>> this is dw news coming to you from berlin. a surprise decision in saudi arabia. the ultraconservative kingdom will finally allow women to drive. that is the only country where women are banned from driving. activists have been fighting for years to get that law overturned. germany's chancellor is under pressure from all sides. the leader of the country says that they has to be huge changes after election losses.

the party's coleader says that she will resign after they want. >france's president calls for more european unity. he wants a joint budget for the eurozone and a shared budget. military. how is that going to go down in the eu? coming up. sarah: i am sarah, welcome to the show. it is a right around the world that most people take for granted. women in saudi arabia have never been allowed to drive until now. king selma has issued a new decree ending the much criticized law. it is not clear when the change will come into effect. the announcement comes days after saudi women work allowed to partake in national day celebrations with men at the

main stadium in. i am joined by dw anchor and reporter jafar abdul kareem. thank you for coming in. what a surprise. were you expecting this? >> no, i was not expecting this. jafar: i know that women's rights activist have been working for days and years to have the right to drive and it is finally happening. when you look around, we have already talked to some women's rights activists, they are all very happy and celebrating and enjoy the moments now. they can drive, that is a small step for them. everyone is celebrating and there is still a lot of rights that they want to have but they are celebrating.

they are just very happy. today it was announced and it could be taken into action by june. sarah: you can't go out and drive your car today in saudi arabia? jafar: no, in june, this will be taken into action. for now, it is the first step and they had to issue driving licenses. we have to mention that if a woman wants to issue a driving license she has to take the ok from the guardian which is her father or her husband or her son in this case. i think it is the first step for getting more rights. nevertheless. , people should enjoy this moment. it is just a first step for now. sarah: you have done a lot of reporting on this. women have been working since the 90's for this.

a lot have paid a very high price for this. jafar: one was very well known, she was the first one to cross the border into saudi arabia she was jailed. maybe this will change but it is only a maybe, that is why a lot of women who have been doing a lot of things in one should be able to drive are, today, outside of the desk of saudi arabia. -- outside of saudi arabia. i just talked to some in canada, they are very happy. sarah: let's talk to this journalist and writer who has been working so hard to win this right. how does this moment feel for you? >> is a very exciting moment. i can't even begin to describe

how i feel. all saudi's females have been waiting for this. i am sure not all but at least the majority. they sacrificed a lot of their time, their family time. they can take out to the streets and the risk team caught and cannot be seen -- i think and appreciate everything one of those women and i am sure it is a good day -- a historic dan historic day l those women. sarah: what will you focus on now? >> there are other issues for

saudi women that have yet to be gained and taken back. her right to have a vacation, health care, to travel without the permission of a male guardian and even though the laws -- there was a royal decree asking that all of the laws that ask women to ask for their guardian's permission will be taken up to the royal court. we are optimistic that we will see a royal decree revising and canceling all of those laws that have to do with the guardianship system. sarah: there is still a lot to

fight for. this is an important victory think you were speaking with us today. >> thank you so much. sarah: the egyptian u.s. journalist mona has campaigned tirelessly. >> i saw saudi women who fought for decades for this. they were shamed. they will liberate sisters from guardianship. she questioned whether the right to drive will be subject to a male guardian's permission. she tweeted -- as a one who grew up in saudi, i cannot tell you how incredible this is to hear. i have no words, my eyes are leaking. however, there has been some

that urged caution. this was about issuing driver's licenses to women come june 18. this is far from letting women drive. is this a sign that saudi arabia is moving toward a more moderate stance toward women's rights? >> you can interpret that. you have the 203-30 vision. -- the 2030 vision. the prince said that they wanted to have a lot of changes by 2030. almost half of the arabian citizens are under 25.

we had a young generation that is educated, most go abroad to study and come back so they know more about their rights. for now it could be an interpretation -- a step toward modernization. sarah: just one step, we don't want to get too carried away. thank you for putting this into perspective jafar. turning to some other news, angela merkel is coming under increasing pressure as she works to, together a new government. policy changes are needed and lessons must be learned after the conservatives had losses in the election. they are trying to bring together two parties that don't have much in common. >> the chancellor and their csu

have an imprtant task, when he backed their boaters -- voters. the question is how. that has caused friction between the two party leaders. the conservatives' work is cut out for them. >> we have to remap the whole political spectrum. from the center to the democratic right wing. >> that could mean the chancellor and her conservatives drifting further right to steal the populists' fire. for angela merkel, there is only one possibility, governing with the business friendly free democrats. the greens say that such a -- this could come with a price. >> we face an amish challenges, the greens are prepared to meet them head on.

