this is d.w. news live from berlin calls for deescalation after tensions doors between israel and iran israel launches extensive air strikes on iranian targets in syria with reports of many killed the attacks come on the heels of the u.s. decision to abandon the iran nuclear deal we will go live to the region also coming up pushing for greater european unity in troubled times france's president emanuel mccrone is honored with the prestigious charlemagne prize for promoting a new vision for europe he again pleaded for

a morning edition's european budget on my saying that the time for strengthening europe is now. and u.s. president donald trump welcomes home free american captives released bit by pyongyang the president said that he was optimistic about north korea ahead of it clamps on that. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program international calls for restraint are mounting as israel and iran face their most serious military confrontation in years footage uploaded on social media shows multiple flares over syria's capital damascus after israel struck dozens of targets in the country overnight israel saying that it acted in response to what it says was an iranian rocket attack on its outposts in the golan heights. that was apparently launched from syria it

claims to have struck nearly all of iran's infrastructure in syria. so let's get more now on these developments we are joined by jonathan corn make us a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces in the golan heights and welcome to you jonathan we thank you so much for joining us we've heard that you know for israel's part you are saying that the rockets which were fired into the golan heights that they were fired by an iranian brigade what evidence do you have for that. well thank you for having me. it's very clear we have a very good encouraging picture of the union deployment in that syria we have been following their movement for quite a long time and there we have seen what the reunion have been trying to do over the last month and that has been to attack is wrote almost all calls we have been trying to do the full enough month we have been able to defend and change our

posture of ordinary people are very clear with the reunions were doing we saw the movie will launch or it is officially here to know and when we go to the fire it was very clear what your opinions were doing they were attacking is wrong from syrian soil something that we see naturally these very dangerous minutes of your activity against israel so at what point in your operation are you right now because we know that your defense minister said a short while ago that nearly all of the iranian infrastructure in syria was hit and that he hopes that the chapter was closed our israeli forces standing down right now. israeli forces continue to defend the state of israel that is our region and that includes also. keeping a good eye on anything that happens any but has the potential to threaten israel so from a military perspective we're looking at the iranian deployment in syria would still remain and it will be they will be under close scrutiny to see what they will try

to do in the future we hope that the message was clear enough that once they attacked us once the iranians attacked israel and fired from critical twenty rockets towards israel we retaliated and the purpose of our retaliation was to carry a clear message to the iranian regime and to the commander of the quds force customs to the money who very brazenly attacked israel and the message is that israel or the i.d.f. seek to defend itself and we do not think that's going to the situation but we will not hesitate in defending ourselves against the wholesome intentions of the iranian regime and as we have said before and made clear we are not going to tolerate a host of the summer deployment of the iranian military infrastructure inside syria last sentence for me they are one thousand six hundred kilometers away from iraq so the question that needs to be asked is what are you reunion troops doing so far from home and so close to israel so i want to ask you then because you know i hear the sense of urgency in your voice that you said that you sent

a message that you're monitoring the situation but ultimately what is the israeli military prepared to do to eliminate the iranian military presence in syria so close to your country which we know that the prime minister benjamin netanyahu is now making a top priority how far could this go. well i think it's been made very clear by our national leadership and it has been said by the chief of staff very clearly as well that we will continue to defend ourselves the state of israel of civilians against this very significant threat that is building close to our borders which is based on the iranian capabilities that they're deploying how far will we go we will go as far as necessary in order to ensure the safety and the sovereignty of the state of israel and its citizens and we hope that iran will rein in its terrorist arm the exporting arm of its regime to cause false and understand the message that it is not within iranian interests syrian interests all the regional

interests for them to deploy inside syria or to try to attack israel they want to thank you very much jonathan convict us a spokesperson for the israeli security forces in the golan heights we appreciate you speaking with us here at c.w.o. and sharing your view. french president emmanuel mccall has been honored with the prestigious charlemagne prize it is awarded to individuals for their special efforts to promote their opinion hitting the french president received the award at a lavish ceremony in aachen in western germany the german chancellor angela merkel was in attendance and delivered a speech praising my constitution for reforming europe. and for mark let's bring in a correspondent who is standing us or standing by right there with the latest from where the ceremony took place a little bit earlier today so there to walk us through the key points that the french president covered in his speech.

