this is it really was live for berlin the leaders of russia and north korea meet for the first time face to face that american and kim jong un toasted their new relationship at a summit in russia's part east in the wake of the failed us some of that little the meeting be a game changer when it comes to persuading north korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal also coming up the french president and then he went back home unveils its long awaited reforms in response to months of yellow for best protest while he's

trying to sooth tempers to see his own political future and a back fix for germany financial sector merger talks collapse between georgia bank and america's front to find out why. and why iraq is great to have you long everyone russian president vladimir putin and north korean leader kim jong un have wrapped up their first face to face meeting today while they discussed a host of subjects including security on the korean peninsula and the north controversial nuclear weapons program and this just two months after efforts by u.s. president all trying to persuade him to abandon his nuclear weapons ended in failure . it was their first ever face to face meeting but for russia's vladimir putin and north korea's kim jong un the body language suggested it was set

to go well talks took place on an island off the pacific coast near vladivostok and went on for two hours a little longer than expected but statements after the meeting didn't really give away any substantial news but. of course we spoke about the situation on the korean peninsula we exchanged views on what needs to be done so that we can improve the situation in the future or leonardo and this is the korean peninsula and the regional political situation which is garnered the urgent attention of the world and we also held deep discussions on strategic ways to pursue stability in the regional political situations and on matters of jointly managing the situation. but later in a press conference putin revealed how he expected to play a further diplomatic role. but in front of him you can chairman kim jong un asked

us to inform the american side about his position. about the questions he has in relation to the processes that are happening on the korean peninsula and everything that's happening around these process is pretty simple all three. of the summit then has offered putin a chance to push russia's agenda of opposing u.s. influence north korea's talks with president trump on the country's nuclear arsenal broke down without a deal in february. let's bring up to speed now with some of the other stories making news around the world hold after months of speculation forward us vice president joe biden has announced he will run for president in twenty twentieth's the seventy six year old said third a bid for the white house he joins a crowded field of democrats twenty at this stage who are competing for their party's nomination by the seen as a front runner. lawmakers in a democratic republic of congo have elected

a woman to have the national assembly for the first time to name a brand is a former adviser and former minister rather an advisor to former president joseph kabila was the only candidate after her main opponent was disqualified the opposition quick caught at the vote. large numbers of people in sudan are protesting outside army headquarters in the capital khartoum the so-called million strong march is intended to turn up the heat on the ruling military council and when say the military and protest leaders agree to form a joint committee to pave the way to civilian rule. to france now and president a man on the car whose vow to press on with a series of reforms in response to the yellow vest protests that have gripped the country well in the past hour these a live pictures by the way that you're seeing right now the president has been holding

a rare news conference where he pledged to restore public order following almost six months of protest is also promised significant tax cuts for the middle class and the stakes are high for my car at this moment his approval rating has plummeted since he was elected two years ago. all right in those a live picture is a way of the president making his case on television to the french public and joining me now from the french capital paris is journalist catherine field catherine tell us more about what the president has been saying so far. well essentially he started this press conference by defending his reforms today he says this since he took office they has been some five hundred thousand jobs created he said that we are feeling generally as a nation much better about ourselves but he acknowledges that some people but equally outside paris feel left behind feel uncertain about where they fit into the

globalized world and so he said that he had taken on board wasn't being said at the so-called great debate is that what almost ten thousand debates that took place across the country for three months he said he'd taken on board what those people were saying and that he was going to put in place some sort of mechanism whereby the government and the comments here in paris would be more responsive to the needs of people outside the capital he also said that he would significantly cut taxes how that's going to work he didn't really lay that out and he also said that he wants to do more about the education system in france and typically primary education and he said he wants french people to look at the finnish model he said single provides a great example to france for how they do their education and generally he's just being i think showing a very humble side of the president he's always been accused of being far too aloof

too out of touch i think this very lengthy press conference he's trying to show a very humble side but he is still defiant and he's pushing through with his reforms so i mean he's trying to win over the french people win the hearts and minds of the french how do you think these announcements that he's making right now will go down with the yellow vest movement. well the youngest not even itself has really seen its days it's being taken out of the bible radical elements of the fall riots in the fall left so that really has seen its days i think it's going to be back to the cold war of those yellow vests protesters think that basic man on the bus as we say they don't like you just him his family they first got jobs they but become the twenty system each month they have no more money left they just cannot make ends meet so with not they receive this announcement from the president all of that he will you cannot reduce taxes whether that will be enough it will just have

