>> this is dw news from berlin. rivals move aside. donald trump is getting a clear run at the republican nomination for president. ted cruz throws in the towel and john kasich is expected to do the same. also coming up, hope for the people of aleppo. the u.s. and russia agree to extend the cease-fire to the city under siege. and the european commission backs visa-free travel as part of a migration deal but critics fear the concession sends the wrong message to the turkish government.

♪ >> welcome to the program. it is almost official come up donald trump looks like he will be the republican nominee in the race for the white house. first ted cruz dropped out after a devastating to the in the indiana primary. and now john kasich is also expected to announce that he too is quitting. what does it mean for the republican party? the leadership has begrudgingly started to rally around the trunk. now, what will voters make of his provocative comments? our coverage of the race for the white house begins with this week's primary trail. >> john kasich was the consistent adult and the republican presidential a day. the ohio governor never stood a

chance of securing the nomination, the party leadership hoped he would effectively stand in donald trump's wake. taking delegates and blocking the billionaire from reaching the 1237 delegates needed to secure the nomination. but after ted cruz dropped out it was clear this was no longer possible. as for trump, his indiana win has all but made him the nominee for the gop and now he has his sights set on the democratic front-runner. >> we are going after hillary clinton. she will not -- [applause] she will not be a great president, she will not be a good president, she will be a poor president. >> trumps task now is unify a fractured republican party, a

rift clinton is hoping to exploit. if trump fails to do this, disappointed cruz and kasich supporters may give her their vote in november's election. now that it is more than likely that clinton will be facing off against trump, the former secretary of state have to be prepared for a tough battle, and perhaps a dirty one. >> correspondent richard walker is standing by. is it now fair to say that trump is the last man standing, and what would that mean? will he party finally start rallying behind him? >> it is extraordinary, isn't it? when you cast your mind back to when donald trump launched his campaign almost a year ago, most people laughed at him. to think he is now the last man standing from a field of 17 former governors, senators, it

really is an extra ordinary thought. but that is what he is. you get a sense the republican party is having to take in that reality. but you do have now a succession of quite serious of figures, beginning to say, look, we have to accept this guy as our nominee, it is time to start taking our fight to the democrats. the latest of those people is bobby jindal, former governor of louisiana, one of the people donald trump beat for the nomination. but there are others who are adamant they will never support donald trump. to think what that means, does that mean just not voting for him? sitting it out, voting for clinton? orfield and independent candidate? that decision will have to come very soon, it is not easy to run an independent campaign.

it will be interesting to see that debate developed over the next few weeks. >> that debate adding further to this unpredictable election. on the democratic side, hillary clinton, she was on the trail. tell us a little bit more about that and what it means for her candidacy? riard: a bit of a gas therefrom hillary clinton, and -- gaffe from hillary clinton, but you have to step back and look at the big picture when looking at the democrats. hillary clinton has a big lead in delegates over bernie sanders. more than length -- more importantly, she has a lead of 3 million votes over him. bernie sanders is trying to poach superdelegates at the convention this summer, and that is something he is unlikely to

do. also something that would not benefit his status as a grassroots, insurgent candidate. >> thank you, richard. we turn to other news now. after weeks of difficult negotiations, the united states and russia have agreed to extend the cessation of hostilities in syria to include aleppo. before ministers of germany and france hosted an envoy on syria and the country's opposition leaders to discuss with you jumpstart the u.n. backed talks in geneva. the ministers agreed that if cessation of hostilities in aleppo was an essential precondition for any possession of peace negotiations. let's bring in a middle eastern expert. he joins us this evening. aleppo has been the scene of heavy fighting but now the syrian government and rebels have agreed to include in their

cessation of hostilities. how realistic we say is the chance of the truce holding in the city? simon: it is imperative that it has to hold for as long as humanly possible. the scale of the humanitarian tragedy was catastrophic. the fighting there was intensified, governing structures had been destroyed, hospitals, schools and been destroyed. the population had plummeted from 2.4 million to about 400,000. the quality of life had diminished rapidly. i think it is imperative that the cease-fire holds as long as possible. it places a number of serious challenges in reports are emerging think the cease-fire agreement was thwarted by a tax. -- attacks. the range of different groups that were involved in maintaining the cease-fire, and

the number of people who want to put an end to the cease-fire. >>'s only different challenges ahead. -- so many different challenges ahead. do you think things will be different this time around? will there be important steps towards achieving peace across syria? simon: i certainly hope so. one of the reasons there has such -- been such a drive to get this through his people are starting to take note of the humanitarian tragedy and this is a conflict that has entered its sixth year, which has resulted in over 400,000 people die, 11 million people being displaced. the humanitarian tragedy is huge and people are realizing the scope of it. i think a number of people are pushing for a diplomatic solution. the french and the british and the u.s. are all really playing

