activists say at least 1000000 people are detained in similar camps where extreme surveillance force assimilation and abuse are common the camps have long sparked international criticism in an unprecedented move 22 nations signed a letter to the un human rights council condemning disturbing reports australia canada and japan are among the signatories along with britain france and germany they call on china to stop the mass detentions respect religious freedom and grant independent experts meaningful access to the region. countries that did not sign the document raise just as much interest out of the 22 nations assigned as none of them were muslim majority nations which is really quite telling because china is using their pocketbook to gain influence in many of these nations as well. china defends the practice the government says it's not about eliminating people's

identity but about teaching employment skills and pushing out what it calls extremism year far surely by ceasing up locational education and training centers in accordance with the law we aim to education save those who were influenced by religious extremism and committed to mine it legal to fix it. the letter is not tied to a vote or a resolution but it will be published as an official document of the un's human rights council activists say it's a good sign but china's government has long stood defiant against foreign criticism katia locus of the young al-jazeera and for more on this high cost on and wayne hay is joining us live from beijing has there been any response from the chinese government so far weighing. not yet elizabeth we may well hear something in the next hour or so in a daily ministry of foreign affairs briefing that the government holds here and i

suspect the message will be similar to what they have said before that these countries that have signed this letter are impinging on the sovereignty of china that this is a domestic affair and anyone outside of china should stay out of the domestic affairs here at will probably also reiterate the fact that these are not detention camps that these are vocational institutions they are designed in the end to combat extremism and terrorism which the government here in beijing says they have been successful in doing so we have to remember that it was not that long ago that the chinese denied that these camps even existed so since then since information has emerged evidence of these facilities engine jang has been revealed of being forced to acknowledge their existence and then explain to the international community exactly what they are but they certainly do not agree with the assertion that their detention camps or that there are human rights abuses taking place there and since

they say that the camps are vocational and educational any chance wayne that they will allen specters access to the camps that the letter is calling for. yes well i think the important word in that letter when they called for inspectors to be allowed access to the camps to the area is meaningful they want meaningful access and they were referring to free access really because that is not what we've seen in the past yes the chinese may eventually agree to allow some sort of access to the facilities but extremely doubtful whether it will be meaningful because as a say in the past they have organized media trips to the facilities diplomatic trips as well by diplomats who are based here in beijing but it's been a very controlled affair so there would be real debate about whether those visits have been meaningful or whether any in the future will be meaningful strictly controlled by the government they show the journalists the diplomats only what the

government here in beijing wants the outside world to see and even for us right now we could fly to that area right now but as soon as we got off the plane we would be greeted by police and our movements would be severely restricted and we wouldn't be able to get anywhere near those facilities themselves so they may well grant that permission certainly won't do it any time soon i think this is being seen from those countries that signed the letter as perhaps the 1st step in applying pressure on the government here in beijing when thank you very much for that for now that's why i'm here with the natives live in beijing thank you. at least 10 people have died in a train a collision. a passenger train rammed into a stationary freight train in the southern punjab dozens of injured people are being treated in nearby hospitals emergency crews say the number of casualties could rise as a rescue operation continues. but still ahead on the bulletin why academics in

israel are being targeted this so-called what charmed by right wing nationalists. had of the last of the big thunderstorms rattled through italy and the balkan states in the last 24 hours or so impromptu by very high daytime typically in greece and the variability of moisture and the adriatic now this is all moving eastwards through the balkan states and towards turkey that's the picture then 430 there in athens down to 26 as roughly speaking a 10 degree drop the winter going down from the north in the next massive rather cooler is also can be done from the north so that cloud will gather and push south through france towards the alps during friday to the west it's pretty hard to madrid's up to 40 underneath the cloud we're talking about twenty's once more and

rain coming down from the north and it's all direction for july sun's come out again the balkan states where 28 in athens and then we've got some significant potential for thunderstorms through turkey the black sea and the ukraine moscow's of 40 disappointingly now it has been very hot around the shore to cleave to near 0 recently they've been on shore breeze way back under 33 not the 40 mark how they're going to stay around that sort of very next day or so little bit cooler further research but sunshine really from egypt back to morocco still hovering around 24.

