illinformed wild speculation britain security minister dismisses media reports the police have identified the perpetrators of the poisoning attack. us called refusing russian citizen maria putin or after charging the lobbyist with conspiracy to defraud the united states and claiming she offered sex in a bid to forge influential connections with america. i. knew mike brown is under pressure after his aides called beating a protester to the ground. and an iraqi rap artist filmed say mimicking of

a viral music scene raise awareness of the situation in the country we speak to. he was little. something he's. doing we can be pretty good and. good evening and welcome you watching our international. the u.k. security minister has slammed media reports the police identified those behind the poisoning of the script informant wild speculation on thursday the press association news agency citing their source close to the probe claimed that the perpetrators had been found and it said the media. police investigating

this particular incident back in march believe that they do have the identity of two suspects press association says police believe they have identified those who carried out the novel chocolate stark in salzburg police in britain are reported to have identified several people they believe were behind the nerve agent attack on the former russian spy sergei schiphol and his daughter yulia the media frenzy was sparked by just one tweet from a news agency so i did a source claiming that u.k. police have identified the suspects behind the script poisoning artie's police has . a source with knowledge of the probe told press association investigators believe they have a dental fied the suspected perpetrators behind the novacek attack on the script files. well this is all allegedly come from a source close to the police investigation into the original attack against the script powells back in march and this source has spoken to the press association they're the ones reporting it and they've said that investigators are apparently

closing in on the suspected perpetrators of the attack and the police have allegedly been looking at c.c.t.v. footage they've been examining it and also looking at records of people who had ended and left the country around the time of the attack against the script files in march because the bomb shell really in all these reports is that these suspects are allegedly russian it is important to note that these are unconfirmed reports as yet so far it's just come from this one article by the press association but it's done the rounds and it's pretty big headline news here in the u.k. even though we haven't had any updates from the police or the oath or a tease in regards to the investigation that hasn't stopped the press speculation though just to give you an example the sun newspaper has elaborated on the story saying that scotland yard apparently believes that it was a two man hit team that carried out the attack on the script files and that they

did it on the orders of the kremlin and furthermore that the pair were thought to have left the u.k. for russia the morning after the attack and to quote the newspaper thought to be under the protection of president vladimir putin so that's the source of reports that are in the press here right now. has consistently denied any claims of wrongdoing even though the british government pointed the finger squarely at the kremlin in the days after the attack saying that it's highly unlikely that russia or did the poisoning and now following these new unconfirmed reports the russian ambassador to the u.k. alexander yack event. has already responded take a lesson. you. know we see only leaks to british media and official statements from the interior ministry or scotland yard are absent nobody in this

world has official information concerning what exactly happened in the u.k. . and in a way there you can see the russian diplomat really upping the ante saying well go on then give us these names if you're going to make these allegations we want to see evidence of it and we've just got a line from the russian foreign ministry as well they've said that if the u.k. keeps these alleged russian suspects classified if this case becomes secret well then moscow will regard it as a cover up of the perpetrators so there's clearly a sense of increasing frustration here i would say from the russian side that the british media can sort of go on making these allegations almost indefinitely without a shred of evidence from the or thora season without any official statements from the police investigation to back it up. u.s.

court has refused the russian citizen maria have to she pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to act as a kremlin agent earlier prosecutors released court papers relating to her case the documents claim that bhutto was in contact with russian intelligence officials and that she offered six in exchange for a job with the u.s. special interests organization. the twenty nine year old has appeared in federal court and entered a plea of not guilty contesting the charges against her and she's been denied bail so she will remain in federal custody pending trial documents presented by the federal prosecutors have a lot of really unclear words in them for example it says appears to have ties to russian intelligence services they believe they said that was in contact with officials believed to be russian intelligence operatives furthermore they stated that they had a handwritten note that says how to respond to f.s.b.

