Welcome to the weekly where we bring you the latest news along with a roundup of the biggest stories from the week that. We start in belarus where another massive protest against president Alexander Lukashenko is currently underway people been rolling for more than 2 weeks accusing looks of rigging the august 9th election in his favor our correspondents report from misc. Right in front of me people have blocked independence after many. People right here right at the intersection near the cinemark 500 meters from Independence Square. Were the people have left the pavements and taken to the roads. In violation of the traffic whose. People heading to the square to protest. Was the 10s of thousands of people have decided to come out here in central mens it is quite deafening here because they are occupying the Independence Square theyve got a russian capital if you blonds behind me even with a good Vantage Point that we have you would struggle to tell exactly where the road begins because the protest has spilled from the square and into the streets blocking the traffic and we witness the police reacting to it there we have response and they didnt try to break up the protest they didnt try to prevent the protesters from booking this train they should ride we routed its through one of the side streets but that didnt work out the whole lot because now its just a sea of people yelling chants like long live but a roast on the go go leave coolly on the incumbent president of this republic colleagues on the look the shine go to leave the office because they do not recognize the protesters here they do not recognize the results of the election now the police so far they have been standing by we can show you over that far in the distance so well try to zoom in there it there are Police Vehicles and other machines crowd control vehicles and so on and so forth so far they have been standing by and people have been chanting and protesting peacefully they have been putting on the sones from the 2nd world war in iraq so quite. Peaceful ones i have to have to tell you so so far they are out here and most trying to make their voices heard we will be standing by here throughout the day to bring you all the latest on how this protest fast. The country has been left deeply divided by the vote the week that followed it was dominated by opposition protests but on monday supporters of the president began holding counter rallies. Hit the boy ducking my hearts bleeding and i cant believe this is happening in belarus after all of us at newsnight and i love i love the. Thanks it is opposition we are strong it is them who made us united we are the people weve been living in fear for a week weve been crying all these calls for change i was buying vegetables at the grocery i told the seller i was going to attend a meeting she said you look at i think their thirties are wrong the Election Results are a complete lie its very sad the more the authorities deny ever the things the worse it is for the state i feel bad for the country and for the people i believe that the peoples voices that we hear now justify what people decided in the election they have been heard now they will have to listen every day to whats going on here. On saturday of thousands showed up for a pro look rally in the border city of the president himself delivered an emotional speech where he repeated claims that the political turmoil gripping the country is being stirred up by the west r. T. Was able to speak to him right after his appearance. I knew this would happen i was afraid of skirmishes during that critical period they were preparing for that they were going to work for i came out i was afraid that these people would have suffered that is why we took a break look at that there is a sea of people outside i did not expect to see that here on the western border where being bullied are being pressured to attack russia they see as a springboard and we have to wipe it out. Meanwhile a number of Foreign Countries have challenge the question goes on the genesee asked president rejecting the results of the election the e. U. Has confirmed its also drawing up sanctions against russian officials who are suspected of Election Fraud and violence against protesters are just dont know hawkins delves into why the former soviet republic has drawn so much International Reaction just a fortnight ago many western viewers may have barely heard of belarus that will change the thousands poured over the streets in protest over the disputed president ial election is the countrys geography. Between its big east the neighbor europe sees the interests of International Players intertwine and clash. Officially the e. U. Is dismissed the elections as neither free nor fair. As persona nongrata and already begun drawing up new sanctions lists citing Human Rights Violations in the wake of Police Violence in custody we start number withheld e. U. Why discussions on sanctions against those responsible for Human Rights Violations how these sanctions will be organized and whether there will be further restrictive measures depends on the further actions of the bully russian authorities. Condemnation was perhaps predictable but there is no shared view of what comes next the Baltic States and poland have been the loudest critics of location while hungary has stopped short of outright that l. C. A. Sion others still have sought a balancing act the e. U. Cant turn a blind eye neither can it risk having it be stabilized neighbor state on their doorstep and confrontations with moscow a longtime ally of minsk are getting tiresome. So its no surprise putin has been busy on the phone holding talks with merkel mark kroll and the European Council chief we all see russia as an actor that can help influence or regulate the situation a better roofs is russias closest historical ally a vital economic and military partner and a buffer zone against nato over recent years have seen their