this is the w.'s live from france and germany renew their vows the two countries sign a new pact to friendship and it reenergizing the european union as a time of crisis but is there any substance amidst the symbolism also on the program the taliban launches one of its deadly attacks in months that's making the car bomb as a military base in central afghanistan and killing dozens from the country's intelligence agency.

i'm still go welcome to the program germany and france have signed a new treaty and deepening bilateral cooperation german chancellor i'm going to mcaloon french president. for their names to the pact at a ceremony in the western german city of aachen through leaders committed to increasing cooperation in key areas including security and foreign policy chancellor merkel said the agreement was especially important at a time when populists are gaining strength in europe and both leaders said they hoped it would read in figuring the e.u. at a time of crisis. we live in very special times so for the first time a country is actually leaving the european union the united kingdom well why it matter less one has and is under pressure be it in climate issues trade to be it in the acceptance of international institutions all the way to acceptance of the united nations seventy four years as

a human life after the end of the second world war what seemed to great suddenly it would seem to be a matter of course is being put into question again unity solidarity cohesion these are the key will words of the treaty was signed. and europe would not survive if we were no longer united if we don't work for the new french german responsibility for your business to give it instruments for example when it comes to defense security . migration. and addressing environmental and digital transitions. more from. the hoffman who are welcome both let's start with you max hoffman germany and france already have a friendship trade say what they need a new one. it was the idea of french president call

the germans not necessarily would have said that they thought this was a great idea two years ago but the money remark all started so forcefully for example with his speech at the saw in two thousand and seventeen and for him this was a priority well it's a fact also that the old treaty is fifty six years old so as the german chancellor said today not necessarily adapted to our times and so this is how it came about so we had a customer what's going to change as a result sixty ages of warm words. well that's the big question now and what is remarkable is that it goes from big concepts like sharing defend offense like anti terrorism to rather small issues like border corp which of course is a big deal in the european context but it breaks down to learning languages. and which borders france becoming the first bilingual state here in germany even so there will be

a track record that is for sure but it was in it when it comes to big concepts like france actually standing in declaring as its own foreign policy to see germany take on a permanent seat in the u.n. security council that is a tall order and time will tell and probably the next couple of governments in both countries will tell whether these lofty aims will indeed be filled with action so much of what's in this for the you know this is a bilateral deal between germany and france does the e.u. benefit from it. you only functions really when the german french. is in full force if those two agree on something then in the past it was usually. not a huge problem to get the rest of the e.u. to agree to this this might have changed with the rift we've seen between western european countries and eastern european countries but still if you don't have friends and germany agree then you can't really agree on anything they're the most

important economies now with the british leaving the european union so this is extremely important at the same time of course it's also a certain danger and that is what the e.u. officials today here in the town hall that you can see behind us stress they said this needs to be an initiative that is in the broader context of the european union and that's also what i'm honoring my call and i'm going to back to underline here but not everyone seems to think this is such a great idea tell us about the opposition to this. and indeed in germany. as well in germany will have the far right a.f.d. cry foul saying that this is just an attempt to see german taxpayers' money being basically being shifted across the border and on the french side we heard from mocking the pen and the phone us you know concerns that this is an attempt to spreading its influence into france with more german speak is that even going beyond that so you can see that those populists and clearly this is also response

to populism as we heard. today crying foul over an agreement and with others like the green party in germany and the liberal blogs saying that this is simply not ambitious enough so a lot to prove to all sides that this really adds value not just to the bilateral relationship but also to europe as a whole what you. touched on it. outlines the opposition within. countries but. lots of countries are going to look at this and the idea of being bullied by these two major powers within your. germany and france can't really get it right if they don't do anything at all that everybody else complains that they're not doing enough if they do too much that everybody else feels bullied like i said before you need in the european union you do need the german french engine and it doesn't you know between the small

countries and the b. countries that's not necessarily the biggest rift we are seeing anymore it's between as i mentioned earlier between eastern europe and western europe that's much more important the smaller countries have had their fair share in the past so i don't believe this will have huge opposition because they also know if we want to go forward if we want to resist you know what's happening with gregg's it for example or nationalism we need those two on the same page. well kaufman. in fact you think. so look now at some of the other stories making news around the world former ukrainian prime minister yulia timoshenko has announced that she will be a candidate and much as presidential elections is to machine code was jailed for two and a half years over a gas deal with russia and what was largely seen as a politically motivated conviction. in moscow of course was ruled out a former u.s. marine detained on suspicion of spying will remain in custody pending trial. lawyer

