Quite unusual isnt it thats correct and another freedom which merkel spoke about was press freedom asked by a colleague attending the press Conference Call indicated that germany pushes for press freedom in the world also in belarus and that what has happened recently in belarus where journalists have been detained is that contrary to press freedom also speaking on belarus are going to clearly indicate a warned against foreign intervention and mentioning the possibility of Russian Troops she said she hoped such a force would not be deployed deployed and that there should be a respect for the countrys sovereignty indeed a very strong words by the chancellor on the situation in belarus and cant be easy for her to use those words because russias involvement of a ruse already seem to impact the already tense time is between the e. U. And moscow between germany and moscow narco also had a few words to say about russias general behavior in the region lets have another listen. Bill you know its. The annexation of crimea our attempts to have a couple of days at least without any fatalities in ukraine the attack on mr scrip all these issues do look like a common thread. And that is it comes to strain on the german russian relations and also on European Russian relations we have european sanctions in place because of ukraine for a reason and i can only hope and i was in contact with the russian president on this that when it comes to bella reuss in particular the countrys sovereignty will be respected of guff the world does germany often faces criticism for not taking a robust enough line with russia and we see the change of tone here. Is definitely a difficult one on the one hand there are important relations for example on the Economic Perspective when you think of the north stream to pipeline but there are stressed ourself various issues on the political level that are very problematic at the same time however Angela Merkel has stressed before and she did so again at that press conference this that she believes that its important to talk to russia to maintain those channels of communication because russia beyond the bilateral relations also plays an Important Role internationally when it comes to dealing for example in International Conflicts so as such im going to call stressed once again that although there are difficult issues between germany and russia there are also elements that require germany talking to russian leaders and thats why im going to call also talks for example often on the phone with russian president Vladimir Putin you know speaking of russia she also spoke about the case of alexander vali the russian Opposition Leader currently berlin clinic suffering from a suspected poisoning what did she say. She thanked the doctors at the german hospital charite here in berlin who were treating. The she stressed that germany obviously had limited capabilities when it comes to clarifying exactly what happened but that once there is more information on the actual circumstances there will also be a common european position on this and not a position that only depends on one or another country in europe but one that comes from the European Union as a whole in friendly terms with the chancellor also addressed the coronavirus pandemic situation in germany what did she have to say about that she specifically had 3 goals in mind when talking about the coronavirus pandemic one stressing that children should not be the losers of the pandemic so again strengthening that idea that schools and attendance has to be a key element of germanys policy also focusing on the Economic Development making sure that the economy is strong and then social cohesion Something Else that she stressed again in particular taking care of those who are most vulnerable in society so 3 key elements that germany will focus on when it comes to the corona virus pandemic in the next few weeks and months Thomas Barrow that from politics thank you thomas. Time now for a quick look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world unesco says it will seek hundreds of millions of dollars to help rebuild lebanons devastated capital beirut although the hole was for explosion was centered on the port the u. N. Agency says 160. 00 schools were damaged or destroyed in esco also wants farms to rebuild beiruts cultural heritage. A teenager has been charged with killing 2 people and injuring a 3rd during protests against the Police Shooting of a black man of the u. S. State of wisconsin Kyle Rittenhouse faces 6 criminal counts including murder authorities believe the 17 year old was inspired by selfstyled militia groups on social media. Will stay in the u. S. Where donald trump hours except at the rep Republican Partys nomination for his presidency is acceptance brought to a close the partys 4 Day Convention to a backdrop of simmering tension over Police Shootings and racism the republicans pitch themselves as the party of law and order trump said the stakes and novembers election have never been higher. Per Republican Convention is seen as anything but conventional. Never before has the white house been used as a backdrop for a president ial candidates acceptance speech leading some to accuse trump of misusing the building as a political prop. But over the next hour trump showed he was determined to use all means of his disposal to make the case for his reelection starting by saying the stakes have never been higher. This is the most important election in the history of our country. At no time before have voters faced a clear choice between 2 parties 2 visions 2 philosophers or 2 agendas. Set out an optimistic vision of the countrys future. Under a new trump victory. In a new term as president we will again build the greatest economy in history quickly returning to full employment soaring incomes and record prosperity and despite the