it's about the environment it's still about society and it's them about our screwballs planets on the brain responsible leading experts in the field about our own future. ok just slightly a little sense. the soviet era nerve agent was added this years to the list of banned chemical weapons germany says it was also used to poison the russian dissident alexian of all day and attempted murder that berlin says moscow has to explain today the kremlin denied any involvement russian president vladimir putin's spokesman making it clear if germany plans to consult nato about how to respond then moscow will plan not to respond at all i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day.

the juice of chemical weapons under any circumstances is completely unacceptable and the breach of international. missiles. on the finger points to know that behind act of terror against this for a little space for. to say the ball is in your corner no. chemical agent is not freely available it was used on the russian territory against russian cities and they really want to know for a leader never of with every bit of history with them. also coming up the shooting death that shocked slovakia 2 years ago a journalist investigating corruption in the mafia was gunned down along with his fiance today a verdict for the tycoon accused of ordering the killings not guilty. of

a source comedy i'm disappointed. i was beginning to believe that justice can start winning in slovakia. but at this point we're at rock bottom. and to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with the nato chemical weapons and the poisoning of a russian. dissident today the kremlin denied any involvement in the poisoning of opposition leader like scene of all the no money is being treated in intensive care at a berlin hospital 2 weeks ago he suddenly became very sick yesterday the german chancellor said the proof is solid that vonnie was poisoned with a form of the soviet era chemical weapon no which up on friday nato will convene a special meeting to discuss a possible response which will probably include a demand for russia to explain what happens tonight that seems very unlikely here

is what the european union said today. he's not the 1st one will be convicted of such calorically and inhumane attack or assassination attempt and we've seen other people in russia being killed by the opposition voices being silenced i can remind only on a political statement said again mike and it's what he's named so did he have satisfactory results from the investigation of their assassinations are that is the stance from the european union from moscow tonight silence a stark contrast to the alarm sounding of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the o.p.c. w band earlier this year today the agency said deploying of a joke in any form to harm someone cannot be treated lightly in a statement issued today the agency said under the chemical weapons convention any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered

a use of chemical weapons such an allegation is a matter of grave concern. mark michael bloom is a toxicologist in 2018 he led the o.p.c. w.'s mission to the u.k. following the movie choke attack on the former russian spy sergei scribal and scruples daughter he joins me tonight from homburg it's good to have you on the day we're not just talking about poison here or we're talking about a banned chemical weapon but what difference does that make in the investigation of alexina of all these poisoning i think that is no big difference whether it's a no he took a classical nerve agent or even took on a fest respects decided. well there is a difference and still tried it as a military nerve agent used shia which in my opinion clearly shows there was an intent to kill mr know bonnie it was not just

a warning. as to cite might have still been interpreted as a kind of warning sign where at potential death of mr than about he would have been taken into account but he i think there was a very clear intent to kill and in the case of the script holes in england investigators had the full support of british authorities and they also had access to the crime scene with the volley investigators really only have the volley himself and that's it they don't have access to where he may have been poisoned in siberia what does that do to the ability of investigators. it's severely limited relying on biomedical samples from a stand up on me which was done in this case taking blood samples from him this allows you as it was done to identify the poison that was used but there are things and. biomedical samples don't even need all the signature specific byproducts

impurities that might allow you if you encounter another batch to say this is the same or not this is not possible with biomedical samples so if you cannot really investigate on site in-depth then. the whole of rationing here into finding out what happened the civilian images. mr miller the russian opposition says using nova joe is like russia leaving a calling card at the crime scene do you agree that the russian state is the sole owner of nevin choke this is very difficult to say what is what i can say is this is not easy to make. especially because of its extreme toxicity you need very very based experience and entering highly toxic compounds to do this basic you have to be able you must have dealt with chemical weapons and chemical agents for us probably at least 10 years of your professional career there

