kawthar of the new turkey and its discontents gave us his views on the situation. this is it to end if we can thaw mistrust between turkey and the united states and in general nato turkey has been calling the nato ban best to take an action there is no cooperation between the turkey and united states the biggest friend of turkey is actually i think it's the biggest enemy of turkey for today turkey is trying to create more options approaching to russia or thaw it seems like turkey is trying to lead to make a deal with it so you want to be more influential to speak up the future of the syria and its mission northern syria is all about the relationship between them of course and their position to i.p.g. they did they will work together or they prefer to. rallies against the military operation have been held in turkey as well as a number of european countries police in his town ball broke up

a gathering of the detained at least a dozen people there. britain's top army official has claimed russia represents the biggest threat since the cold war general nick carter called for more funding to bolster u.k.p. capabilities the arch exponent of this is russia i believe it represents the most complex and capable state based threat to our country since the end of the cold war they represent a clear and present danger they are not thousands of miles away they are now on europe store step i believe our ability to preempt all respond to these threats will be eroded if we don't match up to them now we cannot afford to sit back. well military chiefs are asking for more money for new equipment is hardly

groundbreaking is pretty standard practice however this time it was the acting head of the army normally it's retired generals so nick carr said was risking annoying his paid masters with this plea for more funding the purpose of the speech was to warn of the dangers of under-investment in the u.k.'s military especially the dangers of failing to keep up with the russian defense spending he spoke of what he called russia's orthodox and hybrid warfare and one thing in the speech that was certainly an orthodox was this video clip take a listen no indication of the scale of the ship it's clear from a three minute video clip i'm not going to show you this was run on russian t.v. a couple of years ago you don't need to understand the russian just the sense of the tone of the commentary uses the movie going to be used you see that you do you lose the use of the movie so you have him there saying take

a listen to this audiobook ordering of a russian defense ministry video talking about investment for new weapons but certainly in our news room which may not be a good indicator we are arty after all but it caused a few people to scratch their heads wondering what they were playing on whether they were playing into this sort of stereotype of russian being aggressive and of being hell bent on world domination after all nobody could understand that video clip other than hearing the russian language now nick carter isn't the first person to talk about russia as a threat in military terms just in december the head of the u.k.'s defense staff was also rallying for more money when he was talking about the threat of russia cutting vital undersea cables now none of this is really ruffled downing street vendors including this speech today a spokesperson for downing street allows the prime. office said that the u.k.

defense budget is the highest in europe and the issues are outlined by already being addressed it's also worth pointing out that when they're not asking for more money members of the u.k. military tend to be somewhat more blahs a about the whole russia thing lost some of the venues and secretary michael found and he joked that most was probably jealous of the prince's new state of the art as frost carrier because russia's is pretty dilapidated and at the same time today you've got the u.k. foreign secretary boris johnson he's meeting for talks with his u.s. counterpart rex tillerson they're going to be talking about iran north korea and syria russia isn't on the agenda. security analyst a troll troubridge told us the biggest threat facing the u.k. military is under investment not russian aggression. what we've got here is a situation where interestingly today even those sections of the u.k.

media play up the so-called russian threat amongst their headlines much deeper insight that analysis on this speech from that car today there's some degree of cynicism about what it is that he's actually saying and the reason for that is because of this conflict this below the surface conflict that is going on and particularly acute at this time what a defense spending review is underway about to get under way yet another phase of the british state of the british military in terms of the number of its personnel the number the amount of its equipment and the quality of that quitman is at a picture for you know nothing is bad is a situation entirely of the u.k. defense establishment is making because they have instead of opting for equipping soldiers or the best equipment numbers they have chosen very expensive capital projects such as the two o'clock hour that is now the support that will be the pride of the navy despite what i want to have across to you known them for some years and of course the try to nuclear deterrent both of which eats up

a vast proportion of the defense budget. prison officers across france have blockaded dozens of jails and protest over a lack of security that's after numerous attacks by inmates on staff. as latest repairs this is a nationwide strike of prisons across france with the union saying that around one hundred thirty one hundred eighty eight prisons took place in a particular strike now europe's largest prison which is just south of paris the protesters there actually blockaded the prison with tires with wooden pallets they burnt them off to something that we have seen at other prisons across france as well quite a normal tactic to block those prisons now this is now the eighth stay over these nationwide blockades and this comes just over a week ago there was an attack on three security. guards out of prison in the north of france by a man who's a convicted terrorist now that sparked off these latest process but since then in

