"journal" on dw. >> are headlines for you at this hour -- >> president obama reacts to the video showing american journalist james foley being beheaded by i.s. militants in northern iraq. germany says it is prepared to send arms to kurdish fighters battling i.s. militants in iraq. >> and germany unveils a plan to bring high-speed internet to everyone in the country. >> thanks for being with us. international leaders expressed outrage at the murder of an american journalist by the islamic state militants in iraq.

they have released a video showing photojournalist james foley being beheaded. he had not been seen since going missing in syria in 2012. u.s. president barack obama says the entire world is appalled by the execution. international condemnation is pouring in, with germany calling the killing of the journalist a barbaric act. british prime minister david cameron cut short his vacation to hold an emergency meeting following reports that the man who carried out the execution is a british citizen. >> james foley was a veteran photojournalist who had covered many conflicts. he was first held captive for six weeks while uncovering the libyan civil war in 2011. just a year later, he disappeared in syria after his car was stopped by unknown militants. this video shows him working in aleppo, one of the last times he was seen alive.

speaking in washington, president barack obama expressed his horror at the execution. >> good afternoon. >> he condemned the islamic state militants as a cancer and vowed to continue america's air campaign against them. >> we will continue to confront this hateful terrorism and replace it with a sense of hope and civility. that is what jim foley stood for. a man who lived his work, who courageously told the stories of his fellow human beings. they'll -- who was liked and loved by friends and family. >> reddish prime minister david cameron -- british prime minister david cameron says it is increasingly likely that his executioner was a british citizen, and that many radicalized redder citizens have traveled there. >> we redouble all our efforts to take away the passports of those contemplating travel, to arrest and prosecute those who

take part in extremism and violence. to take extremist material off the internet and do everything we can to keep our people safe. >> james foley's parents says he gave his life trying to expose the evil in the world and the suffering of children in syria. they appealed to the militants not to kill another u.s. hostage. >> i am so proud of jim. >> islamic state militants have taken other journalists prisoner in the past, including one who says he was held in a cell next to james foley. i spoke to him earlier on the phone and asked about the circumstances of his capture. >> first of all, i was in aleppo documenting the humanitarian situation in the city. a group of armed people came and took me to one of their prisons. >> who else was with you where

you were held prisoner? >> some of the army people. some of the civilians in the city. all of them from the same city. >> how did they treat you? >> very badly. the first 10 days, two weeks, they tortured me. they tortured everybody. they have their different reasons. they say you are a spy, dealing with foreigners, with journalists. or you are doing this photography so that you can tell the people how bad is the islamic state. >> how did you end up getting out? >> after two months, they asked me to put something on my eyes and they put me in a car, they drove for two hours, and they just threw me in the street. >> let me ask you, did you have any contact with james foley?

>> james foley, i met james foley the second time. because i returned to syria again to continue my photography. they kidnapped me again. i met james foley. he was in the next cell. i used to hear his voice. i used to hear him talking with his friends every day. >> so you were right next to james foley in the cell beside him. what can you tell us about conditioned he was being held in? >> i shared the same prison with james and his friends for around two months. that time, let me tell you first of all that jim himself was a very nice person. even with the guards, the prison guards. he was very nice. he was laughing all the time.

he used to do some funny stuff. he could make anybody laugh. they didn't do anything bad, for us or for him. this is what i know about, what i remember about my time with jim. i'm not sure about the other prisons. they moved him to another prison while i was in the same prison. >> so can you tell us when you last saw james foley? >> last night -- last time i saw james foley was at christmas evening last year. they moved him and his friends to another prison, the same night, christmas night. >> ok. we will have to leave it there. thank you very much. for more on these developments, let's go to our washington correspondent, richard walker. now that the execution video has been confirmed authentic, president obama has delivered a statement. tell us more about what he said. >> as we saw earlier in the

report, he struck a very grave tone, paying tribute to james foley as a courageous journalist. but saying that people like him, james foley, would in the long-run run shape the future, rather than the islam escaped, who he -- islamic state, who he described as offering nothing but "and the slavery -- endless slavery." >> the islamic state has now killed an american. does this take the battle against the islamic state to an entirely new level? >> at the very least, it certainly does add a new quality to the debate about the islamic state. until now, there has been discussion in the u.s. about whether the islamic state is a direct threat to the united states, or only an indirect one to the kind of chaos that can stoke in the middle east. now there is a dramatic

verification of that threat. just another -- for critics of barack obama, is just another reason why he should ramp up airstrikes. john mccain repeating that today. but it should be added that john mccain was making the same arguments yesterday, before the incident. >> you mentioned air strikes, but that is the problem. how can the i.s. be defeated if the u.s. is unwilling to go through with ground troops? what can it really accomplish? >> the point is that barack obama has never said that it is his objective to destroy the islamic state. rather, he repeatedly says that the united states cannot provide a military solution to what is going on. so for him, the solution has to come from iraq, in particular from a new government that regroups and take the fight to the islamic state itself and remove the conditions that allowed it to emerge in the first place. so from that point of view,

