this is news live from berlin declares a week of mourning after the country's most famous son. dies at the age of eighty the former united nations and nobel peace prize laureate served two terms as the world's top diplomat later he became the u.n. special envoy for syria we'll take a look at his legacy also coming up commemorating the day the stage for the victims of tuesday's bridge collapse in the northern city of genoa relatives and friends joined the country's leaders to say goodbye to their loved ones but some

families refused to take part of the ceremony we'll have the latest from our correspondent. and thousands wait for a rescue of catastrophic floods batter southern india one minister calls a disaster the worst in the century it's already claimed more than three hundred lives. welcome to the program i'm married to haven't seen the former united nations chief and nobel peace prize laureate kofi annan has died anon was the first black african to take up the role of the world's top diplomat serving two terms from nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and six he later served as the u.n. special envoy for syria leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict going on died after

a short illness at the age of eighty. i'm joined now in the studio by our correspondent doc my vitek and she's been he is africa correspondent for many years and dagmar i understand that you actually met kofi anon on several occasion well the thing like. i mean every time when he entered the room it was really a feeling of this is the u.n. entering the room the space he had an aura he had a presence of real prisons and yet this big men the top diplomat from the u.n. he was really short and he was humble. sometimes he was a bit of a technocrat when when i asked him something he'd get really difficult about it so no straightforward answers but i suppose that comes with the job a bit when you're together what's a signature to be able to do something at all but he was warm and he was modest all right well he served two terms as the un's top diplomat but he actually did much

more what is he likely to be remembered for it's really his work as a tireless committed peace negotiator and the best the door for peace for reconciliation for human rights it's also his fight for or against aids and global poverty he was also really the one who drove the millennium goals for would got that signed in two thousand and it's just tireless efforts for people's plights through him that was his latest he did and the syrian refugees he was the u.n. special envoy there all right we understand that there have been a number of reactions to kofi annan. death including from the current u.n. secretary general antonio tennis i believe we have a tribute to him that he posted on twitter can have a look at that. that's right he said and then was

a guiding force for good he joins the world in mourning his loss in these turbulent and trying times and as legacy as a global champion for peace will remain a true inspiration for us all so dagmar can you talk to us a bit about what kofi annan did then after leaving his position as u.n. general secretary touched on it a little bit before but what else can you tell us about i mentioned it briefly was the un special envoy to syria he made the region his own plight and he chaired the l. this it's a group of top form of statesman and peace nobel laureates for example south african business and to to part of the group and they're trying to spread mandela's mrs of peace and reconciliation to young africans he was really involved in that as he was chairing it plus last but not least he had his own foundation which pushes for better governments in governments in africa but also all over the world and the more just more peaceful world indeed

a remarkable man and norma's contribution to the world to take thank you very much indeed now thousands of mourners have attended a state funeral in the italian city of genoa to commemorate those killed when a motorway bridge collapsed in the city on tuesday the country's leaders joined victims' relatives to pay tribute to the dead prayers were offered for the thirty eight confirmed victims and a further three people discovered under the debris early saturday some families chose not to attend the ceremonies prefer him to bury their dead privately. let's bring in our correspondent phil a woman who's standing by in rome so philip thousands of people attended the state funeral service today in genoa tell us a bit more about the ceremony. very moving ceremony a lot of people ordinary citizens of genoa were attending but also the head of

state and the head of government with ministers and representatives of parliament although there's a lot of anger at the laps of the bridge crossing forty one lives at least the atmosphere at the funeral was really positive there much applause for the firefighters and rescue efforts who attended and also groups for the representatives of the new government to be very strong in saying that they want to establish responsibility for what happened and to be now for such a short time but no one could really hold them responsible so there was a feeling of the whole of genoa coming together here to all of the victims hundreds left on what the archbishop of the city described as a tear in the heart of the city caused by the disastrous collapse of this bridge

all right so of course a very emotional day enormous amount of grief that you mentioned yourself also some anger and we did mention as well that some of the victims' relatives decided not to attend today's funeral service why not. yes about so hard for the victims who were not present. at the ceremony today in some cases the families say they simply want to know know they're there or loved ones close to home so friends and relatives can attend easily others also say that they want a private grief thing grieving process don't want to have participated in a major public state event but there's also

