headline stories this hour a french opposition leader reacts furiously to finding his name on a list of suspicious twitter accounts forcing him to declare he is not a russian. reels from the shock suicide of an immigration party politician who claims she was raped by a muslim mosque you are also ahead. goodbye to. two palestinians are killed and more than two hundred injured in the latest flare up on the israel gaza border so winter's open fire after rioters hurled explosives broke through the fence.

around the clock across the world this is your r.t. international from the team myself you know me a welcome to the program or top story french opposition leader and former presidential candidate. hit back at suggestions he's part of a russian online dissin firm mation campaign hey stupid spook i'm not a russian but it's just me who tweets against you. although not directly accused of being a russian bot mellen chill appeared in a list of a common showing increased twitter traffic in the wake of the assault scandal surrounding president micron's former bodyguard the inference being moscow posed the strings also in the list is are porous correspondent charlotte dubin ski she's

got more details. well a huge outcry here in france so many people on twitter who thought that they had been labeled as russian boats that's because they were named in a twitter list which looked at the number of people who had tweeted about the but now a skate scandal here in france some of them even decided to use it as a badge of honor and actually added they. bought a russian bought numbers twitter account now this came out after the banana scandal which was a former security aide to president mike brown who was filmed actually assaulting protesters doing may day now because of that many people were treating about it and an engineer based in belgium this information lab actually decided to analyze the people who were tweeting about that well they published

a list of the accounts that it tweeted the most about this particular scandal and the mainstream media here in france immediately decided that the frenzy around that scandal had been caused by not just any votes but russian votes not so those says e.u. just in the mation law which says that the study wasn't even about russian votes we did not move for the conclusions of our study a lot of media reported that we studied and identified that there had been russian meddling that the russian state orchestrated interference in the banal a scandal we never said this the fact that the government spokesperson immediately exploded this for political ends created this sort of hype there was never the object of our study well the engineer even had to step in releasing a press release to say that the mainstream media here in france had completely misinterpreted their report and it was not about the supposed russian boats of

which thousands of people appeared on a list now these. they released included thousands upon thousands of people from france who had been tweeting about the panellists and they were around four million tweets what it showed is that only a tiny fraction around six hundred fifty account were from people which they described as being in the russian style sphere that is basically journalists like myself who were brought to see my colleagues and people who have retreated to our continent in the past never did it say that we were russian but of course the mainstream media felt that somebody had to be to blame for this scandal which president himself described as being a tool a storm in a teacup and what's the point in letting the truth get in the way of telling a good story. charlotte dubin scheme incidentally belgium based ngo which conducted the research points it gets financing from twitter last autumn you may remember

that the social network stopped r.t. from placing on verts on the sites twitter then diverted that revenue to groups which research other sites used during elections the extent of malicious content twitter has also decided to take the one point nine million dollars we are projected to have global advertising and donate those funds to support external research into the use of twitter in civic engagement and elections independent journalist. believes the researchers are working under political pressure. i think that rushing through to try to satisfy the politicians on both side of the atlantic's they they see this as a problem they have to deal with it but for them freedom liberty on twitter is for twitter the best thing for their uses so they had to they were under pressure from

the european union in this case state they had to do something and they dedicated one hundred twenty five thousand euro to the us. countermeasures let's say to challenge the russian this information you could call it the embryo of the propaganda machine of the european union and i'm sure many people many national politicians when they hear about this story are really furious that's the reason behind this. it's another headline stories this hour there is shock across the dutch political spectrum and the suicide of a consular in the hague just before her death really dilly claimed she had been kidnapped and raped by a group of muslims under accuse the former party colleague of organ straightening it you're sure europe correspondent peter all were. tributes and messages of condolence to the family of former dutch party for freedom council of billy dale have been flooding in from across the political divide in the netherlands the fifty

three year old former representative in the hague took her own life on wednesday after publishing a video on social media in which she claimed to have been the victim of a kidnap and rape back in twenty seventeen ordered by a political opponent. was christian crustal entire stock was. in the video misdeal claims she was attacked by what she calls a muslim gang on the orders of a former political colleague who had since converted to islam the deceased claimed a former party for freedom member who quote hated her intensely in a statement to r.t. the dutch police said that although they had spoken to ms deal no formal complaint was made nor were there satish and details given to warrant starting an investigation the mayor of the hague expressed her sorrow at miss deals death

