as much as the o.p.c. w. needs to be respected and supported i think we have to do we have to be very careful and there's got to be really a guarantees of objectivity an independent so it's not a political tool by by one one state or one group of states ok. investigative journalist thanks. now president trump has lashed out at the motorcycle make a harley davidson over its plans to shift production away from the u.s. darling and using that as an excuse and i don't like that because i've been very good to our ritual of the use that as an excuse and i think the people that write or always are not happy with our day which i wouldn't. but mostly companies are coming back to work i. highly davidson plans to move some of its manufacturing to europe to avoid paying the newly imposed tariffs when exporting to the continent the motorbike company says the move will save nearly one hundred million dollars per year in taxes. the recently slapped import charges on american goods including motorbikes to in retaliation to t

you know had the o.p.c. w at the time said that yes saddam hussein had some chemical weapons we can sniff around and see some traces here nor there. then what we now regard as an illegal invasion by the united states and its allies could no be described as perfectly legal because the o.p.c. w. has passed the judgment the point i was trying to make is that this is an agreement there are members of the u.p.c. w. . as an organization who have entered the agreement to have signed the agreement and to the organization in a certain assumption somebody has changed the goalposts and we could well see members saying well this is not resign for sorry we're going to go out now is this good is this bad we don't know you mentioned the criticism of the c.w. for law on social media as you describe to. investigate incidents to look into incidents without actually sending experts on the ground i mean what if to play the devil's advocate what of the fact finding mechanism was adjusted to bring specialists on the ground to get

security council but the o.p.c. w has a history of conducting probes without even visiting the sites of incident.

the first proposed extending the o.p.c. powers previously the organization had a mostly fact finding mission some details here with boys. this is a huge development the u.n. chemicals watchdog is now taking on the role of judge essentially it will now be able to assign guilt to four chemical attacks and up until now the o.p.c. w. its job was to establish where and when an attack took place but it wasn't in charge of deciding who is responsible that is all about to change the british foreign secretary boris johnson he went to the hague to the o.p.c. w headquarters to a gathering of all the members and he called for the o.p.c. w. to be allowed to essentially name and shame perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks to present. the p.c. government to experts who say. well. at the time. who was responsible. if we. look at the weapons that must be pretty strong backing the for that proposal or strengthens visit to the hague clearly worthwhile it's certainly being hailed as a major victory here by the u.k. by france to help to spea

as much as the o.p.c. w. needs to be respected and supported i think we have to we have to be very careful and there's got to be really it guarantees of objectivity an independent so it's not a political tool by by one one state or one group of states it's mandate is really to implement the chemical weapons convention but in the last several years we've seen a situation in syria where the efforts of countries to overthrow to topple the damascus government have used. claims accusations of chemical weapons usage and the o.p.c. w has been part of that if you look at their reports they rely very heavily on witnesses who are provided to them by the opposition they don't pursue evidence which contradicts the western claims so it's very valid to question the objectivity and independence of the o.p.c. w. . president donald trump has lashed out at motorcycle make a harley davidson iris plans to shift production away from the us to harley davidson is using that as an excuse and i don't like that because i've been very

and by the o.p.c. w. which did actually. instance if you just touched on there were three reports in two hundred sixteen and two of them the joint investigative mission showed that it was the syrian government that have used chlorine gas and no one can reach the terror group had used mustard gas so they have been apportioning blame under this joint investigative mechanism. and i mean. come on the criticism has been that because even without visiting the sites of the chemical incidents it's come to some sort of conclusions here without experts actually being on scene and getting the forensic evidence it needs i mean in order to assign blame wouldn't the actual fact finding mechanism itself need to be changed to enable people to visit the site and make you know scientifically factual conclusions. well i think certainly should be able to apportion blame if people refuse access and one of the remarkable things about the current attack last year which followed up with an attack on. another facility as well was the fact finding mi

by france to help to spearhead the initiative but the o.p.c. w is obviously the name of an organization that's been on many lips recently it's had rather a lot of work on its hands in recent months there was that chemical attack in june and also the poisoning of the former russian spy sergei script and his daughter yulia back in march that took place here on british soil and westminster blamed moscow for it so the u.k. was particularly key to spearhead this initiative in order to sort of further efforts to apportion blame for incidents like the one in seoul's very earlier this year and going into that the russian side had said that it considers the proposal self-defeating it was against it because they said it gives western countries the ability to influence decision making within the organization and essentially to manipulate its opinion so for russia china syria and the countries that voted along with those countries this widening of powers they said they didn't want the technical experts becoming the prosecutors at the same time but the vote

