i. breaking news. international north korea saying it has finished dismantling its own nuclear facility our correspondent is up at the site. of the year's biggest business events get some under way the same petersburg international economic forum sees the global business on political elite gather in russia's political capital. of ukraine blocks access to russian media websites including them almost sanctions.

from our international news center here in moscow this is our team i mean you know me hello and welcome we begin with breaking news this hour north korea say it has dismantled its only nuclear test facility our correspondent was the site among the very few international journalists witnessing the explosion. well just that the full unity nuclear test site which is frankly noble we saw three hours of full time of their use for nuclear testing one of them the north tunnel chile was used for the latest fall even nuclear test out of six the other two were new we were till they were new and new with korea and told us that they had being ready to conduct nuclear tests there any movement so for them building up the build the tubes it's inside more of the real way of sholay they're ready to make real concessions now the spectacle itself was quite impressive the explosions looks like

smaller options than you will from under the ground also apart from the tunnels were due to debris were the infrastructure building is basically back soldiers ration points and so on and so forth it's important to point out about those barracks and other buildings were empty there was no equipment there and no anything so we were being told we were told that we got rid of the equipment beforehand of course we have no way of verifying that stain on the talk of verification of course we generally couldn't really estimates as to how much damage you would do with us today to go to pyongyang with the nuclear program as a whole but you will scream it's they've made this step the now well now they will expect something and with tehran and of course everything happening in the atmosphere all the insistency and confusion with talks between good as president

bush will trump and you will korea's leader kim jong own being in jeopardy especially after the latest statements come in. the latest statements coming from washington now we are right now we're on the way back to one hundred back to one son has so as soon as possible we will be finding more reports. igor issued on off in north korea while the announcement comes just hours after p.r. said it wouldn't beg for a dialogue with america that came in reaction to get another comparison to libya coming from the u.s. vice president of pyongyang referred to as quote a political dummy mike pence threatened north korea with the same fate as libya if it didn't make a deal with the this. this will only end like the libyan model and if kim jong un doesn't make a deal some people saw that as a threat well i think it's more of a fact we could surmise more than enough what

a political dummy he is as he's trying to compare the d.p. r. keep a nuclear weapon state to libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them or who could be interested in jeopardizing a diplomatic breakthrough. if trump's much anticipated meeting with kim jong un actually goes ahead in the next few weeks it'll be a diplomatic breakthrough of historic proportions but wait a minute we've seen this before and let's not forget how that turned out this is a good deal for the united states north korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program south korea and our other allies will be better protected the entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons the deal did sound good but it collapsed a few years later the u.s. promised north korea two nuclear reactors five hundred thousand tons of fuel year and a lifting of sanctions but it didn't deliver fast forward to two thousand and eighteen

and yet another us administration is promising to strike a deal with pyongyang or is it you know there's a chance that it will work out there's a chance it's a very substantial chance that it will work out i think it will be very successful but as i always say who knows you know i often say who knows who knows. maybe you won't so are we going to be tantalized with another good deal with north korea that's ready to go only to see it fail again perhaps the u.s. sees the status quo of seeing north korea as the ultimate threat as being something beneficial south korea is spending billions of dollars making bases and paying u.s. troops essentially to be there to ostensibly protect against. the north now that being the case if there were to be peace in korea. there's going to be questioning as well do we need our troops there and so i think in that sense there

are forces that don't want a resolution that. the instability and allow us to maintain these troops and dozens and dozens of bases and posts in this small country in a region that we. or anime's of a government our friends of its military industrial complex and having a nemesis like north korea is a great excuse to pump up that military budget the request includes an additional four billion dollars to support missile defeating defense announcements to counter the threat from north korea no point seven billion to repair damage to u.s. navy ships and one point two billion in support of my administration south asia strategy japan is one ally that stands to benefit from u.s. military expansion especially after the recent reelection of its prime minister who vowed to defend japan from north korean aggression weeks after p.r. yang's missile launches these election is about whether we can defend japan from

