likely that the kremlin was behind the poisoning of sergei and script how so well over a dozen e.u. states have pledged their support to the british prime minister and they are expelling scores of russian diplomats from capitals across the e.u. to resume a spoke in parliament earlier and she was clearly rather pleased with the support from brussels and from the u.s. canada and the ukraine for that matter take a listen to what she had to say i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the e.u. north america and nato and beyond over the past three weeks and today eighteen countries have announced their intention to expel more than one hundred russian intelligence officers from. this includes fifteen e.u. member states as well as the united states canada and the ukraine. and even though morse code denies the allegation that it was behind the attack in seoul's worry the list of expulsions of diplomatic expulsions is extensive among the countries that russian diplomats are going to be departing from france germany poland lithuania denmark the czech republic the list continues

so not all e.u. states on the same page and not all figureheads agreed to the extent to which to punish moscow or to cooperate with it perhaps instead nevertheless what's happened today is being billed as the biggest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history all this while the investigations about police investigation and also the independent o.p.c. w one they are still ongoing it seems that the old complete unity of voices in europe was spurred from across the atlantic. the president spoke with many foreign leaders. our european allies and others and encouraged them to join the united states in this. in this announcement as you've just heard the u.s. was the driving force behind these expulsions with trump encouraging others to take similar measures now the u.s. will be expelling the most number of russian diplomats out of all the countries that have decided to do so the white house will be sixty diplomats twelve of which are u.n. staff members and they'll have approximately seven days to leave

so not all e.u. states on the same page and not all figureheads agreed to the extent to which to punish moscow or to cooperate with it perhaps instead nevertheless what's happened today is being billed as the biggest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history all this while the investigations that police investigation and also the independent o.p.c. w one they are still ongoing polly thanks for the view there from. the u.k. and europe will get the view but as far as we can glean so far medina coach lives across the side of it from a studio at the kremlin what's russia's response been well we've heard from the russian foreign ministry spokesperson marty is a kind of a who said that reciprocal measures will be taking against each country that decided to expel russian diplomats and overall we're talking about over a dozen countries and that supported this move now she also added that average in measure that was taking will be mad by a marrow measure in response including the shutdown of the russian c

e.u. states have pledged their support to the british prime minister and expelled scores of russian diplomats from capitals across the e.u. to resume a spoke in parliament here in the u.k. she said that the u.k. means no harm to the russian people but the u.k. will stand with the e.u. and nato to face down the russian threat together and she was clearly rather pleased with the support she's received from brussels and the u.s. and canada and ukraine for that matter take a listen to what to resume a had to say about it. grates on the geraghty from our friends and partners in the e.u. north america nato and beyond over the past three weeks and today eighteen countries have announced their intention to expel more than one hundred russian intelligence officers from. this includes fifteen e.u. member states as well as the united states canada and the ukraine or moscow denies the allegation that it was behind the poisoning that hasn't stopped the expulsions though russian diplomats are going to be depar

so not all e.u. states on the same page and not all figureheads agreed to the extent to which to punish moscow or to cooperate with it perhaps instead nevertheless what's happened today is being billed as the biggest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history all this while the investigations that police investigation and also the independent o.p.c. w one they are still ongoing. so the russian reaction will speak. to their own groups those explosions and says the moves will remain unanswered for long coverage from moscow within the culture of the. well we've heard from the russian foreign ministry spokesperson marty is a kind of a who said that reciprocal measures will be taking against each country that decided to expel russian diplomats and overall we're talking about over a dozen countries that supported this move now she also added that adds very measure that was taking will be mad mero measure in response including the shutdown of the russian consulate and the u.s. now shortly after at this n

so not all e.u. states on the same page and not all figurehead. agreed to the extent to which to punish moscow or to cooperate with it perhaps instead nevertheless what's happened today is being billed as the biggest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history all this while the investigations that police investigation and also the independent o.p.c. w one they are still ongoing well it seems that the almost complete unity of voices in europe was spurred from across the atlantic. president spoke with many foreign leaders our european allies and others and encouraged them to join the united states in this. in this announcement as you've just heard the u.s. was the driving force behind these expulsions with trump encouraging others to take similar measures now the u.s. will be expelling the most number of russian diplomats out of all the countries that have decided to do so the white house will be expelling sixty diplomats twelve of which are u.n. staff members and they'll have approximately seven days to leave a u.n. representative was gri

