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tv   DW News  LINKTV  July 24, 2017 2:00pm-2:31pm PDT

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from berlin. going into a trial they say is absurd. turkish journalists accused of terrorism through their own charges back at the government. protests in istanbul against the trial. the journalists could end up with convictions and sentences of more than 40 years in prison. critics say they are a target of turkey's crackdown on press freedom. also coming up, the president of poland defies his own political allies and rejects controversial judicial reforms.
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did he rescued the independence of the country's judges or just prolong the inevitable? >> we are about to do the hardest thing you'll ever have to do with his let our beautiful little charlie go. brent: it is too late to save charlie. the parents of the terminally ill british baby charlie gard drop their bid to get treatment in the u.s. he will now be allowed to die. the president son-in-law says do not blame a. -- me. jared kushner tells the u.s. senate he did not collude with the russian government. but was everyone convinced? we asked our washington correspondent to peep through t he keyhole. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. tonight the free press in turkey
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is being put on trial on trumped up charges. that is how critics describe the trial that began today involving 17 journalists and executives from the turkish newspaper cumhuriyet. the defendants are charged with helping terrorists and all come from the newspaper which is critical of president erdogan. there were protests as the trial began today in istanbul.l. reporter: protesters outside the court. inside they from -- they say freedom of speech is on trial. observers both in and outside of turkey are calling the trial a crucial test for press freedom. >> this case is about criminalizing journalism. it is about punishing those who speak out. the world is washing --watching. in cases like this which try to -- it will be neither ignored or accepted.
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reporter: the 17 are charge would terror-related offenses come accusations made after last year's failed military coup. the government says they were behind the coup attempt. the charges are a farce. >> are journalist friends a are jailed because of the news stories they have written. but the government cannot admit that. therefore they found a cover for the accusations that can convince anyone. reporter: a brief trial is expected and the defendants could be hit with sentences of up to 43 years if they are found guilty. brent: we're joined now by ilhan tanir, when of the journalists accused in this trial. he's a former washington correspondent for the turkish newspaper. thank you for taking the time to
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talk with us tonight. what went through your mind as you saw your former colleagues today? ilhan: it's very difficult. in turkey, this is obviously not the first time journalists are being tried, especially since the 2013 protests. turkey became much more polarized. current president erdogan has basically been following very divisive policies and putting pressure on the journalists. today, i have seen reports and defense of my friends, journalists from turkey, they are still defending journalism because there is no indictment. the so-called accusations are definitely absurd and laughable
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charges. my friends in turkey -- brent: if i could just interrupt, the you know what the charges will be against you? have you read the indictment, have you seen with the government is claiming against you? ilhan: yes i have seen the indictment, it is over 400 pages. they have about 10 pages on me and decided about a dozen stories -- and they cited about a dozen stories. i don't know exactly which terror organization i am accused of, but it's pkk because i gave some interview to pro-kurdish news a agencies. also the accused of -- it doesn't say which one.
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but the new stories are the accusations. brent: that was ilhan tanir, former washington correspondent talking with us earlier. turkey says it is no longer investigating hundreds of german compananies on terrorism-related charges. turkey had handed over a list of nearly 700 countries suspected of aiding terrorists. it reportedly included daimler. the industry has been told they are not probing the companies and german police were sent a list by accident. the poland, where the president in a surprise move maybe rescuing the independence of the nation's courts. he will veto controversial legislation which would sharply curtail the independence of the judiciary.
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the surprise move defies the efforts of the party to control the appointment of supreme court justices. protest seven taking place across the country against the reforms. reporter: a heavy setback for the leader of poland's most powerful party. as he arrived for an emergency meeting at party headquarters, legislation continues outside. the president earlier french -- pledged to veto two of the three bills. >> it was never part of our tradition that the attorney general fear the work of the supreme court. not to mention the work of the judges. reporter: the report would give prosecutor general department -- power --
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thousands took to the streets across poland and they are still there, not ready to back down. >> we expect the president to do his job and protect and defend the constitution. >> we want him to veto all three bills and we want a new political direction. reporter: monday, the country's top judge went to the presidential palace. she's outspoken critic of the reform and has pledged to work with the president on a new proposal which is expected in two months. brent: we want to bring i in mio kaupat, a journalist. this was a big surprise. why'd do you think the president veto thiss bill? mirko: he did it because the pressure is growing and i am pretty sure he got somome phone calllls from leadersrs all acros
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europe and the wld.. thosose phone calls had not bebn advertrtised thahat they have tn place, i avevery sure ababout at. and he knew that he e had to do sosomethin he could not just let it go because the pressure would have mounted even stronger. what he did was he kind of took the strategy divide and conquer, because i don't really believe this theheme that you u really surprprised his g governing par. i ththink he tried to take a little b bit of pressure off the cookererso to speak. he is fefeeling one thihing and passing -- hee i is vetoing one thing and passing another. brent: he say he is taking pressure off now but what happens moving forward? would the governing party found a way to geget around this andd still get influence over the judiciary that it wants? mirko: yes, i think k it might.
