>> this is dw news live from ber lin. tensions rise in the gulf as iran seizes a british oil tanker. it's been taken to a fort. the british government emergency committee has gone into session. the u.s. accuses iran of escalating violence. coming up chancellor delivers her verdict on donald trump's racist remarks. >> i reject trump's comments and stand in solidarity with the congresswoman he attacked. >> angela merkel's most

forthright comments at her annual summer news conference in which she credited young activists first during her to act faster on climate change. the dutch supreme court finds the state partially reliable for the deaths of 350 bosnian muslims. dutch troops had failed to protect the victims from bosnian-serb forces. ♪ i'm carl nasman. a warm welcome to those of you watching on pbs and our viewers around the world. tonight the british government's emergency committee is meeting at this hour after iran's revolutionary guard captured a british oil tanker in the strait of hormuz. iranian officials say it was stopped for "non compliance with international regulations and

has been taken to an undisclosed iranian fort." the owner of the taker confirmed it lost contact with the ship after it was approached by unidentified vessel and a helicopter. let's get more on this now. i'm joined by steven beardsley. what else do we know? steven: it is hard to say because a lot of this is developing. this was a ship that was headed to saudi arabia. this is a massive oil tanker, 50,000 tons. it was being directed north towards iran. the company, the swedish owned company, the swedish company that owns the ship has acknowledged it was redirected, that it actually used the word attacked. it mentioned several small boats and also a helicopter. we know the revolutionary guard released a statement saying that the ship failed to follow maritime rules and did respond to repeated warnings it was going the wrong way in the lane. we know this comes in the

context of other escalations. there is also reports that are being confirmed that there is a second tanker that is also been redirected, a liberian tanker being redirected north. natasha: what about carl: what about u.k. authorities? steven: we know president trump has said he is in conversation with british leadership there. the u.s. national security council released a statement saying it will continue to work with allies to do everything it can to defend our security and interest against what it calls maligned behavior. we see the british merchant shipping association has said it would like to see more protection of its ships. their going through the sensitive area of the strait of hormuz, a bottleneck for 1/5 of all oil. exported in the world what we can imagine is a call for more military basically protection is what that would seem to imply. you can see this escalated further.

carl: does this now imply rising tensions and a new level of escalation? steven: in some ways this is an escalator rise -- an escaltory rise because we know an iran ian tanker was seized up the coast of gibraltar. earlier today a british court extended that detention for another 30 days. is it coincidence that 70 there is a british tanker that has been seized? we also know this is not a change in tactics for a rant. -- for iran. they said they will respond. they have done it for decades. this is them fulfilling a promise. you take our tanker, we will take yours. it would seem to see just very strongly this is a response to that seizure of the iranian tanker. carl: steven beardsley getting us up to date. thank you very much. meanwhile, u.s. president donald trump has said there is no doubt that it u.s. war ship brought down an iranian dron eon

thursday, even though iran denies it lost any of its unmanned aircraft. the uss boxer patrolling the strait of hormuz brought down the drone because it'd flown to close to the ship. reporter: a view from the drone the u.s. claims it shot down. iranians says is finished his proves the american claim that one of their drone was too close to a navy ship. the u.s. has stuck to its guns. president trump address the issue in event at the oval office when questioned by reporters as to the veracity of the story. pres. trump: no doubt about it. we shot it down. reporter: trump said a drone had come within 1000 yards of the uss boxer and ignored calalls to standd down. iran has responded with derision. the foreign minister suggested that perhaps the u.s. shut down its own drone by mistake.

