this is g.w. news from berlin tonight a german politician and her final push to secure the european union's top job 1st of all find a line and quit says german defense minister she did that today she's now making concessions to her political opponents on the eve of the european parliament's decisive vote a vote that could make history also coming up south africa's former president jacob zuma shrugs off corruption allegations on live television but was his testimony enough to counter the evidence against him and congo's ebola outbreak spreading

with the death toll already at 1600 the virus has reached the crowded city of goma on the border with rwanda the world health organization describing the new case as a postman chill game change. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us germany's earth. has announced that she will step down as the country's defense minister and it is a political gamble her hope is that the european parliament will vote tomorrow to give her a new job as the 1st female president of the european commission now that outcome is far from certain funded lyon faces skepticism from parliamentary groups who were angered at the way that she was foisted on the. by national leaders as

a 3rd choice candidate so she has been on the charm offensive making promises hoping to win over lawmakers. keeping up with. it's not an easy task last week. she was on the move constantly meeting almost all of the political groups of the e.u. parliament. she needs to convince enough parliamentarians that she's the right woman for the commission presidency and that could be a problem especially with the social democrats in the european parliament. they've called her commitments to being and they dislike that fund and i and wasn't even one of the lead candidates especially the german social democrats are up in arms about the members of the social democratic group in the parliament has not taken a final decision yet i guess there are some that might still consider to vote for her any further questions and of those who are. already.

clear that they want including you including me. to do the math. she needs a total of $300.00. to be a commission president let's just say $182.00 from. the conservative party. the liberals from europe who have 108 seats positive but not completely convinced with. the social democrats. but also lots of support. there are $153.00 seats total if she's like he might get $100.00. conservative. group total $62.00

realistically she could expect 30 seats maybe even. to get those votes as a 2 fold strategy number one make sure the e.u. feels respected the world is calling for you for more more engagement. and therefore we must do all our strength i came here to work with him and and i'm confident that we will. number 2. so now she's tweeting in german english and french. nevertheless it will be a close call to succeed will probably have to give the speech of her life right

here in the european parliament. at the speech of her life in parliament. we understand. now written to the parliament social democrats do we know what she said. well she touched upon many of those topics where the social democrats insisted that she still needs to do some work you remember she visited the social democrats last week in in brussels but there were many questions open and the feedback from those members of the european parliament was that she's too vague so she wrote this 8 page letter now saying that she wants a fairer and social europe for example that she wants to have more competitive or tougher goals to counter climate change to fight climate change for climate protection but what really struck me was that she told him she would use the full

tool box when it comes to enforcing the rule of law in certain countries because some of the social democrats that said she was being too soft on countries like poland and hungary where the commission has some some beef as you know all because of the rule of law procedure that was kicked into action against those countries and of course it was a definite i will need some of those votes but now she clearly took positions she said she would be for on those procedures that might cost her a couple of votes on the right from those countries you see it's a real balance it's a balancing act and do you think max that you know this letter to the social democrats and the promises that she's made is this going to be enough to bring them on to her side on the vote to more. what we're hearing is rather positive right now if for example take the brits the british delegation up until a couple of days ago said that she they would probably not vote in favor of fun the

lion but now she also does a page letter had a chapter where she said that she would do anything in her power to avoid bragg's that basically and that is something that goes down well with the social democrats of great britain not with other parties but with the social democrats it does so she can expect some votes from them we really don't have that much opposition anymore within the social democrats except from the austrians and also when you saw the report you know it from the germans that really seem to be. absolutely convinced that they need to vote against was offended and come tomorrow if the if an ally and she loses this vote do the european leaders do they have another surprise candidate up their sleeves that they can pull out we do know that if does not make it the post of commission president or the next suggestion at least from the leaders will again be a conservative somebody from the european peoples party so even if the social democrats the german social democrats in this case prevent funded lyondell have

another conservative candidate after that. right next off and on the story for us in straw for france tonight max thank you. well here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world and e.u. foreign ministers have pledged to support efforts to keep the iran nuclear deal of alive all that despite america's unilateral withdrawal and iran's subsequent breach of uranium enrichment restrictions e.u. foreign policy chief edem rica marina who you see here says iran could reverse its steps and go back to full compliance police in italy have seized a stash of weapons including an air to air missile from suspected neo nazis in the north of the country and 3 men were detained in terrain and nazi memorabilia and a neo nazi propaganda. we're see u.s. president donald trump has rejected criticism of a series of racist tweets in those tweets trungpa says that for democratic congresswoman of color and all of them american citizens should leave the u.s.

