in the news today thousands throng the streets of the iraqi capital holding funeral processions for those killed in friday's u.s. air raid including iran's top general washington insists the strike was to avert war and claims it's committed to deescalating tensions with. police chief says levels of child criminal exploitation in britain about to victorian era levels leaving austerity an increasingly powerful drug gangs. vulnerable children at risk it all me to a criminal scheme has been revealed helping foreign is illegally adult youngsters.

by their good afternoon just turned 4 pm this saturday 4th january live than from the other to international world new center season's greetings it's kevin owen here with this hour's update. thousands of mourners have been holding funeral processions in the iraqi capital baghdad to one of those killed in a u.s. air strike on friday morning including iran's top general money the crowds have been waving their national flag and the flags of various to ramberg shia militia groups the remains of the commanders body will be repatriated to iran for burial on sunday considered the 2nd most powerful figure in the islamic republic he was among 10 people killed in the early morning raids following a direct order from the us president donald trump has defended the assassination saying it was necessary to prevent an imminent attack on american personnel and another possible war in the middle east but its cause profound in iran and beyond. solemn 80 has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for

the last 20 years what the united states did yesterday should have been done long ago we took action last july just stop. a war. we did not take action to start a war that. this was an obvious terrorist move a move that entirely shouted cowardice in every respect we will not fall for the propaganda and blackmail by the americans in whatever manner and whenever we deem appropriate we will give the proper response the killing of iran's general solomin the smart protests among his supporters in the middle east as mentioned than him further afield members of india's kashmiri shia community marched with images of him shouting anti american slogans while in pakistan protesters wrapped coffins with the u.s. flag and set them alight in iran itself 3 days of mourning are underway and thousands have turned out in cities nationwide to one of the general.

u.s. leadership has been saying on almost every platform they can find that they are working to deescalate tensions with the islamic republic of iran that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt this plot deter further aggression from qassam solo bombing in the iranian regime as well as to attempt to deescalate the situation it's not an easy case to make killing the country's 2nd most powerful person most well known military leader and commander of the elite could force of the revolutionary guards doesn't look like deescalation however washington insists its actions were a defensive measure at the direction of the president the u.s. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect u.s. personnel abroad to by killing costume soleimani this strike was aimed at deterring future iranian attack plans the iranians are already promising revenge the supreme

national security council of iran held an emergency meeting on friday and announced that they had made difficult decisions at the right time and place the vengeance will be extracted it's not through aggression by the us i mean they should they should expect anything as it is a lot of this this aggression the international community is now gripped by fear that we could be on the brink of war there is no justification under international law and moral law our constitution is just aggravation and the fact they were there in a way as a guest and have an embassy there we've never had been given any authority to do what we did i think it's morally wrong and if they're doing this to make us safer they said that we had they had to do this to make american safe complete nonsense i feel less safe because there will be retaliation and expansion and who knows what is going to lead to. washington says it's an ally of the iraq again. government and it's working in

iraq's best interest however baghdad is completely on the happy with this move the assassination of an iraqi military commander is an aggression on iraq as a state government and people it's a flagrant violation of iraq's sovereignty and dangerous escalation that triggers a destructive war in iraq the region and the world it violates the conditions authorizing the presence of u.s. troops on iraqi soil the iraqis don't consider this to be a particularly friendly gesture they want to restart the su war again among the shia who don't want this to happen what has happened is a blatant violation of iraqi sovereignty the fact that he's a high state official in a government that we're not at war with we've crossed the rubicon not only in tehran but in moscow beijing pyongyang caracas they all have to sit there and say to themselves all right the americans dell feel entitled to kill anybody and our government because of what over what disagreements over syria or whatever else.

the international response has been vocal china says it is concerned turkey is angry and syria accuse the united states of spreading instability it's a pity to see. the great but what if the united states used. to kid somebody. the way gangs do it but not everyone agrees though israel says job well done president roh deserves all the credit for acting swiftly forcefully decisively israel sterne's with the united states in this just struggle for peace security and so forth and america's nato allies are not thrilled at all we have woken up to more dangerous world the us action did not make it any easier to reduce tensions we had all parties to deescalate for the conflict is in none of our interests.