so not all e.u. states on the same page and not all figureheads agreed to the extent to which to punish moscow or to cooperate with it perhaps instead nevertheless what's happened today is being billed as the biggest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history all this while the investigations about police investigation and also the independent o.p.c. w one they are still ongoing. all right it seems that that the almost complete unity of voices in europe was heard from across the atlantic. the president spoke with many foreign leaders. our european allies and others and encouraged them to join the united states in this. in this announcement as you've just heard the u.s. was the driving force behind these expulsions with trump encouraging others to take similar measures now the u.s. will be expelling the most number of russian diplomats out of all the countries that have decided to do so the white house will be calling sixty diplomats twelve of which are u.n. staff members and they'll have approxima

e.u. commission stated in the e.u. summit last week but new zealand have come forth after running a few background checks on that russian diplomats this is what they have to say on the matter. the people who are being exposed being undeclared by large undeclared intelligence offices we've done a cheek a new zealand we don't have russian undeclared intelligence officers here if we did we would expel them looking stateside though it seems that the u.s. is escalating the conflict with moscow and spearheading this process or the u.s. government expelling sixty russian diplomats now that's the largest number of all the countries taking action there let's listen to washington's response now. the president spoke with many foreign leaders our european allies and others and encourage them to join the united states in this. in this announcement. so we've heard that the white house is effectively admitted that donald trump was behind these expulsions a coordinated response perhaps the attack that happens on u.k. soil. thank you f

canada and fourteen e.u. states expelled more than a hundred russian diplomats is a coordinated response to a nerve agent attack on a former double agent. and his daughter in the u.k. earlier this month britain accuses moscow of being behind this old which the kremlin denies us president donald trump has ordered sixty russian diplomats to leave including twelve who are attached to the united nations and he's also closed the russian consulate in seattle for a trans has more from moscow. this will be easily spotted by the russian power structures as yet another example of anti russian sentiment in the west the hysterical. russophobe pick campaign from the united kingdom which has brought in gullible friends and allies of london and also i think that if there are no further measures measures that the russian elites are really worried about such as targeting of assets in financial centers around the world like london new york and say cyprus if those don't materialize over the coming days then perhaps moscow will feel th

and washington has kicked out sixty russians while sixteen e.u. states including germany and other western allies have followed suit with a total of more than one hundred and thirty russian diplomatic staff under orders to leave the move as a show of solidarity with the u.k. after the poisoning of a former russian spy on british soil but the kremlin insists there has been a rush to judgment behind the closed curtains for diplomats are clearing their desks but out in front of the russian embassy in berlin the ambassador remained defiant. you're hearing the movie the pain a bit vice. we still haven't heard any evidence we keep hearing the words great probability which of course does not convince us at all stanley vs. we are of course very disappointed by this decision and we are obviously not happy that our partners are taking part in this provocation by the english authorities. and. burn lynn says it's responding not just to the attack on former russian double agents script out in the u.k. but also to a major cyber attack on the german government's comput

canada and fourteen e.u. states expelled more than one hundred russian diplomats it's a coordinated response to another agent attack on a form of double agent in the u.k. earlier this month. saudi arabia has accused iran of helping yemen rebels launch missile attacks across the border one person died in riyadh after the saudi military shot down seven missiles fired from yemen late on sunday and egyptians are voting in a presidential election that set to deliver an easy victory for the current. low turnout so far has been low. investigators looking into a fire that killed sixty four people in russia say a security guard switched off the buildings fire alarm system exits were also illegally blocked in the shopping mall in the eastern city of camera john hall reports firefighters had battled the blaze for hours by monday morning with most of the fire put out drone footage revealed the horrifying extent of the damage combustible walls and ceilings entirely collapsed where once they'd been cinemas and a children's play a

e.u. member states are also expelling embassy staff these include for each from france germany and poland ukraine which is not an e.u. member is also taking action there expelling thirteen russian diplomats from the country we've got correspondents right across this breaking news and sasha butler standing by for us in paris with a view from europe but first let's go she have returned see who's at the white house she had this is the largest number of diplomats that are going to be expelled sixty do we know who they are. we don't but they're being presented as intelligence operatives all sixty aren't in fact the twelve outs of the u.n. mission specifically being being accused by the un mission the us is un mission of abusing their diplomatic status it order for the purposes of espionage just aside from the wiki leaks u.s. diplomatic cables we know that the u.s. engages in that sort of thing routinely at the u.n. but that's another story so there's twelve and then forty eight from the embassy here in d.c. all of them being described as intelligence operatives in fact in a background briefing

