in the stories that shaped the week a cold war frenzy grips of the mainstream media after president putin unveils russia's new strategic arsenal in his annual state of the nation address. the white house and the country learning of that new threat from russian president warning that first reason in the west in particular to mess with russia and he says he's not bluffing. italy has wrapped up voting in its general election with projected results showing gains for the center right but no clear winner. civilians continue to come under heavy shelling in eastern good of one week after a humanitarian corridor was set up to allow noncombatants a chance to leave so far only two children have managed to escape.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow recapping week's top stories with our weekly program this is our international. now president putin outlined his vision of russia's future on thursday delivering the annual state of the nation address to parliament he also revealed details about the country's new nuclear arsenal which he said includes missiles that are two events to be intercepted by any existing air defense systems our senior correspondent explains more about the hardware that is getting western news outlets so work worked up. if you aren't russian in the first hour putin's speech would have been boring taxes and corruption science and industry that sort of thing after that though it got real

hot real fast and i mean russia is a major nuclear power basically nobody wanted to talk to us nobody listened to us so listen to us now rockets lasers nukes in a rush hooted unveiled in us and all of new weapons bigger faster stronger and deadlier than any that came before the law. of. the some super heavy i.c.b.m. two hundred ton missile capable of penetrating any existing defense in service at the end of the year next an enigmatic new development seemingly nuclear powered cruise missile it flies extremely low to avoid detection and can hit almost anywhere in the world says putin up next it's just fantastic an underwater

drone submarine also nuclear powered with a nuclear payload it can reportedly underwater for months and months silent and undetectable next to the oven god the hypersonic missile extremely fost rockets that can actively dog and the veda and see missile defenses to do it it is heading for the target like a meteorite to top all of that off laser weapons systems though putin didn't go into detail saying only that it still classified the russian president says one of these isn't to intimidate or scare anyone or invade anyone these a serious way. designed for one thing restore and garan see russia's strategic power in an age where an ever expanding nato is trying to nullify it.

we have no plans and have never had plans to use this potential to achieve offensive or aggressive in russia is in his military power is simply a guarantee for peace on our planet for it preserve. restore parity in the world show that there's no point in gauging in a senseless arms race after all mutually assured destruction has kept the world safe for the best part of a sentry. our president putin's speech caused alarm across much of the western media he addressed it himself with n.b.c. news after many outlets accused russia of risking another cold war the white house and the country learning of that new threat from russian president warning adverse arisen and in the west in particular not to mess with russia computer graphics of missiles flying over mountains and heading over oceans and he says he's not bluffing several analysts in the west have said this is the declaration of

a new cold war are we in a new arms race right now my point of view is the individuals who have said that a new cold war has started are not really analysts they do propaganda if you were to speak about arms race than an arms race began at exactly the time and moment when the u.s. opted out of the anti-ballistic missile treaty. ovide amir putin also said that the new weapons serve to counteract washington's deployment of missile defense systems in alaska and california nato is also expanding further into eastern europe with two scientists set up in romania and poland new locations are soon to be established in japan and south korea as well we spoke to several political commentators they told us president putin speech was really just about emphasizing that russia has an effective and up to date nuclear deterrent. these are not designed for war fighting these are designed to send

a very clear message that president putin said quite clearly which is that these these systems are basically saying if you mess with us we will nuke you and we will not hold back now that is a strategic statement it's not a statement about escalating to deescalating which is what the russians are often accused of and were accused of officially by the american government. decades after the cold war the usa really ruled the world and that balance of power is now shifting with russia coming in with many other major players from what putin is saying and i hope he's absolutely right that this is a deterrent against the american led defense system and that's a very important. effective tool to have. i don't see an intensification of hostile talk or scheming and planning has in the cards it's very reasonable to expect that in the short term there will be calling

upon moscow to reenter into overall forward and skip arms to go shushan talks that is certainly the greatest likelihood and certainly what for dinner putin. is looking for. the u.s. state department spokeswoman said she believes the visuals shown during vitally important speech illustrating the missiles capabilities actually depict a nuclear attack on the us how there are now or even snubbed a russian reporter who tried to challenge her on it and this is not the first time she made caustic responses to journalists working for russian media. if they're small to take in the united states it. sends a different direction so i had to say that they are going to tell you everything from their shit yeah ok ok enough said and i'll move on. oh this is not. what is funny if it turns out they're not. a fish

because of the price of government there's a question about running away like ok. did by the russian government the fact that you were here as a representative of the russian government so-called news organizations russian news if you were a. misprint in the green. room. some of. you know what i don't know if you are working for today or what but i think the model number that met. her because it was going to go weak was i i will talk to you after the no doubt your proxy card but. it's a book for the rocky for foreign cheap.

