breaking news on r.t. international saudi arabia claims that a journalist who went missing more than two weeks ago died in a fight in the saudi consulate. the russian woman is charged in the u.s. for allegedly trying to meddle in the upcoming midterm elections through social media. and the funerals are held in crimea of the twenty people shot and killed by a student at a technical college survivors recall that tragic day. yesterday seven should.

have you with us we start with breaking news this hour. claims that a journalist who went missing two and a half weeks ago in turkey died in a fight inside the consulate in istanbul the saudi state prosecutor made a statement on state t.v. . from one this week now cross a live to our correspondent in washington d.c. dan thanks for being with us this story has been dominating world news headlines for two weeks now could you tell us about the latest statement from the saudis. well the latest is the saudis have confirmed that. the saudi national and washington post columnist who disappeared on october second is dead they say an argument turned into

a quote fist fight led to his death the consummate came also from a tweet from the saudi foreign ministry king solomon has fired five top officials and arrested eighteen people among those fired to our crown prince mohammed bin solomon's advisor sowed to any and deputy intel intelligence chief major general ahmed allah sciri they're being investigated about the case the white white house press secretary sara sanders has released a statement saying these are the exact words the united states acknowledges the announcement from the kingdom of saudi arabia that its investigation into the fate of gemma hall shoji is progressing and that it has taken action against the suspects it has identified thus far we will continue to closely follow the international investigations into the tragic incident and advocate for justice that is timely transparent and in accordance with all due process we are saddened to

hear confirmation of mr hushovd ji's death and we offer our deepest condolences to his family fiance and friends so the saudi version that we're hearing tonight about a fistfight that led to his death is very different from what the turks have been leaking through the international press since october second turkish intelligence have been claiming that a saudi hit team of fifteen people killed within just a matter of minutes after hall shoji arrived at the saudi embassy in istanbul they claim to have video and audio recording showing the saudi team listening to music through headphones as they cut. g.'s fingers off beheaded him and dismembered his body with a bone saw president trump has called on the turkey to release the audio and video if it exists this is led to unprecedented scrutiny of

saudi arabia and its relationship with the trumpet ministration president trump had been saying previously that it was probably dead but he didn't have confirmation he's also said he doesn't want the case to interfere with large armed deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars and that he didn't want u.s. companies like lockheed martin boeing and raytheon to suffer as a result much of the outrage has been specifically directed at the crown prince of saudi arabia mohammed bin some on we've seen protests outside the white house here in washington and democrats are seizing on the trumpet ministrations relationship with saudi arabia as midterm elections near. artie's dan cohen reporting there from washington d.c. we know that you'll see across the story for us this is a developing story and i'm sure that we will be with you again. all right we are

now joined a live to discuss this further with us diplomat jim john trust jim always a pleasure to have you with us. you and i had a chance to chat a little bit about this in the break in the sound check what we know is that stepped into the saudi consulate on october second to get documents for his marriage and the saudis are now saying that he got into a fight and died. were this a little bit differently now that we're on t.v. do you believe his explanation. no i don't particularly and i think the real this really just. multiplies the advantage the president go on of turkey has if he has these recordings as he says and can prove that the saudis are lying even about this part now he's really got them over barrel and i expect him to use the most of it as far as the american side goes i think president trump opened up the door to this kind of thing when he used that it could be a rogue operation remark the saudis were not willing to walk through that

a few days ago but now i think they're getting desperate that the noose is tightening around mohammed bin some on and now they're coming going with plan b. which is ok let's blame it on some underlings let's pick some fall guys let's blame them for the whole thing some heads will roll maybe literally and they can somehow protect mohammed bin still man himself from implication and this i don't know if that's going to work now. from a diplomatic standpoint you have kind of a unique perspective on this incident happened a two and a half weeks ago and there's been a global outcry why has it taken the saudis so long to admit that he is actually even dead because i think the short answer is they assume they can get away with this like they get away with everything else is that they they spend a lot of money they buy a lot of talent they have p.r. agencies they buy a lot of influence with their weapons purchases they can kill half of yemen and nobody cares they thought i was one journalist ok fine some people maybe handle it

a little bit sloppy word got out but we can cover this up like we get away with everything else and i think they are very surprised so this might ask you to go down the rabbit hole a little bit but for the washington post but the papers on our jeff bezos has kind of stayed out of this he stayed silent in fact so have many top e.u. officials why do you think this is the case. i don't know about bezos but i would think that the e.u. officials are rather like the american officials they know that a lot of lucrative business deals depend on the saudis that money talks so the idea look their luck a lot of people who have been one way or another corrupted by saudi money and i don't think they want to see the gravy train go away whether mohammed bin still monster days or not there's still a lot of people that are very heavily invested in the relationship with this this. government which let's let's be honest with ourselves even aside from n.b.s.

