this is deja vu news live from berlin the right on the rise again in europe hungary's national's prime minister viktor orban wins a crushing victory after a campaign that took a radically hard line on immigration also coming out the. missiles target a major government air base in syria at least fourteen soldiers are dead in syria and russia say israel is the blight. and the german city of munster mourns the victims of saturday's man attack as police reveal more details about the personal

life of the forty year old perpetrator. i'm brian thomas thanks for joining us we begin this program in hungary where the nationals prime minister viktor or bog has won a decisive victory in that country's general election now during his campaign where bond took a hard line on muslim immigration for training migrants as a threat to hungary's christian identity in his victory speech he said the result gave the chance to defend themselves. just. a triumphant. hungary's right wing nationalist prime minister winning he's third consecutive to main office and his fourth term over roll it follows a campaign in which all by. rallied almost exclusively against what he described as

the poison of immigration. there's a big battle behind us. we have won a crucial victory got a chance gave ourselves a chance to defend hungary. or burns populist in your messages of strained ties with the e.u. but they won his fetus party almost half the votes because of complex election laws he's on track to secure a two thirds super majority in parliament voted turnout rage close to seventy percent exceeding the past three elections it had been thought that high turnout might favor the far right opposition ya beak and this into lift socialists but trailing far behind the winner the leaders of hungary second and third biggest parties ever assigned following the result. i respect the decision of the voters

even if it hurts and feels bad even if one expected a lot more support. but we have to accept it as part of life and part of democracy when things go differently to what we would have liked. or been strong victory hands him increased legitimacy but it means almost certain trouble for independent media and civil groups that harm and likely more clashes with brussels. to discuss the hunger election outcome we're joined now by alexander graf long story member of the german part parliament from the free democrats he also served in the e.u. parliament as a deputy president good morning to you mr thanks for being with us today are you surprised at the overwhelming level of support viktor orban as one for his anti immigrations that. well i mean i'm not really surprised because there was

a ruthless determination on the part of the governing party on the part of mr obama himself to ride roughshod over democratic principles over the last couple of years so all the conditions were in place for him to win a solid victory it was very solid indeed but i don't think it's a big surprise ok you think people and brussels are of very worried this morning having served in the european parliament for somebody or say. well of course there will be some dismay but even from brussels people saw that the opposition was deeply divided particularly the socialists have taken another drubbing the liberals were divided into three parties the greens federalist if you well so the democratic forces in hungary did not to unite they were divided and that of course sets the course for a strong showing by the governing party ok now orbán has vowed to use his super

majority now to continue his crackdown on pro e.u. pro migrant n.g.o.s our brussels respond to a moves in that direction. well i believe that the european parliament on thursday will debate a report on the state of democracy in hungary and of course we all know that the state of democracy is not good at all in hungary some people even speak of this election it not having been fair given the fact that critical media have been muffled or even shut down over the last couple of years so the parliament will retain its particular stance the european commission will probably also chime in although with more moderate tones the big question the really big question is how will the council react when member states position themselves because of course it is absolutely crucial that the member states of the european union tell victor all one that he cannot continue down his author a tarion path that's the people he listens to ok but there is a split among those member states isn't there or bonn has

a lot of support from allies in poland for example in slovakia the czech republic or are we seeing a split inside the european union right now not only in terms of migration but in terms of values as you just mentioned. the so-called vision for they are not identical but you are right in pointing out that of course the tendencies in these countries towards author of tarrying isn't towards an attack on the independence of the judiciary towards undermining free media that is something that these countries have in common and therefore yes there may be a split opening up but i believe that the european treaties sort of the constitution of the european union are very clear when it comes to the foundational values of the union and therefore the others are called upon to make it clear that this cannot be tolerated in the longer run or bonn has very powerful friends here in germany the bavarian conservatives have allied themselves with the orbán in many ways and even members of all i'm ackles party like the health minister against

foreigners support of is there a unified front here in berlin against or at this point in germany we stand united and i would include the christian democrats and that in our fight against anti-semitism we have a problem with rising anti-semitism in many european countries that includes germany but in hungary big dog on and his party have run a campaign and have run a communications strategy that contains anti-semitic elements for a number of years now and so therefore congratulating viktor orban on his election victory at the euro on the one hand and fighting anti-semitism on the other hand don't go well together and therefore i think there's an amount of hypocrisy particularly with the german conservatives in that case alexander graf lobster number of the german parliament for the free democrats also served in the e.u. parliament as deputy president thanks very much for joining us this morning. a monitoring group says some fourteen soldiers have been killed in a missile attack on a syrian government air base that airstrike happened in the province of homes.

