Also coming up tonight europes growing list of strong arm leader ship in the European Union be putting them in their place and you bitch try to make a connection between the rule of law budget. Laws. Was successfully. Put to our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day in the aftermath of the blast in Beirut Lebanon as Prime Minister has declared wednesday a day of mourning the dead are still being counted hundreds have been hospitalized all caught by surprise when 2 explosions shook the lebanese capital late this afternoon tonight lebanon is a country under shock people everywhere asking how did this happen and why. Did this happen. You know theres flames still burning tonight in beirut we want to go now to our correspondent in beirut basel our reading youve also good evening to you it is the middle of the nights now where you are darkness making the situation that much more difficult we know many of died we know a lot more are injured what more can you tell us now. I think this moment i can say that there is more than 50 percent and more than 2700 injured according to the ministry of health which says. In a statement which is still. From minutes ago by the ministry of. The situation i can say as when the 1st its the 1st time i saw that stink ever. Kept too many stories in the region since 20 years at the 1st time i ever witnessed such thing its just something i cant find the works describe what happened i was about 500 meters 600 meters away from that explosion. Of all sorts of all i thought maybe. I didnt i dont know what to say or what to think i just started to look around. So its 2 explosions the 2nd one was completely huge all the smoke covered the only area. Around to the streets to to see what happened and i saw what did you did you feel the shock wave basel i mean you were you were close enough to see the blast it did you feel the shock wave didnt hit you. Yes. And they friend of mine was injured in this explosion so i told him that it would be a hospital. Thank god hes not going to kill you dont it doesnt touch critical injuries but what i saw in the hospital its dramatic. The the all the even to park the car park where the cars the. Whatever you look theres interest on figure out where to get on most of the us all the hospitals in bed with a that they are overloaded they cant receive all cant. Come anymore cases so thats why they were introduced to the other edits outside of beirut which is 38. 00. To 50 kilometers away from beirut they each day become very in west jordan mainly. West of lebanon which is about 50 kilometers away from beirut. What took about 2700 people until this moment on down we have too many they are we dont know anything about them to announce it on social Media Television while all social whatever it takes people are asking for their beloved one they dont they dont know anything about them they are. Moment. Let me the be a destruction you know its good if you. For the delay here in this ng let me just ask you about you know where you are on the is located in a geo political power keg almost immediately after the blast we heard from israel israel said they had nothing to do with the explosion weve heard tonight hezbollah is calling for National Unity weve heard from saudi arabia saying they will stand behind the government in lebanon on. What what crossed your mind when you heard this blast think that this was. An act of terrorism. Yes of course the huge explosion i never thought that because by the way it seemed that its due to. New trait it was blocked in indeed the port of beirut and some talking about hundreds of tons of that material plus some fireworks and. Liquid gas and so on thats why were looking. In terms of explosions with meats. I heard some news its not credible yet not confirmed yet barks im talking about more than 500 ton of explosions explosives so you can imagine he does sound and destruction that left behind so at 1st of all i didnt i didnt have anything to think about i just what the what could happen the 1st explosion i thought that maybe there was a small fire near the place where i am right now because you to be happy whether the summer. Garden going to toss thought that or support or something was happening right right here in town. And to be placed in her. Own thing and something huge going on but so did you smell anything after the explosion if you would all of the what i witnessed during the past 6 hours you know i can say that the situation in beirut its chaotic the uki people all around the area and. They are looking for for help they looking for shelter its most of them they lost their homes now the. Its all. Just swallowed by the by did latest they are asking some people from other areas they are asking the people trying by group too. To join them at their own if they open their door with their own. Good and you want. Oust. Any family can spend their nights at their home tonight or most of you but you think its sending messages through social media. Is all that efficient they are whats coming any time in the. Coming nights at their homes. Oh puzzling yet you did ask you the same time were running out of time buzz let me just ask you one thing we know that tomorrow wednesday has been declared a day of National Mourning what would you like to see come from the government we know that the country is in an economic meltdown as well as in the pandemic what does the government have to do in your opinion beginning tomorrow. They saw the current Prime Minister the former Prime Minister the political parties. They sent ice cold bay they sent him a day cold. And catastrophe. They all support and also but. This evening the french president. Told the president. And he had possible. Other president s and kings from the region also the jokey. Very very dangerous. Different Goal International goal thats received by our Prime Ministers president and others. It is indeed. The shooter that. Was supposed to go on im not that lockdown due to the fighters and then again i think. Its yes which is seen that its. Not the right which is dangerous we have because you have we have checked if you. Talk to people so what happens when i yeah i think that the coming days would witness a beat. Where we certainly where we certainly hope that. Recently hope we hope that you and everyone in lebanon we certainly wish the best for you moving forward we know that you have some difficult difficult hours