your stomach rats can't help gloating if the debate gets underway in the lower house over whether to impeach president trump. all shows brits are losing their faith in the b.b.c. that's after its election coverage faced claims of bias nearly half respondents believe its journalists are no longer trust. in the stoning authorities threatened criminal prosecution against employees of russian news agency sputnik pressuring them to cut ties with their parent company. is joining us assuming this is r.t. . the us house has started to debate the donald trump impeachment articles prior to

the vote expected later today the president himself accused the democratic leadership of pressuring party members to vote a certain way and that they do sound bites emerging from the house floor already. this is a moment that you will read about in your history books he sought to elevate himself as a dictator a king but we are not him aren't monarchy we are the united states of america i want my daughter to be able to tell her children grandma did the right thing because in america no one is above the law now one of the democrat witnesses not one was able to establish that the president committed bribery treason or high crimes and misdemeanors tench taken office nearly 3 years ago president trump has consistently and intentionally divided this country when the president withheld military aid to vulnerable nuke ukraine he sought to sabotage our elections after

all the drama the majority is not found a single shred of evidence only 2nd 3rd 4th hand information i can't stop thinking about the cost to our country. not just the impeachable offenses but the collateral damage of a president who uses power like a weapon against his own people. despite the fact the device only now getting on the way some are already celebrating namely i think it's on the pro-democrat c.n.n. the bin comfortably saying today trump is poised to be the 3rd u.s. president to be impeached it also reported top democrats and house speaker nancy pelosi has told party members not to gloat too much. when we were. one we was. meanwhile hundreds of activists have been demonstrating outside the capitol building chanting nobody's above but 600 peaceful rallies were reported across the country tuesday with signs and double down as a freshman especially one of those who represents the representatives that come

from prague states and could this a point that this. breaks down the impeachment case why. democrats see launching these proceedings as a huge victory they say donald trump has betrayed the whole country but the whole country doesn't agree the country is split and americans don't seem to care for partisan squabbles many have become more critical of the democrats in recent months even within the house of representatives 18 democrats are bucking the party line and say they will vote against impeachment they argue that months before the 2020 alexion this doesn't look good for the democrats we are broke there are no like i would how are you getting here knowing how. and i don't think there are your. all these factors combined to make some democrats very nervous and donald trump seems to be emphasizing the fears on the other side of the aisle any

democrat votes. will be voting just sacrificed the house majority their dignity and their career. another fear hanging over the democrats is that they won't be able to actually remove donald trump from office after all republicans have a pretty solid majority in the senate so what's the plan well call up even more witnesses during the impeachment trial in the senate how one such a weighty matter. could we avoid hearing this could we go forward without hearing it i haven't seen a single good argument about why these witnesses shouldn't testify would these documents be produced unless the president has something to hide and his supporters want that information hidden but who knows if these tactics will actually pay off remember the brett kavanaugh confirmation hearings the democrats called witness after witness after witness and the republicans seem to have been

the big winners then these sexual assault allegations and heated rhetoric didn't win the democrats any points as the 2020 alexion edged nearer democrats stand to possibly lose pretty big from this whole impeachment fiasco after all the trump is actually driven from office the red state and the rust belt base of trump supporters won't be pleased animosity between the 2 sides could reach a critical juncture and if they fail they could face ridicule for dragging the country through a pointless procedure wasting money and wasting time so what exactly are the democrats trying to accomplish by impeaching donald trump to quote an old american saying after wonder are the democrats perhaps cutting off their nose in order to spite their face kaleb up and r.t. new york. to us presidential candidate from the libertarian party so it's clear what the democrats are really up to with the impeachment drive. anybody with common

sense can see it you know there is no basis for impeachment and we know that there is a senate majority the only thing that the democrats are proving is that they were sore losers during the election and we see time and time again a lot of people are gearing away from the democratic party not just by the way they're acting as if they're wasting the tax paying dollars. putting on fiascoes still cannot get over that donald trump is the president the united states i mean i was against him in the elections in 2016 and i'm running against him again in 2020 but you have to put all of that aside and there are facts and there is you know the fake news and that's what we're seeing today. stern you know thought his award employees of a local offshoot of russian news agencies that if they don't cope ties with the parent company they'll face criminal prosecution the details on the story here's are these. rossiya says all near and sputnik editor in chief have described the

