this is g w news why but from berlin tonight the week when they tore down that wall here in berlin celebrations have started marking 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall and the beginning of german reunification we'll give the details from our correspondent he said alexander plus is also coming up tonight a human rights watchdog accusing u.s. backed special forces in afghanistan of committing war crimes and other atrocities during their operations it's calling for the units to be disbanded plus the german

carmaker bokes wagon putting its money on ema building. starts production of its 1st fully electric and mass market vehicle and is getting some high level support from the german chancellor she's promising to expand the current infrastructure across the country. it's good to have you with us we begin right here in germany the country celebrating the 30th anniversary this week of the fall of the berlin wall it happened on the 9th of november 1989 berlin's mayor officially opened a week of festivities today with a white show at the world famous alexander plots that's the square where hundreds of thousands of east germans demonstrated today 30 years ago november 4th 1989 coing for freedom of expression and form work democracy and the commemorations will

culminate with a ceremony at the berlin wall memorial this coming saturday in. our chief political correspondent linda crane she has been following today's events from alexanderplatz and she sent us this. the commemoration isn't titled 7 days 7 places in recognition of the fact that although we think about the peaceful revolution as having occurred when the berlin wall fell on november 9th in fact it was a journey that took months if not longer and that took in many different parts of eastern germany this square was an absolute milestone along that path let's take a look back at what happened here in november $989.00 the exodus of people leaving east germany reached a peak those who decided to stay demanded more freedom more than half a 1000000 staged a mass protest on east berlin alexanderplatz the largest demonstration in the

history of east germany this is. how it's as if someone has pushed open the window of a of the years of intellectual economic and political stagnation. of the haitian leaders years reeking of apathy 2 years of double speak and bureaucratic despotism but your coffee shop is here the communist regime had subtly and publicly lost all support but even then no one predicted that just fine days later the berlin wall would fall what was noteworthy about that protest was that those who organized it actually applied for and received a permit to demonstrate and nonetheless they could not know when they gathered here on that morning 30 years ago how many people would show up and whether the authorities might react to protests with violent repression there had in fact been

violent police intervention at protests just about a month before but that didn't happen in fact those who went to the stage here on the square 30 years ago were able to express their demands for democratic freedoms for tolerance for transparency in. justice in the presence of high level communist party officials with no retribution and in fact one of the organizers of the demonstration said when one of the members of the communist party spoke on stage and she saw his hands trembling badly that she knew at that time the vision stays were numbered and yet none of those who took part could know what transpired a few of the east germans present at that mass protest and in the days that followed could know what the process of unification unification would come to look like for many it's a process that still awakens feelings of ambivalence 30 years later and that's why

this commemoration this week will also include many discussions and many moments of thoughtful reflection about all that transpired in the years that followed the peaceful revolution is a journey and it's one that is still not complete today. and that was our chief political correspondent linda gray before and they are here in berlin all this week we will be bringing you special coverage of reports of the events which led to the fall of the berlin wall 40 years ago stay right here with. in iraq tonight at least 5 people have been killed in the capital baghdad and it happened after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters thousands of iraqis have been taking part in the country's largest protest wave in decades is fueled by anger over corruption high unemployment and poor public services the united nations is calling tonight for deescalation and for talks between the government and

demonstrators. here on the mats the roof soon became a raging protest. with blood and soul we will sacrifice few they chanted on the streets of kabbalah to die now and to avenge 3 men who died last night during clashes with pro-government militia in the shiite holy city and in the shade but the son is a hero he was carrying only theoretically flooded nothing else but the brazen militias attacked us and killed us they said look at that. and in the capital baghdad they rallied to remember those victims to demonstrate is surging out of their protest camp on top 3 square and towards the heavily guarded bridges leading into the government district the paper bracing for further violence they've seen so much of it in recent wakes and what hal yesterday and young man went up to the bridge and a sound one to 10 and they had his entire had to a separate aisle futile and mocked at from i know about peaceful protest in

addition the motus and soon sickening the familiar scenes were playing out in baghdad. security forces deploying water cannons and tear gas. and then once more firing live rounds into the crowd there i to push demonstrators back away from government ministries in the cities fortified green zone might know that the leaders i think it's one day using a pepsi in bandages we'd like to thank the volunteers who are getting us protective vests helmets and gloves we just need to keep. protesting. that it seems demonstrators that determined to stay on the streets no matter whether the government response of them with a carrot or a clenched fist tonight heavy clashes are reportedly continuing me the grains are on. who knows how much blood will be spilled in baghdad tonight. well here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world the u.k. parliament has elected

