from berlin. tonight, the pandemic'impacts the first time ever -- pandemic's impact on the olympics. all fans, foreign and domestic, will be banned from viewing the games, which will be starting in two weeks. and the former south pre african president and his stand off and

turns himself into the police. and hunger -- hungary attempts to reinforce gender norms with the law that bans homosexual and transgender imagery within schools. an up-and-coming tennis star ashleigh barty makes her childhood dream come true i reaching her very first wimbledon final. i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs and in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. organizers of the tokyo olympics have announced a total ban on spectators in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. foreign fans and japanese spectators are being told to stay-at-home. this follows the declaration of a new state of emergency in tokyo as coronavirus cases there

skyrocket. the games will be the first olympics in history held behind closed doors. >> the olympic torch continued its long journey towards tokyo to open the games later this month. while there were plenty of fans cheering on the torchbearers as they passed through the saitama prefecture, there will be no fans to greet them in tokyo. government officials have announced a state of emergency in tokyo set to begin next week, in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. while the crux of the measure is cutting the sale of alcohol at bars and restaurants to limit local activity, it is also affecting the olympics. >> though the occupancy of hospital beds have remained at a low level, the strength of the variant strains must be

taken into account. >> olympic organizers had capped out spectators at 50% of capacity and barred international spectators from attending. although public sentiment in japan has widely turned against hosting the tournament, olympic organizers have dug in their heels and are wanting to see the games through. >> we are committed to our principle of organizing a safe olympic and paralympic games together with you, and we have shown this responsibility since the day of the postponements. >> the games are estimated to have cost more than $20 billion. canceling them would cut off broadcasting revenue, making recouping that next to

impossible for tokyo and the international olympic committee. for better or for worse, the games looks set to march on. brent: like we said, this is a historic moment for the olympics. to discuss that, i am joined by a german olympic athlete, a medal hopeful in wrestling. i want to start by asking you, what is your reaction to today's news that there will be no spectators watching in tokyo? >> of course i am a little bit disappointed today, because wrestling, especially women's wrestling, is really, really big in japan. i was excited to see all the crazy fans in the crowd, but no, everything changed. yeah, it's sad. brent: we hear all the time from olympic athletes that being at the games and feeling the energy from the crowds watching, that feeds the adrenaline and can

even improve your performance. how does this impact you? >> yes, of course. it's much easier to make the best fight and best promotion if there is a big crowd cheering you on, and the japanese fans are always really loud, so they cheer on all the people, not just their own. it will be really, really crazy and rely tough to show everything. brent: and you know that tokyo is now under a state of emergency because of the skyrocketing number of coronavirus infections there. how do you feel about traveling to tokyo and how do you feel about the safety that is being guaranteed there for the athletes? >> i feel really safe, because i am surehat all the japanese

people and the ioc people are doing great job, and they tried to make it as safe as possiblethe olympic games and paralympic games. i'm sure it's going to be ok, but i can understand the decision. for the japanese people, it is a really bad situation, so i feel safe, but i hope that everyone can stay safe, yes. brent: do you think this is the best decision? we know there was great disappointment when the olympics were postponed a year, and there had been talking year of canceling them because of the pandemic. which do you think was the right decision, keeping the olympics this year without spectators, or would it have been better to just cancel? >> no, canceling would have been the worst decision, especially because we are waiting such a long time for this moment.

we want to show what we have trained for and what we did all this time, and of course it will be different without people, but i think it is better to go through it without people and to show our potential. canceling would be hard for every athlete. brent: we also know you are looking forward to competing. i wish you all the best. our german olympic athlete in wrestling, thank you. >> thank you so much. brent: former south african president jacob zuma is in prison following a standoff with authorities. under the cover of darkness last night, he turned himself into police. zuma had been sentenced to 15 months in prison. he will be eligible for parole in about four months. >> cutting it close to a midnight deadline, this convoy

of vehicles carries former south african president jacob zuma on his way to hand himself over to authorities. the 79-year-old is now in custody in his home province, beginning his 15 month sentence for being in contempt of court. zuma declared he was not afraid of jail time. >> i am not scared of going to jail for my beliefs. it will not be for the first time. i will be a prisoner of conscience. >> the former president, who was in office for nine years, has been at the center of corruption allegations surrounding his time in public life. the contempt of court charge

came as a result of him refusing to appear at a corruption commission. he has called the process "a political conspiracy." but authorities have accused him of misappropriating funds and fraud. some of the charges date back more than 20 years. on monday, the constitutional court is due to consider an application by zuma for the cancellation of his prison sentence. brent: our dw correspondent is following this story for us in south africa. she sent us an update from the prison where jacob zuma is being held. >> jacob zuma will be spending his sentence at this facility, where he will be one of five hundd inmates. asked if the former president is entitled to special benefits and privileges. he said no, he will be treated like any ordinary inmate, which means orange overalls and no

