the wealthiest u.s. presidential candidate multibillion i might add mitt his team to prison labor to make campaign calls. parallel in protest dances in paris to join the demonstrations against proposed pension reforms which could see the retirement age leap 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 of prescription painkillers we look at how an ambitious project and beyond is turning the situation around.

247 alive from the russian capital this is international wherever you are in the world thanks for keeping me company. and to start off our run down the u.s. democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg has admitted his campaign made use of prison labor although the billionaire claims he was on the way it was happening his team hired a firm to help with his 2020 election run which in turn employed female inmates to make campaign calls we learned about this when the reporter called us 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 rich you have people who have people who have prisoners to do stuff for you. being sure rich you don't even bother to share what you're spending really winds 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 stop working with pro com and the people who hired them so how do you do it pay someone to pay someone to tell them mike 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 create. problems. right america more jobs even if you don't particularly want them what makes it much much worse is that many of the prisons in

the states a private run for profit and there are laws that force people to work so if you are in a jail and you are told to work you have to well 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 easy 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. c'mon everybody says stuff that comes back to bite them but when billionaires do it it's generally an order of magnitude. it gets.

further you did when he launched his campaign his media bloomberg news sent. thousands of its journalists pledging to uphold its principle of not investigating its own this is the sort of person mike. mike bloomberg started as a middle class kid to work his way through college business from. creating. good paying jobs along the way to stop there he could've he probably should've but he didn't let me continue he became rich yeah he made selling bank is new to christie priced gadgets the same bankers who threw on bridal greed set off the 20085 crash depriving tens of millions of people a vote of life savings and jobs. michael bloomberg for president. and fast john the state potential for me is that despite the fost wealth actually

not take to be strong and to. really shouldn't be acceptable for anybody liberal or conservative to use prison labor it's forced labor bloomberg is a multibillionaire his word 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 it's 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 only has his money. billionaires have not traditionally done that well running for office it's. you know you. 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. and another headline story for you while parts of the western wild enjoy an opioid addiction crisis many african nations on that struggling to get enough legal medication to relieve the pain of patients. i did. before getting morphine the baby was in the in and she was not even able to take the medication because of pain.

we've both been in management is no human right if people are dying in pain in the country and that is not the human rights. crisis that has featured in far fewer headlines. international attention is the non-medical use of the painkiller tramadol particularly now for.

control is a substance of growing concern particularly in north central and west africa closer regions of africa now account for 87 percent of pharmacies cry poor seas worldwide and not the recent rises jew almost entirely. it's a trafficking and trauma. center in the mission hoeing. the numbers are pretty stark the international narcotics control board says the majority of morphine used is consumed by just 17 percent of the world's population who live predominantly in the west and parts of the walt at the same time african and asian countries can only satisfy a tiny fraction of their medical needs not political unless the us entrepreneur says that at the end of the day it's all about money. perma 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 focused on the expensive medicines they reduce the bill of build the and demand for the natural cheap ones 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's cynical but lives 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. now let's head to france because the national

strike that i've proposed pension reforms is heading into its 4th week a dog's trip and paris is now stepping out of the theater and onto the streets to make that meanings. people lost of his will to if what the girls have shown you with swan lake is 15 years of sacrifice and it's daily work it's 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 that paris seen at this step but they don't

see is what actually striking behind them they had fattest brads culture they ate you are now the latest to seek. and to report by the french government this strike is now in tickets we get it shipped from someone and they according to process independent pension advice despite our pension system is being unsustainable this is the only way to like i mention that basically at least for the system. forms a definite right and it's been taught if you read the next it is nothing it's done while the focus may be on france right now time white space isn't what some like to slow ticking to find but it's the baby blue chip ration continues to be tight control systems across the world are straining on the white house as a result of the country's see the been slowly racing to the toilet or pooling of soaring pension checks and the problem is that the demographics have changed in

1906 when the system was invented and you had people paying for one pension and today you got one point said. when people going from one attention to circles that is completely unsustainable so it needs to be rethought and 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 1st one to to have a worse situation so it's clear that the world right now would not ask the government for money to retire on well not so fast according to process independent pension advice it is to see our situation is that perhaps as he is the clinton's government this means testing it's own findings show that the overall cost of the front suspension system has in fact stabilized even reduced and that huge deficit government to this warning about could just be a blip shrinking down to 5000000000 you rates by 2030 so this is

a misery presented to for the public government one of its 1st measures role was to suppress a tax on words. it's 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 don't want that absolutely new days of strike action have already been announced that france has this standoff between unions and the government that it's seen using in the meantime parties. are determined to see the bait to scare away that way.

and that dance into another story because apparently the art form is helping one teacher and gonna get his students to study harder his story as here on r t on friday but for now here's a little teaser. you know. what we've got is the. love she does because she makes me happy this is a story from going about people who just love to judge my name is. i'm not on social media mr jackson. i'm joined by yes. i'm a trainee teacher. in

the right track good to be true friend of course. he wants to bring guns into every classroom in the world. with britain yet to free itself from the european union and the brics a process jocking on some have decided to take matters into their own hands and split from brussels themselves but 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 sprouts in solidarity even though i'm from lancashire bit one with you in a sprout. your church 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 are called lincolnshire sprouts because they're from lincolnshire i yorkshire sprouts are called yorkshire brown because they're from yorkshire many of our customers like to know them. as parts of australia continued to be ravaged by wildfires the prime minister is coming on to increasing pressure to adopt green up policies much more on that story and more after the break. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

