>> this is dw news, live from berlin. another billionaire becomes an astronaut. the world's richest man, rich bezos makes history by heading up the first all civilian crew on the journey to the edge of outer space. sir richard branson earned his wings last week. also coming up tonight, angela merkel spent a second day in the region devastated by the flood

last week. why the emergency warning system let so many people down. tens of thousands of colombians marching to demand social justice. the latest addition to berlin's cultural landscape opened its doors to the public but the highly -- it is highly controversial inside and out. we will show you why. i am brent goff, to our viewers in pbs and two of you around the world, welcome. it was the best day ever. those were the words of amazon founder jeff bezos after he returned from his quick trip to the edge of outer space today. here you can see him with the three other crewmembers as they had about three minutes to enjoy

zero gravity. jeff bezos may not have been the first millionaire to become an astronaut but he did make history nonetheless. after the first moon landing, bezos took the first all civilian crew into outer space. >> the world's richest man hurtling towards space. jeff bezos's blue origin space tourism company made its first manned flight with the owner on board. also on board, bezos's father -- brother, mark, dutch high school student and wally funk. the oldest and youngest people to ever leave earth's

atmosphere. cheers over the intercom as the voyagers crossed the line into space. >> there we are, they crossed the line. >> the group was able to fasten their seat belts and enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness. the trip lasted just over 10 minutes before the capsule hit the texan dust. >> touchdown. >> bezos emerged, beaming. he later tried to describe the experience at a press conference. >> oh my god. my expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded. >> his fellow passengers were equally enthralled. >> the four of us had a great

time. i want to go again fast. >> that excitement could be contagious and lucrative. the industry could be worth $3 billion annually in 10 years. worth popping this -- the champagne four. >> it was like a party there. keith, good to see you again. i don't know about you but i was watching this 11 minute flight and the lift off, we were dealing with a rock at this time as opposed to what we had last week with sir richard branson's space plan. did you feel that the danger level was higher today? >> etiquette was lower because this is a rocket going straight up and it is completely automated. the way that the capsule separates, it comes back and does a ballistic landing. a lot of things could go wrong with this and you still get home ok whereas with branson, you

have two pilots and something with wings. this is probably in my mind other bit safer but i would fly on either. >> you would fly on either but could you afford either? >> something else happened. the richest person on earth, jeff bezos left the plan and that made the second richest person on earthelon musk, the richest mafor 11 minutes. we will see if the promised decrease in costs with rising competition happens. brent: how fast do you think it will happen? we are talking about economies of scale here. you have to have a lot of trips and people going into space if you want to bring the prices down.

>> they have customers lined up. jeff bezos says he has $100 million in sales. branson has something slightly less but similar. blue origin is probably able to make more of these rockets so they have a fleet faster than the virgin galactic folks can make their spacecraft. we will see. it really just depends on who can create the demand, fill it and at some point if there is more than one player, does price start to enter into it? inevitably, it will. >> what about environmental impact of these trips to the edge of outer space, is there one billionaire that has a greener way of transporting people? >> this rocket, the exhaust is water. with hydrogen and oxygen. it is pretty green. branson's is not the big green. it is spring some liquid oxygen

on some chemicals thatre not that pleasant. i would say that right now, blue origin is greener than virgin galactic. brent: we are talking about private investment, commercial investment in space travel. how does this lead over into research that nasa could use? is there a connection that could help take this back to the moon or to mars? >> it is interesting. there was a bid in for a lunar lander. that was not picked up by nasa. we may hear that they won that. they said today that the rocket the engineered was similar and up for the task. between that and what space x

and virgin galactic are doing, nasa -- the earlier flight of this vehicle took nasa payloads up to the virgin galactic flight. space x regularly flies things to and from space station. it is happening. courts keep going. it is always go to talk with you. thank you. brent: chancellor angela merkel visited areas devastated by last week's floods. she is facing more criticism about her government's inability to warn people to evacuate quick enough. almost one week after the catastrophe, at least 170 people are dead, many more remain missing. >> the cleanup is ongoing and it did not stop for chancellor angela merkel when they came to assess the situation on the ground. angela merkel took time to talk

to those directly affected by the floods. six days after the disaster, people in the region are in an extremely difficult situation. >> we have no water, no electricity and no gas. the toilets don't flush. you can't take a shower. i have never experienced anything like it. i am almost 80 years old. >> tomorrow at the cabinet meeting in berlin, we will put together a policy that deals with financial aid, where the money is quickly paid out to those who have nothing left except the clothes on their back. there is added concern about the increase in corona inflections -- infections in the area.

