4 pm sunday afternoon 5th john you're here in moscow in the headlines the body of assassinated iranian general solomon he has returned home tens of thousands lined the streets is killings put the world on war alert after relations between the u.s. and iran sank to their lowest in years. wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's slowly dying in the u.k. prison saying he's being plied with sedatives and subjected to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement he made the allegations to a friend in a christmas phone. rang me because he spent christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail what time of. all he said to me

but i'm slowly dying you know. new year new protests for hong kong after a massive turnout for 2021st rally turns violent with riot police deployed to disperse protesters. by their welcome to the weekly here in our to international with me kevin 0 in our 7 day roundup of the news that's made and indeed is still making the headlines we're starting with this tensions in the middle east have dramatically escalated this week of the united states assassinated iran's most powerful general in an air strike on baghdad international airport and a parliamentary session into ran this sunday lawmakers fiercely condemned the attack calling for death to america.

ah general casino salome's body has no been repatriated to iran will be buried on choose day there's been a huge outpouring of grief in the country with tens of thousands of mourners paying tribute to the slain general crowds also from the streets of the iraqi capital on saturday for a funeral procession iran's responded with fury to friday's deadly u.s. air raid vowing to avenge solemn annis death donald trump internists threatened to retaliate without hesitation if to run attacks american bases. they attacked us and we had back if the it's like again which i strongly advise them not to do we will hit them harder than they have ever been before iran's responded to that with a warning saying that the u.s. doesn't have the courage for a full blown military confrontation the latest exchange of threats comes after several rocket attacks took place in iraq on saturday evening close to both the american embassy in baghdad and an air base north of the capital iraqi security forces say norma's hurt there's so far no one's come forward to say they were

behind it that's next take a look at how 2020 opened with a turbulent but terrifying 1st week.

so the monies to suss nations polarize opinion worldwide including within the us next our senior correspondent laura goes to takes a closer look at the consequences you can imagine how trump agreed to it then he was playing golf and up comes an agent smith holding a folder he says was the president you remember when we killed baghdad yes the eyes the sky yes the media did love it how how would you like to do it again. oh yeah. the rocky television has just confirmed that cosine sula monny former general in iran's revolutionary guard or the commander of the clued force has been killed in a rocket attack apparently initiated by the united states. on the set of the us at our allies on alert at the petra matic attack iran's top military commander and

a. solemn a he has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years one gets the impression that the agent that came up to trump didn't exactly brief the president and potential consequences of killing the 2nd most powerful man in iran general seems silly monica monda of iran's quds force we took action last night to stop a war we did not. take action to start a war then you probably shouldn't have killed him general sulaimani was considered an icon in iran and iraq a man who helped prevent isis takeover of iraq and syria who inspired and move allies tens of thousands of people multiple countries to fight the blight that

is isis while qaida you know enough and the americans are not aware what a great mistake they've committed they will face the consequences of this criminal act not only today but also in coming years there is no doubt that the us is now more hated among iranians iraqis hundreds of thousands have joined funeral processions and protests condemning his murder rage is in the air iran has promised revenge american civilians are being evacuated from the entire region u.s. embassies and bases in this slew of countries are in lockdown troops have been put in combat readiness and now now middle eastern the red lert they claim that they only want peace that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt the spot deter further aggression from qassam salami in the iranian regime as well as to attempt to deescalate the situation trump asked no one europe woke up to

a world that was a heck of a lot more dangerous than when they went to sleep germany claimed tensions that only god up stating the obvious the british called for everyone to come down from doesn't last for permission frankly the europeans haven't been as helpful as i wish that they could be the brits the french the germans all need to understand that what we did what the americans did saved lives in europe as well at best he's right chances are he's wrong and at worst what america did is going to kill a heck of a lot more. people than would have died otherwise which they may have thought of if they had asked anyone but they didn't trump told no one not even his own federal government not the house of representatives and not the senate 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 or rather he did tell someone apparently what trump kept from his own nation from his own people he told the israelis our assessment is that the united states informed israel about this operation in iraq apparently a few days ago the murder of a mani was an act of war by any measure by any book on law social media world war 3 was the top trend people are genuinely afraid the u.s. football team is council plans to train and counter head of the world cup out of security concerns and judging by means being spread appropriate or otherwise no one in particular is enthusiastic to go to war all black humor aside any escalation would be disastrous for all of us human lives 1st and economy 2nd a 5th of the world's oil passes by iran every day in the event of war that would

