this is the deadly news line from donald trump makes a spectacular u. turn on his helsinki summit reeboks facing a barrage of criticism he says russia did meddle in the u.s. election but to no effect he also claims he misspoke when it said he saw no reason why russia would interfere i said he meant to say the opposite will bring you reaction from washington also on the program remembering a political icon former u.s. president barack obama leads a tribute to the late south african president nelson mandela on the eve of what

would have been his one hundredth birthday it's obama's the highest profile speech since leaving the white house. i'm still going to welcome to the program u.s. president donald trump has made a spectacular turnaround on remarks he made that he's a summit with russia's vladimir putin speaking as a cabinet meeting a little earlier he said he accepted russia had meddled in the u.s. election and said that he misspoke yesterday when he said he saw no reason for russia to interfere here's some of what he said. just want to clear up. the strongest respect for our intelligence agencies headed by my people we have great people whether it is. their.

president trump has been saying and doing this from washington is ishaan foreign affairs correspondent with the washington post welcome to the president trump but now says russia did interfere in the twenty sixteen he also went on to say they could be other people also what did you make of what he had to say. well it's a very clear and deliberate back track track given the i think even though this administration has been surprised by the venom and almost unanimously of the of the backlash that trump has received here you have a host of republican politicians decrying trump's comments yesterday you have former aides in his own white house speaking out against what he said so it's been a really far reaching reaction and i think they're a bit stunned and chastened by it so these are remarks that trump felt obligated to make now whether you believe it is another thing altogether he has quite clearly

sounded his talking points in the meeting in helsinki in a press conference in helsinki sort of diverting the conversation to the election against hillary clinton pointing to certain conspiracy theories on the right about the leaks you know this is there is no secret to what his real beliefs were during this press conference where he was really you know decrying what he calls a witch hunt that was the last word that he gave us witch hunt so his we know how he feels about the investigation into russia isn't going to get twenty sixteen we know how he feels about the specter of russian interference hanging over his own electoral victory so we'll see whether you know this backtracking makes much of a difference the damage certainly has already been done and so now president putin watches this says yesterday we were best mates today what's going on what you think that the likely response from moscow is. well i think you know if you i was just in

moscow last weekend you know if you talk to russian officials and others in the russian media they have had a much more calm approach to this summit say we have in the united states they had very few expectations for what the summit would deliver there is a sense that the u.s. russia relationship is in rather deep freeze and that for all of trump's conspicuous cuddliness with putin. the rest of the united states political apparatus the tribe ministration itself has not been particularly friendly towards moscow either and so they think that this is just the beginning of a very long road toward some kind of rapprochement. and at the same time you know while trump. islands i don't think there's very much of a sense of concern here this is obviously the whole question of collusion and russian interference plays up rather dramatically united states but it's not really

in the conversation in russia of course this is a president who has not traditionally a back track of how much damage do you think has been done. it depends on who you talk to of course. in the united states were living in an incredibly polarized moment where anything the president does is seen in an incredibly filtered through very filtered lens republicans by and large have back to mco on a host of issues democrats. move from one outright outrage cycle to the next and that really want to sara lee change of course trump has certainly lost in many ways the republican establishment he's lost the foreign policy establishment in washington but he hasn't politically suffered for that too much we'll see that that happens in the in the months to come good talking to you thanks for joining us on the roof from the washington post thank. u.s. president barack obama has paid tribute to nelson mandela centineo of the former

south african leaders because in his most high profile speech since leaving office mr obama used the annual nelson mandela lecture to urge people around the world to emulate the anti-apartheid figurehead despite an even progress in south africa itself. most blacks in south africa live in townships like this one official letter is hoping that barack obama's visit here will show the world that south africa is still a developing country that feeling of yes we can it was like more t.v. dealing everybody to give or you can do use the same applies to neighbors and when they were. around ten thousand people listened to obama's speech in a stadium in johannesburg. the tickets were free a famous managed to get one yellow came to embody the universal aspirations

of this disaster people all around the world their hopes for a better life. and perhaps shared by many here a fair says obama is a man after his own heart especially when he speaks about dashed hopes. it is a plain fact that racial discrimination still exists in both the united states and south africa that the accumulated disadvantages of years of institutionalized oppression of created yawning disparities of face and that says inequality has to be eliminated once and for all he hopes that obama uses his political clout to help south africa achieve that the it's good move from a journalist i thought it to vets he's an associate editor at business insider south africa and joins us from johannesburg welcome to day to you i talk us through some of mr obama's key points. it was an interesting speech superior rousing speech

