Brotherhood now the bureau in cairo was shut down 3 jersey to journalists were jailed and eventually freed but one just leader journalist Mahmud Hussein has been in jail for more than 100. 00 days now and has yet to be charged across egypt media conditions under sisi are grim their record numbers of journalists have been jailed and off the 180. 00 countries rank for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders egypt is at number 163 ok moving on now last week we reported on the iranian activist has a writer and a productive one dozens of articles published by mostly us media articles that advocated regime change in iran than al of the is exposed by the intercept an American News outlet as a fraud or nonexistent person or creation of a shadowy Iranian Opposition group known as the army k but i take it thats not where the story ends is it apparently not richard now after the intercept published that article twitter took down account however the person or people behind this persona continue to write via a blog in which they said he would never reveal his identity and attacking twitter for caving in to his critics now we tried to get in touch with. But the comment to be posted on his blog in which we requested for an interview just never got through they disappeared into the ether but the story doesnt end there is now back on twitter his account has been reinstated so we got in touch with the company to ask them what had reassured them of the accounts authenticity now twitter came back to us with quite a shady response they said that they would only share information with us as. Long as it was not attribute to twitter for a company that advocates transparency this is a curious position to take so we continue to pursue the matter with twitter and wade in touch with the intercept that remains on the study ok thanks mina. Were going to scroll back now more than 4 decades and look at a slice of history filmmaking in south africa during the era of apartheid like many governments south africa has offered subsidies to the Film Industry and the subsidy were looking at was known as the b. Scheme in order to qualify filmmakers who were mostly white back then how to produce films with black casts for black audiences in a black South African language such as zulu costs. From around 19 1732898 number of those films were made but in many cases there was a prevailing theme and a larger message one that would explain why the apartheid government with its policies of racism oppression and segregation would help bankroll movies that were made a stand for the entertainment of black South Africans listening posts and your head now on the rise and the fall of the beast scheme film subsidy. This is the year to. The 1st black and cinema in south africa its boarded up and abandoned now in its day it could see more than a 1000 people and it was much more than just a cinema it was a focal point during the struggle against apartheid a place where subversive films were shown where activists could meet International Musicians could bypass the boycott on a particular south africa and perform for the countrys oppressed majority. And on the 1st of january 973. 00 it was the 1st cinema to ever screen a groundbreaking film called joe bullet starring a black actor named. In the townships. Or cost so we really like to put more people in the us. Is quite unique for the times because of apartheid no one was really considering producing movies with black cast members for black audiences. But. Is a kind of. Man coming to the rescue of. Strength as well as. Investigative and martial arts expertise. Black character james bond this kind of guy they wanted to join the fun. So they could win the cup final. And you would be. Living in a in a nice apartment trying. To get all these things of the government didnt obviously want majority of the population to kind of aspire to. 20 from the the writer and producer of that they premiered the film without approval from the apartheid censors so it was banned off to just 2 screenings. Taking the law in its own hands. Stacey theres clearly no idea. But these are. Fundamental says that the decision to ban charcoal it was eventually overturned but by then it had lost its momentum and would never recover. While the film was ultimately a commercial failure the response from black South African audiences convinced fundament and his fellow filmmakers that there was a huge demand in the country for this kind of content however what they also knew was that without the apartheid governments approval these kind of films would just keep on getting banned so they had to make a deal. And it was already a template in place nearly 2 decades in 1956 the apartheid government created a subsidy to help grow a national Film Industry for White South Africans the films had to have. African languages and typically they would promote the White South African way of life. If that criteria was smith then the filmmakers would get money back based on ticket sales they called it a ski film subsidy. Or 97320 from the middle of it for a. P. Scheme subsidy films with black costs for black audiences in their own languages. Because we keep there and theres a reason why the a part take government went along with that the idea behind the subsidy itself was if we created a vehicle through which to entertain the masses it would keep their minds off of political unrest. Time. Because if they not