e.u. member states as well as the united states canada and the ukraine. and this is the largest collective expulsion of russian intelligence officers in history. i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the e.u. north america and nato and beyond over the past three weeks as we have confronted the aftermath of the salzburg incident and together we have sent a message that we will not tolerate russia's continued attempts to flout international law and undermine our values european nations will also act to strengthen their resilience to chemical biological radiological and nuclear related risks as well as bolstering their capabilities to deal with hybrid threats we also agreed that we would review progress in june with foreign ministers being tasked to report back ahead of the next council mr speaker the challenge of russia is one that will enjoy for years to come as i've made clear before we have no disagreement with the russian people who have achieved so much through their country's greatest story indeed our thoughts are with them tod

e.u. member states as well as the united states canada and the ukraine and this is the largest collective expulsion of russian intelligence offices in history. i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the e.u. north america and nato and beyond over the past three weeks as we have confronted the aftermath of the salzburg incident and let's get responses from muslim and young here in clare richardson in washington the major had got storage in moscow as well as ben we got in brussels that welcome all we'll start with you simon young and then what is germany been saying about the four diplomats that it is to expel. well fool the german government has told the russian embassy here in berlin that four of its people of course a leave within the next seven days and it says that this is intended as a strong signal of solidarity with the united kingdom and of the determination that an attack on germany's partners and allies cannot go without a response at the same time the german government has stressed that it remains open for dialogue with moscow it doesn't want to cut off ol

money just to do both sides of come the russian foreign ministry says e.u. states have been pressured by the u.k. to take action against russia austria has also confirmed british pressure over this could have piled case and netflix users reckoned to boycott the online entertainment giant as it appoints former president obama's national security adviser to its board of directors.

the united states and fourteen e.u. nations have expelled more than one hundred russian diplomats this is in a coordinated response to the nerve agent attack on form a double agent sergey scrip all in the united kingdom earlier this month u.s. president trump ordered sixty russian diplomats to leave including twelve attached to the united nations and he's also close the russian consulate in seattle russia says it will respond in kind what more than sixty russian officials will be kicked out of europe france germany and poland each expelling four diplomats ukraine which is not in a new member state is also taking action they are expelling thirteen russian diplomats from the country and canada and else the expulsion of four diplomats and said it was denying accreditation to three more let's be top diplomatic editor james bays who is at the united nations and as you were hearing that these expulsions seem to span the globe what's been the reaction at the u.n. . well people of watching this very closely diplomats that i've

e.u. member states as well saying that they stand in solidarity with the u.k. now russia house repeatedly denied the involvements with the poisoning of his daughter on march the fourth and the russian foreign minister has responded to this wave of expulsion saying russia won't tolerate these measures let's listen to what sergey lavrov had to say. but. no one would be willing so it's all right says burgess. so we will soon see moscow's response now there have been countries that have said they will take no action and they have no intention of expelling russian diplomats now these e.u. member states of austria greece portugal it's a list of eleven other countries that perhaps want to keep an open dialogue with russia it's what the president of the european commission stressed summits last week but the largest response that we've seen has been from outside of the e.u. to the u.s. now where a sixty russian diplomats will have to leave u.s. soil let's take a listen to what's washington had to say the president spoke with many foreign leaders or european allies and o

e.u. heads of states about what has happened yes it seems that a major trade confrontation between the e.u. and the united states has been averted at least for now but there's still going to be lingering concern that we came close to one in the first place the e.u. and the united states obviously historically have extremely close economic and political ties did you look at donald to the european council presents opening remarks he said that this for us the e.u. was concerned the united states was a great friend that trade brings peace it brings friendship and reading between the lines there is a disquiet that the trump administration and perhaps the president himself really has a tendency to see trade too much as a zero sum game in which one country inevitably comes out as the winner the other the loser and he doesn't quite appreciate the degree to which it can be mutually beneficial i think that's what european leaders who will be saying money to another issue now the nerve agent poisoning issue in the u.k. how much unity is there within europe. had to deal with russia on this. i think th