obvious flouncing of his own Administration Guidelines on the come to make an event with few Wearing Masks and seats close together he promised to bring the coronavirus under control. We are delivering lifesaving therapies and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year or maybe even sooner. But his main strategy was to attack his opponent jay biden who is leading in the polls. Joe biden is not a savior of americas soul he is the destroyer of americas jobs and if given the chance he will be the destroyer of american greatness someone further presented by it as a radical and a danger to society also by making claims that have proven to be untrue. Make no mistake if you give power to joe biden the radical left will defy Police Departments all across america they will pass federal legislation to reduce Law Enforcement nationwide they will make every city look like democrat run portland oregon. No one will be safe in bidens america. Critics say chums aim is to stoke fear cast himself as the savior of the nation. For all his fiery triumphalism the campaign is only now just beginning. Well for a closer examination on what donald trump said in his acceptance speech or to bring in your survey but hes didnt use fact check about based in bonn your show you how to close a look to see if there were any factual distortions in trumps speech one of the topics was the recent racial unrest lets 1st listen to what he said there. And i say very modestly that i have done more for the Africanamerican Community than any president since Abraham Lincoln our 1st republican president. Ok yasha is that true has donald trump done more than any other president for black people in the u. S. Since lincoln. Well you just have to see what is discussed right now on that on twitter a lot of people are very angry about this quote and they dont even understand how present trump can say this they cues are not being responsible for the violence out there on the streets for many cases of Police Violence and racist behavior in this society and obviously there are a lot of other names of former president between lincoln and trumbull there are people mentioning for example president barack obama but another name is outstanding in my opinion lyndon b. Johnson he did a lot for black citizens of the us the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights act are 2 examples we gave the black population constitutional equality and i think that is much more than trump did actually another topic in trumps speech was the corona virus pandemic and looking back how he has handled it so far lets listen in to what he had to say to that not a single american who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator which is a miracle. About what we think about this claim in particular if we think about the beginning of the corona Virus Outbreak in the u. S. Russia. Well this is an astonishing claim we should all remember the 1st week of the outbreak of the corona virus in the u. S. The United States werent really prepared for the virus such as other countries too but for example new York Governor Andrew Cuomo was asking in march for help when the situation was getting worse and worse he asked 430000 ventilators and received 400 by the federal government so he said he wont be possible to decide whos going to die because there was a lack of these ventilators so the only miracle in my opinion is why i could present trump dont remember the situation in march and april its more likely that trump wants once again distract us from his defeats in the management of this corona crisis so this claim is clearly false so lets look at. Another fact coronavirus deaths this is what trump had to say on that topic the United States is among the lowest cage faked ality rates of any major country anywhere in the world the European Unions case fatality rate is the early 3 times higher than ours but you dont hear that they dont write about that they dont want to write about that they dont want you to know the well were going to talk about that yours or what are the actual numbers in the official statistics saying on this wall beside the media critics in this quote we have to see that President Trump likes to stress the ratio between covered 1000 and the known cases so the case for tell it to rate but this isnt seen by Public Health experts as a reliable marker of success or failure of a country in the effort to to to fight against a coronavirus and to be correcting United States has the 51st ties observe case fatality rate out of 170. 00 countries according to the Johns Hopkins university so we cant really say that this is a good position in which the United States are in and they have a relatively high death rate when coal collated as death per capita so i dont see that the us is are very good have a very good. So far bylane in this and this case and on the other hand true the truth is that donald trump doesnt want to hear that the us have the most casualties and the biggest numbers of cases right now all over the world so once again hes trying to escape the truth a bit thats putting it mildly and lets also have a listen to how a truck attacked his democratic rival joe biden. During their Convention Joe Biden and his supporters remained completely silent about the rioters and criminals spreading mayhem in democrat run cities they never even mentioned it during their entire Convention Never once mentioned. Now theyre starting to mention it because their poll numbers are going down like a rock in water. Are they were really one of those polls saying. No they clearly arent actually its the opposite trump is obsessed by polls and figures but only if they say that he is winning if hes not he invents a different reality we can say joe biden has been ahead of donald trump in National Polls for most of the year he has hoovered around 50 percent in recent weeks