tv Deutsche Welle Journal LINKTV June 9, 2013 2:30pm-3:01pm PDT
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""journal," and are headlines this hour. flood levels on the river elba are reaching a critical level, with some areas threatening to burst. and patience has its limits. rafael nadal winds and record eighth french open title, now with david ferrer in straight sets. >> and we begin here in germany, where rising floodwaters are
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continuing to create havoc, but secretly in cities along the river elba. thousands of more people were encouraged to evacuate their homes. in some places, the waters -- the highest level ever recorded. >> briefly, the emergency personnel filling sandbags. it has been an exhausting few days. some 11,000 soldiers and more firemen have been called in to battle the rising flood waters. the situation is especially grim. thousands more inhabitants were forced from their homes among growing uncertainty about the dams along the river. record watery a surged 40 kilometers long. the president visited the region to offer support to locals. insolidarity is important germany, and we should prove it,
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once again, and those that are better off could certainly donate something to the victims here. >> every bit of help is desperately needed here on the banks, where evacuations are affecting thousands of people. some do so voluntarily. willleft of my own free once the police arrived. i wanted to stay. >> staying looks like an increasingly bad idea as the water levels increasingly creep up. they're bracing for oncoming floodwaters. >> so is there any relief in sight for those living along the river? we spoke earlier to our correspondent, who is monitoring the situation in an eastern german city. >> yes, the situation here is quite serious. because the level now is really
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high. it is 7 meters plus, the highest level the city has ever, ever had in history. and there are some spots where the water was coming out, so it really is kind of serious. in the afternoon, they decided to open the dike to let out the water to let it run out to open spaces where it cannot harm any more. they are hoping the situation will become better. the peak is expected tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. >> and how are the people coping with the situation there? >> yes, people are having a really hard time here. fromhave been evacuated the historical center yesterday night, and they have to stay in emergency accommodations with family and friends, and we saw
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lots of scenes where people were crying that they had to leave their houses, where they had to leave everything behind, and they had a really bad time, because lots of people became unemployed, or they had to move away from here. so the city has invested a lot of money to become a tourist hot spot. they have invested a lot of money in hotels and more. this would be distorted due to the waterflood. it would be really traumatic for the people here. >> our reporter, thank you. hile many parts of germany, austria, and slovakia may have the worst behind them, hungary is still facing it. thereby minister says the situation in budapest is becoming critical. the crest of the flooded danube river is expected to reach the
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capital. the city is bracing for a day news. soldiers have been hoping to .einforce dams and riverbanks -- the city is bracing for a diminution -- deluge. for a years in prison person convicted of fraud charges, but defense lawyers say the sentence was out of proportion to the offense. critics of the chinese government says this is political persecution. his wife is under house arrest. of fraud.convicted his sister says the charges were trumped up. prizefe of a nobel peace winner, she has been under house arrest for two years, but after the verdict, she spoke to
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journalists. she called the 11-year prison sentence persecution. >> the verdict is illegal. how can they hand down an 11- year sentence? perhaps this, country has gone mad. why do they hate us so much? caused ase has also stir among foreign diplomats, who are increasingly convinced it was politically motivated. theyith the information, have been linked. there was a call to the chinese authorities to release her. >> she was allowed to leave for apartment to attend the sentencing. she used the opportunity to speak about her ordeal. >> my family and i have undergone some much hardship. china is supposed to be governed
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by the rule of law. i have lost all hope. i do not have a shred of confidence in this government. >> within minutes, the journalists were forced back at serb brothers sentenced began. haverth and south korea appeared to have broken the ice after months of tension. the two countries are working on the positions between the two, which raced -- reached a after sanctions were imposed q2 nuclear tests. >> the two agreed to a truce decades ago. today, they are again trying to bury the hatchet. officials have been meeting here to prepare for ministerial talks to take place on wednesday in seoul, korea. the two sides discussed topics, including the size and location
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and schedule of the delegation. there was an initiative from p'yongyang, an unexpected turnaround. it will be the first high-level talks in six years. north korea appeared on the brink of war with its neighbors. its leader piled on the pressure, firing test missiles and announcing the conduction of a nuclear test. there were then sanctions. plus, there were altercations with b.s.. the industrial park which had become a symbol of korean reconciliation. just months later, they are talking again. they are talking about ending their decades-long cold war. >> the turkish prime minister has gone on the offensive, responding to anti-government protesters his demonstrations
