i. have. a russian plane in the us and accused of being a foreigner pleads guilty in court moscow says. in this case is political and claims should be put under psychological pressure. austrian

police to launch an investigation into russian biathlete claims of doping at the twenty seventeen world championships compactors deny the charges and say the rumors are nonsense. and the israeli army conduct raids. checkpoints around watches the defacto capital of palestine after two israeli soldiers were killed and another injured in a shooting near the city needs a palestinian city. and you're watching international live from austin joe here in moscow. welcome to the program. maria britton a russian national detained in the u.s. and accused of being an unregistered foreign agent has appeared in a washington d.c.

court she's entered a guilty plea for more now let's cross live. what we know at this point and what invents have preceded today's guilty plea. well maria buton a has appeared in court and she has pled guilty to acting as an unregistered lobbyist she's essentially pled guilty to the fact that she allegedly was was apparently trying to contact political forces forces associated with the national rifle association on behalf of the russian government that is essentially what she has pled guilty to she has changed her plea to guilty and now prior to today's hearing we did hear from the russian foreign ministry they had the following points to make about the huge amount of pressure buthe has been under in the lead up to today's events. she's a political prisoner and what's been happening with respect to putin that has

nothing to do with justice it will be investigation of any kind but this is all the food of political pressure and blackmail has been subjected to a whole range of methods of psychological pressure so will support whatever decision she makes that will lead to her leaving. now at this point no sentence has been named and there will not be a sentencing hearing even established because at this point she is still cooperating with investigators now on february twelfth there ruby a status hearing and the judge has not ruled out deportation the prosecution is asking for no more than five years in prison but they may file a downward motion for an even lesser sentence or possible deportation back to russia we don't know yet what that will here february twelve will be the next status hearing regarding the case now it's important to point out that sense she's been arrested she was denied bail she was held in federal custody and that she has

been held a large part of her time in solitary confinement under a huge amount of pressure but it seems that today she has come forward in federal court and entered a plea not to espionage not to any of the other things that were said widely in american media but simply to acting as an unregistered lobbyist on behalf of the russian government so at this point still a lot of questions about what will come next no final decision about what will happen with her but we have seen that she has entered a plea of guilty. ok thanks for the update. and the reporting for us to discuss this further let's now bring in our legal analyst jennifer pretend jennifer welcome to the program. i know we can hey yeah now russian officials they've been saying all along that the charges brought against him. and politically motivated well she'll take on the case.

unfortunately i mean i really do have to agree i think we're seeing this this young girl is a russian national she had a legal student visa in the united states and she's been heavily involved in politically motivated activities related to gun control this is something that this young woman has wanted since birth being raised in siberia and and she's always been fascinated by the national rifle association which is a u.s. nonprofit even creating her own so this is a woman who was politically motivated but didn't know things and then joined that or was involved in the n.r.a. when she came to united states just based on what she had been like in since childhood what i'm seeing now is that the bottom line is that the government or here the united states the justice department is are going to prosecutors are arguing that this woman was an agent of russia based merely on her citizenship in alleged communications with somebody in the russian government even though she was never paid and there is very little evidence of direct collusion to undermine u.s. policy and that to me is very problematic just because she was an outspoken

supporter of donald trump who as we know prosecutors have been trying to tie to russia and this investigation so it seems like a little bit of a stretch to say that this woman was was politically motivated to help undermine the u.s. government under our federal rules nevertheless jennifer she's entered a guilty plea what do you think is going to happen to her now. well hopefully they're going to have some leniency because again without too many details on her charges without a lot of evidence at least they came to public eye at least evidence that i've seen she did spend time in solitary confinement she spent time in a u.s. jail since the summer that's many months so they're going to be tacking on those months in consideration of the time she's already spent in jail so hopefully provide somewhat of a reduced sentence based on this plea arrangement she's now made but hopefully we're not going to see

a lot more time merely based on the fact that the federal the foreign agent registration act or fara which is what this is all under has kind of been one of those categories or areas of law which attorneys in analysts throughout the united states are still trying to are still trying to determine are still trying to look into it and get facts on this plus we're now seeing far be used specifically as it relates to undermining the donald trump administration and to tie in the trumpet ministration or conservatives really with anybody involved in russia friends with russia or contacts it sounds dangerously close in this case to we arrested this young woman because we need dirt on trump in russia and she is russian political and pro trump i mean i would wonder whether there are any russians in the united states which are anti trump and have in some way had similar communications to go against the trump administration of course those have they haven't been arrested they haven't been tried and so we are seeing a little bit of

