♪ >> you're watching "france 24." 60 minutes of headlines around the world. genie: a manual macron in berlin they areking sure both on the same page at of meetings with donald trump. live meetings with our correspondent in berlin. cuba set to officially announce the company -- the country's new leader, the first vice president. he is the right man of raul

castro, who is stepping down, putting an end to almost 60 years of castro rule. and dodonald trump leaves himsef and out inin the upcoming summit with north k korean leerer kim the u.s. president saying he is ready to bail on a meeting if it doesn't produce results. also coming up this hour, another day of strikes in france. on the walkouts at the national train company losing steam? more on that in the business update. blackllywood blockbuster panther becomes the first film to be screened in saudi arabia since movie theaters were closed their almost 40 years ago. that's coming up, but first, the top story live from paris or it -- live from paris. ♪ genie: let's go to berlin, where

the french president's meeting with german chancellor angela merkel today, those two leaders trying to work out a common position on reforming the eurozone, but that is going to be tricky finding common ground. macron is pushing for major reform that merkel's conservative bloc in germany does not want her to accept. to talk more about this with me now, let's go to nick spicer in berlin. how likely is it really that merkel and macron will find common ground and walk out of this meeting with the deal? merkel doesn't have a lot of room for political reasons after emmanuel macron made an impassioned speech for party in strasburg, merkel says there is not going to be a eurozone finance -- which mr.hs macron wanted and there's not

one to be a budget for the eurozone. it is going to be institutional change of the e european monetay system becomeses a kind of imf, european monetary fund, thatat's goining to be gone -- done throh treaty change. th european commission will not have a aole. all of this because the germans don't want t to be in the positn of feeling out countries in southern europe once again, which they previously did multiple times after the vereign dedebt crisis in 2009. she can't go too far and macron would like to go quite far and he's going to be saying to her i have been undertaking all these refoforms back home, the overhal the railway system, in the name of eururope, i need to have sose give-and-take here. i don't think they can go particularly far today, there is some common ground on taxaxing e internet giants like google and particularly on rewarding regions in europe which accept refugees, but none of that g git overhaul of the european monetaryry system that macron hs

said h he has wanteded. and ththe idea of ecomomic governance is not going to be something that will be announced today. at the best, there will be a roadmap before the european union summit in june. genie: what about the relationonship between france ad germany itself in regards to the european union? they've always been the power couple of the two -- the eu. will france and germany still be leading the flock? nickck: i think they probabably will.. fordefault go t to couple story corps reasons, because of the historic compromise between the two countries, but also because they bring togegether te mamain political strands witithn the european union, nonordic countries whichch don't t want o spend a lot m money andnd havea developed welfare state andnd in southern countries which have different perspectives. you have a capitalistic side and the social democratic side, all ofof that brought together with half of europe's gdp and

historically they have come up with the c compromises thahat everyone c can rally around, and the dynamic now maybe sort of a ,lassic one where the french, with the ideas and europe comes around. helpful to have macron suggestiting these ideas and thn she can say listen, party faithful of the german public, in the name of franco german friendship and unity, we should follow. even if she has problems within her own party, within our coalition, which includes the social democrats, there are voices saying we have to follow president macron's example. it's not covertly ruled out that she can rally around some of these ideas in the months to come. genie: nick spicer reporting for us from berlin. cuba is marking the end of an era today as president raul castro steps down. to nearly put an end 60 years of castro rule that began with the revolution in

1959. the change on the communist island is not expected to be sweeping. raul castro himself will remain head of the communist party in cuba for at least another three years and the new president is said to be the current vp. luke's rager takes a closer look. cuba,changes the first in the communist country is about to get its first leader didn't fight in the 1950's revolution. >> we are part of a generation that was born in the 1960's and we greatly appreciate all the traiaining and possibilities tht human -- the cuban revolution has given us. we have had the opportunity to participate in the management organization from the base. >> for a man that holds the , he has keptsition a low profile in recent years. it wasn't always the case though , an electronics engineer by training, a push for greater internet access for cubans and

garnered a reputation for pushing back against more intolerant communist policies. they supported a cultural center that became a focus india clara, the province he ran n as party chief in the 1990's. >> disappointed at that time when he came with a lot of innovative new ideas by giving community,e lgtbt not by establishing a ghetto, but by integrating it into social and cultural life. >> he joined the cuban government in 2009 as the minister for higher education, and refrained from flashy sunkoating, something that the careers of other politicians, preferring to work in the background as amanda got things done. in 2013, he was named vice president.

