of mobility peter mark joins me in the studio he's the managing director at the nonprofit international council on clean transportation here in europe peter good to have you on the program now your organization helped break the diesel gate scandal a major scandal rattling germany's biggest company in light of this should we even believe the automotive industry anymore after what you have helped to discover. well we have better regulations now than we had before diesel gets so i'm really hoping that the car industry is following those rules now and that the emissions that they inform the customers about are the real emissions so i would say yes we can trust them and i'm looking forward to a better and more real information in the future now amid these false exhaust levels that have been advertised by fox wagon in this deal gate scandal due to the technology itself the diesel technology is facing immense pressure especially here in germany do you think it'll be around much longer the diesel car by itself can be clean so there's technology that makes the car clean you see that for some you of new

we are one of the 110 or so national committees of the international council of monuments and sites. it is an organization based in paris. it is most notable for being the advisor to the u.n. scientific and cultural organization on cultural heritage nominations to world heritage. i'm sure you are all roughly familiar with the world heritage list. cultural sites, as opposed to natural sites, comprise more than 70% of the more than 1000 sites on the world heritage list . sites are those 1000 in the u.s. the vast majority of those our national heritage sites. stephen morris will talk more about engagement in the program. clearly there is tremendous , opportunity for sites of outstanding universal value to be listed, to be recognized in the world heritage list. case in point today. that is part of the reason we are here. it is ironic, because it is the same impulses in the mid-1960's that led to the creation of us/icomos, that led to the creation of icomos, that led to the national historic preservation act. the same impulses and the same individuals in many cases that can be traced to t

in the cases of cultural sites was are proposed, as mentioned, the international council on monuments and sites advises the committee on whether the nomination submitted meet the criteria and should be added to the world heritage list. a world heritage nomination must define the outstanding universal uv, that shows how the nominated properties as a group have global significance, particularly for serial nominations. proposed for the civil rights nomination. it must show properties included are critical to the global significance. obviously, this will be a much smaller group then all properties associated with the civil rights movement, of which there are probably several hundred or maybe even 1000. we will be focusing on the key properties, a small group of 10-12. not even the most important in any given state. the world heritage selection criteria works differently than those for the national register of historic places or at the national historic landmarks program in the u.s. one of the challenges is they make it difficult to nominate properties solely on the important ideas. eskew'

committee democrats have sent letters to the treasury department, deutsche bank and deutsche bank's internal council but none of them have cooperated with our requests. i recently read a letter from 171 members of congress to deputy attorney jungle rod rosenstein to express our support for the investigation conducted by special counsel robert mueller. time for republicans in congress to stop covering up the president, stop the attacks on the critically important work of special counsel mueller and start doing real oversight on behalf of the american public and with that i will yield to representative nasser. >> thank you very much, maxine. one year ago this week the director of national intelligence confirmed that russia had interfered with the 2016 presidential election. since then we have learned that at least 21 states were targets of russian hacking in the tourney general it may did at our hearing, that is the judicial hearing committee, that he is no plans to respond and president trump's former national security adviser and his former campaign foreign-policy adviser love pleaded guilty to lyin

to maintain international peace and security. therefore the council should not discuss the internal affairs of any country or discuss the human rights issues of any country. china hopes and trust that with the efforts of the iranian government and people, the country will remain stable and achieve development. the iranian situation does not pose any threat on international peace or security nor is it on , the agenda of the security council. discussing the domestic situation of iran by the council is a practice that is not in line with the council's responsibilities as outlined in the u.n. charter. doing so does not help the domestic situation in iran. thank you, mr. president. >> i think the representative of china for his statement and i give the floor to the representative of the russian federation. >> thank you, mr. president. i would like to congratulate you -- weing up your post on would have wanted to congratulate you on the ninth of january during our scheduled first meeting, that the american delegation did not leave me any option but to congr

