Reality age huge 8 pm on wednesday it is 6 pm in germany thats where were starting this hour the countrys announced that its made to 2 Russian Embassy employees persona nongrata in connection with the murder of a Georgian National back in august attorney general says theres evidence that moscow may have been behind the killing its a claim that russia vehemently denies evangelos sepsis picks up the story. 2 employees of the Russian Embassy are to be expelled and are declared a person non grata after this new general tourney of germany is taking over the investigation of the murder of the chechen in berlin a last august with seem to be an Asylum Seeker in the country germany has taken this action against the russian employees and or to russia because they believe that russia has not done enough to help the authorities in germany looking into this investigation and they also say that berlin is taking this stance because they say that there is some sort of russian state level and for women in this word or the federal Foreign Office today declared to employees of the Russian Embassy in berlin to be persona nongrata with this step of the federal government reacts to the fact that the russian authorities despite repeated high ranking and in fact it requests did not sufficiently participate in the investigation of the murder of tony k. K. In berlin zoo there are sufficient real indications that the killing is either on commission or done by state agencies of the Russian Federation or such of the autonomys chechen republic as part of the Russian Federation germanys prosecutors say or they have enough evidence linking the murder to moscow in article recently posted by the Investigative Group in the pointing finger is that there is a link between the kremlin and the murder of the chechen ethnic last august here in berlin but lets talk about a little bit of what this group the link what we know about them so far is that they are of course ties to western secret services and they have played a major role in major cases that involve the moscow case and the delany of h. 17 in Ukraine Russia has come out with their own statement about the reaction from berlin saying that this is groundless this is absolutely groundless speculation this topic is being somehow whipped up by german media but it does not mean a this is how things are. There was also been a reaction by german politician of from the freedom of chronic party alexandre graf alam store who spoke to the news agency a. F. P. Hes asking for more information to be clear shown to people why is berlin doing this we all i would like to point out here that next week in france the president of Russia Vladimir Putin and the german chancellor Angela Merkel will be meeting in the normandy summit earlier from london today the chancellor Angela Merkel said that this would not affect in any way the talks between the countries since this has to do with ukraine but what she did leave over any of that its possible that the valar by a lot of relations between the 2 countries and why it is that its somehow. Enjoined you know miller earlier to discuss the victims background. 40 year on phil in Congress Village he was killed in what was described as an execution style killing he was shot twice in the head and this is a murder case that quickly became highly politicized in the media with headlines point in this thing there were russia drawing comparisons to the script poisonings in the u. K. Calling it the script pal 2. 0 in fact the media were less interested however in delving into the history of the victim which makes quite an interesting read his c. V. Is is quite so its quite a checkered history lets say hes an ethnic chechen georgian citizen he was an islamist a former soldier he fought against russia in the 2nd chechen war he has connections to some very high profile terrorists many of the fighters the force alongside went on to move to syria and join Islamist Groups there and he sought asylum in germany in 2015 it was after a failed assassination attempt was that the 1st time someone tried to kill him. He was actually on a terror watch list a quite some time here. He was described as a person who potentially posed a threat to the Public Safety he was taken all started. Paralysed only last year in this one right in 28. 00 he was removed from that list now needless to say is passed however interesting however check it may be does not justify his killing and the perpetrators must be brought to justice but perhaps to give a fuller picture its worth highlighting that this guy was not joe bloggs you know he was not your average everyday guy he was a man with connections to some very questionable individuals with some very extreme ideological tendencies. Leaders of nato Member States would be meeting for a 2nd day in london to mark the 70th anniversary of the worlds most powerful military alliance despite attempts to put on a show of unity divisions within the crisis stricken coalition have been laid that is of hes been following the gathering in london. This summit is going to be defined not by the unity shown on the surface at least by all the leaders but by all the very very big and apparent cracks between many of those coming into this summit one thing World Leaders have regularly seems to be agreed on is that russia is always the bad guy however the nato generally general secretary himself saying that what was needed was a more confrontation but dialogue with the major eastern neighbor nato essentially road all over the shop because russia is our. Closest neighbor our biggest neighbor we need to strive for a better relationship with russia. On even if we are head not able to. Get a better relationship with russia in the near term we need to manage a difficult relationship and elsewhere as well weve also been hearing from a man well macron whos been saying that russia too does need to be dialogue on that fronts now while they advocate more dialogue with russia the reality is of course that war games continue to take place on russias borders with those eastern Member States and of course that expansion of nato to the east continues to be a cause of National Security concern for russia while any of the nato members such as take you for example who do wish to engage with russia even buy weapons from them will find themselves soon be out cos by other members Russian Air Defense system d s. 400. 