in the business of picking winners and losers in the energy sector i've been consistent on that i don't think that the obama administration should have been favoring wind and solar and i also don't think the trumpet ministration should be trying to implicitly subsidize nucular and coal fired plants either i think that the government's role should have a neutral playing field and let the consumers and producers decide but one place where people desperately do need help is in puerto rico unfortunately while they have made significant progress rebuilding capabilities there are still communities in puerto rico's without power congressman randy weber of texas revisited the natural disasters of twenty seventeen in an energy some committee hearing this month in his eyes and much work still needs to be done hurricane harvey in texas devastated much of the state however what the points out the use of smart meters actually help pinpoint which areas were without power. but it's a much different story for puerto rico even nine months after hurricane maria hit the island for months more than half of the island remain without power especially

during those in medical care a category four storm caused an estimated one hundred billion dollars in damages and now there are at least eight hundred homes with temporary roofs still needing replacement. as impotent what you call impotence because i don't have the power the power to say look please how much are those when animals here take it. that with an unemployment rate of nine point six percent the lowest in almost thirty years there are signs of economic recovery but the island still has a long way to go the grid is evolving rapidly and threats are changing the country's top energy researchers are agree that energy alone can't move forward without also taking national security into consideration u.s. power systems are potentially vulnerable to large scale impacts from complex threats including disturbances and automatic pulses from my altitude nuclear deal.

nation while national security remains on the forefront of energy technology industry leaders say that finding the most efficient battery storage been able the u.s. to utilize with noble energy at a better capacity at the coachella valley interests waits artsy. over half of all public schools in the u.s. are barely making the grade a d. plus is all they get according to the american society of civil engineers infrastructure report card the document shows fifty three percent of all schools need improvements to reach good condition this includes investments to make repairs renovations and modernization what's especially concerning here is that half of us schools are at least fifty years old and with that comes a number of problems such as poor air quality lead pipes for drinking water and heating and cooling systems failures all these factors can affect the health of

people who use the facilities more than twenty years ago the u.s. government accountability office put out a report that showed that as many as twenty eight million students attended schools with significant structural problems including fifteen thousand schools with unsafe indoor air quality more recently news headlines have featured some massive issues at schools for example philadelphia schools with lead paint flaking from the walls schools in south west virginia that are falling apart and baltimore schools which had to be closed for weeks during the cold months due to failing heating systems with the situation across the country dire at best many were shocked when the president left school's out of the state of the union address earlier this year. when i'm calling on congress to produce a bill that generates at least one point five trillion dollars for the new and structure investment that our country so desperately needs the exemption of school . had nothing to do with forgetfulness but instead seems to be quite deliberate

since congress has historically shot down the idea of giving federal money to public schools usually pushed by the republicans the logic has been that investing in public schools is the responsibility of states and local governments and recently u.s. secretary of education betsy device suggested a european education for americans by merging the department of education and department of labor to reduce the federal footprint in education and make the federal government more responsive to the full range of needs faced by american students and workers right now nearly fifty million kids from kindergarten to grade twelve go to public school each and every school day in america in addition another six million adults are also using the facilities for learning that's almost one hundred thousand schools across the country filled with people young and old looking for an education when you take infrastructure spending into consideration it looks like the people powered future is being neglected schools currently spend

about fifty billion annually on maintenance and operations and another forty nine billion on new school construction and capital development according to a two thousand and sixteen report by the twenty first century school fund the center for green schools and national council on school facilities it would cost roughly one hundred forty five billion annually to maintain and modernize school buildings and this deficit is bound to grow because the number of students is growing between one thousand nine hundred four and two thousand and thirteen the student population grew by nearly five million requiring an additional thirteen thousand k. to twelve schools by two thousand and twenty six in rome and as projected at fifty one point four million students that's about one point five million more than right now with the problem obviously getting bigger and the many recent stories of school woes some are hoping that the president will be persuaded to make an investment in education infrastructure sooner than later reporting for r.t. i'm alex my. which is.

what we took a look at rhodes in a previous episode of the world away argument which is why. you see them all over the roads on highways freeways and squeezing through tight streets with precision often you're probably annoyed when stuck behind one but the reality is trucking is the lifeblood of the u.s. economy around eighty percent of all freight tonnage moved around the us is delivered on trucks around ten and a half billion tons of freight gets trucked all across the country all other modes of transport combined trucking moves everything from the bed you sleep on the car you drive in the food you eat all the way to the clothes on your back valued at

