i. i. i. i. i i i. i. i. van driver runs into a crowd in the german city of moon's killing people and injuring twenty taking his own life. tourists cripple niece of. the case denied a visa to the u.k. where she was hoping to visit her poisoned relatives. the format of the global

chemical weapons watchdog speaks to r.t. about the script describes how he was forced from office for opposing the iraq war i got a phone call from washington said that it is structures to. resign said your management style with washington. journalists voiced their concerns over a plan by the u.s. department of homeland security to monitor the work of news outlets. the names the this is our teens and thanks for joining us. first this hour a driver has crushed a van into a crowd in the german city of munster killing two people and injuring twenty more the suspect then took his own life auntie's peter all of a. been following developments being confirmed three people including the driver

have died after a vehicle plowed into people who were sat at a cafe in munster now the driver we understand took his own life that's what we're hearing from the authorities at the scene that has been confirmed by the interior minister of the state of north rhine-westphalia where this took place another twenty people or so of been injured in this incident as well six of those are described as being in a critical condition the authorities have named the main suspect behind this the person that took their own life at the wheel of that vehicle is a forty eight year old man i say they've named him he has only been named locally as the yen's are that's a common practice here in germany of only given the first name and the first letter of the last name when there is an ongoing inquiry a forty eight year old german national who is described in the media as having a history of mental illness his place of residence his flats currently being

searched by authorities as they try to determine a motive for why this incident took place really terrifying scenes if you can imagine it's been a it was a glorious sunny day on a saturday afternoon this is a very popular place in munster very popular with with locals with tourists alike a popular restaurant cafe where people were sat outside there would have been a lot of people there because it was really stressful day i was working i heard a loud bang and screens and then the police arrived and everyone was sent on sign i didn't see much of the police room he was running away screaming well official response from the german government has been as follows we heard from from the president of germany described this is a discussing act of violence while chancellor angela merkel said that everything imaginable was being done to clarify the facts as well as to provide support to the victims and their relatives she said that she was in close consultation with the interior minister course the offers were. well as other cabinet members to try to

ascertain what led up to this tragic event that's taking place in the city of munster. former double agent script powell is said to be recovering from last month's attack on him and his daughter in the british city of seoul spring but is nice victoria who's a russian citizen has been refused a visa to go visit her sick relatives she says she wasn't surprised by the decision and in fact as questioned with the british authorities might have something to hide or has more on the case imagine your cousin and uncle are hospitalized and in critical condition you'd likely freak out and rush to their sides this is victoria script all surrogate screwballs nice to do just that she as a russian citizen needs a u.k. visa but she was denied he refused a visitor visa application from victoria's cripple on the grounds that replication did not comply with the immigration rules victoria says she saw it coming just

before the no from the u.k. there was this phone conversation allegedly between the script cousins. to us which yes well you're not a minor. not among the supranational users are. you you know we. live in the. newly yet first of. many of the book you said the doctor told me in august the book is called almost. only other worrying it took years to come to a yes no money and yet we don't know if this leak recording is real but it's been shown played and quoted by everyone what could victoria mean by i know perhaps something london doesn't want anyone else to know anyway forget feelings sympathy human things that toria was obviously on a kremlin mission to reach the u.k.

that's what you read in the papers in britain croman pawn get it reports are now coming in setting and then sources in british organizations the foreign office there are various theories some even say she was denied an answer because london allegedly things that week terrorist group also because it is organized by the kremlin that's absurd as long as the british authorities are in top of the whole screwball case and they have the facts what the media says might be irrelevant but basically officials haven't shared any facts that will make you scream russia did this russia did that to now that visa thing the pawn so when did speculation like this become a new british tradition like talking about the weather. circus capellan his daughter were found unconscious on a park bench in the city's soulsby on march fourth british officials later revealed that the pair had been poisoned with a military grade nerve agent named novacek

