busy commuters live from berlin uncle america links warning embarking on her fourth term as german chancellor current operation puts an end to months of political and paralysis but she wins reelection by just a slim margin hint of the friction she's likely to face the facts will find out what might be in store for her also coming up the world renowned physicist stephen hawking has died so confined to a wheelchair from motor neuron disease his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity pushed the boundaries of human knowledge and all eyes on london after

moscow ignores a deadline to explain why a soviet made nerve agent was used to poison a former russian spy on the british soil prime minister trick to make expected to make a statement to parliament on the salisbury incident for corporate life. i'm sumi so misconduct good to have you with us months of political gridlock in germany have come to an end as uncle americal is sworn in as head of a new coalition government the ceremony took place in the last hour michael took the oath of office from the bundestag president both in short blocks in front of lawmakers who earlier had narrowly voted to reelect first chancellor her nomination comes after a near six month struggle to form a government securing her fourth term after finally convincing her conservatives that the center left social democrats to come together for another grand coalition

. the bundestag vote was tighter than expected or dr. doctor i'm glad he has the necessary majority of at least three hundred fifty five votes and has been elected chancellor according to article sixty three paragraph two of the constitution your business. exam the result. yes mr president i deal. with that merkel was officially elected to a fourth term chancellor. it's her third time in a grand coalition the social democrats. it took a while for merkel to win over the s.p.d. but in the end the junior partners offered their congratulations. to the chancellor remains the chancellor and that's cause for happiness and i think this is good news for the citizens of our country and good news for europe. who did nothing. but at least thirty five members of merkel's coalition failed to support her in the

end her margin of victory was nine votes including her own in a parliament of seven hundred nine deputies that's hardly a dream start to the latest magical government. husband. put in a first appearance at such an election and merkel's next cabinet is also new in many respects the numerical government is noticeably younger and includes more women than previous ones its main priorities. we need to ensure domestic security and the welfare of society we need to figure out how to positively tackle the challenges of global competition. after the been a staff vote merkel was sworn in by german president. one hundred seventy one days after germany's national election last september the country finally has a new government.

and chief political editor michelle acoustic has been following today's proceedings from the for us hi michelle and the vote this morning as we've heard there has been a long time coming after months of gridlock here in berlin over forming this new government and there was a sense of relief there today tell us more about that. yes absolutely i mean even when you talk to the opposition there are many voices saying that now finally germany will be open for political business again government can get going and really there's an eagerness to provide that kind of stability that money is so known for. the big exception of course is the out and germany the far right party which so upset the political system by entering the business talk for the first time and actually contributed a large deal to this getting mathematically so complicated in the end with german chancellor angela merkel very now really of voiding one has so you can't stress that enough real unraveling of traditional support base is all coming down to

a social democrat party roots vote whether this is the democrats who are willing whether they want to they said they didn't want to but were willing to once again go into this so-called grand coalition so cliff averted by the german chancellor and her party and that stability that she so stands for maintained here in germany talking about mathematics michel are lawmakers voting earlier to reconfirm chancellor merkel as chancellor and she needed three hundred fifty five votes she got three hundred sixty four so nine more than she needed what do you think that's says about how much support she has in this coalition government. well really it's if you do the mathematics and you it's a similar margin it's about ninety four percent of those who should have voted for her because they are in her coalition in her own party bloc and that's pretty similar to two thousand and five so it's and it's by no means as close as it has

been historically in the past and. so. from a historic perspective it's kind of pretty standard ordinary but it certainly shows that her resoundingly support that she had within her own poor party but particularly from the social democrats who were so unhappy about having to. to go into this option again which they felt they were so bruised and battered in yes clearly there were several who simply didn't want to toed the party line and put their name to backing america once again she is weak and this is once again another symptom that she is she's also we can within her own party and the most visible sign of that is of course her letting spawn the future health minister one of her fiercest critics into her cabinet something she simply didn't do in the past where she made absolutely sure that she surrounds herself only with people who are completely complete allies of her and not really who would openly criticize her on

a stage so we're in for interesting times different times and we also heard tony's president tell this new cabinet that he certainly expected this not to be the same old same old grand coalition but for this cabinet to listen very closely to the those tensions to those at the grassroots of society here in germany michelle are looking ahead now you did get a chance to talk to a lot of members of parliament there in the bundestag this morning what were they telling you about what they expect for the next steps forward for the german government. but they expect a signal of stability to the outside but they certainly when it comes to domestic politics want to see a complete change the democrats were fairly successful in that coalition deal they're seeing changes in health care financing also labor market changes and that certainly we will see a lot of teacher in germany also in terms of digital infrastructure a lot of money has been put on the table several billion going into. restoring

