Russia said its keeping a close eye on the fleet and the kremlin hit out a trumps handling of the situation. We do not participate in twitter diplomacy we support a serious approach we still believe that it is important not to take any steps that may harm the already fragile situation in syria we are also still convinced that the excuse regarding the use of chemical weapons in duma is made up and cannot be used as an argument for Military Action Russia has moved fast to establish itself in duma this Amateur Video purportedly shows Russian Police investigating near the site of the alleged Chemical Attack Moscow says it and the regime are ready to allow a probe but only one which shouldnt assign blame. Our correspondents Claire Richardson standing by In Washington and in moscow our bureau chief good morning to both of
you. If we could start with you russia is saying the alleged Chemical Attack is a fake and cannot be used as a reason for any kind of attack and if also all that. Well russia has been constantly denying any Chemical Attack took place and moscow has invited investigators from the organization for that prohibit of chemical weapons to probe to the scene where that attack allegedly took place syria over the last week and to moscow also had to send its own investigators who found it bolted leonor that ends for any use of chemical weapons since yesterday Russian MilitaryPolice Military police is acting on the ground in the syrian city of what we just seed seen it in the report where the alleged Chemical Attack took place Russian Ministry of defense insists the situation in duma remains stabilized for the last few five days allegedly if there are there to guarantee law and all the however we
see a clear attempt by the russians to downplay the situation as much as possible by the way even russian State Run Broadcasters since yesterday reduced the Antti Western rhetoric significantly ok and this new information that we have russian personnel on the ground in duma certainly is a new and important factor right now a close go to you know the white house spokeswoman Sara Huckabee sanders is saying theres no tying table right now for action in syria is the white house backing off of its previous comments. Well her comments are quite troubling given that trumps earlier tweets promising Military Strikes on syria and the fact that the white house is now saying that all options remain on the table suggests that trump was on twitter promising Military Action before anything had actually been decided now its unclear not only what his Long Term Plan is for syria but even in the short term what he really sees as a solution in the region if you remember it was just earlier this month that he was
saying he would like to withdraw all two thousand u. S. Troops who are in syria that was against the advice of his military advisers who are wary of another situation like afghanistan or iraq who want to stay there and make sure that the Islamic State cannot get another foothold in the region before backing out but this directly contradicts what he was saying earlier this month and so its unclear from his words alone and from what the white house is saying what kind of action were going to see. You were mentioning there that goes dialing back the rhetoric how might russia though respond to any possible American Military action. Well brian russian law make us a warrant already of the United States is that moscow would concede and asked dr take on syria as a war crime that could trigger a direct Military Clash between the two form a call to walk countries i think sikandar a senior russian lawmaker for example set russia would engage its washington in the
counsel Robert Muller and the thing that originally made trumps tweets about syria is so usual for the president the fact that he called aside an animal that he pin the blame squarely on russia is that he has been very reluctant to criticize putin himself directly this even as the u. S. Administration has taken steps against russia in response to a series of what it sees as missteps its expelled Russian Diplomats that its a sex to be spies its levied new sanctions on people who thinks are in putins inner circle but donald trump himself has been criticized on both sides of the aisle for being largely quiet and this is a big departure for him to come out directly and criticize russia on Something Like this suspected Chlorine Gas AttackClare Richardson for us In Washington and youre a shadow for us in moscow thanks to both of you this morning. So how does germany figure in all of this were joined now from our parliamentary studios here in berlin by peter bio hes the german governments new coordinator for transatlantic
cooperation advisor to chance remark on u. S. German relations with the bar thanks so much for being with us today your job is maintaining good relations between germany and the u. S. At a time when an american president derives another Head Of State in this case for charles as a gas killing animal how are you going to advise Chancellor Macko on conducting talks with president trump. Well first of all the United States remain the most important partner of germany and europe as a whole on the other side of the Atlantic Go To International on a global scale that is the one fact on the other hand we see in the in the past a development that concerns us that brings a change to how we communicated across the atlantic are asking pair to form a time so we were facing new challenges we see that europe and germany have to take over more responsibility by they say itself to care about or know about their
join in. I dont see this now i think. We wont take an active role there but you might know this one of our ships has already been deployed say an accompanying ship of the does u. S. Destroyer in the mid to rainy and but more than that i dont think we will see an active role by germany here ok now how do you view the possibility that a u. S. Strike could lead to a direct confrontation with russia. Well the stakes are high and dangerous out there again first i hope we wont see anything like that that this will not be necessary first being a second thing is you know from the language from the rhetoric that we see from putin that hes Backing Baking Op the little bit so i dont think that there was see you strong escalation on the other hand you see that the eruption of basser to
the lebanon he has used quite tough rhetoric that one or two days before said you know we will down anything that comes from the u. S. Side and its allies and so this is something that worries me and others as well. Peter buyer german governments new coordinator for trans a lot of Cooperation Visor to the chancellor on u. S. German relations thanks very much for being with us thank you very much. Airlines around the world are on high alert following the u. S. President on of trumps threat of a strike on syria several carriers have started rerouting scheduled flights as a result of tensions frogs with air france being the first one to announce the measures the allen has modified its schedules for destinations close to syria including flights to beirut and tell of the meanwhile of tons of says it has avoided flying lisa miniature rainy and for some time as
