this is the w. news live from berlin and one of music's most distinctive voices has formed one side of. the queen of soul aretha franklin his joy that the age of seventy six often losing her battle with cancer she became a musical icon in the one nine hundred sixty s. and seventy's often launching a stellar career at her father's church in detroit which also on the program news outlets across the u.s. take a stand against the president's attacks on the media called the fake news the enemy

of the people and they are they are the enemy of the free around three hundred fifty news papers run editorials criticizing donald trump for many a battle cry saying it's a threat to democracy. and hopes fade of finding survivors ingenuous road rage disaster italian authorities say as many as twenty people are still missing is also mounting anger as people try to find out more cause the collapse of . the. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring a good to have you with us her voice defined an era and earned her the accolade queen of soul us sing a wreath of franklin who died earlier today at the age of seventy six after a battle with pancreatic cancer franklin shot to stardom in the one nine hundred sixty s. and seventy's with singing. so powerful it became part of the american psyche she

sang at martin luther king's funeral in nine hundred sixty eight and in two thousand and nine barack obama's presidential inauguration above all she earned immense respect as one of the defining voices of america's civil rights movement. the title of her nine hundred sixty seven hit a composition by otis redding crowned her legacy from the moment the song hit the airwaves respect. of lisa franklin's imprint on soul music was enormous her commanding vocals powered the soundtrack of both the civil rights and women's liberation movements half a century ago. the daughter of the mississippi preacher and a mother who sang and played piano for a reason franklin grew up in detroit singing at her father's church services at an early age she was strongly influenced by the gospel sound. she signed her first

recording contract in one nine hundred sixty enjoyed limited success her breakthrough came when she switched labels several years later she soon learned the title queen of soul. and still. she performed for president elect bill clinton in one thousand nine hundred three and sixteen years later at the inauguration of president barack obama. among her many accolades she was inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame the first woman to receive the honor that was in one thousand nine hundred seven she received the presidential medal of freedom in two thousand and five and won a total of eighteen grammys the music industry's highest award. last year she announced she would reduce her appearances on stage her declining health forced her to cancel a planned concert earlier this year and now. with

a career spanning over fifty years aretha franklin made an indelible mark on american music and influenced generations of singers. let's talk now to entertainment journalist k.j. matthews who joins us from los angeles k.j. thanks for being with us what a loss for the world of music is there any way of putting a dime mention on this loss. really is what we see represented i mean there are people waited more than sitting here because everyone is losing american lives you say all that stuff because you started in gospel in she moved his soul in she did martin he did a little operetta she did it in jesse incident didn't it sucks even to do it with george michael and she says why you soon lose that general subsume will let me warm up in so many others want to hear all that simplicity but i did today there really

wasn't one is our music and she did you know six yes and she also indelible mark on its existence to a girl and she was a more interesting to me is you know yes she was a bully in operations but jimmy carter of the political pop for president was one of the she's the suit because it was all very well on those studies grammys she was the first woman to you want to make the list goes on and. he simply is no more. we have a slightly difficult link up with you but we're going to continue anyway one thing that i noticed that some aretha franklin wrote in her autobiography she really thought. that she sang what what did she mean by that what's the essence of her genius. photo of her saying it was indelible very different not to remember she has a more to

a great improvement that's very distinctive and so whenever we take hold of a song whether it was gospel whether it does if you don't think she would use that she had a way of doing something good to ignore the hardest thing to do you know the song immediately didn't think it was a week that frankel song used to be in the supermarket you know songs say yes that is a very i can just tell it by groups. and of course she inspired a whole generation of female singers often didn't she. absolutely know jennifer hudson was just on twitter saying that she got to know you could write well as a person and we did gave her a lot at once not just in the audience but it like in general the more we different from the what was lost talked about moving to the less you sit and watch people looked up to not just you know the music that would have longevity in the record industry but also about life because you she just really transcended any white

