>> this is dw news, live from berlin. italy declares a state of emergency as the search for survivors in genoa injures a second night. a key highway bridge collapsed yesterday. now there is dispute about who is to blame. also coming up -- >> priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of god who were responsible for them, not only did nothing, they hit it all for decades.

>> a new report finds that 300 piece -- priests sexually abused thousands of children for a span of 70 years. plus, another standoff at sea comes to any event as these migrants dock in malta after being stranded on the rescue ship aquarius four days, but their journey is far from over. malta says they can dock, but they cannot stay. ♪ it's good to have you with us. tonight the state of emergency is in effect for the italian city of genoa. a prime minister today declared a 12 month state of emergency as a country seeks to deal with the collapse of the key highway bridge. the prime minister promising

millions of euros of aid to the major port city and blaming the tragedy on the company responsible for the bridge's upkeep. the 50-year-old bridge was scheduled for extensive maintenance later this year, but it collapsed yesterday during a heavy rainstorm. a section of concrete the size of a soccer pitch and dozens of vehicles crashed onto buildings and railway lines below. already nine deaths have been confirmed so far. firefighters are now spending a second night searching for survivors. >> the scene in genoaoa is one f utter devastation. firefighters and doctors have been working around the clock to pull survivors out of the rubble. they are hopeful they can still find more people alive. but the families of those who died are facing a grim reality. >> i started to call hihim 40 times, 50 times, and then i

started also to call his friend, who was together with his wife, and then i came to the hospital and they said that he was no more. >> some relatives are waiting at the hospital for news of loved ones. >>'s name is not among the missing, not among the hospital's patients. we don't know anything. i hope he is in this ambulance arriving now because i was told that he answered someone -- that they found someone him and he answered his phone last night, so we are hoping this could be a good sign. >> emergency workers say the most difficult p part o the rescue effort is still to come. from this evening, we will start moving some of the biggest segments o of concrete from thee cocollapsed rich.h. we are doing this in order to create newewpaces for r our teas to enter so they can check for otheher survivor for now, the focus is still on rescue, but many italians are

now asking questions. how could this have happened? and who, if anyone, is responsible? brent: for more i'll pull in our correspondent who joins us tonight from general. let's start with this rescue effort to it's been almost 36 hours since the bridge collapsed . is there any hope of finding more survivors? >> rescuers we spoke to this morning still were very optimistic they would find survivors among the rubble. as the day goes on, that hope really has started to fade. people we have spoken to said that only bodies have been recovered from the wreckage so far, no survivors yet today. it really isn't looking very optimistic for people here. nevertheless, search teams will continue their work or another night. there will be sniffer dogs onone

agaiain in the wreckage behind , floodlights lighting at the area , trying to find anyone who might still be there. the interior ministry saying miracles do happen, but as the hours go on, it is getting more and more likely that the search for survivors will become a search for bodies. brent: and i think as time passes where realizing the story has to do with a lot more than just a collapsed bridge. a state of emergency has been declared for all of genoa to stay in effect for the next year. we are also hearing that some 300 families have been made homeless by this tragedy. what do we know about the people who have been evacuated from their homes? >> hundreds of people have been evacuated since the crash. the reason for that, you can probably see by looking at the bridge come there still a section of it that is still standing. the fear is that that could also

collapse. the part of the bridget has collapsed landed on warehouses and rail tracks -- the part of the bridge that collapsed. there were no hohomes there. the problem with the area where the bridge is still standing is there are a lot of residences, and people have been asked to leave the era. that is making a lot of people very angry. they don't know how long they will be away or if they will ever be a go back. the have to either try and secure the area first, or totally demolish this bridge, and that could take a very long time. we spoke to one person who works near here. he said that as a child, he played near this bridge. he said it could be weeks or even months before he is able to go back. brent: it's hard to imagine what people are going through right now, just because they live near a bridge. we know that italy's government has been pointing a finger at the bridge's private operator

and also at the european union. what more can you tell us about that? >> this s really is t the firstg challenge for italy's new government. they have come out fighting, they were speaking in passionate terms about who is to blame. the e.u., as you said, is one of the bodies they have cited as eating responsible. this -- as being responsible. what they have really gone for is the company that operates this part of the bridge behind me. the allegation from ministers is that they just did not do enough to maintain the bridge, that it was not safe enough. that is something that to some extent has been backed up by people we've spoken to, local said they were nervous about traveling on this bridge. one man told us that he would deliberately drive a little bit faster, just t because h he felt very nervous about being on the bridge, which he said just didn't seem very safe to him.

