well i got a lot of other. after nationwide protests in the most violent riots in paris in half a century the french government used by suspending a controversial hike in the cost of fuel for six months. president trump complains about an uncontrollable arms race between the u.s.

china and russia branding pentagon spending crazy it comes just a few months after he hiked washington's military budget precisely to counter. also to come. u.s. radio stations are banning the christmas classic baby it's cold outside after a backlash for me to activists i guess if you. think there's a lot of outrage i think women are really really angry what's behind it is you know women want relief or wonder what changed there are a lot of important issues right now only we focus on songs like this and try to get it out i mean we're paying a message that means he has just become unhinged. so they're welcome to she's gone five pm here in moscow you're watching international . our top story this hour the french government will suspend the controversial

increase in the cost of fuel in the wake of nationwide protests u.-turn comes after paris witnessed three weeks of the worst riots in half a century. the yellow vests movement is a movement without leaders while there have elected some spokespeople so far they yet to comment on those in a sense by the prime minister but we do know that before that announcement took place they had already said that they would be looking to push for more reductions in taxes rather than just fuel the crime of the said would feel even though it's a day that they would be a moratorium on hikes on a fuel tanks that was due to be implemented in january of two thousand and nineteen so in a month's time and not suspension will take place for six months now he also went on to announce some of the freezes in tax hikes including increases on utility bills that the cost of electricity and gas bills for people across the country

let's take a listen to what else the french prime minister had to say. this is this fiscal measure for six months and reintroduce it into has been discussed with. tax is worth putting the nation's unity in danger well the french prime minister had also said during that press conference so you'd have to be deaf north to hear the wrath of the french people and not something that the government has been accused of as these protests have been engulfing france over the last few weeks no going into the third week they've been violent particularly here in paris but there has been violence in some of the margins of protests that have been taking place across the country and hundreds of thousands of people have been taking part let's take a look now at some of the protests over the last two and a bit weeks. early .

well those protests may have started. hikes in a few crease by more than twenty percent for some fields over the last year but they've increased now to also talk about the high cost of living in france but those protests in the chaos that we've seen particularly street didn't get close to

the economy in france and that's why the government is trying to make do with this damage control exercise two days in a spy the prime minister will it be enough we're not sure and so far it looks like a weekend of protests is still set to go ahead sean been reporting now listen to code yellow vests have incurred large financial losses in some areas show profits for instance down fifty percent protesters right brocades to of course transport companies nationwide an estimated four hundred million euros and four million euros worth of damage was done to paris on saturday alone as demonstrators from right smashing property across the capital. don't trump says he's confident that sometime in the future talks will be held with china and russia to hold what he called the uncontrollable he also described u.s. military spending as crazy despite being the very person increased it just

a few months ago precisely to count to moscow and beijing with more. pouring money down the pentagon hole has been one of the donald's few consistent policies and since taking office trump has been serenading the military we took care of the military like it's never been taken care of before new equipment is coming in we're going to have the strongest military we've ever had by far and hopefully will be so strong we'll never have to use it but i'm talking about tremendous defense capability offensive capability it's in space so we're going to do the space force . but now he's changing his tune he's singing i have a dream and he's talking about harmony and peace between russia china and the united states. sometime in the future president g indicts together with president putin of russia will still talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major uncontrollable arms race the u.s.

spent seven hundred sixteen billion dollars this year crazy yes why spend so much money on bombs and tanks well this is for a president who just signed a bill in august for a twenty nineteen military budget of seven hundred sixteen billion dollars that's sixteen billion more than in twenty eighteen so why the increase is it to protect our citizens from terror well actually according to the pentagon it's about russia and china but we will continue to prosecute the campaign against terrorists that we're engaged in today but great power competition not terrorism is now the primary focus of u.s. national security no new arms race nobody wants a new cold war well if that's the case it might be smart not. to pull out of the nuclear arms treaty especially one that was essential in stopping the old cold war right now to hear that the agreement should have been done years ago but still people come to this and we have more money than anybody else by far and we'll build

it up until they come to this and when they do then we'll old guard it won't stop and by the way not only will we do so let's take trumpet his word and assume that he's just trying to steer a sinking ship well arms race may not exactly be the best term to describe it after all the us military budget is bigger than russia and china is combined and this year russia actually decreased its military spending not exactly an aggressive move but yet somehow they are the aggressor. meanwhile while travis gushing over his friendship with president xi imposing