in the cases of cultural sites was are proposed, as mentioned, the international council on monuments and sites advises the committee on whether the nomination submitted meet the criteria and should be added to the world heritage list. a world heritage nomination must define the outstanding universal uv, that shows how the nominated properties as a group have global significance, particularly for serial nominations. proposed for the civil rights nomination. it must show properties included are critical to the global significance. obviously, this will be a much smaller group then all properties associated with the civil rights movement, of which there are probably several hundred or maybe even 1000. we will be focusing on the key properties, a small group of 10-12. not even the most important in any given state. the world heritage selection criteria works differently than those for the national register of historic places or at the national historic landmarks program in the u.s. one of the challenges is they make it difficult to nominate properties solely on the important ideas. eskew'

putting on display the failure of the council's approval -- to fulfill its responsibility in maintaining international peace and security. it is a discredit for the security council to take up a of a domestic nature while failing to lift a finger when it comes to issues such as the long-lasting obligation of palestine, to whichan territory, we are dedicated and the indiscriminate calming of yemen in the past three years. in theas so far resulted deaths of thousands of human beings. and has brought hunger, disease, and destruction on the yemeni people. the exposure of such failures of are all -- to the obstructionist approach by the u.s. delegation and goes on and on. mr. president, this is nothing but another attempt by the u.s. -- as it hasn to lost every shred of moral credibility in the eyes of the whole world. following such acts of disruption taken by this u.s. administration as flouting international law and disrespecting the practices of civilized behavior in international politics, this administration is now reaching for every straw that keeps it afloat. there is a long history of u.s. bullyin

he will meet members of the international business council and he is also meeting a lot of indian ceoseos. it's notjust his economics he will be pitching for, he is taking soft power with him. his delegation will offer yoga on the ski slopes, it's the latest high—profile attempt by india to showcase its traditions back home. that's what i'm looking forward to, y°93 that's what i'm looking forward to, yoga on the ski slopes! he's the first indian leader in 20 yea rs he's the first indian leader in 20 years to attend the world economic forum, why so? the last prime minister to attend was in 1997. since then the indian economy has doubled, it's now the seventh largest economy in the world and this is all part of modi's election campaign and his mandate as prime minister. he has really prioritised international trips, he wants to pitch india has a global player, a place to do business, a place open to do business so he wants to attract foreign investment and he is using this summit in particular to do that. thanks for updating us and looking forward to narendra modi's speech. prospects for

should not discuss the internal issues of any country towards human rights issues the un security council at america's request to hold an emergency meeting over the situation in iran but the initiative is criticized by some members who say it's an internal issue for terror on. one person reportedly died on saturday as the saudi led coalition is a party continuing its bombing campaign in yemen despite a humanitarian outcry. on sunday is christmas for many also don't christians around the world and not includes russia these are the pictures from across the say because seadrill the center of all sit ups christianity in moscow. this is actually international coming to you live from moscow i'm kate partridge thank you for joining us. a full state of mass pro-government rallies has been held in iran tens of thousands of people have been on marches to show their support for the country's leaders these common response to a seven day uprising triggered by poor living conditions that engulfed over eighty cities. that was. on friday night the united nations security council at washington's request h

harder because undermining the what they already of the security council as the means by which is it responsible for maintaining international peace and security which i think it is obvious for everyone that the topic chosen today does not fall within the parag it established by the u.n. charter for this security council and the references we hear today tomorrow that gold thirty four of the u.n. charter as it applies to the situation are completely inappropriate this should be obvious to anyone who will take the time to read article thirty four of the charter once again when you have. we have often drawn attention to the fact that it is unacceptable to use bogus pretext to include in the agenda purely internal political affairs issue of why the united states chosen to do this today when the dome domestic situation in iran has. become normalized and by the way we should thank washington for this because to a large extent it's thanks to the dynamic and words of encouragement and messages to the arena people that we witnessed a consolidation of the iranian rainin society. and were united by anti-american feelings. the feeling i