reconnecting during these educational system to those changing did digital time so a lot of domestic policy will see a lot of debate on that here in germany and of course that migration issue which is so important domestically but also outside of germany and has this wider aspect. europe we've heard from an interior minister already much softer a much softer tone when it comes to migration and protecting borders so this will feel most likely rather different certainly domestically and on some key aspects like migration also a to the outside world right the next german government now ready to get to work michel a coup for our chief political editor for us thank you very much. now to some other stories making news around the world turkey's president says his military is within hours of capturing the kurdish enclave of affray in syria or has launched a campaign to drive out kurdish fighters it considers to be terrorists up to three

hundred fifty thousand civilians are believed to be trapped there and hundreds of thousands more in the surrounding region. philippines president has announced he is what's drawing his country from the international criminal court following its decision last month to investigate his deadly drug war thousands of suspects have been killed by police under deter just crackdown he accuses the court of being used as a political tool against his country and sierra leone will hold a runoff vote for president on march twenty seventh after the first round of voting ended in a stalemate opposition leader julius narrowly won the first round with forty three point three percent of the ballots he will face off against the governing party's candidate somewhere a kemar who took forty two point seven percent. we're now in british scientist stephen hawking has died at the age of seventy six his family says the physicist

passed away peacefully in a sleep in the early hours of wednesday hawking will be remembered for his groundbreaking work on black holes and general relativity he also defied expectations living for more than fifty years with a motor neuron disease let's take a look back at his life. stephen hawking showed the world the limitless possibilities of the mind trapped in a body crippled by illness he was one of the most well known scientists of our time from the seat of a wheelchair and with the help of a speech generating device the theoretical physicist and cosmologist fascinated people worldwide. hawking faced his difficult physical condition with courage spirit and his trademark dr win. at shows a superhero it up we all work pick superman it's everything that i am not. stephen

hawking was born in oxford england on january eighth one nine hundred forty two the oldest of four children. at seventeen he was awarded a scholarship at oxford university he studied physics and chemistry he also joined the school's boat club and loved science fiction then at the age of twenty one destiny dealt him a cruel blow each. cash to start hurtle diagnosed me with veto s. or older her until she told me at work or even two or three years. all i life with with the threat of an early. talking focused on subjects he knew best and could manage he began working in the field of theoretical physics at cambridge university he researched areas that combine science philosophy and religion such as the origin of the universe. he was especially interested in

black holes and studied the mysterious phenomenon for years. he looked at what happens to the material sucked into these holes. he developed numerous theories but no definitive answers. one of his greatest discoveries was that black holes can disappear this revelation turned the scientific world on a ten. in one thousand e.a.p. published a brief history of time the book sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages and stephen hawking became a high profile public figure. he used his popularity to warn of the dangers of nuclear war and climate change. he saw the public debate to search for answers to other pressing questions of our time. hawking was actively interested in peace

between israel and the palestinians. he called the u.s. led invasion of iraq in two thousand and three a war crime even inspired a hollywood film about his relationship with his first wife. hawking received numerous awards and honors for his research and his efforts to open science to a broader audience. in two thousand and seven he fulfilled a dream when he went on a zero gravity flight it was the first time in thirty seven years that he could move without being in a wheelchair. and he put it right if. it was a. fire could have gotten off the face. here i call. and we can talk to david once he's a professor of cosmetology at the university of ports method in england david thank you for joining us i understand that you met stephen hawking

a tell us about that encounter while i was lucky enough to meet stephen a many scientific meetings in the cold because of my research work but i first met him as a student. greenock a thing with stephen hawking was was difficult it was limited because of his disability. so the on several ways shorts and so the points and as a student i wanted to know more about cosmology where i could study where was the best place in the world to learn more about about the science of the universe and hawkings on so it was typically brief and to the point he said cambridge. what do you think made stephen hawking so special well he was a remarkable human being of course to cope with adversity that he did and and to survive and prosper for so long to make so much of life but he also was a remarkable scientist he was one of the greatest scientists time and it was

because he tackled the the big questions he really wanted to study fundamental questions in science in physics in particular and it was bringing together into the great pillars of the modern physics the ideas of gravity einstein's theory of general relativity and quantum world the quantum uncertainty and it was bringing those two together. you know he was one of the few people with not just an ability ability but also the ambitions are ready to tackle these big questions how inspirational was he in the scientific community. or i mean you know a huge inspiration i think. for scientists of course we're a fascinating person i'm fascinated by the science of what he did see really understand. the effects of quantum physics on black holes and. he also applied it so that the whole universe the cosmology a. fraction of a second after the big bang usa realized there would be the same quantum

