>> this is dw news, live from berlin. a program aimed at journalist here in germany, now the political damage control. country's chief prosecutor is sacked over an investigation of journalists possibly revealing state secrets. does this hurt or help freedom of the press? also on the show, pakistan hangs a convicted child killer, but rights group say he was just a child himself when the court found him guilty, and only

confessed to the crime under torture. and they say charity begins at home. take a look at this, a german politician giving to refugees from eritrea a helping hand and a place to stay. i'm brent goff. welcome to the show. it has been a debt crisis for the german government. treason, state secrets, government overreach, all volatile parts of the story. the justice minister fired, the countries chief prosecutor today in the fallout from an investigation into possible treason committed by bloggers. it was the first time in a half century that treason allegations had even been made against our list here in germany. it has led critics to call the

probe of crackdown on press freedom. the justice minister has now fired the man who started it all. the chief prosecutor, as you see right here, saying he had lost trust in him. >> it was a brief and dramatic statement to the waiting press in berlin. the justice minister told the assembled reporters he was sacking the federal prosecutor. the statements and the method chosen today by the federal prosecutor are not understandable. they convey a false impression to the public. i have informed the federal prosecutor that my trust in the way he conducts his office has been irreparably damaged. and that within agreement of the chancellor's office, i will today request that he be retired by the federal president. earlier in the day, the federal prosecutor's office saw unprecedented scenes.

he called a press conference. many of the assembled expected him to step down, but he hit back with scathing criticism of the german government's handling of the case. >> to influence investigations because their outcome appears politically inopportune is an unbearable intervention in the independence of the judicial process. last week he said he doubted the blocks actions constituted treason. chancellor merkel gave full support in a public statement. >> we are somewhat confused that the investigation against us has taken a new turn every day. only yesterday the chancellor said she did not think investigation was right, at least not as regards the accusation of treason. federal prosecutors -- the federal prosecutor is gone, but that damage done to the freedom

of speech in germany remains. brent: that's go straight to our political correspondent who is here in berlin for this story. is this the case simply of an overzealous public prosecutor who just went too far and was shown the door today by the government? reporter: one of the important issues in the debate and especially the last few days was who was going to pay the political price? who is going to be blamed for this issue? this is now the case that he was fired, so we always sleep paid the political price. it touches on important issues in germany's political system like independence of the judiciary. or for example, freedom of the press. that is also a very important issue that has to be discussed here. >>'s been quoted as saying

freedom of the press is valuable, but not limitless. did his investigation and this charge of treason against these two bloggers, hasn't resulted in a chilling of freedom of the press here in germany? reporter: this was something that was worrying a lot of germans, not only in politics but outside of political circles. there was a protest here in berlin at the weekend. about a thousand people were out in the streets demanding freedom of the press to be protested, and criticizing the investigation. we still have to wait to see what is going to happen with this investigation. i would be cautioned -- old because just to say that freedom of the press has been harmed. it has been a very interesting debate on the limits of the freedom of the press in germany so far. brent: the journalists that are targeted by this investigation claimed that the german government may be lying to the public about surveillance and

spying inside the country. obviously that is aimed all the way to the top of politics, at german chancellor angela merkel. so how does she look tonight? reporter: it's very interesting. it does not mean that angela merkel has been without criticism here. in fact, people are saying that angela merkel is responsible politically for the outcome of this, so they will ask a lot of questions to angela merkel about why this happened in the first place. brent: it certainly doesn't feel like we have seen the end of this story. pakistan has executed a man who was convicted of killing a seven-year-old boy. the punishment has unleashed a storm of protest from human rights groups and the united nations. they say he was tortured into

confessing and was himself too young to face the death penalty. >> in a remote kashmiri village, family mourns. their son hanged in a pakistani jail for murdering his seven-year-old child. his family say he was just 15 at the time, and he confessed only after hours of torture. my son was innocent. he was not guilty. i'm sorry he was found guilty. he was a child, not an adult. he grew up in the jail. police extracted his confession by torturing him. our leaders have done an unjust thing. as the family waited to receive his body, pakistan came under a torrent of protest from the international community and human rights groups. the teenager was working as a watchman in karachi in 2004 when he was accused of child murder. he was due to face the gallows

in january, after 12 years on death row. along campaign by lawyers to prove he was under 18 at the time of the offense ran out of time. executions were banned for six years in pakistan, but were reinstated last year after a taliban massacre at a school. now the united nations and european nations are demanding that pakistan stop again. there was a question over his age. according to pakistani and international law, someone under 18 years of age cannot be given the death penalty. but his age could not be assessed accurately. protests from hussein's family and the international community fell on deaf ears, with more than 8000 prisoners currently on death row, supporters of the death penalty in pakistan say it is the only effective way to deal with the problem of militancy. brent: authorities in myanmar have appealed for help to the u.n. tackling the country's

