oh. the wealthiest u.s. presidential candidate multi-billionaire michael bloomberg and miss his team used prison labor to make campaign calls. also this hour here wedding in protest ballet dancers in paris join the demonstrations against proposed pension reforms which could see their retirement age from 42 to 64. and while the united states is in the throes of an opioid epidemic many african states have been suffering from chronic shortages a prescription pain killers look at how an ambitious project and one that is turning the situation around.

here watching are to international bring your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program. there was democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg has admitted his campaign made use of prison labor although the billionaire claims he was unaware it was happening his team hired a firm to drum up support for his 2020 a lecture and run which in turn employed female inmates to call voters and promote his message we learned about this when the reports of which as soon as we discovered which friend done this we immediately ended our relationship with the company and the people who hire them imagine being so reach you have people who have people who have prism was to do stuff for you. reach you don't even bother to check what you are spending really ends of dollars on. rita reading we sad indeed when we learn a vendor of a vendor of a vendor use prison labor we did know about it and we never would have allowed it

we don't believe in this practice and we immediately stopped working with pro com and the people who hired them so how do you do it pay someone to pay someone to tell them my bloomberg is a big spender he was last to do in the presidential race and he has already outspent all the other democrat candidates on campaign advertising i mean the guy has so much money he doesn't seem to have the time to check what he spent a good dog but there's credit michael bloomberg did promise america more work just to. get it. for president jobs creator. right america more jobs even if you don't particularly want them it makes it much more than you were told to work you have to you'll be punished sometimes they pay you as much as $20.00

a month that's right $20.00 a month now here's the irony mike bloomberg billionaire one of the richest people in america was essentially paying for what is a slave labor to cool people to apparently tell them that he's a good guy wait the bloomberg is he was paying someone to pay someone to tell everyone what a good guy he is trump says he wants to run the nation like he's running is business god help us. everybody says stuff that comes back to bite them but when billionaires do it it's generally an order of magnitude more creamed it gets worse the further you dig when he launched his campaign his media bloomberg news sent out a letter to thousands of its journalists pledging to uphold. it's principle of not investigating it's own this is the sort of person mike is mike bloomberg started as

a middle class kid who had to work his way through college and built a business from a single room to a global entity creating tens of thousands of could paying jobs along the way to stop there he could've he probably should've but he didn't let me continue he became richer year after year he made really a selling bank is new to christie priced products all gadgets the same bankers who through unbridled greed set off the 20085 actual crash the province tens of millions of people of whom as of life savings and jobs. michael bloomberg the president. investigative journalist dave lindorff believes that despite bloomberg vast wealth he is not a particularly strong candidate. it really shouldn't be acceptable for anybody liberal or conservative to use prison labor it's forced labor bloomberg is a multibillionaire he's worth like $54000000000.00 he's made his money by you know

not paying attention to things like that. that he's not concerned about the little guy. which i guess becomes you know if you're if you're supposedly a democrat you're concerned about the little guy and. enormous a packer see it a big problem because i think it's going to hurt him a lot i don't know where people get the idea that bloomberg is the great savior for democrats in the race in the race to give strength he has almost no poll support all he has is money. billionaires have not traditionally done that well running for office it's. you know you got to have money to run for president but when you have that much money i think that most people are pretty suspicious of your motives in running for office. well parts of the western world and are an opioid addiction crisis many african nations are struggling to get enough legal medication to

relieve the pain of patients. i did. it. before getting morphine the baby was in the in and she was not even able to take the medication because a pain. we've

both been in management. human rights if people are dying in pain in the country and that is not the human rights. crisis that has featured far fewer headlines with. international attention is the non-medical use of the painkiller tramadol particularly now for go. control is a substance of growing concern particularly in north central and west africa regions of africa now account for 87 percent of pharmacies cry proces worldwide and

not the recent rises jew almost entirely. it's a trafficking and. i listen. to me shit it's only. the numbers are stark the international narcotics control board says the majority of all morphine used is consumed by just 17 percent of the world's population who live in western parts of the world at the same time african and asian countries can only satisfy a tiny fraction of their medical needs political analyst also under burner says at the end of the day it's all about money. herman suitable companies are businesses big businesses with many salaries to pay they need and a lot of them are listed in the stock market in other words they have shareholders they have to take care of so because these western companies are focused on the expensive medicines they've reduced the bill of building and demand for the natural

keep wants that's why the subject of morphine again is such a not just controversial it's unusual it's something that people don't talk about very much it's sad to say it cynical but life stick a 2nd seat to profits and earnings and the the entire capitalist system contributes to that it's always a matter especially since in the last 25 years. stock market performance has taken precedence over everything else. with a national strike in france or proposed pension reforms heading into its 4th week a dance troupe in paris stepping out of the theatre and onto the streets to make their feelings clear.

