela's political crisis deepens. well for more now let's bring in our political correspondent husband hans german foreign minister who says it's in comprehensible that my duros regime would declare the german ambassador persona non grata but continue really believe that or be surprised that the that venezuela would would would want to boot out the german ambassador given germans germany support for one quite. yes indeed germany has over the past few weeks repeatedly criticized his governments very very severely and has repeatedly. supported quide or as the interim president and reiterated that report to that support yeste

and quite as most important back steps up its campaign to topple madeira. united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the moderate regime and their families we will continue to hold them of their own regime accountable until labor ta is restored and venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents abroad. as venezuela's political crisis deepens. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg says his company which owns whatsapp and instagram plans to shift its focus to private messaging services in a post on his own profile page zuckerberg says the company would encrypt conversations on more of its messaging services and make them compatible but he cautioned that details of his plan could change facebook consults experts throughout this year. the e.u. has top court has ruled that the blocks food safety agency must disclose details of studies on the disputed w

is what the main international airport in caracas looked like when flights were grounded says the madeira government is to blame while the u.s. pointed the finger in years of corruption and their investment in israel as the french ministry called the outage an act of sabotage. why washington. after all we have seen after the statements from the spokesperson of the north american empire and those who support them here no one can be so naive to believe this is a random event it is an attack on our homeland. cannot be normal that fifty percent of the hospitals do not have electric generators and the other fifty operate during an emergency the government is inefficient and corrupt and we know that the end of darkness comes when the usurpers leave power in venezuela i mean while another delivery of u.s. aid has arrived at the colombian venezuelan border in defiance of an official bad by caracas self declared leader who has promised to get the supplies into venezuela the president will do is refusing to allow the american aid to enter claiming it's a trojan horse and the pretext for interventio

with one that was held in the city of aleppo which is all the madeira government is replaced however that happens and blame the ongoing power problems not on infiltration or sabotage but poor maintenance and lack thereof it's interesting because you have two of the biggest players outside of that as well as the u.s. and russia right now those officials officials from both those countries are meeting in rome is there any word what may come out of those discussions between u.s. and russian officials. yeah tyrrell this is important because these are two of the main players as you were just talking about the u.s. a special representative to venezuela elliott abrams is meeting with russian deputy foreign minister sergey lavrov because of as you said they're going to be scheduled for meetings tomorrow because said the positions of moscow and washington and these are his words are diametrically opposed on the question of how to encourage negotiations between the venezuelan government and the opposition but that there is no reason he says the u.s. and russia shouldn't address the question an

where all flights have been suspended opposition leader and suffolk lead interim president says the madeira government's to blame on venezuela's defense ministry has called the outage an act of sabotage by the united states. after all we have seen after the statements from the spokesperson of the north. and those who declares that you know no one can be so in a minute to believe this is a it is an attack we are homeless that. cannot be normal but fifty percent of the hospitals do not have the little generators and the other fifty. during an emergency the government is inefficient and corrupt and we know that the end of darkness comes when the usurpers leave power in venezuela meanwhile the u.s. special envoy to venezuela says countries could be sanctioned for refusing to recognize what has interim president elliot abrams also threatened new measures against president. we are losing sanctions and diplomatic action and to pressure the madeira regime hopeful that other countries will use these and other tools at their disposal to. you know it's always it's out there it's always a possibility w

and quite is most important back stepped up its campaign to topple madeira. united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the duro regime and their families we will continue to hold them a durable regime accountable until labor is restored and venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents abroad. as venezuela's political crisis deepens. let me now bring you up to date but some other stories making news around one hundred canadian prime minister justin trudeau has admitted making mistakes in the handling of a growing political crisis but insists nothing illegal happened to blame the scandal that's cost him two ministers on a breakdown of trust and communication with former justice minister jody wilson reboard she accused trudeau of pressurising her to help a major construction firm avoid a criminal trial. french cardinal philip barbarian says he would resign as archbishop of lille he announced the decision after a cou

