Ground there in the city of descried it heavy bombardment from forces the saying that explosions can be heard through the north of the city. The Prime Minister abu ahmed spoke person has just told us that the Libyan Forces do not have a mission to bombard its own city and its people. They said that the effort to bring to justice what they describe as the criminal clique of the t. T. S. Will not entailed discriminatory bombardment. By refuting the claims of leadership, irans Supreme Leader is vowing retaliation. For the killing of a top nuclear scientists, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying will say, in fact, reside, and his bodyguards near tehran. On friday, irans president is basing the assassination on israel. He has more from tehran. There is a general sense of shock and disbelief that this could actually take place in the country. But we heard from president hassan rouhani. He issued a written statement earlier on saturday in which he blamed israel, and also said that the countrys nuclear and defensive programs will move forward despite this assassination. He said that this will only increase the will, and the determination of it when scientists down the line, and that factor is that they will be replaced, and his replacements will work even harder to try and make up for the fact that he has been assassinated. Hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to control protesting farmers in a round. Indias capital. Thousands are rallying against new laws and they say could take away their livelihoods. Lizabeth raanan has more from the protests at the delhi high water costs are the single Border Crossing now between the states and marianna and delhi with thousands of farmers have remained camped out behind me is a Main National highway in the country. But as far as the eye can see, there are thousands of farmers and their tractors, they try their vehicles, which have been converted to temporary homes. I mean, this looks like a tract, a city, and they want, they dont want to go to the ground. Its been a lot of to them on the outskirts of the city because they demand initially was to go to the center of the capital to make the opposition heard. And they say that if theyre not allowed to go to the center, theyre only allowed to go to some ground on the outskirts. They will remain on national highways. Who will sing this great interruption to traffic on to the government, repeal the farm lulas, which they are against where the single crossing. And its a similar picture as other Border Crossings around delhi, it is peaceful today. There is a very large police and paramilitary presence. Nearby monitoring the protests. New restrictions will be imposed in the us city of los angeles from monday in response to a rise in corona virus cases, all private and public gatherings of people from different households have been banned. It comes as a number of recorded infections in the us passes. 13000000, more than 400000 people have died from corona virus in europe. As the continent undergoes a 2nd wave of infections. Despite that, france is reopening stores ahead of the holiday season. For French Police officers have been detained after a video emerged, showing them beating a black music producer. The assault has sparked widespread public outrage and more than 100. 00 cuban artists have protested outside the culture in stream have on against what they say. The state crackdown on dissent. The demonstration came out of police broke up another Group Holding a hunger strike, calling for the release of a jailed rapper. Those are the headlines coming up next year. Its a studio be unscripted. Do stay with us on aljazeera. Why are journalists under attack . Because democracy is under attack and i realized i was working for something that was evil. And i had been a part of actually creating it. When Mark Zuckerberg essentially said that it is ok for politicians to lie, that spells doom my name is maria ressa and im a journalist and also the message that the government is sending is very clear. Be silent or your next ever since. Thousands and Death Threats on line. Thank you. Thank you. Im christopher wiley. Im a Data Scientist, but most people know me as the cambridge analytical whistleblower. Thank you. Facebook knew about cambridge analytical scheme, says 2015 before the story broke. Facebook threatened to sue the guardian and then banned me for whistleblowing. Are revealed hard data is being manipulated to political gain without our consent. Thanks. Thanks. Since rappers started reporting the president protect us that the drug war, i believe that he did leak charged and arrested. It makes you feel about leaks quite right. Im inspired by how maria continues to stand up for the truth in the face of real danger. Chrysis revelations lead to the largest danger Crime Investigation in history if we allow cheating in our democratic her thighs and we allow this amount. What about next time . What about the time after that . We know firsthand what happens when social media is weaponize and in danger. It now poses to our democracies around the world. This is an existential moment. And its time for us all to act fast. Its so good to talk to you, you figured out and then you created a system. You taught yourself how to code, you learned the data. And then you built this whole system that was very efficient, modify behavior. And then you decided to take it down. When did you decide it was wrong . When i 1st joined the company that later became cambridge analytic, a c l group, i joined a company that at the time was working on projects that were geared towards countered stream ism encounter radicalization. Looking at how extremism spreads online and we got discovered by a guy by the name of steve bannon, who won 3 short got a billionaire to acquire the company. And what i saw was that i had worked on a system that got essentially