this is c w news live from berlin and malaysia's once powerful prime minister faces trial on corruption charges. that stands accused of illegally pocketing billions of dollars and treating himself to some luxury toys funded by taxpayers. also coming up british prime minister to receive may have said that she can work with a donor rival to deliver resit with only nine days left to avoid a chaotic break particular opinion yet and to marking the nato military alliance is

seventieth anniversary president trapes warm words for the alliances leader and another rebuke for germany clubs how about being swept off your feet and feeling lighter than air it will take you to a party in the dear old gravity. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program the former prime minister of malaysia has gone on trial for his alleged role in a massive corruption scandal not because accused of misappropriating four and a half billion dollars from a state development fund if convicted of the charges the sixty five year old could face life in prison he was malaysia's prime minister for a decade and told losing last year's election he comes from a powerful political dynasty his father and grandfather both lead the country. and

our south east asia correspondent joins us now from bangkok for more on this story so. i mean this is the first of several trials that not just faces how wide ranging are the charges. well the charges range from money laundering abuse of power to criminal breach of trust and as you said this is only the first trial and in this trial seven charges are being brought against and if he's convicted on only one of them he could face up to twenty years in prison and considering the fact as you said sara that he's already sixty five years old when all of this is said and done and all the trials are over at some point it's not unlikely that he'll end up with a combined prison sentence if he's convicted on these charges that will place him behind bars for the rest of his life sara so given that how deeply has this case shaken up politics there in malaysia. well for

sure it's outraged many malaysians and you can see that because if you look back to two thousand and fifteen and when that when all this became public and that led to huge public protests and also in two thousand and sixteen in the last year it led to this historic election result which unseated the tsunami which is the ruling coalition or up to that point at least had been ruling malaysia for sixty one years and it's the first time there there was a change in power and interestingly enough it brought back former prime minister and former mentor of. mohammed in your force ran on the promise of draining the swamp before the sake of using that expression and to get to the bottom of this scandal zero. we know the current prime minister has promised to recover the stolen money it's billions of dollars has he been making good on

that vow. well the government is certainly trying to just now they sold off a luxury yacht that was allegedly bought with those embezzled funds and then sold it off for one hundred twenty six million u.s. dollars also when the police raided some of the properties a while back they recovered some three hundred million u.s. dollars worth of luxury items jewelry watches and also cash but that's all just a drop in the ocean because as you said there's four point five billion u.s. dollars that are missing and the malaysian finance minister has already admitted that realistically they're only likely to get around one third of that amount back their own. heartache thank you very much. a law has gone into force in the state of brunei today that makes gay sex and adultery

a capital offense is punishable by death the country's strictly applied islamic law has sparked an international outcry with the u.n. calling it cruel and inhumane the nies new penal code introduces death by stoning as a punishment for homosexual acts and adultery. the sultan of brunei that's hassan. well kiya he has commented on the international criticism against his country and this is what he had to say writhing in the gust and behold i got up tonight as a small nation we always prioritize our prayers to a lot. less driven by our national philosophy of a model a islamic monarchy that has existed for many hundreds of years. now earlier we spoke with phil robertson he is the deputy director of human rights watch is asia division and he said that international pressure could have an effect

on bone i. brunei is susceptible to international pressure i think that the boycott brunei effort will have some advocacy i do believe also that you know more hue and cry from the united nations and from other governments are going to certainly impact brunei's thinking about how to go forward with actually implementing this horrific law but if they decide to do it tomorrow if they line someone up they could certainly follow through and we would then face headlines across the world about someone being stoned to death in brunei. it was phil robertson earlier a pretty quick check now of some other stories making news around the world election votes in eight districts of istanbul are to be recounted after president recha type to want to make a party appeal the results the move comes after everyone's party was defeated by the opposition c.h.p. in the initial results the c.h.p. has criticised the appeal saying that the a.k.p.