a type which was first developed in the soviet union at the time prime minster treason they said those subjected to such a powerful nerve agent might never recover but as we've seen both thought now out of a coma and said to be in stable condition the former head of the global chemical weapons watch dog the o.p.c. w. told us there's a strict protocol to follow when toxic agency used and according to jos it was stunning the u.k.'s actions were surprising. from my point of view. after a distance of sixteen years of course i believe the decision by the u.k. was premature you can decide in twenty four hours what type of poison was used and where it comes from why didn't they call immediately do you see w and why didn't the opposite w volunteered to take action because this is the role of doing decision immediately to go and identify and allies the victims take the blood

samples and allies and try to identify because they have the capability to do that there are experts from all countries it's committee of people that are very expert very capable of doing this work so i was surprised and to see that it was so premature decision to identify the poison idea to find the source of the poison without giving a chance to the specters though the international going to which is after all the the national organ with the mandate to do the start of job many questions related to the use of this poison for example how do you control and limit the use of this boys into only two people if it's no virtual as the announced it was it's not something that will not affect much mini more people. even those who are. the poison gas. orthodox christians are

celebrating easter sunday a few hours ago the holy fire was later the church of the holy sepulture in jerusalem that flame has been brought here to moscow and a midnight eastern liturgy is now underway at the cathedral of christ the savior in the heart of the russian capital let's head over now to religious historian surrogate broun in artie's daniel bushell who bring live commentary on events. on white. rice krispies right reason. traditionally the shape of a truncated pyramid. of christ and on the past. is small cake are often carved across and on the russian letters h v which you will see in many places during all seasons thoughts of us christ is risen christ deedes of us and. no was who we just saw of the president of russia vladimir putin

standing with the prime minister and the mayor of moscow and here the ultra you know they're close to us. quite an important tradition that you know in the state were in a country where christians were persecuted and witnessed one of the worst genocides in history under alone and under stalin under communism that representatives of the state come to the cathedral during the mean with events and you know it's quite interesting that in the past years we began seeing this tradition in egypt for example president i.c.c. who is assisi who was a muslim but he began coming to the coptic church during the. past and during the nativity of christ and standing there which the current previous presidents did not do as a sign of support of the christian minorities as sign of you know the multicultural nature. the egyptian state which is wonderful.

yes. in itself is you know a symbol of the resurrection of the freedom of religion in. soviet russia soviet russia so for listeners. perhaps not as familiar with the history of the future state. as you know they were. coming from the east the liturgy is the cathedral of christ the savior. and you can continue to watch our coverage there simply head to our website on. the live link and you will also benefit from the commentary from religious story and sergey brin and after he's done you a bushel you've been hearing that. your troops. stay with this story and cross service who. saw the cathedral jackie the holy state of the year for more than

a hundred million russian believe a very significant day tell us more about the tradition the history behind these celebrations. yes as you're saying this is the largest and most important celebration of the year and behind me is the cathedral of christ the savior and in the ten minutes running up to midnight there was the bells ring in the church a beautiful kickoff of music was heard literally ringing in the easter holiday and of course behind me attending the service that's being led by the head of the russian orthodox church. is being attended by president putin the prime minister and their wives and hundreds hundreds more of course this is celebrated their easter the russian orthodox easter celebrated today because they follow a different calendar much of the world bring in the holiday about a week ago but apart from the dates a lot of the tradition. are still the same. eggs and other hard boiled eggs and other traditional foods are eaten in order to break the fast that they've been

following in the run up to easter and of course services night services like this are attended by many and the service tonight will actually run into the early hours of the morning with. many thanks our correspondent just outside of course to say because things will jaclyn remind follow the law of broadcast with the expert commentary by heading to our website dot com. now the president of gone has been forced to limit military cooperation with the u.s. after mass protests the story in a few of those coming up after the break. i

