>> this is dw news. nations expel russian diplomats suspected of being spies three weeks after a poison attack on a former russian spy. the united states and 15 european union members are telling russian diplomats to leave. russia says it will respond. also coming up, the eu fights to save its immigration deal with turkey.

turkey's prime minister saying europe is not sticking to its side of the bargain. catalonian leader waits to hear whether a german judge will expedite him to spain. barcelona is on edge after a night of protests against the detention. germany's coach brings the changes against result. -- brazil. he is looking to break a record that has stood since 1980. ♪ anchor: i am brent. it is good to have you. britain's prime minister says it is the largest expulsion of russian diplomats in history.

the united states, 15 european union members, and several other nations, are kicking up -- out or than 100 russian diplomats. russia tonight continued to deny any involvement. >> at the russian embassy, there is little sign of what is going on inside. behind the closed curtains come up for diplomats are clearing their desks. berlin says it is responding not just to the attacks but also to the cyberattacks on the germa government's computer network. it was not an easy decision for us to expel the russian diplomats of the facts and evidence point to russia. investigators believe that x intelligence officers were poisoned. the two were found unconscious on a park bench in a southern

english city. they remain critically ill in hospital. at an eu summit in brussels, all 28 ever states condemned the attack. the expulsion of the russian diplomats by many eu countries is an coordinated action. all the evidence points to russia. back in london, the british prime minister welcomed the expulsion. >> i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the eu, north america, and beyond as we confronted the aftermath of the incident. anchor: moscow continues to state its innocence. -- claim its innocence. anchor: there is a lot to unpack tonight in the story. i'm joined by our political

analysis -- analyst. good evening. simon let me start with you, it has been a day of expulsions. germany got the ball rolling today. what a government official said? >> brent, this is intended as a demonstration of solidarity with the united kingdom and also to the fact that attacks against germany's allies and partners cannot go on answered at the same time berlin and the foreign minister has stressed to remain open with dialogue with moscow. they also said that have linked this action of expelling diplomats with a cyber attack against government computer systems here in germany which they also blame on russia or the russian say in particular

appeared it is a wide-ranging response that is in line with what the government and london has been asking for. brent: 60 diplomats in washington have been told to pack their bags. a consulate in seattle is being closed. yet, there has not been a single tweet from president trump. what is the white house said? >> we have not heard from trump itself but the white house is saying it caught -- blames russia on a bracing attack on british soil. -- brazen attack on british soil. they are -- brent: i think it should not be acceptable in most countries. simon, all of this that we are seeing seems to have come to a head at the eu summit which we

saw last week. are we now seeing a unified response to russian aggression? simon: it is brother unified. not all countries are sending diplomats home. they are all saying that they do believe that russia is behind this attack and that a response is needed. this is of course, is demonstration of solidarity for the u.k., one that still remains a member of the european union. one wonders if the response may have been different after brexit. this may not be the end of the action, there may be more expulsion succumb in the coming weeks. actions maybe stepped up in the form of economic sanctions against russia as well. brent: we know trumps affinity for two to -- putin.

it concerns ellice. -- allies. does this put him in line with nato allies? >> this expulsion is the toughest action that the trump administration has taken against russia and it is a major turn from what we have seen as you meant -- mentioned. just last week, you saw trump calling puritan on his -- putin on his victory. on the skull, there was no mentioning of the poisoning. -- this call, there was no mentioning of the poisoning. obama did it in 2015. this is certainly the biggest expulsion that we have seen since the 80's when reagan expelled almost the same number that we see today.

brent: to both of you think you. it is not only russia. top eu officials are meeting with the turkish president to discuss a deal to stem migration into europe. bulgaria hosted the gathering which included the turkish president as well as, the european council president and the european commission president. two years ago, turkey agreed to take back refugees who had set out to eu countries from turkey in exchange for billions of euros to house them. the meeting came among rising tensions. it ended with no sign of progress. >> in terms of concrete

solutions, no, we do not achieve any sort of concrete compromise today. i still hold that it will be possible in the future. brent: those are certainly not the best outcomes that he was hoping to share with us today. in bulgaria, she has been covering the summit. good evening barbara. president it are one -- complained that the eu is not come up with the cash. what does the eu say? reporter: there does seem to be two sets of accountancy going on here. he keeps on complaining that the eu has not paid their money. the eu claims to pay their money but it did not go to the turkish state.