occupy and they get up to all kinds of mischief. And. A secondary benefit a plaster you would class was of course a kind of ideological value that part that they could get out of it. Partake of and sort the propagandistic value in the. Storylines that government favor in these films that i would love to put in. The good will always win over the evil as i was a crime doesnt pay. And another thing is i wanted to bring that. To the black people that you should go to stay thats your place and come to the white. Homelands were more similar Thomas Riccio typically under service to end poverty stricken allocated to black South Africans in the apartheid era and that seemed that once your work is done in white Southern Africa you go back to the supposed tranquility of the homelands were so prevalent in the peacekeeping film that the dharma would come to be known as the home. It would be. The urban centers what ways portrayed as danes are vying for black people and black people were portrayed as morally weak they always succumbed to the evolve of the urban center of the lot that. Thats the kind of the spin off on the back to the homeland i dont necessarily agree with the notion that this that they were purely propaganda driven kind of films a large amount of produce filmmakers who are just making movies for the sake of making movies and they actually can operate a sound guys they were the performers in. One of cameras rolled back. To kind of do a blanket brush across it saying that thats what it was all about i think is not a Fair Assessment of actually what happened before mike was. Catered to what. They knew the things aboard would approve of. With. People modeling. They were acting authorities in the same for the apartheid state and one can understand that i mean im not saying that as a critique necessarily because one can and that they love the prophet you know and they lived in a particular time when they knew how they wove was bonded and they stayed within the boundaries very few overstate. Like they seemed to be steam subsidy was apportioned based and ticket sense however at the time there were only a handful of cinemas that catered for black audiences and certainly not enough to support the industry so the b. Scheme filmmakers created their own distribution method my boss in the us but they sent out to the townships and set up in schools churches and fields anywhere they could screen the film but i enjoyed that if from you that. Sounds it was like. The circus coming to town really excited one of the side that the kids books like that and amazing i think because the photos were shot mine is a truly i love the time. We were come to it in that came our way does movies for us it wasnt attainment he never said it will because those eyes would open when you know there was the movies coming from one of the know where we realize that this. In 1909 crippled by sanctions the cash strapped to partake government abolished. The piskies not least because many of the film makers were inflating viewing figures to increase their subsidies children off to apartheid would also come to an end today very little is known about the subsidy official documentation has mysteriously disappeared and so have many of the films giving opinion divided. A block from the South AfricanFilm Industry to pave the way for many black South Africans to enter. The films propaganda their last heritage. By modern standards the films havent aged well but the story behind it tells us a lot about the history of south africa. And finally back to china the trade war that we touched on in our lead story and a state sponsored rap video thats been making the rounds online the band is called cd red short for chengdu revolution and its backed by the communist party of china now it is not clear if President Trump is a rap fan but this song was definitely written with him and western audiences in mind given that the lyrics are delivered in english and subtitled in mandarin this particular video focuses on the trade war with the u. S. Currently being fought over huawei the Chinese Mobile Phone Company now its racking up millions of clicks which is partly down to the size of the huge Chinese Market and the fact that state run media are big supporters of cd ref and that has an effect on the numbers but these rappers are a bit of a joke with chinese listeners many of whom you can find on social media platforms like way bowen uku a vis arranging them for a singing beijings tune well leave you now with a little taste of the video and well see you next time here at the list. Just. Ive always been fascinated by space story the space race isnt just about the men who risked their lives to travel and. But the ones who held those lives in their. Grandfather and his colleagues who worked on the space suits they designed the space suits apollo 11 was his triumph. And the perfectly designed space suits his legacy putting man on the moon on aljazeera. On counting the cost 2018 was the deadliest year for the Aviation Industry in years well find out just what went wrong also its really considers a new domestic current so you could lead to its exit from the euro but should you be worried about your kids having too much screen time counting the cost on aljazeera. President trump is concerned he called off an attack against iran as terror ron says it will respond firmly to any u. S. Aggression. Slowing down jordan this is al jazeera live from