inverted to radicalize young men in the United States. And, you know, witnessing the inception of an insurgency the campaign. And so when i started seeing videos of people in focus groups who were so angry with things that were frankly untrue. You know, i realized i was working for something that was evil. And i had, you know, been a part of actually creating it. And i couldnt keep doing that. Its interesting when you said you were looking at it for counter radicalization at 1st. I came to it because i was looking at how social Network Analysis spread the ideology of terrorism. And we created rappler because if you can convince people to blow themselves up with this radical ideology, why couldnt you have some things that are for a good, right . Thats why we created rappler. But then when you started seeing the negative parts, its hard to pull yourself out how and to be a whistleblower. What gave you the courage to do that . Yeah, i think it was for me, you know, growing up kind of as an outsider, i was partly in a wheelchair when i was growing up because of a invisible disability and then lobby on top of that sort of being queer. I came out as a with the war, but ive been coming out for my entire life and you know, for me its that sense of otherness that and comfortable with being uncomfortable. Yeah. That i think gave me a little bit of a notch to help me become, become a whistleblower. But with setting up rappler and, you know, being on the outside, i think youre going out there every single day. Pissing off a lot of people trying to do you find that you know, your lifes journey sort of influence and thought, oh gosh. So i was born in the philippines and then moved to the United States when martial law was declared in 1972. But when i was with americans, i never felt completely american. And when im filled with for the peano, so i built feel completely filipino either. So i guess its that its that otherness part of it. Right. And that, thats good training for journalists or whistle blowing or whistle blowing. But i mean, i do find that theres a bit of an overlap because not that i would ever call myself a journalist. But in some senses i feel similar. Theres something similar about that. You know, shoving uncomfortable information into peoples faces, the knowing you have to Pay Attention to this and then viewing the consequences of that. So i was going say, thats the mission of journalism, right . You speak truth to power and youll know power doesnt like that in your and i think you been speaking truth. I mean theres a cost to yourself, but you also seem to learn something more from each instance that youve done that. Has this been a good experience or a bad experience . Its a mixed bag, i guess. I mean, i think its been on the whore. A good experience for i have learned a lot. So how, you know, you know, after watching 2016 happen and knowing so many things about what was going on. You know, i learned that i do feel compelled to speak uncomfortable truths. But at the same time, you know, you know, getting called to testify, our congress, you know, as a 20 something game or living in london, its not something that you really expects to be part of your life journey. It was pretty intimidating. Is pretty intimidating to have, you know, the department of justice and f. B. I. Sitting behind me and you know, giving the a subpoena after that. But i think, i think on the whole, its been a good experience. Because if you think back before 28, seen the idea that privacy or data protection, you know, the internet would be a mainstream political issue in the 2020 election and the primary race would kind of be laughable. So i feel like at least in that sense, exposing wrongdoing and exposing the structures that facilitate and support that wrongdoing. With Companies Like facebook yet have at least opened up an awareness into a conversation in our mainstream political discourse that i think is productive. How easy is it to manipulate mass and im asking you, i get frustrated a lot by the, the current sort of discussion about the election manipulation because it so focuses on the United States and to a lesser extent, britain. Because britain and the United States. And im sure coming from the philippines. You know, this full well have been manipulating elections and democracy is around the world for hundreds of years. Britain was a empire, a speck. And, you know, the reason why, you know, the national drink in britain is tea and you know, National Animal is a lion and, you know, these are not natural things here. And so i think the reason why people are so upset in the United States or in britain or other parts of europe is an American Voter now understands what it feels like to be an african voter. Because, you know, living in a country where youve got a gradually eroding Information System where lies are everywhere, where you dont know what to trust. Youve got Foreign Countries left right and center, trying to manipulate you trick you deceive you and corruption rife in the administration. Looking at the philippines and something that id be interested in hearing your thoughts on coming from an x. U. S. Colony. Where you had a large country dictating the terms of how Government Works if you know, to becoming independent. And now having a large American Corporation run by a bunch of straight white dudes in america, starting to influence at least what information is allowed or not allowed to exist, or what gets amplified and promoted. Or what does thing in the philippines do you, do you feel like there is a sort of neocolonialism happening online . So youre the 1st person. I heard say that colonialism never died. It just moved on line. Right. And i think we talked about facebook as a 1st level, which, i mean, frankly, the collapse that roshan of our institutions began on facebook. What the description of the philippines Stanley Karnow wrote