Here watching our to International Coming to you live from the russian capital where its just turned 5 pm welcome to the program. The Syrian Military is making significant gains as it attempts to wrest back control of the countrys final opposition enclave over the course of a week long ground offensive in Southern ProvinceGovernment Forces are reported to displace islamist fighters from around 40 villages the campaign is causing concern in western capitals though as run gossip explains. Its been a while since asaad made Headline News its been everyone but to him america selling out its allies and pilfering syrian oil 3rd bullying kurds claims of bias that the u. P. C. W. But no last until now thousands of syrians forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives as hundreds of ground and air strikes hit the region of it live overnight something as a part of a new ground offensive by syrian Government Forces. Russian backed Government Forces up intensified the Bombing Campaign all of. The Syrian Military has been a bit of a role capturing a slew of villages and towns and media days of course whenever that happens the media and his opponents exploded in outrage same thing every time we want a peaceful resolution we want talks we want. We want we want we want with do with al qaida. It live is ruled by a high at the sharm an offshoot of al qaida h. C. F. Feeds on war and drinks violence it turned deadly into a cesspool of zealots and fanatics mercenaries and foreign jihad this sort of world war i mean the fact that it was where they found the founder of isis its the safest place you could find kind of gives it away and h. T. S. Refuses any negotiation with the Syrian Government are you seeing the issue here how do you get a peaceful resolution when one of the biliteral is a homicidal maniac that just wants to come. Your head off in the name of god or interest lies in killing the terrorist in order to protect the civilians not leaving those civilians innocent under the supervision of the target and being killed by. The issue here is refugees for now civilians have fled from the immediate war zone but they have to do somewhere and the safest place for now is north. Look 50000 people are once again coming from live to our lands we already have 4000000 people and now another 50000 are coming and this main crease even further russian and turkish diplomats are in overdrive trying to manage whats happening and prepare for whats to come it is absolutely clear that the status quo is over america selling out its allies and camping out in oil fields turkey diluting kurdish territories with arab refugees and now the last islamist stronghold if it falls it will mean the end of the Syrian Civil War it will mean asaad wins. The military operation in neatly province is in line with the policy goals set by Bashar Al Assad the aim is to liberate the entire territory of the syrian arab republic. It is their right to clear and to extend the. Sovereign the fear of the state in days. Off their territory is what theyre doing at present sooner or later i believe that the syrian army will expose these people from from being flippant from the entirety of the syrian territory and i dont think that it is this sort of pull from mali it may be difficult it may take some time but sooner or later they are going to be expelled from from the syrian territory understandably those who spent billions fled in syria with weapons and ammo with fighters and propaganda they dont want that to happen so certainly logical for them to insist on impossible talks so long as hes wasting his time waiting for the other side to pick up the phone the turks can continue colonizing Northern Syria the americans can continue pumping out its oil were now at the last domino and its. With frances grown swell of popular anger over controversial pension reform plans showing no signs of subsiding the new year only looks set to add some peoples economic woes the government is now preparing to introduce a bruising tax hike on the most polluting vehicles in order to meet tough targets reporting from paris here charlotte to ski. As presents are being wrapped from under the Christmas Tree is the french government has given its citizens a gift that they may want to return its passed a new law to increase taxes on s. U. V. S and trucks meaning that vehicles that pollute the most will pay you more from 20. 00 to 20. 00 the new pollution tax will come with a 20000. 00 euro price tag thats up from the current 12. 00 and a half 1000 you raise its no doubt that s. U. V. S are heavy polluters but despite that they are still popular in france making up some 30 percent of sales in the 1st 11 months and 2019 so want to drive us in paris make of the tax hike even a. Its true that those vehicles consume a lot but people have to get around people who work every day when they need those types of vehicles for warmth its be true there is no other way to earn money. Everythings increasing in price nowadays and weve seen the whole country on strike the government can tax the citizens but eventually they will have no choice but to protest its unfair in france you have to pay and pay and pay taxes are rising while salaries a stay in the same new tax comes on top of already tough new measures are to european level to lower car emissions many governments are pushing people in the direction of boy electric cars which is seen as being greener and better for the environment but at the same time the french government is actually considering reducing Cash Incentives for new electric cause perhaps not great news for those who are thinking of buying one france also plans to ban fossil fuel cars within the next 20 years in paris they could be banned in the