access to a private phone. esther zuma is currently in the hospital wing in isolationor 14 days, pending an assessment of his health-related needs. he is eligible for parole after serving a quarter of his sentence, roughly four months from now. on monday, july 12, all eyes will be on the constitutional courts, the court that convicted and sentenced mr. zuma to prison. he has asked that court to reconsider their conviction and sentence. brent: that was our correspondent, christine mhundwa, reporting from south africa. a new law has come into effect in hungary, despite can the nation -- calmed donation from the european union. critics say the law discriminates against lgbtq people. the european commission has urged hungary to repeal the law, but budapest has defended its decision. >> more love, less hate.

activists in hungary gathered in front of parliament to protest the controversial child protection law. they vowed to disobey the new legislation. >> this is a law that puts lgbtqia youth more at risk of bullying and harassment in schools, and of their families as well. >> a provision in the law bands the display of content of homosexuality or gender reassignment to minors. this caused widespread condemnation in the european union. >> this law puts homosexuality and gender reassignment on par with pornography. this law uses the protection of children, to which we are all committed, as an excuse to

severely discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. this law is disgraceful. von der leyen threatened consequences, but hungary rejected t censure. >> the eu wants to allow lgbtq activists and organizations into our schools. hungary does not want this. according to european treaties, this is an issue that belongs to hungarian national sovereignty. >> it's the latest round in a growing spat between hungary and the eu. activists at home certainly hope the eu will finally take action against hungary's anti-lgbtq policies. brent: for more, i am joined by

a society in budapest to protect hungary's lgbtq community. what do you expect the european union to do now? >> i think the european union needs to stand together and act together. this has been going on long enough. this is not the first amendment and first bill that hungary has passed that goes against the right of freedom of expression, the right of freedom education, so i think the eu has to take steps very urgently, especially the european commission. i think they have to initiate the procedures that they have been waiting for for a long time. that is the only way they might have any effect on the hungarian government. brent: your organization is an ngo. you promote lgbtq rights. are you allowed to lobby the hungarian government over

legislation? >> yes, in fact we are now turning to amnesty international and other organizations, and urging the average person to turn to the constitutional court to review this on -- ungraceful and illegal law, because it violates international human law standards. we certainly are lobbying. brent: were you able to lobby members of parliament to get them to vote against the legislation? >> yes, actually. the opposition, out of six of the opsition parties, fi of them have voted against it. one left the boat, because they said this is not something they would deeper -- even consider, something they can even vote for. brent: we have heard from victor or about several times, saying this is about protecting the children of hungary and

equating the lgbtq community with pedophiles, which we know is not true. the hungarian media, are they doing an adequate job educating the public that the lgbtq community are not looking to harm children? >> the public media that has been in the hands of the government is just echoing what viktor orban is saying. that part of the media is a net go change -- is an echo ch amber for orban. however, the internet has been helpful in spreading information on what has been going on, and the discrimination and harassment lgbtq people face in the country. brent: in poland, there have been communities that are declared lgbtq value free zones.

are you concerned that could also happen in hungary? >> i am hoping most of the domestic and international uproar this law has caused will have an effect, that will finally stop the government and its crusade agast lgbtqia people. but i think this reaction shows that hungarian society does not want to go as far as to getting on this right now. brent: we appreciate your time and your insights tonight, thank you. the un security council has met to discuss the situation in haiti after the assassination of the president. it shocked the caribbean nation. the interim prime minister stepped in as leader of haiti, who has called for calm. the situation remains volatile. haitian police have killed four

people and detained two others, following a gun battle with suspected mercenaries authorities believe were involved in the assassination of the president. world leaders have condemned the assassination, which deepens the ongoing political crisis. >> the body of the murdered president being brought out of his private residence. security forces tracked down some of the suspects hours after the attack. police killed four of those involved and arrested six others. the assassins posed as u.s. dea agents on the rate of his home. >> they were speaking english. they entered so easily, and it is unfortunate that the president died. >>moise had been in office since

2017. for the last seven months, the 53-year-old had been ruling the country by decree, without parliament. he was accused of corruption and ties to organized crime. he had made -- h was said to have made mnes by taking on -- enemies by taking on powerful all the guards. -- powerful oligarchs. brent: for more, i am joined now by a human rights lawyer who worked in haiti. he is the founder of the institute for justice and democracy in haiti. it's good to have you on the program. we are talking about a president being assassinated, organized crime, gang violence, and now mercenaries being involved in this killing. how unstable would you say haiti is tonight? >> there is great concern about haiti's instability.