north korea and ensure it will leave happily and the unpredictability on the korean peninsula has fringe benefits for some american rivals the south china sea has been a serious bone of contention as of late with the u.s. attempting to assert its naval presence there much to beijing's annoyance so the larger threat of north korea's nuclear program has shifted u.s. military attention that would otherwise be focused towards china and although russia doesn't directly benefit from its unpredictable neighbor it certainly doesn't mind a challenge to u.s. dominance in the region what these countries are just beginning to recognize is they getting into an arms race as it's increasing in and as china is expanding its military operations it takes money out of the economic damages of the kind that the which we get is there a b. is a very complicated issue except for those who are essentially getting

the we're sure to stick this is something that must change countries as they begin to take the spread sheet. they will be to benefit the countries in the region from peace and north. business political elites are gathering in russia's northern capital there in st petersburg for one of the made a fence all of the business colander the international economic forum fifteen thousand participants from seventy two countries including iran two hundred fifty c.e.o.'s will be there over the coming days and we'll make sure you don't miss a thing. ok let's go live now in fact to st petersburg is at the forum for us i saw earlier some big names in attendance i'm sure some big deals to be done what's expected on

day one. hello you know well i can tell you that all the numbers and all the things that you were saying are just meaning that the st petersburg international economic forum is getting more mature every year and surely almost two hundred fifty c.e.o.'s that is not no kidding but of course if you look at the names of the leaders that are here as well that's quite impressive traditionally vladimir putin is going to be taken part and his main gast will be president of france emmanuel macron be sunk this the prime minister of japan. plus the vice president of china and also the head of the i.m.f. christine lagarde but you know right now i'm not out the form i'm actually out of a lot of our in st petersburg residents and if you ask me why most of the

journalists are here now that is because soon emmanuel macron that i mentioned is arriving that is that very same man who has just recently met donald trump held him by the hand and you must remember all the awkward moments that made people talk about their bromance and a few hours we will find out whether any fraction of that chemistry will happen between vladimir putin and and manual america just think of it that is mr quads first ever visit to russia when really friends and russia are on the different sides of a. the international political chess board but just like the case of aguilar merkel who met putin last friday and germany at the moment moscow and paris are on the same page when it comes to the iranian nuclear deal so also very soon we'll find

out whether this particular matter will help them build a bit more bridges and make their relationships a bit warmer again that we will find out soon of course if you compare the history of relations between markel and putin that is more than two dozen years the relations between the crowd and. that story is just very short but still it's worth checking out.

i respect him and i know him is. home and sponsor which we have lots of the power to do just to align our business. and work together in key areas . we should never be weak with president putin when you are weak. he uses it and it's fine that again yeah from big business to global investors here's what some of the delegates at the same petersburg forum have been telling us about

the us china trade war and how they see the economic climate in russia as it stands . i think china is very moderate on track i think the russian economy is on the mend u.s. economy actually is a strong so in the short term the growth is actually above the trend of girls which means by twenty twenty we could see a risk of recession in the united states trade war between us china would result in a loose loose situation which means the policy makers on both sides are likely to be rational that's what we have seen in past two weeks but having said that i think the trade the tensions between china united states are unlikely to go away really just for one reason the u.s. economy right now is facing the risk of overheating at the same time the fiscal

policy with tax cuts could actually result in a larger trade deficit between the united states and china. i know that europeans want it many people in the world think the sanctions are absurd including me i hope they're dropped i don't think it will happen anytime soon though will america withdraw the sanctions probably not will the europeans say we're going to do it anyway probably so the germans don't see any reason for it italians many people do not see any reason for the sanctions and they will point out i don't know of any sanctions in history that have had a major effect yes they are facts on individuals and companies and sectors but his star. speaking i know of no better had a major effect. than most that if you look at russia and its economic figures you can see that during the past ten to twenty years russia has been developing rapidly we've seen how russia continues to develop despite the sanctions and i say that

based on a company's own figures and experience the local market has changed look at what happened after the first sanctions in the food and drinks industry it reacted really fast and continued to grow well we will be checking in live at the forum over the next number of days hearing from the delegates and getting updates from our news tain in st petersburg. was. those who know the middle east understand that the decision to bring tens of thousands of palestinian marchers to our border is the work of hamas the

question is does a country like israel have a right to protect its borders its internationally recognized borders if you say no it doesn't then you you will be exposed. what politicians do something. to put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. most somewhat want to listen. to the right to be press that's what the before three in the morning can't be good . i'm interested always in the was a. question. with

