brent: this isis "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, with time running out and a hurricane on the way, almost two million people in the united states are told to leave their homes. fleeing hurricane florence. the southeast of the u.s. preparing for one of the most powerful hurricanes in years. state of emergencies have been declared in virginia, north, and south carolina. also coming up, germany's chancellor goes before parliament and condemns the violence at recent anti-migrant

demonstrations in eastern germany. angela merkel says nothing can justify hatred towards people who look different. plus, the european parliament votes to punish hungary, accusing it of undermining democracy. hungary's prime minister has denounced the decision as petty revenge and has vowed to defy it. also coming up, a dumping ground for maritime rubbish. >> who gets this rusty ship right there? one of hundreds of other ships left behind. brent: dw investigates why so many ships are abandoned in nigeria and whether the government there is doing nothing about it. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. tonighght, nearly two million residents of the u.s. east coast

have been told to leave their homes as t the storm of a a life heads their r way. hurricane florence is churning and moving across the atlantic towards north and south carolina. this is what florence looks like right now from the international space station. florence is 500 to 600 kilometers across. and she is expected to make landfall late thursday. the governor of north carolina says it will be like nothing the state has ever seen. florence has sustained winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour. and while it's now been downgraded to a category three storm, it could still put coastal areas underwater. days of rain are likely to cause serious flooding further inland. residents in the evacuation zones, particularly along the coast, are now being urged to protect their property and to

leave those coastal areas. reporter: with just hours remaining before hurricane florence to sense on the coast, residents are preparing to make final preparations. a sudden shift has put millions more people in his crosshairs. florence is expected to cause severe damage when it makes landfall. forecasters warn of extreme rainfall, widespread power cuts, life-threatening storm surges, and floods. >> powerful winds will reach our beaches and sands tomorrow morning. north carolina, my message is clear. disaster is at the doorstep anad it is comiming in. reporter: thihis footage, filmed from the internationonal space station, shows how large and powerful florence has become as it approaches the coast. closer to the surface, a weather plane caught a glimpse of the center as it flew through the storm.

almost two million people have been advised or ordered to evacuate coastal communities. most are taking the advice seriously, boarding up their homes, filling up their tanks, and emptying supermarket shelves. >> it looks very ominous. and we have been here for six years and have not been through one this strong. so, you know, safety first, family, just trying to prepare the house as best we can right now. reporter: president donald trump stressed the importance of following official recommendations. >> depending on where you are, you have to listen and y you hae to get out. if they want you to get out -- bebecause it will be impossibleo have people in there, whether it is law-enforcement or fema or anyone else. so it's going to be really, really bad along the coast. reporter: trump faced criticism for his administration's storm m recovery efforts after a hurricane devastated the american territory puerto ririco one year ago. nearly 3000 people died.

now the administration faces ananother test. so far, evacuations seem to have been running smoothly. what florence will be a threat for days as forecasters predict the storm will stall out along the coast. brent: dw's maya shwayder joins us now from elizabeth city in north carolina. good evening to you, maya. we can see behind you blue skies. yoyou really are there in ththem before the storm. we understand the hurricane is supposed to hit the coastline in about 24 hours from now. so, whwhat are you hearing? what is the situation where you are right now? mayaya: brent, it t looks like a beautiful day to have a natural disaster, doesn't it? but don't be fooleled, becau the hurricanane is simply nonot here yet, a and people arare definity batteng g down the h hatches we spoke with h some people this morning who were at a municipal sitete filling up p sandbags.

eveveryone is remaining cacalm, people werere helping eaeach ot. but it was defefinitely sesense of, we need prepapare. we spoke with one man who lost his home in puerto rico last year in hurricane mariria, and again had lost another h home in hurricane e hugo a feweaears before, soso he s takiking absolutely no chances and had a truck full of sandbags for his house. a lot of people talking about trying to find water. and actually, we, the dw crew, were driving around trying to find gas for our car, and many of the gas stations were already shut down. so there is a sense of sort of closing up and everyone trying to protect themselves. but again, not a lot of panic, it is still a beautiful day. everyone iss trying to go about their r business as usual and remaining calm. brent: what kind of sense are you getting, maya, in terms of how local authorities are preparing for the storm? because it has not been that long since we saw a hurricane in the caribbean, and of course there was that hurricane that

