berlin. vladimir putin offers african countries russian grain for free. shipments would replace the ukrainian exports which he himself has blocked and he says russia is expecting a record harvest. also on the program, niger's military backs the overthrow of

the government. he tweets he will defend democracy. and as wildfires raging across europe, africa, north america and asia a era of global boiling has begun. and an electric car blamed for a blaze on board a cargo ship carrying nearly 4000 vehicles. a fire safety expert tells us what may have gone wrong. ♪ welcome to the program. russia is offering free grain to six african nations in urgent need of supplies. president putin made the offer during talks with african leaders in st. petersburg. it would replace ukrainian

export putin himself has blocked. >> big smiles, handshakes, warm words and a hearty thing of pump as african leaders touched down in st. petersburg. moscow is on the lookout for allies and this two-day summit is a critical part of that push. during his speech, vladimir putin reminded leaders of russia's importance as the world's largest exporter of wheat. he took this to -- took the chance to stir up and toward the west. >> a paradoxical picture emerges. the one hand western countries put obstacles and the way of deliveries of our grain and fertilizers and on the other frankly they hypocritically accuse us of the current crisis in the food market. >> the summit follows russia's withdrawal from the black sea grain initiative, a move that was heavily criticized for endangering global food security.

and something alluded to by the chair of the african union during his speech. >> an agreement on grain supplies must be reached to save thousands of people who are dependent on these imports. africa's economic food security will be most at risk. especially since the continent is already badly affected by food price shocks caused by the interruption of supplies. >> if -- he may have found the russia president offer and cycle mastic. >> we will provide some, central african republic and eritrea with 25 to 50,000 tons of grain free of charge in the next three or four months. we will provide free delivery of these products to consumers.

[applause] >> the applause echoed around the chamber but internationally it was not quite so well received. >> it is clear that when taking out of the market millions and millions of tons of grains, it is clear based on economic laws that leads to higher prices so it is not with a handful of donations to some countries that we correct these dramatic impacts. >> so well putin's green giveaway is a drop in the ocean compared to previous numbers, moscow will be hoping it has bought some diplomatic credibility when it is so desperately needed. but with far fewer african leaders actually attending the summit, putin's critics will see this as further evidence he is continuing to lose his global

clout. gerhard: an expert on russia's activities and relations with africa. i asked him what russia stands to gain with the offer to supply grain to several african countries. >> i think what russia gets out of it is in opportunity to show its goodwill to africa and specifically to six countries russia either has a good working relationship with or is looking to court further. gerhard: putin promised free grain to six countries. three of which have a strong wagner group presents. what do you make of this? >> i am not sure -- they are tied but indirectly i think. wagner is obviously there in the central african republic as a company presence in zimbabwe and

an unlikely presence in kenya -- in burkina faso. it is most likely an extend agreement first and foremost of which wagner plays a part in the agreements play over into a larger relationship between russia and these specific countries. gerhard: you think this deal comes with any strings attached? >> it is too early to tell at this point. some of these countries like the central african republic and already have such a good relationship in a way it feels like a continuation or show of goodwill for what the country has done in the past. that being said, i would not be surprised if there is a tacit understanding at the very least that along with this grain deal perhaps comes support at the united nations from these countries or perhaps something similar. gerhard: now wagner boss was

seen on the sidelines of the summit shaking hands with the president of the central african republic. one of the president granted free grain. does that suggest we have not seen the last of him despite the recent insurgency? >> certainly not. i think we're starting to understand slowly how everything is falling into place following the muni in june and what we are seeing is prigozhin ann wagner most likely will be keeping their operations in africa even if they headquartered from belarus. that is for the simple reason that overtime wagner in africa has become more important to russia with regards to its relationship to the continent. russia needs a in africa more than wagner needs the russian

state. gerhard: the shipment of free grain is nowhere near enough for africa. it has been described as a drop in the ocean. the african union chair has called on ukraine and russia to end their war. how much pressure can african leaders impose on russia? >> i think at this point, african leaders probably have as much ability as any other major power or country to exert influence on ending the war which is unfortunately not much. i think what is happening and what is interesting is two things are true as was mentioned in the segment previously. a lot of the grain that had come out of the initial deal was going to developed countries. what affects africa more than the distribution of grain or the distribution before hand from ukraine is the effect it has on international prices for african countries looking to buy food.