russia says israel attack israel's declined to comment at this hour the air strike follows an alleged chemical gas attack on the city of doom over the weekend which killed the ways for the civilians the un security council will be meeting later today to discuss the alleged use of chemical weapons in duma. these pictures appear to show as strikes on the town of duma in eastern. it's the last remaining rebel stronghold following a relentless russian backed onslaught on the region which began in february the white helmets volunteer rescue groups say at least forty people including many children were spics yates in the chemical attack. the regime continues the intense and violent shelling barrel bombs were dropped by helicopters carrying poisonous substances. until now paramedics haven't been able to enter because of the continuous shelling the regime is trying to wipe out this area.

syria denies its government forces launched any chemical assaults nonetheless international condemnation has been swift and blunt. u.s. president double trouble took to twitter blaming russia and iran for supporting syria and describing its president bashar assad as an animal in rome pope francis during mass and simply to square denounce the attackers unjustifiable. we pray for all the dead for the wounded for the families who suffer. there is no good war and bad war. in the me and the and nothing nothing can justify the use of such instruments of violence against people and unarmed populations in. the city an army released pictures which it says showed troops moving towards to me the army dismissed claims of the gas attack as

fabrications the military insists it's advancing rapidly and does not need chemical weapons. oh earlier i spoke with scott lucas from the university of birmingham i asked him whether there's any indication of who might have been behind the missile attack on the homes military airbase in syria this morning three we have to separate strands two you're the first as a possible response to the assad regime's chemical attacks which not only the u.s. but france have actually indicated as possible the second is that israel has attacked this airbase before it's called the tea for air base in central syria it attacked in february because it's an iranian personnel who were at the base that launched a drone into israeli airspace israel has a pattern of course of attacking assad regime targets including air bases to try to limit the presence of hezbollah and iran and movement of weapons to them so it is

possible that israel carried out this attack for reasons unrelated to the chemical attacks by the assad regime or is possible and we're not being told yet that israel was in consultation with the united states or maybe another country like france as it made the decision to a time scott lucas from the university of birmingham thanks very much. well here in germany authorities investigating the deadly van ramming in the city of munster are focusing on the mental health issues of the driver two people were killed twenty others were injured when the forty eight year old drove into a crowd at an open air restaurant on saturday the people of months are packed the city's famous cathedral on sunday evening to honor the victims of the attack among those in attendance were first responders firefighters and family members. and for more now on the aftermath of this attack to w. correspondent charlotte bill joins us from the city of munster charlotte do we know

anything about the possible motive of the attacker at this point. police so far the only been able to rule out motives so little is known about what led this attacker to drive into a crowd just behind me on saturday police say that they believe that there was no jihadist motive islam is motive behind this attack they also say that they found no political motive and that they believe that he was acting alone as the hours roll and all know we are starting to learn more about the attacker a picture is building of a man with very severe mental health problems we know that he sent an e-mail recently where he suggested that he had suicidal thoughts we're also hearing a lot more about raids that have been done on his house houses indeed we know that gas canisters containing petrol was found it's not clear exactly what they were intended for we've also learned today that it's it's possible that the weapon that

he used to kill himself shortly after carrying out this attack he possessed without a license of course something that is needed here in germany with so little currently no know about about what motivated this man police say could still be days even weeks before we get a clearer picture of what led to this attack ok what about the city of amongst there today charlotte what's happening where you are today. we know the local officials later on today are going to visit a hospital where some twenty injured are being cared for to people to still be in a critical condition this though is still a city that is in shock people really are just trying to get to grips with what happened here over the weekend i spoke to one woman she she came out to me out of the she paid her respect that. memorial that's just behind me at the moment and said she said that this could have happened in her city she said that her neighbor

was a witness to the attack and she's now. going in any public spaces in what is really shown her just how easy it is for an attack to carry out such a such a horrific crime so people are so exterior shaken him and wants to. correspond charlotte thanks so much for the for that from the city of months there were people are still very much still coming to terms with what happened on saturday thanks a lot for. now a series of ice breaking destinations created some spectacular scenes along the heilongjiang river in northeastern china. the controlled blasts were carried out in the frozen waters to prevent ice jams which could pose a danger to residents the rivers also an important shipping route which marks the border between china and russia.

brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being with us. the world over information. opinions we want to express d.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch.