headline story u.s. national security and intelligence chiefs doubled in on trying to tackle alleged foreign interference those jitters for the upcoming midterm elections. coming up refugees in jordan are being required to go for a biometric data in order to gain access to a. journalist from the redfish group investigate the ethical concerns around the practice fundamental principle that we would go and film clips. from the. nato develops a game to teach players how it's a sport but critics say it's simply a propaganda tool.

every hour of every day this is r t international welcome to the program and in the top story u.s. security and intelligence chiefs been putting on a united front up the white house to reassert their suspicions that russia is currently meddling in the upcoming midterm elections with more here's. one by one the various security chiefs took to the podium at the white house we heard from general paul neka son of the u.s. cyber command christopher ray the head of the f.b.i. dan coats the director of national intelligence as well as kirsten nielsen who is the secretary of homeland security now one by one they spoke with they all kind of seem to repeat the same kind of message this is the security chiefs making their allegations. our democracy itself is in the crosshairs paid by russia to try

to weaken and divide the united states' threat is not going away to prevent foreign interference in our elections to prevent russian and other foreign influence and the russians try to hack into and steal information candidates and government officials alike cyber attacks against voting infrastructure along with computer intrusions malicious cyber actors targeting like the officials that goes beyond the elections it goes to russia's intent to undermine our democratic values we've heard the head of the n.s.a. come out and say that the u.s. government is prepared to engage in special operations to counter russian influence in the upcoming elections now dan coats the director of national intelligence he was pressed to give specifics related to allegations regarding hacking and and other specific allegations about somehow russia possibly influencing the election

this is how he responded you give us a better sense of who specifically targeted we know the senators have said that they've been targeted by hacking by people person in the government. or the senate members of the house is it democratic or republican campaigns but we follow procedure this pedigree that. some time ago in terms of when we. receive this type of information it is processed through the leadership of the respective house or chamber the senate chamber and then disseminated down to the individual member who was who was targeted so we have taken that actions that is in place but i'm not in a position right now to release these things these allegations that we recently heard are not that different than what we really heard many times since the twenty sixteen presidential election especially in the last few months russia is accused

of somehow influencing the minds of american people via social media however as these allegations are being leveled not a lot of evidence is really being presented to back them up. independent journalist to loria believes american politicians are using the russian threat to distract from domestic issues this is new rhetoric and actually it doesn't seem to be based in reality i have to say they're going to blame russia for whatever happens in the november elections whatever goes wrong whatever problems we have it's russia's fault there are no racial divisions there's no way in quality of income there are no problems in this country except the ones that are made by russia this is ridiculous what's going on here they have to use something to deflect criticism from their own. rules their own rules ship this is absolutely getting out of control right now i have not seen it like this before and it's getting more and more dangerous when you think of the relations between two superpowers they don't want better relations with russia they want to push this line and they yes there's

a war between trump and his intelligence several u.s. senators have introduced a new sanctions bill among its provisions in the bill requires the u.s. to assess whether russia is a state sponsor of terrorism it also calls for creating a new agency which will seek to respond to hybrid threats which seem to come from only russia according to the authors of the bill political commentator lou rockwell to list the objective is to forge a united front against moscow they want to get everybody on board and you saw that they had all the heads of all the various agencies and they want to get every interest group they have the you know the military and the entire military industrial complex the security complex all they are waving the bloody shirt they produced zero evidence and. that's you know that's been true all along about the civil war should interference russian collusion all that stuff they want to get

everybody together they want to scare the american people into who knows what this war in space war and you're a war in russia war of china. well russia's alleged interference in american politics was also discussed by the us senate intelligence committee on that weapons they know it met for a hearing on the changing nature of online influence campaigns by foreign powers one issue of particular concern seemed to be the spread of memes on social media reportedly be traced back to moscow we asked the russian foreign minister for his thoughts on the talks. 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 sky it's not respectable for america mo makers to make a sensation out of nothing we're the ones who invented social media and when all the ones who insisted on making social media open to everybody so those who are

sitting there and see talking russian meddling over and over are certain that the russians are carrying on with their attempts to undermine us 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. cyber attacks for me. moscow's personal content is created tested and posted on top form such as you tube read it and it's pushed to twitter and facebook with their standing audiences and 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 reading here from hundreds of ira created accounts tumblr dated.

a lot of pride related content less news more this isn't just a couple of this is music apps and. it's 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 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 get help learning how to navigate through online fake news from police

source nato has launched a facebook game to teach people how to sort fact from fiction. how to go herself. welcome to nato's new online weapon against misinformation it's the news hero 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 its 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 cyber. 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 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 and so i say turkey now r.t. london. concerns are being raised over the use of scanning technology as

a means of unlocking aid for refugees in jordan it's figured 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 password and using a body part is extremely invasive in two thousand and thirteen the un announced its partnership with british jordanian iris spying metrics company iris card 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 u.s. 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 actually are from after. on their advisory board you've got none other than ex national security advisor to george w. bush. former head of m i six richard dear love both of whom were advocates of the war in iraq what i think of what it's like they are guinea pigs. this is just.

