the syrian army pushes deeper into it leave the province forcing extremist fighters from dozens of villages. the french government introduces a new tax on s.u.v.s and trucks in its battle to reduce carbon emissions. and research shows u.k. arms exports to the saudi led coalition in yemen have spiked in the last 5 years. our broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us all right now the syrian military is fighting to reclaim the country's last a rebel enclave in a weeklong ground offensive in italy province government forces have displaced islamist fighters from around 40 villages but the campaign is causing concern in

western capitals as are comments. made headline news it's been everyone but him america selling out its allies and pilfering syrian oil. bullying claims of bias that the u.p.c. w. but no last until now. thousands of syrians forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives as hundreds of ground and air strikes hit the region of it live overnight something as day part of a new ground offensive by syrian government forces. russian backed government forces up intensified the bombing campaign while of course i will go to the camps near the turkish border to escape from and rockets the syrian military has been a bit of a role capturing a slew of villages and towns and media days of course whenever that happens the media his opponents exploded in outrage same thing every time we want

a peaceful resolution we want talks we want. we want we want we want with do with al qaida. it live is ruled by a high at the sharm an offshoot of al qaida h.g.'s feeds on war and drinks violence it turned deadly into a cesspool of zealots and fanatics mercenaries and foreign jihad just on a world tour i mean the fact that it was where they found the founder of isis it's the safest place you could find kind of gives it away and h.t.s. refuses any negotiation with the syrian government are you seeing the issue here

how do you get a peaceful resolution when one of the biliteral is a homicidal maniac that just wants to cut your head off in the name of god or interest lies in killing the terrorist in order to protect the civilians not leaving those civilians you know. under the supervision of the target and being killed by a bit of the issue here is refugees for now civilians have fled from the immediate war zone but they have to do somewhere in the safest place for now is north. look 50000 people are once again coming from egypt to our lands we already have 4000000 people and now another 50000 are coming and this main crease even further russian and turkish diplomats are in overdrive trying to manage what's happening and prepare for what's to come it is absolutely clear that the status quo is over

america selling out its allies and camping out in oil fields turkey diluting kurdish territories with arab refugees and now the last islamist stronghold if it falls it will mean the end of the syrian civil war it will mean asaad wins. the military operation in neatly province is in line with the policy goals set by bashar al assad the aim is to liberate the entire territory of the syrian arab republic that. it is their right to clear and to extend the. sovereign the fear of the state in days. off their territory is what they're doing at present sooner or later i believe that the syrian army will expose these people from from being flippant from bent out of the syrian territory and i

don't think that it is this sort of pull from mali it may be difficult it may take some time but sooner or later they are going to be expelled from from the syrian territory understandably those who spent billions fled in syria with weapons and ammo with fighters and propaganda they don't want that to happen so certainly logical for them to insist on impossible talks so long as he's wasting his time waiting for the other side to pick up the phone the turks can continue colonizing northern syria the americans can continue pumping out its oil we're now at the last domino and it's. already fall. the french government is preparing to introduce a tax hike on vehicles with high fuel consumption to meet the latest even missions targets and the plans are already proving highly unpopular as archie's troll dubinsky reports now from pairs. that's pricing in sa being wrapped from under the

christmas tree is the french government has given its citizens a gift that they may want to return it's past a new law to increase taxes on s.u.v.s and trucks meaning that vehicles that pollute the most will pay you more than 2020 the new pollution tax will come with a $20000.00 euro price tag that's up from the current $12.00 and a half 1000 you raise it's no doubt that s.u.v.s are heavy polluters but despite that they are still popular in france making up some 30 percent of sales in the 1st 11 months of 2019 so want to drive us in paris make of the tax hike even a. it's true that those vehicles consume a lot but people have to get around people who work every day when they need those types of vehicles for warmth it's be true there is no other way to earn money. everything's increasing in price nowadays and we've seen the whole country on strike the government can tax the citizens but eventually they will have no choice

but to protest something there in france you have to pay and pay and pay taxes are rising while salaries a stay in the same new tax comes on top of already tough new measures are to european level to lower car emissions many governments are pushing people in the direction of boy electric cars which is seen as being greener and better for the environment but at the same time the french government is actually considering reducing cash incentives for new electric cause perhaps not great news for those who are thinking of buying one from also plans to ban fossil fuel cars within the next 20 years in paris they could be banned in the next 10 years to do people here feel that they are being pushed by higher taxes vehicles that use traditional fuel towards electric cars. it's a natural progression that was seen one which will. more and more electric cars.