a precautionary measure. Well Tensions Mount around serious talks in china have suffered of the dont from stress lets bring in danielle cope with standing by at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange danny whats the mood with investors that. He has a good heart good to see you investors are still very reluctant and nervous not just in asia where all the major indices were and the red but also here in europe in general during the last weeks i guess we can even say ammans the market was very volatile and with every geopolitical decision or announcement we usually see the shares here on the Trading Floor dropping after last night when it was announced by the spokeswoman of donald trump that so far at least thats the official version there are no concrete plans for an air strike on syria investors have calmed down a little bit again this was happening after they were very nervous with his tweets also saying that relations with russia have never been as bad not even during the
cold war so far during the trading day we have not seen big losses were even at some time here in the class. V. W. Is getting a new c. E. O. But thats not all it looks like the Supervisory Board is moving its regular session from tomorrow to why the hurry suddenly what are you hearing yeah exactly this was the schedule originally for two more now were hurtling hurrying that this will be taking place at five pm this afternoon that could last for many hours investors will be waiting for the answers how a possible new Volkswagen Company could look like the new appointment of how to bet these s. And c. All seems to be a done deal he is not not just going to be the c. E. O. But will also keep his position as a brand chief and most likely the company will be going through the biggest reform since a long time it seems that the company could be split up into different groups or divisions one group could be volkswagen see it and scold us for the big car brands
the other sport cars and the other one called mercial vehicles and were learning that the commercial Vehicle Division could even become a public listing public possibly here as a friend for stock exchange. In frankfurt thank you very much for this update. Now to the u. S. Where minutes from the federal reserves latest u. S. Latest Policy Meeting In March Were Released Last Night and showed the countrys central bankers in broad agreement stronger growth in the u. S. Means the fed can and should raise rates more aggressively in the next three years two more increases are expected within this year making it a total of three so far and markets are looking for clues that a fourth one might be on the cards but the fed has two big Unknowns Complicating Policymaking the impact of domestic tax cuts and by how much theyll spur growth and the effect of ongoing Trade Tensions with china. Russias ruble is falling fast against the u. S. Dollar as Tensions Mount between the two countries washingtons new sanctions against russian businessmen and their companies along with sharply escalating diplomatic crisis in syria have seen the ruble plunge to just over fifteen u. S. Cents thats a level last seen eighteen months ago since news of the sanctions last friday russias currency has plunged by about twelve percent. The Sanctions Washington announced on friday against russia are already beginning to be felt on The Streets Of Moscow the ruble seems to be losing value by the hour the us said the sanctions are in response to charges of russian meddling in u. S. Elections and other ongoing issues but the russian Prime Minister continues to say they are really designed to give the u. S. An unfair advantage that. U. S. Administration decision on sanctions is an attempt to fight us through unfair
competition to limit our development to create tensions on the economy and the currency and fun markets. For the time being though the plummeting euro is a more acute problem thats because every day russians know that a weak ruble means trouble is just around the corner because. The sanctions will have negative consequences and the growing Exchange Rate of the dollar and the euro is a first indication that our economy will experience a drop of president in the week which is bad as the Rhetoric Heats up over the conflict in syria where russia and the u. S. Support opposite sides the ruble continues to slide. The use of the Death Penalty is declining bots theres a catch there is certainly the Human Rights OrganizationAnnecy International says the number of reported judicial executions around the world fell during twenty
seventeen but the group is also warning that the true number of people put to death is not known some countries treat Execution Numbers as a state secret china for example and as is often the case in china and in a handful of other nations executing its citizens Capital Punishment is often very public. In iran responsible for Carrying Out Small Then Hoff of the well its not executions last year thats according to amnesty internationals latest think is in dozens of those cases that meant public execution in iran Drug Trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. At least five people were executed in iran for acts committed when they were still under eighteen. And that just four countries were responsible for eighty four percent of all recorded executions last year iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but the country
suspected of being the worlds leading executioner is china. Its thought to have put thousands to death last year more than the rest of the world put together the because data on the Death Penalty that is a State Secrets exactly how many is a matter of speculation. But not counting china Twenty Seven Thousand so the total number of executions worldwide fall by four percent from the previous year. M misty International Says that reaffirms a global trend towards abolition of the Death Penalty last year a further two countries guinea and mongolia joined the One Hundred Four who have now abolished Capital Punishment for a second year in a row the us did not feature among the top five global execution is slipping from positions seven to eight this is due in part to ongoing legal challenges of the use of lethal injection. But as litigation in several states progress is that because
the executions resume. Look at some of the other stories making the news the. Start of three days of National Mourning after a Military Plane Crash that killed Two Hundred Fifty Seven people. The russian built transporter went down shortly after takeoff wednesday killing mainly soldiers and their Family Members the accident is the worst disaster in Algeria Sistering authorities of started an investigation. Sirens have sounded across israel as that country came to a standstill for Holocaust Remembrance Day by Minister Netanyahu attending a ceremony to remember the millions of jews killed by nazi germany during World War Two further ceremonies will also be held at the site of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in poland later today. Were tearing down to get only where theres a last ditch bit underway to form
a new government for that country an inconclusive election last month saw a surge in support for right wing and anti Establishment Parties but they are refusing to Work Together for now and least and if theres no breakthrough the country may have to resort to new elections. Contentious politics in rome are as old as the Piazza Navona billed nearly two thousand years ago the visual splendor of this popular square gives no hint of italys latest political crisis. More than a month after the countrys Parliament Three elections theres still no new government. Behind me a lot today quickly nala the president ial palace where currently the leaders of the three strongest parties a negotiating over italys future but the search for a new government has rarely been more difficult there are deep political divisions between all the different actors. But generally go in
the first time senator with a populist five Star Movement is keen on bridging that was divisions with five star topping the vote at over thirt