brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, merkel and trump. the german chancellor goes to washington to save the iran nuclear deal. germany's chancellor says the deal has slowed down iran's nuclear activities, but it is not sufficient. does that mean she has given in to the demands of donald trump? also coming up, the leaders of north and south korea pledged to bring the korean war to an end. they also confirmed their commitment to a nuclear free korean peninsula. it will actions follow words -- but will actions follow words? and -- >> ♪ you are the dancing queen brent: we all know those words. performing together again at last, abba will record to new

songs for a virtual tour and a tv special. brent: i'm brent goff good to have you with us. german chancellor angela merkel has returned to the white house for her second visit since u.s. president donald trump took office. her first visit in washington with trump was marked by many awkward moments, but this time trump went out of his way to ensure that merkel received a warm reception. he greeted the chancellor by calling her an extraordinary woman, and then the pair got down to almost two hours of talks that focused on iran, trade, border security, and berlin's military spending. afterwards, merkel and trump held a press conference. german expectations of a breakthrough on those divisive topics were low going into the talks, and trump maintained his hard line on the iran deal after meeting with merkel. president trump: the iranian

regime fuels violence, bloodshed, and chaos all across the middle east. we must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles and its support for terrorism, no matter where you go in the middle east, iran is right there. brent: all right, i'm joined in the studio by a professor from political science at bard college in berlin. in washington, our correspondent clare richardson is standing by. clare, your impression. how is this second meeting between trump and merkel? clare: as you say, it was in some ways a lot warmer than expected. we saw him welcome her with kisses on the cheek. it had been widely expected that this was going to be a stiff meeting, all business, no pleasure for chancellor angela merkel.

her visit udc stands in stark contrast to what we saw this week with french president emmanuel macron. she is only here for 24 hours. after the press conference she will be going to the residence of the german ambassador and back on a plane to berlin before dinnertime. that really is a far lavish pomd circumstance that we saw earlier this week. they are really trying to show that there is some kind of working relationship that still exists. the two leaders were cordial. we heard her in the press conference say things that were in some ways quite deferential to trump, that ultimately he would be deciding some of the biggest issues that she came to negotiate -- namely, the iran deal and securing an exemption on tariffs. while not a warm visit, it was at least cordial and it could have gone a lot worse. brent: boris, they both spoke about the iran deal. trump doesn't want iran to get close to end we weapon, as he made that clear.

merkel, she wants to stick to the deal. she called it part of a mosaic. people are asking how much they really disagree. boris: i mean, i think that merkel and macron are trying to play it in a way where it looks like trump can have a say but still there is a development in their direction. iran and the nuclear deal was a big item also during the primary campaign, the election campaign, it is one of his big promises and he wants to stand firm on that policy item. that is something that merkel and macron have realized they have to offer, away out that is face-saving. brent: that's true, he does not want to lose face on a new these issues, and that includes nato and the defense spending of u.s. allies. that is the first point he brought up in the press conference today. what do you make of the comments we heard? it comes on a day that germany announced it is still not spending 2% of its gdp on defense.

boris: yeah, but at the same time announcing that it will and is moving towards that goal. there is a discussion going on in germany and europe where politicians seem to have realized that security policy might be a way of holding the eu together. there is still a deep schism between the north and south of the eu. the eurozone prices isn't really over yet. -- crisis is it really over yet. some say that security policy and a common defense policy could be a way of forging european integration. brent: it's a very good point. also today, trump blaming europe and germany for the american trade deficit. take a listen to what merkel had to say to that. >> i'm just wondering if you have been given any assurances at the european -- that the european union will be exempt from steel and aluminum tariffs on tuesday, the may 1 deadline. did president trump tell you what he may or may not do? thank you. chancellor merkel: the president

will decide. that is very clear. we had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations, and the respective assessments on where we stand on this, and the decision lies with the president. brent: the decision lies with the president. clare, what does the u.s. president want from merkel? clare: there you go, you see her walking away with from what has been ultimately a whole week of european charm offensive with merkel at the end trying to seal the deal. kind of anti-handed without a serious promise from trump that he is going to give a permanent exception or temporary exemption to the european union on steel and aluminum tariffs that were announced in march. for trump, what he says is he wants to see a fair deal, working towards an arrangement that is reciprocal commercial where he sees that both germany and the united states are being treated equally in any kind of arrangement.