he all but caps o off the public stage entirely, towing the party line and earning praise from cuba'ss revolutionary leaders fr his solid ideological strength. process,defending our we are defending the revolution that continues to be threatened and attacked. in the midst of a complex global situation, in the midst of a complex regional situation, all the while, updating their economic and social models. >> he will face major economic and social challenges given the glacial pace of recent cuban reforms, something you may have a freer range of tackle once raul castro steps down from having the communist party in 2021. confirmed he trump is lining up talks with kim jong-un, but the u.s. president is leaving himself and out. trump says he is ready to abandon that top-level meeting

with the north korean leader if it doesn't produce results. >> setting the stage and some of the terms for what could be an historic summit, while hosting the prime minister of japan at his private club, donald trump reconfirmed that a meeting with kim jongng-un was inin the work. but he also issued a caveat. if i think it'sp: a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we are not going to go. when we are there is not fruitful, i will respectfully leave the meeting. >> a possible exit strategy that comes as progress is being made, from confirmed that mike pompeo had secretly met with the north korean leader. multiple locations are under consideration for the talks, that trump said would take place by early june. he also said washington is pushing for the release of three americans being held in north korean prisons.

many other challenges remain as well, among them, pyongyang may to fully denuclearize and it has to be recognized as a state by south korea and other nations, including japan. because north korea is responding to dialogue, they should be no reward. pressure should be maintained an actual implementation of concrete actions towards denuclearization will be demanded. u.s. korea summit with tom on the heels of another one between the leaders of north and south korea slated for next week, and it may provide a glglimpse of what progress can really be made to bring peace to the peninsula. it's than 12 days nelson's the suspected poison gas attack of a damascus suburb internationalill chemical weapons inspectors have not been let in. dozens of people were killed april 7 and many in the west say the syrian regime is delayingngo remove crucial evidence first.

you and security experts say they are negotiating with syrian and russian authorities after a recon mission came under fire. an israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has kicked off israel's 70th independence day in a spectacular ceremony in jerusalem. he began that celebration with a speech outlining israel's achievements and praising the decision by u.s. president donald trump to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital and move the u.s. embassy there. while e israelis a are celebratg ththeir independence, palestinin arare marking what they call the catastrophphof the creation of ththe jewish state. hundreds of thousands of palestinians were driven from their homes and became refugees. today also marks the 75th anniversary of the warsaw ghetto uprising, the remaining 50,000 jews there at the time attacked the nazis who were preparing to take them to the gas chambers after blanca.

ae uprising ended in defeat month later, but it became the ultimate emblem of jewish resistance to the holocaust. and yet a cloud still hands over the anniversary, poland and israel are at loggerheads over the national polish governments controversial memory laws, and there is mounting evidence in poland that anti-semitism is making a comeback. gulliver cragg reports. gulliver: a demonstration against anti-semitism in warsaw activists, far right showed up and reported this commentary. the racist were soon operated by police, but observers say that i hate speech is on the rise, especially since: made it illegal to accuse the nation of complicity in the holocacaust ad israel reacted angrily. >> it's easy under criticism to decide the person criticizing you has no right to do so

because they are inferior. gulliver: if poland leaders thought they would improve relations with the jewish community by attending the anniversary ceremony, they may be wrong. government has unleashed a new wave of anti-semitism in poland. putut, people who were always anti-semitic and come to feel that they can now be openly anti-semitic and what was soft anti-semitism has turned hard. gulliver: the form for dialogue association runs workshops on local jewish history in schools all over poland but this educator feels the nationalistic government attitude could make young people less receptive. now is a moment