black artist especially at a time when they were it was sixty's where a lot of people you know of course understand second grade in the united states it was a lot of civil unrest and she would say it's insensitive oh yes she was definitely one of the defining voices of. a human punishingly k.j. what was she like one on one. you know and that is a little bit more than seven years ago i was going to a media outlet no chance for people to buy this backstage and to. kodak it was ready to do a one on one interview and so as you can imagine i was a little bit in some of it because it was no great marketing it doesn't exactly go to work all over the purpose there was this need i'm a camera man for assistant i think it was her publicist who her we were it was because it's limited because you really saw me in europe she was so professional she wasn't evil i can read her a couple things about herself it was good to expect it's really funny you know there was something that i said to her about her cd and or the search either you

know it was actually the typical so she was easy to use the reactive i mean she was so humble to it because as i stated all the things she's it's not because she didn't bring all that up she waited for me to write it up and she just said you know she wanted to get the fact that she was just so with all the people who would give it a while ground work and really far left as you say so she always wanted to get back to just the whole world will go to if she never so this year says he moves into next year would seem to suit ok k.j. definitely a moment to remember in your career k j matthews in los angeles many thanks for talking to us. now as you can imagine tributes have been flowing in on social media from fans from politicians and from fellow musicians british singer elton john for instance tweeting this she sang and played magnificently and we all wept we were witnessing

the greatest solo artist of all time i adored her and worship the talent god bless my condolences to all her family and friends we shared the same birthday and that meant so much to me there's also from fellow american singer diana ross i'm sitting in prayer for the wonderful spirit of retha franklin former president barack obama also a paying tribute retha help to find the american experience in her voice we could feel history all of it and in every shade our power and our pain our darkness into light our quest for redemption and a hard one respect may the queen of soul rest in eternal peace finally a veteran of the u.s. civil rights movement the reverend jesse jackson who knew aretha franklin for the last sixty years he was reportedly at her bedside during her final days he tweeted this a lot of music left the earth today the heavens rejoice rest in heavenly peace now

we're going to stay in the u.s. because around three hundred fifty news outlets across the country have been running editorials today in defense of press freedom the initiative was launched by the boston globe newspaper using the image that you see behind me it's a rebuke of president trump's attacks on the media and his suggestion that some journalists in his words are enemies of the people. general have you been the press and the president in the us it's a tense relationship. as many nicknames for media outlets he doesn't like but one of his labels for the press raised alarm bells. called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are they are the enemy of. his claim that america's leading journalists are a danger to society through widespread and international criticism or they should think it would be a good thing if you were to say right here at this briefing that the press are not

the enemy of the people but the trump administration only double down i've addressed this question i've addressed my personal feelings i'm here to speak on behalf of the president he's made his comments clear now the press has fired back more than three hundred newspapers around the country have published editorials to counter the president's attacks the boston globe which coordinated the publications wrote to label the press the enemy of the people is as un-american as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries. but the conservative wall street journal refused to participate writing that the first amendment does not say that the government cannot criticize the press mr trump enjoys free speech just as his media adversaries do. trump has responded to the nationwide wave of editorials saying the press is free to write and say anything it wants. but he has shown no interest in making amends.

and joining us now from boston david beard a contributing editor to the pointer institute of journalism also a former digital content editor at the washington post david thanks for being with us more than three hundred fifty news outlets across the u.s. all running editorials on the same day in defense of press freedom what's your take on this action. well i actually if you add in some other broadcast outlets there are there are dozens more there are off you know hundreds of reports throughout maybe more than a thousand employees find the message today on electronic media and just within the last hour i don't know if you know on this the u.s. senate just passed unanimously that's the upper house resolution that declares the press is not the enemy of the people and efforts to systematically undermine the credibility of the press are quote an attack on our democratic

institutions unquote so there has been all kinds of. reaction today to this from one newspaper in the state of virginia had a new subscriber bring in donuts and bagels along with a letter that said hashtag join the effort whether it's associations or n.g.o.s or the newspaper guild which represents a lot of the unionized journalists it has said that this atrocious behavior has to be seen for what it is reckless and endangering get there are there are critics and there are people who said this move just shows as that the media works together as a unit and as sort of a group think against the president and there's been a lot of responses to that as well or that it might strengthen his base go ahead

david sorry to interrupt but you know what what you seem to be describing is that what this is achieving is a wave of solidarity you mentioned the vote in the u.s. senate you mentioned people bringing you know signals of their personal commitment to a free press. does that mean that you think that this kind of action despite the criticism that you're also mentioning is achieving some. thing a wave of solidarity yes. i might say that it was never according to the editorial page editor of the mind herald this was never intended to sort of change the mind of the say twenty percent of america that represents what trump calls his base this is to change the minds or deepen the awareness of people who take the press rights which is maturing shrines in the very first amendment of our nation's constitution more seriously they may have taken them for granted before

