the chemical weapons watchdog verified the destruction and co found this in september two thousand and seventeen but we're still waiting for now evidence as to why sanctions of being imposed now and the u.s. has already implemented measures you might remember that around sixty diplomats were expelled by the u.s. last spring when the saga fest escalated but when questions at the press conference the state department official didn't mention any fair the reasoning behind the sanctions whether this was because of old evidence and new evidence let's take a listen to what they had to say there are you getting the conclusion that for she's behind the screen poisoning i will leave it to others to characterize the current state of our understanding of the screen although we've been very clear that we agree with the assessment that it was a joke agent and that the perpetrator was ultimately the russian federation. i'll leave it to others to give those kinds of details of what we currently understand obviously from reading the press it appears that their investigation is ongoing in

terms of the scope and nature of the details and its implications but i'll leave that to others the key words there from the official swear a leave it to others to give the details so whether the u.s. wants the u.k. to disclose the evidence behind the attack remains to be seen and the u.s. is now skating around the reasoning at the moment issuing fresh sanctions but that fresh evidence and all the while russian officials here in moscow keep asking for transparency for evidence of keeps asking can russia be involved in this investigation and yet are we to understand the basis of the yukos evidence still falls on the quote highly likely stance well the case views on there always has been highly likely that russia is behind this attack saying that only russia has the motives the means and the record to target the school policy and moreover as well moscow has repeatedly denied involvement with this offering offering like you said cooperation on the investigation which london has repeatedly denied but so far

we know that the chemical weapons watchdog the a.p. c.w. and porton down haven't been able to confirm the origin of the nerve agent we have not verified the precise source but we provided the scientific information to the government but you have not been able to establish at porton down that this was made in russia as i said it's our job to provide eight you know the scientific evidence that identifies what the particular and their future is but it's not our job to see where that actually was manufactured to be fully your not able at porton down to say where it is from we haven't yet been able to do that. analysis of the p.c. w.'s report i did to find the country. of origin of the agent use. in this attack and now we're left with this highly likely stance from the u.k.

and the u.s. is issuing this fresh round of sanctions but we haven't seen any new information come to light here in the sanctions are thought to be imposed on or around august the twenty second in the meantime the u.k. prime minister's office has welcomed the new batch of u.s. sanctions on russia the russian embassy saying it only wants transparency it still asks can we please to be a part of this investigation of the russian embassy calling these sanctions describing them as draconian measures the sanctions haven't been imposed yet but the announcement has already impacted on the russian economy with the ruble plummeting to its lowest level in years christina chairman of business association free market study eighty says not much though can be read into the fall i don't think the impact will be so big because up to the present us russia trade are not that big actually. and still have already been damaged by past sanctions so

there are overlapping of sanctions actually maybe more so most importantly you should also look the fact of the you because up to now in many cases do you followed. us in terms of sanctions and obviously your relations with russia more economic relations with russia are more intense than the u.s. relations because you and russia have economic collymore complimentary in the terms of the products they deliver. a tunnel used by jihadists in syria has been turned into a monument dedicated to those who helped defeat the terrorists local artists carved out sculptures on the walls of the former hideouts.

on. facebook they have closer ties to washington than was previously thought it's now emerged the social media giant is relying on experts funded by branches of the u.s. government and nato when it comes to tracking foreign influence. has the story. how's that for a mark zuckerberg nightmare he or his team in front of a horde of suits go and sort these russian bots out sort out the fakes sort them out or did i just paint a good picture of the reality web giants of been facing lately in the past election you. we've seen how foreign actors are abusing social media platforms those

images that can be attributed or associated with the russian company lack of resources a lack of commitment and a lack of genuine effort the likes of saw a could have proudly said we're just a platform where independent and sorting out what you call fakes is none of our business but when wall street alarm bells are ringing you know how it can happen with the stocks it could be better to zip it and focus on an intense year. see if we stick to be the tough year began with. news feed algorithm the trick was to boost posts with let's say pix of your friends cat and sideline all that politics related media stuff haha they say this lead to less views likes and comments under donald trump's posts move it on facebook has evolved from policing offensive content to policing news views ideas it can be anything

apart from your friends if people flag them as potential hoaxes we send those to fact checkers and if those factors that is provably false then we will significantly reduce the distribution of that content why do you want to just say get off our platform will look as a porn to some of this content can be i do think that it gets down to this principle of giving people a voice eventually though the get off our platform way to sort things out still prevailed ok and now. it's time to meet the fact checkers journalists have found them in a tiny room at these guys' h.q. got it at the end of the day facebook's not so happy with that online policeman's hat so zuck and co are outsourcing the digital share locks i'm being serious that's what they call themselves who are let me check where they come from. linked to