and to the point what the girls have shown you with swan lake is 15 years of sacrifice and it's daily work every day every morning and there is a limit to how long it's possible to remain at that level if you want to continue to see pretty dancers on stage they can't go on until they're 64 it's not possible and perhaps the most beautiful protest at paris this step but i don't see what actions behind them they had bad right. check the date jan 8th you are now the latest to seek work over pension report by the french government this strike is now into its 4th week in that show of support you sign up and think according to process independent pension advisory committee despite our pension system this being a sustainable this is the only way to like i mentioned that basically at least the

system now forms a definite will write its importance and until it arrives in the next. nothing that needs done while the focus may be on france right now our time of crisis is a global problem some like it slowed ticking to find out if the baby boom but chip ration continues to retype pension systems across the world a straining on the price of costs as a result other countries see the been slowing raising that a time or warning of soaring up pension checks since the problem is that the demographics have changed in 1906 when the system was invented you had people paying for one pension and today you've got 1.7 people going to one's attention to circles that is completely unsustainable so it needs to be resoldered i basically i think you've got all these demonstrations of people saying yes but not yet you know not now i don't want to be the best one to to have the worst

situation so it's clear that the world right now would want as. more money to retire on well not so fast according to process independent pensions advice committee this is the see all the situation is that perhaps it's doing is the clintons government this means testing it's own findings showed that the overall cost of the front suspension system has in fact stabilized even with d.c. and that huge deficit government is being warning that that could just be a blip shrinking down to 5000000000 you raise by 2030 so this. ism is a representative for the public government one of its 1st measures role was to suppress a tax on words mccoist is called by the french the president of the rich but if you tax bill you know so you must not forget to add an exchange controls in order to occur for tax evasion because there is

a lot of the leniency with specs evasion in this country but very very few people trudge people want this new feudal american style dystopia that is the very program of president franklin but i don't want that absolutely new days of strike action have already announced it wants this standoff to unions and it's doing in the meantime artists. are determined to see it beat to scare away that. meanwhile dance is helping one teacher and garner get his students to study harder and story airs here on friday on r.t.e. . you know very. well whether we live it out now cause.

i love to die is because it makes me happy this is a story from guyana about people who just love to die and my name is percy i'm not on social media mr jackson. sr i'm 25 yes i live in a local i'm a trainee teacher. from . true but of course. he wants to bring into every classroom in the world.

with britain yet to free itself from the european union and the brics that process dragging on some have decided to take matters into their own hands and split from brussels themselves at least in the grocery aisles. most emotions to see if these taste any better tried brussels sprouts.

this problems have the right to their own identity they are from yorkshire so there . i'm self identifying as a yorkshire sprout in solidarity even though i'm from lancashire they're one with you in a sprout. you're sure sprouts taste really nice and they're cute in the salty tears remainer. many of our customers are interesting knowing where the food comes from lincolnshire sprouts lincolnshire sprouts because they're from lincolnshire. brown circle yorkshire sprouts because they're from yorkshire many of our customers like to know them. still to come australia continues to burn with record breaking temperatures and

wildfires but the prime minister has been out defending the coal industry seen by environmentalists as they were a cause of the climate emergency details on that story and more after this short break. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics. i'm showbusiness i'll see that. i'm the 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's that we're talking about issues confronting it and injustice and reparations for it are important it

is important to confront the crimes wherever they happen but it shouldn't be a means to. you know the experience of. in this particular case of. welcome back u.s. sanctions the doping scandal surrounding russian athletes and britain's exit from the e.u. those are just a few of the topics we've been discussing with the russian economic development minister if you watch the year end round up after this bolton and throughout the day here and i to you but for now here's a quick taste. what

we believe in that the problems within you that it's teaching shane that are very long term in the church so we see more conflicts not only in treaty here but it can happen in many other areas what i would like to attract the attention to is the problem of the extra territorial sanctions coming from the united states and it's you know it big problem for the ward as a whole it's being named as a problem not only from oh save the review from the european save my view is that the clean athletes should be able to be present on the global audience because it will be fair for them. just for you to see it in the chair relax and which is a very good story and so you know already it can go for you know serial which lasts

for a. deadly forest fires in southeast australia have been raging for almost 2 months now with firefighters facing extreme conditions against them a record heat wave where temperatures predicted to stay in the high thirty's to 40 celsius over the weekend and into early next week 5000000 have dacres of land have been burned nationwide over the past few months 9 people have lost their lives and more than 950 homes have been destroyed smoke from the forests have blanketed the country's largest city sydney air pollution there has crossed the critical mark sometimes 11 times higher than the life threatening threshold. on saturday environmental activists rallied in sydney to condemn their prime minister's decision to take vacation all parts of the country were engulfed by bushfires many of those gathered were also calling for stronger action to fight climate change here's what scott morrison had to say about the situation. a

