that not. bangladesh the dawn of islam as of an exclusive report starting april twenty first. this is. from berlin tonight seeking a way forward in syria and if we want to have a peaceful solution in syria we need to talk to russia and germany johns on the matter who announces plans to meet with russian president vladimir putin can she bridge the growing divide between moscow and the west meanwhile in syria state

media says that international weapons inspectors have been given access to the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack but the u.s. state department says it doesn't believe a word of it and the future of the european union through the use of a manual mike wrong in an emotionally charged address to the european parliament the french president urges europeans to reject populism and to defend their democracy. applause he's known as astro alex on the german chancellor she refers to him as the country's ambassador to space now astronaut alexander pairing is next big step as commander of the international space station. i bring coffee it's good to have you with us tonight. and the rest of the western

world she certainly seems prepared to give it a try today she spoke by phone with russian president vladimir putin afterwards she announced that the two have agreed to meet in the foreseeable future well the media buzz that was generated over that overshadow the rest of the day's events here in berlin. free trade was expected to top the agenda during the prime minister of new zealand's visit to berlin but the talks between just cinda arden and the german chancellor have been sidelined by recent incidents in syria. at the weekend france great britain and the united states attacked syrian military targets raising questions about the effectiveness of germany's policy in the region on tuesday chancellor angela merkel reached out to russian president vladimir putin in a bid to mediate. vignetting if you can if we want to have a peaceful solution in syria we need to talk to russia russia is going to be

a factor if we want to bring peace to this situation the german government sees itself as playing the role of intermediary between the western allies and russia foreign minister of us used harsh tones against russia at first now he's calling for a diplomatic offensive. for our goal is to make sure that germany is becoming a perceptible part of the peace process in syria but we also would like to discuss the same questions as we did today in other conflicts such as in ukraine where developers for not going to some. you know you know of. germany wants to make sure that the tensions between the united states and russia don't escalate further using diplomacy to diffuse the conflict over syria but experts are skeptical. i mean in. the russian turkish and iranian presidents have met several times including just last week in ankara and

they have made clear that americans and europeans no longer have any say in what is going on in syria i cannot see how u.s. or european diplomacy could be in any way successful and he diplomatist. term. many would like to see a fresh start in syria and chancellor merkel wants to convince the russian that this can only be done without syrian dictator assad but for now there is no date set for the meeting that was announced with the russian president. and tonight the u.s. state department is rejecting reports that international chemical weapons inspectors have entered the town of duma that's where that suspected poison attack took place syrian state media say the team has been allowed access to the site and western powers believe the syrian government struck the town of duma with poison gas earlier this month killing dozens of people that triggered punitive airstrikes by

the u.s. britain and france of those countries now accuse syria and russia of attempting to cover up evidence of the alleged attack. or earlier i spoke to journalist stefan borg he is a foreign correspondent for t.v. for sweden he just returned from a trip to dubai and i asked him what type of situation the weapons inspectors will find in do it's eleven days since the attack happened which means that a lot of the evidence could be destroyed or may be removed of course and the longer you wait to hear witnesses that. you don't have the qualities you would have if you do it shortly after and. so it's really troublesome to i think of a loss to know the good opportunity to good to do is a good job if they would have been there earlier and that was a journalist stuff on board with t.v. for sweden. well what should the european union look like in the future today

french president pitched his vision in a speech to the european parliament and he compared the divisions in europe to a civil war with democracy on one side nationalism on the other his speech was impassioned and at times even angry and so was the debate that for. three hours of no taking discussion hashing out details it might have been a grueling session for another politician but not emanuel. he appealed to members of the european parliament to help make his vision a reality he entered the debate with atlas sizes a minister must exist but it won't be a mere exercise for long wants to speed up the stalled reform process a return to nationalist ideals he says is no solution instead europe can be sovereign while shouldering its own responsibility motion of. us on this i do not want to belong to a generation of sleep. i want to be part of

