anchor: this is "d.w. news" live from berlin. zimbabwe's government strikes back at protestors, accusing it of corruption and mismanaging the economy. police attack protestors with batons, tear gas and water cannons in hariri. also on the program, the iranian oil tanker seized by gibraltar is ready to set sail. they were granted permission to

leave. and hong kong braces for another weekend of protests as a newspaper seen as a mouthpiece for beijing urges china to take direct action. i'm karl masman, welcome to the program. police in zimbabwe have used tear gas and water cannons against anti-government protestors in the capital, hariri. more than 100 opposition supporters demonstrated despite a police ban. supporters of zimbabwe's opposition movement for democratic change accused the government of corruption and mismanaging the failing economy. >> chaos and violence as zimbabwe police clashed with

opposition supporters, firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. early on friday, demonstrators took to the streets of hariri after their plans for large-scale marches were banned by police late thursday night. they're angry at the government, blaming them for the country's direre economic situation. >> if we we demonstrate, we want change. we are tired of promises, promises, promises. enough is enough. >> we have the power. that is my hope. reporter: it was supposed to be the first in a series of protestors across the country, organized by the main opposition party, movement for democratic change. after zimbabwe's high court rejected their challenge to the

ban, opposition leaders vowed to continue fighting. >> we are not backing down. we are going forward. the people of zimbabwe are tired. they're fed up. they want to end this long suffering. reporter: as police launched the crackdown, the ruling party issued a warning to demonstrators. >> they should know we are going to bring against any. were notot going to allow anybodody to tamper with the freedom, with the peace, that is prevailing. reporter: with almost a third of the country's population in need of aid, demonstrators are set to keep up their cause for change, however police attempt to stop them.

carl: how big of a threat are these protests for the government of zimbabwe? our correspondent is in hariri and s sent u us this assessment. reporter: i think the government is bound to treat these demonstrations that were plannnd for today to turn violent and to become a threat to the government with the background of their january 14 riots where they were spread across the country and ended up being violent and property was destroyed across the country. the government is also weary of just the general sentiment obtaining across the country, where people are feeling with what the economy is doing because a lot of people, the cost of living has gone up high and a lot of people are struggling to put food on the table. but if you look at the year that has just gone by, when the

president was elected into government, a lot of expectatations were higher that the economy would turn out for the betterr but i it is turningt for t the wororst. but you alslso need -- w we m mo neneed to takake into account tt he inherited 30 years of misrule and economic decay so to turn aroundnd such a situatition, itl take time. he has asked for patience. there are reforms the government is instituting but those reforms will not taking place or take effect overnight. they will need time to be implemented. zimbabwe had no currency. now they are trying to bring back a currency but all these reforms, unfortunatetely, are coming at a time when the economy is not performing and people are demanding immediate change so it is a difficult task for the government.

carl: the iranian oil tanker held in gibraltar since early july is preparing to set sail. the british territory has released the grace one, despite a bid by the u.s. to keep it in detention because it said the ship was linked to iran's revolutionary guard which the u.s. regards as a terrorist organization. the tanker was held on suspicion of carrying iranian oil to sear syria, a violation of e.u. and u.s. sanctions. will that british tanker now be released? d.w. correspondent is on the island in the strait of hormuz. repoporter: the british oil tanr has been removed from the strait of hormuz, closer to the port

where the revolutionary guards aree controlling everything, a place where journalists cannot go to. apparently they are preparing for an exchange. but we have to keep in mind that the revolutionary guards and iran as a whole do not have trust in the united states or united kingdom so before the iranian vessel in gibraltar will not be released, either. iran's foreign minister said the russian attempt to stop the release of the tanker was an attempmpted piracy move and that washington was abusing the international legal system to steal iranian property. that is a v view shared byy many iranians, as well. we've spoken to people o on this island and they said they do not want a conflict to happen with other countries, not here in their region and not elsewhere but that they are willing to step up a and defend their own country if necessary. so that is why everybody here in