by france to help to spearhead the initiative but the o.p.c. w is obviously the name of an organization that's been on many lips recently it's had rather a lot of work on its hands in recent months there was that chemical attack in june and also the poisoning of the former russian spy sergei script file and his daughter yulia back in march that took place here on british soil and westminster blamed moscow for it so the u.k. was particularly keen to spearhead this initiative in order to sort of further efforts to apportion blame for incidents like the one in seoul's very earlier this year and going into that vote the russian side had said that it considers the proposal self-defeating it was against it because they said it gives western countries the ability to influence decision making within the organization and essentially to manipulate its opinion so for russia china syria and the countries that voted along with those countries this is why doing of power as they said they didn't want the technical experts becoming the prosecutors at the same

now the global chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w. has voted to change its remit allowing it to assign blame for chemical attacks in syria previously the organization had a mostly frank finding mission artie's politico reports from london this is a huge development the u.n. chemicals watchdog is now taking on the role of judge essentially it will now be able to assign guilt for chemical attacks up until now the o.p.c. w. its job was to establish where and when an attack took place but it wasn't in charge of deciding who is responsible that is all about to change the british foreign secretary boris johnson he went to the hague to the o.p.c. w headquarters until you gathering of all the members and he called for the o.p.c. w. to be allowed to essentially name and shame perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks to present. the p c w two experts who say. well with the attack happened but. who was responsible for. that must be was pretty strong backing the for that proposal or strengthens visit to the hague clearly worthwhile it certainly b

s proposal to allow the o.p.c. w. to attribute blame for carrying out chemical weapons attacks has won the backing of the majority of member nations of the o.p.c. w the proposal was tabled by the u.k. in light of what they described as the spate of chemical weapons attacks globally since two thousand and twelve including recently in march the attempted murder of the russian double agent surrogates cripple and his daughter. along with other chemical weapons attacks elsewhere in the world including syria and iraq well on tuesday britain's foreign secretary voiced johnson came here in person and urge member nations to back britain's plan this is how he responded to the result after the recent stage of the use of chemical weapons research i don't swear it's great so many of our friends and partners supported the u.k. today and the result of this book is that the c.w. with our vision. of chemical weapons now has extra powers russia has been firmly against the u.k.'s proposal throughout saying that the only your thoughts wh

the o.p.c. w. fact finding team with all the evidence so there was an alleged chemical weapons attack last year o.p.c. w didn't even visit the site they just trusted what is effectively a belligerent party in this conflict the white helmet who have been obviously calling for regime change calling for a no fly zone which is obviously means you know full invasion and they've been trusted with collecting evidence but what we know from eyewitness testimony collected by vanessa bailey on our last trip in just over these days i was the civilians in duma and she said the white helmets operatives themselves carried out a chemical weapons attack so yeah i'm not surprised that the funding is resumed to be honest well given what you just be explaining there and the degree of controversy surrounding them in many quarters why are the white helmets treated so favorably by many parts of the west even won an oscar. well it's true but it's it's all part of the propaganda and there's jump ilja calls the white helmet

s proposal to widen the o.p.c. w.'s mandate to attribute blame for the carrying out of chemical weapons attacks around the world of course the russian federation has its own proposal which is called simply for the a p c w to stick to its current game plan to stick to its current role without attributing blame but to allow countries to help strengthen the role of the organization going forward could well judging by what's happened the last couple of hours be a very very long conference lasting possibly several days i was going to ask you and i've a feeling and i know the answer to this what you've just been saying what are the complications that exist here in getting the o.p.c. w to blame to apportion blame for chemical attacks. well there's a huge major philosophical question i think that's really been touched on by delegates here this morning the o.p.c. w. as you know is a technical body it's avoided wading into grand political diplomatic discussions by having basically chemical weapons inspectors go into the ground s