tariffs and staging military drills in the south china sea is not exactly a friendly move the us trade policies have me some possibilities that are ground it would be very irresponsible and dangerous the united states to seriously violated the basic norms of governing international relations and damaged by no u.s. military relations so no need to prove to a song of peace but as the donald looks brightly into the future and imagines washington last gallon beijing walking down the yellow brick road together he might want to try out a different strategy kaleb up an art see new york when the independent political analyst out of sundry brunei believes that trump some predictable approach to foreign policy could backfire on the u.s. . from diplomacy as a sort of introduced in his book the art of the deal is this rock that he goes he may give you a compliment one day and then completely break you down the next promises to

improve relations with russia greatly so far i haven't seen any evidence of it and even. look at the year nuclear peace with the north korea seems to be stalling so everything does me that military spending will continue as planned if not more trouble will be more for the united states than for the foreign partners because now. trump has vast as they go shearing advantage because people will be able to read him much more clearly. never take him at face value always understand that he's playing some kind of game. as well as seeking talks with russia and china trump also wants to talk peace with the taliban and the american president has asked pakistan for help with arranging that although it is a bit awkward because trump had a big spat on twitter the pakistan's leader just a few weeks ago will have a look at this in more detail a bit later on in the program.

now it does seem that the classic christmas chewing baby it is cold outside is finding itself left out in the cold at the moment when it comes to festive play lists on u.s. radio stations because it follows a backlash from some this news over the lyrics about a man attempting to persuade a woman to spend the night with him critics who say it flies in the face of the me too movement. your hair looks well no no no i didn't write more later i'm going to say that i try our sense of humor he might already have it on. well that track was first recorded for the nine hundred forty nine hollywood film chines daughter and quickly became a hit the winning an oscar the following year scores of artists have covered it since me to activists though say the lyrics normalise manipulative and coercive behavior however others point out if those rules are applied many of the songs

would have to be dropped to. baby it's cold outside is basically a date rape song i'm glad people are finally realizing this here is your annual reminder that baby it's cold outside is basically a date rape song they want to play baby it's cold outside because it implies rape but they can play this horrible rag music that talks about sex drugs shooting people and cetera these other holiday songs must also be removed as are fanciful as well i saw mommy case in santa claus subjecting minors to soft core porn white christmas racist santa baby golddigger blackmail or my colleague daniel hawkins put the issue up for debate asking whether classic culture is actually incompatible with modern values. if this is something that is creating such an uproar we can't ignore it and also maybe it's reflecting that things need to change

and that. maybe maybe things have maybe christmas carols also. has to evolve with our society there are a lot of important issues right now and when we focus on songs like this and trying to get it out i mean we're painting a message that mates who has just become unhinged in going after these christmas songs from the one nine hundred forty s. which yes was a different era but frankly nobody nobody has cared about and so the meter movement wants to stay wants to stay current and relevant and i think that we need to focus on the main issues the biggest issues and stay away maybe from some of the lesser things like some of these christmas songs i think there's a lot of outrage i think women are really really angry the argument that maybe this is a little bit overkill. i think you have to look at that and see kind of what is behind that and what's behind it is you know women want relief women who want change women want their voices heard been reading into the lyrics of the song and also some some of. it is have been i've been reading about this it's very interesting to see the

different news you said it's really a question of interpretation is that it could be taken in different ways i mean i think if you're. a survivor of rape you're going to interpret it that way as a date rape song i think most people are going to study that it's from the one nine hundred forty s. and you know you could make an argument this is that this is a woman who several to celebrating for the actuality and it's really a flirting again and i missed it and i understand our diets and i do understand both sides of this argument i just see really the need to focus on on some of the bigger issues i understand that they're women that are survivors of rape and i do understand the argument i understand the side where we have to look at everything we have to understand because it's way if women are truly angry about this and then there must be something to it but at the same time you know i want. see a woman who can stand strong and look at the song and say you know what that's not going to bother me i know what my boundaries are i know when to leave for me i feel like it's almost a step back to see all this rage and anger over that i want to see women going you

know what we recognize the cultural differences are back that in those in that time that that kind of sucks for back then but they got where we are now and we're going to have a voice. to come the microsoft admits it is a win when it comes to supplying the pentagon with technology. we want silicon valley to know just how ethical and honorable a tradition the military has the president of the multinational is pledging to hand over its latest know how to the u.s. military despite resistance from employees story because of this to on the way.