to see you already we have seen the minimum wage being raised to ready we have seen the original promises of you know tax cuts on fuel which actually days will go through so it is not that much mutual and this for them at this stage is more was this it is feeling of being french what it means to be threatened is debating these issues all right catherine field reporting from paris thank you. next stop a merger talks between germany's two biggest lenders dortch a bank of former aspiring calf been called off potential risks and restructuring costs were cited as the reasons well the deal was backed by germany's finance minister who wanted to create a so-called national banking champion but the idea was met with opposition critics fear the loss of some thirty thousand jobs. and here with me in the studio steven pressley from do you have even a set to where joining joins me now to dive

a little deeper into this subject was this announcement a surprise i don't think so you know there is so much hesitancy on the part of so many stakeholders in this including the two banks themselves they really seem to drag their feet to sort of join their hands together at least for the talks there's so much political pressure around this and that's because it wasn't really a strategic merger that was being talked about these two banks didn't really need. each other didn't offer something one did offer something to the other that they didn't have it was more about a merger of survival it was really pushed by political establishment that believed that it needed to happen and so it really what it did was it actually united a considerable amount of people across both sides of the economic outlook spectrum from those on the left who said it's going to be devastating for job holders and to those on sort of the more economic liberal side who said you can't just put a gun to two banks heads and tell them to join up so what was the biggest argument for a merger you know the biggest argument for what you still hear from finance minister olof schultz who really was the one who's going to spearhead the german finance

minister was that germany needs a big lender to support its export oriented economy think of german companies that are overseas adidas buy or obviously the car companies the german economic model is based on exports and trading goods in overseas markets and selling them there and they wanted short so that we need a bank with the heft to really be able to continue doing that for these largest companies and both of these banks were on a downward slope put them together and the idea was that they would sort of turn things around so what does this mean now for you know the end of these talks will one thing it means is the mess that landscape here in germany in terms of the domestic banking landscape actually isn't that much change because you actually have so many regional lenders this small or medium medium sized companies depend on retail bankers those who are using their savings what not going to banks for savings they're not going to affect it the question is what this means for the adidas is for the buyers for the big companies that may need that financing trade financing especially as the economy starts to sour as we've seen so far some of the

indicators going down is are they going to have their lenders are they going to come from overseas how is that going to look what happens next what happens next is that both these banks are going to try and turn things around in their own banks on their own it's just been problematic the bank is mired in scandal look at the latest with the trump allegations the lending their look at the money laundering allegations comments bonk has been trying to really do this sort of digital turn around. as for become a digital first bank that's not going well costs are overwhelming they scaled back their own ambitions and then there's a lot of speculation that there could be some mergers coming in or some some rivals from outside germany i guess those are interested in perhaps acquiring one of the other banks so that could be interesting keep us posted. thank you so much like fish muslim leaders and shalonda say they fear a backlash after the easter sunday attacks the suicide bombings have been condemned by local muslim groups but many in the community say they feel vulnerable to be used in the show just while sent this report from colombo. she could not

get back home to do with the thought he's too scared to spend the night in his house for another church easter sunday a few hundred metres from where he lives a massive loft hit the macomber church. peeped at the next day with this young children and why. not why not. if you'll feel more traits that we had presented so since we had being in the in the edges of the main road so we thought off. and also being with that we the children we. even worked with what made us to be site believed to leave the house says he or. she has restricted about the attacks and feels guilty that the puppetry does up a fim dimension of him. he's alleging local christians not to think of him and his family as. all along his street

the homes and shops office the muslim neighborhood. several muslim one businesses were attacked after the bombing. president happiness feel in the city. what christian am muslim communities in sri lanka have been talking to my book this extremist in the. bost muslims and christians in the country have co-existed be fleeced so far the easter sunday bombings set off tensions between the two minority communities for the fourth time. local muslims have tried to show their support holding prayers sending condolences and emphatically condemning the dead attacks but with the traditional friday prayers just around the corner muslims wadi it may not be safe to congregate. a small but vocal group a few duncans are trying to help them. they're from different religions and ethnicities and i'm trying to find ways of reducing the backlash muslims on the

fringe. religious leaders from both communities are meeting to express their concerns and as well as that's all of that. crackdowns against minorities are not on northern sri lanka and a national emergency has been declared here again just as it was during the two decades of civil war that civil liberties were good bill after the nine eleven incident in the us in the name of national security and countering terrorism and we have an experience of syria but it is being dramatically during the course of the war and he went after the war in the name of fighting support terrorism so days of worry that the similar situation there right probably against muslims this time. muslims and christians have always kept a respectful distance. now there is hope that the easter sunday bombings so as a reason to build stronger bridges between the two communities. and i up to date with the latest headlines thank you so much for spending this part of your day with

us on the rock n roll and i'll be back with more news at the top of the hour up next business news africa which now. sex naked. raring to meet. if there is any erotic benefits remember you'd have to find it between the lines. of literature just a hundred german straights. come to the bureau maqsood to channel.