>> hello and welcome to france 24. we are live from paais. theheadliies this hour very u.s. president implicated after pirected to make payments to women who claims to have had affairs with donald trump for the sole purpose of influencing phe election in 2016. his former campaign manager paul manafort was found guilty on eight counts of ffaud.

facebook and twitter say they have shut down pages of accounts linked to russia and iran which were sharing misleading political contenn. this ahead of the u.s. midterm elections in november. set to. gets impose sanctions on moscow over the poisoning of a former spy. allies in the eu for uppprt. ♪ we begin in the united statess61 where donald trump') former personal lawyer has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of tax rod, bank fraud, and campaign-finaace violations. michael cohen told a judge at a directed to commit a crime.en the charges stem from hush money actress and a

former playboy model, both of putin claim too-- both of whom donald trump. campaign manager paul eight counts of fraud. up.ock him lock him up! two legal bloos back to back on a sgle day. donald trump's former campaign manager paul manafort convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud in virginia. this as michael cohen, trump plus personal lawyer, campaiin-finance violations in new york. the u.s. president said he felt sad for these men and called sad, it's a feel veryan.

very sad tting that happened. it has nothing to do with collusion. it is a witchhunt and a disgrace. >> the ffnancial criies manafort was found guilty of had nothing to do with russian ccllusion. he charges brought by special counsel robert mueller. michael cohen pleaded guilty to breaking federal direction law -- electton loss at the direction of the president including paying hush money. >> he paid money to silence women he he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and the candidate. it is clear that the wommn are pornr bbrn star -- are star stormy daniels and former

playboy model karen mcdougal. cohen's plea deal raises the possibility he will provide other information to mueller. cooperation from another foomer truck they'd like -- trump aid michael flynn. he pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about rrssian official ccntact for >> good to see you, doug. breake had such a story before, is this likely to have an impact on donald trump? >> donald trump has been tefloo until now. pe fights back, deeies, dodges, he will never take the blame himself.

to deflect blame, if not onto democrats onto opponentt who criticize them, most usually via he has yet to tweet on this turn oo events. this was a bad day for donald trump. even by the standards of a presidency that has seen a lot of scandals and crises. his former lawyer and former campaign manager coming under convictions of guill, crimes that directly implicate donall trump in one case because it was done at his whether it will affectthim is another question. he has had that firewall of republicans behind him not anding out of fear or out of

conviction that they believe in what he is doing. jeopardize him or question his motives of his presidency. is ttere a critical breaking this machiavelli republicans who might have been waiting for just a moment, maybe this is what we need. this is enough ammunition to turn against donaad trump. does have a staunch base of supporters who willlnot hunchn donald trump, my is that there are quite a sizable proportion of republicans who given the right critical mass of incriminating evidence against donaad trump would be willing to seize upoo that as a justification for turning against him. division amongst the republican party. >> what did these guilty

convictions have to do with the separate invessigation led bb the special counsel into seven impact on that? bb the special counsel robert mueller and his investigation. and thosel cohen case puiltyyverdicts were brought by federal prosecutors in manhattan that were disconnected from robert mueller's investigation. turn oo events could induce one or the other to cooperate with robert mueller o% for him to picc up aspects of the michael cohen case. he believes the accusations of donald trump paying hush money pandate that he was given to

investigate posssble collusion% betteen the trump campaign manager russian government. donald trump has been relentlessly against the robert color investigation since day rigged witchhunt, calling it a conspiracy against them. the this could give him extra ammunition against robert mueller in the face of what are expected to be continued discredit that investigation. it makes the investigation that much more credible. >> micros -- we going to go to our correspondent standing by in washington. what are the plea agreement? >> this means jail time for

cohen. he knows this is coming. getos off lighter by admitting his crimes. the implication that the u.s.ss1 president himself as a co-conspirator. could have been charged in that court if he was no the pressdent. michael cohenor is that these hush money payments remained at the direction of and together with a candidatt for federal political office. one, isson, individual -ppot named in court documenns r by michael cohen himsslf in court. we know thht is not other than donald trump.

