06/06/2014 World News Today

The sacrifice of the service men and women are remembered in the 70th

anniversary of the D-Day landings. World leaders and

anniversary of the D-Day landings. point in the

anniversary of the D-Day landings. marks the beginning of the end of

Hitler. You that whenever the world make you cynical, don't doubt that

courage and goodness is possible. On the sidelines of this commemoration,

present-day troubles are confronted with the leaders of Russia and

Ukraine meeting. There's been a bomb attack

on the convoy of the Afghan presidential frontrunner,

Abdullah Abdullah, in Kabul. Six people are reported to have been

killed There have been clashes

in the Golden Temple in Amritsar in northern India, the holiest

shrine of the Sikh religion. Several people were injured

as rival factions fought with June the sick, 1944, the beaches of

Normandy were the scene of much bloodshed. -- six.

It was when Allied forces began landing in Normandy in northern

France in what was the largest amphibious invasion in history. It

was a gamble, but it turned the tide of the Second World War. World

leaders and veterans are being -- have been paying tribute to service

men and women and the sacrifices they made.

The winner the D-Day beaches. -- dawn.

Where some of those who survived and grew old remembered the many who did

not. At the Commonwealth war cemetery

other graves of more than 4000 young men, mostly British, who died on

D-Day or in the weeks of fighting that followed. As the Queen arrived

to lead the tribute of Britain and the Commonwealth, aircraft from the

Second World War through past overhead. Wreaths were laid at the

stone of remembrance. We Shell not grow old as those that are left grow

old. We will remember them. The veterans had been seated amongst

the headstones upon which the inscriptions which have lost none of

their emotional impact with the passing of the years. They are the

tribute of families, mothers, wives, the men who gave their lives

so that a continent might be free. After the service, the Queen joined

the veterans, she mingled and chatted, a monarch from the same

wartime generation sharing memories with those who have fought in the

name of her father. -- had thought. At Omaha Beach lies the huge

military Cemetery of the United States of America. There are nearly

10,000 graves here, a reminder of the ferocious resistance the

Americans faced at Omaha Beach and of a time when the New World

sacrificed so much blood for the old. President Obama said that what

the Allied troops had achieved on what he called this tiny sliver of

sand and determine the course of history. Whenever the world makes

you cynical, whenever you doubt that courage and goodness is possible,

think of these men along with all of our veterans. If you can stand,

please do, if you cannot, please raise your hand, these men waged war

so that we might know peace. They sacrificed so that we might be free.

We are grateful to them. On Sword Beach, the heads of state

and heads of Government assembled for the official commemoration.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel was greeted with warm applause and

then a reminder of today's diplomatic difficulties. Over

lunch, Russia's Putin and Obama had their first face-to-face discussion

about Ukraine as they watched the men -- and events on Sword Beach,

they were cut up side-by-side on screens.

Then something else unexpected, a video and dramatic re-enactment of

the Second World War compete with explicit reference of the natty

brutality and the Holocaust. This is one anniversary where even the most

sensitive issues are being dealt with openly. -- Nazi brutality.

Above all, this day has been for the veterans, many frail now, it is time

to pass the stories of what they did to new generations. So this

afternoon Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge joined a group

of the dish veterans at a key party. -- British veterans. In the centre

of the town of Arromanches, all soldiers paraded for a future king.

It was a chance for them to remember so many friends who never made it

home. It was a chance for us to express

our gratitude for so much sacrifice. The Soviet Union under Stalin played

a key role in defeating the Nazis. It provided an opportunity for

President Putin to hold direct talks with a newly elected Ukrainian

president Petro Poroshenko. That meeting was facilitated by the

German chancellor. The Kremlin says the Russian and Ukrainian leaders

called for a swift and of the bloodshed and military actions in

eastern Ukraine. D-Day was the beginning of the end

of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The defeat of Germany resulted in