i should say this loud and clear, everything has been ripped away from people except this dam virus. because people are working very closely together, there is no chance of complying with any corona regulations. we have to try to obtain some sort of protection. >> the flood has created any different problem areas that need urgent attention. >> let us know if something is not working. we want to react quickly. >> on wednesday, the chancellor will decide on an emergency aid program along with her cabinet in berlin. these areas are in dire need of help. >> our correspondent is in that town. good evening to you, benjamin. we know that german authorities, they are coming under pressure to explain why the emergency warning systems did not work. the chancellor defended the federal warning system. did she receive any flak for

that from the residence? -- residents? >> she received it during the press conference that they held just beside where we are standing. there was a man that shouted what happened to the alarm when they talked about this system. calls are growing for a national unified response, not a federal response like right now. also, she said there is improvement needed, that germany has not been in a war for a long time so the system has not been improved. these extreme weather events show it is absolutely necessary as many people have told us not only here but other towns we have visited that they did not get any alarm by authorities, they got calls from family members to evacuate homes. brent: what happens when people shouted what happened to the

alarms or sirens? did they get a direct answer from the chancellor? >> the chancellor said there was a warning that went out, sent to the local authorities but that some local authorities did not pass them over. it is a little bit of blaming from one side to another who gave the alarm and germany said they warned days in advance that a flood was expected. it is important, they want to see what happened exactly to start an investigation and see how this can be improved. >> know that hundreds of people tonight in the region where you are remain missing. what do we know about the search for them? >> that is right. rescue teams are working together with police officers and soldiers that have been deployed to the area. one of the worst hit areas in

the state and we saw firefighters pumping water, thinking they might be -- there might still be people inside of the car. there is a lot of work going on there. more t than 870 people are still missing. this number has decreased significantly over the past days considering the fact that many were not able to charge their phones to alert authorities. and to let families know that they are safe. rescue efforts continue. there are many groups involved. hoping to find more survivors as the water level is slowly going down. >> we see those images there of the cleanup efforts that are already underway. how are people coping with living in all of this destruction? who is doing the cleanup? is it volunteers? are we seeing people from the

fire departments? >> mainly volunteers. a lot of young people coming from all over germany. some are coming from munich. i would say that there is a lot of solidarity we are seeing. a lot of people traveling to this place, working together with fire brigades, police officers, soldiers that have been working here. thousands have been deployed to the western region of germany that has been particularly hard-hit by this devastating flood. all of them are working together. the residents are helping them and the volunteers are working, offering help to see how they are able to clean the debris in the different houses and to help start the reconstruction that will take several weeks if not months. >> it will not be a fast cleanup, that is for sure. that was our reporter.

thank you. >> european union officials held a minute of silence today to remember the victims of the flooding in western europe. eu councile president, charles michel led the tribute to the victims with over 160 deaths here in germany. there were 31 fatalities in belgium. authorities fear those death tolls will rise further as cleanup efforts continue. let's take a look at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. emmanuel macron is among thousands targeted by morocco for possible surveillance. that is according to french media reports. an investigation i the group forbidden stories has revealed phone numbers which pegasus spyware hacked or attempted to hack in many countries.

this president survived an assassination attempt unharmed. a man with a knife launched -- lunged at the president with a knife. the president was sworn back into office in june after staging his second coup in nine months. jacob zuma's -- he is currently serving a prison sentence for contempt of court. millions more people may have died in india. a new study reveals the number of deaths in the country during the pandemic may be 10 times the ofcial number. the researchers looked at the number of deaths and they compared this to a pre-pandemic baseline.

a third wave of infections in myanmar has demand for oxygen soaring. demand which they cannot meet. it is a crisis and the generals running the country don't appear to have a plan. there are even reports of the military hoarding medical supplies. the result is an alarming increase in the deaths in just the past few days. myanmar's biggest city has buried nearly a thousand people. >> as a cemetery in here, the bodies are lined up, waiting for creation -- cremation. any patients die at home as hospitals lack the capacity to treat them. volunteers go from house to house, picking up the dead. >> we try to collect as many bodies as we can. we always start in the early morning and carry around 40

