it's like the. movie i also myself the question did we take a wrong time i think it's quite the opposite the president micron defends his policies in a televised address but his attempts to diffuse protests does not go down well with the target audience. what. i heard a speech which didn't talk about the yellow vest amounts. stupid measures he couldn't. talk to the people he takes to school. also this hour u.s. africa command is forced to defend itself after a report reveals washington has been running dozens of unexplained military missions on the continent. and

a project of truly epic ambition britain and germany china's belt and road trading network and that's the countries take part in a major economic forum on beijing's plan. you're watching r.t. international coming to you live from the russian capital where it's just turned six pm welcome to the program. the french president has gone on the defensive claiming he's done nothing wrong in dealing with the country's issues and a televised address on thursday night the manual mccrone made an impassioned plea to yellow vests protesters who've been demonstrating across the country for almost six months. as id be a complete movie q i ask myself the question did we take a wrong turn i think it's quite the opposite i believe that to lead a democracy today no matter the country has to accept not to be

a popular one and i'd rather be responsible for it and be unpopular rather than to seek to charm in such a way that would always be fleeting only look around also revealed big tax cuts and their pensions burst he added that french democracy needs more decentralized government and its rules for organizing public referendums artists has the details . president michael may have spoken for almost an hour with the wind to aging discussion of the things he'd like to do over the next three years but what he would lacked on quite a lot was the details so yes he talked about lower taxes but he didn't specifically say what that meant in terms of a figure it's my duty to defend a pragmatic reform will review eight hundred twenty twenty and if it's not effective or too large we will correct it one of the more controversial issues that michael also touched on was the reforms that he introduced last year in two thousand and eighteen and this was the reform to the wealth tax which for many yellow vests has been

a very big bone of contention and so what has this movement and what have i taken away from this grand debate first of all we all heard this feeling of injustice fiscal injustice territory injustice social injustice the feeling is here it's invaded we must provide an answer well the yellow vest protest is be happy with what's been announced it's unlikely jump on me i heard a speech which didn't talk about the yellow vest demands no consideration about anything no evolution in purchasing power no lower taxes. going to see. stupid measures he can rule the group won't talk to the people he can rosen and sit on them because all of this is useless it's only a lie he takes this for idiots these protests have been some of the most violent in france for more than half a century. now cool says the

right one and we're not going to change it just because the wind is blowing. in a populous move more crown is also scrapping a little bit high school famed for high profile graduates as they dubbed the institution a symbol of inequality. poor fellow i phone because u.k. i think to carry out reforms the needs to be abolished not to take pleasure in a bullish in the e n a but you create something that works better as i described so yes i do not think that in this case they can be any patching up a bit if it was at all. the national school of administration or the as

a top institution in the country as established in one nine hundred forty five and undertook the initial training of senior french officials upon took the step as a response to months of protests against the us some have labeled it an attempt to shift attention from real problems. efforts are being made to put up a smokescreen so that we forget what the real problems are in france this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will replace the a with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials . political commentator john bricmont believes micron's moves will have a pretty limited impact people are unhappy with this policy but what these two is that there is no united demand about what to do with this but this is that school deans idea of being union there's nothing as you can do because you have been one to force these sort of nearly belief loans and michael of course said he's with

that but even if he didn't you can do anything about so least the dilemma nics measure is more social spending and more i mean less taxes but you said he does these courses it is going to take it to him i don't know how it's going to balance the budget want to balance a budget so he seems to me that is going to be a discourse of the discourse he's trying to set he's likely to tease i'm going to be satisfied with the content the speed. the u.s. africa command has had to defend itself after being accused of military imperialism it comes after a report show since two thousand and ten the u.s. has been running thirty six operations all across the african continent far more than had been previously revealed but the government organization says its military activity has brought stability with more details here. us. strengthen security forces counters transnational threats and conduct crisis

response in order to advance u.s. national interests and promote regional security stability and prosperity major car weiss a spokesperson for the u.s. military's african command has come forward and stated the purpose of the pentagon's operations on the continent now he was responding to a tweet by the young gun control activist david hawkins now hawgs tweet was reacting to the fact that currently there are u.s. military operations underway on the african continent is not a small number the official reason given is to promote stability but it's hard to measure success when so little information is available to the public about what's actually going on for example for u.s. military personnel were killed in the african country of niger when this came to light members of the u.s. armed services committee those are u.s. senators had no idea what they were even doing there but i didn't know there was a thousand troops in niger and you heard senator graham there he didn't know we had a thousand troops in these air did you know i didn't know and for something that