devastating floods which were caused by a monster monsoon season. water is flowing into more populated areas. at least 46 people have died so far and that number is likely to rise. >> these people are now homeless. everything has been washed away. monsoon rains from northern and central myanmar a their way south to heavily populated areas. thousands have been displaced. this remote area desperately needs a. we evacuated to the hill has a have a baby. that's why we survived. we have nothing left now. i don't even have any clothing. there's nothing left. >> the chief mock surveys the devastation and said the situation is dire. -- the chief monk surveyed the

devastation. i look around i can see the horrible conditions in the small villages. i have nothing left and everything is submerged. >> his comments, however, could prove quite controversial. though authorities now admit their evacuation response was weak, the military regime has threatened to prosecute anyone spreading what they call "false news relating to natural disasters with the intention of frightening people." brent: let's look at some of the other stories making headlines -- making headlines around the world. wargames in the offensive against houthi rebels. government troops seized -- sees 10 villages from the rebel fighters. the latest scenes, day after loyalist forces retook the country's biggest airbase. in turkey, at least two soldiers have been killed in a bomb

attack on a military convoy in the southeast of the country. the government has blamed the pkk for the attacks. turkish warplanes bomb its positions in northern iraq. police in britain have expanded their investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by the late former prime minister, edward heath. for police forces in the country are now looking into the claims that date back to the 1970's and 1980's. he's is the latest high-profile figure in britain to be linked to alleged sexual abuse of children. russia has refiled a claim at the united nations for a huge swath of arctic territory. the bid is for 1.2 million square kilometers of arctic shelf. a region that is thought to contain huge reserves of oil, gas, and minerals. the u.n. rejected russia's

original claim back in 2001. his germany a country that welcomes refugees? here are some numbers for you. there is a backlog, a quarter million asylum applications, and the government has been struggling, unable to stop a wave of right wing extremist attacks on refugee housing here. but when german politician is determined to help any way he can. he is giving to eritrean refugees a helping hand, and even putting a roof over their heads. >> putting up wallpaper in their own kitchen. it's a great feeling for this 19-year-old and her friend. the politician took the men because he wanted to make a difference and because he was worried about suspicion and rejection faced by many refugees. sponsoring them, offering them a

place to stay, inviting them. it bills bridges that bring refugees out of the anonymity that goes with being asylum seeker -- being an asylum seeker or refugee. if more people do this, as many people here in germany have, then we are on the right path. today they are covering words that begin with "n." the most important thing right now is to learn german. he is there to help. he did not have to convince the retired language teacher to tutor them. >> what i stressed like about them is that they exude such as zest . that makes it a lot of fun for me, too.

he wants to make sure the refugees have other interesting things to do, so he uses his business contacts. a convincing companies to take on a asylum seekers as interns is in easy. his colleague at the parliamentary office says there are certainly a need. he called more than 20 businesses, but many are skeptical, especially about language barriers, and whether the refugees would be able to adapt quickly. it only strengthens his resolve to do something. what we're doing here is pioneering. i think it is a urgently needed initiative, and our experiences can help others who want to do similar things. he's among five refugees who have found an internship. he's now apprenticed to elect attrition. -- two and electrician. we didn't expect them to throw themselves into it with so much in easy as him and to take the initiative.

the two eritreans have found work now too. one will be starting an apprenticeship next week at the supermarket next door. brent: for going to take a break. when we come back, stocks tumbling again in greece. ben will be here to tell us about the gravity.

brent: you are with dw news, live from berlin. germany's justice minister has fired the country's top prosecutor, and the move comes after a bitter war of words between the two men over a treason investigation into a blog that published classified documents. pakistan has executed a man for murder, despite appeals from human rights agencies.

his lawyers say that he was only a child when he was convicted of the crime. another flogging for greek financials this tuesday. ben: the volatility is not good. bankshares lost about a third of their value. officials say they expect the coming days will see trading on down. that may not apply to financials, but there are the first signs that athens main index is turning the corner. >> flashes of green on the second of trading in athens after the closure, things look much better than monday. stock prices dropped again in the morning but trading finished only 1.2% down. trading has not fully return to normal yet. highly speculative actions that says shortselling is prohibited and other bands are in place. but the market regulator is

planning to allow normal operations as soon as possible. >> it will depend on many factors. one is what i call the bigger picture and the other one is the way the stock market will react this week and the coming week. >> shares in greek banks are still the worst performers. on monday the shares again lost nearly 30%. it is still unknown how big a cash injection they will need to keep afloat. brent: now to the grease of the united states. order rico is in default, now -- where to rico is in default. puerto rico is the most indebted state or territory in the u.s.