00 would never be integrated into nato it will never be part of the nato integrated air missile Defense System it was already tetchy in contentious going into this summit and it would appear that things got even worse 1 last night many of the leaders of the leaders were invited to Buckingham Palace for a reception with the queen and some of them were caught on the microphone on the hot mike. Listen. If you see the. This is where hes a great politician with were not here she was. At least to face today i find him to be a very nice guy but you know the truth as. I told him out of the fact that hes not paying 2 percent. And i guess you dont really have to donald trump not happy he had canceled scheduled a press conference it was due to be held at the end of this and will be leaving the summit early in fact hes been meeting with other leaders folk all 8 plus one who he says are the 8 countries other than the u. S. Who have met the 2 percent spending target for military targets and so mr trump making it very clear that certain countries canada and particular are not welcome not impressed with what he had overall a very very divisive conference here in london. Impeachment proceedings are gathering steam in the United States after the House Intelligence Committee released what democrats are calling a damning report the document claims the President Trump abused his office for personal gain by soliciting interference from ukraine for the 2020 election Donald Trumps brand of the allegations a joke reporting next to his column open. Well the report from the House Intelligence Committee democrats essentially alleges 2 things about donald trump 1st it alleges that he conditioned military aid to ukraine on an announcement that would have been beneficial to his Reelection Campaign and secondly it alleges that he obstructed the house of representatives impeachment inquiry investigation now adam schiff representing democrats came forward and painted a pretty grim pricks here of donald trump and his activities this is adam schiff this report chronicles a scheme by the president id states to coerce an ally ukraine that is at war with an adversary russia into doing the pleasure of the president s political dirty work and he was willing to sacrifice the National Security of the United States by withholding military aid and diplomatic recognition in the form of that white house meeting in order to get what he wanted now before departing the country on monday donald trump dismissed the allegations that were expected to be leveled in this report this is what donald trump said prior to leaving the country before the report was released by the radical. Democrats decide what im going to set up a year ago that what im going to that was. One of the most important. Thing. For them to be doing saying putting it at the end of the table which. I grew up with in a recent interview the ukrainian leaders the lenski also dismissed these allegations about President Trumps behavior and interactions with him look i never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo thats not my thing i dont want us to look like bagus now many witnesses testified during the impeachment inquiry hearings but observers wondered if they really. You made a strong case that donald trump had been inappropriate in his dealings with ukraine this is some of the testimony that was heard there was no mention of withholding aid on the call correct thats correct and there was no quid pro quo correct correct was there any reference to withholding aid you know there was not any reference to bribery no there was not any reference or quid pro quo no there was no you have any information regarding any criminal activity the president of the United States has been involved with pedal. Now before this report was released on monday we had a report from the republicans that was released it was 123 pages long and it defended the actions of u. S. President donald trump saying that his dealings with ukraine had not been appropriate and had not violated the law fact that donald trump is out of the country celebrating the 70th anniversary of nato the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that many have pointed to the timing of the report as being somewhat suspicious however while some are looking at the report and saying it shows very very damning evidence against donald trump others are looking at the report and saying its simply a rehash of long discredited allegations different views from different sides of the political spectrum here in the United States. The British Government facing a massive backlash after the release of a heavily redacted report on the fracking industry british authorities never intended it to see the light of day but greenpeace won a lengthy legal battle against london under the freedom of information act out of the 48. 00 pages 37. 00 would totally blacked out what remains of the one secret document shows a concerted plan to develop a positive image for the controversial gas Extraction Method among the general public. The conservatives have taken money from Oil Executives dresch the rights of communities and enabled for i can companies to threaten their local environment the fact they have tried to cover the sub by rejecting pages of critical information for the illustrates this governments contempt for the public this is the conservatives idea of being open about their failed franken experiment forced to release their report theyve heavily censored it. This heavily redacted government report shows reference to secret plans to run a processional complain used by the weight of Scientific Evidence and strength of Public Opinion against reichen i dread to think what we havent been allowed to see with more on the fight against fracking in the u. K. Heres a live. They high tech god knows what sticking out of the grounds that earns some people cash and literally shakes other peoples homes those other people for years have been teaming up with green activists to win a war against fracking in britain. And believe the voters you can believe. In finally last month came the victory at least for the timing the controversial method of shale gas extraction was banned in the u. K. Under the Prime Minister who once called it glorious news for humanity and now that it seems there is no more need to come out and protest the Cabinet Office has at last released a secret report on the fracking industry despite these lines on the paper no parts of this report shows appendices is to be released under the freedom of information act so you want to rate something that the activists were trying to get a glance at for almost 2 years theres a little problem heres what it looks like from the 48 pages seen by the guardian 37 are entirely blacked out and only one the very front is left uncensored so if youre still keen to get to know about the skeletons in the industrys closet good luck why would so much