millions of users and even global leaders flock to privacy centric messaging apps like telegram amid concerns over data sharing that as facebook and twitter are hit by scandals over censorship. there is anger over u.s. media suggestions that donald trump's supporters are a cult who need deprogramming like extremist. old sony by a 1000000000 people that will agree with you on america. and the shift in vaccine advice in norway as 13 people die after receiving the pfizer jab but the country's a drugs agency says it's not a lot. for

broadcasting live their representatives in moscow this is our chief international and from thomas certainly glad to have you with us now it is being called the largest digital migration in history millions of users are abandoning whatsapp over new terms which would mean users sharing more of their data with the parent company facebook even global leaders are making the switch to more privacy centric rivals such as telegram looking at the trend here is dimitri. moving to greener pastures has been one of the key drivers of humanity's survival but if in the past people fled from war dictators and natural disasters today we're witnessing a very 21st century style of mass migration the already massive influx of new users to telegram has only accelerated we may be witnessing the largest digital migration

in human history millions have recently chosen to ditch the old new media as messengers and move to even newer ones like telegram or signal and there are 2 big bug bears behind the exodus privacy is the big one what's app snooty and see will see users this will footprint shared more with parent firm facebook and who wants to open up even more of the world's most notorious data harvester 2nd as censorship traders to recent purge of donald trump and his supporters has laid bare the capacity of the internet as gatekeepers to silence anyone they deem to be dangerous that's got other world leaders spooked. the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the us presidents have now been permanently blocked i don't like anybody being son so it's taking away the right to post a message on twitter facebook i don't agree with that i don't accept that sound world leaders including the presidents of circ in brazil have already made the

switch to telegram much to the appreciation of the firm's founder we are honored that political leaders as well as numerous public organizations rely on telegram to combat misinformation and spread awareness about important issues in their societies unlike other networks telegram doesn't use opaque algorithms to decide whether a subscriber will see content they subscribe to or not as a result telegram channels are the only direct way for opinion leaders to reliably connect with their audiences the internet has represented freedom since its inception it's supposed to be a place where you can read what you want say what you want but. arbitrary censorship and the big platforms we know what you want better than you do approach is the last straw for many not that titans are prepared to lose business to the competitors declaring the alternatives nothing short of a threat to society before stamping them out we have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the apps to but there is no place in our

platform for threats of violence and illegal activity we cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages our incites violence against others parlor one of the biggest alternative social networks was wiped off line in a matter of days following the capital riots and now even telegram is facing accusations of being a haven for conspiracy theorists and far right extremists and that's despite the fact that the company recently removed dozens of groups containing calls to violence but while big texts and to take out competitors might occasionally yield success it doesn't change the fact that social media space is evolving and fast and for many free speech will be the deciding factor in choosing a platform turkey's envoy to the czech republic is one of many politicians switching to the online messaging app telegram he told us that people have become weary of the traditional tech giants i think in the long room facebook what's out

there. by the same corporate decision makers have to revise the rules because they have. you know wait scared people know that there are already a lot of the. cases against them for misusing information and there are a lot of court cases but now they're making it public so in a way the secret is now coming out that the information is in use and they are actually getting your consent for it and and they have double standards if you are a what's yours or in germany you have a different conditions but if you are in russia or if you're in turkey if you're an azerbaijan if your income is that you are entitled to different rules this is not fair we now live in a global village and these kind of platforms connect all of us so technology should not be discriminative technology and communication should be

embracing everyone and i think these policies are going to make people feel that they have been isolated and they have been discriminated against. mainstream media have stepped up their attacks on all those who voted for donald trump there are calls to deprogram his supporters and some have even made comparisons with terrorist. there are millions of americans almost all white almost all republicans . somehow need to be deprogrammed they are members of a cult with trumpets cult there are republican members of congress i know who clearly have lost their minds who just will not accept reality when it comes to the facts about donald trump i'm comparing the words of individual who would incite and radicalize somebody as osama bin laden did to what president trump did. but trump supporters are questioning the mainstream media assault and say their views and

opinions should be heard. they don't like their opinion and call them brainwashed i just don't agree with them people are brainwashed by the media it to divide people that ever way. this is settling down. freedom of speech is an american people who voted for trump wanted to change it just cannot wipe out a whole 75000000 people that don't agree with you you can vote. for whoever you want to thank you should be afraid of having people come back we all need to come together. unite. our good that they have identified from supporters as so dangerous in groups that they have to be prevented from forming in groups for the safety of the american people there's no there's no comparable message coming from the right about the left nothing from the right that would