there cannot be any sleepwalking here. if the coalition works out, fine, if it does not, forget it. >> the free democrats say that it is imperative that the two comparative sister parties find common ground. >> it is always the same with the csu. i think they could use a session in couples counseling with angela merkel's party. >> the social democrats have reiterated their position after the punishing election result. they want to join any government with the chancellor -- they won't join any government with the chancellor. >the wrangling for a new governing coalition continues. sarah: for some analysis i am joined by dw's political correspondent, simon young. angela merkel needs to win back the voters she lost.

simon: that is the challenge but her conservatives lost a million voters to the afd. they need to find more clear and persuasive responses to the people who voted afd have. she concerned about the immigration policies show that she is taking it seriously. i think inevitably, it means whatever coalition she is able to put together -- it is far from clear at the moment as we have seen, there. she will have to express how she will control immigration numbers in the coming years. while continuing with a humanitarian cause. sarah: it won't be easy to seduce those boaters back into the conservative party while flirting with the coalition partners and the environmentalist groups. it seems like an impossible task, is it realistic?

simon: with the free democrats, perhaps it won't be so difficult. they said that they think immigration needs to be tightened up in favor of an immigration law and canadian style point system. it is focusing on people who are really useful immediately to the german economy. rather than just mass immigration that has happened over the last couple of years. it will be more difficult to have a tightening. they said how much they supported angela merkel's policy. squaring the circle in particular with the bavarian conservatives that are calling for a much top align, and absolute caps on numbers -- much tougher line, and ab solute caps on numbers.

sarah: let's talk about afd. let's have a look at what has happened to them just as of sunday's election, it has been a wild ride. >> it should have been a moment of triumph for the afd, the meeting of the new parliamentary group. they chose elise and alexander as co-parliamentary leaders. they faced a barrage of questions about the bigger assignment. this was the logical consequence of reason actions. >> i have to admit i'm thankful that she has gone down this route. i am not a big fan of party expulsion processes. it is good she solve the problem this way. -- solved the problem this way. >> she explained why she and

her husband, also an afd member have decided to leave the party. >> our goals have not changed one bit since the election, of course i still want to work toward political change in 2021. initially as an individual member of parliament and perhaps later in a different constellation. that statement has many inside and outside the afd wondering if they plan to set up a far right party. sarah: mic drop there. will she take her voters when she goes? simon: she made, she has been a charismatic figure. it is not just her husband who is a regional leader of the afd. also, quite a few regional and

local afd officials from around the country. it is anything other than msi for this. -- a mass exodus. she won't be able to form her new party block. i think that is pie in the sky. she will be sitting there. the one thing that might resonate -- she said the afd does not have any plans to belong to any german government. at the moment, their policies are too unrealistic. as the months go by, that may prove to be untrue. sarah: the afd has announced new leaders, alex and how xander -- alexander. >> they are kind of an odd couple. you have alexander, he is old school -- a tweed jacket kind of guy. he has been a member of the cdu,

angela merkel's party. he has said a lot of controversial things and support for the nazi era german military. that strikes a strange tone. alexandra is much younger and a lesbian and in a partnership with a sri lankan lady. a very different phase of the afd. sarah: that is not really what you expect for a far right party. simon: it is not clear what she stands for, she seems to have become a bit more flexible. i think you can say that this new party in germany's parliament is keen to look good and like a normal party. first of all, to play by the rules and to make sure they don't trip on any technical difficulties. sarah: it seems like they are off to a rocky start. how do with their chances of appearing as a normal party? simon: it is very difficult.

