from exotic to toxic decades of environmental damage on a portuguese island in the atlantic leaves locals fearing for their wellbeing as they continue to suffer increased cancer rates. the german tabloid newspaper is duped into running a bogus story about russian meddling in german politics one of the pranksters tells r t how they did it. we knew how to feel. and what we did was we came up with a story that was like a spy and it was a. prominent conservative commentators in the united states claim they're being censored by twitter after a wave of accounts are spent. and

there is my day here in moscow this thursday the twenty second of every man is calling for a welcome to the news from r.t. international first for you this hour the exotic portuguese island of tesoro in the azores in the middle of the atlantic ocean is in desperate need of decontamination decades of u.s. air force activity have allegedly left it polluted with hydrocarbons and heavy metals and the islanders say that they're worried about the prevalence of cancer and other serious illnesses. the we're back to twenty thousand the course is not constant it's also lights rule is another constant we're now it eighteen twenty twenty two thousand policemen two

thousand clinton's is now sent. and it's time to run away from here as we've already stay too long. we have is a series of locations with extremely high levels of pollution caused by heavy metals the hydrocarbons there are very high levels of lead in some sense copper zinc molybdenum all of them having metals that in certain concentrations can cause to realty cancer arrhythmia and neverending amounts of problems associated with an excess of these substances. all my family lived in that area both of my parents died of cancer my mom of breast cancer and my dad was a different kind of cancer like when i was thirty three i was diagnosed with breast cancer.

but much confusing the more cancer cases there are the more the pill ation asks why is this happening why if private story or other role which is that on one side all houses have a had at least one case of cancer and on the other side it's almost every other house that is not normal yours. the u.s. has maintained a presence on the island since nine hundred forty three toaster serves as a stopover for transatlantic military flights and it houses the sixty fifth base group although it's not known how many personality currently stationed there are one hundred sixty one houses to accommodate them one former employee told us about the health risks that workers there have also been exposed to gold you know if you going to admit there was also a senate commission that came to sarah to check

a claim illegal proceeds from some members of the american military who are dying of terminal cancer and were exposed to radioactivity into center island they were here for about one week and during this time i found out what they were doing here they were here to confirm the existence of radiation on to star island radioactive contamination our environmental situation on the island was first acknowledged in a classified report written in two thousand and three which has since been leaked it details seventeen major fuel spills now in one fifteen thousand gallons of oil were released when a pipeline was unintentionally activated that was in one thousand nine hundred four there's been no cleanup since the report stresses that the island's inhabitants are at risk from contaminants in the soil and water here's what local experts have been telling us. we've found in the data that was published referring to the two thousand and seven two thousand and eleven period a higher number of certain cancers in the prior to victoria area than the rest of

the source especially regarding the rarer cancers for example i can see with thirty three percent of those or cases being in prior difference or another while the area has only eight point five two percent of the dorian population. this is the repeats itself on various islands occupied by the americans this is almost a scorched earth policy where the problems accumulate and the local government doesn't react the population has no capacity to take a stance maybe as a result of scientific illiteracy or a lack of knowledge on the cause effect relations and we've been in touch with both the united states and portuguese governments on this we haven't received any responses to the specific question that we've asked but we did get this from the united states they forwarded a press release from last december and it states that the two countries are aware of the situation and are seeking expert advice on how best to proceed.

next germany's best selling newspapers published what it thought was smoking gun evidence of russian meddling in the country's politics but in its rush to break the sensational story the tabloid failed to check its sources and it backfired spectacularly as more i guess they have explained. bild thought they had a bombshell the makings of an international scandal here is the meat of it build the published a report about how the socialists the s.p.d. was trying to buy the services of the mythical russian troll factory it's a huge it would be the first direct evidence of russian meddling in german politics here the actors kevin kuhn are head of the s.p.d. youth wing who is running a campaign against forming a coalition with angular merkel the new grow cold campaign yuri a mysterious russian agent offering the services of an online army under his