and quite as most important back steps up its campaign to topple madeira. united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the duro regime and their families we will continue to hold them a durable regime accountable until labor todd is restored in venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents abroad. as venezuela's political crisis deepens. well for more we're joined by d.w. is political correspondent hans but hans german foreign minister says it's in comprehensible that maduro is regime would declare the german ambassador persona non grata but can the german government really be that surprised given its open support for opposition leader why does. yes indeed the german government has reiterated over the past two weeks again and again that it regards. doors to digital but president of venezuela then effect puts the germany and german government in a bit of a spot in this situation because obviously by nicolas maduro

and quite as most important back steps up its campaign to topple madeira. the united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the duro regime and their families we will continue to hold them to during regime accountable until labor todd is restored in venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents abroad. as venezuela's political crisis deepens our political correspondent hans brunt is tracking this story for us hi hands of the german foreign minister has said is in comprehensible that mother lois regime would declare the german ambassador persona non-grata but is it because germany has been very vocal with its support for one guy though the opposition leader. yes indeed in the last few weeks couple of months germany has again and again criticized the duras regime and emphasize that it sees one guy joe as the legitimate interim president often as a way that was also reaffirmed by the foreign minister in his reaction t

as also called on his supporters to rally today the power struggle between gotto and madeira has brought the country to a standstill and that is a huge electricity blackout as power lies much of the country. dialysis patients we say their wards unable to receive treatment from these pirate day machines. and in a maternity unit nurses fight to keep babies alive in intensive care. manually. blackouts are nothing new in venezuela this latest one began just before thursday evenings russia are sending commuters on lengthy tricks back home on fates in near total darkness president nicolas maduro officials say it's sabotage. and i think. after all the statements from the north american empire and comments from those who support them here no one can be that naive to believe that this is a random event. it is an attack on the homeland without any doubt it is an attack on venezuela. not according to the country's self declared president one quite do speaking at an event marking international women's day on friday he launched his own attack on monday to his government's. given. they have no idea wh

sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira and his opponents. as venezuela's political crisis deepens. we're joined by d.w. political correspondent husband hugs german foreign minister who says it's in comprehensible that modern regime would declare the german ambassador non grata but can generally really be surprised given its open support for one go i don't know. yes indeed germany has over the past few weeks and months repeatedly supported quiet to criticize man douro quite severely and said that it regards why do is the legitimate interim president of venezuela and that obviously means all that to germany if it were to stick to that position should not be able to accept a decision by an illegitimate president by my dura to throw its governor its ambassador out of the country in fact why don't himself in an interview this morning with german media has also said that the germans should simply ignore this ruling that leads germany in something of a quandary and at the moment what the germans have to side it is that they will. recall their ambas

oh it comes as the country suffers through an ongoing blackout and humanitarian crisis president madeira say is the ongoing power cuts in venezuela are a result of cyber attacks by the united states adding that his government is working to solve the issue he said to allege saboteurs were caught trying to damage and hydroelectric dam on monday an investigation is underway meanwhile one go i dos those that catastrophe needs to be addressed immediately advocating for carrying out the state of emergency approved by the national assembly local journalist nor is our got the details the president of the congress one way don it's plain why the congress is assuming this competence and how and what will imply for the benefit well let's hear what he has to say. this catastrophe needs to be addressed immediately no we cannot turn our heads elsewhere no we cannot abandon our people and you are in the streets you have the right to protest you have the right to demand you have the right to raise your voice you have the right to protest for your relatives you have the right to go out to the streets and

earlier today suggested that american is using the cancellations to put pressure on madeira government here's what he said it's interesting listen. though we had no explanation from american airlines but many about delegates who were flying out of miami to caracas were told that the flights were cancelled because airport is without electricity but we were in touch with the venezuelan authorities and we knew that the airport was not. without electricity so other airlines were flying in and out of caracas but american airlines just just stopped our. passengers in miami a few about delegates were stuck in miami for and they had to change their tickets to another airline to be able to go to caracas. so whether american is using the cancellations as a political tactic remains to be seen but what did happen was that american airlines and again this is an intriguing point listen to this suspended flights to venezuela amid pressure from its pilots union based on the u.s. state department level for travel advisory warning about the country other countries with a level four advisory include syri

