america's seizure of russian diplomatic property with the u.s. state department facing up questions from journalists over the. diplomatic protocol you know what i don't know if you are one. of the worst diplomatic periods the country. the world story. in the war weary. after three years of brutal siege on

a. situation. with germany's general election just over a fortnight away speaks to the country's foreign minister take stock of the campaign race. nine pm here this friday night your with our to international you know noni our top story this hour the u.s. state department has been facing a grilling over the closure of the russian consulate in san francisco even accuse journalists of sounding too much like artie. people writing programs are so what's your name let's move on move on to something else if you still consider that russian property or were those properties searched because there was a concern that they were being used for intelligence purposes which would be like

a different issue i'm just not going to get into that let's let on this let's move on to something else here in russia or any other country where u.s. missions that have been deleted have been searched by the host. governments you know what i don't know if you are working for r t today or what but i think. in response artie's editor in chief said the channel takes that comment from the state department as a compliment of the rawest spiked last week when washington demanded russia vacate its consulate in san francisco and two other diplomatic entities well this follows on from president trump's the situation to extend sanctions against russia over alleged meddling in the u.s. election moscow responded by demanding that america reduce its diplomatic staff to the same number russia in america. earlier this week a lot of her putin said russia will take washington to court over the situation the

u.s. state department responded to that as well because you sure are american counterparts didn't let russia use its property it's a violation of property rights i will tell the foreign ministry to go to court we'll see how well the highly praised she dishes system in the u.s. works welcome to the american legal system mr putin has apparently met the legal system that in the united states. russia's new and buster to the u.s. on a chilly. u.s. president. part of for moet so you don't see him officially recognized schools representative in washington for more that i'm joined by a similar account in washington who's been following the meeting. through a cold maybe but any meeting. between u.s. and russian officials make headlines bring us up to date with the story of the day . well russia has recently appointed ambassador to the u.s.

met with u.s. president donald trump. the meeting just finished anatoly and as well as twelve other ambassadors met to discuss diplomatic ties and also presented diplomatic dentals which means he's now officially recognized as a representative of russian interests. predecessor was targeted by the western media constantly they portrayed him in a negative light over a number of allegations given the controversy surrounding the previous diplomat there are now many speculations over the new figure as with all u.s. russia meetings this one also attracted media attention. in particular emphasize on russia's eagerness to work with the u.s. let's take a look. russian federation. relations between the

two countries to relations between the united states and russia. international peace and progress as well as strategic stability. according to the diplomat the meeting took place in a warm and constructive atmosphere commenting on the meeting the ambassador said that moscow is willing to take the steps necessary to improve relations with washington despite the ongoing diplomatic spat between the two countries that's all u.s. russia relations think said he believes the situation is mendable provided there is enough will to cast aside political differences and work together now this is all quite a positive shift from the rhetoric we've been hearing from both sides lately improve relations between the two nations seems even more promising considering the new russian ambassador was a key member of the russian team that worked on the two thousand and ten new start

bilateral nuclear arms reduction agreement ambassador anatoli antonov arrived in washington at the end of august who headed the russian diplomatic mission in let's actually take a closer look at his background. we did what we could to improve our relations with the u.s. unfortunately we still haven't reached a consensus with many. by leaking because here's a link to the policy of containing russia seems to be the main focus of many western countries at the moment the current crisis in international relations unveils the real nature of some western governments which openly trying to dictate their will and force the suitors democratic values on to others.

it's high time to stop blaming the visibility we have to be united in our fight against good players. it's up to washington how far are they willing to good relations. ok let's delve a little bit further into this story i'm happy to say we're joined live on the program by labor and human rights attorney down don you're very welcome how do you think the new russian ambassador is likely to be received by the way the western media for instance his predecessor got a lot of flak didn't he was even accused of being a spy at one point. yes which i think was very unfair by the way i actually had the honor of meeting him bastard or kislev earlier this year and found him very cordial very diplomatic fellow but yes he he was under

