this is the w. news live from berlin turning a spotlight on the past germany begins a week of celebrations to mark the fall of the berlin wall 3 decades ago with events taking place across the capital we asked what the lessons are for today. also coming up violence flares again and she lay as thousands of people take to the streets of the capital santiago to demand an end to the canonical inequality.

i'm called aspen welcome to the program festivities have kicked off here in germany to mark the fall of the berlin wall 30 years ago one of them for 9th $1089.00 events have been taking place across the capital will have more on that but 1st one demonstration 3 decades ago that many say change the course of history. history flashing before their eyes as thousands returned to berlin psychotic golic son the plot to mark the moment that would help change the city and the country forever nov 4th 1989 more than half a 1000000 protesters descended on the square and what would become the largest demonstration in the history of east germany led by some of its most prominent intellectuals they rose up to demand more freedoms from the oppressive regime. it's as if someone has pushed open the window. of 2 years of intellectual economic

and political stagnation shelf they can only years reeking of apathy 2 years of double speak and bureaucratic despotism but still cut off. the communist regime had rapidly and publicly lost all support but even then no one predicted the just 5 days later their berlin wall would fall. this week the spirit of the peaceful revolution once more lighting up the city like this giant wave of colorful streamers said brandenburg gate carrying messages of hope for the future written by germans. over the coming days the city will celebrate the anniversary with more than $200.00 events exhibitions and artworks culminating with the ceremony at the berlin wall memorial on saturday. are for more joining me now in studio is political correspondent

simon young i mean simon we saw there you know this day of course still resonating here in germany how is the country marking these events from 30 years ago well it's a week long celebration really especially here in berlin as we saw there are projects polities speeches films discussion panels and of course the t.v. networks are full of all that famous archive footage of the opening when the opening points between east and west. you know opened almost without planning and suddenly the streets of berlin were you know a one big sort of party so the authorities i think of trying to recapture some of that atmosphere from back then remembering the victims of german division as well of course. it's all going to culminate on the 9th of november the actual adverse 3 of the fall of the wall with a big show and plenty of razzmatazz. at the brandenburg gate now we see of course

behind as you know all these happy faces the celebrations you mentioned for those the living in former east germany at the time i mean life after the wall came down wasn't always so simple right that's right i mean some people have struggled to come to terms with the changes that were brought in by 989 and there's no doubting that germany today is more democratic than communist east germany was but for many people i think the end of the g.d.r. meant the end of the system that they'd grown up in the end of the country where they'd grown up where they had respect where they knew how to behave and how to get on and suddenly millions of people had to survive in a capitalist system west germans and other foreigners turned up who sometimes said that they knew how to do it better and not everybody from east germany so thrived under that new system in line with that as a new survey out saying that hof of east germans eastern germans believe that they

are less free to express themselves now than they were on the communism and there is much resentment that wages and pensions and so on aloa well of course almost nobody says that they want to return to the east german communist system. 3 decades on many germans still living with the effects of that old german east german regime one of them being the stanzi of the the east german secret police i mean give us an idea of what life was like under the shah for many citizens before the wall came down yet while the east german communist state felt that it needed to keep an eye watch follow my own citizens to protect the socialist system is it see it as it's sort that made this vost apparatus a sort of state within a state of professionals surveillance agents but also of unofficial collaborators in 1909 the stasi employed nearly 300000 people that was more than 2 percent of the population of the total population of east germany they're all busy

observing each of. you know watching friends and colleagues fellow students and in some cases even family members noting down what they did where they went what they say to others trying to analyze that information and where they felt it was necessary you know putting them in a network of prisons that the stars he ran and you know those were places where torture was commonplace and where even the sort of flimsy protections that people had on the reach german law couldn't really help them not all the commemorations this week are happy ones of course simon young thank very much. and of course all this week we'll be bringing you special coverage and reports of the events which led to the fall of the berlin wall 30 years ago right here on g.w. now a look at some of the other stories making news around the world chinese president xi jinping has met on kong's kerry lamb in what's being seen as a vote of confidence in the territories and battle leader the 2 met during

a trade event in shanghai lammas been struggling to deal with months of protests against beijing's growing influence in hong kong. the u.s. has formally notified the united nations that it is pulling out of the terrorist climate agreement president trump announced the move 2 years ago monday was the 1st day the process could actually start the u.s. is the only country to quit the deal. now thousands of people have again taken to the streets of the chilean capital santiago to demand better social services and an end to any quality the demonstrations began last month after the government announced a hike in subway fares the government's now accuses the protesters of damaging the economy but they say too few to lanes are benefiting from the country's prosperity . the wail of sirens tear gas and water cannons once again tensions flared into violent clashes between police and protesters in santiago.