the company has fiercely denied that it standards were not up to scratch. they say they have about it by the law. a lot of people are pointing out that this blame game e that is playing out here in italy at the moment isn't going to help them. what they really need to know now is what happens next, and they w want assurances that somemething like this won't hapn again. there's deep concern about other ridges across italy, a town in infrastructure. they want to know what is being done to prevent this tragedy playing out again. brent: when we look behind you, we realize this is the second night that people are dealing with this tragedy, the second night that rescue workers are trying to find survivors. tell us a little bit more about the tasks that these emergency workers are facing tonight. >> this is a huge logistical undertaking, as i'm sure you can see behind me there are still in enormous slabs of concrete and

twisted metal that are part of the wreckage. there is a danger in trying to move these enormous slabs because they fear that it could trigger another collapse and perhaps crush any vehicles that might be below them, and potentially harm anybody who may still be alive underneath the rubble. so they are trying to take it very carefully, they're using dogs to try to sniff out if there are any survivors there. one of the huge problems facing them is that they simply don't know how many people were on the bridge, how many vehicles and whether or not they are still searching for people. brent: charlotte, thank you. a grand jury in the u.s. state of pennsylvania has published its report into the sexual abuse of children by roman catholic priests. the report claims that at least 1000 children were molested and raped by hundreds of priests over 70 years. it goes on to accuse senior church leaders, including the

current archbishop of washington, dc., of consistently r recovery -- cocovering up reports of pedophilia brought to them by parishioners. next many have waited for decades for this investigation, their pain evident as they attended a press conference by a grand jury that found 301 priests sexually abused children in their care. >> over 1000 child victims were identified by our investigation. though the grand jury notes they believe that number was in the thousands. >> investigators say in many cases, records have been losost and some victims were too afraid to come forward. the abuse dates back over seven decades.s. some desescribe the helplessness they experienced in a video released by investigators. >> who would have bebelieved mea priest in 1948 or 1947? abused you?

they never heard of such a thing becacause they covered i it up. >> churcrch leaders inin pennsylvania, stunned at the scale of abuse, apologize. >> on only offer my apology by anyone w who h has been violatey anyone affiliated with the catholic church. i hope that you can accept it. >> few of priests are likely to stand trial, as any cases are now too olold. only two people have been charged, small comfort for victims. brent: for more on the story i'm joined from washington, d.c. by a religion reporter for the washington post. it's good to have the on the program. we use the word unprecedented a lot, especially in describing this story. talk to me a little bit about how the reaction in the u.s. has been, considering how vast ththe

accusatitions are. julie:e: rigig, it's really t scale thehe invtigatition herer that is, as you say, unprprecedented. it's the e biggest state-run investigation ininto sexual abue here in the e u.s. in the cathoc church. it covers six dioceses, there are over 300 priests accused and over 1000 victims. even foror people who have known about the sexual abuse crisis in the catholic church for many years, seeing it laid out on this scale in this comprehensive detail, as well as seeing it at a time when cardinalal mccarric, cardinal here in washington, just resigned recently, the first u.s. cardinal to resign due to sexual abuse allegations. all that coming right now,w, pepeople are shakeken in a way t they have not been in a long time. brent: so there is a lot of shock, but what about action? so far, there has been only two charges against the more than

