berlin. tonight, the world waiting for

the u.s. response after iran shoots down an american drone. president trump calling the move a big mistake. he also says iran might have fired at the drone by mistake. at the white house and capitol hill, emergency meetings are under way. how will he respond? also, boris johnson is the front runner to be the new leader of the conservative party and the next u.k. prime minister. his only rival -- foreign secretary jeremy hunt. the winner will be decided next month. and of course trading in brussels. france and germany clash over who should become the next president of the european commission. that is not the only top eu job up for grabs. plus, the united nations says a record 71 million people have been displaced by war and persecution worldwide. on this war refugee day, we look at the plight of elderly and injured muslims from myanmar

living as refugees in bangladesh. i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. we start with a date that has seen tensions between tehran and washington go from bad to worse. earlier today, iran shut down an unmanned u.s. drone. on that, both sides agree, but the u.s. says the drone was flying in international airspace and is accusing iran of an unprovoked attack. president trump calling the move by iran a big mistake, but later today pulling back, saying that it looked like someone in tehran had made a mistake. iran says the drone was on a spying mission over its territory. >> grainy images at the pentagon show a u.s. drone tumbling from the sky over the gulf of oman.

the latest in a series of incidents that raise the specter of war in the region. as u.s. president donald trump emerged from the white house, reporters had only one question on their mind. trump was hosting canadian prime minister justin trudeau after heightening the suspense, the president appeared to that pedal at a joint q&a session in the oval office only moments later. >> i think probably iran made a mistake. i would imagine it was a general or somebody that made a mistake in shooting that drone down. >> but iran appeared in no mood to apologize as it announced the shooting down of the u.s. drone on state television. iran's elite revolutionary guards said they had destroyed the drone to send a signal to the u.s. >> those who defend the border of the islamic nation of iran

will react in a total and decisive way to any intrusion by foreign elements on our land. our borders are our red line. an enemy that violates our borders will not return and will be destroyed. >> the commander went on to say iran was ready for war, but either the country was not seeking conflict with any nation. the incident comes at a time of rising tension between tehran and washington which began when the u.s. abandoned an international nuclear deal last year. iran this week announced it would no longer abide by the terms of the agreement and could soon restart its nuclear activity. the recent attack on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman asked to the tension. the u.s. presented more evidence that it said links to run -- tehran to the incident. this time, iran denied involvement. the u.s. has so far not

responded to what it sees as iranian provocations. despite such restraint, the fear is that the escalation could result in war. brent: for more now, let's bring in all of her who is on the story for us in washington. good evening to you. we know both sides have confirmed the drone was shot out of the sky. there are conflicting accounts over the circumstances around that. has the u.s. presented proof the drone was flying in international airspace? >> u.s. president trump says he has scientific proof. we do not know, though, what this scientific proof looks like. there was no track data on the drone published so far, only an alleged position with the drone flying in international airspace. of course, the iranian version looks completely different. the iranian foreign minister a little while ago published their

alleged position, of course, over iranian airspace, so we have two differing versions. if the u.s. is right and the drone was shot in international airspace, that would mean an escalation in a situation where tensions are already running high. brent: the u.s. president seems to have backed up a little bit in his assessment of this. earlier in the day, he said shooting down the drone was a big mistake and then he said perhaps firing at the drone had then a mistake. how do you read that? >> that's right. he called it a big mistake in the first place when he wrote on twitter as a direct response and later said he did not believe that the drone was shot down intentionally. he said it could have been someone loose and stupid of the iranian revolutionary guard, so this is not the first time the u.s. president walked back some

of his statements, but it does reflect also that he does not want to go to war. he is not looking for a military intervention with iran. it is something he had promised voters over and over again, but the question, of course, will be which side in the white house and the u.s. administration will prevail. the moderate forces or rather hard-liners such as national security advisor john bolton, who are more open to the military option? brent: we know there are meetings going on on capitol hill in terms of what the response should be. take a listen to what nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, what she had to say. >> i don't think the president wants to go to war. there is no appetite for going to war in our country. brent: there is no appetite for going to war. what is the appetite among president trump's base and americans in general for a war with iran?

