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tv   DW News  PBS  April 24, 2017 6:00pm-6:31pm PDT

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>> this is dw news live from berlin. tonight the french duel. the first round of france's presidential election catapults. two relative outsiders into the finals. emmanuel macron, a pro-european centrist, will face off against marine le pen, an anti-immigration nationalist. we'll have analysis of the vote that sent shock waives through the fifth republic. are mainstream parties now passe? also coming up, a nation comes to a stop still. israel remembers jewish victims of the holocaust on this
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holocaust remembrance day. and fast legs and a big heart. a good samaritan in the london marathon, a runner sets aside his own performance to help out a struggling fellow runner. >> good to have you with us. and tn there were two. after sunday's first round in france's presidential election, the centrist, emmanuel macron, has come out on top, ahead of marine le pen. now, le pen was the leader of the far right front national. but she's announced that she is stepping down from that position. both macron and le pen face each other in the final round in just two weeks. let's take a look at the official results from the poll on sunday. now, final voting figures show that the pro-e.u. candidate,
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macron, won 24% of the vote. you can see, he was followed by marine le pen of the anti-immigration front national, with 21.3%. now, the conservative, francois fillon, was just above 20%, and the leftist candidate, jean-luc melenchon, just under him. now, this was one of the most unpredictable elections in recent french history, with traditional parties crashing out. we'll get some analysis in just a moment. first, here's more on the two remaining candidates. reporter: the day after his first round win, emmanuel macron had a hard time even getting out of the house. he was greeted by dozens of supporters, hand shakes and selfie takers. the 39-year-old is the clear favorite to win the presidency in two weeks' time. and he has the goal firmly within his sights. >> i hope to become the
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president of all the people of france. the president of patriots against the threat of nationalists. reporter: a glance at france's newspaper suggest the race is already won. just one more step, they write. the right are already out. macron has the firm backing of the establishment, president holland as well as e.u. institutions. but marine le pen, the face of the far right, is trying to show she's not yet eliminated. she was out in full campaign mode on monday morning, saying macron had no strategy to protect the country against terrorism and that he stood for everything that's wrong with france. >> macron is returnism. he's the return to all the old glory of french politics that has been responsible for landing
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the french people in the very difficult situation they are in today. reporter: le pen will no doubt continue her campaign against the so-called elites in the coming days. never before in a french election have there been so few votes for the established parties. conservative candidate, francois fillon, came in third, while benoit hamon, the ruling socialist, came in a humiliating fifth place. >> i think the french people want change. they want to turn the page on the last 60 years, on this right-left divide. i don't mind having a young president. but we need with it a platform that can stay the course. reporter: today we find ourselves with macron, who comes from who knows where? and with an extremist who can effectively cause fear. i don't think le pen will win the runoff. but i don't know what to think
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of macron. reporter: an extremist and a centrist, french voters have two weeks before they need to decide. macron is ahead right now, but two weeks is a long time in politics. ♪[singing] >> oh, yeah. two weeks is a very long time. let's talk about just how much can happen in those two weeks. i'm joined by pascal, the berlin correspondent. good to have you on the show. two weeks is a long time. but the numbers are certainly in macron's corner. aren't they? is his victory in two weeks, is it a foregone conclusion? >> probably. i mean, all the experts you can hear, and there are quite a lot in france and elsewhere, say that it will be the new president. i mean, today, a new campaign is starting. and i think french people have to died between two -- decide
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between two visions of france, nationalists, protectionistic version, xenophobic version, the one of marine le pen, an open france, integrating in europe and in the world, and we already heard quite a lot of politicians, conservative ones, the socialist candidate, said they will vote and -- for macron. >> they need to wait for the numbers to come out completely, right? >> that's right. >> that's also unprecedented, isn't it, to come out so quickly and endorse the final candidates? >> yes. it was already obvious that macron will be in the second round against le pen. and the question now, the challenge, is how big or less big will be the result of le pen
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in two weeks? because in yesterday's -- yesterday she became 21%. >> which is historic, right? >> it is an historical result. it was the best result by a presidential election for this party. and she got 7.5 million votes, also a historical figure. but the result was not so good as the one she could have had three or four months ago in when she was stronger in the polls? >> yes. she could have -- if we would have had the election three months ago, maybe she would have gotten 30% or something like that. >> right. do you think that realization has something to do with the fact that she says that she is going to step down as head of the front national, at least temporarily? what's the purpose of that? >> i mean, yes. i mean, it's a good strategy,
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which she already had, more or less, not with the symbolic step like today. in the past, for example, with political propaganda, without the symbol of the party, of the national -- >> she's gonna be running then as marine le pen, the candidate, and that's it? >> exactly. we saw a lot of pictures of her with katz in the last month, just to show she's a french woman like you and me, and this party, which nowadays still -- is still a danger for a lot of french people. that's what also polls show us, although the results of yesterday were not that bad. >> not that bad. and if you look at the demographics of these results, it's also -- it's a change.