is trying to steal the will of the people. the us city of chicago has elected its first black female and openly gay mayor laurie lightfoot defeated her opponent by a landslide the political novice told her supporters that they had created a movement for change issues of gun violence economic inequality and political corruption dominated her campaign. and an israeli civilian has shot dead a palestinian man in the occupied west bank the israeli army and a witness say that the men have been trying to stay out israelis near a military checkpoint a palestinian official has questioned israel's account of the incident. celebrations erupted across algeria last night as the president. announced his resignation algerians have held street demonstrations for weeks demanding that the eighty two year old not seek a fifth term on tuesday algeria's army demanded of think as and medium resignation

will. that the british prime minister theresa may is due to meet with opposition labor leader jeremy corbyn in a new push for a break that compromise after announcing that she would ask the e.u. for another delay beyond the april twelfth deadline after months of political deadlock is may indicating that she wants a closer relationship with europe after all the coming days perhaps coming hours could provide the answers. in london a potentially important shift to reason me says she wants another extension to the briggs it deadline and will seek political consensus to break months of parliamentary deadlock i'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try to agree a plan that we would both stick to to ensure that we leave the european union and that we do so with a deal the initial reaction from the labor party leader positive but cautious. of course i'm very happy to meet so we need to have

a discussion with the prime minister we need to ensure that parliament has an opportunity to vote on proposals that prevent us crashing out of the you in the end of next week. in paris another reminder from europe of the need for britain to decide soon the french president underlining that british interests are the only ones that conant. notebook clearly our priority must be for proper functioning of the european union and the single market. the e.u. shouldn't be held hostage to a political crisis if united kingdom on a long time basis. berlin too didn't hide its weariness with the ongoing stalemate in westminster. as a courtesy the result of the talks could be a renewal of article fifty but i can't comment coming. to be honest i don't want to comment. that we have to wait and see what the view is in london where.

we are long past the deadline they must know that in london next to. this this is a challenge over. the e.u. will have to agree any extension to the breaks that date france and germany are the only skeptical voices. let's bring in correspondent barrett mass who is in london so here to tell us could be as planned talks with the opposition be the decisive move that might break break the breaks a deadlock. they might break the deadlock but also it's not going to be easy we're reminded in prime minister's question when it's reason i had to answer to interventions of m.p.'s here in the parliament and someone from our own party from the conservative party has asked the. question whether it's what's worse and no deal britain crashing out of the european union without a deal or and i caught

a marxist and you see my lead government she was referring to the labor party which reason why it's going to speak to so and also i speak into labor m.p.'s earlier today and he was worried that to reason may's off was just a trap that she was using labor to get her do you through in the end but she wouldn't maybe stick to all the promises that she could make to jeremy corbyn and the cause of these negotiations so lots of worries though we do also have. assume that both leaders want to want to prevent a nodia brags that they don't want a scenario where there are no plans for the future and where there are possible food shortages and chaos at the border we have to assume that they are going to try to work together let's listen to what series a may herself said to parliament when she was explaining this move right minister. to the honorable gentleman the purpose of meeting with the leader of the opposition

today is indeed to look at those areas that we can we agree on i think there are actually a number of areas that we agree on in relation to that if i think we both want to deliver a leaving the you with a deal i think we both want we both want to protect jobs i think we both want to ensure that we end free movement i think we both recognize the importance of the withdrawal agreement and what we want to do now is to find a way forward to that can come on the support of this house and deliver on brics it deliver on the result of the referendum and ensure that people can continue to have trust in their politicians at doing what they are supposed to do. so a lot on the plate there as we can see what is the reaction to this news because of this possible cooperation between the prime minister and the opposition leader. well i think for ordinary british people not sure it's a very hopeful meet i think a lot of people are plainly worried because the twelfth of april is are already

next week people want to know can they still travel to europe businesses want to know on what basis are they going to trade with europe are they really going to be shipped food shortages is there going to be chaos at the borders soldiers out on standby do they have to intervene so people really want to know what's going to happen and they would look at their politicians with the intensity and hope that they can find a way out of this deadlock and we've seen so many votes we have to say in the british for. and in recent weeks on this issue of bribes that is it possible better get that we're now going to see parliament voting again until recently as budget deal. well yes it is very possible we don't know for sure but there is an assumption that the reason may will for another time draw and get palminteri behind had the and that maybe she uses these talks with gerry because of it also as a threat to her own party to the right of her own party to say if you don't now

vote for my idea because some of your own party haven't so far. if you don't do it now this is what breaks it's going to look like a sofa bragg's it it breaks it that i'm going to then have to stitch up with the labor party say yes very possible that we will see another vote. mass in london thank you. venezuela celtic where president juan why go is challenging authorities to arrest him after being stripped of his parliamentary immunity has been engaged in a power struggle with president nicolas maduro for months in january he proclaimed himself president a move immediately recognized by the united states germany and other countries. this is the constituent assembly of venezuela it was set up by president nicolas maduro in twenty seventeen to rewrite the country's constitution many venezuelans

consider the body illegitimate and more than forty countries do not recognize the assembly but it's these lawmakers loyal to madeira who have voted to strip the opposition leader and self-proclaimed president one who i don't know of his parliamentary immunity cheers and applause followed the decision. the constituent assembly as president. says the party unanimously voted to authorize the supreme court to prosecute quite a for breaching a ban on leaving the country in january. majoris supporters also want to be charged with inciting violence in his efforts to oust the president and for allegedly accepting funds illegally acquired isn't backing down. do you think that by continuing to threaten those with raids with disqualification with kidnapping by persecuting my political party or unity our fellow legislators that they are

going to stop was obviously they are wrong they are wrong because we are showing our face like always a mirror going to keep doing it until we achieve permanent freedom for the country . earlier on twitter go i dos said efforts to arrest him would have met with force hinting at international support more than fifty countries recognize quite a self-proclaimed presidency but he has yet to win the support of venezuela's military last week the auditor general's office announced it had stripped him of the right to hold office for the next fifteen years. you're watching news still to come on the program we will visit a party that picks up than just your spirits. but first the west largest and oldest military alliance nato is marking a milestone today it's seventieth birthday nato was created during the cold war to

protect europe from the soviet union and the warsaw pact following their collapse after the fall of the berlin wall nato has been redefining itself and recently u.s. president donald trump has been pressuring other member states and germany especially to hike their military spending more on that later but first this report . we were now proceed to the signing of the north atlantic treaty the seventy year old nato has faced examinations under harsh light this birthday it does have some concerns for its well being discomfort when something viral is going around occasional spikes in blood pressure should have never been allowed to happen but germany is totally controlled by russia and perhaps some self doubt that when push comes to shove its core is not as strong as it hoped to former u.s. ambassadors to nato research the biggest threat facing the alliance of seventy the

transatlantic consensus the absence of strong american presidential leadership nato secretary general young stolzenberg rejects that conclusion it's just not possible to say that the united states is not committed tonight because tonight the states is increasing their military contributions to nato he points to the latest example a new plan for the u.s. to forward position heavy work fighting equipment at a police airbase trump's rough treatment of the alliance particularly his incessant demand that governments spend more on defense has unnerved some europeans but this shake up some call it a shakedown by the u.s. president may have some benefits for nato i've never seen so many editorials in american newspapers praising below it's jamie shea spent almost four decades at nato as a spokesman but also an expert in what are called emerging security challenges and while dealing with russia and its hybrid worker tactics still top the list of

challenges for nato the now retired shay warns the alliance must look further afield to be fit for the future because obviously china is the rising power it's already in europe of buying up infrastructure influencing the future of all to officially televisions technology it's going to be a massively more important factor in determining twenty first century security to russia. or all googly any other country outside nature of but countries inside are shaping nato's future to the next enlargement will be to north macedonia which changed its name to settle a dispute with greece that earned an almost immediate invitation to join pending the approval of the other twenty nine allies they didn't waste their time they didn't drag their feet and that's remarkable for an organization of twenty nine members so i think that. it's not just our desire to join it's how nato has dealt with the challenge of enlargement that shows that this is

a strong forward looking and dynamic organization scope you hopes the alliance will prove this anniversary year that seventy is the new thirty. and bruno led to joins us now from brussels he is a defense and security analyst at the german marshall fund of the united states welcome to the program and i'd like to begin by asking you because we have now seventy years after its founding how do you see nato as biggest challenges going forward both internally and externally. well i think moving forwards nato may have to face three key challenges here first of all it's looking to the east over the past decade russia has increasingly been rolling its muscles it is freshening the eastern borders of europe and nato must respond to that it must respond to that on the one hand militarily and we see that nato has been looking at that but on the other hand nato has no choice but also to talk with russia and to