it didn't exactly go over well at home either american media has accurate all sorts of allegations about solomonic most americans had never heard of before saying he is the new face of terrorism and evil but democrats say that trump is rushing the country to war without congressional approval the risk of a much longer military engagement in the middle east is acute. and immediate. this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war exactly the kind of endless war the president promised he would not drag us into now donald trump is defending is he says he saved lives and that he's protecting the country however in some of his responses he's actually said that solomonic should have been killed years ago so why now is perhaps donald trump trying to play the card of being a national savior in the lead up to an election i don't foresee. making

a rash choice because they understand the neo cons who are behind shawn's policy and trump him so funny iran they don't want anything more than to have iran do a very who are high profile strike back the us propaganda machine is in high gear demonizing stolen money who 99.9 percent of americans had never heard of 2 days ago . worse than hitler killing americans left and right none of this is true none of this is supported by facts but the propaganda machine is on high high high alert and americans are being prepared for another war so i don't see the iranians taking the bait. elsewhere the day senior british police chief as well the levels of child exploitation in the country are at their highest in over a century shown sawyer whose leads britain's modern slavery policing if it says the drug gangs of the main driving force of the sturdy policies also have been affected

. for these children they are almost back to victorian times and to being criminally exploited these kids looking for family and security for understandable reasons of austerity stay youth services have been vacated this gap of youth provision between the school and family is the void of the exploited filling them office figures say that in england alone there were more than $80.00 to $1.00 half 1000 suspected child victims in the past year that's an increase of more than 73 percent on the previous year she calls for sawyer also pointed the finger at government cuts to youth services but the home office insists it's doing all it can to stop child exploitation cheryl felix spoke to us from the anti discrimination group the black child agenda she says it's almost impossible for youngsters to escape once they've been dragged in there was like of criminality. these children a lot of people fail to see them as the victims of what's going on and then they become criminalized and once you become criminalized at such a young age it's almost impossible to get yourself back on track

a lot of these young people that we find as part of these drug caton gangs as they're called have been permanently excluded have been rejected from society so i think we need to go back a few steps and even jilt deal with our young people from a primary age level because as they get into secondary school which i can guarantee when they go back next week my phone will be ringing in constantly with children being kicked out of school for have a natural hair not having the right tie on or maybe their shoes so if we start stop doing this you know sledgehammer approach to what we are talking about as children then they wouldn't find themselves in these gangs in the 1st place but no one's actually listening or doing any think about the exclusion matter and the high rates and the issues that we have with young people in the care system as well who if there was another study done you'd actually find that majority of these children have come through the care system are actually being exploited also in the sexual airiness in areas as well as just being on gangs and you know getting involved in county lines which a lot of them don't actually know what they're doing so it is

a much bigger picture it's not as simple as what's been said. but in another country or in revelations about vulnerable children in armenia too we can report it we discovered that for over 20 years a criminal network forced mothers to give up their newborns against their will so that they could be sold abroad for adoption reporting on the roof and. this is a story with many children involved but it is not one of these typical happy ending tales a team might expect to hear during holiday season an investigation is on to go in now in armenia into an alleged black market adoption network believed to have been operating for years to citizens of the republic of armenia using their contacts in one of the republican obstetrical institutions organized the adoption of more than 3 dozen children more than 30 babies to italy and there were also cases of adoption by u.s. couples one of the victims has been trying to achieve justice for almost 2 decades

already her name is susana she says 20 years ago doctors pressured her to give up her daughter stella threatening to report her case of a 16 year old mother to police and her father she signed papers refusing her rights . because i held my baby in my arms after he was born but that i stayed in the hospital for another 2 days or so but i didn't see him ever again they told me that he was born prematurely and didn't survive i was given some peoples to sign but it was too weak to understand what i was signing in december they are mean and authorities detained the country's chief ops attrition who says on the accuses of threatening her and other officials as part of the probe it does make a better man was released several days later due to lack of evidence a spark public outrage. a lawyer who has represented susanna since 2013 has he's explanation for 7 long years we were shouting about it at every

corner this is a mafia that is stronger and more powerful than the one controlling drug traffic i can say there were relatives of the rulers involved. in 2017 human rights watch released 102 page report titled when will i get to go home documenting thousands of cases of children in armenia needlessly often forcefully isolated separated from their families and placed to institutions more than 90 percent of them have at least one living parent and said they international ngo then tried to draw attention to disturb in inaction by authorities the government of armenia has made some bold commitments to reduce the number of children in institutions but needs to make sure this promise is backed by serious sustained action 2 years later last september the authorities noticed that 4 times as many children went to foreigners rather than to locals and started investigation all adoptions have since been

suspended in armenia which might be a good news though changes little for those who believe their kids were wrongfully given away years ago and then there must be a legal solution so that we could do validate they don't have the child it's about selling children i will do everything i will not back down there must be a fair trial. live from our church is not what should the latest news roy and let me tell you about what's on the way in the stories you got coming up here black rock they're rewarded for pushing painful reforms what is anger in france over awarding a top gong to america boss that's linked with civic make some connections after the break the country's divisive pension change.