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it depenends on the ongoing pressure frorom other countries, from e europe, and from inside. the demonstrations have to go on. it's a dangerous time because people feel a little triumph, they have achieved somethihing because the president the node -- vetoed twowo bilills, but hel probably sign the other one whicich is s the damaging. the justice minister as we heard in the film there, will ststille able to appopoint new jujudges l over the countryry, just not the supreme court. brent: you're talking a lot up the pressure coming from inside and outside the country. what do you think was more important -- dodomestic pressure or threats from the european union of possible sanctions?
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mirko: to the outside world, the polilish government is alwlways posingng as being totally not teterested i in pressure fromm outside. but i think pressure from outside is pretty important as there is l lots of f money andd ininfluence atat stake. polandnd, even the nationanalist governining party is notot willg to g give it a all up. so i t think it is m more import than they y are willing toto ad, bubut the prpressure from insid, and the e strongest teterms, pee being traiottors, still importa. if you have hundreds of thousands of people in the street, it is always important. brent: thank you very much. here are some other stories that are making headlines around the world. in pakistan atat least 26 people haveeeeen killed in n a car bombmbin dozens m more were wouounded. officialals said thehe bombing targeteted policemanan oa busy
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ad during the afterernoon. the pakistani taliban and is claimingng responsibility. the taliban has also claimed respsponsibility for a suicidede bombing that has killed at least 24 civilians and injured dozens more in the capital of afghanistan. a police spokesperson said the bomber appear to target a minibus carrying government employees in the western part of the city. the parents of the terminally ill reduce baby charlie gard have dropped their bid to take them to america for experimental treatment. they have addled in court for weeks to get him released but the london hospital treating the baby said that would only have caused him more suffering. lawyers for the parent now say time has run out for little charlie. reporter: as chris gard and kanye's arrive -- protesters, supporters and onlookers were there again.
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when they emerged, the crowd wept as they gave the news. >> as charlie's devoted and loving parents, we decided is no longer in charlie's best interest to have treatment and we will let him go and be with the angels. reporter: charlie's parents wanted him to travel to the united states for an experimental medical procedure pioneered by a world leader in the treatment of mitochondrial diseases. doctors at the hospital in london argued the treatment would not help and could cause the child pain. several groups rally behind charlie's cause and made their presence known during the months of court procedures. charlie gard's case even attracted attention from pope francis and i'll trump who advocated he be brought to the u.s. for treatment. charlie's father said the prolonged court battle had
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robbed charlie of precious time. he is now beyond treatment. >> deteriorate devastatingly to the point of no return. this is also never been about -- always wanted to do was take charlie from one well pronounced hospital to another in the attetempt to save his life and e treated by a world leader of his disease. we will have to live with the what if's that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. reporter: chris and connie had asked that the public and media respect their privacy as they spend charlie's last days together. he is not -- he is not expected to make it to his first birthday. brent: you're watching "dw news." so the come, the president son-in-law says don't blame me. he says he did not collude with the russians, but was everyone convinced? we will ask.
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plus helena will be here with the latest business headlines. we will see you on the other side of a 62nd break. -- 60 second break. stay with us. ♪
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♪ brent: welcome back. our top stories, protests in istanbul as prominent journalists and other staff at the leading turkish newspaper cumhuriyet went t on trial accud of supporting terrorism. critics say they are a target of turkey's crackdown on press freedom. u.s. president donald trump's son-in-law and close advisor jared kushner has begun to days of testimony before u.s. lawmakers. he was grilled today by the senate intelligence committee in a closed-door hearing.
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the committee is probing whether russia helped the trump campaign windy 2016 election. kushner told he denied -- not everyone was convinced. >> sign my russian flag, please! brent: he did not sign it. following the hearing, kushner gave a statement at the white house. here is what -- some of what he had to say. >> let me be very clear -- i did not collude with russia nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign did so. i had no improroper contacts. i have not relied on russian funds for my businesses. and i have been fully transparent in providing all requested information. brent: let's go to washington. our correspondent is on the story for us.
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it's a very unusual and rare occasion when we hear jared kushner speak in public. he is under a lot of pressure right now, isn't he? maya : indeed. he is notoriously private and media-shy. this may be the first time some people have even heard his voice. but he is coming before these committees to give this testimony, prprobably in part because it seems like he wants it off his plate. a lot of the statement we saw him give today as well as the statement he put out this morning prior to his testimony had a lot of words like, i don't recall, i didn't read this, i didn't do that -- really trying to shove the blame off of himself. he has two days of testimony, today and tomorrow. we will see what comes out of this.