e.u. member states there's a strong. sense of solidarity because this is the biggest concern the effect of this kind that has taken place and although you have to know that also some states know to be ups and like hungry greece or for example almost always populist governments with close ties to russia for example italy which today's says yes we are also expecting diplomats to be to show solidarity and this effort is led to by germany and france poland and the baltic states and go to is the u. conn's a president has said this is not the last that we would take that maybe also sanctions in the making against russia. in brussels along with the w.'s madrox origin moscow claire richardson in washington and simon young in berlin thank you to you all. now one of the biggest scandals in cricket for years rumbles on it comes after the australian team admitted hatching a plan to cheat in a match against south africa in a sport the prods itself on fair play the simple act of stuffing the ball as led to plenty of soul searching in

the german state association has welcomed the agreement with the u.s. government but it says the e.u. is far from being in the clear the u.s. will still be sealed off for many of the steel exporting nations from eastern europe and asia their exports may well end up on e.u. markets. we believe that that could mean around thirteen million tons is being diverted to a. form that's an impulse. increase of fourteen percent which would completely swamp european steel market him some place considerable pressure on companies to adapt. that donald trump steel dispute has changed the way many workers at towson crip see the us and has done a lot of damage at least as far as trust is concerned there will be more on the issue now with amrita thank you very much helena as we heard earlier trump assemble really exempted the european union from high a tally of sins to the ninety million which were meant to come into effect today now the topic is overshadowing the original main item on the agenda at the e.u. summit in brussels that was supposed to be briggs it even leaders have welcomed their exemptio

e.u. member state. i think it changes the whole way you think about your work your arms . pretty much everything in life if something like this happens. while the e.u. delegation and brought islam is trying to piece together the story of the murder new allegations of corruption are mooching increasing the pressure on the government president under his care has come to help from brussels he has emerged as the main political player to question the prime minister and his allies. that if any member of the e.u. family has any issue there are other members which would like to help and i hold that all questions would be answer very clearly and openly. kiska has called for new elections and for the government to resign the interior minister has not been forced to step down and he may not be the last to go the president clearly wants more he wants a complete changing of the guards. to the bundesliga now monday night's game between braman and cologne was a fierce battle to escape the relegation zone anything but the feat for cologne would have lifted them off the bottom spot in the t

e.u. member state a compressor station it was hot rod was retrofitted to enable what's called reverse flow gas that flows from ukraine into slovakia is then sent back through the pipeline in the opposite direction with this reimport procedure ukraine can avoid purchasing gas from its adversary chair. a lot of the mourners reverse flow good for ukraine mainly because it serves the goal of energy independence on russian gas arrives in slovakia it's not russian anymore it's european. a lot of it's also has financial benefits ukraine can purchase reimported gas from the e.u. more cheaply than from russia if the engineers at the control station insist they're fulfilling their contract with gazprom to the letter. when this person why a lot of safeguards but also we aren't using any russian gas is that this is the transit amount for the amount of transported gas is the outcome of all the gas that came into ukraine on the east also left it on the west. but also the wall it would doll in the hood of. the gas first passes through ukraine then each we imported but the reverse flow mechanism is noted

e.u. member state and everyone who's followed european politics know knows that this is quite a long and complicated process there are many debates to be held many summits to be held that does not have to be the case here right now simply the four countries mentioned work quicker of course but there will be a summit of the foreign ministers of the european union to be held in brussels on monday and this will certainly biggest be discussed there on the sidelines and we might even have a declaration there as well the big question of course is will there be new sanctions imposed on russia by the european union and this is the tricky part the tricky issue we all remember the annexation of crimea and we know that certain you're eastern european countries are not very keen on imposing further sanctions that we will certainly have to see but what we have right now on the table is this very strong statement issued by the u.s. and by its major european partners here and what we also see is that they're able to speak with one voice when it comes to foreign policy yeah it is interesting. you know the fact that

e.u. member states on the united states side expelling dozens of russian diplomats russia says it will respond in kind. of regional president call as opposed to months expected to appear in the german court today he was arrested i'm tattled in jail after crossing into germany on his way to belgium on sunday meanwhile some ninety people were injured in clashes that broke out in boston logan following his arrest. on polls have opened today in egypt for a three day presidential vote first one town c.c. is expected to cruise to victory. or that's a low voter turnout will throw dice on the elections legitimacy. in situ up to date on the top of the hour in the meantime of course as always the web site concept e.w. dot com resulted to. me . we make up over three quarters of a fifth of the under budget thanks. to civil service and. dean wants to shape the continent's future to be part of it and join african youngsters as they share their stories their dreams and their challenges the seventy seven percent each of these platforms for africa.