had a clear message for all europeans not only for the petitions who are gathered here he said to europe shouldn't be weak euro europe shouldn't be afraid to and europe has to act and has to act quickly this is your bill be prepared to fend of nationalism within its own borders and it should preserve the literalism in the road and this was a clear message maybe across the atlantic to u.s. president. and the german chancellor replied that she would be willing to join in this effort to give some hope to europe. to implement reforms and to make europe function better in the future she also laid out the reasons that made him worthy of the prize that made him a worthy recipient and i'd just like to play that particular segment of her speech

for our viewers and then get your reaction there after let's have a listen. doesn't mean that i don't think the new phlegmy name three aspects of the monument fastly a man with a mark on knows what binds europe to get the flight secondly in my mind in moscow has a clear vision of how europe should move forward by. said he a man michael has a capacity to inspire others in the service of europe this motivates a committed to europe most of all of our it moves those who are undecided and it is decisive in countering those who look to the pasta even sell lots of praise there in merkel's introduction of micron but you know when it comes to visions for a year up by a large they're locking their walking in lock step but not on all points right yes business back to the promised actually had to come up this coming this coming

proposes in june that the next u.s. summit this mccrone to two to take the metaphor than two to boost three of the reforms and. to overcome half it is a big trade surplus and he says france is also billing to give up some of this to booze so both promised to the to take action actually and this is a step further than we had in brussels so if the summits so that's a that's a beacon of hope and this was a message also from today something is moving something is moving and. you know one of the thing that's also moving is you know european solidarity when it comes to tension in the middle east and standing by the european positions with regard to that what did they have to say in that regard. where the french president and the german chancellor said. for deescalation in the middle east after the current outbreak of awhile and that. this is not going to say that this is

a true question of war and peace not a very serious and very complicated situation and conan has also put also some blame on the americans and he said. this drawing from the iran nuclear deal was a mistake and now europe has to take action and bismillah khan said you're you're cannot longer rely solely on the americans to defend them and europe has to do something more back to a character and often thank you. only in time ahead of the award ceremony president sat down with dutch avella and with the german public broadcaster a.r.j. for an exclusive interview he told us that u.s. president donald trump's decision to quit the iran nuclear deal was a mistake. you try it to a save the air india and nuclear deal when you were in washington why did you fail

. i think the most important thing is to maintain stability and peace and 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 one day we negotiated and signed this 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 rusts 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. what are you going to be able to propose while it's the agreement that we signed balls. is everything over not because one of the signatories draws out but the others are reaffirming that they're committed what i think in any event. it is a pity because we had anticipated and now we can regret his decision but it's important that we all remain obsessed by stability and peace in the region.

exclusive interview there with the french president conducted by d.w. and by a.r.d. a short while ago now let's get a quick check of some other stories making news around the world more than thirty people have been killed after a dam burst in western kenya near the city of not cruel witnesses said that most people were asleep when the accident occurred after a severe drought weeks of two rental rains in kenya have led to flooding and mudslides that have left over eight hundred people dead. islamist militant prisoners at a high security jail near indonesia's capital jakarta have killed five police officers they took officers hostage in a prison riot triggered by dispute about food police said that they've resolved the crisis after a tense standoff with the so-called islamic state group claimed its fighters were involved in the violence. and donald trump's nominee to have the cia has vowed that the agency would never revert to harsh interrogation methods under her leadership

china has bill faced tough questioning during her senate confirmation hearing because of her role running a covert detention site where waterboarding was used senior republican senator john mccain has urged his colleagues to reject her. three americans held prisoner by north korea are back in the united states after a world wind diplomatic mission by washington they flew home with secretary of state mark pompei o who traveled to p.r. ahead of the upcoming summit between the two countries' leaders president gul trump who went to the airport to personally welcome the men sounded a note of optimism saying that the captives release was a positive sign. it was nearly three in the morning but the u.s. president and the first lady were on hand to greet the freed captives. this is a big step forward in the rapidly warming relations between the two longtime adversaries it's also a major p.r.

