this is g w news live from berlin the german chancellor says she will work to the last minute to prevent a no deal on the machall visiting our lead the e.u. state most vulnerable to possible brax of disruption but a delay to britain's exit now looks increasingly likely also coming up. a rebuke for president who won in turkey's local elections we've reported from

istanbul where a recount is underway to decide whether air to launch party has lost its twenty five year grip on power. plus is he fit to face trial in new zealand court orders psychiatric tests for the christchurch shooting suspect. toxic air cutting lives short in a new study says child children born in india china and other countries across the region are risk of deadly diseases linked to air pollution. i'm brian thomas a very warm welcome to the show a flexible twelve month delay to that is the proposal that european council president all tossed. is ready to offer london if it helps break the deadlock over

the terms of britain's departure and avoid thereby a no deal scenario the plan would allow britain to leave the bloc sooner if its parliament approves the withdrawal deal the british prime minister has agreed with the new british lawmakers have rejected that agreement three times talks between may's ruling conservatives and the opposition labor party are set to continue in a bid to break that impasse the u.k. is due to leave the bloc in just a few days on april the twelfth. this is. it is also top of the agenda in ireland where german chancellor on a macro held talks yesterday there are concerns that a no deal outcome could have dire consequences there especially for the delicate peace process in northern ireland merkel drew on her own personal experience with the berlin wall to show solidarity with the people of that country. whom welcome

the timely house with german chancellor i'm going to knock over dublin since she has been a strong and unwavering to and i have done and throughout the great surprise have. been diminished prime minister of iraq held a round table talks on what could happen if the person leaves the e.u. downside deal the focus was on the border between north and ireland and the republic of ireland. knuckle true on her own past experience with full edges in her support of fair and calm. it was a musical most i'm not personally come from a country that was separated by a wall for many years into the minds on the thirty four years i lived behind the iron curtain and such when i know what it means when walls fall and when borders disappear the good side good and so i'm aware of the need to do all we can meet to uphold the peaceful coexistence here for which. if so many lives were sacrificed.

fleecy this is already modified. the irish borders separates northern ireland which is part of the u.k. from the republic of ireland which will remain a member of the e.u. the brics it at the moment there is no physical border between the two the absence of a hard border is essential part of the nine hundred ninety eight good friday peace agreement between the republic of ireland and the u.k. which ended decades of fine and. prime minister for a car laid out islands priority is. the good. we have to compare ourselves for all that comes. with that in mind we discussed planning european and domestic level for no deal thank you to how we can work together to meet our twin objectives of protecting the good friday agreement on which peace in our it is based and also protecting the

integrity of the european single market in the course and seeing. their comments follow a debate with fifteen people from both sides of the border about the impact a no deal scenario would have on their lives she didn't give any indication of what overly microscopic but she started to weigh the board of the course and you never think of markets across the aisles of our country economies is the way after twelve north and. the two leaders will consider further brics it developments ahead of a special european council summit next week. and we have some breaking news on coming in right now british prime minister theresa may has written to u.s. officials to say that the u.k. is making preparations to take part in the upcoming european union elections those are coming up in may let's get more live from. in brussels there are what can you tell us. well what i can tell you is that due to recent has informed donald tusk in

a letter that is a total of three pages and i'm looking at it right now that the u.k. is preparing. for the european elections seeing that she is asking for a longer extension a longer then today in a week's time that is the time the e.u. has given so far unless she would participate in the european elections then she could get a longer extension for bracks it and that is apparently what the british prime minister is heading for she is asking in that letter that the united kingdom proposes that this period for an extension should end on thirty's of june two thousand and nineteen so it is slightly longer than what the e.u. has in visit for a longer extension and we'll have to see if you leaders on a special summit next week can agree to such a deadline she says in this letter as well that if she manages to ratify a deal until then that period could and further but she informs basically the

european council that there are doubt looking at a longer extension and that they hands prepare for european elections in case even that deadline doesn't work out ok can you give us some perspective on these details you're just picking up now again how do they fit in to the current state of breck's it goes ations. well clearly and that is what the reason may says in this letter this impasse can not be allowed to continue the u.k. has reached a position where it's basically in a deadlock even cross party talks it seems cannot deliver results cannot deliver an agreement on the deal that is on the table on the deal that theresa may has worked out with the european union for an orderly breck's it and seeing that all sides the u.k. and the e.u. are very keen to to end this to have a brac sit and all of the press it with a deal she's now looking for a way forward but to make for the consensus and to look for

