this is news live from berlin chaos and destruction in europe the worst storm in a decade batters britain the netherlands and germany many train routes shut down a stranding passengers overnight we'll get the latest on the chaos also coming out of germany social democrats get up to decide whether to partner up with i'm going to conservatism or go into the opposition will preview sunday's vote and attention fallout. and a scientist for democracy hong kong's pro-democracy protesters face jail terms for civil disobedience will ask the reading activist what's next for the moment.

i'm sumi so misconduct good to have you with us meteorologist say it was the worst storm to hit germany in a decade frederica killed at least nine people and caused transport delays for thousands of commuters across europe fierce gales blowing in from the west hit mainland europe in the netherlands and belgium before slipping into germany and bringing roads and railways to a halt top wind speeds of over two hundred kilometers per hour recorded on the central brocken mountains. the winds were just too strong for these buildings in the netherlands. top heavy lorries stood little chance either. and there were tragic consequences for ling trees killed. well people. in scotland drivers were advised to stay off the roads.

plains to were affected buffeted by fierce gusts at amsterdam ship while at port authorities that later granted all flights. that were similar scenes at train stations across the netherlands and germany. ties into the passengers were stranded as rail traffic was suspended. it took some by surprise. and most of i was on my way to university obligated to deadline for handing in some work fifteen minutes ago but if you move my professor and i think she'll forgive me for. an understanding of my local train station when i saw a huge branch falling off a tree so i knew or didn't look good and have boosted his is that the good news i'm not blow dried my hair that was a waste of time. a long wait for many but on the dutch coast these hardy souls that

embrace the wild weather. elsewhere less fun more frustration. that's the hard work is only just beginning for those involved in the cleanup it's set to be a mammoth task. here in germany the main well company has resumed service on some long distance routes but there is cancellations meant an unexpected night away from home for many travelers berlin's central station late on a sleeper train with a difference it wasn't going anywhere instead the carriages doubled up as a temporary hotel for passengers stranded in the capital. let's go right to do the views charlotte shall some tell at berlin central station hi charlotte what are things like there this morning. i see me as it is

a very long and uncertain wait for the dozens of people who are standing here in a queue behind me waiting to find out whether or not they will be able to leave the city today we estimated estimated that some two hundred people are standing in queue at the moment there's been a steady stream of people arriving throughout the morning the queue goes well along the train station in front of me while people at the front of the queue say they've been waiting over an hour to find out exactly what's happening and now we know that some trains are leaving at the moment although they've been a lot of cancellations again this morning we spoke to one woman who said she looked at the train at this morning's thought her train was earning came to the station only to find out that no she has a wait at least several hours ahead of the train that has been canceled let's not forget that some people have been waiting here since yesterday evening this is a two day wait for them their trains were canceled last night many people of course

missing appointments events i met some people who are in a group together meant to be going to prague for a birthday party they now congo when they left standing awaiting exactly to find out what is next charlotte of the worst of the storm does seem to have passed that this point zero one will long distance rail services get completely back to normal . yeah that's right i mean let's not forget this is an absolutely devastating storm that hit germany winds of up to two hundred kilometers an hour braille services a still assessing some of the damage that said taken place to tracks i spoke to a space person from deutsche bahn japanese train service not so long ago let's take a quick listen to what he had to say. there are a hundred and fifty different sections of track where there's been severe damage. that could mean the overhead wire has come down or trees have fallen and are

blocking the trucks all that has to be repaired and even when the tracks have been cleared we still have to ensure that there are no trees that may have been damaged and could fall on them later that's going to happen as well that's why we will have to reduce the speed of our trains in some areas that's absolutely vital to avoid accidents. i. know he told me that he hopes that more and more rail services will regimes throughout the day with a near normal service tomorrow but of course that's going to be very little comfort to the people who have been waiting here at balance at your station since yesterday out of course this is a scene that is being played out at train stations across germany there is a very unhappy travel is here today our correspondent charles charles some pill at pearland central train station thank you charlotte. same here in germany uncle america's troubles in forming a new government run up against another major hurdle on sunday the social democrats