the preliminary results of the general elections in italy point to a possible hung parliament with voters favoring anti establishment and center right parties a center right coalition that includes silvio berlusconi's forza italia on my tail needs that leg annoyed is expected to beat the anti-establishment five star movement in both of the chamber of deputies and the senate it is projected a coalition will get about thirty seven percent support and five star movement only about thirty percent that would make it the single largest party but without the numbers needed to govern alone she's an associate you're going. reports from rome well it's been quite an election here in italy from the very curious and untested new election laws that was used for the first time in the selection some of the curiosities about the candidates to of course media frenzy with journalists both italian and international trying to make sense of it all now we're at the headquarters of the five star movement this is a movement that was founded back in two thousand and nine and from being an online

political movement of really became a force to be reckoned with here in italy becoming the largest single party to make it quite far in this election we also of course have on the center right silvio berlusconi of course who cannot himself run for political office given his previous conviction convictions for time previous prime minister eighty one year old was the face of the force a tally a movement which is in coalition with lego which is more right leaning group that is very so tough in terms of its anti immigration stance and we saw the democratic party of former prime minister trying to kind of pick up the political force here in italy yet again after he had staked his whole career on a referendum which he had failed but so far it hasn't worked quite well for the democratic party now taking all of these issues into account so one of the bigger ones has been immigration is with passions flying high on all sides of the spectrum including protests taking place.

around was. just having talks about immigration also the economy has been a huge issue here of course with italy having a huge public debt of one hundred thirty five percent of its g.d.p. unemployment being sued. high especially for use a stagnant economy really some people some critics have been saying that this election should have been taken a little bit more seriously in terms of this untested election system that many have found to be quite confusing including italians we've spoken to. i'm a bit disillusioned the programs are always the same and after the first three months in power the political parties never keep the promises they made for them it

was pretty complicated it was a bit unclear and there will be consequences. while you are trying to gain the trust of a tos creating a mess like this amounts to a real shot while some of the media headlines we've seen have jumped this election chaotic unpredictable disappointing even a farce and certainly expecting it's to have been more organized i mean even throughout the night here we've seen some international journalists be quite taken aback with some of the organization that has been taking place with no good internet connections inside press centers with journalists having to go outside for some live broadcasts to be able to do their work so this was something that's been quite symbolic in terms of how this whole election has been unraveling in terms of even touching journalists who have arrived here to be able to to try to be able to do their job and to be quite surprised with the way things have been panning out so we do expect final results to be announced sometime on monday afternoon and

certainly we'll be bringing you those as they come in. marco a professor of political theory at the university of milan told us immigration fears have fueled gains on the right. there's no clear majority there's one clear result that is the democratic party that was in power is gone twenty twenty one percentage will see but it's pretty much gone and the issue was so clearly that of immigration that bother them a lot and clinton clearly created that that mess for them so there's no clear majority and anything can come up there is there's not it's not like in germany we're when there's no clear majority you know what's going to happen might the two major parties will go for the grocer called it's young and it'll either use your three three big air parties in two or three more and actually the center by. was fooled by the clearly by the immigration issue there is no doubt about that.

russia's military says only two children have managed to escape the besieged syrian district of eastern good f. five days after russia set up a humanitarian corridor to help civilians leave. here are images of the moment syrian soldiers saved the two children they were clearly in shock and were comforted and are provided aid after reaching government positions the russian ministry of defense has stressed that militants in the enclave are preventing others from escaping by opening fire on them the ministry also says insurgents there are using people as human shields the un security council earlier adopted a resolution demanding a thirty day ceasefire across syria without delay russia sees it the opening of its humanitarian corridor and its attempts to establish ceasefire windows as a step towards implementing that call damascus has also attempted to evacuate the