a generation that stands for decision to defend democracy filmon know the default setting mclusky. backers are eager to engage with other europeans and to hear their hopes and fears. the on march party wants to reach out to people across the continent in the run up to european parliamentary elections next year. we need to be together or speak about europe directly to people you want to meet citizens in the european union and everywhere. to build to rebuild erupt. but michael's impetus has run into resistance to conservatives in both berlin and strasbourg disapprove of his main objective a reformed eurozone with a separate budget and monetary fund much to the regret of social democrats but i'm no. no in berlin has already indicated how difficult it will be to

reform the euro. there was. and her colleagues will certainly not make mr macro work any easier. hard to. be had in industrious chef in each to a large chunk. of what the french president also wants an e.u. wide asylum law which european parliamentary member support but the green party finds my khans efforts at home less than credible. what are your ingredients for your immigration and asylum laws the deportation and containment instead of welcoming people who are seeking refuge. but it was the european liberals who underscored how far off the goal of a new strong europe is especially in terms of defense. the recent military action in syria highlights that shortcoming they said because it was a french and british intervention not a european one b.n.

in my macros ideas are both inspiring and polarizing and bound to provoke debates but it remains questionable whether there is time enough for concrete steps in order to convince the voters but the reform agenda before the european elect next year. that was catherine martin's there reporting here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world the european union says it wants to launch formal membership talks with macedonia and albania it's part of a push to revive enthusiasm for the e.u. which is facing the departure of britain next year concerns over russian influence in eastern europe have added renewed urgency to expansion efforts japanese prime minister shinzo abi is visiting u.s. president donald trump at trump's mar a lago retreat in florida the two leaders are set to discuss trade and north korea amid growing strained over trump's play in the meeting with north korean leader kim

jong un and the push for new trade tariffs. mourners in pakistan have held a funeral for a six year old girl whose alleged rape and murder has shocked the country the girl identified only as. with missing two days ago in western caracas her body was recovered monday's sparking violent protests police have been accused of negligence in the case. one passenger has been killed and several others injured after a southwest airlines jet engine exploded mid flight the boeing seven thirty seven blew its left engine shortly after it took off from new york sending out shrapnel that smashed a window as you see right there the plane made an emergency landing in philadelphia one hundred forty nine people were on board. well now to a discovery that could help tackle one of the biggest problems facing our planet

plastic tolu ssion scientist in britain and in the united states say they've engine a plastic eating enzyme now woods able to digest what's known as polyethylene. or p.t.t. it's a form of plastic patented back in the one nine hundred forty s. and now used in millions of tons of plastic bottles they actually made the discovery by accident serendipity at its very best. the wildest choking on mountains of plastic waste. one of the most popular plastics p t used to make drinks bottles and synthetic fivepence. it takes hundreds of years to degrade naturally. but now scientists have stumbled onto a mutant enzyme that is hungry that p.t. it's produced by a bacteria. discovery is amazing something that can eat plastic normally

takes four hundred years to create the bacteria are starting to eat this in a matter of days we've done is the end same from the bacteria in grown up and i know we can actually digest p.t. within days much quicker in the environment we such as fast found an enzyme that had naturally evolved to slowly digest plastic and the japanese two years ago . scientists called it p. tastes. professor mckee hand and his team set out to investigate the crystal structure and. when they tweaked it they realized they accidentally created a fall more powerful new version. we. see war capable of doing in terms of the brain. so.

this is a microscopic view of the enzyme eating away at a piece of plastic such as hope it can one day be used at an industrial scale the discovery as already i'm a just step forward in dealing with the plastic bottles littering the world's land and ocean. you're watching. a team of astronauts including the german. mission to the international space station we'll hear about some of the experiments that they're planning to carry out while in space and the scandal that is shaking germany's music industry will tell you why german stars are heading back there. in protest against this year's controversial hip hop. is. back he's going to talk about what a mixed outlook for the global economy. that's right the economy is giving back at

