week's biggest stories on our t.v. just a small experiment a democratic party group explain away alleged interference in an alabama state election and investigations being launched over the group that fake more than a thousand russian social media to allegedly discredit a republican candidate. fury in france yellow vest protesters have been out on the streets for a seventh consecutive weekend in running battles with police. and the freedom of information act that helped expose high level corruption and wrongdoing in the u.s. comes under pressure. the right to reject requests that they say are burdensome.

hello from moscow at six pm on sunday and that's where we wrap up the biggest stories as covered right here over the past seven days from the start in the u.s. where a scandal surrounding the alleged meddling in an alabama state election campaign continues to unfold what's been called a small experiment by a pro democrat side the group that fake russian bots is now suspected to be a planned effort to influence the vote as the state's attorney general launches a probe into the case. investigated to. americans not the russians have at least set up one army of pseudo russian bots to sway opinion and boost election turnout it's the big story this december and as more and more details come out as the new year gets closer those involved are having to do more explaining. scott shane started the domino effect by writing about the whole false like scheme

and the new york times a week later another outlet reveals his scoop was from way back in september when he was invited to speak at an off the record event for the group behind the bots project but the journalist didn't see a thing about that in his article i don't think there's any kind of disclosure that's relevant so i'm happy to be corrected it's always a tradeoff as to what the ground rules of whether you get something useful for your readers journalists also eventually got hold of a report assessing how well the scheme worked and it the experts don't call it an experiment like scott shane did the journalists also wrote that the whole thing was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race compare that to these words enormous effect on the turnout of the phrasing from the report. the venture cost one hundred thousand bucks pennies compared to the money usually splashed out on

campaigns but that doesn't take responsibility of the man who stumped up the bill reid hoffman billionaire co-founder of linked in and big democrat donor he ended up having to admit he had no idea where his cash was flowing i find the tactics that have been recently reported highly disturbing for that reason i'm embarrassed by my fee there to track the organization i did support more diligently as it made its own decisions to perhaps fund projects that i would reject and so there you have it we have an apology. the head of the firm behind the technical side of the op jonathan morgan is another person still under pressure he came up with a blog post where among other things he wrote this this seemed to us to be the work of internet trolls not russian activity just to remind you this came from the man

who during the actual alabama senate race yelled on twitter the russians were busted russian trolls trying by hamilton sixty eight and taking an interest in the alabama senate race what's a surprise this tiny detail aside jonathan morgan keeps defending their false flag experiment after all they've said it it's in the name of democracy now it's up to the probe to judge if these people cross the line in their noble endeavor and in any case america's definitely learned the masterminds of meddling could very well be home grown. he put trying to have all our teeth requested clarification from the new go times and if we hear anything back we'll let you know what they say meanwhile former u.s. congressman michael flanagan's expressed doubts that the case would have any real consequences. i.e. it's water under the bridge there's no chance that the election can be invalidated must of course they can demonstrate that the sitting senator and self participated

in some sort of illegal activity or subterfuge which i doubt that can be done or or is even done it was even done on his part the first tenet of democratic politics is they will accuse you of what they are do or do them selves in an effort to to distract in an effort to confuse those who might be honestly reporting it if they're saying it they're doing it and i'd like to have mr moeller look into this and and come after this in the same way. you know vests in france have made it a seventh consecutive weekend of protests more than twelve thousand people joined anti-government demonstrations across the country. i. was. was. like sure. i.

i. well there are lots of dangers from these l b d foodies or more commonly known as flash for weapons now they use to launch things such as tear gas grenades sound grenades and even these rubber bullets and those can all do significant damage if they hit people in those protests people with broken bones fractured teeth bruising internal injuries we even saw a number of crew being injured on. over the last few weeks by some of the items that are being shot out of those flash balls but the injuries can be even more serious and that for some people they compete a life changing oh wow the mike you were going to. come up. with. why would the french government want to pull states of still all these flash rules

they can as i say launch things such as this the rubber bullets well that's largely due to the protests that we've seen in france over the last few weeks the country has been in gulf by these violent protests for some people describing them as being the straw it's in half a century and they've actually been some specifically into the injuries caused as a result of rubber bullets with many civil liberties groups just saying that they shouldn't be used now a group of u.s. academics published a study in december of last year saying that fifteen percent of people who were injured by rubber bullets specifically actually ended up with permanent injuries with the majority of people losing their sight they said three percent of those injured specifically by rubber bullets actually went on to lose their lives so the question is why is the french government still deciding to go with using the flash

