National affairs. And as the uns 1st ever Global Refugee Forum wraps up we report from one of the key transit points for african migrants heading to europe. That migrants are being hidden by a smuggler who brings in across the Sahara Desert to the my friends here to the sniper has enough of them for one transport and then the dangerous and sometimes deadly journey begins well go to the share where despite tightened border controls migrants continue to risk their lives in the desert. Im brian thomas great to have you with us later today u. S. Lawmakers will be taking an historic vote on whether to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump the democratic controlled house of representatives is expected to back the move. Setting in motion the 3rd ever impeachment of an american president on his of thousands of demonstrators have been rallying across the country calling for the president to be removed from office among them protesters in new yorks times square back in the move by house democrats. Meanwhile the president has attacked the impeachment proceedings in a furious 6 page letter to House Speaker nancy pelosi the president accused the top democrat of declaring quote open war on american democracy they also claim the democrats were bringing suffering to quote the republic for their own selfish personal political and partisan gain our washington correspondent always on a phenomena has been following the story from the very beginning and in this report she traces the path to impeachment and historic day on capitol hill for just the 3rd time the house of representatives will vote whether to the. President though that is expected to be strictly a paci lines of 2 weeks of contentious hearings unexpected bombshells and partisan fighting. It all started with a phone call a phone call in which President Trump asked president zelinsky of ukraine to investigate his main political rival democratic president ial hopeful joe biden and his son hunter i became increasingly aware of what followed was a congressional inquiry with a 1000 witnesses testifying in public describing crimes dealings with ukraine as improper and in as a proper is all going to blow up and here we are one witness intoxicated turned out to leak here Gordon Sunland the Us Ambassador to the European Union and so much. He told the investigators there was indeed a quid pro quo in the works that transit and pressed the Ukrainian Government to get dirt on joe biden jewel in exchange for a meeting in the white house at the same time you asked for military aid for ukraine was put on hold out as to president ial directive everyone was in the loop so we followed the president s orders. Other witnesses added more damning details about Donald Trumps conduct time machine no evidence for the democratic majority in the house to move forward with the impeachment. The morning. The facts are uncontested the president abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our National Security by withholding military aid and crucial Oval Office Meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival. Abuse of power and up struction of congress to charge and the democrats say that amounts to high crimes justifying impeachment however they havent convinced a single republican yet trumps party stands by the president decrying pietschmann as a political witch hunt you cant make your case against the present because Nothing Happened President Trumps high crimes threaten our democracy it so they dont like us thats what this is about you know like the president theyre like the present supporters and they dislike us so much theyre willing to weaponize the government the votes in the house will mark the climax of the summer moment in u. S. History if the majority of lawmakers approved the articles of impeachment which seems likely it will trigger a senate trial to determine if the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be removed from office. At trial President Trump seems to be gearing up for he expects to be exonerated by the republican led senate and hopes impeachment will backfire on his rivals there was nothing done wrong to the power of the peach on this nonchurch theres an embarrassment to this country. The controversy has already fired for her in general Public Opinion is split over the matter whatever the outcome what is happening in washington right now reflects the hyper partisan divisions in american politics. All the United States and germany are all. On a collision course over a Controversial Energy project both houses of the u. S. Congress have backed sanctions against companies building the german sponsored nord stream to gas pipeline under the baltic sea now this link will transport russian gas to germany its supposed to start in the coming months now the u. S. Claims the pipeline will give russia too much political leverage over Europe Germany insists the project is vital for its National Energy security the European Countries affected by possible sanctions could take retaliatory measures. So how would germany and europe respond if hit with u. S. Sanctions or Political Correspondent has brought us here to talk about that good morning hans what possible companies or sectors are we talking about being hit by these u. S. Sanctions well initially these sanctions target very specifically to companies in fact those companies that physically laying this pipeline these are very specialized ships on the sea on the baltic sea. And only very few companies in the world that are able to do this if these companies are in fact blocked from doing those that would stop the project if the project was stopped that would affect the whole gamut of companies in the Energy Sector that follow on from using this gas and distributing the gas throughout europe ok how would the German Government respond or how would you respond various european governments could be affected by this to us sanctions the most dire transponder has come from the foreign minister