bodies a day. the work is relentless as covid-19 spreads rapidly in myanmar. official figures say the number of daily deaths is approaching 300. independent researchers say the true toll is many times higher. this person fields countless calls as she coordinates the >> this pandemic is the deadliest event in my lifetime besides natural disasters. the emotional toll and personal risks are high. body collectors frequently become infected with the virus. some end up losing their lives. throughout the country as the devastation unfolds, long lines have been forming for oxygen. doctors accused the ruling junta

of channeling the lifesaving gas to hospitals which treat members of the military and their relatives. they have rejected the acquisitions and pledged to secure more supplies. myanmar pass -- myanmar's pandemic response has improved since february. many army members have gone on strike. leaving hospitals understaffed. the country is contending with the worst viral surge yet, it is ill-equipped to cope. brent: demonstrators are out on the streets of columbia's major cities, protesting a billion-dollar tax reform. student leaders and trade unions along with members of indigenous communities oppose the government tax plan. the country experienced weeks of social upheaval. that forced the government to abandon its first attempt to

introduce the reforms. the government accuses the protesters of attempting to destabilize the country. for more on the situation, i am joined by her correspondent, johan ramirez. what is the situation there right now? johan: authorities have already referred to some classes they have seen in the northern city of midian. authorities stress that this is an isolated situation. in general, the situation in the country is quite normal. demonstrations are running quite normally. the city has been completely closed to avoid problems. the main public buildings are located here. thousands of people have taken to the streets all around the country. students and workers. middle-class, disease, a strike

called by the union workers. this is the same union of workers that set up a dialogue with the president. after several weeks of negotiations, it went through this. that is why they have called for this. >> give me some background here. these protests have been going on off and on since april. why are people so angry? >> it all started with a tax reform. it implied an increase in taxes for some sectors of the population. it cause great danger among the population. nasa brought this toll upon the country. after three months, more than 70 people had died. there are thousands injured. in these three months, people

began to demand other things like economic aid for young people. zero tuition -- free tuition for colleges. there had been very tough months for lovey. >> we know that students, trade union members and indigenous community members are part of these protests but we heard from the government that militant groups are infiltrating these groups, trying to cause even more social upheaval. what do we know about the people who protest? >> the government said there are student workers. the government has been saying there are people trying to create cows. the ministry of defenseaid there are plans to cate

vandalism, acts of vandalism today. yesterday, we had an informal talk with the minister is self and the vice president of columbia. they told us these acts of vandalism work dismantled but as i said, right now there are already clashes. even though the situation is quite normal now, the authorities are alarmed by what is going on today. brent: thank you very much. the other big games begin in tokyo on friday but they are already in danger of being completely overshadowed by the coronavirus. a number of high-profile athletes canceled plans to travel to japan after testing positive for covid. at least three athletes have tested positive within what is known as the bubble of the

elliptic village. -- olympic village. berlin's newest museum has opened its doors to the public. house in the berlin palace, it is the german capital's most ambitious cultural project in decades and it has been -- >> the humble form was controversial for years. what should it look like, what should it house? there are six exhibitions. one on the location history, one on berlin and one on an unusual theme, terrible beauty. this exhibition is on ivory.

ivory also stands for exploitation and the deaths of millions of animals. >> it is about the relationship between humans and nature, ecology and economics. that links us to alexander. he thought of the world in terms of a giant network system in which everything is connected. >> some exhibits are truly surprising. ivory was once used to replace human bone. science, technology and art history are all viewed here and viewed with a credible -- critical eye. terrible beauty gives an initial impression of how the humble form -- humble forum -- humbol

dt forum gives the initial impression. perhaps easier to digest is the playfully presented permanent exhibition. berlin global. it aims to appeal to young people. it covers seven rooms, each dedicated to a theme from the last century. the exhibition covers revolution and war. freedom, fashion and music. cultural icons of recent history such as the doorway to the legendary techno club. this shows how impulses have traveled in many different directions. it is a good start for the form. the exhibits and don't include non-european collections. including this. experts view them as planted

artworks and the humble forum plans to return them to nigeria. just how many will be revealed next year. the collections will open in september. >> you are watching dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. growing anger in germany after the floods. why didn't the emergency warning system worked, why did so many people have to die and will anybody be held responsible? we will be right back.

♪ >> the french president -- pegasus spyware used by morocco secret services. the french government is also a potential victim. belgians king and queen meet the people affected by the death -- that swept through communiti along the river. 30 dead. 70 still missing. the world's richest man took a trip tthe edge of space this weekend. just basis that it was the best day ever when he touchdown back on