today the stakes are high certainly a historic day for the european union max hoffman in brussels melinda crane here in the studio thank you so much to both of you. and of course here on news will be having full coverage of that vote a little bit later today to stay with us but 1st a quick check of some other stories making news around the world monsoon flooding in south asia is getting worse a some state on india's border with bangladesh in myanmar has been particularly hard hit 4000000 people have been displaced from their homes there in recent weeks and forecasters warn of further rain to come in many parts of eastern india bangladesh and the poverty. in puerto rico protesters have stepped up their calls for the governor of ricardo was elo to resign they're angry after the leaked text messages were fields and culture of intimidation and sodomy inside of his government. has so far refused to quit saying that it is the island's best interest for him to stay off your committee for u.s. president donald trump has doubled down on a series of racist tweets he made over the weekend his remarks were

political correspondent melinda crane thank you. we'll take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world a top french diplomat has held talks with senior officials in the iranian capital tehran in an effort to salvage the un raffling 2050 nuclear deal of this comes a year after the united states withdrew from the deal in days after iran announced that it had breached limits on enriching uranium. former us presidential candidates are ross perot has died aged 89 he made a strong showing as an independent candidate in 1992 winning 19 percent of the vote the founder of a computer company e.d.s. was also noted for rescuing 2 of his employees from iran in a commando raid in 1970 s. . dr hayling service has launched its 1st to helicopters in new york shuttling passengers from kennedy airport to manhattan the 8 minute ride will cost you around $200.00 but lost a $1000000000.00 in the 1st 3 months of this year. and the 1st global conference for media freedom has begun in london it's part of an international campaign t

a lot to look forward to melinda crane our chief political correspondent thank you. let's get a quick check of some other stories making news around the world at least 13 people have died after a 3 story residential building collapsed in central nigeria it happened after days of torrential rain in the city of jobless locals say that the building was a laugh a david and dangerous it's a common problem in the west african country where buildings and their regulations are frequently ignored. scientists in canada say that they have observed the record temperatures in the world's northernmost settlement a high of just over 20 degrees celsius was measured on sunday and monday in alert in military facility near the north pole the average july high there is just 7 degrees a man wearing a hat and a rather large weight has sparked suspicions of police at barcelona's airport in spain the man who arrived on a flight from colombia was asked to remove the weight revealing half a kilo of cocaine glued to his head he was then swiftly arrest to the united states now where the house o

max hoffman there in brussels and melinda crane our chief political correspondent thank you. just to quickly recap what you have been watching over the past hour and a half special coverage of germany's. underline has set out her stall in her bid to become the 1st woman president of the european commission she was keen to play up her own european court and chills saying that europe must rediscover its unity she stressed that europe should be open to a world and bracing multi-lateralism and fair trade. there was also a big appeal to the green lobby on the line said that the most pressing challenge is keeping the planet healthy she pledged a green deal from europe in her 1st 118 say. she set out ambitious goals such as making a year of the 1st climate neutral continent in the world much money $50.00 and on brags that she backed and extension to the u.k. leaving bill europe in a beyond the october 31st deadline should more time. and to keep it here on news we will be covering that vote a little bit later this afternoon but in the meantime we'd like to get you up to date with som

s chief political correspondent melinda crane here in the studio and you have really followed her career here in germany what is she going to bring to the role and how do you see the challenges that she faces let's start with that question of building majorities i think she definitely has some traits that will help her to do that and in fact it will be more difficult now because we have a more splintered parliament we have a stronger green faction a stronger liberal free market friendly fraction so that's going to make it a bit more complicated than it used to be in the past but she is known as someone who is non not doctrinaire at all we heard that quote from her about taking bold action she certainly has shown herself to be willing to do so as defense minister she went into a ministry beset with problems with a determination to reform it there were some difficulties by no means is that work completed nor was it without its bumps but she certainly was willing to take bold action she's also somebody who's good i think it reaching across the aisle you could see that in the speech yesterda

let's bring in our senior political correspondent melinda crane covering this story for us among of the court has just handed down a life sentence but what does this verdict mean in detail. this is pretty much the heaviest sentence a german court can impose the prosecution had asked for a life sentence and also asked that the court find that because of the particular severity of the crime that there would be no parole after 15 years and from what we have now just heard from the court in fact the court has excluded the possibility of parole after 15 years what's important to note is that a life sentence here in germany is not necessarily until the end of a convicted person's life occasionally in very severe cases for example a serial murder people have served as long as in as nearly 50 years but generally speaking most defendants most criminals are released after 15 to 20 so in this case there has been a verdict of life without the possibility of parole in 15 years meaning this is a very grave sentence indeed ok you know linda this case has been closely watched across the country and it'

