this is d.w. news live from the showdown in the gulf britain says a royal navy frigates has driven off the rain in boats trying to intercept a british oil tanker iran denies there was any confrontation. on the program powerful storm devastates group devastates greece's northern coastal areas leaving 7 dad and dozens injured. french lawmakers vote for a digital services tax that washington says unfairly targets american tech giants

so could the u.s. be gearing up for another trade war this time with france. and after a fairytale none of the africa cup of nations can not a cast get keep that dream alive fans of her protest for a nail biter ahead of tonight's quarterfinal. i'm phil gayle welcome to the program. britain says 3 iranian boats attempted to intercept a british oil tanker near the persian gulf but we're driven off by a royal navy frigate iran has denied its vessels tried to stop attacks in the strait of hormuz saying it's boats were carrying out routine do you choose. the strait of hormuz one of the world's busiest shipping routes a 3rd of the world seaborne oil must pass through it. iran's navy is an active

presence. at its narrowest point the strait is only 40 kilometers wide the british iranian confrontation took place off the coast of the united arab emirates britain says this frigate turned away iranian speedboats that threatened its oil tanker the british foreign secretary has responded by calling for calm obviously very concerning developments very proud of the royal navy and the role keeping british assets british shipping safe we'll continue to monitor the situation very very carefully the fear is that this latest incident will escalate it comes days after british authorities seized an iranian tanker in gibraltar claiming it was violating sanctions by delivering oil to syria earlier this week iran also started enriching uranium beyond the limits set down in the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with international powers today iran's foreign minister claimed that

iran was helping to bring down its longtime rival the u.s. . and south america's role in world politics has ended america feels that it has been defeated in the middle east of course one of the reasons for america's defeat is the people's resistance and the islamic republic's resistance. as tensions in the gulf summer diplomats are scrambling to keep the nuclear deal from unraveling completely. from simon who lectures in international relations at britain's like a university welcome to date. how much of an escalation is this. i think it's quite a serious escalation in the sense that it's not just words it's actually deeds as well over the past couple of months we've heard a lot of rhetoric about about iran and threatening to close the strait of hormuz amidst a mist the range of different debates about how this would happen but this is the 1st real instance of it directly affecting

a british ship and directly iranian agents trying to effect a british transport convoy so i think it's quite quite a symbolic thing particularly after last week and that the seizure of an iranian tanker as you as you mentioned in your package i think it's quite a serious move. if iran were to make good on its previous threat and block the strait of hormuz bearing in mind how important that is turn to national and shipping the world's not going to sit by and let that happen is it no it it's not as you say it's a hugely symbolic usually strategic point it's one of the busiest waterways in the world it's one of the most strategic choke points in the world a 5th of the world's oil goes through that each day so we know it's a hugely important point in so iran can exercise a great deal of power and leverage by threatening to close this now if it goes that

little bit too far and actually does something that would jeopardize these global transit routes and by extension the global economy and international powers energy supplies then that would require i think some type of action some type of response i would urge diplomacy of course but it might not necessarily be that that is the chosen path and we foot donald trump talking about an international coalition to make sure that iran can't do this and has ambassador that call been met with much enthusiasm. well i think this is where regional politics comes to the fort that the iran and the u.s. have been going head to head for a while now we know that the u.s. all of very keen to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon that withdrawn from the chase c.p.o. way that trying to strangle and suffocate the iranian economy and that has not been particularly well received by other global powers particularly those in europe but

also we've got a complex set of situations in the gulf where web people who might extensively be against the iranian states and the siting together actually have their own differences their own set of problems that would prohibit such a unification such a coalition forming so i think it's going to be incredibly difficult to pull together that doesn't say it's impossible but i think it's going to be quite difficult to bring it all together without politics and geo political aspirations getting in the way so must we presume that the the whole of this latest flare is about the j c p o i or is it that plus of the usual regional tensions i think it's not plus the other usual regional tensions plus longstanding british a rainy and relations tensions however you want colin you know that britain and iran have had a long fractious history dating right the way back to the discovery of oil in iran back in the 1920 s.

