just fifty. crucial midterm elections entrenched the deep divisions in the u.s. . presidency. the democrats seized on the republicans hold on to their senate majority. fallout from the midterms keeps on coming with white women in texas for betraying feminist values after voting in favor of the republican candidate i'm very tired of being castigated as some sort of racist simply based on my skin color who are you who are you represent if you're only as a white woman representing the best interests of other white women then we absolutely have a problem absolutely. germans apparently favor

a strong hundred leader with some even see nothing wrong with a dictatorship according to a nationwide poll this week chancellor merkel's job will soon be up for grabs. one hundred years ago today the guns of world war one fell silent for ever heads of state from around the globe are in france marking this and these are live pictures from the french capital in the french president greeting the leaders and heads of state we've got a correspondent in paris too we'll hear some. good stories from the past seven days on right up to the moment developments as well this is the weekly an hour to international hello and welcome crucial midterm

elections on tuesday left congress normally split between america's two major parties the democrats seize the house of representatives the republicans they built on their advantage in the senate. well florida was one of the most contentious states a recount has been ordered there after the republicans won by a tiny margin donald trump condemned the move saying it's an attempt to steal up to big elections the senate and the race for governor but it's far from the only thing that went wrong in the vote.

you know if you do. it right and if you move from your all to you.

well many of the midterms are a referendum on trump's presidency many say he's passed the test with the republicans retaining their senate majority a target they had set before the elections but it's not all plain sailing. explains . so which party won the epic midterm battle for control of the u.s. congress well if you listen to both sides they both won last night the repub. party defied history to expand our senate majority to found restoring the constitution's checks and balances to that. fancy pelosi has got plenty of reason to be happy it's the first time the democrats have had a majority in the house of representatives in eight years they can now launch an investigation spree into donald trump and block all kinds of legislation but you

would think they would have won a bigger blowout after all they are running against the new hitler who happens to also be a russian spy you can go for nationalism and you can go for anger opposite of hitler the same type of propaganda that you would have seen in germany in one thousand and thirty eight these comparisons to trump it's like it bums me out but trump will be outmatched by putin i have never seen an american president simply surrender to the leader of russia we call it soccer now the donald is far from a media darling lots of media criticism and pressure and his losses weren't so bad when compared to his recent predecessors he not only maintained control of the senate but the republicans actually picked up a few seats so do lots of americans just like hitler and russian spies well perhaps they were just watching a different channel twenty seventeen was a very successful first year for president trump unlike obama business confidence

is now soaring under president trump in fact the news is so good so the vote was described as a referendum on the donald so what's the verdict well the voters seem to have stayed within one of two echo chambers there is one echo chamber that loves the donald and the other that hates him the country is divided and now congress along with it definitely be us media and the political parties have definitely created more divisiveness and more friction between. between the parties as well as with them we couldn't move. society itself and i think the media is largely to blame they're. sometimes leaking information that should not be leaked sometimes. twisting the story a different way than that should be. you know sometimes just falsely claiming something that's not correct and that's substantiated so i think we've got. we've got a media and also elements within the government that are actually creating within

the u.s. government that are actually creating more of a divisive. atmosphere within the population. while the media briefing following the fold president trump once again clashed with the press trading blame with reporters for division within the country it isn't good what the media is doing and that i do have the right to fight back on the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist some people saw there as emboldening white nationalists that situation is to question i would never do that and i don't use race in a few marks among like in america it's people like this they cause division one of the statements that you made in the killing of the campaign there we go. i think you should let me run the country you run c.n.n. all right and if you didn't well your ratings let me ask you that said ask one of the other folks that said me ma'am on this person that's enough was president the other folks that said. you are a rude terrible person. mr president in go ahead of me to

go in jim's defense i traveled with him and watched him be the diligent reporter was i'm not a great fan of yours either side are said to be out of the. fiery stuff and indeed another aspect to choose these poll was that britain of just who voted for him it's white women in texas who took some backlash for allegedly betraying feminist values after checking the box for the state's republican candidate ted cruz a prominent sports journalist set off a particular debate. fifty nine percent of white women voted for task fifty three percent of white women voted for donald trump so given this numbers who is the real face of feminism alyse is just the latest example of liberals and progressives criticizing republican voting women here's a few more. what is happening why are women even voting for him yeah i don't get you ladies i meant the country's fifty five percent. i mean the country was pretty . well we have tons of black presidents when i see women doing that i think why are

they publicly disrespecting themselves voted against hillary clinton voted against their own voice. and by vote for anybody nobody you are a woman and you are never going to have it and hillary clinton so i guess. i don't get it. she scared me well it is a divisive issue and we pose the question of how feminism works in politics to a women's right to. media commentator firstly. the tradition of women just voting independently as they think and not based on their gender or their skin color or those kinds of things that is true independence i'm very tired of being castigated as some sort of racist simply based on my skin color and especially and especially because i happen to be the mother of