is nothing to write home about this is one of the one of if not the most repressive governments in the world that supports terrorist groups all over the region and worldwide so there's nothing to be proud of here with these relationships here's an interesting thought in some ways trump is kind of painted himself into a corner earlier he promised severe consequences for the saudis if they were found to be responsible for the journalists death. can we actually assume that this is a genuine threat or is he going to find some way to get out of this one i i to tell the truth i don't think he really intends to follow through with that i think he's protecting himself domestically as was pointed out you have some of the democrats as well as republicans but largely democrats as well trying to use this as a little bit of a wedge during the campaign i don't think it's a big one but it's certainly one where you can throw rocks at present trump and they're going to make the most of it so i think he wants to defend himself a little bit is a no no i'm going i'm going i'm going to be very tough about this you touched on

this a little bit before but democrats republicans all sorts of officials have talked about the lucrative arms contracts in the lucrative deals with of the saudi arabia's trump himself included in that famously is this really all about money. i don't think it's all about money but the money is is a big part of it and and i do think that that money will have some influence we'll have to see how much rand paul for example has been trying for a very long time to cut off the money and cut off the technical assistance for the saudi arabian attack on yemen he's been getting increasingly large votes still not a majority i'm trying to cut off arms sales to the saudis this may be enough to put him over the top and when you think about that then that then cuts down mightily on the saudis influence in this country because a lot of a lot of the weapons purchases they make are for the purpose of buying influence they don't really need some of these weapons there are there are reports that they

simply store some of them and warehouses because they don't know to do with them they're a form of bribe money in essence and so on there are a lot of people in the mix mansions around here in the washington suburbs who don't want the gravy train to go to an end. so if we're going to be really clear about this we have to acknowledge the fact that the u.s. has turned a blind eye has forgiven the saudis in the past for many grievances human rights violations and what have you do you think that this is a sea change we're about to see is anything going to really change or will it all be the same. i think everybody is going to work very hard here in washington to ensure that it is not a sea change that business as usual goes on whether it's with m.b.a.'s or with somebody else that may not work and look i think i think the plan right now is to do it cannot he did a few years ago well over the lockerbie incident where he escaped blame for it by designating a couple of his people as the flunkies they went to scotland to stand trial he was

able to stand aside how much good did that do him in the long run and i think that there are some people who are beginning to say look are we getting something getting closer to something that really does destabilize the saudi regime mohammed selman has made an awful lot of enemies with his soup called entire corruption drive which is really just shaking down a lot of other members of the royal family there's a lot of bad blood out there and it could get very ugly and i expected to be whether he survives this particular incident or not all right jim joshua's this is why we turn to you in situations like this because we want to break it down thanks my friend i'm sure that will be if you haven't as this equate out. all right the u.s. justice department has filed criminal charges against a russian national for allegedly trying to meddle in the upcoming midterm elections the russian embassy in washington says the claims are unfounded and has come up as

more. the u.s. department of justice has indicted a woman who is forty four years old an accountant living in st petersburg now she is the first person to be indicted and it is alleged that she was meddling in the upcoming midterm congressional elections in the united states she's being charged by the u.s. department of justice with conspiracy to defraud the united states it's alleged that she had millions of dollars invested into social media activity that was intended to quote so division and discord in the u.s. political system in july we heard from christopher ray he's the director of the f.b.i. and he says that no evidence of such a plot by russia actually had been discovered so far we haven't yet seen an effort to target specific election infrastructure at this point it's not alleged that any voting machines were targeted it's not alleged that any voter registration records or any election infrastructure was in any way targeted now this comes in