the persian gulff is monitoring closely what is happening in gibraltar. carl: that was d.w.'s theresa tropper reporting from iran. other stories from around the world. u.s. democrat congresswoman rashida talib has rejected an offer from israel allowing her to visit her palestinian grandmother in the west bank, saying the conditions for the trip were oppressive. israel's offer came after talib agreed not to promote boycotts against the country during her visit. a bomb has exploded in a pakistan mosque during friday prayers, killing four and wounding at least 20. it happened in an area with a strong taliban presence. the brothther of the afghan taliban leader is reported to be among the dead. police have clashed with demonstrators in indian administered kashmir after

friday prayers. several people rallied in the main city, in its 12th day of security lockdown after india stripped kashmir of autonomy. china appears to be readying to take direct action against protestors in hong kong with a newspaper seen as a mouth piece for beijing backing intervention. the global "times" said if hong kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own, it's imperative for the central government to take direct action. chinese armed police have carried out drills across the border with hong kong ahead of fresh pro democracy protests planned for this weekend. reporter: these pictures show a paramilitary police exercise in the chinese city of shenzhen on the border of hong kong. forces here appear to be practicing how best to handle angry protestors. it's clearly a signal s sent too hong kong, a warning to the, quote, rioters there, according

to "the global times" a mouth piece of the communist party. it says if hong kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own, it's imperative that the central government take direct action. the message is a thinly veiled threat to the demonstrators. in hong kong on friday, thousands gathered for a peaceful demonstration in the city center. the slogan for the evening was stand with hong kong. many here are hoping for support from western democracies and fear that beijing could soon intervene. >> very scared. actually i'm considering move out from hong kong. >> we are at a point of no return so we have to protect our homeland. that's why i'm here. reporter: more rallies and protest marches are planned for over the weekend.

carl: d.w.'s charlotte chelsonpil is in hong kong and met andy chen. reporter: this is the first weekend of protests since the violent scenes we saw at the airport tuesday night. a lot of people are asking questions about how this weekend of protests will go, what the new strategy will be for demonstrators. what do you envision? how do you think this weekend will pan out? >> i can't tell you concretely what is going t to happen but te crowd has a strong ability to self-correct. in the past we have tried tack tatax, we -- tactics, we have failed, encountered difficulties but the crowd has been able to propose new ideas and tactics for different circumstances so i'm quite confident. all we don't know what is going to happen, the crowd has

intelligence to decide what to do. reporter: what advice would you give to people planning to take to the streets this weekend? >> i suggest people to prepare for any conflict or skirmishes because although we don't want to confront the police, police still confront us. so we need to prepare the equipment to protect ourselves. reporter: ok. what is your take a lot of speculation about the military presence currently on the border? is that something that is concerning you? >> i think the majority of the hong kong people right now do not believe that the p.o.a. will really deploy in hong kong. they are already here. but are they really going out, coming out to kill the hong kong people? we doubt it because it would

cost china a lot. at least they will create sanctions from all over the world. we are quite confident they are not going to do that. we are doing good. reporter: what is your long-term goal for this protest movement? what is your ultimate dream? >> we have five main goals, five requests for the government. but out of them, the most important one is democracy. we want general election for our chief executive and our -- once we control our government and electoral, we have democracy. reporter: thank you very much. carl: it's a city of 10 million people or maybe 30 million, it depends where you draw the boundary. what is certain is that the indonesian capital jakarta is one of the world's most crorowdd

cities and one of its most polluted and it's sinking, the result of uncontrolled ground water extraction and the government is looking to move the capital. today, indonesians learned roughly where that might be. >> the capital city is not only a symbol of national identity but also a representation of the progress of the nation. in is for the realization of equality and economic justice. this is for the vision of forward indonesia, indonesia that lives forever. i hereby request permission to move our national capital. carl: the indonesian name for the island of borneo, shared by brunei and malaysia. they have tououred the island

