welcome into the newsroom at france 24. nextl be with you for the hour of programming. let's look at the top headlines. at last a program for italy's new coalition government.

plans have been unveiled including slashing taxes and more funding for welfare programs. how the eu is welcoming the new government. angela merkel is meeting vladimir putin this friday. the two leaders are in sochi. germany's chancellor has limited contact with her russian there are newut frictions over old wounds, notably moscow's takeover of the crimea. and making way for a new generation of filmmakers in cannes. femaletlight on young directors this year, though the selection is still heavily male-dominated. ♪

the two in italy's political spectrum have agreed. -- withr has agreed plans to cut taxes and boost welfare spending in a direct challenge to eu spending rules. our correspondent joins us from brussels. how is the eu seeing this ?nlikely eurosceptic coalition plenty inthere is agreement here in brussels to make people very uncomfortable. you have one known entity and one unknown and the. the larger party is this new movement. the front person is luigi

demaio. he has been very -- he has made a lot of efforts to reassure the european union this is not a eurosceptic already. they will not do anything toward brussels. on the other hand, you have the northern league, the party that has been -- has been around for a long time. they are very hard right. but neither are eurosceptic in the same way the u.k. independence party is eurosceptic. they are not calling for italy .o leave the eu they are not calling for italy to leave the euro. but they are e.u. critical. they have a proposal to publiciate italy's debts, proposals to end austerity, and most uncomfortably, it calls for a reopening of the eu treaties, something that brussels is terrified of doing. this will be very unpredictable. that's the main reaction here in brussels. they do not really know what to

expect from the coalition governments. a lot may be riding on who becomes the prime minister. it's possible it could be matteo's all beanie -- matteo salvini. that could be uncomfortable. shona: right, dave, we have a program, a coalition. -- whatpens in sup on happens depends on who the prime minister inns of being? e: the prime minister will accept this government or not except this government, and in we have italian government in next in time for the european council in the building behind me. that comes in june. it is unclear who will be the prime minister coming here to ,epresent italy for that summit but it could see the first big conflict between this new italian government and the eu on the issue of russia.

the coalition government explicitly says that russia is "not a military threat." of courses going against conventional wisdom here in brussels and next month they have to make the decision on whether to rollover the sanctions on russia for its annexation of crimea. the new government may block the rollover of those sanctions. there could be fireworks with that new italian government next week. shona: a few points of discord there. thank you for joining us, dave keating, live from brussels. idol a merkel is visiting sochi. the german chancellor will be meeting with m notably to discuss the conflict in ukraine. russia has condemned the russian crimeanon of the peninsula. our correspondent joins us live from berlin with more. russia annexed crimea back in 2014.

does merkel hope to reverse that decision for years on? years on? reporter: there is not much room for angela merkel regarding crimea annexation by russia. still an intense diplomatic exchange between germany and russia. the german foreign minister with russian officials. merkel will discuss that extensively. motion the back in minsk agreement. they well work on the peace process.

and there will be a new pipeline to the russia to germany baltic state. ,any european countries including ukraine, are against that project. one wonders how much room for negotiation does angela merkel really have? and if bladder putin as the -- vladimir putin has the upper hand? provocatione mean a thursday? isorter: again, that visit understood as a provocation for thatest and it is expected merkel will address the serious situation with putin. she has strong doubts that russia would support bashar al-assad much longer, but

yesterday's visit in russia proved otherwise. one optimistic note for today's meeting between angela merkel and putin is both germany and russia seemed to see eye to eye on at least one point and that is the salvation of the iran nuclear deal. much, thank you so reporting live there from berlin. european leaders wrapped up two ons of talks in sofia thursday, pledging their commitment to the iran nuclear deal, despite u.s. sanctions. washington has reimposed its ban withmpanies that trade iran, forcing companies to decide whether to work with the u.s. or iran. effect of u.s. sanctions is expected to be limited. brian quinn explains. effort toa last ditch save the iran nuclear deal by

