are broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r.t. international and sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. and germany's social democratic party leader martin scholtz has announced his resignation with immediate a fact his decision comes after he lost out in the german election to chancellor angela merkel and then faced criticism over agreeing to a grand coalition government for a second time he said his decision will allow the party to refresh itself and come back stronger. yes you did all. this big you need to compute when you will put organization including its personnel and this is the urgent wish of the party members with my resignation and also the relinquishment of my federal government membership i want to help bring an end to this debate and then allow monitors to really focus on coalition the green party. with the background to this decision here's how the debate is going. we know that resignations is something that martin schultz's done well in the past he actually resigned his job as the president of the european parliament last year because he said he wanted to fight the german elections and to become the chancellor of germany as we know in those elections in september he failed to do that in fact his party did so badly in those elections that they lost forty seats now following that defeat in the elections he turned around and said i will never be a minister. led government and that led to angela merkel and her c.d.u. having to seek out potential partners for forming a german government that fell by the wayside and then it. would talk to angle of merkel about forming another so-called one coalition this was between his party the social democrats and the c.d.u. to rule germany now in that he said that he wanted to be foreign minister and he accepted that that would be his position if that grand coalition go ahead but he gave up all of that too just in the last few days saying that he wouldn't be the foreign minister. government if that takes place now the current german foreign minister had something to say about at least his young daughter did she was widely quoted in the media and they had a hoot about this as apparently turning round to her father and saying you know daddy don't worry you'll have more time to spend with us talking about the fact you could lose in this post and then turned around and said well that's better than spending time with the man with the harry be it of course referring to schultz and he's famous with we're back now to his resignation and martin schultz said quickly while i was signing a leader of the social democrats he will be able to help internal divisions within his party in his party members have to go to a ballot on march in which they are due to vote on whether or. they want that one coalition to go ahead and there is a lot of division and chaos in the polity the youth wing of the policy are currently traversing around to many people to vote no to that coalition and if it is a no vote then we could see germans head back to the polls very soon will melt in short says departure aid those internal divisions or will it deepen the chaos and the division we have yet to find out earlier we heard from geo political analyst rainer roth he said that martin childs will likely continue his political career within the european union the specialists of the advisers of the s.p.d. have just understood that it is really important to have a party leader who is popular in the population a sympathetic person warmhearted that people like to see on t.v. and then they would also like to vote for such a personality so i think it's not mainly a matter of competence it's a matter of popularity and i guess that mark will have that back to you he will try to get opposed to in the commission in the coming years this is better of course for a personality who is not so close to people because commissioners are not voted for therefore it is a better career option for marching shoes. and on to another resignation in europe the dutch a foreign minister has now quit have to revealing earlier in the week that he had lied about a meeting with the president of russia vladimir putin in two thousand and six but in a fall over. the. let me give them both a lot of. people over for. the diet foreign minister it was quite emotional when he announced his resignation he was supported by the country's prime minister who was present during this announcement and also seem to quite moved by the situation now what happened today is the result of a bit scandal that erupted when it was revealed gods the dutch foreign minister a lie back in two thousand and sixteen about an event in his life that when he described it didn't raise a lot of questions as back at the time russia was accused of all sorts of things moscow was accused of carrying out aggressive politics so his ally fit quite well into that contacts now back in two thousand and sixteen and the minister has said that he was present at a meeting with the russian president vladimir putin and he heard the president speaking about unifying russia ukraine valorous the baltic states and kazakstan into a single country creating great russia. in early two thousand and six i was about to make predictions come true so i had house i stopped at the back of a room or a meeting was being held but i could hear very well vladimir putin talking about a great to russia he said this included russia. ukraine and the baltic states and that kazakstan would be nice to have now these were his words back in two thousand and sixteen but when he was confronted about this he acknowledged that that was a lie that he wasn't even in russia back in two thousand and six and he only said that to protect his source a person who was present at that meeting now the minister has said that he has a credibility had been damaged he described these recent events as the very. mistake in his political career now all this took place just one day before his official meeting where the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov i was about to a tanda sneezing as so many other ensuring less war and we had