the u.s. state of alabama launches an investigation into meddling in a senator lection campaign in twenty seven tea pro-democratic group is reportedly behind more than a thousand fake russian social media accounts used to describe it a republican rival. turkish vehicles are reportedly seen entering a city in northern syria near to kurdish held territory this is a high level delegation from turkey is in russia for talks on syria and the u.s. plans to pull out of the country. and the scandal surrounding the disgraced advisor to the french president widens media reports claim alexandra bernardo's been using a diplomatic passport and long after he was dismissed for beating up a protester. a

very warm welcome to you you're watching r.t. international with me making erin great to have you with us now our top story this hour the u.s. state of alabama has launched a probe into an alleged meddling campaign during a twenty seventeen senate election which was earlier blamed on russia it turns out that a pro-democratic billionaire funded a u.s. group that created more than a thousand fake russian bolts on social media allegedly to discredit a republican rival with more on this his killing more than. the attorney general for the u.s. state of alabama is looking into democratic party dissin for mation during the twenty seventeen special election it appears that roy moore the republican candidate may have lost due to some shady activities that did not come from russia the information is concerning the impact it had on the election is something that's

significant for us to explore and we'll go from there it's been revealed that during the special election democratic party operatives worked on facebook and twitter to undermine roy morris campaign now doug jones the democrat who won is backing a federal investigation i'd like to see the federal election commission and the justice department look at this to see if there were any laws being violated and if they would prosecute those responsible this came to undermine it was pretty simple create fake facebook pages and russian accounts on twitter to confuse republican voters this gave the false impression that roy morris campaign was backed by the kremlin and it put it into the mix of anti russian hysteria and the operation was carried out by the pro democratic party cyber security firm known as the new knowledge jonathan morgan the c.e.o. of new knowledge is actually considered to be an expert on these kinds of issues he apparently is the mastermind behind hamilton sixty eight a website that frequently reports on social media activities which it blames on

russia saying that they're intending to sow discord at the same time new knowledge helped release a senate report that was considered to be a bombshell about alleged russian meddling in the us presidential elections the irony is that jonathan morgan who says he's against dissin from asian is now banned from facebook for just that we take a strong stand against people who say sions to create networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are what they're doing it seems that these companies have all become meddling experts for the mainstream media that frequently covers reports about alleged russian descent from a ship did out a pair. has not chosen to run with this story the revelations were revealed on december nineteenth but it was only on december twenty seventh that c.n.n. chose to report on this this information they only did so after there had been some outcry that and their reporting on it was very short now we've reached out to c.n.n. to see why they haven't jumped on this story and we are waiting for

a response i wonder how much coverage this new piece of information will get as we uncover some of the mystery behind the alleged russian bought and find out they didn't come from russia at all. artsy new york media analyst daniel is that all told is that the mainstream media uses these third cooled russian metalink as the political instruments. the media are so heavily invested in this russia gate story which is turning out to be a non-story or actually a very misleading story but they're not willing to admit it they sort of can't process this new information because it goes counter to their narrative so they're trying to ignore it we have the spokes booking themselves i mean everyone is pointing to russia they're putting out dubious information about russian influence and then they're trying to use. the specter of russian influence in order to influence american elections so it's like you know it's like it's media

disinformation squared mueller has been looking investigating the story this question since may of two thousand and seven team are he has not come up with one bit of evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the kremlin all along it was quite evident that the the story was very different the story was how the russia good story was be concocted in order to were ordered to for other purposes. top diplomats and high ranking military officials from turkey are in moscow to discuss the situation in syria tension has escalated since donald trump surprise decision to pull u.s. troops out of the country meanwhile turkish armored vehicles have reportedly been seen entering the city of joy. the city is about forty kilometers from mount beach where the syrian army says its forces are located they were deployed there after

calls from civilians and kurdish fighters to fear a turkish offensive and this is how close this city of daraa list is from and be on a direct road it goes down of explains the crucial role the kurds play in all this they call themselves freedom fighters turkey calls them terrorists. the u.s. use them as their proxy army well after this used to there will be a strong deliberate and orderly withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria very deliberate very orderly turkey has already begun massing its forces on the front line and the kurds know all too world the consequences of that they've been there with afrin back in january the turks launched operation all of branch against the minorities northern most territories there were reports the syrian army could have intervened but in the end the kurds put on