are set to vote on whether to start formal coalition talks with the chancellors conservatives s.p.d. leader martin schultz and the party executive have already agreed now the rank and file needs to endorse the decision refusal by s.p.d. delegates to hold further talks could lead to new elections or minority government for the first time in germany's post-war era. our political correspondent thomas sparrow is standing by for us with more on the story hi thomas good morning to you so how likely is it that we're going to see another grand coalition for germany well it depends a century on that event on sunday that you've been talking about sumi the party conference of the social democrats where martin schultz on the party leadership will try to convince the six hundred delegates that they should support formal negotiations for an another grand coalition that is under no circumstance certain in fact politicians themself themselves haven't dared to say what's going to happen

on sunday because there are many delegates many members of the social democrats who are very skeptical of the possibility of a new grand coalition in particular the youth branch of the social democrats the so-called users have been very vocal about why they believe the s.p.d. should not enter a grand coalition they have also been touring the country just as martin shows trying to present their position and those positions will certainly be discussed at length on sunday before the vote that will determine the future course of germany's coalition negotiations thomas that youth wing that's been producing a lot of headwind their leader has been particularly prominent in his criticism in recent days let's take a closer look now at him. six months ago no one knew who he was now it seems everyone wants a piece of kevin care net at just twenty eight the leader of the s.p.d.

is youth wayne is on a mom a mission to stop him of the grand coalition between the social democrats and the conservatives what germans call. we reject a renewed grand coalition because we convinced it wouldn't be right for democracy in germany and we consider it negligent to let the far right a.f.p. become the leading opposition party with us and for the second time in two months that will be locking horns with s.p.d. party leader martin schultz on sunday as he bids to go on vince party delegates to vote no grow closer to his grassroots support q not believes this is the only way for the s.p.d. to regenerate after damage in years into local governments. the finnish president and for me he is the kind of politician who hopefully certainly shaped the future of this party. that they tried to influence a very talented upcoming politician he's still young and everything lies ahead of

him i think something will become of him. even pozen members who support the idea of a grand coalition have high hopes for canucks political future. impose a t.v. and put in the most positive senses of politics junkie he breathes politics but at the same time he's matter of fact and stands by his opinion and he definitely has a big future. cannot became a member of the s.p.d. at just fifteen in the same year that angela merkel was first elected chancellor but units no grow coke campaign now threatens to end her twelve year a in. that i think anglo-american time in office will soon end because her policy model simply no longer works you can sit on issues forever and make no decisions things aren't going to get into magically better when she's no longer chancellor america this level of translation is it's a classic tale of experience against you name first is nobody but they snow today

could well be the straw that breaks the camel's back in germany's chancellor. so thomas is that really true that the outcome of this vote on sunday could really spell the end of chancellor merkel's leadership i think that's too early to say to me the vote on sunday as we mentioned earlier is particularly important if the vote is yes then formal negotiations will take place if the vote is a no then obviously it will be in a very difficult spot but she would still have options one of those options would be leaving a minority government that's something that she's doesn't particularly want but it would be an option all the other option would be fresh elections so i still think it is too early to say whether that would spell the end of anglo merkel what we can say for sure is that i'm going to merkel is now in a very difficult situation and thomas just briefly if the s.p.d.

does agree to go into a grand coalition what does the party really have to lose. well for the party it's a very big moment it's all about renewal as we saw in that piece and renewal means that party members have different views on how to achieve it for some entering a new grand coalition would mean that the party could not have that renewal for others they can certainly say that they would have the responsibility when they form a new government and they could pass their policies are political correspondent thomas sparrow reporting for us this morning thomas thank you not some other stories making headlines around the world authorities in cape town have imposed new water restrictions on households to combat an ongoing drought from said you worry residents must use no more than fifty liters a day a reduction of almost half the south african city has had three years of low rainfall in the u.s. congress has passed a bill to continue funding the government and avoid

a shutdown but it faces a challenge in the senate where democrats have vowed to kill the measure they want republican concessions on domestic spending and protecting illegal immigrants part of the country's children known as dreamers from being deported. and a california couple who held their thirteen malnourished children captive for years in their home have pleaded not guilty to charges of torture and child abuse prosecutors say the children were shackled even to go to the bathroom the pair face life in prison if convicted on all charges. you're watching d.w. still to come standing defiant as jail time looms we ask one of hong kong's leading pro-democracy activists what the movement hopes to gain through civil disobedience . but first here in germany farmers want to have drastically cole wild boars moniker yes yes and it's not because they sort of attack people which happens every now and then not that often but while wild boars of course are a common sight in many european forest and they're also notorious for tearing up

