progress for a strong global climate agreement this year in paris. all of the g7 countries have now put forward our post-2020 targets for reducing carbon emissions, and we will continue we will continue to work our climate finance commitments to help developing countries transition to low carbon growth. as we have done in the u.s., the g-7 agreed on the need to integrate climate risks in the development assistance and programs across the board and to increase access to risk insurance to help developing countries respond to and recover from climate related disasters. building on the power africa initiative, the g7 will work to mobilize more financing for clean energy projects in africa. with respect to security, the g-7 remains strongly united in support for ukraine. we will continue to provide

economic support and technical assistance that ukraine needs as it moves ahead on critical reforms to transform its economy and strengthen its democracy. as we have seen in recent days russian forces continue to operate in eastern ukraine. this is now the second year in a row the g-7 has met without russia, another example of their isolation. every member of the g-7 continue to maintain sanctions on russia for its aggression against ukraine. it's important to recognize the russian economy has been seriously weakened. the ruble and foreign investments are down, inflation is up, the russian central-bank seriously weakened. has lost more than $150 billion in reserves. russian banks and firms are virtually locked out of the international markets. russian energy companies are struggling to import the services and technology they need for complex energy projects. russian defense programs have been cut off from key technologies. russia is in deep recession. the russian actions in ukraine

are hurting russia and hurting the russian people. here at the g-7, we agree that even as we will continue to seek a diplomatic solution, sanctions against russia will remain in place so long as russia continues to violate its obligations under the minsk agreement. our european partners reaffirm they will maintain sanctions on russia until the minsk agreements are fully implemented which means extending the eu existing sectoral sanctions beyond july. the g-7 is making clear if necessary we stand ready to impose additional significant sanctions against russia. beyond europe, we discussed the negotiations over iran's nuclear program and remain united adding to the final stages of the talks. iran has a historic opportunity to resolve the international committee's concerns about its nuclear program and we agreed iran needs to seize that opportunity.

our discussions with prime minister abadi of iraq and the president of tunisia and the president of nigeria were a chance to address the threats of isil and boko haram. as many of the world's leading partners in global development are joined by leaders of ethiopia, liberia, and nigeria senegal and the african union, we discussed how to maximize the impact of our partnerships and will continue food security and nutrition, part of our effort to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030. we'll continue to work with our partners in west africa to get ebola cases down to zero and, as part of our health security agenda, i am pleased the g-7 made a major commitment to help 60 countries over the next five years achieve specific targets

to better prevent, detect, and respond to future outbreaks before they become epidemics. finally, i want to commend chancellor merkel for assuring the summit included educational and economic opportunities for women and girls. the g-7 committed to expanding career training for women in our own countries and increase technical and vocational training in developing countries which will help all of our nations prosper. i want to thank angela and the people of germany for their extraordinary hospitality. i leave here confident that when it comes to the key challenges of our time, america and our closest allies stand shoulder to shoulder. with that, i will take some questions and i will start off with jeff mason of reuters. >> thank you, mr. president. after your meetings here, you mentioned greece in your opening statement. do you believe the europeans are being too tough on greece in these talks and what else needs to be done on both sides to

ensure there is a deal and ensure there is not undue harm to financial markets? on a separate topic, the french told reporters today that you said at the g-7 meeting you are concerned that the dollar is too strong. what did you say exactly and are you concerned that the dollar is too strong? president obama: first of all, don't believe unnamed sources -- i did not say that and i make a practice of not commenting on the daily fluctuations of the dollar or any other currency. with respect to greece, not only are the g-7 partners but the imf and other representatives feel a sense of urgency in finding a path to resolve the situation there.

what it's going to require is greece being serious about making some important reforms not only to satisfy creditors but, more importantly, to create a platform whereby the greek economy can start growing again and prosper. the greeks are going to have to follow through and make some tough political choices that will be good for the long-term. i also think it will be important for the international community and the international financial agencies to recognize the extraordinary challenges that greece faces. if both sides are showing a sufficient flexibility, i think we can get this problem resolved but it will require some tough decisions for all involved and

we will continue to consult with all the parties involved to try to encourage that. >> will it happen before the deadline? president obama: i think everybody wants to make it happen and they are working hard to get it done. nedra? >> thank you, mr. president. how frustrated are you that after you personally raised concerns about cyber security with the chinese president that there was a massive attack originated from china? was the chinese government involved in as a sports fan, can you give us your reaction to the fifa scandal? president obama: with respect to fifa, i cannot comment on a pending case by our attorney general. i will say that in conversations i have had here in europe, people think it is very important for fifa to be able to operate with integrity and

transparency and accountability. as the investigation and charges proceed, i think we also have to keep in mind that, although football, soccer, depending which side of the atlantic you live on, is a game, it is also a massive business. it is a source of incredible national pride. and people want to make sure that it operates with integrity. the united states, by the way, since we get better and better at each world cup, we want to make sure a sport that's gaining popularity is conducted in an upright manner. i don't want to discuss, because

we haven't publicly unveiled who we think may have engaged in these cyberattacks. but i can tell you that we have known for a long time that there are significant vulnerabilities and these vulnerabilities are going to accelerate as time goes by both in systems within government and within the private sector. this is why it is so important that congress moves forward on passing cyber legislation, cyber security legislation that we have been pushing for. over the last several years, i have been standing up for new mechanisms inside of government to investigate and start finding more effective solutions. part of the problem is we've got very old systems. we discovered this new breach in opm precisely because we have

initiated this process of inventorying and upgrade systems to address existing vulnerabilities. what we are doing is going agency by agency and figuring out what we can fix with better practices we can use and better computer hygiene by personnel and where we need new systems and infrastructure to protect information not just of government employees or government activities but also most importantly, where there is nature face between government and the american people. this is going to be a big project and we will keep on doing it because both state and nonstate actors are sending everything they've got at trying to breach the systems. in some cases, it is nonstate actors engaging in criminal activity and potential theft.

in the case of state actors, they are probing for intelligence or, in some cases trying to bring down systems in pursuit of their various foreign-policy objectives. in either case, we will have to be more aggressive and more attentive than we have been and this problem will not go away. it will accelerate. that means that we have to be as nimble, as aggressive, and as well resourced as those trying to break into the systems. justin? >> i wanted to ask about two things on the agenda at the g-7 -- the first was the islamic state. you said yesterday that you assess what is working and what wasn't. i'm wondering what is not working in the fight against the islamic state.

