the room is. now at the scene but the. port on the other. sea left him primitive what we have the authority of the mail room have gone floating crucial gearing up to grab me it's because he sees when allude to. the fight against terrorism in syria might soon be over that's blood may appear to assess ment made during a meeting with president bashar al assad in the past twenty four hours. google openly vows to deal run to r.t. and sputnik making it harder for them to reach why dorrian says that's despite the fact that tech giant itself previously admitted it found no violations when it investigated artie's popularity on you tube. a day before the u.k.

government unveils its latest budget a protest is staged denouncing measures that could plunge nearly half a million people into poverty. a warm welcome you are watching r.t. international broadcasting to you live from the russian capital i'm making arun our top story this hour the kremlin has revealed details of an unannounced meeting between the russian and syrian presidents on monday it took place in the black sea resort of sochi. now this meeting had been kept well under wraps and it was a quick one of the two leaders have plenty of time to talk business the two

confirmed that the military operations in syria looks to be coming to an end which would of course be a historical turning point in the conflict in syria at this stage especially after victories against terrorism we are of course interested in advancing the political process because of this if you just mention the conclusion of the military operation i think that the problem of terrorism is globally. globally when it comes to our operation against terrorists in syria it's a military operation is indeed including not just two years ago syria was overrun by eisel but at this point they've been outed from all major towns and cities and really are just clinging to a few small villages at this point and so the focus is really turning towards the future this was of course the second time that assad has visited russia to sit down and talk with putin about the conflict in the course of the country's six year civil war now the first visit came in two thousand and fifteen just after russia was asked to help in the anti terror efforts in the country assad stated that he is

now ready and willing to work with anyone and everyone whose goal in the country is peace and settlement the recent creation of deescalation zones in the country was again hailed as the first steps towards getting to beginning a conversation with the opposition groups and the country which of course is pivotal to ending the conflict but it also said that russia is counting on the want to actively participate in the final steps of settlement of the settlement of syria he also said that he'd be on the phone later to donald trump and other regional leaders to update them on what was discussed with president assad and of course it's also important to note that the moscow will be hosting a syrian summit in sochi tomorrow with officials from both iran and turkey who of course spearheaded those ever more important deescalation zones in syria that's as moscow will continue to play a key figure in mediating a way forward in syria. well as the middle east expert ali with about what assad's visits means in the context of the situation in syria i think that the one

important part fundamental part of the future of syria would be a role for president you know this this visit. reflects or indicates that president assad will continue to play a major role that's contrary to the expectations or the hopes of some certain other sides so i think it's so way to tell the president outside that behaves as a major player in the game that any consultations will have to take his perspective into consideration other in other words of russia recognizing the importance role president assad will play especially at this phase as we see the end of the defeat or the imminent defeat of ice or certainly a terrorist groups. executive chairman of google's parent company alphabet has vowed to day rank r.t. and the news agencies but nick in order to make it harder for the outlets to reach

wider audience it's his comments came at a security forum in canada when else about aussies use of google's ad sense service . i had a subscription for google alerts in german language and getting them every day out of ten results between five and ten every day we have sputnik news which is a russian german program no outlet and when i clicked on them they were monetarist with google that sense is it really necessary to monitor the rise russian propaganda outlets would google its and so we're well aware of this one and we are working on detecting this kind of scenario you're describing and again the ranking the ranking those kinds of sites it's basically artie and sputnik are the two and there's a whole bunch of coverage about what we're doing there but we're well aware of it we're trying to engineer the systems to prevent it we don't want to ban the sites. now eric schmidt who you just heard there has a longtime relationship with the democratic party leadership which lost last year's

presidential election in the u.s. he was reportedly a donor and informal advisor to the obama campaign later becoming an advisor to the obama administration according to documents revealed by wiki leaks schmidt also donated to the clinton foundation and is believed to be the tech monster mind behind the campaign of defeated democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton he has not confirmed any of these allegations well arty's editor in chief has slammed the remarks by made by schmidt saying google's own congressional report found no evidence that china had violated all manipulated its policies under pressure from u.s. or dorothy as google launched an investigation into alleged russian mentally but if found no evidence r.t. had manipulated you tube in any way to get it status of the most viewed news network despite that google dropped us from its you tube prime list in the u.s. without any notice or explanation it only explained later at

