♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, doubts and doublespeak. moscow and london at loggerheads over the poisoning of a former russian spy. today at a meeting of the world's chemical weapons watchdog, russia failed in a bid to gain access to britain's investigation into the attack. despite home a diplomatic blunders, the uk's not budging. it says moscow remains the main suspect. also coming up, drawing of a blueprint for postwar syria. where are the syrians?

turkey, russia and iran med to map out the war-torn country's future. and remembering martin luther king. >> i still have a dream. it is a dream deeply rooted in the american dream. brent: today marks 50 years since the assassination of the american civil rights leader, dr. martin luther king, in memphis, tennessee. we will look at his legacy and the state of race relations in the u.s. today. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. tonight, he struggled to discover the truth between britain and russia is far from over. today, moscow failed in a bid to gain access to the investigation into the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter on

british toil. that attempt came at an emergency meeting of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons. now russia says it wants a un security council meeting on the attack to take place tomorrow. that attack is an attack in which russia remains the chief suspect. reporter: wednesday's meeting of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons in the hague did not leave moscow best pleased. russia failed in his bid to become part of the investigation into the reasoning of the skripals, voted down by among others, the u.k. >> russia, in common with other countries on the executive committee, has been sidelined from this investigation. we are told that we can only be informed about the result of the investigation, done by experts of the ocpw in england, if the british wish it.

but knowing how our british so-called partners have behaved, we cannot count on their goodwill. reporter: the british lab whose latest findings had been seized upon by moscow. they had says they cannot confirm the nerve agent's origin despite the british government's confidence. >> i provide a scientific evidence to provide with the nerve agent is. we identified it was from this family and that it was military grade. but it is not our job to then say way that actually was manufactured. reporter: some like jeremy corbyn are arguing that statement seems to contradict what foreign secretary boris johnson told dw during a march interview. >> you argue that the source of the nerve agent novichok is russia. how did you manage to find it out so quickly?

does britain possessed samples of this? >> the evidence, the people from the lab. >> so they have something? >> they do. they were categorical. i said are you sure? he said there is no doubt. reporter: johnson and a foreign officer stressing today that they see no contradiction between no statements in the latest results from cap -- from british chemical weapons experts. yulia skripal is said to be recovering from the attack. her father is still critical condition. relations between the west and russia are at their lowest point since the cold war. brent: we want to go now to our moscow bureau chief on the story for us tonight. good evening to you, uri. we have russia saying it is being sidelined into the investigation into the poisoning. do we know with the kremlin plans to do next?

yuri: hi, brent. for moscow it is very important to handle these investigations at the highest possible level. that is why russia's call in for a meeting of the un security council. for the kremlin, this dispute is about more than just a question of who is to blame for the poisoning of the two russian citizens, mr. skripal and his daughter. after almost the whole european union showed solidarity with the u.k. and not russia, moscow is now as i slated as ever. -- as isolated as ever. who poisoned the skripal is the million-dollar question. they want to insist once more on their presumption of innocence. brent: we might be looking at that meeting tomorrow at the un security council.

let's take this not to britain. we heard the british chemical weapons expert has said they cannot pinpoint russia as the source of the poison that was used in the attack on mr. skripal and his daughter. so how is moscow drawing back into its plans? juri: russian officials took it as yet another piece of evidence that the affair is part of a campaign to harm their country and international image. russian president vladimir putin said he did not expect an apology from the u.k., but that he did expect reason to prevail so that international relations do not sustain this kind of damage. the press secretary for president putin said today in moscow, this nation has been completely monstrous from the beginning, adding that the accusations were crazy and unfounded and mindless.

as head of the -- the head of the russian secret service called this grotesque. the discussion is part of an anti-russian conspiracy. brent: ok, juri rescheto on the story for us tonight. thank you very much. we want to take this story now to britain. i'm joined by professor of environmental toxicology at the university of leeds. he has worked on chemical weapons issues for nearly four decades. i wanted to ask you, we know that a report is expected sometime this week from the international body that is there to prevent the spread of chemical weapons. is that report going to solve this row between russia and britain? guest: no, it won't unfortunately. what the labs will do is simply

identify the agent. and i am almost certain they will confirm what the u.k. has found. they will not be doing anything or pointing, so they will not identify where came from. brent: so what is the purpose of even going through this step? is it just to have an independent body verify what british scientists have already determined? guest: yes, absolutely. it is for the opcw to do this. it's their role as a neutral broker. the 192 states that have signed a chemical weapons -- they had agreed to processes and accept the independence of the ocpw. i think the u.k. was correct to go through this route to get them to verify what they found. brent: but it will not be able

to tell us the source of the novichok. it will not be able to tell us who or what manufactured it. the u.k. government says it has evidence, evidence that was able to convince london's western allies. what might this circumstantial evidence be? alastair: that's a very good question. i don't know for sure. the u.k. has reportedly said it has evidence that russia has manufactured these agents. it has evidence that it has been preparing nerve agents for the purposes of assassination. but none of that is in the public domain, and i have not seen any objective evidence from the government about its position. it may well have shown some of this to its european partners who were pretty resolute in supporting the u.k.'s position, but other evidence that the u.k. has is not in the public domain,