ultimately at the heart of his political philosophy is the idea that he really wants to lower the u.s. trade deficit with other major countries, and that will have been a major part of discussions with merkel during their meeting. brent: this notion of reciprocity, we hear a time and time again. everything is a transaction and everything is quantifiable. we heard today merkel used that word as well, reciprocity. is he getting what he wants? is he getting a shift by germany and europe to where he wants them to be? boris: at least rhetorically. it is strategically wise to suggest we are using your vocabulary, using your terminology. we are also pointing out that there are long-term and long-standing connections between germany and the u.s. there is an impact that germany might have on the elections where people who are identified with germany in the u.s. -- what merkel did perhaps more than macron was to take some of the

shrillness out of the tone of international relations. what we have seen with the trump administration is a lot of volatility, and many people in security circles in berlin were afraid that they did not know who to talk to. yes, there is a new ambassador now, but basically the state department is in the process of being dismantled, and many positions commit many functionaries haven't been replaced yet. there is a disjuncture between the rhetorics and the actions. brent: very good point. boris, as always, good to have your insights from as well as clare richardson in washington for the both of you, thank you. here are other stories making headlines around the world. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo has called on nato allies to make good on the promise to increase defense spending to 2% of gdp. during a meeting in brussels, he said the alliance should not return to business as usual with russia until it shows a clear change in and sections.

at least three palestinians have been killed at the latest protest at the gaza strip border fence. hundreds of palestinians converged on the fence friday. israeli troops open fire as a crowded try to break the border. a train struck in cape town. authorities are investigating the cause of the collision, which haven't the same place as a similar collision eight years ago. happened in the same place as a similar collision in use ago. in that, tensions were killed. the leaders of north and sup south korea have agreed to formally and the -- formally end the state of war between their countries. at a historic summit today, kim jong-un and moon jae-in said they will sign a formal peace treaty by the end of this year, and they will work towards the nuclear-free korean peninsula. they insisted that they do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. reporter: an extraordinary

moment in korean history. after decades of hostilities and the threat of a nuclear confrontation, and new era of peace is declared on the peninsula. moments before, the leaders signed an historic declaration which aims to end the long-standing conflict. key points include replacing the armistice with an official histor peace treaty, plans to denuclearize the peninsula, the reunification of separated families, and a follow-up summit in the north this autumn. after the signing ceremony, south korea's president made the historic announcements. >> we declare together that there will be no more war on the korean peninsula, and a new age of peace has begun.

reporter: with his sister in attendance, north korean leader kim jong-il and addressed the audience -- kim jong-un addressed the audience. >> standing face-to-face, i heartwarmingly realize that north and south korea are not just neighbors who live separately, but rather, a family . we who live so close by are not enemies who must fight against each other, but are families who show the same bloodline, who must unite -- who share the same bloodline, must unite. reporter: it was a day rich with symbolism and surprises. this was the moment kim over the border to the south in the demilitarized zone. he is the first north korean leader to set foot in the south since 1953. in a show of unity, moon return the favor by crossing briefly to the north with kim.

after planting a peace treaty on the democrat should line, moon and kim held private talks on this footprint from the same color as the unified korean flag used at sporting events. their spouses were introduced before the banquet where they dined on cold noodles, speciality from the north. despite the groundbreaking meeting, a history of failed peace attempts has some critics wary of the north's commitment. the next up, a meeting between kim jong-un and u.s. president donald trump is planned for may or june. brent: joined now by a senior fellow for korea studies at the council on foreign relations in washington, d.c. good to have you on the program. we have heard these promises

before from both koreas. has anything of substance been achieved today? >> the declaration itself does recycle a lot of the elements of prior declarations in inter-korean relations. i think the main thing that is added is an effort to try to develop a process for institutionalized cooperation in the relationship. really for south korea and the united states, we want to both draw out kim jong-un and also bind him to international commitments in ways that enforce respect for international behavior and the norms. brent: what about the big prize, denuclearization? it was held out by south korea's president in his statement today.

