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tv   DW News  PBS  June 3, 2016 6:00pm-6:31pm PDT

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>> this is "dw news" from berlin. more migrant deaths in the mediterranean. over 100 bodies washed ashore in libya at a beach used by human traffickers. a ship capsizes near crete, dumping hundreds of people into the sea. greece rescues many, but the grim routine of rescuing bodies goes on. deadly flooding in europe, the river sent in paris hits the six meter mark and the louvre museum closes to protect its treasures. in germany, thousands are forced to flee their homes as cleanup efforts continue.
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more rain is on the way. fresh corruption allegations that soccer's governing body. fifa says it's former president and inner circle made $80 million through suspicious payments. ♪ sarah: i'm sarah kelly. welcome to the program. we begin with a grim reality, people have washed up on a beach in the libyan city. in a tragic day for mediterranean migrants, another nine bodies were pulled from the sea after a boat capsized near crete. greek authorities rescued 340 others. despite the dangers, desperate attempts to reach europe show no signs of slowing down. reporter: their dream of a new life ended here, on a beach in the city of zwara in northern
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libya. more than 100 bodies have washed up on this sure in the last few days. local residents are shocked. >> this is wrong. there are 20 bodies all over the place here in zwara alone. how come this is happening? where is the government? reporter: workers from the red crescent have come to recover the bodies, wearing facemasks to ward off the stench of decay. it's not known when the boats capsized, but many of the body spent days in the water. more than 2500 refugees have died trying to cross the mediterranean this year alone trade a marked increase over last year. unhcr representative says at least one of the causes of the increased number of deaths is clear. >> what we know is the boats
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depart from libya, they depart from egypt, and the migrants and refugees, they are already present in these countries and ready to take the boat. the risk is extremely high to take such a boat. reporter: for many migrants, there is no other way to get to europe. many feel the have no choice but to attempt the dangerous crossing in rickety boats which can no longer take the strain of the dangerous sea crossing. sarah: we are joined by the head of the international organization for migration's mission in greece. he joins us from athens this evening. we heard about the incident in libya this week. there was also one off the coast of crete, where nine bodies have been pulled from the sea. what more can you tell us about
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what happened in both cases? >> it seems we are seeing more and more of this, unfortunately. we have seen two years ago with 2015 when the bodies were coming from turkey to the greek islands. now we go back to the old system, from north africa to italy. we have big boats with several hundred people in the boat. whenever we have a shipwreck, we have a lot of victims. that's important to know. on the other hand, this is something that we will see more and more in the future. this week only we had three shipwrecks with survivors. sarah: also this week there was a shocking image released to the public of a rescue worker holding up a drowned baby pulled from the sea.
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it is so sad to look at this image, but are you perhaps hopeful that images like these will provoke action, or has the public already been desensitized to the plight of migrants? >> unfortunately, it is the letter. the more pictures come out, people get used to these pictures. on the other hand, we should face the problem in the roots. there are two things, the war and poverty. as long as there is war and poverty, people would like to move to safer and better places to live. now we are trying to -- who are leaving because of my grid and refugee crisis. sarah: how do you propose migration be addressed in those countries of origin? >> syrian crisis, it was a big
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pull factor the last years and we know that. the we're should stop, definitely. if the war does not stop, this will continue. on the other hand you have people coming from very poor countries. if they have that, no one leaves his safe home to go to the unknown and risking his life. what we have seen now in the news, everybody is watching now. they know how dangerous is this trip. still, they attempt to go. why? because there is no choice. sarah: the head of the international organization for migrants mission in greece joining us. thank you. stormy weather is causing chaos across europe, with germany,
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france, belgium, and romania all during dia -- dealing with serious flooding. in neighboring france, the waters are still rising. reporter: in view of the iconic eiffel tower, the river sent a spinning over onto the streets of central paris. the water is now more than six meters above its normal level. if it rises much more, this could be the worst flooding the city has seen for decades. >> it is really exceptional. >> the speed at which the water is rising is almost scarier tha n the height. reporter: tourist attractions, inc. gooding the louvre gallery, have been closed due to the risk of flood damage. around the country, troops and firefighters have been deployed to the worst affected areas. according to the interior ministry, 20,000 people across france have been evacuated from their homes to escape the flooding. the french government is set to
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declare a natural disaster in certain areas, which could free up emergency funding. across the border in germany, rescue operations are underway. in the small town in the southern state of bavaria, the worst of the flooding seems to be over. now residents have to clear the mud out of their homes before it dries, which would mean even worse damage. more than 600 volunteers have a right to -- arrive to help with the cleanup. dozens of refugees are on the scene to help their new neighbors. >> my friend and i heard about this on the radio last night, so we decided we would come to help this morning. it's a big catastrophe. we also heard that seven people died. reporter: with more rain