will the british prime minister step up help with the fight? chancellor merkel said she was pleased you would get fast-track authority. does that mean you gave her and other leaders assurance it would go through the house and if it doesn't, what does it say about your ability to achieve authority. meaningful agreements with congress for the remainder of your time in office? president obama: i'm not going to hypothesize about getting it done. i will get it done and we will get a vote soon because the right thing to do. with respect to isil, we have made significant progress in pushing back isil from areas in which they had occupied or disrupted local populations. but we have also seen areas like in ramadi where they are displaced and they come back in another and they are nimble and

they are aggressive and opportunistic. one of the areas where we will have to improve is the speed at which we are training iraqi forces. where we have trained them directly and equipped them and we have a train and assist posture, they operate effectively. where we haven't, morale, lack of equipment, etc. may undermine iraqi forces so we want to get more security forces trained and well-equipped and focused. the president of iraq wants the same thing so we are reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that, essentially accelerating the number of iraqi forces that are properly trained and equipped and have a focused strategy and good leadership. when a finalized plan is presented to me by the pentagon,

then i will share it with the american people. we don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how the training takes place. the details of that are not yet worked out. >> what about additional u.s. military personnel? are they under consideration? president obama: what's fair to say is that all of the countries in the international coalition are prepared to do more, to train iraqi security forces, if they feel like additional work has been taken advantage of. one of the things we are still seeing in iraq is places where we have gotten more training capacity than we have recruits.th the prime minister was how we make

sure we get more recruits in. a big part of the answer is our outreach to sunni tribes. we have seen them who are not only willing and prepared to fight isil, but have been successful at rebuffing them but it has not been happening as fast as it needs to. one of the efforts that i am hoping to see out of the prime minister and the iraqi legislature when they are in session is to move forward on a national guard law that would help devolve the security efforts in places like anbar to local folks and to get those sunni tribes involved more rapidly. this is part of what helped defeat aqi, the precursor of isil, during the iraq war in

2006. without that kind of local participation even if you have a short-term success, it's hard to hold those areas. the other thing is we have to make more progress is stemming the flow of foreign fighters. you will recall that i hosted a u.n. general security council meeting specifically on this issue. we have made some progress but not enough. we are still seeing thousands of foreign fighters flowing into syria and oftentimes ultimately into iraq. not all of that is preventable but a lot of it is. if we have better cooperation and coordination and intelligence, if we are monitoring what's happening at the turkish-syria border more

effectively -- this is an area where we have been seeking deeper cooperation with turkish authorities who recognize it's a problem but haven't fully ramped up the capacity they need. this is something i think we have to spend a lot of time on. if we can cut off some of that foreign fighter flow, then we can isolate and wear out isil forces that are already there because we are taking them off the battlefield. if they are being replenished, it does not solve the problem over the long term. the final point i would emphasize is the political agenda of inclusion remains as important as the military fight that is out there. if sunnis, kurds and shia all feel as if their concerns are being addressed and that operating within a legitimate

political structure can meet their need for security, prosperity, nondiscrimination then we will have a much easier time. the good news is the prime minister is very much committed to that principle. but he is inheriting a legacy of a lot of mistrust been very is arious groups in iraq and has to take a lot of political risks. in some cases, there are efforts to undermine that trust so we have to support those on the right side of the issue. reporter: you mentioned the u.s. and its european allies have reached a consensus on extending the sanctions against russia. is there a consensus about what specifically the next step should be if russia continues to violate the minsk agreement?

also, can you deter russian aggression in other parts of eastern europe without a permanent u.s. troop presence? i wanted to ask you about the possibility of the court battle over your actions on immigration. is there anything more you can do for the people who would have benefited from that program and now are in limbo? how do you view the possibility of your term ending without a accomplishing your goals on immigration. president obama: on ukraine and russia and minsk, there is strong consensus that we need to keep pushing russia to abide by the terms of the minsk agreement. we need to continue to support and encourage ukraine to meet its obligations under minsk. until that happens, sanctions remain in place. there was discussion about

additional steps that we might need to take if russia, working through separatists, doubled down on aggression inside of ukraine. those discussions are taking place at a technical level, not yet at a political level because i think the first goal going into the european council meeting coming up is just rolling over the existing sanctions. at a technical level, we want to be prepared. our hope is that we don't have to take additional steps. the minsk agreement is met and i want to give enormous credit to chancellor merkel who has shown extraordinary patience in trying to get that done.

ultimately, this is going to be an issue for mr. putin. he's got to make a decision to either continue to wreck his country's economy and continue russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrongheaded desire to re-create the glories of the soviet empire or does he recognize that russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other countries. as i mentioned earlier, the costs the russian people are bearing are severe. that is being felt. it may not always be understood why they are suffering because

of state media inside russia and propaganda coming out of state media in russia and with russian speakers. but the truth of the matter is the russian people would greatly benefit, and ironically, one of the rationales mr. putin provided for is to protect russian speakers there. russian speakers inside ukraine are precisely the ones bearing the brunt of the fighting. their economy has collapsed their lives are in disorder and many of them are displaced and their homes may have been destroyed. they are suffering. the best way for them to stop suffering is if the minsk agreement is fully implemented. with respect to immigration, obviously, i am frustrated by a

district court ruling that is going through the appeals process. we are being as aggressive as we can legally to, first and foremost, appeal that ruling and then to implement those elements of immigration executive actions that were not challenged in court. obviously, the centerpiece, one of the key provisions for me was being able to get folks who are undocumented to go through a background check, a criminal background check, pay back taxes, and then have a legal status. that requires an entire administrative apparatus and us getting them to apply and come clean. i made a decision which i think is the right one that we should not accept applications until

the legal status of this is clarified. i'm absolutely convinced this is well within my legal authority the department of homeland security's legal authority if you look at the precedent, if you look at the traditional discretion that the executive branch has, i am convinced what we are doing is lawful and our lawyers are convinced what we are doing is lawful. but, the united states is a government of laws and separations of power. even if it is an individual district court judge making this determination, we've got to go through the process to challenge it. until we get clarity there, i don't want to bring people in and have them apply and jump through a lot of hoops only to

have it deferred and delayed further. there is one great way to solve this problem which would be congress acting which would obviate the need for executive actions. the majority of the american people i think still want to see that happen. i suspect it will be a major topic of the next presidential campaign. we will continue to push as hard as we can on all fronts to fix a broken immigration system, administratively, we will be prepared if and when we get the kind of ruling i think we should have gotten the first place to go ahead and implement. ultimately, this is never fully replaced the need for congress to act. my hope is that after a number of other issues we are working

on currently get cleared, that there will be quiet conversations that start back up again particularly in the republican party about the shortsighted approach they are taking when it comes to immigration. ok. reporter: thank you, mr. president. more than 6 million americans may soon lose health insurance if the supreme court backs the latest challenge to the portal care act. the growing number of states are looking for assistance as they face the prospect their residence may lose federal insurance subsidies and their insurance markets may collapse. yet your administration has given very little to no guidance on how states can prepare. what can you tell state leaders who worry that the country may be thrown into chaos. president obama: what i can tell state leaders is under

well-established precedent, there is no reason why the existing exchanges should be overturned through a court case. it has been well documented that those who passed this legislation never intended for folks going through the federal exchange not to have their citizens get subsidies. that is not just the opinion of me or the opinion of democrats. that is the opinion of the republicans who worked on the legislation. the record makes it clear. under well-established statutory interpretation approaches that have been repeatedly employed, not just by liberal democratic judges but by conservative

judges like some on the current supreme court, you interpret a statute based on what the intent and meaning and the overall structure of the statute what provides for. this should be an easy case. frankly, it probably should not have been taken up. since we are going to get a ruling pretty quick, i think it's important for us to go ahead and assume the supreme court will do what most legal scholars who have looked at this would expect them to do. i have said before and i will repeat again -- if, in fact, you have a contorted reading of the statute that says federally-run exchanges do not provide

subsidies for folks who are participating in those exchanges, that throws off how that exchange operates. it means that millions of people who are obtaining insurance currently with subsidies suddenly are not getting those subsidies and many of them can't afford it and they pull out and the assumptions that the insurance companies made when they priced their insurance is gets thrown out the window and it would be disruptive for folks in the exchanges but also for those insurance markets in those states generally. it is a bad idea. it is not something that should be done based on a twisted interpretation of four words. as we were reminded, a couple of thousand page piece of legislation.