there's a lot of here is the economy where china has caught up or surpassed us you know the mobile payments markets 50 times the size of the us or over here still writing checks our banking system is not innovated 5 g. we kind of recently walking up the last couple years and go wow we don't even have

a company that can make 5 g. equipment it's been a win win for china and it's been a lose lose for the u.s. . and france has revealed the nominees for its highest state award the legion of honor but some of the names are causing more than a little consternation including the head of the french branch of an american asset management firm linked to the country's controversial pension reforms blackrock is one of the world's largest asset management firms and has been in front since 2006 indeed now last summer though it privately pushed for privatizing part of the french pension system with a us style format it's accused of trying to take advantage that of the country's deeply divisive reforms which have seen weeks of crippling strikes shelob in scale looks at whether or not the company could cash in potentially if these reforms do get through. to be awarded france's a legion of own

a medal is to receive the country's highest award so no doubt this year's recipients were pleased as punch to know that they'd been given the nords it when the list was announced one name provoked rather than appreciation it was that of the. head of the french branch of the american management company black rock. well critics accused of trying to cash in on the controversial pension changes that are currently being pushed through by the french government. directly benefit from the pension reform. the jets to honor the lead of blackrock france is nothing but an anecdote blackrock is simply the dark side of the pension reform john transource you believe president of blackrock france is promoted to officer of the legion of warner on january the 1st as a reward for pillaging of our pay as you go passions the presentation of the legion

of honor it is on france was to release a provocation it reveals the close ties that exist between the graun and the world of finance he's selling the retirement system to american pension funds it's a big deal strikes against pension reform and now into this week it's the longest running strike in half a century across problems people have taken to the streets to let the government know that plans to merge 42 different pension plans into one with you the system at the same time is raising the age of retirement or not welcome. on pension reform and everything and the next issue is social security and social protection and. we are not at all in favor of the status quo we are in favor if you prove ing the system but it's not tearing it down and we will go on it until it is withdrawn and improved but has already come under fire off it was accused of

attacking french pensions now it's alleged to have provided recommendations to the government in regards to reform and way and it will benefit from any privatization of france's redistributive pay as you go pension schemes something the government and but cork is at pains to deny in no way have to exert and influence on the current pension system citron what dispatches the french market is a box of trees from blair clan to stop talking nonsense. and there is a big but in an internal document unveiled by french t.v. in many t.v. last month that books of. streets is a lot bigger than the secretary of state to my time do you believe it outlines the high market value in france and how black orchid wanted a piece of the pie critics say bestowing the legion of honor on black ops manning fronts is a rude for the pillage of the country social retirement system and while black rock

perhaps isn't as well placed as others to take a slice of french pension savings it certainly is primed and ready to jump into the market a lot of people are afraid that the complete french pension scheme is going to change that this is just a 1st big step to go to something more. totally funded which is quite true what's going on today in france this is obviously from a political point of view very bad time in the middle of this massive strikes which is what we're going this is are those strikes are going on for practically over a month richard records now are satisfied a lot of people who are very tired of these strikes from the people say that they will stop the strikes until the government draws back from this initial it's giving the impression that there is a plan b. that there is something. that government is actually just laying down the grounds of the 1st project that there's something worse coming out. now

has an unlikely coalition couple running the show in government but it's called people wondering whether or not the greens on one side who are getting their 1st taste of power will be forced to toughen up over immigration or conversely where the chancellor kurtz's hard line conservatives love to loosen up a bit over protecting the planet our europe correspondent peter all of a look at who may blink. so i asked him to be back as chancellor of austria and at 33 years of age the world's youngest head of government his conservative people's party agreed to a coalition deal with the greens on the year's day his previous government that was with the right wing freedom party collapsed amid scandal says now though he can be both tough on immigration and protect the planet it's east muki it is possible to cut taxes and make the taxes to more environmentally friendly is possible to