a way out of the star lemma she says she will now need an extension and i talked to a diplomat a couple of weeks ago and said can he in visit any situation where the e.u. would say no to an extension because the u.s. made clear if you want a longer extension give us a good reason and it looks to me like that's a good reason we'll have to be that theresa may look for a way out ok that breaking news they're being analyzed for us by your mother's in brussels love more on that throughout the day thanks very much gary. let's check in with some of the other stories now around the world where he leaks says its founder julian assange is to be expelled from the ecuadorian embassy in london the whistleblower website tweeting that ecuador has an agreement with britain for assad just arrest a senior ecuadoran official has denied that claim massage has been holed up in that embassy since two thousand and twelve to avoid extradition to sweden on allegations

of rape. u.s. aviation giant boeing has revealed the company's grounded seven thirty seven max airliners are suffering from an additional software problem regulators say must be fixed before that aircraft can be cleared to fly again assault the problem relates to software affecting the flaps and other flight control hardware. tensions are mounting in libya as forces loyal to militia leader khalifa haftar advance towards tripoli city is the scene of the country's un backed government the offensive marks an escalation of the power struggle that's been raging in libya since the overthrow of market off the eight years ago. is to turkey now or officials are recounting votes in that country's largest city istanbul after president rich attire baritones a key party demanded that results be checked the main opposition narrowly won the city in municipal elections last weekend but the a.k.p.

is protesting is istanbul ols a special significance for the turkish president this is where his rise to power began you leon as more. the bags in this gym contain thousands of ballots cast in sunday's local elections in istanbul. matthew tena a politician with the opposition c.h.p. has spent days here to keep a watchful eye on that being written about pick your of argument why do we keep watch to prevent the ones party from replacing the voting bugs because it's done that before they have a lengthy record of this we have a sole purpose of securing people's rights and making sure no one is cheated we will not allow anyone to do this. for president reagan tired out one last weekend's election was one of his heaviest setbacks in his islamic group to take a county want to majority of votes nationwide but according to initial results the

opposition has won key urban centers including the capital ankara and istanbul a city of more than fifteen million. billboards like this one have gone up in istanbul since election night president add on and his candidate for mayor bin ali gives room thanking the public for their votes but actually they're facing defeat here and if confirmed this would be a stunning setback for add on himself who gained power after being mayor of istanbul in the one nine hundred ninety s. . preliminary results in istanbul give the opposition candidate crimean mamu a narrow lead of the about twenty five thousand votes the a.k.p. now alleges irregularities in miscounting it has pushed through a recount of the votes in several districts. pro-government turkish media described the opposition's unexpected success in drastic terms they liken the election to a coup blame foreign powers for meddling in turkey's internal affairs. of the a key

pieces such accusations are exaggerated but he also emphasizes the boat was not a blow for the president until let's not forget that this election was our local elections uprooting this resolves as a general election almost like a referendum on president would be wrong but even if you do that the party and our party has got fifty two percent of the popular vote in this country so we have lost some cities. and anything but maybe a few cities will be a humbling point for us. but voters say the results and the signal to president add one quest to find an answer to turkey's economic crisis. like the i k p deserve this result i support the party but it was dishonest with the people feel so this is what they get. this gives me hope it shows

people finally woke up and took a stand still in part on their videos the man. didn't lose that much the politicians understood they made some mistakes no they're speaking in a different tone and showing more respect. the opposition hopes it's election victory will soon be officially concerned it's candidate a crimean mammal has already changed his title on twitter to mayor of istanbul. meanwhile his fellow party member mahmoud to tanada will keep an eye on the ballots and money toward the recount as long as it takes. now as nato marks its seventieth anniversary this week the alliance has stated that one of its main challenges is the threat from a more assertive russia at a meeting in washington nato members approved measures to counter russia in the

black sea region including increased naval cooperation with georgia and with ukraine our correspondent always on a phenomena spoke about future nato missions with the director of policy planning at the u.s. state department. how much of this threat is russia still posing to nato members yes we would of course to cooperate with russia but the discussions that we've had with nato partners in the past couple of days underscore the fact that russia's behavior and acts in crimea. violating the territorial and political sovereignty of its neighbors and we go back to georgia in two thousand and eight is still important for all of us but there are other factors as well the way that russia seeks to undermine in the gray zone and to hybrid conflict below the level of armed warfare it's something that the nato partners have discussed in the last couple of days so i think there is a common understanding that the sanctions that the u.s.