a brave face and decided to go it alone and efren fell and quickly for the turkish army the operation was hardly more challenging than a drill. the turks almost move deeper to another major kurdish stronghold of man bitch their u.s. generals literally had to put their bodies between the two to prevent bloodshed now the u.s. is abandoning syria and the kurds while erdogan has been making it clear that a kurdish held man bitch just won't stand with him. these terrorists have to go to the east of the euphrates if they do not leave we will send them that was postponed eventually but not indefinitely unless the kurds leave man bridge so lenient we already again serious division because our entire aim is to make terrorist

organizations leave the area or if the terrorists leave then there is no work left for us anyway the american withdrawal has left the kurds with a limited number of options really so they've turned to damascus asking to shield them we invited the syrian government which we belong to to send its armed forces to take over these positions and protect month beach in the face of turkish threats . and in response to the request of the population of man beach the syrian government and its armed forces announce it is sending in troops to man bitch and so there they are the government forces have entered the kurdish kingdom for the first time in years with russia being a major influence on damascus turkey's once again turning to moscow so the cards have been dealt and now it's down to turkey if they will go all in. and investigative journalist my explain down for us why a kurdish assad collaboration worries turkey so much we've heard conflicting

reports of actually the syrian government entering the city of men being which was recaptured from isis in two thousand and sixteen by the kurdish and this would indicate that there is on the ground collaboration between the kurdish s.d.f. and the syrian government a lot of people are troubled by this in turkey the u.s. didn't consider this a possibility but the fact is that these kurds are syrians they're syrian citizens and actually this is a natural partnership against a common enemy in isis and so both the syrian government and the s.d.f. are determined not to see isis return and i think it's actually a positive development as far as stabilization go. the u.s. stock market stories west christmas eve trading day ever this year. think they found the culprit computerized trading systems they say that the programs which have gained popularity since the two thousand and eight financial crisis fail to

understand market demands. big paper by. the lab rats will made a spectacular amount of money. around eighty five percent of all trade is controlled by machines all formulas which are programmed to buy and sell according to market data them's work much faster than humans and can check huge volumes of numbers in seconds financial commentator chris boyle those thinks there's a lot of people ahead for wall street. the next year is going to bring a crash much worse than two thousand and eight we had a lot of systems algorithmic based trading and a lot of financial products that were basically made up and systems were enhancing that but then you have the human nature side of markets which which corrects and as it as it should these these bubbles are going to correct again and this is why we are experiencing a dip in the stock market at the moment we've got these artificially inflated

stocks all around the world and interest rates have been crazily low the only people who have been benefiting from that is the is the rich institutions. but it's going to come to a head with the biggest the biggest one issue over the next half hour after year i'd say is the is the debt we've gotten more debt than we've ever had multiple times and the problems are much bigger than we had in two thousand and eight so they can't print any more money they can't reduce interest rates any lower and most of the banks even if you increases the interest rates a small amount that affectively been in the insolvent. it's twenty eighteen drawing to a close this time to take stock of the old year party boy care and the in case you missed it team take a look now at the first six months of the year. twenty years. to remember sex tramp. and two men on a mini break to look at the big clock it is twelve one if i see why my eyes look

back at the last twelve it's a christmas miracle. there you go to off to a sexy start making january a scary time for a rich man as the me to draw on you to store these fred that you can defy the secretary gavin williamson was involved with a married woman when he was a manager at a fire place it was fourteen years ago and consenting you can do i sympathize with him until you realize it's kevin williamson january was also the high point in a trend that so immediate seating toilet bowl it's. just natural selection working its magic in february an official report declared that the u.k. was facing brags that. that's paraphrased president secretary david davis calmed everyone down by saying that gregg's it in the u.k. into a mad max style distaste c.m. a few months later he quit and oddments britain is still very very also mock the