stuff remain hidden looking at this black wall of redacted pages people will be wondering why theres so little the government is willing to reveal about fracking and so much it wants to hide if ministers have really dropped their support for this polluting industry why not publish this report in full and come clean about whats been going on behind closed doors. For years still though theres enough to scratch your heads over after reading the uncensored bits in there heres a gist of a few ideas there are issues with the fracking industries progress the main one is public opposition to fracking it needs to be dealt with the government should develop a pro shale narrative and spread the word the department for energy and Climate Change is already undertaken crucial work on communications to increase public acceptability of shale for example creation of objective information Material Development of pro Show National and regional merits of shall champions and among other useful moves that whitehall needs to take is finding ways to speed up planning in response to operators concerns which is also sometimes an obstacle planning times need to be shortened and process needs to be predictable which all makes you wonder why would the guys in charge ban fracking at all in such a document there are always going to be sensitive parts that are embarrassing to the government that are sensitive that could harm you know the industry potentially in the future or that could show the government being too cooperative with industry that might show motives. That are the public would not see in a good light its to protect their their image and to protect their ability to move forward and continue to do what they think they need to do for the nation which is different from what they tell the public of course because they tell the public whatever narrative suits them in terms of getting elected and so on but typically its for domestic political reasons that you would ban it theres no other reason that i can think of depending on how things develop geopolitically there might be a big impetus to develop u. K. Shale and in which case theyll want to do. As quickly as possible. Russias envoy to the world chemical weapons watchdog says a new investigation is needed into last years alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma it comes after a number of o. P. C. W. Employees disputed the official findings suggesting they were deliberately manipulated the organizations report was compiled following the april 28th attack which was blamed on the Syrian Government the alleged atrocity prompted retaliate 3 air strikes by britain france and the United States on a number of targets in damascus. A year later whistleblowers began to cast doubts over the findings claiming the report was heavily redacted and scientifically flawed to suited to conclusions. Most of the duty in ferguson reports on the instant the interim report and the final report were scientifically impoverished procedurally regular and possibly fraudulent and while the o. P. C. W. s objectivity has been called into question a number of academics claim the medias been blinkered in its coverage one of those claiming that now joins us live lets talk to max abrams whos a political scientist of Northeastern University in the United States welcome back to r. T. Mr abrams the might of been a number of differences of opinion within the o. P. C. W. About this attack but is there any reason to believe that the organization manipulated its investigations findings so as to blame outside forces. So im actually have a son time span i give respect sounds and the reason why this very important chemical weapons watchdog exists is because good to pull this very credible scientists to a conflict zones to see that chemical weapons were used them up a solution is not. You know i hope inside information about what happened in duma in it brought 2000 and teamed with respect to whether chemical weapons were used whether the Syrian Military dropped the next oh my position is that we should let the scientists speak and what appears to have happened is that the report was released essentially corroborating the mainstream narrative which is that Assad Syrian Arab Army were the perpetrators and that they did in fact use chemical weapons particularly chlorine and whats emerging increasingly is evidence that actually the scientists who were actually part of that team not one not 2 but at least 3 different scientists who were involved in this and who are officially part of this group they do not believe that the report which has been broadcast in the media accurately reflects the songs that get particular are based on the science theyre not persuaded that the Syrian Arab Army was behind me tap indeed according to one report 7 out of 8 of them believe that its at least as likely that the incident was staged power and that the rebels were the ones that put the canisters it in played some rather than them having been trucked from the art so that would essentially rule out the syrian. Theyre army because they control the skies and the rebels run aground i mean deep water its not even clear that chemical weapons were used and usually it was said that syrian gas was used but we found no evidence of that and you dispute just about everything in the p. C. Doubly report that what you think happened on april the 7th did speak to dozens of people 40 to 50 by most estimates were killed again im not going to dispute that report what i am going to say is that i respect science and i respect the scientists who are part of this group and i think that we should hear from those scientists exactly what the scientists was all about now the. Tanks in the United States there are very pro regime change they of course have seen start of fire all report which implicates them sarin says that chemical weapons were used and they say that no theyre satisfied with the interpretation of the interview but broadly i dont really care what the think tanks think what im here about is what the scientists themselves up to say about this and we havent heard enough from the have you say the Mainstream Media narrative about syria you describe it as having it imploded what i mean by that. Well sure i mean the mainstream there are 2 going to picture the conflict in a very simplistic way especially by making it seem as if assad was even more extreme that he actually did for example that he was the main state supporter of the Islamic State that he helped the Islamic State that he never fought against the Islamic State that he used w. M. C. Even in cases where scientists actually disagree it came up in firstly this