the diplomatic card, putting pressure on russia, to make sure that everyone involved in the conflict abides by this cease-fire agreement. >> france has announced an initiative to bring countries that support serious opposition groups together next week. what you think the french government will be saying to those countries? simon: that is an interesting move because the french government has been incredibly critical of this regime, saying it is the regime in damascus that should take response ability for what has happened. it is a strong message coming out of paris. with the french will be trying to do is demonstrate and cultivate a greater care within the opposition groups because this is been a serious challenge. there are that many people involved. making sure that the opposition is on the same page with regards to what they want and how to go about getting it is paramount.

i'm sure that is the message the french will be stressing. >> ok, thank you. the european commission says that turkish citizens wanting to travel to eu countries should no longer have to get a be set. the move is part of a controversial deal in halting the influx and refugees from places like syria. it was -- if approved, turks would be allowed to travel freely within the eu's order free area. >> and historic day. the proposal to grant 79 million turks visa-free travel is a positive sign that their country is finally moving closer. if the the set requirements and, things will be easier.

i can drop my plans and buy a plane ticket. right now we are preparing lots of unnecessary documents and this is a waste of time if you want my opinion. the recommendation to fast-track turkeys visa-free bid is no surprise. it was struck back in march to help your kids deal with the migrant crisis. >> turkey has made impressive progress. this is why we are now in a position to before a proposal which opens the way for the european parliament and member states to decide to lift be set requirements -- visa requirements. >> no free rides meeting turkey has yet to meet some conditions. many have already questioned their ability to fulfill these goals. turkish officials warned that if they are not get it -- granted

visa-free status they could pull back on the refugee deal. the european union might have different opinions on some matters like meeting the criteria, but nobody shod doubt our sincerity on this matter. we do anything we believe is right. before the new arrangement comes into place, the clear majority have to first approve the deal. instead of waiting in line at the german embassy, turkish citizens will be able to access the eu for 90 days without a visa and as early as july. >> reaction now from turkey. this deal is far from done. walk us through what he said be done in order to finalize visa-free travel. >> turkey has to comply with five more conditions. anti-terror laws, on top of that it has to also introduce

biometric passports in a number of other issues in relation to visa-free travel. but turkey will comply with these in a matter of weeks and was confident turkey will be ready for next month's visa-free travel arrangements. but the eu is very confident. it believes brussels is so desperate for turkey's cooperation that human rights will not be a stumbling block to this deal. >> a lot of people say europe is selling out and turning a blind eye to -- blind eye to those human rights abuses. how is that seen in turkey and does the eu at this point, the cousin needs the migration deal badly, not have any other options? dorian: that certainly is a feeling of the government.

that all point to the fact that the situation has markedly deteriorated. they had a brutal crackdown against kurdish rebels against the southeast, which is seen many towns and cities centers effectively leveled. there has been a seizure of newspapers critical of the government, and they say the european union is now rewarding turkey. they have said engagement rather than criticism is the way forward, but detractors point out that since the process has started the situation has only gotten worse instead of better. >> how about turkey's domestic situation? how is this being spun in turkey? if this is approved, who is it a victim for, turkey itself or the president? dorian: it will be a victory for the prime minister. he is the architect for this whole project. the president has been extreme a

critical in many ways, and the fact that there are? 's, if he wanted to go there would be -- >> figure much. we have to take a short break, do not go away.

♪ sarah: welcome back. donald trump gets a clear run at the republican nomination. we are going after hillary clinton, he says, after ted cruz throws in the towel it looks as if john kasich is about to do the same. we have some business news now. we have a story about japanese automotive supplier which was already in the whole millions of dollars. no situation has gotten much worse. >> they had been ordered to

recall another 35 to 40 million airbag inflator is, double the largest recall ever. at least more than 11 this and dozens of injuries worldwide have been linked to the problem. the issue is affecting 17 carmakers. one might think, are there even any takata airbags left out there? what do people on wall street make of this devastating news for takata? >> the stock of takata does not get traded at the new york stock exchange but we do see the stock falling quite a bit in japanese trading. overall, almost every fourth

vehicle on u.s. roads are affected. there is also the claim that takata actually withheld information and misled consumers. so it is pretty likely that there will be a lot of lawsuits following up. >> stock seven retreated for the second day. were investors not satisfied with the current job data in the u.s.? >> that was probably one reason stocks traded lower. tuesday we had global growth concerns and wednesday we had lower economic data. job growth was lower than expected. on friday will get the big job report but the job data was one reason why trading went weaker here in new york. >> finally, the new york stock exchange is owner has challenged

plans to derail the merger to the london stock exchange and deutsche burrs appear in germany. tell us more. >> overall, the u.s. exchanges, they were looking for quite a while to expand the business to europe, but now obviously, they are thinking that bind the london stock exchange probably would be too expensive. it was goods -- good news for the stocks of intercontinental exchange, but we still have to wait and see what happens because they're still all this discussion if britain might leave the european union, that could derail those plans and also european regulators still have a saying. the deal is still not 100% done. >> thank you.