saying her passing touched her very much and that the city had lost a committed and passionate councillor dutch prime minister mark said he was shocked and expressed his sympathy towards her family and party the party for freedom leader good villages said he was lost for words at the death of a colleague he called warm and always particularly willing to help young people in politics who are all over with the report will we have sent an interview request to a village delays a former colleague who she accused of organizing the sexual assault we're waiting to hear back from. the latest round of palestinian protests over occupied territory on the gasser israel border has reportedly seen two protesters killed at least two hundred and forty two other people have been injured and it's not immediately clear whether the protests at the border were included in

a fragile cease fire following two days of heavy fire between hamas militants on this road the ongoing great march of return protests began on the thirtieth of march more than a hundred and fifty civilians have been killed since then according to the palestinian health ministry was a journalist dory sent us this report from pride this protest. that i mean let me just i sang think of things like i was really. that day was and then there. was. it's really. just. the scene in place just shows. the policy protesters have been burning tires to the bridge end of days or any

snipers that the israeli forces continue to use live ammunition or scores of one of these i mean injured at least five are in severe critical condition was leading to what i saw today and according to all of the n.g.o.s i won't i have to tell you that tear gas that being thrown today is a new complication on the palestinians palestinians are complete is advocating summing up the twentieth friday of the great march of return a palestinian prime minister was killed well one hundred ten were injured forty the injuries were treated in the medical point seventy were treated. in the hospitals and transferred directly to the hospitals where their injuries were not easy five paramedics were injured palestinian journalist was also injured and the numbers state and show went indicate how the put the israeli forces continue their violence against the palestinians for the twentieth friday live ammunition and tear

gas have been filling the place as sense said the pa in the sense the beginning of the protest protest would continue and the israeli today also used tank shelling on the protesters well the israeli defense forces say very open fuller and so if the friend softer protesters threw explosives successfully infiltrated israel's thirty three. the b.b.c.'s been trending online but perhaps not in the way the broadcaster would have liked the hushed b.b.c. switch off has been gathering steam from people who accuse the corporation of political bias among the main arguments being floated is the b.b.c.'s treatment of the opposition labor party on its. core business currently under pressure over claims of semitism in the party and his own previous comments on israel his supporters say he's been given an unfairly tough time in comparison to former

foreign secretary boris johnson who is under fire over a newspaper column for which he's being accused of making us lama phobic comments about face veils corbin's backers accuse the b.b.c. of shifting light. pretty smart when we put the claims to the b.b.c. which responded by saying it's proud to be the most trusted news provider of

a cost to audiences of forty pence a day here's some of the reaction we got earlier t u k. they perceive the b.b.c. is maybe shooting one person what i would say is that it's without question and indeed the b.b.c. has more or less tacitly admitted this on occasion that they have a strong liberal bias in terms of the main issues of our time i think that's absolutely undeniable i mean or whether it's on migration or the results certainly on bricks it whether it's on climate change they have tended towards a certain viewpoint and i would say this without question the fact that that makes it a bias organization the problem with this campaign is it in a way it's beside the point but i would say that the main thing is that the b.b.c. particularly for example since the referendum vote has shown its colors so obviously in so porting the i think there's no question that is biased the reality is that the b.b.c. if you look at the broadcasters in terms of andrew neil who is the chairman and

editor of the spectator magazine you look at robbie gibbs who was the former. former head of b.b.c. political output is now to resume is director of communication you look at craig oliver who was down in streets under david cameron's chief of communication was actually head of programming at the b.b.c. so this idea this notional idea that the b.b.c. is some left wing entity is plainly false it's actually many times pandering to those on the right who talk about pandering you know there was a case just this week where the b.b.c. actually had to withdraw something we stay admit it was biased it was aimed at children fourteen to sixteen year olds and it was about migration the history of migration into britain it was so biased it was almost laughable and the b.b.c. actually had to withdraw it all because there were so many protests peter if you look at your record and you look at the record of your party in the chair i'm not