>> americans are generally tired of war at this point, especially donald trump's voter base accounts for the same. he had promised in his election campaign to pull the u.s. out of international conflict. his recent strategy of maximum pressure comes in contrast with these promises he had made. essentially, what donald trump is trying to achieve is to press around that to the negotiating table in order to get a better, tougher nuclear deal negotiated. iran is refusing to negotiate with the united states at this point. it does not look as if any of the two sides were willing to back down, so we are witnessing a situation where both are going down a vicious circle with a destination unknown. brent: thank you very much. in the former soviet republic of

georgia, a group of several hundred protesters tried to storm parliament in the capital, to believe the -- in the capital today. police blocked them from entering the building. a separate group of protesters also gathered at the parliament demonstrating against a russian lawmaker who was allowed to address georgia's parliament from the speaker's seat. the move sparked outrage in the former soviet republic which says moscow occupies part of its territory. now to the u.k. britain's ruling conservative party has narrowed the field of candidates for party leader and prime minister down to two men. prime minister -- forest johnson in the current prime minister, jeremy hunt. boris johnson is seen as the current front runner. until now, the selection of

candidates has been made by party lawmakers. there was five rounds of those ballots, but now about 160 thousand party members are eligible to choose between johnson and hunt. the result of that vote is expected in late july. in london right now, we are following the story. the former london mayor and foreign minister boris johnson remains the top contender for the job of tory leader and the next prime minister. is his victory -- is it a foregone conclusion now? >> not a foregone conclusion. he still leads to go to this final round, to the party base. he is clearly the front runner, and he is extremely popular with the party base. he is witty, charming. he has a lot of charisma. critics accuse him of being a bit economical with the truth. they accuse him of lying over

claims during the prexy campaign -- during the brexit campaign. all this does not phase the party base -- all of this does not faze the party base. they applaud him like nobody else, so he is very popular with the base. a clear front runner. brent: what about his rival, foreign secretary jeremy hunt? >> jeremy hunt does not have the same personality, i would say, as boris johnson does, and he is a remainder -- remainer, so that works against him. jeremy hunt, i think, is the contender because he is seen

maybe as a steady pair of hands. he has made much about his history as an entrepreneur. as a foreign secretary, he has accused the european union as being similar to the soviet union. that did not go down well with colleagues in brussels, but on the other hand, i think many have a rather positive view on him because he is seen as a multinational list. among the party base, boris johnson clearly the favorite. brent: it is interesting that one of the finalists is someone who wants to stay in the european union. it boris johnson wins in the end, what does that mean for the u.k. and for brexit? >> jeremy hunt also has said that now he accepts that britain has to leave. it's just that he was a remainer during the campaign. if boris johnson does move into

number 10 downing street, i think he will be held to account. he made huge promises during the prexy campaign. he was one of the main figures of the campaign in the referendum. he has made promises like bridge and will be a global player once more and that brexit would in the end reunite the country and the promises about all the money that can be saved and used here in the u.k. all of these bold claims really he will be held to account if indeed he does move into downing street at the end of the summer. brent: we will find out soon enough. thank you. here are some of the other stories now making headlines around the world. the united states senate has voted to block the sale of weapons to saudi arabia in a move seen as a rebuke to president trump who backs arms sales to the saudi's and considers them a key ally -- backs arms sales to the saudis

and considers them a key ally. former trump eight hope hicks has testified before congress about her time in the white house -- former trump aide. she testified she thought trump was serious when he said he would accept foreign aid in elections. chinese president xi jinping is in north korea on his first visit to the country. president xi said he hopes talks between the u.s. and north korea will resume soon. now to brussels where european union leaders are meeting to decide who will lead the eu's key institutions following last month's parliamentary elections. the most high-ranking position under discussion is the european commission president.

the post is currently held by jean-claude juncker, but there is no consensus on who should replace him. that is creating friction between the eu's leading nations, france and germany. >> the eu commission, the heartbeat of the european union. 28 heads of state and government have gathered in brussels to decide on the new leader, but chancellor merkel cautions against high expectations. >> here in germany, we have the situation that the cdu and spd are committed to the top candidate, but that is not always the case and the council as we have known for a long time. we will discuss this, but we might not have a result today. >> the european party's top candidates have been campaigning throughout the eu. liberals, conservatives, greens, social democrats.

but the french president does not want to limit himself to these candidates when it comes to voting in a new eu commission president, so he is risking an open dispute with germany. >> in my opinion, it is up to france to find a solution and not get bogged down in programs to find europe's ideal leadership team. >> but if france does not stand behind the top candidate, it will need support for its choice. even before the summit began, president macron sought to meet with his counterparts, one of them the leader of luxembourg who says he does not want to commit himself to one candidate yet. >> i want to know what we're doing and not who is doing it. >> for chancellor merkel and the french president, this is about much more than posts. it is about power and influence in the european union. that is why no one wants to give in. it amounts to a poker game and

the prize is the eu's top position. brent: for more on that, we want to go straight to the european council in brussels where our correspondent is standing by. good evening to you. let's talk about the jobs and the jostling for those positions in a few moments, but first, let's talk about efforts to rein in climate change. apparently eu leaders cannot agree on that, either. i'm talking about net carbon neutrality. what can you tell us seattle >> also called by net neutrality. there was supposed to be a side note of conclusions. we saw draft conclusions that were still there and all the countries were supposed to commit themselves to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050, basically meaning that you have, if you calculate all the carbon emissions and how you get rid of the carbon emissions or get them out of the atmosphere, that you would have a carbon-free europe. this has failed.

this was actually something we saw coming in the last days because poland and the czech republic, among others to be fair, said they would not go along with this. now it appears this is only a footnote in the declaration. if you look at how important this topic was in european elections, if you look at, for example, demonstrations on the streets, this is definitely a setback and a disappointment for many people. it bodes not well at all for what is coming afterwards, talking about the post -- you mentioned it, talking about the next eu commission president. brent: let's talk about that. why has the race to fill these top positions suddenly become so contentious? >> it has always been a difficult puzzle because you need to, for example, mixer the eastern countries get something, then you may need to -- then you need to make sure the big and small countries get something and you need to make sure you

have men and women as well and you need to make sure the poorer countries have something, the south, for example, and then you have to make sure the principal parties get something, so you see the magnitude of all of this. this year, it is even more complicated because in the european parliament, you no longer have a majority of the two factions, the two big parties, so you will need a third-party to get a majority, and this is just very difficult. brent: and a direct result of those european parliamentary elections that we were talking about last month. is there a compromise in the works here? >> i would say there is a compromise in the works. we just don't know what it looks like. really, literally, if you look behind me, all those people, thousands of journalists, nobody has an idea what eventually it will look like. we have names, of course. maybe somebody will pop up we have not talked about yet. we are pretty certain that this

compromise will not completely emerge, at least tonight here. there probably will need to be at least one more special summit in brussels. brent: that is what i was going to ask you, look into your crystal ball. we know the new european parliament starts work on july 2. we will have to have some resolution by then. >> yes, i hope you share my excitement in all of this, although it is very complicated. on the second of july, one of the top jobs will presumably be given out to someone. that is the president of the european parliament. the european parliament will elect their president, at least that is what they said. they are probably not going to back off on that, and that means you have the first domino to fall, but with the leaders here want to do is have the full package, make sure that they, like i said earlier, have all those different regions, people, genders represented in their mix and if the first domino falls without having a full puzzle, it