i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter to us is over one trillion dollars and. more than ten white collar crime stamped each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you want to be ultra rich eight point six percent market so thirty percent is one of your somewhat four hundred to five hundred trade per second per second and one rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building two point one billion dollars industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only number you need to remember in one one show you know for a minute the one and only. i

. know again now let's return to our top story because the french government is suspending its hugely controversial increase in the cost of fuel in the wake of nationwide protests against the move of the u. turn does come just days after paris witnessed the worst riots in half a century and the fuel price hike had centered the approval ratings of the french president and his prime minister plummeting to their lowest ever levels mccrone is down six points and edward filipe lost ten points in fact on the previous month so let's talk about all this a bit further patricia shen you're on she's a regional counsellor for france's national rally party and she's with us now this evening fishy a very welcome we were just saying there the french government has made this announcement today hoping that this move will appease the protesters do you think it will prevent further demonstrations. well i was actually with the with

the yellow vests listening to the announcement made by the prime minister which was shortly before one pm here in france and they were appalled when i heard it they say what do you think we are throwing some peanuts at us and thinking this is going to come up so basically what the prime minister announced was the fact that they were only he was only going to. temporarily. halt the price prices and fuel and this is not but they've asked for the they know very well when it said it was a temporary measure that he said after six months we will decide what to do after six months they will probably implement it and people will know. cheated by the fact that six months from now we have european elections so it would actually mean that straight after the european elections would actually make the decision whether or not to reinstill these taxes yes or no so they said what does he think that we're you know we're going to vote let's keep us quiet so we vote

nicely for the european and european parliament all and then we get our taxes back and he said no that's not what we want in the of course evidence what a cockup been listening to the different news channels no i have the feeling just as just not enough and not a strong enough commitment made to the huge outcry from the french people that have been now trying to get themselves heard by micro and by the government for four weeks shaw as you say for weeks it's been a long time how is the government the french government in particular got this so badly wrong do you think. i think it's to do with two things is first of all got to do with this with the with the terrible arrogance of of the of my car my calm basically thought all right let's go and have them you know demonstrate a little bit and discredit them and just say oh well listen you know they're holding up commerce and they're. to be get out people people. damaging damaging

damaging stuff and rioters and very quickly popular opinion will let them fall will no longer be with the yellow vests and then it will all blow over what he didn't realise is actually what the yellow vests stood up for in france were very legitimate cases and that more than eighty percent listen to this more than eighty percent of the french people actually support what the yellow vests are claiming today so i think it has to do with this great arrogance of saying all right i can i can basically you know make sure this doesn't go anywhere and i will find a way you know with my communication and by manipulating the media and by you know sort of pointing finger at extremist groups and say all right look at this is all been it's all been political manipulation he was terribly terribly wrong and that's where we get the second problem is his great ignorance the mechanic is totally not aware what is going on in real fronts outside the big cities he and his

government have no one likes it people don't know anybody and don't know what's going on people are desperate and we've told you this i've been on on your news channels before the french people are dead that's pretty power has plummeted they're being over text everywhere there is horrible unemployment and things are getting cheaper their spending power is going down and taxes are going up and they are fed up with it so yes i think we this is all due to a president who is terribly arrogant and in his way of approaching the people because he doesn't listen to them and is very ignorant because he has absolutely no contact with with the grounds with what's happening outside of paris in the real france day to day lives of the french people sure ok patricia look we're going to have to leave it there but we're not told you that the fish on your regional councillor francis national rally party thank you thank you. now pakistan says that donald trump is asking it to help with peace talks with

taliban militants in a bid to end the ongoing seventeen year war in neighboring afghanistan but it does come just two weeks after trumping gaged in a twitter spat with pakistan's leader where he threatened to cut aid to the country all quarter picks up the story. if you only listen to what president says about pakistan you might think the country is a haven for terrorists one that at the same time is soaking up aid money from uncle sam we can no longer be silent about pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organizations because they don't do anything for us to do a good damned thing for us but no longer paying one point three billion the fact is that what paying them nothing because that's what they've done to help us nothing so it comes as a bit of a surprise that it's now the us asking for help from his lama bod but it's not the kind of help that comes in the form of a check but help in resolving the us is seventeen year war on terror in neighboring