and therefore i am unable to comment on it, really. brent: britain says that only russia stockpiles novichok, but we know that after the collapse of the soviet union, that russia and the surrounding states were a very chaotic place. is it possible that the soviet union's stores of chemical weapons, could they have fallen into nongovernment, nonstate hands and still be within russia? alastair: it is possible, but the other side of this is that despite that chaos, a lot of the weapons that were outside russia, the federation of russian republics, were moved into russia. so russia inherited the former soviet union's stockpile. it declared it had 40,000 tons of these agents to the opcw, in

a few months ago announced it had destroyed all of those agents under opcw supervision and inspection. so where these novichoks may have gone to or where the particular program is is a mystery. brent: professor alastair hay joining us tonight. we appreciate it. thank you. alastair: good night. brent: the leaders of russia, turkey and iran say they want a lasting cease-fire in syria. that is after a summit took place in ankara today, where the leaders discussed plans for post-conflict cooperation. the three countries have sometimes had complete -- competing interests in serious civil war, but as other nations have less -- left a vacuum, these three countries have marched on western efforts to define the conflict's and game. reporter: the iranian president, turkish president, and russian

president all agreed that the conflict in syria needs a swift and peaceful resolution. how exactly that will happen was not revealed, but the message was clear. >> we share the view that syria must be held together and this bloody conflict must end in order to secure the country's future. that is because the losers of this conflict are the citizens of syria. reporter: 30 also houses 3 million syrian refugees and would like them to return to their homeland. russia and iran are on the side of the syrian government, while turkey supports the rebels, as long as they are not kurdish forces. the kurdish military is advancing in syria, but iran wants turkey to eventually hand over the concord territory back to the syrian army. another major challenge, a syrian province where many

people including refugees and fighters from eastern ghouta had been moved to avoid fighting. but with more than 1.5 million people there now, it is urning into a humanitarian disaster. certain groups are preventing it from delivering supplies. >> we need to learn from the battles of aleppo, raqqa, and eastern ghouta. it cannot become a battle zone. it is full of civilians, and they are vulnerable. reporter: all this is happening as u.s. president donald trump announced tuesday he wants the u.s. to get out of the conflict. currently there are 2000 american military personnel there. brent: dw's correspondent dorian jones is an ankara. he was following that meeting for us today between the three presidents. we asked him what their key message was. dorian: they claim cooperation is helping to bring an end to

the syrian civil war and placed deeper cooperation in the coming months. they say the creation of safe havens, escalation zones in syria where rebels and their families are moved, helps create stability in the country. the return of syrian refugees, another priority. that is welcome news for the turkish president who is hosting more than 3 million refugees. it was also a thinly veiled warning to the u.s. all leaders are committed for keeping foreign powers from interfering in the country. brent: that was dorian jones reporting. here are some of the other stories now making headlines around the world. police in sweden are investigating a suspected arson attack at the portuguese embassy in stockholm after a large fire broke out. the building also houses several other embassies. a spokesman says 14 people received minor injuries. police have arrested one man in connection with the

investigation. italy's president has launched formal consultations aimed at creating a cold-ish and government after last month's -- creating a cold-ish and government after last month's inconclusive election. neither group gained enough votes to govern alone. time for business. what is today? it is hashtag, hug a newsperson. helena: i heard about this online but didn't know it was a real thing. [laughter] very privileged, thank you. now i'm going to tell you about some business news. no more hugs. the first train from -- it took less than four hours.

they hope it will entice both business and -- from city center to city center it is just as fast as flying. with one-way tickets starting at 35 pounds, the connection could be a game changer. reporter: the platform at london was mostly filled with -- although a small party of tourists also managed to get on board. new london amsterdam route is the first work expansion since 1994 when the trains begin connecting various cities in france and belgium. the amsterdam service is aimed at passengers who would normally fly. >> we look at our experience in other markets like parents -- paris and brussels, it seems the customers does value an alternative. they are struggling to hold on to the marketplace.

when customers are given an alternative, with great, modern trains, wifi, great entertainment, the response we get is, yes. reporter: the first train to amsterdam made it almost on-time. but return passengers to london faced delays because of a train change. the u.k. is not part of the passport free zone and right now there are no separate international border areas -- boarding areas in amsterdam making -- helena: markets plunged in the u.s. at the opening but have managed to recoup their losses. the word trade war had them spooked, despite the fact that u.s. president donald trump says his country is not in a trade war with china. he says that war was lost many years ago by the foolish or incompetent people who represented the u.s. then. he is still doing his best to

curb tensions. as feared, china has retaliated. reporter: the vast country buys 30% of their produce and has a huge industry mainly fed on soybeans. beijing has included soybeans on its list of tariffs to encourage chinese pig farmers to buy elsewhere. >> china will fight back by targeting very specifically industries that focus on the voter base that trump is seeking to appeal to. reporter: soy is produced in states such as wisconsin and wyoming, with a strong republican voter base. just the threat of chinese terrorists -- tariffs affected futures on wednesday. >> i saw on the internet that we should boycott american goods. well, i cannot speak clearly.