action from thailand as arbitrary and now plans to take advice from the un the o.s.c. and other international organizations but what they describe as an unprecedented violation of freedom of speech and this comes after the owner of the office where. it was based to broke the lease contracts following pressure from police now employees are also said to have received letters from the police department and the border control threatening criminal proceedings if they continue to work with. the agency in the new year now the move has been justified by the estonian or thirty's by citing european sanctions from 2014 the agency however did not appear on any such sanctions list the agency's press service has since responded with feeling that it is based on powell problems whilst operating in the country take a listen we consider the actions of the authorities to be. such international organizations as the un the council of europe.

are demanding a broad cement of the unprecedented case of violation of freedom of speech in recent years and measures to ensure the right of our journalists to carry out their professional speaking back in november the editor in chief of margarita simonyan said that the news agency had received more pressure in a stonier than anywhere else in the world she details how employees had been intimidated by security services even had their bank accounts frozen and estonian banks that did service the agency have frozen all accounts since then so meanwhile the c.s. avoid nears the executive director plans to raise the issue with the russian presidential cumin rights council so needless to say this is an issue that the agency is not taking lying down. in about the journey. down for the good of you to loot 1st of all. your take on this. coming from the stone you know authorities. well the anti russian hysteria is

real in the baltic states especially probably not feel maybe a bit less but you know it's due to the past to the fact that. there are a soviet union these republics the soviet republics suffered a lot under stalin and they still have this hatred of russia which is present in part of the population it's the same in ukraine actually so in these countries where there are a large minority of russian speakers of course because after half a century of you were ceasar there were people that were designated teachers doctors people who married and moved in the soviet union so you have minorities in these countries in ukraine half the population speaks russian despite that in the administration in the managing of the state. that is a huge problem is that the language is not recognize the toll so the people don't feel they are part of this country it's the same in ukraine. is 100 percent russian

speaking but all administrate the facts declaration of birth marriage is done in ukrainian despite the fact that people don't speak the language there so it's very funny very strange situation and the anti russian feeling is fueled by nato of course that pretends that russia is on the verge of attacking the baltics why would they do that the russians or attacking your crane etc so they tried desperately to find a reason to exist for nato now that the also practice disappeared nato should have disappeared as well and also in the european union there is a tendency to consider that russian media are to be thrown out to be suppressed ah is of as an independent journalist is the stranger working for you for all those of sputnik. i often have the problem that the the members of parliament. in the

traditional parties where whether conservative christian democrats socialists or greens etc refuse to speak to the russian media they will refuse to mrs vaughn that lead to president of the european commission or school of form that lay in with our beautiful brushing she never question from the russian media because we are bad people mr mccall complained about our t.v. and sputnik in front of him it put an invalid when he came there of course not mr mccall is changing views about russia but it is so that in the main media in the official media there is an anti russian sentiment which is fueled again by nato and by western governments and it is difficult to do your work when you're working for sputnik o r t in europe which is supposed to be democratic although the next point i wanted to make because surely in the e.u. even if you don't like something that's not justification enough to kind of get rid of it has to be some going of legal argument that you can put forward or some kind

of transgressing of rules and regulations somewhere in this situation that claiming it was against some kind of sanctions doesn't seem to be the case from every bit of information we've seen so how can we get away with something like this. i hope they don't get away with that i mean it's a scandal what happens now with dystonia and what happened already in the last few years in latvia for example and probably in this reign as well this should be dealt with by the european commission but you don't hear anything from brussels yet i hope they will react if the united nations so i see and others put the finger on the problem i mean the hysteria is the worst in the baltic states but it is everywhere in brussels again it's impossible to talk to members of parliament or the european parliament who are in the traditional parties they will not on see you