good to have you with us on al jazeera and these are our top stories the u.k. government says a british warship has intervened off the iranian boats tried to block and oil tanker in the strait of hormuz on wednesday iran has denied any confrontation with . the falklands the seizure of and iranian oil tanker by british marines and. last week. ambassadors from 22 countries have condemned china's treatment of ethnic and

religious minorities in an unprecedented they sent a letter to the un human rights council calling for the detention of weak and muslims to stall and at least 10 people are dead and dozens more injured after a train collision and northeast pakistan a passenger train ran into a stationary freight train in the southern punjab region. now u.s. congressional committee is looking into worsening conditions of detention centers at the southern border with mexico and in an emotionally charged hearing a guatemalan mother told politicians how her and finch daughter died while in the custody of america's border patrol john hendren reports from washington d.c. . the tearful mothers visible pain captured members of congress make it better it's like we were out a piece of my heart but they pour out my soul. yasmin juarez says her 19 month old daughter caught of viral lung infection at a u.s.

immigration detention site after neglect and mistreatment during their 20 day maximum stay at the holding center she says she and little mary a were released days later died look at. i wanted to have a better life for her and a better future and work hard at like so that she could keep growing the way that she was warren's has filed a wrongful death suit against the u.s. government i'm so very sorry that we have failed you her case is not unique several immigrant children have died in u.s. custody is 2 year old 105 fever listless like a rag doll i looked at her and immediately called our ambulance from our children's hospital to pick her up and she ended up having bilateral pneumonia the democrats who run the house oversight and titled the hearing in cages inhumane treatment at the border that's an indictment of the trumpet ministrations family separation

policy everyone seems to agree there's a crisis at the border with republicans saying it's the pressure of immigrants coming to the u.s. and democrats saying it's the detention policy itself. the name also expresses the outrage over what democrats describe as jails for children we are creating the generation. they'll never forget what we did say that this type of trauma can go away some republicans push back i am frustrated with the title of the hearing it is a hearing in titled kids in cages. what we say and the hyperbole we use matters i've been to the border many times in this day i've never seen a kid in a cage just a former immigration and customs enforcement chief says it is unfair to blame immigration agencies coping with the surge of central american immigrants fleeing violence and poverty if you don't reduce the flow you're going to continue to get the same thing that we've seen for the last 78 months it's bad it's getting worse

arrests at the border fell 28 percent in june but with the trumpet ministrations saying it plans raids on undocumented families living in the u.s. fairly soon the crisis at the border and in detention centers continues john hendren al jazeera washington. the u.s. state of louisiana is bracing for more severe weather after a huge storm that the area on wednesday widespread flooding is making it difficult to get around the city of new orleans roadways and office buildings are filled with water forecasters say a tropical cyclone forming in the gulf of mexico could become a hurricane that has the coast by the weekend and a violent storm in northern greece has killed at least 6 tourists and injured dozens more the storm struck the popular tourist region of holiday came near the city of salonica the strong ones interventional rain overturned cars and toppled trees had a civil protection says a state of emergency has been declared. meanwhile beachgoers were forced to flee in

eastern italy after they were battered by hail stones the size of oranges 18 people were injured the city of pescado was flooded in the storm. now human rights watch has warned of the deteriorating media freedom in russia the group says arresting journalists on fabricated charges has become a common strategy to silence its critics a journalist abdomen guy the years among the latest to be detained stepfather reports from the southern region of dagestan. colleagues of the movement of protest in front of the supreme court in darkest moments to hold mass rallies against his arrest have been denied cheer was arrested on june 14th and charged with financing terrorism shortly after investigative journalist even going to know was detained in moscow on drug charges. was quickly released several high ranking police officers

were dismissed for involvement in planting drugs on the journalist in response to the g.o.p. has been different. because we call on our colleagues from all over russia and around the world to support him. there is no difference between the 2 cases fabrication and false accuser. can take place regardless of the charges. this has become a familiar image a silent protest against a new arrest of a journalist in moscow a public outcry led to the release of investigative journalist even just a few weeks ago but this time around these protesters here in dagestan after so far not been able to free the moment. as a senior journalist at one of the last independent media outlets in darkest on jan afic weekly according to his chief editor the arrest is part of efforts by authorities to close down the newspaper he says got enough release doesn't mean freedom of the press has improved.

lives in moscow and the government there does not like when something dodgy starts there if it happens in dagestan it's far away but it happens close the kremlin is like a red flag they try to remove it instantly 10 years ago in another part of the caucasus chechen journalist. was murdered kilis have yet to be brought to justice human rights watch sas since then journalist and press freedom are an even greater danger . he can clearly see that. the number of independent media at. the level of self-censorship in the press was. the level. among others as it was also known. as it is today despite their fear journalist agenda if we continue to provide news

