the but . this is coming to you live from berlin french public sector was one of the biggest national strikes in decades taking to the streets to protest against proposed pension reforms the strike is crippling transport networks schools and hospitals we'll go live to paris also coming up germany's chancellor angela merkel says she'll confront

a russian president vladimir putin over the killing of a former church in command in berlin last summer and in germany she and germany has expressed to the russian diplomats over the issue moscow says it will retaliate. and as the impeachment inquiry into president trump reaches its climax in washington the visit small town usa to find out what aldrich people think one thing we all agree on americans divided over this issue. plus the village into a melodic language or the for itself. but the villages almost under threat as young. cygnus go has an adult. protective tradition.

i'm on that that she not good to have you with us. much of france is grounded to a halt as the country experiences its biggest strike in decades of a proposed special reforms many people are taking to the streets where severe severe disruption to rail lines schools and hospitals president a man in macross plans to overhaul the retirement system would force workers to retire later or see their pensions video just the strike is open ended with some trade union leaders saying they'll carry on their protest action till the president abandons his plans. let's go straight to our correspondent is alou issue standing outside the garden less station what can tell us of what is happening around you and what we can expect in the coming hours. well this 1st immune morning has been really quiet for the french capital many people have stayed at home you know taxi

drivers thought it would be a busy day but actually the one i took this morning told me you know i've been working for 5 hours new york for my 1st client so lots of people are staying at home working from home across the country the 1st demonstrations have been happening the 1st gatherings there about 2 $150.00 plans for today and one is going to start just behind me the big one at the last less here in paris that will kick off later on here this is expected to be one of the biggest national strikes in decades in france what is at stake for president a man in the craw. well a lot mark hall has been elected on the platform to be a reformer the pension reform is one of the centerpieces he has largely lost support from left wing voters he was in the beginning saying you know i'm neither from the left nor from the right but left wing which is have been really unhappy with what he has been doing in the 1st 2 years in power now these core supporters

now from the center right and center right core support these people actually expect him to reform the country and many people here even from the majority from the governments are saying you know we really need to push through this reform to show that we can reform the country if we fail that would mean we would have very little chance that can the president get reelected in 2020 and this is a recent poll showed that pension reform in general would be welcomed in the country but the workers are still very angry what do they want. yeah absolutely there seems to be some kind of majority for a some kind of pension reform but many many people have been telling me at least that they think that the system is not really sustainable in the long term they understand it needs to be reformed but they just don't trust him and michael to reform in the right way there are 42 different pension systems here and you know this so-called special regimes with

a certain with certain people retire earlier than others and you know has certain advantages that if it's what they pay in actually generates more pension then in other cases now many people say it's true that this whole system is maybe not sustainable but we also need to maintain some benefits and for certain people because they're suffering more it's harder for them to work say in general people say you know we kind of need to reform the system but they just think that he will kind of bring everybody down to the same level instead of lifting everybody up and he they don't trust him to do the right thing really especially as the government hasn't really and via the details of its reform liza lewis in paris thank you very much for that update on the strike that is underway there. and german chancellor. confront russian president vladimir putin over the killing of a former church in command in berlin the 2 leaders are due to meet next week germany believes russian intelligence was involved in the killing and is expected to

russian diplomats of the issue moscow to noise denies any involvement and says it will retaliate. this decision could escalate tensions between russia and western countries german chancellor angela merkel has defended the expulsion of russian diplomats after germany's attorney general said evidence points to russian state involvement in. meeting the russian president next week and then i will let you know whether i have spoken with him and how that goes we've taken this measure as you know mainly because we have seen that russia is not supporting us in investigating this murder and of course i've spoken with allies about this through bilateral contacts. that. in august a georgian nationalist shot dead in berlin in broad daylight soon after the assassination suspicions arose that the russian intelligence services were involved

the victim was a former rebel commander in the early 2000 he fought against russia and the 2nd chechen war the suspected killer is a 49 year old russian currently in custody moscow denies any involvement in the killing. the investigation is underway in germany we don't have anything to say because we don't possess any information. this incident have to the russian authorities absolutely groundless assumptions. germany's interior minister. told reporters the investigation was ongoing. there was a criminal process that deals with this kind of thing and in the case of a crime of this magnitude and with this background can anything to be attorney general that he has taken. that say something about the significance of this crime including his political background with the.

