we are we are not suppose for what we are we're tremlett it unbelievable. to me is suddenly a phenomenon starting october fifteenth on d w. this is the news of live from berlin a new freedom for women in saudi arabia the ultra conservative kingdom is finally to allow women to drive activists have been fighting for decades to get this law overturned also coming up. thailand's former prime minister yingluck shinawatra has

been sentenced to five years in prison she's fled into exile. and how the push to defeat the hottest is taking a heavy toll on the people of somalia will have an exclusive report. plus a long and winding road towards forming a new government germany's general election last weekend means chancellor merkel has been swayed to other parties to join her conservatives now that could take months. i'm brian thomas welcome to the show saudi arabia says it will begin allowing women to drive now it is a big leap for the old truck conservative nation the only one to bar women from getting behind the wheel a royal decree announced on state t.v. says the ban would be lifted in june now in the meantime

a committee will be formed to work out how to implement that royal decree. the streets of saudi arabia have long been a battleground on one hand women wanting to drive on the other the religious conservatives who have called them too stupid their mobility a threat to society now it is the women who have won. king solomon has issued a decree giving them the right to apply for driving licenses and the freedom of the roads it will be implemented by june next year it's a huge step for saudi arabia enough to warrant a special announcement at the united nations you may be interested to know that a few minutes ago our oil decree has been issued in saudi arabia giving women the right to drive. this is

a historic day for saudi society for men and women. for years some saudi women have gone behind the wheel as part of a campaign with global support on social media. this activist lost her job when she was caught others have gone to jail now they are celebrating their victory. saudi law and forces a strict form of islam known as well her business women have to obey strict dress codes they can't associate with unrelated men if they want to work travel access health care they need the consent or accompaniment of a male guardian. but slowly things changing on saturday women were allowed for the first time in to a national stadium for celebrations marking the kingdom's anniversary the movie's part of a program headed by the crown prince to modernize society and saudi women are

already wealthy well educated and ambitious and i do mean women at all levels there in the government advisory council that doctors why women are in big positions so why shouldn't we join the men that matter most to our nation. that would suggest the saudi women will carry on the fight for greater rights. and to talk about if they're going to get them i'm joined now by g.w. anchor reporter for dog cream good morning morning for you know a women's rights activists have been pushing for this for decades haven't they do we know what prompted this decision now i mean to now do a lot of questions about what we know to know is the will rights activists have been doing a lot like every day the last six years the last years that's one thing the other thing is when we look on the long term process there is the vision of twenty thirty is done by the crown prince mohammed bin salon and it's about economy restructuring

and reforms and you cannot have economic restructuring and reforms without having social reforms and today the women in saudi arabia they're educated they are the number of a graduate of woman in saudi arabia arabia is bigger than the number of men who are graduating they are going outside of the country to study their knowing more about their rights their knowing their rising their voice we just know in the in the video the woman said like why i cannot do it so there's kind of limit three to reach now where everyone is causing why it's not any more reasonable and it's not any more and can be justified why woman is not allowed to drive and i think it's a starting process into something in you but it's the first step the first step and there would be an important economic factor in this exam twenty thirty exams there's been a lot of reactions on social media let's take a look of that if we could saudi women's rights activist sharif who helped start a saudi women's right to drive campaigns that is just the start and long standing

unjust laws they've always considered saudi women miners who are not trusted to drive their own destiny but optimistically added the rain begins with a single drop saudi based twitter user is conflicted being a saudi i have mixed feelings about this happy and ashamed all at once but also. many on social media remaining skeptical one washington d.c. based tweeter calls it a step in the right direction but as long as the male guardianship system exists saudi women will still lack true freedom of movement meanwhile arab and middle eastern policy analyst many are urging caution interpreted interpret in this announcement reminding us that it does not take effect straight away he tweeted the saudi order was about issuing driver's licenses to women by june twenty eighth teen pending committee recommendations this is far from letting women drive.