e.u. member states but at the same time the us president did single out germany in justifying his tariffs why is. he did as he so often does because he returns inevitably to nato funding and the low percentage of g.d.p. that germany spends on its defense so he brought that up again last night and in his announcement so if the e.u. is is expecting to be among the exemptions but trump is especially mentioning germany as one of the problems that he sees i don't know how well that's going to go but again monster is pinning a lot of hopes on this meeting with the u.s. trade rep tomorrow all right terry schultz first aid brussels thank you and i want to check in with our financial correspondent now as well because as has been monitoring the situation for us from frankfurt i'm good he was the view of the finance world now that trump has signed off on those tariffs. but the business leaders in germany eric guster what they're hearing and i think there are calls for a television there as well but for example there are other voices as well that call for the escalation don't provoke the chief econom

e.u. member states germany are respecting spain's request for him to be arrested but like i said before until monday morning by the looks of things we won't know whether those charges are actually going to be brought against him and then of course the next stage which is the extradition process so what happens in buffalo now when you look at what's happening in catalonia almost the entire leadership of the separatist party has been detained and now pushed always facing extradition possibly what happens to the separatist movement that's a big question either and it's the million dollar question and like you said like let's not forget that on friday five other will say leaders of this independence push that we saw at the end of twenty seventeen are now behind bars and there now that's means that there's a total of nine amongst them the number two will say in the independence. it's got us first of all goes back to spain he will essentially be going straight to prison like the other leaders have because there was a risk as they said in the spanish courts that they would leave the country now we'v

e.u. commission seems to have realized this if you look at the state of the union address of his own clothes in september two thousand and fifteen nine months before the brics it referendum he spoke of a fair and more just e.u. that would be necessary to shape the future of the e.u. in november last year political leaders adopted the european pillar of social rights it toolbox which contains a set of policies regarded to equal opportunities for access to labor markets and social policies so we would have loved as german labor unions to work on this to spell it out together with our british friends and colleagues will it be easier with out the british government sitting on the table difficult to say we do have a number of member states that have a similar look towards the e.u. compared to the u.k. government that looked at the e.u. rather as a common market ok so then given that this is a pretty significant step and unions are already struggling in some cases how are trade unions preparing for brakes it. well we do have established corporation structures in europe there are more than two thou

canada and fourteen e.u. states expelled more than one hundred russian diplomats it's a coordinated response to a nerve agent attack on former double agent segars cripple and his daughter in the u.k. earlier this month britain accuses moscow of being behind the assault claims the kremlin denies u.s. president donald trump has ordered sixty russian diplomats to leave including twelve attached to the united nations and he's also closed the russian consulate in seattle for a challenge has more from moscow this will be easily spawn by the russian power structures as yet another example of anti russian sentiment in the west the hysterical. russophobe pick campaign from the united kingdom which has brought in gullible friends and allies of london and also i think that if there are no further measures measures that the russian elites are really worried about such as targeting of assets in financial centers around the world like london new york and say cyprus if those don't materialize over the coming days then perhaps mosc

the german state association has welcomed the agreement with the u.s. government says the e.u. is far from being in the clear the u.s. will still be sealed off for many of the steel exporting nations from eastern europe and asia their exports may well end up on e.u. markets. we believe that that could mean around thirteen million tons being diverted to a. form that's an import increase of fourteen percent which would completely swamp european steel markets some place considerable pressure on companies to adapt. that donald trump still dispute has changed the way many workers at towson crip see the u.s. and has done a lot of damage at least as far as trust is concerned. for the global trade is also on the agenda of european leaders meeting in brussels of greater that's right christophe as we've heard trump has temporarily exempted the european union from higher talent and a minium which are meant to come into effect today the topic is overshadowing what was meant to be the main item on the agenda at the summit brags that he would it is of welcomed exemption from trump status tha

