u.s. defense secretary admits that his country has no concrete evidence there was a chemical attack in the syrian city of duma but might strike preemptively to quote defend american troops there. also a lengthy cabinet meeting but earlier tonight three doesn't shed much light on london's course of action on syria the british prime minister did stress the need to coordinate with allies the german chancellor gives a firm no to military strikes against damascus. with the decision even to. my. own. other headlines tonight you case foreign secretary no doubt quote. confirms the substance used in the attack but. not confirming russia was the source

of the. saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed wins over the french president in his whirlwind tour of europe with president across now asking critics of the saudi air to chart. out international life for moscow with me kevin i just had midnight you know thanks for joining us from sporting starting with this then the u.s. defense secretary james mattis said america has the right to preemptively strike the syrian government in order to defend its troops it comes after he admitted there's no clear evidence that chemical weapons were used in the city of tomorrow saturday an alleged attack that triggered calls for intervention against assad's forces. i believe there was a chemical attack and we're looking for the actual evidence the o.p.c. w this your going to station for the chemical weapons convention and we're trying

to get those inspectors in if we get them and if the regime will let them in we will not know who did it they can only say that they found evidence or did not secretary of defense james mattis is saying essentially that the usa does not have any evidence about the chemical attack in dubai they can't confirm necessarily that it took place he personally believes it took place but they cannot confirm it and furthermore when inspectors and experts are on the scene they may be able to confirm that it happened but they won't be able to attribute blame they won't be able to say who did it now that's quite an mission given that there's been so much assigning of blame in the media over the last few days and also the o.p.c. w. inspectors are now on their way to syria they will begin their work in syria on saturday getting the bottom of what exactly happened so without any evidence how is it that the u.s. leaders have been going about assigning blame for the attack and talking about a military strike well madison explained the procedure let's take

a listen there have been a number of these attacks in many cases you know we don't have troops were not engaged in the ground on the ground there so i cannot tell you that we had evidence even though we certainly had a lot of media and social media indicators that either chlorine or sharon were used so u.s. leaders are getting on social media twitter facebook and seeing pictures and that is the basis for threatening a country with military strike very very interesting now that congressional committee i wanted to know under what specific legal authority james madison would carry out the attack if ordered to do so and this is how you explain the justification for attack protection of our forces i don't think we have to wait until they're under chemical attack when the weapons are used in the same fear. we're operating at this point donald trump has not yet taken a decision but he is considering all options with his generals and advisers but

we're looking very very seriously but it wasn't the whole situation and. we'll see what happens folks will see what happens if. the world puts those in a position much. bolivia's ambassador to the u.n. how to evaluate the u.s. defense secretary's words is what he said. it is a pretext it is a predicts if right now before the united states takes a unilateral action it will violation of international law and the u.n. system should not of course accept that it will not be an attack against syria but also an attack against the whole united nations system the problem is that the united states believes that it would be. of any good any law they believe that they have their own rules i do this is not the case well this is donald trump's tweet earlier about possible strikes against the syrian government

in retaliation for that alleged chemical attack the president says military action could come from washington very soon or not very soon all the claims of a chemical attack on the syrian city do were made by the self-styled civil defense corps known as the white helmets russian experts have also bring to the area and they say they found no evidence that the toxic toxic substance was used as a correspondent mentioned the first group of inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog if you derive soon they're going to start their work on saturday syria's representative to the u.n. security council said his country will do everything possible to aid the investigation the syrian government is ready. to grant a visa. for the second team we are ready to escort the two with a world wherever they want anytime they want. an emergency cabinet meeting in london called by the british prime minister wrapped up late thursday treason or advisers have been contemplating possible military strikes against the syrian government in response to an alleged chemical attack in the war torn country. has

more on the meeting and its outcome. well there was a lot of anticipation as we waited for the results of that cabinet meeting we were expecting a major decision to be made at the possibility of military action. but actually what we've ended up is quite a vague statement so after some key points here she's condemned the act calling it shocking and barbaric and that the use of chemical weapons should not go unchallenged the cabinet and greed that they should take action to alleviate

through monetary and distress and that they should continue to work with their allies the u.s. and france so no mention of military action at all but that was the big debate obviously was whether to resume needed elementary approval and it would have proved unpopular because a lot of people from our own party and other parties have spoken out about the fact that she shouldn't be able to do that including paying clark he said that there should be parliamentary approval also the leader of the labor party jeremy corbyn he explains why that should be the case russia america the european you with neighboring countries iran saudi arabia they've got to be in there ensure you get is a real strong under political pressure which does keep hope the people who see the truth. more clearly more will not save life will just take. to school in the war and we've also heard from france micron he said that he has

the proof that is needed to confirm that it was indeed the assad regime responsible for that chemical attack let's have a quick listen to what he had to say we have proof that last week chemical weapons were used at the very least chlorine by the regime of bashar assad and we've heard from germany. cole has said that she definitely won't go ahead with military action mrs merkel in which way would you support a possible missile strike in syria and would even to. go to iran militants not to need to take a listen so a quick recap as to the outcome of that cabinet meeting in the u.k. there was no mention of military action she condemned the chemical attack in doom in syria she said that there was a need to take action but did not specify what that action should be and they agreed that they should continue to work with their allies the u.s.