despite the euphoria a lot of a lot of details still out there that need to be looked at you know what do you say how's this going to work out i mean it would take time to date now is june but let's make it very practical if even a woman wants to have her own driving license there's the guardianship. and then she has to osc her husband her son or maybe her her father if she is allowed to issue this license so it will take time does is that going to happen independent of the guardian that's there that's the first thing the other thing is now to today it's about hour since they since king solomon announced this announcement dead woman can get a driving license but we didn't hear now the conservative side yet very conservative side will they allow it is it ok with this area will they find you know all questions they're going to be a backlash could there be a conservative backlash from the from the shari'a side of it could it could also be there's nothing they could maybe some of the clerics who is a very conservative

a conservative he will say it's a given kind of everyone who drives is whatever and this is are over scenarios that could happen before knol since the last hour or so you see there is a lot of happiness especially concerning the women who are fighting for this moment and they are celebrating but if we if we look to the next days it might be also a critical side of it but i think women in saudi arabia will not and that go easy go for their rights it's time where they say we want to have our rights we are could be and be the same what men is briefly these things and this will be the beginning you kind of intimated that at the very start of our interview are we going to see a push for more modernization will saudi society modernize saudi saudi society has to modernize that's why there is this plan of twenty thirty because the rich oil contract today has to water nice otherwise you cannot only depend on. why twenty

thirty they're going to be less oid so they have to have to modernizing in social structure and economy structure in order to survive and you have a very young generation now this younger generation is knowing what's happening on the go over and knowing what's going on say you cannot tell them just sit by side and we're the one who doing everything you have to integrate them into society and not only the social side but on the other structure in schools in working so things going on and they will keep going on there and this could be the very first step yes ok jeff are of dual korean thanks so much you're right i'm again it's to thailand now where the country's top court has ruled that the former prime minister yingluck shinawatra is guilty of negligence she was sentenced to five years in prison if you look was not present for the hearing she reportedly fled the country in august when the verdict was originally due in look was charged with failing to stop corruption in the government rice subsidy program. ok for more on the story let's bring in revenue source funding for inertial from bangkok florian was this

the expected verdict. definitely brian it was nobody expected an acquittal so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that. would be found guilty there was a maximum sentence of ten years now it's five years but i would say that is still a very harsh sentence especially when you consider that she had not been accused of corruption she had been accused of negligence in a rise subsidies scheme in other words basically just a welfare program for the local farmers here that went wrong and so but as for you know like herself i don't think that the actual sentence of five years really matters all that much because i don't think that she will ever be facing time i just is again she will probably not set a foot into thailand at least during the military regime but it's very important this this verdict is very important for thailand because it gives you an indication

of what how much room for maneuver politicians here have under the military regime and the answer to that is basically not ok you know it was a reportedly under around the clock surveillance how was she able to leave the country if that was a success. yeah that is the million dollar question and that's what on what's on everyone's mind here. the fact is as you mentioned she was basically under twenty four hour surveillance yet the military junta claims that they had no role in her escape but not just experts here basically everyone on the street finds that very hard to believe so the reading here is that the military junta ordered the police to help her flee the country via cambodia apparently she left through a military outpost into cambodia in the middle of the night there was even

a decoy car involved so it was if it wasn't the military was definitely military style her escape ok now she was of course a very popular politician how are her supporters going to react to this decision. well when she didn't appear in court four weeks ago her supporters were very much in shock and they some of them even felt betrayed definitely disappointed that she didn't show up but on the other hand everyone said that she was never to receive a fair trial here so in the end all her supporters agreed that it was of wise decision for her to flee the country but her party now is faced with a problem because. nobody really knows who the leading figure of her party which has been ruled by the chena what clan for almost two decades now how they will go on after the ads and so this will be very interesting to see after the cremation

you know the late king will be cremated next month and until then thailand is pretty much in calm but after that i think we will see new developments here in thailand to florida is following the story for us from bangkok thanks very much. now for a look at some of the other stories making the news at this hour the latest effort by u.s. republican lawmakers to dismantle the health care legislation known as obamacare has failed the party was unable to win and our support decided not to put the bill up for a vote. scuffles broke out in uganda's parliament over efforts to allow the president to extend his tenure lawmakers from the governing party want to remove legislation that bars anyone over age seventy five from running for president now that would enable president wariness of any to seek reelection in twenty twenty one he's been in power for more than thirty years. ukraine

is already has have evacuated more than twenty thousand people after a fire at a key i mean nation's depo caused a series of explosions the blast happened late tuesday at a military base some two hundred seventy kilometers west of the ukrainian capital kiev one person was injured. ireland's prime minister leo varadkar is announced plans to hold a referendum next year on whether to ease abortion laws a largely catholic country has some of the world's strictest abortion laws a total ban was lifted in two thousand and thirteen to allow deceptions only when the mother's life is in danger. it's to somalia now where the government has been struggling with the g. hottest insurgency for years dition all international support efforts to defeat have intensified this year but the result has been more hardship for the people of that east african nation debbie reported sandra peterson and young philip shells of this exclusive report on the civilian population already devastated by three