destroy the unity that we all should have and probably wish we did have the unity in america is long gone because the people calling for the loudest are the same people who think we should go to jail we should have our guns taken from s.s. and we are the side that is not violent while they lead their side who is violent rampage around the country for almost a full year they. absolutely spoken out of both sides of their mouths on this on the left and there's going to be a political price to pay for the. health officials in norway are adjusting their covert vaccination advice after the deaths of 13 elderly people possibly from side effects after being given a dose of the pfizer vaccine all those who died were care home residents aged over 80 it seems that some of these patients get such severe side effects in the form of fever and malays that it can make a very serious illness even more serious which may lead to death norway launched

its covert immunization program with the pfizer vaccine in late december and on friday rolled out the madonna vaccine as well nursing home residents are on the priority list since then 29 people have been reported to have suffered side effects after getting the pfizer jab but the norwegian medicines regulator says it is not alarmed by the numbers saying the risks are low except among the most frail of patients and people with underlying health issues the experts we spoke to agree that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks but that caution is needed for the most vulnerable. if they all started in norway believe that there may be a problem that it's right to be cautious that vaccine should only have to really be given to people who are fit and well in any case if somebody who use it seriously and well or frail they really got to need to think about giving them

a back seat i think. baxi is one of in terms of its effectiveness initially at least seems to be one of the best the vaccines on the market how long will it last for remains to be seed but it is a good vaccine there is nothing wrong with it i don't think it's nothing to worry about i think i think that the scientists and the medical community in norway as well as the world community should look at those deaths and see if there's something that they had in common there is a concern but i think at this point there and so many people have gotten this vaccine and not had any major problems i still haven't seen any. legitimate evidence that this vaccination and the risk of the vaccination outweighs that benefit at this point. the dutch government has

resigned over a scandal in which thousands of innocent families were torn apart after being wrongly accused of child benefit fraud for years admin errors saw heavy handed tax officials plunge households into ruin by forcing them to hand back welfare payments or to charlotte dubinsky is across developments for us. it is already offered his resignation it to the king in the netherlands and that report said that it was both the government that he presided over at this time but also the previous rigid administration that we're all partly responsible for what happened now this all began back in 2012 when parents were regarded as fools despite the tax authorities and this is because they had sometimes just incorrectly filled out documents so when one part of the report that said some people missed signatures on those reports now strangely enough it was families that had dual nationality that seemed to be with god in particular suspicion at just because that fact at one point

presenting about 600 of the family says that this was ethnic profiling now they nor was being implemented it was said paul with an eye cool meaning they were looking up 6 people well in individual circumstances family's loss that they are allowance sometimes with no reason given to them and other families who do already received benefits for being hounded then for the money to be paid back thousands and thousands of families impacted as we mentioned but the toll for many of these was that this false accusation the demands from payments essentially just too much the enormous strain was one of the reasons i got divorced the tax office is very powerful without going to judge they dry you out they came to my house and took my refrigerator they took away my car they took 40 percent of my salary under the pressure of an overheated political need to fight fraud parents were falsely

branded as willful proud status the victims were powerless against powerful institutions of the rule of law and did not receive the protection they deserved well margaret day has said the buck essentially stops we've his current administration but he's not only what made me a gay take m.p. until a passing new code. licious 45 can have been before those elections in march but he's also going to remain in party's leader despite the fact that he says that he is part of shaping the oafish this scandal that some already questioning how to party just like we don't who presided over the scandal we're making in the journal rightly so the cabinet resigns innocent people have been criminalized their lives destroyed and the house has been incorrectly and completely informed about this but it's some believe bill even those responsible gun senior being party leaders almost are just says he will be staying on in that case a capacity in or down mainly to maintain this situation surrounding $1000.00

pandemic we felt the need to step down because of the extreme seriousness of the report by the bottom of the committee and which has just started and thorley and in-depth what happened and we came to the conclusion that it's an affordable and that we stepped down and at the same time that we are still capable we think with full support of parliament we respectfully ask for support requests for the support him we think we will get it and of course within the parameters of all the debates and discussions we will have respondent to be effective in fighting to come across it well he's it may change responsibility any did seem contrite in that press conference all friday afternoon and so far his party still is polling high ahead to elections in moscow but it is yet to be seen how the scandal crucially light impacts that. all right i'll be back in just a bit with

a little more news this is art international there with. on this edition of crossfire. president of the united states as our politics are so divided we shouldn't be surprised. there also can be no doubt he changed america and the. track.