ahead of you our correspondent basel region if you when you get basel really in beirut buzzing we appreciate your time your reporting tonight stay safe. Thank you. Were now to europe and a different kind of crisis has now seen 26 consecutive days of protests people are angry over a series of high profile corruption scandals and they are demanding the government of populist Prime Minister boyko boris all resign the perception is growing across europe that the government in bulgaria is becoming increasingly authoritarian and bulgaria has company there are disturbing developments taking place in poland and hungary too shouldnt the European Union prevent this why isnt it well discuss the role of the e. U. In just a moment but 1st this report beginning in sofia. Protesters have been taking to the streets of the capital sofia and most other major bulgarian cities for weeks now they number in the 10s of thousands theyre calling for the government to step down accusing politicians of getting too cozy with the countrys all agog. And her husband mahmoud come out to join the protesters every day and own kinds of weather. So the team is father owns a company that makes elevators and influential attorney decided he would take it over and the tina says he was aided by the public prosecutor. Tinas father refused to bow to the pressure and went public with the affair now hes fled the country since then his family claims theyve been continuously harassed and then a special police unit broke into their house in a drawer they allegedly discovered gold coins that hadnt been there before she says a surveillance camera recorded the home intrusion. Arrived later she shows us where the coins were allegedly found the 43rd. Both of people i think think. That he is strong contained and. Bought into filled with receipts. But they put little back of coin this even if. Its in the name. And they said to me. We found. Protein a stays in touch with her father who is in hiding somewhere in western europe she can still reach him by telephone she says but the police confiscated her laptop. Its grim extremely cruel and you know how people look at me when i am not. Sorry for me. Once a crew of irish crisis is related to the 1000000 bulgarians which flee to western europe only ones left in the country will be the Police Public prosecutors and attorneys. There are protests flared up on july 9th on the black sea coast when demonstrators formed up in front of billionaire and ex politician ahmed villa he said to have close ties to the government the police tried to stop the demonstration but the crowd managed to break through to dawns illegal private beach many bulgarians deeply resent these special privileges the all the guards buy for themselves. Member of parliament because of the Coalition Party sees at least some of the demonstrators as enemies of the country and does not agree that the government should step down as a civilian unfortunately people are joining the demonstrations or obviously not interested in the teachers democracy nor in justice or liberty with a slew of democrats than it will speak of it it was stunning. I the demonstrators for their part insist they wont back down till their demands are met. Well my next guest says that bulgaria poland and hungary have moved away from liberal democracy and that the European Union is letting them get away with it daniel kilobit is director of the center for European Studies hes associate professor of Political Science at Rutgers University he joins me tonight from philadelphia dan its good to have you on the day you write that the European Union has become trapped in an authoritarian equilibrium what is that and how is the e. U. Being trapped. You know what i mean by that concept is that while the e. U. Broadly speaking is a union of democracy this democratic process sees there are some Member States within the e. U. Which have drifted into a kind of hybrid authoritarianism and they can persist in existing weve been in this broader framework of the e. U. And in fact some aspects of your membership even help them to get away with that so some of these regimes enjoy protection from europe parties so youre got about one area the earth or a sauce party is a member of the European Peoples Party the center right party it may help defend them also these regimes get you money so that helps finance them and finally ended gratian is also a factor within the e. U. Because of Free Movement and how these regimes persist because essentially people who are happy with the situation in the country can very easily neat and choose sort of exit instead of remaining and voicing their discontent so in both areas around 11 percent of the population disproportionately young educated as moved out of the country you mentioned these Political Party groups i want you to listen to a man named monfort webers from germany hes a member of the European Parliament and leader of the conservative European Peoples Party group which he refers to in this clip as the e p p take a listen to be a c. P. Via very happy now that European Council sense now a clear signal off to get on this no where else in the vote 27 countries states are giving such a strong and united on sistas a call with crisis like they do in europe. So then when munford vapor there talks about unity does he mean that his conservatives from germany the conservatives of chance or americal they are in agreement and share the same values as the conservatives of hungary and of Prime Minister viktor orban. Well i did get that if you are clear what hes trying to get at is just praising the green if they reach last weekend dont get me wrong theres plenty of good things about the agreement its good to be you was able to read a collective response to the pandemic but i think you know more generally innovators been trying to sort of change his reputation on this issue lately and attend my piece sort of standing up for democracy to a lot you values but in fact he has been one of the most crucial enablers of a drift toward authoritarianism in hungary in particular both kerry also because the e. P. T. True in the European Parliament which he needs for instance still have feet ass or arms party as a member even though hes been recategorized by all the ratings agencies they feed them or feed and house as autocratic regime right now and in fact a Better Campaign for bond in 2018 call for his reelection in the elections