employment offers so this is what they have a lot of very unclear statements in the document and furthermore they went on to allege that she has been covertly offering people sex for favors and basically the charge is that she has been operating in pro-gun lobby groups and with the republican party and has been doing so on behalf of the russian government without registering herself as a foreign agent now a lot of the media reports are using words like spy and ask but none of those charges have been filed she is not being accused of doing any military related work no classified information is involved in the case it's simply alleged misuse lobbying and behaving as a lobbyist without registering as a lobbyist on behalf of the russian government of the spokesperson for the russian ministry has come forward and said they are alarmed by the case and they are calling the charges groundless and politically motivated we've heard they are saying essentially the f.b.i. instead of dealing with its basic duties to combat crime is carrying out

a plane political order her lawyers argued that she has been cooperating with federal officials in the united states for the last few months that she is not a flight risk but the judge didn't hear it and the judge said that she was denied any bail so she remains in federal custody awaiting trial on these charges of being an unregistered. an agent lobbyist. french president emanuel mccrum is under pressure after a top aide was called bringing up a student protester incident took place at anti-government rally in may and was captured on camera by an activist that. was . because i was shocked and very angry i would never have believed it wasn't a policeman and now anyone can wear

a uniform interrogate me that won't these tensions between police and citizens and it raises the question over the legitimacy of law enforcement is the most worrying thing as we know american has been aware of this book two and a half months from the very start so we see intent to cover this up and artificial and even scares more details now on this scandal close to mccombs presidency. well a shocking video that shocked many people in france what you see on the video is alexander her first of all he is grabbing woman and charging her down the street he passes the camera that still bring him and then a little bit later we see him once again this time he emerges next to a male protester and what is clearly seen almost is him wrapping up male protesters neck hitting him on the head and then he appears to be stamping him on the stomach as he falls to the ground why was he well he had danced his forces his work at the

least a palace he could see the c.r.'s the riot police during the may day protests to see how operations are carried out in regards to syria security now he wasn't on a working day he was on a day off and he was only there to. take part in the police action against the protesters and that itself has sparked a huge backlash here in france i've watched the video and i'm shocked just like the whole world the media poses a number of questions to a man or mccrone we need a commission inquiry what is a private to doing among law enforcement officers this question must be posed to emanuel macron i can't believe this guy is still in the service of the president of the republic so michael tolerates that the film scene is very violent. colleague usurps police insignia and hits a man to the ground you can't want to examine pluri republic and let people think

that they can be double standards one justice for french citizens and one for presidential workers. if we accept that anyone can pretend to be a police officer we no longer live under state law well who is alexander but what we know about him is that he has been politically active since his twenties now he was a security aide to some of france's previous minutes but he joined the mark on presidential campaign back in two thousand and sixteen he is an aide to my chief of staff and he is normally the person in charge of security arrangements he's often seen with the president might call active vents just a few meters away it's plenty of video plenty of videos of the two together this is a man who really has the president right next to him almost all the time that he's on official duties now this is the official statement that these a palace has made this morning in regards to the situation he has been suspended

for fifteen days without pay he has been relieved of his functions regarding the organization of security for the president's movements this sanction is punishment for unacceptable behavior and constitutes a final warning it is the most serious punishment ever administered to an aide working at the. well an investigation has been opened by the public prosecutor here in paris they are looking at a number of aspects which could lead to formal charges they are violent by a public official illegal use of the police in secret because he was wearing a police insignia at one point during that may day protests and also pretending to be a police officer now that charge alone if it's made if he's found guilty carries a sentence of up to a year in jail and a fifteen thousand euro fine. meanwhile the french president seems to be dodging a response on the growing scandal and brushed off any damage done by the issue he

brought the discussion back to the symbol of france. i do not know what you want to go from even to start a family again at the end up but for your assessment of i don't know not that i could be good at it to end up in. the viral video this is america has been parodied by a performer of iraqi descent we spoke to the man behind this is iraq this is america guy just live another. get just let the number of put up with another. corrupt and every year for whatever you foresee hysteria all this thing we can take every year there are some barrels and barrels or barrels and barrels elysburg and the demolished to deliver to mission accomplished. i think there's a fuel source issue between america and iraq given that the us led invasion of iraq is a major contributing factor to where we are to the i think it was just sort of the

