Jacob blake the black man who was shot by police sparking days of unrest in can osha watch wisconsin if you can biden met relatives in milwaukee the paralyzed victim and join the conversation by phone from hospital. Emergency crews in beirut say theyve detected signs of life in the rubble of a building that collapsed after the massive explosion in the lebanese capital a month ago nearly 200 people were killed and thousands injured a rescuer has reported signs of breathing and of poles this is d w news from berlin follow us on twitter and instagram or visit our website d w dot com. Or org. Or. The soviet era nerve agent was added this years as a list of banned chemical weapons germany says it was also used to poison the russian dissident alexy in evolving and attempted murder that berlin says moscow has to explain today the kremlin denied any involvement russian president Vladimir Putin spokesman making it clear if germany plans to consult nato about how to respond then moscow will plan not to respond at all im print off in berlin this is the day. That its useful for chemical weapons under any circumstances this completely unacceptable and a breach of international. Rules. And the thing to point to know that behind talked afterwards against the sort of all it was was for. To say the ball is in your corner no. Chemical agent is not freely available it was used on the russian territory against the russian cities and they really want to know for a leader never ever ever say thats business or for that. Also coming up the shooting death that shocked slovakia 2 years ago a journalist investigating corruption in the mafia was gunned down along with his fiance today a verdict for the tycoon accused of ordering the killings not guilty. Of a source come on im disappointed. I was beginning to believe that justice can start winning in slovakia. But at this point were at rock bottom. And to our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with the nato chemical weapons and the poisoning of a russian dissidents. Today the kremlin denied any involvement in the poisoning of Opposition Leader like scene of all the new volley is being treated in intensive care at a berlin hospital 2 weeks ago he suddenly became very sick yesterday the german chancellor said the proof is solid that vonnie was poisoned with a form of the soviet era chemical weapon no which up on friday nato will convene a special meeting to discuss a possible response which will probably include a demand for russia to explain what happened tonight that seems very unlikely here is what the European Union said today. It was not the 1st one who became victims of such calorically and inhumane attack or assassination attempt and weve seen other people in russia being killed by the opposition voices being silenced i can remind only on the political stuff said again much in the scheme but hes named so did he have satisfactory results from the investigation of their assassinations are that is the stance from the European Union from moscow tonight silence a stark contrast to the alarm sounding of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the o. P. C. W band earlier this year today the agency said deploying of a joke in any form to harm someone cannot be treated lightly in a Statement Issued today the agency said under the Chemical Weapons Convention any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered a use of chemical weapons such an allegation is a matter of grave concern. Market like a balloon is a toxicologist in 2018 he led the o. P. C. W. s mission to the u. K. Following the movie choke attack on the former russian spy sergei scribal and scruples daughter he joins me tonight from humber its good to have you on the day were not just talking about poison here or were talking about a banned chemical weapon but what difference does that make in the investigation of alexina of all these poisoning i think that its no big difference whether its a no he took a classic you know if age or even the dawn of frustration as decided. Well there is a difference and still tried it as a military nerve agent used which in my opinion clearly shows there was an intent to kill mr not on any it was not just a warning. Pesticide might have still been interpreted as a kind of warning sign where at potential death and its then about he would have been taken into account but he i think there was a very clear intent to kill and in the case of the script holes in england investigators had the full support of british authorities and they also had access to the crime scene with the volley investigators really only have the vallie himself and thats it they dont have access to where he may have been poisoned in siberia what does that do to the ability of investigators. Its severely limited relying on biomedical samples from a stand up on me which was done in this case taking blood samples from him this allows you as it was done to identify the poison that was used but they are things and. Biomedical samples dont even need a signature specific by products impurities that might allow you if you encounter another batch to say this is the same or not this is not possible with biomedical samples so if you cannot really investigate one side indepth then. The whole of creation here into finding out what happened the city of intimate. Mr blue the russian opposition says using nova joe is like russia leaving a calling card at the crime scene do you agree that the russian state is the sole owner of the. This is very difficult to say what is what i can say is this is not easy to make. Especially because of its extreme toxicity you need very very based experience and entering highly toxic compounds to do this basic you have to be able you must have dealt with chemical weapons and chemical agents for us probably at least 10 years of