this is d.w. news from berlin tonight taking action against russia u.s. president donald trump dogs of the unexpected with the very expected trump says he'll impose a fresh sanctions against moscow for meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election and then to his show of solidarity with the u.k. as london accuses russia of a chemical weapons attack last week also coming up thousands of syrians flee because each eastern as government forces close in the battle for the rebel held on

clay but one of the deadliest in the country's a seven year civil war and a protest in rio de janeiro after the gunning down of a popular councilor she had frequently criticized police killings of poor people in the cities and shanty towns. to find out more. and it's when are freezing with the nights that seem to go on forever but according to the you when the happiest place on earth which country could. stay with us to find. it's good to have you with us tonight u.s. president donald trump is to impose new sanctions on russia in response to allegations that moscow meddled in the twenty. sixteen u.s.

presidential election the latest move targets five organizations and nineteen individuals now the united states has also signed a joint declaration with france and germany in support of britain's standoff with russia over the attempted murder of a russian former spy and his daughter in britain. british prime minister to resign may is one of the few visitors to salzburg these days traders in the cathedral town say tourists and shoppers are staying away in the wake of the poisoning of former russian double agent say case and his daughter yulia may visit at the restaurant where the chemical attack took place and put the blame squarely on moscow. it is right that the u.k. government reacts in a robust way to what has happened here insoles break that is exactly what we've done either now so that we will explain it be expecting twenty three russian diplomats who undeclared intelligence offices will have an impact on the intelligence network the way all the measures will be taking britain's allies are

showing their support france germany and the united states have signed a statement repudiating russia and president all trump says he thinks moscow probably carried out the attack. nature's top military commander sees this as part of a wider passon of russian misbehavior and she on land and in the year russia's increasingly modernized military is operating at levels not seen since the cold war. at the same time russia is using indirect activities to advance its strategic objectives throughout europe along its periphery in the middle east and beyond russia has demonstrated a willingness and capability to use political provocation spread defend this information and undermine democratic institutions but russia is firing back accusing britain of dishonesty foreign minister sergei lavrov says it would be absurd to launch an attack against another state ahead of a presidential election and a fee for world cup. i can't tell you the motives of our british colleagues but i

don't think there are honest. if they were britain would answer the questions we've been asking and would follow the procedures of the chemical weapons convention. britain says it is ready to share the evidence it has collected foreign minister boris johnson says they will make the results of the tests in souls very available to a team of international observers to dispel any doubts. there's a lot to one back in this story and to do that i'm joined here in the studio by our political correspondent oliver salat and from washington tonight our correspondent carson phenomenon carson let me start with you u.s. president. today seems firmer in his support for britain's position against russia 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 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 in the future 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 enix ation 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 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's sixteen presidential election well 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 being that 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 in 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 phenomena

and our correspondents all over salad here in berlin to both of you gentlemen thank you very much. what people are fleeing the syrian on a plate of eastern ghouta and government forces tighten their grip tonight as many as ten thousand have left today one estimate says twenty thousand and there's been no let up in the bombardment by government and russian forces that began more than three weeks ago. first 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 to 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

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. we wanted to leave three months ago but they didn't allow us they starved us. the exodus from eastern goot has come as a syrian war enters its seventh year. the. fighting here is 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. because it's 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 that would sit in syria

those who have managed to flee eastern ghouta 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 in when they can return home they'll be returning to ruins. and earlier we spoke with nora a journalist living in eastern and we have asked him whether he was safe where he is. and actually you know a place a english. been targeted and then and a neighborhood and today they were like a crazy at the moment and don't let them in and then again as the town said the regime used to go get. them again. and these like from one hour they used. twice and some of. the neighborhood.