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we will see whether there is anything or these investigations to work with. brent: where does this leave the investigations against trump or into those suspicions of collusion with the russians? maya: because this testimony is behind closed doors at his heart for the media to know what is said or what other questions were asked. if we parse the statement that kushner put up this morning, there is something there to work with. there is confirmation that he did in fact talk with a russian agent about setting up a back channel between the white house and russian communications around u.s. intelligence. there are certain dates and conversations he alleges happened or perhaps did not happen that can easily be fact checked not just by investigators but by journalists. there is some for investigators to work with but we'll have to see if anything more comes out that is confirmable. on wednesday we are expecting to
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hear from donald trump jr. and paul manafort. brent: a very exciting week on capitol hill, that's for sure. maya, thank you very much. good news for the global economy. helen is here to tell us more. we want to hear good news. helena: overall it is looking promising but individual regions may have a harder time, that's according to the international monetary fund which is forecasting exhilarating global growth despite uncertainty surrounding brexit. they say global gdp will grow by 3.5% this year and 3.6% the year after. it expects eurozone growth to be slightly stronger next year, pointing to what it terms of solid momentum. revised british growth downwards, citing a weak first-quarter and also cut the u.s. out to 2.1%.
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let's go now to wall street to jens korte. why the downgrade for the u.s.? it did appear the economy there was improving. jens: well, the e economy is improving and growing, but not as fast as the imf thought a couple months ago. by the way, they did not just lower the expectation for this, but also for next year. one of the main reasons seems to be the administration does not really get forward their proposal to cut taxes. that seems to bebe the big blowo economic growth and no one can really tell if donald trump will get a majority in congress this or maybe next year for his proposed tax cuts. helena: indeed, everyone is waiting on that.
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we also had earnings season in full swing. what is the latest on that? jens: i mean, earnings season is well underway and most companies exceeded wall ststreet'ss expectationsns. that's also why nasdaq achieved another record close on the mondnday sessision. talking about the close after the closing bell rang. we h had earnings from the mothr company of google and google exceeded wall s street expectctations on revenue and profits. still, the stock traded lower in the after-hours session. wall street had high hopes on google and even if they came in better-than-expected the stock still pretty much traded on a record level. we will get the big car companies, the numbersrs of facebook, intel, amazon later in
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the week. it's a most active week for earnings that we will see. helena: thank you. greece is back in business. it is planning to return to the debt markets in the first time in three years on tuesday with the issuance of a five-year bond. we will find out tomorrow how much the new notes will be priced at but it's a sign perhaps that the country is finally on the road to recovery. analysts say there is still a long week ago. reporter: it is b being called a psychologicacal mestonene. greece's returned to the bond market comes afterer years of austerity and tough reforms. >> i believe it is a good step but it is only onene step. now we need d to look at the framework. it is certainly a move i in the right direction. thee future, the near future wil determine e if it was in fact a goodod news -- good move or not. reporter: the hope is that
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selling new bonds will enable grease to become less reliant on loans. the country's current bailout progogram is come -- is set to come to an end in july 2018. at the height of the financial crisis, greek five-year bonds headed interest rate of 63%. now the government has reportedly set a target of just 4.2%. a lofty goal, but after no growth at all last year, the greek economy is expected to expand by over 2% in 2017, a forecast that adds to its credibility on the markets. helena: ryanair is flying high. it is set to wrap up pressure on its rivals by cutting to get fares as much as 9% in the coming months. the looming brexit means they are still hurtling towards the unknown.
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so far no progress has been made on a new airspace agreement with the eu. the ceo has said if there is no clarity by autumn of next year, europe's leading low-cost carrier a hefty suspended flighthts between the eu and u.. for france's vineyards, the glass is half empty. they are predicting a historically poor harvest. 17% fewer grapes than last year. many were hit by a late spring frost. this area might only see half of last year's volume. they are still optimistic. the quantity of grapes might be smaller of their quality depends on the weather during harvest time which takes place from august through october. so there is still hope. brent: something that also takes place with the weather, you have probably seen pictures of the
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aurora borealis. but i bet you have not seen them from this vantage point before. behind me, nasa astronauts hahae captured stutudying footage -- stunning fooootage of the aurora dancing across the atmosphere of the earth. the time lapse was shot above the international space station. it was the result of accelererad electronons colliding g with the upper reaches of the earth's atmosphere. let hollywood try to match that. here's the reminder of our top stories. protests in istanbul as prominent journalists and other staff at the leading turkish newspaper cumhuriyet went on trial today accused of supporting t terrorism. critics say they are a target of turkey's crackdown on press freedom. the president of poland said he will veto controversial judicial reform legislation.
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the surprise announcement comes after nationwide protests. critics fear the reforms will give the government too much power over the judiciary. you're watching "dw news." after a short break i will be back to take you did a tonight, and an in-depth look into the life of the baby charlie gard. we will be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]
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calm. under sally and you're watching live from paris to france twenty four the headlines this hour. donald trump senior adviser and son in law jared kushner says he did not colluded with russia during the twenty sixteen election campaign krishna. spike serb forces shortly after testifying to a senate intelligence committee the latest. from our washington correspondent for the crowd to in just a few moments. violence president announces a surprise vetoed old norse critics say it would have compromised the country's judicial independence. it follows a week of national unrest in the protest changes. and efforts to stop tensions around the al aqsa mosque in jerusalem from spiraling

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