Lowen reports it was the high tide roaring winds and a full moon that sparked Venice's nightmare flooding last month but the real problems run deeper rising sea levels and mass cruise ship tourism combined with political failures that have prevented adequate flood defenses today's referendum the 5th on the issue over the years is non-binding in the last 4 referenda 3 rejected separation and one failed to reach the required turnout the author it is in Mexico say 14 people have died in a shootout between police officers and drug cartel gunmen here the Us border the clash happened in the small town of Vo in your own in Coeur will a state will grant has this report the state governor incl me again and again Mr Leask delivered a statement outside the bullet ridden municipal government offices in the only yawned in which he said that 10 gunmen had been killed as well as 4 police officers several more were injured and more than a dozen vehicles as well as numerous weapons had been seized following the killing of knowing u.s. Citizens by cartel gunmen in Sonora 3 weeks ago all of them mothers and children from an extended moment community President Trump has called for his Mexican counterpart to wage war on the cartels and has said he intends to designate them as terrorist organizations World News from the b.b.c. . There's no sign of a let up in the measles outbreak in Samoa with 48 deaths up from 20 a week ago nearly all were infants a mandatory vaccination program is underway in the South Pacific island nation New Zealand is sending 100000 doses that are for half the population tens of thousands of Italians have taken to the streets of Florence and Naples to protest against the right wing League party that is demonstrations by a new political movement known as the sardines the crowd filled Republic Square in the center of Florence singing the anti fascist anthem bellow chow and hanging an effigy of the league leader Matteo Salvini sardine movement was founded 2 weeks ago by young activists in Bologna or to oppose the league ahead of regional elections the Ministry of Justice in Britain has launched an urgent review of convicted terrorists released from prison following the London Bridge knife attack whose man come who killed 2 people and wounded 3 others at a conference on prisoner rehabilitation before being shorted was released halfway through his 16 year sentence John McManus reports the metropolitan police say they believe he did comply with an extensive list of conditions including wearing an electronic tag and had received permission to travel in cylinder for Friday's conference the Ministry of Justice says the review of conditions for terrorists released the license began in the media's aftermath of the attack he said the review would ensure that the conditions worst soft as they needed to be unset that meetings between offenders and the supervisors would be stepped up a new type of apple that's been in development for more than 2 decades goes on sale in the United States later on Sunday the growers of the cosmic crisp say it has the perfect combination of crunch and sweetness and will last in the fridge for almost a year those are the latest stories from b.b.c. News. 6 minutes past h.t.m. T. Welcome to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service with me Julia Morcha with me throughout the program she curl executive director of the Angus Reid Institute that's a Canadian nonpartisan Polling Institute and the reporter and television journalist Shay Rhodes more from them in a moment 1st to Hong Kong hundreds of protesters there marching towards the American consulate many carrying Stars and Stripes flags and chanting resist Beijing liberate Hong Kong this because of what President Trump approved on Wednesday namely a law backing human rights and democracy in Hong Kong which drew an angry reaction from China now this is the 1st of several weekend rallies planned across the city as pro-democracy activists about to continue their campaign highlighting specifically police brutality and unlawful arrests with the B.B.C.'s Nick beak it in Hong Kong he told me what the marchers are hoping to show I think they want to show their gratitude to the Americans and present some specifically they say because of the endorsement they got during the week that Speccy president from passing this was legislation which means that the Americans because every year and try and make an assessment as to whether Beijing is eroding civil liberties. Yet they saw that as very much a vote for their pro-democracy movement and as I stated this morning we just on was signed and we're on the was from was and I'm sure you can hear the chants in the background fight for freedom stand behind that is the chant here it was earlier was is the right of the 3 protests was shouting for today and also I didn't make them to make out the this sort of unofficial I was these protests was once more as a home home which was dotted was singing was Jesus would you say yes was they've gathered once again was very different was the mission was and people had today the majority just wasn't. The founder of the protest movement Nic big bringing things up to date in a noisy Hong Kong more than from him throughout the day on the b.b.c. World Service from Hong Kong to China where people will be required from today Sunday to have their faces scanned when registering new mobile phone services as they go forward to seek to verify the identities of the country's hundreds of millions of Internet users the regulation was announced in September but it comes into effect today China already uses facial recognition technology to survey its population it's a world leader in such technologies but it's intensifying use across the country in recent years has sparked debate so much difference will this move make pull is a technology reporter for The New York Times in Shanghai in practice it won't feel that different because in the past usually you have a photo anyway associated with your national i.q. Which is necessary for a phone plan but this is going to be a more in a is kind of full face scanning process and as this gets rolled out what it also really probably do is just normalize this process because we're seeing these things sort of appear more and more all over the country the authorities saying they're looking to verify the identities of the country's hundreds of millions of Internet users to some that might sound slightly sinister what's important