this is d.w. news live from berlin she's made history now the 1st woman to become the e.u. commission president sets her sights on europe's future. it's necessary that you actually have to take bold action. was a friend of mine tells d.w. what's high on her agenda as she takes over the e.u. so tough but. also coming up a rare congressional review the u.s. house of representatives votes to denounce president donald trump for racist comments to form minority congress on twitter again trump tonight he is racist.

while the families of those killed on flight m.h. 17 received justice the malaysia airlines flight was shot down over eastern ukraine 5 years ago today we look at where the investigation stands. times to me so much kind of thank you for joining us members of the european parliament have made history by electing the 1st woman as commission president germany's outgoing defense minister was enough underlined one lawmaker support for the role as she's promised her quote united and strong europe saying she would work constructively and pragmatically to achieve it she was voted in by a narrow majority. uncertainty until the very last minute. the members of the european parliament knew their vote on the next commission

president was going to be close but not even the candidate herself. on the line would have thought it was going to be that close. vote the 5 votes in favor 3 shots 383. things are on the line secured the majority by just 9 votes only presides at the end still enough to celebrate. my message to all of you is let us work together constructively because the endevor is a united a strong year old. the former german defense minister spent the last 2 weeks building a majority trying to convince the political groups in the european parliament to support her bid should this be her final address to parliament which some called the speech of her lifetime seem to have tilt of the scale in her favor for having the backing of her conservative p.p.p. group she could afford moving towards the left and resonating with other groups on

issues such as climates. this is the greatest responsibility and opportunity of our times i want europe to become the 1st climate neutral continent in the world by 2050. 1 the night has vowed to fight for a greener fairer and more beauty based here but relying on a problem and so fragmented voting majorities around any of these issues is likely to prove difficult. our brussels bureau chief max half month spoke to the new commission president elect shortly after the vote was and is with us today and i have a very simple question to start out the interview how are you feeling. relieved and happy because it was a tough ride over 13 days now i had to. formulate the guidelines the

political guidelines and to convince the parliamentarians this was not a lot of time and i made it and i'm happy right now does the majority bother you that it was only 9 votes ahead majority's majority and 2 weeks ago i didn't have at all a majority of course i understand that because the parliamentarian said we want to know more of you we want to know what your program is we want to know the details in the topics we're dealing with so it was a tough time a very intensive the most intensive in my political career i've ever had but now i'm happy and you happy with the speech you delivered the feedback you got yes because it showed my conviction and it's worth to fight for this europe and it's best to tell the story of our europe a united and strong how i see it for the future and so this was a important moment you made a lot of promises today you do realise it'll be very tough to keep all of those right but it's right it's not promises it's politics and policy would want to bring

forward if we're talking about the climate neutral continent in 2050 it's necessary that we act we have to take bold action to achieve those goals and we needed for our planet and for life so these all these topics are extremely important and we have to be ambitious what would you say of all those topics you talked about which is your absolute top priority i think top priority is. the climate neutrality 2050 with a goal for 2013 and digitalization those are the 2 biggest concerns all opportunities. we have to tackle you're going to work with a divided parliament words harder than ever to get a majority and also you could say with a divided council because you have a rift between eastern europe and the other european countries for example on migration how will you handle this i think we absolutely have to overcome the

division of east and west between east and west i know that people in the eastern countries central european countries often think they are not accepted as they should be and as i've been working as a defense minister very much in those countries i have a lot of friends and they trust me so i know how to work together that we can improve the relationship and there is a division between north and south has to do with questions of competitiveness and flexibility and we have to solve that too why that because europe has to be united there are many many big questions we have to tackle and europe has to play a role and we only can do that when we are united ok so what are you doing over the summer. i'll spend it in process of getting my cabinet there the commissioners on board and to work on my work programme that i have to lay down and lay out in