has supported with nato against russia in ukraine are significant and and must continue i think there's really been little daylight about our understanding of the nature of the threat that nato faces not just from russia but from around the globe and that's really been the core of what we've talked about a day to day today and then the past couple of days and have a topic that continues to occupy the alliances burden sharing and president's tromso constant criticism has rattled european allies is the us administration i'll help you with increasing the defense spending among nato members that's what the president says and in fact he said so in his meeting with the nato secretary general and the. importantly the nato secretary general himself in the first ever presence before the u.s. congress talked about this very fact in his speech that nato's increased defense spending under the kind of pressure from the us president has been

a force for good in the nato alliance i think it's led to a deeper understanding of the threats we face it's not just about money but it's about being prepared for threats and it's being being prepared in a way that tells all potential challengers that we they should they should mess with nato germany has been repeated singled out in this context by the u.s. president at the same time opinion polls show that the vast majority of germans have little trust in us in the u.s. president and in the u.s. administration in your opinion how deep is the damage to the you asked judgment relations. that's a hard one for me because i'm such a great friend of germany i've been there many times and i understand our deep historic ties and i think they will endure you have to remember that nato and the western alliance the g seven over the decades if you look back they've been periods

of friction periods of disagreement but the alliance has endured and that's important perhaps were in one of those patches but i think the americans and germans at least from the american diplomatic perspective germany's been a core ally on so many fronts you've stood alongside us in the twenty first century in numerous conflicts and i think you know where i'm a tour family of western nations committed to similar values this is what happens in a mature family that has a commitment to similar values we don't always agree on the pathway to the outcomes that we want but i think we're united and outcomes are united in value. and what the president has to try to do with this idea of america first is also say let's make sure that our interest prevail and then try to find common ground there even when there are some divergence so i think the u.s.

german relationship is one that will endure thank you very much think you. have a scar and skinner of the u.s. state department would use all exhaust from naaman well as nato marks seventies out of her screen overwhelming majority of germans think it is as vital as ever a nationwide poll asked if nato is important in order to secure peace in europe eighty two percent that's four out of five people polled said they agree to that only fifteen percent disagree. so strong backing for nato here in germany for analysis i'm joined by political correspondent keith pretty good morning kate it looks like nato is as relevant as ever on both sides of the ladder certainly just particularly in germany and if you take these steps that we saw just now at face value it seems as though you couldn't have more all the oil a nato member gemini and germans do have a very close relationship to nato it's been a big part of the post-war post-war identity and they have

a sense of historical debt as well it's a nightmare particularly when it comes to the role that it played during the cold war but this is a topic which is being high in the minds of by politicians on the public there essentially exactly and it's there's this debate as well at the moment as to how the bonus back can get more people to join the military why the buns fashion be going into schools and so at the same time germany's history whilst actually playing a huge role in its cultural identity and relationship with nato it's also hinted it in its development of all participation in military operations or course gemini has been very reluctant to at least participate in front line military operations and that's only really changed over the past couple of decades of course they have been participate in several for ration if you take the balkans of afghanistan for example but there is still very much

a cultural and political reluctance to participate in active frontline military operations there's a real divergence there will be talking about that germany is of course one member of a large nato alliance that has twenty nine members are all committed to spending two percent of g.d.p. on their military to reach that goal germany would have to increase its military budget significantly one posters as germans where the country's military budget should be increased to two percent of g.d.p. here's what they had to say only forty three percent answered. i agree but now this is a very important but but a majority of people in germany fifty three percent well they're opposed to this increase in military spending so how do you square that circle the germans akkad so reluctant to open their wallets to provide for their own defense in spite of the fact that a vast majority support collective defense support that kind of military exactly and this is becoming

a huge book about among those of the nato member states and mice vocally why herring this complaint from from the us from the us president donald trump particularly when it comes to the recommendation that nato member states spend two percent of the g.d.p. over the course domestic product on defense spending now last year gemini spend one point three percent to one point two three percent sorry of its g.d.p. on defense spending and to at least the latest budget they now plan to increase that up to one point five percent by two thousand and twenty four with the aim of reaching that two percent target in an unknown time frames of course the demand is growing by and this is a recovering issue particularly in time to transatlantic relations between germany and the u.s. and they certainly causing some issues and there was a rather embarrassing moment at least for germany this week in polman as well when it's actually when its own nato strategy which plans to strengthen its role and its

attitude towards naysayer that was actually very narrow really not really passed so this certainly is an issue that is not going to be going away anytime soon the vote reflected in the poll we just saw there keep brady thanks very much it's to new zealand now we're a court has ordered the suspect in the christchurch mosque shootings to undergo a psychiatric exam that assessment will determine whether he's fit to face trial for mass murder. around twenty five relatives of victims and some survivors of the massacre travelled to the courtroom in christ church. the accused twenty eight year old australian brenton tyrant appeared by video link he's being held in new zealand's only high security prison in oakland. he looks all right he doesn't he doesn't want anything he looks very fit. and

eventually i don't care about rules tribulation loss. my mum the family of the family here that i want to go to when i. can but i want to do it anymore the alleged shooter is facing fifty charges of murder and another thirty nine of attempted murder experts say the case is unprecedented in the country's history. of terrorism. and the county. justice system i think just the system and of course how well i. and the prices from here on and at the end of the twenty minute hearing tyrant was remanded in custody and till mid june. now to a problem plaguing more and more urban areas air pollution and its impact on our health some alarming numbers have just been released on average

a child born today will have its life expectancy shortened by twenty months due to toxic air now that's according to the health effects institute in their latest report the state of global air now when you break things down region by region you can see how asia stands out in south asia today children will lose an average of thirty months of their lives on east asia that the years somewhat lower twenty three months now that is though five times higher than the situation in north america where in western europe. pollution is now a bigger killer in asia than malaria or road accidents this is almost as bad for you a smoker and that especially applause the child. donning a face mask part of the morning routine for many school kids in delhi where toxic smog and go off the city for much of the year. some days twenty times about the

w.h.o. that recommended limit for dangerous fine particles in the air. india is home to fourteen of the world's most polluted cities. exposure to air pollution cuts the life expectancy of kids there by two and a half years by increasing their risk of chronic heart and lung disease among other illnesses. delis toxic air hit home for one mother when her young son fell ill i also felt that my son was falling sick a lot with the pollution you know he was getting a lot of these allergic coughs. and they said that there might either be delays that there the problem is really alarming. in china the entire population breathes air that exceeds the w h o's safety standard. toxic air accounted for one point two million deaths in china in two thousand and seventeen. air pollution has dropped in recent years due to government efforts to curb emissions. but this time lapse in

beijing shows the blankets of smog that worry many parents. the doctor says she's sick because of small and she was in the hospital for six days because of this i just picked her up. to the north and mongolia's capital long but tar a reliance on coal for heating has turned the air hazardous families are making hard choices. this mother makes a three hour round trip each week to see her daughter who now lives with her grandparents in the countryside under doctor's orders after two bouts of pneumonia i mean as a mune system couldn't cope with the city air. i think she got sick because of the smoke. we were surrounded by and. now she has in fresh air she hasn't gotten sick. she will get

a sniffle here and there but that usually passes easily. just as there exodus a stark warning for the future of much of asia's urban areas choking on dirty air. this is date of years coming up on our business but it dawned me slowing around the world one person remains very upbeat president trump pledging a trade deal with china he says could be epic. jones we'll have that in just a minute. it's

like a huge laboratory. experiment. india. a society changing fast. progressive ideas. vicious plan. also serious conflict. looking toward the future.

credible but jim. in forty five minutes long t.w. . i'm not laughing at the gym well i guess sometimes i am but most am nothing with the time of day but i don't think deep into the german culture up here new did seem ridiculous drama they owe you because it's all about who they know i'm right so join me i mean think of the funky company. the city in ruins borrowing. symbol of a long conflict in the philippines. between the muslims and the christian population. last finance funspot you heard the city center seventeen president to tears his response was told. by the current.

football team. the reconquest turned into tragedy. this is not the kind of freedom that we want. how did know we become a deep way to islamist terror until now the same sort of gun i did was sitting as the result of an exclusive report from a destroyed city. philippines in the sun. starts it will live on g.w. . it'll be an epic deal but it'll take another four weeks that's what u.s. president donald trump told the world following a meeting with the chinese vice premier in washington we'll talk to a u.s. political advisor to find out what's going on. also coming up some sun rose.