i recognized the difficult conditions however nothing can become an excuse for violent reactions to health checks and even more so for such extensive on race this is not his. amid the ruins of what was moreas north korea camp aid workers see the tragedy has been a long time coming. we had. the situation that. night. 5 years of progress by. the parties run by local government as much as. the reach to reach the displaced is under way 400 unaccompanied children boarded

a flight to mainland greece. for the families left behind the week continues their feet in the hands of leaders their futures uncertain. let's get some perspective on this story now joining us on the phone is now she's a migration expert and the architect of the european union's refugee jail with turkey signed in march 26th scene good evening to you all as we mentioned the german and french leaders have agreed on an initiative for the european union to take in around $400.00 minors but that really is just the start do you think a european approach is viable as possible when there are countries that were checked any plans to distribute migrants. well 1st of all the form of the children is useful and good for 4 on the children but it doesn't go much beyond the promises that were made before this gets tricky and it will not solve the problem we have 26000 people on the island the conditions have been horrible and because of the

coronavirus quarantine people have been there on all these islands who arrived in also in 2090 so they've been contained there's no perspective and it's not even clear why do i kept on the island because it's grissom that at the moment you can't really do asylum procedures in this chaos nobody will be sent back to turkey because turkey doesn't take anyone there that you track agreement broke down end of february 2020 so it's no longer in place and anyway it cannot be deputations even of those who might be rejected in a fair side of procedure which as i said you can hold in a chaos so these people will not be returned they will be in greece but housing them on the impossible conditions the last 6 months and now of course homeless in lesbos is a recipe for further disaster for pension or even security ok and aid organizations have been warning about this for quite some time how do you explain this how could

europe allow these conditions to go on for so long. well there's been bad conditions for years. until the end of 2000 by g.d. every other time people say to the very best camp was for months and already then there was always enough money to actually improve conditions and there would have been always the possibility to accelerate procedures and to move people quicker to the mainland this wasn't happening but in the last few months it was very clear that in the absence of any agreement with turkey there is there are governments in europe but they say so openly that basically bank of deterrence through bad conditions only so these people are means to an end in the end is to deliver a message don't come to europe because in europe your life will be worse than where you are now turkey or elsewhere but it is clearly illegal it's the breakdown of the rule of law it's the violation of every convention every asylum law the refugee

convention the human rights convention everything that is a political lot in europe but it's being tolerated by the rest of europe and it seems to be and we saw it in the reaction today there isn't a demand from greece to other europeans to take the people among the homeless on the island so carol where do things go from here we mentioned that you were the architect of the migration agreement with turkey as you said it fell apart what would a new plan for europe look like. well 1st we need a plan for the next 3 days then a plan for the next 3 months for the next 3 days these people need to be housed. they need to be treated with dignity that is not culpable not in the others on the other hand they need to be moved to the mainland now european countries and here germany can play a big role in the biggest country should offer to take refugees one easy ministers easy way to take the record and a quotation on the greek mainland they care if they obviously want to bring them to

germany and then how the people who need to move from the island. even accommodation that exists groupthink will see that it is not alone but greece needs to ask this is crucial ok we'll have to leave it there now some migration expert as we said architect of the refugee with to deal with the turkey thanks for joining us here. i think you. while less post was one of the flashpoints of the migration crisis 5 years ago when during the summer an unprecedented number of people fleeing war and poverty left their home countries and tried to reach europe the arrival of so many people in such a short time forced the e.u. to urgently seek a common approach on asylum seekers a common approach that to this day remains elusive. it's a humanitarian tragedy that has influenced european politics like no longer the procession of migrants and refugees hoping to find a new hold believe you a crisis that peaked in 2015. for 5 years now hundreds of reporters