struggle is taking action on climate change what we want to is engage in reckless and job destroying an economy crunching targets which is being seeking to be postured to us at the moment graeme sawyer from the australian association for environmental education believes the government is putting industry 1st we've always had farmers but we've never had fires like these and part of the issue is really bad environmental policy over a long period of time on which is allowed the country to get out of out of shape i think the big reason why they're defending the coal industry is because the coal industry over many many years is bored so very close to government and a lot of money supporting governments got a little lobbyist and stuff working with governments on these issues the real issue i think is that they get a significant amount of revenue from the coal industry jobs in the call industry not that significant when you look at the industries across the whole economy it

seems to be an excuse to me i mean they're not showing any great signs of caring about the environment so i think there's a lot of people in this country who are being given to be quite couple by the fires and the really big issue is going to be how bad it is while the end of march. with less than a week left of 2019 let's start taking a look at the year just gone a playboy and art is online serious and case you missed it. as i see why mine is guide to the year that was january got brazil off on the right wing tracked when this guy nationalist. naro was sworn in as president of south america's largest nation a hostile takeover was launched at the start of 2019 in venezuela when this guy one guy go challenge the authority of the elected mr. surprise surprise quite i had the backing of the u.s. and its allies the planned benevolent regime change didn't work out in cities

across france the yellow vest movement continue to bash things out every weekend demanding that the french president emmanuel build them an economically rosy future instead march saw a brutal acts of terror and take place in new zealand when a psycho right wing not into a mosque in. life streamed the manager of tens of innocent civilians on face moving into april wiki leaks julian assange toft out of london's ecuadorian embassy and the west by british police in was going to be. all evictions the world was shocked when paris is not true don cathedral the home of the hunchback from that disney film fell victim to a fire that store its roof collapse and this moment was probably peak 2019 a comedian with no political experience and literally had played the role of an

ordinary man who accidentally becomes president was elected president of ukraine 2019 brought us an escalating us china trade war donald trump employees. of chinese that exports and washington especially blacklisted one away the chinese target giant major threats to aapl the gulf was getting tense for a chain. ainge inmate's iran announced that it would stop complying with parts of the 2015 iranian nuclear deal i'm going to start enriching you radium again while in indiana and then run for mayor d one a 2nd time as prime minister by a landslide in india's general election in june the orange one touched down in london by the phone royal treatment just 3 days later after 3 years of failing to deliver bragg's its u.k. prime minister to resign may officially threw in the towel and all traces of

civility she now sees the process the poisoned chalice of brags that someone else. citizens of hong kong started hitting the streets in precedented numbers angered by a chinese extradition law and there's still less than the summer news lol was interrupted by news of the death of a famous bananas and establishment sleazeball jeffrey at the guy with secrets about everyone had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges but he was mysteriously found data in his jail cell in new york triggering conspiracy theories go along all . of us to the end of the summer and holly will take us through the rest of 2019 soon if you want to watch probably unleashed on the headline stories of the year look up in case you missed it on you tube or at our to dot com. that's our global news wrap up for now but i'll be back at the top of the hour with the latest thanks for tuning in.

is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being so. direct. what is true what is faith. in a world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. for a mate in the shallows. paxson

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 transition. this is this is a stick from the water bottle phone in the stomach of a fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers there are the bad was there the litter bugs are throwing this away industry should be blamed for all this waste to company has long promised to reuse the plastic. special projects funded. on the. fun now the mountains of moist only grow higher.

the for today there are good terrorists and bad is the bad news in yemen the united states deems to be a threat the good those who work in syria the cia and the us military were engaged in covert actions really throughout the world. where they were assassinating populist leaders they were backing up right wing military juntas funding an army just was there's no. more because there's always a small. really good. profit.

come on welcome to worlds apart their minions like to say that the sonne the won't always stay behind the cloud implying that the suffering of their ancestors and the crumbling ottoman empire will sooner or later be recognised as such an aside but a century later it can be squashed for historic truth and earthly justice after be divorced from contemporary politics well to discuss that i'm now joined by maura down lecturer in middle eastern south asian and african studies at columbia university professor more again it's good to talk to you welcome to the show thank you for having me now i'm sure you would agree with me that the american armenians will remember this december as a major landmark as both u.s. house and the u.s. senate have now recognized the massacres of their mean eons in. the early 20th

century as genocide is there anything more to it though than just a symbolic victory yes as you mentioned this is a significant month for our mean americans but not just i mean americans i believe that this is significant. you know these have been a few significant weeks for armenians around the world who have been following clause closely these developments i remember growing up in lebanon myself and following these discussions in the united states as they were happening. as you mentioned this is significant and at the same time it is clearly cannot be divorced from the current situation on the ground.