october. president elects of the european commission thank you very much for talking to us. well it was a left on the line has now stepped down from her role as germany's defense minister she will be succeeded by an account to come. both women attended an official handover ceremony with chancellor angela merkel a little while ago compound out is also the leader of michael's conservative party she took over as the head of the christian democrats last year she is widely seen as michael's protege. and for more on that we have our chief political correspondent linda crane with us here in studio hi melinda i said i could come come by the next defense minister was it a surprise absolutely it was a surprise because around 2 weeks ago she absolutely ruled out the idea that she might become the successor to ursula fund a lot in fact ruled out taking on any ministry post saying that she wanted to concentrate on her job as party leaders so when this news broke last night most

people thought this this can't be this is astonishing there are a couple of reasons though why this would have been of interest to her and the main one is that she's made some real missteps in the last few months her star has been on the wane and this gives her an opportunity to show what she can do in terms of hands on government she has never held a federal ministry before and this is a big tough challenge this ministry literally is full of minefields no pun intended given its defense but it if she succeeds in addressing some of the problems there then certainly that will help her profile and therefore also raise her profile and therefore also give her more credibility in her push to become the chancellor when uncle americal does step down you said yourself this is a tough job some say the toughest one of the toughest at least in berlin what are

some of the challenges that are now facing her we'll start with hardware meaning everything from weapons systems to planes. as many people will have followed on our news bulletins the german defense operation has really been struggling with problems she needs to ensure that there is proper maintenance carried out many of the planes are grounded and then she also needs to modernize weapon systems and hardware so that's the 1st point they're also struggling with a real shortage of recruits for the going to sphere there's a lot of competition out there were close to full employment in germany so difficult to get recruits particularly in critical areas like digital skills and going to sphere is looking to upgrade those so that's another problem area and then there's the question of the budget as you know there's been a lot of pressure on germany to up its contribution to nato to also take more responsibility in military missions abroad we know that the great crime karen bauer

supports a stronger financial contribution but she's going to have some tough going to go she getting with her colleagues in the finance ministry so those are just 3 very tough challenges that she will face an opportunity to prove herself but also a lot of pitfalls and one that just briefly what do you think all of this seeing as the last one to line being named a european commission president now. defense minister 2 allies of the chancellor angela merkel what do you think that says about where she stands right right now how strong she is chancellor well you know it's her birthday today she's turning 65 and i would say she can definitely be celebrating she has a key ally now who will be running the european commission they're both moderates this doesn't mean that sort of underlying will be doing the bidding of the german government but certainly that's a real bond between the 2 of them and on a great crime convo is also a key ally of the chancellor she's also to some degree a moderate at least in areas that will count in defense and security policy and for

that reason i think that the chancellor can be very satisfied indeed she has wanted to put more women into positions of power and she has really done that these last 2 days there at our chief political correspondent melinda crane and thank you for that insight. now to some other stories making news around the world in sudan protesters and ruling generals have signed a political document part of a power sharing deal paving the way for a civilian government this sounds been one of the key demands of demonstrators since president omar al bashir was ousted in april a 2nd constitutional document is likely to be signed within days. reconstruction and rescue operations are underway across south asia after heavy monsoon rains caused massive flooding and landslides millions are affected and officials estimate that at least 180 people have died floods hit india naipaul and bangladesh refugee camps have experienced extensive damage. and according moscow has extended pretrial

detention for the 1st 6 of 24 ukrainian sailors arrested by russia off the coast of crimea last year a decision on the remaining sailors is due later on wednesday the group is accused of illegally entering russian waters denies the tribes. in the u.s. the house of representatives has passed a motion condemning president donald trump for making racist comments it follows a series of tweets in which trump said 4 democratic lawmakers should quote go back to their countries although all are u.s. citizens and 3 were born there all 235 democrats voted to condemn trump although the motion carries no legal weight. it was a symbolic vote and one easily approved by the democrat held house of representatives but republicans and one independent also supported the motion to condemn donald trump for making xenophobic statements. we condemn the hurtful in

offensive comments that demean immigrants and people of color these comments from the white house i disgraced and disgusting and it's comments are racist how shameful to hear him continue to defend those offensive words words that we have all heard him repeat not only about our members but about countless others we are america america is a nation of immigrants we are not going anywhere america is our home and many of us will still be standing here long after the occupant over office leaves earlier this week trump released a series of tweets attacking progressive female democratic politicians saying they should go back to their countries his unnamed but understood targets for outspoken nonwhites lawmakers all u.s. citizens. trump is standing by his comments.

