Have ordered coronavirus lockdown all right its time to boost your news i q. Tensions are once again heating up in the persian gulf after a brief confrontation on the seas between the u. S. And iran which resulted in president calling for the take down of iranian gunboats that come too close Rachel Blevins us following the story shes joining us now from the news room with the details to this rachel whats happening there well manella President Trump is now arming the u. S. Navy with the shoot down a new stronger order after a Close Encounter with iran has increased fears of escalation in the persian gulf trump took to twitter wednesday morning writing i have instructed the United States navy to shoot down destroy any and all iranian gunboats if they harass our ship. See his warning follows an incident last week in which the us claims 11 vessels from irans revolutionary guard came within 10 yards of u. S. Navy and coast guard ships in the gulf near kuwait while the Navy Released footage calling the incident dangerous and provocative iran also released footage and a statement in which it accused the us of presenting a false and agenda filled narrative of the encounter the i. R. G. C. Claims the u. S. Walked the path of one of their ships on april 6th and ignored warnings as a result they said they increased maritime patrols in the region which is what led to the confrontation with the u. S. Navy in response to trumps latest comments a spokesperson for irans armed forces said quote today instead of pulling others the americans should put all their efforts toward saving those members their forces who are infected with corona virus the confrontation also comes as iran releases but its showing the launch of its 1st military satellite the news is increased fears over whether iran has the technology to create Ballistic Missiles as one of the countries that scrambled to save what was left of the Iran Nuclear Deal after the u. S. Pulled out and 28 seen a spokesperson for Germanys Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the new development. In our view that the iranian Rocket Program has a decent. On the region and its also an example. Our European Security u. N. Security Council Resolution 2231 of 2000. Calls on iran to refrain from activities involving i with the committee that could carry nuclear war. While allies in europe have attempted to act as a mediator between the u. S. And iran washington drastically increased tensions when it targeted and killed iranian general qassam salomone in january the shocking move spark concern over how iran would retaliate and if it would flex its power to. Goes off axis to the strait of hormuz a vital waterway through which 20 percent of the worlds oil supplies flow every day but if iran didnt close the strait of hormuz analysts had predicted it would make Oil Prices Skyrocket sending them over 100. 00 per barrel almost immediately so that your forecast is all the more important after all prices fell below 0 for the 1st time in history this week raising questions about how the state of the oil industry is playing a role in u. S. Foreign policy reporting in the newsroom Rachel Blevins 8 archie. A mile long gas lines are now a familiar scene in that across the us well a gasoline shortages rage in a nation already embattled by sanctions and economic crisis now an estimated 342000000. 00 in funds and assets from the Venezuelan Central Bank held at citi bank here in the u. S. Have been transferred to the u. S. Federal reserve this following the authorization from the Venezuelan National assembly and the self declared president one guy doe in order to protect the assets he says this is a move thats being widely condemned so joining us now to discuss this professor richard wolf he is professor of economics and International Affairs and cofounder of democracy at work now professor the central bank was really quick to slam this move as a fraudulent seizure and venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arriaga he tweeted this he said the central bank of venezuela denounces the vulgar dispossession the donald trump in complicity with some lawmakers from the National Assembly in contempt order regarding the net the nations Financial Resources which had been blocked at citibank now professor the Venezuelan Central Bank had been blacklisted back in 2019 so what is the legality of the Federal Reserve. And foreign assets do we have precedent for this. And its clearly are not there are attempts in the middle of a Global Pandemic to range the kinds of sanctions that youre imposing i would hope for people that either and people like pope francis and others around the world have said that this is a prime to reduce sanction in the interests of Global Health and here is the United States not only not we do sing them but making them worse its an embarrassment frankly of those of us in the United States who watched it so as to reach out of the its a question who will regal step that was taken in the 1st place took block counts of the sovereign government here in a bank in new york of this city bank of new york its a further step of even greater questionable notice in legal terms of from the Federal Reserve basically to take possession of another countrys assets when a romp on me like that group of legislators in their country quote unquote authorizes did i mean try to think with me just for a moment whether what we were doing at the rump group of legislators in france