leading opposition figures are among those arrested in belarus as president alexander lukashenko remains to find after him among us. also this hour caught in a vicious circle germany demands russia investigate what happened to opposition leader extend of all new with moscow and turn calling on berlin to share its data in the designs to send it straight to the global chemical weapons watchdog instead . and the oscars set out new rules on diversity which filmmakers will have to meet to fight for the best picture award we debate whether it's a healthy stop or you listen to fear it's. filled with african-american people

women. frank already are not getting a warrant at the same rate you can't force a firm with their back should get stronger but you wouldn't do this you want to just say let's see one kid i knew when. a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at r t h q in moscow let's get started to live news up to. the belorussian opposition has been left with just one recognized leader after another security crackdown following last month's disputed election one of the latest activists to be arrested was maria kolesnikov and hundreds of supporters have rallied demanding her release .

police trying to disperse the protesters and when not failed they started to make arrests doesn't were reportedly detained our senior correspondent my god stan is in minsk and breaks down the developments. to do pogrom buys here there is very little give it neither side president if you can seemingly determined to hold on to power to preserve the state and the system that he has built over the many long years of his rule the protesters undaunted seemingly by the increasingly heavy hand of the lord as an example this is a spontaneous protest not 10 minutes away from us we set out immediately by the time we got that there wasn't a side that there had been just minutes before a violent confrontation so i'd mock that and scary big bloody intimidating men in a mug's uniforms without any visible identification fullface mosques shoot up they seized and tied up everyone that looks suspicious and it was over in media minutes

it seems that the better russian government recognizing the futility of trying to end these protests is now trying to contain them trying to restrict them to the weekends and that is when we will undoubtedly see tens of thousands of people marching down the streets of means against president. the the fact that a prominent opposition member maria plastic of has been arrested will undoubtedly breathe fresh life into these protests because she's a member of the opposition the coordination council which is a very long time stated different goals for securing a transition of power to really organizing new elections fresh elections and she's facing very serious charges of trying to undo fully seize power which has a penalty of 3 to 5 years in jail maria kolesnikov his father spoke to see and describe the circumstances. there's

a rest to us on the whole i reported to police my daughter's disappearance because there was already a video on the internet and there were so witness that unknown people pushed marie into the van and to clear away now is almost all the words on the internet i had been saying to him maybe you'd better leave delivers she always replies to me that she would stay until the bitter end and i didn't mind because i know her character and her responsibility according to the official version of events the belorussian government's version assume of opposition figures and members of the coordination council if there are violations suddenly decided to leave the country if you ask the opposition and their allies that they give a completely different account they describe pressure psychological and even physical pressure so opposition figures being grabbed by the arm put into caused by security services driven to the border with ukraine to poland and told to scrap and told to leave the country and many of them have done so one has been arrested at

this point there is only one problem in the opposition figure a member of the coordination council that is still free that hasn't fled the country or being arrested and not this straight line a alex save its famous spell a russian author winner of a new bell prize and she has fab her apartment in new dated with foreign diplomats and embassy workers who have out of solidarity gathered there to sort of form a human shield around head to try to discourage president lukashenko from making any moves or trying to arrest her or force out and president. seemingly encouraged this feeling more confident that these protests haven't become captive cataclysmic haven't grown out of control they're still something he can manage and they just dragging along at this point which is perhaps why he has chosen now to strike at the coordinate. council the investigation has brought proof that some

people from the so-called coordination council have committed actions aimed at destabilizing the situation in better roost and harming national security maria kolesnik over has been arrested currently all circumstances in the criminal case of being established the situation here is precarious it is very very tense balanced on the knife said and unfortunately with neither side willing to compromise you question who wanted to see the problem the protesters god the protesters wanting to see you the shame to god and all it will take really is is a spot a little shove a little push to set this team in the box alight and if that happens these files will bird hart and the ugly. about the russian president says he has no intention of quitting as he needs to protect the country because i spoke to russian media including r.t. you can watch the in appeal and for at r.t.

dot com but here are some of the highlights the minute or 2 all of this is very painful and even tragic for me but it doesn't mean that i'm giving up because i look at this philosophically some day god will cool me up there but now i must protect what has been built with our homes protect the people who have built it and they are an overwhelming majority. germany is handing over its data on the unexplainable in the case to the global chemical weapons watchdog and after berlin urge russia to investigate the alleged poisoning of the opposition activists while also declining to hand over evidence to moscow i discussed the story with artist on a quarter. just seems like this political dispute over the alleged poisoning of alec saying of all me is entering its next chapter germany's handing over the evidence it claims to have to the o.p.c. w. in the kremlin has already said it's not happy about it. it looks like.