the aftermath of twitter releasing a collection of tweets it says came from russian trolls and quite a large number of tweets and the report itself actually admits that these tweets their influence was rather negligible they really didn't have much of an impact on the u.s. election in two thousand and sixteen strangely enough you know these tweets are not only directed against hillary clinton but also directed against donald trump and in fact they were more effective when they were targeting trump so the allegation that there was some sort of russian conspiracy to get donald trump in the white house doesn't exactly add up if that were the case why would these russian votes and trolls be working to hurt donald trump rather than help him and why would they be working for the benefit of hillary clinton the other point it's raised is it's alleged that these these tweets are associated with the internet research agency which is connected to a businessman who said to be connected to vladimir putin the russian president also

alleged that this woman in question works with this businessman. and he is connected with latimer putin it's quite a stretch it's not clearly established how the russian government is responsible for the activities of a private company the questions still remain they're alleging that she is friends with this man who owns the internet research agency and then he is friends with the russian president it's kind of a long chain of separation that they're making it's also important to note that we've heard donald trump speak up and says that the woman in question has absolutely nothing to do with his campaign she has been named in previous indictments from the u.s. department of justice the bob muller investigation regarding the twenty sixteen election she was named however at this point we're now seeing her named and charged in connection to alleged meddling in the twenty eight thousand elections which have not yet taken place which are coming up in november. daniel mcadams executive director of the ron paul institute for peace and prosperity believes the case

raises worrying implications for freedom of speech we don't have freedom of speech to talk about the whether we have freedom of speech to talk about very difficult issues i thought that's what a democracy that's what a free debate of ideas was about is it the illegal for a russian to comment or to take out an ad or to discuss issues in american society is it illegal for other people to even write or comment about internal american affairs it's it strikes me as an absolutely bizarre almost a stall in this view of the world that no one outside no private citizen outside is allowed to comment on american internal topics it's some kind of insane mentality the heart of ocracy is so weak that even bringing up these issues can undermine the faith and democracy in our problem is a lot more serious than a couple of russians taking out facebook ads. three days of mourning are being held in crimea for the victims of wednesday's college massacre the student killed twenty

people before turning the gun on himself our correspondent is in the city of carriage where a public ceremony for the victims has been held. thousands and thousands of locals of turned up for this ceremony a final chance to say goodbye farewell to all those whose lives were cut short in this horrific massacre and just the stress most of the victims were teenagers aged sixteen to nineteen making their loss so much more acute so much more painful than it is a lot of grief here people as well as top officials the governor to offer words of support to the families we understand one relative felt so aggrieved so poorly that she needed medical attention a little earlier but the governor and others wish them strength to deal with this tragic loss nevertheless hoops and prayers here with those still in hospitals many

people fighting for their lives in critical condition on life support battling severe injuries as i reported earlier there was nothing spontaneous about this massacre it was cold calculated and preplanned. but. it was here on the thirteenth of october that vladislav surkov the suspected shooter begad to turn his plaid for mass murder into reality here we should have means with the the community game you probably you can actually. hear you but i hope when you play to put on couldn't be on the beach with one hundred fifty shotgun shells were only for the second part of his atrocity. four days later

he waited until his mother left this house dressed in black and carrying a bag of ammo. left. for college on the other side of town. first he detonated an improvised explosive device. to put up with sickle on us to stop the police the bomb filled as it was with lethal shrapnel was set and triggered in the cafeteria on the first floor exactly at lunchtime when it would be packed with faculty and students. these was no crime of passion this was planned with cold calculation given the effort needed to learn how to and to actually build a bomb with a time a detonator the aim was clear to kill and maim as many as possible as

quickly as possible in the ensuing chaos. as panic and confusion took hold the gunman began his killing spree he started on the second floor making his way downstairs to the devastated cafeteria killing anyone he met stuff with students. a few. more shots more victims she was unit with critique you can stash the symbol of them you know but they don't do it until but they're most of them teenagers they tried to run to hide they did desperate things. to mind as i knew. the mushy i didn't know you. had to say i'll go to someone and i get his rampage last the just fifteen minutes before he killed

himself in the library on the second floor fifteen minutes but his victims are in the hundreds for every child. left dead a family was torn apart to every teacher killed generations of graduates left stunned friends that teaches neighbors and countryman all shocked and. since the early hours of the morning they've come here bringing more and more and more flowers candles toys in syria's mourning a loss of tragedy that they can scarce comprehend what's worse a tragedy apparently without cause or reason. clashes have erupted in the west bank and gaza that story after a short break this is our international. what