decades of civil war. but to a means to survive in somali it's a fitting name for this refugee camp on the outskirts of mogadishu where life is a struggle for the next meal the next bucket of water. fatty mind her daughter found refuge here two weeks ago they're still waiting for official assistance. but that's preferable to starving in the village where the islamist militant group is in control. they would rather let us die than accept any aid from infidels. who are. not all somalis are fleeing hunger and up a few kilometers away in another refugee camp we need not a young man who was from barrier about sixty kilometers south of the capital at

least ten civilians were killed there in an attack by somali and u.s. forces almost a month ago marianne's husband was among the dead. we are used to the fighting but this was by far the worst we've ever seen. in march the u.s. president on a trump ordered the u.s. military to intensify the war against al shabab bringing in special forces the militant group killed more than four thousand two hundred people last year its leaders and allegiance with al qaeda want to establish a theocracy. and you government has been in place in mogadishu since february and it's getting a lot of international support but the drones and raids employed to combat terrorism are endangering the local population. and this is being exploited by al

shabab one former member of the militant group tells us that the people in dispute . the government backed soldiers just as much as the militants. the people here don't trust the government in the areas controlled by al shaab people fear the military will loot and rape them and al-shabaab has become skilled at tapping into those fears. peacekeeping troops from the african union also serving in somalia under the un the un special representative is convinced the conflict cannot be solved only through military means. while he welcomes u.s. involvement he wants the main objective should be strengthening the new government and state institutions. too many civilians are being killed particularly by insurgents particularly here in mogadishu because they're soft

targets. yes if you are fighting an insurgency being very careful not to kill civilians is incredibly important because if you do you lose the support of the population internally displaced somalis arrive in the capital every day almost seven million are dependent on emergency eight that's about half the country's population these women and children will likely have to wait years before they can live in a state that can keep them safe here in germany all americans conservatives have held their first parliamentary meetings and sunday's national election back also preparing to build a new coalition government workers and democrats getting down to business on tuesday samurai party has its work cut out for finding coalition partners now the most plausible option is a three way coalition with the pro-business free democrats and the left leaning greens who also met on tuesday a survey by the german public broadcaster a.r.d.

shows majority of germans would back such a coalition. so what might a new german government look like hans brought joins us more for more on that from our parliamentary studio yeah how could coalition with the free democrats and the greens differ from the last government well it's obvious still very much up in the air the coalition talks haven't really started yet at the moment all parties involved trying to position themselves at the more moment trying to say which matters are particularly important for them refugee question is a central question in that there is of course the. sister party of bavaria the christian social union who have been pushing for some sort of cap on the number of refugees that can enter germany berthe the other parties involved the free democrats and the greens have said that there's no no chance of such

a cap being imposed so they are the positions at the moment are still very far apart and it's very difficult to say how these things will work out and what kind of government will come out in the end the whole process is likely to take a long time if it's finished by christmas people will be satisfied and. lost her party lost about one million voters to the far right in the right after that electoral catastrophe she said she wanted to win them back how can she do that. well she said that she's going to do that through application of policies through new adaptive policies from the side of her party i suspect this will mean especially additional measures additional strictures in terms of refugee and immigrants immigration policy there is much talk about this coalition having to decide on some sort of immigration law for germany which the country in fact does

not have at the moment something similar to a point system like the canadians have for instance something along these lines but those are the situation those are the kinds of issues on which i think it's going to try and win back those lost voters ok now her former coalition partners the social democrats say they're going on the opposition benches they also lost about half a million voters to the a.f.d. what are they going to do to get those former supporters back well why the current while the conservatives seem to be moving more to the right the social democrats are indicating that their policies will move more to the left one indication of that is the new leader in parliament of the party who is likely to be elected today she's called under. the current labor minister and comes from the left wing of the party so there seems to be a strong indication from the social democrats they're going to look for more left wing policies in order to increase their profile and increase the difference to the