people's gardens the government's now are telling hunters to shoot them on sight as a new outbreak of africans wind fever has spread into the european union pharmaceutical companies have been trying to develop a vaccine so far without success the latest outbreak appears to have begun in russia and authorities in neighboring belarus ban some imports of russian pork meanwhile the disease is making its way into the heart of europe it already has crossed into the baltic states and also into poland which is neighboring germany of course where in total thousands of cases have been reported and this is why the european commission is backing a call of wild boars it's also warning people to be careful with food waste that could contain the highly contagious disease it was first recorded in africa a century ago and since then it spread around the world and while it doesn't affect humans it's almost always deadly to pics that could end up costing governments

millions while the financial damage to farmers can already be felt well earlier i spoke to our reporter steve beardsley at the green week agricultural fair in berlin and i asked him how big a topic african swine fever is there. monica it's a huge topic this was in the opening address from the german federal agriculture minister yesterday this was a topic he talked about efforts so far to address african swine fever to make truckers for example who are coming from eastern states travelers who are crossing the border aware by creating a pamphlet that they too can carry the pathogen so he's obviously addressing something that is a very serious topic here he also met yesterday culture minister that is met with his peers across the german states they're obviously concerned about it port production is not just a big part of german agriculture it is an enormous part of german agriculture the e.u. is the top exporter of pork in the world and germany is traditionally the top producer

of pork in the use of there you can see what the consequences would be if a pathogen a wild boar with a patch pathogen was found at exactly m a dummy of the germans also likes to eat pork themselves what exactly would happen if that virus was found in wild boar here in germany would it impact pork exports. it would essentially shut them down i mean this is a two to three billion dollar industry just exports alone and it could completely shut them down no one wants to import diseased pork of course because they're worried about their own stocks and of course there's the internal market as well who's going to want to eat pork that they believe is infested with this disease now of course it can't be transmitted to humans it has no effect on humans the pathogen again can be carried by humans it can be carried in dead meat or in meat obviously in the dead carcasses so controlling it risks limiting the contamination is the big focus here we haven't had a chance to talk to people at the stands here at the events it just opens but i can

guarantee it's going to be a huge topic especially among livestock livestock handlers and i can imagine that they'll be on tender hooks that may be leaving pork aside to the green week just kicks off today what i was doesn't happen often this year. there's some themes that are going to be the same as recent years including obviously climate change and the effect on farmers a big win this year is also going to be animal welfare and seeing how you can increase animal welfare of your products not only are people demanding that in the products they buy but of course politically this is becoming more and more of an issue that animals are kept in a sustainable and humane way it's good for the farmers here for their marketing as well to be able to create that we saw at the opening already that there was protests by animal welfare activists that's a common thing here it's common pressure on these farmers they know it's and this is something that consumers also want so there's going to be a huge topic here monica. bisley reporting from the green we can bill in.

and a trade war brewing between china and the united states some chinese steel and polyester products will now face punitive tariffs as high as one hundred and seventy four percent when imported to the united states washington says chinese government subsidies give these products an unfair edge making it hard for american producers to compete only a small range of chinese products are affected but experts say the trade dispute between the u.s. and china could also affect other countries and that should give stock markets around the world yet more to ponder on over to a man at the frankfurt stock exchange danya corp daniel it's been an interesting week for investors from bitcoin slumps to the airbus a three eighty revival what were the biggest market movers. well monica you really mentioned the highlights

already crypto currencies where cory the number one topic here at the stock market with the bitcoin dropping below the mark of ten thousand dollars many investors are saying that this was kind of like the first crash that we have really seen in the crypto currency market this is really been giving investors quite some headache and now when you look at the market today it seems that it has recovered at least a little bit yes the a three eighty the problem child of us was was announcing in the past that if there would be no new deal regarding the three eighty they would be shutting down the airbus a three eighty production yesterday breaking news from emirates the carrier already holding more than one hundred planes of the a three eighty the announced they would be buying thirty six more even with the option of buying another sixteen it seems that this has rescued and saved the program for at least ten years now and g.d.p. numbers also from china three times higher than we are seeing them in germany some

