was. an american born iranian t.v. anchor is reportedly set to appear in a u.s. court but charges remain a mystery we speak to a friend of the detained journalist who says she's been in contact with her family . the family is saying to me every time i speak to them they have no idea what's going on that she had hurt her job she is a muslim woman that was taken off against her will. germany said stall on saving

a key cold war era nuclear arms treaty with the u.s. about to pull the plug on the agreement that russia warns washington the move could threaten global security saying it's ready for dialogue. and is britain's prime minister rushes to conjure up a new. government documents suggest a second referendum could be on the cards. it's eleven o'clock here in moscow and you're watching all to international live from all studio with mina do welcome to the program. an american born journalist who was reportedly arrested in the u.s. without being charged earlier this week is set to appear in court this friday according to her son. me works for the english speaking iranian news channel press t.v.

and was detained at st louis. airport fifty nine year old has shaimaa was born melanie franklin into an african american family in new orleans and converted to islam following the nineteen seventy nine iranian revolution since two thousand and eight she's lived in tehran and been a prominent journalist and presenter for press t.v. . was reportedly visiting relatives in america and was thought to be filming a black lives matter documentary earlier i spoke to her friend who told us she's been in contact with the hashemi family. being in regular contact with my eyes is children who are all in america decades of experience in journalism and her family are very concerned and they have very little information of what is going on they know she is detained without charge and they are very very concerned about the only information and contact the family have had with matters here is a telephone call to her daughter on tuesday where they received information from

him as he told her daughter that she had his job she is a muslim woman who was his job a veil covering such as will time wearing at the moment that was taken off against her will. was taken without bone that she was given only a short sleeved t. shirt in contravention to her own islamic dress code her islam that she. has and that she had to gain another t. shirt just to be able to cover some of head she also told her daughter that she wasn't given adequate food because she was not given. or a vegetarian option on tuesday the only conversation they've had with her she told her daughter that she only been able to eat a cracker or some bread that came with that food since being detained in the family is saying to me every time i speak to them they have no idea what's going on they literally have they have no reason to believe that she would have to be detained they don't understand that she needs to be

a witness to something they have no idea they have no clue what that might be and they don't see why it would have happened in this way when magazine would have been co-operative if someone had come up and asked the authorities asked her any questions. the f.b.i. has so far refused to comment on anything relating to his famous case artie's contacted the u.s. justice department for comment too but so far they've chosen not to respond iran has called the arrest on u.s. soil illegal while press freedom groups are calling on washington for an explanation. we are concerned by the arrest of a journalist for iranian say to be marzia hashemi and call on the u.s. department of justice to immediately disclose the basis for her detention for the past five days whether she is being targeted either for her documentary work about black lives matter or as a retaliates reaction in response to the iranian government's detention of american citizens either case would be an agrarian violation of democratic norms we have serious concerns about

a credential and we urge american authorities to clarify the situation tensions have been high between the u.s. and iran since donald trump's arrival in office with washington recently accusing tara of operating charges against four u.s. nationals some have been handed lengthy prison sentences last year washington also abandon the iran nuclear deal effectively shutting down constructive dialogue between the two countries and the iranian foreign minister has called for the political games to stop she is a famous journalist she's done nothing but journalism and the rest of mrs hosiery is a very clear affront to freedom of expression a political abuse of an innocent individual and. i believe the united states should be so easy if you view that as a debate not a guess more balog a again told me she hopes has shown me will be reunited with her family and will be

able to continue her role as a journalist without any issues. i was is a very well known journalist around the world you know press t.v. is an international news station at the end of the day and he has viewers from around the world and mars is known for her previous journalistic work too so there is a lot of moral support for four years i hope she's immediately released and that she can continue to do her work and she can come home to see her family her children and their grandchildren and that she doesn't have to face such dangers i think the next we hope that there will be clarity as to what is going on and of course if there is any underlying political motivation to this this is something that i am sure i would like to see that journalists across the world including in the mainstream press whatever their view of press t.v. and whatever their personal view of the personal decision mises made to work at press t.v. that they will condemn this because journalism is not a crime she should be allowed to travel as she is

