a new spin on t.v. last night. as his time in office draws to a close donald trump vetoes the u.s. defense bill branding it. for u.s. military contractors jailed for their involvement in the massacre of iraq the civilians. given a presidential pardon there on trump's latest clemency list which notably excludes the bloods. and the french government backs a controversial bill on so-called green passports allowing travel and other activities to be allowed back some of the. critics say the move will turn everyone else.

live from moscow thanks for joining us here today and. welcome to the program. as connected to one of his final acts of defiance as president he's vetoed the $740000000000.00 defense bill despite its wide bipartisan support in congress is not the have to cost though that the outgoing u.s. leaders got a problem with his concern is the unraveling of some of his previous moves like pulling troops from afghanistan since the vetoes a lot has to be overturned by congress has been sworn explains why trump's out for trouble. the act fails to include critical national security measures include provisions that failed to respect our veterans and our military's history and contradicts efforts by my administration to put america 1st in our national security and foreign policy actions president trump has essentially said that he

was going to veto this defense bill if it came to him in the shape that well it came to him in essentially the bill which is $740000000000.00 is also known as the national defense authorization act it is an act passed every year for the last almost 60 years by congress to fund the u.s. military and every year it seems like the amount of funding for the military grows but it's also usually packed with items that are not necessarily specific to funding the military in this case there are a couple of different items that are listed within the bill that the president has a problem with one is the renaming of certain forts and military installations in the united states that have the names of confederate soldiers one of those is fort benning in georgia the president does not want to rename those military installations but the bigger issue the one the media here doesn't really want to talk about is the issue of the fact that this bill actually prevents president trump from being able to withdraw our troops from afghanistan as he has said repeatedly that he desires to do and that he will do here's some of what president

trump said about it numerous provisions of the act directly contradict my administration's foreign policy particularly my efforts to bring our troops home i oppose endless wars and as does the american public this act purports to restrict the president's ability to withdraw troops from afghanistan germany and south korea not only is this bad policy but it is unconstitutional nancy pelosi the speaker of the house spoke out about this saying that this is the wrong move by the president that it puts our men and women in the military in harm's way she didn't explain how that happens he's not talking about defunding the military obviously it has a massive budget it's the largest budget in the entire u.s. government but. it what she also mentioned is that this bill undermines she says the will of congress in a bipartisan way the president's veto of the national defense authorization act is an act of staggering recklessness that harms our troops and vendors our security

and undermines the will of the bipartisan congress next week december 28th the house will take up the veto override with bipartisan support you know what's fascinating about that is congress in the united states can agree on anything certainly they have difficulty green on any issue except for military spending and the expansion of wars around the world and that's what this bill does it takes an extraordinary step that actually prevents a u.s. president from being able to withdraw troops without congressional approval that's the caviar in this bill congress would have to approve the removal of troops which is not constitutional only the commander in chief has that authority however under the u.s. constitution interestingly congress does have the authority the sole authority to declare war something they don't want to do so to summarize under this bill congress would not be clear wars they would simply prevent presidents from indian them donald trump has sparked outrage with his latest list of presidential pardons

and includes military contractors jailed for killing civilians in iraq but no whistleblowers the sparkles from right sector with caleb open picks up a story. well it is the holiday season and the outgoing presidential administration seems to be in a mood for clemency at this point we have 15 pardons that have been issued as well as 5 commute ment's and there has been a wave of anger and criticism of who it is that the president of united states has decided to show mercy to now one of the people involved is george papadopoulos this is an associate of trumps who was caught up in the russia collusion investigation and charged with lying to the f.b.i. the white house made the decision to grant him a pardon at the time that mr papadopoulos allegedly made the false statements he was not represented by counsel and after he was arrested mr papadopoulos gave additional information on his prior statements to the special counsel today's pardon helps correct the wrongs that mueller seem inflicted on so many people now

in addition to george papadopoulos there has been widespread outrage about the trump administration's decision to grant clemency to some members of the blackwater military contracting company these were guards who were employed by blackwater who killed civilians in iraq or the north americans are threatened or. that they were dead bodies everywhere and this is the argument going to be on the only 2 people and it's going to be among the dead bodies ministry as a ritual that was in the middle of next 7 years old.

paul slow evan liberty and dustin heard were convicted for involuntary manslaughter and the individua. well nicholas slotting who opened fire and 1st started shooting into the crowd of iraqi civilians he was convicted of 1st degree murder but now the white house is letting all of them off they will no longer be in prison serving their sentences they have been pardoned this is the feeling of the white house about why they made this decision when the convoy attempted to establish a blockade outside the green zone the situation turned violent which resulted in the unfortunate deaths and injuries of iraqi civilians further prosecutors recently disclosed more than 10 years after the incident that the lead iraqi investigator who prosecutors you lied heavily on so very far that there were no incision victims and to collect evidence may have helped tunnies to insurgent groups himself now at

this point there is widespread outrage this seems like the trump administration is almost approving of the killing of iraqi civilians 2 children were among the 14 people in the crowd who died as a result of their gun fire but at this point people are also looking at the fact that trumps education secretary betsy to vause is the sister of the founder of blackwater erik prince now there's also been a lot of outrage about who is not on the list of trump's pardons among the 15 people pardon and 5 sentence commuted it's the names that were missing that many were optimistic and hopeful about were julian a son john edward snowden these prominent whistleblowers had many people calling for the trump white house to grant them clemency among those who called for them were not just activists and advocates of civil liberties and for the protection of whistleblowers but also representatives of the united nations take a listen on hoping that he will julian assange it's the right thing to do donald

trump since you're given pardons to people please consider pardoning those who at great personal sacrifice expose the deception and criminality of those in the deep state if there's a. trumps truth as well yes i think the least thing to could do is to end the suffering the purity the forms to pardon him the man have suffered enough for the interest of the public to war now trump still has time to grant a pardon to edward snowden and to julian assan he can grant clemency up until the moment he leaves office he could do it at the very very last minute however the number of people that were pardoned today and the information about who they are seems to have many pessimistic many of the activists supporting the whistleblowers feel like this indicates the trumpet ministration is moving in a very different direction with its clemency this is what every country that hosts us occupation's us bases is told it's a matter for us justice with u.s. soldiers and u.s.

contractors and mercenaries to kill rape and pillage in your country will handle it well here's the message the united states will not handle it it will not treat these cases in the way that it would treat a case of mass murder in the united states those of us who did not support trump selection support dropping the demand for extradition of julian a son for crimes that amount to a commission of acts of journalism i don't care who julian a sanji is what his politics are what horrible things he's done he performed a great service for the world he behaved as a journalist and a publisher he worked with the legitimate whistleblowers who were doing services for the world he took care to limit any damage that could be done as he was performing this service he ought to be pardoned and i hope he will it certainly seems more likely still that trump will pardon him then that president biden when

he's newly into office will drop the case. the french government's pushing for the interruption of so-called green paul sports allowing. greater freedom of movement to cope with immune people critics say those who decide against getting rocks that it will be a century tree that is lesser citizens lots of the latest polls suggest some 6 in 10 people in france don't want the job party's porous leah reports. france is preparing to end its health emergency by april the so says the french prime minister john kass takes he's presented a bill in the national assembly ended establishing a so-called long health emergency management regime simply to it is vaccination and those opposed to it might just find themselves in trouble even if they just planning a trip around the city the prime minister may under the plan measures make the movement of people and their access to transport subject to presenting test results

showing that the person is not infected following vaccination or remedial treatment quoted to some politicians the may still believe i'm vaccinated people feeling as though they 2nd class citizens if this bill has really been tabled it must be forged but all elected officials and citizens committed to democracy and freedom in the face of this senseless deviation it is up to us to bring the government back to a semblance of reason this is the bill establishing a long term health emergency management regime which has just been introduced by cast x read the following in this law the prime minister can make you a 2nd class citizen if you refuse the vaccine we must wake up it flies in the face of a promise made by french president emanuel not quantities government they should skeptics their feet and covered vaccination which begins on sunday would be purely voluntary . i want to be clear i will not make the vaccination mandatory.

but the idea of restricting certain freedoms for vaccinated people has been mentioned several times in public debates since this presidential announcement for example a member of the union of democrats and independent party valerie 6 has proposed the issuing of green pos folds to people who have been immunized with we could take the example of israel which grants each vaccinated person a green passport allowing them to go to places of culture and to restaurants and to get back to normal winning the french inoculation program will target the most vulnerable members of society 1st such as the elderly and only off to a medical examination and come since he has given it's a great start but it's what comes next that has people here worried policia out see paris earlier we spoke to a member of the french national running policy believes the government has gone one

step too far. you know emanuel mccrone the prime minister the health minister promised us there would be no compulsory vaccination they would leave the freedom to choose to the french in fact thanks in particular to marine le pen we see that the draft laws speaks of a measure completely veiled aimed at limiting the french people to certain rules in their public lives thereby deciding for them whether they will be vaccinated or not i think it's shameful in fact it's a restriction of freedom which moreover contradicts the constitution this is a manifestation of dictatorship it seems to me that the government does not understand that today the patience of the french has run out the agreed to strict discipline for many months they said yes to the introduction of corentin said yes to the imposition of a curfew the agreed to everything that was imposed on them the next day the government came up with nothing better than to further curtail their personal

freedom if the government wants the french to get vaccinated they must restore enough miss fear of trust that's the voice of wisdom. spain is ready to start vaccinating people with the fire as a bomb tech vaccine after it was given the green light by e.u. regulators the country's health ministry saying a record will be kept of anyone who turns down the job it is considered important to record cases of rejection of the vaccination in the vaccination registry in order to understand the possible reasons for reluctance in different population groups according to latest polls just around 40 percent of spanish citizens are ready to be inoculated against covert 1916 percent said they need more proof that it's effective and almost a 3rd will refuse to get the job altogether. we're not going to we are going to bed i'm not going to get vaccinated i don't support it i don't want to be registered

anywhere neither the government the city council nor anyone else has to know what i do i believe it violates our privacy and they should not interfere at the moment no i'm not going to vaccinate. it doesn't seem right or wrong to me i think people should get vaccinated but without forcing anyone everyone should do as they choose. i am one of those who doesn't want to be vaccinated it seems wrong to me i don't want any government to have to tell me whether or not i must be vaccinated because it's my decision general fold spot of entry deadlock in israel and a possible bricks at breakthrough all ahead of the program this is r.t. it's a tough. the world is driven by a dream shaped by one person with those great. dares

thinks. we dare to ask. anyone else seems wrong we all just don't call. me. yet to shape our disdain comes to educate and in games from an equal speech trail. one song many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

welcome back the u.k. and the european union may be finally about to put out a post brooks a trade deal law reports that a must as of repairing to meet on thursday christmas eve to start the ratification process showed it was dusty has more. boris johnson and his european counterparts have been working tirelessly and they say they're closer than ever before to getting a trade deal of course they would be closer than ever to getting a trade deal considering the amount of time left the deadline is obviously the 31st of december but today is widely seen as a deadline day the final day for any provisional agreement as both sides are quite keen to get a deal in place by christmas all that said fisheries is still one of the main

stumbling blocks still one of the key obstacles that has been throughout all of the talks throughout the year and it is still today in fact the loss what we heard from banja the chief negotiator just last night he said that the u.k.'s latest offer is absolutely unacceptable for the european union so it is quite hard to see that we're really getting to a breakthrough moment but it seems as though it hasn't it's all to do with how killing now the amount of percentages in the waters at the e.u. and the u.k. are now negotiating but when we look at the wider context of rex's that we know that brics has almost been the political death of david cameron and indeed theresa may 2 prime ministers before boris johnson we know 6 that he has predicated much of his political career covert aside all breck's it in the u.k. his general election much of it all boiled down to breakfast the very eager to get the best deal in place for britain and in fact many m.p.'s within his own party are

holding to ransom on that very fact saying if he doesn't get a good deal for britain that if ascension he should quit if mr johnson fails to reach an acceptable trade agreement with the e.u. the prime minister will also have failed the people of the united kingdom as a lifelong member of the conservative party i believe that mr johnson's position as prime minister would be untenable well in terms of ratification then that could all be done and dusted here in the united. things in within a day or day that has been pencilled into diaries for m.p.'s here in the united kingdom is the 30th of december over across the channel then for the e.u. 27 member states a little bit more complicated they could all agree though on video link but parliament would have to ratify it to they're suggesting that they would then ratify it potentially all to the event that's also not quite ideal because if anybody objects to anything well it's already been provisionally applied but all of that being said that's quite forward thinking that because still the e.u.

and the u.k. need to sign on back down to the line they need to get that deal in place. israeli government has collapsed after months of parliamentary wrangling failed to secure a new budget the country's though heading for its 4th election in 2 years but all quarter takes us through the story. really seems like tuesday's budget roadblock was the last straw for israel's 7 month long ruling government coalition now benjamin netanyahu party and benny gantz is blue and white party or both blaming one another for the impasse and with these new elections scheduled for march i think we could possibly be seeing the end to 11 years of the premiership of benjamin netanyahu but netanyahu doesn't seem very worried and that's. why i'm not afraid of elections we are prepared for that we will win the public and israel knows who's bringing in millions of vaccines for peace agreement who's blocking iran who is bringing security and who will restore the economy with great impetus

while netanyahu is ratings are actually at an all time low but he still projected to do better than dance in these new snap elections but he polls are actually saying these not projected to win a majority like in these previous instances i mean after all his political career has been followed by a corruption case which he's denied any wrongdoing in and and also people aren't very happy in israel about the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic we've seen protests gripped the country for the past 6 months and they're not really showing any sign of letting out.

israeli politics have been deadlocked for a long time now a lot of people are saying that another election isn't isn't going to fix the situation it's just going to lead to a 5th election down the road but i'm happy that we have to fulfill it. because i was afraid that that we will never have an election again. we prayed that the dictatorship would take over. i think now if the situation is critical and we don't have the money and the time for the elections i mean it was so much i mean i think that the election is completely unnecessary it will cost us more than 2000000000 new israeli shekels if not more and we're in the middle of chronic virus people can't make ends meet why spend 2000000000 new israeli shekels now what for. us that you have confederate general robert e. lee has been removed from the u.s. capitol building following a long running campaign against symbols associated with slavery that we moved to

the state of virginia which is the legal owner of the sculpture right general lee was a prominent figure of the coalition of southern states during the u.s. civil war and also a slave owner has become a hate figure for the roses and campaigners but is still seen by many in the american south as a hero because of his military achievements and bravery the work of sport will be taken by states your black civil rights activist barbara johns that are out house speaker nancy pelosi has welcomed the move the removal of a statue of robert e. lee and its forthcoming replacement by a tribute to barbara johnson virginia is welcome news there is no room for celebrating the bigotry of the confederacy the capitol or any other place of or not in our country numerous symbols of america's slave owning past that were removed in

recent months the movement slow ball after the death of george floyd in minneapolis back in may through all to cation with police it spread to several other countries without there was the strong or removing monuments associated with historical racism. wow thanks . to our. thank. you. thank. tempos are still flaring off that some of that you toppling and we get some perspective from both sides we spoke with conservative commentator chris that harris and historian gerald hall. even today there are more symbols of statues

honoring races and play voters than races and the slavery happening in this is outrageous badge of berlin there were still statutes honoring herman gerbils or at all 'd hitler for example the i would be considered outrageous it may be true that you cannot undo the past but certainly you can honor the best up the path and you can remove the worst of it i think that's what this statue of property its removal is all about it's trying to say that slavery was wrong all that slavery never should have taken place and certainly no statue honoring a slave holder never should have been erected in this country i believe that the statues that were put up were celebrated democrats some great in the confederacy so i think it's just odd that democrats are the ones who put them up and they don't want the rest of the world to know that they were the ones who put them up they don't want the rest of the world to know that the confederacy was pretty much all

democrats but now they want to celebrate and they want to be if they want to get the credit for taking them down as if now they're such great fighters against racism and slavery when they're the ones who put them up there removing the statues so they can remove their own. their own just horrid history what exactly is at stake in food 11 is is it money power or health find out in the price of progress next on a documentary that's back and often i'll buy the latest headlines join us again that. she should move into those who did just that in japanese and i. don't mind it just

by commision on the. planet i mean because of the my face you know i long to name that country not to. come out. of. the economy to have more than a few last sept is that. there are no holes and even that i'm still. around to. get momentum. and. look at what's called the minimal. plan going to come up thinking i'm not going to go missing i'm just going to go.

so if someone wants to also run a broad market in europe let's say your plan protection products. because some of these companies the applicant has to provide they don't. as the risk says those whether this product is safe when all this information comes from the applicant and the studies that are commissioned by the applicant. to assess the safety by the applicant obviously so it's intellectual property. and we can property. in their cars. in the legal framework but we also have to respect the business confidentiality claims of the applicants so there's a balance to be found between transparency as much as possible but also to protect the investment of companies into their product innovations.

that is that companies have to submit studies to the european commission they do the studies themselves. they have to submit it to the european commission and to f.-stop so the european food safety authority and they have a panel of experts that looks at the studies and then they say ok it's safe or not . so what we have found is that within these expert panel so you have a lot of people with ties with the food industry so that means a conflict of interest. so the home system the communication as one sees in the regular to reaction sees have the same scientists and the.