next 10 years to do people here feel that they are being pushed by higher taxes vehicles that use traditional fuel towards electric cars. Its a natural progression that was seen one which will. More and more electric cars. Electric cars why not its a good we can use them in our country if the government helps us to buy electric cars why not but otherwise it prefer to drive my car even if it pollutes its not that bad and there are other concerns was many people say they want to be green charging points for electric vehicles are still not widespread while still in paris there are plenty of around the city elsewhere thats not always the case for the like you we need to have enough places to recharge them in addition to Service Census is the same as with cyclings in germany are a long way behind we have to develop cycle lanes and we have to develop charging stations. Or the vehicles in front seem to be developed but thats not the case with one france even the president doesnt set a good example travels by car while we travel by food by bicycle by scooter so it seems there are still many mental barriers for people even thinking about buying electric cars but as the cost of taxes on fossil fuel vehicles are set to steeply roys they may feel that there is no other choice. Altie paris. And must be top of the us democrats Christmas Wish list to see donald trump kicked out of the white house but the president seems to be spending the holidays full of good cheer saying hes in a very good position ahead of a senate trial and with out in mind and by to now for a cheeky seasonal impeachment drinking it. Disclaimer if youre not 18 change channels and those 18 plus is out drink responsibly 3 months ago 3 long months ago the impeachment inquiry against donald trump was announced and now the house of representatives a say in my go for a double whammy and impeach trump for a 2nd time if more evidence comes to light so since were clearly in it for a while yet and its christmas off to roll weve come up with a little bit of a libation based game pick a drink. So lets lay down the rules if ok when trump takes a swipe at knotts pillows he also says that its all a witch hunt bottoms up but slow and steady wins the race lets make it a half he does that a lot off the wall then if politicians uncharacteristically locate their moral compass and decide no one is above the law center then no one is above the law President Trumps continued actions but the rule of law is that america no one is above the law we vote to defend the constitution and our democracy so that the President Trump and every future president will know that they are not above the law now the stakes if the republican admits the troubles may be probably potential just a little bit naughty drain that just joking thats never going to happen but for any republican who steps forward to defend his needa truth is because if that has been one moment of clarity in this whole saga its about 2 camps if you blew your about the memory impeachments hash tag if youre right youll probably be reporting the hash tag and seeing red ok so if a journalist got a bit tipsy at the Christmas Party and betrayed the oath of objectivity sally looked and said journalist is better and thinks that writing trump equals bad articles is a good cover for his bias so im take a and before i forget if anything to do with mother russia sneaks a mention. That might be the one to tip you over the. Letter you know friend primary objectives within the United States is to show this to foment unrest for their nation or tea is putins Propaganda Machine here in the United States i think youve got the gist but in case you were in any doubt any mention of a quid pro quo its a simple question yes or no i dont recall bribery business i did not have sexual relations or. Meant but seriously i wasnt joking about the dems gunning for a 2nd impeachment if that is. They managed to wring out evidence suggesting that trump somehow obstructed the investigation but we all know its unlikely to need to anyway i mean even dont know that he broke a sweat i dont feel like im being impeached why would he sure the democrat controlled house of representatives can possibly as many impeachment articles as they want but the senate needs to sign off on booting the president from the white house and the senate is carney controlled by the republicans making not a bit of a long shot maybe not need to finally recognize that shouting impeachment is trumped the election quite the opposite in fact it seems america actually quite nice this particular dog probably why they chose him in the 1st place goodness that was exhausting i need a drink. Theres been a sharp rise in the u. K. Weapons sales to saudi arabia and its Coalition Partners over the last 5 years thats despite britain having signed up to a treaty designed to prevent arms exports to rights abusers in screens has been calculated by oxfam which says its deeply concerned over the way the weapons have been used in the conflict in yemen. According to the charity and the 5 years since the arms trade treaty came into force the kay has license sales worth nearly 6 and a half 1000000000 pounds to 8 members of the Saudi Coalition in the 5 years before the agreement was adopted on until 4400000000 pounds worth of weapons to those countries arms trade treaty it was adopted on Christmas Eve in 2014105 sovereign states ratified the chord and a further 33 signed up as well it regulates the arms trade in order to provide human suffering and ensures weapons are not sold to those who violate human rights back then the British Government was also keen to stress its importance. The a. T. T. Is the only legally binding treaty regulating on promoting legitimate and responsible