lookining for the ideal locatio. borneo is said to be favored because unlike other parts of indonesia, most of the island isn't prone to earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. the plan is is to start moving there in 2024. for m many in job jakarta, the e coululd be their only hope. reportrter: jakarta i is disappearing, slolowly swallowed by the sea. an abandoned mosque, a monument to the city's b bleak future. scientists e estimate as mucucha third of i it could be lostt by 2050. millions are at risk. >> why is the water level now higher than my home? why am i now l living below the water level? maybe because the sea water is swallowing the soil little by little. that's all i know.w. but luckily, we now have that

sea wall. reporter: the sea defense is showing cracks. the thousands of cracks that dot the shoreline here flood regularly, leaving behind hazardous waste and pollution. >> in the past, it wasn't like this. it was nicer and the sea water was good. the beach sand was nice and we could play in the water. now we can't do that anymore. the water's murky and dirty. it floods every high tide. reporter: : karta owes its dilemma to climate change and poor resource management. excessive ground water use his led to this state. the city is sinking. residents are heading, if not for higher ground, then higher there's, resigned to c chaos. >> today i'm not so nervous about the flooding.

in t the past,t, when thehe f fs came, i used to tremble. i nearly drowneded back in 2007. all my belongigings were sweptpt away and i had to start all or or -- over again. reporter: the government, too, is planning a a fresh start,, hoping t to relocatate the capil to b borneo. such drastic measures aren't an option for those living on the edge of this unfolding disaster. carl: to germany and finance minister olaz scholz is in the running to lead the country's center left social democratic party. the media reporting that he told the party's interim leaders he would run if they wanted him to. scholz could be the most high-profile candidate running to lead the government's troubled junior coalition partner. reporter: olaz scholz says he will run for the leadership of

his social democratic party if the party wants him. his decision has only been made public now but scholz is believed to have told the party's interim leaders of his intentions last weekend. the s.p.d. has seen several potential leadership candidates withdraw from the running and the race to head the s.p.d. has been lackluster. as finance minister and vice chancellor, scholz is the first big name to say he'll run. it's likely to have taken some by surprise. the politics professor and current deputy party leader also launched their joint bid on friday. >> sometimes the s.p.d. can be quicker than people think and competition is good because we want people to see the whole spectrum of the party. to anyone else who joins the race, i can only say welcome, have fun. reporter: the race started at a snail's pace but seems to be picking up speed. two officials from saxony have

thrown their hats in the ring. there's suddenly a field of 13 candidates including five female male teams running for dual leadership and two running alone while scholz is looking for a running mate. that might be seen as an americannization for the leadership race, like in the race to run for the democrats, there are many candidates but none have joined up. in germany, support for the s.p.d. has been flagging and a listless leadership race has not turned it around. that could change now that competition has gained momentum. carl: i'm joined by our political correspondent simon young from our parliamentary studio. how good do you think olaz scholz's chances to become the new s.p.d. leader? reporter: i think he's got pretty good chances or at least his chances would be good if this candidacy turns out to be

confirmed. at the moment, we're just hearing media reports that mr. scholz is ready to run. it looks pretty likely. and his choices would be good because he's the first real political heavyweight to join the contest. there are 12 or more other candidates who the have said they're running but he's the first one from the front rank, as finance minister and deputy chancellor, obviously, he carries a lot of weight. he's got a few more hurdles to get over. he needs to find a woman running mate because it's been more or less decided that the s.p.d. will have a sort of double-headed gender balanced leadership in future. and he needs backing from some of his cabinet colleagues, as well. and then, of course, he'll have to appeal to the majority of the 420,000 members of the s.p.d. who are the ones who will be

