>> this is dw news. tonight, going for the grain. ukraine's black sea grain export deal is being extended. pressure promising safe passage for ukrainian vessels exporting food to a hungry world. dozens of european leaders say yes to a plan to make moscow pay for its war against ukraine. we look at how that could possibly work. the fight for equality in

uganda. we will hear from some of those affected by new legislation that targets the lgbtq community. ♪ tower viewers watching on pbs in the united states, and all of your on the world, welcome. we begin with russia, ukraine and food. a deal that allows grain to leave ukrainian ports today was extended for another two months. 's turkiye president erdogan announced the extension of the deal was -- which was sent to expire thursday. the agreement gives safe passage to cargo ships leaving the port of odessa on the black sea. before the deal was brokered last summer, russian warships had prevented grain from leaving ukraine and that drastically pushed up global food prices.

earlier, i asked dorian jones if the turkish president had explained why the deal only got signed with less than 24 hours before the deadline. >> president erdogan made the announcement during a national broadcast of the country. he said he thanked to the efforts of ukrainian and russian governments along with the united nations, that they had successfully achieved another 60 day extension to this green deal. this was all very dramatic. it was last our stuff. earlier today, the last ship under the previous agreement set sail, carrying 35,000 tons, symbolically going to sudan. this deal is about helping countries that are most in need. but there is not a surprise that russia was going to drive this to the wire. they see this as an opportunity to get concessions from the

international community. given that, nobody expected russian not to sign up because it really is the only piece of leverage russia has on the international community. russia has its own demands. it has always insisted that this deal has not fulfilled all of its terms. part of the agreement was that russia would be able to export its own grain and fertilizer. [indiscernible] >> the -- says it is a load of rubbish. the american ambassador said russia is exporting more grain than fertilizer then even before the conflict started. that -- is going to continue and we are expecting a similar last-minute negotiation when the deal expires. >> there is a turkish domestic element to this story.

this announcement comes days after the first round of presidential elections. we've got runoff elections in two weeks. it is important for erdogan to be seen as an international mediator, a successful mediator. >> that is right. the timing was perfect. in fact, it coincided with his first national address as his presidential runoff campaign takes off and it will underline part of a key part of his campaign message, that he is a world leader in the rest of the world has to listen. no doubt the green deal was a major success for erdogan and turkiye. the fact that it is now being renewed coincides perfectly for erdogan. it will be used further going forward. it has to be said, erdogan is in good terms with ukraine, exporting weapons to them, as well as russia, not enforcing many of the western sanctions. i think both leaders would be happy to play along.

>> dorian jones with the latest. thank you. -- is in kyiv. he explained earlier white grain exports are an economic lifeline for ukraine and told us how the war is impacting global grain shipments. >> yes, this is crucial to ukraine's economy but it is crucial to consumers around the world who saw prices skyrocket last year as exports ground to a halt. you had scenes last year of farmers sitting on grain they couldn't get out. unable to buy fertilizers to prepare this year's crop. and then you had people of the land borders trying to get out desperately let -- desperately by truck. we are big enough to have the scale to get anything like the capacity needed. now this is working but it is nowhere near business as usual. it is still much more

complicated and expensive than it was before the war. and you have to remember that this deal is about food. all of ukraine's other exports, crucial export products, are still trapped inside ukraine's borders or having to be shipped at huge cost by truck. this is no normality here. this is the exception that russia was forced tech, because of pressures from asia and africa who have better -- with the kremlin. >> the deal's extension is a relief to many people in parts of the world suffering from severe food shortages. the agreement has already seen more than 2 million tons of grain exported to countries he needs such as somalia, ethiopia and kenya where four years of drought have left millions of people on the brink of famine. felix merengue reports from kenya. >> this is all veronica has left.

for herself, her six children and elderly husband. she has to make it impossible calculations and difficult compromises to make it last. >> we sometimes decide to sleep without food. so that the little we have takes us through the days before more food aid comes. so, we are rationing for the sake of these young children. >> veronica sometimes makes a little money selling -- he makes but it is a constant struggle and she is the one responsible for keeping her family from disaster. food aid is a lifeline but she does not know when more might arrive. >> one of my relatives died of starvation. sometimes people become sick here and they have nothing to eat. when you take them to the hospital, they say she is weak and does not have enough blood in her body.

