from the possibility of amending the russian constitution to the doping scandal from e.u. sanctions to impeachment proceeding stateside the russian president's annual q. and a session wraps up in moscow spending more than 4 hours. u.s. tech giants are being sued for allegedly abetting in the deaths of children and cobalt lines in the democratic republic of the congo parents of those killed say the companies have the means to her about the deaths. and while democrats vote to impeach trump the latest polls show the president's popularity has in fact been on the rise since the whole saga began but the commander in chief himself smelling blood in the water. this low is partisan speech is a political suicide bomb for the democratic party.

you're watching our to international bring you your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program. the russian president's annual q. and a session has wrapped up at the moscow world trade center spanning well over 4 hours this year a report in fielded questions on both domestic and international issues with the latest doping scandal and the impeachment proceedings against donald trump among the topics raised. has more. why does it rise to hear the essential i mentioned it is to the russian constitution that something the president who is talking about quite often well this time he did and even said that it could be a good idea to make changes to such images which should make sure that it allows all the nice employees eventually terms well why such a big deal this was a long

a reason for a public debate in russia actually since the year 2012 when vladimir putin was reelected for his 3rd term after a break when the president of russia was dmitri medvedev and here's what mr putin said about that in particular. what could be done is to cancel the 2 in a row amendment we have 2 terms in a row ules truly served 2 terms then resigned and had the constitutional right to return to the presidency because it was not 2 to lose in a row the amendment confuses some of our political scientists and public figures so we could be counselled she. was even asking what he believes could become his successor in a few years well we didn't get any answer to that although mr putin did hint that he believes that a woman could become the president of russia at some point most of the reporters in

that massive hole were from russia's regions which explains why a lot of questions were on domestic issues from the pension reform in russia to issues with medicine and so on and so forth but let me move on to something that's probably more interesting for an international audience that is the impeachment proceedings in the u.s. well a lot of our poll did say that he believes attempts to knock down donald trump won't succeed and also went on to say that he believes that the reasons for all these impeachment proceedings were actually invented it's just a continuation of political infighting one party that lost the elections the democratic party is working for results through other methods accusing trump of collusion with russia then it's discovered that there was no clues in that can't be the basis for impeachment now they've come up with pressure on ukraine i don't know

what's there your representatives have a better idea. but the russian president did get a question from the b.b.c. and it was well the usual about russia's alleged attempts to interfere and elections and politics altogether and other countries well here's what mr putin said. adding interference or not interference many times officials and their representatives from various countries including the u.k. made assessments about what's happening in russia mr putin believes that this doesn't count as interference and said that russia reserves the right to do the same in the opposite direction either part of the very same question from the british media was prime minister of course johnson carson only holds one sad some very harsh words to say about mr putin well this was the russian president's response this time it was. as for statements from certain people various political

figures about russia about me as the head of the country i've been used to treating this accordingly but i know what the interests of my country own and that it doesn't matter at all what anyone else says there is absolutely no value in comparing what they say with the fundamentalists which russia is interested in solving congratulations to boris johnson nevertheless he turned out to be the winner he understood the mood of the british people better when sure that his political influence but if you can. but on to the latest tensions between berlin and moscow that have to do with the murder of a georgian national in germany with a terrorist background while germany believes that russia is somehow involved in it even led to 2 russian diplomats being expelled from berlin while of lot of our putin denied any involvement and also went on to remind the audience again of the

terrorist background and all the brutal things that this man was previously involved in. but he used it upset in the can he was a criminal and a killer in one attack alone in the caucuses he killed 98 people in other countries they hold mornings there are many days where there are less victims and this is far from the full list of his evil actions and we raised this question multiple times in syria we see what is going on in the camps and jails where i still fight is being killed people from central asia russia in 2nd place but there are also many people from western europe from from from germany we see that these people terrorists move freely into european capitals so 1st questions about pressure on the russian media and european countries in particular in a stone age where there are some real issues with the russian sputnik news agency

the staff members of that news agency said that they were being pressured into leaving this particular outlet if they want to continue working in that country which a lot of our putin in response referred to as a real disgrace. what you do a lot all sorts of attempts to still pure activity can go unnoticed i'm very surprised because russia is always accused of all evils including pressure on independent media and they do the same that they accuse us of this is cynical government measures such as restrictions can't work because you will hold those who want to spoke to school between our countries we can't allow it you must try to work in those countries that are scared of your information. another grant of a lot of our program press conference is done and dusted for more of what he had to say you can also check out our website and social media pages.

u.s. tech giants among them apple microsoft and google are facing a lawsuit from numerous companies parents and children human rights groups accuse the companies of being complicit in the deaths of children who are working in cobalt mines and the company supply chains cobalt is in high demand as it's widely used and batteries for devices such as smart phones here are some of the testimonies from children who for legal reasons have all been given the same name warning you may find some of the upcoming images upsetting the chamber ceiling collapsed on people in a coal mine john doe fife was one of only 2 survivors john doe 3 was living in the mine area on his motorbike loaded with 3 bags of cobbled he was hit by a large cobbled transport truck and his leg was amputated after 2 weeks of working john doe well never was severely injured he was 14 years old when he was crushed in the mine the families and injured children are seeking compensation for forced labor negligence and emotional distress some also claim they suffered serious

injuries while crawling through tunnels and carrying heavy loads r.t. is saskia taylor has more. how far would you go to make your fortune hire a child a child kill a child these are the questions the world's most famous tech giants will be in court as part of the landmark legal case that's off to a 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 nature gadgets defendants ample google will microsoft tesla are knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children and democratic republic of congo to mine called 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 call gold mining in the d.r. see the case has been brought forward on behalf of 14 congolese families 6 of whom have lost children walking and mines the document makes 5 harrowing ranting with stories of broken spines paralysis and people buried alive and collapsed tunnels children as young as 6 forced to walk up to 24 hour shifts using tools the human rights group brandt's 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 a similar. in the elocution of income between the top of the supply chain and the bottom it's dad disconnect that makes this perhaps the worst injustice of slavery and child exploitation that i've seen in my 2 decades research what could be watch these lives through cobol apparently a metal that is essential to those in lithium batteries found in every smart 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 had no idea what was going on those

people in silicon valley can't be big readers than because this has been news before further the horrors of the plight of these children has been widely reported in the media defendants all 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 minors were over exposed to hazardous chemicals while walking with no protective gear and basic hand tools apple's 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 are 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 program cindy or seek to create the false impression that they have acted to prevent the known horrors of kobold 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 though of course as though 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 dedicated 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 serve so many users we always knew that we were losing our money how was of our life and our eyesight technology but how could we know it was costing lives too. we asked the companies in question for comment they said reports of misconduct are always investigated with appropriate action taken they also told us that they are

committed to being responsible when sourcing materials but we also heard from a journalist and the d r c the claims that companies know exactly what they're doing. this system is not good in congo and they are taking profits from this of course they nor. do most of the mining the mine coming from the cobalt or gold or any kind of minerals from the instant they nor the government is less territory or tribute directly to the death of 100 millions of people walking illegally kids walking illegally in the mine on 100 percent i think 80 percent of those minerals coming from illegal way in a very difficult area we can't even call it the blood minerals and they have a direct responsibility on those blood minute was because the i don't want to buy and they were using it but you know we do which could be sure those mining mine is

extracted from the us that is the place where we are talking about these people directly from the big companies. a 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 a victim of the 2017 manchester arena terror attack they were then asked to write an essay for homework responding to the viewpoint that all terrorists should be forgiven some parents were outraged i think this assignment is absolutely disgusting for all sorts 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 the school is teaching now with children. the school has since apologized and cancelled the assignment we discussed the issues raised with political commentator and new york observer columnist under walker and chief executive of the ramadan foundation u.k. hard to fake. for a victim's 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 told her diaper the teacher in our school 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 exercise of how illegitimacy is terrorism and their violence and saying 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 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 and we. 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 solomon the baby 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 margins. u.s. house democrats have stuck to their guns ultimately going ahead and impeaching donald trump he's accused of abuse of power and obstructing congress but the whole impeachment saga could backfire on the democrats as it appears to a republican support something the u.s. president has been quick to point out. the ace 230 the nasal

197 present is one. article one is adopting. this lawless hard assume is a political suicide march for the democratic party have you seen my pose of the last 4 weeks and trump may have a point 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 at the same time the number of people who think he should be impeached is declining from just over half in october to 46 percent now it's up to the republican dominated senate to decide whether to remove term from office however mitch mcconnell who leads the majority there says that's unlikely anticipates a partisan outcome 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

impeachment gentleman from georgia 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 amid fears the senate will throw out the impeachment case democrats have a plan b. when it comes to undermining donald trump they are ready to resort to some old tricks like the report explains. 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 60 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. 1st 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 enough now with that added to the pile to go forward guess the question is it seems that you were minimizing the role of the of this field 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 true and i didn't care and in fact he didn't care about the investigation at all in general i didn't know what they learned from the sub 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 while 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 beating a dead horse just let this russia stuff 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. israel has banned christians in gaza from visiting holy sites such as bethlehem and jerusalem during christmas the move will impact roughly 1200 people last christmas 700 were granted permits to travel to the holy cities also there was more. what christmas almost upon us some people's faced of plans are having to be aborted because of israel over this holiday season it's banned

christians in gaza from visiting some sites that for them embody exactly what christmas is about basically him which jesus christ was born and here in jerusalem where he preached was crucified and resurrected after consulting with all security bodies in israel it was decided that this year departure permits through the allenby crossing will be issued to garzon christians after christmas however it is important to emphasize that every request received from the palestinian civil committee in the gaza strip is checked individually and accepted after a security diagnosis procedure the move by these radio thirty's is unusual as typically commission is given every easter and christmas we have the petition for travel through the palestinian civil affairs ministry who in turn poses our applications to the israeli side with and wait for a long time to receive an obituary decision of approval or rejection without further explanation there are almost

a 1000 christians living in gaza if since hamas took control in gaza israel has cracked down on travel if a few are gazans are being given permission to make polygamy ages in 201-8700 were given permission to visit holy sites of a christmas this year the number is 0 the decision has been condemned by the israeli based organization which protects the rights of palestinian residents the persistent disrespect shown for the needs of the palestinian civilian population stands in violation of fundamental human rights and also points to an ongoing into speak ation of israeli separation policy between the 2 parts of the palestinian territory gaza and the west bank there's been little international reaction to the christmas ban for example the us state department which prides itself on protecting religious freedoms around the globe has remain. silent let's ask people here in jerusalem what they think about the ban do you think it's. because everybody should

be able to visit the holiest places and. to reach to the sickness and where wherever they want to be. even the christian nation the jews even the most stems many people do coming from there for christmas and don't do it to him back when it's a war place old that everybody in muslim and christian does suffer. because of the war saw it on the way it's not. it's not fair to be. deprived from your own religion and that's why. they are invading everything. including religion including your privacy including you believe christmas is supposed to be about bringing people together but israel it seems has turned it into an occasion to keep people apart. to loosen up. that's our global news right up for now but i'll be back at the top now with the latest thanks for

tuning in. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm showbusiness i'll see that. during the great depression which i'm old enough to remember there was most of my family were working. there wasn't it was bed you know much worse objective listen today but there was an expectation the things were going to get better. and there was a real sense of hopefulness there isn't today today's america where shaped by the turn principles of comes into. wealth and power. reduce democracy

attack solo doubt engineer elections manufacture consent and other principles according to no on chomsky one set of rules for the rich opposite. that's what happens when you put her into the. narrow sector of will which will is dedicated to increasing power for just as you'd expect one of the most influential intellectuals of our time speaks about the modern civilization of america. i am max kaiser this is the kaiser report max and stacey are on board as there is argentina i love it this country is phantasmagorical the people are extraordinary

the government and the social but maybe not so much particularly the central bank but let's go to this a little bit more detail stacey it doesn't matter if they have a central bank the fact is they are under the control of i.m.f. and the u.s. dollar so it doesn't matter or regardless the individual however could always have their sovereignty that is something that why we're here we're going to europe why in a few days and we're going to speak at a big conference between is pretty huge here and just to remind people we are in argentina even though max is wearing a coat and tie to let me know if it looks like a tie for of the flag of colombia and just to remind people that the g.d.p. in 2018 here was $518000000000.00 down from $637000000000.00 in 2017 that's mostly due to their currency falling they took a $57000000000.00 loan out from the i.m.f. of which about $44000000000.00 has been paid they did also issue in june of 2017

a 100 year bond and it was oversubscribed they sold $2750000000.00 worth at a 7.9 percent yield all those people are down by over half and into this situation so you know we are outsiders we're trying to observe what we see here and just be aware that you should do your own research of course because as difficult as an english speaker with out much spanish to know fully all of the players and what's going on here don't know what the a.t.m. fees it's like 10 percent and higher over 10 percent if it's a good $100.00 or whatever no because you're only allowed to take out $85.00 a day yeah and that's largely 10 percent yeah they charge me 11 dollars and 50 cents to take out that $85.00 i was thinking about interest rate apartheid because from a.