this is the w. news live from berlin russia retaliate foreign minister sergei lavrov says moscow is expelling the british diplomat a tit for tat response to london's decision to kick twenty three russian embassy staff out of the country this comes as western allies rally around britain in responding to a poison attack on a former russian double agent. and in rio de janeiro tens of thousands of people take to the streets to protest the killing of a popular local politician the outspoken critic of police violence was gunned down by unknown assailants.

sunni so what's going to thank you for joining us russia's foreign ministers says that moscow will expel u.k. diplomats after western allies accuse it of attempting to murder a former russian spy in britain in a joint declaration the u.s. france and germany backed britain and directly blaming moscow for last week's nerve agent attack in the city of salzburg. british prime minister to reason 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 sergei script and his daughter yulia mae visited 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 i've announced that we will be expecting twenty three russian diplomats. intelligence officers will have an impact on their intelligence network the we 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 at sea 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 different dish

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 the fee for world cup. i can't tell you the motives of our british colleagues but i don't think there are honest because the 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 that will make the results of the tests and souls very available to a team of international observers to dispel any doubts. and we can talk to anthony gleason is the director of the center for security and intelligence studies at the university of buckingham in the u.k. anthony thank you for joining us on a program that we're seeing essentially tit for tat measures here britain says it

is the offended party it's head out of russia now moscow was striking back with its decision what could be the next escalation here. well i think that next question is whether there is going to be an escalation you could argue that britain has responded quickly and robustly strongly supported by germany by france and by the united states perhaps the united states support was initially a bit anemic nothing really much from president donald j. trump but it has got stronger and it could be in putin's interest to kind of leave things there yes there will be tit for tat expulsions british officials will be sent from moscow no question about that however it is possible that putin might want to run things up a bit him we've read with some concern in the papers here in the united kingdom this morning but the department of homeland security in washington has warned that

the russians are in a position to interfere with some of our critical national infrastructure via the internet so there is that possibility. it could sue putin just he's made his point and we've made our point and then let him get on with his election so actually let's talk about the case at the center of this controversy everyone is talking about russia's possible involvement but what about british security services are they also to blame for not adequately protecting circuits. well i guess i think you should never confuse the victim of a crime with the perpetrator of a crime and a prime minister has made it very clear that one way or another she holds the russian state responsible and culpable for the use of a nerve agent which the russian government held under lock and key who precisely did it as another matter however it is true that security service m i five has the

duty to protect people in the united kingdom from this kind of state and unfortunately self evidently they failed to do so quickly our secret intelligence service m i six the sort of james bombs just ought to have given a government warning that it wasn't intentional on the part of the russians to launch an attack of this kind in the united kingdom they didn't do that either and then finally i got a question for m i five what was a russian former russian military intelligence officer doing in seoul's bre a military house in the united kingdom in the center of a chemical weapons research institute so if you look at this from the russian perspective russia says it had nothing to do with carrying out this attack and there's also been some speculation that the kremlin wouldn't do such a thing so close to its own elections and also the upcoming soccer world cup if it

attacked like this are these tactics that can be definitely tied to the russian state. can definitely be tied directly or indirectly to the russian state bearing in mind the nature of the nerve agent which has been identified and i don't believe that we would get be getting such strong support from the french president the german chancellor in the american president had they don't see the secret intelligence assessment that led mrs major hold the russians responsible wants to win an election we all know he's going to win it in any case he wants to also portray the west as his enemy and nato as an enemy you know way he's got that already said he may it may leave us alone right and he least the director of the center for security and intelligence studies at the university of buckingham thank you so much for sharing your insights with us

today not some other stories making news around the world officials in miami florida have raised the sit to six the number of people killed when a new pedestrian bridge collapsed crews have been working since thursday to reach cars crushed by the nine hundred fifty ton concrete span it was erected on saturday and scheduled to open next year north korea's foreign minister rio ho is in sweden the visit is prompting speculation that he may be laying the groundwork for a summit between u.s. president to donald trump and north korea's kim jong il and sweden has been mentioned as a possible venue for the meeting between the two leaders in vietnam the village of my life has been marking the fiftieth anniversary of a massacre perpetrated there by u.s. troops during the vietnam war officials on survivors attending ceremonies were joined by american veterans and anti-war activists five hundred four civilians were killed in the meantime massacre. to brazil now where the execution style