s plan and allow the o.p.c. w. to attribute blame this is an opportunity to restore the global ban on the use of chemical weapons and to strengthen the a.p.c. w.'s ability to respond to any violations and i hope the trees will feel able to support the decision tabled by the u.k. . the pursuit city of duma earlier this year schools of children being treated after exposure to an apparent nerve agent has bashar al assad's forces sought to take control of rebel held areas since two thousand and twelve the o.p.c. recorded four hundred gc's of chemical weapons in syria and a year and a half ago a brazen assassination at kuala lumpur airport the half brother of north korean leader kim jong un attacked with a deadly chemical substance he later died in hospital and in march the attempted murder of former russian double agent sergei script and his daughter in the british town of souls. investigators concluded they were poisoned would not be chunky a nerve agent developed by the soviet union. russia and its allies syria and i

in partnership with the o.p.c. w set up something called the joint investigator e mechanism that started investigating and apportioning blame for attacks in syria but russia went out of its way last year to avoid supporting extending the mandate of that body leaving the world without any single organization that could apportion blame which is why the u.k. and now with the backing of other members of the o.p.c. w a saying that this organization needs to be able to hold those guilty of carrying out attacks to account knave barker's at the hague there the latest on that development of the o.p.c. . now a ship carrying two hundred migrants over two hundred migrants is finally on its way to malta after being stranded at sea for six days they were all picked up off the coast of libya on thursday by the german rescue ship lifeline but spain and italy both denied the boat permission to dock now multiply has agreed to let it use its port for the migrants to disembark and eight e.u. countries have agreed to take in those refu

proposal to basically enhance the role of the o.p.c. is there any more support for that proposal. well this meeting as you can probably see behind me that's just begun was called as we know at the behest of the united kingdom and then have the backing of ten countries out of the hundred ninety three they have permanent representatives here the o.p.c. w. we now believe the support for the u.k. his draft proposal may have reached around the twenty one or so mark in order for any kind of result to be made here two thirds of countries represented represented here need to vote in support of it we know that one hundred thirty nations are registered to turn up here we've just heard some of the opening remarks of the chairman here the o.p.c. w. has called in the room to consider the u.k.'s proposal but this isn't the only proposal being considered over the course of the next two days russia has one of its own indonesia we know has put forward one to that seems to have much less support than the u.k.'s one but all in all what the u.k. is hoping for is for the mandate of the a p c w to be e

the o.p.c. w. has convened a special conference of the organization at the behest of the united kingdom that claims that there is an attribution gap in the world at the moment when it comes to apportioning blame and pointing the finger countries groups or individuals that may have used chemical weapons the united kingdom argues that there has over the past twenty years been disturbing increase the number of chemical weapons attacks and the usage of chemical weapons and at the moment in the world there is no one individual group or organization that has the key responsibility of apportioning blame at the moment. is primarily a technical organization russian federation argues that if it does have the power to attribute blame that it the entire workings of the organization could become over politicized they have put forward their own proposal calling for the work of the o.p.c. w. to be strengthened by going forward but it looks as if this could be a hit to discussion last thing several days the u.k. a

o.p.c. w. committee because britain went ahead and bombed syria when the o.p.c. w. was looking at chemical weapons in syria it seems increasingly lawless and i have to say for what it is very difficult for journalists to find the truth when you're being completely blocked and right now you know we we appeal to people if they've seen surrogates cripple or his daughter yulia to come back whistle blow we want to hear from them without them being filter. and through the british security state yes i couldn't agree more and it's scary when you think about that ok now we want to do you know people who are alleged spies or whatever we want to say we want to make that list so when you go through an airport like you know they're going to out there's incompetence and then there's also danger in that they and i worry about both sides of that because you know when you paint somebody as a spy you know publicly and then they're not you know especially for a foreign country that destroys that person's whole life moving forward or let's say they bungle one to expose one of their own

chemical attacks in syria has been criticized by russia the foreign ministry spokeswoman said the o.p.c. to you had only made the decision under pressure from london. ok. was. ok apologies for that that was actually our story on libya which is being torn apart by rival groups seven years on from the fall of gadhafi and the city of donna is on the front line of civil war and in case you just tuned in we have got breaking news coming in from the city of annapolis in the u.s. state of maryland a shooting has been reported in the capital because that newspaper building reporters at the outlet say that multiple people have been shot you can see the area on your screens right now according to the baltimore sun at least people have been killed police are responding to the incident and that's all we know at the moment but we will bring you any updates as soon as they come in. the streets of paris so once again packed with protesters denouncing french president emanuel micron's labor in tax reforms is part of a mass nation.

