the point. i breaking the blockade residents of syria's dearest or celebrate on the streets as government forces move in to liberate the city has been

besieged by islamic state for three years or so to come to. the united states or territory will be met with a massive military response. washington isn't ruling out using its own nuclear capabilities if north korea continues to threaten the u.s. or its allies that after pyongyang says it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb and tens of thousands of muslims in the. east asian countries the minority communities struggle against violent state suppression. i welcome just turned four o'clock here in moscow you're watching r.t. international. forces are said to be close to liberation the city which has been

under siege by islamic state for three years residents of the city have been on the streets celebrating the military said but i. i i well as you can see on the map here the syrian army is now only a few kilometers away from here is all they've secured a room to attack the terrorist controlled part of the city government forces have been advancing rapidly in the. gained eight kilometers in the last twenty four hours or so securing strategic positions along the way russian fighter jets supporting government forces have destroyed tanks and also armored vehicles seventy terrorists have been killed with more details is. there as zoar is a city that has been able to survive a total toll siege by islamic state for some three years and that means that the

only way to deliver food medicine there is air drops that also means constant fear of either being shelled by islamic state or being captured by eisel fighters and right now it looks like the sea is closer to being broken than ever before at least according to the news that we're getting from the syrian government the army are claiming that they are now approaching the city journalists have been able to contact the governor of arizona and he claims that within the next forty eight hours or so the syrian army will be able to enter the city of. and of course in this case the government is really determined they're confident and no wonder the locals are celebrating we've already received the first pictures of that but here's something for you to understand the suffering that they've been through

in these three years of siege. as isis terrorists raided our house my thirteen year old cousin was staying with us i hit her in a water tank so that the terrorists didn't take her as a slave it was obvious that. the situation in a resort is catastrophic terrorist from iraq execute civilians in the streets and leave bodies lying there for up to five days by secretly drove my sons out of the city otherwise isis militants would recruit them by force inject psychotropic substances and use them as suicide bombs well actually the area around it is not the last islamic state stronghold in syria but you cannot underestimate the strategic importance of this area if it happens if its state gets kicked out of the province that means essentially that said for their fighters in iraq the deal. facto capital of islamic state they will have nowhere to run and here's the russian defense minister with more on that. today there are strategic locations.

which i would call a priority. have been courageously defending it for years now while food medicine. to them the liberation of the city would be a point in the defeat of isis and so it is getting more evident that the joint efforts by the russian military their air force and the syrian government troops have really taken their toll on islamic state fighters and the area we've put together a reminder of the latest successful military ops airstrikes and advancements in the last few weeks.

so let's wait for more news from the day or a store front line at least if we are to believe the syrian army we are going to get them very very soon trying to that will we discuss the future of the war in syria with middle east expert mohsin jeffy. oh i think it's an exciting poignant moment a real turning point in what we've we've known until this point in the last six years as the syrian war i think come once. the city is taken and the surrounding region is flushed out of isis fighters we can start to really talk about the end of the war and a new chapter for possibly restoring peace in the country i think western media will play up. the u.s.

but victory in iraq. but not report so heavily on the defeat of i saw. it in because you know it's mixed it's a hugely significant for just the last staging post now or for this terror organization there are no other huge cities or major towns so now the question is you know what will be the second stage of the of the syrian war will we see a problem now with syrian government forces and their allies like russia has blood and americans in syria. washington says it will use any means necessary to defend itself after the most powerful north korean nuclear test to date the white house says that could potentially include using its own nuclear capability. president trump reaffirm the commitment of the united states to defending our homeland territories and allies using the full range of diplomatic conventional and

nuclear capabilities at our disposal. we have many military options and the president wanted to be briefed on each one of them any threat to the united states george territories including. or allies will be met with a massive military response the response both objective and overwhelming that's actually kind of an unexpected and drastic change in tone coming from modest there who is really starting to sound more like trump now he did add that america is not seeking the annihilation of north korea but it's highly unlikely that those comments will be of any comfort to anyone in north korea given how quickly his stance changed from there's always the possibility of a diplomatic solution to we don't want to kill you but we certainly can if need be now the statements are you made even more ominous given the comments made by president trump before he met with madison the other generals the president we checked with real. earlier on

sunday trump did tweet that all options are being considered when it comes to north korea but it is clear that the military option seems to be becoming the favorite for the trump administration meanwhile we have china and russia urging all sides to show restraint but it seems that team trump is going to stick with the aggressive rhetoric that we've seen from the president as of late they will be met with fire and fury. like the world has never see north korea better get their act together where they're going to be trouble like few days should ever have been in trouble in this world. and this may not get away with what he's doing and this is really already escalated past just a war of words we've already seen america bolster their military. presence in the region and continue to conduct drills with south korea much to the displeasure of their northern neighbors and trump has gotten a fair amount of backlash for some of his aggressive comments both here at home and

abroad but the u.s. state department for their part has defended his comments saying that it simply is the only way to communicate with the north korean leader exacerbating the president spoke to him to kim jong un in a language that secretary television has said and said this morning in the kind of language that kim jong un understands but clearly america really has no plans of changing their tactics despite the fact that all of their aggressive rhetoric and saying that talking will not work and attacking north korea has only lead to further threats from north korea and more missile tests but washington seems unwilling to change their plan of action pushing the whole world closer to the edge of war. reporting. since pyongyang's nuclear test south korea conducted to snap military drill in response says it simulated a strike on the north's nuclear testing site and the missiles were fired from the

ground and also from fighter planes and they reportedly hit their intended targets in the sea of japan while in another development there south korea's involved ministry has now approved the deployment of the american made fat missile defense system partly delivered back in march but it lated to that the necessary environmental checks were not carried out and the deployment was delayed however it seems to have been accelerated now concerning a number of countries in the region china for instance has said that it does fall within the range of the system we've got expert opinion on the tension on the korean peninsula. i think the repetition is painting itself into a corner so for instance trump recently tweeted the talks are not the answer and. just leaves the option of threatening north korea which only encourages north korea to accelerate its nuclear weapons program which in turn encourages the trumpeters straight into upper hand. over the very dangerous korean central news agency just

recently came out with him and. they're not willing to give up their for weapons program unless the united states drops its hostile policy from the opening for a diplomatic move if the united states wanted to take this is a full scale diplomatic crisis and i think the president has not really framed this issue as such i think this is in some ways a war of words we know he's very fond of twitter and saying provocative things president and our government is not devoting the resources the political will that are needed to find a solution to this problem we need to amp up the resources at the state department warm bodies people who understand north korea the culture the language get them working on this issue to come. to you almost ninety thousand muslims have fled from

me fearing violent oppression we'll have the details after the break. in case you're new to the game this is how. the economy is built around. washington washington meet. the. voters elected the businessman to run this country business equals. boom bust it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before.

seems wrong. to shape our. outlook. and in. the trail. find themselves worlds apart. to look for common ground. again you with the now almost nine hundred thousand range of muslims have fled the southeast asian countries mean mafia violence oppression by the authorities over a million muslims live in the mainly british country. there was one child a hero but she is now facing mounting criticism with more his. what attributes do you think of when you envisage the ideal leader maybe

a symbol of groundbreaking political revolution obviously a person who holds the interests of the people or do you visualize an individual hailed by the media as a hero she was an inspiration during the country's evolution in the eighty's and even won the nobel peace prize as well as a u.s. congress tional gold medal the leader of the southeast asian states of on sun tsu cheek. witness to history. dixie. radio star. doesn't this sound like democratic perfection but sadly reality is far from perfect while the leader revels in glory the country is home to what the u.n. calls the most persecuted minority in the world the ranger a muslim community of more than a million people the minimal government doesn't recognize them as citizens of the

country effectively making them illegal immigrants last year a series of brutal attacks were launched against the community after it clashed with police as the minority desperately tried to draw the authorities attention to their horrific plight since then more than a thousand civilians have been killed and more than twenty thousand internally displaced government forces have also been accused of wide scale human rights violations osten rape and murder. of god. the military destroyed everything after killing somebody of the military burn their houses and shops now there's a danger to our survival that's why we. all i care about it later models we can still hear their screams and my heart and my ears we are really scared we don't

feel safe now where every security as we heard the sounds from here in there the worst security even when we eat my heart is beating so fast. the gun lobby there like after my husband was killed i had no option but to run for my children's lives we spent two nights in the hells and sneaks past the border my children haven't had any food yet and they keep crying we only got scared because people from the camp gave us the bus. refugees coming across the border they're coming across the border bullet wounds was shrapnel wounds quite clearly this is a scorched earth offensive by the burmese military the government has to stop this offensive it has to. basically allow humanitarian assistance and also the

journalists into this area we have to actually see what's happened because quite clearly human rights violations have taken place western officials have been vocal about the ongoing crisis including the u.s. envoy to the u.n. nikki haley who's urging the need to step in and in the violence as mommy security forces act to prevent further violence they have responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need but the leader is not only making no attempt to stop the violence against the persecuted minority she has made the situation even worse by posting hateful content online one comment declares that revenge a makeshift army is a terrorist organization whilst the oppressed muslim minority fights to survive. critics warn the west old favorite on sun city is doing everything but trying to

resolve this deepening crisis well a petition to strip the country's leader of the nobel peace prize she got back in two thousand and twelve has been gaining support online it's now got nearly three hundred thousand signatures feet from the ramadan foundation says that mine mars problems aren't getting enough attention the international community is not doing anything and i just think it's disgusting it's a sad indictment of the international order there has to be an increase diplomatic pressure against on some to clear her government and the idea that you've got somebody like on suki who is a nobel prize winner that bastion of human rights in terms of a struggle for freedom or democracy is turning a blind eye is ignoring the crimes of her government and her military and is doing everything in their power to not resolve this issue if she remained silent as she has to she is complicit in the murder of so many innocent civilians by the burmese