well because i think that the effort that they're carrying out to overthrow the madeira government is so patently illegal. you know. was an utterly unknown figure until. the cia front the national endowment for democracy. essentially pushed him out he's been elected by no one who are behind it i'm certainly not the ordinary venezuelans. and i think that it is just so he the latent and so. transparent. in terms of this interference. that there isn't even the pretense of. you know the democratic procedure i mean the washington one even negotiate with manure oh yeah it's been seizing its assets cutting off its oil it and of course because venezuela depends on us refineries were probably very soon going to see a gas shortages along with food shortages so they've not been able to slip the military it appears. this has been going on for a month and i think that they are going to just keep tightening the sanctions at this point in till venezuela breaks and i think we can't rule out intervention there have been unconfirmed reports already that paramilitaries have been crossing into venezuela

god or the president of your national assembly to assert that body's constitutional powers declare madeira or your syrup or and call for the establishment of a transitional government that was the moment washington put itself into regime change gear since then the us heavily invested itself in the crisis so how did it come to this a thinly veiled admission of failure after all it looked so bright at the start in me a week's washington projected a no name obed cheerleader into the international frame one why dole became the poster boy of the social upheaval has his presidential ambition was quickly backed by america's allies brazil has just issued a note recognizing one why do as venezuela's president one way door when. you go to war one in europe where you go you know to one global since then though america's plans ition didn't own the streets of caracas how. are venice china. venezuela then a big ruckus with aid the u.s. trade getting into venezuela and which didn't allow concerned washington was using its old trick to smuggle guns to arm the mob which clearly showed just hooves still bos

we are using sanctions and diplomatic actions to pressure the madeira regime hopeful that other countries will use these and other tools at their disposal to secondary sanctions you know it's always it's out there it's always a possibility we have not done it yet. and i wouldn't want to speculate as to whether they're real or what would lead us to make that additional decision the battle over the venezuelan presidency which has dragged on since january appears stuck in a stalemate president nicolas maduro is still in power and it seems washington has no backup plan to force him out as r.t.c. got a ton of comments. the u.s. is back to square one on venezuela and an ambiguous confession by vice president pence how much language you have a timeline but there's no timeline now rewind just a little over a month ago and here's mike pence the same mike pence announcing venezuela was on washington's laundry list in spanish. i'm mike pence the vice president of the united states the united states supports the courageous decision by one god or the president of your national assembly to assert the b

government and for there to be you know a vote and whoever wins to do that there my my issue with madeira in this particular context is not because i think the u.s. should invade venezuela as they did in iraq he has usurped power by staying past his first term and you know i don't recognize as most of the hemisphere doesn't recognize the last elections ok except i do disagree with anything absolutely because you know regardless of my position which is which is critical there are millions of venezuelans who did go to the polls and vote for him and believe that he is their active president so the fact that one guy though who was also elected as a member of the national assembly the fact that he's claiming and that the opposition is claiming him primarily even though the other country. as are involved in present in latin america in europe it's really the trumpet ministration that is pumping up the opposition they would not be able to take this as far as they have so far without that open and direct explicit and very aggressive support so i think that's a key factor because you may have venez

all flights have been grounded opposition leader and self declared interim president why do ses the madeira government is to blame while the us pointed the finger at here is a corruption and under-investment this will as the french ministry called the i think an act of sabotage by washington. after all we have seen after the statements from the spokesperson of the north american empire and those who support them here no one can be so naive to believe this is a random event it is an attack on our homeland. it cannot be normal that fifty percent of the hospitals do not have electric generators and the other fifty. during an emergency the government is inefficient and corrupt and we know that the end of darkness comes when the usurpers leave power in venezuela now there's another aspect to this story another delivery of usaid has arrived at the colombian venice will aboard. in defiance of an official by caracas septics arab leader one quite zero has promised to get the supplies into venice but president maduro is refusing to allow the american to enter claiming it's a trojan horse and a pretex

