good. good good food russia sharing goodness. islamic state claims responsibility for a string of devastating terror attacks in southwestern syria plus. there is still some fear it's possible for groups of militants to go into houses and sluice entire families in neighboring iraq islamic state also ramps up its territory as a government security adviser admits the media is staying quiet on the increased violence to prevent panic the number feisal kidnappings since may now the special forces do not have enough resources to hunt the militants down is they're hiding out some remote mountainous areas. also this hour an acting agency looks to stage with protesters against the qatari amir's visit to the u.k. and the gulf states activity and. this is going. to be.

the french president goes on a trump like tirade against the media over its handling of the scandal involving his top security aide. this is our to international coming to you live from the russian capital with me welcome to the program. we start with breaking news from syria medics in the southwestern city of psuedo have told r.t. that the number of people killed in a series of terror attacks by islamic state has now risen to almost one hundred and fifty damascus based journalist muhammad ali has the details but happened was that there were several suicide bombers that attacked infiltrated first the city off its way to and then the first suicide bomber blew himself up inside

a very crowded area it is actually a popular crowded market in the middle of the over there and this is why the number of those who have been killed is high then there were two other suicide bomber. chased down by the syrian security forces inside swayed the quarters and neighborhoods they were killed before they can blow themselves up this is regarding guess where the city itself and the suicide bombings but coinciding with those bombings there was also a ground attack by terrorists on various parts of the countryside of posts where the poor villages in the north and to villages in the east and those attacks were also for been repelled by the syrian army and according to locals also with the cooperation of the people and the residents of those areas in general if we look at the reasons behind such an attack at this time it's because the syrian army is launching an offensive against dies in particularly in the southern part of syria particularly inside the country side of this where that also and yet moves valley northwest of that are they are the army has been carrying out its military

operations against dies and recently there have been advance of significant advances for the syrian government forces over their course backed by russian air force all of the province is now secured except for about less than six percent which is on now under the control of the action the army is aiming to secure there are also some areas some small towns and villages that the army is working on securing whether militarily or via reconciliation deals meanwhile i still appears to be on the rebound in neighboring iraq with its fighters launching a guerrilla campaign of kidnapping and killing seven months after the iraqi prime minister declared victory over the group a security advisor to the government told us that the number of terror attacks in the country doubled from may to june. and. in junior high school militants steps up their activity according to government data there were eighty three cases where the inducted in killed civilians that's twice the number in me when i still had been devastated by the government military crackdown we've asked the iraqi ministry for internal affairs for comment or breathe

a response when we get it right garcia of looks now at the changing nature of the terror threat in iraq and the tactics being employed by research and i saw it took very nearly the entire world united to defeat isis caliphate didn't syria and iraq they did it they destroyed the caliphate albeit at a huge cost and claim victory some more proclaiming than others coalition to defeat isis has liberated very close to one hundred percent of the territory will do a great job with those as we have just absolutely decimated i was just absolutely obliterated isis in iraq a case of celebrating a little early isis was never beaten and they lost the battles but the war's far from over they've gone back to basics hidden run raids sasa nations

insurgency terror but. there is still some fear it's possible for groups of militants to go into houses and slaughter entire families if you are there you are probably not want to stay if i were to go back who would protect me and my family they would just come over and slaughter us and forces in the camp to protect their lives. in iraq isis has gone underground this area of iraq has colloquially become known as the triangle of death because of this new insurgency. they operate in small groups half a dozen jarvis that moves making it incredibly difficult to track them down. because remember there are still a few i saw a sleeper cells hidden in places such as the desert the forests on the islands of the river and among civilians few sleeper cells doesn't do it justice kidnappings killings have sawed as much as ten fold in just

a few months and iraqi government advisor told us they target officials plan bombs set up fake roadblocks and murder will then vanish sometimes with prisoners. the families children of these soldiers that were kidnapped by isis begged the government for help to find whoever kidnapped them to secure their release anything they got nothing on those are the men who protected the prime minister the minister of health and many other things this is their reward for this service been dumped here on the floor. some of the hostages were found dead and their bodies mutilated likely tortured before death and their corpses rigged with explosives and the government's afraid that fraid of people finding out how bad