but it's not. including the kinds of clinics. it's not the case. germany is having trouble sharing the information with us we have no idea what 300 over to the w. . so this is basically the essence of what's been going on over the last couple weeks berlin saying they've established than of all he was poisoned and demanding that russia investigate while at the same time moscow is asking to see that that alleged evidence and which they actually need to open a criminal investigation if there needs to be one and that just being ignored don't give our viewers a little background how did this all began well it started when the volley was flying from siberia to moscow in mid august 28th else seriously ill now the russian doctors who treated him in the siberian city of they said they didn't find any toxins at his in his system but when he was airlifted to germany the doctors there said that they did in indeed find a chemical agent in his blood they say that it was not a chalk specifically

a nerve agent that was developed in the u.s.s.r. and now that the o.p.c. w. is involved the whole situation really seems a lot more suspicious for moscow since the organization's words doesn't hold much weight with the kremlin if your p.c. w. is in deep crisis what with the. activities and extreme politicization and this didn't take place just today is still a long time ago the practice of reaching consensus decisions has been completely forgotten and the organizations handling of the 2018 alleged chemical attack in duma syria was what soured its relationship with moscow on a number of inconsistency as were left on. dressed and according to whistleblowers that came from the organization they said that anyone who dissented from within was silenced but nevertheless russia's representative to the o.p.c. w. has said that the kremlin will be willing to work with the organization on this case. the french president has been accused of hypocrisy for removing his

face mask during a meeting with students despite a law requiring them to be worn and public and to make matters worse emanuel mccrum then began to cough. the president coughs outside of his mom's constrictors out his hand to take and return a glass of water straight after no jail no hand washing well can we hope for macro

and can't stand the fabric masks which is sparingly distributed to teaches however he only spoke for 5 minutes with his what are teachers have to say who are forced to speak with one sometimes for 8 hours per day that the president is laughing at the world what are we expecting that the video to be broadcasted schools will be saying that should not be done but just as france and the world brace for a 2nd wave of the pen demick mask skeptics are rallying our to charlotte devinsky has more. masks are just a look around on the streets of paris everywhere people are following the rules but what if you're one of those people who has questioned the whole idea of wearing a mask all effective do they prevent the transmission of 19 and what if you're one of those people who doesn't just question this in private but has actually gone to

a protest about that attack on germany's democracy protesters from a demo against the country's coronavirus restrictions try to storm the german parliament. this is how the mainstream media. and she looked down protestors has spent the afternoon terrorizing palais city will be made of people. people who think the coronavirus does not exist hundreds of vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists put their faith in science instead of conspiracy theories if they want to avoid getting covert one team that's being backed up it seems fine a study conducted via facebook carried out by those who enjoy his foundation it found that the typical anti mascot here in france is a woman in her fifties she's educated and supports the yellow vests she'd refused to have a corona virus vaccine if it was available and she believes in conspiracy theories

probably has been the most politicized. in the may control and i think it's because it has a different meaning and between the politicians and the scientific i've learned 'd a lot of confusion among the general public but when it comes to mosques dig a bit deeper and you find that 3 of the 4 main reasons that respondents gave to objecting to wearing them were not by. ups and totally unreasonable. they were mosque's course breathing difficulties well while of course you can breathe while wearing a mask some people have complained that when it's hot out all they've stepped up the pace wearing a mask isn't the most comfortable or experiences to they are a hive of bacteria well yes there is bacteria all around us and that's why it's recommended to wash masks regularly or change them free they are useless in

preventing 19 contamination the jury is perhaps still on this one i say that as there is still no consensus that a governmental level here in europe as to whether or not face masks are an essential to in combat in the spread of 19 so while in france and germany for example why did usage of face masks has been recommended or made obligatory in the netherlands there was a short trial of mask wearing in busy cities was carried out that seems ended well the dutch study their effect if this sweeping of course went totally against the grain of the country's top epidemiologist threw his weight behind the new mask policy saying this is very dangerous to believe face masks would change the game when it comes to. even the w h which made a u.

