and there's a story. on. i am. this is did every news coming to you live from berlin both sides in the us iran conflict truly standing down from a military conflict video and emergency sounds after missile strikes in baghdad's green zone suggest otherwise this within hours of president trump saying iran was timed in down after its strikes on u.s. targets in iraq strikes at inflicted no casualties also coming up people in kiev

mourn those who lost their lives after a ukrainian passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff from iran's busiest airport there don ukrainian officials joined iranian investigators in the search for iran says. and travel chaos in france as the next phase of a massive strike action gets underway french workers stick to the streets in a bid to press present a man in the crawl to give up on his campaign promise to push through pension reforms. plus a shock announcement in the british royal family in was a tabloid is calling him exit prince harry and his wife meghan announced they will step back from royal duties and spend more time in north america we talk to the author of a book on prince harry called the inside story. kind

of a well most continue on the cima. u.s. president says iran appears to be standing down in its confrontation with the united states at the same time he did not threaten for the military action funding in the wake of myside strikes on u.s. time gets in iraq just 1000 off the tron statement ruckus in baghdad's green zone where u.s. government buildings on located. sirens rang out over the iraqi capital on wednesday night it's not clear who was behind the rocket attack in the green zone a high security enclave where the u.s. embassy is located there were no casualties but it's a sign that some are still seeking revenge for the killing of a rainy and general celeb money earlier the u.s. president announced a non military action it would take against tehran as we continue to evaluate

options in response to a reign in aggression the united states will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the iranian regime these powerful saying shoes will remain until around changes its behavior. but to rand says it will not be cowed by threats of any kind but. we did not start this process of escalation the united states rage an economic war against iran the united states has to come to its senses if it wants to deal with this people it has to deal with these people based on respect not based on threat and not based on sanctions i want to thank you and god bless america thank you very much thank you. donald trump says iran has stood down from the conflict it appears that for the president this tense chapter is closed but is it also closed for their arch enemy. and joining me now from

tehran is your brother he's a correspondent with the german public broadcaster said to f. you donald trump says iran is backing down in this crisis how much a will is there in the iranian government to hit back at the u.s. now. well let's say there are conflicting signs coming from iran at the moment if it comes to the political leadership they really seem to try to reopen you know channels of negotiations president rouhani today talked to the head of the. council and foreign ministers or you've had a talk with boris johnson's as far as we heard but there are other signs coming from the military leadership as the commanders of the revolutionary guards announce that there will be tough strikes coming up in the near future and if it comes to the shia militia within iraq you also have conflicting signs as let's say the influential shia cleric knocked out outside as well as the car type has

organization whose co-head have been killed alongside with general colin money they've both asked their fighters to stay calm to be patient and not take any action but they're smaller groups probably not on a total control of tehran and we believe that one of these smaller shia militias is behind shelling of the u.s. embassy in baghdad last night so my believe is that we will not see you know the calm situation as we have it right now for a very long time there will be actions being taken within the near future at the same time we have done examples threatened iran with fresh sanctions how is that on call for yet more sanctions imposed on it is also already crippled by u.s. sanctions. well the question is how much how much sanctions are left i mean what what precisely is behind you know the announcement of the u.s. president last night if it comes to dealing with sorry if it comes to dealing with

iran if it comes to transferring money there are hardly any options left and the people are used you know to really suffer from these sanctions so we have to still have to see what's coming up if you. if you talk to the people they say ok we've been used to live under sanctions for many decades now so we'll find a way to cope with it the political leadership of course is trying to negotiate in order to have the sanctions lifted which they consider the precondition for any talks also. on the issue of the atomic deal there's talk about people to what extent iranians backing the government's handling of events. well let's say i truly believe that the majority of people is really relieved you know after trump speech yesterday because. everybody that we talked to.