security council at washington's request held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in iran russia criticize them saying that tehran should be left alone to deal with its own internal affairs that was also echoed by a number of other members of the security council to. in the past week what has happened on the ground throughout the nation of iran is something the world must take note of. could blow over laurie in the events of the last few days in iran may be they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security every un member state is sovereign but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms under which you security council should not discuss the internal issues of any country or its human rights issues if the founding principles of this institution mean anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer we are witnessing an attempt by some delegations to bring to the attention of the security council issues that do not fully correspond with the mission of this body the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom for

negotiating committee in moscow alexei clinic of his middle east expert of the russian international affairs council and in beirut sami and director of the levant institute for strategic affairs welcome to you or mr allawi they would like to ask you this question two thousand and thirteen the general sentiment among the opposition we're just a few inches from gaining the war now the general sentiment is the opposition is losing the war against bashar assad what do you what how do you react to this. well i don't think that. the opposition is losing the war because originally the intention of the opposition was not a military one in the first place it was just a matter of us scream for certain rights and the regime on the other hand has selected the military solution for this issue and so far the military solution has proven to be a real failure and what attests to this fact is that all those attempts to find a political settlement for the crisis in syria and on top of russia. exerting all the efforts to find political asylum settlement unfortunately and i shows just approaching this issue by the same

others who were insistent that the matter should not have got to the security council chamber insisting that this was an internal domestic matter the security council should not be empowered to debate such issues among them of course was iran allowed to take part in the discussions at the invitation of the president the iranian ambassador saying that the u.s. had a long history as he put it of attempting to disrupt the process of democratization within iran following such acts of disruption take in these u.s. administration as floating international law and this is spec'd into practice as of civilized behavior in international politics is that ministers in is not the spirit of the ching for that keeps it a flute. there is a long history of u.s. bullying at the u.n. but this is preposterous example well this position backed by russia which had been vehemently opposed to the fact of this meeting taking place saying that it was a very dangerous precedent to investigate or look at the domestic affairs of member states adding that it was a precedent that could at some stage be used against the u.s. the country that i

obvious to you peons didn't see fit an internal matter of iran some sporadic protests that have quieted down since then. to be a subject matter with the security council which is responsible for international peace and security and it wasn't just france it was also russia sudan a number of other nonpermanent members of the security council the us spawn it's quite isolated adding to this whole string of setbacks at the united nations where because that under plummeting efforts of the us the us is using your national credibility and you know threatening to allies or iran randy europeans have the sensible approach of engaging iran expanding trade and fulfilling their obligations with the nuclear arsenal contrary to do you work as a dragging its feet deeper failing to implement some of its own obligations which incidentally is responsible for some of the economic bottlenecks facing the tehran government today and yet you have the us ambassador sharing crocodile tears with the iranian people ignoring the fact that the us this continuing sanctions on iran which are quiet and just and all the other pressures are partially responsible for the economic problem

voice of its people other members objected to the meeting insisting the council wasn't the place for the scuffs the country's internal affairs mike hanna reports from the united nations there was animated debate in the council chamber before the discussions began their members taken aback by the lack of notice from the u.s. in calling for this public debate the u.s. ambassador adamant that it was essential iran be called to account if the founding principles of this institution mean anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer the iranian regime is now on notice the world will be watching what you do russia had vehemently opposed what it saw as an unacceptable intervention in iran's internal affairs but also argued that the us had another motive in pushing for this meeting used in the book the blueprint the real reason for convening today is not to protect human rights or promote the interests of the iranian people but rather a veiled attempt to continue to undermine the iranian nuclear agreement would have you. an agreement that the french ambassador maintained in his speech was crucial also dista

nations security council at washington's request held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in iran russia criticized the move saying that iran should be left alone to deal with its internal affairs but was also echoed to by a number of other members of the security council as column open explains. now the meeting opened with nikki haley she is the representative of the united states and she voiced strong support for the iranian protesters calling them courageous talking about the usa quote standing in solidarity with the iranian protests you also went on a tirade against the iranian government the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom for themselves prosperity for their families and dignity for their nation we will not be quiet no dishonest attempt to call the protesters puppets of foreign powers will change that if the founding principles of this institution mean anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer it we then heard from the representative of four amps and france is a country that generally agrees with the united states in un security council proceedings however he talked about how this is really an internal

