syria and israel accuse each other of cross border missile strikes damascus says three of its soldiers were injured. more than one point five million people signed a petition to sue the french government for failing to take action on climate change. fears grow that notorious mercenary army blackwater which was implicated in civilian massacres in iraq is making a comeback. published in its name warning we are becoming. a russian child becomes the focus of a national scandal after the children of local officials go on a trip to turkey using charity money.

thanks for joining us on r.t. internationals and i'm going to hold his row if you are welcome to the program of israeli military is claiming to have shot down several anti aircraft missiles coming from syria and syrian state media are saying three of its soldiers have been injured in an israeli strike on a boat to the west of damascus. reports from tel aviv what we're hearing from the syrian side is that they say they activated their ground to air defense missile systems in response to incoming missiles from israel what we are hearing is that they managed to intercept eight out of ten rockets now syrian state media says that they intercepted what it's calling hostile and enemy targets that were aiming at areas in the demand. this region we are hearing that the israeli strikes have

caused damage to an ammunitions depo and that three syrian soldiers have been injured now all of this is hot on the heels of the american president donald trump announcing that he was withdrawing american troops from syria you might remember that just two days ago the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that we're godless of whether or not the united states with towards israel would continue to act and act forcibly in syria take a listen to at the bar and the decision to withdraw two thousand u.s. troops from syria will not change our consistent policy we will continue to act against iran's attempts to establish a military presence in syria and if the need arises through even expand operations there certainly tensions between israel and syria are escalating. more than one million people have signed an online petition demanding to sue for all over climate action so let me ask you takes up the story. seems this was not

the president the mcewan was hoping to find under his christmas tree on christmas day this petition is backed by four charities including two charities here in france and it's not just go on and move the one point six million signatures it's also being backed by french celebrities but we are simply going to sue the french state for its inaction and regarding climate change we're trying to force the state to drastically reduce emissions another headache perhaps a president who's already been having a difficult few weeks as the yellow vest protests continue they've been going on now for more than six weeks some of the weekends here in paris have seen would have been described as the worst roit seen more than half a century. now

they all started six weeks ago on nov seventeenth over plans to increase a tax on fuel here in france now that led to president trump in the u.s. to mock president might call over that the paris agreement isn't working out so well for paris protests and riots all over france people do not want to be large sums of money much to third world countries there are questionably run in order to maybe protect the environment chanting we won trump law france for weeks off to protest started president might could turn round and said you know what's ok i've heard your cries we're actually going to scrap that feel tax increase on a mission now the yellow vest protest is haven't been totally a piece by that and it seems that president michel. has angered environmentalist's

by making that decision many people saying you cause sit on the fence when it comes to climate change how can you scrap a fuel tax which is meant to be used for money to improve the environment and say at the same time that you're fighting to protect the environment the international community remains committed to the fight against climate change fronts and your must show the way the fight goes on and this comes amidst a bad pollings for president michael as well the current polling suggests that he's at twenty seven percent far lower than when he came into office when that was around sixty percent so it seems the festive period not so fresh if the president might call in and it seems the french president is on many people's naughty list this year. of the universe the moment has spread to several other countries as well a member of germany's left party has urged people to rally like the french. should be more resistance in germany we need more people to come to the streets that's how

we will achieve our aims let's pressure the government the politicians to bring about social justice he added quality issues in germany i even worse than in france because the never knew a liberal policy is that a monarchy is moving forward and france have already been passed in germany. so we are seeing the facts first hand german establishment is scared because they know that their position is untenable they know what they have done to this country and they know that the people are angry one of the problems in france is that the movement is not a party nice to know but they are just starting out in forming leaderships in germany we already have been understood leader of the movement which is dark next she has incredible political experience and she can provide that leadership to guide us to a change in our country. we are coming that's the chilling warning in a bizarre full page gun magazine ad in the name of the world's most notorious

mercenary armies blackwater top private military contractor blackwater was by and from iraq in two thousand and seven after numerous horrific reports of massacring civilians all makes they had even stranger is that blackwater was relaying to academy leading many to speculate that the infamous name is plotting it's. hard i don't remember her car. they were dead bodies everywhere and it's hard been talking about it with two people and so i think among the dead bodies lying on the street like i said which was in the road of seven years old.