at times and it was mike's folksy but i think one thing that stood out for us as it's always welcomed this challenge of yes yes. south african of course has you it. praised and certainly also may have this effect but because. the use of this french would have changed coming in very very misses of the early days of president barack obama's term in the united states and south african seem to be relating to him and that seems weak we see him as an inspirational figure in a lot of what he said it's home with some africans. and there were lots of not so veiled references to donald trump. indeed they were sometimes it was hard to tell whether obama was talking about south africa or a box that the united states we have many of the same problems the issues of nationalism which seem to be resurgent issues of xenophobia that he spoke quite

seriously about issues of fake news and politicians simpy making things up and he spoke about social tools such as twitter once seen as a forceful good now apparently increasingly dividing us you know again these are issues as different as about two countries on these really are issues that have to cross but the united states and south africa today and as the country prepares to mark nelson mandela day out of us that sent nelson mandela. is he still relevant in modern south africa as young voters grow up and they still look to him as a figurehead. some do not some see also modellers a man who sold out a man who left white people in charge. of south africa and some will say straight out they have no respect. for many others young and old and i suspect for the majority of south africans he does still as obama said he bodies the spirits of non

racialism of doing good of liberal progressive ideals over all perhaps useful seniors as a positive influence but we aren't quite sure where that legacy might be going in the future could talking to thanks for joining us for the vet from a business insider in south africa. the united nations migration agency says almost fifty one thousand migrants across the mediterranean to europe so far this year as less than half the number that made the perilous journey two in the same period in twenty seventeen while the numbers are down plenty still dream of a new life in your state of these funny fish are the thoughts from tunis here many people who fail to make the crossing once vowed to try again before others there is no second chance hardly anyone visits this place on the tunisian coast on their descent here are during main so women children and young men they

drowned in the mediterranean chasing an uncertain dream a dream off life in europe. their stories lie buried with them in these makeshift graves no names no identities no headlines across from the sea over there in europe the focus has shifted from whole to help migrants too hard to keep migrants here. he wants to give them dignity dean is a fisherman here near to tourist hot spot of saturday's he has buried the remains of three hundred people to stop the crossings europe has proposed the creation of so-called disembarkation platforms in north africa they are migrants would be able to apply for asylum. isn't impressed. with the machines europe doesn't care about these people whether they're alive or dead building reception centers isn't a solution instead europe should give people the wealth that was stolen from them.

to. a beach near to cemetery this is where fisherman discovered a washed up bodies. wants to find them before the local children do i'm on my way to a nearby migrant center where some of those rescued to find temporary refuge there i meet the desha from the democratic republic of congo four months she was a sex slave in libya she tells me. when they discovered i was pregnant they let me go. oh no i don't want to stay here engine is i want to go to europe. tunisia has no functioning asylum system and it has to not only deal with migrants passing through but also with increasing numbers of its own youth who dream of a brighter future these young men died trying to reach italy wooden seven thousand tunisians try to cross the mediterranean last year while i was one of them he

invites me to his home to share his story. and hurt them of a man. is no hope here. nor alive it's all the same we don't have any jobs or future nothing in this country kills our dreams that's why i want to escape. the well survive several boat accidents in the mediterranean but he's undeterred he wants to try again. if i stay here in tunisia i have zero hope. in europe at least have a chance to hit. europe doesn't want to take migrants like well so who exactly is responsible for those rescue at sea. we have to stop treaty migrants like hostages and using them as political leverage we have to stop treating them as a tool with which to get money from europe and we have to be humane with them and

guarantee them no rights or freedom of movement. tunisia's government has repeatedly said it does not want to be the gate keeper for migrants trying to reach europe caught in limbo thousand see trying to lock on the mediterranean as the only option the spite the dangers. it's funny the shock of course and just time to remind you of our top stories at this hour here on the dock the u.s. president donald trump has backtracked on remarks he made as a summit when the russian leader vladimir putin after intense criticism he said he supported u.s. intelligence agencies and accepted that findings that russia did meddle in the twenty sixteen presidential election. i'm sold but u.s. president barack obama has described nelson mandela as one of history's true giants he was speaking as an event like you said in the centenary of the anti-apartheid

icon is but. that's it you're up to date at the top of the hour in the meantime of course as always the website that's the w dot com a lot of. climate change. waste. pollution. isn't it time for a good. go at africa people and projects that are changing our environment for the better it's up to us to make a difference if you could go. to see long d.w. .