yes well the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then. russian rescue teams and my colleagues start joint operations at the site of the devastating explosion in beirut our correspondent. in the very epicenter as close's 1000000000 can get and look at it look here this used to be somebody else's clothes now it's just racks and there's no way of telling what the story behind these clothes are for sure but it sure is grim. state affiliated media pages a move that will effectively exclude them from the network's recommendation system . and the british government faces criticism after purchasing 50000000 unusable facemasks.

for good morning to you this is r.t. international thanks for joining us. russia rescue teams have begun their operations as part of an international joint supporter for it in the blast stricken city of beirut the explosion claimed the lives of 157 people and injured 5000 others correspondent reports from the epicenter of the tragedy. as russian rescuers are getting down to well what they have been flown in here for i want you to just look around and let something sink in about the sheer and ultimate demolition power behind this explosion we are in the very epicenter as close as villian can get and look at it look here this used to be somebody else's clothes now it's just rags and there's no way of telling what the story behind these clothes are for sure but it sure is grim and look closely under my feet i do apologize for my dirty sneakers

but look closely because i'm not stepping on dirt or sand or anything this is actually cool seeds of corn from this massive towering reserve which is no more because of the bluster and this is the very 1st site where russian rescuers are searching for survivors. they're telling me that they are ready to work overnight if there's any possibility of finding somebody alive actually filed a report on their mission here in lebanon here it is this is a field hospital in its early stages it is just being built in fact there's another group of emergency workers on the way with more infrastructure but this is where russian rescuers will be taking those injured those still in need of medical

attention from after the blast. very extremely lucky to be alive actually because i can't i can't i can't forget the explosions the sound the 1st. in front of my eyes well. i think that if you saw the body parts off you put it all i think. people screaming. kids screaming but the parts i saw i had and i saw today. you heard that about a man i went towards people and told them we should not be here at that moment i turned around and i was he by something in my right hand that's when the big explosions started it threw me to the ground. well everything that you can see

around me was erected overnight it was literally an empty lot well fast forward 6 hours and well there's already a small tent city here. well these search dogs have been traveling with me rather i was with them and they will be sniffing out those who may be still trapped under the law under the rubble the city of be roots is devastated morally physically financially in fact of all places that i have a being too apart from active war zones of course this one with all the rubble destruction and vehicles just abandoned at the side of the road resembles a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie the most and the russian 8 effort aims here at relieving

at least some of the pain. of reporting from beirut in lebanon azzi. given the sheer scale of destruction groups of volunteers so assisting the cleanup operation in beirut people are clearing away deborah from flats and houses with spirits low after the tragedy some of trying to flip the mood with music. the. mall the lebanese capital so see more. more public unrest people are unhappy about

the economic crisis that's gripping the country those feelings of it aggravated by perceived government incompetence which some claim led to tuesday's tragedy the latest protests or police resort to tear gas. twitter has started labeling the accounts of state affiliated media and will no longer amplify their pages and posts through the networks recommendation systems the pages of senior government officials will also be labeled that 1st the move will only be applied to politicians representing the 5 permanent members of the un security council the company describes its new policy as important for us we believe this is an important step so that when people see an account discussing geopolitical issues from another country they have context on its national affiliation and are better informed about who they represent. ok let's look at which media have been included on twitter's government affiliated list the label is now being shown for example on the accounts of russia's r.t.

and sputnik as well as some chinese media outlets including the country's official press agency and 2 major newspapers other outlets might have thought would be included in the list been left off among them for example the u.k.'s b.b.c. america's n.p.r. twitter says that it won't label those a state financed outlets because of their perceived editorial independence according to the company's blog independent media don't use their news coverage to advance political agendas which is labeling policy is also affected some editorial staff of state affiliated outlets including artie's editor in chief margarita simonyan and the editor of china's global times newspaper i think sent a request to the company to explain in detail the labeling criteria we await their response. as we know. and on the other social media giants are coming under pressure from all sorts of political courses about what kind of policies they pursue who they allow sites