and now understand that they may be in peril right now so i think it was a broader education effort to supplement often criticize civics lessons in our secondary education ok david many thanks for that david bad they're talking to us from boston thank you very much and now it's over to funny for joel for the business you starting with the two countries i believe are trying to mend their trade relations they're trying to thank you very much we'll see if thursday news that china and the united states will hold low level talks later this month in a bit of a result there after waiting for a dispute china's markets and currency have suffered losses in recent months with investors stoked by washington and beijing state for tax terrorists. the chinese economy has lost steam in recent months washington's tariffs have put a damper on investor sentiment since the last trade talks between beijing and washington in may the shanghai composite has declined more than ten percent and the

you wan has been falling to the chinese currency has slumped over the past few months it has fallen more than eight percent against the greenback since last may but the u. once fall has also helped cushion the effect of tariffs by making chinese goods cheaper that is another sore point for washington which has repeatedly called on china to strengthen the yuan and it's also demanding beijing to make concessions to lessen its trade imbalance with the u.s. so while these law level trade talks are welcome news analysts warn that it may take some time before the two countries come to a truce. all right our financial correspondent selfishly landscapes standing by for us in new york selfie talk is cheap does anyone expect anything to come out of this . well yes funny talk might be cheap but investors are making money with this talk the market was in a rally mode all thursday because this is

a modest breakthrough that's the phrase i read a lot today and i think it is a good way to put it of course there's nothing hard and bess's could actually evaluate but a wall street is all about emotions and how investors feel about the future and i feel like some are seeing their hopes coming true in a way that strategy of threatening and being tough on trade partners seems to have worked trade partners or trade as putin have been taken a toll on aga countries' economies not so much on the american economy and this way trump could literally bend their will and now china amongst others has lost some of their leverage and so the u.s. could come out of these talks on top of the situation and then interview only on thursday top economic adviser larry kudlow said talking is better than not talking but the timing of these talks is crucial and investors seem to believe just hit the sweet spot in regards to timing right and then what comes out of the talking of

course now i've been reading that there are. results u.s. consumers in spending mode is that right yes absolutely funny and that by the way contributed significantly to the three digit gain off the dow jones as wal-mart was after more than ten percent in intraday trading it seems that wal-mart may see the best price fight against mighty amazon is not lost yet wal-mart's a remarkable growth in its online business forty percent last quarter and they also have a strong guidance so this is an important development for this retailer so thank you so much for your analysis. now german rail operator daunte shabaan and telecoms john deutch a telecom are both ending activities in iran as a result of the latest u.s. sanctions targeting that country the iranian subsidiaries of both companies say they will cease for salting activities there the u.s.

says any company doing business in iran can be banned from operating in the u.s. and while the e.u. has created legislation to protect european companies many are all willing to risk being sanctioned by washington to italy the chilean government is considering different options to fine infrastructure group atlanta the company that operates the motorway on beach a bridge in genoa lapsed earlier this week investors have already punished the company bringing shares down to close to twenty two percent down even though trading was twice suspended during the day of launches to parent company of the beach some are blaming for the disaster italian government has threatened to company with heavy fines and is demanding it contribute to the bridges reconstruction i'll just rather says it conducted regular safety checks investigators have not yet established the cause of the collapse. turkey's

finance minister of iraq has assured international investors that their country will emerge stronger from its currency crisis insisting its banks are healthy and strong and while there's no denying that personally his position of the leader at least by iraq can rely on support from some very unusual quarters here is more. as the lira struggles at all time lows many turks are really in behind president everyone's calls to exchange us dollars for local currency one is stand all restauranteur has hit upon his own novel scheme to rescue the lira. the aim is to support the state and support the government therefore we launched a campaign to offer one portion of free fish and bread to anyone who converts one hundred dollars or more to. the restauranteur came up with the idea in partnership with a nearby foreign exchange office and the idea seems to be getting popular support from is turnbull's phish fans. of course i support these campaigns to protect our

