it's nine pm here in moscow tonight russia says the alleged chemical attack near damascus is aimed at disrupting peace efforts and that any military intervention triggered soli confirmed claims would violate international. meanwhile the u.s. and its allies gear up for a possible strike on syria despite the u.n. inspectors still working to establish whether a chemical attacks taking place. also coming up a scandal around the american surveillance leaks against new momentum threatening to influence of tempers german election fresh revelations plenty and they say even tapped into the u.n. support. for triumph to despair we look at how did we as resurrected the same control methods used by the toppled regime as

the country's dragged back into chaos two years after the revolution. good evening it's kevin i'm with you this hour here at our top story than russia says foreign intervention in syria would be a mistake that would further destabilize the country and the region in a news conference in light of the u.s. and its allies considering military action foreign minister sergei lavrov says there's no proof that the assad regime used chemical weapons artie's religious she heard from our correspondent sean thomas about that briefing. sergey lavrov was very direct in his press conference outlining key concerns about the rhetoric that the west is using in fact he says that they say that they are sure that chemical weapons have been used by the assad regime but they have not yet presented

convincing evidence to support that it was assad's regime that used the chemical weapons but they keep saying that they crossed this red line the famous red line and it's quite clear that the syrian government had neither political nor military reasons to resort to chemical weapons during when u.n. experts were working there when the regime had the upper hand on the ground i'm going to russia u.s. meeting on preparing the geneva conference was to take place how exactly would the syrian government benefit from using chemical weapons in such circumstances he said that that mass hysteria surrounding the syrian crisis is aimed mainly at disrupting the peace process and that would include the new geneva two talks that were orchestrated by russia and the united states jointly and that this is just basically an attempt to derail that also using force in syria without any u.n. sanctions is a blatant violation of international law and that is something that just should not

happen and lavrov went on to say is what we're witnessing now is a massive fear mongering campaign something that we have seen before using as an example ten years ago in iraq something that did not end well drawing the united states into a drawn out quagmire there one thing whatever i've said is that it's an illusion to think that regime change in syria would end of the civil war also that bombing infrastructure would simply lead to more bloodshed and actually that western strategy in the region is aimless this is what he had to say is on the part of many key players started to take sides and act based on the principle of winner takes all betting on those who they saw reese potential winners but then the winners turned into losers again this is an example of so-called ad hoc policies as opposed to logical and integrity policies you cannot for example declare war on one regime because you personally don't like the dictator in power there and be friends with a dictator in another country. countries need to divert from their personal

preferences and determine the main threats to the region which are terrorism and extremism and that's what we need to talk about and agree on one just like the russian foreign minister or the syrian you're also not so long ago brought out of the problem fighting terrorism so what more can you tell us about that well certainly in an interview with the russian newspaper bashar al assad was very critical of the west in the united states in particular directly refuting the idea that his forces used chemical weapons against his people saying that it just doesn't make sense about the close proximity of close quarters fighting that they would basically be killing themselves if they used chemical weapons but about this idea of military intervention from the west he said that this is something that has been on the table the entire time they just don't have the support to go through with it that's why they've been sitting on the fence and taking such a long time listen to what he had to say about that another obstacle to a military intervention is that everybody understands the syrian conflict has

nothing to do with the nation's revolution and demands for reforms it's terrorism in this situation whiston leaders can't tell the citizens we're going to syria to support terrorism so bashar assad continuing to stand up to the west a very defiant and sergey lavrov in russia saying that all parties involved need to exercise caution and go through legal channels to find a solution to the problem in syria only thomas side to this is already damaged to syrian peace efforts the opposition has now declared talks are off the table despite the u.n. insisting that the work of negotiations in geneva is in progress i spoke to journalist load of notes to use widely covered events in syria he told me there are factions within the opposition who are willing to participate but they're being ignored. there is also very little talk to talk about the civilian and aunt nonviolent opposition who are willing to not allowed by for example the british and the u.s.

to participate i mean it's one thing to say we're going to honor our stocks and then tell your allies but that don't come i mean that's it that shows bad faith and that is where that happening for the moment of course what is happening now is that it's probably likely the foreign minister russian foreign minister is that some kind of creating a situation that alters the things on the ground. the u.s. and many of its allies seem impatient to wait for the u.n. findings with american warships already converging near the water one state and the british prepared to join to. look where their confidence comes from blaming the syrian government for using chemical weapons and where it might lead. united nations experts are in syria to investigate whether chemical weapons were used during the ongoing conflict finally but even before they start a senior u.s. administration official has said there is very little doubt that chemical weapons were used by the syrian regime against civilians these are the arguments we have

