in berlin the russian opposition leader's long journey from siberia ends at the clinic where doctors will try to find out what's behind the apparent poisoning that left him fighting for his life a close friend of his tells russian authorities are in no hurry to investigate we'll find out more. also coming up the political crisis deepens as the authorities crackdown on government opponents protesters in the capital minsk form a chain of solidarity in the u.n.

is demanding the release of all political prisoners. and thousands some of the biggest wildfires ever to hit california the blazes were sparked by lightning strikes in the state's governor is blaming climate change. welcome to the program russian opposition leader alexei no vallone is in a burley in hospital this hour receiving treatment following a suspected poisoning collapse and lost consciousness after drinking tea 2 days ago in siberia doctors there initially refused to allow him to be airlifted to germany . the final metres of a journey from siberia to. one that the kremlin critic spent on conscious.

novotny was flown out on this plane chartered by a berlin and geo his supporters had feared for his life after a suspected poison attack on the opposition leader. nobel news wife yulia requested treatment in germany but the medical evacuation was only given the green light after a tug of war between russian and german doctors over whether he was fit to fly. not only spokeswoman cure a our mission thanks supporters and said the transfer abroad was a 1st step in what would be a long struggle to restore in a ball in his health. berlin charity hospital is no stranger to treating kremlin critics who appear to have been poisoned. 2 years ago activists pewter vessel love was taken here after showing poisoning symptoms he helped secure the same treatment for nepal need. only has been one of president vladimir putin p.r. system critics the 44 year old former lawyer was barred from challenging putin in

the 21000 presidential election since then he has campaigned on behalf of opposition candidates in regional polls. supporters hope that german doctors will be able to get to the bottom of what caused the sudden debilitating illness in a safe environment free of any political interference. did you abuse julie or sal jelly has been reporting on the arrival of alexina valley at the sheraton a hospital in berlin there she caught up with the zealot founder of the cinema for peace foundation which paid for the airlift she asked him about novell needs current health conditions where we are very happy that he finally arrived in berlin that we could fly him out. the good news is that he's stable so the whole travel did not affect him but it does doesn't mean that i mean i was see we are we're kind of like very happy everybody's happy but there's no reason to

celebrate because it's sort of our trigger condition so the real work starts now with the doctors and a surety. that the german government have any role in assisting or helping with the operation to bring him to berlin but we're very happy to hear 2 days ago that i know american together with the french president made a statement that it should be found out what happened and that if he needs medical assistance he's welcome in germany and france and other countries offered to so i think it was very helpful and obviously. we kept the authorities informed about our activities but this activity is for private. and what does the family feeling think at the moment and what do they expect going forward with his taking care of at the hospital when i think they're relieved at the sabean odyssey house and that they're relieved to be in a 1st class hospital to have a good treatments and obvious you know it will be the question what the doctors can do and have to do. and. i mean apparently this is not a thing for

a few days as we're probably a long procedure and it's a long way to go i mean it's we refer from the doctors if they would have not been submerged to learning in arms if they would have tried to fly on to moscow he would have died. thank you very much. for more let's bring in professor sergei duryea former chief economist at the b. r g that's a european bank for reconstruction and development is also one of the top sponsors of move on these anti corruption fund and is a close friend of only arrive today professor in berlin for treatment you must be feeling relieved it is a feeling of relief for but as you rightly said the situation is not out of the woods yet he's unconscious and in the best case scenario we probably should experiment will take several weeks when your church came back to power and indeed

has your deferred to the case of. it was and fareed difficult and painful to cover . all of this is clearly sensitive stuff but to the extent that you can talk about this who do you think might be behind this apparent assault in the valley and what we don't know and. we don't know and we do not know why it has happened still i would say it is very important to remember it's not the 1st attack on a number only using chemical agents he says he was attacked in 2017 and the video cameras actually identify the men who are executive that dark and this man was not investigated interrogated or prosecuted the 2nd time he was attacked last summer when he was detained in a moscow prison and that fact was actually stated within the prison within the prison cell so it was also very easy to investigate it was not investigated as well which kind of tells you how the kremlin treats people who are talking about me and

even if it's not. order from the very top of course it's the very top of russian government russian authorities that is responsible for not only this time one thing which i would like to open your mind you you mentioned regional elections there will be regional elections coming up in 3 weeks from now not only has developed hadlee effective strategy for abortion there were in part in those so actions it happened last year the last year was extremely. important breakthrough in various regional elections including in moscow and that's my number only spent so much time in jail last year and apparently government was very nervous regarding the election there this coming up the number only was still is a very fact of communicator his you tube channel his weekly you tube channel is watched by millions of people in of course the government the m one him to be on air in the coming weeks. until this election professor what can you tell us about

