bullet stop there. ah ah ah, breaking news on our t natural gas prices in europe, leap to our record, high sending household bills, sky rocketing none piling pressure on government to green light and new russian pipeline. also ahead. facebook denies a whistle, blowers claim that it's spreading hate on weakening democracy while us senators call for tougher controls on big tech. it's the latest sign of the tide. turning on social media giants a decade after they were hail for helping bring apart. the arb spray u. s. republicans claim double standards as a marina's court martial for slamming the by the administration humbling of the

afghanistan, polite, 2 years after another officer was praised for standing up to the trumpet, ministration on france threatened to cut power supplies to the united kingdom, amid a post that breaks it ran over fishing ah, just after 3 in the afternoon here in moscow this wednesday october, the 6th. great to have your company today. my name is unit o'neill. we begin with some breaking news. the natural gas price in europe has surged to an all time record. it's now 6 times higher than it was in spring. it's about the continent on course for a major energy crunch with households facing soaring costs over the winter season or europe correspond, peter oliver joined us live now in the program to tell us more about her. peter,

indeed it's not winter issue, isn't it just around the corner? this is not the news. people perhaps, already struggling with kobe and financial hardships wanted to hear not at all because what you're going to have is, while prices are as high as they are on the commodities markets, this isn't so much going to trickle down to consumers as perhaps these prices are gonna fall upon homeowners from a more domestic home uses form a great height. what we've heard from the european commission president ursula found a lion is that she recognizes that there are major problems that, that we're facing right now. and problems that are coming down the pipe further along, but says that in the long term, it's renewable energies that are going to keep energy prices low across europe. i think we have to be very clear that the gas prices are skyrocketing and her that the renewables of the prices have decreased over the last years and our stable so

for us is very clear that with energy in the long term, it is important to invest in renewables that gives us stable prices and more independence because gas is imported, 90 percent of the gas is important to the european union, the renewables. we are the master without plans being dismissed out of hand by hunger as prime minister victor or bon his country. just assigned a new deal with russia to import gas into hungry for the next 15 years. victo opens blamed these problems on the european commission, saying they have far too many restrictions in place. far too much regulation. and that is what's causing the issues when it comes to buying gas. you must changes policy because partly at least partly the reason why the prices are up is that the 4th of the of the commission will have to change some regulations. otherwise, everybody will suffer. the problem for hunger is other the new regulation of

greenville, which is a direct session for foreigners hold owners caught on or the e. u energy commissioner has warned that prices will most likely continue to rise throughout the winter. won't see any respite until the spring of 2022, just how high prices rise may well come down to something as fickle as the weather . if it's a particularly cold winter, we could well see prices soaring, higher and higher. and what we've also seen though is a number of european countries coming together and saying things half the change, france, spain, greece, or the czech republic and romania, all their finance ministers signed a joint statement saying that there needs to be a complete overhaul of the way energy is purchased in europe. that isn't going to be a short term solution though. perhaps in the long term it may change something. it's not gonna change energy bills or this coming winter. what we're also seeing is the european union is saying that they're going to investigate claims that russia is

behind attempts to manipulate the gas price that they've been trying to drive up prices. this is something that's being fundamentally denied by the kremlin, the spokesperson for the russian government saying that russian suppliers are living up to the very letter of contracts that have been signed. we insist that russia is playing no role in what is happening on the european gas market that could not happen. russia has fulfilled and will continue to fulfill to the letter all of its obligations on existing contracts. there is one way to get more gas into europe and not through the nod stream to gas pipeline, not huge infrastructure projects. construction was completed this summer, however, it still awaiting the green light in terms of all of these, the to vacation and approvals from various agencies before it can stop providing energy. once that does get the approval that it's needed. well, it could provide as much as 55000000000 cubic meters of russian gas to europe every

