berlin. president trump on the defensive over race relations in the u.s.. trump's top general has apologized for joining him at a church in washington after authorities forcibly cleared prototesters awayy. crimiminal charges in the arct's biggest ever oil spill. more than 20,000 tons of fuel

leaked into the waterways. greenpeace c compares the villae to the exxon valdez disaster three decades ago. plus, the world health organization sounds a warning of the rapid spread of the coronavirus in africa. in cameroon, political wrangling hampers the fight. we meet aid workers defying the ban. hello to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. welcome to our program. u.s. president donald trump has suffered a setback after another rise in tensions between the white house and the pentagon.

a photo app -- photo op last week took place after troops and police had cleared a path for the president and his entourage by violently ejecting peaceful protesters. dw correspondent stefan simons joins us from washington. how has the general's response been received? >> it depends who you ask. i think all the generals and former defense secretary's who have served in this administration and who came before him criticizing the president heavily -- they will probably be very happy now to hear that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is apologizing for making an appearance right at this church

here on monday last week with the president, apologizing for actually showing up in this picture, in this photo op, which was from the beginning ill received from the public, even from across the political spectrum. why? because this place had to be cleared by -- from protesters who protested, of course, very peacefully here and were forced back with tear gas and other tools available to the security forces here, but the apology comes at a time which could not be worse for donald trump. again, i have never, ever heard a chairman of the chiefs of staff apologizing for something like that ever before. why did he do this? as he said, he wants to absolutely avoid that the impression is given to the public, to the americans, that

the military is now a pond and politics. no politicizing the military, and they want to remain that way. >> tell us about what is happening in the white house. we understand extra barriers that have been put up during the process over george floyd's death have been removed. >> right. let me show you. you see the fence which was installed just a few days ago as a secondnd security barrier against protesters now being removed, and as you remember, there was a lot of protesters and flowers and art attached to this fence. maybe we can check out or listen and what happened to all this stuff. >> a symbol of a movement. it has become a place to gather, to decorate, to support fight for racial equality. for days, protesters left

messages and works of art on the barrier. a fence separating the people fromom the president. >> if he had known that these items are going t to be on the fence, he never would have directed the fence. he would have had linenes of pulleys out here. everything he does is turning into good. look at this -- it's beautiful. >> a beautiful thing born from ugly scenes. president trump order lafayette square to be cleared. pulleys, national guard, and military moved in -- police, national guard, and military moved in. ththe reason -- trump wanted to walk from the whitete house and stand outside st. john's church, bible in hand, for a a photo op. in protest, the mayor of washington renamed the area

black lives matter plaza. today, the fence is bear. fearing the president would order it to be taken d down, demonstrators moved the w worksf art across the s street. a piece of history that needs to be preserved. >> i hope to see this s in a section of an amerirican museum somedaday. it definitely needs to be commemorated. >> concrete barriers surrounding the white house are already being removed. soon the f fence may be taken down, , too, but it will remaina symbol of a movement that protesters hope will change america. >> moving onto another debate that is raging in the country right now, is it possible the u.s. will lose all of its confederate monuments as the movement to pull them down gathers pace? >> before i answer this

question, i just want to show you quickly, you see the posters and all that once was on the fence are over there, so protesters took it and put it there because they want to prevent it -- they actually think this is something similar to a statue, a memorial, and should be protected for history. to your question, i think that this is just a logical next step for this movement, which we experienced here in the united states. virginia and richmond, there is a street, and avenue, and allie called monument allie. there are a lot of controversial statues there commemorating confederate state -- confederacy genenerals, slave tradeders, sle owners, etc., so i think we will see this across the country, this black lives matter movement and this movement which has new life or is re-created now after the tragic death of george floyd

will now address those topics, statues which are not any more reflective of how we as a society or the american society feels nowadays about slavery and systemic discrimination and racism in the united states. >> stefan simons in washington. thank you. the u.s. has asked japan to pay significantly more to maintain american forces on its territory. the u.s. has guaranteed japan's defense since the end of world war ii. more than 50,000 u.s. personnel are stationed in japan. washington puts the price tag at some $5.7 billion. the pan is already spending more on defense, but on its own forces. >> soldiers practice landing amphibious vehicles on a picturesque bay on japan's south

coast. drive out, open the hatch, close the hatch, then head back to the beach. it is as if they were planning to set off for new shores sometime soon, and perhaps they are, but the officer in command is not a allowed to talk to us about that. it is important to train the soldiers. one is the driver, one is ththe helmsman. it is not always easy to make a team out of them. according to its constitution, japan is not supposed to have an army, and many want it to stay that way. "we don't want japan to fight in wars all over the world, not even on america's side. that's why we are agaiainst the drones." even so, turkey appears to be preparing to enter the world stage. the recently deployed this destroyer to the gulf of oman. when interviewed, he says it is a completely harmless mission.

