brent: this is dw news live from berlin. the days of downsizing are over. germany's defense minister announcing plans to add thousands of jobs. berlin says they are needed to tackle challenges like fighting so-called islamic state and cyber criminals. it is germany's first military expansion since the end of the cold war. also coming up, the british prime minister is caught on camera with an open microphone making indiscreet remarks ahead of a summit. we will tell you what he said. and u.s. president barack obama says he will visit her oshima, japan, the city u.s. forces

dropped an atomic bomb on at the end of the second world war. he is not expected to offer an apology, so what will he offer? good to have you with us. to sin, to slim, after decades of downsizing, germany has announced plans to expand its armed forces. it is a paradigm shift, 25 years after the end of the cold war. back in 1990, germany had 600,000 soldiers in the armed forces. today, they are just shy of 180,000 left as a result of a strategic shift toward a lean, tech savvy and mobile, modern army. they were significant cuts at the same time. the military commitment abroad has grown, around 3400 german

soldiers are currently deployed in more than a dozen conflict regions around the world. we are talking about afghanistan to iraq, to the balkans and to south sudan in africa. germany's defense minister wants to add another 14,000 soldiers and 4000 civilian personnel. not everyone here has welcomed the plans. reporter: the defense minister visited nato maneuvers in poland . new challenges in eastern europe enhancing deterrence for russia are one reason. it's no longer feasible to limit the number of soldiers to 185,000. the message to the troops is clear -- a quarter century of reductions is over and it's now

time for them to grow again. another reason is five new overseas missions have stretched the forces to their limits. the minister says she needs 14,000 more troops. the opposition green party thinks she's taking the wrong approach. >> she wants to beef up the army. the security challenges cannot be met with more tanks. they can, perhaps the met by new soldiers with specialist skills. the army is seeking hackers and computer experts to hold up its capacity and bring them on board, it might even lower health and that this requirement. brent: i am joined in the studio by the presdent of the federal academy for security policy here in germany. thank you for taking the time to come in to talk with us.

what is behind this expansion? is it a matter of numbers? germany cannot do what it is supposed to be doing with the numbers that it has? guest: that is one element, but three years ago, germany said it would show a greater engagement, when commensurate with its economic growth. it's not only military, it's all kinds of foreign policy engagement. that is why as you were saying before, we were forced to expand our engagements. you cannot do this with current levels of the numbers of troops we have. brent: this is an almost organic process we are seeing, beginning in 1990, germany was occupied with itself and reunification. after 25 years, that is taken care of and it has the resources and energy to look outward. would you agree with that?

guest: except that you had to important catalysts. one is the shift of the policy and readiness to change borders to implement its own view and the world and the second one is the complete collapse of clinical order in the middle east. these two things which are vital concerns need to be tackled. once again, the military is only one element. brent: the u.s. president was here in germany and criticized european countries for not going their way when it comes to expenditures for security. he was talking about germany not spending 2% of its gdp on security. is this announcement today the answer to that criticism? guest: the announcement means the trend of further cuts in germany has been interrupted and has been changed. whether we will end up with 2%,

i'm not sure. brent: why do you say that? guest: one of the few three or four countries and nato which manages to hit the 2% should be spending is greece. that means it's not a particularly convincing figure. brent: it is not realistic guest:? it is real estate as a goal, but it is a goal that will be achieved in a longer run. when we will arrive there, we will see. the key issue is we have to improve and increase our capabilities and that's more than just percentage figures. brent: there have in some serious pr blunders in the past. we've seen military helicopters and airplanes not working. we have rifles that don't shoot straight in the desert heat. it is not a flattering picture.

is it an accurate one? guest: partly. germany is not the garbage army as it has been portrayed. it was the third-largest troop country leader in afghanistan which was a true fighting mission, far beyond any pacifist . you don't component -- you don't become this with a complete garbage army. there were technical difficulties and their work out military equipment that has to be replaced and that is why having done so many missions in afghanistan and elsewhere, now they are more or less worn out and we have to start refueling the entire thing. brent: modernization. thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. the head of bangladesh's largest islamist political party has been hanged for war crimes

committed more than 40 years ago. he was found guilty of 16 charges, including genocide, rape, murder and incitement of religious hate men -- religious hatred committed during the war with pakistan in 1971. last week, the bangladesh supreme court rejected a last-minute appeal to commute his sentence. a scandal tonight in france -- a former top lawmaker is under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment. he resigned after a number of women went public with their accusations. activist say it is time to put an end to the code of silence that allows male politicians to get away with misogyny. reporter: lift the code of silence to say thed activist signed an open letter demanding an end to sexual