to their audience in darkness and beyond with facing 20 years in prison they have little hope you can join them again soon stop fasten al-jazeera. russia. the u.s. says it's concerned that a planned tax on tech giants and farms will unfairly target american companies any digital company with a revenue of more than $844000000.00 of which at least 20 $8000000.00 is made in france would be subject to the tax the french government argues that companies shouldn't be exempt from paying their headquarters the based elsewhere a french parliament is expected to approve the new tax on thursday now the battle of the what the boycott divestment and sanctions movement against israel is intensifying there israeli government has reportedly enlisted its intelligence agency to counteract the palestinian led campaign against israeli oppression now some academics who backed the movement said they're being targeted in the so-called

what charmed by right wing nationalists how a force that reports from occupied east jerusalem. in january this video of a university professor arguing with a student over her decision to her army uniform to class turned into a major controversy for the hebrew university in jerusalem. most of the professor carol can be heard telling the students she's naive if she thinks she can wear the uniform and expect to be treated as a civilian university apologized taking out advertisement encouraging students on mandatory national service to attend in uniform professor who preach maintained at the student to deliberately initiated the confrontation she later decided to stop teaching following hate mail and reported death threats the video was released by a right wing prosiness organization called interred sue it is long campaigned against what it calls attempts to undermine the state of israel from within in recent weeks it's launched

a website publicly naming dozens of leftwing academics who made accuses of doing exactly that the website new york professor lists 85 academics of public institutions nationwide who have among other things advocated boycotting israel. or refusing to serve in the army the site encourages him to souse thousands of student members and others to suggest further names to be added to the list israel's council of university presidents has called the project a witch hunt carried out by political extremists loss of the professor and a matar is one of those named she says as a known far left activist with a permanent job or tell of university she doesn't feel under pressure but there's a broader threat trees young faculty. all of these i know it affects the way they think their way they react they were there right even the their choice of topics for writing to the surprise of many of these same tactics are being applied within israel itself into 2 denies it's created

a blacklist or that it seeking the sacking of individual professors it says it student members have been threatened with unfair treatment by leftist academics what's not completely acceptable or desirable is to say i believe my country should be boycotted on the world stage i believe my country should be viewed as an apartheid state as a pariah state that's not to my way of thinking acceptable especially when the state is paying your paycheck into it sue says it's in gauging the continual fight to preserve the zionist state its critics say that by naming and shaming individual professors is threatening something vital to the health of that state freedom of expression for israeli academics sorry for sit out his era occupied east jerusalem .

and i again i don't have a problem and or how with the headlines on al-jazeera the u.k. government says a british warship has intervened after iranian boats tried to block a british oil tanker in the strait of hormuz on wednesday iran has denied any confrontation it follows the seizure of an iranian oil tanker by british marines aboard brought her last week and bassett is from 22 countries have condemned to china's treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in an unprecedented move they sent a letter to the un human rights council the calling for the detention of weak and muslims to stop when haye has more from beijing. the important word in that letter when they called for inspectors to be allowed access to the camps to the area is meaningful they want meaningful access and they were referring to free access really because that is not what we've seen in the past yes the chinese may eventually agree to allow some sort of access to the facilities but extremely doubtful whether it will be meaningful because as

a say in the past they have organized media trips to the facilities diplomatic trips as well by diplomats who are based here in beijing but it's been a very controlled affair. at least 10 people have died in a train collision and northeast pakistan a passenger train ran into a stationary freight train in the hague. and the southern punjab region dozens of injured people are being treated in nearby hospitals the u.s. state of louisiana is bracing for more severe weather after a huge storm hit the area on wednesday widespread flooding is making it difficult to get around the city of new orleans a violent storm in the northern greek region of hard dicky has killed at least 6 tourists and injured dozens more a state of emergency has been declared a u.s. congressional committee is looking into worsening conditions and detention centers at the southern border with mexico in an emotionally charged hearing a guatemalan mother told politicians how her infant daughter died while in the

custody of america's border patrol. well those are the headlines on al-jazeera i'll have another 4 news bulletin in just under 30 minutes and side stories that. after 25 years of informing the world's waste china through the global the cycling industry into chaos. the growing pressure of agreement resulting in change we bring you the stories to the shaping the economic world we live in. counting the cost on al-jazeera. can georgia and russia result their differences the kremlin response to insults and protests with flight bans and threats against georgia relations haven't been this bad since their war 11 years ago what's behind their latest dispute this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program i'm the stasi attain georgia and russia have had a tense relationship for decades stretching back to the days of the soviet union they fought a war 11 years ago over 2 disputed georgian regions relations are bad again now an invitation for a russian politician to speak in georgia's parliament provoked riots in the capital tbilisi and regular protests have demanded the withdrawal of russian troops from the breakaway regions of up and south ossetia president vladimir putin responded by banning russia's airlines from flying to georgia a popular holiday destination for russian tourists and russian m.p.'s demanded trade sanctions after a georgian t.v. host launched a foul mouth tirade aimed at princeton. sunsilk machinery as for sanctions i would rather not do it as respect for the georgian people for the sake of restoring full toss for in russia in georgia or anything the great complicated i

