decision not to release the name of the police officer accused of shooting dead an unarmed black teenager. demonstrations continue in ferguson missouri. expressed concern about the violent turn of events there. >> there is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or latinoing. there is also no excuse -- looting. there is no excuse to use police force for peaceful protests or throw protesters in jail for exercising their rights. here in the united states of

america, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs. >> a little while ago, we got the very latest from washington from our correspondent. >> yeah, there has been a lot of pressure on this president to talk about what has been going on in ferguson, a suburb of st. louis over the last four days. he has now come out and has called for calm and has also criticized protesters there who took to the streets and did not disperse, also criticized the police forces in action there for excessive violence, this all going back to the shooting by police of an unarmed black teenager 18-year-old michael brown. that was on saturday. that led to all sorts of protests in the streets and some very violent images that came out of the town of ferguson, the suburb of st. louis last night. this was the police using very heavy-handed tactics and

looking labor a military unit basically using all military equipment in the streets of an american suburb. this has shocked a lot of people, hence, this call for calm from the u.s. president. he also called for excessive force not to be used any longer on journalists because plenty got in the cross-fire, so to say, of the police force who used very heavy-handed tactics, hence, a lot of criticism from the u.s. president for the police forces there. it is hoped that things will calm down there, but this is, remember a largely black neighborhood and a largely white police force and that brings to the front all sorts of racial tensions again that are ongoing right now in that town of ferguson. >> with the latest from washington more to come throughout this program.

next ukraine donetsk has been hit by heavy bombardment, shells fired by the ukraine army have reached the center of the city for the first time. pro russian rebels surrounded there for several weeks. >> it's the first time artillery hit the city center of donetsk. many residents rushed for cover after nearby explosions triggered an evacuation warning. when they came out, they found their entire neighborhood ravaged. some who decide to stay at home got lucky. >> first there was noise and then the blast followed and that's it. there are plenty of explosions here. there was one in the morning before that. how could we know? it is our fault of course, we should have just left. i told my husband, but he can't leave his parents. >> entire apartment buildings have been shattered and firefighters are still struggling to stop the fire in different parts of the city.

meanwhile in the suburbs of donetsk, large craters could be seen along the roadside. here too, residents have returned to their homes after a heavy night of fighting to inspect the damage. >> my son and now i'm staying with my daughter. i don't know what to do afterwards. where should i run to after that? please tell me. >> donetsk has been surrounded for several weeks by ukrainian forces battling pro russian separatists. according to authorities, more than 70 people were killed and over 100 were wounded over the last three days. further east, ukrainian government forces are also tightening the noose on the rebels in another city. in both cities civilians are now facing shortages of water, food and electricity. >> staying with a crane, a

leading rebel commander has been replaced. he became widely known after his name emerged right after the shooting down of the flight 17 airline over eastern ukraine one month. he is resigning his position. pope francis is on a five-day visit to south korea, the leader of the world's catholics urged dialogue between north and south rather than confrontation. some 5 million catholics in south korea and china has allowed people to travel to see the pope. >> it's the first time a pope has set foot in asia for 15 years, but as the guard of honor fired its cannons to welcome him, there were reports that north korea had launched three short-range rockets into the sea near south korea minutes before his arrival, a sharp reminder between the sheer political goals of the trip. >> i can only express my

appreciation for effort being made in favor of reconciliation of stability on the korean peninsula. and i'm encouraged for the sure part to last in peace. >> the pope's message was well received by south korea's 5 million catholics. >> a lot of bad things keep happening in our country right now. people are going through tough times. so i hope this event can encourage people and bring more positive things to our country. >> the pope will be chairing an asian youth summit. 100 chinese guests were expected to attend, but were banned from leave china supposedly for security reasons. beijing still rejects vatican authority over its catholics, but in a sign of an improvement in catholic chinese relations,

today is the first time since 1949 that the pope has been allowed to fly over chinese air space. >> it's a pickup of that note straight away. we have the editor of churches of asia, the news service of the paris foreign mission society. thank you, sir, for being with us. tell us why south korea and why now, why is the pope going there? >> well, the pope has never been to -- pope francis has never been to asia. he is coming back from rio youth day in rio that he had to go to asia. we know that's when he was a young priest he wanted to go to japan as a missionary. it was not possible for him because of his health. that's the personal factor. there are more serious reasons. they could not have enough time to go to asia, john paul ii went two times to korea in 1984 and 199.