tools which have been proven in some cases to be deadly and still wanting to spend more than two million euros on its version of protecting the state. well dozens of protesters were arrested in paris but city officials say that new year's celebrations will go ahead despite the unrest the yellow vest movement started in november against the fuel price hike and continued even after the government had made concessions the demonstrators claim that they're ready to take on the authorities. can we organize ourselves in this way we use coded messages we're now trying to make the bullies job more complex we will make their work is it because they do not make it easier for us they remove all mosques protective glasses gloves we're really been attacked during these demonstrations all the protection that we have they want us to withstand the flash ball naked and so they ordered more i do not remember how much four hundred fifty four two hundred

yes fourteen hundred flash balls that is will it really make it to withstand super armed to look people but we're not tedious and therefore to certain moment we must organize cells selves differently. staying with france where judges have called off a decades long probe into the deadly attack on the former president's plane which ultimately led to genocide in one thousand nine hundred four investigations been a stumbling block between the two countries and was looking into several officials close to the current president in connection with the death of the country's former leader the decision comes after reports that france also rejected the bid by human rights groups to reopen a separate probe into whether french military shared any of the blame for the deaths of hundreds of people but they promise to protect.

today we're being asked to leave with the people who killed our families were told they're sorry they will do it again and some people believe that i'm not one of them. the fighting was triggered by the downing of a plane carrying the french backed president in one thousand nine hundred ninety four hutu extremists blamed the rebels and the rebels denied involvement for the past twenty years paris has pursued those responsible for the assassination but not anymore the inquiry has reportedly been dropped over insufficient evidence we have to interpret this decision by friend judges as a form of resignation faced with a political context which prosecutors did not know how to fight over the years france suggested the tutsi rebels headed by the current president paul kagame who

were behind the attack they even charged seven people close to the leader for pul could be the physical elimination of rwanda's then president was seen as the only means to achieve his political ends a total victory and this at the price of the massacre of the. so-called interior the rwandan government flatly denied the allegations and cut diplomatic ties with france fast forward and roh want to has some nice words for the french i think the president. has. put it takes. different people. but. i think. how times have changed the world bank considers rwanda to be more business friendly than much of the developed world and france seems to have an interest macron even back to rwanda's pick for the head of francophonie

a group of french speaking countries. if there were to be an african candidate to head the francophonie that would make. senates i think that the rwandan foreign minister has all the expertise for that role sure france and rwanda have had their differences and twenty five years since the genocide to justice has never been fully served but for the present it looks like that doesn't have to stand in the way of a little money making but we should look at it but if he does not know africa or its history he was a teenager during the tragic events in rwanda in nineteen ninety four he aligned with sarkozy's stance to befriend them is rwanda and there sarkozy is micron's advisor there. the trump administration is proposing changes to the u.s. freedom of information act which could make it harder for the public to access sensitive records that are out of the public domain activists and voice their outrage at the move. this is a wool room 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 requests 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 that any one person can make. last year more than eight hundred thousand requests were filed five agencies received the bulk of them including the department of defense and justice all homeland security received almost four hundred thousand requests on its own officials expect those numbers to increase again next year there are some disclosures that have been brought to light with the help of the act in twenty sixteen a request revealed that an american supply was substituting wood pulp for parmesan cheese and its product hillary clinton's government related e-mails that she kept on her private account were made available information requests also uncovered cia

director gina has links to the waterboarding of terror suspects investigative journalist dave lindorff says the plans go against the spirit of the act. but it's going to do is force people to have to go to court to get action and 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 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 the citizens it's a complete joke they're doing the opposite it reflects. basically the fact