are not that many people in the world who can say that of themselves especially those who are outside of those special governmental of oratory so who do defense of research very legitimate purposes so if we're looking in a kind of let's call it open market of chemical weapon experts who could do this and you might actually be able to i up probably a handful of people or less i don't really know but this is not trivial so this points beyond a operation of some local people who had something against mr knob on these but again the chemical analysis. alone at the moment does not point in any specific direction it's just the agent itself and there must be further clues from intelligence and from other sources that they're not allowed to say we point the finger. is it possible that the kremlin sold this nerve agent to a non state actor i find that extremely unlikely if

a government is in possession of chemicals like this they will keep it to themselves it's the same question if the state would sell a nuclear weapon to a terrorist i think this would never happen because you are losing control of a very tightly controlled chemical by the way the addition of the not the chalk families to the control list of the o.p.c. w. which took effect in june of this year. is an important step but the chemicals or the use of these chemicals was banned even before use of any toxic chemical for these purposes is a violation of the convention whether a chemical is on the list on not but of course this again a different quality if you use a chemical which is listed in the schedules of the convention you know this nerve agent that we're talking about maybe give our viewers an idea of just how toxic it is i mean what are the chances that alexina volley will have one last thing damage

to his health. this very much depends on the dose he actually received in his body that is on the one hand possibility that he might fully recover the. case of the script as you might remember we saw us cripple giving an interview some months after the incident and in much improved health there are also some potential potentially long lasting effects there are reports off the intoxication that the psyche problems heat this august depression things like that but also you can suck up wrong and brain sieges during the whole unit and that might then cause a minute brain damage so this is something we will have to see i would make a forecast that the recovery of mr nobody will take a long time. if you cannot reactivate the queen esther races which when it gets hit there are some reactivating compounds but they only work with certain chemicals for

certain agents if they don't work you have to wait until the body is remaking these enzymes and then we're talking about 6 to 8 weeks at least ok mark michael bloomberg joining us tonight from mr bloom we present your time in your insights thank you pleasure thank you or from a poison to a pipeline the case of alexian of all the brings with it more pressure on berlin to take punitive actions against moscow german chancellor angela merkel may no longer be able to separate business from geopolitics merkel is now facing calls including from members of her own party to rethink the nord stream to project nord stream to is a 1200 kilometer 10000000000 euro pipeline under the baltic sea that will double russia's natural gas shipments to germany. now before the end of all the poisoning there was already immense pressure from the u.s.

congress and the white house for germany to kill the project here are some comments that we've been hearing from german lawmakers today and as you know stream 2 is completed now and with the situation of the poisoning and in belarus that would mean that vladimir putin could feel fully confirmed that he's pushing the right kind of policies because the west simply doesn't do anything like that at least not in the areas which the only ones that he's interested in. according to our position we cannot have business as usual and so we will advocate a moratorium concerning that project until the russian government is prepared to cooperate with investigators to clarify what has really happened there in times to missed an avanti a bit of truth is they have a license instead he it is a nonsense project by the t.v. legal project i think we should concentrate on real and tough math against

this who i don't blame by now found me as truth in fees here and then doing them money laundering in western europe are the words there from german lawmakers my next guest tonight has worked on many transatlantic energy security issues including nord stream to benjamin schmidt served as european energy security advisor at the u.s. state department he's now a fellow at harvard university joins me tonight from cambridge massachusetts benjamin it's good to have you on the day there is bipartisan opposition to nord stream to in washington then the vol ne nobody choke incident it really could not come at a more opportune time for washington right. well hello friends person i just want to say i'm glad to join you i know each of ella today this is an extremely sad story about mr involve me so i'm really glad your focus on it in berlin in front i'm glad to hear the word bipartisan or question because that's exactly what opposition to the kremlin back nordstrom to project has been since its announcement

