♪ brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. act now or else. tonight, a dire warning from the u.n. climate conference in bonn, germany. >> the catastrophic effects of climate change are upon us. and the voice of smaller island states that are in the frontline of the impacts of climate change must be the voice of us all. brent: world leaders say more action is needed to prevent catastrophic global warming. also coming up, flash floods roar through two towns near the

greek capital athens. taking residence by surprise and leaving a trail of destruction. at least 15 people are dead. and in zimbabwe, tanks on the streets of harare and president robert mugabe under house arrest, yet the army denies it is staging a coup. what is it, then? and is the rule of mugabe over? ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. it is the defining threat of our time. that is how the head of the u.n. antonio guterres described climate change today. he and other leaders are attending u.n. climate talks in the german city of bonn. they are trying to build on the success of the paris talks from 2015. and that means agreeing on the rules which will take the 2015

paris climate accord from paper, into practice. reporter: world leaders joined discussions at the united nations climate conference in bonn, germany today. the session opened with a message from a very special representative of fiji, the country presiding over the conference. >> according to desmond tutu, he says, and i quote, 25 years ago people could be excused for not knowing or doing much about climate change. today, we have no excuses, end quote. the blaming and waiting days are over. we need to act now. reporter: german chancellor angela merkel added further urgency to those words, calling for europe to step up to its climate responsibilities. although she emphasized that even in rich countries, this could be a struggle. >> the next step is to find concrete ways to fulfill our obligations.

to speak plainly, this is also difficult for germany. reporter: in his speech, french president emmanuel macron said that europe should make up for the shortfall in funds from when the u.s. decided to leave the paris climate agreement. >> i would like to see the largest possible number of european countries at our side, all together, to make up for the loss of u.s. funding. but i can guarantee that as of 2018, the u.n. panel on climate change will not lack a single cent to work on advanced, and support our decisions. reporter: macron's proposal garnered healthy applause. now, world leaders must translate their message of action into actual deeds back home. brent: that's right, actual deeds. let's go to my colleague christopher springate. he is covering the climate talks for us in bonn. good evening to you, christopher. we had a lot of speeches today, right? we heard from the german

chancellor, the french president. they are a lot of words. what about actions? christopher: well, in concrete results from the speeches today, i mean, this is the first climate conference since president trump announced that the u.s. would be withdrawing from the paris agreement. he did that last july. so a lot of people at this conference have been looking very carefully to see whether the commitment of the rest of the world to the paris agreement remains strong. that really is the most concrete result of all these speeches. it does remain very strong. you talked a lot about the united nations secretary-general gutierrez. we also had speeches from the german chancellor angela merkel, the french president emmanuel macron, both of them defining climate change as humanity's central challenge, both of them standing by the paris agreement very strongly and also calling for additional measures. so, that is something that

people at this conference have been looking for. today, they got it. brent: and christopher, we know that they were really pushing, trying to maybe to inject a sense of urgency into future talks. do you think that there has been this problem of expectations after the paris agreement, being too high? christopher: absolutely. i mean, the paris climate summit in 2015, that was a major breakthrough, a historic breakthrough. so we cannot expect the same kind of result from this climate conference in bonn. it is a much more technical meeting, essentially interpreting the paris agreement, pouring the spirit of the paris agreement into the concrete rules and regulations, the nitty-gritty of implementation. that is what this climate conference is about. at the same time there has been interesting progress today in

agriculture and land-use, which is a sector that produces 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. that area has been deadlocked between negotiators for the last six years, but today they managed to find agreement. so the world will now be able to progress on addressing greenhouse gas emissions that come from agriculture, things like cattle, patty fields, all of those aspects of agriculture cause a lot of emissions. the world will now be able to make progress, because in principle, an agreement has been found on that issue. brent: our correspondent christopher springate at those talks in bonn, germany. christopher, thank you very much. at least 50 people have been killed by flash floods in two coastal towns in greece. people were reportedly woken by torrents of water raging through their homes after a night of heavy rain. the prime minister has declared a period of national mourning. reporter: this is a sight very

few people are used to seeing, but especially greeks. torrential rain is rare in greece, and so is flooding on this scale. the waters trapped many residents in their homes or forced them to take refuge on their rooftops. rescue services say it remains unclear how many people are missing, particularly in coastal regions west of athens, where a number of people were swept out to sea. some residents have begun to assess the scale of the damage. many are overwhelmed. >> everything was knocked down, broken. nothing was left standing, even the doors. the bathrooms, the bedrooms, everything was swept away. everything. i have lived here all my life and nothing like this has ever happened before.

reporter: authorities have declared a state of emergency in the region hardest hit by the flooding at the foothills of the mountain in western attica. many housing settlements in the area are built without taking into account planning regulations. in athens, a prosecutor has ordered an urgent preliminary investigation into the deaths and destruction caused by the flooding. they also say they are investigating possible urban planning offenses. brent: we want to bring in markus bernath, a journalist who is in athens at the moment. markus, how are things looking right now? markus: well, now as we speak, it is raining again west of athens in the small stretch that was hard hit. you can drive around by car, but the roads are still flooded and fire brigades are on the spot,

still pumping out water from the basements and clearing mud. brent: we are hearing that at least 15 people have died. do authorities know how many people are missing? markus: the death toll stands at 15 now, but security staff is still searching for missing persons. they talk about three persons who are missing. that's the figure now this evening. brent: we just heard that authorities are investigating possible urban planning offenses. can you tell us more about that? markus: what is clear from this kind of settlement, this industrial region west of athens, 30 kilometers out of the capital -- there is poor infrastructure, construction without proper oversight from

authorities. without permits, most certainly. if there is rainfall, then the sewage system usually doesn't work. so, that is something that prosecutors are now looking into. brent: journalist markus bernath joining us tonight from athens. thank you very much. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world. a suicide bomb attack has killed at least 10 people and injured 30 others in the nigerian city of maiduguri. officials say four female bombers were involved. maiduguri is the capital in the epicenter of the insurgency by the islamist militants boko haram. it looks as if the former prime minister of lebanon, saad hariri, is heading to france. he has been in saudi arabia since resigning 11 days ago, but now france president emmanuel macron has invited him and his family to spend a few days in france.

macron said it was not an offer of exile. there have been suggestions that hariri is being detained in saudi arabia. rioters clashed with police in brussels after a rapper tried to shoot a video. reports say hundreds of youth damaged a vehicle and shut down a major metro station after police stopped the video going ahead. just four days ago, there were clashes after morocco's national football team qualified for the world cup. amazing pictures, there. zimbabwe's military has told regional leaders that they are not watching a coup take place, despite putting leader robert mugabe under house arrest and plating tanks on the streets. the situation in the country is reported to be calm but there is growing uncertainty about what will happen next. >> good morning, zimbabwe. reporter: soldiers took over a national tv station to say it was not a coup.

>> to put our people and the world beyond our borders, we wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover of government. what the defense forces are doing is to pacify a degenerating political, social, and economic situation in our country, which if not addressed, may result in a violent conflict. reporter: but with tanks and military vehicles blocking off parliament and government buildings in the capital harare, it sure looked like a coup. and a coup is something the rest of the african union has said it will not accept. >> we in the african union are against any violent government overthrow. i have issued a statement saying the army should retreat and return to constitutional order.

we support the legitimate zimbabwean government and in no case will we accept a forceful seizure of power. reporter: the fate of president robert mugabe and his wife, grace, is unclear, but they appear to be in the custody of the military, who say the couple are safe. the military intervention comes after months of power wrangling over who will succeed the 93-year-old mugabe. he has ruled the country since 1980 but is frail and ailing. last week, mugabe fired vice president emmerson mnangagwa. he was widely viewed as the heir apparent and backed by some of the country's most powerful generals. the sacking seemed to clear the path for grace mugabe. but now the military has stopped her ascent, at least temporarily. and an influential group of war veterans, once staunch supporters of mugabe themselves, is calling for him to step aside completely.

