It is calling for the units to be disbanded. Plus, the german car maker, volkswagen putting its money on eating mobility. Vw starts production of its First Electric massmarket vehicle. Sherman chancellor Angela Merkel with a promise to expand ecommerce infrastructure across the country. I reviewers on pbs in the units kids, welcome. We start in germany. The country celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, which happened on the ninth of november 1989. Berlins mayor has officially opened a week of festivities with a light show at the worldfamous alexander platz, that is the square or hundreds of thousands of germans demonstrated 30 years ago, november 4, 1989, calling for freedom of expression and democracy. The commemorations will culminate with a ceremony atat e berlin wall memorial on saturday. Joining me now is our chief political correspondent, melinda crane. She is at alexanderplatz. Is it possible for the events we are seeing today to truly represent those events, those fateful events of 30 years ago . Well, certainly, you can see this during images behind me that are aiming to do just that. The mayor talked today about the courage of the protesters who gathered on this day 30 years ago saying, eight can be and should be a shining example to all of us to fight against exclusion and for justice in every way possible. I think that pretty much capturures the tone of the weeklong commemoration of germanys peaceful revolution. It is not a triumphant tone. Even though this is being billed as a festival and celebration. Very much one of thoughtful reflection. The whole is called seven days, seven places. That essentially is a tribute to the fact that the revolution did not occur on one day on the ninth of november when the wall fell. It was a process over weeks and months. It is a process that is not even finished yet. It was a process in which this square played a historic role. Lets take a look back. In november 1980 nine, the exodus of people leaving east germany reacheded a peak. Those who decided to stay demanded or freedom. Within half a million staged a mass protest on east berlins alexander platz, the largest illustration in the history of east g germany. It i is as if someone has pushed open the window after years of intellectual, economic, and political stagnation. Levers reeking years reeking of have the fee, years of doublespeak and bureaucratic despotism. The communist regime had suddenly and publicly lost all support. Even then, no one predicted that just five days later, the berlin wall would fall. No one expected it either. It was the biggest demonstration the east germany had ever seen. Talk to me about the importance of that demonstration 30 years ago. Melinda the organizers of the demonstration were a diverse group, actors, artists, members of church groups, academics, students. Some of them, very prominent and wellknown. Some, unknown to the public. It took the unusual step of applying for a permit for the demonstration, which had never happened before in east german history. They got one. When they gathered on the morning 30 years ago, they could not know whether the regime would try to suppress the protest with violent because there had been violent intervention by the authorities at protests in october in leipzig for example. Essentially, no one knew how many people would show up and what would happen in the course of the day. The thing that was unique was that those who spoke were able to voice their grievances and demands for democratic freedoms and transparency in the presence of highlevel party officials. One of whom also took to the stage without any form of refuge form of retribution. It was shown on east german television, and other unusual event. Apparently, without authorization. One of the organizers said when she saw the hands of the leading member of the bureau who spoke at the demonstration badly shaking, she thought to herself, the days of the regime are numbered. Print people who have experienced that, brent people who have experienced that, they remember what they were thinking. What about you . Any memories from 1989 . Melinda i just had my first child at the time. He was born a sickly at exactly the time on the former head of the Public Bureau had just stepped down. I thought to myself on the wall fell, he is being born to a peaceful world. He is being born into a world that in every way will be better than the old one. That was a kind of linear view of history that events have showed us his big salute is absolutely wrong. This commemoration that takes into account the complexity and the messiness of the project that has been unification is spot on. For me now, looking at what is happening here, there is a recognition of all that has been gained but also of the immense destabilization and insecurity that had been caused for many east germans who have seen their entire lives changed. Brent melinda crane, thank you. To the middle east now, at least five people have been killed in the iraqi capital of baghdad after Security Forces opened fire on antigovernment protesters. Thousands of iraqis have been taking part in the countrys largest protest wave in decades, fueled by anger over corruption, high