this is the interview news live from berlin i united front the u.s. joins britain in blaming russia for poisoning a double agent and his daughter in britain very very nerve agent. this after the first prime minister announced she would expel twenty three russian diplomats a move not seen since the cold war expert analysis also coming up. as slovakia's political crisis heats up prime minister robert feet so says he'll be

stepping down but that move is on likely to hold public anger over the murder of a journalist who was investigating government corruption. and fourteen million displaced people that's the human cost of syria's civil war enters its eighth year we look at the situation facing one family who fled their home for one of the country's last remaining rebel strongholds. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us the united states says it is standing with britain in a dispute with russia over an assassination attempt on a former spy now london saying that the kremlin is behind the poisoning of sergei scrip ball and his daughter in the city of salzburg the pair were exposed to a russian made nerve agent moscow says it was not involved at all in the attempted

murder but prime minister theresa may has responded by expelling twenty three russian diplomats from britain now this is the biggest such expulsion since the cold war. until recently britain's prime minister to resign me had a tone been accused of not being hard enough on russia on wednesday she got her redemption standing before parliament me and equivocally accused the kremlin of attempting to murder a former russian double agent living in the u.k. what followed were series of punitive measures against russia the united kingdom will now expel twenty three russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers they have just one week to leave this will be the single biggest expulsion of over thirty years and it reflects the fact that this is not the first time that the russian state has acted against our country. with russia uki relations now soured london is rallying its allies for support. he

used donald tusk has said he believes the attack was most likely quote inspired by moscow and will tabled the matter at an e.u. summit next week but it was at an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council that britain got its strongest backing yet here the united states stands in absolute solidarity with great britain the united states believes that russia is responsible for the attack on two people and the united kingdom using a military grade nerve agent. russia though is sticking to its script denying any involvement in the poisoning the kremlin has now promised to hit back of britain for their response will follow i don't think it's necessary to look for a right word to describe it whether it's symmetrical or mirror it but they will be a response and it will be sufficient and corresponding to what we have heard from

the british prime minister. while moscow contemplates its response police in the u.k. are working to establish the events which led to the attempted murder. let's go to did of your correspondent your daughter's who's following this for us now in brussels our good morning the org this is no longer a dispute just between britain and russia is that you know how is the e.u. been weighing in. these you basically brian wants to wait for london to set the tone in this critical situation and that is the message that donald tusk we've already seen him in the report just now has sent he also made very clear that when it comes to unity when it comes to solidarity the european union is clearly on the u.k. side and then you know if of course you have members of the european parliament who even go a step further for instance the chief negotiator of the european parliament be found shot to set that if this is an attack then he he would like to see at the

next meeting of leaders at the next e.u. summit next week he would like to see already have countermeasures set in place saying basically that the u.k. still use oil and finally of course you have nato in brussels which us send a clear message to russia saying do give answers to the questions coming from long ok now we've been listening to the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki halley saying that moscow is directly responsible strong backing there for london can we expect the same level of support for london from the e.u. . i would say you can at least expect a similar level of support there are some exceptions here but minor exceptions i would say france for instance is not as ready as others to point the finger at russia here the press spokesperson off the government yesterday made clear that

it's too early for paris to decide on this issue and they would like to see the case of russian involvement in a poisonous attack to be proven first but it's one of the exceptions i would say ok if this turns out to indeed be an act of murder by a foreign agent in a nato country you mentioned nato earlier could nato then triple trigger article five that provides for common defense. look at of course this puts and they do in a difficult situation if indeed this is a poisonous at tack on a member state you could theoretically make the argument that that is the case for mutual defense it's a case of hybrid warfare and currently nato is still in a situation where it tries to find on cers through these forms of attack it's not that a cruise missile has come from one state to another but this is a more. tastes it's. a case if indeed it is

