this is deja vu news live from berlin showdown in the gulf britain says a royal navy frigate drove off a rainy in boats trying to intercept a british oil tanker but iran denies that any confrontation took place also coming up. the man at the center of a bitter euthanasia battle in france is dead. prayer vigils have been held for vince a long bear who'd been in a vegetative state since a car crash a decade ago his plight divided his family and the french. also coming

up their sports dream lives on madagascar are in football fever as its national team pairs for the quarter finals of the african cup of nations. brian thomas thanks so much for joining us britain says that 3 rainy and boats tried to intercept a british oil tanker near the persian gulf while london says they were driven off by a royal navy frigate the h.m.s. montrose escorting that tanker in the strait of hormuz the frigate seen here escorting other ships aimed its deck guns at the iranian vessels as a warning no shots were fired iran has denied that any of its boats tried to stop the tanker saying they were simply carrying out routine duties well the british government called for calm after the incident we are concerned by this action and

continue to urge the iranian authorities to deescalate the situation in the region. well this incident comes after a warning yesterday from iranian president hassan rouhani he said that iran was ready to retaliate after one of its oil tankers was seized that off the cost of coast of drawl to last week now britain claims that iranian tanker was delivering oil to syria in violation of e.u. sanctions. against you great britain or the initiator of insecurity and you will realize the consequences later that the know you are so hopeless that when one of your tankers wants to move in the region you have to bring in your frigates to escort it because you are scared of it but that's just because he asked for more of this let's bring in analysts simon nabhan a lecturer in international relations at the university of lancaster in britain

thanks so much for coming in for us attentions of already been very high and high in the call for how much of an escalation is this incident. i think it's quite a seismic us collation to be honest we've heard a lot of words with rhetoric we've heard cycles of tit for tat diplomatic rhetoric from both sides. calling on the you know the calling out the other i should say for these actions but this is it seems to be at least at the next that taking this to the next level actually putting these words into action and i think what we've got to do is contextualize it further and say that look this isn't just a product of over recent tensions between the u.k. and iran but this goes back decades the iranian regime is always viewed britain with a great deal of hostility dating back to the 1953 could a tide that toppled that they've got a democratically elected president a prime minister straight mohammad mosaddegh so there's a great deal of tension here deep structural tensions between the 2 states that

really do escalate quite quickly when there are particular crises like this one and it really looks to be coming to the full sun awaiting for confirmation on a lot of the details in this story but it looks like that apparently these were reigning in revolutionary guard armed vessels trying to interrupt this british oil tanker how likely is around to use vessels like those to block the strait of hormuz and disrupt the flow of trade in oil. well you're right to say that that we're waiting for confirmation that the revolutionary guard have denied involvement as far as i'm aware at present because that doesn't mean to say that they're not involved is just posturing i guess that with regard to close in the straits of hormuz we've heard over the past number of years that iran has threatened to close the strait on number of occasions and there are there are several ways of doing that of course one of the ways is might end the straits by by by dropping deep

ports and minds to prevent prevent ships from accessing but perhaps the more that the easier option the more obvious option is with with the use of these small boats that are able to then commandeer vessels such as what we saw what we saw today it seems like the more flexible the most strategic option that gives gives iran the ability to get material and goods out of the strait without having to 2nd not against these these mines i think this is probably the law the whole obvious strategy that iran could use if it wanted to disrupt the trade flows through this busy waterway sign and mabyn from the university of lancaster thanks very much for coming inside the. let's preview down some of the other stories making the news at this hour ukraine has installed a giant metal cover over the destroyed nuclear reactor chernobyl the structure is meant to contain radioactive dust from the reactor explosion in 1986 was the

world's worst ever nuclear disaster. police in spain and 3 other countries of arrested a number of members of a suspected gang that trafficked women for sex is seized more than 3000000 euros in assets as well the women were mainly nigerian and were forced to work as prostitutes in finland and sweden. the last ever v.w. beetle has rolled off the production line in mexico the car built to a revamped design from the late 1990 s. brings an end to a series that began with the w.'s very 1st model in 1938 the original beetle was in production for 65 years. it's to france now where a quadriplegic man at the center of a bitter dispute over ending his life support has passed away in hospital doctors removed vincent lumbers life support more than a week ago that against his parents' wishes all owing

a legal battle that the vide both his family and the nation bears spent more than a decade in a vegetative state that following a car crash opponents of the decision to end his life support have been holding a prayer vigil for him in the french capital. well let's bring in lisa lois joining us from paris on stay on the story lisa can you tell us more about what was behind the decision to take the patient off of life support. well it's been a long. battle between 2 sides of the family the parents who were opposed to letting him go and letting him die and then the wife who's been fighting since 2013 for his right to die really now what happened is that after his car crash he went into a deep coma and then came out of it a few years later and was in