top aleck that officials don't even know about it's rather extensive so we decided to go out and talk to members of the u.s. public about africa activities perhaps they have some information the top government officials don't have jukebox lotus what does that make you think oh literally nothing back ok smi what do you think oh. drug music from africa junction serpent what do you think that it i think nothing comes to mind now how about maybe an alcoholic drink definitely and a justified cmon yeah. yeah i don't know. an actor that's what you think oh yeah country might be having a clue you think it might be like a drink. possibly cocktail possibly actually the name of the u.s. military operation in africa last that's why i mean it doesn't sound good probably not up to too good not up the chain much good their. operation junction serpent yeah that makes me feel terrible you don't like the way that sound sounds like

you're doing something sneaky now as far as we know the u.s. military in africa could be doing nothing but noble deeds they could be holding little orphan children and feeding the hungry but we don't know that we have no information. archie new york the founder of the organization viewpoint africa has question whether u.s. military activity has in fact contributed to regional stability. the bottom line is that the us military daws do you think scholastic leaders do things undercover sometimes it does things on the disguise the u.s. operation on the ground in the after is quite extensive in many cases it goes beyond what the the senate in the us and very much so what the american people would expect in the case of africa which as we do know islamic terrorism has a foothold it's questionable as to where the the u.s. operation its influence on the ground whether that in itself has caused or has extended the terrorists to be able to recall or actually extend their stay in

the areas which they claim. but the u.k. and germany have praised china's plan for a massive global trading network known as the belt and road initiative a forum for which is currently underway in beijing there are leaders from your asian countries and further afield have gathered to share their views on how to develop economic cooperation reporting from beijing here's. what i have to say it is more than just a forum more than just a place for people to meet to talk and sign documents no it is a statement by beijing and those countries and representatives of international bodies and leaders who have come here today who have come to beijing it is a statement that this is a new way to boost global prosperity and also it is far from being just a regional event for instance the boat and road initiative and this forum have been the cautiously praised by the european union have a listen but those remote initiative has tremendous potential to spread prosperity

and sustainable development to ching as it does potentially seventy percent of the world's population a project of truly epic ambition the case committed to helping to realize the potential of the belgian road and to doing so in a way which works for all of those whose lives are touched by the project in the big we have agreed that we don't want to sign any by a literal memorandums but together. make necessary arrangements between the greater european economic area and the economic area of greater china we will take this promise seriously of this tone goes into a bit of a contrast with what the united states have been saying in fact washington has been one of the most stark opponents to the whole belt and road initiative because they see it as a threat to their dominance and here's why because thing is this forum is merely a tiny part of a much larger scheme a much grander vision beijing outlined its concept for the first time in twenty

thirteen and since then it's been all about well investing into global infrastructure into building new major trade routes somewhat inspired by the you once prosperous silk road in fact he's a map showing you two key projects two key trade highways if i may say so that are being developed within the framework over this belton road initiative as for the russian leader vladimir putin he's of course here in beijing and when it comes to relations between moscow and china the two haven't really pulled any complements i should say when it comes to that and also both lattimer potentiating ping they shared their thoughts on why they think the belton road initiative is so important . we work together to promote the high quality development of one belt and one route we are told the principle of extensive consultation joint contribution

and shared benefits and advocate multilateralism know what is important to create an effective onset of the risks of global economic political and technological space fragmentation and on search for the rise of protectionism the most dangerous form of which is the illegitimate one sided measures taken without any account from the un or even worse trade was well when it comes to action. besides russia and china have already agreed to conduct joint military drills sometime in the near future the also announced the establishment of a new fund of a new investment fund and it is now it is set to gain of the net capital totally wars of around one billion dollars and its key purpose is to streamline the process of investments of russia and china investments into projects within the framework. of the belt and road initiative and somewhat beyond that as well so i guess it is fair to say that russia for now has asia and its spotlight.