a it is an attack from the russian state the reality however is an article five scenario and a full out i'd war response from from from nato it's very unlikely of course the key problem for european states but also for nato members will now be to find you know the right punitive a measures here to hurt russia but not to hurt relations which have been souring ever since the an accession of crimea and are now in a state where slightly talks have restarted for instance in the nato russian council something that germany would like to keep open the channel to talk to russians in case of other crisis emerging so the key thing here will be find the right response that hurts russia but does not destroy relations altogether ok thanks so much for bringing us up to date from brussels wants to

slovakia now and i countries prime minister robert feels so has offered to resign following sharp criticism of his handling of the investigation into the death of an investigative journalist young kids yak young to siac had uncovered what he said were connections between top slovakian politicians and the italian mafia he and his fiance were murdered as he was preparing to publish his findings on a very popular website the killings sparked massive anti-government protests in slovakia. this luxury apartment complex in bratislava is the product of a massive fraud suzanna petka is one of the journalists who exposed it. this also happens to be the address of prime minister robert feed so. peckover discovered that his government had helped the building contract to daunce millions of euros in taxes and penalties. this is only one of many cases that reveal corruption at the

highest levels. bedcover keeps glancing around nervously the journalist researched this and other scandals together with her coworker jan could see ak and he was shot dead in mid february by person still are known. since the murder of jan could siac seen here at a journalism seminar in twenty seventeen things have started changing in slovakia on march the ninth tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government and of rampant corruption in the country. to the prime minister robert feed so is doing his part just spread fear at a press conference he called the journalists dirty prostitutes. it came as no surprise to suzanne a pad cover she worries that the politicians rhetoric could encourage someone to attack reporters once again. just a few weeks earlier petka first car had mysteriously caught fire why she was

driving. she pulled over thinking at first it was a mechanical problem. but then she met with an informant in a shopping mall and. suddenly the parking garage called and told him his car was on fire but we ran down there and i saw his car was burning the same way mine had. after that the informer never contacted me again. at the time i didn't think much of it and didn't go to the police but now i think it was meant as a warning to me because. if they don't but i will judge they're both happy all the best. is determined to press on she feels she owes it to her friend and colleague yun could siak and his fiance martino course not over. yet the house. those men are starving after these murders i'm hoping things will finally change up on the dolls or. the state has been stolen from us slovaks. the institutions are

corrupt and dysfunctional. and i mean since we also be only that's what led to these tragedies where we thought such things were no longer even possible in twenty eighteen that is missing close enough to. let up at the edges of some announced sunday most was that. they happened in a european union member state suzanna pet give up points out the murder of journalist john could see i.q. is not just of concern to slovak's in all of europe. to syria now and that country's civil war is now entering its eighth year and there's no end in sight the conflict broke out in march of two thousand and eleven when the government crushed local protests that erupted as part of our carry in the city of death march two thousand and eleven. government forces had killed a protester and thousands took their anger to the streets. at the time such

demonstrations were unheard of but the crowd was inspired by the arab spring taking place in countries around them the desire for political freedoms and an anti-corruption was infectious. they directed their frustration and anger had president bashar al assad and his ruling ba'ath party assad refused to compromise. he accused protesters of being radicals and foreign conspirators and then he ordered a crackdown. assad sent the military in to crush dissent. the opposition took up arms. the rebels were divided along ethnic and sectarian lines but they organized into fighting units and took on forces loyal to assad across the country. was. the violence

escalated. atrocities and rights abuses became more frequent the un said all sides were to blame a poison gas attack blamed on assad killed more than fourteen hundred people including children it was a new low. people started to flee the cities under siege and starvation became a weapon of war against those who remained while. this was happening another force was gaining strength the so-called islamic state they were fighting everyone not only the government but also rebel groups after they took over vast parts of syria and people sought their brutality the united states started bombing them from the air other foreign powers also became involved and the dynamic of the conflict changed russia's intervention in september twenty fifteen has worked to president