control to spread the message what build got their hands on was the email exchange between them it reads wonderfully cold words mistrust secret meetings like something out of a spy a movie did kevin i'm ury i'd like to talk to you about supporting your no grow cold campaign thanks for your mail do you read solvents expect a mile from you but just to be sure could you name me g.'s favorite beverage as you can certainly understand this is a delicate matter mere mere multi ginger. dear yuri perfect that's a relief so what can you offer me basically we can offer you everything an opinion campaign with books again scholtz social bots on twitter or facebook or even a targeted facebook advertising campaign front page stuff but that was on friday

by wednesday germany's satirists from tamika magazine revealed that it was all a prank they had written the entire exchange and sent it to build but build rabbits without jew checks and very thick asian what with their and t s b d stands and tabloid routes even the email tributed to kevin kuhn or was fake couldn't have sent anything from it other german publications saw the exchange and realized it was specious but theirs to tally it explained build that was just too excited i'm anonymous email to all three calls and build prints everything that fits its agenda remember the drinks name me oh me oh matty ginger well that's now trending on twitter as germans online ridicule build.

given kuhner in the star of the show is suing billed for libel and slander but judging by these pictures and he's posted he's also enjoying the show. i was more a mention that the social democratic party's youth wing leader named in that prank isn't happy about any of this he also insists that if he'd really been made such an offer he to flatly refused it. both of them we have to see on this but i don't know but this group but of course we would refuse any of these offers we don't work with social clubs i don't have information that will even receive any offers. the satirical magazine behind the hoax posted this triumphant photo online it shows one of its employees posing with a transcript of the fake e-mails and also the build article one of the pranksters

told us just how easy it was to pull off. we're to turn it over to rick and magazine we work with the same. methods as built so we knew how to fingal i can build editor and what we did was we came up with a story that was techie like in the spine and we had a good feeling that this would work when there's a story like there for four built they don't care about the details it's only interesting if the story is good and it was a good story indeed and it was. like a good movie i hope it will be made into a movie sometime for. the readers of built just like the editor's a builder but there are hopeless cases so you can't help them i don't think anyone will learn anything. new we teeter on the floor that the people at build or

german politicians or the german people but it was a good laugh now. and i think that's worth something. and is growing among right wing twitter users following an apparent bot purge on the social network a number of prominent commentators have claimed that their accounts were wrongly targeted and that the side to crack down is actually part of a sustained attack on conservative speech the hash tag twitter lockout began trending on the site shortly after the suspensions a number of right leaning users claim to have lost thousands of followers as a result of the initiative to remove accounts that automatically post tweet some believe the move linked to a pledge twitter made in january to combat the kremlin's alleged interference in the us political life it's been claimed that russian bots have been used to amplify and spread divisive views on the network including those voiced by right wing commentators we spoke to one person whose accounts been suspended that was back in september but she's surprised to hear about apparent connection to the kremlin.

been on twitter since two thousand and ten basically when i realized it was permanent i was a little shocked they were actually accused me of being a russian operative. that i was somehow working for russia part of the russian bots that were. sending out negative information during the election well not long ago a team of investigative journalists known as project vera tasa began to cast doubt on just how twitter determines who should and shouldn't be blocked. you know i want to. go. like. this the problem of. course is of course separately the two top u.s. democrats of call on congress to provide the f.b.i. with an additional three hundred million dollars to help prevent meddling in future elections the call was made by senate minority leader chuck schumer and former

speaker nancy pelosi in a letter to the senate they say that the additional funding would help to counter the influence of hostile foreign actors particularly russian media analyst lionel told us that it'd still be a waste of money three hundred million dollars let me get this straight from the f.b.i. to battle russian interference the same f.b.i. that's been trying to investigate russian interference that has netted nothing we can point to anything other than buying an ad and as was indicated last week in the indictment so we discord now we would the f.b.i. to continue this investigation which netted nothing you could pin you trying to find nothing. and to prove or to expose or to ferret out examples of

russian collusion where curative or have. not the democratic party are vowing more money more money earmarked not to stop real crime where the real victims real pain and real sad you know they were to go after who washington. the u.s. embassy in the small balkan country of montenegro in southeast europe has been attacked by an as yet unidentified bomber the attackers threw an explosive device into the compound in the capital early on thursday morning he then committed suicide by detonating another device no one else was injured in the incident the u.s. embassy is still open for business as american and montenegro authorities are now conducting a joint investigation. this is a two medal winning russian curlers have been stripped of their bronze medals at the winter olympics we have a live update from our correspondent in south korea when we come back.