to europe now, and people in debt stricken greece may have had the feeling for a long time. now a study shows that the vast majority of european bailout money was not used to stabilize greases public finances. -- greece's public finances. only 5% went to the government, the rest went to banks. >> greece is still in crisis mode. many analysts blame the country's leaders, think they failed to implement pension and labor market reforms earlier. due to their lack of action, the country continue to lack -- rack up more debt and urgently needed international assistance. the study by the european school of management and technology concludes the build programs that followed were poorly designed. greece has received nearly 216

million -- billion euros in bailouts. they went straight to the banks to pay off old debt, interest payments, and to recapitalize banks. less than 10 million euros went to greases state budget and indirectly to the people of greece. the researchers say the crisis should have been resolved in a different manner with more debt relief earlier. >> the implication is that should have taken place early on so that the situation would not arise where public credit has stepped in for credit creditors, but rather private creditors would have had a loss in the first place. >> eurozone finance ministers are expecte to meet next week. eu and imf creditors what happens to agree to an action set of reforms in case it misses its spending targets in 2018.

that would unlock billions of euros greece needs to meet financial obligations until july. >> high hopes of tobacco companies went up in smoke on wednesday. the european court of justice approved sweeping new rules the eu has set to fight smoking. they upheld the directive that bands menthol cigarettes and requires plain packaging as well as health warnings. some of the pictures you are about to seek maybe disturbing. -- about to see may be disturbing. >> throughout the eu, cigarette packages will have graphic pictures discouraged -- designed to discourage poking -- smoking. lawsuits against the tough directive were filed by poland, european tobacco producer, and the several tobacco companies hoping to block the packaging regulation.

the court in luxembourg rejected the challenge is to the graphic health warnings. in another case concerning electronic cigarettes, the eu's highest court upheld rules imposig the same restrictions on advertising for them as for tobacco products. the main goal of the crackdown is to prevent young people from smoking. the eu also smokes -- bans tobacco flavors, editors thought to make it easier to smoke in the first place. smoking is one of the main pillars in europe. some estimates say 700,000 people die of smoking-related diseases in the eu every year. >> that is the latest business news, back to you. sarah: they fought the dogs and the cats and bit the babies in their cradles -- so goes the poem.

the solution was the mysterious haida piper uses magic like to get rid of the rodents. today, a city is suffering from a play of rats but it's rat catcher in chief is more -- using more tried and tested methods. >> he claims he has killed over 100,000 rats over several years and that is before became the city's official rat catcher. he even makes his own deadly potion. >> image of flour, sugar and oil , and make small balls of dough with that. >> the 40-year-old now exterminates hundreds of the rodents every week by link traps at night laced with his toxic bait. he targets bridges and markets where large numbers of them gather after dark here at that

at daybreak, he goes back to see the results. the highest number he has ever caught in one night is over 300. >> we put the poison out overnight for 2000 rats and i found 200 dead this morning. i've seen some giant rats, it is hard to give an exact size but i can tell you somewhere this big, and that is without a tail. >> he was bitten by a rat in her bedroom. she still has a scar on her figure. like many families in the area, hers live in constant fear. >> with murder screaming in when we turned on the light, we saw to his bleeding. the rat ran out of the room. now we go to sleep are scared our children be attacked again. >> doctors who treated her at the local hospital say they have seen a stark rise with people

with rat bites. it is around 10 to 12 people being treated for reviews bites each day and more than 300 patients in april alone. >> the number of rat bites is increasing because there is no sanitation, no care, rural hygiene. -- oral hygiene. the rat bites are increasing and the rats are increasing day by day. >> scraps of meat left here by shopkeepers during the day provide rich pickings night after night. even though the city's administration says that is tackling the infestation, in places like this, rats can look forward to a regular feast after sunset. the local government says employing the rat catcher shows that has the problem under

control and is even offering residents a small bounty for also killing the pests. he continues his daily ritual of bearing hundreds of carcasses. his particular expertise will be in constant demand for some time to come. sarah: that is terrifying, indeed. that is all we have time for. don't forget, the conversation continues online. you can follow us at dw news. see you again soon. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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