coming up. Russia suspends flights to georgia where protesters are demanding the resignation of the interior minister after violent clashes. The World Food Program suspends some deliveries to yemen saying theyre not getting to the people theyre meant for. Plus the ethnic conflict in democratic republic of congo which has forced thousands to seek shelter in neighboring. Iran says it will respond firmly to any u. S. Threats according to its Foreign Ministry thats despite President Trump saying he doesnt want war with iran but hes warned that if a conflict does happen it would lead to the obliteration of iran. On friday he called off for telling it to a strike saying he wanted to avoid mass casualties from washington is alan fischer. This was the reason the u. S. Was prepared to launch an attack the doning of an unmanned military drawn by iran. These pictures are said to be the Missile Launch which are really in television says was filmed by the islamic republics revolutionary guards the u. S. Said the drone was over International Waters a claim disputed by to iran donald trump says while 3 sites had been identified for strikes he cancelled the operation they came in they censor were ready to go wed like a decision i said i want to know something before you go how many people will be killed. In this case or a means i said how many people are going to be killed. Sir id like to get back to you on that great people these generals they said they came back said sure approximately 150 and i thought about it for a 2nd i said you know what they shut down and on and. Drone plane whatever you want to call it and here we are busy sitting with 150. 00 dead people and that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after i said go ahead and i didnt like it i didnt think it was i didnt think it was proportionate and terror and the revolutionary guard put on a display of what it said was wreckage from the u. S. Drone recovered in a really intended trick the head of its Space Division claims a manned u. S. Spy plane near detroit was not targeted that i wonder is it at the same moment when the aircraft was being tracked another spy aircraft called p. 8 was flying close to this drone that aircraft is man and has around 35 crew members where we could have targeted that plane it was our right to do so and yes it was american but we didnt do it we hit the unmanned aircraft. Well secretary of state my point is heading to the region to talk to allies saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates the u. S. Special representative in iran has been brian who promised the u. S. Would continue to exert maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on iran our diplomacy does not give iran the right to respond with military force in iran needs to meet diplomacy with diplomacy and not military force irans Foreign Ministry responded saying it needs diplomacy with diplomacy respect with respect and war with zealous defense the rise in tension in the region has led a number of International Airlines to cancel or divert flights away from the area americas federal Aviation Administration says in a statement because of heightened military activity it is banning all u. S. Carriers from operating in the gulf region a situation it says its keeping under review alan fischer aljazeera washington also the bari has more on how the shooting down of the u. S. Drones being perceived in tehran. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi has been speaking to a local media and he says that iran is ready to guard its borders and any action by the United States will be seen as a red line and any aggression taken by the americans the iranians will respond accordingly but i wanted to look at some of the headlines that have been printed this morning of the newspapers its the 1st day that weve seen the papers since the downing of the u. S. Drone the 1st paper is the news paper and it is the most conservative newspaper in iran its headline reads the destroyed super advanced american spy drone a sharp slap to the United States and we have more from saudi arabia and the u. A. E. To the 2nd newspaper is the iran news paper which is a government owned paper and the headline reads the penalty for passing red line referring to the drone that is shown that the model that was downed shot down by the iranians the 3rd paper is newspaper and thats the reformist paper they had lined reads double achievement one meaning the hunting of the intruding american drone and the 2nd the did they diminish the u. S. Militarys reputation so all these headlines are showing us that the general sense here is that the iranians are focusing on the achievement of their revolutionary guard and that its seen as a major major win for them and also the fact that the iranians have shown that the u. S. Is not invincible that their military is non and civil and the iranians are capable of responding to any aggression within their borders i mean all the Reuters News Agency is reporting that hundreds of u. S. Contractors will be evacuated from an Iraqi Military base of a potential security threats but u. S. Companies Lockheed Martin and sally port global both have operations there the bella base north of baghdad was hit by 3 mortar shells last week no one was injured 2 other iraqi bases hosting. U. S. Forces have been hit by rockets in the past week local officials blamed iran backed shia militias for an attack on