what's more is the thing is working. part of what is bizarre about this whole thing is we have not had a lot of conversation about the horrors of obamacare because none of them come to pass. yet 16 million people gotten health insurance. the overwhelming majority of them are satisfied with the health insurance. it has not had an adverse effect on people who already had health insurance. the only effect it's had on people is they now have an insurance -- they now have an assurance they won't be prevented from getting insurance because of pre-existing conditions. the costs have come in substantially lower than even our estimates about how much it would cost. health care inflation overall has continued to be at some of the lowest levels in 50 years. none of the predictions about how this would not work have come to pass.

and so, i am optimistic that the supreme court will play it straight when it comes to the interpretation and i should mention that if it didn't, congress could fix this whole thing with a one-sentence provision. i'm not going to go into a long speculation anticipating disaster. reporter: why not have a plan b? president obama: i want to make that everybody understands that you have a model for all the pieces connect. there are a whole bunch of

scenarios not just with relation to health care but all kinds of stuff that i do where if somebody does something that does not make any sense, it's hard to fix. this would be hard to fix. fortunately, there is no reason to have to do it. it does not need fixing. thank you very much. thank you the people of germany and bavaria. you have been terrific hosts. announcer german chancellor merkel was the host that was held in bavaria. she met with reporters and talked about the eurozone, climate change and battling isil. we begin with her comments on ukraine and russia. she spoke for about 45 minutes. chancellor merkel: we all agreed

that lifting sanctions will be tied to the implementation of minsk and we are also willing if necessary if need be, we could toughen the sanctions if the situation requires us to do so, but we all believe we should do everything we can in order to make progress with minsk. we support ukraine and it's difficult economic reform process in order to fight corruption and we also said the g-7 ambassador's in kiev should be a supporting group which will help ukraine implement its economic reforms and its battle against corruption. we also focused on the middle east, north africa and we also talked about combating terrorism there.

we talked with the president of nigeria and tunisia and the prime minister of iraq. we talked about counterterrorism in a separate meeting. these countries are faced with an extreme amount of terrorism. they have in part at least poor infrastructure so it is our job for us to support tunisia to better monitor and control its border with libya. thereafter in some efforts already but these need to be stronger. we have also said counterterrorism has two aspects. often it is a lack of structure which allowed terrorist groups to have access to the population. on the other hand, these are hate filled groups. you can see this in boko boko haram and isis. we have said the possibilities

we have to be successful in combating terrorism is an inclusive and consistent process in order to include all of the different minorities. this is discussed in nigeria. the nigerian president expressed himself very clearly in this respect. he wants to be inclusive as does the prime minister of iraq when he talked about the shiites and the sunnis and the kurds. he made it very clear his claim is to work together in this country and only in this way will they be able to have success. we had a lengthy discussion on libya. in this respect, we can see the negotiators of the united nations will be given all the support we can. we have to come up with a national government in libya. europeans consider this extremely important because the refugees coming through the

mediterranean are related to the situation. a conventional topic for g-7 deliberations is the global economy. we have seen there is recovery in the world's economy. the countries based on iwf forecast will grow this year. we had an intense discussion on new challenges and also on the fact that the emerging countries take on a growing role. this will be something that will be continued in turkey in the fall. we also talked about trade and we are committed to the goals of the wto. we want to conclude the global realm and the outreach session included the head of the wto. he asked us to support this process and we had intense discussions on bilateral free trade agreement. we also want to have the free

trade agreement with the united states to make progress there and make good progress so we can come to an agreement. we see that the transpacific agreement is close to a conclusion when it comes to united states and canada and the pacific area. we also believe negotiations, as seen by europeans and the eu, japanese free-trade agreement should be negotiated. the g-7, if we talk about internal trade it accounts for 50% of world trade. that means we have a major responsibility with regard to supply chain. in other words we have to make sure we have good working conditions not only in our own areas, but we have to make sure that good working conditions prevail in the manufacturing countries.

we remember those terrible pictures from bangladesh and we are pleased to see that together with the ilu the international labor organization, we are able to commit 30 million to be available. these were promised for the victims and survivors following the terrible event. this has now been achieved. we are also committed to have a vision zero fund. a general fund so that insurance and improved conditions at work can be insured because we believe that better working conditions in asia and many countries in africa are still not satisfactory. that is why this is an issue that will be on our agenda in the years to come. we also discussed financial market regulations and together with the global economy, i would like to remind you we still need

to talk about the regulation of the shadow banks. we will come back to that with the g 20 meeting. the timetables here that has been agreed on need to be adhered to. we also need to fight corruption. this is another topic. the japanese presidency will also deal with combating corruption at the next g7 meeting. a question that was asked -- what with the g7 say when it comes to climate protection and change and the requirement to come up with an agreement? we made a clear commitment here. we said we want binding regulations in the agreement. we don't have any binding regulations right now and that is why that has to be the objective in paris. they want to ensure all countries are in a position to have development paths so that the average temperature is less than two degrees centigrade. a clear commitment to the two degree objective.

you know that this will mean major reductions in greenhouse gases worldwide. we have committed to the fact in the course of this century we want to see and we need a the carbonized solution. we also believe in order to achieve this climate objective we will need major reductions in private gases, greenhouse gas emissions. in other words, we commit ourselves to the recommendations made by the ipcc which is 40 to 70% reduction in climate gases between now and -- from 2010 to 2050. we are now at the upper end of these recommendations. 40% is clearly not enough. the upper end would be 40% to 70%. we also need to make our own contributions in the g-7 countries.

we'll be entering into such commitments for these reductions. we also committed to climate funding. we want to ensure we cannot do that on our own, but we are committed to the objective. as of 2020, we want $120 billion every year which is made available either public or private funds. it is very important for us, this is before the climate conference in paris -- we need to present this objective because many developing countries, many island states will have an objective for coming up with an agreement in paris. this is something we have to commit ourselves to. we also have two initiatives. the first one is that the number of insured when it comes to climate related damages are being increased four fold. by 2020, that is 400 million

people. the second objective, together with the african countries -- this came from the african union -- an initiative for renewable energies where we will be working on a plan and with a view to paris we want to have african countries access to clean renewable energy. this needs to be improved. another topic which played a very important role, and it is very important to me -- that is health care. we all saw that we did not react well to the challenges resulting from the ebola crisis. today, this noon, we had an intense discussion of what needs to be done. of course, the health care systems in many countries need to be improved. the united states has proposed an initiative for 60 country so they can have a sustainable health care system. we have committed to this. we also need international mechanisms that need to be more coordinated.

