♪ >> phil: this is dw news live from berlin. tragedy at an immigration center in mexico. ablaze killed dozens of people at a facility on the border with united states. authorities say they have launched an investigation. also on the program -- >> been-5 analysts say it is not

worth the bloodshed. we need you can fighters who tell us what it is. and fresh clashes between police and protesters in the french capital as tensions over president macron's pension reforms boy over. i am phil gayle. welcome to the program. at least 40 people have died after a fire broke out at an immigration detention center ciudad juarez in northern mexico. dozens others were injured in the blaze which started shortly before midnight. authorities say they believe some of the migrants set fire to mattresses after hearing that they would be deported. reporter: it was one of mexico's deadliest fires in recent memory. 68 men were being held at this facility near the u.s. border. the fire took dozens of lives

and injured others. many are still waiting for news of their loved ones. >> i have been waiting for their left father. then we started seeing smoke. everybody ran away but they left the men, locked. reporter: the video, filmed from within them facility, showed how people were able to escape. hours later, roads of bodies were brought outside. >> ic many people laying on the ground and i don't know what to think. they tell me nothing. reporter: mexico's president andres manuel lopez obrador also addressed the blaze, cleaning the fire was started by migrants fearing deportation. >> they put matt's at the door of the shelter and set them on fire as a protest -- they put mattresses at the door of the

shutter and set them on fire as a protest and did not imagine it would cause such a terrible tragedy. reporter: in recent weeks, authorities' treatment of migrants has also come under fire red tensions are rising as the united states and mexico are battling to cope with record levels of border crossings. phil: our next guest is a multimedia fitness journalist from sukkot city and she give us background this tragedy. reporter: this is a terrible tragedy, where at least 40 migrants have died in essays of tragedies migrants have died in massacres where they have been kidnapped and killed. migrants have died when they are trafficked in trailers that collapse -- almost every single year there is a massive tragedy like this unfortunately in mexico, largely due to a restrictive immigration policies in conjunction with the united states. migration policies.

many people, both local journalists on the ground in ciudad juarez and as well as migrant advocates, have been saying that many of the migrants that died are largely guatemalan, 28 of them were from guatemala, and perhaps the are venezuelan. that they were swept up yesterday during some migration raids. some were requesting spare change on the streets or for whatever reason, and that the migrants said they were not given water all day and that is why they were protesting. that it was not about deportation. they were protesting the inhumane conditions within the migrant detention center, and that they were locked in, and that is where they allegedly had lit these mattresses on fire and then no one them out. it is also believed that the firemen took a long time to

arrive on the scene. that it cannot just be blamed on the migrants themselves, that they wanted to die on the fire, they were protesting inhumane conditions in which they were being held. phil: we know that migration through mexico into the united states has been a big political issue for many years. how have mexican authorities been handling it? guest: it has not been exacerbated in the past three years, both with a program that was introduced during the global pandemic, and during the trump administration that was called "remain in mexico," where it was believed mexico is considered a safe country for the migrants to wait in as they are trying to apply for asylum in the united states. they started their process in the united states and then have to wait in the other side in mexico, in many cities where they follow prey to kidnappers, traffickers and criminals in

general. also, it is important to note during the trump administration, trumpet essentially forced mexico to comply with whatever the u.s. asked for -- threatening to impose larger tariffs on mexico and all imports from mexico if they did not comply with u.s. migration policies. so in general, mexico is just an extension of the u.s.'s policy, complying with u.s. policies. phil: thank you for that, anda lusia. ukraine has welcomed the arrival of british challenger 2 tanks. the defense minister released video of himself riding on one of the newly arrived vehicles. u.k. has promised kyiv 14 challengers, and recently completed training ukrainian tank crews. germany announced monday it had delivered 18 long-awaited leopard 2 battle tanks. bakhmut in the east of ukraine

has become a symbol of resistance. ukrainian leadership has faced criticism for its decision to continue to fight russia for control of a region of such little strategic importance. but many ukrainian soldiers in the area say they are willing to pay the heavy price. of our correspondent has been to meet them -- our correspondent has been to them. mark: we have to move fast. we are headed for the front line. the russians are very close. [gunfire] mark: they are telling us this is not the most forward positions on this part of the front nine. to where the russian enemy is is about 150 meters. that is the russians firing back. the soldier behind the machine gun feels the pressure.

[planes roaring overhead] >> the enemy is testing them, he says, preparing for something. snipers and mortars pose a constant threat. moving anywhere is dangerous. in the next foxhole, lean meat demand with the callsign taxi driver. he joined the army when the war began. he has not seen his family for months. yesterday was his son's's birthday. i asked him how he copes. >> [speaking foreign language]

[distant artillery fire] max: despite all this, the soldiers gear will keep fighting. bakhmut, not far away, must stand, soldier slava tells me. >> [speaking foreign language] max: and for both sides, bakhmut remains a strong symbol. >> oh, yeah. where the enemy is dying, our morality is high -- our morale is high.