told were given to president obama as proof the reported number of victims talkin the number explain how they see during world war two up to eighteen million people were killed what does that tell us about how they died the next argument the american administration says leaves them in little doubt assad attacked his own people with chemical weapons is the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured symptoms of course speak for themselves but how does that answer exactly who was behind this u.s. intelligence cites witness accounts that is hardly a reliable argument for syria since the beginning of the conflict there almost two and a half years ago each side has accused the other often acquainted charger while covering events from different cities in syria those undercover manto or rebel control i often matt and talk to witnesses from both sides whose accounts contradicted one

another the truth was never easy to find even on the ground well it would if chemical weapons were used in syria why doesn't automatically point to the syrian regime isn't that still to be investigated it all appears to be based on assumptions we still believe that they don't have the capability to use chemical weapons that has not changed again we're looking into the facts on the ground but there's no reason if there's nothing to hide for the regime not to let the investigative team do you know with the u.n. team is a greeting and they do seem assumptions that the opposition doesn't it. to use these kinds of weapons yes they are. meanwhile major world media are bombarding audiences with glow task pictures of dead people including children allegedly killed by chemical agents allegedly used by the syrian regime and all that during the military escalation in the region the pentagon is moving its naval forces

closer to syria three destroyers already in the mediterranean ready in for a variety of attacks all of them carrying up to three hundred cruise missiles more scope warns the west against repeating the tragic mistakes of these is remiss and of events of ten years ago in which he was in false information that the iraqis processed weapons of mass destruction the united states launched a reckless enterprise with consequences that everyone is well aware of russia's foreign minister spokesperson set up well this small tube colin powell the u.s. secretary of state at that time presented to the u.n. security council as proof led to disastrous consequences will history repeat itself . well. william hague's refused to hold the possibility of military intervention in washington can fully or britain support. well foreign

secretary william hague said this morning that the west could take military action against the assad regime without the backing or support of the united nations security council now he was speaking to b.b.c. radio four s today programme and he said that the united nations security council has not been united on syria and has not shouldered its responsibilities on syria and on the question of whether it was possible to act without complete unity on the united nations security council he replies oh dulcie yes it is now no firm decision has been taken on what the response will be or indeed when it will be but the timetable if you like for the next couple of days is this prime minister david cameron has cut short his holiday and he'll be returning to lungs and that's it and then on wednesday he's going to be chairing the national security council meeting and it's going to be there that you'll have all the key decision makers and after that meeting on wednesday you can expect that we'll have perhaps

a clearer idea of exactly what those plans will be moving forward now we're still not talking about direct intervention here so no boots on the ground in syria what is being discussed they is a more limited form of military action in the form of it's thought pinpoint tomahawk missile strikes now by no means has the political dialogue being abandoned but that limited form of military action certainly something that is now on the table being very seriously discussed of course a huge concern is we're now moving ever closer towards getting involved in a conflict from which there isn't a clear exit that's the worry earlier we spoke to broker clarke who's long focused on covering the middle east he told us that whatever the u.n. inspectors find it would alter america britain storms. we're going to see the weapons inspection teams going to this site and whatever they do the syrian government will be blamed that us avoided made that quite clear william hague and british made that quite clear they blame the syrian government for this whatever

the evidence or lack of evidence and there is no evidence that the syrian government ordered this massacre with chemical weapons yet they're still going to blame because they want war the u.n. team will go there they may find chemical weapons traces or they may not and if they do then of course the u.s. has said quite clearly the syrian government is the only party capable of using chemical weapon surveyed by their mind up if they don't then the syrian government will be accused of moving them so the syrian government be damned if they do and damned if they don't whatever the un inspection teams find the decision has already been taken i think a full interview with investigative journalist no clark available for you any time to catch it at r.t. dot com live there as well reviving you to take part in today's vote what you think about the preparation for a military response what we could mean thanks for voting if you have done this is what it's telling us. forty six percent of the most you believe it's in washington trying to distract public attention away from its own problems at home just under a third view there that's not changed much think the u.s. will go ahead with the attack despite president obama's cautious words the rest of the divided between believing it's been done to get leverage over the u.n.