perhaps the key message from obama today was not just that iraq needs to have a stake in that, but that the whole region should come together to extract the cancer of the islamic state, and it is not something the u.s. can do on its own. >> thank you very much. after weeks of deliberation, the german government has announced it is prepared to supply weapons to forces battling islamic state militants in northern iraq. the foreign minister said that his government would be looking into what kind of arms would be appropriate. germany is one of several european countries that have declared their willingness to deliver weapons to iraqi and kurdish forces fighting the militants. they say they hope to agree on a coordinated approach in the coming week. >> germany does not traditionally deliver weapons to conflict zones. but in an apparent policy shift, ministers in the german cabinet now say they are prepared to arm

kurdish forces in the north of iraq against islamic state militants. >> all these measures serve the purpose of putting kurdish security forces in a position to defend themselves against attacks from the i.s.. >> germany's defense minister said immediate action was needed to stop the militants' advance. >> the i.s. must be stopped, and people must be helped. we, along with partners and allies, are convinced that time is of the essence. >> germany could soon be delivering this antitank missile system to iraq. it is considered precise and easy to use. a final decision on that will be made in the coming week. germany's green party has urged caution. >> the government knows that it is taking a big risk. because at the end of the day, it cannot be sure whether these weapons will help out the problem or only make it worse.

>> the question of delivering weapons to iraq has ignited a fiery debate among lawmakers. some are calling for a special parliamentary session to be >> we are joined now by the german commissioner for human rights. he just returned from northern iraq. you have seen the situation on the ground in northern iraq. how do you think the news of possible german arms deliveries would go down the kurds? >> first of all, i think the situation is very dramatic. we all know and we all the bad situation of traumatized refugees. i saw a lot of refugee camps in the last month. but i never saw somebody people who said, we cannot go back. in the communities, it is not a say surrounding. the military component of

fighting isis is an important component. many of the people had not -- would not have survived, were in the camps, if the u.s. had not opened a quarter to come down from the mountains. therefore, if there is a military necessity to fight isis , we must bring to the peshmerga what they need. and this we must decide quickly. >> do you think that delivering arms is the right tactic? >> i think that if peshmerga has to fight and everybody supports them, they must get the equipment that they need. and they do not have the women they need, because they have old weapons, old guns, and therefore if we think it is a severe question we have to solve, they need arms, and the western countries must decide to deliver them. >> it is clear that arms are needed by some. but what about aid?

are the refugees getting sufficient humanitarian support? >> what i see and what i saw and what i heard, especially in discussions with the refugees, in the moment the situation is difficult. but in two or three months, it will be unbearable. we need a very big support. we need more equipment. we do not only need tanks for the refugees. they have nothing. they need, for example, caravans to supply -- surviving the winter time. this is our biggest task, to strengthen humanitarian assistance. every other debate must go on in the background, but humanitarian assistance is the most important, and we must do more than we do. we do a lot, but it is not enough. >> the german commissioner for human rights. thank you very much. the pakistan now. antigovernment protesters have agreed to meet with ministers after days of the medical

turmoil. thousands have been demonstrating outside the national parliament in islam about -- islamabad. they want prime minister nawaz sharif to step down over allegations of corruption. the demonstrations have been largely peaceful so far. u.s. attorney general eric holder is expected to visit the st. louis suburb of ferguson in missouri. following an 11th night of unrest after the shooting of a black teenager. police in riot gear arrested another 47 people after protesters hurled bottles at officers. otherwise, the night was comparatively calm. the lease in st. louis earlier shot down another black man who was reportedly wielding a knife. stay with us. we will be back in just a minute.

>> welcome back. palestinians fired dozens of rockets into israel today, and the israeli military responded with airstrikes. both sides blame each other for the renewed escalation in violence, on tuesday just before a cease-fire was due to expire. palestinian officials say 17 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in this latest round of strikes. >> israeli warplanes are once again on the attack. yet more of the gaza strip lies in ruins. civilians are again suffering as the conflict resumes. palestinian officials say 20 people have died since then. dozens more are reported wounded. among the victims -- his house in rough was destroyed during the israeli air raids.

>> we were sleeping inside the house, and suddenly there was an airstrike. i found the children lying injured in different parts of the house. >> that israeli bomb targeted mohammed daif.tary chief, it is unclear if he survived, but his wife and son died. at their funerals, they with sadness and rage. as palestinians mourned, hamas rockets again rained down on israel. israel's army says militants have fired nearly 150 since the cease-fire collapsed. some have landed in a village in southern israel. one local resident has had to run for the bomb shelter. each time, she only had seconds to get to cover. if she is slow, she could pay with her life. >> it is impossible to live like that. i'm sure every mother or father that lives across, not in

israel, has to understand that this is not a normal way to live. >> in the twilight, both israelis and palestinians braced for another night of violence. the darkness of war is again falling upon this region. >> ukraine says its troops have been fighting street battles in the eastern city of luhansk as government forces keep trying to put down the pro-russian insurgency in the east. the government has been using a economist volunteer units outside the regular army's command. dw spoke to members of one such unit. members of the unit were killed in action tuesday night. >> how to clean a kalashnikov. that is one skill pavel learned during a month of good cap. -- boot camp. he says he never wanted to become a soldier, but now here he is. fighting a war.