it's becoming you know how the. iraqi state media is staying silent about the kidnapping so as not to spread panic can hinder the government's rescue the number of ice or kidnappings the search since may be another special forces do not have enough resources to hundred militants down and that is they're hiding out some remote mountainous areas i still have managed to find sources of funding in the so-called triangle of death they terrorize the locals hundreds of villages in that area have been depopulated now the terrorists use them as military bases jails and commando units iraq is a crossroads it learned to level the cities to defeat isis caliph it but that doesn't work anymore isis is an idea of zealotry fanaticism it's also an outlet for desperation for violence for blood and ideas the hardest of all to kill. a man your mccrum

has lashed out at france's media overthe handling of the scandal involving the president's top security aide that's after the french leader said he was taking responsibility for his bodyguard attacking a protester day when he picks up the story. well in the last week french media has been in a complete frenzy over this scandal which emerged involving top security aide alexander. well banal has since been sacked and on tuesday we heard for the first time what president much more made of he said to a group of his deputies of love of public amash. him that he and only he

was playing the same thing and then later blame the press in the way that they covered this story essentially saying that the press and commentators were acting like the judiciary not looking to seek out the truth so we have media that no longer seeks the truth the images are they showing with the designs on cover the truth to present facts in a balanced manner. i see media powers he want to become judicial ones well we know the president might call on the president of the united states have been pretty chummy for a long time but it seems now that president michael might be taking a leaf from his books in the way that he deals with the mainstream media we know that donald trump has been at war with the mainstream media since before he was even elected interest they could use i don't take questions from i'm against the people that make up stories the level of dishonesty is out of control very think

the fake news those who want to talk about a buzz feed which is a failing pile of garbage writing it i think they're going to suffer the consequences i'm not going to give you a question you are fake well some may think it's not the best idea for a present to follow in the footsteps of. president trump and we also know that president michael's approval ratings have dropped since this scandal emerged now the russian media and he's long been familiar with criticism and being under fire from president might go on but it now seems that that fire and that criticism is extending out to all media outlets in france and elizabeth who's a columnist for britain's the sunday telegraph believes mccrone is trying to shift the blame despite taking responsibility reverts to the usual attitude of politicians when they are caught on something too late and he accuses the media that existed before trying. to hold the deduction from from we've seen this before

it's not especially trump's bush specialty so we can expect something to do this government but this certainly is the first time that this government has taken a wrong foot chewed in the media spin situation up till now they did very well the media love them and they just let this. for a week and that's completely uncharacteristic of. over to the u.k. now where it has emerged a casting agency has offered money to extras to take part in a fake anti qatar protest the event was scheduled to coincide with the meeting between the qatari mir and the british prime minister to get more on the story let's cross live to our daniel hawkins you know what are the details behind this paid protest attempt. well protests against the visiting heads of states are nothing new in the u.k. of course just look at the recent trip by donald trump for example fake protests paid demonstrators and mysterious p.r.

firms there are something very different and that's what's really attracted some attention and indignation here in the u.k. over the last couple of days how did it begin casting agency x. people sent an e-mail to their members offering them a job simply left turn up to downing street take part in a fake protest don't say or do anything just fill up space as the e-mail said twenty pounds and you'll be done by twelve thirty that was the e-mail sent out between three and five hundred people were needed to make this protest against the visit of qatari emir to membrane how much wealth on the outside downing street as the media attention began to grow and social media speculation was rife because the agency took back this job offer saying it had been a mistake and reconsidered and it would not be involved in such an event they said who was behind this was a client called neptune p r which had requested five hundred people to turn up and act as protesters now enter next june p.r. at least somebody pertaining to be them they tweeted saying that they had denied

making any such request to x. two x. rays people or ever having involved contacted them stating that they would take legal action should these words not be taken back now this is very odd given that the twitter profile of this alleged p.r. company neptune p.r. was very new as was the company itself the tweet as you can see there was rife with grammatical errors and indeed the web site of this p.r. company was suspiciously empty. extras then public replied they showed allegedly a screenshot of an email conversation with this p.r. firm that simply are. which gave them the billing address for these services stating that the rest of the conversation was with their lawyers. now this really gave more questions than answers of course this all comes against the backdrop of tension between. qatar and its gulf state neighbors egypt saudi arabia the u.a.e.