they will treat you like. like a nobody to say things in a nice way and again you know the ideas that we produce fake news but you have many intellectuals people who are maybe not in agreement with our views with our to your sputnik that tell me yes we like it we like to read it because it's a dissenting view it's a different view it's something different and we have another perspective on politics in the western world that don't exist in the normal you know traditional sponsored press in the western world so it is interesting to hear that because it's reassuring somehow we don't produce fake news i never write fake news maybe i make mistakes but i taught right from. the pleasure to speak to really appreciate it and i guess the independent journalist was a. public interest in the b.b.c. as they can not quit new polls showing deep bias concerns over the broadcasters coverage of the recent u.k.

election kate partridge has more from london. it's all about an issue of trust so do britons trust that media outlets will according to a recent poll trust in the press to tell the truth has for all and less than half the population believe b.b.c. journalists are impartial and one in 5 britain say they don't trust the public broadcaster at all while a set of britons are most likely to trust newspaper journalists working for the times of the guardian or the decline in public trust came as the b.b.c. was criticised by those on the left and the right over its coverage of the general election there's some have even suggested their reporting contributed to labor's crushing defeat well they cite one reporter talking about boris johnson winning the majority he so deserves and it's believed him to say he so desires that the b.b.c.'s election i don't doubt has defended his only relative mistakes are still trying to made the broadcaster itself has issued a statement refuting claim surprise we delivered almost ambitious coverage ensuring

it was fair and proportionate over the course of the campaign we stand by our journalism will continue to make got own editorial decisions and report without fear or favor well such criticism isn't new the broadcaster has also been accused of being anti breaks it but is apparent bias just personal interpretation of the b.b.c.'s guidelines say it doesn't require absolute neutrality on every issue though is committed to do impartiality which reflects a range of perspectives but as its funding relies on license payers with a range of perspectives and different ideas of impartiality apparently you can't please half of the people all of the time. a school in new goes fund is over the headlines of the 12 year old pupils were asked to imagine that they were the parents of a victim of the 27 month just to rain a terrorist attack a writer there so responding to the viewpoint that all terrorists should be forgiven the task left many parents outraged on the school has been forced to apologise. i would like to apologize for being upset that this piece of work may

have caused i do understand that some people may find it difficult to understand why school would ask students such a challenging question of the school in question since council the task stressing know that it wants to ensure students are able to express their thoughts and give reasons for their failing spark the task they say should have been worded differently needless to say the whole story scores quite an outrage online of some even calling for the closure of the school in question bridlington school. ok let's discuss this sensitive topic with a very walker political commentator a new york observer columnist and how much of the chief executive of the realm of them foundation u.k. given to both of them. would you agree that the school went beyond the bounds of decency with this task they said. absolutely the terrorist attack in my home city of manchester was the most appalling terrorist attack in our country in a very long time terrorism is evil there's an ideology of violence and hatred

behind it and division and you know for for a victim's family to be able to have the compassion to forgive is a very personal decision for that individual but to try to change the narrative somehow that altera should be forgiven i actually think it's really dangerous and we is. british citizen should be really looking at the fact what can we do to keep our country safe but more importantly to hold to account and bring justice for the victims of terrorism and what would you say to the. well the concern that i've got i'm sure mohammed will share it is the recent people on the political left by no means everybody who conflate insulting terrorists with insults of muslims we've got to be clear that those are 2 entirely different things i think we shouldn't be forgiving terrorists we should be encouraging young people to forgive terrorists but also we shouldn't be giving the impression to young people that the only way

you push forward community relations is to be nice on terrorists or to be weak on terrorism or to forgive terrorists we saw on the bridge a couple of weeks ago where the terrorist had been released from prison early against the wishes of the judge of what they said original sense of saying to murder people the other idea that terrorists can be rehabilitated is often not true and i think what i would have done had died with a teacher in that school is asked pops the pupils to write a letter to parents to better understand the impact of terror. i don't care that terrorists rot in prison forever i'm much more concerned about the victims a good history a bunch of stuff did we have plenty of those. mohammed do you think that the some good may have come out of the exercise in the sense that it would get children to think about why they feel a certain why away and why everyone else seems to feel a certain way about terrorist because let's be honest terrorists act in a certain way because the motivated by things that have happened to them just