and now we go to breaking news here on r.t. international a russian citizen accused by the us and of conspiracy against the us and being a russian agent has been sentenced to eighteen months in prison she will get credit for the nine months she has already served we'll have more on that later in the program but for now we're going to go back to our story about the belt and road forum taking place right now in beijing for that we get further analysis live analysis from our guests benjamin chalo of the shanghai international banking and finance institute and paris school of business welcome to the program now is german and u.k. praise the belton road for a significant symbol of the initiatives global progress we are now. nation. and the german economic minute or two we. are the

major european union countries want to join a group. like i like your agreement i know there are reports i developed on road project failures in africa at this point are these expected bumps in the road or signs of something more problematic. well a positive correlation between risk and return. investment leave less developed countries especially those in africa joining the initiative and opportunity to try to lock the chronically. united nations agenda of all development in this country to be a little one three and us. alone and in the first two thousand one hundred twenty over to this project more than one.

launch one hundred in country blood pressure calculations that means they have already built it. what would you say are the key obstacles still affecting the an initiative at this point. where i think the major problem is a question in. which he actually of the poor people the world is now saying that the history of international trade. kind and other countries participating in economic collaboration not by wars well that kind of shows how a nation could benefit from one other thing and continental collaboration platform and china and one beautiful example of how to develop. a convert there and really initiative has been there with caution of the chinese commitment to multilateralism . a new mechanism gratian. development side with the

mutual understanding among countries. how does beijing view russia's role and the belt and road and what role can russia play. well in the present days previous to her happy happy weight i clearly broken politics the u.s. . and of course china has been more on practical side to trade with both nations in the last few decades but now that the u.s. needs to take it we would china it could represent a paradigm shift which the u.s. is prepared to end the conflict with china on other fronts as well that could mine dominance on the world order and the like however the economies of russia and china highly complimentary with russia providing real time that. real time the u.s. treating very carefully not the nation at the same time she went to china and

russia. and. like to know what potential do you think members see in this whole project. well because of all the initiator meanwhile you can comment unusual because of infrastructure to one that and greater cooperation in such areas as that's road relevant knowledge and knowledge transfer cultural exchange and development so you members could use the comparative advantages to provide all of these products. to huge market and able. to buy the music back to you benjamin child of the shanghai international banking and finance institute thank you for your time and your comments. because back to our breaking news this hour russian citizen maria accused by the u.s. of conspiring against america and being

a russian agent has been sentenced to eighteen months in jail she'll serve half that term having already been in detention for nine months we're going to continue that coverage after this short break. also the government has created a platform against this dialogue because that does not allow any compromise in their platform talks about serbian crimes how serbia should pay for it her ations. being in its official state cos it was simply things that everything is already over when they wake up from their delusions they will have to face it several reality.

most people think just stand out in this business you need to be the first one on top of the story or the person with the loudest voice or the biggest raid in truth to stand down the music business you just need to ask the right questions and demand the right answer. question. welcome back to the program green sources of energy the potential in germany this week went and solar power generated more than seventy percent of the country's electrical needs thanks to strong winds and plenty of sunshine but while the industry continues to develop there are fears it could cause big problems as well

for example the impact it could have on the country's coal production many local communities depend on the mines as major sources of employment as artist peter offer has been finding out. this open cast coal mine in the east of germany near to the border with poland casts a black sky out into the horizon. governments want to see coal faced out of use by twenty thirty eight and recently there's been loud voices of support from not both here in germany and also in the wider world. the problem farias like this is that it's a puts of sixteen thousand jobs in the local area i.e. the dependent directly or in directly all miss coal mine being operational i spoke to local residents and asked them. were renting interrupting our program to go back

to our breaking news of maria bruton a russian citizen who's been accused by u.s. authorities of conspiring against the us her lawyer is currently making a statement and we're going to listen and. i think it's an area is ripe for reform if you take it seriously and literally the government's position in this case and apply to other circumstances you really end up in a in a pretty dangerous situation not only for for net. here but i think for americans and abroad doing similar activities i think would not be thrilled with this and then why did they bring the anderson memo the last moment and was surprised by. well you know you saw we opposed it and the judge denied our opposition and so we wanted to keep it out in part because they brought it last minute because i was inconsistent with the theory of the case up till then but in the end the judge heard us and ruled against us and we accept there are only some of the kind of like . well i thought our opposition to this transfer was made clear in our brief