most of the haitians i have been speaking with are staying at home. you can see clips of people on the streets, and haiti, poured out pri -- port out princes -- port au-prince's streets are usually crowded. there has not been an outbreak of violence since the president's assassination but people are worried. brent: foreign murray -- foreign mercenaries are said to have killed the president. do you think this could have been cared out witho help from inside the country? >> it's very unlikely that this would have happened without help from inside the country, and possibly without help from moïse president moïse's -- from president moïse's security.

to happen at that time o night, toe that kind of operation. we should also be careful about all of the reports coming out. much of it has not been confirmed. it's very easy to plant stories and manipulate video, so people should be careful about coming forward with stories at this point. brent: and president moïse's supporters say he made enemies by taking on oligarchs in haiti, which could have cost in his life. how powerful are oligarchs in haiti? >> the oligarchs in haiti are quite powerful. in the past, they have been connected to political violence, so that is certainly a possibility. one thing that makes it so complicated in haiti, there are groups that have a motive to go after president moïse and a

demonstrated capacity to inflict violence. that includes drug traffickers, money launderers, president moïse was implicated in both. he and his government have also been linked with gangs that had been carrying out massacres that supported government policy. some of those gangs have recently announced that they are returning to president moïse, so that is a possibility. there has also been a lot of friction within president moïse 's party, and a lot of people in that party have a history of political violence. there's a lot of possibilities, and so far i have not seen any information that conclusively points to or away from any party. brent: president moïse was accused of clinging onto power. the opposition said his term ended last year, not this year. how realistic is it to expect that elections could be held anytime soon in haiti? >> it's not realistic to have

elections anytime soon. it's disconcerting that the united states especially is calling for elections to happen as scheduled starting in september. that is technically impossible, the arrangements that need to be made this far in advance have not been made, but it is also impossible that you would have elections with any credibility by that time. president moïse and his party have demonstrated consistently throughout the last four and a half years that they have no intention of holding fair elections, and haitians, for a very good reasons, do not trust them to hold fair elections. what haitians are asking for is for everybody to take a step back and pause, and come up with a plan that would lead to a transitional government that would ha the credibility to hold fair eleions. haitians believe the international community, especially the united states but

also the u.n. and organization of american states have been propping up president moïse, and they are asking the international community to stop propping up this government, which they say will allow a haitian lead consensus government to emerge, which can provide a realistic path out of this crisis. brent: brian, we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank u. >> thank you for covering haiti. brent: the european commission has find top german carmakers almost one billion euros from colluding to prevent cleaner cars from hitting the market. bmw and the volkswagen group teamed up to limit the development of technology that keeps car emissions under control. daimler was also part of the scheme, but avoided fines by tipping off eu authorities to the conspiracy. >> ad blue was one of the

technologies central to the inquiry. it's reducing emissions from diesel gas. the group also avoided introducing petro car filters in newer car models. five companies fell under the investigation. porsche, audi, as well as bmw and daimler. what began as legitimate discussions about technal specifications turned into market coordination that left consumers with fewer choices. >> they colluded illegally to restrict competition in the area of emissions cleaning technology for diesel cars. this is the first time that the commission finds that corporation on technical elements as opposed to price fixing or market sharing, for that matter, and that's --

behavior. >> bmw and volkswagen agreed to pay the fines. daimler escaped fines because they shared this with the eu. just as it tries moving forward towards an electric, greener future. the recent emissions scandals loom large, with litigation and critical cases still ongoing. worse than any fine is the added damage to reputation. brent: some sports news. in tennis, top women seed ashleigh barty is on her way to the wimbledon final after knocking out angelique kerber. she is one win away from emulating her idol. >> >> >> this is uncharted territory for ashleigh barty. she's never made it this far in wimbledon. not that you would know it from her first set performance.

but angelique kerber knows a thing or two about playing on grass. she won wimbledon in 2018 and put up a fight in the second set. it went all the way to a tiebreak, with p -- with barty letting three match points pass her by. it's 50 years ago gullahg ong won two wimbledon titles, and barty moved closer to following in her idol's footsteps. now, just one more match to go. >> i wasn't sure if it whatever happened, honestly. i think you have to keep putting yourself in a position. i think wimbledon, for me, has been an amazing place of learning. i think a lot of the time, your

greatest worth comes from your darkest times, and that's why this tournament has been so important to me. brent: barty will now play karolina pliskova, who beat sabalenka of belarus, who won the french open back in 2019. pliskova is still searching for her first grand slam title. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. stick around. ♪

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>> you are watching france for 24. here are the stories making headlines. august deadline -- u.s. president joe biden says the world's longest war will be over th u.s. troops all but gone, it is prompting concern in afghanistan where the taliban continues to make gains. ogre correspondent is standing by with more. hunt for suspects in haiti. the government says it is tracking down those responsible for killing its president. some are in custody, but bi