he's a. yellow vest movement and shows no sign of letting up in two thousand nineteen holding more nationwide protests against the government. and in the news that shape of the week funerals are held for the victims of the apartment block collapsed in the russian city of magnitogorsk which claimed thirty nine lives. the u.s. government shutdown enters its third week as the rao overfunding donald trump's border wall drags on. and the orthodox world is celebrating christmas including russia we bring you pictures of from the service in moscow's largest church the theater of christ this is.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our international i'm sean thomas really good to have you with us as we recap the week's top stories right women of the yellow vests movement marched through the streets of france on sunday as the protest against president the government introduced in paris hundreds of women could be seen waving yellow balloons dancing and singing the national anthem. at the rally in the capital was largely peaceful although there were brief scuffles between protesters and police and one point officers used pepper spray and riot shields to control the crowd and women in yellow vests also gathered in the cities of toulouse. ran early on and. the slogans chanted by the women as in

previous demonstrations focused on president kwan his resignation is demanded by many of the protesters. or at least fifty thousand of the movement's members took to the streets a day earlier on saturday and those protests saw barricades set on fire and more calls for the immediate departure of france's president. was . was. i. was. only in a vehicle with the dog and more or less things were 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 two thousand and nineteen it's still going on well despite the government backing down over the fuel tax increases which sparked the rallies in the first place they have continued for eight consecutive weekends and earlier this week the yellow vests launched a blistering attack on micron and a letter addressed to the man himself you do not give straight answers and you drag things out by proposing full smashes measures that the people of france reject. when will you understand that you and your people are no longer credible and that

you've lost the confidence of those who believed in you and in your movement nineteen months ago. or with disturbances growing in many micron has condemned the yellow vests on twitter and called for the protesters to calm down and recommit to dialogue the mayor of the town of mesan the feed believes the president's performed plans are out of touch with the public. is said that they will continue is reforms but the reforms is asking for are not the reforms that the french are demanding today you know is the king of european sovereign which the french don't like so i think he is absolutely dreaming you know european searcher and i think is absolutely. absolutely out of the common sense of the french today i think that the luck role as been elected by chance but is not having a huge ledger it seems that he needs to implement what they wish just because you

know they are seventy or eighty percent of the french nation which don't like what you propose all right with protests spreading from france to other european countries are pro brigida demonstrators in london have now also adopted the yellow vest as a symbol eroei in the capital on saturday resulted in clashes weeding police to make several arrests including a thirteen year old girl. she was one of four people taken into custody during a demonstration which saw protesters throwing smoke bombs and police they marched across the capitol blocking bridges and destructing traffic about one hundred people took part in the high visibility jackets also shouted insults about the prime minister and called for the media to exit from the. 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. sister temple which in secret formula but the shot in the office might be it's probably shouldn't be needed if you let the beam arching see me to dump a stick at a match one of the shots. that a mammal number washboard that is twice provides please should you do you wish called to include shall upon my deeds proceed to what connecticut she would never get in the city praise the show and not impeach allergan see even a machine a creature outer space each year in his name with stood still specific.

cedars was so. i'm just so. it was the same with if you still. look it's not. like you. see it's kind of absent blatche is not forced passe on the patient. don't you hawkins heard some more of the stories of those affected by this 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. destruction and we're not allowed to go any closer for fear they may collapse as well presidents 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 scene to pick up any other possessions they may have left behind. on the. martin is that of a woman they are innocent of all i see it was. just a child some did condone bush so wanted to be sure to just let you have it when your could you were sure what their own and as you spoke to these people more and more stories emerged 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 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. order to. give them the need to this time i mean to. sit up with them for. me. most of the press and i think margot did

a little bit one of the sons you know. and then we saw a pile of flowers of candles sauce. toys and i was getting bigger and bigger well wishers many of them quite emotional interiors coming here to express their condolences this employees offer support to those affected by this and of course preparing for the large number tragically of funerals in this city of magnitogorsk . and us president trump tweeted on sunday the progress was made out a meeting between vice president mike pence and democrat leaders schumer and ploesti on ending the partial u.s. government shutdown trump says his proposed border wall which democrats have refused to fund will now be a steel barrier rather than concrete which according to his tweet is stronger and less obtrusive the negotiations so far have been contentious with both the white house and the democrats holding their ground. we are committed to keeping our

borders safe where in a shutdown because democrats refused to fund a border security situation which you would accept even a dollar. for this president in order to reopen. the dollar. one dollar like you have no deal with a wall it's not who we are is a nation i'm very proud of doing what i'm doing because we're going to go in there really some other. way. and we should avoid a. political i don't want to shutdown i call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and for the safety of our country city to keep the government closed for a very long period of time months or even years 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. or the democratic controlled

house of representatives passed two bills to fund and reopen the federal government but they don't include funding for a border wall trying to threaten to veto the legislation while senior democrats argue such a wall would be american the president claims the idea has widespread support. l'amore home his stance donald trump took to instagram with his provocative graphic he also posted the following video. illegal immigration is wrong plain and simple q. what the. theme. the standoff over the wall looks likely to intensify with the democrat bills now heading to the republican controlled senate where they're likely to be voted down

if even brought to vote at all we discussed the border wall issue with room from conservative group american majority and also robert 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 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 nancy pelosi has him bent over heard me right now she can demand whatever she wants were 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 and 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 thirty two votes in the house republicans killed there could have been a border wall for the last five years of working for the freedom hawk 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 exactly this is going pay for it would be a concrete universal comprehensive plan on immigration reform and 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 trunk 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 to 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 a said here is my non-negotiable the answer was you have to come up with something that says what would 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. right orthodox christmas is now being marked in many places across the globe including the world's most populous orthodox country russia will take a closer look at the celebrations after a short break through.

