alig asked. city managed by from. the be above. this is the day of the news coming to live from by french public sector workers stage one of the biggest national strikes in decades it took taking to the streets to protest against proposed french and reforms the strike is causing the widespread destruction to transport networks and schools and hospitals to get the latest from paris also coming up jill chancellor angela merkel says she

confronted russian president vladimir putin over the killing of the 4 much chechen commander in but then last summer germany is expelled 2 russian diplomats over the issue of moscow says it will retaliate. the pacific island state of someone goes into lockdown as it carries out an emergency muses vaccination program more than 60 people most of them children have died of divine assistance of toba. class the village in turkey with a melodic language on for itself. but the villagers. is under threat. of the city begin the school has. to protect us.

and unwelcome among the thought she might good to have you with us. much of france is ground to a halt as the country experiences its biggest strike in decades of a proposed pension reforms many people are taking to the streets with severe disruption to rely on schools and hospitals present in money and across plans to overhaul the retirement system could force workers to retire later or to see their pensions reduced the strike is open ended with some trade union leaders saying they will carry on their protests action till the president abandons his plans. let's go straight to our correspondents illusion standing outside the garden less station what can you tell us 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 my 1st client so lots of people are staying at home watching from home across the country the 1st demonstrations have been happening the 1st gatherings there about 250 plans for today and one is going to start just behind me the big one i gather 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 a front what is at stake for president emmanuel mccraw. 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 gets reelected in 2022 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. 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 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. in paris thank you very much for that update on the strike that is underway there. let me now bring up to date with some other stories making news around the bullish authorities say at least 6 people have died after a gas explosion destroyed a house in the 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 bought in a flash mob against sexual violence on wednesday this song a rapist in the box has become a rallying cry for women across the wad their viral protest comes as the chilean government droppers with weeks of inequality and. the australian city of sydney is shrouded in unprecedented pollution and here is a severe bush fires are raging nearby hundreds of homes have been destroyed and 4 people have died since the start of the fires scientists say the fires are more intense than usual if you prolonged drought cute by climate change. the south pacific citrus a boy has gone into lockdown as it carries out a mass vaccination office 200000 people against. dozens of samoans many of them children have died since the virus took hold since the affected hole in the world health organization says a spotter what it calls a wild wide outrage and

a collective failure to protect populations against measles model 4000 cases have been reported in samoa since the current outbreak began the main streets of the capital apia are largely deserted as mobile medical teams go door to door vaccinating people. llano necessary buying clothes for her son to be buried in. he's one of more than 60 children who has died in the measles epidemic sweeping samoa. anything like eat meat. with cases like as mounting the government has declared a state of emergency vaccinations have been made compulsory in a country where only around a 3rd of the population was immunized against measles around 90 percent need to be

vaccinated for adequate protection. one reason for the rapid spread of the preventable disease misinformation by anti vaccination groups we know that. many many try to be or to be. for people to come in to their search for. the proper means should we bury them and take a 5 hour drive before. we have children. and try to actually. keep. them for. many of you. the government's patience has run that use it started a 2 day shutdown of businesses and most government offices and advise samoans to stay indoors. officials have asked residents who've not been immunized to hang red flags from their windows medical teams are going from house to has to administer

vaccinations. others are being vaccinated in emergency centers the tiny island nation is desperate to finally stamp out the disease. gibby's. confront russian president vladimir putin over the killing of a fortune commander in berlin the 2 leaders are due to meet next week germany believes russian intelligence was involved in the killing and its expense to russian diplomats over the issue moscow denies any involvement and says it would 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. i'll be meeting the russian president next week and then i will let you know whether i have spoken with him and how that goes and 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. through all that. been organist a georgian national was 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 2040 against russia and the 2nd chechen war the suspected killer is a 49 year old russian tyrant liang 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 relation to this incident have to the

russian authorities absolutely groundless assumptions. germany's interior minister. told reporters the investigation was ongoing. in germany 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 i can only think of the attorney general that he has taken it all noise 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 when the show when is the respondent in moscow. if you let me start with you kate a fair bit of information has emerged overnight tell us why does blooded believe

that russia is involved in this assassination will this all comes of the back of the decision by the german prosecution federal prosecution to take on this case and these are often cases where the prosecution considered the crime to be a crime against the states and german prosecution so so far said that they have sufficient evidence to indicate that this killing was indeed carried out by russia or chechnya and so 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 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 chechen descent and even a 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 some day 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 bit of a strong reaction the russian ambassador here in britain says they really be consequence is 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 a 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 protest 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 is dependent on russia what seems like it's got supplies exactly when 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 there 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. into gas pipeline which is being built under the baltics which would see germany realign extremely heavily even the now on russia for gas now until now i'm glad merkel has tried to make sure that this project as being very much an economic progress. 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 be

used as a geopolitical instrument depending on how this investigation develops but of course germany is still also a mediator in the talks which set to take place next week in paris between russia ukraine and france and germany and those will be focused in 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 like how this develops in the coming weeks right as he just mentioned mikel and putin all set to meet on monday to discuss ukraine but could these new diplomatic tensions wait on 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 the details in moscow and. thank you both very much for your reporting. in the u.s. for legal experts have testified in a 2nd round of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into president donald trump 3 of the 4 constitutional experts said trump did commit and peach