international peace and security every un member state is sovereign but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms only we as a council should not discuss the internal issues of any country or its human rights issues if the founding principles of anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer witnessing an attempt by some their locations to bring to the attention of the security council issues that do not fully correspond with the mission of this body the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom for themselves change in iran will not come from outside it will come from the iranian people themselves nothing will stop americans from standing in solidarity with them. let iran deal with its own internal problems since this is precisely what is taking place when you are wasting the energy of the security council. however cia boss might pompei or has threatened that european countries will pay for turning their backs on the us the meeting. is it that our top european allies failed to support us on this and in fact france when we brought it up before the emergency meeting of

as well because they selected to be on the other side of history and against international law and against security council resolutions but still a very difficult position for mahmoud abbas because you might be encouraged by international support but that is completely lost on the many palestinians who continue to live under occupation as time goes on how much pressure is there going to be for the palestinian authority for mahmoud abbas to really take bold and measures. oh lord no we realize that the zero pressures including economic pressures will increase the hardship against our people but i am proud to say that the palestinian people are resilient you don't see a single white flag whether in the gaza strip in is jerusalem or in the occupied west bank to capitulate against our national rights president abbas said the person or the leader that will sell jerusalem sell jerusalem among the palestinian people has not been born it means that jerusalem it means everything to all of us and we are willing you know to sacrifice whatever it is it is needed in order to defend jerusalem this is the position of the

the events of the last few days in iran may be they do not constitute a threat to international peace and security. council should not discuss the. issues the un security council on to america's request holds an emergency meeting over the situation in iran however the initiative criticized by some members who say it's an internal issue for tehran. also ahead this hour the saudi led coalition is reportedly continuing its bombing campaign in yemen despite a humanitarian i cry one person is believed dead and today. the word just a few moments at christmas is christmas for many orthodox christians around the world are not included in russia where we just saw president putin joining the service the christ the savior cathedral in moscow these are live pictures from the center of orthodox christianity we'll go live to our correspondent in. for a feeling of how things have been going on there for the last hour. we are churning in from around the world this hour welcome to moscow onto our team international good to have your company i mean and only a fourth day pro-government marches has been held in iran tens of t

including president mahmoud abbas we haven't done anything other than defending international law defending security council resolution and defending our rights when it comes to the issue of jerusalem this is what we have done we are proud of what we did and we will continue to do so because there are specific resolutions in the security council that are totally against the illegal unilateral provocative new policy of the us administration and to come and to attack us as a result of that is uncalled for and there is no man that is committed to peace among the palestinians today than president mahmoud abbas and to defend our rights and to defend international law and to be attacked as the way she did is a very. ridiculous. but his prime minister to reason may is under pressure to withdraw an invitation to the saudi crown prince of his country's war on yemen crown prince mohammed bin selman is juice a visit london within weeks groups including stop the war in the arab organization for human rights in the u.k. are asking me to cancel his visit a saudi led coalition intervened in yemen civil war in twenty fifte

should not discuss the internal issues of any country towards human rights issues the un security council that america's request holds an emergency meeting over the situation in iran but some members think it's an internal issue for tarar. one person reportedly died on saturday as that saudi led coalition is apparently continuing its bombing campaign in yemen despite a humanitarian.

