♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond jame financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.

and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ♪ >> parts of europe are suffering their worst floods in living memory. these pictures are from west germany. homes have collapsed, some buildings and cars have been swept away. we know at least 59 people have died. >> i agree for the people have lost their lives. we do not know the number, but it will be many. some were working as firefighters, trying to bring others to safety. ros: belgium confirmed that six people have lost their lives. the netherlands and france are also affected.

the forecast is for more rain. we will have a comprehensive update. we'll also talk about south africa. the death toll there has reached 117. the government has deployed 10,000 troops on the tree -- on the street aeffort to stop the arson and looting. updates on britney spears's situation. she is told the court she wants to sue her father for abusing the set up. ♪ ros: welcome to those of you watching on pbs in america and to everybody else watching on bbc world news. we must start with these catastrophic floods in europe. the western german states have experienced their deadliest floods in living memory. these are some of the pictures. we know at least 59 people have died. the heavy flooding has turned

streets into raging torrents, has caused rivers to burst their banks, and has swept away huge amounts of things. lots of residents have been sharing images on social media. this shocking footage shows what happened when this hit a bridge. here is the account of one resident. >> our community center was just crushed. it stuck to the bridge over there. a 40 ton truck must be stuck as well. a house over there tilted over entirely. you n imagine the sort of thing happening in asia, but not here. ros: if village called schultz. at least four have died there. many have had to waive -- to wait on the roots, but some were socked away. others in the district remain in a risk of collapse. helicopters and soldiers are being deployed to help find

stranded residents or missing residents. two firefighters have died in north ryan, west valley a. malika for karo is a journalist there. >> yesterday, we could not go home. our car could not pass, because otherwise, we would have been drowning. we've been devastated. we've never seen anything like that. fears remain of a second wave. this guy is great. we expect more heavy rain. people are really fearful. ros: unfortunately, the forecast is for more rain. let us get reaction from some leaders in germany. the chief of the rhine state described the flooding as a catastrophe. she says there are dead, missing, and many still in danger. all of our emergency services are in action. angela merkel is in washington

to meet president biden, but from there, she says she is shocked. >> these are peaceful towns who are now living for a catastrophe. one can say a tragedy. there is no word to describe is such a strong rain and floods, other than catastrophe. i am shocked by the reports of the places which now stand completely under water and the people who are in extreme danger standing on their roofs awaiting rescue. i grieve for the people who have lost their lives. we do not know the number, but it will be many. some in the basements of their houses, some who were working as firefighters trying to bring others to safety. i give tir families my deepest condolences. ros: this graphic shows the rain. germany is not the only country affected. belgium, the netherlands, and france are all x. singh -- experiencing flooding.

a further update from schultz in western germany. >> no warning. homes destroyed, lives lost in a matter of minutes. the water ripped up the roads, toss cars aside like toys. we met margaretta just ashe arrived back. she and her family fled last night. at the very last minute, a fireman got them out. the family is safe, but her son was injured he is in hospital. margaretta points out what was her neighbor's house. she says she does not know what happened to the neighbor. as to her own property, half the house is gone. her daughter tells us. in schultz, they are still in shock. they had just wreath verbiage -- just finished refurbishing their pub. better news for their neighbors

dog. they managed to pull him to safety just in time last night. it is hard to imagine that just yesterday, this was a quiet village street. what is worrying people now is that there is more rain forecast this evening. what will happen when the water levels rise again? for now, harmless and fearful, they mourn their dead and wait anxiously for night to come. ros: from germany, we turn to belgium, and will loney, which is badly affected. in particular, the province of liege. this town is completely flooded, so is this nearby town. across belgium, six have died, several more are missing. these images show people being rescued by boats aftereeking refuge on the rooftops.

you can see a little one opt in an emergency blanket. in liege, the mayor is asking peop to evacuate or move to upper floors of their buildings. the river which throws through -- flows through liege is expected to arise considerably. if it overflows, sections of the town are certain to be funded. there are also concerns that eight bridge in the area could collapse. >> we have seen this record rainfall because a number of major rivers across europe to burst their banks. you talk about liege. we have just seen video of a police car crawling through the wet streets, saying people should leave their homes if they can and if they cannot, if they've got an upper floor, they should go to higher ground. the concern is that the river move -- the river is potentially

set to raise more than 1.5 meters in the coming hours. that is white belgium's third biggest urban area is being evacuated or people are being asked to leave. we can hear the rens in the background here in brussels. if you look at the geography, this is focused on an area where three countries meet. the most western part of germany, the most southern tip of the netherlands, and to the east of belgium. they may be separated by borders, but you have got emergency services that have swung into action and are facing some very difficult operations. in one particular place, we saw a woman film from her window in amazement as cars were taken down what would've been the high street, this thick ground water, a torrent carrying vehicles away.