your professional career there are not that many people in the world who can say that of themselves especially those who are outside of those special governmental of oratory so who do defensive research for very legitimate purposes so if were looking in a kind of lets call it open market of chemical weapon experts who could do this and you might actually be able to high up probably a handful of people are less i dont really know but this is not trivial so this points beyond a operation of some local people who had something against mr knob on these but again the chemical analysis alone at the moment does not point in any specific direction its just the agent itself and there must be further clues from intelligence and from other sources that theyre not allowed to say we point the finger. Is it possible that the kremlin sold this nerve agent to a non state actor. I find that extremely unlikely if a government is in possession of chemicals like this they will keep it to themselves and its the same question if a state would sell a Nuclear Weapon to a terrorist i think this would never happen because you are losing control of a very tightly controlled chemical by the way the addition of the not the chalk families to the control list of the o. P. C. W. Which took effect in june of this year. Is an important step but the chemicals or the use of these chemicals was banned even before use of any toxic chemical for these purposes is a violation of the convention whether a chemical is on the list on not but of course of this again a different quality if you use a chemical which is listed in the schedules of the convention you know this nerve agent that were talking about maybe give our viewers an idea of just how toxic it is i mean what are the chances that alexina volley will have one last thing damage to his health this very much depends on the dose he actually received in his body that is on the one hand possibility that he might fully recover. In case of the script as you might remember we saw u. S. Cripple giving an interview some months after the incident to an apparently much improved health. There are also some petitions potentially long lasting effects their recall is off the toxic ation that psyche problems heat this august depression things like that but also you can suck up wrong and brain sieges during the union that might then cause imminent brain damage so this is something we will have to see i would make a forecast that the recovery of this than a lot of me will take a long time. If you cannot keep faith the quitting as the races which will inhibit it out some great the making compounds but they only work with certain chemicals for certain agents if they dont work you have to wait until the body is remaking these enzymes and then we are talking about 6 to 8 weeks at least ok mark michael joins us tonight from mr boone we appreciate your time in your insights thank you pleasure thank you or from a poison to a pipeline the case of a like scene of all new brings with it more pressure on berlin to take punitive actions against moscow german chancellor Angela Merkel may no longer be able to separate business from geopolitics merkel is now facing calls including from members of her own party to rethink the nord stream to project nord stream to is a 1200 kilometer 10000000000 euro pipeline under the baltic sea that will double russias natural gas shipments to germany now before the end of all the poisoning and there was already immense pressure from the u. S. Congress and the white house for germany to kill the project here are some comments that weve been hearing from german lawmakers today. And as you know stream 2 is completed now and he with the situation of the poisoning and the bell rose well that would mean that Vladimir Putin could feel fully confirmed that hes pursuing the right kind of policies because the west simply doesnt do anything like that at least not in the areas which are the only ones that hes interested in. According to our position we cannot have business as usual and so we will advocate a moratorium concerning that project until the russian government is prepared to cooperate with investigators to clarify what has really happened there in times to mr not on the truth is they have a license instead heat it is a nonsense project funded to illegal crude i think we should concentrate on real and tough measures against this who are blamed by not found me as troops and thieves here and then doing them on a long ring in western europe are the words there from german lawmakers my next guest tonight has worked on many Transatlantic EnergySecurity Issues including nord stream to Benjamin Schmidt served as european Energy Security advisor at the u. S. State department hes now a fellow at Harvard University joins me tonight from cambridge massachusetts benjamin its good to have you on the day there is bipartisan opposition to nord stream to in washington then the vol knee nobody choke incident it really could not come at a more opportune time for washington right. Well hello friends 1st just want to say im glad to join you i know each of ella today this is an extremely sad story about mr involve me so im really glad to focus on it in berlin in print im glad to hear the word bipartisan or question because thats exactly what opposition to the kremlin back nordstrom to project has been since its announcement 2015 bipartisan or the past several months nordstrom 2 supporters have been active in trying to pin this policy and the congressional sanctions that you mentioned on President Trump and thats make sense given his litany of poor Foreign Policy decisions with respect to germany and russia over the years but in fact this strong opposition began under the Obama Administration with high level statements by then Vice President joe biden or one of our 