single year. that's around enough to pilot 27000000 european homes. yes, some scary looking bill is coming in the post recently. peter, thanks very much for that or your correspond. peter oliver live in berlin. facebook is in damage control mode following claims of spreading hate and division. an employee turned whistleblower testified before the u. s. senate on tuesday after leaking a truth of company documents. now, in a lengthy response on this page to that seal mark, zuckerberg denied prioritizing money over the platforms, users we care deeply about issues like safety, well being and mental health. it's difficult to see covers that misrepresents our work and our motives. i don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. the moral business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction. a spoke exploit

a teams. do you think that teams are profitable for their company? i would assume so those dangerous algorithms that they had met are picking up dead that, that they stream sentence that vision their product. it is often destructive facebook's products, harm, children, stoke division and weak in our democracy. the damage to self interest and self worth of inflicted by facebook to day will haunt a generation. it is pulling families apart. and in places like ethiopia, it's literally fanning ethnic violence. it's a very different picture from a decade ago when platforms like facebook and twitter were being lauded by liberal commentators for fueling the pushed towards democracy in the middle east. during the arb spring social media play, a role in social media is much broader than sending a 144 characters or twitter, or updating your status posts on facebook. those are uses. you're giving facebook

a lot of credit for this or yeah, for sure. i want to me and mark zuckerberg one day and thank him. actually indeed, social media did have some very pronounced impacts on the arab spring. earlier my colleague neal harvey discussed they shifting opinions on facebook with our tea contributor nico house. it does seem a little bit peculiar that in 2011 with countries like tenicia libby and egypt, facebook was not only celebrated for put like for helping spread the news about the process. but the, the algorithms seem to be a perpetuating the protests and propelling them for the millions of people are able to react to notice what was going on. now, interestingly enough, about 3 of those countries to protest there actually benefited united states interests. so what it seems like is on the like, now that the script has been flipped 10 years later. censorship actually benefits the united states. so i guess you could say it's pro democracy, i guess if you wanna call facebook, you know, a democratic institution,

i guess you could call it that because the government seems to be on the side of censorship. facebook as readily pushes the ship. is it a very different based these day? so what it was years ago does less freedom of conversation, freedom of exchange, freedom of discourse. ah, there seems to be no consistent application of rules or principles or guidelines on any of these platforms. and i would say that at least on the surface now, it looks like the government, at least their opinions have much more influence. i mean, just a couple of weeks ago, jim pa, sanky was actually saying that it was time to come down harder on facebook and regulate them more fast forward this whistleblower who's actually represented by a firm that the sac he actually worked for. or as a senior advisor, not even not even a year ago, is now sitting in front of the senate after going on 60 minutes getting a lot of air time. so i would say at the bare minimum, what it looks like is there is a lot of coordination going on behind the scenes in one way or another that everybody seems to be involved in,

except for the people who are most afflicted by which i would say is the average working class individual and maybe potentially activists organizing protesters a do you think you ask of an festival has the, has it the powers at its disposal to, to limit to rain in facebook? i think the thing that they need to do the rain facebook and is to hold them to the standards of a publisher. ah. whereas enabling escaping a lot of accountability for the for the how they selectively apply their rules. i like their editorial lists on what date, but the federal government hadn't done anything about it. now on the other side of that fence, they do have the capability to force the sensor more to what it does seem like they've had to. they fit every time. one of these is, this is happened. facebook seems to sensor more on their own. so even though they have the power, they haven't exercised it and they've been able to get face with the kind of do what they want more and more without ever having to hold them accountable. any legal matter. now in terms of the hearing this week, us senators, coal for

a tougher controls on facebook and other social media giants. but there are plenty of questions to over how the government might use or indeed abuse that control r t who has been sworn brakes on that aspect for us. what they're essentially saying is government needs to get involved and government needs to decide what content is allowed and not a lot on social media in order to make it the word they like to use. safe problem is, is that there are so many tens of millions of americans who do not believe that government is trying to keep them safe. but instead, trying to manipulate them and push political messages on to them should social media b, a public square where people are allowed to get up and speak and to voice their opinions and their worldviews and where rigorous debate can take place. as you would have in the public square or is social media supposed to be contrived and controlled to the point where a few government entities and bureaucrats decide what is acceptable thought and acceptable belief. and i think that's the real core problem here. when government