e.u. member states is that they expel russian diplomats from their embassies as the u.k. has done following the attempted murder of. his daughter yulia and their poisoning in salzburg now when it comes to a united state mint we have heard from federico more kareen you know she is the e.u. high representative for foreign affairs the closest thing that the has to a foreign minister here's what she has to say. we will also obviously a stress our strongest possible sort of doubt it is with united kingdom after the attack in salzburg as well as we have done already with the foreign ministers on monday expressing clear sort of narrative and decided to stay focused on that together because the strongest political sign we can give is unity unity and unity . but when it comes to a united statement from the e.u. london may find that that comes a lot more watered down than water did wanted because there are a number of countries that were saying they want to see clear evidence to back up the allegations being made by london particularly greece of come out in the last hour or so and

e.u. member states to take specific measures during the e.u. summit last wednesday let's first of all take a listen to what austria's foreign minister had to say. when the situation gets tough you have to keep channels open the u.k. ambassador to austria issued a demolished on wednesday in order to encourage us to take specific measures on saturday they demolish was repeated on monday while i was in kosovo the chancellor and i spoke over the phone about our position which is now public it's our tradition to bring people together especially in difficult situations but austria strongly believes that maintaining an open dialogue is the best way to maintain diplomatic relations and austrian government has said it wants to be a neutral country a bridge between the east and west now coming feisal also said that the chemical weapons body analyzing the agent used in the attack has not provided any evidence of russia's involvement so that full austria refused to take action against russia now russia and austria maintain a rather good relationship the ne

e.u. summit in brussels last week all twenty eight member states condemned the attack the expulsion of russian diplomats by fourteen a u. countries was a coordinated action they say all evidence points to russia and this is the largest collective expulsion of russian intelligence offices in history. i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the e.u. north america and beyond over the past three weeks as we have confronted the aftermath of the incident. continues to maintain its innocence it is vowed to retaliate in kind and warned western governments that the expulsion of russian diplomats was a mistake. for more on this developing story let's bring in honey out of mind he's a specialist in russian and european affairs and a resident fellow at the university of kele's institute for security policy thank you so much for being with us this morning on the news russia has threatened a harsh response to these expulsions what should western powers be bracing for well i don't think that their response is going to be all that i think it's just going to be the usual a tit for tat so

e.u. member states including germany are kicking out a total of one hundred thirty russian diplomatic staff the move is a show of solidarity with the u.k. after the poisoning of a former russian spy on british soil but the kremlin insists there's been a rush to judgment. behind the closed curtains for diplomats are clearing their desks but out in front of the russian embassy in berlin the ambassador remained defiant. we still haven't heard any evidence we keep hearing the words great probability which of course does not convince us that all. via started. we are of course very disappointed by this decision and we obviously not happy that our partners the taking part in this provocation by the english authorities. and burn lynn says it's responding not just to the attack on former russian double agents saikai script out in the u.k. but also to a major cyber attack on the german government's computer network. british investigators believe that x. intelligence officer script and his daughter junia were poisoned with novae choke a soviet era nerve agent the two were found unconscious on a park b

e.u. member states in favor of continuing this iran years sanctions policy towards russia. an investigation into facebook's now infamous data breach has been launched by the us federal trade commission fifty million accounts are said to have been targeted by the political consulting firm cambridge analysts iker and its parent company now legs have emerged between them and high profile british politicians and even royalty and startling figure explains . at this point you've likely heard of cambridge analytic the company at the center of a media storm who's accused of using massive amounts of stolen facebook users data to influence elections around the world but what about its parent company c l a british behavioral research and strategic communications firm if you take a look at the key figures at s.c.l. you can't miss the connections between the company's board and britain's political military and even royal establishment first there's their sea nigel oaks. oaks comes from a military family and is one of the company's founders he made headlines back in the eighty's during h

