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

for him here in moscow thanks for joining us here in audience and. welcome to this hour's rundown these really military is claiming to have shot down several missiles coming from syria damascus state media saying three soldiers have been injured in that israeli strike on. just to the west of the capital damascus auntie's paulus lear has this report from tel aviv what we're hearing from the syrian side is that they say they activated their ground 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. our goods that we're aiming at areas in the damascus

region we are hearing that the israeli strikes have caused damage to an ammunitions depôt and that three syrian soldiers have been injured we have heard from the israeli side the israeli defense forces the israeli army has issued a statement in which it says it managed to launch its defense missile systems and that they intercepted at least one rocket that was fired from the syrian side 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 withdraws israel would continue to act and act forcibly in syria. 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 stop 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 of the half million people have signed an online petition demanding to see france over climate action. takes up the story. seems this was not the president the corn 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 inactions regarding climate change we're trying to force the state to drastically reduce emissions another headache perhaps of president gore who has 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 want trump law france for weeks off to

the protests started present my cold turned round and said you know what ok i've heard your cries we're actually going to scrap that field tax increase all admission now the yellow vest protest as haven't been totally a piece by that and it seems that president might call. has angered environmentalist's by making that decision many people saying you car 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 bad pollings for president michael as well a 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 yellow vest movement has spread to several other countries as well a member of germany's left party has urged people in her country to rally like their french neighbors. what should be more resistance in germany we need more people to come to the streets that's how we'll achieve our aims let's pressure the government the politicians to bring about social justice ecology issues in germany i even worse than in france because the new new your liberal policy is that a monarchy is moving in france has 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 not of but they are just starting out in forming leaderships in germany we already have been understood leader of the movement which is 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 in the name of the world's most notorious must in the recall means blackwater told private military contractor blackwater was banned from iraq in two thousand and seven after numerous to reflect reports of massacring civilians or backstab even stronger is that the company was renamed to a chasm me leading many to speculate that the infamous name is plotting its return . i don't remember the america that's where i thought. they would take bodies everywhere. but. among the dead bodies lying on the street

and some which was probably seven years old. we have requested to comment from both the magazine and the company that now owns blackwater we'll let you know soon as we hear from them blackwater found erik prince recently published plans to replace u.s. troops in afghanistan with a massive private army deal was repeatedly turned down by defense secretary jim mattis he's now stepping down though trungpa just last week announced he's hobbling the number of pentagon troops in the country and also putting the military out of

syria altogether leading to some to think it paves the way for must the real return in a major way the co-founder of the international antiwar movement to code pink benjamin believes that privatizing the war is a dangerous idea and 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 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 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 office in the u.k. after a politician accused the organization of spreading this information hounding of the journalists has been met with indifference spying media protection groups. initially it was it was a bit of a shock on the other hand it's kind of hardly surprising given the anti russian sentiment there is you know travel in all your key newspapers just say but it's not nice to see your picture up there with your name except under the headline of being part of a crime 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 from ation that its latest story about the russian funded radio stations putin it 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 the hotel graphs 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 and. 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

a legal it's a public area of 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. r.t. you ask several media organizations through comment on what's happened among them the international federation of journalists the international press institute and also see what update you when we get a response from the. 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 a spiegel or since the award winning writer suspect you may of faked many more stories than he's owned up to. speaking of fake news one man has popularized that donald trump is a look back at some of the year's biggest fakes. you are fake the level of dishonesty you set of. issues and how fake. risking the very fact that one trumps famous catch phrase 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 oh 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 hole 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 zene known as the mike claim that maria know 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 shoot 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 believe was a bias in ak and damia some of the fake research got through so. closely .

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 while alive in twenty nineteen. r.t. new york. china has accused the us of. spying activities we'll have more on that story another still to come just in a few moments time. so

what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race. theory dramatic development that only. exists i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit down and talk.

welcome back to the program scan the last hit a russian town after the children of city officials travel to turkey using money donated to a children's charity and then a question of picks up the controversial story. a group of children from the russian town of clinton say 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 does go to the. people who are in the mood with them but at the who continue to conclude or to leave with 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

so you can double if you got me you've got to be needed to go to the clinic we need to do. it with you. or you could. do it but you might. do it gets even better or rather wars the mayor's daughter was also among the lucky ones to go to turkey 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 or of fish those 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 the 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 were 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 region says he will investigate what happened and ask for the local official who loved when being asked about the consequences the willing to put in your book of which it was which this or not one of the first folks to get your response to the lady well we've learnt that you no longer works there the matter of the town under fire has since reimburse the costs of sending the children of on the trip. china has highlighted what it calls hypocrisy over u.s.

claims of spying by beijing they've accused washington of using its embassies around the world for covert surveillance. plenty the u.s. accuses china of attacking cyber security but the latest wiki leaks released shows the u.s. is guilty of throwing stones in glass houses as a statement came after wiki leaks published a list of u.s. embassies purchases the report highlighted spy gear reportedly made for cia and national security agency global operations beijing claims u.s. embassies are being used to spy on foreign nations around the world including washington's allies and diplomatic compounds are said to have bought various spy a quote meant that includes cameras disguised as toys shirt buttons i'm caps embassies also purchased microphones night vision gear and even secret g.p.s. locators the u.s. has yet to respond to any of the claims that work security expert benjamin shall told us this would be not just a violation of international law but also of 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 on stopping spying activities for commercial purposes and more than china is a peaceful country and we believe in women's situation through trade but at the same time china is becoming very well equipped in mordor warfare expression effendi in the country in electronic wars. tennis legend martina navratilova is in the spotlight after getting a brawl then 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 have

a competing as a woman would not feed the standard or treat provoked a mixed reaction online including from cyprus rightful mckinnon who lost here came the first transgender athlete to win a world title that's transforming 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 trans phobic just because she's range and famous and effect wolk like pretensions you're the real hero here and martina the truth is painful to some but that doesn't merit shouldn't be spoken it's incredibly disappointing that you've been intimidated into backing down from telling the truth you never see it over is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time shoes also widely known as n l z b t rights activists have

a following that spate of criticism she apologized and deleted her tweet now the issue of transgender athletes in sport is generating some huge debate check out more views on the issue at a website r.t. dot com there's the headlines for this hour join us again in about thirty five minutes for the latest updates stay around the crosstalk is coming up next.

the greek riots the occupy wall street arab spring these are the beginnings of. all of the protests across europe today it was all connected it's all based on the exact same concept of bankers printing too much money creating this wealth and income gap and it's a delayed or deferred riot you know it's true that the violence was baked into the fiat's cake and now leaders like black hole are getting their just deserts. where is the country call russia no one's ever no one has ever heard of and never

even heard about most. so you will both be in the lottery show last years does. she does it with the

people most of all not all what i mean. i can make it. really a local superman for me he can see as you know he did by if. it was your image of a million. i'm with him with him with their baby one with a number on the nose and given many possibilities but my one in few months i will start to feel.

when our mine when the content of our mind is changed there are fees equal out the ration of the level of the physiology that is at the level of the brain the brain as a form of plasticity can rewire itself and not just the brain but also the rest of our body respond to that. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle not long ago the political left are the guardians of free speech along with the big ten the left today has gone from protecting speech to enforcing speech even to the point of

penalizing you if you say the wrong thing in public.