who said that the European Energy policy is determined in europe not by the United States so the response has been pretty harsh in fact on the European Commission or in charge of the sector has also said that the European Union will look at how it is going to respond to these sanctions at the moment is still an attempt to deal with this on a diplomatic level and to be reticent about exactly. Watch the responses from the European Union or from joan youre going to be ok but so far diplomacy hasnt worked why does germany not share the u. S. Assessment that this poses a threat that gives this gives russia too much leverage too much power the argument from the side of germany is that it is a mutual dependency that on the one hand obviously there will be a lot of gas coming to germany from russia which in fact is happening already is the case already not only to germany about to the whole of europe one has to see that this pipeline continues from germany for the song through the Czech Republic to all stria and especially to italy so it is a european project at the same time the argument is that russia gains a lot of income a very significant amount of income from these pipelines from selling this gas to the European Union and russia is also dependent on selling that gus in fact russia has been supplying gas to europe for more than 40 years and they have never been problems with that even during the time of the cold war that is the argument on the side of germany ok theres been some discussion here in berlin quite a bit that this could damage severely damage even the transatlantic relationship is that a possibility well the transatlantic relationship already is very tense obviously between the United States and europe and some german politicians from the side of the conservative party of the chancellors conservative party have said that this is a hostile act on the part of the United States against germany against the European Union thats fairly harsh language but at the same time one has to say there is an element here also of what some call in to have said is a way of promoting america 1st in the whole world because the United States is producing a lot of natural gas through its fracking processes and is looking for markets without gas so there is an economic interest on the side of the United States as well which is demonstrated by the fact that it was ted cruz from texas from the state of texas all the natural gas state of texas that is. In promoting this in congress so there is a whole spectrum of various forms of interests and mutual interests and mutual pressure that is involved the germans and the europeans of say they are going to buy american gas as one of those russian gas but at the moment the situation is tense ok thanks very much for that hans bring us up to date on the north into pipeline controversy lets take a look now at some of the other stories making news this hour australia has endured its hottest day on record with a National Average temperature reaching 40. 00 degrees celsius the record busting heat comes as the nation battles a severe drought and the bushfire crisis hundreds of blazes continuing to rage across that country. Thousands of people around lead in the czech capital prague to demand the resignation of prime minister. Opponents say the billionaire leader should give up his business interests or step down while bush rejects allegations of a conflict of interest. French police have fired tear gas as labor unions extended nationwide strikes against unpopular Pension Reforms c g t unions as it calls deliberate Power Outages on top of 2 weeks of crippling transportation strikes prison across says hes determined to press ahead with the reforms. Well the United Nations has urged rich countries to do more to tackle the worldwide refugee crisis speaking at the 1st global refugee form in geneva u. N. Secretary general antonio terrorist so that the world should be grateful to nations which have welcomed large numbers of refugees but that gratitude was not enough i urge you to be bold and concrete in the pledges to make this is a moment for him. It is a moment to jettison a model of support that too often left refugees for it with their lives on walls confined to camps just scraping by unable to flourish. It is a moment to build a more equitable response to refugee crisis through a sharing of responsibility. There is also criticized what he called a hostile political environment for posing a threat to solve seekers one example of this can be seen in the west african country of the share with a recent increase the number of migrants from africa to europe the e. U. Moved to shut down some of the main transit routes through brussels provided support for military which now patrols the countrys borders since then the number of migrants passing through the country has sharply decreased but Human Trafficking remains a lucrative business in places like our good does seen as a gateway to north africa. Mario travelled to argue those were pressure from the use making the situation for migrants more dangerous for nearly 30. Brought people across the border from i got us into libya he never thought he was doing something criminal. This who have come out its not true that we are socalled human traffickers and we are deceiving people its also not true that we treat them inhumanely or badly. Europes politicians have demonized him as a criminal smuggler but here are people like him used to be called past sirs and their work was considered the most normal thing in the world why should it be criminal to bring people from a to b. Most asks for centuries the desert city of agadez has profited from people passing through from west to north africa and search of work but this stopped in 2015 when the European Union signed agreements with several transit countries to curb migration to europe because of that suddenly became unemployed 6000 other former smugglers in asia shared his fate store and hotel owners who used to