they have the media and the establishment against them. i am sure the current -- first question will be who will be the speaker of the party. it may well be that the other parties will say that we will say that we won't let you take that prominent role in parliament. there will be a lot of little battles that will have to decide how much provocation they want to do and how much they want to play by the rules. sarah: it sounds like we'll be hearing more from you, simon young. thank you for walking us through that. european council president donald tusk says sufficient progress has not been made in brega talks to head to the next stage of the go she. he welcomed a more realistic structure in his meeting with prime minister theresa may. theresa may says that a solution for both sides can still be found. as greg's it looms over the -- as brexit looms over the

european union, they are calling on the block to unite in the face of domestic and foreign challenges. >> at a time when the european project is under attack as never before, the men will rack on -- emmanuel macron spent two hours laying out his vision for europe. >> the europe we know is too weak, too slow, and to inefficient but only europe and europe alone can give us the capacity to base the big challenges we face now. flanked by french and european flags, he said europe needed to relaunch itself with greater cooperation on issues including border intelligence. >> what is missing with europe today is a common strategic culture. our incapacity to act together in a commence a matter puts our

credibility into question. >> as well as strategic issues, he also called for the creation of a transnational agency to foster european innovation. financial stability and corporate tax were other areas where he said a much deeper understanding was needed. >> instead of concentrating all of our energy on our internal divisions as we have been doing now for far too long, instead of losing our way in arguments and european civil war, arguing about audits, finances, politics or whatever, we need to consider how to build a europe that is strong. at a time when tensions between eastern and western europe are bound to overcome -- the discourse was not going to please everyone. several hud -- and -- -- several

hundred students protested against his reform agenda. his speech received a much less favorable response. girlfriend is where marine le pen has her support base. -- rural france is where marine le pen has her support base. sarah: turning now to business news, siemens has expanded to rail. daniel has more. daniel: siemens has confirmed that they are joining this french company. the government is privately encouraging the deal that is a change of tact. the focus is no longer on protecting french business by creating a european powerhouse. competition from abroad is fierce.

>> siemens and -- they are trying to create a new train building business. they come from a single manufacturer. siemens wants to bring its entire train division and return -- in return for a 50% cut of the firm they are not doing it entirely of their own free well free will it is in a state of advanced consolidation. the chinese group crrc -- thnext step is probably continental europe where crrc could rely on a purchase of a manufacturer. even after the new firm was founded, the pressure on the europeans will increase, siemens

has considered a canadian company but it was ruined by the shaky finances. the big european deal will hit the buffers. >> prosecutors in the united states have charged 10 people, including an ad executive with bribery and fraud. that is following a widespread investigation into basketball. they were bribing atete families to get players to attend universities that had sponsors. they said they were unaware with any undoing on their part. sophie is on wall street for us. how serious is this case? sophie: the fbi is investigating this case. it seems preservice to me.

it could mean huge damage to the editor's reputation and in good shape the rivalry between its competitor nike. ideas became number two in the -- addidas became the number 2 shoe developer in the market, nike being number 1. the connection between a healthy brand and famous athletes -- in this case, young basketball players, month after month, the defendants allegedly exploited the hoop dreams of the athletes, treating them as little more than an opportunity to enrich themselves. most investors expect the added stock after the european markets are open.

+ checking in with equities now. it has been a woeful week for tech stocks so far. >> let me say something about two companies. let me touch on netflix. netflix -- studios are tired of at place and amazon lowering people onto their platforms. they are starting their ne on platforms. fx plus will be offering hits like american horror story. netflix lost during the morning on the stock exchange at the same time, investors are watching the echo stock. the u.s. firm has asked its component suppliers to slow down shipments for components for the iphone x production.

>> thank you very much for that update. it is back over to sarah. sarah: time for a reminder of our headlines this hour, saudi arabia says it will let women drive for the first time ever. the ultraconservative kingdom is the only one on earth that dans women from driving -- bans women oformrom driving. the new law is expected to go into effect in june. angela merkel is coming under pressure as she works to cobble together a new government. the leader of her sister party is calling for change after the conservatives' massive losses in that elecrtion she- election. the far right alternative in germany faces fresh turmoil

after becoming the third largest party in the german parliament. the leader says she is leaving the party after accusing it of moving too far to the right and alienating voters. that is dw news coming to you from berlin. pi am sarah harmon at the desk. more coming in just a few minutes. stay with us if you can.

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