>> would japan like to play a more active military rule on the world stage? >> we believe sending our destroyer to the region to get enough information to secure safe passage of japanese or japan-related ships are important for us. that is why we are sending it. we are not powered by american initiative, nor european nor iranian initiative. it is strictly on our own. >> isn't that risky? there could be some kind of conflict and you are arriving. >> why should we be in it? we need to get information to secure the safe passage of our tankers or other ships, so we are sending them for information gathering. what's wrong with that? >> just a reconnaissance misissn

? some people see it differently. u.s.-asian relations expert glenn fukushima, for example, finds the idea amusing. >> i think as defense minister, that's what he had to say. just as when asked if it is not dangerous for self-defense forces to be in combat zones, he says if the self-defense force is there, by definition is not a combat zone. >> american units still may train for aid missions with the japanese for earthquakes, for example, but since washington has demanded much more money from japan for u.s. troops, tensions have risen considerably. >> it is actually cheaper to have a marine stationed in japan than to have them in san diego.

if we pay more than now, then they will become sort of mercenary, and i don't think u.s. forces would like to do that. >> harsh words, especially coming from an otherwise loyal japan. insiders say there is support in the ruling party, but less so amongst the japanese people. >> now a brief look at some other stories making g headline. u.s. president donald trump has authorized sanctions against international criminal court staff investigating possible u.s. war crimes in afghanistan. secretary of state mike pompeo will be able to block assets of court employees and stop them entering the u.s. pompeo called it a kangngaroo court. the e number of roronaviru cases reported in the united states has topped 2 million. jojohns hopkins ununiversity sas

new infections are on the rise in at least 19 states. the u.s. has more cases than any other country. financial markets around the world took a nosedive thursday as fears of the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic return. the dow jones industrial average shaved almost 7% after fed chairman powell said it could take years for the u.s. job market to recover. adding to investors' concerns, a spike in virus concerns in the u.s., after five weeks of declines. i'm joined by our correspondent. tell us more about the reasons behind the selloff. >> it was an accident to have happened because over the past couple of years, we saw incredible gains, and maybe the bulls on wall street want to do much. giving just one example, what

happened to valuations, for example, amazon, apple, and microsoft -- thosese three companies are worth more than $4 trillion, meaning equal to the gross domestic product of germany. those were the stocks that saw the biggest pressure. also, a lot of companies that will have trouble with reopening, the big shopping malls, for example. in the retail industry, that is where you also saw huge selling. >> share prices have been back to reaching record highs lately, right? we've been talking a lot about that, but looking at today's selloff, is this a classic case of markets too optimistic too soon? >> i have said before what i believe is going on here, this

is not trading or investing, this is gambling. there's a lot of daytrading going on. you have a lot of algorithms, so automatic daytrading dririving e market, and at some point, it drives the market too high, so it was to be expected that at some point we would correct further. we will have to wait and see. the next couple of trading days, if we increase selling power. i believe it is not even possible we might retest the lows because we are all well aware it will take time before we get back where we were before this crisis started. >> thanks. lufthansa says it may cut 22,000 jobs worldwide. the german carrier has been badly affected by global travel bands and has just received a multibillion euro rescueackage from t the german gogovernment o stay afloat.

lufthansa pilots have offered to take a 45% pay cut to protect jobs. the mayor of the world's most northerly city has been charged with criminal negligence over a massive oil spill in siberia. tens of thousands of tons of diesel fuel leaked into waterways around lawrence. investigators say the mayor failed to react quickly enough. environmentalists are comparing the spillage to the exxon valdes disaster in alaska in 1989. quitting -- >> heading out into a sea of diesel oil, it's obvious that the water here is utterly polluted. cleanup c crews have been workig for days here in siberia. their top priorities are to catch the oil slick with barriers and to pump the sewage

out of the water, but no one here think that will be easy. >> it is foolish to say or think that nothing will perish and that what happened will go away without a trace. our workers s saw dead donkeys. todada i myself saw a dead muskrat. if a bird lands on fuel or a muskrat swims in fuel, it is definitively condemned to death. >> more than 20,000 tons of fuel oil spilled from a power plant. the facility is said to have been poorly maintained. the water in neighboring lakes was affected. it did not have to get this bad. for days after the spill, authorities did nothing until russian president vladimir putin got involved. why did government agencies only find out about this two days after the fact? are we going to learn about

emergency situations from social networks? do you have a problem or something? that got things going. hundreds of cleanup workers were sent to the region. managers at the power plant were arrested, and an investigation was launched against the mayor of the city. the investigation found that the mayor, beingng aware of the amot of fuel spilled from ththe tank, did not take proper measures to respond to the emergency and dedeal with its s consequencese. the mayor is looking at a possible six months in prison, but the environmental damage is expected to be around for years. >> i'm now join from moscow by the leader of the extractive industry program at the world wildlife fund. good evening to you. how serious is the situation? do w we know the trurue scale oe damage?? >> no, we e could nott say the

final estimation for the damage, but the oil spill is quite big. the good thing is that it was spilled in the river, but responders could catch it before it entered i into the lake, so e majority of spill still in the river system, and we can claim that this river foror about 40 kilolometers is almostst desertt the lake is not been as good condition as it could be. >> we've been told it will take years to cleanup the mess, but whatat lasting impactt on the enenvironment canan we expecectm this? >> this i is diesel fuel, so we think k that itt will not b be cleaned up in one or two weeks.