>> we ask that robert mugabe be recalled from his role as the president. reporter: frustration has been growing in zimbabwe. it used to be wealthy, but 37 years of mugabe's rule have left the economy in tatters. and the question of who will take over and try to repair it has now been thrown wide open. brent: joining me now is tony hawkins from the university of harare. good evening to you, tony. do we know who is in charge of zimbabwe tonight? tony: first, we can see it is the military. we are not sure of the whereabouts of former vice president mnangagwa, who is tipped to sort of to lead some kind of interim, or transitional administration when he returns

to the country from south africa, where he is currently. brent: we heard that the head of zimbabwe's war veterans has called to an end to mugabe's political rule. what does that mean to one-party domination in the country? tony: it means very little, because what in effect is taking place, a military coup, is a transition within the ruling party from mugabe's leadership to the leadership of another person, presumably mr. mnangagwa. the rest of the country remains -- the political opposition remains sidelined, or marginalized, especially given the ability of government to control the rural vote, in particular, using various

methods including coercion. brent: what do you think is going to happen to robert mugabe and his wife? people are wondering, will there be a reaction from mr. mugabe, or will even survive this? tony: well, he's not at all well. he is 93 years old. the rumor, or the speculation that we are hearing here is that he is likely to be invited to resign and given free passage out of the country with his wife and family, either to south africa or more likely to a country in the far east, like hong kong or singapore. brent: and what about zimbabwe moving forward? do you think the country could face another civil war? or do you think that a

transition to power, although this is not constitutional, do you think that a peaceful transition could now come? tony: well, the coup itself has been very peaceful, as far as we know. and there's no reason to expect any kind of civil war. there is no -- president mugabe was not exactly a popular figure, particularly in the towns, and therefore his removal is unlikely to bring out street protests or anything like that. however, if we move to a situation where mr. mnangagwa takes over from president mugabe, we will then just have a continuation of the rule and a

continuation of the regime that has existed for the last 37 years. brent: all right. tony hawkins giving us his assessment tonight from the university of harare on that situation in zimbabwe. tony, we appreciate it. thank you very much. tony: thank you. brent: time for business news now. javier is here, and i hear that airbus is popping a bottle of champagne. javier: they are, because airbus has just struck its biggest deal ever. in the wake of reports of weak sales of its super jumbo, it has now received a juicy order from u.s. private equity company indigo partners. the order is a big one, but for smaller planes. 430 single aisle planes of the 1320 for a whopping $50 billion u.s. but nothing to celebrate here. the international labor

organization says efforts to reduce child labor have slowed. this, just as amnesty international is exposing many of the world's biggest companies accept materials produced with child labor. just take the democratic republic of the congo, which produces more than half of the world's cobalt, some of which is mined by children. it is used by smart phones, tablets, and electric cars. amnesty has singled out microsoft, the leading chinese smartphone maker, and a french carmaker, as doing little to ensure their gadgets are not the product of child labor. earlier, i talked to lena rohrbach from amnesty international here in berlin and asked her if she believes these companies are really aware of where their cobalt is coming from. lena: we can of course never be sure of what these companies are aware of, but we can be sure what they should be aware of. and the human rights risks and abuses in cobalt mining in the democratic republic of the congo have been well known for many years.

when amnesty published a previous report addressing these very same companies two years ago. two years later, still none of the 29 companies are carrying out human rights due diligence in line with human rights standards. many of them are even failing to ask very basic questions about where their cobalt comes from in their batteries. so, if amnesty international researchers can investigate these supply chains, we're sure these powerful companies can do , too. javier: what you are exposing right now are these big companies, but is that the right level to address this? because i imagine a ceo of one of these companies will tell you to look at the mining companies or at the governments that are more directly involved with the production of cobalt. lena: these companies we're talking about, they belong to the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world. they are consumer-facing companies at the very end of the supply chain. that means that they are in a

very unique position to tackle the supply chain. because of their big purchasing power, this gives them leverage over all their suppliers, which could enable change in the whole supply chain. so yes, we would think that they are the right ones to address these issues and to identify human rights risks. but we do also address governments, including the government of the republic of the congo, and governments of the home states like t u.s. and germany. germany, for example, we have again and again called to make human rights due diligence mandatory, because some of these companies, they have told us that they are not carrying out human rights due diligence on cobalt because they are not legally required to, and that makes for a very strong case for regulation. javier: so that not requirement of human rights respect is as well in germany and the united states? it is not required anywhere?