harassment in the workplace. in the french parlance, female lawmakers addressed the issue frankly. >> and affair is shaking our assembly. the justice system is dealing with it, so i will not comment, but must contribute to raking the code of silence and allow people to start speaking so shame changes side. this is the man who triggered the storm. he resigned his post on monday as deputy parliamentary speaker after several female members of his party accused him of sexually harassing them. >> i went to the court or of the dining room and he cornered me and tried to kiss me. i shoved him away. i said to him i don't want to sleep with you. then he pointed at me and said you will never have a job in this parliament. reporter: he denies the

allegation but that's unlikely to stop french women from calling for attitudes to change. brent: meanwhile, british prime minister david cameron is in hot water after being caught in front of an open microphone. he was speaking to queen elizabeth about a few of the guests invited to a london anticorruption summit later this week. have a listen. mr. cameron: we talked about our anticorruption summit, the nigerians, some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries. nigerian and -- nigeria and afghanistan. possibly the two most corrupt countries. there are no closed-door sessions.

brent: very interesting reaction there by the queen. in addition to the problem of corruption, nigeria is trying to root out the terrorist group, boko haram. the islamists carried out attacks in nigeria and its neighbors and may have of that did some 2000 hostages, including children. we caught up with one mother desperately searching for her four children. our correspondence sent us this exclusive report. reporter: she lives in hope, looking for the names of her children unless from refugee camps in an easter nigerian city. but the search today is in vain. ages from seven to 14, they are not to be found.

>> if they are still alive, may god take care that i get to see them again. if they are dead, i will see them in heaven, but i pray that god gives me strength so that i may find them alive. reporter: more than one year ago, boko haram fighters took the children from their village. eight months after their abduction, one of them managed to escape. she showed us on a map the area she has covered looking for her kids. 14 refugee camps in northern nigeria and cameroon stop the search has been dangerous. >> during my travels, i saw how the military caught boko haram fighters. i recognized one of them and then it all came back. i was shaking and almost collapsed. a soldier asked me what is wrong , but i did not dare say anything.

reporter: she is still traumatized from time spent in captivity. she was separated from her children shortly after their abduction. >> they killed men right in and of our eyes and afterwards, they said to us women, we have killed all the men. none of them are alive and we will do the same to you if you do not convert to islam. christianity is a false religion of the whites. reporter: she did not convert. she now gets support from her community. a service has been organized for the refugees.

here, they pray for the nearly 2000 women and children to buy boko haram and for those left behind. >> there is no spirit i admire more than this woman. i admire her perseverance and the heart that she has. for one and a half years, this woman has not broken down. reporter: and she won't give up. she says as soon as she gets the money, she will head out once again to find her children. brent: we certainly do wish her well. you are watching dw news live from berlin. still to come, he is getting his wish and a germany soccer player moving to munich in july and another blow for the rivals.

and we will have business news as well. back in 60 seconds.

>> hold ew and one at and you can help create it -- use the comment unction and send us your videos or votto's. the news at from local heroes -- made for mind. brent: welcome back. you are with dw news live from berlin. our top story, the german defense ministry has announced plans to decrease the size of the armed forces for the first time since the end of the cold war. berlin's is more personnel are needed to tackle new challenges like finding islamic state and ensuring cyber security. barack obama is set to become the first sitting u.s. president to visit hiroshima. the u.s. mounted the world first atomic coming on the japanese city at the end of world war ii. obama will speak at the peace

memorial park and make the case for nuclear disarmament. the white house has made it clear that he will not offer an apology. reporter: on the morning of august 6, 1945, the japanese refusing to surrender, the united states dropped the first nuclear bomb on a civilian population. the destruction was unparalleled and resulted in the deaths of some 100 40,000 people. now, seven decades later, the japanese premise or says he looks forward to honoring the victims together with the american president. president obama's visit to hiroshima will send a message to the world about the effects of nuclear weapons. i believe this gesture will

strengthen our resolve to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. i will do my utmost to help president obama realize that reporter: obama's's visit has been highly anticipated u.s. secretaries of state john kerry visited the memorial in april of this year. after laying a commemorative wreath at the site, john kerry describes the experience is gutwrenching and said nations had an obligation to move toward a world free of nuclear weapons. japan is still the only country to experience a nuclear attack. it is hoped obama's visit will send a message to those countries pursuing a nuclear strategy. brent: time for business news now. javier is here. it seems like i order something almost every day from amazon. the business is going strong. have year: and you can watch