it was not mentioned by kim jong-un. are both koreas on the same page here? scott: i'm sure there are differences. what south korea was able to do was include the word " denuclearization" and their formal statement. but really, i think the expectation that the hard work of pinning north korea down to a denuclearization process is something that can only occur between north korea and the united states, and that is why the trump-kim summit is so important, and why we want to see more than just optics and a declaration of a victory by president trump, but there is going to need to be an institutional process by which we see tangible progress towards denuclearization from north korea. brent: what about a peace treaty to formally end the korean war? there is a promise for a summit later this year to craft that treaty, but there was no mention of china or the united states,

anthey would both have to give their signatures to that treaty, wouldn't they? scott: yeah, the peace process really should be synced up with the denuclearization process. i think the declaration does indicate a role for the united states and/or china as part of that process. that aspect of how things might develop is undetermined, but i think it is pretty clear that he really can't have -- you really can't have tangible steps towards peace without tangible steps towards denuclearization, and the fact that kim jong-un has come back to this meeting and has taken some other steps suggests that he is ready to come back to dialogue, but we just don't know yet whether he is ready to implement steps towards denuclearization. brent: after the events of today make the chances of a successful kim-trump summit greater?

we know that mr. kim says he is for denuclearization. he is not insisting that american troops leave south korea, either. is this going to be easy for trump? scott: well, i think the meeting is going to be a success if trump and kim meet, but it is going to open the way to a process that could potentially be very difficult, and the fact that the declaration suggests a pretty rapid process for establishing peace, if that has to be synced up with denuclearization, it means we see rapid denuclearization, and just the technical aspects of pursuing a declaration and verification of that declaration really aren't likely to take some time. so that is out of sync right now , and we will have busy how it is addressed as we go forward. brent: we have heard from

several diplomats today talking about this u-turn happening at the speed of light, something most people have never experienced before. scott snyder of the council on foreign relations, we appreciate your time tonight, thank you. scott: thank you so much. brent: the online retailer amazon reaches new heights. daniel is here to tell us about that. i get it is because you are an amazon prime member, aren't you? daniel: well, i can't comment on that, brent. a certain someone is celebrating . the richest man in the world just get even richer. jeff bezos, the founder and biggest shareholder of amazon, has seen another $8 billion added to his personal net worth. shares in his government have jumped by 7% after announced first-quarter profits more than doubled compared to last year. analysts say a rise in online shopping and increased demand for the firm's cloud services

drove the numbers up, but it is not all plain sailing. the results come as amazon faces scrutiny from politicians and regulars over its market dominance. more from our man on wall street, jens korte. jens: investors on wall street are not so much focusing at this point on possible regulatory actions. they are looking at the growth figures, and they are pretty breathtaking. what counts even more is that wall street seems to be convinced that amazon actually can repeat this growth number for the current quarter. anderson expects once again that -- amazon expense once again that the prophet will double and the stock of amazon did reach an all-time high in the friday session. we got a lot of strong earnings from the big tech companies. microsoft, intel, for example. intel come even if the numbers were rocksolid, could not see

the stock price increase. overall, after a quite turbulent week, especially when it comes to the dow jones, there was not a lot of action in the friday session, and investors are already looking ahead, because next week we will get, for instance, the numbers from apple , and there is quite some skepticism, especially regarding the iphone x sales. that stock was among the losers shortly before the weekend. daniel: busy week ahead. jens korte on wall street. u.s. oil giant exxon mobil and chevron have posted higher first-quarter earnings. exxon up 16% year on year to nearly $5 billion. but those higher oil prices that we have seen recently have helped boost both companies' revenues, but exxon's shares took a dive as it posted its weakest oil and gas output in 20 years. meanwhile, chevron's jump in oil production saw its shares tick up slightly.