coup for trump and a sign of pyongyang goodwill this just two months after the two sides seemed on the brink of war but trump says he still wants kim to give up his nuclear bombs my proudest achievement and well being this is a part of it but it will be when we leave nuclearize that the entire potential of 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 the three folks these three folks are kinda tony kim and kim huck song all are americans who were imprisoned in north korea for between one and two years for quote anti-state activities. secretary of state mark pompei o made a thirteen hour visit to the hermit kingdom to arrange the planned summit between trump and kim jong on was in the process pump a also secured the men's release the country is new tory s for its harsh labor camps. are already you know we were

treated in many different ways. for me i had to do a lot of labor with the police the world money but when i got sick i was also treated rather. enjoyable to see them. from a north korean labor camp to reception with the u.s. president it's all happened in less than a day for these three men trump seems sure it's a sign that kim is ready to reconcile with a north korean leader is every bit as unpredictable as his american counterpart it's unclear if today show peacemaking will lead to actual peace. now monica jones is here and massive political changes underway in italy have investors really anxious talking about unpredictable as we just heard sarah will there be fresh elections after the last session magia ended in a hung parliament and that of course was followed by two months of political deadlock or will italy get an anti establishment anti euro and anti austerity

government all right now the chances of a populist government running europe's third largest economy looking more likely a prospect that not only alarms investors but also many ordinary italians. kirby archer phoneys day begins very early he sets over two in the morning while the rest of rome sleeps. with greengrocer got used to it a long time ago what really bothers him is the state of his country. yes i'm worried because you know not for me but for my daughter i have a ten year old daughter it was like this now this is i don't see how it can get better at all maybe you know. it's least political uncertainty is weighing heavily on the country's economy it's putting a brake on investment fund consumption it's at least carrying a high debt burden g.d.p. grew by no point three percent in the first quarter but the banking system is still

strained. unemployment has fallen somewhat government reform so many new jobs created so many of them only temporary and the outlook. for your phone is glad to have his work here at the market even if it does involve a twelve hour day. but he's already advised his daughter to move abroad when she grows up. for good or the future is bleak so i don't see how anybody is going to be able to stay in italy anybody without. a crisis has already seen a lot of young people leave the country and it's by no means over yet either. all the oil prices have closing in on the eighty dollar maka which of course could be expected following the u.s. announcing new sanctions against iran back to the u.s. dollar is also going strong that is the thing i would like to discuss with our

financial market correspondent daniel cope with standing by in frankfurt hello dan the also oil prices added the american greenback rallying in tandem that is raising its. yes indeed monica very aware i've actually printed this out i guess you can see it on the chart this is the latest development the oil and the dollar are doing something they have only done eleven times in the past thirty five years and i can tell you that this is drawing the attention of market participants to assess the significance of it talking about the oil that was looking a little bit closer at the charge within a year it has been going up now by forty six per cent and this is most likely set to go even more you run is a very big oil producing countries saudi arabia already announcing yesterday that they consider to increase their oil production and yes you can feel this i felt it this morning when i went to the gas station but let's talk again about this charge

why this is rare and usually when we have a strong dollar and this has the effect that commodity prices get more expensive to people using other currencies like the you are also a stronger dollar normally tends to be a headwind for commodity prices right in a strong dollar of course also makes foreign goods cheaper for u.s. consumers just briefly that must be good news for german exporters. yeah excellent news because usually when we have a very strong euro this is really also hurting the trading day here on the frankfurt stock exchange because with those strong euro then companies have to rethink and maybe make their prices abroad more expensive now the very strong dollar is actually helping shares we went after months again here over the thirteen thousand point mark again all right daniel koch there from the frankfurt stock exchange thank you so much for that update. could u.s.

sanctions bring down chinese a smartphone makers a t. the company says it was forced to seize major operations following sanctions by the world's largest economy last month the u.s. has banned sales of critical technology to the company that e.g. pens on american chips and other components and is unable to continue production without those key supplies the chinese company says it's trying to convince the u.s. to modify or reverse the ban. and shares in american retail giant wal-mart dropped to three percent on wall street that was wednesday following its purchase of india's biggest online retailer the sixteen billion dollar deal to acquire a controlling stake in flip card is one of the biggest e-commerce acquisitions in history wal-mart has been on a spending spree in recent months as it attempts to expand its online presence and the purchase of a flip card gives wal-mart access to to the indian market estimated to grow to two

