the book. this is you that we can use live from berlin germany fights international criticism over a key energy project chancellor merkel please down claims that a gas pipeline to russia will undermine western security the u.s. wants it stopped and now friend says it could hold construction of a european level also coming up a tense standoff over humanitarian aid at the venezuelan border self-proclaimed interim president quantum why go calls on the military to defy orders not to allow

foreign aid into the country we asked our correspondent what's at stake. plus down at the red carpet at this year's world in film festival are due to use it charlotte charleston pill and david leavitt's guys what's going on behind you. a bit of the iconic opening night of one of the takes that into the belly not it is kicking off with the world premiere the kindness of strangers british director nora share from the back. to. her rocker thank you so much for your company everyone german charles unger america is being forced to defend a key infrastructure project from international criticism the north stream to pipeline is due to start pumping later this. here delivering russian gas to germany

but critics including the u.s. say that will undermine european security now france as waited in to distribute it says it could halt construction at an e.u. meeting tomorrow unusually french presence in many ways mccall has also canceled a joint appearance with the americal at the upcoming new nic security conference. for more on the story let's turn to cover of itself from brussels and keep the here in the studio in berlin want to go to you first barbara if i may brussels is there a link i don't know if i'm reading too much into this but is there a link between mcallen's decision not to join the munich security conference and the differences that have now become apparent over north stream. that might seem a bit farfetched because what could possibly the connection be between the one and the other the official explanation the end is the palace gives is that in monreal

mccrone is to be the busy these days. dealing with the demands of the yellow vests in his own country and that he has problems somehow too that he needs to attend to first and so therefore we really are in the political speculation here and i would really dare to go there that might also be the case as some conspiracy theorists say that in fact this is an agreed move strategic move to original money off a project in an income speculative way that had become politically too cumbersome and really burdensome over the years. kid turning to you now here with me in the studio this is the only topic that straining bilateral relations between paris and berlin no it isn't if they three d. is such a point of contention but at the same time over the past few months the disagreement between a germany and france has been growing on several issues whether it's finance energy

military reforms you name it they've had it which is interesting as well that they see all of these issues being debated at the moment between the two countries while just a few couple of weeks ago the two countries actually renewed their friendship in the form of they are can treaty say clearly that symbolic friendship is very different compared to when it comes to franco relations on policies it's kind of like renewing your valves when your marriage a rocky spot are going to you now what will happen tomorrow at the e.u. meeting in brussels where you are barbara can you hear me i believe we have lost our audio connection to barbara let me get back to you kate because the u.s. ambassador richard grenell also weighed in on this so well hot button issue for

us here urging germany to abandon north stream altogether and americal did not miss a beat and she responds listen to what she said and then i'd like to get your take . if you could fully become dependent on russia because of this gas pipeline would i say no if we diversify at the same time. germany will expand its gas terminals with regard to liquefied gas. that means that we don't want to make ourselves dependent on russia and that any circumstances. but russia was a source of gas during the cold war and it will remain so today without us entering into one sided dependence you can get in. there the chancellor speaking earlier kate do you think that she is what she just said is she able to to reassure critics . and the e.u.

will not be beholden to russia because of this deal that certainly is a question worth asking and she has tried to defend the pipe line time and time again and it's interesting now that the u.s. as you mentioned has now weighed in on this topic to be interesting to see if a country like the u.s. that isn't actually directly involved in this project could even be the one to have the power to completely de rail this project of course that is extremely contentious with it bypassing the ukraine and poland but of course you know you have to look at these comments that we heard from grinnell today on first glance it looks like these are u.s. concerns for security concerns that are shed by you but you know you have to keep in mind as well that the u.s. will also be looking out for its own best interests and of course the u.s. has become an exporter of gas and will be wants in seeing export back to the e.u.

which of course means competition if russia is providing yet more gas to the e.u. via the very controversial north stream to pipeline so there's more to this issue than meets the eye really earth political analyst with me here in the studio and i'd like also to thank barbara riis. in the of brussels apologies for the audio connection but we'll catch up i hope can exploit it are i want to move on now to some of the other stories making news around the world france is recalling its ambassador to leave amid mounting tension after in these deputy prime minister met french yellow vests protesters paris is also angry about a string of critical comments directed towards the president in one of my columns government but it leads to deputy prime ministers. british prime minister theresa may and european commission president have pledged to continue talks about breaks it but younger once again refused to renegotiate the terms of the already agreed with raul deal overseeing britain's divorce from the e.u.

