anchor: this is d.w. news live from berlin. zimbabwe's forler president has died. he was one of the most polarizing leaders. for some, he was a fleem leader and for others, a brutal dictator. also on the program, the death toll from hurricane dorian will be staggering the country warns. search and rescue efforts gather pace. hundreds and possibly thousands

are missing. india's unmanned spacecraft is heading for the moon as the country will join a club of nations that have successfully touched down on earth's nearest neighbor. and berlinners vote for two newly born pandas in the local zoo and why it could lead to a diplomatic incident between germany and china. i'll phil gale. zimbabwe's former president, robert magubey -- mugabe has died. during nearly 40 years in power, he became a tyrant and l laying waste to the e economy.

two yearars ago when it became apparent he was grooming his wife, the army removed him from power. today, the current president declared mugababe a national he. so reactions to his death are mixed. reporter: on the streets, people reflected on the death of mugabe . >> i would describe him as a revolutionary and played a part and all he did to empower the people. >> a good leader. was a good leader. of course, you know -- you cannot do good to everyone but to me he was good. >> he was an african legend. he overstayed in power. you can't have someone who is 89, still doing the job as

president. reporter: the man who did get the chance cut short a trip to south africa on hearing the news of mugabe's death. he acknowledged his legacy. >> the death early this morning in singapore of the nation and iconic leader who struggled for national liberation lives a big void in our nation. reporter: south african president also paid tribute to the man he said i inspired manyn his own country. >> he was one of those presidents who contributed to the freedom of the people of south africa. oncece they obtained their own independence, they established a

free and independent zimbabwe. rreporter: some currently livin in south africa have different memories of president mugabe. >> personally, i lost a lot off people in my family and a lot of suffering because of this man. so i don't feel any sympapathy. i don't feel that sadness. > didn't want to be here but because of the situation in zimbabwe -- that's why we are here. reporter: independent iconcxds con or authoritarian ruler or both. he is not going to fade from africa's collective memory any time soon. anchor: in the bahamas, the death toll from hurricane dorian will be staggering. at least 30 people are confirmed dead and thousands may be

missing. a humanitarian effort is under way. u.n. estimates that 70,000 people are in immediate of aid. reporter: there are homes obliterated, lives cut short. the extent of hurricane dorian's havoc is slowly beginning to emerge here, and so, too, of stories of survivors clinging on. >> one cigarette, you have to share. reporter: others here are trying to get out. the airport departure lane is overwhelmed. >> they told us that the babies and the elderly people were first preference. we still have babies here and still have elderly people here. so it's not -- they are not living up to their word.

reporter: some 70,000 people need water, foodod and medicine urgentlyly. e islands are a s slice of heaven. people who call it home fear it's finished. >> i it will take us a long, lo time. we lost, you seeee it? devastation all over. reporter: on neighboring grand bahama, it is as bit as bleak. it is littered with tales of hope. and of heartbreak. >> eight feet of water in my house. and in the city of freeport.

keep us in prayer. reporter: everywhere, remainder of those w who couldn't escape. recovery workers measure the cost in bodies. a moment's rest and another discovery of a victim. officials are preparing for mass casualties. anchor: we take you back to our top story, the death of zimbabwe's former president at the age of 93. pro-democracy activist joins us on the line from zimbabwe. welcome to d.w. you were born while robert mugabe was president. how do you feel about his passing? >> you know, up to now, i'm trained to frame my - --

[indiscernible] >> speaking of the passing of someone. the older generation -- [indiscernible] >> fought for liberation. fought for equality.y. later on in his life -- [indiscernible] >> later on in his leadership, he presided over serious corruption -- [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] >> i feel indifferent. and later on, managed to be turned out to be -- anchor: thank you for sharing that with usus. some of the other stories making

news around the world. britain's house of lords passed a law to another blow to borrowries johnson. opposition parties have refused to grant him an early election. latin america summit aimed at protecting the a.m. son rain forest has no productive results. they met in colombia. the meeting was called after a surge in wildfires in the region that caused global outrage. this is d.w. news live from berlin. still to come, berlin's local newspapers, the new panda cub should be named in honor of pro-democracy protestors. opposition figure in turkey has been sentenced for insulting 10 institutions.