afghanistan now trump already sent a letter to the prime minister which judging by pakistan's reaction was very cordial he's emphasized that pakistan and the usa should explore opportunities to work together and renew their partnership and now the u.s. envoy responsible for bringing the war to a close is taking a trip to pakistan now this politics of flip flopping might seem strange but it's not the first time u.s. foreign policy has contradicted itself when it comes to pakistan washington already tried to mend ties back in september when secretary of state mike pompei o flew to islam a bud i hope we can turn the page and begin to make progress even proclaimed the u.s. needs pakistan we need pakistan to seriously engaged to help us to get the reconciliation we need in afghanistan but that statement came amidst u.s. threats to yet again cancel aides to the country confused well you're not alone i

do the americans from because this isn't a three x. their own little box on the i'm not so. much. because you can't invoke a song but if. so when do you. buxom hell is the consequence but. playing good us bad us hasn't done much for peace in afghanistan where the taliban washington's sworn enemy is on the rise despite talks and peace conferences in moscow in geneva this year no concrete solutions have surfaced neither with the u.s. the afghanistan government or the taliban coming to the same table mistrust and inconsistency is the name of the game in this conflict and the u.s. a stance on pakistan is no exception. the boss of microsoft

says his company will supply the u.s. army with all the technology needs the decision was taken even though some of the tech giants employees have expressed concern. we are going to provide the us military with access to the best technology to all the technology we create false start we have to win people's hearts and minds we want silicon valley to know just how ethical in our noble tradition the military has many microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war when we decided to work at microsoft we were doing so in the hopes of empowering every person on the planet to achieve more not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality well last week microsoft won a four hundred eighty million dollars u.s. army contract to provide augmenting reality systems and it's also bidding for a controversial pentagon deal to called jed i the joint enterprise defense

infrastructure cloud as it's called is expected to cost ten billion dollars it will be part of the u.s. defense department's efforts to upgrade its i.t. systems but microsoft isn't the only one competing for the lucrative contract amazon has also got its sights set on the jet ideal google was in the running but dropped out saying the contract would be inconsistent with its principles technology analyst roger cable leaves that lucrative contracts for microsoft to outweigh the concerns of its employees. it is interesting that in silicon valley which is one of the younger culture sort of old line tech. there's a sort of. seriousness about the whole thing and certainly some of what smith has directed at existing employees i think the message for them is pretty much we're going to be an important part of fall and we

intend to you bond with if you have an issue with that we may need to decide to do something about that but i also think it's important to understand that military and technology don't hand in hand development technology ever since the dog time is part of what military activity is all about gaining technological edge on their adversaries so. it's not all the product line technology industry engaged with the military here and in other countries as well. you know what in the hay are not international thanks to the company the saving our programs continue to stop. thanks guys are financial survival. when customers go by the reduced price. then else will reduce some of our. that's undercutting but what's good for the market is

not good for the global economy. join me everything on the alex i'm unsure and i'll be speaking to a guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see that. this is pool and bust broadcasting around the world and covering the big world of business and finance of the impact on all of us i'm part children washington thank you so much for being on board we're sure glad to have you coming up today there is lots of news and a heck of a lot of it relates to trade so we are going to focus on trade from both the

perspective of u.s. agriculture and companies and look not just at china trade tensions but at the mexico canada circumstances to do so we'll be joined by steve walberg ellen smile a big peter schiff and danielle plus clutter is leaving the organization of petroleum extorting countries are two producers play a tab and you will tell us what that means all that directly ahead let's go. a moment of modest progress on trade that almost feels like a breakthrough leads our global report today as the leaders of china and the united states postpone any further escalations other lingering dispute at the meeting on the edges of the g twenty summit in boito sorry's argentina the agreement between u.s. president donald trump and chinese president xi jinping appears to effectively trade a postponement on the u.s. side of an increase terrify. chinese imports from ten to twenty five percent which was to begin on january first for a pledge from china to buy more american products president trump as usual was

eager to fill the void of specifics on the deal with personal puffery and unfounded claims on twitter of imminent major benefits from the deal for farmers who have lost major chinese market share chinese authorities notably declined to confirm the claims in mr trump's tweet moving forward u.s. trade representative robert light hisor who has taken a harder line in contrast to treasury secretary steve i'm a new mission we're portably be the point person for further negotiations with china. and some have questioned if this is just a delay or a period of time when something could actually be done and negotiated here's what u.s. treasury secretary had to say on the subject i think there is a specific understanding that we're going to now turn the agreement that the two presidents have into a real agreement over the ninety days obviously some of the issues are are going to need to be phased in some of the issues may need more detail.