hundred billion dollars within ten years and it gives flipkart muscle in its fight for market share against you as rival amazon both retailers aiming at the country's increasingly affluent to consumers and more and more multinational companies are actually entering the booming indian retail market japanese fashion brand nick lowe said it will open its first store in delhi by the middle of next year the companies taking advantage of a recent change to india's foreign investment rules they are now allowed to establish a fully owned subsidiary rather than a joint venture with a local partner swedish furniture giant ikea will also open its first indian store later this year consultancy p.w. c. says the changes mean india's retail market could grow to be worth a trillion dollars annually by twenty twenty. a countdown is on for britain's royal wedding and people are flocking to windsor to get a look at the high. couple lego bricks that is prince harry and making marco along

with the royal family the new stars of the lego land theme park not far from where the real wedding will take place the scene is him a topple for almost sixty thousand lego bricks and joins other recreations of events and landmarks from around the world. looks pretty somehow well there's a big election there was a big election in malaysia and sarah you have the news on the donors i don't know if i see the resemblance in those labels because isn't it i think bit of a stretch thank you so much monica as monica mentioned we're heading to malaysia and how where the national police chief says that security in the country is under control and that police will ensure a smooth transition of power following the shock election victory of the opposition leader there mohamed the ninety two year old former authoritarian ruler is expected to soon be sworn in as prime minister and become the world's oldest head of government his election ends more than six decades of control by the only national

front coalition and the defeated income it not to russia has accepted defeat. well let's bring in now florence louis a correspondent joining us from kuala lumpur welcome to you florence. how shocking has this been to the people there and what is the reaction coming in. well it's been a real shock i think no one really expected and people who support the opposition coalition there was hope of data pretty much all because the survey results some had said the ruling coalition was expected to still win pollen and despite losing the popular vote and those polls have been proven wrong down under during the big shock the fact that former ministers had lost their seats and among the people of malaysia that's appealing of hope hope as well as pride that they have managed to seat a party as you said that's been in power for more than sixty years just by casting

their vote at the ballot box and this is despite the obstacles that have been placed in their way the gerrymandering the malad portion and that has been going on as well as the fact that voting was taking place on wednesday in the middle of the week it even though that been declared a public holiday it still made it difficult for people to go back home to cast their vote because a lot of voters live and work in the cities but are still registered to work to register to vote in their hometowns further away from the city so given that i mean how did he overcome those obstacles how do you manage to win. well a couple of things randi i mean part of it is because of his personality he's such a huge personality even though he's a divisive figure as you said he was going to insist on telling me that he has respect and the fact that he was the father known as the father more than malaysia the fact that he during his twenty two year rule he managed to bring malaysia from

and agriculture nation to an industrialized nation to a developing country people remember him for for those those achievements he also appealed to him a labor this is the ethnic majority group in malaysia they form about sixty percent of the population and the reason why his party of those is because his party was a party that championed minae right and what he also managed to do was he managed to tap into the anger that those as in malaysia felt it was over the vibe in cost of living and people blame that on the goods and services tax that the government imposed three years ago so much hot there and the opposition coalition was campaign can pay me on a promise to remove that tax within one hundred days of coming into office and it was also anger that the country was feeling over the fight but the country had been shamed because of a perception that it's a corrupt country and mahathir tapped into that in his last campaign speech to the people you said vote wisely vote to restore dignity in this country and people i

mean people people believe can people people who people thought that florence louis with the latest from kuala lumpur thank you. also football news now and brazilian star neymar has moved to paris and john last august for a world record failure you might recall of two hundred twenty million duros but could be axed barcelona forward be on the verge of a sensational move to rail madrid neymar has had a troubling time in the french capital and reports in spain say that he had talks with way out in march the club's president florentine perez has recently said that they mark remains a target if he does join that side he would become a select band of ex barcelona players thanks for watching.

them during the conflict zone with jim sebastian. our guest this week during your avant views on our show john vice president of the republican party which ruled on mean you for the last year and you will hear news colleagues now accept defeat or will then make trouble for the new leaders. conflict zone for. an exclusive interview with

the french president. and when money is stirring up in france europe and the world we meet the rising star of global politics the internet. difference is. something to teach wrongly. join the discussion and have a. little media. play speech for my. beliefs at least.

but always almost. lead to the future. driving on. a month is a long time these days in armenian politics long enough for the last president to finish his term in office and take most of his considerable powers to the prime minister's office long enough angry crowds of protesters to gather and force him out i'm now the man who led those protests has taken his place as well my guest this week hearing your avant is our man. vice president of the republican party that's ruled for the last ten years when he and his colleagues now accept.