almost one hundred thirty billion dollars in goods per year that's more than four thousand dollars every second traveling on those big rigs trucking is a six hundred fifty billion dollars a year business which is approximately five percent of america's annual g.d.p. and is the most common job in america the number one job for twenty nine states although there are more than three and a half million professional truckers in the united states according to the american trucking associations america is currently still short nearly sixty thousand drivers every year and that driver shortage seems like it's just the beginning projections show that at this rate the demand will grow to a shortage of over one hundred thousand drivers annually in the next five years i talked to steve a celie fox family pavilion scholar at the university of pennsylvania and author of the book the big rig for his take on the industry this shortage has traditionally been confined. to the long haul for hire segment which are really the toughest jobs

out there like the ones i was just describing that you know require you to work seventy eighty ninety hours a week live on the truck for weeks at a time. those jobs of always been tough to sell and now we're starting to see it hard for companies that don't have those kinds of poor working conditions and also low pay. to fill their jobs these are these are talking jobs that have traditionally been very good jobs. sometimes excellent wages and even some of those companies are now having trouble finding skilled experienced drivers the trucking industry not only has demographics working against it but some might argue that technology will eventually kill the profession altogether the white house council of economic advisors published a report in two thousand and sixteen that out that vehicle automation could threaten up to three point three million jobs industry professionals however argue

that trucking will always need a human if for nothing more than ensuring proper functionality and in case of emergencies such as flat tires system failures or the need to recharge batteries on vehicles like tesla's semi autonomous all electric class eight semi were several decades away from you know trucks that are going to be able to drive themselves in urban areas in particular the technology that we're adding so that it will get less intensive let less labor intensive as far as that it take until scale of the driver but what it is doing is adding safety technology by leaps and bounds incorporated into the truck autonomous vehicles it's great they're fun to talk about they've truly are but no matter where you go no matter what autonomous truck you see you generally see a driver seat in a steering wheel which means there's going to be a need for a driver to drive it given that the trucking industry accounts for five percent of the u.s. g.d.p. . just how much is the u.s.

government reciprocating to support the industry dilapidating roads feeling bridges unaccommodating rest in truck stops that are too far and few apart those are just some complaints the drivers say make their already tough jobs even more difficult make no mistake you know our roads and bridges are falling apart and we need infrastructure funding to us to fund those repairs and create a safer environment for not only our truck drivers but everybody that drives on our nation's highways americans will continue to demand products food and other goods and the need to fulfill that demand will never cease no matter the capacity whether as a driver or a systems monitor someone will be needed in the cabin of that thirty five thousand pound machine for decades to come in washington manila chan r.t. . weekday on direct t.v. channel three twenty one dish network channel two eighty or streaming twenty four

seven on pluto t.v. the free t.v. show one thirty two or if you missed the first episode of the infrastructure deficit program you can access it and other boom busting shows at you tube dot com pleasure boom bust archie thanks for being with us and as a truckers might say we'll catch you on the flip flop. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy for indication let it be an arms race based on often scary dramatic development that only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk.

there are one other element that the other part of the club though that that not a lot of the money out of the money that they wouldn't let in germany. this was a good time to. try to move there i'm a mom. known and out loud you know how little money not for north america and our soccer or x. chanting in the hall people we believe just a little bit here. bottom of my kids i live out the marble so johnny will arielle the moment i've got a mother how do it all the kids are there a lot of them on the way to my building looking at the look inside them ownership what are you the most party without all the mother brother.

so you will both be in. your last years does do you know that. the people most of us are not what i mean. i make it was not. really a local superman film he can see as you know he is by you. if you're in the stuff or when they leave you. always see more in their baby when it was in the mud almost nothing to do with many possibilities but while in the most

they will start to feel. as if they will reveal their last two teams through to the semifinals the first clash between england and sweden kicks off things just an hour.

on saturday evening hosts russia are trying to defy the odds once again you know when it takes the battle with croatia in soft you. know jeans to mob boss you probably do to visit us but even if they do believe we should also should look at the release to d.v.d. and in other news the chemical weapons watchdog the old p.c. wu ses no traces of nerve agents have been found at the site to the alleged attack in a row in the syrian city of duma. i know that i. am a. trans demolition of a bedouin village in the west bank has been suspended by news radio called after scuffles between protesters and police when bulldozers moved in on.