questions prepared for the rich foreign minister of course concerning this particular situation but now it seems that this missing is off the table as the dutch side had officially cancel it we discussed of the latest developments in the netherlands with martin mccauley an author and russia analyst he said the false remarks from the foreign former foreign minister sat well with the general anti russian sentiment in the west at the time there are two reasons why he made that statement one is that projected to me to the public newspapers the headlines and so on this was a sensational statement to make therefore the foreign minister was in fact a very important person and he was making a very important statement which would affect native policy western policy and so on and the second thing would be that of course it fed into the new to. the native narrative of the narrative of the west that still is visit to russia is seen. as a threat to the national security and it fit into that and therefore for these two reasons then it appeared to be from the dutch point of view this is a very good very good thing to do. the pentagon claims that it destroyed a syrian army tank in its self defense on sunday we did disarm the team that took a shot at us. so we sort of blitz rules of engagement to protect ourselves. that was something that we always had the right to do make sure you do that. u.s. special operations forces in syria say this is the second time they have come under attack from pro assad forces in less than a week our correspondents amerikana has more from the united states now samir tell us about the situation in syria right now. well the pentagon says that it was an act of self-defense accusing syrian forces of trying to attack kurdish forces but apparently with u.s. forces embedded they were forced to respond now on wednesday the u.s. said it carried out defensive airstrikes in retaliation for what they saw as an unprovoked attack but according to reports more than a hundred fighters aligned with the syrian government were killed in the airstrike now this latest escalation is definitely definitely something to worry about on all sides especially considering that the syrian conflict been a largely perceived as a fight against terror well against isis in particular which is almost wiped out but it's also opened way to a whole series of new conflicts we have the turkish kurdish conflict the tensions between israel and iran and then american and kurdish forces up against a mascot but even though isis is pretty much gone the u.s. is still wants to stay in syria with the secretary tillerson announcing plans to maintain an open ended military presence in the country some two thousand troops or so to prevent a resurgence of isis and to counter iran's influence let's take a quick listen. the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring isis cannot real merge is presently has one foot in the grave and by maintaining an american military presence in syria until the full complete defeat of isis is achieved it will soon have to do counterterrorism we will continue to work with allies and partners. and surprisingly the u.s. isn't the only one just today the french president said that france will attack if they find proof that chemical weapons were used against civilians promising to strike or chemical weapons sorry chemical shipments originated so the question is are we seeing the syrian conflict enter a second stage well that's all unclear now so we'll just have to wait and see. american force in the united states we know you'll stay across the story as the situation develops. all right israel's prime minister is in hot water he could now be facing criminal charges details after a short break this is international. here's what people have been saying about rejecting the night was actually just pull on also the only show i go out of my way to find you know what it is that really packs a punch oh yeah there's the john oliver of our three americas doing the same fact that we are apparently better than the blues that i see people you never heard of love redacted the next president of the world bank so very. seriously send us an e-mail. a little walk sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chicken or forcing you to fight the battle they're going. to stop spreading tell you to the beach gossip the public by fell. off the bad guys and tell me you are not cool enough to buy your product. all the harm that we along the border will want. welcome back you're watching our international live from moscow now day four of the winter olympics has seen russia add to its medal tally with two bronze and finishes secured in ski events it brings the country's overall haul to four bronze and a silver medal that is despite a reduced number of competitors from russia following decisions by the international olympic committee and the court of arbitration for sports over doping allegations now c.a.'s overturned the lifetime olympic bans for twenty eight russian athletes at the start of february but then did a sudden u.-turn saying it actually supported the i.o.c. decision not to allow the athletes to compete in the winter games our correspondent in the trunk o. has been speaking exclusively with the secretary general of c.i.s. to find out more about the conflicting decisions. after the court of arbitration for sport said no to forty seven russian athletes and coaches just as the chuang winter games were getting underway perhaps the number one conclusion that came up on some people's mind was that presumption of innocence doesn't apply to the russian doping scandal well the cast secretary-general didn't literally say that the key law principle didn't work for cas but see for yourself how much it applied to the russians the fact that the unable to show the guilt of an athlete doesn't mean that the truth has nothing to do although with the case really in the sense this is a logical consequence and this is nothing bad about it mr reeve maintains that leaving the group of clean russian athletes on paper out of the winter olympics isn't a sanction also i found out that the refusal