arts international the team investigating malaysia airlines flight m h seventeen which was done to over eastern ukraine in twenty fourteen has been reporting its conclusions to the media our europe correspondent peter oliver told me the details earlier. well this press briefing hard to main aims it was to update people on the investigation and also to appeal for witnesses and information the first part of that well there wasn't really much more presented that we didn't already see back in september of last year was put forward by the joint investigation team is that a book surface to air missile system fired from a field that was under control of eastern ukrainian separatists shooting down the airliner that was flying from amsterdam to kuala lumpur killing two hundred ninety eight people and now the head of the dutch police who is part of the joint investigation team did say that most of the evidence that they were presenting was either similar all the same is that that was put forward by the group who of course

who based all of their data that they put forward on things that were taken from social media we realize that the investigation collective has already concluded the same and published it we as yet see have our own independent investigation of the conclusions we draw from that interest a geisha must be based on legal and convincing evidence which will stand in the courtroom well fred vesta beca who is the head of the j i t e said that there was it was still not know and who was responsible for the shooting down of the airliner or why it was shot down in the first place he did say that previously that had around one hundred direct suspects on their list he now said that it was down to dozens he when it came to the names or nationalities of those people all the the burden of proof against them he said was a thing for the courtroom when it comes to the timeline though the j.i.t.

presented what they said they were confident was the timeline they presented evidence they say that shows the book left the base in in russia and returned back there after m.h. seventeen had been shot down they say that it belonged to the fifty. brigade of the russian military the book of course is operated by both the ukrainian and russian military a reaction from moscow so far we're still waiting for the latest reaction in the past of course moscow's denied any responsibility for the shooting down of this airliner they also say that data that was provided by moscow hadn't being taken into consideration by investigators the criminal investigation was described as being in its last phase its later phases by the joint investigation team much of that evidence as i said was similar all the same as what was put forward by telling cut but just who are they and higgins who runs the website belling cat is

a laid off admin work who made a name for himself by analyzing weapons used in the syrian conflict and never been to syria doesn't speak out there and he conducts his press and reset from the content of his armchair and his home he gives himself admits he has no experience in the field before the arab spring and you know more about weapons than the average x. books owner had no knowledge beyond what i've learned from arnold schwarzenegger and rambo. his tools of choice for uncovering global conspiracies for you tube and google billboards in the area kind of look the same but it wasn't really you know this isn't enough to say this is definitely the same there was you can see the path from the grass but again it's not a great match so we know the russians light. and the media

loves eliot higgins or dish blogger who's been analyzing the pictures of the wreckage thank you for joining the program but some are questioning his methods by the developer of the photo analysis program which palin counted used to claim moscow faked satellite image. and image forensics experts aren't fanzine what belling cat is doing is nothing more than reading tea leaves every level analysis is a method used by hobbyists not fun of obsessives are ecstatic about scrutinizing telling cancer analyses for his claim he's showing photos of two different book missile systems in an attempt to prove the weapon came from russia they say the one pictured in russia is a new one mark because it features a recent modification to the claim that no ukrainian books were in the area at the time of the crash well fellow bloggers dug up screen shots from ukrainian t.v. apparently showing a book missile system complete with radar in the area just a few days before the tragedy. let's get to take note of the historian and eastern

europe expert martin mccauley martin welcome it's been almost four years since the tragedy took place has this investigation been able to bring any significant conclusions do you think any closure for the relatives of victims. not yet because there are two factors which are very important one is the investigators did not have access to the site where the book was the book surface to air missile was fired they haven't had access to that site and secondly. the investigators they haven't released all the information that they possess so therefore they're holding back information so that what we can say is if you like four hundred meter race properly done three hundred meters three hundred fifty meters but we still have the final lap of perhaps half lap to go we don't know what the answer to the question is who fired the missile and why was it we don't know that yet on the

point that the investigation isn't fully completed do you think that the public behind. investigation pictures we're looking at before we came to you could actually influence the investigation to find similar conclusions. well i think that the average person looking at the pictures and so on would take in the face value you had to be a real expert to know if in fact they put two together or the or the. man affected some type of presentation you'd have to be a real expert to be able to judge that the average person looking at it was they are yes those are the that's the book moving from course. to eastern ukraine and then going back again that has been known for a long time not that statement has been was made years ago so there was nothing new as one of the spokes person said we haven't really got very much new information

