i. france's yellow vest movement shows no sign of letting up in twenty nineteen holding more nationwide protests against the government. and used to shape the week funerals are held for the victims of the apartment block collapse in the russian city of meaning to go which claims thirty nine lives. the u.s. government shutdown into the third week is the round over funding from border wall drags on.

for good evening to you you are watching the weekly here on r.t. international. it may be a new year but it's the same old in yellow vests protests that are continuing to trouble the french authorities at least fifty thousand of the movement's members once again took to streets across the country today minor scuffles erupted in paris where protesters set barricades on fire and called for president to resign. i i i. i i i i. i i oh. we're calm at first. people were told they needed to declare their gatherings to

authorities and that would guarantee our safety we declared the gathering spot where was our security things got out of hand everywhere they used tear gas on us it looked like a civil war they charged us used pepper spray journalists trying to take cover inside building lobbies were thrown out it's a hostile situation and it's terrible in any case what's apparent is that this movement is still here it's not losing steam into twenty nineteen it's still going on. despite the government climbing down over fuel tax increases the rallies have continued for eight consecutive weekends and earlier in the week the yellow vests launched a blistering attack on president macros in a letter to you do not give straight answers and you drag things out by proposing full smelters measures that the people of france reject when will you understand that you and your people are no longer credible and that you have lost the confidence of those who believed in you and in your movement nineteen months ago.

the disturbance is growing among your micron's condemned the yellow vests on twitter and called on protesters to calm down and recommit to dialogue where of the town of missile left feet believes the president's reform plans are out of touch with what the public wants. he said that he will continue is reforms but the reforms is asking for are not the reforms that our french are demanding today you know in speaking of european sovereignty which the french don't like so i think he is absolutely dreaming you know european the searcher and i think he's absolutely. absolutely out of the common sense of the french today i think that the luck role as been elected by chaunce but he's not having a huge luxury to me that he needs to implement what you wish just because you know . seventy or eighty percent of the french nation which talk like what you

propose. the protests spreading from france to other european countries pro brags it demonstrates that london is now also adopted the yellow vest as a symbol a rally in the capital on saturday resulted in clashes leading police to make several arrests including a thirteen year old girl. was she was one of four people taken into custody during the demonstration the protesters hurling smoke bombs at the police they marched across the capital blocking bridges and disrupting traffic about one hundred people to wearing high visibility jackets who also shouted insults about the prime minister and called for the u.k.'s immediate exit from. the u.s. will not pull out its troops from syria until turkey agrees not to target u.s. banks kurdish fighters and to accompany consider some kurdish military units to be terrorists the clarification of washington strategy came from the u.s.

national security advisor john bolton during a visit to jerusalem. now objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal we don't think that took so what you want to take military action that's not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the united states so that they meet the president's requirement that the syrian opposition forces that have fought with us and not endangered well what we are hearing at this stage is that john bolton has been here in jerusalem meeting with a number of israeli officials and giving details of how the u.s. withdrawal from syria will work we have heard him say that there will be no timetable and then for the first time we're hearing a condition that turkey must guarantee the safety of the until now u.s. backed kurdish forces now all of this follows the surprise announcement last month by the american president donald trump that he was withdrawing american forces from syria take a look so our boys our young women our men they're all coming back and they're

coming back now there will be a strong deliberate and orderly withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria very deliberate very orderly the turkish president added one has always held a strong position these are the the kurds. are in the terrorists and the well they dug themselves and will continue to. we spoke to mr trump those terrorists should go east of the euphrates if they would go but. because the both the ring us were asked were strategic partners with the us then we should do whatever is needed to stay bolton will be in total weight will be holding discussions on this very topic the focus of course is on the african region which is in more than syria where we are witnessing a standoff between syrian soldiers who have been saying there and are lying to the syrian president bashar al assad and who are supporting the kurds who requested their help and turkish fighters on the other side so the situation certainly is