that is why we decided at the g7 that we want to have a financial facility in the world bank. this would deal with combating pandemics. the president of the world bank presented this to us today. it showed us how the international community will have to react and the united nations will also set up a panel for ghana, norway -- this was suggested by ghana, norway and germany. they will be presenting proposals on what needs to be done. with the who and world bank, we will work on such a mechanism so we can react better internationally to pandemics. this is something that can save many lives. health care issues also included two other topics. these can be found in the communique. anti-resistant antibiotics multi-resistant antibiotics. another thing that is very important -- you often think

antibiotics are there for all the communities. but if they develop resistance, it is very difficult to come up with new antibiotics. that is why the national academy of the g7 countries have helped us to develop measures and actions which we can use to better develop antibiotics and also to administer them appropriately. the g7 countries have committed to this one health approach. what does that mean? that means people and animals should be kept in mind when it comes to prescribing antibiotics. they need to be prescription drugs. this is important if they need to be administered properly. the development targets have to see it. this is a sustainable development goal. these pick on the millennium development goals which are valid on 2015. we also dealt with this as well. one of the main ideas here was

that we are committed to the objective that as of 2030 hunger should have been eradicated. the g7 countries have committed another 500 million people should no longer be in a situation where they suffer from acute famine. that is why we are committed to making a sensitive -- substantive contribution to the fight against hunger in the world. the final point is women empowerment. again and again whether we are talking about food security, corruption, good working conditions -- again and again, women are the focus. the obcd made it clear that not only in the developing countries a lot of work needs to be done, but even industrialized countries. structural differences between men and women exist.

for example, when it comes to independence. this again was also an issue and i will be inviting -- convening a conference on women in september. we will be working on this issue again with the question of better vocational training for women from developing countries. we have committed to seeing to it that one third more women receive a vocational education and by 2030 compared to the situation today. that is a very specific objective. we now have a process in place and there is some independent institutions that monitor what we do. what we agree on at the g7 meetings. we have an achievement rate of about 80%. germany is at 87%. we are doing very well there. next year when we -- when japan

has the presidency -- we will see where we stand and how much has been completed based on what we committed to. a lot of this was agreed on here and these are things where we will be working very hard in the next few months. i do believe that we have achieved more than just taking responseability for prosperity in our own countries. that is why we had outreach from guests from abroad and that is why it is very important to us as well. thank you very much for your attention. reporter: madam chancellor, president putin was not here. you and your g7 partners talked about russia quite a lot. given the conditions the g7 has

stipulated for russia, what are the chances of success in places of talk such as the syria crisis. you are thinking about a post-putin era. given the amount ofchancellor merkel: we didn't talk much about russia in terms of proportions. we talked about conflict with russia, but we talked about other points as well. much more at greater length such as the situation, the acts of terrorism. we have various formats of talks involved. the normal format is clear recognition in the communique of the g7.

secondly, of the p5 plus one the iran nuclear program -- russia -- this format shows other international crises can be in tandem with russia. that also would be necessary in fo r russia to be involved and be desirable for there to be in agreement. iran is an important player when it comes to the civil war in syria. we are hoping for the cooperation in international matters with russia, but i gave you some idea of what the atmosphere of the talks involved.

reporter: your non-european partners asked what you had in mind with regards to greece in the euroszone. i would like to know what your answer was. perhaps we were told that the americans, or references were made to the lehman brothers akin 2008 -- is that something you can say is comparable? is it a similar solution to the greek problem? chancellor merkel: i think these are two very different issues, but we did discuss greece. i would also say we did not spend too much time on it. with regard to the international economy and the economic situation in the euro area, there is also a nonpartisan the eu that wants to know how those negotiations are going. the head of the international

monetary fund was there today. it was one of many topics we touched on. all i can say now is we said that we want greece to remain part of the eurozone, but we also made it very clear -- we said solidarity in european countries, and with greece means greece will have to implement measures. there is a common position for the three institutions. that is a great amount of progress. i must say there is not much time left. that is why we really have to work hard. the day after tomorrow, we will be able to discuss this with the greek prime minister in brussels with the eu-latin america summit. every day counts in order to complete the necessary job.

reporter: you said the g7 talks occurred -- did you feel there was a sense of being like-minded and would you extend this to australia or india who might count as democracies? secondly often the g-7 summit has been a clash between the u.s. and europe on economic issues. did that happen this time? if not, why not? chancellor merkel: i think everybody is on the path to growth now again. the question is which economic path you take is no longer necessarily a center of the debate. that is why we had a very harmonious discussion on that. one has to recognize that

worldwide there are some countries which are changing direction. for example, china does not have the high growth rate anymore because they are changing the quality of their growth. i think that is down to the fact that although the growth rates are moderate, it is still on the upward path. you had a first question? oh, yes. well, i think we had a very intensive debate. it was exciting really. we do have a format at the g -20, other important economies are represented there. a very different social system -- china, australia, turkey. i think we do have these other

formats but we have not made any different formats. i think have a whole series of challenges. things would look different if you had india on board because the question of india's own development agenda would be much more pressing than what we can do for africa and others. i think the format, according to everyone's feeling, is worth it. reporter: i have two questions. the first is the commitment to the climate objective. the japanese -- how could you move them to support this two

degree goal? as for the question of free trade agreements, president obama, could he assure you that ttip was still on the agenda in washington? next week, it looks as if it will be carried out very quickly . you might think the transatlantic free trade agreement might fall back somewhat. maybe you could comment on that. chancellor merkel: the first question -- japan. the two-degree objective, not 2%. all of the formulations on the climate was the result of a lot of hard work. binding is a very important term. a commitment to the two-degree

objective, an objective of the upper end of the 40% to 70% reduction of greenhouse gases and funding for climate. there was a lot of work but there was no one country that presented a problem. it was good that we dealt with this and managed this together. francois hollande, as the host of the climate conference, felt that was very important. he was against the climate dialogue in germany and france want to work together on this. maybe you can ask one question of the time. ttipm ri right. we spoke very openly on this and we were pleased the president will probably get this fast tracked. the agreement is basically complete. the good news is in a few weeks

it will be time to focus completely on the eu free-trade agreement with the united states. we went through all the different things that are still out there. the american president committed to a request to come up with a result, but you cannot overlook the fact that in europe, there are very controversial discussions going on. the europeans made that very clear that we want this agreement and we agreed that there are some who -- which are difficult for us. the questions for arbitration courts and we are also aware of the fact that our parts that are not easy for the american s. public your procurements, for example. we have to be honest with one another. not only europe has problems with the agreement, but the

united states as well. we have to make progress in our negotiations. we discussed this at length. we said by the end of the year we want to come to a successful agreement. reporter:reporter: you mentioned corruption anticorruption in the next presidency. did the fifa come up at all? chancellor merkel: it played a role when david cameron said that. corruption is one of the causes of state structures in the eyes of the population. that is perhaps why radical and

terrorist groups do get a grip in certain countries. therefore, it is a very deep-seated and broad problem. that is why it needs to be looked at. reporter: yesterday, we heard an announcement that there would be changes at the deutsche bank. was this a decision that surprised you and how do you judge this position? chancellor merkel: that was a decision taken by a company. it was not really a surprise. i don't really want to comment on that. i want the deutsche bank to be successful, and the deutsche bank takes their own decisions as does any other company in germany.