toxic compounds will dissolve in the water, and thus, the most dangererous issue is it could dt for montnths or even y years. >> whahat ould authorities inn russia do toto prevent something like thihis from happenining ag? >> i i think it is definititelyn issue to make r russia strorong. also, ii think we aree now ready to finind ways to starart to swh toto alternatives,s, not to o ul and oil for energy sulyly in

russiaian arctic, but m maybe sh to energrgy as a temporary bride fuel, anand this would be the option in the future. quickset is the head of the program for thehe business environment reresponsibilityty t world wildlife fund russia. thank you so much. now a brieief look at other stories making headlines. the e death toll from a sinkingf the coast of tunisia has risen to almost 50 after authorities recovered more bodies. the boat set out aiming to reach italy but capsized new the city of spence. 53 people are thought to have been on board. german chancellor angela merkel has called on the chinese prime minister to secure equal treatment for german and other foreign companies operating in china with germany taking over the eu presidency in july, they also discussed how to stimulate

post corona trade amid growing tensions between beijing and washington. the german government is planning to investigate racism in police forces. a study is meant to shed light on racial profiling by police officers. protesters across the world have drawn attention to systematic racism and police brutality following the killing of george floyd in police custody in the u.s. the world health organization says a jump in confirmed cases to 200 thousand shows how quickly the coronavirus is spreading across africa, ending cameroon, the work against it is being hampered by infighting. the government has banned opposition's efforts to stop the virus spreading, but they are determined to press ahead. dw met some of the aid workers defining the band in cameroon's

biggest city. >> these volunteers in cameroon are getting ready to distribute covid-19 prevention kids. i hand out face masks i market in the country's largest itty. cameroon's opposition leader created the organization to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. people are happy to get the equipment, but aututhorities see it otherwise. >> the government says this organization is illegal. this means people distributing these face masks can be arrested at any time. >> since we started the program a month ago, at least a dozen people have been arrested across the country. volunteers reach out to disadvantaged communities almost every day.

300,000 kits have been donated in over 15 communities so far. a senior member of the team says they are not backing down. >> we are going to continue despite all the arrests. i have been arrested, and i have come back, and i'm continuing because the need is enormous, and we need to do our best, so there is n no way to stop it. >>, run's inteterior m ministero banned the organization, was not available on our requestst foron interview. the new coronavirus is spreading acacross the country with more than 6005 hundred cases. face masks were made compulsory in april. they h have continued to distribute hygiene kits to people who cannot afford them.

>> i am so happy. i have spent much from my little savings to buy hand sanitizerer, and i n't even h have enough money to get food. >> the government has cracked down on two bank accounts, use of fundraising. now the organization has to hide its supplies from police. >> a ruling by europe's top court means thousands of women will not be able to obtain damages over faulty breast implants. a german woman wanted remuneration. up to 400,000 women worldwide are thought to be affected. >> they tear easily and are packed with cheap silicone. thousands of women have suffered after getting dressed implants from french manufacturer pip. insurance company elian's --

allianz has paid out several claims but refuses to pay out to women who had their procedures in germany. >> it cannot be that a product is sold all over europe and then in a damages case, only french citizens are compensated who happen to have been operated on in france. >> the european court of justice disagreed, stating that eu antidiscrimination law only applies if the issue at hand is governed by european law. the court held that french log required medical manufacturers to take out insurance, not european law. for patients in germany, this means they will not receive any money. however, damages claims are still pending against the german test service provider which had approved the product's quality

at the time. if they will be held liable is not yet settled, but in the meantime, the manufacturer of the implants has gone bankrupt. reminder of our top story -- donald trump's top general apologizes for joining him at a photo opportunity in washington shortly after authorities forcibly cleared peaceful protesters away. the president is coming under growing pressure over race relations in the u.s. you're watching "dw news from berlin. that's all for now, but i will be with you in a few minutes to go through "the day. -- to go through "the day." see you. ♪

the u. s. army general who was present at the trump photo opportunity and washington church now says he should not have been that general mark a milley says. it's made it look like the military was taking sides in national politics he also said he's outraged by the senseless and brutal killing. george floydd. president donald trump has ordered sanctions against any official at the international criminal court. to investigate us troops this from sept the pressure to stop the case. into alleged warar crimes by. us troops in afghanistan