>> in a separate course. the most important part of this is the former personal lawyer to theeu.s. president admitting to campaign-finance violations when it comes to those hush money payyents. to a former porn star, stormy daniels. the other payment is to a weekly magazine that was going to publish the story of another alleged affaii by donald trump withhkaren google. .- karen mcdougal those less money payments were% direction of donald trumpthe

himself. new u.s. sanctions on russia are set to take effect today. this in responss to the attempttd assassination f a former russian spy and his daughter at a park in the .k..1 for more on this story we bring in a professor of politicc and international relations. thank you or joining us. achieve --anctions what can further sanctions achieve/ americans british and it is putting the squeeze on the these sanctions go back to 2014 when russian invaded crimea. there was the death of

russian citizees than british citizens. which wraps up the importance of the sanctions. thhse were brought in through congress. the prrsident has remained andly ambivalent about that has talked bout lifting them if he sees posiiive moves from russia. has been pushing for the of not just the u.k. standing with the u.s. and imposinn these sanctions but the less of the eu -- rest of the eu. can they alter moscow's behavior? >> it is unlikely that they will. position iseconomic not very strong. they and people like angela merkel have a series of

russiarcial deals and should be able toosell natural pas and oil to the west. commercial deals are getting in the way of geopolitics. -- euvasion in crimea that are involved in building a bridge to crimea from the mainland. '')s ambivalence toward this end his strange p> does russia need the westtat all? other allies, countries that rely on its energy, india for example. >> absolutely. russia wask that barred -- russia was far and

away the biggest provider of natural gas and oil in europe, the western european economies have an awful lot of mmney that russiaiaannot liveve without. plaaing a dangerous game and putin is dancing on the head of a pin. is trying to increase his power commercially. >> why is the eu so divided on issue?% >> look at countries like the former baltic soviet tates. 100% of their power comes from russia link spots. ththey don't want to deststabile by havingeconomy the power switch. germany imports 40% of its natural gas from russia. there are difficult arrangements where you might not agree with

russian policy, but in terms of power that comes through energy the relationship has to be maintained. you cannot afford to kill that relationship. >> thank you for joining us. >> time to get a reminder of your top stories. the u.s. president implicated after his former lawwer pleads guilty to charges. paying women who claim to haveto affairs with donalddtrump to pmploy the 2016 election. his former campaign manager was found guilty oo eight counts of fraud. set to impose sanctions on mmscow over the poisoning of a former russia today we bring you a report from south korea, a country still technically at at war with the -pttissmeans that able north

bodied men are ccnscripted in the army for two years. the war remains point within -- and studies off6 c13 c1 job prospects way on young men. some trick the system with or --l reasons fo >> a right of passage for all able-bodiid men in south korea. this 23-year-old starts military service in a couple of days. he is spending his last free weekend with his friends. the university student will be on active duty foo the next two years. he can enjoy his llst day as a

civilian before he dons the almost 2000 new conscripts from all over the country arrive every eek at the korean army training center. supportand families these young men in the first staff to becoming military personnel. again and hh is accompanied by his parents. >> i get nervous but i will do my training like a man. in 1983 i walk through these same gates. i'm happy my son will traii at the same place. >> after his parents drop him off he will learn thh basics of combat from artillery, chemicals and physical training. in just a few weeks he will transition from a civilian to a soldierr

after completing their service these men will join the ressrve seoul foreturned to sught years. phd training. during his military service he was obseeving the border and patrolling the border with norrh korea. >> we had no idea when thents. situation would beeover and we were freezing cold. while we were waiting i was sitting there wondering if we were going to war. despite being a student he

felt compassion for his northern counterparts. >> across the border they have next in rees. i was told they were trying to catch birds because they did noo receive their rations. >> not everyyne has a positive view on the army. >> conscientious objectors, those with ideological or religious reasons to avoid routinely considered to be draftdodgers, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed. a show of support for imprisoned objectors. the passive objector was sentenced to 8 months in prison. now a free man he is raising awareness for the hundreds still behind bars. 'suth korea is the world number one tayllr of >> in korea there is a lot of prejudice. companies don't like firinn us. it is hard to get a job in the

private sector. -pwith a criiinal record there e conssrictions in the public sector. the vast majority of objectors are jehovah's witnesses but they are not the i am a protestant and for me pessimism is a central part of my faith. sexual minorities face discrimination and a high risk of violence in the army..6 c13 1 people said i must have a problem in my head. by requiring the law the situation will happen again to others. >> protesters want an alternative to the civil service. pn idea the government is considering. >> they can prepare for combat actton.