nato with their help thirty two suspicious pages have already been sorted out the big ship is not turned around overnight takes a while but i think that the have now given some opportunity to work with them and i hope that in the months when we have at least three other platforms in that we will see. a willingness to collaborate with us to come up with a solution bravo and it's not just facebook or do one just as great one question though since already most americans head to social media to get their news when will freedom of speech ring a bell. political commentator brian logan says that the left is moving to get rid of undesirable views on social media platforms. feels like the only people they have the right to speak out are those who agree with the leftist principles if you are against lefties ideology in any kind of way they find a way to demonize you they call you a conspiracy theories they say it is you're promoting fake news we're coming more

under control because parisians and a lot of these people who are in a government in a corporations are kind of working together to colluding with each other any kind of extra regulation from the federal government will most certainly impact freedom of speech online there's going to be a battle to try and corral the internet back and kind of the mainstream media. form a where you get you news q.e.d. for you and you don't have any kind of dissenting viewpoints. a new u.s. poll suggests the reputation of news organizations is in decline it found wall than a quarter of american citizens now think the president should have the power to close media outlets deemed to be behaving badly. to the streets of new york to get opinion on freedom of speech the american media just can't get over the enemy of the people label first slapped onto it by donald trump a little while back anime of the people i think crosses

a line i think it's reckless i respectfully ask that and this is a phrase that has a long historic provenance it goes back to the french revolution it goes back to stalin to now when the president attacks journalists we question his motivation at this point you could dismiss the comments simply as media oversensitivity or biased against donald trump however whether it's media partisanship or trump's behavior it seems pretty clear that public support for freedom of the press is stark now at this point less than half of americans say they believe the mainstream media is working hard to engage an honest reply. now what's more shocking is that twenty six percent of americans more than a quarter say they believe that the president should have the authority to shut down any media outlet that isn't gauging in what they call bad behavior now it's not surprising that most of these lidia's haters are republicans and it's no secret what outlets they want shut down. do you

think that's surprising to you do you think a lot of americans agree that the media outlets should be shut down i do i think they're smart if you're smart and you have a good mindset where you see different things then you would know things like that obviously should be shut down especially if they're not telling the whole story that's a joke that's a joke once again the school back to page one of the press led to him appearing to those twenty six percent may not know the constitution i'll be brought me i don't think the pressure be closed down but doesn't mean we have to read it or pay attention to it i just block it out. i don't really know what their definition of bad behavior means if there is a clear definition of bad behavior i know maybe i'd agree with that statement more of course if they're imposing violence or inciting some kind of peaceful negotiation then i don't agree with them and then maybe they should be looked at

more in depth but in terms of shutting them down often you jerk reactions no i don't agree with it now seems that the first amendment is the first thing that many americans want to be amending. r.t. new york. the people of easter island dog demanding the return of a sacred statue taken more than one hundred years ago by the british navy it was presented as a gift to queen victoria for eventually ending up in the british museum where it's come to be on display auntie's on the situation asked visitors if it should be handed back. hosting an estimated eight million objects the british museum is one of the world's best known collections of art history and culture and often the subject a fiery debate about whether all chicks sourced during the british empire as colonial times should be returned to where they came from.

the latest dispute ironically involves a statue called lost or stolen friend a fitting name to the indigenous people of easter island or trying to recover a unique figure taken one hundred fifty years ago and given to queen victoria who then give to date to the museum this is reportedly being negotiated as we speak. the circumstances have changed and we've heard that there's a possibility to discuss the stones are trying to chile with the museum and the british government the british museum attracts scores of tourists so it's not surprising the museum is putting up a fight claiming they're better preserved under its own watch sometimes offering temporary loans as a compromise but what do the visitors think let's find out sooner really speaking i would say it should be richer and i think it's part of a heritage says just of history we thought over this whole kind of colonialist

british empire thing and stuff nice theory but it's rare and this museum is very well operates and so i think like staying here would be at infante so you're leaning a little bit more towards just letting them stay here. i stand firmly on the fence i mean i can see the benefits of post to be honest i mean if they went away we wouldn't see them here and we would have to appreciate do you think it's realistic to expect that a place like this would return some of the you know some of the most famous pieces are ones that work. kind of brought here under questionable overs there's only been a few. in the wake of government plans to change the constitution and state white farmers of the land some south african politicians are looking for more black emancipation a new parties made headlines after burning whites and foreigners from becoming members parties has the story after the death of nelson mandela there has been an

increase in racial politics and incitement here in south africa and now as the country starts preparing for elections to be held at the beginning of next year one new party has emerged that only for black people the massive african congress says that its goal is to restore the ideals of african people it's gone as far as to say our membership is not open to anything that looks white this is a far cry from how mandela saw the rainbow nation you have to look to it in the cities and so i don't think it's a good concept i don't think it's something that will work here though going backwards obviously by just like that to show in the low the new sort of figure most parties are fighting for is unity in south africa but not having a party that takes only black people sort of like promotes racism it's become popular in south africa particularly among the white community to talk about reverse racism in other words discrimination against white people whereas once people of color who deny jobs education and political power the tables have now

turned and many whites complain of being overlooked because of black economic empowerment policies ironically many south africans once felt they were not quite enough today there are those who feel they are not black enough police here are teeth johannesburg. wraps things up for this news hour to join us in just over thirty minutes for the latest the other. welcome to max kaiser financial survival guide. looking forward to your pension account. yanks this is what happens to pensions in britain don't let

this happen to you watch kaiser report. welcome to worlds apart cuba is one of those countries that have long been perceived and described in terms of ideological opposites known in the u.s.s.r. and later russia as the freedom island chains of capitalism it has long been seen in the west as one big reason ruled with an iron fist but when you've spent almost half a century documenting the lives of its people as my guest today has done you'll find that the reality is different from the ideal or ideological cliches one is cubit

really like well to discuss that i'm now joined by john alpert the american journalist and documentary filmmaker so it's good to see you in our studios think you're much for coming thanks for inviting me i appreciate it now you're here in russia to promote a documentary called cuba and the cameramen reach i think is a very straightforward and a very honest title because you really show cuba as you've experienced it over what is it forty five forty five years your film and i think this is very unusual for a western or american journalist because most of them believe that you need to cover stories from the position of either a neutral observer and so often from a position of judgement rather than experience or emotion of why did you break with that tradition i wanted american people to really experience what the cuban revolution was like and it's complicated and i don't think you can understand this ninety second news report i don't think you can understand it in twenty ninety second news reports i spent forty five years following three families and see the

castro when you watch the revolution and you watch these people. age and you learn a lot about cuba and i think it is also very obvious in your film that this kind of emotional involvement that you develop with your characters also allows you not so not only gain trust but actually gain unprecedented access to some of them including fidel castro you go the extra mile to show him as a human being rather a historical figure the way you show came is that really how you remembered him. that's the way i remember him fredo trusted me. and with you that he considered me to be a friend and. took the risk. in my camera into places it had never been before into his bedroom into his kitchen. taking his shirt off for me showing that he is not wearing a bullet hole but is this it's

a feel that nobody had ever seen even the cubans that never seem to feel like this before but i've seen some reviews especially in the american press and they were very very critical of. the interviews that i saw i saw there were about three weeks after these really right wing people who obviously i don't think it even seen the film decided they didn't like it but up to that particular point of resetting the review was positive positive positive well but i think the accusation of the claim that some of the review writers made was that you were. way too friendly and not critical enough but how did you i was there some very very critical moments in this film special period in cuba when the economy collapsed when the soviet union fell. and they withdrew their support to cuba the negative impact on the cuban economy was like an eighty five percent contraction of their economy no electricity no transportation food shortages and because the people trusted me the people who are

suffering i film things that the cuban people never filmed and that nobody else is filmed and so. the room reviews that i saw understood that. more gratifying was it and i still get them today the hundreds and hundreds of e-mails from all over the world especially from cubans and because i think you cheated them really as a human being rather than you know a foreign they're coming into their country and passing judgments about how flawed various systems really is and i think this is what many people experience in western journalists including in this country when somebody comes to your house to your country as flawed as it may be and tells you you know how flawed do you really are and i tried really hard to be honest and. most gratification i get is when the cuban say that when their children ask them these are pro castro nandy castro when their kids say mommy daddy what was the revolution like they're going to take

my film out and show them my film now to close this famous saying by a british historian lord acton that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and i'm not sure you would put it in quite those terms but. i think being in power for so long as fidel has been in power and being hunted for so long because i think he survived more than or around six hundred assess a nation at times that would change your personality have you noticed any character changes in him over time well i think i was the last journalist. the last american to be with fidel before he died. and he was always very open and friendly with me i think in terms of his relationship to the united states. he had a he needed a strong defensive posture because the aggression focused on him was really really very severe i think it hurt the revolution i think that the revolution needed to be more flexible and he to be more flexible with the human rights that needed to be

