this is deja vu news on live from berlin american captives released by north korea have returned home the three men arriving in an air force base in washington with the president from on hand to welcome them speaking on the tarmac the president said he was optimistic about north korea head of a planned summit with that country club the very latest live from our correspondent also coming up tensions soar between israel and iran israel launches expensive air

strikes on a rainy and targets inside syria this escalation coming on the heels of the u.s. decision to leave the iran nuclear deal we'll go live to washington to jerusalem. on the ground and in an exclusive interview french president emmanuel mccall says president trump's decision to ditch the nuclear deal with iran was poco mistake but what are the next steps for the deal's european backers. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us three american prisoners released by north korea have landed at andrews air force base where president trump agreed them personally the president release comes during the build up to an historic summit with the united states the trio includes a christian. unary and two teachers arrested while working at the foreign funded

gang university of science and technology. the three men spent one to two years in north korea's prisons for alleged anti state activities the president described their release as very exciting and as a gesture of goodwill on behalf of north korea. well here's what the president had to say as the three arrived home a short while ago. my proudest achievement will be this is a part of it but it will be what we need nuclearize that entire prodigious this is what people have been waiting for for a long time nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of speed so i'm very honored to have helped to bring that great me around you know i got i got just make them on the plane these are great people they've been through a lot but it's it's a great honor but the great the true honor is going to be if we have

a victory in getting rid of nuclear weapons. let's go straight to washington and clear kora a clear richardson standing by for us a clear the president clearly relishing this moment as an important victory on the road to the summit with kim jong un. absolutely he is touting this as a victory for his a strong campaign of pressure on north korea he says that that's what's been able to bring kim jong un to the negotiating table and it really was quite a spectacle we saw that welcome to these prisoners home it's rare to have the president and his wife the vice president and other high ranking officials come out in the middle of the night in washington d.c. to greet these prisoners to have them come down a red carpeted stairway to really kind of try and show the nation how proud they are of having secured their release through the new secretary of state might pump aoe during his surprise trip to pyongyang so it looks like a goodwill gesture from north korea and trump is very much making sure that he's

receiving credit at home for the fact that he is really secure this release it should also be noted however that this is not uncommon we've had north korea released prisoners before particularly when a high ranking american official goes in person to north korea to try and petition for their release we have seen in the past the regime do this ok you know how did these three men one dog in the north korean jail well these are three korean americans they've spent all more than a year in north korean prison some doing hard labor and they have just been they would have been accused of anti-state activities by north korea which is widely seen as politically motivated charges now of course they seem to be benefiting from the somewhat warming ties between the u.s. and north korea and the fact that they were able to arrive alive and seemingly at first glance well back in the united states now greeting these three men when they

arrived on the tarmac the president made some comments raising expectations for the success of the plan and some of it could be taken place and singer for from what we're hearing. that's right singapore right now is looking like the most likely option of this summit could take place by the end of this month or in early june i.v. does take place it will be the first time a sitting u.s. president has met with a north korean leader and trump really spoke about you know he's trying to show that these are cooling tensions he said that he was really optimistic that kim jong un was willing to work together and he's you know we've never seen anything like this to have a united states president standing there praising the north korean leader for at this release and the question will really be to see whether kim jong un has met his match in a leader like donald trump or whether this is going to end up being a huge embarrassment for the united states if they go and meet face to face with the leader of a brutal regime and are unable to actually secure any serious concessions and

certainly a lot at stake claire richardson thanks very much for bringing us up to date on that from washington clear. all day after president trump pulled the u.s. out of the around nuclear chord tensions are rising on the front line between israel and syria these images from syrian state t.v. allegedly show israeli rockets over damascus the israeli military says it carried out strikes in response to a barrage of rockets fired outposts in the go on heights which it blames on elite iranian forces the al quds forces in syria it's the second day of strikes between the two sides in some of the most serious military action of this car and in many years for the very latest let's go to jerusalem now our correspondent tony creamer standing by for us tom what prompted this escalation and what more can you tell us about the targets hit by the israeli military. well yes the s.