or it's all just the pentagon's plan b. as you put it you have your say r.t. dot com. edward snowden's revelations that the u.s. has been spying on its european allies could have a bearing on the political race in germany where there's an election in just under a month chancellor angela merkel's made rivals now promising to freeze trade talks with the united states until it comes clean on its espionage programs if he's elected more from artie's peter all over in berlin. what peer steinbrück the head of the leader of the s.t.p. and the only real candidate who has a chance of challenging angle of merkel in the in the upcoming elections what he said is that should he become chancellor well he'll put the brakes on ongoing talks on a a free trade agreement between the u.s. and the e.u. now these are trade talks that have moved at a pretty pace at the best of times and they are potentially worth multiple billions of dollars worth of money to both sides but there are sticking points and it's what

he said during an interview on german television was that how can we trust our american allies and colleagues when it comes to talking about the best trade deal for both sides when how do we know they don't have microphones under our desks and they are listening to everything that we are saying they are one of the only few issues in which the which the opposition can can attack angle of merkel on she remains incredibly personally popular here in germany and is pretty much expected to be to be returned as chancellor but if stonebridge is to get in there and is to have a good chance this is the option what he's what he's gone for because this is one position where angler merkel has appeared to be slightly we can go on because she is the chancellor of the book stops with her and it seems that not only did she know that the united states was conducting espionage activities on on german

civilians and on german businesses but it seems that at some points according to the leaked documents that edward snowden's put forward that the german security services may have actually helped them to to do that it's seen in the past these documents coming out. the b.m.d. the german security services were very forthcoming with trying to help the n.s.a. in their spying activities so this is a major issue if not the major issue going into the election and being the politician he's seeing he sees an element of weakness there and they're rounding on the current chancellor. peter oliver of berlin well it seems even the united nations is demeaning to being snooped told by america's scandal plagued national security agency the newly published information leaked by edward snowden in the cage the world body's new york h.q. was caught in its controversial spy net as well one former un director of communications told us that the united nations can't do much in fact against acts of espionage like this without the help of its members the u.n.

secretary that has limited resources and not very sophisticated techniques and it's basically dependent so the techniques that it does have this technology that it does have on its member states so i think that this operation was that if the especially the united states which is a host country where their headquarters are located he'd be very advanced superpower communications technology if they really want to crack whatever encryption the secretary at is adopting they will probably be able to do say it's unfortunate because of course diplomacy does need to be confidential and for the sector general to do his job properly he needs to have the confidence of the heads of state and government and others but he's having conversations with a little to mention his own colleagues but you know these are some of the

unpleasant facts of the world that we live in more international news and coming from ati to stuff to this quick break. wealthy british style. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our t.v. . we speak your language or not at the. news programs and

documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news a little turn it into angles kid stories. here. the spanish find out more visit actuality. libya's old wounds which led to the fall of colonel gadhafi two years ago a still open the country's grip by militia violence is a misquote below the territory and a bigger share of plummeting oil revenue on top of all that the government is trying to revive some of the tactics used by the former regime to keep dissent is it bad a fall asleep or explains. anniversaries are often a time of celebration for two years on libya has pushes little to be applauding.

i'm not sure it will be right to assume that there's a government in libya there's no army no police armed militias are in control there's violent chaos the. militia violence stalks the land jihadist groups are growing strikes threaten to cripple the oil industry and economic stagnation is everywhere with all the bad negative things that the to say about the state those that. control it by force the situation of these device by the countries libya post gadhafi is far from the haiti days of the with illusionary euphoria human rights watch says a wave of assassinations has killed dozens of politicians activists judges and members of security agencies all we hear is very. very troublesome because we hear about clandestine detention centers. detention centers that are run by militias that are not accountable to anybody these armed militias reportedly

have more power than the government turning the country into a new hub for his nomic exchanges and over the past few weeks three new kind of camps have allegedly opened in the south libya is becoming the main base for al qaeda in the maghreb we also know that as a direct result of the libyan intervention that the civilian government in bombing mali was overthrown in the north of the country and certain islamicist took over creating a humanitarian disaster leaving tens of thousands of internally displaced persons not to mention tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into mauritania lingard to burkina faso basically creating a morass and if that's not bad enough. the much promised constitution has failed to materialize politicians are deadlocked over the role of sharia law and regional rivalries. the. libyan society consists of arabs berbers and taboo so the

constitution should represent all segments and if any group is ignored then this means exclusion. the berbers who make up ten percent of the population are threatening to take up arms against the government there is a real danger that libya may break up you have a severe problem in libya with regard to the darker skinned nationals of the south of the country. except that it's all but those who are lighter skinned in the north and the deteriorating economic situation isn't helping commercial banks are closing their doors imposed test against the current armed robberies in a desperate attempt to keep a grip on things the new government has reportedly using methods that were popular during gadhafi time libya's transitional government has quietly reactivated the surveillance technology it inherited from the depths of the sea it uses it to protect the mobile phones and online communication of the deaf in no way less the