2 president ial candidates calling the pipeline a bad deal for europe and thats not all it was also opposed by a staunch trump opponent republican late senator john mccain and the reason that i want to say for so many in the u. S. That weve been concerned about this project of the kremlin is very clear nordstrom to what hurt both the economic as well as the Strategic National security interests of ukraine it would undermine the European EnergyUnion Concept that the European Commission itself advanced to diversify Energy Imports from over dependence on russian natural gas since 2015 and of course the project provides a platform russian malign influence or teach it corruption and at least capture across the rest and these are really Central Security concerns of argument about everything we talk about yeah let me let me just interject there let me just ask you though i mean it seems like this project is about 30 years too late europe especially germany you know are moving forward with Renewable Energies i mean the need for natural gas is not what it was 10 years ago 20 years ago i mean is that is that in washingtons equation here. Absolutely the reason were concerned about is are those National Security concerns that i mentioned earlier if you look at the project and its technical design only 9900000000 cubic meters of its fight 55000000000 cubic meter volume is even designed to be delivered to germany and points west so this idea that its some sort of energy event a project to supplant German Nuclear production or Something Like that it is truly false this is about cutting off ukraine advancing the kremlins Strategic Interests across the continent and you know you might ask why are these European Companies involved they all signed lucrative assets waf agreements and 2015 with gas from for Gas Production right upstream of the Russian Federation which had been briefly put on hold following russias illegal an accession of crimea and aggression in Eastern Ukraine so its really a project that that is appropriate and strategic corruption we are seeing a lot of pressure a lot of growing pressure on german chancellor Angela Merkel to rethink nord stream to the she tried to separate these issues energy and business with geopolitics how much longer do you think shes going to be able to do that. Thats a great question ive seen statements today of including from mr repton as well as from the greens the f. They pay Munich Security Conference chair is singer and others but weve said seen this before after past provocations you know think of you know the invasion of ukraine by russia election interference Cyber Attacks on the buddhist that its traditional killing that we saw in berlin last year by russia and already chancellor merkel is appended to separate somehow this issue of the nobody talk poisoning of mr know about me from north into and i think the combination however of sanctions pressure the diplomats should let it pressure on both sides of the atlantic not to mention for many in the german political establishment that were hearing today means a real turning point i really dont think that north through 2 will ultimately be completed under these conditions but then again this saga has gone on since 15 so we will see what kind of conditions would be feasible i mean billions of euros have already gone into nord stream to germany were to shut it down the legal and financial implications here would be immense is the u. S. In a position to offer compensation if germany shuts it down. I dont know about compensation but there certainly are levers that germany itself can poll on this one is the article levon of the 2001000 update to the death of the use on gas directive germany has to certify whether this project harms the national or Energy Security interests of either itself or other e. U. Member states and it hasnt done so yet it needs to do so and so this is certainly grounds under which you can say you know this does harm the National Security interests it does advance the corruption i mean we look at mr schroeder imagine if george w. Bush or barack obama were currently working for Chinas Huawei this would be just a Major Political story in washington it be the only one so we really need to think about this and step back and understand what this is all about its not about energy really its about geopolitics and its about National Security of the Transatlantic Community benjamin l. Smith joining us tonight from cambridge massachusetts benjamin is going to talk with you valuable insights tonight we appreciate it thank you. Getting down. In slovakia a powerful businessman has been acquitted of the murders of investigative journalist young and his fiance the cord said there was not enough evidence to convict the man who prosecutors say ordered the killings was investigating corruption and the mafia his murder in 20 triggered mass protests in slovakia and eventually led to the resignation of the Prime Minister. Just as the killing shocked slovakia so too has the acquittal of business tycoon marion cotch now the prosecution argued he was the mastermind behind the assassination of journalist check and his fiance but the court said there was not enough evidence to convict him. I wanted to stand at the graves of the children telling them that justice has won been done but now it seems it has not won they are lying in the dark ground and here everybody is just doing whatever. Checks colleagues were also left speechless. First it was a great shock even though i was not sure about the outcome. Then mixed feelings of rage despair and frustration came up. I even had to leave the courtroom because i could not bear listening to the explanations for this verdict any further. In feb 28th teen an assassin killed the couple in their own home just outside the slovak capital. They were immediate