it's up to them what they. think they can stay they should love our country and they should work for the good of our country senior republicans are supporting their leader. the president authorizes the bridge authorizes and i think the tone of all of those is not good for the country following a vote of condemnation texas democrat al green introduced articles of impeachment against trump saying the president was unfit for office another symbolic move unlikely to succeed. iran's foreign minister mohammed serif is due to speak at a united nations conference in new york today amid heightened tensions between tehran and washington relations plummeted last year after president trying to quit the iranian nuclear deal and last month a series of incidents in the gulf region engage the 2 nations in

a volatile standoff we'll talk to our correspondent about where things stand now but 1st this report on a relationship in crisis. or this was a rainy and president has sent rouhani telling his audience just a few days ago that he's ready to hold talks with the united states but only if sanctions are lifted and the u.s. returns to the nuclear deal it quits last year. the relations between the 2 countries have deteriorated since the u.s. military claims that one if it surveillance drones had been shot down by iran last month. by all or bomb got there this iranian broadcast purports to show a missile from the islamic republic targeting that drone and bringing it down. and this was the wreckage u.s. president trump said he was considering air strikes which called them off at the

very last minute this followed attacks on oil tankers in the gulf of oman at the beginning of june which is being blamed on forces allied with iran. trump has since imposed toughest sanctions on the country america's decision to pull out of the 2050 nuclear deal triggered this standoff the agreement limited iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions in retaliation iran has been increasing production of enriched uranium. the country's supreme leader ayatollah ali how money says the islamic republic will continue to rollback its nuclear commitments under the deal on less it get sanction relief but that's unlikely to come from this man anytime soon. used today's atop a has a reported extensively on iran for us also in iran and she joins us on the story is

and so the u.s. and iran where do things stand right now well this been a lot of back and forth in the past weeks as we've just seen and a study of escalation of tensions but so far nothing really bad has happened so while a war by accident still remains a possibility of fresh talks are also still possible and right now of the foreign minister zarif is in new york city to attend a u.n. conference and that sparked some rumors that there might be progress on the no negotiation side. has it also sparked controversy for another reason by the way because this is these eyes very strange it's limited to just a very small area in new york city essentially just 6 blocks so he can't move but so far that hasn't really kept him from doing what he wants to do that he's just giving interviews and speeches and held talks there were his allowed to be the u.n. have criticized that but on so it's

a largely symbolic move basically but on the other hand we have to remember that just a couple of weeks ago the united states said they would impose sanctions on zarif so the pure fact that he's now in new york city. even if he's restricted in his his actions is basically good news and could mean that there is some progress on the negotiation ok what kind of progress do you does that mean that we could see new negotiations in the near future well both sides of send mixed signals when it comes to a fresh talks in the past but i personally think it's the only way to resolve this current death log and that's in the interest of both sides actually because donald trump has repeatedly said he wants to strike a deal with iran and of course getting a better deal than his predecessor could be sold as a success in the upcoming presidential elections and iran on the other side really . needs to free itself from the sanctions because the economy is really like

suffering people in iran are suffering so they are also open to improve the current situation the big differences that donald trump this talks would be possible without preconditions and serif is just reiterated that to have new talks the u.s. would have to return to the old agreement 1st and then talks could start from there all right so that is essentially a deadlock is what you're describing what do you how do you look at the strategy of donald trump hereis using a strategy that he's wielded with several countries exerting maximum maximum pressure to get the results that he wants is it working with iran no i don't think it's working because iran is feeling the pressure of the sanctions of course and so that could be a reason why they would want to go back to the negotiating table but it can't be the only one because giving in to pressure from the united states which is the arch enemy of iran is something that they simply cannot do that would totally not correspond with the self-image of the islamic republic so donald trump would have

