this is d w news live from berlin germany feeling the heat over a planned gas pipeline with russia the u.s. and france pressure berlin to rethink a new ghastly from russia we asked the chairman of the upcoming munich security conference if this threat could reach a breaking point for old allies also coming up vital food and medicine arise prevent a surveillance from the united states the president nicolas maduro says it is not crossing the border while growing protests sway the loyalties of troops and forcing

his barricades and a woman's take on the weak and powerful opening up this year's erland film festival the stars turned out in force for its lone chair fix the kindness of strangers it is the first of several films by women directors and it's yours. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program and germany plans for a pipeline supplying russian gas have been thrown into doubt the u.s. ambassador to berlin has urged germany to ditch the north stream to project and now france says that it could hold the construction process by subjecting the russian company building it to tougher european rules now critics say that the pipeline due to start pumping later this year will make germany dependent on moscow and

undermine european security that leaves a key part of germany's energy strategy under threat. construction of the north stream two pipeline is a ready well underway but the face of the project lies in the balance e.u. members have not yet agreed on how to proceed and germany and france in particular appear to be at odds over regulation this is what's at stake the pipeline would transport gas from russia to germany via the baltic sea the project in its current form is operated by russian state energy company gas problem. and that's exactly what critics including the united states and seemingly france object to. the dependency from russian gas increased drastically with those newer pipeline and that's the reason why they construct that. contradicts obviously the european goals not on the of the energy union but in the future we will see less gas demand

because of climate policy and there's a reason why this pipeline is completely on the economic hole on friday european lawmakers will decide whether to extend the blocks energy rules to gazprom if they do so the company would no longer be allowed to both operate the pipeline and handle sales meaning the project in its current form at least could go up in smoke of get more on the story we are joined by brussels bureau chief max hoffman and hans brandt our political correspondent here in berlin welcome to both of you and max i'd like to begin with you because this announcement by france is essentially a move against germany do we know why paris is taking the step. we haven't heard an official explanation yet from the french but it appears that the arguments are mainly political and they've been heard before they're not new france wasn't really in favor of this project in the past either but they stuck with germany the problem though is that it's really splitting the european union between east and west

countries like poland like the baltic states have always always been very much against this project because they fear more russian influence in the european union they feel like they're being bypassed and so this would be one of the arguments some say might be a little revenge even from the french government because i'm going to medical really didn't wholeheartedly support the projects that matter what i might call had for the european union most of them had a slow painful death in the back rooms of brussels berlin and also berlin and the last one is that that is we don't know anything about that yet factual basis is that there might be some commercial interest because france already has a liquefied natural gas terminals and is intending to build more so they might be able to receive some of that gas coming from the united states ok but you know regardless of the motivations if you look at the move overall i mean one newspaper here is calling it a disaster for german diplomacy at the e.u.

has berlin misjudged the situation is i think one has to say the german diplomacy has misjudged this project millstream to we have to say there is one pipeline already in place in old stream one in exactly the same place is a second line being built and that's been pushed through with a lot of power diplomacy from the side of the germans for several years now and i think in the end they have misjudged two things they have misjudged the extent of the resistance within the european union absence from the united states the pressure coming from the united states since the talk of as president that's been massive not only on germany but also in other countries in the region on the european union as a whole and. i think the results of what we're seeing now let's talk a little bit more about that pushback from the united states because we know that the u.s. ambassador to germany also richard grenell said that the north stream essentially makes germany dependent on russia the german chancellor angela merkel responded to that and here's what she had to say let's have

a listen. and i not think you could fully become dependent on russia because of this gas pipeline i say no if we diversify at the same time. germany will expand its gas terminals with regard to liquefied gas. this that means that we don't want to make ourselves depended on russia and that any circumstances. but russia was a source of gas during the cold war and it will remain side today without his entering into one sided dependence. so that is how the german chancellor is responding to her critics hons is that enough i think in the end i think that does not really address the concerns of many people we have to see behind this there is some commercial interest from the side of the united states a lot of gas is being produced and the united states is hoping to make europe a major client for selling that gas but behind that is also