. will come back the evacuation of civilians and militants from syria's eastern

ghouta has been suspended according to the russian defense ministry that's up to one of the militant groups which have previously agreed to leave the enclave violated the agreement the district has been under an army blockade since two thousand and thirteen after it was captured by rebel groups the rebels have used the district as a launching point to shell residential areas of damascus causing you civilian deaths syrian based ali gave us the latest on the situation according to the russian ministry of defense. obstructed video. off on their evacuation with their families from doing many eastern water to northern syria they also according to a syrian official military source blocked civilians from accepting from duma via humanitarian corridors and open gunfire at demonstrators and side who are calling on the militants to leave of course this comes after

a sub for members and senior commanders are. turned against this evacuation deal reached last week over there inside duma and those senior commanders actually ousted the other commanders who are negotiating with russia on this deal after of course such developments the syrian government forces stepped up their military actually attacks and started a new ground offensive against militants enjoyment in order to militarily get rid of those militants inside particularly of course. however before the deal was violated it and proved quite effective with thousands of people both civilians and militants as well as militants family members using the code to leave the district.

building. that was the. united states will not be offered a military base in ghana the president of the west african nation officially announced on thursday. ghana has not offered a military base and will not offer a military base to the united states of america they even came after mass protests in garner's capital against the military deal with the us the demonstrators were worried such an agreement might give washington too much influence over the country's sovereignty. than of looks at how the u.s. and some other nations have been trying to gain a stronger foothold in the continent. is wooing africa boasting about their

strong historical bond a family tree washington's key argument is seven thousand strong. scattered all across the continent the impression this mouse makes is an ambiguous africa is no one's playpen but america's this impression is wrong though in fact many african nations prefer relations not secured by the u.s. dollar and ghana is the latest country on the u.s. troublemaker list and for washington it couldn't have come at a worse time the pentagon understands hearts and minds are there for the taking external actors may diminish u.s. influence by undermining our development and diplomatic efforts in africa nonetheless as the strategic environment becomes more crowded and competitive are engaging with external actors like china and russia will continue with an open and clear discussion of intersecting interests and differences beijing's clearly stepping on americans tollways in africa chinese firms have invested billions of

dollars into the continent's infrastructure their contribution has been the catalyst for a continental free trade area somewhat equivalent to the european union but much bigger soft power has got washington in a twist with sales pitches attempting to undermine china's expansion in africa partner with. good governance to meet long term security and development goals. this stands in stark contrast to china's approach which encourages dependency using opaque contracts predatory loan practices and corrupt deals rex tillerson then washington's chief a mystery went on a charm offensive to africa back in much his trip coincided with russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov his visit and a clear sign more school is steadfast to do business with africa to their diplomatic marathon across the continent set off from the same hotel in the o.p.'s

but there's no indication whether rex tillerson managed to tip the balance of power during the visit after rule why would anyone listen to a man who was shown the door the day he returned to american shores if i were a betting man i would bet the united states would lose the competition not only with china but with russia and turkey perhaps even with friends a state that because in part united states has a very arrogant attitude that it takes towards people from africa and that's to set aside which is in and states does not have the economic right nancy to compete with china in any case and then finally there is. nation on the african continent with regard to u.s. interference in the internal affairs of african continents all in all i would say that united states prospects in africa going forward are rather cool. the u.s. department of homeland security is recruiting staff to compile

a database aimed at monitoring journalists around the world now under the plan the government will track more than two hundred ninety thousand global new sources in more than one hundred languages including chinese arabic and russian it also focus on so-called influences in social media it comes at a low point in relations between the media and the trumpet ministration the president himself has gone so far as to call it a war as you know i have a running war with the media take news media or press the crooked media as a shelling by a garbage fake fake they are among the most dishonest human beings. of the government's plan to monitor journalists has been met with widespread alarm maybe the trump homeland security forces would like dissidents we're monitoring bracelet and submit themselves to tattoo to cool the office of homeland security once the