and france time seems a military option isn't being backed by the british public according to a national poll just out it's just forty three percent are opposed to military action thirty four percent are undecided nearly twenty two percent would back striking syria we are some people in london on the streets there for their opinion direct. think military strikes in syria will help solve anything you know i think the only thing the usa and the u.k. genda basically. the thing the game's up the whole world knows it's like the agenda is the zionist agenda to go into syria because it fits into their motive to get rid of you or break it up. looking for excuses i don't know somehow mess at the moment when obviously very anxious about any kind of management essentially what would you choose gee i really disagree with military action against anything happening in this syria there's already enough fighting going on as it is and

there's a real danger of war escalating way beyond what we expect the scenario and the way to target it to send any more than saying no. push up you know the basic military intervention that outsetting i think we have that and five attitude where these countries have these problems have these civil wars and we try and go to fix it but we had our civil war when the americans had their civil war nobody went and bombed us and we got this side we have now they need to go through this on their oh . at least now the international chemical weapons watchdog has backed britain's findings regarding the type of nerve agent used against her again yulia scruple the u.k. foreign office in turn a seized on the o.p.c. w.'s report claiming it leaves no doubt that the russian state was behind the attack given the purity of the substance that's despite the fact that the organization itself is not in a position to apportion blame as police reports next. but it said that it team can

confirm the findings of the u.k. relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in seoul's pre the summary doesn't actually name the specific nerve agent used but the u.k. government lab porton down had identified it as know of a child very soon off to the script files were taken ill five weeks ago novacek originally developed in the soviet union by soviet scientists in the late eighty's so the summary that we've got confirms the u.k. labs identification it also says that its conclusion is based on the work of independent laboratories around the world they all came to the same results and they also know that the nerve agent was a high purity and what we've got to see is just this executive summary there is a classified report where it said that the nerve agent is

a and that's been sent to countries that are party to the chemical weapons convention russia is of course a member already confirmed that it's received its core of it what the summary doesn't mention is where the of the child came from and by the way the head of that ukraine the forestry cooled down has also said that he can't confirm where the nerve agent came from the u.k. has already called for a u.n. security council meeting following the o.p.c. w. report that's expected to be held next week and we've also had a line from the foreign secretary here boris johnson he's already said that there can be no doubt that russia was behind the attack although there's nothing to that effect in this p.c. w. summary at least in fact the information that we have isn't particularly new nor is it sensational it's simply independent verification of the facts that. we already

had about the specific weapon used but where it came from is still very much the source of debate throughout the scandal over this proposal attack the british government hasn't revealed many details about why it's come to this conclusion that the blame should be laid at moscow's door certainly we haven't seen anything to confirm that in this document today and as has the if explains fear of the questions surrounding the case have been answered there was no trial no discussion no evidence no proof there was only judgement and punishment it's highly likely that russia was responsible the juveniles russia culpable culpable culpable for the attempted murder the pundits needed even less the name nuvi chalk sounds russian means russia did it establish that it is not a chaka matter is by definition of the translation of the name which means newcomer

part of a program in the soviet union in the late seventy's and eighty's the points made there are a lot of questions to ask of this whole mess but over the last few weeks we've interviewed dozens of chemists experts and military specialists and hear their biggest gripes. the new rich nerve agents a new she quit they haven't been so in decades here they are exerts from the books and studies available to the public neither the formula know the chemicals any more russian then itself for years now researchers have published studies and theses on the nuvi chocks which there are dozens and dozens of many developed in different countries this is one good tool in twenty zero seven the us

or the publish to people numerous chemical compounds we were interested because of their toxicity the author inverted them under the system there are more than sixty compounds here and they've all been indexed that means someone somewhere synthesize them and shared the information since then these formulas or some of them have appeared in various publications constantly you simply cannot see they are secret. there's more to it if you suspect a potential adverse arena has made a new discovery you have to do the same in order to study the new substance and make antidotes it's true to say that russia is not the only country being able to sympathize a few grams of no beach up in the late ninety's all intelligence services in the west worked on of each other because there were these rumors about a new military chemical agent produced in russia so so i'm not surprised that in

