u.s. tech giants are being sued for allegedly abetting in the deaths of children in cobalt mines in congo parents of the children say the companies had all the means to prevent the deaths. also to come a record number of journalists will attend russian president vladimir putin's annual marathon media conference today and u.s. house democrats may have shot themselves in the foot by adamantly voting to page donald trump as the latest polls show the president's popularity has only been on the rise since the whole saga began and their arrival in chief certainly remains bush. this was harder to reach this is

a political suicide march for the democratic party. hello good morning 7 o'clock here in moscow you're watching r.t. international now us tech giants among them apple microsoft and also google are facing a lawsuit from 14 congolese parents and children human rights groups accuse the companies of being complicit in the death of children who were working in kobold mines in the company supply chains cobalt is in high demand as it's widely used in batteries for devices such as smart phones or some of the testimonies from children who for legal reasons have all been given the same lane name would have warning there you might find some of the footage upsetting. the chamber ceiling collapsed on people in a coal mine john doe 5 was one of only 2 survivors john doe 3 was living in the mine area on his motorbike loaded with 3 bags of kabul he was hit by

a large global transport truck and his leg was amputated after 2 weeks of working john doe 11 it was severely injured he was 14 years old when he was in the mind of the families and indeed children are seeking compensation for forced labor negligence and emotional distress some also claim they suffered serious injuries while trawling through tunnels or carrying heavy loads we saw their tailor as more on the story. how far would you go to make your fortune hire a child harm a child kill a child these are the questions the world's most famous tech giants will be onscreen in court as part of the law to mark legal case that's after human rights organization allege that complicit in the injury and deaths of hundreds if not thousands of children in the democratic republic of congo all to feed the wild insatiable appetite for the very latest gadgets defendants apple google dell

microsoft tesla are knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in democratic republic of congo to mind cobbled the young children are not merely being forced to work full time extremely dangerous mining jobs at the expense of their educations and futures they're being regularly mean been killed by tunnel collapses and other known hazards common to cobbled mining in the d.r. see the case has been brought forward on behalf of 14 congolese families 6 of who have lost children walking in mines the document makes for harrowing reading with stories of broken spines paralysis and people buried alive and collapsed tunnels children as young as 6 forced to watch. up to 24 hour shifts using tools the human rights group brands as from the stone age many of these children while also trafficked.

and while the latest i phone retells around $1000.00 these children were being paid as little as 2 for that troubles if they survive the watching day i've never encountered or documented more severe asymmetry in the elocution of income between the top of the supply chain and the bottom it's dad disconnect that makes these perhaps the worst injustice of slavery and child exploitation that i've seen in my 2 decades research what could be watch these lives though coble apparently a metal that is essential to those in lithium batteries found in every small phone every laptop every electric car and as the tech boom continues to monta has sought the d.l.c. as one of the poorest countries in the world but also

a mineral gold mine has been only too willing to power at this for a shift market it produces around 60 percent of the wallets coble supply mining the thought of it by hand now some of those giant corporations which signed a contract with these mining companies say they have no idea what was going on those people in silicon valley can't be big wages than because this has been news before further the horrors of the plight of these children has been widely reported in the media defendants whole have knowledge of the forced labor dangerous conditions and extremely low p. provided to child coble minors then you have reports like the one by amnesty international packed in 2016 which documented how child cobalt miners were over exposed to hazardous chemicals while walking with no protective gear and basic. toles apples promise a year later it's not use mines that didn't provide professional quit meant must have gotten lost in translation even worse than just standing idly by though

pretending you're all the good guy indeed taking a major peach from the corporate cover of god defendants apple alphabet dell and microsoft have joined in support of modal mining programs in d.r. seek to create the false impression that they have acted to prevent the known horrors of cobol mining in the deer sea by children but when you are raking in hundreds of billions every year what are a couple of lives over 9000 miles away from you so of course they'll have you believe they really do care people should have values companies are nothing more than a collection of people and so by extension all companies should have values you know apple has always been at the core about changing the world it's no coincidence that a company did it catered to free flow of information was founded right here in the us as an american company we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed us

to grow and so so many users we always knew that we were losing our money now was of our life and our eyesight technology but how could we know it was costing lives to what we asked the companies in question to comment on this they said that the reports of misconduct are always investigated with appropriate action taken they're also telling us too that they are committed to being responsible when sourcing materials but we also heard from a journalist india c claims that the companies know exactly what they're doing. they know if it will the system is not good in and they are taking profit from this of course they know who will dots the most of demining the mind coming from the d.r. see cobalts all gold or any kind of minerals from the instant they nor the government is less territory here for tribute directly to death for 500 millions of people walking illegally kids walking illegally in the mine on 100

percent i think 80 percent of those mean it was coming from illegal way and in a very difficult area we can even call it the bloods minerals and they did they have a direct responsibility on those blood mean it was because they are do on the buying and they want using it by knowing it which condition of those mining mine is extracted from the us that is the place where we are talking about prices off dispy people directly from the big companies. president trump impeachment could be one of the topics raised during the russian president's press conference later today and what's become something of an end of year tradition in russia vladimir putin will face a grilling from the media and if previous sessions are anything to go by the president could be fielding questions for a few hours too so let's get more on this now from trying to will be covering the event for us and good morning to really just run through them all sort of things

can we be expecting today. or you. can hear it we just wanted to know what sort of things can we expect at this press conference today. ok well let's get back to when we can we can try and reestablish that connection in the meantime. has been busy reporting on this let's hear what he said in this report. christmas is just around the corner so probably stocking up with gifts is the challenge that is on everyone's mind right now well unless you are a journalist with a badge that gives you access to a very special event this thursday the big ad you will volodymyr puton q. and a well for such reporters the number one challenge is to get noticed and to

somehow leave a sea of colleagues behind by the way if you thought that it all happens behind the famous walls over there in 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 this nice 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 ice or a woman holding a sign that says 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 in my sign today but actually it says by which means grandfather. 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 7 years vladimir putin had the time to answer an average of $58.00 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 fly out of our proof once back in 25th thing called donald trump a bright talented man you know the rest of the story. well the press conference has got under way it's 12 noon. so what we're told us what we're expecting and of course we will be covering the event long. now the u.s. has representatives of stuck to their guns which is democrats led adamantly going ahead and impeaching donald trump he's accused of abuse of power and in congress

but the whole impeachment saga could backfire on the democrats as it appears to have rallied republican support something the u.s. president has been quick to note the yes over 230 nays 197 present is one. article one is adopting. the phrase i was partisan. is a political suicide march for the democratic party have you seen my calls of the last 4 weeks. or trump does have a point there because according to the latest polls he's gaining more support from the public since october just after the democrats started their impeachment inquiry against him his approval ratings have grown by 6 percent and at the same time the number of people who think that he should be impeached is declining apparently from just over half an october to 46 percent now well it is up to the republican

dominated senate to decide whether to enter the mantra however which mcconnell who leads the majority there says it is unlikely he anticipates our party is an outcome again just like in the house which voted almost entirely along party lines after 8 hours of heated debates with only 3 democrats saying no to the picture. and this process has been partition vindictive dishonest the president's actions seriously jeopardize not only america's national security but security of our closest allies this investigation was unfair the articles of impeachment are not based on facts but instead are entirely politically motivated president trump abuse the power of his office for his own personal and political gain history books will tell of this day. it will tell of a purely partisan effort to remove the president of the united states. ok let's

have some reaction now and cross life to new delhi to discuss the issue with your fish to the chair here he is with this is the latest his latest book is called trumped emerging powers in a post american world he's also a dean at the gentle school of international affairs and a very welcome as usual thanks for coming on it's strange isn't it this because trump has been impeached and yet his popularity is going up what's going on. that shows that his juncture andrew between the american liberal establishment and the general society. the fact is that. trumps approval ratings remain strong as you just mentioned and i think right wing populist use able to turn this whole impeachment saga into victim who never do you know are saying that basically these that do nothing democratic if you keep standing there. are 3 the people i'm creating the jobs for the economy i'm not trying to revive the country and they cannot target my success so they're looking for you know are

a handy means to remove me from power saw i think it just shows the you know the break between the establishment and the people and it shows our of populism you know people said their kids are seeing a blip but it does look like blue will be of leave that is going to sustain itself for some time do you think the democrats have a strong case though against trump or do you feel that people are perhaps just voting with their pocket you know they think that trump is good for the economy and therefore they going to stick with him regardless what sure view on the arguments put forward by the democrats. well you know whatever the merits of the eligible could call between president trump and president zelinsky of ukraine. the point is that you know people have preconceived notions in america because of the extreme ideological or resolution so it's very hard for this you know one half of the country that believes in you know that trump must go and the other half of the

season or he's our hero and our c.v. against the establishment in fact it as we just discussed it's probably more than one have that is in favor of from so i think they have. already decided in advance our interest because the method of the case that walls were supports from one who are believes america is corrupt and the establishment is broken that they will side with him come what may so and it's hard to actually be certain from all of these you know to extend the whistleblower accounts and all these things where they're really there was anything and you banking going on you know the idea that from uses public office for private interest and for personal political gain i mean that is it's really a political one and i feel that the electorate is on the side next november and as far as the senate goes look quite clear if the way toward ending the house it remains that we have $53.00 republicans to 40 for democrats we're pretty sure that

the president will be the republican candidate on november 6th 2020 looking at trouble with reaction to this impeachment i mean he seems very relaxing is making jokes about it it did that surprise you i mean of course people i think you know he's in the clear and the senate will say to you know try this case act against him but we surprised at how he reacted. no you know he's a fighter i mean end of the day take of it all his negatives on a for a moment you'll see that he's going to you know would all his energies into the real action and i don't think he's deterred by this rather said he's going to use the victim would card with his base who believe that the establishment is unfair to anti systemic forces like trump and who will rally them and so i think he's going to actually go all ahead he's also looking to improve ties are with china by my finally doing the treaty trade deal he's looking to gain some foreign policy

successes and of course he has a lot of economic accord and gore successes to speak about at home about all the job creation and the stock markets looming and all that so given all these factors i think he feels that he's pretty secure and you know he's a brawler and i don't think he's going to let go of this opportunity to turn this so-called manufactured crisis into a kind of a you know around in cry for his base and then to come out fighting and and you know they are fighting all cylinders and these are corn and so i think what the bigger picture andrew is that you know look at america looking not really like an idea or democracy are like you know a kind of a mother of the month or sees our country that is the land of freedom by karl i mean just look at the divisions there will be laid exposed years over the survives i don't believe you can survive and he go real action but then the question is not better the big question is what does this tell us of what america's you know feel

your and the repeated breakdowns of that system you know and the larger towns and the gridlock and the total partisanship it's almost like america has been split into 2 halves and you know is that half of america they're destroying its power influence in the world which is also reduced as a result of this you know mystic strife within the u.s. so i think the u.s. is coming out of weaker as a whole or not seen from outside this whole. drama earlier under obama's term you remember there were these shutdowns and fiscal glue and all of these things you know what these are these soldiers don't do need some fundamental reform and it doesn't all right the speech that i will get out of my group going to have to wrap up where we find out it's time but certainly get the gist of what you say now is that i'm cherry or good to talk to dean at the school of international air fares thank you. fear is that the senate will throw the impeachment case democrats have a plan b. though when it comes to undermining donald trump they are ready to resort to some old weapons like the report. has more on that. difficult to understand the purpose

of last night's impeachment vote why should the upper house of the u.s. congress pass judgment on donald trump when democrats already have a plan b. the house judiciary committee says it will continue to investigate donald trump regardless of the outcome so what else is left to investigate well the house judiciary committee is saying that they will resurrect the dead i.e. the moeller report this will give them a chance to get back to their roots and bring up that old russian collusion agenda and they can get the impeachment hearings going all over again the public version of the miller report contains numerous rejections these rules 6 redactions withhold information about president trump's knowledge of his campaign's contacts with russian officials and wiki leaks and therefore bear on whether the president committed impeachable offenses yes same old same old even though bob muller found no evidence of trump russia collusion it's all about belief these days the

democrats should look into some very solid facts like the recent ruling from the foreign intelligence surveillance court regarding the surveillance against carter page now that's the very carter page who is transforming the foreign policy adviser just the very next day in like a horowitz inspector general of the u.s. department of justice were due to the f.b.i. for failures during the early stages of the russian probe he revealed 17 different omissions and inaccuracy is in the carter page warrant applications and furthermore they included doctored documents and concealed information there were so many errors. we couldn't reach a conclusion or to make a determination on what motivated those failures although we did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional mixed misconduct we also did not receive satisfactory explanations for the errors or the missing information and the

failures that occurs. now james komi who was the f.b.i. director at the time of the investigation did that his bureau was sloppy and how they investigated donald trump and his team furthermore the infamous cia which started the entire russia probe was not as important as it was made out to be it was one of a bunch of different facts to resemble to a part of the court it was the one that convinced the lawyers that they had and with that added to the pile to go forget the question is it seems that you were minimizing the role of the of the still do if i was sorry that i did that now call me also said that he does not care how credible steele's allegations were being conclude the reporting from steele was bunk they concluded there were significant questions about the reliability of some of the sub source reporting that should have been included in the renewals when i reached the president i briefed him on a small part of it that i told him i didn't know whether it was during in fact he didn't care about the investigation at all in general i didn't know what they

learned from the some source i didn't know the particulars of the investigation isn't that investigations or this is an investigation of the campaign of the man who is the president of the united states how the narrative that donald trump colluded with russia in order to win the 2016 elections hasn't really panned out however the narrative that donald trump has been in appropriately. by people who have an agenda of trying to bring down his presidency is getting stronger by the day now some people might look at this case and say to the democrats stop meeting a dead horse just let this russia go already but it could be more dangerous to try to rivals than they realize it could be a case of stop beating this dead horse before it comes back to life turns around and sinks its teeth into you. r.t. new york. the school in the u.k. has found itself in the headlines after 12 year old pupils were asked to imagine

they were the parents of the think of the $27.00. terror attack and then to write an essay responding to the viewpoint that terrorists should be given some parents right right. i think this assignment is absolutely disgusting for all thor's of different reasons it seems to me to be brainwashing begins i have not let my daughter attend school today until i can find out more about what this school is teaching our children. or the school has since apologized and cancelled the task we discussed the story with political commentator new york observer columnist andre walker and also with the chief executive of the ramadan foundation u.k. mohammed sure thing. for aids victims family to be able to have the compassion to forgive is a very personal decision but to try to change the narrative somehow the altera should be forgiven i actually think it's really dangerous the idea that terrorists

can be rehabilitated is often not true and i think what i would have done. is asked pops the pupils to write a letter to parents to better understand the impacts of terrorism and there is a real concern that if you try to adopt language that we see in this particular axis. of how illegitimacy is terrorism and their violence and say to young children in this country that you somehow can forgive terrorist i do the you can forgive terrorist if you kill innocent life then you should for political aims then you should stay in prison for the rest of your life look time and time again we are told that the only way to push forward community relations is to try to understand why the terrorists the terrorists 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 terrorist attacks or whether it's the people being directly affected and we is as british citizens 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 we should teach children the important difference because if the children believe that all muslims are like some of the brady the guy who blew up manchester where on earth do we get as a country it's not acceptable to leave that implication in children's minds so that's where the news is looking so far today more from us in the headlines in just over half.

you know world a big part of the lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the hawks. argentina love it this country is phantasmagorical the people are extraordinary the government and the central bank maybe not so much the central bank but let's

get into this a little bit more data tell. the business boom bust broadcasting around the globe uncovering the world of business in finance in the impact i've been and i'm. washington cancer it's nothing like it today coming out we were kids getting a new lifeline in upon the credit and goldman sachs what does it mean for the company and well off of us what's happening with me where china plus massive protests in france continue as unions and the government are hiking over pension we have team coverage and a live report from paris straight ahead and a big group of the judges agreed to a 24 $1000000000.00 settlement for p.g. and e. what it means for the victims of california's northern wildfires this is the one

show you can't afford to miss let's get started. and we begin in historic day with no matter how you feel about it right here in washington d.c. this is an historic day as the house debates articles of impeachment and we look at how the market is reacting because both republicans and democrats they are fighting and on the day that you would expect the markets to react in a dramatic way well they didn't take a look the dow is basically flat just slightly up on this day is this largely because despite the cable news obsession the truth is this is all actually just political theater the markets know that the house will impeach it's going to happen they've known it for months they also know the senate will acquit and there's virtually 0 chance that the president will be removed from office and so the markets again have not responded to the negative way they haven't really responded at all look at that and while politicians might lie. numbers do not exactly and

this is exactly what happened last friday when the parallel a trader based on.