. they've imposed a land there and sea blockade on the gulf state citing funding for terrorism coming from qatar qatar and other hand of accuse those states of bullying and seeking to stoke the funds of a fan the flames rather of a conflict now speculation will no doubt grow that this has something to do with that visit and with those the provider tensions although given how little of the nation is available about this mysterious p.r. firm and just how this whole event turned around something quite unusual of course for the u.k. will no doubt keep people guessing as more information comes to light. daniel hawkins thank you for the update. the president of the european commission meets donald trump later today in washington but it's not expected to be an easy meeting with john klobuchar ready to stand firm on brussels tariffs and trade barriers they came into place after america slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum coming from the

bloc prompting the e.u. to respond with like for like measures and right before the meeting trump gave some insight on the current state of global trade negotiations tariffs of the greatest either a country which is the united states unfairly on trade negotiator a fair deal where he gets hit with tariffs it's as simple as that and everybody's talking remember we the people in this being rocked or will be great now the trade standoff hasn't exactly helped create a friendly vibe trumpet as far as calling the e.u. commission chief a brutal killer while describing europe as an economic fellow and you had some harsh words of his own. trump told me last week. you are a brutal killer but it is the first time that luxembourg has become a threat to the united states of america he meant that i think as a complement even though i cannot be sure. so now we will also impose import tariffs this is basically a stupid process the fact that we have to do this but we have to do it we will not

impose tariffs on motorcycles davidson's on blue jeans levis on bourbon we can also do stupid we also have to be this stupid. except that it can't be imposed unilateral measures when it comes to. create. now mr younger is looking for inspiration before his meeting with donald trump it could lead to some of the european leaders who have already met with the u.s. president. but obviously if we can just rely on the superpower of the united states what is natural for many decades the united states of america has a record for the whole world. is no longer the truth in the future. i. think you really want to see if they can work something out that we do work it

out that will be positive and if we don't it will be positive also if we don't know what you think about those cars or foreign help us out of it.

more global news after a short break. the pleasures pause is guaranteed returns that is being abused by the crooks are guaranteed to shovel it a lot of toxic garbage that is ending up is a guaranteed job because at the end of the day a lot of these pension accounts not being cut back people who think that they had a pension are being told is being run out of pressure anymore you're now flat broke you have to go out in the street and beg for money go get addicted to heroin we don't want you anymore drop dead.

seems wrong oh oh just don't hold. the world to shame power. comes out to. end in gains from an equal trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart. to look for common ground. welcome back to the program the u.s. senate has revealed this year's defense policy a bill that puts conditions on u.s. arms sales to saudi arabia for their operation in yemen it once reassurances from saudi arabia that it will do everything to end the yemeni civil war and eliminate

civilian deaths but explains there are ways around the policy. now at first glance it actually looks like washington is starting to distance itself from saudi arabia's war in yemen as washington scrambles over amendments to the new defense bill the secretary of state would have to certify to congress that the saudi coalition is undertaking efforts to end the civil war and reduce the risk of harm to civilians. without the set's vacation the united states would be banned from refueling saudi coalition aircraft for missions exclusively focused on the civil war some media outlets are all over it but listen to the language undertaking efforts to end the civil war now that's a clever way of shielding themselves from criticism and allowing any real efforts to measure their progress now the saudis have been saying the same thing for some time now that they are taking measures to cease the conflict and they've also been playing the mercy card they've actually donated a billion dollars to the united nations for relief in yemen but that's help for the

very same country they've been bombing for over three years with civilians dying by the thousands. to. get. the thing is under u.s. arms control policy it's illegal to export arms to countries that target civilians well not anymore one word changes everything now the white house says it is legal to sell weapons to countries as long as they don't intentionally target civilians but when has it ever been intentional. and while the defense spending bill is being discussed the saudis already bagged

themselves a new contract lockheed martin just signed a deal worth four hundred fifty million dollars all in the name of global security the deal will see saudi arabia acquire full surface combatants of possible agreement with the u.s. to improve global security and support economic progress this is nothing other than a temp. by congress to put lipstick on the pig in other words to make something that's gross and awful and illegal and immoral and go to make it look as if it's either better or getting better or the us congress people the elected officials don't want to embrace full responsibility now as congress debates this year's military spending bill including some vague language about saudi arabia the weapons deals just keep rolling in with the lives of civilians in yemen caught in the middle caleb r.t. new york the saudi led coalition started its bombing campaign against yemen in two