for a month and a half now, he has been deployed in eastern ukraine with the volunteer battalion. >> i am fighting so that ukraine can be free again, to liberate it from separatists in luhansk and donetsk, from russians and chechens. we don't need them here. >> he has been granted 24 hours to rest and recuperate here in a village near luhansk. then it is back into combat. he comes from western ukraine. hundreds of volunteers like him have joined this unit. they don't speak much about their operations elsewhere, and when they do the words only hint at what they have experienced. >> we were ordered to attack separatist checkpoints. we believed we would be facing only a few rebels.

but there were 10 times more of them than we expected. so we had to pull back. >> for these men, the positive fighting his brief. they expect to go back into combat very soon. >> countries in west africa are still struggling to contain the worst ebola outbreak in history. the world health organization now put the death toll at more than 1300. the past few days have seen hundreds of new cases reported across the region. in liberia's capital, monrovia, riots broke out after the government quarantines the country's biggest slum to try to curb the epidemic. international agencies are trying to supply thousands of families with provisions. >> the u.n.'s world food program is stepping up emergency deliveries across west africa to

around one million people now living in quarantine zones. the roadblocks and security cordons, like here in iberia, have led to a drastic drop in local food output, and their air -- there are fears a famine could follow the epidemic. >> we intend to scale up as the need arises. basically, what you can see if you go to any affected countries, you see similar operations going on. we intend to be proactive instead of reactive to the situation. >> there are encouraging signs prevention measures are taking effect. in nigeria, four more cases who contracted ebola have recovered and are being discharged from hospital. >> we had the blood checked, and they now tested negative for ebola virus. they are being counseled. they will come in periodically for checkups.

but by protocol, they are ok. >> but a cure or vaccine for the deadly ebola virus remains elusive. with no approved drugs on the market and experimental treatments in short supply, isolation wards like this facility in kenya are one of the few options to stop the spread of the disease. >> massive landslides in her osha -- hiroshima have killed at least 36 people. others are still missing. 24 hours of record-breaking rainfall sent streams up mud tearing through neighborhoods. authorities wanted more floods and landslides could follow -- one that more floods and landslides could follow. >> racing to find survivors in the debris. the force of the landslide tore through roads and destroyed houses, the thick mud trapping many inside their homes. officials say it is impossible to know how many more people are dead or missing.

after weeks of heavy rain, a torrential downpour hit hiroshima overnight. recording a month's worth of rain in just a few hours. despite a citywide landslide alert, many residents were caught off guard when the slopes collapsed. >> when i realized what was happening, there was mud flowing around and the cars were being washed away. and then everything started sliding. >> all they could do was gather as a family and try to get away. because the flow of mud coming into the house was released wrong -- really strong. >> to support workers, the japanese government is deploying hundreds of troops to the area. japan warns that more heavy rain is on the way, which could hamper rescue efforts and raise the danger of further landslides. >> argentina is looking to sidestep a ruling that forced the country to default on some bonds in july.

markets have responded skeptically. traders say that argentinian bonds fell more than 2% on wednesday. that comes after president cristina fernandez de kirchner said her country will pay all creditors using buenos aires bank instead of one in new york. a new york court last month blocked an interest payment after u.s. hedge funds refused to accept a debt restructuring. after two days of gains, european shares dipped early in the session and finished pretty much flat on wednesday. our correspondence sent is the summary of the day's trading action at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> people are discussing rising interest rates. not so much here in euro-land, but in the united states and united kingdom. in just rates could be rising because the economy there are doing better than the economy here in the euro area. are investors, this means the u.s. dollar and the british pound are becoming more attractive compared to the euro. this speculation on rising

interest rates in other places of the world made the euro-dollar exchange rate fall this wednesday, on the lowest level in nine months. shares were not in demand here in frankfurt, because interest rates in the euro area remain low because the economy is not doing so well here compared to other places in the world. >> germany may have the leading economy in the 28-member european union, but it only ranks 13th in terms of internet connectivity. the digital agenda aims to change all that. the government is taking steps to make sure that the entire country gets high-speed and secure internet by 2018. >> the internet superhighway has taken a detour around luneburg in southwestern germany. only 1% of residents here have a high-speed connection. new fiber-optic cables will certainly change that. but many rural communities are

playing catch-up when it comes to digitally quality. for midsized enterprises, the backbone of the german economy, broadband access is the only way today -- to stay competitive. >> of course, germany can continue to lead in our traditional industries, and also when it comes to digitalization. that also comes for self-driving cars or other complex production processes. >> data security is another major issue. german providers have already started to offer secure e-mail for government agencies. and this week, germany's postal service rolled out a safer alternative to messaging platforms like whatsapp. the service is all in germany. every text message is encrypted and can self-delete. >> if we organize government communications and build an infrastructure network, i would

like it to be run by a german or european company. not one from outside. because then i will be able to trust it mor. >> there was no word on what the digital agenda will cost. the darman plans to present a detailed budget in october. >> that is it for now. we appreciate you watching. and more news for you at the top of the hour. keep it on "dw." captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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