relationship strained to say the least nevertheless moscow would surely rather put up with look at those overtures to the west and risk chaos on its borders the russian side emphasized that any attempt at external interference in the internal affairs of belarus which could lead to a further escalation of the crisis would be an acceptable. For many years but it doesnt exactly been a top priority for the you know. States in 2006 they slap sanctions on minsk for you guessed it democratic elections and in 2008 the countrys expelled each others ambassadors but earlier this year things began to change for the 1st time since 1904 minutes got a visit from the u. S. Secretary of state. Generously offered to meet all of energy needs and extended a helping hand the United States wants to help fellow groups build its own sovereign country this leaves washington with. Should they carry on before and look at who may be interested or put their bets on the opposition and its the uncertainty in minsk one thing is clear washington has its own interest in belarus the possibility of another u. S. Friendly state on russias border could be a game changer and as protests grow in a country suddenly thrown into the International Limelight and with multiple interests at stake all actors involved hold their breath as they play out their next move meanwhile the e. U. Foreign policy chief has urged caution in dealing with belarus is that burrell said europe cannot allow the country to turn into a 2nd ukraine and that minsk does not have to choose between europe and russia Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also warned against a repeat of the 2014 ukraine uprising. We are going to we support any decision that the bell the russian government will take in relation to dialogue with its people but when western countries say that mediation will only be effective with its presence of course ukraine is still fresh in the memory we negotiate with our partners failed so that is why the better russian people will decide for themselves how they want to come out of this situation there are obvious ways to normalize it which is very important at the same time i know not everybody likes what is happening there are those who want to abuse any peaceful course to provoke bloodshed and turn it into a ukraine like scenario you have a. Russian opposition figure alexia not only has been admitted to a berlin hospital for emergency medical treatment he was airlifted on saturday from the siberian city of homs and ali has been in a coma since falling biologically ill during a flight to moscow on thursday were all over has the latest from berlin. Took a lot of wrangling between doctors in the russian city of. The family but Alexei Navalny is here in germany here arrived on site today in a special medical plane had been chartered by his supporters as he landed here in berlin and arrived at the hospital flanked by a column of blue flashing Lights Police motorcycles and other vehicles accompanying the ambulance that he was in to to shot at a hospital hes receiving treatment and undergoing extensive testing at the hospital to try and determine what is behind his illness that resulted in him being in a coma since thursday the Berlin Police have also put out the same and saying that they are here in increased numbers due to missed in the vanni being in this hospital and we arent expecting any updates really from the hospital until maybe monday morning. Air lexing of armies wife is here so were looking to see if theres any further statements from the family now russian doctors in had objected to him moving initially they said that alexina valmy was too ill to be able to make that journey however they relented at the request of the family we are not in favor of him being taken anywhere from this hospital but considering the requests of his family he will help organize the transportation alexina valmy took on well on thursday on a flight from siberia back to moscow and he was headed to be in some clear distress while on that flight the plane made an Emergency Landing in the city of on skin he was rushed off to hospital by paramedics that has been claims that he was poisoned with some of his team suggesting there was a poison was put into his tea doctors say that they ran a talk screening on him while he was in the hospital in on the skin that came back negative that they were treating him under a different diagnosis. If you will for the team of doctors concluded that since we did not find any toxic materials in his blood he had suffered emitted by disruption with the reduced glucose levels during the drop in pressure while the plane was taking off. This isnt the 1st claim of poisoning against alexina van the last year he was hospitalized from prison his team at the time said that he had been poisoned it later turned out that he suffered a severe allergic reaction claims that there has been a poisoning in the kremlin of the hind that is being strongly denied by denethor the press corps who is flooding your putins press secretary he said that the russian government to put no blocks in the way of the legs in the valley travelling here to germany that any delays in transportation had been due to the concerns raised by the doctors he said he also wish mr in the valley a speedy recovery for the European Union have said they want a full investigation into what happened to Alexei Navalny in what seems to be a case thats demanding a lot of answers and raising certainly a lot more questions than we have ounces at the moment a lot of eyes focused on the hospital just behind me in a case that is becoming increasingly politicized. As soon as the news of nobleness illness broke western media rushed to speculate on possible kremlin involvement some cases were cited it when the russian government was accused of poisoning people. The vani is not the 1st to fall victim to poisoning blame for which is often a laid at the door of the kremlin