we know in that particular place, four people have died. also, in the netherlands, helms -- homes have been evacuated. it is a real concern. emergency services are doing all they can. as we have been hearing, the rain is set to continue. ros: a messa from bbc world news. luxembourg is also affected. look at this. this is how the weather is looking for the next five days. more rain is forecast. more detail. ros: let me -- >> let me show you the radar picture. you can see how the rate -- rain developed and became heavier across western parts of germany, across the netherlands, belgium, and france. what is to weather across these western and southwestern parts of germany. with that sort of rainfall in 24 hours, that is about three times the july average rainfall, which

is why we have seen these devastating scenes of flooding. even though the rain in the last 24 hours has not been as intense, we have still seen river levels rising. the pressure that brought the downpours is weakening, that is why we have seen the rain weakening in some areas, but there are still some heavy downpours to come friday. that will be heading eastward across gmany, with the heaviest falls onto the alps. this weekend, the rains continuing to move further east. it downpours likely in poland, the czech republic, the balkans, and parts of italy. it is solely going to become drier in germany, dryer, sunnier, and warmer in belgium, the netherlands, and france. ros: one is the key questions is whether these floods are linked to climate change. one of those contending to

replace angela merkel when she steps down says n doubt climate change is part of the story. >> we will be confronted with such events again and of again. this means we need more speed of climate protection measures. ros: let us hear from the european environment agency. >> any rare, extreme event such as this one is always a combination of long-term climate trends and chance or bad luck. you cannot attribute a single event exclusively to climate change, but there are many indications that climate change played a role. warmer air can hold more water. significantly increased across europe in recent decades. high resolution precipitation for 70 years with minute

resolution showing that extreme precipitation events have increased considerably, at least over the last 40 years. climate models predict increase in the future. ♪ ros: next -- an update on the unrest in south africa. 10,000 troops in the street. the unrest has been going on for seven days. it was sparked over the jailing of a former president jacob zuma. zuma's home province, we have seen extensive destruction of businesses. these pictures from johannesburg. we are told the situation has been relatively calm versus the rest of the week. that has allowed some cleanup. the government,hough, is still cautious. it is increasing its military presence on the streets. this is the biggest military deployment in south africa since

the end of apartheid. this is a johannesburg aired the government says that situation in question a tall remains tense. >> thankfully, we have not had as many attacks as we did in the previous four days. between 5000 troops -- 25,000 troops are set to be deployed. the police have been heavily outnumbered, struggling to contain the situation, because people have been losing with reckless abandon. they have been doing it in full view of television cameras and of police. we have been unable to erase them. community members are hopeful that the military presence in the country is going to bring law and order again. because the economy of the country has been severely hampered. the safety and security of citizens, not only in the suburbs where i am, but also in

the townships, where many are struggling from poverty, any quality, and crime, are also being affected. the presence of the military really is hope that it is going to alleviate the problems that many have experienced. ros: let us consider the impact of this violen. it comes in various forms. first of all, the damage has been done. more than 200 walls have been looted. more than 600 shops have been burned or damaged. 200 liquor stores have been looted across these two provces. let us hear from a man who runs a restaurant. >> knowing that i took my last money to open a small business, to support my family, i am at the -- in the end, it has been looted.

most of them, they know me. they ud to support me. that is very sad. ros: this adds to an already dire economic situation made worse by a pandemic. last year, the south african economy contracted 7%. we have seen inflation pushed out. fuel is up 37%. 2 million more south africans are living in poverty than last year. add in unemployment that is going -- 32% of people dnot have a job. if you focus on younger people, the situation is more worrying. 63% of younger people are unemployed. all of these factors are feeding into some of the frustrations we are seeing being express. here is a political analyst and author. >> when you hav millions of young people with lots of energies and no sense of value, and any reason for being hopeful

about theirutures, roaming around, then of course they are going to be available to be used as political ponds i factions of the inc. independent of that, they have got good reason to not be scared of being arrested for looting, because after all, the status quote already condense them to the margins of society. ros: next is health care. medicines have been looted from pharmacies. also, the ambulances have not been able to reach critical care patients, due to being attacked and hospitals and care units have been looted. this is a doctor who runs clinics in johannesburg. >> treatment, medications, everything. everything has been taken out of our clinics and is sitting somewhere. we have to now start thinking about how to rebuild the

clinics. ros: bear in mind all of this is happening as aouth africa deals with a third wave of covid. this graph shows the increase in cases across south africa since april. on wednesday, over 17,000 cases were registered. in some areas, t violence has meant that the vaccine rollout has been paused. it is in its early stages. at the moment, just over 6% of the population in south africa has at least one dose. a regional officer for the who in africa. her assessment. >> africa is expressing a thi wave, a wave that is much higher in terms of number of cases compared to previous waves. we hit 6 million cases this week. south africa accounts for 46% of the new cases that have been recorded in the past week.

