nets offered the minister a bunch of flowers at the beginning of a t.v. debate instead now we got reaction to this from mohamed schiff from the ramadan foundation and stephen morris of the english democrats party. trying to do is push his religious beliefs onto other people and what he's doing he's actually not integrated he doesn't want to integrate shake hands it's just a gesture of friendship and it's not down to religion it's not religious based however not shaking these hummed a real insult but well i'm not here to defend that particular remark but i'm here to defend the right of people to choose how they practice their faith we have in our country and europe many orthodox jewish people who refused to shake the hand of women so actually it's something which goes on it's not disrespectful it's a formal respect this is about religious freedom and you know nowhere in what i just see you will know and i'm sure. the june. well let me

show it is not unlike their leaders so you believe an issue of let me finish let me let me finish ok it's not about you telling other people what they can and cannot say there and it's not about you to decide to determine what's acceptable or not if there is somebody within the jewish community orthodox jew jewish community are refusing to shake people's and do you have a problem well when i run for mayor of greater manchester you could come that it was jewish refused to shake hands with women. and i said that was not right that was against our culture so it's not just against islam or what you're talking about is one hundred friendship being given to somebody and it's been thrown in the face that when we go to morsi or we go to synagogue we expect two other women to have a headscarf we expect to take our shoes off and very sort of things which we do as a matter of respect are i'm saying to you you've got to understand that if somebody

individually wants to express their old way of practicing their faith why do the jewish member of our society why they're in muslim or a christian or whichever faith they're from all they have to do is decide it is their choice to do that and we have to respect our. always lost more stories on our facebook page to give us a like when you get the chance i'll be back in half an hour's time with more news stay with. the u.s. and north korea continue their war of words cooler minds pressed for diplomacy and negotiations how much of a threat is north korea to the global order and why you should stay straight forced to resign this call.

in case you're new to the game this is how it works the economy is built around corporation corporations run washington the washington post media the media. the voters elected the businessman to run this country business equals. boom bust it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. welcome to me sophie shevardnadze the north korea nuclear crisis is testing the result of all the international community by the permanent members of the u.n. security council still struggling to agree on

a common strategy will the world's powers find a way out of the crisis and can the united nations serve its purpose and prevent all out war while. the united nations. is my guest today. north korea's nuclear test sending the world into crisis mode the syrian war in full swing and the world's super powers my. distrust the united nations is left standing as the only place where emotions can be cooled and peaceful solutions hammered out but can't step up to the challenge elevations of corruption and inefficiency how can the international body regain the global trust and off already have enough clout to make sure the world does not descend into conflict. russia's envoy to the united nations mr newman it's good to have you in our program welcome it's our first so going to start right away russia's u.n.

delegation is dealing with several pressing issues right now namely the north korean nuclear crisis with a country reporting and conduct of the hydrogen bomb tests now at the latest security council session and you said that a military solution to the crisis is impossible but do you seriously think any calls for a military solution go beyond emotions or populism i mean does anyone seriously want war. hello so fickle nice to be with you i hope they are not we have the next throw of the security council meeting. on the test and everybody everybody strongly condemned that it was indeed a flagrant violation of low previous security council resolutions almost good here including the latest on the twenty three seventy one you know nobody i believe once military solution everybody won once the crisis the debate is all peacefully but

the problem is that recipes for to differ. some countries some ground that is like the united states france japan u.k. south korea and others say we need to impose new set of sanctions on the got a key to deprive them of the means to develop their nuclear ballistic missile test program and to bring them back to the english a negotiating table so we get out of sight as we went to russia and china that we're going to actually get to the sanctions before we talk for size play about the sanctions that are proposing we're russia's position is that further sanctions on p.r. neon will not work i mean let me or putin says north koreans would rather eat grass than give up nukes right so if calls for restraint aren't changing anything and neither does sanctions obviously how well's do you get out this mess.

