if you want to know. starting march thirteenth d.w. . this is deja vu news live from berlin and historic though in china the country's parliament passes a constitutional amendment that scraps presidential term limits and hands president xi jinping free reign to rule a different will this mean a return to dictatorship for the haitian superpower we talk to our correspondent in beijing also coming up. france's far right front nasional sever ties with founder

john marie look at members voted overwhelmingly to remove his honorary presidency leaving his daughter a marine at the helm of the moves meant to revive the party's fortunes will take a closer look. i'm michelle henery and welcome to the program there are concerns china could be returning to one man rule today the country's lawmakers have passed a series of constitutional amendments that scrapped the presidential term limit and allow the president xi jinping to remain in office and definitely in the presidency had previously been limited to two five year terms the changes also permit she's personal political philosophy to be engraved in the constitution the amendments passed with two no votes and three abstentions among almost three thousand delegates. d.w.

corresponded with ts berlinger is in beijing following the congress and new developments mathias we've had a press statement a short while ago can you tell us what was said yeah there is a press conference going on at the moment sham and off the legal affairs committee of parliament is justifying the amendments made to the constitution saying that it was strengthen the fissions feel for the rule of law it will strengthen the efficiency of governance it will strengthen also the role of the potty in this in this state one of the amendments is the scrapping off the two term limits that's the one that caused got most attention but there were a few others that stress strengthen the party's role in the government. it took for the first time the leadership of the party has been included in the body of the constitution and that's the other thing that we are seeing there the party

is getting more powerful the state institutions are getting weaker or are getting closer to the party the announcement allows president xi jinping to punch the day in office for life why this cold around she. well he has been very clever in strengthening have his power by creating this cult of personality at the time time and on to corruption campaign has allowed him to get rid of his opponent opponents within the party. allowing him. the most power and even had in the past forty years i think this this cause of course nies here around him and reminds many people of mullets of don't is his way to ensure his is position and his leadership with his support small included in the constitution that some of the major amendment anybody

who criticizes him criticizes the party so his position is now very very strong. and the decision that since i've been taken today to bring in the government that strengthen the party what do they say about the direction that china is taking. what i think anybody was expecting met with growing whether china would become more liberal should have on the standby knowledge base hope is over that's very clear we are seeing we are going to be seeing more also retire in rule we are seeing more paul concentrated in the hands of one man and we have a little. little reason to believe that he is going to to soften his grip on the country and the time in the next few years. mathias brenner the correspondent beijing thank you. now to some of the other stories making news around the world

japan is marking the seventh anniversary of a series of disasters that devastated the northeast coast and left over eighteen thousand people dead or missing a massive earthquake triggered a tsunami that led to the worst nuclear disaster since your noble prime minister shinzo has pledged ongoing support for the region the german cardinal karl lehmann has died at age eighty one lehmann chaired the german bishops conference for more than two decades until two thousand and eight he was considered a relatively liberal program form voice within the catholic church as well as a strong supporter of interfaith dialogue the president of the german parliament called lehmann a dedicated pastoral minister and a major scholar. members of france's far right front nessie now have voted to remove the party's founder john marie le pen as honorary president the pen who led the party for almost forty years had his membership removed in twenty fifteen after

he cast doubt on the whole the cost today's decision severs his last official tied to the party the move is one of a number of changes under consideration at the party's congress and legal aimed at recasting the party's image. our correspondent lisa lewis is joining me from paris lisa the front nessie not once to change the image of the party now they've made a big step in this direction by finally managing to strip the party founder john marie le pen marines father of his title as the party's honorary president but what other steps have they tried to take. sends out over fifty thousand question as to party activists asking them about the pizza line of the party and the results of these questionnaires for example are the party activists very much in favor of that to just stance of the from the front of that is to say the anti immigration stance at the get sick point of view and also the fight for the french

national identity thief or not you know with this we can also rename its governing bodies however on the other hand a marine le pen the president of the four knots and i really stay present and so it remains to be in to be seen to what extent this since a fresh start will really be a fresh start lisa as you just said one of the topics up for discussion is the party's new name why is this change so significant to marine and to the party would it mean a break from the party's political line the finest united wants to break with its pops marie le pen wants to show that she is not her father that she's kind of a fresh personality than that can take the former house not to new heights and make it make it a governing party really that is able to govern the country however that would be very complicate because that as i just said the topics that are being put forward