a political undermining i'm sure there are some there and we need to be careful we need to be very careful in the united states that we don't utilize laws which haven't been used to the reach and extent that they have especially in this case for political motivations if they're going to be used they need to be used across the board and we need to understand those explicitly you mentioned fallen through solitary confinement jennifer how do you think they justified keeping her in solitary confinement. i don't see an air hill where they could have justified keeping this woman in solitary confinement this is a young girl who's a college student at american university she's she's provided payments to the university to study there she has a legal visa there's been no information that she was working for the russian government that she came here with the intent as a russian government agent or a spy there's been no evidence of her being

a spy there's been none of that and even if even if so to put her into solitary confinement when show that she's been a danger of violent threat and that she's subverted other people in there which which they're really just wasn't evidence at the time to show that's a very very dangerous precedent if that is in fact true for whatever reason again we don't have much information as to why she was placed in solitary if it's purely based on her charges that seems to go against much of u.s. policy in regards to those who are imprisoned inside of u.s. courts with legal status to be in the united states this woman is not an enemy combatant she had she should have been told and faced with her charges so unless new surfaces that there was some kind of skirmish or issue within the jail which again it has not that's not been this is not come to light but if there is some evidence then that would explain it but right now it seems to go against u.s. policy and laws as to who is who is forced into solitary confinement just based

solely on the charges that were lodged against her ok thank you very much an appropriate and legal play a contribution discussion on the subject thank you. russian doping scandals are back in the headlines austin police are looking into claims russian biathlete violated and the twenty seven team championships my colleague and . alexey who gave us the details. now we know that on wednesday night the austrian police went into the hotel where the russian national biathlon team was staying in austria during the world cup actually it was a night before some of the athletes accused were supposed to hit the track and participate in the world championships they put forward the accusations that at least four of the athletes and six members of the staff violated the anti-doping regulations back in twenty seventeen during the world championship in austria just a year ago. this is a very serious accusation because in austria it entails a criminal punishment so the athletes were pretty shocked judging by their reaction

and i believe we can listen to some of those i've been accused of something i haven't done i can assure you one thousand percent everything i've been accused of is full so i want to ask a rhetorical question do russian athletes really value their sporting careers so little that they do the things we're accused of all the accusations against me all the rumors are nonsense total nonsense i've always been true to myself to the biathlon family and to the fans i have nothing to feel bad about i have to say alex on the log you know one of the biggest stars of russian biathlon at the moment has a very good point in the question he raised in that instagram post now he knows what doping like he was actually under disqualification up until twenty sixteen and after that he was never tested positive for doping again he actually reinforced his words in that post on instagram with a printout of all the doping tests yes taken since then in twenty sixteen seventeen

including that championship in austria and although those tests were negative in terms of doping the russian sports ministry confirmed to us that they have received the formal. accusation from the austrian stories on the matter but it gets a little confusing because the austrian side on their matter they say that they have notified the russian authorities before bringing in the official accusations into the hotel of the of the national team on wednesday night with regard to russia's anti doping agency what are they said well we are seeing this story happening in the times when the russian anti-doping agency looks to be reinstated by water the world anti-doping agency that decision in september caused a lot of surprise among many nonetheless i actually had a chance to go to the russian anti-doping agency this morning and spoke exclusively to the head of russian and i don't think agency i believe we can listen to that. inspection yesterday it was completed in full it was a thorough and serious all the documents were thorough we looked through the

results so good we confident that sharks will reveal no violations we will take the results seriously and implement further measures to fight do. so in regards to the latest scandal in austria the governess they had. said that he was cautiously optimistic yet still had some concerns about the story that needs to be investigated needs to be looked at but next week water is here in moscow he has every reason to be concerned it's a big meeting when they will enter the laboratory with urine samples which is the key condition for starters reinstatement and obviously will be all over that story on tuesday next week and we'll update our viewers without legal advisor and professor of international law mike believes the results of previous doping tests for the athlete will be strong evidence in the. bridge may be. a.

preliminary in the. interim. i'd be lured. to the information. this information or a great deal of time but until the moment when. they burned it to hit the information their little notes to the jury in could be so it. is too quickly. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered to increase the military presence in the west bank this comes just hours after an attack like israeli soldiers were killed and another injured in a shooting at a bus stop near the palestinian city of ramallah it led to israeli forces to immediately impose strict checkpoints around the area local reporter how.