in the beginning of the war they were trying to capture. key stands. kharkiv stands. now they are trying to capture bakhmut. you can tell what the second army in the world looks like for real, from here. max: critics argue that bakhmut is no longer worth the price of ukraine is paying in lives. you can see where we are, only that the fighting is very close. an abandoned building, now a hospital. here, doctors work around the clock to save lives. their position in the danger zone is crucial. the wounded are brought directly from the frontline and stabilized so that they can survive the trip to the hospital. this man suffered a shrapnel wound to his abdomen. surgeon dmitro and his team get

it illegally. half an hour later, he is stable enough to be moved. the team perform 80 operations a day. >> is 90% shrapnel injuries from artillery. in this place, in this position we also have -- injuries also because we are in the city and our enemy uses close contact to our soldiers. we have more cases of -- injuries. max: he ran a company for clinical testing before the war. now, he chooses to be here in a windowless room that smells of wounds and smells of war. but they are making a difference, he says. >> becoming professionals and every staff knows what he or she should do in this case. so we are creating some new

protocols for helping. max: an hours drive away from the trenches, kramatorsk station. visits from family end here. wives and girlfriends returned to safety, and men head back to the frontline. the price for bakhmut is high. but ukraine is willing to pay. phil: here is a look at more stories making headlines around the world. we start in india where police detained dozens of protesters from the opposition congress party. they were rallying in delhi against the expulsion of their leader from parliament last week. mr. gundy is a fierce critic of the prime minister narendra modi. he was expelled after a court sentenced him to jail for defamation. scotland's parliament has confirmed humza yousaf as the country's first minister. the 37-year-old s&p --

snp party leader is the first person of color to lead the government. he said he will restart efforts to gain independence from the united kingdom. the u.k. has raised the terrorism threat level in northern ireland to severe. the change coincides with unexpected visit by u.s. president joe biden to mark the 25th anniversary of the landmark good friday peace deal which was brokered with u.s. mediation. two people have been killed and several more injured in a knife attack at a muslim center in portugal. police said the suspected attacker was shot and injured after they refused to surrender. authorities have launched an investigation. now to france where hundreds of thousands have joined protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms. were most demonstrated peacefully, police clashed with

protesters in several cities. president macron has refused to back down on the deeply unpopular decision to increase the retirement age. many are angry that he pushed the changes through without a parliamentary vote. reporter: nearly two weeks after president macron pushed the changes through parliament, public fury shows no sign of abating. 740,000 marched across the country on tuesday, the government said. in this western city, the barricades burned. "it is we who work. it is we who recite here," says the banner. in the south, thousands marched in the old port of marsai. [protestors chanting] in paris, protesters marched through the city center, led by the unions. ♪ [cars honking] [protestors chanting] >> everyone hates the police, they chanted.

but the march remained relatively peaceful. but elsewhere in the capital, violence erupted between black-clad protesters and riot police. they reacted to stones and projectiles with tear gas. protesters dismissed criticism of the french retirement age, which is one of the world's lowest. >> it is not because it is worse than other countries that we should do the same. because we know that the working and living conditions in these countries are awful for people. that some people reach an age where they should have the right to rest and they have to work two or three jobs in very poor social conditions are with very little rights. we don't want that in france. >> it is too much for the workers who work with their arms in their positions. other countries must fight as we fight! reporter: striking parisian

railway workers echoed that sentiment. >> they want to turn our two best years of retirement into the worst two years of our working lives. we are all going to be broken. reporter: reporter: the increasing tendency towards violence fronted the deployment of 13,000 officers, according to interior minister. but the simmering outrage does not seem to have dissuaded macron from pushing through his changes. the president was given a boost by the decision of parisian sanitation workers to return to work after a three-week strike, perhaps a sign that the protests could burn themselves out. phil: it doesn't look like they are burning themselves out at the moment. day 10 of the current protests. are correspondent lisa louis joined me from paris to explain what was happening today. lisa: absolutely. however, the numbers have gone down a bit when you look at the

different sectors where there are still strikes ongoing, the percentage of participants has gone down in the editor city and transport sector. also the number of people have turned out today across france has gone down compared to last week's record day. however, there are still quite respectable numbers, 2 million people turned out to demonstrate against tension performed today, according to the unions. that still means that there are still a lot of people who are against this reform, that the anger sits deep with people and they are not happy about how the government has gone about this. phil: who are the protesters out on the streets? guest: it's extraordinary, it is actually all sorts of people, not just from the far right or the far-left or the usual

suspects that are not to demonstrate, lots of people that have never demonstrated before and even people who used to vote for emmanuel macron, his voter base is really angry with him, well educaopted pele and managers, saying we are not happy about how macron has gone about this. those who are against us, who were always against the reforms are argosy not happy he pushed them through. those who think he should have done the reform think he has no power left and he has weakened his government. it is very difficult to see how the president of france will take this forward, how he will lead to the country in the coming four years until the next elections. phil: in terms of presidential elections, tell us how unions could change the mind of a determined president who is not standing for reelection. lisa: that is the big question really. they are trying to insist, trying to continue to demonstrate.

