picture too much to bear for many americans in a country that was built on immigration. follow the key issues of the us elections on al-jazeera. 'd al-jazeera. hello i'm barbara sarah this is the al-jazeera news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up in the next 60 minutes. armenia and azerbaijan intensify their battle over the disputed nagorno-karabakh region and look to russia and turkey for support. it's hard to get any word with this club when the list would be for the group that

manages u.s. presidential debates promises changes for the next 2 after the 1st thing counter between donald trump and joe biden is marred by insults and interruptions i. stand back and stand by but meanwhile president trump denies knowing one of the white supremacist groups that he refused to condemn during the debate. and protests erupt in several parts of india after the authorities cremate the body of a teenage gang rape victim without her family's consent. international pressure is growing on armenia and azerbaijan to end their fierce battles over the spirited region of nagorno-karabakh both sides of reporting more military and civilian casualty. after

a 4th day of fighting but the leaders of both countries are digging in rejecting demands for a cease fire and seeking help from russia and turkey the chordal carabao his internationally recognized as part of azerbaijan but it's been controlled by ethnic armenians since the end of a war between the 2 countries in 1994 charlotte bellis has more. as the international community pleaded with armenia and azerbaijan to stop fighting they did the opposite now in its 4th day violence is increasing in the disputed region of nepal no karabakh. and it threatens to spread outside the immediate conflict zone and azerbaijan is more than a dozen kilometers from the front line at the sound of shelling reverberates through the town. men have crowded outside conscription offices in the capital back ready to be seen to battle little joy that is there is

no there is no fear a country needs us will go as far as necessary for a country. karabakh is internationally recognized as part of azerbaijan but is controlled by armenian forces when the dispute began in the early 1990 s. many of these men were not born. we were waiting for this day i will liberate karabakh i hope all our soldiers returned safely in armenia there were long lines to the prime minister nico passion in maine into military service the un security council repeated cools from russia france and the us to stop the sign up and step back for talks. yes the latest showed little interest in negotiation. it's very hard to talk about negotiations especially about the continents when specific military operations are underway it's not clear how this fighting began on sunday but i mania and azerbaijan blame each other. as

a buy john says it is retaking towns and territory it lost in the 1990 s. amenia says it is repellent as area advances both countries say they are now at war a menial also alleges turkey is supporting azerbaijan in the battle to claiming a turkish if 16 fighter jet shot down in a mini and was. plane inside armenian is space on tuesday. turkey is backing azerbaijan but both countries say it is moral support with no military assistance. at 16 planes of the turkish air force do not participate in combat by any means today new technologies make it difficult to hide something due to objective means of surveillance that's why it's very easy to see this as just another provocation. provocations that have drawn armenia and azerbaijan into a violent confrontation with rising stakes ballasts which is era where the

fighting continues and on the frontline in the areas around that civilians are being caught in the crossfire every day has seen him close a gloomy average ports from tar tar a city in central azerbaijan. around 8 am local a rocket from armenian side hits right the city's center of tar tar tar tar is one of the largest regions as the answers cool rain surrounding the gorn a quarter of all funding north is and the rockets fell very close to public infrastructure building which is 20 or 30 meters away right behind a quarter corner there were civilians here local sellers that 7 civilians were injured and one of them already died at the hospital and they say that they are thankful the rocket didn't fully explode you see a car here parked it has been also that marriage and neither do owner of the car is going to tell us what happened this morning not to be on the time of some of the old of the motion to talk about themselves love them should accept she lived in

this community. for close bush with the time of took the ship to do it on nanda day mother says to us that there were other civilians here and think god his car was older the party he says at least 15 people were able to hide behind the car that's how they risked their lives and he says i can sacrifice my car as long as the civilians are rescued and he says the answer is we'll win the battle and actually repel the occupiers and here in my hand there are the fragments of the rockets that hit the target our city center that has been already evacuated in the last couple of days and because that became a no man's own well armenia's prime minister has told al-jazeera he's hoping russia will take all measures to ensure his country's security that's after turkey's president said that he would stand with. in its battle over in the corner cupboard for his smith reports from yet about. nicole facing pressure from our allies

france russia and the us to negotiate with azerbaijan but armenia as prime minister says now is not the time. our task is to defend it because i was there by john launched an attack on in the direction of. and obviously the very 1st task of the armenians of logan about above is to defend against this aggression. we're going to emerge from the messy breakup of the soviet union and armenian self-governing on klav surrounded by azerbaijan as a by jan who wants control armenia says the people of color back should decide themselves what they want this latest escalation is the most serious since 1994 cease fire that ended a war which resulted in the deaths of up to 30000 military forces have you look back and said why have we got to where we are that today could i have done

something differently that would have stopped this outbreak of violence and this loss of life there. are for that there is only one option. yields to azerbaijan as blackmail and threats which already near and i'm going to. cannot be acceptable. now turkey has upped the stakes offering backing to azerbaijan a country that shares cultural and linguistic ties with russia hasn't publicly taken sides though it has a security agreement with armenia. russia has with our amenia commitments in the security fields to be precise corporation in the security field and that is one of the items in our agenda. the fighting is increased concerns about the stability here in the south caucasus this region is a card off of pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets u.n.