bureaucracy decides what is dangerous and what is not in the public interest, it breeds all kinds of corruption. and it reads a situation where the average person doesn't have a right to speak or to think in any kind of public spare. and i think that's hugely problematic. another story to bring you this way than say, u. s. republicans have accused the military of double standards over a marine facing a court martial for criticizing the biden administrations polite from afghanistan. no, it is in stark contrast to another officer who was earlier hailed as a hero for standing up to the trump administration. ortiz kill him up and takes a closer look at the 2 cases. $2000000.00 from over $27000.00 different donors. that how strongly people are feeling the case of lieutenant colonel sheller . he's facing potential criminal charges over criticizing commanders over the withdrawal from afghanistan. now, his hearing has been delayed until next week,

but his family is not very optimistic. or we have been told to prepare that it could be a long prison term. sheller was an active duty us marine who's frustration over the bungled retreat from novel led to making videos bashing biden. and the pentagon brass that quickly went viral. people are upset because they're senior leaders, let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability are saying we mess this up. i'm not saying we've got to be in the in afghanistan forever, but i am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table to say, hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate bob graham airfield, the strategic air berries before we evacuate? everyone. i am submitting charges against general mckenzie for his bad assumptions . not because i'm vindictive, but because the senior leaders need to be held accountable to the same standard as us is now accused of breaking for laws, though there are not formal charges yet. now sheller is not the 1st military man to

raise a voice about issues. lieutenant colonel alexander vin daemon was on active duty when he 1st spoke up against the pentagon. brass, he testified at trumps impeachment proceedings as a pentagon whistleblower. he claim the donald trump had made a quid pro quo with the president of ukraine. he was anointed by mainstream media and the democrats as a st. this guy 0. this guy is a patriot. one of these 2 men, the president and lieutenant colonel whitman, devoted his life to duty and honor, write matters what an extraordinary statement from an immigrant who served this country proudly his entire life. now the answers from the white house quickly turned evasive when they faced some tough questions about parallels. person been called for 10 colonel alexander vin minute hero, for speaking out against his commander. she even has plenty capitol hill in uniform . so how is this different?

especially since you just said the president welcomed the candor and the advice of his military adviser. does the president also see with sheller as a hero? i don't have all the details on these circumstances. i and that can be frustrating to you, um that we will work to get you an answer on republicans or speaking up saying that they see a double standard if you speak out against the democratic president who get thrown in the brig. but if you are doing something against a republican president, you are lord of the hero. this is double standard. lieutenant colonel vinland was celebrated by media while of tenant girls sheller is in prison for demanding accountability on the disastrous withdrawal. both challenged leadership. one was treated as a hero and the other punished. i remember when military leadership wasn't an oxymoron, it's no wonder they can't see the obvious coming anymore. the best bureau cuts on the absolute worst wolf, i says, of the ones that get promoted and make the decisions. military leaders who criticize donald trump got talk,

show appearances and book deals treated almost like heroes. while one who just criticized biden is facing a hearing and a potentially long term spell behind bars. the going to stay in that we c p, an exercise here today. it's a very dangerous precedent. the squint or gets the dull standard by democrats. first of all, it but also manifested tremendously by the mass media there tends to be predominantly less leaning in. yeah, very much and pocket a b o. the done a credit card or anything that was an antique trump was hailed. and so it's not surprising that anything republican, as to the case with minimum, was, was treated with kid gloves and, and as consequence, or he or he gets off scot free, having oh leet, classified information. the political landscape has certainly evolved from what it

