top australian figures, including a former prime minister, condemn reports that the country soldiers tortured and murdered dozens of afghan civilians. you look at how the war on terror created its own form of terror. french catholics rally against a ban on religious gatherings during the lock down amid a surge in covert cases, one worshipper appointed to disturbing historical parallels in french history. this isn't the 1st time that going to mass has been considered illegal for the churches

have been locked, or that going to mass could be considered a crime. and rescuers from countries including russia helped refugees to return to newborn a cuppa and rebuild their homes. many find they have nothing to return to every day drugged by this house. and this is every time a dog house that's been in the prime of the very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at our teach q. in moscow. let's get started. with your life news update, and we start with some news coming out of the georgian capital, an armed man has broken into a loan company office and taken 9 people hostage. that's been confirmed by the interior minister. a police operation is underway and we're of course closely

following the situation and we'll keep you updated in our headline news, australian officials have condemned what they call unforgivable atrocities committed by their country special forces in afghanistan, the defense minister, governor general, and former prime minister, kevin rudd spoke out after an inquiry by a stray his military into the alleged murder of $39.00 afghan civilians including prisoners. i got to report 2 weeks ago, and it made me physically ill. and it was very, very distressing. raid. the un forgivable atrocities were committed by a small number of individuals and deliberately concealed from the media chains of command. i'm disgusted by the findings of this report will detail you counts of cold blooded murder by members of the armed forces. those messages of remorse, follow a long list of apologies for war crimes committed by coalition forces in afghanistan

. since the 2001 invasion. r.t.c. are trying to look at how those waging a war on terror became a source of terror themselves. 2 eggs, australia and afghanistan, thousands of kilometers apart. one a very keen to help the other. we remind committed to assisting afghanistan in resisting it. terrorism. resisting the taliban forces providing in cooperation with other countries. i label of stability and to live the lives curity . as that you'll, country can build for itself a strong in prosperous and secure future. it took the australian prime minister a bit more than 13 hours to fly over to kabul to say all that a bit more than 13 years ago. by then, australian troops had already been engaged in the war torn country for several

years, almost 20 years ago since the aussies got involved. their number one military man has no other choice, but to say, sorry, i sincerely and unreservedly apologize for any wrongdoing. by a stray in soldiers. i say no choice because allegations of 39 civilian deaths at the hands of his defense force as a result of blood lust and competition. killing deserve an apology or actually much more than that large parts of the military report. we can't even read their blacked out, but even what's available, sounds horrendous and disgusting. this shameful record includes alleged instances in which new patrol in the members were coerced, to shoot a prisoner in order to achieve that soldier's 1st kewl in an appalling practice known as bloody atrocities. ranged from reports of troops

killing a 6 year old child and a house raid to a prisoner being shot dead to save space and a helicopter apology given measures to be taken culprits to be punished. compensation to be paid. but just think of how many times since 2001, we heard the same kind of stuff from the coal issue. do you call it what you were just for the course of their being? president obama spoke by telephone to apologize and express his condolences for the m.s.f. staff and patients who were killed and injured. sincere apologies for any offense. this may have caused by apologies to the president of afghanistan. and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. these are the cases that they thought deserved an apology. unlike some

unfortunate, i mean quite a few of the fortunate civilian deaths from drone strikes that were often referred to as, remember the phrase collateral damage. but in any case, there is no winning the war on terror without drones, right? they were dangerous to these young men, often deliberately and casually, cruel. i wanted somehow to save them, send them to school, give them a trade to drain them, of the hate that had been filling their heads. and yet the world that they were a part of and the machinery i commanded more often had me killing them. instead, it all makes you wonder, just how many more thousands of deaths or command full pause. we're still unaware of, especially when it's revealed how much the people in charge were in denial about what they were doing. the problem is there is a disincentive, really, to tell the truth. we created an incentive to almost require or for people

to law. there is an odor of mendacity throughout the afghanistan issue, and i know congressman connelly has heard me talk about this years ago mendacity and who bruce so well, the latest report that left the aussies red faced lead 20 strategic consequences and military mindset u. turns. well, judging by how badly crabs plans to cut the troop presence in afghanistan have been received, is just wishful thinking for now. we've been in afghanistan for almost 20 years, and no need to ally wants to stay any longer than necessary. but at the same time, the price for leaving too soon, or in uncoordinated, we could be very high afghanistan, risk becoming once again, a platform for international terrorists to plan and organize attacks on our own lands. so i guess it means more apologies could only be on the way here. horsy