>> this is as far as eight has come today. a few crucial miles away from veronica. this family got lucky. they will be able to eat tonight. mary has 10 children to feed. >> the last food donation here was about seven years ago. the organization folded and we never benefited again. when the kids don't have food, they survive on wild fruit. that is all there is here. >> with a drought ravaging the horn of africa and many households uncertain of when they will get their next meal. these families are happy that food donation has given them life. it is this uncertainty that makes planning aid more difficult. >> any disruption means the

people who are doing humanitarian support will have to dig deeper to access the same supplies and commodities for the vulnerable communities. so it spirals in terms of budget implication and therefore -- >> for veronica and her neighbors, each day without aid brings fear of starvation a little closer. for mary, returning to her family with supplies, that fear has been pushed a little farther away. >> making putin pay for the war against ukraine. that is with leaders of more than 40 countries want to see happen. leaders meeting in iceland today agreed to several things

including the establishment of a register of damages. also high on the agenda is a push by the prime minister's of the u.k. and the netherlands to build an international coalition to boost combat capabilities. >> day two of the council of europe summit in iceland got off to a stormy start. but with a clear signal. or than 40 countries approved a system to document the destruction in ukraine caused by russia. germany says it will help finance the register of damage. >> as a first step, the aim of the register is to ensure and enforce accountability. russia must pay for the damage it has caused. >> ukraine's prime minister said the register was a milestone on the path towards justice and reparations. turkiye, hungary and serbia said they would not participate.

but iceland's prime minister was pleased by the strong consensus. >> it is not a surprise that not everybody signed. but i am very happy that an overwhelming majority is signing. >> the sidelines of the meeting, talks on providing fighter jets for ukraine. the u.k. and another linens are going to form an international coalition. >> democracies like ours must build resistance so that we can out cooperate and outcompete those who drive instability. >> for his part, the german chancellor reiterated his government currently has no plans to deliver combat aircraft the kyiv. >> here's a look at some of the other stories making headlines. ukraine's foreign ministry told a top chinese envoy that kyiv will not cede any land to russia in any peace negotiations. meet true cool ava also ruled out freezing out for conflict

during a visit by a senior chinese envoy to ukraine. aging maintains it is a neutral mediator with a peace plan to end the war. the former french president nicolas kozy has lost his appeal against a three year prison sentence for corruption. a court in paris today ruled that two of the years peace suspended and he should wear an electronic race lead the remaining year. it also banned him from public office for three years. ecuador's president has dissolved the opposition led congress citing grave political crisis. the leftist national assembly had been holding impeachment proceedings against him for alleged embezzlement. elections must be held within six months. president lasso is now ruling by decree. events are taking place around the world to mark this international day against homophobia, by phobia and transphobia.

the rights of lgbtq people are increasingly at risk in some places. while many countries have passed legislation recognizing the rights of transgender people lower same-sex parents, others are rolling back protections. protests have taken place across the united states, as you see here, where campaigners say hundreds of new laws have been passed which take away the rights of lgbtq people. this week, uganda's parliament passed legislation targeting the community leaving many fearing for their lives and questioning whether they need to flee. >> after less than half an hour of debate, uganda's parliament passed one of the world's strictest anti-lgbtq bills. >> [indiscernible]

>> the decision was unanimous. with some lawmakers using the moment to go on the attack after seeing the u.s., eu and major corporations previously condemn the proposed legislation. >> liked protect ugandans for let's protect our values, our virtues. we have a culture to protect. [indiscernible] >> asked this save house for lesbian women in the capital, staff are already urging residents to be more discreet. which in some cases means changing how they dress and behave. under the new laws, the death penalty could be. anyone seem to be promoting

homosexuality could face 20 years in jail. >> look at yourself in the mirror. do i look too queer? should i get my rainbows off? you have to select your clothing, your jewelry because everybody's on alert and it is dangerous. >> another proposed measure that obliged people to report homosexual activity has been amended to only require reporting when a child is involved despite the bill not becoming law, to submit is just too dangerous to go home. >> a friend sent me a message. she said, people are talking about you. it all starts like that. they wait for you to come back and we'll do whatever they want to you because you are queer. you are not allowed to be in their society. >> others are looking to leave uganda altogether with people

already asking at this refuge about help seeking asylum abroad. there is some hope here though that lgbtq activists will challenge the draft legislation in the courts and win. they similar bill was overturned by uganda's constitutional court in 2014. >> my next guest is the senior director of law, policy and research at outright international, a human rights organization that documents discrimination. it is good to have you on the program. we know that the community is there and legislation cannot make people disappear. talk to me about the effect that laws like the one in uganda have on the lgbtq community. >> thank you for having me and for paying attention to the fact that today day is the international day against homophobia.

while all of us are fighting against all of these and fighting for equal rights and justice within society, it is clear that there is also a political drive to erase our communities. that is exactly what laws like the one in uganda are trying to do. the law gone to includes the death penalty for some forms of same-sex conduct but also includes provisions that activists have described as resulting in death, making it impossible to exist even if the death penalty were not included in the law. this legislation makes it illegal to speak up, rent rooms, it is an institutionalized discrimination. clearly the messaging that -- was supposed to enforce, that queer identities are not pathologies, but we are a social

diversity, has not said in and to the government would have us not exist. >> in our report, the speaker of the ugandan parliament who is in favor of this anti-lgbtq bills said, the western world will not come and rule uganda. that is the problem, isn't it? you have countries in africa at the moment who view rights for lgbtq community not as human rights but as western rights. how do you change that? >> that is something that is politically successful for politicians in africa. they want to find ways to distance themselves from the west end also present themselves as protectors of the people. they stir up a moral panic.

