Broadcast and i direct from our studios in moscow. Certainly glad to have you with us now Germanys Social Democratic Party leader Martin Childs has announced his resignation with immediate effect 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. Yesterday in all. Their speed 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 allow monitors to really focus on coalition agreement. With the background to this decision has already charlotte developed. We know that resignations is something that Martin Schultzs done well in the past he actually resigned from his job as president of the European Parliament 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 of course march issue he would talk. About forming another socalled 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 on that too just in the last few days saying that he wouldnt be the foreign minister that government if that government takes place now the current German Foreign minister had something to say about it all 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 dont worry youll have more time to spend with us talking about the fact he could be losing his post and then turned around and said well thats better than spending time with the man with the harry be it of course referring to schultz and hes famous with were back now to his resignation and Martin Schultz said quickly. Resigning a leader of the social democrats he will be able to help internal divisions within his party and his Party Members have to go to a ballot on march fourth in which they are due to vote on whether and. They want that one coalition to go ahead and there is a lot of division and chaos in the party the youth wing of the party are currently traversing around germany 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 to run a roth for us he said that martin shoals will likely continue his political career with in 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 they would also like to vote for such a personality so i think its not maybe a matter of competence its a matter of popularity and i guess that martin will have that back to the e. U. He will try to get the post didnt commission but 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 and therefore is a better career option for much insurance. And onto another resignation in europe the Dutch Foreign minister has now quit after revealing earlier in the week that he had lied about a meeting with the russian president in two thousand and six when a full of. I mean is the. People over for. The night foreign minister was quite emotional when he announced his resignation he was supported by the countrys Prime Minister who was present during this announcement and ole so 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 lawyer back in two thousand and sixteen about an event in his life that when he described it didnt 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 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 greater russia. In early two thousand and six i was about to meet 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 wasnt 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 and now the minister said that his credibility had been damaged he described these recent events as the they. Just a 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 attend this meeting as so many other ensuring less war and we had questions prepared for the minister of course concerning this particular situation but now it seems that this meeting 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 of 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 the 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 pulls western policy and so on and the second thing would be that of course it fed into the new to. The native narrative the narrative of the west still is which is basically the russian sees reported 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 itself defense on sunday. We detected and then start the tank that took a shot at us it continued to move so we gain its a huge insult of birds our rules of engagement to protect ourselves and i believe that was something that and in we are always there the right to do make sure were in a position to do that u. S. Special Operations Forces in syria say this is the second time they have come under attack from pro assad forces and last event a week or correspondence mark on as more. The pentagon says that it was an act of selfdefense 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 spin a largely perceived as a fight against terror well against isis in particular which is almost wiped out but its 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 damascus 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 irans influence lets take a quick listen the United States will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring that isis cannot real merge ours 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 but surprisingly the us isnt 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 shipments originated so the question is are we seeing the syrian conflict enter a second stage well thats all unclear now so well just have to wait and see. Israels Prime Minister is in the hot water he could now be facing criminal charges details after a short break this is torture. Ive. A welcome back this is Art International and day four of the Winter Olympics has seen russia added to its medal tally with two bronze finishes secured in ski events it brings the countrys overall haul to four bronze and a silver medal this 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. You see as cas 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. His decision not to allow the athletes to compete in the winter games our correspondent elizabeth go spoke exclusively with the secretary general of cass 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 winter games were getting underway perhaps the number one conclusion that came up on some peoples mind was that presumption of innocence doesnt apply to the russian doping scandal well the cast secretarygeneral didnt literally say that the key law principle didnt 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 doesnt 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 isnt 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 hasnt seen after all he wasnt a member of the panel but the secretary general promised that this evidence will soon be published so lets wait for now lets 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 metro report was last discussed here its only the review of the you see process so it was not just sanction it was an eligibility issue i understand the reaction of the public in russia because it doesnt seem logical exactly the russian side doesnt 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 youre saying that there are absolutely no contradictions between the two decisions yes the fact that you cannot establish the give evidence of the deal doesnt mean that you have established the innocence of the athlete you see what i mean im 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 notes. Confirmed by sufficient evidence i dont know if im clear because its a little bit skopec ated that 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 antidoping rule violation but it doesnt 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 its possible its possible yes as you heard a couple of minutes ago when cas 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 anymore. You can see that exclusive interview with the cas security general secretary general in full throughout the day on wednesday here on our to international. Israels Prime MinisterBenyamin Netanyahu could be facing several charges over his alleged involvement in the corruption scandals our new america correspondent phil tells us more on the political crisis confronting the israeli leader. For over a year now tens of thousands of israelis have been rallying across the country on a weekly basis demanding the man who has now been their Prime Minister face some sort of accountability after details of these Corruption Cases began trickling out in the media and we learned tonight 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 be 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 shawns name which. Basically grants tax breaks to israelis who spend time overseas and then return to the country the second case case two thousand queues as netanyahu of making a deal with one of the main israeli newspapers thats. 