to you so. they put themselves on the line they did accept the reject. so you want to be president. some want to. get you going to be first this is what the three of the people. interested always in the water. should.

two olympic athletes from russia have been stripped of their bronze medals in curling by the court of arbitration for sport after one of them tested positive for a banned substance let's go live to the games host city in south korea now our correspondent alias thank you is there high that we first reported on this about an hour or so ago now just take us through the details and some of the reaction. calling hi well as you've just said cass has now officially said that the first ever russian medal and curling that was won by the way are mixed deal will now

have to be taken away the announcement comes just fifteen hours after the car alexander crucial lead ski who tested positive formal dony on twice at these winter olympics chose not to proceed with his arbitration that was planned for this thursday it's silly to do don't it don't prove violations when the presence of a prohibited substance was confirmed by two doping tests i'm ready for the verdict which is predictably the same in all cases and i weighed up the pros and cons and decided to withdraw from the cas hearings and i think in this situation it's useless and senseless. but this doesn't mean that the russian curlers are planning to give up that's what we found out just a little bit earlier the russian curling federation will be looking to prove his innocence eventually and try and get back the medals for the duel for now they

haven't been able to obtain c.c.t.v. footage or any other evidence that could play in favor of the athlete but if they do cas provides the right to relaunch the arbitration now it is worth mentioning here that alexander crucial need ski has admitted that formally there has been an anti-doping rule violation but he maintains that he is not guilty and that he never took. on purpose the concentration of the drug and his body from the two doping tests suggested that there was only single use and we also heard from the man who actually invented pills saying that if you take them once or twice they are absolutely useless and over the last couple of days we heard suggestions from experts current learners coaches that someone could have spiked alexander crucial

needs food or drinks although that as i'm saying hasn't been proven yet ok so not over yet but definitely a battle ahead all right thanks for updating us for now into trying in south korea at the winter games thanks for that. it's exactly four years since ukraine's president and a covert was overthrown as the result of a popular uprising that began in kiev in november twenty third a team of the protests which were initially peaceful began in response to endemic corruption and the government's decision to abandon an economic deal with the european union but it quickly spiraled out of control.

oh years on from the uprising some of the migrant activists now see the protests in a very different light they say their hopes for meaningful change in the country

have not materialized we've been speaking to one of them about her change of heart . the students' compassion for them and sharing their anti corruption and social iran today ideas which recent cme but were hijacked by the want to gox almost at the very start. stitched isn't it isn't that i believe it was a mistake to fall for the slogans of the nationalists my personal mistake is that i should have realized that much sooner the people who started those spontaneous protest could answer the question of what they were against but couldn't say what they stood for that was the key problem they didn't have a plan and therefore allowed themselves to be used but i have no right to judge people for taking part in the protests.

not but it's thought that people at my done were supporting so-called european values but can it come true because your appeal if it sits at the bottom of the least on freedom of speech if it's a country where journalists get killed in rest of the persecuted why did the revolution for freedom not result in freedom and if europe stands for multiculturalism why did the european revolution in ukraine result in the victory of nationalist radicals there mantises became a smokescreen for extremist slogans which had nothing to do with the initial protests. and during the uprising the protesters in kiev received strong support from both u.s. and e.u. officials top american politicians were seen addressing crowds of people at the demonstrations and even distributing bread european officials also involve themselves in negotiations between the two opposing sides but now the bloc appears to have become disillusioned with the country's ability to deliver reforms and the latest illustration of that the e.u. is reportedly decided to shut down

a border checkpoint scheme with ukraine which was supposed to ease customs proceedings and boost trade we discussed that with political analyst martin mccauley ukraine from brussels point of view for the american point of view it is an important state these countries wish to keep ukraine as a partner as a friend and never allow. but they're friendly increasingly difficult the european union and western europe are becoming increasingly tired of ukraine and exasperated at the lack of progress. in certain areas the main problem is corruption within the government within the state the elites. who are in fact siphoning off some of the money for themselves or awarding contracts in the. european union has been. hoping that ukraine would begin to limit corruption with the. it stayed for years well two decades now so therefore