a child with brown skin and so to decide that based on my skin color that i as i sounds are only what are you voting for the best interests of the. hearings the person accusing makes the person accusing me the actual racist. no it says there's no such thing as reverse racism we'll start there but here's the issue if you're not voting in the best interest of that blagojevich i mean the rule around child that you have then here's the question what type of mother are you because here's the question at the end of the day we want children to be protected so we need gun laws that reflect that if you're voting against the interest of your own child in school then we have to raise the question what are you voting for the second red flag i don't care how many of your do you have other women and their reproductive rights when you know that ted cruz is not interested in protecting protecting reproductive rights when you know that ted cruz is not interested in equal pay for other women and you know that women who are brown skin and women of

other ethnicities are paid what why women are paid then i have to ask you the question who are you who interest are you representing if you're only as a white woman were presenting the best interest of other white women then we absolutely have a problem absolutely it is the republicans by the way it is the party of abraham lincoln that actually fought for civil rights and won over the democrats so if you want to vote in accordance with what is civil rights and you would want to vote republican now thirdly she brought up the issue and we don't know that those are how to if someone and we say when i was it was part of the seal there that's my stance and that's the feminine stance. on that now thirdly when she's talking about how does and of course what is going on this is a war of the limits right so i view all of that i'm all that has made me girls who were aborted what about their rights if you're going to talk about women's rights what about the baby girls rights who are killed ten thousand per day every day you know i know you're blowing my mind about republicans you talk about abortion but do

you protect the children while they're here if it's ok for you to lead a school full of children be shot i do because you as a woman want to have the right to bear arms but you don't protect those children who can't carry guns inside those school i mean it's insane and so when you talk about oh well i support a man who you know ted cruz but he doesn't support by with when you're a conservative woman you celebrate the things that you've actually accomplished based on your own you know own drive and your own freedom and your own will and your motivation and those kinds of things that's what i would rather be judged for the rather than things like going backward to things like religion and skin color and gender to me those in the home of those are the ones that he's saying are they . going to stay away and we need to get really come over here and basing things on marriage and accomplishment because because no matter what skin color what gender you are you can be anything you want to be we're the freest best

country want to bring in the heraldry race and this that you are something to celebrate for not wanting to whine about it and to vote with their other white community and so we're going to forget about all of those things and just stand on white privilege is the reason you resonate where she is and she wants to stand there i'd like to just say thank you to jim l. hill for her what she said i just support her as a michigan state alumni i want to say you go girl. countries around the globe are marking one hundred years since the end of the first world war heads of states and dignitaries from over seventy states are in part this for the. commemorations let's cross live now to the french capital to daniel hawkins who is there following events for us standing up poignant for many what's expected today. as you mentioned over seventy leaders gathering here in paris president putin of

russia recently landed as well going straight to the wreath laying ceremony to commemorate a hundred years since the end of the first world war twenty million people killed that's when he will million injured over four years of bloody conflict so what's going on behind the scenes though speculation has been rife has been on and off for some days and weeks on whether there will be that meeting would seem presidents trump and. the american side at least has been chopping and changing plans for quite some time initially looking favorably upon some formal meeting before saying it's unlikely and then pretty much canceling all together the russian side speculating on some sort of working lunch with the american president as well. speculated the. main concern is drawing attention away from the main events here and. saying his french counterpart president by meeting with the russian the president. did meet yesterday despite some clear differences on key international

events they did put on some show of unity at least through the body language. that. we've reviewed. also. spent time with chancellor angela merkel also attending a remembrance ceremony. with a slight comic moment there as well with a case of perhaps light misunderstanding missed mistaken identity for the german chancellor. you know. what they're going to be.

able to. we still don't know for sure whether that meeting between president putin will take place this intermittent focus on speculation on diplomacy behind closed doors it is worth remembering that the main aim of this global gathering in the french capital is of course remembrance commemoration. hawkins live from paris this hour. after nearly two decades of war in afghanistan the taliban talk peace and a multinational gathering in bricked on what came out of it. you know world of big. lot and conspiracies it's time. to

dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. it's been seventy is since the united nations adopted the universal declaration on human rights but in many places in remains a declaration and a reality how to bridge the divide between practice reaching.

fifty minutes into the program welcome back until the migrant to protesters faced off on wednesday with left wing activists in the german city of humbug riot police were deployed to separate the opposing sides. some of the signs of the water current there are protesters the ninth chancellor merkel's migrant policy which has seen over a million people oficial e pour into the country since twenty fifteen the rally was met by a thousand strong hunter demonstration marching against what they call the racism nutsy propaganda. according to a recent poll a majority of germans want to anger the markle to step down as early. next year it's after the german chancellor and she won't be seeking reelection but will stay in power until the end of her term that's twenty twenty one in another survey

produced a somewhat surprising result as artie's europe correspondent peter overfunded. new polling into the political leanings of germans has raised more than a few eyebrows eighty percent of those polled said they favored dictatorship is the ruling form for the country with eleven percent saying they would side with strong leadership now i spoke to people on the streets of berlin they were shocked that anyone here would hold those type of ideas. it's terrible we have been through that in history would you why thinking about those you know this is our past this is our past it cannot be allowed to become our future i don't agree with that at all and i hope that the majority doesn't this is this is auschwitz i painted in one thousand nine hundred sixty two. this has been present in germans for a long time this is just a consequence of that it doesn't surprise me because because because. i see the