voting on the question of who will lead them in future. carl: let's assume he clears those hurdles. the s.p.d. has been slumping in the polls. enthusiasm is low. and that's being nice. is scholz, is he the hero that this party needs? simon: yeah, well, hero isn't perhaps the first word that you think of in this connection. olaz scholz has often been described as sort of cool and technocratic and even arrogant. he doesn't have much of that sort of down-home charm that many german politicians of the left have had and have needed to advance in the past. so that's perhaps against him. what's for him is that as finance minister he has shown that the social democrats are capable of exhibit financial

probate -- probity and good fiscal management. that is worth a lot in a national poll where germans looks at the economy when they come to vote. carl: the s.p.d. is in coalition with chancellor merkel's c.d.u. party. what could scholz mean for the government if he were the new head of the s.p.d.? simon: i think whoever takes over as leader will have to look at the question of how much longer they can carry on in the grand coalition of conservatives and social democrats. as a junior partner in that coalition, the s.p.d. have been doing badly. they've lost massive support and many of their supporters say they no longer what they stand for. that's got to change, whoever is leader. olaz scholz might not be the man to do that because he's very identified with this coalition. he's been quietly supporting

angela merkel many years as finance minister. carl: simon young, thank you very much. our next story comes from the central african republic, one of the poorest countries in the world and one that's seen a series of vicious conflicts since it gained independence fromom france in 1960. the most recent civil war was started six years ago muslim rebels and christian fighters, sparring over religion, power and natural resources. today there are more than 10,000 peacekeepers in the country, many of them from elsewhere in africa. but armed groups control about 80% of the country. in february, a peace deal was signed between the government and 14 rebel groups, the eighth peace deal in six years. a u.n. backed tribunal has been tasked with prosecuting those

who committed crimes against humanity. reporter: loud music with a heavy beat draws children from the neighborhood for some terrific entertainment. but its subject is a serious one. the central african republic's new special criminal court. they know if the children come, parents will follow. he hands out information brochures. it's the adults he wants to reach. >> we're here to inform central africans, especially the victims of war crimes committed in our country. reporter: and they're doing it with theater. this woman's daughter was killed. she expresses her suffering to the audience loudly and dramatically. in this cabaret, heavy subjects are made easy to digest.

bonefis wotanga wrote the play, meant to reflect daily life in the c.a.r. >> important information is communicated in bars and nightclubs in our country. that's why i decided to fashion the theater piece in this way. reporter: his own scene plays out in a bar. he meets friends and gets drunk. then they hear about the new court on the radio and explain it all to the audience. even the little people can bring charges against their torturers in their own country. the court will prosecute war crimes, sexual vioiolence and te targeted killing of ethnic groups, which have been committed since 2003. there is stitill about 100,000 chchristian and muslilim rebelsn the c.a.r. but the struggle is

no longer about religion. it is over land, power and raw materials. a peace agreement was signed but it is fragile. the court is meant to help bring about a lasting peace and justice for the victims of whom there are many in this country. translator: the rebels arrived and killed my younger brother. then they came into our house and beat my husband and me. reporter: after the performance, the audience is given legal advice. translator: the play opened my eyes. we have been through so much. now i know what to do about it. reporter: the play is set to become a film to be shown in the central african republic. the special tribunal is supported by the government, the u.n. and e.u., but is short of funds. >> i think it's very important. without justice, there's me to

security. we can't -- no security. we can't live in harmony and peace. reporter: that is what everyone here wants. carl: the top story we're following for you at this hour, protestors and police have clashed in zimbabwe's capital, hariri. the supporters of the opposition movement for democratic change accused the government of corruption and mismanaging the failing economy. you're watching "d.w. news," live from berlin. i'll be back in a moment with "the day," our news in review. stay tuned. . the u. n. security

council meets over the disputed kashmir region and india is not happy about it no agreement on a statement but china described serious concern over the situation. ceo of cathay pacific with cement hong kong protest this as the thohousands gathered in the city centre ahead of what's said to be another huge weekend of demonstrations. and u. s. lawmakers she had to leave so she won't visit israel even after the country were first a ban onn her entry she's called israel's condition