record saying that there's been no proof of that sort and across the pond the us has been searching relentlessly for anything to pin hillary's loss on russia so this is just yet another russian interference myth successfully debunked but the us establishment refuses to let go of this idea that russia supposedly hacked the election so i have to ask how many more times will this have to happen until they finally admit that there was no you know magical russian meddling. earlier we talked to dave perkins a radio talk show host and political commentator who thinks it is all part of a campaign against the u.s. president so what people fail to understand in the rest of the world i think even americans are just now beginning to fully understand it is that the media here are no longer about broadcasting or journalism or even making money the media's sole purpose as they play out every day on television is to get rid of donald trump and what their problem has been with this russia collusion story so far is because obviously it isn't true there's no evidence for it and here there's d.h.

as homeland security lady has said something that sounded like evidence of like testimony by an official that the russians did in fact interfere with the election so what happened was in d.c. you have misquoted the wrong public official that the spine and she stood up for herself and said that's not what i said so eighteen months and counting the russia trump investigation continues to be presented as a serious matter even though there's absolutely no evidence for it and in in my world when there's no evidence for something means it didn't happen. the united states and south korea are experiencing a growing disconnect in their policies over reproach mentor with the north and south korea has announced its plans to improve ties with north korea by reducing military tensions and by arranging reunions for korean families who have been divided since the korean war this announcement followed the visit of a north korean delegation including kim jong un's sister to punk chang for the

opening of the olympic games this visit also saw an invitation from kim for the south korean president moon and jai enid to visit pyongyang the u.s. on the other hand is still committed to a policy of maximum pressure on north korea. earlier we discussed this issue with can he win rights attorney and co-founder of lawyers for peace and demilitarization in korea he thinks that it is time for the u.s. to support the south in its peace efforts with its neighbors. we have to find common ground to move forward and not be stuck in this old cold war rhetoric will that cause a problem between the us and seoul yes potentially because the us has been wanting to dictate the policy the us still since the korean war ended in one nine hundred fifty three have wartime authority to declare a war or stop a war and negotiate that way over the south koreans and so it really becomes

a question of sovereignty peace and who's going to suffer if war breaks out on the peninsula and it's very clear that the people who are going to suffer most are going to be the people on both sides of the border in korea and i think that we have the best opportunity yet with this progressive lawyer who's now the president of south korea stepping up and i think we're we as americans we in the international community have to step in and support him so that the u.s. doesn't use its economic leverage for example to put a squeeze on plans that could lead to peace. u.s. president donald trump has unveiled his new budget plan and it's expected to add another one trillion dollars to the federal deficit the proposal calls for a large increase in defense spending while slashing money allocated to other programs now trying to proposes earmarking one hundred sixty five billion for the

military with only around one hundred thirty billion set aside for domestic matters possibly signaling a priority shift towards national security for example much talked about border wall which mexico will get five billion more than a program to fight the nation's opioid crisis at the same time nasa budget may get almost twenty billion dollars in funding that is five hundred million more than last year we spoke to former cia officer philip giraldi who thinks the u.s. president as misplaced priorities. the united states spends more than the next eight countries in the world on on the military and it spends far more than any other country by far more than russia or china or any other country so it's a bit of a mystery why mr trump believes that. the military is. weak. it seems to me that he is getting bad advice from his generals most particularly

general mattis at the defense department and i think that is causing the problem he's been convinced by by the generals that this money is needed by the military to keep america safe that is an opinion that i think it's faults and i think that donald trump and probably not be convinced on this unless there is a an economic crash like there was in two thousand and eight which will mean that there won't be any money to give to the military. really for months after it's a liberation from islamic state people from the syrian city of raka are slowly returning to what is left of their homes mud many buildings in the city remain riddled with land mines and booby traps and locals say that they have been left to take on the reconstruction by themselves.

with similar thirty and we were forced to leave one hundred because of isolation when we return we found everything which used to rubble look at all the devastation rock is a ghost city i mean when living in the midst of destruction we feel completely abandoned everything around has been destroyed. scorebook this is the lies in rubble have to be to remove the debris with all money there's no running water so we have to buy it in. the us coalition of course the destruction of records and has a responsibility to rebuild the city we need to help with restoring the water supply in clearing the rubble. i found a man on the streets near my house my friend and i tried to detonate it from a distance but it didn't go off we thought the mind didn't work and work towards it

exploded my friend was killed i survived me human rights watch has called for international support in clearing the rubble and demanding rocka he says almost five hundred civilians were injured in the three months after the liberation and many were killed in its report here in addition also highlighted the growing risk of more civilians being killed as people returned to the devastated city now deemed counter to resume program director at human rights watch spoke to us on the group's . just describe to you what i saw in iraq residents are very desperate to go and check on their home homes and because of the high risk and because a few working off are too nice for many young men you can go up to a couple of nights in the city and who are about fifty dollars you can hire people to go clear your house. you know but also. run and so war this is