or ireland or spain or mexico started ordering movements of money belonging to the government that they werent in charge of a missed him a do or a whether you like him or not if the elected leader of venezuela this is an extraordinary step. Thats right professor i mean can we imagine a scenario where where nancy pelosi says well i dont like trump so im the president now and then all the money and all the americas assets get flipped to mancy palosi i mean what would happen then right so i mean thats thats basically what were seeing and i dont so now. What about the people on the ground in venezuela weve now seen some gas shortages people standing in long lines to get their basic necessities met lets listen to what some of they had to say. Because if we have to urgently go out with a patient theres no public transport at night theres a curfew a Family Member is going to die in the house waiting because we dont even have to transport them or to a Medical Center how do we transfer them. Now professor there has been talk about making some of this confiscated money available to the National Assembly government to provide aid to face the coronavirus for these people will the citizens be able to see that assistance you think. Well you know that would have been created an empathetic an old rule of christian whatever word you want wait you have dealt with this or for some 80 maybe even you lose a part of the money in the account thats dubious goods its really their money but this is not a time to make life more difficult for the people of venezuela this is an attempt to impose terrible sanctions at a time when they are already suffering if you remember that venezuela is also dependent on wheel and the price of oil is now virtually 0 they are being squeezed at that point it seems a transparent effort to overthrow that government from the United States which has been trying to do that for years i dont think it will be successful anymore out of the air earlier efforts but its painful to watch and lastly professor imposing these unilateral course of measures against and calling the moderate regime calling for regime change theyve been criticized obviously by by a lot of Different Countries including with saper according to sleep or u. S. Sanctions against minnes well i have caused up 240000 deaths in just 201718 alone and that is preplanned demick so what do you think is the final prognosis for venezuela given all of these harsh sanctions people are dying anyways from normal things that people die of that the sanctions are impacting and now you have this pandemic. Well i think its a terribly counterproductive even from the point of view of the United States what youre doing is telling the people of venezuela that their enemy is the United States that in this time of need now having your money taken away in this time of beginning exactly no help let me compare it to china which has done the airplane loads of medicine and special routes to it will reach in england all over the world the difference between their response and the americans using an already troubled country is not lost on anybody and will i think make them a durable government stronger among its people are rather than the reverse all right well leave it right there professor Richard Wolffe always appreciate your expertise thank you. Thank you very much. The origin of the corona virus has been a politically sensitive issue for china and a point of contention between democrats republicans and President Trump who were for to it as the chinese virus now one state has filed a lawsuit against china accusing the country of lying and covering up the virus when it 1st appeared back in late 29 teams so for more on this lets bring in our team is far from that ferret this could be the 1st of maybe many states following suit thats right manilla missouris attorney general eric schmidt hes leading the case and after talking with economists at the university of missouri the state is looking to get upwards of 40 4000000000. 00 thats with a b. Now missouri is the 1st state to file suit against china and to seek damages in this way and it could be the 1st like you said of many states doing this now according to the lawsuit it reads quote during the critical weeks of the initial outbreak the chinese authorities deceive the public suppressed crucial information arrested whistleblowers denied human to human transmission destroyed medical research and had millions exposed to the virus and hoarded protective equipment causing a Global Pandemic that was preventable well today the Chinese Government called missouris lawsuit absurd. Lawsuit is purely malicious vexatious litigation which violates the basic legal principles according to the principle of so for an equality and International Law so for the actions taken by Chinese Government at all levels in terms of Epidemic Prevention and control are not subject to the jurisdiction of the us schools now missouri saw hundreds last week manila protesting the stay at home orders the state has in place according to Johns Hopkins university more than 6100 people are confirmed to have covered 19 in missouri and 229. 