this after what you've just been saying what are the complications that exist here in getting the o.p.c. w to blame to apportion blame for chemical attacks. well there's a huge major philosophical question i think that's really been touched on by delegates here this morning the a.p.c. w. as you know is a technical body it's avoided wading into grand political diplomatic discussions by having basically chemical weapons inspectors go into the ground say exactly whether or not weapons have been used and possibly even say what kind of chemical weapons have been used but of course it's fallen short of attributing blame if it does attribute blame which is what the u.k. wants in order to strengthen the role of the a.p.c. w. at least that's what it hopes will be the role of the body going forward it carries with it of course an awful lot of political baggage in russia while its independence may be forfeited it could end up being misused it's a political weapon for certain nations to push their agendas forth but of course the u.k. is arguing look in the last twenty years we've seen a rapid incre

has now formally submitted its proposal calling for an amendment to the mandate if the o.p.c. w. it is a technical body that can only say whether or not chemical weapons have been used and perhaps what those weapons are but it cannot apportion blame while the u.k. is insisting that given the increasing chemical weapons use over the past twenty years is that this watchdog should essentially be given greater bite to point the finger on the countries individuals or groups using chemical weapons that comes of course it made a backdrop of the use of chemical weapons recently earlier on in the year in march with the attempted murder of the former double agent sergei script and its door to . an increase in the use of chemical weapons in the likes of syria and iraq and elsewhere in the world to a little bit earlier on britain's foreign secretary boris johnson address the chamber what kind of a failure would it be if we were to cost a sight in our generation the work of previous generations of diplomats and scientists. what would it say about us if we allowed the emergence of a new to do.

the o.p.c. w. has convened this special conference of the organization at the behest of the united kingdom that claims that there is an attribution gap in the world at the moment when it comes to apportioning blame and pointing the finger countries groups or individuals that may have used chemical weapons united kingdom use that there has over the past twenty years been a disturbing increase in the number of chemical weapons attacks and the usage of chemical weapons and at the moment in the world there is no one individual group or organization that has the key responsibility of apportioning blame at the moment the o.p.c. w is primarily a technical organization russian federation argues that if it does have the power to attribute blame that it the entire workings of the organization could become over politicized they have put forward their own proposal calling for the work of the o.p.c. w. to be strengthened going forward but it looks as if this could be a hate a discussion last thing several days

syria look the syrian troops liberated that area but we immediately suggested to our partners that the o.p.c. w. commission go there it is a un unit the organization for prohibition of chemical weapons but instead of waiting one or two days and allowing the commission to work on the site a missile attack was launched on syria tell me please is this the best way to ensure the objective of t. of what happened there i do not think so i think it was an attempt to create conditions that would make it impossible to investigate thoroughly that is what it was. just said that there is proof militants used chemical substances who punished them have they received any punishment did the coalition and attack them immediately i did not see anything like that because i show you what's happening again right now in vienna not moscow as it says on screen that there we are it is vienna you can see the back of the president of austria there alexander vander bell and also some officials press corps out of shop where there is a guard of honor the red carpet being laid out to at the hofburg palace in central vienn

syria look the syrian troops liberated that area but we immediately suggested to our partners that the o.p.c. w commission go there it is a un unit the organization for prohibition of chemical weapons but instead of waiting one or two days and allowing the commission to work on the site a missile attack was launched on syria tell me please is this the best way to ensure the objective of t. of what happened there i do not think so i think it was an attempt to create conditions that would make it impossible to investigate thoroughly that is what it was what we just said that there is proof that militants used chemical substances who punished them have they received any punishment did the coalition and attack them immediately i did not see anything like that because. germany's refugee agency is being investigated for corruption it's accused of offering asylum for bribes chancellor merkel's now also being dragged into the scandal too with claims that she was aware of the problems but did nothing to reform the organization our europe correspondent peter all of a picks up the story for you as the