the fact that the boys are this kind of relation with people from. this team that took part in the war and is more than. the speaker. i had a heated exchange about this with the c.e.o. of iris guard with dealing with a highly secure technologies we would be idiots if we do not ask people who are professionals in their field are there professionals i don't want to worry you you are asking me about a political question from council understand this is a fact we are not involved in any political statements we are not making any statements and using the i agree to do you support it's because we are a man political company we are in work in the market and political i understand but they are not nonpolitical do you understand you do understand that they understand security or do my that 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. it 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 the union camps could soon be coming to an or a.t.m. near you. the u.n. refugee agency senior feel coordinator in amman says he's confident the refugees data is secure and that the biometric system ensures a goes to the intended recipients he added only be un hates c.r.

has the second half of the encryption key that would be needed to if you and individuals data or we asked the ira scarred advisory board to comment on the findings of the redfish report they help us yet got back to us goldman sachs house they told us they had nothing to. this week has seen another deadly day in yemen with scores of people losing their lives to honor a strike we have live reaction with a former pentagon official right after this. do

the corporate mainstream media fuel america's cultural wars do they magnify political differences it would seem so how else could it be as the only topic that is discussed and argued over this donald trump are journalists infected with trump arrangements.

hello again tragedy has struck in the yemeni city of hotate where the saudi led coalition has conducted air strikes resulting in civilian casualties yemeni officials say twenty eight people were killed in iran seventy however a local t.v. station has reported that fifty two are dead of least one hundred wounded strikes hit an area near the city's main public hospital those who were severely wounded mostly civilians were hospital sony arabia has not commented on the reports as yet and he had have repeatedly been accused of war crimes like the noise there because it's hardly. the coalition has been at war with the rebels no less since march twenty fifth in yemen is an illegal. worst humanitarian crisis with within twenty two million people in dire need but this by two years of civilian suffering u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley seems to think that the catastrophe only began yesterday. we had

the saudi led coalition had airstrikes today against a fish market and a hospital in who data that may have caused dozens of casualties we've hit a new day now in yemen and we've had a new sense of urgency and that if this is what started to happen civilians are at risk infrastructure is at risk. well that's the situation with michael maloof michael's a former pentagon official as always welcome on the program good to have your company michael this isn't the first time saudi led coalition airstrikes have led to civilian casualties in yemen why do there for is the coalition so carus in its targeting. well that's because they're trying to they're trying to hit the civilians that clearly the saudis and the. saudi led coalition which includes the u.a.e. . has been purposely targeting civilians for quite some time actually for

nikki haley it just occurred today which is unfortunate because the united states is actually supplying a lot of the logistics and the the intelligence for the saudis but they are purposely hitting civilian targets they have been for quite some time he did a fish market and then a hospital which is just twenty meters away from the from the fish market but they've also been aiming aiming at the water supply for drinking water and also the sanitation so and as a consequence those are those are civilian targets and that's a consequence we're having some of the greatest. spread of cholera in that in that region right now this minute and she just discovered it yesterday or today i mean she she this is this is just an abomination frankly and she's part of the problem and i lay this all at the feet of mohamed bin solomon of saudi arabia and mohammed

bin. rashid of. u.a.e. they have they have all all teary or motives in doing this just like and yet they get nikki haley obviously she has no as you say admitted civilian casualties in yemen do you expect a change in the u.s. how that chewed to its long standing ally saudi arabia. unfortunately i do not because i think the saudis have bought off the united states. it's just that simple. and that's why we have a far greater defense budget right now and why we have much greater on a much greater employment particularly in the defense sector because the saudis have basically bought off the united states and you don't hear too much criticism i mean what she said today was very very limp. when we should be condemning what's

been going on and she should have been out there months ago condemning what the the the humanitarian catastrophe that's occurring in yemen it's just you just you just cannot be nice about this any longer or or just overlook it because it's gone on for too long and too many people have been have been killed and you wonder and you have to ask yourself the question what's the point if a saudi arabia trying to stop allegedly trying to stop iranian influence well that's that's beyond comprehension because the iranians are not there you've got the who thieves and the who these are comprise thirty five percent of the population yet there who with these for years sought equal representation in their government and mohamed hadi and all the others rejected it so they rebelled what is the thing is michael here in this should be i mean i just want to push just on what nikki haley because you saw as i did she looked a little surprised that what was happening in yemen it does beg the question why

