facebook steps up its fight against. hundreds of pages and. opens its arms and a warm welcome to the two astronauts who escaped death on thursday an aborted rocket launch ended their journey in midair as they crash landed in kazakhstan. this special operation by the crown prince u.s. media reports that riyadh planned the detonation of the saudi journalist. excuse me the saudi journalist who disappeared in turkey last week and that america intelligence was aware of the threat.

broadcasting. this is r t international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. now a google briefing earlier this week revealed how the internet giant and others like facebook and twitter are increasingly policing which content stays online and which doesn't and it seems that they are wasting little time facebook has shut down hundreds of accounts and pages it accuses of being misleading artie's daniel hearkens reports fighting russian bots and trolls tackling fake news defending american democracy from foreign meddling social media giants have been at this for months but what is facebook doing to prevent foreign actors from interfering in u.s. election do you think we need consistent privacy protections for consumers across the entire. ecosystem have you heard of total information awareness you know i'm talking about. you know i do know ok would you be comfortable sharing with us the

name of the hotel you stayed in last night. no. this time though it's closer to home more than eight hundred pages by and by facebook and these are not some fringe accounts conspiracy stream with some of the pages have been around for years and have millions of followers. among those to face the acts of pages exposing alleged corruption states of violence and police brutality and facebook have explained the pages broke the rules engaging inspire and inauthentic behavior something we've heard before and what

makes this purge different to previous culls is that this is no secret kremlin bot operation as previously alleged by the media some of the biggest pages of all run by americans in america for americans the accounts removed express the whole spectrum of views both conservative and liberal pro and anti trump and the page owners are scathing facebook page with over two point one million followers has been published along with eight hundred other pages and accounts the purge of old media is upon us i've been mammary hold from facebook three hundred fifty thousand followers who've gone there is a dangerous precedent been sat here where the big tech companies have appointed themselves as the gatekeepers our political thought in opinion this intervention comes ahead of crucial midterm elections in the united states it's a sign of social media giants waiting even further into the minefield of free

speech versus fake news and could be seen by many as a sign of meddling in itself. or we've spoken to some of those who have been affected by facebook's latest purge they say the tech giant is taking aim and dissenting voices. this is clearly a political move when you have these major tech companies appointing themselves as the gatekeepers of political thought i was told that this was because of spamming that we are mass collectively pushing our information on people or that it was operated from a fake account all of these things are on true the information that i've used to post on facebook was information that i produced on my website which goes against the government it goes against the status quo it doesn't matter left right side of the political spectrum and anybody who goes against the status quo right now seems to be a target they felt they were being run by fake profiles and we were doing spam but they didn't really say anything specific about it yesterday our page was just down

and i was my account was actually deleted off facebook for a few hours along with the other admins of the page it's so obvious that they hit everybody at once like that it's obviously messed up they don't think highly of independent media in addition to the criticism over its policing of online content some have been questioning whether facebook is doing enough to protect user privacy the firm said it back in late september that almost thirty million users had their data access by hackers in a massive security breach the attackers already controlled a set of accounts which were connected to facebook friends they used an automated technique to move from account to account so they could steal the access tokens of those friends and for friends of those friends and so on totaling about four hundred thousand people. hackers started with a group of accounts totaling four hundred thousand people but harvested the data of twenty nine million accounts they used an automated program to steal the digital keys that keep you logged into facebook so there's no need to enter your password

fifteen million people have their names and contact details accessed and another fourteen million have more severe data breaches including profile information and check in locations facebook said the f.b.i. asked them not to disclose who was behind the attack but political commentator lionel believes that the ultimate responsibility lies with the tech giant itself. they're the main suspect their negligence the fact that they're paying attention far too much to what somebody is saying them to the internal security of their system zehr to blame they're the ones to me to tell me that in the year almost twenty nineteen they have not figured out how to protect names yet this also screams out for the internet bill of rights all over the world you see that's what facebook should be paying attention to but instead oh oh no no it's worried about

shutting down. and pages that nobody would have even known about had they done this . facebook previously went about blocking accounts with alleged links to so-called russian agents and while a growing trend has seen russia fend off a number of accusations lately foreign minister sergei lavrov says moscow can't really take them seriously when they are produced in the media and not diplomatic channels. notions laws know that but it will see it is very difficult for me to talk seriously about this topic because all the evidence is provided to us through the media if you will and with all due respect to the media and the journalistic profession with serious people cannot consider the every accusation thrown at the russian federation of committing all manner of mortal sins so without engaging in those legal norms that were specifically created for such cases but our answer is very simple if you talk to us through the media then we will answer