gerhard: thank you very much. in niger the military leadership has declared its support for the coup against the president. the head of the army says he is backing of the takeover by the presidential guard to avoid an armed confrontation between factions. the force has detained the president at his palace. >> gunshots outside the presidential palace. soldiers firing to the air to disperse protesters. as members of the presidential guard say they had overthrown the government and attained niger's president. >> all of the institutions of the seventh republic have been suspended. land and air borders are closed until the situation stabilizes. a nationwide curfew is in effect

from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. until further notice. >> but on thursday, came a promise from the president that democracy will remain in tact. saying in a social media post the hard won achievements will be safeguarded and all nigerians who love democracy and freedom will see to it. but that may be hard to achieve in reality with the mutinous group of soldiers calling on external partners not to interfere. among them, the united states. >> we condemn any effort to seize power by force or actively -- a force. we are actively engaged with the niger government but also with partners in the region and around the world. we will continue to do so until the situation is resolved appropriately and peacefully. >> like it's west african

neighbors, mali and working a fossil, niger is battling extremism to it has a sprint several coup attempts and scanning dependence from france in 1960. two of those involving the current president. and with instability threatening to take over the country again, western leaders and the international community is watching on with concern. gerhard: an international specialist gave us this assessment of the situation in niger. >> it is true the security situation is abysmal. the islamic state has been terrorizing the population for several years and the government has lost control in some areas and is unable to provide security for the population. like in other countries of the

region, problems of corruption and dysfunctions exist at every level of the government. that does not mean abolishing the civilian government would help in any way to improve the situation. it is also that the security forces themselves have failed at containing jihadist violence. the reason they have failed is not that a civilian government was somehow holding the back. gerhard: let's bring up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines today. the ukrainian sabr fencer and world champion has been disqualified at the world championships in italy after refusing to shake hands with her russian opponent after thereabout. under the rules of fencing's governing body, shaking hands after a bout is mandatory. in syria, at least six people have been killed and dozens wounded in a car bomb explosion

outside a shiite shrine in damascus. the attack is the second attack in a week at the shrine and comes ahead of the muslim commemoration of asherah. it wildfire has triggered explosions at an air force ammunition depot in greece. the area has been evacuated. fires have burned across greece for the past two weeks leaving several people dead and prompting large-scale evacuations of residence and tourist. the international energy agency says global consumption of coal has hit record high in the last year and is expected to stay at this level for now according to the report. coal consumption grew more than 3% last year surpassing eight billion tons. that is due to strong demand from china and india. burning coal is considered to be a major driver of global warming. the united states -- the

ordination secretary-general antonio guterres has issued a stark warning on climate change saying the era of global boiling has begun. the un's world meteorological organization is pricking this month will be the hottest in human history. he has described the intense heat in the northern hemisphere is a cruel summer. >> according to the data today, july has seen the hottest re-week period ever recorded. the hottest day on record and the highest ever ocean temperatures for this time of year. climate change is here. it is terrifying and it is just the beginning. the era of global warming has ended. the era of global boiling has arrived. gerhard: let's bring in the climatologist samantha.

is that hyperbole from mr. gutierrez? what does that even mean, global boiling? >> i think the term global boiling is certainly a very alarmist term and it seems to have huge attention from the media today. what we can say from our data from the copernicus climate change service is july has been remarkable. we have seen the three hottest weeks in our data record which goes back to 1940. the hottest day on record which was the sixth of july. and the warmest sea temperatures. all of those combined together suggest we have a very warm planet and this is a direct consequence of the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. gerhard: do these record-breaking temperatures you just mentioned mean that things are worse than we thought or is it the same message you have

been trying to convey for decades? samantha: i think no scientist is surprised by the trend but the magnitude of some of the records that have been broken are perhaps surprising us. so when we look to heat waves, we know that a warmer atmosphere and a warmer planet makes heat waves more likely and it makes the heat waves more intense and the duration potentially longer as well so there is a direct correlation. this is very well covered in the ipcc assessment report of the risk of more intense extreme events with a warmer planet. gerhard: does this actually mean climate change is completely out of control if it ever was under control? samantha: i really hope not. obviously --

