this is deja vu news why go from berlin tonight a new government in germany is within reach the countries would be new government took its first shaky steps together today german chancellor angela merkel's conservatives put on a united front with the social democrats but are they really ready to work together and what message does this deal since of the world also coming up the power struggle in the maldives worsens authorities charged talk judges with attempting to overthrow the government and as rio de janeiro gears up for carnival these

women are dancing for change they want to party in peace and put an end to sexual harassment. i'm good to have you with us germany's main political parties have finally agreed to a deal that would form a new coalition government and they made the announcement in berlin after another session of all my talks another grueling game of give and take four months after the country's elections but both chancellor angela merkel and her social democrat counterpart martin shultz say that the agreement is the only way to guarantee german stability. after a marathon thirty four hours of negotiations it's all strained smiles for the would be coalition partners with

a working compromise achieved relief from the chancellor. it's been about so i am convinced that the coalition agreement we have worked on together can be just that the basis for a solid and stable government that's what our country needs and it's what the world is expecting from us awful about. expectations were high especially among martin schultz's social democrats the s.p.d. party base will have the last word over the next few weeks the parties roughly four hundred sixty thousand members will decide whether the agreement will stand as the foundation for a new grand coalition shields's message success he's a target stock we had a big influence on this agreement and we're grateful to the union parties for making compromises that were difficult for them but it chiva ball in the end just. one example in the coalition agreement fixed term employment would likely be the

exception to the rule in future repeated contract extensions a thing of the past a clear concession to the social democrats another key demand from the s.p.d. made less headway little progress on a major overhaul of the german health care system the conservatives knew they needed to compromise in order to secure a coalition deal even the leader of the cd used by variances to party the c.s.u. had nothing but praise for the s.p.d. and the agreement with the. beast anyone who reads these one hundred seventy seven pages and i hope they will be widely read it will see what we are proposing is good for our country for all. and that's also what the s.p.d. is proclaiming the social democrats are getting two of the most important ministries finance and foreign affairs and schultz wants to become foreign minister

he's giving up the s.p.d. presidency to andrea nonis it's been a tense day in berlin but the next decisive phase is now beginning the s.p.d. membership will begin voting in a few days the result should be no no march the fourth only then will it be clear whether there really will be a new grand coalition. or and i'm joined now here in the studio by our chief political correspondent linda crane finally after a series of late night stakeouts waiting for a deal to be reached it's good to have you here in the in the war. i mean we are we see today we saw a lot of statements we heard there will be more party negotiations but we can't forget this deal is not done yet i mean the rank and file of the social democrats they have to give their blessing that's right this will go to a vote by the full party membership that's a lot of people and and the fact is that many of them entered the party are not

many of them but up to five percent of the party membership are new members who have just joined in the last few weeks many of them with the express aim of voting against a grand coalition many of them were recruited by the party's youth wing in order essential to vote no now the question is will this deal sway them there's good reason to say yes if they're looking at governing if they actually want to shape policy in a direction that affects core issues for the social democrats i mentioned the youth wing well the fact is there are very explicit provisions in this egremont that are aimed at they have higher financial aid for students for example educational reform those are key issues for the youth wing but many in that wing. the party essentially say no grand coalition under any circumstances it doesn't matter what policy direction they are heading in we're not interested in governing we're

interested essentially in going into retreat for some years and redefining what our party's about so the big question will be do those who want to govern went out or do those who want a phase of retreat when out and we don't know the answer to that yet what about the german chancellor you know we had limbo in this country political limbo for almost five months and a lot of people say that she was too generous especially last night in order to into this limbo was she to jitters well this coalition agreement does involve one of the biggest spending packages that we have ever seen in a coalition agreement forty five billion just for new projects over one hundred billion that they aim to spend through twenty twenty one so those are big numbers but i heard a number of conservatives today outside of the parliamentary fractions meeting rooms saying you know what the money is there and we've got a lot of tax money in the coffers at the moment this economy is doing well and this

is the time to spend money on modernizing the economy on digitalisation on big projects that will give us a really dynamic basis for the future and frankly i think they're right the social democrats came out looking like the clear winner and these negotiations the opposition rather scathing there when his attack i want us to listen to what the party leader of the right wing alternative for germany mr alexander dealt with what he had to say about the its beauty. the of the allocation of ministerial post shows that the cd you have completely given up because they're afraid of the s.p.d. membership vote. they promote themselves out ideologically and technically as well as they haven't got any of the main ministries any more classes minister you could say that the c.d.u. is now just an empty vessel you know. i mean those are strong you don't need to

