don't. this is the only news line from berlin remembering d.-day world leaders speak tribute to the fallen and mark the historic landings that helped turn the tide of world war 2 britain's queen elizabeth joined by world leaders in world war 2 veterans at portsmouth naval base in southern england mark the 75th anniversary of the biggest insidious invasion in military history also coming up chinese president xi jinping says ties with russia have never been better he is in moscow for talks with president putin as the 2 leaders brews their cooperation to counter pressure

from washington. on the ark thank you so much for your company everyone world leaders have come together on the southern coast of england to mark the 75th anniversary of d.-day the day in 1904 when allied forces landed in normandy well it was the beginning of europe's liberation from nazi germany d.-day began with operation overlord a massive naval operation to ferry american british canadian and other allied forces across the english channel to the french coast it remains the largest assault of its kind in the history of modern warfare almost 7000 ships and landing craft headed for a 50 mile stretch off the french coast the code names of the landing beaches are still. etched in history utah omaha gold and juno and sword

well today's commemorations didn't begin in france but at the english naval base of portsmouth from their d.-day veterans will depart on a ship from normandy. the ceremony commemorated the soldiers who landed in normandy 75 years ago tomorrow weather had forced a one day postponement of the invasion which was supposed to be june 5th 1944 the queen was among those present to honor the operation to liberate western europe from nazi german occupation it is with your military and pleasure on behalf of the entire country indeed to her own free will that i say to you all think feel more than 160000 allied troops from britain the u.s. and canada set off from england to land on a heavily fortified stretch of french coastline the d.-day invasion was supported by 5000 ships and 13000 aircraft. ron cross and bob jones now both in their

ninety's were on board one of those ships. a group that gripped. people. that they were. doing in the winter i thought you'd think they'd come up and join me where i am you know. i was made on thursday the actual anniversary of the landing in normandy another commemoration will take place on the northern coast of france. and german chancellor angela merkel was also on hand to pay her respects she called her own participation in the ceremonies a gift of history. in the. dog of these in the military it was a unique military operation unprecedented for us in germany it lead ultimately to liberation from national socialism it claimed an unbelievable number of lives hundreds of thousands of soldiers were involved

a huge logistical operation. and it was to lead to something that we can be very proud of today namely reconciliation and unity within you and the whole post will order that has brought us peace in europe now for more than 7 decades. and the fact that i as a german chancellor can be part of this today that today we are working together for peace and freedom that is a gift of history that we need to protect and maintain so should. the chancellor is speaking there and our correspondent been triggered is in portsmouth and he joins me right now. good to see you now under america one of the many world leaders who joined the queen a to mark this very special anniversary put this in perspective for us how significant is it that a german chancellor participates in these ceremonies.

the coming of the war time here is certainly a strong symbol for the fact that germany is part of this international community that germany is part of the alliance of the allied forces and no longer an enemy or a bad feeling or something like that and this is also seen in the declaration of the 16 heads of state and government that attended these come up very soon today they all issued a statement that says we stand together as a free democracy is. to stand up to any any me that threatens freedom and independence and only as a very small sign at the state fair close to the scum in rishon there was also german broth was on offer and portsmouth is of course the sister city of new spoken germany so no bad feelings here all right now lots of a world leaders in attendance where you are but this day is really about the fallen and the veterans world war 2 veterans who some of which were in attendance as well

. you have and john jenkins for example at age 99 walked on the stage. of one of those and in that seat anymore even the queen stood up and gave standing ovation to this veteran who has stood for 300 treasures and the tendons and the conversation was about the the life stories of these brave men and also berman who. took part in the operation over a lot. there but no long speeches was more i read an excerpt and of the preparation of these operations a very emotional very impressive and the queen said i am part of this generation and we are very resilient and she got lots of applause for that and my band stand by for a 2nd going to get back to you in just a moment because i'd like to take a look now back at the events of 75 years ago that changed the course of history.