myself included have been trying to shed some light on the policies that e.u. member states and institutions have been trying to come up with in response to these pictures so let's take a look at what has actually changed since 2015 is the e.u. any better prepared for a new major increase in migration flows today one thing that here member states here at the european council in brussels have all agreed on is strengthening the in use external borders part of that strategy has been a landmark deal with turkey to prevent migrants on asylum seekers from entering the e.u. in the 1st place and despite the recent drought over what exactly turkey gets in return apart from financial aid for refugees in turkey the effect has been a dramatic decrease in the number of a rifle's. preventing people from heading for europe is now

a common condition that the e.u. ties to economic partnerships and even development aid particularly when it comes to african countries it's also why they fund the libyan coast guard proactive search and rescue operations like this one along the central mediterranean route you have in china practically stopped so europe's fortress is stronger than ever but what about europe's ideals human rights protection from war international conventions the u. commission's plan was that reception centers like this one on the greek island of less force would welcome asylum seekers in a dignified manner and process their police station forms quickly but moria europe's biggest camp for displaced people became a sprawling symbol. of failure even before the devastating fire and the recent covered 1000 locked down built to house 3000 some 12000 people were living here rather than days it took off years to process applications thanks to baracoa see

indifference but above all a lack of political will of this human suffering is the result of dysfunctional legislation the current system known as the doppler regulation stipulates that most people must claim asylum in their country of arrival but states with extra no borders like italy or greece say that's just not fair so in the heat of the crisis the you tried to bring in relocation quote us with each country taking their share of refugees and migrants based on their g.d.p. and population but the idea crashed and burned hungary the czech republic slovakia and poland refused to accept refugees or abide by the rules now it's done only on a voluntary basis 5 years on the e.u. remains deeply divided on the issue take the coronavirus pandemic already some member states have been using the virus as an excuse to bring in tougher controls

without epidemiological justification after countless delays the e.u. commission is expected to finally bring forward its new pact on migration and asylum at the end of the month. its president was a life on the line is adamant that he uses asylum system needs a fresh start. fire has broken out in beirut's ports just weeks after the devastating explosion that killed nearly 200 people in the lebanese capital and left hundreds of thousands homeless flames and smoke are rising from the destroyed port of the cos it is still unclear the army says the blaze started at a warehouse where oil and tires were being stored there are no reports of injuries but the fire terrified residents still traumatized by last month's blast. let's get the latest on the story now we have. a correspondent standing by for us in beirut highrise on what more can you tell us about this new blades all

right it looks like we have lost our connection there to our correspondent reza on solomon she was reporting on the new fire there in the port in beirut we're going to try to get that line back up and speak to run again for now though let's move on to some other stories making news around the world the 1st case of african swine fever has been confirmed in a wild boar in germany that's according to the country's agriculture minister the disease is not dangerous to humans but it is fatal to pigs authorities have prepared containment measures to protect the country's pork industry. in the u.s. at least 6 people have died in wildfires in california oregon and washington hundreds of homes in oregon have been destroyed the governor's warning it could be the biggest loss of life and property the state has ever seen. u.s. secretary of state mike pump aoe says the alleged poisoning of kremlin critic

alexina volley was likely ordered by senior russian officials doctors in berlin believe not only was poisoned with the nerve agent know the chalk on paper says washington will evaluate its response. u.s. president trump is under fire again for his handling of the corona virus and a new book veteran journalist bob woodward says trump deliberately downplayed the danger posed by the virus and has produced an audio recording of the president admitting to doing so at a news conference the president defended his actions maintained he was not lying to the public insisting he did not want to cause panic nearly $200000.00 americans have died so far and certainly i'm going to go into. this country or the world into a frenzy and we want to show confidence we want to show strength we want to show strength as a nation and that's what i've done and we've done very well or let's go right to

washington now. and is standing by for us there are high abby so how is the president's explanation for misleading the american public on the coronavirus pandemic going down there while so we heard him there say that he was just trying to avoid causing panic and he was tweeting rather rapidly earlier even downplaying the reaction the outrage to these audio clips by saying woodward didn't release the tapes earlier so how terrible could they have been really trying has also said he didn't want to jump up and down saying there was a problem while there was a problem and we now know he understood that that he was aware of the deadly nature of the disease but was comparing it to the seasonal flu and he insisted the virus would be gone by summer that it was all under control but this audiotape shows he knew just how pressing the situation was and he simply was not conveying that to the american people certainly there's been some criticism of course considering what he's been saying but the white house and his administration are certainly spinning it differently as well the democratic presidential candidate joe biden has

