Islamist separatism through a new law. Broadcasting from the russian capital this is our team. Alone welcome to the program. We start with the deadly standoff between armenia and azerbaijan in the south caucuses 2 large explosions have been heard within the past couple of hours in the disputed province of nagornokarabakh earlier the regions main city was a year and locals have been hearing the regular sound of air raid sirens. Several buildings have been damaged including the Emergency Ministry where the windows were shattered and holes blown through the walls the Armenian Defense ministry has blamed azerbaijan for the euro strike its army units on full combat in iraq. Has not confirmed or denied the bombing raids and has itself seen sizable damage a border region was hit by mortar fire several buildings were destroyed by. Reports now from nagornokarabakh. 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 theres a hole in the whole wall and its not just this building theres a whole complex its a large its a large complex and its everywhere like this obliterated not raised to the ground but its gone i dont see any way how it can be fixed all renovated we dont know what we dont know what exactly caused the explosion but we didnt hear any sirens and sirens so probably wasnt a drone but some really heavy artillery and with a very long range as well but we have to go they are telling us its not safe because sometimes as the azerbaijanis are using these socalled double tap so that they not only they destroy the building but also they kill soldiers who arrived here weve 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 dont know exactly what it is theyre telling me these these are not laws but that this one is also israeli made. Youve done a film the ground well for journalists were injured in shelling attacks in the car park in whedons they 2 of them are french reporters were airlifted to europe on for treatment as you can see here theyre not back in france on thursday as well a car carrying 4 other reporters including russians was hit by shell fire but no one was injured. While the conflict is one of several border disputes still on resolved really since the collapse of the soviet union the enclave populated mainly by armenian christians broke away in 1908 from azerbaijan which is majority muslim but the area has not been widely recognized as a sovereign state. Another element to all this turkey says its ready to give military support to its ally azerbaijan if they need it although claims it hasnt asked for any help in all the french president has accused turkey of funneling the militants from syria into the conflict zone and the money will much more nato member state turkey house crossed the red line when all our media are both accusing each other all of using mercenaries. There is much historic evidence for minas use of terrorists and mercenaries during the occupation of nagornokarabakh and adjacent regions of their beach on their menial leadership continues this policy today mercenaries are pumped into the conflict zone disguised as volunteers according to our information about 4 found militants have recently been deployed by turkey from syria to azerbaijan they are already fighting for azerbaijan they are trained in militant camps and then transferred or just to give the International Dimension to this russia france the us have urged the warring sides to end the fighting they have call for negotiations of valving the o. S. C. Minsk group which has been overseeing peace efforts there for the past 3 decades turkey though rejected calls for a truce president obama said he hopes will continue its offensive until carlebach is freed from what he calls d the armenian occupation armenia accused azerbaijan of using cluster munitions in car a bike has published photos allegedly proving it has not yet responded to that allegation both sides have released a string of videos to back up their claims of tuck tickle victories but are making contradictory claims about the damage inflicted. Looks now at her decision from a she has become one of a key weapons in the standoff. Deception and full scale aims of military victories are as old as wolf heart south but in the digital age the distance from ation can be tough charged the military Propaganda Machine of armenia which found itself in a stalemate after a series of successful hostilities by the us thereby 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 was 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 on destructively as guns claiming victory come play as important a role as physically claiming territory its all about the image you project so one surprise in that just as azerbaijan tried to discredit on me as claims of success yet 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 through everything all possible weapons into battle and even fakes and falls hoods over the past few days there has been a relentless stream of accusations from one side followed by denials from the author 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 tuckers fighter jet talkie in azerbaijan denounce this is laws and with no footage or i want to says its one sides 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 both sit down and azeri 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 doesnt matter because people thought it was a sari and that will stick as a way john uses the same tactics to post about a successful strike or a bridge on his side did not publish any images 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 were letting this has this war of information become the 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 journalist should avoid when appeal asian and official propaganda it is important to crosscheck information even when it comes from official sources journalists should never become soldiers in the information war one of russias most famous authors once compared finding the truth to looking up. For gold he said the only way is fast to wash away all that is not gold then you will find your shining not get well when it comes to car thats still a lot of sifting through the muddy river of misinformation to be done before we even get close to the truth. To another story getting a lot of reaction today the french president is proposing a new law to fight radical islam and religious separatism emanuel mccrum maybe announcement in a speech on friday charlotte typically takes up the story for us. This has been long awaited how the french government would seek to defend the countrys secular values against radical islam present like on friday has set out his stall establishing a religion. Islam is a religion that is in crisis today all over the world we dont just see it in our country it is a deep crisis that is linked to tensions between fundamentalism specifically between religious and political projects that says we have seen lead to radicalism even in countries where islam is the majority religion well the draft glorys due to be presented in december and it will seek to strengthen the secularism here in france now present much ringback talked about france liberating is from foreign influences and some