a very slow progress has been achieved and unless it has changed the ukraine and the european union in the western world will not come closer together and that's the way look for me at this hour thanks very much for watching i'll be back in just over thirty five minutes from now to update you on all developing stories this is all to. america's an economy that's been created by financialization of everything and outsourcing manufacturing to countries like china totally at the ignore a nation that just made that word up to ignore something. your local infrastructure bill now from saying we want to do infrastructure we've got to go borrow a trillion or two trillion dollars from whom our biggest creditor that would be

china and china is owning all the cars in the twenty second century in america can't even get from point a to point b. . apply for many flips over the years so i know the game inside guides. the ball isn't only about what happens on the beach or the funnel school it's about the passion from the families it's the age of the super money kill you know a loan to spend spend the two to twenty million flying. it's an experience like nothing else going to be true so i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy great so what chance with. the geeks it's going to.

well controlled by just a few years ago the world was on track if not to eliminate hunger and to reduce it gradually that changed in two thousand and sixteen when the number of people suffering from an empty stomach started to rise again and in several countries hunger morphed into famine how can they be reversed outranked while to discuss that i'm now joined by david beasley executive director of the world food program mr beazley it's great to talk to you thank you for your time it was good to be with you thank you now when the news of your appointment came foreign policy magazine and road that the un put appointee they had of the world food program to quote help stave off u.s.

cuts if that was their rationale has it worked out well it has a better came kicking and screaming into the system because i was not necessarily a un person but when i heard the facts of how bad the situation was around the world with all the conflict war and hunger coupled with the fact that the united states very well make i decided i would take the role and so i hit the ground running facing for famines facing the worst humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the united nations which by the way seventy years of history here and in russia and so we were facing a catastrophic situation along with the fact that the number one donor into the u.n. system the united states was talking about cutting all the money so who would want that job well frankly if they persuaded you to take on that you certainly had some success. assets already are for example a securing presence chunk of g twenty pledge show for six hundred fifty nine

million dollars to relief famine in four african countries was that pledged on earth in full and how far did it go in addressing the problem well the united states is historically been a tremendous support of the world food program as has russia but the united states was giving about one point nine billion what i assume this role in everyone thought that it would go the other way zero out which would be catastrophic and in fact the united states went from one point nine billion to two point five billion in other countries as well have been stepping up in a very significant way because as i till a million my friends if you want to spend another half a trillion dollars on destabilization military operations cut the world food program we're now into a second year of the trumpet ministration and there is still a lot of speculations about how this white house operates they set a formal and informal libraries that set in motion i know that you make no secret

of the fact that you try to enlist they support the funky trump who serves officially as as an advisor to her father how helpful was her benevolence in securing that well when you have a two point five billion dollars bill you're looking for every have and you can evan you you can to make certain that the president of the united states and the true decision makers on money comes out of a sit in the house and so i feel confident that if the members and the leaders in the united states had the facts before them they would not back off their multilateral commitment in the united nations as for the world food program the u.n. may need reform and no question about that but the world food program is a different operation it's about feed people keeping people alive operating emergencies and sustainable development and so the united states has not backed down invite we're seeing that the world food program is actually a program this bringing nations to give. whether it with all the division around the world the world food program we consider ourselves an opportunity to bridge

relations so it's interesting you say that because i think your agency is far more fortunate than some of the other agencies do you think perhaps they have a secret of. your success has has been your own personality or putting an american in charge i mean seriously it's a serious matter for many in the u.n. how crucial it is to have somebody who has an ear of the president or at least any or if he's going to do it well you've got to have the year of the leadership but you also have the right message in bringing bringing together different factions within the government around hungry starving children who could be against well but there are lots of starving children in the palestine and yet their budget is being how well you know we're looking forward to working through those issues as well but in the world today you can take any country of islam into say to the united states to come to the obvious you know very well the democrats republicans have been five hundred on.