security council has called for an immediate end to the fighting calls that have so far fall on deaf ears but it's meant al-jazeera. lawrence brewer is is the caucasus program director of the london based peace building organisation conciliation resources he also wrote the book armenia and azerbaijan and asked me of a rivalry he joins us now via skype from london sir thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera as we were just hearing obviously the 2 countries have been fighting over nagorno-karabakh for decades but do you have any clear idea as to why things have escalated so quickly now. well as you pointed out the number of different escalations over the last 60 years early last year there was a rather half hearted peace initiative to prepare populations for peace but since then the rhetorical has hardened again and i think you know both countries have had

quite a difficult pandemic there is and there are hard times coming economically and there was a major escalation in july and the turkish opera supports i think it's also change the calculus for war and that's why we're seeing the escalation that we're seeing today so historically turkey has supported azerbaijan and russia perhaps more of a broker between the 2 but certainly supporting armenia as well how high do you think is the rest that this becomes much more than just a regional war but something bigger. well i don't think that we get with facing the prospect of an open conflict between russia and turkey i think that the risk is that armenian as a by germany become more like proxies they haven't been proxies to date this is been a locally driven conflict but his employer is you know bolstering as about john's confidence was a very significant is that in 2016 out of 4 days russia had convened

a meeting of the military leadership and was brokering a cease fire at the back hasn't happened and that shows that russia's leverage in a sense is in decline so i don't think was the open russian turkish conflict but we could see much law. and involvement of different levels from from turkey is so if you say that leverage is perhaps a declining as that emboldened as a by shine of what do we think that their ultimate goal will be i mean we know what the ultimate goal is but but where do you think they will take the current escalation to. well that's a very good question azerbaijani officials have framed this as a patriotic war they have rejected the resumption of negotiations and one has to understand that very deep frustration in azerbaijan with a peace process that hasn't delivered results but what i'm i'm struggling to see.

exit routes from this situation we're in uncharted territory now and i think leaders across the conflict are looking at their domestic constituencies and wondering how they're going to hold on to power without a positive narrative coming out of this conflict. and so what do you think the next steps might be between the 2 countries that. well i think it's a question of developing and concentrating leverage for a cease fire or negotiations there is a critical mass in the international community calling for a number of countries have offered their services as mediators. iran georgia and the u.n. security council meeting yesterday affirms the role of the middle screw led by france russia and the united states so i think it's about concentrating leverage but it is a very difficult situation it's wide open it's really difficult to see how back

when you're done come out of this absolutely decisive shift on the battlefield to change that lawrence brewer is a caucus as program director of the london based a peace deal building organization conciliation resources sir thank you for sharing your expertise with us thank you very much. still to come on this news hour from land then peruse health care workers rally for better pay and working conditions as they continue the country's battle against the coronavirus and discovered in 1000 cases rise rapidly in britain so there's anger directed at the prime minister. us president donald trump has backtracked on his message it to a far right group during his chaotic and bitter 1st presidential debate with joe biden in it he refused to condemn white supremacists a trump now says he wasn't aware of the group that the bait was marred by constant

interruptions and personal insults which drowned out the scotian of key issues the body which manages the event as promised the measures to make the next debates less fractious our white house correspondent kimberly hellcat has more. just today after a contentious presidential debate u.s. president donald trump attempted to distance himself from a group many consider to be a white supremacist organization i don't know who the proud boys are be you have to give me a definition because i really don't know who they are i can only say they have to stand let law enforcement do their work the prob ois gain notoriety during that debate would trump was asked to denounce white supremacy sure you were americans use it like you're what do you want to call him give me a name give me a why is a protest and why do i read it can die out grow as a lesson right proud of my words stand back and stand by many consider the proud boys a hate group its members marched at the unite the right rally in 2017 in charlottesville

virginia and more recently have marched against black lives matter protests a social media the group has taken the president's statement as marching orders standing by sir one member wrote what we saw was a dog whistle through a bullhorn. is not pretending to be anything other than what he is someone who will not condemn white supremacists someone who cannot say the phrase black lives matter and on wednesday at a campaign stop in ohio democratic presidential nominee joe biden sent this message maher message to the proud boys and every other word supremacist group is cease and desist that's not who we are the white house is defending trump it notes last week he declared the k.k.k. a terrorist organization and lynching a hate crime. a charge that biden has failed to denounce the actions of

empty fuck kolisch and of left wing activists but i'll tell you what i'll tell you what somebody has got to do something about anti for and the left because this is not a right as the republicans and teachers an idea not an organizer you got it not yet . for a nation of broiled or ongoing social unrest the exchange has only added to the enemies felt by many americans with the u.s. election now less than 5 weeks away both candidates hit the campaign trail to play of their strikes downplay the blunders of the 1st presidential debate kimberly how can al-jazeera the white house was going to mike hanna now who's live for us in washington d.c. so mike an apparent u. turn from the president on the proud boys. well very much sir because you can hear very clearly in that debate in the evening that the president himself on tears the name of this organization the moderator is just referring to white supremacists the president himself immediately brings up the

name of proud boids now he's saying that he knows nothing about them now this is something that we've seen consistently with president trump back in 2016 for example he said that he had no knowledge of a thinker called david duke a white right wing supremacist who had expressed support for president trump's campaign and he also in recent months has said he knows nothing about cuban on a right wing conspiracy theory group that president trump says oh i think that they really like me however he says i know nothing about that group yet he has retreated on several occasions tweets coming from groups associated with q. anon so this is something we have seen with president trump before is saying something that he clearly has information about and then 24 hours later or listen 24 hours later saying that he knows nothing about it at all throw in the dynamite into the river and now is attempting to pretend that it never happened at all but

certainly that's not the case as you heard from among others joe biden's response to the fact that president trump was unable to bring him self to condemn groups such as this. and mike beyond the controversy over the what the proud boys there are certainly a lot of criticism about the debate the 2 candidates were talking over each other and they didn't really get to many of the issues in the kind of detail that voters would want right now so do we have any further detail on plans to change the format of the next 2 debates before election day. well the it's the committee that actually organizes these presidential debates a bipartisan committee has already announced that it's looking at ways to change the structure of the debate now what this exactly means nobody is quite clear several news organizations have reported for example that the committee is considering switching off the microphone when the one candidate is not talking or

should not be talking certainly the whole public reaction has been that something has got to be done otherwise these debates are absolutely meaningless they are there to discuss real policy issues in an electoral year however that simply did not occur in the debate yesterday evening in fact some analysts have pointed out that in this 98 minute debate there were interruptions every single minute president trump was responsible for more than 70 of these interruptions joe biden though at least on $21.00 occasions interrupted president trump so certainly this is something that politicians across the board have been saying is not conducive to free the bait within an election year it's very important for american citizens say republicans as well as democrats for real policy issues to be debated and discussed in order that they can make a chase choice in the election come november however the president's staff is insistent that the president did

a good job they maintain that joe biden and the committee the part bipartisan committee is not attempting to change the rules because a president trump spokespeople claim that the president did so well and defeated joe biden who now wants to change the rules so this debate is ongoing but it must be stressed that the reaction to the debate largely has been across the board democrats and republicans describing the behavior of both candidates president trump in particular as deplorable and i can with the latest on that from washington d.c. mike for the moment thank you. well polling immediately after the debate seemed to back joe biden as the winner a c.n.n. poll found 60 percent of respondents thought by then performed better while 28 percent thought trump was better 5 percent thought neither man had won a c.b.s. poll also awarded the debate to biden but it was significantly tighter with 48 percent of respondents backing biden and 41 percent trump 10 percent thought it was

a tie the c.b.s. poll also showed that 83 percent of respondents found the tone of the debate negative only 17 percent found that positive and 69 percent were left feeling annoyed. well many voters say they're disappointed that the bait the send it into argument and lacked policy substance from both men i was hoping to see more from both candidates i was hoping to learn more about where both candidates stood and after last night's debate nothing i honestly didn't really learn anything that i didn't already know i think the debate along with all the events of the last few whose was a moment where all of us really something is wrong here something is deeply wrong here there are americans who are still deciding in for those people i don't know that they learned anything substantive. let's take

a close look now at the far right group to donald trump addressed during that debate and now says he doesn't know the proud boys are a men only organization formed by a right wing activist in 2016 and sold to contain several 100 members members take an oath to be proud western chauvinist they are also pro-gun rights and the feminism and the gentry quality in 2018 they would designated an extremist group by the f.b.i. while the southern poverty law center describes them as a hate group the prob boys leader a celebrated being hauled out by trump saying i'm extremely proud of my president's performance tonight even created t. shirts with the slogan proud boys standing by. let's talk more now about this with brian levin he leads the center for the study of hate and extremism at california state university in san bernardino sir thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera so we've heard that the f.b.i.

has described them as an extremist group the southern poverty law center calls them a hate group how would you describe the proud voice there an extremist group an assortment of imbecilic bigots who are massada whose. anti muslim anti-semitic and white nationalists although they do except some people of color indeed their leader is a cuban american conservative from south florida but make no mistake this is the equivalent today political brownshirts here in the united states and just today a proud member georgia's levied against him in the pacific northwest so what impact does it have when a group or as you describe it as this kind of visibility because i'll be honest i've never really heard of the proud boys many people hadn't and now it's a name that's mentioned right around the world well beyond the u.s.

. right it's terrible these hundreds of bigoted idiots who get involved in violent street alter cases across the country and we judge they said we just seen charges today. are nothing more than a a bunch of of thought however they're organized and they've entered the mainstream they provided security in protection for disgraced donald trump acolyte roger stone they've been involved in numerous acts of violence from coast to coast but don't underestimate them because we have seen he crimes rise in every election year and more recently as we've seen for instance in britain around election time we not only see an increase in any crime but also an increase in speech on the web as well as violence on the streets and what we're afraid of is that if it's not the proud boys who view themselves as defenders of the country and look up to donald trump he should have disavowed them root and branch they are now regarding this on line and

with their membership as a total victory because they've gotten the publicity that they crave but now that donald trump has said i mean whether you believe him or not but has said that he didn't know who they were do you think that the damage that he did during that debate can be undone now. i think the council already out of the bag and what we've seen before for instance november 26th seen when he was elected was the worst month for hate crime going back to the 1st anniversary of 911 and we also saw a bigoted anti muslim terror plot the day after the elections and by the way the day after the elections according to the f.b.i. were the worst day for hate crime going back to 2003 so we have this triumvirate and what i'm worried about is on the hard right who by the way have killed more people white supremacist and far right extremists killed at least 29 people in the united states last year and that's more than all the extremist homicides of any

stripe the year before so this is something that's already out of the bag the president has given them super but by by complimenting these folks or refusing to disavow it these folks on the violent hard right view the president as a hero and that is something that is distrustful for any pluralistic democracy by 11 who leads the center for the study of hate and extremism at california state university san bernardino thank you so much for speaking to us and we'll definitely be looking to speak with you again before the election of ambassador and thank you . as always thank you bob. well former f.b.i. director james comey has defended the u.s. russia investigation at a senate committee examining the origins of the probe komi was one of the key figures behind the investigation into the links between russia and president trump's 2016 election campaign he was fired by trump in may 2007

senate republicans say the probe was intended to undermine trump's candidacy and presidency and the same for a justice department watchdog found evidence of several errors but no political bias when the f.b.i. opened the investigation. lots more still to come in this news hour including the u.s. secretary of state is denied an audience with pope francis after a year of just the vatican to condemn human rights abuses in china and pro-democracy activists josh what war is granted bail in hong kong for violating the government's masque law even though the corona virus has made masks mandatory. holloway developing a good westerly flow in our weather across europe at the moment lots of cloud of

rain tumbling in from the atlantic weather systems bring you some really disturbed weather it will be wet it will be windy that cloud right will make its way across the british isles pushing across the low countries so whether they come into a good parts of france as we go through. belgium thousands also see some rather heavy right and just notice out into the sky we will see some very heavy rain just actually making his way this could become the next named storm of the season it'll polocrosse the press but it brings in very heavy rain in here more big downpours to central parts. with the possibility of some flash floods in the southeast in parts of france and some snow over the alps as well much of the western med looking a little this disturbed over the next couple of days pretty disappointing here central areas will still see some sunshine but showers continuing i would tools at least inside of here for northern africa where it is generally fine and dry we got some heavy showers through central africa noticed some really wet weather which has

made its way across nigeria's pushing through gonna towards the ivory coast that will continue to make its way further west was with a chance the flooding. from . north korea isolated and heavily sanctioned yet earning billions around the globe here and 39 is involved in everything that makes money for north korea. to carry defray the cost for its take on tyson. the money this year and it goes straight into the coffers as a leader said a $2.00 part people in power investigation bureau $39.00 cash for came. on a. current tensions between countries along the river nile have their roots in the colonial past from economic point of view and i think now they're going in with the girls victory

a new political realities on the ground are increasing the sense of uncertainty over is the rhythm on that with the need to review. how the countries through which he made was kind of been the type of. struggle over the miles on al-jazeera. the a the all the way. i am. welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera international pressure is growing on armenia and azerbaijan.