they're trying to run a secret government. britain's sunday times newspaper last week named and shamed staff of the russian funded sporting news agency in the u.k. it cited a leading member of the scottish parliament to accuse the organization of being a kremlin stooge the paper published the names of sputnik employees along with the photos the journalists named in the article were left stunned by the exposure. and initially it was it was a bit of a shock on the other hand it's kind of hardly surprising given the nz russian sentiment there is you know travel in all your key newspapers just a bit it's yes not nice to see your picture up there with your name except under the headline of being part of a train when stooge but as i say you know it's very much part of what's going on just saying you key the sunday times has been so thorough in its reporting of the threat of so-called russian descent from ation that its latest story about the russian funded radio stations putin it which has a bureau in edinburgh carries the photographs of the journalists that work there

labels them kremlin stooges and quotes a politician who suggests that their assets should be frozen i would good for school harassment i think putting the pictures of photographs of people who work to support the on a in a newspaper like that i think is tantamount to almost it might put those people's lives in danger i'm a member of the national union of journalists and are we right into my unit in the new year to ask what the union is planning to do about these journalists working for russian media organizations here in the u.k. have had to develop a thick skin over the past few years as tensions between london and moscow have heightened articles calling for outlets like r.t. and sputnik to be banned have become a regular occurrence but recently the big papers have gone a step further and they started singling out the journalists working for russian media outlets. this is the london bureau chief for russia's channel one more

serious zia of last month he did some filming outside the gates of a british military base for a story about the british army's cyber warfare unit aimed at fighting so-called russian propaganda he didn't break any laws gave his press credentials to all the security guards he met and left several weeks later the u.k.'s daily mail newspaper printed his personal details and accused him of being a spy the story was reprinted by a plethora of papers it ratcheted up so much that the u.k.'s defense secretary issued a statement for citizens to stay vigilant and. we sent an inquiry to the defense ministry there's a form on their website but we didn't get any response filming near the base is not illegal it's a public area public land you don't need permission to film there you need permission to get inside talk to the stuff we didn't record our interaction with the security personnel we didn't try to penetrate the base the b.b.c.

correspondent did the exact same thing as us it was broadcast and no one thinks of punishing him there's nothing illegal and you don't even have to work for the russian media to find yourself in hot water just expressing views that the mainstream is enough to be labelled a kremlin stooge putin's poor or useful idiot in the information war nowadays you have extreme language and if you find someone with an opinion which you object to and you don't agree with you then abuse them or her by causing by causing them a stooge or to use the famous explosion about lenin there were useful idiots the sputnik story isn't the first time the sunday times has used the naming and shaming tactic back in october the paper took aim at the tongue in cheek i see why in my you tube channel which is funded like r.t. by russian taxpayer. is and fronted by yours truly the paper didn't shy away from

printing my photograph and labeled the project the blue peter of russian propaganda the times didn't request a comment from r.t. or myself it seems that naming and shaming doesn't carry a right of reply. this is our new supersonic missiles of the western media taking notice calling its development provocative it's our next story when the weekly returns after the break. player. 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 think. 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 crime stamped each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you long to the ultra rich eight point six percent market saw a thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred trade 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 numbers you need to remember is one one does not show you can afford to miss the one and only.

on wednesday russia successfully tested a new hypersonic strategic missile and god president putin called it a big event for the armed forces and the country as a whole the missile flew six thousand one hundred kilometers across the country striking a test targeting kamchatka and russian far east. the. writer who. lives. the missile can fly at twenty seven times the speed of sound and weighs more than forty tons of a god is unique because of its range and ability to withstand temperatures of up to two thousand degrees celsius. but the test launch provoked strong reaction worldwide with the media playing on fears around the development of such missiles the u.s. government claims there are no countermeasures to hypersonic weapons president

putin says that russia just needs to guarantee its own security. shows the u.s. is now leaving the i.n.f. treaty what's going to happen it's hard to imagine what is the rockets are located in europe what should we do of course we will have to ensure our security with concrete steps let them not say later that we are trying to get an advantage we're not trying to get some advantage with this but merely to seek your balance to ensure our security we ask investigative journalist rick sterling how these new weapons might affect the balance of power. it's in the interests of the russian people the american people in the whole world to not see an increase in a new arms race the danger here is that the u.s. military establishment is going to react to this by saying well we need to poorer ever more money into developing our own hypersonic missile systems and we have a new new escalated arms race of course right now the united states is spending