with moscow still refusing to cooperate in the investigation criticism of russia and the west is getting louder. i'm joined now by our correspondents political correspondents here in berlin and we show when. despondent in moscow. if you did talk that you get a fair bit of information has emerged overnight tell us why does blood and believe that russia is involved in this assassination well this all comes of the back of the decision by the prosecution the federal prosecution to take on this case and these often cases where the prosecution considered the crime to be a crime against the states and german prosecution so if so far said that they have sufficient evidence to indicate that this killing was indeed carried out by russia or chechnya and if you look at some of the circumstances surrounding both the suspected perpetrator and the victim there are already some indicators that this may be the case the suspected perpetrator was

a 49 year old russian national he's now currently in custody and he had actually already previously being wanted in in a separate killing in russia which was a very similar case the victim that was also killed in a very similar way someone cycled by him on a bike and shot him and then if we look as well at the victim he was actually an asylum seeker of chechen descent and even the german prosecution have said that he has that he had been persecuted as someone who was against russia and even since since leaving and coming to try and seek asylum here in germany we actually spoke to his wife is ex-wife sorry earlier this year and she said that there had been several attempts against his life which is why they fled here in the 1st place and that they would have been told someday it would lead to something like this and of course as we know now that it did indeed result in his death and that he turning to

russia of course categorically denies any involvement in this giving this been of a strong reaction the russian ambassador here in britain says they really be consequences what might they be. well we still don't know the russian side seems to be taking its time with the response usually in cases like this russia's strategy is to respond with a kind of tit for tat response we saw that for example in one precedent last year in the case of the poisoning of sergei screwball in the u.k. which in a way was similar attempted murder in this case and in that case the u.k. expelled $23.00 diplomats and russia responded in kind so we may see some something like that one russian parliamentarian yesterday was talking about that being a reasonable response but i think we could also see a perhaps a more careful response when it comes to germany from the russian side after all

the relations between the 2 countries have traditionally been close. get into you know what does this incident mean for relations between the 2 countries author jim is dependent on russia with seems like it's got supplies exactly what it doesn't come at a great time anyway and there will be a lot of things issues to consider particularly when it comes to how germany takes 6 its next step particularly if prosecutors do find yet more indications at least that russia might be behind this killing so the fact that germany has already expelled 2 russian diplomats say something about the stance that germany is taking towards russia which as i mentioned germany has always been relatively close to russia but they're hot and have been coals within the government particularly from conservative policies to make these these connections closer between germany and russia as well but as you mentioned we currently stay in the construction of the north. to gas pipeline which is being built into the baltics which would see

germany realign extremely heavily even the now russia for gas now until now i'm glad merkel has tried to make sure that this project is being very much an economic process. despite some of the concerns in the baltic states about which how that could be instrumental ised by russia so of course that could still potentially being used as a geopolitical instrument depending on how this investigation develops but of course germany is still also a mediator in the talks which are set to take place next week in paris between russia ukraine and france and germany and those will be focusing on the u.k. ukraine piste and angela merkel's already said that she will be addressing putin president putin about this killing and to see it be interesting to then see what shalyn this develops in the coming weeks right as he just mentioned medically and

putin will set to meet on monday to discuss ukraine but could these new diplomatic tensions we own those talks well russia certainly seems to not want these diplomatic tensions to weigh on those talks they are very important this is the 1st meeting between the ukrainian president and the russian president these are the 1st talks in the normandy format so about peace in ukraine since 2016 and russia seems to be treading a bit more carefully than germany is even as kate said medical did mention this issue and that she would be addressing putin on monday about it potentially whereas putin yesterday in a press conference didn't mention it at all so the russian side seems to be being a bit more careful and the head of the international affairs committee in the russian parliament yesterday said that these this issue this murder would have no effect on russian german relations and no effect on those normandy talks.