[no audio] gerhard: i am afraid we have lost audio there. and we have to try to reestablish this talk with samantha. before we do that, we have some other news. an electric vehicle is thought to have started a fire on board a cargo ship carrying thousands of cars. one crew member was killed and others injured off the dutch coast. officials say the blaze could be burning for days. a salvage team is monitoring the situation. authorities are concerned about oil or cargo polluting the world heritage site.

and we can speak to a fire safety expert and managing director in germany. the coast guard says an electric car is the suspected source of the blaze. how can they know and what could have happened? >> i think they expect this from the initial emergency call which was talking about an electric battery or battery car that went on fire. it is likely because as you know, there are supposed to be 25 electric cars on the boat and the difference, electric cars can go on fire when they are just parked. regular cars normally go on fire while the engine is running. you might remember a year ago we had a similar situation with a

vessel with 4000 cars that went on fire and later sank. gerhard: what exactly happens with electric cars with these kind of batteries? how does the fire start? do we know that? niki: i think we cannot tell right now but what is probable i would say in this case are two things. one is a production failure of the car that can occur at any time but what is also very likely is one of the electric cars hit the ground, the underbody during the loading process because a short time, the loading processes. such damage can lead to a fire within minutes or hours or days. that is very tricky. you cannot really tell from the outside if the battery is fully intact or if it is on the verge of setting fire.

that is very hard to determine from the outside. gerhard: let's talk about fighting fire on a ship. why is it so difficult to put all this fire? niki: basically, lithium battery fires are hard to put out even on land. on a ship, the problem is you cannot really use water because you cannot use much water because it can fill up the ship and lead to swaying of the ship or even lead to sinking. on the other hand the water does not have such a good cooling effect because it cannot really reach the inside of the ship. so i would say the only chance you would have in such a scenario is to have a quick responding automated fire system that works with a chemical extinguishing agent like aerosol

which we recommend to use because with the water you only have a poor extinguishing capacity concerning lithium-ion batteries. by using co2 or other gases that deploy or take out the oxygen will not really work because lithium batteries can produce their own oxygen while burning so it is a very tricky to deal with this kind of fire with the old ways with water or gas. you need more modern systems and i think you need automatic systems because even for real firefighters it is hard to fight such fires. not to mention the boat cruise. they cannot really do anything. gerhard: you're saying we need more modern systems and automatic systems but do we also need to rethink how to deal with electric cars in the future?

how to transport them, how to handle them? niki: yeah, that might also be a thing to separate them from the other cars or to treat them in a different way. also to have better structural fire protection for the ships so they can withstand the fire if something occurs. yes of course. i think we need to rethink it because it is a new technique. you can handle it but you cannot expect you can handle it without changing anything. i think we should be aware not only for electric cars but there have also been many fires on ships on containers or on the ships themselves that were caused by lithium-ion batteries not only in cars but in any kind of good that gets transported in large numbers. that is a risk you have and you have to deal with it. there are ways to do it and you have to do something. gerhard: fire safety expert

niki traxel. thank you for sharing your expertise with us. ♪ to the women's football world cup where one of the favorites, australia, have been shocked by nigeria who upset the cohosts 3-2 leaving group b wide open. minutes before time, australia ahead. the super falcons responded just before the break. leveled the match. in the second half nigeria added two more goals to secure the victory. australia scored late in time. and earlier the netherlands met in a rematch of the 2019 world cup final. the dutch side looked primed for

an upset after going the first goal but the americans managed a 1-1 drill. >> the dutch came into the match with the promise of fighting against the defending world cup champions the u.s. pecking more punch in the first half the netherlands took the lead in the 17th minute. dominic jensen nearly doubled the lead but overshot the target. the u.s. went in halftime trailing in world cup match for the first time in over a decade. overcoming a this jointed first half the u.s. seized control and added a 62 minute equalizer on a header from co-captor lindsay hara horan. reversing momentum during a second-half onslaught, the u.s. piled forward in search of a winter. but it would not count.