and has had a temperate percent lead or 10 point lead on occasions the latest poll i saw today is an 8 percent lead of joe biden so quite something and no the donek democrats are not losing ground on trump so joe biden has at this point acquired a good lead on trump and perhaps President Trump is just trying to mix the wish and reality here at this point or perhaps more likely he just ignores the facts once again to appear stronger than he is which is a well known strategy he uses and those are the facts for to us from by your show of a about the 2 w. s chief thank you russia. And we stand the u. S. Where a big cleanup is underway in the state of louisiana after it was hit by one of the most powerful storms in years hurricane laura left at least 6 people dead after smashing into the gulf coast with winds of up to 240 kilometers an hour meteorologists have now downgraded laura to a Tropical Storm but it still threatens to bring strong winds rain and tornadoes as it moves northeast its. The Seaside Community of cameron was 1st and hardest hit as hurricane laura carved a path of death and destruction through the u. S. Gulf coast. More than half a 1000000 people fled their homes but many stayed behind to take their chances as the storm bore down it was well. Groundwater so the when you can hear the neighbors roof blew off the side of the house and this blew this. Blue into the mouths. Taking stock of the devastation all those described clinging on for dear life there are those who like it think so thorough in this club that we were on top of returning just how leave germany and laura wrought havoc with the areas Industrial Base causing a poisonous chlorine gas fire to break out at this Chemical Plant officials have warned residents to stay indoors. Despite the heat that theyre experiencing it shelter at home under those circumstances means they need to be on the inside of their home with the doors and windows close. Sometimes in neighboring texas were all so hit. Surveying the damage its governor says be got off lightly. When you consider the magnitude of the damage that could have occurred here we did dodge a bullet. They will need to keep getting lucky because this scientists point out hurricanes are growing in frequency and strength thanks in large part to unchecked manmade climate change. New still to come. A pianist in the ruins no longer we hear the story of much who found sanctuary in germany 5 years. But 1st to japan where the countrys longest serving Prime Minister shinzo has announced his resignation because of Health Problems after serving for almost 8 consecutive years obvious said he had been diagnosed with a recurrence of the bowel disease that led him to resign during his 1st period in office in the midst to thousands during his latest tenure he oversaw japans were covering from the devastating earthquake tsunami and Nuclear Disaster and pursued an ambitious Economic Program known as abu nomics. Joined by michael pena journalist in tokyo michael why exactly is obvious stepping down now. Well to some extent we have to take him at his word that. The Health Problem has returned this condition that he has called all sorts of collide this is something which very much did force him to step down in 2007 at the end of his 1st premiership and i believe that probably with the addition of a lot of stress dealing with many many problems and his Public Opinion ratings very low and the covert 1000 crisis and many other things there seems to be a re flare up in the condition and that he feels he can no longer carry on. Is it clear yet who will succeed him as Prime Minister. It is not its going to be a real race as we sit here at this moment 4 candidates have already raised their hands to say that they will be running in the race to succeed him these are all Ruling Party Members and i think probably within a week or 2 there are those 4 will be joined by others so its going to be quite an open race to see who who will become the next Prime Minister at this point not clear at all. Motions japans longest serving Prime Minister what sort of mocks has he left on his country. Well he was as you noted those persons who served as Prime Minister longer than any other person in japanese history that goes back to the 19th century so he certainly will be known as someone who. Is known for a long stable premiership but on the other hand most of his positive achievements have been mostly swept away for example the Economic Growth which which other nomics produced has mostly disappeared this year and in the year of covert 19. Tourism industry which i did very well under his leadership is also obviously gone right now many of the changes he made to the legal changes you want to make he was unable to achieve so in many ways my quite surprisingly his long term legacy may be less than people think. Michael penn in tokyo thank you very much. Thank you. This week is looking back at events in the summer of 2015 when europe faced its biggest migration crisis since world war 2 hundreds of thousands of migrants fled their home countries in search of a Better Future on the continent most of them cross from turkey to greece by boat often in flimsy rubber dinghies more than 8750000 migrants landed on the greek shores that year from there they took what became known as the balkan routes travelling north through macedonia and serbia into slovenia or hungary and then on to austria and other e. U. Countries including germany. Back then chancellor merkel declared an open door policy for refugees from syria as a result germany talking about a 1000000 migrants although not all of them well qualified to stay one of those who did qualify was. Heres a story. His songs tell of pain and a lost homeland but also of hope 5 years ago pianist mad fled syria specifically the yarmouk refugee camp for palestinians. Back there he played music to