not a new putin says the u.s. is attempting to create problems around next year's presidential election in russia there were spawn's to moscow's perceived meddling last year. the u.s. justice department demands r.t. america registers as a foreign agents before monday the channel's bank accounts could be frozen if it doesn't comply. with saudi arabia or does the citizens out of lebanon immediately look at how the middle east becoming a jam political chessboard for rivals reality and to wrong. prosecutors revealed the true extent of a u.s. navy scandal with hundreds of of officers and afterwards accused of trading military secrets for sex money and alcohol they're being charged though not with

espionage but with corruption. a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international broadcasting to you live from the russian capital with me. now the u.s. is trying to slow divisions in russia ahead of march's presidential election well that's according to the russian president vladimir putin he added it comes as retaliation for moscow's alleged hacking and right now it's sport in the crosshairs . but. there are serious concerns that in response to a perceived meddling in the u.s. election they want to cause problems during the presidential election in russia through the liberal games due to be held in february and when it is the presidential election. here are concerns that someone says so discontent amongst friends and the athletes that the government is somehow responsibly food violation

. he's talking very good joins me in the studio now to discuss this jacki thanks for coming in so the presidential in election in russia on the olympics in south korea where is the connection here well the russian president is finding the connection in the latest flurry of accusations against russian olympic athletes and the impending russian presidential election according to him accusations of state sponsored doping are aimed at creating sort of a tense environment here in russia just pointing out that the elections are just one hundred days would also stress that international sports organizations such as the i.o.c. the international olympic committee are actually dependent highly dependent on sponsors and advertisers and saying there is quote huge layers of connections and dependencies on and on those sponsors as advertisers and the majority of that the stake is in the us that's where most of the money is coming from and of course

saying that all this stems from allegations that russia interfered in the u.s. presidential election and this is just sort of the mirroring effect in the past week more medals and rankings have been taken away from russian athletes who participated in the two thousand and fourteen sochi olympics due to alleged doping violations but no concrete proof was actually prevented putin commented on the fact that a number of the samples are alleged to have been tampered with in some way but he pointed out that those samples were in fact sent to a lab in switzerland and sat there for years before anything ever was put into question. because it was just a few months following the sochi olympics acting on the instructions of the i.o.c. we handed over all those samples to elysium laboratory which is essentially under what is controlled so there were no complaints whatsoever on receiving those samples so the samples had been stored there for two or three years without any

danger questions arise with the vials might have been opened or simply been doing with the samples has been scratching no biting them then. putting went on to call for the anti-doping system to be improved in general in the sports world and added that the suspicions really do worry him given the fact that it's putting together and mixing in politics with the world of sports which is really the exact opposite of what the olympic games are meant to stand for ok thanks for those days house us aussies jack in vegas thanks for coming in. first sport's not the only field where russia is under pressure the u.s. justice department has ordered all to america to register as a foreign agent by monday if the broadcaster fails to do so its bank accounts could be firm is that the controversial legislation was adopted more than seventy years ago before world war two to counter nazi propaganda in america and although more than four hundred entities are today registered under the legislation known if there is

a media outlet or the head of the russian upper house commission information policy alexei pushkov believes we're seeing an upgraded version of the information war against moscow. to receive those before the information war against russia was carried out only on a media level media pressure misrepresentation of russia's actions to take syria or ukraine as an example and also on the level of fake news instance c.n.n. and the new york times carried out campaigns about trump's so-called links to russian authorities so now we face a new phase of the information when administrative and legal resources are being involved that happened in the u.s. when or if he was ordered to register as a foreign agent i call it informational mccarthyism when state institutions get involved to limit the activities of the media outlet it is because it's not like for political reasons. that if you pressure on russian media doesn't end there

the u.s. lawmakers are now considering a bill proposing that cable and satellite providers aren't required to carry video content somehow linked to the kremlin that means providers can decide for themselves whether to show such content or not what's important to note here is the bill is yet to be approved by russia has promised a similar response to with some in the federation council commission on information policy suggesting to isolate c.n.n. but that's only if the bill gets adopted. in other news now the syrian army says together with it allies it's liberated the last islamic state stronghold in the country kemal the towns a key crossing point on the country's border with iraq. these are the pictures of other kamala's liberation forces from four states

participated in the joint operation only small pockets of territory in nearby villages now remain under terrorist control panel holkins has more on how the small town has become a point in the fall of the eiffel caliphate. why is this victory so significant but it's one of the very final steps of the end of the self-proclaimed color for it and an end to that flow of weapons and fighters across the border from iraq into syria now just two years ago islamic state controlled more than the hoff of the country now is confined to just some desert areas villages and isolated pockets in syria and iraq now the town was captured by an amalgamation of different forces there was heavy operations proceed in the final attack by the russian air force in the region as well.