turn and is now recommending face masks says this we still don't know how much protective value fabric must have for the wearer that's why when you wear a mask you're protecting others and when others where the master protecting you we're still in the midst of the pandemic in the past several months the medical the scientific advice has been a constant merry go round so is it so unreasonable. that some people choose to question more i think because of the conflicting statements from politician and from the one health organization as well as from the scientific community quite a bit of confusion and uncertainty is in the general public and that led to some not only distrust but also a bit of flaring up in the journal. and. i think probably primarily contributed

into a more aggressive 'd to be a view toward the case go to. a 12 year old black boy in the u.s. state of colorado has received a police to visit and been suspended from school for playing with a toy gun during an online class as a elliot displayed his neon green zombie hunter pistol for just a few seconds while sitting at home during a class conducted xoom the teacher reported him to the school principal and called the police without contant contacting the child's parents 1st as there was suspended for 5 days and officers reportedly threaten to file criminal charges ron mountain school has defended its actions citing safety rules we follow school board policies whether we are in person learning or distance learning we take the safety of our students and stuff very seriously safety is always our number one priority

but not everyone was convinced by the school's explanation the american civil liberties union called it wrong on so many levels and said the criminalization of black youth in schools needs to stop many people on social media also accuse the school of racism political activist anthony rogers wright says the reaction was not only unwarranted but put the boy's life at risk. every day we are insists a patient police shooting an unarmed black person whether it's in the back an unarmed child wrestling in our child whatever it is this this child's life was literally put in danger the fact that the teacher called the police before the parents makes no sense whether it's our child when our child is sick we always call the parents before calling you know the ambulance unless it's a critical emergency but again in this case it was clearly. defined that the gun was a toy gun i mean it had writing on it that indicated that this was not a weapon of mass destruction or

a weapon that could kill anyone and in that case the teacher not only failed the parents not only failed the student but also failed the in the entire school system because other parents are going to be wondering if they have to be concerned especially black brown and indigenous parents if they have to be concerned about cops knocking on their door for the smallest of issues despite the allegations of racism there was a similar case involving a white student in colorado a few days earlier police were called to the home of 11 year old man explo after he was seen holding a b.b. gun during an online class it was also suspended for 4 days and think roger is right again believes police are often brought into situations where their presence does more harm than good. if the child had a toy gun if the teacher tried to interact with the child and you know percival say please do not show that that is not appropriate even if it is a toy. and then call the parents again we don't want to call the police when we don't have to because when people show up with guns for small issues they tend to

escalate the fortunately you know i think here in the united states we are so used to a car sorel and police state that we put police in positions that they shouldn't be and when we know that there are people who are better equipped and more capable of getting to the bottom of the situation without it escalating this is why so many in the united states have called for a divestment from the police and a reinvestment it's a community services that would be more appropriate for handling these types of issues. a major scene change is coming to the oscars after years of criticism over lack of diversity and film hoping to win the best picture award from 2025 will have to meet inclusion standards one of the main characters or a significant supporting character must be a person of color at least 30 percent of the whole cast should be from an under-represented group at least 2 off screen leadership positions and 30 percent of crew jobs must also go to under-represented people there has to be similar

representation in the films published at a marketing and distribution teams as well but the new rules aren't popular with all actors. the changes come after claims that the ceremonies are overwhelmingly white movements against that have been growing for years now a voting group has also invited more than $800.00 new actors and directors and the push for diversity 45 percent of the new invitees were women and 35 percent representatives of racial minorities we put the new rules up for debate. you take

a look around the world and you realize that for the most part. african american people terms with women leads minority leads are not given awards at the same rate and that only 15 people of color have received academy awards only 9 people hispanic people have received can in their words realize that there is just a cultural bias that exists and so in order to correct that we have to come in and address the issue of what the represent function is and so even if we have to mandate those numbers it's just what's necessary if you go through history a lot of things that have been under represented. certainly people of ages. people of different looks in weeks for you to mandate whether self-imposed or by legislation but a mandate shirton require me a certain number of people based upon demographics is sheer mitigated

lunacy in an industry that is right now. we know for a fact that the grammys i'm sorry the oscars and other you know cultural organizations have consistently shown year in year out that they do not have the knack for being inclusive in 2020 we're deciding that we want to get a little crazy and we're going to follow the path looking into how we can include more people who have typically been on the outside that's not a negative in government affirm that as nonprofits that is not harming the iranian inequality how can work. that is not the role of hollywood let me explain something to you if there is a good role with good especially today irrespective of sexual identification whether it's color if it's good it's going to work this is not title 9 this is an

education this isn't you kid forrest affirmative action i guess unless you want to unless you want to just say no let's see what can i ruin now does adding one in a color just adding a mind a person with a from a marginalized community does that take away something from the creation of the film because films unlike what lots of creations are not just the concepts of one person's mark films are where we go to see the world around us when we're imagining a future where they were looking at the past and can you imagine if i would say you know what i think we need to have more of a representation so i'm going to force a bunch of but people by virtue of their color into the n.b.a. or or here or hip hop because i want to see more of a ballads no there's no guarantee of equality in music that's the way it is so if it's good it's good and if it's good it'll sell and.