through the same media but we will answer specifically incorrectly that means that we will ask absolutely practical questions so if our western colleagues seriously try to make as mad with this hysteria then they must not read history books if this is all just superficial and this attack of political rabies will just naturally go away when they speak out in full then we are always ready to engage by legal means and to have a serious professional known propaganda based conversation. you know the ukrainian patriarchate is not turning its back on the russian orthodox church because the ukrainian orthodox church of the moscow patriarchate is against the provocations that patriarch bartholomew is orchestrating but would while getting open encourage men and support from washington this provocation is meant to use the two canonical churches in ukraine to excommunicated churches the ukrainian orthodox church of the key of patriarchate and the ukrainian autocephalous church

which have never been recognized by any orthodox church in order to advance the plan patriarch bartholomew summoned a highly sign not in constantinople and reinstated the excommunicated churches and their heads as for clerical matters the law both in ukraine and in russia and hopefully in any normal country prohibits the state from interfering but when the us special representative for church relations openly welcomes bartholomew's ruling mr volcker who is supposed to represent the us and help solve the crisis in ukraine using the minsk agreements says what he says about these things then i can only respond with a russian saying the thief always reveals himself and people who cannot show us a single fact to confirm their indiscriminate accusations that we're interfering in someone's internal affairs behave as if this is the norm i hope very much that these extremely negative processes the processes of replacing the culture of dialogue the culture of negotiations the culture of diplomacy with the culture of

dict at a rude blackmail these problems will not remain outside the field of vision of those organizing the paris peace for him. firstly the agreement is really temporary the end of the story will only be when the power of the syrian people is restored in syria and when all those who are in syria especially those who were not invited there leave the country and that is clear to everyone i do not agree with he that it is the last problem area in syria but within syria there are huge areas to the east of the euphrates york where absolutely unacceptable things are happening the united states is trying to use these lands through its syrian allies primarily through the kurds in order to create a quasi state there but on this territory the united states is absolutely illegally trying to create across the state trying to do everything to create conditions to

normalize the situation for their allies creating or thirty's their alternative to the legitimate government of the syrian arab republic and actively promoting the return of refugees specifically to that area and this is all despite the fact that in the territory under the control of the legitimate syrian government neither the united states nor france nor any other western country wants to create conditions for the return of refugees as the west says until there is a credible political process what is the question why on the eastern bank of the euphrates which is controlled by the united states and their local com raid shouldn't we also wait for the beginning of a credible political process the answer can be only this because they're there they want to create the prototype of a new state or maybe again will see this dangerous game with kurdistan with the idea of a big kurdistan. but i do not exclude it because the united states in this area as a rule is trying to maintain the situation in

a heated state so that no one can calm down and in such muddy waters it's much easier for them to catch the fish they want is never lead to good results. you can see the full interview with russia's foreign minister on our t. dot com next thursday. now the two astronauts. who narrowly escaped a disaster on thursday when their rocket failed are now back in moscow they're safe and sound a booster rocket malfunction on the so used just minutes after blast off forcing the crew to abort the flight the two men on board were russian cosmonaut alexi of chinon and american astronaut nick haig chinon is about forty seven years old and holds the rank of reserve lieutenant colonel in the russian air force thursday's flight was supposed to be his second journey into space his american colleague forty three year old mckay gives a colonel in the u.s. air force in his case it was to have been his maiden flight following their ordeal

a dramatic rescue and medical tests friends and family expressed relief as the two men were welcomed back to baikonur.