governments they sold their odious project decision their grants and characteristic powers to the o.p.c. w two thirds of the nations that voted in this in this vote they voted to change the way in which the u.p.c. w. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons works whereas before before now it was a network of unbiased and neutral experts and labs what they did was. that incident happened they got samples they measured the samples they tested the samples and they said what substance what substance was used they established you know what exactly happened now with this new change from november the u.p.c. w. will be able to assign blame so in effect it's been turned from a panel of experts into a judiciary into judges who'll be able to say these people were guilty all these people were guilty and this is unprecedented in the sense that the only agency the union in the un that was able to apply sanctions or punish people or people or sides it was it's always been the un security council russia wasn't the only one that voted against this china was india's twenty four other coun

the international chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w. . now to assign blame for the toxic attacks. it is day fifteen of the world cup in russia and tonight we'll find out the last teams to go through to the next round of the tournament the fans just can't get enough of football's biggest event.

in troops that liberated that area we immediately suggested to our partners that the o.p.c. w. commission go there it is a u.n. unit the organization for prohibition of chemical weapons but instead of waiting one or two days and allowing the commission to work on the site of a missile attack was launched on syria there tell me please is this the best way to ensure the objective of the of what happened there i do not think so i think it was an attempt to create conditions that would make it impossible to investigate thoroughly so that is what it was you. just said that there is proof the militants used chemical substances punish them have they received any punishment did the coalition an attack them immediately i did not see anything like that because. fresh protests are expected along gaza's border with israel this tuesday palestinians mark the fifty first anniversary of the six day war which they refer to as the day of the setback and demonstrations have fled and the scenes don't play if since the end of march during that period israeli troops have killed at least one hundred

governments they sold their odious project decision their grants and characteristic powers to the o.p.c. w two thirds of the nations that voted in this in this vote they voted to change the way in which the u.p.c. w. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons works whereas before before now it was a network of unbiased and neutral experts and labs what they did was. that incident happened they got samples they measured the samples they tested the samples and they said what's up and what substance was used they established you know what exactly happened now with this new change from november the u.p.c. w. will be able to assign blame so in effect it's been turned from a panel of experts into a judiciary into judges who'll be able to say these people were guilty all these people were guilty and this is unprecedented in the sense that the only unique agency in the un that was able to apply sanctions or punish people or people or sides it was it's always been the un security council russia wasn't the only one that will do against this china was india's twenty four other countr

inside surjeet just because of the political leaders who they voted for or their the background gender o.p.c. when it comes with that background one of the ethnic minorities just like you to register my knowledge you found sunday to be a joyful day for them because their party do you think you wanted to cross the ten percent that's holding your place in parliament obviously he's elections on sunday were not just for the presidency they were for the parliament as well it turns up a lot of the cheap votes yet party boss maintaining a simple majority in the legislative body the new body which now has six hundred m.p.'s in its as opposed to five hundred in the previous one another positive thing in terms of the democratic makeup in turkey because it secures greater more diverse representation while the act party maintained their majority there but they lost their super majority the two thirds majority which would allow for them to continue in terms of making constitutional changes so that's something that they will try and play down but obviously is seen as a setback for them now moving forward

to pass and would likely face challenges from iran and russia which has previously criticized the o.p.c. w. in light of its findings in syria as well as souls. but there is an urgency to tackle the troubling spate of such dangerous and indiscriminate attacks attacks that have already cost the lives of too many civilians so yeah go. they've barker's out the conference in the hague. the special session of the a p c w is now underway this meeting was called of the of the united kingdom with the backing of ten members of the a.p.c. there one hundred ninety three in total one hundred thirty have registered to take part in this meeting we now know that roughly around twenty countries have lent their support to the u.k.'s proposal to extend the mandate of the p.c. w to allow it to apportion attribute blain for chemical weapons attacks at the moment the organization is simply a technical body that can say whether or not a chemical weapon has been used more often than not it can also say what weapon has been used but it falls short of apportioning blame and in light of recent attacks in seoul sp

to pass and would likely face challenges from iran and russia which has previously criticized the o.p.c. w. in light of its findings in syria as well as souls. but there is an urgency to tackle the troubling spate of such dangerous and indiscriminate attacks attacks that have already cost the lives of too many civilians so yeah go. all of the world's largest rain forest in the democratic republic of congo is under threat due to a rampant illegal logging now the latest report published. the ngo global witness condemns countries that import illegally harvested timber the group calls on france to cancel a multi million dollar project that supports companies involved in the trade illegal logging is common in developing countries such as the sea british politicians a voted to approve a third runway at london's heathrow airport after debating the issue in parliament prime minister trees in may says the eighteen billion dollar project will ease congestion and create one hundred thousand jobs but opponents object to the expansion on environmental noise and financial grounds heathrow is europe's

