one now. so you should be seen in here and a whole lot more than you're saying if you don't take that advice easy going to do it yourself. step on a car has come on the probably the heaviest shelling since we arrived here. the capital of the war mcconnell is hit by drone strikes damaging the emergency ministry building and other structures are to use correspondent reports from the ground. also in the form of a bomb russia and france a syrian militants are pouring into the conflict zone as ever and baku accusations over foreign mercenaries. also this hour donald trump revealed he and the 1st lady have tested positive for covert 19 and will quarantine at the white house. and tit for tat the e.u. sanctions by the russian officials over allegations of election rigging at mit's

quick to return the favor. welcome to the program this is our 2 international bring you your live news update this hour now we start with the latest escalation in the conflicts between armenia and azerbaijan the capital of the disputed region of no go on a car bomb has been attacked with drones a bridge and multiple buildings have been damaged among the buildings hit was the ministry of emergencies where windows were shattered and walls penetrated by shells from the side of the explosion here as are to use it. has come under probably the heaviest shelling since we arrived here 2 massive explosions in the very center of the city usually what we could hear what we could see the smoke from the explosions on the outskirts in the suburbs this is the very city center and moreover this is

the building of the ministry of emergencies so it has been obliterated i mean look look at this everything is gone windows are gone the whole wall there's a hole in the whole wall and it's not just this building there's a whole complex it's a large it's a large complex and it's everywhere like this obliterated not raise to the ground but it's gone i don't see any way how it can be fixed all renovated we don't know what we don't know what exactly caused the explosion but we didn't hear any sirens and sirens so probably wasn't a drone but some really heavy artillery and with a very long range as well but we have to go they are telling us it's not safe because sometimes as the azerbaijanis are using these so-called double tap so that they not only they destroy the building but also the kill soldiers who arrived here we've arrived here with the soldiers as well so we have to go this is the crater

that was made by one of the rockets and this is a piece from a the military here is telling me that this is a 250 caliber 250 millimeter caliber so it is a massive rocket they don't know exactly what it is they're telling me these these are not laws but that this one is also israeli made. a 2nd airstrike hit a bridge connecting armenia to the car bomb region russian thing or an activist witnessed that attack. first there was an explosion and something was flying around overhead then there was an air raid alert these were drones i so huge hole in the breach this is something else flew over the village there was nowhere to hide the made us leave the car so as not to become targets i hid under canopy i saw the bridge being bombed with my own eyes and heard more explosions. then they're going to conflict is one of several border disputes still unresolved since the collapse

of the soviet union play a populated mainly by armenians broke away from azerbaijan in 1988 but has not been widely recognized as a sovereign state in all the french president has warned nato alliance member turkey which backs azerbaijan has crossed a red line and i know macross says he's received intelligence that 300 syrian fighters were let through the country on their way to fight for baku but azerbaijan and armenia are accusing each other of deploying foreign mercenaries as are to smuggle see if with more on that. well aside from an increasingly violent and volatile situation on the ground things that heating up on the diplomatic into the actual stage i would say at this point that they are boiling france now coming out with an increasingly hardline stance on what is happening in the region in these in this conflict the nasty thing that they've come by the same intelligence as russia had that there are indeed syrian geologist's mercenary fighters being transported

and utilized by is it about jobs in the fight against armenia. today we have information with certainty that indicates that militants from to have just groups who left the field of combat and syria to rejoin the field of combat and care about what has this information regarding the transfer of mercenary fighters from the middle east to the going to curb area the information exists and it was presented in social networks and relevant publications previously tacky and as it about john had vehemently denied that they were usually using utilizing syrian mercenaries and in the fight against armenia against catabolic but in recent days that lied has changed now they're accusing armenia of itself using hiring mercenaries and or the guise of them being volunteers. there is much historic evidence for meaning of terrorists and mercenaries during the occupation of nagorno-karabakh and adjacent

regions of their beach on their mini and leadership continues this policy today mercenaries are pumped into the conflict zone disguised as mountaineers according to our information about 4 families and militants have recently been deployed by turkey from syria to azerbaijan they are already fighting for azerbaijan they are trained in militant camps in than transferred weirdly calling its international concern doesn't quite do it justice there are very concrete fears that have taken root that this could be a runaway conflict the potential at escalation could be catastrophic because all these powers regional powers could be pulled into this war into this conflict irregardless of what they want russia for example with its security pact defense pact with armenia iraq making it know very well that it is tremendously concerned about syrian fighters mercenaries which is his forte in syria now being flew to