think it's seems the madeira regime want tolerate anyone who wants to help and that's why law. until it is fun mr heikal moss' also strongly condemned the decision to expel them back to caracas ma said germany would carry on supporting the opposition media one guy bill. kinds of lies the deaths of. this will in no way mean that we would reconsider our support for one why dollars in term president off with the task of organizing free fair and democratic elections is the right thing. to support is irreversible and it will stay there but just part of what why there has got the support of some fifty countries including ecuador he was there last week to meet the president and the country's vice president ought to a son in hopes that isn't political correspondents i mean young often want to ecuador was able to offer. well support for him he was proclaimed by the national assembly all sort of penance will spread interim president and we think since he's offering a way back to him ocracy we're backing him up on the way that's what all that he's asked for and we're supporting the idea t

opposition run national assembly without recognizing why dope on the scale i'm open takes a look at madeira record as an alleged dictator coming up a little later this hour in the meantime on tuesday majority part in a ceremony commemorating the sixth anniversary of the death of his predecessor chavez man. as rival go i don't mean well met with public sector unions urging them to take strike action to help bring down a government. political analyst chris bambery thinks that the u.s. is not in a position to remove the president. united states has got a brazen face you know it is pumping this out this is its position and we know the united states does not apologize it doesn't back down until it's forced about their own so it's going to carry on carry on with this but the problem they've gotten the moment is is that they don't look in a position to topple more durable moderates retaining the support of the armed forces in particular and the united states must be hoping and must be working towards trying to wean a section of the armed forces to brickell madeira and to launch some kind of milita

says the madeira government is to blame or the u.s. pointed the finger at years of corruption and under-investment venezuela's defense ministries called the outage an act of sabotage by the united states. after all we have seen after the statements from the spokesperson of the north american empire and those who support them no one can be so naive to believe this is a random event it is an attack on our homes. cannot be normal but fifty percent of the hospitals do not have illiterate generators and the other fifty. during an emergency the cover. it is inefficient and corrupt and we know that the end of darkness comes when the usurpers leave power in venezuela washington says he will not use force to deliver humanitarian aid to venezuela another batch of u.s. aid has arrived at the colombian venezuelan border in defiance of an official ban self declared leader why don't we promise to get those supplies into the country but president maduro is refusing to allow that u.s. aid in calling it a trojan horse and a pretext for intervention he

on tuesday madeira took part in a ceremony commemorating the six and a. bursaries the death of his predecessor of us that arose rival go i don't mean well met with public sector unions urging them to take strike action to help bring down the government. in the united states has got a brazen face you know it is pumping this out this is its position and we know the united states does not apologize it doesn't back down until it's forced about their own so it's going to carry on carry on with this but the problem they've gotten the moment is is that they don't work in a position to topple maduro moderates retaining the support of the armed forces in particular and the united states must be hoping and must be working towards trying to wean a section of the armed forces to brickell madeira and towards some kind of military coup because at the moment given the fact the majority has been able to respond with all with his own mobilization is on the streets it would seem to me that it's only by breaking the alliance between withdraw and the army that we do is going

mean it's seems the madeira regime want tolerate anyone who wants to help venice why la.i wouldn't say that the german envoy was among a group of diplomats he met at the airport on his return to caracas on monday helping him of a direct. so far is the only one of them to be expelled the government accusing him of meddling in internal affairs germany says this kind of pressure won't work. i dodged a bullet so you'll have to determine government has decided to recognize quote god or as interim president who should bring about free fair and democratic elections in venezuela this. is completely income prehensile reaction will in no way change our position. and quite is most important backing stepped up its campaign to topple maduro. the united states will revoke seventy seven visas including many officials of the duro regime and their families we will continue to hold them a durable regime accountable until labor ta is restored and venezuela. matures expulsion of a western diplomat and the tightening of u.s. sanctions it's just the latest round in the battle between madeira a

this is what he had to say we call on members of the venezuelan military to end their support for madeira. who is really nothing more than a cuban puppet and finally set their people free trump also said that the u.s. has yet to impose the toughest sanctions on venezuela but he again reiterated that all options remain on the table and earlier before the meeting at trump when asked about possible military intervention this is what he said every options on the table with respect to venezuela they said that they don't want to give away the strategy but again has repeated that the use of military force continues to be on the table. venezuelan foreign ministry has responded to the threats coming from washington describing them as dangerous meanwhile the russian deputy foreign minister warned the u.s. against any attempts to use force in venezuela but he calls spoke to r.t. . we strongly urge the u.s. side during the talks today any temptation to resort to military power it includes our old warning against so to say hardcore massive military intervention which cannot be excluded given that type