in our image and he described the philippines as a country that spent 450 years in a convent and 50 years in hollywood. We were colonized by spain and then the United States. And i think its ironic that the country that gave democracy is also the, the place where Silicon Valley then has given someone like to tear down a bull. So narrow these types of authoritarian leaders who work who are killing democracy, the power to do it, to manipulate people. But i think we all know that the, our countries in the global south bear the brunt of all the tech, this issue. And that have been made, right . I mean, how do we get power, how weve never really had a seat at the table in these things. And weve, theyre the worst. Do you think you should go see other people sure. Of that part. I mean, part of the reason i can speak about it is because i can articulate it in a way that the west can understand. You currently are, you know, challenging and allegedly, and arguably corrupt regime. What does it mean for you to say give us a seat at the table . Do you give a corrupt regime a theater table to talk about now . So i think one of the things this time show us is exactly how Human Behavior is universal regardless of culture in many ways. Because a very same things that manipulate americans and europeans are the very same things that manipulate us in the global south. We just dont have the institutions to fight back and look how weak your institutions have gotten here. Behavioral modification system. How do we fix it . I think ive been a journalist for this is almost 35 years. Its never been as hard to work as a journalist, as it is today. I have to post bail 8 times. My government filed 11 cases and invested 11 cases and investigations that year and then began arresting me and 21001st arrests was valentines day. Those over the valentine. Oh end. My government seems to work very well in february this february. You know, theyve, theyve gone and filed a similar case against the largest broadcaster in the philippines. What would you say . You know, to, to your critics in the philippines about the charges that you know, the government has lodged against you. Did you break the law . Oh my lord. No, i am challenging power, right . We continue to do our jobs and we will continue the line. I always use this, we are going to hold the line because the philippine constitution like the United States constitution has a bill of rights where patterned after the United States constitution. And then let me ask you this, what the cambridge talladega do in the philippines. The Company Operated in many places around the world. This is something that also i learned spending time there that, you know, its really profitable to go and corrupts governments. Because governments have like really monetised that youve got. Sovereignty is something thats really hard for you, for a company to replicate. And you know, with you, karen, you can dictate, you know, mineral rights, resource rights, passports, all kinds of things in the philippines. You know, they are not as there are, you know, the story of the philippines. You guys kind of got trumped before everybody else. Ok. Yes. Youre facing prison in quite serious charges, least 80 years. Why do you care so much . Because then when it be easier to just go somewhere else, i mean i could toss in question at you why you became a whistleblower right . Because this is the time that matters. Because if i didnt stand up for the standards and ethics, the mission of journalism, when it matters, then Everything Else i did beforehand doesnt matter. And then im not who i am. Defining who you are. I hate this time period. I hate that the baton was passed to me now, but thats why it matters. How do we get Civic Engagement when people dont know the facts . I dont think we can. Its kind of like what were doing right now. Were sitting on a stage. Were having a discussion, there is an audience they know that were talking. And if i Say Something thats not true or somebody can call it, or a journalist can call it. What we have now is a situation where i can become invisible. And i can go and whisper in, so everybodys ear and they all hear something different. And i can do that now with the benefit of having followed everybody in the audience around for years and years and years reading through their text messages, listening to their phones, looking at everything that they look at, even when they dont realize that theyre being watched. And i dont think that we can have a functioning democracy when there is no longer public discourse, because everything has become privatized. And oftentimes people cant, dont even know if theyre receiving something that is targeted or not, which again goes back to if you get rid of transparency, you get rid of accountability. You get rid of democracy. We can take questions from the audience. Maria Julie Posetti from the International Center for journalists. Ive spent time with you and with your news organization, and i know that you have learned a lot as a result of the orchestrated dissin for measuring campaigns, the deliberate targeting of journalists and rappler in particular. Given that were talking particularly about what kristof has referred to as pushing, if these problems, you know, from the global south to the west. Can you tell us sitting here in london . What journalists in particular, dealing with these problems now can do to prepare themselves. So if i think this is an excess tensional moment for democracy, globally journalism, the death of journalism, i want to say the death of journalist, but the death of journalism is only the 1st signal for the death of democracy. Our dystopian president is your dystopian future. If we dont do anything right now, and of course, with the elections coming up in the United States, its a huge problem. But what are the danger signals the fact that we dont know the facts