perfect drop for the truck to be done on the back of a truck about america when if you manage it it's a bit. better to see through our politics to agree to do the movie over a little something and i feel like we can be pretty good. in the track itself and just raising awareness and i think that's important i've had people come up to me and examine the four are using awareness and getting you know getting them were familiar with the subject that they once a clue or because they were too young at the time when the when the invasion happens of this trick in just that one person in a positive manner and sort of get their dialogue and their conversation going then sort of it's achieved at school and i'm vindicated and releasing it. to stay with her and r.t. more news after this short break. tomorrow there may not be any kind of i'm maybe bacterial life may not be anything but i

think it's probably there is sometimes life out there and certainly from now we can we can send off a robot to interact with some other species out there. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics sport business i'm show business i'll see you then. make this manufacture juice and stick to the public well. when the ruling class is protect themselves. when the final merry go round be the one percent. we can all middle of the room

six. million real new. welcome back the israeli parliament has passed a contentious bill that defines the country as the nation state of the jewish people critics say to say actually diminishes the status of the country's arab citizens paula slip picks up the story. but it effectively does is it enshrined in the israel basic law the concept that israel is the historic homeland of the jewish people and they have exclusive right to national self-determination now supporters say that it equates jewish values with democratic values or puts them on an equal footing but critics and there are many say that it effectively discriminates against the country's arab population who make up some twenty percent and other minorities now you have for example now in law the fact that hebrew is the official

language of the country arabic is given the status of special status and has effectively been downgraded there were hours of debate in the israeli knesset the israeli parliament prior to this contentious nation state being passed into law a particularly content part of the ball is the whole idea of israeli or jewish settlements now there was a lot of debate about this in the past it was changed because the charge was put forward that it promotes secret geisha but even with the change critics complain because now for example they say it promotes jewish only settlements it caused so much anger in the parliament that arab members of parliament actually ripped the bill to shreds. this is an evil law black flag hovers over it this is a law over which harbors a black flag. now the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says that this is a pivotal moment in the history of zionism and israel. this is

a historic moment in the history of zionism and the history of the state of israel israel is the national state of the jewish people and national state respects the rights of individuals the rights of all citizens and in the middle east only israel respects these rights so today we have written the law in stone now the ball was first proposed back in two thousand and eleven and over the years controversial as it is it has seen a number of rewrites and parallel proposals the countries. minister netanyahu has always supported it and for years he has evolved and eventually it will be passed into law and that's what we've seen happening now with a lot of reaction. creates a lot of problems it's very easy the conflicts come from it's look i'm totally against it repeal this law and say it's a country for. it's about time to have this law which says we're the nation of the jews in the state of israel this is our country it's our language but very

important that this is a jewish country he was the first language here and. this i understand why this is. but i also think that when they're in their education and so you have a more base for learning arabic and be able to communicate with each other because when there is no communication we just see each other as man there's and we're just all the omens been. done dica from the jerusalem center for public affairs told us that the law is not discriminatory. the shift in status merely allows israel to in shrine in the law that hebrew is the official language of the state arabic is a language with special status meaning any kind of institution organization association will continue to have arabic as a special language and the islam as a culture the muslim religion as

a religion as well as the arab national status of israel's arab minority will be preserved one hundred percent the only difference here is that the government and the knesset wanted to underscore the importance of having a jewish emblem as the official emblem a jewish the jewish language of thirty seven hundred years which is hebrew as the official language jewish holidays is the official holidays just like scores of other countries around the world it is absolutely not discriminatory whatsoever. of the white farmers in south africa considering immigrating whose cases of violence against them rise at home and some see russia as being a suitable place to resettle in.

our descendants of dutch speaking saddle errors at the eastern cape frontier in south africa and much of the one nine hundred century the blue people moved inland in the nineteenth century they tried to act in the way they were surveyed they tried to negotiate negotiate officially they tried to avoid conflict the land in this area for example was never taken of the taken by whites from the legs with violence or in an unjust law. the expropriation of land occupied by settlers of the sixteenth century without compensation is in visitors one of the measures that we will use to exhilarate redistribution of land to black south africa. i recently visited russia with my family to explore possibilities of recycling in the

area and i know that the growth in agricultural production is immense in russia so i think it's the right time to buy in to agriculture russia and i think there is a lot of potential. the reason outcomes considering immigration is honestly because i see a dark cloud. over a future that the reality is that we do fear for our lives and the reality is that a white farmer is a deck to every day and so that. my grandfather. was murdered on this form the government has said they're responsible for creating the . of and they're going there's a wards what. we

already have a plan for a settlement of roughly five hundred families with their own cattle near suburb. in the meantime south african president similar rama poses said the land reform should not be seen as a threat and called on boas to stay. and i think you're right up to that do your job with the latest news headlines in half an hour. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy on foundation let it be an arms race move his arms off and spearing dramatic developments only personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk.