would actions andrew symonds has more outside parliament in tbilisi. it all started here june the 20th appearance by a russian member of parliament addressing the georgian pala months that caused uproar now the road to months with the resignation of. the interior minister the demonstrators have been here every evening since many were injured in what they say was heavy policing ordered by what they say is a pro russian interior minister and they said the government has to be less pro russian because georgians don't have what they deserve from the present policy at the there but look in the books of a saw a demand for proportional representation in parliament which is being granted at the bottom a tick on the release of prisoners that's said to be political prisoners taken during the demonstrations the red well that's the question mark over the interior minister these demonstrators say they're serious giving in despite.

softening the power softening in his insistence that the house of parliament in russia should not go ahead with sanctions against georgia they're already planning flights here and that's affecting the tourist industry there's a lot of concern although many people believe that this is being over heights in some areas although that really is an underlying concern about russian actions against georgia. now diplomatic ties have been broken since the 5 day war in georgia 11 years ago georgian troops launched a military operation against separatist forces and the breakaway regions of south acetyl and russian troops invaded to support the separatists hundreds on or science were killed when the war ended a russian built permanent military bases and what they call independent states georgia and its allies condemn what they call illegal military occupation over the

years trade and tourism gradually improved but russia opposes georgia's aspiration . ns to join nato and the european union. well now let's bring in our panel in paris we have 20 k. good he's a former deputy foreign minister of georgia who is in charge of relations with the european union and nato in london we have done attila sugru most or she is electra at the department of war studies at king's college in london and in moscow we have russian defense and military analyst pavel felgenhauer welcome to you all. tony k. i'd like to start with you because you're a supporter of these protests and they and we are expecting more today and i believe the georgian prosecutor general's office actually charged an m.p. who is a leader of the opposition party with inciting violence amid the unrest so how involved is the opposition party at the moment and with the demonstrations that

we've been seeing and what are the demands of the demonstrators. so there was 3 tourists are mainly. unhappy with the with the report of the georgian government visibly russia because in recent years we saw the. clearly the increase of russian influence in this country both in the society via the the attempts of the of hybrid warfare from the russian side and also on down the georgian government sold russia is spending a lot of money in promoting some pro russian an anti western groups in georgian politics in georgian society these groups are highly aggressive. anti worse than anti muslim by the way and time minority generally speaking. at the georgian government has been very passive in opposing russia's policies in this country so today and since the june twenty's all these people who are gathered and

they did not reproduce you're not representing any political party in georgia this is the georgian society all together who is mobilized and who is rallying against these. let's say a piecing or not not very active policies of the georgian government to defend the interests of the country and it started as you mentioned in the beginning with the visit of of the russian delegation and they were invited by these governments and these delegations as part of the russian soft power because they represent an interpol. a mensa reassembly of orthodox nations and we know how the how russia is many to lead in north of the it's a religion especially in the countries like georgia so the fact that georgian government tries to show that this is an attempt of one political party former party that we're in it was in the governments in georgia this is simply not true so

most of these people are against also this many people is shown and accusing only. represents as it were one of the leaders of this party as being the the order of coup to attempt is simply ridiculous well done to you say that the government has behaved in a passive way i want to read you a statement now from the georgian president that she posted on facebook after that initial unrest that we saw on june 20th she she said russia is out enemy and occupier the 5th column that manages may be more dangerous than open aggression only russia benefits from a split in the country and society an internal confrontation and it's the most powerful weapon today now pavel in moscow we're hearing the president accuse moscow of being involved in triggering some of this unrest in order to sow division in georgia is there any truth in that. well the you should understand of course that the georgian president is the more worse a figurehead than she doesn't have any real power but of course you want to have

more power and more influence and that saw as a kind of more p.r. statement that russia has of course in this been seeking of pockets of support and once a pro russian government and believe that that's absolutely true. right now i'm apparently moscow is very much. in their anguish that there is something bad really happening in georgia this began some time ago but now they see the kind of a possible outline of a colored revolution or my done i can i can ukraine in 14 of kind of pro russian government or at least partially pro russian being violent we replaced by a pro western one and that's of course very bad and russia is trying to put