france in a new king in the united states you have this kind of information that could explain the speed in which the product was identified that's the purpose and that's the job of these kinds of laboratories and there's a whole lot of nerve agents to go around with more being discovered undeclared nerve agents. and. and it's a country and there are many discovers the properties of a new chemical structure it's the chemical weapons potential they must immediately according to the conventions register it with the obviously w but no country does so despite having created many such chemicals. and it really isn't as difficult as it may sound if it's really an overture we're dealing with it's not a real problem to synthesize that kind of nerve agent or the necessary components are easily available on the open market the synthesis does not require

sophisticated procedures any specialist in organic chemistry would be able to make it though every expert we talked to said that you need serious expertise and substantial funding to make pure nerve agent. and of course you can't make this in any basement the chemicals are highly toxic and the lab has to be well equipped with ventilation detoxification equipment and the chemist themselves have to be educated not every concern for such as this but there are twenty or so labs that counter. the argument that there is no alternative explanation because only russia has made new rich ox sales. britain's decision to classify almost every aspect of what happened and the investigation is called the room and mill running but there are tidbits that have leaked out tidbits that have

the scientists crashing their heads is supposed to be very toxic highly toxic five to eight times more toxic than the x. which is already very very toxic so small amounts should have killed mr creep out for sure but again it's very difficult to assess and evaluate this kind of question before knowing exactly how the product was delivered the interesting thing with nova chalks is that there are so many of them and they come in so many different forms they can come in a powered as solid as a crystal and even as a liquid but just to give you some reference if this was a variety of the nuvi chalks a single drop is enough to kill ten people ten people within minutes if this was in the hailed even more units on putting it we can tell you symptoms

appear and follows in minutes if it gets in the skin symptoms and can take from minutes to. at first one might think that the script could only have survived because the dude's had to be very small but the reported symptoms don't match they're simply missing a little of it when witnesses found them they said cyril gaze cripple was rocking back and forth waving his hands it seemed more like the effects of narcotics if it was a small dose as they claim then first would come meiosis then the rest of the symptoms convulsions uncontrolled urination but we didn't see that in photos or hear of it in reports there are many questions if indeed this was a new rich aka nerve agent at work the script bulbs were very fortunate.

saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed just wrapped up a three day visit to paris and it seems he's made quite an impression on the french president and i know my crown has now been critics of the saudi here to give him a chance as charlotte dban ski explains. the saudis the crown prince's been on a global charm offensive of the west for the past three days here in france it seems like it's being or hugs and handshakes for mohammed bin salman he's even joked about having asked special bond with the french president. that's despite the fact that bin selman is the leader of an absolute monarchy considered to be one of the world's most oppressive regimes yet on his visit to

france saudi arabia's new tourist reputation for human rights offenses seem to have been swept under the carpet. or your legitimate questions from civil society and from journalists about human rights and various sensitive issues concerning your country we have the choice to stick to our traditional positions and we can decide that the first act of modernization of this society will be cosmetic as the prince was winded and dined to protest his struggle to draw attention to the saudi offensive in yemen and we've been calling on france to stop the use of these weapons and so of this weapons and equipment to saudi arabia since two thousand and fifteen almost six thousand yemenis have perished in the war between the saudi led coalition and the rebels more than nine thousand have been injured three million have fled their homes all much did to address that is promised

a conference on yemen's humanitarian suffering and even then he took the time to reassure the saudi prince. or yemen france has taken a clear. position since the beginning of the conflict in this war it is obvious that we won't tolerate any ballistic activities that threaten saudi arabia and its citizens and matt corn made sure his guest didn't leave without some lucrative deals between french and saudi companies with some eighteen billion dollars the pair also discussed a strategic partnership with france and plans to create an opera france say in saudi arabia and that's the same situation we saw with other stops on bin salmond's big wooing the west tour in the us he finalized an arms deal with twelve and a half billion dollars in the u.k. humanitarian aid deal worth one hundred and forty million dollars was branded

britain's national disgrace by critics next on the agenda is spain where the prince is set to work his diplomatic cash field of magic once again this time he's expected to beef up the saudi arabia's military might by buying warships and despite protesters calls for prince sultan to be given the cold shoulder it looks like those deep pockets are set to keep governments in the west on friendly terms with saudi arabia so. r.t. paris. donald trump's new pick for america's top diplomat has gone through a required senate grilling while outlining his view of u.s. foreign policy right now explain the difference between russia and the u.s. and their roles on the world stage this is a unique exceptional country russia is unique but not exceptional. that

