questions raised over a new york times reporter who revealed an anti republican disinform ation campaign turns out the journalist spoke at a secret meeting of the group behind the campaign several months before he broke the story. took ish vehicles reportedly seen entering a city in northern syria near the shell territory as a high level delegation from turkey agrees to coordinate with russia to read talks on syria held here in moscow. a police officer takes aim at a journalist trying to fill the yellow vest protests in the french city of your flight back over the weeks of demonstrations in france to the post the new series.

if. we are approaching. a moscow when i'm carol lin thanks for watching out international's morning first in the headlines then the u.s. state of alabama. into election meddling in the twenty seven thousand senate race it comes after the new york times journalists who first revealed an anti-republican dissin from ation campaign saturday were meeting between those behind the operation he's now being accused of failing to disclose his own role in the scandal and another person being highlighted in this probe is the co-founder of linked in reid hoffman who allegedly donated millions of dollars to this when a project aimed at making a thousand fake russian bought some social media reportedly to discredit a republican candidate. picks up a storm. 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 so i'm happy to be corrected if you've been to meet with intelligence or defense official of an

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 journalists 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 plus 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 in the n.y.t. article you'll find many differences the journalist calls the operation a secret experiment however in the cited report it is referred to as an operation to influence the. outcome of the alabama senator 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 affected 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. if it is close live than a full u.s. congress and michael high let's pick this apart a bit so as just heard new york times reporter scott shane seems to know all about this disinflation campaign back in september but what did it take so long to break stories question. the new york times as part of the the the leftwing media machine i mean the wiki leaks stuff showed us several years ago that the media in this country doesn't just have its usual left of center bias

which we have the right have dealt with for years and have done our best to work with but they've actually come out and decided that they have to support the democratic policies and have to support the democratic views and so when the new york times or the or the. new yorker magazine or the washington post or any of these others actually slants flavors or withholds its reporting to benefit the democratic party no one should be surprised amazed or upset by this since it is what it is it's interesting what this an operation if you look it's been described in the article scott shane describes the disintegration campaign as a quote experiment but that's not the language used in the confidential report about the company in the buzz feed good old of when it was called an operation to influence the race which was it you think. well it's the latter of course they wouldn't pay for an experiment they'd pay for an operation to influence the you know that's. fairly obvious i'm from chicago and bastion of democratic politics

it's where i learned to be a politician that's where i learned my revulsion for the democratic party and i became a republican in chicago because of its corruption and i will tell you as i have told my republican brother and who just can't hear me when i say this for some reason the first tenet of democratic politics is they will accuse you of what they are doing themselves in an effort to to distract in an effort to confuse those who might be honestly reporting it ok if they're saying it they're doing it and i'd like to have mr moeller look into this and come after this in the same way because those are the ability to do that if new york times reporter scott shane really did have something to hide if you like behind the scenes it well to break the story. well he's got to break it eventually it's going to get out there's no way it can't be hidden like this for any length of time it's going to be dragged into the into

the light and while these on paper can still publish it and still enjoy some level of credibility and over the holidays when nobody's really watching except you know r.t. and other excellent news outlets you know they can probably get away with not being fully fully you know forthcoming the l a bummer attorney general is to probe as we mentioned into whether the scheme it tilted the result if it can be proved that it did should we expect to rerun or no is it just water on the bridge now. it's water under the bridge there's no chance that the election can be invalidated of course they can demonstrate that the sitting senator and self participated in some sort of illegal activity or subterfuge which i doubt can be done or or is even if it was even done on his part this is this is the party behaving as the democratic party does and the republican party needs to become vigilant and they're not and they don't they don't see any reason why they should be and this is why they have you know tough elections like they just had with you know ballot gathering or where