all right when you've got more than half a million pounds of burning rocket fuel behind you and a booster that's gone faulty well you need to get away and fast so thursday's soyuz crew that meant relying on an escape system that was first developed in the one nine hundred sixty s. . each and every soyuz spacecraft is equipped with an emergency escape system that is designed to enable the creature safe escape in case of an emergency on board during blast off and the ascension phase the system has an evacuation capture and powerful engines attached to it the engines are active fifteen minutes before launch if the flight gets out of control they propel the capsule away from the main

body of the rocket that enables the crew to reach a safe distance in about four seconds parachutes then open to slow the capsules descent and ensure a safe landing this is the only system of its kind that so deeply integrated in both the spacecraft and the launch vehicle the emergency system has been deployed eight times over the history of soyuz mungy three of them with manned missions and the crew survived every time. i get most difficult of course i want to thank the rescue was from those who designed this cape system thanks to them came back to earth i don't think it was a miracle i think it's professionalism i think it's optional technology test crew and over many many years and also the actual human system the the emergency crews as you heard. the to get there in time and i'm sure what was happening in the council was was very professional the soyuz is. you know the

ground or rather it's been around forever it has proven it so repeatedly. and i think it's probably wonder if not the safest human spacecraft in the world. all right every moment of the brief tense flight was being closely watched from the ground as well just what i've got you have takes us through what happened. baikonur cosmodrome fourteen forty local time lift off in five fool dream team leaving one engine for help and a lot. but i do love the engine that lift up. the loo and she's always the most nerve raking paths the energy and stress involved a colossal rise of the response and dangers at this time everything proceeding as intended for today's life near the two minute mark the first stage boosters begin

to separate you get something the crew goes down. all right and i cheated and there's no time to wait think of one hundred twenty one seconds and merge and see protocols engage will to magically the mission is compromised they're on their way in milliseconds to get the crew away up with. the families of the crew and the heads of course morse and nasa watch on a stage action system jettisons the crew module away from the rocket boosters the for the tons of high explosive fuel detonate and we have plenty of scape tower for this three years now and jettison the ballistic trajectory they're on is rougher than anticipated the crew is shaken and battered but stay conscious with room for a little humor. sixty.

three minutes in emergency systems function as intended they begin their descent back to earth within minutes as search and rescue operation is underway helicopters assume born powering towards the landing site wealth makes families crazy and hope it's not the real us that the and at first i watched the launch on t.v. but at a certain point i turned it off so you can understand my feelings at the time there's no telling what medical condition cool read. what we might call luck others with professionalism the crew trained for years for these the technicians who engineered the safety hoover writes the rescuers and medics were arriving in record time was kosmos nasa teams wasn't that miracle but it was the next best thing when it comes through space nothing is left to chance as contingencies for everything sail safes

protocols and provisions as checks double checks triple checks and so is this track record the best in the world proves it's as safe as can be but that only gets you so far space is off the rule the final frontier. former astronauts we spoke to say crews are always well prepared for such emergencies and praised chinon and hague for their quick thinking actions i flew on to the space station aboard a soyuz rocket myself came back with us were you scared so on my fourth question and so you know kind of brought me back to what it's like being in that vehicle and imagining going through this kind of emergency aboard but as you heard from the transmissions the crew was very calm very professional and they did everything right and so first and foremost of course we're all very pleased that the crew is safe and healthy they're able to walk away from from the landing site and now it's

just a matter of the investigation determined what happened what corrective action taken in and then recertifying the vehicles for launch she just this was a situation that the crew a very well prepared for often it's almost impossible to believe that everything will go however most of the time everything does go very well but we are prepared mentally things not going the way they're intended in this sort of event when there's no normally during the launch the crew reacted as they would in a simulation and they practice their reactions multiple times in the simulator so they don't ask what's happening but what do we do the. mystery surrounding the disappearance of a saudi journalist in turkey has taken a twist as reports suggest riyadh was planning to detain him jamal vanished the last week after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul and hasn't been seen since u.s. media says washington has come into possession of intelligence that a special operation was ordered by the saudi crown prince of saudi arabia denies

any involvement artie's nigeria twitter discussed this with our very own just one vote. looks like the u.s. may have been aware of an imminent threat to the journalist well initially the trumpet ministration was rather slow in responding to the disappearance and this really may indicate why earlier in the the week reports surface that the u.s. had intercepts of saudi officials discussing a plot to lure him back to saudi arabia and detained him there now he's of course been living in the u.s. for about a year now at this point and he writes for the washington post he's a journalist and a lot of his articles are rather critical of the saudi government now it's unclear when the u.s. may have intercepted this intelligence and if they may have acted on it but it does raise quite a few questions not least of which being whether or not they had a responsibility to warn the journalist that his life might be in danger in some way shape or form now on wednesday a state department official did come out saying that they did not have any prior

