♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight the president elect of france promises a new future for his country. in his first public outing since winning yesterday's election. emmanuel macron paused to remember france's fallen soldiers. then he announced he is stepping down as the leader of the political movement he found it. but can he lead the nation to the changes that he has promised? also come u.s. lawmakers -- former director of intelligence warns that moscow will try to

interfere again. we will get the latest live from washington. and be freed schoolgirls try to pick up the pieces after being held captive for three years by boko haram militants. ♪ brent: i'm burned off. it is good to have you with us. -- i am brent goff. emmanuel macron is stepping aside from leadership of the political movement that he founded a little over a year ago. a spokesman also saying the organization will be changing its name, which means the republic on the move. macron has promised to overcome divisions and to unite the country. reporter: emmanuel macron's

first day as president elect. he made an appearance alongside outgoing president francois hollande outside a ceremony commemorating the end of world war ii. he will be sworn in as france's new leader but his triumph has left voters with mixed feelings. >> i'm quite optimistic. it is a new start, a new chance for france. we can only hope that france seizes this opportunity. >> the campaign was very difficult and harsh. i did not like tam put, i am hae result because we blocked the national front. reporter: in his victory speech, macron acknowledged his biggest challenge, saying he would work to unite the divided country. >> those who voted for mrs. le

pen have expressed anger, distress. 6gi will do everything i can ovr the next five years to ensure people no longer have reason to vote for extremes. reporter: macron's rival, marine le pen, was quick to concede. it is not opportunity for her to revamp her party. >> i propose to start a profound transportation of our movement in order to be the new political force that many french women and men are looking for. a call for all patriots to join us in a decisive political fight that starts tonight. reporter: the road ahead is bound to be bumpy for the new president. with no political party, macron

's movement must piece together a party. brent: our correspondent now joins us from paris. emmanuel macron was the man that friends while loan used -- francois hollande used -- massive strikes happened. have people warmed up to macron 's ideas i comes to labor reform? max: not everybody because we already had demonstrations in paris today on monday, where a couple thousand unionists warned macron, saying with have a close eye on what you're doing. but for now that seems to be a minority. macron probably put enough distance between that and that period when he was the minister of economy.

gave people the impression he's not part of that anymore in ready to build a new at forward. brent: -- new path forward. brent: he still needs to have a working majority in parliament. we know there are parliamentary elections next month. can his movement go from zero mp's to being a force to be reckoned with by next month? this is the new political sty you're are right, not one parliamentarian so far. but there will be 577 candidates for the parliamentarian elections. we still don't know who these people will be yet. one thing we already know is 50% of those people will come from civil society and will never have held elected office. this is obviously an attempt by macron to breathe fresh air into this encrusted lyrical landscape

in france and rebally show his voters he is serious about changing things and wants to get everyone involved and find a place for as many people as he can. brent: max, we know that he is changing the name of his movement. wilson all the national front is changing its name. beyond that what is the future for marine le pen? she said yesterday she is now the opposition force that macron will have to reckon with. max: it seems like the whole political party landscape is re-consolidating itself. you can't forget that the national front had its best result. even know marine le pen lost, still very successful, maybe even the strongest party of france going forward. we don't know yet. it is just not enough for her to win.

so she's tweeting, trying to find new allies. it seems like she is trying to move closer to the political mainstream to make sure she is firmly established in the system that going forward she has a chance of winning the presidency. that is why she wants to change. she wants a patriotic alliance. she sees this whole process as not only part of the left and the center but part of the right with marine le pen. brent: max on the story for us in paris. thank you for a much. political leaders here in germany are breathing sighs of relief after macron's win as germany's most important european partner. reporter: macron his victory. usually every german newspaper and a majority of germans celebrated his election to one of europe's most important public offices. >> all in all a very good thing.

definitely better than if the right-wingers have one. -- won. reporter: the german chancellor said she was pleased with macron 's election victory. >> emmanuel macron everything hopes of millions of french people as well as many people in germany and across europe. he led a courageous, pro-european election campaign. he stands for openness and he stands firmly for the social market economy. reporter: european commission president offered some financial advice to france. >> the french spend too much money and they spend it the wrong way. they need to save -- this is not sustainable in the long term. reporter: the mood at the french

embassy inliric. people in the german capital say macron's is a sign of hope for france. >> we know the challenges are very big in the world for the europeans and for our nations. the european union is the right answer to those very challenges. reporter: in paris, scattered groups of protesters them -- demonstrated against the results , early signs perhaps of the obstacles awaiting the new president as he sets out to for phil his promise of uniting a divided nation. brent: did russia try to influence the u.s. election in favor of u.s. president donald trump? that is the question that congressman in washington are trying to answer this hour at a congressional hearing. they have already heard testimony from the former direor of national intelligence and former acting attorney general sally yates.