leaving the hard-fought battle level at 1-1. gerhard: after the match players from both teams gave us their reaction to the draw. >> four years ago is a long time ago. we have grown also. i think we showed the whole world we are better or very close to them. >> honestly it was a simple matter of us putting a little more pressure on them. i think we dropped off them and gave them too much space. i think second-half we close the gaps a little more. the end of the day we know that teams are going to bring their best game against us. the first half was not the most terrible half. we were down a goal but knowing the u.s. we always find a way to get ourselves back in it and we learned commit in -- learn from it in halftime and we have another game to prepare for. gerhard: holly moody gave us his thoughts on with the droll means for these two title favorites. >> it was billed as the biggest

game of the group stage. a rematch of the last world cup final. ahead of the game the dutch coach said he thought his side had closed the gap on the united states since that final and this match and in particular the result certainly bore that out. a point each leaves the two sides level at the top of group b but for the united states it will no doubt be a disappointment not to have claimed an outright victory here. there are questions to answer for the coach and his players. while there still almost certain to progress to the knockout stages the error of admissibility from the last world cup appears to be vanishing. gerhard: the title between two world cup debutantes went portugal's way as they beat vietnam 2-0 and a group b. the european side dominated from the opening whistle. neither nation had scored and of the world cup until knocking the

ball off a strong pass ending the scoring drought for portugal. 15 minutes later, and other goal. result means vietnam is effectively knocked out of the tournament. you are watching you to view news. here is a reminder of the top stories we are following for you. russia's president vladimir has offered to supply free grain to the six african nations. shipments would replace ukrainian exports that putin himself has blocked. that is it from me and the news team. i will be back after the break to take you behind the headlines in the day. thanks for watching. ♪ [captioning performed by the

national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

>> a russia-africa summit is underway in st. petersburg in which president putin promised to give delegates free grain. today the capital city of niger is on edge. and respite is expected for firefighters battling blazes in

italy that was sparked by scorching heat. welcome back to the france 24 newsroom in paris. thank you very much for joining us. more than a dozen african heads of state are assembled in st. petersburg where a russia-africa summit, the second of its kind, got underway today. russia says representatives of 49 african nations are there. some of the assembled leaders applauded enthusiastically earlier on when president putin promised to give them tens of thousands of tons of grain. charlotte hughes has this report on that summit. >> a promise made by vladimir putin at the opening of the second russia-africa summit. >> we will be ready to provide burkina faso, zimbabwe, mali, zimbabwe, the central african republic, and every trail 50,000

tons of free grain each in the next four months. >> putin added that he would ensure free delivery of the products to consumers but did not specify how he would carry out the plan. he went on to express his hope for the african union to obtain full membership in the g20 group. isolated on the world stage since russia's invasion of ukraine, the russian president knows he needs to do what he can to keep his remaining allies. on july 17, moscow withdrew from the grain agreement reached with kyiv in 2022, brokered by the united nations and turkey. immediately, several african countries, highly dependent on ukrainian and russian grain exports, voiced concern as prices soared and shortages are on the rise. the karma chairman -- the current chairman of the african union injured russia will become an even more privileged partner. >> free africa is ready to strengthen cooperation with russia in all sectors.