a joe citizen but she should be allowed to travel to her birth country where her children and her family are without having to face such a very difficult circumstance but. russian journalist top diplomats have condemned washington's decision to walk away from a key cold war era missile treaty following a meeting in moscow they stated undermined global stability. after the us leaves the i.n.f. treaty the whole system of arms control and the stability of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty movie on the threat of africa we are really interested in saving the i.n.f. treaty and russia can assist us in the i.n.f. treaty as it is now is not enough we need to expand it because there are plenty of new autonomous weapon systems including those in cyberspace and they should be regulated not only the u.s. and russia should be included in the treaty so other states as well like china the

u.s. has said it will withdraw from. the i.n.f. treaty agreement with russia at the beginning of next month moscow says it's invited us inspectors to examine the missiles which washington claims violate the treaty but to no avail. the i.n.f. treaty was signed in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven by ronald reagan and mikhail gorbachev and took effect a year later it stipulated that both the us and the soviet union destroy all ground based missiles with ranges between five hundred and fifty five hundred kilometers. fears of an not only prompted by the missile treaty dispute that further exacerbated off the. plans for an ambitious action of america's defense capabilities. token defense and we're also talking france you know we can't forget our friend so you can only we have the finest weapons in the world and we're ordering the finest weapons in the world america's just published the first review of its missile defense program in almost

a decade and it besides plans to deploy twenty new ground based interceptors in alaska as well as new radars and sensors besides plans to use laser armed drones and stealthy f. thirty five jets the donald trump administration wants a leap in technological development the president is keen to get a space force we will recognize that space is a new world striding domain. with the space force leading the way. the u.s. president is talking about ok maybe not star wars but militarizing space for sure the ultimate goal is to be able to take down enemy missiles even before they leave the air space of what the president calls rogue countries did call out north korea and iran but in the program review you'll also find russia and china we are committed to establishing a missile defense program that can shield every city in the united states our goal

is simple to ensure that we can detect and destroy any missile launched against the united states anywhere anytime anyplace among the threats donald trump pointed out specifically were hypersonic missiles a system capable of launching such weapons called was successfully tested by russia at the end of december. the u.s. withdrawal from the anti-ballistic missile treaty which was the cornerstone in the field of non proliferation of nuclear weapons and deterring an arms race has forced us to respond by creating new weapon systems to overcome these missile defense systems there is no analogue of this system in the world according to the russian side the reason they're ramping up their r. and d. in strategic defenses is america's overblown military budget and everything it's

being spent on parity means global security the russian foreign affairs ministry has expressed his concern with the american plans to develop space defense and is calling for dialogue with the white house while political analyst chris bambery thinks that the latest moves by donald trump can only lead to more miniaturize ation. what we have in the white house is very much a president who's pushing through pushes on way despite criticism of our eyes and despite criticism within the administration within the defense of the defense department's any new andris no which is what trump is threatening particularly with china china is not going to go bankrupt and in fact one of the concerns american defense in the defense department the pentagon is is that this is going to encourage the further militarization of china which up until now has not gone don't the rules of trying to catch up with the united states militarily happy to have its own economic power but if this begins its own laundry gets under way. attacking

china and russia by the americans actually china could step up to the mark and that is a concern in the american military who are criticizing trub over not the treaty but over the decision towards this new militarization of space. and the leaked document shows that despite terry's amazing objections the u.k. government has been exploring the possibility of a second referendum the revelation comes after m.p.'s and sickly rejected the prime minister's original divorce deal this week plunging the country deeper into political crisis the papers set out a timetable for a second vote indicating that the whole process could take up to a year that includes seven months to lay the legal ground work and a further three months at least for testing the question it also discusses the practicalities including the length of time necessary for campaigning initially

media outlets questioned the legitimacy of the leak however downing street to confirm such document exists while denying the government is actively planning for a second photo they said the paper is purely for illustrate of purposes and reiterated the prime minister's position that brags it will go ahead. there are those who want to see no deal and those who want to see a second referendum and potentially frustrate bret's it a second referendum would lead instead to further division it's my duty to deliver on the british people's instruction to leave the european union and i intend to do so. meanwhile the leader of the opposition labor party has set out the conditions under which he would support a second vote jeremy called and said but people of better than anything else and i had to spite the initial referendums and once in a generation town thank you all the options are on the table including the public