pro regime change crowd made it seem as if the rebels fighting assad were more moderate than they actually were not so for example its been very embarrassing to them with all of the additional evidence that the rebels were interfacing with very radical salafi jihadists groups like al qaida and that was even cooperation between the rebels which the International Community supported and the higher level isis leaders including baghdad and some of the more time goes on the more evidence are emerging to the more it becomes difficult to claim you know assad of all evil in the rebels war all good and some much murkier picture where some of the allegations against assad have been revealed to be maximum true and were learning more about the rebel opposition which have them in a much more extreme life. Max thanks very much for sharing your research an investigation into this over the course of all this investigation live from boston massachusetts max i dont think you. Next leading british universities being branded shameful and appalling over its advisory guidelines for people based at its campus in jubei heres just some of the advice thats come under fire from academics students and the l. G. B. T. Q. Community. Do not do anything that may be perceived as a public display of affection by the same sex or opposite sex even if its intended to be innocent try to avoid dressing in a way which is not traditionally associated with your perceived gender if you are in public do not wear any clothes or excess or ease which could be considered to be a form of the l g q advocacy the university of birmingham opened its campus in the United Arab Emirates last year offering a range of courses set to q. K. Standards its currently expanding in dubai with plans to accommodate more than 4000. 00 students however there are concerns over the human rights record and treatment of the L G B T Q Community thats prompted a number of lecturers to refuse taking up any positions in the kingdom which forbids same sex relationships the University Though says the guidelines of to protect its students and staff here to discuss it now i think of the Ramadan Foundation and human rights activist Peter Tatchell both welcome to the Program Going to put this to both of you 1st is it right for any Educational Institution to advise staff and students on their Sexual Orientation or behavior in any context mohammed you 1st. Well i think its important that obviously when there are british students possibly studying in dubai that they understand the culture and then the environment and the law in which they will be living there are thousands of. People who work in the United Arab Emirates and do saw for many many years i have friends there who work there so i dont think is that much of an issue from the point of the of the university its about protecting students and its about having the right guidance and support in place. To protect students as they study in that country and peter doesnt look good on one of britains foremost redbrick universities it looks a bit ethically to face the best doesnt it. But of course the question is why is the university of birmingham even having a campus in a country which is essentially a religious dictatorship where there is no democracy or human rights for anyone not only for visitors whether they be students or University Star but also most importantly for the citizens of dubai and the United Arab Emirates i mean i think quite clearly this is simply a money making exercise the university of birmingham has put profit before human rights and that is very very very sad the 2nd point to make is this is not just an l. G. Bt issue this is an issue which affects many many people in dubai and potentially staff and students traveling from the u. K. So in dubai very severe restrictions on religious freedom and freedom of expression so people who are atheists people who belong to minority muslim sect such as soon fees or amar the muslims they will be extreme risk in dubai equally heterosexual staff and students who perhaps have a thing with a long term partner. Living together like a married couple but not actually married they will be at risk of arrest because sex outside of marriage is absolutely forbidden in dubai and punishable by very long terms of imprisonment and so on all these different grounds i think the university of birmingham has made a grave mistake is affectively colluding with the tyranny mohammed you mentioned about having cultural respect some of these guidelines say things like the employee should change their next of kin. And if its a same sex partner and avoid taking readers if theyve got same sex literature on it thats not about public displays of affection in a same sex couple that sounds like a sinister threat. Yeah i think one of the things i would agree with peter is that we in the west have. Ignored human rights and human rights abuses around the world for profit we see the British Government supported in selling arms to saudi arabia which have been used in yemen for example we see the double standards that has been applied in syria and so its absolutely right that if we want an ethical Foreign Policy that we have buried by those principles of human rights i guess i go back to this point that i cant is to be with anything peter said about the regime in the u. A. E. Or saudi arabia or some of the other despot regimes in the middle east where there is no human rights and there is no freedom but i think its important for individuals to know the expectation you know now that the universities there how they should behave in terms of protecting themselves sorry let me rephrase that how they should conduct themselves how they should protect themselves their own safety and the safety of their pupils and i think thats what the university was trying to do for to get a balance in terms of security and in terms of safety peter it is a university its not a government its not a Human Rights Organization its not any of those groups that would ordinarily be trying to push boundaries change laws or or whatever or have that kind of in influence why should the university be held to account over this if its going to a different country to try to expand learning in whichever faculty its trying to expand that. Well the university of birmingham has a very clear and very good equal opportunities policy of very strong policy around human rights diversity and inclusion and by going to dubai it is violating its very own rules and principles it is justin to them just as im them in order to make more money and i think that that is the fundamental red line in this case in this in this particular issue its a