protect the climate borders there's a point in the program about tax relief for those who work but at the same time before there are measures to fight illegal immigration and political islam the greens still have to rubber stamp the agreed deal at a special party congress this week but this turquoise green mix certainly has more turquoise conservative people's party when it comes to policy than. among the main sticking points for green members agreeing this deal our concerns surrounding immigration migration and austria's ban on the wearing of the islamic headscarf currently children up to the age of 10 barred from wearing this item of clothing under the new deal that would rise to 14 also in the mix is the establishment of more deportation centers for failed asylum applicants secured detention plans or

a policy from the previous deal with the rightwing freedom party greens actively campaigned against this in the past saying it unfairly targeted migrants tax reform and changes to how party financing works in austria are also going to have to be accepted by the greens if they're to be allowed to be able to push through their climate package while part of a coalition government but apart from gradually reducing. c o 2 emissions that climate package is pretty thin when it comes to detail despite this their leader seems happy with the agreement was not easy but we have not been elected because we can only achieve easy things and we are here to take responsibility for it is certainly true that we have the 2 biggest winners in the election but we have been elected for different reasons we have a great deal of responsibility and out of respect for democracy that we tried to start pushing dialogue in terms of climate protection we have probably made

agreements beyond what we expected and in austria must become a full run in europe and internationally on the issue of climate protection despite some reservations the greens are expected to give this agreement their blessing in exchange for that seat at the top table this is very canny politicking from. he came to power in 2015 making a pact with the populists at the very height of the my current crisis in europe the tough on the border control pledges are still there in this deal however what it's now joined by is a commitment to the climate albeit with the purse strings of government very firmly in the hands of his conservatives something that may be watched quite keenly by austria's closest neighbor cortes is now trying to address the 2 main issues of the next decade immigration and climate change this can become an interesting test case for germany and indeed for europe german conservative underlines plan to. europe's

economy received a lot of support in the european parliament in one of her 1st outings as e.u. commission president and it's thought that as germany ponders a post merkel future a blended green in concert of may be the way in berlin as it is in brussels and as it's set to be vienna peter. the director of the austin economic center spoke to us about it says that the greens either have to adopt a center right stance or maybe even break up the coalition. well it's definitely a very promising experiment that will show its security on the one hand and a logical renewal can be combine both parties show their strength and they allow them to put their own. issues their own topics with and to quell issue treatment so it's like at parallel

running of both parties and not the war coalition they probably operate parallel so that might the grounds for conflict in the future is pretty strong and very strict on what he wants and what he has presented during the election campaign he sticks to the promises that he has made so i did the greens adapt to the. center right policies. of course is the stronger puppy or there will be constant conflict within within the party and eventually break up the. pact of the treaty. the us has so far this weekend about with more just over half an hour keep up to speed of any headlines as that might happen on our social media our t. dot com i like shows in your part of the world ready raring to go after the break i'm kevin irwin review watching us again season's greetings from still celebrating

and have a great weekend from us. what hopes to do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to express. yourself want to be. the to the right to cross the sea like them before 3 in the morning can't be good that. i'm interested always in the waters in the hollow. they're sitting. in a world of big partisan movies lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that made history media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter 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 we're watching closely watching the hawks. time after time corporations repeat the same mantra sustainability it's very important to excel or transition to sustainable transport sustainability stay number man at a more equitable and sustainable well. they claim that production is completely hama's. the be. compassed number. it does not the companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is something this must be going to any minute i mean look. this is the move and news that we do want any minute i'm stunned seemed to understood so when in.

fact geysers financial survival guide. housing bubble. oh you mean there's a downside to artificially low mortgage rates don't get carried away that's cause a report. i have entered. the limits of you and world and rape is a very very traumatizing thing to have happen but i've never seen trauma like i've seen from women who are veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma. i cannot remember how many times a young female marine that had been raped or sexually assaulted told me that she looked at these guys as your brother or the suspect as your brother it's a kin to what happens in a family with incest because you know in the military when we're functioning at our

best a cohesive unit with brothers and sisters one of the band of brothers and sisters i mean we are family when that ball and of trust is violated. the wound penetrates to the very most inner part of one's soul one psyche. i have this folder that i keep i have all my boot camp letters and if my mom and my sister and . people and. i was just going through some of this stuff and i'm like what's this and you know and i open it up i'm like oh my god. my suicide letter. bomb i'm sorry for the grease that you must feel. just because i'm gone physically doesn't mean i will be there so.