was a year ago. democrats are no longer celebrating those with the courage to speak up against those in power. being a hero isn't so much about what you do, but who you do it against. caleb mauppin, r t new york. france is threatening to cut cross channel electricity supplies to the u. k. over a post that brings it fishing dispute. charlotte davinsky reports i have from paris on a fight that threatens to up and a series of crucial agreements between the european allies. france could be about to slam the brakes on the relationship with the u. k. as this right over fishing rights is pretty much imploding. last week the u. k refused the majority of licenses that came from french, smaller fishing vessels to fish in it's wooded, only approved 12 out of 47. and as a result of that, iris is furious. it's now saying the bilateral agreements that cover everything

from security, border control to trade in energy are now under threat because paris says that london simply cannot keep its commitments under the brakes. it deal. bruton does not respect its own signature month after month the u. k. presents new conditions and delays given definite if licenses this cannot be tolerated. we know the u. k is facing this unprecedented energy crisis. just like pretty much all of the countries across continental europe. and it could be a back to get even worse, because francis said that it could in the next few days decide to turn off electricity supplies to the u. k. well, how significant is that? pretty darn significant. according to you, k governments own papers in july of this year, france supplies almost half of the energy for electricity for the u. k. to this really could see the lights being turned out. well, you mean it,

both the u. k. depends on our energy exports. they think they can live alone while also beating up on your own. and given that it doesn't work, they engage in aggressive one of them ship. we will go shoot economy nicely on 9 months, and all shots are not little done and add to this pretty much perfect storm, a threats that are coming directly from the french fishermen themselves. now we know that boss johnson has already wound the u. k. that could be supply issues in the lead up to christmas. that with energy, that's with petro, that's also with products in stores. and now french fishermen the same. you know, what, if you do not a roof, all fishing licenses, we are going to block the ports. we'll make sure that there'll be no imports and no exports between europe and the u. k, which really could add to, boris johnson was and those are threats that the u. k. should also take pretty seriously, given that we know that the french one, they like to protest and 2, that have already been tense stand offs in the last year over this issue about fishing licenses. now the u. k, for its part says look,

we've done nothing wrong. in fact we keeping to our commitments and we're keeping the agreement over fishing licenses. we have granted 98 percent of the license applications from me you both to fish in our waters. so we do not accept that we are not a biden by traded co operation agreement. we have been extremely generous and the french folks in, in, on a small category of boats and claim. and we have behaved, unreasonably, i think is not really a fair reflection of the efforts we have made. france as well as pulling out the big guns with those threats over energy. and bilateral trades has also asked for the european commission to take a much tougher stance when it comes to the u. k. over this and other issues. the you commission though, isn't sold to really wanting to get into the murky waters over at this particular spot. it's saying what is going to do is to ask the u. k. kind of explain its methodology and it will sort of go from that or limp from that. the reality is

though, in this pros requisite world as the issue surrounding that all beginning to bite, there is a real threat coming from france at the moment. and it does seem as if boris johnson has some really tough decisions to make. he is essentially caught between the devil and the deep, please say, still head in the program. a disbarred american lawyer is slumped with a prison sentence for criminal contempt. years after winning a case for ecuadorian villages against oil giant chevron more loved after the shortest break. ah join me every thursday on the alex silent. sure. when i was speaking the guess when the world of politics, sport business, i'm show business. i'll see you then. mm.

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ah. hello again, american human rights activist and former lawyer. steven danziger has been sentenced to 6 months in prison on charges of criminal contempt. now he had earlier waged the decades long crusade on behalf of ecuadorian farmers and indigenous people against chevron. during that time, he won a $9500000000.00 judgment against the old giant in ecuador over pollution in the country's reign forest. the reason i'm locked up is because we were successful. ok . i, along with other lawyers helped indigenous peoples america, or when a historic 9500000000 dollar pollution judge, when a good chevron for the deliberate dumping of billions of gallons of cancer causing waste into the amazon was even don sinker was charged in 2019 placed under house arrest and disbarred last year, as mentioned, he previously represented villagers in ecuador is amazon region. he accused chevron