a spotlight and i do hope the new basket or we'll be able to make constructive relationship with the white house as you noted the new ambassador today said that he had warm and friendly meeting with the trumpet ministration and that they agreed to continue cooperation those were his words together which i hope is the case that is the hope there is a number of issues though hanging over what we saw today one being the seizure of diplomatic property where do you think it's leading how do you see it ending. yes well that is very disturbing i happen to be in the bay area right now you know days after the consulate was shut down and of course i agree that the u.s. entering that property was a violation of the vienna conventions. and i don't know where it's going to end i do get the sense from russia that they do not want to escalate. countermeasures

because it seems like there continues to be this ping pong in you know one side sanctions the other and then russia throughout the ambassadors and then the u.s. has done this which is watch more aggressive you know because again it's a violation of international law but i think russia wants to take the temperature down now and i think i suspect they will not retaliate and hopefully. hopefully this consulate in san francisco. be open once more relations aren't. between moscow and washington a lot of officials saying it's on its worst since the the end of the cold war. what do you think it will take to actually turn things are running will in a new boss or actually help thought process just the process of speaking to president trump maybe figuring out a way that communication is good after all. well absolutely i mean i

think i think as you say just the process of speaking of diplomacy will help but i also think my own opinion is that people in the united states need to get over this russia hysteria and that's what it is that's being ginned up. by the media here and americans need to call for more friendly and constructive relations with russia it's my firm opinion that russia. will long his want of friendly relations has wanted the u.s. as a partner and there's no reason that we should reject that all of branch that i think russia's been holding out for some time from the outset of me looking in that so many resources so much has been put into trying to find a link between moscow and washington and legally speaking but nothing has been fined do you think that there is a way back after this will somebody actually offer an apology if nothing is find or

will it just be a dulling a silent ending of that nothing has come to fruit in terms of a legal relationship. yes well if history teaches us anything in the u.s. these types of controversies do just tend to peter out over time though this so-called russia gate scandal has been going on as you know is had a lot of traction for many months but i do believe in the end nothing will be found you know wrote a book about that in fact the plot to scapegoat russia and but i think in the end it all just kind of evaporate and i don't think there will be an acknowledgement or an apology you know you might recall in fact with north korea that they were blamed for the sony hack a couple years ago and then very soon thereafter most of the papers acknowledged kind of quietly that it was probably an inside job that it wasn't north korea but

the sanctions were lifted against north korea that had resulted from that. and again no apologies were made unfortunately i think in a lot of people's view to be american is never to apologize so i wouldn't hold my breath for that but i do hope for more constructive relations and i think that is possible and i think trump wants them and again i don't think even folks. who oppose tromp i'm not a supporter but i support his desire to have friendly relations with russia and i think people should not begrudge that of him and i hope he pushes forward with that well we appreciate your time and your thoughts this hour and thanks for reminding me as well done labor on human rights attorney is the author of the book the plot to scape goat russia thank you very much. thank you thank you for having one of us la mixtape highest ranking commanders. is believed to be among forty extremist militants killed in a russian or a strike near the syrian city of durham is worth about this according to the

russian defense ministry called enough who was the group's so-called war minister moved to syria and joined deisel back in twenty fifteen prior to that he was a special forces commander in the former soviet republic of. been to the u.s. on numerous occasions for training including but the notorious private military contractor blackwater no known as a cow to me here he is in fact in a propaganda video this us a legal politician. focal. length. another member thought to have been killed in this strike was. he was of saudi arabian origin on was finance chief he's also suspected of organizing the twenty fifteen parlous terror attacks. meanwhile the humanitarian convoy has reached

a war for the first time since ice those three year long siege was broken this week on choose the now forty trucks we believe maybe even more than a delivered food and medical supplies to residents who had up to that point been relying solely on air drops. we managed to speak to a journalist who is just on the outskirts right now of tourists who are. i am a three kilometer away fill from the one hundred thirty seven brigade i am it just

less than one kilometer of all these little gatherings in this imaginary area just behind that building. now the residual area of desire is just about seven hundred meters it's worth mentioning that some medical equipment and other food supplies have just entered the city few was again you hearing the evidence in the sky now the side of me that there is the military arable today resort it's just a few kilometers and also it is witnessing some few sick lashes between the syrian army and isel militants. to other news we're across this hour with less than two weeks before germany heads to the polls chancellor angela merkel's approval rating remains high however

