this should. be us says that the fight against islamic state is far from over as terrorists and their families leaving their last stronghold in syria valid never to be defeated. an alleged cyber attack on a british institute that seeks to counter russian this information is now being investigated by the u.k.'s a crime agency despite having no forensic evidence the head of the institute already insists that russian intelligence is the blank. being which makes then this is the russians they attacked our assessment that if you

google for a group this is you and china tells us not to interfere in beijing's partnership with italy after the white house rome's plans to join the belt and road infrastructure initiative. by broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international and sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. all right hundreds of islamic state and fighters are surrendering to the u.s. backed forces in the syrian village of the last eisel held area near the iraqi border in addition to the who have surrendered there are also women and children at the scene some of them are wives of the i still find us and they still believe this is not the end of the.

village of has been a focal point for the syrian democratic forces for several weeks now despite trump repeatedly declaring victory over ice on the top u.s. general says the fight is far from over as. have a look at but who's right there near the border with iraq we didn't really hear about it in the course of syria's civil war misery now's the time it is really being called the last remaining eyelet of territory in syria about to be stormed by u.s. backed kurdish troops we expect a fierce battle later at the end of the civilian evacuation given the will remain in bag who's of the ones brimming with the few jihadi ideology and the ones who is not an option indeed we've seen crowds of escaping civilians and even jihad

as who did choose to surrender the current say they want to make sure all innocent people make it out of the goos before the guns go off but the main still be trapped in there either not able or not keen to escape just a short while ago though donald trump was bragging about his army and allies crushing islamic state completely we just took over you know you kept hearing it was ninety percent ninety two percent the caliphate in syria now it's one hundred percent we just took over ever since then however we've kept hearing absolutely different takes from those who are actually responsible for what's happening on the ground the head of u.s. central command is sure i still hasn't surrendered he's confident it's not been defeated instead the terrorists after some tactical thinking have chosen to lay low and wait for the right time to make

a comeback reduction of the physical caliphate is a monumental military accomplishment but the fight against isis and violent extremism is far from over we have won against isis now we've won and at least for now president trumps proud announcement that the american soldiers were pulling out makes less and less sense the. well out would have definitely scored mr trump some valuable political points but nothing seems to be certain here especially with this but google's thorn in the side you could in that vacuum see a resurgence of isis see a resurgence in our rooms going out to come back if we have to anyway whatever happens next depends on what ignites in this small but vital strip of land known as booze. joshua landis a professor of middle east studies believes the fight against islamic state is likely to suffer further setbacks. well as general votel testified in congress

recently and just today he said that. yes this is the end of the territorial state which is very important but it's not by any means the end devices there are a lot of fighters that have gone to ground and that have formed we believe that forms sleeper cells which are going to activate in the you know it's some future date from the later clarify that this is the territorial state and that's why he's reversed his opinion on u.s. troops remaining in syria you know there's a there's a hundred ways to count troops and that may not include a lot of the regular soldiers perhaps national forces you see advisers diplomats and an aid organization so there's likely to be a lot more americans there there's going to still be a lot of isis trouble and we're seeing bomb attacks being carried out in iraq on a weekly basis and there have been isis attacks in northern syria as well so isis

is far from over and. whatever claims about this the president is making are misleading. a suspected cyber attack on a british institute that seeks to counter russian descent from asian is now being investigated by the u.k.'s national crime agency and he's on the says he has more here in the u.k. the now infamous highly likely formula pops back into the spotlight as that report circulates citing white a whole sources claiming that russia's military intelligence service the g.r.u. had been according to them the one to have an up until recently not very well known british beast institute for statecraft now we understand that now that's been announced that the national crime agency here in the case carrying out an investigation into the cyber attack of this thing. tank and at the same time we're

hearing that a former senior ministry of defense civil servant who is also a co-founder of this institute for statecraft is already claiming that it could only have been russia despite lack of proof so far the only thing which makes sense is that this is the root of our assessment and it is up because we go in for and prove this is that you are you this institute for statecraft and its program the integrity of initiative that has been in the headlines for the last couple of months on and off is a program that aims to tackle what's called russian descent for me sion they try to expose feek news all of this is done to the tune of over two point two million pounds provided by the british government and this institute and its files had been taken and posted on a third party website first time back in november so this is how all of this unraveled and the g.r.u. is now brought into all of this and of course if you remember the g.r.u.

