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ruled russia, as president or prime minister, he hasn t done it alone. he s been backed by a coterie of trusted associates, connected through past ties in st petersburg, or in the kgb or in business. one of mr putin s inner circle is my guest today. vladimir yakunin ran russian railways for a decade and was a close putin adviser. so much so the us made him a target of sanctions after the invasion of crimea. he left the railway two years ago. is he still a true believer in the putin project? vladimiryakunin, welcome to hardtalk. hello. i think it s fair to say, you, for a decade more, were one of vladimir putin s closest associates and advisers. in general terms, as you look at putin s impact upon russia, would you say that you believe he is taking russia in a very positive direction? thank you for your introduction. listen, to tell the truth, i never considered myself a voice to be in the position to be considered an adviser of mr putin. i was doing my business, i was c ....
one in the morning in london. and 8pm in cincinnati, ohio where the american student otto warmbier jailed in north korea for more than 15 months has died. the 22 year old had only returned home last week but it emerged he had been in a coma for a year. a north korean court had sentenced him to 15 years hard labour for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel. within the past few hours the us government has responded. secretary of state rex tillerson saying north korea would be held accountable and demanding the release of three other americans being held by pyongyang. and president trump has given his reaction. he spent 1.5 years in north korea. a lot of bad things happened. but at least we got him home to be with his pa rents. least we got him home to be with his parents. they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough conditions. he just passed away a little while ago. that is a brutal regime and we will be able to handle it. in a moment ....
on the trump presidency so far. it is certainly the most expensive congressional race in american history. both main parties have poured money into the battle for the atlanta seat, held by republicans since 1979. polls closed just over two hours ago and votes are still being counted. live now to our correspondent nick bryant in atlanta. how does it look? as you join me john lewis in the neighbouring district is addressing the crowd with a thunderous booming voice. he came to work as an intern in his office in washington. this will be a close race. 10% are being counted so far. the republican candidate has a small lead of 50.2% right now. only a couple of votes in it and many more to count. we expect this to be a very, very close result. things we re a very, very close result. things were different in the first round. and in the republican vote was heavily split in the first round. although if you added up all the candidates together there was an early race in april wher ....
it is certainly the most expensive congressional race in american history. both main parties have poured money into the battle for the atlanta seat, held by republicans since 1979. polls closed a few hours ago and votes are still being counted. live now to our correspondent peter bowes, who s monitoring the election for us from los angeles. what is the latest? it looks like the republican, karen handel, is beginning to inch ahead. she is the former georgia secretary of state. over 70% of the votes in her precinct have been counted and the site she has a 5% lead with 52% againstjon ossoff, about 48% at the moment. she is beginning to develop a lead. it was always going to be close. as you said, and tremendous amount of money was poured into this campaign. much of that money came from outside of the state, from new york, some of it coming from california, in a battle being seen as not only local politics but a referendum on donald trump. as not only local politics but a r ....
thrown in by both sides. it was seen as more of a national referendum on donald trump s element and administration, since being elected last november, as it was a local election. certainly the local republicans wanted it to be about local issues, but the emma kratz set their hearts on winning this seat, too embarrassed donald trump. of the democrats. to make him angry, as some of them were saying. it was not to be. the republicans have taken this seat. it will be a sigh of relief for many republicans in congress. and indeed in the senate, with important decisions coming up over the next couple of weeks, especially in the senate, regarding healthcare and the reform of healthcare. donald healthcare and the reform of healthca re. donald trump healthcare and the reform of healthcare. donald trump clearly expressing his delight in a tweet a few moments ago, saying congratulations to karen handel on her big win in georgia six. fantasticjob, we are all very proud of you . ....