reporter: chancellor, you said that you are committed to reduce the number of people suffering by 500 million. how is this going to work? how are you going to bring that about, and i would like to know in the case of the climate issue, as well, what about all these targets that you set today? what does this mean for the domestic german discussion about the climate levy? chancellor merkel: with regard to us wanting to tackle and eradicate poverty it remains clear that we in germany will increase our development commitment by 8.3 billion, and if we make other pledges

associated with food security -- of course, we haven't got the finances, but we made various estimates. we talked about these targets and whether we could achieve them. i think this goal can be achieved and will be achieved, but only if we keep it up there on the agenda. we must finance our state budgets by 2030, but through stages, we will have some idea of how we can achieve this. reporter: the german internal discussion about the climate target is something which -- chancellor merkel: the german internal discussion about the climate target is something which -- we have targets around 40% production cuts, and we are

doing pretty well in regard to the european protocol. germany has emphasized it wants to meet its european target, as well as its german target. we will in the next few days be discussing how to achieve that. the economic ministry is still in talks, as you know. last week, there were many talks. there will be talks this week. i'm sure we will be able to achieve a good solution. on questions associated with energy -- reporter: i can pick up on that question. you are calling for the carbonization. will you also have a transformation of the energy supply and will you manage to avoid reducing coal? chancellor merkel: we will only achieve our goals if we

undertake efforts everywhere. there are a number of weak points in germany. first of all, it's hard for me to understand that despite all of the red-green state government, we haven't been able to have state subsidies for building improvements. we have to make a contribution. we have to distinguish when we talk about meeting the targets for 2020, and when it comes to de-carbonization, we are talking about over the course of the century. right now in europe, our instrument, which we discussed as well, is what we have in mind for the world, the complete world. that would be emission trading. this could also not give us the price message that we would like . germany will have to make an

effort here, because in the european electricity market, we have a lot of cool-fired exports, not for our own use but where the electricity is generated. that's where the omissions are calculated. we hope to come to a uniform european energy market, so that national objectives will be of a different value. an integrated european market can only have one goal, and this is something that will not be until after 2020. that is when that will be taken into account. reporter: good afternoon, dr. merkel. my question is, please, allow me

to speak in english -- my question is on the issue of terrorism and boko haram. because i am a nigerian, and i've lived here 60 years with my family -- in 2012, there was a meeting in your office of berlin with goodluck jonathan, the former president of nigeria. i was there. i was raising my hand more than five times. you even told me to ask a question, but the press secretary to good luck stopped me. i had this dvd in my hand. i went to an assembly in 2011. a young man came to my room in the hotel room where i was staying. he told me -- that was before

boko haram was formed -- he told me that president goodluck should not continue -- run for government. i asked him, did goodluck jonathan tell you you should not participate? i said>> sir, can you ask a question? reporter: my question is, if somebody provides information of something that can help you or help the government of nigeria to track terrorists or to fight it, would your people be willing to collaborate?

chancellor merkel: well, we will always try and check the information that we receive. it's not easy, of course, because one needs to look at the sources, but whenever we can do something, we do. there are sovereign states that you can't interfere with. intervening from outside is very difficult. you would have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. >> in the first row. reporter: during your discussions, did you discuss military aid in the form of training for the ukraine military? someone is stepping down at the osce. maybe you know the reasons for this?

chancellor merkel: he has done excellent work, but it's only normal. this is very difficult, far away from home. you can't do that forever. we are doing everything we can to make sure that we find a good successor who will be just as good and will work with just as much energy with this contact group, and that this working group can continue to do its job. this is very important to implement the minsk agreement. as far as military training is concerned, these are bilateral initiatives. there were no conclusions drawn at the g7. reporter: thank you very much. i would just like to come back to greece. how big is the understanding among international partners that this crisis has been ongoing for five years, and are

they concerned about a default? chancellor merkel: everybody who was around the table wanted greece to stay in the eurozone. as i say, there were two institutions, and we have rules. we pointed out in the discussions there were rules about the eurozone. for example, ireland has been through a very tough program and it is now the country that has the highest growth rate of our member states. if we look at spain and portugal, new jobs are being created, although unemployment is still quite high. we can see the measures, or the measures which were proposed by the troika, have led to success elsewhere. if you look at interviews with the cypriot politicians lately you will remember not

necessarily tough talks, but they are saying cyprus is once again on the right road. you have the imf program for ukraine. ukraine has terrible structural reforms ahead, which are going to ask a great deal of people and therefore, there is no doubt we always say, there needs to be effort and solidarity on the part of other countries and these have to be two sides of the same coin. >> the gentleman in the back. reporter: let's come back to sanctions. was there a discussion as to how you could toughen the sanctions against russians, embargoes for spare parts and civil aircraft, and was there a discussion on the frequent provocations in the airspace in the sovereign area of many democratic european countries?

chancellor merkel: the second one was something we did not discuss, and we did not talk about toughening or making the sanctions even tougher. at the european council in march, we came up with a political decision, and we said that the sanctions will be extended for the period of time for the implementation of the minsk agreement. we committed to that once again. we had an agreement between the united states, japan, and the members of the european union and we said that this process is something we intend to maintain. that's why we came to the common conclusions there. reporter: the connection with

fossil energy and using less fossil energy over this century -- has there been a discussion about using nuclear energy, and is there any movement in connection with japan? do you know to what degree they are going to use less nuclear energy? chancellor merkel: we did discuss this continuing to use nuclear energy. the u.k., france, for example. among the g7 countries, there are a series of countries who do have peaceful and clear energy, and we didn't make stipulations that anyone should renounce nuclear energy. that was a german decision that was respected. the g7 countries have different approaches. >> the lady in the front row.

reporter: i know that the global climate change has been the good, important issue of the summit, and it involves the participation of every country. under this framework have the g7 countries discussed the contributions china can make? since china is also promoting a greener economy, how do you see business opportunities for german companies? chancellor merkel: we did discuss the fact that the g7 countries alone, even if they didn't have any co2 emissions themselves -- let me start again. can you hear me now? can you hear me now? i will begin from the beginning. i saw that you were having

trouble. can you hear me now? can you hear the interpretation? you can hear me now? great. we know that the g7 countries alone, even if they had no co2 emissions as of tomorrow, that still wouldn't solve the climate problem. we couldn't meet the two-degree objective. emerging countries such as china would have to make a contribution. this was taken into account in our discussions. we are pleased to see china has undertaken a number of efforts in order to focus more on renewable energies. china has had a major increase in wind parks, solar energy, and also hydroelectric power. we know that, and this also shows the change that chimed in -- china is going through. china made it very clear when it

comes to the climate conference in paris that for the first time they will be dealing with the question of the co2 emissions that after a phase of increase they will be going down again and this is an important commitment. we know we have a common responsibility here, different responsibilities depending on how are -- how developed we are but china has said, there will have to be a day we will change our economy so there will be fewer co2 emissions. this is a very important step, and i do believe germany has possibilities there in order to help when it comes to technologies, but china also has excellent skills in developing their own technologies. this will be a win-win situation , and we will cooperate very closely. >> time for two more questions. i will take you next.

reporter: madame chancellor, can i come back to the question which i care about, which is health. you talked about pandemics, and on the agenda, you mentioned research into diseases related to poverty, malaria, tuberculosis, for example. many people affected every year. can you say how nationally altogether as a g7 you will be promoting research on this in the future? we surely should be learning from it. there should have been research at an early stage on the vexing and that would've solve a lot of problems. chancellor merkel: right. as you mentioned, malaria and tuberculosis, we are very attached to this global fund which produces some of the funding for this.

