towards your risk is still a history that you semitism on starts july 2nd on d, w. ah, ah ah, this is d, w. new is alive from berlin. missiles strike in ukraine's odessa region. ukraine says at least 19 people are dead after russian aircraft fired missiles that hit on apartment building and other targets. the attack comes a day after russia abandons a black sea island that it ceased early in the war. also on the show, china celebrates 25 years since the united kingdom handed back hong kong president

. she jenna pang insists hong kong can maintain it's a loss as a beijing hardliner takes over as the territories new leader and an emergency for the world's oceans. delegates at a un conference in portugal or calling for an international treaty to protect them . of protesters to say, world leaders aren't acting fast enough. ah . hello em, claire richardson, thanks so much for joining us. russian missiles have hit the ukrainian region of odessa officials, they're say at least 19 people have been celts and missiles fired from russian aircraft hit an apartment building in the town of so he of cut some 70 kilometer south west of odessa. rescuers have been searching for people, burn it in the rubble. another missile, meanwhile, hit

a nearby recreation center. russia has intensified strikes on ukraine in the last 2 weeks. it is also withdrawn from the strategically important sneak island in the black sea, which could make it possible to restore access to odessa, his wife and her correspondent, and manuel charles is rewarding for us from odessa high and manuel. what more can you tell us about these missile strikes in the odessa region? well, claire does misses fell on the residential area in the village of city of car, and at least 20 people died during the shelling that 20 people are including 2 children over 30 people are injured, also pregnant women. it was injured. we know at this stage a doctor, for example, one of the victims, one of the deceased. these a 6 year old man, he was a or, you know, he was

a man was his wife and child. none of them survived is just those show you the tall di swore is taking on and tire of families. first responders have no. andy does search or in the rubble for survivors, they might steal this to one person missing as we are talking. and of course, here in odessa or people are in shock, in fact, in the whole region to morrow. the 2nd of july has been declared the day of morning . it was terrible to hear of those casualties. i want to ask you, at this stage in the war, how well ukraine is able to defend the odessa region. well, you know, claire, dear bess, our region is just by the black sea. in fact, the reason why you don't see to see where we're standing is that we as journalists are not allowed to film it for the simple reason that the ukrainian i'll tore teeth are afraid that we might show something that would give away a strategic position. and that might a, you know, make it an easy target for

a russian for the russian army that just shows you just held dire. the situation is also the fact that a desa either by does see by the black sea when it makes it more vulnerable to me, solid tax, because most may size are fired by the black sea does it that there's also less time for b. bill wants the air read to let's you know, resume. there's less time for people to take shelter simply because of me. size are closer. and speaking of the black sea, i, russian troops have withdrawn from snake island. i strategic island located south of odessa. how do you think that is going to change the situation in the black sea? i'd new thing is a game changer clay because the, the snake snake island was actually seized, captured by 2 russian war ships on the very onset of the war. and it became both a symbolic or ireland and a very strategic won strategic. why? well, because it's just off the coast or here of,

or their thought. and he gives control to the entire maritime region. so the fact that ukrainian troops re captured this island is very important. we know that on this island they were also me size launchers from russia. so at this is also very important and of course, symbolic. because remember, at the very beginning of the war there were, does border guards have told russian or russian sailors where to go? they did a want to surrender, and these made them a symbol of ukrainian resilience. so both as strategic and a symbolic victory here for ukraine and manuel shes in odessa. thank you so much for your reporting. well today the czech republic takes over the european, union's rotating presidency. prague is vowing to focus on the war in ukraine and its repercussions that includes refugees, energy insecurity, and keeping the $27.00 member block united against russia. d. w as christine munoz