in moscow and keep it in thank you both very much for your reporting. let me now bring you up to date with some other stories making news around the world police authorities say at least 6 people have died after a gas explosion destroyed a house in a southern mountain resort children are believed to be among the dead rescuers are searching for 2 people who are still missing. in chile thousands of women took part in a flash mob against sexual violence on wednesday this song a rapist in your path has become a rallying cry for women across the was there viral protest comes as the chilean government drop is that weeks of unrest or what inequality. the australian city of sydney is shrouded in unprecedented pollution and severe bush fires are raging nearby hundreds of homes have been destroyed and 4 people have died since the start

of the fires weeks ago scientists say the fires are more intense than usual due to a from long drought food by climate change. in the us for legal experts have testified in the 2nd round of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into president donald trump 3 of the 4 constitutional experts said truong did commit an impeachable offense when he also ukrainian president to investigate political rival joe biden the group was called to testify before congress as told him could democrats lead the groundwork for formal charges the other law experts called by the republicans defended trump but said the president had made mistakes. so what other people who vote in the 2020 president election sing about the impeachment hearings to find out visited a town in virginia a stage where rich president trump failed to win in the 2016 elections.

blackstone is about a 3 hour drive south of washington and the impeachment hearings going on there the residents here are proud to say that part of the south. back always born runs a wholesale beverage company in blackstone the trump supporter says he's doing his best to keep up to speed on what's happening in the capital and he's definitely not happy about the hearings. i don't think americans want this to go on for days and weeks and weeks and this witness and that witness and his just say this millions of dollars being wasted and we have so many issues national issues we need to solve this country and this system fatsis the family business man doesn't believe president trump did anything wrong with regard to ukraine. i think a lot of this is just good politics and good business you want to know where your money should go and you want to make sure the things you're doing right before you

help somebody. around 4000 people lived in blackstone roughly half a white the other half are african-american the region is traditionally conservative but in the last congressional elections a democrat won the district. most african-americans we made on the street don't want to comment on the impeachment proceedings thomas tyler is an exception he says he'd rather see president trump's political fight decided at the ballot box next year we got. to see that was what he did this saddle so easy to keep it all replace . if you replace you get rid of him and then to go to the country of. the people who voted. him in and. molly black occasionally chats with customers about the impeachment proceedings she says she doesn't personally follow the hearings she will remain a trump supporter regardless of what's said in washington. everybody has

their pros and cots there's things that make a good president good and bad president bad but look at the economy now there's no reason no reason to kick him out no reason for the impeachment it's. how they do a great job with a figure of special counsel looking on the proprietors of a nearby bed and breakfast their hard work. their democrats and i believe the impeachment hearings are justified but i don't think the result will play a role in the upcoming elections. to go to work for clinton it's the economy stupid and basically it sounds like it's going to be. economy. you know to the current administration. republicans and democrats and blackstone seem to agree on this point they also agree that the united states is currently deeply divided but they differ on who's to blame. coming up next

on. the visit the village in turkey where they used a century version. of the bird language to protect a tradition. groups often criticize the country for handing down more death sentences than the rest of the combined official numbers are kept secret so the actual number could be much higher innocent people are often executed jim this much is winning amid a group of men sentenced to death but whose convictions overturned. the foreman didn't expect anything when police showed up at their homes one evening in 20022 years earlier a gruesome murder had happened near their village. i want to buy you woman i think

they suspected the culprits lived in our village they came and just arbitrarily took people from there we weren't even hanging out together at the time you were the devil in the days you wonder the missiles and they didn't say much they just said immediately you're the one who did it. the poor were ultimately found guilty of killing a young man and raping and killing a young woman her body was found cut into pieces and wrapped in a plastic bag or today nothing reminds one of the crimes. to get even though you didn't this is the place where it happened inside this compound. it is was a rice paddy at the time. don't you know. the double murder shocked many in the region john fogg and the others was sentenced to death they had confessed but under torture china is thought to have the highest number of executions in the world although the exact figure is a state secret once police have identified the suspect that person will nearly