wednesday in basra which tehran has denied them on the job jim joins us live from baghdad mohammed so what have iraq officials been saying about this reuters reports of u. S. Contractors being evacuated. There and weve spoken with a commander with the air force Lieutenant General and what i mean and he calls reuters reporting on this baseless was a very strong denial of that report from reuters he went on to tell us this news is totally untrue i was there a half an hour ago speaking about that air base where these according to reuters evacuations are taking place or are about to take place at any time now its all very interesting that this comes out at a time of such heightened tensions as you mentioned but air base has been the site of attacks mortar fire other bases where u. S. Troops are housed and have been have come under attack these past few weeks no group has claimed responsibility but at a time of such heightened tension between the u. S. And iran which are the 2 biggest allies who are at aachen at a time when about this feeling increasingly squeezed between the u. S. And iran and while these tensions escalate there has been a real concern here in baghdad and other parts of iraq that perhaps she had militias who are affiliated with or backed by iran that perhaps they might launch attacks targeting u. S. Personnel here in iraq of course in may you had a visit an unannounced visit by u. S. Secretary of state my campaign in which he spoke with many of the officials and he said that the u. S. Had intelligence that iran would perhaps try to target u. S. Personnel here in iraq so while all this is happening this report from reuters comes out saying that in fact 4800. 00 contractors housed at the ballot air base would be evacuated and that that evacuation could happen at any time the reuters report says that according to the information they have this evacuation would be carried out in 2 stages and that it would be an aerial evacuation that aircraft would come and take those contractors from that air base but again we now have a categorical and unequivocal denial from a high ranking source within their docs military who says that this report is baseless iraq and iran have extremely strong ties so how is baghdad viewing these rising tensions between the u. S. And iran. And it all does extremely concerned there in the officials that weve been contacting these past few weeks they are really loathe to speak on the record and that really highlights to us just how squeezed it feels right now between the u. S. And iran you know weve heard in the past month many times references to a delegation being formed a delegation being formed a delegation of would go to iran and then to the u. S. To try to deescalate the tensions but that really has not ever come to pass and in the past week more and more officials are saying well that offer really because it is at the forefront of all this and really being squeezed because of their geo political position they cant really play a mediation role right now none the less it has been that off the site of a flurry of diplomatic activity since may of course the aforementioned visit by u. S. Secretary of state mike pompei o since that visit you had a visit by irans foreign minister armands foreign minister germanys foreign minister and just in the past several days the 1st state visit by the emir of kuwait ships about how to handle sabat and at the top of all those agendas the one theme there besides trying to strengthen bilateral relations between these countries was trying to find a way to deescalate the tension between the u. S. And iran of course that has not come to pass if anything things have gotten only more complicated but it really goes to show you just how tricky it will be for iraq to try to thread this needle between these 2 biggest allies at a time when things seem to only be escalating there in. June the in baghdad thank you. Donald trump has dominated the secretary to be the next secretary of defense this week acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan withdrew his nomination not to face in questions over his personal life s. But will take over from shanahan on sunday if confirmed hed be the 3rd man leave the pentagon and 6 months. Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to temporarily banning his countrys airlines from flying to georgia relations between the 2 nations and tense after thousands of people staged violent protests against a visiting russian politician to tbilisi on thursday but he georgians are now demanding an early election as Robin Forrester worker reports now from the capital. Protestors in georgia have to keep grievances against their government its handling of russias occupation of 20 percent of georgian territory and its heavy handed response to the demonstrations use a show here of solidarity for those blinded by rubber bullets in thursdays police crackdown. The violence began after opposition m. P. s heckled russian deputies invited into georgias Parliament Georgia has had no diplomatic ties with moscow since its war with russia over south of setia in 2008. Was later clashes between protesters and police were the worst in 7 years since georgias governing party came to power with more than 200 people injured and around 300 people detained was. On friday. Picketed jews interior ministry wouldnt 30 of their colleagues were among. Each dollar. Budgets there was a identifiable