a. strategic thoughts consideration a concern in ukraine a lot of gas is going through ukraine at the moment if this gas bypasses ukraine russia has a handle to put a lot of pressure on ukraine and that's obviously been a reason for sanctions against russia in recent years a reason for a lot of tension between europe the united states and russia so this pipeline could ratchet up that tension and that's also one of the concerns of the critics of this pipeline max what do you see as the impact on french german ties because i mean this has you know been an access of strength for your up until now. in the beginning it looked like the money remark all of our going to mecca would be the new dream team in the european union but slowly many observers. noticed that the two were aligned on their political goals and this is probably the biggest blow to that friendship ever since it comes at it at a time just two and

a half weeks after they signed a new friendship treaty the follow up to the treaty in one and i was there and it says in the treaty that both would now try to align on big e.u. projects before decisions this is obviously not work two year and at the same time we don't know if that's a coincidence or not a minor remark called will not go through the munich security conference where he was scheduled to appear together with medical so this might not be the new low point of german french. german french and in the european union but it seems to be the new low point of those two forward it'll be interesting to see if they if they work this out but really this project is so important for the germans it's been going on for so long with so much resistance that it's really hard to see how they will overcome this blow in the new future max hoffman in brussels brandt in berlin thank you so much to both of you for one hour in just

a week from now the world's most important conference on international security starts in the german city of munich and i'm pleased to be able to welcome now the head of the munich security conference and former german ambassador to the united states wolfgang ischinger mr schindler thank you so much for joining us this morning it's a pleasure good morning and now i'd like to begin with one of the big stories today as we've heard france set to impose germany on north stream across and also canceling his joint appearance at this year's munich security conference how worried are you that cracks are forming in the relationship between france and germany right now. well let's let's keep the facts straight. we were planning i had invited. president kohl and chancellor merkel to appear together actually i tried that already a year ago a year ago it didn't work because there was

a german problem chancellor merkel didn't have a government fully formed. last february so this plan fell through at that time i was hoping very much that this year we could go forward and. we could go actually a week ago not yesterday. the ellie's they told us that president michel was not going to be able to come as planned and the reasons that were given to us had to do with the need of the president of france to entertain his national dialogue and to worry about domestic issues rather than go abroad for this particular conference so for us this is unfortunate but. not

a big tragedy but but i mean what do you think it says though about the state of affairs here in europe because i mean you had previously welcome to this as a way of showing that europe is not falling apart on you highlighted the domestic issues in both countries were you wrong. well no i mean look france even if president marco isn't going to speak himself in munich we will have plenty of other senior representatives of the french government in munich to explain french positions. there will be a huge american delegation congressional delegation they will be half a dozen german ministers etc etc so i think the purpose which i which is important to me the purpose to demonstrate in munich that the european union is alive and kicking that purpose can still be maintained we will have plenty of european

speakers from germany from france from a number of other important european countries including the current romanian presidency it said red said red cetera so my for me it's very important that we demonstrate is specially to the anglo-saxon community that the impression that may be created elsewhere that because of brics it the european integration project is about to crumble that that's wrong actually popular support for the european union in most countries is up not died but if we drill down a little bit deeper into the security situation here in europe i mean there's been much talk about a common european defense especially with the us calling benito alliance into question recently what is your take on current efforts because i mean europe doesn't seem to be in too big of a rush to make any dramatic moves is it missing an opportunity.

well if you ask me personally i think we could do even a lot more than what is currently being done to strengthen you know indigenous european military capabilities especially in the conventional area but let's also be fair there are important initiatives take for example we you raise the franco german. relationship there is now on the drawing board a new. franco german fighting fighter aircraft which has just been agreed that is a very very important you know symbolic but also substantial a new initiatives in that direction of strengthening and pooling european military capabilities but i but i would be the first to agree we could

even do a lot more is spatially we in germany where the defense effort is not i think what it should be how about also when it comes to the defense of multilateralism just just generally speaking you know that rules based order that was established in the wake of world war two institutions like the u.n. the deputy oh for example i mean it's come under attack by populism politics around the world merkel speaking recently about the importance of preserving it. how do you see the prospects for making meaningful changes to address current challenges and really supporting that world order what's your take. well i think i think this is a key challenge for. the entire european union if there is one important bloc in the world that relies on