we have requested comment from both the magazine and the company that now owns blackwater we'll let you know as soon as we hear from either of blackwater found erik prince recently published plans to replace u.s. troops in afghanistan with a massive private army the deal was repeatedly turned down by defense secretary jim mattis amasses though is now stepping down trump last week announced he's harming the number of pentagon troops in the country and also putting the pentagon out of syria altogether leading some to think it does pave the way for mercenary armies to vote in a major way the co-founder of the international antiwar movement code pink benjamin believes that privatizing war is

a dangerous idea. i don't think the american public would stand for a company that has been so has committed so many crimes in the past and just the idea that we would be paying who are people who would be fighting for profit we've privatized so much of our military are ready but it's been all of the services that the military needs not the actual fighting itself but let's be clear about one thing erik prince and mercenaries make money by continuing wars not by ending them so this certainly would not make any sense for an american public who has shown through different polls that they are very tired of war is that we've been in in in the case of afghanistan it has been over seventeen years so rather than pass this on to private military i think the american public would be much more inclined to say bring the troops home get out of the world altogether and that

would be an incentive then for peace talks to actually become effective. british newspaper the times has named and shamed stauffer the russian media outlets offices in the u.k. often politician accuse the organization of supporting disinflation the hounding of the outlets john misto has been met with indifference spawn media protection groups . and initially it was it was a bit of a shock on the other hand it's kind of hardly surprising given the instructions sentiment there is you know travel in all your key newspapers just say but it's yes not nice to see your picture up there with your name except under the headline of being part of a train when stooge but as i say you know it's very much part of what's going on just saying you key the sunday times has been so thorough in its reporting of the threat of so-called russian descent information that its latest story about the russian funded radio station sputnik which has

a bureau in edinburgh carries the photographs of the journalists that work there labels them kremlin stooges and quotes a politician who suggests that their assets should be frozen i would good for school harassment i think putting the pictures of photographs of people who work on a newspaper like that i think is tantamount to almost it might put those people's lives in danger i'm a member of the national news journalists and are we write into my unit in the new year to ask what do you need is planning to do about these journalists working for russian media organizations here in the u.k. have had to develop a thick skin over the past few years as tensions between london and moscow have heightened articles calling for outlets like r.t. and sputnik to be banned have become a regular occurrence but recently the big papers have gone a step further and they started singling out the journalists working for russian media outlets this is the london bureau chief for russia's channel one more series

of last month he did some filming outside the gates of a british military base first story about the british army's cyber warfare unit aimed at fighting so-called russian propaganda he didn't break any laws gave his press credentials to all the security guards he met and left several weeks later the u.k.'s daily mail newspaper printed. his personal details and accused him of being a spy the story was reprinted by a plethora of papers it ratcheted up so much that the u.k.'s defense secretary issued a statement for citizens to stay vigilant. we sent an inquiry to the defense ministry there's a form on their website but we didn't get any response filming near the base is not illegal it's a public area public land you don't need permission to film there you need permission to get inside talk to the stuff we didn't record our interaction with the security personnel we didn't try to penetrate the base the b.b.c.

correspondent did the exact same thing as us it was broadcast and no one thinks of punishing him there's nothing illegal and you don't even have to work for the russian media to find yourself in hot water just expressing views that the mainstream is enough to be labelled a kremlin stooge putin's poor or useful idiot in the information war nowadays you have extreme language and if you find someone with an opinion which you object to and you don't agree with you then abused him or her by causing by causing them a stooge or to use the famous explosion about lennon there were useful idiots the sputnik story isn't the first time the sunday times has used the naming and shaming tactic back in october the paper took aim at the tongue in cheek i see why am i you tube channel which is funded like r.t. by russian taxpayers and fronted by yours truly the paper didn't shy away from