understand here is a lot of countries will force people to give over anational like you're some kind of identification to get a phone plan what China does is it has a 2nd step where if you will want to register for any social media or really any internet service at all you need a chinese phone number and because that phone number is then linked back to your IP The police have access to both at the same time and effectively ends and on anybody online in China and then as the police kind of pushed a grown surveillance the idea that you could use this sort of Internet registration process to set up will abroad or I'm out of biometric data on people for other systems for instance use use fish or recognition in cameras has been a very kind of common and constant we've seen in recent years and how does one. China is doing here compare with other countries who are clearly going down similar routes it's very normal to in a lot of countries have to get your national id over but again in China you need a phone number and you need your id to do most Internet services so effectively anonymity online has ended and I think there are some countries that are trying to kind of follow this model but the thing is it's extremely difficult it takes a lot of technology a lot of money a lot of political will to control the Internet at the level that China has and so far there's really nobody who's who's been able to do that I mean we hear you know countries like Russia and Kazakhstan are trying to kind of start be in beginning to to copy that in other places you know are buying Chinese technologies that help with this kind of stuff but it still feels very early stages and it feels like only China truly has the kind of technological prowess and organization to accomplish it in the way it has in recent years and also the centralized political system that isn't democratic that enables the authorities to do something like this if it chooses right precisely and so you know what we've seen it you know recently at least with surveillance equipment and to some degree with internet censorship equipment too is that these are going to be sold out to other authoritarian countries or places you know there's a fledgling democracies with a strongman you know so places like say Zimbabwe or Egypt or or Venezuela you know b.m.r. These kinds of places we see Chinese showing up and more in greater greater numbers and selling this kind of technology that's another thing that's kind of important to watch as we see sort of how the Internet develops from here on in technological to where does this go next do you think. We try to we've seen a real push to acquire more and more biometric information so right now it's a feast scan but it wouldn't be surprising if in a few years it became say an iris scan voice print reading as well and so basically there's all these new technologies that can identify different features poll technology reporter for The New York Times based in Shanghai. Is that something we just have to live with or do we away wary of it depends on where we live in China this is already been largely normalized 2 years ago being said he wanted to catch up to the United States in terms of Ai by 2025 exceed the u.s. By 2030 you don't pay with credit cards that at cashpoints in China anymore it's already facial rock that is your currency there's an excellent program on Frontline about this which I would recommend everybody watch or at least read the transcript but there is talk you know about Ai and and facial recognition and the advance in technology and the intersection with giving up privacy which is really going to be the stuff of a new Cold War So if there's a 4050 years ago it was about a build up of nuclear weaponry in the next 3040 years that may well be the build up of artificial intelligence and the willingness of people in the countries where this is happening or perhaps on willingness to give up their privacy and you know in the United States and Canada in the u.k. In in liberal democracies we talk about the worry of this at the same time we're giving up all kinds of personal information on social media Facebook and what have you and that that becomes a cold war how because one side of of the war if you like knows more about the other side than that side would like them to know. Yes and also uses it to its advantage well in uses that would like in similar minded countries that's the key for me is use it to their advantage and you know it was touched on in Viper. All in the report the sense that if you live in a country without democracy this is a much bigger problem than if you live in a country where where you're well protected I'm reminded of calling an ambulance in this country and the person on the other end of the line is not allowed to track my mobile phone to find out where I am and I'm like please track my phone because I really need you to come to get come and get me it's private more to my privacy is massively protected in this country possibly from Sometimes too much I think it would be quite useful if we could have a bit of a crossover we have where one agency can see my tax information and then another agency can see my benefits information and they can kind of come together and see me as a whole the whole individual rather than breaking me up into tiny little privately protected pieces of information I suppose I just wonder how how you manage the technological progress that is going on because really you can't put the genie out of the bottle in the genie back into the bottle is what I'm absolutely absolutely what people are developing Yeah and this is I'm I'm I have the fear I can feel it I can feel it we all have the fear that they're going to recognize my face they're going to scan my face but let's not be Luddites the world moves on we all sitting here with mobile phones and all the rest of it as long as the live as long as legislation keeps up we should be alright you know I cleared immigration into the u.k. Yesterday I didn't have to talk to anyone I simply looked at a photo because the government of Canada had already scanned my retinas now the decision to allow that to happen was mine I did have a moment of birth when it happened but guess what it was better than waiting in line for this and you're very welcome thank you very much 50 she had to be the junior partner in Germany's governing coalition the Social Democrats have elected as leaders to politicians who've criticized the alliance with Chancellor