and go back to the crime infested places he says they came from the president says that he stands behind his remarks. rwanda's health ministry has warned that its citizens should avoid unnecessary travel to eastern parts of the democratic republic of congo that after a case of ebola was confirmed near its border in the city of goma it's the 1st time that the virus has reached a major urban center since the outbreak started in congo last year and global health officials are now sounding the alarm. it's a health workers worst nightmare a highly contagious disease reaching a city that's now happened in the democratic republic of congo after a year long the bowl outbreak a regional capital home to $1000000.00 people has reported its 1st case of the virus a local pastor many of those who have been in contact with the pastor have been identified vaccinated global health officials have praised the response and

prevention efforts but also expressed concern for what ebola in a major urban center may mean for containing the outbreak. the identification of the cases in goma good pointing surely be a game changer in this epidemic. that's because in addition to the high concentration of people is also a transit center on the border with rwanda has already claimed more than 1600 lives in this outbreak u.n. officials meeting donors in geneva today said the global response would get a lot more complicated if the disease reaches rwanda and the situation is already extremely difficult we are dealing with the world as most dangerous virus is in one of the world is most dangerous it is rival militias and government forces have long been competing for power in this region of the congo health officials are a means to the brutal violence over the weekend 2 workers were murdered by unidentified assailants now the w.h.o. was weighing whether to declare the outbreak an international health emergency that

could provide the containment effort with the additional resources and money it needs to stop the outbreak from spreading. today denied allegations of corruption at a public hearing in johannesburg he argued that he was the target of a character assassination. who wanted to push him out of power zoom his testimony is being broadcast live on television and is due to continue until friday. this isn't the 1st time former south african president jacob zuma has had to answer to corruption charges but this was his 1st appearance before a high profile commission into graft he allegedly oversaw zuma is accused of presiding over a culture of mass looting of state assets during his 9 year tenure that was before he was ousted as head of state by his ruling a.n.c. party last year speaking uninterrupted for over 2 hours zuma dismissed the multiple

graft allegations against him he claimed he was a victim of a conspiracy that has been drive. to remove me from. it has come in different forms and that's why. they've been people who serve would be a way of trying to dodge things in one form or that. the commission in charge of the inquiry hasn't been tasked with proving a case against anyone and zuma supporters are angry at what they say is the media's unfair portrayal of him. in the in the case of president jacob zuma we've seen neverland just need to attack an avalanche of media trial finding president jacob

zuma kills it without a fair trial they keep on telling us nonsense but they don't give us a tangible thing to take people to court to to do again they should be able to get right now if somebody is wrong that you know someone like me jade. zuma is set to face cross-examination at the inquiry which could last all week. for sports news now it's likely as tour de france a rookie of all from the heart of the team has won the 10th stage in a sprint finish tuesday is the 1st rest day of the rays and at the halfway point france's uli of leap is still holds the yellow jersey while defending champion again thomas has moved up to 2nd overall. john king the giant chinese panda you see right there has celebrated his 9th birthday right here in berlin. he woke up this morning and that's what he found right there a cake in his enclosure but no sugar no wising for this panda boy he was given one

with sweet potatoes and red beets we understand it is a special treat for a special paint. we take this week potatoes in the newsroom. i think steve takes the sweet potato chips. so here's a reminder that top story we're following for you. and step down as the country's defense minister as she enters the final phase of her campaign to become the european commission president the european parliament will vote tomorrow whether or not to make her the 1st woman to have that job and the world health organization considering whether to declare of congo's ebola outbreak a global emergency the virus has now spread to the crowded city of goma a development that the w.h.o. describes as a potential game changer. you're watching deja vu news up next china's economic growth drops to its lowest level in decades is the trade war

with the u.s. to blame for that and more in business with stephen beardsley in just about one minute stick around for that. he creates a sex phone operator who wrote her master's thesis on the potato. to create. not a turn on. well it gets more ridiculous from a. list determined straight. from. her 1st day of school in the jungle. first clue.