printing my photograph and labelled the project the blue peter of russian propaganda the times didn't request a comment from r.t. or myself it seems that naming and shaming doesn't carry a right of reply. or two you have approached several media organizations to comment on what's happened among them the international federation of journalists the international press institute and the c i will let you know when we do get a response. a german magazine der spiegel says it's reporting one of its former top journalists to the police over allegations he stole donations made to people who featured in his articles class is already mired in scandal after he admitted last week to fabricating over a dozen stories spiegel has since sacked the award winning writer suspects he may have faked more stories than he's admitted now one man who's popularized the fake

news is donald trump here's a quick look back at some of the year's biggest fakes. you are fake the level of dishonesty is that if it were me it was for. i realize. the issues and how fake. chris can be very fake that one from famous catchphrase fake news has dominated the headlines ever since he first uttered it why does it drive his detractors so crazy well some would argue that it's true false information and deceptive reporting seems to be everywhere let's review some of the fake news of twenty eighteen. well one of the most outrageous examples was the cover of time magazine it depicted a sobbing toddler representing donald trump's policy of separating immigrant children from their parents however it turns out that the girl in the photograph was not separated from her mother. who was not separated from her mother but yeah

she's the face of this immigration problem and she has helped create awareness. but let's go through some other examples now folks had a good laugh when it was revealed that the washington post had actually cited the satirical publication known as click call when reporting on the fact that british people were trying to make the song american idiot by green day go through the charts when donald trump was visiting the country and in other instances we've seen journalists just straight up making things up. for example a reporter for the web scene known as mike claimed that maria who's just pled guilty to charges of being an unregistered lobbyist for russia was in a meeting at the oval office i thought this was a photo show but it's not this is my review. of the in the russian spy on in the oval office with trump turned out that she was wrong the person in the photograph

was actually a national security council staffer but in the journalist defense they both do have . red hair and we all know that all of us gingers look the same. how about a paper on canine rape culture in dog parks or a feminist rewrite of hitler's my struggle it turns out that this year fake news was used to make a political point people were submitting fake research in order to expose what they believed was a bias in ak and damia some of the fake research got through so. closely . or. both. and one trend we saw throughout the year was fact checkers retracting their fact checks what could be more embarrassing those who claim they are stopping the

spreading misinformation actually spreading misinformation themselves and admitting to it based on what we've seen throughout the year it seems pretty clear that fake news will be well alive in twenty nineteen cable mopp and r.t. new york china has accused the us of spying well that story and more still to come this. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic developments only. i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. you know world of

big. lot and conspiracies it's time to wake up 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 for watching closely watching the hawks. march the program scandal has hit so you russian town after the children of city

officials travel to talkie using money donated to a children's charity but in a question of a picks up the story a group of children from the russian town of clint's a five hundred kilometers from moscow went on a trip to turkey the journey was organized by a charity foundation which helps children with severe illnesses and those caught up in difficult situations it's. these go to the consumer. who are in the mood with them god of the who today it's cool cool to look at their form dream a new car out of a well turns out some of those children work kids city officials local media discovered a video where the town's top officials try to explain why this happened went viral but you get what you got mean you've got to be needed to go to the community we need to do. it with you. or you could. do it but you might do seem to work for you could be dishing it gets even better or rather wars the mayor's

daughter was also among the lucky ones to go to russians were outraged and many of them went on social media to vent their fury these super arrogant officials are fully confident in their impunity they must be fired a government official is a duty not a privilege. our officials are the neediest people in our country the poorest scumbags but it's not just ordinary citizens who are up in arms officials have also come out strongly against of the incidents calling and immoral and noxious after this scandal erupted they had of the city administration explained that the children of local officials work as volunteers and some of them are gifted members of society. talented children they are volunteers this world and it was the year of volunteers there was a special meeting where the candidates would chosen just as the fund ows to do they

had of the charity foundation says there were no violations you ring the selection process she now plans an official complaint against the local media but the flames of a scandal have already been lit the governor of the regions as he will investigate what happened and as for the local official who loved one being asked about the consequences but willing to put it in the book most of which. spoke. to the lady well we've learnt that you no longer works there the matter of the town of the fire has now reimbursed the costs of sending the children of the officials on the trip. china has highlighted what it calls you see over u.s. claims of spying by beijing accuses washington of using its embassies around the world for covert surveillance. thank you the u.s. accuses china for tagging in cyber security but the latest wiki leaks release shows