come out pretty strong on this abbi what has he been saying. he called it quote almost criminal that this is a life and death b. trail of the american people this audio of saying he was downplaying the pandemic is from march 19th sumi but he continued to hold rallies after he made these comments to woodward rallies without social distancing rallies without encouraging people to wear face masks and even within the last week we heard biden for wearing one so the democrats along with the presidential candidate joe biden will certainly point out that the president not only lied to the american people but he's continuing to ignore the pandemic now that even as his advisors told him just how devastating this pandemic could be and now with more than 189000 americans dead the devastation is a reality unfortunately but how worried are republicans actually do they think this could further damage the president's prospects of getting reelected. i'll talk to

a little bit about the latest national polls show that biden leads trump in almost every category except the economy he does lead trump when it comes to the krona virus respond to what americans think that the better candidate would be to dealing with a pandemic but we have to remember this poll was conducted before all of this and we also have to acknowledge the fact that trump is fighting back some other criticism he's facing heavy backlash after reports last week allege that he insulted american soldiers who had died in combat and that he disparaged wounded veterans a poll also shows by the leading trump by 4 percentage points amongst military voters again that poll was also taken before these stories came to light so will this all of this be the knockout punch that takes him down in november all observers have watched him dodge crisis after crisis in the past as a candidate and as a president and he may very well do it again. who have been reporting from washington thank you. now and bella bruce

another prominent opposition leader has accused authorities of threatening to kill her if she refused to leave the country maria calista who is behind bars said authorities told her they would remove her from belarus alive or in pieces that comes amid a growing crackdown on prominent opposition figures who've been leading protests against authoritarian leader president lukashenko. on monday it was not. detained by security forces in minsk. on wednesday unidentified men in plain clothes were seen taking much since i'm not into custody . illusion security forces have now confirmed both prominent opposition figures have been jailed accused of calling for action that would harm national security it doesn't stop here. noble prize winning others a bit excessive if said unknown people repeatedly rang her doorbell and attempted

to end. her apartment despite the intimidation she called on president alexander lukashenko to engage in a dialogue with his critics who. said he will not speak to the people taking to the streets but those on the streets are countrymen the people are not those who follow those orders he doesn't decide who is the people and who isn't the people or those on the streets. i think save each is now the only high profile opposition figure still living as a free woman and bella ruse. the growing pressure on opposition figures comes after a month of unprecedented protests against your question cause reelection which demonstrators say was rigged. main opposition candidates with lenity cannot feel less valorous after the vote visited poland on wednesday where she met the country's prime minister. she said lucas schenkel no longer has a mandate to govern on say you and only fair and free elections can now set the

path for belarus's future. more news now from around the world palestinian leaders have failed to persuade the arab league to condemn the normalization of ties between israel and the united arab emirates palestinians fear the accord will weaken their long held position that israel must accept palestinian statehood and withdraw from occupied territory the crypt of the notre dame cathedral in paris has reopened to the public nearly a year and a half after a massive blaze gutted the landmarks interior the crypt offers an exhibition dedicated to writer victor hugo and an architect to lead a 19th century restoration of the cathedral. a new exhibition featuring the anonymous street artist banksy has opened in rome it showcases more than 90 of his provocative works including paintings sculptures and prints the exhibition titled a visual protest runs on told next april. let's return to that story

in beirut now where fire has broken out at the port just weeks after that devastating explosion that killed nearly 200 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless now flames and smoke are still rising from the destroyed the cause is unclear the army says that this blaze started at a warehouse world oil and tires were being stored there no reports of injuries but the fire has scared residents who are still traumatized by last month's blast. and we've been able to get our line to our correspondent rise anselmo back up and running she's in beirut what more can you tell us about this new blaze at the port . well to me i am the standing facing the live in the courts and as you see behind me there is smoke you can see it and you stand and they do what. the cause of the blaze was not here yet but the fire erupted from warehouse.

and storing tires in the bay with ports. witnesses told us that they saw that maintenance work was going on before the fire erupted the fire didn't get up and the red zone which is central to that they looked for to investigate it up to then an area that was presumed to operation after that they would point to. rest on it it is still the 2nd fire at the port complex this week and this is just weeks after that massive explosion how are people reacting seeing these flames. when you take out the can is until they thought of panic. witnesses that told us that when they were driving they sold cars that were reversing here or the highway near the border because they were scared they were panicking because the memories of their oldest explosion came back to their minds and. told us that they are through with the government and the need there is and they think that they

are unable to manage the country and that is right here i. think there's a prison and they couldn't preserve the security of the competent and on social media for youngest of the people break here. what are authorities doing to make sure that the port is actually security. you can hear. the monkey they live in you air force trying. to put down the blaze and there are fire trucks that are trying to pull down the base that's when and. the governor of they let my when i was asked to evacuate the port and all the area surrounding the ports and yeah citizens to stay in their homes and close their windows because the black smoke behind me maybe talks. our correspondent reza on some reporting for us from beirut thank you so much.

in mexico construction crews have unearthed a graveyard of ice age mammoths archaeologists say the site of a new airport north of mexico city could be one of the world's largest deposits of mammoth a skeleton. officials knew it was a good spot to build an airport but it wasn't until they got digging that they realized what it used to be good for to. the bones that discovered telltales that may have been buried for some 24000 years. and this is enough the other ghettos in this place would have been like paradise but with one great pitfall the muddy banks of delight and the story obviously repeated itself over and over again the animals ventured too far out got stuck and were killed either by other animals or by man. scientists say they've discovered more than 100 mammoth skeletons here

spread across nearly 200 excavation sites. they're now working to piece together these animal stories and cite i can't stress enough the importance of the find not at the. till now we didn't know how these animals became extinct because in other parts of the world they had evolution lines that lead to the asian or african mammoth but here we don't have a direct descendant then i must win this and. there doesn't. but the site is not just one of if not believe world's largest concentration of mammoth remains it's also bound to offer all kinds of insights into other ice age mammals who lived in the like surrounds big soko city. let's get a recap of our top stories here on d w at this hour the leaders of france and germany have agreed on a plan to take in $400.00 refugee children from greece's morea migrant camp a massive fire has destroyed the facility leaving 12000 people homeless.

a massive fire has broken out in beirut for just over a month after a shooting explosion leveled the very same district in the lebanese capital the army says oil and tires instore in charge burning last month's plastic chair. more than 190 people unlocked 300000 homeless. and us president donald trump has responded to allegations made in an explosive new book it says he downplayed the corona virus outbreak weeks before publicly acknowledging concern about the pandemic trump said she was not lying to the public but did not want to cause panic. coming up next our show focused on europe looks at the danger of dissent in brush up after the poisoning of kremlin critic alexei navalny that's in a few minutes you can go to our website every dot com for all the latest news and information around the clock and for the latest headlines don't forget to follow us

on twitter our handle there is the attitude of you news for all of us here in berlin thank you for watching.

political dissent in russia can be life threatening poisoning alexina is just one example we meet i listen leaders who are fused to be intimidated by human rights are disregarded in iran treat freedom and justice don't exist here or the list you can spend 30 days behind bars just for calling for a protest. movement. focused on europe. next on d w. d

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biggest composer of all time i contiki became to imagine a world class horn player center willis on a musical journey of discovery. 2 world without beethoven starts september 16th on t.w. . hello and welcome to this week's focus on europe on this show and it's great to have you with us the russian opposition leader alex scene of ali is still recovering after being poisoned by the military grade nerve agents novacek the attack on him has also poisoned relations between the e.u. nato and russia. this video shows not only before the.