his current condition what have you learned. i. don't know anything except for what is what is being reported and and this is what you've just covered in your piece and and we just know that he's unconscious and we don't know. what exactly caused. you mentioned just before that there were 2 attempts on his life that were never investigated easy you believe given the international attention to this particular story and others like it that that is going to change. i don't expect in this particular. situation i don't expect that as long as the station was in power in russia this crime will be investigated i haven't all doubt that. this poisoning was administered using special forces usually using special chemical

agents not dissimilar to those that you mentioned in the case of that it is 0 for other russian dissidents including but it was actually boys and twice and of course that consoles a bit where one british woman died in the russia it is still denying that russia was behind this old body poisoning and in that sense in that sense i think the longest in this regime is the rule in russia which won't expire transparent investigation you yourself do not live in russia do you believe will return after this latest incident it is a question for you not only i know him for many years he. looks you know when you're going on he's a brave and courageous man and he believes that he will come back and i can decide for him it's for him and his family to. make his decision but everything i know

about the legacy the fact that he's been out that before and still continued is very important work i would think that he will actually come back he will not stop his fighting professor sergei duryea in france thank you so much for your insights thank you very much. bellaver says exiled opposition leaders for atlanta. says embattled president alexander lukashenko will have to give up power sooner or later in an interview with the reuters news agency she said she was shocked about what happened to protesters following disputed elections she said the people of delhi would not allow to keep on treating them in the same way demonstrators continue to speak out on friday thousands of anti-government protesters formed a chain of solidarity across the capital minsk. shoulder to shoulder in support protestors again standing firm in minsk. a chain of

solidarity stretching kilometers through the bella racine capital as far as the detention center where anti-government protesters have been held since the disputed election nothing after that when you see that you when. you realize that no national guard and no one has stopped to see you when you go to force luka shankar to resign it helps to keep our spirits up and not to get sad so it was the show the beginning we were really enthusiastic now people are starting to say the protests a calming down to people a pessimistic we have to remember that the regime had ruled for 26 years it's impossible to overturn in just 10 days. the opposition is still encouraging people to attend mass demonstrations and urging the authorities not to use force and the u.n. is calling for all political prisoners to be released. soon authorities say nearly

all have been freed. for good for many a hoping lucas shingo is losing his grip on power but the hard line leader insists he was solve the political crisis in the coming days. let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world at this hour demonstrators in iraq have set fire to the gates of the parliament building in the southern province of basra the main oil producing region protesters are angry at government inaction over the assassination of several political and women's rights campaigners. turkish president richard tayyip erdogan has announced a new large natural gas discovery off the black sea coast or no one says the fine will ease turkey's dependence on gas imports and could make it an energy export or analysts say the discovery is significant but not a game changer. the fires raging in northern california have now become some of the largest in state history more than 12000 firefighters are currently battling the

blazes that have killed 6 people governor gavin newsome said it help is arriving from several u.s. states he also put in a plea for assistance from australia and canada says the fires were started by lightning strikes and have forced tens of thousands to flee for safety this is all that's left of karen hansen's hardiman in northern california she and her family are and they had 2 minutes to evacuate that small farm the full flames obliterated it hardly ever say a thing like it was the whole sky was red and orange i mean if. i don't have just read 9 and it was coming over the hill. there and it was massive i never saw. a few minutes to get here the flames she describes the still making their way across california in the form of hundreds of separate fires they were sparked by

thousands of lightning strikes and fanned by record breaking hate with more than 3000 square kilometers of land destroyed many fear there may be next. are really were. there were birds down there for 3 days. by tomorrow maybe. more but pretty much. now it's unpredictable nature of the understaffed fire fighting force. that much of what will happen next depends on weather conditions as the heat wave continues across california many more properties a likely to succumb to the flames. well it doesn't snow too often in the australian state of new south wales so these kangaroos have been making the most of the surprise no fall which comes just days before the official start of spring it was triggered by air making its way north but kangaroos were not the only ones to fall

in the snow locals and tourists alike also rushed out to enjoy the rare event. that's your news update i'll be back at the top of the hour with more stay with. those who use crime fighters are back with africa's most successful radio drama series continues all of us odes are available online and of course you can share and discuss on w. africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. writers tune in now. how does the virus spread. and.