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and it's also disturbing, when you've got a lot of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 who voted for marine le pen and the front national. that is something we have not seen frederick for example, in n england or even in the u.s. with trump. what do you think it says about france? is there a special case with france and what does it mean about the future of european identity if you have so many young people who don't even want to be in the e.u.? >> i mean, you have to see that we have in france a huge employment, in the younger people, 25%, so all these young people do not have any hope in the country, in politicians. they think all the politicians, they already experienced the conservatives once, socialists once. it failed. so for them, the only chance they see is in the radical
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candidates like marine le pen or jean-luc melenchon, the left wing candidate. and not the traditional ones. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll be talking with you on the day, as well. see you then. well, now to israel. that country has been marking its annual holocaust remembrance day. it included the country coming to a standstill for two minutes today. ♪[music] >> now, the ritual is the centerpiece of commemoration for the jews murdered by nazi germany and its collaborators. an official ceremony in jerusalem, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and members of his cabinet led a wreath-laying ceremony. well, this year, netanyahu
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issued a warning about what he called growing anti-semitism, especially here in europe. well, our next report introduces us to an orthodox jew living here in germany who is among those fighting prejudice and harassment. he says that it's important for jews to talk about and to report any anti-semitic incidents they experience. reporter: mikhail is an orthodox jew. and he's preparing for morning prayers. he's lived in germany for over 20 years and says he's occasionally confronted with anti-semitism. but six months ago, he experienced something quite new. some young muslim men angrily insulted him as they passed by his apartment in berlin. it really hit home. >> it made me particularly uncomfortable, because it happened directly in front of my building. they saw me go in and that i lived there. do i have to worry now? should i react? or should i just let it go?
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reporter: many in the jewish community here know this all too well. they experience anti-semitism on some level but don't think it's he says meanwhile, insults have become an everyday thing for the jews in his synagogue. he wants to change this. that's why he got into contact with benjamin, who heads the anti-semitism research and information center. it runs a website called reportanti-semitism. this roll on effect has shown people they're not alone and that what they have experienced was indeed anti-semitism and it's projected towards a group. mikhail says that anti-semitism can come from any quarter of society, not just from muslims. he says his best defense against
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hate, however, is dialogue. >> talk, talk, talk, not just to refugees t or to muslim communities but to everyone. it's about people taking note that we have a full and thriving jewish community here. reporter: mikhail hopes that more dialogue can create greater awareness of the problem. and that will mean that he and others in germany's jewish community can rest at ease. >> u.s. president donald trump has told the german chancellor, angela merkel, that the world must find a solution to the problems posed by north korea. now, their phone conversation followed earlier remarks to ambassadors from the united nations security council at the white house. trump called for additional and stronger sanctions against north korea. he said its nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a real threat to the world and that it is finally time, he said, to solve the problem. here's a look at some of the
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other stories making headlines around the world. u.s. defense secretary jim mattis is in afghanistan on an unannounced visit, as the trump administration seeks to craft a new strategy in the country. now, he met afghan president, ashraf ghani, and u.s. commanders. they arrived just hours after his afghan counterpart resigned, following the deadliest taliban attack on security forces to date. anti-government protests in venezuela have entered their fourth week with demonstrators blocking main highways in the capital. the protesters are demanding the resignation of president niklas maduro, who they blame for the country's economic crisis. 21 people have been killed in the unrest over the past three weeks. firefighters in the u.s. state of maryland are battling a huge blaze at a multistory apartment complex. the building is located near the university of maryland.
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local media reports say that it was still under construction and had no residents. it's not yet clear how the fire began. all right. we're gonna take a 60 second break. when we come back, more world news plus all the business headlines. stick around for that. >> the whole dw on one app. for in focus global insights, anytime, anywhere. the news app for local heros. dw. made for minds. >> they make a commitment. they find solutions. they inspire.
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africa, on the move. stories about people making a difference. shaping their nation and their continent. dw's new multimedia series for africa. >> welcome back here with dw news, live from berlin. our top story. france is set for a historic showdown between a political novice and a nationalist fire brand. now, this after emmanuel macron and marine le pen won the first round of the presidential election. le pen has stepped down as party leader but is still a presidential candidate. global markets, of course, reacted to the election outcome. gerhardt is here with that and more. >> thank you very much. for weeks, the specter of an
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anti-europe candidate looming over the french elections has scared investors. but the victory of emmanuel macron in the first round has sent markets in europe soaring with blue chips in france gaining 4.5% and germany's dax reaching new highs. the possibility of a liberal left of center president in france is exactly what investors on the frankfurt stock exchange like to here. emmanuel macron is seen as the savior of the european union, e.u. and globalization. investors primarily bought shares in banks, which are especially dependent on political and economic developments in europe. and macron could inject some life into the economies of germany's neighbors. >> of course, the french election is a major factor. but it's just the first round. and the markets have shown that they're not exactly a stronghold of wisdom when it comes to future development, as we saw with trump and with brexit.
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so i urge caution, because the left liberal macron, the candidate of the conservative camp, has not yet won the presidency. reporter: there is indeed still uncertainty. but the european financial markets weren't fazed by it. even shares in london rose on the news of macron's first round win. >> i think the expectation now is that, you know, he is going to just walk this the election and the markets are saluting it, because all of the other kind of more centrist, more conventional candidates, who didn't make it through to the first round, have actually thrown their weight behind him. reporter: whether that will really be enough for macron to earn his place at the palace is still unclear. the french will decide that on the 7th of may. >> so quite a lively reaction here in europe to the result in france. let's check with our new york
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stock exchange reporter. sophie, are those gains in europe being reflected on wall street? reporter: well, stocks surged monday, reflecting investors' appetite for risk after these results from the first round in france. in the meantime, gold fell, a safe haven for investors in times of market stress. so investors on wall street participated in the stock market rally, even if a little less enthusiastically than their europe counterparts. the dow jones rose almost 200 points. and so did the nasdaq composite, putting the index on an all-time high. financials were the biggest gain, as in the s&p 500, rising 2%. and then also, very interesting, the vix, an index that measures the anticipated stock market. it fell also 23%. so all in all, the sentiment here was quite good.
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>> interesting news coming out of the toy industry over there in america. hasbro's revenue surpassed mattel for the first time in 17 years, thanks in part to a new game called toilet trouble. tell us more. >> yeah. they reported very good figures indeed, especially when you compare them to the earnings from archrival mattel, who repoed last week. and after years of trailing behind mattel, hasbro passed its rival, highlighting the diverging portions of the new toy makers. traditional toys have to compete with smartphone apps and video games. mattel says barbie sales were down but hasbro rose.