a free. and open and rules based international order it is surely the european union and i think it's is one of the main tasks for all of us in the in the e.u. to try to put together as has been said a kind of an alliance of multilateralist around the world we're not alone there is kind of there's a strain there's a good number of other important countries out there. that have that share our interest in a global free trade system that share our interests in strong international institutions that share our interests in a rules based international system so i think we need to work on that we need to create partnerships and alliances but the e.u. i believe has the calling and and has the power actually we represent five hundred

million people we are the strongest trading and economic bloc in the world if you if one looks at current data we have a lot of economic and soft power also and that's where we should apply it building multilateralism rebuilding multilateralism in a world that's fraying in the margins and given that investigation or just briefly before we go because we know that you know you will have high ratings representatives there of course at the munich security conference including from the big three military powers the us russia china which we have really seen redefining their roles very much in the world recently what is your key message to them. well i think that it would be a major disaster for the global future if we stay if we

really allow a situation between the big powers to develop that would look like you know classic great power rivalry zero sum games i think we have. we have enough in common between even russia and the united states between europe and china and everybody else to. to try to work together to put cooperation to put integration. above the kind of rivalry which seems to be the motto of twenty nine and we will need to talk about that next week and in munich we'll have some pretty tough hard talk i hope in order to clarify what the priorities of responsible leadership need to be twenty nineteen and they very much look forward to seeing how those talks progress we want

to thank you very much. our head of the munich security conference and former german ambassador to the united states we very much appreciate it. thank you very much. you're watching d.w. news still to come on the program lives high in the underlying truths in the kindness of strangers the film opening this year's berlin aleph film festival. but first a quick check of some other stories making news around the world a british newspaper says the prime minister to resign may is planning to back a new package of workers' rights with some members of the opposition the sun says that the move is a bid to get her withdrawal deal passed by parliament on thursday leaders stonewalled may's request for changes to the divorce deal. the sister of thailand's king has announced that she will run for prime minister in upcoming elections in march princess unborn rott will campaign for

a party loyal to the country's ousted former prime minister it will be the first time in thailand's history that a member of the royal family has run for public office. thousands of people have taken to the streets of the haitian capital port au prince to demand the resignation of the president job now molise they're angry at the state of the country's economy and a recent corruption scandal haiti has been rocked by months of protest in which at least ten people were believed to have died. for more women have accused a former coast to rican president and nobel peace laureate oscar i.d.'s of sexual misconduct the allegations come after a peace campaigner filed a criminal complaint against him earlier this week has declined to comment on the new allegations. the c.e.o. of amazon jeff bezos has accused the publisher of the us tabloid the national enquirer of trying to blackmail her business alleges that the company am i threaten

to publish intimate photos that he allegedly sent to his girlfriend it is the latest twist in a week's long battle between business and the company. over a dozen european and latin american countries have called on venezuela to hold free and fair elections to solve its deepening crisis after some five hours of talks in europe wise a coalition of countries warned against rash intervention in venezuela e.u. foreign policy chief for the group of ogoni said that the group was committed to finding a peaceful democratic way out of a power struggle between president nicolas maduro and opposition leader want to go . the statement came as trucks carrying u.s. humanitarian aid arrived at colombia's border with us well up the bridge into the country remains blocked by the military president nicolas maduro says that the shipments are part of a u.s. led chua temped. this is where their journey

ends on the colombian venezuelan border desperately needed humanitarian aid is aboard these trucks but the gates into the crisis stricken country have been sealed on the other side venezuela's military still largely loyal to president maduro has been ordered to prevent any shipments crossing the border next to the soldiers anxious citizens wait and hope for food and medical supplies to be let through yet the point that sooner or later that bachus going to open and the humanitarian aid will rife the people off in this way that tired of being hungry i'm a muslim my mother died nearly two weeks ago the doctors were unable to operate on her we had to find all of the medical supplies and equipment ourselves even in barrios impossible there's not enough money to bury the dead. hundreds of kilometers away in the capital cara coutts president maduro denies there are any