is familiar with this sort of highly likely accusations ever since the solsbury scandal the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible. and we think it will mean you likely to do it was his decision it was highly likely that russia was responsible for this reckless and despicable act the russian president's spokesperson discourse has commented on these latest developments he has said that the russian state is not involved in any cyber attacks and in fact that russia had offered international cooperation with when it comes to issues of cyber security however to no avail but in this particular case let's see what happens of course this investigation is going on so let's see if they do end up providing some proof in the end to all of these accusations. china has defended it's a growing partnership with a. after criticism from the u.s.

that's after the white house urged to rome not to join beijing's belt and road infrastructure project builds and road initiatives as he made by china for china and initiative we're skeptical the italian government's indorsement will bring any sustained economic benefits to the italian people and it may end up harming italy's global reputation in the long run this position taken by the us side is lawful as a major country it's only knows exactly what policies of its own interests and it can make its decisions independently rome is expected to sign up to the initiative when chinese president xi jinping visits at the end of the month italy's coalition government is talking up the benefits. one way for us to increase trade values is to first increase investment this is done by these memorandums one belt one road it is a very fertile area for investment china's belton road initiative is a global trade and infrastructure project proposed five years ago it will link china to europe asia and africa with roads railways and ports but the u.s.

and some other western powers have expressed security concerns over the project and questioned china's motives sociologist paulo bernardine believes italy has much to gain from joining the initiative. really. surprises because on the last numbers if they are thinking about it you'll be surprised to act in these fights and i think frankly. so i mean not to sort of bashing away would be. coming out of what we have to do to do that kind of a pox on i being the way to do. all we know want to do and. we negotiate any of lines on the phone from of the moment we will not to mention having cade acting for the queen the benefit to be some hope for the benefit of in saddam and the man america i think would be a great the vantage for connie on the several points of view that would be really

lethal i've been to many they're adamant re the we've given new life love pleasure to tupac the both of vanity and the bulk of the staff and we have to be reminded that actually the sequel to. devolve into six sections will pull them away or by way of lime the follow them up we my way of the and they are always the way beneficial for you that would be a new link between the same great continent ovulate and i don't see any potential damage. on the barnes and. democratic party in the us has refused to allow the conservative fox news channel to host any of its debates during the two thousand and twenty presidential election cycle donald trump has threatened to do the same with pro-democratic channels though he didn't specify which ones. recent reporting in the new york only inappropriate relationship between president from his administration and fox news has led me to conclude that

the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates and for fox news will not serve as a media partner for the twenty twenty democratic primary debates democrats just block folks news from holding a debate goods that i think will do the same thing with the freak news networks and the rather cool if democrats in the general election debates. in announcing their decision to boycott fox the democrats cited a report in the new yorker magazine describing it the close relationship between the channel and the trumpet ministration it says that the network has turned into trump's propaganda machine now the article points out that various fox news pundits are now working in the trumpet ministration they include former fox co president bill shine who is now the white house communications director it also claims citing sources that trump was given advance notice of a primary debate question with the help of a former chief executive of fox news roger ailes although the leak of

a debate question on the other side of the political spectrum in two thousand and sixteen was actually confirmed former c.n.n. commentator donna brazil admitted that she used her position to give a heads up to hillary clinton on questions at the c.n.n. host a debate in two thousand and sixteen she was working as a party chairwoman at the time political commentator steve malzberg sees the democrats' response as hypocritical. you know how many members of the obama administration are now staffing the positions at c.n.n. and m s n b c n n b c and c.b.s. and a.b.c. the whole thing is just obscene and ridiculous in the tank they all are the opposition to donald trump they're not fair and balanced this is just more dementia if you will or trumped arrangement syndrome whatever you want to call it they hate trump so much so you know we're going to take it from fox news fox news is the epitome and the body image of all that's evil in the world i think one way or

another see it motivates their base and they were just looking for some excuse to poll off of fox and they came up with an excuse. there's been an exciting couple of days in football's champions league title holders madrid who crashed out on tuesday while wednesday saw porto and man united through to the quarter finals all three teams and one thing in common they were all once managed by a host but you know who is now back on our team with a new show on the touchline you can watch the full version next hour but for now here's a quick test. they were not afraid to to play at the bottom of the show great. attitude you know they put the needle in the wounds when things go wrong. everybody goes into the direction of the guilty man there's a. much lesser not to results from no no results eventis man city

barcelona bind to take the last political of the i would go with the. and everybody speculates about where you're getting next can you give us any hints now i'm going home. i hope to be working in the in the summer i promise if one day that is unsing to say i mean. a documentary about michael jackson has sparked protests in the u.k. more on that and much more for short break this is our chief national.