and for more on that we have our chief political correspondent linda crane with us here in studio hi melinda i think i'd come come by the next defense minister was it a surprise absolutely it was a surprise because around 2 weeks ago she absolutely ruled out the idea that she might become the successor to ursula found a lot in fact ruled out taking on any ministry post saying that she wanted to concentrate on her job as party leaders so when this news broke last night most people thought this this can't be this is astonishing there are a couple of reasons why this would have been of interest to her and the main one is that she's made some real missteps in the last few. months her star has been on the wane and this gives her an opportunity to show what she can do in terms of hands on government she has never held a federal ministry before and this is a big tough challenge this ministry literally is full of minefields no pun intended given its defense but it if she succeeds in addressing some of the problems there then certainly that will help her profile and therefore also raise her profile a

let's get more on this now we are joined here in the studio by our chief political correspondent melinda crane and we have to mention melinda. really you know this is kind of a big decision for her right a surprise for you absolutely a surprise for all of political berlin because just about 2 weeks ago she said she absolutely did not want to take over any ministry post that she would be concentrating on her work as head of the party that was her absolute priority and now suddenly this announcement really coming out of the blue yesterday evening where everybody thought that probably the person who would take over the defense ministry would be on the current health minister his name had been in the running for some days so an enormous surprise and not without its risks this ministry is a minefield and there are many many different aspects of the work there that could to trip up someone who doesn't have a lot of experience and she has never held a federal ministry post we're seeing some very strong criticism from the opposition here in germany today saying that in fact this is an affront to the f

receive the maximum penalty of 15 years in jail let's bring in our senior political correspondent melinda crane following the story for us good morning melinda of the 15 year sentence that's expected in this case is already being criticized as too lenient considering the brutality of this murder of a child. in fact the prosecution has asked for a sentence of life and the 15 years would only occur if he were received if he were released early on good behavior the prosecution has said that the court absolutely should exclude that possibility from the outset in other words give him the sentence of life and say there will be no prior release for good behavior and in fact that would be the toughest sentence that can be handed down under german law. this murder has been sparking some fierce debate about germany's asylum system and its failure to deport rejected asylum seekers even those broken the law what's been the political fallout of this case absolutely in fact the case together with several other cases reignited debate about the migration policy that was pursued pursued in 2015 by angela merkel

political correspondent melinda crane thank you. renewed fears for the health of germany's chancellor after she was seen shaking again it's the 3rd time in the past month of going back to has been seen in this condition in public his latest accounts as she stood with finland's visiting prime minister said watching military honors to mark his arrival . from d w political correspondent of the box welcome what more can you tell us. well what that was already said she had these incidents before it was always in situations like that where she had to stand still the 1st time it occurred when the ukrainian president selenski was in berlin at that time it was a very hot day in berlin so her self said afterwards that she drank 3 glasses of water and felt fine afterwards and that she was of obviously the hydrated and that that time that was very understandable for everyone but then weeks later she had a similar incident and that was inside it was cool and so that was the moment when people started to speculate and worry a little bit because o

taken place our brussels bureau chief max hoffman is standing by in strasburg and we also have melinda crane our chief political correspondent joining us here in the studio and max i'd like to begin with you because you watched the speech happening live there and you know arcilla funded she really had a lot of people to convince in the room do you think that she did so effectively. well at least she touched upon all the main points that she had to talk about she had a forceful in true saying i stand before you as the 1st nominee or 1st candidate for a 1st female candidate for the presidency of the e.u. commission she mentioned that she was a mother of 7 so she did play that card and in the end she got a little emotional telling stories about her father trying to underline to emphasize how important the e.u. was for the big matters of war and peace and how precious it is in her eyes so for those willing to listen and for those willing to take seriously what she said this was at least in my eyes a strong speech a speech where she was very forceful where she made a good impressions a speech wit

stop job i'm joined here in the studio by good obvious chief political correspondent melinda crane and we have standing by also our brussels bureau chief max hole from and at the european parliament in strasbourg you also saw him in that piece there max i'd like to begin with you because i mean we heard that funder line is facing this up hill struggle what does she need to do now to get the votes she needs she might have done already quite an important part on monday when she wrote an 8 page letter to the social democrats here in the european parliament and you just saw in the report the social democrats are key here because the opposition was so strong especially from the from the german part of the social democrats the german delegation and in that 8 page letter she gave them quite a lot for example she said she's committed to through the social pillar of your what is called the rule of law as she said that she would be tough she also had much more ambitious goals on fighting climate change so for climate protection than the european people's party her party usually has but she still