i was dreamless norodom there reporting from eastern guta here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world police and local media in miami see several people have been killed after a newly installed pedestrian walkway collapsed over a highway at least five vehicles were crushed beneath it the bridge connecting the main campus of florida international university with a student housing area it had been in use for less than a week. so bach is a prime minister robert fitz so has resigned over his handling of the inquiry into the murder of journalist young could see the uk did so as coalition partners 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. that is set out to be one of the biggest corporate takeovers ever but the potential

tie up of fire and monsanto apparently has run into a snag according to the news agency bloomberg u.s. officials are increasingly worried the merger between the german chemicals and the drug company and the american seed and fertilizer producer would be bad for competition talks between the two companies are ongoing and bloomberg reports that buyers working to ease concerns in washington the companies are not commenting on the port. for more let's bring in our wall street correspondent so if sophie china has given its thumbs up to the merger according to insiders the e.u. is also about to give its go ahead what's the hold up in the u.s. . well the biggest concern is that the new mega company would simply have too much power in the market which a company's current proposal is sufficient enough that is at least what bloomberg reported sighting people familiar with the matter the decision now could take months but buyer has already said they would be willing to work with the u.s.

justice department they actually have pledged to sell certain seat and herbicide assets for seven offered just vegetal seed business to the same companies so it's still not enough for u.s. officials but they're working on it it seems like it so there's still a lot of selling to do how is the market responded to this report. yet in a strongly negative way christopher monsanto actually had its worst day in two years here at the new york stock exchange and fire investors also lost a lot of money they were hoping to see this deal happening of course as soon as possible as answer to a bunch of other similar deals amongst competitors which have one antitrust clearance for example the one between dow chemical and do all the one between and came to china so now it is going to be a gambling game more or less for them in order to kind of match the perfect timing

so that you must be reporting from wall street sophie thank you so much. u.s. president donald trump's decision to spare canada mexico from have to tariffs on steel and aluminum for now was not an act of selflessness he hopes it will give him leverage in the next round of nafta talks which will be held in washington next month here's the current status of negotiations. good news for canada and mexico donald trump's new economic advisor larry kudlow is a strong supporter of the north american free trade agreement but not the negotiators still have massive hurdles to overcome was some of the u.s. administration's demands a plausible such as the reduction of the u.s. trade deficit with enough data others remain contentious. trump wants to limit duty free exemptions for cars to vehicles that draw eighty five percent of their components from nafta countries with at least half of them from

u.s. based manufacturers he is calling for an end to canada's poultry and dairy tariffs which can be as high as two hundred and seventy percent another point of contention canada subsidize this is lumber industry that's why the u.s. imposed a new twenty seven percent duty on canadian lumber. despite those stumbling blocks canada believes the deal can be reached. canada knows that there is a win win win outcome on improving now after something that will be good for canada for the u.s. and for mexico and we're working very hard to do that but we continue to stand up for canada's interests canadian jobs mexican negotiators are under pressure to stand up to trump as well but they want to avoid alienating a major trading partner a possible sticking point aside from the automobile issues access to mexico's energy market canada and mexico as exception from american steel and aluminum

tariffs are likely to give trump thing go shaders leverage in the next round of talks. anglo dutch consumer products juggernaut unit lever will abandon its london corporate headquarters and make rotterdam its sole legal home the move is a blow to u.k. prime minister teresa mayes government a year out from that you never said the choice to end eighty eight years with two parent companies one in the netherlands and one in britain was to make it more agile and focused the maker of dove soap and ben and jerry's ice cream launched a review of its dual headed structure and twenty seventeen after it fought of a takeover from kraft times the move would reportedly simplify the company structure improve its corporate governance and help enable takeover deals. and expect a brand now and tensions are running high in rio de janeiro is exactly right christophe in rio de janeiro they are protesting in the streets after the murder of

a popular councilor who was gunned down there on wednesday mario franco was a highly regarded local politician known for her work with the poor in rio's developes franco had frequently criticized police killings of shantytown residents rio's police force counts as one of the world's deadliest human rights groups say more than a thousand people were killed last year. i'm joined now on the phone by dominic phillips a journalist in rio de janeiro who's covering the story for us dominic can you tell us more about mario pronto and why was her work so important. yes show money and it's part of why yes i can buy really franco was a challenge for a left wing politicians from the mire pace of valor which is one of the biggest and most dangerous for balancing really has that she's done already made has quite a unique unique political voice in a way has and she's come to represent so many of the voter incentives if anything

all this community voice of a very venue get in public life she has own style and had political career denounced a lot of the police abuse is because you mention are a big problem here and we had quite recently only had to take issue with announce we need to get to get another fidelity act harry and you don't have denounced the killing of a young man in a jack airy he has a valid when he was taking his girlfriend back so many evangelical church meetings . have the authorities said who they suspect is behind her killing. that happened and what they said is the take the second execution and i told dennis today to a local politician he was very pleased to have a whole month celebration even to begin kron even expecting to carry things he said it looked very much like an execution there is something of a dispute between the local police will the people eat if given that that they can