it went directly to the refugees and ngos that catered to them. obviously, he has an ongoing problem there. he wants to have the money. he wants to receive it directly and do with it. as he pleases the european union says, it is not to support the turkish state that it is to directly support the refugees. they simply do not trust the turkish resident to do right by them. brent: speaking of trust, he said today that he expects turkey to join the european union but the relations have been increasingly strained. 20 turkey's chances to join the eu look right now? -- how do turkey's chances to join the eu look right now? barbara: they do not look well. he knows the mood and it is only

over everybody's dead bodies that turkey would be a member of the eu. talking about angela merkel and berlin and macron in france, everybody criticizes him. criticizing him for throwing journalists in jail for not maintaining human rights and not having an independent justice system. if you want to sum it up, they say turkey is not a democracy and therefore, turkey cannot become a member state of the european union. nothing has changed there. 4 we have your -- brent: we have european leaders criticizing turkey for jailing journalists. they have been criticizing

turkey's crackdown following the failed coup attempt. are we expecting any new eu demands from turkey? barbara: we are not expecting any new demand speared he paints a picture of himself that nobody can recognize and make out in reality. from the european side, they keep pushing his points here they keep talking about cyprus and the rights of cyprus to drill for energy. they talk about the greek soldiers who have been imprisoned by turkey. the list is long. it does not get shorter. nothing is resolved. the problem says get turned around like a washing machine. the problem is that they are

living on two different planets. they keep on talking but that is all they do. they do not achieve anything in the end. brent: barbara on the story tonight from bulgaria. tonight, spain's most wanted image -- footage it just -- fugitive is in jail. carlos was detained on sunday traveling through germany to ultra where he has been in self exposed -- berlin where he has been in self imposed exile. reporter: the detention as angered catalonia. despite the protests, madrid is not backing down in pursuit of its most wanted man.

>> i have said it many times. those people on trial and those in prison are not being punished for their ideas but for not obeying the law. brent: in barcelona, cap alone lawmakers -- catalon lawmakers -- >> on the streets there are mixed feelings about the detention. >> if europe is fair, which it claims to be, he should be free and the president of catalonia. if not, we will be witnessing the decline of europe as an

international community. >> i understand his supporters are angry. i also understand the spanish government, the laws, he has to serve time in prison. he did something that was a legal. -- illegal. no one is above the law. brent: freedom or exhibition, -- reporter: prosecutors say no to expect an immediate decision. >> this is not a question of hours but something that needs to be examined thoroughly. a decision should not be expected before easter. brent: the court will now have to decide whether the charges bear legal way in germany. brent: here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. the white house says president

trump strongly denies having an affair with the adult film actress. this one day after she says she was buttoned and told to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with trump. she received a $130,000 payment just a day before the presidential election. this after the country's top court ruled that the boat, could go ahead as planned. the ruling party at the -- filed a suit to block the runoff. >> someone could throw the book. federal trade commissioners investigating the social network. the watchdog is try to determine whether the company causes

substantial injury to users. daniel: the social media company as been under pressure following a series of privacy to scandals. >> #believe -- #delete facebook now has a new supporter, elon musk. big advertisers are jumping ship, like firefox creator mosul. -- mozilla. politicians world over, are rearing to take action against data breaches. >> in the future, we are going to monitor companies like facebook much more closely as well as, punish data protections violators quickly and seriously. on friday, these images of a police raid went around the world. the company reportedly misuse

the data of 50 million facebook users to influence the 2016 u.s. presidential vote. the federal trade commission's boat races penalties for facebook. >> spanish authorities are lording the arrest of an international criminal hacker. brent: is gained use some of the most sophisticated technology to rob hundreds of bank accounts around the world. it netted an average of $100 million a pop. reporter: it is a major breakthrough for the police in spain, after a three-year investigation, i have arrested the mastermind of an international . the group operated in some 40 countries.