in other world news wildfires are raging along the u.s. west coast fanned by high winds and some area of the inferno turn the sky orange hundreds of homes have been destroyed in california washington state and oregon on wednesday at least 6 people including 2 children were killed in the fires. and a fire tragedy across the atlantic as well a blaze has torn through europe's largest refugee camp on the greek island of lesbos but it shows the destruction of the previously overcrowded facility that has left nearly 13000 people without shelter migrants now have nowhere to go and are forced to live on the streets. and. the european union has said the u.k. has already breached the brics it withdrawal agreement by tabling a new bill and brussels has set a deadline for london to amend the document that's after the british government

admitted that the internal market bill would violate international law. shoddy a dusty edwards has the story. well the timing of all of this is quite crucial as right now the e.u. and the u.k. are locking horns in this final round of post trade talks and it's about to be thrown into jeopardy entirely as now the united kingdom is somewhat trying to reinterpret special breck's every entrance made for northern ireland and it could mean that ministers would be able to change these these export declarations for goods moving from britain to northern ireland and while it may seem like a fairly good idea on paper actually the government has even admit it it will violate international law. in a very specific. penalty to sukhoi the concept of choirboy or school for the very short you do foreign circumstances now it's all about the internal market bill which was published just yesterday on wednesday and it's

designed to blow apart the bricks that withdrawal agreement that was negotiated last year specifically talking about the northern ireland protocol although quite the opposite at least according to the government that claims it's not designed to blow apart the brics it would draw agreement but trying to put it all together and trying to unite and unify the united kingdom's for home nations they say specifically it will try and salvage of relationship with the u. especially if a trade deal isn't agreed by the end of the next few weeks now granted notice almost suggesting that it's designed as a limited and reasonable step to create a safety net in dr venter while some commentators are also saying it's more just tough talk maybe like a somewhat threat to try and pressurise the european union into trying to reach a trade deal by the end of october but even if the threat is more in a technical sense at the moment it's sending shock waves throughout the diplomatic

circles. the strategy and behavior of the british government was one of brinkmanship was one of threatening to crush oshie you know if if you don't if we don't get to an agreement we might go chemicals on you that sort of thing trust has been eroded. tension has been created have been created and that's not conducive to solid because. we do not want to deal with any cost we urge britain to work with us constructively in fun compromises the interests of both sides any of britain's on the moon the agreement would have serious consequences so the admission has led to a torrent of criticism also weighing in is the former prime minister theresa may and she says that it ultimately undermines the fact that the u.k. is a trustworthy nation and she couldn't be more wrong according to our serve on the lead he was the president of the european commission she says it does just that it undermines the trust that the e.u. has for the united kingdom but burning bridges with the european union may not be

that much of a surprise right now but it seems like this somewhat political stunt may be causing quite a lot of consequences further afield as the united states has now warned london that if indeed it goes ahead and tries to violate the good friday agreement well therefore there will be no u.k. u.s. post back to trade deal of course that is something that the u.k. was heavily relying on moving forward into the next few years now currently david frost who is the u.k.'s chief parks and go she will be meeting with his counterpart michel barnier they're having the final round of these crunch talks but no doubt this very political provocative stunt might be at the top of the agenda. that's been a rundown of the day's top headlines for now but don't forget you can always had to our website r.t. dot com for further details of all the stars and all of our shows. a

new gold rush is underway in ghana thousands of ill equipped workers are flocking to the gold fields hoping to strike it rich. as they over those that were children are torn between gold. was very poor i thought i was doing my best to get back to school which side will have the strongest appeal. trade and investment have become magic spells to conjure economic development. most people think about trade they think about goods and services being exchanged between countries and the investor a chapter of a trade agreement is about something very different but won't when investment leads to toxic manufacturing that destroys sacred sites all ruins the environment. that

means if local communities that are being poisoned if they object if they do anything that the company feels is interrupting their profits they can they serve. the nationals are taking on the whole nation philip morris is trying to use i.s.t.'s to stop tour of the way from implementing new tobacco regulations aimed at cutting domestic smoking rates a french company sued egypt because egypt raise its minimum wage democratic choice of a trump corporate law joining us as we try to find don't want to party. thanks for agreeing to give us an interview where a whole group or as they write a landing of russian john busts everyone is familiar with glad to welcome you you seem to be a good mood well.