tell told us that we don't want war so if there's a chance you know to avoid a full fledged war with the us i think the people are behind it and they are patient now and see what will come out through you know the talks that seem to come up now between the political leadership and the europeans or the americans hopefully. you have the cell phone and said if the german public broadcaster thank you very much for that update from the head on. your work. what caused the ukrainian passenger plane to crash in iran just minutes after takeoff $176.00 people on board were killed all the passengers and all of the crew there create an international airlines jet was on its way from tehran to kiev the aircraft went down not long after iran 5 missiles at the u.s. targets in iraq thank you chris president told him it is alinsky says his country was send a team of investigators to iran in search for iran says. marking

a day of mourning ukrainian president for not amazing lenski at the growing memorial to those who died in wednesday's crash. but the scramble for answers gets underway he appealed for international cooperation to establish what caused this tragedy. the upper shoe i ask everybody especially when ukraine is in the middle of an information war to refrain from manipulation speculation conspiracy theories snap judgments and on verified theories he lists. dozens of the 176 victims came from canada a western university in ontario the sense of loss is enormous the persian canadian community here tightly knit. and i'm pushing the big nose and the white house is what. i used to see one of the people who lost his life in

the bus and a regular basis one of my friends lost his brother i didn't know him directly but. you know pretty much everybody knows someone who was either in the plane crash or was affected by it the crash coincided with iran launching missiles at u.s. bases in iraq leading some to speculate the plane may have been shot down kind of this prime minister justin trudeau said his country would join any probe say categorically one way or another that the plane was not shot down. i cannot it is too early to speculate i would encourage people not to want to speculate. u.s. secretary of state mike comp ai has said he wants the u.s. to be involved in the probe but the iranians say they won't hand over the black box to boeing initially iranian and craning officials both planes mechanical problems but the ukrainians later backpedals declining for

a course while the investigation is ongoing. now to some other stories making news around the violent levanon has issued a travel ban on phone. on this on last go on after authorities questioned him over an interpol notice going fled to lebanon from japan where he was awaiting trial on corruption charges going disputes and denies all the allegations against him and says he would not get a fair trial in japan. the bush fire crisis and south is a strange year looks set to worsen with soaring temperatures and stronger winds forecast for friday parties advising local residents to evacuate quickly $26.00 people have died in the fires and more than 2000 homes have been destroyed since the spent as of september. france is expecting thousands of people to hit the streets in another day of strikes and protests against president in one in the cross proposed pension reform macross push to change the pension system has

unleashed want the longest drive actions in france in decades it's caused weeks of travel chaos these a new student news correspondent is standing by for us in central paris lisa you are standing in the heart of the city tell us what's happening in the french capital today. but people here are gathering for a demonstration that will go from here from the plaza let it leak to point in north west of paris there was marching through the streets at there more than 200 demonstrations and marches planned across france today this started this morning obviously the strike is still ongoing it's now been ongoing for 36 days and that means this strike is longer than the strike in 1968 and the longest braver way strike since the 930 s. let's hear more about what the strike is actually about. for more than

a month no french workers have taken to the streets they are worried they will have to work longer for and contribute more to their pensions. the reform is one of the manual homes key electoral promises a single points based pension system for all replacing the $42.00 separate pension schemes but all for early retirement and other advantages mainly to public sector workers. faced with popular anger the government consulted union representatives earlier this week but wants to get the proposed reforms through parliament as soon as possible meanwhile unions insist that the planned increase in pensionable age be taken off the table. with the pension age measure must be withdrawn it's what our actions will be about in the coming days and weeks. as the stone. off between unions and government continues strikes go on dividing public opinion. sick she says it's horrible i'm tired af come back from holidays and ports things have

improved but no i think it's even worse but i hope things return to normal soon because i think it's getting on everyone's young and old it's quite annoying. but this will. it annoys me but it's fine it's for the common good also so would i think it worth it because from what i understand we're going to work a lot longer to earn a lot less well concessions have been made to some in the public sector with those born before 1975 exempt from the new system but others especially the younger generation are determined to strike until they get what they see as a fair pension deal. and they did this is a loser still with us in paris lisa after weeks of strikes and disruption is there any sign of an end in sight. well as we just heard in the report the 2 sides are negotiating they started renegotiating again at the beginning of this

week and there's a conference a meeting planned for tomorrow now the most crucial thing is now this so-called peace vote a pivotal age that's mean that means the retirement age which the government wants to put up from 62 officially to 64 to have a full pension all the unions are opposed to that but one of the most moderate union the c.s.t. is saying you know if you withdraw that we might be we might actually agree with the reform the other unions that even if the government and the c.s.t. if find an agreement on that point the other unions have that should continue as even if they actually you know go through with this there might be strikes more strike days lying ahead for weeks and weeks on end and how important is the standoff for both sides why is neither side prepared to budge lisa. well each side needs to keep face the unions want to show that they can actually have any influence on what's happening in france specially after one year of yellow