stop. we don't yet know how much of a blunder sulaimani is murder was what we do know is that the world now is a more dangerous place millions will hate america for this and that hate will last for generations just remarkable isn't it how many people more and more keep having to die so trump and the pentagon can feel safe. regardless of our senior correspondent there we've been hearing reaction from analysts in the u.s. they've questioned the wisdom of donald trump's decision to kill general salim money . if this action this assassination this drive by shooting in gangland style makes americans safer then why was the 1st thing the state department said is for all americans to get out of iraq as quickly as you can you know so obviously it's not making us safer the idea

that now pompei would say oh we need to decide deescalate we don't want war what you've already create you already made an act of war on iran and over one. there's no justification under international law moral law our constitution is just aggravation and the fact that we're there in a way has a gas then 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 and complete nonsense i feel less safe because there will be retaliation expansion and who knows what is going to lead to. 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 and caracas so they ought to sit there and say to themselves all right the americans now feel entitled to kill anybody and our

government because of what over what disagreements over syria or whatever else. next story we can examine the jeweler the sons claims he slowly dying in the british jail he's incarcerated in the ledges he's trying and kept in solitary confinement for 23 was a day he made the disturbing claims in a phone call partly to his friend von smith on christmas eve. he sounded awful and it was very upsetting to hear him the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly being told and the british government have been asked about it and they refuse to address that matter and what they say is they're not mistreating him but clearly he's being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me that i'm slowly dying you know please remember he's served that time all the bail charge and he served his time too that he's now on remand it's highly unusual to put

a remand prisoner in belmarsh when they're not a threat of a physical violence threat to society i think we need some answers from from the british government why are they treating him like this why can't we have some independent assessment 100 international got to those and asked to arrange a visit at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasn't been allowed nils meltzer the un rockets are on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most of all in terms of its claims very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. the silence was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers of war that his physical or mental health are in decline or one of the exclusive pictures was a cameras at the time here in february side of his extradition to the united states

he's accused there of publishing classified military documents and could face a 175 year jail sentence so it now the british home office seats are a few to discern just claims of torture calling them unfounded and false but it's still spurred some politicians activists and celebrities to further draw attention to his plight will keep you posted on that through 2020. another. sure that looks like to go on through 2020 as well china and hong kong china says it's sacked its top official who dealt with relations with hong kong state media says winger jimmy has been replaced as beijing's chief liaison that had months of violent antigovernment protests in hong kong which took on a renewed energy now as we head into 2020.

a particular aspect of the unrest violence and brutality when perpetrated by the hong kong protesters has gone largely without comment from the west he says could taylor us why. hong kong has gone from being the economic pole of the orient to the face of the fight for democracy and boy does that fight fire. with an amendment to a preexisting law that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects from hong kong to mainland china has brought the financial haven to its knees as the protest accent into the 7th month violence on both sides has escalated but all the wild over politicians and john continue to hail the peaceful aspirations of those

fighting to rest themselves from beijing all the while coming down hard on those aggressive dust spots in china it's disgusting what they're doing in hong kong they're taking away basic rights trying to seem trampling the most basic human rights beijing is increased its interventions in hong kong and engaged in actions to curtail the rights. and liberties. of its people but it seems so many incidents have managed to escape the scrutiny of western media but only because i was. glad. i was. scenes like that combined with the discovery of 10000 petrol bombs packed with high explosives and shrapnel make it harder to see is peaceful what appears to be