we are there will like to smear a kind of washington d.c. has been following that hearing for us really five hours of questions there to have a clear sense of compos foreign policy vision at the end of it or not. well yes we do and regime change was discussed at my palm payors confirmation hearing for the position of secretary of state and he was asked a why it would be ok for the u.s. to adopt a regime which is official policy but not russia for example and apparently it's because the u.s. is quote exceptional and russia is it but it's not clear what this all policy is exactly considering a trumps tweets and recent sanctions imposed on moscow just last week and pompei all seems to be proud of this as saying that the u.s. has expelled the most diplomats at any time since the cold war and he also said that he would make sure that the administration continues its policy to think about can i take a backseat to no one with my views of the threat that it is presented to america

from russia and if i am confirmed as the secretary of state i can assure you this administration will continue as it has for the past fifteen months to take real actions to push back to re set the deterrence relationship with respect to russia. and on other issues pompei repeated the establishment line but looking at his nomination through a wider lens a trump also appointed a bush era neo con john bolton as his national security advisor it was so it won't be too surprising if we see a more hawkish foreign policy from the us live from. russia's investors and you still agree that far from being a great public service wiki leaks is more like a non-state actor hostile to the interest the national interest and security of the united states so really i do believe that and i think you still agree that but i'm sure putin's government actively interfered in our presidential elections and that written elections at large in two thousand and sixteen yes that's correct tony

democracy is in the vital national interest of the united states. yes and it's. effect of this doing that is an important tool of american foreign policy well like i said oh with the appointment of john bull and as trumps a national security adviser and now my pompei or as secretary of state not only will we see a hawkish foreign policy but maybe a more aggressive stance towards russia seems like it's severe of things to appear from washington d.c. this has more force now peter because nick's prefers history to american universities thanks for your time what would you think about that when according to trump's nominee seeking regime change is acceptable for the u.s. but not russia because quote it's unique but not exceptional if you can follow that line of explanation what do you think about. and think lattimer putin took president obama to task for his talk about american exceptionalism and that's an important message that's

a mind that we're hearing from pompei we've been hearing from american leaders since this is about sixteen thirty this is nothing new madeleine albright was secretary of state she said that if we use force it's because we're the united states where the indispensable nation we stand taller and see farther into the future and other countries. you had obama talking about has been the indispensable nation you are a clinton so this is really the air that americans breed the assumption that we have the right to do whatever we want wherever we want because we're different than other countries with signs if you think it we saw in the lessons of history you think it's time to change that message some won't. yeah i think it's a different world we're now in a multi-polar world. the united states and russia still have a couple thousand nuclear weapons pointed at each other on hair trigger alert

china's economy is booming and this is no longer the world of the early one nine hundred ninety s. when the united states was the you know polar nation or claim to be the in a polar nation the world's headline in the one nine hundred ninety s. russia fact of lee rolled over under yeltsin to american demands now putin is standing up and asserting russia's national security interests and there are some people in the united states who just don't like that well more about what compared to say a. hearing earlier on to see into the job he said that president putin is not yet received the message over alleged meddling indicating he supports more sanctions is it going to go that way or is he going to try to mend relations seems like it'll be the full one the latter i guess. unfortunately yes the context you put it in before is the right one if it's not just tom peo by himself it's also john bolton in an already hawkish cabinet in the united states there's

a lot of concern about trump but people said at least he was surrounded by adults who were going to constrain the strain his more day dress hawk reckless impulse as well now those people are gone pillars sins are gone. master and those folks and now you've got the people around trump who are going to egg him on who are going to encourage him to lash out to do irresponsible things and the problem is a very dangerous situation where everybody is talking about is the danger of a conflict between our two countries the danger of a conflict that could escalate and you've got surely taking that into account although not at that high level. we hope so and we know that on that there are some people who are taking that into account and that both trump macron and others have tried to walk back the threats they're making but as kennedy and khrushchev war and then learned there in the cuban missile crisis once these crises develop their you

can no longer can control them can increase your post loss control in one thousand nine hundred sixty two that's why khrushchev wrote that red letter after he said our country is a both felt the flames of thermonuclear war let's eliminate all conflicts between us that can lead to another crisis we don't have that wisdom now and certainly not in the white house a final full pump oil so should his view. in that it is a senate test on the korea crisis what to do there he says he's ready to move past diplomacy to stop feeling young his nuclear program what you make of that ahead of this big plan the story meeting coming up i think that reinforces what john bolton has been saying bolton called or a preemptive attack on north korea and you know what trump is kind of schizo phrenic when they'll talk about.