by the foreign asinine are very much the same as in the past also according to a recent poll more than three quarters of the french think that marine le pen is not acceptable as president of the country that's in the mood and before hand so that the country is against him or in the pen if she's going to stay a president of the party what are party members think of her how do they feel about her at the moment. the one i see is if a business family business so it's very unlikely that anybody else will take her place because that is just no one with enough charisma around and no one with the right last name except for her needs is money on the pan who is very popular party members but she has taken a break from politics so marina pan is the i'm attacked president of the foreigners who not at the moment however behind the scenes people are very much criticizing her because as you sat in that to pay debate head of the french presidential elections she actually seemed unconvinced incompetent people were even thinking she

does not want to govern the country so it will be very hard for her to stay in power in the long run and show that she has the will to try to govern the country at one point and become president france. yesterday u.s. president donald trump said former advisor steve benen was a guest at the congress can you tell us about that while he sat that history was nationalist movements signed in europe and that they could they should all stand together he obviously is here to show that he is the one who could bring together all the far right parties in europe from france from italy hungry poland however when you look at the. national programs i mean it's a good thing for them to have steve bannon here shows that they have so to say in international profile but for the time being they're very much occupied we are bringing their own party back on track on

a national level trying to recant support again amongst french people here in france thank you very much lisa louis. syrian government forces have made significant advances into eastern ghouta splitting the enclave into three parts is from kuta is the last major rebel stronghold near the capital damascus the army has intensified its assault in the past three weeks the fighting has already claimed the lives of over one thousand people. the next strike is never far away in duma. another victim is rushed to an ambulance. or local. observers say east includes his largest travel how time is now completely isolated government forces have reportedly cut off the main highway linking it to the town of harasta and to the rest of the besieged enclave meanwhile state television shows the army rolling into the center of measure. by the syrian

observatory for human rights says assad's forces have night taken this rebel time as the syrian army proclaims major gains opponents and aid groups have accused the regime of using chemical weapons. they used it during gas and they used to disturb and fourscore and then now. i mean in just a sea days there were already more than one hundred and fifteen people killed most of them children the government strongly rejects the allegation. we absolutely denied the existence of any chemical weapons including chlorine gas. the united nations has condemned the intensity of the government assault. in the last three weeks the shelling and as strikes have been almost constant monitors say the bombardment has now killed more than a thousand people. seven years ago today

a magnitude nine earthquake struck off the coast of japan if you're going to tsunami that led to the worst nuclear disaster since chernobyl within an hour of the quake water came rushing in the land along japan's northeastern coastline the tsunami overwhelmed entire towns and left over eight hundred thousand people dead or missing at a commemoration ceremony in tokyo prime minister shinzo obvious that japan was dedicated to continued reconstruction the government is still working to contain radioactive materials released by the damaged nuclear reactors in fukushima. alongside commemoration ceremonies in japan protests have been taking place earlier i spoke with so that jackman a journalist from canada and news in tokyo and asked her about them. well people are opposed to the government's plan to try to bring back nuclear power plants as a big part of japan's energy mix there are about forty five by reactors around the country but only three are online at the moment and they were brought back online after meeting new strict to safety rules imposed after this disaster but protesters

say these rules don't go far enough and many of them say japan should never go back to nuclear power again they don't trust the nuclear industry to get it right they don't trust the government to get it right and they point out that if we where in japan at any time is vulnerable to natural disasters like the one that happens if it's ago. can you tell us what is the situation in fukushima like today have decontamination efforts been successful well the government has put a great deal of money and time into decontaminating people's houses the area around their houses and roadways but these areas are still surrounded by a thick forest which can't really be contaminated decontaminated effectively and then there's the issue of the plant itself the inside of the plant is still so radioactive it's hard to get in there and know what is happening to the radioactive debris inside there have been if it's just stopped radioactive water from seeping

out underneath the plant but those if it's have have struck difficulties recently as well and the local governments it should take about forty years to fully decommission the plant so this is so many complex issues going on at the plant and the radiation in the surrounding areas has only been contaminated to a certain degree. and to the people of japan feel that they've had enough support from the government. many do not the governments if it's in recent years have been focused on getting people to move back to the areas from which the evacuation but many people feel that they have still not safe even though these areas a meet and government's targets for radiation. although evacuation orders have been lifted in many areas around the plant there are still about fifty thousand people who choose to stay outside the picture is they don't feel safe so the jackman journalism in tokyo thank you thank you and then german football

byron have played host to their favorite whipping boys hamburg to find out how that turned out and all the weekend's action so far so stay tuned for the pundits like a show with matt herman that's coming up next after the news. that's all from us for now more here on news at the top of the hour thanks for watching. make your smart t.v. smarter with the d. w. bush wants to do. what you want when you want it up to date extraordinary. to decide what's on find out more said john tom smart.