stayay with us. plenty more to come. christopher: welcome back. you are with a dw news in berlin.ur top story, germany's former chancellor helmut kohl has died at the age of 87. when the berlin wall came down, he was the man who united germany. now kohl's role in unifying germany was without doubt his greatest achievement. the toppling of the communist regime was not initially aimed at creating a unified german states. kohl was convinced about the two germany's simply belonged together. >> in mid-1989, the first tear appeared in the berlin wall. the news spread like wildfire, east german citizens headed to budapest and product, hoping to --budapest and prague, hoping to make it to the west. at the time it was unthinkable that the berlin wall could fall. but the people of east germany kept up the pressure with mass peaceful demonstrations throughout the country. [clapping and cheering] >> event snowballed in november 1989. >> we have decided today to draw up regulations allowing every citizen of east germany to cross-border points to the west. >> it was the ninth of november, withi