a time when you know they're not trained to do this it's very dangerous and many other countries. they need to provide more support what sort of support. to be more meant more funding and an increase in number of the miners and greatly increase in the treating the. local residents the mining while there have been some of the money i direct. to the mining going to say she's funded by the international coalition or through training this is not sufficient compared to the need and local residents are desperate for more support for the efforts. in iraq civilians are struggling to rebuild their homes with the country's second largest city almost completely razed to the ground mosul was liberated by the u.s. led coalition and iraqi forces back in july after months of fierce fighting and airstrikes some forty thousand homes needed to be rebuilt there or repaired

according to the united nations the government says it needs some eighty eight billion dollars in reconstruction funds for areas devastated by war that it aims to raise at a conference that just come under way in kuwait however the u.s. which is expected to attend says it has no plans to contribute funds. but you know the u.s. government made and now it's time to be patient i'm not aware of any announcements that we will be making and i can tell you overall. over the past few years we have spent the united states government has one point seven billion dollars in humanitarian aid in iraq alone. under peace movement spokesman thinks that it is vital to regain stability in iraq the ability is very important for iraq. when you look at two periods the invasion of iraq by united states and great britain u.k. in two thousand and three in the occupation. if you will to lot of sectarian.

conflicts in the country. also due to the fact that lots of people. lost their jobs . didn't have any income so if there's no stability provided to the iraq it's likely that this will happen again because it's very very important economic welfare is a condition to have stability in the future. u.s. george soros is pledging half a million dollars to an anti briggs a campaign group and despite soros being accused of meddling in british politics the billionaire says he's proud to back cos i'm a proud supporter of best for britain a group that wants britain to remain a member of the european union i consider bricks at a tragic mistake. soros initially invested four hundred thousand pounds in a campaign called the best for britain in the hope of drumming up support for

a second referendum on the u.k.'s status in the e.u. now a wave of criticism followed but the investor responded by donating one hundred thousand pounds more we heard from a u.k. independence party i mean who believes that those actions constitute meddling. why is this money it's a fear in my country in my democracy if he wants to be a possible democracy he should pay taxes in our country and stand for election in our country not of which is true and we all know it's a rich man's play thing these people will do whatever it takes to try and prevent our democracy and we must not let them the fact is the british media is overwhelmingly. remain and they will give him hundreds of thousands of pounds millions of pounds with the free publicity. and sociology professor from kansas university in the u.k. says he overheard sorrows and his associates bragging about their meddling in

politics in numerous countries we spoke to that man frank furedi jr course of the conversation they were going on about how much influence they've been able to exercise over events in the arab spring in cairo they were very proud of the role they played in tunisia during the. event of what the great how much impact they were able to make on some of the demonstrators and i kind of regarded the conversation as you know a bit of boosting you know when people get around it will be are you sure these and while there is a little hype over those accusations or an investigation the channel is still in the science of many alleging we have influenced elections. now for example a u.k. based public relations firm called eighty nine up which backs the best for britain campaign alongside george soros released a report on russia's media allegedly influencing brecht's it. in a p.r. firm claims for example we ran an exaggerated story or not just one but different

exaggerated stories on refugee flow into europe that's despite the humanitarian crisis being high on the agenda of almost every european country but also mentions that artie's reach on social media was about a quarter of the size as all the u.k.'s brags of campaigns combined potentially influencing over one hundred million so-called impressions it's unclear though whether that's a backhanded compliment to r.t. social media department scared the founder of ukip believes this is a clear case of hypocrisy it's perfectly clear the from previous to that if the russia was tweeting it made no difference whatsoever but it is very hypocritical of this new group which backs. campaign which is for the democratic will of the british people to start talking about the

russians and from soon democracy. the labor party in the u.k. is facing claims of discrimination the party says that straight white men will not be allowed to attend the conference for equality which will be held next month for women the disabled and members of the l g b t community earlier r t u k asked a social activist and a fund raising director to give their take. it's quite ironic that a conference that's focusing on discriminated groups. has now the focus has now become about people who are. who are in a dominant position is that a lot of what has your males not only. you know what it is for males have got the lowest also the most under performing. compulsory education under the least represented in higher education but not only that it's more that they need for that what these people are facing and hear what the solutions to the problems are going