this is the latest scrapie between the two country over who is provoking whom in the strait of hormuz. on june 20th, iran shot down a u.s. drone. days ago, the iranian military seized a foreign tanker saying the ship was smuggling oil. they release the footage allegedly showing the incident. the united nation has urged restraint and -- to avoiding open conflict. carl: for more let's bring in our washington correspondent helena humphrey. it seems we have a case of he said/she said. president trump says he has no doubt that the u.s. downs that drone. iran claims that it's drone returned home. is either side providing any proof? helena: the latest we have is a video released by the iranian revolutionary guard which is says is footage taken from that drone. we can see in that footage, you

know, essentially that footage hovering over the uss boxer. there was a timestamp. and iran says it was after the u.s. claimed drone it had down to the drone. we cannot verify that video. but u.s. marines say the downing of that drone, we would not have been able to see that just, it would not have been visible to the naked eye. we continue to see that war of words which threatens to boil over to something more serious as we see these continued military show of force. carl: this, of course, as you mentioned, the latest flare up between these two countries, add to this the seizing of the u.k. oil tanker. can you put this into context for us? helena: the latest we have heard is that president trump says that the united states stands with its ally, the u.k. a

nd he will speak shortly to london, although there is no a written accord between the u.s. and the u.k. about how to proceed, but tensions have been ramping up for the past three months now between iran and the west wuith shortening intervals -- with shortening integrals between provocations and we are talking about the targeting of civilian mariners out on ththe strait of hormuz doing their jobs. that is very worrisome. we have seen further measures from the united states. early this morning, the secretary of state mike pompeo saying there are further sanctions against companies and individuals believed to be helping iran in picturing more new -- procuring more nuclear materials and a further 500 troops are on their way to saudi arabia. carl: helena humphrey in washington force. than -- for us. thank you very much.

let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world. kosovo's prime minister has resigned. he step down after being called for questioning by a court in the hague investigating crimes against ethnic serbs. he said he had agreed to be interviewed at the court next week and didn't want to do it as prime minister. the who says there is no sign that ebola has spread from congo to o neighboring rwanda. the c case of a congolesese w wn who died from the virus spaparkd fears thatat the outbreak could spread, after was thought she had crossed the border. the who now says she was not in rwanda. a strong earthquake, just north of athens. the 5.1 magnitude tremor sent people running out into the city strereets. no reportsts of cassidy's the

earthquake caused damage to buildings, -- there were no reports of cash cheese, but it caused damage e to buildings. a second tremor was felt 40 minutes later. -- there were no casualties. germany's foreign minister has presided over the return of a looted painting. the "vase of flowers" was stolen in 1944 by a retreating nazi .soldier as a gift for his wife . 50 pilot whales were discovered dead on the beach in iceland. it is not known what caused them to become stranded. local biologists say large groups of the animals washtub on land in the area and die, that they say it now appears to be happening more often. -- wash up on the land. angela merkel has rejected donald trump's racist remarks about four non white u.s.

congress women. speaking of her news conference, the german chancellor said she stood in solidarity with them and credited young people and the friday's for future movement with jumpstarting her environmental policy. merkel took questions on a wide range of topics, including her health. reporter: confidence satisfied, the chancellor appears relax in front of the cameras. for anyone wondering how she is feeling after being seen trembling recently, angela merkel answer. >> good. reporter: short and to the point, it is not always her strong point. on this occasion she had clear words for p president donald criticizing donald trump for his racist attack against four democrcratic congresswoman fromm ethnic mininorities. >> i reject trump's comments and stand in solidarity with the congress when he attacked. reporter: not from from her press conference, clilimate activiststs from the friridays r tuture movemenent were out on ne streets.

thousands to part. among them the swedish student. merkel admitted the movement had pushed the german government to act more quickly on climate change. she conceded more needs to be done if germany is to meet its commitments under the paris climate accord. >> concerning the 2030 goals, we don't know the exact details yet but experts say, and i agree, that the most efficient path to achieving those goals is to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions. but we must also take into account the social impact. reporterer: merkel brushoff complaints from her party's coalition partners, the social democrats, over the election of -- from merkel's cdu party. >> we should not be overly proud

about it, but we also do o not neneed to be the only ones in europe who are groggy about it. -- grumpy about it. reporter: after 90 minutes, the press conference came to an end with a strong signal the chancellor has not given up her job just yet. carl: our political correspondent simon young was watching the press conference. now, this was wide ranging. she took questions for 90 minutes. what do you think? what was her strongest message? >> the main thing she wanted to get across was that she sees still -- she's still here and very much in control and everything is fine. she repeated how happy she was to, her two female party allies have moved into top jobs this week.