a former governor of afghanistan's girls' new province. now it's australia's not the only member of the us led coalition to have carried out such horrific actions. these are something that is very serious and we feel that that is beyond our comprehension. and i'm really appalled that that how could anybody and the name of humanity will what even do that, especially with this poor afghan people. and we hope that manifest to something real and not only for the australian, but also nato countries. and also united states who have committed similar acts in afghanistan, also needs to pay heed to this issue and reconcile their own differences that i have done in afghanistan. the world health organization has voiced alarm over europe's urging coronavirus death rate after $29000.00 fatalities,

were registered and extinguished week. according to the w.h.o., one person in europe is dying from the virus every 17 seconds. france is one of the worst hit countries with intensive care ward, more than 95 percent full and struggling to cope with more than 2000000, kobe cases, a constant force tally. medical staff are warning they can no longer cope. will complain about is that we need some rest but we have limited places. the less serious patients are in the hospital ward and we only get the patients in the most serious state. yes, it's difficult now. he said over the government's promise is sort of the common hospital. i've never seen that before. the patients but francis ban on all religious gatherings, including mass, as part of the lockdown, has sent angry believers on to the streets in protest or 1st. say some things are

more important than cope with restrictions. charlotte devinsky reports, churches may be closed for services, but carefully are still meeting. and they are protesting. lockdown measures that seem religious service is essential under france's measures to fight the virus. only funerals and weddings are currently allowed in religious buildings or services, but the limits on the numbers that can attend religious leaders say the restrictions of one tree to see could part of the catholic faith, catholics in france, suffer from not being able to come together for the sunshine moment, the sunday mass. many do not understand how disposable to shop in the supermarket filled with bias and how to spot the saying time to meet in our churches and strict

compliance with health precaution rules. despite taking their pleas to france's highest administrative court, the catholic church has failed to persuade the current sleep state that religious services such as most essential and should be permitted during the lockdown. but some while others have decided to take matters into their own hands. well, if i might go to confession with you a bit, charlotte, i did not start going to master in the 1st lockdown, and i don't intend to start doing that this time. keeping not to draw focus from the authorities for attending these prohibited masses. we have agreed to hide his identity. if you feel that it is the responsible thing to do to continue going to mass responsible thing to do. for us as catholics,

we are mostly responsible to god before we are responsible to our government. and obviously it's always best when those 2 are together. but in french history, this isn't the 1st time that going to mass has been considered illegal, or the churches have been locked, or that going to mass could be considered crimes by making this decision. do you not think that you are putting the general population in? do you think that as a catholic is the right thing to do? you know, because i'm not asking anybody to do anything that they don't want to do. if someone doesn't want to go to mass, they're not being forced to go. and as they say, oh, be all of the laws. as my religion asks me to on public transportation, etc. so i will be a paying little no, because the laws of france do not extend above god. so there are limits to france's power. and i simply recognize that in the practical order, max is not repentant for his desire to continue attending mass,

nor would he feel morally responsible, if someone in his congregation and delegate nowhere in my life up to 2020, have by been held morally responsible for being a vector of a disease, i could very well have passed a cold on to someone in the past or the flu, unknowingly. and the way that code has operated with many, many asymptomatic carriers. it's very unlikely that anyone would ever know. so given that i had no intention to distribute the virus or any desire to do so, i couldn't feel bad in that sense. that attitude is likely to in theory, a thirty's, which one services such as all banned well for the protests by catholics will not be tolerated. life is more important than anything else. and life is about battling the coronavirus. it's not just catholics who have been impacted by this. the blanket baron hates any religious service. that means that muslims, jews,

hindus and all in the same boat note. but given that france is still a majority catholic country, their voices and voices of anger or roy sing above the crowds. shawty been ski, auti, paris. the president of the european commission has admitted that the u.s. approach to migration is not working or slow for an alliance spoke ahead of an e.u. summit which exposed a sharp rift on that issue and several others. migration is a complex issue and there are many genuine concerns that have to be brought into balance. the current system no longer works. we're not going to cross live to our europe correspondent peter over for more on that. peter, tell us about the european commission president's remarks and how they were received by the e.u. member states. well,

there's live on the line pretty much outlining what people have known for a while. right now. it's 5 years since the peak of the migrant crisis here in europe. and we've known for pretty much that long, if not longer, that the double into agreement, the treaty that sorts out what happens to refugees and migrants just wasn't really fit for purpose. as it stands, what happens is a migrant house to apply for asylum and be looked after. in the 1st country they arrive in, well that just simply doesn't work. and what we heard from is on the line was that they need to have a new system. something that's shared fairer and sharing the burden, particularly taking some of the weight off the shoulders of countries like italy and greece. people coming from migration background will contribute to growth, innovation, and social dynamism in the country and we speak to seldom about that. those countries that fulfill their legal and moral duty,