and exacerbated by the toppling of mohammad mosaddegh the 1st democratically elected prime minister of iran and so britain isn't view particularly favorably in iran and so i think that we've got to put all these things together to paint an incredibly complex picture if we want to understand what's happening it's not just about the nuclear deal the picture is far more complex than not and that's what makes it incredibly difficult to resolve ready i think you've explained rather clearly if i can say so thank you so much for joining us simon mabon from the university is not constant. at grace now where at least 7 people are dead after a powerful storm battered the north of the country scores of people were also injured after the violent storm and how could they keep toppled trees and power pylons amongst the dead were several tourists and other u.s. strong winds followed very hot weather in greece with temperatures soaring 37 degrees celsius over the last 2 days freak weather also hit its early where 18 people were injured when a storm pelted

a town with massive hail stones i came during the peak in tourist season. the east coast of italy during an aerial bombardment of ice. came down here and bowls the size of oranges. further inland streets were awash people took refuge in doorways and whited 10 to 15 minutes until the deluge had passed all along the edge radek coast people were surprised by the sudden onset of the storm. an enormous cloud arrived there was an incredible downpour with wind rain a really big storm. the wave of bad weather also broke windows in windshields in the resort town of milan no matter teamer 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 at

a bad time for tourists currently on the coast and it was devastating for many tourist operators there. was it was so eaten at all the things i patiently built up over the years have been ruined in just 2 minutes 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. and scientists say that extreme weather events like those in italy and greece will become more frequent because of global warming now the european union has decided to put climate change at the top of its agenda for the next 6 months finland has just assume the block 6 months rotating presidency in the finnish prime minister believes the e.u. should provide global leadership on the issue until then says it's important to take the demands of europe's young people seriously. 16 year old

spent many fridays travelling 2 hours each way to protest at the finnish parliament holding signs pleading for climate action the climate itself wasn't too cooperative as he stood there through the winter it's really horrible in front of the it's always been the end it will be raining some snow or snow or ice most of politicians just go by and don't even look at us. or say hello and some even come to us but says it was all worth it as prime minister until recently has declared solving the climate crisis should be europe's next heroic act at the very least it's the top priority for the finnish e.u. presidency has credited the youth climate strikers for inspiration got to thank him in person and vice versa i really. have a listen to their young evolution and i need to listen more yeah that's why for

back up appointed green politician picked the harvester as foreign minister to press the message in the foreign policy arena already overflowing with wars nuclear threats and humanitarian disasters harvester knows it will be difficult. and it's a climate. that the silence around the table you can hear the silence in the way that it's so surprising but harvesters says it's the activists to whom he feels responsible. and they think the power. base is enough but i think it's good we need the civil society as opposed to politicians helsinki is determined not to be a hypocrite it's maximizing sustainability minimizing everything else meetings will all be held in the capital there will be no bottled water mostly plant based meals . and each parent kratz traveling to finish meetings will receive

a unique gift half a 1000000 euros worth of air emission offsets spent on projects in developing countries anya lycee head of the presidency secretariat says the finnish way is not to lecture but to lead by example we want to be practical and what we promise we want to keep. says whatever finland achieves is great but that so much more is needed he'll be protesting outside the e.u. meetings rain or shine or sleet or snow. but take a closer look at this with a touch oh he's a climate expert on this for the rosa luxemburg foundation a think tank close to germany's left welcome to dave w. thank you do you expect to finish e.u. presidency to make any difference to told policy i expect to finish your presidency is really that same that the e.u. has done for the last 3040 years which is to do nothing at all to protect the

climate now of course they'll be conversations about targets say maybe climate neutrality by 2050 but as a kind of person said targets in themselves don't reduce emissions you know what reduces emissions is digging up less coal producing fewer cars not expanding fossil gas infrastructure was one of the big projects of any of the current e.u. so in essence i don't expect much to happen because nothing has happened over the last 30 is and is that because they do believe that this is because there is no waiting lists on behalf on the part of the institution now because there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how climate change is produced the european union seems to believe that you can create something like an emissions trading market that would fundamentally reduce emissions the thing is we produce climate change again by producing cars with our industrial agriculture by digging up coal with our economic model that goes for infinite growth on a finite planet that's. how we produce climate change to create in the same irrelevant policy field climate policy and hope that it reduces