so let's take a look at some of the factions on the ground which participated in capturing that final stronghold the syrian army supported by militias and hezbollah attacked from the west going to the iraqi border and the popular mobilization units came from the south from the town of al qaim to support the syrian allies meaning the town was surrounded. on these three sides it was very much a joint operation by multiple groups many people are asking what is next well as in northern parts of syria these developments bring rival forces in the region to head the syrian army its allies as the air force is just slightly further north of this map here. of course backed up by the us as the syrian democratic forces an amalgamation of kurdish militias pushing in from the north and the east these

factions all have different interests unclear about washington how their support for their sphere will evolve of to ourselves the feet there's a lot of negotiation compromise and reconciliation head but the fear among many is that the end of the battle against or maybe the start of new battles on other fronts within syria staying in the region now meanwhile tensions between iran and saudi arabia are rising after a missile attack near riyadh airport launched by hasty rebels in yemen well iran's president has warned saudi arabia will achieve nothing by threatening the might of iran after the saudis blamed tauron for the attack joy you know the might and position of the republic people more powerful than you have been unable to do anything against the iranian people you're not strong enough to do that there's widespread concern the ongoing and under-reported proxy war between the two

regional rivals could turn into a direct confrontation more aghast looks at how saudi arabia has been adding fuel to the fire. recently benny a days seems to go by without saudi arabia making headlines and it almost always boils down to it's enemy iran it is a game of chess that spans an entire region on every front in every country the saudis see iran's evil influence. the who's the rebels in yemen who saudi arabia has been bombing for many years fire a rocket attack riyadh that the saudis could only describe as a rainy and aggression. iran's role and its direct command of its hooty proxy in

this matter constitutes a clear act of aggression the coalition's command considers this a blatant active military aggression by the iranian regime and could rise to be considered as an act of war against the kingdom of saudi arabia the saudis also ready to throw their allies under the bus to create an excuse to denigrate iran. q the lebanese prime minister holding a successful meeting with the rain ians and then going to saudi arabia and out of the balloon without warning declaring his resignation while launching into a tirade about evil raney an influence plunging the region into chaos and destruction. were overrun his prison to plant discord and destruction attested to by interfering through our countries in lebanon syria. yemen what i would like to

say was the iran and its followers that they would be losers in the. wake of his own with in the past and they have time from the region because. you lose a poor and gain an opening then there's the blockade of cattle. a trade embargo seven ties ultimatums and warnings punishment some say for cata daring to deal with the uranium and then there's syria the saudi sponsored rebellion is dying their jihad just allies are losing an asset is winning this isn't what riyadh planned we hope that and expect that during the interim period of the of the transition period bashar al assad will exit because he has absolutely no role to play in the future here and while syria. may have unexpectedly chick mated riyadh here the saudis are ramping up attacks on iran on

other fronts truly this is an international game of chess with nations and populations at stake ironic given that last year saudi arabia's highest islamic cleric banned the chess saying that the game causes and hatred between people and even when played on a giant geo political scale well it looks like he was right and political analyst pepe escobar believes saudi arabia is attempting to change the narrative and if we end with this provocation saudi arabia is isolated in the ne ne amergin you'll release the last in syria because of the feel of the dash project the last in iraq i was just back from by god and the talk in baghdad is about not vulcanization but about iraqi national unity they lost again with the

blockade against gawker they're losing the war only yemen which is horrifying with dense of thousands of civilian casualties and supported by the us congress for that matter and using american weapons and nuclear weapons and now they're trying to change the narrative they're brave in the run they're trying to ratchet up a confrontation involving eleven which is caught in the crossfire and is still is the same old story the saudi arabia against the run and countries in the middle east states are going to be caught in the crossfire is absolutely a horrific situation that is collating very very fast. there are reports this saudi arabia has just ordered it citizens to leave lebanon and mediately thousand after the resignation of the lebanese prime minister who was in riyadh when he made his announcement also blaming iran for meddling in the country's internal affairs. returning now to one of our earlier stories the news that the u.s.