welcome back and now some american politics with the 2020 u.s. presidential election race in full swing american intelligence officials are reportedly considering how to shield the country's democratic processes from outside interference according to a new washington post article that could even involve launching a cyber wolfpack campaign against certain russian political figures. as the story. indeed washington post newspaper published an article citing various american officials former and current who spoke with the people on the condition of anonymity because of the issues sensitivity and the piece claims that u.s. cyber command is considering attacks to target senior russian leadership and the country's elite though not president wide reporting in order to counter russian

interference a new us is 2020 presidential elections the idea would be the paper goes on * that the personal sense to date of the targeted russian oligarchs and officials would be heat eve that interference did not stop we asked russia's foreign ministry spokesperson what is the heart of our to comment on that at the door the parties are in human it's the same thing that has been actively used for many years about western partners interference no internal affairs and regime change the us is now trying justify its actions we can only sang for this acknowledgment of their illegal practices which they normally accuse everyone but themselves with russia's foreign ministry spokesperson what is the hottest prize that there is no single proof of any russian interference in any us election so far given while the counter measures are already being considered moscow is denying any meddling origin

requested a comment from the u.s. defense department and cyber command we are waiting for their response refreshing r.t. from moscow. meanwhile deadly a forest fires in southeast a stranger have been raging for almost 2 months now with firefighters facing extreme conditions again from a record heat wave with temperatures predicted to stay in the high thirty's to forty's celsius over the weekend and into early next week 5000000 hectares of land have been banned nationwide in a stranger over the past few months. 9 people so far have lost their lives and more than 950 homes have been destroyed smoke from the fires has blanketed the country's largest city 70 pollution that has crossed the critical market certain times 11 times higher than the life threatening a threshold. on saturday environmental activists rallied in sydney to condemn the prime minister's

decision to go on vacation while parts of the country where engulfed by bushfires many of those gathered well so calling for stronger action to fight climate change responding to the crisis and criticism scott morrison had this to say in defense of his government's climate policies. a strategy is taking action on climate change what we want to do is engage in requests and job destroying and economy crunching targets which is being seeking to be postured to us at the moment graeme sawyer from the a straight in association for environmental education believes the government is putting industry above all else. we've always had farmers but we've never had fires like that and part of the issue is really bad environmental policy over a long period of time 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 wiped out the flaws and the really big issue is going to be how bad it is well the end of march. and finally for this hour that time of the real while tom caused by almost 7 months of violent protests that hong kong the actions moved online instead of clashing on the real streets of the city rival sides have found another place to settle scores what did you told destruction come play out.

i don't blame you for not having the guts to throw the true bombs to the police in reality but in the game there are guns and rocket launchers and you don't have the guts to kill those may 1 game of. these call quote that they're returning to g.t.a. 5 to be to the fire will only burn brighter and again are we ready.

that's all from me finale join us at the top of the hour with your latest political news update in the meantime sit tight because the alec summit show is coming your way. you know world of big part of. lot and conspiracy it's time to wake to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. 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. same hammer i 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 that that's me expressing my values for the tool and that's what we need to do with artificial intelligence as well. taxes are not going to do it and you have to go right to the right of things its assets and debts at the balance sheet balance sheets that's what they should talk about and that's where we can be clever because taxation is the dumb why of trying to get the wealth back from the from the wealthy.

welcome to the alex salmond show from helsinki and we're better off to celebrate christmas because of scotland it's the home of hogmanay new year then it's finland who's the home of santa claus not pagan so tell you that said nicholas history's real life santa is but in some way of talking but he actually stays in finland and land so this is the place to celebrate christmas and then to special shows from finland we asked the question of one of the friends of 5 in the alexy of happiness not just for the christmas season but all year round because they're not the neighbors to be officially recognized as the most contented society america today we look at funny said you case is the excellence of finland's education system the real secret behind their legacy of happiness next week

a look at the funniest political system the time when the u.k.'s been choosing between a 50 of something mom and 70 something mom for the selected to 30 something woman because in some about in the fens of elected the world's youngest prime minister and she leads a coalition of 5 political parties all of which are led by women is the political system the secret affair the happiness but 1st let's go back to the election in the u.k. fading from memory no but this is what our prestigious probable political pundits mean if it is fair to say this christmas lights naething good result in a hike over as opposed to celebrations and christmases yet to come i can see the tories have led britain of the european union and it's been an economic and social fiasco with millions of lives ruined by it i can see this is the woman who was saying this my friends along. the one way you want

a far left government which mr williamson might feel happy in is by going for a bricks it because you create economic case the left can see can make really use that and so it doesn't work then i think the whole political landscape could be very different in a few years time than it is now and it will be much more favorable to the left well here back in helsinki were asking the question have the finns found the alexy of happiness through the excellence of the education system there's no better person to ask than ali packer hyland the chief executive officer of the national agency of education a former education minister and there is no better place to ask that question that he had at the hotel one of the go on to tell those of you to build during the the bella park because it's exactly in that period in the late 19th century the only argues laid the foundations for feminists educational success will only pick either

and welcome to the exam and to thank you very much so you have a long experience from the said occasion to late to the national agency now but previously a minister of education wasn't really the piece of assault the programme for international student assessment from the e.c.b. when it 1st came out in the year 2000 was that for short fill and finish education into the international spotlight i would say that. that that's the time when the real interest started and actually also is the big change the discussion in finland of course we do have a lot of criticism internally about our education system but when the results came that kind of quiet it down and there was a kind of more call kind of situation after that so it really changed a lot of things and it was still prayed.