seventy four design submissions. seven thousand pilings. to join judges. eight hundred sixty nonstop days of. a russian w.b. a champion of it. and a russian mobster. show you how and why the crimea bridge was built. witnessed the construction of a unique transport artery that will help the heart of crimea. faster most of those you know what google more familiar a bit of the bridge group. you know world's big partners new things a lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to get the stories that

mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bad shouting asked each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely for watching the hocks. welcome to the alex salmond few and a world of tompion diplomacy where international relations are conducted by midnight to meet the seven meetings break up in disarray and establish world order

on trade issues. is that a better way to conduct international relations today we examine the concept of soft power and some of the institutions within the united kingdom charge for the task of taking it forward is that a fake negligible and a world of hard to man and tough choices or do the points the way to a gentler more patient and ultimately what effective method of conducting business with new friends and old enemies alike but first alex with their treats your messages emails. first stop there's been quite a reaction to our series on gibraltar anomic quickly and mike nichols before hubel guest on the show of tweeted and to see how much the a joy the experience it was interesting the reaction from gibraltarians i mean i think there was a general view they were really pleased last some of those paying attention to their very particular issues with that remember gibraltar territory if it's voted ninety six percent to remain in the european union but still won as we saw in our

series which is looking confidently towards the future and a very solemn view from stephen key food remains were so for george orwell's one thousand nine hundred forty thinks that the way the world is heading stephen writes the northern hemisphere a dictatorial power blocs fighting over the resources of the southern hemisphere as they've been scotland it to be in the euro is a block of e.u. and russia luciana block off america and if are we to be the northernmost part of that airstrip well abscessed the enough stephen george george will wrote his sport to stop ian masterpiece in scotland so you may be on to something there and finally this week from matt who is talking about the national security capability of unis worried that the increase funding for the world service is basically a state funded propaganda channel using its state and capitalism to push their agenda the exclusion of all others actually but it was you read

a tweet that gave us inspiration to do this program on soft power that's absolutely true that one person is propaganda is another person's information as we're trying to deploy in this program much of these organizations including for that matter the b.b.c. world service seem to point to a better way to conduct international were relations and then hard but i think a soft power is fundamentally superior to. the concept of soft power where it's defined as a persuasive approach to international relief. typically involving the use of economic or cultural influence in the u.k. and is applied to many institutions some governmental and some like a great universities autonomous commanding a public scene is defeated well it's impressive developmental budget however there are many other states in pure parliamentary such as into parliament to union to the state funded british council which for most educational and cultural links to

hybrid initiatives between government and political parties such as the westminster find ation for democracy the work of the british council can depend on support across the commons here's an example of the government's or about benches for saying the case i thank you speaker i welcome the very significant contribution made by the british council to projecting british values overseas and regularly witness this on my visit to trace in the pacific given the importance of the british council when it comes to our soft power what all the implications of possible cuts in funding to. da funding to the council's work and how much use of fact the government plans for a global britain about five mile befriend for his question as part of our vision for global growth we want a properly funded and effective counsel the project. right across the world i believe that the council will continue to deliver activity in not only the countries through the income generated from other sources such as its commercial

income and from both chambers soft power has strong supporters and advocates alex book forced to problem crossbench of buying decision from the house of lords and then to go to lisa cameron the member of parliament bright stephen and last may go . i'm delighted to be joined now by a certain herself one of the foremost exponents in the house of lords so both these organizations which are generally thought to constitute soft power how do you rate the importance spano so i think that organizations for example british council but many of the organization that are working in south africa in different parts of the world make much more easy and they said the base for greater understanding and i think more cooperation everything about the recent comment of conference was very unusual because it became almost a lightning conductor. started to see itself some of the other commonwealth countries will see him because of the hostile environment.