this hour's headlines story yellow vests sweep through part again in another round of government protests while police used tear gas to disperse crowds in a six consecutive weekend with some injuries reported also ahead. on independence riots flare in barcelona leaving dozens injured in protest after a government meeting in the city which coincided with the anniversary of a heavy police crackdown. for refusing to sign an oath

to israel a school therapist in the u.s. soon taxing authorities over a month free play which is enforced in a dozen other american states. traditionalists crossing the line that's wrong doesn't sound like you're going to work to work you don't go to work for your outside life you should be able to have your own political of views outside of your work. and. shaking hands is something more than just a friend it's be made part of the country citizen ships are a money but not everyone sees it also to develop. shaking hands is a personal choice that all many members of the jewish community would choose. it's a sign of friendship if you don't want to be friendly if you don't want to make similar if you don't want to be tolerant.

from moscow to the world this is r.t. international a warm welcome wherever you are tuning in from i mean a new meal our top story clashes have erupted in paris again this saturday with antigovernment protests occurring throughout the french capital more than sixty arrests have been made this so named yellow vests are in force during this last weekend before christmas charlotte dubin ski spoke to me earlier. well chaotic scenes here just outside the hotel de ville in paris just think a look over here here gas raining down as the protesters look like they were trying to push towards the island were not for the famous cathedral is situated they were throwing projectiles at the police and then the police have responded with this tear gas this is one of many clashes we've already witnessed today in paris as you lesions come out for a six day we also saw many people injured in some of those clashes including

somebody who appeared to have a broken nose and injuries on the leg as they were trying to run out a form of the tear gas in an area where they had been cattle jane and those injuries largely due to the fact it seems that the crowds were pushing people away just take a look behind you see some of the special mobilized police units who are out in force some one thousand two hundred and twenty five police officers were being mobilized today and security offices are all fewer than what we've seen in previous weeks eight thousand last week and that's because many people who watch the protests this weekend would have died down there would be fewer protests this and they certainly all feel protests isn't what we've seen in previous weeks but there are still thousands of people here on the streets of paris as you can see just crowds trying to move away as these police forces are coming in

for a few or many people saying the reasons behind that is some of the solutions are actually happy with what's being offered by the government including an increase in one hundred of one hundred euros of those on a minimum salary also new social contribution and new taxes for those who work at extreme hours and of course scrapping the fuel tax in january the hike that was due to take place which of course was the start of these protests. in november but many people here say it's just not enough they're not happy with the government and as such we're seeing people again out on the streets of paris ready to show their own anger their own ease with the french government's current policies led by emmanuel michael moore ready we've seen some of those tensions between the police and the protesters so we thought we'd give you an inkling of what we do to try and stay safe when we're on to the streets when we're in these protests and that we were covering them so take a sneak look at what we do to prepare for

a protest. if there is one thing the french really know how to do it's protest at all t. we believe that the best way to tell a story is to really get to the heart of it and that's essentially what we try to do as a team in the protests. thank . you. but this brings its own difficulties and dangers so how do we try and stay safe well firstly we always carry

a medical kit now as well as the basics i think that these little i washed pods are with their waiting gold particularly after being taken i asked. as you can see tear gas is being fired by the police. this chilly gas going everywhere now tear gas is an irritant to particular if you're always you know is your mouth and your lungs. things and its effects kick in after about thirty seconds now that can include difficulty breathing and chest pain it's a chemical weapon which is actually banned from being used in warfare yet it's still used to control crowds to mitigate its impact we wear protective goggles like this and respirators if we see crazy on the streets of paris rubber bullets being deployed she is streaming down my face again as a result of tear gas i can't tell you how many times now we've been gassed with all

those gloss bottles the stones the tear gas canisters and sometimes even molotov cocktails flying about having a hard hat is very important. when things turn particularly nasty the police have been known to shoot rubber bullets now it may not look like a very much but one of these little guys can cause some serious damage and they can even be lethal so to try and keep my cool area safe i wear this fast it weighs around two and a half kilos and the idea is that if i get a direct hit it's going to help disperse the impact and hopefully reduce any injury .

so that's the basics of the kit now we're all set for the next act. let's turn attention now to barcelona where of violence has flirted with pro independence protests erupting in spain that catalonia region leaving more than sixty protesters and police officers alike injured. well it stems from a government decision to relocate the weekly cabinet meeting from madrid to the

council on capital a stand simply as a conciliatory gesture of unity but it coincided with the first anniversary of a heavy hundred police crackdown on independence supporters a journalist in barcelona talk to us through friday's renewed protest. burma the cabinet meeting is held in madrid that has federal centers that already and the actually also want to do it here in barcelona and people took it as a provocation because only one year ago catalonia declared independence so people obviously are angry because they want to be independent and they want to be separate separate from the hosting so as you can see behind me you have signs of leave it at that this is politicos which means please leave the rate that the political prisoners still nine of them are held in detention and basically you have all these people you have young people protesting and still trying to remember what happened here one one year ago so that people took out of the streets not only here

in the center but also they blocked a piece that were seven which is that three way to leading to the airport so many people were blocked today and couldn't go home for christmas. or previously all parties had agreed to a quote effective dialogue an independence referendum held in october last year was deemed illegal by madrid which then arrested castle on leaders for a better chance edition the spanish prosecutor recently claimed that former council president puts the money spent more than eight million euro on the restroom such accusations have been called bizarre by himself indeed a spanish history academic that we spoke to from britain's newcastle university is of the opinion politicians are misreading the mood of the people there. hard to. change the mind.