there is no consistency in this kind of rule but i'm afraid because twitter is a private organization they can do these things and there isn't really any mechanism to say well that's not fair or reasonable but of course it's indicative of the fact that there is an attempt to control narrative is this increase in discrimination and effectively censorship is because the political situation internationally is becoming more and more stressed and with moving closer and closer confrontations and it's a it's you know it's a rather worrying sort of 'd just this kind of development. meanwhile the u.s. state department issued a report on wednesday accusing russia of a disinfo mission and propaganda campaign employing various methods including kremlin controlled news outlets to push forward their agenda skit teletext a closer look 3 months until the election

a virus coughing up through the country an ailing economy and a future without tech talk americans and got its hands full but it will still always find the time and the cash to do a deep dive into russian descent from a certain the kremlin bears direct responsibility for cultivating these tactics and platforms as part of its approach to using information as a weapon. it invests massively in its propaganda channels its intelligence services and its proxies to conduct malicious site brecht of it's easy to support the dissent from ation efforts and it leave reaches out lets the masquerade as news sites research institutions to spread these false and misleading narratives a new report by the state department has zeroed in on russia's complex network of fake news and propaganda and basically it tuns out like some kind of mutilated octopus there are 5 pillars to russia's this information ecosystem from the government itself to social media but the one that gets the most attention are news

sites which apparently are really busy peddling conspiracy theories but you would never suspect them of being nefarious 20300000 monthly views a wide range of political topics on a fairly quiet twitter account but no it turns out it's all. the kremlin in disguise. we founded they promote this information in support of the kremlin's goals they're often promoted directly by the russian government and they push specific disinformation narratives they're picked up by other parts of the ecosystem how intriguing some might say tell me more others would cry well the state department might say there's no hesitance all direct ties with moscow but here's an unrelated example of an alternative news story to stop you from asking questions the head of global research has written many articles on coverage 19

containing dissin for me one of them was published back in march the headline of this is covered 19 coronavirus if a pandemic who's behind it global economic social and political destabilisation so from that have line calling it a fig pandemic i think we all recognize it's not a free pandemic it's real you know no. but i think about it and if possum could contribute to the site it will go away to mistake view this the same as the flu a lot of people think that goes away in april with the growth of. their politicizing the report also says that the same site suggests that corona virus was manmade * in a bio fell apart tree you know now that i think about it i know and not the possum who would just be an invaluable member of this website's team i can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from the laboratory. with the u.s. backing so many problems you could ask why release the report now while it could be

a coincidence or not but last week secretary of state might compare one with a begging bowl before congress asking for a significant increase in funding for the g. c. which happens to be the author of this reports the state department's efforts toward $21.00 requests for the global engagement center is $138000000.00 more than double its current level we won't tolerate this information another propaganda directed by the criminal or any of our other adversaries double the budget for the sake of a handful of relatively unknown news sites opportune 200000 months of us while solid reasoning all i can say is the pompei was going to have to get a much bigger ball when he sets his sights on r t with that it's not a competition of course but one $130000000.00 monthly viewers but my total take oh no he's willing to give to the state department's rewards for justice program is

offering a reward of up to $10000000.00 for information leading to the identification or location of any person who acting at the direction for under the control of a foreign government interferes with u.s. elections so mike tell me what's a gal go to do to get their hands on not 10000000. for the government says that it won't be using 50000000 facemasks that it's bought for medics during the pandemic because of concerns they might be unsafe central supplies 100 out of. for months we were told that the government was purchasing the right equipment for the front line yet again it hasn't happened there needs now to be an investigation and inquiry into what went wrong with this particular contract because it's just not good enough to people who need that protective equipment that we find ourselves in this position now the masks were part of a 250000000 pound contract the government signed with investment firm and a capital in april but it's transpired that they have eludes rather than head loops

and may not fit tightly enough prime minister boris johnson says is very disappointed that the shipment was unusable the government spokesperson also said that it has followed appropriate due diligence when purchasing p.p.a. we spoke to me bennett a nurse has been working on the front line about the situation. i think there definitely needs to be an investigation as to how the government managed to employ 50000000 unusable face marks that is just shocking the government by interested in large sums of public money. companies have no experience in curing am safe p.p. that again is absolutely shocking it's just in there are things in place as rules in place were around to pick you up meant to ensure the safety of patients and also clearly so that should not happen i have actually worked in areas where they was no p.p.