to be so that they can help contribute themselves there's obviously a feeling amongst those with the lived experience that they need a space where they can discuss things that pertain to them and their demographic and then share with the world about how to make the world a better place the reason that discriminated groups are recognised as needing a space is because there is an imbalance there's an imbalance in politics if you look it's not representative the representative for your group should be voted for by your group white males should not be included in the. voting present but it's about the discussions and all the things that are going to go on around the conference i think it's really important everybody to be included in and for everybody to be able to for. russian athletes have won a bronze medal in mixed doubles curling the winter olympics in south korea it is the first medal for russia in the sport earlier russians won

a silver in team of figure skating with kelleher taking gold and the u.s. brand fifteen year old. who is debuting at the olympics to first place in the free skate section to ensure an overall second place finish but it fell athlete not actually competing was far from complimentary. on her twitter account twenty six year old american figure skater actually wagner accused the russian teen of killing time in her program and condemned her tactics in which she reserved her jumps for the second half of the routine and those remarks have sparked a furious reaction online i personally disagree that this wasn't the program it matches the belly a relatively well maybe you're just jealous you can't compete with that stamina and those jumping passes your face looks a big green with envy it's just your envy you can't jump like that in the second half and even in the first we got reaction from russian coaches on the wagners comments who told us it is points that wins prizes.

ashley wagner has done a lot but they are skating she is an outstanding athlete the rules for the competitions have changed and it's like accounting they simply need two points it's not about beauty in order to win you need to do what alina is a good of a day to day but the social as well as the competitive side there's also the social aspect to the olympics with most nations hosting their own hospitality houses russia isn't officially represented at the games rather olympic athletes from russia because of a disputed doping investigation but there is still a corner of chang that feels very much. russian as artie's may be trying to has been finding out. as usual there are all kinds of national houses at the olympics and young chang the likes of the hall and house near the coast the countries like austria and switzerland naturally settled a bit higher in the mountains and since team russia doesn't officially exist here

the traditional russian house doesn't either or isn't that immature or sca. to make sure russian fans have a home in korea it took a few tricks after all the i.o.c. must be respected the place is called the sports house obviously you find wife blue and red in the design but never specifically and the recognizable pattern like here's white and black in between what could appear to be flag stripes no official russian symbols the mentors because i haven't become official right other than that pure i ration fun and spirit.

among the attractions here are these hockey jersey from every year at the olympics that russia has long goals but on this one from nine hundred ninety two like here in korea you won't find the letters russia or the u.s.s.r. i will ask the guests if they know why why did russia compete under a neutral flag at the olympics twenty six years ago and see the money was on own voice you see believe it was increased. and i don't know sorry. i don't know just i got some clues for you countries take turns with that will hey . i'm going to respect you the i.o.c. the senate was installed you know i know you i think it's. funny i meant

i getting thank panton as in the same reason. that. will tell me a little bit sunday night i think it's. the third world russia looks just establishes a country so being unique left russia was just established as a country that's when the soviet union. had its break up so neutral flags weren't always down to the i.o.c. sanctions. have a drink go our tea young chang. watching our team. that's in american interest to not see any russians die in terrorist attacks as it is in russian interest to prevent any terrorist attacks in the united states or

elsewhere in the world so i don't think there's any dispute on that in congress and i think maybe some of the posturing is frankly political as opposed to substantive . this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from the right here in washington d.c. i'm partial thing on tap for today in the broadcast president trump has given us the board details on his infrastructure plan we'll take a closer look and as the markets melt down gold goes up we'll talk with peter schiff about what to expect now let's get to some of the headlines. the trumpets administration has unveiled the long awaited infrastructure plan this morning the

white house proposal includes two hundred billion dollars in direct federal spending but officials claim that the two hundred billion dollars will stimulate at least one point five trillion dollars in new investment the difference would be covered by state and local government spending the outline does not include a financing plan leaving that decision to congress the outline notably emphasizes rural infrastructure and claims about permitting process delays the congressional research service has questioned whether weakening permuting processes would significantly accelerate building we'll have more on infrastructure from artie's ashley banks and just a little bit. and with the trump administration again they have also unveiled their official budget proposal today investors and analysts are looking past specific spending request to the assumptions about growth inflation and borrowing costs contained in the report the budget assumes a three percent annual growth for ten years with well above estimates by investors

and outside analysts in december the federal reserve predicted an overall rate of one point eight percent growth over the same period j.p. morgan on friday predicted two point five percent for twenty eight teen and one point nine per. for the next year closely tracking the fed's projections from december the administration also is up to more optimistic about the impact of the recent tax cuts and what they will do then outside analysts the pace of growth in this scenario also would likely push interest rates above the levels predicted by the white house. google and facebook may lose a significant. significant form of advertising dollars if they continue to great create division or fail to protect children according to keith weed the chief marketing officer for unilever the second largest marketing and advertising spender in the world we gave a speech today at the annual interacted advertising bureau comforts and he came it

came as part of a plethora of calls for google and facebook to do a better job of policing their products we'd said quote we cannot have an environment where our consumers don't trust what they see online unilever spent nine point four billion dollars on advertising just last year. while many larger financial institutions are staying away from digital currencies some smaller european banks are actually taking the opposite approach and allowing their access to customers swiss bank von tobel and falcon bank and german banks theodore bank and the liechtenstein bank are now offering their customers access to general currency products some of the banks are even advising clients on unusual coin offerings the i suppose with larger institutions taking a pass on digital currency the door has been open and smaller banks seem to be taking advantage of that opening.