a great deal of anger. official responsibility in what happened here and some people have spoken of this as a state homicide and so they didn't want to participate in a state funeral now fell about briefly if you can is there any new information about what caused this tragedy. the latest theory that engineers are investigating is that the stays in a supporting the road in attaching it to the central pile of that collapsed may have simply snapped and there eyewitness reports suggesting this and some video images that seem to support that theory. the yad company responsible for managing and and the our keeper of the bridge has come under

a great deal of pressure to reimburse the victims and that talk to her directors will present to their q all right philip when reporting from rome thank you. now officials in carroll are pleading for more help as monsoon floods inundate much of the southern indian states and the death toll continues to climb the state's chief minister says three hundred twenty four people have died in what he called the worst floods in one hundred years india's military has been called in to help the relief effort. rescue teams are continuously being called out here more often than they can keep up with others drag themselves to safety in whichever way they can. this is now a full scale military operation a human chain of soldiers passing basic supplies a grim make shift bridge for these villages who've sort higher ground in the treetops. those rescue to being taken to shelters more than three hundred

thousand people have been evacuated so far many more are still waiting for news as sort these are being undertaken and people keep coming additionally we have more than. what did dave's was along with given the board's. it's being called the worst flooding in one hundred years ten days of relentless heavy rain have left villages totally submerged thousands of people across the state are still stranded and with more rain forecast the flood waters ones be receding anytime soon. the level of water has risen tremendously it's not slowing down and that's why people are scared what to. deadly mudslides have added to the desolation they've crushed homes.

scattered temporary. homes cut off by the roads. on saturday morning prime minister narendra modi was flown over some of the worst hit areas he's promised more than seventy million dollars in eight more boats and helicopters from many down below all that can't come soon enough. now german chancellor angela merkel will host a bilateral summit with russian president vladimir putin later today the talks north of berlin are expected to focus on energy issues as well as the conflict in ukraine in ukraine and syria and german russian ties have been tense for years but are showing signs of a pragmatic fog this will be the two leaders second meeting in the past three months. org for more on what we can expect from miracles meeting with putin i'm

joined in the studio by nina has any good to see you so marilyn putina do seem to be seeing a lot more of each other lately than they have in the last couple of years doesn't mean there is more common ground between them i wouldn't necessarily say that there's more common ground i think there's a growing understanding between the two that they really just need each other that they've got a lot of challenges ahead of themselves that they console's without the other person and we've heard that this is the second meeting in three months time actually america went to visit putin in may and i would say that this is simply a really good example of rail politics that they'll sit down and that they'll discuss the issues like syria like ukraine and like that controversial gas pipeline and yet merican herself on friday was warning not to expect too much from these talks what is likely to come out of them i think talks like this are always useful

especially in such a volatile tile international environment especially with donald trump as u.s. president they have understood that they need to look at each other and see where they can find problematic solutions to all those issues on the table there will be meeting at the guest house and also a felon which means that there will be a much more private atmosphere than if they were to meet here in berlin for example they'll sit down for a couple of hours and we don't even know whether there will be other people there experts so whether it will be just the two of you know you mentioned one of the talks topics they'll be discussing which is the north stream to pipeline that will supply russian natural gas directly to germany and there's a number of parties that are not very happy about this pipeline ukraine being one of them and also the united states president donald trump complaining not too long ago that this is the way that germany is going to be totally controlled by. russia

does donald trump have a point all donald trump is even threatening this gas pipeline while he's threatening sanctions all the companies involved that involved in building the gas pipeline and so germany and russia will try and find solutions to make concessions in some ways of course donald trump has also claimed that germany was dependent on seventy percent he said energy supply comes from russia that's an ally the german government has said is there the twenty three percent but still there's a lot of issues on the table and i'm sure putin will try and find compromises are i do many thanks indeed for your insights you're watching d.w. news coming to you from berlin we'll be back again at the top of the hour in the meantime don't forget you can always get the latest news and information on our website just go to w dot com american evan steen from all of us here in berlin

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