Merkel's conservatives the unexpected move throws into doubt the coalition already under strain we're joined live by Tom Not all but in bureau chief for The Economist magazine tell us more about these 2 politicians Tom and the significance of all this. Well Germans don't really know very much about them one of them used to be finance minister of Germany's largest state North Rhine-Westphalia but Delta boy ends in his running mate Suskind skin is a member of the Bundestag the German parliament but neither of them have any national profile and one reason why this is such a shock is that they were running against a pair that were led by Olaf Schultz he's the finance minister in the vice chancellor he's one of the most prominent politicians in Germany so this is rather a shock for the party but it's also of potentially a shock for the country at large because as he said both of these politicians have been very critical of the social democrats membership of the coalition with the Christian Democratic Union that's angle a muckle party and there's a Congress of the Social Democrats next weekend here in but Lynn which they will need to discuss whether or not they want to stay in this government and the election of these 2 politicians is a strong sign that for large numbers of the membership of the Social Democrats they just want to get out and if they do get out the government pulls. It's a very complicated there's a number of options it's probably not going to happen straight away one possibility would be for Angela Merkel to seek to run a minority government of her party and this but very insistent party Germany does not have a tradition of minority governments Angela Merkel herself is known to dislike that idea an alternative could be to try to reform a new coalition in Bundestag in the Bundestag but that looks very tricky so the possibility that we don't be left with is simply early elections and that would be almost 2 years before they expire if this Parliament she term and what does this say about the way the Social Democrats are looking at themselves now because an electorate for quite a while they have not been performing happily Yeah to put it mildly Yeah I mean in the last election federal action in 27 seen they scored just over 20 percent which was an appalling read. Ult for one of the most venerable political parties in Germany but extraordinary since then it just got worse and worse and worse it lost about one 3rd of the support since then there are now consistently and by a large gap behind the Green Party which has been surging here in Germany and there are roughly in opinion polls that roughly on a par with the far right Alternative for Germany the a.f.d. Here and this is something that I had you said that this was the fate of the s.p.d. Your 2 or 3 years ago if you body would have thought that you were mad but this is how badly the party is doing and that is why I think there is a very strong strain to get discontent discontent inside the party that it needs to rediscover itself it needs to have a search for fresh identity and for a lot of people they think that it needs to do that outside of government Tom thank you Tom Not all Berlin bureau chief for The Economist magazine on those latest political developments in Germany it's 18 and a half minutes past the hour we're going to talk about NATO for a few moments now because the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created 70 years ago in 1949 to counter the threat from the communist Soviet Union after its alliance expanded in 1901 into Eastern Europe and its forces were deployed on peacekeeping missions in Kosovo in and and in Afghanistan it took different paths but the debate on its purpose has been raging for a while the Us President Donald Trump famously for a while even pondered withdrawing from the alliance and most recently the French president Emmanuel mackerel called it brain dead and that was clearly arousing a fair amount of controversy around Europe at the time next week NATO leaders will meet here in the u.k. For the alliance's 70th anniversary I've been speaking to Rose go to Miller who was until last month Nato's deputy secretary general my view is that 2014 was the watershed year for NATO in this generation 1st Russia and seizing her. I mean a destabilizing the Donbass forcing. Up tick in our collective defense the likes of which we had not seen of course since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990 s. 2nd the rise of ISIS in 2014 the creation of the so so called Caliph that and goes all that was a huge wake up call for the allies and they also pushed forward on that front we now have significant counterterrorism train advise and assist efforts not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq and we'll be continuing to fight terrorism also on behalf of our allies in technological terms but also in terms of ensuring that the allies are pulling together I was just checking young Stoltenberg recent press conference that in fact there will be an update to the counterterrorism plan at the leaders' summit leaders meeting I should stress I was going to say it's not a summit any more is it correct they don't hold a summit in case they disagree too much though it's not that I think I think it's a matter of fact it's one of those things we had a leaders' meeting at the new headquarters in May of 2017 as well frankly it takes some doing to get leaders together for the 2 days of a full up summit so this is a leaders' meeting just on who is our common enemy point I mean you referred to Crimea and 2014 and clearly that was when Russia was very much the focus but President macro going back to his comments did say sometimes I hear some saying that it is Russia China you know answer to the who is our common enemy is it the purpose of the Atlantic alliance to identify one or the other as our enemies I don't think so so is he moving back from the idea that Russia is as much of a problem as some NATO countries think it is it is the purpose of the NATO alliance to defend all allies against against threats and that is the important thing to bear in mind you know NATO had no desire to up its deployments in the central and eastern parts of NATO territory and. AK The steps that have been undertaken since 2014 were undertaken I think of in a very proportionate way very much bearing in mind that we didn't want to to accelerate any kind of situation with Russia but in fact they've been judicious steps to