electric cars why not it's a good we can use them in our country if the government helps us to buy electric cars why not but otherwise it prefer to drive my car even if it pollutes it's not that bad and there are other concerns was many people say they want to be green charging point spread like vehicles are still not widespread while still in paris there are plenty of around the city elsewhere that's not always the case you for your world don't we need to have enough places to recharge them in addition to service senses is the same as with cycling's in germany or a long way behind we have to develop cycle lanes and we have to develop charging stations. or the vehicles in front seem to be developed but that's not the case with these yet there are one france even the president doesn't set a good example travels by car while we travel by food by bicycle by scooter so it seems there are still many mental barriers for people even thinking about buying

electric cars but as the cost of taxes on fossil fuel vehicles are set to steeply roys they may feel that there is no other choice. altie paris. meanwhile the u.k. is trying to cut vehicle emissions by introducing electrical cars for the police force that story still to come in the program. donald trump seems to be enjoying his christmas claiming he is in a very good position ahead of a trial in the senate speaking to reporters in florida on tuesday he said we have the majority so while the process gathers pace taylor has a very cheeky look and invites you to an impeachment drinking. disclaimer if you're not 18 change channels and those 18 plus is out drink responsibly 3 months ago 3 long months ago the impeachment inquiry against donald trump was announced and now

the house of representatives a say in my go for a double whammy and impeach trump for a 2nd time if more evidence comes to light so since we're a kid in it for a while yet and it's christmas off to roll we've come up with a little bit of a libation based game pick a drink. so let's lay down the rules if ok when trump takes a swipe at knott's pelosi all says that it's all a witch hunt bottoms up but slow and steady wins the race let's make it a half he does that a lot after war then if politicians uncharacteristically locate their moral compass and decide no one is above the law center then no one is above the law president terms continued actions but the rule of law is that america no one is above the law we vote to defend the constitution and our democracy so that the president trump and every future president would know that they are not above the law now the stakes if a republican admits the troubles maybe probably protect you just

a little bit naughty drain that just joking that's never going to happen but for any republican who steps forward to defend his needa to it is because if that has been one moment of clarity in this whole saga it's about 2 camps if you blew your about the memory impeachments hash tag if you'll read you'll probably be reporting the hash tag and seeing red ok so if a journalist got a bit tipsy at the christmas party and betrayed the oath of objectivity sally looked and if said journalist is bitter and thinks that writing trump equals bad articles is a good cover for his bias so i'm take a and before i forget if anything to do with mother russia sneaks a mention. that might be the one to tip you over the. letter you know friend primary objectives within the united states is just so as to foment unrest for their nation or t. is putin's propaganda machine here in the united states i think you've got the gist

but in case you were in any doubt any mention of a quid pro quo it's a simple question yes or no i don't recall bribery britain i did not have sexual relations of. speech meant but seriously i wasn't joking about the dems gunning for a 2nd impeachment if that is. they managed to wring out evidence suggesting that trump somehow obstructed the investigation that we all know it's unlikely to lead to any i mean even donald that he broke a sweat i don't feel like i'm being impeached and why would he sure the democrat controlled house of representatives composite as many impeachment articles as they want but the senate also needs to sign off on booting the president from the white house and the senate with carney controlled by the republicans making not a bit of a long shot maybe not need to finally recognize that shouting impeachment what is trumped the election quite the opposite in fact it seems america actually quite nice this particular dog probably why they chose him and the fast pace goodness

that was exhausting my need to drink. there has been a sharp rise in u.k. weapon sales the saudi arabia over the past 5 years this is despite britain having signed up to a treaty banning arms exports to countries that abuse human rights the increase has been calculated by oxfam which says it is deeply concerned over the way the weapons have been used in the conflict in yemen according to the charity in the 5 years since the arms trade treaty came into force the u.k. has licensed sales worth nearly 6 and a half 1000000000 pounds to 8 members of the saudi coalition 5 years before the agreement took effect britain sold 4400000000 pounds worth of weapons to those countries the arms trade treaty was adopted on christmas eve in 2014 a total of $105.00 states have ratified the accord and a further $33.00 have signed up the treaty aims to regulate the arms trade to prevent human suffering back in 2014 the british government was keen to stress its