protecting european businesses. they are issuing legal measures to shield companies from the affects of her nude you in -- u.s. sanctions. american sanctions will be an issue. we have the task of the european commission to protect our european businesses, especially our small to medium enterprises. statute wase created in 1996 to circumvent washington's trade embargo on cuba. while it was never officially put in effect. courts from complying with foreign sanctions laws and nullifies court judgments based on such laws within the u.n. -- within the eu . but secondary sanctions would put the u.s. financial system off-limits to companies doing business in iran. giant toad tell

says without a u.s. waiver it will withdraw from the project. over 35% of its stock is held gl by u.s. shareholders and 10% u.s. assets, it cannot afford to lose america as a business partner. >> we will see if we can give small and medium-sized companies some relief. but i think we cannot and must not create illusions. the u.s. is said to begin reinstating sanctions with companies that do business with ron -- with iran with a 180 days. shona: donald trump sought to reassure his north korean counterpart about fears similar those of affecting libya.

kim jong-un canceled a high level meeting with the south, but trump says that to his knowledge, the meeting is still on. hasident trump: nothing changed with north korea that we know of. we have not been told anything, and if it does, it's fine. if it doesn't, i think we will probably have a very successful meeting, but we have not been told anything. the libyan model is not the model that we have it all, when we are thinking of north korea. in libya, we decimated the country. the country was decimated. there was no deal to keep gaddafi. the libyan model mentioned was a much different deal. this would be with kim jong-un, he would be there, he would be in his country, he would be running his country, his country would be very rich. the first woman to lead the cia. gina haspel has been dutch gina

haspel has been approved by her despite disapproval by many u.s. lawmakers. they point to her role in torture programs around the world at secret prisons known as plaque sites. after a man killed a passerby and injured five others with a kitchen knife, france's interior says the police have foiled another attack. cheetah brothers have been arrested for reportedly preparing an attack either with lethal poison, or explosives. it is unclear when they were taken into custody or where they were planning to strike. filmedition of the cannes festival has women in the spotlight, despite the fact that movies in the official selection have female

directors. in other selections, a new generation of women are carving out a space for themselves. our red carpet reporter was there, and caught up with two up-and-coming women lawmakers whose work had been selected for the first time. reporter: the first time at the cannes film festival for jamie. her film 17th in the selection. >> it has a lot of prestige. it was great to play at small venues in the u.s., but this is like -- incredible for me. reporter: for her, it is a long way from film school in new york. >> what are they doing here? >> are they here for you? >> i don't think so. not yet. maybe in a few years. reporter: this was shot in san diego on a shoestring budget.

the industry is notoriously hard to rake into. >> ♪ do yourself a favor and go away from everyone who loves you now ♪ reporter: you can be a great -- >> you can be a great, talented filmmaker. all will not necessarily believe you until this happens to you. i am grateful i can say my film has premiered here. reporter: others are on that journey. her film involves the complexities of contemporary society. thehe film does challenge ideas that western countries ought to have. my film was made with french money. i find that promising and it gives me faith for the next step.

reporter: the new generation here at cannes have decided to take on that challenge. shona: a quick reminder of our top stories this hour -- at last, a program for the new coalition government, unveiling their plans that include slashing taxes and more funding for welfare programs. angela merkel is meeting vladimir putin this friday. the two leaders are in sochi. germany has limited contact with her russian counterpart. but a new pipeline is causing tension over old wounds, notably moscow's 2014 takeover of crimea. it's a time for a look at business news. by my colleague from

our business desk. you have been looking at trade talks between the united states and china? right. is there has been tough talk from u.s. president donald trump who said thursday that china has been spoiled on trade and the u.s. cannot keep getting ripped off. china has denied that it is preparing to offer a deal to slash the trade deficit between the two countries by $200 billion. during the first round of talks, the u.s. made several hard-line demands to china, first that china reduce the deficit by the end of 2020, and that china drop policies that favor its own domestic industries, especially in key sectors like technology. fromore on the latest beijing, let's go to katrina yu.

tell us about the concessions china is making in these talks. >> one of the main concessions scrapping ofis the the anti-dumping levy. 17% on u.s.5 -- exports and these are very big and important exports for the american market. imposes that levy as a result of threats that president trump did make on chinese imports to the u.s. this is also something china is thorny legalry issue in the u.s.. pressure onsome american farmers, many of whom are supportive of president trump.