very tense. the president's press secretary commented on the u.s. statement saying it's absurd to claim banker would target because he added the turkish goal is to eliminate islamic state jihadist on both military kurdish factions sumantra considers to be terrorists a model aircraft director of the british think tank can also leave that the us demands towards tookie could be politically motivated so we think that the united states is using troop withdrawal in order to create a vacuum in northeastern syria and try to push to assume a bigger role that is agreed with with russia and iran and that supposedly would bring it into conflict with the interests of syria and russia and iran and basically try to destabilize that alliance the outcome of the negotiations are clear how rational turkey is going to be in the face of american demands we don't know america has

a lot of power and they could give turkey an ultimatum it's either us or the russians. you know the trump administration one wouldn't think that this is a remote possibility because they are like that the very direct president trump and his administration. they might put under the threat. on monday a suspected gas explosion tore through a block of flats in central russia dozens were killed many in their sleep as their homes collapsed in the early hours of the morning on new year's eve. just a demolition secret formula but the shot in the office might be it's we didn't beat

the defendant the game urgency me to dumbass to get much of the shots at the last so let's talk a signal that enable number washboard to slice provides sleeze should he do was call to challenge the mighty to proceed to a competitive she was the one getting the sort of raise a shoulder and not impeachable which ensued in a machine the creature al gore spicey to his time with stood still specific. suitable words to the so. let me just say. to you it was a somewhat to install the bitch not. much as our. families like you. see it's got

a bad supply chain it is mild as of course passe on the beach and. at least on the whole concert some more of the stories of those affected by the disaster. thirty nine bodies appears to be the final casualty count from this building collapse that the recovery works went on for around seventy two hours in total almost nonstop throughout the day and night pausing only for safety as you can see behind me some of the balconies and the roofs are in a state of total destruction and we're not allowed to go any closer for fear they may collapse as well but residents fled this disaster scene with only the clothes on their back perhaps a few documents or cash they didn't have time simply to grab anything else they were allowed intermittently to go back to the seam to pick up any other possessions that they have left behind. on the ship

a smart and is that of point one one hundred percent of all i see it was. just a child some did you don't bullshit so who wanted to visit it just let you have it when you have what you were sure what they own and as you spoke to these people more and more stories emerged one shots example the family a mother and daughter who slept just as a one off in a different room they would have stayed normally the father stayed on the couch tragically that was the first part of the building to collapse she managed to get away with her daughter the father tragically was not so lucky another story to come out of her infant boy who was buried in the rubble here just behind me he was heard crying by emergency workers who rushed to the scene managed to get him out after more than twenty four hours in these freezing temperatures p.c. has been taken to moscow and now despite his multiple serious injuries his condition is described as stable many of the people we've spoken to the witnesses

at the scene those who were directly affected by this tragedy are saying they're also pleasantly surprised by how people have come together offering their support for the political views in. the squad to. give them the need to this time so much time is. sit up all. over the. first of the prison marco did a little one of the songs in which children inversion could have been put in and then we saw a pile of flowers of candles soft toys and i was getting bigger and bigger as many of them quite emotional in tears coming here to express their condolences there simply is offer support for those affected by this and of course preparing for the large number tragically of funerals in this city of magnitogorsk. donald trump has said that little headway was made on saturday in terms of breaking the

deadlock over funding his border war which is seen the government in a partial shutdown for more than two weeks present neither the white house nor the democrats look like backing down. border. where in a shutdown because democrats refused to fund a border security situation. for the president over. one dollar. it's not who we are it's a nation i'm very proud of doing what i'm doing because. i don't want to shut down i call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and for the safety of our city to keep the government closed for

a very long period of time. so we can call a national emergency because of the security of our country i absolutely know we can do it i haven't done it i may do it i may do it. the democrat controlled house of representatives passed two bills to fund and reopen federal government but they did not include funding for a border wall. the legislation the democrats argue such would be un-american the president claims that the idea has widespread support. took to instagram twitter this time with a statement of intent he also posted the following video. or at you legal immigration is wrong plain and simple. political.