defend the allies and that's the important point it's not who in particular it is what the threat circumstances determine it I get that in which case when you look at a NATO member country like Turkey currently it would appear quite close to Moscow to those circumstances make NATO members think twice about the validity of Turkey's membership and loyalty to the cause a number of NATO allies have have strong relations with with Russia in fact McCraw himself as building up those relations with a recent visit to Moscow and the allies and that's not a problem as far as you well the allies have agreed on this began in the 1960 s. But was restored and renewed at the at the Polish summit in Warsaw in 2016 that we would have a dual track approach we would pursue deterrence and defense but we would also have a good dialogue with Russia and so in fact for the alliance it is natural to be talking to the Russians one country we haven't yet mentioned in this conversation is the country where you are speaking from namely the United States and going back to President macro he said that European members of NATO had to quote reassess the reality of what NATO is in the light of the commitment of the United States I wonder what he's getting at. Well and there's a paradox here and again I'm quoting Young's Stoltenberg in that there's a lot of concern about the transatlantic so-called rift or the links loosening between Washington and the rest of the alliance and yet Washington is pumping more money into NATO I mean those questions are raised by. It bluntly because of the consistency of the man in the White House only well President Trump has what I call his inimitable style which is to keep people off balance I think that this president has been successful in shaking things up as previous presidents have not been President Kennedy in 1962 was calling on the allies in Europe to stop being such deadbeats and to pay more of their fair share so every u.s. President has made this point but President Trump has succeeded in shaking things up that was Rose similar speaking to me about NATO on its 70th anniversary thoughts on NATO 70 or couldn't I can't help feeling like she she hit the nail on the head really when I when I listen to the whole debate I do often wonder why an election in America which which brings a president who has done what trumps in the middle style why that should never affect the European defense security we should really be taking care of ourselves Well I mean there is a tendency to eye roll about a lot of things Donald Trump says but actually there is a lot of agreement in terms of what NATO members are spending on their own individual defense and what they should be doing together and look there's only 3 I think 4 or 5 countries that are paying the 2 percent of g.d.p. That they're supposed to be paying that's the u.s. The u.k. Greece stonie and I think Poland Canada pays one percent of g.d.p. Half of Canadians think that that Trump has a point but they also have no interest in upping their spending and I think that is like a consistent view you're going to see through a lot of NATO nations at the same time the next 40 years are going to bring a need for mutual defense around things like cyber attacks and and so we need each other that meeting is this week an important summit tomorrow which we're going to end the program by discussing climate change is the focus of it if current climate trends persist scientists believe global temperatures will likely rise by between $4.03 degrees this century that would be highly destructive it's the stock warning from scientists. Head of this 29000 u.n. Climate change conference which it gets underway in Madrid tomorrow a professor you have a rock stream is director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and is attending Professor welcome what are you hoping will come out of this summit in Madrid where the most important is exactly in line with how you introduce this that we're heading towards a disastrous global warming and we need countries in Madrid to accept the fact that they need to revisit all their national plans and really start the action of reducing emissions we know scientifically that we have to cut emissions by half over the next decade we're still increasing by 2 percent per year so the national plans need to be ratcheted up aligned with science that's one but secondly we also need an agreement on putting a price on carbon just as the European Union is now working very actively on this across sectors the world needs to recognise that we have to prize the damage on climate can you realistically in visit every country revisiting its current plan on climate change it's absolutely necessary it may be necessary but can you imagine it happening yes I do actually because the good news has that we have so much evidence that a transition to a fossil fuel freed posed energy can be competitive from an economic perspective and on the long term it gives us a lot of damage both in terms of health and economics to continue down the route of fossil fuel based energy delivery I mean the u.k. Is a good example of this transition occurring as we speak now of course there is a transition period for kinds like India and China which will go slower so the European Union for example needs to play a role in going faster and showing that this is a route to acquitting prosperity and if countries don't do that what do you say the consequences will be in the very near future. Well in the room near future we're heading towards passing the 1.5 and potentially 2 degree Celsius line just over the next 30 years and we passed that point you made irreversible changes such as losing control over the big ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica the Amazon rain forest and the court system so we're not so far away from points of irreversibility So this is the moment of truth we have to start acting and halting investments particularly in coal fire plants for example around the world Ok we wish you well feel conference thank you very much indeed for coming on Professor yard rocks from director the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany who is attending that conference beginning in Madrid to more of that brings matters to a close as far as we're concerned thank you for your company and they will thank you for your thank you and thank you for listening to this edition of Weekend the program back next Saturday stay tuned to the b.b.c. World Service the news headlines are next. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the United States has made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor of award winning public radio content a.p.m. American Public Media with support from Progressive Insurance with the name your price tool offering a range of coverage and price options to choose from now that's progressive progressive dot com or 1800 progressive. On outlook weekend Denise we monist son turned 25 this year but his birthday isn't easy for the family he does North Korea like to celebrate his best day I just cook but we cannot today we cannot show more joy but we met and we talk you see he was born in Rwanda during the genocide just as the militia were attacking the family home survival against the odds after the news b.b.c. News with David Alston tens of thousands of democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong have marched to the u.s. Consulate to thank America through its support for their movement their mood is said to be buoyant with a determination to keep up pressure on Hong Kong's pro China leader in Malta the family of the murdered investigative journalist Daphne Kut-O. On a gilet Syria according to the prime minister Joseph was scart to quoted once they're demanding an investigation into his alleged role in the 2017 assassination the people of Venice are voting on whether to separate their administration from its neighbor on the mainland mess through the referendum is nonbinding but its proponents say the canal bound to tell you the city needs its own government because of its unique challenges. A clash between Mexican security forces and drug cartel gunmen has left 14 people dead 4 of them police the deaths and quot Wheeler states near the u.s. Border followed an hour of fighting. The death rate from a measles outbreak in Samoa continues to rise $48.00 people have now died in the small South Pacific island nation 3 and a half 1000 are infected Britain's Ministry of Justice is to review the treatment of convicted terrorists after Friday's knife attack in the capital whose man come killed 2 people and wounded 3 at London Bridge before being shot dead by police he'd been released halfway through a 16 year jail sentence and was wearing an electronic tag the American singer and composer Irvin Bergy who co-wrote the famous calypso song Day-O. Or the Banana Boat Song has died at the age of 95 his songs sold more than 100000000 copies but Bergy is best remembered for his work in the 1950 s. With Harry Belafonte budgies mother was from Barbados his death was announced at the island's Independence Day parade that's the latest b.b.c. News love them or hate them we've all got a birthday whether you celebrate or dot you grow a year older no matter how you feel about it for a lot of us there are a time to be with family and friends to reflect on the past or at the very least an excuse to eat cake and for parents they're also a direct through line to the day their kids came into the world a reason to revisit their birth story and all of the memories that they may trigger Denise has 3 children all boys my 3 boys are different each one has he's an all story how he was born and how he grew up but dad is so sure are born children they like only country who wonder and at last people her boys are now grown men 3027 and 25. But for the family her youngest son's birthday in April it's tied up with a lot of complicated and painful emotions he does North Korea like to do celebrate his best day for himself he does not like eat but they're mad that I just but we cannot to dance to show more joy but we met and we talk and for you how do you process the emotions around the state he's one of a city it combined with mainly feelings there is a sadness and sometimes I wept and again I see immediately of quarter off his life when he was born as a boy at 7 times or boys where the victim to be killed or men will be victim to be killers or those of course women or so of victims but the Bo is and the men we had to face to be killed I used to tell him even he spitted Please remember there too you are a mirror core it was Denise's brother who suggested she give her miracle a special name he told me call him Grace cust and then I said if he see Grace then it's must come from God They said because did you are accustomed to of course the grace of grace of God today Denise lives in Germany but she's originally from Rwanda her sons were all born there and one was coming into the world 25 years ago in 1904 their lives were being torn apart by ethnic violence a genocide which killed at least 800000 people. Today on Outlook weekend giving birth as you're facing imminent danger. Growing up faith and kindness were a big part of Denise's life. My family had 2 kids do. They taught us through this pick to each to list picked people to people but it wasn't always easy to live those values in the face of prejudice hatred and calls to go back to their own country you see Denise's parents were Rwandan Tutsis but in the 1960 s. After the overthrow of the Tootsie monarchy and the transition from Belgian colony to Hutu led Republic they fled Rwanda decades earlier Belgium had implemented an ethnic identity card system that classified people by tribe this doc divisions within the population between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority so like many other Chookie's Denise's family 1st went to neighboring Burundi. That's where she was born in 1964 but violence was a fact of life even there and the family moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo when she was 7 but wherever they were home for Denise was always a safe haven forgiveness was a common refrain The family talked about it every day in my family every evening we had to cut a check to gather after the evening just to speak about what the day was my papa was a very educated my mother did not know how to read to write because of her background but this she left also God and they asked us to ask for forgiveness one each for them when I have beaten together fighting for my brother and we ask for forgiveness so it started from my family Denise like school and work hard many years later she attended her Aunt Priscilla's wedding just across the border in the town of and Southwest Rwanda the man her aunt was marrying took Denise on a tour of the local cement factory where he worked and it was around that time she was introduced to one of the company's geological engineers