first major u.s. school shooting and this time in florida there would be plenty more but the u.s. made the brave decision to do about machos when twenty really got going someone. british spy sagacious crip out and his daughter yulia pets that got much less attention though even the reagans ignored in their brain for the cells reporting squarely on russia and soon russian diplomats was sent packing from western capitals moscow denied any involvement and did a couple of cloak loving cathedral enthusiasts neighbor was busy in the script. in the u.s. the u.k. and france launched airstrikes against syria but in my full way the armed groups in that brazen welcome to know the results. i don't remember in may donald trump announced that my friend is so round in the british capital that is practically a war zone this because it is really angry they insisted that just because the

moderates of the highest has been in a decade that does not mean the us president can be so mean also the genes are only traits and celebrity status to morsi wearing a dress that didn't fit is here in the great romance of the year reached base politically speaking donald trump finally met north korea's cuddly tire and kim jong il in a single poor hotel the best buds agreed to denuclearize north korea and world war three was delayed by a week at least all this in the first six months of twenty eighteen. well they say that age doesn't matter when you're young at heart and for one russian grandma that means clocking up more and more skydives.

i. knew it can be said here to provoke your neighbor to the traits of your near should lead toward her yeah. yeah she would want to thank you for it thank you i did i live. i a brave lady there still plenty most common this hour including a new scandal brewing around the former french presidential advisors sacks this summer after he beat up

a protester but the details for you after the break. you know world a big part of new things a lot of things 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 back 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. will make this manufacture consent to step into public wealth. when the

ruling classes protect themselves. when the final merry go round lifts only the one percent. can all middle of the room signal. to leave the room i mean real news. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter the u.s. has over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten white collar crimes happen each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you longs to the ultra rich eight point six percent market saw thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building a two point one billion dollar

a i industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only. number you need to remember it was one you know for the mid one. welcome back the french politicians are demanding explanations from president macross they want to know why disgraced former advisor still has diplomatic immunity and represents france abroad and xandra banal or reportedly use a diplomatic passport during business trips after his dismissal the former presidential security advisor was fired in the summer after a video emerged showing him viciously beating a protester politicians in france a people with their status can't travel without the knowledge of the ministry of foreign affairs. when you want to visit a country with a diplomatic passport you need to send

a verbal note your ministry of foreign affairs informs the embassy when you're arriving to facilitate the visa process if the ministry is not able to provide us with a verbal no then the must have been an intervention from outside may be from ohio governmental body which allowed mr bernard law to make visits to the country via standard diplomatic procedures if person called the thought this year couldn't get any worse off the weeks of violent protests engulfing france think again now his disgraced former bodyguard alexander opener is back for a second bite of the cherry it's emerged he may have been using diplomatic posts boards obtained during his time working from that call one of which is said to have been issued trusted confidant only weeks after being filmed beating up a protest was.

was. was. the french foreign ministry says it's asked for their return and says they should only be used for official for it any use of these passports since then would have been despite the commitments made by the person in question it's alleged he used in doing a trip to africa including a visit to chad where he said to have met the country's president that meeting came just weeks before corn made an official trip to chad and was forced to red faced to give an explanation this person was a no win official or an official intermediary on the foreign minister that diplomatic advisor to the president and his africa advisor representing the head of state in africa president macron wants to entirely void the use of intermediaries especially in africa though the former aide maintains he never represented himself

as anything but a private investor corns office has formally rubik been allah with regard to current personal it to that is ask you to ensure there are conducted with strict respect for the confidentiality and ethical responsibilities of your time in this office. despite nearly as a trying to distance itself even further from bella opposition politicians are now questioning whether a man called still has ties to his former confidant this is having them as this could potentially short circuit french diplomacy and examine the knowledge could be a danger for the republic this man this clearly different from the image of someone who was sanctioned after what happened in may and who after this action has received two diplomatic passports when you have a diplomatic passport means that you go you speak for the country so of course on this one like why you see meeting you know people official people you know in