when it comes to the tropical diseases, neglected and poverty-related diseases, often you have the medicines but you can't distribute them properly to the countries. that is why we've talked about building national health systems , and logistics is mentioned in the communiqué. we need to coordinate above all. we need to inform each other of what we are researching. where and where the gaps are. all of this will run better. >> the final question. reporter: thank you. a couple years ago, you said spying on friends is impossible. does this apply here, as well? when you talk about an area 50 kilometers from here, or are you just going to talk -- take a break afterwards? chancellor merkel: no, i have

other obligations, and that is why i won't be at the meeting but i wish the conference every success, and i certainly hope that the discussions will serve as a basis for information so that they will know everything you need to know about the attitude of the participants at the g7 summit. thank you very much for your attention, and for the entire summit. thank you all very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> earlier today, president obama told reporters at the g7 summit that leaders are ready to impose additional sanctions against russia if they don't abide by the current minsk agreement. tonight, we will show you the

news conference as the president answered questions on combating isis, cyber security, and immigration policy, starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. tonight on "communicators," at this year's consumer electronics show, we met up with author andrew keen and asked him why he feels the internet is not the answer. andrew: the internet is not the answer at the moment, not the answer in the sense that it is not working currently. it is london itself to undermining jobs -- lending itself to undermining jobs. it is compounding the inequality economic-wise. it is creating massive monopolies that were unimaginable in the 20th or 19th century, and it's created this economy in which we have all been internet users being turned into products. you and i have been packaged up. when we use google or facebook we become the project.

it's like a hitchcock movie. >> tonight on "the commute caters" on c-span -- "the communicators" on c-span2. >> derek wall think a bloomberg will take a look at the week ahead in congress than alan while of health affairs examines health care subsidies under the health care law. after that, roger derose of the kessler foundation and andrew helton jill of the university of new hatcher the results of a national survey of people with disabilities and workplace barriers they encounter. we will take your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets, all on "washington journal" live on c-span. tomorrow, a hearing on the current challenges of the transportation security administration. we will hear testimony from a homeland security and specter general and tsa official who has written stories about his tenure at the agency. the senate homeland security committee holds the hearing

tuesday at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span three. >> this summer, book tv will cover book festivals from around the country and top nonfiction authors and books. near the end of june, watch for the annual roosevelt reading festival from the roosevelt library. at the beginning of september, we are live from the nation's capital from the national book festival, celebrating its 15th year. that is a few of the events this summer on c-span2's book tv. >> earlier today, deputy terry -- deputy secretary of state anthony blanck and spoke to the annual jewish committee global forum here in washington. he looked at u.s. relations with israel and the ongoing negotiations with iran. this is 35 minutes. >> secretary of state kerry

broke his leg bicycling in france. we all prayed for his quick recovery. indeed, a very quick recovery. the complex negotiations of iran were coming down to the wire. the secretary was just in switzerland and would be heading back again to europe to continue the talks. the crisis in ukraine was escalating. and we will hear in detail the world's plenary about ukraine. isis was on the rampage. seizing strategic population centers in iraq and syria. and the us-led coalition was weighing tough torches -- choices to defeat this growing peril to american interests and allies in the middle east, including israel. across europe, the ugly

phenomena of anti-semitism was on the rise, with deadly attacks and chilling rhetoric. around the world, challenges to peace and stability and human rights demand it american leadership. and wise, sensitive, coolheaded, and confident american diplomacy. fortunately for ajc, which has been looking forward to secretary kerry's second addressed for global forum in three years, and fortunately for our country and friends and allies across the globe, a gifted and experienced the format would assume the responsibilities following last week's accident. the challenges america faces never stop. and in our next speaker, they are being met without interruption.

interruption. and biases and foreign policy practitioner, a man of depth character, and resulted this morning, it is indeed maigret -- my great honor to introduce a senior diplomat. deputy secretary of state tony blinken is a longtime friend of ajc. he has served on both ends of pennsylvania avenue in positions of great responsibility, and edition to spending -- in addition to spending time practicing law and spending time in a washington think tank. he spent 10 of them working for vice president i did. first as the head of then senator biden's foreign

relations staff and then later as his security advisor. as you know, the biden family are now in morning of the tragic death of the vice president son, beau, five days ago. to tony and others in this room we offer our sincere condolences. the world with which ajc interacts every day in our global advocacy work is in jeopardy and massive transition, with new and evolving threats,

competing national interests and some but not quite enough true friends. today, i'm privileged to ask deputy secretary of state tony blinken, a true friend of ajc and a remarkable american, to join us here on stage. [applause] secretary blinken: thank you all very much. it is wonderful to be with you today. stan, thank you for those incredibly kind and generous words. and thank you also for your reference to vice president biden and his family in this incredibly difficult time. beau biden was one of the finest

people i was privileged to know. the loss for his family and for this country is a great one. so i greatly appreciate the harris who is celebrating 25 -- so i greatly appreciate the recognition. i would also like to represent harris who is celebrating 25 years at the helm of the ajc. [applause] secretary blinken: david, congratulations. we look to 25 more years fit and shalom to our israeli audience into our distinguished guests here in washington, including the former minister of bulgaria. it is great for you to be here today, as well.

[applause] secretary blinken: it is a real pleasure to join all the and to -- all of you and to see so many familiar faces, even if mine wasn't the one you are hoping for. [laughter] secretary blinken: secretary kerry very much wanted to be here today. as a think many of you know, he has great admiration for the work that you do to advocate for the security of israel, the well-being of the jewish people, and the human dignity of all. he may be off his feet for a short while, but he is a much in a leak with all our efforts across the border i would tell you that the smartest thing that we did to the state department was to sign up for the at&t family pan because the secretary has been burning up the phone lines night and day. no time zone is safe. but we are all looking forward to having him back in the office very soon.

we are also very fortunate to have ensured a team at the state department directing our efforts every day to combat antisepsis is an -- anti-semitism and to promote peace and security in the middle east. they were all here this morning as was frank lowenstein. they are exemplary public servants of the highest caliber. [applause] but their work, our work, would not be possible without yours. scholars and students, community members, local leaders who are building relationships across religious and ethnic lines from tokyo to são paulo to new delhi. you can call the state department of the jewish people, a title so apt that i may start giving out assignments today. yours is a community whose beliefs as martin luther king has described it as "bold by

action." they have use their voice to advocate against intolerance with unwavering commitment. you were present at san francisco at the birth of the united nations for the changing of the high commission for human rights. you dedicated years of diplomacy, research, and i look to hope shape a historic declaration passed by the second vatican council 50 years ago that heralded a new era of catholic-jewish relations and stood up for anti-hatred and as occasion by any time -- by anyone at anytime. any of also stood by president obama and his ironclad

commitment to israel's future as a secure, democratic, prosperous jewish state. i quote "it would be a moral failing on the part of the u.s. government and the american people. it would be a moral failing on my part if we did not stem up firmly, steadfastly, not just on israel's right to exist, but to right -- thrive and prosper." that was president obama just a few months ago in washington. [applause] secretary blinken: for more than 65 years since israel's founding, in years of war and peace, and common crisis america has been behind it with concrete support. but no administration and no president has done as much for

israel security as president obama. [applause] secretary blinken: don't just take my word for it. listen to another voice who called this administrations support as "vitally important ." that was benjamin netanyahu. our nation's armed forces have conducted more foreign military exercises with israel than ever before, including the largest exercises our history. this work has strengthen our military capabilities and the security of both our countries. at every level of our relationship, we are engaging and more competence of an meaningful consultations than ever before, from our political leaders to our intelligence officers to our defense officials.

that unprecedented support is true in terms of our vigilance to protect israel's legitimacy on the world stage and to fight for its full and equal participation in u.n. institutions. we help secured israel's permanent membership in western european and others groups from which it a long been excluded. last year, the united states opposed 18 resolutions that the u.n. general assembly had that were biased against israel. u.s. cast the only no vote against unfair anti-israel measures in the u.n. human rights council. [applause] secretary blinken: we will continue to stand with israel and against one-sided biased resolution, even if we are the only country on her to do so.

-- to do so. [applause] secretary blinken: finally, our unprecedented support for israel security can be seen in our direct resistance to israel's defense. last year as you know, despite difficult budgetary times, the united states provided israel with more security assistance that ever before. since 2011, the united states has provided over $1.3 billion for a missile defense system that has saved lives, protected homes, schools, and hospitals from a rainfall rockets like those that just felt again this past weekend in gaza. [applause] secretary blinken: to guard against more distant but equally dangerous threats. we have worked with israel on the arrow weapon system to it intercept ballistic missiles and shorter range missiles. we have worked on an

unparalleled radar system that could buy israel valuable time in the event of a missile attack. and we will soon start deliveries to israel of the f 35 joint strike fighter, making israel the only country in the middle east would you most -- with the most advanced fighter in the world. [applause] secretary blinken: this administration has also stood firmly with israel and its quest for peace with its neighbors. a prerequisite for long term stability and representation of true democracy and the jewish homeland. as president obama has routinely emphasize, the united states will never stop working to was the goal of two states working a living side-by-side for a democratic jewish state. taken together, these examples are reflective of a president added administration with the personal and abiding concern for israel security and its future.

i can attest to this to you from direct personal experience. last summer, late on a thursday during the gaza crisis, when i was in my position at the white house, i got a call from wonderment. ron said i will like you to come over and see me. i said come on over now. he arrived at the white house a later on that evening, around 8:30 p.m.. he said that israel needed an emergency supply of more interceptors. the ambassador and the attaché rented the subsidies of why they needed it immediately.

next friday morning, i went to the oval office to meet president obama. he responded with three words, get it done. [applause] secretary blinken: by tuesday, just a few short days later, we had an additional 225 million and short fuse funding from the u.s. congress to do just that. the united states and israel might not always see eye to eye. we may have our differences. but our bedrock security relationship is sacrosanct and i'm here to tell you that it is stronger than ever. [applause] secretary blinken: i can tell you another thing this morning. it's at the very top of our minds as we sit at the negotiating table with iran. united states and israel shared a conviction that iran must not under any circumstances allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. [applause] secretary blinken: when it comes

to that core strategic goal, there is not an inch of daylight between the united states and israel. now we continue to believe that the very best way to prevent iran from having a nuclear weapon is through a verified negotiated agreement that resolves the international community's legitimate concerns and as a practical matter make it impossible for iran to give us the means and time to stop it. the june 30 deadline is fast approaching. and we do not yet have a comprehensive agreement. there remains a chance that we won't get one. if we don't get what we need on a few key issues, we won't do it. i secretary announced in april the deal that we are working for the close each of iran's for pathways from obtaining enough for a weapon.

the iranian pathways and the plutonium pathways for iran's heavywater reactor in iraq and -- in arak and the potential covert pathway. the copies pathways, any comprehensive -- to cut off these pathways, and copperheads of -- any comprehensive platform to detect iran to break out overtly or covertly. when you take this opportunity -- let me take this opportunity here today to address some of the concerns that floating about around the deal that we are working toward. i have to tell you that these concerns are simply misplaced and are more myth than fact. first, the deal that we are working to achieve will not expire. there will not be a so-called sunset. different requirements for the deal have different durations, but some, including iran's

commitment to all the obligations of the nonproliferation treaty, as well as the tough monitoring provisions and additional protocol, those would continue in perpetuity. by contrast, in the absence of an agreement iran's agreements under the interim agreement we've reached, those would sunset immediately. then iran would likely speed twin industrial-scale program with tens of thousands of centrifuges. second this deal would provide such extensive levels of transparency that if iran fails to comply with the international community, we will know about it. we will know it virtually right away, giving us plenty of time to respond to the medically, or if necessary -- diplomatically, or if necessary, by other means. most sanctions would be suspended for a period of time

with provisions to snap back immediately if iran reneges. third, we would not agree on a deal unless the iaea is granted access to what other iranian sites are required to verify that iran's program is exclusively peaceful. [applause] deputy secretary blanck -- b there is no better optionlinken: -- deputy secretary blinken: fourth, there is simply no better option to prevent iran from obtaining the material to make a nuclear weapon than a conference of agreement that meets the groundwork that we said unfortunately, it is a fantasy to believe that iran will capitulate if we ratchet up the threat of more sections. even iran suffered more from the great deprivation from the war i direct, and despite the

intensifying find pressure, iraq went from 152 to 97,000 -- 150 centrifuges to 19,000 centrifuges. nor is it without our partners that they would go along with such a plan. they signed on to get iran to the negotiating table and to conclude an agreement that meets art core security interest. it is not for iran to abandon a peaceful nuclear program. despite the economic loss that it for some people, in large part because we are convinced about diplomacy and about reaching a diplomatic solution. if they lose that belief, united states and not iran would be isolated in the sanctions that we have worked so hard to build would crumble away. to those that would prefer that we some military action now against iran without going the last diplomatic mile, you need to consider that such a response with first destroy the

international sections coalition, and second, only set iran's nuclear program i a few years back at best and they -- at which point iran would bury their program deep underground and speed toward actual nuclear weapon. with the agreement that we are working to approve, we would achieve much more than that. all that said, the united states continues to believe as we have from day one that no deal is preferable to a bad deal. we have had plenty of opportunities throughout the negotiating process to take a bad deal. we did not, and we will not. [applause] deputy secretary blinken: and we know that just like the interim agreement have we reached, any conference of agreement will be -- comprehensive agreement

will be subject to legitimate scrutiny of our congress and our closest partners. we will not agree to any deal that would not withstand it. at the same time, i would say to opponents that you have an obligation, too. here in united states, you have an obligation to tell the amazing people exactly what you would do differently and exactly how you would get it done. [applause] deputy secretary blinken: many of you will recall after we signed the interim joint plan of action that began these comprehensive negotiations that there were those who told us that we made a treacherous -- tragic mistake that iran would not comply in the sections -- and the sanctions regime would crumble. we jeopardized the security of our nation and our partners. president obama and secretary kerry maintained that the united states are partners with israel and the entire world would become safer the day after a

joint plan of action was implemented. that is exactly what happened. iran's nuclear program was rushing full speed ahead towards larger stockpiles, greater uranium enrichment capacity, and the production of weapons grade plutonium short a breakout timelines. today, iran has lived up to its commitments under that joint plan of action. it has halted its progress on the nuclear program and rolled it back for the first time in a decade. how do we know that? because today as a result of the interim agreement, the iea has daily access to iran's enrichment facilities and a far deeper understanding of iran's the program. they have been able to learn new things about iran suture future production and they happened -- iran's centrifuge production and they have been able to identify that they are reaching those agreement. if we do not reach a deal, it

will not end or alter the demand for greater respect for human rights and the rule law. we continued to insist that iran can help us find robert levinson. [applause] deputy secretary blinken: and reaching the comprehensive deal will not alter our commitment to fighting iran's efforts to spread instability and to support terrorism. this will not change with or without a deal. [applause] secretary blinken: but iran with -- without a nuclear weapon, excuse me be far less emboldened. it will reduce the pressure for nuclear arms race and strengthen the international

nonproliferation regime. it is a critical step to greater global security for the united states, for israel, and for all of our partners in the region. finally, i would like to address this morning another great concern. and that is the deeply disturbing rise in anti-semitism in parts of our world that have already seen how this tragic story ends. in the last for years, as all of you know so well, there have been horrific attacks on jews from brussels to paris to copenhagen. in some countries, we are seeing a rise of government officials media personalities, binning of -- personalities spinning up horrid and dangerous anti-somatic conspiracies about jewish individuals, about israel, and about the united states. and in a few places, we see the rise of extreme right-wing parties from hungry to greece openly embracing not to like hatred of jews. -- nazi like hatred of jews.