assad's advantage they're targeting moderate as well as islamist rebels the rebel resistance in aleppo was crushed in twenty sixteen but only after years of fighting and months of a better siege bombardment and bloodshed. the islamic state group is gradually being defeated but the war is not over it has become fractured and foreign countries are still actively involved. the assad regime has already retaken more than half of eastern ghouta the last rebel held enclave close to damascus. and turkey opened a front against kurdish militia turkish forces and allied syrian rebel groups have surrounded the northern city of africa in seven years in there is little hope of peace. in seven years and the united

nations is saying that up to fourteen million people have been forced to flee the fighting well some have managed to escape syria many families are living as internal refugees our next report we meet one family who left aleppo two years ago for an easy existence and that's one of syria's last anti-government strongholds. musri is fifteen years old and he's already supporting a family of six his father was killed in an airstrike now fuad sells vegetables and it lives earning twenty euros a month that leaves no time to go to school. i have to provide for the whole family i read from morning to night to make ends meet . warplanes are approaching again. is used to the sound of sirens.

and shouted to us every day. it live is the last province in syria to be controlled by islamist rebels two million people live here many of them fleeing the syrian government's assault on aleppo. musri and her nephew fu escaped after wafa husband died in an airstrike and she lost her three sons in the fight against government troops. now mainly women and girls are left. they lead a meager existence for wafa musri the seventh anniversary of the uprising against president assad is not a happy occasion men and the fed will lessen the risk if it has nothing to celebrate it was celebrating when the uprising began because we had reasons why then in the fall of a hurry all of the internet to the streets for our freedom but the regime responded

with violence but i lost so much while i would have been away i mean. the government sent in tanks to crush protests in twenty eleven. the civil war escalated across the country. aleppo was besieged in twenty sixteen and was cut off from food supplies amid constant shelling. and her family got on a bus evacuating civilians. there were no horny but now they brought us here on the green busses but we don't feel safe here either it doesn't feel like a home and we didn't know it and there was no what carol we've committed men of. now the family's new home is under fire from the syrian government and russian forces. so have war. jets and tanks have been

shooting every morning and evening for days when little bit where am i supposed to go and that therefore i won that though. this time there's no way out. and his family can only hope that this seven year war will finally come to an end. and you can find much more about the war in syria and its consequences at our website that's state of u. dot com this is the live from berlin still to come on the show it is now officially the happiest place on planet earth and no it is not disneyland find out which country has topped the un's happiness ranking this year. or over to the business that was our business years germany has a new government and the business world is focusing on one man in particular show it's the new minister of finance many open questions will the social democrat continue the policy of nicely balanced books that is conservative predecessor both

i'm sure it was famous for a more importantly will he continue to demand fiscal discipline from spendthrift eurozone members. i think the fact that he's the new guy in charge of all of shots seen here on the left is leaving his position as mayor of humbug to step into the shoes of the. procedure in his time as finance minister known for his face fiscal discipline his ability to save billions of euros and balance germany's budget for the first time since nine hundred sixty nine but his stingy policies also attracted a wealth of criticism spoke tension within the coalition government. is hardline stance on austerity during the eurozone financial crisis was heavily criticized especially in greece but years later the greek economy does appear to be recovering and sure is taking the credit for it to buy stuff you know dozens of this is proof

the top policy to stabilize the has been a success. the reason is is that we've managed after eight years of crisis in the eurozone despite some doubts to keep the euro stable. and or do so it's quite a good conclusion from a user of and this is all for me. i'm going to go to our business now it's all of. one thing he's already revealed is that he'd like to keep the balance budgets brought about by his predecessor. two markets think about the new man what reception all of shorts expect in the financial world let's cross over to corner of blues in a standing by and germany's financial center frankfurt what's the word back on iran . you know people i talked to here in frankfurt financial district reminded me that hamburg in germany is north is also a very important financial center it's a city with

a long history of merchants and with a long tradition of conservative politicians from the social democratic party we're not talking about a left leaning socialist here basically people here in frankfurt financial center don't expect a fundamentally different fiscal policy from all of shoulder compared to his predecessor well frank choi of course as always there are a few business lobby groups complaining that the new government hasn't done enough that some of its decisions have to do too much with social welfare and not enough with encouraging the economy other economists say that the money here or the money spent goes right into the pockets of german households who are probably willing to spend this money so here i would say pundits are a bit divided one point i think is very interesting to note as well another new