reports from proc ha, there's a changing of the guard at the european union's top leadership with paris handing over the rotating presidency of the e. you council to prague because war has returned to europe. the check republics tenure at the home will be a hard one. we are preparing ourselves to take precedence if over presidents it in time for inflation is very high. when a war is so close to our sir in ukraine, and her russian aggression against her cream is of course a main topic. her floral was the cheek republic has welcome nearly 400000 ukrainian refugees and provided significant financial and military aid to keith. since the start of the war, within the e u, it is a vocal support opp sanctions against russia. but the central european country, like many others on the continent, is heavily dependent on russian energy. and there are serious concerns here about

how secure that supplies energy took, reduce important topic right now and our dependence on russia, or is that a huge for us? so it's a really enormous sir. in dependency on the russian gas and oil and turn we have to find a solution for all of us about 3rd to chic republic knows this would be have in forcible only a solidarity of all your countries. but e u countries are increasingly drifting apart on how to respond to russia's invasion of ukraine. people i've spoken to here in prague favor continued support for ukraine, and a hard line on russia. they say this country's history being occupied by the soviet union has a lot to do with it. but the sentiment isn't the same across the union. and so a big part of this presidency for the check republic will be to keep the e you united going forward. some say that the time in the czech republic, presidency is an opportunity for the country to act as

a mean. his grave as we have tech republic as a presidency country now because you know they are the perfect fit for this job. if there's a country that can actually try to find a consensus on the situation and the position towards russia, it could be checked republic. and when we look at france, france is a very dominant country and it sets its agenda in a way that this is what we want. and please get on board. check. republic will be more of a country that opens the dialogue with no signs that the war in ukraine is any way close to ending. prague will be tested on its ability to keep e u. countries in lockstep over the response to the worst crisis in europe. since the 2nd world war let's bring up to speed. now, with some other headlines from around the world. we prices have dropped at 27 percent close to rates available before the war in ukraine cent price as to record high levels. analysts believe this is due to recent comments by russia and turkey.

they say they are willing to discuss the safe passage of ukrainian grain from blocked ports. in russia, a u. s. basketball star has gone on trial for drug trafficking. brittany griner was led into a court at the start of the hearing. prosecutors allege she was caught with vape ink cartridges containing cannabis oil. her wife's, as greiner, as a political pon, us has called for her immediate release. in rescuers are searching for survivors of a massive mudslide in northeastern india that killed at least 14 people. it hit a railway construction site camp where workers were sleeping. india has seen weeks of heavy downpours which have seen an estimated 200 people killed in floods. and lance lights across the country and china's president, she's been paying, has concluded a visit to hong kong to mark 25 years in the united kingdom handed over control of

the territory during the visit. she praised the one country to systems policy, which has a lot hong kong to have its own laws. he said the policy was a success and would remain in place. but that hong kong must respect chinese leadership. she oversaw the swearing and of hong kong, new chief executive, john lee, a she, loyalist and former security chief who helped crack down on pro democracy protests . beijing has been a tightening its grip on the city. let's take a look at how hong kong has changed since the british hand over. ah, hong kong enters a new era. more than a 150 years of british colonial rule came to an end at the stroke of midnight on july 1st 1997. the sunset on an empire and rose to a new age under chinese rule. it was a moment long in the making. in 1984 after years of talks,

london and beijing signed a hand over agreement for hong kong. china agreed to rule the region for 50 years, according to the principle of one country to systems. although part of china, it was to be granted greater autonomy and allowed to preserve the freedoms and rights awarded under british rule. while beijing honored this arrangement at 1st, it soon began chipping away at hong kong special status. first in 2003. when china tried to pass a security law to limit descent and protests. more than half a 1000000 people turned out to oppose it. forcing authorities to back down jar then in 2014, beijing proposed allowing hong kong or to vote for their chief executive hadn't changed, but only from a short list of approved candidates while young cookie can come to young. in response,