that were described as deeply flawed by the way c e so yeah i think hes basically been putting 30 years of the desire to have the Biggest Party who possible in the European Parliament head of you know in schools and values and therefore keating or on his team yeah that brings me to a woman named ursula fund a lie and she was voted European Commission president earlier this year she won because the conservative party bloc in the European Parliament the p. P. Stood together behind her and that includes Hungarys Viktor Orban so she really has no incentive now to crack down on orban does she have and she actually owes him. Well she certainly as you said for her election she couldnt have become president of the commission you know without ask for in fact its one of the ironies that by trying to give the parliament more say over the Commission President going to make it more democratic process that battle effort increase the incentive to have the Biggest Party group you could write to be able to pick the president which then increases the incentive to tolerate some very unsavory parties and regimes so thats what the e. P. A. Has done essentially is to have you know quote up with what i call that autocrats in their group to try to be the dominant force in european politics and forget why you see what shes done she in terms of paying back were bought 1st she gave in oregon crony enlargement or folio which she. Wanted where he can influence the enlargement process and also since her commission came in they havent brought any new infringements on these you know rule of law and democracy kind of issues around any 2 cases against hungary or make progress on existing ones. Regret about 30 seconds left in let me ask you what do you propose this should be done to get the European Union alcott of this talk recede trap well id say 2 things you money has to be conditioned on the stack for the for values of the e. U. So theres talk about that going on in the past you have sense that the deal but it hasnt happened yet that really needs to happen if the jeans and their money suspended and then these party groups need to step up and take responsibility and eject member parties who are not democratic all right Daniel Coleman director of the center for European Studies and associate professor of Political Science at Rutgers University there we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you thats rabidly hot. All right to china now where the government is not only cracking down on muslims but other religions as well as it pushes to assert communist ideology buddhist temples have been closed or demolished while a campaign has been launched to destroy hundreds of statues of buddha. Reports. Is a devout buddhist view is not his real name hes afraid of repercussions in his hometown on would have come under pressure from the government since they started protesting against the destruction of the buddhist sites in the outskirts of. A 3 phase statue of. The d. T. Of mercy in chinese buddhism is bound for demolition. Suddenly the government fenced the statue off they are doing works inside but they havent informed society about the reasons for the destruction. This is left buddhists and those who worship the goddess of. Inside and outside china quite bewildered. The 3 faced one in and the adjacent monastery were built in 2002 when a company donated the giant statue to the Buddhist Community made of white jaded quickly gained fame. I am trying to take a look at the site the statue is located in a mountainous region about an hours drive from the city center. The decision to build the statue in these mountains was not a coincidence it is and has a long history in. This area is Something Like the cradle of chinese food isnt many of the buddhist classics with 1st translated from sanskrit into chinese in monasteries located in this area we approached the statue where security guards up posted at the roadside stopping and taking pictures of the demolition is strictly prohibited the government does not want these images to spread on social media we can only feel them out of the car window. It is unclear how far the demolition has already gone activists have written to the government and can paint on social media for the conservation of the statue of buddhist associations as far as malaysia have protested against its demolition to no avail. C. N. N. Is an ancient capital of china tourists from all over the world come to see its Historic Sites including its buddhist heritage but in recent years the government has pushed for a revival of the communist ideology even inside dot untempered the world famous buddhist heritage the sign reminds visitors to uphold socialist values. Not only on buddhism but also on christianity and islam the Chinese Government is exercising immense pressure on religion and compared to the latter to buddhism is treated even more leniently. The government considers it to be more in line with their norms but ive witnessed that pressure on buddhist temples myself and their activity is increasing. On. And the pace is picking up as well temples have been forced to cancel religious events monasteries have had some of the buildings demolished experts estimate that the 3 faced buddha is just one of up to 800. 00 statues that have been destroyed in the siege use. From dismantling bhuttos 2 blasts in beirut the day is almost done but the conversation it continues online youll find us on twitter either at u. W. News you can follow me at brant goth t. V. And remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day well see you then everybody. Discounted and inexpensive like animals are suffering and famine is crying out. New trends. And feeding resources. Price war on the plates how good is cheap. Meat in germany. Next song t w. 1945 dropped an atomic bomb. In seconds and is still suffering terrible consequences to this day. Some historians have argued that the bombing was a necessary. U. S. Drop the 2nd bomb not just something. In 45 minutes on d w. Actually far more clusters from nigeria who we are as a people here does what money would stands for their unique. Windowing. Authentic. Fast moving the drama club. And successful beyond belief. This is not good this is the way we do it. Nollywood starts august 7th on t w. And today is a very polarized world there are still some things we can safely say unite us like food we all have to eat but were only that simple