more flexible economically. and. to some degree pushed into inflexible position that he didn't come out of you saying it was a matter of. personality aging or was because of the pressure that his country was subjected to i think it's both. i think it's very very important to have a very very strong feedback loop when he was young was all over the island he was playing baseball with everybody. you know he certainly could do that towards the end. but every country needs to be corrected my country really needs to be corrected and you know that's the that's our work that's the work of false reporters some people say we're not patriotic. i would like to say that maybe that's quite a high form of patriotism when you point out the things that are wrong with your

country because you want your country to be better well i agree with you but i think it also depends on how you say it because i think sometimes and that's my personal issue of the day american journalism and american or western criticism in general is that sometimes critical things are being said to put people in countries down the rod to. show them deficiencies in their systems and. i heard you say in some of the other interviews that you believe that cuba was never really given a fair chance to run its social experiment to the fullest do you still believe that i sure would have liked to seen that happen you know when the revolution began free health care free schools housing guaranteed jobs literacy campaigns that taught everybody how to remove the we were fighting for these things in the united states at that time and the fact they were going on in cuba was very very exciting. but there was always so much tremendous pressure economically

politically militarily against the regime you know would have been let the cubans experiment so we don't have to try this if it doesn't work we can look down there and all gosh it didn't work in cuba let's forget about having universal health care . but they never had the chance the problems that the communist systems in general is that while they are striving for bigger things they tend to forget about the little comforts of life and i think you put it well in one of your interviews when he said that it's good to have free education and free healthcare it's also nice to have a hot shower shower in the morning if cuba hadn't been pressured so much if it hadn't been sanctioned so much do you think they would have figured out how to provide both to their population you know that they had the internal debates they were about the economy and sort of the individual is a i don't think they were resolved i think is one of the reasons why che guevara left the country because he was in conflict with some of the other people that have

more power internally and the tragedies will never never know cuba is now in the process of having a pistol transition of power and the united states department of state has already described it in pretty derogatory terms they say well they said it wasn't freed wasn't fair it was dictatorial in nature. they also believe that this is not really a change of power after all and you know just a change of a figure had but. there's no way of knowing what i'm going to ask you at this point of time. they were in their way of making it an educated guess but i'm going to ask you still. how do you think the relationship it's been transamerica cuba on to this new president is going to develop over the next few years how do you see i would like to see it continue on the path to normalization that was started in the previous administration i think that was healthy look at the block.

caden the animosity for fifty almost sixty years did it change the regime in cuba no it was a completely unsuccessful policy if you get in your car to go see your bush every day and you turn the key in the car doesn't go any place when you get in that same car every day for fifty years no you go to the metro you take some other route to this the united states had a talk about cuba's inflexibility we had a really inflexible policy too there was totally unsuccessful cost a lot of suffering on the day united states can afford to be inflexible when it comes to little neighbor now and then miles there's no point. that's going. to the retrogressive miami community that is every day more and more a minority unfortunately that's back and forth again the last administration realize that the majority of cuban americans want to normalization the normalised and when you normalize you can talk. and i want to tell you from my experience in

cuba when the united states use sugar instead of a hammer things change in cuba in the way that the united states wanted them were like i can't go backwards fast enough in the future to show you what what what's going on in cuba now. it seems that in order to protect lection prospects in florida there is a little bit of a game that's being played with a very very very reactionary cubans who are disrespected more and more every day by the cuban community i've seen some western commentators compare this new president make l.g.'s now to now gorbachev and i know that you visited the soviet union during its reformist years of glasnost and perestroika reach as inspiring as they may be now in hindsight it ultimately led to the collapse of not only the system to the soviet system but also the collapse of the country do you think that's likely

a likely scenario for cuba if the new president indeed pursues the reform or gender or if he doesn't so that was a question that i was asking myself and i was very very curious because of the half a century that i spend cuba because of my love for the cuban people i wanted to observe this firsthand but i didn't want to preserve it from the back of the pack and so i had. asked the cuban government to allow me to come inside as they were making their deliberations as they were passing the power in to observe this basically like a fly. on the shoulder and. they don't answer me i have a choice but to be in cuba or be here in moscow for some very important thing this past week and i chose to come here to moscow instead of going to cuba well we are very happy it's to welcome a year in this country but for the time being we have to take a very short break we'll be back in just a few moments statement.