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toys based on franchises, such as -- the disney movie "beauty and the beast" helped boosting the sales figure, as they own the rights of the toys to the movie. >> sophie in new york for us. thank you very much. >> the emissions cheating scandal is expanding into france, after regula regulatorst suspicions. the prosecution has opened a case. the parent company of the brand is being accused of deceiving customers with fraudulent emissions software and to manipulate emission readings during certification tests. they are denying the charges. the prosecutor is now opening cases against vw and fiat chrysler. in 2013, the building of a textile factory in bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,200
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workers. the dollars at the plaza put working conditions in those sweatshops under a harsh spotlight. many consumers realized that the clothes they are wearing are produced under terrible conditions. they vowed to fight for better protections of workers. four years later, things have changed, but not enough. reporter: the horror took the factory's mostly female textile workers completely by surprise. survivors and loved ones of the dead have often had to wait years for any kind of financial compensation. some payments are still outstanding. safety standards improved somewhat for textile workers in the wake of the catastrophe, but progress generally has been limited. the minimum monthly wage rose to 600 euros. unions are demanding the minimum wage be hiked to 200 euros. 80% of bangladesh's exports are
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textile related. the country's economy is expected to grow 7% this year, primarily because of the textile sector. after the disaster, western fashion chains promised to ensure better working conditions in their developing country's supply chains. but apart from all the promises, not much has happened. now, four years after the plaza, the e.u. parliament is covering an initiative on labor and environmental standards, as well as human rights in the industry. it's the first step towards binding legislation. but in the global race to the bottom, countries like ethiopia are already trying to compete with bangladesh. ethiopia's minimum wage is only 50 euros a month. >> and that's it for me on the business scene. >> thank you very much. have a good evening. all right. i want to turn to some tennis
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news. maria sharapova will make her competitive return at the clay event on wednesday, following a 15-month doping ban. but not everyone is happy about the decision by tournament organizers to grant the russian former world number one a wild card ticket. reporter: the poster girl of tennis is used to warm welcomes. but that very likely won't be the case on wednesday. maria sharapova's reputation took a hit after she tested positive for meldonium at last year's open. now they have ignited controversy by granting her a wild card spot in the clay court tournament. >> i can live with the opinions of others when they're based on the right facts. and the fact here is that the court of arbitration for sport ruled that maria wasn't an intentional doper. that means she didn't deliberately cheat. she made a mistake, a big mistake. reporter: others, however,
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aren't as forgiving. they believe the tournament's organizers made an exception because of sharapova's fame and popularity. her presence will likely boost ticket sales but some fear a backlash. >> i think a majority of the audience will react positively. there were always be someone that won't be happy about the decision and boo her. i can't give an opinion on that. but maria is a strong personality. she can tune it out. and really show her best tennis. reporter: no doubt, sharapova will try to divert attention back to her tennis abilities. but that won't change the opinions of some, who believe she should have earned her place in the tournament. >> all right. here's a question for you. if you were a marathon runner and you saw another runner struggling to finish the race, would you sacrifice your own time to help that person? well, that's exactly what happened sunday at the london marathon.
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and that good samaritan is being praised all over the world now for showing se kindness rerter: marathons and gd deeds don't necessarily go hand in hand. but when one runner's legs started to give out, a fellow racer rose to the rescue. matthew reese did what other participants weren't prepared to. he sacrificed his own race time to help a struggling fellow competitor. >> it looked like i was angry, but no. i was trying to motivate him. i was saying the finish is just there, you will finish, let's do this. yeah. but i was getting quite into it. i just wanted to get him to the end and keep him jeered up. reporter: his act of kindness was deeply appreciated. daytondavid wyeth knows his savr probably missed out on a personal best. >> you know, he could well have been on for pb, so i didn't know that. i was frustrated that he was giving up his race. i know how important it is.
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reporter: marathons can bring out a fierce competitive spirit in many runners. but sometimes that is all forgotten and a simple act of human kindness shines through. >> good news in the show. that's how we like it. i will be back after a short break to take you through the day. we're gonna talk more about the fallout from that first round in the french presidential election. stick around for that. we'll be back in about two minutes.
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♪ [theme music] ♪ [theme music] ernabel demillo: welcome to asian american life, i'm ernabel demillo. i'm at the china institute in manhattan for the celebration of lunar new year, here at the institute there's a special contemporary art exhibit on year of the dunhuang. dunhuang are the sites of ancient caves dating back to the fourteenth century in western china. many of these caves contain some of the world's finest buddhist art and shrines. today they're the inspiration for fifteen contemporary and modern artists whose works capture the beauty of these hidden gems.

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