wounded and tried sending forty six aid trucks to the area but they were unable to get through and as militants opened fire along the route workers stationed i government checkpoints close to the eastern are good at told us about the plight of the civilians there. i'm here with the syrian army and i'm ready to help leaving east and we have ambulances here with a list of around the clock to provide states of people from the east and a medical also worked twenty four hours have provided the equipped with all modern facilities medical workers also ready but. there was some people who wanted to leave eastern but all of a sudden we only saw a gunman opening fire using mortars to intimidate civilians. eastern good has located just outside of the syrian capital damascus it has been occupied by various rebel and islamist groups for years and under siege since two thousand and thirteen

and in the north of good as a refugee camp that it is hoped things millions can be relocated to. now efforts to provide safe passage for those desperate to escape are being coordinated with the syrian red. crescent buses and ambulances are on standby hoping the militants will cease fire or long enough for civilians to get out people inside the insurgent held on cave are being notified about the location of the corridor through leaflet text alerts and loudspeakers first aid points have also been set up near the exit to the court or the situation in the district meanwhile has provoked heated debate at the u.n. security council. the fighting has not stopped the opposition groups operating in eastern good to have made clear their commitment to the ceasefire on the very first day the militants use the declared pause to start an onslaught on the second day the same mortar

shelling has continued including of the humanitarian corridor but a single person has left the danger zone. there were reports that the assad regime once again used chlorine gas as a weapon i'm tired of asking this but do you understand how pointless it would be to damascus to use chemical weapons but from a military and political standpoint whereas for the militants it would make perfect sense i think you understand this perfectly well but you persistently look for a pretext for an armed intervention. russia does not get laterally rewrite the terms of the resolution if russia is able to deliver a five oppose let it deliver a twenty four hour one you wouldn't need to me because you're our western partners are portraying the situation as if the resolution applies only to damascus and to russia as if it all depends almost exclusively on the will of our country may i ask

you what you have done to implement the resolution if any of you lifted a finger if you use your influence on those who you consider the moderate opposition have you persuaded them to lay down their weapons and release hostages. so who is playing with the one who was doing it was five is all it was providing weapons who is providing the scenary is who is financing them who is providing media coverage for them. and trying to show that what is happening is. a big must let go of innocent people what they care about is those whom they had supplied whom they had finances whom they had been breathing in the last few years and now they have lost the war but they don't have the same coach to admit that the loss that was what was due they just keep on bargaining and making all those claims the white house meanwhile has released

a statement condemning the operation against militants in ghouta and also blaming russia and iran for supporting the syrian government rick stirling investigative journalist and member of the syria solidarity movement says washington is waging in a war. i think this statement coming out on a sunday it's a little bit unusual it's an escalation of the information war they make reference to chemical weapons in there and interestingly enough this statement also includes a reference to aleppo which is actually a very good comparison because the very same claims were being made kid months ago when. the armed opposition groups were finally expelled from aleppo it was learned that the civilians were really joyful at finally being liberated and left with today the civilians are returning to their rebuilding you still left other people walking home you stand westville that well without fears it's

a good comparison because the same claims were being made to vote he still let go fourteen months ago that are now being made to vote and it's basically a lot of bolts information accusations without evidence then and just let's call it what it is properly and. many media outlets have been quick to compare the situation in eastern with what was seen in the previously besieged syrian city of aleppo but as ego has done of comments they often overlook a number of inconvenient truths in their reports. president assad and his russian are like the accused of unleashing all out war against the people of ghouta russia and the syrian government are launching an offensive actually examining those wires hundreds of missiles and mortars on civilian homes and hospitals hospitals are targets in syria and the regime has been bombing them ruthlessly among all things eased goatees one of the last jihadi bastions just like aleppo it's been

a long time den of the nusra front and the likes and since then new strain itself have only been getting cozy of their militias a nice to have a record of forcing civilians to sit tight amid the fighting and the worse it is for them the better the evidence indicates that non-state armed groups in eastern guta and in particular josh islam are also responsible for inflating the price of food and other basic necessities they're arbitrarily restricting the movement of civilians wishing to leave and abducting and arbitrarily detaining people. human shields is a tactic favored by all terrorists including those who were in aleppo. and just like any still are poor there are no western reporters in rebel held reporters shoes are filled by young prodigies. and this