currency i believe that everybody needs to be sensitive to this matter as foreign currency rates have risen these days but today we didn't have any dollars left to convert us. think it sounds fishy some might say it's simply good publicity for this popular restaurant the turkish lira hit a record low this week now forty percent down this year air to one's influence over monetary policy and a bitter dispute with the united states have spooked investors sparking turkey's worst currency crisis in two decades. all right that's it from the business that's for for now and now back to christopher and more out of italy that's right in italy the interior minister says it's inevitable that the death toll will go up as crews dig through the wreckage of the marandi highway bridge that collapsed in general were two days ago thirty eight people have been confirmed dead so far but officials

believe up to twenty people may still be buried under the rubble crews have brought in heavy equipment to begin breaking up huge chunks of concrete in the meantime authorities have allowed residents of apartment blocks under the bridge to collect items from their homes and a state funeral for the victims will be held on saturday as part of a national day of mourning. we're going to get the latest now from general g.w. shell that shell some pills standing by for us there charlotte the authorities talking about these ten to twenty people who are unaccounted for is there any hope left of finding those people alive under the rubble. good evening christopher rescues that we've spoken to say that they are desperately trying to keep faith that survivors will be found among the wreckage this is the night now the floodlights lighting up the wreckage behind me they are working it rescues are working around the clock trying to scour the rubble they say that they will not

give up until they are convinced that they are no survivors buried underneath a chief on their minds is the new figure that's been released here in genoa that's the fact that they think that between ten and twenty people are still missing they of course are hoping that someone will be found alive but the reality is that this is now over two days since this collapse hopes really all fading that any survivors will be found rescue teams authorities have such a lot of this surface area of the wreckage the the easy easy accessible area of the wreckage to try and look for survivors what's left is was deep below the heavy slabs of concrete and the twisted metal so the chances of finding anyone there in this area that still needs to be said is extremely slim and you know over the last . can sadness have really been the dominant emotions. people also beginning to get

angry about what's happened. well there's a real political firestorm playing out in italy at the main there's been a lot of anger from ministers they've been speaking very passionate times pointing fingers of blame at various authorities the interior minister again today tweeting about the european union he's accused the european union of not freeing up enough money for infrastructure hey he cites that is one of the reasons the finger of blame is also been pointed at the company that operates this stretch of the mates where behind me it's been accused of not keeping up maintenance for not ensuring that this bridge was safe enough that is something that the company is fiercely denied its sense says its maintenance checks. up to date but that hasn't stopped a real feeling of anger here from those government ministers having said that they were a lot of people here who are still experiencing this ongoing crisis the hundreds for example who still haven't been allowed to return from their homes they want to

see a lot less finger pointing a lot more assurances that the authorities are going to do what's necessary to get this city back to normal for them to be able to return to their homes they also want to surance is not just here in genoa but across italy that something like this won't happen again that other bridges are safe and won't suffer the same fate and of course that one of the key issues there is what actually caused this disaster are investigators any closer to finding out what causes. well that's a point that's been raised by the company that operates this stretch of the major way it's made very clear that while it's coming under fire for ministers it is not been a stop list yet exactly what happened here on this bridge behind me on cheese day at the moment is pretty just theory there's been no official confirmation there are a number of theories that are being put forward as i mentioned the idea that perhaps this bridge wasn't safe that the maintenance wasn't up to scratch but there are other factors too it's known that there was to wrench the rain that was

a falling at the moment of the crash there is also the suggestion that bridges like this is simply too old they were built in the one nine hundred sixty s. they are not they were not prepared for the amount of traffic that was traveling along the this was one of the main highways through this city and dreamy busy and there is a suggestion that it just wasn't up to it show that children in general many thanks for that and you watching to drop your news in by then i'll be back in a short second with in-depth analysis all the while top news stories we leave you for now with the voice of reason franklin who died today at the age of seventy six to stay with us if you can. you gotta thank god what you saying you've got to think about the consequences of your act or shut up while you. very.

much. let's try. to move on.

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w dot com slash don't plan on facebook in the uk still. jammin for free but devaney. journalists across the us hit back at president trump we are not enemies of the people they say hundreds of american newspapers defending press freedom today in the face of a presidential barrow's my name is christopher spring eight this is the day.