fluctuations that ultimately can cause can lead to the structure that we see in the universe around us today so these were inspirational questions to address but he did it with you know the limitations of his illness for more than fifty years is remarkable and he's being celebrated ten today not only for a scientific contributions but also because of as a very unique character what do you think his enduring legacy is going to be going for a while. of course it is it is that inspiration that he gave to so many that make the most of life so you know here fields to us all i think to be scientists to be curious is is is one of those phrases he would repeat a tourist and and of course it was the indomitable spirit wasn't it to never give up never give up indeed the message that we can all take away from stephen hawking

david one's a professor of cosmos at the university of portsmouth in england thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us thank you. well tributes to stephen hawking have been pouring in from around the world astrophysicist neil de grasse tyson posted this image of the pair with the message his passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake but it is not empty think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of space time that defies measure. writer and producer of the simpsons wrote all right stephen hawking a sense of humor as vast as the universe hawking did make several appearances in the long running comedy show helping cement his reputation not just as a brilliant scientist but also as an iconic figure in popular culture and comedian mike drucker sums up his impact stephen hawking was always one of those pillar people in life not as ephemeral as a celebrity or a politician someone who seemed eternal you assumed he existed before and after you

and in a way he absolutely will. you're watching d.w. news still to come on the program students and joining up to say never again did any talks with high school activists set on putting an end to mass shootings in america. and a prime minister theresa may is expected to make a statement to parliament shortly on the nerve attack targeting it act the russian spy in a solsbury we'll be covering that statement from the prime minister live. but first time for a check on the markets and that the departure of the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson that announcement made yesterday their heart is rattling investors today it's true it was especially a rough day for asian expertise as u.s. president trumps firing spree signals more political uncertainty in the white house the new secretary of state mike from peo is an advocate of taking a hard line with china on trade and the hong kong hunk saying index lost more than

half a percent here and what investors are worried about donald trump seeking to impose tariffs on up to sixty billion dollars of chinese imports in the ne is near future in japan stocks fell as well breaking a four day winning streak the nikkei index lost almost zero point nine percent on financial markets many people of chip trump of the rising stock markets during the first year of his administration but markets have become very jittery in recent weeks card business frankfurt stock exchange for us what's the mood like at the moment. i have to tell you the concerns about a potential trade war are really casting a huge a shadow over the financial markets at the moment which without those fears really would have a lot of reasons to be upbeat many companies are reporting positive earnings today for example i did us and we haven't talked about as many i.p.o.'s here in frankfurt

as we are in a long time as we are doing right now this week health in years will come to the market which is the health care technology department of siemens this is a big deal which usually would give traders a reason to party but i can tell you nobody here is in a partying mood at the moment. you know the partying mood roughly an hour ago you and i got a new government is there anything that you government can do to lighten things up . well a few things really it would be very positive for sentiment among businesses and on the markets if this new government in berlin managed to provide leadership to show that they are problem solvers many economists here in germany have pretty upbeat with what's to be expected from this grand coalition for example the i.w.

the german institute for economic research in berlin today upped its growth forecast for germany for this year and next year because the grand coalition has implemented or is planning to implement a few measures likely to increase the disposable income of german households we see thank you very much. in frankfurt. after announcing record profits german comic a false charge and getting serious about the production of electric cars the manufacturer has picked partners to provide battery cells and related technology worth twenty billion euros the comical plans to equip sixteen production plants for the production of electric cars by twenty twenty two a strong increase from the three that are currently able to produce the folks who are now hopes to produce three million electric models per year by twenty twenty five. francis threatening to take legal action against technology giants google and apple for abusive business practices that could result

in fines worth several million euros french fine and finance minister. said on wednesday france accuses the internet giants of the posing tariffs on developers who hope to sell their apps to them the lawsuits would be an effort to protect startups and developers from notifying contracts without the consent of the other party. speaking of google their biggest growth markets like latin america africa asia have one big hurdle and common people outside of the big cities and many even in big cities very often have no reliable access to the internet so the tech giant is helping the development along by setting up its own public one filed spots in mexico why fight is not always easy to come by although the number of people with access to the internet rose by twenty million between twenty thirteen and twenty sixteen the country still lacks behind other o.e.c.d.