the spirit of the country into East and West. 70 years on, how is the

battle remembered in present-day Germany? Stephen Evans have -- has

been speaking to one German soldier about being on the other side of the

D-Day landings. He was the first German soldier to

face the D-Day invasion. He was at the bridge when the first airborne

British troops landed in gliders. Pegasus Bridge was crucial, Allied

planners wanted it captured to stop German reinforcements arriving when

the landings happened. He was on guard. TRANSLATION: I was the first

to notice when the gliders and troops landed. I fired a flare. This

was how the invasion started. It was all I did. D-Day was the big step in

the defeat of Nazi Germany. If you want to know how total that defeat

was, coming here to the Nazi nerve centre, Hitler's bunker, flattened

today. Nothing more than a car park. At the time, Berliners read about

D-Day, Hitler slept late, but that was not in the papers and then

welcomed the invasion because it's brought the enemy closer. Today,

D-Day is not marked much in Germany. According to the military's chief

historian. It never had the same significance

which it had in Britain or the US or even in France. Because it did

indeed remind us not only of a defeat, but of war crimes. There is

a footnote. The captured German soldier is grateful to

a footnote. The captured German and Canadians for his time in a

prisoner of war camp. He was taught English and entertained, he said it

was like a holiday camp. As those ceremonies were taking

place, many of those taking part said how much they hoped that the

Second World War would never be forgotten by their children and

grandchildren. We have been finding out what the pupils of one school in

Staffordshire made of D-Day. In the heart of Staffordshire, among

the trees, 300 miles from the Normandy beaches, a service of

commemoration. Some came to the national memorial to remember, some

to learn of the sacrifice of a number generation. That sacrifice is

something pupils of this school were discussing today. I want to talk

about why it is still important today. White is still important to

remember the veterans who fought. It is extraordinary to think that the

youngest known British casualty of the Second World War was a boil on a

Merchant Navy ship who was 14 years old, the same age as some of its

class. -- a boy on a. Today's society would not have that

courage, because people think of teenagers as being on the racks box,

but they went out. -- X box. If someone said there is a war going

on, can you come and help? I would just be thinking, what is going on?

But they did not have much detail and they just went and did what they

had to do and hats off to them, they get it. -- hatss off to them.

Whatever the doubts of their own generation's courage, these

youngsters are proof that the sacrifice made by so many 70 years

ago will be remembered. I have been joined here in the

studio to With me is Thomas Kielinger ,

the London correspondent And joining us from the BBC's studio

in Oxford is Gary Sheffield, a professor of war studies

from Wolverhampton University. we now know that D-Day was a turning

point in the Second World War, but actually it was a bit of a gamble

and a costly endeavour in both lives and money.

Yes, it was. It was certainly not a given that D-Day would succeed.

Anything as risky as that, a huge amphibious operation with supporting

aircraft, things could have gone wrong. In the end, I think it was a

measure of luck, superiority in terms of material, and the sheer

courage of the people involved which made sure that D-Day was successful.

Thomas, we look back at it as a success. But you don't look at it in

the same way in Germany. It is something that Germans wants to

forget as they were fighting on the wrong side, as it were? Absolutely.

But don't forget that we have been going through World War I recently,

there have been new books on who was guilty for the start of the war on

Germany has been, to some extent, not only the only force that started

it. We haven't quite got and onto the Second World War. That'll come

in September when the 75 year anniversary comes. Altogether,

Germany is not too happy looking back at war events. We didn't cover

ourselves in glory, to put it mildly, and we were the vanquished.

Although our soldiers fought and it is generally recognised with great

valour, they spent all their virtues on the wrong side and the wrong

course, which is a terrible heritage. Professor Sheffield, it

helps shape the modern day as we know it, World War II, and even in a

country like Britain, it ushered in the world Betamax welfare state, so

it had a massive impact. -- ushered in the welfare state. But the

younger population as a whole are aware of what World War II means, do

you think? I would like to pick up on what you think? I would like to

pick up on what your other contributors said. The idea that

Germany was not responsible for the outbreak of the First World War is

certainly true, Austria Hungary was to a great extent, but the idea that

Germany was not the primary mover in the First World War is something I

would slightly disagree with. We can't go down that line too much.