when it didn't affect the views of the students yet, so it's very important to continue to work like we've been doing. gulliver: before world war ii, half of this town's population was jewish and today, the only trace left is this monument to polls who saved jewish lives against nazi germans. a mass grave is unmarked. gulliverrance 24," cragg. panther," street in saudi arabia's first movie theater to open since the 1980's. it was a private invitation-only premiere but from elliott marks for the clearest moments of change to sweep the country in decades. the cinema is seen as part of a new era where women will some be allowed to drive and people will be able to go to concerts and fashion shows. movies and screened in saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors and wednesday night premiere was no exception, scenes of violence were not cut, but a fifinal scee

involving a kiss was. this is "france 24." let's take a look at today's top stories. the french president emmanuel macron in berlin today for talks with angela merkel. sure they are on the same page head of meetings they have lined up with donald trump. cuba set to officially announce the country's new leader today, the first vice president. the right-hand man of raul castro a la setting down -- he is stepping down, putting an end to almost 60 years of casserole. donald trump l leaves himself without t with the currentnt sut with kim jong-un, the u.s. president says he is willing to bail on a meeteting if it does't produce results. time now for business news with stephen carroll. another day of strikes. call a general strike at a protest for a

variety of reforms being passed by the french government, 130 demonstrations planned around the country. schools and crashes and the postal service. they say action out of power plants and cut supplies by four gigawatts today in their ongoing protests at universities over higher e education reforms. the national train company is on strike today for the eighth day this month, workers there protesting against an overhaul of the state owned train services. suspending talks with the , instead; forster discussions with the prime minister. fewer workers have been taking part, regina roberts reports. regina: in the middle of another wave of strikes, always calm -- all is calm. union workers at the national rail service or other eighth day ofof protest. the scale of the strike is causing problems n not only for

cocommuters, butut for tsese on strike. many can ill afford not to work like this conductor. todayay's of strikes this month and two days next month and my colleague does every other day. i cannot take part in all the strikes, there are 10 days in the month, if i do them all, that is 600 euros area quacks he is not alone, according to participation figures released by fmcsa. on the first day of the walkout, one third of real workers went on strike, but by the 17th of april, it was measured at less than 1/5. >> it allows us to know these figures are not biased is at the beginning of the conflict, we had more people on strike and now fewer people are on strike, so real serviceses are better. quacks on the first day of the strike come only 1/8 of the high-speed trains were runnining and this wednesday, that rose to one third. the real workers carry on the strike action, there are 28 days left and rail travel over the

summer looks set to be problematic unless resolution can be found. ofwart's: one third high-speed services running today, and 40% of regional trains operating in the paris area, the regional trains are between one third and one half of trains running and metro isn't affected and 80% of international train service to london will run. genie: let's take a look at what's happening on the markets. stewart: the price of oil is rising after reports that saudi arabia would be having for prices to rise as high as $80 or $100 a barrel. at $74 a barrel, the highest level of has been in four years. on the stock markets, european markets nudging into the green and oil and gas companies keeping a close eye on oil prices, here in paris, the advertising giant publicist has seen shares rise over 7% after their latest results. next, ainess headlines

british department store chain has seen profits cut in half by the recent bad weather. in particular, the snowstorm nicknamed the beast from the east. sale down over 2% for the six-month to the end of our -- end of march. amazon says they were now more than 100 million users paying for its prime subscription delivery service, is the first time the e-commerce giant has revealed figures for the prime service, in a letter to shareholders, jeff bezos says amazon ships world and 5 billion items to subscribers last year. australian commonwealth bank admitted it collected fees from customers it knew had died. they tell the public inquiry that in one case and advisor charged fees for 11 years after finding out about clients to. the country's treasury saying financial executives could face strong penalties based on the evidence brought up in those hearings. netflix is making a big