the u.s. is guilty of throwing stones in glass houses that statement came after wiki leaks published a list of u.s. embassies purchases the report highlighted spy gear reportedly made for syria and national security agency global operations claims u.s. embassies are being used to spy on foreign nations around the world including washington's own allies a diplomatic compounds are said to have bought various spy acquit months that includes cameras the sky's the ties shirt buttons and caps embassies also purchased microphones night vision gear and even secret g.p.s. locators the u.s. has yet to respond to the claims that work security expert benjamin chow told us this would be not just a violation of international law but also agreements with beijing the now infamous u.s. eavesdropping of its alley's is already common knowledge to the world president's office alys openly criticized the u.s. on the use of similar equipment before a sudden spike in behavior right oh right by late into the international laws and

agreements not to mention mention trust for example the u.s. and china have signed agreements a few years ago or one stop in spying activities for commercial purposes the more than china is a peaceful country and we believe in living situation through trade but at the same time china is becoming very well equipped in modern warfare exposure in the pending a country in electronic wars. tennis legend martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting a broiled in a twitter spot over transgender people participating in the sport as women. clearly that can't be right you can't just be claim herself a female and be able to compete against women there must be some standards and having competing as a woman would not feed the standard. tweet provoked a mixed reaction online including from cyclists right sure mckinnon who lost their became the first transgender athletes to win a world title that's chance for pick genitals do not play sports

what part of related to tennis i hope you see your way to regret and how you've handled this never to have a suit is just another variation on someone saying that if you have a piece you're not a woman let's get real and stop pretending she isn't transphobia just because she's ridge and famous and effect wolk like pretensions you're the real hero hero martina the truth is painful to some but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be spoken it's incredibly disappointing that you've been intimidated into backing down from telling the truth lover silver is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time so widely known as an l.g. with your rights activist however following the spate of criticism she apologized and deleted her tweet the issue of transgender athletes in sports is generating huge debate check out more views on the issue at our website dot com now that's it for the headlines for this hour up next it's what's in the hawks and in the u.k.

all right and it's documentary channel called my home this christmas will see you again in thirty minutes. my son doing drugs my nephews 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 we started going after the users in the prison population sewer we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill i increasingly became convinced that the war on drugs was a mistake there are countless numbers of people who are in prison for inconceivable a long sentence in this for being a minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's

a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in waves and say by daddy as you're walking out of a business it's just it doesn't get easier. well i think it certainly makes sense for for moscow to think posts trump in its context with the united states i just fear that the dominant view in this city is that it is merely impossible until the united states kind of settle this domestic divide the environment and in these seas you know i hate to see these laws work toxic but that's exactly what it is and then i think it's in a way you know you're damned if you do and you're down if you don't. join me every first day on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the

world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. greetings and salutation. before stoneman douglas before the march for our lives before newtown beggar's sandy hook or even columbine there was port are for the events of april twenty eighth one thousand nine hundred six in the historic town of port arthur tasmania for ever changed the course of history here in australia both politically and culturally because it was on the day of the tourist attraction and historical site that thirty five souls lost their lives to a gunman's madness and while the tragedy itself shook the world it was also australia's response to the violence that brought not only many nods of approval but a few raised eyebrows and concern you see the port arthur massacre was the catalyst

for the australian government to enact massive and sweeping changes to their laws regarding the ownership buying and selling of firearms forever changing the culture of guns here in the land down under since that tragic day many around the world now point to australia as a shining example of how our society and government should respond to gun violence and mass shootings with the united states currently under an epidemic of mass shootings and gun related violence and split between two internal political ideologies at war over a solution maybe it's time for the united states to start looking outward for help so today hogwash as we take you want to journey to sydney australia to talk with their experts their gun owners and their citizens to discover what has and has not worked in australia's efforts to never again be faced with the tragedy and heartbreak that occurs when a monster walks into a public place with a gun in his hand and violence in our hearts now let's start watching the hawks

here in the land of oz. i mean there's nothing like the united states american cities parts of american cities are not safe. afraid in cities generally safe very safe. but still there are. there are guns but particularly following there was one.