at 1st glance it's hard to see any sign of the horrors that this stretch of sand played host to. but 75 years ago on june 6th the fate of an entire continent rested on the soldiers who came ashore here on omaha beach. operation overlord saw a combined force of nearly 160000 american british and canadian troops land on the beaches of normandy. to gain a foothold in nazi occupied france came at a heavy price. the 5 you know on d.-day and in the weeks afterwards claimed the lives of tens of thousands of allied soldiers. but their sacrifice he said the defeat of hitler's 3rd reich. commemorating the fallen became an important ritual for the victorious allied powers a reminder that they fought on the side of right in a just war. the germans also suffered heavy casualties but it wasn't until 2004 that france invited

a german chancellor to take part in the end you'll commemorations. what was once viewed in germany as a calamitous defeat is now seen as marking the start of the long road to peace and liberation. the successful invasion completely changed europe for the best they brought us democracy we lost the war. we've had 70 years of peace here. all the people lying in the cemeteries there. this is what goes through my head when i visit them on d.-day. the all those people died for us so that we could live in peace. when france and germany 1st commemorated the invasion of normandy together it was seen by observers as a sign of deepening european unity in the face of strained transatlantic ties. and face for threats both foreign and domestic the band of european unity continues to

be put to the test 75 years after the events of d.-day. all right want to go back to my. colleague who is at portsmouth apparent how significant are these commemorations and nowadays i mean does it still resonate with people. sometimes it's very good to remember where you come from and 65000 people watching these events here and it's also about strengthening or remembering the transatlantic ties because the invasion 75 years ago was of course the the special relationship that you america and the great britain and the other allies and today these 2 transatlantic ties under stress so it's good that donald trump there is president was here he didn't say a bad good and everybody's happy no that this is also a symbol for the friendship between the clintons. are banter eager to reporting from portsmouth thank you. when i am just now with some of the other stories making

news around the world. president trump has now left the d.-day commemorations and moved on to the republic of ireland although it's his 1st visit to the country as u.s. president he's immediately met with irish prime minister lee of our car but otherwise has been billed as a low key visit with the president and 1st lady spending 2 nights at a golf resort. doctors in sudan say 40 bodies have been pulled from the nile river in the capital khartoum bringing the number of people killed in a crackdown on pro-democracy protests camp to at least $100.00 us dollars opposition has rejected a plan by the country's military rulers to hold elections and has refused their latest invitations to talk. muslims around the world have been celebrating her the 5th of which marks the end of the holy month of ramadan in the indian capital delhi thousands gathered to pray at the country's largest mosque of the timing of it

depends on the sighting of the new moon and varies from country to country. chinese president xi jinping has met with president vladimir putin in moscow while the 2 leaders met dozens of times in recent years and are looking to further deepen their trade ties between their 2 nations while today's talks take on extra urgency amid china's heated trade war with the united states in an interview with russian state media ahead of the trip she called putin his best and bosom friend saying it cherish their deep friendship did abuse it meeter sorts reports. friendships must be cultivated to that end china bestowed an honorary doctorate on russia's president last month at a press conference for the event vladimir putin praised the 2 countries relationship given the strategic skipper china is by any measure a strategic partner so we biggest trade turnover is with china get that

last year trade between the 2 countries rose 27 percent to $107000000000.00 russia sells china raw materials while china sends back machinery transport and consumer goods to increase trade the 2 are investing in new transport links like this cross border bridge over the river it's set to open for traffic next year when we don't know gordon my post in france we've long said that we need to build more infrastructure. right now 2 friendly countries with a long shared border can't trade normally because they lack the proper infrastructure to go it is michigan about 3 minutes of this machine for us remake and both presidents have promised to remedy that they've met dozens of times in recent years and the kremlin says they have good personal chemistry as well. the presidential visit to st petersburg has been in the works for

a long time. yet china and russia support each other diplomatically against and say globalization protectionism and unilateralism this fully reflects the high level and special nature of the 2 countries strategic partnership and heard. both russia and china are permanent members of the united nations security council where they often block resolutions from western countries especially relating to syria and venezuela. but other key part of the russian chinese relationship is increasing military coordination russian t.v. news recently showed joint military exercises $3000.00 chinese soldiers joined hundreds of thousands of russian troops on maneuvers last year on the low chinese numbers a sign that the russians don't completely trust them yet oh no. we don't intend to become dependent on china and that's why we're developing

relationships with japan korea the as the in countries and india russia's asia policy is more than just a china policy. a sign that russian foreign policy is based on pragmatism and can be easily adjusted depending on which way the wind blows. if as president who has been reelected for 4 more years he was the only candidate. first term saw dramatic reforms introduced in the game they include at the controversial video assistant refereeing so. far and the future expansion of the world cup from $32.00 to $48.00 teams and fee for revenues it will is to a record $6400000000.00 u.s. dollars last year. you're watching t.v. news still to come. a drop in wholesale coffee prices is making life difficult for many farmers

a conference here in berlin is examining ways to address the problem and improve sustainability. that's coming up next on a d w business africa you're watching you know we news from berlin and more headlines of course coming up at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock by heading to our website that steve docomo seen at the top the hour. new leaf.