Good evening to you. We begin in the north of france. Commemorations have been held today on the beaches of normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the dday landings. It was the biggest amphibious invasion in history, and more than a dozen heads of state were drawn by veterans to honor the troops and civilians who lost their lives in this decisive phase of the Second World War. We speak now with a professor from the American University of paris. Thank you very much indeed for speaking to us. 70 years might have passed, but judging from the scale of those events, clearly, this is a hugely important moment for france and her allies. It is important both in terms of memory, it is important in terms of his symbolic significance, and its also important to teach generations of students and people what the meaning of history is. Kinds of conflicts that occurred in the past. There is a loss of sense of history right now among people in europe and the United States, and i think it is useful to have these commemorations for that. On a geopolitical level, i think what is significant is we are facing a situation right now in which europe is going through a serious political crisis. It is divided over how to deal, thealso it is divided on geopolitical to sin the ukraine. Across the atlantic, there was not one single vision of how to deal with that. I think it is important this event might drink to get the leaders in such a way as to at least begin to smooth out some of the major differences that have arisen between russia and the west. Russia and europe on the one hand and russia and the United States on the other. This is a first step. It does not guarantee success, but at least it is a first step in the right direction. A hugely powerful reminder of the horrors of war, really, but lets talk more about francou. S. Relations. You are, after all, from the American University of paris. How would you characterize the state of relations between paris and washington . There have been ups and downs over the years. Where would you say we are now . You have to look at the structural dimensions of the relationship and then what happens on a daytoday basis. Structurally speaking, franklin american political and strategic relations are quite strong. France reintegrated the nato military command. It has participated along with the United States in military interventions. Whether theyre successful and not is another issue. Along with the United States, i libya andcipated in provided support in frances Subsaharan Africa intervention, so there is very tight collaboration at a military level. There is tight collaboration also add an intelligence level. There are all kinds of disputes, on the other hand, over transatlantic trade, the coming transatlantic trade treaty, the paribasssue of the bnp bank, the way to deal with the ukrainian crisis. All kinds of differing perceptions between the capitals. More fundamentally perhaps is the fact that the United States is no longer looking to the atlantic not only france, but also germany, england, and the United Kingdom as the core of its foreignpolicy outlook. The United States is increasingly looking towards east asia, china in particular, southeast asia, japan, and china , as the area where the future of the world will unfold and where the United States has to give its greatest attention to. Shift away from the atlantic towards the pacific, and i think perhaps in that way, curiously enough, paradoxically enough, these dday ceremonies thesymbolize the end of atlantic relationship is the core relationship for the United States. Thank you very much. Lets head to the heart of paris now to the nsa president ial palace where a dinner is under way being hosted by president Francois Hollande to the elysees president ial palace. You can see Queen Elizabeth arriving a short time ago with her husband, holding a dinner after what has been a long day of commemorations on the north coast of france in normandy, marking 70 years that have the normandy dday landing. You can see the queen now live at the palace, giving a speech alongside the french president. Atlantic aress the also commemorating this historic day. We go now to fort bragg in North Carolina where philip has been talking to soldiers who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, a military unit which played a vital role in many conflicts across the globe, including the dday invasion. This image from 1944, the concept has not changed much. The parachutes are now square and can handle better equipped. Nd heavier soldiers these members of the 82nd Airborne Division train all the time to be ready just in case. The Global Situation has changed a lot so that the environments we would be jumping into had changed, but the job itself has not. We are still paratroopers. And i have been here, deployed to haiti after the was assignedhen i to second brigade 82nd, and then. Deployed to iraq every soldier in training here must be able to parachute into in any territory and sees it, even if their day job on base might be that of a lawyer or a technician. All our paratroopers and have to know these moves by heart. The 82nd airborne nowadays has a grand total of 19,000 paratroopers, including three brigade combat teams like this one right here. Specialty, their pride, even, is that they can be deployed anywhere in the world within the space of 96 hours from the moment the order is given. Orders in the past have sent the soldiers from this division ii normandy, but also to vietnam, panama, and coso though. Every major conflict the United States has been involved in, the 82nd has been americas response force. We have operations for iraqi freedom, and we are still involved in Operation Enduring