of the i.o.c. to get the dozens of russian athletes on board the olympics in some cases was a result of pure suspicion and other cases it was a result of some real evidence which however mr reeve hasn't seen after all he wasn't a member of the panel but the secretary general promised that this evidence will soon be published so let's wait for now let's have a look at the other highlights of my exclusive interview a cas has been shown something as a people here there was no review of every the sochi case was not discussed here the report was last discussed here it's only the review of the process so it was not just sanctions it was an issue i understand the reaction of the public in russia because it doesn't seem logical exactly the russian side doesn't see the logic here how is stripping a person of the right to compete at the olympics not a sanction this is. a special procedure because the created a special commission so the cast by the here reviewed these criteria and said they were fair please let me get this straight the tsotsi case and the chiang case you're saying that there are absolutely no contradictions between the two decisions yes the fact that you cannot establish the give evidence of the good doesn't mean that you have established the innocence of the athlete you see what i mean i'm sorry but i thought that was the exact job of cas to determine whether that suspicion is enough for that kind of bad maybe that they are suspicions which are not. confirmed by sufficient evidence i don't know if i'm clear because it's a little bit skopec ated but it is you can have some elements which show some. suspicious actions by the athletes but they may not be sufficient to convince the panel that for sure at least is guilty of an anti-doping rule violation but it doesn't mean that he did nothing at all there may be some. some strange actions which could lead to some suspicion so you are saying there can be more transparency it's possible it's possible yes as you heard a couple of minutes ago when you cast initially overturned the i.o.c. bans of the sochi athletes the international olympic committee was very critical of the court thomas back demanded reforms and i asked the secretary general if anyone returned to these ideas after the final decision of the russian athletes was made and the answer was no so it turns out when the court of arbitration for sport came up with a verdict that fully satisfied the i.o.c. nobody wants to reform cas any more. you can see that exclusive interview with the cast secretary general in full throughout the day on wednesday right here on r.t. international. israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu could be facing several charges over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandals r.t. america correspondent on the palm peel told us that israeli police say they now have enough to open an official probe. israeli police believe they have enough evidence to open an official in the case against netanyahu for two cases the first one known as case one thousand alleges b. netanyahu accepted lavish gifts such as champagne cigars jewelry and clothing for his wife sarah in exchange for political favors this includes apparently gifts from israeli american movie producer are known mil sean and in this specific incident and then yahoo supported the path the passing of a tax break even named in mill shawn's name which. basically grants tax breaks to israelis who spend time overseas and then return to the country the second case case two thousand cubans netanyahu of making a deal with one of the main israeli newspapers that's. not the and it suggests netanyahu essentially spoke with the owner of that paper and agreed he would repress circulation of a competing paper in return for favorable coverage now netanyahu has already addressed this recommendation to the israeli public speaking tonight saying he's always served the country as responsibly and faithfully and dismissing this case against him as baseless he also said it's part of a wider campaign against him. since i was chosen to leave the government's. position and it is now in the hands of israel's attorney general. mendel bleed to make a final decision on indictment. we spoke to author and senior editor at the real news max blumenthal who thinks netanyahu is taking a page out of the u.s. president playbook you know netanyahu is opposed by the kind of metropolitan middle class very similar situation to what donald trump faces in the u.s. and netanyahu is tape taken trump in tactics of accusing his opponents of fake news he struck a very confident tone tonight he's the most sophisticated political animal in israeli political history he's going to fight this and you know if you talk to the man in the street in israel although netanyahu is historic unpopular by historic standards he remains the most popular figure in israeli politics today. netanyahu is freight might be hanging in the balance and europe has seen two major resignations this tuesday but there is someone who won't be going anywhere for the time being co founder julian assange has seen his latest appeal for his arrest warrant to be lifted thrown out by a u.k. court use wanted for skipping bail in the country it's the second time in a week that assad has lawyers have been in court to appeal against the warranties on associates for going to as more. despite any high expectations that julian assange has defense team and supporters might have that could have come from inside this courtroom here in london did not materialize as the judge has ruled that the status quo remains that the arrest warrant against julian assange imposed by britain is not going to be lifted now last week the judge said that b. sigmas off the fact that the swedish investigators have long drop the case against him should mean that the arrest warrant associated with that case should go to said no this did not work for this courtroom today the judge considered several more arguments brought forward by julie massagers defense team let's look at some of those highlights first they argued that julian assange options were reasonable this