docs all the journalists in the country this isn't bad at all when you have a president who's called the prez the enemy of the american people i think in sunder standard for people to be concerned when d.h. asked announces that they want to create a media monitoring platform meanwhile a spokesperson for homeland security has pushed back against suggestions the plan will compromise freedom of speech saying that media monitoring is standard practice for comparing critics to conspiracy theorists and he spoke to political talk show host brian crabtree to get his take on the plan. i'm a little puzzled why everyone can't look in their own mirror in the united states and realize we do have a media problem here a big think we've got to do something to dis incentivize fake news which is basically lying or creating a disingenuous presentation to the american people which is ultimately misleading as to the facts i don't think that that should be outlawed but i think it should be

frowned upon enough that society just doesn't tolerate it we've got to hold our media accountable to the truth whatever does that i'm for if we step one one bit over that line i'm vehemently against it. finally in case you missed it previously it's a much lighter note a story from kazakhstan about the rescue of a baby squirrel.

thanks thing with you watching on the international latest headlines coming your way top of their. it's the cradle of jazz. america is the america we. know this jazz feel. a city of climatic contest trophies of alligators on the loose of poverty and crime are used by the least swell members of my family close most. of street racing in the heat of the night this is new orleans. the best place in the world.

the scriptural saga is far from over but after eighteen e.u. countries send russian diplomats home it's already taken its toll on russia's relations with europe can this rush to judgment pave the way for a more measured policy in the future. for a world cup twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more question and by the way who's going to be our coach. guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star and the huge amount of pressure you have to the center of the pole with you and do all the great british good you are the rock at the back nobody gets past

you we need you to get the ball going let's go. alone. and i'm really happy to join for the two thousand and thirteen world cup in russia meet the special one. meets just at the reno p.r.t. teams later. dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles of. the new socks for the tell you that some of the. most important news today. off about tell me you are not cool enough to buy their product. all the hawks that we along with are on. walking.

this is being treated as a major incident involving a tentative. administration of a nerve agent it is now clear that mr scrip common to store were poisoned with a military grade nerve agent of the type developed by russia this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way if russia is behind this is a brazen. war the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the act against segue into the script can we just stop russia today broadcasting it's probably going to we need to continue seeking a robust dialogue with russia rather than simply cutting off contact and letting

the tensions and divisions get worse and potentially even more dangerous we got into a big night tonight to clear up the matter of russia used radiological substances and its barbaric assault on mr litvinenko there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of mr screw kyle and his daughter and for threatening the lives of other british citizens in saul's ring including detective sergeant nick bane of the united kingdom will now expel twenty three russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers. welcome to going underground special a historic day for london moscow relations in the wake of the atrocity in wiltshire in the south west of england in a moment we'll hear from the chair of politics society and political journalism at the university of sheffield professor pearce what robinson but now i'm joined by

broadcaster i'm former liberal. member of parliament that video pick and then big that's just start with what you thought of tourism is performance in the bus for you i was in parliament it was let's use the going word today robust made it absolutely clear that she's pointing the finger of blame for the incident and solsbury all at russia and not just at russia but at the russian state as she left no doubt at all that she's made her judgment a point when we still haven't had any legal investigation no formal inquiry but quite clearly the prime minister and her advisors have decided this is the time to take on putin directly and try to provoke some kind of either a justification a confession or denial irrational security state getting more efficient than when the atrocity happened in mayfair in central london because germany corbin. from him in his books people they still seem to be expressing some doubt over a w m d use yes well there's

a big schism going on in british politics now on the one side you've got the government on some labor m.p.'s saying well russia is to blame take our t.v. off air that skep the sanctions going and then you've got a more cautious jeremy corbyn who spokes person previously said and i think opens back this up well this is a time to build our relationship with russia rather than simply to condemn russia as guilty for this crime that we can assume it was a crime i think that that's undisputable but to simply say we know enough now to take the expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats from the russian embassy as a proportionate response is is more than corbin would have done and i think many other people who'd also be concerned that we're compromising the rule of law and the concept of innocent until proven guilty in the interests of political expedience obvious is the security services that are doing the talking and it.