freedom today. Enduring freedom is afghanistan. Inether with a rat, the normandy, over 5000 paratroopers were killed or wounded. Speaking in normandy earlier on today, the french president the courage of the german people, who he said were. Lso victims of nazis he said they were led into a war which was never theirs, which should never have been thereir. Tell us just what germanys role was in those commemorations today in normandy. Of course, the presence of a german chancellor at such a landmark dday commemoration is hugely symbolic. Symbolic of the progress europe has made since the end of the Second World War and the reconciliation that has been achieved. Attendance 10 years ago was seen as a hugely Important Message to germany just back then, a message that it was once again the scene as a trusted and respected nation again with europe, and that still resonates again today with the president s the presence of Angela Merkel attending the ceremony today in normandy. Alongside Angela Merkel, read german Second World War veterans were also invited to attend, and their stories really act as a reminder to us that many of horrorsung men, the were much the same. One of the men who was just 18 at the time spoke of how he really did not want to go to war at all. He did not even want to join the army, and he spoke of the horrors of entering battle and losing many of his friends. Both sides,hat on there is many senseless blood shedding. How have those commemorations in normandy been viewed where you are . What is the feeling about the way things were conducted . Dday, of course, not formally commemorated, but very much a day of reflection in germany. The media has been full of the events that have been happening in normandy as well as reminding german citizens of the history of the time. German people are very happy that germany was represented in todays ceremony despite the fact that it was still to some people at least considered controversial. A former french president said today that if it had been up to him, he would not have invited germany, Angela Merkel, to the ceremony, saying that it was a time to commemorate those who. E on our side the german media today taking a different town, reflecting very much the tone of postwar generations, especially younger ,ostwar generations in germany that german citizens have a right to be grateful to the allied forces for ending the regime andthe nazi the atrocities of the second something thatot young german people feel they should have to apologize for, but rather something that the whole of humanity should constantly remember and try and learn from. Thank you very much indeed. The sidelines of those commemorations in normandy, russian president Vladimir Putin held a brief meeting with ukrainian president elect, Petro Poroshenko. Both men have expressed their wish that the hostilities in the east of ukraine come to an end. Obama also held talks with putin today and urged russia to work with and not against the new ukrainian government. Minuteeeting image of 15 encounter, but a ray of hope resolving the ukrainian crisis. Vladimir Putin MeetingPetro Poroshenko for the first time of the sidelines of a french town. Francois hollande chancellor Angela Merkel brought the men together. Putin poroshenko shook hands and agreed to hold talks on a ceasefire in the coming days. Away from the cameras inside the normandy chateau, another unexpected meeting. Putin speaking to barack obama for the First Time Since russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in march. According to diplomatic officials, the two leaders spoke of the need to end violence as quickly as possible. Putin claiming he could have a certain but not total influence over events in ukraines east. Against a backdrop of tension, thisay began with seemingly avoiding each other. They attended separate dinners in paris to keep believers apart, but on friday, a hint as to renewed relations made Television Screens clinton and obama sharing a smile at the commemoration ceremony in obamady putin and sharing a smile at the commemoration ceremony in on the. The man tapped to be the next president of afghanistan narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. At least six people were killed in the attack, but abdullah was unharmed. Serious attack on a president ial candidate since the campaign began. Afghan Security Forces are surveying the damage after two bombs exploded outside the venue of a president ial rally in kabul. The suicide rally was targeted directly at the car of the president ial candidate abdulla abdulla. By ae convoys was attacked suicide bomber, and fortunately, they were not harmed. Theveryone from president ial front runners entourage was unharmed, but avril passersby were killed, and dozens were wounded. The blast destroyed cars and nearby shop fronts, leaving the streets littered with last and other rubble. There were two big backtoback explosions. When i came out of my house, i saw a lot of wounded victims, and they were taken to the hospital by other people. Of the afghanound elections was praised as an unexpected success after the taliban failed to cause major trouble. The security picture, however, looks more challenging ahead of the final runoff, set to take place on june 14. Lets move onto some Business News now. Marcus carlson joins me in the studio with rather good news. The u. S. Economy appears to have passed a rather important milestone, at least in terms of joblessness. Yes, indeed. Employment is back at prerecession levels over in the United States. The u. S. Economy lost 8. 