a new house of commons speaker lindsay hoyle of the opposition labor party promising to be neutral and transparent in his new role running the daily business of the commons he takes over from conservative john bercow who some accused of breaks it by use a grenade blast has killed one and injured dozens in indian administered kashmir it is the bloody as incident since india's stripped the region of its special status back in august several indian paramilitary police were among the injured greek police have found $41.00 refugees alive in a refrigerated truck in the north of the country police stopped the truck on the highway near the city of zante for a routine check officials say most of the people inside were from afghanistan and were unharmed because the refrigeration system was not turned on the driver has been arrested. cia backed afghan paramilitary forces have killed

civilians in night raids kidnap people and bombed villages that is according to the latest shimon rights watch report now these documented incidents took place in mostly taliban controlled areas of afghanistan and they have increased significantly over the past 2 years as the u.s. has ramped up its efforts to exit from that 18 year long war human rights watch says what is happening a war crimes the cia has responded and says that its operations are done quote in accordance with the wall and under a robust system of oversight but for afghan civilians this rationale offers a little in the way of justice for their loved ones the people who have been killed as collateral damage. on afghan villagers burying their dead farm workers harvesting pine nuts were among the victims caught up in a u.s.

drone strike in september targeting so-called islamic state militants in the east of the country. rights monitors deplored the mounting civilian casualties even as the warring parties step up efforts to reach a peace deal there seems to be movement toward some kind of a settlement and a possible u.s. troop withdrawal so both sides are ramping up their military activities trying to cause as many casualties as close as much damage to the other side as possible but the problem is that civilians are really the ones most affected human rights watch says it noticed a disturbing trend after talking to locals. one of the people who came to me afterward interviewed about a dozen people described a very different kind of atrocity at was the 1st time i was aware that these kind of night raids had become so frequent and that the people affected had really no avenue for redress no one to turn to. over the past 2 years the group says it has

documented more than a dozen cases of serious abuses by afghan paramilitary squads operating in secret with cia backing the alleged crimes include indiscriminate air raids extrajudicial killings and disappearances the problem with these particular militia groups these paramilitaries is they operate outside normal chains of command within the ordinary afghan government forces or the u.s. forces and so they're not held accountable and that lack of transparency means civilians cannot go to someone and find out what happened get any kind of justice for the crimes committed human rights watch says the secret units should be disbanded and the cia disputes the findings saying the claims are quote likely false or exaggerated. of the global fast food chain big donalds has fired its eggs chief executive the reason he is in a relationship with an employee in

a statement the fast food giants board said that steve easterbrook had violated company policy and shown poor judgment and that policy for bids managers from having romantic relationships with subordinates mcdonald's shares have almost doubled since easterbrook took over in 2015 he will also be leaving the board of directors at macduff it's all right what will the future of transport here in germany look like that is the question that's being asked as all the industry executives meet with lawmakers here in berlin they're discussing issues that are transforming the sector including electric vehicles and old thomas driving it's called the car summit and it comes as europe's biggest carmaker bokes wagon begins production of its 1st fully electric mass market vehicle the id 3. here comes the car volkswagen has spent 3 years getting ready for mass production.

the id 3 is the company's 1st purely electric model one of the world's top auto makers is now spending 30000000000 euros to get electric cars into the mainstream my number 10 dish ladies and gentleman we stand before a systemic change to electric mobility it is no longer a question of whether electric mobility will become a reality but a question of how fast and which regions of the world 1st. that's a direct challenge to german chancellor angela merkel a government is struggling to create enough charging stations to accommodate the 330000 id 3 that v.w. plans to produce every year the medical insists the government in berlin is doing its part given the government will be taking extraordinary measures we will invest 3500000000 euros over the next few years to expand public infrastructure for

charging stations yet this is an accord some volkswagen has spent 1200000000 euros converting its plant in to electric vehicle production now it falls on the government to make charging the cars as easy as filling a gas tank so that people will finally start buying them. you're watching the w. news here's a reminder of the top story we're following for you germany is marking the 30th anniversary this week of the fall of the berlin wall it happened on the 9th of november 1989 a light show at the world famous alexander plot square kicked off a week of celebrations right here in the capital berlin i don't forget you can always get me w. news on the go just download our app from google play or from the out still work that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use that each of you have to

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