hit houston and the whole gulf coast area last year. mamaya: definitelyly, brent. well, wewe saw a lot of local updadates fromococal authoririt. in fact we w went to one eararlr today whwhere the cityty manages telllling people, , ok, peop w e out of the storm's range, it wiwill probably jujust be a babd rainstorm, but we still need you to be safe, be smart, stay in your homes and don't take any chances here. so local authorities are definitely doing a better job and making an effort to reach out to local citizens, let them know if they need to evacuate, where they need to evacuate to, and encourage them to evacuate. and if they stay, make it clear that their lives are in their own hands and they really should get out while they still can. brent: are you running into many people who have said they are just going to ride the storm out? i mean, local authorities, what are they saying to these people? mamaya: again, they are rely

making an emphasis to let peopoe know w what the safety concerns are. and agaiain, let thehem know tt they are makaking this c conscis decision to stay in what will l an extrememely dangerous storm, even as you said, it hasaseen downgrgraded to a catetegory th, much t to the relilief of people hehere. the pepeople whoe e have been talking to seem toe vevery sensible about w what is going o happen and were e filling up o n water and foodod, making sururey had d flashlights s in case thee power ran n out, and realllly tg to take all the precauauons they could, even ifif they re n not n didirect line t the hurricacan. brbrent: all rigight, our correspondenent on hurricacane h duty tonight from northeasastern north h carolina in elelizabeth city.. maya, , thank you very much. here are some other stories that are making headlines around the world. the catholic church in germany hasn't knowledged when it calls a depressing and shameful legacy of sexual abuse. this, after an internal report

leaked that document and nearly 4000 cases since the second world war. the revelations came on the same day pope francis summoned bishops to a meeting in february to discuss protecting children. politicians and dignitarars in ghana have been paying their respects to former u.s. secretary general kofi annan. his body is lying in state in the capitol ahead of his funeral on thursday. he died last month at the age of 80. russian president vladimir putin says his country has identified the two men wanted by police in britain in connection with the poisoning of hisis -- a former y and his daughter in england. mr. putin described them as civilians, saying quote, there is nothing criminal there. u.k. security forces say those men are russian intelligence officers. two weeks after violent demonstrations against migrants

by right-wing extremists in eastern germany come a chancellor angela merkel has taken her case against xenophobia to the country's parliament. she received plenty of support today, but there was also loud opposition. reporter: as angela merkel arrived in parliament today, it was already clear that this wouldn't be a normal address to the bundestag. at the forefront was the recent far right violence in eastern germany. she started her speech with a strong call for a a common togetherness against exclusion and incitement. >> there is no excuse or justification for incitement, the use of violence, nazi hatred, hostility towards people who look different, or own a jewish restaurant, or attack the police. conceptual arguments about whether it is hate or the hunting down of people really don't help us. reporter: the largest opposition

party in the bundestag, the far right alternative for germany, or afd, has drawn its own conclusions, blaming foreigners and migrants for germany's problems. >> chancellor merkel, you have nothing more to offer this country and its citizens except stubbornness, arrogance and insults. you are barricading yourself in the chancellery, further away from the reality. i repeat my question -- who endangers the inner peace of this country? not us. reporter: as emotions reached boiling points, some politicians were not about to allow hate in parliament, prompting comparisons to nazi germany. >> the migrants are to blame for everything. there has been similar talk in this house before, and i think it is time for the democrats in this country to oppose this kind of rhetorical rearmament, which in the end leads to violence in the streets.

it is time for democracy to stand up against these people, mr. president. reporter: lively dispute over the basic values of german democracy. and in the center of it all, the german chancellor and her migration policy. brent: let's pull in our clinical correspondent christopher springate on the story for us tonight. we know the german chancellor has voiced her opposition to xenophobia and far right violence before. but today she took her case to the country's parliament. how significant was that? christopher: well, it was within a routine debate in the sense that germany always has an annual four day debate on its budget. it is the highlight of the parliamentary calendar, especially the second day of the debate, which is this day.