knowledge of the incident though again it's gone so. i can see the united states had no advanced knowledge of the show his disappearance. so while these reports are based on you know again unnamed sources more than one allen says to have confirmed them at this point and then one has to wonder whether or not this is a situation where the left hand just doesn't know what the right is doing then in the u.s. government because at the same time we have a group of almost two dozen senators who are up in arms about the situation if we find out that they were complicit or directed specifically. the election should like to say. this is serious and i think it's important in this situation that we we don't overreact or the react we need to get the facts and i know that's a startling proposition for the united states congress that we should get the facts before we act if this did happen it is increasingly likely that something bad

happened to this man at the hands of the saudi government has contempt for us. disrespectful to so there we have calls for an investigation the word sanctions has already been brought up and there's even been a bipartisan movement to stop arms sales to the kingdom which would be a huge blow to ties between the two powers of course but that's something that apparently trump is not willing to consider as of yet i don't like stopping massive amounts of money that's being poured into our country oh and i know they're talking about different kinds of sanctions but they're spending one hundred ten billion dollars on military equipment and or things that create jobs like. others for this country so he did go on to say that u.s. investigators are looking into this situation but left it at that conflicting reaction there on the what kind of investigation should we expect jacki well on

thursday a turkish presidential aide did come out saying that there is going to be an engine a joint investigation with turkey and saudi arabia and reports say that a delegation from riyadh has already landed in turkey but it's a. clear how well that's going to work given the harsh accusations that we've had coming from the turkish side it's been alleged that turkey actually has audio and visual recordings of the incident that prove their claims that he was killed inside the consulate on october the second and certain articles quote people with quote unquote knowledge of the recordings recording saying that you can hear him being tortured and question interrogated and then killed but these recordings have yet to be released previously turkey had claimed that there was a fifteen man hate group that murdered and dismembered the journalist while he was in the consulate and then removed his body from the site now there has been no concrete evidence of that yet and that's something that doesn't need to be stressed this point and saudi arabia does flat out deny all the accusations saying that they

are baseless their position remains that he left the consulate unharmed later that day saudi arabia constantly barbarically violates human rights and human rights of its citizens it has no legitimate freedom of press to speak of however the united states keeps giving the saudi arabia billions in military aid and other foreign aid just as the united states turns a blind eye to its own violations of civil liberties including freedom of the press they constantly turn a blind eye to the violations of basic civil liberties and freedom of the press of its allies this is exactly what the u.s. has been doing. the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi has been missing since the second of october so take a look back over the moments leading up to his disappearance and the events that have followed.

south korea has rejected a suggestion from its foreign minister that a soul could lift sanctions on north korea after kang was remark drew a sharp response from donald trump u.s. president reacted by saying that seoul won't do anything without the approval of washington which insists on any tough stance on pyongyang our campaign of maximum

pressure on the north korean regime maximum pressure maximum pressure maximum pressure campaign sanctions that the south korean foreign minister had said were under a view were imposed on the north in two thousand and ten after it allegedly sank a south korean warship killing forty six sailors may place severe restrictions on trade between the countries washington and seoul's policies on north korea have appeared increasingly divergent in recent months with the south and taking a softer approach towards its neighbor last month a military agreement struck between the north and south drew the ire of secretary of state might pump a oh we spoke to unit jiang lim an international relations expert about the growing differences. you know they're not to states in tazz been our strongest and most powerful ally for many decades is we constantly i'm not angry of course and sure whether earlier now i present

a known aren't trying to intentionally chose that word again diplomatically speaking of course it's too much you know approve or to somebody else as who has its own sovereign white approve or not is of course you know it's as obviously it's against the conventional wisdom or do as you know diplomatic manners thirty two and a half minutes that's when i'll be back with another look at you know as you're watching our two international stay with us. to. it's been too many times. you know. to see each cities but those. civilians being terrorists you know attacking

civilians has been terrible lately i'm all for now than i was a few months back and they admit. it was a glimmer of hope and in the end all of this. and your phone pals. come up that. type of time talking point now. why. in film plan there is a trade in young girls souls into an underground sex in the street sometimes but the people they trust the most. because.

i write. her her yes yes yes yes. i'm sure it didn't know it's a comedy show where americans in america covering american news are called foreign agent. breaking news redacted vests some of the top secret details of trump's new and improved nafta are beginning to come to light and it demonstrates how our beautiful american.