today's investigation is one of three separate inquiries into alleged russian meddling in the u.s. election. for more we want to go to washington. our correspondent there joins me. good evening to you. much of the testimony had sunk -- circled around the former national suritadviser flynn. what have we learned so far? guoest: the intelligence community here was aware of the close ties that general flynn has with the russianfrom very early on. they had written reports first to the obama administration, later on to president-elect donald trump. he said today that flynn could be blackmailed. for that reason it was a really important issue.

for the first time, president obama came with president-elect donald trump on november 10, one day after the election, and today we heard that they have spoken that he told trump he was not a big fan of general flynn. this was not a surprise to donald trump because flynn was campaigning with trump and attacking obama all the time. as we all know, loyalty is something very important to donald trump. for that reason he just ignored what president obama told him. they said today that both -- both denied to be an anonymous source in the press.

senator feinstein from california said one of the most influential senators in washington dc, she said that she thinks russia meddled into the elections in france, but we have seen no evidence or proof of that yet. brent: what has been the white house's reaction to what we are hearing in today's testimony? miodrag: what we see here right now is some sort of blame game. what we hear from the white house, mr. spicer and others, advisers, what they say basically is if general flynn was really so dangerous, why the obama administration gave him security clearance several times, the last time in april 2016? that means long before the presidential election. what we see here right now is some sort of blame game. brent: all right, thank you for

a much. -- very much. in nigeria, the country's visit has released the names of the 82 schoolgirls free by boko haram jihadists over the weekend. the girls are preparing to be reunited at -- with their families after being kidnapped from the town of chibok more than three years ago. one of their first appointment with a full -- was a photo op with the president. reporter: after years of captivity, now under enormous attention. these young women traumatized and uncomfortable brought in to see the nigerian president in front of the cameras. >> i am very pleased to have personally met you. reporter: the president did not say when they will be able to see their families again. the activists who campaign for the release are cautiously

celebrating. the bring back our girls movement -- it is a day for achievement and apprehension. >> it is a validation of our madness. it is a validation of what we -- it means that these girls are coming back. it means that these girls will still come back. reporter: the activists have vowed to never give up until all are freed. with a long recovery ahead, human rights groups say those who have been freed already should be reunited with their families as soon as possible. brent: the u.s. military says the head of so-called islamic state in afghanistan is dead. he was reportedly killed 10 days ago in a joint operation with afghan soldiers in the eastern province of nangarhar. he is believed to have been the mastermind nine several

high-profile attacks including one of the main military hospital attacks back in march. you are watching dw news. still to come, police in malaysia compass eat millions of dollars worth of scales from a creature that could become extinct before most people have even heard of it. we will explain. ♪

♪ brent: welcome back. all caps story, -- emmanuel macron has announced he's stepping aside from reading the political movement he founded. he has vowed to unite the country as president. the final day of campaigning, the macron team said it had been the victim of a hacking aack reminiscent of the claims made in the u.s. by democrat hillary clinton's staff. the possibility of computer

interference in the democratic process has become a heated issue including right here in germany, which holds its national election later this year. the conference looking at security has been taking place here in berlin. reporter: each of these clusters stands for thousands of hacking or spyware attacks. a campaign of emmanuel macron became one of them, with some experts already pointing towards moscow. when german chancellor angela merkel met russian president vladimir putin last week, she said she was not afraid a russian interference in germany's september elections. monday, one of pin's greatest opponents told an audience she should be. >> of course he is aiming at angela merkel because he knows she is instrumental in keeping sanctions. reporter: outside interference in elections is a hotly debated topic at the republic

convention, germany's most renowned offline gathering of the online community. amazon's former chief scientist who recently accepted an invitation to moscow cautions of that the hacking world is more complex than good versus bad. >> it is good that we get -- i don't know about the french election. it is a good idea to claim you have been hacked, you get attention. but we are in a world where people have to realize that their data is not 100% safe. reporter: even the internet giant admits that there can behaven. >> a lot of these questions relate to a broaderi think we ae to work on new challenges on the

web whether it is around elections or anywhere else. it is a responsibility for everyone. reporter: complacency is the real enemy of democracy. activists here told the audience to do their homework. >> relax because the machines we're still all the ones -- be functioning of democracy still depends on us. reporter: the next chance for german voters to take over is september 24. brent: we're going to stick with france. president elect macron describes himself as being pro-business. so our investors buying into his victory? >> beside of relief from investors in europe after his election was practically audible because the pspf le pen at the helm has vanished for now. but markets do remain a little

