this is. from berlin tonight u.s. president trump gives the green light to new sanctions against russia he says he'll impose fresh sanctions in response to allegations that moscow meddled in the twenty six thousand presidential election the u.s. has also joined other countries in support of britain's standoff with moscow also coming up thousands of syrians of eastern guta as government forces close in the battle for the rebel held on clay it has been one of the deadliest in the country's

and seven year civil. war. i'm going to go off it's good to have you with us in a surprise move u.s. president donald trump says he will impose new sanctions on russia in response to allegations that moscow meddled in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential election the latest move targets five organizations and nineteen individuals the u.s. has also signed a joint declaration with france in germany in support of britain's standoff with russia over the attempted murder of a russian former spy in the u.k. mr trump was asked if he thought russia was responsible for that its act. was behind this mr president it looks like it i spoke with the prime minister and we are in deep discussions at

a very sad situation it certainly looks like the russians would be i did something that should never ever happen and we're taking it very seriously as i think are many others. or the british government is expelling twenty three russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former russian double agent and his daughter in what's being called a quiet english city moscow denies any involvement and is threatening retaliation. british prime minister theresa may paid a visit to salisbury the medieval city in the west of england shaken by a nerve agent attack on former russian double agent sergei streep and his daughter yulia may visited the restaurant where the poisoning took place and has put the blame squarely on moscow. well i'm pleased to have come down here to soulsby to speak to the people who responded to this terrible incident that took place and

as you know announced in the house of commons yesterday the action that we're taking we do hold russia culpable for this brazen brazen acts and despicable acts that's taken place on the streets of was is such a remarkable city where people come and visit and enjoy it often thank you fairly or nato secretary general young stilton burke accused moscow of trying to destabilize the west and issued a warning we do not want the new cold war and we do not want to be dragged into a new on straits but let there be no doubt made the world the found all our allies against and the fat. mase international allies are standing by here the u.s. france and germany joined britain in blaming russia calling the attack the first

offensive use of a nerve agent in europe since the second world war russia has responded by saying it would be absurd to carry out an attack on foreign soil ahead of the presidential elections and the fifa world cup moscow accuses britain of dishonesty and withholding information. in which i can't tell you the motives of a british colleagues but i don't think they are on a stage. if they were britain would answer the questions we've been asking and would follow the procedures of the chemical weapons convention this is. just what the. moscow promised swift retaliation to britain's decision to expel russian diplomats. so there's a lot to him back in this story to do that i'm joined here in the studio by our political correspondents all over salad and from washington tonight our correspondent carson phenomena carson let me start with you u.s.

president trump today seems former in his support for britain's position against russia at least for today than he did let's say a day or two ago why are we seeing this turn around. well it looks like british prime minister to reason may has managed to impress on president trump the importance this affair has for the u.k. and she also apparently has been able to convince him that the evidence that russia was behind this attack is credible because as you've indicated in the past has been very cautious or even reluctance to blame russia or president putin for anything made be russian meddling in the u.s. elections or other misdeeds but that seems to have changed now and as we've heard president trump now says he believes the russians are behind this and he takes it very seriously and over what more do we know about this joint statement today i

mean they put it you know in black and white for the world to see that's right and it's a very rare and a very strong statement just the simple fact that it written by the heads of states and government of france germany the u.k. and the united states condemning the first offensive use of a nerve agent in europe since the second world war as they write they also condemn it as an attack on the sovereignty of the united kingdom and they're also pretty much certain that russia is behind this attack they say there's no other logical explanation that can be taken into consideration and the fact that russia refuses to cooperate makes the country even more suspicious also what this would mean is a breach of international law it would also mean a breach of the chemical weapons treaty and a threat for the security of the countries and the fear is certainly that this might not be the last attack of its kind if there is not a proper response is there anything to read here into the fact that we've got

a joint statement a multilateral statement coming out we don't have a statement that's going through the european union and we're not hearing from nato well first of all it's it would be quite a logistical issue to have. response that quickly issued by the twenty seven e.u. member state and everyone who's followed european politics know knows that this is quite a long and complicated process there are many debates to be held many summits to be held that does not have to be the case here right now simply the four countries mentioned work quicker of course but there will be a summit of the foreign ministers of the european union to be held in brussels on monday and this will certainly biggest be discussed there on the sidelines and we might even have a declaration there as well the big question of course is will there be new sanctions imposed on russia by the european union and this is the tricky part the tricky issue we all remember the annexation of crimea and we know that certain