according to a recent survey there's one politician who's actually more popular than her and it's the foreign minister signal or. bitter over sent us this report. well as the german election fast approaches the campaigns are really starting to kick into gear . the current german foreign minister of course also a former leader of the social democrats as part of the grand coalition between merkel's christian democratic union and the social democrats he's been speaking exclusively to r.t. we can hear what he makes of the election campaign where things stand at the moment . my advice would be to vote for a party that stands for a good sense of community one that doesn't jeopardize jobs in germany the propaganda by the and sometimes by the left party against europe one should understand we live like we do only because we're a country that exports a lot of products to europe when our neighbors in europe do well we do well to

those who seek to destroy or like the f.t. and some in the left party who destroyed millions of jobs in germany and make this country poorer. it was german foreign minister speaking exclusively to r.t. but of course his party the social democrats are the only ones on the campaign march at the moment one of the party that's looking to enter the german bundestag for the first time is alternative for germany so we've called them far right they're certainly anti immigration some of also said that they're very anti islamic as well well they've been on the campaign trail on friday as well that they would joy and hear in spandau by the former leader of ukip nigel for. what was he at the citadel in spandau that was the setting for the latest campaign rally for alternative for germany the anti immigration anti islamic party here but miss bawn store pointed out the amount of times that alternative. germany's policies had

actually been co-opted by other parties. who want to give parliament in a position force that the big lag. and you will too place without our participation now the last dia gentiles discussed that to germany though they've certainly faced a lot of criticism but they all looking likely that they will and it's a pall of and they're gunning for that third place however it does look like it's going to be closely run between them and the free democrats the f.b.i. to see who finishes up this time around in the german elections where meeting in the country in the german capital one cultural center is taking unusual steps to help refugee children enter grade into society giving them kung fu lessons we want to meet some of those of. thank you.

i will do my my brother and my friends started to come through so i came to i wanted to learn more about the cultures of other countries. was. skeptical and if the space when i first did a class was just day after janice i saw that they had no discipline i realize that conflict might help he still want to end them and help them integrate into german society better one teenager who came here to train has some issues with the police because of fighting as into conferences trying to shield from and train and john why spiraled because here nobody is around to use martial arts all acetic not one else who objects to that the train helps him pull himself together and develop this a person. is good food is good both for your body and mind and it helps me with school. rushes

upcoming military drills with bell or routes sorry its neighbors in eastern europe despite assurances from moscow without they are purely for defensive purposes. russia and bell routes are to hold joint military training exercises this month i was planning to be real serious about this but hey how can i resist when the reactions pouring in are just so colorful what washington thinks russia does or about to do an exercise in be able rouge russia. that's going to tail up to one hundred thousand russian troops moving into into that country the great concern is they're not going to leave and that's you know that's not paranoia on did you get that one hundred thousand troops that's just the russians not counting the forces and bella ruse i mean that's probably enough to storm europe and yes they are concerned what europe thinks russia does it is undisputed that we have seen a demonstration of the capabilities and power of the russians and one who does that

has only to look at the high number of forces participation in the south but exercise more than one hundred south and it doesn't end there there are more fantastic predictions was that a neighbors think russia does well seriously worried the head of the zappa twenty seven thousand drills is numerous aggressive forces taking part in it and there is a demonstrative preparation for war with the west now russia and belarus are allowing three nato observers to monitor the exercise even though the alliance thinks that is not enough but hey they are supposed to be a hundred thousand troops yet at the same time nato secretary general mr stoltenberg says there is no i quote imminent threat to any of its allies confusing right and how this bell or see the upcoming drills we should just stop making excuses whether our drills are defensive or not we have an army we have a join russia and belarus military formation in the west and while it exists which

we did make a secret off we're going to train it how to fight just in case now let's take a look at the real numbers from the russian ministry of defense in fact it's thirteen thousand soldiers around a quarter of them arriving from russia plus three hundred military vehicles and twenty five aircraft doesn't sound like a blitzkrieg now does it. paul ingram from the british american security information consul believes that russia's neighbors are overreacting to the drills with other routes i don't think there's any reason for the neighbors to be particularly concerned there's no rational reason why russia would be wanting to actively threaten those those particular neighbors so it's a classic case of. overt concern on the on the part of those countries that are close every reason for russia to be to be exercising because otherwise what's the point of having a military but i think that this is particularly a storm in