its doorstep. just just to show how can they are france the united states and russia have come together in a in a comparatively rare feat edition a joint statement calling for peace the turkey for one doesn't quite believe that that can happen if. the fact that america russia and france known as the minsk trio are looking for cease fire in the face of these negative developments just because they have been equipped to this problem for nearly 30 years is unacceptable turkey's position and to a lesser degree that of is it by john is that there has been years decades of talks and they've led to nothing they've been completely fruitless the karabakh problem is still a problem the flare ups are still happening and they say this is not the time for peace this is a tired. to resolve this conflict by military means because all these talks have

led to nothing and if we keep talking the conflict will keep escalating and unless the underlying issue is resolved and that is who controls care about the problem will persist as a bridge on has also seen its share of destruction in the region of was hit by shelling and several buildings were destroyed there and both sides have released a string of videos to back up their claims of tactical victories but are making contradictory claims about the damage inflicted and sustained artist looks at how this information has become one of the key weapons and the ground war deception in full scale aims of military victories are as old as will fire itself but in the digital age the distance from ation can be tough. the military propaganda machine of armenia which found itself in a stalemate after a series of successful hostilities by the us or by johnny army began a large scale provocation in the information space though the armenian side as always presents old video of past battles as new ones the goal is to present their

failures to the population as successes the ongoing conflict in the want to care about is an example of how information is deployed just as powerfully and destructively as guns claiming victory can play as important a role as physically claiming territory it's all about the image you project so one surprise in that just as azerbaijan tried to discredit armenians claims of success yards on shot off its own attack. the enemy both at the front in the information space is making his last efforts is running out of steam and therefore threw everything all possible weapons into and even fakes and falls over the past few days there has been a relentless stream of accusations from one side followed by denials from the other and this exchange of fire has made finding the truth almost impossible for example armenia says one of its su 25 warplanes was shot down by tucker's fighter jet talky

and as a by john denounce this is law is and with no footage or i want to says it's one side's word against the others so what is the truth but even when evidence is put forward the truth proves to be just as elusive the car back to france ministry sit down and sorry helicopter a photo of a burning helicopter hurtling to the ground is posted on social media a small victory is claimed it turns out the photo was actually of a helicopter shot down over syria back in february but it doesn't matter because people thought it was a sari and that will stick as a boy john uses the same tactics to post about a successful strike bridge on his side did not publish any midges of the strikes and their mean in positions of military equipment it turned out it was for those from the war in syria these videos were shot thousands of times and so without being the truth they become a version of the truth so we're letting this has this war of information become

that journalists have been put on high alert. all members of the media in armenia and azerbaijan to not take part in the ongoing information war journalists should avoid manipulation and official propaganda. it is important to cross-check information even when it comes from official sources journalists should never become soldiers in the information war one of russia's most famous all stars once compared to wash away all that is not gold then you will find your shining not that well when it comes to car that's still a knot of sifting through the muddy river of misinformation to be done before we even get close to the truth. donald trump has announced he and his wife melania have both tested positive for coated 19 it comes not long after he said he would go into corn tea and when one of his closest allies also tested positive for the virus earlier my colleague neil harvey discussed the development

with artists got it. most people went to sleep here in the united states they gave us hope hicks the president's longtime aide and 31 year old assistant was the one who tested positive last notes from the president when most people would just sleep was that he we had been tested he and his wife were tested since then about 12 o 5 the official memorandum came from dr connally the president's physician confirming that both the president as well as the 1st lady of what had tested positive however it does say that the president is in good health and will continue to be able to handle the position so here we here in the united states do have the ability thanks to the 25th amendment to the president is incapacitated he can temporarily pass his powers over to the vice president we are not at this stage because the president himself is asymptomatic as of now and only took the test because of a closeness that he had to hope it's after he tested positive herself so they seem

to the must be some implications so when it comes to his campaigning how is this going to what he would normally be doing in these bid to stay on this president. well that is a very good question we're going to find out a lot once the sun rises here in the united states how people are going to react to it is there going to be fear obviously the markets are going to be the 1st has to see how wall street is reacting to it but the campaign is very much alive and i'm on task considering it's $32.00 days the president has all campaigning there all of it that he was going to be attending as evan now he cleared his schedule only one happening at 1215 today he's going to host a phone call from the white house on oddly enough coded 1000 support to vulnerable seniors sent in i think the president knows very much personally right now how to handle we are within the 14 day quarantine timeframe however to the next debate which is supposed to happen on october 15th so it will depend on whether or not the president is able to meet the specific guidelines as of now they are too negative

a test to do negative test taken whether or not the president has this 2nd debate as scheduled on time i honestly my personal opinion is i do not think it is going to be very likely i think they will push 'd it outside the 14 day window and there will be that 3rd debate that's supposed to be happening in nashville tennessee on october 22nd as well all of these can be pushed on the one thing that cannot be pushed off however is the actual election day which is november 3rd it has never happened in history to take you through a 3rd vote by congress to change the election date and congress has not gotten along very well on any issue let's be very highly doubtful that they would change it even on that this still to come in the program that you slap sanctions on belorussian officials over election rigging claims and also the crackdown on protests there but leaves go off the list and 6 response after the short break.

