the u.s. state of alabama launches an investigation into meddling in a senate election campaign in twenty seventy pro-democratic groups reportedly behind more than a thousand fake social media accounts used to discredit a republican rival. reportedly seen entering a city in northern syria near to kurdish held territory as a high level delegation from turkey agrees to coordinate with russia. disgraced advisor to the french president why these reports claim alexander been using a diplomatic passport long after he was dismissed for attacking a protester. here

in moscow money this is your world news from r.t. international the u.s. state of alabama has launched a probe into an alleged meddling campaign during a twenty seventeen local senate election which had been blamed on russia but it now appears to have been created much closer to home it turns out that a pro-democratic billionaire funded the u.s. crew to make more than a fake more than one thousand russian bots on social media allegedly to discredit a republican rival picks up the story. 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 for this scheme to undermine him was pretty simple create fake facebook pages and russian accounts on twitter to confuse republican voters this gave the false impression that roy morse campaign was backed by the kremlin and 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 ation 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 or 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 to get out paris of. lee 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 bots and find out they

didn't come from russia at all. artsy new york media analyst daniel told us that the mainstream media is using supposed russian meddling as a political tool. 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 spooks 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 this story this question since may of two thousand and seventeen 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 gate story was be concocted in order to order to for other purposes. diplomats and high ranking military officials from turkey have agreed to coordinate with russia on the syria crisis after holding talks in moscow which finished up a few hours ago it comes after the situation in syria escalated following donald trump surprise decision to pull u.s. troops out of the country with more on today's talks. despite the meeting taking place in snow in moscow that is now as you can see totally into new year holiday season very serious topics on the agenda serious fate and russia turkey card you need to work on the ground now off to us and nouns joe it is expected to take up to

one hundred days but certainly tastes change in this situation already now specially even the area east of the euphrates river this is where the american military have been present once they're out this territory that is now officially under the control of the kurdish forces may become especially vulnerable and that's especially after cherokees say it's he's getting ready for a military assault against kurds in syria's north korea's that and kara's sees as terrorists so the russian and turkish delegations that included intelligence chiefs defense ministers and top diplomats met in moscow to discuss how to avoid any military confrontation on the ground in that area what should be done to boost joint work to return the refugees back to syria all displaced people back to their

homes in syria's north speaking to media following the meeting russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has specifically mentioned the work being done regarding syrian constitutional committee that plays a very important role in a political solution to syria's crisis from let's take a listen. during the talks we specifically mentioned that russia and turkey with the participation of iranian colleagues did everything promise to create a syrian constitutional committee this is being done by all states as mediators between the syrian government and opposition and we hope that those including our western partners he called us down a group to finish his work as soon. as possible would not interfere in his continued work all in all there was a feeling that both sides both russia and turkey are rather optimistic on how things develop on the ground and they have expressed believe that the new year will

bring more positive changes to syria and maybe a long awaited peace will finally returning to this war torn country. reporting there meanwhile turkish armored vehicles have reportedly been seen entering the northern city of turkey's be boosting its military presence on both sides of its border with syria since donald trump announced the troop withdrawal. is around forty kilometers from the city of miami beach where the syrian army says it's now in control they were deployed there after an appeal from civilians and kurdish fighters who fear a turkish offensive well let's get more insight now on events in and around syria joined by eunice sona from the turkish patriotic party good evening to you how far into law the talks with this kind for the syrian crisis the wanted been held in moscow today despite the fact nothing was signed and no major announcements were made. we think here in turkey that the major issue on the table in these meeting in moscow wars now that this arming of the armed groups of the

u.s. armed groups like the y.p. ji because these groups have the u.s. soldiers as protectors and with the retreat of the u.s. from syria now these groups pose a problem for turkey obviously and for the syrian government as well because they are at least at the end. on syrian soil but not on the syrian government's control so i think these issue was mainly how to deal with the problem of the p y d which is located in which and also in the east of euphrates do you expect anything to develop around the city of members in the coming days with both turkey and syria bolstering. militaries there. well i think there is a huge coordination between ankara and moscow and damascus as part of this coordination. all sides all three sides agreed that disarmament is necessary that the syrian government has to take over control of mom which this arming again on

