09/07/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.

We're just hours from finding out who will meet Germany in the

In Brazil, fans are still reeling after the

host nation's humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of the German team.

It was a devastating night for the hosts. The second semifinal is about

to kick off. At least 41 people have been killed

in Gaza as Israel and Palestinian militants fire missiles and rockets

at each other for another day. Mobile devices in hand luggage

will have to be charged or And we'll be asking what makes

a good national anthem - as Switzerland decides theirs isn't

good enough. They're calling it the disgrace

of all disgraces. The people of Brazil are still

in shock over their humiliating exit from the World Cup

at the hands of the German team. And in just a few hours time we'll

know who Germany is to meet in Sunday's World Cup final - as

the other semi-final pits Argentina You can see the Dutch team training

here - the big question for their match is whether star

striker Robin Van Persie will be joining them on the pitch, as he's

been struggling with a stomach bug. But can it be as dramatic

as Tuesday's game in which Germany knocked out hosts Brazil with that

massive 7-1 win? It's probably no surprise that

swiftly became the most discussed football match

EVER on social media-there were 35.6 And provoking headlines like "Shame,

sadness, humiliation" on newspapers My colleague Peter Okwoche is in Rio

for more on that reaction. Peter, the home fans must have woken

up with the most awful hangover? The coach has just had a press

conference and they ask about his future after that humiliating

defeat. He did not eat much about it and said there was still one match

left to be played, the third-place match. After that they will sit down

and look ahead to their future. That is what the coach said. But

basically this is a nation in shock. Numbed. You mentioned how crazy

social media went during the game. People sending messages furiously. I

just gave up after 35 minutes, I could not keep up! That is what it

was like last night. Later this evening, the second semifinal. It is

between Holland and Argentina. My colleague looks ahead to that.

It was a historic humiliation. They night that will haunt the country

for generations. Brazil is defined by its football team so losing in

this manner was more than a defeat, it left the nation in shock. The

Germany team ran riot, Brazil with some were blown away. Every goal

leaving another dent in the national pride.

I will be remembered for this, the worst defeat in Brazilian history.

The postmortem began this morning. Life goes on but memories will leave

a scar. Part of what makes this nation special has been washed away.

It was meant to be the ultimate showcase for a country presenting an

image of a Morgan and confident football nation. After that game,

many are now wondering if the most expensive World Cup ever was really

worth it, and wondering where to go from here. For generations, children

like this have grown up and dreamt of playing for the best team in the

world. Not any more. The game was a very sad, this boy told me. Another

said that he was so upset he cried himself to sleep.

Brazil need to train more. Concentrate more.

One of the legendary World Cup team of 1970s inspired a generation told

me that the decline of the current team was down to players chasing

lucrative contracts in Europe. They need to stay here? Yes, yes.

Something has been lost? It is the money, money, money.

Despite the result it remains a country in love with the sport.

Brazil got hurt last night, picking itself could take years. -- picking

itself up. The question now is whether we will

get a spectacle matching last night. But at the end of the semifinal we

will at least know who is facing Germany in the final.

Surely it cannot be another game like we watched last night!

As we've been hearing, we'll find out in just a few hours who will

Now going into the tournament, the expectations of the Dutch

So the Netherlands' remarkable unbeaten run has been met with

Much of the team's unexpected success is being attributed to the

The Dutch reject opposition claims that the substitute goalkeeper did

anything wrong with his techniques prior to the penalty shoot out. The

team appear to have adopted a win at all costs mentality and are

surpassing expectations. Prior to the competition only 5% in Holland

thought they could make the final. Many attribute this to the Louis van

health factor -- van Gaal factor. As a coach he is a disciplinarian and

an astute tactician. His philosophy has enabled the

players to show that they believe in themselves. Everybody can win at

this stage of the tournament. It depends on the team spirit, dealing

with mistakes, you win with the referee, all kinds of distractions.

The team who handles that best will win the cup.

Some former Holland internationals have been critical of the approach,

others see the manager as a revolutionary.

We want to play good football and win. The main difference between

what we did in the past and what we are doing now, she wants to win. --

he. The Dutch have courage, and van Gaal

in their corner. Well we can speak to Anna Holligan

now - she's with fans at a bar in The

Hague - Anna, what are they saying? They believe that they can win this

after expectations were at an all-time low. Argentina are the

favourites but that has not dented the faith of these supporters.

