post. this is t w news coming to you live from the european union delays bragg's it again but with a stern appeal to the u.k. . this time. britain now has until the end of october to approve a divorce deal with brussels will that be enough for british prime minister theresa may to win the parliamentary backing that so loses her so far also coming up the people of india have begun voting in the biggest election in the world has ever

seen nine hundred million people are able to build a boat believe deciding the future of the prime minister's number. plus south korea's highest court rules on whether to uphold a law that bans abortions but is frequently ignored. also coming up difficult decisions here in germany about down's syndrome lawmakers are debating whether to ease access to early detection blood testing or the genetic condition nine out of ten german women choose to terminate such pregnancies. oh i'm terry martin good to have you with us the european union has agreed with britain to extend the brakes at deadline by more than six months to october thirty first the deal was struck during late night talks in bro. sparing the u.k.

from a no deal to poor parcher at the end of this week friday mr theresa may says she aims to leave as soon as possible may is back at it again today with an address to british m.p.'s trying to break the political log jam that has blocked brags that so far. british prime minister to resign may returning to the e.u. summit to hear the response of the other twenty seven nations may request a delay to the brakes a deadline to prevent the u.k. from crashing out of the e.u. on friday the decision came after five hours of deliberations an extension until the end of october if need be and european council president donald tusk said he had a message for british lawmakers. this extension this as flexible as expected . a little bit shorter than they expected but that's still enough. to find the best possible solution. to not waste this time.

but there are conditions if the u.k. cannot find a way to exit the e.u. before the twenty second of may britain will have to take part in the e.u. parliamentary elections don't put off the most they will probably be european elections in the united kingdom that may seem old but rules being rules we have to respect european law but. since many in the u.k. will be furious about the possibility of being involved in another round of the e.u. elections to reason may said she was fully aware of this and that she wanted to get the deal done as quick as possible. so i know that there is huge frustration from many people that i had to request this extension the u.k. should have left the e.u. by now and i sincerely regrets the fact that i have not yet been able to persuade parliament to approve. which which allows the u.k.

to be in a smooth and orderly way. german chancellor angela merkel took a softer tone than some leave is that the talks she said she was pleased with the outcome and stressed the importance of making sure the process was not done to high stilly dog. i think it's important that we don't put any pressure on britain here. we do have very clear requirements the e.u. has to continue to function properly and we have to have the means to ensure the withdrawal agreement is that here too. but the actual date is not all that important. just be you leaders say they will meet in june to review the progress made by british lawmakers to reason may on the other hand now has to face the british house of commons on friday. morning let's cross over to barbara bass all who is standing by for us in brussels and in london we're joined by their

get from us good morning to you both barbara to you first we heard john thought you could expressing satisfaction with the result but getting that agreement wasn't easy was it. it really wasn't easy during the night there was a feeling that france might even sort of come out and veto the green mint because the president kept out sending aides was rather hard line messages like there could still be a chance for no deal breck's it and this isn't over yet and from german diplomats you could hear that there was this time serious trouble between france and germany so all this was not just for show president really was had come to the summit to sort of put out a very hardline message that is mostly for domestic consumption for his own audience at home to show the french that he is being tough against the british which is a very traditional thing to do for french presidents as we know looking back into

history however in the end everybody tried to help mccrum climb down from the tree here had sort of gone up on and in the end it came to that very typical european solution a compromise to get in london british prime minister theresa may has got an extension but is this the extension she was really looking for. put reason may it's going to be very very problematic to have to fight the european elections that's really not a good look for her and many in the conservative party really despise her for having dragged the party into that then again she's treading a fine line she doesn't want to leave the european union without a deal so as you know that she needs more time to get something together here in london something that passes muster in the house of commons here behind me so she needs an extension she wanted a shorter one but she's got what she got and she's repeated no deal is better than a bad deal for

a long time but now it looks here in london that she really wants to get a deal and for that she just needs to adhere to what the european what the european union has has also to do. barbara what about those parliamentary elections there been a lot of questions surrounding that whether britain gotten an extension weathered have to still take heart given that it doesn't even want to be in the european union how likely is it that the u.k. will have to take part in those upcoming elections next month it isn't perfect terry quite likely because three of them may right after easter and we have to remember that tomorrow the rich problem and rises and disappears into easter recess so they have all the time in the world if she can manage to sort of come up with a miracle in the four weeks after easter yes indeed it's all this time is just running away with talks and talks again and no results and so on and so forth so she will have to take part of britain will have to take part in european elections

and then what happens is that these parliamentarians will be elected that's what the lawyers of the european union have adamantly stated we can't make an exception just because a country has said oh we'd rather like to leave but they are still in fact member of a member state so they have to behave like a member state there's no way that. if they manage then maybe to leave in june or july the parliamentarians will have been then they will go home and say goodbye it was nice to have met you and it'll be all over so that is a possibility but it is quite likely that britain will effect have to fight these elections and will have to vote on these selections and of course the tories for their good has just said it's not a good look if they face a wipe out it is also very difficult probably fall what will happen then on the european stage afterwards figure out how this is going down the hall and downing

street in london or breaks it tears up an arms briefly if you can. yes they are up in arms there are parliamentarians who have already also for tourism a to go and they will look very closely at what her next steps are what is she going to do is she she's talking to the labor party but is she going to give into their demands for a customs union if she does that they'll be really they'll be so incensed that they will ask her had to go as soon as possible so for her to really get this idea over the line that brussels is hoping for that most people here in the u.k. are hoping for it's not going to be either that's for sure. thank you so much to get mass there in london and in brussels our very own thank you both. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today sudan's

state media says that country's military forces will soon make an important statement as thousands of people continue a sixth day of protests calling for president omar al bashir to step down the announcement is fueling speculation of a coup attempt could be under way against bashir who has ruled sudan for thirty years. australian prime minister scott morrison has announced a general election on may eighteenth to be constitution says the election must take place about that but polls show morrisons a conservative coalition grayling the opposition labor party tactically climate change and inequality looks set to loom large in the future it's thought to india now where voting is under way in the world's biggest parliamentary election nearly nine hundred million indians are eligible to vote to neighboring them to do so is a mammoth logistical operation that's why there isn't just one election day instead

voting takes place in seven phases across different regions from the eleventh of april to the nineteenth of may according to election guidelines voters should have to travel no further than two kilometers to cast their vote so one million polling stations will be set up across the country to reach voters in even the remotest areas once voters in every constituency have cast their vote the results are due to be announced on may twenty third for more now let's cross over to delhi sagna fall is standing by she's closely tracking this election for us sania voting in the world's biggest democracy is getting underway there but it's a massive logistical undertaking what's at stake here politically. well terry i think above all this election really boils down to

a referendum on one man and that is prime minister of britain there in the movie now in the last five years he's really dominated the political landscape in india like no other he is adored by many here are for what you don't really see as his hard work its integrity his honesty but to this critics he remains a usually polarizing and design a divisive figure who really threatens the sake of a secular fabric off india now this election campaign which is that unusually personality driven has really been all about him or that you know he's been the face office party in this government he's been he's a tireless campaigner he's been growing huge crowds there's been lots of more the motion is floating around t. shirts mosques even a t.v. channel dedicated to screening of speeches so i think about all this election is a referendum on this kind of catastrophic strongman leader and whether he can really live up to the total promises he made off a new india when he was elected five years ago. for many in india the elections are

a referendum on this man prime minister. modi came to power in two thousand and fourteen after a landslide victory but this time around things might not be as clear cut. although polls suggest the fiercely nationalist modi will hold on to the premiership the main opposition party led by rahul gandhi is in the ascendancy. after a disastrous general election result five years ago gandhi's congress party was jubilant recently after winning back three key states from modi's b j p in regional elections. and they have promised to prioritise the single biggest issue for voters the lack of jobs there schmidt in this country in every state young people are searching for jobs wherever you go and ask a young person what they're doing they reply i'm not doing anything that they'll get there quickly got there. it's

a giant challenge while the indian economy has gathered strength under modi it has struggled to generate enough jobs especially for the country's young people. more than half of indians are aged twenty five or under and some twelve million enter the workforce each year. the recent spike in tensions between india and pakistan in kashmir however has put another issue on the agenda national security and that may well play into the hands of now render modi and his hindu nationalists. the prime minister has started himself as the watchman protecting his country by being strong on defense tough on terror in the army they are wrong there to be players in the brig opt out this is our new india this yr don't need hear that phrase returned to them aired out by dares rybin there's.