i think what it shows is that migration remains at the top of the political agenda in germany. so, it has crept into a budgetary debate in all sorts of ways. and several politicians including the chancellor have used their speeches to nail thei r colors, if you want, to a constitutional approach to this issue. essentially the established party in this country see there is another flareup of anti-foreigner violence. a very small minority of people challenging the constitution. at the same time the leading opposition party in parliament, the afd, flirting with that extreme minority. so, that is why -- that's the significance of what the chancellor and many other senior politicians are saying for the

last few days. brent: the chemnitz violence that we saw there a couple weeks ago has also been politicized, as you were just saying. how has that damaged the german chancellor? christopher: difficult to say. migration, when it's at the top of the political agenda in germany, is never a comfortable issue for chancellor merkel, quite simply because she made the historic decision in 2015 to let in so many migrants. and as you know, that's an issue that continues to divide the country in two very passionate camps. so, whether migration is at the top of -- when migration is at the top of the agenda it is not comfortable for chancellor merkel. another party has also been losing support recently. the afd, the anti-migration party, in one or two surveys it

has lost a couple points, presumably because, as i mentioned, it has failed to distance itself in a credible way from this very small minority of far right extremists. brent: our correspondent christopher springate on the story for us tonight in berlin. christopher, thank you. christopher: you're welcome. brent: now to nigeria, where navigating the waters of the nation's ports can be a perilous undertaking for fishermen because of ship wrecks on or below the surface. dw's correspondent fanny facsar has met people affected by underwater hazards and to find out why nigeria has become such a maritime dumping ground. fanny: one of the largest and busiest ports in africa, where votes -- boats and ships struggle for space. over the years it has been a dangerous waterway.

ship wrecks are littering the coastline. we don't have to look for longer find them. look at this rusty ships, or rather, what is left of it. one of hundreds of other ships left behind. nigeria has become a graveyard for ships of all parts of the world. the legal way to get rid of them is to dismantle and recycle them, but that costs money. no one knows the exact number of ships contained below the water. the effects are felt more above, especially by fishermen. >> when we are working, our nets get tangled in the metal below. it damages the net a and we cant fish until we replacee them. fanny: coastal communities have already been hit hard by unemployment. the chief says the situation is untenable.

>> when laws are enforced there should not be any kind of shipwreck on the waterways. they should be removed immediately. the laws are not strictly enforced. people feel very free to do what is wrong. fanny: so why aren't the laws enforced? i asked david, who for years has beenen trying to raise awareness of the problem, but he has saidd little succecess. >> corruptioion. we have huge amounts of money going intoto the b budget of the regulators. nobody seems to be doing anything about it. fanny: he demands to have ships removed after a 20 day period to help s shapes -- saveve the environment. >> the shipwreck allows the sand dunes to -- it destroys our coast and makes them unusable. and above all, pollution that ships come with. fanny: until government starts

prosecuting, the armada of abandoned ships will just continue to grow. brent: over to helena. we're going to talk about the latest on the long-awaited apple reveal. i have to say, i am not ready to traded my iphone. helena: i have to say they are getting rid of some of the lower end models as well, so they are really trying to move on up. of course apple officially unveiling the latest smart phones with its customary fanfare in cupertino, california. this is the iphone xs and xs max will be priced at $999 and $1099 respectively. for customers on a smaller budget they are offering the new xr at $750. they are supposedly the fastest ever, liquid proof, and most

authenentic facial recognition technology evever contained in a smartptphone. it has the company's biggest phone display so far. it also has new health features for the next generation apple watch, including one that detects when a person falls. our financial correspondent sophie scimansky is in new york. tell us, what has been the response so far to apple's latest offering? sophie: this year's unveiling was rumored to be impressive even by apple standards. after the event i would say one eye was on the new iphone and the other on the watch, because this is where apple introduced big upgrades and it has a lot of upgrades to further grow -- potential to further grow. the iphone is still the most important and popular product. apple generated more than half of its revenue from i fail --