importance. the a.t.t. is the only legally binding treaty regulating i'm promoting legitimate and responsible trading conventional arms he remains a unique and valuable instrument ruth turner from oxfam told us that the u.k. is in the clear violation of the arms pact. when the arms trade treaty came into effect. as a real champion of that treaty unfortunately those 2 countries that we in yemen know party to not war in yemen are actually increased and i think this is safe no the. year yemen world's worst humanitarian crisis right now and the u.k. and far from kind of living up to treaty in and the word is that treaty has has continued to so countries involvement country where we know international tami know is has been disregarded. and with

a pressure mounting the british government has had to put on sales of saudi arabia on hold in june the court of appeals said that they were on lawful and made without assessing if the gulf state had violated humanitarian law in yemen or the government is expected to appeal the decision in the supreme court saudi arabia's intervention in yemen started in 2015 to fight who the rebels who they see as terrorists however the level of civilian casualties in the conflict have caused global warming.

so. ruth tanner went on to tell us that there is clear evidence riyadh has committed human rights violations in yemen and that the u.k. must stop selling arms to the saudis. the evidence is really i have a well meaning. that there's been consistent violation of international law and and as you say the case was really clear. that the government needed to you know if it was going to continue to license weapons had to be clear about that there was a pattern of violation and that violation was clear so i find that height that will be a pal and i think it's. you know very sad that the government have to have try and chosen to appeal this decision and wish to continue to sell weapons that would be

nice to know that is causing untold. destruction fed the people of yemen young eco activists in germany have been accused of disrespecting their elders that story and much more still to come this is our 2 international. acts and stacey our continuing our south american tour and as you can see behind me we are in rio de janeiro oh my god so beautiful so much going on this is a country in transition. i'm not one who will ever argue that there are worthy and unworthy victims it's also important to also distinguish the fact that whenever we have a crime. of genocide and other cases of genocide that's that we're talking

about issues of confronting it acknowledging it and injustice and reparations for it are important it is important to confront the crimes wherever they happen but it shouldn't be means to dilute you know the experience of. in this particular case of the i feel. about this is r.t. international now the u.k. police force is trying to go green by switching to electric cars but the plans have hit some obstacles as. explains. imagine being

a criminal in london and you have c.c.t.v. numberplate detectors police patrols and more to keep the peace if you need to escape the police it might not be the easiest thing to do but one thing might be working in criminals favor increasingly police forces are adopting the use of electric cars and that means they may not be able to keep up with. vehicles that are less damaging to the environment are struggling to cope with the arduous needs of emergency service autonomous driving and safety systems are not conducive to pursuit or response driving and even if the electric police cars could keep up they might not last very long because the batteries they use would soon run out plug in electric cars do not have adequate range and they take too long to charge up which is a significant challenge the motivation behind the deployment of these cars is desired by the police to be more eco friendly figures from 30 police forces across

the country show that 448 green vehicles have been leased or bought by the police at a cost of around a $1000000.00 and a half pounds but now it's being reported that the vehicles are only being used for a lot of agencies and for police officials to travel around before they were being used in. patrol situations and the metropolitan police have set themselves and i'm bishop target to cut all of their vehicle emissions to 0 by 2050 a politician should be checking always. ensure the public has buddy for money because truly the money is very much needed are in place also has across the country to. share with all all sorts of crime she just always had to improve and. credential or start to be a strange not citizen all for heights. cherry shoes will.

clearly they conquer your highness it's only the cause of prove they're in effect in this in other countries in september police in the u.s. were forced to give up a chase with suspected crooks when the battery in their tesla police vehicle went dead british police are making a noble effort in the war on climate change but the cost could be a price to pay in the war on crime sally r.t. . britain's guardian newspaper has been forced to to amend an article it published last year about russia's role in an alleged plot to extract a join a song from the ecuadorian embassy in london artie's moran picks up the story for us. the crime and the punishment the guardian newspaper gave a misleading pression to readers and was forced to clarify that its article was well something that you might be tempted to call fake news the piece in question published in september last year claimed that russia had

a secret christmas plot to smuggle julian assange out of the ecuadorian embassy in london to moscow a tentative plan was devised that would have seen that we call expounder taken out of london embassy in a diplomatic biko and transported to another country one ultimate destination multiple sources have said was russian the involvement of russian officials in hatching what was described as a basic plan raises new questions about a san just ties to the kremlin but they investigate which was led by a high profile panel of academics and journalists and last 13 months found that the authors got carried away with some of their claims the plan in relation to mr sanders ability to be able to leave they could door an embassy was not devised to instigated by russia there was nothing illicit about the plan as described in the article the investigation was triggered by a formal complaint from the former consul of ecuador 3 they'll not

