be our guest at frankfurt airport city managed by for. this is g.w. news live from berlin tonight at eleven on at the center of a deepening crisis in the middle east saudi arabia and kuwait are telling their citizens to leave lebanon immediately we'll ask a former u.s. ambassador to lebanon if he thinks these are the signs of a coming war also coming up tonight it will be the launch of famine the well to

see in many decades millions of victims a stark warning from the you when about yemen after a saudi led alliance tightens its blockade on the war ravaged country and pomp and pageantry and a newfound partnership president wrong and president xi jinping their new chemistry but does this show of friendship as it masks a lack of progress on trade talks and north korea. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us tonight kuwait and saudi arabia have told their citizens in lebanon to leave the country immediately and they are urging others not to travel there just announced the call on television followed by kuwait it comes amid a deepening crisis with lebanon caught up in

a conflict between saudi arabia and iran lebanon's saudi backed prime minister saad hariri resigned on saturday. while on a visit to saudi arabia saying that he fears for his life at home now lebanon is demanding his return some government officials tonight are suggesting that hariri is being held hostage in saudi arabia. well i'm joined now by jerry fire stein from washington he is director for gulf affairs and government relations at the middle east institute he served as ambassador for the u.s. in several countries including lebanon and yemen ambassador good to have you on the show i want to ask you about the tensions that we're seeing tonight that are focused on lebanon do you think that we are headed towards a military conflict in lebanon between iran and saudi arabia

no i don't think so i think that you're absolutely correct that tensions have been raised clearly the saudis are looking at that and on. in the. picture of the conflict with iran in the live on syria as well as they have been on concern over his boat. and of course this is also a response in some way to the events of the other day the missile that was launched against saudi arabia from yemen which they blame on the iranians and hizbollah would also be responsible for that so they're they're definitely ratcheting up tension but i i don't think and our view that it's likely to boil over to a hot war but where do you think this increase in tensions is coming from is the united states with its overt support for saudi arabia against iran is it fueling

a conflict that otherwise would not exist. well the tensions between iran and saudi arabia go back for many many years and there's nothing new about that certainly the administration's more robust position on iran hasn't some way encouraged our partners in the region to also be more aggressive but i think it's also a reflection of the frustration. that the saudis feel about iranian advances in the region particularly in syria and yemen also in iraq and i think that there is clearly a decision on the part of the crown prince mohammed bin so on to increase. the pressure and and sharpen the differences between saudi arabia and iran

ok ambassador if you would stand by for just a moment we want to talk a little bit more about this proxy war another thundery that is called off in this proxy conflict is yemen the united nations says that seven million yemenis could face starvation and death if aid is not allowed into the country now that devastating morning comes after the saudi led coalition backing the government has tightened its air land and sea blockade around yemen after a missile was launched from yemen towards riyadh the u.n. says that if the blockade is not lifted yemen will things quote the largest famine that the world has seen for decades conditions for yemenis have been dire for months now they're even worse. the united nations says more than a third of the population has barely any access to food supplies the u.n. emergency relief coordinator appealed to the international community it will not be like the famine which cost two hundred fifty thousand people their lives in somalia

in twenty eleven. it will be the largest famine the world to see for many decades with millions of victims there's almost no access to clean water and cholera outbreaks have become commonplace a civil war has been raging in yemen since twenty fifteen a saudi led coalition has been trying to fight back who the rebels with aerial attacks on monday the coalition closed all entry points to the country allegedly to prevent weapons from being smuggled to the rebels. the border closures are in retribution for this who is the missile attack on saudi soil seen here on saudi television. the un and fifteen aid organizations have called on the coalition to end the blockade and allow the delivery of desperately needed emergency supplies are the ambassador you've been in yemen you've spent time there you know what the

situation is like there on the ground. do you foresee the saudis opening up the borders long enough for food aid to get in or do you think yemen is going to be the site of the biggest famine that the world has seen and half a century. well we have the statement by the saudi foreign minister out of eligible error in which he said that the coalition would not impede the movement of humanitarian supplies into yemen there's no doubt that this is an extremely grave extremely serious situation that needs to be result very quickly if we're to avoid the kind of large scale disaster that your correspondent was referring to there needs to be some clarification of communication between the international humanitarian organizations and the saudis to ensure that everyone understands what the rules of the road are in terms of getting these desperately