yes indeed sanctions unfortunately do not work first day i ignored secondly they have been long time factor the certainly. new set of sanctions may be motivation to the negotiating negotiating table but that of the new new for the essence we are stressing one the political and diplomatic solution. china and russia has already proposed even in july an action plan to solve the crisis with an initiative on double suspension which was going to study criticised by mickey hated by the way i do don't know what she found so insulting in that then she said that as she said if she has something better than the new sanctions maybe the united states could come out with it we would only welcome it we would welcome any efforts and then initiatives to start the genie and let on the bow of

the swiss initiatives we would welcome the efforts of the secretary general anybody can help but like you've sat there americans are actually opposing the strategy proposed by russia and china do using it stands a real chance with america opposing it. what what is the option i mean if they want it should be completely excluded because the consequences will be too dire and they may seeing that they still deny time for that but it's never it's never too early to start the process so why are your he one partners insisting on further sanctions on north korea if the sanctions clearly are not working what is the point. that's exactly the question that we're asking them in the security council nikki haley gave was a history lesson in all of us security council resolutions on deep got to be it built that and not working that exactly proves the point so like you said you some

bastard to the u.n. said that north korea is begging for war and called for the toughest measures possible against it does in north korea is ready for that. we never do is that it is not to pick through the common weal i would say the international community rejecting it so i don't see why this should be they should be forthcoming now with the new sanctions as which they can see that to be insulting to them so it will look at it from the north korean side and if they are not ready for this war why are they so defiant of the international community what makes them so brave. that's not to be the question that they should address to me. because i think that you you bet them that actually. or at least early how there are they any and i think right i mean you can't not think of what makes this

guy so sure that you can do what he's doing what is the answer that you find for yourself when you ask that question. wow we understand what all the motives because their world has shown evidence of what happened to those leaders that voluntarily voluntarily gave up their nuclear programs and maybe that is also affected the and in what they're doing which is not denied in any way. of course of course the stakes are being raised to high by by all parties by all sides in fact you know there are other crisis and the world rushes un mission house to deal with just recently you proposed a resolution concerning a peacekeeping mission in mr new crate now the claim president has talked about deploying peacekeepers for a long time but kim isn't happy about moscow's proposal what is the difference between the two approaches and why do you feel yours is better.

thought about bald ideas floating. vaiko vague talk about certain peacekeeping mission in ukraine that was by by key if for some time but we we have taken that as a disguise to implemented the minsk agreement because the only plausible solution to the guys at the moment agreement indorsed by the un resolutions we un security council resolution so we didn't didn't hear anything definitive all conclusive from them on the peacekeeping mission while oh a proposal is based first of all on the. twenty two zero twelve twenty fifteen which means the package of measures to implement the minsk agreement it is a aimed solely at the at protecting the special motivating mission of the ois sea observers the lie the factual content is not in thrust that there was any political

or or or other. because these stocks belong to the established formants like like the s m m always see which i mentioned or they go into group or the normandy formant. i want to move on to syria because it will be part of the discussion at the general assembly french president mannion that close says fighting terrorism is the priority right now so i figure it seems like the assad must go rest is not the dominant stance anymore has something changed in how your you and colleagues view the situation. it can not but it made it even though reluctantly by those who didn't want to be did that this occasion on the ground in syria is changing and then it is changing for the better. you know that the process led by. the turkey

has led to the separate from though this three day escalation is a zones. where life is coming back to normal work humanitarian aid people with the forces old and being being negotiated. at that in that. possess in syria. with every day the situation is changing you can multi cannot deny it but we can see the political horizon in the city and prizes we need more political life but because a solution can only put be political and i mean you that were working that yes that it. has changed in the security council and the u.n. in general best and why why do you feel like the russian iranian and turkish efforts to advance to peace process in syria are more efficient than those that are let by the united nations i didn't compare the efficiency i said that these