vest protest where they were very much sidelined you know these we get protests happened without any accord nation with the unions and they want to show that they still exist obviously for the government it's also very important every reform it was one of the centerpieces of what a man might call the president was running on when he got elected 2017 it is believed that if he now stands back and says ok i'm going to abandon this reform that really means that a con to anything else in the last few years of his time in power and also has very little chance of getting reelected. he's a loose in paris thank you very much. a shock announcement in the british royal family britain's prince harry and his wife meghan says they are going to step back from their role is and spend more time in north america one to have the what is described the move as meg's it reports of the news to prince charles

and the queen by surprise and the head of the royal family is apparently not amused by the decision. and meghan on their wedding day it was thought to be the start of a new chapter for the british royal family but it was not meant to read like this in an instagram post the couple explained the woods by a senior royals and were deemed to become financially independent it seems the cult even the queen of our guard she's reported to be heart one commentator said it was beyond belief. last year was a pretty dreadful year for the royal family this has begun in a way that is not only completely unprecedented but potentially it's undoubtedly has various serious consequences in a terrorist statement the royal household said these were quote complicated issues

that would require time to work through ever since they revealed their relationship to the world harry and megan never looked all too comfortable with the rule when their son archie was born the kept the details under wrap much to the era taishan of britain's former top lloyd price after the tour of africa last summer their rift with the media widened when they said they were suing a newspaper over invasion of privacy and in december they said they would break from tradition to spend the christmas holidays not with the queen but in canada outside buckingham palace and the reaction to the bombshell news has been mixed i applaud baird for taking a step back from the media because of him there in the media so much so if they want to live a private. little problem but maybe they are going at different property outfit. but it has a large opinion of it is completely irresponsible you think so yeah they're part of

rule stablish me and they should be a nice cordingley. it may be that such high expectations have brought about this rupture but that and we're at leeds next only harry and meghan know. joining me now is duncan lacan he's the former royal editor of the sun and has written a book on prince harry called the inside story welcome duncan were you surprised by this announcement. i must be honest i have to look at the flow yesterday yes it was we've always known that prince harry is a reluctant britons he's talked about the packages being or gold is actually doing . but i don't think any one of those suspected that he would simply throw in the towel on this and it seems that's how the american did not even consult anyone in the royal family before making this announcement why do you think that was the case well i mean that seems to be the case this statement released by the palace yes

they look very rushed us over which on an item sounds sometimes work out what exactly is going on but it does beg the question how did harry in making made up their mind canada and did they simply not want confiding with prince charles all the queen because they didn't want to be persuaded and so confident. how much of a setback is this for the british monarchy because this couple had got a fresh more inclusive than modern feed to the royal family. the i think the departure of harry make it means that rock'n'roll installer was very very popular i didn't see glamorous and the royal family have gone. and i think in the long term the roles i'm not elected to see there are reliant on the goodwill public and removing such a public. figure like prince harry from me this could do them in an unimaginable i am hard long term. they you wrote this book prince harry the inside

story so you must have quite an insight into what the person who called the reluctant prince do you think this decision was influenced by what prince how you saw his late mother princess diana experience especially at the hands of the british media. i think possibly i think what we have to realize through prince harry is that when i would children out that were spending that challenge becoming a prince or princess living in a costume prince harry was a little boy living in there in back corsa looking out wishing dreaming big could be normal just like run house that has underpinned his entire life. yes i'm sure we're looking at the. in the way that perhaps he feels he's been perceived more coach. seats at the end of the press is a contributing factor but i just think it's very sad i hope it works out. but it is a huge gamble and if the public resent the fact that they've got all the wealth but

none of the responsibility of being wrong it was then they could face a bit of a. ride duncan the former going at it out the son and the also if a book on prince harry thank you very much for talking to us and thank you. in other news the pneumonia outbreak in china may have been caused by a new type of virus that's according to the world health organization more than 50 people have caught ammonia in the city of han the w h o's said the illness could come from the same family as the saas virus. around 20 soldiers have been killed in a militant attack in the town of one goodnow in northeastern nigeria that's a potent richness says and military officials they said the attack sparked a fire that destroyed hundreds of homes an extremist group linked to the islamic state has claimed responsibility. evaders a meeting with libya's u.n.