as one of the european union's leading decision makers mosse told warsaw officials that eastern e.u. states should take a leading role in brussels most also called for the reintroduction of the so-called weimar triangle a policy forum created by the foreign ministers of germany france and poland in one thousand nine hundred eighty one. and for more i have joining me here in the studio is veronica pryce mayor koch a eastern europe specialist at the european academy in berlin thanks for being with us. we just saw there foreign minister heikal ma seems to have been laying the groundwork at least for chancellor merkel's visit do you think that you know we could see a revival here of the weimar triangle and what would that mean i mean at least we are trying to to to really make a good try again in some form of negotiations or talks on the european level between france germany and poland and because we really need to do it now we have well we are one year ahead of elections to the european parliament the overhead of brecht's it so this is really the time now to talk about a future shape of europe

canada and fourteen e.u. states expelled more than one hundred russian diplomats it's a coordinated response to another agent attack on a form of double agent in the u.k. earlier this month. saudi arabia has accused iran of helping yemen's who see rebels launch missile attacks across the border one person died in riyadh after the saudi military shot down seven missiles fired from yemen late on sunday. and egyptians are voting in a presidential election that set to deliver an easy victory for. sisi. more now on our top story the expulsion of russian diplomats from around the world the united nations has been reacting off to donald trump ordered sixty russian officials to leave including twelve attached to the united nations. i think you're seeing an increasingly. move of bad judgment by russia and when we see these espionage tactics that are taking place right here at the heart of the u.n. which we have that and this is really not just us but multiple countries saying all of these actions have to stop this is not wha

e.u. members let's take a listen to what he had to say. they were at the today told pti in the member states have decided to expose russian diplomats. additional measures including for shows within the government your framework. to be excluded in the coming days and weeks. so that's pulteney e.u. member states out of twenty eight it's been confirmed that germany will expel four russian diplomats they've been given one week to leave german soil to me say that they were expelled out of solidarity with the u.k. and the foreign minister didn't take that decision lightly also expelling four russian officials off from poland expelling three lithuania and the czech republic expelling two russian officials denmark netherlands and italy and expelling one we have a stone yet romania to be fed and ukraine is also expelling thirteen russian diplomats now it must be remembered though that there are other voices to be head austria has confirmed they will not be taking any measures against russia they will not be expelling any russian diplomats now this mayor koch what the president of the european commiss

e.u. member states we have to protect our borders we have to develop a unified africa strategy that's an area in which france and germany have already made big steps forward and we need to work even more closely together. well macsoftware discover in those talks in paris welcome maxwell will start with a nice to see shall we at times where merkel spoke in blowing terms about germany and france his track record of working together his shoes it was my we want to find a common path in the history of franco german relations hard work an honest corporation have always brought success we don't always share the same opinion but throughout history germany and france have achieved a lot together we are intent i am intent on reaching our goals and i believe we will do that that's what is. so much often buses are the highlights what do france and germany want to change. all the emphasis phil on the sound bite common asylum system in the european union something they have strife for for many years it's not working at the moment because it would implicate that you need kind some kind of system to redistri

states and through the chancellor's office. carmakers chancellor angela merkel has perfected that role. she is directly committed to automotive interests in the e.u. . and she told state officials in california in two thousand and ten that they had to relax their emissions limits were saying they're bad for the german auto industry think thank. you but that's not her job she should work for the good of the people not the profit interests of a small group of companies to go into the name of. your close friend and former colleague on environmental protection matters is the bottom of it and back state premier then free trade is he also in the auto industries pocket and. yes even to be honest the green party state premier faces this problem but i still like him despite the contradictions. you're still close with with the hope of course is it i still like him and we get along well but this situation demonstrates the power of the automotive industry like a state premier comes into office and says fewer cars are better for the environment and more cars you'll get plenty of heat from the industry and you'll soon behave like his predecessors. and that app

e.u. member states in favor of continuing this iran years sanctions policy towards russia. definitely. what do you think are the longer term repercussions of this while unprecedented level of diplomatic explosions we're seeing do you think we are heading to new depths of a cold war like some people fear. well that depends on your definition of cold war i think cold war in its original classical sense was a conflict of two ideologies we don't have a conflict like that anymore. it's a different reincarnation of of the cold war you could say but i believe it's just . enter russian prejudice and you know. any action certain foreign policy successes that russia has achieved in the last. months and years so. it's partly jealousy it's partly some i would say of a long standing. animosity on the part of some but i am an optimist i believe this will not prevail because i. believe in common sense of the majority of europeans and actually even today is as we note half of the member states have chosen not to participate in this and the russian hysteria i will lead to this one additional element th