they call harvesting in california algorithms picking members in maine and other such craziness because they don't they think that everyone's on the up and up and there's no notice to go on for no these are the tip of the off as you think could that be more or is it just kind of a one off. well maybe we ought to ask mr miller that he's he's charged with finding russian interference or perceived russian interference in the election not just finding out trumps dalliances with porn stars and other goofy stuff that his his investigation has devolved into maybe he ought to get over to alabama and find out what's going on and maybe he ought to be charged with fighting us a little bit more about what's happening so you know i said i doubt it's so many questions that just after christmas as well as you did all of the michael flatley good for us congressman thank you for making the. time to be with us give us your thoughts on this story is developing there and it our editor of. top diplomats and high ranking military officials from turkey have agreed to coordinate

with russia on this syria crisis of holding talks early here in moscow it comes after the situation in syria escalated following donald trump surprise decision to pull u.s. troops out of the country with more. 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 gastown a group to finish his work as soon possible as. would not interfere in his continued work oh no there was a feeling that based 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 returning to this war torn country. with national reporting remain time turkish armored vehicles have reportedly been seen then through the northern cities around los turkey's being boosting its military presence in both sides of its border with syria since donald trump notes the troop withdraw troublous is but forty kilometers from the city of man bridge 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 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 olive 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 their friend 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 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 in the freeze of turkish threats . and in response to the requests 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. after weeks of turmoil of violent protests in france the anti-government yellow vest movement says it isn't finished and the 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 always there will be a small break over the holidays and in january it will start all over again it is so we are showing that we are here we're showing that we are not tired not quite

the same scale as before but some yellow vests are out in paris for several weekends in a row this saturday there are a number scuffles as police arrest were made on thursday city officials said that the new year's eve celebrations on the shelves 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 protests by journalists who have been caught up in the police's crowd control techniques one got a little too close it seems the authorities comfort and had a flash ball device a right at it with the northwestern city of ruins police and demonstrators faced off with each other as officers who've been to disperse the protesters journalist

simon of there was pushed away by riot police and held normally through that almost pointed out in the classes have also been venting their anger at submediocre for their coverage of the yellow vests one suburb on the outskirts of the capital protestors bird cars in front of newspaper the prisoner's age q while some yellow vests could be heard praising the work of other journalists. i. i as protesters gathered outside a friend's media building list seemingly praised r.t.c. shining a spotlight on the protest on yellow vest protest to join her colleagues at r.t. france tell us more. of it removed from flipper the. movement is not over there's no risk of that but we will motivate more people to join us to continue our struggle and restore order in this oligarchy which must fall because there's no longer possible to tolerate this government. we were trying to make the police's

job more complex we won't make their work any easier because they don't make it easy for others they remove our masks protective glasses and clubs we are really being attacked during these demonstrations we are confronted by armed and well equipped people that while we have nothing unfortunately the media belongs to the oligarchs almost all the media except yours it turns out that the media are inevitably dependent we would like to receive real time mainly so that we can organize and give answers through the media proportionate to the media attack that the state puts out towards ours today the yellow verse movement does not have a unified structure we have a horizontal structure and each acts as it sees fit everyone can do what he or she wants no one gives orders this is the true power that. philosophers explain with selecting only french protesting mooted a new r.t. mini series called how to watch the news he says the whole political system needs

an overhaul but you can watch part one or you tube channel if we catch it if you read through our ordinary people what will be won they would care for that we want a stronger of course less of what they're about no you can't throw all four of them dead they don't even know that it may third of the day this is right this protest or get out of it because they signaled that we are approaching a deadlock. but they think we need in life. i'm not afraid to say my forward i'm not kidding there are catholic socialism the society i would like to leave the side to beat whether state bureaucracy or some kind of whatever public they're ocracy somehow organize this basic think in

a way which is none impenetrable to me somehow water comes electricity comes there is health care and so on i don't have to know how all this works i can live in my own needs. i think that this is the future and we shouldn't be afraid to put. our motto again as different bureaucracy and a level of as a nation this is art international very good morning for me given the intense shooting to is still to come in the next fifty minutes among the stories we're covering the u.s. government's doing accused of failing to meet its obligations of the freedom of information act that actually second. what politicians do something. they put themselves on the line. to get accepted or

rejected. so when you want to be president. or somehow want to. have to go right to be close this is like the flag three in the morning can't be good. i'm interested in the logs of our. guests it. seems wrong. just don't all. get to say proud just being. engaged because betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground.