a congress hearing where the firm was grilled on white house encourage out the move earlier this resell garder why did gould google give preferred status to russia today a russian propaganda arm on youtube. there was a period of time where russia today qualified really because of algorithms to participate in a an advertising program why didn't you revert artie's preferred status after the i.c.a. came out in january two thousand and seventeen it took you to september of two thousand and seventeen to do it the removal of r t from the program was actually a result of the as as i understand it is a or is a result of some of the drop in viewership not as a result of any action otherwise so there was there was nothing about r.t.e. or is its content that. meant that it stayed in or stayed out.

media consultants nail wallace is certainly google's actions against ati are politically motivated. don't think it censorship you don't have to like the stories that russia today covers you don't have to want to read the material coming from sputnik but i really do not believe it is in any way except a ball that a bunch of politically correct. democratic party supporting people certainly in silicon valley should decide what i should or should not read i think it's the height of arrogance where does it start and where does it stop who decides that google today will attack r.t. but tomorrow the same sort of pressure may get may make them decide to attack the daily mail here in here in britain another political viewpoint they might not like this is suppression this is censorship i think that i am quite capable of watching

r.t. reading sputnik and deciding what i do or do not want to take from it what i do or do not believe i think this is extremely said mr as i say. has been an unsettled start to the week for germany after talks on forming a coalition government collapsed chancellor merkel attempted to seek advice from the country's president however their views seem to differ as merkel's declared she is ready to head back to the polls if necessary while the president urge the parties to reconsider their disagreements if it isn't for time and all parties elected to the bundestag have a shared duty to serve their country i expect from all parties a willingness to make possible the formation of a government in the foreseeable future if you elections come i should see that's not something i'm afraid of during the election campaign i thought for a four year mandate my point of view is that new elections would be the better path

. with merkel now struggling to find a way out r.t. space elevator breaks down the recent developments. the day after the bundestag election in c. . said that she was confident that by christmas she would have a ruling coalition government in place or fast forward through weeks of torture a sit times negotiations with the green party and the pro-business free democrats while the wheels of that coalition health fell off well and truly with christie and of the free democrats delivering the killer blow the available we will not abandon our voters for a policy with which we are not convinced it is better not to govern than to govern badly ingrained differences between the parties on key issues such as climate change refugees and the budget saw the so-called jamaica coalition break down.

just hours after coalition talks with the free democrats and to join a grand coalition without off the table one other option available to angela merkel would be to rule over a minority i mean president frank steinmeyer it's predominantly a ceremonial role but when it comes to installing a government that's where the german presidency has executive power it will be up to mr steinmeier whether he decides that he accepts anglo merkel as the head of a minority government or whether he dissolve parliament triggering elections and for the long serving leader mrs merkel that could well prove to be

a storm she doesn't whether it's keep that's really fun for somebody has got to be responsible for that the federal chancellor created this situation she's been in power for what feels like a hundred years and now she should be asking herself maybe i have something to do with this situation. mrs merkel has failed it's time for her now to take a step back. that night but the end of the merkel era began europe's biggest economy is heading into uncharted territory with current polling suggesting that a new ballot wouldn't return any results too different from what we had in september it does seem that there is no immediate solution to the current instability germany is facing and of course the implications that has for the why do european union peter all of a r.t. berlin. we discussed the issue with hugh branson a member of the f.d.a. he says knuckle time at the helm is over with her migration policy having proved