2015 bipartisan or the past several months nordstrom 2 supporters have been active in trying to pin this policy and the congressional sanctions that you mentioned on president trump and that's make sense given his litany of poor foreign policy decisions with respect to germany and russia over the years but in fact this strong opposition began under the obama administration with high level statements by then vice president joe biden now or one of our 2 presidential candidates calling the pipeline a bad deal for europe and that's not all it was also opposed by a staunch trump opponent republican late senator john mccain and the reason that i want to say for so many in the u.s. that we've been concerned about this project of the kremlin is very clear north korean too would hurt both the economic as well as the strategic national security interests of ukraine it would undermine the european energy union concept that the european commission itself advanced to diversify energy imports from over

dependence on russian natural gas since 2015 and of course the project provides a platform russian malign influence are key to corruption and at least capture across the rest and these are really central security concerns of our my mate about everything we talk about yeah let me let me just interject there let me just ask you though i mean it seems like this project is about 30 years too late europe especially germany you know are moving forward with renewable energies i mean the need for natural gas is not what it was 10 years ago 20 years ago i mean is that is that in washington's equation here. absolutely the reason we're concerned about is are those national security concerns that i mentioned earlier if you look at the project and its impact nickel design only 9900000000 cubic meters of its fight 55000000000 cubic meter volume is even designed to be delivered to germany and points west so this idea that it's some sort of energy event

a project to supplant german nuclear production or something like that it is truly false this is about cutting off ukraine advancing the kremlin's strategic interests across the continent and you know you might ask why are these european companies involved they all signed lucrative assets waf agreements and 2015 with gas from for gas production right upstream of the russian federation which had been briefly put on hold following russia's illegal an expansion of crimea and aggression in eastern ukraine so it's really a project that that is not appropriate and strategic corruption we are seeing a lot of pressure a lot of growing pressure on german chancellor angela merkel to rethink nord stream she tried to separate these issues energy and business with geopolitics how much longer do you think she's going to be able to do that. that's a great question i've seen statements today of including from mr repton as well as from the greens the f.d.a.

papers munich security conference chair is singer and others but we've said seen this before after past provocations you know think of you know the invasion of ukraine by russia election interference cyber attacks on the buddhist that extradition killing that we saw in berlin last year by russia and already chancellor merkel is appended to separate somehow this issue of the noble truck poisoning of mr know about me from north into and i think the combination however of sanctions pressure the diplomats should let it pressure on both sides of the atlantic not to mention for many in the german political establishment that we're hearing today means a real turning point i really don't think that north through 2 will ultimately be completed under these conditions but then again this saga has gone on since for 15 so we will see what kind of conditions would be feasible i mean billions of euros have already gone into nord stream to germany were to shut it down the legal and financial implications here would be immense is the u.s. in a position to all for compensation if germany shuts it down. i

don't know about compensation but there certainly are levers that germany itself can poll on this one is the article levon of the 200-1000 update to the death or up to the use on gas directive germany has to certify whether this project harms the national or energy security interests of either itself or other member states and it hasn't done so yet it needs to do so and so this is certainly grounds under which you can say no this does harm the national security interests it does advance the corruption i mean we look at mr schroeder imagine if george w. bush or barack obama were currently working for china's huawei this would be just a major political story in washington it be the only one so we really need to think about this and step back and understand what this is all about it's not about energy really it's about geopolitics and it's about national security of the transatlantic community benjamin l.

smith joining us tonight from cambridge massachusetts benjamin is going to talk with you valuable insights tonight we appreciate it thank you. hayden down. in slovakia a powerful businessman has been acquitted of the murders of investigative journalist young and his fiance the court said there was not enough evidence to convict the man who prosecutors say ordered the killings was investigating corruption and the mafia his murder in 20 triggered mass protests in slovakia and eventually led to the resignation of the prime minister. just as the killing shocked slovakia so too has the acquittal of business tycoon marion caught . the prosecution argued he was the mastermind behind the assassination of journalist check and his fiance but the court said there was not enough evidence to