thousands marched to demand real democracy. when police tried to clear the streets, people started carrying umbrellas to use as shields against the pepper spray. the pro democracy protests became known as the umbrella movement. in 2020 beijing imposed a sweeping security law. curbing voting rights and limiting freedom of the press and free speech. hong kong has continued to hit the streets and protest, but in rapidly dwindling numbers. as hundreds of pro democracy activists, lawmakers and journalists were arrested ah, the british consulate, a rallying point for hong kong, ers who want china to keep its promises? 25 years after the hand over the new formula is one country,

one system and their city. now, just like any other city, mainland china. oh. and for more i'm joined now by glacier clung insure parliamentary alliance is hong kong campaigns coordinator. and she's now living in exile, dividing her time between the u. k. and germany. thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. i understand you're 25 years old or in the same year, hong kong was handed back to china. i want to begin by asking what today's anniversary means to you. i was actually born one year before the 1997 handover. so i grew up in hong kong when it was still free. the way that we were allowed to think we're allowed to talk. it's very different from what we're seeing right now in hong kong and the 25th anniversary marked very disheartening dave. all of us because it symbolize how much we have lost in the last 25 years. we have lost our freedom of speech and freedom to conscience in a freedom of expression and begun will not stop cracking down on us from watch on

the has made very clear since you is elected in the sham election, basically selected by beijing thing that's going to impose a lot of more and more like harsh laws to try to tighten its control over hong kong in. and you're one of several high profile activists who have decided to leave hong kong. he told me at what point you felt like you could no longer stay in 2020, i was at the time preparing for a petition in the german parliament. and at that time, the national security, lois being announced, may king colluding with foreign forces at legal meaning that the thing the act of just organizing a petition the german parliament is basically legal. so i know if i want to complete the whole thing that i've initiated, i will have to leave hong kong and come back to germany to finish. my said he's under the same time. do that petition and the hearing that come that came after it . now, china has, of course, accused the pro democracy movement of causing violent social unrest. do you think that some of the tactics that have been used by protesters in 2019 things like

storming the legislative council occupying universities? were they a mistake that then forced beijing to take a more hard line stance against the protests? i do not think you can say those things are a mistake. if you look back into like since 2014, we didn't get universal suffrage. and in 2016 when young my generation tried to enter the legislative council, we're being bought for money and elections, and then we will, bard, apple, or disqualified after some of our colleagues are being elected. and then we tried to enter the system. we hi piece will protest and all of these things didn't work out. and a lot of the processor felt like that they have no way out, and that's why they resorted to the use of force and legislative council and all. and all of the things that you talked about actually are symbols, the symbols of the beijing regime. for example, legislative council were never actually fully democratic. so the project started last year in $2900.00 saw it as a representation of the and just isn't all of the it legitimacy that beijing had.

and therefore they went to let go. of course, it's not, not be and might not be the ideal solution. in any way, but a lot of the projects i felt like they have no choice and being forced into doing that. now you describe what you expect to be a rather bleak future. are you optimistic that it will be possible to, in any way reverse the erosion of democratic freedoms in hong kong? i don't think there is any way of turning back the clock because it had happened. and no matter what to come. the last that a lot of hong kong or is have been suffering through will not be just simply taken away, cannot be undone. i'm not entirely optimistic because any reasonable people person cannot be optimistic to be honest. it's quite grim. but the thing is we are doing the right thing. we are fighting for human rights and democracy, things that we should have. and therefore we're simply doing the right thing and it's not up to if we're hopeful,

we're just going to still do it anyways. i sure clung. is a pleasure speaking with you. thanks again. so much for taking the time. we have more on the anniversary of hong kong hand over coming up in detail. the news asia, in a few minutes time. now though, a turkish court has blocked internet access to deutsch avella and voice of america, turkey wanted the broadcasters to obtain a license back in february. and did you did not comply with that request out of concerned that it would allow the turkish government to send sir editorial content dw director general kito lindberg has pledge to take legal action against the decision. the german government has also criticize turkeys decision saying it's concerned about freedom of expression and freedom of the press. the loosely, the german government regrets that the websites of deutsch velan boys of america have been blocked in turkey. it is up to deutsch avella is an independent broadcast that to decide what consequences it will draw from this an effect. it is already