according to reports initial reports was that palestinians opened fire on israeli soldiers on a flying checkpoint near a model i'll be into as soon as that happened all roads were closed there's really no army has entered the lodges the defacto capital of the palestinian authority and there are currently confrontations happening between palestinian youth and israeli forces the model has been completely closed off by the israeli army and there are also problems on the main roads between palestinians and israeli settlers settlers have been throwing rocks at palestinian cars so those real army has been from all over the past four nights conducting raids searching houses searching stores even taking camera footage from cameras throughout the area israel has put the blame on the palestinian authority and at the same time the palestinian authority is putting the blame on the israeli government. it all comes amid

deepening tensions between israel and palestine since donald trump unilaterally recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel twelve months ago led to palestinians in the gaza strip this year organizing mass protests known as the great to march a return. of the more news after this short break.

you know i work with potential school shooters for a period of twelve years and none of the students who we work with in our facility facility ever went on to commit a school shooting so that gives me hope that if we catch the students early enough and provide the kind of support and mental health treatment that they need that they can come out of the crisis. the program having bowed to the demands of large scale antigovernment protests

president. is facing trouble on another front the french parliament is at this moment debating a motion of no confidence in his government the vote was tabled by left wing. than it is some may have given the impression that it wasn't my concern that i had other priorities. because of this crisis i want to reconcile with you salaries will increase by one hundred euros in twenty nineteen at no extra cost to employers. the french yellow vests movement has been protesting for weeks now well started as a rally against a now scrapped increase in the fuel price evolved into people airing their grievances against the government more generally students paramedics and even police join the demonstrations micron's approval rating has hit a record low with just one in five backing his work down from station sixty six percent after last year's election and despite the president's concessions to get back his support many still are happy. they just yourself are cautious emanuel

markram speech was addressed to hard workers only the minimum wage has nothing to do with us we're not even talking about working overtime because when you work seventy hours per week you just can't understand what that is you forgot that every other farmer earns less than three hundred sixty five euros for a month that our branches are lower than social security from we were you taxes as all other citizens do and even if you have no income you still have to pay taxes. meanwhile the west movement is spreading worldwide with people protesting for different reasons against their governments in canada demonstrators are donning high visibility clothing at rallies among them is career carlow she says the protesters want to remind officials that they work for the people not the other way around. we're still in the process of establishing ourselves and organizing

everything here so i think what's most important is the combined intention that we have here to create positive change we are against carbon tax because history has shown that we can't possibly tax a nation into prosperity and i think that that only serves to make economic life even more difficult for all of us families and small medium size businesses here are already struggling basically what we want to do is just be heard by our government we want to know that our government has our best interests in mind we just want to remind our elected officials that they work for us and we don't work for them. french government is now asking is said to sense to stop the protest saying that enough is enough. that should explain why express their anger and this is being heard we ask you to be reasonable and not to attend any protests. french media are suggesting that all anti-government rallies should stop in the

wake of wednesday's gun attack in strasburg police are currently investigating the incident they have condoned cordoned off the strasburg district where the suspect is said to have fled to after the assault but officers reportedly added that they have not yet found him the third victim died on thursday from injuries following the christmas market attack is reported that the suspect shouted god is great in arabic as he opened fire on the crowds authorities say he was a strasberg local who had likely been radicalized in prison and it's been revealed he had an extensive police record and was on the french watch list of possible extremists and it appears the twenty nine year old suspect is causing concern both within france and beyond its borders a large scale manhunt for the suspect has been ordered and the terror alert in france has been raised to its highest level he was reportedly known to have been part of radicalized networks in strasburg the italian government is said to be closely following the events amid fears of

a copycat attack cooperating in this search are the german authorities to whom the suspect was also know having served time in prison there for robbery and with the man hand french prosecutor spoke of how the threat is very real. considering the target the perpetrators way of his profile and the testimonies of those who how do you know a lot of a bar and to tell a police have been called into action terrorism has once again struck our country in strasburg reminding us in a dramatic fashion that the threat is still very real. we heard from two members of the european parliament from opposite ends of the political spectrum they agree that europe's current anti terror policy needs reviewing. we kept one minute of silence for the victims as we do recently. as you were doing every time and does good is good and bad because you are doing the work of the this a lot of time this mandate so that means we have to change policies to find the