convict him. wanted to stand at the graves of the children telling them that justice has won been done but now it seems it has not won they are lying in the dark ground and here everybody is just doing whatever. checks colleagues were also left speechless. first it was a great shock even though i was not sure about the outcome. then mixed feelings of rage despair and frustration came up. i even had to leave the courtroom because i could not bear listening to the explanations for this verdict any further. in february 28th an assassin killed the couple in their own home just outside the slovak capital. they were immediate suspicions that the murder motive lay and work he had been

investigating the mafia and corruption reaching into the highest circles of slovakia's government. after their deaths thousands took to the streets demanding an end to cronyism and corruption. the prime minister and his cabinet resigned the high profile trial was seen as a test for slovakia and some fear it could set a precedent for future cases. this decision however it's turning the whole picture upside down i must say people will be very much upset this appointed and they will be asking themselves whether the main slogan of protests to you and how years ago decent slovakia you know that at times to build

slovakia is actually possible. the prosecutor has appealed the verdict the case will now go to the supreme court. well for more i'm joined tonight from boston bratislava by. she's an editor with the organized crime and corruption reporting project and she was a friend of murdered journalist you know on. that we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us we know we can't be the easiest of times to talk about this i want to ask you what went through your mind when the court delivered its verdict of not guilty. first i was heartbroken and i was shaken and but to feel less than i and many who knew to detach myself from the case i need to say that i. understand why the judge is

ruled the way they grew. what you said last year that you thought that there was strong evidence to convict. and that you thought that the investigation was going as it should do you still think that do you think that the trial was a fair trial. so that opinion may sound. but i believe it was fair trial and i believe there is enough of the evidence the evidence was not presented to it in the right way to the jetty so the judge east through its neighborhood and do you blame that on the prosecutors the attorneys who were in the courtroom. i think that prosecutors could do that here joe and i also believe that because of the joke of the prosecutor's. done and by the legal representatives of the families. you know.

to play an important role in. presenting the evidence. young murder sparked an anti-corruption movement in slovakia how big of a setback do you think today's ruling is for efforts to fight corruption. well i did read this is kind of the current situation and that leads me to needs to wait a little bit to see what is the real outcome. in a long journey to justice truth truly independent and it's independent. media pressure or public opinion and it's also independent of political will so it along i did this is the strong signal that will send to society the question is if the society is ready for such a signal and what does today's verdict need for investigative journalism in

slovakia. well i did read this journalist my colleagues who you see on and i didn't hear anything personally they are all they will state it but we also believe that it shouldn't change our attitude towards the word and actually me to believe that you know doing to appeal the evidence could be showing in the front play and more convincing way so we still believe that justice will be served you know just ask you before you got about a minute left i know that this this murder was the 1st targeted killing of a journalist in modern slovakian history i mean it's the 1st time your country experience that. do you do you sense that something has been permanently changed

because of the murders. well 1st of all i need to do a slightly correction ok any friendship with public anything shit without the sense look at it's not actually my concrete and i don't really feel strong enough to it to make such a general elections about slovakia. so for me it's kind of a difficult question it's not a foreigner. when no it's good it's good to get that clarity and we certainly appreciate your honesty too concerning the verdict and a positive outlook there for the justice system if you shared with this tonight problem we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you. thank you for the invitation. well the day is almost done but the conversation it continues online you find us on twitter either in g.w. news or you can follow me at brant goth t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll

see you then about. oh boy.

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this is g.w. news live from berlin tonight russia pushing back tonight any involvement in the poisoning of opposition leader. germany says it has proof that the ball he was poisoned with a toxic nerve agent and a volley supporter say this goes right to the top. that there is 0 possibility that social theory should carry those with personal permission also coming up tonight the verdict not guilty a millionaire business tycoon in slovakia acquitted on charges that he ordered the

killing of an investigative journalist a journalist who was reporting on corruption and the mafia plus the new hopes of finding a miracle in the rubble of the beirut blast rescuers say they have detected a pulse in the wreck of a building one months after that deadly explosion that left almost 200 people dead we'll go to our correspondent for the allegiance at the scene. i'm frank gough it's good to have you with us nato will convene on friday to discuss chemical weapons and the poisoning of russian opposition leader alexei navalny on wednesday germany said it has unequivocal evidence that the vault was poisoned with the deadly nerve agent no moscow is denying any involvement but germany and its allies are calling for the kremlin to investigate and to explain.