announced. legal steps are when the will remain concerned about freedom of expression and freedom of the press. in turkey, the german government isn't regular critical exchange with all turkish, pardon us on this issue, and will continue to advocate for independent fact based journalism and turkey on this most in the 2 kinds. let's go to portugal now, where a delegates gathered in the capital. lisbon have been wrapping up a un conference on protecting the world's oceans, or people have been protesting outside the venue, drawing attention to the threats faced by the world's marine ecosystems. at the opening of the conference, he went secretary general antonia good to hash declared an ocean emergency. some 7000 delegates, including heads of state scientists and n g o has been taking part to assess progress in implementing a u. n. directive to protect marine life. so what exactly has that conference achieved to help answer that question and more i'm

joined in the studio by did use environment reporter at gte yet, and john g. welcome. i'm what games. if any, have been agreed to help protect the oceans of the world as conference so far has been a flurry of voluntary action, voluntary commitments, but really very little in way of kind of binding global treaties or anything. and i mean, that was to be expected to wellness, $521.00. the voluntary commitment in both countries from panama to pakistan, saying that they're going to protect more of their oceans, even declaring parts of their waters as protect areas which prohibit something that stop some type of fishing and so on. and then we've got countries like australia reaffirming commitment to invest more money in protecting the great barrier reef the u. k. along with canada and the u. s. as a group of countries trying to really clump down on illegal and on report fishing. but the kind of big picture thing, the thing the environmental groups and marines, scientists have really been pushing for these kind of big trenches to protect the

entire global oceans. and in particular to have 30 percent of it's kind of of the wood surface protected by the 2030. that's not been here live. and yet the negotiations about will be in august, most likely. ok, that's we bring everyone to the table, get a much bigger picture project in place. i'm gonna give us just a general sense of the specific kinds of threats that are facing our oceans. a lot of things. so i mean, the big one that's kind of most pressing will be climate change, the oceans, or i mean last year, even carbon pollution in the atmosphere drifts such high levels. but the oceans burg records for being hot for being acidic. the sea level to reach new height. all of the things are making for fish population, for instance, pushing them out of the natural habitats, making them harder to live. but that comes on top of all these other kind of human cause influences of the human cause implant that is like over fishing and plastic pollution that kind of destroy ecosystem than other ways. so the connected system,

these things building on a compounding one another also today we know that french president and my con has addressed delegates at that conference. he's calling for curbs on deep sea mining. he tell us more about that threat. yes, this is a bit of a tough one because with the 1st you can see a very clear one single direction in terms of human beings profiting and the planets offer expense. and then the over the hut, humans later on in the form of climate change. and so in the case of the team, i think it's a bit more tricky in that one of the kind of key things are humanity would need to do to transition away from fossil fuels, which when you burn the reddish gas for the heat, the planet would be to switch to renewable energy and electricity that powered by things like wind turbines and solar panels. now, the batteries needed to kind of store this energy and help deal with kind of variation. a lot of these require metal that are seemingly quite abundant in the bottom of the oceans, but we don't really know what it would do to the oceans into the ecosystem if we were to mind them. so i mean,

a few countries sticking in the pacific ocean. what violence days a really calling for about on this practice until we know what's going on at least amount on the chronological voice to that is adding, i guess, to this movement away from seeing that as a viable solution and our environment reporter edge it, your and john, i really appreciate you coming into the studio with us. so now also in portugal, scientists are sounding the alarm about the dwindling population of sea horses off the country's coast. and just 20 years, their numbers in one estuary have fallen by some 96 per cent. a re population effort called project sea horse is underway in hopes of halting the decline. the ria formosa lagoon and southeastern portugal used to have one of the largest populations of sea horses in the world. but these tiny creatures are disappearing. isla meal, i haven't seen any sea horses here for months or rather years. think of nothing. and they used to be everywhere. so put the sea level is rising,