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 hes always served the country as responsibly and faithfully and dismissing this case against him as baseless he also said its part of a Wider Campaign against him. Since the. Government was not a. Full sarkozy sions it is now in the hands of israels attorney general. Mendel believed to make a final decision on indictment. Well netanyahu is fate might be hanging in the balance and europe has seen two major resignations this tuesday but there is someone who will not be going anywhere for any time for the time being anytime soon wiki leaks cofounder julian have seen his latest appeal for lifting his arrest warrant thrown out by u. K. Court hes wanted for skipping bail in the country it is the second time in a week that songes lawyers have been in court to appeal against of the warrant parties honest as youre going to as more. Despite any High Expectations that Julian Assange is 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 lets 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 considered the United Nations ruling that had found that a sundress detention was arbitrary to this the judge has said that this was based on misunderstandings according to her she said that julian the songes detention is selfimposed the judge believes that Julian Assange has been able to leave the embassy any time he wants she said that he has had visitors she can eat what he wants and even get fresh air and sunshine being able to walk out on that famous balcony to this julian a sun she had tweeted that hes 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 Julian Assange 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. It 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 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 has defense team come up with to move his case forward and assess the artsy london. What could be so offensive about a kids movie about rabbits to justify calls for a boycott. I just need to keep the wildlife out where they belong to right. Go to. The animated film that peter rabbit has angered to the asthma and Allergy Foundation of america because of the way it portrays Food Allergies theres a scene in the movie where rabbits attack that human arch nemesis by throwing the black berries at him hes allergic and starts choking having to inject himself to stave off the reaction she caused some parents to call for a boycott of the movie thinking it makes light of a serious issue and paves the way for a boy in the pictures has already issued an apology earlier we asked political analyst a schoolteacher and the president of the Allergy Foundation to weigh in on the controversy. Explain it. Well we believe that Food Allergies are a very serious condition again to people die daily from life threatening allergies and there are approximately two children in every classroom with this condition so making fun of it taunting bullying in any fashion due to a disability or a medical condition like in a flock close is simply unacceptable but what wait a minute why does that assume bullying why do we assume that the consequence of showing this in the film is going to be bullying look we believe that again we understand you know that movies are to entertain but we just simply do not believe that entertainment should include harming another person making fun of one because of that disability or because of that condition or you know taunting or even putting them in that life threatening situation and making fun of it is really we believe irresponsible you know. Theyre watching these rabbits gang up on mcgregor and throwing what they actively know is an allergen into his mouth and then celebrating that and i dont think that thats ok and i mean we can just simply not take our children to movies we feel are inappropriate for them and furthermore. Or the idea that we assume that this is going to lead to bullying is a false premise its a false dichotomy i agree everyone has the have their own right to take their children to the movies they choose to see if you choose to take your child to this movie thats your choice i simply hope that youll use that to elevate the conversation in a positive way around food allergy awareness preparing miss an anti bullying behavior the big issue here is that hollywood license and hollywood values are not necessarily going to reflect those of the larger viewing public and its incumbent on parents and its their responsibility to decide not only what their children see in theaters but to explain it to them and to give them proper context that you know if parents are bringing their kids to the theater and seeing this movie its a its you know its a good conversation to have a because it is important for kids to recognize that this behavior is not ok as a teacher in a school. Bullying is something you know that is talked about a lot and seen in many different different ways and when you know these types of. Messages continue to happen in movies its you know really making it challenging as educators. I. Join me everything. Simon sure. Im sure ill see that. The games have begun the younger sister of north Koreas 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 gauge each other. Hey everybody im stephen both. Hollywood. Proud american first of all im just george bush and honored to say this is my buddy max famous financial guru just a little bit different on this day in California Well in your windows with all the drama happening in our country and rude have fun every day americans. And the store to bridge the gap this is the great american. Success. This is a boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d. C. Im partial to. Coming up well talk markets in the wake of recent meltdowns both asian european and u. S. Markets hillary for which and melissa are most join us to discuss now lets get to the stories topping todays headlines the Trump Interior Department is announce their latest attempt to repeal a rule that prevents emissions of methane an extremely potent Greenhouse Gas by oil and gas corporations operating on federal lands the bureau of Land Management b. L. M. Within the interior department has estimated that the rule could prevent one hundred eighty thousand tons of methane emissions from going into the atmosphere every year that reduction in greenhouse pollution would have the same effect as taking nine hundred fifty thousand cars off the road methane is twenty five times more powerful than Carbon Dioxide as a Greenhouse Gas and about a third of all u. S. Methane. Emissions are caused by oil and gas operations interior first two attempts to repeal face continued Court Challenges the latest attempt will be subject to a sixty day Comment Period after publication in what is called the federal register where we can all read about it. And stock markets in asia rallied to