300 abusers, if that is correct. why is that? lie: well, thihis report dates all the y y back to 1947, soo many of these priests are no longer living. almost none are currently in active ministry in t the church. for those who have been removed because of f the acaccusations e haveve reted i in the years s s, most o of themannott be executed in the cririminal justicece s sm hereececause the s statute of limitationss limimits how longng after the e crime takes place be state atattorney general's offie can bring these chaharges. onone of the recommendations of the grand jurur was to raise the statute of limitations and to change the law so that more of these priests can be prosecuted. brent: where do you think things will go moving forward, julie? catholic church would insist that when some type of criminal

action takes place, the church tries to keep it within the church instead of letting the judicial process of the state takeover. can that continue to stanand, considerining thesese allllegat? julie: we sesee right now that just because the church rtainly does that alwaysys want the statate to, the state, wherever you a are, is not listening to that and is investigating. in australia, a cardinal is on trial. in chile, a a business on investigating. in pennsylvania, this investigation happen. there's going to be a considerable push for changing those laws in pennsylvania. brent: and what about this cover-up that the report also addresses? our people likely to face charges s for that? julie: it's really thehe same timeframame. one of the things the repeport said was that mostst of the beat

that was recororded was happenig bebefore 2000 two, before the boston glolobe spotlight investigation that really broke open the s story. they d did start removing them from ministry when they werere queues. so most of thesese are oldld ca, which means that anyone who was covering of these cases, that was a long time ago and the statute of limitations applies. brenent: it will be e terestingo see what the pope does. he is going to ireland, and a lot of people are expecting him to say something about this. julie, thank you very much. julie: thank you. brent: here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. democratic party voters in vermont have nominated a transgender candidate to run for governor. she defeated ththree other democrats in tuesday's primary

and now faces a populular republican incumbent in november's election. germany's government plans to allow a third gender option on official records. chancellor merkel's cabinet agreeing to let people list their gender as diverse, rather than just male or female. last year germany's highest court ruled that existing laws to not respect individual rights pertaining to gender. according to has ruled that a suspected former b byguard off ososama bin l laden must be brot baback from tunisia. last much -- last month authorities since the regional -- sent the tunisian nationanal back home before his appeal could be heaeard. lunteers and i some hahave been tryiying to persuauade pot off pilot whales -- pod of pilot

whales, they returned several times after being guided to the open ocean. one whale had d to be helped afr getting caugught in seaweed in a shallow area. now for the latest on turkey's continuing currency crisis. >> sank his alleged. turkish president erdogan and angela merkel have been discussing bilateral ties. in a phone call they say the turkish treasury and finance minister will meet with the german counterpart and head of this business. turkey is caught up in a huge diplomatic and trade dispute with the united states. opera has raised tariffs i -- ankara has raised tariffs on a variety of projects. the turkish h president wants hs people to boycott the iphone. he himself is now switching to another brand. that spring in our financial

correspondent, sophie, very nice to see you. what has been the reaction in the u.s. to the erdogan sanctions? sophie: maybe some investors are starting to get tired of the daily changing headlines and have started taking the profit invested money of the table. the country has pledged to invest $15 million in turkey, according to officials. and basically everything else, in the conflict, this is a strategic move. the united states is our trade partner, but it's not the only one. that's what turkey's trade minister said earlier. on the other hand, turkey is way less important for the united states, it's actually number 32 on the list of america's biggest trade partners. so erdogan should be aware of the fact that this is not a fight his country is going to win. these new sanctions are not going to seriously hurt the united states economically, and

turkeys gdp is like 1% of the world's gdp, while the u.s. gdp amounts to 15% of the world gdp money. >> so there is a lot at stake. and serious developments in the tesla moved to go private. what is the latest you are hearing? sophie: forces are suggesting that the agency is moving into a formal investigation of tesla. the wall street journal reported last week that an inquiry was made into tesla about whether it was truthful. on thursday, bloomberg reported that the agency was intensifying its inquiry. it does not come as a surprise that the sec seems to be investigating, as this tweet start up a lot. in recent years, the agency has been pretty business friendly, so the question for investors is, if the sec is going to make an example of tesla, or if

they're going to follow a milder path. there is a second party likely to sue, investors who have lost money after that tweet. >> thank you very much. an annual conference has just -- robot conference has open. more than 160 international exhibitors are showcasing their latest gizmos. howewever, the conference comes amid heightened trade tensions betwtween the united states and china, as u.s. companies complain of forced technology transfer to china and inadequate protection for intellectual property there. intellectual property protection is key in a sector which is becoming increasingly competitive. there is more.