a bill offense when he asked the a korean president to investigate his political rival joe biden and the group was called to testify before congress as top democrats laid the groundwork for formal charges the other little expert scored by the republicans defended trial but he said the president had made mistakes. so what other people who would be voting the 2020 presidential election saying about the impeachment hearings to find out if we visited a town in virginia that's a state president trying failed to win in the 2016 election. blackstone it's about a 3 hour drive south of washington and the impeachment hearings going on there the residents here are proud to say they're part of the self. mack osborn runs a wholesale beverage company in blackstone the trump supporter says he's doing its 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 seems this millions of dollars being wasted and. we have so many issues national issues we need to solve as a country and this just of that's just 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 this is you all know where your money should go 'd or you want to make sure things are doing right before you help somebody. around 4000 people lived in blackstone roughly half a white the other half were african-american the region is traditionally conservative but in the last congressional elections a democrat won the district. most african-americans we meet 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've got. to go 20 did this saddle so easy to keep all over the place. if you replace you get rid of a man to go to country i. mean the people who voted for. him in a local baba shop 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 cons 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 it. that's no reason for them ph us street but i do think they can go to show. how they good great job with a figure of special counsel looking on the proprietors of

a nearby bed and breakfast their hot. bed democrats and i believe the impeachment hearings are justified but i don't think the result will play a role in the upcoming elections. are we going to look for clinton he says the economy stupid and basically it sounds like it's going to be. hard to see how the economy is going that would be the advantage to you know to the current administration. republicans and democrats and blacks don't 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. we visit the vision to see where they use their own sentiency. kinescope. to the list of conditions. at 1st to death.

he's gymnast was famous and successful basketball exploits he received the order of merit on wednesday in but then i think event off the same way the former n.b.a. star took time to reflect and discuss what to post both basketball and life has been still for him. i don't know if it sees him posing skills of hard work helped catapult the former basketball player into superstardom but his impact has extended far past the sports world to fix he was awarded the german order of merit the country's highest civic honor by president frank falta steinmeyer in berlin the award celebrates the 41 year old's athletic career and commitment to community service if it is a unicef ambassador and launched a foundation supporting children dealing with poverty and illness in 2001 i think preview ward ceremony and it made it clear he's enjoying himself after 21 years in the pros. it's

a full on fungus i said from the start that when my career was over i would need a year or 2 to take a step back and enjoy my family they played 2nd fiddle long enough. to wicki is no stranger to accolades he led the dallas mavericks to the 2011 n.b.a. title and was the 1st ever european to win the league m.v.p. award in 2007 his larger than life play in the u.s. helped elevate the previously rarely played game back home. so he's accomplished enough for a lifetime germany's record point getter is already thinking of the next step. up i listen i've always tried to give everything for my sport with passion and heart. but now i want to different perspective and would like to enter the business world. however he follows up is a lustrous playing career there's no doubt if it is he will continue to stand out in the crowd. and good luck to him now the old toto was an invention of the 21st

century the think again it goes out the desert inns in a village near the black sea coast of turkey have been happy tweeting and twittering 150 is 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 caught in bed accuses it to communicate with a neighbor from earth talk to avert a top. further up the hill a neighbor joins the conversation. calvin bit big invites us over for tea several neighbors have come by and they all agree that modernity is to

blame for the steady the minds of the bird language in their village. you 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 may just used to call our neighbors for help by whistling we didn't have to walk everywhere you could whistle from here and over there people would understand. the traditions of. hyper 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 a founder to 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. i'm just one of the few who are interested. in the other can see the language is useless. but i believe it's very valuable. even though scientists believe the bird language is slowly going extinct interest in the

tradition is increasing much further than turkeys on boulders. and these days whistling is making a comeback across the valley of. it was indeed obvious coming to life from berlin up next conflict zone with an interview with the vice president of india saluting the g.o.p. party jane fonda and see again in half not the full that it.

comes. to the conflicts on the team sebastian. is just 3 months since india decided that it'll have to change in kashmir my guess this week here in london is j.

comes up national vice-president come on the chief spokesman of the ruling b.j. . thomas he also charges of widespread human rights violations in kashmir. 6. doubling. the big bang that created today's world started to simulate a historical trend point in politics business and litter. in iraq the up people of the islamic revolution undergoing a tough. opens up making its initial flirtation capitalism. strong sense states of emergency but sinks into chaos market such remarks in

cabbage them to work harder and they will was at the start of neoliberalism. coupe junction the 2nd business come up against the people and threaten steel mortar. bomb squad car suspended people. for starters an era that defines overmanaged. 1973 the big move to 10 days where it starts december 23rd w. e n. 0 information silent so it's hold up to see this is a play to cover up why the silence by the media in general interest me we are facing an undeclared war from across the western border it's just 3 months since india decided that it all had to change in kashmir it tore up the region special status and imposed direct rule from delhi thousands of people.