of the ways it intends to do this with this law will be for example more oversight in how mosques here or funded there will be stricter scrutiny of schools and associations that solely serve religious communities and when it comes to homeschooling which is rather popular amongst the Muslim Community that will only be allowed when there are Health Related issues involved sometimes they do not receive any education but go to unofficial structures very Simple Structures walls with no windows children who arrive at 8 am every day and who leave a 3 pm women in carbs welcome them and teach only prayers and certain classes thats their teaching there was Immediate Reaction on social media to president michel speech with many decrying it. The destruction of france has been written by the hands of the president of france crown houses them in crisis all over the world today do you realize is the leader of a nation the ramification of your words especially on french citizens who follow islam mccanns latest comment on crisis and islam as nothing other than a shill to the crisis in europe of their identity and liberal is on the other hand many people feel that this is needed to stop a slide away from frances secular values it has forced the country in the last few years with the terror attacks that france is seen to take stock of what its core Republican Values are and some of the things that have come out have been concerning to many french people for example a recent poll found that 3 quarters almost 3 quarters of the young muslims under the age of 25. 00 thought that their values of islam were more important than the french republic and that really worried many people just in the last week we saw fresh terror attack here in paris and the man who carried out that attack did so because he was unhappy with the satirical magazine charlie ever dont we publishing controversial cartoons of the muslim prophet mohammed and the idea of islam and how that sits with those values of secularism in the french republic is a thorny issue will this still the debate or will it settle it well thats yet to be seen. Lets move aside from there where the regional authorities in madrid have launched a legal challenge against the spanish governments new lockdown order filed an appeal in the National Court claiming there are 3 measures violet local laws on self rule will cause all necessary economic harm the madrid area has one of the highest crime a virus infection rates in spain and the Health Minister insists the shutdown is on avoidable. Well 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. 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. Longer 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 pretty common in other areas as well bars and restaurants theyre going to have to shut by 11 pm parks playgrounds theyre off limits to the measures have already led to mass protests over 2000 people gathered to denounce them last friday protesters pushed rubbish bins into roads and chanted slogans the mounting freedom of the trade residence what they think about the new law. At the ready to turn it into a political war theyre 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 the necessary measures are taken with more transport put on to avoid grounding. If you lock people up at home for the virus for the flu for a cold everything will get better but people dont 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 dont know what were going to eat if madrid closes again. The United States sounds imposed sanctions on 8 belorussian officials including the interior minister over the countrys disputed election earlier the e. U. Had blacklisted 40 belorussians in response to allegations of election rigging and violence against protesters minsk responded in kind with measures against the list of european officials our europe correspondent peter all of hers in berlin with more details. It was a Long Time Coming but the European Union have agreed sanctions on belorussian officials following orcus disputed election the reason for the delay was a standoff between cyprus and pretty much the rest of the e. U. Bloc cyprus wanted to see action taken against turkey over and krizz 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 list is you gaze bell russian president alexander shank and his name not being there is raised a few eyebrows however underlying the e. U. 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 sunni important is this a clue for the 3 since we are critical and we repeat that we would like to to to consider the people of the have the rights to do to mean whats the only future french president emanuel microamp back not putting sanctions on belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenko saying that if they did that they could see him retreat into a bunker mentality and refuse any future talks Angela Merkel 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 arent happy about this at all as you would imagine they say that no nation. On the planet wouldve agreed to the demands that were being made of it by the European Union and that theyll 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 belarus to to the longstanding and close ties between the 2 countries has responded to the news of the sanctions to meet the press goal of the kremlin Spokes Person less than impressed with the move made by brussels if 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. And canada both announce sanctions against belarus previously the u. K. Issued a asset freeze against Alexander Lukashenko the reason for this delay from the european side it 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 lithuania were demanding action immediately while cyprus said no no no hang on there well 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. Among the reaction we got to this story was from geo political analyst reiner roughnesses says that any sanctions are likely to have a knock on effect on the public at large. So i think its just a game of slightly stepping up the tone against. Against look i think oh and i see the difficulty that. Usually when we have reached a stage of sanctions once its 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 amaze seem to harm the political elite but in the end we know from enough experience in this world iraq syria venezuela and cetera that its the normal people its most of all the poor people who are hit very very severely by those sanctions as soon as they got really tough. President trump is suffering mild symptoms after testing positive for corona virus thats now been confirmed by the white house the u. S. President and the 1st lady have both contracted the virus which just over an hour one month to go before the president ial election earlier at my colleague neil harvey discussed the developments with scott the cute. 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 most people went to sleep was that he had been tested he and his wife been 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 the 1st lady what had tested positive however it does that the president in good health and will continue to be able to handle the position we here in the