politicians do. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so if you want to be president and she. wanted. to go right to the press this is what before three of the people. interested in the water. sit. on the leaves that north korea will be ready to nuclearize very soon there could be. about some of the nuclear weapons and materials to be taken said russia and disposed off there and then on the basis of mutual trust the united states and russia could help north korea in the energy sector for example build a gas pipeline and trucks. are

welcome back this is our two international now one palestinian official and several other people have been injured during a protest in the west bank israeli officers were seen using force against the demonstrators. the locals who are opposing plans to demolish their village around fifty two families have rejected an offer to relocate to another area israel says that the village was built illegally and a dangerously close to a highway. meanwhile on the israel gaza border. one hundred fifteen palestinians including twenty five children were injured in the latest riots according to the

palestinian health ministry crowds have been gathering at the border fence every friday since march demanding the right to reclaim ancestral lands from israel protesters placed burning tires along the frontier and threw rocks at israeli soldiers who fought back with my fire sense of the unrest began seven months ago more than two hundred palestinians have been killed by israeli soldiers local journalist. outside of that is in gaza with the latest. today marks the thirtieth friday in the great march every terry as we can see hundreds of palestinian protesters have gathered here is usual to protest today palestinian protesters have started burning tires in an attempt to block the vision on the israeli snipers division in front of these really forces are these really snipers is almost totally blocked but yet they are firing live ammunition and gas cans turns at the palestinian protesters gathering there as we can see the israeli

forces are firing gas canisters on the palestinian protesters. there are numbers of injuries that have been taken by paramedics to the ambulances as you can see in the area it's full of protesters all sectors men women and children. we have paramedics we have a lot of press we have also palestinian volunteers who have come here in order to save the other protesters we have seven injuries four shot for life shooting until now and people are chalking because of old a gas that has been fired and then you have another injury i know there is injury. in the eye. another injury in the i. mean. as you can see there are. a number of injuries that are cut. every now and then.

meanwhile the israeli military says it was forced to respond on friday after terrorists in gaza launched several insincere balloons into israel. switching gears now we can weeks founder julian assange is suing the government of ecuador a tree that has been sheltering him at its london embassy for the last six years songs claims his rights are being violated ricky leaks has confirmed that a lawyer has filed a case in ecuador this comes after assad has internet access was cut off for several months and this week he was given a list of rules to uphold while he is living in the embassy requirements are listed in a ten page memo embassy officials can refuse visitors without explanation he will have to pay for his own health care is barred from engaging in political activities or interfering in foreign affairs and there are a number of other house rules as well. tsar

to international.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see you then. the grim reaper of the bond market has appeared with this scene with this guy and he's looking at the global bond market he's got all. this obama apocalypse it's a tsunami bad paper and it's going to be the greatest financial collapse ever love it. gave americans a lot of job opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money i

could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars trucks or chose to drive truck people who rush to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent it was like a gold rush is very very similar to the gold rush but this beautiful story ended with pollution and devastation a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and just slow down so much they lost their jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. it's a tough reality the only. this

is going bust broadcasting around the world and covering the world of business and finance and the impact upon all of us i'm far chilled in the belly of the beast washington d.c. we're glad you're on glory glad you're with us today coming up we take a look at venezuela's economy with our own producer daniel britto an expert on venezuela plus we talk trains and automobiles today with alex behala vidual help us look at some rail earnings report plus we take a longer look at why detailing companies around the word world will be joined by the car coach lauren fix we'll also ask her about those ongoing a mission scandals in the european union all that directly has but first with some headlines ready to go for the economic expansion in china appears to be slowing as it is as weakest point since the q one of two thousand and nine the gross domestic product came in at six point five percent that's two tents. of a drop from the previous quarter of six point seven percent last year's china

annual g.d.p. was six point eight percent and in twenty ten the rate was a whopping ten point six percent by the way almost every nation on earth would be pleased with the g.d.p. of china's six point five percent save india i suppose which had in two thousand and seventeen a g.d.p. rate of seven point seven point three percent and that's expected to grow to seven point three or seven point four percent and twenty eight hundred twenty nineteen. russian president vladimir putin has said there is no reason to take any steps to worsen relations with saudi arabia in light of the disappearance of and most people assume earlier of washington post journalist jamal push shogi who was last seen more than two weeks ago entering the saudi consulate and istanbul turkey many business leaders and government officials including as of yesterday it was late when he got there u.s. secretary of treasury steve a minute.