hasn't the u.s. acknowledged previous war crimes in yemen after all this time. because their greatest contributor saudi arabia has been leading the charge there they've been at this now for a number of years and they still have not been able to accomplish anything and this but this also shows a far greater disaster on the part of saudi arabia and and mohamed been some in particular and what his designs are for the entire middle east he wants to attack tehran he and his it was his country actually that they created the al qaeda that created jihadi salafist that have been roaming runnin all over the middle east he tried to influence elections in. lebanon he failed he tried he's tried to influence events in syria he has failed we do have to say a statement from saudi arabia that they have denied causing large scale civilian

deaths seeing it is making every effort to avoid hitting civilian targets michael thank you so much for coming the program michael miller former pentagon official. lengthy litigation on a seemingly unilateral decision by the u.s. justice department sall blueprints for three d. printer pull guns made briefly available on the web and in the short time they were online it's vault the files were done loaded thousands of times on wednesday a texas based gun rights group published blueprints for three d. guns openly online but eight states went to court and a seattle judge then ordered the plans be taken down the bottle is not over though with the behind the blueprints comparing his mission to establishment activism like wiki leaks. and you could cause digital radicals we believe that the internet more perfectly preserve the second man and help to be its expansion what is weak you weeks for guns this was our idea a kind of seed you know like our immediate purpose like wow could we be wiki leaks

for guns what would that look like we found a three d. printer we said what if you could three d. printing god and then share a file on the internet that would be like wiki leaks cody wilson who you just saw started his quest back in twenty third dean when he first developed the weapon that could be printed at home until recently the federal government especially the state department made sure that those a blue prints did not make it onto the web but earlier this year the justice department decided to drop litigation against three d. gun plans from being posted online putting it at all odds with the state department the reason that the state department got involved our only act would be in the us is because of our role in controlling foreign access to u.s. defense technology in simpler words the state department wants to prevent the wrong people from acquiring weapons overseas legal commentator lionel told us he's not surprised by the apparent lack of cohesion between various branches of the u.s.

government we have right now a department of justice and its subsidiary the f.b.i. that is acting completely independent of the president and is in a parallel universe there are what is referred to often times some may say too much is this thing called the deep state i'm not suggesting that's here but this dissociation this this skit saw a connection between the president or the department of justice is is typical. one former scottish first minister grills another next on the alex salmond show you're watching international.

some people come. to us indigenous people as you know we that. paid in the oil the trees. mostly say sit on the field but he at least so. out of a sudden a man just. simple b j when. i said i will enter it in the they will not allow me. if they will shoot we. had all along a million million indeed i'm just i'm not to be menominee been taught to be chubby don't bother me you know now that i've got to go i mean you got me are you.

with your make this manufacture consent to stick to the public well. when the ruling classes project themselves. the final merry go round be the one person told. to ignore middle of the room signal. the real news is really lucky. lucky. lucky. welcome to the alec salmon show today we feature

a special interview with the former first minister of scotland henry mcleish. twenty years ago as a labor minister of state he was piloting the school and back to the house of commons he then became scotland's second first minister after the untimely death of donald sure his time at the top of scottish politics was cut short by an expenses scandal which nice seems relatively minor in light of many more recent issues however over the last fifteen years he has devoted himself to public service in scotland while also pursuing an academic career in the united states meanwhile his political journey from kinda evolutionist to being on the cusp of backing independence has been as much as scotland's today alex interviewed him on his career on the status front of scotland's parliament on the issue on scotland and on his thoughts on the direction of american politics under trump but first chair tweets your messages and emails and first from hazel he says thanks for today's got

in the brown theme here interviewees so passionate as well as knowledgeable looked at the poor open the door is at best an occasional reading to our politicians i messed affinities is what they do not want indeed we do not thank you so fairness is that it been many great programs and all informative today keeps calling the brown features amongst the best getting the message of the strength and quality of scotland's across well done and thanks for it sure linda says it's the first time you've heard from linda all go on scotland beautiful landscape nightstands and culture impressive parliament sally says fantastic show again but michael gove right as if you cannot agree with them all heartedly that scotland produces great cabinets yes we do and finally came to said great sure the cut is called the brown something that was overlooked are london water free from fracking good point that's why the saltire is a brand of quality now over to alex's color screen just outside the high school and

. twenty years ago the house of commons chamber was not dominated by bracks but by scotland and the man steering that devolution legislation through was henry mcleish now under the u.k. government's plans for bret's that many believe that the principles of devolution and compass and that legislation are under threat as never before did that battle between the u.k. and scholarship ministrations is now being played out in front of the supreme court i first asked him to be cliche remember that campaign to establish the modern scottish parliament. a long career labor party politics in the citadel of central fife you had some interesting political opponents over the years all of them came and all of them went i set my heart and one of the most bizarre instance was when i hosted the young reese mog this is jacob jacob not he's a last tree is father so he came up to kind of get some experience politically so.