memes appear on the frontline and the information war as the u.s. senate intelligence committee looks for ways to counter influence campaign spearheaded by foreign powers we got reaction from russia's foreign ministry to the latest concerns on capitol hill a lot of pride pride related content less news more memes. your speech it's just hilarious when i hear that funny pictures come to mind american democracy. nato develops a game to teach players how to spot fake news the critics say it's simply a propaganda tool. refugees in jordan are being required to hand over biometric data in order to gain access to aid and food journalist from the redfish group investigate the ethical concerns around the practice. fundamental

principle but. it isn't for. the remember that we couldn't do it without. the bill and german sportswear giant adidas says it will no longer work with the iranian football federation just a month after rival mike you did the say. a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at r t h q in moscow thanks for joining us this hour the u.s. senate intelligence committee met on wednesday to talk about the threats posed by misinformation campaigns on by foreign states and one issue of particular concern seemed to be the supposed invasion of social media by russian memes russia's foreign minister reacted by dismissing the discussions as absurd.

it's just hilarious when i hear that funny pictures can undermine american democracy i think that it's just paranoia that goes off the scale it's not respectable for american lawmakers to make a sensation out of nothing we're the ones who invented social media when all the ones who insisted on making social media open to everybody so those who are sitting there and do you see talking russian meddling over and over are certain that the russians are carrying on with their attempts to undermine u.s. democracy and they're saying now they have a new target the midterm elections in america in twenty and we're also hearing that moscow is not only using the traditional ways through facebook or twitter but also all kinds of other platforms the likes of reddit or pinterest where they post more and more russian made main. cyber attacks were made and were made up or part of moscow's personal content is created tested and

posted on top form such as you tube read it and rest it's pushed to twitter and facebook with their standing audiences in the hundreds of millions and it's targeted at the most receptive this is a problem of the entire information ecosystem this is cross-platform reddit came from hundreds of ira created accounts tumblr did it. a lot of pride pride related content less news more means this isn't just a couple of platforms this is music apps this is video games this is me it's much broader than twitter and google more conclusions from the experts they are saying that russia is inspiring controversy across the u.s. on various issues like immigration gun control democrats versus republicans to cut the long story short every issue that the americans have divisions about what's really lacking at these hearings though is that. as usual i should say solid

evidence that there is a system that it is controlled and backed by the russian government and that the scale of it is large enough to really take this mean meddling menace seriously. you can now get help learning how to navigate through online fake news from an unlikely source nato has launched a facebook game to teach people how to sort fact from fiction and associates tried her hand at it. welcome to nato's new online weapon against misinformation it's the news here oh i promised myself to report only the truth join me on my quest to filter the news some of the headlines about the game might imply that it's developers have a bone to pick with russia but on closer inspection it seems it doesn't have that much russian fake news to decipher you might have thought that needle's lot fear based strategic communications center of excellence could dig up something better especially given the lengths it went to last year trying to prove that russian t.v.

comedy was really an undercover propaganda machine and of course there is nato's deep seated suspicion of all things russian we don't accept. we will not counter. we more. we have to be able to counter this information with facts but to me those new virtual reality world passions seem slightly more subdued you enter a rather suspiciously empty and slow paced news room where you are the news editor in charge of deciding which reports are real and which are not by clicking on a folder with news stories in it a company wide repetitive elevator music. it's not yet clear how successful the game is and fighting fake news since you have to collect enough likes to be considered a viral success and so far it's had mixed reviews getting an a for effort from some users but dismissed as

a propaganda tool by others all you need to enjoy the game is a facebook account and sign off your facebook info to the alliance in the process i say check it out r.t. london. twitter has also found itself at the center of the debate over censorship the latest controversy comes after it suspended austin pearson a republican candidate in the u.s. state of missouri senate race for what it described as abusive behavior. peterson received a twelve hour ban after he responded to an accusation linking campaign funding was alleged russian hacking pearson posted this gift of former soviet leader joseph stalin as a reply to his critics some users then flagged the post as offensive and it was then deemed to have violated the platform's rules even though the image actually came from twitter's own collection and appears first honest database when you type stalin but twitter is holding firm that that spam was not a mistake it claims peterson's reply as amounted to a targeted harassment and could be seen as an attempt to silence voices on the

platform that austin petersen believes using the stolen image was not the main reason he was suspended to read different e-mails were sent to me about this saying that i had not done anything wrong mysteriously two days later the band was issued it almost seems as though something had gone on behind the scenes and that this would this was an attempt to suppress my speech during a critical election and it is quite ironic because my response was a was a picture of joseph stalin which was meant to be humorous saying off the gulag and then of course they mass reported me as if i have access to a gulag here in the state of missouri that i could that could be a credible threat peterson's ban came as twitter assembled a special research group to combat prejudice and promote what it defines as collective health and openness the new team is yet to get to work but it's already been accused of a strong bias. thank

you why don't we need you from john and. something tells me you will suddenly start seeing more republicans in congress testing the waters and pushing back against thanks. chumps twenty sixteen digital team and cambridge analysts we can to help the russians figure out who to tell gates their fate he's campaigned on facebook. the team will work on algorithms to root out incivility and intolerance on twitter and assess the extent to which people engage with different viewpoints but also peterson again believes the platte formes making a concert concerted effort to censor particular ideas and talking points we don't have free speech in the united states in order to be able to discuss the whether we have free speech in the united states or that we can discuss very controversial

things i don't mind if a social media network has a bias i assume a bias but what i prefer is transparency about that bias twitter suppresses conservative and libertarian voices from being able to get their message out because they have a bias and it's deeply disturbing at a threat to american democracy. concerns are being raised over the use of iris scanning technology as a means of unlocking aid for refugees in jordan it's here that should their biometric data get into the wrong hands the refugees may find themselves the targets of foreign governments and intelligence agencies the redfish group went to investigate. really. using the body parts is extremely basic in two thousand and thirteen the un announced its partnership with british jordanian ira spying metrics company ira scored they began rolling out and i respect ignition and payment system that meant

refugees could withdraw money and shop with the blink of an eye refugees jordan's two biggest camps. have to biometrically register their irises in order to receive a fundamental principle that we go by is informed consent. for iris guard to deal meant access to millions of refugees huge market to try looks technology and while it gives the technology to the un for free iris garri make a cool one percent from every transaction made via its ip system which could explain why bankers goldman sachs recently invested an undisclosed sum in iris card companies like goldman sachs making on the heels with ira scored who are in charge of both the refugees transaction iris guard was called founded by one of jordan's

wealthiest families including from buster. on their advisory board you've got none other than x. national security advisor to george w. bush. former head of m i six richard dear love both of whom are advocates of the war in iraq when i think of what it's like they are guinea pigs. this is just. the fact that the boys are kind of relation with people from. this team that took part in the war and is more than. a speaker. i had a heated exchange about this with the c.e.o. of ira scarred with dealing with a highly secured to common use we would be idiots if we do not ask people who are professionals and if you are their professionals i don't want to force you out you are asking me about your political question from town some understandable fuck if we get involved in any political statements we are not making any statements for

you to use these i agree to do you suffer because you are among political company we have it work in the market and political i understand but they are not political do you understand you do understand that they understand security or basically the creators of the software and hardware iris guard are the only ones who know how it works and we just have to take their word for. the collection of iris scans and biometric data isn't new but using refugees that have no real choice but to hand over their information in exchange for receiving aid on this scale is unprecedented and as yet there remain many unanswered questions is the text safe is it secure who has access to it and who benefit could it be that's what started as a forced experiment on refugees injured being in camps could soon be coming to an or a.t.m. near you. the

u.n. refugee agency a senior field coordinator in amman says that he is confident the refugees data is secure and that the biometric system ensures aid goes to the intended person he says only the u.n. h.c.r. house the second half of the encryption key that would be needed to view an individual's data we asked the iris guard advisory board to comment on the findings of the redfish report but they didn't immediately get back to us all goldman sachs' told us it has nothing else to add up. on the way in the program another major sports where firms calling time on supplying iran's athletes and germany's being called to account for an african genocide a century ago those stories after a short break.

became a camera. run through the list that showed some need for them. to videos and so on with the rookies stirring it. down more on string i don't rightly don't t.v. . you know world of big partisan lot and conspiracies it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks.

welcome back to the program sports where firms seem to be losing their appetite for the iranian market was germany's adidas now saying it will no longer work with the national football federation the decisions thought to stem from the u.s. sanctions against tehran quarter has the details. one by one business giants are cutting ties with iran and the latest is german sportswear company id to us the company said it's no longer going to do business with the iranian national football team and that didn't exactly go down well with tehran. given the improper and in the chorus step taken by added s.a.g. with regards the sacred name of deer around on its website it is necessary to take prompt punitive measures against such conduct the violates human rights and signed a contract with an alternative prior to the start of the asian football

confederation asian cup we took to the streets of tehran to find out what iranians think about us as decision the slogan is nothing is impossible what they did is prove that they contradict their own slogan i believe what they did belittle the football federation first of all i believe there is no need for us to introduce politics into sport it is a nasty thing to do there is no sense in a country like the us or any other country trying to enforce this quite the contrary it is they who should worry that they have lost their way to good market we asked us to comment on the reasons for the decision but they declined to give any details the company's move comes hot on the heels of nike's decision not to sell football boots to the iranian world cup team but the iranians played admirably at the world cup and its supporters took to ridiculing nike's model.

unlike with nike his motives for leaving the iranian national team without any gear were quite clear they just couldn't do it and they fell in line with u.s. sanctions without much of a fight. u.s. sanctions mean that as a u.s. company knight cannot supply shoes to players in the iranian national team at this time sanctions applicable to nyc have been in place for many years and are enforceable by along with the u.s. threatening further sanctions even more american and european companies appear unwilling to deal with iran and that's despite the fact that since the trump administration sanctions announcement e.u. officials pledge to support and protect european businesses create a new job will put to work as the european commission we have the duty to protect

european companies so we know me to act the law. we are determined to fight so that the decisions taken by the united states have no repercussions for the french businesses that invest and have invested in iran top e.u. officials even wrote a letter pleading with the u.s. to exclude european companies from the penalties in the state department's response it's our way or the highway we are asking every nation every nation who is sick and tired of this one republican destructive behavior to join our pressure campaign this is specially goes for our allies in the middle east and europe easy for him to say especially when many are saying the e.u. will bear the economic brunt of cutting off ties with iran but for now it remains to be seen whether impossible is truly nothing for the block. the russian defense ministry is calling on the u.s. to dismantle a refugee camp in southern syria which it says is being used as a hiding place by islamic state militants moscow has also said it wants washington

to shut down a military base located close to the camp we spoke to russia's envoy to syria about the security situation there. the status of the. there are only two areas where i saw minutes insisting quite active although there are not many of them first of all in a fifty five kilometer long area that's controlled by the u.s. . is located there around sixty thousand people live. now there are many i saw militants who were there under the guise of refugees my personal opinion is that the americans have got themselves into a deadlock a trout that they're not always told is fighting against i so it turns out i saw militants also settled in this area there one thousand seven hundred of them and they can occupy the us military base within hours maybe days another place where i saw militants are quite active although there are not many of them but maybe want to see thousand people is located on the syrian right on the eastern bank of the fraser river which is controlled by the. to jerusalem now where forty six

ultra-orthodox jews have been arrested while blocking a road to protest a detention every draft dodging religious student. i. was. as you just saw police use water cannon to disperse the crowd of activists that led to skirmishes in which one officer was injured has reportedly been taken to the hospital israeli ultra-orthodox community often protest against the draft of young men while they are studying in religious colleges although they are generally given exemptions they can be called up if they fail to signed up for all forms of the jerusalem faction which was behind this thursday seven straight as opposed to all military service. two tribes in namibia in

south west africa are attempting to sue would germany they're seeking compensation and official apologies for the genocide committed by germans over one hundred years ago and he has the story. germany still shows signs of its dark imperial past this is looted it's to us or names off to adult knew that it has stopped the very first colony german southwest africa also known as namibia in the early one nine hundred stemmons that's less violent bases learned from local citizens leading to one of the centrist west genocides. the heroin the nation must now leave the country if it refuses to show compelled to do so with a long view and a hero found inside the german frontier with or without the gun or cattle will be

executed i shall spare me the women not children. today as hereright unama communities still mourn the deaths of the eighty thousand people were slaughtered is that data length of the german government to pay for the crimes committed you know what people are to commit holocaust. and then you simply claim to be sixty eight on the jews. in europe in the new the british. and because we didn't contribute a different skin color of. the german government you see for us.