justice department has just in the past couple of hours ordered r.t. america to register as a foreign agent which given the deadline of monday let's cross live to join the rest of life in the old clock to discuss this further now mr clark thanks for joining us on r.t. so what's your take on washington's order for our sister channel r.t. america to register as a foreign agent who this is absolutely outrageous i think we could quit mcafee's about it really is mccarthyism on steroids now it's a significant escalation in this cold war launched by the us against russian media and i think it would be wholly wrong for the head of r.t. america to actually comply with this and to say that he's a foreign agent or to a foreign agents to be wholly wrong what i think the response to this should be to carry on and then if the head of our team is arrested in america then everybody will see for themselves what a sham the so-called land of the free really is i also think it might be a good idea for the russians to say that if this goes ahead that from monday all american journalists who work for c.n.n.

have to register as foreign agents in russia or they'll be arrested. and we don't know what's going to happen at this point but what if the channel does comply a deal it believes the pressure on r.t. america will cease. not at all that's why i think it would be a grave mistake to comply with this is quite ludicrous r.t. is not a foreign agent head of r.t. america is not a foreign agent who is pushing for this it's the endless war lobby the neo con war lobby in america the iraq war brigade and they're angry because r.t. is a growing audience share in america and around the world in r.t. puts a different narrative out to the war party narrative on issues like the syrian conflict for example so i think these are war mongers in the us are very angry that artie's been so successful and this this campaign this new campaign began i think back in august when the atlantic council held a meeting and that's when they actually called it the nato funded atlantic council had held a meeting and that's when they called for our t. to be have to comply under this foreign agents legislation which dates back to nine

hundred thirty eight and the nazi era so as i said this is this is really sinister this is mccarthyism on steroids and our team most definitely should not comply with this act because to do so would be the end of it it would be humiliating business for our team to have to put up in america that this is that these programs are the work of a foreign agent and of course there would only be only escalate the campaign against r.t. no r.t. got to hold firm here and not comply as i said if the americans push this and actually arrest the head of r.t. america think what a huge scandal this would be. what whatever have to the first amendment in america so i think the party has to hold firm here and not kowtow to these pro-war neo cons now what about this that this national defense authorization act of the u.s. has put out a whole section in that titled about russia why does russia and sponsored media even feature in such a defense legislation. yes i mean it is quite outrageous that they're having to go back to

a piece of legislation that was designed to deal with nazi propaganda nine hundred thirty eight that's how desperate they've got you see what they can't do in america at the moment is just take our tea off air they love to do that they really would love to do that but that would cause such a scandal as the first a member of course of the looking for back door ways of increasing the pressure and in britain to what you know r.t. is coming under consistent attack and harassment from the pro-war media from the neo con war lobby r.t. presenters or attack people like me who go on r.t. we're accuse all sorts of things and so this is the present climate it's like being back in america in one nine hundred fifty three at the heart of the mccarthy period and if there is a criticism of russia is that up to now russia's response has been a bit too restrained i think i think i think russia now has to go on the front foot i was reading today earlier that r.t. said the party would say that the russian government rather was saying that if r.t. is taken off air in america than the russians will respond by taking c.n.n. off air so i think there's got to be more response from russia to what's going on here this attempt to silence

a news channel which the only crime of artes actually put out a narrative that the neo con war lobby don't approve of i only wish r.t. been around it in two thousand and three in the lead up to the iraq war because think of the lives that were told there on the so-called mainstream media channels about iraq having w m d's what was the result a war in which one million people died because artie's around much much harder for these neo cons to sort of sell their water the public and that's why they want to take us off air thanks for sharing your thoughts with us that's now clarke a journalist and writer thanks again. now germany is accused of using combat weapons against protesters we'll discuss that after this short break stay with.

us manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the fine. let's be the one percent. we can all middle of the room.

welcome back a german opposition parties considering legal action against a commander in charge of policing the g. twenty summit in hamburg back in the summer it claims he broke german law by a permitting the use of combat weapons when riots broke out all of a takes a closer look at the claims where the g twenty goes riots do tend to follow both the thousands of police that struggle to keep the peace this year in homburg been a key. used of going too far and using a weapon that they're not allowed to. use. was. was was. to. was this is the bit of kit in question the zed

p. one multi-purpose pistol during rioting that started on the sixth of july and run through till the eighth this particular weapon was used fifteen times to fire rubber bullets and sixty seven times to disperse tear gas canisters the police say it's a pistol and therefore they are allowed to use it however government documents that were leaked to the press here in germany seem to show that it is classified as a combat weapon and therefore shouldn't be deployed at public events the h.k. sixty nine in h.k. one sixty nine are considered grenades which are classified as war weapons by the war weapons list the company that manufactures it also doesn't classify it as a pistol when contacted by r.t. humbard police doubled down on their insistence that they were well within their rights to use the m. said p. one the facts have not changed and remain as follows in the press the lone