a slippery slope into the territory of terrorists methods you can all fight for freedom of speech by silencing people who disagree with you. you cannot fight for democracy by terrorizing the public to. that support you china is treading carefully refusing to send in troops to shut down the protests and local elections were held in which pro democracy candidates won in a landslide hong kong authorities conceded defeat the extradition built has been withdrawn but still the barricades on signing the flames according to china washington will be china urges the us to correct its mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs we will take further steps if necessary to uphold hong kong stability and prosperity as well as china sovereignty. some have talked down beijing's words to paranoia but let's take a look joshua wong why he billed as the face of the protest movement was snapped

speaking to an official at the u.s. consulate oh when i forgot to mention he's not big on compromise so there's no end game there is to infinity ward at home people are willing to engage there's also an organization funded by the u.s. congress which has been distributing money to groups it claims are preserving democratic rights then of course as the in century legislation washington's passed the human rights and democracy act in clearance i'm going to stay for those arrested at protests and we'll monitor hong kong to ensure that in the eyes of the u.s. of course an appropriate level of autonomy from mainland china is up to these 2 bills the noblest intervention of hong kong some turn north necessary and without groans they will also harm the relationship and interests between hong kong and the u.s. all of this on top of the protest as musts waving of the star-spangled banner have

sparked concern that the u.s. might be lending more than just a supportive hand leading many to ask the question if the protest as a calling for self-determination is appealing to a foreign power to shape the future the best way to go about it especially when that foreign power might want to contain a rising star they're reaching. for and using methods that have created challenges for the united states and for the world. and we collectively all of us need to confront these challenges from the p.r.c. head on and on each of the many facets the fallout of all this has a little impact on washington of course it's the average hong kong who find his pocket that little bit lighter on his home that little less popular major. is really the truth in the real thing because. nobody is coming to hong kong. for the.

50 more. drop by 50 as far as as fair rises and as prosperity fades it seems this fight for freedom is costing hong kong more dearly than many could have imagined. or their lives like it's not over yet will continue to follow that story meantime let's take stock look back at some of the big highlights in 2019 before we move on to much of the 2020 as reflect a more the signature of events of the year just gone. that's the big memory machine should we say we're going to talk about this time there are numerous political figures who were left languishing behind bars in 29000 not just with some claiming the charges against him were politically motivated so let's go

to the go to jail card see what that brings up maria buton or of course it was a big headline in the year the russian national and gun rights advocate spent more than a year in a u.s. jail for acting as an unregistered foreign lobbyist the federal prosecutors in the media branded as 3 someone who has been involved in the american gun lobby and mingling in republican circles and they said that was proof enough than that moscow was sending agents to meddle in the us news coverage smeared her as a spy she's also wrongly accused of trading sex for political gain which is discussed here all deal with us know as soon as she got off the plane when she got into moscow this is from early on in the. us when you think it would have happened if the political climate had been more sets to level off the trump became president it's going to bring up their own business and taught us it certainly the political climate is one thing thing is

released as much in our great to see it that there is racism in us and it's getting stronger. or if i belong to any other ethnic group number i shouldn't there be no keith today however if you are russian and you are and you last there is reason to be worried and i'm living proof. that they still agree it was done on purpose to create an image for the u.s. audience the public is familiar with it. absolutely absolutely they just took some hollywood cliches in made me the scapegoat the color of my hair and my features served as proof of guilt that's the way it should be because we see this in the mood. it was quite bade it made for good headlines on t.v. if you are moved to sex for money hype the piece itself is pretty boring for an aging or not there's a bureaucratic really exciting with the added flames to the story i saw with my own eyes that there is no justice in the us some he's more than 90 percent of

defendants guilty to a win jury because they know they'll be convicted what kind of justice are we talking about. the plea deal we were watching the case very closely just like all russia some noise said the prosecutors might not have enough evidence to prove. why then take a plea bargain with his mother with the yellow. imagine you are in a foreign country away from your parents you have no contact with your family you're locked up in solitary confinement it's very cold and you sit on the floor so you might be facing 15 year sentence i started about how old i was going to be and whether my parents were going to be alive when that came and then you find out that according to statistics and you was about 90 percent of the fens who face the jury get convicted a chance of you losing is quite high start besides who would have been judging me but i would have faced a jury in washington or the people who watch c.n.n.