iphone sales so far. the biggest question was how much it was going to cost. now that we know the prices, the question in retail is going to be what will be the sweet spot for apple. the apple stock has not reacted too strongly all day, which is not surprising to me, as investors for the most part react to earning calls, but in the past have not changed their mind based on these events. helena: we have got some of the biggest names in u.s. business say they are readying for a public fight with trump over tariffs. they are getting together. what moves can we expect? sophie: we're talking about the americans for free trade group. and from california, apple growers, to maine lobster men, they are working together to work -- tried to get president trump from getting deeper into trade wars. they say tariffs are hurting

those industries, and this lobbying group is called tariffs hurt the heartland. it shows that the part of the u.s. economy trump intended to support with this protectionist trade policy is not a fan of its plan. helena: sophie scimansky on wall street, thank you. eu lawmakers have approved reforms to eu copyright laws they say will force the online forms to fairly compensate the originators of content. critics worry the laws may hinder user generated content and possibly even redefine internet freedom. the battle lines are not at all clearly drawn. reporter: 438 parliamentarians were in favor, 226 against, and 39 abstained. controversial copyright reform is now in the pipeline pending

final approval in january. >> dear colleagues, thank you for the shared achievement. this is a good sign for creative industries in europe. reporter: at the heart of the reforms are two major new standards. article 11 would see publishers now paid if, say, google links to their stories. and article 13 requires platforms like youtube and facebook to stop users from uploading unlicensed copyrighted material. the reforms were vigorously babacked by high-profile names n show busininess, including brith musician paul mccartney. he had written an open letter urging fair compensation for artists ahead of the vote. but not all artists favor the new rules. it was argued freer platforms help artists by allowing for greater exposure. >> do you really understand the power of yououtube, and that t u

understand the tools that you cann use? i think there is actually more things that youtubube can do to actually show artists, like, take this spookoky thing, you don'n't get paid orr whatever,rw them h how to use their channel. reporter: critics fear more than the loss of brand d building. forcing platfororms like youtube to effectively scan all activity can very quickly devolved into censorship and the loss of a a free interernet. but both proponents and opponents agree that the reforms are set to shake up the web. not just in the eu, but around the world. helena: of course that being one big issue that parliamentarians are mulling over, it was not the only one today. brent: they were talking about everything from the future of the european union, to the state of hungary. the european parliament today voted to punish the government of hungary for what it calls the erosion of core eu values.

the unprecedented move saw lawmakers vote 448 to 197 in favor of triggering what's known as the article seven process that could result in hungary being stripped of its votiting rights in the european union. a recent report for the parliament criticized prime minister viktor orban's populist government for silencing the media, dismissing independent judges, and for encouraging corruption. before that vote on hungary, there was a state of the union speech delivered by eu commission president jean-claude juncker. during that speech, he urged the eu to step up to the plate and take on a stronger role, despite its own divisions right now. dw's max hofmann sat down with juncker afterwards and asked him how he intends to resolve this glaring contradiction.

>> by talking to people. everyone agrees with me in saying almost with pathos, we have got to move closer together. sometimes the differences can be monumental. we can't allow this. but i am very much against widening this gap between east and west further. there are also many issues we can agree on. max: but take viktor orban's speech on tuesday. he was not cooperative. he would not compromise. how are you going to rein him in again? >> i have actually given up on that. there are big differences between viktor orban and me, even though we are both part of the same european family of political parties. i keep telling viktor orban that this radical rhetoric he is firing at europe benefits neither him nor europe. max: so what's your strategy? are you just going to sit it

out, will you wait for someone new to be elected, or is it time for a two speed europe? what's the solution? >> i don't think we should be talking about a two speed europe yet. we are not a debating club, but a club that debates. incidentally, the club of the commission has much less influence than many people would think. governments take decisions on the basis of recommendations presented by the commission. if, for example, all member states had agreed to the commission's 2015 proposal of the refugee issue, that would have saved us a lot of energy, and many people would have been spared much suffering. max: you've done this job for four years now. even the opposition say you are an extremely committed european. do you think you are just unlucky with the timing of your presidency? >> no. i know the history of the commission very well.

i recently read through all the criticism the previous president had to endure. back then, people did not have all the same picture of him as they do now. no, slowly but surely we have managed to pull ourselves out of the economic and financial crisis. brent: that was eu commission president jean-claude juncker they are speaking to dw's max hofmann in brussels. you're watching "dw news." after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day. stick around for that. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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