when you look at the polls, what is certain is that the one party that seems to be benefiting from all of the chaos in the streets is the far-right party. that party, if there were a dissolution of parliament, they would grab more seats than before. so it seems like macron is losing in the polls, the left is losing in the polls, but the far-right is raising. phil: thank you, lisa louis in paris. ♪ the international olympic committee has come out in favor of allowing russian and pollution athletes to continue to participate in international competitions. that is an about-face from their position last year after russia invaded ukraine. the ioc also recommended conditions for those athletes' participation. among them, they would only be allowed to compete as individuals under a neutral log,

rather than as part of the team. . members of the military would be excluded. reporter: russian athletes taking part in the delayed nuclear olympics. the next summer games will be in paris in 2024. the international olympic committee has now recommended that russians should not be banned from competing in international events due to russia's war on ukraine. but it does want to ban athletes from russia and belarus who actively support the war. >> sport and the olympic games can set an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules, and one another. they can inspire us to solve problems by building bridges, leading to better understanding among people. reporter: thomas bach added that a final decision would be made at an appropriate time, but his

current recommendation has already prompted negative responses including from germany's interior minister. anyone who allows warmongering russia to exploit international competitions for its propaganda is damaging the olympic idea of peace and international understanding. the decision on russian and belarusian participation in olympic sports, now rests with the individual sports federation. france's governing body, for example, is in favor. others are against it. phil: our sports journalist can tell us more about this decision. welcome to two new. the ioc process recommendation is that sports federations should allow athletes to compete in international competitions. we know if that includes the paris olympics? guest: it might be at the very end because there are no qualifying tournaments -- there are more qualifying tournaments starting in a couple of month

around the globe. that means that at the very end, the russians will be allowed to be part of these qualifying tournaments for all of these events. then it is of use that may be in spring of 2024, they get -- they have their qualifying status. there will be allowed to compete in the paris olympics. nobody in the sports world i think would dare to tell them no . so it is very clear that the strategy of thomas bach and the ioc, they want to give the russians the possibility to be part of the olympic experience. phil: so how are sporting bodies of supposed to decide whether athletes actually support the war? guest: to be honest, it simply does not work. everything would be experienced as a -- it is a shame for the world of sports because everybody knows you cannot understand, you cannot know if russian athletes support the war or not.

maybe they will be silent and not speak about it. does it mean they don't support the war? sorry, it just doesn't work. it's very obvious and again, that thomas bach and the ioc are in favor of russia. they did that a couple of years ago when the russian doping scandal broke. it was very clear that thomas bach and the ioc had supported russia, allowed them to compete in the olympic games. it was very obvious that many of the athletes in russia had a doping past. phil: to be clear, you think that thomas bach and the ioc are actively supporting russia, rather than just trying not to take a side? guest: is not my impression, it is the impression from everybody who is following the news for many years. sometimes i ask the question --

are you see skeletons in the kremlin? you cannot understand how obvious, how clear it is that thomas bach and the other ioc presidents in the past, for example the recent one from spain, have been almost supporting russia. russia has great influence in international sports. there are officials working on behalf of international federations that have big influence in sports. so i see a very big conflict of interest here in the current situation. there are many who are against --, so i don't imagine there will be a big discussion coming up soon. phil: thank you so much for sharing your insights with us, sports journalist hajo seppelt. guest: thank you. phil: staying with the olympics, the organizers of paris and 2024

have said their goal is to bring sport to the streets, and no discipline belongs to the matt morgan breakdancing, which is set to become an olympic -- no discipline belongs to the pavement more than breakdancing, which is set to become an olympic sport. >> next summer, this 15-year-old wants to use her breakdancing skills to win a medal for france. ♪ >> breakdancing is my life. it's like breathing. like eating. it helps me express myself. it has been my passion ever since i was a small child. i can't imagine not breakdancing. reporter: breakdancing originated in the united states out of hip-hop culture in the 1970's when young people would challenge each other in the streets. in 2024, they will battle each other at the paris olympics. she lives on roy union. the 21-year-old travels regularly to train with his national teammates. ♪ >> i am used to taking part in

competitions alone. the island is small. when you live on reunion, you have to come to the mainland to make progress. reporter: the training schedule is tough. our, speed and technique are required for eight hours a day. olympic judges give tips for criteria yet the breakdancing is others freestyle and on beat. critics say it becoming a sport has created restrictions. >> we can benefit from it. it's real sport discipline. more support from the athletes and doctors and so on, it is something we have never had from the sport before. reporter: the athletes don't yet know which one of them will get to compete. >> for me, dancing is about sharing my art with other dancers and with the public. reporter: hip-hop beats echo in

the famous music dare say for a show battle, a preview of what to expect in the games. if fresh spin on sport inground locations. phil: time to remind you of our top story at this hour, to fire at an immigration center on the mexican border city of ciudad juarez has left within 20 people dead. authorities have launched an investigation. i will be back in just a moment to take you through the big stories of "the day," including that fire at the migration center, and the latest strikes in france. ♪

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>> welcome to elephant lsp -- welcome to "live from paris." fire on the streets of paris. once again, tear gas used to disperse protesters. it is attends national strike against retirement reform. 2 million demonstrators turning out. with a walkout against the raising of the pension age from 62 to 64. suspected money laundering and large-scale tax fraud led to a police raid on f