africa if this person is no one you know according to it to do to the government if it's not a diplomat if it's not a friend if it's not an advisor then what he is then who is i mean otherwise you know why he had this passport back in who given this passport back so obviously there's a connection like somehow somewhere with one person or different people maybe the president's else i don't know but if what has been revealed you know for the past few hours about his few trips in africa if this is true then it's very concerning. u.k. government has been slammed for its latest push to reduce the use of plastic in british schools the countries that occasion secretary has called on all schools to drop single use plastic items by twenty twenty two and youth environmentally friendly alternatives but critics were quick to point out that the government's the national

program to deliver fruits and vegetables to schools makes the extensive use of plastic packaging sean sutherland's co-founder of the campaign group a plastic planet but if the government is anything but a paragon of eco virtue. if the u.k. government are going to encourage organizations like schools to reduce their plastic usage to create plastic free schools then of course they must also show by leadership by cutting out as much plastic as they can possibly do it is not defensible for the government of the u.k. to send out calls to schools to say let's cut down on plastic in communication that is that should be packaged in plastic it's it's matt i think at the moment the u.k. particularly there is a huge amount of noise about plastic i think we're probably the noisiest nation about plastic in europe if not the world and it's very easy for people outside b.

u.k. to think that we are actually showing extreme leadership in this issue that that noise is translated into action but the reality is we are in the u.k. and we need to speed up well the target for schools is part of a wider drive to reduce the use of plastic in the u.k. among other things it wants a ban on plastic strolls on cotton buds as well as an increase from five to ten pence for plastic bags the possible changes could come into effect in january twenty twenty and fire mental journalist oliver to cal told is that although commendable cutting out plastic in a single shots could pose challenges the real problem is a. good job. in keeping food fresh and in reducing. in the supply. and so if we have to take passing out stories where

then either we shift to another material which will also have. its. own or we will find that the cost of food goes up and that we are and more food is it is being damaged in the food wasted in the supply chain and that show floyd's shoot. and that we are repo's one problem with another. i hear it on t.v. left tell your thoughts on our stories so do get in touch by following us on social media and leave all your comments that way back at the top of the hour with the latest to say that. you know a lot of crazy things going up a lot of people you know. twitter arising and occasionally somebody pops up with

something really really interesting. my son 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. drug abuse started 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. there are countless numbers of people who are in prison for. for whom our own are minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in waves and say by. this is just it doesn't get easier. welcome to the crystal ball edition

of crosstalk what can we expect in the new year we have a great lineup of guests telling us they. come to call russia no one's ever known one has ever heard of and never even heard about most.

it's hard to imagine after the war a nazi doctor was still active. in the nineteen seventies crittle had as the chair of its board a man convicted of mass murder and slavery. a german company developed. a drug that was promoted as completely safe even during pregnancy it turned out of terrible side effects what has happened to my baby anything. you know she said is just. minutes a little mind victims have to this day received no compensation they never apologized for the suffering that not only want the money i want the revenge.

time after time to know what you're going underground while we're away for christmas we're screening some of your favorite episodes of this season coming up in this. form ascii on what he told the british prime minister in downing street in the past forty eight hours later nations contemplate sanctions against saudi arabia a reported former wife of the late king explains why critics face death and why she is suing the u.k. government if you were looking for void a pregnancy or come to the wrong place i bet if you want to write a shop in view of the week's news join me in action the first major nation media has arguably only suddenly discovered the world's worst humanitarian crisis. when. the saudis that holiday should the minute late thank you so.

the whole idea that. they can't wait to be. shut out of the old country philadelphia headquarters called sky news that literally embedded in what looks like a saudi helicopter and all the while everyone with any sense knows that yemen is not just a saudi issue his even a senior adviser to the neo liberal brookings institute admitting it is it to raise a major issue if the united states of america and united kingdom tonight told king solomon this war us to and would end tomorrow but can oppose bricks and u.k. tale saudi arabia want to do for that matter can oppose breaks that you can't even tell them what to do and when to post breaks it you can even be the u.k. someone who met with u.k. minority government he did tourism a few bricks and talks on monday was the m.p. who represents gerry adams old seat of west belfast mascot joins.