the final nail in the coffin this is definitely the beginning of the end machall knows that this is the last time she will be chancellor and in the next period of the next four years there will be a point when she resigns and a new person would take over she has no policies at all she is a woman without principles she betrayed so many conservative core values. abolishing subscription making putting the end to nuclear power abandoning the traditional schooling system she does all she can to stay in power it's not her lack of ability the it's not that she cannot compromise she has no principles the fault lies with the other parties who cannot agree on common grounds and it is no surprise the idea of open borders no borders no nation everything free to everybody for everyone and that without any cost it's ridiculous that was the last nail in her coffin and people were absolutely against not looking at another one million

one point five million people to come to this country the next year people are strongly opposed to that she got the worst results she had ever since she was in power and her party also suffered heavy heavy blows this is because she did not listen to what people really wanted to do or wanted to be done and now she is paying the price. but it has yet to be unveiled but some of the scientists updated measures that already caused an uproar in the country learned that after they saw. that the rollout if it knew the benefits system will force thousands more people to rely on food banks this winter i spoke to that data for. i'm the people's assembly and he told me what it was all about he has no idea this is because we feel that the government's policies are driving people into poverty. meaning thousands and

thousands of people actually million or more are now relying on food banks on a regular basis the role of things like universal credit has already been widely criticized by by campaigners politicians in areas it's been they've seen a thirty percent increase already in food bank usage which just about hit the winter looks like food thank you so going to be a lot higher and we think in one of the richest countries in the planet it's a disgrace that people are having to be forced to use the food to have to use food banks to feed their families isn't that this protest is being organized on the day before the budget is to highlight several things first of all as mentioned the danger of universal credit which is a system that aims to roll the benefit into one it means to make the system simpler but the reality of it is that there's often a six week delay for families can claim any money and that's why they need to bridge that gap by using food banks thirty percent increase in the use of food

banks this winter is a figure that comes from the trussell trust to hold this food will be delivered once this demonstration it's finished this is calling for the tories to use the budget to scrap universal credit either that the people's assembly is saying or get out. the lebanese army is prepared to counter any possible acts of israeli aggression that's according to an official statement by the army's chief it comes as arab nations led by saudi arabia move to crack down on lebanon's hezbollah militia has the story this announcement by joseph he's the head of the lebanese military telling the army to be full readiness along the border with israel saying that this road commits violations of level. sovereignty and so the country must be ready to face any aggression from the southern neighbor and of course it

all comes in the background of these increasing tensions in the region we've seen the head of the israeli defense force the chief of staff gul eyes in court saying very openly actually that he's ready to have complete cooperation with the saudi arabia and to share intelligence with them on what they both see as their common foe iran and by extension iran's allies in the region groups like hezbollah course we've seen all of this coming in the wake of the arab league meeting over the weekend convened by saudi arabia to condemn iran and of course again there are allies like hezbollah like the who sees and other groups which are fighting in resisting against saudi arabia in yemen as well so all of that coming together in that sense that meeting didn't go exactly to plan there were several arab countries which didn't vote for saudis motion against iran and that today we're expected to

see the return of the lebanese prime minister saad hariri it follows his resignation live on when he was still in saudi arabia his resignation as prime minister he then over the weekend went to paris and will return later today in time for lebanon's independence day celebrations but it remains to be seen exactly what will happen he's expected to meet with lebanese president michel the whole country quite tense actually that's the atmosphere here as they all wait to see what will happen not just in the domestic politics of lebanon but also regionally. almost a million dollars of taxpayers' money has been paid out in harassment settlements by the u.s. congress this year as the highest figure in a decade and reports released by the office of compliance reveals complaints range from sexual harassment. racial discrimination. and has the details for almost a month now the u.s. public has been facing an avalanche of allegations of sexual harassment leveled

against men in the public eye on an almost daily basis well it turns out that members of congress are no exception the person basically offered me. an opportunity to flirt with him in order to access to excel in my career this member asked a staffer to bring them over some materials to the residents. and the young staffer who is a young woman went there and was greeted with a member in a towel this talk it sort of happened over and over and over and finally one day i said you know it knock it off this is just not appropriate it's not right and it's not cool now there's actually a special body on capitol hill set up to deal with the allegations but you might be surprised to learn that some people think this body is actually part of the problem we have a system in place that allows for the harasser to go unchecked doesn't pay for the settlement himself and is never identified so the office of compliance to which a victim must apply or complain is

