but he also with. the q.'s downplaying a scandal new york times journalist to reveal that this information campaign twenty seventeenth in the u.s. state of alabama to fend off criticism over an anti republican smear operation meeting the attendees. reportedly seen entering a city in northern syria and it's a kurdish held territory as a high level delegation from turkey agrees to coordinate with russia during talks on syria. a police officer takes aim at

a journalist trying to film the yellow vest protests in the french city of. reflect over weeks of demonstrations in france with a philosopher. in a new series. because they speak about approaching. a national in the headlines for us than the u.s. state of alabama is open to the investigation into election meddling with a twenty seven thousand senate race in the new york times journalist who first revealed an anti republican disinflation campaign seems such a meeting between those behind the operation he's now being accused of downplaying the scandal another person being highlighted in this probe is the co-founder of linked in reid hoffman who allegedly donated millions of dollars to. the smear

project aimed at making a thousand fake russia votes and social media reportedly to discredit the republican candidate. picks up the story. so it's official now that our earlier this week came out the apology from the sponsor of project birmingham that's how they call it americans not the russians have at least in one case been behind setting up an army of pseudo russian bots for dirty election tricks or the scheme to come to light it took more than a year while now buzz feed has revealed more details that could make this story much more serious scott shane the author of the new york times piece that shed light on what the democrats were at an alabama last year it turns out spoke at an off the record event of that very same group behind project birmingham none of that was mentioned in his article though mr shane explained he thought that wasn't

necessary i don't think there's any kind of disclosure that's relevant but i'm happy to be corrected if you've been to meet with intelligence or defense officials i've been off the record meeting it's always a tradeoff as to what the ground rules of whether you get something useful for your readers and in this case i did get something useful well what's even more important is the question why the event the new york times journalist took part in happened back in september however the article only came out ten days ago there will be people wondering why it took mr shane three months to write about this clause buzz feed is now citing a report with assessments and conclusions of how well project birmingham worked and if you compare the language of that report with the language and the n.y.t. article you'll find many differences the journey. calls the operation

a secret experiment however and the cited report is referred to as an operation to influence the outcome of the alabama sen race as to how much influence the project had on the actual election tallies the journalists wrote that probably it was too small to have a significant effect however the report says that it enormously effected the turnout our producers have reached out to both the new york times and scott shane himself however they haven't gotten back to us yet. mr told me the mainstream media is using supposed russian meddling as a political tool. 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 are not willing to admit it they sort of can process this new information because it goes counter to their narrative so they're

trying to ignore it we have the spooks us 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 being concocted in order to for order to for other purposes. top diplomats and military officials from turkey have agreed to coordinate with

russia on the syria crisis of holding talks in moscow which finished up a smalling it comes out of the situation in syria escalated following donald trump surprise decision to pull u.s. troops in the country with more of the talks. despite the meeting taking place in snow in moscow that is now as you can see totally into the new year holiday season very serious topics on the agenda a serious face and russia turkey carving needed work on the ground now after u.s. and downs. it is expected to take up to one hundred days but certainly changing the situation already now especially even be 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 turkey 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 oh no 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 their hatred and believe that the new year will bring more positive changes to syria and maybe a long awaited peace will finally return to this war torn country. meantime that turkish ahmed. vehicles have reportedly been seen entry in the northern city of rubble this turkey's been boosting its military presence on both sides of its border with syria since donald trump announced the troop withdrawal. is about forty kilometers from the city of man bridge where the syrian army says it

now in control they were deployed there after an appeal from civilians and kurdish fighters who fear a turkish offensive he goes down off explains the crucial role the kurds play in all this they call themselves freedom fighters turkey calls them terrorists the us 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 them. 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 bitch so early in we already again serious division entire aim is to make terrorist organizations leave the area 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 man beach and the feet of turkish threats . and in response to the request of the population of man bridge the syrian government and its armed forces announce it is sending in troops to man bridge and so there they are the government forces have entered the kurdish kingdom for the first time in years. of weeks of turmoil of violent protests in france the anti-government yellow vests movement says they're not finished and that they're simply taking a break for the holidays. what everyone needs to understand is that we've decided that to be once taught in the movement it's not always there will be a small break for the holidays and in january it will start all over again so we

are showing that we are here we are sure when that we are not tired at all bit not quite on the same scale as before but some yellow vests are out in paris for a seventh weekend in a row this saturday there were a number of scuffles with police arrest were made on thursday city officials said that the new year's eve celebrations on the shelves of these it will go ahead despite protests being planned the action started in november when thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against a fuel price hike. it's not just protesters but journalists to being caught up in the police's crowd control techniques it seems as about a show you got a little too close for the authorities comfort in the flash ball device aimed at

him in the northwestern city of ruin these are pictures of talking about police and demonstrators faced off with each other at one point offices moving quickly to remove the protesters journalist simon levey was pushed away by police and how that handheld non-lethal weapon literally pointed right at him. back in paris first you heard praising the work. i. as protesters gathered outside a french media building that simply praised r.t. shining a spotlight on the protests last first level been reflecting. in the french protesting mood in a new mini series called other watch the news he says the whole political system needs an overhaul in what's not one of the you tube channel has a quick look at it. if you had to ask ordinary people what do they want they want

to get fed we want a stronger horse we eat less of whatever no you have to all four of them something did they don't even know they did me a set of them this is my purpose to get your best out of info because they seek to know that we are approaching a deadlock thank you. thank you cory booker say but they think we need an enlightened leadership and not afraid to think he might forward that eat i'm not. bureaucrat the socialism this inside the i would like to leave your side where the state bureaucracy or some kind of whatever the public good are going to be somehow organize this baby he could be in a way with. impenetrable to me somehow electricity comes very

tempted and so on i don't have to know how old this works i can leave my own needs i think that defeats the future and we shouldn't be afraid to put in as it were marked off again if you spend bureaucracy and a level of idea nation just a small part of what is say the rest of it part one on the you tube channel as mentioned coming up a new scandal is brewing around a form of french presidential advisor sunk to the summer of three b. to protest ill tell you all about it we're going to go to the break.