humanitarian problems at all going even further he said the american aid shipments were a ploy for an invasion. and storage also bit too little because of our immense oil resources minerals. and other great wealth the critics are pushing an international coalition led by the imperialist government of the united states that saw that they can militarily it's hot in venezuela under the false excuse of a humanitarian crisis that does not exist. but international pressure is mounting meeting in europe why ministers from more than a dozen european and latin american countries are calling on maduro to hold free presidential elections and allow humanitarian aid into venezuela. this is what that aid looks like on the colombian side of the border bridge these venezuelan refugees are relying on a community kitchen to get them through the day. on the curtain has lifted on the

berlin international film festival also known as the berlin allah big names in german and international cinema were out for the gala opening this year's festival almost achieves gender parity with seven out of the seventeen films in competition directed by women the opening film was the kindness of strangers a tale of homelessness and uncertainty in contemporary america. and nights to remember full moon fans with the red carpet as the place to be for the stars. the center of all the attention french also go window and hats off to this year's jury should it be no. danish director and owner staff which brought an international cost to the red carpet celebrating the work premier off a movie that kind of strange this. little one is chef ace finn focuses on several characters who crossed paths in a restaurant in new york. with. their values and they were anyone

since for years now. all the characters have suffered life shattering experience us. clara is escaping from an abusive cost spent mark just left kristen. the movie tells their story as they try to rebuild their lives possible only with the help of strangers. and i thought it would make sense if. we were working where the world seemed to be a tougher place to be and to make a film that had light and hopefully leaves the audience in a sense of. not just hope but also community. the kindness of strangers this loner shellfish through to movie to run in competition at the bill in fin face to visit where she's often known to praise for her kino if

ok eric does. the sixty nine spirity not it kicks off with an unprecedented lineup of female directors who no one is shafik shines a light on people at the margins a perfect fit for europe's most politically charged film festival the kindness of strangers is a curious makes off drama and comedy humor and say this which doesn't quite seem to know which way it wants to go. from director alone to share fish it is no longer about the kindness of strangers but about winning over the barely knowledge to me. a quick reminder now of the top stories that we're following for you here at d w the first trucks carrying humanitarian aid for venezuelans i've arrived at the colombian border the military has erected barriers to prevent the food and medicine from entering the country president nicolas maduro denies there is a humanitarian crisis and says the shipments are part of a u.s. led attack. and the united states and france have called on germany to abandon

a pipeline supplying russian gas they say the pipeline due to start pumping later this year will make germany dependent of moscow and undermined european security chancellor angela merkel says that the criticism. is unfounded. and there is still more to come here and you have you news on our top story because political friction versus cold hard economic reality is coming right up as we look at nordstrom to through the commercial lands and the future of german energy supply . all that more is coming up in just a few minutes with kristoff cobar and dean of your business and don't forget in the meantime you can always get news on the go you can download our app from google play or from the apple store that will give you access to all of the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for breaking news you can use the app to send us photos videos and you can watch this program on live stream. i'm

sorry kelly in berlin thank you so much for watching have a great day. science

. technology digitization. can we still call this agriculture. many farmers are being forced to go high tech in a bid to compete encountering the species on price. but how far can technology really optimize nature. the farm of the future. w. . is going to. tell my managers to no good day nothing would change you know the banks to mine and so was the language of the bank money.

for speaking the truth global news that matters g.w. made for mines. not all think out of the gym. just sometimes out but less than nothing which has never been thinks deep into the german culture of looking at the stereotypes of class it is think the future of the country that i now live. via needed to be fixed for this drama there you go it's all that they know i'm a joke join me to meet the gentleman from d w. post hey listen up. that's what video game music sounded like thirty years ago. today's tracks take the experience to another level a sense to him talk composer nobuo uematsu. featured in limbo known

his music expand on to give you stops sounds good. video game music starts february twenty fifth on d w. pipelined predicament in a surprise move france expresses support of a change to your rules which are seen as a threat to a major gas pipeline project linking russia and germany also coming up frictions in global trade may have increased last year but german exports stayed strong rising to record highs will get more from our financial correspondent and c.e.o. richard branson gears up for a summer trip to space head of his pain.