>> he also condemned the situation in niger and called for the immediate release of the president who has been detained by the presidential guard, an appeal echoed by the kremlin, the united states, the united nations, and the european union. >> despite an aborted mutiny at home last month, russia's wagner mercenary group remains active. many were surprised to see that the wagner chief, yevgeny prigozhin, was present in st. petersburg today. we asked our international affairs correspondent what he made of this. >> the question is -- did the head of the wagner mercenary group, the man who just last month led an abortive mutiny of his troops to within 200 kilometers of moscow before striking a deal, purportedly, to be self exiled to belarus -- did he suddenly pop up, crash, if

you will, this africa-russia summit hosted by vladimir putin? was he invited? here are the outstanding questions. that picture says it all. what are we looking at? this has been circulated widely across twitter and social media platforms. it appears at first blush something that might raise your hackles. i thought it could be artificial intelligence. i thought it could be a doctored photo. what it shows is -- you see pre-goshen -- you see prigozhin shaking a man's hand. who is that? we ask to verify these photos. he is the president of the central african republic, a republic where hundreds of wagner mercenary fighters

arrived just last week. they have been prominent they have been prominent there. they've had a very big presence providing both security, counterinsurgency, so on and so forth. the wagner group has been rampant across the central african republic. where that photo was taken, once again, credit our france 24 observers team for their eagle eyed pixel eating and verification -- they found that it is at the choosing palace hotel, a five-star luxury hotel, which is not right by the summit site but within range of the summit site. you say that could be any picture taken at any time. prigozhin had a nice hotel shaking the guy's hand. no. once again, our ego-i france 24 -- eagle-i would france 24 observers saw the past that

indicates 24 hours. that indicates a time frame, 24 to 48 hours at a hotel in close proximity to the site. i will know there was one other posted on facebook by a man who is identified as wagner's order right hand man, if you will. a propaganda arm, but it would suggest if he was not physically present at the summit, actually in the summit forum, the venue itself, he was very close to the summit, which raises lots of questions as to potentially who else he met with. there's another photo showing him shaking the hands of the director of a forum called athlete media also, same casual outfit, also verified by our observers as a recent photo taken in st. petersburg. >> by president putin's own admission, the fighting in southeastern ukraine is now fierce, and it has been reported kyiv has launched a new push.

pete insists the ukraine army is not making progress, but ukraine did mark a small victory, driving russian forces out of one village in donetsk. >> released by the russian defense ministry, these images supposedly show moscow's drones carrying out strikes on ukrainian tanks. as he deepens ties with leaders in st. petersburg, vladimir putin has recognized kyiv's recent efforts on the battlefield. >> we confirm that over the past days, hostilities have significantly intensified. the main class is taking place around zaporizhzhia, but the enemy was not successful in any of the areas of combat. counterattack attempts have been stopped. the enemy has been pushed back. >> russian losses have meanwhile been, according to putin, 10 times smaller than those suffered by the ukrainian side.

moscow is active in the air and on the ground. while overnight strikes are important for structuring the odessa region killed a guard wednesday. volodymyr zelenskyy has condemned these latest strikes. the ukrainian president has been thanking army officials as well as staff at dnieper's hospital, who have been instrumental in ukraine's attempts to fight off pressure over the past 17 months. tom: measure has become the third country in the sahel region to experience a coup d'etat. it began with the detention of the president yesterday by members of the presidential guard. today, the situation in the capital appears to be tense. coup supporters ransacked and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party. a large crowd gathered in front of the national assembly, some

of them waving russian flags and chanting anti-french slogans. >> cars burn while demonstrators loot buildings near the ruling party's headquarters as violence breaks out from the capital. earlier, the head of niger's armed forces said the military is supporting the coup plotters who detained the president since wednesday. >> the military command also states that our country is still plagued by the insecurity posed by armed terrorist groups and other organized crime groups. consequently, all the defense and security forces are reminded to remain focused on their mission. >> hundreds of people then gathered in front of the national assembly to show their support for the coup. >> we have always been -- we

have always believed in the army despite the fact that they have done everything to destabilize it. >> others celebrated the ousting of the president, whom they consider too cozy with france, the country's former colonial power, and a key partner in the fight against jihadists. >> we think we need a win-win partner, not a partner where only the west profits. >> the leaders announced that all institutions were being suspended. land and air borders were closed, and a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. has been put in place. >> some areas of eastern sicily have seen temperatures as high as 47 degrees centigrade in the last couple of days, not far from a european record reached

in sicily two days ago. the heat has brought with it right conditions for wildfires, which have swept the islands of sicily and sardinia. a massive effort has been ongoing to contain those fires, and finally, it seems the temperatures are coming down. >> the firefighting plane drops waters on fires on the italian island of sicily as authorities battle to keep the blaze under control. some far-flung suburbs have already been ravaged by fires. in this part, burned-out shells of cars are all that remain. >> the church is burning. i beg you, bring hosepipes. >> despite pleas for help from local residents, the fire has destroyed a 16th-century church.