and also worked in africa areas where i was ox to reuse my face my cost and there'd be shortages as i print why i would like to see the government ensure that there is a good supply chain and he saw pick you up when issues are dealt with now the government can't just put us in the front line and expect us to be working it's very it's very stressful and i just hope that they do the right feeling obviously they've made lots of errors and i'm just hoping that going forward they can do the right thing to protect us so that we can protect our patients. meanwhile it's been revealed to local councils have been granted new powers to demolish buildings and even homes infected with corona virus prime minister johnson says that he is determined to avoid a 2nd nationwide lockdown at all costs we've got reaction from people in the u.k. to the new powers enjoyed by councils to enforce the call what downs it's absolutely ridiculous you know extreme powers to demolish buildings you know a lot more mixed messages i mean the message to be makes them very very very.

happy. well you sound sounds a bit drastic to protect straightaway agamemnon. consolo. patient maybe warms up i don't see how. long. after. the games are played. i just think that it's a little heavy handed. world of thought in this day and age it would be easier to write should be sanitized somewhere rather than knock it down. seems wasteful it doesn't seem resourceful vaccines and you know you'd think there'd be something more scientific that would help rather than demolishing buildings which i don't think going to help is there really any way i think when there's a housing shortage in the u.k. what not be right behind anybody argued against it frankly. italy's approach to

controlling the covert outbreak appears to be paying off the telly confirmed cases rate is now averaging around $300.00 which is well below the peak many aspects of the lockdown have now been east social distancing is still required in public spaces and wearing face masks has remained mandatory in shops and on public transport but not all passengers are compliant with the help databases and some even turning violent when asked to do so. name is gladiator.

many a. joint project they come to the gym in order to be ready for the aggression that they face every day the simple rule to wear a mask is becoming a problem for the drivers. a lot of drivers have been in trouble what we read about in the newspaper is only be extreme situations dangerous situations occur every night in rome and in many other parts of the. ok more news coming your way after this break.

no clue no crow. no shots. back shoes belts. the 1st 3. points your thirst for action. when i was told some seemed wrong but old girls just don't know all. the world yet to shape out just they become agitated and engagement because of the trail. once on many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

donald trump is once again railing against germany over military spending accusing berlin of making a fortune off u.s. soldiers washington and earlier announced plans to reduce its presence in germany by a 3rd this is in was applauded by the president's pick for the next u.s. ambassador to berlin but douglas mcgregor's nominations already ruffling his potential hopes feathers need to oliver explains the ties that if united germany and the us since the end of the 2nd world war path phrase under the 10 yet of donald trump that's in part due to the president's picks for ambassador his 1st appointment rick grinnell irritated his hosts from the get go.

german companies doing business in iran should wind down operations immediately never tell a host country what to do. we're not a banana republic. an acceptable one sided tightening of the term. big shoes to fill to be sure but if president trump gets his way the next u.s. ambassador to germany will be retired army colonel douglas macgregor no shrinking violet when it comes to controversy these people are not coming to assimilate or become europeans. the opposite they're coming to take over whatever they can get

they're coming to benefit to consume and to establish themselves inside other people's countries with the goal of eventually turning europe into islamic state the germans thanks to us don't feel obligated to defend themselves government seems more concerned about providing free services to millions of unwanted boys women vader's to be blunt then it goes about its own armed forces in the defense of his country clearly a man with opinions who isn't afraid to share them but it's what mcgregor have to say about german attitudes to the horrors of nazi rule that have upset people here . a sort of a 6 mentality you could say is that generations after generations must atone to see in the sky what happened in 13 years of german history germany's willingness to confront its past is a key to parts of society before the retired colonel has been approved politicians