the charges against kaftancioglu stem mainly from twitter posts. kaftancioglu denounced the trial as political and will remain free. a d.w. correspondent in istanbul . >> reporter: a prominent political figure here in istanbul. for many years she is the local chairperson c.h. and she is known as someone who had been trying to reach out to the kurdish minority and this is the reason why many see her as a key figure in the election's success of the election. let's remember an opposition politician won the mayorship of

istanbul in controversial election. this was a serious set back for the president and his ruling a.k.p. and has been working closely together. so now the accusations as you mentioned are based on her social media posts that she wrote between 2012 and 2017. she has denied the accusations and basically says she is a human rights defender and everything she wrote and posted falls within the scope of freedom of expression and calling this trial a political trial saying this is revenge for the opposition's election victory here in istanbul. anchor: it's more than a month since india scrapped the security crackdown. politicals say they are jeopardizing lifesaving medical

treatments. d.w. correspondent traveled to the region's largest city to assesess the situation in the hospitals. reporter: a city under siege. and a hospital struggling to care for thousands despite it. one was diagnosed with gallststones in february and ha been suffering bouths of pain. >> my sister is supposed to have surgery. they told us to come today. when we came here today, the doctor told us that the operation theaters are closed, only emergency surgeries will be coconducte rereporter: has been asked to rereturn in two weeeeks to checr a return date and but that looks impossible.

>> the patients are scheduled for elective surgery, doctors said they canannot schedule the surgeries because certain theaters are in stand by for any ergency ththat may prop up. reporter: with many medical staff for emergencies, there is half the usual amountf elective surgeries taking place. malignant cancers takes precedence. doctors say anyone else will have to keep going every fortnight. a communication blackout imposed have met that people cannot reach ambulances or tell their familiarly about the health of hospitalized loved ones and some people are angry. >> my sister is very sick.

we can't even call an ambulance because the phones are not working. i had to bring her on a scooter for over 15 kilometers. >> there are no commununication channels. everything is cut off. my brother had an accident and people came to our home to tell us and that'ss how we found out reporter: this gentleman was riding to his m motor bike to b medicines for his uncle. he had an accident. they found him barely conscious. the i.d.. card helped him identify where his family is. >> communication has been barred. how could my family know if their son is dead or alive? no nation in the world, no

civilizedd nation in the world, no civilized pell of the world -- people of the world have restrictions. reporter: he has been put under obseservation for internal bleeding. his pain is not only physical but the pain of the people here suddenly cut off from t the res of the world waiting for normalcy. anchor: germany chan lore has been called for a peaceful solution after months of protests in hong kong. chancellor merkel made the comments at the start of a three-day visit to china. >> chancellor merkel sift is a tightrope act. and the current trade dispute between the u.s. and china has a big effect on the german

economy. on the other hand, people expect merkel to address the situation in hong kong. the chancellor recommnds talks between demonstrators and the hong kong leadership. in the current situation we should do the utmost to avoid violence. solutions can only be found through dialogue and there are signs that hong kong's government leader wants to invite the demonstrators to such a dialogue. reporter: a prime minister is not mentioning a possible intervention. he supports the government in hong kong in its efforts to put an end to chaos within the framework of the law. >> we will protect hong kong's long-term success and stability. the world must recognize that the chinese people have the capacity and the wisdom to take care of their own affairs.