we fight against this by building alliances. we know that when people are targeted, and particularly laws that target civil society that crackdown on freedoms of assembly, it makes it harder for everyone to speak their minds, organize and associate in protest. governments are strategic about that. they go after our communities one minority at a time. ultimately they're trying to shut down dissent. if we could build bridges to others communities to demonstrate that we are all better off when we push for more freedoms and we don't let governments take our freedoms away, we need to build mainstream support for lgbtq equality. >> we have seen in russia, putin has pushed through a ban on what is called lgbtq propaganda. in turkiye, we've got president erdogan speeches that were filled with anti-gay and lesbian sentiment.

talk to me about why it seems that autocratic leaders are targeting the lgbt communities in their campaigns. >> there is a strong connection between autocracy and attacks on sexual diversity. that is for a couple of reasons. autocrats are seeking to control. one way they do that is through a divide and conquer. make one portion of the population the enemy of another portion so that people miss trust each other and people believe that their leaders are the ones who are going to save them from one another. that is a kind of political messaging that can be really appealing and we need to fight against. the other thing is that sexual and tried -- and gender diversity go hand-in-hand with this broad range of freedoms.

we have been gaining in terms of decriminalization. in four countries last year, lgbtq people won the right to engage in intimacy and the numbers of countries that criminalize it are going down. but the attack is coming from another side, saying you can't talk about these issues, you can't organize. that is incredibly convenient for autocrats to progressively narrow the sphere of topics that society is allowed to talk about and organize around because ultimately it means human rights organizations in independent civil societies are decimated. >> there has been progress. we are out of time. if we had more time, we would talk about progress. we appreciate your time and your insights. turkiye has summoned germany's

ambassador following that attention of two turkish journalists in germany. the turkish foreign ministry calling it an act of harassment and intimidation. german officials say the two men, who work for a pro-german turkish newspaper, were not arrested but briefly detained while their apartments were searched. police say the operation was carried out as part of an eight -- part of an preliminary investigation. i asked simon young who are these journalists and what do authorities think they did. >> in the early hours wednesday morning, police in central germany, police seized evidence and subsequently these men were free to go. this is part of an investigation

by state prosecutors into what was described as an allegation of compromising dissemination of personal data. what is behind that? in the past, they have published personal details. in particular about a turkish journalists who has been living in germany, a man who has published many videos about what he alleges is corruption by president erdogan and those around him. just a few months ago, they published a photo of the building where that journalist was living on their front page and ran a story of accusing him of being a provocative oriented terrorist. there have been concerns for that journalist's safety and it is in relation to that we are seeing the police action. >> all of this, the reason turkiye summoned the german ambassador, that's a strong

reaction, isn't it? >> absolutely. the turkish foreign ministry has said that the german police activity is unacceptable. they say it is harassment of journalists. they say it is based on a complaint by one person. a person they identify as being part of the what they call the terrorist organization they say was behind the 2016 coup attempt. so, they have all done -- they have done also things, talking about double standards because they say germany preaches to the world about freedom of speech but they don't practice what they preach and they say this was a deliberate act, tied to coincide with the runoff vote and the presidential election. i think it is worth saying that the newspaper is close to the turkish state and president erdogan. so it is not surprising we have

seen a strong reaction about what has been going on in germany. >> simon young with the latest. thank you. eight people in northern italy had died and others are missing after heavy rain caused major flooding. the region has been particularly hard-hit, thousands have been evacuated from their homes, hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to help with rescue efforts. authorities warned there could be more on the way as extreme rain continues. >> torrential rain has overwhelmed the now -- regions of amelia romano. after days of downpours, more than a dozen rivers burst their banks. the floodwaters poured into nearby cities and towns. >> i remember an overflow happening when i was young.

but now the situation is difficult. very worrying. >> residence in some areas had to climb onto roofs to be rescued and emergency crews helped with rubber dinghies. italy's fire service has deployed 400 firefighters had responded to 600 calls since tuesday morning. their rescues made more difficult by flooded and washed out roads. >> we cannot rule out the possibility of further breaches of riverbanks, as happened yesterday. we reiterate our call to citizens to stay away from rivers, not enter underground rooms for any reason and for those who live near the river, do not go down to the ground floor. >> italy's government said it was following developments and was ready to help with relief measures. but with more rain forecast, authorities warned the situation

may get worse before it gets better. >> those floods in italy are the reason the formula one grand prix has been canceled this weekend. form of the one says it which is not be right to put further pressure on the region's services. this is the second race this year to be canceled. you're watching dw news. i will be back to take you through the day. we will be right back. ♪

>> welcomes you "live from paris," world news and analysis from france 24. the united nations has welcomed a new deal to export grain from ukraine. antonio guterres says the expansion of the black sea initiative was crucial to ease the global food crisis. nicolas sarkozy sentenced to three years, two of which are suspended. he will serve his time free but with an electronic device strapped to his ankle. a new low point for the former french president who lost an