pressure on the on the b.b.c. to afford to kind of prevent this happening while seeing as that's what you're thinking from moscow and i see it on the tele and is not being there in london i mean let me ask you because last year russian prime minister dmitri medvedev and he he had ambitions for a full scale dialogue between moscow and tbilisi and now we're seeing the threat of russian sanctions and insults being held both sides what's changed how much of this is about russia georgia tensions and how much of this is about domestic georgian politics. i think it's very hard to sort of separate or decide brigade the 2 because they too are very much interconnected and of course as was mentioned by the other speakers russia has a strong influence on affairs in georgia and as we know there is a very powerful. orly garcon figure in bunny sheerly who is really behind decision making and he has tried in the last years since he's people have been in

power to sort of soft their rhetoric against russia and tried to sort of mend fences but at the same time there is a there is a trend in georgia towards closer rapprochement with a west with a european union and nato so to a certain extent of course there are issues of concern of a domestic nature related to the economic situation the corruption there heavy handedness of the police and above all the perception that he vanished really sort of overpowerful and his interior minister is sort of his representative in government so there is a great dissatisfaction which is domestic but is in a way related to russia and also to the fact that russia still has a very strong presence of an almost occupation if we want to call it of these 2 regions of south ossetia and abkhazia and there is a process really of an existing these regions to russia there were agreements

signed in 20142015 which to all intents and purposes really brought these regions almost into russia especially if we think about selfless asia and this occurred after georgia has signed an association agreement with the european union and there is a lot of concern of course about nato membership because this is constantly being rated rated in nato and it is a desire expressed by georgians and it is in the constitution so of course these store elements are together their domestic and the external. the presence of russia is important in that way and i think there are the russian warry above all if i if i have a moment if i may say is also that these demonstrations have a very strong sort of i'm tired putin undertone and i think that from the perception of the kremlin it is not good to have a revolution sort of a change of government succeed which has as one of its main sort of inspirations

and slogans you know to insult the president of russia and i think that that is probably something which creates a lot of concern in moscow so mentally you're talking about all of this and sentiment and we certainly heard some of that on sunday and tonic i want to ask you about that that georgian t.v. host who launched this tirade speaking in russian seemingly addressing russian president putin himself calling him a filthy invader insulting his mother and he said at one point putin flavor should get out of georgia how have georgians reacted and dimia of them share that view. they are said there were a series of reactions 1st and foremost of people were to be honest quite shocked because even if 99 percent of drew just population dislike strongly put him because he's the responsible for the occupation of georgia for the invasion of this country etc etc for the for the embargo setter for many bad things for this country but they were still quite surprised and many of them found that. the t.v.

presenters the raid as you said was a bit. interstate softly tasteless but then the reaction of the georgian government was even worse because immediately and it was a sunday evening they made statements. condemning not only the journalist that we can understand and that. calling the international community to condemn the journalist of the private television because of his. outrageous remarks about the president of the occupying country so the paedos people who 1st were surprised and disappointed or angry about the journalist became even more angry against the government because this is not the reaction of a government of a sovereign country and they manage the government i mean the government menage do . to attract the all these criticism towards the government and the next

day putin made extremely strange remarks about the georgian history and style starting to lecture the whole georgian not only georgian but the international community about the history of georgia starting from the 18th century they are totally fake a version of the georgian history so all these. this incident is is just revealing what is very old russia trying to undermine the independence and the territorial integrity of georgia since georgia's independence at least i'm not going farther in the history but since 9091 georgia had. 2 separatist wars numerous attempts or for a sissy nation of the presidents etc and all behind all this. all these things where was russia and russian secret services. russia's reaction after the members of georgia to the store georgia's independence and to to prevent this country from

getting closer or with with europe and with the worse and that was the choice of the georgian population again there what's happened last week is your only one more months one. of these many years of position between russia and georgia don't want to hear you say that putin then gave his own version of history but one of the things that he did do was push back on the duma when they wanted to impose sanctions against georgia so problem can you explain that to me what's the rationale for for going against parliament and saying no no let's not impose sanctions on mineral water and wine and remittances and let's rather continue pursuing and better relations with georgia after you've been insulted in that way. well putin said this journalist doesn't matter that he is just kind of a journalist and we had him say work here wishes and in general is trying to put a good policeman of course i mean parliament does not decide in moscow anything

about sanctions even weekly they can't it's only the president can impose sanctions are not so parliament had a vote to ask the government to propose to putin to impose sanctions and put in said no i won't do all that he is that even we go he in his power and de facto the russian duma is just a rubber stamp that. puts forward. that the kremlin tells it to. this yes it's sending a very putin was sending a very powerful message to believe that the you should put the president busy georgian government should put their house in order that they should clamp down on the. demonstrators and on the opposition impose order and then the there will be no sanctions then the ban on travel on these direct their travel between russia