and the standoff over the wall that's likely to intensify with the democrat bills that are heading to the republican controlled senate where they're likely to be voted down we discussed the border wall issue with ned ryan from conservative group american majority and robert pantalone a civil rights lawyer. well also understand the president has absolutely no no leverage in this situation he's already made his position position clear they should negotiate this last february during the last government shutdown there's no reason for nancy pelosi to move on this unless the president is willing to make a deal on daca make a deal on comprehensive immigration reform basically meant to close it has him been overheard me right now she can demand whatever she wants we're a minimal amount of wall funding there's no leverage to present a hales donald trump cannot back down on this i mean his base is expecting him to fulfill this major campaign promise and i know it doesn't seem like a lot of money i think we're not even really talking about the money because five point six billion in a four trillion annual budget doesn't really mean much at all so this is really

a showdown between his trunk going to get his wall or democrats going to deny him that and also you know at a certain point we have to acknowledge the left base inside a democratic party does not want to see a secure border is more favorable towards open borders and not really fixing our immigration policy so i think if they want the wall that should be telling the president to do is bring back the chuck schumer legislation from two thousand and thirteen that passed the senate sixty eight votes to birdie two votes in the house republicans killed there could have been a border wall for the last five years of working for the freedom caucus and some of the extremists in the republican party not supporting it so for the current wall what we need to see the c.b.l. score for was actually wall will say that's what we need to see as a funding mechanism so we know exactly how that actually this is being paid for and we need a concrete and universal comprehensive plan on immigration reform not simply say we're going to stick still slate's and in the desert that's going to probably need a real plan for this a lot of trunk space is willing to compromise we understand that these daca these dreamers they did not come here they were brought here they did not come of their

own volition we understand that there's a situation and i think that you would be really surprised if you were to talk to a lot of space they understand there has to be some legal status maybe even potentially a path to citizenship i think people are willing to negotiate but on the same time if there is not funding for a wall in return for a path. the citizenship or legal status then we can have a serious conversation and this at some point we all know that politics is the art of compromise we have to actually get to a point of compromise donald trump has said here is my non-negotiable nancy pelosi have to come up with something that says what we'll give you that in exchange for this and i think there is a path i got to tell you though they do not want to give donald trump any wins especially on one of his major major campaign promises. a former u.s. marine finds himself at the center of a diplomatic spat after being arrested in moscow and charged with spying have the full story after the break.

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. get it right to be close it's like them before you can't be good. interested always in the logs. they sit.

back a former u.s. marine has been detained in russia spying charges whelan is the man in question and he's a citizen of britain and canada and the us apparently the media speculation is rife that he was seized by russia to be used as a bargaining chip for a possible prisoner exchange russia's deputy foreign minister has rejected the speculation r.t. correspondent has more. haven't they god as get rather used to hearing about russian spies getting caught in america we have the hybrid warfare that you're seeing with russia which is very much forefront inspired master this is the one saying this is a hard and fast rule of trading when you when you go. particularly

coming out of the soviet union or russia they will accuse of being a russian spy has pleaded guilty in a us federal court this time the case is the exact opposite paul whelan an american national and former u.s. marine was arrested in moscow in perhaps the fanciest hotel in the capital but who would have known when the news broke that as many as four countries would end up saying he's our guy about mr we won the embassy violent in moscow has requested consular access to an irish citizen currently detained in russia we are extremely worried about pool whelan we have offered consular assistance consular officials are aware that a canadian citizen has been arrested in russia ambassador huntsman expressed his support for mr whelan and offered the embassy assistance however when it comes to the canadian passport the suspects brother couldn't even say whether he still has

it or not i don't know i know that he was once a canadian citizen so he may still be and i know that he is an american citizen right now strange but that's how it is paul whelan is in detention in moscow having been charged with espionage although his family is sure the reason he went to russia was just a wedding party the american ambassador had been given permission to see the spy suspect and so he did mr whelan's lawyer is seeking bail for his client but don't forget several countries have lined up to help him out so while u.k. officials are waiting for the green light to get access to the alleged spy their top diplomat has spoken out but our position is very very clear which is a very straightforward point. that individuals should not be used for diplomatic leverage and. you know we need to see what these charges are against him i understand whether there is a case or not but we're not ruling out any theories at school at this stage as to