Charles who she later married they stayed together and they shared a love of walking towards it good luck we used to travel neighbor cartridges boodle go for me as the one who came from. So we fit in the chair and to come to it when death was a totally different because when I came to and there was some kind I saw that people are not to really free inside is some suspicion to say he's a Hutu should not go near these it to. See you know but I had some neighbors from The Who to say and for me to decide who had a friend of us what sort of hopes did you and your husband have for the future when we married we had many many good players how could our children how we were is our children to show them to respect each other I did not wanted them to Sapphire water ice fried because it was a sad dreams which were suddenly cut. In 1900 a civil war flared up between the Rwandan Patriotic Front the r.p.s. Made up mostly of exiled seas and the Hutu led government army. A cease fire was brokered in 1903 and a power sharing agreement was signed by then President probably mana but over those years that neighborliness in Denise's community had the country road. Suddenly the Hutu changed to face daily became angry as although I did not know there why this would be anger on me we where hearing the propaganda which was the spoken on the radios speaking of that all that to see will be kids they should be exterminated Were you scared yes of course I was afraid a warrior was my has spent and at that time I asked him please let us pray and ask a good for his message to protect us and to day away a we took time to pray it was the day came to talk him into putting him into the prison why was he arrested all intellectual Tutsi who were in their countries or they were called like a complete is so. They took 2 who were outside they said they are working together to fight against the government they accused to him because he was a walking was in the eye and he was going to exploit the cement company it was just a false accusation you know that to put to him into a prison Charles was charged with sabotage his job meant he had access to explosive in the mines and the authorities accused him of working with the r.p.s. To put them to use Denise's 1st child was a baby then 6 months later Charles was released from prison but he was fired from his job the atmosphere had become toxic Hutus and Tutsis who had once been neighbors friends and colleagues were now enemies and people were disappearing Charles didn't feel it was safe for him to stay in so he fled to the capital to gully about 180 miles away Denise was heartbroken. Her husband would visit in secret when he could but he had to sneak in at night and leave before sunrise. Denise had a 2nd child and then a couple years later she got pregnant with her 3rd son. The pregnancy itself was going fine but the mounting tension and violence made what should have been a happy time terrifying where they were killing when people saw me pregnant they told me how you crazy how can you be pregnant is such time. Physically he was not sick I was healthy. But inside me I had more fear in the warre. To give birth when my husband is most dear on him. 5th 1904 the niece said goodbye to her husband for the last time I remember the 2 were in our sleeping room and he told me Now I'm going to leave when he told me that I had to filling big problems which I'm going to face and it I cried I cried. And t.m. But I see me and he could not do nothing because he must sillies and he told me be quite I love you and do support I had to and he went the following day something happened that took the bloodshed and fear to another level and human to have me remind everyone in the present it didn't tell you and me apparently returning for anything of African leaders in Tanzania at 9 30 in the evening local time tonight explosions were heard and the plane carrying them and 6 other people crushed to save the kind gunfire for Natick station started in the senses just before joining dark the killing started immediately Hutu extremists blamed r.p.s. Militants for the attack on the plane and started a systematic campaign of murder against to seize and moderate Hutus the r.p.s. Said the plane had been shot down by Hutus to provide an excuse for what quickly became recognized as genocide underlining into tribal tensions of again exploded into violence I've seen some of the most terrible thing sorry that I've ever seen it's been absolutely horrific the killings the Bandon killing the soldiers getting grounded routes if you leave no eyes I'm afraid I think that's still going on aid workers in the African state of Rwanda say an estimated 20000 people have now died in 4 days of fighting and then on April 16th 9 days in the slaughter came to Denise's door Saturday it was a sunny day and I woke up in the morning so was no more to listen even to the news I had a good neighbor she was a Hutu in she used to come to do shopping for me she came mourning and in a give her money she went to to demarked and. When she came back off she came in and it we thought many war is there Ling me Denise I came from the market to have saw your Aunt Priscilla her 2 boys hair fat and low daylight down there were killed and the head dead a killer as the entire Hamlet diminishes saying that dead coming to you to kill you and our 230 s. And it went ahead the news my heart was penned for and I know that too I want to be killed it's information which seems impossible to even begin to process but Denise knows she doesn't have any time to waste on autopilot she thinks her friend and takes off to warn another neighbor and the relatives that were living with her at the time and day and suddenly we hear we had big nice crowd of people where Ranney we had about the shooting and my cousins my children who were around to tell the people my house and I told them we were going to be killed we went into Quando we did not know how how the militias who. Attack us we thought maybe there would be thrown big grenades in the house then we did a relay downs and we spoke about. Forgiveness so we each other us pray the last prayer I told them for those whole big kid only need to be in heaven I told them in a French molests where the 100 or so here they could hear the cries of their neighbors and they knew the militias were getting close so they went to hide in different rooms of the house in my defense the bone went in the guest room with my house helper and. I took my my refuge in