their land that this arming the the because turkey has here serious security concerns and the raisings you flags in which is a positive step but as all sides are asked on a process on the line it's a matter of syrian territorial integrity as well as the sort of reality of this country and the server indeed of syria does not accept the existence of formerly u.s. supported u.s. armed and u.s. paid armed groups so this bill be the topic of the next weeks or next days maybe. i think in the long in the short term be why the will have to surrender in its arms as well on the dangers of the definitions here though because to which groups are considered a threat it's different depending on which force you ask isn't it isn't there a problem that runs the risk of syrian forces and turkish for forces facing

a face to face clash. well if you take a look from the damascus position from the position of the syrian government no government accepts armed groups on its territory that are not part of the official armed forces so there is no difference between turkey's and syrian positions for turkey they are a security threat crossing the border there is also worth the security threat even for iran because offshoots of this organization operate in iran as well that's why you're also supports this process and for the syrian government of course there can't be accepted any armed autonomous region on their soil so it's a. matter of territory integrity and sovereignty that there is only one legitimate power one legitimate armed force on syrian territory and that is the syrian government no one else donald trump pulling the u.s. troops out it came as a bolt out of the blue on this for most people but how do you expect that

withdrawal to change things on the ground in syria. i think the withdrawal is a reaction actually to the ass. that was successfully moving forward the peace process in syria by finding consensus on certain zones of conflict so the u.s. is a reaction to this success of and the u.s. will throw we will keep on withdrawing what they will try to do is to limit their withdrawal and to limit the loss they have lived for their project that is they will try to protect their forces through the was reported by reuters u.s. generals called the p y need not to give its arms but i don't think that there will be any success for does attempt and the us will the house will have to acknowledge it will have to recognize that it's project in syria has failed to be

a tense few days ok thanks for sharing your thoughts with us you know from the turkish pattern at a party thank you. next after weeks of turmoil and violent protests in france the anti-government yellow vest movement says it isn't finished and that they're simply taking a break for the holidays. what everyone needs to understand is that we've decided that we won't stop the movement it's not oh there will be a small break over the whole days and in january it will start all over again so we are showing that we are here we are showing that we are not tired. so not quite on the same scale as before but some yellow vests protesters are out in paris for a seventh weekend in a row this saturday were a number of scuffles with police and arrests were made and thursday city officials said that the new year's eve celebrations on the shores of these they will go ahead despite protests being planned the action started in november when thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against a fuel price hike. philosopher

suffered rejects been reflecting on the french protesting mood in a new r.t. project called how to watch the news he says the whole political system needs an overhaul you can watch the first part of his mini series on you tube channel but here's a quick look. if you had to ask ordinary people what do they want they want to get fed we want a stronger of course we eat less or whatever no you can't do all four of them something they don't even know they teach them a set of them this is my protest get or get out of it because they seek to know that we are approaching a deadlock. but

they think we need an enlightened leadership and look afraid we might forward that either i'm not being. bureaucratic socialism this is state the i would like to believe in a society where the state bureaucracy or some kind of whatever the public bureaucracy somehow organize this basic theme in a way which. impenetrable to me somehow was going to come electricity comes that he tells the cat and so on i don't have to know how old this works i can leave in my own. i think that this is the future and we shouldn't be afraid to put in our motto again if you spend bureaucracy and a level of. record low trading on one of the biggest days of the year someone to

shiver through wall street we've got the story on that and life reaction after the break. still seems wrong but i will say just don't. get to see power just to. educate. and in detroit it was betrayed. when so many find themselves worlds apart week just to look for common ground.

welcome to the crystal ball edition of crossfire what can we expect in the new year we have a great lineup of guests telling us. back it's been a bumpy ride for u.s. stocks in recent months with markets hitting historic lows blue chip companies and market leaders like facebook amazon and google all started to slump back in october investors were apparently reacting to the ongoing trade war between the u.s. and china and christmas eve saw another plunge with the u.s. democrats quick to blame the president. today's events have made one thing clear

president trump is plunging the country into chaos the stock markets down another five hundred points general mattis is stepping down donald trump though sees the u.s. central banking system the federal reserve as the main source of the problems and it's even compared it to a powerful golfer who can putt there are some though who are blaming the market instability on another source computer technology around eighty five percent of all trade is controlled by programs designed to buy and sell according to market data the algorithms work much faster than humans and can check huge volumes of numbers in seconds financial commentator charlie predicts more people head for wall street . with us now we've got economist and professor richard werner to see what he makes of all this welcome to our see so is it president trump is it the computers what do you see as the main catalyst for all this. well i think we shouldn't think to mention another set of very important players and these are of