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have rocked the country and the last days. he said the government has been patient and told tens of thousands of supporters that outsiders are fomenting the trouble. he called the ministers and vandals. gave loudupporters applause. on arime minister is cross-country tour. the majority supports him. he says the demonstrations are due to the work of a handful and nothing more. curse theirple that prime minister are not our people. using graffiti like this are not defending their rights. >> some were demanding his resignation. they were looking about turning
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turkey into an authoritarian state. >> this is our people react when they have been mistreated. i hope will improve. i want to believe it. people wantturkish their voices to be heard. he has downplayed demands. there was a reaction and the violent police crackdown. germany has opened its first diplomatic offices in afghanistan beyond the capital. they inaugurated the new general counsel it in the north of the country. civilian also a airport, partly funded by the government. they are pledging the support for the afghanistan transition to democracy looking at troop
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withdrawal in 2014. frenchleaders at the open. rafael nadal has played his way into the record books with a historic eighth title in paris. he beat his countrymen, david ferrer, and he has now won 59-60 rollandd terrace -- garros, even though an injury forced him to take seven months off last year. >> rafael nadal is having an incredible comeback. he easily got the first set and cruised to a 3-0 advantage in the second. his strongest weapon, a powerful forehand. fought back.rrer the fifth game seesawed as each player had the advantage several times. in the end, the no. 3 seed came out ahead, and he went on to
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take the second set, as well. was rain that briefly halted play in the third set, throwing nadal a bit off his mark, but he got quickly back in the game. and after two hours, 11 minutes, rafael nadal claimed his eighth garros. rolland >> stepping down from the most powerful position in the sporting world, the president of the international olympic committee retires. there are several who could succeed him, including three europeans. many see the president of the german national olympic committee as the front runner. become the next president of the olympic committee has already taken him around the world. there is africa.
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i just came back from the united states. i was in south america and california. it is not easy keeping track. with thevolvement olympic games goes back well over 30 years. there was fencing at the 1976 games, and he had a long career as a sports administrator. >> we need to make efforts to communicate with the olympic games that we have in one part of the world to the entire world. make the olympic games more open and more diverse. that includes the way countries apply to host the games. that also means of the application process to host the
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olympic games becomes more like a invitation and less like project description. presentcandidates will their manifestos to an extraordinary session to the international olympic committee in july. the new president will be elected in buenos aires on september 10. >> finally, to an unusual protest. summer temperatures in stockholm are rising. so are the hemlines of transport workers. train driversh wore skirts to work this week, to keep cool, some said. but some see it as a protest. their company has banned the men from wearing shorts to work, so that has left the men and the skirts. train rides in sweden.
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>> after days of heavy rain, there was flooding in large parts of central europe. riverside towns were inundated. tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes. in germany, as the week began, it was the south and east of the country that were worst affected. one of the hardest-hit cities had water levels at a record high. this is the worst thing that could have happened. ok, now we are seeing some fled tourism, but for the people here, it is truly terrible. >> many homes were without gas,
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electricity, and drinking water. those who did not get out on time had to receive supplies by boat. on tuesday, chancellor angela merkel visited the area and promised millions in euros of financial aid. in other parts of the country, the situation was similar. there was a state of emergency called in the czech republic. record water levels were in slovakia. poland also saw a major flooding. volunteers worked hard, and the flooding of more than one dozen people dead and destroyed livelihood's. >> in turkey, mass anti- government protests continue. several included violent clashes between police and angry demonstrators. hundreds of people were injured. wasturkish prime minister in morocco at the start of a two-day trip to north africa. he attempted to play down the
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protests. >> demonstrations now take place in every city. the situation is calmer now, and people have come to their senses. >> but the protests continued. what began as a local campaign against a redevelopment plan for a park in istanbul evolved into a widespread anti-government movement. the demonstrators criticized what they call his autocratic style and called for his resignation. on monday, a fire in a poultry processing plant in china killed at least 120 people. workers said that locked exits in the factory have prevented people from escaping and hindered rescue workers. critics blamed the disaster on negligence and inadequate safety inspections. two company executives were arrested later in the week.
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the annual meeting of the organization of american states got underway in guatemala, a push to decriminalize drugs being high on the agenda. latin american nations have been pressuring more assuring -- have been pressuring washington to take a new stance on drugs, which has only lead, according to them, to more crime and corruption. however, they were not able to agree on drug policy. major neo-nazi trial resumes in munich with a suspect and key witness taking the stand on tuesday. the 33-year-old man is a former associate of an expiring -- extreme right-wing terror cell which is accused of killing people between 2000 and 2007, most of them from immigrant backgrounds. one talked about a weapon used in several of the killings.
