the syrian army pushes deeper into its lead 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 the research shows u.k. arms exports to the saudi led coalition in yemen have spiked in the last 5 years. of broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us right now the syrian military is fighting to reclaim the country's last rebel on claims in

a weeklong ground offensive in the province government forces have displaced islamist fighters from around 40 villages but campaign is causing concern in western capitals as artie's broadcasting of comments speed awhile since asaad made headline news it's been everyone but him america selling out its allies and pilfering syrian oil for 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 a part of a new ground offensive by syrian government forces. russian backed government forces up intensified their bombing campaign well of all out i will go to the camps near the turkish border to escape from us 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 and 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 is ruled by a high at the shop 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 it's 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. under the supervision of the terrorist 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 as sad wins. the military operation in neatly province is in line with the policy goals set by bashar al assad we aim is to liberate the entire territory of the syrian arab republic. 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 the stuff 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 e.u. emissions targets and the plans are already proving highly unpopular as are his

shoulda been reports now from paris. that's pricing start being wrapped from under the christmas tree is the french government has given its citizens a gift that they may want to return its 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 may 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 because the government can tax the citizens but eventually they will have no choice but to protest it's unfair 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 france 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. and actually cars why not it's a good we can use them in our country and 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 points for a lecture 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 census is the same as with cycling's in germany we're a long way behind we have to develop cycle lanes and we have to develop charging stations. are the vehicles in front seem to be developed but that's not the case with on 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 is set to steeply roys they may feel that there is no other choice. paris. meanwhile the u.k. is trying to cut the vehicle emissions by introducing electric cars for the police force that story still to come in the program but. 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 the u.s. president said we have the majority so while the process gathers pace artie's ask you taylor invites you for a rather cheeky 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 clearly 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 not to post he also 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 off the wall then if politicians uncharacteristically locate their moral compass and decide no one is above the law center in no one is above the law president terms continued actions with the rule of law. in 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 and 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 chill 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 or 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 business i did not have sexual relations of hoofs on a 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 but we all know it's unlikely to lead to any i mean even donalds that he broke a sweat i don't feel like i'm being impeached and why would he show up 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 is carney controlled by the republicans making not a bit of a long shot maybe not need to finally recognize that shouting impeachment what use

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. well there has been a sharp rise in u.k. weapons sales to saudi arabia over the past 5 years but that 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 in 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 now

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 on promoting legitimate and responsible trading conventional arms it remains a unique and valuable instrument ruth kantor from oxfam told us of the u.k. is in clear violation of the arms pact. when the arms trade treaty came into effect and the u.k. was a real champion of that treaty unfortunately sales to countries that we in yemen are party to not war in yemen actually increased and i think this is been a signal. here yemen world's worst humanitarian crisis right now and the u.k. and far from kind of living up to the treaty and and the word is that treaty

has has continued to so countries involvement country where we know international tammy know is has been disregarded. and with pressure mounting the british government has had to put on sales to saudi arabia on hold in june the court of appeal said that they were unlawful and made without assessing if the gulf state had violated humanitarian law in yemen the government is expected to appeal the decision in the supreme court saudi arabia's intervention in yemen started in 2015 it to fight who the rebels who they see as terrorists however the level of civilian casualties in the conflict have caused global warming.

towner went on to tell us that there is a 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 and that there's been consistent violations 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 what that there was a pattern of violation in that violation and it was clear that so i find that tight

that that system will be a pallet and i think it's. you know very sad that the government have had to try and chosen to appeal this decision and wish to continue to sell weapons that have been used in a war that is causing so untold profits and high destruction fed the people of yemen. young echo activists in germany have been accused of disrespecting their elders that's right much more still to come in the program to start international. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy to. let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic looking only. i don't see how that strategy will be successful. to sit down

and talk. 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. genocide and other cases of genocide. that we're talking about issues 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. you know. in this particular case of the.

international police forces trying to go green by switching to electric cars but the plans have hit some obstacles as are only 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 desire 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 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 our bishop a target to cut all of their vehicle emissions to 0 by 2050 a politician should be checking always. ensure the public has but leave for money because truly the money is very much needed are in place also across the country to. share with all all sorts of crime she just always had

to improve and. credential or start to be a. not suitable for heights. all progress action. so if there is a sub electric cars have proved in effect of this in other countries in september police in the us were forced to give up a chase with suspected crooks in the back in their test the 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 if 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 to join us as for me i could or an embassy in london ont he. picks up the story. of the crime and the punishment the guardian newspaper gave and misleading pression to readers and

was forced to clarify that it's 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 kill expounder taken out of ecuador's 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 do 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. it's described several of the paper's assertions as falls and defamatory r.t. talk to him they talk about secret talks of russian diplomats in london and they have trained me us this past contact. the kremlin in order to execute some kind of blocked that's why i feel 'd. their article needed to be challenge. and i myself need to have an apology from the guardian apology there happen but did review panel has. decided and has ruled that the article was indeed misleading breach in 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 still says that russian diplomats. secret talks in london in order to help julian assange to flee the embassy that's not true finally enough one of the journalists who penned the piece luke harding was behind and nother controversial article published by their guarding that piece also published last year claimed that the old transcom pain manager paul mann a 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 nigh rise has called the latest corrections he

story journalistic fiasco for the guardian for again publishing false information that's not the only article there's a pattern and by the same mouth those are the same out there there's a pattern they have accused you know of spying into the embassy they have. several articles which i mentioned in my complaint. as a pattern from the same journalese which i think have disgraced the newspaper and 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 a youth environmental group has caused outrage with a message on social media directed at older people now fridays for future germany

posted a tweet saying why do our grandparents keep lecturing us every year they will soon be gone and german politicians including the environment ministry were quick to fight back. i don't think you are doing yourself any favors with this tweet you can 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 g.t. 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 about does it for me to be back with more news at the top the hour this is r t international. stacey

are 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. the . same camera can use to smash someone's head is the same hammer i can use to build them a home but that's a human choosing what to do with me expressing my values for the tool and that's what we need to do with artificial intelligence as well. as of today there are good and bad the bad those in the united states deems to be the good. 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 the right way military funding and arming death squads there's no. more because there's always a small people really could. profit. greetings and salutations the end is here hawk watchers of the year i mean it's the end of the year and as we sit down with family and friends for annual season of holidays and good cheer waiting to ring in the new year it is important to take a moment or 2 take a moment or 2 and look back at what was the year that came before this day what

took place around the world in our nation and our lives during those 300 some odd days that brought us to this very moment well today on the show we will do just that we will take some time to examine just a sampling from some of the biggest stories we covered all year long i mean we've got protesters aplenty from france hong kong to haiti all with the fires of change in their hearts some more celebrated some were shamed and some were tragically ignored by the world on a world scale and speaking of protesters you couldn't find a bigger cause than those carrying the banner of the extinction rebellion those brave souls who shut down streets glued themselves to capitol hill hallways and starved just to shake people in the recognizing the grim meat hook reality that is our climate change future and who could talk about the big news of 2019 and market not talk about the apprehension the controversial demise of billionaire pedophile and sex trafficker geoffrey epstein the political elites man with the little black

book the man who owned an island built on sand with a trail of bren's in accomplices that includes 2 presidents and a prince. 2019 also brought us real time looks at how the united states flexes its foreign policy in latin america through manipulated headlines jack ryan t.v. shows and brilliantly covert regime change operations that are no longer kerber overt and not really brilliant it's all that and a whole lot more as we take a few moments to reflect on the year that was watching the hawks in 2019. it looks like. this would be. the bottom. just. like you that i got. with. the.