a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me making erin. well let's stop and. just talk football first with the world cup in russia now very much at the business end of things there are only two more teams left to we know that last for the first match of saturday has england's pitted against sweden in some bar a party as you know neal is on top of the buildup to the big game and joins me live with the latest you know and so good to see you we haven't seen many england fans at the tournament so far is there enough i don't want on the streets of some are this time. yeah and the thing is it's been over two decades since either england or sweden got to breathe and not burn a fine idea of lust for football so today's quarterfinal has added importance by just talking up the phones you know

a lot of the funds that i've been speaking to today particularly from england didn't come here for the earlier group stage or last sixteen runs but they have been scrambling to try and get their hands on not just a ticket for the game but also a plane or a train ticket so that there are able to come here plenty more funds as well joining me and maybe that was done to you know maybe a media portrayal of russia before the tournament but people have been coming here sending back the reports in an overwhelmingly positive light on more fun is helping trying to get out here at the last minute and it's been it's been good natured banter really you know in the weeks leading up to this game in some are there's been a big lot in american influence with brazil mexico europe why founds here it's been a european feel the last couple of days with a lot of good banter going on more than one occasion i heard some english fans

chanting boycott ikea whenever they saw a yellow jersey walk past them so i decided to catch up with some of the fans myself. while games between these two tend to go down to the wire ticker look at their head to head record eight wins for england seven for sweden and nine draws and with things that are so tight sometimes what makes all the difference is in depth knowledge of the opposition to the bums know about their rival nation we decided to test. for it but some swedish puns with their color shot here in the some morrison is pretty nice first of all isn't it it's very nice for the most part . elizabeth became queen elizabeth in which decade when did she go on to the throne forty. four forty nine hundred forty as you say it is sixty one thousand nine hundred fifty which decade when you're.

seventy four look at the right are the blocky the population of sweetness a little bit smaller than yourselves. for twenty years. i mean final answer. if you kept your nerve and you did write ten million. what is the population of england around seventy million sixty six. teamwork i got there in the end in one thousand nine hundred eight and youngest ever scorer against argentina remember the one who scored it. michael. and we go on we got it what was sweden's highest ever finish a world cup their best place. in fifty. but

he had. fun. and i would say that was a goal so there you have the supporters of the three take care team followed suit on the pitch not long to find you know r.t. some are. yes some clued in i have to admit just an aside a lot of the foreign funds they actually spoke to were german now if they had their group in the group stages to finish bottom instead of sweden. it would have been them of course coming here so maybe that's why they had all their quarter final tickets ready for some aren't. and just before i go i notified the stadium that all these people behind me are streaming to the somare arena this is the last game of six matches that the city is hosting but people the locals here won't have to wait too long to see football because truly a salviati off the side from some are very bach in the premier league of next year

will be playing football at the end of this month it becomes the cosmos arena sue plenty more for still to come. thanks for that you know looking forward to speaking to you more as that match and it draws near i you know neal for now insta mara thank you very much well as we've seen some very dedicated football fans out that one angle and fun in particular spencer and he's been documenting his world cup journey and russia and sharing it with his almost two million you to follow as well we caught up with him ahead of the game to find out whether the tournament helped debug some stereotypes about russia even myself i didn't wear i wore the game but i didn't wear the first day out because we weren't sure what to expect i'll be honest i had some of the same thoughts in my head we'd been told for example every single person all told i was going to russia for the world cup in the buildup to this said the same thing are you worried are you worried that i'll go and listen and within a few hours i feel very at home it's been fantastic you know we've had absolutely

zero issues whatsoever i say to anyone at home that still trying has the ability to get out disappointment before it might be too late been fantastic these challenges were probably maybe there's some before we get i was hoping court follows that we where i think we should have got to anything now and on top of that is a bonus right so because of the fact that we've got this route you know this route to the final which seems easy but i say seems like it's cheap. but nine pm local time in sochi croatia go head to head with host nation russia with millions of fans across the country praying to keep the world cup dream alive and both nations have reached the quarter final loss to incredible penalty shootouts croatia are one of the tournament favorite soft a thrashing argentina in the group stage but russia are riding high on the new found wave of confidence off to that miracle win against the superstars of spain

team russia in the quarter finals performing something just short of the miracle giving the fight to the mighty strain and eventually knocking it right out of the tournament that night russian fans rule. that. little boy became a thing after the two saved by the russian goalkeeper eagerly can achieve in the final penalty shootout degree can fav himself already a star here at home became an even bigger internet celebrity at the time.

also drawing attention of course russia's head coach but he took the spotlight not only with these managing decisions and he's managing style but also with his emotions or rather the lack of them i should say a hint of a smile and a reserve of the pulled fists in triumph this is all that he allowed himself on the pitch. churches have some astonishing. become known here in russia has them a stash of hope another symbol for russian fans he's russia's traditional headwear caution so here in central moscow in the hearts of the football fever i decided to familiarize fans of other national teams with these new features of the russian found culture. to know that russia's traditional element of headwear. is in the. winter hat world.

with the bald guy a bald guy i have no idea i have no idea if. that's the trick is that the fuck up i have this. you know what it is. it's this really yeah it is actually this isn't done for girls it's called a cautionary bush yes question it right on have you ever wanted to become a russian. who.