accordance with size who eighteen part four of security in order acts the operation was carried out in full compliance with the existing hamburg regulations it was understood before the summit that police hadn't intended to use rubber bullets or tear gas but after rioting raged out of control they changed tack the decision to employ the m. said p. one has seen lawmakers from the opposition left party consider legal action. and against the police chief for breaching the weapons act strong regulations would be used in students to meet and what. you would see that. it was no police or. constituent. to use it. and i think that is

an abuse which. is not really totally. repercussions from the violence seen at this year's g. twenty continue to rumble on long after many have forgotten what world leaders actually gathered at the g twenty to discuss in the first place peter all of our. people have been killed and three others are injured after a nine story house collapsed in central russia numerous people are still trapped under the rubble according to the emergencies ministry the rescue operation will continue around the clock residence and other stations of the building are being evacuated a gas explosion is thought to be behind the accident and a fifty of is a. cost of the bribery and fraud has ingolf the u.s. navy has according to prosecutors in the so-called fat leonard case two have now

revealed the true extent of the scandal four hundred forty personnel have been indicted including more than sixty admirals and scores of offices all of them are accused of sharing secret information in return for bribes such as alcohol and prostitutes but it's being treated as fraud not espionage while the identities of the people employed implicated are being held back supposedly to avoid jeopardizing the investigation. the release of such information would likely reveal sensitive details about the breadth and scope of the criminal investigation and pending cases . kind of mopey now explains how the terms espionage and corruption in the pits are being swapped in this inquiry but what did they do well allegedly they were seduced by leonard francis aka fat leonard he offered them booed parties luxury hotels and cash in exchange for information about where u.s. navy ships were going in the pacific ocean he did this in order to earn contracts

now fat leonard aka leonard francis is the san diego jail so giving away military information launched an inquiry into corruption now these navy officers admitted to giving away ship schedules and they pleaded guilty to bribery but leaking and giving up classified government information under u.s. law as it called bribery it's called espionage why is the espionage act not being applied to corrupt navy officers christian saucer took some photos with his cell phone in a classified area of a u.s. nuclear submarine nobody paid him anything and he didn't leak them to anyone he simply lost his cell phone well he ended up getting sentenced to a year in prison now his mother thinks her son got a raw deal in two thousand and nine there was no cell phone ban on submarines at that time technology was new and didn't catch a navy hadn't caught up yet and i really have no doubt in my mind that it was a twenty two year old guy that wanted to take it out of where he worked yeah we

were ready to took pictures and so will grow louder now when it comes to whistleblowers who reveal u.s. forces killing civilians or the n.s.a.'s massive surveillance it doesn't take long for them to be charged with espionage. once those are. removed.

so it looks like photographers without malintent and whistle blowers get hit with stiff penalties but if you're a good ole boy in the u.s. maybe brass and you trade military secrets for sex and cash well it looks like the stiff penalties just don't apply kill them up and are seeing new york. paradox he would love to hate your thoughts on the day stories so do get in touch by following us on facebook and twitter and i'll be back about half an hour with the latest headlines join me. i am asked times are this is the ca's report yes i've got a very wide grin and

a life race because that saudi prince we tell them it just going and yet all is well confiscated any sleeping on of air b. and b. and c. ritz hotel in the middle of riyadh. yes max well let's talk about the latest at the time that we're recording this prince albert lead been told is under house arrest under ritz arrest you might say he's at the ritz in riyadh sleeping on a mattress and he's a major shareholder of twitter citi group and fox disney all these sort of companies but the interesting thing about this is it comes only days after he had dissed bitcoin as fraud and part of the reason why he said it's fraud is that governments don't control it so he then goes on to provide a use case for why one would want bitcoin read some of the headlines here saudi crackdown widens as more bank accounts said frozen apparently there's about thirty

three billion dollars at the time we're recording this seized and held by m.b.a.'s as the new crown prince some say is going to seize absolute control he has seized thirty three billion dollars worth of assets. will all lead been to allow had about seventeen billion dollars and so i don't know how much of those are frozen or allegedly frozen a.f.p. news agency at the time over the weekend when the. arrests and asset seizures happened saudi say bank accounts of those arrested in corruption crackdown to be frozen so their bank accounts are frozen. chaos seems to be happening is funny in a way but on the other hand it's not funny because it looks like there could be some sort of you know world war three about to erupt in the middle east. is of ok big clients don't.