thousand and fifteen against who the rebels the coalition has conducted thousands of air strikes and some have hit civilian areas however they always deny doing that intentionally saudi arabia says that with the rebels pose a threat to its borders. and the vote count is underway in pakistan's general election unofficial results from various regions are already being announced by local media a picture will start to emerge of who's leading overall in the coming hours the vote has been marred by violence despite up to eight hundred thousand police and military personnel deployed across polling stations at least thirty one people were killed in a suicide attack in the outskirts of the western city of quetta there one point station islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack millions of pakistanis have been out to vote for the next government. there are three candidates running for the election the first sharif who has promised voters he will attract investment from china and create one hundred thousand more jobs while

both the dari is campaigning on finding a solution to the clean drinking water problem in the country and providing broader social benefits for everyone the third is opposition candidate and former cricket star am wrong come on he is hoping to introduce drastic change in pakistan to create a model islamic welfare state the main to target of that is to tackle widespread unemployment and provide new housing on a large scale khan's poked r t earlier about issues pakistan is facing. it is probably the biggest crisis the financial crisis never was there such a fiscal deficit never was this such a huge trade deficit and never would the institutions in such a bad state as that in pakistan the way forward is immediate reformation or for students to sions of a lot of regulators for financial regulators of the corruption ward watchdog.

we need peace stability we need good relations and we certainly do need good relationship with the u.s. u.s. is a superpower cannot be ignored unfortunately our relationship has been very one sided in the past the relationship has been whether you were us as used by august and as a hired gun so we are paid to do their work you know to to fight their war the u.s. has looked upon pakistan as an ally or once point and then as an enemy had the same tone so it's the only time in history i can recall where and like bombing its ally i mean the drawings were bombing killing pakistani pakistani people. across live not a job in iran a local journalist and political analyst welcome to the program who do you expect to win this election. well it is hard to predict

a bad going by the time that exists on the ground the local media has been uprooting they are reporting that up to ninety a seats the trend is the party of non-con is winning not the five to fifteen percent of the turtle counting so it would be premature to predict that he is going to win but the term certainly is that he may win and the projections previously rather that he is unlikely to win the most of the season after national shame which is the federal parliament and remember that he has already governing in the northwest of parks and the region battling with of other stuff there are of course coming from that part ass pakistan suggesting that the coming days of the p.t.i. the party of the radical doubt of a new found dead that region and then from the southern part of pakistan which is in palin's pakistan people's party after a fabulous

a signator pam sabean's is the trend is the people spot is going in from there in time job which is the biggest province of pakistan for almost sixty percent of the entire population but is a neck to neck and petition between a phenomenon and b m l m f one a family time mr ignatieff who has been jailed on many bombing charges and basically it was a complaint by abramoff and against him as a result of which he is now suffering languishing in jail so there is an interesting situation developing in pakistan if the time continues then there's a greater possibility that the manhunts party is likely to remain but obviously there is a stronger possibility of also that he will have to have some a father finds a new alliance elaph to have some some coalition government with a smaller groups but again this is just premature and we don't know at this particular point. as to which particular party is going to win these are just an

issue a sense which is as just fifty. which is just five to fifty percent so let's see what's going to happen well tomorrow i'll think the situation would become a better model in my memory. did one candidate in particular really appeal to the pakistani people in the run up to the election. did one candidate in particular really appeal to the pakistani population at large in the run up to the election well if you are seeing the. have been appealing for the work. they have been asking for this critical parties i've been asking for root but. agenda for many whereas. some to do that because at least just because they want to bring

fundamental to this impact a sound system particularly didn't want to get rid of corruption and i think that was the reason the petition of a man who was accepted by the highest court of pakistan and he was first disqualified and literally he was convicted on monday morning which i've just read is going to happen but it appears the term is obviously the fact that the ban cost party is going to remain his manifesto probably has got to quit among the people java drama local journalist and political analyst thank you so much for your time that's a wrap up of the day's top news and that's all for me as well but my colleague you know neil will be here at the top of the hour as always thanks for tuning in. greetings and sal you take this. in the ever changing world of pop culture two

thousand and eighteen will go down in the history books as one of the standout years in the new renaissance of black culture like a phoenix rising out of the ashes galvanized by the black lives matter movement black artists entertainers and political figures have been dominating the headlines and box offices like no other time before starting with the global box office supernova was black panther even before its release last february the growing buzz around the film was deafening featuring that rarest of rare in hollywood a major studio film made with a predominantly black cast and crew black panther broke down barriers and defeated expectations delivering a hero's journey to a marginalized movie going audience so often resigned to seeing the characters that look like them cast as the sidekick or comic relief to the white character in the lead role but it wasn't just the movie screens that were showcasing the new black rock.