why this might have happened there are very few details on the case that we know off for now there hasn't been much reaction from senior officials either but journalists around the world are old over the story and speculation is rife he faces up to twenty years in a russian jail deal of plenty of time to be swapped with. what's most likely as we'll as a pawn in russia's play to get back one of its spies after maria patino here in the united states the rehabilitation do you believe the arrest of your brother was retaliation was revenge in some way by the russians as you've just heard many are linking this case with the case of maria bhutto she was arrested in america in july and eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring against the u.s. with the russian government official and at least one other person without notifying the attorney general however the fact is the charges brought against

maria buthe and paul whelan are completely different well the earlier this week the washington post published an article about mr williams to tension in which former cia official john seifert down to the wheel and was actually a spy he said that random americans without diplomatic immunity are sent to collect low level info legal media analyst lionel for his reaction. he says that we only use according to this people with diplomatic immunity when you look at this as far as the illegality of it what is the role of the diplomatic community how does that work are does that in any way interfere with spying and vice versa you're not going to see a lot of people address this and you have to see a lot of people in american media in the american media speak to this particular point we must assure that all individuals in all countries are accorded the rights that are that are available to them what's fascinating is that you will see

american mainstream media in particular that does not have necessarily some of the best newsrooms some of the best let's say experts available who will have to feed that twenty four seven media. monster you have to feed it you have to give it something you're going to talk to anybody who's ever remotely work with the cia was in the cia drove by the cia knew somebody who was in the cia so a lot of times you're not going to see some of the best vetting of the experts. in a historic split the newly formed off looks church of ukraine has been granted independence from the russian church just a few hours ago the patriarch of constantinople handed over a document that formalized the split to the head of the new church and while many politicians in ukraine are related to the decision some of those christians are concerned about the potential consequences if you don't call should've has more. a

long awaited present has finally been delivered to ukraine patriarch of constantinople has granted its ukrainian are to dogs to urge and autonomy on the eve of our two dogs christmas a special decree was signed officially recognizing an independent ukrainian art a dog's church and of course ukrainian president petro poroshenko was there shedding tears of question shoot. thank god it would be impossible without god's blessing. i want to thank the millions of ukrainians across the globe this has become possible thanks to your prayers well sems like for one's happy but what's all the fuss about churches independence from hope. per se interests ukrainian are to dogs church has been under control of moscow patrick cates and everyone has been ok with it until the fall of the soviet union

and ukrainian independence and nineteen ninety one gradually tensions between the churches. through the years was more and more voices inside ukraine demanding churches and dependence sounds like some in the religious dispute so what's so important about it. all to us of should effectively give ukrainian orthodox church full autonomy in terms of parish financing and lands but in fact how much of it does keith actually get while the documents signed states that ukrainian church actually falls under control of constantinople ukrainian our dogs church can control only territory with then ukraine and there's prohibited to create any parishes abroad and all disputes are going to be sas wells by constantino people so basically is just replacing moscow mike. well president par schenkel is struggling in the pulls ahead of march

presidential election and experts say while making this a centerpiece policy of his campaign he hopes to win over it. and more than that other are to dogs churches are not thrilled at all by them. the tentacles of globalization are trying to penetrate the church to destroy its politicians interference in church affairs is a clear sign of this show even if led by corrupt politicians and illegal assisted by the constantinople patriarchy have deepened and worsen the already existing split and put the unity of orthodox christianity as a whole in danger and inside ukraine and church itself there is not mancienne an imitator when the plan of autonomy has been announced back and not one of the branches crane in church has slammed the plan we consider these actions to the

nickel they section will not bring anything to ukraine except trouble separation and said but anyone supporting the move apart from ukraine itself well you must have guessed the answer the united states reiterated strong support for religious freedom and the freedom of members of religious groups including ukraine's orthodox community to govern their religion according to their beliefs free of outside interference oh well not everything one calls freedom is actually making you free. that runs things up for this news hour journey thirty minutes for the latest.

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know you're lucky. the paper look listen can look up the locket opinion. that will tell you this is what she commented lots of the questions on the phone you know that they could also given in or would you have come into it with the perpendicular. lot of when i'm asked and while i may just swallow what i thought was mistrustful a sentimental store was so much.