make against the conservatives did the c.d.u. the conservatives did they make too many concessions you know what they have kept the ministry that matters most to his voters and that is the interior ministry they've also kept the defense ministry those are two critical member ministries exactly for a little rivers a right wing the interior ministry is going to be beefed up it's going to include a homeland ministry hindmarsh homeland security and again that is exactly what his voters would be looking for they want issues like german cultural identity to be on the agenda they want to talk about securing the country's borders and while those will be firmly in the hands of the most conservative party on the political spectrum that is not the far right namely the christian social union the bavarian conservatives that's exactly what he's afraid of the c.s.u. said today this is all about the basis for true social cohesion in this country

well if greater social to kishon were to come about his party but lose out in the what about the age of the party there mr yolland being male the biggest opposition party in germany. a year ago no one would have predicted that that is what will happen if this coalition comes into place we don't know that yet and then that will be interesting to see whether that spotlight shining on that party does them good or harm i think there is a lot in this coalition. an agreement that goes to the feeling of pervasive insecurity and precariousness that has driven some germans into the arms of the far right whether the coalition if it's implemented really if the agreement if it's truly implemented could win them back that remains to be seen but i see material in here that could possibly go in that direction if it's implemented the way that it's written right our chief political correspondent melinda curry with

a very clear and else is there more in the thanks very much. for the breakthrough in berlin was music to the ears of the president of the european commission called younger. it helped include that i wasn't able to study the finer points of the coalition deal but i've been told that europe is mentioned three hundred twelve times what other country has made such a commitment to european topics right from the beginning. i welcome this and i especially like the chapter on europe. they're talking with us earlier here's some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world the syrian government and its ally russia have watched fresh air strikes in a rebel held area east of the capital damascus observers say the strikes on wednesday killed more than twenty eight people in eastern galba hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped by a government scene u.s. senate leaders have reached a budget agreement that could prevent

a looming government shutdown senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and democratic leader chuck schumer announced the deal with spending for defense and domestic programs you have the deal still needs to be approved by the full senate and the house. the united nations has called the political crisis in the maldives an all out assault on democracy now that's after authorities arrested two of the country's top judges on charges of attempting to overthrow the government now president abdoulaye young marine has defied a court ruling ordering the release of imprisoned opposition leaders and has imposed a state of emergency in the island nation. this is what a state of emergency looks like police blocking the opposition party headquarters no one goes in or out without their say president i mean up to a guy you blame the opposition for forcing his hand. this is not

a state of war epidemic or natural disaster this is something more dangerous this is an obstruction of the variability of this state to function it come. out of with the people that get. the i mean has faced international criticism for rolling back democratic reforms he's used the state to crack down on opponents most recently ordering police to storm the supreme court and arrest two justices the opposition is defiant as the former defense minister was being taken to jail he said the whole procedure is illegal and if you have been taken into custody unlawfully. and if. it's not clear what charges the detainees will face international pressure is mounting with calls for the president to respect the constitution and the rule of law. farid to brazil now where the country is gearing up for carnival a five day festival of decadence dancing and dressing up in rio de janeiro home of

the world's biggest celebrations one group of women is using the occasion to draw attention to sexual harassment. it started as a joke an organizer announced a block party protest but when she got more than a thousand responses in twenty four hours she realized she had struck a nerve. with the message the free for all atmosphere of carnival doesn't mean that harassing women or worse is ok. let's not i think the campaign is necessary because i have suffered harassment join convo some years ago men took my arm tried to force me to kiss them and sometimes they're stronger than you and approach you in a way that's not good you know i've got. this banner reaves banner of respect carnival without violence against women it's a deep rooted problem feels like that made it i'm

a nurse and i work in the emergency ward and every shift i receive a woman who was raped or sexually attacked by so women from thirteen to fifty nine years old for me that's a real and cruel c.-a how. could a way out. shout siders the idea of throwing a party to raise awareness of such a serious issue might seem strange. but at least one man here seem to get the message that the men have to understand that they've done wrong for a long time and now they have to do right and not take attitudes that compromise women's integrity. bargain eyes or scope that revelers at this year's carnival will indeed get the message while still having fun. and you're watching t w news live from berlin more news coming up at the top of the

hour for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company we'll see you again soon. as. the scars on some up the past still touchable. flux. for city and. they have survived but do they also have a future. i really understand people who say they don't want to stay here.