more oil in the world isn't good for the environment, of course. environmentally friendly fuels are taking off, literally. electric powered airplanes are all the rage. that is something that is capturing the attention of big airlines. reporter: fossil fuels still rule the skies here at the ila, but advances in electric-powered flight could change that. modern batteries are already producing enough energy to get airborne. something start ups are taking advantage of, creating lightweight, computer-piloted vehicles they hope will replace your trusted taxi and cut down on congestion in the world's major urban centers. >> first come in the third dimension, there is a lot more space, so you are not moving at the same flight level. we can use a lot more space, and it can go in stages, so we won't

solve the whole traffic jam problem in just one day, but the helicopter and air taxis will be part of the ecosystem in major cities. reporter: over 50 countries are trying to get the first electric air taxi to market, including airbus. it may be still on the drawing board, but airbus plans the first city airbus test flight later this year. the aerospace giant says the propulsion system is already up to the challenges of urban flight. but electric flight isn't just confined to fringe industries. rolls-royce, siemens, and airbus are working on prototype commercial engines for electric jets. some are calling it the third aerospace revolution, new technologies letting a row vehicles become smaller, greener, and more autonomous while it may seem that many of them are not ready to hit the skies from experts here assure us they will be here sooner than you think. daniel: researchers are investigating the genetics of

chickens in an unusual format that is just launched in ethiopia. the aim, to raised disease-resistant and climate resilient chicks. it is part of an initiative funded by the bill and melinda gates foundation, and it isn't just about the research, but raising awareness. apparently chicken farmers appreciate art, too. reporter: they look just like chicks anywhere in the world, but they are very special. they are beginning with a more hearty friend of poultry for east african conditions. here at the international livestock research institute in the ethiopian capital, addis ababa, scientists combined genetic knowledge with traditional animal husbandry skills. >> if we want animals with chicken who produce more eggs, which are more resistant we have to select to them from a pool of

diversity, and this is where diversity enters the game. without diversity, there would be no improvements. reporter: if he'll be is rich in a diverse paltry -- ethiopia is rich in diverse poultry genes. they have even commissioned art installations, from screens with has to a book of the genome to raise awareness of genetics. >> the global cannot exist without the local, and the local cannot exist without the global. so we are trying to bring that one and use art to send a message to the community, to send a message to practitioners, to send a message to farmers. reporter: farmers like this one who live on the outskirts of the city. he and his wife make their living raising chickens. he says his poultry techniques have improved in recent years. "in earlier times, our chickens

were quite often sick, and were not cared for properly. we used to let them wander around all day. now my wife and i are giving them all the necessary care and attention they need. we take it in turns, and that way we are able to do other things as well." he also says e -- sells eggs as well as cocks hebrews. the ilri hopes to have her chickens will inspire other farmers to invest in poultry as a way of improving their livelihoods. daniel: that is all the news on your money money money. but now, mamama mia, it looks like a swedish pop group are taking a chance on a comeback, brent. brent: that's right, knowing me and knowing you, it is the dancing queens 2.0. after decades of resisting all efforts to bring them together, they pop group abba has revealed

they have recorded two new songs were what they call a virtual tour online. >> ♪ waterloo, promise to love me forever more ♪ reporter: in 1974, "waterloo" catapulted the swedish group abba to international fame almost overnight. >> ♪ waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you ♪ reporter: 8 studio albums and around 30 smash hits followed. benny andersson and bjorn ulvaeus for most of them in your studio near stockholm. them sound great as we thought were great. reporter: in 1972 benny andersson and his girlfriend

teamed up with bjorn and his partner to form abba. they toured the world, but when the relationships broke up, so did abba. the band ceased to exist in 1982. fans have always dreamt of a reunion, and hopes were reignited when in 2016, the four members appeared on stage and sang at an invitation-only event. now that have reunited in the studio, the question is whether they will perform together live. >> ♪ feeling like a number one brent: and here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you. germany's chancellor angela merkel has met with u.s. president donald trump to discuss trade, but despite it

warmer atmosphere, there were unable to overcome differences on the iran nuclear deal. after a short break, i will take you through the day. korean peace, trump and merkel, and knowing me, knowing you again. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

steves: the dramatic rock of cashel is one of ireland's most evocative sites. this was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries.

st. patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a.d. in around 1100, an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this monastic community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. it looked out then, as it does today, over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it ireland's best farmland. on this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland.

♪ meggin: hello, and welcome to our highlights edition, with the best picks of the week. i'm your host, meggin leigh. here's a look at what we've got in store for you today. legendary lover -- a new museum in venice showcases casanova. blossoming art -- daniel ost is a top floral designer from belgium. and mr. clean -- klaus dauven creates art by washing grimy surfaces. but in fact, casanova was actually an italian philosopher and writer in venice.