the european commission presidency and karen bauer to the defense ministry in berlin. she also talked about lots of issues saying that the challenge of climate change was something they had to get on top of. school protests had added to the urgency there. she talked about modernizing germany's universities, reforming the pension system, building houses and so on.she is really saying , i'm here. i'm in charge. i know what i'm doing. as we said, after she made her opening statements, it was more than an hour of questions. she was asked about whole range of stuff. of course, also about offensive remarks by president donald trump. let's have a listen to what she said about that. >> let me say clearly that in my view america's strength lies precisely in the fact that is a country where people a very

different nationalities have contributed to the strength of america as a whole. so, these are l et me say comments that very much run counter to the firm impression i have. i have to say that. >> later she said when she was asked, do you distance yourself from these remarks? and -- in solidarity with the congresswoman attacked by donald trump. she said, absolutely, i do. pretty emphatic on that. carl: there also concerns about the chancellor's help. -- health. she said she is fine. what issue your impression. >> she looked fine today. she was no shaking. but it was a sitting performance today to put it like that. she said she knows s what her

responsibililities are, and she said to the journalists, you know me. you know i wouldn't say i could carry out this job if i couldn't. she, also, in a personal way she said, i'm the one who cares most about my own health, because when i step down in a couple years, i want to carry on enjoying life for a few years at least after that. so, i 'm feeling fine is what she said. carl: life continues after politics. chancellor merkel repeated that she will, she wants to govern until 2021. her coalition, though, it has been a bit shaky. it is not been the smoothest ride in recent years. will she make it to 2021? >> the coalition is shaky just like the chancellor but she said today that relations within the cabinet with her social democrat coalition partners are very good. but it has to be said, the social democrats are under a lot of pressure. they have failed to reorganize

since the elections a couple years back. and they are struggling in the polls. we've got key regional elections coming up in eastern states at the end of this year. so, actually in a couple of months time already. so, you know, if the, the social democrats feel that they have to move to the left to restate their socialist credentials, they may feel that they can't win elections anymore inside government and they want to pull out. that would meet a premature end to the political career of angela merkel. carl: dw political correspondent simon young. thank you very much. the supreme court's of the netherlands has found the dutch state partially liable for the deaths of 350 bosnian muslims. the muslims were killed by bosnian-serb forces after being expelled from a safe haven guarded by dutch troops in 1995.

the murders were part of an organized massacre that left 8000 muslim men and boys that. -- dead. reporter: it is the final decision from the supreme court in the netherlands, and for the mothers, it's a disappointment. >> the dutch defense and t the government are responsible for this genocide. if it is 1%, 10% or 100%, they are responsible. it is their cynicism, primitivism and their own incapacity that they can only recognize it for 10%. reporter: why 10%? according to the courts, peacekeeping forces should of been aware the 350 men hiding in their compound would be mistreated and killed but the court also said that if they remained in the compound it was only a 10% chance they would have survived. in 1995, thousands of muslims were fleeing serb forces and

head to the muslim majority area where dutch peacekeepers were stationed. the court's decision is specifically about the 350 men hiding inside the dutch peacekeepers pound down -- compound. the dutch battalions deprived these male refugees of this chance of staying out of the hands of the boston serb -- the bosnian serbs. >> if people make mistakes and they made mistake, so be it. that's fine. i'm human. i can make mistakes. so, but to say that you made a mistake but it is like 10%. that's not fair. reporter: whatever the percentage, for the mothers, the netherlands remains responsible. carl: to japan which on thursday suffered its worst mass killing in 18 years. an arson attack on an animation

studio in kyoto. police are investigating a suspect after a man broke into the building, dow state with fuel and shouted "you die." the blaze killed 33 people and injured dozens more. some are still in critical condition. reporter: devastating details are emerging of the arson attack that shocked japan. witnesses say the fire at the kyoto animation studio spread so ququickly that people j jump frm windowto escape thee flames. others scramblbled up the stairs and a desperate and feududal attempt to save lives. many of the bodies were found in a staircase leading to the roof. police believe it was this man who was responsible for the deadly inferno. he wasn't employed by the firm and questions remain. local media are reporting that the suspect had planned the attack because he believed the studio had plagiarized his work. a woman who what it's remain