and there was no point in giving him more time to say something different than you are just when i mean i thought we'd undercut him pretty well with whatever you said and if the judge was going to. take it you take it for his worth anyway and so that was our decision there and the case here is a political thing. i don't know if i'd go that far then we have a overall a good process in this country i don't think she's in jail shoulder because of politics but i think anyone who thinks that someone who wasn't russian would be in this situation is one itself. that you have a right to. choose me and. there are certain limited rights of people in the situation had a plea we'll talk to her about those one of the rights but i would not expect to be much on that front simply is the timing issue even to get an appeal heard by take longer than it would be remaining time across or even if. she's not right now many of us isn't cyr. and again to have sent her family's watching we'll try to get her

home as soon as we can i wish you could have had a different result today and she passed laws a lot of us. to give them we were just listening to maria bush and as a lawyer she's a russian citizen accused by u.s. authorities of conspiring against the u.s. and being a russian agent he said that there are a limited rights of appeal for her at this point and that appeal might actually take. more time than she has left to serve and that she is that she misses her family and they will try and get her home as soon as possible that was arrested and detained in july and december pleaded guilty to conspiring with a senior russian official to access the national rifle association in conservative u.s. political circles she got her sentence for failing to register as a foreign agent. philonous on his right to privacy may have been violated while he was holed up in the ecuadorian

embassy and london a un representative is now investigating whether or not that's the case he supported because it was a very special sort of circumstances where a person who was not formally on the detention. was subjected to. the un's now assessing whether to place the wiki leaks co-founder under strict surveillance violated the universal declaration of human rights was arrested earlier this month when he was dragged out of the ecuadorian embassy where he had been claiming asylum for almost seven years he may now face extradition to the united states after being charged there is conspiracy to hack government computer joining us on gained international attention through his wiki leaks project which publishes leaked documents that incriminate governments all around the world his organization is behind some of the biggest disclosures of classified information ever.

how much i. owe. the till. like all we're going to kill. kill. kill

with the leaks walks like a hostile intelligence sort of talk like a hostile takeover of service. we earlier interviewed a friend of julian a song swedish journalist your hands while strong who was sure the rights of the wiki leaks front men or violated numerous times. quite clearly you it was just on his rights violations on a daily basis that goes basically without sin cast the is currently detained if for no other reason than to being a journalist and this is it is probably one of the most important developments that has happened recently and that is our roughly nine years of tennis where you have discussions and have concerning it with. every least resistance towards just going to the receipt for the sole reason of. the

charges as far as you know we don't have any suspension of those only sort to start with and the second issue is that. even the way they are describing your concerns is the classical. relationship between a journalist and the source where according to the arguments of the court as far as i understand it at least he was just asked his source to provide him with material if that is illegal are you serious even journalism is as such you. are a minder of our breaking news story fair on our to russian citizen maria accused by american authorities of conspiring against the us and being a russian agent has been sentenced to eighteen months in jail half that term having already been in detention for nine months we did hear from her lawyer earlier who was saying that she has

a little hope for appeal which you know was arrested and detained in july at the end of last year she pleaded guilty to conspiring with a senior russian official to access the national rifle association and conservative u.s. political circles she has been convicted of failing to register as a foreign agent. britain's queen may be happy with the saying god bless her and all who sail in her but it seems a maritime museum in scotland isn't spam referring to ships as it to appear more gender neutral the move comes after it was found people had been scratching off references to boats as she from information signs although the museum's director says the vandalism wasn't the reason for the swap but instead to recognize changes in society despite this the british marine industries federation says their organization will continue the centuries long tradition of. referring to boats as she dates back to at least the fourteenth century some historians believe sailors associated feminity with motherhood and protection but the struggle to keep up with

modern times is sparking heated debate in society we took to the harbor city of course most for a reaction. disagree i think nation. history and things like that i think it's. important to keep our history so. i think. beautiful things to be found. and i think. the major cities of the sacred i mean it's been historically the great. shooters and i really don't see any particular meter to train you personally. because we have a queen and if we had a king would be a. yankee. we also spoke with a former submarine captain right.