seven hundred billion dollars a year on its military which is more than the next nine countries combined so we know who is leading the way in the in the military arms race but i think russia i would assume they're hoping that this can be a reality check and bring and promote more negotiations and less military development. german news magazine der spiegel has suspended two of it ted it is in the wake of a fake report scandal that had the publication earlier this month stuff an hour waiting on the results of an internal investigation into the matter the scandal came to light just over ten days ago when it was discovered that one of the magazine's top contributors had been fabricating stories he is class minority guests admitted that he faked some fourteen articles among them award winning ones that spiegel consequently fired the disgraced journalist and published an apology however it didn't save the magazine from criticism with the u.s. ambassador to germany accusing it of being slanted against america. these feet you

stories logie for extended u.s. policies and certain segments of the american people it's clear that we with institutional bias the anti american boy is that the magazine has exploded since the election of president trump well there spiegel reacted to the ambassador's accusations with an apology to all americans who may have been insulted by its articles adding though that just because it takes issue with some of washington's policies it doesn't mean it has any anti u.s. bias although if president trump's words are anything to go by he feels he's been plagued by fake news all year. you are fake the level of dishonesty is out of it for me it was for. the lies. the vicious and how fake the press can be very fake sometimes famous catchphrase fake news has dominated the headlines ever since he first uttered it why does it drive his detractors so crazy well some would argue that it's true false information and

deceptive reporting seems to be everywhere let's review some of the fake news of twenty eighteen. well one of the most outrageous examples was the cover of time magazine it depicted a sobbing toddler representing donald trump's policy of separating immigrant children from their parents however it turns out that the girl in the photograph was not separated from her mother. who was not separated from her mother but yeah she's the face of this immigration problem and she has helped to create awareness. but let's go through some other examples now folks had a good laugh when it was revealed that the washington post had actually cited the satirical publication known as click call when reporting on the fact that british people were trying to make the song american idiot by green day go through the charts when donald trump was visiting the country and in other instances we've seen

journalists just straight up making things up. for example a reporter for the web scene known as the mike claim that maria know who's just pled guilty to charges of being an unregistered lobbyist for russia was in a meeting at the oval office i thought this was a photo show but it's not this is my review. of the in the russian spy on in the oval office with trump turned out that she was wrong the person in the photograph was actually a national security council staffer but in the journalist defense they both do have . red hair and we all know that all of us gingers look the same. how about a paper on canine rape culture in dog parks or a feminist rewrite of hitler's my struggle it turns out that this year fake news was used to make a political point people were submitting fake research in order to expose what they believed was a bias in academia some of the fake research got through. closely

. and one trend we saw throughout the year was fact checkers retracting their fact checks what could be more embarrassing those who claim they are stopping the spreading misinformation actually spreading misinformation themselves and admitting to it based on what we've seen throughout the year it seems pretty clear that fake news will be well alive in twenty nineteen. r.t. new york and that's the weekly for this thanks for watching. i'll be back with more of the worlds apart.

after the war. was still active. in the nineteen seventies cretonne had as the chair of its board a man convicted of mass murder and slavery. a german company developed so the demise of the drug it was promoted as completely safe even during pregnancy it turned into terrible side effects what has happened to my baby anything. she said is just. many so they don't mind victims of to this day they received no compensation they never. for the sauce and then not only want the money i want the revenge. in a world of big partisan group lot 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 smart we need to stop slamming the door. 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. come on to welcome to pull it apart it's hard to find a more drab and yes more romantic period in the history of the soviet union then in the nineteen eighties why face people knew it was falling apart then the yet there was also a growing hope that something new and exciting with the rise in its place that

sounds of cognitive and emotional dissonance was perfectly captured by the on the ground music of the time produced by young nonconformist musicians in what was down the studio flooding what was it like to leave and make music in a period of hopeful despair well to discuss that i'm now joined by john astin gray an american musician and an avid chronicler of the leningrad iraq scene john it's so good to talk to you thank you very much for your time thank you for inviting me now you have a very interesting a very unusual and i think is a somewhat dramatic story you came to the soviet union for. just won the week you called but it is big one of our biggest rock stars on line and he just shows you around is that how it all began that is how it all began a friend of mine her older sister was married to a russian emigre and when he heard i was going to visit russia and he knew i was a rocker in los angeles he said you need to call boys' school bench cock he's the most famous underground rocker in russia.