it's only. in apology. in the to. even the apology came a century lace with german economic cooperation and development minister close to tears when she spoke about it in two thousand and four. we germans acknowledge our historical political moral and ethical responsibility and the guilt the germans brought upon themselves but the government stepped in saying the minister was speaking as a private citizen and not representing jamie's position it took over a decade more for ben into officially acknowledged the crimes of the past the war of extermination in the media from nine hundred forty nine when i was a war crime and genocide maybe has received hundreds of thousands of euros from germany perhaps a sort of in direct way of compensation but that's not enough that the tribes last year america and now my representatives filed

a lawsuit in new york saying they wanted to be part of the official talks between germany and the maybe a saying it was the only way to ensure justice what happened in south africa was a genocide. a violation of the law and germany is not. really. completely held accountable just unique in the sense that you can find it in extermination order that just issued by germany. to the extent meaning it's that means there will be historians to say just look at the mix they will make a difference of this case he's legally delete even if they win it might encourage other indigenous groups to take action against format european colonial overlords which could see the likes of britain france on the netherlands pay a high price to posturings finishes at the bell and. that's a wrap up of the day's top headlines for now and that's all for me as well but

we're not my colleague you know neal will be here at the top of the hour with your global news update as always thanks for tuning in. russia is one of the countries that most buy capacity and all the very high population does that mean russia does need to be concerned about sustainability i would say yes absolutely you are no lucky situation where you have a lot of farm per person so to say you know you have a lot of wealth ecological wealth and but the word is very scarce so that's a huge economic advantage as well and saying wow this is an amazing farm let's look after it well because that's said that will enable us to live well in the long run . six times as financial

survival. when customers go find your discipline. in elf well read you some lower. that's undercutting not what's good for food markets it's not good for the global economy. but it was supposed to some of us that was. just bullshit. last time we chased. each one of carrying twenty kilos of drugs. first offense. who knows that they just stepped. in it through

whatever means. they have insisted this is for me. i don't know maybe they'll get a. break. now . right now we're also starting to drive guests to the studio house a signal. to. the slowing to talk about the no fly list just reviewed right after the mars explorers one knew it would have their own unique.

record. to say. the. ok let's room welcome to sophie until i'm so busy shevardnadze said today we're got lots to talk about in our program and our guests who've the rock little. greetings and salutation. the u.s.

economy is booming hawk watchers yes that is at least that's what we've been told these last few months over and over and over again headline after headline talking head after talking had from the wall street journal to forbes to c n b c even the white house has been trumpeting the u.s. economy declaring on its web site quote jobs jobs jobs the american economy is booming but buried underneath all those bold headlines and talking head fawning something feels i don't know something is feels a little off because while the economy booms for some we are also seeing some very disturbing trends and things that we don't like to talk about at parties like the news that a homeless census in seattle washington recently uncovered the number of people residing in campers and other vehicles surged forty six percent over the past year in fact according to governing dot com americans living out of their cars isn't

unique to just the city of seattle washington matty quinn reports that there's been a boom in vehicular homelessness especially out on our lovely left coast where rents some skyrocketed in the number of homeless people who don't live in shelters is up twenty thousand from twenty seventeen but with more and more u.s. citizens being forced to live out of their cars due to increasing rent heavy debt low wages and an affordable cost of living one of they going to do when the national law center on homelessness and poverty is reporting that across the country the number of prohibitions against vehicle residency has more than doubled during the last decade. it appears that the ghost of tom joad still haunts the american highways and cities as we start watching the hawks. get the.