demonstrations erupted in the chilean capital 3 weeks ago anger over a hike in metro fares sparked massive protests over income inequality and poor public services. the police met the demands with bullets leaving 20 people dead the government's hard line has enraged those demanding change. protesting against the system in general about all the problems in the near liberal system here and. arrived at a crisis we noticed that the system cannot handle it anymore yet this is going in a way that my chile has the reputation of being a latin american success story but economic growth has come with rising inequality and a cut in social provisions thousands took to the streets on monday to protest the pension system that is leaving the elderly short changed. what the government wants is to continue maintaining there's

a pension system if they use this process completely insulting it's a provocation and that's why people. others had come together to highlight student debt which is crippling the finances of university graduates not having a way to pay and having to deprive not to pay go to pay for this is an anguish for all of us. fuelled by a sense of injustice approach. show no sign of the dating. europe's top court is due to rule on a controversial polish law that lowers the retirement age for judges critics say it undermines the independence of the judiciary poland's ruling law and justice party introduced a bond 2 years ago as part of a package of reforms to the joint judicial system it makes about a 3rd of judges take an early pension opponents say their replacements would then be chosen by the heart. brussels bureau chief

max often is following this developing story for us now max 1st of all just walk us through this ruling as the has there been a ruling and what did they use a high score design yeah the ruling is in the european court of justice so that you use highest court has ruled that there is infringement particularly on 2 issues that were in this law concerning the lower courts in poland the 1st one is that it's supposed to bring down the retirement age for women to 60 years and to men for 65 years notice something it's not the same retirement age so the fringe of it here is because of gender equality because men and women in the european union are supposed to be treated equally that's part one the 2nd part is that the justice minister in poland would have the power to extend the term of the judges beyond those 60 or respectively 65 years old so if you're a judge in poland you want to work longer as long as you work now because the

retirement age now for both is 67 years it would be in the hand of the justice minister to decide that and that is infringing upon the independence of the court system that is also supposed to be a given in the european union max why is the e.u. so concerned why is it paying so much attention to these changes that poland is making to its court system. well superficially it's about topics like you just heard of gender equality and of course that's a very important topic but the one topic that transcends everything of course is protecting the rule of law and that's why you have a number of infringement procedures against the government against poland at the moment and also a so-called article 7 procedure this ruling right here is not part of that but the article 7 procedures often called also the nuclear option because india and it could give the e.u. the power to strip poland of its voting rights within the european union but we're not there yet. brussels bureau chief max often thank you very much

authorities in brazil say an oil spill off the northeast coast is one of the biggest environmental disasters ever to hit the country oil has been washing up on beaches now for months the president's jay able scenario has warned that the worst is yet to come brazil blames a greek freighter for the disaster but the ship's owners deny any involvement. and environmental disaster brazil's rich coastal ecosystems including its beaches it's cultural. and countless species are affected by the oil spill. life will be able to flourish and grow like it's always been able to and it affects the food chain it's a community of land and sea species here this is a disaster this oil cannot be allowed to remain. the cleanup effort is enormous including government authorities the military and

thousands of volunteers. it has to be to match the disaster scale. this disaster with this kind of oil it can't be detected by satellite has never happened before in brazil or in fact anywhere in the world. president jaya bell sonars government is blaming a greek shipping company for the spill asking interpol for help both sonora has released funds for the clean up and to help small businesses but experts say that his dismantling of government environment committees is also to blame. for the. order. got rid of several 100 of. all federal. and one of those committees. to deal with. oil spills brazil now has multiple environmental

disasters playing out at once fires in the amazon a burst toxic mining dam. and now this. is a reminder now the top stories that we're tracking for you at this hour germany has begun a week of celebrations marking the fall of the early in wall 30 years ago on november 9th 1989 artists projected images onto buildings in the capital as part of a series of events to remember you can. end violence has once again flared and she lay as thousands of people took to the streets of the couple's jago to demand an end to the economic inequality the demonstrations began last month after the government announced a hike in public transport. this is news live from berlin up next dr phil bonn germany and the importance of freedom and in the meantime don't forget all the latest news and information available on our

website around the cost to go to dot com or you can follow us on twitter at w news on called assman that's watching. the family and friends chimes of the famous naturalist and excuse. to sing the bridge alex on the phone its 250th birthday we remember doing the no for your job discovery. expedition voyage d.w. .