you're eastern european countries are not very keen on imposing further sanctions that we will certainly have to see but what we have right now on the table is this very strong statement issued by the u.s. and by its major european partners here and what we also see is that they're able to speak with one voice when it comes to foreign policy yeah it is interesting. you know the fact that this looks like a chemical weapons attack on british soil would make you think that maybe nato would want to even invoke article five but you can you can tell that they're trying to distance themselves from any talk about that let's take this story a little further the u.s. is now imposing sanctions against russia because of russia's meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election now some people maybe that's what but yeah the president said that's going to happen is just a little later than expected right. yes and it's not just the

election there are also some other attacks that are being dealt with here so the us has now slapped new sanctions on five russian entities and nineteen individuals most of them connected to the russian intelligence agency and this is for a number of attacks treasury secretary steve minucci and mentions meddling in the russian elections but also destructive cyber attacks on u.s. computer systems and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure which means computer systems for instance that control america's electric grids and of course that is a big issue if the russians are trying to attack the american infrastructure here electricity of course we all dependent on that these days and that is a major concern so the treasury secretary the american finance minister saying we will try to target these people we will make sure that they don't have access to

the american financial system that might hurt some of them those who have international interests but if that is enough to deter the russians from future attacks is the question. all right our correspondent in washington carson phenomenon and our correspondents all over salad here in berlin to both of you gentlemen thank you very much. but tonight fresh supplies of food aid have been delivered to syria's rebel held on claims of eastern guta a convoy of twenty five trucks supplies for twenty six thousand one hundred people in the town of duma now around twenty thousand people have fled eastern due to in recent days has syrian government troops take over the districts where they live. they're carrying their children their old their frail and the remaining worldly possessions but they've also left much behind houses farms and in some cases loved

ones still trapped in the rubble. evidence of the five year siege is in plain sight according to observers over ten thousand eastern ghouta residents fled the rebel held on klav today many say they've wanted to go for months but couldn't even have left it was difficult we tried to leave eastern ghouta but we weren't allowed because it was controlled by terrorists not because. it was the rebels didn't allow us to get out and come to you we've been negotiating with them for three days. as we wanted to leave three months ago but they didn't allow us they starved us. the exodus from eastern good has come as a syrian war enters its seventh year. the. fighting here has intensified over the last month as a russian military and syrian regime troops pounded the town. according to russia's foreign minister there's no indication this will change anytime soon but just

because it's vital he will continue to fight against the terrorists we will destroy them we will help to destroy them in eastern guta where the syrian army is operating with our support but yes we will indeed make humanitarian exceptions as our defense minister has stated yesterday those who want to exit and receive humanitarian help will be able to do so much more of what it is going to go to the boys also in syria those who've managed to flee eastern go to may now at least enjoy a respite from the siege but they face a new set of problems being displaced in their own country if and when they can return home they'll be returning to ruins. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world police and local media in miami's say several people have been killed after a newly installed pedestrian walkway collapsed over a highway at least five vehicles were crushed beneath the bridge connected the main

campus of florida international university with a student housing area it had been in use for less than a week so walking is prime minister robert feat so has resigned over his handling of the inquiry into the murder of journalist john cuzzi uk it sews coalition partner had threatened to force a snap election if he did not step down the murder journalist had been investigating alleged links between slovakian politicians and the italian mafia. every year the un ranks the world's happiest countries with nordic countries tending to dominate this year is no different with finland now officially the world's happiest nation up from fifth place last year of the study looked at factors such as life expectancy income social supports and corruption of thins beat neighbors like norway and denmark who were also in the top five germany came

in fifteen. days long winter nights and a wide social safety net is it the stuff of happiness the finns seem to have at least some of the answers. well our politics said economics so i think we have basic stuff in finland so it makes a great like base. here. that sounds strange but we friends really that happy with running on the list you. want to be able to follow we have all the services that we need here daycare is nearby and the parks as well we can play and slide down hills if we want just like here. the study also says being happy seems to be contagious it found a high correlation between the happiness of citizens and immigrant newcomers.

or with more world news followed by the day when the figures ambassador to germany were joining me and she'll tell me why she thinks the fans are so happy. that people of the world over information they provide the opinions they want to express g.w. on facebook and twitter are up to date and in touch. weekly.