public well. when the ruling classes protect. the room. 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. again

this is us international next french politicians are demanding explanations from president they want to know why a disgraced former advisor still has diplomatic immunity and apparently represents france abroad. reportedly used 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 protest well the preliminary investigations been launched in paris french politician. so people with this status can't travel without the knowledge of the foreign ministry. but. 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 maybe from

a higher governmental body which allowed mr bernard law to make visits to the country via standard diplomatic procedures if person a called the thought in this year couldn't get any worse off the weeks of violent protests in golfing france think again now he's disgraced former bodyguard alexander pope another is back for a second bite of the cherry it's emerged he may have been using diplomatic post boards obtained during his time working from that corner one of which is said to have been issued trusted confidant only weeks after being filmed beating up a protester was. was the french foreign ministry says it's just 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 them 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 chant 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 ever. 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 banal or with regard to current personal and ethical responsibilities of your time in this office.

despite neely's a trying to distance itself even further from been our opposition politicians are now questioning whether man can still has twice to his former confidant this is having them as this could potentially short circuit french diplomacy examined the knowledge could be a danger for the republic this man is different from the of 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 meaning you know people official people you know in africa if this person is no one you know according to a two 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 those passport back and 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 the. british government's been slammed for its latest push to reduce the use of plastic in british schools the education so i could risk calling on all schools to drop single use plastic items by twenty twenty two and to use environmentally friendly alternatives but critics were quick to point out that the government's own national program to deliver fruit vegetables to schools makes extensive you solved plastic packaging and co-founder of the campaign group a plastic plan it believes the government is anything but a paragon of eco virtue that. if the u.k. government is 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 math 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 be you kate to think that we are actually showing extreme leadership in this issue then that noise is translated into action but the reality is we are in the u.k. and we need to speed up. the target for schools is part of a wider drive produced use of plastic in the u.k.

among other things it wants a ban on plastic straws and cotton buds as well as an increase from five to ten pounds for plastic bags given out in stores the possible changes could take effect from january twenty twenty environmental genocide of a typical told us that although commendable cutting out plastic in a single shot could pose big challenges. the real problem is that passive his cheek that it does such a good job is in keeping food fresh and in reducing food waste in the supply chain. and so if we have to take passing out strays where then i that we shift to another material which would also have. its. own although 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 waste in the supply chain and that show lives short. and that we are reposing one problem with another war.

it's been a bumpy ride for u.s. stocks in recent months with markets hitting a story close blue chip companies and market leaders like facebook and google started to slump back in october first as were apparently reacting to the ongoing trade war between america and china on christmas eve saw another plunge there with u.s. democrats quick to blame the president for it. 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 is the main source of the problems in a tweet even compared it to a powerful gulf who can't pert some to a blame the market instability on another source computer technology around eighty five percent of all trades controlled by programs designed to buy and sell

according to market data those algorithms work much faster than humans they can check huge volumes of numbers in seconds we had from economics professor richard vernon who says central banks are behind this and stability things. i think mostly we're witnessing the results of this policy of central banks massively expanding their balance sheets creating a whole lot of money and purchasing financial assets and investors realizing that some stage you know there's 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 been raising as a result of strong economic growth in the u.s. i don't think that the trade war. with china all of her.

you know interventions that we've recently had really the key factor here. is the age doesn't matter when you're going to one russian granny that means clocking up more and more it's gotta.

be said for you to preserve your trade yet. you have to live within three months of so a party is it i barely. measure many many more to sunny's up so far always more calm i don't know social media here most of the saturday nights commit to twenty eight minutes more or less past ten o'clock at night or bus for me in the t.v. for celebrating the festivities right now. you know a lot of crazy things going up a lot of people you know. twitter izing and occasionally somebody pops up or

something really really interesting. my seven years doing drugs my nephew was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse started going after the users in the prison population who are 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. a long sentence and 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 daddy as you're walking out of the business it's just it doesn't get easier.

time after time so you know what you're going on the ground 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 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're looking for avoid a pregnancy or come to the wrong place and i bet if you want to write a shop the view of the week's news joins me in action but first major nation media is arguably only. suddenly discovered the world's worst humanitarian crisis when.

the saudi that coalition the military alliance played thank you told me. they could write. the bill the 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 advisor 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. tell saudi arabia what to do for that matter can oppose breaks that you can't even tell other learned what to do and when a post breaks it you can even be the u.k. someone who met with u.k. minority government needed to raise money for urgent bricks and talks on monday was the m.p. who represents gerry adams old seat of west belfast in vain.