that is one of the concessions made by china today. this china want from these talks? what is the end goal here? >> in a larger sense china wants respected and seen as an equal. they will make some concessions. one of the things the respecteds it wants is, as you've mentioned, the elimination of $200 billion worth of trade deficit. denies it has made any such concessions. and china says we cannot deliver such a huge tract when comes to the deficit. what they're looking for is smaller concessions, but also remove u.s. to

to stopions, and also asking them to change their course, really china wanting to be an innovation leader when it comes to high-tech manufacturing. to stop asking them to change their china has big goals. 2025s the made in china strategy where it wants to be a .owerhouse that is really one of the sticking points. anca: thank you very much for that update. she is referring from beijing. let's see how those trade talk development are affecting the markets. in asia, all major indexes have closed in the green. cheng i close the session up more than 1%. and tokyo saw a boost. europe has been a mixed bag with italy.us mainly on

investors have been rattled. there are fears of tightening supply given to u.s. sanctions on the iranian oil industry. brent crude broke the av dollar mark for the first -- the $80 mark for the first time in nearly four years. with wti in the united states slightly above $71. me, the u.s. online paypal isompany buying is swedish rival for more than $2 billion. this is set to become the tech company in europe to the public.

paypal's nested up before it had a chance to go public. paypal will take over those operations in europe and latin america, opening it up to 11 new markets, including right here in france. shona: interesting. thank you. now it is time for the -- what is going on in the press. ♪ solange, joins me to look at what is grabbing headlines around the world. the royal wedding between meghan markle and prince harry is tomorrow. this is on nearly every front page of the british press. solange: it is indeed. i would like to start with something for people who do not really care about the royal wedding. it is a cartoon from the new york times. it tells news watchers to hold on a little bit longer, it's a must over.

the man saying, i am looking forward to the happy ending to the 24/7 news coverage. shona: not everyone is unhappy with the royal wedding? says it the guardian will not be long now. the daily telegraph wonders who will walk the bride down the aisle after all the hubbub and scandal about meghan markle's father. has meghanmes" markle on the cover. it says the mother charm to the senior royals. the british press has moved on from this. the british press is not the only press to be excited about the royal wedding obviously. the french press is also playing the game. page newst is front as well. shaking up then

she isnd they say that shaking it up because she is american and biracial and a modernizing presents for the monarchy. the paper calls the event a royal parentheses. many are taking a break and secretly watching it and following the events closely. the people -- the paper argues because the monarchy evokes something stable, unifying, permanent for all of us brits and not brits. news -- a now to the vote in the room d that could keep the president in power until 2034? solange: the votes are being counted. that referendum is likely to pass. boycotted the

vote and most opposition leaders are in a tile being censored. you will not see much criticism in the burundi press. complaint about the lakh of diversity of voting supervisors. the vast majority from the ruling party. nois important to note that international observers were invited to take part in the referendum. shona: if we want to find out more about that vote, where can we go? solange: there are two different articles. in paris and d, there is a climate -- in the room to, there is a climate of intimidation. there's also an interesting that says there is no doubt the president is in a power grab. he says his claims are without -- there is conflict and

instability in burundi. arguments lead nations like peru and d into a situation where they inevitably fall off the -- like ballroom d into a situation when they inevitably fall off the cliff into instability. burundi. shona: how's the american press covering the anniversary of robert mueller's investigation into the president? solange: some are wondering what bombshell will fall next? trump discovers something worse than tweeting -- the uncovering may be worse than the crime. but on a more serious note, the paper says many questions remain unanswered by the investigation -- what has been found, why is

it taking so long, how this may eventually end? finally, there's an article in "the new york times" that may interest those of us who do not know how to accept a complement? the times goes into all of the different ways that people react to complements. do they shift credit, downgrade them, treat them as request? the other asks what is behind the compliment? praise, of course, but there is linguisticd invitation that is often an invitation to chitchat. just saying thank you and leaving it at that mrs. the s the entirely, -- misse point entirely any need to keep the conversation going if you want to correctly accept the

compliment. shona: if you want to know more on the stores, go to our website, france24.com and it is available in french and arabic. we will be back after a short break. do stay with us on france 24. ♪

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