handle the investigation and some attention central government then does the prosecutor general to persuade them to accept federal police have the federal police and there's a lot of the same as. total confusion as to whether the local police will handle the investigation or whether the federal police will get involved as well we know that protesters have taken to the streets there in rio and just what do they hope to achieve by protesting can they can they did justice can they make a difference now. well i'm i'm active demonstrations was incredible and today it is a few thousand people here. just material which is where before becoming a counselor mariani frank where. very very demanding justice very angry about what happened there's a lot of leftist groups is well underway about the intervention however you know i've got a long and very thin stop and with three killings in pretty good view says police killing bin january in the state of rio there are fifty seven victims in general

a year for you to see even a dungeon fifty four people killed and we don't have anything to mention that he began to achieve michelle can express even doubt i want to he began as we did break the trust me go it current president page full of the president american you know all of you actually even jurors syrian parliament deputies have nothing on the file taken from commenting on it and expect to get revulsion all the time it certainly is a high profile case and an isolated case well out that it will be some kind of a change only philips reporting from rio tonight thank you see apologize for the quality of that line there where every year the u.n. reigns the world's happiest countries with nordic nations tending to dominate in 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 support and corruption the finns viets neighbors like

norway and denmark who were also in the top five germany came in fifty. days long winter nights and a wide social safety net isn't the stuff of happiness the finns seem to have at least some of the answers. will our politics said economics i think we have the basic stuff he's quite good in finland so it makes a great like base why why we're doing so good here. that sounds strange are we friends really that happy with our names 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 that of immigrant newcomers. but what explains those countries with less fortunate rankings like the us which fell for places to number eighteen. i think it's the general uncertainty and political unpredictability people don't know what to expect in their future i don't know if that's my guess but. for now the finns and their nordic neighbors know what their future likely holds more sterling scores on quality of life indexes even if their heat indexes don't always play along. well as you heard there the united states fell from fourteenth to eighteenth place in the happiness index we asked jeffrey sachs of columbia university's school of public health why he thought that had happened. we're in a full fledged social crisis in the united states that it 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 health that are also signs of disaster america's the no one obesity country of the world that's an addiction to sugar and processed food 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 and of gotten people hooked on these opioid addictive drugs and third is we have an epidemic of it with massive depressive disorder or conventionally depression we're seeing more

mental illness more depression warrants i orders so we've got to get our act together i keep telling americans look at scandinavia let's learn something. that was jeff sachs there from columbia university school of public health well fillin isn't just home for the world's happiest people it's also home to some of the planet's most breathtaking skies the northern lights were seen dancing over the arctic circle overnight last night they were visible from the northern finnish city of the names and if you were wondering what causes this beautiful spectacle it's collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter earth's atmosphere. here's a reminder the top stories before we go u.s. president. is to impose sanctions on russia in response to allegations that. in the twenty sixteen presidential election at the same time the u.s.

has joined other nations supporting britain in with russia. to take you through the day.

more intrigue on international talk show for journalists discuss the topic of the week donald trump is imposing punitive tariffs on imported steel and aluminum experts say further measures are in the offing is this the first salvo in a trade war that's our topic this week on quadriga joining us. sixty minutes on. what does russia's youth hope for colors freedom of expression fear and dreams. the reporter of travels through russia before the election. he makes the poor and the rich those who support the president those who oppose him and investigative journalists.

showboats our series this week on d.w. new research. germany state by state. the most colorful. the los angeles times. the most traditional. find it all at any time. check in with a web special. take a tour of germany state by state on g.w. talk com. there's no doubt. that just another good day nothing could change you know the banks and you know why and so watch the language of the banks. speaking the truth global news that matters g.w. made for minds. britain's

key allies agree russia is responsible for the poisoning of an expiry and his daughter a chemical weapon attack carried out on british soil moscow says there is no proof tonight a reason may she has plenty of support her options for tomorrow or they may be in short supply i'm bored go off in berlin this is the day thing.