puerto rico means rich port in english, but the u.s. territory is anything but wealthy. the island knows its creditors $72 billion, which amounts to 70% of its annual gdp. it has called up a mountain of debt over the past 15 years. back in 2000, the island was $23.8 billion in debt. 10 years later, the sum had doubled to $56.8 billion. now puerto rico has government debt totaling $72 billion, an enormous sum for a population of just 3.5 million. puerto rico has pushed for the right toile for bankruptcy, but the proposal has not drawn enough support in the u.s. congress. the white house has said that no federal bailout is planned. the missed payment is the latest sign of the islands ongoing economic troubles.

gdp shrank by nearly 20% over the last decade and the unemployment rate is now more than 12%. the population is aging as many young people migrate to the u.s. mainland. about a third of all people born in puerto rico now live in the u.s. brent: time for the back story on this from our wall street correspondent. tell us, how did puerto rico get into this mess? >> infrastructures having a huge problem, as we have heard. a lot of well-educated people are leaving the country. those are just a few factors. similar to greece, which is stuck to the euro. puerto rico is stuck to the u.s. dollar which is less competitive than other caribbean nations. those are just some of the problems the country is facing. brent: and what happens now?

does a troika come in and negotiations go on for years? reporter: if at some point the u.s. congress might be willing to renegotiate some of the debt load, but if you look at u.s. retirement funds, about half of those are invested in puerto rican bonds. so retirees in the united states might see some losses, and that might be some bargaining power for puerto rico to renegotiate some of the debt. brent: how important is puerto rico to the united states? reporter: it is important to the degree that a lot of retirement lines are invested in that island. it has been very attractive to buy puerto rican bonds, partly because of high yields, and on the other side because it offers tax-free status. now we might see losses for

those retirement lines. it will hurt one or the other pension fund here in the u.s. brent: it's been compared to greece. how fair is that of me? can you do that? reporter: to certain degrees, there are some similarities, but again, the problem for puerto rico, they cannot file under current status for bankruptcy protection, so that is something they might also come up with. one big similarity between greece and puerto rico is that both countries are stuck to the strong currencies. brent: interesting stuff. thank you very much.

someone has been lightly pressing on the brake pedal at bmw. shares dropped by more than 1% today after a management warning that earnings growth is slowing. it points the finger of blame at the world's biggest car market. >> in past years, china was a key growth market for bmw, and the luxury carmaker make sure to make an impression there, like at the shanghai auto fair last april. but the shine has tarnished. china's economy is slowing, and that is reflected in falling sales. in june, b&w -- bmw sold fewer cars than the same time last year, something that has not happened in a long time. get global sales still grew for the munich-based carmaker. over 450,000 units of the bmw brand were sold in the first half of 2014. in the same time span this your, that figure rose to 480,000, an

increase of 5%. revenue rose at a similar pace, but that may not be enough. the disappointing figures from china and high investment costs have weighed on profits. and then there is the strong competition from audi and mercedes. difficult times for the ceo, who only just took the helm last spring. but for now, management is still sticking to its sales forecast for the current year. brent: the world governing body for athletics has dismissed the reports of widespread doping in the sport. in a statement released on their website on tuesday, the iaaf described the recent allegations as sensationalist and confusing. allegations made by germany british media claimed that blood

test results of a third of all medal winners in endurance events at world championships and the olympics between 2001 and 2012 were suspicious. those doping allegations cast a shadow over a sport which has been dominated by african runners. endurance running as a major sporting country such as kenya, and their heroes are keen to point out that their performances have been achieved legally. >> long-distance running is big business in virginia. for years, the athletes have been at the top and the next generation is prepared to keep it that way. past heroes have defended the success of kenyan athletes on the world stage. >> i want to tell them, trust

them. >> so far, no athletes have been named in what could be the largest doping scandal to hit world athletics. no athletes named, no athletes shamed, but he says kenya needs to do more to tackle doping. brent: into the water now, the world records keep falling at the world swimming championships in russia. the american shattered her own record on tuesday as she regained the women's 15 meter freestyle title. the 18-year-old knocked 2.23

seconds off our own personal best to cluck 15 minutes, 25.48 seconds. in the men's 50 meter breaststroke, south africa's swimmer broke the world record, only to be better by a briton who beat the old record by .2 second. fast. a reminder of our top stories that we are following for you. germany's justice minister has fired the country's top prosecutor. the move comes after a bitter war of words between the two men over a treason investigation into a blog that published classified documents. pakistan executes a man for murder, despite appeals from human rights groups. his lawyers say he was only a child himself when he was convicted of rhine. you're watching dw.

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>> thanks for joining us. this is live from paris. our headlines this hour, at least 2,000 people drowned trying to cross the mediterranean to europe this year. it's time europe came up with a cohesive long-term policy on the issue. israel's crackdown on jewish extremists continues. lawmakers have been holding a heated debate in the wake of an attack on a palestinian family and a stabbing at a gay pride march in jerusalem. and pro-government rebels seize the largest m