vote option which we made clear in our conference motion which was i have to remind you unanimously agreed by our conference last september eleventh what should happen right now is that we leave on the twenty ninth of march on w t o terms because that's what's written into the law but the problem you. parliamentarians the m.p.'s are against the people the people's decision back in the referendum in twenty sixteen so i think over the next ten weeks the six hundred fifty m.p.'s are going to try to do everything they possibly can to extend article fifty overturn article fifty or have another referendum and to set themselves against what the people have decided i really don't think that there's a majority in parliament for completely overturning. repealing article fifty it's doubtful whether there is actually a majority for extending or to article fifty either or or having the people's vote

so without a majority for any one of these particular options we will leave on w t o terms because that's what's already written into into law. a recent poll has found that if a second referendum were to be held a majority of voters would now choose to remain in the. it's the biggest surge in support for remains since the twenty sixth and as polly explained every round of the referendum wouldn't be without precedent. the people may have voted but the british parliament is in political turmoil over what the u.k.'s departure from the e.u. should look like and if some politicians get their way whether it should happen at all to this issue but to the elected what else can we possibly do. to the british public but to get back. to reconsider this brics it is a cause for deception but most of those people that promise to help you know why we

bothering to leave and. still subject to all the rules over on the continent these slighted politicians will be hoping that perhaps the imperfect but stable relationship between brussels and london could be heading towards their union if a deal is impossible and no one wants no deal then who will finally have the courage to say he was the only positive solution is so if you think their people have voted then think again governments have been known to ignore a referendum result or to. ireland learned this the hard way twice in two thousand and one after a smallish campaign irish voters rejected expanding the bloc east island effectively put a spoke in the e.u.'s wheels when it was keen to invite nations like romania and

bulgaria into the club so the e.u. irish government invested in a big yes campaign and a year later the vote was rerun. but the majority of votes against the proposal. was. the irish decision on the e.u.'s defacto constitution the lisbon treaty suffered the same fate majority in favor of the proposal that the i see deer salute as a sign of confidence for the irish people and european union as a sign of their desire to be all hearted members of the european union. before the break that shambles it was the greek debt crisis keeping e.u. officials put night. in twenty fifteen the new greek prime

minister staged a referendum in which greek citizens overwhelmingly rejected the e.u.'s austerity policies but brussels imposed them anyway those living in the birthplace of democracy well pleased with what they saw as an undemocratic process. and this one may not be related to the e.u. but it is related to britain in twenty twelve voters in the city of manchester rejected having elected mares but a couple of years later david cameron's westminster government imposed them on the region anyway late last year the e.u. is top court ruled that the u.k. can unilaterally stop gregg's it stressing that the twenty sixteen referendum here wasn't legally binding so technically in terms of the law the u.k. government is going to do whatever it chooses be it plowing ahead with leaving or

nothing into river shore stopping gregg's it would be a failure to deliver on the will of the people but after two and a half years of political turmoil here in the u.k. public opinion has shifted the latest polls now show that some fifty six percent in the u.k. voters would say no to bragg's it and given. the circumstances there are now the lente of politicians to break the bread as it promised and sell it as the noble thing to do. and while the speculation over a second vote continues to resume has just three days to come up with a new deal to present to parliament on monday. now america's longest ever government shutdown shows no sign of ending soon as donald trump seeks to raise funds for his controversial mexico border war plan the us president has now halted all travel for congressional staffers until the crisis ends it comes after trump went toe to toe with house speaker nancy pelosi the

democrat represented a cold on trying to postpone his state of the union address in an unprecedented request and in typical fashion trump responded. i'm not denying the platform roberson let's get a date when the government is open let's pay the employees maybe he thinks it's ok not to pay people who do work i don't and my caucus doesn't either. due to the shutdown i am sorry to inform you that your trip to russia egypt and afghanistan has been postponed we rescheduled this seven day excursion when the shutdown is over.

i am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate i also feel that during this period it would be better if you were in washington to go shooting with me obviously you would like to make your journey by flying commercial that would certainly be your prerogative. and we should look you except even. wall for a little deal. that. i. antigovernment protests in a town near to lose in southwest france have ended in fierce clashes with police

demonstrations come ahead of the french president's visit and yet more yellow vest protests expected nationwide over the weekend. was. it was you. know. we would like president mccrum to hear us speaking fills his pockets while his people are dying. at any moment we could be left. and we can no longer survive i want you to find a solution to this situation she turns deaf ear and we're tired of. the. emmanuelle micron has met with around six hundred french mass to discuss how to tackle the yellow vestment town where this latest rally took place was put on lockdown prior