counter the nightmare scene of bomb craters and ruined buildings and created beauty to fight despair. It was hungry or so and i dont cant leave my family but i was keeping playing piano we die anyway we will die from hunger in 56 days volume when i dont die play piano at least its held me i dont think music its feed people or helped people really its helped the mentality to see at least to the whites why to place in the end all this got us to off in the other more calm. Yarmulkes a neighborhood of damascus it was under constant sea trim i asked troops for years people there had no electricity no food or medicine and a ham played music. In the images of him playing with fire when a ham fled to germany in 2015 he was already a minor celebrity and was quickly offered a public stage but he felt uncomfortable with the attention. And said. I am here famous playing piano the pianist off the arm or what we are a group of people i try to keep in connection with him its not easy and when somebody is still dying from hunger. And you tell him look we speak about you here up what its done for me there you know this is this is not easy here he is performing at a refugee shelter in berlin at a celebration marking 5 years since chancellor Angela Merkels we can do it statement in the meantime ahabs wife and sons have joined him and he can work play in concert people listen to him. I am not star in the liver liver feel i am a star i feel responsible to tell of this blah blah blah what i tell it no its important maybe its not so important for people to hear it but at least i feel responsible to tell it and i use every mike every camera to tell that 4 people a ham songs deal with what hes experienced and hes also written his autobiography which was published in germany last year in it he tells of his father who built Musical Instruments and of his own childhood in a still peaceful syria he tells of the children he watched die and of the moment when i asked fighters burned his piano but constantly retelling his story takes its toll. When i go on with this is story and remembering youre more cream im betting the war its a really true heavy here and this is why i will list of the music because when i go on i just well will still the pianist and the trombone or that this image but the horrible images from a hum past wont stop so easily hopefully he wont give up music it helped him during his darkest times and it helps him now allowing him to make a living and a new life in germany. This is the. Off the top story this hour germanys chancellor Angela Merkel has warned her fellow citizens to brave themselves for more of the coronavirus. Annual summer News Conference michael said the world would have to live with a virus for a long time a situation could get more difficult when winter comes. Youre watching news up next as the u. S. Election Campaign Starts to heat up all debate so to the point takes a look at the fight for the president s. Plan. To the point from the opinion clear positions International Perspectives because its official the republican and democratic parties in the u. S. Have nominated donald trump and joe biden as their candidates in this falls election now the campaign for the presidency it gives in earnest will it be a dirty fight join us on to talk to the point. Of the convention up next on the lead. Its a constant companion. And it makes us feel. Headaches dizziness and tonight is as a some illnesses that can be caused by not. One is that. And what can we do about it. In good shape. To 60 minutes on t w. Theyve been robbed of their so if thats what a people experiencers when theyre taken from them. Countless cultural riches were brutally stolen from africa and carted off to europe by colonialists. Each artifact has blood on it from the ones that have yet to heal. What should be done with the stone or from africa. This is being hotly debated on both continents of stolen soul stored september 7th on g. W. Will he stay or will he go donald trump kicked off his partys convention by joking that he might stay not for but even 12 more years it came as no surprise that the convention dominated the president for a 2nd term warren expected was the dark mood at a meeting that had been billed as sending a message of hope and optimism instead from sharply attacked his rival joe biden and accuse the democrats of scheming to manipulate mail in ballots biden himself says he will be an ally of the white not the darkness trump versus biden a dirty fight for the u. S. Presidency that is our title. Welcome to the point it is a pleasure to introduce our guests pseudo david is Deputy Director of the Berlin Office of the transatlantic think tank German Marshall Fund and she says American Elections are always full of dirty Campaign Tricks but this year the rhetoric will be harsher than ever. And its a pleasure to welcome grow from he is a political lobbyist with republicans overseas and his opinion the track record of both county dates doesnt lie and in the long run quality always succeeds therefore trump will prevail. And great to have with us once again Soraya Sarhaddi nelson she is the Program Director of the English Speaking radio station. And she says the Republican National convention this week shows how damaged the presidency is many prominent republicans didnt even take part. So let me ask you souter you say American Election campaigns are always dirty so was there anything about these 2 Party Conventions that actually surprised you know i think its to be expected given the you know how strong polarization is in the United States at the moment certainly theres always dirty Campaign Tricks over you know in u. S. Election history but i think this time its 2 parties pitted against each other framing each other as sort of enemies for the United States or existential threat for the United States and thats why its especially