and georgia will be lifted and there are things going to be ok it's clear that moscow is very been upset for some years increasingly with the georgian policy of the georgian government of the georgian party of the georgian dream the kind of balance between the west and moscow to increase economic relations with gerard you know with russia at the same time with the european union and having a military exercises with american troops this year landing in church and having exercises with heavy equipment and moscow doesn't didn't like it i mean this what's happening right now. preferred story of russia wants to see georgia solidly inside the russians are losing georgia allowing it to become a say ukraine

a senior. war for forced for the worst is absolutely unacceptable for for moscow well i want to ask you a little more about this flight banned on the tele in london because it's not a small thing it sounds like a small thing cutting off flights but that's $1400000.00 russian tourists who traveled to georgia just last year and that's something like 10 percent of georgia's annual tourism revenue and they could lose $300000000.00 how much of an impact would that have on georgia and subsequently we've also seen this this campaign to try to get more people to come to georgia as tourists and that's been supported by a lot of western diplomats so following along with this theme of russia russia sorry georgia trying to cozy up with the west could that galvanize more support this flight ban could potentially actually bring the western georgia closer together. well i mean there is no doubt as you mentioned on the figures that you

gave you know accurately portray you know the relevance georgia that russian tourism has for georgia and also the say you know the trade of agricultural products wine and mineral water if there would be a band would be very serious so it has an impact on on the economy and george is trying to find ways around by trying to 0 to help her joya russians arrive in georgia because tourism is a very important source of income for many so it is going to hit the economy as they did when there were many other sort of trade embargoes in the past starting in 2006 so georgia has already faced these sort of pressures. i mean both sides both governments have to sort of walk this very tight rope of trying to keep good relations going but at the same time addressing this reality for the georgians to address their demands and their requests of the people in the

street which would seem not to want to go away and russia at the same time trying to do something not losing face but at the same time not going too far to the point of really weakening the georgian dream coalition and then paving the way for a government that is a lot more sort of anti russian and a lot more pro western i think georgia is already on a path of closer rapprochement with the west anyway and that i think is not going to change and to a certain extent moscow is trying to limit the damage because their presence it has in these 2 republics and its policies in georgia have really pushed the georgians a lot more into the western hands and that was a policy they really wanted to pursue already since i made early 990 s. so i think that. is going to be a big a big challenging for the 2 leaders in the other 2 regimes in the 2 countries to

address this crisis. mean to talk about being further into the hands of the west i think is not really they add a good way of describing this because most christians or most governments in georgia have generally supported close a rapprochement with the west but they have have done that in different approaches and this government has tried in a certain way to to not to antagonize moscow so that they could at least develop better economic ties and visa regimes but the past towards close the rapprochement with the west is there and this is shown not only in the economic side but also in the military field as was mentioned their military exercises their close cooperation very recently the secretary general of nato again reaffirmed that georgia will become a member of nato but of course this is also remains sort of in a limbo so russia war is that this process of membership on close

a 1000000 for approach more could happen and i think that is the real worry of the kremlin as was mentioned by by probably in moscow i want to bring to an occasion here because you were very involved with georgia's relationship with both the e.u. and with nato and some people do argue that conflict with russia gives georgia more opportunity for continued western patronage and it gives them more defense aid makes them more important for a relatively small country and it potentially strengthens their bid to join nato so it's in their interest conflict with russia is in georgia's interest. just come back we'll be to what was said i mainly agree with the both of speakers about the economic relations with russia and political relations with russia and the fact that severe putin said so so far he's not going to impose sanctions is that russia doesn't want to punish

a government which is the last. governor less critical government towards russia almost since the independence of georgia in the ninety's so if they . impose again sanctions or eat they adopt some aggressive measures it will punish of course these governments and that they that they don't want it now coming back to the to the to europe and to the west. in several years ago i was the person who negotiated the association association agreement and free trade agreement with the european union so after that into 2014 the agreements in answering to force each should have really helped georgia to increase share in georgia's foreign trait what's happened in parallel was that russia in order to thank or to encourage the government the of georgian dream they also. lifted sanctions against georgia so we

saw the russia's share in georgia's foreign trade really growing faster then. european union share in georgia's foreign trade this is something that is politically very dangerous because okayed give some some you know some some some dynamics to the local economy but at the same time we know that the trade with russia is very much dependent on political circumstances and we have seen that in the past in the ninety's in the year 2000 when it entered you burb look it was imposed on georgia or book a don't agree cultural foodstuff. that was sent to russia was blocked all of for political reasons so georgian government should have been more. more prudent or precautious when they started these relations with the group of the chemical relations with russia and did not put all the energy to develop more economic ties with the with the european union of course it's bad to to have nor normal trade