a place that has really been and then the abler of sexual harassment it's the american taxpayers who end up footing the bill it's already cost them over seventeen million dollars in awards and settlements since the office of compliance was established in the one nine hundred ninety s. on top of that the u.s. public doesn't even know what they're paying something the person behind the scheme has admitted needs to change if the taxpayer is basically being charged for the activities of someone a staff person or a member of congress it should be made available to the public so how does this scheme sit with the people who end up paying for it i don't want to pay for i think that the that the that the said whoever the perpetrator should be paying not the taxpayer. should pay for their own defense really and i think the economy taxpayer should pay for that they should pay their own way. so who says we have to pay i don't think they should be sued i think they should be prosecuted congress is

attempting to rectify this situation with a bipartisan bill so in the future when taxpayers have to cough up the bill they'll at least know who's transgressions it is that they're funding caleb mop and r.t. washington d.c. . the palestinian national authority is freezing ties with the us off they refused to renew the license at the palestine liberation organization office in washington the palestinian presidential spokesman for the us decision. this u.s. measure is unprecedented in the history of u.s. palestinian relations it could have serious consequences it's going to serve as a blue to peacemaking efforts and as a reward to israel the palestine liberation organization was founded in one thousand nine hundred sixty four since then it's been recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the people of palestine by some hundred states it also enjoys observer status at the un we spoke to dimitri dillard

a fatter revolutionary council member who says the u.s. is backing israel's actions against palestine by not when you're in the license. that is further assurance to the state of israel that the state of israel can continue to violate human rights laws the international laws. and get away with it and on top of that get even more support the united states is given a green light to the state of israel to keep on committing the atrocities and the war crimes that it's been committing since the first day of occupation that was supposed to be ending after all zero agreement in five years and that did not happen and one of the reason why didn't happen because the united states' policies have been inconsistent with its own. set of expressed believes about equality and human rights. symbolic ways president

robert mugabe has resigned according to the speaker of the country's parliament and peace greeted the news with cheers when the old guard there was the nation's leader for thirty seven years being outspent was made as parliament was initiating and in a peach meant tearing a week ago the military placement gobby under house arrest on monday mccarthy's party gave him twenty four hours to resign or face impeachment. we do. thank you for choosing aussie international i'm a carrot and also from me but do join my colleague for the latest headlines at the top of the hour.

the good. morning. everybody i'm stephen ball. hollywood guy you'll suspect every proud american first of all i'm just george bush and r.v.'s to see this is my buddy max famous financial guru well she's a little bit different. you know in those up with all the drama happening in our country i'm shooting the road have fun meet everyday americans. and hopefully start to bridge the gap this is the great american people.

they call me a useful idiot i mean strategy we attack the white house i'm with the group code pink why not ban the color pink one not scratch build the right i should be sent to the town one because i want to try to break me on the wheel but out with my lifetime of this sort of nonsense you don't scare me and i'll continue to voice my opinion i'll continue to speak to him in good company i'm in good company you going with me you want to do this because we are freezing cold.

welcome to the kaiser report i'm max are coming to you from pensacola florida where we're going to hear some blues later on this evening and mix and kind of get involved in some of the interesting things happening here in pensacola lot of guys with dark glasses of baseball hats seems almost like a cia contractor or something so i think you'll find it's and i say down here if anything it's interesting because we're in the seville quarter of pensacola it's like one hundred years old this building is one hundred years old where in a bar you might hear some noise behind us because we've been here for about half an hour and it's been super quiet and suddenly as soon as we start recording everybody starts working behind us so you'll hear some noise around us but like hopefully we'll have some b. roll to show you the ceiling the walls how amazing the structure is we have these

giant heads on the wall and that's relevant to this first headline here construction. how solid this foundation is how so verse it is tell us everything a fifty eight story skyscraper in san francisco is tilting and sinking and residents say they're multi-million dollar condos are nearly worthless millennium tower.