the moment hard to economics exactly the international terry fund is predicting a global slowdown in growth in the next few years that's due to aging populations lackluster productivity as well as the threats of course coming from protectionist trade policies in the short term though things look pretty rosy the lending agency suggests that worldwide growth of three point nine percent will be achieved for twenty eight hundred twenty nine t. as you can see there now that would be the fastest pace in twenty eleven the u.s. economy is likely to benefit from president trumps tax cuts which are likely to boost the country's economy through to twenty twenty growth is predicted to be two point nine percent which is up to two point three percent twenty seventeen however those tax cuts combined with increased spending could be damaging in a few years' time the i.m.f. warns the eurozone is expected to benefit from continued low interest rates the i.m.f. forecasting a growth of two point four percent of

a twenty eighteen which might however slow down in twenty nineteen so as you can see the short term predictions are good long term not so much earlier i spoke to washington correspondent for naaman asking him why the i.m.f. is pessimistic about the future. when the international monetary fund is concerned about what it calls geopolitical strains which could lead to trade wars or real was obviously both bad for trade and the worldwide economy apart from that of course. the i.m.f. also mentions a general skepticism about economic international integration worldwide and towards new technologies that's meit's trigger a new wave of protectionism around the world these kind of trade wars of course which are being discussed right now particularly between the u.s.

and china another big concern and there's also a big danger of the i.m.f. want today that politicians might waste the opportunity that the current boom presents and instead of bringing the house and all the financially investing in new technologies increasing productivity they might in fact just increase spending continue spending and that could mean that when the tide turns downturn might accelerate and might be much stronger than it had to be so i guess to avoid that they have to do the opposite but let's focus in on where you are there in the u.s. the i.m.f. criticizing that mix of tax cuts and planned increase in spending what's the fallout expected to be. well the fault would be increasing budget deficits ballooning that which is of course something that the politicians often don't care about a lot because the a facts will be felt only years after they left office now in the

case of the united states the effects might be felt much earlier in only a few years the united states is projected to spend as much on interest rates for or interest on the debt then for its military about six hundred billion dollars and in about ten years the outstanding debt for the federal government might reach the same amount as its g.d.p. so they might approach one hundred percent of g.d.p. dads is something that concerns the i.m.f. because it might trigger inflation and cause a further downturn now that the u.s. is digging yourself deeper convo naaman thank you very much for that starbucks is closing down eight thousand stores in united states for an afternoon later this month so its employees can attend training to prevent racial discrimination the company which operates thirty thousand stores worldwide is scrambling to prevent a boycott triggered when two black men were arrested as

a starbucks and philadelphia for trespassing. was it was. do we were married. yes. we did yes god or yes karen yes said ok god. protesters crowded into the starbucks in downtown philadelphia on monday appalled by the treatment of two black men at the hands of starbucks a company which is practically built social justice and inclusion into its marketing program. the two met had not purchased coffee but were minding their own business last week when a starbucks employee called the police to throw them out. images of the arrest spread over social media prompting starbucks c.e.o. to issue an unconditional apology and promised to make things right what happened in the way that incident escalated and the outcome was nothing bille reprehensible

and i'm sorry i want to apologize to the community in philadelphia and to all my starbucks harbors. this is not who we are and it's not who we're going to be. starbucks overwhelming presence and aggressive growth in high traffic urban areas is part of the reason it has become the world's largest coffee company though the company will now specially trained employees to be more sensitive at this store in philadelphia people are reminding the company that the streets belong to them. that. there. are two million public sector workers in gemini seemingly set for a pay rise reaching a provisional deal with employees following widespread strikes in recent days he's

paralyzed after all this rubbish collection about public services and several states across the country the deal will see staggered pay rises of around seven percent of the next three gifts unions vandy and be yet to officially approve the proposal. and now back to prime time they may just cancel of a most prestigious music that's right talk about being off key day and the musicians in germany have joined a chorus of protest over an award given to two controversial rappers now the duo known as ko lega and farida bang compared themselves to auschwitz prisoners in their song no luck phone saying which is zero eight fifteen last week they were awarded the hip hop prize at germany's echo awards which coincided with holocaust memorial day. more and more are ceasar returning the record awards after these two rappers won the prize despite their anti-semitic lyrics german rock star marius mille avestan haagen gave all seven of his back saying new levels of brutalization