Although Argentina have magical players nobody should underestimate

the Dutch strikeforce. One of the fastest in the competition. Going

into the game, both Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie are expected to

start. The last time these two sides met it was a 0-0 result. Holland

have never won the trophy before. And Argentina have never lost a

semifinal. Less than two hours to go. This place will soon be filled

with orange. We will speak to you later on.

And don't forget there is all the world cup action and analysis

on our website - including a piece by our South

American football expert in Rio, Tim Vickery, on the lessons Brazil

You can also join the discussion on Twitter -

Israel has vowed to "further intensify attacks on the militant

group Hamas", which it says has fired at least 75 rockets today.

Israel has so far attacked 550 sites in Gaza, where at least 41 people

have been killed since the Israeli military began operations on

Tuesday. Hamas says Israel must stop its blockade of Gaza and release

prisoners. But Israel says it wants to eliminate the threat of rocket

attacks from Gaza for good. Tensions rose last week when the bodies of

three young Israelis were discovered in the occupied West Bank and a

Palestinian teenager was murdered in Jerusalem. We have two reports

tonight. In a moment, James Reynolds in Sderot on the Israeli side. But

first Yolande Knell has spent the day in Gaza.

The full impact of an Israeli air strike. The family lived here were

given a 15 minute warning. Some militants have been killed at home.

The civilian death toll is rising. It is the third war against Gazza

since 2008. They target the civilians and they are in the eye of

the storm. But Israel is being targeted also and high -- Hamas run

television showed this clip of rockets. They can reach far away

cities they have never been reaching before. But this evening, conditions

laid down for a cease fire. Israel must stop occupying Palestinian land

said the Hamas leader. Israel is unlikely to agree and continued with

air strikes whilst the speech was being made.

Rocket science interrupts an Israeli wedding. -- sirens. Everybody runs

for cover and Israel fires this defence system, but it does not stop

everything. From this hill, the Gaza Strip is just a few miles away. We

are right on the border of the free world and the terrorist world. We

will win. From the Hayes, we can make out

white smoke. Militants in the Gaza Strip have just fired a rocket.

Seconds later, smoke in a field. We go to have a look. Israel was very

lucky with this rocket striking a field. It shows that Palestinian

militants can continue to hit Israel despite all of the Israeli air

strikes. In Tel Aviv, the police cleared debris.

Nearly a week after new security measures were introduced at UK

airports, the advice to passengers is changing again.

Now any passengers flying in and out of the UK - not just those flying to

the United States - could face checks to see if electronic devices

in their hand luggage like mobile phones and laptops are charged.

The summer getaway is nearly here with new advice for passengers. What

ever gadget you have, make sure it is charged and switched on before

you fly. It seems not everyone has got a message. Do you why you have

got to do that? Turn it on? If it is not fully charged, you cannot fly.

The advice is, it just has to be switched on. They should make it a

more clear. It is safe travel we want. Stuff that needs to be charged

anyway, why bring it not charged? This new advice does not just cover

mobile phones, includes portable music players, laptops and anything

that has electrical and has a removable battery. The chances are

you won't have your device checked, but government advice is clear,

whether you are flying to make sure it is charged because anyone on any

flight may be asked to prove it turns on. What happens if it won't?

Passengers could charge it on the spot or leave it at the airport. It

can be posted to your home address and some airlines say some

passengers could rebook their flights. It all means potential for

disruption, but at Liverpool airport, so far, so good. No queues

as we would have expected at this time of the day. Hopefully it will

stay that way and will not impact passengers. What if the terror

threat changes. The summer peak is not here yet when millions will want

to travel. The worst case it will be something we saw in 2006 where we

saw huge chaos in the airports because of the liquid ban and so on.

But that is the worst case scenario. To stop that happening, and advice

to passengers - charge your device and there will be no delays.

Ukraine's future has been the subject of calls today between

its new president Petro Poroshenko and Germany's Angela Merkel and the

Ukraine wants more international money to help rebuild infrastructure

The focus of that fighting was for months the town of Sloviansk, home

It's just been brought back under the Ukrainian government's control,

The road to Sloviansk, is a reminder there is a war now in Europe.