here and the men saying the idea that he would be put forward in the 1st place as an ambassador. donald trump sins douglas macgregor to berlin he describes the german culture of remembrance of nazi crimes is a sick mentality and we thought up to richard grinnell things could only get better the us government is free to choose i'm busted whether mr macgregor will be confirmed by the senate is completely open in any case he would come to believe with heavy baggage there's already enough xenophobia rhetoric coming from the f.t. mcgregor's controversial statements aren't just limited to germany he's upset people with what he's have to say about mexico kosovo and ukraine while he was talking to my american colleagues we suddenly have a new cultural identity in eastern and southern ukraine that's clearly russian but we know the demand for recognition that the people who live in those areas are in fact russians not ukrainians the friendship between germany and the united states is strong enough to survive the old falling out like the spying on merkel scandal

under president obama donald trump selecting one less than diplomatic ambassador isn't going to cause too much trouble but a 2nd one in a row may well indicate a more permanent change to the mood music teacher all over r.t. . as bolivia celebrated its independence day on thursday the country was gripped by protests over delayed elections the voters already been put off twice over the pandemic the government's denounced the protests branding them a danger to public health and safety and accuses former leader of al morale is of inflaming them all he's done a quarter has the story. when it comes to combating potential election fraud donald trump seems to have a solution suspend the elections altogether and while that's caused quite a fuss in the united states the pro-u.s. interim government in bolivia has successfully used that strategy twice just see for yourself on the opposition feels about it.

the people are demonstrating taking to the streets and calling for elections now because we are seen to be in the business of the self-appointed president who is bankrupting the country by having every young people of coldness to go on a hunger strike until the government calls elections we no longer want to wait we want actions now the court cited the covert $900.00 pandemic as the reason for the delay now while there are rising infections in the country it's nowhere near to the same level as bolivia's hard hit neighbors like brazil chile and peru and the postponement has really struck a nerve with the public who have been in political limbo since the last election. the most of. the museum.

it was the 1st step towards free and fair elections as prescribed by washington. all countries deserve free fair transparent and credible elections the oas official report on bolivia makes it clear that bolivians were not given this chance stop the violence hold elections and work with janine and is on the transitional government to bring democracy back so the new president janine 9 years had one job to hold a new vote. it's merely a transitional period we will call for elections with honorable people they will carry out an electoral process that reflects the will and sentiment of all bolivians the interim government was supposed to hold new elections 90 days after taking power instead on us has been president now for almost a year with no signs of returning to the ballot box she also said she wouldn't run

for president in the next election but since her an egg on that and her reputation as bolivia's caretaker has been far from spotless. various foreign ministers described how least containing their home interest is telephone numbers family addresses and other personal information are being circulated viable atop facebook and other social media ok. it has also been publicly reported that the lifeless bodies of several people who were killed when this occurred disappeared allegedly after being collected by law enforcement officers and no further information has scenes been provided to them.

all the while it doesn't even seem like the libyans really support the interim government polls are showing that another election would mean victory for morale a says movement for socialism party perhaps it's just another read. and why for the interim government if there is no election there is no problem and yes it is the neo liberal puppet the unelected hater that imperialist countries won in libya they're afraid of a return of able more out of this of the movement toward socialism the m.e.'s kennedy are staying with defeat and yes or no coup mongering this so that's why they continue to use coal the night seen as an excuse they know i mean it's not when she's not popular with the everyday people so the very people responsible for this pandemic of the ones who continue to lay the elections ironically using. the 19 as the excuse when the oas in the nicest government talk about

free elections and voice that talking about their candidates leading in the polls and in winning in with their rubber stamps yes men and women like. income i still are not in and can not see elections and they come up with every excuse to postpone the she's saying it on tape to me for updates on top stories in half an hour. as the u.s. economy was booming growing numbers of people were made homeless. you can work 40 hours 'd in a week and still not have enough to get housing everybody believes america still is the land of opportunity the reality of we're not financially equality and the lack

of affordable housing for a living minimum wage gave many people new choice to fall in with the city knows turn their backs on. the records least the most vulnerable and abandoned on the streets to become invisible. there are a lot of lawmakers in the state of missouri that we know received huge financial contributions from agricultural industry groups those are the groups that oppose proposition b. and there is no doubt in our minds that those same groups pressured lama.