murder of a city council woman has sparked huge protests in rio de janeiro and beyond franco was known as an outspoken critic of police brutality the un and amnesty international have demanded a thorough investigation into her death. a community in mourning maria franco was a beacon of hope for the poor and marginalized of rio black female and lesbian she was a rarity in brazil's political scene franco rose from the slums to become a leading voice against police violence which disproportionately affects the black population a powerful voice now silenced the status quo. they killed my friend they killed are carried. out if they think that will make us retreat they are wrong. they. don't shut up and feel

like they're trying to remove our voices the voices of all the black women in this country i'm up only to get on. franco was gunned down in her car late on wednesday evening she was shot in the head four times by two unknown assailants her driver was also killed her press officer injured. shortly before franco spoke at an event encouraging black women to enter politics it was the last time she championed one of her many causes. rizzo's president has publicly condemned her killing. the murder of council member mario driver is unacceptable but you can see like other sussan nations that happened in rio de janeiro's. it's an attack against the rule of law. signed against democracy.

many in brazil believe franco was assassinated for her political activism a day earlier she blamed the police for the death of a young male in. franco was a vocal critic of the president's decision to put the military in charge of security in rio and was part of a committee investigating military abuses as grief turns to anger the question on everyone's mind is who killed mariel franco. by. now at its peak last year the drought that scorched parts of east africa for twenty million people on the brink of famine the extreme dry spell is withered crops and killed life stock triggering one of the region's worst food crises in decades the german government has just approved fifteen million euros to help hard hit communities the money will fund aid on the horn of africa for families forced to

leave their homes in search of food and water you visit dolo on the somali ethiopian border. it's early morning in dollar a small town and somalia these women are waiting to receive aid for themselves and their sick children they all came here around a year ago when the drought was at its worst and shepherds were losing their livestock. so hot on national union houses we need jobs and schools for our older children actually we need everything. was that all of that most of us survive on a relative's give us so far not all of us have received support from aid groups to help. the aid groups are struggling to cope with the number of families that keep arriving but funds from germany and now set to bolster this project jointly run by unicef and the world food programme has examined and treat malnourished children.

the project also teaches mothers how to protect their babies from illness and money attrition through breastfeeding. refugees registered digitally in order to get long term aid with a kind of debit cards the women can pick up food items you. know we have assistance and livelihood with two shows for the child abroad to actually receive us all of the we have the housing. but the livelihoods of the somalian cattle drovers have been destroyed thousands of animals starved or died of thirst during last year's drought only very few made it to the refugee camp and dollar with their own as it's the first time these doesn't nomads and living with other people have and many have never worked in a town before all. over the house and on what you set up are life is marked by hardship and the struggle for survival or we have nowhere to

go back to sleep we don't have a proper life here but we can't move anywhere else because we don't have any money . well without them at all obama calling for trout is hitting the country more and more often and the money from germany will last for three years but it won't help the council drive us return to that she dish in a way of life. now to a sure sign that spring is on its way at least in japan the first cherry blossoms have started blooming on a tree in the southwestern city of co-chief the blossoms are on a soulmate yoshino tree which most popular and of cherry tree in japan meteorological agency says the first flowers appeared fourteen days earlier than last year and one week ahead of the average state cherry blossoms are expected to burst from their buds across japan in the coming weeks. you're watching d.w. news still to come germany's siemens looks to rake in billions as it introduces its

healthy new years unit to the market and despite some initial trepidation the i.p.o. looks to big industry expectations. hard as hers has that story coming right up and business. the race for immortality has begun. leading duros scientists are researching ways to replicate the human brain. androids are taking over physical labor. the human brain is deciphered.