join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you that. is you'll be a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation or community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what's his face.

in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us on the debt. or a mate in the shallowness. come back when you has sanctioned dozens of belorussian officials over allegations of election rigging rigging and the country's brutal crackdown on protesters man's quest quick to react and showing its own blacklist with all the details here's peter all over from berlin. it was a long time coming but the european union have agreed sanctions on belorussian officials following all gifts this election the reason for the delay was a standoff between cyprus and well pretty much the rest of the e.u. bloc cyprus wanted to see action taken against turkey over an kriz exploration for

energy resources off its coast before it would agree to any form of sanctions against bella ruse that action against turkey that was agreed eventually and therefore they were able to proceed with the better russian sanctions so dozens of senior officials 40 in total will be. facing sanctions this is to do with them they being accused of falsifying election results and a crackdown on protests following not election back in august now notably absent from this least is your gaze bell russian president alexander you can shank his name not being there is raised a few eyebrows however underlying the commission president says these sanctions send the right message there will be no impunity for those who are responsible for the crackdown on demonstrators and opposition politicians tsui important is this a clue. into we are critical and we repeat if we would like to to to consider the

people of the has the rights to do to mean what's the only future french president to manual microamp back not putting sanctions on belarusian president alyaksandr lucas shank is saying that if they did that they could see he retreats into a funk a mentality and refuse any future talks until amir cote the german chancellor said the result came after a long night of discussions but called this a real step forward minsk for their part they aren't happy about this at all as you would imagine they say that no nation on. the plan it would've agreed to the demands that were being made of it by the european union and that they'll be countering the sanctions with sanctions of they were saying sions have been imposed as a punitive measure for the belorussian failure to comply with a set of ultimatum requirements that not a single self respecting sovereign state would ever meet moscow which has

a key role to play in the future of bellary stewed to the longstanding and close ties between the 2 countries has responded to the news of the sanctions to meet the press core of the kremlin spokes person less than impressed with the move made by brussels it was. these sanctions are a manifestation of weakness not of strength and could be included on the list that would have deprived the e.u. the chance to maintain dialogue including on topics of interest to both sides we have a very negative attitude toward sanctions in general the u.k. young canada both are out sanctions against belarus previously the u.k. issued a asset freeze against alexander lukashenko the reason for this delay from the european side is a touch embarrassing and highlights some splits within the union it requires unanimity to impose sanctions for the e.u. to impose sanctions on a nation basically the baltic states and in particular lift you when you were demanding action and mediately while cyprus said no no no hang on there we'll get

to your problem once ours is sorted so belorussian officials 40 of them in total will have sanctions placed upon them notably absent from that list though alexander lukashenko runner up 1st a geo political analysts in germany says that in the game of sanctions it's the people who lose out. so i think it's just a game of slightly stepping up the. tone. was against look i think oh. i see the difficulty that. usually when we have reached a stage of sanctions ones it's like a one way road and we will never 3 never get out of it so we can take years and that was sanctions 1st may harm or may seem to harm the political elite but in the air and we know from enough experience in this world iraq syria venezuela

that it's the normal people it's most of all the poor people who are hit very very severely by those sanctions as soon as they got really tough. moscow and other major russian cities are toughening their coronavirus restrictions after a surge in cases artists on a quarter takes us through the new measures. over the past several weeks russia seen a significant rise in the rate of new covert cases with nearly $9000.00 new infections over just the past 24 hours of course the country's 2 largest cities have been hit the hardest in st petersburg cases have exceeded those from june worrying authorities that a 2nd wave may have already begun they've already made it mandatory for people to wear face masks on public transport under the penalty of a fine but on the other hand moscow's mayor seems to think the capital has enough hospital beds to handle whatever comes out it but he still introduce new measures to deal with what he considers to be a very serious situation in the developments

a very serious i expect the daily caseload to project 3000 in the coming days we are seeing an increase in the number of people hospitalized those who are seriously ill patients on the ventilator all these numbers are rising in the daily hospitalization rate has reached 1000 and this is twice as high as 2 weeks ago. the new measures will go into effect on october 5th and they'll require all businesses to have at least 30 percent of their workforce on an at home work regime people 65 and older and those with serious illnesses will also be required to work from home and as for children the mayor has declared a 2 week school holiday for the beginning of october to curb the rate of infection the proportion of children who contract it could be 19 has for the 1st time exceeded 900 percent of all cases although they usually have mild symptoms or nonis will they can pass the disease on to older family members who are likely to develop much more serious symptoms so far russia sporting the vaccine is going ahead with