of knowingly dumping toxic waste into lakes and rivers between 19641992. aside from the environmental devastation, the pollution is believed to of course health problems including cancer. as for chevron, it refused to pay the multi $1000000000.00 fine. fleming misconduct by danziger on the ecuadorian judiciary. a u. s. court blocked enforcement of the fine in 2014 thing. the 2011 ruling in ecuador was one through bribery. but mister danziger has plenty of, i'd spoken supporters, including his friend, pink floyd, co founder, roger waters. the rock legend told us, the latest ruling against the lawyer sets a worrying precedent. the questioned arises for a soul is, what is the law for? and is it available to all of us, all members of society, irrespective of the depths of our pockets or up or up connections politically,

he spent 7791 days now under house arrest. and it's way too much punishment because all he did was deny judge louis a kaplan access to his computer and his cell phone to give those 2 pieces of equipment to chevron corporation, who are the people who we are fighting this battle against. on behalf of his clients, it would completely contravene all the rules of client privilege. if he had done that. with the initial pollution case was 1st brought against texaco petroleum or tex paired, which chevron took ownership of in 2001. chevron has denied any wrongdoing, saying tx pet did its share of the clean up and remediation and the rest at once the responsibility of stay at all for him. petro ecuador, the government that could go over, saw, and certified the successful completion of text, pets, remediation,

and fully released tax pets from further environmental liability. petro ecuador, however, failed to conduct the clean up it promised, and has continued to operate and expand all operations in the former concession over the past 20 years. but stephen danziger supporters are persuaded. roger waters again says the old giant should still be held accountable. stephen and i have become friends through all of this, i met him back then and immediately it smelt fishy, the whole things melt wrong to me and it israel and it is wrong and it will be go on. it will go on being wrong and tell chevron pay those $30000.00 ecuadorian people there. it's now about $12000000.00 with interest with interest and damages. it's gone up to about $12000000.00 that eroded reparation. and they needed a die. you know, poor pansy. nino,

who represents the amazon watch, said that he said, what was the quote. he said this is like very, very slow motion. mass murder is what chevron oak are guilty of and it is the u. k. home secretary has announced an inquiry into systematic failures within the police force that led to a woman being murdered back in march. recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in placing there will be an inquiry to give me independent out of this, i needed to ensure that something like this can never happen again. pretty patel was referring to the case of sara everard who was kidnapped in south london 7 months ago and murdered by a policeman. her remains were discovered in woodland. so outside the city in june, constable wing cousins pleaded guilty to raping and killing ever art on was

sentenced to life in prison. we spoke with a former superintendent for london's metropolitan police. she thinks senior officers should have picked up on alarm bells long before the crime happened. if you look at wine cousins, he was labeled, his nickname was the re paste. he took prostitutes to a wedding of her colleague and a prostitute actually came to his what place to collect some money? how is they that none of that was reported? how is it that supervisors didn't know? so there's an environment where people are allowed to perpetuate is behavior, and that is the problem. you could increase more women, but you have to deal with the culture. and the culture is very talk, say, well, earlier a prob, reveal at 27 officers in london, smith's have committed sex crimes since 2016. the offences include rape and possessing in decent images of children. 2 officers were jailed in april a month after cousins crime calls or no mounting for deep changes in the way the

force operates. the last 5 years, so $800.00 allegations of domestic abuse against offices and 52 percent found guilt of sexual misconduct gab their jobs. this isn't one bad apple. when it justice, accountability and culture change, this is not just, you know, that term, which i absolutely hate one bad apple this it the whole barrel. if not the trees rotten it's been going on for too long enough is enough. and the commissioner really has had 5 years enough. is it under her watch, the organization has been labeled, institutionally corrupt. because as daniel morgan, case institutionally sexes misogynist. and he already had the label of institutional racism. so the commission and now needs to move over. she's not the right person, we need somebody who can really focus and bring new energy to leading the

metropolitan police service in the reforms that it needs a vouchers or a mid week round off of the stories affecting your world today. i'll be here to bring you more in 30 hope you can join me that move when i want something wrong, i just don't want you to see how does the become an engagement equals the trail. when so many find themselves world warren, we used to look for common ground.