when fire fighters finally did arrive, it was too late. the four walls are all that was left. wildfires also crept closer to palermo's airport. fire fighters managed to bring the -- to bring the flames under control before they reach the tarmac. thousands of buildings have been damaged across the island, and that seaside resorts, tourists began to panic. many deciding to cut short their holidays. >> we did a u-turn. we came back because we were scared of being stranded on the beach. i have a six-year-old daughter. i was really scared. >> the temperatures hitting 40 -- with temperatures hitting 47 degrees celsius, there is of more fires. tom cole: it is not just your in the grip of an extreme heat wave. so, to, is the u.s. and in

northwest china, the mercury hit 52.2 degrees centigrade. >> once only seen on hikes throughout the beach, sun shield clothing can also be spotted in the city center. uv protection sleeves, jackets, and face coverings are all the rage as basinger's tried to protect themselves from the sweltering heat -- beijingers try to protect themselves from the sweltering heat. e-commerce sales for these types of clothes more than tripled this year according to one chinese data analysis platform, and the trend is trickling down to offline resellers. >> [speaking another language] >> there are no fashion must

haves, but also a new destination just behind me. beijing -- in the last few days, beijingers are stopping by here to cool down. >> [speaking another language] >> while some fight the heat with water activities, turning to air conditioning remains the default, but in july, coal fire power giant china energy reported its highest daily output in history. tom: that brings you up-to-date with the news. thanks for watching. stay tuned to france 24. ♪

>> who are we without a homicide? >> on the in l.a. hard at work. >> from hit show "the lincoln lawyer" to our god on what to watch -- our guide on what to watch this summer, first to emmy award-winning "only murders in the building, season two has been nominated again. what can you tell us about season three. >> season two, like season one, has been nominated for a whole bunch of enemies. 11 to be precise, including

outstanding lead over martin short, guest actor for nathan lane, and outstanding comedy series -- has been nominated for a whole bunch of emmies. the murder drama-comedy continues to charm fans, no doubt due to the charming trio of steve martin, martin short, and selena gomez, who play three people who live in the same building who become sleuths and true crime podcasters after successive murders in their storied upper west side building, each season beginning and ending with the murder. season three is out with some new guest stars. they don't need any introduction. take a look. >> hi, guys. we are onset. what are we shooting? >> oh, hi there. >> season three. hello. >> yay~ -- yay! could this honestly get any

better? >> i do think it could get a little bit better. >> what do you mean? >> thank you. thank you, ma'am. just the tea that i asked for has not gotten here. >> i'm ok. you're sweet. >> meryl streep and paul road are in season three. tell us more. >> season two ended with a sort of fast forward to a year later. martin short's character is launching his broadway play with paul road -- paul rudd, who unfortunately dropped dead. season three zigzags between that year as viewers try to piece together exactly what happened. >> lucky, you got to watch the screeners in advance of the series coming out. does the screen or live up to expectations? >> i think definitely fans will be delighted to share. the show has the right amount of silliness and poignancy and comedy and mystery. the chemistry between martin,

steve martin, and selena gomez really drives the show. i love this contrast between the generations, the sort of baby boomers and millennials, and the hilarious nepo baby references as well. let's just say nothing is as it seems. there are lots of twists and turns in the season and dead and leads to keep you guessing. i think the riders -- i think the writers did a good job keeping up the suspense. shows like this in the third season can maybe feel trite or formulaic, but somehow it still feels fresh. >> "only murders in the building" is out next month. the second season of "the lincoln lawyer" is out to positive reviews. >> there was a film starring matthew mcconaughey and marissa torme back in 2011.

you might wonder if we need a tv series as well, but netflix took a gamble, and that gamble paid off. the series has a sort of a latino spin on it. the charming lawyer who works out of his lincoln car, which is why he is called the lincoln lawyer, is played by a mexican-american actor, so season one found him trying to rehab his image after addiction and two divorces. in season two, he has now sort of found his mojo. he is in high demand after some high-profile cases, and there is a new romance as well on the way. >> let's take a look at "the lincoln lawyer." >> i need help. i have a problem. >> tell me something i don't know. >> i can show you what else you're good for later if you want.