two processes to me individually i'm quartering them because it's pretty obvious that the efforts undertaken by the three countries are much more efficient than those they've been undergoing for years now by the un so why do you think because i think ours is more efficient why do you think it's more efficient. i don't think i hope again the branding them with more official and less efficient i'm just saying that these efforts. play here and i'm going to be good to the geneva process very much by by creating conditions for for the geneva forces led by the you have to succeed. all right fair enough i want to move on to what's going on inside the united nations president trump recently wrote on his twitter that the u.n. is just a club for people to get together talk to have a good time that's a quote is that just another populist announcement from trump or is the u.n. really losing relevance. well he was most far from the truth indeed the us

is a good place to meet people and have a good time but that's not all of all do you have of course un these are not good ization multifaceted they're going to work in mobile not only in peace and security but in many other areas. which which should not have anything instead of us it is very active in the economic and social area it is doing human rights it is doing the law it has planted over the specialist agencies in various fields of activities un is a very busy place and the very important one because for people who aren't directly placated and u.n. work observers like myself it does seem like you know mostly what u.n. is doing is resolutions resolutions resolutions and that's the only thing that can really get done. that that's not little that's not little the.

these words that is being done by the lead to great results in fact you know that the new u.n. secretary general of tennessee he has embarked on the on the form of their going his asian proposing proposing in so-called repositioning of the united nations system to make it more effective and closer to the present day challenges these. this is a thread that will full late the during the general assembly this fall we're waiting for the for the proposals to materialize but the threat. is very interesting one to make the united nations more donovan's or rather bassett or we're going to take a short break right now and when we're back we'll be discussing their recent diplomatic route between russia and the u.s. stay tuned.

years ago i traveled across. exploring america's. bad guy trying to get to one of my family members he would have. published in the. us. this is a middle school we go through drills we put ourselves in real scenarios it was interesting to see.

the subject to try. but we are. all right welcome back precious and way of us. my guests today welcome back to the show now what so many members in the united nations pursuing their own agenda is

any kind of radical reform of the organization possible can any consensus on that be reached at all. we don't need any radical reform of the goodies ation would need some certain fine tuning yes indeed. you are good acts that this is going to this is old by all member states and they will have a say big and small in what's going on in it and they we'll need to have a voice in the whatever the forms are being proposed because it should be an intergovernmental inlet paul says. the company is the countries are the owners of these are going is ation they should have a say in in the reform process to that way of course have some incredible or exceptional cases one powerful countries actually nor get immune approval for military action and just go and do whatever they feel like doing and that for sure

ruins to u.s. credibility how should the un react to those kind of situations. of course you know that there will actions out in the miscible and un was was not established by its founding fathers to ensure. and save. the peace and security in all the world and the un has the final say and should have the final say on any action in particular a military one which without un approval would be a legitimate you know exchanges between american and russian and voice in the un have often been quite heated especially lately yet you are saying that behind the scenes to diplomats are trying to be friendly to each other be professional how does that work i mean how do you go for tea with someone who was just i don't know for instance calling you a war criminal. i

didn't engage yet in many of the water awards with my colleagues and i hope it will stay that way because i think that the united nations and security council in particular should be it should not be a place for futile that that it's. the spotlight the must do must their athletic skills they should be a place should be a place. which is which should which should be form its main responsibility to maintain the international peace and security i didn't have those exchanges. was very well received by my colleagues indeed outside the security council room well we know from the inside the security council whom we are all friends. we maintain very friendly relations and that's important personal relations matter. so is their professional comradery a cast feeling between diplomats dat persevered despite their respective countries

relations i would i wouldn't call the cost it's i wouldn't call it that i would go to constant songs to excuse a professional commodity as i agree so like on one hand you are the one doing the face to face negotiations but at the same time all diplomats follow orders how much influence do you and your partners actually wield personally i mean if your american partner wants compromise and their wives house balls doesn't hypothetically what can you both personally do to change that. or the co co the u.s. ambassador. regulates it with with the white house you should does it make you haley wouldn't comment on that but in our case any ambassador any russian invest in the world would have quite the quite the flexible but unity in formulating the