this is happening today just 70 years after the holocaust and pledging never again, while survivors are still with us to bear witness. with organizations like ajc at the forefront, communities are mobilizing a response. in france, germany, and the united kingdom, leaders have strongly expressed their unshakable solidarity with their jewish citizens. many have formed human rings of protection around synagogues in sweden. but more must be done to make this fight a global priority. last month, the ajc released a very about provoking called action on anti-semitism that raises important recommendations that all of us can benefit from. these include developing a new curricula for education,

undertaken thorough studies of protecting jewish communities, and blocking social media sites that incite hatred and violence. but all of you know so very well that anti-semitism is not just a jewish issue. it is not a jewish issue. they cannot be addressed i jewish organisms -- by jewish organizations alone. like all forms of prejudice, it is an issue for all societies at every corner of the globe. [applause] secretary blinken: it is simple. we cannot and we will not tolerate it that is why the united states is devoting more and more resistance -- resources to this fight. our embassies in conflict -- and consulates are increasingly involved in providing support for jewish communities. at the u.n., our diplomats are

undertaking efforts to push back anti-semitism unfortunately on everyday basis. this year, we work to organize -- worked to organize the first u.n. general assembly session on anti-semitism in history where people of all faiths took to the podium to denounce anti-semitism and pledged to halt its rise. our special envoys has traveled to 25 countries and 37 communities to discuss the situation and to find new ways to combat anti-semitism wherever it exists. [applause] secretary blinken: ladies and gentlemen, for over 100 years, the ajc has led the campaign against intolerance, against injustice, against a false choice between security and peace for the state of israel.

for what ajc has always known and what the world must now understand, is that these issues just don't affect someone else. someone else's freedom, someone else is, someone else's safety they affect all of us, each of us. they undermine our security. they defy our humanity and call to question our most basic values. and they are personal. i have to tell you that their personal to me as well. last summer at the height of the conflict in gaza, i exchanged e-mails with a cousin who has been living in tel aviv for nearly 30 years. she wrote to me and the rest of our family about living with a constant worry for her children, especially her eldest son who is training for the engineering unit that would be deployed to uncover tunnels and dismantle bombs. she wrote about living with the fear that terrorists were tumbling underground and could

kidnapped or killed her fellow citizens. she wrote about transforming their storage room back into a bomb shelter and cycling to work with one earbud after ear so -- out of her ear so that she could hear the air raid sirens about living on a 90-second timer, because that is how much time you happen to get to a bomb shelter when the car goes off. -- bomb goes off. as i read her e-mails, i thought of the mothers and fathers of israel who send their children off to school or military service and endured each day the desperate hope that their sons and daughters will be ok. i thought of the mothers and fathers in gaza who face their worst nightmare when the children were caught in the crossfire. and i thought of how these parents share more experience in pain than they do enjoy -- then they do in joy.

and i've thought about how it must be and can be the reverse. this is not about naivety or false hope but rather the steps that we can take together can make us all more free and more secure. the conviction that a two-state solution is the best and only way to preserve israel's future to preserve democratic jewish state and have the palestinians to a state that a verified and comprehensive agreement is the best way to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear often and our stand against anti-semitism is the only way to uphold the democratic values on which our societies are built. as they have for over a century, the voices of ajc remain essential in shaping the future. in setting us on a better course. it is daunting. it is uncertain. but we per serving -- pursue this better future with courage

and commitment and the confidence that comes from being with you in the very best of company. may your voices, your bold expressions, and your resolute actions, may they always carried -- carry far and wide so that together we may usher in a world that is just a little bit more just, more free, and more secure for everyone. thank you very, very much. [applause] secretary blinken: thank you. [applause] >> earlier today, president obama told reporters at the g7 summit that leaders are ready to impose additional sanctions against russia if they don't abide by the minsk agreement. we will show you the news conference as the president

answered questions on combating isis, cyber security, and immigration policy, starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. tonight on "the communicators," at this year's consumer electronics show, we met up with author andrew keen and asked him why he feels the internet is not the answer. and her -- andrew: the internet is not the answer at the moment, as it's not working currently. it's lending itself to undermining jobs. it's compounding the inequality of our economic lives. it's creating new massive monopolies that were unimaginable in the 20th or 19th century. it has created this economy where we have all been internet users, we've been turned into products. you and i are being packaged up when we use google or facebook. it's like a big hitchcock movie. >> tonight on "the

communicators" on c-span2. tomorrow on "washington journal," deryl wold bank of bloomberg takes a look at the week ahead in congress and what measures the house and senate will be debating. alan while of health affairs discusses health care subsidies under the health care law. roger derose of the kessler foundation and andrew how often -- houghtonville discussed the results of a recent national survey on people with disabilities. we will take or facebook comments and tweets on "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. also, a hearing on the current challenges of the transportation security of mr. show. we will hear from the homeland security inspector general and a former tsa official who has written many stories about his tenure at the agency. the senate homeland security committee holds the hearing.

>> the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator and house number, plus bio and contact information and twitter handles. also, district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies, and state governments. order your copy today. it is $13.95 through the c-span online store at c-span.org. >> the supreme court term ends at the end of this month with major decisions expected on health care, same-sex marriage, and housing discrimination. earlier today, the center for american progress held a discussion on the court's decisions and why there could be a lasting impact on the u.s. and constitutional law. it's an hour and a half.

winnie: imd executive vice president of external affairs at the center for american progress, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to cap for this important conversation. as americans and as progressives we are well aware of the central role that the united states supreme court has played in the history and well-being of our country. their charge to provide a level playing field and ensure equal justice under the law, has continually broadened our nations definition of we the people and expanded the circle of opportunity for americans once excluded and exploited. when the court has met its charge and propel progress and equality forward, our nation has been the better for it. through brown and loving, griswold and roe gideon and

maranda, the court has upheld that the promise and protections of our country are meant for all , that our constitution is a thriving and living document and that our justice system should be fair. that is why courts matter. but just like the broader story of america, the progress facilitated by our courts has not always been consistent or constant. the power to change america for the better also comes with the authority to do the opposite, to restrict access, and able corruption, and deny freedom to americans left behind by other institutions. that's why courts matter. they can tip the scales even further in favor of the powerful and privileged. after 60 years of advances, a majority of the justices on the court have increasingly and certainly too often reversed the

progress of the 20th century. over the last 15 years they have corrected the notion of religious liberty, transforming from a show to protect religious organizations and religious minorities to impose harm on the already marginalized and they have restrict it and diminish the voices and votes of everyday americans in our elections by gutting the voting rights act in deregulating money in politics. the three major cases we are discussing today faced the most conservative court in decades. each of these three major decisions is integral for the functioning and future of our country. a positive decision and anyone -- in any one or two of these cases does not diminish