cause the central banks the central banks have been playing a very important role in this past year two thousand and eighteen but also in fact very visibly for the last ten years since the financial crisis. so in what way is the central banking system to blame or to be doing. well the central banking system has turned itself into one of the largest hedge funds in several countries they are essentially the biggest investor in equity markets that is unusual we didn't have that until ten years ago in the many decades before hand central banks would not become major major investors in stock market but if you for example look at the japanese central bank its purchasing of stocks and other financial assets has been extraordinary. but also you know in europe the

swiss central bank is one of the biggest equity owners in the whole world and so it goes on so what's been happening well. there's been a bit of a misunderstanding concerning the monetary policy proposal i made a long time ago called quantitative easing i proposed there's a ninety ninety five as a post banking crisis measure to stop the crisis in the banking system and get the economy going again and it consists of the central bank purchasing the non-performing assets of the banks so you don't need to use taxpayers' money you don't need to get into debt you don't need austerity. and then you help the banks and encourage the banks to increase lending which can be done through various ways but including the government stopping issuing bonds and borrowing directly from the domestic banking system these options that have been open to the spanish portuguese greek irish japanese and many other central banks and governments in those

countries where there's been massive recessions last year unemployment vast youth unemployment and the need to boost domestic demand but what have the central banks actually been doing and they have actually used the label that they gave to my proposal quantitative easing for what they did and really it's not true quantitative easing they've been purchasing financial assets so central banks creating a whole lot of money and buying assets initially bombs but then they moved into stocks and other financial assets the whole point is they need to boost the real economy and to do that they need to help banks lend again because most money is created by the banking system through lending and that mechanism we need to get going again but doesn't the u.s. federal reserve have a particularly unique problem at the moment it's also trying to stay in the economy through a pretty bruising u.s. china trade war that's bound to have an effect it's bound to have to make some very

very tough decisions isn't it. i think mostly we're witnessing the results of this policy of central banks massively expanding their balance sheets creating a whole of money and purchasing financial assets and investors realizing that some stage you know that this game can't go on. in the u.s. the central bank has already over the past year given clear signals that they want to change things and they have tightened and they have reduced their credit creation their money creation and also the signal that most people watch interest rates which actually follow growth they've they've been raising as a result of a strong economic growth in the u.s. but essentially investors realize that in the future they can't rely on the central banks purchasing all those assets and driving up as surprised as ever further i

don't think that the trade war. with china or other. you know interventions that we've recently had are really the key factor here. because you know this this cuts both ways and the u.s. economy is actually fundamentally fairly strong it has a strong banking system because it's decentralized and consists of many many small banks. there's over ten thousand small banks local banks and that's the strength of the u.s. economy likewise in germany where you could you know fifteen hundred local small banks that strengthens the economy because of all firms will get funding from these money creators the local banks that's really what we need to strengthen but central banks have not focused on that they've done the opposite they force banks to merge they've worked against the small banks in the last ten years they've massively increased concentration in the banking system you know ten years ago with the

banking crisis everyone realized oh it's bad to have too big to fail banks well what the regulators have done is they've increased our dependence or reliance on these too big to fail banks we've got more of them and they're much much bigger now than they've ever been and so i actually that the solutions have been applied have not really been helping in the long run they feel they've sort of covered over the problems created financial bubble i think we see the bursting of these bubbles again in quite a few countries ok ten years is a long time for people to baby forget what it was like in the heat of the credit credit ok professor vanna thanks very much for joining us thank you. and they say age doesn't matter when you're young at heart and for one russian granny that means clocking up more and more skydive.

yes and he said to preserve the traits of yes she had learned to love her you have to be ruthless. yes he would want your three months of so if i can use it thank you i do i live in. the touch.

now that's a granny with ambition right that's it from a cabin i would say are enough now to keep you updated after we meet the kenyan tribes people taking that first trip abroad swapping the african sun for the moscow snow. that's. not what was. in. the. middle east and.

join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. my son missy 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 abusers he started going after the users in a 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 the our our current with numbers of people who are in prison for inconceivable warning sentence in this for whom minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in wave and say by day as you're

walking out of the business it's just it doesn't get easier. we'll say you will be end. thank. you for thieves i feel. so good when somebody can see that from the from. the

question in the. paper the. most from people but people from the. who came before look up to you. know.

my name is i'm a travel photographer and i went to kenya today national park to meet the must i it's an amazing people who have managed to preserve their authenticity and find ways to interact with the outside world to. be surprisingly. english and have internet access so finding them and arranging to meet. that. will happen. yes it was.