so are those which are more exposed than others, must be able to rely on european union to share responsibility in case of need. and each member state, without exception, must support member states under pressure. and they must ensure that the union meets its humanitarian obligations. but not everybody is playing along with that message of union. poland and hungary have set themselves up as the table of the lions' commission. they are playing ball when it comes to ideas of sharing refugees and migrants throughout the $27.00 nation member bloc. what they are also not playing ball with is when it comes to the new e.u. budget, either under the written into the contract of the new budget is that if you don't play ball with what brussels has to say,

you don't get money from the brussels budget well, poland has found itself accused of a roading, the checks and balances of democracy, and in fact, it going as far as to undermining the independence of the judiciary while in hungary, viktor orban, the hungarian prime minister is said to be launching a crackdown against media and academics now they aren't going to sign off on the budget as long as that clause is in there. and fact they're not the only ones that are particularly happy with that. but i've also own notion, a propaganda club has emerged in the european union deciding what the rule of law is and how it's broken from communist times. we know well how such clubs leaved we reject such tools because the rule of law is now being applied in the us a scare tactic, the opposite is true, meaning the rule of law should mean the right of states to reform themselves in accordance with treaties and the constitution and numerous media outlets and some

political groups in the european parliament are openly threatening to use that instrument wrong or termed the rule of law in order to discipline individual e.u. member states. those of us to spend part of our lives under total terran regime, know the deviation from reality begins when process institutions are given a name that reflects the exact opposite of the essence. so poland and hungary vetoed the new e.u. budget. but it's a heck of a heck of a lot of money that they're not allowing to be distributed, $1.00 trillion euro over the next 7 years. that's money that's being put aside in order to help rebuild economies post cove. it. it's also money that set to build back better when it comes to green infrastructure, carbon neutral projects, as well as digital economy projects. all of these, the marquis manifesto promises of on the line and her commission. well,

the talks on thursday night resulted in nothing. we saw quite despondent shalmi shell, the european council president alongside angela merkel, the german chancellor of course, but also germany holding the presidency of the at the moment. they said that they would get back to the drawing board and try and work out a plan, a solution to get hungry and poland on board. but saying that there were serious problems at the moment. in fact, those problems a so serious that it's being whispered in room is that plans are afoot to try and circumvent the veto of those 2 men the states in order to try and push through this budget. so needed is that money? however, to do that? well, that would go against the unanimity of the european member states, all voting in one direction to push forward an agenda of doing that would be going against something that sacrosanct and would certainly have well quite

a few eyebrows raised if not questions about where the direction the european union was going in, artie's peter, our reporting live from berlin. thank you. soldiers from azerbaijan, accompanied by russian peacekeepers, are now entering parts of the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh in line with a new peace deal. mean, all refugees are returning to the area's main. cities to panick area which is held by armenia. but as artist one got to found out, many of them have almost nothing to return to who war may be over. but the humanitarian situation. here instapundit here is still dial scenes like this are repeated hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times across the city and left to their own devices. look at emergency workers would be overwhelmed. this is why russia has sent help aside from peacekeepers who patrol the routes and heights. russia also said civilian rescue has engineers,

fod been builders. they gauge the devastation and the estimate how much aid will be required. it's neither easy nor quick. let's go for the next one. how many do you have on your list? there are too many. how many have we visited today? about 50, neither is it pleasant. every creator has a story. every destroyed whom has its goofs and with almost every visit. we hear again and again about how he were a she were all of them died. i knew they were in this room 2 cousins and my grandmother and i was in the room over there, which wasn't destroyed. and i fell of my bed, opened my eyes, and only saw dust. it took me 5 minutes to crawl out the window. help has come from all over the world, humanitarian organizations,

luko and russian, rescuers catalog ruin. after wreckage, our 1st task is to cover all the broken windows and glass so people can survive the wind. it's some pleasant even scary, had some role in the construction of many of these buildings is painful and their priority now is making catabolic, livable again, wreckage will be cleared later, but light damage has to be repaired. now people are doing what they can. plaster remove a small holes and covering empty window frames with plastic sheets, but there are laws and even for that. my house supports and heat so bad. they've lost way for lou. the windows sought for their homes, which suffered much worse. really can't complain. the city is slowly coming back to life. the shock of the war is wearing off and with every returning refugees. there

is a sense that the city of step by the character has come back from the dead. but in every street, there is a somber reminder that life will never be the same. and some people just can't come back every day. we drive by this house and it's a sad sight, every time. a dog guarding a house that's been destroyed. and the family that isn't there more, i guess d. of tea from the u.s. state of georgia has completed its hand recount a presidential election ballot and confirmed joe biden as the winner. again, the state's top election official also debunked the fraud allegations made by donald trump's team. our translators are still claiming fraud in other states and say they have the witnesses to prove it. this is not a single voter fraud in one state. to state in repeats itself in