investment in original content here in europe. unveil 10 new european projects, including the company's first dutch production and overall it plans to spend around $1 billion on content in europe this year. that will include renewing existing series like the female "glow"ng show low -- and "stranger things." it's more valuable ibm. "glow." never heard of it looks good. it's now time for the press review. we take a look at what's been making news around the world. let's start with reactions to donald trump's decision to meet with the north korean leader kim jong-un. >> the washington correspondent for the korean daily newspaper this it a summit of egos,

is what he says donald trump did announce that he would be meeting with kim jong-un sometime in the short future. in this piece, he says donald trump will not accept any other results than one in which he is the hero and this will be evermore evidenced in this upcoming summit that he has called with the north korean leader in the recent strikes in the syrian government is a warning to kim about the u.s. a striking power. the gloves arere off for this battle off egos, this boxining match as you seeee here in this cartoooon from a french cartoont , really pititting the two l les againsnst each other once again, often being pretrade as babies. genie: there's a lot of skepticism about what the summit will achieve. news, a conservative defense expert writes in fox news that as the north and south korean summit next week will set the tone for trumps meeting with

kim. the north korean leader has been painstakingly rehabilitating his image since the beginning of the year and trying to rehabilitate the image of his country. he desperately needs this photo op with donald trump. the writer warns the u.s. president needs to ensure the terms and conditions on denuclearization are laid out and the writer tells trump i don't trust the north koreans, chances are, a good albeit giant ruse. the editors of the guardian say it's unclear what the u.s. are getting out of this, president kim wants to keep his nuclear weapons as insurance against the the intervention, but as guardian says, it's possible that washington hawks are seeing this meeting is achieving not much, but proving to the world that dialogue is impossible with north koreans and that war will be necessary. genie: there's been strong reaction from the turkish president to hold snap elections

18 months ahead of schedule. >> there's speculation about why he did this, a saudi paper calls it a surprise blow to the jirga's opposition party, saying the call for early elections could be because president erdogan fears for his waning popularity. the country is plagued by economic troubles, keeping this election corruption free will be a major challenge and they say in this article that turkey is tearing up -- gearing up for a hot summer in many ways. our early elections aiming to destabilize the newly formed i y iparty? that's what this writer wonders. face of in the corruption and vote manipulation, how can turks trust each other anymore? genie: german papers are reacting to emmanuel macron meeting with angela merkel in berlin. theacron wants to reform eurozone and sort out this question of debt. he was to create a european

in macron sees himself as a superhero of europe , long live europe he says in this illustration, wearing a , decorated with the european flag as he runs towards the rather resistant looking angela merkel. from another german paper, the writers as angela merkel news to offer this all of branch out to macron, after all, if macron fails, europe fails, adding that the eu can cope with the brexit, but it cannot cope with and as european government in paris showed macron not be reelected in 2022. genie: to the united states, where there are many tributes being paid out to the pilot of a southwest plane who later aircraft after the engine exploded. >> it's an incredible story. the midair incident did lead to the death of one woman who was partially sucked out of the window after the cabin depressurized.

managedsouthwest pilot to land the plane, saving the lives of other passengers. for herbeen lauded bravery and guidance and she calmly explained what was happening and as the l.a. times explained, she was one of the first female fighter pilots in as a high school, she attended a lecture on aviation in 1979 in which she was asked by the person giving a lecture if she was lost and it somehow ended up in the lecture room. and she was told there were no professional female pilots at the time. that didn't stop her. 1993, she became a navy lieutenant commander, not a surprise that buzz feed calls ser a clean and a bad as pilots. kanye west is back on twitter with the book of philosophical thoughts. >> he is bracing himself -- gracing us with his twitter presence after 11 months off. insanity.ls it

it reads like a series of pseudo-motivational instagram quote edited by 14-year-old boy who just discovered weed. this start on it review was well worth the weed -- well worth a read. coachesare first acting and time and money are both man-made currencies. genie: something to think about. >> food for thought. genie: if you want to get a closer look at what we are just talking about, you can check it france 24.com. our sports editor goes for a spin ahead of the red bull air race. stay tuned.

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