while germany and the international community wait for russia to answer questions only 8 can surrounding the attempted murder of an anti-corruption activist alexei navalny kremlin critics are already putting a finger at one man. there is only one person can be named as one of them or putin because will he be older or more than 20 years in power a so-called power vertical where they actually nobody dares to sneeze without his permission save on that 2nd murderous attack on a major portions political opponents and no one else could have done of there is 0 possibility that social parisian could have been carried out without personal permission over the years the kremlin has been blamed for poisoning political foes something it denies denounced continued on thursday as it rejected accusations of russia's involvement and. the opposition figure has been

a political thorn in the side of russian president vladimir putin and his united russia party for a decade drumming up a vocal and growing opposition against putin's 20 year grip on power. herein of on is pushing for change shortly before he's poisoned in the tide here in city of tom . because i'm traveling around the country to declare war against united russia it's clear that this place should be one of the 1st it's sorely needed in this war . in the footage recently released by his team and challenges united russia party members in tomsk calling them corrupt bloodsucking creatures and urging the community to both him out and the september 13th local elections his supporters hope the 44 year old will be awake to witness the outcome of. our political correspondent kate brady she's following the story here in berlin good evening to you kate so strong accusations against president putin there just a day after chancellor angela merkel called the poisoning of all the attempted

murder germany is attempting some daring i dare say dangerous diplomacy here isn't . it certainly is there and there are some very delicate. fault lines that germany has to negotiate at the moment and for a long time in recent years there have been growing calls in germany particularly from the more conservative leaning camps to actually nurture closer ties with russia but this case could of course leave leave those russian german relations in taxes and how they might look in the future of really depends now on how russia responds if it responds at all of course balance isn't naive it's had experience before with russia when it comes to trying to cooperate on on similar cases to this but they're all growing calls both here in berlin and also from a new partners and nato partners as well to take a stronger stance against russia and we know that nato is convening tomorrow to

discuss the poisoning of the ball and the european union has urged russia should to cooperate with an international investigation what if the kremlin continues to say it had nothing to do with the. well that is the big question at the moment of course rush air is failing to give a radio conclusive or in depth the response to these findings that an evolving was indeed poisoned by the novacek nerve agent so that in itself is a response the lack of there of a response is a response from russia itself and so there are some options on the table right now for the e.u. partners and also for the nato partners as well for example targeted sanctions against russia in particular targeted russians and even russian companies so that all options there but of course the big elephant in the room here in germany right now becoming in creating increasingly less so by the hour today is the issue of the

north stream 2 gas pipeline that is planned to run from russia to germany it's almost being completed and there are growing calls here in germany for angela merkel the german chancellor to call off the entire project it's been a controversial issue for many years it's had to fight over a lot of criticism for the pipeline from even other partners and also much vocally from from the u.s. as well but there are also growing calls here to end this project even so close to the finish line but of course a same time you have merkel earlier on in the week saying that she wanted to keep the political and the economic separate and keeping than a volley poisoning case separate from the pipeline but of course as pressure grows that is going to become increasingly difficult for machall. political correspondent with the latest here in berlin tonight kate thank you. here's a look now at some of the other stories and making headlines around the world german police have found the bodies of 5 children in an apartment in the western

city of. authorities suspected their mother killed them before attempting suicide by jumping in front of a train in nearby dusseldorf a 6th child survived and is being cared for by family members u.s. democratic presidential candidate joe biden has met privately with the family of jacob blake the black man whose shooting by police last month touched off days of unrest in wisconsin biden met with the family for about an hour in milwaukee himself joined the conversation by phone facebook says it's banning new political ads in the week before the u.s. election on november 3rd the social media giant says the move is to limit misinformation on the company has faced criticism for failing to take action against fake news. a u.s. federal appeals court has ruled that the controversial n.s.a. surveillance program exposed by whistleblower edward snowden in 2013 was illegal

