choose your favorite color. this is david lean years life from burlington america's secretary of state makes an unshared jeweled a trip to brussels as tensions between the u.s. and iran rise like pompei ok crashes a meeting of e.u. foreign ministers as he tries to win support for washington's hardline on test around the e.u. he's keen to preserve the nuclear deal that european ministers want him back against a conflict in the region also on the program. for the people voters are now version for senate seats in the country's mid-term elections a strong result for them to deter say the taste his war on drugs.

i'm phil gale welcome to the program. iran is at the center of a growing rift between the united states and its european allies meeting in brussels today a u. countries the u.s. secretary of state mike compile not to escalate tensions with iran and to britain and germany raise concerns over a potential accidental military conflict in the unstable region a year after the u.s. withdrew from the iran nuclear deal a u. foreign ministers are still trying to find ways to salvage it. mike pump a 0 turned up in brussels with the message that if europeans are discussing iran he should be there too even if he wasn't invited. but what he heard from his evil counterparts was mostly criticism the risk of war in the gulf has escalated since

the u.s. pulled out of the iran nuclear deal a year ago i heard very clearly today from from us not only from myself but also from the other ministers of states that. we are living in a crucial delicate moment where. the most relevant. attitude to take the most responsible attitude to take. should be and that of maximum maximum restraint. but with iran restraint has not been donald trump strongpoint after withdrawing from the nuclear deal he reintroduced harsh sanctions against iran even sent warships to the gulf then iran followed suit by abandoning part of the deal a puzzling incident in the gulf of oman is an indicator of rising tension in the region the united arab emirates says this oil tanker was one of 4 commercial

vessels attacked and significantly damaged near the port of food on sunday emirates officials have not described the nature of the attack nor have they said who is responsible what is clear is the growing unease in one of the world's most significant shipping hubs 20 percent of all oil transport passes through the strait of hormuz e.u. foreign ministers warn the incident could trigger a major conflict all the more reason to restore the nuclear deal with iran is in its whole nation that's in europe we are united in our view that this deal is vital to our security no one wants iran to be in possession of nuclear weapons as that's the goal of this accord and that's what we had achieved so far therefore we will stand united for this agreement to be implemented and if that's. pale left brussels after just a few hours empty handed and without any change in washington's position no change either in a year leader's desire to save the nuclear deal with iran and no concrete plan on

how to do it. let's get more on this from teresa trapaga who has reported extensively on iran for what he does believe and for in brussels we have rebecca rich as well welcome rebecca welcome let's start in brussels with you rebecca i wanted my palm pilot 20 gatecrashed based this meeting in brussels and didn't get it. well it's hard to say exactly what he wanted to mean as we just heard it was a surprise visit he didn't announce it until he was getting on to the aircraft to fly over his so it's not just exactly what he wants wanted but if we assume that he wanted the e.u. to join the u.s. in dropping the nuclear deal than we can safely say that he didn't get what he wanted failed he went into that meeting pretty united pretty confirms that they want to maintain they believe in the deal they want to keep that they left that meeting with exactly the same voice say they do not want to abandon the iran nuclear deal. the source of taking place on

a day when there are fresh tensions in the persian gulf war that we referred to in the report just talk us through what's been happening we're fred about the alleged assault on those 4 vessels in the persian gulf and while that it's not really confirmed what's what's happened there all who might have been behind it if course of contributions to the fears of open aggression in the region i mean it all happened just like days after the u.s. announced that they're moving to wash up there through the persian gulf including a number of the 52 bombers and i mean that's into the area where they are running military is already active because it's basically their backyard so with those 2 militaries around just a tiny misunderstanding could lead to an open confrontation of course and with the lack of diplomatic channels between washington and tehran right now that could lead to further escalation because during the obama era the foreign ministers used to talk and that right now is not happening so with more escalation coming that could

also not only be in the persian gulf but also in iraq and syria or even israel and this is for the british foreign secretary jeremy hunt was making today yeah that's what he said he said that it's doesn't really take much for an open confrontation so that both sides should be aware of that and feel like restrictive and what they're. doing and be careful so what is. what 6 and what is it trying to achieve by announcing its partial withdrawal from the state i mean it's basically just trying to put pressure on europe because it's been a years since the u.s. withdrew from the nuclear agreement and back then all the other remaining parties china russia and also the european countries said they want to keep the deal alive and the europeans said they would do pretty much everything they can to save it and make sure that iran still gets benefits from keeping its part of the agreement but that not didn't really happen because if everything all they did was talk basically