lena: in germany, there is no mandatory human rights due diligence rights law. that is correct. javier: you speak about -- this is very interesting, you speak about the dark side of green technology, because some batteries for electric cars are made with this cobalt. are you suggesting that consumers should probably not buy electric cars right now until this problem is solved? lena: well, as a human rights organization, it is not our role to tell consumers what they should buy or what they should not buy. but i personally strongly believe that consumers do want to make ethical decisions and do not want to profit from child labor and other human rights abuses. so the companies should be more transparent about the steps they are taking to tackle these human rights abuses so consumers can make informed buying decisions. javier: so would you say based on that that a consumer is ready to pay more for say, a cell phone, a tablet, or an electric car if the cobalt in which the battery is produced is created

and produced under more socially acceptable conditions? lena: i very much hope that they would be willing to pay more, but to be able to make these decisions, companies need to take additional steps to be more transparent about their cobalt supply chains. and we definitely do need to tackle climate change and electric cars, for example, are one step towards this aim. but the clean energy revolution needs to be also clean from human rights violations. javier: that is certainly true. thank you very much for the insights. in other news, the european union parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation to protect eu industries against excessively cheap imports from non-eu countries. it also allows investigators to consider environmental and labor standards in countries of origin when setting import tariffs. the law is chiefly intended to offset the consequences of granting china market economy

status at the wto, which will make it more difficult to prove illegal trade practices by beijing. china has been heavily criticized for undermining the global steel and solar panel markets by dumping excess production abroad. and that's all from the business desk. it is now time for sports action. brent: someone is losing his job. we heard that the italian football federation has fired coach ventura after his team crashed out of the world cup in qualifying. the veteran coach's fate was sealed after a crisis meeting in rome on wednesday. the 69-year-old had apologized to fans after italy missed the world cup for the first time in 60 years, but he refused to resign. a new coach is expected to be named when they meet on november 28. for soccer fans, next summer's world cup 2018 is just around the corner, and the final spot is about to be decided in lima. the home side peru faced new

zealand after the two teams -- peru are desperate to qualify for their first world cup since 1982. they have even turned to some ancient rituals to give them an edge. take look. reporter: snakes, chanting, and a traditional dance. peruvians are doing everything they can to inspire their team to world cup qualification. ahead of peru's crucial match to new zealand, local shamans are going all out to give the own nation an extra spiritual boost. >> we're going to win. don't worry. we giving spiritual strength from these three regions. the coast, mountains, and the jungle. these native snakes, perfumes and flowers are all peru. reporter: of course on-field preparations will count, too. peru are the favorites and have home advantage, but they still have to execute their game plan. >> we'll try to be calm to show our skills. we know it would just be like the game we played in new zealand.

no doubt they will push themselves to really go for it. we just have to keep the ball moving. reporter: for new zealand, a nation more assessed with rugby than football, the pressure is off. they are confident they can overcome their underdog status. >> this team is used to difficult situations. in fact, i would say we are probably more suited and resilient away from home than we are at home. reporter: the shamans have done their work but now it is time for both sides to take control of their own destinies. brent: staying with football, liverpool coach jurgen klopp missed training on wednesday after going to a hospital with an unspecified illness. the 50-year-old german is being assessed by doctors after being admitted to the hospital as a precautionary measure. the club says the former coach will return home after his appointment. liverpool next faces southampton on saturday. here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you.

german chancellor angela merkel has told the u.n. climate conference in bonn that the paris accord is just the beginning and that more measures are needed to halt global warming. at least 15 people have been killed in flash floods in two coastal towns in greece. people were awoken by torrents of water raging through their homes after a night of heavy rain. the prime minister has declared a period of national mourning. after a short break i will be back to take you through the day. stay tuned for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

(upbeat music) - [narrator] china is building up its maritime presence. it's undertaken a massive investment in its navy, and is ambitiously advancing its territorial claims to the disputed spratly and senkaku islands chains in the south and east china seas. is this maritime expansion an effort to project power and deny access to what were once international waters, or a reasonable assertion of china's expanding capabilities? china, next on great decisions. (upbeat music) great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers llp. (rhythmic ethnic music)