talking about odds are you well i'm going to if i want the melody receive. u.s. senators are accusing. there are government off country preaching to the deadly saudi led coalition strike that hit a school bus in yemen on thursday the red cross say twenty nine children were killed thirty others injured all under the age of fifty the u.s. state department is calling on the coalition to investigate but also underline that saudi arabia is a key regional partner of washington we call in the saudi led coalition to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident you also supply the tremendous amount of weaponry then the battle for targeting to the saudis so that. sorry no lie wrong is that wrong sorry these ladies every hear laughing. and that i would refer you to the department of defense that is involved in that but you know as you know saudi arabia is an important strategic partner in the region

to the united states of footage we've all of the author mouth of the attack shows the extent of the children's injuries please be warned the video we're about to show you is graphic the strike occurred in the north of the country which is all near the control of apple's saudi arabia launched an intervention against them in twenty fifteen i'm the latest u.n. data says the majority of people killed in the conflict died as a result of coalition air strikes there's over a ten thousand casualties in an official statement the saudis defended the attack accusing the rebels of using children as human shields. the targeting today is a legitimate military action conducted in conformity with the international humanitarian law to target the militants responsible for planning and targeting civilians which resulted in killing and injuring them. the united states is by far the largest supplier of weaponry to the saudis had also provides targeting

assistance for riyadh sir strikes on military drills we also know last year saudi arabia spent seven hundred fifty million dollars on training by american specialists which it claimed was implemented to reduce civilian casualties britain is the second largest arms supplier to the saudis and chris nine from the stop the war coalition in the u.k. told is that most people there are all aware of what yemenis are enduring right now but clearly the saudi government is the on the sound military all the money old you know is the heart of the military operation against them and they have the support of other gulf states including crucially u.a.e. . but at the same time we are in britain we are in that and one of the things that has to be said is that the west and the west in general great to keep. polluting in the spirit in the most disgraceful why there is definitely collusion

and participation by british technicians in terms of the drone strikes in terms of all sorts of support for the for the. bombardment the spotlight in britain must be turned on government governments collusion in what ways has the u.n. side the worse humanitarian catastrophe this taking place anywhere in the world at the moment. the turkish lira has nosedived after the latest u.s. tar if that story and more after this.

manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes to protect themselves. with the flaming. lips be the woman. we can all middle of the room sick. this is my love hate relationship with the united kingdom. and the a lot of it because it's shambolic and fraudulent. because thousands tens of thousands of people had their lives destroyed by our b.s. .

just approaching twenty minutes into the program welcome back in a phone call with the u.s. secretary of state mike pump russia's foreign minister has said moscow strongly rejects america's new round of sanctions earlier the russian prime minister also said they amounted to a new economic war we're in response to accusations over the poisoning of former russian double agent surrogate script his daughter in britain back in march. yes there was a possibility but if it comes to banning banking activities or certain currency use we will be able to call it a declaration of economic war and this will require a reaction by implementing either economic political or if necessary any other measures. then you sanctions will come into rounds that first will limit investment on exports especially on a number of national security goods including the energy and tech sectors the second wave is expected to be much harsher as it will have diplomatic relations as

well as banking and imports and he said he takes a look at how far the new penalties may go. when it comes to global disagreement sanctions that the u.s. weapon of choice as russia's number two at the u.n. put it let's us welcome the united sanctions of america well russia is being on the receiving end of plenty of them they stem from allegations of election meddling military aggression human rights abuses all cyber crimes take your pick and the latest well that's of the souls where poisonings washington says it has determined that russia used a military nerve agent to attack form a double agent say script paul and his daughter where are you getting the conclusion that russia is behind the screen poisoning i will leave it to others to characterize the current state of our understanding of the screen but others haven't given any evidence either just various grades of highly likely it's highly likely that russia was responsible we do hold russia culpable culpable culpable

culpable for the attempted murder and this being uncertainty from specialists investigating the case. as analysis of the p.c. w.'s report i did to find the country. of origin of the agent used in this attack and we continue to see a sort of a series of corporate baggers here of insinuation that russia is involved which basically is a mood music which is feeding the population in the west with the idea yes it is the russians despite the evidence just a constant constant stream of these. people just accept oh yes it must be the russians and then therefore that's ok we have less important more sanctions it's time that we didn't get all the evidence but my suspicion is that as i'm going to happen well there that seems of little interest to washington which is found guilty slapped it with new sanctions and strangely given its ninety days to prove it wasn't involved or it will ratchet up the penalties to