authorities. meanwhile thousands of muslims in chechnya have protested against events i mean martha was a huge presence police presence in the capital of grozny and earlier a smaller demonstration was held in moscow. now just three weeks before germany's federal election chancellor merkel does look as strong as ever according to the latest poll she got the better of her main rival martin shelton a live t.v. debate relations with turkey and the european migrant crisis dominated the face to face. we always stressed that we need to find a common european solution according to the dublin convention they should stay where they first arrived and so they are not allowed to come to germany and those states couldn't manage the flow i think we should have asked our neighbors for help in dealing with the refugee crisis so i definitely wouldn't say that everything back in twenty fifteen was done right. i see this completely differently and i

know that mr schultz also knows that this is not right in two thousand and fifteen we all knew that we've got a big problem here like but still we all european states couldn't find any consensus on a solution to the refugee issue i acknowledge that i think the decision was right. for our kids with their four hundred fifty and it's really hard now with the behavior of the turkish president is that who imprisons people systematically and if i become chancellor i will not only cancel the agreement with turkey but also stop talks on turkey joining the e.u. because turkey has crossed all red lines waves of refugees have been hitting i was not for a couple of days but for months. and turkey is distancing itself from all democratic norms that are grads taking pace there would be nothing worse than if we said we're stopping unilaterally all turks with turkey on joining the e.u. and we don't have any majority for that in the european union or the election on september twenty fourth or decide whether merkel remains in office for

a fourth consecutive term there was plenty of reaction online after the ninety minute showdown with many actually thinking it was a bit boring. ok let's get the views now he bronson he's from the alternative for germany party and joins me now good afternoon. it looks like then doesn't it at this stage. got this one in the bag no stopping or. yes i'm afraid you are right there last night's debate didn't change anything i wanted to show you

a broad sheet from berlin that says it was more a duet than a duel they are both in agreement on many points and many or many questions. it's a choice between school and corruptors if you ask me. why it happened because if you won the clock back a few months ago she was facing huge amounts of criticism for her migration policy but now it does seem that many people have forgiven her for that. i wouldn't say they've forgiven her for that they don't see shultz as the they really don't i mean he had a furious start at the beginning of the year he was confirmed by. the party meeting with one hundred percent of all so democrats but ever since then it's being constantly going down the social democrats and berlin at least the capital city of germany a down to twenty percent twenty percent it is not that machall is convincing everyone

but there is no real major figure to challenge the part of course from my party the oter on it for germany. and with regards to seeing some what he said during that t.v. debate he did say that he would oppose the talks the from turkey. there are a lot of turkish voters are there in germany's and shot himself in the foot they think slightly. he has for two reasons first of all germany has and isn't isn't authorized to unilaterally call off the goshi ations with turkey that's a decision that has to be made with all the e.u. member states and second of all there's a large turkish community here in germany now schultz announcing that he doesn't want to talk to the to add a god he doesn't want to talk to turkey he wants to stop everything certainly hasn't increased his support of the support of the turkish community here in

germany and quite on the contrary ok here look we've been at it time ever told you a bit longer but i'm afraid we'll have to wrap it up that was a member of the alternative for germany party thank you thank you for having me. here watching our team to national we'll be back in a couple minutes. to spiral downward this applies to both russia u.s. relations and the ongoing events on the korean peninsula on the point which. what holds you think you shouldn't. put themselves on a lot. to get accepted or rejected. so when one of the first century. or something want to reach. out you'd like to be first to see what before three of

them or ten people get. interested in the waters of. the ship. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself and taken your last wrong turn. you're out caught up to us we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each breath. but then my feelings started to change you talked about war like it was again still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind gets consumed with death this one quite

different speech because there were no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its maker. going to do. what.

oh welcome to sophia komi sophie shevardnadze as they hear a pin union struggles to hammer out a solution to its unity crisis israeli's one member who needs more attention than others struggling with a refugee and cloaks and with a potential banking crisis on its hands it can use all the help from the e.u. it can get but will roll finding answers to his problems in brussels well into his minister for european affairs sandra gutsy is with me today to talk about all of this. bickering over refugee quotas failing austerity measures and a rising tide of euro skeptic nationalism that's already resulted in the u.k. so should the european union project is bracing for a turbulent and testing future and this is a reform starting time before another crisis hits the european powers here the cause of poor states and can be ambition of the continental union and do another

sixty years. it is minister for european affairs sandra garcia welcome to the show great to have you with us and as you got said the euro experiment has failed at least that's what noble economist joseph stiglitz s so are it stays number. no i disagree i do not seeing that your role is an experiment you are always in the area is the reality and i do not think it is feed certainty the eurozone and the governance of the eurozone must be must be shaped up or both we have to continue toward this direction not going backwards no you were talking about reform right every time i heard you talk and give interviews to talk about reform but every here is their own state has its own interests at heart so why is anybody going to listen to what rome is saying right now. what i mean.