former spice and his daughter yulia suffered a nerve agent attack and russian defector Alexander Litvinenko died of radiation poisoning activist Glen Amir Karim was poisoned twice and survived the tourists for allegedly using radioactive nerve agents to target Double Agents defectors and others who fall afoul of the kremlin course you support us will not be convinced they will believe that this is a poisoning. I am at a was a cool could be interested in such a poison and it became a kind of duty its a its a cliche for their west on media the western news agency is to blame rashi mediately after something happens basically there are many questions on it and the western media is not seeking answers to these questions instead is just so much easier to blame russia personally i want to speculate if it could be done by a russian government agents without which inseparable with fortunes approval is just safe to make it has a chance against russia because its much more dangerous to really investigate and to see probably the role of are the exodus both in the story or. And or in the story or. The weekly continues after this short break. Lucia thats right we talk about problems all year and then summer time we come up with all solutions that say were just being joined by banker churn point for your simon. Banks with your long term friend. The world is driven by a dream shaped by one person with those great. Thinks. We dare to ask. Welcome back to the weekly germany france the u. K. Russia and china have all rejected a u. S. Request to reimpose sanctions on irans socalled snapback sanctions can be triggered as part of the nuclear deal but only by signatories to the agreement kilmartin picks up the story. So at this point weve got the United States essentially demanding that the United Nations reimpose its crippling sanctions Economic Warfare against the Islamic Republic of iran this is mike pompei o laying out the demand just a few minutes ago i delivered letters to both the un secretary general to terrorism to the president of the Security Council notified them that the United States is initiating the restoration of virtually all u. N. Sanctions on iran lifted under u. N. Security Council Resolution 2231 did i say it will never allow the Worlds Largest state sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes tanks missiles and other kinds of conventional weapons now essentially the United States is hoping to invoke the snapback mechanism that was part of the j c p o a conclusion of the Iran Nuclear Negotiations the Iran Nuclear Deal now the snapback mechanism was put into the nuclear deal so that if iran did not fulfill the agreement and did not fulfill its obligations broke the agreement that there would be an immediate snap back and all the un sanctions would immediately be reimposed on iran so now the United States is trying to invoke the snapback mechanism however it has virtually no support in the International Community when it comes to this demand that weve got all the other cosigners of the deal the United Kingdom germany france china russia all staying that basically the United States doesnt have the right to invoke the snapback mechanism because the United States pulled out of the deal not iran this has been the International Reaction to the United States call and this was my studio and i was aware different concerns at reckless acts by the United States could trigger a serious crisis from the Security Council our american colleagues do not seem to care about this recall no contrails to resist and i stress once again that the us prices are low full that they will use in the United States has withdrawn for. The comprehensive agreement on the Iranian Nuclear issue and hes not qualified to call for a rapid resumption of sanctions by the Security Council as i have repeatedly recalled the u. S. Unilaterally seized participation in the j. C. B. Away by president ial memorandum on the 8th of may 28th and has subsequently not participated in any j c p a way related activities he can no therefore be considered to be a participant state for the purposes of possible sanctions not by foreseen by the resolution the United States hold out of the Iran Nuclear Deal in may of 28 scene and at this point weve got the trumpet ministration saying that they are open to renegotiating a new deal that would restrict irans activities more harshly now at this point people are reacting to the recent effort by the United States to extend the arms embargo against the Islamic Republic of iran which was roundly defeated by the International Community the u. N. Security council the 15 member body that leads the un the only other country to support the u. S. Move was the Dominican Republic and it seems with the world basically opposing washingtons moves against iran that iran actually has the upper hand this is what weve heard from some iranian officials in was calming down which i think today its clear that the United States is size a limited and american unilateral ism is not supported by other countries with the reason reason lucian there was put before the Security Council the United States was defeated and the slummy group public of iran has the upper hand about it in the International Community it seems like almost a consensus that the Iran Nuclear Deal should remain intact however washington has pulled out of the deal and they seem to be almost standing alone at this point in their call to reimpose sanctions and to essentially escalate tensions with the Islamic Republic. Russias deputy envoy to the u. N. Said on thursday that the u. S. Had declined to hold a Security Council session on the question of sanctions against iran long time Foreign Correspondent reece erlich told us americas actions are more prone home audience. The u. S. Has no legal grounds whatsoever to pursue this its very quite explicit in the terms of the j c p a way that only participants in the accord could move to have the