a whole new level with even talk of branding russia a state sponsor of terrorism that regardless of trump one. russia is a partner in his fight against terror and the torso doesn't seem to matter that the u.s. itself has a long history of consorting with groups branded as terrorists for instance america's support for the cuban movement which techie label to terror groups organizing and attempted. sooner or later the united states will make a choice either turkey or good either the coup blooded terrorists or turkey a country of democracy. or how about the american officials who backed they are a an extremist group then wish i had been a coke who bombs the headquarters of the islamic republic party there is a viable opposition to the rule of the was and that opposition is centered in this room. and let's not forget how america stood alongside the afghan wish i had

been in its battle against the soviet union only to say that group to form into al-qaeda the people we are fighting today we funded twenty years ago. america dealing with these five and groups amount to sponsoring terrorism while the state department has a good answer for that i will leave it to others to characterize the current state of our understanding while it is not just russia on the receiving end of washington's economic bach lusher earlier on friday donald trump announced that the us is doubling tariffs on its nato ally turkey i have just authorized a doubling of tariffs on steel and on the menu with respect to turkey as their currency the turkish lira slides roughly downward against our very strong dollar and the mini move now be twenty percent and still fifty percent our relations with turkey are not good at this time. you know the move saw turkey's currency go into

a nosedive really while president to one has already said his country will not be drawn into an economic bot. change the euros to dollars and the gold that you are keeping beneath your pillows into lira banks this is a domestic and national struggle. at this point the turkish lira is now worth almost half of what it was in twenty seventeen the move follows two turkish ministers being singled out for sanctions last week well i encourage people to convert any us dollars to local currency we spoke to dr hay cohen a turkey expert at tel aviv university he thinks that most turkish people will be keen to hold on to those dollars despite all this plea to do the opposite only in two weeks the turkish lira last experience the devaluation that came to the level of forty percent or more so i don't know if many people even if they really like

the president can survive this new friend many people are selling their turkish euros in order to buy u.s. dollars in order to maximize the interests and to have profits of course in the social media we have also seen some propaganda videos as the president had once said and many people even burned their dollar banknotes so we can not talk about a uniform. form from turkey if if i'm not mistaken the bank sector and the construction sector will be affected from this immediately many people may lose their jobs. former first minister of scotland programme host an r t alex summoned sat down with the new leader of catalonia kim tauren to discuss the region's future the interview is in full an r.t. dot com here's a quick preview. let me take you back to another key moment the last the first of

october last year exactly on the day of the referendum of the activities of the spanish state police which everyone in the world saw and yet of us of it where were you what we doing and what we wish was your immediate reaction to what you were saying while with more than two million people a worse in school that you suppose that was my putting a station with my family and other friends we all could bite school. from friday evening just for sure. all our neighbors and all our friends could vote defending the ballot box defending defending sadly this was the idea anyone negotiations conversations thus far with a promise to sunshine. is the release of the political prisoners

a prerequisite of having substantial in the girl she sins from your perspective we think that the particular speech you noticed should be free should be free this evening should be free tomorrow we are not negotiating in any circumstances because if we negotiate about the day and the freedom of the prisoners in a certain way we had a meeting and. they are in prison for for some reasons. just a reminder you can always get right up to the moment developments on our twitter page as well you're watching r.t. international.

this is what is it is not even if you might want to see if any did you. also do thoughts is coming. on to that. crap out because i was pissed off. this is my love hate relationship with the united kingdom on the one hand the love it because it's shambolic and fraudulent. and i buy the cow to eat it because thousands tens of thousands of people lives destroyed by r.b.s.

. china's slaps new tariffs on u.s. goods as the trade war between the two nations escalates will it impact trump in the mid turns taking a look at that on this edition of. the politicking on larry king later in the program former republican governor of new jersey christine todd whitman joins me for a one on one conversation about harsh criticisms of donald trump and her calls for the president to step down stick around for that later but first on wednesday china announced a new round of tariffs in the intelli ation fight for towers that the troubled ministration the slapped on chinese goods entering the u.s. .