if the pall of nationalism proves strong enough in this election modi supporters may well be celebrating come the twenty third of may. so here tell us how much of a factor is hindu nationalism the which of course is the party of the prime minister is a hindu nationalist party has sensibly how important is that as a factor in the selection. well it's certainly a big factor you know more than spotty have really deftly mixed nationalism and patriotism to make national security really the number one issue in this election campaign you know on the campaign trail more the has really in his speeches against pakistan he's he's made reference to these to this unprecedented ad with strike against pakistan and sacrifices of indian soldiers and attacked the opposition for being too soft on terrorism and all this i think is played really well to a receptive domestic audience here in india who feel that the stuff action in

pakistan has really made india you know stand tall on the world stage what about the opposition congress party and its leader what do they want to achieve in the coming weeks. once the congress is definitely hoping to you know mount a formidable challenge to most of the and his b.g. people but electorally analysts here are questioning the congress the strategy because they have really decided to strike out on their own and not form alliances with parties that have come together to be in opposition to more of these so i think up there is a danger that the anti b.j. people could be fragmented and split so i think it remains to be seen whether the congress is the alternative narrative when he gave traction in the coming weeks. your father there in delhi thank you very much. or on the countdown to the election in india political parties have a little up social media with last minute campaigning like anywhere else in the

world these platforms are not immune to the menace of fake news. russian spends at least two hours a day going through election news on social media and the shopkeeper says he almost always beliefs what he sees. when i watch the news or obviously consider it to be true. news is so popular in india that the most think it's false. it's a view that sums up a growing. problem in india technology experts say many users aren't able to identify this information on the internet. just because it's. prime minister modi's b j p party and the opposition congress party sent messages to millions of followers on social media but the user base is eager market for and verified content critical of politicians

india has three hundred million facebook uses more than any other country in the world meaning fake it has the potential to spread like wildfire. india's election committee has no total facebook to tighten its oversight one of the things that i've learned through working on election integrity is that it is an adversarial space what that means is that we will always see adaptation we will always see new threats emerge despite efforts by the social media giant one for the election commissioner things fake news could have a big impact at the ballot box. the prevention of mischief all. you know subversion all through. the process of election. social media is in the city and in certain regions these would be significant and might be used to determine the outcome of their lives yeah. and the

fallout from that is just as unpredictable as the indian election itself. south korea's constitutional court has lifted a decade's old abortion ban saying it's incompatible with the constitution abortion has been a legal in south korea since one nine hundred fifty three with exceptions for rape or danger to the mother's health activists say the official ban left women at risk of unsafe procedures and social stigma and support for the law by social conservatives have remained staunch or was widely ignored and a survey last year found that one in five south korean women who had been pregnant have had an abortion. or correspondent fabienne kretz is standing by at the constitutional court in seoul tell us more about the court's decision.

so the court basically demanded that the legislators to come up with a new law deciding that the law as it is now that bans all kinds of abortion except in cases for rape or incest is unconstitutional and as you can see behind me there are many demonstrators on the left side they are feminist groups who praise this decision as a historic step for women's rights and also you have a lot of conservative christian evan jellicoe groups who condemn the decision of the court of justice that was just issue it's twenty minutes ago what does this decision mean in practice how will it how will it bring about changes in in south korea with regard to providing abortion services so defacto the issue was rarely enforced you had in the last five years thirty to forty doctors and nurses who were actually prosecuted because of the law and thirty to forty. women who were prosecuted but abortion services are

usually offered in secret hidden and they carry a big social stigma so many women for example prefer to travel to china and get abortion services there also were rejected several times so actually it is a big step but it's more about a social taboo that is slowly beginning to getting to lift on the topic of this law that was overturned dates back to nine hundred fifty s. how are public attitudes evolving on issues surrounding abortion in south korea. they have actually china changed quite a lot just in two thousand and seventeen there were over two hundred. signatures signing a petition petition to change the law as it is now and during the last year there was a strong feminist movement that gained a lot of ground also partly because of the mutual movement and many high ranking public official. people from the entertainment. industry were prosecuted