a state of minimal conscience as the doctors call it and that one point in 2013 apparently the doctors realized that his body was somehow reacting to the treatment refusing it they thought so that's when they stopped the treatment based on a law here in france that prohibits euthanasia but allows for passive euthanasia now 11 years after his accident finally the court case that the court paris court decided that this person could effect of lee actually be taken off life support that means that the doctors could stop feeding and hydrating him ok why was this decision taken now can you tell us something about the timing behind it well it's you know it's a good dish of decision but obviously this has been long ongoing for for years and years and after a while the parents actually after the latest court decision they decided not to

put in additional appears so they kind of gave up finally obviously there is a lot of concern here about other such cases there about 1700 cases of people you know who are in an in a similar state in a vegetative state of minimal conscience really and some doctors are now obviously concerned that this decision this court decision this case might have an impact on all these other people here in france. the story for us in paris thanks very much. it's to greece now where 6 tourists are dead after a powerful storm battered the north of the country scores of people have been injured after the violent storm in hulk toppled trees and power lines among the dead are a couple who were killed when strong winds flipped their motor home the storm followed hot weather in greece with temperatures soaring to over 37 degrees celsius over the past few days well extreme weather has also hit italy where 18 people were

injured when the storm pelted a town with massive hell stones that storm came during the peak ter season. the east coast of italy during an aerial bombardment of ice. came down here in boulder the size of oranges. further inland streets were awash people took refuge in doorways and whited 10 to 15 minutes until the deluge of ponced all along the edge attic coast people were surprised by the sudden onset of the storm. an enormous cloud arrived there was an incredible down pool with wind rain a really big storm. the wave of bad weather also broke windows in windshields in the resort town of milan about a team of about 200 century old pine trees were knocked down by a tornado. one woman was taken to hospital in

a serious condition. the storm came in a bad time for tourists currently on the coast and it was devastating for many tourist operators there. was a ghost story than in all the things i patiently built up over the years have been ruined in just 2 minutes everything out of all. the heavy rain came after weeks of sweltering heat in italy and one day after authorities issued a yellow alert for rain and high winds in the north of the country. we have some sports for you now in madagascar is in the grip of football fever after their national team defeated 3 time champions nigeria to top their group in the africa cup of nations will now face tunisia in the quarter finals it's a source of jubilation as when for the island nation. celebration as if they were already well champions football fans on the streets of

the capital singing for the national team not against to have won 3 matches in a right and now they're just 2 wins away from the championship game and it's one of the all time fairytale stories in africa cup of nations history and the whole nation is behind them. on the. 24 year old to the. suit is a huge fan he's been playing football most of his life but suddenly everything feels very different in a more place to be the team's success is so inspiring if they can be the successful it's proof that everyone can achieve their dreams. lots of children have now started playing football on the street it's fantastic every time madagascar when it makes me want to play more. i just want to play every day every day. madagascar doesn't even have a professional league but football helps people forget the challenges of everyday

life about 3 quarters of the population live under the poverty line here but the national football team's success is giving them a sense of hope babies are born during the africa cup of being named the team's nickname the official football jerseys are almost all sold out and the market traders are enjoying the profits yet we're really selling a lot of jerseys probably about 1200 every day. even foreigners want them go but am. i to go to the i.r.s. on remanent sue is certain madagascar will win the africa cup but even if they don't the burress success has made a big impact on malagasy society. from the peoples of their success has really brought people closer together foreigners in malagasy are mingling more because we all watch the games together and i think it's a chance for the whole world to get to know madagascar's. this is about more than

just sports team success to madagascar there is hope this will make the world cis up and take note of what the country is all about. it's the tour de france though peter sagal oh slovakia won the 1st stage of the tour de france the 3 time world champion sprinted to the finish to claim his 1st stage when at this year's event at the top of the standings francis philip retains the overall leader's yellow jersey heading into stage 6 that's underway today. let's get your reminder now of our top stories this hour britain says a royal navy frigate has driven off the iranian boats to try to intercept a british oil tanker in the gulf but iran has denied that any confrontation took place. and the man of the center of a bitter use in asia battle in france has gone vigils have been held for this a long vera who's been in a vegetative state since a car crash

a decade ago his plight divided his family and the nation. this is day to readers live from berlin i'm brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being with us. for 1st coming less of. the doors granted moments arrives. joining a regular chain on her journey back to freedom. in our interactive documentary.