nations. to improve connectivity in emerging markets and increase its customer base to tech giant has set up google stations and network of wife i hope spots mexico is google's first latin american market to be equipped with this technology and it's the third country in the world. these next billion users are not coming from the us or other developed markets they're coming from countries like india like indonesia and of course mexico. where the wildfires own scattered across highly frequented places such as airports and shopping centers google will connect many mexicans to the world wide web and its own services. when i went to school many many many moons ago we used actual books pencils and no that's not to forget chalk for the blackboard but that's a thing of the past today computers are wide boards dominate the classroom and

schools need to upgrade constantly germany is still make an average progress where digitalization is in schools is concerned countries like japan are actually leading the way and it seems to have a lot more in the pipeline have a look. at these high school students in tokyo a testing out the new digital desks they'll be using come april. that school is part of a pilot project run by the university of tokyo and the i.t. company fugit c. without a conventional pen or notebook in sight they write straight on to the table or on to digital boards using digital pens. that's more effective than paper if i want to share my notes with classmates. then i can explain the process of my thinking better if i can show my nights to the whole class that i cannot minus. the system can record students nights and project them via camera on to other tables or boards

it should also help teachers to assess students. if the project is successful the fully digital classroom may soon spread to other schools in japan and around the world. that's business. for you in the next it's back to thank you get hard now to the u.s. in the mass shooting one month ago in florida has reignited a polarizing national debate seventeen people were killed in a suburban high school by a nineteen year old shooter armed with an assault rifle president trump has traveled the issue in the shootings aftermath at times calling for restricting access and for arming teachers today tens of thousands of american students who want stricter gun laws are planning a school walkout did have you visited one such school in virginia angry and sad that's how john joseph felt off to the parkland mass shooting that was when she decided it's time to get involved now jordan and her friends are putting the

finishing touches on the walkout they're planning at their high school in arlington they want to honor the lives of the seven thousand people killed in florida and pressed lawmakers to tighten gun control. were purchased because everyone's fed up and kind of spread the message like this is ridiculous. going to schools if we can keep the focus on this to actually push through legislative change because that's what we need i think that's why the walkouts really important to keep the focus where it is. they say their motivation is genuine fear that a shooting like the one in parkland could happen in their hometown hero that has become part of their everyday life. but it's really scary my younger sister goes to school with me and a couple weeks ago we had kind of event a medical emergency at our school but of course when they said lockdown for over

the announcement we thought it was school shooting because that's always where our minds go and you know the first thing i thought about where she is she ok and that's you know that's a ten it's a terrible terrible thing to think you know i couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day and it makes things really really hard and you're constantly worrying about your safety. and they've been discussing different proposals and debate what has to go down. for instance establishing stricter background checks for gun buyers or a ban on assault weapons there are demanding that congress acts now what they don't want is to see their teachers being armed. i don't think arming teachers will do anything i think will cause more accidents i think it's ridiculous i can't believe anyone would think that teachers should be like having guns in the classroom and we're not going to fix the issue with more guns like it's going to the situation worse. john her friends say they know how politics work but they still hope that

their generation can push lawmakers to crack down on gun violence they should listen to us they say or we will go out. here watching d.w. news a reminder of our top story that we're following anglo american was been sworn in for her fourth term as german chancellor she won reelection by a slim margin in the german parliament just nine votes but her inauguration today ends almost six months of political uncertainty. and earlier did abuse chief political editor michel a cooper spoke to katarina barly germany's current family minister and also the incoming minister of justice she asked her what would be different about the new government particularly for her party the social democrats which originally to refuse to join a coalition with the chancellor merkel's conservative. well the whole setting of the parliament is different now because we have far more parties in the parliament and the right wing party. is

a challenge for all of us. and the coalition is smaller than it was the last time. but the european approach is more important this time we have put it right in the front of the of the coalition treaty and we take that very seriously that we have a big european responsibility at the moment especially in times of fact you mentioning a europe so how will this response from the german government look like now towards the man whom i call the french president who is still really waiting for a reply on his grand vision will that now be war than a handshake that they could expect from german chancellor merkel will be more of a woman brace with the social democrats being. well it's really weird that michael had to wait so long for for an answer from whatever government in europe so we are very pleased that we are going to be the ones to on sun now very seriously because we share a lot of approaches of the french government not all of them but

a lot of them and of course we want to strengthen the social aspect within the european policies and the democratic specked and our. points of view meet these points now on monday the current party had all of soil it's described this upcoming grand coalition as not being a marriage of love and what kind of a marriage do you expect. well it's going to be a partnership i hope a partnership in which we argue and we don't have the same opinions all the time we have very different parties the three of them in the coalition and i think it's good for democracy that you see that we are not one big. anonymous political must we are three different parties with different political opinions trying to find compromises and good ways to govern this country and i think we've done that quite well within the last four years and we're willing to do it.