hiren's went off and the israeli controlled part of the golan heights just shortly after midnight and according to the israeli army a barrage of rockets came in what they claim were fired from the iranian forces and the is israeli army responded with a large air raid on dozens of targets now they published a more comprehensive report and describing a target list and also videos this morning they targeted mission storehouses damascus international airport intelligence sides logistic compounds other sites that is like claims of a longing to reign it in full says now it has been described by security officials of one of the largest operations on syrian soil in decades and one of the army spokesperson has said that it would set back iranian forces at least by a couple of months now this comes of course after weeks of tensions after let's

israeli air strikes on targets in syria over the past months and the israeli army had warned of an imminent strike just a few days ago tony when you look at this being the largest operation as israeli defense officials are saying in syria in code decades how concerned is israel right now about mission creep that should israel continue its strikes on syria it will get drawn deeper and deeper into the war that's been going on there for eight years now. one of the primary targets here is iran and its presence in syria and that has been the montreal prime minister netanyahu for many months now i mean doing oldest civil war in syria israel has said its own red lines maybe when it comes to weapon transfers to have been as israel's army has never commented on that but right now what is the main concern for israel is the rain in expense and as they call it and they see that evolve is settling their own military installations

and that's what they want to stop now the israeli defense minister has said that he hopes this round of exchange of violence is over you says that many military targets infrastructure there is talk of the army has said to residents on the occupied golan heights to do to go about their normal daily lives it was to be open but of course there are conflicting interests from all sides and it's still to see whether this will deter all sides from taking more action or if there's more. time if i so much for bringing us up to date on all this from jerusalem donna kramer for us there all french president among them across as a president promised decision to quit the iran nuclear deal is quote a mistake made those comments while here in germany interesting is a prestigious charlemagne prize it's given every year to an individual who's made a special contribution to unity in europe and i have today's ceremony the french

president sat down with d.w. and with the public broadcaster e r d for this exclusive interview. you try it to a save the iranian nuclear deal when you were in washington why did you fail. i think the most important thing is to maintain stability and peace and the middle east i'm in washington and i have said this by the way i had understood that president trump wanted to. leave agreement from two thousand and fifteen and during our joint press conference i had suggested that we work on a broader framework and i am very sorry about his decision i think it is a mistake and this is why we europeans have decided like we reiterated yesterday to remain within the agreement from two thousand and fifteen as i reminded president

of wanny we negotiated and signed the agreement and it allows us to control the nuclear defense activity in iran until two thousand and twenty five but this agreement needs to be completed if. you are saying that the europeans are going to try to remain in in the agreement and adopt it but what does it really mean without the united states what is it right that without them is. a proposal that sufficient for iran. but this is going to be our topic in the coming weeks and months and it's the mandate that we gave our foreign ministers in the e.u. and iran. because. whether you're going to be able to propose well it's the agreement that we signed balls. it's everything over no because one of the signatories draws out but the others are reaffirming that they are committed what i

think in any event. it is a pity because we had anticipated and now we can regret his decision bad it's important that we all remain obsessed by stability and peace in the region. and you can catch a entire exclusive interview at our website interview dot com in other news malaysia is about to seen a store change of power after a surprise electoral victory by the opposition leader here mohamed said to be sworn in as prime minister later today ending more than six decades of rule by the b.n. coalition the defeated incumbent not to. accept the defeat the new ninety two year old leader has pledged deep reforms. a stunning political comeback few had predicted that mahathir mohamad would pull off an election victory off to coming out of retirement to run. despite nearing his ninety

day lead an energetic campaign that galvanized malaysians to vote for his opposition party he set to become the world's oldest prime minister. ham of course quite know i'm ninety three but. i'm still i can still function young leaders do not have sufficient background so did they need somebody with experience and not many people with experience have survived i have by supporters were jubilant as the election results became clear many had thought my had his victory and possible . hoping for this situation of a very long time and always been. cautious about it.

a mood for change in the country has ended the sixty year rule of the coalition led by national braszczok he had been the favorite to win the election despite the emphasis by corruption allegations. but he was defeated by his one time mentor. my dearest political career spans decades viewed by many as the father of modern malaysia he was prime minister for twenty two years and a world famous politician. under his rule malaysia's economy boomed but critics on him as an author were tarion with little regard for human rights. were violently he jailed his deputy prime minister ibrahim in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight after he called for reforms but in a twist of this election had to has said he will hand over power to him and two

years but malaysians will have to wait and see if this i'm pushes political veteran who would really be ready to retire for good. stitcher modern out of our top stories this hour three americans free from the tension north korea have arrived back in the u.s. president's office on half the airport. present expressed optimism ahead of a planned u.s. north korea something. the state of your news live from berlin i'm brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being with us. we speak different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all speak up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of the press. giving freedom of choice global news that matters w made for minds.