and i'm not one of them you don't get one because like you can get up to the minute news to pick the background to political developments. d.w. we bring you more than ever. this is t w news coming to you live from berlin a bit more freedom for women in saudi arabia ultraconservative kingdom is finally going to allow women to drive activists have been fighting for that right for years also coming up thailand's former prime minister yingluck shinawatra has been

sentenced to five years in jail but she fled into exile. and a woman to lead germany's opposition the social democrats select on they had knowledge of their left wing to head the group in parliament. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us saudi arabia says it's going to allow women to drive it's a big leap forward for the ultra conservative nation the only one to bar women from getting behind the wheel a royal decree announced on state television said the ban would be lifted in june in the meantime a committee will be formed to work out how to implement that to create it came as something of a surprise we'll find out why it's been issued at this time for us this report. 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 that 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 thank you 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 even. this activist lost her job when she was caught others have gone to jail now 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 are 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. women at

all levels there in the government advisory council that doctors ny women are in big positions so why shouldn't we join the men that matter most to our nation. that boldness would suggest that saudi women will carry on the fight for greater rights. well joining us now for more on the story is not. she's a journalist who's reported extensively from saudi arabia thanks for coming in this morning. activists have been pushing for a woman's right to drive in saudi arabia for decades why is this happening now well in fact it's happening now because it has to happen and there is no chance another for the royal family nor for the system of the government to push it more and to postpone this issue and the saudi society. is also a strong female society even if we don't realize this the number of very much very

well educated and vicious females is really high and they are pushing towards. their role in the society a quarter million of young saudis are studying a brode funded by the government more than sixty percent of them are females who drive outside the country yet so this brings them with thoughts back that the system and the conservative part of the system cannot sustain anymore ok what about the women in saudi arabia those who maybe have never driven abroad are they going to be able to just start driving next june when the royal saudi houses that that it's going to be allowed to be implemented how easy will it be for women to actually exercise their right to drive in saudi arabia at this point first of all i would like to congratulate this how do women for this step and in fact the king for this decision still it's clear that it's not going to be so easy the first step is to have a committee from foreign ministries who will study the regulations or the needed

regulations that are conform with the religion to allow this but still we have a date we have a deadline so i think it's a balance that the king is trying to do between the conservative and the liberal powers in the country so it's going to be allowed but apparently according what i followed up on twitter. activists is. that age is going to be an issue if they live if their women are married or not there's going to be an issue and some other things which are not clear again in the still very much a male dominated society you mention the need to conform with religious strictures in the country but also that the idea of a male guardian determining what women do in that country is still very much in place won't it be a problem it is in place and i think that this step is one of the first very small steps the saudi saudis are going to go through to drop this regulation having a god because now driving the car does not necessary request having the formation

of a god which means that this is one of the the first step of the beginning of the end of this regulation but it is clear when i was in saudi to see that nobody even the women are are asking not to be so fast and with a twenty because there were one of the reactions that might bring them steps back you know one step ahead the three back so they are everybody was talking about small steps to approach ok i'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there. thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today on g.w. news thank you. thailand's top court has ruled that former prime minister yingluck shinawatra is guilty of negligence she was sentenced to five years in jail in look was not present for the hearing she reportedly fled the country in august when the verdict was originally do it look was charged with failing to stop corruption in a government rice subsidy program. well for more on this story let's bring in our correspondent florian knows she's standing by for us in bangkok florian first of

all yang looks right subsidies scheme was deemed a failure but governments make lots of costly mistakes all the time why did this result in criminal prosecution. i think there are two answers to that one one legal istic one if you listen to the judges they have a unanimous vote saying that members of your administration actually falsified a government to government rise deal and that that was also corruption involved which you know it wasn't part of but she should have overseen that which she didn't so she was accused of negligence and that is the legal istic answer but i would argue that there is and that is more important a political answer now the. party has been very popular over the last two decades with the rural population the poor the farmers but not very

popular at all with the leads here in bangkok and it's especially not popular with the military and the military apparently saw a way of exerting pressure on. the just judiciary at least that is what some people here claim to get rid of an often opponent. troy in your book banished to flee the country before sentencing everyone knew that was a risk there's a history of that in buying call in thailand how could she be allowed to get away. and that's the thing and even though the military junta denies any role in. nobody really biased that because she had been under pretty much twenty four hour surveillance there is a very tight security grip on the military so for someone like for someone like you not just to escape across the border into cambodia that's apparently what happened without the military knowing about it that it's hard to believe for

everyone so my take and the take of pretty much everyone here is that the military ordered the police to how pro flee the country because the military you thought this would be an elegant way of getting rid of an opponent because they feared jailing would actually could stir the masses here to protest but with this symbol gone the military can basically continue as they like florian thank you so much t.w.s. florian notion that reporting from bangkok take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world today afghan officials say there have been several explosions in and around the capital kabul the airport there in kabul the blasts coincide with a visit to the city by u.s. defense secretary jim matches and nato secretary general you. neither were near the airport at the time there have been no reports of casualties as. iraq's prime

minister has called on kurds to a knoll the outcome of monday's independence referendum after the region's leader claimed victory for his campaign as fallout from the vote intensifies iraqi authorities have imposed a light and bargo on kurdish airports saying it will only end when regional authorities hand them over to central control. the latest effort by us republican lawmakers to dismantle the health care legislation known as obamacare has failed the party was unable to win enough support in the senate and decided not to put the bill up for about. and scuffles broke out in uganda's parliament to over efforts to allow the president there to extend his tenure lawmakers from the governing party want to remove legislation that bars anyone over the age of seventy five from running for president that would enable president yoweri most seventy to seek reelection in two thousand and twenty one he's been in power more than thirty years

. ukrainian authorities have evacuated more than twenty thousand people after a fire at an ammunitions depo calls a series of explosions the blasts happened late on tuesday at a military base two hundred seventy kilometers west of ukraine's capital kiev one person was injured. here in germany chance of uncle michael is facing the tough task of trying to form a new government a key cabinet minister is already bake ating her post as her party prepares to move into opposition that's the social democrat minister of labor and social affairs under way a novice s.p.d. parliamentary group have elected her as their new leader not as is a member of the party's leftist wing earlier the s.p.d. centrists had protested against her candidacy. before now let's bring in our political correspondent hans bunn so hans this social democrats have named

a forty seven year old woman and they had novice from the left wing of the party to lead their parliamentary group in opposition is this what a fresh start looks like for the embattled s.p.d. . it's certainly a start for a fresh start one has to say it's the very first time that there's a woman who will be leader of the opposition on behalf of the social democrats she will be their face in parliament and that will make her a very prominent voice for the party and being forty seven years old obviously means that she's also of the younger generation so in both senses it is a new start for the party obviously that is not mean that the party as a whole has yet to establish itself. firmly in a new camp on the left and there are certain factions within the party that would try to put a brake on that as you've just said it's not all done yet but it certainly is a start so while the s.p.d. is trying to reinvent itself chancellor merkel meanwhile is struggling to form

a new government she's working with very different prospective coalition partners do they have enough overlapping interests hons to form a viable coalition what would government look like that's very difficult to say at the moment obviously. is a very seasoned negotiator she knows how to deal with difficult situations like these and but obviously also all the parties that are involved in these talks in other words. the green party which is ten tends to be more left in the political spectrum and the market liberal free democrats all of these want to put their issues on the table and want to make sure that their issues will be respected in the new government so it's going to be very tough negotiations they will last for a long time people say that by christmas if we have a new government by christmas that will be good going on thank you so much t w is hans blunt from our parliamentary studio. you're watching news still to come in

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