conservative hans thanks so much for that from our parliamentary studio. now if you need to get something off your chest there could be more room for you to do it online helen is looking into that that's right the jury's still out on this one we're talking about twitter more freedom of expression or just more room to rant while nevertheless if you've ever felt like you need more space on a twitter where you might soon be getting twice as much room twitter announced it was testing out a two hundred eighty character limit within a small group on the micro messaging site and that's double the current standard but the experiment has received mixed reviews from all over the world with many uses on able to see the value of the change for decades they have been bitter rivals but now siemens n l storm have confirmed a merger to make a huge european train builder the french government has encouraged the deal which analysts say is

a change of strategy the focus is now no longer on protecting french business but about creating a european powerhouse at a time when international competition is fierce. the fusion between siemens and alstom is on track to create a new european giant in the train building business. in the near future the german i.c.e. and the french t.g.v. will come from a single manufacturer siemens wants to bring its entire train division in return for a fifty percent cut of the new firm which will be based in paris but they're not doing it entirely of their own free will. the real construction and signposting market is in a state of advanced consolidation the chinese group c. r. c. is today bigger than alstom siemens and can it is bomb body a combined the next step of this chinese group is in all likelihood continental europe where c.r.c. could rely on a purchase of

a european manufacturers. even after the new firm is founded the pressure on the europeans will increase siemens has considered canadian company body a but the deal was reportedly derailed by bomb body is shaky finances however if the competition authorities aren't all aboard the big european deal will hit the buffers. well joining us now from frankfurt central train station is our financial correspondent clinic on who's in it good to see what does this mean if travel is on the continent is trains and the railway system experiencing or in a sense in european travel. yes or no you know until very recently the only high speed trains you could take from frankfurt's main train station here was the i.c.e. train operated by. now in less than four hours you can go to paris from

frankfurt also on the french t.g.v. train and of course this new major player in train construction will cater to all of europe standards will be aligned costs will come down and for passengers of course this has the potential for more more comfortable cross border traveling in europe but these two companies have been better rivals for decades can this really be a marriage of equals. well of course it's not going to be easy and i think the image of marriage is quite fitting as everyone knows especially by national marriage of marriages often come along with special cultural challenges but those challenges can be the source of great creativity and great. of course finding new ways of doing business. it we have a very perfect example here in europe ab us the plane maker it took

a very long tedious process to shape this multinational common grammar but today it actually works quite well while the beast are on board at least should be good conduct prison in frankfurt thank you very much prosecutors in the united states have charged ten people including an executive with bribery and fraud that is following a widespread investigation into corruption in college basketball prosecutors accuse the manager of driving athletes families to get players to attend universities that added us sponsors and sports were making confirm the arrest of an executive on tuesday saying it was unaware of any wrongdoing on our. right now with brian and a rather bad night in football it wasn't a good night for the german sides at all helena sports actually now today's action the champions league the biggest match of the night was here in germany where

dortmund host the defending champions real madrid now darkness hopes for an ob said were dented in the eighteenth minute that's when doris bell of the spatter side on top rail added another just after half time with wells waldo firing home the host did pull one back in the fifty fourth minute but the ten minutes to go win although sealing the points for we all dortmund have now played two and lost two in the champions league this season we have time for reminder of the top stories we're following for you this hour a saudi arabia says it will allow women to drive for the first time ever king saul manas issued a decree officially changing the law it's expected to go into effect in june. and thailand's former prime minister yingluck shinawatra has been sentenced to five years in jail the nation's top court found her guilty of negligence in connection with a government price subsidies scheme but she fled the country it's uncertain whether you actually serve the time. i'm dr thomas for the entire team here in berlin

thanks for joining us. can prices go lower many farmers are in a dilemma. should they run a profitable factory farm or raise food the natural way. the

pressure and competition are even if subsidies are high what's to be done. made enjoy. election victory number four. until america remains germany's chancellor. her political career began in one nine hundred eighty nine when the berlin wall fell and unforeseen march took our flag. from physicists to the most powerful woman in the world until america a portrait. you saw forty five. my first boss i was a sewing machine. where i come from women are balanced by the social influence in something as simple as learning how to write a by side though it isn't. since i was a little girl i wanted to have

a bicycle of my home and it took me as the man might have. finally gave up and went on buying me and my cycles but returned with the sewing machine sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than riding a bike and now i want to meet those women back home who are bones by their duties and social rules and inform them about the basics right. my name is them out of the go home and i work i need them. digitisation was meant to be one of chancellor.