says his client was tricked into taking possession of a flash drive containing russian state secrets. by two pilots were killed when their plane crashed into the front yard of a rural home in the u.s. state of ohio after taking off from a nearby private airfield local officials say initial reports suggest the plane had engine trouble. and dozens of people have been killed in a taliban attack on a military base in afghanistan there are conflicting reports about the death toll ranging from thirty six to well over one hundred but afghan officials have confirmed that many of those who died were members of the country's intelligence agency the attack that took place in mind and shot in a province not far from the capital kabul it comes despite efforts by the united states to negotiate an end to the country's seventeen year war. part flattened after a car loaded with explosives past three military checkpoint and detonated inside

the compound and officials say several gunmen then stormed the base opening fire at soldiers before being gunned dion themselves. it was around six o'clock there was a very big explosion and i thought they had been earthquake was very strong. it's the latest in want to become near daily assaults by the taliban who have been stepping up their attacks on government facilities in recent months to terror to by the harsh winter this time the taliban were able to breach the compound security barriers by using a vehicle they had captured from the afghan military some of the injured were taken to local hospitals for treatment more serious cases were sent some fifty kilometers away to the capital capital. the government is facing accusations that it's hiding the truth death toll so as to avoid further worsening morale among afghanistan's

already shattered security forces. straight to kabul that my would join journalist or. a welcome to dublin people are going to look at this and ask themselves how the taliban got past security for security on a military base to carry out such a devastating attack. this is always going to be the question people ask it's unfortunately not the first time that an attack like this has. happened what is interesting about this attack is that eight the attackers were allegedly wearing uniforms at the time which is agency and also that they had a military humvee in their possession this is worrying because in two thousand and seventeen and also two thousand and eighteen there were several reports of incidents where military humvees were used by the taliban and other groups to stage attacks and this is a big deal because people always one you know you hear that they get. what bins and

uniforms and things like that but how are they getting humvees how are they able to pack and pack them for so full of explosives and then bring them into these kinds of places and these questions never really get fully resolved and i think that's what really angers people. and comes as the taliban is actually taking potshots and us back to peace talks in qatar so what message is being said here i think we're told going to be very obviously very much it's they're saying that ok we have agreed to restart negotiations with you because for a while you know the did stop them with the negotiations with the u.s. what they're saying is basically we're going to negotiate with you but we're not going to give up our fight we're going to keep fighting and really keep trying to win this war it's a way of saying we're not you know our morale hasn't decreased we don't feel like we've already lost this war. so that's sort of the move that they're playing at

this point. the taliban now house control of about half of the country why is the government being so unable to stop. so that comes from reports from the special investigator and investigator general for reconstruction that figure and that includes control and influence so it's not necessarily a hundred percent control of the area and that there are several issues with this seem so many districts districts that i've been to myself where even within kabul within the province of kabul their district where within the district center there is a government presence but ten fifteen kilometers outside of that it is under opposition control of the provincial capital that is where the attack happened is a great example went on charges under government control that several of the districts in that province are out of government control and you will not see the soldiers on the road you will see. areas where they were landmine explosions and

things like that because of this very problem and one problem is obviously that even areas that the government does control even major cities there isn't necessarily security there aren't basic services and these are all things that you can take advantage of ok thank you so much for joining us in kabul. british prime minister theresa may is preparing to go back to brussels to try and renegotiate a deal it was resoundingly rejected by the u.k. parliament last week on monday siobhan what was supposed to be an alternative plan but critics say she failed to offer any new ideas despite ruling the option oddnesses mais facing mounting pressure from campaigners for a second referendum amongst its former british prime minister tony blair of the world economic forum in davos he told a d w correspondent ben physical and why he believes that new vote is necessary. the idea is to to change the withdrawal agreement obviously that's

a matter of negotiation between the british government and europe but look myself and others have been arguing in the u.k. that this process is is a mess. there's no agreement as to what the future trading relationship with europe should be one group of people want us to stay close to europe another group wants to break out of the european trading system altogether these are very different futures and our view is that it's got to go back to the people for decision because parliament i think will be blocked i doubt that she can get a deal through there's no bridge already for any other form of breaks it and therefore the sensible thing in this situation is to go back and ask the people former british prime minister tony blair speaking to. the world economic forum in davos switzerland now don't forget you can always get a w. news on the go download from google player from the apple store if you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any

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