trying to analyze what's the motivation. what are it's interesting how are my good friend is bringing the left into this i think you're right look i did it in a terrorist is evil they kill people. they have a lot of there's a lot of anger in my community towards terrorism and terrorist as we saw the new bridges tike and there is a real concern that if you try to adopt language that we see in this particular exercise that somehow we're legitimizes terrorism on there violence so yes let's have a debate about foreign policy i think that's important that we you know something which i believe for all of the 15 years is talking about the root causes of that look at the issue deprivation of poverty but that's a completely separate issue from same to parents and say to young children in this country that you somehow can forgive terrorist i do that you can forgive terrorist if you kill innocent life then you should for political ends and you should stay in

prison for the rest of your life and that's why you know i'm on the left i've been pretty consistent about that i don't think the early release is suitable for terrorists. people who've been convicted of terrorism and were put the thing question to you and you know could they have changed the wording of this would there be any benefits from getting children to think about why are terrorists acting the way they are rather than just saying ok the reveal the terrible people they've got to be put in prison or sentenced to death why are they doing it. but see that's not what's harper. i mean i think it makes a reasonable point there is 2 fundamental differences one these forgiving somebody who has murdered 22 people in manchester and actually brutalized a community of young people on the ground they called so it's this forgiving them and then this talking about whether there were misadventures by britain in america on the tony blair and george bush into place like iraq and afghanistan i think it's wholly legitimate to talk about the foreign policy. of previous u.k.

governments with people like mohammed who have strong views on dates in terms of forgiving. brady who blew up the manchester arena look as far as i'm concerned he's gone to hell and that's the end of it i don't think anybody's interested. if we say i under tony grieve with you on that but i just want to add that i totally agree with you about the fact that he's going to hell as a muslim my my my strong belief is that he's going to hell. there's no there's no point in being interested in somebody buried in the what we have to do with some of the baby and the education that you want to give young people in schools is about identifying these terrorists identifying where they operate and locking them up that is the solution to that problem now as it happens i supported the invasion of afghanistan i know mohammed didn't it's legitimate to have that debate but these people are not part of that debate these people are sad pathetic crazed killers school schoolyard bullies with bombs they should be locked up or shot in the streets either is good with. muhammad do you do you think this is just

a simple mistake by you know one particular skill or is it an indication of the way things are heading in that you know nobody wants to discriminate against anybody even terrorists these days yeah i mean we have to get this near christmas you know we can articles appear in the newspapers that somehow minority communities are going to be offended because the christmas trees. there's a christmas carol this christmas songs being sung in school i was at my local school private school well when my young daughter will in a christmas song. you know concert i think 7080 percent of people there listening so it's not an issue so i think we're going to be very careful in painting this or the muslim community our only is right in terms of you know i strongly believe as a muslim that he's going to hell and he's going to be held to account for his crimes and no matter what the families forgive him or not he is still be held to account for the innocent life the east took but the why didn't you is this that when we have military adventures like in libya carried out by david cameron and nicholas sarkozy that's left the country in absolute chaos as we see today then

that's a legitimate debate to be hard but this should never be any justification any atmosphere or megaphone for terrorists and their supporters and sadly you know the b.b.c. and the british media in particular have given a microphone to the likes of i'm just chilled you know the extremist preaches for so many years where people have been opposing him oh and what do you think about that under. well look the underarm charge the problem was on the right look time and time again we are told that the only way to push forward community relations is to try and understand why the terrorists the terrorists no no no no what you have to understand is why your neighbor is being victimized by those terrorists whether it be muslim families who are concerned for their safety after after the terrorist attacks or whether it's the people being directly affected we do not push forward community relations by effectively putting the how mature freak in the same category as some of the payday the woman group of people are arguing for

a legitimate cause the other group are a bunch of evil terrorist scum bags who frankly as far as i'm concerned given the death penalty i'm quite happy with are that we should teach children the important difference because if the children believe that all muslims are like solomon the baby the guy who blew up manchester were on earth do we get as a country it's not acceptable to leave that implication in children's minds ok i just want to finally put to both of you what kind of question would you like to see the high school children of the u.k. debating when it comes to issues like this what question would you put to them. yeah i mean what i would ask you said. going on. you go 1st and they're gone i was going to say i've got i've got i've got 2 questions i suspect going to be the same ones 1st of all what do we do for 2 to push forward community relations in our local area of streets are in our village are also what do we do to oppose terrorism and help the victims of terrorism those are the 2 important questions in terms of

forgiving the terrorists that blew up the manchester bob he is of no interest to anybody anymore are rightly so and how would. i would ask what are you as an individual do to change the world for the better and what can we do to build trust between communities rather than give oxygen to people who divide is a full of real sense of harmony is really pleasure to speak to both this evening thanks gentlemen. chief executive of the foundation andrew walker new york observer columnist political commentator thank you so much good. but you. ok let's stick with the christmas feeling in theme in what's become something the christmas tradition in russia over the last few years president putin has about to face a grilling from the media thursday will see his annual press conference that if the past is anything to go by it can last for hours trying to look ahead to what's in store.

christmas is just around the corner so probably getting stocked up with gifts is the number one challenge on everyone's mind right now troop unless you are a journalist with a badge that gives you special access to a very special event this thursday the big ad you all. queuing so for these kind of reporters the number one challenge is to get noticed and to leave a sea of colleagues behind by the way if you thought that it happens behind the famous walls over there and this case you're wrong welcome to moscow's world trade center this is where very soon the q. and a will begin now let me explain how it works mr putin will be sitting at a table lone in front of a massive audience holding up black cards for 5 years i've been using a little r.

t. logo a bit further on to the president's left his press secretary usually he is the one who chooses who goes next but sometimes mr putin picks someone out himself and these are the kind of moments we always watch out for if you let them do is complain of their rice or a woman holding a sign this isn't hooted by by ok go for it turn the heat up. oh my god sorry with age comes eyesight issues to distribute these are just translation difficulties i scared everyone my sign today but actually it's has by which means grandfather says so what are the chances of getting picked 29 things press or sets a record a total of 1895 journalists taken part over the last 70 years vladimir putin had the time. you answer an average of 58 questions per q.

and a so i've done the math the chances are about 3 percent only 3 percent that you get to ask a question not the best of all odds but. the longest event lasted for 4 hours and 40 minutes and usually it's never less than 3 in the several hours of constantly jumping on your chair waving your black card trying to stand out from the crowd and get the president's attention i'll tell you what that's quite an experience anyway do stay tuned for the show because it could really shake things up a little bit before the holidays from pushing the stock markets up or down to causing a real geopolitical stir just one example it is right in that building that florida are proving once back in 25th thing called donald trump a bright talented man you know the rest of the story. joining us here this evening and i seem to not get to check out more of all stories available on our

website. time after time the welcome to a special edition of going on the ground i'm with john pilger who's film the dirty war in the n.h.s. was finally screened on british television days after the end of jeremy corbin socialist project at the general election john thanks for letting us into your home 1st of all our international viewers certainly be wondering why is john build you feel. good nor be screened ahead of

a general election when it concerned one of the major policy initiatives in the election yes the that major policy issues the n.h.s. was brought to the forefront of british politics for the 1st time during the election campaign and that's what my film of course is all about there are rules you say there are rules and there is a regulator called off home and the lawyers can bring out proles that this is why it shouldn't happen and they're perfectly correct but what we should be questioning is why a regulator has the power in effect to ban a programme about the the major issue of a british election campaign during the campaign the film was shown what 3 or 4 days.