they couldn't really live up to it so what rouhani is trying to do now with a deadline is say you have to acknowledge because he's under immense pressure domestically ok rebecca riches in brussels so does the e.u. have a plan will it pick a side. well it's these finding itself increasingly stuck in the middle between a rock and a hard place and it really doesn't want to have to pick a side they haven't spoken publicly about another an alternative plan may they want to maintain the deal they they believe in it. they have said that actually just after the press conference and e.u. foreign policy chief frederick a moderate moderate mockery me said at the conference he really wanted to stress that the iran have been our holding their end of the bargain as long as they do that you want to maintain doing business with them she said that the only body that could decide whether or not they were holding up their end of the bargain was the

international atomic energy agency and so far they found that they were so that she really wanted to stress that they were the only body that could determine this until such a time when they are not. determined to continue doing business with them then you are obviously worried about escalation and they they want to maintain restraint. so are we likely to see further escalation or that's hard to tell of course but it's definitely not in the interest of the iranian people therefore already been suffering from the effects of the sanctions that are crippling the country's economy so they don't want any further escalation of course but what happens from now basically depends on whether the 2 men in power or donald trump in washington and i told r.t. how many and sharon would want to risk. bringing their countries to a war they both cannot win. thank you rebecca this is in brussels thank you. now we'll take

a look at some of the other stories making news around the world so in the state media say ousted president omar al bashir has been charged over his role in protesters deaths during last month's uprising beshear rules for 3 decades until mass protests led to his arrest protest leaders have announced a breakthrough agreement with the country's military rulers over a transitional power structure. antigovernment protesters in albania after 5 thrown 5 bombs and flares a riot police outside from a government building hours after the u.s. and european lawmakers restrained the centroid opposition has been staging demonstrations since february accuse the government of corruption and vote rigging and calling for elections. braces for like percent muslim man has died after being attached during anti muslim writing its 1st fatality in a violent backlash against the easter suicide bombings conducted by militant

islamists his death was reported to africa which was placed under overnight curfew after shops and mosques of the shops after mosques and shops owned by muslims were targeted. the polls have closed in the philippines where millions of people have been voting in the midterm elections allies of president rhodri go to 30 are expected to do well which should strengthen his position of the seats in the country sen up for grabs which means a good result could help the president change the country's constitution is also promised to reintroduce the death penalty for drug related crimes as part of his wider war on drugs. his name may not even be on the ballot paper but there's no doubt these midterm elections are all about him this is a referendum on president raj rico. and his controversial rules. millions

of filipinos followed their leader and turned out to vote many for the candidates who have his backing. i want to win change of people who will really help our president. ministration but i also voted for a few from the opposition so that would be checks and balances. when president eternity came in. i only crime was cut up to 70 percent of the pollution. but not everyone is happy with a man who proudly launched a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs thousands of being killed in do 10 days war on drugs including this man's nephew kyin delos son tells us he was shot by police and found here. but the only way we should choose a candidate who respects human lives. about someone who appreciates human rights more about is ready to fight for the poor like us about only

a guy and i mean we're seeing that the people who are killed are only the core holy . moley. detents he has also denounced human rights and put journalists and press freedoms on his list of enemies but botha has been some international condemnation he successfully courted other populous leaders like us president donald trump. even serenading him. do tend to be now expects to seal his own domestic political power through these elections for a new senate isn't local officials whatever the opposition most believe it's already a done deal. and it receives of killings opposing police here in germany where forces in northern germany say they have found the bodies of 2 more people killed by bolts from across the discovery comes as police investigate the deaths of

3 others who were killed the same way the 1st 3 bodies were found over the weekend in the south of the country. a peaceful area turned into the scene of a shocking crime one man and 2 women found in a hotel room with arrows stuck in their bodies the corpses were found of a variant town of paso near the austrian border police later discovered 2 more bodies more than 600 kilometers apart in the northern state of lower saxony. officials said that they had found the 2 corpses while they were searching the home of one of the past how victims emitting investigations are ongoing colleagues of the criminal police in gifts on checking the flat and they are exchanging information with colleagues in paso in order to clarify any possible connections. but authorities are still trying to understand what exactly happened and what their motives were. is what. apparently there was nothing suspicious and no one heard

anything it is difficult to reconstruct the facts and now we have to secure the evidence to establish without any doubt the course of events in total. for a fish that is. a post-mortem examination could reveal in the upcoming days more details about this mysterious case. and the government of south africa says it will help him caster semenya is appeal against a ruling that she must take drugs to reduce testosterone levels if she wants to compete in certain events the olympics the olympic athletics champion lost her case of the swiss based court of arbitration for sports this month but a spokesman for south africa sports ministry says they will indulge in appeal a soon as possible they say scientific information was ignored during the case with somalia is believed to be intersex track and field authorities say she devil has an unfair a fast which. up next day w

is that business update with steven pearce in the you know the ongoing dispute between the united states and china they're getting get over my sister on all of our stories on the website they don't we don't come out of the day. where i come from we have to fight for a free press i was born and raised in a military dictatorship but just want to be shot now and if your newspapers when official information as a journalist i have work off the streets not many can trust and.