two it seems it seems on the back to front after all except that oil production is down with libya unable to promise crude deliveries next month as on off strikes paralyze its major terminals two years on many are asking was it worth destroying libya to get the spoken state when it's not clear who won it definitely doesn't seem to be the libyan people policy r.t. tel aviv. three world news headlines the danger about three palestinians have been killed fifteen reportedly wounded in clashes with israeli border police in the west bank according to israeli officials security forces arrived at a refugee camp to arrest a terror suspect but they're attacked with rocks and live ammunition and other palestinian witnesses did neither saying that they did not show. soldier's biggest lead palestinian negotiators to pull the plug on today's peace to israel in washington although they are expected to resume later this week. in india to rally

in support of the tape hindu nationalists leaders and supporters to violent when hundreds of protesters clashed with police security forces result of the water cannon and tear gas to try to disperse the demonstration the protesters would define a government ban on a pilgrim march of the disputed holy site has been the cause of deadly clashes with muslims. huge wildfire in california is the seventy national parks continuing to spread ten days after it started forcing people in small mountain communities to evacuate their homes the flames found by high winds and dry conditions are also edging closer to a reservoir that some francisco depends on for its water supplies around three thousand firefighters in a dozen helicopters are battling the blaze. the situation in russia's flood sits far east remains bleak meantime the opposite of all that with yet another rising water levels expected in early september because of more heavy rain thousands of people have had to be evacuated to safety as crews battle the elements

but not everyone's about winning their homes as paul scott found out. is a village under threat on the banks of both the are more on the red river residents wait nervously. record breaking water levels in the region a still rising forcing more and more people from their homes ruining property and livelihoods this lady is a full time carer for her disabled father she says leaving is simply not an option you know. if i don't live here i live in that neighboring house my garden is underwater i'm here because i take care of my dad life was tough for residents in rural eastern russia even before the floods here father and daughter grow their own potatoes and vegetables but now the land they used to rely on is totally under water various said that all of the fuel my garden and chicken coop flooded the water is coming nearer and nearer to the house they are the only residents to remain artie's film crew later came across this man he's also decided to stay with

his submerged property like many scared to leave through fear of looting because that they just so you know that every three hours a report to the emergencies minister the situation is under control we are on guard and we are ready to deal with all variance to the situation as it changes up to ten thousand people can be housed in temporary accommodation centers that have sprung up across the region shelter and supplies are provided along with psychiatric support to help people deal with the fallout from the devastation. that was going use now people are grateful to those who have evacuated them from their homes who have provided everything they need matunga sleep residents worry about the future about the hoons and how they will spend their winter well how about off for mains relatively untouched by the flood waters so far the same parts to the fifteen kilometers worth of dimes that have been built around the city in order to keep the water at bay or thirty's ordering it to reach

a height of nine meters at the moment in order to contend with the rising flood waters but that is of little comfort to the people in the remote rural regions you're seeing their lives swept away. how about us. power for our sport right here right after the break. well. science technology innovation called the least a mela means from around russia we've gone to the future or covered. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

choose your language. of holy week you know influential kind of facial some of. the consensus here to. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to your office. hello and welcome to the r t sports show i'm kate ball tridge and coming up is twenty six minutes of sporting action from russia and around the globe and these are the week's top stories. turning blue chelsea agree to sign attacking midfielder

william from angie in a reported forty seven million dollars deal subject to work permits. last turbo charged while red bull sebastian vettel cruises to victory at the belgian grand prix we meet the young russian who's aging to reach the top in formula one. and some like it hot watch the top of beach volleyball gyros from latvia and brazil defied the cold to triumph at some bosco grand slam. but let's get the ball rolling with football and english premier league side chelsea have agreed a deal with russian club angie to sign attacking midfielder willian subject to a work permit hearing on wednesday the twenty five year old midfielder how to undergone a medical it taught them to lose it all which then intervened with his fellow on the guard suliman karim off who owns an injury personal terms have since been settled along with the fee understood to be almost forty seven million dollars with

chelsea also able to offer champions league football this season thirty two year old striker sorry let's go the world's highest earning footballer is also reportedly set to leave angie stamford bridge. and germany new coach brad wardell they continued his perfect started charging travel winners by in munich with a two no wind at home tonight in berg in the first half they did allow bush or his penalty saved but the old guard sidelines blushes in the second as frank rebury finally broke the deadlock with twenty minutes to go and are in robin confirmed victory ten minutes later to see the home side stage join top. and they share that position with by a labor cruiser and proceeded to a woman dr juergen plops man also maintains their one hundred percent record with a one zero victory at home to previously undefeated vertebrae in the home side peppered the visitors go first top bloody coffee shop calendar of the cross bar but ten minutes after the interval the deadlock was finally broken after marco rice.