a number of states. clearly illegal, clearly voter fraud easily provable. hundreds of witnesses, maybe thousands trumps attention, is now shifting to michigan where 2 republican officials are saying they were tricked by democrats and to certifying the vote results. the president has reportedly summoned top republican lawmakers from the state to the white house to discuss further steps. but president elect joe biden says, trump is fighting a losing battle. it's going to be inches the who shows up. i'm confident he knows he has one is not going to be able to, we're going to be sworn in in january 20th. he will go down in history as the one most irresponsible presidents in american history. republican election officials in michigan have signed affidavits rescinding their decision to approve the vote count . i need only voted not to certify the election, and i still believe this vote should not be certified. and the state board of canvassers should canvass for an additional period republican canvassers,

william hartmann, and monica palmer initially voted against certifying the election results in wayne county, michigan, where detroit is located. they said there were irregularities. they said that the poll book, which is the official list of registered voters, did not actually match the election results. they had questions, they were not comfortable voting to certify the election results. the state of michigan had already been called for joe biden. the we had been ahead at that point 150000 votes, there was kind of a 3 hour deadlock and then there was a zoom call where activists and poll workers spoke to the board on a zoom conference and raised the issue of racism. we are going to share, you guys are not right, and i'm sorry for your descendants will be so extreme that you know, i am ashamed of you. i'm not going to read it to you. shame on you. you're a racist. ignorance was showing your racism is a very of parish and i don't know how you sleep at night because this is on the

record, monica, your daughter is going to look at you in disgust because she's going to know and this is going to affect her because people will ask her why is sure mother race is so after about 2 hours of public humiliation, the republican officials reached a compromise with their democratic counterparts. now, according to them, they agreed to vote to certify these results. despite their concerns. in exchange for the democrats conducting an audit afterwards to see what was going on with these irregularities. now the democrats decided not to conduct an audit. they say essentially that, that their, their agreement was not how peled and they regret certifying the votes. we now have palmer and hartmann saying that they were misled. they have now signed affidavits saying that they rescinded their decision to certify the votes. in wayne county, michigan, vice chairman, gave me sure and says that voting for the certification of the november election would result in a feeling depend on a bit of detroit's unbalanced president's. i relied on that assurance and voted to certify the election based on that assurance. later that evening i was sent

statements that secretary jewson benson meet saying that she did not view our audit resolution to be binding. as a result of this fact, i reset my prior vote to certify wayne county elections. now the legal mechanism by which the votes of wayne county michigan could still be overturned is rather unclear. now the county is considered by the state of michigan to be certified and the decision to certify the entire state of michigan will be carried out on monday by a different committee that would be the board of state canvassers. that committee is split evenly along party lines of republicans and democrats, and it's not clear whether or not these affidavits from the 2 republican poll canvassers in wayne county, michigan will have any effect on that upcoming vote. the lawsuit that was filed by the trumpet, ministration in the state of michigan has been dropped. they are no longer in a legal battle with the state of michigan. but michigan is not the only place where

there were concerns about irregularities raised by the camp. they claim there is a pattern of voter fraud that favored joe biden and secured his victory in the election. and now according to a recent poll, 40 percent of americans believe that the recent election on november 3rd was tainted by fraud. and donald trump still maintains that he is the legitimate winner of the election. however, there seems to be a pretty big consensus in u.s. media that joe biden is the winner. the election took place on november 3rd, but yet the controversy surrounding the u.s. presidential election has not ended. lastly, we bring you a reminder of a developing situation in the georgian capital and our man has broken into a loan company office and taken 9 people hostage. and these are live pictures from the air. it's been confirmed by the interim minister of the hostage situation. a police operation is under way and a criminal probe has been launched into assault and illegal possession of weapons

will be bring you more on that as we have it. of the day's top headline news for now. but if you're looking for more head on over to our website, r.t. dot com can we expect from them by ministration, when it comes to russia? as things stand today, relations is replete with hard liners. with a long record of failure to get worse.

welcome to visionaries. may sophie shevardnadze, global institutions are rigged or the taking time? that is the climate change. but my guest today believes that panic is unnecessary or even groundless. bjorn lomborg, president of the copenhagen consensus setter, a visiting fellow at the hoover institution at stanford university. skeptical environmentalists joins me now. the president of the copenhagen consensus on earth visiting fellow at the hoover institution, stanford university, and skeptical environmentalist. it's really great to have you with us today. bjorn, how do you like my last part of your presentation? skeptical environmentalist. and i know you say it's great to be here sort of so what i really try to do is to think about what.