But we need to see the two world wars as effectively a single

conflict with a 20 year truce. I am not telling a story on what to

think, but at the end of World War I the conditions in Germany gave rise

to fascism because of the way that Germany was dealt with after the

First World War, treated very differently after the end of the

Second World War, lots of money going into West Germany, in

particular. At the end of the Second World War, Germany was treated far

more harshly. The Nazi state was completely destroyed and two more

states built on the remains. The end of the First World War, there is

absolutely no reason why the Treaty of Versailles couldn't have been

made to stick. Let's bring this a bit more towards today. The point I

was making, after World War II, a lot of money of course went into

Germany, which was devastated and so on, but it is what West Germany

built its subsequent economic miracle success on. This is the

point that we like to look at with a certain amount of pride, Angela

Merkel and the group session of world leaders reminds us of the way

we have come since 1945 and how we have rebuilt our country with due

process and liberty and justice for all, which has become a recognised

and valued member, Germany, in the community of nations. Because your

institutions were all reformed after the Second World War, land reform,

trade unions and that sort of thing. Yes, we called it re-education but

it was really reinvigoration of the idea of Western liberty that really

rescued Germany and put it on the path to recovery. That picture of

world leaders now, with Germany stood on the other side of that, is

a very reassuring sort of re-imagination for the modern day.

That is the aspect we rather like about this commemoration. The war

itself does not fill us with any pride, obviously, and we try not to

think about that too much. Professor Sheffield, your reflection on the

commemorations in Normandy, what is your take on that? I think it is a

very timely reminder of the sheer sacrifice made by men and women to

liberate Europe, and also, I think it is worth bearing in mind what

that impact has on the world today. I absolutely agree, Germany has been

rebuilt into a new model, and of course, it is now firmly locked into

the European community of nations. But it is easy for us to reflect on

what might have been. Personally, I actually think that if D-Day had

failed, Germany would still have been defeated, but pretty much

solely by the soviet union. Moving away from Germany, the

commemorations, you think they are striking the right chord? In your

view, what are we remembering 70 years later, this tremendous

sacrifice by service men and women? I think we are remembering the way

in which Europe was diverted from a very dark path indeed into something

which, for all the faults of the world since 1945, has been much

better. We should actually remember those men and women who made that

happen. Thomas, yes. The commemoration of the heroism and the

courage to land in the face of machine gun fire from on high is

absolutely almost unconscionable. It is very hard to imagine how a modern

generation would deal with it. Although I think that the parallels

would be quite wrong, you cannot compare then and now. If there were

a situation which could ask for the ultimate sacrifice, the modern

generation would also find in themselves the courage and virtue to

apply themselves and commit themselves if it is worth fighting.

But those were horrible days, and only a huge effort and sacrifice,

through heroism and dedication, made this possible. We can only bow our

heads before them. Thomas, I want to ask you, because I asked Professor

Sheffield about the younger generation. Out of younger

generation of Germans see this? Popular culture has kept the

nastiness, the evil of the Nazis very much alive, through films we

have of the Second World War and so on. Do they feel in some way that

that has led to a kind of current demonisation of Germans today? Not

really, but the thing is, we are very much aware of the past. It has

been expunged from our system, as it were. Germany has very valiantly

looked it in the face and read itself of it, but it is still with

us. On certain days, when we commemorate what was done by Hitler

to the Jews and two other minorities in Germany and so on. That casts a

shadow over the attempt of young generations to rebuild a natural,

unselfconscious patriotism, which is still very difficult to rebuild in

Germany because of the weight of the past and what went RIA in our

history. We are a country of disk annuity, and while we have rebuilt

the country, we cannot escape the horror of what happened in our name.