harsh and that mood of darkness that we heard particularly on the 1st night of the Republican Convention nothing there that really stood out for you particularly. Harshly. I think you know president in 2016 we saw this and also during the 2018 midterm elections. For winning elections like lets play the fear lets use fear as a way of winning and the question is whether a work in 2020. Well for him to the republicans have promised an upbeat convention but in fact theyve been largely delivered the opposite whats the message behind that well the message behind the convention was that he has a strong team he has a Strong Family he has the message we transport and hes a track record of course the trick record is a cut phenomenally until corona quite successful i think hes going to play the card that hes the leader that hes a good con economic a leader and i think well see in the future you know in the next 8 to 10 weeks whether we get a more a a a campaign towards more economically issues or more liberal rights should sort of mentioned the fear element in fact weve heard a lot of speakers at the convention saying the president is the only one who can really protect americans and keep them secure but the fact is that the chaos were seeing right now in the United States has occurred on his watch well the point the question is who is possible for parts of the chaos i mean he the management from corona for instance is not within his responsibility its on the individual states the point is hes responsible for it for the economy yes but hes not responsible for this little rights discussion i think i think its very very have to be very cautious who is responsible for such problems maybe weve weve talked about this for more than 1020 years now that there are problems and we have that at the obama biden of ministration and they havent been doing much against that as well soraya you talked about prominent republicans not taking part in the Republican Convention in fact a number of them took part in the democratic one warning voters not to vote for donald trump once again my question to you would be though how many people are really getting that message will it change support for donald trump because if you look at the numbers. It seems that at most 30 percent of American Voters have been watching these conventions thats true but on the other hand and theres no doubt that theres youre talking about a base thats going to stay with donald trump and its going to be very difficult to move them but there is also that large i mean there are republicans who perhaps youre in for a different time our party i mean this party has been redefined at this point to be a Trump Loyalist Party i mean in the in the people who are not showing up you know that that thats because they just refuse to follow that line and so i think that there are a large number of voters out there that could deviate i mean that could go in another direction to somebody like joe biden and come along harris because its just its more moderate and so there is a there is a large component there that is not being addressed by this very you know narrow definition that weve seen or that were seeing let me ask you say about this Trump Loyalist Party in fact to this convention the Republican Convention has been absolutely dominated by the president s family the party for good forewent having a program a platform thats a historic 1st it seems like the platform is donald trump has the Republican Party become in fact a personality cult well of personally cold but finally now compared to last place and has a track record you know dont forget he was not a politician before he went into office and he was a he was a businessman now he has a 4 years you know track record and now he can claim what i have been doing the for the last 4 years and basically ive kept a lot of promises and hes playing that card very well i mean lets hear from the president himself and come right back to us or i i see you want to respond but let me let us 1st hear from the president himself he has been claiming for some time now that the only way he could lose would be if the election is rigged and as the Republican Convention got under way he spelled out how he thought that might happen. We caught them doing some really bad thing in this in 2016 lets see what happens we caught them doing some really bad things we have to be very careful because theyre trying it again with this whole 80000000 mail in ballots at their work you know. Sending them out to people that didnt ask for that ines they just gave them the only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election were going to win this election. So serrano you wanted to respond just now to ralph but perhaps you can also tell us whats the president doing there. Well hes doing what he does and a does very well which is sort of elevate the fear factor and basically say this is the trump reality theres no way he could lose unless this is a rigged election and there are a lot of people who believe that so that is a card hes playing even though it may come back to haunt me you know well have to see how that goes i was just going to say though about the loyalists thing i mean i think its what trump is all it has established is not just a record but he really has been much more about who says what i mean hes fired people for not being 100 percent loyal to him anybody who questions him or questions and his policy is gone i mean the people who are left the white house right now are diehard Trump Supporters and loyalists who will even to the point of the medical people who are advising him in the pandemic you know its its like my way or the highway so to me i dont know i dont i find that to be new i dont think this is just an incumbent president having you know his supporters sort of rallying around him for a 2nd term so what do you make of