>> chinese and german managers have signed 11 economic agreements that are expected to create and secure thousands of jobs in both countries. one activist said that the chancellor could address human rights without endangering economic relations. >> back then, she lived in east germany and knows what life in a system with police violence is lilike and she should at least mention it is a mistake for police to use violence in hong kong. reporter: hong kong police used tear gasas and robber bullets against demonstrators protesting chinese influence. it remained clear how many were injured. anchor: people in the german capital have made it clear the panda twins. our reporter has the story.

welcome. these cubs barely a week old and have become politicized. reporter: the berlin newspaper, they polled their readers asking for name suggestions what to call these two panda cubs that were born in the berlin zoo. and it was huge news here in germany. some of the them were y everyone ng and yang but they wanted to call them hong and konk. they are o on loan to zoos arou the world. this story was picked up by the tabloid and they wrote an

editorial asking the german government to use the naming of these pandas and put pressure obey jing to send a message to beijing. it is unlikely that the government will do that but this naming has put the spotlight on these two panda babies. anchor: is this panda diplomacy gone wrong? reporter: you could say that. it goes back centuries to the chinese dynasties and in modern times, perhaps most famous example is 1972 when u.s. president nixon were given a pair of pandas after hisis visi to beijing and that started a thawing of u.s.-chinese relations which had b been h hoe for decades. beijing uses it as away if you like capturing the hearts and minds of the people in germany

who might have criticisms towards china, they were not easily duped, so you might say this panda diplomacy has backfired. anchor: thank you. panda correspondent. india's unmanned is on its approach to the moon and will touch down in the south pole. and will join united states, russia and china. >> five, four, three, two, one, zero. [applause] reporter: it was a historic moment for india, an unmanned spacecraft bound for the moon successfully launched in july after a previous attempt was cooled off due to technical problems.

the moon craft has spent the last few weeks traveling towards the south of the moon. on monday, the landing robe on the separated from the craft ahead of its planned touchdown. if successful, india will be the fourth country in the world to have achieved a controlled landing. its previous mission in 2008 ended with the spacecraft probe intentionally crashing into the moon. the landing site this time is 600 kilometers. it will reduce the first lunar rorover. it will carey tools.

they will measure water deposits. the mission watched the moon's surface in orbit. there is a lot riding on this endeavor. not only does india hope to advance the world's understanding of the moon, it also wants to prove how advanced it is in space technology. anchor: let's get more on this, a senior fellow from the independentian political think tank who joins us. welcome. why is india doing this? >> i think for a lot of reasons. one of the main reasons f for m it's an organization for which space applications was the main stay and one of the space explorations, it is one of the main things and that's why india

is doing this. the other issue that i see here is proving the technological prowess as your own report mentioned and it can be very ambitious projects in space and this is one of them. anchor: and space exploration to what end? >> i think space exploration has no ends. the indian space research organization began as an agency where it started doing space applications for the benefit of its own citizens and development -oriented goals. but now it has become space exploration as one of the mainstays of its space projects and this is where they have plans to put more men on the moon and they will continue pushing these goals as possible to get to prove to themselves

that they are capable of exhibiting these wide, big and ambitious space projects. anchor: we are looking at live pictures from the control room. the orbitter is expected to exit space at any moment. when you talk about the advances in independentian technology, does the rest of the world benefit from these space flights at all? >> yeah. it's always in the realm of competitive research and findings that india will do and india is not adverse to sharing. if you look to india's space program it lends itself to realism and it has been a cooperator and welcomed other countries in the peaceful

pursuit of space and launching satellites, it has welcomed other countries. and majority of the european nations when it comes to space. i have no doubt in my mind when it comes to benefiting people, india will share the results of its research and make sure its findings are beneficial to everybody when it comes to advancing in the space world. anchor: landing on the moon, that doesn't come cheap. the price tag is 126 million euros. 360 million people in india living in poverty, is this money well spent? >> yeah. i mean, look in 1969, india went in the pursuit of space and so many -- india was a poorer country in the 1960's than it is

now. the best question to ask is how has india used this technology from the 1960's until now for the development for the poorer people. india has used very wisely, very efficiently, it is the first country to do telemedicine and space application and it is prone to natural disasters. anchor: it't's doioing well. good to talk to you. thanks for joining us. this is d.w. news live from beberlin. morere in just a moment.

cinema we'll tell you what to watch for this year . he was the founding father and bob away who later became it's a strong man former president robert mugabe has died at age ninety five his death announced friday by successor. the men in gaza we got a had been receiving treatment in a singapore hospital since april. his life divided the global public but in zimbabwe today is influences mostly being trial publicly and god was declared we got