Thomas Kielinger and Gary Sheffield, thank you very much indeed.

In other news, the frontrunner in Afghanistan's presidential election,

Abdullah Abdullah, has survived a bomb attack in trouble. Six people

are reported killed and more than a dozen injured. Mr Abdullah said two

explosions struck his convoy as it was leading a campaign event in the

capital. Our reporter has this. The attack happened as Doctor

Abdullah left an election rally. A suicide attacker drove his vehicle,

packed with explosives, at the armoured convoy belonging to Doctor

Abdullah and his presidential running mate. The blast was so

powerful it destroyed vehicles, and shattered windows in nearby shops

and houses. Ambulances rushed the injured to hospital. Most of those

killed were civilians. A police man and one of Doctor Abdullah's

bodyguards were also among the casualties. TRANSLATION: The convoy

of Doctor Abdullah Abdullah and his deputy was attacked by a suicide

bomber. Fortunately, they were not harmed. Despite the attack, Doctor

Abdullah has continued with a full schedule of election rallies across

Coble. -- Campbell. There have been violent clashes at

the Golden Temple in Amritsar in northern India, the holiest shrine

of the Sikh religion. Several people were injured as rival factions

fought with ceremonial swords. This comes on the 30th anniversary of the

storming of the temple by the Indian army, as Andrew North reports.

Seeks fighting each other inside their holiest place, the Golden

Temple. Swords and polls meant for ceremony became weapons once more.

They had gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of an Indian army

assault on separatist Sikhs who took control of the complex, but today's

mourners ended up battling each other over competing visions of

their future. The violence was triggered by a group calling for

independence for Sikhs, who were prevented from talking. It was that

independence for Sikhs, who were demand that underpinned the turmoil

30 years ago, leading to some of India's worst violence since

independence. India's then Prime Minister in direct and he was

assassinated in revenge for ordering the attack on the Golden Temple. But

thousands of Sikhs were in turn massacred, with members of Mrs

Gandhi's Congress party widely accused of complicity. This latest

clash is a sign that winds of 30 years ago have still not healed.

And now, some of the day's the news in brief. Thousands of mourners had

gathered in the northern Nigerian city of Khan over the funeral of the

in ear who died earlier today. The 83-year-old ruler was an outspoken

critic of the militant group Boko Haram, and one of Nigeria's most

prominent and revered Muslim leaders.

prominent and revered Muslim The head of the International

Monetary Fund has said she is not a candidate for the presidency of the

European Union. Christine Lagard says she intends to complete her

term at the IMF. Her comments come amid divisions over who should get

the commission post. Police in Canada have arrested a man

suspected of shooting dead three police officers and wounding three

others in the city of Monkton. Officers say he was arrested without

incident, unarmed, but with weapons nearby. During the manhunt, police

warned residents to stay Upper Street.

From the church choir to international pop stardom, a none

has won Italy's version of the TV talent contest the voice.

For the 25-year-old, she has won a record contract with Universal Moral

Trouble After Becoming A Global Internet Sensation. The Sicilian

Racks Up Thousands Of Use Youtube She Stunned The Judges With Their

Version Of The Alicia Keys Song No one. She has thanked God for his

victory, saying she entered the contest after following Pope

Francis' appeal to bring the church closed to ordinary people. I think

she has certainly done that! Now, to the Ely is a palace in Paris, and

that is at the scene we are waiting for the Queen. She will arrive there

for a dinner marking those commemorations of the D-Day

landings. That should be happening quite soon. We will bring you more

on that. I wonder if that is a car bearing a significant person.

Anyway, that is the scene live at the Ely say Palace in Paris, on the

day that the world paid tribute to the men and women who took part in

one of the greatest events in modern times.

Once again, dramatic changes afoot across the next few hours, with a

combination of moisture from the Atlantic, humid air piling in from

the near continent where the two come together. That is where we are

likely to see some really heavy thundery downpours of