engage in diplomacy so as it is this fine balance between military response and diplomacy that nato will continue to face a challenge with that's step number one number two number two nato must also look south there are challenges emerging from the mediterranean region from the south held the madrid but also the middle east those are not necessarily challenges that need to be fixed with dying's or jet fighters these require a different response and there again nato is trying to do that and lastly for sure it's an internal challenge any alliance needs leadership whether it's european leadership or american leadership now for now nato has showed that leadership for the past seventy years but we should not take this for granted we should not take for granted that americans and europeans keep to agree on every single issue and that's for sure will continue to be a challenge in the future it let's talk a little bit more about that internal dynamic now because i mean lately we have really seen a lot of tension between the u.s. and nato when it comes to defense spending among allies president meeting

with nato secretary general last night he seemed a bit warmer this is what he said and i'd like to play it and get your reaction he said this in reply to a question from our washington bureau chief alexander phenomena about germany have a list. i'll be talking about you haven't talked about germany i mean germany obviously is not paying their fair share a great respect for uncle and i have great respect for the country my father's german right was german and born in a very wonderful place in germany so i have a great feeling for germany but they're not paying what they should be paying they're paying close to one percent and this supposed to be paying two percent then the united states over the years got to a point where it's paid four point three percent which is very unfair and the u.s. g.d.p. especially under me because the g.d.p. is going up so much because it's four point three of a much larger g.d.p.

so we're paying for a big proportion of nato which basically is protecting europe so we're protecting europe. now i mean this is the line we have to mention bernie that has not only been mentioned by president trump but also by his predecessors former u.s. presidents and you know this bickering that we're really seeing now though over defense spending has it been massed other important issues for the alliance. well the defense spending as you clearly said it has been an issue in the airlines for almost a decade. but if you ask me whether this has really been blocking important decisions in the airlines i don't think so we actually see that's over the past five six years nato has gone through great that they should internally and externally despite its allies perhaps bickering over money we still see the allies as able to function think about the troops that have been stationed in the baltics and poland

think about the actions that are today being discussed in washington to better protect the black sea region think about aid that is being provided to partner nations such as ukraine or georgia so yes the alliance is bickering over money but overall they agree over the strategic direction and they agree over actions that must be taken in a little joining us from the german marshall fund in brussels thank you. well now here is one way to get rid of that sinking feeling an event company seems to have teamed up with the european space agency it flies some lucky guests into earth's upper atmosphere and then literally speech them off their feet here's what it's like. how does it feel to be an astronaut in space. fifty celebrity guests at the zero gravity club found out at a party on board an airplane. musicians

artists social media stars and athletes from the world over check in at frankfurt airport for their adventure in white lessness. they head off to board the air bus i three ten which is normally used by astronauts for weightlessness training these passengers won't need a spacesuit though just a healthy dose of hardiness. at an altitude of eight thousand five hundred meters the fun begins first the passengers are way down at twice the force of gravity then suddenly they lift off. the procedure is then repeated the plane flies of course much like a roller coaster.

the organizers worked with experienced astronauts for the project. the microphone is in wait this now is when it goes from one one hundred the other if i jump like this. the time my feet out of the ground it's brought here above my head this is what we do with the aircraft in the event organizers specialize in unusual parties zero gravity class has brought the months of publicist this is the second weightless party they've thrown and it only lasts about six minutes. from. now the top stories that we're following for you here at g.w. the former prime. minister najib razak has gone on trial for corruption in malaysia he was accused of stealing billions of dollars from the southeast asian countries sovereign wealth fund and british prime minister theresa may says that she will ask the european union for another delay to britain's birds of deadline she's also

seeking help from opposition labor leader jeremy corbyn to find a way forward. coming up next on new news what is being done to protect these areas endangered giraffes to find out an eco africa you're watching t w news i'm sarah kelly in berlin thanks for watching. cut.

small consumer big changes. people possible won't be going to africa. fantastic. as they set out to. safe environments. to learn from one another. and work together for a better future. see for yourself. next d.w. . it's

all happening. pretty. sure link to news from africa and the world. your links to exception stories and discussions can you and will come to you to do such a clean program and from vani germany from the use of these eaves and i would say d w it comes much traffic up joy no something's good d.w. africa. to know that seventy seven percent. are younger than sixty five. that's me and me and. you know what time of course is. the seventy seven percent who talk about the issue. from politics to fashion from housing boom boom boom

town this is where. welcome to the seventy seven percent. for its people six g.w. . while going through a good africa the environment magazine brought to you by channels t.v. here in nigeria cuisines all copy god daughter bella in germany all young people i said so in the battle to the small.