a problem that is generated by society as a whole is just unrealistic so the problem as a let me let me tell you what i think you think of and you can tell we were wrong to vote as you say if that were essentially what david with politicians because it's a hard sell for a politician to say to its electorate we're going to close down the pits in your community we're going to close down the kafataris we're going to make people unemployment but your grandchildren and the planet will thank you for it well 2 things i hope we all understand that we already live in a climate change world i mean this year in northern germany forest fires erupted in late april now that is not something that should happen reducing emissions is not something that just benefits youth interactions it benefits the world now so it's very important to remember that climate change isn't about the future it's about now secondly i'd say we're talking about what we are as a growth society we are

a society that has said the only way our lives are going to improve is if we produce more and more stuff and then maybe share around a bit more fairly that's what has to change we need to get away from a system that prioritizes infinite growth on a finite planet except that goes back to the point i just made which i mean you've really addressed yet the vote that you go for growth by producing things and by producing thing i spoke to a friend of mine from the philippines recently and we all understand i hope that the way the global north has been living its life for the last several 100 years is destroying the livelihoods of other people elsewhere the people who suffer most from climate change are those who have contributed least to it and vice versa so folks in the philippines will say that may be a big sell but when you're worried about rising electricity prices we have rising sea levels if you're worried about maybe climate policy strengthening the brakes at a party or the f.t. they already have a fascist president in the philippines so really it may be a big sell but how else would you solve a fundamental societal crisis of this of this magnitude or can leave that huge question is in the air. for the rosa luxemburg foundation thank you thank you.

we'll take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world at least one person has been killed in a huge blaze a gas fired power station near moscow several more were injured firefighters have now put out the fire was flames reached up to 50 meters the fire reportedly broke out in a natural gas pipeline. the french quadriplegic at the center of a legal route but whether he should be allowed to die has passed away in hospital doctors remove all some lambastes life support more than a week ago against his parents wishes he spent more than 10 years in effect a city of state. germany's domestic intelligence agency says it is stepping up observation of the identity tarion movement which campaigns against mass migration and islam the agency said the group believed to have around $600.00 members in germany is now officially classified as an extreme right movement. the last ever

volkswagen beetle has rolled off the production line in mexico the car built by revamped design from the late 1990 s. brings an end to a series that began in 1938 your original beatles in production for 65 years. this is d w news life from birth and still to come their dream lives on madagascar and football fever as the nation as the national team prepares for the quarterfinals of the africa cup of nations will join in the fun. first that france has defied pressure from the united states and passed a law taxing many of the world's biggest internet companies the changes voted through by the french parliament faced heavy criticism in the u.s. the white house says they unfairly target american companies facebook apple google and amazon are amongst the 30 companies affected french finance minister bruno the masses 3 percent tax could write off a 1000000000 euros

a year president trump has ordered an investigation. yes look at this closer with business reporter tilton welcome so which companies what sorts of companies are likely to be affected by these digital services tax well i mean we're talking about the most major tech companies that have business and actually earn their profits within friends i mean according to legislation is companies that earn a sizeable out of the profits within the country friends and also have a combined revenues of both just over 25000000 of course this is an only going to be hitting large american tech companies but that really is who this legislation is focusing on i mean the laws even being referred to as the google apple facebook amazon laws so it's quite clear who they're planning to get in their tax crosshairs and just just just to be clear these are going to be already paying tax well i mean that's the issue right now with yes they are pain tax they are paying tax within europe and around the world as well not just the united states however they have

been able to profit and make incredible profits in the last several years and not paid their fair tax burden many of the companies and it is themselves that they're not actually pain a large percentage of their tax the french interior ministry said that the actually these american tech companies are paying 14 percent less tax than their french counterparts and this is something that you know we've heard time and time again these huge american companies are taking their profits and making the mobile so they can they're making a crab on profits in one's country but they move those profits to a different country with a lower tax rate which allows them to at times actually pay an almost negative rate of tax which means the really not paying their fair share around the world so that's that's the intention behind it i'm presuming that france is not the only country to do this well i mean they are the 1st but they're not the only country looking into is there's a handful of other european countries who are attempting to box through similar just lation actually if you're looking at a global context i mean even the g 20 is looking at developing new types of uniform