because of sex crimes and also women speak out about their stories much more so actually the feminist movement has gained ground a lot in the recent year. so much for bringing us up to date probably encroachment in seoul south korea. well here in germany attention is focusing on a blood test that can leave expectant mothers facing a moral dilemma but test a terminus whether an unborn child has down's syndrome there's pressure now for the test to be covered by public health insurance although the test has been around for years the payment issue has been triggered has triggered a deeper debate about society's acceptance of children with disabilities. for years one and a half years out statistically she's lucky to be a life at all nine out of ten women in germany decide to have an abortion after finding out that their unborn child has down's syndrome not to see was seven months

pregnant when she received the diagnosis. of course i was scared i was worried i was also feeling a bit desperate i didn't know what to do i was still in the last year of my studies . but i had a lot of support and courage and because she was so active in my belly sophia also showed me that she wanted to live and she should be allowed to live. the weeks that followed were difficult who was also working as a geriatric nurse she read all about down's syndrome which is a genetic disorder which children nearly always have physical and intellectual disability the doctors told ana the child would be born with a heart defect suddenly on the face the question of whether to have an abortion. they immediately told me i could have an abortion but i thought if i have an

abortion i'll have to give birth to a stillborn child. i didn't even want to think about that. gun ecologist she also deals with the woman who decided to have an abortion when they're carrying a child with down's. indra she knows the pressures for all involved. isn't moving to the two of us there are so many factors at play how old am i how stable is my relationship. how many children do i already have who also need my attention. and i like to tell my patients that they just have to decide what easiest for them person use this year on us and us penny says the blood test that detects down syndrome at as early as ten weeks gives the families time to make the difficult decision early on and early diagnosis is also important to ensure that mother and

child are well looked after if the mother decides to have the child. for i'm not isn't the issue go stupid for her the blood test sends a message that our society does not accept children like sophia. i will when i ask myself why. and if you then don't have to pay for the test these children will simply not exist. even though they're perfectly happy children who radiate joy and have so much love to give. the blood tests are already a standard procedure in denmark in france in those countries a few children like sofia. get some sports now and in soccer there were more big games on wednesday as the champions league quarter finals continued and they don't come much bigger than manchester united against barcelona the first leg in manchester was settled by

a single goal luke shaw scoring past his own goal keeper to give a one nil victory the only damage united managed to inflict on their opponents was a bloody nose and injured on i four argentina superstar of the n.l. messy. messy and arsenal will now be confident of completing the job next week at home. wednesday's other quarterfinal saw a clash of styles i.x. is exciting young attack against the dog a defense of eventis italians took the lead with the last action of the first half a header from christiana rinaldo who els putting them one nil at the break but the dutch side which beats real madrid in the last round came roaring back never has leveled the game in the first minute of the second half you baze away goal means i have work to do and next week's second.

you're watching d.w. news coming up next it's business with chris copper. but i'll be back to topic stuff.

benjamin han miles talked. to western civilization he's turning a monastery mentally into a school for far right cultural warriors activists for a european populist movement. while has the backing of some powerful people

opposition is mounting and not just local. in sixty minutes. what's the connection between bread flour and the european union dinos guild contests d.w. correspondent and abbott baker john stretch this second line with the rules set by the teachers'. cots in north. snapping recipes for success strategy that make a difference. baking bread on d.w. . when the water starts rising people fight for survival but when he's on a budget we fuss about it but when there's a flood water comes up to a waist on your clothes fast to everyone who needs to but. the lack of water is equally dangerous. days yet you can see people move south so they can plant crops

and find food. floods and droughts will climate change become the main driver of mass migration you can write any kind of peace not if you want and probably more time to come to. the carnatic service starts april thirtieth on t w. the world's biggest democracy at work nine hundred million people in india start casting their vote where they provide a second term to prime minister narendra modi and his ambitious economic agenda also coming up the world bank says the world needs to stop depending on fossil fuels so why is it lending money to build the world's biggest oil refinery and. welcome to the program the biggest election in history have.