company's position. but of course the final say that suggested a little in diplomacy is with a capital but we. rather free the what we can all and most most often but the can do all the time we are in full agreement with a capital so like if you look at the recent situation the relation between us and russia have been pretty dire and you said that it's probably worse than during the cold war how do you manage to work efficiently in an atmosphere of hostility created by the current russia west standoff. it so happened unfortunately that this if you're in the council maybe is one of the few you platforms left for us and the us to quote that i hate and i said initially what i have left here that i will i will not make i'll but let the deliberations

close to the i will not make peace and security has to store by letter literally shows and that's melting now with additional to no political culture and i will stay that way we we have developed a good report with nikki haley. she is committed to doing what she can and who pots to make it happen and we are trying to out there i hopefully that's their platform that is in the security council will help as many things including improving the rush by the russian american relations. you know this was a question from our viewers when they heard that we had an upcoming interview with you they wanted me to ask personally how do you manage to have a friendly relationship with your american colleague when you know the two countries are pretty much at a state of cold war. look i. never never imagined that the russian and the american

people have anything like hostility towards each other it's the political situation that that is to blame but on a personal level we are all humans first of all secondly we feel sympathy towards americans and i feel that americans feel sympathy and sympathy towards russians so i have no problem in communicating personally on good terms with any american court a court ignoto of the making haiti but do you know who court exe in the mission than elsewhere so i heard you say that other countries have been also calling for an improvement of u.s. russia relations which countries are you talking about and will washington listen most importantly. many countries privately and openly say that much depends on the alibi that the little asians and

it's not appropriate that solo these days. they should be improved and that will be for the best for the better of the world and not just our two countries so recently moscow says that it considers terrorists and u.s. law enforcement inspection rates on russian diplomatic mission in america a violation of diplomatic immunity president putin said that russia will go to an american court over a property rights do you think legal action can be successful here. i don't think that it's appropriate for me to comment on that common sense being made in most and i don't see anything to add to it the except that i agree that moves that were made to not only which moves but how they were made were very friendly but how do your colleagues in the united nation react to this situation

because it was all over the news it was huge everyone was talking about it surely they also had a way to do which situation they would suggest to to the u.s. law enforcement's inspection rates. we didn't discuss it with them frankly we didn't have time for that it's run so fast here that it does leave it opportunity for now it's a discussion we didn't have simply with the paternity issue to discuss it but since you since you reminded me reminded me i will raise the issue with a bit later so you know me another interview that i also wanted to ask you how you know both moscow and washington there were very optimistic about mending relationship after donald trump's election but then the latest events show that the situation is actually getting worse why do you thing this hopes never materialized . yes and you know the answer to this question yourself and it's mainly due to the domestic did they mention all of it not only of course but that they missed

domestic dimension when the political station within the united states of course fact did badly too because we fortunately became a very convenient. including in the domestic domestic. political political battles that are raging here so you fail it's more the resistance from inside the american establishment to warming up ties with russia rather than that in resolving differences subjectively home for inc the relationship. president he was campaigning in the show about the words he promised to deliver old improving u.s. russia relations but unfortunately due to many reasons. the moral or judge them he was not able to do so do you feel like yes can you from your un stance and position influence that do something that could get this relationship going better

. we have to do what we can do we told you that i am committed to improving these relations working together for the better of the world working together with the united states and other problems of course go to counseling outside the security council i hope that step by step will lead us. if we see the the movement. the the the movement all those. investor thank you very much for this insightful interview will wish you all the best of luck were talking to mr ben zakkai. discussing the many challenges that un is facing today from north korea crisis to fighting terrorism in syria saying great talking to you that's it for this edition of sophie and co analyse you next. thank you very much of the.

clearly. the u.s. and north korea continue their war of words well cooler minds pressed for diplomacy

and negotiations how much of a threat is north korea to the global order and why they strike force to resolve this conflict. the headline story this hour the. seizure of russian diplomatic property with the u.s. state department facing up questions from journalists over the. use of the. horrible diplomatic protocol you know and i don't know if you are working today or what but i think. russia's new ambassador to the u.s. presence his credentials amid one of the worst diplomatic periods the country's face. also coming aid convoy in the war weary east.