sources of the terrorism and to attack the sources of their readers are the terrorists we have to stop the wars in the middle east we have to really degrade their words he lies to you through the suburbs of paris and brussels. and we have to to do to work together with the moderate islam to the we have to to establish some long term goals and try to achieve them marial as miles i think this was expected this is proof that this is a must terrorist has committed a crime that was relatively easy to commit i believe it is time to react the terrorist who carried out this massacre yesterday was well known to the police so why wasn't he detained in advance we discuss it here in stross book with the e.u. having opened its borders this free such relation of people has brought allowed criminals to move about freely every time we have such tragedy we get back to the topic of border control and i think we should take back control of the borders and

make the criminals afraid again because now they are not scared yet ordinary people are scared of going to christmas markets with their kids scared to go outside it is not enough to light candles to cry to say like they do all the time. but the clan we are france and we want france to live in peace. after google the c.e.o. testified about the company's alleged control of information the issue of speech regulation has popped up or media platforms while a democrat is found himself embroiled in what could be an even bigger scandal by simply commenting on it with the details of his adonal quarter. if you're perhaps looking for new ways to put your foot in your mouth democratic congressman ted lew is the guru for you especially after his recent statement to c.n.n. regarding free speech i would love to be able to regulate the content of speech the

first amendment prevents me from doing so conservatives immediately slammed lou in the media and on twitter they met his statement with skepticism with some of them accusing him of harboring secret tyrannical desires but according to him his statement was actually made in defense of the first amendment i would love to regulate your speech but thank goodness the first amendment prevents me botha's and republicans from doing so get it i'm defending the first amendment perhaps the republicans just wanted an opportunity to grab their pitchforks but lose timing made everything worse came after google c.e.o. son dar pinchas testimony before congress amidst accusations that the company is censoring conservative voices and the accusations themselves they came along with bright parts leak of e-mails from google employees e-mails that allegedly outlined an entire conspiracy to censor the right wing news outlet for hate speech and you

want to hold the news and look through broad don't come for hate speech the e-mail said breitbart was quote on their radar and that google had a moral argument according to pinch i though google employees had no means of manipulating search results it's not possible for an individual employee groups of him plough you to manage it later so it's just you know we have a robust framework including many steps in the process whether or not there are actually procedural problems that google the company embodies a much bigger problem one highlighted by a protester who came to the testimony in the monopoly man's clothes but lou didn't seem to think a monopoly on him for. mation was the problem he'd rather pin the blame on people who don't do positive things if you want positive search results do positive things if you don't want to research results don't do not do things and do some of

my colleagues across the aisle with you getting bad press articles and bad search results don't blame goo go or facebook or twitter consider blaming yourself so as lou continues to take criticism from the media and twitter it begs the question who's to blame for that lou google you. that's a roundup of the news and i'll be back in around thirty minutes with more headlines but do stay tuned felt watching the hawks which is up next here on our international. russia today this from richard. germans against the soviet union that was on. it was they solve the limits. on the speech freedom those three rights have been restored so much has been accomplished in. communist russia that

only. idiots can believe that is a way but no one wants. to do the same. i think they're on the cheap. and then you went through all the countries. but ideas their right to go through this country he said if you give them everything you do to pass. this country. this is what we don't understand how we are in such a country. that there are certain elements of the same time. noticing fundamental.

similar symbols. the minutes of on board not the god can we believe with the phone without the computer without the plane. would come back to the three story you have to see. the. you know the. the. next guys are saying it's like they say the balance. budget is it this is the central plank so for dying the film is a good club and might say stuff to. greetings and salutation. my friends there was quite the spectacle at the white

house on tuesday our quarters when the best the brightest of the united states political elite met for an intelligent negotiation of policy regarding the united states border security is the most unfortunate thing we came in here in good faith and we're entering into iraq and this kind of bit of discussion in the public view was not to lead to that as you know and you know going to transparency and have it so i will take the mantle i will be the one to shut it down i'm not going to blame you for the last time you shut it down it didn't work i will take the mantle of shutting down that so let's have a conversation where we don't have to contradict in conflict. that was our brilliant brilliant leaders just got it's rather yell and when i was house minority leader nancy pelosi said of minority leader chuck schumer of course our brand name in chief donald trump giving a fantastic.