>> you love all eyes being trained on you. ♪ >> hello? >> they arrested me. >> "the lincoln lawyer" mixing law, crime, romance, and drama. looks like a very bingable series. >> that is definitely the word. the series is by david e. kelley, behind huge series like "chicago hope" and "allie mcbeal ." it is slick and stylish, a bit so become a very addictive. the main character played by this excellent mexican-american actor. he's is very handsome, charismatic, fallible, and there's also neve campbell, who

is great has his ex-wife/frenemy , who i wish we saw a lot more of. it is fun. it is addictive. this is fast-paced. crime cases are satisfactorily wrapped up in an episode or two. you have a sort of will they/won't they showdown between prosecutors and defense. if you are willing to overlook the sort of predictability of the show, and there is a bit of cheesiness, but, you know, it is a perfect summer binge, kind of like a series equivalent of a good beach read. the show certainly has its fans. the second season hit number one on netflix in several countries, so they must be doing something right. >> as before that, netflix already -- as proof of that, netflix already bring out the series in two parts.

>> for fans of south korean drama series, the second season of "dp" drops in july. the first season was based on a 2015 web tune, loosely inspired by the show runner's own experiences. the show is about a military unit that tracks down new recruits who want to desert the south korean army. the show's inaugural season was hailed by critics for its raw look at the violent and bullying that sort of surrounds the south korean military service. you can expect more deserter pursuits and what seems to be an equally violent and unflinching season two as well. >> and to the u.s. military. >> "special ops: lioness" is out. this focuses on zoe saldana's jo

, who alongside with a marine rater, go undercover to thwart what they fear could be the next 9/11. nicole kidman stars as their handler. the head of this lioness program . it is based on a real military program. >> we are just going to pretend that a cia quick reaction force did not execute a kill mission and trot out cbs news. >> he was dead either way. >> i had to. >> you need to remember what you are fighting for. >> let's change then from the military service or something completely different, the universe of "star wars," because one of the most anticipated spinoff series drops this august. it is called "ahsoka."

ahsoka tano is getting her own series. the role is reprised by rosario dawson. in her own show, she finds herself investigating an emerging threat to a vulnerable planet in the series, something that "star wars" fans are no doubt looking forward to. >> finally, a new show from the producers of "little lies." >> it is called "the lost flowers of alice had." really did seem a lot like "big little lies." it is based on the debut book by an australian writer. alice hyde is a nine-year-old girl sent to live with her grandmother after her parents died in a mysterious fire. she suddenly finds herself thrust into an outback flower farm, and there, family secrets unravel. it stars a mostly australian

cast. sigourney weaver, who i must admit does not quite nail the australian accent, plays the secret keeping grandma. feels a lot like "big little lies." you have the hazy filters and mysteries and family secrets coupled with a gorgeous australian bush backdrop. could well be your series of the summer or winter because indeed, of course, if you are in the southern hemisphere, it will be a winter series for you. >> thank you so much. there's just so much to choose from. we will leave you to decide what you think about that. here is a peak at "the lost flowers of alice hart" out on disney+. >> out there, we can't protect her.

>> be careful. it can be a lot. >> alice needs to understand what really happened. >> how could you? >> you need to fix this. ♪

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amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> hunter biden thought that his legal jeopardy was going to be over. he went to the courthouse to proceed -- to plead guilty. instead, the trump appointed judge rejected it, giving lawyers about 30 days to come back and explain why she should rubberstamp this deal. amy: hunter biden's legal