to do bus from and when I went in both film I had my 2nd son Christian was the one in her theater on my big their struggle really heading in their struggle I said God should do just that pointed me why don't you ever tell me it is true for God will be killed after that I lost all my fear I just ahead how does destroyed to door they get inside militias they did not know how my own my house their own is a look like that mean they have in their bow who lead them this is the slipping gloom of the knees that way when they came they went deadly in my bedroom and they killed my brother in law my younger cousins one of my cancer was under the bed in other students in the cupboard they saw that their door where I was towards close their destroyed a door by the way they were destroying I lost my fear and was to us waiting to be killed they faced to me but they did not kill me they started a dialogue with me in Denver they asked me to give the money I went in the bedroom gave them and when I was giving them money one took their money and then one said Don't kill her she is not then sure they took their money disappeared 2 in the other and the one who truth he said militias why you do not kill this is totally woman he Lawless had decided to kill him when he wanted to kill me and other stop his head don't listen and he did ask him to go in to kill us so Denise's life was spared after the militia left the house she found her oldest son still alive with her house helper but he told her to go back inside to hide she overheard the killers say they were going. To come back to get her and I gave him my son and went back in. And bedroom there one who was under the bed molests there was still a life here we spared I am still alive come back come under the bed and I crawled under the bed I laid in the blood so I was just smelling blood and listening to the cry of my cousins was crying to raise. Jesus off now that it had to me help me have Missy on me and in the midst of this whore Denise felt her waters break her baby was getting ready to enter the world I said a must give Bess and my man a set for me to get out from the bit I went above from a wash myself and I took other clothes and they went to ask help to my neighbor was a good 2 faces she was afraid to open the door but too late to she opened a door into their i.e. Get to my child what were you feeling when you held him for the 1st time I'd like not to have any ceiling of the time or cannot know how to describe the deceit to ition because if I am giving birth to dare to kill and in my house dad plundering I am hearing how they may default Micho were taken how I'm hearing how they were crying to say all they need is a student to live she must be killed in a just took my baby in the sheets and there won't be handed a dog and they are ahead the voice of humiliation as to who knows me my colleagues saw they were asking the people who were hidden in the house for likely do so many did not there my name. They really shows throw grenades in the House Defense the ground that did not explode and the way it be $100.00 I sit for me it's better to die with dignity is teed off did. I so full of blood this 2nd a one nothing did not explode so this is the media corner we tap and not only did Denise survive she also found for 2 other children a life with her house help when it was safe enough she managed to get to a clinic with her children she stayed there for about 6 weeks still fearing for their lives many of those who did survive fled the fighting in Rwanda. Tens of thousands of refugees pouring out of the country east to Tanzania and here north to Uganda all together it's estimated that more than a 1000000 people have been forced from their homes by a campaign of butchery that shows no sign of ending with up to half a 1000000 people missing Oxfam says what's happening in Rwanda amounts to genocide and we may never know the full scale of the violence. Denise didn't leave the area she chose a different path. After she left the clinic she went back home but it was an easy ah there very. Very slow accordingly even to go to sleep in the my own or sleeping room because there would be a big mountain of paper as there was a blast at on the war or my child to cry all day or night isn't it it took their best to ask me why your chad is crying all the nights emotionality a quiet day quiet day good thinking for my people so it was a hard for me it was it really had to pass through that hell off of their genocide . She would have to walk past killers in the street and sometimes she would get threats and abuse but she had support too and was encouraged not to hide in her home. She should hold her head up high. The other thing that had happened during the time of the genocide was that your house had been totally ransacked your things your possessions had been stolen. And you could see the people who lived in your village they they had all of the stuff that had once belonged to you what was it like for you to see that you know when you were a kid we lost our dignity we were the human eyes and our people were killed like a fly's saw after genocide moaning deeply moaning to my people when I saw these 3 men carrying my clothes for me. It was nothing of course I left today they closed but I saw each like a good day to my clothes were taken to pass on who shed their blood I was in mourning deeply to my mom has been to see my children without 2 notice my. Team very much so it was too had Denise never found out exactly what happened to her husband she was never able to locate his body. But Denise did something extraordinary she decided that she had to draw on the strong sense of forgiveness that her parents had driven into her as a child a lot of the work that you were doing was part of a Truth and Reconciliation process that was happening across Rwanda and this is forgiving perpetrators responsible for the violence people who had been complicit in brutal deaths of many of your relatives as well why was it important to you to do this work. Each was of cos to hair fests my on people survive it to over did grief to over do hate we should not to do like what they have done to us we should do the contrary to show them to lead so that they can even be 10 day human being and we did it to her to promote healing to promote peace you know you cannot force anyone to forgive you cannot force anyone to do or course Lashon it step by step we do now we see that individually each Davies piece even Also the