aesop's fables caution us to be careful what we wish fall because it might just come true after a full years of donald trump the democrats are triumphantly retaking power in the united states is that a cause for celebration concern. and welcome back this is r t international there has been a show of military might from north korea a massive parade has been held in the capital to mark the end of the ruling party convention and rows of marching soldiers were on display as well as arms including new submarine launched ballistic missiles north korean media called them the world's most powerful weapons through western experts are still divided on how much

the fret they could actually pose. can from the lawyers for peace and the militarization in korea says pyongyang is trying to get washington's attention. every year we see weapons receive messages being sent in this scenario i'm sure they wanted to say hey we're all here america and you're going through a lot of struggle right now at the capitol with the changeover of the elections and they want to be seen and heard heard from so i'm sure it's a message that we we have these weapons remember we need to deal with this and hopefully. it can be moved into a realm of discussing peace rather sort of the ring the kinds of conflicts that have occurred over the last decades the time has come to sign a peace agreement that talks it's a non-aggression pact it's in agreement. to exchange embassies to have someone on

the ground who will step out every single day and be working on building relationships and. breaking down the misperceptions and fears without that we can move forward. hundreds of asylum seekers have gone hunger strike with some even attempting suicide over desperate conditions at a temporary camp in southern england rights groups warned that the former army barracks are worse than a prison overcrowding there has also left refugees terrified of catching covert shoddy edwards reports. napier barracks a former military site in folks in kent now uses temporary accommodation for around

$400.00 male asylum seekers has reached boiling point the men inside have taken to the streets surrounding the barracks in protest over grim conditions they are living in and painful uncertainty about their futures hunger strikes demonstrations even sleeping outside of their last resort it is very cold some are protesting about the food some are protesting for transparency from the home office they need news about how long we are going to stay in this part you know we have no idea of our future we lost hope and we are desperate i have been here for 3 months and i feel really bad 14 people in one room people breathing on each other there is no privacy the room is separated by a partition we have to share toilets and it only has 2 cubicles between people there are reports of a number of suicide attempts inside including one just days ago with victims being

returned to the barracks shortly after. one being so. rude. i was. asked to talk. about now. his role ready. last month. was. and it seems like conditions have only become worse since my last visit just 2 months ago when it was clear something was very wrong there were already accounts of poor hygiene and out of all. facilities as well as a the crowded rooms afaik are in breach of the government's own covert regulations and now allegations of positive cases inside i would assume that the government is breaking its own law on the ball on the basis of that we are no in a position or severe lockdown conditions new variant is highly infectious yet for

some reasons do do you have salim seekers have some sort of forcefield that protects them from colbert you know why are they being treated in such a manner why they've been you know what i can only regard as you know a petri dish for the spread of coronavirus if you have one person was to contact corporate it was spread like wildfire those in the barracks continue waiting for a sponsor the applications to stay in the u.k. some have been at the temporary site since it opened in september human rights lawyers say it's totally unsuitable we find time and same again the whole ball of the u.k. government is repeatedly you know breaking the law it's repeatedly breaking health and safety regulations and they've created a climate of fear and a barbaric institution houses asylum seekers in such conditions and it's not acceptable in any civilised society but the home office denies these claims it says it is providing cave it's a kill safe accommodation as well as offering support to those who need it the

government takes the wellbeing of asylum seekers extremely seriously we've tried to sayas seekers a safe warm covert secure suitable commendation where they receive 3 meals a day whilst the claims are being processed despite the government's promise that help is available at any hour they have been claims that foreigner pull aside and seekers have enjoyed long wait times to get in touch which could be fatal the home office may claim it's offering a decent standard of support but the warning signs have been there since napier opened its doors and without any political will to effect change it seems that for these men the situation will only get worse shouted at woodstock r t u k. despite the condemnation of there are plans to extend another prison style facility in england ministers will add prefabricated housing to the yarl's wood center told up to $200.00 migrants a former vice chairman of the european council on refugees and exiles says the government does have other options. there are