the country's gone into a nihilistic fever. i think we got to hit the road and get out to traveling across america to find what makes america the charlotte the. quintessential american hero this is a point. we always. called culture . oh. we're starting last with. we're going to head east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast i think i want to leave now doesn't get any more. it may be completely different but in this. join me every day on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to the world of politics sports business i'm sure i'll see that.

international now the u.s. will not pull its troops out of syria until turkey agrees not to target u.s. backed kurdish fighters currently considers some kurdish military units to be terrorists with clarification of washington's strategy. which 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 the turks what you want to take military action it'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 a hard 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 it 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. saying no we're burying the

terrorists and that 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 of us were asked were strategic partners with the u.s. then we should do what is needed to stay bolton will be in total wait 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 turkish president's press secretary commented on the u.s. statement saying it is absurd to claim ankara will target the kurds he added the turkish goal is to eliminate islamic state and those military kurdish factions who considers terrorists director of the british think tank believes the u.s.

demands towards turkey 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 turkey to su a bigger role than 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. russian or 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 and ultimatum it's either us or the russians. you know the trump administration one would think that this is a remote possibility because they are like that the very direct president trump and

his administration. they might put turkey under the threat. now is officially what the dogs christmas in all of in time zones here in russia the country's main divine liturgy was held in russia's largest orthodox place of worship moscow's cathedral of christ the savior here is. while most people have finished their winter break and they're getting ready to go back to work there are pockets of communities across the world who are celebrating christmas eve it's one of the most important dates in the diary and people have traveled from all over the country to enjoy the ceremony here a price to save because you can see behind me and we managed to get a few comments from people who wanted to go there especially for tonight. this would just go to the from vice. president. smart to the previously. received.

respect. the most of must be on you beautiful. you should someone. try to merge to be. sure if the president there was a right. he was still the. only reason we're. pricing through just right the sound we go through with your another. plan is not just russia the celebrating there around fifteen other countries across the world like serbia syria greece and macedonia who are also attending this very special service now if you'll a little confused as to why they're celebrating thirteen days after the twenty

fifth of december is because they follow different calendar they follow the julian calendar which as the name suggests was set up by julius caesar way back in forty five b.c. most of the world has adopted the gregorian calendar and that was set up by pope gregory the thirteenth. fifteen eighteen. two but the julian calendar celebrates christmas eve on the sixth of january and christmas day on the seventh of january which is what we're seeing this evening now the gregorian christmas as we all know is preceded by advent julian christmas is preceded by a forty day nativity fast it's called weather restrictions to what you can eat and that ends tonight families will enjoy a holy supper and that consists of twelve dishes to represent twelve apostles it really is a beautiful evening and inside the ceremony people can enjoy singing traditional hymns enjoying the atmosphere there and praying with their fellow orthodox

christians and even though it's a very very long ceremony they say that is one of the most beautiful services that they will experience over the course of the year. right tonight's christmas celebration is occurring amid deeper crisis for the orthodox church a newly formed orthodox church of ukraine has been granted independence from the russian church with a few hours ago the patriarch of constantinople handed the head of the church a document formalizing split while many politicians in ukraine are alluded at the decision many orthodox christians are concerned about the potential consequences of the move is within a quarter of a long awaited president has finally been delivered to ukraine patriarch of constantinople has granted its ukrainian are to dogs church and autonomy on the eve of our two dogs christmas special decree was signed officially recognizing an independent ukrainian art adox church and of course ukrainian presidents petro

poroshenko was there shedding tears of question shoot. god it would be impossible without god's blessing. i want to thank the millions of ukrainians across the 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. altos of should effectively give ukrainian orthodox church full autonomy in terms of its parish financing and. lance but in fact how much of it does keith actually get while the document signed states that ukraine in church actually falls under control of constantinople ukrainian our docs church can control only territory with then ukraine and there's perhaps to create any parishes abroad and all disputes are going to be sasa was by constantinople so basically it is just replacing moscow by constantinople but well present par shango is struggling in the polls they had of marge's 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 the move the tentacles of

globalization to trying to penetrate the church to destroy its politicians interference in churches is a clear sign of this sure going to lead by corrupt politicians and illegally 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 in church itself there is not want unanimity when the plan of autonomy has been announced back in autumn one of the branches so if you crane in church has slammed the plan we consider these actions to be cuddled and they section will not bring anything to you except trouble separation and sin but it is at least 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. well that does it for me more news that the top of the hour and the weekly. good whole existence to. put themselves on the on the big get accepted or rejected . so when you want to be president or injury. or somehow want to be rich to. have to like to be close with what was before three of them or can't be good get. interested always in the waters about how the. course should.

so you will both be in. last year's does. she does it with the people most of. what i mean. to make it. really a local superman film he can use he has nothing of the right. if you go in with the family leave you. almost you must live with the very one within

them what are most most in the moment it was a few minutes but why would you move forward to get. back geysers by the adult bible guy. when customers go by your list of highest. then elf well we do some our. that's undercutting about what's good for market it's not good for the global economy. for. hello my name's peter and i've been living in goshen now for about seven years and this is a film about just some of the crazy things i've got soaked through in the time. jim walsh if you will be that this is one of those buildings gave you will get. the

same years.