shares going higher. the jump followed hot on the heels of the unveiling of a self punishing platform for the creators come a move that sets up as a direct you to the competitor. it comes one week after they announced first-quarter profits of 530 teen million dollars, its first -- fourth consecutive profitable quarter. shares soared on tuesday, a day which also saw a global stock rally. for a close-up on amazon, let's ring in our new york financial correspondent. amazon is reaching for the stars . how high can they go? guest: the sky is the limit. analysts say the stock could reach $1000. on tuesday, the stock for the first time in corporate history

surpassed the $700 mark and that is an all-time high for amazon. it is quite interesting to see that jeff raises for many years did not care about profit and really focused on expanding his business and amazon is now far more than just an online retailer. while amazon is reaching for the stars, some brick-and-mortar stores like that gap are really having serious troubles. gap will be out with earnings next week, but they have already lowered expect haitians in that stock got hammered on tuesday by about 12%. javier: how is earnings season going down where you are this season? >> overall, it is not that stiller, what we are seeing from

corporate america. the only positive is expectations were so low that a lot of the corporations did better than expected. still, it is a surprise that the dow jones industrial average was off just about 2% from record highs and only slow economic growth in the united they tend with a lot of corporations still reporting profit and revenue declines. it is already the third consecutive quarter that profits on the s&p 500 are falling, so moving ahead, possibly in their third quarter, it might get easier to surpass the numbers, but it is astonishing that with a lot of corporations, the market remains at high levels. javier: thank you very much.

speaking of disappointing figures, in germany, the country's largest steel maker reported heavy losses for the first six months. profit down by more than 60%. shares fell 5.3% after the company cut its forecast citing extremely difficult market conditions. reporter: steelmaking is a centuries old tradition in germany's poorer regions. but are the furnaces slowly growing cold? pricing pressures are intensifying in this deal glut is growing. chinese competitors have ramped up production and the share of the global market is shrinking. talks over a parsable merger with an indian company are reportedly already under works.

but there is a silver lining in the elevator division which sees rising sales pushed up by a global construction boom. elevator profits shauna to over 790 million euros last year, about half of the company's earnings. however, as management proceeds with far-reaching restructuring, the coming year is set to be difficult. the company is shaking off the income of badly timed investments. the heart of the german steel industry has already been through a massive structural transformation. the next one seems to be on its way. 10,000 workers took to the streets last week, afraid of what could be coming. javier: north korea wrapped up its first ruling party congress in decades on monday. more than 100 foreign

journalists were asked to come the country but their access was strictly limited. they did manage to get a unique look into a silk factory and conditions that suggest pyongyang is competing with the private growing economy even though private enterprise officially does not exist. reporter: scenes like these were what foreign journalists hoped to witness at the north korea spectacular party congress. but the international press was only given access to the venue on the very last day. all weekend, they were shuttled back-and-forth to other places, sometimes not even knowing where they were going. a bbc reporter didn't even get that far. one bbc reporter was detained and when he was expelled, he was grateful to leave the isolated country. >> we are obviously very glad to be out. reporter: those who got to say

-- got to stay in saw this textile mill. no ordinary silk factory. it is a model enterprise and purports to sell high quality silk for north korean buyers. employees here say they are working old throttle and have received salary increases as a reward. it all sounds strangely capitalistic for a communist dictatorship. >> for the last two to four years, mice salary has increased five times. the more i work, the more i earn. reporter: some believe pons -- some believe pyongyang is trying to eat up with thriving gray market entrepreneurs. that would mean north korea is acknowledging the spread of a parallel underground economy, so private business people may be getting off the hook. brent: we are going to talk to a

man i but has never worked in a silk factory. a big transfer story -- reporter: his dream of returning to his boyhood club has come true. the germany defender is joining munich is a major reinforcement, giving a bitter blow to dortmund. he asked to leave despite having a year left on his contract, angering many fans. they have seen to high profile players join in recent seasons. his teammate made an equally shocking announcement in 23rd teen. a poland striker made the same movie year later halloween fabulous champions league performances. it marked a return to his roots. he graduated from the academy before joining minden 2008.

he won two titles and the german cup and became captain in 24 teen. neither club revealed the transfer fate. reports say it was among -- was around 30 million euros. the arrival means it has all changed by next season with a new coach coming in as they strive for champions league glory. brent: i will be back with the day after a short break.

announcer: euromaxx highlights, and here is your host. >> greetings from the german capital, and welcome to our highlights edition, shaping up for us this time with the following topics. man and machine, a french artist and his talented drawing robots. designer and dreamer, a catalan designer and his search for new materials. and mountains and sea, a visit to the magical mediterranean city of barcelona. sometimes it does feel like things used to be much simpler. as an artist, you poured your feelings or your particular perspective, your emotional state into you work. u