it will affect prices, like on the imported goods we use in our daily lives. but it will not have a effect on our daily individual life. i don't think those products are in huge demand. reporter: chinese officials are wondering why the u.s. is spoiling what they call a mutually beneficial trade relationship. four u.s. president donald trump, the tariffs are way of putting pressure in beijing. he wants china and to give up the benefits it claims as a developing nation and -- helena: sophie scimansky is a new york. which shares a specially are being affected by these tit-for-tat measures, and our investors now bracing themselves for a lengthy battle for wto involvement? what is the scenario? sophie: well, it would

definitely hit very high-profile stocks and companies like boeing. but what is really interesting to us right now is the market reaction. it was a very volatile day. as high as 700 points. a lot of emotions. i think this volatility can be explained by the fact that some investors simply saw a buying opportunity to these relatively low prices. it doesn't mean these concerns are gone, but for now investors seem to be looking on the bright side of things here. trump announced to be a little softer on nafta grego -- renegotiations. it might be hard to understand when we look at the last days. helena: let me dash some of that optimism because facebook just

an 87 million users have been affected by the cambridge analytica breach, significantly higher than the 50 million we first heard about. what is that doing to the company's share price, and other tech firms which deal with people's data? sophie: it is certainly not helping. the stock is deep and correction territory and facebook was one of the best performing stocks in the past year before the scandal broke. the investment bank morgan stanley, midpriced facebook shares $200, down from $230. the scandal could lead to more government regulation and a decrease in daily active users, and this is definitely a key metric for the company, which, again, what have a negative impact on the company's ad sales. they seem to because in a downward spiral, and certainly other tech companies are juggling with user data that the

regulatory environment will come for them. at the same time, user's data will hopefully be detected better in the -- be better protected in the future. helena: sophie scimansky, good to talk to you. now back to brent and the anniversary of a death still very much resonating in the u.s. today. brent: that's exactly right. on this day 50 years ago, u.s. civil rights leader dr. martin luther king was gunned down by white supremacist in memphis, tennessee. today, his death was observed with special events around the country. dr. king is best remembered for his famous march on washington and his iconic "i have a dream speech" in 1963. the following year, the u.s. congress passed the civil rights act, which outlawed many types of discrimination.

>> we shall overcome. reporter: a defining moment in american history. in 1963, civil rights activist martin luther king led the march on washington and delivered a speech that remains iconic to this day. >> i have a dream, that one day, this nation will rise up and live our the true meaning of its creed. reporter: 250,000 people converged on the nation's capital that day demanding free rice for african-americans. the following year the u.s. congress passed the civil rights act, which ended segregation and outlaw discrimination based on race, religion, sex or natural

-- national origin. dr. king continued to inspire millions. in 196 he traveled to memphis8, tennessee where he delivered what would be his final speech. >> i am happy tonight. i am not worried about anything. i am not fearing any man. my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord. reporter: the next day from this window, a man named james earl of a shingle fatal shot at the activist. dr. martin luther king had been forever silenced. >> martin luther king was shot and killed tonight. reporter: the painful events of that day are etched on his friend's memories. >> powe. -- pow. bullet.

reporter: and that of his relatives. speaking ahead of the anniversary of his death, his youngest daughter recalled with the world lost when his father died, but also what it gained. >> he taught us the importance of embracing nonviolence. not merely as a tactic, but as a way of life. reporter: 50 years on, dr. king's final speech still reverberates today. >> and i have seen the promised land. i may not get there with you, but i want you to know today that we as a people will get to the promised land. brent: we want to go now to our correspondent alexander von almond in memphis, tennessee tonight, where many people have gathered to discuss and to

remember the man who was martin luther king. it is a big d for the city, tragically the place where dr. martin luther king was killed. set the scene for us. alexandra: i am standing in front of the former motel which now hosts the national civil rights museum. and right behind me you can see room number 306, the balcony where dr. martin luther king jr. was fatally shot 50 years ago. so this is a very special place in the atmosphere here is very special. sometimes very emotional, particularly when you see and listen to civil rights leaders who fought with martin luther king jr. and who were inspired by him. brent: all right, our correspondent in memphis,

tennessee where events are underway to remember the life of martin luther king. alexandra, thank you very much. you're watching "dw news." after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. we will be looking even more at the legacy of martin luther king and the state of race relations in the u.s. and here in europe. stick around for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] óóññ

(upbeat music) ♪ read all about it ♪ you want hot gossip ♪ we're hot off the press ♪ why ain't you got it yet - [narrator] the u.s. has thrived on it's vibrant free press since the founding fathers first put the concept into law in the bill of rights. news organizations since then have served as an important, independent check on the power of elected officials. - i've seen the tweet about tapes. - he's a leaker. - where is the evidence? - [narrator] now social media is proving to be a double-edged sword. it's an important means of free expression around the world, but it also allows for the proliferation of misinformation. undermining the integrity of the free press. the media and foreign policy. next on great decisions. (dramatic music)