russia along with syria and iran and vehemently oppose the move moscow said the move was a sign the o.p.c. w. was on the brink of collapse political parties in mexico are entering the final few days of campaigning head of sunday's presidential election victories the largest vote in modern history the anti establishment candidate and there is another lopez obrador is expected to within become the country's first left wing leader nine governorships and hundreds of kountry county positions rather are also being contested poland has watered down the controversial holocaust more which imposed jail sentences on people who suggest the country was complicit in nazi crimes polish politicians remove provisions for jail terms during an emergency parliament session the law was introduced just four months ago it angered both the u.s. and israel. e.u. leaders will gather in brussels for a summit to discuss the immigration crisis the main issue is how to handle new your rivals some of the bigger countries of the e.u. are particularly worried about the emergence of a new route through the balkans fluting

syria look the syrian troops liberated that area but we immediately suggested to our partners that the o.p.c. w. commission go there it is a un unit the organization for prohibition of chemical weapons but instead of waiting one or two days and allowing the commission to work on the site a missile attack was launched on syria tell me please is this the best way to ensure the objective it t. of what happened there i do not think so i think it was an attempt to create conditions that would make it impossible to investigate thoroughly that is what it was you. just said that there is proof that militants used chemical substances who punished them have they received any punishment did the coalition an attack them immediately i did not see anything like that because. the gaza israel border is bracing for more protests this tuesday palestinians are marking the fifty first anniversary of the six day war known to them as next a day or the day of setback one hundred palestinians have been killed since the end of march when anti occupation protests started meantime the u.s. ambassador to israel has som

security council but the o.p.c. w. has a history of conducting probes without even visiting the sites of incidents. this is about bypassing the security council isn't it. and it's a pretty much dangerous should do the c.w. say pass a judgment that this is a culprit then we have a group of nations who can based upon such a resolution say we're going to go in and you know strike this country or that country and so on and so forth without really needing to go to the security council in a sense this is in danger to. world peace one of the remarkable things about the car attack last year which followed up with an attack on. another facility as well was the fact finding mission people never actually went to a crunch occurred on the ground they only interviewed victims people who had survived the attack. we know how witnesses can be influenced in one way or another not entirely truthful so it's really important in addition to witness evidence to go to on the ground soil samples and samples and all the rest of it that wasn't d

surjeet just because of their political leaders who they voted for their ethnic background or gender o.p.c. when it comes with that background one of the ethnic minorities just like you to register my knowledge you found sunday to be a joyful day for them because their party do you think you wanted to cross the ten percent that's holding your places in parliament obviously he's elections on sunday were not just for the presidency they were for the parliament as well it turns up a lot of the chief votes yeah party boss maintaining simple majority in the legislative body the new body which now has six hundred m.p.'s in its as opposed to five hundred in the previous one another positive thing in terms of the democratic makeup in turkey because it secures greater more diverse representation while the act party maintained their majority there but they lost their super majority the two thirds majority which would allow for them to continue in terms of making constitutional changes so that's something that they will try and play down but obviously is seen as a setback for them now moving forward

to pass and would likely face challenges from iran and russia which has previously criticized the o.p.c. w. in light of its findings in syria as well as souls. but there is an urgency to tackle the troubling spate of such dangerous and indiscriminate attacks attacks that have already cost the lives of too many civilians so yeah go. navy divers have reentered a flooded cave in northern thailand to search for twelve boys and their football coach they were trapped after a heavy rainstorm. their only way out of a cave on saturday officials say they're confident the boys are still alive is the cave extends several kilometers locals have perform rituals to pray for their safe return scott heiler has more from the cave entrance and. a third day of searching for these twelve boys and their football coach in the cave network behind me now goes sixty eight kilometers into this hillside that's just along the border between thailand and me and mar now divers have been in the water in this cave because it's been flooded it's the rainy season right now i'm standing a couple inches of mud and that's m