international implications. is it that the implications that should be discussed at the un security council? ake by the us, things that they have legitimately brought to the un, principally the nuclear programme, which is a matter of international security, and the security council was reluctant to look at it but they have taken steps over the years, and that is absolutely proper use of it. the us would be much better advised to sit and let this play out because it risks antagonising people who might... people who do not want to be associated with the us but want to see these changes. what you're looking at, as has been powerfully described, is people rising up and saying, just on economic grounds, standards of living, what it is like to live in iran, we are fed up with the way the regime is handling this. all kinds of things that the us does have an interest in, money going out to hezbollah, and so on, you have people arguing from the most powerful positions possible, they resent the money going out of the country, people questioning it. the us should sit back and let this gather steam, whic

used as part of an international coalition to liberate kuwait that had been occupied by iraq and that was an operation that was mandated on and approved by the inner security council and the saudi arabians were part of an international coalition and was was achieving what was called a humanitarian operation so. in that case that everyone applauded the fact the saudi arabians were using british supplied equipment to liberate the people of kuwait. so you have to be very subjective about these terms about when things are sold for use in human rights abuses they may be sold many many decades before when the government of that country was perfectly friendly was doing a legally recognized and approved activity so arms sales are part of international diplomacy that part of international alliances that part of the. state craft they've been going on for centuries and will go on for centuries just because at the moment in time the saudi arabian government is doing something that certain parts of the british political classes disapprove of doesn't mean that in two years time ten years down the saudi arabia is going to do something that we applaud so you know this is a i thin

council. someone who was able to let iran deal with its own internal problems since this is precisely what is taking place when you are wasting the energy of the security council and said let's better focus on dealing with acute crisis situations like afghanistan syria libya iraq yemen in the african continent instead of that you're proposing to interfere in so you turn away fares of the state. now in addition to the fifteen members of the security council because the meeting were directly related to issues in iran the islamic republic of iran was able to then address the security council meeting now the iranian representative he talked about how iran is a democratic country in his view and argued that people in iran do have the right to protest however they don't have the right to do so violently he then talked about how there have been instances of violence in the recent protests and pointed to the usa being involved in fomenting these acts of violence he talked about u.s. figures people located in the usa who have been promoting these protests on social media and u.s. support in instigating

bronwen, is it, though, the kind of international implications that should be discussed at the un security councils is a mistake by the us? i think that there are things that the us has legitimately brought to the un, principally iran's nuclear programme, which is a matter of international security. and the security council, maybe reluctantly in a way, but has taken a lot of steps over the years about that, and i think that's an absolutely proper use of it. i think the us would be much better advised to sit and let this play out because it risks antagonising people who don't want to be associated with the us, but do want to see these changes. what you're looking at, as nazenin has very powerfully described, is people rising up and saying — "look, just on economic grounds, on standards of living, on just what it is like to live in iran, we are fed up with the way the regime is handling this." so all kinds of things that the us does have an interest in, like money going out to hezbollah and so on, you've got people arguing from the most powerful possible position, which is that they don't want to li

international peace and security every un member state is sovereign but member states cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they categorically deny their people human rights and fundamental freedoms. the council should not discuss the internal issues of any country or its human rights issues if the founding principles of this institution mean anything we will not only hear their cry we will finally answer we are witnessing an attempt by some delegations to bring to the attention of the security council issues that do not fully correspond with the mission of this body the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom for themselves change in iran will not come from outside it will come from the iranian people themselves nothing will stop americans from standing in solidarity with them know that you know. let iran deal with its own internal problems since this is precisely what is taking place you are wasting the energy of the security council. the fact that we get wholly turns around and says that you know we can we're seeing in inverted commas syria style situation in iran this is not going to happen this is a pipe dream iran is aware and the experience is that the

international. so many countries at the security council meeting have expressed the view that these protests are not an international issue russia's ambassador was among them saying that the u.s. is interfering in iran's internal affairs so what do you expect to be the outcome of this approach towards you rob. well as i heard the commentator commentators say it will only make the iranians grow closer together which is a very good thing. in iran like every other normal country wall post says you take place and mark and not us there is good reason for them but as with anywhere else in the world there are liars accompanying any protest process that have not been perfect at like any other country iran will react and it definitely is an internal issue what is important to bear in mind here is that there is an existing bilateral treaty as well the algiers treaty it was signed in one thousand nine hundred eighty one and it is the united states promises not to interfere in iranian affairs and look at it blatantly integrating in iranian affairs and you know it's this this of course by those who run with what