as set to take place on march twenty ninth and. norway has warned its students against studying in the u.k. due to the uncertainties surrounding briggs it the education minister said those hoping to study abroad should favor other countries due to potential problems with brock receive an exam results recognition well every year thousands of norwegians have two new king universities. and germany's anti trust watchdog is cracking down on facebook moving to restrict the social media giants ability to collect data in the country authorities say they can't guarantee gather rather information from third party sites without user consent on more evidence that facebook's business model could be under threat. it is a long awaited decision three years that's how long it took germany's federal cartel office to decide to clamp down on facebook's data collection the question

was whether obtaining data from activity on social media widgets on third party sites could be considered anti-competitive behavior is being used as a given is it was for fans in the whole conclusion is that facebook can collect data on its platform invited them and facebook facebook can also continue to gather data on its other services like what's up or instagram or on third party sites. but they may in the future collect such days out only with the user's explicit consent that the moon does. indies it's was a move to a village i didn't. like in most countries facebook is the leading social media network in germany it has more than thirty million users and the second most popular social network instagram with some seventeen million users is now also owned by facebook that leaves the competition far behind. the

decision to restrict facebook's data collection in germany is the latest in a long line of walls for the company that began with a major privacy scandal last year since then authorities around the world have been turning the heat up on the tech firm facebook has already responded to the move by german authorities saying to appeal the decision. the future of air buses for stage a a three hundred eighty is on a show is on shaky ground yet again australia's quantas airline has cancelled an order for eight of the super jumbos other airlines are reportedly planning to do the same a plane was once billed as a great way for carriers to dramatically increase passenger numbers and reduce costs but at almost half a billion dollars each few are buying it. it's the largest passenger plane in the world the a three eighty is the pride and joy of the european aircraft group airbus

but as orders for the a three eighty kept plummeting the group was forced to reduce annual production from thirty to just eight aircraft this year and those eight have yet to be delivered quantas dropping the planes represents a four billion u.s. dollar loss for the european aircraft manufacturer and it's raised doubts about the future of the a three eighty itself the australian airline ordered the jets in two thousand and six but since then they've switched to lighter more fuel efficient passenger jets a worldwide trend the a three eighty is too heavy and uses too much jet fuel which wouldn't be as much of a problem if fuel prices had gone down but instead they've almost doubled since twenty sixteen so it's not surprising that another major air bus customer is taking off to the dubai airline emirates allegedly wants to cancel its existing orders for fifty three units at least in part that could mean the end of the world's largest passenger aircraft. to venezuela next that country's political

crisis and a tense standoff over a convoy of humanitarian aid stranded on the country's border as well as governments led by nicolas maduro has ordered the army not to allow it into the country it has been organized by the united states and venezuela's opposition you want to see majority were removed from power all with the aid convoys stranded now at the border venezuela's military has to choose whether to obey government orders or let the aid go through we have this report. venezuelan soldiers keep watch at the barricades on the t.n.t. this bridge border crossing president nicolas maduro has called aid supplies offered by the united states a form of foreign intervention he's ordered the soldiers to turn the assistance a way. but the soldiers have also been given another order by one opposition leader who last month declared himself venezuela's interim president.