live from the travellers had no income. Even though migration decreased it never stopped say human rights organizations such as Doctors Without Borders this week even though the laws been in force in 2015 the bigger issue never stopped and they will never stop oh if you put boards to the regulation the reviews are good doors so what we see is the waiter in small compared to the past they are much more vulnerable why because everything has to be. Over in the close the city hidden we managed to meet a smuggler who still active now his job is illegal if he gets caught you risk several months in jail ever since the military started patrolling the borders he tells us scenes like this one are getting more and more common. This is if you have to lets say im a driver transporting migrants when suddenly the military shows up. Then i want the migrants out of the car just down the road and tell them to wait there until i come back and then i just leave and they die there there are many such cases. Its very rare that drivers actually come back the un suspects at least twice as many people die on their way to the mediterranean than in the mediterranean itself who are these people who despite these dangers make the Journey Towards europe. We are close to the socalled get away at the border of the tunnel for us this is where migrants are being hidden by a smuggler who brings them across the Sahara Desert to the migrants stay here until the smuggler has enough of them for one transport and then the dangerous and sometimes deadly journey begins. A clay court yard under the open sky there are hundreds of my grans waiting in places like this across the city. One of them is. A student from guinea he has tried to leave 3 times each time he was picked up by the military on the libyan border and the route through the desert is not good libya and the mediterranean are not good but what else can i do. As a migrant from guinea was man but he has little chance of receiving the right to stay in europe but that doesnt stop him. Although i want to go to europe i hate europe why do i hear europe because europe cant exist without Africa Africa is rich with resources like diamonds and uranium but who benefits from these resources. Europe is where these Young Africans dream of living and although the chances of actually getting there are slim for them giving up and going back home is not an option. This is deja vu news live from berlin still to come on our show back on home soil a german freed on parole after 30 years behind bars for a double murder in the u. S. He says he didnt commit. But 1st the e. U. Is awarding its highest accolade the soccer off prize for human rights to the chinese activist toti hes dedicated his life to advocating for the rights of chinas oppressed we go our minority and hes paid a very high price for doing so hes currently serving a life sentence in china meaning he will not be able to attend the ceremony today and stross work. Will hum toti hasnt been seen in public for years this footage was filmed before he was jailed his fight for the rights of chinas predominantly Muslim Minority cost him his freedom for years he drew attention to the suffering of the weaker their restricted access to education in the labor market and the suppression of their language religion and culture. May want to argue theres no representative for us no newspaper of our own version of what can ordinary people do when they meet in justice some of them will find it in resistance for calm. In 2006 tohti himself wieder founded the internet portal weaker online to highlight the plight of the ethnic group the chinese authorities blocked the website repeatedly in 2014 told he was put on trial charged with separatism the former economics professor was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in october the European Parliament awarded toti the sachar off human rights prize describing him as a voice of moderation and reconsideration. Yeah but on your sack out of the parliament has decided to award the socket of prize for freedom of thought to talk to. Sick when you know. That a lot he has done much to improve understanding between leaders and the hun ethnic group in china that has been put in prison for life. In the European Parliament expresses its full support for his work and wishes him to be released immediately by the chinese authorities immediately i mean. She is. His arrest in 2014 was seen as a sign of a crackdown by Chinas Communist Party since then reports of socalled reeducation camps have surfaced x. Prisoners speak of torture forced labor and mass rape around 1000000 we girls are thought to be detained in these camps the last time our family members heard about my father it was 2017. That was also when the concentration camps started. Our family members are no longer able to visit him and we dont know if he still had held in the same prison room if we we dont even know hes still alive. And so the winner of this years secor off prize may not even know about his award. Well we just saw totally there the daughter of that sucker prize recipient as she spoke to us more about the award and what it means for her father. When was the last time you heard from your father do you have any idea how hes doing now. The last time i saw my father in person with was 2013 and the last time i talked to my father was 2014 the last time i heard my father was to the other 71 which was also the last time my family was able to visit him and that was also the time when. The rig. Exploded. Unfortunately i do not know how my father is doing i do not know if he is still being locked up in the same prison i dont know if he is doing ok physically mentally i dont even know if he is still alive so your father who was awarded the prize by the European Parliament this sends a strong message of solidarity but will this be enough what does it need for International Pressure to make a change. Letting the younger ration is being educated of what is going on helping