a teacup at the moment because people are paranoid we move to either be over reactive over paranoid or on the other hand to trigger that paranoia on the other side and take active steps to to to ratchet it down. the governor of florida has said everyone should be prepared to evacuate from the state as hurricane earl edges closer highways are really john does thousands flee in what could become one of the largest evacuations in u.s. history. if you're told to evacuate leave get out quickly. the roads will fill up quickly so you need to go this storm is wider than our entire state is expected to cause major and life threatening impacts from coast to coast my neighborhood right now where i'm at brickell is part of miami dade is one of the many neighborhoods that been that have been put under mandatory evacuation and as

a matter of fact this is the largest mandatory evacuation miami dade county has ever seen six hundred sixty thousand people have been told to leave their homes in circle where i am if you see two or three people walking on the street that is a lot i have never seen in this neighborhood like the state it is in right now forty three shelters will be set up in miami dade county but they could only accommodate one hundred thousand people a lot of floridians most floridians are terrified understandably because we have been warned that it will be catastrophic there are many concerns that range depending on what neighborhood you look at here in brickell what's been dubbed the manhattan of miami we have so many high rises that have grown in this neighborhood over the past ten years and there are a lot of construction sites those construction sites have essentially been abandoned we have cranes that are littering miami skyline that have not been taken

down city officials have said to miami residents if you live around construction sites leave do not stay home because those cranes have not been built to withstand a hurricane five wins they criticize the fall in they're taken down by these fierce winds and fly into buildings so what you have neighborhoods that that were billions of dollars have been invested that can be destroyed by this hurricane now of course so many people have been told to evacuate ordered to evacuate but we have also seen . that these airports are filled with people that are trying to evacuate particularly fort lauderdale airport and people just can't find tickets or ways to get out of the state fortunately i was able to buy a one way ticket to memphis all the tickets were sold out i kept trying all week over and over again and lucked out now. i have never experienced this in my life in my entire family at so i just thought it might be you know it's safe for me

to get out because i have never been in this before and i just want to get out. now eighteen people have been killed in the caribbean by erma as it's it makes its way to the sunshine state as we mentioned several times this is being considered as one of the most devastating hurricanes in history it's been described as the size of france coming towards florida obviously a very tense situation people are preparing the best they can be. no one come protect you now it's the title of a new amnesty international report on bahrain's violent crackdown against activists and their families over the past year the rights group has documented the deaths of six people including a child as well as numerous cases of arbitrary detention and torture.

the report also reserves harsh criticism for the international community for its silence over bahrain's rights abuses in particular and it takes aim at the u.s. and britain as they are seen as being in a position to influence the kingdom's actions donald trump is also lambasted for approving the sale of fighter jets to the gulf state and his dropping of human rights the months the report states that gave a green light for further repression. well daryn denies the allegations made against it and accuses government critics of trying to undermine stability in the country seed. is

a member of the freedom movement he told us that london and washington are essentially complicit in the crimes but. of what i am doing is that he is paid sick you would think the people in the political stance of london and was him to have direct impact on the policies of the regime that a team knows that without their support it cannot survive if without the support of the americans of course under through all these there is you would have collapsed so i think the loans from washington and london would vividly lead to improvement over the human rights situation and the broadly political transform it into those democracy but they don't want. the leader of a muslim organization in norway has found himself in the headlines after refusing to shake hands with the country's immigration minister because she's a woman the man on the left who leads a group called islam net offered the minister

a bunch of flowers at the beginning of a t.v. debate instead now we got reaction to this from mohamed sheffield he's from the ramadan foundation and stephen morris of the english democrats party. boy's trying to do is push his religious beliefs onto other people and what he's doing is actually not integrated he doesn't want to integrate shake your hands it's just a gesture of friendship and it's not down to religion it's not religious based however not shaking these hummed a real insult but well i'm not here to defend that particular remark but i'm here to defend the right of people to choose how they practice their faith we have in our country and europe many orthodox jewish people who refused to shake the hand of women so actually it's something which goes on it's not disrespectful it's a formal respect this is about religious freedom and you know nowhere in what i just see you will know and i'm sure.