the fact that the president is saying he cant lose the election unless its rigged what are the implications of that well it sounds like hes setting things up so that if he is to lose he can say point the record say look its unfair and he can still sort of hold clout outside of office so. Can still sort of be an agitator outside the white house but the irony actually is that you know recently there was a bipartisan report released from the u. S. Senate both republicans and democrats said that in 2016 the russians did interfere in the u. S. Elections and thats kind of ironic actually that hes saying that because there is there has been a bipartisan report saying there was russian interference and there was collusion but there was no evidence to convict ralph in a climate as polarized and heated as the one that we have in the u. S. Right now arent words like that that essentially throw doubt skepticism on the entire democratic process the very core of that process and election are they playing with fire absolutely on point i have a different opinion i think its an appropriate for a president to say that like stuff like that also he claimed 4 years ago hes hes going to throw Hillary Clinton into prison i thought that was an appropriate either so i think theres a red line and the president shouldnt pass this line was not too often do you think theres a real chance that if the results of the election are indeterminate those mail in ballots they may take weeks to count is there a real chance that he would contest an election result. Ive no idea so you 1st time in history that that would happen i at this point i dont have the fantasy to go therefore i dont think thats going to happen sarette talk about playing with fire we have seen President Trump discredit Democratic Institutions again and again what are the systemic consequences that well i mean he still is playing to a populous that wants to see things shaken up i think that the lines become so blurred as to what perhaps could use reform institutions that we stand by that i think this is something thats going to be very hard for whoever is the next president to kind. Hell i think that people are going to continue to react with emotion and with you know defend their positions without facts necessarily and thats thats still sort of i think the mantra that sort of has become in america and its very dangerous i think its dangerous as you mentioned for Democratic Institutions you know we have yet to see what will happen with with the election you know Postal Service you name it there are just things that are there are crumbling and that people dont really understand what the damage could be if that continues lets perhaps dig a bit deeper on that dark mood to that we have seen at the Republican Convention and maybe also tie it to some of the events in the wisconsin this week numerous speakers have stoked fear and anger at the republican meeting with predictions of mob violence in the streets and one of those who found the flames was the president s son Donald Trump Jr in a speech that many observers saw as a launching pad for his own political ambitions. People of faith are under attack youre not allowed to go to church but mass chaos in the streets gets a pass its almost like this election is shaping up to be church work in school versus rioting looting and vandalism. So let us now go to a suit and pseudo on the same evening that Donald Trump Jr spoke we heard a very striking appearance by a couple named mccloskey mccluskeys have been charged with a felony for pointing their weapons at black protesters who were going through their streets. Are the republicans with a Statement Like that with statements like you just heard from Donald Trump Jr are they indirectly if not directly exploiting racism well i think its become sort of a party of grievance and you know there are of course in 2016 i think donald trump was very smart to see that there were parts of the u. S. Electorate that were still suffering and people feeling left behind the question now is where does the lines cross as weve often talked about how dollar breaks norms and crosses certain lines where it becomes taking advantage of people with fear and also actually harming them because youre stoking division and what. Youre. Describing in a world according to biden is actually happening now under a dollar watch so i hope getting back to your question also about the results of the election i hope that there is a resoundingly win for either side because then i think that the country can sort of move on and not have this sort of neck and Neck Division of you know polarization we need to have some constructive work moving forward. From republicans abroad sorry i think i got that name wrong at the outset of the show in wisconsin those divisions have been on display this week on tuesday night we saw armed civilians get into a scuffle with protesters while they were trying whether armed civilians were trying to guard a car dealership 2 people were killed isnt your party the Republican Party playing with fire when its instrumental izing race show resentment and fear of mob violence in a way like what we have seen this week well the point is and then along order and the president is as well the point is how far do you go right i think if we have it at this point we dont get. Peace on the streets you need to strong a Strong Administration i believe but theres a certain point a red line where this is crossed and where war where there also racism is involved so i believe we should really as you say we should really like like come down a little bit and watch it from a but i was after a perspective after i have to say i asked myself yes when i saw the events in co show on tuesday night to what degree the appearance of charged people charged with a felony on the 1st night of the convention incites people like these