and. do you see many. everyone. this is the first time the spanish. since the elections in december last year. somehow seem. to both spanish and becoming government government because they haven't been able to do. a partial shutdown of the us government has come into effect after the senate failed to approve billions of dollars for building a border wall with mexico demanded by trump. we're going to have a shutdown there's nothing we could do about that because we need the democrats to

give us their votes let's get out let's work together let's be bipartisan and let's get it done the shutdown hopefully will not last long not totally unique this it's the third time washington has shut its doors this year this time around nine federal departments have stopped their work with almost four hundred thousand employees at home hundreds of thousands more will work without pay for nigh on till an agreement can be struck dave lindorff a founding editor of the online news website this can't be happening thinks it's all a bit of a gimmick. it's it's all theater it's playing to the media the media is making a big deal out of it. and it really isn't a big deal unless it blew up into something that was going to last for a month or two months or something it started hurting me in the government's ability to pay its debt on time as happened one time with this but you know it's

becoming kind of a joke in the united states that you know this super powerful super rich country can't come up with a budget every year and it's almost an every year thing and trump has made it more so with this continuous threats to shut down the government but it's really a joke at this stage it's really unclear how long the situation is going to last president trump though he's in for the long haul he stressed that it could quote be a lot of thing l. long time here's a look back at the reasons for previous shutdowns in d.c. .

an american speech therapist is suing authorities in texas after being sacked from her job as school for refusing to sign the pledge is to never be a part of any boycott movement on israel this required by a law signed in over a dozen states spreading the employment of people without the israeli sentiments breaking down this story this hour. the first amendment of the us constitution

guarantees citizens the right to criticize the american government however if you criticize a foreign government you might get in trouble and twenty six in u.s. states government contractors are forbidden from boycotting israel in texas employees are required to sign an oath saying that they do not and will not boycott israel or engage in any activity intended to sow economic harm well one speech crap ologist refused to sign the oath and was fired she says this violates her rights and she is taking it to court it's a baffling that they can so this down our throats you know. decide to protect another country's economy versus protect our constitutional rights and this isn't just a red state republican thing here in a liberal new york a similar laws in effect we are against the b.d.s. movement and it's very simple if you boycott against israel new york will board you we've been hearing what locals have to say about it think it's a little bit odd it's ridiculous crossing the line that's wrong doesn't sound right

you go to work to work you don't go to work for your outside life you should be able to have your own political of views outside of your work because people can do as they wish i guess and you know you shouldn't put that on employees to be the one way or the other you can have someone sign. an agreement for taking another country congress even as a bill in the roster that would punish american companies bring gaging in a boycott we must continue to stand firm against the profoundly by us campaign to legitimize the state of israel through boycotts divestment and sanctions supporters of the bill say that it would only affect major companies however some fear it could be used to punish individuals were this legislation to pass federal officials would have a new weapon at their disposal to chill and suppress speech that they found objectionable or politically unpopular if there was a law forbidding criticism of the american government we would see rioting every

american is taught about the moral principles the country was founded on however there are many who feel that israel deserves a special layer of protection from those who might disagree with its rather controversial actions. r.t. new york shifty helms to cement your citizenship why danish law is being accused of targeting muslim immigrants we'll explain all that's right after the break. you know world big partisan. and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the 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. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race in this spirit dramatic development the only really i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk. your back with our to international the hunch it is supposed to be

a simple friendly greeting but this week it's causing something of a fall out denmark has adopted a new law obliging people to shake hands as part of they serve money to become a danger citizen supporters all of the law insist it's a national custom and integrity part of being danish now the reason it's causing consternation is because of things that targets muslims for him physical contact with none family members of the opposite sex is forbidden for religious reasons some danish mirrors are refusing to comply it's against my ideology and conviction to have to force the people to have. yeah it is a subject which has fired up reaction especially when we discussed it here in r t both sides of the debate releasing it boils down to respect. it just shows how petty and vindictive the danish government is shaking hands is a personal choice there are many members of the jewish community you would choose

not to shake hands of the opposite sex you can be vibrant members of society you can play an integral part in health and education as a lawyer in business be a good citizen without having. you know what for religious reasons i do not want to shake someone's hand and therefore i'm not going to do that doesn't make you any less of a human being less of a responsible citizen and you want to live in denmark they want to shake hands well from a shaking hands get in the modern world use this nonsense we don't shake hands if he doesn't get a fair. go they finish go back to their country want to be forced it's a sign of friendship if you don't want to be friendly if you don't want to make similar coach or if you don't want to be tolerant go home i'm sure there's loads of places where you don't even have to shake hands but you can chop each other's hands off if you steal some the job enjoy is going to play to the gallery are going to talk to you about individual freedom human rights. to the gallery.

does it necessarily make it possible that you won't be responsible citizen engaged in society played an active role just been able to practice your faith the fairy the fact that people have been forced to do this you've got dozens of mares of. no you don't object moving to the north and the point is the central point is this that it's about individual responsibility it's about human rights and it's a part stopping bigotry and this law pacifically designed to target just a muslim community is discriminatory and inacceptable if you read the articles if you take the time to do it rather than just play with a chip on your shoulder you'll see it's not just about muslims and secondly if you don't like to shake hands don't move to denmark or don't because. at the initial citizen and this idea that it's an attack on your human rights hormone grow up whatever you want to simulate whatever you want to sit in with western culture but

no they want to pretty the other people out there scar mohamad e's always doing it it wants to spread create division and then he accuses me of played to the gallery listen we shake hands in the west it's the way it is by not shaking hands does it make you less of a human being doesn't stop you from contributing to society making a positive contribution now i'm somebody who personally my own choices i do shit people can learn female but there will be people out there who choose not to stand choice. and if it's a question of faith and tradition then look no further than confectionery brown's where producers of the world famous tobler room chocolate declaring the christmas favorite as being a lot. certificate

did not result in any change to our beloved traditional toblerone original recipe which production process essentially makes the house criteria anyway. islamization does not take place in europe it is therefore certainly pure coincidence that the depicted in chocolate writing is now certified as. iconic swiss chocolate becomes to conform with islamic purity. everyone who claims to be a pullman's to the viewer must of course refuse to buy. time to say goodbye. his

next move. to a story with a lot of ramifications president trump left the international community stung this week following his surprise decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria the move however has been backed by a number of leaders including one major nato ally. told us during a conversation. with them before and after this. as long as they give us the support in terms of logistics and how they started to withdraw. they have. others involved in the syrian conflict are not on board with washington's bronze trumps decision has been met with anger amongst kurdish forces

in the region with family members of the fighters appealing to the u.s. to reverse the withdrawal mothers and wives of the soldiers in the armed opposition the syrian democratic forces have been gathering near what is believed to be an american military base in a little while. america turned his back on us as we continue to find. it was. any and wonder why did they leave and said this time. we went to the airfield they promised that they would not leave and now they've sold us out. well tensions are already rising over this in northern syria with turkey now involving an offensive against the kurdish forces which currently control the city of money a representative for the syrian democratic forces told russian media they are not ruling out hunting the city back to the syrian government to prevent turkey launching a similar operation to the one. after the liberation from islamic state back in

twenty sixty. we do not support and we would oppose efforts to move south and engage in activities against the syrian democratic forces kurdish commanders have made commitments that they will turn over areas to local populations as they have been so tremendously successful in liberating those areas from dash we expect them to live up to those commitments. that i'm from on base maffei to thank and their talk is threat with costs to find together the americans and the collison again they talk to me until there was trouble from this around their values as is complete it this is sara and territory.

we noticed more movement from the euphrates shield along the front line as turkey before its military operation on a friend threatened that manned beach would be the next target. as i said before our relationship is at critical juncture either we must put it back on track or it will further deteriorate we have agreed essentially to normalize our relationship again question of man and it is one that as i said is going to be given priority in our joint work you are there for in this is one of the four measure it is one of the issues of work together.

we are a part of syria and we don't support separatism what you want an agreement to be reached and soften this trade as part of a free syria. a lot being discussed as to what happens not well former pentagon security analyst michael maloof believes the syrian government will look to fill a void being left by u.s. forces. well i think that given that the u.s. is pulling out it's only inevitable that assad would. begin to move move his troops back in and mazes is very very important strategically. to keep the turks away as well the turks are not going into my own bees as they have threatened to do so given it back to assad is very important and i think that that avoids the potential for a major conflict between turkey and the kurds and so and also. the turkish

president everyone has pledged support now for assad so. this this is all beginning to offer an a whole new dynamic in that region as a result of the u.s. pull out. delving deeper into what has been described as the worst december since the great depression for financial markets its knocks on the kaiser report next. my son is doing drugs my nephew was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse you sort of going after the users in the prison population. we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill. the war on drugs.

with the number of people who are in prison for. for minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up in issue in wave and say by day as you're walking out of this it's just it doesn't get easier. i am asked geyser this is the kaiser report airs a little known fact i did you know that all the fed chairman going back to paul volcker subsequently been shorter he was six foot seven and then every subsequent fed chairman has been shorter with janet yellen clocking in at something like five point six why is this important let's talk to stacy herbert well jerome powell is

the to.