backed government as the conflict in the country bus and german foreign minister heikal mass and the e.u. concert president met the leader of the un backed government affairs at odds the e.u. russia and turkey have corder and government forces and rebel groups to declare a cease fire starting this sunday. time to have on day are real concerns of much of unease and defense in the islands upcoming presidential election the allegations are hot to ignore for an island that beijing claims and is fond of its. china looms launch in daily taiwanese life. it's graduation for these young students at taipei university but while their thoughts may be on their careers their hearts are with fellow students in hong kong . a quick glance around the cafeteria makes it clear where their sympathies lie and who their common enemy is china. disease no way in the

past china's interference was not so noticeable but now it is if we allow this to continue it would be like the frog in the slowly boiling water it doesn't notice the heat until it dies. but wincing in the current political mood in taiwan is really unpleasant. but. tensions are growing red paint attacks on activists all critical of china hooliganism and vandalism and solidarity demonstrations for hong kong. foreign journalists have been verbally abused by pro china advocates like mrs john here member of the china patriots association. can be the official the group's headquarters are here in taiwan's capital taipei a chinese flag flies over the building inside a portrait of taiwan's former president chiang kai shek hangs

a long side current chinese president xi jinping china born mrs john is busy painting patriotic slogans this one reads for unification with china against taiwan's independence is that say quite a home as a chinese in taiwan sons and daughters of the chinese nation we're taking on the responsibility. pushing for the unification of a country this just sounds. then they plaster their campaign bus in slogans they want to give taiwan's liberal pro independence president a piece of their mind taiwan's authorities strongly suspect that the c.p.a. gets resources from china through back channels. but taiwan has a powerful opponent china groups and media organizations often financed by wealthy businessmen and women are the most obvious means of chinese influence. but more subtle mischievous methods are employed using social media the politically

independent taiwan fact check center in taipei has been monitoring the sharp increase in fake news. these include repeated claims often using manipulated content but taiwan has been behind the protests in hong kong. now then she wants you to tell why since local elections at the end of 2018 we've become aware in taiwan that we have become victims of an information war that china has been waging against us in order to manipulate time when the society and elections. shifts. those local elections saw the meteoric rise of a man that previously no one had heard of well you from the opposition pro china i'm in dung party now a presidential candidate a populist propelled by

a well oiled political machine who's especially gaining ground in social media. where did this sudden the momentum come from. claims china has nothing to do with it. but jiang and her patriotic chinese association waged their fight for independence out in the open at taiwan's presidential palace they proudly hand over their petition. why do you know what man just in the petition quit calling for the president to recognize that there is only one china and for a peaceful unification with the main. you know. they hope that in the not too distant future china's flag will eventually fly over taipei. here is a recap the story that you're finding feel the news president john or john both the united states says there was no casualties in iranian missile attacks and the u.s.

doggett's in iraq he announced new sanctions but no military response to iran strikes were in the town nation for the u.s. killing of a top iranian general while he was visiting iraq. coming up next is up to ground conflict zone. interview series in the latest. listen tim sebastian speaks to turkey's presidential spokesman in behind stay with us for that if you can see at the top of the hour i buy.

food. into the conflict zone with jim sebastian turkey has outraged many of its allies and fatless with its military operations in syria my guest this week here

the foreign policy forum in violin is turkey's presidential spokesman in bring him colleen how does he justify his country's highly controversial policies he has focused on the various conflicts often comes next to my offer to go to the few. born. every 2 seconds a person is forced to flee their homes nearly 71000000 people have been forcibly displaced the consequences of the disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises around the world you know. what a good thing we don't need and i didn't go to university to kill people you know i thought the or to have my boss come to me and tell me to kill someone to get money and if i don't they'll kill me. people feel for their lives and their future so

they seek refuge abroad but what will become of the crew stay behind and it's a way our people my husband went to peru because of the crisis that i'm under that if he hadn't gone there we would have died of hunger and i want to down. just starts to turn a fish takes on top. then you do it in the west it's for public order then to do with it's oppression of people all over a concern he further you cannot fight one 3rd of children as they should with another turkey has outraged many of its allies and partners with its military operations in syria and the whole consul log of human rights violations against its own people my guest this week here at the foreign policy forum in berlin is turkey's presidential spokesman abraham colleen how does he justify his country's

highly controversial policies. and abroad.