salt is coming into the fresh water lagoon. the sea horses are leaving. but that's not the only threat of weakness themselves if they go to the main reason for the decline of the sea horse population is man who has destroyed their habitats would oh, we worked with the university of algarve researches the reasons for their dwindling numbers. it also breed see horses in the lagoons at special protection zones until they are 2 years old more than you, but the number of see horses in the new protection zones is much greater. them outside of area boats are not allowed in the protected areas, and fishing is prohibited. yet. park rangers still find squid cages like this one. if you stop rover could as at illegal fishing harms the see horses i discover because they get stuck in the cage's grandmother and they just die their business

course. we found this one and just such a cage, franklin peddler, by 2030 portugal plans to expand its protections to include not only the rea formosa lagoon, but one 3rd of its marine territory. well, for years, germany has struggled with its colonial history in africa. one aspect of that is stolen cultural artifacts, which are now on display at several german museums. a collection known as the been in bronze is, are a case in points. the british sold them throughout europe in the 19th century. now berlin is to sign a deal formally recognizing the pieces as property of nigeria. at the center of the colonial is debate in germany with benning, bruncess in 1897 british forces looted thousands of the arc treasures from the royal palace in benign modern day nigeria. many ended up in german museums.

more than 400 r m. berlin's humbled forum. a long battle over the looted art is now ending. both germany and nigeria had to care nigeria, the rightful owner of the plagues. and sculptures is a good to the historic moment for us for our 2 countries. that we are now going to sign the agreement. so, you know, for the return of the been in bronsels, the breakthrough means the objects can return to their homeland. it's also a radical change in perspective for germany's museums thus benoit, it is i what does change of ownership mean as vidaurri it, it means that we western museums in the northern hemisphere and cannot simply determine the narrative of these beneath bronzes any longer rhodesian being owns it belongs to mere attain, couldn't nigeria will decide which artworks will return. the government wants to

build a new museum to house the bronzes, partly financed by germany. so as is up professionals, it is important for us to discuss on issues and areas of collaboration. so that would be able to benefit from this, you know, of toddler, patricia museums across europe are starting to opt for collaboration after years of confrontation. but the british museum has refused to give back. it's $900.00 francis. the issue has also become a baker public debate in france and germany. negotiations are ongoing to keep at least some of the works in the country on permanent loan. and before we go, let's get a quick recap of our top stories up as our ukraine says, at least 19 people have been killed in russia. missile strikes outside the fort city of odessa is the latest in a series of intensified russian attacks across ukraine and china's president. she

jan paying has mar 25 years since the u. k. returned hong kong to china and his speech he defended the one country to systems model for the city. recently, beijing has been criticized for eroding many of hong kong, political and civic freedoms. freshman or she has those stories and more coming up next in d. w who's asia, i'm claire richardson in berlin for me in the team working behind the scenes. thanks much for watching. ah, ah ah, ah ah.

with ah, with go india sanctuary or the ganges in india, a river as revered as it is looted?

enough is enough. it's a job for the plastic fisher. their trash beings are the real deal. can they stop the flow of garbage, ego, india? in 60 minutes on d, w, american home, any portion of lunch, i'll throw it out in the world right now. climate change, if any story, this is much less the way from just one week. how much was going to really get we still have time to go. i'm going all with his subscriber all morning with leonardo da vinci's, mysterious masterpiece. this perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece and the collection of the louvre and no,

it is not the mona lisa. it is the virgin of the rocks, 2 versions, multiple copies, and a hidden drawing. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful baby that perhaps we just don't understand? a search for answers starts july 7th on d, w. this is the, the other news daisha coming up to date 25 years off as human control of hong kong from the british. china takes a victory lap president huge and big visits, the city to oversee celebrations and the inauguration of his chosen men as lead up . and he leaves no doubt as to how china sees the cities future. today, i would like to stress again that was.