tax legislation there are regulations rather that they could use the taxes american companies and you know at the end of the day many. of them of the own the companies themselves are saying there needs to be tax reform i mean google has said it would welcome a worldwide framework based on the proposals that are being debated right now in the g. 20 and even the head of apple tim cook said his company would be willing to pay more tax if the legislation if the rules would actually see for that i mean they're saying of course they're avoiding tax right now tim cook so the specifically but that's because that's how the system is designed to work if the system was designed to make them pay more taxes they would do it all right. thank you so much thank you dodge madagascar which is in the grip of football fever the national team defeated 3 time champions nigeria to top their group in the africa cup of nations they now face to mizzou in the quarterfinals it's a huge deal for the island nation. celebration

as it may well already well champ hands full fans on the streets of the capital singing for the national team. not against the have won 3 matches in iraq and now they're just 2 wins away from the championship game. it's one of the all time fairytale stories in africa cup of nations history and the whole nation is behind them. 24 year old to. sue is a huge fan he's been playing football most of his life but suddenly everything feels very different than what police took 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 yes we are really selling a lot of jerseys probably about 1200 every day. even foreigners want them go but. i don't listen to the 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. for. their success has really brought people closer together foreigners and malagasy are mingling more because we all watch the

games together. it's a chance for the whole world to get to know madagascar's. this is about more than just sports some success the madagascar there is hope this will make the world sit up and take note of what the country is all about. on to tennis and simona halep has reached the final of wilton's women's tournament after dominating her semifinal she beat. in straight sets 6163 in the men's draw novak djokovic beat david goffin in straight sets to storm into the final 4 well he'll face spain's roberto. on friday. 2nd seed roger federer is also into the semifinals after a grueling 4 set match against japan's kind she corey phèdre has his sights firmly set on a 9th wimbledon title but 1st he'll have to get past rafa down there was no stopping

the spaniard on wednesday as he thrashed american sam querrey in straight sets. here's a reminder of our top stories this hour britain says a royal navy frigate has driven off iranian boats that try to intercept a british oil tanker in the gulf iran denies that any confrontation took place. finland's prime minister has announced that he's putting climate action at the top of the european union's agenda finland has just taken over the e.u. is rotating 6 month presidency. this is d.w. news up next in news asia the youngest known victim of the philippines war on drugs 3 year old myself pina was killed in a recent police operation and now her family and friends are asking why. and we'll take you to a museum dedicated to the creatures that feed off humans and animals.

nice don't forget you can always get the w. news on that they go just download our app from google player from the app store that'll give you access to all the places to news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news they also use it to send us photos and video. so a news a german finished allergy up next our neighborhood rockwell have your latest world that had lives at the top of the hour and in the meantime of course as always the web site that's t w dot com have a good. searching

for identity and recognition. of turkish citizens with african roots. their forebears were brought to the ottoman empire as slaves. even today their descendants are treated like outsiders cut no they're demanding change. the 60 minutes. and he needs to know the sex for an

operator or work her master. thesis on the potato. to free. not to turn on well it gets more ridiculous from their. literature list to determine my street. lamp. by a. it's been 50 years since the moon landing. he was the 1st man to walk on the moon. as a small boy he dreamed of the stars. as a pilot he flew anything no matter how dangerous. materials to go to the pole. as an astronaut he took part in the greatest adventure in history.

but he wrote a legend one simply a human being. was neil armstrong starts july 20th on t.w. . this is did up and there was a show coming up on the program trios older and shot dead by police gave me my gold for you know is the youngest old victim of president detectives of war on drugs but now with the u.n. deciding to investigate the philippines for the campaign we'll see how the family gets justice also coming up. sexually harassed sent to prison indonesian by committee and mocked no one recorded how false is viewed goals and knowledge as to spend time in jail footage plus.