today the white house unveiled its long awaited infrastructure plan the proposal includes billions of dollars in federal infrastructure spending to be used to repair and rebuild the nation however some including democrats in republican soil that say the proposal fall short here's our two correspondent ashley banks with more. barnow and today the white house rolled out its plan to rebuild the nation over the next ten years and the proposal it says with its one point five trillion dollar investment over the next decade it plans to shorten the process for approving projects to two years or less address unmet rural infrastructure needs and power state and local authorities and train the american workforce of the future one of the newest elements to the proposal is excessive banding the use of tax exempt debt letting states at tolls on interstates and making it easier to lease airports and other public assets of the one point five trillion dollars two

hundred billion of that would be considered federal spending the rest would either be paid for through cuts in other parts of the budget or it would fall on the shoulders of local governments by leveraging state and local tax dollars and private investment kevin has slipped associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at virginia tac university said quote trends and from structure planning flips the traditional capital expense funding model from eighty to ninety percent federal funding to ten percent federal funding the majority of the funding mandates get pushed to the states and private funding with the administration taking credit for the investment transfer polls all has been met with praise an opposition business and industry groups are praising trump's focus on improving infrastructure and pledging. to work with congress to enact the plan while environmental groups and democrats are accusing the administration of trying to

benefit a corporate entrusts and distract from a lot of federal investment just last week democrats and bailed their own one trillion dollar infrastructure proposal and tirelessly consisting of direct federal dollars experts say the trump administration may run into issues selling this proposal and congress republicans are concerned about overspending and democrats are already saying the plan falls short but democrats are disappointed saying the president and you missed an opportunity to provide a much needed federal injection of dollars into the country's infrastructure you know ashley thank you so much for that report and i tell you what here it is it's fifty three pages you've been poring over it since eleven o'clock this morning and i've been doing the best job i can but you gave a great summary no i don't want to be tough on the administration or the president if there be enough detractors out there i'd wish he'd done this earlier that said it's a pretty good plan. we'll see if the money's actually there but one of the things

that just struck out to me is allowing tolling restrictions to be relaxed and that is if the states allow more pluck flexibility in the tolls that they charge or even allow others to privately operate the toll roads and you don't know this but i grew up just on lake michigan in indiana and that the toll road there is actually under nineteen or a seventy five year lease to a spanish company so indiana doesn't own the toll road the federal government does it well they own it but they don't lease it so does this language in this report here in the proposal actually will it allow foreign countries or foreign private entities to own more toll roads in the u.s. oh bart obviously there's nothing in this proposal right now to stop it from occurring in fact the proposal gets more flexibility to the states with regard to how and their state. it's running throughout the states or treat it so we could essentially see more foreign control of us toll roads under the proposal and bar

the proposal also calls for commercializing rest areas so they could be operated by private firms all of the firms operating the rest areas cannot charge a fee for basics like rest area water and rest from facilities while there is that what other thing that i noticed in here actually it just seems in general this goes back to. you know what reagan was trying to do with community development block grants and giving a lot of monies back to the states is that the thrust of this in general that he the centrally going to give money back to the states and let the states do whatever they want yeah that's definitely right there are a few interesting alm exceptions to this one is with regard to a section of the proposal it's called and powering the workers and it calls for abandoning state requirements for workers and gauging them for instruction projects working across state lines so basically workers from another state could actually end up working in any other state despite individual state rules and regulations or

testing and licensing criteria so of course any such changes would need to be approved by congress and experts say that approving such a change would be difficult at best i'm going to be positive for today i'm glad he's put it out there we need the infrastructure good for the administration good for the president we'll get into more of these details are to correspondent actually banks thank you so much. turning back to the day's big story this morning donald trump tweeted about infrastructure saying after after so stupidly spending seven trillion dollars in the middle east it's now time to start investing in our country and that's hard to argue with but now here to talk with us about the choices president trump has framed in that tweet his tweet is former pentagon official michael maloof michael it amazes me that he would do that because it seems to me that we're spending that and more and he's actually cause.