have been reached classical award winners like notice cortez an eagle a that also don't want their echoes anymore and singer pay to modify is furious on facebook he said the echo ceremony this year was a slap in the face to the democratic values of our country the two rappers are popular with millions of young people they've since apologized but experts say using lyrics referring to the holocaust went too far. from the holocaust the holocaust is a very delicate topic in germany this crossed a line which is what sparked so much anger and i think it's right that it did and i think will now find out whether our society and the younger generation in particular has the sensitivity to realize this or not. the prize organizer the german music industry association has acknowledged its errors saying we reject all forms of anti semitism zina phobia homophobia and the glorification of violence

consequently the managing board will not reconsider the prize. whether the eco still has a future is up for debate. are the international space station is about to get a new commander his name is alexander gear and he is arguably the most famous european space agency astronaut from germany cares till the final news conference today before his june blastoff he'll be the first german to command the says and he says that he wants to be a nice ball to his fellow astronauts cosmonauts and a rather intelligent robot. this was the view of earth from space that greeted alexander guest on his last mission four years ago. now he's looking forward to his second trip to the international space station or. it's not just a one person project but a huge team project and seeing that makes me feel gives me

a feeling of completion of ok this is going towards this point of the launch and then to the mission and everybody's ready seeing that it's fascinating on his new mission called horizons gas will be the first german commander of the i.s.a.'s chancellor merkel calls him the german ambassador to space guest uses the nickname astro alex on his last mission he conducted over one hundred scientific experiments and a space walk which is one of the greatest challenges for an astronaut. going out the door is something that is of course a little bit more dangerous but once in a while we have to do this to install new experiments on the outside to keep the space station running and if that happens so force the extra stone saying no because it's of an amazing experience. one of the experiments gassed and his colleagues will conduct involves a so-called flying brain

a robot with artificial intelligence. and a measure of humor. m r two d two just kidding my name is simon and i will support you. on this parabolic flight the robot is being tested in zero gravity as the first fully automatic robot with artificial intelligence simon is unique the robot will support alexander gas on his space mission by fulfilling routine tasks such as documenting experiments. the first subject of those experiments will be the robot itself. life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it. that turns out to be a useful model for a guest as he completes his intensive training. he'll be spending six months in space and gazing out the window whenever he's not carrying out assignments.

for me isn't on the mind that when you start to mess this planet's when you gaze at earth at first it doesn't really matter where you look you get the feeling that's where we live you feel the humanity that's our home you have this stark realisation that we couldn't exist anywhere else on earth is all we've got so you feel this really strong connection. alexander gets to live just turned forty two when he takes off so he'll have a chance to celebrate this connection in space. earlier we spoke to the british astronaut we asked him what kind of challenges alexander guest and his crew could expect during their six month mission. well of course the main challenge is mike gravity which is the reason we're out there but of course astronauts are well trained in how to deal with that of course it's also difficult

to get items into space it's expensive and we need to maximize the opportunities that we have for doing scientific research but the space station as i said it's been out there for twenty years now and we have very used a very active scientific program and so the amount of science that we're doing on a daily basis now is more than we've ever done before. that was to take speaking with us earlier when nasa has just released this stunning virtual tour of the moon and i pop in for kate resolution based on data that was provided by their lunar reconnaissance orbiter spacecraft the news continues right after a short break back to take you through the day stick around for that. it's neither . this just.

lives.

what drives the economy. to see it coming into the. media germany always has its finger on the homes. of the market the manager. spoke to. me in germany in sixty minutes. with different languages we fight for different things that's fine let me also think up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom of

choice global news that matters w made for mines. climate change. isn't it time for good news eco africa people and projects that are changing our farm and for the better it's up to us to make a difference let's inspire each other. do it for the environment magazine. w. w diversity. where the world of science is at home in many languages. on a lot of programming go under. and with that our innovations magazine for. us

from every week and look into the future on d w dot com it's science and research for a show. online on bookshelves and on the minds of a nation tonight former f.b.i. director james comey and his new tell all book what we know so far komi is convinced that donald trump should never have become u.s. president and komi is also convinced that he did nothing wrong by possibly denying his country its first chance to say congratulations madam president i'm brink off in berlin this is the day.