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the main defendant has not spoken in court. lawyers say she will make use of her right to remain silent during the hearings. >> an egyptian court handed down dozens of jail sentences on tuesday in the case against and 27n ngo's, foreigners were given jail sentences. among them were two germans who worked for a foundation in cairo. they raided their offices and that of 16 other ngo's, charged with operating illegally in the country. the situation has caused an uproar. >> this affects relations with the rest of the world, which are necessary for the future of egypt. >> the below could be irreparable. the court ordered all of the to leaveof the ngo's
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the country. >> pressure grew on the german defense minister on his handling of a project. after weeks of silence, the minister appeared before a parliamentary committee to explain why the program had to be ditched. he canceled the 500 million project in euro due to problems with certification of the unmanned aircraft. at the defense conference, he blamed subordinates and that he was not adequately informed. >> i need to put this part of my house in order. i should have been strongly involved in decisions of this magnitude. was precisely when he knew the aircraft would not get flight clearance and whether there was a cover-up. he rejected calls from opposition parties for him to step down. >> lawmakers in pakistan
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confirmed the new prime minister. he previously served two terms in the raw before being ousted in a coup. in his first address, he demanded the end of u.s. drawn strikes, which have claimed hundreds of lives in pakistan. the europeanay, commission gave the green light next year. a final decision will be made by the euro zone finance ministers in july. a tiny baltic state has met the criteria for joining the monetary union and has its currency in line with the euro. >> in a move seen as strengthening rights for homosexual couples, the top german court ruled that same-sex partners in a civil unions are entitled to the same tax breaks as heterosexual couples. the court said there must be taxed equality.
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it was said that some things violated their civil rights. >> the legislature has decided to put sobel partnerships essentially on equal footing in terms of civil law. >> that means some 34,000 same- sex couples will be able to retroactively pool their incomes for tax purposes. that can mean big savings when one partner earns more than another partner. and the party of chancellor angela merkel backed the changes. it was a southern turnaround for the christian democrats, who had long opposed equal tax treatment for same-sex couples. this is now set to be passed before the summer recess. >> the conflict in syria threatens to disturb the fragile peace with neighboring israel. battles between the syrian army and rebels near the border of the golan heights injured two
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u.s. peacekeepers in the demilitarized zone. make up one-third of the blue helmet mission that has overseen the cease-fire between syria and israel since the 19 70's. a surpriseay later, offer from russian president vladimir putin to send russian troops to replace them. u.n. you all know, secretary-general ban ki-moon recently visited russia. he asked us to increase our participation in peacekeeping operations. difficult situation, we could replace the contingent in this region on the border between israeli troops and the syrian army. >> united nations officials turned down his offer. and closen partner ally and major arms supplier of the syrian government would bar
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it from the mission. news media in the u.s. reported that the government is covering out why it spread surveillance. those said the fbi have collected communications data on foreigners and some americans since 2007, according to leaked documents. the u.s. prison defended the surveillance, saying it helped prevent terrorist attacks. 100%u cannot have security and also then have 100% inconvenience.o we are going to have to make some choices. >> some of the internet companies involved claimed they had resisted complying with the surveillance program. it was the second revelation about privacy.
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one day earlier, it emerged that intelligence officials have also been collecting phone records of american citizens. in turkeyuation remained tense at the end of the week. demonstrators called for the prime minister to step down. after days of protests, there was little sign of compromise. supporters welcomed the prime minister home from his trip to north africa. in a defiant speech, he vowed he would give no ground to the protests. immediate endr an to the demonstrations, which have lost their democratic credentials and turned into vandalism. he refused to back off from the planned redevelopment of the park that triggered the protests. demonstrators said the remarks showed he was out of touch.
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we were hoping that he would do a little bit to ease the passion. >> on friday, the e.u. called on turkey to observe high standards of democracy and take steps against the excessive use of force by police against the protesters. >> at the end of the week, central europe still grappled with flooding, as high waters moved to the north and east. on another visit to flood-hit parts of germany, chancellor angela merkel paid tribute. people aresense that pulling together. they are exhausted, obviously, but they are not giving up. >> a number of small towns along the river have been submerged, but there was a sigh of relief in dresden, where they were protecting the old quarter and
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