in terms of skipping bail and going inside the ecuadorian embassy the judge here has said that this was not a reasonable enough argument because the judge believes that sweden would not have extradited julian assange to the u.s. because this would have created a major diplomatic scoundrel now the judge also consider the united nations ruling that had found that a son his detention was arbitrary and should this the judge has said that this was based on misunderstandings according to her she said that julian the songes detention is self-imposed the judge believes that julian assange has been able to leave the embassy any time he wants she said that he has had visitors you can see what he wants and even get fresh air and sunshine being able to walk out on that famous balcony to this julian a son she had tweeted that he's only gone out on the balcony several times amidst high security now the judge also talked about the argument brought forward by the defense team that julia saunders was always willing to take part in the investigation and the question to this she said the case has dragged on for way too long and that this willingness was not very obvious also another argument brought forward. was that his punishment might have already been quite excessive given the fact that julian assange has been holed up inside the ecuadorian embassy in london for over five and a half years now the judge found that his condition his health condition is good enough and that it could be worse the conclusion brought forward by this case today that the arrest warrant stands the judge has said that like everybody else that julian assange is not above the law that he should have presented himself to the court room and face the consequences of his action however now all eyes will be on what kind of moves julian assange just defense team come up with to move his case forward and. we spoke to patrick the founder of twenty first century wire dot com he is of the view that the u.k. is acting as an american puppet in the case it's become clear now the sort of the games up with the release of the e-mails from the crown prosecution service is showing that there was collusion between the c.p.s. and the swedish judiciary to sort of keep this his case on the rocks even though sweden could have dropped the case for five years ago we're looking at a situation here where the u.k. is effectively a sockpuppet with washington is the hand inside it can be you know their explanation they said this is in the public interest and so forth at the hearing today i can't see how they can prove that it's in the public interest having spent four million pounds on security around the ecuadorian embassy to make sure though that julian songs doesn't make a run for it. and that does it for me i'll be back in about thirty four minutes with a full of get your news you watch our attention. all to see we have a great team we need to strengthen before the freefall world cold and you're better than a legend to keep it so it's at the back. in one thousand nine hundred two that must qualify for the european championships at the very last moment no one believed in us but we won and i'm hoping to bring some of that weighting spirit to the aussie theme. recently i've had a lot of practice so i can guard see you that peter schmeichel will be on the best fall since my last will call on that story as well as three. thousand zero zero zero zero hitter here i called russia. i fly strike. left left left more left ok stuff that's really good that. everybody i'm steven both on the task hollywood guy the suspect every proud american first of all i'm just george washington and r.v. and do some stuff this is my buddy max famous financial guru and we're just a little bit different i've got a point in time i know when no doubt with all the drama happening in our country i'm shooting on the road have some fun meet everyday americans. and hopefully start to bridge the gap this is the great american people. oh. the games have begun the younger sister of north korea's ruler kim jong un has captured the attention of the media while u.s. vice president mike pence was mocked as a dud even undiplomatic the two koreas are engaging each other. to get their degree which will get them their dream job young americans no longer hesitate to put their health at stake is the first day of term on the columbia campus one of the most prestigious universities in the world more than eighty nobel prize winners have either study to. justice and many other ivy league american schools some students take drugs to boost their academic results thanks to unfit to mean defectives they can study through the night without showing any signs of tiredness you do my friend say do what's right for you to live here and there are hours to. be. in the united states these study drugs have become a public health issue more than a third of american students take them regularly. go to columbia thanks to an exam she took under the influence of unfair. to avoid a disciplinary action she will hide her identity i didn't have any expectations of getting in the essay i wrote was a hot a biography five pages i ended up taking a ph d. medicine it just it puts you. in a mental space where you can focus entirely why not take a pill if everyone else is doing it to give you that competitive advantage that you haven't heard the helping hand that she got told off very easily. a friend of mine prescription for concern and he gave it to us for free i'm probably down like a dozen times or so. and you will see how these pills are almost sold us over the counter drugs on campus. we walk through the streets around new york university with a hidden camera. after twenty minutes of searching become across this student we'll call him joe. seriously hurt. it. just doesn't seem to be shocked we ask him if we can soldiers out. right. like. people like. the student got to prescription from a fairly unobservant doctor. thirty minutes easy. so josh deals the twenty five milligrams that he doesn't use himself just after a few minutes of negotiation he lets us buy one of his pills ten dollars for thirty million.