a virus or described several of the papers assertions as falls and defamatory r.t. talked to him they talk about secret talks of russian diplomats in london and they have put trained me us this past contact me in. the kremlin in order to execute some kind of plot that's why i feel 'd. their article needed to be challenge. and i myself. and then to have an apology from the guardian apology there happen but their review panel house. decide. and has ruled that the article was indeed misleading reaching the heart of conduct of the press in the united kingdom but i'm not completely satisfied with the correction the other thing is

that they have not being. amended does the article it still says that. the. secret talks in london in order to help julian assange chiefly the embassy that's not true finally enough one of the journalists who penned the piece luke harding was behind another controversial article published by the garding that piece also published last year claimed that the old transcom pain manager paul mann of ford had held secret talks with a son to an ecuadorian embassy somehow one of the most surveyed places on earth didn't manage to capture any evidence of that alleged high profile visit the guardian didn't attract the story but detained the headline shift in the responsibility to its sources mr no rise has called the latest corrections he story journalistic fiasco for the guardian for again publishing false information that's not the only article does

a pattern by the same mouth or that the same author there's a pattern they have accused of buying into the embassy they have. several articles which i mentioning in my complaint. as a pattern from the same journalese which i have disgraced the newspaper in his complaint mr not a virus accuses journalists of hiding behind confidential sources the article indeed cited various sources and it seems by sources they probably meant their imagination. meanwhile in germany in germany or youth environmental. has caused outrage with a message on social media directed at older people or friday's for future germany posted a tweet saying why do our grandparents keep lecturing us every year it will soon be gone german politicians including the environment ministry were quick to fire back

. i don't think you are doing yourself any favors with this tweet you can't get crazy every time you get any criticism and constantly demand more respect then throw a tantrum it undermines your legitimate concerns climate protection is everyone's concern and as a social gizzi for every generation tasteless i'm glad that the majority of young people in germany do not think this way we must be respectful to other generations and not only during christmas after the backlash the activists issued an apology saying it was meant as a joke. that does it for me this i'll be back in about 33 and a half minutes with another look at your news this is our international. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us of the

world of politics sport that's less i'm showbusiness i'll see of that. taxes are not going to do it and you have to go right to the root of things that's assets and debts at the balance sheet balance sheets is what they should talk about and that's where we can be clear because taxation is the dom why of trying to get the wealth back from the from the wealthy. today there are good terrorists and bad edits the bad terrorists and those in yemen who the united states deems to be a threat the good of those who work in syria the cia and the u.s. military were engaged in covert actions really throughout the world. where they were assassinating populist leaders they were backing up right wing military funding an army of death squads there's no any more because there's always

a small people for really good that's. a profit. oh look.

there's a boom box broadcasting around the world and covering all aspects of our global economy in the 21st century i'm been sworn and i'm christiane washington we've got special show focusing on the energy sector and here's what we have coming up the north going to pipeline which is set to transport natural gas from russia to germany it's facing sanctions from the us our correspondent. will break it down for us and boiled bankruptcies are up and prices are moving what does the forecast look like for 2020 well break it down to take a look at the state of the clean energy sector and world will go in 2020 with carson slocum from public citizen so much to get you on the fraud so let's get right to it. germany has been critical of washington's decision to sanction companies in europe's north stream to gas pipeline project as unacceptable chancellor angela merkel says that germany is against any extra territorial sanctions the measures may prove to be a major setback for the transatlantic relations meanwhile in russia the move is

seen as an attempt to counter the country's energy project and promote america's own economic interests are t.v. . reports from moscow. on tuesday the u.s. senate approved the national defense authorization act for next year it's a record $738000000000.00 military budget more than $700000000.00 has been allocated to contain russia among other things it obliges that ministration to impose sanctions on russia's north stream to and stream gas pipelines and approves military aid to ukraine the white house opposes the construction of north stream to believing that the project will give russia leverage over the foreign policy of european countries plan to promote its liquefied natural gas in the pipeline if completed would make europe even more dependent on russian energy would generate billions of dollars for putin billions of dollars.