anonymous that she interacted with the suspect at the scene. >> i asked the man whethe he was ok and then he yelled at me saying don't talk to me. he seemed strange. hehe wasas so burnt i could note his facial expression. reporter: as investigators sought answers, residents pay tribute to the victims, still in disbelief over what happened in their neigighborhood. >> k kyoto animation studio reay cares ababout is anime fans. i don''t understand why workers at the studio hadad to go throuh this. this is unforgivavable. >> these yououng peoplple were e same age as my g grandchildrdre. if my grand children had died in

these conditions, i would not want to live anymore. reporter: the japanese anime community is also in shock and fans from around the world are rallying around the studio. a crowd funding campaign to help the company revealed raced past the original target within hours. carl: to ukraine were the comedian turned president is hoping to build on his landslide victory by also getting the majority in parliament. as ukrainians go to the polls sunday. as dw's nick connolly found when he went to the city, he isn't the only show biz newcomer trying to shake up ukraine's politics. ♪ nick: everything is going to be all right. the hit that behavior -- that became a campaign slogan. after 25 years on the stage and 10 albums, the most famous rock singer is venturing onto the

political stage, the leader of a new part of called voice. >> i've earned the right to call myself a patriot and prove that i can protect the country from her enemies. nick: in a crowded political scene, he's started from scratch promising to end the oligarchs stranglehold of the ukraine's economy and stand up to russian. he says his rivals are scared and playing dirty. >> the old faces of the old ukrainian politics were not expecting us to be doing so well in the polls. so now they are throwing all of the have got into discrediting us and doing everything to stop is taking their power away from them. nick: he's a new face in ukrainian policy, free of the scandals that dog established

politicians but one that is for milledge almost all ukrainians from decades of tv. so far, so similar to the president but that is where the similarities between the entertainers ends. the president makes the point of keeping the town light. the presidents which is between russian and ukrainian in public and the comedian performs only in ukrainian. he does best among middle-class voters and big cities. two stars with very different personalities but both decided to take the plunge into politics. >> you are one of ukraine's biggest stars, why give that up for politics? >> for 28 years, we have been waiting for politicians to do something to change this country, never happened. it would be better for musicians to sing and for politicians to do politics. it is our turn. i hope to do as many things as possible and i'll do my best.

when i see my mission as a cop list, i'm coming back very happily to be just a musician -- when i see my mission is accomplished. reporter: these are nailbiting days for this entertainer turned politics. he's status of rotation on this venture into politics but has party's already over the place. sum put -- some put voice in third place and others with no seats. as election day draws closer, one thing is clear -- many ukrainians seem willing to vote for anyone than the politicians. carl: sports now and wunderkind defender has held his first news conference with his first new club. the highly sought after 19-year-old signed a five-year deal w worth 75 million euros. he captain i.x. to the semifinals linked with many of

europe's top clubs. he said he made his final decision after discussing it with cristiano ronaldo. tour de france's front runner has extended his lead by winning the individual time trial. defending champion, thomas, finished second in the state. -- stage. now trails in the general standings by 1.5 minutes. a reminder of the top stories we are following at this hour. iran has season british oil tanker in the strait of hormuz. iran's revolutionary guard says it has been taken to a port. the british government emergency committee has gone into session. german chancellor angela merkel has rejected u.s. president donald trump praises attack on four congresswoman. trump has rallied against the four congressman telling them to "go back to where they came

from." and don't forget, you can always get dw news on the go. just download our app from google play and from the app store to give you access to all the latest news as well as push notifications for breaking news. you can also use the dw app to send us your photos s and video. you're watching dw news. next, i'll be back with "the day,.." i will be back in a moment. stay tuned.

. iran says it seized a british oil tanker in the gulf the vessel operators. to contact the crew today was sailing in the strait of whole moose at the time more now this is coming up. the dutch government accepts responsibility for the deaths in separate set in nineteen and ninety five dollars. please keep this guarding you and base at the time. and the final of the africa cup of nations algeria taking on senegal tonight. the lines of tarango hoping to make history by picking up the trophy foror the first time. good evening and welcome to the ra