needed supplies into the country and that should be relatively simple there right i mean we're not asking anyone to reinvent the wheel with this by getting aid into the country what about saudi arabia and what about the united states and its influence with saudi arabia i mean if you were in the government now in the u.s. government would you be doing something different would you be urging the saudis to open up that blockade well of course i can't say whether or not the administration is already passing that message to saudi arabia i hope that they are i would think that were were in the previous administration when i was still there that we would certainly be on the phone with the saudis speaking to them and telling them that this is something that they need to address this is obviously a. red line inflicting. collective

punishment on people who are helpless and can't be allowed to stand. jerry fires dion former ambassador for the u.s. to lebanon and yemen joining us tonight from washington and bastards thank you very much we appreciate your insights whether well u.s. president donald trump is wrapping up his visit to china he met with his chinese counterpart being as part of his first tour of asia as the u.s. president to china dazzling display of friendship appears to have softened mr trump's position on the country's trade and on the crisis on the korean peninsula. he was president donald trump's granddaughter singing the mandarin chinese song in a video it was shown to audiences at the banquet on the second day of the u.s.

president's visit this is just one way of saluting the friendship between washington and beijing. trump already congratulated she on his great political victory before arriving in beijing in return the chinese president praised the two countries long standing by lateral relations. forty five years ago u.s. president richard nixon visited china the visit unlock the door to relations between china and the united states since then thanks to the joint efforts of several generations of leaders and the peoples of two countries historic progress has been made in china u.s. relations. earlier on thursday the two countries signed commercial deals worth more than two hundred fifty billion dollars and even when speaking of the trade deficit the u.s. currently has china trump lavish praise on beijing and blamed his own predecessor for the current imbalance in trade right now unfortunately it is

a very one sided and unfair one but but i don't blame china who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country. for the benefit of its citizens i give china great credit. but in actuality i do blame past administrations for allowing this out of control trade deficit to take place and to grow on another thorny issue the crisis on the korean peninsula trump also took a much softer tone than before when north korea launched its latest ballistic missile in september president trump threatened to cut off ties with all countries that do business with north korea that includes beijing which accounts for ninety percent of pyongyang strait this time trump said he believes changes will happen if president xi works on it the visit between two of the world's most powerful leaders

has so far been a friendly one but it is unclear if they'll make real progress on the most pressing issues. a horror story in germany that may be much darker than first reported prosecutors here say a former nurse is suspected of killing more than one hundred people that's far more than previously thought the suspect known as neil's age is already serving a life sentence for murdering several of his patients if he's found guilty of these further deaths it would make him one of the nation's most prolific serial killers. the victims are laid to rest in cemeteries throughout northern germany and beyond investigators have a stablished ninety martyrs at the hands of neil's age the toxicological examinations are complete with forty one samples taken from exude corpses. residues of the drugs administered by the medicine aspect were discovered in sixteen of the samples of and it. authorities believe that neil's age killed at

least thirty eight patients in his care from one thousand nine hundred nine to two thousand and two in the nearby town of dumb and horst he suspected of killing a further sixty eight patients between two thousand and three and two thousand and five the nurse used five different types of medication his motive was to make his victims heart stopped beating so he could pose as a hero when he appeared to try and revive him the victim's relatives say they are relieved that the investigation is complete christian lost his grandfather in this series of killings and it's not as if we have all been affected and work through our grief but when these milestones come along like the announcement of investigation results you can imagine what greece around mines myself included we're all in close contact the suffering never reynolds rules but the one hundred six verified murders are just the tip of the iceberg many other killings could not be proven because the victims corpses were cremated. this is not on your shit so

this is a purely legal statistic indicating what could be proved through investigations the real number is more than twice as high. and element horsed more than two hundred murders are suspected and this has been confirmed by experts in oldenburg there are fifty or sixty. but this can't be proved for sure. enough was done there are the attempted murders further evidence suggests that neil's h. was able to resuscitate two out of three patients that he drugged. this too is now impossible to prove absolute clarity and these cases will never be obtainable the suspect has confessed to thirty murders he's due in court again early next year and here's a reminder the top stories we're following for you kuwait and saudi arabia have told their citizens in lebanon to leave the country immediately and they've urged others not to travel there this comes amid

a deepening crisis in the region with lebanon caught up in the middle between saudi arabia and iran and the united nations says seven million yemenis could face starvation if food aid is not allowed into the country the warning comes as these salty led coalition backing the government has tightened its blockade of yemen. i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the day we'll see you then. health. and here in studio all. solidarity. they fall by the wayside when the gap between rich and poor grows. month in and equal societies.