7 million jobs during the financial crisis, and it has taken until now for the American Labor market to recover those jobs. The u. S. Economy added 217,000 jobs during the month of may. That is seen as a pretty solid figure, even though it is a fall from the number of jobs added during the month of april, and it seemed to highlight that the u. S. Market is on its way back. For four straight months now, we than 200,000 jobs being added every month. The official unemployment rate, meanwhile, held steady in may, coming in at 6. 3 , the same as in april. That is significantly lower than the current euro zone rate, so theands at 11. 7 u. S. Is ahead there when it comes to the recovery in the labor market. Is stepping up the pressure on american officials to reduce the potential fine for bnp paribas. The penalty for skirting u. S. Sanctions could be as high as 10 billion. The foreign minister says that amount could hurt negotiations for a transatlantic trade hell. Bnp paribas has elicited the support of a powerful ally the french government. France lost largest bank faces fines for violating sanctions between 2002 and 2009 frances largest bank. The government has rushed to the banks defense. They fear that fine would be unreasonable, warning that talks on a transatlantic freetrade deal are at risk. This treaty would be a positive development for trade. But it can only exist on the basis of reciprocity. Obviously, action was taken aainst a European Bank in unilateral matter without reciprocity. It could have negative consequences. Its unclear if anyone will take heat in washington. President hollande said he would raise the issue over dinner with barack obama on thursday, but the u. S. President dictated it is a fight he will not meddle in. I do not pick up the phone and tell the attorney general how to prosecute cases that have been brought. Settlements ofor cases that have been brought. Those are decisions that are made by an independent department of justice. Reports have suggested u. S. Officials were seeking a fine of as high as 16 billion, but the u. S. Justice Department Cautions against putting a value on penalties while negotiations are under way. There are also reports u. S. Lender bank of america could be facing penalties over 12 billion. The wall street journal says u. S. Officials are seeking that amount to settle allegations that bank of america mishandled mortgages before the financial crisis. Sources tell the wall street journal at least 5 billion would go towards consumer relief. Bank of america is the secondlargest lender in the United States, and its profit in 2013 amounted to 11. 4 billion. We are going to take a look at the stock markets next. In the United States, this session, we are seeing shares soaring after that solid jobs report, soaring perhaps is overstating it, but we are seeing the Dow Jones Industrial average, the nasdaq, and the s p. 4 . P roundabout european indices also ended higher in the wake of that u. S. Jobless report. The london ftse was up roundabout point 67 . Dax also a. 4 . Lets talk you through a few other corporate stories we keeping an eye on for you. Has application uber announced it has raised about 1. 4 billion dollars worth of funding. Values the entire company around 18. 2 billion dollars, only 4 years after its launch in san francisco. It has spread to seven countries worldwide, and it allows users to connect with drivers. Its rise is not without controversy, though. In paris and many other cities, it stands accused of competing unfairly with regular taxis. Generalenk societe says it has no interest in buying its german rival, commerce bank, following german eyeingeports that it was a tie up. And pope francis has replaced the entire board of the vaticans financial regulator. The pontiff says they are cleaning house after an investigation into money laundering. Frances is trying to reform the vaticans banking practices andr corruption accusations other allegations of wrongdoing. The new board consists of four experts from italy, singapore, switzerland, and the United States. Ok, that is the Business News for now. I will be back in another hour. Thank you very much indeed. Lets move off from businesses and get a check of what is happening online. Web news is next. Hello there. Welcome to the web news where we will be taking a look at some of the stories making online headlines. Coming up on todays show, the campaign, the Syria Campaign, challenging facebook. Spanish users calling for an end to the monarchy. And a saxplaying serpa. The Syria Campaign is calling on facebook to give away the money it received for running adverts over several promoting the syrian alassads,ashar reelection. The platform calls for as predicted as it is mucked up to look like the facebook page. It contains an online petition at dressed to the social network founder, urging him to give the money to aid agencies working to makesyrian refugees and to sure the message is heard by the widest audience possible, the ngo is also sharing these photos and photo montages on the web, criticizing facebook, saying it has done business with a dictator who is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Campaign hasthe already gained significant ground. With a growing number of messages being relayed on social media, exerting pressure on mark zuckerberg. Users say the only honorable thing for facebook to do is to hand over all the money it has received as payment to victims of the syrian conflict. As we can see from these pieces , tensteur video footage of thousands of people joined rallies in some of spains , calling inonday and calling for an end to the monarchy and making rate use of the web. Many spaniards have taken to twitter to share messages urging fellow citizens to protest against the countrys political system. The campaign is backed by spain s indignant movement, which has set up a website detailing the