that is a quarter a century ago. it was necessary to go again to this country which is a very dynamic country regarding the church. >> dynamic country of course, if terms of its economy and in terms of the development there. because of the church, too, and the growing number of catholics? >> every year you have something like 100,000 babyities many of adults meaning that just 10 years ago, you had 30% catholic, less catholic than today. it's kind of a very exponential growth. the growth is very quick. the catholic church is feeling it, a good 10% of those 50 million south koreans, but the minority is growing, the christians as a whole are quite important to have 20% of protestants. all together, the christian religion is the first religion in this country, only 22%. >> of course, seeing the pope

with the president with world leaders and the pope is using his influence to the full. >> yes, in a way. south korea is always caught in-between two giants, japan and china and it's a country which is always trying to make its way. >> let's hope that helps for dialogue between north and south. i need to stop you there. you're needed on our french channel. thank you, sir for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> thank you sir very much indeed. obama says a seize has been broken. the u.s. president says he no longer expects to have to carry out evacuation of the land there. aid has been dropped to those stranded will not have to continue. they were forced to flee to the hills after being threatened to death by isis extremists. the u.n. has the area under its

highest merge level. >> after almost two weeks at the top of the u.s. agenda, the situation on the mountain has greatly improved according to president barack obama. he said that humanitarian aid would not need to continue much longer. he was speaking after the pentagon reported that the evacuation operation should wrap up soon. >> because the skill and professionalism of a military and the generosity of our people we broke the seeing and helped vulnerable people reach safety and we helped save many innocent lives. >> nevertheless, he stressed that the situation was not yet fully secure and that military action would continue. >> we will continue air strikes to protect our people and facilities in iraq. we have increased the delivery of military assistance to iraqi and kurdish forces fighting isil on the front lines. >> yet on ground, relief workers judge the situation to

be critical and the u.n. has upgraded the polite of the >> ziddies to a level three emergency. >> the main reason for l-3 is that the scope and breadth of the emergency now exceeds the capacity of the incountry u.n. system and partners to respond. >> for several days, the u.s. and iraqi military have dropped food and water supplies and have airlifted many women and children. meanwhile, kurds from neighboring syria have opened a corridor to the mountain allowing some 45,000 to escape. washington is elastically concerned about the stability of the area as thousands of nondiplomatic american personnel are basedney biincluding businessman with chevron and exxonmobil. the two oil giants started evacuating their staff last week. >> two protest groups converging on islamabad to demand the removal of

pakistan's prime minister. they say corruption is endemic in the ruling government. we are joined from islamabad. good these protesters have a point, is corruption that evident in the government? >> well, the basic thing that they have been asking for is the 2013 elections which is what they have been demanding for a re-vote and has been saying that the government did not listen to it and the courts did not listen to it and taking this protest out on the street. the other person, the preacher, he is taking out a protest calling it revolution actually, but he has a strong religious following in the country and a very strong network of schools all over the country where most

of his followers and supporters come from. now we're hearing about the demands from the protesters led by the two that they want a resignation of the prime minister but this is sort of not a very realistic demand that they are looking for to and this is bigger than the expected result that may come out when they final revis lamb bad. right now they are on their way to islamabad, 400 kilometers away and reports we were getting, police are all over the entry points of islamabad. we might expect clashes which is what we have seen earlier leading up to these protests. there are clashes that also happened with the police and protesters in earlier weeks before this main protest that is happening today. >> how widely supported are

these two protesters? >> we're seeing on the numbers that are coming in and the number that can be observed, we are seeing that there is a larger number of population that has come out on roads, but then again, today was also august 14 which is the independence day of pakistan, a public holiday. so because of that, it could have been possible that a lot of people might have joined because of the public holiday factor. then tomorrow is, over the weekend, there is a public holiday. they will have these numbers. in fact, if you look at it, i mean pakistan is a country with 200 million people. these numbers are just in the few thousands. it's not really sort of a massive protest that is coming out on the roads but a handful of people that are coming from different parts of the country and joining in islamabad

although if the government mishandles it in the way they did previously, it could get out of hand. >> keeping on the situation for us please, that is our correspondent in islamabad. life in paris barack obama has expressed concern over the violent turn of events in ferguson, missouri. police using tear gas on protesters angry over the shooting of an unarmed black teen by a police officer. people run for cover at donetsk city center was struck by ukraine army shells for the first time. the russian aid convoy will not be allowed to pass its border unless it can be checked. on this five-day visit to south korea, the asian catholics growing in number, the pope calling for dialogue between north and south.

it's time now for media watch, we are joined in the studio, good to see you, sir. >> starting with those events in ferguson, missouri, a very delicate and dangerous situation in many ways. barack obama commenting he is disturbed by the turn of violence there. what are you seeing on social media? >> that tens is definitely coming across in images that have been doing the rounds, also in media for the last couple of days indeed and this one from the "new york times" went back to monday, the confrontation on monday in any case is a good illustration of the tone of these images really showing a very strong military raised force against the locates, i suppose, and indeed people juxtaposing in some tweets, the civil rights movement going back 50 years ago and images taken in the last number of days in ferguson on the outskirts of st. louis. you also have vines, they have

brought together a number of the more impressive images or vines again showing the very strong military sort of military-style defense that has been put in place by the authorities and you can see indeed that it is pretty impressive and that the images are showing the extent of which no risks have been taken in terms of trying to keep things in check by the authorities, but that is obviously creating a degree of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with comparisons with iraq, mark. people think look, the techniques used by the authorities at home are actually similar to what we are seeing overseas. ferguson on the left and iraq on the right. >> it's scary, seeing those kind of heavy armaments on the street like that. >> in particularly when it's your own people being pleased in this manner, i think it does shock the public quite considerably. you're seeing images of tear gas canisters that were made in

the u.s.a. and used in gaza by the israeli forces and used in ferguson. u.s. made materials which had been exported for wars abroad and now being used in conflicts in terms of trying to keep law and order at home. and indeed, the "new york times" has been looking into, this is an article that goes back to june, but it is being reprinted and reshared now war gear flows to police departments. what we're seeing is since about 2006, a lot of materials that were military materials are being handed over to the police sometimes second-hand material as the nation's wars wind down in this piece written in june. many have ended up in the state and local law enforcement. you can see the figures that it is indeed pretty heavy material that is being used in ferguson. >> indeed. that situation is very much ongoing. we'll bring you the developments as we get them. moving on, james this twitter

feed, what happened? >> we're seeing that convoy that is trying to make its way to ukraine, whether this is related or not, i'm not sure. dmitry medvedev's twitter account has been hacked. i am resigning, he didn't announce, but he didn't announce. i'm ashamed by the act of the government forgive me. later he says of vladmir putin, i wanted to say this for a long, long time, you are wrong. crimea is not ours, please retweet. this is actually a play on crimea is ours which is the hashtag and a group in russian humty dumpty has claimed responsibility for that. i think he is also a amateur photographer and he was going to retire to take up photography full-time. anyone seeing those tweets didn't believe them for a second. they don't ring very true. >> putting that russian humpty dumpty together again, i would imagine. another photo that has gone

viral of france's finance minister. >> he was on holidays. he was on a island and these photos came out of him on a robot all on his lonesome. the french verb tends to sort of mean you're in difficulty. >> you're struggling. >> you're really struggling. as we would be told later on, the figures for the economy for growth are not so good for a moment. the figures came out on the same day that he is rowing all on his lonesome on his robot. a lot of headlines picking up on that, it's an unfortunate coincidence. he posted those photos. bearing in mind, mark -- >> in the rowing boat, nicely. >> other photos, too, not just rowing. he was cooking as well. did you know that going back to january of last year, he also used a boat met photographer saying the boat is now afloat again which led to people tweeting images. >> falling in the water.