the last week or so they have been several other incidents at prisons in france including an incident on sunday in which two guards were assaulted again now the unions and the prison guards themselves say that they want more working conditions to be more secure for the dangerous prisoners for those prisoners who've been radicalised to be isolated in the jails. we continue because today there is nothing if you things that have been announced by the chancery in the trade unions the staff of rejected entirely we're blocking everything we're blocking a prisoner. we will block all of france in terms of security we want concrete things including materials that allow prison staff to work in safety well of course prison guards and police officers are normally on the same side of the fence defending justice but in this occasion there are actually on different sides of the fence different sides of the opinion and what we have seen is conflicts and clashes between the two including tear gas being used at times take

a look at some of what's been happening outside the prisons in france was. was. was. was. the president himself has offered to unveil a radical reform of prisons across france that is due to be unveiled at the end of next month but it's going to come a long way away from this process which looks set to continue unions again on monday night called for yet another day of blockades outside france's prisons. president trump has just approved a short term funding plan to end

a government shutdown publicans and democrats have been locked in a standoff over the fate of undocumented migrants and has more. well after three days it looks like a bill has now been signed into law that will keep the u.s. government once again up and running the u.s. government has been shut down for the past three days but we now understand that donald trump has gone ahead and signed the bill that was passed first by the u.s. house and then the u.s. senate that would bring the u.s. federal government into motion once again for at least two weeks as negotiations continue regarding the dhaka immigration debate the votes that came down in the house of representatives it was two hundred sixty six two hundred fifty and in the senate it was eighty one to eighteen now we also want to further illustrate exactly what it means that the u.s. federal government is being shut down so take a look at what this really means right.

america knows this is that from shutdown figures those who were shut down so they took that nice little ring to it doesn't it senate democrats shut down this government a big fat failure and. at the moment in the lead up to the voting hour we heard in both the house and the u.s. senate we heard democrats and republicans blaming each other for the shutdown now this government shutdown has not been without an international reaction we actually

heard from china an article was published in chinese state media. talking about how essentially there appeared to be kind of a spirit of non-cooperation in washington d.c. now the article that was published in chinese media went on to talk about how the government shutdown was kind of a slap in the face to donald trump and from there it went on to talk about how the you know the trumpet ministration has undone many of the key policies of trump's predecessor barack obama now the article went on to point out that around the world the usa and their political system is upheld as kind of an icon is a system that is just ideal it's the best way for countries to operate and this is kind of the view of what they call the developed world of the u.s. political process but they pointed to the government shutdown and the extreme disagreements and the kind of gridlock in washington and in the chinese press it was widely argued that this was a sign of political chaos and

a chaotic system being in place in washington d.c. . america's national security agency has the power to identify people by the sound of their voice the n.s.a. is thought to be using technology much more advanced than that of apple or amazon that's according to a report based on documents leaked by the agency's former contractor edward snowden involved picks up the story for us however from the top of my voice there isn't much i can gather up my identity or you can tell i'm female and based on my accent you're going to i'm american i love your life the n.s.a. however could do a lot more easily using my voice to identify who i am what language i'm speaking my gender and my dialect according to cost by documents from the archives the n.s.a. has been developing technology to identify a speaker using just their voice for years when sigyn to transcribers work the same targets for a long time they sometimes can identify a certain individual in recorded conversations just by the sound of his voice and

by his unique way of speaking this process was traditionally known as voice identification now. rapidly improving technology is available that can do the same job mathematically the technology works by analyzing your voice is unique features to create an individual voice print and once the n.s.a. has that a single speaker can be almost instantaneously pinpointed even among massive databases now in two thousand and sixteen alone the n.s.a. horded more than one hundred fifty one million records of americans phone calls and that was after their bulk collection abilities were limited by congress so there's no telling how many boyfriends they could have at their disposal and theoretically a person could be instantly located and tracked down as long as a microphone is somewhere nearby and as edward snowden pointed out there's almost no escaping mix these days i don't think anybody would dog the police. chase terrorists paedophiles who don't so clearly about trust just because he

says i what we're talking about is everybody everything piece of data the value for people to be collected and scanned by software they he would look steve you and he could start talking see people involved in very legitimate things like demonstrations stroy x. even you know people who vote the wrong way this was the american government is considered another fear is that speaker recognition could end up discouraging people from speaking out it has the potential to unmask anonymous sources or tracking journalists or whistleblowers and according to the intercept this technology isn't only in american hands either it looks like interpol the european union and china have their own version as well among others so you can run but you definitely cannot hide. germany's drawn out wait for a new government could be on the verge of a breakthrough so as democrats leader martin short has persuaded his party members to vote in favor of re-establishing of the grand coalition with chancellor angela merkel's party however this could see the migrant alternative for germany party

become the main opposition force in the country as artist put her over explains. all this was the result that martin schultz wanted it was the result he campaigned for but it was a visibly very worried martin childes waiting for those results that came in he gave a speech just before the ballots were cast he said that there were only two options it was either go into coalition with angela merkel's conservative bloc or they'd have to be another election and he was very clear on which one he'd prefer that you do you know you everyone should realize the question is coalition talks for new elections my take on this is very clear i don't think new elections are the right way for us but what would a coalition do for the bundestag and how would the book to stagg look if a new grand coalition can be formed what it would do is it would mean that the social democrats who are no longer the largest opposition party that would go to