with russia or the russian tourists nor one wants that in georgia the georgians are those who wants to disassociate and georgians were the 1st after the war in 2008 to lift the visas for a russian citizens to come to and to visit georgia despite the war that despite the absence of diplomatic relations it was already 2011 that the russian citizens could come to georgia of without visas and that there was no reciprocation by the way because georgian citizen still need a very long and complicated procedures to get to visit russia so this attempts were positive and were made by the way by the former government at the beginning but georgia should be very very cautious about not making the country dependent on russia economically because we know that all these at the end is very political to say and. and pavel felgenhauer thank you very much for joining us today and thank

you to you for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website out of there at dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com for the slash a.j. and side story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. and the story for meanest our detail and the whole team here by that my. to his supporters hungary's prime minister is a guardian of europe's borders manning the ramparts against migrant told. to others viktor orban is an authoritarian demagogue whose far right agenda poses a significant threat to democratic values people in power investigates the leader taking his country to extremes hungary europe's bad boy on

a 0. every armed attack in europe creates fear and division amongst its citizens. stories of loss no one told. a sweeping association of islam with the violence easier in muslims facing the stock reality of being ostracized by the very communities in which they live love and moon the tragic loss of life. twice a victim on al-jazeera. and now the disputes and the strait of hormuz britain's government has ever tried to block a bush oil tanker. and

welcome to al-jazeera live from my headquarters in doha with me and of the parana also ahead 22 countries are calling for an end to what they say is the detention of a 1000000 weak of muslims and china. a mother's an emotional testimony in washington over the death of her 19 month old daughter and a u.s. detention center and it's $55.00 be till the end of the line for a popular vox wagon modeled after more than 80 years. the u.k. government says iranian boats have tried to obstruct a british oil tanker in the strait of hormuz one of the world's most important oil shipping channels and says the 3 iranian vessels turned away after a royal navy warship entertained and gave a verbal warning iran has the and threatened to retaliate since british marines seized an iranian or

a tank and waters near gibraltar last week everyone has denied any confrontation with the british vessel lansley has the latest from london according to a statement from from the british foreign office they they say 3 iranian ships tried to as they put it impede the passage of a british oil tanker at the top end of the strait of hormuz. and they say it forced the u.k. frigates to in severe pain and the statement goes on contrary to international law i mean maritime law 3 iranian vessels attempt to impede the passage of a commercial vessel called british heritage through the strait of hormuz h.m.s. montrose which is the frigates that was there was forced to position itself between the iranian vessels in the british heritage so to or sort of insert itself in the gap to 2 projects they that they all tanker issued verbal warnings they were only vessels which would which then turned away what they didn't say but i've seen that in other of the reporting is that h.m.s.

montrose lowered its guns and pointed them at the iranian vessels which point they they turned tail and scarpered. so that's that's what they say that the iranian side say it never happened but certainly will see because the americans said this video of it. let's go now to our cars on the same bus ravi who is joining us live from the iranian capital of the revolutionary god did not saying a confrontation zain talk us through what you're hearing from there. yes liz that's exactly right as we heard from lawrence the iranian government has denied flatly denied that this incident took place at least not in the shape perhaps that the british have suggested the public affairs office of the islamic revolutionary guard corps naval forces have said that there were no encounters with foreign vessels in the past 24 hours so a clear flat denial it's not even that there is a different narrative here it is that no encounter took place with foreign vessels

but they did say if they were instructed to seize or confront any vessel they will carry out those orders so the message there is clear nothing's happened but it could happen soon if necessary at least that's the that's the message we're getting from the i.r.g.c. there at the borders of iranian territorial waters iran's foreign minister javad zarif was also reported in local media saying that iran denies this allegation and he said this british claim reinforced by the united states is simply the u.s. and the u.k. trying to inflame tensions in the region even further excuse me now we have to remind viewers that it was the iranian government to us or if as well who said that attacks on oil tankers in the regions waters here in this part of the middle east in may in june that washington and others blamed on tap run and that to her on also denied it was the iranian government officials who called it a u.s. run false flag attack so a very much

a blame game that is ongoing now in this incident as well a dangerous blame game when we're talking about the seizing of oil tankers in these important shipping channels saying how do you rate the component difference and narrative that we're getting from every and the u.k. . well it is really you know it's difficult to deny the optics now you know could this be iran carrying out a probing attack or could this be a rogue group of military on the ground that might come to the mind of some people watching what's playing out here and the fact is while that is likely or a while that is possible it is unlikely the command and control structures within not just the civilian government but especially in the military government and especially in the i.r.g.c. are very linear and it is unlikely that anything like this would have happened without clear directives through commanding officers through through linear