vice president mike pence has announced that seventy seven officials linked to president madeira will have their u.s. visas revoked that's after forty nine venezuelans were added to a sanctions blacklist back on friday r.t. correspondent done cohen has more. well the u.s. is threatening to impose sanctions on foreign banks if they deal with the venezuelan government national security adviser john bolton issued a statement this morning saying quote the united states is putting four in the financial institutions on notice that they will face sanctions for being involved in facilitating illegitimate transactions that benefit nicolas maduro and his corrupt network he also said the u.s. is quote pursuing several economic diplomatic and economic initiatives in support of that transition but he did not specify what they are and this comes a day after a special envoy for venezuela elliott abrams threatened what he called secondary sanctions that would target third party countries saying that would quote depend on the conduct of the regime over time the u.s. has also begun to increase pressure

the opposition run national assembly that without recognizing guardo killed often takes a look at madeira his record as an alleged dictator. there are a whole array of politicians who don't approve of nicolas maduro but one of the labels that he is nicolas maduro is a dictator period of the now defunct mature. exactly is a dictator now the term generally refers to authoritarian leaders elate lee. ok. thank you thank you at this point we've got a minor opposition figure one kwaito declaring himself to be the interim president and at this point he's got the united states and britain backing him he was then banned from traveling by the supreme court so what did he do he then went on a speaking tour of latin american countries rallying support from those who want to violently overthrow the venezuelan government after that what did he do he stayed in exile fearing for his life knowing that if he returned the harsh regime would kill him right well no he actually felt safe enough to get on a commercial flight and go back to venezuela he still has not been arrested and the united states itself fo

the blackout is believed to have been caused by problems at a major hydroelectric plant although madeira is blaming it on us some attire. is in the capital caracas ongoing right now with the big power outage that the biggest in the country three that it may look back in many cases of but if we love it has generated a crisis mostly because we have been going around. them and we've been. trying to cope with that equation trying to back up our plan that we're not working it or can they still don't like people like you and mostly on life support colleges and universities in algeria have been ordered to close their campuses two weeks ahead of their schedule spring break is being seen as an attempt to quell student protests demanding that the ailing president of the as he's beautifully resigned the ruling comes a day after one hundred ninety five protests has been detained as tens of thousands of algerians protested against the government lawyers in sudan say nine female protests have been sentenced to twenty lashes and a month in jail for rising it comes a day after president tomorrow to shar

situation back home leaves them no choice michael desperately needs things to change but as long as the madeira government stays in power in venezuela he plans to stay put delivering food and perhaps finding a future here in colombia. for many years people kept quiet about sexual abuse and poland's catholic church but now with demands for justice are becoming louder. and the victims want to see their perpetrators brought to trial. standing in front of this house modoc mission ski can't help but be overcome by memories of the crimes that were committed against him modoc was sexually abused here in his home town pony inside these fairy walls. he was only twelve years old when it happened. the perpetrator was the local priest. i didn't understand what was happening to me it's no one spoke to us children about sexuality or masturbation fact. i didn't understand it. and it wasn't until i realized that this person had no right to do those things to me that i decided to stop coming here. it took mark a long time before he could speak about what happened to him his own father had left and the priest ha

i'm kasia madeira in london. the headlines: british mps back a brexit delay, amid deadlock as the deadline approaches. republicans revolt — members of president trump's own party join democratic lawmakers in rejecting his border emergency. iron sharanjit leyl in singapore. —— i'm. at least five people are killed and dozens injured after a footbridge collapses near mumbai's main train station. class action. students in 70 countries will skip school calling for the world to work harder to tackle global warming. it's 8:00 in the morning in singapore, and midnight here in london, where british mps have voted overwhelmingly to ask the european union for brexit to be delayed. britain is currently scheduled to leave the bloc on the 29th of march. the government is seeking to extend the process till the 30th ofjune, but only if mps approve prime minister may's twice—rejected deal by next week. the government could also request a longer delay if they do not. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. speeding back to