i gather talk of ministration is proposing changes to the freedom of information act which could make it harder for the public to access records from the department of the interior give us a voice their outrage over the move. this is a wool run transparency this is a calculated attempt to shield the interior department from scrutiny to shield it from watchdogs and to shield it from accountability the u.s. government says the changes are needed to handle an unprecedented surge in freedom of information request and to improve customer service now if approved the new rules would allow the interior department to reject what it considers unreasonably burdensome applications and impose limits on the number one person can make investigative journalist dave lindorff told me the new plans go against the spirit of the freedom of information act what it's going to do is force people to have to

go to court to get action on freedom of information request which is totally antithetical to open government and to what the foyer. of the freedom of information act was designed to do it had been set up so that you could write and get information and not have to go to court so you get anything other than classified information these are not classified things that people are looking for are there they're open government things that should be freely available and quickly available if they say it's to be more efficient and to respond better to quote customers meaning citizens it's a complete joke they're doing the opposite it reflects. basically the fact that they're trying to run a secret government. this is new in a major u.s. news networks been accused of deliberately mis reporting donald trump's recent

christmas visit to the rock started with a surprising claim from n.b.c. news about the timing of the president's visit to meet with u.s. troops. the road.

that's news rob so far always more. on the social media their mosque in this very early sunday morning and kevin owen or best for me and the rest of the day if you celebrate in the festivities.

you will be a lot is your last guest does. it with the people most of. what i mean. i can make it. really a lot to get me from a week in which he has you know if you buy if. you're in the family really. i'm with you more. with the baby one with a number on the nose and even money both of them in the phone while in the most they will start to feel.

i've been saying the numbers means they've matter the u.s. is over one trillion dollars in debt more than ten point zero or find empty each day. eighty five percent of global wealth belongs to the rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred three per second per second and it going rose to twenty thousand. china's building two point one billion dollar ai industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only numbers you need remember it was one business show you know for two minutes one can only.

use. time after time to 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 the. full maskey on what he told the british prime minister in downing street in the past forty eight hours and as nato 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 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 it shows like. the saudis that coalition the military alliance claims that if they

can hold this area at the polls c.b.s. . they can't wait to be strong hold. out the door of 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 adviser to the neo liberal brookings. institute admitting it is a jury's a may issue if the united states of america and the united kingdom tonight told king solomon this war us to and would end tomorrow but can oppose breaks it u.k. tails saudi arabia want to do for that matter can oppose breaks that you can't even tell them what to do and will oppose bricks and you can even be the u.k. someone who met with u.k. minority government needed to raise money for urgent bricks and dogs on monday was the m.p. who represents gerry adams old seat of west belfast mask he joins me now paul

thanks for coming back on so did you get any assurance from tourism a that island isn't going to be some sort of collateral in this bret's a deal you know we didn't at all. we didn't get on a target i mean we pushed trees or mail on where her government has had to be also use that term collateral so. i mean we believe that they do you pay because they're in partnership with the tory government here and it's a friday back but they are doing at the moment because their record their practice soundly in the north of ireland where they feel terrible about you know they're going to rebel i mean if you speak to a majority of people in the north of and they will tell you who you is this fall here because number one their practice here is they're very pro tears and they're also against equality for many of our citizens you know they don't like people of my they don't have equal rights for people sure i want to get on to sort of i would like a less of that in a second but you know what you told it like it's a very important point because what we told her is that she is in partnership. we

have to be who have racked the cold in the north of iran and who here and england as well in britain and i think that's if i can describe their own because for us it's very clear that the d.p. do not represent the majority of people in north and in fact they represent a minority of people i mean we fear along with all their parties are absolutely and the majority with regards to remain and i think that's a fairly important point because you could be agreement as i was clear and all of its commitments and demands for three cards to moving forward with the. stuff we're here at it's very very dangerous and i think it's very dangerous for these agents and thought was you know the do you piece as it's up for the millions that voted for bricks it but you must be aware of the even in northern irish media a little in the republic that some people are saying that the.