%b guns, a life-size helicopter, it issa military experience for children and adults. the largest of its kinddin south kooea. it is located just minutes away from the real-life army training center. the state provided half of the funding for this $9 million playground, the other half came from local principalities. >> we creaaed this park to theide new activities for 1.3 million people whwho come eh yeyear to our city to visit ther sons and daughters. >> despite peace on the peninsula and propose reform to south korea's mandatory military service t there are no plans to abolish conscription just yet. >> it is time for the press review.

i am joined in the studio. >> we are starting out with a story that has taken thh me too movement best shaken the me too movement. %->> that has what she has sayi. she had been one of the most vocal critics of harvee% weinstein, one of the main accusers and a central ffgure in the me too movementtand she is now on the defensive after being she released a statement and saying she was just friendd with jimmy bennett, the aator and musician 22 years her junior who accuse her of molesting him when he was a minor. she says bennett came to her after the weinstein scandal first broke askinggfor a lot of money and that her boyfriend at the time told her that she should settle this privately because it might negatively impact her image. she saas the $380,000 she gave

bennett was a jester r of compassion rather than an >> she is admitting that she paid him but she is saying she did not commit a crime and now blackmailed her.t he basically >> accorring to this article by the atlantic the defense uses well-known tropes used by powerful men trying to defend themmelvvs of sexual abuse. she questioned her abuser's motives and paints them as a broke, troubled, and vengeful she also sheds some of the responsibility by claiming it settle which is hard to verify. >> how are people in the me too povement reacting to this story? to jumpare calling not to conclusions until we know the out in suppprt of argento, rose mcgowan another one scenic user called on people to be gentle

and to winnable truth of the matter. the new york times points out that the samm person last year was saying we should always believe accusers. >> she also said you should believe the woman, she spoke to% france 24 in a fiery interview. this article is questioning whether always believe accusers is equated in this sense to women and argues that it shouldn't he and that ww should always treat the case in the should treat argento as if she --e a man, the rise otherwise this risks delegitimizing the me too movement's stance on -- >> in the u.s. prisoners are going to launch a nationwide strike. prison strike in u.s. history with 19 days of protest plannnd across 17 statee. organizers denounce prison

conditions that are akin to modern slavery. they put together a list of demands but the main one is an and to impose labor in prisons. something that is quite common in the u.s. where many prisons are privately owned and it is a $2 billion industry. wages as low as four cents an hourron products that are sold ann commercialize. saw some inmates recruited to -pfight fires in california a fw weeks ago. >> what are the inmates risking my going on this strike? many are risking to be put in places of isolation anddsome prisons could go on complete lockdown..6 c13 c1 there are already rports that some of the organizers have been placed in solitary confinement. the worst-case scenario hopefully will be avoided.

looking back at the 1971 riots which ended in a bloodbath after four days of negotiation, the state sent armed policc with shotgun and flash bangs and they shot and killed 29 inmates and 10 hostages. that.t's hope it doesn't come to world's aaworddon the social networking giant facebooo going on the offensive against fake news. saw that facebook recently closed 650 pages and accounts that were linked to iran and russia. it has come up with a way to rank its users's truutworthiness. we don't know exactly how it works but we do know the basic iiea when you look at the user's behavior. for example if they spread fake news or report content as being% false when it s correct.

facebook has backed stickers to it is generally seen as a positive development but some critics are arguing that this could be used as a form of censorshhp. >> thank ou for that. çç??@ qeqeqeqeqeqeqeoñoñ

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