join me every thursday on the alex simon sure and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports this list i'm showbusiness i'll see that. he's gone into a nihilistic theme. i think he got to hit the road and get out the traveling across america what makes america the charlotte. the south american hero this is a point. we always are on the current system. oh . we're starting last with. begin 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 than this maybe completely different to mr. welcome back this is our two international fans of michael jackson have protested outside a u.k. t.v. channel over it's a documentary alleging child abuse i mean i mean. moving now to neverland features interviews with two men who claim they were molested by jackson as children since the movie premiered back in january a global reaction has followed with radio stations in canada and new zealand dropping jackson songs. i want to be able to speak the truth. as loud as i had to speak a lie for so long. leaving neverland is

a joint production between channel four and h.b.o. both alleged victims featured in the movie wade robson and james save chuck for years denied they had been abused they were called as witnesses for the defense at jackson's trial in two thousand and five when he was accused of molesting a thirteen year old boy. the film has been condemned by the jackson estate which earlier issued a statement saying the accusers have testified under oath that none of the allegations are true our guests debated whether an artist's work can be evaluated separately from the person this is still pending and investigation and also the whole outrage is happening because of a documentary that is obviously one sided because we only have the version of the victims i really have a huge issue with access to arts and to things that have been created in the past by somebody like i like i said who is dead and who cannot do anything about this at

the moment if radio stations want to ban the music i think if the listeners of those particular radio stations are calling up and saying you know what this is criminal behavior that r. kelly and michael jackson have actually engaged in. and we're not ok with that i think that's perfectly fine it's a scary area if we all are judge him for ourselves with very limited facts with facts that we don't really quite cross-examine with actual evidence or you know interviews and documentaries that. your mantra is show a lot of evidence. well it's an evidence that it's not been again cross-examined in the court of law it's irrefutable we should not be talking about michael jackson's music michael jackson's music was created through decades of also a lot of suffering but actually i think maybe the real lesson in all of this is that you know every time a michael jackson song comes on i know for myself i'm going to think differently

about it i mean i'm not going to say i'm never going to dance to a michael jackson song again because you know maybe it'll play at a wedding or vomits and i might start dancing but at the same token i said i am never going to think about michael jackson in the way i used to and maybe that's the real lesson so let me ask you this when you look at a picasso painting or you read a hemingway book or or you've been looking to start to that was created during the renaissance period where like you know the catholic church was you know torturing and killing people in the name of god are we not able to separate the our that was created the best moments of these artists from the actual person who was a human being. some of them admitted those fair just good argument but i think also i think we're entering. a new era where i think people that engage in criminal behavior and sexual abuse shouldn't be rewarded in this society and i don't think there's anything wrong with that and if their music doesn't get played so be it.

the u.s. house of representatives has passed a resolution condemning anti-semitic rhetoric and all other forms of hate speech. how many how many how many you know pages does it take to cite him evil evil is evil it's a semitism must be condemned on a critically and emphatically justice cries out against one who is anti-semitic. the bill was prompted by some controversial remarks made by a democratic congresswoman johann omar in a series of tweets accused she accused lobbyists of serving israel's interests she was accused also of anti-semitism and issued an apology but says she stands by her criticism of lobbyists and she again mentioned israel's influence on u.s. politics. in this.

this is. one of the legions to the point. i want. why is it ok. for me to. the mothers of the n.r.a. fossil fuel industries are being harmed and not our full lobby. group that is losing. we can now bring in ramsey by rude editor of the palestine chronicle thanks for being with us here on our international. this certainly is an interesting case and the bill speaks out against anti-semitism and islamophobia and anti white supremacy and all forms that it takes and yet twenty three republicans voted against why would they object to a resolution like that. well of course the jump to it because of the political context in this particular scenario the political context is that this is an

illusion. to anyone who there is criticize. american foreign policy in the middle east to go i think is right oh oh. or any criticism of the polar falls on this love the in washington d.c. the message to them. on mars and to many others is that you can't do that and doing so would immediately put you in this in which you have to defend yourself against accusations of racism and to semitism no the sad truth is that the passing of this resolution was revealed in a way about addition of omar and her opinion what she's essentially saying is that the interests of israel should not trump the interests of the not states. israel. and the right to criticize israel should be something that all americans should