trading conventional arms he remains a unique and valuable instrument with tanner from oxfam told us that the increase in sales shows that britain is an abiding by the treaty it signed. When the arms trade treaty came into effect the u. K. Was a real champion of that treaty unfortunately say those 2 countries that we in yemen know party to not war in yemen have actually increased and i think this is being sick know that youre yemen worlds worst humanitarian crisis right now and the u. K. And far from kind of living up to treaty in and the word is that treaty has has continued to so countries involvement conflict where we know international intamin know is has been disregarded and with pressure mounting the British Government has had to put arms sales to saudi arabia on hold and june the court of appeal said they were unlawful and made with out assessing if the gulf state had violated humanitarian law in yemen its expected the government will appeal the decision in the Supreme Court saudi arabias intervention in yemen started in 2015 to fight with the rebels who they see as terrorists however if the level of civilian casualties and the conflict that are a major concern. Ruth tanner again says theres clear evidence rout has committed Human Rights Violations in yemen and that the u. K. Must stop selling arms to the saudis the evidence is really i have a well meaning and that theres been consistent violations of International Law and and as you say the case was really clear that. That the government needed to you know if it was going to continue to license weapons had to be clear about what that there was a pattern of violation and that violation was clearly that so i find that height that will be upheld and i think its. You know very sad that the government have had to try and chosen to appeal this decision and wish to continue to sell weapons that have been used in a war that is causing untold poverty and hard destruction for the people of yemen young eco activists in germany have had a dressing down after disrespecting their elders that story and more after the break. I am. Same hammer i can use to smash someones head is the same hammer i can use to build them a home but thats a human choosing what to do with thats me expressing my values for the tool and thats what we need to do with Artificial Intelligence as well. As what politicians do something to. Put themselves on the line. To get accepted or rejected. So when you want to be president im sure. It was something i want to. Have to do i could be close this is what the 43 of them all cant be good. Im interested always in the waters in the house. There should. Join me every thursday on the alec simon show and ill be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. Welcome back Britains Guardian newspaper has been forced to amend an article it published last year about russias role in an alleged plot to extract joined us songs from the Ecuadorian Embassy in london where if National Takes up the story. The crime and the punishment the Guardian Newspaper gave a misleading pression to readers and was forced to clarify that its article was well something that you might be tempted to call fake news the piece in question published in september last year claimed that russia had a secret christmas plot to smuggle Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in london to moscow a tentative plan was devised that would have seen that we can expound they were taken out of London Embassy in a diplomatic biko and transported to another country one ultimate destination multiple sources have said was russian the involvement of russian officials in hatching what was described as a basic plan raises new questions about a san just ties to the kremlin but then this to geisha in which was led by a high Profile Panel of academics and journalists and last 13 months found that the authors got carried away with some of their claims the plan in relation to mr sanders ability to be able to leave they could door an embassy was not devised instigated by russia there was nothing illicit about the plan as described in the article the investigation was triggered by a formal complaint from the former consul of ecuador 3 theyll not a virus or described several of the papers assertions as falls and defamatory r. T. Talked to him they talk about secret talks of Russian Diplomats in london and they have trained me us this past contact me in. The kremlin in order to execute some kind of plot thats why i feel d that their article needed to be challenge. And i myself. Need to have an apology from the guardian apology there happen but their review panel has. Decided. And has ruled that the article was indeed misleading breach in the heart of conduct of the press in the United Kingdom but im not completely satisfied with the correction the other thing is that they have not being. Amended does the article still says that Russian Diplomats. Secret talks in london in order to. Flee the embassy thats not true finally enough one of the journalists who penned the piece luke harding was behind another controversial article published by the garding that piece also published last year claimed that the old transcom pain manager paul mann a ford had held secret talks with a son to an Ecuadorian Embassy somehow one of the most surveyed places on earth didnt manage to capture any evidence of that alleged high profile visit the guardian didnt attract the story but deep change the headline shift in the responsibility to its sources mr no rise has called the latest corrections he story journalistic fiasco for the guardian for again publishing false information thats not the only article does a part earned by the same mouth those that the same author theres a p