to microns visit the protests were first triggered by proposed fuel price hikes back in november with the grassroots group claiming tax reforms have decreased in living standards in the country well for more on this now we're going to cross over to journalist and french public. thanks for coming on to the program now he seemed in a bit of trouble really protests they seem to be ramping up again after the new year what can he do to calm the situation down. oh only the resign nation of president mccrone could become people's anger he's now trying to to organize a big debate and that is his last card but according to a poll fifty two percent of the french do not intend to participate in this big debate and sixty seven percent think it would not so the yellow vests kruk crisis only only

a small minority eleven percent say that they are absolutely determined to take part in so that and the government spokesman also said that that we there with anyway carry on the reforms you have seen to yack today those down in southwest france drew korea has banned any demonstration but we all know that president mccrone suffers from a a chronic commercial phobia but there is one way the world where is that an arrow of time expression statesman it's. you know the potemkin villages this is a false villages it's painted passage in order to to mimic a real deal a just true of a happy people well fed people and we don't know the story of the russian story's true but for the french through to see through to certain you have this fake be legend suddenly people are coming i'm eric is trying his best there is an a i you know it's unlikely that he's going to resign but he is speaking to a lot of the lesser trying to tackle this problem six hundred french mayors that's

no mean feat is it is it going to help him what kind of things you think he's discussing with them. it's difficult because what is distressing it's not what you cannot go oh go against the european treaties there is no hope within the the european framework it's not the problem even if the french can get rid of micro they have to get rid of macros policies and macross policies it's it's means the e.u. and when you see. the president of the european commission saying that there can't be any democracy choice against the european treaties you you think had how necessary it is to have that for exits that means a french exit of the e.u. and a french exit of the e.u. it means of course to destruction of the e.u. . talk about the policies but the the french officials they've publicly said

a number of times that they're not going to back down with these reforms but in your opinion now because we've seen this with mint go on for so long now do they have any other options. mccrone the government are highly connected with their image with their program or. doesn't seem to suffer from this lack of legitimacy and he doesn't realize how serious and dangerous it is for everybody in france is completely dismissive is stone deaf micro can't help insulting frenchman for instead of treating them as an intractable goals and a few days ago he declared that too many frenchmen french people refused to to make it and also why are we must know that our country breaks records of productivity and that mass and employment is a result from the relocations and privatisations carried out by the government with the you within the utilities ok and they publish in jealous thanks very much for

coming on the program to discuss this thank you. moscow's municipal court is reading to hear the appeal case of paul whelan next week the man detained in the russian capital on charges of espionage spoken with his lawyer who gave us some insight into women's life in prison and the ongoing investigation. which absolutely we've been considering his case he's very confident was sometimes joking with a positive mood and he believes it was an investigative error and he can prove his innocence he claims he didn't collect any classified data on the story he didn't have any intentions and he didn't work for intelligence he denies any guilt. just not on the money at but i find the current evidence insufficient it's only five to ten percent of the whole picture so we will receive all the documents from

the investigation which we will of course dismiss and there are lots of questions to answer and it will likely take six months to a year. two years and he's got media there is a t.v. in his cell good food and medical care as well i think there is an extraordinary library in there with eighteenth or nineteenth century literature which there is a good attitude towards paul which is correct i mean there is no psychological pressure on him but the investigator has been adequate and acts under the law to provide support you cope with so i hope that we have a chance it's fifty fifty in my opinion. paul whalen is a former u.s. marine and with arrest in the russian capital on new year's eve he is a forty eight year old canadian whelan is said to have multiple citizenships including canada the u.s. the u.k. and ireland as we heard from his lawyer he denies the accusations against him and claims he was in the country for a friend's wedding has been a regular visitor to russia for work over the last decade. while it's all on news

for now i'll be back at the top of the hour with more but in the meantime please stay tuned for sophie and co which is up next here on out international. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. when lawmakers manufacture consent to instant to the public well. when the ruling classes protect themselves. in the final merry go round of lives. so we can all middle of the room. really.

really. hello welcome to so if you don't go on sophie shevardnadze the us has been shattered by the longest ever government shutdown in the u.s. history how grave can the consequences great well i talked to laurence kotlikoff professor of economics in boston university and write in candidate in twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election. and american politics is paralyzed the president took congress a cornerstone golf over the mexican border.