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expected this weekend, both the authorities and the volunteers could face an uphill task. sarah: world soccer's governing body has been hit by fresh allegations of corruption. this time they come from with in fifa itself. the organization's lawyers accused former top officials of awarding themselves $80 million in pay raises and bonuses over the last five years. this, as fifa's new president finds himself reporter: under the microscope. just days ago the fifa president was enjoying himself in moscow. now he's gone on the attack with fifa lawyers revealing past huge payouts to sepp blatter, jerome valcke, and markus kattner, $80 million between the three of them, fifa says, in salaries and
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bonuses. >> considering what fifa previously revealed, this is a huge scandal. reporter: among the latest revelations from fifa that just before blatterdisputed election in' 2011,s valcke and blkattner were given contract extensions, flying in the face of swiss law. why does all of this come out now? >> it's quite obvious what is happening. first there was the attack on infantino. now there's the counter attack. the good thing that has come out of this is you can see the incredible things that have happened within fifa. reporter: advantage, fifa critics say, even as the internal struggle continues. sarah: i want to ask our reporter about infantino. how bad are these revelations for blatter and fifa's former
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top leadership? >> it seems to be very negative for sepp blatter. the swiss authorities already opened up investigations on him in september. they rated the headquarters of fifa. they're looking for the nails in the figurative coffin of sepp blatter. it seems to be there's no issue, rich people making themselves richer. the problem comes that sepp blatter, jerome valcke, and markus kattner went directly to the payroll department and said what their salaries would be. this very well could be the smoking gun they have been searching for for sepp blatter and company for quite some time. sarah: imagine if we could all do that, go to the payroll department and demand a raise. i want to talk about blatter's
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replacement. he hasn't been named in connection with all of this but he has some problems of his own, right? reporter: right. huge allegation looming over his head from a german newspaper, from a swiss newspaper as well, that he ordered the destruction of audiotapes of this meeting in question, allegedly. infantino conspired to fire an individual whose job it was to set the salary of infantino. they conspired basically to force him to either retire or quit, and that's a huge problem. if that is true, he could face a provisional 90 day ban if that is true. we have to wait and see what fifa and the committee have say. these are only allegations. sarah: it sounds like there are some similarities there with what the others are accused of doing. infantino was elected on the
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promise of cleaning up fifa. what do you make of that effort? reporter: i think it's twofold. on one side we have been asking for transparency and that's what we've gotten. the fifa lawyers have been working with swiss government, handing over all the evidence in question, but then we have the discretion of the salary transparency. infantino was questioned a month ago about his salary and could not give an answer. he had been on the job for over a month. that raises questions because most people can calculate that. if these allegations are true, it suggests there is still this element of secrecy, meetings behind closed doors, deleting files and so forth. it looks like nothing has changed if the allegations are true. sarah: where do you think the dust will settle? reporter: i'm sure they will try to corroborate this issue. fifa did come out and talk about is alleged instruction of audiotapes.
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according to fifa, it was improperly stored. they did say an original archive of that meeting does exist. fifa has been doing some questionable things. the people's council empowered themselves to hire and fire the watchdog committee. the committee members are in place to make sure that fifa stays in check. if the fifa council has the power to hire and fire who they want, it sounds like there are some puppets. we have to wait and see what happens at the end of the is investigations. sarah: we don't know whether all of this was illegal. that is the big question. chris harrington from our sports desk, thank you. we have to take a short break. we want to take the opportunity to remind you that you can always get "dw news" on the go. download our app from google play or the apple store.
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you can also use the app to send us photos and videos and watch our program on live stream. we are back in a minute. daniel winter has the business news. don't go away.
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sarah: a quick reminder of our top story. over 100 dead bodies have been washed ashore in libya at a beach used by human traffickers. a ship has also capsized near crete, with hundreds of people on board. many were rescued but at least nine died in the incident. german foreign minister is in argentina and praise the way the country has been processing the dark era in its recent history, the military dictatorship that began 40 years ago. together with a local human rights group, steinmeyer threw white flowers into the river at
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memory park in buenos aires to remember the victims of what was called the dirty war. thousands were killed or disappeared during the eight years of military rule. a major opinion poll has revealed how germans feel about some hot button issues like trust in the turkish government, as the eu struggles to manage the refugee crisis, whether britain should leave the eu, and the german parliament's decision to recognize the armenian genocide. reporter: a resounding majority of lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, with just one vote against and one abstention. the killing of up to 1.5 million armenians in the ottoman empire in 1915 was clearly seen as genocide. the bundestag decision is largely backed by germans according to a new poll. 74% responded and said they agreed with the resolution, while only 18% disagreed.