snap back and weve seen all kinds of procedure iranian oil on the high seas that was on its way to venezuela are perfectly legal but the u. S. Claims unilateral right to impose its interpretation of sanctions anywhere in the world against anybody it wants. But frankly rather than a sign of straightening this is a sign of weakness because the u. S. Is unable to get its support for any other country in the world for these. Actions including britain france germany and staunch u. S. Allies are completely reject the above the trump a news station on this issue and its a sign of desperation frankly that theyre hoping something will happen between now and november and turn things around and trump hopes to use these an effort to gain reelection i think frankly its quite the opposite. The lebanese president has said he is unable to resign as it would cause a power vacuum calls for michel aoun to hot go have been growing since the devastating chemical explosion that ripped through beiruts port earlier this month. Last week the lebanese cabinet including the Prime Minister resigned amid mass protests with people blaming the tragedy on government incompetence Recovery Efforts are still ongoing in beirut the disaster has put out a strain on a country already in the throes of a crippling economic crisis earlier the International Community pledged some 300000000. 00 in aid to love about a blast killed 178. 00 injured thousands and left more than a quarter of a 1000000 people homeless. The u. S. Is also offering a financial lifeline to lebanon the but only if the government agrees to certain reforms bellecourt or explains. Massive explosions in beirut during his unrest in its wake and it got to. Lebanon chaos capital in ruins and leaders across the world have no doubt opened up the foreign aid relief valve as a result countries like germany the u. K. And even the u. S. Have stepped in to help out but when you accept money from washington you need to read the fine print when we see lebanese leaders committed to real change change in word and deed america and its International Partners will respond to systemic reforms a sustained Financial Support of course mr hale forgot to mention that u. S. Sanctions are what many to believe the key cause of lebanons economic woes but there is always someone who remembers. You have seen some countries hypocritically trying to portray themselves as defenders of the lebanese people and expressing sympathy for the lebanese people if they are honest they should remove those sanctions that they recently passed against the lebanese government nation and people and stop this hypocrisy and iran definitely knows how that feels that 1st donald trump said hed be willing to give coronavirus aid to iran if it asked for it then when the country needed a 5 1000000000. 00 loan from the i. M. F. To deal with the pandemic washington protested for some reason even the United Nations called on the u. S. To lift its sanctions against the country only to get a big fat no from pompei oh ive heard people talking about sanctions there know that the world should know there are no sanctions that prevent humanitarian assistance medical supplies pharmaceuticals from going to iran and war torn syria its a similar story washington announced a nearly 1000000000. 00 increase in 2020 humanitarian assistance at the very same time that it was creating a brand new sanctions regime against the country we are maintaining our maximum political and economic pressure to suspend the imposition of the sanctions the government of syria must meet similar conditions to go. For a country in crisis its not really difficult to get humanitarian aid from washington what they usually have to give in return however might not be that worth it. We talked to a lebanese journalist who say neighbor him he says the changes the u. S. Wants arent the ones lebanon needs all we have a big struggle in the me is you know we have we have all and so other part is trying to do the same for their presence in the middle east i mean. You know states like china like and im sure like you know all they have sticks and love in them so. Thats that its long to cherish the 11 on to be in line with its interests theres no doubt that love on needs change and needs the parents needs also says that its meant but not in the way that Many Americans want it you know they seem big a force to invest into the latest developments and im on to. Their homes so much theyre going to us thats been the weekly here on r. T. International thanks for tuning in wherever you may be. Changed american lives but pharmaceutical companies have a miraculous solution. Based drugs the people who are chronic pain patients believe that their opioid prescription is working for them on the remedy be sent to the price at the. Grocery dependency and addiction to opiates to long term use that really isnt scientifically justified and all study actually suggest that. The long term effects might not just be the absence of benefit but actually that they might because they want to. Treat. Their. Own welcome to worlds apart as is often sad that beauty is in the eye of the behold there but hundreds of studies across decades showed that most beholders view beauty in pretty similar ways and thats leads into all facets of a persons life from the way a kid is treated in school to hes or her success in the labor or marriage markets is pretty clear that beauty is an advantage but is it really an unfair or superficial one well to discuss that im now joined by danielle hamermesh measures professor of economics at the university of texas and author of beauty pace why attractive people are more successful pressure says. So good to have you on the show thank you very much for your time thank you for having me now its been almost a decade since you published these groundbreaking book and theres been quite a lot of changes in this past decade beauty pageants not as popular as they used to be