people it's possible well i think this everyone's personal choice maybe due to the refugee crosses lately that may have impacted some people's opinions the government has to make something so that the country is led into a better better place and not into a worse place than it is already or bavarian terman of the alternative for germany party petter best strong is off of you the days of angola merkel's government are numbered. it was a lamb duck and it was pretty obvious already after the election loss though which . remember this problem even gets together a coalition and she's now it's writing. at least the chances are low you got the information that the socialists. are already looking for new jobs outside of the parliament because they think the government will not remain any longer the german

people on long out there it's only another issue bob and this is very him for who they already have while you go see what happens in the country nah i'm there i'm go out now but this is very young so ritzer in the government. is separate loosing straightness like in kamloops that the government is this missing. clerics just because they are opposing the government like with books on mosques. yeah just a note about what you're seeing on the screen in the bottom of the corner there are other more potent has just arrived in parsons just disembarked for world leaders gathering in parks a century on after the end of world war one more throughout the day here in r.t. all about that for now though let's move on to more world stories because on friday moscow played host to london mark talks on the afghan peace process china iran india pakistan were among those present at the meeting along with the taliban it's the first time the militant group has done for engagement in that kind of high

level multilateral meeting after almost two decades of war in afghanistan and the fact that they share the same room with kabul representatives is seen as a significant breakthrough the afghan government didn't send a delegation however members of an afghan high security council were there instead they said kabul is ready for direct peace talks with the taliban with high preconditions while the representative of the militant group told us their focus is on washington on the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. the whole mission is with us and democratic against americans and dead against them of the kind of oppression we would not call it a single american soldier in afghanistan that's why we should talk of etiquette about it as all that with them we have. no i didn't trust a lot more of us we have we want good relations specially what i want to move us well just continuing that the us turned down an invitation to the talks but did

send observer rock as the of brixton what may be behind washington's rejection of russia's mediation efforts by any measure the afghan war has dragged on for too long too many people the dead too little achieved too much hatred bred. on just one day the twentieth of october during elections three hundred and eighty eight civilians. of attacks so no wonder that even nato is calling for peace the tal the bomb must understand that to continue to fight is pointless they must sit down on the negotiating table the potential for peace is great in our interest being in many years unless of course peace is made in moscow in which case the us won't support that america is skipping the

moscow peace summit saying washington only supports afghan led efforts the united states believes that all countries should support direct dialogue between the government of afghanistan and the taliban to reach an end to the war. and. we've been clear that no government clued in russia can be a substitute for the afghan government interact negotiations with the taliban wave which never stopped the u.s. special envoy from meeting taliban officials in calcutta last month for direct negotiations i think the more countries that approach the afghan government and the taleban and all the warring parties and say let's talk let's have peace rather than war that's a very logical thing for most people and for most countries i just don't think in

the united states the united states at this particular time wants to see it also the military industrial complex in the united states is a very very big part of the u.s. economy the guns and the planes and the ships and the bombs that they use and sell all around the world support a lot of jobs in the united states i don't think that the wars in general or going to end if they can do some maneuver to make a better situation for the united states in afghanistan seventeen years of war and terror is nato soldat countless thousands dead on each every side generations thread and misery and violence drunken hatred and the heroine finally the taliban agrees to open talks it's a huge deal ed the u.s. possum's war it seems is preferable to peace that comes with russian help.

to something a little different a former t.v. host in the netherlands thinks his love life is suffering due to age discrimination on the sixty nine year old asked the courts to turn back the clock the pensioner believes has really just forty nine that he wants out. to be made official i suffer my age because i'm much more younger but if i have that again i hope again i knew again and there is the whole future is there for me again there's no legal precedence in this area but authorities have been dismissive of the idea. describes himself as a young gold things that being legally younger will help him get more work on more dating ups the father of seven promises to give up his pension if a dutch court approves his request after his local authority rejected changes to his birth cert radio host journalist john go on to believe the whole thing is well ridiculous. they would all like to identify as tried joe thirty years younger most

of us do it by getting film losing a bit of white you were born on a certain day and as the years go by you get older it's just seems to me to be obvious i don't know how we got into this position this chap whether he likes it or not he's seventy odd he's not twenty years younger i mean where will it end oh i'd like to identify as so vast a stone but i'm going to be able to say this is just madness we need to start dressing no doubt some people in their own body i can understand this but the whole idea of self identification is just crazy absolutely crazy we're turning the focus next on africa on an issue that's being probed right throughout the continent how equal rights for women can be beneficial for all our two international.

goal make manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the famous merry go round to the one percent. we can all middle of the room see. what politicians to do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so if you want to be president and she. wanted us. to do right. this is what. real people are. interested.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic development only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk.

right over. those on the right. move. through on sunday night before. the country is torn apart by brutal krisna conflict. nearly a million died in all for him and the streets of rwanda cities was steeped in blood and little with politics. the term genocide is often used to describe what happened here. but for the people who saw it all first time around. it was the end of the world.