i give a direct order to the armed forces being allowed the necessary humanitarian aide to enter to take care of your family. that is put the focus on the military personnel at the border and their commanders which president will they obey. pedestrian bridges of the border remain open venezuelans can still cross to buy goods they can't get at home but many who have no money to go shopping in neighboring colombia don't understand why the aid shipments are being stopped. i am asking you to please open the border. and let the food pass. me. see if like you say you really love been a swale or if you really feel something inside of you me if you love your family your children and you should to love them then you need to love us venezuelans as

well i'm asking you please open the border mr maturer but i. do or has dismissed the us aid offer as a political show in the capital caracas supporters signed a petition that's to be sent to washington telling donald trump to keep his hands off of venezuela. a camera not bad we want to safeguard our rights and interests because external forces are attempting to seize our national wealth by. had a military rally on wednesday but they were called on troops to show patriotism and unite against the u.s. . by the us empire by the president of the united states of america mr donald trump. you know not. for now the border troops still appear to be following the orders of nicolas maduro

there are concerns this aid standoff could escalate. the. help explain what's at stake i'm now joined here in the studio by correspondence a few harm cerruti who has just returned from the region who has reported for us from venezuela as well always great having you here what is so threatening about aid well it's not the aid itself it's where it's coming from it's the u.s. and mr munder all is sure that our arcus training and military intervention in his country and he things because of the interest they have in the big oil reserves and he keeps denying there is a humanitarian crisis and so he has said that venezuelans are no beggars to be accepting this what are you hearing from your sources about what's unfolding right now along the border well we know the blockade is still on the convoy though has left the colombian capital good time with thirty to forty tons of humanitarian aid

and it's about to arrive in the bordering town but that makes the urge for this blockade to end even even more so what's so striking about this power battle at the heart of the crisis right now in venezuela is that mr garrido is not democratically elected yet he enjoys widespread international support why well it was surprising how quickly he was. by all of the country starting by the u.s. and then other european countries but he's a first phase that is backing the opposition it was divided for too long the opposition that's why we didn't have. a strong candidate for the elections last year and well he's being recognized as the only chance to finally we can muddle and this humanitarian aid is a test for him if he manages to get it in it might show that is weaker than we ever thought. this is

a being said and by the us why is washington getting involved in the domestic affairs of venezuela because especially taking into account the role that the u.s. the checkered track record of the u.s. in south america how do people feel about the potential prospect of a military intervention by the us donald trump has said was a was a possibility yeah well we saw it in the report there are people in manila that feel threatened that do believe that the u.s. is trying to intervene military but it's also true that the aid is very very urgent and people are wasting time medicine is not coming in and so it has been widely criticized in the region as well not everyone is backing why do we so protests as well in argentina recently from labor unions against what is happening but we will see the next days are going to be crucial in venezuela how many people i mean you were there i've got thirty seconds of power people doing right now in

venezuela well by myself it can't be denied people are starving they're eating from the garbage it's really a humanitarian crisis and it will have to finally end otherwise the exodus will continue and the neighboring countries will be threatened by this as well. feel your homes already thank you. late last year ukraine's christian orthodox leaders created a new church independent of russia well that's after they received the blessing of orthodox christianity the spiritual head picher arc of birth i'm you based in istanbul while many people. glad to embrace a fully ukrainian church but not all are ready to cut their three hundred year old ties with the russian patriarchy our correspondent nick only sends this report about the schism from the ukrainian village of brawny. praying in the call. it's not their usual church but these moscow patriarchy

supporters say they don't have a choice the decision by the leader of the world's orthodox christians in far away istanbul to recognize the independent ukraine a church soon he took in this isolated village. within weeks supporters of the two rival confessions were locked in a standoff suddenly the village of burnet to head to priest father sitting here at the moscow patriarchy and father only of the ukrainian church supporters of the ukrainian church collected signatures soon they had a two thirds majority begin the congregation in favor of joining the new body and within a matter of days they had the keys to the village church. farm. father said he of the moscow patriarchy insists the whole procedure was raked the villages he says were tricked into signing the petition but that was just the beginning. this is ripping the community apart people have stopped speaking to one another we

even have a husband who's threatening to throw his wife out for her religious beliefs they call those anti christ and use them as well about a fifth of the old congregation have decided to stick with father said he and the moscow patriarchate they've made their way to this rundown cottage on the edge of the village for the first service and what they hope is just a temporary home for their parish feelings are running high. we had a funeral the other day the people that was split into each side kept to itself so i could never have imagined that i'd end up going to pray in a shack. big. they do look. the other end of the village the new york principal church st john are also preparing for their first service. inside then your father or late is eating present. rather than old slavonic cake church language used by