the new kids on the block of target of germany they would be the largest opposition party they would also get all of the or perks and traditions that come along with that including being the chair of the bundestag budget committee all new ground for the right leaning and tea establishment party a party in fact in which martin schultz and many other senior members of the social democrats have decried as racist before the election in september and said that they shouldn't be taking up seats within the bundestag well in an attempt to try and hang on to power for himself may well catapult them up into the position of being germany's largest opposition. the push for a second grand coalition has had a polarizing effect on s.p.d. members of the parties on the left are also warning the social democrats they are jeopardizing their future as of yet. there is no more appropriate term than political suicide to describe this because if the s.p.d.

really carries on like all the things they were punished for in the last election then i don't know what will be left of them in two or four years' time and that's just that's the vicious circle been trapped in for so many years now and that we should break it really a. democratic party another coalition with another four years of government government. bring us to this point i think that the people's body is thinking long term and that the party will be destroyed by the grand coalition. martin. m.p. from via left wing party. believes the social democrats have long been drifting away from their core values there is a long term process which is followed by this decision when we see the social democrats just since ten or fifteen years. original position they gave up to be a party which really has a decisive politics for peace

a decisive politics for. the interest of the workers for the interests of the majority of the population is just. this process. which appears completely now household chores can take on a whole new meaning when you are floating in zero gravity a russian cosmonaut was filmed using a vacuum cleaner on the international space station. you know. all the things they do for fun in space space is cool watch my international back with headlines in about thirty one minutes to.

join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guest in the world of politics sports business i'm showbiz most i'll see you then. you know order to overthrow a regime it does take popular discontent and popular mobilization but it also requires actors with in the leadership of the regime who feel that the regime is no longer serving the national interest you need people in the military or the bureaucracy or both who are willing to see the regime change otherwise they would be able to put down a popular revolt that did not have support at higher levels. this

is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm part shelton. coming up we'll take stock of equities get it sorry probably too soon we move fast around here we'll take stock of equities and ethanol listen to our mo of stocks whooshed to do an analysis of some key companies and analyze their performance plus holland cook of the big picture tells us why baby boomers might be the most money consequential generation out there and we go to miami for the north american bit point compered and then talk to jeffrey tucker of the american institute for economic research who's there for the conference but first let's get

to a couple of stories topping today's business and financial headlines net neutrality the principle that internet providers like comcast and others and local internet and television service providers must treat all data on the internet the same and not discriminate or levy divergent fees by user content website platform or the app use that service providers business not discriminate that principle was overturned by the f.c.c. the federal communications commission on a three to two party line vote in december well now. democrat senators say they hold more than fifty sen votes in an attempt to challenge the repeal of net neutrality that means they have picked up at least one possibly a few republican votes this news represents a small glimmer of hope about the future fate of net neutrality and the fairness principle of access to well knowledge without net neutrality we have a century created a closed and captive media caste system where knowledge is basically being rationed

according to a pew research study last year those who live in rural areas are about twice as likely not to even use the internet as urban or suburban americans which have more choices for news and information and faster connection speeds the debate about the debate will continue and we'll see if those more than fifty plus senators might get a vote to overturn the recent f.c.c. net neutrality pullback. the news this morning is that i.b.m. international business sheens has reported higher revenue numbers for the first time in nearly two years and expects continued growth this year on the other side of the spectrum amex american express saw the first quarterly loss since get this nineteen ninety two amex c.e.o. kenneth chenault all says it was do like other companies we've discussed in recent recent days on this program due to the tax bill passed at the end of last year well

other stocks are making major moves this year let's bring in to the ever vested ballista our all of stocks which you usually tells us about retail numbers but she looks at stocks every day so it's great to have you with us on this comment on this topic you want to comment on the i.b.m. and the amex numbers. well look at this same bar good to see you and yes well i mean i was very interesting because the stock has not made brand new all time high since two thousand and thirteen and here we are we're in two thousand and eighteen so to have an earnings miss like this as far as the stocks reaction like you said they had some good news in the report but their reaction was negative because the night before the earnings the stock was around one sixty nine and that a gap down in the morning in the premarket around one sixty four and fell on the day so i just think that investors didn't see what they wanted to see with i.b.m. and it's really been lagging and it's had a hard time competing with the likes of microsoft which has been performing extremely well in this bullish market and how about apple stock you know they made