cautious, especially considering the fact that macron still has to winch parliament to make his vision a reality. reporter: there was little sign of euphoria on the german stock market. investors had already been expecting a macron. victory. --macron victory. >> he needs to get the economy going again in france. it is in good shape of the benefits of growth much reach the widest society and the economy must become more dynamic. reporter: macron has to push through reforms and combat high unemployment. his victory is being seen as a boost for the eu. now he is hoping to find support, especially from the germans. >> the germans say we want common rules to be applied and

also enforced, well the french say we need -- we need to great mechanisms so we countries can benefit. i hope they can agree and find a good solution for europe. reporter: macron will have to rack up successes quickly and with parliamentary elections coming up next month there won't be much of a presidential honeymoon. helena: let's get the latest from wall street where our financial correspondent is standing by for us. market reaction in the u.s. appeared relatively subdued. so why the muted response? sophie: i would say investors simply were expecting this result, so there was almost no affect on monday. we will never know how the

markets would have looked like if le pen won, but they probably would have performed worse. macron means stability. investors assume it is safer now. if shifted back to national and economic topics. investors are looking ahead to the tail end of profit earning seasons. disney is reporting quarterly results on tuesday and major retailers such as macy's are expected to report later in the week. helena: oil also seemingly weighing on the markets. disappointing that prices are not recovering. what is halting progress there? sophie: despite efforts -- inventory is still high. they hit a record high of 535 million barrels. investor confidence in opec's

ability is waning. russia has been able to move ahead with oil production despite sanctions put in place by the u.s. and eu in 2014. the output rose above 11 million barrels a day last year. the highest level in decades. next time opec meets is may 25 even if they decide to further the production, u.s. shale oil producers will not be part of the agreement. helena: sophie, good to talk to you. british prime minister theresa may says her party will keep its pledge to reduce net immigration if it wins next month's election to many business owners say they need immigrants to maintain staffing levels. she said the overall number of immigrants would be in the tens of thousands.

statistics show you 300,000 more people moved to britain than left last year. mrs. mason brexit would give britain more control over its own borders allowing it to more easily control migration. malaysian authorities have made significant progress in their crackdown on pangolin poaching after investigators seized a record hall of illicitly traded scales belonging to the world's most traffic mammal. pangolin are not widely known whether scales are priced. united nations estimates that trafficking of the rare animals is worth $23 billion every year. reporter: it is one of the -- i t's among those most threatened by smuggling. the pangolin -- covered in scales.

the same material that makes up our fingernails. its habitat stretches over asia and africa. it is in high demand for the worst possible reason. many in southern china and vietnam believe the scales are an aphrodisiac and confuse asthma, arthritis and cancer. but authorities are cracking down. malaysian officials has -- it's the largest haul of pangolin ever seen in the country. >> we care about our investigation and found the manifests stated as general goods. they used a fake shipping address. reporter: more than 700 kilograms of scales were shipped from africa. they will be destroyed in an effort to discharge -- discourage further poaching and protect the pangolin.

helena: that is the latest from the business desk. brent: thank you. here's a look at some of the stories making headlines around the world. a suicide bomber has killed around five people in somalia's capital. the attacker rammed a car into a restaurant and set off explosives. the islamist militant group al-shabab has claimed responsibility. in south africa, racial tensions flared into violence after a court granted belted two white farmers accuse of killing a black teenager. rioters clashed with police in a town west of johannesburg. the farmers denied killing the 16-year-old. the latest round of you and -- u.n. climate talk has begun. note its are discussing how to implement the 2016 paris agreement to cut emissions. they are pressing ahead despite uncertainty whether donald trump

will remain committed to the pact. here's a reminder of the top story we're following. france's president elect emmanuel macron has announced he is stepping aside from leaving the political movement he founded. he has vowed to overcome divisions and unite the country as president. after a short break i will be back to take it to the day. we are going to have more on the election victory of emmanuel macron and where he goes from here. we will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] +

♪[theme music] ♪[theme music] ernabel demillo: hi. i'm ernabel demillo. welcome to asian american life. we're here at the brooklyn botanic garden where hanami, which means cherry blossoms, are in full bloom this season. ernabel demillo: you could view over two hundred twenty flowering trees and forty different species of cherry blossom. and in the japanese hill and pond garden visitors from all over the world stop by to enjoy the variety of flowers ranging from white fragrant blossoms to the billowing pink prunus trees.