member of the government another social democrat our foreign minister us has shown a very quick start in his job he traveled to paris already where he expressed a lot of courage mint and indorsement for him and when the calls ideas for europe so i would call this setting a mark and potentially conflict in the federal government because michael masses statements sound much more procurer than the one of anglo-american the chancellor will be interesting to watch those two but there's another new man we should have a look at donald trump's new economic advisor the washington post called larry kudlow the man who was quote more publicly and consistently wrong about the economy than any person alive and quote two people in frankfurt agree. they do agree of course they know mr kudlow from television he was a commentator on c.n.n. b.b.c.

where he often gave i have to say wrong statements wrong for costs for the development of shares and for developments of the economy. in france for the thank you very much and that's all your business news it's back to bryan about the story about happiness and who's happy and who's not the u.n. has released a study ranking the world's countries by happiness surprise surprise the nordic countries dominate that list once again finland came in first as the world's happiness happiest nation up from fifth place last time around the study looks at factors like life expectancy income social support corruption the fens topped neighbors like norway and denmark were also in the lists top five last place in the list of one hundred fifty six countries burundi and we're joined now by the

co-author of that report the us economist jeffrey d.c. x. thanks for being with us this morning jeffrey jeffrey what makes people happy but. people are happy their lives are. in order when the economy is ok when they're in good health when they have friends and social support when their governments are not run away correct and when people are expressing decency of values generosity actually it's a cliche but it happens to be true that giving is better than receiving and it shows up in why some countries are happier than others were generosity is or good evidence those countries are also reflecting higher life satisfaction with that spirit of generosity behind the nordic countries once again dominating the list.

yeah the nordic countries are the heavyweight champions of the world it well being i think it is what germany you call the social market philosophy what it scandinavia they call the social democratic philosophy it is that everybody should have a decent law that there should be a good good benefits make ation time leave time for for every worker and that society should look after each other and i contrast that with the anglo american view which is you're on your own it's a competitive world it's a tough world and the united states it just keeps falling down in the rankings so scandinavia the nordic countries more generally have really earned their position with the good to political social system as well as the good traits that their culture and society you mentioned the united states and its approach to life the individual list approach the u.s.

dropping fourteen's to eighteenth place this year what was behind that. we're in a full fledged social crisis in the united states last year i review the evidence that trust is falling that what we call social capital is coming apart that americans don't believe in their government that how could you frankly these days but at the same time this year i review three epidemics of public out there that are also signs of disaster americans that no one obesity country of the world that's an addiction to sugar and processed foods by our awful fast food industry second we have what we're calling the opioid addiction that's prescription drugs that are killing americans in this crazy environment of ours where the drug companies advertise like commercial entities that have gotten people hooked on

these opioid addictive drugs and third is we have an epidemic of. massive depressive disorder or conventionally depression we're seeing more mental illness more depression more i try orders so we've got to get our act together i keep telling americans look at scandinavia let's learn something ok thanks so much for dental find those concrete areas that can be worked on jeffrey sachs for us co-author of the happiness report thanks very much to offer . it should be with you and thank you for joining us here but you know the news. played.

my guest this week on conflicts. alexandra donna michael o. floyd you from. chris for bringing guns to rajkot boxing comics. montu cold blood newcomer one of my great guests. to submit next song. russia in hopes of becoming a. few doubts that this man will win again. the

opposition remains weak and oppressed. the main opposition figure now let's say no name has been barred from the election. film depicting what's left of the democratic process in russia today. the russian opposition. movement. oh for. the fluid going to the for.

my guest this week on conflict zone is alexander downer michael of flirty ramu shara didn't i chris for it bring him gandu of the rabs a comeback she recounts saakashvili ybor him cry she came ace she now eat the vanoc clean push sense out say nick bang one a lot greg could barack not bill shaath sultan kovacs martin coppola as sonny alfonso.