always be punished the conviction rate in china is 99.9 percent. when we didn't fall asleep at the v. for the day we were prepared for everything 1st we wrote our will then we told our relatives they should appeal the sentence we were hoping we could clear our names but all the time i was scared that the communist party might suddenly take us to be executed. all of them were married and had young children or will farmers later chin's wife and as a repair ins with his rickshaw drivers to pay for the lawyers and the kids' education his daughter was 7 when he was arrested you know took a fall she had my classmates would go home after school and have dinner with their parents these ordinary things were not possible for us. to the color t.v. analysts or other people this was something normal but to me it seemed like the

biggest luxury i was so jealous of my classmates. it would be 14 years until she could eat with her father again then in 2016 the men's convictions were finally overturned. the story was widely reported in china one of the handful of cases where their sentences were revoked in recent years. chen and the others were compensated with 300000 euros each junge used the money to build a new house for his family. if we could have worked all these years we might have been able to make the same amount of money our reputation has been damaged our psyche our children and families have suffered we have mental health problems how can this money compensate this money. it's now been several years since their release but they still struggle with getting through

the day their ordeal traumatized them. people used to talk a lot with each other there was a lively atmosphere at home it's different now we spend most of our time in silence . says he has only one goal for his future to live a life as ordinary as possible. that's it both them. now we will talk twitter was an invention of the 21st century the think again because it turns out that villages near the black sea coast of turkey have been happily sending each other tweets the hundreds if you take a listen. corrie is a small turkish community with about $400.00 residents nestled in the mountains near the black sea its name means the village of birds and it's home to an age old bird language got in bed accuses it to communicate with a neighbor from earth talked of earth top.

further up the hill a neighbor joins the conversation. cowdenbeath big and so is the footy several neighbors have come by and they all agree that modernity is to blame for the study the minds of the bird language in their village. need to be back in the day everyone could speak of our ancestors our grandparents for instance my father my mother my siblings they could all speak it now we've got telephones and the language is disappearing the young people say it seems rude to them when they whistle they don't learn the bird language but they could but they don't because they are moving to the city. in some of the grandchildren come back to the village from the city for their holidays caught in tries to teach the boys the

language but it's nearly impossible to do in just a few weeks. you might just get used to call our neighbors for help i whistling we didn't have to walk everywhere you could whistle from here and over there people would understand. the traditions of. hype do not farming community are gradually being lost that's why unesco has added the bird language to its protection program the villages hope to receive financial support and the founder of a school for the language. some can whistle their 1st sounds from the 1st day onwards there is need about one or 2 weeks it takes about 2 months until they can whistle their 1st phrases it has to do with talent to. elton is the great hope of the village.

in giving up hope i'm just one of the few who are interested. the other could say the language is useless. but i believe it's very valuable limited amount. even though scientists believe the bird language is slowly going extinct interest in the tradition is increasing much further than turkeys on borders. and days days whistling is making a comeback across the valley of course cory. wonderful just take a look at this this is the friend city of leone now where artists have fun creative ways to bring light into dock miss. some spectacular installations are on display at the annual festival of lights the

style of the show would these illuminated blanton's the imaginary creatures hovered above a nature themed installation featuring $500.00 lights trees a total of 40 lights installations one show with many projected on the historic architecture of the city. next focus on europe the spotlight is on people to stay with us for that if you can.

cleaning lady by day folks. celebrated d.j. at a popular mosque down club by night. serena his 57 years old and her play left has almost exclusively electronic tracks how did it all start 4 years ago she tells her story on. t.w.

. into the conflict zone with tim sebastian faulks is just 3 months since india has decided that it will have to change in kashmir my desk this week here in london is james caan the national vice president and one of the chief spokesman of the ruling v.j. peace talks thomas he also the charges of widespread human rights violations in kashmir conflicts so from 60 minutes he jokes. closely. to see carefully you don't know how soon mean she needs to do good.

hello and welcome to focus on europe i'm liable oh it's nice to have you with us a mother killed while holding her baby a 15 year old shot in a busy square alliance has shape.