lines of ranks so it's difficult to see how that might be the case and that really means that if these are competing narratives without any clear answers it really does back both sides into a corner as you know this comes a day after the french sent an ascension on to teheran to try to come up with some sort of negotiated settlement to ongoing tensions and the fact is looking at everything that's playing out it's difficult to see how that might be possible any time soon and the optics really aren't working in iran's favor here iran's government has said that the seizure is illegal of course the seizure of iranian oil vessel by the u.k. royal marines in gibraltar just around a week ago and they've said that they will retaliate lower level government officials have encouraged senior government to try and seize a u.k. vessel in retaliation this really seems like it might be a tit for tat move but of course iran's denial of the fact that he tried to do this

really throws everything into question absolutely zain thank you very much for that for now that same following all those developments for us live and. mohamed on days a professor at the faculty of one studies at the university of that on and he says this is part of a broader project to put pressure on iran. the iranians if the british fail to release the iranian tanker because they it's an act of piracy it is illegal even if the even if it was oil that was going to that particular refinery which is for the concert which would be consumption for ordinary syrians even if that was the case it was they have no right to detain the tankers owned by other countries but it wasn't for that refinery it wasn't even for syria and they had no right to detain the tanker it's just a part of a broader project to put pressure on iran and in the case of the persian gulf the

iranians if they feel ultimately that the british are going to behave. as pirates and not release the tanker then ultimately they will retaliate there's absolutely no doubt about that but anyone who looks at the map knows that iran has the competence and the firepower to deal with the british and i think that the downing of the $200000000.00 u.s. drone by the iranians shows that iran both has the sophistication and the will and the competence to do what is necessary in the persian gulf now donald trump trump has warned that he'll soon encrease sanctions on iran substantially he's also accused of secretly enriching uranium for years iran has it defend itself against those accusations at an emergency meeting of the international atomic energy agency in vienna john holl has more. i think the most important thing to come out of this meeting at the i.a.e.a. in vienna is that iran is not at this moment anyway planning to take any further

steps away from the new clear deal although each envoy for our body did affirm that after another 60 days now if indeed the parties have still not come back into full compliance with their commitments to iran under the deal particularly the europeans of course and their commitment to protect iran's economy under the deal then it will be prepared to launch a 3rd phase of actions in response but pointing out that no firm response has yet been decided upon by iran misra by the told the ambassadors in the room that once again. the enrichment that iran is undertaking is its right under the nonproliferation treaty is required for purely peaceful purposes and that iran has never tried to create or acquire weapons of mass destruction he made the point that simply repeating the baseless accusations against iran pointed of course at the united states does not magically authenticate them he said and he painted the us as

the ultimate aggressor both in the region and in the current state of the nuclear deal you know that the issue of and which meant is not permitted under the number version 2000 this is the right of every member to the nonproliferation treaty and this is iran's right also and lots we are doing is in a very transparent manner is under the surveillance of the i.a.e.a. inspectors and there really is singular activities and they're monitoring we have nothing to hide it is questionable therefore what the united states will feel that it's achieved out of this meeting a meeting that he had called of course of all the board of governors of the i.a.e.a. looking presumably for some sort of international unity of purpose towards iran and finding instead in the room only division and no formal conclusion reached by this meeting the board simply saying that all the parties must come back into compliance

the division very clear among the signatories themselves to the deal. let's move on to other news now ambassadors from 22 countries have condemned china's treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in an unprecedented move they issued a letter calling for the detention of muslims to stop cutting a lot as hard a on reports. this 1st start building is called a vocational center in china critics say it's more like a prison one of many detention camps run by the government. the target they say are ethnic and religious minorities mostly wigger muslims in the northwest region of chink young activists say at least 1000000 people are detained in similar camps where extreme surveillance force assimilation and abuse are common the camps have long sparked international criticism in an unprecedented move 22 nations signed

a letter to the un human rights council condemning disturbing reports australia canada and japan are among the signatories on long with britain france and germany they call on china to stop the mass detentions respect religious freedom and grant independent experts meaningful access to the region. countries that did not sign the document raised just as much interest out of the 22 nations assigned as none of them were muslim majority nations which is really quite telling because china is using their pocketbook to gain influence in many of these nations as well. china defends the practice the government says it's not about eliminating people's identity but about teaching employment skills and pushing out what it calls extremism year far surely by seizing up locational education and training centers in accordance with the law we aim to education save those who were influenced by religious extremism and committed to my.