unemployment, and poor public services. United nations is calling for deescalation and for talks between the government and demonstrators. The mass funeral soon became a raging protest with blood and soil shared we will sacrifice for you. They chanted on the streets today. Failing to avenge three men who died last night during clashes with progovernment phylicia in the shiite holy city. Our son is a hero. He was carrying the iraqi flag. The militias attacked us and killed our son. In the capital of baghdad, they rallied to remember the victims. Demonstrators s surging out of thr protest camp and towarards the heavily guarded bridges leading to the government district. The people bracing for further violence, they had seen so much of it in recent weeks. Yesterday, a young man w went to the bridge and a grerenade ht him in t the head. His entirere head was severed. From what i know about peaceful protests, there should not be martyrs. Sickeningly familiar signs were playing out in baghdad. Security forces deploying Water Cannons and tear gas. Once more, firing live rounds into the crowd. Their aim, to push demonstrators back away from government ministries in the fortified green zone. All we have against what they are using our bandages. We would like to thank the volunteers who are getting us protect vests, helmets, and gloves. It seems demonstrators are determined to stay on the streets. No matter whether the government responds with a carrot or a clenched fist. Tonight, heavy clashes are reportedly continuing near the green zone. Who knows how much blood will be spilled in baghdad tonight. Brent here are some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. Iran has announced new violations of the nuclear deal it signed with the world powers in 2015. Tehrans nuclear chief says it is developing a new generation of advanced centrifuges, which can enrich uranium up to 50 times more quickly. I ran began violating limitations on uranium enrichment after u. S. President donald trump pulled out of the nuclear deal last year. A u. S. Appeals court has ruled donalds Accounting Firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to new york prosecutors. Manhattans District Attorney is seeking the returns as part of a criminal probe into the u. S. President and his real estate business. Trump is expected to ask the Supreme Court of the u. S. To overturn the ruling. Cia backed afghan Paramilitary Forces have killed civilians in night raids, kidnapped people, and bobbed villages. That is according to the latest Human Rights Watch report. These documented incidents took place in mostly talibancontrolled areas of afghanistan and have increased significantly over the past two years as the u. S. Has ramped up its efforts to exit the 18 year long war. A Human Rights Watch says what is happening are war crimes. The cia has responded and says its operations are done, and im quoting, in accordance with law and under a robust system of oversights. For afghan civilians, the rationale offers little in the way of justice for their loved ones killed as collateral damage. Afghan villagers area and their dead. Farm workers harvesting pinenuts were among the victims caught up in a u. S. German strike caught up in september targeting Islamic State militants in the east of the country. Rights mononitors even as the warring parties step up efforts to reach a piece. There seems to be a move towards a settlement and a possible u. S. Troop withdrawal. Both sides are ramping up their military activities, trying to cause as many casualties and as much damage to the other side as possible. The problem is that civilians are the ones most affected most effective. Human rights watch noticed a disturbing trend. When the people who came to me after we interviewed a dozen people described a different kind of atrocity. It was the first time i was aware these kind of night raids have become so frequent and that the people affected had no avenue for redress. No one to turn to. Dark over t the past two years, the group s says it has documend over a dozen cases of serious abuses by afghan paramilitary squads operating in secret with cia backing. The alleged crimes include and is given air raids, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances. The problem with these paramilitary groups is they they operate outside normal chains of command within the normal Afghan Government forces. They are not held accountable. The lack of transparency means civilians cannot go to someone and find out what happened, get any kind of justice for the crimes committed. Human rights watch says the units should be disbanded. The cia disputes the findings, saying the quotes are likely false or exaggerated. Brent for more on this, i am joined in washington, d. C. With john glaser, the director of Foreign Policy studies that the Cato Institute. It is good to have you on the show. You looked at all of this even before the Human Rights Watch report came out. What can you tell us about the situation in afghanistan right now . John the details of the report are pretty gruesome. In f fact, this kind of thing is not terribly new. There have been repoports o of a backed afghan groups committing abuses for a almost