>> james thanks very much indeed. kate moody is ready and waiting. that's for the business starting with some the recovery and james saying that of france? >> i hadn't seen that image before. it is quite apt for the figures we saw coming out, of not just france, but for the eurozone in general. economic growth in the eurozone grinding to a halt in the second quarter of this year after 12 months of weak expansion. the european commission said that gross domestic product across the 18-member bloc was flat in april to june, growth of .2% at the beginning of the year. inflation fell to .4%, that's the lowest rate in 4 1/2 years. this has led to analysts and economists increasing their call for the european central bank. they want them to follow the federal reserve and a easing of

bonds to boost momentum. they're pointing, for example to the u.s. economy which also struggled to get out of recession, but which recorded a surprising growth rate of around 4% for the second quarter. now, some of the eurozone's smaller economies did post some growth. spain and portugal, .6% and the netherlands at .5%. that wasn't enough to offset the weak performances by the bloc's largest economies, germany and italy slipping back into contraction and france holding at zero. luke brown looks at the eurozone's so-called engines of growth and why they have stuttered to a halt. >> for the second straight quarter, the frank economy had disappointing results for the socialist government. >> the reality of the forecast, it's a lot worse. when revising the forecast and all of the budgetary elements

linked to growth. >> the french state force the growth of .5% this year half of what was expected. another consequences of fran's stagnant economy cutting deficits to 3.8% of g.d.p. the bat data coming from the other side of the ryan, germany, europe's most powerful economy stuttering, shrinking in the second quarter. germany's contraction in parts marked by uncertainty over the conflict in ukraine. many analysts, though, judge germany's underlying economy to be strong with growth forecasted at 1.7% for the year leaving it healthier than france. >> failing to respect its deficit engagements could put france in a delicate position towards germany which has fulfilled its promises and already made its adjustments when it comes to public deficits and even unemployment as they approach unemployment. >> across europe the situation

is uneven. progress in spain as well as eastern europe wiped out by the results in france and germany. that leaves the eurozone also with growth stuck at .9%. >> the european markets proved surprisingly resistant to that disappointing data. shares deemed earlier in the session but rebounded on the signs of possible easing of tensions in ukraine. closing up at about .4%. the dax had a modest gain but ended the day in the green. wall street is following that positive trend despite the labor department saying that more americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. those applications still remain near levels last seen before the financial crisis and recession. turning to some other business headlines now, one of russia's state controlled giants seems to be cracking under western

sanctions. russian papers report that it has asked the government for euros to repay its debt and weather the sanctions. it is run but a close friend of vladmir putin and pumps about 40% of rushia's oil. other sanctioned russian firms have also asked for state aid. wal-mart has cut its forecast for profits in 2014 citing sluggish sales and higher than expected health care costs. the world's largest retail group set net income rose over a year ago to $4 billion in the second quarter. low to medicine come chapters in the u.s. have struggled to come back from the recession. china mobile, the world's biggest phone carrier by number of subscribers has said its profits fell by 8.5% in the first half of the year and it's looking for acquisitions that could boost its business.

china mobile received the first license for 4g service last year and has been investing heavily into what it says is building the world's largest 4g network. one restaurant in china is trying out a new business model to reduce costs. at this place in eastern china, robots do everything from greeting and seating customers to cooking and delivering the food. the restaurant's owner says that each android costs $6,500 to build. that about the same as the annual salary of a human employee in the region, but the robots are better, they don't get sick or ask for vacation. this is a growing trend in china which

m pacifica, this is democracy now! ferguson missouri looks like a war zone as police fired tear gas, stun grenades, and smoke bombs to break up a fifth night of protests over the police shooting of michael brown, an unarmed african-american teenager killed on saturday.