the moscow patriarchate was. once a year. old he proudly shows the congregation a copy of the official chart issued by paycheck but. recognizing the independence of the ukrainian church it's something many here have been waiting for since ukraine gain independence three decades ago. this is all about the congregation they have decided which church they want to belong to the majority has made its choice i think the others will be back with us very soon. the ball has revived we want to talk to god in ukrainian not in any other language we want to ukrainian precinct in ukraine and shut the russians in sending tanks against us killing our children and grandchildren we don't want the russians here no way. we have a ukrainian church a church that's truly independent of russia a country that's attacking us we're not praying for their soldiers anymore father

said he refuses to accept that these changes are permanent his fighting to bring his parishioners back in from the cold. i hope the people will eventually understand what they've done repent and return to the fold of the true church. for the moment at least that seems unlikely began as an argument about bricks and mortar now threatens to turn into a known nothing division in this community. nick calio they're reporting from ukraine now the red carpet action is vax the sixty ninth of berlin film festival is kicking off and i'm joined by my colleague charlotte shell so phil and david leavitt's down at berlin's the potsdamer platz hi guys what's going on behind you. halo was the bricks i think over here the name of it is the opening night of the international film festival and this is the first ten yet that's the say part of the world premiere at the film the kind of strange it and i don't know if you can

see behind me but the crowd is going wild or not but it does about them and directing you to take to the red carpet any minute now and it will just it's not just then we've got stars and directors from around the world this is sort of a who's who of european cinema we saw the german director fighting in iraq you might say i came we saw the finished director cars monte we even saw andie macdowell so it goes as far as hollywood and there are stories here from china from all around the world this is what the belly knowledge is all about it brings together the best of european cinema a taste of a holy wood and of course a little bit of the esoteric has what i don't write is not just about the styles that i had to do it's also about the fans they're really what make this festival and this crowd really is going wild it's going wild and many of them have been here for hours let's not forget maybe this is ballet and in february it's winter it's cold but now that that patience is paying off you know i have to say consider instead where i've got my long underwear on a lot of these

a lot of these actresses behind us are not wearing very much but i guess that's what you have to do to get into german vogue and you know. women are so much stronger i write because i'm still. all right ok so where about the opening movie. right so the kindness of strangers we can't actually tell you our opinion yet because this is a world premiere we're not allowed to in this till the film starts but i can tell you it's a little bit like love actually if it were more of a drama more about people living on the edge this is about people living on the edge even living on the streets of new york city and how fate brings them together during one very cold winter maybe even colder than this berlin winter speaking of love that one of the stars of this film was also in love actually that the british actor bill nighy he'll be on the carpet recall but just behind us shortly another kind of strange is directed by danish director she is hugely critically acclaimed she was nominated for three academy awards one of her films as she was also one and

so with barack he is back there at the bella no i'm going to share for you may know her from movies like one day or an education and education might actresses like anne hathaway in the film so she really is a big deal she is a big deal indeed what's so special about this year's fairly nala. well the one thing that is very special about this year's belly knowledge is gender parity the of the seventeen films that are in competition seven of them are by female directors and this is was one of the promises of dieter kostic after his long term as festival director to have fifty percent of the directors this year his last year be female we're almost there of the four hundred films in total showing of the belly and all the one hundred ninety one of them are directed by where i put seven out of the seventeen in competition it really is a big it's way more than were in venice last year the venice film festival and in cannes as well it really is in keeping with the whole ethos of the balun film

festival that diversity and inclusive it see and in that vein they've made sure that the jury the people who be judging these films old sage and about the threat of course jury president this year the one the. surely it be known as the right track there's no infrastructure law english patient base films she was actually as you'd expect for him a festival that deals with a with women in gender she was also about working with harvey weinstein he was the producer on those films i here's what he had to say about that he could see had problems but. as a producer he was wonderful most of the time. and i think he was a great producer and that we should forget even though it's been difficult for direct some directors and actors and specially actresses but i want to see peace to his mind and let justice do what he needs to do. all right said i want to thank

charlot chelsea i'm phil and david leavitt's at the berlin film festival for now we'll catch up in the days to come for sharks all right so that does it for us thank you so much for spending at this part of your day with us.

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