historian an expert on eastern europe this hour live on the program martin mccauley as always thank you thank you. ukraine has blocked access to the websites of russian news organizations buying them on a sanctions list that's in sync with the u.s. treasury let's get some more details on this bring in correspondent jacqueline checking welcome what are the details have you got for this has been any reaction as yet well there has been a little bit and this actually came as an announcement on the ukrainian president's website on thursday officially blocking a number of leading russian news outlets websites and that included near a city a subordinate and their partner agency ran over so you know what ukraine agency its resources are also being blocked in the country and we have already seen backlash with the international federation of journalists condemning them let's take a listen to what they had to say. the blocking of websites comes across as an act of censorship we see international federation of journalists vermin only opposes

freedom of the press is a key element and a well functioning democracy now unfortunately this is nothing new i mean even russian social media websites are blocked in the country and kiev has repeatedly gone after russian outlets earlier their broadcasts were taken off the air and now we've got to the point where even their websites are inaccessible it was told it was so long ago we thought there was another crackdown on russian media in the country i'm a corrected but seeing that i remember talking about this yes just last week the kearney and security services carried out a massive operation against. brain who we were just speaking of earlier has been added to that sanctions list and the head of their key of bureau was arrested and his apartment was raided their central office was also searched and around forty other employees were also called in for questioning at the time now there editor in chief kiel vi shinseki has now been charged with state treason and could be facing up to fifteen years behind bars russia of course quickly responded to all of that

calling for a stop to the aggression against journalists in the country and the release of. his arrest was also met by outcry from the u.n. high commissioner for human rights office saying that they are concerned with the increasing number of attacks against media professionals in ukraine calling it a trend and that really is an apt description of what we're seeing and it's really one that's only been picking up as of late you know thanks for bringing us up to date is disturbing trend this isn't in the media talk thank you very much jeff. her stories for nigel may get a half an hour's time for more globally updates from r.t. h.q. in the meantime more crates r.t. programs write it. you never know what's around the corner never know was in the pub you can walk into

excitement it's that not knowing that's where the adrenalin rush comes from. and you can use a nice blend definition and the extremes of all. the violence is a part and it's almost a schizophrenia. where you can do all these things and behave badly. you're born with all of horsepower for all. those muscle focus on the last. honest man infirmed the. wall and didn't follow us from the start. of a broader where no five figure out really did uphold i don't want to get. the meaning in reason is that beast if you don't let me involves it's constantly evolving.

with lawmakers manufactured to sentenced him to public wealth. when the ruling classes protect themselves. with the financial merry go round be the one percent. we can all middle of the room sick. for the real news is brutal. i. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world from washington d.c. i'm bart thank you for watching that coming up on today's program the data wrangler is back in the house and more from the c.e.o.

of tendou systems joins us to talk big data and big bucks plus bold gary is reoccurring pipe dreams may come true r.t. correspondent alex mann hyla bitch will explain and america's lawyer might he might happen tonio joins us to talk about the supreme court decision to disallow class actions lawsuits all of that ahead but first we had some health. critics are taking shots at u.s. president donald trump's trade policy from abroad and now from within his own political party mr trump's former presidential primary rival senator marco rubio of florida said tuesday that he would push for legislation to prevent sanction waivers for chinese telecom giant z.t. as mr trump had suggested the a twitter senator rubio tweeted early yesterday suggesting that the trump administration quote unquote surrendered to china on z t e an amendment barring any sanctions waivers for chinese telecoms was attached to

a bill in the senate banking committee meanwhile germany's economy minister peter all meyer warned that they trade war that starts over steel and aluminum could quickly escalate to involve cars textiles and food a temporary exemption for the european union companies from the new u.s. tariffs on metals will expire on june first and all the wires says europe will insist that the threat of sanctions be dropped before agreeing to begin negotiations with the u.s. in brussels the. hughes trade commissioner said she does not expect the exemptions to continue after june first. civil servant striking in france went on a nationwide strike on tuesday the third national work action this year the strike is an aggregation of over one hundred thirty separate work actions and was supported by all nine major public.