Pro-Russian new militants had called this town their fortress, but under

heavy fire they have forced to retreat. In town, the Ukrainian flag

is back. Separatist symbols are being scraped away, but a collective

trauma will take longer to raise. After weeks of fighting there is

widespread damage. Many accuse the Ukrainian army of indiscriminate

shelling. This lady tells me how she came under fire and heard explosions

nearby. I don't know who were shooting, she says, but my nerves

could not take this any more. This was the most feared Golding in

Sloviansk, when the insurgents were in control. Their headquarters and

prison. They took hostages and locked them in the cellar. Some of

their prisoners are still missing. These are the conditions the

prisoners were held in underground. Some of them were here under -- for

three months. The food was basic, the masterpieces were filthy and the

washing facilities was just a plastic apple on the wall. After

retaking Sloviansk, the Ukrainian army feels it has the momentum to

crush the insurgency. We saw this large convoy of weaponry heading

south. The militants are trying to slow the advance by lowing of

bridges. Many of the fighters have retreated to the regional capital,

Don yet scared. There are more pro-Russian insurgency than before.

There is no sign of any police, they are the ones patrolling the city. We

will fight to the end, he says. We don't recognise the Kiev

government, they came to power in a coup. Fearing violence here, many of

the shops have shot and cleared their shelves. It may not look like

it, but this is a car showroom. People are leaving Don yet scared.

This lady, her son and her mother have tickets for the Moscow train,

but they have nowhere to stay and no plan for the future. We are going to

nowhere with nothing. I don't know what we will have tomorrow. We

simply want to leave, that is all. The baby was born in Don yet. She

does not want to leave her home town or her country, but this war she

says, has left her no choice. We've heard many a national anthem,

especially in the past few weeks. And if you, like me have been

watching the World Cup, perhaps you haven't heard enough of your

national anthem. It turns out though that the Swiss have heard enough of

theirs. And so there's a competition underway to write a new one. See

what you think of their old national anthem, which many think is frankly

That wasn't the full anthem of course but it does give you a

flavour of the mood it sets. With me is the journalist Alex Marshall

who's writing a book about national anthems.

You have listened to hundreds of them? Far too many. What are we

looking for when people choose anthems? An anthem should, the most

successful are the quickest, you think of the French and the

Americans. Think of the ones in Latin America. Switzerland has

realised its anthem is too slow and it is too obsessed with God and the

weather to make anyone excited. The strange thing is, they want a new

anthem that is about Swiss values, diversity, respect for nature,

sustainable development. Personally, it seems very hard to write an

exciting song about such subjects. Let's remind our viewers of the

American national anthem. That is where everybody stands up

with hand on heart and makes them feel patriotic. That is an obvious

one. What is your favourite? Watching this World Cup, the wombat

has stood out for me is Uruguay. Probably be only one back could

stand up as a piece of classical music. It is like a mini opera and

the fact it was written by a failed opera composer, says it all. It has

crescendos, quiet passages of music, it is fantastic. There is

some orchestral vigour going through it. So that is what you have been

reminded of watching the World Cup. We did not hear very much of the UK

in the World Cup, what do you think of the British national anthem? We

can hear even less of it. If anyone should take an example from

Switzerland is the British. God Save The Queen, I know it is well-known

around the world, but it is slow and how that can incite any full dollars

into playing well, I don't know. Which probably explains the poor

performance in the World Cup. I suppose that is an issue as well

because many of the anthems have been with us for so long, and trying

to reinvent a modern anthem? There is a danger of overfamiliarity and

there is a danger of novelty. Bosnia tried to write a new anthem after

the war. But non-Abhi ethnic groups in the country can agree on the

words. So they have this wordless tune which nobody can stand there

with their hands on their heart to because they just all look confused.

There is a danger of trying to reinvent things as well. But some of

the best are the oldest. The French anthem is one everybody knows. You

can go anywhere in the world and people know it means France. The

people who wrote it should be celebrated. For a piece of classical

music, it is almost as strong as a pop song. It has got to be very

memorable and catchy. But it also has that sense of importance and

grandeur about it. Congratulations to Switzerland for trying it. The

200 people who have entered the competition, the best of luck. How

are they going to choose? They will spend the next year working through

different entries to work out which is the best. They have four

languages in Sweetland, so they have got to try and make everyone's

entries at work in those four languages. They have to check it has

the right elliptical values and it is almost impossible. It is almost

designing an anthem by committee. Yes, and that is a recipe for

disaster. The ones who have chosen an anthem by committee are the worst

songs. Alex, it has been a pleasure talking to you.

Thanks for being with us. You have been watching World News Today.