>> just to give you an example of how important the detention is, in 2013, this group managed to access practically every bit -- bank in russia. the benefits were about $1 million on average. reporter: many banks and authorities in several countries work together to snare the gang leader's the arrest is being celebrated around the world. brent: tax cuts and increased government spending could accelerate economic growth in the u.s. for the next two years. outpacing the last three years. since in national association of business issued its loss forecast, president trump has pushed a 1.3 billion dollars tax-cut.

the president insists that this will keep tax cuts above 3% a year. how realistic are these projections? >> it is possible but a lot of analysts and economists are skeptical how likely it is that the u.s. is still running a huge trade deficit and so far increasing every single month. also, we have to wait and see how the whole trade talks with china turn out. there were some comments from china that they are willing to talk but that does not necessarily mean those trade talks will also be a success. one thing is for certain, taxes for corporations are falling and that is good news for the balance sheets of corporations but it does not mean that the corporations will spend much more. the bottom line for the moment is that lower taxes are good

news for corporations, good news for profits, and good news for wall street. that is not necessarily mean that we will see a huge economic growth in this next couple of months in the u.s.. there is still some skepticism even if wall street -- recovers on monday. brent: back here in europe, brexit is still causing a major headache. britain's plan to split from the eu is leading to major uncertainties when it comes to future trade relations. if britain leaves both the customs union and the single market, borders control and customs tax will be a introduced. that is bad news for the flower business. reporter: since flowers only hold their beauty for a limited

time, getting them to the market is crucial. the floral tra dates back more than a century. flowers come directly from growers greenuses. >> normally they have to be in england before 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning at the latest. that is what you try to do. reporter: speed is the watchword in this business. when britain breaks away from the european union, things could slow down considerably and cost could increase. dutch flower exports fear that their flesh - fresh blossoms will spoil while they wait in line. >> is everywhere in england. for the same day, it ihard to sell tho flowers. repoer: this is no small deal. the floral business place an important role in the dutch economy. sales of flowers total around a

billion euros a year. >> in the u.k., people at the moment do not know what they are facing dexter. it will be a big problem, -- next year. it will be a big problem. reporter: one thing is for sure, trade in general will become more complicated once the u.k. lead ceu. -- leaves the e.u. >> there is little doubt that he will win a second term. his only challenger is one of his supporters. >> his victory may be assured that he needs the numbers to

consolidate his authority. with nearly 60 million eligible voters, the general is hoping his supporters will march to the polling stations. there is plenty of praise for the incumbent. >> hopefully, everyone will vote for the president. he is exceed -- has achieved great success. reporter: there is one rival candidate. he is not a household ne and perhaps surprisingly, he himself admits that he admires lcc. >> the vp -- people will decide who the best candidate is. soon, we will know the results. daniel: many in the opposition believe he is only in the race to create the appearance of democracy. reporter: at first there were more candidates but that -- some

were imprisoned. others withdrew under great pressure. >> the governments worry is that if there were real candidates, there would have to be debates about real issues. egyptian media is similarly one-sided. reporter: there is even a hotline where citizens can report journalists that criticize the government. earlier this month, there was another bomb attack in alexandria. on the peninsula, the army is busy fighting a jihadist insurgency. the all important tourism sector has been recovering under his rule. he has fashioned the presidential election as a referendum on his leadership. he is hoping for a high turnout

to legitimize his rule. anchor: germany's world cup preparations crank up a notch on tuesday with a hotly anticipated from the against result right here in brazil and. a win for the host would mean a record winning 23 games without defeat. coach says the performance is more importanthan the result. reporter: the prospect -- and start to contrast, the germany coach will test a string of second-tier layers in the capital. a win or a draw against brazil will see the world champions match the unbeaten run of 23 games. germany will start without several key players. among them, thomas miller.

one was desperate to start the game. berliner, -- >> it is something very special for me. as a child, i dreamt of playing in the olympic stadium against brazil. even though it is just a friendly match, it still means a lot to me because it is in my hometown. i'm delighted to be playing the game. anchor: after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. ♪ q÷bi9y

elaine reyes: indigenous weavers in guatemala. will copyrighting their designs prevent the commercialization of their culture? i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now." first up, they are garments that display the colors of guatemala and express the identity of its indigenous women. but will the fashion industry cause their symbolic meaning to be lost? we'll tell you about a copyright battle being waged by the weavers. then, most young people in cuba choose city life over a life on the farm. now, there's a program that's increasing interest in agriculture and is showing kids that farming can be fun.