children in the village we teach den to learn each other so we had the children from a deformed who to form the former could see into did you no wonder we are one people we are not and no more Hutu and Tutsi we had in our old one. When your youngest son grew up what did you tell him about what happened on the day that he was born I did not tell them in the normal days how he was a born but during the commemoration time this did they did Ted we used to Ted our children how we survived this is a period of remembrance that happens every year in April when Rwandans take the space to think and speak about what happened to them and how did he respond to what you told him or he was sad of course and the way he going to make me also sad because when he gone up he was such a think he could not release a good smile or laugh think much he was showing sadness and I used to tell him I wished when you were growing up. To head in or portray new to to enjoy in order to let your heart to get. Rested your dead get an opportunity to move away he lives in America now where he works with children from difficult backgrounds and he used to call me Mama can you pray for this child and he described a situation of definably and he has sadness you see he knew with the way he was born and you want to help us to overcome it sounds like you raised a really good man so recently he got married in America and the whole family gathered together for his wedding can you tell me what that day was like or 2 was a wonderful day it was a fry to this day. Or how he or it's make me to remember that impossible or can it be possible he or joy for he's alive for the joy of food to family was joy for a minute or so my cousins who lived long years or go in the America they tend to do do away doing so friends Kim who saw it was a very nice to day and also how would they spoke to voice off with a marriage and from to her that I thank God about them and day for me it's a miracle to see gratitude humanity it and that's a blessing Denise we monist speaking to me from Germany she moved there when she remarried she runs an organization called airbrush alone International which provides support to survivors of Rwanda's genocide and Denise has written about her experiences in a book called From Red Earth or abandon story of healing and forgiveness I'm also your folks and the producer was Daniel Buxton Thanks for listening. This is the b.b.c. World Service with the story of an unlikely friendship across 2 continents It offered a state sponsored view of life in a communist country during the cold radio early nature National are going to suffer German Democratic also echoing down the corridor with African music this is the story of how East Germany tried to influence Africa over the airwaves rate Africa at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash documentaries. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service our technology reporter Zoe Kliman told us when I asked our Washington Correspondent Chris buckler what was in this article on Europe regional editor Mike Saunders is here in the studio that speak to our trying the media analyst Kerry island from b.b.c. Monitoring on air online and on smart Phil this is the b.b.c. World Service the world's radio station. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service I'm Ed Butler today on in the balance we're going to be asking Does political advertising on social media need to be better regulated if you give yourself that much power and you know you have that kind of influence on the democratic elections across the world then you have to check that power yes as we move into an election cycle here in the u.k. And soon in the United States people are asking can we trust the messages that we're reading online do we need to know where they're coming from reading have transparency night they're from political campaigns and parties nor do we have it from social media firms and corporations we don't know where after typing is coming from who is paying for it it's her campaign behind it in recent weeks Google and Twitter have place limits on the content they allow on their platforms but Facebook has yet to do so tens of millions of dollars is being spent on messaging is it time for a change a panel of experts with me on in the balance in a couple of minutes. Hello this is David Alston with the b.b.c. News tens of thousands of protesters in Hong Kong have marched to the American consulate to express gratitude for Washington support for the pro-democracy movement Nick Baek reports. Thousands are on the March in Hong Kong once again and this is a pro-democracy movement with a spring in its step it's been energized by the success of its candidates at the district elections last weekend and by President Trump backing a new law in solidarity with its cause the legislation will mean America carries out a yearly assessments of whether China is a roading Hong Kong's freedoms a move which has infuriated Beijing there is there were debates among the activists here about what to do next some want to wait and see if the local government Beijing is willing to give ground the family of the murdered multis investigative journalist Stephanie Cutter wanna go have demanded the immediate resignation of the prime minister Scott they say it's needed to allow for a free and full investigation into his alleged role in the assassination Here's Damian chromatic who's 1st of all he has known for a long time because Dr Carolyn till it's you wrote about it and since then there's been more reporting about it that's the connections between your going Fenech the businessmen and senior ministers 2nd this question of information leaking from the investigation possibly through his chief of staff out to those suspects and of course beyond that simply the question that the prime minister and his critics say has been in a way protecting those around him has not cleaned up corruption the residents of Venice of voting on whether to cost the city adrift politically from its neighbor Mr a on the Italian mainland those backing the non-binding referendum say the canal bound cities problems the unique Mark Lowen has this report it was the high tide roaring wins and a full moon. Sparked Venice's nightmare flooding last month but the real problems run deeper rising sea levels and mass cruise ship tourism combined with political failures that have prevented adequate flood defenses Venice is words a so unique say many of its resident.