phase 3 testing as planned with no serious side effects reported the mayor of moscow hopes the 1st batches will be produced either by november or december and perhaps this time around the authorities will have an advantage on keeping new infections low. spot has broken out between authorities in madrid and the spanish government after reimpose lockdown measures on the city and surrounding areas the region is the country's worst hit by cope in $1000.00 i counting for more than one 3rd of infections but the local administration says the new lockdown is illegal and violates freedoms. the mother gave you push with what i can tell you is that we have to act with determination to take control of the pandemic in the madrid region and this is the most important thing we have to do in this moment because health comes 1st to get on with cares we believe this document contains decisions that concern the entire national health system and above all the fundamental rights and freedoms of millions of people the minister is imposing

measures that go against the will of many citizens. on of the new restrictions residents in madrid will not be allowed to leave the area unless they have to make an essential journey social gatherings will be limited to 6 people while bars and restaurants will have to close at 11 pm and parks and playgrounds will be off limits the measures have already led to mass protests over 2000 people gathered to denounce them last friday protesters pushed trash bins and roads and chanted slogans demanding freedom we asked madrid residents what they think about the new law. and the preppie have turned it into a political war they're playing with us and they should be aware that they have to see this is a pandemic not a political war i think there is a real threat and this could be improved a lot if then of sri measures are taken with more transport put on to avoid grounding you know if you lock people up at home for the virus for the flu for a cold everything will get better but people don't have anything to eat you just

have to take a walk through madrid to see the shops are all closed people will eventually have to grow their own potatoes because i don't know what we're going to eat at madrid closes again. the f.b.i. has released a new short film demonstrating the dangers of chinese intelligence recruitment over the propaganda style video reminded many of the methods used by the us and the u.s.s.r. during the cold war as killed often explains. it's the latest hollywood thriller complete with a catchy soundtrack and a script that keeps you on edge however it's meant to be informative it's not a feature film this half hour movie was created by the f.b.i. more knew about chinese intelligence and its efforts to recruit this is someone targeted on raven who may have sent classified information to chinese intelligence

. like many blockbusters it's based on a true story a former cia officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison for passing along information to the chinese and the f.b.i. says that this video is meant to educate the public and alert them about the threat of foreign intelligence recruitment as this movie highlights foreign intelligence services are posing as head hunters and consultants and professional networking sites to aggressively target americans we believe it's critically important to educate the public in order to neutralize distress from foreign intelligence services well we've seen all those old newsreels talking about the red menace it looks like the propagandists are still in business years later trying to. devise i'm sure. russia had occupied many new

territories bringing additional millions of people under communist control. for example. then. bridge american river road worker makes $10.00 a day more times more than the used to say the chinese can't strike back they've got hollywood scenes of their own the. really awful what happens when a. little one of them out on the campus is on the line to do a little digital. just listen to yourself and either the usa nor china has actually declared a new cold war but everyone is buzzing about it and the issue of our cold war is the foreign minister suggested it's not just our writings saying that is this a new cold war we've heard for example u.k.

officials are china and the united states headed for a new cold war or is it going to be a hot war the u.n. is even getting in on the hysteria or should we call it in a stealth we must do every scene for the new cold war we are moving in a very dangerous direction. own world cannot afford the future lead to too much as the economy speed the globe in a great fraction each with its own freedoms financial rules and the internet and not official intelligence capacities yes many of us heard stories from our parents about hiding under their desks in school during civil defense drills the cold war has a special place in american history and now with dueling propaganda films and talk of a red menace from china it seems that the cold war is back the good old days well perhaps we've forgotten how potentially dangerous it is. r.t. new york we spoke to politics professor justin gregory mahoney who believes a u.s.

china cold war is already upon us. if we if we follow reports of majority opinions among business leaders and policy makers that there will be likely a war between china us within the next 10 years so i think that again this is part of the. negative messaging that we see will trump but there is also some credibility that it is an issue that the u.s. wants to check ahead of future conflict we already see many people agree a cold war and tech a cold war growing frictions between us and china and other countries and international organizations as the u.s. turns against multilateralism some people a lot of people in the d.c. area believe that we're already in a hot cyber war that's a global news update for this hour but don't forget you can always had to our website our to dot com for the details on all those stories and many more.

just survey and just about a month into the pandemic and found that people said 8 last 35 minutes a day less to unwanted interruptions which was kind of a surprise because you know with all the things that are going on until right now this is not the best time to be to be doing it. and so that's one element the other element is they tend to give back 50 percent of the time that they would have otherwise spent commuting.