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the vote heightens tensions between germany and turkey at a time when ankara is playing a key role in stemming the flow of migrants into europe. one incentive was the eu agreeing to grant a visa free entry to turks. but turkey has not yet fulfilled all of the eu's conditions. the majority of german support not giving in to pressure from the turkish president are the one on the visa -- erdogan on the visa issue. only 7% of germans want to accommodate turkey to ensure that the deal succeeds. a resounding 89% say turkey must fulfill all preconditions or risk the deal failing. in less than three weeks on june 23, the british will decide in a referendum whether they should leave or remain in the european union. germans have a clear opinion on what they would like voters in britain to do. a large majority of germans, almost 80%, one the british to
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stay. only 15% say they want a brexit, which would see britain leaving the eu. in the meantime, angela merkel's popularity has declined. only 50% still think the german chancellor is doing a good job. her performance also reflects on her party, the conservative cdu, and the bavarian sister party, the csu. if elections were to be held now, only 32% would vote for the cdu. that's the lowest approval rating of years. the social democrats support rises slightly to 21%. the right wing afd stays stable at 15%. the greens would get 13% of the vote. the liberal free democrats would make it back into parliament with 6%. sarah: a change of pace, we will head to the united states where there was some disappointing results for the u.s. economy when it comes to jobs data.
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daniel joins us with more on that. daniel: u.s. job stats were released. the overall unemployment rate looks great, falling from 5% to 4.7% last month. it's a number many countries would be glad to achieve. experts are looking at how fast the country is adding on new jobs. just 38,000 posts were added in may, the lowest amount in almost six years. that figure falls way short of economists expectations and raises doubt about an interest rate hike anytime soon. reporter: u.s. companies/tiring to a mere 38,000 jobs in may. -- companies hired a mere 38,000 jobs in may. at least the unemployment rate continued to fall. after the enormous rise in 2009 and 2010, peaking at 10%, the
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rate has fallen steadily since. the labor department says it sank to 4.7% in may, the lowest in nine years. that's enough -- not enough on its own. friday's data is seen as very weak, possibly too weak for the federal reserve. it said it would ratchet up interest rate slowly what's the labor market has recovered from the global financial crisis. it last hike to rates in december from .25% or lower to .50%. >> let's pick this apart with our correspondent on wall street. jose, markets have closed down, i've seen there, and u.s. unemployment is only under 5%. some countries would be desperate to get even close to that figure. why are investors disappointed?
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jose: it's important to note is that the unemployment rate went down for the wrong reasons, as a labor force declined as it did the labor participation, which recorded a second monthly draw after six months of gains. market expected that the job creation was going to be weak because of the verizon strike, but the downward revisions for march and april numbers which erase a net of 59,000 jobs now good sign more worries on trend there that could be far from just a seasonal factor. the positive note came from wages that kept growing as prizes in general kept pushing slowly towards the fed's objective of 2%. daniel: it's pretty clear there probably won't be a rate hike this month. what are the chances that could change next month? jose: as you pointed out, the possibility of june increase is
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now clearly off the table according to market expectations. talk on friday after the job report was published. now the all -- all the attention turns to july and september. for sure we will have more clues on monday as they fed's president will speak in a closely watched address in philadelphia. daniel: a tough end to the week. thank you for that. have a great weekend. we are to move on to the european economy now, the eurozone's top two nations are expecting a slowdown. france is predicting slower growth of 1.5% next year. germany has been an outperform or so far but even it is squeezing its outlook for this yearo 1.7% ane o just 1.4%. th juries' -- both countries'
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central banks -- germany's bank is still optimistic about the nations prospect. baer says it has gathered the money it needs by picking up monsanto. sources close to the deal say banks are willing to lend buyer a lot more, up to 75 million. during a raft of recent chemical bonds in the industry, regulators will be watching this deal closely. what would you do if your income were taken care of? that's the message activists laid out in giant letters in the center of berlin. they support the idea of a basic income guarantee. will people simply stop working if they get free cash?
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with the texas used to pay for it make the scheme unworkable? the swiss are set to vote this weekend. in germany, campaigners are putting it to the test. reporter: the berlin district has a reputation for alternative lifestyles. the latest unusual project gives money away with no strings attached. the my citizens income association gives people 1000 euros cash a month for a whole year and without any conditions. >> and getting 1000 euros a month from an internet company i set up 10 years ago. i don't work there anymore, but i still get a share of the profits. this money for which i do nothing has changed my life so much that i wanted to see if it had the same effect on others. reporter: the money is crowd sourced. one winner set up an ice cream
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parlor, another a repair shop for children's toys. no fundraising is underway for the 46th round of the citizens income lottery. >> it gets people involved in society, motivates him to make a contribution. if they can be motivated to invest more in their education and training, to take a few more risks by doing things like starting a business, that is a positive thing. and it doesn't only pay off for the individual, it pays off for society as a whole. reporter: the prospect of potentially higher taxes scares many off the idea. but he says experience shows otherwise. >> work is about more than just paying the rent. people identify with their jobs. that's why those on citizens income keep on working. reporter: of the more than 40 people funded by the citizens income fund, only one left their job, swapping a call center for
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full-time study. >> luxembourg has put aside millions in public money for asteroid mining. the tiny european --is investing the not so astronomical sum of 200 million euros. the aim is to become the so-called silicon valley of space mining and set up the first legal framework to solve private operators claims to extraterrestrial resources. sarah: we have to leave it there. that is all we have time for. see you next time. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]
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