00 have died now according to legal experts the lawsuit faces an uphill battle because china is a protected is protected by sovereign immunity but missouris a. G. Says that hes counting the Chinese Communist party as a nonstate actor which he says fortifies his legal argument manila. Now speaking of attorneys generals. And lawsuits you have u. S. Attorney general bill barr firing off saying he is looking into suing the state governors right and this is all over clashes milla between President Donald Trump and state governors on how exactly to respond to the coronavirus now most if not all states are locked down and both trump and barr say businesses need more freedom to operate and trump says that some governors have gone too far listen to bill barr here. Want to govern or something. Fundamental. Constitutional. There bounded by. Those situations are emerging around the country just as much. And i think we have to do a better job of making sure that the measures that are being adopted are properly targeted. Now bar says some of the restrictions governors have put in place and friend on the Constitutional Rights of americans but he didnt give any specific examples are also says one way that d. O. J. Might act against governors is by joining in im lawsuits brought forth by citizens or businesses over these restrictions as well reporting in washington fair. Fronsac. And other news making headlines today calls for a vote by mail have intensified across the nation after 7 confirmed cases in wisconsin have been linked to aprils primary election day according to state Health Officials the cases include 6 voters and one poll worker and they expect those numbers to grow now the governor of wisconsin tried to delay that primary if you recall but got overruled by the state supreme court. And you may soon be able to check if you have code 19 right in the comfort of your own home thats because the f. D. A. Has just approved the 1st in home test kits the f. D. A. Recently gave emergency clearance to lab or for those nasal swab kits which will 1st be made available to Health Care Workers and then in the coming weeks those kits which run about 100900. 00 will be available to the public. And new revelations in the case of julian of songe claiming a spanish firm went to Great Lengths to spy on the wiki leaks founder including targeting his china where it was a runaway win for one team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League of europe back. When almost seemed wrong. But old rules just dont hold. Any. You have to shape out. Come out to. And in detroit equals betrayal. When so many find themselves worlds apart if we choose to look for common ground. The world is driven by a dream shaped by phone person with those words. The dares thinks. We dare to ask. Has changed american lives and pharmaceutical companies have a miraculous solution. Based drugs the people who are chronic pain and believe that their opioid prescription is working for them and the remedy be said to. Price that they pay closer dependency in addiction to opiates to long term use that really isnt scientifically justified and ill study actually suggested that the long term effects might not just be absence of benefit but actually that they might be causing long term. 94000000. 00 thats how much money the Australian Government will spend to began building up a stockpile of crude oil but that stockpile will be stored here in the United States the government says the move is intended to confront australias fuel insecurity which may arise from major events such as military conflict and the federal opposition criticize the plan however calling it bizarre as the reserves will actually be held overseas. And speaking of australians it is a tale of blackmail spying babydaddy switcheroo and of course american efforts to off someone deemed anomie of the state were of course talking about Julian Assange and today the world knows the name of his fiance and mother of his 2 sons as 37 year old Stella Morris now ms morris revealed her identity just days ahead of a Spanish Court they were expected to do so because of the court case against a Spanish Security firm you see global for more on this we will go to former u. K. M. P. And friend of julian us on mr George Galloway so 1st george allow me to say how disgusted i was learning the details of this sordid and 6 story because as a mom to a baby similar in age to julians boy gabriel who was being spied on you see global was lets explain to the viewer the Security Firm guarding the Ecuadorian Embassy during julian stint there not only did they secretly taped julians movements in his quarters but they also began to grow a fascination with little baby gabriel now julian and stella were clever enough to have an actor friend named stephen who bring the baby in to the embassy for a visit posing as his father but then. Did a deep dive on mr hu as well and figured out that gabriel was not his son and was in fact julian son so george why all of this. Well now when the history of the United States empire comes to be written and when its all over it may be that this will achieve iconic status rather like nero fiddling i was wrong burned all the the partiers in pompei before. The book in or are up to it is semino. Must represent the lowest form of spying that the United States has ever been involved in because it literally involved combing through the contents of the babys nappy or diaper you call it and only when the company was informed that d. N. A. Obtained from a nappy and the contents of a nappy would not succeed in a paternity case then hatched a plan to steal the babys dummy its pacifier so that they could from the saliva there on a stop blish the childs d. N. A. I know i know that the United States doesnt like Julian