the e entiry of our 18 yearar long war. I rememember during the obama admininistration,herere was a series of reports about the afghan local police. At the time, backed by u u. S. Intelllligence agencies. That was committing war crimes as well. Back in the obama administration, there was a report from the United Nations about systemic torture in afghan prisons. Afghanistan is anan extremely violen place. Ththe politics a are not exemptm that. We are trying to n nation b buin a very difficult country. These are the kind of results you get. Brent this war has been going on for 18 years. There has been terrible things terrible things have occurred. If this report is confirmed, what would be particularly new about it . John what will not be new is the response of the u. S. Government. When reports of this kind have popped up in the past, the basic response is to deny, to try to poke holes in the story, and then to ignore. That is what i expect to be going on this time around. You could argue in a different context that it would be another kind of impulse to pressure public will toto withdraw frfrom afghanista and end the lost american war. That does not seem to be in the cards right now, given the spate of u. S. Afghan negotiations. Brent what is the situation for civilians in talibancontrolled areas . Do they have a choice whether or not to collaborate with the taliban or d dthey have to colloratate . John many afghans are simply stuck in between a group of fighting armed people, whether it is the u. S. Government or government in kabul, tribal militias, or thesese paramilitay type units. Most afghan civilians are just stuck. K. They have lived for about 40 years s with constant war and conflict in their midst. Most of them are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Until the warring factions decide it is necessary to end, that will not happen. Brent it is probably hard for them to imagine. John glaser with the Cato Institute in washington, d d. C. Thank you. What will the future of transport here in germany look like . That is the question that is being asked as Auto Industry executives meet with politicians right here in berlin. They are discussing key issues that are transforming the sector including alleged vehicles including alleged vehicles and autonomous driving cars. The car summit comes as volkswagen begins its production of the fully electric massmarket vehicle known as the id3. Here comes the car volkswawan has spent three years getting ready for mass production. The id3 is the companys first purely electric model, one of the worlds automakers is now spending 30 billion euros to get electric cars into the mainstream. Ladies and gentlemen, we stand before a systemic change to electric mobility. It is no longer a question of whether electric mobility will become a reality, but a question of how fast and which regions of the world first. That is a direct challenge toto german chancellor Angela Merkel. Her government is struggling to create enough charging stations to accommodate the three and 30,000 id3s 330,000 id3s that vw plans to produce every year. The government will be taking extraordinary measures. We will invest 3. 5 billion euros over the next three years to expand Public Infrastructure for charging stationons. Volkswagen has spent 1. 2 billion euros converting its plant to electric vehicle production. Now, it falls on the g governmet to make charging ecards as easy asas filling a gas tank k so tht people w will finally start b bg them. Brent will it be that easy . I am joined by my colleague from our business desk, janelle dumalaon. That is the question. Are people going to buy these cars . Janelle i was at the frankfurt motor show when the unveiled this vehicle. What they have tried to do is they have tried to solve these problems, that they are too expensive and do not go far enough. Today massmarket model with a corresponding price tag. If i were to drive for three to 30 kilometers, i would end up in prague. Very few people have to do that every day. It is enough for everyday use. There is still the problem of charging infrastructure. There were only 21 thousand charging points in germany. Volkswagen said it wants to release 22 million ecards by the next decade. It is not the only player in town. Say there is a shortfall to brididge may be an understateme. Brent where you going to charge all of the z cars if you have them on the road . That brings us to the next question, the infrastructure you need to is that the biggest hurdle standing in the way of ecards taking over e cars . Janelle chancellor merkel says she wants to see one million charging stations by 2030. There are a lot of unanswered questions. There is the question of allowing people to charge their cars at home. You will need to change building and housing regulations to do that. The Energy Industry is saying that their projections for how many charging stations on the road are a lot more modest because they do not know how much the Energy Supply could handle. The whole point of this is to become more environmentally friendly. It is supposed to help p germany meet its climate its climate goals. How environmentally friendly our batteries . Do we even know . Especially around questions of disposal. These are all discussions that have to take place quickly but still have a long way to go. Brent all right. We appreciate your reporting. Thank you. Here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. Rick police have foundnd 41 refugegees alive in a refefriged trtruck in the north of the country. Police stopped the truck on a highway for a routine check. Officials say most people inside were from afghanistan and were unharmed as the refrigeration system was not turned on. The driver has been arrested. Vietnamese police say they have arrested eight more suspectcts n connecection witith the deaths 9 be enemy citizens were found dead in a refrigerated truck outside of london last month. The suspects are accused of organizing people smuggling overseas. Reddish police have charged two men with manslaughter over those briritish police e have chard two men with manslaughter. In guinea, there is one person being reported killed in clashes between secururity fororces. Hundreds j joined a funeralal mh for p protesters killed during a week of demonstrations. Brent sports news now. Bayern munich have parted ways with coach niko kovak, following the defeat to frankfurt. Ed mccambridge joins me to talk about the news. Talk to me. It was a brutal loss on saturday. Was this a kneejerk reaction from the club . Ed possibly. I think it was the nature of the of the defeat that sped things up. To lose 51 is a humiliating defeat for their size. Results has been poor for a while. They had failed to win half of their games this season. It is simply not good enough for a club of their size. Niko kovak knew the expectations on his shoulders when the season started. On top of that, there were murmurings of player unrest. A couple of players head snuck to the players had snuck to the press. There were rooms they had there were rumors that alienated the club icon. 51, possibly the final nail in the coffin. We have prepared a report for our viewers. Have a look at the things that have happened over the days and weeks preceding niko kovak getting fired. The Bayern Munich headquarters the day after the club announced they had split from coach niko kovak. The board led who will step down president as president by midnovember. Things had been strained between the bosses for some time. The berlin born coach had not been their first pick for the job to begin with. Despite winning a league and cup double in the first season in charge, niko kovak was often criticized for lack of technical flexibly. Come see statements to the press had also made him vulnerable. It was increasingly evident he lacked a game plan. It is unacceptable what is going on at the moment. We need to sit down together and talk things through. Only if we speak about and analyze it can we see an improvement. Ed the assistant will take the reins for now. Possible longterm coaches include a difficult task lies ahead for Bayern Munich. A solution must be found in great people for the club. Ed the question is, who is going to take over . He has come to be taking over the next few games. He was the assistant before he left the club. He is going to be taking over for the next two games. The big game at the weekend. For anywhere viewers thinking who is that . He was the assistant coach germany won the world cup in 2014. He certainly is no stranger to coaching. He has never managed a big elite club in European Competition like this. They are going to have to find someone new. Some of the names rumored at the moment. The boss who did a fantastic job of getting the young team to the champions semifinals last year. Jose moreno. Also, the grand old master who used to be the coach of arsenal. Brent this person is going to have his or her work cut out for them. You have to wonder, can byron still 7 can bayern still salvage the season . Ed they always eventually end up winning. They spent 140 Million Euros on new players during the summer. Plenty of talent in the squad. With fresh blood, a coach coming in with fresh ideas, they will be able to win the bundesliga. Brent brent they definitely have the money to do it. Thank you. You are watching dw news live from berlin. After a short break, i will be back to take you throughgh the y tonight. We are going to look at the week 30 years ago they began tearing down the wall. Plus, in the united states, t minus one year until election day. Will the current president be the future president as well . We will ask in about a minute and 30 seconds. Stick around. Hundred points twenty four correspondence from around the world. That you want to learn from her some front twenty four the headlines this hour. A deadly crackdown on protesters in baghdad for the First Time SinceAnti Government unrest began a month ago Security Forces use live rounds with at least five people killed. Pakistans islamist vow to continue their protests as promised imran khan ignores that amounts to step down tens of thousands of hard liners have been camped out in the capital islamabad. Im the man you might call back in china eighteen months off to his first visit dozens of trade deals to set to be signed but will the french president. Take beijing to telescope is trade practices