the program solve the national security agency harvest data on millions of people around the globe including prominent political leaders. are known to be. where we are following a developing story of what could be a miracle rescue workers say they detected signs of wives in the rubble of a building which collapsed after last month's massive explosion at the port in beirut almost 200 people were killed and 6000 injured but tonight there appears to be hope amidst the rubble a rescue report signs of breathing and. let's go straight now to our correspondent bosler reidy he is at the site of that rescue operation. there you can hear me i mean what's the latest there what's happening right now. what happened to america that you are talking about it's. the military.

forces there just decided to stop the rescue work in. what we already know because they said. it would. be. a freight that it would collapse over the u.s. i don't. you want because they're just searching but me so they stop and they are. going to leave it up to morrow morning. for some heavy that you can see them to support that building then to continue. to work these decision by this q what is the security forces make these. solo so i think it is because things like you know i guess the strong military. forces on the street you force them to continue searching.

for the whole let's say 2 and i think they believe that these heavy. they are. these people they are going to supple the fight and they are ready to pay from. this if you take it to the place. that is what are you why then what's the reason then for postponing the rescue effort i mean why not continue why are they stopping now. because they're looking to the up with that that i got it from one of the rescue workers. that that what is left from the building is about to collapse was shaking on to take the youths off the disc you look at. it we collapse over their heads and then they would do it and . what good did. that might exist if this. oh but that is that's why they do the dishes and decision to postpone the work of

the mother wanted to bring these have to take us to support what is left of this building behind me ok a redo there with the latest on a rescue effort in. a fluid situation and we will get back to you if and when we get more information basile thank you. in slovakia a powerful businessman has been acquitted of the murders of investigative journalist and his fiance martina cousineau over prosecutors allege that miriam coach ordered the killings which led to mass protests and to the resignation of slovakians prime minister prosecutors say they plan to appeal. just as the killing shocked slovakia so too has the acquittal of business tycoon marion caution or the prosecution argued he was the mastermind behind the sas nation of journalist and his fiance but the court said there was not enough

evidence to convict him. wanted to stand at the graves of the children telling them that justice has one didn't done but now it seems it has not won they're lying in the dark ground and here everybody is just doing whatever they could see our colleagues were also left speechless. first it was a great shock even though i was not sure about the outcome. then make feelings of rage despair and frustration came up if. i even had to leave the courtroom because i could not bear listening to the explanations for this verdict any further. in feb 28th teen an assassin killed the couple in their own home just outside the slovak capital broady slava there were immediate suspicions that the murder motive lay and

could c.x. work he had been investigating the mafia and corruption reaching into the highest circles of slovakia's government. after their deaths thousands took to the streets demanding an end to cronyism and corruption. the prime minister and his cabinet resigned the high profile trial was seen as a test for slovakia and some fear it could set a precedent for future cases. this isn't however it's turning the whole picture upside down i must say people will be very much upset disappointed and they will be asking themselves whether the main slogan of protestant and a half years ago decent slovakia you know that. attempts to build these in

slovakia is actually possible. the prosecutor has appealed the verdict the case will now go to the supreme court. here's a reminder the top story we're following this hour russia has rejected claims that it was behind the alleged poisoning of opposition leader alexei in the vault on wednesday germany said it now has proof of all the it was poisoned with the nerve agent. and don't forget you can always get the w. news on the go just download all worked out from google play or from the outside to work of and give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if you're part of a news story you can also use the v.w. app to send best photos and videos of what's happening. you're watching news i'm going golfer all of us here in berlin things for the company is up next with d.w.

business news stick around she'll be right back. preaching. surprising. something anything in the footsteps of the great. challenge the fleet street. preacher wanted. to marry a man.