a large number of hotels which of course at the moment all vacant the number of tourists are very diminished because of the lockdown as a result of the pandemic and so this accommodation is available and in fact the home office has contract it with some hotel operators to provide accommodation this way and frankly they need to do more of providing that kind of reasonable standard of the commendation hoteliers now are desperate to have their rooms occupied in any way they can and so they are prepared to take far lower prices than they might otherwise charge to people who come there as tourists and so therefore the government can get some pretty good deals with hotel operators. germany's the ruling party is due to elect its new leader this weekend the winner

in the christian democrats ballot is likely to become the next chancellor when angela merkel's term expires in october or he's pure oliver breaks down the candidates for us. the c.d.u. party the christian democratic union will elect a new leader this weekend it will see who should be the next contender to be the chancellor of germany who will replace until america when she steps down she confirmed again during her new year's address that she would not be running for the chancellorship in september's vote we had heard from her 1st way back in 2018 saying she wasn't going to stand again this 4th term is my last as german chancellor and the 2021 problem and a real action i will not put forward my candidacy for the chancellor she began so who's in the running to replace a well the leader of the state of north rhine-westphalia in the shot at 59 years old he's a real big ally of angular merkel very much seen as the continuity calendared it

then there's friedrich minutes at 65 the oldest in the running he is a multimillionaire corporate lawyer a long term rival of. then there's nobody to get 55 the youngest in the race and he is currently the chairman of the foreign affairs committee and certainly knows his way around the bundestag he's been a member of the parliament since 1994 let's have a listen to what all of the candidates have to say ahead of this weekend's conference i stand for everyone and i think that those who did not vote for me if i am elected will also be able to live with me and accept me do we want to continue to play in a regional leak every country for itself or do we want to play champions league to play a role in the world. what i bring is government experience disapprove big federal state balancing different interests and perhaps this doesn't hurt to you would have

lowered it won the election however whoever wins the c.d.u. leadership may not end up standing for chancellor what we're seeing is what's being called a shadow campaign ran to push forward the leader of the state of bavaria on the leader of the christian democratic society and sister party the christian social union marcus then this health minister yen spawn he's being touted as a potential outside bet to run as chancellor what we will know is who will lead the c.d.u. party over this weekend we may well have to wait until around the beginning of march to find out exactly who will be the content and from that party from the c.d.u. c.s.u. group to stand as the replacement for angela merkel. russia has confirmed it is now pulling out of a multinational treaty which allows an armed surveillance flights over other

countries the united states walked away from the deal last november with the reasons and ramifications here's artie's really trying to go. what almost 2 months ago washington said they are getting out that they are no longer part of the open skies treaty because of how as they were putting it russia was not playing by the rules of the game by the way moscow said that all these allegations were nonsense the russian government had several ways to respond to it the 1st one the least likely option was to ignore washington's exit altogether the 2nd option was to do the same to say goodbye to the open skies treaty and the 3rd option was to try and save the greenman through negotiations to try and save it by proposing some new terms or maybe by trying to negotiate a new agreement all together well the russian diplomats were saying that initially they'd try to go for the 3rd option but didn't get anything in response from

washington and that was when they realized that there was nothing else for the russian government to do but to leave the green mint even though russia regrets it last month the russian president vladimir putin reminded of how other core international security agreements were collapsing in a similar manner and weren't that the story could repeat itself and that's what we're seeing right now. our american colleagues left the i.n.f. treaty again not know it's our partners then they withdrew from the open skies treaty so what should we do leave everything as it is in your small people so why do you think we are dumb. the 2 decades old open skies treaty allowed on armed surveillance flights in the airspace of its signatories which contributed to global transparency in trust besides russia and the us there were 33 members of the

greenland which brings us to the main concern that was expressed by the russian government among. these 33 signatories there are quite a few american allies from the nato and then flushing planes could no longer fly across the atlantic to do their job when it comes to surveillance what if u.s. european allies can still do the same in russia and then share their intelligence with washington the question that was being asked in the kremlin whether that is fair and whether that is the way to go so the russian government decided that the answer to this question is no and that's why they're leaving after several attempts to try and rescue the deal like i told you earlier. all right that doesn't for me this hour we'll be back in about 30 minutes with another full and fresh look at your news this hour to.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see you then.