and people who already have been fat this narrative and with those people you would have mattered what i was being accused of i would have been on trial for being russian out have been sentenced to 15 years so i believe i made the only right decision there was no other way to civil strong women and. talking to us. as you go off the plane back here in moscow more from 2019 was also your information overload was in a way to try and block out all that information that we didn't like so let's go to mind games things went much further than a simple face palm the console culture was heard time and time again online full speed the wider repercussions though meant the collective silencing of voices sometimes even big career is caleb maupin next looks at how the power of the public backlash became weaponized on the web. u.s. society is said to be the freest in the entire world never before have people been so free to be who they want to be identified however they want to identify and you

can say whatever you want yes americans have total freedom of speech just so long as what they say doesn't go against the mainstream media narrative if that happens you get cancelled. so how do you avoid getting canceled well be careful when making jokes or better yet avoid humor altogether a comedian lost his dream spot on saturday night live after making a joke that was offensive to chinese americans and even if you're offensive joke is decades old it could still hurt you kevin hart lost his gig hosting the oscars after his tweets resurfaced and were discovered. facial expressions can be important also this young man smirked at the wrong time though he was also wearing a hat that has been deemed to be offensive team soon make america great again

around seeing a native american out there in washington a troubling incident at the foot of the lincoln memorial disturbing viral video has sparked outrage toward covington catholic high school america great again hat is just as maddening and frustrating and triggering for me to look at as a k.k.k. hood as to avoid this cat also. who the president. to support his plan to get your honk if you do your homework right hand i don't want. them to kill people like you and the political views that this hat is associated with can also land you in hot water like former miss michigan after 18 now as the aide conservative which i think is very hard if you know he is harder than becoming our eyes on him again. it's not just trump's supporters liberal star scarlett johansson faced

a huge amount of backlash after she tweeted out that as an actor she can play any person any tree or any animal such insensitivity the term cancel culture has recently been added to dictionaries so there is no escape best to apologize in advance for your past jokes your political views or for your religion. r.t. new york amount of the big apple turning in so many stories in the last year it will continue to. post some of the big highlights of the last year i'll be back with more with the weekly returns in just over an hour here now to international keep up to date with what's happening in iran and so much more headlines right now in my absence for the next 30 minutes. and the social media so for now here a moscow is coming though in saying thank you for watching this program a big season's greetings to you from russia.

there's a lot of areas in the economy where china has caught up or surpassed us you know the mobile payments market 50 times the size of the us or over here still writing checks our banking system is not innovated 5 g. we've kind of recently woken 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. . 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 let's. dial in. what is true what is faith.

in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maybe in the shallows. is a peninsula in the russian east one of the nation's least densely populated regions . there are no roads in north become chaka and sponsor me scattered villages can only be reached by l. my dawgs.

there is a dog sled race and it's different from others in this race professional athletes team up with working dogs that polkadot every day of their lives however the prize money they compete for is on a par with the world's most prestigious races the winner gets roughly $47000.00. a year what he did was driving me to court put in the not a word of his leadership didn't get the. medical use downs fluid leak only guarded cardio the root crossing come chance to go is 2100 kilometers long and he's a regular claim is the longest dog sled race. they'll be $25.00 stations every day they'll be a start and a finish. and i don't

think. 15 sleds line up at the very 1st and most important start. on your part. of your body you know that you grew up. one of the favorites to win the race is the reigning champion valentino lefkofsky known as leo i need to be the mantra wonka want to treat it with. who of course right you're going to have a wonderful you know a 3 mile walk on i'm so of them.