we are concerned seeing the evolving situation in south africa, because it does have an impact on the already existing visions to cut the pandemic. where we see crowds and increased contact among people, these are conditions that facilitate the spread of the virus. we also have obserd that these decreased number of people that are reaching vaccination sites for vaccines over the last few days with the unrest, with the 1.3 million people that have been vaccinated in south africa far from where we would like to be, this is a concern. the other impact is on the countries around south africa that access their medical supplies from south africa. receipt countries bite -- we see countries like namibia and

others that will also start to see the impact of the unrest. ros: on the issue of the vaccine rollout, but is the primary obstacle? access to vaccines? having the capacity to administer vaccines? >> we do have a challenge with supplies that are needed. out of the three-putt one million doses that have been administered around the world, only 2% have been done in africa. so a supply issue. how we try to increase and ensure equitable availability of vaccines is one of the main factors. also, to deliver vaccines, there must be systems in place. there must be demand. working on tailored approaches to increase demand at the

community level is another aspect of ensuring that vaccines reach those who need to receive them. ros: in a few minutes, the latest from washington, because angela merkel is there to meet president biden. ♪ ros: the dutch crime reporter peter r to freeze has died after being in amsterdam last week. he was known for his investigations into drug lords. he won an emmy award for his reporting on the dutch underworld. last tuesday, he was shot five times after leaving a tv studio. he was taken to hospital in apter dam, where he was heavily guarded way fought for his life. today, his family has released a statement, saying, peter fought to the end. he was unable to win. >> this was one of the most acclaimed journalists here in

the netherlands. he specialized in helping with cold cases, solving child murders. he became the victim of what he had spent his life reporting on, but he absolutely said he would rather stand and fight then be hiding in a corner. ♪ ♪ ros: we are here in the bbc newsroom. our lead story is that more than 60 people have died in germany and elgin in what angela merkel has called catastrophic flooding . let us continue to talk about angela merkel. she has just arrived at the white house. we can see that she has been meeting with the president. we think this will be her last overseas visit before she steps

down. the german elections are the end of september. >> the first thing they are going to be facing is trying to rebuild u.s.-german relations after a tumultuous four years with donald trump. but also, they are going to talk about the u.s. military pullout from afghanistan. germany was rankled a bit that they were not warned about the pullout. there were not consulted enough. the nordstrom pipeline from russia to germany that is on the verge of being finished and that the u.s. has spoken out against in the past but has not yet put any sanctions in play, that is going to come up as well. because of the flooding, i would not be surprised if they talk about the environment, climate change. a key global issue that both

germany and the biden administration care deeply about. but once again, rebuilding relations, reemphasizing that the u.s. sees germany as a key player in what biden has described as this epic struggle between democracies and authoritarian governments, that is gng to be a topic. even if germanyoes not always see things the same way as the biden administration. ros: normally, if a leader is at the end of his or her term, she is perhaps not seen as valuable to other world leaders, but angela merkel is such a huge figure in the world, maybe joe biden could use her presence is important? >> i think so. i think she has cast such a shadow over european relations with the u.s. over the past 16 years that you have her here, have her talking about the

importance of continued good relations between the u.s. and germany, and and the importance of having a united front against authoritarian governments, that is something that biden can build on as he tries to do is foreign policy going forward. ♪ ros: from the east to the west coast. a couple of important developments in brittany spear's situation. she is trying to ender controversial conservatorship. she has not told the court that she wants to press charges against her father over his alleged conservatorship abuse. she has told the court, i am here to press charges. i am angry, and i will go there. she made that statement after a ruling that said she can now choose her own lawyer. up to this point, she has been rep -- represented by samuel and him. he was court appointed and had been representing her for her teen years. now, mthew rosen guard is replacing him.

he is a former prosecutor and hollywood lawyer. he is. they represented steven spielberg and shawn penn. -- sean penn. he is going in a different direction for britney. matthew rosen guard said that he plans to file immediately a motion seeking to have britney spear's father stripped of his control over her life. ros: britney spears is excited by these developments. she posted a video on instagram. we see her doing some impressive cartwheels and riding a horse, all in celebration. she says, i feel gratitude and blast. thank you to my fans. she goes on, you have no idea what it means to be supported by such awesome fans. interestingly, chooses the #three britn -- #freebritney.

i cannot play the fans outside court, but i can tell you they are delighted, but the story is far from over. thanks for watching. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundati; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james nancial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs.