treating our place and alliances behind the scenes of the summit starts august 5th on d. w. me the news . this is the w news ally from berlin to real and terrifying german chancellor angle medical's words on a visit to flood ravaged villages. she pledged fast financial assistance and says germany must do more to tackle climate change. already, there's political fallout from the flooding. medical's would be successor, has to say, sorry. he was caught on camera laughing in a town, devastated by

a landslide. plus peace talks resume despite bitter fighting in afghanistan, a key border crossing with pakistan partially reopened. but the taliban terrible are in control on the afghan side of the frontier. ah, michael ok, welcome to the program chancellor. angland medical has been visiting parts of western germany hit by the flooding, which is killed at least 156 people. the chancellor's spoke in a village devastated by the flood waters. she described the damage as real and terrify. she pledged rapid help from the government and said germany must do more to tackle climate change. the disaster area spends more than a 100 kilometers near the border with the netherlands in belgium, where the district of i, viola was the worst hit. medical has visited the small town of shore where she

examined the extent of the damage there. the swollen river in the town swept away houses and left debris, piled high in the streets. the chancellor also met with survivors and emergency workers. here's what she said, just a short while ago. we want to help you rebuild what you want for the village of should and for all of the other villages that have been impacted on so that you can create what you want. thankfully, in germany, we are living in a prosperous country. germany is a strong country and we will counteract the natural disaster in the short term, but also in the medium term. and in the long term, we'll be ensuring that we focus our policy making law on climate protection that we have in recent years soon. this is clearly very necessary. w reported truly. so delhi is on the ground in the town of sure which chancellor

medical has been visiting. julie, this is a significant visit by the chancellor towns. people are suffering if not morning, and here comes medical and what might very well be her last crisis related visit as chancellor. how or residents reacting to medical visit? well, some people were glad that she came. they said it was important for the chance. so the leader of the country to show her solidarity with the people he respected and the support of the government in this very critical situation. others were more skeptical. they said that because of her visit and having to close off a lot of roads, it was hard for volunteers and rescued vehicles to come here and help with the clean up. and they also said that it made it, it looked like for them like a photo opportunity in the election campaign. and it didn't really mean that the government was really supporting the people here. is there anything really that the

chancellor could have said to ease their pain? one thing residents here have told me is that they want to see support in the long term. they don't want the immediate aftermath of the tragedy to be the only moment where they see the government present. and massive did say that she is aware that this is going to be a long struggle to bring the towns back to what they were. so this is something positive i would imagine for the residence, definitely a concrete pledges in terms of money would help. people here wants to know with certainty that economic help is going to come here. and that would be something that would bring some relief. we've mentioned, of course, that the medical was shocked at the damage calling it terrifying. describe how bad it is there. well, it is hard to believe one's eyes while walking through the town of shewn here behind me. i walked through the town early this morning. there was nobody around

and only destruction around me. some houses have been completely swept away. some have been gutted on the ground floor. there is nothing left there. there is the breeze strewn all over the town. some roads have even been destroyed. there is almost nothing less and in some parts and it is really, really tragic situation here. no, i imagine some of our viewers have been seeing these images. i just can't imagine this happening where they live, how we're residents coping info. obviously many people here are tired, it's been a few days now that they've been left without a home. family members have died and they have been working hard to try to clean up as much as they can. they're also distraught, but there is a sense of strong solidarity here. people are very grateful for the help they are getting from volunteers and rescuers. and there is a strong sense of community to try to make things better as quickly as possible.

you talk about the clean up effort that's been under way. who exactly is lending a hand in addition to some of those volunteers is a government providing to help if needed what we've seen here today, a lot of different institutions. we have the army helping the fire department, the a catastrophe protection service. but it has taken a while for a lot of these authorities to get to these towns. a people here told me that until yesterday they didn't really see a strong presence from, from the state and rescue workers. and instead, a lot of volunteers, normal citizens came from all across the country, brought their own tractors their own tools to try and help out as much as they could as cliche as it sounds. julia, it's certainly does look like a war zone there. and i'm curious what the town was like before this davis

was a very charming town with many old houses and surrounded by beautiful nature, the river and forests. and just now a lot was going on right after the corona virus pandemic. we saw a family that had recently taken over a new city and was excited to see business booming again. and this, this new tragedy is really dramatic. and it's, it compounds what the town had already gone through before. a picturesque west germantown reduced to rubble. julia's sal delhi, in the germantown fooled many thanks. as always i'm joined now by our political correspondent manual shows. and we just heard from the chancellor, would you make of her speech while i was very moving enough. so we saw angela america walking through the street. so what used to be the tree social just before she addressed the observation and she looked visibly moved. she was really shocked

by what she was saying, and that is what really transpired from that speech. there's a lot of empathy there. there's also a lot of reassurance that people wouldn't be left alone. she promised that the government, the federal government would give financial support to the people affected. also, she stopped several times during her visit to talk to rescue or to talk to people effect. so she was very much where she's expected to be at the gym and just being aware, the crises happened. you know, it's 4 days after the floods happen. usually, angle america would react much quicker. but you know, there's 2 months left before the next election and the focus has very much shifted from the reaction to that of the canada succession. plus, of course, we should mention the transfer was prior to this visiting the united states on her

last visit. there you mention economic support, the economic impact will be significant. was the government specific enough in terms of what they're pledging regarding that support. you know, the damage will probably be counted in the billions if it's too early to assess it right now. but based on flaws that happened in the previous years in germany, this will be counted into billions. finance minister shells already promised an initial package of 300000000 euros to have those effected. but this is going to be a disaster and economy disaster for the people affected in the region. you know, shop, for example, they have been close for over year because of the make, you know, and i just thought it to reopen. i know that natural disaster. he's coming to affect them so they will be very much expecting not only the federal site,

but also the regional state to have them to overcome this new. the conservative front runner for chancellor armand lash. it was caught laughing frankly, while the german president frank walter sty meyer was giving a speech about the floods. can you tell us about what exactly happened and what kind of impact this is likely to have? yes m m president talking about the time i was extending his condolences to people affected and he was saying just heartbreaking this whole situation. he's an in the background you had, i mean it was a stay premier of no. so i was one of the west effected region who was called laughing. he was most likely not laughing about the situation. and the problem is that he's the frontrunner candidate for the conservatives internet connections. so he wants to govern the country and i've such a grave. our as such a song, but our he was called laughing on camera, he from the apologize. but germans were quite irritated and shocked by his reaction

. the video within ours had been viewed by more than a 1000000 people on social worker. this is a d w political corresponding manual, as thanks so much manuel. while some more german towns begin to assess the damage and clean up others further south are being hit by new flooding in the southeast state of saxony. near the border with the check republic, roads and rail lines are closed due to rising waters. further south at the german, austrian border flooding and heavy range are causing serious damage. in the town of helen, of flash, flood has swept through the streets. people living there had already been warned to be careful and avoid going into their sellers and basins. now take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world at this hour . at least 25 people have been killed in landslides, triggered by monsoon range and mom by in one area. several houses were crushed by

a collapse wall. authority say more people could be trapped under mud and debris. building collapses are common during india's monsoon season. houses in california and nevada have been evacuated as wildfire spread rapidly. the blazes were spark by lightning, extremely dry conditions and heat waves are making the wildfires hardy to fight. british prime minister for his johnson is self isolating after contact with a minister who tested positive for corona virus. the government is eating nearly all. pandemic restrictions in england, johnson phases criticism for saying he would continue to work while a new going daily tester, the afghan government and taliban insurgence. a holding more peace talks. there's no sign of any breakthrough and fighting is intensifying. but a key border crossing that was taken over by the taliban has now reopened hundreds

of people headed into afghanistan through the spin bolduc shannon border point on saturday summer afghans living in pakistan who want to rejoin their families for the muslim festival of ead. alada. next week, pakistan closed the crossing on wednesday after the taliban captured the african side. now they are letting limited numbers of travelers through again. people are coming the other way to the afghans and pockets on each returning home. were standing at the border searching people, allowing them to link with checking board documents. on friday, there was heavy fighting. as afghan government troops tried to retake the border town from the taliban. they didn't succeed. said go there, but there were bodies of afghan government forces and civilians lying burnt on. the side of the road, checkpoints were burned down. the taliban were moving around in afghan forces

vehicles. but you know, they're going to do that to the tunnel and border crossings. provide a rich source of revenue. the group of those who taken other checkpoints with neighboring countries in the north and west in land lot more torn s canister, the crossings are lifeline. essential is brought in from pakistan and in the other direction. afghan goods transported to the world. here it's been bolduc sha month, the taliban flag flying on the left hand side of the border. pockets done this no longer seems to be any great obstacle in saudi arabia. pilgrims are arriving in mecca for the start of the hush. the annual pilgrimage has again been scaled bath, just 60000 people who are allowed to take part in one of islam, holiest rituals only saudi residents can attend. the hodge normally attracts millions of muslims from around the world to mecca. every year

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