to give them something more than that another incentive to go back to the negotiation table and so treating iran like an ill minute schoolchild want to work you will have to give them something else for example respect that we something new all right our reporter today is a top with us here in our studio thank you very much. you're watching the news here in berlin still to come scientists sound the alarm in the arctic they say temperatures are rising significantly in a land that's usually frozen around. but 1st friends and families of those killed on board malaysia airlines flight m h 17 will gather at a dutch memorial today to mark the 5th anniversary of the disaster m.h. 17 was blasted out of the sky is it flew over eastern ukraine killing all $290.00 people on board investigators have blamed a russian made surface to air missile but moscow denies involvement last month 4

men were charged with murder over the incident all of them linked to a russian backed separatist rebel rebel group in ukraine. and let's speak to journalist stefan boss he is at the dutch m.h. 17 national monument near schiphol airport outside hi stefan the downing of m.h. 17 is being remembered tell us what's happening today. well what i say happening right now we step said a relative so for many of the 298 people who passed away in detroit edgy and if arrived here and are still arriving and very soon the dutch prime minister mark will actually speak here to people i already know that he will say that basically no one for instance in the netherlands was touched by the strategy as we do know almost 202298 victims of course came from danetta linz and i can tell

you here dearies almost no municipality debts either indirectly or directly knew someone involved in this a new strategy now what is happening here debts a week behind me there are $298.00 trees each bearing a name to victim it says it's a bark and especially developed to remember what was really the worst terror attack on a civilian plane in recent history 7 what about the investigation the trial against 4 people who allegedly were involved will start next year what is the evidence against that. well what we do know is that the dutch lets an international investigative team believed every he's a lot of evidence to link the attack against the plane to at least 3 russian nationals and also a ukrainian national and what is interesting i think from that at the defense apparently that at this very high in the chain of command and there was some

concern even that the kremlin i've heard directly or indirectly was involved in this as well now of course that all has to be investigated the trial will only start next year but i do know debts for instance the prime minister has have told us with moscow about this matter now of course russia is denying any involvement in this they call it an attack in a propaganda campaign against russia but it's not how the international investigators are viewing it said at this moment how has this case affected the relations between russia and europe well i think it has of course edits to the tension that already existed between the european union and russia over for russian involvement in ukraine and i think what did netherlands he's hoping now that the new european parliament will reason the electorate will people to pressure. to rush out to really come forward and we saw at the dents and also

make sure that those involved in the attack will be prosecuted now of course it will be complicated because russia and ukraine have no extradition agreements about very solemn hope that that may change in the near future perhaps even off the russian president vladimir putin is gone and another one takes over by correspondent stefan bus reporting there in the netherlands thank you now to a heat wave in the arctic scientists in canada say they've observed record temperatures earlier this week in the world's northernmost settlement less than 600 miles from the north pole. t.-shirt weather in this treeless tundra here in alert the northernmost permanent human settlement on the planet where snow and frost last all year temperatures hit a record high of 70 degrees fahrenheit or 21 degrees celsius. this summer

has wreaked havoc on the arctic chill bringing weather to a land not adapted to deal with it. a recent report showed greenland glaciers are receding faster than previously thought. this video from a greenland climate researcher went viral sled dogs sloshing across melting ice on the inglefield fjord. uncommon number of wildfires like this one in anchorage alaska have also lit up the arctic and sub-arctic regions this season fires are not unheard of in the arctic but scientists say this summer wasn't global warming. there have been unprecedented wildfires in the arctic since the beginning of june according to the world meteorological organization over 100 intense and long lived wildfires were recorded in the arctic circle the northern part of the world is warming faster than the planet as a whole that heat is drying out forests and making them more susceptible to burn

the wildfires in turn spew more carbon into the atmosphere increasing the effects of climate change scientists warn it's a vicious cycle that puts the future of the ice caps in doubt. now police at spain's barcelona airport are no strangers to drug smugglers who often come up with ingenious ways of bringing illegal substances into the country well this past week a man you see here wearing a rather having a rather large wig sparked the suspicions of officers the man who arrived on a flight from colombia was asked to remove the wig revealing half a kilo of cocaine glued to his head he was then swiftly arrested in what police are calling operation to pay. or minor now of our top story here on d w germany's was a lot fun the line has won a close vote to become the 1st woman in your commission president she had previously been serving as a defense minister in chester on the american government. you're watching you

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