>> robots are learning to do new things all the time. more and more complex tasks. perhaps a good deal quicker than some humans. don't try this at home. these soccer playing robots may not be the most skilled players in the work, but they are helping students t to learn complex programming. one has to program every movement, and one has to take care that the robots cameras can recognize things and differentiate. to do that, one needs a lot of theory and programming knowledge. there are of course many other things that one has to consider. educating specialists is just part of china's ambition in robot development. the e bot conference -- they want to be world leaders in robotics industry. it's -- the strategy is called made in china 2020, and is not

just about singing and dancing. they want to be the world number one producer of industrial robots, too. we have to be careful if we want to maintain a leadership position that wewe hold d at the moment in europe and in germany. robobotics will be one ofof theg drivers in business over the next dececade. eueurope a and china arere aboul at the moment, b but the competition is intensifying. >> that's your business update. brent: officials in afghanistan have blamed so-called islamic state for an attack that killed 48 people in a mainly shiite neighborhood of the city. just two months before elections in afghanistan and the country is facing a surge in violence that has claimed hundreds of lives in just the past week.

>> they were studying for university entrance exams when the bomb exploded. dozens were killed and many more wounded in the latest suicide attack which targeted a shiite neighborhood in kabul. most of the people were at the educational center have been killed. it was a horrific s scene. many of the students wewere torn to p pieces. there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blala, but officials blamed the islamic state militant group. ththe explosion came as the city about 150 kilometers south of kabul struggles to return to normal. after five days of intense fighghting with hundreds of casualties, government forces say they have managed to retake the city from the taliban. we pushed back in me from the city by force. where i'm standing now is the front line. the taliban are still around the city.

meanwhile the taliban have canceled a security agreement with the group that guarantees safety for their workers across afghanistan. there are currently some 1600 red crescent workers in the country, delivering medical care, food and water. just two months before parliamentary elections in october, t t security y situatin in afghanistan seems to be deteriorating. brent: the aquarius rescue ship has docked in malta after several european union countries agreed to take in the 141 migrants on board. malta itself will not be taking an end. along with italy, it initially turned the ship away in a repeat of a standoff that took place in june. migrants were rescued off the coast of libya and faced an uncertain future after reaching drylands. -- after reaching dry land. >> their journey at an end at

last they would 141 refugees, roughly half of them minors, this import in the maltese -- disembarked in the multis port. -- in the maltese port. they are relieved to set foot on drylands. -- on dry land. the migrants will now move on to one of five countries that have agreed to accept them. it's a gesture that sparked cautious hope among rescue organizations. >> this is only a solution for this particular case, but it does show that solidarity is an option. maybe we can only assume that people recognize that there is a humanitarian crisis going on in the mediterranean sea. >> workers called on all e.u. nations to face up and responsibilities in highlighting the stories of those aboard the

aquarius. >> one boy at the age of 16 told us how he and others were sorted in libya. subsequently, who is forced to work on a farm for six months. but these refugees have escaped that. standing on european soil is an achievement. even if they don't know how long that will be allowed to stay. meanwhile, the aquarius will return to open waters, continuing its mission to save lives. brent: philip long, the former german world cup winner has reportedly been tasked to head the organizing committee. he is already the ambassador of germany's bid for the euros. germany only has one competitor, turkey. he will find out if germany's

bid is successful in the voting on september 27. here's a reminder of our top story for you. italy has declared state of emergency following the collapse of a bridge in general. at least 39 are confirmed dead as the search for survivors injures its second night. you're watching dw news from berlin. after short break, i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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