have and should be able to practice without being condemned for such an action and yet the congress has proved her to be right in this vote indeed is that kind of power and the lobby in particular are the basically the platform in which israel displease its power in washington d.c. . you answered one of my questions about do you think the allegations of anti-semitism against maher were justified she claims that she was speaking about the policies and also the same could be said about the policies of the u.s. toward saudi arabia a lot of people wanted a language against her specifically in this resolution but the democrats stop shy of that do these allegations though make it harder to have a conversation about the pro israel lobby and other countries as well. exactly that's a problem that's all the norm are one it and that's what many other people want this is not about condemning any group or any or any country per se it's about the

right to do so in the case of israel you simply cannot and there is this constant consolation between what is an. israel what is anti semitism what is anti whatever because of of the fact that israel is the only party that has a right to define the narrative it's only israel and that is what either lobby in washington d.c. that has a right to tell us what is acceptable as far as it had on mars political discourse is concerned and what is not acceptable and we want to challenge that we want to see you know we need to put on the table this this issue the middle east palestine israel perhaps the most important geopolitical region anywhere in the world the u.s. is involved in so many different ways thousands of americans lost their lives in that region and chileans of dollars were spent in that region to sustain these

ongoing wars so the question is why can't we talk about the condit influences that is is thinking american foreign policy in that region why can't we talk about israel why can't we talk about the lobby concerning the fact that it's so we'll know in fact that the lobby which pushes millions of dollars every single year much of this goes to the park it's of american congressmen this is not a conspiracy it is something that is well documented it's available in fact by many congressmen who have been targeted by the lobby the likes of part of the lies not cynthia mckinney and many others they talked about it openly and they got punished doing it for it as well many of them. as their careers for doing exactly what one omar is doing right now well briefly house speaker nancy pelosi said that omar's name did not need to be included in the text of the resolution

a lot of people did want her to be punished directly but she said it's not about her it's about these forms of hatred do you think that's the way that other people saw it and again briefly do you think that's the right path that they chose oh absolutely i think as far as nancy pelosi is concerned she won it in one or more to be listed and rather blacklisted but the found that there has been a pushback not just by the supporter one on mark but many progressives like sanders in the democratic party and many among the jewish community who does not this is so is see support for israel or or lack there are something that reflects on them the rest of it as a people many of the jewish activists jewish politicians people in the media intellectuals do not see eye to eye to israel and in fact are themselves very critical of israel as well so it was nice to see this back now the question is were

do we go from here or intimidation or an open. i'd like to discuss this at length with you ramsey baroud editor of the palestine chronicle i wish we could unfortunately we are out of time thanks for being with us here on our to international. there's a for me i'll be back with more news of top the hour stay with us. my. my. kids. welcome to the alex salmond shu today we take a well to celebrate from bricks it to visit the sun kissed the beaches of the indian ocean that is one problem with this island paradise the people have been

replaced by an air force base for that has been the fate of the ship was eons her majesty's subjects cleared from the holy land half a century ago to make way for american service personnel over two programs we consider high this bitter legacy of colonialism still impacts tittie in this show we look at the human cost of a people cleared from the islands in the second part we examine the political and legal implications for the united kingdom standing condemned last month before the international court of justice and now you're facing a full united nations debate on the issue but first to alex with your tweets your messages and e-mails before stop as i said and who makes a very interesting point she says be true then to watch the sudden thirty m. and all we got was trump trump trump no mention of what happened to the olives i'm unsure why a sandwich i did actually not

a suspicion knowing my relationship with the president of the united states that perhaps he'd broken off his talks with chairman kim to knock off the first broadcast edition of our show. donald anything's possible dr katz says fantastic show tonight my son is half german from the east i believe scotland a germany of extremely strong ties i consider germany and my second home and seven anthea's says very good short tonight alec as always should get an interesting and informative keep up the good work well we intend to anthea and length illness and says best show yet elmar brok cured my heart and james most must soar right in all he said scottish independence gets nearer the closer we get to blacks it a minute white says i've always thought that these are me was a closet black city year who played both sides to get into the top job and jump actually concludes by saying hi ek hopefully you can run ashore from here in

arbroath next april to celebrate the declaration of.