that major announcement yesterday that they had a pullback and they were going to supposedly create all these jobs in the u.s. although some of those they were to create anymore their stock is near an all time high these days isn't it. yes actually i hit over one hundred eighty which is big news for the stock we're really getting closer and closer to that two hundred level which is i think what investors are looking for awful has earnings out february first so that's going to be a that's the biggest actually earnings night of the same google amazon and apple all report february first after the bell so that's going to be a big night and investors are waiting for that but i'll tell you it generate a fortune came out and apple was announced at the top of their list for the world's most admired companies so apple is still up there and you mentioned about them creating these jobs the big news today was that they're repatriating two hundred

fifty billion dollars of their overseas assets into the u.s. because of this new tax reform and that is huge not only is it huge for apple and the growth they're going to see and the u.s. with that money coming back it's also huge because the government is going to get some of that money taxed over thirty billion dollars and that's all going to go into the u.s. treasury now in fairness i mean their business they're not philanthropist there dude making this move because you know the corporate tax rate was thirty eight percent it went down to twenty one but that repatriation fee is only fifteen point five percent so while they are going to pay all this money as you say melissa they're actually saving fifty billion buckaroos so it's also a big money decision for them now we talk about but what about google and alphabet for example how are they doing they were killers last year they still going strong . google still stronger than ever again made new highs with the market in the last

calendar year as many times almost as a market did but i will tell you the biggest strongest stock on the market is still the beast of amazon it seems like that is headed right to fifteen hundred if it has a good quarterly earnings by anybody you know said head over thirteen hundred one over thirteen twenty five i think there's huge expectations for that whole sector attack of this year of two thousand and eighteen that a big year in two thousand and seventeen is a lot of expectations out for that sector to continue their growth this year particularly with the savings again with tax reform all these corporations are going to benefit from that and amazon just continues to expand and expand and expand although you mention about apple being a company for profit which of course they are they still did not have to bring all that money back to the usa because we're going to be taxed on it which if they keep it outside of the us they wouldn't be taxed on it so they still did not have to make a move like that it's probably my you know inquisitive and doubting former regulator mind at work melissa i just i see all these companies and we need them and they

provide the economic engine to our democracy but when they make claims like we saw you know with with wal-mart that they're going to raise prices and then they're going to under their breath we're closing sixty sam stores i just get worried apple is already going to spend several weeks ago sixteen billion dollars in the u.s. in a single year so for them to say they're going to spend thirty billion over five years you know that doesn't really start my engine a whole lot but there are good company that make a great product you know and so finally before we go i want to get your take on gee i mean they're talking about a break up that would be incredible what your thoughts on that and on the g.e. stock. well that's like going from apples to oranges talking about amazon and g.e. amazon is one of the strongest stocks in the market in g.s. one of the weakest well known stocks in the market right now and it's unfortunate the last time we're talking about a brand new all time highs the g. sol brand new all time highs was back in two thousand so eighteen years ago the

stock broke sixteen dollars it does report january twenty fourth so that will be an important day for the stock however they haven't really performed in this bullish market they would have to literally got to the thirty six dollars level stop or up sixteen so it would be a tremendous speak for them to get back up enough trend g.e. is in a down trend and to me it's really not a buy till it gets up over thirty six bucks a share right now and i mean that seems unlikely could it happen yes but i think it wouldn't more likely if it had even a good earnings rally so a little bit and then take its time moving back up they had had the new c.e.o. came aboard in august of two thousand and seventeen and you really got to give the guy a chance to see what he can do here he hasn't even been at the home for a year so we'll see what he can do i mean he's going to try to turn the company around. super that is so fun to do a little round robin we want to do that again we love you on real to retail numbers but we love you on stocks most armor founder of stocks whooshed thanks as always

thanks for having me. holland cook the host of the big picture here r.t. america did a really interesting show on friday and i've asked him to give us the cliff notes version for you all who who missed it hala you make the point that nobody is getting any younger and that's one reason why the book baby boomers may be actually creating a lot of economic ingenuity in our in our economy explain all that part every day in the u.s. a ten thousand people turned sixty five and in the next two decades another sixty five million americans hit the big seven zero we baby boomers born in one thousand nine hundred sixty one nine hundred sixty four were the biggest generation in history until those millennial scame along yet we outnumbered boomers remain the most consequential generation on july one twenty sixteen something began and

it will never end that day the oldest baby boomers turn seventy and a half the age at which by law they are required to begin withdrawing money from ira accounts this dough squirreled away for decades and earning interest is now flooding the retail economy. although we do occasionally ask a teenager for a tech assist boomers are tech savvy one reason young people are fleeing facebook for other social media platforms is that their parents and grandparents are there eighty three percent of boomers conduct online research before making major offline purchases which busts another myth that as we get older we're so set in our ways and so brand loyal that we don't consider new products boni bloomers are lifelong experimenters to our parents horror way back when baby boomers are health conscious they purchased seventy seven percent of all priests.