will complement -- it will come locate things afterward. brent: we can since your excitement. we are holding on and listening with bated breath. as always, thank you very much. just in time for summer vacation, could there be strikes at the airlines? the german cabin crew union is called the -- is calling on lufthansa staff to take action over wages. employees are expected to vote next week on a strike. they may be joined by other staff. lufthansa says it is considering legal action as a result. it said the strikes would contravene an agreement to keep industrial peace, in other words to keep the company in business. the united nations says a record number of people worldwide have then forcibly displaced this year. the figure now totals 71

million, 2 million more than last year. this includes asylum seekers, refugees, and people who have been forced to leave their homes within their countries. to mark united nations world refugee day, amnesty international is highlighting particular difficulties facing older refugees. amnesty filmed in camps that house revenger refugees from myanmar -- that housed rhohohina refugees from me. >> life in bangladesh's crowded refugee camps can be a constant struggle. for the elderly, it is often newly unbearable. the human rights organization amnesty international interviewed more than 150 displaced rohingya its 54 to 90 andound eight agencies had not done enough to address the needs of old refugees -- eight

agencies -- aid agencies had not done enough to address the needs of old refugees. >> the latrine is not that far for people who can walk well. it's only a problem for me. >> i'm wary of going to the clinic. they do not provide good care. >> this man was able to reach a designated h-friendly clinic, but such places are rare in refugee camps. researchers documented cases of older patients foregoing medicine because they could not navigate the challenging terrain to the clinics. despite the challenges, these are the lucky ones. many other elderly rohingya were unable to flee when myanmar's army attacked their villages. >> we were in the field. the soldiers were chasing people and shooting. evil who could run managed to

escape, but those who could not run were killed -- people who could run managed to escape. >> when the soldiers set our house on fire, my parents were inside. for the last five years, my parents were not able to move on their own. we could not take them with us and we fled. my parents died when the house was torched. >> it is uncertain when the rohingya refugees will be able to return to their homes. for the elderly, it is not clear if they will ever make the trip home. brent: scientists are sounding the alarm over glacier melting. they say glaciers in the himalayan mountain range are melting at a rate twice what would be considered normal. the world's highest peaks, which include mount everest, have been losing ice at a rate of 1% a year since the year 2000. all of this together, the results could be devastating for the freshwater supplies that the entire indian subcontinent

relies on. >> the glaciers of the himalayas represent a vast reservoir of water upon which hundreds of millions of people depend. now the glaciers are melting. by comparing today's glaciers with satellite images made decades ago, scientists can determine just how quickly the ice is receding. researchers at london's imperial college say the big melt will be hard to stop. >> even if we tried to limit the 1.5-degree temperature rise, still, 1/3 of glaciers will be vanished. >> he says changing water availability is making it impossible or people to continue traditional farming practices. those who cannot adapt are often forced to move away.

>> because of that, they are forced to take other practices, and as a result, people cannot cope with the changes in the region. >> rising temperatures and changing patterns of precipitation in the mountains also have impacts far downstream as water levels drop across central asia and the indian subcontinent. brent: sports news now. they were unable to hold onto their lead for long. six minutes later, christine sinclair slid into the back post to bring canada to level.

despite the heat, canada will also progress to the round of 16. cameroon defeated new zealand 2-1 to qualify for the last 16. a cool second-half finish gave cameroon a crucial lead but disaster struck soon after when this potentially tournament-ending goal, which we will show you, was scored. final kick since cameroon to the knockout stage. here is a reminder of the top stories we are following for you. u.s. president trump says someone and iran seems to have made a mistake as both sides contradict each other over the shooting down of a u.s. drone by iran. the u.s. says the drone was in international airspace. iran says it was on a spying mission over iranian territory. you are watching "dw news."

after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around for that. ♪

. on the front. twenty four he watching live from paris to france twenty four the headlines this hour. us president donald trump dials down the restaurant with iran and suggests a loose and stupid office -- may be responsible for the shooting down of a us strid. tehran insists the