those International Chinese students or Chinese International students to gain awareness of what is going on inside their own country because many Chinese Government many Chinese Students have no idea this is happening to that Weaver Community and with the chinese proper again the news of church propaganda videos a lot of them have no idea this is happening and they sometimes would blame us for overreacting given which i feel very its pathetic. And also putting sanctions on those companies who support the concentration camp who are. Importing as exporting from those concentration camps and also putting visa restrictions on government Chinese Government officials who are supporting or who have helped making the decisions for for the common concentration camp could also be a very helpful helpful way shell him thank you very much for talking to you thank you. Well in other news a german man sentenced to life in prison for a gruesome double murder has returned home after more than 30 years behind bars in the us the diplomat son admitted killing his girlfriends parents but later claimed he only confessed to save her from the deaths. He was released on parole last month. He and searing taking his 1st steps in freedom back home in germany. A moment he dreamed of for more than 3 decades. Im so happy to be in germany after. 33 years in prison the United States. Im so grateful to all my german supporters and im grateful to my american supporters as well i will need some time to arrive in this country and visit with all my friends and really settle back into their life. Savings friends came to the airport to share the day with him. Dont go go this would be hind him all this time from a fall convinced of his innocence. Among them a member of the German Government who visited the 53 year old in jail and campaigning for his release that he will not impose on the German Government has given legal and consular advice in this case through its washington embassy. And given support to un serving personally. The German Government and chancellor Angela Merkel herself called for un servings release some time ago at last and yet. This is the state prison in virginia in which searing was held from 990 when he was found guilty of 2 counts of murder. And 985. 00 derek and nancy hasan was stabbed to death at their home in virginia they were the parents of servings then girlfriend elizabeth was born in africa searing confessed to the crime but later retracted his confession he said he had wanted to protect his girlfriend and thought that as the son of a german diplomat he didnt join unity from prosecution at his trial he insisted he was not the culprit im innocent. The conviction proved controversial the evidence was circumstantial nature d. N. A. Analysis failed to link him to the crime scene hes been locked up 30 yet serving was given 2 life sentences the situation seemed hopeless but at the end of november this year the visioneer parole board cooled severance conduct in prison exemplary and recommended his release. Snaring was freed after spending 33 years 6 months and 25 days behind bars now he wants to start life over again not acquitted or exonerated but a free man at longest. This is deja vu news these are our top stories u. S. Lawmakers will take in a store vote today on whether to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump the democrat controlled house of representatives are expected to back the move this comes as the president lashed out over the attempt to remove him from office in a furious 6 page letter to House Speaker nancy pelosi. The u. S. Senate has backed sanctions against companies building a controversy over pipeline to carry russian gas to germany washington wants to halt completion of the north stream to project. The us as the project gives russia too much of a hold over europe. Australia has endured its hottest day on record with the National Average temperature reaching 40. 00 degrees celsius the record busting heat comes as the nation battles a severe drought and the bushfire crisis. French police of fire tear gas at protesters in paris and other cities as unions held another day of nationwide strikes the c g t union says it calls the liberal Power Outages during the action against unpopular Pension Reforms. This is the news from berlin dont forget theres always more to our twitter feed and our website www dot com. Up next mark jones will be here with business im brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being here. To. Assess a nation in the midst of a d w exclusive 20 years ago 3 prominent members of the bella rusin opposition disappeared without a trace or now a key witness has come forward to reveal what he knows that meeting in the process that he was an accessory to murder his information leaks little doubt the orders to kill came from the highest authorities a close up exclusive in 60 minutes on detail you know. In crisis. Much of bella editor in chief in as paul interviews the chairman of the Chinese Telecommunications giant. Cool off the tongue. Can while wearing survive the turmoil caused by the trade war between china and the us. Today starts 1330 u. T. C. On. The crew to todays world. 79. A historical turning point in politics Business Leaders claim the run up evil of the islamic revolution. In terms of making its initial flirtation those. Strengths in states of emergency things into chaos in conjunction with the 2nd truce explained in terms of the people driven steel told her. Mum wanted carson lives from the start of an era that defines overmanaged today 1979 a big meeting today is more since december 23rd w. Is a mega merger in the Automobile Industry francaise p. S. A. Group on fears chrysler wants to join forces to create the worlds 4th largest comp produce that we give you the details also coming out the u. S. Congress has voted to impose sanctions on Companies Working on the controversial north stream to pipeline
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