suspicions that the murder motive lay in x. Work he had been investigating clutching at the mafia and corruption reaching into the highest circles of slovakias government. After their deaths thousands took to the streets demanding an end to cronyism and corruption. The Prime Minister and his cabinet resigned the high profile trial was seen as a test for slovakia and some fear it could set a precedent for future cases. This isnt however its turning the whole picture upside down i must say people will be very much upset disappointed and they will be asking themselves whether the main slogan of protest and how years ago these and slovakia you know that. Attempt to build these and slovakia is actually possible. The prosecutor has appealed the verdict the case will now go to the supreme court. Well for more im joined tonight from boston presence slava by public shes an editor with the organized crime and corruption reporting project and she was a friend of murdered journalist john. We appreciate you taking the time to talk with us we know we cant be the easiest of times to talk about this i want to ask you what went through your mind when the court delivered its verdict of not guilty. First. I was shaking and but to the u. S. When i managed to new to detach myself from the case i need to say that i. Understand why the judge the school the way theyve route what you said last year that you thought there was strong evidence to convict. And that you thought that the investigation was going as it should do you still think that do you think that the trial was a fair trial. I know that opinion may sound on but i believe it was fair and i did interesting enough evidence i didnt suppose not precipitate in the right way to judge east so the judge east through its neighbors. And do you blame that on the prosecutors the attorneys who were in the courtroom. I think that prosecutors could do better joe and i also believe that because of the joke of the prosecutors should he had done it by the legal representatives of the families. You know. To play an Important Role in in presenting the evidence young murder sparked an Anticorruption Movement in slovakia how big of a setback do you think todays ruling is for efforts to fight corruption. Well i did read this is kind of the Current Situation and that we have really needs to wait a little bit to see what is the real outcome i believe in a long term justice truth truly independent and its independent of the media pressure or Public Opinion and its also independent of political will so it along i believe this is the front seat all that will send to society the question is if the society is ready for such a signal. What does todays verdict mean for Investigative Journalism in slovakia. Well i believe this. Journalist my colleagues who you see on and he will meet interesting. They will state it but we also did he that it shouldnt change our attitude towards the word and actually anybody that you know doing to peel the evidence could be shown in the front play and more convincing way so we still get it that justice is served you know just ask you before you got about a minute left i know that this this murder was the 1st targeted killing of a journalist in modern slovakian history i mean its the 1st time your country experience that. Do you do you sense that something has been permanently changed because of the murders. Well 1st of all needs to do a slightly correction. From chipman public anything she quipped of the sense look its not actually my country and i dont really feel Strong Enough to make such a general judgments about slovakia. So for me its kind of a difficult question its not a foreigner. When though its good its good to get that clarity and we certainly appreciate your honesty too concerning the verdict and a positive outlook there for the Justice System if you shared with us tonight. And we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you. Thank you for the invitation. Well the day is almost done but the conversation it continues online youll find us on twitter either d. W. News or you can follow me at brant goth t. V. And remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day well see that about. Going. To the point of strong opinions clear positions of international perspectives. A geo political storm is brewing in the Eastern Mediterranean and strangely enough its 2 nato allies that are stoking the tensions turkey versus greece is our no one willing to risk war thats our top the content of. The point. Of the next to a t w. The riches of the earth. And jobs for everyone. The promise of lasting prosperity. For mcmurray canada. Its a top one of the planets largest oil reserves. But what should have been a sensational you. The strike can turn into a nightmare. Dark even. In 45 minutes from now on d w. With him how to be done to go suckers with the highest high you know if i had known that the boat would be small i never would have gone on the trip to you i would not have put myself in my paris on what im trying to bought its a theme of the in a beautifully it would. Love one funky because that one group would be to give them i have Serious Problems on a personal level and i was unable to live there once im going to. Want to know their story and for my good stirrer find him promotable information for margaret its. Such. A geo political storm is brewing in the Eastern Mediterranean and strangely enough its 2 nato allies that are stoking the tensions greece and turkey have sent warships to an area southwest of cyprus in an effort to reinforce their claims to oil and Gas Resources in the area fred says dispatched its own naval vessel in support of greece with turkey already at odds with france and other middle eastern powers over libya could everyones military adventurism spark a wider escalation are titled