this what happens is a shame that our country see of damascus and. for serving is our goal is the thought of this regime. the white helmets a group marketing itself as a civil defense initiative there are volunteers work at bomb sites as diligently it seems as they have at the scenes of. wherever jihadi factions first they bring their white helmets in tow. like aleppo is no exception. in number of districts in brussels have called on the belgian government to reconsider plans to grant police greater powers to target migrants a new bill currently being debated would make it easier to conduct raids on homes

thought to shelter undocumented persons dubinsky spoke to one local who had that knock on her door. when the new tourist jungle camping cali was torn apart thousands of migrant scattered many came here to brussels it was meant to be a pitstop instead for many it's become more permanent as belgians have opened their arms and their homes to migrants though for some that's brought its own perils five o'clock in the morning i heard the door. was kind of a shocker with sleeping in so i wake up with a book and i ring flow in my body and i can burn or say yes who is it it is ok that i have no idea where they really are they know throughout the over friendly and i saw seven man and one woman coming in the door pushing me aside her

asking me are you along yes i am a lot it was a case but really they went into the lobby when the the other side wanted to see if nobody was really have the impression i was a terrorist sixteen year old mohammed migrant from sudan is the reason the police came around six months ago he was sleeping rough at brussels maximillian park if police going to my somalia you only come to people they sleep there used to be you. because they want they want you feel very but you know he's sixteen and he was there at least already for two when north where to sleep alone in this park with some friends and nothing. from home well for now mohammed has a roof over his head it looks like the government is making a new play in a bid to evict migrants like him it's due to vote on plans to allow police to

search private homes suspected of sheltering unauthorized migrants some terrorists have used fake i.d.'s some terrorists have posed as michael and seeking asylum what concerns do you have about letting people into your home i cannot tell you that i will be one hundred percent sure that they are not their host of course but the persons of me grounds that are taoist and so little foot a nuke hosting mohammed has so far been a routing experience for mohammed it's changed his life how different is your life now compared to what it was just a few months ago everything. i have formally. really formally and really familiar for me. or for me i have for i

was. a half and despite his good fortune mohammed says his family back in sudan always in his heart and over here a hundred luck a lot of our. our mother glow value not that our other verse in charlotte along with a shiver. see. the onset of march is showing a few signs of spring in parts of western europe with a bitter blast of winter that ground a few countries to a halt this past week including russia but others have literally been getting their skate on and making the most of the final icy snap of the seas take a look. at

that does for me i'll be back in about thirty three minutes with another look at it with. politicians to me that. they put themselves on the line they did accept it or reject it. so when you want to be president or injury. or somehow want to.

have to do right to be close that's what the book for free in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the water. for shit. welcome to worlds apart from the concept of geopolitics as the grand chessboard the region aided in asia and it is also in asia what that vision is unraveling most rapidly the united states still maintains a military foothold in afghanistan but all around the country said b.z. building new networks of trade and diplomacy it's all good as the region at

defining and perhaps we defining its own imperatives to discuss that i'm now joined by him that read body heart former foreign minister of pakistan madame hart it's great to talk to you thank you very much for your time. pleasure to be here now pakistan's foreign policy has made a very dramatic shift over the last decade or so and it's interesting that while your successive governments may have disagreements on internal politics there is a quite a bit of consistency when it comes to foreign policy in terms of putting regional agenda regional relations had of geo political interests what do you think spurred that change and how sustainable it is it's a natural change i think it is perfectly i would even want to argue that it is in any way unsustainable because as i said it is natural to change french speaking to something that we should've had imbedded within the foreign policy paradigm of pakistan from the divi got our independence and own fourteen focus nine hundred

forty seven because in many ways if you look at pakistan's bust foreign policy management you see this uncomfortableness with your geography so you see a pakistan which is trying to reach out to countries which are far away which are sometimes oceans and seas. and try to really have very strong strategic ties with countries which are of far far far away and ignore the countries which are very well within the region which are right in the neighborhood which are right within the region so i would say i would even go there i would only argue that when you say that this government has been able to take what we created forward the region the pivotal caucus on foreign policy i think it could have done a better job because i think we invested very greatly interested obviously taking that forward but i think we invested very gritty in our immediate neighbors and then of course the region as now i think you're putting it very diplomatically in terms of saying that pakistan.