investors have doubts how accurate those numbers are but in general good business in many cases in china also means good business for german companies as well the weak euro at the blue chip index that's rather slow up and downs the euro has been giving investors quite some had a headache and next week all the eyes will be on davos and you will have full coverage from there as well her i don't think is too much of a summing up of the market action in frankfurt. all right and with that it's back to sue me now in four years ago the street demonstrations brought hong kong to a standstill and that is still reverberating today that's right monica democracy activists are now battling in the courts over those very protests on wednesday joshua wong the leading figures in the so-called umbrella movement was sentenced to three months in jail one was found guilty of obstructing a protest camp clearance during the two thousand and fourteen rallies that paralyzed parts of the city it is the second time he's been in. prison supporters gathered outside the courthouse promising to continue their civil disobedience.

within it doesn't other activists were given suspended prison terms one of them was nathan law one of the leading activists in this group he joins us from hong kong for more on the story and nathan thank you very much for joining us on our program what is the state of your case right now could you still go to prison. well yes properly because joshua was sentenced to jail for two cases one was happening for the. three days i could go and no one was having friday two months ago but we appealed and we are waiting for the for that for the call up you so for the previous events that make. more than two months along sideways. that. we've been. six months and that case will be i think in the

near future so for the time being to change the thing sentence for this case and he has a waiting case. which he's waiting for the further they may meet him to get into jail for the second time ok you mentioned joshua also rafael long they're both back in jail have you been in contact with them what they've been saying. yes definitely i paid a visit to just show yesterday and he's fine and he's actually energetic as before and he is getting used to the environmental prison because. the second times are getting to be getting to depression and that. i think they are very calm to impress him and because that is the challenge that the government imposed if we could get along with it we can and all of these. in the press and then we have. to put on a that's

a sentiment we also heard from joshua long just before he went to jail let's listen to what he said to the media. but they. really hope to. present that i think. you know. you're right. do you agree with that sentiment i mean how do you feel about the prospect of spending time behind bars. oh definitely because i was locked in a. few months ago and. i could see you know that sentiment even though i cannot get in touch with. my mind they won't go away to keep sending messages now is to be loved while on. the pos a message to the pope so as long as we could think through the.

time in the past maybe approach was to contribute to the democratic movement. but nathan aren't these feelings and these court cases discouraging young people from joining your movement. well definitely that would be chilling effect expect really when the call is ruling half of the in terms of sentencing. on the other hand the sacrifice for those who are impressed and could also means by the are that we could set an example. to face these people today struck. the common good of society by risking comes out i think it also encourages more people to come out. so i think it has both sides but the most important thing is the one who are suffering which is who we.

actually feel if we think that we could and there was this painful experience and we can hang on now your umbrella move been had wide support in two thousand and fifteen brought parts of hong kong to a standstill and you were demanding free and fair elections but has anything really changed since then. well to be honest the situation gets worse the interventional the beijing government gets in which will then be full and why for example there was this qualification no question please let's not just say this and i am the one with. the lead by more than fifty thousand voters but the government this qualified me by. explaining the oil from beijing site so that definitely deficit things situation are on call and i think

most of the democratic supporters they do hang on and they do look forward to a bright future now in the. battle between the come from between the beijing and the democratic. nathan you said in the past that part of what drives you is that you're fighting for equality in hong kong but people there are very divided over support of your movement so what about your demands would really make a difference in terms of equality. well equalities one over i'll call credit when you flight school. and definitely the cone what if i did it society and the way we moved away to was democracy is difficult because the rise of china people. they look at men the they are located at. getting

a pretty ride china's economy so so that it is quite decided but i think if we push pull on impressive values we help those in the preferred age in the home call then people will recognize that democracies is the system that protects all and struck with the quality all right hong kong politician and democracy activist nathan la nathan thank you so much for joining us on a program thang. our minder now is our top story at this hour meteorologists say frederica was the worst storm in a decade to hit germany at least nine people were killed by strong calles a tour across europe the high winds also brought train travel to a halt stranding many passengers overnight. thanks for watching get everyone back at the top of the our.

laundry international talk show for journalists to discuss the topic of the week germany is still struggling to come up with a new government also september's inconclusive election will chancellor merkel money to form a coalition but will the people of germany be sent back to the polls join us from puerto rico to find out. next.

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